Tonight, the Lord willing, I'm
going to be preaching from John chapter 13. You'll be familiar
with this passage of Scripture, and I'd like for you to read
it again this afternoon before you come to the service tonight.
John 13, 1 through 17. And this scripture has to do
with when the Lord was pleased to watch the disciples' feet
and give them two powerful, powerful lessons, John 13, 1 through 17. Now, we learn so much from the
old preachers. Most of the time now, I begin
a message with a quote from some of these old men. We're debtors
to them, and this quote will have something to do with my
subject this morning. John Flavel, I don't remember
what years he lived, but two or three hundred years ago, he
wrote a book entitled The Method of Grace. If you ever have an
opportunity to secure it, it's one of the best books that I've
ever read. John Flavel, Method of Grace.
The publishing company in Chateau, Montana carries that book. But anyway, John Flavel said
this, four things. Everything, everything that God
Almighty has for sinful men, He's in Christ Jesus. It's all
out there. Of Him, from Him, in Him. And secondly, all of these great
mercies of the everlasting covenant are not only ours in Christ,
but ours through faith in Christ. You've got to believe. Almighty God, as ordained by
the foolish preaching to save them that believe. Thirdly, Fable
said this, and that faith, that saving faith that God gives us,
that we read about a moment ago in chapter 2, that saving faith
comes by hearing the gospel. Hearing the gospel. How can they
call upon him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they
believe except they hear the word? How shall they preach except
they be sent to proclaim it? And fourthly, that word, that
word of hearing, that word is made effectual by the Holy Spirit
of God. over here in Ephesians 1. Turn
to Ephesians chapter 1. In Ephesians chapter 1 verse
3, Paul said, In whom you trusted after you heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after you believed
you were sealed with the Holy Spirit. Without Christ Jesus,
Crucified, risen, ascended, exalted, our preaching is vain. Also, without Christ Jesus, our
faith is also vain. And thirdly, we're found false
preachers if Christ be not risen. And we're yet in our sins, Paul
said. And all who died believing on
Christ are perished. And therefore, that being the
case, we're of all men most miserable. But I've got some good news this
morning here in Ephesians 1. You have your Bible open there.
Our message this morning is good news. This is the title, All
Spiritual Blessings in Christ Jesus. All spiritual blessings
are ours in Christ Jesus. So let's start with Ephesians
1 and begin with verse 3. And Paul writes here, Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be
God. Because He is God. Blessed be
God because He is God. Holy and Reverend is His name. It's in Him that we live and
move and have our being. So blessed be God. The Apostle
John wrote, Blessing, honor, glory, peace be unto Him that
sitteth on the throne and unto the Lamb forever and forever. Bless God because He is God. And then he says this, Blessed
be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul wrote in his
epistles, Hebrews chapter 1, the attributes of the Son. Blessed
be God, He's the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who is our
Lord Jesus Christ? Paul said this, whom God hath
appointed heir of all things, by whom God made the worlds,
who is the brightness of his glory, whose exact image of his
person, who upholdeth all things by the word of his power, who
by himself purged our sins, and who now is sat down at the right
hand of the Majesty on high. That's who He is. That's who
He is. Blessed be God, who is the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. God the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ hath given to Him all authority, all power, all preeminence
that He should give eternal life to as many as God has given him. And let me remind you, the death
of God's Son on the cross was not intended to make an angry
God willing to show mercy to sinners. The death of Jesus Christ
on the cross was not intended to make an angry God show mercy
to sinners. The death of Christ is because
God loved us. Because God loved. God so loved
the world that he gave his only begotten Son. The death of Christ
did not cause God to love us. The death of Christ is because
God loved us. Love comes first. The death of
Christ is the result of God's love. I gave that some months
ago here, John 3, 14-16. John 3, 14 tells us, gives us the remedy for sin. He gives us the remedy for sin.
In John 3, 14. Turn to John 3, verse 14. John 3, 14. This verse here in John 3, 14
gives us the remedy for sin. And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
There is no redemption without a cross. There is no cleansing
without blood. So that's the remedy for sin. And then the second verse, verse
15, is the results. of that remedy, that whosoever
believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Now,
verse 16 is the reason for all of this. The remedy is the death
of Christ. The result is the salvation of
his people. And the reason is, for God so
loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. I heard
a man say one time, well, God could have saved everybody. God
could have saved everybody. Or God could have damned everybody. Well, I don't believe that God
is willing or is purposed to save everybody. But I do know
this. I know God can't damn everybody. God cannot condemn everybody
and cannot damn everybody because God is love. God is love. God is love. And God could not
damn everybody because His love must be shown. His love must
be manifested. That's what He said to Moses
when Moses said, Lord, show me Your glory. He said, I'll make
all my glory pass before You. I'll be merciful to whom I will
be merciful. I'll be gracious. God is gracious. God is good. God is love. And
He must save sinners. Aren't you glad of that? I rejoice
in that. All right, look back at my text. Verse 3. Blessed be God, who
is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and He has blessed us. God has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in the heavenlies. Read that again. He hath blessed
us. He hath blessed us. It's already
done. He's already blessed us. It is
done, the great transaction is done. I am my Lord's and He is
mine. The gifts and calling of God
are from everlasting, without change. God sent His Son into
the world to redeem sinners. And He said this about Israel,
the land, the land is yours before you possessed it. The land is
yours before you possessed it. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter
1. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse
30. You're all familiar with this
scripture, but let's look at verse 30. 1 Corinthians chapter
1 verse 30. But of him are you in Christ
Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption, all spiritual blessings. One man said one time,
you may not have all the material blessings that you think you
need, and we don't. You may not have all the material
blessings that you think you need, but I'll tell you this,
you have all of God's spiritual blessings already yours in Christ
Jesus. Everything. Wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. It's already done. Already done. One of the old writers said this,
Lord Jesus, engrave it on my heart, that thou the one thing
needful art. I could from all things parted
be, but never, never, Lord, from thee. Needful art thou to make
me live. Needful art thou, all grace to
give. Needful to guide me when I stray. needful to save me and keep me
every day. Needful your presence, dearest
Lord, through grace and comfort to afford. Needful art thou to
be my stay through all life's dark and weary way. No less in
death I will needful be when my soul departs to be with thee. All things in Christ. God, blessed
be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed
us, already blessed us. The land is yours before you
possessed it. Already blessed us with all spiritual
blessings. All we need, all that heaven
requires, all that God demands, all that the law commands, all
blessings are in Him. Watch this next line in Ephesians
chapter 1. Blessed be God, the Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in the heavenlies in Christ, according as he hath
chosen us in him. According as he hath chosen us
in him. Three questions here. Of whom
is Paul speaking? I'll tell you of whom he's speaking.
He's speaking of the Heavenly Father, who has chosen us, sinners,
in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. In Christ, who is our Savior.
That's the person of whom he's speaking. The Father has chosen
us, the sinner, in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn to the
last book in the Old Testament, Malachi. The last book in the
Old Testament, chapter 3. The last book in the
Old Testament, Malachi chapter 3. Listen to this. Chapter 3, verse 16. Malachi
3, 16. Then they that feared the Lord
spake often one to another. And the Lord hearkened and heard
it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them
that feared the Lord and that thought upon his name. And God
says, And they shall be mine. They shall be mine, saith the
Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels. And I will
spare them as a man spares his own son that serves him. You
talk about good news. God had chosen us. God the Father
chose us on worthy centers in His Son. In His Son. What's the second thing? When
did He choose us? It says here, according as He
chose us in Christ, before the foundation of the world. That's
what Paul wrote in 2 Timothy. Thanks be unto God. Thanks be
unto God. Thanks be unto God who chose
us in Christ. Let's read that in 2 Thessalonians
2. 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 3. We're bound to give thanks always
to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord. a gospel and a salvation of love. Because God hath from the beginning
chosen you. It's a salvation of choice to
salvation. It's a salvation of means through
sanctification of spirit and belief of the truth. God hath
chosen you when? Before the foundation of the
world. And here's the third one. Why did he choose us? I know
He chose me. The hymn writer says, "'Tis not
that I did choose thee, Lord, that could not be. This heart
of mine would still refuse thee, but you've chosen me. My heart
owns none beside thee, for thy rich grace I thirst. This knowing,
if you loved me, if I loved you, you must have loved me first."
God chose us before the foundation of the world. Now, why? Here it is, right here in Ephesians
1. Ephesians 1. Ephesians 1, verse
2, it goes forward. According as he chose us in Christ,
before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy,
that we should be holy and before him, and without blame before
him. That we should be holy and without
blame before him. Now, he didn't choose us because
we were holy. He didn't choose us because we
had a tendency to be holy. There's not a single blessing
that comes from the hand of God that is not stamped with the
hand of his electing love. All blessings come to us because
of his choice. All blessings come to us in accordance
with His choice. And all blessings come to us
to prove His choice. According as He chose us in Christ
before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy
and without blame before Him in love. I looked something up
one time in regard to this, why He chose us, why God chose us. And I found three answers. Why
God chose, why did he choose me and you? We're unworthy of
his mercy, unworthy of the least of his favor. But why? Well,
when Ananias came to Saul of Tarsus, after the Lord had revealed
the Lord Jesus Christ to Saul of Tarsus, Ananias came to him
and he gave the reason why God chose the apostle Paul. The God
of our fathers has chosen you, that you should know his will,
that you should see the just one, and that you should hear
the voice of his mouth. That's why God chose you. That's
why. That's why he chose you, that
you should know his will of redemption, that you should see the object
of your redemption, Christ Jesus, and that you should hear His
voice. My sheep, hear my voice, and
I give them eternal life. That's why God chose you. That's
why. That you might know His will,
see Christ, and hear His word. Here's the second one I found
in James chapter 1. I'll quote it for you. Of His
own will, He begat us through the word of truth that we should
be, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures,
that we should be his children, his creatures, his jewels, his
sheep, his children. That's why he chose us, that
we should be his. My Father gave them to me. He
said, all that my Father giveth me will come to me. And they
will come, because they're His. And then here's the third thing
I found. This is powerful. Matthew 11, 25. Our Lord said
this. At that time, Jesus answered
and said, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, I thank you. I thank
you that you hid these things from the wise and prudent and
you revealed them to babes. Father, so it seemed good in
my sight. That's why I saved you. It seemed
good to Him. That's why I chose you and me.
It seemed good in God's sight. That's it. Bless God. The Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessing, according
as he chose us, in him before the foundation of the world, that we should know his will,
see his face, and hear his voice. That we should be sort of the
first fruits of his preachers, adopted as sons and children,
children of God. And the reason he did it, Because
that's what he was pleased to do. Even so, Father, sing good
in thy sight. Now, look at verse 5. Having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children. Nearly everybody out there in
the world has problems with this word predestination. It's only
in the Bible four times. Only four times. And every time
the word predestinate is in the Bible, in the book of Romans
first, three times, and then in the book of Peter, every time
it appears in the scripture, it has to do with what God's
going to make of His elect. He's going to make them sons.
He's going to predestinate them to be conformed to the image
of His Son. That's God's purpose, that we
might be like Christ. A man walked up to me one day
and he said, oh, I was in a filling station. That's where I was.
I was in a filling station with a friend of mine. And we stopped
to get a Coke. And there's a Bible open on the
counter. And I walked over and saw the
Bible. It's open. I said, this yours? He said, yes, sir. I said, that's
a nice Bible. He said, you believe in predestination? Well, I said, I don't know. What's it mean? He said, well, it means some
are predestinated to hell and some people are predestinated
to heaven. I said, no, I don't believe that.
I don't believe that, because that's not what it is. Oh, he
said it isn't? I said, no. Every time the word
predestinate is in the Bible, it has to do with God will make
His Son like Christ. We adopt Him in the family of
God to be like Christ. David said, I'll awake with His
likeness. Beloved, now we're the sons of
God. It does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that
when He shall appear, we'll be like Him. And I said to the man, I've got
that relevant to it. That's four times. I said, don't
you want to be like Christ? Oh yeah, yeah I do. Then you
believe in predestination. Now I said election has to do
with people. Predestination has to do with
God's purpose for those people. Can you get that? He chose us,
but He predestinated us to be like Him. I don't see any problem
with that. There's no problem to it. election has to do with people.
He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world.
And he predestinated us to be like Christ. You know, when the
Lord chose Joseph, he chose him to be king in Egypt. But boy,
it took him a long time to get there. He had to go through this
place and that place. He had to be betrayed by his
brothers and had to be sold into slavery. and made a good steward
in a podiferous house in Egypt and then thrown in jail and stayed
there for a while and then put on the throne. Predestinated
to be king. And you're predestinated to be
like Him. And you'll go through a lot of
trials and troubles, and God will lift you, and He'll scold
you, and He'll bless you, and He'll love you, and He'll call
you, and He'll justify you, and He'll make you mature and grow
up. And like Peter, He'll convert
you, and He's going to make you like Christ. Don't give up on that. I'm not
there yet, but I will be someday, just like Him. If you trace your
blessings of salvation, you've got to begin with God. That's
where it all began. Let me give you an outline. You check this now. If you trace
your blessings in salvation, you begin with God. And there
was a time, and I know you can't You can't associate time with
God. God's eternal, everlasting. But
there was a time. Known unto God are all his works
from the beginning. That's right, from the beginning.
So there was a time. There was a time of beginning. Secondly,
there was a will. according to the good pleasure
of his will." Look at verse 5, "...having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ himself, according to
the good pleasure of his will." God's will, not yours, his will. There was a time when God determined to have a kingdom and gave it
to Christ. There was a will, his will. Thirdly,
there was a purpose, having predestinated them to be like Christ. And then
there was a choice. Having loved his own, he loved
them to the end. He chose them. And then there's
a result. And here it is in verse six,
verse five. having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ according to the good
pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace,
wherein he made us accepted." He made us accepted in the Beloved. What does accepted mean? It means
to find favor with God. I gave you that definition some
time ago about when the angel appeared to Mary and the angel
said, blessed art thou among women, you've found favor with
God. God's with you. And that's what
acceptance is, is to find favor with God. When we're accepted
in the beloved, God himself looks upon us with delight and divine
approval. in Christ now. We're accepted
in the Beloved. And when we're accepted of God
in the Beloved, God looks upon us with favor, with delight,
and with divine approval. Why? Because in the heart of
Christ, He loves us. In the book of Christ, He wrote
our names. In the hand of Christ, He holds
us, never to let us go. In the Lords of Christ, we are
without blame. In Adam, we die. In Christ, we
may live. And then in the person of Christ,
we're baptized into his body. Baptized into his body. One writer
said this. This is special. What the sun is to light, what
water is to the well, what life is to a body, what trees are
to a forest, what sand is to a desert, what air is to a balloon,
what words are to speech, that's Jesus Christ to me. Everything. Everything. Then closing, verse
7, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness
of sin according to the riches of his grace. What is redemption? Redemption. I was down in Mexico
visiting Brother Walter Groover years ago. And those Mexican
boys make kites. They get the sticks, you know,
and put them together and then they get some newspaper or something
and stretch it out or some kind of paper and usually they'll
use paste, you know, to stick it together and then get a tail
and take it out and fly it. This little boy, his daddy made
him a kite, real fine kite. And he went out and Let the string
out and got it in that Yucatecan wind and blowing up there, you
know. Hanging on to it, trying to let
it out real. And then it, string broke. And the kite went that way. Wind just took it into the next
pueblo. It wasn't long after that that
the father and the little boy, this is a true story, Walter
told me this. Father and little boy were in
another Pueblo and they were looking at those little farmer's
markets. And there was a kite for sale. And little boy said to his daddy,
that's my kite. That's my kite. And little boy
said, you sure? And little dad said, you sure
son? Yes, you made that kite for me. It's my kite. Well, they
walked in to see the proprietor, and they said, my son says that's
his kite. But he can have it for two pesos. And the father said, son, that's
the only way you're going to get it back is buy it. So he gave the little boy two
pesos. He gave it to the man. And he got his kite and held
it up to his chest. And he walked out through the
door. And on the way out, he said, little kite, you're mine
twice. I made you and I bought you.
That's me. He's mine twice. He made me and
he bought me. Never to let me go. That's redemption. He redeemed his kite. The guy's not worth much. I ain't
either. But I am to him. I am to that boy. I am. See, redemption, redemption implies
ownership. You're not your own. You're bought
with a price. Redemption, God's the author of redemption. The
salvation of the righteous is of God and of Him only. The channel
of redemption is Christ. We accept it in the blood in
whom we have redemption. The price of redemption is his
blood. Verse 7, in whom we have redemption
through his blood. And the certainty of it, we have
redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of all sin. All sin. I want to show you one
thing, and I'll close. This first chapter of Ephesians
deals with the work of the Father in redemption, the work of the
Son, and the work of the Spirit. And each time that We deal with
the work of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. It finishes with
this statement, to the praise of his glory. Now look at verse
7. to the praise of the glory of
his grace, wherein he made us accepted in the beloved. That's
why he made us accepted, to the praise of his glory. Now look
at verse 12, talking about the Son who enlightened us and redeemed
us, that we should be to the praise of his glory, who first
trusted in Christ. And then verse 13, 14, in whom
you trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of
your salvation, in whom also, after you believe, you will see
her with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the pledge of our inheritance
to the redemption of the purchase of possession." Why? To the praise
of His glory. Praise God, from whom all blessings
flow. Praise Christ, whose blood redeems
us. Praise the Spirit of God. All
of this is done to the praise of His glory. May God bless you
and help all of us to get hold of this and love it, appreciate
it, rejoice in it, and let us bow in prayer.