Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to Ephesians chapter 1 and reading
from our text just part of verse 3. The chapter we read, Ephesians
chapter 1, and in verse 3 these words, spiritual blessings, the
whole verse reads, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ. Ephesians 1 and part of verse
3, spiritual blessings. The Apostle Paul on his second
missionary journey had spent some time at the close of that
journey in Ephesus. But then on his third journey
he returned and spent some two years here. And it was only when
Demetrius and those of his fellow silversmiths made an uproar because
their craft was in danger of not being wanted anymore in making
the idols to the goddess Diana, it was then that he was forced
to leave them and to move on. And so the apostle here, he writes,
as we are told at the end of this epistle, by one Techicus
and he writes as one that is an ambassador in Bonds, that
is, he was writing from Rome to the Ephesians here. And he writes to them as those
that have been blessed and blessed with him also. And after wishing
their salutation upon them, the grace be to you and peace from
God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. He then blesses
God because God has blessed them with all spiritual blessings,
not just the Ephesians but also himself. And we find in this
chapter what we read elsewhere, the blessing of grace for grace. This is what is mentioned by
John the Baptist and we have the testimony and the gospel
according to John where he says in chapter 1 verse 16, and of
his fullness, that is Christ's fullness, have all we received
and grace for grace. That is The Lord gives one blessing
and that blessing then leads to another blessing. We're used
to this in life, in many aspects of our lives. A young person
might be aiming at a university to gain access there, and the
Lord blesses them with good grades, blesses them maybe with knowing
someone that is able to speak for them there, and various ways
that they get a place there at the university. That is a blessing. But then there's further blessings
because they've got there that are then opened up to them as
a blessing upon a blessing. It's like one also being blessed
with having a certain employment. They've got that employment and
all the blessings that have led up to them obtaining that and
then they realise having got that position that there are
other blessings bound up with that. And it's in this way the
apostle writes to the Ephesians and he speaks of the blessings
that they've had that brought them to be believers, brought
them to be saved, and then those blessings that are bound up with
being a believer and with being saved. And he speaks of these
as spiritual blessings. And we may ask ourselves what
are? Spiritual blessings, how are
they different from other blessings, from natural blessings, and from
what source do they come, and to whom do they come? What is
the Apostle speaking of here, and why is it so necessary that
we be blessed with spiritual blessings? They are questions
we need to answer, and the Apostle does cover them here in this
passage. And so I want to look with the
Lord's help firstly at temporal and spiritual blessings, just
a comparison of the two of those. And in looking at that, look
at the source of them both as well. And then secondly, how
Paul knew that not only he but also the Ephesians had been blessed
with spiritual blessings because in the verse where our text is,
he says, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ. And then thirdly, the seven spiritual
blessings that he gives thanks for, which are in the immediate
context or the verses from verse 3 to verse 14, we find there
are seven blessings in this portion. But firstly, I want to speak
to you on temporal and spiritual blessings. I said we'd also look at the
source. We would remember that every
good and perfect gift cometh down from the Father of Lights,
in whom is no variability nor shadow of turning, that he is
the Saviour of all men, especially of them that believe. He opens
his hands, he satisfies the desire of every living thing. There
is not two forces at work in this world. If we go into a hospital
ward and we have six beds in that ward, and one of them has
a believer in it and the rest of them are not believers. And
at the end we find each one goes home healed and healthy and strong. The believer, he says, God has
blessed me with health and strength, he has blessed the surgeon's
work, he has blessed the medicine, the treatment, He has heard my
prayer, he has answered my prayers and I am healed and I am strong. The unbelievers say, well we
don't believe in God, we never prayed to the Lord for help and
we were healed just the same. What we are to remember is that
those that were unbelievers in that ward were healed by the
same mercy and grace and goodness of God that gives the blessing
on the means, the skill to the surgeons, as was the believer. The difference is that the believer
asked for those blessings and had them in response to a prayer
for asking, and the believer returned to give thanks, whereas
the others did not ask and did not give thanks, yet received
those same blessings. When the Lord healed the ten
lepers, we have ten lepers coming to Him, asking Him to have mercy
upon them. and he bid them to go to the
priest and show themselves to the priest. And as they were
going, they realised that they were healed. Now it was the ceremonial
law that they should go to the priest to pronounce themselves
clean. Well, nine continued on their
way, whereas one turned round when he realised that he was
healed and gave glory to God. and blessed the Lord Jesus Christ
for that gift he'd received. And the Lord said, were there
not ten healed, where are the nine? Only one has returned to
give glory to God. And the one was a Samaritan that
was despised of the Jews. But the teaching is that we do
not have two different forces in this world. There's not chance
working on one hand, or just nature independent of God, or
the wisdom of man and the power of medicines, that which is so
lacking at this time, a man's feeling, their ignorance and
inability to combat the virus. But there is but one God and
one power And who is he that saith, and who cometh to pass
when the Lord commandeth it not? And so we would acknowledge the
Lord for everything out of a deserved hell. We acknowledge that he
blesses the just and the unjust, him that serveth God and him
that serveth him not. And we need to be very clear
on that. But what we also need to be clear
on is that there is to be in those gifts that he gives, a
returning to God to give thanks for them. And that seals those
gifts as to that person as really believing they came from the
Lord. It's a blessed thing when we
can meet as families or wherever we are and have a meal that we
give thanks for that meal and for that food. Remember when
I was a child, I didn't understand what the grace was. I thought
for what we are about to receive was one great big long word.
I didn't think of the individual words that made up the grace. And so since I very seldom, if
ever, will pray the grace that we prayed as children, but rather
to give thanks or to ask in other words that you might say are
more meaningful. I remember years ago on a Christian
Holliday, one of the dear friends at the meal table, he gave thanks. And he traced, you know, that
food right from on the farm. and gave thanks for the farmer
and for the blessings given to him and those that then had transported
the grain, processed the grain, sold the grain, brought the food,
processed the food, cooked the food and how it got to the plate.
And every link in that chain, you break one link in that chain
and we don't have our food. We are to give thanks for our
daily bread But you know, our Lord worked a miracle where he
fed 5,000. And they were thankful for that. They followed him over the sea
for the next day. But our Lord said to them, you
seek me not because ye saw the miracle, but because ye ate of
the loaves and were filled. They were just seeking for temporal
things, for things for their body, They were thankful for
that, and they wanted more, but he said to them, labour not for
the bread that perisheth, but for that which endureth unto
eternal life, that which the Son of Man is able to give you. A temporal blessing will bless
our bodies, will do good for us while we are here below in
this world. A spiritual blessing is that
blessing that will do us good in the world to come and on a
dying bed. And we should sift out those
blessings we receive from the Lord in that way and not mistake
receiving of his bounty and goodness and just look at it in a temporal
way really not realizing that our souls are worth more than
our bodies. The Lord said, fear not them
which kill the body, and after that there's nothing more they
can do, but fear him who hath power after he hath killed to
cast both body and soul into hell. We are to have respect
that we are made an eternal being and that as born into this world
we are under condemnation. We are sons of Adam that are
already fallen. In the day that thou eatest thereof
thou shalt surely die. The sentence shall be executed. It is executed already. And yet the Lord has shown a
way of escape from the wrath to come. one that shall pay the
penalty in our place, one that has already endured the wrath
of God instead of us. And that gospel of the substitutionary
offering of the Lord Jesus Christ is to be proclaimed and set forth
throughout all the world that whosoever believeth in him should
not perish but should have eternal life. Spiritual blessings are
blessings for the soul. They are blessings that are eternal
blessings. They are blessings as spoken
of in this verse as heavenly blessings. Or it says in the
margin, instead of with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ, it is all spiritual blessings in heavenly things
in Christ instead of places is things in heavenly things but
in a way it is heavenly places because those blessings come
from heaven and they lead to heaven and they are in Christ. Every blessing comes to us through
Jesus' precious blood If Christ had not died, if there hadn't
been the promise of his coming right at the fall, then the earth
would have ceased immediately. It would not continue. The only
reason why the earth continues is because God has a people yet
to be born, and those that are born, that must be born again
of the Spirit and must be saved. And until that is completed,
Until the last one is born, and the last one called by grace,
this world will continue. But those spiritual blessings,
then, are those which are eternal. Very often, like what we said
regarding the broken bread that the Lord gave the multitudes,
the Lord gives is people first to taste of temporal blessings
and realise where they came, and then it leads to spiritual
blessings. We are told of those who have
tasted that the Lord is gracious, and it's a good thing that we
are able to trace those blessings, even temporal ones, to the Lord,
but not to come short and stop at that. but look for spiritual
blessings. And this is the burden that is
upon me this evening, that you do not stop short, that I do
not stop short, but we seek the Lord for spiritual blessings,
and those blessings which are not what man thinks, but actually
what God has prescribed in his word as blessings. We can very
easily mistake And you know, in Christ's day, the religious
people of the day, they had added to the law of God, the Ten Commandments,
they had added so many others to make over 600 of them, and
all sorts of things, including washing pots and pans, not for
hygiene, but just as a religious ritual that this must be done. and they were making works a
way of salvation. And we do not want to add. We mustn't add to the Word of
God. We mustn't subtract from the
Word of God. And if we want those blessings
that lead from heaven, they must come from heaven and be based
upon the Word of God that comes from heaven. The Holy Spirit
inspired the Word. It's a spiritual book. And it
is those blessings that flow to us through the blessed Word
of God. As the Apostle says, when we
preach, we compare spiritual things with spiritual. That is,
one part of the Word with another part of the Word. But the Word
of God is spiritual. The Apostle, he felt himself
in a natural way. He says, I am carnal, sold under
sin. I am of this world. But when
the Lord quickens a soul into life, then it is spiritual blessings
for that soul. I would say under this heading
that we are never to despise providential blessings. That
is, things that God brings about in our lives because providence
and grace go hand in hand together. I'll give you an example. It
may be the time that we are under. At this present time, if we went
back, say, ten months ago, nine months ago, maybe less than that,
then we didn't have lockdown, we preached the Gospel here,
but we didn't have a website, we didn't have streaming, the
Word of God didn't go from the walls of the sanctuary here.
But because of the virus and the lockdown, then we have got
the means to proclaim the word from here. That is a providence. It is a
blessing. But on the other hand, there
are those that hear it. And there will be those that
say how it is that they happen to tune in to the word proclaimed
here or at other churches. I wouldn't just limit it to us
here. And how then that they were blessed
through that means. I mean not to overlook the things
that happen to bring preacher and hearer together. Otherwise,
we would say, well, the fact that Philip was sent to meet
the eunuch had no part in the eunuch's conversion. But it did. The two were brought together.
I can tell you many times that we have been maybe uncertain
as to whether to go to a special service or not. Something has
happened that has either hindered us Or we've gone to that service
expecting one minister and another minister stood in the pulpit,
and through that change that minister has brought a text that
otherwise would not have been brought, and that has been blessed
to us. And we think the Lord ordering
the lives, even the sicknesses of others, have been used for
our good. And we think over our lives,
our things that happen, even in our schooling, I think that
Over in Australia, I changed school from when I was in Grade
2 to another school. And because myself, my brother,
only 11 months apart, and it was to be a composite grade,
Grade 1 and 2 in one class, they said they too can't be in the
same class. They put me in Grade 3, left
my brother in Grade 1. Halfway through the year, they
said we made a mistake. He should have been only in grade
two. So he's getting on all right, leave him there. And so God did
an adjustment when I was just seven years of age. And that adjustment has adjusted
what has happened in my employment, in everything right through my
life. Again and again I can trace it. What if there hadn't been that
little adjustment of one year in my schooling? When he was
in second year of apprenticeship, the first year apprentice, he
said to me, how's this? He said, you and I are the same
age. He said, you are in second year, I'm in first year. We both
did fifth form, we both did the same level of schooling. How?
I could tell him how it had happened. But it was necessary, vital.
And that is a providential thing. It wasn't saving. But it certainly
went together with the saving of my soul and what happened
when the Lord did call me by grace. So we're not to ever discount
or despise what God does in providence. And sometimes it can be very
disappointing things, things that we wish didn't happen, that
God hadn't ordered in that way. And yet the Lord will work them
for good. We know, says Paul in Romans
8, that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them that are the called according to his purpose. Temporal blessings,
providential blessings, they do go hand in hand, but spiritual
blessings is what is vital if we are truly to be saved and
truly to know we are a child of God. I want to look then secondly
at how Paul knew that he and the Ephesians had been blessed
with all spiritual blessings. In verse 3, our text, 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. How could he say so clearly,
hath blessed us? And how could he say with all
spiritual blessings? Why doesn't he say, who might
have blessed us, or with some spiritual blessings, how could
he say to the Ephesians and to himself that He hath blessed
us and the blessings are all spiritual blessings. What we said in the introduction,
how the Lord gives grace for grace, these spiritual blessings
that he is speaking of here, that they have been blessed with
and that they are all spiritual blessings, They belong to those
that have been called by God's grace. And those that are called
have all of those blessings. So what we need to see under
this second point is what had happened to the Ephesians. What
had happened to Paul? Well, there are several things
that are very clear from this passage and also if we join to
it the next passage in Chapter 2. In fact the first thing I bring
before you is the first verse of Chapter 2. He says, And you
hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins? And he describes what they were
doing and of course he was the same. In time past he walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience. He pictures their life that they
had been walking and that it was according to the course of
this world. The Apostle Paul was seeking
to hail men and women unto prison. He hated the Lord Jesus Christ. He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees.
The Ephesians here, they were walking in every manner and way
of sin and of evil. It was described later on in
this portion how that they had been walking in these things,
in fornication, iniquities, lusts, all sorts of idolatries. We mentioned
how that it was Demetrius, the silversmith, that was so upset
when Paul was here because they were turning away from the idols
to the true and living God. Quicken means to be made alive
and that is the first blessing, the first spiritual grace and
blessing and the reason why these other blessings, Paul knew they'd
had them because God had passed by them in their blood when they
were dead in sins and quickened them into life. He'd bid them
live. Now we have the illustrations
like when the Lord bid Lazarus rise from the dead and the Lord
could just speak the word, Lazarus come forth and he that was dead
came forth. We can understand that in a literal
way but spiritually we are dead and we need the Lord as well
to bid us to live and to give us that life The Lord says, I
give unto them eternal life, they shall never perish, neither
shall any man pluck them out of mine hands. The fruit of Christ's
death upon Calvary was he died that we might live, and the first
life that he gives is spiritual life, so that we have new eyes,
new ears, a softened heart, we are a new creature in Christ
Jesus. Paul had had that on the Damascus
road. The Ephesians, he'd seen the
same thing happen to them. And so this is the first reason
why he could say that of them, that they had all the spiritual
blessings. The second reason is, in verse
19 of chapter 1, that they were believers. they had been brought
to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. He says in the end part
of that first chapter that it was the same almighty power that
brought Christ up from the dead that is made, is put forth in
a sinner to make them to live and to believe. He says in verse
19, or verse 18 really, he prays that their understanding might
be opened, that they might know what the hope of his calling
is. And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward
who believe? Again he's using himself, us-ward. That's the Ephesians and the
Apostle. According to the working of his
mighty power, which he wrought, God wrought in Christ, when he
raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand
in the heavenly places, the sacrifice of our Lord was accepted. That's
why we have the empty tomb. That's why he was raised. If
Christ was a sinner, if the sins that he bore of his people were
not put away, he couldn't be raised. The apostle said he hath
given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from
the dead. And so we are to understand,
when one believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, it is an almighty
power that makes a believer. The hymn writer says, "'Tis Christ
makes a believer and gives him his crown." With the eunuch,
he was reading in Isaiah 53, he didn't know who was the prophet
speaking of, himself or some other man. Philip, he began the
same scripture he was reading, and he preached unto him Jesus.
And it was following that that he desired to be baptised, and
the question that Philip had was, if thou believest with all
thine heart thou mayest. And he says, I believe that Jesus
is the Son of God. That was the profession needed.
Philip would have seen that that power that brought him to believe
under that word was the same power that raised Christ from
the dead. So that's the second reason.
They believed. And it was the power of God.
You know, when the word was preached we read that some believe the
word spoken and some believe not. And then in another place
we read as many as were ordained unto eternal life believed. There is a separation made under
the preaching of the word. And that is my third point. We
have in verse 12 and 13 how that They were brought to trust in
the Lord, that we should be to the praise of his glory, who
first trusted in Christ, in whom ye also trusted. Again, he's
joining himself as the ones that first trusted in Christ, and
then the Ephesians, in whom he also trusted. When did they trust? When did they trust? After that
ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. The
word had been blessed to them, so they trusted the Lord Jesus
Christ through that word. And you know there's bound up
with this, really trust in a way is another word for faith. And these, they had faith in
verse 15. Wherefore I also, after I heard
of your faith, in the Lord Jesus Christ, not just any faith. Many
people have a faith or trust in all sorts of things. But the
specific thing here is trust in Christ, faith in Christ. It is in the Lord Jesus Christ. We read that faith cometh by
hearing and hearing by the word of God. Not only is a blessing
to be realised in the blessing itself, but how did it come? How did it come? How were we
made spiritually alive? The Lord said, those that are
born again are born of the Spirit, and the Spirit is like the wind.
Thou hearest the sound thereof, thou canst not tell whence it
cometh. Whither it goes, so is everyone that is born of the
Spirit. And so it is. How did we get faith? Through
the Word of God. How were we brought to believe?
The eunuch would say through the preaching of the word. And
so we are to trace in that way how the blessings come. Not just
the blessing but how it came. Paul, he knew he had been brought
by God to the Ephesians and to preach to the Ephesians and he
knew that if God sent him there he would bless that word to them.
And he did. He was expecting to see it. God
doesn't send his servants to a place and his no intention
to bless that place. Maybe an encouragement to us
here, to the people here in Cranbrook. The Lord will bless his word. But then there's a fourth reason,
and that is they have love to the people of God. In verse 15,
he says, after I heard not only of your faith in the Lord Jesus,
but, and love unto all the saints. There's one very clear mark with
the apostle, he hated when he was stolen, persecuting the people
of God that called on the name of the Lord, he hated them, he
didn't love them. But when the Lord blessed him,
then he had love to them. We know that we have passed from
death unto life, because we love the brethren. By this shall all
men know that ye are my disciples indeed, in that ye love one another. And we think of Paul's epistle
to the Corinthians, first epistle, chapter 13, and the blessing
of charity over every other blessing, that blessing that is on earth
and in heaven, the blessing of a real practical love, a love
to the Lord and a love to his people. But then in the fifth
place they had their lives that were changed. In verse four we
read that they were chosen but that they should be holy and
without blame before him in love. And then in chapter five, which
is the chapter that speaks of what they were before and how
walking in all manner of uncleanness and vileness and he says, such
were some of you. But he says sometimes we were
darkness but now, i.e. light in the Lord, walk as children
of light. And he speaks to a people that
what they believe has changed their lives. It has had an effect
on them that faith has been shown by works. James, in his epistle,
he says faith without works is dead. It is vital that the true
saving grace of God will make a profound difference in our
lives. Such were some of you. But as
the Apostle says, by the grace of God, I am what I am. Were these points here, and others
beside, but these are the main ones. And we may add, of course,
that the fruit of those works, one of those works that is to
be done that wasn't done before, is to be brought to truly praise
the Apostle. was said, behold, he prayeth,
not as a Pharisee, but as a poor sinner. God be merciful to me,
a sinner. Where there is a call by the
grace of God, where it is as in chapter two, by grace you
are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is
the gift of God. He has given those spiritual
blessings of grace And where he is given that grace, where
he is given that life, it is then that belonging to that person
are the spiritual blessings that he says, with all spiritual blessings,
this is what is bound up. with being a child of God, with
being called, with being quickened. So I want to then look with the
Lord's help lastly at our third point, the seven spiritual blessings
for which he gives thanks for. The first one is that which immediately
follows the text in verse four, and that is chosen in Christ. Causing as he hath, there's the
hath again, chosen us in him before the foundation of the
world. Those blessings, those spiritual
blessings that is blessed, those that are called with, Don't just
start when they are called. They happen before they are called.
The choosing in Him is from the foundation of the world. But if we are called, we know
that we were blessed in Christ then. Many will turn it the other way
around and they'll say, if I'm to know I'm a child of God, I
want to know I'm elect. But God says, no, you know your
election by your calling. You see those first points we
made of how Paul could know that he and the Ephesians were in
possession of this blessing. And this blessing then belongs
to those that are quickened and made alive. That is the right
order, how it is. The apostle could rightly write
to the Ephesians and say that they were blessed with being
chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world for the reasons
that he then follows on afterwards and shows them how they had been
quickened and made alive. The first, the verses from 3
to 14, he is giving thanks to the Lord for all what they have
and all what they are. And then he enlarges further
what the Lord has done for them. And yet these spiritual blessings
are what they had and what he could really thank the Lord that
they had. And every believer has. Everyone
that is quickened into life Everyone that believes has been chosen
by the Lord. The Lord said, ye have not chosen
me, but I have chosen you. The second is that they were
predestinated to be adopted as children. In verse five, having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself. Now some people would think,
well, predestination, that is, predestinating us to go to heaven. In one sense that might be right,
but the context here is, the Lord has said, those that are
chosen in me, I've appointed them, I've predestinated them
to be adopted in this lifetime by Jesus Christ to himself. The appointment of God to these
chosen ones is that in this lifetime they shall become a child of
God. They shall be given grace. They
shall be beginning at the beginning outside of the family of God. You might this evening think,
I'm outside of the family of God. I'm not a believer. I'm alienated from the people
of God. But then the Lord brings in,
and he makes a believer, and he makes them a child of God. And that has always been appointed,
that that blessing would be theirs. The spirit of adoption, adopted
into the family of God. And of course, The Apostle then
speaks of those that are in the family of a child when they misbehave,
then they're corrected, they're approved, they're watched over.
All the blessings that we know as a family in a literal sense
belong to a believer, one that has been quickened into life. So this is the second spiritual
blessing, that they have been adopted into his living family. The third is that they are accepted
in Christ. In verse 6, to the praise of
the glory of his grace, in each of these times here, with the
maidens adopted of children, it is according to the good pleasure
of his will. And in verse 6, accepted in Christ,
and it is to the praise of the glory of his grace that we are
accepted in the Beloved, that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
outside of Christ, how can we be accepted? With nothing but
sin and disgrace, but in the Lord Jesus Christ, then we are
accepted in the Beloved. This is the need of the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ that we can stand before God, faultless
before the throne. There is no spot in thee. Thou
art altogether comely. The spouse says that she is black,
yet comely and accepted in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our
great High Priest. He is the one by whom we come
to God. He is our acceptance. And this
is the third spiritual blessing that belongs to a believer. Not
accepted in their own works, but accepted in Christ. The fourth is this, that they
have redemption through his blood. In verse seven, in whom ye have
redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins that
is bound up with it and it is according again to the riches
of his grace. Redemption is set free by the
payment of a price and it is only by the payment of the price
which is the precious blood of Christ that sin is put away.
Without the shedding of blood there is no remission. Where
one has been called and given spiritual life and to trust in
Christ, their sins are put away. They have been blessed already
with this spiritual blessing in Christ, redemption, redeemed,
set free. You might have come saying, Lord,
show me, tell me that my sins have been pardoned and forgiven. Well, this is the message to
a quickened believer. Your sins are pardoned, your
sins are forgiven, you have been redeemed, and that is why the
Lord has called you and quickened you by his grace. It is according
to the riches of his grace, not of works, not of us, but of Christ
alone. The fifth blessing is the knowledge
of the mystery of His will. In verse 9, having made known
unto us the mystery of His will, according to the good pleasure
which He hath purposed in Himself, we read, The secret of the Lord
which is with them that fear Him. And it is a great blessing
to have that clear view of the Gospel and of the will of God. to have even a broad view. When
we see a church chosen in Christ before the foundation of the
world, we see the history of the world, and then we see a
church complete, innumerable multitude in heaven, praising
and blessing God in heaven above. But in the meantime, in this
world, we find our Lord coming to this world, suffering, bleeding,
dying, And the work of redemption done here, the payment is paid
here, the work of grace is done here, the sealing of the people
of God for heaven is done on this world. In the midst of all
the opposition, in Satan, When we think of what was done at
Calvary in the midst of a baying multitude that was crying, away
with him, away with him, crucify him, there was the one sacrifice
and offering acceptable to God offered. And here we are, and
we might think, well, with our own souls, there's so much against
me, the world, the flesh, and the devil. But God has ordered
that it is in that setting that he calls his people and that
he blesses them. and so the knowledge of his will,
that this is his will. The Lord says in John 17, a beautiful
prayer of intercession, Father I will that thou takest them
not out of the world but that thou dost keep them from the
evil. And then he prays, Father, I will that they whom thou hast
given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory.
And all the time you are seeing the Lord Jesus revealing what
his will is for his people. Maybe think of that as we read
through the scriptures of truth. Maybe a subject for a Bible study
to see how many times the Lord reveals in the scriptures what
his will is. And this blessing is known to
the people of God as a spiritual blessing. Then we have in the
sixth place an inheritance, in whom also we have obtained an
inheritance. You know if we have an inheritance
we have not earned that. If we have an inheritance it
means that someone has died to leave that inheritance. It is
Christ that died, yea rather it is risen again that sitteth
at the right hand of God. The people of God are his inheritance
and the Lord Jesus Christ is their inheritance. but their
inheritance also is in heaven. He says, I go to prepare a place
for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I come again,
receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also. Peter, he says, unto inheritance
incorruptible, undefiled, and reserved in heaven for you, who
are kept by the power of God unto salvation. ready to be revealed
at the last day. This is the spiritual blessing
that already the Apostle had, already the Ephesians had. They had an inheritance that
was waiting for them to enter into that inheritance. The children
of Israel, even when they were going through the wilderness,
they had Canaan as their inheritance. That was their appointed place
and the Lord brought them there. But the last one is that of being
sealed. In verse 13, we read, 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. All the promises
of God are yea and amen in the Lord Jesus Christ, And the Lord
has promised, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. He has
promised his dear people heaven. He has promised them eternal
life. He has promised them everything
that they need, that they might endure unto the end. And this
promise we expect to see unfolded out in our lives, that the Lord
will not only just begin a work of grace, but he will continue
it on. He which hath begun a good work
in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. And every
token for good, every help, every crumb that is received from the
word of God, every blessing that is richly given, it flows from
the high degree of heaven, every chastening, every correction,
all that the Lord does for his people. Those are so many ceilings
and tokens of that Spirit's work in that person's heart. It would
be a sad thing if I could only go back to when the Lord first
quickened my soul and first blessed my soul and revealed Christ to
me and all the time I just had to think back to that time as
to know that I was a child of God. and couldn't look to things
that were happening in the last month or months or years and
in my life that gave a witness again and again. The Lord is
still my God. When the Lord brought the children
out of Egypt, He didn't only just bring them out of Egypt,
He brought them through the Red Sea, He gave them the laws at
Sinai, He gave them the manna, He gave them the water out of
the rock, He chastened them, He correct them, He brought them
through the river of Jordan, He brought them to the promised
land, and each one was a token. The Lord was their God. They
couldn't just do as other nations. They were under His hand and
under His blessing. And they knew that they were
His people. And it is a blessed thing to
realise you are not your own. you are bought with a price.
Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which
are His. And it is this sealing that also
belongs as a spiritual blessing, the Lord not forsaking His work
but granting those spiritual blessings, blessings upon the
Word, a precious Christ known and felt in the soul, a spiritual
appetite of feeding upon Him, Those things belong to a believer. So there are those seven spiritual
blessings then that he gives thanks for, that he has received
them, and these Ephesians have received them. And they are written
so that we may know as well that if we are quickened, that if
we have been made alive and brought to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord has blessed the
preaching of the word to us and given us faith through that means
that we also have these. And the apostle could rightly
bless God that we also have these spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus. Dear friends, may those of you
who know this blessing and know this path bless the Lord for
it. and be encouraged and strengthened
tonight. Those of you who don't, may you
ask of the Lord, may you raise up a concern, a desire that these
things might be known by you and that you also be called and
quickened. And may the word tonight be used
to that end, to the glory of God and the salvation of your
souls. May the Lord add his blessing.
Amen.