Welcome to Reign of Grace. This program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening. And now for today's program. Welcome to our program. I'm glad you could join us. If you'd like to follow along in your Bibles, I'm going to be preaching from the New Testament book of Ephesians. Ephesians chapter one.

And the title of the message is Fully Blessed of God. Fully Blessed of God. And I took the title from verse three, but I want to deal with several verses here. This whole First, the opening of the book of Ephesians, written by the apostle Paul as he was inspired by the Spirit. God is the writer of the Bible, as you know. Every bit of it's God-breathed. But he used Paul, the apostle, to write to this church at Ephesus. And he starts off with a magnificent rendition or version of the work of God in salvation. He speaks of the work of God the Father, the work of God the Son, and the work of God the Holy Spirit.

And it's really from verse one, or you might say from verse three rather, to around verse 14, it's really kind of one sentence. Now I know, I know you'll see some periods as we go down through here, and that indicates the end of a sentence. But you need to understand, in the original Greek Testament, there were no punctuation marks. They were added by the translators. And so, one thought is presented from verse three to verse 14, and then it capitalizes on that thought going through the rest of this chapter, and even chapter two. But listen to what it says in verse one.

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, an apostle was a messenger, a specific kind of messenger, really, because it was through the apostles that God revealed his word, his inerrant word to God's people. That's why Paul was used to write so many of the epistles. Peter was used, John was used, others. And then back in the Old Testament, you had the prophets, Moses and the minor prophets and others, Jeremiah and Isaiah. God used men, but he was the author of it and is the author of it. But Paul was a messenger of Jesus Christ, and he was a messenger, he says here, by the will of God.

In other words, it wasn't something that he, on his own, decided to do. It was something God made him, and you can read about that in the book of Acts, where you read about Paul's conversion, how he was such an enemy of the church, of believers. He was a Pharisee, and he was out to harm them, to arrest them, and try them, and have them killed. And on his way to Damascus to arrest Christians, the Lord Jesus Christ stopped him and the resurrected Lord stopped him and drove him to a man named Ananias to hear the gospel. And so that's how Paul was not only saved by the grace of God, regenerated and converted, born again, but he was also called to the ministry. And the Lord took him away for three years and taught him.

Well, he says, by the will of God to the saints, which are at Ephesus, and the saint there is a believer. You know, every believer is a saint. And the word saint means sanctified one. And it's one who has been set apart by God for salvation. And then some of those saints were set apart by God for other reasons. For example, Paul was set apart by God to be the apostle to the Gentiles. And so he gave him that commission.

But don't believe what the false Catholic church says about sainthood. It's not something the church votes on or puts a person in, no. When you're born again by the Spirit, under the preaching of the gospel, the truth, which brings you to submit to Christ as the only way of salvation and righteousness, that's when you're made a saint. Now you're sanctified even before that in electing grace, before the foundation of the world. And kept by God, by His providence, even in your rebellion, like the prodigal son.

But when we're born again by the Spirit, we're brought to realize sainthood. Understand that. Now, that doesn't mean we always act like a saint. I mean, sometimes we act terrible. There are times in some of the believers' lives in the scripture that they acted awful, but they're sinners saved by grace.

And Christ would not let them go away. He kept them. So he says, to the saints which are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. The saints that are at Ephesus and the faithful in Christ Jesus are one and the same. He's not talking about two classes of believers here. He's talking about those who have been brought into the kingdom. They were lost sheep, now they're found sheep. They believe in Christ, they've repented of dead works, and they're living a life of faith Not perfect, but they're perfect in Christ, set apart by His righteousness imputed.

So Paul says in verse two, grace be to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. That's his usual salutation. I pray the grace of God upon you and that you have peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace. And then listen to verse three. Now here's where I got the title from.

Fully, fully blessed of God. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who have blessed us with all spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ. Did you see that or hear that? Blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. And so, first of all, what is it to be in Christ? Well, the Bible represents our unity if we're believers now. Represents our union with Christ in several ways. First of all, there's an eternal union with Christ.

That's before the foundation of the world. God's people were in Christ before the world began. And he's gonna show that. Look at verse four. He says, according as God hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. Do you see that? according as he hath chosen us, elected us, that's election. And in him, in Christ, before the foundation of the world, that's the eternal union. And it says that we should be, or in order that we should be holy, sanctified, and without blame, justified before him in love. God chose us in Christ before the world began.

If we're believers now, now this is not everybody without exception. Those who live their lives in unbelief and die in unbelief and perish, this is not referring to them. They're not chosen in him before the foundation. They're not blessed with all spiritual blessing.

But those who are brought to faith in Christ by the power of God under the preaching of the gospel, They were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. In order that in time, by the power of God through the Spirit, they should be sanctified, set apart by the, now they're set apart eternally, but they're gonna be set apart in justification before Him in love.

Now, and what that is, is when you're brought to faith in Christ, you evidence that God chose you and justified you before the world began. And what is it to be sanctified? It's to be set apart for a purpose. What is it to be justified? It's to be forgiven of all of our sins and declare righteous before God, in and by the Lord Jesus Christ, based upon his righteousness imputed. Now, what is it to be in Christ? Well, it's to be in Him legally. Well, let's go on.

It says in verse four, according as He had chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. Verse five, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will. It's all by the sovereign will of God, not by our will, You see, it's not that God looked down through the telescope of time and foresaw who would believe. It was God, according to His sovereign will, choosing us and adopting us into His family, according to the good pleasure of His will. And it says in verse six, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved. That's in Christ. Accepted of God in Christ. It's the only way we can be accepted. We cannot be accepted on our own merits because we don't have any merit. We're sinners.

And God knew that. That was coming, the fall of man. We all fell in Adam into a state of sin and depravity and spiritual death. and we deserve condemnation, but God chose us before the world began in Christ, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.

And how's God gonna accomplish that? To the praise, verse six, of the glory of his grace, wherein he has made us accepted in the beloved. That's in Christ. So our acceptance before God, eternally and in time, is gonna be in Christ. Now how's he gonna accomplish that? We'll look at verse seven. Now here's the legal union with Christ.

In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. Redemption through his blood. In other words, our acceptance in Christ was based upon Christ in the glory of his person, the God-man, God manifest in the flesh. and on the basis of his redemptive work of his obedience unto death on the cross. Sin demands death.

That's what justice is all about. And justice had to be satisfied for God's people. And how was it going to be satisfied? Only through Christ the Beloved. Through his death on the cross. That was his whole purpose. for going to the cross, it was to pay for the sins of his people and work out a perfect righteousness by which God had already justified them before the foundation of the world. And that's what it's all about. And that's the riches of his grace.

You see, in all that transaction, you and I are not involved, even if we're believers, in any way by the works of it. We didn't contribute to it. We're part of it because we're united with Christ eternally, legally, and in time, we're going to be united to Him spiritually. And we'll show you that in just a minute.

But He is our Savior. He is our Redeemer. He is our surety, our substitute. That's what He is. And He did it all. We sing that song, Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe or all the debt I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. And He did it all.

And it doesn't take our believing to put it into effect. His power of the power of His resurrection. Listen, the power of Christ's resurrection is what puts it into effect to our new birth, our being born again spiritually. It puts it in power to bring it to the effect that we will willingly come to Him and submit to Him and believe in Him and love Him and follow Him. So in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins based on his blood.

I tell this story all the time because I heard it on TV and I couldn't believe I heard it. Well, I could believe it, but there was a preacher, a famous preacher, who was talking about the forgiveness of sins. And he says, what in the world brings forgiveness for your sins? And he said, your repentance. And I thought, no, no, no. It's not our repentance that brings forgiveness of sin. It's the blood of Jesus Christ that cleanseth us from all sin. And once we realize that in the power of the Spirit who gives us that knowledge and brings us to believe it, then the result is repentance. Oh, I repent, Lord, of my sins.

Verse eight. Now all of this is the riches of His grace wherein He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence. See, the gospel of God's grace in the person and work of Christ is the very wisdom of God and prudence. It shows God's intelligence, which is supreme, and wisdom. And verse nine, having made known unto us the mystery of His will, Now that's the revelation that God gives his people in time, according to the good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself, that in the dispensation, that segment of time, 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. And that shows you that Christ is going to be successful in the salvation of every one of his sheep.

Not one of them are gonna perish. You realize if you read the Bible, and you know the Bible, that not one sinner for whom Christ died, was buried, and arose again, not one sinner for whom he makes intercession for now will perish. They shall all be saved. all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. That's what he said, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. He said, this is the will of him that sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day.

So it's coming, even in him, both which are in heaven and which are on earth. That's the saints in heaven, the saints on earth. And verse 11 says, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance. Now that's what salvation is. Salvation is not working for it. Salvation is not meeting any condition to earn it or to gain it. Salvation is obtaining what God gives by an inheritance. which is something we don't earn and don't deserve, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him, and listen to this, who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will. So we have the eternal aspect of our union with Christ, and we have the redemptive legal aspect of our union with Christ.

He died for me. He was buried for me. He was raised again for me. He ever lives to make intercession for me, all of his people. But now we come to the spiritual union with Christ, and this is part of that fullness of blessings, full blessings, complete blessings in Christ, fully blessed of God. He says, He says it's according to He who works all things after the counsel of His own will. Verse 12, that we should be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ, first hoped in Christ, in whom, verse 13, you also trusted, after that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that you believed. you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. So that's the new birth.

That's when God sends the Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of life, the Spirit of truth, to find His lost sheep in this world and bring them under the preaching, the communication of the gospel, the true gospel, not a false gospel. Now there are many false gospels in this world. A false gospel is not used of the Lord to save anybody. If you're hearing a false gospel, you're in danger. You need to get out from under it and look for the true gospel. And what is the true gospel?

I've said it several times on this program and even in this message. I always go back to passages like Romans 1, 16 through 17. Somebody says, well, you preach that all the time. Yes, I do, because I'm a gospel preacher. But Paul said, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.

It's the power of God unto salvation. To the Jew first, the Greek also. Same thing for any person. For therein, the Jew first and the Greek also. All who believe, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. Now, what is the righteousness of God? Well, if you look over in the book of Romans, now the gospel, think about it. The fullness of God's blessings is realized in the minds and hearts of God's people through the gospel, the good news, being empowered to our hearts, our minds, our affections, our wills, our consciences, and there's all over the scripture from Genesis to Revelation to show us what that is. But look at Romans chapter 10, for example, and I'll show you this. The apostle Paul, was he grieved over the lost condition of his Jewish brethren. Now they weren't brethren in the Lord. They were brethren in the world. He was a Jew. And he had brothers and sisters who were Jews. And the majority of that nation rejected Christ and his righteousness. In fact, go back to chapter nine. of Romans in verse 30. Listen to this, or verse 31 rather.

But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness. Now what does that mean? It means they tried to keep the law. Hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore, why? Because they sought it not by faith. but as it were by the works of the law. They wanted righteousness. And I'll tell you what, if you're seeking salvation, you better understand you gotta seek righteousness.

But don't seek it by your works, because that's why they didn't make it. Because our works will always fall short. We've all sinned and come short of the glory of God. By deeds of law shall no flesh be justified, be made righteous. but they insisted on going at it by works of the law and they wouldn't seek it by faith.

Now, what is it to seek righteousness by faith? It's not to seek righteousness or seek it by my believing as in place of righteousness. In other words, a lot of people will think, well, we can't be righteous because we're sinners, but God accepts our faith as the next best thing. No. That's not what it is to seek it by faith. Look in Romans chapter nine, wherefore, verse 32, because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law, for they stumbled at that stumbling stone. Now that's why they didn't seek it by faith. They stumbled at that stumbling stone. Well, what is that stumbling stone? Well, that's taken from the book of Isaiah, and it's referring to the Messiah. Christ is the stumbling stone.

Look at it, verse 33. As it is written, behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. To seek righteousness by faith is to seek it and find it in Christ, the glory of his person, and the power of his finished work. His work of redemption as our surety, our substitute, our redeemer. Now let me prove that to you. Verse one of chapter 10. Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. Paul's attesting they're lost. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God. They're religious, but not according to knowledge. They're ignorant. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, God's requirement, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. What is the righteousness of God?

Revealed in the gospel, look at verse four. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it. If I seek righteousness by faith, that's a God-given faith that drives me to Christ alone for righteousness, all righteousness, nothing else. That's why he says later on, with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, we believe in Christ. My faith, I have God-given faith, I believe in Christ, but my believing is not my righteousness, Christ is. That's the difference. Christ is my righteousness. And he's my only righteousness. He's my justification.

Jeremiah, twice, when he was predicting the Messiah to come, he called him Jehovah Sidkanu. Jeremiah 23 and Jeremiah 33. And that Jehovah Sidkanu is the Hebrew, and it's translated the Lord our righteousness. The Lord our righteousness. That's what Christ is. And that's what He means. That's where the fullness of God's blessing, fully blessed of God because of the merits of the obedience of the blood and the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Know it and nothing else. If you want to be blessed eternally, spiritually, look to Christ. We're blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, nowhere else.

I hope you'll join us next week for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us at 1102 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia,

31707. Contact us by phone at 229-432-6969 or email us through our website at www.TheLetterRofGrace.com. Thank you again for listening today and may the Lord be with you.