If you will, let us open our
Bibles today to Ephesians chapter one. The Lord willing I would like
to begin today to bring several messages from this letter of
the Apostle to Ephesians. The first chapter, as it has
been divided by men, naturally forms into three divisions. We have the salutation or the
greeting in verses one and two. Then a section marked by praise,
or what some men have referred to as a eulogy, in verses 3 through
14. And then prayer completes the
chapter in verses 15 through 23. We see in these divisions
how it is that we are to worship the Lord, that is, Praising God,
being thankful unto Him, and also prayer. They both have a
very important part of our worship services. Thankfulness, praise,
and prayer. This chapter, this chapter is
a treasure. It's a treasure that's filled
with enlightening, encouraging, and inspiring truths that I pray
God will bless to each and every one of us for our edification. This morning, we will only look
at Paul's greeting, verses one and two. First, the author of
the letter, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ. We begin first
with his name, Paul. We're all familiar with Saul
of Tarsus, man who persecuted the Jews, the Jews who confessed
that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah, and how that the Lord
apprehended him one day as he was on his way to arrest and
cause men to blaspheme the name of Christ. He was on his way
to a place called Damascus. And the Lord arrested him. In Acts chapter 26, now in the
book of Acts three times, we are told about what took place
on the road to Damascus. In Acts chapter nine, we have
actually the event. And then in Acts chapter 22 and
Acts chapter 26, Paul rehearses before rulers what happened to
him. But in chapter 26, he makes this
statement of what took place that day on the road to Damascus,
that the Lord appeared to him and told him this, that he was
now send him to the Gentiles. He would now send him to the
Gentiles. If you look in Acts chapter 13
with me, So we're just looking at His name, first of all, Paul.
In Acts chapter 13, He, along with other men, were in the church
at Antioch, and they were ministering unto the Lord. And in verse 2,
we read, Acts chapter 13 and verse 2, As they ministered to
the Lord and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, separate me Barnabas
and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And the work
whereunto God had called Paul and Barnabas was to take the
gospel to the Gentiles. And on their first missionary
trip, as it is called, they went to the Isle of Patmos. And the
first convert on this trip that his name was a Roman dignitary,
and his name was Sergius Paulus. Sergius Paulus. You notice that
down in verse seven. We read, which was with the deputy
of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man who called for
Barnabas and Saul and desired to hear the word of God. This
man that the Lord had chosen, unknown to him, unknown to Saul
and to Barnabas, but chosen before the foundation of the world as
all of God's children are, he was interested in hearing the
word of the Lord. There was this sorcerer here. His name was Bar-Jesus, and he
did everything he could to keep this man from hearing the gospel,
from hearing the word from Paul. And so Paul, as an apostle, and
we'll see more of this in a moment, but he performed a miracle there
in striking this man with blindness. And that so impressed this man
that he heard the word of the Lord and he believed, he believed
the gospel message. His name was Sergio Paulus. So some people believe that Saul
of Tarsus now takes the name of Paul from this convert here. And it was common among nations
to change the first letter of a name when they were speaking
of that person in their language. And so Substituting S with P,
we turn from Saul to Paul. And of course, some people believe
that the Jews, the Jewish parents, they gave their children, their
sons especially, both a Jewish name and a Gentile name. So they gave Saul the Jewish
name Saul and also the Roman name Paul. Paul, this is the
first thing we read in this letter, Paul. Then we see an apostle
of Jesus Christ by the will of God. The word apostle, what does
that mean? It means one cent, one cent. In Hebrews chapter three and
verse one, we read, consider the apostle and high priest of
our profession, Christ Jesus. The Lord Jesus Christ there is
called an apostle. He was sent, and the scripture
reads in 1 John chapter 4 and verse 14, and we have seen and
do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the
world. The word apostles, Paul, an apostle
of Jesus Christ. The word apostle means set one. Now, there are several places
in the New Testament in the epistles where we have lists of church
officers. And every list, every time, the
first office that is listed is that of the apostles. For instance, in 1 Corinthians
12 verse 28, God has set some in the church first apostles. In other words, that office of
apostleship was an office of preeminence in the church. If
you look here in Ephesians over to chapter 4 and verse 11, we see that the word apostle
The office of an apostle here is mentioned first. He gave some
apostles. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Ascended
Lord, gave gifts unto men. And the first one named, apostles. Apostles and some prophets. And then in chapter 2 of the
Ephesians and verse 20, and are built upon the foundation of
the apostles and prophets Jesus Christ himself being the chief
cornerstone. Now when Paul begins to write
this letter, and he is in prison in Rome when he wrote the letter
of Ephesians, he begins, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ. All of the apostles, those who
were apostles before him, they were all chosen by Jesus Christ. Only God can make an apostle. Only God. I'm talking about an
apostle as it is called here in the Bible, in the Word of
God. I know you see sometimes today men take that title and
call themselves apostles, but the true apostles can only be
made of God. Even the 11 apostles, after the
Lord Jesus Christ had died, when they met to choose one to take
Judas's place, you remember, they prayed, they had two men,
and they prayed over both of them, and both of them met the
requirement to be an apostle in the sense that they had seen
the risen Lord. But yet the apostles knew that
only God could make an apostle, so what did they do? They prayed
unto the Lord. And then they cast lots. You know, we think of lots as
dice, don't we? You shake up the dice and you
throw them out there. But the scripture tells us that
even the casting of lots is ordained of the Lord. And so God chose
that man, Matthias, to take Judas' place. But Paul here refers to
himself as an apostle of Jesus Christ. And he admits that he
was different from the other apostles. What does he mean by
that? He meant that, as he says in
1 Corinthians chapter 15, last of all, Last of all, he's got a list
of those who saw the risen Lord. Over 500 brethren at one time
saw the risen Lord Jesus Christ. But then he concludes his list
there by saying, last of all, he was seen of me. He saw the
Lord Jesus Christ that day. And to be an apostle, this was
necessary, that they could testify to the resurrection of Christ. I testify to the resurrection
of Christ, and you do too, but we do so based upon the word
of the apostles who actually saw him. They actually saw the
risen Lord. Last of all, he, that is the
Lord Jesus Christ, the resurrected Christ, was seen of me also as
of one born out of due time. He was born out of due time in
the sense that the other apostles had seen the Lord, had been followers
of the Lord until his ascension, but the apostle Paul He is one
born out of due time. He saw the resurrected Lord too,
but he saw him seated on the throne of God. He saw him in
heaven raised to the Father's right hand. Saul, an apostle
of Jesus Christ, a persecutor. Why do we love the grace of God
so much? God's children. Why do we love
grace? Why do we love to sing about
grace? Because you see, grace can take
a no good, a scoundrel, a person who hated Christ, who
did everything he could to stamp out the name of Jesus, believing
he was an imposter, calling himself the son of God. But God's grace
is able to take someone like that and save that person and use
that person. We think of Paul maybe as being
used more than any of the other apostles of the Lord as far as
it is revealed unto us. He said of himself, for I am
the least of the apostles. He was an apostle, and he magnified
his office. He said, I magnify my office. He knew God had made him an apostle. The Lord had made him an apostle.
And he always affirmed that. And he had the signs of an apostle. The apostles were given signs,
miracles, and things like that that we know that they wrought. I magnify my office, even though
he said, for I am the least of the apostles, that am not made
to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. Let me just say this, a sinful
life before conversion is no bar, is no bar to God calling
and using that person in preaching the gospel. So that's the first thing we
see here, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ. Second, he addresses the letter to these,
to the saints and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. Here's the author,
Paul, an apostle, and he's writing to the saints and the faithful
in Christ Jesus. The New Testament was written
to Christians. Never forget that. The New Testament
was not written to lost people. It was written to believers. The apostle is writing to saints
faithful in Christ Jesus. Paul gives three distinctions
which are true of every Christian. You call yourself a Christian.
If you are a Christian, these things are true of you. One writer
referred to these things as the very basics. The very basics. But here are three distinguishing
things about every Christian. First of all, he, she is a saint. a saint. Every Christian is a
saint. I don't know of any term in the
scriptures that is more misunderstood by this world than that term,
saint. People have the idea, you will
hear them sometimes say, well, I'm a Christian but I'm not a
saint. Well, you're not a Christian.
You're not a Christian then. Every Christian is a saint. Let's
remember when Paul wrote this letter, he wrote this letter
to people like you and I. He wasn't writing this letter
to a group of preachers or a group of apostles or Christian workers. He's writing to just believers,
saints, as he refers to them. Now, the primary meaning of this
word saint is separated, set apart. A good illustration of
what this word means is to consider the nation of Israel in the Old
Testament. They were a nation among many
nations, and yet they were different. They were different. They had
privileges. They had blessings that other
nations did not have. They were given the word of God.
No other nation was set apart like them by God. They were a
separate people. They were in the world, but not
of the world. That was a nation of Israel in
the Old Testament. This means more than an outward
setting apart. Every child of God, every believer,
every Christian is set apart. And God is the one who sets his
people apart. He sets us apart with the gospel. He sets his people apart through
the preaching of the gospel. It means more than just an outward
setting apart. That is primarily what the word
means, no doubt, to set apart. But the word saint also has to
do with holiness. There's not only this outward
setting apart, but there is a thought of holiness which is included,
which means to us cleansing, cleansing. God's people have
been set apart and they have been cleansed from the guilt
of sin. You know, there's one thing that
separates men from God, and that's sin. That's iniquity. That's the one thing that separates
men from God. And a saint is one who has been
set apart and has been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ. That guilt of sin has been washed
away, has been taken away. I think of those in that church
at Corinth when Paul wrote to them and he said, and such were
some of you. I mean, he listed some wicked,
evil things. And he said, such were some of
you. Did that bar them from being
chosen of God, being called of God? Of course not. Such were
some of you, but You are washed, washed, cleansed. We sang that hymn a few minutes
ago. There's power, power, sin-cleansing
power in the blood of Jesus Christ. The blood of Jesus Christ, his
son, cleanseth us from all sin. Paul said, and such were some
of you, but you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are
justified in the name of Jesus Christ. So first of all, he's
writing to saints. But then notice the second term
is faithful. Every Christian is a believer. This word faithful here is the
same word that is translated believing in John chapter 20. When the Lord appeared to the
11 on the day of his resurrection, you know Thomas was not among
them. Eight days later he appeared and Thomas was there. And he
told Thomas to believe. He showed him his hand, showed
him his side, and he said, Be not faithless, but believe. This is the same word. And every
Christian is a believer. That's basic, isn't it? When the jailer at Philippi asked
the apostles, What must I do to be saved? Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. Everyone
in your house who believes will be saved. And that's a prerequisite
to baptism. Someone said, well, don't you
believe there were infants in his house? There may have been.
But to be baptized, they had to believe. Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. Everyone
in your house who hears the gospel and believes then may be baptized. But man, you know, over the ages,
some said it began with Constantine and his army, 325 AD. I'm not
sure if that's so or not, the sprinkling part, that it began
with him trying to get his armies baptized or sprinkled before
they went into battle. But I know this. Sprinkling is
an invention of man. The word baptized means immerse. It means to be put under the
water. And the important thing about
it is it is administered to those who are believers, those who
believe in Christ, who trust in him. And that's what Paul
is saying here, first of all, he's writing to saints, he's
writing to the faithful, to those who believed. Every Christian
is full of faith. It's full of faith. Every Christian
is full of faith that Jesus Christ is God's Son, His only begotten
Son. Every believer. There's one thing
that you will never, ever convince a true child of God differently. You will never convince a person
who's born of the Spirit of God that Jesus Christ is not the
Son of God. That's been revealed unto him
by the Father. Every Christian believes in the
Lord Jesus, that He is the Son of God, and He's the Son of God
who came into this world on purpose, on purpose, God's purpose. And
He finished the work which the Father gave Him to do. And that
work was to bring in a righteousness, a righteousness that when that
righteousness, His obedience, perfect obedience to the law
of God. When that righteousness is imputed
to one who believes, that person is declared just, just as if
they had never sinned. And to finish their work, he
would pay the penalty for our sins. Every believer is full of faith.
Faith that Jesus Christ is God's only begotten son and that he
died and rose again the third day. He died bearing the sins
of his people to reconcile us unto God. And we know that he's
seated now at the Father's right hand. We have an advocate with
the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He's there ever living
to make intercession for all who come unto God by him. The third mark here in our text
is in Christ Jesus. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ
to the saints and faithful in Christ Jesus. Now what does that
mean, in Christ Jesus? Every Christian is in Christ
Jesus. Just as I said, every Christian
is a saint, every Christian is a believer, every Christian is
in Christ Jesus. Just as we were in the first
man, Adam, Adam represented us. So that when he sinned, we sinned,
we fell in our father, our representative, our head, Adam. So every Christian
is in Christ Jesus. The last Adam, every Christian
was represented by him. And there's such a union between
every Christian and the Lord Jesus Christ that the Bible tells
us that when he died, we died. There's a union, a mystical union. Every Christian is in Christ
Jesus. When he died, we died. When he
rose from the grave, we rose from the grave. When he ascended
to the Father, we ascended to the Father in our head. And when
He sat down at the Father's right hand, we sat down there in the
heavenlies. Every Christian is in Christ
Jesus, in union with Him. Look over in Ephesians 4, Ephesians
2 rather, verse 4. But God, who is rich in mercy,
For his great love, wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace you are saved, and hath
raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
not by the will of man, But by Jesus Christ, he was made an
apostle to the saints, to the faithful in Christ Jesus. And notice the third thing in
this greeting, grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ. When the Jews met one another,
this was a very common greeting. Peace, shalom, peace be unto
you. That was just as common as we
say hello. That was a common greeting among
the Jews. That was a habit among them.
They would wish peace, and by peace they meant prosperity and
health. When the Lord Jesus Christ, the
night before he was crucified, took leave of his disciples in
that upper room. He told them, peace, I leave
with you. My peace, I give unto you. Now listen, not as the world
giveth, give I unto you. You see, the world, it was very
common. Shalom, shalom. When they greeted one another,
when they met one another, they wished peace. prosperity and
health. That's the way the world greeted
one another. But the Lord said, my peace I
give unto you, not as the world gives. What does he mean by that? Well, that's all the world can
do. Wish you peace. That's all the world can do.
Wish you peace. The Lord Jesus Christ gives peace,
grace and peace unto you. And the peace that He gives His
people is a peace that He bought. It's a peace that He bought by
the blood of His cross. My peace I give unto you. And
what does that mean? It means that we have peace with
God. We come into this world and by
nature We're children of wrath, even as others. That is, we deserve
the wrath of God because we are sinful by nature. And yet, through
the mediation, through the mediation of Jesus Christ, we have now
peace with God. Before, we were enmity with God
because of our sins. We have peace with God. God's
not mad at His people. We have peace with God. And not
only do we have peace with God, but we have peace in our own
heart. We have peace. One writer said,
men come into this world, they're fighting against God and they're
fighting against themselves. All men fight against God and
fight against themselves. But the Lord gives peace. Peace,
not only with God, but peace in your conscience, in your heart.
Peace. It's always appeared to me that
people in our day, they can't be alone. They can't be alone. They always have to be in a crowd
if possible. They always have to have music
going, television going, radio going, anything and everything
to distract themselves. Why? Because of a lack of peace. God gives his people peace. Peace
with God and peace with ourselves. Grace and peace. No two words
in the English vocabulary are more prize to believers than
those two words, grace, grace, grace. The hymn writer said,
grace, tis a charming sound. John Newton said, amazing grace,
we sang how sweet the sound. Grace. Unmerited favor, that's
the way it is defined, isn't it? Unmerited favor. We don't merit God's blessing,
we don't merit God's peace, but we are given grace and peace. And always in that order, always
grace first and then peace. When Paul wrote this greeting,
there could be no doubt in his mind, in his heart, who the Lord
Jesus Christ is when he connected his name, God our Father, and
on the same level, the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son who became
a man. I pray that the Lord would bless
these thoughts and words to us here this morning. What a wonderful
wonderful passage just in those two verses, and there's much
more I know that could be said, but the greeting here, the salutation
here, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the saints, to the
faithful in Christ Jesus, from God our Father, and the Lord
Jesus Christ. May the Lord bless this word
to you today. We're going to sing