That He Might Show His Grace

Returning to Ephesians 2:1-10 and the Great Contrasts

0:03 Now, after a digression from the book of Ephesians for several weeks due to the concerns of the holiday season and the concerns of missionary ministry that we were so grateful to have in our midst in the past few weeks, we return this morning to the book of Ephesians for our verse-by-verse study of this tremendous letter setting forth the glory of God's salvation in Jesus Christ. We are presently studying chapter 2 and the first paragraph of that chapter, verses 1 through 10. And since it's been several weeks since we last studied this paragraph together,

0:46 I shall take just a few moments to review the main thrust of what the Apostle is saying, try to catch the main threads of thought so that we might enter in with intelligent and worshipful concern to the text. The text that will be the focus of our study this morning. The second chapter of Paul's letter to the Ephesians is basically a chapter comprised of two great contrasts. Verses 1 to 10 are a contrast of what the Ephesians were by nature and what they had become by grace considered as individuals before God.

1:25 Verses 11 through the end of the chapter are a contrast of what the Ephesians were considered as individuals before God. Considered as part of the Gentile world before they were brought to the knowledge of Christ and what they now have become as a result of the work of God incorporating them into that one new spiritual temple that God himself is building. And the hinge upon which the contrast turns in the first paragraph is verse 4, but God and the hinge upon which...

2:02 The hinge upon which the contrast turns in the second paragraph are the two words beginning verse 13, but now, and so there is this contrast, what you were as individuals, what you are, what you were as a group of people, what you now are. And having studied in some detail the graphic description of what the Ephesians and all men are by nature in verses 1 to 3 of the first paragraph, we are now...

2:32 We are now occupied with the wonderful contrast, the blessed after of verses 4 through 10. And we have seen thus far that the author of the great transformation is God himself, verse 4. But God, who is rich in mercy, and he is the agent in all of the passive verbs. When Paul says ye have been saved, the agent in those passive verbs is God.

3:00 The one who has done... The one who has done the raising and the quickening with Christ is God.

3:06 And so there is this pervasive emphasis throughout this paragraph that the transformation of these Ephesians is to be attributed to God himself and to God alone. And then we considered the motive that moved God to transform dead, bound, guilty sinners. And Paul describes that motive as his rich mercy, and his great love, in verse 4. And then for some weeks we were occupied with Paul's statement of the method of God.

The Ultimate End of God's Work: To Display His Grace

3:41 God is the author of the change. He is moved by his own love and mercy. What method does he employ in the transformation of sinners? And we've answered that question from this paragraph in a general way.

3:55 It's a method that has Jesus Christ central in all of its outworking. Four times he is mentioned in verses 4 to 10. It is a method in which the biblical notion of grace is dominant. Three times grace is mentioned explicitly.

4:16 And then it is a method in which the transformation is pervasive and evident. He uses such vigorous language. It's a quickening from the dead. It's a resurrection unto union with Christ.

4:30 It is the work of a new creation. And then more specifically, God's method is nothing less according to verses 5 and 6 than a method of joining sinners to Jesus Christ in such a way that they become partakers of the virtue of his saving work. So they are quickened together with him. They are raised together with him.

4:57 They are seated together with him. Now we come today, to verse 7. A verse in which the Apostle introduces another tremendous aspect of this transformation wrought by Almighty God. Having underscored the fact that the author is God, the motive is his great love and his rich mercy, the method is one of uniting us to Christ, the Apostle now addresses himself to the question, to what end has God done all of this?

5:36 You will notice that verse 7 begins with the word that. And perhaps it could better be translated in order that. In other words, everything that has preceded has as its explicitly stated goal what the Apostle gives us in verse 7. Let me illustrate how we use the word that or in order that in our own common conversation to point out specific well-defined goals or objects.

6:07 Suppose I were to make the statement something like this. John, conscious of his own hunger and desiring to have some food for himself and his friends, got into his car, drove three miles to the nearest store, changed the flat tire on the way, and finally arrived at the store in order to purchase a loaf of bread. Now if I asked you the question from this simple statement, it's a rather long sentence, but it's simple, it's not complicated. If I were to ask you what was John's purpose in leaving the house, you would say his purpose is defined in this phrase,

6:48 in order to purchase a loaf of bread. Now in the accomplishment of that end, John was conscious the thing that motivated him was his own hunger. And involved in attaining that end he had a method. He had to get into the car, turn it on, steer it, put it in gear, do whatever else was necessary, he had to change a flat tire, he had to do many things.

7:11 But all of these other elements, desiring to have some food, driving three miles, changing a flat tire, all of this had as its express goal the purchase of a loaf of bread, that would satisfy his hunger. Now the apostle is saying in this paragraph, look at it, But God, being rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, by grace ye have been saved, and raised us up with him, made us to sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That, you see, all of this is preliminary.

7:55 All of this serves the great end that the apostle is now to set before us. This matter of God exercising love and mercy in a way that involved our being quickened with Christ, raised with Christ, seated with Christ, that involves our having been saved, the apostle says the great end, the great goal, the ultimate intention of God in all of this is to be found in these words, that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace

8:37 in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Therefore this text is introducing us to a profound answer to the simple question, why did God do all that he did in the salvation of the Ephesians? Why did God bother with dead sinners? Why not allow them to remain in their state of death as monuments of the folly of rebellion against God?

9:08 Why should God bother to enflesh his own son in a virgin's womb? Why should God bother to wrench his own heart when he must hear the cry of his own beloved son, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why should God bother to send the gospel to the likes of these Ephesians, and for that matter to the likes of you and me? Why should God come into direct and vital operation with human hearts so that he quickens them and raises them and seats them with Christ?

9:44 What's the purpose of all of this? What lay in the mind of God when he conceived such a scheme of salvation? What lies in the heart of God when he actually executes such a mighty salvation that produces the amazing transformation described in this paragraph? Well, the answer is, in order that he might display his grace.

God as the Determiner and Executor of His Purpose

10:12 For if you look at verse 7, and you students who are back in school now, much to your dislike, but you're back in school, or some of you go back on Monday, if you were diagramming the sentence verse 7 or the words of verse 7, you would diagram them this way, that in the ages to come, he, there's your subject, might show, here's your verb, and the direct object, his grace. That he might show his grace. There's the answer. Why did God do all of this?

10:53 Why does he continue to do it? Why will he go on doing it? Until the last of those sheep for whom the Savior shed his blood is brought into the fold. Here's the answer.

11:06 That he might show his grace. Now this is no new idea in the epistle to the Ephesians. For you'll remember, if you can think back a couple of years ago when we were in chapter 1, that the Apostle stated this, not in quite the same vigorous way, in verse 6, having traced our salvation back to its fountainhead in the electing grace of God and our being predestined unto sonship. He says in verse 6, to the praise of the glory of his grace.

11:43 In verse 12 he says, that we should be to the praise of his glory. Verse 14, unto the praise of his glory. In other words, God has a very clearly defined purpose in initiating redemption and God has revealed that purpose to us and we are not free to establish what we think is a good purpose for redemption. We must come as humble disciples and ask God what his purpose is.

12:20 The Lord willing today and next Lord's day, it will be my attempt to open up this text, though I must confess when late last night after my preparation was basically in hand as far as the form and structure is concerned, I turned to Spurgeon to read a sermon on this text and this is what he said as he stood before this text in the presence of God and the Lord's people. This morning I have before me a text which is a great deal too full for me. I can never draw out of it all its supplies. I've gone round the walls of this city text and counted its towers and marked well its bulwarks and I'm utterly unable to express myself

13:04 by reason of joyous astonishment. I feel as if I must sit down and lose myself in adoration. I am a poor dumb dog over such a theme. I believe that if I were shut up to preach for twelve months from this text I should not be straightened, that is, black for matter, but rather when I had finished the fifty-two Sabbath days I should be eager to enter upon another year's consideration of the same topic.

13:33 Here is a vast and fruitful country, a land of hills and valleys, a land of fountains and brooks of water. Who shall spy it out and set the bounds thereof? I shall try to exhibit a cluster from Escal as the analogy of the spies who came back with the grapes from the land of promise on their shoulders. But the whole land I cannot show you.

13:56 It behoves you to journey thither for yourselves. It is a right royal subject, the exceeding riches of His grace and kindness toward us through Christ. Whitefield and Wesley might preach the gospel better than I do, but they could not preach a better gospel. Whitefield and Wesley and Spurgeon could indeed preach the gospel better than I shall ever preach it, but they could not, nor shall any man ever be able to preach a better gospel, a gospel that has as its explicit goal the display of the grace of God.

14:39 Now how shall we attempt to think our way through a text which the great preacher of another generation felt was too much for him, and how much more then do we lesser men feel the same? Well, what I'll attempt to do this morning is open up the words which convey the main thought. We're just going to look at the bones of the text this morning. And having done that, I trust then to draw out several practical applications and God willing next week we'll consider the various aspects of the grace displayed.

15:14 Some of this descriptive terminology that the apostle uses, exceeding riches, kindness in Christ Jesus, it's just a tremendously wealthy text and will have to spread out its wealth over two mornings. First of all then, I shall attempt to open up the words which convey the main thought. And there are two subdivisions of that effort. First of all, we shall consider the determiner and the executor of this purpose, and then secondly, the essence of this purpose.

15:46 Now look at verse 7. That in the age of Christ, which is to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace. Now when you find a pronoun and you want to know who the he is or who the her is, you look back to the nearest noun that fits. And if you start doing that in your Bible, you'll end right back up at verse 4 to that which was the hinge of the whole contrast, but God.

16:19 He is still the subject central to this whole paragraph. But God, that He might show the exceeding riches of His grace. In other words, the determiner and the executor of this purpose is God Himself and God alone. As God is the author and the provider of redemption, He is the determiner of the end of redemption and the infallible executor of that end.

16:57 Now we bear so much by nature of the image of the devil, that image which would tear God from His throne and put man in His place, that we cannot come to a text like this and slide into its emphasis naturally. It cuts right across the grain of everything that's native to you as a fallen human being. For even when we begin to think about looking for salvation outside of ourselves in the grace of God, and only God can bring us there, by nature a man doesn't care about salvation. Let God begin to stir him up or his conscience trouble him so he's interested in salvation, then he'll try to contrive a salvation

17:42 that's rooted in what he does. Let the Word and the Holy Ghost drive him out of himself to find salvation in Christ and in another, and then you know what he'll do? He'll take a salvation in another and he'll say the goal of it terminates upon himself. But my friend, God's salvation begins in God and ends in God.

18:03 For of Him and through Him and unto Him are all things to whom be glory forever and forever. And one of the greatest tragedies in our day is not only to be found in that men are not letting God be God in the provision of salvation, in the application of salvation, but many who give at least lip service to the centrality of God in the provision and application of salvation still have man at the center in the goal of salvation. And this text says

18:46 that in the ages to come He, God, who has determined this purpose, might actually execute and bring to fruition that purpose. And if we understand what is the real issue from Genesis to Revelation as we read the Bible, we will begin to feel at home with a text like this. For if we were to state in short compass what is the whole theme of the message of the Bible, the theme is God's determination to vindicate His own character before the whole moral universe in the salvation of an innumerable company

19:29 whom no man can number and in the ultimate destruction of the devil and all his angels. In other words, in the destruction of everything that will not allow God to be all in all. So as we come to this matter of the purpose of God in redemption, we must remember that God is its determiner and its executor. Now secondly, what is the essence of His purpose?

The Essence of God's Purpose: Displaying His Grace

19:58 Look at the text. That, and skip over the phrase in the ages to come, that, moving now to the subject, He, main verb, might show the object His grace. Now the word show is a weak translation. It may have had more vigor when our Bibles were translated but it could better be translated in contemporary English by the word display.

20:30 That He might display His grace. Now to think through this phrase which is just pregnant with implications and other related themes of Scripture, let's ask several questions. First of all, what has God determined to do? Well, the text said He's determined to display His grace.

21:00 Now Romans 3.26 says that in the Gospel God is displaying that He is both just and righteous. In His dealings with the deliverance of Israel Romans 11 and verse 22 we read that God is determined to display His goodness and severity. But in this text we are told that God's ultimate concern in redemption is not merely to give a full display of all His glorious attributes but to give a pristine and peculiar display to His grace above all other attributes.

21:45 Why does He quicken dead sinners? Why does He unite them to His Son? Why does He raise them to sit in the place of acceptance and privilege in Christ Jesus in the heavenlies? The answer of the text is He wants to display His unmerited favor to the ill-deserving.

22:10 He wants to display this quality of His dealing with rebel sinners. This quality, this attribute, this in God which both designs and confers such amazing privileges. Now let me qualify that. It is not grace, not grace negating holiness, but grace finding channels consistent with unblemished holiness.

22:36 It is not grace eclipsing justice, but grace contriving a way for justice to exhaust its demands in the rescuing of rebel sinners. It is not grace canceling law, but grace making a way for the full satisfaction of all the righteous demands and holy standards of the law. As we saw in our careful consideration of verses 5 and 6, it was in the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ as representative and substitute that salvation was wrought and wrought in such a way that every attribute of God

23:19 was given its fullest and its most complete expression and standing as capstone over every exercise of every attribute of the living God in the redemption of sinners is the capstone of grace, in order that He might display His grace. Now look at the word display. What is a display window? You kids, when you go window shopping with Mom and Dad at Willowbrook, and you go by all those fancy shops and you look at the display windows, what's the purpose of a display window?

23:57 Did you ever find a display window? In the side alley in some building down in New York City? You never found a display window on the alley side. It's on the street side.

24:07 Why? Well, you see, when you display something, you're putting it out in the place of public appreciation and admiration. And if it's a display window, you put something of worth there. You don't pour your garbage into a display window.

24:23 If you go into a museum, and you go to the section where they have rare and precious jewels, you will find something that will bring them set in such a way in a glass case with lighting upon them to bring out all the inherent beauty. You won't find a pile of garbage there. You see, the whole concept of display means it's something of intrinsic worth and beauty that is put forth in such a relationship to other people that it may be seen and appreciated and admired for what it is. Now, that's what God has done.

25:00 In the scheme of salvation by Jesus Christ, His purpose was to put His grace in the display case for men and angels, yes, and even reprobates and devils to see, and to force the reprobates and devils to acknowledge with bent knee the glory of that display and to capture the hearts of all the redeemed before the amazing measure of that display. And my friend, you know what His display case is? The likes of you and me. He took dead sinners,

25:45 chapter 2, verses 1 to 3, bound by the world, the flesh and the devil, lying under the curse and wrath of God, and He said, that's going to be My display case. What an unlikely display case. And God says, I'm taking the likes of that, and that's going to be My display case of My grace throughout the ages to come. That's what God is committed to do.

When God's Grace Will Be Displayed: In the Ages to Come

26:13 Now, under the essence of His purpose, having asked the question, what is He determined to do, display His grace, we ask the second question, when is He determined that that display shall take place? And look at the text. That in the ages to come. And we could translate that more literally, that in the coming ages or even more literally, it's bad English, but it's good Greek, that in the ages coming and that will continue to come.

26:45 It's a present participle. That in the coming ages, not ages that shall one day come, but that are already coming, He might display His grace. Now, what is the meaning of that little phrase, in the coming ages? And at this point, there is a division amongst God's people.

27:06 They look at the same phrase and they say, we're convinced it means this, we're convinced it means that, we're convinced it means the other. Well, I'm not going to take you into a linguistic problem and into a lesson in syntax and grammar, but I do want you to appreciate the three possibilities, all of which are true to the language, and then you'll see why I've settled on one of them. And I hope you'll agree with me that it's the proper thing to do. When is God going to make you and me a showcase?

27:36 A showcase of His grace? Well, some would answer from this text, He's going to do this in the times to come between the first and the second coming of Christ. The word age literally means an epoch, a period of time. Colossians 1.26 describes past history

27:58 as ages and generations. Paul says the mystery of the gospel has been hidden for ages, same word, and generations. What's he referring to? He's referring to past history.

28:10 There is the epoch, the age of the patriarchs. There was the epoch of the prophets. There was the epoch of the theocracy. And he says all of these ages, during which time the full message of the gospel was hid, he says now it's unfolded.

28:27 So some say, alright, the plural, ages, obviously refers to periods of time, and we read here in Ephesians 3 and verse 10, that now unto the principalities and powers will be made known through the church the manifold wisdom of God. And they argue, Paul is saying that God is determined that between the first advent of Christ and the second advent of Christ, here in a world full of sin and ungodliness and impiety and irreligion, God will have showcases of His amazing grace. There at Ephesus, while Diana's temple still stands, and while multitudes of the Ephesians

29:11 still cry from their hearts, great is Diana, God of the Ephesians, and while many continue to scour their works of curious art and witchcraft, what has God done? He's planted there in Ephesus a people who gather in the simplicity of New Testament worship to praise Jesus Christ as God, to approach the Father through Him in the Holy Spirit. They're part of this living temple. They are in Ephesus, that seat and citadel of paganism.

29:43 They are a showcase of the power of grace. And you say, well, that seems to be honest and true to the language. Who'd take fault with that? Well, there is a problem.

29:53 It doesn't violate any language, but does it do justice to the language? Is God's use of you and me as a display case of grace to end when the Savior comes? The Bible says all I have of what grace has provided now is a little down payment. Well, if I'm a showcase and all I am is a one-eighth carat diamond, what will I be when I'm five carats?

30:21 If God's got me in the showcase when I'm just an eighth of a carat, what will He want to do with me when He makes me five carats worth? So you see the problem with that interpretation is it puts a limitation, though it does not violate the language as such. Well, there's a second possibility. Some say a plague on your house, it's speaking of the ages after the return of Christ.

30:47 They say since it uses the plural, it's speaking of the coming ages. And the way eternity is described in the New Testament is by a phrase, unto the ages of the ages, the epochs of the epochs. We have no concept of eternity, it says great blocks of time piled upon great blocks of time. And they say, alright, what Paul is saying is this, God is determined to take you Ephesians, and when He's done with you, and He's not until Jesus comes, you see, you've only got the down payment now, the earnest He spoke of in verse 13.

31:22 When He's finished with you, it's going to be such an amazing display of grace that throughout eternity to the wandering days of seraphim and cherubim and all the redeemed and the angels, and even as the wicked sink into hell, a source of amazement to them that you have been the recipients of grace. You say, I kind of like that, that sounds good. Well, you see, the problem there is, am I not a display case now? If you just say display case then, what am I now?

31:57 If I'm to be light in darkness, if I'm to be salt, I may not be a five carat diamond, but at least I'm sixteenth of a carat if God's laid hold of me. So you say, oh, I see what you're leading to. You're going to have your cake and eat it too. That's right.

32:15 That's right. Because the phrase is so indefinite that it can refer not exclusively to the time between the first and second advent, or exclusively to the time after the second advent, but to all future time and on into eternity and unto the ages if Colossians 1.26 describes past history as ages, cannot Paul describe future history as ages? Well, certainly he can.

32:48 And so he's saying in this text, I believe he's saying, I speak with more than just cautious reserve. I haven't quite come to the place of dogmatic affirmation, but I'm getting closer to it even as I preach this morning. It's amazing how sometimes you can preach yourself into a conviction. And notice here, notice what he says now.

33:11 God has done all of this in you Ephesians. When? Right now. God who's been rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us when we were dead, that's our life history, has made us alive here and now, raised us up here and now, made us to sit with him here and now.

33:28 But as we saw when we expounded the phrases, what we have of the quickening, the raising and the seeding is but an earnest. And we have the pledge of all that that will bring to us in the world to come. So the apostle says he did all of this for us now, that in the coming ages, that is for every period of time that is before us from the moment we are quickened until we look upon his face with joy and serve him through all eternity, we might be the display case of his grace. And so I incline to the position taken by some able exegetes,

34:11 namely Charles Hodge and others, who say that the praise answers the question when will God display his grace in us in the following way? He will display it in all future time and on into eternity. Now having asked and answered the question what is God determined to do, display his grace, when is he determined to do it? Now and into eternity, how is he determined to do it?

How God Displays His Grace: Through Salvation in Christ

34:41 Well, look at the text. He says that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace. Well, to what does the that refer? What is it connected with?

34:55 Well, it's connected with everything that precedes. Everything that God has done. Well, what's he done? He's taken dead sinners and made them alive.

35:05 He's taken bound sinners and he's liberated them. He's taken condemned sinners and has freely accepted them in the beloved and forgiven them and brought them to the place of acceptance and pardon and privilege in Jesus Christ at his own right hand. You see, if you look into the immediate context, you see that God is determined to make men and women showcases of his grace for all the coming ages by doing precisely for them what he did for these Ephesians. Think of it in its most immediate context when you read back in the book of Acts about the city of Ephesus filled with heathenism, demon worship,

35:49 pagan religion, darkness all over that city. What did God do? God came and rescued them from the sensuous ignorance of Diana worship and brought them into the knowledge of Christ. But look at the text.

36:04 Paul says, Us, here he was the proud Pharisee, the externalist, the Jew who thought his task in life was to obliterate the very remembrance of Jesus Christ from off the face of the earth. And he says whether God takes the raw pagan who's worshiping Diana or the ignorant Jew who worships he thinks, Jehovah, when in reality he's a blasphemer and a murderer according to his own words. What does God do? He has no two salvations, one for Jew, one for Gentile.

36:39 Paul says, I was dead and quickened me. I was walking according to the course of the world and he liberated me. I was walking according to the prince of the power of the air and he delivered me. I was under condemnation.

36:54 He delivered me. So he takes in the full spectrum from raw paganism to the most cultured, refined religionist and he says God will make them showcases of grace, every one of them in the same way, by saving them to the grace that is in Jesus Christ. That's how he's going to do it. He has no other way.

Application: The Nature of Biblical Salvation

37:16 Now time will not permit us, this will be next week's message, God willing, to look at the various qualifying phrases that surround this matter of grace. Paul couldn't say grace, bald, plain grace. He had to tell us something about the measure of that grace, exceeding riches, the manner of its operation, kindness toward us, the sphere of its operation, in Christ, the objects of its operation, us, every word, significant. We don't have time to go into it this morning, but in the time remaining I want to draw out several applications from this brief exposition of the apostles' words.

37:55 What does all this say to us? You've listened attentively. I hope you've understood. I've tried to lay it out clearly and simply.

38:03 What's all this say to us? Well, first of all, it contains an important principle with reference to the nature of the salvation taught in the Bible. The only salvation professing Christians are concerned about is the salvation taught in the Bible. Would you agree to that?

38:24 All right. What does this verse 7 tell us about that salvation? Well, it contains this great principle. If the whole end of God's salvation is to display His grace, then that salvation is biblical, which most magnifies the God of grace.

38:45 That's why he goes on in the next verse and says what? For by grace have you been saved. If the whole end of God is to display His grace in salvation, then He brings salvation by grace. And now you see how verse 8 is tied to verse 7.

39:07 But that comes later too, God willing. And now I wanted to do several things from that main principle. Any view that makes man's work foundational to salvation is a heretical perversion of the gospel. Now heresy is error which it believed will damn you.

39:29 Heresy is error inconsistent with the possession of salvation. If you deny the deity of Christ, that's heresy. You cannot be saved. If you deny His blood atonement, that's heresy.

39:42 You cannot be saved. The whole book of Romans and Galatians attacks the heresy of works salvation. And if I'm talking to anyone this morning who thinks that you're accepted before God on the basis of anything you can perform inwardly or outwardly, oh my dear friend, may I plead with you to face your heresy for what it is, a damning lie. Now follow as I make the next statement.

40:08 Any view of salvation that makes man spiritual, spiritual activities, whether they are repentance or faith, contributory, is a weakening error. Now see the difference? I didn't say heresy, but it's a weakening error. Those who say, yes, my works have nothing to do with God's acceptance of me, but the faith that brings me into possession of that righteousness is something I bring to the whole process.

40:43 I would never say that such a thought is damning heresy. And don't you say it. Or you're going to have Wesley damned, and you're going to have a lot of notable saints damned. And you'd better be careful because Jesus said, with what measure ye meet it shall be measured to you again.

41:02 Don't be too quick to damn people. And God may be quick to damn you. But it is a weakening error. And that's the very error Paul's going to correct in verse 8.

41:15 For by grace are you saved. Yes, faith enters into the whole process. But he says, don't think that that's canceling out everything I've said. And that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.

41:25 And I hope to demonstrate, even though I'm fully aware that you have a difference in gender, you have a neuter this, coupled with a feminine word for faith. I hope to demonstrate that that does not undercut what the apostle is saying. Oh, dear people, listen. Why are we so fastidious about maintaining that salvation is all of grace in all of its parts from beginning to end?

41:55 That it begins, as the apostle tells us in chapter 1, with electing grace. Why do we insist that this is so? Why do we insist that it was definite, particular grace that was exercised in the redemption of Christ upon the cross? Why do we emphasize that it's efficacious grace that subdues a sinner, and that same grace that will preserve a sinner?

42:26 I hope our reason is that we've caught something of the vision of the glory of the God of grace, and we refuse to stain that glory with anything that is of man. That's the first great principle. The nature of God's salvation is gracious. Therefore, the biblical salvation, if rightly understood, will be one that is suffused with grace from beginning to end.

Application: The Problem of Evil and God's Grace

42:58 Now, there's a second very helpful principle in the text, and it's this. It contains an important principle with reference to the problem of evil. If you've never been troubled about this question, I wonder if you've ever thought a serious thought. Here's the question.

43:18 If God is sovereign and God is good, why did a sovereign God who is good ever permit evil in his world? Have you ever wrestled with that question? Have you wrestled with that question? Some of us have spent sleepless nights or parts of nights over that question.

43:40 If God is sovereign and God is good, how could a sovereign God who can do anything, that means he can permit anything, he can hinder anything, and a God who is good permit evil in his world when evil brings not only all of the tragedy that we see with our own eyes, and that we saw on those slides this morning, and we saw even the better side of Pakistan. I appreciate the fact that our brother did not prey upon our sensitivities by showing us the filth and the squalor that he could well have shown us without too much trouble, and then add to that the reality of an everlasting hell. My friends,

44:23 that's no simple problem. May I suggest that though this text does not give an exhaustive answer, I believe it hooks us in to the most helpful biblical answer to that question. Why did God permit evil if he's good and if he's sovereign? Well, look at this whole passage.

44:44 If men had not been allowed to descend to the depths of verses 1 to 3, would grace have ever unveiled her face in the amazing provisions of verses 4 to 6? If men were not dead, where would be the amazing grace that quickens them? If men were not bound, where would be the amazing grace that liberates them? If men were not condemned, where would be the display of grace if there were no forgiveness freely to confer upon the ill-deserving?

45:26 And I believe though it does not answer every question, it gives an answer with which the believing heart can rest until that day when we shall know as we are known. O Lord, for the reasons known to Yourself, You were so determined that this aspect of Your character, Your graciousness, Your disposition to show favor to the ill-deserving. Lord, this is so much a part of what You are that You needed the backdrop of sin and evil and the ugliness and the foul intrusion of the devil to be the backdrop to the manifestation of the glory of grace. And then finally, I believe the text

Application: The End of All God's Works and Character Vindication

46:10 contains an important principle with reference to the end of all of God's works both in nature and in grace. From Genesis to Revelation, God is committed to one great thing. He is going to vindicate His character upon His earth. That was the great conflict in the Garden of Eden.

46:36 It wasn't whether or not Adam and Eve should have their taste bugs titillated by some exotic fruit, the issue is this. God says, I'm good. And the tempter says, God is not good. God says, in my goodness I say, leave the tree alone.

46:53 The devil says, in his meanness he says, leave the tree alone. And that was the great conflict. What is God like? And that's been the great conflict through the ages right down to the final upheavals in this world as we know it.

47:12 And that day, when Jesus Christ comes riding upon His white charger, and all of His enemies are put beneath His feet, and we, His own, are caught up to be with Him, and judgment falls upon this earth, and it's purified in the fires of that judgment, when the new heavens and the new earth are ushered in, what will be the language of all the redeemed? True and righteous are thy ways, O Lord. There will be the vindication of the character of God by every single moral creature, and all creatures shall acknowledge

47:55 God to be what He is, and every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Oh, dear child of God, I don't know what that does for you. I hope it gives you a sense of perspective and stability that when you come now to worship God, there's something more than whimpering and crying about your little aches and your little pains and your little petty problems, child of God. You're caught up in this that God is doing.

48:30 He's going to make you an eternal showcase of His grace, and so He's going to bring you through some suffering. Why? So that your faith is purified in the crucible of suffering. And when men see you praise God even though His hand seems to be against you, what happens?

48:51 God's character is vindicated. Look at Job. His wife came along and says, God treats you like that. Man, have nothing to do with him.

48:59 Curse him! He says, The Lord gives, the Lord takes. I shall not question His right nor His goodness. Blessed is the name of the Lord.

49:12 God was glorified. His character vindicated. When you read the Scriptures this way, when you begin to read God's dealings with you, when you begin to pray with this perspective, there's something bigger in this world than your own petty little whims, dear child of God. There's something bigger than your own little petty inconveniences.

49:32 There's something bigger than your own petty little plans. God vindicated His character. When I start praying that way, hallowed be thy name. What am I praying?

49:47 Lord, let your character be vindicated before all the moral universe. And that's why a Christian longs for Jesus to come. Not to get Him out of this mess before things get too hot. That's the psychological impotence to the pre-tribulation relationship.

50:04 The pre-tribulation rapture theory. Lord, get us out of the mess before things get too hot. A Christian really longs for the Savior to come. Why?

50:16 Because his heart is pained when the character of his God is defamed. His heart is grieved when God is not praised in His world. And by faith, he sees the time coming when he'll be able to walk or fly or however we're going to get across this world when it's the new heavens and the new earth. He longs to know that everywhere he tramples his feet there'll be an echo to that footstep.

50:43 Praise God! Every person he meets, every individual he touches will be living to nothing but the praise of his God. That's what gives impetus to missions. What drives our brother to go back to that land?

51:03 If you and I sat there this morning and said, what in the world would anyone do? Go into a place like that. Because of the conviction that God has some showcases. For His grace.

51:17 And Pakistan belongs to King Jesus. And one day, in the new heavens and the new earth, every square inch of Pakistan will bring glory to God. How do you feel in the midst of thoughts like this? Probably the surest index of where you are.

Final Exhortation: A Display Case of Grace or Wrath

51:41 How do you feel when someone is attempting to extol God in the light of a text like this? That we might be to the praise of His grace, that we might display His grace? Is your heart caught up and you say, oh God, amazing grace. Or do you sit there dead as a dodo and say, what in God's name is that fellow ranting and raving about?

52:09 My friend, listen to me and this is my final word to you this morning. Listen. You are going to be a display case for the perfections of God, every one of you. You will be an eternal display case either of His grace, or of His righteous and holy anger.

52:28 But God's going to be glorified in every creature upon His earth. And God will be glorified in your damnation. God glorified. Yes, I know.

52:41 And God says, I'll be glorified in spite of you. But oh, my friend, God delights to make people showcases of His grace. Judgment is His strange work. He delights in mercy.

52:58 And He says, and He says to you in the Gospel, come now, let us reason together. Don't be bull-headed and stubborn and proud. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. This great God delights to save the vilest of sinners.

53:20 If He takes hold of Ephesians, steeped in the ignorance of paganism, takes hold of a proud Saul of Tarsus, held in the grip of empty religion, my friend, all of us are included between that spectrum. Oh, come to this same Savior and plead that He will have mercy upon you and that He will make you a showcase of His grace, now and for all eternity. Let us pray.