The Provision of God’s Grace

Transcript

GR 2307
03/07/2021
The Provision of God’s Grace
Ephesians 1:2-3
Gil Rugh

I’d invite your attention to the book of Ephesians and chapter 1. We’ve just begun the opening comments in this letter of Paul to the church at Ephesus. Remember Paul is a prisoner in Rome when he writes this letter, one of four letters that he wrote during that time, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Philemon. It’s helpful to me to remember that as Paul writes these great truths, he’s not in the best of situations. He’s been in worse and he will be in worse. He’s under what we might refer to as house arrest where he’s confined to a home as a prisoner of the Romans and that would involve having a Roman soldier present with him at all times. But he was free to have visitors come and visit him even though he wasn’t free to go and minister outside. And he carried on a ministry there, Paul was not one to waste time.

So, why would Paul be a prisoner in Rome, why would God limit him that way? Well, one of the blessings that came out of it is we have four letters Paul wrote under the direction of the Holy Spirit that have been preserved for us. How impoverished would we be if Paul hadn’t had to endure that time of suffering, so that he might be used by God in a greater way than he could have known? That it would be possible that 2,000 years after he was executed, believers around the world would be studying these letters, reflecting on them, considering the wonder of their truths.

As standard with the letters, Paul opens up the first two verses with identifying himself as the writer, identifying those he’s writing to, and then giving them a word of greeting. This is standard in a number of the New Testament letters. We shouldn’t take that to mean that they are just something to brush by because the truths contained in these first two verses are going to be elaborated and expanded throughout the letter. So, while we’re not going to try to look in great detail at them, we want to understand what they mean. For example: “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.” We looked at what was so important about him being an apostle. He was set apart by God to be the recipient of direct revelation, so that he might be the instrument through whom God would establish churches, particularly in the Gentile world. So, it’s a very important position. And it gives great importance and significance to this letter that we’re reading. It’s just not interesting as a point of history, that Paul, while a prisoner in Rome, wrote a letter that has been preserved. It is more than that, much more, it is the word of God communicated through Paul to His people in Ephesus, God’s people in Ephesus, and for the benefit of all of God’s people down through church history.

So his position as an apostle is very crucial. He just doesn’t put it there as a way of identifying himself. But that identification gives authority, weight to what he is writing, he’s an apostle of Jesus Christ. The word ‘apostle’ means to be sent from someone on their behalf as their representative. As Paul would write to the Corinthians, we are ambassadors for Christ, and we stand in Christ’s place, beseeching you to be reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:20). He’s acting on behalf of Jesus Christ, he is His representative. The word that he is bringing is the truth about Him and truth from Him. And he is an apostle by the will of God; you get no higher authority than that.

Paul wasn’t an apostle because he was voted in. He wasn’t an apostle because he decided that was the gift he would like to have. He was an apostle because it was God’s sovereign, determinative will. God made that decision even before Paul was born. We’ll get into that kind of information when we move on down in this chapter, the sovereignty of God at work. But that gives weight, Paul here is not acting on his own behalf, he’s acting on behalf of Jesus Christ, under the authority of almighty God. What that means is, we need to pay very close and careful attention to what is said.

Think of how blessed we are. I invited you to turn in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 1. When this letter originally arrived at the church at Ephesus, they didn’t have a copy of their own. They would sit and someone would have stood and read, here is Paul’s letter. And you realize how privileged we are. They may have heard it read again and again and again, but they had to pay sharp, close attention to take it in, to be able to remember it, because they are going to be held accountable for its contents. If they were held accountable, how much more us who have it in our possession who look at it with our own eyes, not just hearing with our ears, but seeing with our eyes. And then we take it home and have it with us. What a treasure! No wonder Paul told Timothy to guard the treasure that has been entrusted to him. What greater treasure than God’s truth, what greater need than to hear God’s truth.

He’s writing to the saints. We talked about the saints, they’re the holy ones, this is a common way to identify those that he is writing to. The Bible is written to believers, or professing believers. Sometimes, like in Israel, the prophetic message is to the nation from their God. But these letters are written to believers. The unbeliever, he can know a lot about them, but he can’t really understand them, can’t know the truth. The saints are holy ones. The word ‘holy’ means set apart, they are set apart by God for Himself, set apart from sin, from the world. The church gets into trouble when it loses this perspective as we talked about. One of the challenges and frustrations with what was known as fundamentalism. And I consider myself a fundamentalist and our church as a fundamentalist church. There were somethings added to it that were not necessary, but basically the foundational truth; one of the things that bothered many of who considered themselves Christians is they are too separatist, they’re too narrow. But you know what a holy one is? He’s one who has been separated. God is holy, holy, holy because he is separated from all sin, all defilement, and so on. We have been separated by God from the world to belong to Him. Of course, there is a difference, a distinction. Yes, we are separate ones. We live here, but this world is not our home, our citizenship is in heaven. We will be talking about that as we move a little further into this epistle. We belong to heaven, it’s our home, our Father lives, if you will, in heaven. He’s the omnipresent God, but His presence is manifested there, the fullness of His glory.

We are separated ones. He’s writing to those who have been separated apart for God at Ephesus. He wrote to those at the church in Corinth, same thing, they were separated ones. Anyone who is truly, next word in verse 1, ‘faithful’ is the word, believers, they are believers, believers are separated ones. They are in Christ Jesus, we are in that vital living relationship with Christ as we saw. We abide in Him and He abides in us. That will become a key expression in Ephesians, “in Christ”, “in Him”, “in Whom.”

Holding that relationship that is so vital. We don’t even know who we are. Believers get out and think, well, the more like the world we are, the better. The Bible says that our concern is to be like the God that we serve, we are partakers of His divine nature, His character is to be produced in us and through us. The world is in darkness. We are light because God is light, we bring the light of our heavenly Father into the world of darkness. And so as Paul would write to the Philippians during this same imprisonment, you are lights in the world, we bring God’s truth, the revelation concerning Him.

In verse 2, he gives a word of greeting and it’s what we were looking into. Again, it’s a standard greeting, “Grace to you and peace,” standard greeting, but not one we pass over. You note, Paul uses the word ‘grace’ 100 times in his letters. Its going to be used a dozen times in this letter to the Ephesians, it’s all about grace. You don’t understand God’s work if you don’t know something about grace. “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” The word ‘grace,’ as you’re familiar, means unmerited, undeserved favor. What God does for us and is doing for us, even though we are undeserving, unworthy, there’s nothing you can do to earn grace, there’s nothing you can do to merit grace. It is bestowed as a gift on those who have not earned it, deserved it. The key focus is in our salvation, we are saved by God’s grace. Look down in verse 7 of chapter 1 of Ephesians, “In Him…” Incidentally we talk about there’s one long sentence in verses 3-14, that’s as Paul wrote it in Greek; in English, it’s been broken up into sentences, so when I say it’s one long sentence, they’ve done that in our English translation to make it a little more readable. We’ll talk about that as we move through.

I mention that because verse 7 begins a new sentence in your English Bible. “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses” -- that’s God’s work in providing salvation for us in His Son, the redemption through His death, the forgiveness of our sin, of our acts against God -- “according to the riches of His grace.” It’s not just grace, it’s a rich grace, it’s an abundant grace, a grace sufficient for all. Come over to chapter 2 of Ephesians. He talks in the contrast here in chapter 2 as we’ll see, about what our life was before we were impacted by the redeeming grace of God. We “walked according to the course of this world,” verse 1, “according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.” We lived there, we were part of this world, this world system. The Devil was our father, he was the influence, the controller in our lives. But verse 4, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us.” Even when we were in that wretched condition He brought His salvation to us. Verse 7 says, “So that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing,” here we go again, “riches of His grace in kindness.” You just can’t talk about grace, you have to talk about the riches of His grace! You recognize what our wretched condition and how lost we were when God intervened. And we were in a rebellion against Him, we were His enemies, and yet He intervened to bring His salvation to us. So verse 8, “For by grace you have been saved through faith.” It’s not of yourself, this is not a self-driven redemption, not as a result of something we do. I think, well, I’ll get baptized, I’ll partake of the sacraments, I’m going to clean up my life, I’m not going to do those bad things anymore. You can’t clean up yourself, the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked above all things. Only God knows the depths of the depravity of the human heart, and yet in grace, unmerited favor, God saved us. “It’s not a result of works,” verse 9, “so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus.” You have to be in Christ Jesus, enter into that relationship with Him through faith in what God has done for us in the death and resurrection of Christ. What do you have to do? Nothing but believe, and God has done everything. We’ll get more into that as we work through Ephesians.

Come back to Romans chapter 3, Romans chapter 3. I want to transition from that grace that brought us salvation to our present. But in Romans chapter 3, context here, we’re talking about you couldn’t obtain righteousness by trying to keep the Mosaic Law. Verse 21 says, “apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested,” and made known. Verse 22, it’s “the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.” You see, it comes back to that, believe; I will trust Him and Him only. And we all need it because there is no distinction, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” So verse 24, we are “being justified,” declared righteous, “as a gift by His grace.” You see that? He can declare us righteous “as a gift by His grace.” I didn’t do anything. I was the rebel, I was the sinner. He provided His Son to be the Savior. All I do is receive for myself what He has done by believing. That’s how it is transferred to my account so I can be declared righteous. “Being justified as gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.” It’s in a relationship with Him that you can know all about Him. You can be a Bible student and know a lot of scripture and not be in Christ. We talked about that expression ‘He abides in us we abide in Him.’ You enter into that relationship that brings God’s redemptive work to you personally when you believe that He died for you, that He was raised, that you were lost until you trusted Him.

Well, that looks to the past. I brought you to Romans, come over to chapter 6. There’s a present aspect because Paul’s writing to saints and his desire for them is that they be experiencing God’s grace. Well, they’ve already experienced that grace in their redemption. It made them saints, holy ones. It enabled them to be in Christ, as he’s already said. But there is that ongoing grace. It’s like our faith. Our faith has a beginning; when I recognized that I was a sinner and Christ died for me and He was alive to be my Savior, I placed my faith in Him. That’s just not a point, there it is, we’re done with that, we move on. That’s the beginning of a life of faith as we talked about. We could go to Hebrews chapter 11, where it talks about all the different saints, holy ones, from the Old Testament, who believed God. And it says, by faith, Abraham did this. By faith, this one did that. By faith, they did. So, faith begins at this point, but now we are to live a life of faith, entrusting Him every day. That’s the way our grace is as well, the grace that we receive. We entered into that grace, saving grace, the moment we trusted Christ, but now we are living a life in the provision of that grace. It wasn’t just grace for that initial work of cleansing us and declaring us righteous, it’s the grace now that continues to operate that enables us and empowers us to live lives that are pleasing to God. So in Romans chapter 6 he’s going to talk about this, talking about we were identified with Christ. We looked at that in this previous study. This is how we entered into a relationship with Him: identified with Him in His death, burial and resurrection. And that has resulted in us being set apart from sin. So we were, verse 6 and verse 7, no longer slaves of sin, but freed from sin, set apart for God.

You come all the way down to verse 14, note this, “For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” This is how we now live, under grace; it’s not under the Mosaic Law, not under trying to obey certain rules. There are commands given to us, obedience is required of us. We are the slaves, He is the master, we’ll see that in a little bit. But the reality of it is, it’s the provision of His grace that enables us to live. So verse 13 that led into this, we present our bodies and all the parts to live for Him. And we are enabled to do that because of His grace. We live under grace, that’s the controlling principle, that’s the law of our life. Not the list of 613 commandments that were in the Mosaic Law but in the provision of God’s enabling grace. That’s what we’re talking about, the day-by-day provision. That’s why there is never a reason, never an excuse, for me not to live today and through the day for the Lord, His grace is always sufficient.

He would say My grace is sufficient for you. In fact, come over to 2 Corinthians 12. You know, we as believers can get diverted. And what is going on in the world, we’re going to 2 Corinthians 12, begins to press in upon us. We saw this in Romans 12:2, “do not be conformed to this world,” don’t allow the world to press you into its mold. But it is subtly and gradually does so very effectively if we’re not careful. And the troubles and the problems come in, and sometimes as believers we begin to feel overwhelmed, I don’t think I can handle this. Paul went through such a situation and we want to learn from it. Verse 7 of 2 Corinthians 12, “Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself.” He tells us, you know, I want you to understand what I’m going to tell you is because of the great things God was going to do in my life. I had some troubles.

You know, sometimes we fail to appreciate the very troubles that we so bemoan over and are preoccupied with trying to get rid of are the very occasions that God has brought into our lives so He can use us in a greater way. That’s what Paul is going to say, because of the greatness of the revelations… Ephesians is a revelation given from God through Paul. Not only the church at Ephesus, but for 2,000 years of church history right down to today in our local church; It’s for us, these great revelations.

Now he’s writing to the Corinthians, another revelation from God, preserved for His people. Verse 7, “there was given me,” note this, God’s authority is always behind it all. Nothing comes into my life that does not come in because His authority has provided it, it is His purpose, even a messenger of Satan. Paul calls it “a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me,” but God gave the permission for that, because it was His plan for Paul. It was important for Paul so Paul could be used by God in a greatest way possible. Paul had to endure suffering beyond what most believers have had to suffer, “to keep me from exalting myself.” We’re not perfected yet. We sometimes think, well, if everything is going right in my life, my job is good, my marriage is good, my kids are good, things around me are good -- yes, life is good -- now I’m in a position to really be used by God. But you know, as we look at scripture some of those most greatly used by God had to go through some of the most difficult situations.

Because there is something in us, since our redemption is not complete, our salvation is not yet finished -- if I could put it that way without you misunderstanding -- there’s a tendency left in all of us to want to exalt ourselves, to focus on ourselves, to see ourselves as someone important, as deserving of something. Paul says, I have to have this ongoing messenger from Satan so I don’t exalt myself. That’s a pretty open confession; without that it would be too much Paul in what I write, it would be too much about Paul. Verse 8, “Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me.” I mean, you know, this is serious. Paul, if you read his testimony to the Corinthians, he suffered a lot, but it was necessary for him to have this ongoing, sometimes thought an affliction, maybe an eye affliction, we don’t know, but it was something that just was a constant problem. You know, they are the kind that weigh us down. I think, well this will be over in a couple of days, I can get through it. But if there is no end in sight, we say, I don’t know if I can do this. You know how you do it? Today. And then when today becomes yesterday and tomorrow is today, you do it today. We studied that in Ecclesiastes, this is God’s work. This is what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, each day has enough trouble of its own. Your heavenly Father knows what you need, He takes care of your tomorrows, He takes care of you today.

Here’s what God said to Paul in answer to prayer, verse 9, “My grace is sufficient for you,” that’s it. You ought to have this verse that you can go to. If you don’t memorize any other verse, as a believer this ought to be one of the first, “My grace is sufficient for you.” What I will do for you, and you are not able to do for yourself, will be sufficient. You may say, I can’t handle this, I’m not going to be able to deal with it. Well, God doesn’t intend you to, in that sense, He intends you to trust Him, and you find Him to be your sufficiency. He provided grace for me. Look back on your life, now don’t lose me, but just a quick reflection, some of the worse things that came into your life, you thought I won’t get through this. Now you think about them and say, I don’t know why I got so upset about that, so worried about it, so nervous, I don’t know why I let that weigh me down.

But it’s going on here and I love the way he puts it, let “the power of Christ…” You know what? We pray, Lord, use me in the greatest way possible, then difficulty comes into our lives and I say, Lord, I wanted You to use me, look what’s happened. He says yes, you wanted Me to use you. Here I am, power is perfected in weakness. When I’m working powerfully in Paul’s life, while he suffers so greatly, everybody knows there’s nothing much about Paul that could make this happen. And I love the next verse, you ought to have it underlined, verse 10, “Therefore I am well content with weaknesses.” Not just I put up with weakness, I made up my mind, it’s not getting any better, I’ll have to live with it. “I am well content with weakness,” I have not only learned to live with it, the struggle it brings for me every day and through the hours of every day, I’m well content with it, I realize this is what the Lord’s plan for me is. Because what? “I am well content with,” you name whatever, “with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.” Because if God uses me in the greatest ways during my weakest times, bring on the weakest times so I can be used in the greatest ways. We sit back and think, just think of what Paul could have done if he didn’t have these weaknesses. What could he have done? Well, he could have done nothing, because the only thing of eternal duration is what Paul did in the grace of God by the grace of God. So his weakness was his strength because that’s when God was working mightily in him. That’s the ongoing grace of God and it’s sufficient for us every day. Keep that in mind, He’s not sufficient for tomorrow when I’m through this, He’s sufficient for today to get me through it. It’s the beauty of it. When he says, “Grace to you and peace,” I want grace. Remember these are Ephesians living in a pagan city that has a centralized worship system. As we talked about, the worship, the merchandizing, it’s all inter-connected. These believers now have been set apart, called out of it all. They stand out like these sore thumbs and it brings suffering, it brings persecution, it brings trials. Well, count it an honor to be used of God in a mighty way.

Come over to Titus 2, all the way back, because there’s a future dimension to this grace. So we entered into this saving grace. There’s the common grace of God that enables creation to continue to go on day by day. We’re talking about God’s special grace in salvation. Has that beginning point when you trust Christ, then you have the provision of it and the enjoyment of it, day by day, in the ups and downs, in the high points and in the low points, and it’s all looking toward the ultimate finalization of God’s grace in salvation. Titus 2:11, and this is in the context of encouraging people, both before and after, to live life separated to God as God’s people. That doesn’t take us out of the world, doesn’t remove us. He just talked about slaves have to learn to live separated unto God within the context of where God has put them. So he says in verse 11… this is the context to “adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect, that last line of verse 10. “For the grace of God has appeared”, here’s God’s grace again, “bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus; who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession”, saints, that’s what a saint is, someone who has been purified by God, to belong to Him, be His own possession. “Zealous for good deeds. These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority.” It’s what God is doing in His grace. He brought salvation, that is not only to rescue us from hell, but to now provide for a life that is lived for Him. That’s why James… (come back to Ephesians) but James 1 says we are to live in light of our tribulations and their purpose. What? Count it all joy, my brethren, when you fall into multifaceted trials, when the trying of your faith produces endurance. Endurance has a perfecting work, a maturing work, to make you more complete, more of what God wants you to be.

Ephesians chapter 1, grace and peace. Peace is the follow up to grace, it’s a result of God’s grace. Romans chapter 5, verse 1 “We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Before you placed your faith in Christ you were the enemy of God, you were at odds with God, you were in rebellion against God, you were fighting against Him. “We have peace with God.” We have been brought into a relationship with God because He was our enemy. That’s a bad position to be in, you can’t win. You can fight against God, you cannot win against God. You can resist God, but you cannot win. “We have peace” and he wants them to have peace that comes from God. They are already believers, that initial peace that is peace with God is now ours. He is my Father, He is not my enemy any longer, He’s my Father. I have peace. I entered into that peace, these things are the beginning of a life. When we break these up we lose the picture. This is why being a saint is an important picture, we are holy ones, we live our lives by faith. That’s how we entered into this new life, we were born again by faith. We live in the realm of the grace of God who provides everything necessary for me for a life of godliness. I have His peace that sustains me through every situation in life.

You are in Ephesians, just turn to the next book, Philippians, another prison epistle, Philippians chapter 4, and keep in mind Paul is writing in prison, the same time as he wrote Ephesians. In Philippians chapter 4, verse 4 “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say, rejoice.” Not because everything is going the way I want it to go, not because everything turned out the way I want it, not because everybody treats me the way I would like to be treated, and on, and we can fill in it all. When he says ‘always’ he means always. “Rejoice in the Lord always.” Why? Paul has learned to be content, he learned to be content. That’s what we need and I can have God’s peace. We talk about God is sovereign. Well, then why am I going through this difficulty? Well, unless I overtly sinned against Him and am involved in sin, I need to deal with that, as His child I accept this is what He has planned for me. In the world you have trouble Jesus said, tribulation, be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. There we go, be of good cheer, rejoice always. Verse 6 of Philippians 4, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything…” You see these all-encompassing words? Verse 4, “Rejoice in the Lord always,” verse 6, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God…” Not just peace with God; now we have the peace of God, the peace that God provides which surpasses all comprehension.

There’s no good human explanation for it, my situation hasn’t changed, my problems haven’t gone away, my sickness is still there, whatever. But the peace of God it goes beyond comprehension. How do I explain it? How many times have you heard a believer talk about in the most trying time says I just can’t explain it, I just had peace. That’s what we have, the world doesn’t have it. Jesus said I give you peace, not as the world gives you peace. His peace is a permanent peace, a lasting peace. “The peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension,” I love this, “will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” Stand guard. Remember, usually thought that Paul would have been chained to a Roman guard as a prisoner of Rome. This is serious, if Paul would make an escape that Roman guard had to give his life for that, so this wasn’t a casual thing, he was going to make sure Paul was not going anywhere. Others could come see him, he had certain rights given to him, but this soldier couldn’t come up and say, I don’t know what happened, somewhere along the way Paul got away from me, he got involved with a conversation with someone. No excuses. So he knows about standing guard, he knows something about that.

Will stand guard at your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus, does it get any better than that? If I find my heart is in turmoil I need to get apart and say, Lord, something’s wrong. I want to look at my life, am I doing something contrary to the word of God because that will unsettle my life? I belong to Him, I can’t be living comfortably in rebellion against Him. But then if there’s not that, sometimes the frustration we endure is what? I can’t see any reason for this, I don’t know why this is happening, I think I’m doing everything I should. Then I can say, Lord, this is what you have provided for me and planned for me today. Paul said, I came and asked the Lord to deliver me. When it becomes clear He’s not taking it away I say, Lord, give me the grace needed. I want to learn to trust You in greater ways, to draw upon Your grace and appreciate it in a greater way than I have before. May my life be a greater testimony for You as a result of going through this. Something is wrong when we as believers are just going through the world with the same emotional turmoil and mental anguish that the world is. In the world you have tribulation, be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. I am leaving you My peace, let the peace of God… that’s what Jesus was talking about in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 and following. People of the world are worried. Don’t worry. You don’t know what I’m going through, you don’t know what’s happening. I don’t have to know. He knows! Right? He’s not overwhelming me. He may be making me aware that all I can do, Lord, is trust You that You will bring me through this. It may be death. Paul will, in his second letter to Timothy, say I know the outcome is going to be my death, I’m looking forward to what God has provided for me in the glory of His presence. Does that take away God’s peace? So peace is characteristic.

You have to go back to the Old Testament. We’re not going anywhere so it doesn’t matter if it takes us ten years to do Ephesians. I’m not saying it will. Isaiah chapter 48 and I will read it to you if you don’t get there, Isaiah 48, look what God says, the end of the chapter, verse 22, “ ‘There is no peace for the wicked,’ says the Lord.” “ ‘There is no peace for the wicked,’ says the Lord.” Oh, they can have transitory peace, they can cover things over, things are good, I have plenty of money, I’m enjoying all these things, but they’re all superficial because everything that would bring me peace is temporal. Remember Ecclesiastes? A breath and it’s gone. So it’s not a genuine lasting peace like God brings to a heart. “There is no peace for the wicked.”

Come over to Isaiah chapter 57. Look at verse 20 of Isaiah 57, “But the wicked are like the tossing sea, for it cannot be quiet, and its waters toss up refuse and mud. ‘There is no peace,’ says my God, ‘for the wicked.’ ” You believe it. What about the turmoil in the world? It makes no sense. I sometimes say sin makes you stupid, then people are always proving it. That is a biblical truth. But look at the turmoil, what’s the purpose of this? People as old as me are fighting for power. Where are you going to be in a year, two, five, ten, what is this? They can’t stop! That’s why when the wicked disguise themselves as believers and come into a congregation we have turmoil, they are always stirring up refuse and mud, it becomes a cause of disorder, confusion. That’s why Paul had to tell the Corinthian’s church with their division and conflict that I wonder if I have ministered to you in vain and you really didn’t believe. “ ‘There’s no peace,’ says my God, ‘for the wicked,’ ” there’s no escape.

At root, until the heart is dealt with by God and His power they can have no peace. But it is His provision for me ongoing, day by day. The world can try to make my life miserable, but they can’t change the fact that my God takes care of me, my God watches over me. You can’t bring in anything into my life He hasn’t planned for me. You can’t do anything for me that He hasn’t determined will be for my good and His honor. We have to put that into practice when the trial comes.

Come over to chapter 59, you are here, we might as well look at it. Look at verse 7, he’s talking about the sins of God’s people, Israel. What’s the problem? Verse 7, “Their feet run to evil, and they hasten to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity, devastation and destruction are in their highways. They do not know the way of peace, and there is no justice in their tracks; they have made their paths crooked, whoever treads on them does not know peace.” You get involved with them, his trouble was like treading on a snake, you’re going to get bit. That’s the turmoil of the world. We as believers say what are we going to do, what’s happening to our country, what’s the future? Whatever God has planned. Well, what’s it going to mean if we can’t… well, we can. We’re relatively uninterested. You know, England used to be a place where people attended church, now almost nobody goes, less than 5% and they say it will be down to 2%. You read the great preachers from the 1800’s. What happened? Nobody cares. Where do we go as a church? How many people are flooding in to hear the word of God taught in Bible-believing churches around the country? Thankfully some people are. Some people at one time were interested, something happens, but the wicked are always the wicked. It’s not to change my heart, my passion, my love for Christ.

Come back, peace, that’s our portion, that’s what he wants for them and that means action on my part to put into practice the truth of the word of God. I want to pick up the first statement in verse 3 because this is where we are going to begin so I want to get you thinking on it. We are ready to start the body of the letter with one long sentence down through verse 14 as we have it. What’s he say? “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” You know what the word ‘blessed’ means? It’s a compound word, the Greek word is eulogetos. ‘Eu,’” then you know the word ‘logos,’ eulogetos is the word. It is a word that is spoken well, ‘eu’ means well. To speak well means to praise, give glory, honor, to declare His praises, so when he says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus,” is to give Him praise. I was thinking of the psalms. We are reminded this is what we do. We focus on Him. This is where we get off-track. You know, a number of years ago in our country the world become more open about its all about you, self, selfish, self-esteem and that became the open focus. That’s always been the condition of the unbeliever. It was the sin of Satan, I will, I will, it’s all about me. You know where we have to begin? Right where Paul does here in what I said to you in these first two verses, let’s join together and all give praise to God, “blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus,” give praise to God, declare His greatness, what He has done. He has made us saints, He’s brought us to faith, He brought us into a living relationship with His Son. His grace is our provision, His peace guards our heart, give praise to God.

One of the old preachers who is now with the Lord and this is Lloyd-Jones, commenting on this very verse, this phrase, he says “I can certainly testify after many years of pastoral experience that the people who give me the impression of being most miserable in their spiritual life are those who are always thinking of themselves and their blessing and their moods and states and condition. The way to be blessed is to look to God. The practical person is not the one who runs after the blessings but the one who considers the source of the blessings and is in touch with that source.” That’s good. You know, the world has been effective in infiltrating the evangelical church and we become like the world, we are occupied with ourselves. So the world has counselors. It has become a mark of importance in the world to reveal, yes, you know, I’ve suffered this. Yes, I have a counselor helping me through this. I have this trial. Oh, poor you. You can never do enough for a selfish person. The sad thing is the church has become like the world. We need the counselors, these are difficult times, oh yeah, people need good counseling. What about the word of God? The psalmist said Your word is my counselor, Your words, they counsel me. Yeah, but that’s not sufficient. You know what we need to do? Stop thinking about me, about yourself. That’s the way we are, it’s about me, I’m not happy. Things aren’t going well at work for me, my wife, my husband, my kids, my job, my circumstances, you don’t know what it’s like to be… It’s all about me. You know, that will make you miserable. Well, I’m a Christian, God doesn’t want Christians to be miserable. I know, so quit thinking like an unbeliever, quit behaving like an unbeliever.

You know, we have little babies in our family now, great-grandchildren, and they are great. Why is it the further away you get the greater the kids get? I don’t know. Any rate, one of them when we were together here just this week, it was fun, one of the little ones got unhappy about something. You know what they did? That little mouth got big, and that voice let out a waaaaaaah, fills the whole house with joy. You know what he’s telling you? It’s about me, I’m not happy. You know sometimes when people are coming and whining in a counseling session, I have to say sometimes I have to keep from smiling because they are talking to me and the image I see in my mind is a little baby like that going waaaaaaah because it’s all about them, I’m not happy. You know what they did, you know what they said, you know what I have to go through? Oh, poor baby. It’s said when the church becomes like the world -- and you know, the more like the world we become the more we look to the world for solutions -- that’s how the church becomes corrupted. I see some liberal churches in town that no longer preach the gospel, but they got signs with a Bible verse out front, they have not a clue what that verse means. We don’t want to become like that. You know how it becomes? We allowed our thinking to begin to be shaped like the world and we become more and more like the world in our thinking and it becomes more and more like me. So we structure church services now, we take surveys: what would people like, how would you like the service to be, what kind of music do you like, how long do you want the sermon to be? Pretty soon it’s all about me. I think, Lord, when I go to church I want to learn as much about You as I can, I want to rejoice in what You have done for me, when I talk about all You’ve done for me I want it to cause me to give You the praise. The God I serve, look what He has done for me, look what He is doing for me. This ought to be a place where we are caused to praise God. We look into the Word, it’s not all about me. What I learn about me it causes me to praise Him more. So praises, and this is not a wish, not a desire, it is a declaration, “blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” He’s the one who does it all.

We end on this note, you’ll note, verse 2, God is our Father, grace and peace come from God our Father. Now down in verse 3 He’s called “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” What an exalted position we have! The God of my Lord and Savior is my God, He’s my Father, what a relationship we have! Should we not be praising God whatever conditions we are in? Whatever. Think about what He’s done to rescue you, to separate you out from a lost and fallen world where I fit, where I belong but He put His love on me. That’s where Paul is going but he’s going there by saying first of all let’s give praise to God and who He is and what He does.

Let’s pray together. Thank you, Lord, for the beauty of Your word. It is a full word, Lord, every word is precious, full of truth. Lord, our minds continue to grasp that truth, to meditate upon it. Lord, the more we learn the more we are in awe and wonder of You as the awesome God who has reached out to provide salvation for us, reached out to draw us to that salvation, give us the blessing of trusting in Your Son, our Savior, knowing what it is to be cleansed within, made new. Now, Lord, to live a life enabled by Your grace, to live a life trusting in You in every situation and every circumstance. Lord, a life that has peace, joy in the heart because this transitory passing world is not the source of our peace, not the source of our joy -- it is Your grace. We give You praise again, in Christ’s name, amen.