If you have your Bibles, we'll be in the book of Ephesians once more this evening. But this time we'll be in Ephesians chapter one, Ephesians chapter one, looking at verses three through 14. Ephesians chapter one. verses 3 through 14. And as you are turning there, let me just say, if you were not here this morning, I again bring you greetings from the First Baptist Church of Provo, Utah.
And I'm so glad that so many of you came back, but I hear that that's the custom to come back and worship the Lord. And what a joy it is to be able to give so much of our time to the corporate worship of God on his weekly day. So thank you so much for coming back to worship the Lord with me. And let me just say, if I can encourage you all with one thing not related to the sermon, Richard Barcelles was right about y'all. you all are a singing church.
It was such a joy for me to be up here and have the wall of sound coming at me, but knowing that it was directed to the praise of His glorious grace. And that's what we're going to talk about tonight is Trinitarian assurance. Trinitarian assurance. And if you like sermon titles, that's the title, Trinitarian Assurance.
And before we get into the text proper, I just want to say that I feel that there's a problem in Reformed and Evangelical communities in that we oftentimes lack good, biblical, balanced teaching on the assurance of the believer. What I preached this morning about us being predestined for good works and we are God's workmanship, that is true. The believing Christian ought, as a way of life, bear the singular fruit of the Spirit in their lives. And if that is not there, the church has a right and responsibility to be concerned for that person's soul.
However, I also said that we oftentimes struggle with sin, don't we? And when we struggle with sin, when we're fighting with sin, one of Satan's greatest tactics is to get us that doubt our salvation because we are not bearing enough good works. We are not bearing enough fruit. And the tendency is we can oftentimes look inwardly and judge our salvation, not by the finished work of Christ, dear ones, but by how much fruit we are bearing.
And I would submit to you very forthrightly that that should not be the case. We should not be those who look inwardly all the time and constantly judging as to whether or not we've borne enough fruit, but rather we ought to be looking to Jesus Christ and more specifically our Trinitarian God for our assurance. So with that said, I want us to read this text in its entirety. God's Word, again, says to us and for us through the Apostle Paul, starting in Ephesians 1, verse 3.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, by which he made us accepted in the beloved. Verse seven, in him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times he might gather together in one all things in Christ. both which are in heaven and which are on earth in him. Verse 11, in him also we have obtained an inheritance being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of his glory.
In him, verse 13, you also trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. In whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of his glory. Let us bow together. Father, this is your word.
You have spoken to us through it. And we pray and ask as we continue to worship you this evening in the preaching. May you help me to preach clearly. May you help your people that call themselves Sweet Grace Baptist Church to listen well.
And may you get all the glory as we come before you in all of what you have done for us. And we ask all this in the name of your son. Amen.
Introduction
So I mentioned in my introduction that we ought to have assurance. Well, in tonight's sermon, I want to argue that our triune God gives us assurance of salvation. Our triune God gives us assurance of salvation. And it's very curious to me that after his greeting in the first two verses, the apostle Paul to this church immediately opens up in doxology.
He opens up in worship and we know this because he uses the word blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ. This whole section dear friends, is one of Trinitarian doxology. You'll see all three persons of the triune God mentioned in this text if you read closely. And what we see here is that this doxology, we know from reading the rest of the book that Paul wrote the Ephesian letter while he was under arrest.
He was in chains. And yet, the very first words out of his mouth is to praise and bless his triune God. And that ought to be instructive for us. If anybody had any reason to be ho-hum and downcast, it would have been the Apostle Paul, who after a glorious conversion on the road to Damascus, lived a life that none of us would ask for.
People say, oh, I want a ministry that's glorious. Be careful. You don't know what you're asking for. The apostle Paul had a ministry that glorified God and it put him in jail.
And in jail, he wrote this letter. And it says here that he starts out with blessings. and look at what the text says. First, he says, blessed is the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ. So he starts out by blessing the father and extolling the excellencies of the father.
And then we're going to see in verses seven through 12, that he blesses and extols God the Son. And then in verses 13 and 14, I want you to see that the focus is on the Holy Spirit. Now, I'm going to get a little bit technical here, but I want to set up some guardrails before we go any further. Theologians have a doctrine that they have termed inseparable operations. inseparable operations.
And what that means is that's taking in the fact that God is one in essence, that there really is one God. And by virtue of there only being one God, that in a very real sense, when one person of the Godhead does something in redemptive history, they are all doing it because there's one God. There's a scholar that has an academic book that is called the same God who works all things. I believe the author's name is Adonis Fadu.
If I mess that up, he'll have to forgive me if he ever hears this. But Adonis Fadu, if we're more of the scholarly mindset, has a great treatment on inseparable operations. And it's a slow read, but it's a profitable read. So as we talk about each person of the Trinity.
I don't want you to think of it this way. The Father only elects and predestines, and the Son only redeems and purchases, and the Spirit His role is only to seal. His role is only to regenerate. His role is to only open eyes.
Do not, do not, do not think of it in those terms because we know from a wider reading of scripture that the Father does all these things and the Son does all these things and that the Spirit does all these things. But what Paul is trying to do in his doxology is as some have said, shine the light upon each person of the Trinity so he can give better glory to all of what God has done.
The Work of the Triune God
So with that said, I want us to look at, with those guardrails, the work in this text of each person of our triune God. So
The Father's Election and Blessing
I told you that in verses one through six, I want us to see the goodness of the Father and what He has done for us. Paul starts out in doxology saying, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the pleasure of his will. You see here the glorious truth that God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing.
We have everything we need given to us by our Heavenly Father. Those spiritual blessings include our sin being forgiven. include the glorified body purchased for us. They include the fellowship and communion of the saints for all of eternity. And it includes seeing God without sin and without defection and being able to look upon the face of Jesus Christ and not being cast into hell.
We have every reason to rejoice, dear saints, because God has, as the text says, blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. How? In Christ. You see how This is connected to this morning's sermon.
We talked about being saved by grace through faith, and it's about being in Christ, being unified with Him, being made to to be with Him when before we could not be with Him because of our sinfulness. Once our sins are forgiven, dear saints, we are given the very righteousness of Christ and we are actually put under the shelter of His wings. We are unified with Him. To be in Christ means that His righteousness, humanly speaking, is your righteousness.
To be in Christ means that His perfect life is credited to you. To be in Christ, dear ones, means that you are no longer outside the camp. You are no longer cursed. You are now blessed. to give you an example from scripture.
Remember the baptism account of Jesus when God the Father spoke from heaven? What did he say of the God-man who said, this is my son in whom I am well pleased. Now you listen to this, dear saint. If you are in Christ, if you've had your sins forgiven, if you've had your debt wiped away in the doctrine of justification being declared right before a holy God.
God the Father looks at you and He says this. This is my adopted son. This is my adopted daughter. in whom I am well pleased." Have you ever thought about that? That in Christ, the way the triune God looks at you is as if you are just as sinless as He is.
Even though you know you're not. Your sins have been wiped away. You've been declared right before Him. And there's nothing in heaven, earth, or hell that will ever make the holy God of the universe displeased with you.
That's what it means, dear friends, to be blessed with every spiritual blessing. And the scripture says that the triune God has done this. That God the Father specifically has done this. and I'm not even to the Son of the Spirit yet, and that alone should give you all the assurance in the world. You know what that means?
If you're struggling with sin, dear saint, and we all are, that means that you can go to God and He's not your judge. He's just as much your Father through adoption as He is the eternal Son. And you can go to Him in prayer. You can go to Him not as judge, but as your loving Heavenly Father.
If that is not good enough, it says that God chose us in Him, in Christ, before the foundation of the world. that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. You see how this connects to this morning's text? You see how this connects to all of the Bible that God's election is not only about being born again, but God's election, the text says, is also about the holiness and the loveliness of the saints. The text says that we are chosen in Him.
The same way we get the heavenly blessing is in Christ, the same way we were chosen was in him through his life, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. It says before the world was, God chose us. He chose us that we would be saved, that we would be holy and without blame before him in love. Verse five, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will.
We've already talked a little bit about adoption, but God not only predestined to save us by being born again, he predestined in the sense that we would be adopted as well. And this adoption, dear saint, the scriptures say, is according to His good pleasure. It was God's will to save you. And you know what?
If something is God's will in the eternal mind of God, it's going to get done. Election has implications for the perseverance of the saints, for eternal security. You and I may struggle, we may fail, but God's got us, dear saints. God's not gonna let us go because to be adopted into his family, who would no sooner let Jesus Christ go than to let us go.
You are as much his son via adoption as Christ is the eternal son. And the Trinity, that familial relationship of father and son in the Trinity can never be broken up, neither can your adopted status as his beloved children. And that's guaranteed in the predestination of our salvation. And that's guaranteed in the election of us and just as sure as we are his sons.
It says that he predestined us to be holy and without blame. Your holiness is just as much a guarantee as your salvation. That doesn't mean you'll be sinlessly perfect, but it does mean that you will bear fruit of the Spirit. It does mean that you will continue on. and persevere to the end.
But you don't persevere to the end, dear saints, by looking inwardly to yourself all the time. You persevere to the end by keeping your eyes upon Christ and looking to him. That is the end goal of the Christian life, is to behold him and all his goodness and all his glory. And that's why we see here in verse six, this adoption, this predestination, this selection before the foundations of the world, this being blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, it is all to the praise of the glory of his grace, by which he made us accepted in the beloved.
How often do you think of yourself as accepted and the beloved in Christ Jesus? Remember I read from Romans this morning? What'd I say? I said, we are helpless in and of ourselves.
We are sinners. We're ungodly. We're enemies of God. As I said this morning, that means that we're at war with God.
And we are God's enemy and God is our enemy. How horrible was that? But yet in the beloved eternal son, in his gospel, the enemies of God are accepted. The enemies of God are at peace.
The enemies of God become friends even. And we see the focus upon this beloved in the next few verses.
The Son's Redemption and Inheritance
Verses seven to 12. In him, this is in Christ, in Jesus Christ, we have redemption through his blood. the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace, which he made to abound toward us all in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of his will according to his, there it is again, good pleasure, which he purposed in himself. Look at what this text says. In Christ, we have redemption through his blood.
And we know that God in his essence does not have blood. He is not in his essence a mortal man, is he? That he would shed blood. But we do know in the incarnation, the son assumed human flesh And being truly God and truly man, that truly man really did shed the blood that was inside his body.
That is how he is able to be the perfect Lamb of God that taketh away the sins in the world, as John the Baptist proclaimed. In the old Levitical system under the Mosaic law, they would have to constantly shed the blood of bulls and goats. And Hebrews tells us the blood of bulls and goats doesn't take away sin. But this perfect Lamb of God who shed His divine blood, if I may speak of it that way, as Him being the God-man, He had a once-for-all sacrifice.
And His sacrifice brings about perfect redemption. His sacrifice brings about total forgiveness of sins. Remember we talked about acceptance before that has the idea of reconciliation. You were once an enmity with God, now you're not.
You were once a sinner in God's sight, but now you're declared righteous. Well, the way he does that is through forgiveness of sins. And it's not as though He'll willy-nilly forgive sins. No, no, no.
He must have a sacrifice. And that sacrifice, as we know from the teaching of scripture, is his only son, only begotten son, Jesus Christ. Look at what the text says. This forgiveness of sins, verse seven, is according to the riches of his grace.
We noticed similar language in Ephesians 2, verse four this morning, didn't we? Which says, but God, who is rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us. He is rich, not only in mercy, but Ephesians 1, verse seven says that he is rich in his grace. Oftentimes we can sing amazing grace and the words just roll by us because we all know it so well all over this continent.
And when's the last time you've thought about what the grace of God has saved you from? And what the grace of God has saved you to? We have so many blessings given to us by God's grace in the shed blood of his son. It goes on to say that this grace which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, that in God's eternal wisdom, he decided to save a people for himself. to the death and sacrifice of his only begotten son.
We'll never understand just how great our salvation is. We'll spend all of eternity comprehending the goodness of God and the wisdom of God in salvation. He goes on to say, verse 9, having made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in himself, and here's that mystery, dear saints, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, and it's all what in him. Even the consummation of all things, when God makes all things right, When God does away with this old fallen world and brings about the newness of the new creation, it'll all be because of what Jesus Christ has done.
And it says, in the fullness of the times. We long for the day of the fullness of the times, don't we? That day when all suffering is done away with that day when all the promises of God find their yes and amen in the glorious second return of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Well, if that's not enough, verse 11 says this, in him, in Christ, also we have obtained an inheritance being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.
And here's what he predestined in verse 12, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of his glory. And that trust that we have in Christ brings to us an inheritance. What do we inherit? Well, we inherit eternal life.
We are treated as sons and daughters of the kingdom, equal status with Christ according to his humanity in the adoption. We are sons, just like Jesus Christ is a son as far as status. However, we are not the eternal son that only belongs Jesus Christ, he is eternally begotten, we are adopted, but we are brought into the family of God. That's what it means that we have obtained an inheritance.
We are brought into the family of God. Do you think of yourself that way? I'm part of God's family. This church is a part of the family of God.
And this family is going to go on for all of eternity in praise and worship and adoration and glorification of the triune God. That's what he means when he says we've got that inheritance. He's bought for us the right to worship God for all of eternity in spirit and truth without worrying about sin. anymore and being a part of his family and being accepted and being beloved in his family. And it's all because he's made us to trust in Christ.
So I ask for those of you that have trust in Christ, are these truths bringing an amen to your soul? are these truths causing you to look to Christ and trust in Christ more because you love Him and you long to be with Him. You long for that fullness of the times when all things will be made new, when we'll be reunited or rather united for the first time with the church triumphant in heaven. You long for that day, dear saint, when you'll be in eternal rest. That's why I said this morning, the gathering of the saints is a slice of heaven on earth.
Our meetings today are just a drop in the ocean of what heaven's gonna be. Heaven is our inheritance. As Spurgeon said, even in this life, it's heaven to serve Jesus. That's our inheritance.
We get to serve the triune God. And God the Father has won this for us. God the Son has won this for us. And God the Spirit has won this for us.
The Spirit's Sealing and Guarantee
Look at verses 13 and 14. In him also you trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. In him also having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. Do you remember when and how the Lord saved you?
If you do, you may remember the moment that you trusted the word of truth, that you heard this word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Perhaps you're here tonight and you got saved under Pastor Jim's ministry. Perhaps you remember the sermon that he preached. I don't remember the sermon that the old preacher Brother Roy Ford preached back in 2006 specifically, but I do remember that the gospel was clearly presented, that God is good, God is holy, that I am not, I'm a sinner.
I deserve to be justly condemned before this holy God because I've broken every law he's ever made. I've broken his covenants. And because I deserve to be judged and condemned, I had no hope in and of myself. But the good news, if I can use the language of all of our texts today, is at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.
That Christ Jesus assumed human flesh. And in his assumption of human flesh being truly God and truly man, he lived the perfect life. was never a lawbreaker, never a covenant breaker, fulfilled all of the covenants on my behalf and fulfilled all of the law on my behalf, but died as if he had broken everything. He died as if he were a sinner. He died under the just wrath of a holy God for a sinner like me.
And I didn't understand that in those terms necessarily, but I grew in my understanding of theological truth. But I knew that I was a sinner and I needed Jesus. Guess what? Everybody in this room needs Jesus.
Even if you believed on the gospel 40 years ago, you need Jesus today. You need to continue looking to Him and continue trusting in Him and continue holding fast to Him as He holds you fast. Look to Christ, look to Christ, look to Christ. Perhaps you're here and you're realizing, oh my goodness, I fall under the dead and sins and trespasses category.
I'm a sinner. I've never truly believed upon Christ. Don't sit here and wonder, dear sinner, if you're part of the elect or not. Believe upon Christ.
Believe upon Him. Trust Him alone and you can have salvation. You can be, as the text says in verse 13, sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. It says in verse 14 that this promised Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession.
Once again, to the praise of His glory. Many of you have bought a house and you know you have to put a down payment on that house. Even though you haven't bought the house in full, you now own the house. The Holy Spirit, in a sense, His sealing is a down payment, guaranteeing that the purchase of Jesus was made good, and we are as good as He is.
He owns us. We're bought with the price. We are not our own. But one day soon, in the fullness of the times, He's going to make good on every promise He's ever made.
Your assurance of salvation will one day be sight. You will see your Savior, dear church, face to face. You will know the glories of glorification. You will one day be sinless.
You will one day have a resurrected body and you will one day be in sinless communion with the church historical and universal to the praise of his glorious grace. And as I said before, he's not gonna let anyone or anything rob him of praise or glory. And it's because our God in His triune glory works for our salvation that we can have assurance. Our salvation, dear ones, is not based in us.
It's all based in Him. The Father, Son, and Spirit will get the glory that they've set out to accomplish. God gets the glory in our salvation. He won't lose none of it.
And to lose one of his own would be to fail. He won't do that. So, if you're wondering tonight, am I truly saved? I would tell you the same thing I would tell an unbeliever.
Look to Christ. Trust in Christ. Look to the cross of Calvary. Don't look to yourself.
Look to Him. And in looking to Him, you'll bear the fruit of the Spirit.
Closing Prayer
Let us pray together. Father, we love you so much. We pray that you would help us grow in our assurance of salvation. We pray that when we do doubt, that you would bring this text to our mind, and that you would help us to know our salvation's not in us, but it's in you.
And we pray and ask that you would help those who are struggling, that they would find renewed assurance in the God who works all things. And we pray all these things in the name of our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. ♪ Praise Him, all creatures here below ♪ ♪ Praise Him, above the heavenly host ♪ ♪ Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ Now may the God of peace, who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, in whom we glory forever and ever. Amen.
Please be seated. We'll have a brief time of prayer when the pianist finishes.