The reason why Mr. Willey doesn't remember me
from those early years, everything was different then.
I was tall, it's true, and dark.
I was very fit.
And of course I was very noisy then,
I'm very quiet now.
When I was a young preacher, when I
was a young preacher in those days, I
used to take a short text and give
a long sermon.
Now that I'm an old preacher, everything has
changed.
I take a long text and give a
long sermon.
So we'll read the long text together, shall
we?
Ephesians chapter one.
Paul's letter to the Ephesians, and the first
chapter.
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the
will of God, to the saints which are
at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ
Jesus.
Grace be to you, and peace from God
our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
According as he hath chosen us in him
before the foundation of the world, that we
should be holy and without blame before him.
In love having predestinated us unto the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ to himself.
According to the good pleasure of his will,
to the praise of the glory of his
grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in
the beloved.
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 hath purposed in him, that is in
Christ.
That in the dispensation of the poorness 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 we have obtained an inheritance, being
predestinated according to the purpose of him who
worketh all things, after the counsel of his
own will.
Predestinated that we should be to the praise
of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
Lord bless to us the public reading of
holy scripture for his namesake.
Amen.
Now those of you who were here on
Sunday evening, you may recall that we attempted
to give a kind of interesting introduction to
the prison epistles of Paul, generally.
His prison letters, those that have come down
to us, are four.
And he went to prison in Rome, we
saw, in the will of God, and there
was a lot of blessing out of that.
But of course the blessing that concerns us
this morning is this.
That while he was there, under the direction
and inspiration and control of the spirit of
God, he wrote these letters.
And the letter to the Ephesians was in
all probability the first one of the four
or five or six that he wrote.
And this was written in A.D. 62,
as near as we can fathom that.
And although it says at the heading, the
epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Ephesians,
I think it's important to understand that in
the best manuscripts and the oldest manuscripts of
the original text, the word in verse one,
at Ephesus, those words are omitted.
And there was a blank, which seems to
suggest, and other ideas in the letter suggest
also, that he was in all probability a
circular letter, written not only to Ephesus, because
one manuscript definitely has at Ephesus in it,
and that's why it's in our text here.
But other names were included, probably Laodicea.
We know that he did write from Rome
to the Christians in the church at Laodicea.
He said to the Colossians, the letter that
I'm writing to Laodicea, you read that as
well, they'll send it on to you.
And this is what was done, these letters
were written and they were sent round.
But this one was sent round in particular
because it was to be a sending round
a circular letter.
You see, there's no special correction here.
There's no doctrinal error being corrected particularly.
There's no special reference to any particular problem
in the church.
And many other ideas seem to suggest that
it was a circular letter.
My idea in talking about Ephesians this morning
and this evening, God willing, is to mention
one or two of the major themes.
That's what we should be doing through the
week on each of these epistles.
It would be very helpful for us to
get down to the details exegetically and look
at the word microscopically.
But it's also very helpful and inspiring to
look at the word telescopically and see one
or two of the main ideas and the
main reasons why the Apostle Paul wrote to
these Christians.
Now if we do consider that this letter
was definitely sent to the church at Ephesus
then it's very important to remember that this
church at Ephesus was founded by the Apostle
Paul on his third missionary journey.
And Acts chapter 19 would give you some
of the details of his ministry there.
It was written also at the same time
approximately as the letter to the Colossians and
the small personal letter to Philemon.
And if you compare the letter of Ephesians
to the one to the Colossians you'll find
that similar ideas are there, many similar ideas,
and similar phraseology and terminology is used.
Now the elders of the church at Ephesus
were addressed by the Apostle Paul in great
detail in Acts chapter 20.
And if you are studying Ephesians very, very
carefully and systematically and exegetically you would need
to study Paul's address to the elders of
the church at Ephesus seen in Acts chapter
20 where he gets them to record, he
calls upon them to testify that he served
the Lord among them in a very wonderful
way.
And of course as always the Apostle Paul
gave the Lord all the glory.
He says I was nothing, I was moved
by nothing, I kept back nothing, I was
guilty of nothing, I coveted nothing.
And he starts addressed by saying after what
manner I have been with you at all
seasons serving the Lord.
And that is the manner.
Those are the ideas of his ministry and
it would be good for us to look
into that to see something of the Apostle's
type of ministry and how very well balanced
it was when he was founding the church
at Ephesus.
But that's not our purpose this morning.
The Apostle Paul in the letter to the
Ephesians embraces every doctrine of Christianity which is
most remarkable in such a small and short
letter.
Every doctrine of Christianity.
Coleridge says this and you can prove it
for yourselves by looking through it very carefully.
I have myself found that there are 21
major doctrines mentioned, some spoken about in more
detail than others in this letter to the
Ephesians.
Therefore it is full of beautiful Christian doctrine.
I use the word beautiful advisedly because that
is the word to use.
If ever you get down to study the
word of God and the doctrines of the
word of God, you'll agree with me they
are beautiful, soul-inspiring, marvellous to the extent
they will, when you understand them, make you
bow your head and your heart in worship
to God for his great love to us
who are guilty sinners in sparing his son
for our redemption and all the blessings that
come to us as explained in the doctrines
of the word of God and not least
in the doctrines of this beautiful letter to
the Ephesians and to other Christians as it
was a circular letter as I said.
Now of course I want to dwell upon
and emphasise what I think is the main
theme of this letter and this is where
I shall disagree to a great extent with
most of you theologians.
So I beg your pardon before I begin
and any argument please must not be public
but afterwards and we shall enjoy some fellowship
together in discussion no doubt.
But I think most would agree that the
theme of this letter to the Ephesians, the
main theme is the church which is his
body.
The church of Christ which is his body,
his fullness, the fullness of him that filleth
all in all.
But I think as you look very very
closely at the letter you'll see it is
that but rather much more.
And I would categorically affirm that the main
theme of this letter is the most prominent
theme of Christian doctrine and it is the
church and her union with Christ.
Not just the church but the church and
her union with her Lord, the believer and
his union with his Saviour.
And all the way through, this is emphasised,
all the way through Paul's letters and ministry
everywhere in the word as we see it
but especially here in Ephesians the church and
her union with Christ.
Now did you notice I began to emphasise
phrases like this when I read it in
Christ, in the Lord, in whom, in him,
in the beloved and so on.
Twenty times in the first two chapters you
get these phrases and their equivalent and all
the way through you get these phrases and
their equivalent.
Because you see it is not just the
church but the church's union with Christ that
brings the church into the blessings which are
hers.
The believer's union with the Lord which makes
him what he is in his standing before
God and in his life before the world.
Now these are the two sections of this
beautiful letter to the Ephesians.
The believer's position in Christ, the first three
chapters, and the believer's practice in Christ, the
last three chapters.
So that's a very simple and straightforward and
correct analysis if I may say so.
The believer's position in Christ and the believer's
practice, the last three chapters, in Christ.
Well now this union with Christ is the
distinctive blessing of this gospel dispensation in which
we live.
Because you see out of it every other
blessing, indeed every other doctrine to me seems
to me to flow out of the believer's
union with Christ.
If we are redeemed it is because of
our union with him.
If we are predestinated it is because of
our union with him.
If we have died it is because of
our union with him in his death.
If we are alive in Christ it is
because of our union with him in his
risen life.
We are to be glorified, it's because of
our union with Christ to be made real
in a coming day in the glory.
And if we are anything in this Christian
life, it is because that we have been
joined to Jesus.
Well now, this is a distinctive blessing of
this gospel dispensation.
Union of God with man was needed for
our redemption.
And similarly, the union of man with God
is needed for both our justification, sanctification and
glorification.
Now if you think I'm emphasizing the alliteration
too much, just raise your hand and I'll
calm it down.
I do that because I come from Birmingham
and can't help to do it.
So, justification and so on, you know, it's
a sort of our way of speaking.
I was saying the other day, I'm hoping
that my twang, my Bromidgian twang doesn't put
you off.
There was one preacher who was talking about
this in his ministry at a certain conference
we had in England.
And he was the first of two speakers
and this was his subject, justification and sanctification
and glorification, you see.
And then when he'd finished he had to
go and get a train to go to
London.
The next speaker got up and he said,
now our first brother who has addressed us
has gone to the railway station.
And they all knew that he got the
point that the first speaker was an expert
in alliteration.
Well now, we mustn't reiterate too much, but
of course it is here in the word
without any attempt at alliteration by us.
But union of God, union of God with
man was necessary for our redemption.
You know that's true, because God became man.
We believe in the incarnation, we don't understand
it, we believe in it.
If the incarnation were not too wide for
our intellect, then the atonement would be too
narrow for our salvation.
We believe that God became man.
Well you see, God could not die for
man.
God could not die for man.
God did not die for man.
God incarnate could and God incarnate did die
for man.
His creature sinned.
That's why he became incarnate.
That's why the word, the eternal word was
made flesh and dwelt among us.
He wasn't made flesh to dwell among us,
he was made flesh to die.
He wasn't made flesh to teach us.
He wasn't made flesh to live, to show
us how to live.
Thank God for his teachings, thank God for
his life.
But he was made flesh to die because
God cannot die, but God incarnate can and
did.
And he died for us.
Blessed be his name.
You see, he took humanity into union with
deity, but never ceased to be divine.
He became what he was not, but never
ceased to be what he was, God.
So if ever a man was God and
God was man, Jesus Christ was both.
This is what I'm trying to say.
It was necessary, absolutely imperative, that God should
take upon himself union with man for our
redemption.
Now similarly, the reverse is true.
It is absolutely essential that man should become
in union with God, that he might be
justified, sanctified and glorified.
Well now, this is how it works out.
When a guilty sinner puts his faith in
the Saviour, the Holy Spirit does a remarkable
thing in the soul, in the life of
this sinner.
He makes him regenerate, he imparts to him
the life of God, and he, at that
moment, joins him to Jesus.
Joins him to Jesus.
Not only to God's family in adoption, but
joins him to Jesus in a complete and
full and perfect and eternal union he's made
one with his Lord.
And from that moment onwards, God looks upon
the sinner as he sees him in his
Saviour.
He doesn't look upon the sinner as he
is, now just a saved sinner.
He looks upon him as a sinner in
the Saviour, and he accepts him because he's
in Christ.
And as a matter of fact, God at
that moment justifies the guilty sinner who is
unjust.
Now, he justifies the unjust justly, because the
unjust is now in Jesus.
In Jesus.
That's the theme this morning.
And he sees him in Jesus.
And because Jesus died, God sees him in
Jesus' death.
And God sees him as having died for
his sin in another.
Therefore, he is justified and vindicated by a
righteous God for his sin and accounted as
though he'd never sinned, because he's in Christ.
And if he's in Christ, he must be
in Christ's death.
Seen by God in Christ's death, as well
as seen by God in Christ's life, as
well as seen by God in Christ's glorification.
I think I ought to explain that before
I go any further.
And in Scotland years ago, when anybody was
hung for murder, they used to put a
notice outside the prison door when it was
all over.
So and so, Jim Smith, or whatever his
name was, this morning at 8 o'clock
was justified.
Now that was right.
Absolutely, terminologically correct.
He was justified.
In other words, he was vindicated from that
crime.
He was cleared from it for all time.
He was now to be accounted as though
he had never committed murder because he'd died
for the murder.
Died for the sin.
Justified.
And you and I are only justified, not
because Jesus died for us, that's only the
beginning of the truth.
We are justified, although we're guilty, by a
just and holy God, although his absolute righteousness.
Because we're in Christ.
The Holy Spirit has placed us into Jesus.
God sees us in him, accepts us in
him, and he sees that we have died
for our sin in him.
And the scripture for that, I know you
want the scripture for it, but I have
to give you the scripture for it before
we go any further, is Romans chapter 6
and verse 7.
He that has died is justified from sin.
And you'll find that word in the margin,
freed from sin in your authorised King James
Version.
He that has died is justified from sin.
So you see the essential, how imperative this
truth is, that the believer is one with
Christ in a complete union.
You remember, there was a very fine illustration
of this in the Old Testament, and they
said to Rebekah one day, Wilt thou go
with this man?
This man was Abraham's servant, who had come
to find a bride for his master's son
Isaac.
And Abraham had given to Isaac everything.
And he found Isaac, came to the right
place at the right time, said the right
words, met the right girl, and everything was
right because he was in the right way.
He said, I being in the way, the
Lord led me.
And he wanted to take the girl back
straight away, and they were talking about it
together, and her parents said to her, Wilt
thou go with this man?
She knew very well that this man was
to take her to that man, Isaac, to
whom she was to be joined.
That was the idea, you see.
So they put it to her, Wilt thou
go with this man?
To be joined to this other man.
Of course there was a decision of the
will to be made.
That is so with you and me, when
we are faced with the only Saviour of
our souls.
And the Holy Spirit comes to us, and
the question is put by the preacher, will
you respond to the Holy Spirit, who will
draw you to this man, and join you
to him eternally.
Wilt thou go with this man?
She had to leave where she was to
be joined to him.
Now God will never be reconciled to us,
we have to be reconciled to him.
We have to leave our sin, and in
repentance quit unrighteousness to be joined to Jesus.
We have to respond to the Spirit.
A step of faith was needed by Rebecca.
She'd never seen him, but she'd heard about
him.
She'd heard about Mount Moriah, like you and
I have heard about Calvary.
And she'd heard about his wealth, his father
gave me a wedding, like you and I
have heard about the fact that in Christ
is all the blessing, because God has given
it all to his Son.
Thou hast blessed him forever.
All honour and glory and majesty, power, dominion
and blessing is his from now and forever.
And they said to her, wilt thou go
with this man?
And she responded and went with him, and
he brought her to Isaac.
And they were joined in holy matrimony.
So you and I have heard the gospel
call, and we have come to, we have
responded to the Holy Spirit, we've taken the
step of faith, we've heard about Calvary, we've
heard about the Saviour's full salvation, all the
wealth that is in him for us.
Here was the offer of a wonderful union,
more wonderful than that offered to Rebecca by
Abraham's servant.
And now we find we are blessed with
all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus, because we've
been joined through him.
And as I was saying, the first blessing
is this, that we are regenerate and justified,
accounted as though we had never sinned, because
we have died for our sins in Jesus
Christ our Lord, and in his death.
You know the Apostle entered into this experimentally,
or perhaps is the correct term, experientially, when
he said, I am crucified with Christ.
But also he wanted other Christians to whom
he was writing to enter into it, experientially.
It is always bearing about in the body
the dying of the Lord Jesus, so that
the life also of Jesus shall be made
manifest in our mortal flesh.
Because not only God sees us in Christ's
death, but he sees us in Christ's life.
Now this is our standing in him.
We have died in Christ.
This is our standing in Christ.
We are alive in him.
But of course, what we are in our
standing, we should be in our state.
What we are in Christ before God, we
should be before the world in Christ, in
an experimental, very practical way.
And that of course sums up this epistle,
because the first three chapters are about our
standing in Christ before God.
And the last three chapters are about our
practice of the Christ life, because of our
union with Christ, we can live the Christian
life as we are supposed to, as God
meant us to, for the reason why he
gave us the Holy Spirit, and the reason
why we are joined to Christ, so that
we could be what we should be.
Well now you see, you will find that
union with Christ is essentially the underlying main
theme of this letter.
In chapter one it is union with Christ
in relation to predestination, chosen in him to
be holy.
And in chapter 2a, it is union with
Christ in relation to regeneration, quicken into life,
with or in Christ.
And 2b, it is union with Christ in
relation to reconciliation.
And in chapter 3, it is union with
Christ in relation to sanctification, the power that
now worketh in us, because we are in
him.
And in chapter 4, it is union with
Christ in relation to conversation, but of course
in the New Testament that means the walk,
the practice, the manner of life of the
believer.
And the word there is, put on the
new man.
And the new man is where Christ is
all, and in all, in an experimental sense.
Because we are in Christ, then we should
put on Christ and live the Christ life.
And then in chapter 5, it is union
with Christ in relation to separation.
You are light in the Lord.
Light hasn't got any fellowship with darkness.
Come out from among the darkness.
Not from other Christians.
It never says that in the word.
Oh no, sir.
Every Christian is light in the Lord.
And the word is, come out from darkness.
You are light in the Lord.
Notice what it says.
You're not just light, you're light in the
Lord.
The Lord is light, and you're in the
Lord.
That's the subject, you see.
Within Christ, he is the light.
And you are the light in the Lord.
That means union with Christ in relation to
separation.
And then in chapter 6, it is union
with Christ in relation to preservation.
Because the word there is finally, be strong
in the Lord and in the power of
his might.
And because you are joined to the Almighty
Jesus, the Son of God, you can be
strong because he's the strong one.
Be strong in the Lord and in the
power of his might.
So what a wonderful theme this is.
Of course there are lots of other themes,
you know.
I think we ought to continue on this
one this morning.
I mean there are lots of other main
ideas in the first three chapters which we
will never be able to talk about, really
just mention one or two in passing at
this point maybe while it's on my mind.
In heavenly places is one of the main
themes of this letter and that makes a
very interesting study.
There are five references to heavenly places, high
places or heavenly places in this letter.
And riches is a very interesting subject as
well.
His will is very important here.
The purpose of his will for Paul was
apostleship, verse 1.
And the good pleasure of his will for
us is sonship, in verse 5.
And the mystery of his will, universal, is
Christ lordship, in verse 9.
And the counsel of his will is that
we might glorify him, in verse 11.
So his will is a very interesting and
important subject.
Together is an interesting theme, especially when you
come to chapter 2.
Because chapter 2 is really about one subject
with a lot of other ideas brought in,
as the apostle always does.
The one subject is the togetherness that is
between believing Jews and believing Gentiles, that now
they are one in the Lord.
The word exceeding is emphasised very much in
this epistle.
There's exceeding power through believing.
This is chapter 1, verse 19.
That spells regeneration.
There are exceeding riches through receiving.
That's in chapter 2, in verse 7 or
8.
That's glorification.
And there's exceeding ability through submitting in chapter
3 and verse 20.
And of course that means sanctification, again in
an experimental way.
But what I wanted to show you at
this point is this.
And let me illustrate it in this way.
Under an old English law, when two people
were joined in holy matrimony, the moment she
said, I will, in answer to the preacher's
or minister's invitation, the moment she said, I
will, then legally, from that time onward, legally
under an old English law, all this girl's
debts were chargeable to this man.
And all this man's property was hers to
share.
Now of course some of the men in
England didn't like that idea.
And they had the law changed.
So ladies, I'm sorry, it's no good going
to England to get married.
It's not like that today.
But it is like that today in the
spiritual sense.
Because the moment I say, I will, to
the Lord Jesus, all my debts become chargeable
to him.
Because I'm joined to him completely and eternally.
Now he foresaw that, that me being joined
to him would bring such a debt upon
him.
And he came to pay my debt.
And it cost him his life to do
so.
Blessed be his name.
But not only so, the moment I said,
I will, to the Lord Jesus, and was
joined to him eternally, then all his blessings
became mine to share.
This is what it says in verse three.
Blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus.
Now God never blesses anybody directly.
It's true that he sends mercies directly to
all.
You'll find there's a great difference between blessings
and mercies.
Mercies generally are temporal, and blessings are spiritual.
Blessings are spiritual and come to us because
of our union with Christ.
He has the blessing, and if you're in
him, then you have the blessing in him.
You share what he has.
That's what it says in verse three.
Blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus.
You see there's common grace when God shows
his mercy to saved and unsaved alike.
Sends the rain like he did on Saturday
on people who are not Christians as well
as, on farmers who are not Christians as
well as Christian farmers.
And he sends the sunshine, as he does
today, on people who are not Christians just
as well as on Christians on holiday.
You know, this is called common grace.
And then there is special grace, which is
saving grace.
And in this, the blessings of God come
to the person who are found, to the
person who is found in the Lord Jesus
Christ, who is joined to him in that
full and complete union.
Blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, that's worship, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ.
So all our blessings now are because he
is blessed.
God has blessed him forever and with everything.
And we are joined to Jesus.
Isn't that wonderful?
And so let us possess our possessions in
Christ.
This is the evident exhortation, the necessary exhortation
following that statement.
Speak unto the house of Israel that they
possess their possessions.
Our need is met because we are joined
to that wealthy one, the Son of God.
Oh, that we might appropriate day by day
what is ours in him.
Now in relation to the church and her
union with the Lord, the church is seen
in three ways.
Not just as a body in this epistle,
but as a building.
You are built together as a temple of
God by the Spirit who is the Spirit
of Christ indwelling upon Jesus Christ himself being
the chief cornerstone of the building.
So if you are the building, he is
the foundation.
You are joined to Jesus if you use
the metaphor of a building.
If you use the metaphor of a body
at the end of chapter 1 and in
chapter 4 as well, then you are the
body and Christ is the head.
What's the use of a body without the
head?
We are joined to the head.
Our head is Christ himself.
So if you think of the body it
is our union with the head which is
the important thing.
And then if you think of the church
as a bride in chapter 5, she is
seen as a bride as well as a
building and a body.
There's another metaphor I haven't used.
It's one new man in chapter 2.
But if you use the metaphor of a
bride in chapter 5, what's the good of
a bride without a bridegroom?
We are joined to the heavenly bridegroom.
This is why we are blessed with all
spiritual blessings because we're in Christ Jesus.
Just as a branch is joined to a
vine, just as a branch is joined to
the stalk and to the tree, and lives
henceforth by the life of the tree flowing
through it, and grows and bears fruit by
the life of another flowing through it, so
you and I as nothing branches join to
the Lord Jesus the true vine, grow spiritually
by his life in us and through us,
and we bear fruit by the life of
the true vine in us and through us.
Only the true vine is fruitful unto God.
You'll never be able to glorify God in
your life at all unless it is the
life of the true vine flowing through you,
then it isn't you, it's him.
It is not I, but Christ.
And that is the secret and the blessedness
of the real, normal Christian experience of Christ's
life in us and through us.
I was at a fruit farm in Eversham
in Warwickshire, Worcestershire, England some years ago, and
there was a dear brother in the meeting
who was showing me round the farm and
showing me how they did the grafting, and
I was so pleased to see how the
branch was cut, and he says, look we
put it into the tree just there, but
that has to be cut as well at
the same angle, you see.
Then we said we put it in and
we put some material round it and bind
it round so that there's nothing to interfere
with it, and he said before long you'll
find that the sap of the tree, the
life of the tree, is flowing through this
branch.
He said, look at that one.
You can see a leaf coming on that
one there.
Look at that one there.
That's been on for a little while now.
You can see some fruit forming there.
And you know in each case this branch
would have been nothing absolutely dead and useless
apart from its union with the tree, with
the stalk, but now by the life of
another it is growing and bearing fruit.
So you and I are through faith in
Christ by the Spirit joined to Christ, and
all spiritual blessings are ours in Him.
But I want you to notice, and I
think perhaps I ought to close on this
theme this morning.
I want you to notice just from these
first few verses that we read together that
not only are we blessed with all blessings
because of our union with Christ, but everything
comes out of our union with Christ.
Now you look at verse 4 for instance.
According as He hath chosen us in Him.
Now then, please let me throw a spanner
into the works just to make you think
about this.
Because some of you I think have been
I know I was when I was a
young Christian led along a wrong path just
here.
An unscriptural path just here.
It does not say does it?
I'm asking you the question.
Does it say that we have been chosen
to be in Him?
Does it?
It does not say so.
This is what it says.
We are chosen in Him to be holy.
Now does it say that?
By, let me compare this verse with verse
3 so that you'll get the sense.
I hope my reasoning is clear, but it's
very important.
In verse 3 it is saying this.
The Apostle by the Spirit says, by virtue
of our union with Christ we are blessed
with all spiritual blessing.
And in verse 4 he says, by virtue
of our union with Christ we are chosen
to be holy like Christ.
Now I hope you can see that.
It's terribly important.
And in this epistle of course, Paul emphasizes
both the sovereign purpose of God but the
responsibility of man as well.
And the two run side by side throughout
the whole of the Word of God.
And very often we get the sovereignty of
God emphasized to such an extent that man's
responsibility is nowhere seen.
I think that's a big mistake because it's
there as plain as a pipe start in
the Bible.
You see let me give you one illustration
of this in Romans chapter 9 which is
the classic passage in the Word on the
sovereignty of God.
Which I believe in by the way with
all my heart.
Where it says the clay had the potter
has power over the clay to do with
it what he wills and so on.
And did not God love Jacob and hate
loveless Esau?
And it seems that man hasn't got a
look in at all in the first part
of the chapter.
It's all to do with the sovereignty of
God.
He does what he wills.
Now Dr. Tozer very clearly points out that
the definition for the sovereignty of God is
this.
Not that God does what he pleases but
God has the power and the right to
do what he pleases.
Which of course I think is more scripturally
correct.
We know that God is providential over all
and God is sovereign but you see in
his sovereign will and purpose he has designed
to give man a free will.
I don't think we ought to progress further
along that this morning as we should be
getting away from Ephesians chapter 1.
But just to show you what I mean,
I'm going to emphasize my interpretation of verse
4 not only by making a comparison with
verse 3 but comparing it with what the
apostle says in the next few verses.
For instance it says in verse 5 having
predestinated us, that is, foreordained, marked out beforehand
according to his fore knowledge, having predestinated us
to the position of sons.
According to the good pleasure of his will
to the praise of his glory.
Predestinated us to the position of sons to
the praise of his glory.
Am I not giving the right sense?
Maybe not.
But look again at verse 11 and 12
to prove the point, or I hope to
give evidence of my point.
Being predestinated says verse 11 that we should
be to the praise of his glory.
Now does it say here that we've been
predestinated to be saved?
Does it say we have been chosen to
be saved?
My dear friends, taking this idea to an
unscriptural extreme, we miss one of the most
fundamental scriptural doctrines for the believer in his
life today.
And this is it.
God's purpose for everyone who has trusted Christ
as his personal saviour even in the past
eternity before ever we turned to Christ, God's
predestinating purpose was that we should be holy
and like Christ, bear the image of his
Son, bearing out Romans 8 which says exactly
the same thing.
Because God says that Christ shall be the
firstborn among the many brethren and the Lord
Jesus is such a wonderful son to the
Father.
God's purposes, his predestinating purposes that we should
be like his Son so that he can
bring many sons like Jesus to glory, to
be glorified together with him in his presence.
These rude noises you get on your road,
I'm not used to.
Sounds pretty, I know, but sort of noisy.
I thought they were going to cave in
on us, but so beautifully built this chapel,
I'm sure it'll never do that.
Now this is what I'm going to close
with then, because you've had a fair dose
of doctrine this morning, and I hope you
can follow me, and I do hope you're
beginning to really love, I'm sure after all
these conferences you have, beautiful Christian doctrine and
this letter is just full of it.
Alright, verse 3, by virtue of being in
him we are blessed with all spiritual blessings.
Verse 4, by virtue of being in him
we are chosen to be holy.
Verse 6, by virtue of being in him
we are accepted, accepted in the beloved.
Verse 7, by virtue of being in him,
the Redeemer, we are redeemed.
Verse 11, by virtue of being in him
we are made inheritors because he is an
heir of God.
He is the heir of God, and we
are inheritors because of our union with him.
And verse 18, because of our union, by
virtue of our union with him, we have
become his inheritance too.
Because not only does the bride share all
that the bridegroom has and is, but the
bridegroom has the bride.
And in this beautiful chapter, the two ideas
are very prominent, both our inheritance in Christ,
in Christ, in Christ, by virtue of our
union in him, and secondly, his inheritance in
us.
And beloved, the point as I close this
is, if we are his inheritance, and we
have so much inheritance in him, well how
pleasing we should be to the Lord that
we might be a good and a blessed
inheritance for the Saviour, so that when we
see his face, not only shall we be
pleased and say, Oh, that will be glory
for me, but when he sees us, he'll
be pleased, and that will be glory for
him.
Thank you, Mr. Willey.
You may close, please.
Shall we pray?
Blessed God, our Father, we bow in thy
presence with worship and praise and adoration for
all that we have heard this morning.
We thank thee that by thy infinite grace
we are in Christ Jesus.
And this morning we've been listening to the
wonderful things that we have in Christ.
Help us, Lord, that we might fulfill thy
will, chosen in him before the foundation of
the world, that we should be holy.
O God, help us that we might come
up to thy standard, that we may really
be called, as thou didst say, in another
place, wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly
calling.
Help us, Lord, that our lives might conform
to these wonderful, wonderful truths, and we might
magnify the person and the name of thy
beloved Son.
We thank thee that in him we're going
to be glorified for all eternity.
We wait for it, Lord.
Help us, then, we pray thee, to live
consistently with the wonderful truth we've heard.
We ask it in the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.