Ephesians 1

Introduction: The Sovereignty of God and Ephesians 1

0:00 O Lord, our God, once again, as we come to this solemn and sober responsibility of handling divine truth, we would confess our darkness of mind by nature, our sluggishness of spirit, and we ask that you would grant to us in this hour that special ministry of God the Holy Ghost to illuminate our minds, to quicken us, to hear and to heed that which you would say to us through your word. Make us little babes to whom you will be pleased to reveal the glorious truths of your sovereign grace and mercy. Amen. We come tonight in what I believe is the, to what I believe is the 12th, 13th message in this series, on the general theme of the sovereignty of God. Now, the very mention of that name to some people is like holding up the proverbial red flag to a bull, for immediately it conjures up all kinds of grotesque spiritual images

1:21 that are far from the wonderful truth of the scriptures. So when we assert the sovereignty of God, we are simply using this as a convenient title for that aspect of divine truth, which declares with absolute clarity that God rules in the world that he himself has made.

1:44 In our development of this theme, we have seen him as the God who is sovereign in creation. Revelation 4.11, For by his pleasure or will all things are and were created. He is sovereign in the realm of providence.

1:59 The scripture says he is working all things after the counsel of his will. And presently are we are studying, that aspect of the word of God, which declares that he is sovereign in the realm of grace, that he saves men, not according to the whims and fancies of men, but according to his own eternal purpose. Having looked at the four key words in the New Testament, which teach this doctrine, the word elect, the word called, the word predestinate, and the word foreknow, we are now studying the key passages in the writings, the writings of the inspired apostles, which set forth this truth in a very concentrated manner. We have already studied Romans 9 and 1 Corinthians 1, and tonight we want to come to a very brief overview of Ephesians chapter 1. Now, to try to see the relationship of these passages, let me picture it in this way. Romans chapter 9 sets this truth of divine sovereignty and grace in the context, of a theological argument. Romans 9 is a theological argument.

3:13 Paul takes the words of the objector, and he answers them, and you find a masterful display of Holy Ghost anointed logic and scriptural reasoning. And when you've come through Romans 9, there is but one thing to do. That's either to tear the page out of your Bible, or twist the words, so that they might as well be torn out, or to fall down upon one's face, and say, Oh Lord, though this transcends my understanding, it's obvious that you have a right out of the same lump to make vessels unto honor and to dishonor. You're the God who is sovereign in grace.

3:53 Then, our study last week in 1 Corinthians 1 is the same apostle teaching the same truth, but not as a theological argument, but as the testimony of Christian experience. For you remember how he appealed to the very way that God dealt with these people. He says, For ye see your calling, brethren, that not many mighty, not many noble are called, but God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the mighty. So, in Romans 9, the doctrine of divine sovereignty is set in the context of a theological argument.

4:27 In 1 Corinthians 1, it's set in the context of a testimony of Christian experience. Now, what do we find in Ephesians? Ephesians 1. In Ephesians 1, we have this same glorious truth set forth as a hymn of praise to God for the blessings of sovereign grace.

4:47 Romans 9, theological argument, precise, analytical, devastating in its logic. 1 Corinthians 1, he's not coming so much at the heads of his hearers, but he's coming at their hearts. And he says, Now, just look at yourself. It's obvious that God works sovereignly by calling men to himself.

5:07 This amens your own experience. And now, in Ephesians 1, we find the same apostle not thinking of the experience of the saints or the argument of the theologian, but we find him, as it were, drawing into the chamber of praise. And as he contemplates all of the blessings that have flowed down in the sovereign mercy of God, he writes this tremendous paragraph, Ephesians 1, 3, through 14, which in most Bibles is one sentence, probably the longest sentence in the Bible. And the whole theme of it is a hymn of praise to God for the blessings of sovereign grace.

Overview of Ephesians 1:3-14

5:48 Now, with that sort of a progressive setting in our mind and seeing the interrelationship of these passages, let us turn to Ephesians 1 for our study tonight. And by the way, this has been very frustrating to try to prepare a message on Ephesians 1. For this first paragraph, verses 3 to 14, is so rich and you can approach it from a number of ways. It matters not with what spade you come.

6:13 You come away with a great goldmine of truth. You could approach it from the standpoint of the work of the triune God in sovereign redemption. You see, the work of the Father in calling and predestinating and making us accepted. The work of the Son in redeeming and purchasing us by his blood.

6:32 The work of the Spirit in sealing. You could approach it that way. You could approach it from the standpoint of a word study. Some rich words in here.

6:41 And so as I was wrestling with all these things, I thought the best way to approach it is the way I'm going to do it or else I wouldn't be doing it that way. And it's neither of the first two. All right then, verse 3 of Ephesians 1. 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.

7:14 Then put a little stop there and put the in love on the next verse. 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, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will, that we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ, in whom ye also trusted after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy spirit of promise who is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession

The Reason for Paul's Praise: Spiritual Blessings in Christ

8:40 unto the praise of his glory. Now notice how Paul begins this hymn of praise. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In almost all of his letters the apostle begins with this eulogy, this blessing to God.

9:01 2 Corinthians 1.3 is a similar passage in Romans 9.5. And the word blessing is an ascription of glory and honor and praise to God.

9:12 You remember that passage in the book of the Revelation where you find the multitude saying blessing and glory and honor and power be unto our God and unto the Lamb forever and forever. And even as I quote those words you hear the famous well-known lines of Handel's Messiah coming to your mind. Blessing and glory and honor and power. So whenever a creature is blessing God it does not mean that he's stretching forth his hands and imparting blessing to God but it means that he's bowed before this God ascribing praise and honor to him.

9:48 Now what was the reason for Paul's ascription of praise and blessing to God? Notice. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us better translated who blessed us pointing back beyond the sphere of time to the place in the councils of God where blessing began. Who blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.

10:18 That which caused Paul to begin to pen this hymn of praise to the blessings of a sovereign God was his contemplation of the spiritual blessings that were his possession and the possession of all believers through virtue of their union with Jesus Christ. He's been meditating upon all that is his through Christ. And as his mind muses and turns over these tremendous blessings of God his heart becomes so full that he has to say like the Psalmist while I was musing the fire burned then spake I with my mouth. And so he begins this hymn of praise and the reason was a contemplation of all the blessings that have come to us in redemption. We bless God because he has blessed us in redemption. We bless him with words because he has blessed us in the works which are the basis of our salvation his mighty works. Now what are they called in a general sense?

11:29 Notice our text verse 3 he hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus. Paul was not thinking of the wonderful retirement plan he had with the church at Antioch. You remember they sent him out on his missionary journey and I don't believe they sat down and came to some agreement about a very agreeable retirement plan and nor was he thinking about all the wonderful times he's going to have spending a summer in the Caribbean somewhere or going to Rome to do a little sightseeing. He wasn't going there for that he was going there to lose his head.

12:05 He was going to Rome to be beheaded. So when he's thinking of blessing he's not thinking of carnal, physical, temporal blessing but his mind has been contemplating those spiritual blessings. Blessings which can only be communicated to us by the Spirit. Blessings which meet the needs of our spirits the needs of our faith the needs of the true man.

12:29 Notice what he says now about these blessings. God has blessed us with all or every spiritual blessing. There is not one thing that men will ever need to be accepted with God in time and through eternity that is not already theirs in Jesus Christ. Now Paul didn't say he'd come into the inheritance of all that blessing yet but God had already conferred that blessing by virtue of storing it up in Christ and putting men and women in union with Christ and now God has a plan by which they'll come into the full inheritance and he mentions at the last phrase of this paragraph in verse 13 verse 14 that we're waiting for that day when the full possession we'll inherit the full possession of the purchased redemption. In other words the child of God has all those blessings now though he does not necessarily enjoy the benefit of them all now but in the counsel and purpose of God they're so sure that Paul can speak of them as already having been conferred upon the saints. The same way he did in Romans 8.30.

13:42 Remember he said for whom he did foreknow he did predestinate moreover whom he did predestinate them he called whom he called he justified whom he justified he what? He glorified. Well you're not glorified yet are you? Did he call you by his grace?

13:57 Are you a called one? Have you repented and believed? Have you fled to Christ? Have you?

The Source of All Blessing: Jesus Christ

14:02 Well God says it is good as though you're already glorified because in the purpose of God all whom he justifies he glorifies and so Paul puts it in the past tense and so he does the same thing here. So the occasion then of this ascription of praise to God was his contemplation of every spiritual blessing which has been conferred upon the saints. Now let's as we think our way through the passage consider in the first place what is the source of all this blessing? That which provoked the hymn of praise was spiritual blessing.

14:36 Now what's the source of all that blessing? And you find the answer in the little phrase he hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. The source of every blessing the great fountainhead from which every spiritual blessing flows down upon and into the saints of God. That great reservoir out of which it all comes is our Lord Jesus Christ himself.

15:05 We've robbed Christ of much of his glory in our day by giving the idea that you can have the blessings that he purchased sort of in a piecemeal grab as you can kind of an arrangement. You like a little bit of forgiveness then you can get that from Jesus and a little bit of peace get that from Jesus no God has taken every spiritual blessing and stored it up in his son and it's all heaped up in him and if every blessing is in him there's none outside of it. You see God hasn't left any hanging around elsewhere. It's all stored up in him and God's got all his may I say it reverently God's put all his eggs in one basket.

15:45 People say now don't do that because you drop the one basket and lose all your eggs. God's put all the blessings of God in that one one reservoir and if you miss him you miss all. But blessed be God if you're in him you have all. He has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ the source of this blessing from God that causes Paul in response to bless the name of God is our Lord Jesus Christ of whom the scripture speaks in Colossians 2 and says that in him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge and in union with him ye are made complete.

16:29 Oh tonight dear one the great issue that faces every one of you is this am I in Christ? Am I savingly joined to Christ? Has God the Holy Spirit joined me to Christ? That's the great issue.

16:44 For if you're in Christ then God has blessed you with all spiritual blessing and outside of him though in his common grace he may send his rain upon the just and the unjust and there may flow down upon your head a thousand material and temporal blessings of his common grace there's not one spiritual blessing that you can claim as your own if you're outside of Jesus Christ. Now what is the substance of these blessings of sovereign grace? The source of these blessings of grace in Christ. Now what is the actual substance of those blessings?

The Substance of These Blessings: Election to the Spirit's Seal

17:25 And now Paul begins to enumerate them in verse 4 all the way down to verse 14 and all we can do is touch briefly upon them for I believe we'll see six or seven distinct blessings that form the substance of that which caused Paul to ascribe praise to God. Now what is the first one we confront? Verse 4 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. As the apostle was thinking and meditating and don't remember when God wrote his word through these servants they didn't necessarily go into a trance once in a while the prophets did this and Paul speaks about being caught up in the third heavens but more than that most of what they wrote came through the rational employment or the diligent employment of their own rational powers they thought they meditated they reasoned they argued and can you picture the apostle sitting down his heart full of praise as he's been thinking of all the streams that flow out of that reservoir Jesus Christ the deposit of all divine blessing he says now as I write these people at Ephesus I want them to join

18:53 with me in blessing God in a hymn of praise to his sovereign grace how can I begin to get them to share that which I feel and know in my own heart shall I take them to forgiveness no for there's something behind forgiveness shall I take them to the inheritance to come no for that's not the cause but that's the end result of something else and so as he traces the blessings in Christ back as far as he can he ends up at what is the initial blessing from which all others flow down and we find it in verses 4 and 5 election and predestination beloved isn't it a shame that a truth that made Paul's heart burst with praise has made men stomp with rage isn't that a shame isn't that a shame for you remember now this is not a theological argument this is not this is a hymn of praise and the first stanza spells out in bold letters that which is the beginning cause of every spiritual blessing the eternal election of God the choice of a people in reference to Christ whom he will save by his grace and ultimately bring to glory well notice this election was before the foundation of the world

20:22 that's a Hebraism that's a figure of speech to say in eternity back before the world was God chose us so when did this election take place it took place in the eternal counsels of God and notice what Paul says he chose us in him there was that transaction in the triune Godhead what the theologians call the covenant of grace when as our Lord says in John 17 I have given eternal life to as many as thou hast given to me when the Father and the Son and the Spirit agreed that there would be a people taken out of the mass of lost humanity to be redeemed by the purchase of the Son and to be savingly drawn to salvation by the powerful work of the Spirit and as Paul thinks of all the spiritual blessings that are his and are the possession of the Ephesian Christians and remember he's not writing to theologians he's writing to Christians people a few years old in the Lord out of a pagan background Gentiles who had no background in the truth of God he doesn't hesitate to say oh Christian Christian Christian would you join me in a peon of praise to God then praise him with me as we bow at the footstool of a God who chose us in Christ and predestinated us

21:50 according to his own purpose but you say what's the basic difference between election and predestination well in a general sense we can say election refers to that choice of some to life predestination generally refers to God's appointment to certain privileges notice verse 4 he chose us from before the foundation of the world having predestinated us unto adoption he chose us so that election in a general sense refers more to the choice by which he sets some apart as the objects of mercy and then he predestines them he pre-ordains fore-ordains them to a certain privilege and position even to be his adopted sons why did Paul place this as the first and great blessing that formed the substance of his praise to God well for the simple reason Paul knew that if it were not for this eternal purpose of God to save a great multitude whom no man can number out of every tribe and tongue and nation none would ever be saved let's never forget God took the initiative in this whole business this whole idea that man was just going around wringing his hands trying to find a way to get to God that's not a biblical idea the biblical concept is found right in Genesis 3

23:20 where man runs away from God God came seeking Adam who ran and hid in the bushes that's the picture of all humanity by nature running and hiding in the bushes of self deceit and self delusion but a sovereign God who comes in mercy and drives man out of his bushes and brings him to the place where he's a recipient of his grace so the first great blessing is this of God's election and his predestination the second great blessing verse 6 notice it to the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved one in keeping with his eternal purpose of election predestinating us to be his sons how does that actually come to pass in time when by his grace and the powerful work of the spirit he brings us to repentance and faith and we cast souls upon Christ and we are joined to him and we are accepted in the beloved one so that in a holy God before whose eye all is naked actually accepts us as righteous not for any merit of our own but for the merit of Jesus Christ put to our account I was reading a manuscript

24:49 at the request of someone the other day to go through it to analyze it it's going to be a chapter on the difference between justification and sanctification and his whole concept of justification was its negative aspect that we are forgiven God now declares us not guilty now that's the negative aspect of justification but that's only half of it the shorter catechism so clearly states justification involves not only the forgiveness of sin but actually as justified within his sight so that God not only sees my sins blotted out he sees me in Christ as though I had fully and perfectly kept the whole law of God the wonder Paul got on shouting ground when he thought of the blessings that flowed down out of the eternal election in predestinating purpose of God for it brought him Saul of Tarsus who was a murderer and a blasphemer Which causes him to write this hymn of praise. Is found in verse 7. In whom we have redemption through his blood. The forgiveness of sins.

26:06 According to the riches of his grace. Election and predestination. Verses 4 and 5. Acceptance in Christ.

26:14 Verse 6. Verse 7. Remission of sins. And redemption.

26:20 Bought out of the bondage of our sin. Our sins remitted. We must pass on quickly to the next great blessing. The fourth.

26:30 The revelation of the mystery of his will. Notice verse 9. Having made known unto us. The mystery of his will.

26:39 God has unfolded to us. That purpose which was hidden for generations. That through a bloody cross and an open tomb. He would bring to himself.

26:50 Guilty sinners and accept them as righteous. Through the work of his son. And we find the next great blessing in verse 10. That in the dispensation of the fullness of time.

27:01 He might gather together in one. All things in Christ. Both which are in heaven. And which are in earth.

27:08 Even in him. He has brought us into union with Christ. And with all of his redeemed. The best commentary I know on this verse is Hebrews 12.

27:18 Where we read. Ye are not come unto that mountain that quaked with fire. And there was that awesome demonstration of the holiness of God. But the writer to Hebrews says.

27:27 Ye are come unto Mount Zion. Unto the heavenly Jerusalem. Unto an innumerable company of angels. And unto the spirits of just men made perfect.

27:37 God in Jesus Christ has gathered together all of his elect. Elect angels. And his elect of all ages. And by virtue of union with Christ.

27:48 Has comprised them into one great body. The redeemed of the Lord of all ages. And as Paul contemplates this. He says blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

28:00 And then the next great blessing he mentions in verse 11. In whom we have obtained an inheritance. The American standard and all the modern translations render it more correctly. In whom we have been made a heritage.

28:14 We're God's heritage. Now it's true we have an inheritance. Uncorruptible. Incorruptible.

28:19 Undefiled. Fadeth not away. But this is a tremendous thought that we're God's heritage.

28:26 That. That which God counts his greatest inheritance is his people. You remember it says of our Lord that when he stands before the Father. He's going to say.

28:38 Father here am I and the children whom thou hast given me. That was the joy that was set before him. Which enabled him to endure the cross and despise its shame. The joy of bringing many sons into glory.

28:53 And we are his heritage. And as Paul thinks of this. He says blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And then the seventh great blessing in this chapter.

29:05 Is the seal and earnest of the spirit. Verse 13. In whom ye trusted after that he heard the word of truth. Ye were after that he believed.

29:14 Ye were sealed with the spirit of promise. Who is the earnest the down payment of our inheritance. Until we come to the full possession. Sealed by the spirit.

29:25 The seal being the stamp of ownership. And the indwelling of the spirit in his quickening enlivening work. A little down payment of that which we'll know when we are like him. So as Paul contemplates those seven great blessings.

The Cause of These Blessings: The Good Pleasure of God's Will

29:40 What can he do? But lift up his heart and say. Father son and spirit blessed be God. Now more applicable or more pertinent to our study.

29:53 Let's look for a few moments at what Paul says. This is the cause of these blessings. We've looked at their source. Jesus Christ.

30:01 He is the fountainhead from whence they all flow. The substance of those blessings beginning with election and predestination. And ending up with glorification. You take the whole scope.

30:13 That day when our bodies shall even be redeemed. And there you have the whole scope of redemption. From eternity to eternity. And beloved.

30:22 If you want it to end in eternity. You better be thankful it begins in eternity. I meet a lot of people who sure want a salvation that's going to make their eternity sure this way.

30:33 The only reason it's sure in that direction. Is that God purposed that it should be sure in that direction.

30:40 You follow me? The most inconsistent thing that I know of. Is to trump up and say wait a minute. Man's got free will.

30:48 He can get in when he gets good and ready. And when he'd like to and all the rest. But you come to those same people and say all right. If you've got him so free to get in.

30:56 Why don't you leave him free to get out? Oh no. Once you're in he's going to stay in. Why?

30:59 Well God's going to keep him in. Well why should he keep him in? There's only one reason. The God that purposed to get him in will keep him in.

31:07 But if God hadn't purposed to get him in. The devil's going to try to get him out. And the remains of the fallen nature will do their best to get him out. And the world's doing its best to get him out.

31:17 What proof do you have? In fact the cards are stacked against you. The only hope that once in I'll stay in. With a wicked heart remaining.

31:27 And a wicked devil. Fighting and a wicked world oppressing. Is that there's someone at the right hand of the Father praying. I will that they whom thou hast given me.

31:37 Be with me where I am. That they may behold my glory. Oh beloved that gives me hope. That makes me say blessed be the God and Father.

31:48 Of our Lord Jesus Christ. So we've looked at the source. Our Lord Jesus. The substance.

31:55 Election all the way through the seal. And the earnest of the spirit. Now what's the cause of those blessings. It's obvious they don't come to all men.

32:04 It's obvious that not all men are in Christ. It's obvious that not all men are accepted in the beloved. That all men have their sins remitted and are redeemed. That all men do not have the revelation of the mystery of his will.

32:16 That all men are not joined to Christ. That all men are not his heritage. That all men are not sealed by the spirit. What's the cause of these blessings?

32:24 Will you notice carefully verses 5, 9, 11. Notice having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to our foreseen faith.

32:43 No according to the good pleasure of his will.

32:52 Paul why were you chosen? Why did God foreordain you to be his son? Why was it Paul that when you were walking down that road. To Damascus breathing out threatenings and slaughters against the church.

33:08 The bit in your mouth. The rains upon your neck. Moving away from God and truth and Christ and the gospel. Why Paul did something happen?

33:16 Paul would say according to the good pleasure of his will. For when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb. And called me by his grace to reveal his son in me. Galatians 1 and verse 16.

33:31 And so in verse 5 we see. Cause of these blessings the good pleasure of his will. Verse 9. Having made known unto us the mystery of his will.

33:41 According to his good pleasure which he purposed in himself. And then the last part of verse 11. In whom we've obtained an inheritance being predestinated. According to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his will.

34:00 Put them together. Verse 5. According to the good. Pleasure of his will.

34:05 Verse 9. The good pleasure which he purposed in himself. Verse 11. Worketh all things after the counsel of his will.

34:13 What's he been talking about? He's been talking about redemption. And in the whole scheme of redemption from eternity to eternity. God's working all things after the counsel of his own will.

God Chose Us to Make Us Holy, Not Because We Would Be Holy

34:29 But you say don't we believe? Don't we repent? Sure he talks about them believing in verse 13. In whom ye trusted.

34:36 But now here's the issue. And I want you to listen carefully. Listen carefully.

34:43 Did God choose me because I would be holy? Or did he choose me to make me holy? Which is it? Notice verse 4.

34:54 According as he chose us in him because we would be holy? No. But he chose us in him that we should be holy. And what's the first step to holiness?

35:09 What's the first step? The first step to holiness. When a sinner what? Repents and believes the gospel.

35:14 Doesn't that set his face in the direction of holiness?

35:17 Yes or no? Is that the first step to holiness? Yes? No?

35:21 It is, isn't it? All right. So he chose us not because he saw we would be holy. If God's choice is based upon foreseen faith and repentance.

35:31 Then he's choosing us because we are choosing to be holy. That isn't what Paul says. He said he chose us that we should be holy. And the first step to holiness is repentance and faith.

35:41 And then all that follows, the first step to holiness is God's regenerating work by which he gives us life and enables us to savingly embrace the gospel. There are only two kinds of people here tonight amongst professing Christians. Those who stand here and say, I owe my faith to God's eternal choice in me. Let me put it over here where I had it before.

36:09 I owe my faith to my election. And there are others who say, I owe my election to my faith.

36:20 Now you can't have both.

36:24 I owe my faith to my election. Oh God, that I should be a believer and have all the blessings of believers. Lord, why is it? Blessed be your name.

36:35 Only one reason. You chose me in Christ in order to make me holy. And you did everything necessary to bring me to yourself. Or.

36:44 You stand over here and say, Lord, you just didn't choose to save anybody. But God, you saw that I'd be a little bit less wicked than some people. And I'd be a little bit less prejudice against the gospel. And I would wiggle my finger in the direction of yourself.

37:01 And then you do all the rest. I believe. And then, Lord, because you saw, I believe you chose me. So, Lord, all the blessings come not because you chose to give them, but really, Lord, because I chose to have them.

37:14 And you. Just ratified my choice. Beloved, I've tried for seven years, six years to find some mediating position between those two hard, fast categories. And there just isn't any.

37:29 May I give a little confession here today? I should have brought the book off and on. I keep a diary. And the other day when I was packing up books, I don't know whether that's faith or presumption.

37:39 I've begun to try to take an hour a day to pack up books and begin to pack in the house. So we begin to get ready to move. And as I was packing. Up, I came across a little diary.

37:50 I hadn't touched it for three, four years. And I read in there was a dated, I think, November 1963. Way back, what, four years ago. And on that particular day, I'd written the following said, as I have been wrestling with the problems of the election, predestination, free will, and I seem to get no light from God and the more I study, the more hopelessly confused I seem to become something along this line, I said, regardless of where I end up in my understanding of the word of God here.

38:21 I know if I'm to be used of God, I must have certain things. And I listed eight things that I must have. And I won't go into those because that's not the purpose. But then I said at the end, but realizing that these are not matters that are non-essential by the grace of God, I shall continue to cry for light and search the scriptures until God teaches me the truth of his word on these matters.

38:42 So if you're having a struggle, beloved, I tell you that to encourage a struggle's good. It drives you to the word and drives you to cry to God. And I hope you go home tonight and will put yourself on one side of the dresser or the other and say, all right, now, which do I say? That preacher said you've got to say one or the other.

38:59 All right, Lord, can I honestly say I owe my election to my faith? Lord, dare I tell you that the reason you chose me is because I would choose you first? If you can say that, you say it. I rather think if you really are honest, you'll have to end up standing over here and saying, Lord, I owe my faith to your election.

39:22 For you see, there'd been no faith unless the gospel came to you, right? Right? Faith cometh by what? Hearing, hearing by the word.

39:29 Have there been any people who've lived and died and never heard the gospel? How many of them? Millions, beloved. Why should you have heard it?

39:42 Did you embrace it the first time you heard it? Anybody here embrace the gospel the first time you heard it? You heard it over and over and over and over again. Why should you?

39:56 If we listen to some missionary leaders, they'd say it's not right for anyone to hear it twice till everyone's heard it once. I'm so glad there's some people who didn't listen to that little ditty. But in the providence of God, God laid my soul on their heart and they kept praying and preaching and pleading with me year in and year out because I deserved it. No. Why?

40:19 Because God, who purposed to bring me to himself, was using every means necessary to accomplish his purpose. Oh, beloved, as we think, as Paul did, of the cause of the blessings that flowed down, all he could say was the good pleasure of his will. Now, in closing, will you notice one other key truth? What's the goal of this?

The Goal of All Blessings: The Praise of His Glory

40:44 If the source of all blessing is Christ, if the substance of these blessings take us all the way from election and predestination to glorification, if the cause of those blessing is the good pleasure of his will, what's the goal of all those blessings? Now, will you look at verses six, twelve and fourteen? He predestinated us, verse five, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, verse six, verse twelve, that we should be to the praise of his glory. Who first trusted in Christ, verse fourteen, of the purchased possession unto the praise of his glory? Three times he says God did what he did according to his own will. Three times he says the purpose is that we should be to the praise of his glory. Is there much room for me in there, is there?

41:41 No, not a bit. Not a bit. Not much room for you, for me. I see no tribute to man seeking after God.

41:52 I see no tribute to this so-called free will. I don't see any such tribute. I just see a tribute to the glory of God's grace. You see, beloved, the reason everything God does begins and initiates with him is that it ultimately might end up in him, in praise, Romans 11, 36, of him, the originator, through him and unto him are how many things? All things to whom be glory forever and forever. So the goal of these blessings that flow down from Christ by virtue of God's eternal electing purpose, issuing in the redemption of his people, the goal is that we might fall at his feet, as did Paul, and honor and glorify him, and that one day to men and angels and all intelligent beings, God will display the riches of his grace through those whom he's redeemed in his sovereign purpose. Can you sing this hymn of praise to sovereign grace that Paul sang?

43:11 Well, you say, if he left out the first two verses, I could. I like the last five verses, but the first two verses of that hymn, I just wish Paul had written them a little different. Well, he didn't, beloved. And you'll really never sing the last five verses with any true, deep appreciation until you can see the last five stands as the result of the first two, because that's where Paul's by.

Pastoral Application and Exhortation

43:42 If you're a child of God tonight, let me encourage you to pray that God would dispose your heart and mind if you're having wrestling with this truth. I know one or two of you who are. I'm greatly delighted that many of you, having seen the truth and the word, the spirit of God simply disposed your heart to embrace it and revel in its truth. And it's pressed you down a little bit further.

44:08 And you're ready to stand before him with your eyes open and by your hands, by your feet, to praise him and adore him. But what word is there here for those of you outside of Christ? Oh, what a rich gospel word this is. You need the blessings that Christ purchased with his blood.

44:26 But you can't have them apart from him. All those blessings are stored up in him. And that's why God bids you to flee to him. Seek him, cry to him for mercy.

44:37 he's freely offered to you in the gospel as a willing and an able savior and i trust that you'll seek him for all who've sought him have never found him to be a reluctant savior for he said all that come to me i will in no wise cast out ah but you say i don't like this business that god's got salvation in his hands i didn't think you would like but god doesn't tell you what you like he tells you what's so and salvation's in his sovereign hands and those hands will one day be hands of judgment but while they're yet stretched forth as hands of mercy i trust you'll seek him seek ye the lord while he may be found call upon him while he's near let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the lord and to our god for he will have mercy and will abundantly part i trust that tonight there we pillow our heads many of us will be able on our knees to sing this hymn of praise to god for the blessings

45:51 of his sovereign grace let us pray oh lord what can we say when we stand before this panorama blessing purposed in your heart from all eternity and flowing down to us through the purchase of the sun and the mighty powerful work of the spirit may you be able to sing this hymn of praise to god for the blessings of his sovereign grace making sure our place in your presence forever oh hallelujah to your name we worship you this night and oh we pray that by your power and grace you would bring some this night to see how utterly hopeless is their case outside of christ may they long to have an interest in christ may they long to be joined to him and our father for your people who are in christ oh grant that they shall delight greatly to trace that union with him back to its

47:11 fountainhead in your eternal purposes so lord may this word be owned of your spirit both to the blessing and help and saving of the sinner and to the upbuilding and instruction of the saint lord only you can do this and we cry to you to do it for the glory of your own dear name

47:35 and now we ask as we part one from the other that your grace would rest upon us for the coming week oh lord make us diligent to buy up every opportunity to seek your face to bear witness to others oh lord fill us with wonder and zeal to proclaim such a glorious and assured salvation give to many of us wonderful openings of witness and testimony through the coming week grant our father that we may be used to turn many to righteousness to this end we commit ourselves to you and the ministry of this day send us on our way rejoicing in yourself to feed and to digest the truth of your word to which we've been exposed today and by your grace to be doers of that word hear us we pray through jesus christ our lord amen