I've entitled the message for
this evening, All Spiritual Blessings. Verse three, blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us, not who will
bless us, not who is blessing us, but who hath blessed us. That means whatever these blessings
are, you possess them right now. And this is true of every believer
without exception. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings. All spiritual blessings. There's no spiritual blessing
that any believer does not already possess right now. No matter what you feel like.
Feelings come, feelings go, feelings are deceiving. And you know that
so. But without reference to how
you feel or how you do not feel. If you're a part of this us,
every believer, you have all spiritual blessings. There's
nothing that you do not have. And notice Paul says these spiritual
blessings that he has blessed us with. He has blessed us with
them in heavenly places. Now, you know, when you got these
spiritual blessings. heaven. You know, there is a
place called heaven where God lives and dwells. He dwells here. I realize he's omnipresent. You
can't go anywhere where he's not, but there is a special dwelling
place called heaven. and how every believer longs
to be there in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, to no
longer be a sinner, to be perfectly conformed to his image. And all
of these blessings have been given in heavenly places in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And he goes on to name 17 blessings. And we're going to look at a
very large chunk of scripture. I'm going to go back and look
at these more individually after this, but I wanted us to look
at verses three through 14 together. God is eternal. So it's all before
him at once. And he has given every believer,
all these spiritual blessings. And I got to thinking about that
spiritual blessings. If you ask the world if they
would prefer temporal blessings or spiritual blessings, it may
be they say spiritual blessings because they know that's the
correct thing to say, but really they would rather have temporal
blessings. Natural man. But every believer longs for
these spiritual blessings. Really, spiritual blessings are
the only ones that will last. All these temporal blessings,
we're thankful for them. But God's going to burn up everything
you see. And no temporal blessing will last. It's temporary. But these spiritual blessings
are eternal. Now, the first spiritual blessing
he mentions is election, according as he has chosen us in him before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before him. Now, every blessing the believer
has is stamped by divine election. Is it a blessing to be holy?
Well, it's because he chose you to be holy. Is it a blessing
to be without blame before him? Well, it's because he chose you
to be without blame before him. Now these blessings come as a
result of him choosing us in Christ before time began to be
holy and to be without blame. Now election, it really is. I
mean, somebody says it's hard to understand and it's deep.
You know, that's really not so. It's not hard to understand at
all. Who chose who? He chose us. Well, when did he choose us?
When we believe? No, before the foundation of the world. Well,
why did he choose us? To the praise of the glory of
his grace. Well, how did he choose us? In
Christ. According as he has chosen us
in him. Now someone who does not rejoice
in election, and I mean rejoice, does not rejoice in the God of
election, does not really believe he's a sinner, and doesn't really
believe salvation is all of grace. Now, it really is that simple. According as he has chosen us
in him, that we should be holy. Now, I wish I knew how to describe
holiness, but I don't much know how to describe it because of
who I am. I know among other things, holy
is sinlessness. If you're holy, you do not sin. You know, the holy nature that
the believer possesses that was given to them in the new birth,
it does not sin. And I know this, the only reason
I'm holy is because he chose me to be holy. And you know what? If you're holy, you know what
else that means? That means you're without blame before him right
now. Without blemish, without spot,
faultless, and this is all in God's sight. And that means that
is who you really are. Holy. and without blame before
God so that God sees you and he's pleased with you. He's pleased
by you. You have his favor. It says in verse four, in love,
you have God's love. Now, like I said a few weeks
ago, this is the hardest thing I have to get a hold of, that
God really loves me. But He does because His love is in His Son.
And His love doesn't have anything to do with any personal loveliness
in me. It says, I am in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, in love, thank God for God's
love. In love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself. Now
here's a great spiritual blessing for God to have in love predestinated
you to be the adopted children through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now I realize the subject of predestination has been controversial
for centuries, but not with God's people. You see, if you do not
believe in a God of absolute predestination, the God you believe
in is non-existent. The only God there is, is the
God of absolute predestination. And I'm so comforted by that.
Everything has already been determined by our God in Christ. in love, having predestinated
us to be his adopted children with all the privileges of sonship
and with all the rights of inheritance. Now, let's think about this thing
of adoption for a moment. And we can only think of it in
terms of a human adoption. Now, generally, when someone
adopts a child, I can't say it's always this
way, but it's this way quite often. Generally, when someone
adopts a child, it's to fulfill some need they have, some void
they have in their own life that they think it would be better
for them if they adopted this child. Let's say I don't have
any children. I think I'm missing out on that,
so I want to adopt a child. That's human adoption. But you
know, not him. He has no needs. He has no void
to fill. He does it completely because
of the greatness of his love. We may adopt because we see something
attractive that will be a blessing to us in adopting that person
or even picking out an animal. You adopt an animal. If you go
to the pound, you look for the cute puppy. that likes you. And you can just tell there's
something about that puppy that would enrich your life. And you
say, that's the one I want. Not him. There is nothing in
us that caused us to be attractive to him and want to adopt us. When we adopt, we cannot transmit
our genes. How many times have people adopted
someone and they ended up just being just like their parents?
They adopted them thinking that they could raise them up under
certain standards and they'd be fine, but because of the gene
pool they came from, they were going to be what they were no
matter what you did and ended up being a disaster. I've known
several people where that's taken place, where they adopted someone
and the person just turned against them and turned to crime and
did all kinds of terrible things, no matter how they raised them,
because they had a certain disposition from their gene pool that it
couldn't be any different. Well, the Lord doesn't have that
problem either. Those he adopts, he births into
his kingdom. And I'm given the divine nature.
partakers of the divine nature, born of God, given this holy
nature that comes from him. And he predestinated us to be
adopted children, his own adopted children by Jesus Christ to himself. And look at this next phrase,
according to the good pleasure of his will. That's the only
reason that's needed. He did this according to the
good pleasure of His will. Now this is talking about His
sovereign will. He doeth according to His will
in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth.
And none can stay His hand or say unto Him, what doest thou? He always does exactly as He
pleases. That's our God. He's sovereign.
And I love the term, the good pleasure of His will. You know,
the Lord enjoys everything he wills. Now, I have had surgery
several times and I elected to have that surgery, but I didn't
get any pleasure in it. I knew it was going to cause
great pain. I was hoping there would be a good outcome from
it, but there was no good pleasure in that will. It was just, oh,
I got to do it or what's going to happen to me if I don't. No
good pleasure. But I tell you one thing I got
good pleasure in with my wills when I willed to marry my wife,
and she said she's willed to marry me too. There was pleasure
in that. There was not, oh, what am I
gonna, no, there was pleasure. Now, God is that way in everything
he does. Everything he does, he's completely
pleased with. He predestinated us to the adoption
of children to be just like his son, Even transmitting, and I
want to say this reverently, but his genes in the new birth,
giving us this new nature. And he did this according to
the good pleasure of his will, verse six, to the praise of the
glory of his grace. And here's why he does what he
does. This is why he blessed us. This is why he elected us. This is why we're holy. This
is why we're without blame. This is why he predestinated
us to be his adopted children, to the praise of the glory of
his grace. Now I know this, every believer
is a trophy of grace. Are you a trophy of grace? Are
you someone who would never have been saved if it were not for
his grace? And you believe that in heaven,
there will be nobody more indebted to his grace than you are. You're
going to be the biggest example there of just how much salvation
is by grace. That's what he means when he
says we're praised. We're saved to the praise of
the glory of his grace. And look at this next blessing,
wherein He has made us accepted in the beloved. What a spiritual blessing this
is to be accepted. Now, that word means more than
just accepted. And I realize everybody wants
acceptance on some level. I want you to accept me. I want
you to love me. I want you to embrace me. Everybody
wants to be accepted. Somebody says, I don't care anything
about that. Nobody believes that. You do too. But this is speaking
of something much higher than just being accepted. Oh, this
is talking about being graced. Highly favored. Having God's approval. God being pleased with you. God being pleased by you. God looking at you and said,
I'm well pleased with my child. Now that is what every believer
possesses. God's 100% approval in the Beloved,
in all the salvation is in the Beloved. I love that hymn. In
the Beloved, accepted am I. Risen, ascended, and seated on
high. God sees my Savior, then he sees
me. in the beloved, accepted, and
free. Is there any wonder why Paul
said, oh, that I may win Christ and be found in him? In the beloved,
that's where I want to be. And that's where every believer
is. We have God's complete approval and acceptance in Christ Jesus. Now, I dare say that you're not
satisfied with yourself, but God's satisfied with you. and
he can't be any more satisfied than he is in the beloved. And here's the next spiritual
blessing he mentions, in whom we have redemption through his
blood. And here's what all that means,
the forgiveness of sins. Now, I know something about what
David meant And I feel sorry for somebody who doesn't enter
into this. But David said regarding his
sins, he said, my sins are ever before me. And if you have a
new nature, you're going to have a sensitivity about this thing
of sin. You're going to see yourself
as nothing but sin. If you have a new nature and
you're going to cry out, my sin is ever before me. But what an
infinite blessing is the forgiveness of sin. And the only way I can
look upon my sin is as forgiven sin. And listen to how he describes
this thing of the forgiveness of sin. He said, I've separated
your sins from you as far as the east is from the west. That's infinite, infinite. He said, I've cast all your sin
behind my back. Now I don't realize God doesn't
have a back, but that's to let us know they're no more. I've
thrown them into the depths of the sea, never to come up again. He said, they're sins and iniquities.
I'll remember no more. And I love thinking of me being
in glory and God actually not remembering any of my sins. And the only way that God could
not remember them is if they'd been put away, blotted out by
the blood of Christ to where they are no more. And when God
looks at me, I, you know, somebody that has done me wrong, I forgive
them, but I remember it. I'm like old Joseph, when he
saw his brethren, he said, you're the ones who sold me into Egypt,
but you didn't do it. God did it for your good. and for His glory. But it would
be wonderful if we never remembered anyone's sins against us or missed
whatever. But God will not remember anything
because there's nothing there to be remembered. That's how
infinite the forgiveness of sins is. In whom we have redemption,
complete sin payment through His blood, which is the forgiveness
of sins according to the riches of His grace. This is all according to the
infinite riches of His exhaustless and boundless grace. I love that passage of scripture
in Romans chapter 5. The law entered that the offense
might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Don't leave this thought. Are
you a place where sin abounds? It overflows? That's the very
place where His grace superabounds. That as sin hath reigned unto
death, oh, my grace reign. Now, I love the way sin reigns
unto death in this sense. You can't stop death. There's
nothing you can do to stop it. You're going to die. There's
nothing you can do to stop grace. Same way. That as sin hath reigned
unto death, even so by grace reign through righteousness.
This is not a unrighteous grace. This is a righteous grace. Through
righteousness unto eternal life, which is by Jesus Christ, our
Lord. Verse eight, wherein he hath
abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence Think of the wisdom and prudence
of God in salvation. He's so wise. He made a way to
be just. And yet justify somebody like
me in a way that honors his justice and his law is going to say,
bring him in. I find no fault in him. Verse
nine. Here's another spiritual blessing,
having made known unto us the mystery of his will. according
to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Himself." Now what
a blessing this is to know the mystery of His will. You know
what that means? We would have never known it
had He not made it known. But because He's made it known
to us in His Word by His Spirit, we know His will. The Lord said
in John chapter 6 verse 38, I came down from heaven not to do my
own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the
father's will, which has sent me that of all which he had given
me, I should lose nothing. But raise it up again at the
last day. We know that, we know that, we believe that, we rejoice
in it. And this is a great mystery. Had he not made it known, we
wouldn't have known it. Oh, think of the supremacy of
his will by the which will by this will he's speaking of now
that he's made known by the which will we are sanctified through
the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Now that's the mystery of his
will that he's made known verse 10 that in the dispensation or
the stewardship of the fullness of time. Now, what he's talking
about is when time is no more. Now, we're stuck in this thing
called time, and there is no way that we can comprehend eternity.
I try to say things about it all the time, and every time
I do, I think, you're so stupid. You don't even know what you're
talking about. You're trying, but how can you describe eternity? But one of these days, there's
not gonna be minutes and seconds and hours, there's gonna be eternity. The fullness of time, and it's
over, and how we look forward to that, that in the dispensation
of the fullness of times, he might gather together in one
all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on
earth, Even in him, he's gonna wrap this thing up and gather
together in one all things in Christ. In whom, verse 11, in
whom also we have obtained an inheritance. The inheritance
of the Lord Jesus Christ joint heirs with him being predestinated. according to the purpose of him
who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will."
Now, the Lord Jesus Christ has been appointed by God heir of
all things. Everything is coming to him and
every believer is a joint heir with Christ and this is absolutely
sure because it's God's purpose and it's been predestinated and
God's predestined purpose is absolutely sure because when
he purposes something it becomes history before it takes place.
That's the supremacy of his will. Hebrews chapter 4 verse 3 says
all the works were finished. from the foundation of the world. Not are certain to come to pass,
but are finished. Now, if something is history,
history is not changed. It's God. And God has given every
believer a new history. The history of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And this is our inheritance. Known unto God are all his works
from the beginning. Now in whom, verse 11, also we
have obtained, that means we've got it, an inheritance that's
totally sure. I wonder how many people have
counted on an inheritance and it ends up not taking place.
Something happens. Whoever had the money, it's gone. You don't get it. Well, this
one is sure. It's sure. It's so sure that
it already is. And you already have it in Christ
Jesus. in whom also we have obtained
an inheritance being predestinated, this is why it's so certain,
according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after
the counsel of his own will. Isn't that glorious? Everything
that happens is him working it after the counsel, after the
will of his own will. Verse 12, that we should be to
the praise of His glory who first trusted in Christ. Now, all of
this is so we could be to the praise of His glory, save to
the praise of the glory of His grace. I repeat, in my salvation,
God in Christ, God the Holy Spirit, God the Son, will have all the
glory and none will go to me. I know that for sure. I can say
with David, nod unto us, nod unto us. but under thy name give
glory for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. Every believer
joins in sweet accord with David in that sentiment. Now it says
that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted
in Christ. Who first trusted in Christ?
God did. When he gave his people to his
son. and he trusted Christ for their
salvation. That's a wonderful thing to think
about. God entrusted every one of his people to Christ, and
he trusted Christ to save them. And you know how much God looks
to me? Zero. Everything he requires of me,
he looks to his son. Now, we're to the praise of His
glory who first trusted in Christ. Verse 13, in whom you also trusted. Now, you know how God trusts
Christ for everything in my salvation? I trust Christ for everything
in my salvation. I trust Him by His grace. I trust
Him the same way God trusts Him. God looked to Christ for everything.
I look to Christ for everything. I'm completely dependent upon
him to do everything for me. That we should be to the praise
of his glory who first trusted in Christ, in whom you also trusted. After that, you heard the word
of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Now don't miss this. You didn't trust him until you
heard the word of truth, the gospel, the good news of your
salvation. Now, what does that mean? That
means you never trusted Christ until you heard the gospel, until
you heard the truth. God never uses error. Last week, somebody asked me
this question. Can someone be saved hearing
Billy Graham preach? And my answer to that was, does
Billy Graham preach the gospel? No, he doesn't. So no, no one
can be saved hearing Billy Graham preach or anybody else who does
not preach the gospel. That's just the truth. You hear
the gospel of your salvation. Now, wherever the gospel is preached,
that's when people hear, but you cannot be saved in a false
message. It wasn't until you heard the
word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also
after that you believed, or having believed is what that means.
Having believed. When did you believe? When God
gave the gospel to you and gave you the grace to believe. You
know that. You know, I know there was a
time when I didn't believe. I didn't even know what it meant
to believe. I would hear the preacher talk about believe,
and I think I would if I knew what it meant. I don't understand
it. The preacher would say repent.
I would if I understood what it meant, but I don't know. And
one day, I found myself believing. When? After that you heard the
word of truth. When God gave you faith. That's when you believed. You
know, people are always trying to look for a date. Well, I don't
know when I was saved. Can you give me a date as to
when you were saved? Well, I know the exact date,
whenever God saved me, whenever he gave me faith. I don't need
to know anything more than that. I'm fine with that. I've heard, I
had a preacher one time say to me, he said, you better know
the exact day you were saved. I said, I don't know. And his
reply to me was, you mean, could you break your leg and not know
when it happened? I said, I don't guess not. But the point is,
I can't remember when I was born, but that doesn't mean I wasn't.
I don't remember the 9-9-59 when I came out of my mother's womb,
but I was still born. Now you're not saved, you're
not a believer until you hear the gospel and believe the gospel. In whom you also trusted after
that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation,
in whom also after that you believed, having believed, you were sealed
with that Holy Spirit of promise. Now that's the mark of divine
ownership. the sealing of God, the Holy
Spirit, where God says, he's mine. She's mine. This is the divine ownership. This seal is, which is the earnest
of our inheritance. Now what's an earnest? It's a
down payment. You put earnest money down. That
means you're going to pay the rest. Now, God, the Holy Spirit
is the earnest, the proof that where he is as given, he has
given to us in the new nature. And this is the God seal, God's
mark of earn ownership, God's seal, which is the earnest of
our inheritance until the redemption, the complete deliverance. of
the purchased possession. That's what the church is called,
the purchase possession. And we're waiting for this time
that's called the redemption of the purchase possession under
the praise of his glory. Now, what that's talking about
is when a believer is just like Christ. When Christ is going
to make him perfect, without blemish, without spot. And I
got to, I was thinking about this. I don't know, maybe there's
somebody like this, I don't know, but I don't, I've never known
anybody that doesn't have some kind of insecurity about their
appearance. There's something about your appearance that you
don't like and that makes you feel not confident. Yeah, I think
everybody's like that to some extent. But do you know the time
is coming after the redemption of the purchase possession, that
Christ will look at you and he'll say, thou art all fair. There is no spot in thee. That is what we're waiting on
until the redemption of the purchase possession. And when we observe
the Lord's table, and the Lord said, this do, remembrance of
name we are saying who he is and what
he did is all that's needed to make us sinful as we are in ourselves
perfect holy and unblameable in his sight and that's what
we're remembering we're remembering that it's only because of who
he is and what he did broken body and shed blood of Christ
that we can be clean in God's sight. Let's pray. Lord, as we prepare to eat the
bread and drink the wine in remembrance of the bread being your broken
body and the wine being the blood of the New Testament, Lord, how
we thank you for the broken body of the Lord when he took our
sins upon himself willingly, suffered your wrath, and through
his precious blood made us perfect in your sight. And Lord, we give
thanks and we ask that you would truly enable us to do this in
remembrance of thy dear son. In his name we pray.