In Christ

Q: What does the Bible say about spiritual blessings in Christ?

The Bible teaches that all spiritual blessings come from God through the Lord Jesus Christ and are found in Him. According to Ephesians 1:3, every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places is found in Christ. These blessings are not based on the good actions of sinners but are rooted in what Jesus has accomplished as the representative and substitute for His people. The Apostle Paul emphasizes that all that God has to offer is derived from Christ, and believers are encouraged to find their fulfillment in Him, as He is the source of everything needed for salvation and spiritual well-being.

Q: How do we know election is true?

Electing love is a biblical doctrine, clearly demonstrated in Ephesians 1:4 and other passages showing God's choice of His people in Christ. Election is affirmed in Ephesians 1:4, which states that God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. The term 'election' appears multiple times in scripture, underscoring that God's choice does not stem from any human action or merit, but solely from His will and purpose. Romans 9:11 further illustrates that God's election of individuals is made before they have done anything good or evil, emphasizing His sovereign grace. This foundational truth serves as a comfort to believers, knowing that their salvation rests entirely upon God's choice and not their own works.

Q: Why is God's predestination important for Christians?

Predestination, according to scripture, signifies that God has predetermined the destiny of believers to be conformed to the image of His Son. In Ephesians 1:5, Paul discusses predestination in the context of adoption, asserting that God has predetermined our status as His children through Jesus Christ. This concept is essential as it illustrates God's divine plan and purpose for our lives. Romans 8:29 clarifies that those whom God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son. Thus, predestination assures believers that their transformation and ultimate glorification are grounded in God's eternal decree. It emphasizes God's initiative in salvation, providing assurance that our standing before Him is secured by His sovereign will.

Q: What does it mean to be accepted in the Beloved?

Being accepted in the Beloved refers to believers being accepted by God through their union with Christ, who is His beloved Son. Ephesians 1:6 states that we are accepted in the Beloved, which refers to being fully embraced by God because of our union with Jesus Christ. This acceptance is not based on our works or prayers but solely on Christ's sacrificial love and righteousness. God views believers through the lens of Christ's perfection, meaning that we are accepted by the Father just as His Son is accepted. This blessed status is crucial for Christians, as it assures them of their standing before God and the depth of His love towards them, illuminating the grace that covers all aspects of their lives.

Q: How do Christians receive redemption through Christ?

Redemption is received through Christ's sacrifice, where His blood pays the debt for sin, granting forgiveness to believers. In Ephesians 1:7, Paul explains that in Christ we have redemption through His blood, emphasizing that Jesus' sacrifice is the price that sets us free from the bondage of sin. This concept of redemption indicates that believers were held captive by sin and that the only way to be liberated is by the death of Jesus, who bore our sins and paid the full penalty required by the law. The richness of God's grace is highlighted, showing that through faith in Christ, our sins are forgiven completely—past, present, and future—making redemption a pivotal doctrine that reassures believers of their complete and everlasting forgiveness.

Open your Bibles again to Ephesians
chapter 1. As you're turning, let me make
one announcement I forgot to make. I'll be preaching this
evening in Cottagefield, West Virginia, so I'll covet your
prayers as I preach and travel there and back. I'm not too worried
about the trip up. Paul Mahan told Rick Williams,
he was going to fly somewhere, help build a church building.
Rick had never flown before. He was worried about flying there.
Paul said, you're going to have a safe trip there. You're going
down to help God's people build that church. You're going to
have a safe trip. I don't know about your back, but you're going
to have a safe trip there. All right. Ephesians chapter
one. What I would like to impress
upon your hearts this morning is this, every blessing that
God has for a sinner is in Christ. It's because of Christ, it's
for Christ's sake. No sinner has ever been blessed
because they did something good. It's always in Christ and what
he did as a representative and substitute of his people. And
my prayer has been that the Lord will enable me to preach and
the power of his spirit to preach Christ so clearly, so plainly,
that sinners will be driven to Christ. As you hear these blessings
that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ, that you'll be driven
to Him. You must go to Him and find in
Him everything you need. He's the source of everything
that we need. It's all in Him. So, verse 1,
Paul says, 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." Now, this is Paul's normal salutation,
but he tells us right from the beginning that grace and peace
to sinners comes from God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace
and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
These come to us through the Lord Jesus Christ. And then Paul
begins to talk about the work of salvation. And the work of
the salvation of a sinner is such a great accomplishment that
all of the Godhead is involved in it. God the Father, God the
Son, God the Holy Spirit, all involved in this work of the
salvation of God's elect. In verse 3, Paul talks about
the work of the Father. Verse 3, 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 Father has
blessed his people with all spiritual blessings. He's held none back.
All spiritual blessings. In heavenly places. Now that
tells me these are heavenly blessings. They're spiritual blessings.
He didn't say God's blessed me in my wallet. He's blessed me
in heavenly places. Spiritual blessings. Now God
does bless us with earthly blessings, doesn't he? He works our thankful.
He's given us families. homes and jobs and food to eat.
And we're thankful for those blessings. But the truly important,
the absolutely necessary blessings are these spiritual blessings.
Every earthly blessing is temporary. Every one of them. They'll be
gone someday. Mike and I were sitting up here
talking. I have to make notes. I didn't used to have to make
notes. And I got to be 30 years old and I started to have to
make notes all the time. If I don't write it down when I'm thinking
about it, it's gone. Kids, listen to me. A young mind
is a great thing. But that memory will be gone
one day. Every earthly blessing is temporary. Our families, they'll
all be gone one day. Our homes, our jobs, we won't
live there and we won't go there to work anymore one day. The
food that we eat we're so thankful for, one day you'll lose your
appetite. slip away. They're temporary,
but blessings in heavenly places are eternal. Earthly blessings
all lose their value the longer that you have them. My daughter,
Savannah, is taking an accounting class this semester, and she
called me. She was just at her wit's end. All this depreciation. Everything loses its value. She's
got to keep these depreciation schedules because everything
loses its value. It's exactly right. The longer
you have it, the more worthless it becomes. I had a friend in
high school, my best friend. We did everything together. And
after we graduated from college, I hadn't seen him three times
in the last 20 years. But I recently saw him at his
father's funeral, and his sister, Sherry, was there. And I saw
her and talked to her at the visitation. And I was telling
Janet about Sherry's car, the car she had when we were in high
school. She would, on occasion, I mean, I have to do things,
you know, to kind of earn her favor. On occasion, she would
let us borrow her car. It was a brand spanking new 1981
Trans Am Firebird. Black with the big Firebird on
the front of it, you know. I mean, you just see that car
sitting in the driveway. It's just, oh, just, no. We loved that car. I mean, you
get used to smoking the bandit. We're going all over the place,
you know. And Sherry told me, you know, I still have that car.
She said, it's the only new car I ever owned. I still have it.
I said, do you really? She said, it's sitting behind
the barn. It's just a shell. I hope to restore it someday.
Probably won't be able to, but I hope. There's no value left
in that car anymore. I mean that car that made our
knees buckle. It's just a rust bucket now.
There's no value left in it after 32 years. Spiritual blessings. that you've had for 32 years
have not become a rust bucket. They're more precious, more sweet,
more valuable as the years go along. There's no depreciation
schedule in these spiritual blessings in heavenly places. Moth don't
get them there. Rust don't get them there. Now,
this is important. Where are those spiritual blessings
found? In Christ. They're not ours because
of our faith or our repentance or They're in Christ. The Father has placed every spiritual
blessing that he has for a sinner in his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Every blessing that God has for
his people are yours right now. You don't have to wait for them
someday. They're yours right now in Christ. If you are in Christ, you have
every spiritual blessing that God is ever going to have for
you. And you have it right now. You don't have the possession
of some of them, you don't have the fulfillment of them, but
you have them in Christ. Now, next Paul begins to list
some of those blessings that we find in Christ. And the first
one is this, election is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse four,
according as he has chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
him in love. Now, the Bible is very clear.
The Father chose a people unto salvation. The word elect or
election is used 27 times in scripture, so it's plain. God's
elected a people unto salvation. He actually chose out those people.
He picked them for himself, for his use, for him. Now, why did
the Father choose a people in Christ? because of Christ. He
chose a people to be made just like his Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ. God's election has absolutely
nothing to do with anything a sinner has ever done. They were chosen
in Christ. Look over at Isaiah 42. Christ
is God's first elect and we're elect in him. This election is
in Christ. Isaiah 42, verse 1. Behold, I behold this with awe
and wonder, behold, my servant whom I uphold, mine elect. This is a prophecy of the Messiah,
and the Father calls him, mine elect, in whom my soul is alighted. If I put my spirit upon him,
and he should bring forth judgment to the Gentiles, Christ is God's
first elect. Now look over at 1 Peter chapter
2. 1 Peter 2 verse 6. Wherefore, also
it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief
cornerstone. And look how this chief cornerstone
is described. He's elect and precious, and
he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Christ is
God's first elect. Election all began with the Lord
Jesus Christ, and it's all in Christ. And here's the proof. Look over at Romans chapter 9.
Here's the proof that God's election has absolutely nothing to do
with any sinner. When did Paul tell us God chose
a people? When did he elect those people? before the foundation
of the world, before the world was even created. Look at Romans
9, verse 10. And not only this, but when Rebecca
also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac, for the
children, those twins that were in her womb, for the children
be not yet born, either having done any good or evil, that the
purpose of God, according to election, might stand, not of
works, but of him that calleth. It was said unto her, The elder
shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. God chose one of those boys,
passed the other one by. And God's choice wasn't just
made before those boys were born, while they were in the womb of
their mother. That election was made before the foundation of
the world. It was just revealed to Rebecca
before those children were born. God made this election before
the foundation of the world. Now what was God's purpose in
choosing a people? that they should be holy and
without blame before Him. God didn't choose the people
because they were holy. He chose a sinful, hell-deserving people
out of the lump of Adam's fallen race so He could make them holy. So He could make them unblameable.
He'd make them without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. Holy
and without blame. In whose eyes? Not mine. Not yours. We see a lot of sin.
We see some sin in ourselves and we see a lot of sin in other
people. Well, it's not in my eyes, is it? Not in your eyes.
It's in God's eyes. But for him that we have, we
are without blame in God's sight. God who sees everything, sees
no sin. He sees his people as holy and
blameless. Now, here's a comfort to the
child of God. God sees you as holy. and without blame, then
no sin in Adam is going to destroy that holiness in him. And no
sin in yourself is going to make you now be full of blame. God
sees you as holy and without blame, and that holiness cannot
be spotted. God chose a people to make them
like his Son. God chose a bride for his Son.
He said it's not good for my to dwell alone. So God chose
a people that he would fill heaven with, that he would make just
like his Son, holy and unblameable as God's own Son. And then Paul tells us he did
this in love. God chose a people in love. God's electing love thrills my
soul. I know people in the world say,
well, this is, you know, a mean thing. And no, it's not. It's not. It's the most loving
act I know. That the Father would set his
eternal love upon a sinful man like me. That makes me want to
shout with joy. This thrills my soul. God's electing
love. And it made the Apostle Paul
just shout with joy. There's no easing into this letter
for the Apostle, is it? He just begins, he gives his
salutation, then he just starts right out. Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He just can't contain
himself. There's no easing into it. This is it. Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God's election causes
thanksgiving in the redeemed. I'm telling you the truth today,
right now, I do choose Christ. But I never would have chosen
him if he didn't first choose me and his eternal love and give
me a new heart and a new will. How can we not thank God for
choosing sinful men and women like you and me? This is a blessing
that we've been given in Christ. Second, Paul lists this as another
blessing we have in Christ, the adoption of children. Look at
verse five. having predestinated us into
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to
the good pleasure of his will." Now, Paul uses this word that
the flesh hates, predestinated. I know the flesh hates that.
I love this word, predestination. Now, the world says, if you believe
in predestination, you believe God predestinated some men to
hell and some men to heaven. That is not what the Bible teaches
at all. All God has to do to send a man
to hell is leave him alone. He'll go to hell just fine on
his own. Predestination has to do with
a destination that's predetermined. Election has to do with God choosing
a people. Predestination has to do with
a destination God has predetermined for those people. Look back in
Romans again, chapter 8. Predestination does not predestinate
some men to heaven and some men to hell. Predestination always
has to do with being made like Christ. Look at Romans 8 verse
29. For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate. Now what? To be conformed to
the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among
many brethren. Predestination always has to
do with being made like Christ. Now in our text, Paul says we're
predestined to be adopted as children of God by Jesus Christ. This adoption is in Christ. One
of the ancient translations says this, revealed to be the children
of God in Christ by being made. How is a person revealed to be
the child of God? God makes him just like his son,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, we're not born into this
world children of God. We're born in this world children
of wrath, even as others. We're born children of Adam.
And God didn't choose a people that he's going to adopt in his
family because they were cute little kids like Orphan Annie
that really had a talent for singing. No, they were horrible. They have no talents. They're
awful. They're children of wrath. And God chose a people out of
that horrible pit. This pit that we're born in,
is far worse than any orphanage you've ever seen. It's a horrible
pit of corruption and sin. And God chose a people out of
that horrible pit and took them into His house, clothed them
in the righteousness of His Son, and made them His children. Children. They're children with
all the rights and privileges of children. How much freedom,
you parents, how much freedom do your children have with you?
When they need to be fed, is it alright if they come to you
for food? Is it? When they're hurt, is it alright
if they come to you to make it better? When they're scared,
is it alright with you if they come to you to be comforted?
When they're happy, is it alright if they come to you and want
to be happy with you? Of course it is. It's not greed.
It's to provide things for our children. It's our joy, it's
delight to provide for our children. A child of God is free to come
boldly before the throne of grace at all times. There's never a
time. There's time. I'm sleeping. It
might take me a while to wake up if my children call me in
the middle of the night. Our Father never slumbers or sleeps.
We're free always to come to His throne of grace. Well, then
make use of this freedom. Pour out your heart before your
Father. Our Father It's not this austere,
standoffish person, you know, like you see in movies, you know,
back in the fifties, they come in, pat their children on the
head, you know, and don't have any relationship with their children.
No, sir. Our Father is a loving Father.
He's approachable. Behold, what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the
sons of God. A loving Father. You have free access to Him.
Make use of it. Make use of it. Children have
access to their father and we have an inheritance from our
father. Look at verse 11. In whom also
we have obtained an inheritance. We have an inheritance. A believer,
a child of God is going to inherit everything that belongs to the
father. He'll hold nothing back. Every
child of God gets it all. It all goes to every one of them.
Look at Romans 8 again. This inheritance now is in Christ. It's by the Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 8, verse 16. The Spirit himself beareth witness
with our spirit that we are the children of God, and if children,
then heirs. Heirs of God, and here's the
key, joint heirs with Christ. We are joint heirs with Christ.
Everything Christ has, the believer has in him. We're children of
God. We have access to the father
and we have an inheritance from our father. Now, why? Why did the father choose to
adopt sinful wretches into his family? Just because he would. Just because
he would. According, Paul says, to the
good pleasure of his will and to the praise of the glory of
his grace. God chose the worst of the worst
to make his children so we stand up and shout amazing grace that
saved a wretch like me, brought me into his family in the Lord
Jesus Christ. This adoption is in Christ. The
third blessing of grace we have from the Father is we're accepted
by God in Christ. Look at verse 6, "...to the praise
of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us acceptable in
the Beloved." Not made acceptable in the Beloved, accepted by God,
but only in Christ, only in the Beloved. We cannot be accepted
in our person. We can't be accepted in our works,
in our prayers. The only way a sinner can be
accepted before God is in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Father
loves his son so much, he accepts everyone that's in his son. I want you to notice this. All
the work of the father that Paul's talking about here is in the
past tense. Every bit of it. He has blessed
us with all spiritual blessings. He has chosen us in Christ before
the foundation of the world. He has predestinated us in the
adoption of children. He has made us accepted in the
beloved. All passed in. It's already happened
before the foundation of the world. Nothing we do will affect
it. It's all in Christ. It's secure
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Here we sit. Here you sit right
now. Yet every believer at the same
moment you're sitting in those chairs is seated with Christ
in heavenly places in the beloved. Now, how accepted Are those in
Christ? You know, are they just like
kind of accepted maybe on a trial basis? No. Every child of God
is as accepted by the Father as his dear son is, as the Lord
Jesus Christ is. How accepted is the beloved?
He's the loved one. The only way God can love a sinner
is in Christ. And if you're in Christ, God
loves you with the same love or with He loves His precious
Son. If you're in Christ, God accepts you as fully and with
the same joy that He accepts His Son seated at His right hand. Brethren, that's acceptance and
that's love. That's a blessing that we have
in Christ. Now, here's the work of the Son.
The blessing that we have in Christ because of the work of
the Son is redemption. Look at verse 7. In whom we have
redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according
to the riches of his grace. God chose a people to be holy
and without blame before him. But now they're not born into
the world this way. God determined in an eternity past he's going
to make those people holy without blame. But they didn't come into
this world that way. They came into this world sons
of Adam. They're born unholy. They're
born full of blame, full of sin, sold under sin. They're born
in captivity and slavery to the law, to the law of sin and death. Now, here, Paul talks about redemption.
Now, there is a need for redemption, and that tells me somebody's
in captivity. Somebody needs to be delivered
from captivity and slavery. The word redeemed means to buy
back. Well, gods elect by nature, they're born in bondage, in bondage
to sin, they're born under the power of Satan, they're born
in debt to the law, and we cannot set ourselves free. Escaping
from Alcatraz is child's play to trying to get out of captivity
to the law of sin and death. If a sinner is going to be set
free, the redemption price must be paid. You can't escape. The redemption price must be
paid. And the only way a sinner can
be redeemed and be set free from him that is stronger than they
is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing is valuable enough to
pay the price of our sin debt other than the blood of God's
own Son. But His blood paid the debt in
full. The blood of Christ cleanses
us from all sin. present and future. When Christ
died, all my sin was future. What about those Old Testament
believers? What about Abraham? His too. In the mind and purpose of God,
his sin was already cleansed in the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Even Abraham's sin was all future when God chose him. Put him in
Christ. All sin, past, present, future,
original sin in Adam and sin of our own act, all cleansed
in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're cleansed from the
guilt of sin and the stain of sin, washed white as snow. In Christ, all sin is forgiven. It's wiped away in His blood,
never to be remembered again. That kind of redemption takes
the riches of God's grace. And that brings me to the fifth
blessing. The fifth blessing of God's grace we have is knowledge. Look at verse 8. 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. Now a believer knows something.
We know God's purpose and His will in salvation. I don't have
any idea what most of God's will is. What He's doing in this world
when He's going to bring different purposes to pass, I have absolutely
no idea. But I know what God's will is
in the salvation of His people. I know how God is going to save
His people. It's through His Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ. All God's will and all of His
purpose is fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the gospel
is a mystery. It's been hid from ages and generations,
Peter said. But the gospel is not a mystery
if you know the answer. You kids, you take a test. I used to have a teacher in high
school tell me this. Every test is easy if you know the answers.
The gospel is not a mystery if you know the answers. Only in
Christ can we see the wisdom of God in redemption. He's every answer. In Christ,
now we see that's how God can justify a sinner and still punish
our sin through a substitute. When we see Christ, we say, oh,
that's so easy. That's so plain. Because He's
the answer. We have wisdom in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And God, He teaches His people
some things. He makes us know that not just
all men are sin. He makes me know I'm a sin. There's a world of difference
in knowing everybody's a sinner and knowing I'm totally to pray.
God teaches us. That's wisdom. to know I'm totally
depraved. God teaches his people to know
how it is that God saves sinners in the Lord Jesus Christ. Every
believer is not a preacher. Every believer may not have the
ability to articulate these things, but they know them in their heart. I know how God saves sinners. Knowing that salvation is not
something that you do, but something that Christ already accomplished
for his people. That's wisdom that most of this
world does not have. And God gives that. He teaches
His people this. And if you have Christ, you have
wisdom. His name is wisdom, isn't it?
And all the wisdom of God is found in Him. Now, this seems
to be such a popular thing in our day. Our girls were home
a weekend or two ago. We're flipping through the channel,
some movie is on. Some man says, I'm sick and tired of seeing
movies about the world ending, about the apocalypse. Everybody
wants to know when the world's going to end. Want me to tell
you? I can tell you. When it pleases
God. That's exactly when it's going
to end. And everybody wants to know what's going to happen when
the world ends. When Christ returns, what's going to happen? You know,
they've got lots of speculation about what's going to happen.
There's going to be a tribulation, a millennium, and a millennial
reign, and all this stuff. Let me tell you what's going
to happen when Christ returns. God tells us in his word, God's
going to gather together everyone in Christ and take them to be
with him eternally. That's what's going to happen.
You don't need to know anything more. Those who have already
died in Christ and are with God now in glory and those who are
left on earth at that moment, he returns. They're all going
to be gathered together in one and be with Christ in glory.
So that God's elect will be to the praise of His glory. That's
what Paul says in verse 12, that we should be to the praise of
His glory. That's why God's going to do
all that. Now, seeing the work of the Father in redemption,
He chose a people. He predestinated them to be adopted
into His family. The work of the Son. He purchased
that salvation that God purchased. And then the work of the Holy
Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes, he applies the blood of Christ
and gives life to everyone for whom Christ died. That's our
sixth blessing that we have in Christ. We have faith in Christ. Look at verse 12. That we should be to the praise
of his glory who first trusted in Christ, in whom he also trusted
after that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your
salvation. Saving faith is in Christ. But for both Jew and Gentile,
both Old Testament believers and New Testament believers.
In the Old Testament, believers were not saved by being under
the law. And New Testament believers then
are saved by keeping faith in Christ. No. Old Testament believers,
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, they were the ones who Paul says
here first trusted in Christ. They trusted in Christ. Abraham saw my day, Christ said,
and was glad. Abraham believed God and it was
counted to him for righteousness. His faith was in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And now New Testament believers,
we're saved the exact same way. In whom you also trusted. It's not what you trusted. In
whom you trusted. After that you heard the word
of truth. The gospel of your salvation. We preach the gospel
because faith cometh by hearing, hearing the truth of the word
of God. You believe Christ. It's not
Baptist doctrine. It's not converting to, you know,
the five points of Calvinism. It's not a set of creeds somebody
gives you. It's believing Christ. Believe
him. He has become all of my salvation. It's not what you believe. it
in whom you believe. Saving faith is in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And seventh, seventh blessing
we have in Christ is we're sealed by the Holy Spirit. Look at verse
13. 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 until the redemption
of the purchased possession unto the praise of His glory." Believers
are sealed by the Holy Spirit. We're kept from spoiling by the
Holy Spirit. They dwell within you. The illustration
Henry always used, what I always think about when I see this verse
is canning beans. You can those beans. You put
the lid on and eventually that lid pops. And that thing is sealed. You can put it up there on the
shelf and it'll sit there for two years. And you go open it and
pop that lid off of it and they're as fresh as the day you canned
them. They're sealed. They didn't spoil. That's what
a believer is. Kept from spoiling. Kept from
getting that perfect righteousness spotted by the Holy Spirit. Now, how can we know all these
blessings that are in Christ are sure? They're in Christ. I see that. How can I know they're
sure to meet? How can I know I have them? A
believer already has the down payment. That's how you know.
You have the Holy Spirit. He's the down payment. Paul said
he's the earnest. The earnest is earnest money.
You give somebody, you intend to buy something that's expensive.
Our redemption is expensive, isn't it? We have the earnest
money, the down payment. The Holy Spirit is the down payment
that guarantees us All these other blessings that are in Christ
will be ours. You already have the down payment,
the Holy Spirit. The rest are sure to follow.
And you'll have that earnest until you have the possession
of the purchased possession in glory. I got done with my notes
yesterday, and I look back at some old notes, and I don't remember
this, but I have the notes. I taught a lesson on this passage
of Scripture to Bob Coffey's Sunday School class. 5th through
8th graders a number of years ago. I looked at those notes
and I taught this lesson when Tara was pregnant with the baby.
It ended up being Maggie. I had an illustration. I gave
those children. I want to give it to you. This
illustrates what I'm saying about a believer being in Christ. Everything we have is ours only
in Christ. When Tara was pregnant, that
baby was in Tara. That baby's life came from Tara. Everything she needed for life,
she took from Tara. She got it from her mother. Everywhere
Tara went, that baby went. She was dependent upon Tara.
Everything she needed for a healthy life came from her mother. Everywhere
Tara went, that baby went. Everything Tara ate, that baby
ate. That was her food. She got it
from her mother. And when we saw Tara, we saw that baby. And when you saw that baby, you
saw Tara. Because they were inseparable.
She was in her mother. Whoever talked to Tara, talked
to that baby. Whoever gave Tara a hug, hugged
that baby. Whoever patted her pregnant belly,
patted that baby. Because that baby was in her
mother. Everything that she had was in
her mother. That's a believer. Everything
that a believer has is in the Lord Jesus Christ. What Christ
has done, we've done in him. Everything Christ has, we have
in him. And the unbeliever? Everything
Adam's done, he has in Adam. Everything. When God sees me,
he sees the blood of the Lamb. He sees me as worthy and not
as I am. When Tara was pregnant, I didn't
see the face of that baby. I saw that baby. When you look
at me today, you don't see the finished product. You will one
day. But that's what God sees. You
don't see it, but that's what God sees. He sees us in the beloved. Everything that God has for a
sinner is in Christ. Are you interested? Would you
have these blessings? During the famine in Egypt, people
needed food and they came to Pharaoh. And what did Pharaoh
say? Go to Joseph. He's got it all. Are you interested
in these blessings? Do you need anything? Do you
need righteousness? Do you need forgiveness? Do you
need to be adopted into God's family? Do you need God to give
you some understanding and some wisdom? Go to Christ. He's got it all. Everything that
God will ever have for you is in the Lord Jesus Christ. All
right. Well, I hope the Lord will bless
that to you.

In Christ

What does the Bible say about spiritual blessings in Christ?

How do we know election is true?

Why is God's predestination important for Christians?

What does it mean to be accepted in the Beloved?

How do Christians receive redemption through Christ?

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In Christ

What does the Bible say about spiritual blessings in Christ?

How do we know election is true?

Why is God's predestination important for Christians?

What does it mean to be accepted in the Beloved?

How do Christians receive redemption through Christ?

Sermon Transcript

About Frank Tate

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