“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” (Ephesians 1:13-14).
“In whom ye also trusted . . .” What Paul is doing is he’s saying, ‘Look, like I’m saved—like you’re saved, this is what’s taking place.’ All right? Praise the Lord. And you go to this, and if you don’t understand it, I want you to keep going over it—word for word—until you get it in your soul. Right? So the first thing is you trusted. Well, Who did you trust? How did you trust? How did you know about trusting? See what it says?
“after that ye heard the word of truth . . .” The what? ‘The word of truth’, very important.
“the gospel of your salvation . . .” And what is Paul’s gospel? I Corinthians 15:1-4, the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, according to the Scriptures.
“in whom also after that ye believed . . .” You see that progression there? That’s the way it is, you gotta hear something— ‘Come now, let’s reason together, saith the Lord’ –you’re reasoning in your brain. And when the conclusion comes to your heart, business picks up. I mean you ‘heard the word of truth [the Gospel]’, right? “The Gospel of your salvation’ You heard it—and you believed it! You gotta believe it! And when you believe it, I like that . . .
“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.” What does that mean?
What does it mean? Signed, sealed and delivered. You’re going to heaven. Why? Because you believed. From where? From the heart. With the heart, when you asked Jesus to save you. I like it.
And only after the transaction of Chapter One is completed, can the good works of Chapter Two come into play. You don’t put chapter one in front of chapter two and then try to build your doctrine of election salvation or whatever they might be calling their scheme. God saved first, then save.
The following verse is a rehash of HOW of what happened in 1:13-14 and then it goes on to show the WHY.
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:8-10).
Now, we quote these verses in chapter 2, but you got to remember that chapter 1 is before chapter 2, and you got to read that. Some people claim things that they never had to do what it takes to get it. Paul is speaking in chapter 2 that had already done what they needed to do in chapter 1, so chapter 2 is not the salvation chapter—it is the after-salvation chapter.
You see, salvation, or being saved, is God’s work through His Spirit. That salvation is presented in Ephesians Chapter 1. That salvation is conditioned upon hearing the Word of God, believing the Word of God, and choosing to believe. Of course, repentance is involved, and that occurs before the actual transaction of believing, which is then followed by the received.
Then, and only then, are we elected to serve God, although few Christians will follow through and render any service to God at all.
Serving God is relying on God’s help, and it is impossible to serve God if you are not a Christian. Now that’s not profound, is it? How in the world can you serve the living God if you are not a Christian? You can do outwardly good things, but you are not serving God. You are serving your own righteousness.
That’s why I tell you, we need to constantly pray for God to give us an opening—so we can tell people about the Gospel—or hand out a Gospel tract. Don’t trust the stuff the world tries to tell you! The day and age in which we are living, everybody is trusting everything. Oh, he heard a song—but no change! –no spiritual connection!
People need to trust Christ, not that good feeling they got this morning when their toast was especially nicely toasted.
“In whom ye also trusted . . .” What Paul is doing is he’s saying, ‘Look, like I’m saved—like you’re saved, this is what’s taking place.’ All right? Praise the Lord. And you go to this, and if you don’t understand it, I want you to keep going over it—word for word—until you get it in your soul. Right? So the first thing is you trusted. Well, Who did you trust? How did you trust? How did you know about trusting? See what it says?
“after that ye heard the word of truth . . .” The what? ‘The word of truth’, very important.
“the gospel of your salvation . . .” And what is Paul’s gospel? I Corinthians 15:1-4, the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, according to the Scriptures.
“in whom also after that ye believed . . .” You see that progression there? That’s the way it is, you gotta hear something— ‘Come now, let’s reason together, saith the Lord’ –you’re reasoning in your brain. And when the conclusion comes to your heart, business picks up. I mean you ‘heard the word of truth [the Gospel]’, right? “The Gospel of your salvation’ You heard it—and you believed it! You gotta believe it! And when you believe it, I like that . . .
“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.” What does that mean?
What does it mean? Signed, sealed and delivered. You’re going to heaven. Why? Because you believed. From where? From the heart. With the heart, when you asked Jesus to save you. I like it.
And only after the transaction of Chapter One is completed, can the good works of Chapter Two come into play. You don’t put chapter one in front of chapter two and then try to build your doctrine of election salvation or whatever they might be calling their scheme. God saved first, then save.
The following verse is a rehash of HOW of what happened in 1:13-14 and then it goes on to show the WHY.
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:8-10).
Now, we quote these verses in chapter 2, but you got to remember that chapter 1 is before chapter 2, and you got to read that. Some people claim things that they never had to do what it takes to get it. Paul is speaking in chapter 2 that had already done what they needed to do in chapter 1, so chapter 2 is not the salvation chapter—it is the after-salvation chapter.
You see, salvation, or being saved, is God’s work through His Spirit. That salvation is presented in Ephesians Chapter 1. That salvation is conditioned upon hearing the Word of God, believing the Word of God, and choosing to believe. Of course, repentance is involved, and that occurs before the actual transaction of believing, which is then followed by the received.
Then, and only then, are we elected to serve God, although few Christians will follow through and render any service to God at all.
Serving God is relying on God’s help, and it is impossible to serve God if you are not a Christian. Now that’s not profound, is it? How in the world can you serve the living God if you are not a Christian? You can do outwardly good things, but you are not serving God. You are serving your own righteousness.
That’s why I tell you, we need to constantly pray for God to give us an opening—so we can tell people about the Gospel—or hand out a Gospel tract. Don’t trust the stuff the world tries to tell you! The day and age in which we are living, everybody is trusting everything. Oh, he heard a song—but no change! –no spiritual connection!
People need to trust Christ, not that good feeling they got this morning when their toast was especially nicely toasted.
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