The title of my message tonight
is Blessing for Blessing. Our text will be Ephesians chapter
1 and verse 3. Blessing for Blessing, Ephesians
the first chapter. Let's begin reading at verse
1. 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 God,
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. In this third verse, the Apostle
calls on us to bless God who has blessed us. Bless God because
we are blessed of God. Now I don't need to tell you
that this first chapter of the book of Ephesians is one of my
most delightful choice portions of inspiration. I recall when
I was 19 years old, being given an assignment to prepare a sermon
for homiletics class, and the first one I prepared was from
Ephesians 1, and the subject was Trinitarian grace. We worship
the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. There are three
that by record in heaven, John said, the Father, the Word, and
the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. And we're saved by the
work of the triune God. All three persons in the Godhead
are equally gracious and all three are involved in the saving
of our souls. Now this is what Paul shows us
in this first chapter of Ephesians. The three persons of the Godhead
are equal in divinity but distinct in personality. And so all three
persons in the Godhead are equal in grace but distinct in the
operations of grace. In the first verses, one through
six, the apostle shows us that the fountain of all grace is
God our Father. It was God the Father who in
the covenant of grace proposed redemption, devised the plan,
chose the people he would save by his grace, and found a way
whereby his banished ones might not be expelled from him. Then,
in the fullness of time, the Lord God our Father sent his
Son into the world to be the mediator, the medium of grace
to his people. God the Son is set before us
here in verses 7 through 12 as the channel of grace, the mediator,
the medium of grace. All grace comes to sinners in
and through Jesus Christ the Lord. God the Father bestows
His grace upon sinners in Christ, only in Christ, because of Christ,
only because of Christ, through Christ, only through Christ.
Everything God does for sinners and everything God gives to sinners
is in Christ. Apart from Christ, there is no
grace at all. I hope you understand this. Grace
comes from Christ. There is no other way for sinners
to be saved except by Christ. It was the work of Christ upon
the cross that brought the grace and justice together. So that
in him, mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace
have kissed each other. John Bunyan expressed what I
want to say far better than I can. Let me give you this. I think
it's just outstanding. A little bit lengthy, but listen
carefully. Bunyan wrote, O thou son of the blessed, grace stripped
thee of thy glory. Grace brought thee down from
heaven. Grace made thee bear such burdens of sin, such burdens
of curse as are unspeakable. Grace was in thy heart. Grace
came bubbling up from thy bleeding side. Grace was in thy tears. Grace was in thy prayers. Grace
streamed up from thy thorn-crowned brow. Grace came forth with the
nails that pierced thee, with the thorns that pricked thee.
Oh, here are unsearchable riches of grace. Grace to make sinners
happy. Grace to make angels wonder.
Grace to make devils astonished. God the Father, source of all
grace. God the Son, the medium of all
grace. And God the Holy Spirit is the
administrator of all grace. That's what's declared in verses
13 and 14. It is God the Holy Spirit who
effectually applies the blood of Christ to God's elect and
brings the grace of God to us in the saving operations of His
grace. He regenerates the dead. He calls
the redeemed. He gives faith by the almighty
power and operations of His grace. He seals God's elect. Brother Allen, back in the office,
read the seventh chapter of Revelation about God sealing His people
in the earth. He seals us with His Spirit. The seal of the Spirit is the
blessed giving of grace in our souls in the experience of God's
salvation. Without the gracious operations
of God the Holy Spirit, No sinner would ever become the beneficiary
of grace. We're saved by the purpose of
God the Father in election. We're saved by the purchase of
God the Son in redemption. And we're saved by the power
of God the Holy Spirit in regeneration. being saved by the triune God,
we joyfully sing, praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise him, all creatures here
below. Praise him above, ye heavenly
host. Praise Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost. In verse 1, the Apostle Paul
identifies himself as the messenger of Christ. and identifies God's
elect in this world as saints and faithful in Christ Jesus.
Then in the second verse, the apostle gives us His heart's
desire for our souls. His heart's desire for God's
elect. He's writing specifically to
this church in Ephesus. But as I told you just recently,
don't ever read the epistles of the New Testament or any other
portion of God's Word as being addressed just to the people
named in that book. The book of God is written to
you who are God's saints, written to God's church in its entirety. So this is what Paul is expressing,
not just his desire for God's people, but the desire of every
faithful pastor's heart for the people trusted to his care. But
more importantly, far more importantly, he's expressing the relentless
desire of God Almighty for you, his people. the relentless desire
of God Almighty for you, His people. And understand that God's
desire is God's determination. Here is what God wants for His
people. Here is what God gives to His
people. Here is what God performs for
His people. Grace be to you and peace from
God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace is the source
and cause of all blessedness because it's the free everlasting
love and favor of the triune God toward his elect in Christ. And the result of grace in the
experience of it is peace. The result of grace in the experience
of it is peace. Peace in our consciences by the
sprinkling of the blood of Christ. Peace in our hearts by God-given
confidence in our God. As we trust God, so we live in
peace. As God gives us confidence in
Him, so He gives us peace by Him. And peace with one another
as we are increasingly united to one another in Christ Jesus. Most of us here are people of
some age and some experience. You men and women married to
one another, been married for a while. And when you're young
and you're first married, love each other, but man, there's
a lot of turmoil. Wasn't there? A lot of pushing
back and forth, getting to know one another, learning to live
with one another, learning to put up with one another. But
as you grow together, As you grow together, as you, by your
life experiences, are welded to one another, you live together
in peace. Oh, what blessedness it is. For God's people, as they are
increasingly united together, as they grow together in Christ
Jesus, in their experience with one another, they live together
in peace and soon. Soon we will enjoy perfect peace,
the peace of eternal glory. Therefore the Lord God says to
his servants, say ye to the righteous, it shall be well with him. It
shall be well with the righteous. Tell my people, wherever they
are, it is always well with them. The Lord is faithful, who will
establish you and keep you from evil. And the Lord Jesus, direct
your hearts into the love of God and to the patient waiting
for Christ Jesus and live in peace. Now, let's look at the
message of verse three. Paul took up his pen to write
this epistle to the church. But no sooner had he begun to
write his letter as he spoke of this grace and peace than
his heart just erupts with praise to God. Robert Hawker expressed
it this way. He said his heart was so full
in contemplation of the divine love, that like bottles ready
to burst, he could no longer contain himself. 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.
He tells us God's God's desire, God's determination for you who
are His is grace and peace. Oh, blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. When I read that statement
from Hawker and understood something of Paul's intense emotion as
he expresses himself here with praise to God for his goodness.
I thought what a reproach this is to me. What coldness I am. Oh Spirit of God, take away my
heart of stone and give me a heart of flesh, a living feeling, sensible,
loving heart for God, my Savior. I say that to you as I speak
it to God because I want you to understand. As we study the Word of God,
as we read and study the message of God to our soul, Let us ask
of God grace that we don't do so with the cold, calculating
indifference of studying math or science or politics, but rather
that we do so with feeling, that our hearts be moved toward God. I've often said to Brother Todd,
we discussed preaching oh, about every week and discuss helping
ourselves, one another, helping other preachers. Preaching ought
to always move you Godward. It ought to always move you Godward. I pray that God will not allow
me to come here and simply give you a lecture in religion, no
matter how true it is. I want my bestest for you to
go home tonight moved toward God to worship Him and serve
Him and thank Him. I want you who are gods to be
moved to give yourselves to God with relentless devotion and
I want myself to be moved Godward by that which I declare to you.
Now let me show you three things in this third verse and I will
be as brief as I can but all what blessed things these are.
First, understand that this statement here in verse 3 sets before us
the deity and the eternal Godhead of our blessed Savior. Paul is
here celebrating the praises of the three persons of the undivided
Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. As he does, The Holy Ghost
here declares again that Jesus the man is God our Savior. If the son be equal to the father,
blessed equally with the father, it is because he is one with
the father. He is himself God. Oh, how precious. That one who
is our Savior is God. Watson Dufour, who pastored in
Anstead, West Virginia, was preaching for me once shortly after I met
him. He was probably, oh, a good 40 years my senior, and he was
a dear friend. He preached to us from Philippians
chapter 2. And as he expounded that chapter
in his marvelous way, he made a statement in just being from
ear to ear. He said, Jesus is God. And I'd
never heard anybody say that before. Jesus is God. I knew the doctrine, but I'd
never heard anybody say that. Jesus is God. He repeated it
the third time. And when he did, I beamed from
ear to ear. He who is our Redeemer, that
man, that man, that man who was born of a virgin, who must have
the milk of his mother's breast just as any other child. That
man who learned and grew and learned to walk and talk and
read and write like any other child. That man who was a man
of sorrows who walked through this world in obedience to God.
That man who suffered all that other human beings suffer except
for sin. That man who knew all that we
know except sin until at last he was made sin for us. That
man who died in our stead at Calvary is God. He's God. That means whatever
he puts his hand to, he accomplishes. Whatever He cares for is well
cared for. Whatever He desires, He has. He is God. God. God the Father is here described
as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because He
is the Father of Christ, the God-Man, our Mediator. who is the firstborn of every
creature, the firstborn in the family of God, that one who was
set up by the triune God as our covenant head and surety before
the world was. And he is the God and Father
of Jesus Christ, our Lord, who is God, the eternal Father of
the eternal Son. And I guess I've read Everything
I know of, of importance concerning the Trinity and the relationship
of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And I just don't know
much about it. It's beyond my comprehension.
But this, the Scriptures make clear. Jesus Christ is the eternally
begotten Son of the eternally begetting Father, Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost, one eternal triune God. God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ. That One who is our mediator
and surety, God the Son, God the Father has blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in His Son, our Savior. Now, here's
the second thing. The Apostle calls upon you and
I who are blessed of God to bless God. Look at our text. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. I remind you
again the word translated blessed here is different from the word
that you find in Matthew chapter 5. In Matthew 5 where our Savior
said blessed are you. The word translated blessed there
is happy. It means happy. Happy are you. Happy are you. Privileged are
you. This word blessed is the word
from which we get our English word eulogize. If you go to the
funeral home and listen to a preacher or someone eulogize a person,
they can make a rogue appear to be a saint because they speak
well of him. They say good things about him.
They speak highly of the dead. They highly esteem the dead. They praise the dead. That's
the word that's used here. Paul says to us by inspiration,
blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Speak
well of God. Praise Him highly. Give highest
esteem to God who has spoken well of you, who has praised
you highly, who has given highest esteem to you. Paul saying, let
us speak well of God. Give praise to God. Prayer arises
from our need. Prayer arises from need. Praise springs from gratitude. We call on God in prayer to do
something, to intervene, to step in, to act from a need that he's
put in us. We give praise to God for His
boundless goodness and infinite grace, for the goodness of His
being and for the grace He bestows. God has blessed us. That is to
say, God has highly esteemed, He has highly spoken of us in
Christ Jesus from everlasting. So let us bless Him. Let us make
it our business to bless God. Oh my soul, bless God the Lord
and all that in me is, be stirred up his holy name to magnify and
bless. I call on you, my brothers and
sisters, and I call on myself. Let us bless God now, here in
his house. And let us bless God to our last
mortal breath. And when we leave this world,
leave this world blessing God to bless Him for eternity. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. But how can
you and I bless God? Truly, the less is blessed of
the greater. But can the greater be blessed
of the less? We who are infinitely less than
God, can we bless Him? I understand this, God needs
nothing from us, and if He did, we couldn't give it. He says,
if I were hungry, I would not tell thee, for the world is mine,
and the fullness thereof. God is self-sufficient. God is all-sufficient. He needs nothing from us, and
we can contribute nothing to Him. And yet, we're called upon
to bless Him. When He blesses us, He gives
us blessedness we didn't have before. But when we bless Him,
we can't give Him one iota of increase in His blessedness.
David made this statement, My goodness extendeth not unto thee. My goodness reaches man. I do
things that may benefit fellow men, but my goodness is of no
benefit to God. My goodness extendeth not unto
thee. How then do we bless Him? Let
me give you two or three ways. We bless God by our heartfelt
gratitude to Him and our expressions of that gratitude. We say, Would
David bless the Lord, O my soul? Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. We bless God by praising Him. extolling him, desiring all honor
for him, ascribing all good to him, magnifying and lauding his
holy name. Our Father, which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. I suspect, I don't know this,
but I suspect that most people who recite those words that are
called the Lord's Prayer, as he taught us to pray, have no
idea what the words mean. Our Father, which art in heaven,
sanctified be your name. Let your name be said above all
names. Let your name be set apart from
all names. Let your name be exalted, praised,
and magnified. That's what Paul's saying here.
Bless God. Escribe praise to God. Speak highly of Him. No language
can ever express Oh my God, no language can ever
express the gratitude we have for you. For you. No words can express our gratitude
to you for who you are, what you are, and all you do. Praise Him in your heart. Praise
him with your speech. Break the silence and invite
others to praise him. Turn back to Psalm 34. Psalm
34. I think this pretty blonde over
here will recall this. One night I was sitting in my
dormitory room in Springfield, Missouri reading this psalm and
Shelby and I We're engaged the year I was out there. We saw
each other just twice the year before we were married, Christmas
and Thanksgiving. And the rest of the time I was
in Springfield and she was in Winston-Salem, North Carolina
in school. But we called every night. Back in those days when
you put in three quarters and talk for three minutes. And then
we wrote every day. And thankfully, I hope she's
thrown most of the letters away. I don't want you to see them. was reading this psalm one night
and wrote to her just after reading it. In the third verse, O magnify
the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together. That's a pretty good way to begin
a marriage. That's a pretty good way to begin
any relationship with people. O magnify the Lord with me and
let us exalt his name together. And if you can't do that, I would
suggest that you not marry him. If you can't do that, I would
suggest that you not form the relationship. Now let's look
at this psalm together. Verse what? Psalm 34. I will bless the Lord at all
times, good and bad, prosperous and adverse, pleasant and painful,
When I'm weeping and when I'm laughing, I will bless the Lord
at all times. I will speak well of God no matter
what. I will exalt God no matter what. I will esteem God no matter what. His praise shall continually
be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast
in the Lord, the humble shall hear thereof and be glad. That
is to say, everybody who knows himself a sinner before God,
everybody who knows God, everybody who knows he is God's, shall
hear of this and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me. Let us exalt his name together.
Will you hear me, my family, my brothers, my sisters in Christ? Will you hear me, my brethren
in this place? Let us exalt his name together. How come I sought the Lord and
he heard me and delivered me from all my fears? They looked
unto him and were lightened and their faces were not ashamed.
This poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him out of
all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encampeth
round about them that fear him and delivereth them. Oh, taste
and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth
in Him. Oh, fear the Lord, ye His saints,
for there is no want to them that fear Him. Worship the Lord,
you His saints. There's no want to them that
worship Him. How do we bless the Lord? We bless the Lord by
expressing gratitude to Him. And we bless the Lord our God
by our heartfelt assent to all the blessedness that's ascribed
to him. What do you mean, pastor? After
hearing how great he is, how glorious he is, how happy he
is, we bless God saying, amen, that's just how I want things.
Amen, that's just the way I want it. We bless God when we say
concerning the whole of his character, This God is our God forever and
ever. Let Him be just what this book
says He is. I wouldn't have Him be anything
different. I don't pretend to have great
knowledge or be real bright or scholarly, but for 47 years now it's been
my privilege to study this book every day. And I have the privilege of studying
in ways that perhaps you can't. I study preparing not only to
minister to my own heart, but to the hearts of those who hear
me, seeking a message from God. And I've learned much. I've learned
much. I've learned so much about God. and his ways, his grace and his justice, his
holiness and his truth, his sovereignty and his goodness, his power,
his majesty, his infinite worth, and his love and his mercy and
his condescending goodness to the sons of men. And let me tell
you what I've learned. Everything I know that God is,
according to this book. Everything I know God is, according
to this book. Everything I read that God has
done, is doing, and shall hereafter do. Larry Brown, I wouldn't have
one thing to change. Not one thing. We bless God by
giving our heartfelt assent to him, agreeing with all he is
and all he does. Sternly just, he will not spare
the guilty. We say amen. That's just right.
Infinitely gracious, he's ready to forgive. He delights in mercy. And we say amen. That's just
right. Everywhere present, always omniscient,
Constantly omnipotent. We say amen. That's what we want
him to be. Everlastingly the same. Unchanging
in his person. Unchanging in his truth. Unchanging
in his promise. Unchanging in his nature. We
say, oh God, how thankful we are. You are the same yesterday
and today and forever. We wouldn't have God to be anything
other than what God is. Oh, that's what it is to bless
Him. Our God is just such a God as
we want Him to be. And we worship, trust, love,
and adore Him for all that He is. He is God indeed. Every attribute of His being
is a diadem of His beauty. Every work of His hand is a display
of His greatness. He is Jehovah, our God, and therefore
we bless Him with humble adoration. Third, turn back to Isaiah 42.
Isaiah 42. Let us bless the Lord by expressing our gratitude to
Him, by giving assent to Him for all He is and does. And let
us bless Him by spreading His praise in the earth. Isaiah 42,
verse 10. Sing unto the Lord a new song
and His praise from the end of the earth. Ye that go down to
the sea and all that is therein, the isles and the inhabitants
thereof, let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their
voice, the villages that Keter doth inhabit. Let the inhabitants
of the rock sing. Let them shout from the top of
the mountains. Let them give glory to the Lord
and declare His praise in the islands That is, let God be praised
everywhere. The Lord shall go forth as a
mighty man. He shall stir up jealousy like
a man of war. He shall cry, yea, roar. He shall
prevail against his enemies. Proclaim his praise and call
for men everywhere to join in praising him and rest assured
that he shall prevail over all his enemies either in judgment
or in grace. We bless God then by proclaiming
the gospel of His grace and seeking sinners to bless Him. Nothing so displays God's honor
as the saving of sinners. Nothing so honors God as faith
in Christ our Savior and that which brings joy in the presence
of the angels. That which brings joy in the
presence of the angels. Can you imagine? Can you imagine? What's that talking about? Joy
in the presence of the angels over one sinner that's converted. One sinner that repents. Well,
that's talking about God. Rejoice in the saving of His
own. Then let us seek The saving of
God's elect everywhere. Seek the salvation of sinners
through all the earth and thus bless the Lord. Here's another
way to bless Him. If you want to honor a man, if
you really want to honor a man, if you really want to honor a
man, serve His children. Serve His children. You can turn
an enemy into a friend like that by serving his children. You
can cause a fellow who's a little cold and indifferent toward you
to just bubble up with love for you just like that if you serve
his children. Serve his children and you serve
him. Honor his children and you honor
him. If you wish to bless God, if
we really desire to honor God, there's no better way of doing
so than by doing good to his sons and daughters. We all too much seek to be served. God forgive us. We all too much
seek to have attention given unto us. God forgive us. God give us grace to serve his
children, to serve one another, to honor his children, to honor
one another. How so? When they're sick, visit
them. When they're downcast, comfort
them. When they're in need, help them. When they're opposed, stand
up for them, stand by their side. When someone speaks evil against
them, speak for them. This has been some years ago,
someone on the internet had said some pretty hard things about
your posture. And Brother Dan Parks called
my attention both to that and to the response of a man I hadn't
seen in 30 years. I hadn't seen him in 30 years.
Brother Willie Overton down in Draper Valley, Virginia, Pastor
of Draper Valley Baptist Church. Willie must be, well, I won't
guess how old he is, but he's way beyond me. And I knew him
a long time ago. He said, what you said about
Don Fortner is not so. I know him well. And I thought,
oh, my. That's what a friend's for. When
one speaks ill against God's children, you speak well of them.
When one suggests something evil, you magnify something honorable.
When someone exposes some evil thing about one of God's children,
you extol something good in them. You can't bless the feet without
blessing the head. And when you've refreshed the
feet, you've refreshed the head. Mark Henson has told me numerous
times Now Regina will take his feet at night and massage his
feet. Oh, how refreshing that is. When
the feet are refreshed, everything's refreshed. And when the Lord's
people are served by you, he's served by you. When the Lord's
people are refreshed by you, he's refreshed by you. When the
Lord's people are ministered to by me, he's ministered to
by me. He said, inasmuch as you do it
unto the least of one of these, my brethren, you've done it unto
me. If they're naked and you clothe
them, if they're sick and you visit them, if they're hungry
and you feed them, you bless and honor God their Father, Christ
their Savior, and God the Spirit their Comforter. Now, turn to
Psalm 16. I referred to this a little bit
ago. 16th Psalm. David said, O my soul, thou hast
said unto the Lord, thou art my Lord. My goodness extendeth
not unto thee. But he goes on to say something
else. My goodness extendeth not unto thee, but to the saints. that are in the earth and to
the excellent in whom is all my delight. I can't add anything
to God's blessedness. I can't make God more high than
he is and I can't make God happier than he is. But I can add to
your blessedness. All Spirit of God, make me a
blessing to your people. Daily, I pray, God, today, today,
make me a blessing to your people. I pray for our grandchildren,
my daughter and son-in-law, your children, your in-laws and your
grandchildren, as I have influence on them. Make our influence a blessing
and not a hindrance. A blessing, not a hindrance.
Cause me to be an instrument of good, not of evil. Out in the highways and byways
of life, many are weary and sad. the sunshine where darkness is
rife, and make the sorrowing glad. Make me a blessing. Out of my life may Jesus shine. Make me a blessing. Oh, Savior,
I pray, make me a blessing to someone today. The Spirit of
God calls for us to stretch the puny limits of our capacity Endeavoring
to extol and magnify our God when he says blessed be the God
and father of our Lord Jesus Christ Now here's the third thing And I'll have to come back to
this another day This third verse of Ephesians
1 declares that blessedness with which the Lord our God has blessed
us in Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ. God has blessed us, all his elect,
at one time in the past in eternity. He has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings. Everything that God can, and
I choose my words deliberately, Everything that God can and will
give to sinners, He's given to us in Christ from eternity. Isn't
that amazing? Isn't that amazing? By God's
blessing on us from eternity, He made us meet to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in life. He's justified us, sanctified
us, glorified us in Christ our Redeemer, the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. He's blessed us in heavenly places. Blessings of heavenly things. Blessings of heavenly portion.
Blessings that are given to us in heaven. Blessings that come
to us from heaven. Blessings that ultimately will
take us at last to heaven. And He's blessed us with these
blessings in Christ. In Christ. In Christ. Christ. All the blessings of
God, all the goodness of God, all the knowledge of God, all
the revelation of God is in Christ. Fourteen times in the opening
verses of this book the Apostle uses the words, in Christ, to
their equivalent telling us that everything God has for sinners,
everything God gives to sinners is Everything God receives from
sinners is in Christ. When you get home, I suggest
you read the first Psalm. David speaks of the blessed man.
And that man is Christ Jesus, the Lord. He says, blessed is
the man. But the word blessed there is
blessedness. And it's in the plural. David
is saying, oh, the blessednesses of the man. The man, Christ Jesus,
our Lord. Oh, the blessednesses of God,
heaped upon us in Christ, so that in the gift of his Son,
God gives us everything. In the gift of his Son, God gives
us himself, all his grace, all his goodness, all his work, all
his creation, all his salvation. Oh, my soul, blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Amen.