Let us turn in our Bibles today
to Ephesians chapter one. Beginning in verse number three. Ephesians 1, verse 3, 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 toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known
unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure,
which he hath purposed in himself, 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, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated
according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after
the counsel of his own will. that we should be to the praise
of his glory, who first trusted in Christ, and whom you also
trusted after that you heard the word of truth, the gospel
of your salvation, and whom also after that you believed, you
were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest
of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession
unto the praise of his glory. We sing the hymn, To God Be the
Glory, and the first line of that hymn is, To God be the glory,
great things he hath done. And in these verses that I've
just read, three times we read to his glory. to his glory and
also we read of great things which he hath done. Now last week we looked at the
first two verses in this chapter and we saw that the letter was
written to Christians And they are described, and this is true
of every Christian. Every Christian is a saint. That
is, he has been separated. Every Christian is faithful.
That is, he is a believer. And every Christian is in Christ
Jesus. You notice that in the first
verse. an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints,
which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful, to the believing
in Christ Jesus. There are six things that I want
to bring out to us from these verses this morning. This is
one of those passages of Scripture that a preacher could spend months
upon. And every verse is full. And it's also one of those passages
of scripture that a preacher could just read and sit down. I'm not going to do that, but
it is one of those passages that we could just read this passage
of scripture and what a blessing it is, God's word speaking to
us. But there are six truths I want
to point out to us in these verses today. First, Christians, bless
God, who is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Notice
that in verse three, the very first words, blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is one of the most
important truths that you will ever learn if God teaches you. How is it that God, Almighty
God, is both the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ? Well,
we know He is the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ because the
Lord Jesus Christ is the Eternal Son. He is equal with the Father
and with God the Holy Spirit. He is the Eternal Son. And yet,
He is the God of the Lord Jesus Christ because the eternal Son
in the fullness of the time was made of a woman. He was made
flesh. He came into this world. We as
children of God, we bless the God who is the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's so important, isn't it?
I know that that's old hat to many of you here today, but it's
such an important thing that He is the Father of the Lord
Jesus Christ because this is the eternal Son of God. There
never has been a time. This is the way the Trinity is
distinguished. The Father begets, the Son is
the begotten, and the Holy Spirit is given. And He is the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus. We bless the God and Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ. He's the Father of the Lord Jesus
Christ because He is the eternal Son of God. He is the God of
the Lord Jesus Christ because He is the mediator that God sent
into this world. And He is referred to as God's
righteous servant. And as God's righteous servant,
he obeyed God, he pleased God, he prayed to God, and he submitted
to the will of God. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now the second thing, Christians
are blessed of God. Christians are blessed of God. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings and heavenly places in Christ. All Christians are
blessed of God with the best blessings. Now there are different
kinds of blessings. Health is a blessing, and not
every child of God is blessed with good health. Some of God's
children suffer all the time that they are in this world.
They suffer physically. Health is a blessing, but God
doesn't bless all of His children with good health. The same thing
might be said of all of those comforts we refer to as creature
comforts. All of those things that are
comforting to the flesh. Some are rich, some are poor. Some are educated. Some are uneducated. Some are in a country where there's
freedom. Some are in a country where there
is everything but freedom. God doesn't bless His children
with all of these material blessings the same. Listen, He blesses
His children. He blesses Christians with the
best blessings. Those other blessings are good,
no doubt about it. But here are the best blessings.
The best blessings are spiritual blessings. Spiritual blessings. Any spiritual blessing that you
might think of today, whether it might be calling, justification,
glorification, sanctification, any of these spiritual blessings
that you might think of, God has blessed every Christian,
not most Christians, not the majority, but he has blessed
every Christian with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ. in Christ. So, first of all,
Christians bless God, who is the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Second, Christians are blessed
of God, and we are all blessed with the best blessings, spiritual
blessings, and we're blessed with them all. Not part of them,
but all of them. Now, the third thing, some of
the spiritual blessings are especially to the praise of the glory of
God the Father. We're going to look at three
of them that are mentioned here. Chosen in the Lord Jesus Christ,
according as he has chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world. Election. is an act of God's
everlasting love by which those chosen are considered in Christ
and one with Him. Think of it like this, Christ
is God's first elect and all of His members are chosen in
Him. He is chosen as the head in the
volume of the book, in the head of the book His name is listed
there as God's elect. But all of his members, members
of his mystical body, and that includes all believers, all Christians,
we were all chosen in him before the foundation of the world. And we were not chosen because
we were holy. we were chosen that we might
be holy. And that's what the Word of God
teaches. 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. Men are chosen not because they
are holy, but to be holy. Being holy is not the cause of
election. It is rather the effect, the
end of election. And this is most often this matter
of election. Yes, there are verses of scripture
where election is referred to the work of God the Son. He said,
you have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. But most often, Most
often, through the Word of God, the spiritual blessing of election
is ascribed to the Father, to the Father, God the Father. A
second blessing is predestination unto the adoption of children. You see that in verse five, having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself according to the good pleasure of his will. Now all of these blessings, all
of these spiritual blessings, we see the freeness of them.
As we go through this, we see the freeness of these blessings. They're given unto us. But there's
no blessing listed here, in my opinion, that shows the freeness,
the graciousness of God any more than being predestinated unto
the adoption of children. When we think about adoption,
and when men and women adopt, they usually do so because they
feel that they have some need. They have some need themselves. But that's not true of God. God
is a perfect whole being in Himself. He has need of nothing. He has
need of no one. And yet He adopts men and women,
and there was nothing good in us. Sometimes when people adopt,
they have certain criteria that they want in the one they are
going to adopt. But the Lord, He in love predestinated
us unto the adoption of children. There was nothing good in any
of us that He adopted. Nothing. It wasn't as though He looked
down through the years and saw something good in you or good
in me. No. The children having not done
either good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand. What freeness, what grace do
we see in this spiritual blessing that God would adopt someone
like you and someone like me into his family. He didn't need
any son, he had a son. A son in whom he delighted. And
yet, in love, He predestinated every child of God, every believer,
unto the adoption of sons. And the third spiritual blessing
here, and notice that it was by Jesus Christ, and it was according
to the good pleasure of His will. His will, God's will. And then third, he hath made
us accepted in the beloved. To the praise of the glory of
his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. Christians, their persons are
accepted in Christ. The Father delights In every
child of God, just as he delights, just as he said, this is my beloved
son in whom I am well pleased. So the father is well pleased
with every child of God in Christ, considered in Christ his dear
son, our savior. You know, there's a verse of
scripture in the prophet of Zephaniah. I'm gonna see if I can find it
here. Zephaniah. It's in chapter three. And it's verse 17. Listen to
these words. Child of God, when you look in
the mirror, you see all your blemishes and spots and all your
failures, all your disappointments. I tell you when God sees you,
he sees you in Christ and he sees you and you are accepted
and beloved and he's well pleased with you. The Lord thy God in
the midst of thee is mighty. This is Zephaniah chapter 3 and
verse 17. The Lord thy God in the midst
of thee is mighty. He will save. Now listen. He will rejoice over thee with
joy. Can you believe that? You know
it's true concerning his son. The Lord Jesus Christ. You know
that's true, don't you? You know that He did always those
things that pleased the Father. He said that. He was always the
delight of His Father. Even so are you in Christ. Even so is every believer. He
will rejoice over thee with joy. He will rest in His love. He will joy over thee with singing. So back in our text this morning,
all to the praise of the glory of his grace, sovereign election,
predestination unto adoption and being made accepted in the
beloved to the praise of the glory of God, the father. Now, the fourth thing that I
want to bring out is some of the spiritual blessings, and
these are especially to the praise of the glory of God the Son.
Redemption and forgiveness of sins. Verse 7 and 8, 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. It is the Son of God who by his
incarnation became the kinsman redeemer. The kinsman redeemer. And the fact that he is a redeemer,
implies that those He redeemed were in bondage. We know because
we were represented by Adam, we were in Adam, that we fell. We fell into sin, all men did,
even those that God had chosen, even those whom He'd given unto
His Son. And we come into this world,
we are in debt, and we are in bondage. Redemption through His
blood. Redemption by the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Have you ever heard of a debtor's
prison? They used to have debtor's prisons.
I know they had those in England. I think maybe in our country,
in the beginning, there were debtor's prisons. If you were
in debt and couldn't pay your debt, they'd put you in prison
until you paid your debt. I always thought that was somewhat
strange. If you couldn't pay your debt
while you were on the outside, how were you going to pay your
debt while you were on the inside? Did you know hell is a debtor's
prison? That's what it is. Men have a
debt that they cannot pay. The Lord Jesus Christ came into
this world and he paid the debt, the sin debt of his people. And we know that debt was paid
with his precious blood, with his sacrifice, with him giving
his life. Also, the Lord Jesus Christ describes
Satan as a strong man, a strong man who has power and authority
and as All of us come into this world because we have sinned
and we are sinners. We're under the authority, the
power of Satan. And the only way that anyone
may be released, our Lord said, there must be one who is stronger,
who comes upon him and spoils his his prey. And that stronger
one is the Lord Jesus Christ, who came into this world and
redeemed his people and delivers his people from the bondage of
sin. And also the law. The law of
God required payment. The law of God required satisfaction. And that was something that we
could not do. And the Lord Jesus Christ, the
scripture here says, that we have redemption and forgiveness
of sins through His blood, according to the riches of His grace. Now,
the second spiritual blessing that is mentioned concerning
the Son is the mystery of His will made known. Verses 9 and
10, having made known unto us the mystery of His will. What
is that, the mystery of His will? Well, it is the gospel, the whole
doctrine of grace and salvation by Jesus Christ. Some say this,
if you think of this like a chart maybe, And over here, you've
got a line of things that you add up. And over here, you've
got a line of things you add up. And then there's a sum total
of all of these various columns. And we might think of the promises
of God. We might think of the types in
the Old Testament. And all of these things are summed
up, but they all find their completion in Jesus Christ, by Him coming. Then it is made known how that
He's both God and man, how it was that David referred to his
son as his Lord. Remember the Pharisees, our Lord
asked them that question. How is it that David called his
son his Lord? And they said, well, we can't
answer that. We don't know that. But it's
made plain by the coming of Jesus. He's made known the mystery of
His will. The gospel is manifested and
made plain and clear through the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ. All of those prophecies, that
first prophecy in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15, the seed of the
woman. Now, how is it there's going
to be a seed of a woman? Never heard of that before. But
I tell you, it's made clear, isn't it? It's made known, how?
By the Lord Jesus Christ being made of a virgin, the seed of
the woman who brews the head of the serpent. All of these
columns of the prophecies and the types and everything else
that pointed towards the Savior, they're all added up and summed
up and the sum total is Christ. They're all made known in Christ. It's the mystery of His will. Remember, our Lord spoke about
these mysteries, the mysteries of the kingdom of God. And they
are made known outwardly through the word of God, through the
preaching of the gospel, but inwardly by God, the Holy Spirit. And then the third spiritual
blessing here is in whom we have obtained an inheritance. The word that's translated here,
obtained, signifies by lot. And the thought is when the nation
of Israel came into the land of Canaan, the land was all divided
by lot. And they had a big territory
of property, and Judah's gonna get a place, Benjamin's going
to get a place, Zebulun's going to get a place, and all of these
12 tribes, they're all going to get places in that land. And
the land was divided by lot. They got an inheritance by lot. And that's the word that is used
here, that the inheritance to which we have received, It's
an inheritance the Apostle Peter describes as incorruptible, undefiled,
and one that fadeth not away. The fact that it was given by
lot reminds us again that it's not earned. Heaven is not something
that you earn. It's not something that you merit.
It is just like that property in Canaan was divided up by lot. So heaven is a free grace gift,
and it is given unto us through the person and work of Jesus
Christ. And you notice there in verse
12, we read that we should be to the praise of His glory, that
is, to the praise of the glory of God the Son. Now the last
few verses here, verses 13 and 14, some of the spiritual blessings
are especially to the praise of the glory of God, the Holy
Spirit. The first thing we read of is,
in whom you also trusted. The Holy Spirit is the author
of the new birth. Remember our Lord said that which
is born of the Spirit is spirit. He's the author of the new birth.
No one ever trusts in Jesus Christ. No one ever believes in Jesus
Christ unless that person has been born of the Spirit of God. Men and women have been deceived
for so long into believing because this is what has been taught,
this is what has been preached for so long now. that you make
a decision, or you believe, and because you believe, then you
are born again. What they have there, they have
a person who is spiritually dead believing, and we know that's
not true. Men are first born of the Spirit
of God. And as an evidence, as an evidence
that you have been born again, that you have been born from
above, you believe, you trust in Christ. That's the work of
God, the Holy Spirit. People came along several years
ago, someone asked me this question, how is it that a believer, a
child of God, doesn't have the Holy Spirit, needs to be baptized
with the Holy Spirit? I said, that's not so, that's
not true. No child of God in the Old Testament
or now since Christ has come has ever been saved apart from
the work of God, the Holy Spirit. It's a mysterious thing. Our
Lord said that. And it's a sovereign work. The
wind bloweth where it willeth. That's what our Lord said. Many
times in a congregation, the gospel is preached, the gospel
is proclaimed, and someone is there and they say, you know,
I can't wait till this is over. I can't wait to get out of here.
And someone else, God speaks to. God reveals his son to. It's an amazing work. That's
the work of God, the Holy Spirit. And then a second thing that
we read here is the Holy Spirit is the seal. Notice again in
verse 13, in whom you also trusted after that you heard the word
of truth. the gospel of your salvation
and whom after that you believed you were sealed, sealed with
the Holy Spirit of promise. Now there's much that might be
said about that, but a seal, we have some here this morning
who are notaries and I know you have a seal. And you push that
down and you make an indention, an impression upon that paper. God the Holy Spirit is the seal. He himself is the seal. We've
been made partakers, the Apostle Peter tells us, of the divine
nature. We've been sealed. He himself,
he is the seal. The spirit itself in Romans chapter
8 and verse 16 says, the spirit itself beareth witness with our
spirit. Now it does not bear spirit,
uh, bear witness with our senses. We have five senses, do we not? We have eyes and hearing, smell,
touch, taste. The apostle is not saying the
Holy Spirit bears witness with our senses. Some people think,
well, I had this great feeling, you know, sparks were flying
and all. No, he bears witness not with
our senses, but with our spirit, the spirit that is in us. He
bears witness of the truth with the word of God. We see because
our eyes, the eyes of our understanding have been opened up and we see
how it is that God may be just and justify the ungodly through
the person and work of His Son. Yes, His justice is satisfied. And the sin dead is paid. He
bears witness with our spirit that we are the sons of God,
not with our senses. That's a mistake that people
sometimes make. And they say, well, I don't feel
saved. He doesn't bear witness with your feelings. He bears witness with your spirit
and your spirit with the word of God. And the third thing,
the Holy Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance until the
redemption of the purchased possession. What is an earnest? An earnest
is a pledge. It's a pledge. And as Christ
purchased his church, he purchased not only our souls, but our bodies. And the Holy Spirit is a pledge. And it is a pledge that one day
these bodies, that we'll turn back to the dust if we die before
the Lord comes again. But we have this pledge, God
the Holy Spirit, this pledge, this earnest, that like Job was
able to say, in my flesh I shall see God. This body's going to
be raised again. This is something people have
argued against the resurrection. They say, well, how is that possible?
How is it possible, my friends, for a virgin to have a son? How
is that possible? Mary, she said, how is that possible? With God, all things are possible. All things. And yes, God, the
Holy Spirit, somehow, he knows where the particles of the bodies
of saints that have turned back to the death star, and in that
morning when Christ comes again, and that day when he comes again,
the bodies are going to be raised, and we have the pledge of God
the Holy Spirit. To the praise of the glory of
God the Holy Spirit, these three things. Now the last thing, the
last thing, how, how should we praise his glory? To the praise
of His glory, to the praise of the glory of God the Father who
chose us, to the praise of the glory of God the Son who redeemed
us, to the praise of the glory of God the Holy Spirit who regenerated
us. How are we to praise Him? First of all, we should confess
that all of our salvation is all to His praise, to His glory. That should be our desire, that
He receive all the glory and all the praise. Number two, admire. We should admire that our salvation
is all to the praise of the glory of His grace. And number three,
we should strive to walk worthy of this so great salvation that
is to the praise of the glory of His grace. I pray that the
Lord would bless these words to all of us here today. Remember, men, we'll meet after
the dismissal for just a few minutes in the fellowship hall.
Let's sing hymn number 475. Let's stand. 475. you