We'll be in Ephesians chapter
one for this hour. If you'd like to turn there. Ephesians chapter one. Last Sunday we looked at this
same text and we titled the message, All Spiritual Blessings. And
this morning I would like to revisit this text because something
stood out to me as I was studying. I want you to look at verse three
and notice what it says. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places. Hath is past tense. Means it's already done. It's
already happened. It's already been given. The
blessing has already been given to the Lord's people. Everything
pertaining to God's salvation, all spiritual blessings hath
been given to those whom the Lord chose, as we see it in verse
four, according to he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world. So all that the Lord chose, he's already given
them the spiritual blessing. Somebody might say, well, what
about someone that hasn't believed yet? What about them? Do they
have the spiritual blessings? Yes, they have them, they just
don't know it yet. The Lord has to make them alive.
The Lord has to give them faith to receive them, faith to receive
them. But the Lord certainly has them
restored, has them stored for every single one of his people
to be bestowed upon them at the appointed time. As far as God's concerned, his
people seated at the right hand of himself right now, it's in
Christ. We're seated in Christ right
now in the heavenly, we talked about that this first hour. Let's
read this together, Ephesians one verse three through nine.
Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ who
hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ according as he hath chosen us in him. before the
foundation of the world that we should be holy and without
blame before him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good
pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace,
wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved in whom We have
redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according
to the riches of his grace, wherein he hath abounded towards us in
all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery
of his will according to the good pleasure which he had purposed
in himself. I've titled this message, Hath
Blessed Us. Hath is past tense, blessed is
what's being done, and us is the recipients of it. Well, who's
the us? Well, look in verse one. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ
by the will of God to the saints that are at Ephesus and to the
faithful in Christ Jesus. All of those that God chose,
he made them faithful in Christ Jesus. It's not our faithfulness.
His faithfulness. And His faithfulness is bestowed
upon His people. We are in Christ, one with Him. So when He sees His people He
sees the blood. He sees the Lord Jesus Christ.
He sees the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ. So these are
His elect. These are the ones that He purposed, He predestinated
to be to the adoption of children. It says here, but to another
place it says He predestinated us to be conformed to the image
of His Son. So when He sees us we he sees the Lord Jesus Christ. These are the ones that are made
faithful in Christ. Now, I have five questions for us this morning,
and they're all about the blessing that the Lord's given. He says,
he hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus before the world began. So, five questions about
these spiritual blessings. First one is, where did he bless
his people? Where? Look at verse three. Blessed be God and Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places. places in Christ. He blessed us with heavenly places,
in heavenly places. That's where, in Christ Jesus,
there are those that would have you think that the blessings
of God are physical. Blessings of God are physical.
But God didn't come to save the flesh. The flesh is going to
die. If the blessings of the Lord were to the flesh, that
would actually be sad. Because our body is gonna go
back to the dust, the blessing would end. These are heavenly
blessings. Therefore, they're eternal blessings. They're everlasting blessings
because of who they come from. They come from God. So therefore,
they're going to endure forever and ever and ever. They're all
received in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. They're
never gonna fade away. If you have been given these
blessings, they're never going, what are the blessings? We're
gonna get that in a minute. But just to name a few, perfect righteousness,
true holiness, adoption of sonship before the Lord. He blotted out
our transgressions. He forgave us of our sin. I mean,
there's so many that you could name and it all goes, it all
comes to the same focal point, the finished work of the cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the blessing. He's the blessing. So where did the Lord bless his
people? He blessed us In heavenly places. This isn't
a physical. That's why the Lord said this
is a physical blessing. That's why the Lord said set
your affection on things above. Lord said, seek ye first the
kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these other things will
be added unto you. The Lord is a spirit, the scripture says,
and they that worship must worship in spirit and in truth. And he says, we've heard this
first hour, but we're in the flesh, we're not in the spirit
until the Lord causes us to be in the spirit by giving us his
spirit and birthing us into his family, giving us faith to believe.
Therefore, then we believe in spiritual things. So when you
see that all the blessings are in the heavenlies, all the blessings
are literally, and people use this phrase, but this is a good
time to use it, they're out of this world. They're out of this
world. They really are. They're in the heavenlies. Because
they're found in the person of Christ, when you see that, What
rejoicing the believer has in knowing that the Lord didn't
come to give me health, wealth, and prosperity in this life.
And that's the blessing because all that health is going to diminish
and we're going to die. All that wealth is going to be passed
on to somebody else when I die. And all the prosperity, it doesn't
matter how prosperous, if I gain the whole world, lose my own
soul, what should I give in exchange for my soul? It was said in scripture,
the blessing is eternal life, eternal life. Our hope is an eternal hope,
a heavenly hope. This is where the Lord hath blessed his people
in heavenly, eternal things. The second question I have, in
whom, and this is going to be, each one of these just go hand
in hand, so I may say the same thing two or three times because
it's, well, it's just how it is. But in whom are we blessed? Well, I've already said that,
haven't I? We're blessed in Christ. Look at verse three. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ,
in Christ. That's where all of the blessings
of the Lord can be found. All the blessings of the Lord
can be found. Many believe that their blessing is a result of
something that they do. A prayer that they prayed, a
life that they live, how devoted they are to church, how morally
good that they are, how kind they are to others. I was speaking
to someone this week that mentioned that to me. Whenever they get
to heaven, They believe God will let them into heaven because
they're kind to people. And, well, it broke my heart
for one, and I had to explain the gospel to them, and they
said, no, I think I'm good. I think I'm good. Unless the
Lord reveals that these, that there's none good, no, not one.
There's none good, but God will never need a substitute. We'll
never need a savior. And that's part of the blessing
that we're talking about, is the Lord gives us repentance, and
he gives us faith to believe. That's a blessing of God. It's not what we do or don't
do, it's not our faithfulness, it's not our kindness, it's His
faithfulness, it's His devotion, it's His righteousness, it's
His obedience that the blessing, that's how we find the blessing
is in Him alone. Every blessing of God for His
people revolves around the person and finished work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. It cannot be merited, it cannot be obtained by what
we do, These blessings cannot be, well, God can't be restrained
or constrained. He's God, we can't obligate Him
to do anything. So if we're gonna have these blessings, it's gonna
be all by His grace alone, all by His grace. It's not my sacrifice,
it's Christ's sacrifice. It's not my obedience, it's Christ's
obedience to God and to the law. It's not my death that's gonna
make a difference, it was the death of Christ on the cross.
My blood can't fix anything, it's the blood of Christ. All
the blessings of God revolve around the Lord Jesus Christ.
Without him, there is no blessings that God has for men and women. The only way to be found, the
only way to be blessed is to be found in Him, having His righteousness.
There's no blessing outside of Him. So where did He bless us? In heavenly places. In whom are
the blessings found? The Lord Jesus Christ. And thirdly,
when did He bless us? Look at verse four. According
as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world that
we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ and
to himself according to the good pleasure of his will, to the
praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted
in the beloved. When did he bless us? Before
the world ever began. before time ever was. This is
a timeless, eternal blessing. This is not a blessing that was
created in time. This far surpasses time. 2 Timothy 1.9, I quote this often,
and it's found on the bulletin. I love this verse. I love all
the verses, but God saved us, and he called us, not according
to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. When did he bless his people?
Before we existed. Can you imagine, I mentioned
this the first hour, we have the capacity of loving our children,
before they're born, especially if they're in the womb, because
we know the baby's coming. We have the capacity of loving them,
but we love them even then. But prior to their existence,
long before their existence, it's impossible to love something
that doesn't exist. You and I didn't exist, physically
speaking. We were not created yet, yet
God loved us because we were found in Christ. We were found
in Christ before time ever began. Somebody says, I don't understand
all that. I don't either. I don't either, but that's what
the scripture clearly declares that we were in Christ before
the world ever began. That means before time ever began. This is when the Lord blessed
his people. Our God is eternal. He operates
without the confines of time. All his people's blessings are
eternal for that reason. They're timeless. Everything
about our God never had a beginning or would never have an end. He's
from everlasting to everlasting. That's what the scripture teaches.
He's without beginning of days or end of time, end of life.
He's forever. Therefore, the blessings of God
are the same. They're exactly the same. If you have these blessings
of God, you've always had them. He just didn't let you know about
it until he chose to. Fourth question is, what is the
blessing? I've already said some of them,
but what is the blessing? Well, he tells us in verse six
and seven, look. To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein
he hath made us accepted in the beloved, in whom we have redemption
through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches
of his grace. Redemption through his blood
and the forgiveness of sin. That's the blessing. our acceptance
before God, that's the blessing. To be accepted in the beloved,
to be accepted in Christ Jesus. Not having our own righteousness,
which is of the law, but having his righteousness freely bestowed
by his grace, by his own will and purpose, by his power, by
his choice. That is the blessing. Our acceptance
is entirely based upon God choosing to predestinate, to adopt, sons
and daughters unto him, choosing to conform us to the image of
his son, choosing to take this vile, wretched creature that
we are and transforming us on the inward man, the spiritual
man, into that which he is pleased with by conforming us to the
image of his son. That's what it's talking about.
The glory that's in you shall be revealed. That's Christ in
you, the hope of glory. That's going to be revealed one
day. The Lord's already given us his spirit. He's already birthed
us. We just can't see it because
his flesh can't see that. One day it'll be revealed that
we have been made in the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now with this predestination
comes a predetermined outcome that nothing can change. This
being conformed to his image, nothing can change God's predetermined
outcome. What does that mean? Well, it
means God determined something to happen. Who can stay his hand
or say unto him, what doest thou? Who can challenge his authority?
Who can challenge him on anything? Who can test God? We don't have any power. And
he predetermined the outcome of everything before the world
ever existed. Most especially the salvation
of his people. He predetermined your salvation.
He said, I am the Lord, I change not, therefore you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. I have bought you, I have redeemed
you, I have called you by your name, you're mine. Your mind. This is who this is the blessing
forgiveness of sins being one with God being his possession
and love no greater no greater blessing can be had no greater
blessing can be had How is it that we're gonna be
conformed to the image of his son? Well, it's redemption through
his blood and the forgiveness of sin. Here's the blessing,
to be forgiven of all the sin that we have, all the sin that
we are, all the sin that we do consciously and subconsciously.
You realize that we commit sin on a subconscious level? What
does that mean? We're sinning and we're not even
meaning to, because we're creatures of sin, that's what we are. People
don't understand, and we wouldn't understand had it not been for
the grace of God, that we're completely and utterly depraved. We cannot get to God in any way.
We cannot do anything that pleases him in and of ourself. We have
to have Christ and that is the blessing that we were placed
in Christ before time ever began so that God's seen us as perfectly
righteous. Doesn't see the creature that
we are. David was told You're the man,
you're the one that's committed sin. You took Bathsheba, she
wasn't your wife, committed adultery, and you killed her husband. You
had her husband killed, you're guilty of murder. Said, you're the man.
And David's confession was, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said, the best news
a sinner could ever hear. Nathan said, fear not, David. The Lord hath put away your sin. That's the blessing. The Lord
hath put away your sin. What does that mean? They're
gone. They'll never be brought up again because they have vanished.
The Lord erased them. Listen to this, Colossians chapter
two, verse 13 to 14. And you being dead in your sins
and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he hath quickened together
with him, having forgiven you of all trespasses, blotting out
the handwriting of ordinance that was against us, which was
contrary to us and took it out of the way, nailing it to his
cross. Do we understand what he's saying
there? The handwriting that said guilty, that we had written against
us, handwriting that we had written against us by the law's demands,
by justice's demands. The writings that said you deserve
the wrath of God, the writings that said you deserve eternal
hell, the writings that says you deserve death, you deserve
damnation, you deserve nothing good whatsoever, Christ Jesus
blotted out every one of those on the cross of Calvary when
he died for his people and shed his blood. They don't exist anymore. Well, what's written on the ordinances
now? Perfectly righteous, perfectly holy, good before the sight of
God, The very righteousness of God. The very righteousness of
God. The Lord Jesus Christ took them
out of the way by his own blood and he blotted them out by the
sacrifice of himself. He's given his people redemption
through his blood and forgiveness of sin. Brethren, that is the
blessing. That is the blessing. And lastly,
and the reason I wanted to revisit this is because we're looking
at it from a little bit of a different angle, asking questions this
time instead of how we did it last week. We declared what they
were last week, but now I want to answer this last question.
Why did he bless us? Why? Some might think, well,
he blessed me because I did this. That's not the reason. That's
not the reason. Because if he blessed us because
of what we do, then we are able to obligate him to do something. And that's not true. God's God
and does what he wants to do. So why did he bless us? Why did he choose to bless his
people? Look at verse six through nine. To the praise of the glory
of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved,
in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sins, according to the riches of his grace. wherein He hath
abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known
unto us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure,
which He had purposed in Himself. Why did the Lord bless us? To the praise of the glory of
His grace, according to the riches of His grace, and according to
His good purpose and will." Now does that say anything about
our works whatsoever? Does that say anything about
my responsibility or my obedience? Does that say anything about
me doing anything whatsoever? No, he chose to save his people
from their sin threefold to the praise of the glory of his grace,
according to the riches of his grace, according to his good
purpose and will, period. That's all. That's why. He chose
to do it according to his grace, according to his purpose. Not
by our works or our choice, not because we're good, but according
to the riches of his grace and according to his good pleasure,
the scripture says. Do you know what that means? That means I didn't earn it.
It's given freely by grace. And I didn't acquire it, meaning
I didn't find it on my own. If I found something, I could
lose it. Think about that. If I found it, I could lose it.
It's been many times I've found things and lost them again and
had to find them again. I didn't find salvation. God found me. God found you. See, he's not
the one lost. We are. We are. So if we're found,
it's him that finds us and we find ourself the benefactor of
all these blessings that were accomplished by the Lord Jesus
Christ. These blessings are based entirely, entirely, and I wanna
stress that word, completely, entirely, wholly, 100% on the
grace of God alone. It is not by works of righteousness
which we have done. There's nothing that we can do
in order to achieve or obtain favor with God or merit these
blessings. Only the Lord Jesus Christ could
have done that, and that's exactly who did it. and we are the benefactors
of it. Why did he do it? According to
his own purpose, according to his own grace, to the praise
of his grace, and according to the riches of his grace. Somebody might say, well, how
do I know if I have these blessings? How do I know if I have forgiveness
of sin? How do I know if I have, If I have been made righteous,
I can't see it. If you can see it, you definitely
don't have it. If you can see it, you definitely don't have
it. If you can see yourself getting better, you definitely don't
have it. But if you see yourself the center and you need a savior,
if you need a substitute, if you need the Lord Jesus Christ,
the only difference between a believer and a non-believer is a believer
believes. We don't look to ourself for evidence or assurance. We
look to the Lord Jesus Christ as all our righteousness, as
all our wisdom, as all our sanctification and all our redemption. Let me
ask you this, this will cement the fact that I'm making here.
When you are sitting underneath the sound of the gospel, are
you wondering at that moment, am I his? Am I his? Am I his? Or are you rejoicing
in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ? It's only whenever
we're at the house, piddling around on something, and our
adversary said, you know, a believer wouldn't do that. A believer
wouldn't do that. A believer wouldn't do that. Then you start thinking, Lord,
am I yours? And you start looking around, Lord, am I yours? And
then we're like Peter, we're sinking. And you know what we
say? Lord, save me. Lord, save me. I can't see anything
in me and I don't want to see anything in me. Show me Christ.
Show me my righteousness. That's the blessing. That's the
blessing. In closing, I'll say this. So
many say the Lord's blessing is physical healing or monetary
blessings. That's not the reward. They don't
understand that Christ, Christ is the reward. Christ is the
prize. Everything that comes with him
is the blessing of the Lord. All of his attributes and characteristics
that he bestows upon his people, that's the blessing. They're
given freely by his grace. The healing that men talk about,
the Lord, and don't get me wrong, the Lord can heal this flesh,
and that could be a blessing in order for us to be able to
live longer, and if I get sick, proclaim the gospel, or we can
continue worshiping here. But the blessing's Christ. The
blessing's Christ. There's physical blessings. But
the true, the greatest and most wonderful blessing is that your
sins are forgiven and the handwriting of ordinances have been blotted
out against you. The healing that men talk about, they talk
about physical healing. No, the healing is for the sin
sick sinner. That's the healing. He heals
the sickness of our sin by taking them out of the way and nailing
them to his cross. That's the healing. The riches are the riches
of his grace. That's the monetary things that
people say, health, wealth, and prosperity. No, no. It's the
riches of his grace that he gives to his people. That's the wealth
found in the Lord Jesus Christ. His riches are the grace that
gives us Christ as all our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. None of the blessings of salvation are carnal. There
is some blessings that are carnal, but not in salvation, meaning
that your flesh is not saved. Your flesh is going to go back
to the dirt from whence it came. It has been sanctified, which
means it's set apart as your corpse that you get to carry
on your back. But every blessing of the Lord
is spiritual blessings. They're eternal blessings. If
the Lord heals you from a sickness right now, you're still going
to die one day unless the Lord comes back with the trumpet.
I'll still die if the Lord heals me. If it was monetary, I said
this already, but if it was money, the Lord gives me a bunch of
money, I gotta give it to my kids when I die. I mean, it's not gonna
do any good. What was a rich man said? I put up barns, he
built his barns, he put all his stuff in the barns, he got it
full of all these things. He said, okay, that's not big
enough. He tore them down, he built bigger ones, right? He fills them up.
Now he says, take ease, my soul, my heart. I'm gonna eat, I'm
gonna drink, I'm gonna be merry. And the Lord says, thou fool,
tonight your soul is required of thee. And who will you give
the goods to when you die? That's why Solomon came to the
conclusion, it's all vanity. It's all vanity, there's one
hope. The wisdom of Solomon, the Lord Jesus Christ, he's the
blessing. He's the blessing. All the blessings of the Lord
are from everlasting to everlasting. They're never gonna end. They're
never gonna end. They are spiritually reserved
in heaven for God's people. Let's read our text one more
time, and I'll finish. Verse three, blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as
he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. Having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the
praise of the glory of his grace, according he hath, wherein he
hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption
through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches
of his grace. wherein he hath abounded towards us in our wisdom
and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of his will
according to the good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself. I'm so thankful, Lord, purposed
to choose his people and to give his people all spiritual blessings
in Christ Jesus in heavenly places. Let's pray. Father, thank you
for all that you are, all that you have done, cause us to believe. Lord, we know that if we doubt
salvation, we're looking at ourself, cause us to look to you and believe
that it is finished. Only there is our assurance found
in Christ and we pray. Amen.