Salvation from Start to Finish

We read today from two portions in the Word of God, the first six verses of Ephesians 1 and then Romans chapter 8 verses 28 through 34, and you will see how these two passages relate. Ephesians chapter 1. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the Saints who are at Ephesus and to the believers 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 sons by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, through which he hath made us accepted in the Beloved. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For, whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified. What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? Shall God that justifieth? Who is he that condemneth? Shall Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us? What shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other thing in all of creation shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. May God bless his word to our hearts.

The Apostle Paul is a prisoner in Rome, and he's singing. Now Paul was accustomed to singing as a prisoner. Once he was a prisoner in Philippi, and he sang, and God shook the jail, and Paul was set free.

This time God is not shaking the jail. God is shaking the church. For Paul is praising God for his grace and his glory.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, sings Paul, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him, from before the foundation of the world, that we should be blameless and holy before him, in love having predestinated us unto the adoption of sons to himself, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved. In fact, almost the whole first chapter of Ephesians is Paul's song of praise. My count may not be correct, but in the original Greek New Testament, there are 102 words in one great long sentence from verse 3 down to verse 14, and Paul just starts praising God for his grace and praising God for his glory.

I think some of us need to join in singing this song with the Apostle Paul. Sometimes life gets to be just a little bit tiny and miniature, and we lose this concept of the vastness and the greatness of what God has done for us in Christ. Now, the hymn that Paul is singing in Ephesians 1 has three stanzas to it.

Stanza 1 praises God the Father for his blessings. That's verses 4 through 6. Stanza 2 praises God the Son for his blessings, verses 7 through 12. Stanza 3 praises God the Holy Spirit for his blessings, verses 13 and 14.

And each of these stanzas ends with the same note of praise, to the praise of the glory of his grace. God the Father has chosen us and adopted us and accepted us, to the praise of the glory of his grace. And God the Son has redeemed us and forgiven us and made God's will known to us and made us a part of his inheritance, to the praise of the glory of his grace.

And God the Holy Spirit has sealed us and given us the down payment of heaven, to the praise of his glory. I don't know what it is that bothers you this morning, but if this little song of praise doesn't lift your spirit, something's wrong. Because the God that we belong to is bigger than the sicknesses that we have, and he's bigger than the sins that confront us.

He's bigger than this world with all of its problems, and I think it would be good for us just to sing along with Paul and rejoice in what we have in Christ. You'll notice with me then in verses four, five, and six, three magnificent blessings that we have from God the Father, because we're saved. Blessing number one, he has chosen us according as he hath chosen us in him.

Now, this is the grand and glorious doctrine of election. A doctrine that baffles the unbeliever and blesses the believer. A doctrine that shows whether or not you really understand the grace of God.

That's what Paul's singing about, the praise of the glory of his grace. Now, he tells us that God the Father chose us, chose us in Christ, chose us before the foundation of the world, chose us that we might be holy and blameless. Four tremendous facts about our election.

Now, please keep in mind Paul is not writing a gospel tract to unbelievers. You never sit down with an unbeliever and talk to him about election. Election is a precious family secret that belongs to those of us who know Christ as our Savior.

Paul is not sharing the gospel with unbelievers. He's explaining the gospel to believers and he starts way back in eternity past and says God the Father chose us. Now, all of the Trinity, each member of the Godhead, is involved in your salvation.

We see this in this hymn of praise. God the Father is involved and God the Son is involved and God the Holy Spirit is involved. Peter had just about the same thing to say over in his first letter.

He doesn't get very far into his letter when he starts talking about this great salvation. 1 Peter 1.2 Elect, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Grace be unto you.

And peace be multiplied. Now, if this whole thing bothers you, consider this. As far as God the Father was concerned, I was saved when he chose me in Christ before the foundation of the world.

As far as God the Son is concerned, I was saved when he died for me on the cross. As far as God the Holy Spirit is concerned, I was saved when on May the 12th, 1945, the Spirit of God set me apart unto obedience and I believed in Jesus Christ. It took all three.

So God the Father chose us. He chose us in Christ. He didn't choose us in ourselves.

Paul does not say God picked up his great binoculars and looked down through the corridors of history and said, oh, he's going to believe so I'll choose him and he's going to believe so I'll choose him. It's just the opposite. God chose us in Christ.

This is a mystery beyond our comprehension, but it's a blessing within our apprehension. A theology professor said to me one day, you know, if you try to explain election, you may lose your mind. But you explain it away, you may lose your soul.

Because salvation begins with God. Jonah, just before the fish regurgitated him, shouted salvation is of the Lord. We were chosen not in ourselves.

God didn't look at you and say, oh, he's religious. He's good. He's kind.

He helps his neighbor. No. He chose us in Christ.

Now this means that Jesus had to die for us. This means that we had to trust the Lord Jesus Christ. At this point you who are thinking are saying just a minute pastor.

You're talking about divine sovereignty that operates from eternity. You're talking about human responsibility that operates in time. How do you reconcile these? And the answer is the marvelous answer that Charles Haddon Spurgeon gave when someone came to him and said, how do you reconcile divine sovereignty and human responsibility.

And Spurgeon smiled and said, I never try to reconcile friends. You see from our point of view, we don't understand it. From God's point of view, it's perfectly clear and someday when I get to glory, it'll be perfectly clear to me.

But I'm not going to allow the fact that I don't understand how electricity operates to keep me from using it. My scientist friends tell me that there are two theories of light. The wave theory and the punctiliar theory, the dot theory.

And they use both of them. They don't understand how both of them work. God the Father chose us.

He chose us not in ourselves. He chose us in Christ and he chose us before the foundation of the world. You know what this means? This means that my salvation is eternal.

It's not linked to this creation. You see, there was no time until God made some things and when God made some things, then time came into being. But prior to that time, all there was was eternity.

Before there ever was any time, before there was any creation, before there was anything made, God chose us in Christ. That means our salvation is eternal. It is not linked to time or space or matter.

The whole world could blow up. It wouldn't affect our salvation one bit. We can get older and older physically.

It affects our salvation not one bit. The outer man is perishing. The inner man is being renewed day by day.

He chose us before the foundation of the world. You know what that means? That means that your salvation was not an afterthought. When man sinned and God sat down and said, Oh, what am I going to do now? The whole thing has just fallen to pieces.

It says in John 6 about the Lord Jesus, He Himself knew what He would do. And God the Father knew what He would do. He had our salvation determined from before the foundation of the world.

It's not linked to space or time or matter or human history. It's above and beyond anything that you can see. He chose us.

He chose us in Christ. He chose us before the foundation of the world. Does this deny the fact that we make a response to the Lord Jesus? No.

Does this say to me, don't preach the gospel because who's going to be saved is going to be saved? No. The same God who ordains the end ordains the means to the end. The same God who chose me in Christ before the foundation of the world made it possible for a young evangelist to come and preach the gospel, for me to hear and believe and be saved.

Dr. Ironside, who ministered here so faithfully for 18 years, had a beautiful way of expressing it, as he did so many things. He says it's like this. Here's a sinner standing outside of a door.

And over the door it says, Whosoever will, let him come. He looks at himself and says, I'm not worthy to come. But he said, come, so I'll come.

And he walks through the door and then he turns around and looks on the inside of the door and it says, Chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. God chose us. Now in the Bible, election is not for the purpose of pride.

I'm one of the elect. I belong to God's elite. Oh no.

In the Bible, election always involves privilege and responsibility. We're chosen by God the Father, chosen in Christ through his work on the cross. Chosen before the foundation of the world.

Chosen to be holy and without blame. Chosen to be holy. Chosen to be saints.

Same word. Chosen to be set-apart ones. That's the privilege.

The privilege of being one of God's set-apart ones. You unsaved people at this point ought to be just hungry for what we have. Paul is singing the praises of God's grace.

And if I were an unsaved person, I'd say, oh, I want that. I want that. And you can have that.

Just open your heart to the Savior and let the Holy Spirit of God change you. We are chosen to be holy, chosen to be set-apart and chosen to be blameless. Nobody says, well, I am now one of God's elect.

I can live the way I please. No one who is one of God's elect wants to live the way he pleases. He wants to live the way God wants him to live.

He wants to live to please God. That's the last half of Ephesians. In chapters 1, 2, and 3, Paul says, here are our blessings.

Chapters 4, 5, and 6, here is our behavior. We are chosen in Christ. Walk worthy of your calling.

We are redeemed. Walk like those who are redeemed. Chapters 1, 2, and 3, here is your wealth in Christ.

Chapters 4, 5, and 6, here is your walk in Christ. Paul doesn't say, if you walk real carefully, God will bless you. God says through Paul, I have already blessed you.

Now walk the way you're supposed to walk. He has chosen us. Oh, that means so much to us.

That means you're not your own. That means my hands are not my own. My lips are not my own.

My mind is not my own. My body is not my own. They belong to him.

You know what also it means? This just overwhelms me. The other evening I was just thinking and trying to comprehend eternity. It drowns you.

Eternity. Everything we hold dear, we hold dear because it's going to end. Clothes are going to wear out.

Jewelry is going to lose its value. Friends are going to die. Loved ones are going to move away.

In eternity we're going to be relishing and rejoicing in all of the blessings of God forever and ever and ever and ever. That means I am a part of eternity. And therefore my life today must be governed by eternity.

You and I can't live the way other people live. We're a part of a vast eternal plan. And God has saved us that throughout all eternity we might be to the praise of the glory of his grace.

In other words, friends, the church's biggest job is yet to come. For all eternity, praising God. Blessing number two, he has adopted us.

Chapter 1, verse 5. He has adopted us. Now, adoption in the Bible does not mean what it means in Cook County. I thank God for parents who love abandoned or neglected children and make them a part of their family.

You go to the family services and you say we'd like to adopt a little boy or a little girl. And then you sign the papers and that child gets into your family. That's not what he's talking about.

You don't get into God's family by adoption. You get into God's family by being born again. You see, an adopted child does not have the nature of his parents.

But a child born into the family shares the nature of the parents. The adopted child may share the name and he may share the home and he may share the wealth. But he doesn't share the nature.

But when you're born into God's family, you're born with God's nature. And the only way to be born into God's family is through faith in Christ. You must be born again.

Born from above. Now, if you've never had that experience, you're outside of God's family. Adoption in the Bible has two aspects to it.

A present aspect and a future aspect. And this is so marvelous, it excites me. I sometimes just feel like shouting hallelujah for what God has done in adopting us.

What does adoption mean? The word adoption means to place as an adult son. We dedicated just a few moments ago a precious little baby girl. Now, she's in the family, but she can't write checks.

She can't sign contracts. In fact, she doesn't even know what's going on yet. When you're first born into God's family, when you give your heart to Jesus Christ, instantly, when you're born again into God's family, instantly God adopts you.

He says, I know that you're just a little baby as far as your spiritual life is concerned. But in order that you might draw upon my wealth, I'm going to give you the position of an adult son. Now, Paul talks about this over in Galatians chapter 4. Just turn back a page or two to Galatians chapter 4. Now, I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be the Lord of all.

But he is under tutors and governors, guardians, until the time appointed of the father. Even so, we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

And because you are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. No baby ever looked up on being born and said, Hi, Dad. But when you and I were born again, instantly, because we were adopted, given the position of an adult son, we looked up and said, Father.

Wherefore, thou art no more a servant, but a son. And if a son, then an heir of God through Jesus Christ. What's he saying? Adoption today means I am treated by God as an adult son.

This means I have liberty. This means that I have wealth. I can start writing checks on the bank of heaven and draw upon my wealth.

No father would turn his checkbook over to a two-year-old child. But God says to you and me, you're adopted. I look upon you as adult sons.

You have freedom. Now use that freedom in love. You have privileges.

Now use those privileges to serve other people. You have liberty in Christ and you have responsibility and you have riches. Now act like a grown-up.

Adoption has a future aspect to it. There is a future adoption, namely, the changing of our bodies. Paul talks about this back in Romans 8. He's explaining why the world is in such chaos.

And he tells us in Romans 8 and in verse 18, I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Verse 21. Because the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption unto the glorious liberty of the children of God.

All of creation is groaning and waiting for Jesus to come again. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also.

We're groaning. Who have the firstfruits of the Spirit. We've had a foretaste of heaven.

We don't want to stay here. We want to get the whole blessing in heaven. We who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves waiting for the adoption.

That is the redemption of the body. So spiritually, I'm enjoying adoption today. Spiritually, I draw upon my father's bank account.

Spiritually, I enjoy my father's love and liberty. But physically, I'm not enjoying that adoption yet. Neither are you.

But one day we shall. Wouldn't it be marvelous if Jesus would come back today and these bodies of ours would be adopted. And we would be like him.

We would see him as he is. Blessing number one, he has chosen us. Blessing number two, he has adopted us.

Blessing number three, he has accepted us. Now verse six is translated different ways in different translations. To the praise of the glory of his grace through which he has enriched us in Christ Jesus.

To the praise of the glory of his grace which he has lavished upon us in Christ Jesus. To the praise of the glory of his grace whereby he has made us welcome in Christ Jesus. But it all says the same thing.

He's saying that because of the grace of God, I am welcome to God. I am accepted in the beloved one. It's not something I did myself.

It's something God has done for me. Now look, everybody here wants to be accepted by God. We hear so many silly stories about people dying and getting to the gates of heaven and knocking.

And St. Peter comes and opens the gates. That's so foolish. You'd better make sure you've knocked on the Lord's door before you die.

Accepted in the beloved one. Now, Paul is saying we're not accepted in ourselves. Oh, you say, but I'm a good man.

Abraham was a good man. Abraham stood before God and said, I'm dust and ashes. But I've suffered so much.

Well, Job suffered a great deal. And Job said, I am not worthy of anything that you've done for me. I am vile in my sight.

Well, you said David was a good man. Yeah, but David said, in sin did my mother conceive me. But Isaiah was a good man.

Isaiah said, I'm a man of unclean lips. I dwell with a people of unclean lips. Well, Peter was a good man.

Ah, but Peter said, depart from me. I'm a sinful man, O Lord. Well, Paul was a good man.

Yes, but Paul said, I'm the chief of sinners. You take anybody in the Bible who ever experienced the grace of God. He said, look, I'm not accepted in myself.

I'm not acceptable in myself. I am accepted in the beloved one. Paul wrote a beautiful little letter called Philemon.

It's a story about a runaway slave. A slave named Onesimus ran away from Colossae, and he got to Rome. And by the providence of God, he met Paul, and Paul led him to Christ.

Now, legally, Philemon, the master of Onesimus, could have killed the slave. Any disobedience on the part of a slave, kill him. Paul wrote back to his friend Philemon, who was a Christian.

He said, I'm going to send Onesimus back to you. He's not anymore just a slave. He's a brother, a brother beloved.

And he makes a beautiful statement. Paul writes to Philemon and says, receive him as you would receive me. Isn't that great? Receive him as you would receive me.

And when Onesimus showed up at the front door and knocked on the door, and Philemon came to the door, he didn't see Onesimus, the runaway slave. He saw Paul. He put his arms around that slave and said, I'm going to receive you the way I'd receive Paul.

Oh, I come to God. He knows the sin of my mind and the sin of my heart and the sin of my will. And I say, oh, I'm not acceptable.

There's nothing in me that's acceptable. And Jesus steps up and says, Father, receive him the way you'd receive me. How about that? It's unbelievable.

He has accepted us. And for all eternity, he has accepted us. Oh, you say, I sinned yesterday.

Well, welcome to the club. Everybody did, especially the ones who didn't know that they did. And we come and say, oh, God, I'm sorry for my sin.

What can I do to atone for it? Nothing. How can I make peace with God? You can't. It's already been done.

It's already been settled. You are accepted in the Beloved One. These are the blessings of God the Father.

And I can understand why Paul, the prisoner, would just be lifted above his chains and lifted above his circumstances and lifted above the possibility he might be killed, just be soaring in the heavenlies. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He has chosen me and he has cleansed me and he has accepted me.

He has done all of this through Jesus Christ. Has God the Father gotten through to you about God the Son through God the Holy Spirit? Do you have a song today? I don't mean the silly songs the world is singing. Do you have this kind of a song? Do you have a song written in eternity? Not something punched out in some tin pan alley dive.

Here's a song born out of eternity. And the first stanza just thrills our hearts. God the Father has accepted us in eternity past.

God the Father has adopted us. That takes care of eternity future. He's predestinated us to get there.

Predestination in the Bible never applies to unsaved people. It's always applied to Christians. Predestination is just simply God's plan for getting Christians to heaven.

And God's plans always work. And so he has chosen me. He has accepted me.

He has adopted me. And he did it all through Jesus Christ to the praise of the glory of his grace. It's no wonder that great Bible teacher William R. Newell wrote in that familiar gospel song, Oh, the love that drew salvation's plan.

Oh, the grace that brought it down to man. Oh, the mighty gulf that God did span at Calvary. Some of you can't sing this song.

Why don't you come and trust Jesus Christ today and join in the song. It's a song we're going to be singing forever and ever and ever and ever. Let's get started now.

Gracious Father, we're only beginning to comprehend the greatness of our salvation. It just overwhelms us, Father. That before we were born, you loved us.

Before ever we had committed a sin, we were on your heart. That Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God slain from before the foundation of the world. Oh, I pray for those here today to whom you have been speaking.

That they might open their hearts to Christ and be born again. And Father, may those of us who are already your saints rejoice, revel, exult in the fact that we have been chosen, adopted, and accepted. Oh, lift us above the petty things of this world.

Help us to just be carried away, oh God, by so great a salvation. And help us to share it with others. We pray with thanksgiving, in Jesus' name, amen.