We will begin our worship service
tonight reading from Psalm 57. Be merciful unto me, O God, be
merciful unto me. For my soul trusteth in thee,
yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge until these
calamities be overpassed. I will cry unto God most high,
unto God that performeth all things for me. He shall send
from heaven and save me from the reproach of him that would
swallow me up. God shall send forth his mercy
and his truth. My soul is among lions, and I
lie even among them that are set on fire, even the sons of
men. whose teeth are spears and arrows,
and their tongue a sharp sword. Be thou exalted, O God, above
the heavens. Let thy glory be above all the
earth. They have prepared a net for
my steps. My soul is bowed down. They have digged a pit before
me into the midst whereof they are fallen themselves. My heart
is fixed, O God. My heart is fixed. I will sing
and give praise. Awake up, my glory. Awake, psaltery and harp. I myself
will awake early. I will praise Thee, O God, among
the people. I will sing unto Thee among the
nations. For Thy mercy is great. unto
the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds. Be thou exalted,
O God, above the heavens. Let thy glory be above all the
earth. May the Lord bless the reading
of his word to each one of us. Now, if you will, let us bow
our heads as we call upon the name of the Lord. Our Father, we give thee thanks
thanking Thee that Thou art God and beside Thee there is no other
true and living God. And we thank Thee tonight, Father,
that in Thy Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, we may call Thee our
God and our Father. We thank Thee for His person,
for His work of redemption, for His blood and righteousness by
which we are reconciled unto Thee. We thank Thee tonight that
we are accepted in Christ, in the Beloved. And we pray that
You will bless Your Word as we study this evening, that You
will speak to us, Father, that You will comfort Your people.
And we give Thee thanks for Thy Word tonight. We pray that You
would cause it to enter into our hearts, that we might receive
Thy Word, believe Thy Word, and be doers of Thy Word. We pray
for our nation. Lord, we ask for your mercy.
We ask, Father, for your help in this time of need. We pray
that you might turn our hearts unto thee, that you might use
us in such a way as men and women might seek thy face. And again,
Father, we thank thee, thank thee that we may call thee our
God and our Father. And all of these things I ask
tonight in the name of Jesus Christ, my Lord. Amen. If you will, I want to speak
to us tonight from Ephesians chapter one. We've been studying for some
months now, the letter of Hebrews. And we finished Chapter 12 last
week, and we should be beginning with Chapter 13. But in light
of the events that are going on right now in our country,
I thought that I would bring a message to us from Ephesians
Chapter 1. I know that there's a lot of
uncertainty. There's a lot of fear. And I
pray that God would bless this message and use it to comfort
His people. and to bring glory to His name.
Ephesians chapter 1, beginning in verse 3, we read, Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ,
according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation
of the world. that we should be holy and without
blame before him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good
pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace,
wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. Tonight I want to remind us of
four truths about the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the way the Apostle begins
our text. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And I want to remind us this
evening of four truths about the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, there's many more truths
which are revealed in the Word of God about Him. But for time's
sake, we'll just look at these four. Four truths about the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And I believe these truths
will be a comfort and a help to all of God's children. First,
The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is a God of knowledge. A God of knowledge. In 1 Samuel
chapter 2, in Hannah's prayer, we read these words. For the
Lord is a God of knowledge. The God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ is a God of knowledge. And I begin tonight with this
truth. because the scriptures reveal
that God is all-knowing, that God knows everything. In Psalm
139, the psalmist speaks about the knowledge of God, the omniscience
of God. He speaks about the fact that
God knows every thought. He knows our down-sitting. He
knows our uprising. There cannot be a word upon our
tongue but that God knows it altogether. And after confessing
these truths about the God of knowledge, the psalmist made
this statement. He said this, such knowledge
is too wonderful for me. It is high, I cannot attain unto
it. Psalm 139 and verse six. Such knowledge is too wonderful
for me. It is high, I cannot attain unto
it. God knows all things, and he
knows all things at once, and he knows all things from everlasting. There's not a thought, there's
not a word, there's not an action that men might have or have that
God does not know. In Acts chapter 15, in verse
18, the apostle James said this, he said, known unto God, are
all his works from the beginning of the world. All his works known
unto God are all his works. All his works are known unto
him from the beginning, that is, from the beginning of creation. Already known unto God are all
his works, and they're known unto God because he has ordained
all things that come to pass in time. God never learns anything. That's hard for you and I to
grasp. God never learns anything. And
when God, in the word of God, when God asks a question, he
condescends to use language that you and I would use. But God
never asked a question for information. You remember in Genesis chapter
three, when he said, Adam, where art thou? Surely no one would
believe that God was asking for information, that God did not
know where Adam was at that time. God knows all things, and he's
known all things from the beginning. He never learns anything. He
never asked for information. When this coronavirus was discovered
by men, It was already known unto God, unto Him, with whom
you and I have to do. The God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ is a God of knowledge. The psalmist said, the fool has
said in his heart, there is no God. Only a fool would deny the
existence of God. And if there could be anything
greater than a fool, it would be a person who confesses that
there is a God, but that somehow he is not all-knowing, that he
doesn't know everything, that he learns as time goes by. How foolish, my friends. What
a weak God that is. And how unbecoming of God it
would be to think that he is not a God of knowledge. He is
a God of all knowledge, and as I said, all that is, all that
might be, God knows and has always known from the beginning. A second
truth about the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is simply
that He is a God of truth. A God of knowledge, yes, and
also a God of truth. And we read this in Deuteronomy
chapter 32 and verse 4. And this is part of the song
of Moses that God gave him to teach unto the children of Israel. And in this song, we read, God
is the rock. His work is perfect. God's work
is perfect. For his ways are judgment, a
God of truth. The God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ is not only a God of knowledge, but He is a God
of truth and without iniquity. Just and right is He. He is the
true God. And in fact, this is one of His
names in 1 John chapter 5 and verse 20. He is the truth. The
Lord Jesus Christ, who is God, manifests in the flesh. He said,
I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man cometh unto
the Father but by me. God is a God of truth. He cannot
lie, and that simply means that he cannot change, that God is
the same today as he has always been, that his will never changes. His will is eternal. He is the
same today as he was yesterday and shall be forever. In the
book of Malachi, he confessed, I am the Lord. I change not. God is immutable. God never changes. He's a God of truth. And this
is what he has told us about himself. He's told us the truth
about himself. What do you know about God? What
do you know about the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ? But what we know about him, we
know from God's word. And he has told us the truth
about himself. For instance, he said this, that
he is God and beside him, there is no other. He said, I know
of no other. There is no other God. There's
only one God, the true and living God, the God and father of our
Lord Jesus Christ. And he is a God of truth. He is sovereign. And the scripture
says that he works all things after the counsel of his own
will. And when he mentions the counsel
of his own will, when we do something, we take counsel, but God doesn't
take counsel with men or with angels, but he is confessing
unto us his wisdom. He is God who works all things
after the counsel of his own will. That is, his wisdom in
all things is manifested that he does. Never entertain, and I don't
think you would, certainly no believer would ever think this,
But never think that this coronavirus will not in some way bring glory
to God, because it will. Never think that it will not
in some way work for good for those who are the called according
to God's purpose, because it will. The scripture says, for
of him and through him and to him are all things. And the coronavirus is certainly
included in the all things for of him and to him and for him. The, the apostle said for of
him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory
forever. And God is going to bring glory
to himself through this. We don't need to wonder about
that. We don't need to doubt about
that. as awful as we may think it is. And as a psalmist said
in the psalm that I read, Psalm 57, that we will hide under his
wings until this calamity be overpassed. But my friends, God
is a God of truth and of him and through him and to him are
all things. Yes, even this. and all for His
glory forever. The third thing about God that
I want to mention this time is the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ is a God of power. He is a God of power. The scripture
says in Psalm 62 and verse 11, God has spoken once, twice have
I heard this, that power belongeth unto God. We speak about His
omnipotence, and that simply means that He is all powerful. God is a God of power, and His
creation testifies to His power. For all things, He spoke into
existence by the word of His power. The psalmist said in Psalm
33 and verse 9, for He spoke And it was done. He spoke in
the beginning. God said, let there be light.
And light was. God is a God of power. He has
spoken all things into existence. And when we think about this
coronavirus, we recognize that it is under his power. It is
under his control, that it is not above his power. We know
that. We know that somehow it's powerful
as we are being told and as this world is experiencing the sickness
that it brings. But it's not all powerful. Only
God is all powerful. Blessed, the apostle said, blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He's a God
of knowledge. He's a God of truth. He's a God
of power. And the fourth thing that I would
say about the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, He's
a God of predestination. He's a God of predestination.
We read it here in our text, having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ unto Himself, according
to the good pleasure of His will. Predestination is usually, the
subject is usually divided into two parts, general and special. General predestination. Some might rather refer to this
as God's providence. General predestination. It means that all things that
have been, that are, or shall be done in this world come under
the determination and appointment of God." God's predestination,
all things that take place in this world in time, all things
come under the determination and appointment of God. in the scriptures foretold the
future. For instance, when he told Abraham
that his posterity would be slaves or servants for 400 years in
Egypt. Now, if God had not determined
beforehand all things that come to pass, then certainly he could
not have foretold that this would last for 400 years. And that's
true of every prophecy in the Word of God. The apostle wrote,
having predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh
all things after the counsel of his will. I'm sure you're
familiar with the history of King Nebuchadnezzar. He was the
king of Babylon. He was a mighty, mighty monarch,
and his kingdom was great. But God taught him, God taught
him who is the sovereign, who is in control of all things. And after he was put out into
the field, after seven seasons passed upon him. Then listen
to what Nebuchadnezzar confessed about God. He, that is God, he
doeth his will in the armies of heaven. That is, among the
angels, God does his will in the army of heaven. And among
the inhabitants of the earth, that is mankind, Among the inhabitants
of the earth, he doeth his will and none can stay his hand. No
one can say unto God, stop. You can't do that. Stop. No one can say, stay his hand
or say unto him, what doest thou? The apostle Paul, remember in
Romans chapter nine, He answered some objections that some men
might have to the sovereignty of God. And he answered it by
saying, nay, but oh man, who art thou that replyst against
God? No, Nebuchadnezzar confessed
the truth. None can stay his hand or say
unto him, what doest thou? The Lord Jesus Christ spoke about
this general providence when he told his disciples, that two
sparrows, he said, are not two sparrows sold for a farthing?
And that was just a very small amount of money. Two small birds
are sold for a little amount, and yet, and not one of them
shall fall into the ground without your father. Not one of them. They're not worth much. They're
sold for two farthings. but not one of them shall fall
to the ground without your father. In other words, God is in control
of the smallest things in this world, as well as the greatest
things in this world. There's a general providence
and God is in control. God is in charge. This is God's
world. And he worketh all things after
the counsel of his will. And our Lord went on to say,
but the very hairs of your head are all numbered. You don't know
how many hairs are upon your head. There's no way you could
count them, but God knows. God knows. There's a general
providence, a general predestination over all things, my friends. But there's a special predestination. There's a special predestination. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. He's a God of knowledge, a God
of truth, a God of power. And yes, he's a God of predestination. There's a special predestination. First of all, Christ. Yes, Christ
was the object of predestination. He was foreordained to be the
mediator between God and men. He was set forth to be the propitiation
for the sins of God's people. Who set him forth? God did. God set him forth to be the redeemer
and the savior of his people, to be the head of his church.
You know, he is called God's elect, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is called God's elect. He
was chosen first and His people were chosen in Him. That's what
Paul tells us here. According as He had chosen us
in Him, in Christ, before the foundation of the world. He came into this world and everything
that happened to Him, everything that He experienced in this world,
men spitting upon Him, men rejecting him, men nailing him to a cross. Everything that happened to him
happened according to the words of Peter, the determinate counsel
and foreknowledge of God. There was a predestination concerning
Christ. And listen to these words of
the apostles as they prayed in Acts chapter four. concerning
this providence, this predestination concerning Christ. In Acts chapter
four, Peter and John had been arrested and they had been interrogated
by the Pharisees there in the temple. And when they were released,
the scripture says, and being let go, Acts chapter four, verse
23, and being let go, they went to their own company and reported
all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them. And
when they had heard that, that is when the church there that
was assembled, the apostles, when they heard that, the scripture
said, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord and said,
Lord, thou art God. which hath made heaven, and earth,
and the sea, and all that in them is, who by the mouth of
thy servant David hath said, Why did the heathen rage? And
the people imagined vain things. The kings of the earth stood
up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and
against his Christ. Now notice, for of a truth against
thy holy child Jesus whom thou hast anointed both Herod and
Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were
gathered together for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined
before to be done. So there is a special predestination
concerning Christ. There's a special predestination
concerning the angels. We read of the elect angels.
Not all of the angels fail. And then third, there is a special
predestination concerning men. There is an election of some
men who are predestinated, as this verse says, unto the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good
pleasure of his will. It is these, it is these who
are mentioned here, who are predestinated unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ. It is these that the scriptures
declare, we know that all things work together for good to them,
to them that love God, to those who are the called according
to his purpose. all things, the coronavirus included. This is all part of God's sovereign
purpose, and it will accomplish what God has determined. Are we to use wisdom, wisdom
that God gives us in regard to this virus? Of course we are. Yes. But my friends, we are not
to be fearful in the sense that the world is fearful, that has
no hope. Our hope is in God. My hope is
in God. And He is the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. He's the God of knowledge. He's
the God of truth. He's the God of power. And He's
the God of predestination. And I know this. separate one of God's children
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. The
Apostle Paul tells us that in Romans chapter 8. Nothing can
separate from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our
Lord. I pray that the Lord would bless
this word as I have tried to remind us of these several truths
about the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He might comfort
your heart and comfort my heart through the Word of God. And
being reminded once again who is in control, and that is God
Almighty. He is the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ and everything is in control, His control under
His hand. and all things are working together
for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according
to His purpose. I pray that the Lord would bless
His word to you tonight. Until we see each other again,
I pray the Lord would bless you. Thank you.