"To the Praise of His Glory (Part 1)" Ephesians 1:7-12

Ephesians part 2 by Pastor Brian.

Transcript

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That is chapter 1, verses 7 through 12. This is the word of God. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight, he made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his kind intention, which he purposed in him, with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens, things on the earth. In him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to his purpose, who works all things after the counsel of his will. To the end that we who were first, who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of his glory. This is the word of God.

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What a privilege it is to be able to open the word and to hear from our great God. Father, we ask you to lead and guide our time, that you would be honored, that you would be glorified, that you would be exalted as we look into the truth of your word, impact us, change us, transform us, cause us to respond in faith. We pray this all in Christ's name. Amen. Well, this week in our study through the book of Ephesians, we're going to kind of attempt to pick up where we left off last week. Last week, if you can recall in verse 6, and you can see it there, obviously, Paul says these words. He says, To the praise of the glory of his grace. And here's the thing is at the end of our passage for today, at the end of verse 12, we see it again. We see him say similar words. He says, Be to the praise of his glory. That beautiful phrase really sums up the entirety of life. It should sum up the point of all of our lives here on the earth, whether we want to acknowledge Christ or not. Because as much as we like to make this life all about us, it's not. It's not. It's about Him. It's about the Creator, the sustainer, the sovereign and all-powerful God of the universe. Everything that happens on this earth is under his sovereign permission and authority. Praise God. Imagine if it wasn't. What would this life look like? It would be absolute turmoil and chaos at all times. Therefore, our lives, even more than the rest of creation, are always meant for the praise of his glory. Now, this is going to be the theme for the next two weeks, not just this week, to the praise of his glory. What a battle cry of faith. We sing that song, O church arise. It's a battle cry song. We're in war. And so remember that as we marvel today at God's gracious redemption. Remember that as we marvel at all that Paul teaches us in these verses, no matter what we study, I just always want us to be together, worshiping and living to the praise of his glory. And that's the theme as we go through this passage. So, first, if you have your bullets and you'll notice a little insert there if you haven't seen that before, we have the points listed out there for you to take notes if you'd like. And so our first point today as we do this is our redemption through his blood is, of course, to the praise of his glory. Now, one thing to note as we look at this first point, often you will hear teachings that don't seem to really make a quantifiable difference between redemption and the forgiveness of sins. Now, while these two truths definitely go together and they're fully intertwined, they're not one and the same. I think too often we actually neglect the one or the other because we so closely align them that we forget to actually worship over the beauty of each one of them. Here's what I mean: redemption, as one commentary says it, I like how they say that it says, it's the act of freeing or the state of being freed from bondage, such as that of a prisoner or a slave by payment of a ransom. In other words, redemption is deliverance. Deliverance. Now, forgiveness is closely tied to that, but it's something that we're going to talk about in our second point. They're both needed, they're both essential, and they do align with one another very tightly. But given that our role in this life is to glorify God as we're focusing in on today, we need to be led to worship with a right understanding of both, as well as the immensity of each truth. And so that's what I want to do. I want to start with redemption, deliverance, deliverance from bondage. Now, this is not delivering like somebody delivering a pizza or a sandwich. This is more akin to the Bible's definition of deliverance, would be like the Israelites being brought up and out of Egypt, if you can recall that. That was a deliverance that they could not enact by themselves, could they? Could they free themselves? No. It was a deliverance that took the mighty hand of God to accomplish in that historical truth. It was a full, measured deliverance that brought them not only up and out of Egypt, but it brought them all that they needed and more. Do you recall this account? They plundered the Egyptians under the sovereign command of who? The deliverer. God Himself. And they headed out. They headed for a land flowing with milk and honey, meaning prosperous and beautiful. And along the way they were led by fire and smoke, a pillar of fire, a pillar of smoke, as the Lord protected and provided for them constantly. He didn't just deliver immediately or initially and then send them on their way. He provided and delivered them all the way. Even when they sinned. Even when they decided to rebel against their great God, he was still in the process of delivering them and always providing for them. They were no longer enslaved, they were no longer in bondage. They had been delivered, redeemed to the very sight of God through the ministry of a man named Moses. Well, here's the thing. The same is true with us if you're in Christ. It is the Lord who sovereignly redeems and delivers us from bondage. Bondage to our sin and the evil one. And I know this very well. For myself, I was under the bondage of sin, of evil, for many years growing up, into my very early 20s. But it is God who delivered me from the worship of self. It is the Savior through his gospel, his good news, that is the deliverer from this kind of terrible bondage. That kind of bondage is far, far worse than just mere human slavery, as horrible as that is. The bondage to sin is eternal if we're not freed. When the gospel comes to the ears and the hearts of God's people and they respond in repentance and faith, repentance is a turning from and a turning to. That creates a sound, I would say, a sound that really obliterates all the enemies and the chains that held them captive. And at the same time, it's a glorious sound. It is the sweetest frame we sing. It is the most beautiful melody that can ever be brought to any ear. To hear the word of God proclaimed and to hear that there is hope, that there is salvation, that there is a great and mighty Redeemer who is willing that none should perish. That there is a merciful and a gracious Redeemer who is willing to actually pay the ransom. To pay the ransom with his own life in my place, if I would but turn. If I would but turn to him in trust and adoration. Oh, the sweet sound of the gospel to those who are delivered. It is a sound that actually only grows sweeter and more robust as time goes on, each time we hear the gospel, isn't it? This redemption, this deliverance is not merely God just stating his desire for his people to be saved, nor is it that God just chose, okay, I'm gonna zap Satan and poof, we're his. The thing that makes the gospel account, redemption, so fantastically amazing is that it actually took a holy and divine being to die. To die in the place of ruined sinners for them to get saved or be redeemed. And the payment for that ransom is the very blood of the Son of God, just as Paul says here. Now, this is such an amazing event. It is such a wondrous truth that this is what actually is sung about in heaven. It's been really neat to hear today, from Sunday school to the call to worship to what Dave read for prayer. We've heard a lot about singing. We're to sing to God. Well, this is exactly what we will be singing about for all of eternity. Listen to Revelation 5, 9 to 12. I've read this before to you, and I want to read it again because it's just thrilling. Revelation 5, 9 to 12. Again, this is in the count in the heavenly places before the throne of God. It says, and they sang a new song saying, Worthy are you. Worthy are you. It's talking about Jesus. Worthy are you to take the book and break its seals, for you were slain and purchased for God with your blood. Men from every tribe and every tongue and every people and every nation talk about equality. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests who are God, and they will reign upon the earth. He goes on, John goes on to say, Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders, and the number of them was myriads and myriads, and thousands and thousands, saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. This is the song of heaven because of the redemption of men's souls by the blood of the Son of God, the second member of the Trinity. I think what we see here begs a question, though. Where does all this come from? Where does this redemption find its birth and fulfillment? Now, just to make sure there's no mix-up here today, look at what Paul says in the second part of verse 7. I love this. Paul says, it all comes, it all comes. Not just part of it, not just a piece of it, it's not like my work with his, it's it all comes, all of it, according to the riches of his grace. I need you to notice something about this statement. Both in thinking of our redemption and in the forgiveness of sins, we're gonna look at in just a moment. I say it again, all of this. This gospel truth, this glorious gift comes to us. Hear this, please. According to the riches of his grace. This is absolutely huge. Or as a current prominent leader says, huge. I don't care how you want to say it, this is enormous. Here's the thing it's not out of the riches of his grace, as if that's not amazing, but it's according to the riches of his grace. I want you to think of it this way. Here's an illustration to try to help. If Elon Musk or Bill Gates gives $25,000 to some godly cause, yeah, I know, it sounds far-fetched, work with me here. But if they were to do that, if one of those two, what I would call them grossly rich men, according to the world standards, were to give $25,000, let's say to St. Jude's Children's Hospital or maybe a pregnancy resource center, if they were to give $25,000, would that be out of their riches or according to? There's a difference. The $25,000 may pay for a new piece of equipment that they need, and that would be done out of their riches, right? Would they feel the sting of $25,000? I've heard it said that if Bill Gates were walking down the street and he dropped a $100 bill, it would be more expensive for him to stop, bend over, and pick it up than just to keep going. He makes that much money every second. So, would $25,000 be out of or according to? Now, if they were to spend $3 billion on a new facility that was basically able to cure cancer for St. Jude's, for example, now that would end up being according to, wouldn't it? According to their riches, since it would be actually indicative of what they truly have to offer. The same is true with God, except with an eternal reward of riches of his grace for us. Think of it. If he were to merely just dip into the storehouse of his grace, just a smidge, we may end up having a hundred or a thousand years of joy as his people. But since God lavishly bestows on us redemption and therefore forgiveness, this shows us he's paid the ultimate cost according to the riches of his grace, the immensity of that shown to us by the very blood of Christ, that one that's sung about in heaven. Your God has not withheld one ounce of his riches from you. Not one speck of grace is withdrawn, not one piece of mercy, not an iota of redemption is withheld. We have full deliverance. How do I boldly make that claim? How do I say that? Well, in a phrase: the gospel. The gospel says that Jesus comes to the earth and dies in the place of ruined sinners. Jesus is the rich reward that manifests God's grace. And since God has not chosen to withhold his son from us, then he has therefore done this according to the riches of his marvelous grace. What could he give us more than Jesus? It's according to. Now, if he were to send an angel to wipe out, you know, this neighborhood that we don't like, or to give us a home and land and all these things, that would be a dip of his grace. Just a small piece. But Jesus is everything. And that's what he's given us. And it's all, of course. Remember our book ends. It's all to the praise of his glory. Second point the forgiveness of our trespasses leads again to the praise of his glory. As we just discussed, there's a difference between redemption and forgiveness. Again, you can't have one without the other and know his grace, but they're different. And so if redemption signifies deliverance from the bondage of sin, then forgiveness is that which approves of and applies that pardon to the redeemed sinner. I'm going to say that again. Forgiveness is that which approves of and applies a pardon to the redeemed sinner. This is kind of like a criminal being set free. Truly set free, I mean. Now a prisoner can walk out of a jail cell and be delivered back into society and have his punishment expunged or removed by the courts, but he can't be truly free, set free, until he is set free in soul or conscience. In his soul. And so forgiveness is more than just being released of chains, it's being set free from sin. Our world loves to introduce things for this. They like to replace this idea with things like meditative yoga or just sitting in silence or affirming voices of philosophers to make us feel free or pure and that everything's okay with us. I'm good. But as the Word of God teaches so plainly, nothing can accomplish true freedom until we know that we've been redeemed and set free from the bondage of self-help, of sin, both physically and spiritually. To know forgiveness is to wake each day, knowing that by the blood of Christ and his redeeming work I'm placed in the heavenly realms with him, as Paul has already spoken. But at the same time, it is the freedom of knowing that my sins, as the Bible says, have been cast as far as East is from the West, meaning gone. It is knowing that I am a sinner and I've been separated from my sin now. And now I'm separated unto a holy God. Right now, in this very moment, it doesn't matter who you are. It doesn't matter what you've done. You can be redeemed and forgiven. Who deserves that? Nobody here. Nobody on the planet. But if you're a human being, you desperately need that. You need to be forgiven of the rebellion that you have willfully walked in and lived out. And God is gracious. You may be saying to yourself right now, well, I I don't deserve anything like hell or death. I haven't been that bad. Well, from a human standpoint, you're probably right. It's debatable, but you may be right. You probably haven't killed anybody yet. You probably haven't beat somebody to a bloody pulp. I'm gonna even go so far as to say, maybe you've never even lied, even if I don't believe you. But here's the problem. You need his forgiveness because God, who is the creator of everything, demands total allegiance to his laws and his standards and therefore to his glory in right worship. And I will confidently say that no one has followed the first three commands of the Ten Commandments, which are vital for any human. Who from day one, who from their birth has always without failed, worship God alone? Who has never once loved something or someone more than God? If you said that's you, if you said I've always loved God perfectly from the womb out, I'm good, then you just spoke your first lie, and guess what? You need forgiveness. And he is freely, graciously, abundantly offering it to anyone who will but turn from their previous life of sin and confess Christ, turn to him as Lord and Savior. That's eternally startling. That shouldn't happen. And so we find that the forgiveness of sins is so magnificent that it not only provides for eternal purity, but now daily satisfaction. For the one who's been forgiven, you can now wake each day and never again suffer under the ill effects of the pollution of what sin brings. You find that you can have joy in the midst of trials. How does that happen? We find that because of our eternal standing before God, we get to live in real freedom. Even if the country may be freedom squelching. Doesn't matter. This is how in the past so many saints have been able to endure maybe the evils of communism, for an example, or just empirical, tyrannical rule with joy still. How does that happen? Well, because they know Christ and they know that he has redeemed them and he has forgiven them from who they are and what they've done, and so that now they actually get to live as free people. Free. And as they live each day, Christians who are living for Christ each day, again and again we do it all for what? To the praise of his glory. It's all about him. It's not for my own advancement, not for boasting in my forgiveness. Who am I? But boasting in the Lord's kindness and his rich grace. Let me tell you, the Lord is magnified. He's exalted in the sinner who is forgiven. It's something that only the blood of Christ can accomplish, and therefore it is honoring and brings him immense and eternal praise as that saved saint then lives in light of his forgiven status. Amazing. Third point. As we move forward, God kindly blessed us with wisdom. With wisdom to the praise of his glory. Who here feels like the wise person in the room? Good, nobody raised their hands. Awesome. So hopefully. Look at verse 8. Continuing with the theme of God's amazing grace, Paul reminds us that this has been done in wisdom and in insight, godly wisdom and insight. Now again, this doesn't point us to think that now because we're Christians, ooh, I have amazing intellectual wisdom that compares with the academic world or the modern-day intellectual minds that we all are like, wow, how do they understand that? While that may be the case with some, I'm thinking of maybe some famous Christian apologists, uh, that has its benefit at times, but that's not what Paul's getting at here. What Paul's driving at here is that God has chosen to lavishly, richly bless us with his word. His truth. It's his word that is knowledge. If God created everything, nobody could be more wise than that. If God sets the order of all things from beginning to end, nobody could be more wise than that. Therefore, his word is what gives us wisdom. His truth. It's his word that shows forth what true wisdom is. It's his word that makes the sinner smart enough to repent and believe as they now fear the Lord. It's his word that produces insight for living as an intellectual, a real intellectual. Not somebody who merely has a little knowledge of what we can observe around us. What does that do for you? No, this is speaking of somebody who day by day gains real knowledge, real discernment, real truth, wonderful wisdom as they read, study, and apply God's perfect word to their life. That's it. I'm so thankful. God has lavished upon us everything we need for life and godliness, and it's found within 66 books of his written revelation of himself and his truth. What a kind God we serve. Just listen. I want you to listen to some historic descriptions of the Word of God in Christendom that have come down to us throughout the last 2,000 years. And as we do that, please hear me. The Bible doesn't just contain God's Word, it is God's Word. Okay. So you may have heard these before. We've even talked about these on Tuesday night, but I think they bear repeating. The Word of God is wisdom. The Word of God is from God, therefore, first thing it is inerrant. It's inerrant. Now, what other book, person, writing, or intellectual thought is said to be infallible without one single error? It's inerrant. All to the praise of his glory. The word of God is also clear. Again, one of my favorite words. We call this the perspicuity of Scripture. It's clear, understandable for salvation. Are there hard things in here to understand? Absolutely. But is it very clear for salvation in understanding the gospel of Christ? Absolutely. The Bible does not contain some magic formula found within a code or a set of numbers you have to grab your secret decoder pen to figure things out. No, it's clear that all humans are rebellious and that we need a savior, and that Redeemer's name is Jesus Christ. That's wisdom, that's knowledge, all to the praise of his glory. The word of God also, next, is necessary. You and I cannot be saved without it. Why? Because it tells us who Jesus is and how to be saved. If the word of God teaches us the overarching story of redemption, that's what you could call the word of God if you want, then it is necessary for us to be saved. We cannot be saved through our own intellectual wisdom. We cannot be saved by another religion. There are not many roads to God. The Bible is very clear it is Christ in Christ alone. Not Buddha, not Allah, not Joseph Smith, not the Dalai Lama. Nobody can offer the forgiveness of sins. Only Christ can. Only Christ, through the Word of God, can accomplish this to the praise of His glory. The Word of God is also sufficient. You don't need anything else. Can we know stuff maybe about the cosmos that may not be detailed in Scripture? Absolutely. And it's great to know these things because it'll actually lead us to a greater sense of worship. Can we know those wonderful algebraic equations? Maybe you high schoolers are like, yes. Yeah, we can. And I'm confident somehow, some way, it's going to lead you to worship. Maybe just because you're able to get the right answer. Praise God. But none of that is sufficient for life and for godliness, nor a knowledge of salvation on its own. You cannot argue your way to God from human reasoning. It doesn't work like that. It takes faith. It takes faith in the Holy One who is known and revealed to us through the Holy Spirit and His Word. And so the Scriptures alone are sufficient for salvation and godliness to the praise of His glory. And finally, in this wisdom inside peace, is the Scriptures are authoritative. They are the full and final authority for all things in the Christian's life. If there is any real knowledge, any true wisdom, it has to be from the Word. And what else would therefore be our authority? So many times, I think sometimes we put the cart before the horse and we say that since man discovered a, okay, here's my discovery, then the Bible or our understanding of the Bible needs to be tweaked to fit that. And then 50 years later, it needs to be tweaked again to fit the latest finding. That's not how it works. The Bible's the authority. Everything the world has to offer it needs to be filtered through the Word of God because it is unchanging. It is filtered through that which is real knowledge, real wisdom, real insight, real truth, our full and final authority. God forbid I'm ever the authority even in my own life. What would that look like? Ooh. Dangerous. This is all to the praise of God's glory. I want you also to notice here in verse 9 that once again, in light of wisdom, in light of knowledge, this book actually gives us what the Lord's will is. You want to know God's will for your life? How many times do we go over that? His will is the gospel. His will is that his son came to seek and save that which is lost, and it was his will to make that known to us. Romans 1.16, I love it. Says, the gospel is a power of God unto salvation for all who believe. And this is a mystery back in the Old Testament, as verse 9 speaks of. Those Old Testament saints heard there's a Messiah coming. You know the story, right? They knew the prophecies beginning all the way back in Genesis and laced all throughout the Old Testament and God's wonderful word. But it's still a mystery to them, a glorious mystery to come, but a mystery nonetheless. They didn't get it all. Well, today we have come to know the mystery of the gospel through the ministry and the work of Jesus Christ. And that's what Paul's speaking of as he moves to verse 10. God's truth, his perfect and authoritative word, has been revealed to us by, you could say, the administration of the Holy Spirit. And since we live in what we call the church age, post the cross, post Christ's coming, we live in, as it says here, the fullness of times. Notice the plurality of that phrase. This is not the same as the fullness of time, as we see, for example, in Galatians. There is coming a completion of it all, praise God, when he returns, when Christ returns. But until then, we still have the knowledge of the beauty of the full message of the gospel in what you could call gospel times. Since we live on this side of the cross and the resurrection. And so it is God's will for us to know, for us to have insight, to have the wisdom of his gospel. This is God's will for us. To the praise of his glory. Fourth point. Continuing in the theme. Our inheritance is to the praise of his glory. And I just hope that you hear this piece and you're just undone with gratefulness. Our inheritance in the grand scheme of things is to worship Christ without the stain of sin any longer. Last week, if you can recall, we were reminded of some of the specifics of our inheritance in Christ and speaking of the fact that it's undefiled and unfading. Again, what things on earth are that? Undefiled, unfading, imperishable, reserved for us in heaven, as 1 Peter says. Well, today I want us again to see the beauty of what Paul says and is here in this passage in regards to our inheritance. And it's something that we also saw last week. It says essentially here that we've been predestined unto an inheritance that is according to his purpose, who works all things after the counsel of his own will. And so, here's the thing: what's our inheritance? All things. If you're in Christ, your inheritance, God says here is all things. Our inheritance is to sit at the feet of Jesus Christ without the stain of sin and just worship. True, unadulterated worship. No sin to confound us, no distraction to pull our attention, no idol to vie for our love, no worldly thing to adore at the same time, just pure and robust worship. The all things according to his purpose, it fits perfectly within this. We will be given greater wisdom and a capacity to attain more knowledge. For what? Worship. We shall be given an inheritance, as an inheritance bodies. Glorified bodies that do not decay, that do not get sick, that do not stumble and fall. Anybody out for that? Bodies, though, that are for one main purpose. The reason those things don't occur is for one purpose. What do you think it is? Worship. So that we can worship all the more. We're gonna have stronger knees to fall upon. We're gonna have better eyesight to behold his glory. We're gonna have stronger hearts so that they don't just cease to beat at the sight of his dazzling brilliance. We'll be given feet that can run faster and jump higher as we seek to gain just another glimpse of his majesty. We will even be given greater camaraderie in our gospel companionship. All four worship. Together, you and I, if you're in Christ, we will fall on our faces. Together we shall proclaim his excellencies. Together we will marvel at his goodness. We shall be given a stronger, more beautiful, and unfailing voice. Again, for singing. Our theme today, it seems. But what's that voice for? Is it oh, it's for our glory, right? Did you hear me?

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No.

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For the praise of his glory, for worship. Our voices will be used to sing, proclaim, remind, and speak of what? Same thing we do today, the gospel of Jesus Christ. Both to each other and to the other created beings. Our voices will also, of course, be used to sing and shout of the glory of His grace. We have been predestined with a glorious inheritance that is without the stain of sin, and the point is pure worship. And of course, this means that we have been given all things to make that happen. Surrounded by angels, elders, and the entirety of the true Church of Jesus Christ. What a God we serve. All things. We are given all things now, and we will especially be given all things then for worship, for faithfulness, for devotion. I'm gonna close today by telling you a story. It is a story of God lavishing grace upon a man long ago that leads to the praise of his glory. Many years ago, there was a man who loved God. He loved to learn and he loved to study about God and know more of who he is. He was dedicated to God and the things of God. But then one day this godly man was introduced to the Lord Jesus Christ. For many years he had no doubt read the scriptures and he desired for the Messiah to come and save his people, as with all most of the other Jews. Then one day he heard the truth of the gospel. The gospel, therefore, just blew him away. He's amazed. He's stunned by the beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ and his work on the cross and his place. By the Lord's grace he had come to know the mystery which he had always heard about. His eyes were open, and the Lord's sovereign will came to enact his redemption. By grace he was saved through faith. And he was given wisdom and insights to grow. It wasn't long before he grew to prominence in that newly established church. He was quickly recognized as a godly man and a potential leader. He was recognized by the people as somebody who could help and lead and serve the people well. And so this is what he did. And as he did this, the Lord's grace was evident in him, in his godliness and in his ability to do great things for the Lord, so that God would be glorified and people would be transformed. But given that he's now in Christ, this man also had enemies. Christ's enemies became his enemies, and they began to argue with him about the mystery of the gospel and God's will to bring that knowledge to the people for repentance and faith. Before long, these enemies, these people went so far as to try to kill him for it. They tried to argue with him, but since he knew the Lord's word so well, they literally couldn't say a word without looking like complete fools. Their only recourse in their sin was to try to kill him. If he continued to proclaim this mystery, this gospel, this real wisdom, this redemption and the forgiveness. As with Jesus, they ended up bringing people out of the woodworks to lie, to falsely accuse him of saying things against the law of God. And as they did that, it was in that very moment that they looked upon this man again and they were taken aback. Because the lavish and rich grace of God was literally shining through his face. The men who were accusing him were now saying to one another, it looked like he was an angelic being. What happened? But instead of believing in God, the true God, they began to press him all the more and tell them, you better defend yourself. And defend himself he did. He boldly and unashamedly began to proclaim to them not only the sufficiency of Christ's grace, but their desperate need for it, as he recounted their sins from their ancestors to their fathers to themselves. God's great grace was marvelously on display at this time as this man stood resolute for God and his glory. This man could have never stood firm like this in the faith in the face of such hostility on his own. The Lord is with him. From his redemption to his steadfastness in his defense of the gospel and the truth, we can clearly see that the Lord had truly lavished upon him an abundance of grace. He had been given all things he needed. Well, as this man continued to speak of the need for the work of the gospel in the hearts of his audience and the need for them to see the wonderful beauty of the Savior, he rebukes them. He rebukes them for killing, for shedding the blood of the righteous one, the one and only Jesus the Christ. At this, these men become incensed. And it is in that moment there is a resolve that will not be taken back. They are going to kill him as they gnash their teeth at him. And it's in this moment that once again the Lord's grace just explodes onto the scene as this man has given all things in Christ. Do you know that God's grace is always sufficient? Do you know that his blood covers all sins? Do you know that there is not one thing that you're going to have to go through on this earth as one of his predestined and adopted saints that he will not be with you in and carry you through? Do you know that having redemption and the forgiveness of sins is far greater than anything that can come to you in this world? Even in this man's predicament? What if you grew up in North Korea today? While Stephen is preparing himself to be stoned to death for his testimony of Christ and the truth. He looks up into heaven and what does he see? He sees God's lavish and rich, beautiful grace on display. How? He sees none other than Jesus in heaven. He is blessed to get a glimpse into heaven, and he sees Jesus at the right hand of the Father. And it isn't that Jesus is just there, and Stephen gets this snapshot photo if that's not enough, as if that's not enough. No, as our God always does, he lavishes Stephen with far more. Jesus, he gets a vision of what's going on in heaven, and Jesus is there at the right hand of the Father, and he's standing. Stephen, the Bible tells us it's full of the Holy Spirit, and he looks up and he sees Jesus standing there. Acts 7.55 actually says Stephen sees the glory of God and it is in Jesus' countenance as he's standing there. And once again in the scriptures, we're just overwhelmed at God's grace. Stephen looks up desperately needy for God's redemptive grace, and he sees that Jesus is up off the throne, advocating for his faithful service. Hebrews 1 tells us Jesus finished the work of salvation and then he's seated at the right hand of God here for Stephen, so that Stephen knows he's not alone in front of this wicked and violent group of false worshippers. Christ is raised up and he's standing with Stephen. For Stephen. Jesus is standing for his servant. It's as if to say he's saying to the Father, this one's mine. Father, look at his faithfulness. My blood is paid for him. I've redeemed him, and I'm going to give him the crown of life and a blessed inheritance very soon. All things are coming. It's as if he's communicating with Stephen that he has divine approval for his message and his defiance of the council. And so Jesus stands to receive Stephen into his presence. What an inheritance. All things indeed. Such a beautiful picture of the grace of God. That's why I tell that. Jesus is standing in approval of Stephen and his faithfulness. He gives Stephen this gift because he knows he's soon to be stoned to death than he was. So I just say to you today, in light of our passage, in light of a historical account such as that, brothers and sisters, remember, no matter what comes, no matter what happens in this life, no matter the trial, big or small, no matter the difficulty, no matter the pain, no matter if your life is on the line, please know that if you have been purchased, if you've been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, if you've been forgiven, then you have, by the Lord's will, an unparalleled grace and an unmatched inheritance. If you're his, then he has graciously predestined you for this. And nothing can come your way that will ever take one shred of his perfect and full mercy from your eternal life. No matter what may come, just like Stephen, I pray that our lives would be lived in such a way that we can always say that we do it all to the praise of his glory. May that be all of us. My life, my soul, my everything is to the praise of God's glory. He has redeemed, he is forgiven. What's greater than that? Father, we thank you for your word to us. We thank you for your truth. We thank you that once again you reveal to us the mighty majesty of your Son Jesus Christ. And the work of redemption, the work of salvation, and the work of eternal hope. That you just pour over us. Help us to remember this today, no matter what comes, no matter what trial, no matter what joy, no matter what wonderful thing comes. That you would be glorified in my life, in our lives. We pray this all in Christ's name, as we must. As we're blessed to do. Amen.