Invite your attention to Ephesians
chapter 1 The epistle of Paul to the church
in Ephesus first chapter We're looking at verse number
3 My message is titled spiritual
blessings in Christ part 2 I'm going to begin reading verses
1 through 14. 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 hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as
he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ,
to himself according to the good pleasure of his will, to the
praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted
in the beloved, in whom we have redemption through his blood,
the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace, wherein
he hath abounded toward us, in all wisdom and prudence, having
made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his
good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself. that, in the dispensation of
the fullness of times, he might gather together in one all things
in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth,
even in him. in whom also we have obtained
an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him
who worketh all things according to the counsel of his own will,
that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted
in Christ 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. I thought I would expound this
whole passage in one message, and it was not to be. I once heard Joe Terrell expound
the entire ninth chapter of Romans in one message. Well, I am no
Joe Terrell. There is so much in here that
I want to bring to your attention. This is such a glorious passage. Last week, we looked at an introduction
to this passage. Briefly, we observed that Paul
wrote to the saints and faithful in Christ Jesus, the saints are
holy ones, the faithful are full of faith, and all their faith
is in Jesus Christ. Paul identifies the blesser as
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And blessed is
he, she, who can say that the God and Father of my Lord Jesus
Christ is my God and Father as well. Paul identifies the nature
of these blessings as spiritual. They are for man's soul in contrast
to natural blessings for man's body. God gives natural blessings
to all men, but spiritual blessings are only for the saints and faithful
in Christ Jesus. Paul equates the number of these
blessings with every or all, meaning that if God gives one
of these blessings to you, he will give to you every single
solitary one of them and he will deprive you of none. He has blessed us with every
one of these blessings. Paul identifies the realm of
these blessings as in the heavenly places. They originate with God
in heaven. They come down to earth to men
and women whose citizenship is in heaven. And wherever there
is a man or woman with citizenship in heaven, that is a heavenly
place. And God sends his spiritual blessings
to them. Paul identifies the venue of
these blessings as in Christ. Therefore, all God's spiritual
blessings are in Christ, and they are given only to those
who are in Christ. None of these spiritual blessings
are given to those who are outside Christ. Now I ask you, are you
in Christ? We are in Christ in two different
ways if we are in Him. First, decoratively by God's
decree before the foundation of the world when He chose us
in Christ. Experientially, we are in Christ
from the moment we believe in Him and trust in Him, put all
our confidence in Him. Paul wrote to some in Rome whom
he said, they were in Christ before me. These were those who
had trusted in Christ before Paul did. So I ask you, are you
in Christ? Have you believed in him? Is
all your faith and hope and trust in him? If you are in Christ
through faith, then every one of these blessings is yours.
Now, Paul speaks of all spiritual blessings and he does not here
enumerate them all. And my puny mind does not know them
all. And I cannot tell you what all
of them are. But I can tell you these that
Paul has here briefly given unto us. Seven of them I think you'll
find. election in Christ, predestination
to sonship, redemption in Christ, forgiveness of sins, knowledge
of God's will, receipt of an inheritance, and sealing with
the Holy Spirit. And today, God willing, we're
gonna try to look at these first two spiritual blessings, election
in Christ, predestination to sonship, We're gonna spend more
time with these two blessings than we will spend with the others
because these are the foundational blessings. None of the other
blessings come to you unless you were chosen in Christ before
the foundation of the world. This is where the wellspring
of God's blessings begin. It begins with this blessing
of election in Christ. Oh, it is a hated doctrine in
much of religion, but I tell you right now, if you believe
the gospel, if you believe what Paul wrote, if you are a saint
and faithful in Christ Jesus, If Paul speaks of you when he
says grace to you and peace, then this is for you. And note
that he says that in his introduction. Grace to you and peace from God
our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace, unmerited favor. If God's grace comes to you,
his peace comes to you. peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ. And you show me a man, you show
me a woman who is at peace with God, I'll show you a man, I'll
show you a woman to whom God's grace has come. Because when
grace comes, peace is right behind it. Where peace is, grace has
already come through. Grace and peace be to you. And
here we look at these spiritual blessings. They're all of grace.
And they all belong to those who are at peace with God. Let's
consider this first one, election in Christ. Verses three and four. The God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ chose us in him before the foundation of the
world that we should be holy and without blame before him
in love. You know, this is so simple. There's no big words. Okay, there's
one, foundations. We all know what that is, right? The God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ shows us in Christ before the foundation of the
world that we should behold him without blame before him in love. You have to be willfully ignorant
to deny what is in that text. willfully, deliberately. You have to look at what God
says and shut your eyes and say, no, no, can't be, can't be, does
not meet my approval. It's there, it's there. Let's
look at it. The nature of election. Election
denotes the making of a choice, singling out for oneself a portion
of the whole. Making a choice now We have an
election day coming up in the not-too-distant future And you're going to go get a
ballot And up there for ballot it's
going to have for president for example choose one of These two
or three or four how it however many are there? choose one for
Senator, for Congress, choose one out of ever how many are
there. You may say, well, I'm having
a hard time making up my mind and these all look like good
people to me. I'm just gonna, I'm gonna mark my ballot for
every one of them. Go ahead and do it. Mark your
ballot for every name on the ballot. Your ballot is invalid
because you did not make an election. There is no election made unless
there is a selection. God chose us in him before the
foundation of the world. And in this instance, God chose
out from our mass of lost humanity certain individuals whom he purposed
to save. For example, Rufus, chosen in
the Lord, Romans 16, 13. Oh, the Rufus. Got his name in the holy scriptures
as being chosen by the Lord. Great Rufus, chosen in the Lord,
or elect in Christ. Now this Rufus is an interesting
individual. According to tradition, He is
the son of Simon the Cyrenian, who was compelled to bear the
cross of Jesus. Simon had two sons, Alexander
and Rufus. This Rufus is said to be one
of them. That's the tradition. Whether
it's true or not, I know not, but I do know this. This Rufus
is distinguished as he who was chosen in Christ by name. Great Rufus, chosen in the Lord. Oh, I would hope, how sweet it
would be to read an epistle from Paul and he says, great Moose,
chosen in the Lord. Great Sean, chosen in the Lord. How sweet this is. God chose
persons. Persons they have names Now some
are gonna say this is not fair. No, no, no God chose some and
not all that's not fair Okay consider this Here's a man who decides he wants
to marry a wife so he Checks all the women he knows
a good number of them, and chooses only one to be his wife. Now, does anybody tell him, you're
wrong, you should have chosen to marry all of them? No, he
would have been a fool to do that, would he not? That was
wise of you, young man, to marry only one. So he and his wife
decide they want to purchase a house. So they look at all
the houses that are available for purchase and they purchase
only one. Only one. Does anyone criticize
them because they chose only one house to purchase and did
not purchase them all? Why no, that makes good common
sense and avoids instant bankruptcy. This husband and wife decide
they want to adopt a child. So they go to the orphanage,
there are 50 orphans, and the husband and wife look at all
the children and, we'll take that one. They select one to
be adopted. Now does anybody criticize them
because they did not adopt them all? No, they say, you folks
chose one, that was extremely gracious of you. That's election,
as applied to men. But when God does it, men caveal
against him. God has chosen out from humanity
a people who will be in the wife of his son. He did not choose
them all. He chose a good number, and people
say he should have chosen them all. God has chosen the people to
comprise the house, the house of God, which is his church.
He chose a good number to be his church in his house, and
some will criticize him because he did not choose all. Some will criticize God because
when he decided to adopt a child, or I should say when he purposed
to adopt a child. He looked down from eternity
through all time upon every human being who would ever live and
he chose not one that would have been gracious. Not two, that
would have been more than gracious. No, no, no, he chose a multitude
that no man could number out of all tribes and peoples and
nations and languages. And then people say, but it's
not fair, he should have chosen them all. Really? Have you noticed that the ones
he did not choose do not want to be his? Do not want to live
for Him? Do not want to call Him Father? We do. We know that if He had not chosen
us to be His children, we never would have desired Him to be
our Father. We know that He showed grace
to such unworthy wretches as we are. chose us to be His sons
and daughters, and then predestined that we be just like His only
begotten Son, Jesus Christ. And He sends the Spirit of adoption
into our hearts so that we know that we're His, and all we can
do is say, I'm a father. I love you, Abba Father. If you
had not made me yours, I never would have made you mine. Abba
Father. Oh, this is a very fair doctrine. This is a very fair doctrine.
This is God's election. Men could feel against it, but
it suits God. It therefore suits his people. but consider second the author
of election. He chose us, he being God the
Father. Paul accordingly wrote to the
Thessalonian Christians, knowing beloved brethren, your election
by God. God did the choosing. We did not. "'Tis not that I
did choose thee. "'For Lord, that could not be. "'This heart would still refuse
thee. "'Hadst thou not chosen me.'"
God did the choosing. The elect are therefore called
the elect of God, Colossians 3, verse 12. God's elect, Romans
8, 33. His own elect, Luke 18, verse
7. Now consider, third, the objects
of election. He chose us. Who are the us? They're identified in the context. He chose us. Who are the us? All who are the saints and faithful
in Christ Jesus and all who are the recipients of all these spiritual
blessings in Christ. We are called in Mark 13, 20,
the elect whom he chose. 1 Peter 2, verse 9, we're called
a chosen generation. And sometimes we're just simply
called the elect. Well, we who are the elect know
who we are. When Jesus speaks about the elect,
there's one who's coming and he would deceive, if it were
possible, the elect. We know we're not gonna be deceived. The elect, we're so glad that
our father has chosen us and he just calls us the elect, the
elect. What a glorious title is that. People who hate this doctrine
of election, surely you would not want God calling you one
of his elect. I delight in it. I delight in
it. When God looks down and speaks
of his own as my elect, my elect. Therefore, Since the elect are the saints
and holy, who are the saints and faithful in Christ Jesus,
if you are holy, consecrated to Christ after being
separated from the world, if you are faithful in following
Jesus Christ, you can know this, you are one of God's elect. I
say that because I have had people ask me, how can I know I'm one
of God's elect? Well, really you're asking the
wrong question. The question is, have you believed
the gospel and do you trust in Jesus Christ? Are you holy in
your conduct? That's the question. And if you
meet those criteria, you are one of God's elect. Because he
chose us, who are the us? The saints and faithful in Christ
Jesus. So I can ask you, are you one
of God's elect? Am I one of God's elect? We can
know. Furthermore, all God's elect
are all whom he foreknew. because Peter tells us we are
elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. Elect according,
notice the word according, elect, we were chosen according to the
foreknowledge of God the Father. Foreknowledge preceded election. God foreknew his people and then
chose them in Christ before the foundation of the world. He foreknew
his people in the sense of personally and intimately knowing them. If you want to know something
of the meaning of a word in scripture, look at the first time it appears
in scripture. You see this word foreknew? You
see the word new in it, K-N-E-W, what does it mean? The first
time you find this word new in the New Testament is in Matthew's
Gospel, chapter one, in which passage we read that Joseph knew
not his wife, until the child of Jesus was born. Joseph, who is she? That's Mary,
she's my wife. Oh, you know her? Oh, I've never
known her. She's your wife, right? Yes,
yes. And you've never known her? No,
I've never known her. He knew her after the child was
born. That's why we speak of knowledge in the biblical sense
of the word. Now God foreknew his people,
much like this, personally and intimately, with the closest
kind of knowledge there can be. God foreknew his people, every
one of them, and then chose them in Christ before the foundation
of the world. Notice the scripture says that
we are elect according to the foreknowledge of God, not the
foresight of God. Some say God had foresight and
from eternity he looked down through time and he saw everybody
who would decide to become a Christian and said, write his name down
in the Lamb's Book of Life, he's one of mine, I'm gonna save him.
That's not the way it was. Foresight is not mentioned here. It's foreknowledge. Foreknowledge. Whom he foreknew, he also predestined
to be conformed to the image of his Son. Now I want you to
consider something else. Foreknowledge is more than foresight. God and His eternal omniscience
Knows all things. And he did from eternity. He
eternally knows all things. God is ignorant of nothing. Nothing. He knows every drop of water,
every piece of dust. He's omniscient. Knows all things. However, not all things are foreknown
by God. Now God knows all things, but
not all things are foreknown by God. For God's foreknowledge
is only of his people whom he will save. And if you look at this word
foreknowledge in the scriptures, you will never find it in the
context of those who are not God's people. If God foreknew
you, you are in one of two classes with regard to the knowledge
of God. There are those whom God foreknew and those whom God
never knew. He says to those whom he foreknew,
you are elect according to my foreknowledge. But at the final
day, at the coming of Christ, at the final judgment, when the
separation is made, Jesus will say to some, I never knew you. Depart from
me, you who work iniquity and lawlessness. Consider, I never
knew you. You don't even know my name.
I know your name, but I do not know you. You do not know anything
about me. Oh, I know all about you, but
I do not know you. You are either among the foreknown
or the never known. Number four, the foundation of
election. He chose us in Christ. He chose
us in Christ. Now, there are two elections
involving Christ. First, God chose Christ to be
the Savior of His people. Second, God chose the people
in Christ who would be saved. The first election is mentioned
in the prophets where we read that God calls Jesus Christ my
elect one in whom my soul delights. I will make you to be the savior
of my people. You are my elect one. in whom my soul delights. And
then, having chosen Christ to be the Savior of his people,
God chose in Christ those whom he would save. Isaac Watts rightly
wrote, Christ be my first elect, he said, then chose our souls
and crossed our head before he gave the mountains birth or laid
foundations for the earth. Now the fifth point is this,
the time of election, before the foundation of the world,
before the foundation of the world, before we existed, which
means we were passive, not active in this election. We had nothing
to do with it. We had nothing to do with it. Six, the purpose
of election, that we should behold him without blame before him
in love. Four-fold purpose of election
here. First, to be holy. That means
to be sanctified, separated from the world, and consecrated unto
God. That's what being holy is. Yes,
they who are consecrated will live holy lives, but that's the
primary meaning of the word, to be separated from the world
and consecrated unto God. That happened in election. God
chose a people out of the world and consecrated them to himself
in Jesus Christ. Then to be blameless. That word
blameless means to be morally perfect. To be before Him in love, never
to be behind His back as the objects of His wrath. How blessed
we are that God's elect will never, have never been, will
never be the objects of His wrath, and then This means he chose
us to be saved 2nd Thessalonians 2 13 Paul tells God's elected
God from the beginning chose you for salvation Okay, folks. Can it be any plainer than that? Preacher do you believe God chose
some for salvation and Well, I read it in the scripture, so
yeah, I'm going to believe it. All right, now, some will say,
aha, so you believe God chose some to salvation. Well, yeah,
that's what the scripture says. Therefore, you also believe that
God chose the rest, the damn nation. I am somewhat amused. That when
I tell some people, you know, that I believe the doctrines
of grace, they automatically know what I believe and they're
wrong. The scripture says God chose
some to salvation. The scripture never says God
chose any to damnation. Never says that you will search
the scriptures from one end to the other where God chose any
to damnation The scriptures speak of God's grace chose to salvation
We have been accused of believing that Well, the accusation is
false we believe God chose some to salvation and we can prove
it from Scripture and But it is never said in Scripture that
God chose a son to damnation. Now, if there is a choice to
be made to damnation, It is made by those who will not believe
the gospel. Notice that Paul says in 2 Thessalonians
2 verses 13 and 14 that God chose you for salvation. In the preceding
verse, in verse number 12, Paul speaks of those. who will be
condemned because they did not believe the truth but had pleasure
in unrighteousness. Any man who rejects the gospel
of Jesus Christ, refuses to believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, has
made the choice for the damnation of his soul. God did not make
it. Unbelievers make that decision
for themselves. And I pray there's none like
that here today who would say, no, no, I will not believe the
gospel. I know I'm going to be condemned
and damned for it, but I'm not going to believe. Let there be
none like that here. Then there are some who will
say, well, we believe in election to salvation. But we believe
God chose everybody to be saved, and the devil chose everybody
to be damned, and now we must cast a deciding vote. Oh, bless
your heart. First, God did not choose everyone
to be saved. We have already established that,
have they not? Have we not? Second, The devil
chose none to damnation because when the decree of election was
made, he did not exist. He's a creature, not the creator. The election was before the foundation
of the world. The devil was not around. He
chose nobody. Second, third, we do not decide God or the devil will triumph
Imagine here's poor old God sitting and sitting up there in heaven
Oh, no, I chose them for salvation the devil chosen for damnation.
I Hope they make the right choice God forbid God does not wait for your decision
to find out whether or not he will be successful. And the devil
will never be successful. But moving on. Paul was so faithful to this
doctrine that he said, I endure all things for the sake
of the elect that they also may obtain, notice, also with me,
obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal
glory, 2 Timothy 2.10. I endure all things for the sake
of the elect. Persecution, prosecution, whipping, stoned and left for dead, shipwrecked on the sea, hated by his own countrymen,
hated by the Romans with whom he had citizenship. He was hungry. He was thirsty. in prison much of his time. And Paul, if he's asked, Paul, if you just
recant, he'll turn you loose. No, no, no, no. Why do you let yourself suffer all this persecution and
prosecution and deprivation. For the sake of the elect, they
have to hear the gospel. They have to hear the gospel.
And Paul endured all things for the sake of the elect that they
could hear the gospel. Jesus Christ did the same. All the sins, read it in Isaiah
chapter 53, all the sins of God's elect were laid on him. The Father says, for the transgressions
of my people, he was stricken. And there on Calvary, Jesus Christ,
bearing the sins of all God's elect, endured all the punishment
those sins deserved for three hours. Stricken, smitten by God, and
afflicted, And I suppose, hypothetically
speaking, he could have said, can't take anymore! Can't take
anymore! And it would have stopped. But
he didn't. He didn't. He endured all things for the
sake of the elect, that they also might have the knowledge
of the salvation that is in Jesus Christ. I would hope that you
and I are as faithful to this gospel, this doctrine of election,
as was Paul, as was Jesus, as are all God's children. I'm gonna briefly look at one
more blessing. It's related to the first, predestination to
sonship. Verse four, Paul has written,
having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself. Now, to predestine is to foreordain,
determined from eternity. Paul in Romans 8, 29, in a similar
vein of thought, tells God's elect that whom God foreknew,
he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Now, before we
expound these two texts, and I'm gonna do it briefly, we need
to distinguish God's foreordination, that's
predestination, and God's foreknowledge. Whom he foreknew, he foreordained,
or predestined. Now, we know about foreknowing. That's whom God foreknew before
the foundation of the world. God's foreknowledge is of people. whom he foreknew. His foreordination
or predestination is what he will do for them. Whom God foreknew,
he also foreordained, predestined to be conformed to the image
of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Now back to our text. And I can
briefly put predestination to sonship in these terms. First, Jesus Christ is God's
only begotten son. The only begotten son. God has
only one begotten son. Begotten in eternity by an eternal
generation without a mother. Begotten All Believers in Jesus Christ
who are God's elect are God's adopted sons every one of them
Our father at one time was the devil the father took us from
his Prison house and made us his own. He adopted us. And third, God esteems his only
begotten son so highly that he predestined for ordained that
every one of his adopted sons be just like Jesus Christ. Be
just like Jesus Christ. Why do you think the world called
us Christians? Eh? They talk like Jesus Christ? They act like Christ? I mean,
you know, call them Christians. You think they deserve that title
here? Wait until you get to glory.
In glory, everybody looks like Christ. Everybody looks like,
we're gonna know one another, but everybody's gonna look like
Christ. How do we know? John says, beloved,
now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed
what we shall be, but we know that when he is revealed, we
shall be like him. We shall be like him. There is no one in this world
I would rather be like than Jesus Christ. My father was a worthy example
for me to follow. He was my mentor in the gospel
ministry. He was a worthy man. He had his faults. But I overlooked
him and followed him. And people have said I bear a
resemblance to him. I take that as a compliment. But just wait till you see me
in heaven. I'm going to be like Jesus Christ. You're going to
be like Jesus Christ. Every one of us are going to
be just like Jesus Christ because God predestined us to be just
like him. And what's he doing right now?
Bit by bit, process by process, conforming us into the image
of Jesus Christ. Oh God, our Father, what a glorious
truth is here before us. that you chose a people in Christ
to be saved, then you predestined them to be conformed to the image
of Jesus Christ. And oh, that we might be among
them, we pray, these saints and faithful in Christ Jesus. To
your glory in Jesus' name we pray, amen.