by Pastor Paul Raymond

of the Reformed Bible Church of Suffolk County

A Sermon preached on Sunday, May 12, 1997

In that day shall the branch of the LORD be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel. And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem: When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning. And the LORD will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defense. And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain.

Ephesians 1:1-14

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: That in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: In whom 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 ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

The Apostle Paul does not write out of his own mind and yet the Spirit does work through his mind. The Apostle Paul is writing not the words of flesh, not the words of men, but the Word of God; this is fundamental. Paul would bring the Ephesians a blessing. Paul, an Apostle of Jesus Christ, as we have learned herein ; the Apostle writes "I am sent" ( the word apostle means to be sent ) "Paul" is an inference that he is not Saul any longer but that there has been a conversion in the Apostle and he now is a servant of the living God. Paul an Apostle sent not of men, but as we read in verse 1, "of Jesus Christ". And again, "by the will of God", and these are fundamental truths. The apostle Paul is speaking to each and every one of us to make sure that when we go forth with the Gospel let us be sure that we are going forth in the will of God, knowing what the Gospel of God is all about. So many today who take the name of "Christ", who take the name of "Christian" and take the name of "Servant of the Most High God" are yet unable, unfit and are not called to bring the Gospel of Christ. So what is it that they bring? If they bring not the Gospel of Christ they bring a gospel of men; and the gospel of men will always have the soul do something according to the works of the law to cause them to become righteous before God. As the Apostle knows and all of the Children of God know in the depths of their own souls, both by doctrine and by experience, that by the works of the law, no flesh can be justified. (Romans 3:20) So the Apostle Paul is very careful as he opens these words, and I believe as Bible students and Saints and Christian folk, we so often overlook some of these greetings and we look at them superficially, but here we find that everything is fundamentally found, in verse one of Ephesians chapter one, by the will of God to the saints which are in Ephesus and to those who are faithful.

Now certainly, anyone at Ephesus who was in their right mind and who was born again by the Spirit of God would scratch their head and say, "I don't know if this identifies me? A sanctified one? A faithful one?" Well certainly, not in their own selves, never in our own selves can we ever take upon the term "sanctified" or "faithful"...but in Christ. This is how God looks at us, by His meritorious work...that He has been made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, sanctification and redemption, so that we stand before God judicially in Christ, accepted and Holy... Sanctified and Holy! Isaiah writes, 4:3, "And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, ( speaking of all the saints of God ), shall be called holy, (sanctified or set apart), even every one that is written ( here is a reference to the councils of eternity , the Lamb's book of life, those who are elect ), who are written among the living ( notice how it contraries not dead but living spiritually ) in Jerusalem." Now we don't live in Jerusalem, neither did the Ephesians, so were they "living in Jerusalem?" Absolutely yes! For the city of peace, Jerusalem, is none other than Jesus Christ. They are living in Jesus Christ, and if we are saints and sanctified, born from above, born by His divine power out of His divine election program, we are holy, sanctified, and faithful, living even now in Jerusalem ( very spiritually and figuratively speaking, and this is certainly what the Bible would teach us.) Now the Apostle Paul would also infer something else in the words, "saint and faithful " being justified with the power of grace would give rise to a practical desire to be set apart from wickedness, a practical desire to be faithful, to trust, to lean ; and this was implied by the words of Paul as we read some of his other works. Notice "in Christ Jesus" always "in Christ Jesus" is fundamental, so that the life we live not in and of ourselves, but we live it in Christ. But then the Apostle Paul, as he he does in all of his epistles, salutes or greets the saints. And we learned that this greeting is not so much a greeting from the apostle himself (Although it is ; his desire was to greet the saints of God in a Godly fashion, in a fashion which becomes holiness, in a fashion which would desire these blessings of grace and peace...and we know that mercy is well associated with grace and peace. All these blessings of God were desired by the Apostle Paul to be upon those whom he was talking to.) So we might infer, and I think very accurately, that Paul's desire was that grace would be to them, and peace would be to them from God their Father. Remember we looked at the words, "Our Father". Paul yokes himself, he says this is our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. But moreover the salutation is the greeting from God himself to us. When we read the salutation, "Grace be to you and peace" it is as if Christ, God Himself and the Spirit, saying to us "Here is my desire for you, grace and mercy and peace from the entire Godhead." When we read this, we can not read this as the Apostle Paul's, as a man's greeting, but this is God's greeting to each and every one of us who are in Jerusalem or are in Ephesus. ( Remember Ephesus was a very idolatrous place. They lived in the seat of idolatry and that is what we are all about ...we live in an idolatrous world ; we have the seat of idolatry even in our own members, and this is figured by Ephesus. )

Now this salutation in verse two is a very specific and particular greeting. It is only God's greeting and God's greeting alone. None can say with any efficacy, none can say with any authority, "Grace and peace unto you" but God or His messengers. Certainly you must have the authority to speak such words and God is the one who, alone, can declare grace and peace ...for He Himself is grace and peace.

This is a very specific greeting ; notice two particulars... grace and peace. Grace is that unmerited favor. Unmerited; none can merit grace, we can not work to get right with God, it must be God's redemption at the expense of Christ. It is an infinite kindness, because associated with grace as well as with peace there is not only infinite kindness, infinite love, but there is redemption through the free sovereign favor of God applied to undeserving , rebellious, wretched creatures. GRACE, therefore when the Apostle pens the word grace it is full of blessing! When you read the Word of God, and so often when we read the Word of God as a devotion or perhaps in our family time or to ourselves, we, perhaps begin in verse three, or just glibly look over verses one and two; But when the Spirit's working upon us to focus carefully, for every jot and tittle is the Lord's, we must pause...pause at such a word as grace! Grace to you.

Now secondly, the apostle uses the word peace and as we have also learned, peace would be the contrary component of war. Peace...contrary to war. War ...contrary to peace. Certainly this is a strange word. Many might say, "What is this peace from?" We might begin to speculate and then of course to conclude according to the flesh, according to carnal reason, "If we have the peace of God, our lives will be very much peaceful, we'll have no problems in our daily pilgrimage, we'll have no turmoil, no trials, no temptations. We'll have the peace of God which passeth all understanding and our lives will be a rosey sought of pilgrimage, and that will be our peace." But this has nothing to do with the peace that God speaks of, for God is speaking of a Spiritual thrust; herein is the peace which truly passes understanding and that peace comes only in the face of Jesus Christ. It's a particular peace; Peace made by God with man, who were at war with God; so that they might, by the power of the Spirit, beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. All this because of Christ, by the power of Christ, and for the sake of Christ. So here we find grace and peace, and in many other passages we find that word mercy, which again speaks of Jesus Christ's work toward us as well as Himself, we find that grace and peace are particular blessings to all the saints. Listen carefully, it's not that some of us, if we are truly Christ's, have grace and some of us have peace and some of us have mercy but it's that we all have this grace, we all have this peace, we all have this mercy, and I think that the best way to look at this is, as the Body of Christ we are one. And when we are anointed, if I may use that expression, in that redemption, in that conversion, in that new birth we are all anointed by the blessings of God. As the Psalmist writes that Aaron would be anointed and the oil would go down from his head, down his beard, even down to the skirts of his garment. Christ is one...we and Him...one. We all are partakers of grace and peace and mercy.

But notice this salutation. This salutation is of a special nature. It is supernatural. It's not just a good notion. God is not saying, "My desire for you is grace and my desire for you is peace." It is a powerful reality! It is of a special supernatural nature having the purest intentions, the purest of love, the purest of compassions, the abundance of power. And this is all the salutation of the Gospel of good will, if you will, toward the elect of God. Herein we find in verse two, grace be unto you and peace from God! It's as if God were saying, "I have stooped down to give you, out of the abundance of my riches, out of the abundance of my lovingkindness, grace and peace" and in these words we find the implication of a great inheritance, of a great promise! This is the grace of God to you, this is the peace of God to you, even from the Creator! God, our father. This salutation is the perfect exposition of the whole of Christ and the Gospel of God. This is the whole gospel in verse two! Grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! We find no works of righteousness that we have done here! Perfect! We find nothing that we can merit nor to sustain by our own works! We find sovereign will, sovereign God, sovereign grace to us out of the abundance of His blessings... The Apostle begins his address to the Ephesians with this salutation.

Now one might ask the question, why is it so important for the apostle Paul to have begun like this? What was in the Apostle's mind...what is he thinking? Certainly we can never know what he is thinking but it must have been something very important because to the Philippians, again, he says the same thing..."grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ". He gives the salutation again and again, he says to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Collossae, "grace be unto you and peace from God our father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ" ; He speaks to the Corinthians, he speaks to the Romans as such, he speaks to the Thessalonians, "grace be to you and peace from God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ". He is never slack in opening up the words of truth. Therefore he begins with this salutation.

Why? I think one of the reasons, practically speaking, is that the Apostle Paul would remind those that have received the Word of Truth, that their station and standing with God is out of His divine mercy, grace and His desire for peace to His own people. In other words, Paul's beginning and opening statements are ones of comfort. Now, beloved, when we read the Bible, we must begin by realizing that no matter how hard the language is, no matter how difficult the language becomes, no matter what inditement the law brings upon us, the Word of God to the elect saints is a message of grace, and of mercy, and of peace. So certainly when the apostle Paul is going to pen the Words of Truth to those who are fallen by the wayside in their walk, those who are fallen once, yea twice, perhaps. Those who have inconsistency in their life, the Apostle Paul is going to relate these things to them, reproving them here and correcting them there, but always he reminds them at the outset that this is an epistle unto you for your wellbeing and your standing in God is grace and peace. So that what ever you read here, no matter how hard to digest, no matter how hard to deal with, it is because God would have you to know what is right, that you might discern between the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. So all that God is constructing here is for the good and the comfort of His people. "For all of the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth" and as we look at our paths, as we look at our lives, as we read the Scriptures, as we walk in this veil of tears, we must realize that it's all for good.

Now let's further expound these words, grace and peace, again, let's consider grace, let's consider it's nature: Grace, it's nature ... we talk daily about grace! Grace! Grace! We love to use the word grace and then pit it over against the law and say, "We're not under the law, we're under grace". What does it all mean? Are we using words knowledgeably? Have we thought these things out by the use of the scriptures to let God define what is grace?

As I've said before, grace...G-R-A-C-E ... a simple thing for the children to remember, even for us, is that it's God's redemption at Christ's expense: Focusing all upon Jesus Christ, only upon Jesus Christ, and nothing but Jesus Christ. And yet what is Grace? Well consider first, its' nature: It is pure; it is sovereign; God is not constrained to give grace to anyone. It is completely free. Nothing acts upon God's will to cause Him to give us grace! Nothing! Now, there's a myriad of things to act upon our will to cause us to do something, but, nothing acts upon God's will. So if God is giving forth grace it is out of His sovereign desire. The nature of grace is that it is perfect, righteous grace. So that when grace is given it is always done honorably, always in justice, and secondly ( this is important ) grace is the only vehicle unto salvation, sustainer of salvation, and perfecter of salvation, ( or completer of salvation ). So from beginning, the inception, throughout the pilgrimage, unto completion, it is all of grace... it is all of grace!

Now the Galatians had a serious problem; they thought that the inception was of grace and then it was up to them, by the works of the law. But the law knows no relative righteousness. It only knows perfect righteousness, so how could it be by the law. Therefore, it is the only vehicle of salvation, the only sustainer of salvation, and the only perfecter of salvation. It causes us to look to Christ. It causes us to see Christ as our only hope and our only desire. Turn with me to Romans, Chapt. 4:1, " What shall we say then..." the apostle Paul begins, "that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? " Verse 2, " For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. (3) For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness..." Now notice verse 4, ... "Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, ..." because it's not given as though you were trying to extract it by the works of the law ..."but of debt. (5) But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him..." and that's the divine work of God ..."that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." Go down with me to verse 13, " For the promise"...notice it's a promise, grace is associated with promise, it is also associated with inheritance , "that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. (14) For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect: (15) Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression. (16) Therefore"... to cap it off, Therefore... the conclusion is..." it is of faith".. which we know is by the grace of God ," that it might be by grace;..." Do you see how God is using that? it is by the operation of the Spirit bringing that saint into believing; it is the faith of Christ in that saint by GRACE! Not that we've extracted it, not that we learned it or excercised our own faith or have done a work of righteousness, but it is of faith so that this salvation program, Paul says, is only by grace!... "to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law,.." Speaking of the Jews,"... but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all..."

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