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Gone to sit upon thy father's throne.
Lord, we rejoice.
And they're all.
They gave you.
To understand the wrong.
Lord, now we can wait for.
I take us to.
Where we were reading.
And where it would be good to start?
Verse 3.
Ephesians, chapter one.
Beginning with verse 3.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who have blessed us with all spiritual blessings and heavenly places in Christ, according as He hath chosen us before Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him and 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 me is 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, with which He hath purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, He might gather together in one all things in Christ.
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Both which are in heaven and which are in 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 He also trusted. After that He heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. And whom also after that you believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of our purchased possession under the praise of His glory.
Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto all the Saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you and my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give on to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, and the knowledge of Him.
The eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the richest of the glory of His inheritance in the Saints.
And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when He raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, and has put all things under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the Church?
Which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth All in all.
Verse three I'm sure we enjoyed.
What was brought before us yesterday, the depths of these things, they're unsearchable.
Of course we have the purposes and counsels of God.
And they're absolute. No doubts here what God has purpose and counsel to do.
So this third verse says blessed.
Be that God and Father.
Of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We have to get occupied much with our blessings, and that's fine.
He's blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. We enjoyed that so much. But think of who that is.
The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that's made known by Christ.
In the text of John, the Lord says I and my father are one.
There's one God, but there are three persons, and God in revealing himself has come out blessedly and made that so certain by the Spirit of God, the third person, as we call him. Well, that's the way they come before us when the Lord was here working, he says.
My father worketh hitherto and I work well. Who's working today?
The Spirit of God.
He's here. That's the reason we're sitting quietly in these meetings, because God is in control by the Spirit. There's no doubts about that. He's in control.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Well, God add that one son that He loves so much. We spoke about it yesterday.
Not as we used to hear.
He had one son he loved so much that he wanted a whole lot more like him.
And that's her. That's what it gets us there. We shall be like him, like Jesus in that place.
We shall see him as he is. Yeah, it's just so lovely, isn't it? God, his purposes and counsels and accomplished it in Jesus sent him. I think of the first verse of John's gospel to coordinate something.
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In the beginning was the word.
And the word was with God.
And the word was gone. Then you go down to the 14th verse. It says the word was made flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.
That's the sun.
God became flesh. Do you believe that? Do you understand it? No, you can't. It's you just have to believe it. God is a man.
That's so delightful.
So that who he is the eternal God, blessed be the eternal God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and what he has done. We have coming up and we've talked on it yesterday, but to bring in the focus.
The first chapter of God's gospel. A few things I mentioned, verse one and verse 14.
Some of us have enjoyed the last verse. Not too many people could quote that.
I think of it this way.
The first verse of John.
One gives us the eternal God, the eternity of His Person. The last verse gives us the Infinity of his works.
The Infinity of his works, you understand the Infinity, no?
Well, it states.
If there are many other things which Jesus did.
The witches, they should be written everyone.
I suppose.
That even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.
You believe that, you understand it. It's past understanding. God himself is past understanding in His person and all that He has done and kind of tickled. When I look into some scientific articles and see the great scientists and I admire the ones that go up and look at the stars and if they're honest, they will tell us that they haven't found the limits yet.
That's creation. What's greater than creation?
Redemption, that's what Jesus came to do. That was the main thing that he came to do, but the other things he has done also. So blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the person who had a heart to come down and get us and take us up there to be like him.
Colossians 116 OK.
We're all things created.
That are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be Thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
All things were made by him and for him, and he is before all things, and by him all things consist. I enjoyed what her brother broke before us of the focus.
What Lot had on the earth.
Choosing something here out of Abraham who waited on God.
And God gave him a promise, and that promise is still a promise.
God has not given the Jews all of their possessions that He.
Purpose is to give them.
And they can't get it in the flesh.
And they can't turn loose of it in the flesh. It's so interesting to look over there and see.
I'm saying peace, peace. When there is no peace, you don't need to worry about the Palestinians.
And the Jews, they're going to go on until God takes over.
Well, we know what that will be. The blessing now is to get.
Ourselves. And this is the city of refuge for the Jew today.
When he came the first time, the Lord Jesus, and was getting ready to leave, you remember he looked over Jerusalem and he wept over it. He says, how often would I have gathered thy children together as a hen gathered her chicks under her waist. God and the Lord want to gather together. There's a few people gathered together today.
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And as some of them were praying this morning about Peter's quotation.
Like precious faith. But brethren, put the next two words in there with us. That's the apostles faith. That's where it is. Like precious faith with the apostles. That's the way we're getting this their book here with the apostles.
That's the first fellowship in first John one with us. That's the apostles fellowship. But therefore ship is with the Father, with his Son Jesus Christ. And we've been having a little about that and there's no end to it. There's absolutely no end to it. So you better go ahead and talk a while. That's why God became a man so that we could enjoy with him the things that he enjoyed. And God takes get great pleasure in seeing the people of God together and having the Lord Jesus Christ as their object.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He died that he might gather together and won the children of God that are scattered abroad. And as you are saying, the Jews cannot enjoy their blessings by the flesh and get them by the flesh. They're trying now with missiles and armaments to get the blessing promised Blessing by the flesh. We can't either because all of our blessings are spiritual.
Now, there may be somebody in this room this afternoon that's not saved, and I'm going to say this carefully. You can enjoy the blessings in a natural way. I would have no reason to know anybody in California or New Jersey or in Florida if it weren't for the work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. And enjoy real friendship with them. And you may enjoy that. Even the bell clerk at the desk may look and see what's going on here and see that something very nice is going on. He can perceive that.
But the only way that we can enjoy these spiritual blessings are by faith.
And when man tries to enjoy spiritual blessings by the flesh, that's the conflict that we get later in Ephesians, is that that's the warfare there. So we have to see that their spiritual blessings and they're brought into were brought into them by the work of redemption.
But it's true in the Old Testament says, O taste and see that the Lord is good. But the truth is now that man has seen that the Lord is good, what was in the heart of God was fully revealed. We announced that by the gospel. And man may even in the language of Hebrews be a partaker of that to a certain extent in a natural way. But there's spiritual blessings. And if the moment that we try to lay hold of those spiritual blessings by carnal means, I don't want to get too practical because it's positional.
Then we get into trouble. And so Paul is laying the foundation here to understand what our blessings are and what the source of them are. And as our brother was saying, it's with us. It's in the apostles doctrine that those fellow, that those are enjoyed and the Christian world is trying to simulate Christianity, brotherhood, fellowship. They even talk about having fellowship meetings, man being one, trying to enjoy the things that we enjoy.
By all of his processes and compromises and negotiations and so on.
But we enjoy them by virtue of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, by what was in the heart of God coming out towards man.
Greater than all the blessings, brethren, is the knowledge of God that we have now, and it is wonderful how that first three starts. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
That's the order we get to know God in, isn't it? It's first God as God, then we know him as Father when the Lord Jesus in his resurrection.
Stated to Mary, He said, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father my God and your God. That was the order for the Lord Jesus. He is the Son of the Father from all eternity. He never was a time when He became that.
But he when he became a man, he could say in the Psalm 22, I believe it is, it says, Thou art my God from my mother's belly. When he became a man, he could say for the first time, my God.
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But for us it's first God and then Father. And it's interesting how perfect scripture is. Look at the prayer in Ephesians one and verse 17, the God of our Lord, Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, and the prayer in Ephesians 3 and verse.
14 This 'cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. So those two ways we are brought into the knowledge of God. How wonderful. Really, brethren, to know God is greater than all the blessings themselves.
I agree with that Bob to know God.
The Lord Jesus in his prayer in the 17th of John says.
This is life eternal.
The third verse that they may know thee.
The only true God be no, the only true God.
This is life eternal, that they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. I and my Father are one to know Him. I'd like to contrast just for a minute. Go back to.
Jeremiah.
You know they knew God in the Old Testament.
But he was revealed a little differently, not as fully. We have a full revelation of God in Christ because He is God. But I'd just like to read a couple of verses in Jeremiah 9. They're kind of outstanding, separate from the rest of the chapter, more or less.
They are verses 23 and 24.
Thus saith the Lord.
Let not the wise man.
Glory in his wisdom.
Neither let the mighty man glory in his might.
Let not the rich man glory in his riches. Then this next verse.
But let him that glorious glory end this, that he understandeth and knoweth me There it is no God understand it that N God who's who understands God. Nobody else gets any understanding except those that walk with him. It's dependence upon God that's learned by faith. Everything you know about God is by faith. Reminds me of what Ariel used to say to us.
You say that everything.
That you have now.
That you always will have you have by faith.
Everything that you have now that you will always have, you have by faith.
You see, it's connected with Christ and eternal things.
Very important, isn't it, to realize just what you say, that you never really know someone unless you walk with them. And there's really a difference in knowing about someone and knowing that individual personally. We might know about a lot of great people in this world, and I'll repeat an illustration that I've often used. I grew up in Canada and growing up in the school system in Canada, we learned a great deal about the British royal family and I could perhaps to this very day enumerate many facts concerning.
Queen Elizabeth the Second, who sits on the throne of England, but I don't know the Queen personally.
But we'll suppose for the sake of illustration that I get an invitation in the mail to come to back Buckingham Palace and to spend a month in Buckingham Palace communing with the Queen of England. Everything is provided for me. I take that trip and I sit down every day for a month with the Queen of England. Now, when I leave Buckingham Palace, I don't just know about the Queen of England. I know the Queen of England personally. And there's a great difference and I suppose the life of the Apostle Paul after he was saved.
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Is really summed up in that desire that he expresses in the book of Philippians where it says that I may know him.
Now Paul, before he was saved, he knew about him and when he got saved on the Damascus Rd. you say, well didn't he come to know the Lord as his savior? Indeed he did. But his whole desire throughout his life, it was that in walking in communion and fellowship, the relationship would be deeper. When I married my wife, I thought I knew a lot about her, but after 18 years I know a lot more about her and what pleases her and what's on her heart and on her mind than when I married her.
18 years ago, because we've lived together, we've walked together. And so we, as we enumerate the blessings that are brought before us in this chapter, we never want to forget the source. Brethren, it's all easy, I believe, to become so occupied with the blessings and they're wonderful. We need to enumerate them. We need to have them before our souls. But it's easy to become so occupied with the blessings that we forget the blesser, we forget the source.
And who is the source? Well, God is the source, Christ is the channel, and the Spirit is the power. Because it's been said before, how do we enter into these things? It says in Corinthians, first Corinthians 2 I have not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for them that love him. But then notice the next statement. But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit.
If we're going to take in and enjoy these precious things has been already said, it must be in the power of the Spirit because their spiritual blessings and they're not things that we can see. I'd like to just make this comment to go back to what? Not to press a point or sound mundane, but to go back to something was said yesterday. We mentioned that there's a difference between temporal mercies and spiritual blessings.
And temporal mercies. There's two things that characterize them. One, you can see them. We had a nice bed last night. You can see that bed. We're enjoying some mercies here, some comfortable chairs, a nice room, something we can see, something physical.
Not only that, but they can be taken from us just as quick as they're given to us.
Mercies are something that we enjoy when they're given to us.
But as I say, they can be taken away. There's something that we can lose. A job is a mercy, but you might lose your job tomorrow. A home is a mercy, but you might lose your home tomorrow. It might burn to the ground. But spiritual blessings are something we've never seen. You've never seen with the natural eye. With the eye of faith, we see it, of course, but with the natural eye you've never seen one of your blessings, your spiritual blessings. Not only that, it can never be taken away from you.
Brethren, what we have in Christ is eternal. The things that are seen are temporal. The things that are not seen are eternal. And these blessings that we have are blessings that every child of God in this room has. Whether you've been saved for 5 minutes or 50 years, they're yours. You have them, and they'll be never taken away from you. Now, the enjoyment of them in our souls is quite another matter.
There are hours, but the question is, do we enjoy them? There's a difference, as has often been said, between our standing.
And our state. Choose a little illustration. It's not original in any sense of the word.
Many of us have heard it, but it did help me when I was younger to get a hold of the difference.
Between our standing and our state, if we were to bring a thermometer here into the room, a large thermometer, we would find that on that thermometer there are numbers indicating degrees, be it in Fahrenheit or in Canada as we measure things in Celsius. And you know those numbers never change. They're stationary, they're printed there on the thermometer and they never change. That's like our standing, it never changes.
And the blessings that we have, I say they're secure in Christ, and thank God they are.
But there's something else on the thermometer. There's mercury, and that changes constantly. Sometimes it indicates cold, sometimes it indicates hot. Don't we have to admit, brethren, that that's our state? Sometimes. Sometimes we're cold. Sometimes I'm cold. Sometimes I really don't enjoy what is mine. In Christ we talk about being cold in our souls. Other times, maybe at a time like this, we get real warmed up. We enjoy these things, the Spirit of God.
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Has liberty to make them good to our souls. And the mercury goes up, as it were. Maybe we go back to work on Tuesday and the mercury goes down a little bit. Well, I just say that because that helps us. Our standing never changes. It's like the numbers. But our state has like the mercury. It may go up and down.
Let us see thoughts back in.
Jeremiah 9 finished the 24th verse.
Let him that glorious glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me that.
I am the Lord. Notice what it says.
Which exercise?
Loving kindness. Three things there are here.
Judgment.
And righteousness in the earth. He's talking about the earth here. He had an earthly people. Those things were necessary and they could be made known.
Loving kindness that starts it. Oh, it's God is love.
He loved the Jew. I guess we come in second as Gentiles. I don't know, but he loves everybody, loving kindness.
Then and now.
The next one, judgment we're not surprised at before we feel a little bit of guilt.
Man has ever since he sinned.
Because he has the knowledge of good and evil.
Judgment. When's it going to come? It's going to come.
Some of it has already come, and that's the reason you and I can sit here quietly in peace. Our judgment is passed for our sins. It's gone.
Christ will never go into the grave again. He's passed judgment as He has passed judgment. So are you and I as believers. This our 19th verse us word who believed in our chapter believe it's faith.
Well, he God exercises these three things, loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth.
For in these things I delight, saith the Lord. Now if I delight in the believer, and faith is necessary, I'm so glad you came back to that. And I'd just like to turn to Matthew 16 because I think these two things are brought together in Matthew 16 in connection with knowing God.
And these three things that you mentioned there in Jeremiah.
Matthew 16 and verse 13.
When Jesus came into the coast of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, AM? And they said, some said that thou art John the Baptist, some Elias and others Jeremias.
Or one of the prophets. And he said unto them, But whom do you see? Whom say ye that I am? And Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, For flesh and blood hath not revealed this it unto thee, but my Father, which is in heaven. Now this is the very foundation of what the church our fellowship is based is the this confession of Peter and the knowledge of God in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But let's come down now to the 21St first, because we get here love and judgment brought together. 21 From that time forth Jesus began Jesus to show his disciples how he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and raised again the third day. And Peter took him and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from the Lord, This shall not be unto thee.
But he turned and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan, for thou art an offense or a stumbling unto me, For thou hast saved for thou savers, not the things that be of God, but those that be of man. Well, this wonderful truth was revealed to Peter by the Father in heaven, by the spirit of who Christ was. But now the question came of the cross and Peter, and natural sympathy.
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Acted, and I want to say this very reverently, on the one thing in which the Lord as a man expressed His will Father to be possible. Let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done.
And Peter acted in human sympathy towards the Lord to try to turn him back from going to the cross. It's not going to be to thee that they suffer in that way.
But if it were not for the cross, the death of the Lord Jesus Christ and the blessing that was in the heart of God could not come out.
And so it was really why? Because Peter savored the things that were of men and not the things that were of God.
And while he had been brought to know God, we need to be brought to no God too. And how he has worked in redemption. Because to the natural man it seemed the grave of all his hopes was the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. But we see it's the fountain of all our blessing.
And the heart of God fully comes out in the gift of his Son, so that God could show.
The love that was in his heart, and yet justice.
Judgment to and righteousness there at the cross.
And what a wonderful thing it is to see there at the cross that God is light and God is love.
When we have the question of God, it's more his character as God and we have father, it's relationship and I think it's nice to see that in these verses of our chapter here. Notice verse 4 is.
We are chosen in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame, before I'm in love.
Were brought to know God in his character of complete holiness. Now we have been chosen to occupy a position of holiness and without blame before him in love. But when we come to verse five it's more God as father the relationship he doesn't merely save us from sin.
And judgment, which is true, but he brings us into a position of relationship with himself. Your illustration of going to Buckingham Palace is good, Jim, but one step further. Now we're brought right into the very family of God. And you notice the King James translation uses the word children. But I noticed the new translation.
Says adoption or it's being brought into sonship, and the thought in sonship is into full intelligence of God's thoughts through the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God. So it's like the prodigal son that came back from the far country, and when he got home, the father's embrace and his kiss.
And the best robe and the ring on his finger and the shoes on his feet. But then he's brought right into the Father's house. The fatted calf is killed, and he sits down at the Father's table in fellowship with the Father. That's the picture we have here, brethren. We are brought into God's very family adoption.
He's chosen us for that position of sonship.
Oh, they blessedness of it, brethren, to get ahold of it, to realize it far more than being just forgiven, far more than having.
A to being justified, but now being brought right into God's family to enjoy His presence, to understand His thoughts. Oh brethren, this is the place.
He has predestined for us from the before the foundation of the world.
And you know, our hearts are just about not quite up to grasping all this, but what is a comfort to my own soul rather than is this?
I, I, I'm maybe not there, maybe I'm not getting it, but you know, who was it that chose me for this? Was this some idea of mine? No, it was God who predestined me for this position from that past eternity. Now in this life I might be stiff necked and hard headed and all the rest, but who's going to win out in the end?
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Me or God in his eternal purposes.
He has his ways if I am stiff necked and hard headed.
Breaking that down so that we can be brought in to all this position of favor. Nothing, absolutely nothing can frustrate the purposes of God. In this dawn is in my father's house or many mansions or abodes. It's as if the room were prepared for Brother Jim there in Buckingham Palace.
But he goes on to say, I go to prepare a place for you. There was an abode there, but now there's a son's place there. That's what it means to be accepted in the beloved. You could pick me up and put me into Buckingham Palace, but I don't have the ways or manners for Buckingham Palace, the table manners to sit and eat with the queen. But you know, we are. We're accepted in the beloved. And that is really our place now. And that's a wonderful thing to realize is that right here now.
Realize that we're in a real sense we're fish out of water is that he's left us here as ambassadors has been said but the place that we're really going to feel at home is when we get to the father's house on high and that is really why the Sinner would not feel happy in heaven. He talks about heaven the Muslim talks about his rivers of wine and multiple wives hundreds of wives and the man of the world talks about heavenland golf courses and tennis courts and so on but there's nothing in the natural man if.
Ron Clawson once said at a gospel conference. He said if you open the gates of hell in a million years and asked and let man come out, there would not one man come out. He would stand at the gate of open gate of hell and wave his fist. The rich man did not ask to leave hell.
And to go into heaven because there's nothing there that would attract his heart. But we have a place there.
But there is a conduct now that is in keeping with those who have been brought into the dignity of sonship, because that's what sonship brings before us, doesn't it? We're children by birth, Dutch John's ministry, but we're sons by adoption. We're brought into a place of dignity and we ought to be conscious of it. I remember Brother Albert Hayhoe telling us when we were young people, that one time when he was a young person, he sat and listened to his father in a meeting speak about the evils of pride.
And he went to his father after and he said, now father, he said if I didn't have some little self esteem and pride, he said I wouldn't have made sure this morning that my hair was combed neatly and my shoes were shined and that I was dressed properly to come to the meeting. And his father very wisely looked at him.
And he said, Albert, if you remember at all times that you're a son and heir of God.
It will take care of all those things without one bit of pride or self esteem. And brethren, I believe that's true if we can remember the dignity of the position that we're brought into sometimes. Told the story about one of the Crown Princess of France and when he was a boy he had an English tutor to teach him English and this English tutor had a great deal of trouble with his student and being the Crown Prince of France.
He couldn't discipline him the way that he would if it was you or IA commoner.
And so in great frustration, he finally purchased a purple rosette depend on his lapel. Purple was the color, the official color of the French royal family. And one morning when this Crown Prince showed up to school, the teacher, the tutor pinned the rosette, purple rosette on his lapel. And he said, when you misbehave in class, I cannot correct you because of who you are.
But he said, all I'm going to do is point to the purple rosette and that will be a reminder to you.
That you are son and heir to the French throne, that you're a member of the French royal family, and that there is a conduct which is in keeping with being the Crown Prince of France. And the story goes that it worked very well. And so, brethren, we need to keep this before our souls. He's chosen us. We're sons of, we're the sons of God. Does that make a difference in our conduct, in our deportment through this world?
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And not only did he choose us, brethren, but he chose us knowing all about us. I thought of it when Bob was saying sometimes he's hard headed and stubborn and wayward a little bit. Well, you know.
And I am too. But God knew all about that. The Father knew all about that. 40 years, over 42 years ago, a set of parents went to an orphanage in Montreal, Canada, and they chose a son. And I'm thankful that they did.
But you know, when they chose that son, they didn't know how he was going to turn out. And I'm sure there were times in his upbringing that they wondered why they, if they really should have gone and chose that son. But you know, we were chosen in Christ. It's in God's infinite foreknowledge. And he knew all about me. He knew all about you. And is he disappointed He chose you? Earthly parents may adopt and they may be disappointed in the final analysis.
But is he disappointed with you? Is he disappointed with me? No, never grieved sometimes. Sometimes he's grieved with me, but never disappointed. And you know, the end result is that he's predestinated us as to be conformed to the image of His Son. And you know he's working that in our lives now. But when he gets us to glory and God views his family all with and like Christ.
Because it doesn't yet appear what we shall be, but when he views us all like Christ.
Will God be disappointed that He chose anyone of us? No, He's just going to rejoice there. The Father is going to rejoice to see that vast family there and to see the end result conformed fully to the image of His dear Son. Oh brethren, if that doesn't thrill your heart and encourage you now to walk as a son and heir of God, I don't know what goes on within your heart.
New creation.
Begins for us down here, born of God.
We've been having in Christ here in our chapter over and over again.
And I'll quote Second Corinthians 5/10/17. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature, or there is a new creation.
You can look at that version. It goes on and says.
Old things are passed away.
Behold, all things are become new when you and I are born of God, all of our responsibility.
The sons of Adam changes to being sons of God.
Its perfection, none of us quite live up to it, but it doesn't change our responsibility.
Every act that you and I perform, it ought to be as does this conform to God? Does this conform to God? Well, it's going to old things are passed away. The old old things are become new. All things are of God is talking about the new creation.
But you get into it by faith now, and I too. It's interesting, Brother Buchanan, that these, this expression in Christ in Ephesians appears 10 times. Now what is 10? That's responsibility. Now we have nothing to do with being in Christ. That's nothing to do with ourselves. But there is a responsibility as to those who are in Christ because 10 denotes responsibility in Scripture. And that's the difference between under law and under grace. Under law, that was man's responsibility as a man.
And what he ought to do in his relationship to man and God. But in Christ our relationship has changed and so.
What might be perfectly acceptable under the law is unthinkable in Christianity. It's not enough to be right as a Christian. And maybe very often you found, as I have, that you've been right in a situation and you've realized that you've not displayed Christ in it.
It's not enough to be right.
Be haughty. How shall it be known that the master is lowly?
That's a behavior pattern that often arrests this individual. If the servant be haughty, how shall it be known that the master is lowly?
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God come out when Paul stood there in chains and he said, I wish that thou art altogether as I am, yet without these chains. And so often we're complaining about our situation. And I think I can speak in the plural and realize that we don't really reveal the heart of God as to the situation.
And what is in the heart of God? Because God's heart for the Sinner is blessing. Now the way of blessing is by repentance. It's not by.
Snicker bars and Pepsi. It's by by giving him what he wants. It's by the way of repentance and the way of faith. That's how he gets it, if I may put it that way. But it really it the heart of God is towards man and we take our places. We're saying yesterday if we lose sight.
Of our position and seek to walk, cease to walk as ambassadors we become to beat the men's servants and simply to try to correct man into a correct manner of behavior. But it doesn't change one iota the heart towards God, It just covers and hides the sin.
There is, there are, I should say many.
Precious.
Examples in the Old Testament of.
This particular line of things that's been occupying us.
As to walking.
In the good, and according to the character of what we are in Christ.
And they're well known. One of them that just struck me as our brothers have been speaking.
I would like to turn to it for just a moment. It's very sobering.
In Second Samuel 13, I think we know the story so well that I'll only just read a verse.
It's about one who was the daughter of a king.
And if I can make this application, each one of us who sit here as knowing Christ as Savior.
Are an object of affection and have the potential to bear fruit for our God.
For the daughter of the king.
David was apparelled in a certain way.
She had a garment. Verse 18.
Of divers colors upon her, I take that to mean there was a beautiful garment that suggested the glories of the one to whom she belonged.
But something happened and she was defiled and corrupted the.
And because of what happened, and not to go into that, but because of what happened, because of that defilement and corruption, that garment was shredded.
And there were ashes on her head. Well, beloved brethren, that's one of two I want to consider. But may we, you know, we sing that song, Christian, walk carefully.
Danger is near.
We are.
As to our position, blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ.
Not one thing could be changed, nothing can be added to that, but the garment of glory that we are to wear as those who are objects of the affections of the heart of God.
And the ability to produce fruit.
Can be destroyed and corrupted in this world through which we walk. On the other hand, if you turn the first kings a very well known passage and chapter 10.
You find those who were serving a king, they weren't in the relation of children of the king, but they were serving the king. First Kings, chapter 10.
And verse 5.
And there was one there who came up to question and to prove.
Who he was and what she had heard about him. And I think it's so lovely. I've often pondered that when the queen at verse four, the queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon's wisdom. You know, brethren, why doesn't the Spirit of God, I say reverently say, when the queen of Sheba had heard all of Solomon's wisdom? It's what we were talking about earlier, the difference between knowledge and knowing. Ganasco. I don't know if that's pronounced right in the Greek, the intimate experiencing of something.
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And ADO or Idol, The mental ascent.
She experienced the result of the wisdom. She knew it in that sense. It was an intimate experiencing of that wisdom. So she saw the wisdom and the house that he had built, and then meet of his table and then this.
The sitting of the king, the sitting of his servants.
The attendance of his ministers and their apparel and his cup bearers.
And his assent by which he went up into the House of the Lord, was the result. She was all done asking questions.
She saw what she needed to break that proud and haughty spirit, and she saw it in His wisdom. And part of that wisdom was displayed by the way His servants acted and served and dressed in His presence.
In connection with that, and that is David when Samuel called Jesse's sons before him, and this verse is often used that you don't know what's in my heart. He says, for God looketh man looketh on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart. But what is said of David when he is brought before Samuel? He was goodly look upon of Ruddy countenance. What was in his heart was displayed outwardly and.
There's a second thing in a more solemn thing in the book of Esther and we're practically in the book of Esther now. I really believe it's in the tribulation. But the Gentile bride that is the one who took outwardly the position of being the bride. She would not adorn herself for the king and she set aside in a Jewish bride has been taken up. And that's really where we are now where not yet, but in the tribulation it becomes fully manifest, but where the church in an outward way that which professes to be the bride of Christ here in this earth.
Refuses to adorn itself in a way that is suitable to Christ. I'd like to read 2 verses in connection with this one in First Peter.
And.
Because it just and another in Romans 8IN connection with this, because I believe it's very helpful to understand when you refer to these Old Testament types.
First Peter 9 I'm going to read 910 and 11. Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls, of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently onto.
Diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you, searching what, or but what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them, did signify, when it testified beforehand of the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow? For the expression that arrested me here was the Spirit of Christ that was in them. You saw the Spirit of Christ in Moses. You saw the Spirit of Christ in Noah, when he plead with them to come into the ark.
And Romans 8 says, If any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
The proof that somebody is indwelt by the Spirit of God today is not their profession, but the manifestation of the Spirit of Christ, a desire to please the Lord.
And if there is not that outward evidence that there is a desire to please the Lord?
Then there's no evidence that one is indwelt by the Spirit of God. If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, it's not talking about the indwelling of the Spirit of God there, but it's talking about the manifestation of that by the display of the Spirit of Christ.
Now it's true that that was seen in the Old Testament, though they were not indwelt by the Spirit of God. But now we have the life of Christ and have the power of that life dwelling in us, the Spirit of God. And that is really that. Our privilege as believers is along this line.
As we walk in this world, I mean we're getting practical, but this is really our positional truth in Ephesians chapter one.
At the end of the verse we have the reason why He brought us into this position. It was nothing in us that He saw, brethren. It was all according to the good pleasure of His will. And it's wonderful to realize that it's not because of some virtue or something that He knew that I would possess, that He.
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Chose me and predestined me to this place. It was because of the good pleasure of His will. God wanted to manifest His own heart of love. And this is the way He has chosen to do it, To pick up rebels and to change them and to bring them into this position of blessing and favor. Notice verse 6 two to the praise of the glory of His grace.
Oh, brother. And when we get home to glory and those angelic hosts, I like to think of it. I, I suppose there's no way we can understand too much of that side. But those angelic hosts are going to have to open ranks and let us go further in. We're going to occupy the closest place in that heavenly scene.
And I've wondered if they as we go in, they ask who are these privileged people that get to be in a place closer than we are? Remember, angels never sin. They are maintained by God in sinless perfection and what are called elect angels.
But the answer is, these are sinners saved by the grace of God. Is there anything I'll be able to glory of in myself? You know, it's a tendency of our hearts down here. We like to think we're pretty good and pretty great.
When we get home to glory, it's going to be to the praise of the glory of his grace, that grace, it's going to take ages. The riches of the grace is going to take ages to display it all, but it's to the praise of the glory of his grace. And then the end of verse six says wherein he has made us accepted in the beloved.
Oh, brother, and this is precious, Precious accepted then the beloved. I like the new translation that says.
Taken into favor in the beloved, Did you know that you occupy a position in Christ in which God cannot look at you in any other way than of supreme favor, because you are in Christ?
And he may have to discipline me at times, and he does.
But why does he discipline me? Because of that place of supreme favor that I occupy before Him in Christ. Oh, to let these truths sink down into our souls. Brethren, sometimes I see young people and they seem to be the oddball out and they don't seem to fit in any group and they say they're struggling to be accepted. Look at this verse, young person, we are.
Accepted in the highest measure possible. Accepted in the beloved. You say you don't feel accepted with the brethren. Don't worry about the brethren. Think of this. You are accepted in God's beloved Son. I like.
Just.
Like to tell the story I guess. I've told it before, but it it really illustrates it.
Of a story I heard a number of years ago of a little boy in England who had come from the countryside and wanted to see the Queen and wanted to petition the Queen about something. And he got as far as the gates of the palace and the guards kept him out.
And he come from a distance and so he was off to one side kind of crying and he couldn't get in no way. And as he was standing there crying, he another little boy comes running down the street. And as he approached the guards, the guards didn't hold him out. They stood at attention as the Prince of Wales. And he ran straight in. But just as soon as he got in, he.
Stopped. He'd seen that little boy crying. And he says, what's wrong? And one of the guards says, well, he wants to see the Queen and there's no way he can get in there. And that little boy walks up and says to the little boy that was crying, you come with me. And he went straight into the Queen's presence. What made the difference? It wasn't what that little boy was, it was what the Prince of Wales was. He went right in.
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And brethren, that's our place before God. Occupy a place of supreme favor in the beloved. Excuse me?
Accepted in the beloved let's read one verse in first Corinthians one and 30 and it mentions 4 things I was speaking about Jeremiah and three things that we enjoy there loving kindness, judgment and righteousness. Now here in first Corinthians 130 it says.
Of him are ye where in Christ Jesus?
Who of God is made unto us these four things?
And the first thing is wisdom.
And the next thing is righteousness.
And the next thing is sanctification. And then we get the basis of everything, redemption. We are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. These four things are enough for anyone of us.
Is according to the good pleasure of His will at the cross. Choice was over.
God commandeth now all men everywhere to repent. If there's someone in this room today that's not saved, you're being disobedient to the gospel because God's commanded a blessing for you and you have to disobey God to go to hell.
God's commanded a blessing. God now commandeth all men everywhere to repent. Man expressed his choice at the cross, and he said morally, he said we will not have this band to reign over us, not this man, but Barabbas. And we feel it as we look around in society more and more, that that's the cry of man's heart. But God's commanded a blessing. And so the source of our blessing is the setting aside of our own will and yielding to the good pleasure of God's will.
John 17, verse 24, The pleasure of His will.
That they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me. For thou lovest me before the foundation of the world. What's it like to be brought into that position of being loved with Christ before the foundation of the world?
There is one who gives a little peek at it is proper bait and its wisdom.
And she says, Then I would buy him at one brought up with him, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth, and my delights were with the sons of men.
She was the closest to his heart.
Wisdom of God comes first.
No one ever could think of these things, but God did His wisdom.
And they lead up to the pull thing, redemption in Christ, children of God by faith, and he gives the faith.
Last to show that the full redemption is not until we have our bodies delivered and the Lord comes.
Then.
Like Harry Hale used to say, I'm half saved.
According to the Spirit.
We're already saved, but according to this body, we're not.
That's why Peter says we've received the end of our salvation. That's the salvation of our souls. But we haven't received the salvation of our bodies yet. There it is. Moreover, shall my flesh rest in hope. We lay a dear one in the grave, and they're absent from the body. The apostle Paul is unclothed. He's there in spirit, but his body's in a grave, waiting that happy resurrection mourn, and we're waiting for it too. He doesn't have that, the salvation of his body.
But the moment that a believer is saved, they're fit for meat for glory. That thief on the cross, he was fit for the presence of the Lord. Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. Today Thou shalt be with me in paradise. He was fit the moment he was meat for. But he, that thief's body, is in a grave somewhere, waiting that resurrection morning. There is another aspect of salvation. That's the salvation of our lives, and that's the practical side of it. We're saved by his life.
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Is that is that there is a man in the glory that walked in this pathway of faith perfectly to the glory of God, and he knows what all that this pathway entails and he's praying for us because he knows that we can have a saved soul and a lost life.
Well, it tells us now salvation nearer than when we believed. That's the salvation of the body.
But I think it's good to notice in our chapter here where we're reading that he says accepted in the beloved.
And if you notice Mr. Darby's translation, he doesn't put a period after beloved. It's all part of the same sentence as the next verse. Because it's in whom? In whom? We ask that in whom? In the beloved. Because it's the person that gives value to the work. Now, the blood of Christ is the grounds of it all. Someone has put it this way. Grace is the way, faith is the means, and the blood is the ground. But it's in whom? Because there's been much blood shed in this world. And I speak very guardedly.
There's been much bloodshed in this world, the blood of martyrs, the blood of nobles.
But only one could shed His blood to redeem my soul. And so it's in whom it's the person first, brethren.
That's what gives weight to the work. That is what gives value to the blood. It's in whom the Beloved and we have redemption through His blood. And oh brethren, let's never forget that. That's the ground of all our blessing. And when we finally join the redeemed around the throne in a coming day, and all the redeemed are giving glory and all creation gives honor to him, what is the theme of the Eternal song in that day?
What is the theme of heaven? It's unto Him. It's He's redeemed us by his blood.
Out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation, we're never going to forget for all eternity the value of the blood.
And let me just say this too, that my redemption does not depend on my.
Estimation or appreciation of the blood of Christ and when we we often quote that verse in Peter and when we quote it, we think perhaps of how precious the blood of Jesus is to us. And brethren, I trust it means everything to us. Is the blood of the mention of the blood of Jesus precious to your soul? Does it thrill your soul if it doesn't? I wonder if you've ever been redeemed by the blood of Christ. I wonder if you've ever had your sins washed away in his blood. But when it says they're in first Peter the precious.
Blood of Christ, that's not so much my value or estimation of it.
That's God's value. God looks at the blood of Christ that was shed on Calvary's cross.
And God says it's precious. The value of the blood of Christ today and for all eternity is the same as when it was shed over 2000 years ago on Calvary's cross. That blood is precious to the heart of God. And what thrills my soul is that my redemption is based on God's value of the blood of Christ. And it says they're not with corruptible things as silver and gold.
Because silver and gold changes in value. If we were to go to the papers tomorrow morning, when the stock markets in this world are Monday morning, when the stock markets in this world reopen, we may find that the value of silver and gold has changed considerably from when they opened last Monday. Those things fluctuate, but I'm not basing my redemption on something that fluctuates in value.
No, thank God. I'm basing my redemption on something that never changes in value. God says it's precious and I trust in some measure at least it's precious to your heart and mine you mentioned about.
This is not a class in in English grammar, but it's the word of God. Starting with the third verse of our chapter. There's only rightly 2 Periods, one at the end of the 14th verse.
And one at the end of the 23rd.
In the original, there is such a an intended continuity of thought as far as the outpouring of the heart of God that starting with the third verse through the 14th is 1 Continuous flow of God's purposes, and then starting with the prayer in the 15th verse. The prayer doesn't start in the 15th, but the subject of it does until the end of the chapter is another uninterrupted flow of of God's thoughts. So there's only two periods starting with the third verse, the end of the 14th and the end of the 23rd.
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What a flow uninterruptedly of God's purposes and part of love.
Redemption mentioned here in our chapter and it's looked at as one of our spiritual blessings. We have it.
Present possession, as has been mentioned, the redemption of the body, that installment we are waiting for, but we have it now through His blood. And then it goes on to say the forgiveness of sins. Redemption is the basis of all blessing. In Romans chapter three, I think it's verse 24 says being justified freely by His grace.
Through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. So we have not only redemption, we have forgiveness of sins, we have justification. What a what a wonderful display of the blessings. It's all based on God's.
Work of redemption. It's all based on his the demands of his own holy character have been fully met in that shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I can say before a holy God, I know I have the forgiveness of all my sins. What a blessing brother, and I must say.
I Sometimes we go to youth village and preach the gospel to the young people there, and sometimes into the prison.
Sometimes we pose the question to the people that are listening What do you have to do to get saved?
And the answer comes to so often it is striking. Brethren, all you have to do is just ask God for the forgiveness of your sins.
And I don't know if I surprised him or not, but I say, you know what? You don't even have to ask God for the forgiveness of your sins.
He's offering it to you. If you haven't accepted it yet as a free gift, the price has been paid.
Don't ask any longer, just accept it and say thank you to God for it. And if you look in Scripture, brethren, it is striking. Before the Lord Jesus died on the cross, he did teach the disciples in what is commonly called the Lord's Prayer to pray. Forgive us our sins as we also forgive our debtors. But if you look after the Lord died and paid that price of redemption in full.
You will never again find where we are told to ask for the forgiveness of sins. It is everyone that believes shall receive the forgiveness of sins through His name. All you have to do is accept it. Isn't it a wonderful blessing before a holy God? And I must say rather than it really is sad to see.
Many professing Christians.
Still praying. Forgive us our sins.
Do not they have the knowledge of full and free forgiveness? Just the other day down in Chile I was talking about this and a sister who has been a believer for many years came up to me. Well, when we sin as Christians, shouldn't we say, forgive me to the Lord?
And we turned up that verse in first John 19 says if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. No, you don't have to ask for forgiveness. He's willing to forgive. You don't have to ask for that. What He wants us to do when we send us believers is not to ask for the forgiveness of sins, it's to confess.
That sin we have committed and then he is faithful and just to forgive and decline.
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I think that's important, and I want to just illustrate it in a simple way, because really, the asking of forgiveness may in fact be a root of unbelief in my own heart. And if I may put it this way, supposing I stole $1000 off of you, brother?
Bob or maybe $10 off of you and I harbored in my thought. I wonder if you'll forgive me if I go and confess it to me now. I have absolutely no doubt that you would forgive me if I came to you.
But you know, there would be an obstacle between us. You would be concerned about me. You see me and you say, you know, in a blatant way, he stole $10 off of me. And there's been no repentance there. And I know your heart would be ready to forgive me. But there's been a breach in communion between us. And I'm sitting here saying, I wonder if Brother Bob would forgive me. I'm questioning the goodness of your heart.
And what I need to do is I need to see humility and grace go to you and own the sin is what I did and said, you know, Brother Bob, I stole $10 off of you and then I would discover what was in your heart. And the obstacle with the Sinner is not that God is unwilling or that the brethren even are unwilling to forgive us sin, but it's really to own the sin for what it is. And the great obstacle and breach and communion between brethren is not. And often people say, well, the brethren are very unforgiving. That is not so.
I mean, brethren can be unforgiving, but generally speaking that is not the difficulty. The difficulty is really getting before God and owning the thing for what it is.
And it really stems from unbelief. And I put the blame on you rather than take the matter before God and really get right in my soul before God about the matter. And so asking or questioning that God should forgive is really may stem from unbelief. Now it may be ignorance, as you say, of the simple truth of the gospel, but it may be far deeper and worse than that, it may really stem from unbelief that is in the goodness of the heart of God. When we talk about brothers forgiveness sometimes.
You hear the statement, Well, I forgive him, but I won't forget it. And really, that's not real forgiveness, is it? When God Forgives, how does he do it? According to the riches of His grace. And I love to think of it, brethren, what it says in Hebrews chapter 10, it's quoted a number of times in Scripture. He says their sins and their iniquities. I will remember no more.
In other words.
It indicates the way it states that makes that statement that every sin I ever committed was remembered once when Jesus was hanging on that cross and every sin was laid on him. He remembered him once. Now he says I'm not going to remember him anymore. And that's how I comfortable in the presence of God because I might rob you and you might forgive me.
But in your presence I would always feel like a forgiven thief. There'd always be that conscience in the back of my mind that I had once wronged you, but now there's no more conscience of sin. Because my grandmother had an expression, I forgive and forget, but I always remember. And it's interesting in connection with that verse you quote, God doesn't forget. That's human weakness. I forget things, the things I want to remember. I forget the things I don't want to remember. The one things I want to forget, those are the things I remember.
And so it's human weakness to forget. And it's interesting in that verse you quote, it doesn't say thy sins and iniquities. I will forget that human weakness, but remember no more. Only a divine person can choose not to remember. He doesn't forget them, but he chooses not to remember they're gone. And it says in Romans 5, much more than being justified by His blood. It's true we're forgiven sinners, but brethren, we're far, far more than forgiven sinners.
We're justified. We're brought into a position before God, seen in all the perfection and righteousness of Christ.
Where we can be completely comfortable in His presence, we can come into the light of God's holy presence, and we can be comfortable there because we know that our sins are gone in the blood of Christ. Not one charge will ever be raised.
Or ever be remembered by God now and for all eternity. The Lord Himself personally our righteousness.
It's not what He did that does that. It's not what He's doing now that does that. He is our righteousness. God never forgets.
My thought was connection with that expression in the seventh verse of our chapter.
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It says to the riches of his grace. Then in the next chapter it says the exceeding riches of his grace, that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
See this in connection with forgiveness, it says in John, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And it's a cleansing from all unrighteousness that we see the grace of God and there is a forgiveness that is granted to us. But God has dealt with us according to wisdom and knowledge. And so if I borrowed money off of Brother Bob and never returned it, you know, and I never came back to him and I wanted to borrow money again or borrow his car. And he knew the last time I took it, I kind of made a mess of his car. He might say to me, Brother Neil, he says, I'll give you a drive.
And that would be great. And that really shows that he's forgotten the matter, that there's nothing harbored between us. But he's not going to be put me in the position of making the same mistake, a mess, making a mess of his car. And I think sometimes we say we do something foolish and the Lord forgives it. And I, I just take great joy and comfort off the words of the Lord in the cross. He said my foolishness was not hid from me, that he confessed my my foolishness as his own. And now he's dealing towards me in wisdom and grace and he doesn't deal with me as a Sinner.
He deals with me in grace so that I wouldn't get back into the same things I was in before.
Number one.
And.