Transcript

Grab your Bibles and go to 1 Thessalonians 5. 1 Thessalonians 5. You know, nothing just happens. There are no coincidences in life and I was just thinking about that song and I’ll tell you a little bit more about that in just a second.

I was converted at age 19. I had just barely turned 19 and joined the First Baptist Church of Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, and the pastor there was Charles Owens Dinkins. Don’t tell anybody but he was a Calvinist. That was my first pastor. Now look, you can’t be more Southern Baptist than Charles Owens Dinkins, I mean, he comes from a long long lineage of Southern Baptists. He was a college professor in a Bible and a Baptist school, and I sat under his preaching for a while and he taught and preached sovereign grace, which I like that name better because most people don’t know what they mean when they say Calvinist. They pervert it, they get it out of balance, they misuse it. And he taught me those things, then I transferred to the University of North Alabama and became a member of what was First Baptist Church of Muscle Shoals. The pastor then was Bob Pittman and Bob Pittman thoroughly taught me and preached to me the doctrines of sovereign grace, these various things that I’m preaching through right now which I have preached faithfully ever since I’ve been here with you 38 years. I went to a graduate school of theology in Memphis, Tennessee and there my theological mentor, Dr. Jimmy Milliken, was a Calvinist. He believed in the doctrines of grace and thoroughly taught those doctrines in his classes. And my history professor, actually an esteemed author today, Dr. Tom Nettles, taught me also those same doctrines of grace and he wrote those lyrics, those rich Gospel biblical lyrics, “Shout to the Lord.” He wrote those. He and I had supper just a few years back in Louisville because he had transferred and began teaching at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary there, and he asked me, he said, “Brother Jeff, if we get churches to preach and teach and do what you and I believe, what Baptists used to believe and practice, what’s going to happen in all these average, typical, Southern Baptist churches?” I said, “It’s going to be an absolute World War III.” Do you know why? The old wineskin of the bureaucratic system will not contain the new wine of truth.

So really what’s happened is there has been a lot of tokenism going on instead of returning to rich biblical doctrine which is our Baptist heritage. Pastors, and I don’t mean they are all of evil intent or bad men, but it’s so difficult to really reform the church to be biblically rich and sound. They do a token here and there and hang on by the skin of their teeth. I don’t know why but you have been a church that has supported now for approaching four decades a rich, thorough, full-throttled reform of Baptist life back to our Baptist heritage of being thoroughly biblical and I’m so thrilled about that. But nothing is more foundational, nothing is more central to what we are and what we believe than the doctrines of grace. That’s why we call ourselves Grace Life Church, because we’re Baptist. Do you know how the early Baptist became Baptist? Because they broke out of the state churches. The state churches required you to be sprinkled as an infant. Our forefathers, our Baptist forefathers said, “No, wait a minute. We like the doctrine you’re teaching in the Protestant Reformation but what’s this sprinkling of babies? We don’t see that in the Bible. The Bible teaches one must be born again, they must have new life under the grace of God, and when they get new life under the grace of God, then they believe and then we baptize them and make them church members.” They said, “You’d better not do that, you’ll mess up everything. This old when skin bureaucratic system of the state church of Europe can’t handle this kind of a change.” And they said, “Do what you want to do, we’re going to follow the Scriptures.” So many many many of our Baptist forefathers were martyred and executed. Do you know how they killed a lot of them? They drowned them. They said, “You like going underwater?” So they drowned them. But they believed these rich doctrines and they held to them and somehow the generations kept going by and if you study church history, this cycle goes over and over again: a solid group, stand on the word both in their theology and their methodology within the local church, and then as time goes on, they drift, drift, drift, drift into pragmatism and man-centered beliefs and practices. Then God will use some people to rise up and say, “Wait a minute, let’s get back again.” I’m glad you, Grace Life Church, have followed me as we’ve tried to get back to functioning both on sound doctrine and sound practice or methodologies of the local church.

But nothing is more central than the doctrines of sovereign grace. I call this series we are in “The Unbreakable Eight Strand Cable of Sovereign Grace.” Now some people have linked these truths together as a chain, used a chain metaphor, the links of a chain all linked together, and that’s good but this is better and here’s why: because when you take the truths of sovereign grace, you can’t separate them out from each other, they are just woven in together. You can’t really have one without the other so as we preach through these truths, understand they are all interlinked and woven together to form this unbreakable cable through which God holds us to himself for time and for all eternity.

Now we come to our fifth installment. Oh, what a great topic, “A Perfect Redemption.” In grace, God has given his children a perfect redemption. There’s no way on earth I can finish this this morning, so I’m presently in the dilemma of finishing it tonight or next Sunday morning, but let me say this to you: you need the balance of both parts. If you leave after part 1and quote me, I’m coming after you. You’ve got to have the balance of all the truth before you say this or that about what Brother Jeff said, alright? Actually, when I wrote my notes together, I had 39 cross-references to look at this morning. I purged a bunch of those but it’s still going to take two sessions, I’m convinced.

Now we’re going to use 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 as a foundation stone and we’ll move on from there. Look at it together with me. Now look, you’ve got to listen. You can’t think about the dumb ballgame, you can’t think about what’s going on, you listen to your pastor this morning. You need to feast on the truths God has given us, alright?

1 Thessalonians 5:1,

1 Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. 2 For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. 3 While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape. 4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief; 5 for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; 6 so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. 7 For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. 8 But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. 9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him. [Closing with verse 11] 11 Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.

Now in this verse, 31 distinct times in these verses, 31 distinct times the Apostle Paul uses a pronoun or a term to indicate he’s talking to a limited audience. He’s addressing a restricted audience. This is not a statement to the whole world. He says “you, your, us, brethren.” Or he goes to the other restricted group, “they, those in darkness,” etc. So in the context of this explicitly redundant, if you will, address to a limited group, he makes this statement down in verses 10 and 11, or let’s go 9 and 10 rather, “For God has not destined us.” The word “destined” in the New American Standard here can be translated “appointed.” “God has not appointed us,” this limited group, these believers in the church, “for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,” but what did Jesus do? Verse 10, “who died for,” in this context, not an unlimited group, “who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him.” His point is we are those who have not been appointed unto wrath. We have been appointed for something else, eternal life, for salvation, and Jesus died for us. Now Jesus dying for us is the redemption. He redeemed us and he did it as a perfect redemption.

I. Let’s notice the perfect plan and the perfect man. The perfect plan and the perfect man. Now the perfect plan was the plan of redemption. You could call it the plan of salvation. The plan of redemption, God is going to redeem his children and then he had the perfect man to appoint to that job, and that is the man Christ Jesus. Now he’s fully God as if he were not man at all, and at the same time he’s fully man as if he were not God at all. He’s the God-man, theologians call him, but he had to become man to redeem the children who were human or who were man. Locked in Satan’s dungeon, prisoners to sin, our future prospects death, hell and the grave, but that was not the apex of our problem; we are sinners from the heart, transgressors of God’s law. Divine justice was against us, holy wrath upon us. Guilt and condemnation was our banner. Romans 5:10 says we were the enemies of God. Being the enemies of God is not our greatest problem, the most shocking issue is that God is our enemy but out of an all-consuming passion for his own glory and out of his great invincible love, God makes the bold choice to cast divine favor on men. Mankind who was fallen in sin and corruption, fallen to such a state before God that left to himself he was in an irreparable condition, but in this invincible love and in this bold choice, God elected some before the foundation of the world to be saved and to be his children.

Now, these that God marked out before the worlds began, the Bible gives a lot of different labels for them. Sometimes they’re called “the called.” The word for “church” is “ekklesia, the called out ones.” Not the ones who believed, that’s not the word the Holy Spirit led the writers to use, but those God has called out. Another word for these God marked out before the foundation of the world was “those whom he has foreknown.” Another word is “those whom he has chosen.” Another word is “those whom he has predestined.” Another phrase he sometimes uses is “those given to the Son by the Father.” Another phrase is “his people.” Pick out your own phrase, they all relate to the same basic truth. God in his invincible love and out of a great passion for his own glory, makes the bold choice to mark out some for special favor.

The elect. They are to be the objects of special divine love and of sovereign grace but we’ve got to remind ourselves of something. Had God only chosen them, had God only predestined them and that’s it, none would ever be saved. Therefore, those chosen or those elected by the Father were given to the care of the Son for they had to have a redemption. The law of God is immutable. The law of God stands as long as God stands. The elect children were in a guilty condemned state, sold into bondage, into the slave market of sin. They were exiled in Satan’s kingdom. They needed a redemption. What does the word “redemption” mean? Very simply, especially in the biblical time when this word was used, it meant to pay the ransom price. It was used in the slave market of sin. You would maybe find a relative and he would be on the slave block and you would pay the price and he would be freed, then, from his former position to become a freed man.

Well, what condition were we in? Well, let’s remind ourselves with Ephesians 2:1 through 3, “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins.” Dead. Dr. Jimmy Milliken that I mentioned earlier, when he would teach us the doctrines of sovereign grace and talk about how it had to be God’s sovereign grace because you can’t do anything, he would say, “How dead were you?” You’re either dead or you’re not dead. You’re not kind of dead, emotionally dead, you’re dead. The only way you can do anything is if somebody gives you life. That’s part of our condition.

He said you walked, verse 2, “according to the course of this world.” You didn’t follow God, you followed a godless world. That’s what you naturally do, “according to the prince of the power of the air.” Satan is the god of this world. He rules the demonic realm and he runs the present fallen, godless world and you are walking right in the spirit with him. He calls this at the end of verse 2, “the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.” We were one of the sons of disobedience. Every single person who has ever been born other than Christ Jesus has walked this earth as a son of disobedience. “Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh.” We didn’t live by the will of God, we followed our own lust. That’s what our culture and our country has given themselves over to completely today, “indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind,” and what the text means is which makes us, therefore, “by nature children of wrath.” Our very nature, our very innermost being was in such a corrupt fallen state that in God’s holy justice, all he could do if he gave us what we deserved, was give us wrath. Our nature called for God’s wrath.

Now I could say a lot, a lot, a lot more about these verses but that’s our condition naturally speaking before this righteous and holy God. If there was to be a redemption for those chosen elect children, there has to be a Redeemer. You see, there’s a necessity. Did you get that? There’s a necessity for this redemption. God had decreed the redemption of his elect. In Ephesians 1:4, “He chose us in Him,” when? When did he choose you, after you believed? No, Paul writes to the church at Ephesus and he says, “He chose you before the foundation of the world that,” when God gets through with what he’s going to do to you, you “would be holy and blameless before Him. In love.” So if God chose you before the foundation of the world that one day you would be holy and blameless as he is holy and blameless, God has by necessity required of himself to do something to get you to that holy and blameless position. You’d better be glad God chose to do something because you’re pitifully weak to do anything yourselves.

But the actual redemption had to be performed. Divine justice was against the elect children and that divine justice must be satisfied. That’s why the Bible speaks of this necessity of redemption. It’s not that God owes any man redemption. It’s not that God owes anyone forgiveness. He does not. Listen church, he could have in perfect, holy, divine justice left us the way he left the fallen sinful angels in condemnation. There would have been nothing wrong with God doing that. Be done with this proud, man- centered, blasphemous doctrine that man is so special, unique and precious, God had to offer him forgiveness and redemption. God did not. This came out of that great invincible love that’s just a part of his being. This came out of that all-consuming passion to glorify himself, that he chose to make a bold choice and show this divine favor to those he picked out to do so before the foundation of the world. You see, his plan to do this, to redeem the children, required that one fill the office, the commission of Savior, and this one to fill that office and commission must perform the redemption of Savior-hood. There was only one qualified, Jesus. Jesus willingly assumed this task. He took this office. He willingly embraced the commission and, therefore, since he did that, the Father appointed him to it, he willfully agreed to it, so therefore it was fitting, it was necessary that he go to the cross, suffer and bleed and die and purchase the children’s redemption.

Luke 24:26, “Was it not necessary,” that’s the word we’ve been using, “Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?” Since God decided to redeem them, Jesus willfully took the office and the responsibility upon himself, then that being said, that foundation laid, it’s necessary to do the work required to accomplish the commission of the office of Savior, suffering and dying to purchase their redemption.

Hebrews 2:10, the same idea here, “For it was fitting for Him,” it was proper, even necessary for him, “for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory.” If he’s going to bring not all men, not all the world but if he’s going to bring many sons to glory, it’s necessary that he do, what? “To perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings.” That’s the cross. It’s necessary that he go to the cross and purchase their redemption or he will not before the holy bar of divine justice be able to bring the many sons to glory.

So the Father was not about to allow his perfect plan of redemption to fail so he did put his best man on it, the only true God-man, his Son Jesus Christ. Jesus gladly accepted the charge and the commission. The Father gave the elect children unto the care of the Son, Jesus Christ. Did you hear that? The Father before the foundation of the world said, “Jesus, can you get these sheep home?” Jesus said, “You bet I can. You bet I can.” It will require Christ’s perfect obedience, perfect suffering, perfect death, bearing the children’s sins, enduring divine wrath in their place. Could he fail? Absolutely not. He’s God. “Preacher, why do you Baptists preach the eternal security of the believer?” Because he can’t fail. The best man is on the job. He can’t fail. Not a chance he’ll fail.

John 6:39, Jesus says it very boldly, very plainly to the people who doubted who he was in his day, “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing.” “The Father has given me the children over to my care and if every single one the Father has given me, I lose nothing.” Now notice the next phrase, but I’ll do what? “I’ll raise it up on the last day.” He said, “You just stick around long enough and I’ll prove it to you. When everything is done, on the last day they will be standing with me, purified, holy and blameless in glory.”

Two thousand years ago, Jesus came. Born of the Virgin Mary. Born in an obscure village named Bethlehem. Born in a livestock shelter. Laid in a feed trough. Not what men would have expected for the King of glory but it’s just as the prophet foretold. When he came, after that, now it’s only a matter of time. Up until he was born, the plan was settled and established in the councils of the Godhead in eternity past that he would indeed come and purchase our redemption. But now he’s born. He stepped out of eternity and into time and soon the great climactic work, the greatest work of all eternity and all of time would be accomplished. Just before his birth, the angels spoke to Mary’s engaged husband Joseph and the angel told Joseph that there is a divine plan in place and you’re going to play a small part in it. He says to Joseph, Matthew 1:21, Mary is going to “bear a Son; and He will save His people from their sins.” He will save his people. He will save his people from their sins. The ones the Father gave to Jesus, gave to the care of Jesus who willfully took the office of Savior, he has finally come to finish the job to redeem the children. Indeed he would save his people from their sins. He will go to the cross and purchase his people, pay the ransom price, satisfy the demands of divine justice against his people, and complete their redemption. He is born now, he’s here. It was only a matter of time now. The perfect plan and the perfect man to render our perfect redemption.

II. The perfect execution of the plan by the man. The perfect execution of the plan by the man. Subpoint A: unlimited liability assumed and fulfilled. Jesus came in our house. He took upon himself the unlimited liability that was ours. He took on himself our legal responsibilities before God.

Let’s remind ourselves that sin removed is not the goal of the plan. You see, to be redeemed from sin is not the goal. Did you hear that? Forgiveness of sin is not the goal. Redeemed from sin is not the goal. Redemption is to the end of reconciliation. That’s the goal; not to be free but to be free from one so that you might be reconciled to another. God sent Jesus to the cross so you could find God again. All these liberals and shallow Baptists everywhere talking about, “Jesus sets you free. Jesus sets you free.” Free from what? Free from sin that you might be locked to him. He is the answer. He’s the joy. He’s the treasure. He’s the hope. He’s the gladness. He is the love of our lives. We are free to be connected to him. To be redeemed is to the end of reconciliation. You see, in God’s mind we were already his but sin stood in the way. Redemption’s price must be paid so that we could be reconciled to God.

Romans 5:10, “while we were enemies,” while we were enemies, “we were reconciled to God.” Now isn’t that interesting? It’s as if you had nothing to do with it because you didn’t have anything to do with it. You were going your own way, marching to your own drummer, a part of the enemy band, God sent his Son to the cross and in the redeeming work of the cross reconciled you while you were yet the enemy of God. That’s security. That’s sovereign grace. That’s the only thing you can make that verse mean.

Now some big words, are you ready for some big words? Atonement. What does atonement mean? Atonement really is the idea of reconciliation. In fact, in most cases atonement can be interchanged with the word reconciliation or reconciliation with atonement. When you atone for something, you remove the problem so that the two parties can come together and so you will forgive me if sometimes I may throw out the word atonement and I mean reconciliation, or reconciliation and I mean atonement. They are really closely linked together and I know theologians and in your theology classes, you young scholars, I understand that theologians like to pull these things out and massage them into definite little pictures but the Bible just doesn’t do that. It just kind of intertwines them; they dovetail together; they are really inseparable. Atonement and reconciliation are basically the same thing.

Propitiation. Propitiation is the idea of covering, covering sin and guilt. It’s the idea that when God went to the garden and Adam and Eve had sinned, he covered them with skins. He covers the sin and the guilt.

Then the word expiation. The word expiation means that someone or something has to remove sin and its consequences and satisfy the offended party. Dealing with the sin and sin’s consequences to satisfy the offended party. Who is the offended party? God the Father. His law has been broken. He is offended personally by our sinfulness and our transgressions of his law. So listen, Jesus goes to the cross, he becomes the propitiation for our sin, he covers our sin and our guilt and he becomes the expiation in our place and, therefore, he has done what is necessary that God is now looking upon us with favor. The atonement is made to God for us and we receive the benefits of the atonement.

1 Peter 2:24 reminds us, “He bore our sins in His body on the cross.” He bore them in our place. He perfectly pays the ransom price and then he ascends to the holy place, the one and only true holy place. There’s not one in Israel and there’s not one in the Catholic Church. It’s in heaven. Jesus ascended to that holy place and when he came into the holy place in heaven, he did not bring an offering because he is the offering. He did not bring a sacrifice because he is the sacrifice. It’s as if when Jesus walks in to God the Father he says, “I have obeyed your will, Father. I have executed your plan for the children. These wounds and this blood is to appease your holy nature and satisfy your holy law that condemns the children. These wounds and this blood is to cover their sin and guilt. These wounds and this blood are for the removal of the breach between you and the children. These wounds and this blood is for the reconciliation.” And it’s as if the Father smiles and looking at Jesus says, “This is my Son in whom I am well pleased. You did it just right. You executed the plan perfectly.” Do you know why I’m saved, always am saved, always will be saved, and can never be lost? Because he executed the plan perfectly. He looks at Jesus and says, “From now on, Jesus, for time and throughout all eternity, I will be equally well pleased in all the brethren on whose behalf you died. Because of all that I entrusted to your care, you have through your obedience and death brought them safely home.” A perfect execution.

2 Corinthians 5:21 reminds us, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin.” Jesus hanging on the cross was looked upon by God the Father as if he were the sinners we are and had committed all the sins we will ever commit or we have ever committed. God the Father looked on Jesus as if he’s us, as if he were sinners. “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf,” that we might die to sin and live to righteousness, “so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

In Galatians 4:4 and 5, “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law.” Jesus became a man and placed himself under the law of God so that he could fully and absolutely fulfill and complete the law’s requirements. Even in dying for us, he fulfilled the law’s requirements of wrath and judgment against us in order that, why did he do this? In order “that He might redeem those,” there is that redemption, “who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”

Isaiah 53, oh my goodness, how we could spend a month on Isaiah 53, that beautiful, specific, prophetic statement by Isaiah the prophet of Jesus’ death for his own and the Bible says there in Isaiah 53 among many many other glorious things, the iniquity of us all was laid on him and he took the consequence of being full of iniquity that we should have taken. He took the wrath we should have received. He was a vicarious sacrifice. He was a substitute for us in our place.

Hebrews 9:26, once, once, “once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.” He completed perfectly the job. He executed the plan.

John 1:29, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” He expiated it. He took it out of the way that was between us and God. He fulfilled the plan perfectly. Jesus assumed the legal responsibilities for those he came to save. Now he had no personal criminality. He stood in our place. He stood for us. The Father had given the elect children under the care of Jesus, the Son, and Jesus is our elder brother. Jesus performed all that was required by law to free us from Satan’s house and from sin’s bondage. The redemption price was paid. We are now fully adopted into God’s family with all the privileges and rights of legal heirs.

Galatians 4:5 reminds us, in order “that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.” He took our legal responsibility and fully executed the plan to free us to be reconciled to God.

Romans 3:26 tells us that Jesus is “just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” He’s just and through what he did on the cross in redeeming us, he can make us justified also. He’s the just and the justifier of those who have faith in Jesus. Now again in fulfillment of all righteousness and upholding holy justice, he could have been just and the condemnor of all of us, just like he did the holy angels, but in God’s all-consuming passion for his own glory, in his infinite wealth of invincible love that’s just in the nature of who God is, he looks upon man in this irreparable, fallen, corrupt, sinful condition and he makes this bold choice to show this God-sized favor to man and he does it through his Son Jesus Christ on behalf of the children, executes the plan perfectly.

Isaiah 41:14. What a powerful verse this is, “Do not fear, you worm Jacob.” Do you like being called a worm? God says you’re a warm. Now wait a minute, now Malachi tells us and then Paul re-quotes it in the book of Romans as a basis for our election in Jesus, that God said, “Jacob I loved but Esau I hated.” Wait a minute, God loves the worm? God loves the worm? He loves you and you’re a worm before him. “I chose to love you when you were a worm, when you were a worthless, offensive, wretched nothing.”

“Do not fear, you worm Jacob,” that’s what you are, Jacob. “I’m God but I want to tell you, Jacob, you’re a worm, but I chose to do something special for you, Jacob, in your lineage. I didn’t do it through Esau, I did it through Jacob. My choice. I elected you.”

“‘Do not fear, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel; I will help you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.'” I chose you and you’re a worm but I’m going to redeem you. Isn’t it good to be a redeemed worm? I’d rather be a redeemed worm than a lost worm. There are only two kinds of worms in the world, you’re either a redeemed worm or you’re a lost worm. You don’t want to be a lost worm when the one who says you’re a worm holds you in account before his holy bar of justice.

Titus 2:14, “who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.” He redeemed us from every lawless deed. When Jesus died on the cross – listen to me – everything you are and everything you’ve done in the past, everything you are and everything you do in the present, everything you are and everything you may do in the future as a sin, he redeemed you from the curse and the penalty of that when he died on the cross. Wow. Wow.

Why did he do that? He redeemed “us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people.” We’ve got to go back again. What was the purpose, God? What was the plan and the purpose behind the plan? That God has an all-consuming passion for his own glory, and by saving a people who are worms apart from his intervention and making them holy and blameless like he is, he gets great great great great praise and glory and that’s why he does it.

I haven’t used these two words yet, in the second part of the message I will use them a lot, the two words I haven’t used yet that I will in the future use a lot are these two words, are you ready? Limited atonement. That’s the point in Calvinism that most Baptists run out screaming holding their heads, that the world is coming to an end. But we’ve been singing it all of our lives. You don’t know what you’re singing. You sing stuff and you don’t know what you’re singing. Did you hear me? “Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine. Heir of salvation.” Stop right there, don’t go to sleep on me. “Heir of salvation, purchased of God. Born of his Spirit, washed in his blood.” Heir of salvation. It’s not that you believe and become an heir of salvation, you get salvation because you’re already an heir. When you inherit something, you don’t earn it, it’s given by choice. You’re an heir of salvation. You’re not an heir because you got saved, that really makes no sense. No, you’re an heir because you are first a child of the Father. You’re an heir of salvation not because you believe, you believe because you’re an heir of salvation. And purchased of God, that’s redemption we’re talking about. Heir of salvation is election. Purchased of God is the redemption for the elect. Fanny Crosby wrote this so that you could sing it and joy in it and you’ve been singing it for years and didn’t even know what it meant. Heir of salvation, chosen by him before the foundation of the world, predestined up by him, elected by him, one of his children, and then he came in time and purchased me and redeemed me to make me his own. Do you know what you’re singing?

I want to be benevolent here but folks who don’t want to study, you know Ephesians contains one of the richest teachings on sovereign grace in the whole Bible. Like I told you last time, when Paul was leaving the Ephesian elders, he looked at them and said, “I have not shrank back from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. It was weighty. You had to think a little bit. You had to stretch a little bit but I told you all the truths of God,” and Ephesians records what he told them, what he taught them. It’s rich. It’s rich. There are so many Baptists today who they want to be lazy. They don’t want church to take any effort. They don’t want to take any time. They want their brain somewhere else. “Don’t make me think about it, preacher. Don’t let me be concerned about it. I mean, I want it to be like a sixth grade child, a little simple hoop jump, I can check off a few things, I’m done, I’m good.” I’m sorry, that’s not what the Scripture says. There are rich truths you need to wrestle with, grapple with, and embrace, and glory over. You are an heir of salvation and a purchase of God, born of his Spirit, and washed in his blood.

This is my story. That’s my story, is that your story? Have you come by the aid of the Spirit and the preaching of the word to realize you’re an heir of salvation and you’ve been purchased by God through the blood of Jesus Christ? “This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior all the day long.” And that is my story and that’s my song and I ain’t never gonna change it because it’s God’s truth. Amen?