Before the world began, God loved
me then. He chose me for His own, an heir
athorne. His rich eternal love wrote my
name above. Thank God He included me. Yes, He included me from eternity. No room to boast have I, the
law said die. But God, in wondrous grace, came
and took my place. Thank God He included me. Christ paid my debt one day,
the only way. He died upon the tree to set
me free. In pure and sovereign grace,
Jesus took my place. Thank God He included me. Yes, He included me from eternity. No room to boast divine, the
law said die. But God, in wondrous grace, came
and took my place. Thank God He included me. In time the Spirit soaked, And
grace was wrought. He took the mighty rod, the Word
of God. He broke my stony heart. And did faith impart? Thank God He included me. Yes, He included me from eternity. No room to boast have I, the
law said die. But God, in wondrous grace, came
and took my place. Thank God He included me. May I sing another one? Ere God
brought forth this world and earth, He saw me fall asleep. But He ordained, happy regained,
And Christ died for me, Thee, Who, Lamb of God, Your praise. From heaven's altar ran, You
cleansed my Spain, When you were slain, Before the world began. Justified and sanctified from
old eternity. I'll sing your praise through
endless days, God's Lamb eternally. O Lamb of God, From heaven's altar ran, You
cleansed my stain, When you were slain, Before the world began. God wrote my name, as without
blame, into your Book of Life. His firm decree has rescued me
from death and made alive, O Lamb of God, Your precious blood. From heaven's altar ran You cleansed
my stain When you were slain Before the world began. Eternally No sin of me is charged
to my account. For you in grace died in my place,
And paid my full amount. O Lamb of God, From heaven's altar ran, You
cleansed my stain, When you were slain, Before the world began. The death you died, my sin to
hide was done, ere we could see. But God did show, to all below
your dead, on Calvary, O Lamb of God, Your precious blood from
heaven's altar ran. You cleansed my stain when you
were slain before the world began. Good morning. I invite your attention
to the epistle of Paul the Apostle to the church in Ephesus, Ephesians
chapter 1. Just a little over or a little
under a month ago, on the 26th of last month, my beloved and
I began a trip visiting some churches that had invited us
to visit them during this, our visit to the U.S. And since that day, the 26th of May, the day of your crawfish boil,
by the way, but since that day, we have, or I have preached,
I think, 21 times in 19 different places. We've traveled, I think,
about 4,400 miles, and the Lord has been so good to us. We have
appreciated the fact that recipients and benefactors of
divine grace are gracious people. You have been that way to us,
and countless others have as well. And we are winding up this
year's visit. And we are grateful for the opportunity
to be here with you this day. Pray the Lord be pleased to meet
with us as we have gathered in the name of his son. And hopefully
he will enable us to worship him this morning as we should
in spirit and in truth. decently and in order to the
praise of the glory of His grace. And on that thought, I would
direct your attention to verse number three. I'm going to read
just this very short verse because we will be dealing with other
aspects of the context as we proceed. But the Apostle declares
unto us, blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, and He identifies Him as He who has blessed us
with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Now when Paul speaks of us who
have been blessed, he speaks of a very specific group of people. In verse 1, he identifies them
as the saints and faithful in Christ Jesus. Now, what are saints? Well, according to one sect,
a saint is a person who in this lifetime has done some great
deed, perhaps a miracle, in all probability a miracle, and then
has been canonized by his sect. which means that ordinary people
in that sect cannot be saints, but that is not the case in the
church of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. These saints, the
word simply means holy ones, and they are holy in two different
ways. They have been set apart from
the world, drawn out from the world, separated from the world,
and not only separated from the world, but consecrated unto God. And that's what a saint is, a
separated one. Separated from the world and
consecrated unto God. And then we found also that they
are called faithful, and that word simply means what it looks
like it means. It means full of faith. One that
is faithful is indeed full of faith toward God. This is one
that is wholeheartedly trusting in Jesus Christ for salvation,
as was that eunuch who asked, what hinders me from being baptized? Well, if you believe, you may.
Oh, I believe with all my heart. That is being full of faith and
faithful. And these are faithful in Christ
Jesus because every aspect of their lives is Christ-centered. Paul identifies the blesser as
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now notice that
he is both God and Father, and two things I bring to your attention
concerning that. Since our blesser is God, he's
able to bless. No idol can. They cannot even
bless themselves, but because our blesser is God and divine,
he's able to do so. Then furthermore, because He
is Father, He's willing to do so. That's what fathers do. Fathers are not only able to
do things for their children, but because they are fathers,
and as a father pities his children, fathers do so. They are willing
to do what they are able to do, and so it is with our Blesser.
He is our God. He's able to bless. He's our
Father. He's willing to bless. He is the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore He is, whatever He is to Christ,
to all who are in Christ. The God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ is my God and my Father in much the same way,
apart from Christ being the only begotten Son, but He's my God
and my Father in much the same way. Paul identifies the nature of
these blessings as spiritual, meaning that they are for man's
soul. These are in contrast to natural
blessings, which are for man's body. God, in his benevolence,
gives natural blessings to all. He makes his Son to rise on the
just and on the unjust, sends his rain On the just and on the
unjust, He gives blessings of providence from His benevolence
to all men. All men have life and breath
from and through Him. But these blessings that we hear
or observe are spiritual blessings. And these spiritual blessings
are only for God's chosen people. And the world does not begrudge
us that. The world wants nothing but natural
blessings. If you ask the natural man, what
would you like from God? I'd like a Mercedes, a brand
new house, some new clothes. And these are the things that
the natural man wants if you ask him, what kind of blessing
do you want from God? If you ask a saint or a faithful
in Christ Jesus, he will talk about redemption, justification,
sanctification, salvation. And to the natural man, these
things mean nothing. So therefore, the natural man
is content to have nothing but these natural blessings. But
we that are saints and faithful in Christ Jesus want something
much more than that. Spiritual blessings. Spiritual
men and women esteem spiritual blessings greater than the natural,
for our only concern is for God's kingdom and His righteousness.
And we are convinced that if we seek Christ in His righteousness,
all these other things are added. But the blessings that we so
desire are these spiritual blessings that Paul enumerates unto us
in this chapter. And then Paul equates the number
of these blessings with every. He has blessed us with every
spiritual blessing. I would say to you that if you
have ever received one spiritual blessing from God, you have received
them all because it all comes in a package deal. And when God
blesses His people, every one of them gets every one of these
blessings. No one is deprived of a single
spiritual blessing if ever he receives one. And then the realm
of these blessings is said to be in the heavenly places, or
in the heavenlies. This is that place where Christ
is enthroned according to chapter 1 verse 20, where saints are
congregated with him in chapter 2 verse 6, and where God's manifold
wisdom is known according to chapter 3 verse 10. And then
Paul identifies the venue of these blessings as being in Christ. Where are they found? In Him. In Him. Now, saints are in Christ
in a two-fold manner. First of all, and it is a theological
term, but we say that we are in Christ decoratively. D-E-C-R-E, T-I-V-E-L-Y, meaning
by God's decree. By God's decree, we are in Christ,
and this is from eternity when He chose us in Christ before
the foundation of the world. So, we are in Christ by God's
decree or decoratively before time began. But then again, we
are also in Christ experientially. We know what it is to be in Christ. We have experienced it. And this
we experience in our conversion, for which reason Paul can write
in Romans 16, verse 7, concerning one whom he says was in Christ
before I was. Well, this is with regard to
the experience. This one was converted. by God
to Christ before Paul was. But in God's decree, both of
them were in Christ from before the foundation of the world.
And if you ever were in Christ before the foundation of the
world by God's decree, you will in time be in Christ experientially
in your life. Now, I would not be so foolish
as to attempt to enumerate all of these blessings. that are
ours in Jesus Christ. Someone has written a song that
says, count your blessings, name them one by one. Let me just
say that you're quite incapable. Go ahead and try. Might do you
good to try. But next week sometime when you're
still enumerating, just bear in mind that you are then no
further along than you will be a year from now. So go ahead
and try, but you can't count them. They are too many. So I will not be so foolish as
to try to enumerate all these blessings. They are every in
number. And the one who gives them has
no limit. He is infinite. But today, if
God be pleased, I would like to enumerate just a few of these
blessings that are ours in Christ from eternity. Because that's
what Paul is talking about. He has blessed us with every
blessing in Christ and these, my friend, are from eternity. Let's look first of all at eternal
election in Christ. In chapter 1, verse 3, blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed
us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him. When did He do it? before the
foundation of the world. Why did He do it? That we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love. God did the choosing. He did
it in Christ. Now this morning we are looking
at the subject of eternal blessings in Christ and we know this election
is in Christ because He chose us in Him before the foundation
of the world from eternity. If God chose you from eternity before the foundation
of the world, that means that there was never a time When you
were unchosen or not chosen, never was, never was. Before
you were born, before you existed, you were chosen. When you were conceived in sin,
and safe in iniquity, and departed your mother's womb speaking lies,
you were chosen. Because it was from eternity.
When you rebelled against God, would have nothing to do with
His law, despised His Gospels, burned His Christ, you nevertheless
were chosen. You had not chosen Him, but He
had chosen you. Once chosen, always chosen. Because
election is an eternal blessing, and it's in Christ. It's in Christ. He chose us in Him before the
foundation of the world. I say to you that if you were
chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, there has never
been a time, in time, when you were unchosen or reprobate. Never was! Because God's blessings
in Christ are eternal, including election. Eternal blessing in
Christ is sanctification. Again, in chapter 1, verse 4.
When God, before the foundation of the world, chose His people
in Christ, He chose them to be what? To be holy. That means sanctified. Well,
it had to mean sanctified, because when God chose us to be holy,
It presupposes that we were not holy. God chose us to be holy
because we were unholy, and He did so in Christ. Therefore,
God chose us in choosing us to be holy, chose us and purposed
us to be sanctified. When were we sanctified? From
the moment we were in Christ. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians
1 verse 2 that we are sanctified in Christ Jesus. Meaning that
if you are in Christ, you must be sanctified. And we were chosen
in Him before the foundation of the world. And I say to you
that from eternity, there is never a moment when a single
unholy person is in Christ. Now consider that for a moment.
I will be truthful and admit to you what I am. I'm a sinner. I'm full of sin. And I know that
in me, that is in my flesh, dwells no good thing. I confess I am
the sinner. I confess that I am the chief
of sinners. I also confess that I am in Christ
from eternity. And I declare to you that God's
Word says there is no sin in Him. Now explain that to me if
you will. How is it that I am in Christ,
no sinners in Him? It is only because in God's decree
I am sanctified from eternity in Jesus Christ my Savior. He
is holy and undefiled and separate from sinners, Hebrews 7.26. And I am in Him, I was chosen
in Him to be holy, and in Him I am holy from eternity. There, my friend, is your eternal
sanctification. Third eternal blessing is justification
in Christ. When God, before the foundation
of the world, chose His people in Christ to be without blame,
that's what they were. They were in Christ without blame. The only way they could be without
blame is to be justified. And from eternity they are justified
freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus. I'll come back to that point
in a moment. But the point I want you to see therefore is this.
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. When were they in Christ Jesus?
Before the foundation of the world. Now if they are in Christ
Jesus before the foundation of the world, and there is therefore
now no condemnation to those who are in Christ from eternity,
they are without blame, they are blameless, they are righteous,
they consequently are justified in God's decree. from eternity. God never imputed sin to them. The psalmist declares it and
Paul repeats it. Blessed is the man whom the Lord
does not impute iniquity. Alright gentlemen, I assume that
most of you, if not all of you, have broken man's law a few times. I have never spent a night in
jail simply because I was not caught. I have broken some of
man's laws but was never charged with it because I was sly enough
to avoid detection. I should have been charged But the authorities don't know
about these things that I did and I assume I'm not the only
one here today. I broke God's law, pardon me,
I broke man's law and was never charged with it because man's
law never knew about it. And that's all I'm saying. I have broken God's law countless times With every breath
I've taken, and God knows every time I did it, and He never charged
me with it. Never. Blessed is the man to
whom the Lord does not impute iniquity. A man, a false prophet named
Balaam, And yes, Balaam was a false prophet and the epitome of a
false prophet, but I'll say this about him. You cannot fault him
for what he preached. Of course, then again, that's
what a false prophet is. When Balaam prophesied to Balak, he declared truth. That's what
false prophets do for the wages of unrighteousness. But I want
you to listen to something that God put in Balaam's mouth. That
Jehovah has never beheld iniquity in Israel. Never did. Never did. I have drunk iniquity
like water and God never beheld it in me. Why is that? Because
before the foundation of the world I was chosen in Christ
to be without blame, and in Christ I am blameless, therefore justified
from all eternity. God's elect are in Christ from
eternity, and from eternity there is no unrighteousness in Him,
John 17, verse 18. And in Him there is no sin, 1
John 3, verse 5, because in Christ I am eternally justified. Fourth,
eternal blessing in Christ is eternal love. Back again to Ephesians
1, verse 4. When God, before the foundation
of the world, chose His people in Christ to be before Him in
love, they were in Christ as loved. As loved. God hates sin. God hates sinners. God hates workers of iniquity. He never hated me. I was chosen in Christ before
Him in love. God's love has ever been bestowed
upon me from eternity, from before I existed. My Lord sweetly says to me, I
have loved you with an everlasting love. Now some folk will look
at that verse and they'll say everlasting. That means all the
way into the future. And it does. It does. I have
loved you with an everlasting love. Everlasting all the way
into the future. Let me show you the other side
of the coin. I have loved you everlastingly all the way into
the past. Before the foundation of the
world, I set my love upon you. And I have loved you from the
day I set my love upon you in Christ. I love you now. I will
love you when time is no more. And you'll never be the object
of my hatred. Never. It is an eternal love
that we have from God the Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ. We are persuaded that once we're
loved, we're always loved in Christ. And we know this, nothing
can separate us from the love of God which is where? In Christ
Jesus. Number five, we have eternal
favor in Christ. Ephesians 1 verse 6, He made
us accepted and beloved. Now I want you to look at that
word accepted for just a moment. Accepted. This Greek word translated
accepted is found only one other time in all the New Testament.
And really the word accepted falls a little short of explaining
what it means. If you'll go sometime later to
the book of Luke chapter 1 verse 28, the angel comes down to the
Virgin Mary who's going to conceive and bear this son, who's going
to be called Jesus. And the angel uses this word,
translated accepted, in describing Mary, and he says, you are highly
favored. Now that's what the word accepted
means, highly favored. Now, of course, you are accepted
if you're in Christ because He had to accept you and God had
to put you in Christ. You are accepted in Him. But
more than that, you are highly favored to be accepted in Christ. Highly favored. I say to you
that from eternity there is never a moment when those in Christ
are unfavored by God. or unacceptable to Christ. Once
Christ accepts you in Him, you're always accepted in Him. And never
in Christ are you reprobate, unholy, unrighteous, unloved,
unredeemed, because in Christ you are accepted as highly favored,
always from eternity. Number six, we have eternal redemption
in Christ. Look in verse seven. In fact,
look in verse number six, and then go to verse seven, to the
praise of the glory of God's grace by which He has made us
accepted, highly favored to be accepted in the beloved, that
would be Jesus Christ, in whom we have redemption through His
blood. Notice. We are in Christ from before
the foundation of the world, and in Him, if you're in Him,
you have redemption through His blood. For as long as you have
been in Christ, O believer, O saint and faithful one, for as long
as you have been in Christ, you've had redemption in Him. He was your Redeemer. before
the foundation of the world when God foreordained it, 1 Peter
1, 18-20. In God's decree, the redeeming
blood of Christ was shed when He was the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world, Revelation 13, verse 8. Therefore, even
before Jesus Christ died on Calvary, 2,000 years ago, and thousands
of years after the foundation of the world
was laid. But hundreds of years before
Christ died on Calvary, he says to his church, fear not, for
I have redeemed you, Isaiah 43 verse one. 2,000 years before
Jesus came to die on Calvary, An old man by the name of Job
said, I know that my Redeemer lives. Now how could he know
he had a Redeemer unless he was redeemed? I know that my Redeemer
lives. How can that be? Because Job
was in Christ before time began and in him we have redemption. Furthermore, number 7, here is
eternal forgiveness in Christ. Same text. In Him we have the
forgiveness of sins. In chapter 4, verse 32, Paul
writes that God in Christ forgave you. I say to you that the forgiveness
of sins to those in Christ is from eternity. In eternity. Through eternity. And therefore,
even before Christ died on Calvary, He assures His people that I
have blotted out, like a thick cloud, your transgressions, and
like a cloud, your sins. Isaiah 44, verse 12. Forgiven
before time began. We also have, number eight, eternal
grace in Christ, 2 Timothy 1, verses 9 and 10. He has saved
us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was
given to us in Christ before time began. Now consider, that
God's elect are from eternity in Christ and from eternity grace
is in Christ. 2 Timothy 2 verse 1. Why is that? For the mercy of the Lord is
from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him. The mercy
of the Lord from before time began in old eternity all the
way through time And when time is over, that mercy is still
the same. Furthermore, number nine, we have eternal preservation
in Christ. According to Jude, verse one,
God's elect are sanctified by God the Father and preserved
in Jesus Christ. Now, when did God sanctify them? Before the foundation of the
world. Before time began, God sanctified His people, and then
we read, they were, and from that moment, preserved in Jesus
Christ. Preserved. Think about it, my
friend. Preserved. Never to perish. Never to perish. Do you realize I lived 27 years
of my life in rebellion against God. My father was a faithful
gospel minister. I heard the gospel, was catechized
by him and my mother, heard the gospel for 27 years. I lived
in open rebellion against God, spent four years of my life in
the defense of my country in the armed forces during a time
of war. Not a bullet could touch me. Because I was yet unconverted.
I had to be brought to Christ. Preserved in Christ. This is from eternity, my friend.
This is the will of the Father who sent me, Christ says. That
all He has given to me, I should lose nothing. From everlasting
to everlasting. None in Christ is ever wrested
from Him. Alright, one more. I told you
we could not enumerate them all, but we'll stop at ten. One more. Paul writes in Philemon verse
6, Every good thing is in you, in Christ Jesus. If you're in Christ, every good
thing is in you. We are therefore approved in
Christ, Romans 16, 10. We are complete in Christ, Colossians
2, verse 10. I say to you, my friend, we have
been approved in Christ and complete in Christ before time began. Because God's blessings in Christ
are from eternity. These blessings are from the
eternal God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. They are according
to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus
our Lord. Ephesians 3 verse 11. In God's
eye, His eternal purpose was accomplished before the world
was created, before time began, because known to God from eternity
are all His works. And even from eternity, God calls
those things which do not exist as though they did, Romans 4,
17. When God decreed from eternity,
or what He decreed from eternity to do, was considered by Him
as already done. He decreed His people to be in
Christ before the foundation of the world, and from eternity
they are in Him. Christ was to them before the
foundation of the world what He is to them now, their Lord
and Savior, sanctifier, justifier, redeemer, forgiver, preserver,
and keeper. Why? Because Jesus Christ is
the same yesterday, Today and forever, whatever he is to you
now, he always has been, always will be. Oh, these spiritual blessings,
how great and marvelous, eternal blessings. This world wants natural
blessings that are here today and gone tomorrow like a vapor
they escape. But we, children of God, saints
and faithful, what blessings do we want? I want these. I want these that God has prepared
for me from eternity. For whom are they? The faithful,
all that believe. And I say to you, if you desire
these blessings, they are yours and you know them to be so. If
you can say with that eunuch, I believe with all my heart,
I'm faithful. I'm full of faith. God counts
me a saint. These blessings are mine. May they be yours.