To the Praise of His Glorious Grace

Preached at Cornerstone Church in Cascade, IA on October 5, 2014.

Today we are beginning a two month sermon series on the Doctrines of Grace. Some of you, if not most of you, have no clue what I mean when I say the Doctrines of Grace. Many of you, however, may recognize them by their other name, Calvinism. What is interesting is when I say Doctrines of Grace, all of us feel comfortable with this phrase, almost like we are sitting in an easy chair. However, when I say Calvinism, you tighten up as if you are sitting on a cold hard bench. So as we start, I want to be abundantly clear that this sermon series is not about labels, it is about the Bible. So do not get hung up on a word and the emotional response a word may cause in you. Charles Spurgeon said this about Calvinism, “It is a nickname to call it Calvinism; Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else.” These next two months I will use the term Doctrines of Grace, instead of Calvinism. The reason is not because of the emotional response, for I am not afraid to call myself a Calvinist, but it is because these five points that I will be discussing are doctrines, first and foremost, meaning that they do not originate from the mouth of Calvin but from the mouth of God, and second these doctrines are all about the Sovereign Grace of God in the salvation of man.

The second thing I want to speak briefly about is how these Biblical truths have shaped my life. Other than the revelation of Jesus Christ, there has been no greater enlightenment in my life than the Doctrines of Grace. There has been an entire re-orientation in how see the world and eternity. These doctrines are not academic to me, they life-changing. Last week we ended on our study on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount by examining Matthew 7:24

• Matthew 7:24-25 – “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.“
  
  

The rock of my life is the Sovereignty of God in my salvation through Christ. The Doctrines of Grace are like the rebar in the concrete that gives it strength; that holds it all together; each doctrine like a solid piece of iron running through the foundation of my life. When God opened up my eyes to His Sovereign will in my salvation, I couldn’t’ escape it. They are truths that I now see on almost every page of the Bible. When I see them and dwell upon them the result is trust, peace, comfort, hope, joy, love, and worship. These doctrines have been like pouring diesel into my heart that has already been lit on fire for Christ. So as we begin, I want you to know the path this sermon has taken. First it began in God’s Word, it has run through my heart and now I proclaim it to you.

Third, I want to say this. There are some people, maybe in this room, who do not believe pastors should preach on such things. That instead we should teach around the Doctrines of Grace, as if we could. This is because they believe Sunday morning is for the unsaved not the saved, and do not want sermons that may rock the boat. Instead they want sermons that tickle ears. Listen to what Paul says to the Church in Ephesus when he is departing.

• Acts 20:27 – “for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.”
  
  

For Paul to say this, he must have recognized that some of God's Word is hard to handle. But as a Pastor, I believe that failing to preach the whole counsel of God is failing to feed the sheep that God has led to Cornerstone. In my opinion, failing to preach the whole counsel of God is insubordination against a Pastor's calling. God has entrusted me with the requirement to rightly handle His Word, to declare the whole counsel of God. I have no authority, or right, to filter God’s Word, it is my responsibility to preach it. I join Paul when he says in 2 Corinthians 4:7.

• 2 Corinthians 4:7 – “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.”
  
  

So my aim over the next two months, as it is always, is to be a clay pot delivering the Word of God in as pure a form as I can so that you will see that the surpassing power belongs to God, not man. Let me say that again, my goal is to show you that the surpassing power belongs to God, not to man.

With that said, today I want to show you using the Bible that God wants you to embrace the doctrines of grace. So turn with me to Ephesians 1:1-23.

• Ephesians 1:1-23 - “ Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”
  
  

Many of you have read these passages before. Ephesians is a very popular letter in the New Testament, and for good reason. It has a lot of good stuff in it. However, many of you don’t realize how littered it is with the Doctrines of Grace. I believe that this is because, 1) we don't read the Bible or 2) When we read the Bible we skim, instead of thinking about what it means and the implications. This morning, I am not going to list the five doctrines of grace, and explain what they are. We will get to that in two weeks. Today I am going to instead draw your attention to certain scripture that is, for lack of a better word, calvinistic and ask the question why is God telling us this stuff. So lets go back and read a few text.

• Ephesians 1:1 – “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God”
  
  

So Paul was an apostle, not by Paul's will, but ultimately by God's will. For those who are not familiar with Paul's conversion story you can read it in Acts 9. Today, I would encourage you to do so, and you will see why Paul can easily say that it was God's will to make him an apostle.

• Ephesians 1:4 – “even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world”
  
  

So Paul then says, before creation, so before Genesis 1:1. The Truine God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, chose us. God is picking people whom to bless before creation, before Adam and Eve, before the fall.

• Ephesians 1:5 – “he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will”
  
  Once again, before the foundation of the world, God is setting up our destiny. That is what predestination means. The Greek word is proorizō , which literally means predetermined. God predetermines our adoption through Jesus. And this is all according to His will. God's pleasure.
  
  
• Ephesians 1:13-14– “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”
  
  

When we hear the Gospel, and believe in him, which we just heard a few verses before is all according to God's plan, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is evidence that we are God's possession. Think of a letter that is stamped by the Kings ring and sealed so as to prove authorship. This is what sealed means here. And this seal of the Holy Spirit not only testifies that we are God's workmanship, but that the inheritance is a sure thing, it is eternally secure. Everyone who receives the Holy Spirit gets the riches of the glory of God.

So what have we seen in this opening letter? The will of God to chose us before time, and the determination of our destiny as his adopted children, through the blood of Jesus, and our inheritance as God's children we 100% guaranteed. The first 14 verse of Paul's letter to the Ephesians is dripping with the doctrines of Grace. They are inescapable. Paul pushing it into our face forcing us to deal with it. Forcing us dwell upon our salvation in, perhaps an entire new way, a way that may flip your spiritual paradigm.

So the question I have now is why? Why does God, through Paul, reveal to us that our salvation is ultimately dependent on God's Sovereign Grace? Why does he want us to know that the surpassing power of our salvation belongs to God, not man? God doesn’t have to tell us all these things. Remember it is God's inspired Word, he could have left Ephesians 1:1-14 out of the Canon, let these verses fall to the cutting room floor, like so many people. Why can’t he just keep these truths to himself; because they are just too abrasive for our modern day cowboy evangelism? Not only that, look at verse 16-20. Paul says this:

• Ephesians 1:16-20 – “I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,”
  
  

After unleashing verse 1-14 and knocking us off our chairs. Paul’s prayer for the Church in Ephesus is that they would have the knowledge of Him, to have their eyes enlightened, to know the hope, the riches of his grace, the immeasurable greatness of his power, his great might.

Of all the things Paul could have prayed for, Paul prayed, without ceasing that God would reveal to us the immeasurable greatness of God's power when it came to their salvation. A salvation that began before before the foundation of the earth was laid.

Once again, why? Why do believers, new and old, need to be taught these doctrines. Why is it so important that Paul prays for it without ceasing? Because Paul is pursuing something. He has a purpose, and his purpose is the same as God’s purpose. I want you to look at verse 6, 12 and 14. What do you see?

• Ephesians 1:6 – “ to the praise of his glorious grace,”
  
  
• Ephesians 1:12 – “to the praise of his glory.”
  
  
• Ephesians 1:14 – “to the praise of his glory.”
  
  

Paul is pursing the same thing that God is pursuing, the praise of God's glory, specifically the praise of God's glorious grace, more specifically, the praise of God's glory in the sovereign grace in the redemption of man through Jesus Christ. You and I are created for one ultimate, or chief purpose, to glorify God. This is why God made you.

• Isaiah 43:6-7 - I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, 7 everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made."
  
  

Just one chapter earlier God says in Isaiah 42:8:

• Isaiah 42:8 - “I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other,”
  
  

God saved you to glorify himself. He saved you for His name. He ordained it from the beginning of time and He will not allow man to take credit for his surpassing power. It is God and God alone who deserves our gratitude. When we stand before God, we dare not say that we believed in Jesus because we are smarter than everyone else. For we must stand before God and say nothing but, “Grace, Your Sovereign Grace.”

So in these next two months, my purpose in preaching the Doctrines of Grace is Paul's purpose, and my prayer is Paul's prayer, that you will see that immeasurable riches of God's grace and be left with one option, to praise His Glorious Grace.