Heavenly Father, we thank you for the time we can spend together. We praise you and thank you for your mercy and grace in bringing we sinners here together and we sinners who are saved by grace. And we pray that you, the Holy Spirit, would illuminate the scriptures and teach us the things of Christ. Oh Lord, may we rejoice over this blessed salvation that we have in you and how you performed it. You did it all, Lord Jesus. And Holy Spirit, we thank Thee for applying it and regenerating us when we were absolutely dead in trespasses and sins and had no hope, no hope. And now what a hope we have in You, Lord Jesus. And thank You, Father, for choosing us in Christ, based upon absolutely nothing in us, but all according to Your will and purpose. We love You and praise You because You first loved us. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Open your Bibles, if you would, to the book of Ephesians. Ephesians. The name of the message is, Blessed be God. Blessed be God. Oh my, this is a wonderful portion of scripture. This study in Ephesians we just started a couple weeks ago. This verse alone, we'll probably be spending maybe three to four messages, at least three minimum, on this one verse. This verse brings forth the everlasting covenant. everlasting covenant of grace that God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit purposed before the foundation of the world before there was ever anything to save a people. And those people are saved in and through the Lord Jesus Christ and him alone purchased by his precious blood.

In the everlasting covenant the Father gave a people to the Lord Jesus Christ, a people of his chosen. It's wondrous. It's absolutely wondrous. The Son came and executed that plan and purpose when he saved us from our sins by the shedding of his precious blood. And the Holy Spirit, when we were regenerated, applied that. to us. So we agree with what the scripture says in the Old Testament, and it's true in the New, salvations of the Lord. It's all of the Lord. He planned it, He executed it, and He applied it. My oh my. because it pleased him to do so, Brother Charlie. And there was absolutely nothing in you and I that would have him favor us so, except for his good pleasure. Isn't that wonderful, sister? It's wonderful. Absolutely wonderful.

So let's read verses 1 to 3, see the context of verse 3. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus, grace be to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Now the last two weeks we've looked at verse 1 and 2, and again we'll probably be looking at this verse here, probably three sermons, four sermons, it's just a wondrous verse. And last week we looked at the phrase, into the faithful in Christ Jesus, where we saw that this does not describe the saints as faithful to Christ Jesus, but faithful in Christ Jesus. Faithful in Christ Jesus. Our faithfulness is like this, isn't it? But in Christ we're faithful. He keeps us. Isn't that wondrous?

Do you ever wonder why you never tire of hearing the gospel? Charlie, jobs get old, don't they? Right? Cars get old. Houses get old. But the gospel never gets old, does it? And we desire to hear it again and again and again, because it speaks of He who is our hope, He who is our salvation amidst the chaos of this world, amidst the turmoils in our life. We can look and rejoice in Christ.

Knowing, I love what you said a long time ago, Sister Barb, that these trials and tribulations just preparing us for glory. Just preparing us for glory. They make us homesick. That's what you had said. They make us homesick for heaven. And they do, don't they? They do. They make us homesick to behold our king. And we will one day. We'll see him face to face, beloved. Oh my. It'll be glorious.

So the source and the cause of our faithfulness is not in ourselves. It's in Christ. It's in Christ. That little word in is paramount, isn't it? It's so paramount, that little word in, in Christ. Because those who are in Christ have all spiritual blessings. Those who are outside of Christ have none. My! And those who are called faithful in Christ Jesus, it's not because of anything we did. See, religion tells you all these things you've got to do. I know I was there. Sister Barb, we talked about that. But we're free in Christ, beloved. Now we serve the Lord because we want to, because we desire to. No one has to tell us. We love it. We love the preaching of the gospel. We love the Lord's people. It's glorious.

Now, do we go through some heartbreaking things? Absolutely. Every one of us. Oh, it's so, and it can just be heartbreaking, can't it? But never forget the Lord's with us. Even in the darkest times, I went through some dark times. And I know so have you. But the Lord's right there with us. Isn't that wonderful? That's such comforting for us, isn't it? It's so comforting for us.

So they were continuing in faith. Why do we not just give up? We've given up on other things, right? There's been things in our life we just said, well, I just don't want to do that no more. People do that with jobs sometimes, right? I don't want to do that job, I'm going to get a new job. But why don't we quit as believers? Why? Because Christ keeps us faithful. He holds us. He keeps us. I like what Spurgeon said, if we could fall away, we'd fall away a thousand times a day. But praise God for preserving grace. that keeps us looking to the King. What would we do without Him? We'd be in despair all the time, wouldn't we? My.

But amidst the pains and sorrows of this life, we have a hope, which is Christ Jesus our Lord. My. And I'm not negating things we go through. It's tough, man. That's hard. But imagine going through those things without Christ, without the hope we have. God is so merciful, isn't he, Brother Brian? He's so merciful to us. My.

So they're continuing in faith because Christ preserves us from totally falling away. And they're faithful also to the cause and the interest of Christ and to his gospel. Right? One of the most blessed things you can tell me, and you guys have told me this, is you're praying for me. Praying for me as I put together the messages? Praying for the gospel as it leaves here? That's so blessed. And I know who you're praying to. You're praying to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Isn't that wonderful? My.

And who puts that in us to cry out to him? He does. The new spirit within us. We're born again. And we love him and we love his people by God-given faith, through the grace and mercy of God. We are those who believe in Jesus. And the only one who made us to differ is God himself. We run into people all the time, don't we, who do not know the Lord, have no care for God, have no care for his gospel. And here we are. We believe in him. My. That's a wonder in itself, isn't it? Because we know we came from the same clay, didn't we? As one of the old timers said, I think it was Robert Hawker, we come from the same quarry of humanity as the lost. There's no difference in us except God. That's glorious, isn't it? That's glorious. It's amazing.

And by God-given faith, we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ to the saving of our souls, and we look to him now, we rest in him, we rely upon him, we trust in him for life and salvation, don't we? Marvel that we never did that before. We were born again. I was talking to my daughter. I think I mentioned it last week, I'm going to mention it again. And we were talking about Paul before Festus, or before Felix. And Felix said, well, when it's convenient, I'll have you come and talk to me. And Crystal, it blew my mind away. She goes, I did that to you several times, didn't I, Dad? And I said, yeah. And she goes, I'm so thankful for God's grace. My. But we're all like that by nature, aren't we? So look what the Lord's done. Now we believe on him. Now we trust him. Now we rest in him. Now we love his gospel, and it never gets old.

Why? Well, blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings and heavenly places in Christ. This is God's work. This is God's work. Look at verse 2 of Ephesians. Grace be to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice in this verse that grace always precedes peace. Outside of Christ there's no peace. In Christ we have peace with God. And look at this. Grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. I was reading Spurgeon this week, and he said we must not vault one of the persons of the Godhead over the others. We must worship the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, and give them all praise for what they've done. Because it's salvation to the Lord, right? We see God the Father sent his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to die for us, and we know the Holy Spirit regenerates us. We're dead otherwise, aren't we, Charlie? In trespasses and sins, and he gives us life, brother. It's absolutely incredible. My.

And note again, grace always precedes peace with God, and peace with God comes through the Lord Jesus Christ. So marvel as this grace and peace comes from God, through Christ, to poor wretched sinners such as we. Grace, the grace of God, God's unmerited favor comes to us through Christ. And it was not based upon any loveliness in us. It was not based upon any merit in us. This grace is given to us because it pleased God the Father to do so. I was listening to a song today, Love That Will Not Let Me Go. That's the everlasting love of God. Now, let that sink in for us as believers. Love that will not let us go. Oh, we're such sinners, aren't we? We're so undeserving. We're so wretched. Love that will not let me go. Praise his mighty name.

Why? Because the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ has cleansed us from all sin. My. That's wondrous, isn't it? Oh my. It was God who chose people in Christ before the foundation of the world we're going to see that in verse 4 that we would be holy and without blame before him in love and he loved us before he called us he loved us from eternity and that love will never let us go I was just in wonder when I was hearing that. I've heard the song again and again, but it just struck me, Brother Brian, the everlasting love of God will never let us go. Never. Even at our death's door, he's there. Oh my. He's watched over us from conception all the way to the when we will die. And in here, take us home to glory, to be with him forever. My, what a Savior.

And this grace that comes to us, this peace with God, doesn't come through any obedience on our part. It comes to us by the obedience of Christ. and perfectly obeying the law in our room and place, and in his death upon the cross, when he shed his blood to redeem us from all our sins. It's all based on his righteousness and his blood. And we who are the born-again blood-washed believers, we have received the free and sovereign grace of God in Christ, because it pleased God. to give it to us. For by grace he is saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It's a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Oh, praise his name.

You know why it says lest any man should boast? Because we boast. But who do we boast in as believers? Christ. He's the only one we can boast in, right? I remember when I was in religion, and you boast about all kinds of stuff you've done, and all this, and how much you read, and what book you're reading, and all this stuff. I boast in my Savior now. I boast in my King. I boast in my Redeemer. I boast in the everlasting God who became a man to save me from my sins, and his name is the Lord Jesus Christ. And scripture says, God shed his blood. to redeem his church. That's the God-man. The Lord Jesus Christ. My.

So God's everlasting love to his people is the source and spring of all the blessings of grace. And they are to his people in Christ. They're not to everyone in the world. Look at verse three. Paul's writing to believers. Born-again, blood-washed believers. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, now this is speaking of God, the Father, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, there's this little word again, in Christ. In Christ, outside of Christ, no spiritual blessings. But in Christ, all spiritual blessings, justification, sanctification, redemption, it keeps going on, doesn't it? Salvation, eternal life. My, it's amazing. There's so much comfort in this verse for the born again blood washed believer. There's so much comfort for us here. Because what does it do? It fixes the believer's mind on the grace of God. On the grace of God, shown to sinners through the Lord Jesus Christ. And this verse will cause us to praise God for His glory. The glory of His grace, the glory of His mercy, shown to sinners in Christ. Needy sinners, right? That's what we are. And how does that come to us? Through the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, in Christ. There's no other way. We can't earn these spiritual blessings. We don't merit them for sure. But they're given to us in Christ.

So Paul, he says, blessed be God the Father. That's where they come from. That's where they come from. It's absolutely incredible. And so let we who are the born-again, blood-washed saints of God carefully observe what's contained in the opening of this most blessed epistle. So we're gonna see a breakdown all the way through this chapter of the work of the Father, the work of the Son, and the work of the Holy Spirit of God. So Paul, before he does anything else and talks about anything else, is setting our great God before us. and setting forth the fact that salvation's of the Lord. Isn't that wonderful? That's why it's so important for we preachers to set Christ before our hearers. Because really, it's all about Him. And again, we're gonna, the apostles celebrating the praises of the Holy Trinity, of the Godhead. And we're going to see that as we go through this first chapter.

In this first chapter, we see Paul begins this epistle by ascribing to God, the Father, his personal acts of grace. And that will continue through the next few verses. Grace and love and choosing us in Christ, giving us all spiritual blessings in Christ, and predestinating the persons of the church in Christ. Why? To the praise and the glory of his grace. wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved, in Christ."

My, is it any wonder then that Paul would pen these words in verse 3, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's amazing what is compressed in these first few verses. They bring forth the grace of God the Father shown towards sinners such as we. And it's all according to the pleasure of his goodwill. That's what's so amazing. If there's only one verse that stops free will, works religion, or thoughts of personal merit, Before God, based upon man's works, this verse would be at the top rung of the ladder.

Let's read it again. Look, there's no works by man in this. Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Even the fact that we come to Christ is because we're made willing in a day of his power. See, this is showing us the everlasting covenant of grace. All the blessings we have in Christ are given to us by the Father. That's why Paul breaks it, blessed be the name. Praise be the name of the Father. Praise his mighty name. It's wonderful, isn't it? Look what he's done. My.

And note the Apostle Paul begins this verse with blessed. The word literally means praised, as God is praised by his people, and God is praised by the holy angels. My. Praise. Heartfelt praise to God. We didn't have that before we were saved, did we, Brother Charlie? Now we do. That's the grace and mercy of God shown to us. Paul was going around murdering Christians, and now he's writing, blessed be the God and the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. Praise be to him. See, this is the definition of worship. Praise be to our great God. He is blessed. He is praised for what he's done. We tend to say, praise you, Lord, for what you've done for me, but praise God for what he's done. Even if he didn't bless me, praise him for what he's done. Right? Praise him for what he's doing in our lives. It's wonderful how he's keeping us. That's amazing. He's God, the Heavenly Father, and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Note, Paul uses this word blessed a second time. He says, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Well, we see that Paul declares that the praise he offers to the Father is because the Father's blessed us. He's blessed us. Christ. This is the same root word as before, as the first word blessed, but it has to do with a one-time act. He's blessed us. When? In eternity. And you know what? It's irrevocable. Love that will not let me go. I'm gonna keep hitting that. It's irrevocable. He's already blessed us in Christ, in eternity. That's why we're born again by the Holy Spirit of God, because we were chosen in Christ. Christ died for us, and the Holy Spirit comes and regenerates us. Glory to his name. Stunning, isn't it? It really is. My, oh my.

Brother Tim James brings this forth. I like this. He brings this forth about the second time blessed is used in verse three. He says, the mood of the verb designates this act as a one-time blessing as it is a finished thing. My, an act of divine favor, he continues. The blessed God has blessed us in eternity with all spiritual blessings in Christ and that will never be changed or altered. Oh my. Christ has saved us. He'll never let us go. Because God the Father decreed our salvation in Christ and through Christ before the world was. That's before we've ever done anything, right? Religion tells you what you got to do. Oh, you got to do all these things. Well, it's already done. And this salvation that we enjoy and rejoice in was accomplished 2,000 years ago because it was planned and purposed in eternity. And before we were ever anything, Christ already redeemed us. And before the foundation of the world, God already gave us all spiritual blessings in Christ. This is glorious, isn't it? You see why we're going to spend a lot of time on this verse? We're just looking at this first section.

my and then we see he uses the word three the third time let's read that verse again blessed be the god and father of our lord jesus christ who have blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in christ now he uses the word blessed blessings in heavenly places this is a noun for that word My, means the blessed God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings. This word means, I like this, concrete, beautiful benefits, or concrete, bountiful benefits. Concrete, it's not gonna move. Bountiful, you can't measure the blessings God has given us in Christ. You can't even measure. Bountiful benefits. Scripture says we're daily loaded down with benefits. What are they? Spiritual blessings. And we don't even see them. Right? Get a cup of coffee in the morning. You guys like coffee? I like tea. You know what? That's a blessing from the Lord. We can go in our fridges and pull out a thing of eggs, make some eggs. We got heat and hydro. That's all blessings from the Lord. We just take it for granted, don't we? Oh, we got that already. They're all blessings from the Lord! Oh my! It's absolutely incredible.

We can literally boil it all down and say, look what the Lord's done just for me today. I got clothes I can wear. I got a roof over my head. I got food in the fridge. My, and most important, Christ has me. And he gives me new manna every morning. Through his words, through preaching, right? And we come here, we hear the gospel, and you know, it's manna from heaven, isn't it? And it sustains us, doesn't it? That's why we need a steady diet of the gospel, beloved. It's food for our souls. And it all comes according to God's will and purpose, in and through Christ, from before the foundation of the world. And it's concrete. It'll never be altered. Does God ever change? Same yesterday, today, and forever, right? Well, therefore, His blessings in Christ never change towards His people. Man, that'll make you want to shout, eh? glorious. So God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is our gracious benefactor, and we've received at his hands bountiful blessings, all spiritual blessings in Christ. Things we could never obtain on our own, redemption, sanctification, justification before God, all comes to us in Christ through his blood and righteousness.

Now let's look at verse 3 again. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who have blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.

Now these wonderful words of scripture give us a glimpse into the eternal plan of the Trinity. Theologians have called this the covenant of redemption, where where fallen humanity, chosen ones of fallen humanity, are redeemed and reconciled to God. They were redeemed from their sin and reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. And God the Father purposed it in eternity.

My oh my. And what's the greatest need of a believer? To understand the doctrine of redemption. to understand this glorious salvation through Christ. And we keep learning about it as the Holy Spirit. Have you ever noticed it gets sweeter and sweeter and sweeter for us, the gospel of salvation through Christ? It becomes more and more wondrous. It becomes more and more wondrous. And what does it cause us to do? It causes us to worship our great and glorious God.

And the truth about redemption leads to adoration, It leads to worship, and it leads to praise. Here's Paul, he used to curse God. He used to kill Christians, and now he's saying, praise be to God, the Father. My! Only God made him to differ, didn't he? Remember those other guys, Brian, on the road to Damascus with them? As far as we know, none of them were saved, but Paul was. They heard a voice, but they didn't hear the voice. They heard a voice like thunder. But the Lord was speaking to Paul, wasn't he, Brother Charlie? My.

So a proper understanding of the everlasting covenant of grace, of redemption through Christ alone, the God-man will lead the praise and worship on our part. It'll be, we'll be in awe at how glorious God is. We'll be in awe of the truth about redemption that leads again to adoration, worship, and praise.

And when the born-again, blood-washed believer dwells in thought upon the redemptive work of each person of the Godhead, right, because the Father chose us in Christ, if he hadn't chosen us in Christ, there'd be no one for Christ to redeem. And if Christ hadn't redeemed his people with his blood and righteousness, there'd be no one for the Holy Spirit to apply it to. But praise God, there's a chosen people. We don't know who they are, so the gospel, we preach the gospel to everyone. Say, come, come to the Father of life freely, come to Christ, come to Christ.

My, and we rejoice over these facts. that God planned my salvation, that Christ executed my salvation, and that the Holy Spirit applied it. Praise the mighty name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Mine.

God the Father planned and purposed this work of redemption in eternity. God the Son executed this work of salvation through his life, too, remember? He lived the perfect life, and through his death, his blood and righteousness, he came to save us from our sins, and he purchased us with his blood. And then he's raised for our justification, wonder of wonders. And then God, the Holy Spirit, applies this wondrous redemption when we're born again and given faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. It's glorious. And repentance before God. And we understand that this great plan of redemption brings forth one conclusion. You know what's one conclusion that this everlasting covenant brings forth? Salvations of the Lord. That's what it brings forth. It's all Him. We are receivers of the grace and mercy of God, and that is wondrous in itself.

And when we're taught these things by the Holy Spirit of God, through the preaching of the gospel of salvation in and through Christ alone, the more then we will praise and worship God for the wondrous things He's done for us. He'll cause us to rejoice, won't it, brethren?

And for the born-again, blood-washed Christian, worship is always Trinitarian. We worship God the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, and the three are one. And God has called, notice this, in this verse, God has called the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, in this verse, to teach us that all spiritual blessings come to us in and through Christ alone, because of that covenant made in eternity.

because of that covenant made in eternity. God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit covenant to save a people. And what do we say? Glory be to God. Amen and amen.

Brother Brian, can you close us in prayer?