I invite you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Ephesians this evening. We consider from Ephesians chapter 1. If you're using the pew Bible, Ephesians chapter 1 can be found on page 1159 1159 in the pew Bibles. We're going to consider a small portion of Ephesians chapter 1. We'll consider from verses 3 down to verse 6. So 3 to 6. I'm going to begin our reading, however, at verse 1 of chapter 1. So Ephesians chapter 1, beginning at verse 1:
"Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the Beloved."
Have you ever wondered how someone in the midst of life's challenges not only can keep their faith, but are able to experience and even express the joy of their salvation? Have you ever wondered if that could be you?
As you know, Paul, while writing this letter to the church at Ephesus, faced some real challenges. Paul was in prison while writing this letter. What is it that allows Paul to pen such splendid and magnificent words in a time of affliction?
Well, Paul, the writer of this letter, knew what it meant to have plenty. But he also knew what it meant to be in need. In his comments on contentment in Philippians 4, writes, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Again, Paul writes those words while he was in prison.
You see, Paul was familiar with God's providence, that God oversees every detail of the life of his children, and he cares about those details because he cares for his children. We too can be content wherever we are in life, whether we find ourselves in need like Paul in prison or whether we find ourselves in quote-unquote with little need. We too can be content in all circumstances, and we too can be content in all circumstances because of what we have in Jesus Christ.
That's what allowed Paul to be content in all circumstances. It was a knowledge of what he had in Jesus Christ. That knowledge allowed him to see beyond his present circumstances. That knowledge gave to him a heavenly perspective on life and on every situation that he faced. And it can do the same for us as well.
And so my hope and prayer for us this evening is that through this text, we too can come to see and understand that all that we have in Christ gives to us that heavenly perspective, gives to us that contentment that we can keep even in the face of difficulty. It's all that we have in Christ which blesses us in life, in all circumstances, with the kind of comfort, the kind of confidence, the kind of strength that Paul had the kind of comfort and confidence and strength that allowed him to say, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
And so I want to look at this text with you this evening by focusing on four things that Paul brings up. First, God's blessing. God's blessing. Second, God's choice. God's choice. Third, God's plan. God's plan. And finally, God's glorious grace. God's glorious grace.
Well, let's look at our first point: God's blessing.
Have you ever been at a place in your life where you felt like everything was going to be okay? Everything would be okay. Like the present would be taken care of, the future would be taken care of. And even if you had, let's say, trouble in the past, that too would be okay. What was it that made you feel that way?
Maybe it was financial stability. Maybe you found yourself with a a new job a new career where you found yourself making a little bit more money and you felt more stable financially. Maybe it was success in your current job. Or maybe it wasn't anything that had to do with job or finances. Maybe it was a new relationship. Maybe you found that special someone that one that you set your love upon. Maybe it was something like the birth of a child, the purchase of a first home. There are many, any number of things that we can appreciate in life and that can make us feel blessed. And those things are real blessings when we think about it. And that's why we would agree with James, who says in chapter 1, that every good and every perfect gift is from above. Those indeed are great blessings.
Now, for Paul, there are particular blessings from God that are unlike any other blessings that we can ever receive or experience. Paul refers to those kinds of blessings here in the text before us as blessings in Christ. And when we compare those other blessings as good as they are as wonderful as they may make us feel they don't begin to compare to the kinds of blessings that we have in Jesus Christ. In fact, when we come to appreciate all the blessings we have in Christ, we find that we can actually do very well with little of those other kinds of blessings in life.
You see, Paul here begins in verse 3 with blessing the Lord. He blesses the Lord even though he doesn't have money. He doesn't have a new job. He doesn't have success. He doesn't have a spouse. He doesn't even have any family. And yet he blesses the Lord while he's in prison. He says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places."
Do you think Paul thought he was blessed? He absolutely did. Let me read this to you again: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places."
Paul uses some form of the word "blessing" here three times in this one short verse. That's great indication that Paul knows he is blessed and he wants his readers to also know that they are blessed. Even while in prison, Paul here acknowledges he is greatly blessed. Even though he is wrongly in prison, he still can say, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." He blesses God in one of the worst circumstances and situations that we could ever find ourselves in. In those circumstances, he expresses joy and thanksgiving. Isn't that just astounding?
I think a possible problem for many of us is that we don't always feel blessed, even though we are. We are far more blessed than we can ever imagine. Notice how Paul puts it in the second half of verse 3. He says that God has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Brothers and sisters in Christ, we are a people who have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in Jesus Christ.
Now let me ask you: if you had to, could you list those blessings tonight? Could you list those? If you can't, how will those blessings comfort you and strengthen you in difficult times? How are the blessings of God going to pick you up out of the despair and the depression of life if you're not familiar with what those blessings are?
Well, thankfully, Paul here lists many of them in the following verses. Listen to these blessings that he lists for us:
Verse 4: We're chosen by God. We are holy and blameless before Him.
Verse 5: We are predestined; we have been adopted.
Verse 6: We have the grace of God given to us.
Verse 7: We have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Verse 8: We've been given insight and understanding into the ways of God.
Verse 9: We have knowledge of His will.
Verse 10: Our lives have a purpose and a plan. We're part of a unity.
Verse 11: We have an inheritance and an expectation.
Verse 12: We have a certainty.
Verse 13: We have truth, good news of salvation.
And finally, we have the Holy Spirit given to us, who guarantees all of this is and will be ours.
Christians, we are certainly a blessed people. We indeed have every possible spiritual blessing in Christ.
Well, tonight we have the opportunity to go a little bit deeper into three of these blessings this evening, and that brings us to our second point this evening: the blessing of God's choice.
How does God's blessings in Christ come to us? Maybe our initial thought may be by faith, right? They come to us by faith. Faith is that empty hand by which we lay hold of Christ and his benefits. And that's right faith is indeed that empty hand by which we lay hold of Christ and all of his benefits. But here's the problem: faith doesn't originate with us.
Faith doesn't originate with us. We are by nature a faithless people. Faith is not our own. Since on our own we were dead in our sins and trespasses, Paul states that very thing in just one chapter over in this book: chapter 2, verse 1. "And you were dead in the trespasses and sin in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work and the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind."
Apart from the grace of God, we are or were spiritually dead in sin.
There's an old saying, and if you've ridden on the ride, the Pirates of the Caribbean, at Disneyland, then maybe you're familiar with this saying. It goes like this: "Dead men tell no lies." Well, we can add to that saying: "Dead men have no faith." Dead men have no faith. Faith is not something that we find deep down inside of us. Faith is not something that you find when you look into your heart.
See, here's the truth: apart from God's faith, apart from God's grace, we are completely incapable of believing in God, trusting in God, having faith in Jesus Christ. Dead people don't tell lot tales. Dead people don't do anything.
So what this means is that the new life that we now experience in Christ must therefore be the result of something that God has done. Paul traces that new life back through the purposes of God, through the plan of God, to the will of God. Paul begins here with God's choice. Our blessings ultimately find their origin in the sovereign choice of God. All the blessings in Christ come to us because he has chosen us. He chose us to be his people before the foundation of the world.
Now, I know this truth can be a controversial issue for some Christians, and that's okay. doesn't have to be. From my perspective, because when you read and understand Paul here in the most basic and simple way, he is saying that God chooses us. It's only when we begin to speculate on how God chooses or why God chooses, whom he chooses, that we begin to get into difficulty.
The Bible never tells us how God chooses or why he chooses, other than to say that it is according to his will. Paul, after talking about God's electing choice in Romans 9 if you recall says "What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy and i will have compassion on whom i have compassion so it depends not on human will or exertion but on God who has mercy
It's all by God's choice. It's not based on what we've done, what we do, or what we will do. It's not based on us at all.
And to prove this, Paul sets the time of this divine choice at the foundation, or before the foundation of the world, ever being laid. "Before the foundation of the world" is Paul's way of saying that this choice took place in eternity past. This only further proves that this choice solely belongs to God and his will.
Notice: this choice doesn't take place after we were born. It doesn't take place after we lived good, moral, upright lives. And there is nothing here in this text or any text of Scripture which speaks of God's choice or election that describes God looking down the corridors of time and seeing who would choose him, and therefore choosing based on those who would choose him.
Again, when this text or any text of Scripture speaking on election and God's choice are taken in the most simplest way, one must conclude: God chooses according to the purpose of his will.
Now, contrary to what some may say about this teaching, this does indeed magnify the grace of God. It magnifies God's grace. And that's why Paul includes this truth in this beautiful poetic passage about God's blessings to his people.
You see, this text is really all about the supremacy of God in salvation. It's about God's supremacy in salvation. Notice: it is God who does all the work of salvation. Each verb in this text applies to God. He is the one who blesses. He is the one who chooses. He is the one who predestines. He is the one who adopts. He is the one who saves. It is his work. Salvation is his work from beginning to end. It is work of his grace.
And this means that our situation was much worse than we ever thought. But it also means that God is far greater, more loving, more merciful, more gracious than we ever thought or could imagine.
See, there was nothing nothing that we could have done to obtain the salvation that we now receive. The very ability to say yes, to believe and trust, has been given to us. It is he who has chosen us. Just as Jesus told his disciples, "You've not chosen me, but I have chosen you."
Through this text tonight, God says to us, his people: "You have not chosen me. I have chosen you." And we are so blessed because he has.
So let me ask you again, Christian: do you feel blessed this evening? Do you know that you indeed are blessed? We certainly are.
But hold on, because the blessings in this passage just keep coming and coming. The next blessing that we see here is that God has a plan for our lives.
God's plan. And that takes us to our third point tonight.
It's been said, "If we believe in eternal election, then we will live however we want, since we'll be saved anyways." But that's not what the Bible teaches. God's election isn't coincidental. It's not arbitrary. God has a plan and a purpose for those that he elects.
Notice what Paul says here in verse 4. He says he chose us before the foundation of the world "that we should be holy and blameless before him." He predestined us for adoptions as sons through Jesus Christ.
Paul points out the intention for our election here: is holiness and blamelessness before the Lord. It's adoption into the family of God. Let's take these in that order. First, holiness and blameless blamelessness.
God's purpose for his people has always been for them to be like him for his people to be like him in holiness when he gave the law to the israelites after delivering them from egypt he declared to them i am the Lord your God, who has delivered you out of Egypt. Therefore be holy as I am holy."
That's restated in passages like First Peter 1, where Peter writes, "But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, you shall be holy, for I am holy
When I was a younger Christian attending uh maybe the first church that I had attended at that time the pastor there I recall often speaking of God's plan for a person's life. The preacher would always speak, of "God has a good plan for you. God has a gracious plan for you." But with much talk of God's plan, there was hardly any specifics. There were no details to what that plan was.
Paul speaks here of no general plan. He speaks specifically of God's plan for each of his children, and it involves them being holy and blameless before him.
Now, here's the thing: maybe if we've grown up in the church, maybe if we've been in the church long enough, the idea of holiness can become something of a Christian cliche for us. We hear us talking about being holy. We hear Scripture speaking of us being made holy. And we say, "Wow! We get to be holy! that That's wonderful!" But we miss the the real blessing of what that means for us as Christians.
Holiness is what God is, and holiness is something that he will create in us.
I'm sure we're all familiar to some degree with chapter six of the book of Isaiah. Maybe especially since Dr. Godfrey has been working through the book of Isaiah. If you recall, chapter 6 of Isaiah is Isaiah being called up into the throne room of God, where he sees this magnificent and majestic vision of God. And in the face of that vision, Isaiah sees the seraphim, these angels declaring, "Holy, Holy, Holy is And the text records there that "the foundations of the threshold shook at the voice of him who called, and the place was filled with smoke."
And then we hear Isaiah speak for the first time in that passage. And Isaiah says, That "woe" there is essentially a curse. Isaiah is cursing himself. "Cursed is me, for I am lost. For I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts."
Now, Isaiah was no immoral man. He wasn't your garden variety sinner. He was a holy man, as we would understand a holy person to be. He was a prophet of God. And yet, when he encounters the holiness of God, he completely comes apart.
R.C. Sproul, commenting on this passage, says, "Isaiah caught a sudden glimpse of the holy God, and in that single moment, all of his self-esteem was shattered. In a brief second, he was exposed, made naked beneath the gaze of the absolute standard of holiness."
Now, back to Ephesians chapter 1, where Paul says that we will be made holy and blameless before him. You see, brothers and sisters, when we encounter the God who is Holy, Holy, holy, the Lord God Almighty, because of the blessings we have in Jesus Christ, we will not have the same experience that Isaiah had. We will not be undone. But we will be holy and blameless before him.
How beautiful is that?
Friend, if today you find yourself struggling with sin, struggling with besetting sins day after day after day, a day is coming when you will be holy enough to stand before God in all his glory. And there will be no sin. There will be no temptation, no struggle, no impurity, because he would have blessed you and made you holy and blameless before him.
When I think of that day, what a day that will be for God's people! It makes me long even today to be holy as God will make us holy. That is his plan for his people. That is his purpose for choosing us, for electing us to make us his people, holy and blameless before him.
Well, God has also chosen us and predestined us not only to be holy and blameless, but to adopt us into his family. Again, what a beautiful blessing and truth this is!
Many people speak today of God being the Father of all mankind, but that's not accurate. God has certainly created every person, and every person is created in the image of God, and that gives them inherent worth and dignity. But for God to be the father of a person implies something altogether different. It implies God's blessing of adoption.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, if you believe and trust in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you are an adopted son and daughter of God Most High. The God of all the universe. The God of all creation. The God who, by the power of his word, spoke everything into existence, has claimed you as his very son and daughter. He's brought you into his family and given you full rights as heirs, promising an eternal inheritance to you.
Now, this would have been a wonderful blessing for the Christians at Ephesus to have heard about. Christians at Ephesus who were probably disowned by their family for claiming the name of Christ. Paul says here, "Although the world may disown you, God has claimed you. He has adopted you."
And here's the thing: God's word is irrevocable. Once you are his son or daughter, you are his son and daughter for all eternity. He will never disown you.
And what this implies for us is that we can come to him not only as Lord, not only as King, but as Father. As Father. Paul places the relationship of Christians to God here in this intimate, personal, familiar way. Just as a father loves his children, so God has adopted us and loves us.
And it's truths like this that cause the Apostle John to say in 1 John 3, "What manner of love that the Father has lavished upon us, that we should be called children of God. What manner of love!"
But indeed, that is what we are.
Yes, brothers and sisters, God has a plan for our lives. A plan to make us holy and blameless before him, a plan to bring us into his family.
Well, the last blessing that we consider this evening is that of the glorious grace of God.
Now, the grace of God is a tremendously important truth and concept for the Christian faith. Grace reminds us that all the blessings of the Lord are not dependent upon us and our works. God hasn't blessed us because we are the cream of the crop. God hasn't blessed us because we were the most uh likely to follow his plan. He hasn't laid out a plan for us because we were those that he looked down the corridors of time and saw us choose him.
No, nothing we have is ours because of us. In fact, this passage states that the unmerited, glorious grace of God was given to us in the Beloved.
In the Beloved. Now, who is that? Who is the Beloved that Paul speaks of here?
Well, the Beloved is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ.
If you haven't noticed already, Christ is mentioned in each of the four passages that we considered tonight:
In verse three we're blessed in Christ with every spiritual blessing.
In verse four we're chosen in him before the foundation of the world.
In verse five we're predestined for adoption through Jesus Christ.
In verse six "to the praise of his glorious grace which he has blessed us in the Beloved."
You think this text is Christ-centered? Christian, it certainly is! Christ is at the heart and center of every blessing we have. Because only so far as we are united to him are these blessings ours.
Let me repeat that: only so far as we are united to Christ are these blessings ours.
Paul speaks repeatedly in these verses of being "in Christ," and he'll continue to speak that way through the rest of this section. In fact, he uses a phrase "in Christ" nine times in verses three through 23, and he uses this phrase "in Christ" over 164 times in all of his writings.
"In Christ" is no simple phrase for the Apostle Paul. The phrase "in Christ," or for refers to much more than just believing in him or being saved by him. The phrase is covenantal.
You see, there are two places one could be in the theology of the Apostle Paul. One can either be in Christ or in Adam. Think about that for a moment. Think about being in Adam, being reckoned with Adam, being counted with Adam. What does that offer us? Death, slavery to sin, enmity with God and others, hopelessness and hostility.
Paul somewhat summarizes that position in Ephesians 2, in verse 12. He says, "Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenant of promise, having no hope and without God in the world."
We could be covenantally united to Adam and in such possess what Adam offers us. Or we could be covenantally in Christ, joined to him, united to him, so that what is true of him is true of us.
And what is it that Christ offers us? He offers us life, forgiveness and freedom from sin, reconciliation with God and man, a certain hope and expectation of eternal life, fellowship the spirit of God. And the list goes on and on.
These are the blessings that we have in Christ, by grace. And these blessings can never be taken from us.
Remember, when Paul wrote these words, he wasn't just in Christ, but he was also in prison. But here's the thing: Paul knew that wherever one is in the world whether in prison or anywhere else he knew that he was always in Christ. And being in Christ granted to Paul the very heavenly perspective that perspective that transformed his outlook on life and his circumstances.
It was being in Christ that allowed Paul to say, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me," because being in Christ means being blessed, no matter what your circumstances are, no matter what you face in life, no matter what the ups and downs and the trials and difficulties of life bring before us.
Being in Christ means having all of the wonderful blessings that we have in Christ.
Christian, remember that. Thank God for that.
Let's bow now and thank him.
Lord, we indeed give you praise and thanks for all the wonderful blessings you've given to us in your Son, Jesus Christ. We thank you for these wonderful words here, which encourage us in all circumstances. Lord, which grant to us comfort and strength and confidence. And so, Lord, we pray and ask that by your Spirit you would continue to impress these truths upon our hearts and our minds. Direct our eyes away from the things and the circumstances of this world as good as they may be and place them squarely upon Jesus Christ, our Lord. We pray this all in his name. Amen.