Well last week I finished the
message by saying there is but a step between you and death. Oh the blessedness of knowing
you are ready for it whenever it happens. And I encourage you
to look at Ephesians chapter 1. and that has prompted me.
Let's move into Ephesians. We'll have a look at Ephesians
chapter one, or at least the opening words of it. I want to
look at the blessings with which God blesses his people. I've
called this message The People Blessed of God. And I've got
three points. I want to look at the root of
the blessing, of God's blessing, the nature of God's blessing,
and the aim or the fulfillment of God's blessing. So first of
all, the root of blessing. Look in Ephesians chapter 1 and
let's read the first four verses. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ
by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to
the faithful in Christ Jesus, grace be to you and peace from
God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as
he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. In that greeting, In that opening,
there's so much about the favor of God upon his people. The blessing
is the favor of God. You know, God does not view all
equally. He bestows his favor on some. It's a distinctive favor that
he bestows on his people, on them particularly. on them distinctively. He talks about the saints. The saints are not those who
are made saints by some old chap in Rome. Not at all. Not that. All who believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ, all who are called by the gospel of his grace and heed
that call by the grace of God are saints, set apart by God,
set apart from the rest. Holy means different, made different
from the rest by God. And there are saints everywhere.
There are saints at Ephesus, there are saints here. There
are saints scattered around, not many of them in these days,
it would seem, but God knows more than we do. He has his saints,
his set-apart ones. And they're not separate from
the faithful in Christ Jesus. That's the distinguishing mark.
What makes a saint? God makes a saint, but how do
you detect a saint? They're faithful in Christ Jesus.
What does that mean? They have the faith of God's
elect. They believe the Lord Jesus Christ. They trust in him. And he greets
them. with particular favour to them. To the saints. To the us that
he talks about later on. He's blessed us. Blessed us.
Verse 3. He's blessed us. Who are the
us? The saints. The faithful in Christ Jesus
whom he has blessed. He's blessed us. He goes on in
verse 2. Grace be to you and peace from
God our Father. We let those words just trip
off the tongue and we don't really think about them and meditate
upon them as we ought to. Grace from God our Father. Look at this world. Look at this
universe. Look at the one who has made
it, whose hand is everywhere. I look in myself with the psalmist,
I say, I am fearfully and wonderfully made. God has made me. I know,
there's design everywhere and in everything. God has made this
world. And he is the one who rules over
this world. And the only reason this world
goes on is because he upholds this world, as Hebrews 1 tells
us, by the word of the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, by
whom also he made the worlds. Peace with him. To be at peace
with God. If it hits you, it'll take your
breath away. If it hits you, to be at peace
with God, grace and peace from God our Father and from the Lord
Jesus Christ. Not a separate being, separate
person of the one God. blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who have blessed us with all spiritual
blessings. It's full of favour, and it's
favour that isn't bestowed on all without exception. It isn't. Evidently, it isn't. It would
be unjust if it was, when you look at the evil that there is
in the world. God saves sinners, but there are those who deserve
the full wrath of God, as we do by nature in ourselves. but
there's favor arising from God's grace. Grace, what do I mean
by grace? Have you thought, what do you
mean by grace? Unmerited giving. You know, if you're gracious
to somebody, yeah, it's because just for no other reason than
you wanting to bestow a gift that isn't deserved, it isn't
merited, you just want to give a gift, that's grace. That's
grace. It's unearned goodness. Unearned. You've done nothing to deserve
it. You're not any better than anybody else. If you're the object
of God's grace, it's just because He is a God of grace, not because
you're the sort of person He likes to be gracious to. He chose
a people before the world began, as it tells us in verse 4. He
chose us then for nothing that we had done. No reason. Unearned
goodness. And where are the roots of grace?
This grace of God has its roots in divine love. That's where
it is. You read in 1 John, God is love. People love to latch onto that.
People who are really the enemies of God in religion. God is love.
Yes, God is love. God is love. In the Lord Jesus
Christ. In the gospel of his grace. 2
Thessalonians 2.13. But we are bound to give thanks
always to God for you. Brethren, beloved of the Lord. It's the love of God. It's divine
love. Why? How do we know? Because
God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation. His love caused
him to choose you to salvation. God has from the beginning chosen
you who were beloved of the Lord through sanctification of the
spirit, setting apart of the spirit. And how does it evidence
itself? Belief of the truth. The root
of God's blessing is in eternity, before the beginning of time.
Oh it's so important to get this right. We say, you know it, you
who sit here, you've listened to preaching like this now for
as long as you can remember. But it's so important, it distinguishes
true Christianity, true gospel preaching, true faith, from that
which is false. The root of God's blessing is
in eternity, before the beginning of time, in the love of God,
which led the God of love to be gracious to a people who didn't
deserve it, unmerited favor, before there was a fall in the
Garden of Eden, before Adam fell into sin and took the whole human
race with him, before then God was particularly gracious to
a multitude that no man can number, before there was ever any sin,
in human nature. Before that, God was gracious
to his people, in sovereign, electing, gracious love. To those
who would by nature say, this is what by nature we say, Job
tells us, Job 21 14, this is what the natural man says to
God, this is what you and I in our natural fleshly state say
to God, and doesn't everybody all around us. We say to God,
depart from us. for we desire not the knowledge
of your ways." You think of your unbelieving relatives, and your
neighbours, and the people you come across at work, and in the
street. Is that not their mantra? Is that not what they say? They
say regarding God, depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge
of thy ways. They did not want to retain God
in their knowledge. They want nothing to do with
the God of all grace. No. This love of God, which itself
is a blessing, to be loved by God. Isn't it a blessing to be
loved? Isn't it a blessing to know that
somebody loves you? The love of God, which itself
is a blessing, is the root of all blessing. It's because he
loved his people. That's the root of all blessing.
It's an everlasting love. We see it often. Jeremiah 23,
isn't it? I have loved you with an everlasting
love. John 17, 23, this is our Lord
Jesus Christ in his prayer before he went to the cross, and he's
talking about his people. He says, and I'm paraphrasing
the verse, but I'm not doing any violence to it, that God
has loved his people, his elect, as thou, God, the Father, has
loved me, Christ. You have loved them as you've
loved me. This is the love that God has
for his people. You have loved your people, says
Christ to his father, you have loved your people as you have
loved me. Describe for me the love of God
the Father to his well-beloved son. How many times did the voice
come from heaven, from glory, in the days of the ministry of
Jesus on earth, when the disciples were with him, on the Mount of
Transfiguration, at his baptism. This is my well-beloved son. This is my well-beloved son.
Describe the love of God the Father for his well-beloved son.
You cannot plumb the depths of it. Do you know what our Lord
Jesus Christ tells us in that high priestly prayer? That's
the same love he has for his elect people. He says, you have
loved them as you have loved me. Does that, just let it sink
in. that Jesus says, God the Father
loves his people as he's loved Christ. Can you describe that
love of God for Christ? No, you can't plumb the depth,
you can't get close. But that's how much he loves
his people, to the same extent, and for the same duration. This
is a divine love, and a divine love which is worked out in betrothal,
and in marriage, In John 17 again, that same prayer, verses 9 and
10, Jesus prays, I pray not for the world. You listen to religion
today, you listen to the service on the radio in the morning,
every other aspect of it, and all they're praying for is the
world. Jesus said he prayed not for the world, but for them which
thou hast given me, for they are thine. and all mine are thine. All the people that belong to
Christ are the Father's, and thine, all the people that belong
to the Father are Christ's, and I am glorified in them. what
we read of in the scriptures what we see is an arranged marriage
you'll read in the news lots of things quite justifiably about
arranged marriages and the evil of them and forced marriages
are an utterly evil thing yes absolutely and we ought to have
laws against it absolutely but you know there's an aspect in
which a benignly arranged marriage a benignly one. You know there
are some people from Indian cultures where arranged marriage is very
much the norm and there are many who will say well I had nothing
to do with it but I'm totally happy with it I'm not advocating
it in this world in the slightest but what we have here in the
scriptures is an arranged marriage God the Father arranged the marriage
of his son to his bride, which is his church, which is his people,
which are the people of his choice, whom he gave to his son. What
role, believer, did you play in arranging this marriage? What
role did you play? You know. Nothing. It was entirely
independent of anything you are or anything you have done or
anything you will do. It was all subject to the unchanging
and alterable will of God. God is unchanging. He willed
it. He arranged this marriage between
his son and his people before the beginning of time. James
1, 17 and 18, Every good gift and every perfect gift is from
above and cometh down from the Father of lights with whom is
no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Of his own will begat
he us with the word of truth. God's will is unchanging. In
respect of the marriage of his Son to his people, God's will
is unchanging. You change your mind, I change
your mind, and my intentions daily. Unforeseen events. A reporter was once asking the
British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, back in the 1950s
it probably was, or maybe early 60s, and he said, what has derailed
the programme of your government, Prime Minister? And Harold Macmillan
said, events, dear boy, events. Things over which I've got no
control. Things that I never planned to happen come along
and happen. Events. Change. what we intend
to do, and our intentions, but not so with God. If God has determined
to bless and favor a people before time began, be sure He, God,
the unchangeable God, with whom there is no shadow of turning,
He will accomplish His intentions. What is the root of the blessing,
of the undeserved favor of God on the people of His choice?
What's the root of it? His love in eternity. Worked
out in grace, electing grace, sovereign electing grace. But
what is the nature of the blessing with which he's blessed us? What
is the nature of it? According, blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. What is the
nature of the blessing that the people of God are the beneficiaries
of. Let me put it that way. We often
fail to live in the good of it and the realization of it. Minute
by minute with the best of intentions we get up determined to walk
in Christ's footsteps and ten minutes has gone by and something's
happened and all of that has gone for the usual way that the
things of the flesh go. But what is the nature of the
blessing? What is the nature of it? You see, our natural view
of blessing is so much earthbound. We think of blessing in spiritual
terms as well, wrongly, as being fortuitous happenings, achieving
our hope for purpose. And you'll hear believers saying,
oh well, you know, we're looking to the Lord to guide us as to
which of these houses we ought to buy, or which car we ought
to get, or where we ought to go for our holidays next year.
Isn't that the way people talk? You know? I'm not saying we don't
consult God about material, physical things. Yes, of course. You read
the Old Testament when it comes to Israel and its battles. He
inquired not of the Lord. Yes, of course we inquire of
the Lord regarding these things. But you know, things of health,
oh, that this will turn out for good. Things of physical strength,
Things to do with the stuff we possess. Oh Lord, we pray that
our investments will not go down in value. Oh how much we pray,
please don't let our investments go down in value. as if that
affects the way that God will preserve his people and keep
them and take them to glory. It doesn't matter two hoots.
I'm not telling anybody to be irresponsible and neglectful
with the things that he's put in your care. But don't think
for one moment that your eternal good is determined by these things
that we so often think of as blessings. Health, strength,
possessions, riches, education, career, all of these things Yes,
do the right thing. Spurgeon said to his students
about education. He said, go and get the best
education you can. Yes, by all means do that. But
don't think that your eternal soul hangs upon it, because it
doesn't. It doesn't. There's a sort of a Christian
praying, or a Christian desire regarding blessing, which is
summed up in the little phrase, please make all the traffic lights
green for me. You know when you go on a journey
and you know there's lots of traffic lights on the way and
some days it just happens, it just seems like every single
traffic light's going to stop you. The road is still there,
but I remember it from the early 1970s, the East Lancs Road from
Liverpool to the motorway. And it was one set of traffic
lights after another about every half a mile. You wouldn't go
half a mile without there being a big set of traffic. And some
days when you drove on that 25 miles down to the M6, it seemed
like every traffic... Green! Hey, woo! Straight through!
Oh, next one! Green! Oh, straight... And then
another day you'd go through it, orange, red. Stop. orange red, and it seemed like
everyone would catch you. And, you know, people pray for
blessing, and they're praying, please make all the traffic lights
of this life green, please make such and such a thing work out
well. No. How do you view these material
blessings? Don't think that I'm dismissing it completely, because
to be sure, you would prefer to have material blessing than
not. You know, the writer of Proverbs
says, In Proverbs 30 he says, give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with food convenient
for me, lest I be full, if I've got too much, and deny thee,
and say, who is the Lord? I don't need him. Or lest I be
poor and steal, and take the name of my God in vain. So let's
not be hyper-spiritual about this. Yes, of course we like
material blessings from God. And God has said he will not
suffer his people to go begging bread. But the Apostle Paul learned,
in whatever state he was, therewith, to be content. And we should
aim to do that. With his teaching, with his guidance. Whether in poverty, or whether
in plenty. Do you know how fragile this
world is? You see it in the economy at the moment. I know we saw
it going through Revelation. How God is going to bring all
things to an end, and there's going to be great... Do you remember
the horses? Well, I think the horse of economic hardship, is
riding forth. It's going to come. It really
is. What we're seeing is nothing to do with us all voting to get
out of the European Union. What we're seeing is what's fundamentally
wrong with the economies of this world. And where it's happening
here now, with the pound falling in value, other places will as
well. It will. Poverty or plenty. Don't think
that plenty goes on forever. But whichever state we're in,
in Christ, learn with Paul therewith to be content. Whether in comfort,
or distress, whether at liberty or whether imprisoned. This is
what Paul said. But it isn't primarily material
blessings that Paul is talking about here. Look what he says,
who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings, in heavenly
places, in Christ. Spiritual, in heavenly places. What are these blessings that
Paul says God has showered on his believing people? They're
the same blessings that Christ means when he talks about laying
up treasure in heaven. Where moth and rust doth not
corrupt. Lay up treasure in heaven. Seek
first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And all these
other things that you need, these materials, they'll be added to
you. You'll get what you need. Don't worry about them, but lay
up treasure in heaven. Where moth and rust doth not
corrupt. Let me give you some of them.
You could probably think of more. But firstly, in verse 7 of Ephesians
1, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness
of sins according to the riches of his grace. The forgiveness
of sins. Is that not a spiritual blessing?
Do you know what the forgiveness of sins means? It's the discharge
of the debt to the law and justice of God. The forgiveness of sins. You know, I don't know whether
people still do, but they used to talk about forgiving you your
debt, meaning you don't have to pay me back the money that
you owe, forgiving you your debt. This is what it is. It's the
forgiveness of sins. It's the discharge of the debt.
How can he do it? By what it says there. through
his blood. Redemption. He's paid for it.
What's he paid for it with? Currency. What currency? His
own precious blood as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
Has he done it tight-fistedly? No. According to the riches of
his grace. With abundant riches. The forgiveness
of sins. You know, oh, I pray that my
investments will rise and that I'll have plenty of money. I
tell you what, When it comes to the day, you know, we're all
just a step from death. When it comes to that day, the
value of your investments will be your last concern on this
earth. It really will. What you'll want
is the blessing of knowing that your sins are forgiven. That's
true blessing, that your sins are forgiven. Secondly, justification. Romans 3, 24, justified freely
by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Isaiah
45, 25. In the Lord shall all the seed
of Israel be justified. Note particular, all the seed
of Israel shall be justified in the Lord and shall glory.
Isaiah 61, verse 10 speaks of him clothing his people with
the garments of salvation and with the robe of righteousness.
Free justification. You say, how do I feel this blessing? let me give you an example it's
not a very good example but you know how the singer Cliff Richard
was accused of all sorts of horrible crimes and the police raided
his house and the BBC turned up with their cameras there to
film when he didn't know about it and you know he said he's
been through two years of mental torture whilst he's been accused
of being a sexual predator and abuser of people and it's been
agony for him to go through that and then he speaks of the absolute
lifting of an enormous burden the day he was told that they
could find no evidence against him and that all charges against
him had been dropped and that they never ever should have in
the first place have raided his house or done any of those things
and how sorry they are that it's all happened That's a feeling
of justification. He's justified from those crimes. Those crimes of which he was
accused. But we, dear friends, are justified from crimes of
which we were justly accused. How can God be just because we
are sinners deserving of his condemnation and yet justify
the ungodly because Christ has come and has stood in the place
of his people and has judicially borne their sins in his own body
on the tree and paid the penalty and redeemed from the curse of
the law that they might be justified so that when the law of God strictly
absolutely black and white strictly calls before the bar of his justice
and says Right, where's the charge sheet against these people? There
isn't one. Why not? He's taken it away.
How has he taken it away? By bearing that sin in his body
on the tree and paying the last penalty. He drained the cup of
the wrath of God for his people. Justification. Is that a spiritual
blessing? Is it good to know? Is it a favoured
position to know that when I'm that step from death, which I
am every day, but when that step comes and I move into eternity,
I know I will stand justified before the judgment seat of Christ.
Oh, what a glorious Wonderful blessing that is. Justified before
the judgment seat of Christ. Because when I put those two
together, the forgiveness of sin and free justification that
is in Christ, do you know what I have? I have peace with God. Read the epistles. How many times?
Peace with God. Peace with God. Grace to you
and peace from God our Father. Peace with, I have peace with
God. Whereas naturally, Naturally,
I'm an enemy of God. Naturally, there's wrath, and
enmity, and condemnation, and banishment from his presence.
But in place of that, there's peace with God. Let the peace
of God reign in your hearts. Let all the blessedness, what
a spiritual blessing, is peace with God. And that which goes
with it, reconciliation. Colossians chapter 1, verses
21 and 22. And you, who's he speaking to?
Who's the you he's speaking to? You, believers, saints, the saints
that are at Colossae, and everywhere else where there are saints.
You, who believe the Lord Jesus Christ, that were sometime alienated
and enemies, you were, in your natural state. You were just
like those who said, we don't want anything to do with your
ways. We won't have this man to rule over us. We want nothing
to do with this, we don't want any constraint on what we can
think or what we can do. You who were sometime alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled. How? In the body of his flesh. How? Through death, through his
death. And what did it accomplish? To
present you holy. and unblameable, and unreprovable. You who were enemies, holy, unblameable,
unreprovable, in his sight, according to his judgment. Reconciliation. Reconciliation. Oh, how good
it is, if ever there's been a feud, if ever there's been a family
feud, or if ever there's been a war between nations where the
hatred was intense and vile and bitter, to be reconciled. to be reconciled, to be at peace.
Fifthly, blessings, blessings from God, blessed with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places. Because of these things, we have
access to God. Look at chapter two and verse
13. But now in Christ Jesus, ye who
sometimes were far off, you were separated from God, are made
nigh by the blood of Christ. You now have access. You're made
nigh by the blood of Christ. What is it to have access? It's
to have liberty, freedom, qualification to approach the throne of God.
Come boldly before the throne of grace. You can come. Why can
you come? Because he's gone before. Not
with the blood of animals, as the high priest did in the Old
Testament, into the temple behind the veil, but Christ, when he
shed his blood, that veil of the temple was torn, rent asunder
from top to bottom, giving access to his people. We now have access
into the Holy of Holies by that living way. Not into the place
made with hands, the temple in Jerusalem as was, but it hasn't
been there now for 2,000 years, nearly, but that heaven that
holy place which is in heaven, the holy place of God, the place
that we saw pictured in Revelation 22, that great cube as it's pictured,
that vast immense cube as it's pictured, pictured by that little
sanctuary in the middle of the temple in Jerusalem. We have
liberty to approach there. Blessings, spiritual blessings
in Christ Jesus. Put them, yes, material blessings
are good, But when it comes down to it, you know, oh, this house
must be worth, oh, I don't know, what must it be worth? There's
one for sale across the road, and if that's gone on the market
for 425, oh gosh, this must be worth, oh, half a million or
more. Do you know all that kind of thinking? It's such a blessing. No, it's not. When it comes down
to it, to know that you have the forgiveness of sins, that
you're justified before the throne of God, that you're at peace
with the God who's made you, that you are reconciled to him,
that you have free access as a child has access to come in
to your presence. You know, you don't ask to go
in your house, do you, Luca? You go in because it's your house,
it's your mum, and you live there, don't you? That's where you live,
it's your home. The child of God can come into the very presence
of God. What a blessing. Access. Because
he promises us eternal life. Eternal life. You are but a step
from death. Eternal life. Titus 1 verse 2. In hope. Ooh, fingers crossed. I hate that expression. You know,
I really do. I hate that expression. As if
crossing your fingers is going to make a scrap of difference
to anything. No, no, no. God. causes all things to work
together for good to those who love him, who are called according
to his purpose. Not crossing your fingers. No.
In hope. Not that kind of cross-fingers
hope. In hope, sure and certain hope
of eternal life. Have you got eternal life? Oh,
I hope it will be. No, I know it's so. That's the
kind of hope which God that cannot lie. I tell you, everybody else
you've ever spoken to Everybody else, every person you've ever
spoken to is perfectly capable of lying. I'm capable of lying. Even if it isn't an absolutely
bare-faced, bald... Lie. I'm capable of twisting
and shading and bending and adjusting the truth so that it puts it
nicely in my favor. You know what I'm talking about.
Every single one of you do. But God, who cannot lie, has
promised eternal life to his people. When? Before the world
began. Are we going to get it? If you're
in Christ, certain. Absolutely certain. Blessings.
All spiritual blessings. We've scratched the surface barely
at all. But let's finish by thinking
about what's the aim and the fulfilment of the blessing. What's
God's aim in blessing his people? It's that we should be holy.
Look in verse 4. Why does he bless us? He's chosen
us before the foundation of the world that we should be holy
and without blame before him in love. holy and without blame. You see we must be that if we're
to go into his presence. Follow peace, says Hebrews 12
14, follow peace with all men and holiness without which no
man shall see the Lord. Do you have the holiness that
you must have to see the Lord? Do you? Do you? Not in yourself
you don't, you don't have any at all. But if Christ's church
is to be his bride, it can have no defiling mark whatsoever,
no blemish whatsoever. Revelation 21 verse 2, I, John,
saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven.
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Adorned? Dressed
up? Made up? How? How? Ephesians
5, 25 to 27. Husbands, listen to this. Husbands,
love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave
himself for it, that he might sanctify it. and cleanse it with
the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself
a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing,
but that it should be holy and without blemish, because we know
that in God's heaven Nothing shall enter which defiles, not
in the slightest way, nothing. It must be without blemish and
without spot, holy. To make it a fitting bride for
his son, God has sanctified his church, made holy, made separate. How has he done it? Threefold.
Firstly, he sanctified his church from eternity. Ezekiel 16 verse
14, thy renown went forth, the renown of his church he's talking
about, among the heathen, for thy beauty. What a beautiful
thing. I think that's saying that when
it comes to judgment, when it comes to judgment, unbelievers
will be in the condemnation of hell but they will look on the
bride of Christ and will be in renown for beauty. for it was
perfect says God the church was perfect through all of its hard
work to be holy doesn't say that Religious folks like to tell
you that, but it doesn't say that. It was perfect through
my comeliness. It was perfect through God's
comeliness, God's beauty, which I had put on thee, saith the
Lord God. I have clothed you with the garments
of salvation and with the robe of righteousness. He sanctified
his people, his church, from all eternity. Secondly, in time,
He sanctified his church by the blood of his son. Hebrews 13
verse 12. Jesus also, that he might sanctify
the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate, outside
the gate of Jerusalem, he suffered with his own blood. What was
the purpose of it? To make his people holy. To make
his people holy. Thirdly, he sanctified his people
by Holy Spirit quickening. This is the impartation of a
new nature. It's the imputation of the righteousness
of Christ, but it's the impartation of a new nature. Colossians 3
verse 10, And have put on the new man. the new man which is
renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him. Ye must be born again. Ye must
be born again. Unless you are born again you
cannot see the kingdom of God, Jesus said to Nicodemus, sanctified
by Holy Spirit quickening in eternity by his blood and by
the Holy Spirit coming. There's great privilege and blessing
when we think of a wedding, isn't there? Even a worldly wedding,
you think, I don't think we've had an invitation to a wedding
for an awfully long time. And I'm not coveting one at this
moment, anybody listening, I'm not saying it for that purpose,
but you know, even an earthly wedding, just the receipt of
the invitation feels like a privilege and a blessing, doesn't it? Just
the receipt of the invitation. And then, you know, the groom
is going to get his bride and he's so happy about this. And
the bride, I mean, it's, you know, the bride's greatest day,
you know, adorned, you know, in that beautiful robe and all
the bridesmaids all making the bride look lovely. What great
privilege and blessing there is in being the bride on the
wedding day. But what we're talking about
here is an eternal wedding. It's the marriage supper of the
Lamb. It's a wedding of sinless perfection. It's the prospect
of eternal life of bliss in glory. Psalm 32, one and two. Blessed is he whose transgression
is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man or the woman
unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit
there is no guile. What's the aim and fulfilment
of the blessing? To take his people to eternal
glory. To bliss. Blessed with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. How much of this depends
on you? What you've done in the past?
What you're doing now? What you will yet do in the future?
Absolutely none of it. For it is all of grace. All of
grace. Reaction? Praise God and rejoice.