Bountiful Blessings for His People part 1

Well, let's take our Bibles. Let's turn back to Ephesians chapter one, verses three to six. I think I said that earlier in our scripture reading that we will be covering verses three to six, not verses three to 14. We'll get there when I say things like all of these verses go together. Some of you might think, wow, I hope he doesn't try to cover all of that. I think you know me by now. I'm just going to take our time and we're going to get through these verses because there's so much that we have to get out of each word, each phrase out of this section.

Now, last week, I think most of you know that we got started in our study through the book of Ephesians. We started off by examining two things. Paul's introduction in the book and then Paul's greeting in the book. Remember, he introduced himself to a church and a people that knew exactly who he was. And in the greeting, he greeted those faithful saints there at Ephesus. I know I said it earlier, but remember, they were a faithful church. They were faithful saints. They were not perfect. And that should encourage us as individuals and as a church.

And remember that all that we studied in verses one to two turned into a challenge for us that was set before us. We as a church and we as a people must be faithful saints of God here in Brookhaven. Think about that. We must be the faithful saints of God here in Brookhaven. And more specifically, we must be faithful to receive all that the Lord would teach us, not just in the study of Ephesians, but in all that we study in our small group study of the gospel of Mark and our study on Wednesday nights through the parables of Jesus, all that the Lord would put before us.

Now, this morning, we will see that right after Paul gives his short introduction and greeting, he launches head first into a great blessing and praise to God. And then he gives many reasons for his praise and blessings that he offers to God. One commentator that I read this week said that Paul here in verse three has this big outburst of extended praise and blessing. I don't have a problem with saying it like that. Now, within the reasons for his praise and blessing, Paul gives this long drawn out, theologically dense explanation. And for some, Paul runs off into the deep woods of some deep, difficult doctrinal truths.

As a matter of fact, some of you might say something like this. You know, pastor, when you read that word predestined, you ran off into a briar patch. Listen, if you feel like that word predestined is a briar patch for you, don't run. Just hold on. I promise it's going to be OK. Now question. Where is this praise and blessing? And where is this long drawn out, theologically dense explanation for this praise and blessing?

The praise and blessing to God are in the beginning of verse three and then starting at the end of verse three or in the middle of verse three, Paul begins to lay out the reasons for all of his praise and blessings that he expresses. Now, a little bit of information. You're going to run across this if you do some study. I know I mentioned this earlier. There is a problem with verses three to 14. Our English translations do not show us the problem. But the problem is this. Scholars tell us that in the original verses three to 14 are actually one unusually long, complicated sentence.

It's like one big run on sentence where Paul seems to pile up words. He seems to pile up phrases. He seems to pile up ideas. And scholars tell us that this is really clumsy. It's difficult. Now, why do I mention that? First of all, you're going to run into it if you study. But to me, this shows us Paul's heart here. This shows us Paul's heart as he goes off in this outburst of praise and blessing to God. Maybe he is just so excited that he doesn't worry about grammar and Senate structure and readability and all of that kind of good stuff. Maybe he is just overflowing with praise and blessing to God.

Now, I don't know about you, but that kind of information helps me. It helps me get a feel for Paul's heart. It helps me get a feel for his emotions and what's going on in his writing right here in these verses. Now, before we get started in the verses, I want to make a few broad observations that will help us see the great riches here. Remember the theme of the series. It is the believers riches in Christ Jesus. And there are some great riches here. And these are some great riches that we're going to have to dig out. We're going to have to work hard to understand these verses and understand what Paul is giving us.

We're going to have to work hard, put in the time, put in the study and make sure we can understand it and apply it in our lives and in our church. First of all, Paul takes us to three different times, three different times that relate to us. And he explains three parts of God's way of salvation. And that relates to us. Let me show you what I mean. First of all, Paul takes us back into eternity past. He takes us back to eternity past. In dealing with election and predestination, Paul is taking us back into eternity past and showing us the work of God as it pertains to salvation, our salvation. And then second, Paul takes us to the present.

Paul deals with our redemption through Christ's blood and the forgiveness that we experience in our salvation. He even deals with how we hear the gospel, how we believe in Christ and how we are redeemed in our personal lives. And then third, he takes us into eternity future. Here Paul deals with our future inheritance. He speaks of the future inheritance that we as the saints of God have when we are sealed in the Holy Spirit of God. But there's more. Paul also lays out for us both sides of God's salvation plan for man, both sides of God's salvation plan for man. He gives us God's sovereign work in his plan for the salvation of man.

That would be all of that about election and predestination. And then he also gives us man's responsibility in his plan for the salvation of man. That would be that part about hearing the gospel and trusting and believing in him. You see, folks, that just shows us there are a lot of riches here. This is a gold mine. This isn't a briar patch. We got to get into the gold mine, the queen of the epistles, and we got to dig all of this stuff out and we've got to see how it speaks to us in our day. Now, I want to start off by examining these blessings, which are in verse three.

And then we will get into the reasons for these blessings, and that starts in the second part of verse three. So I want us to see, number one, what I'm calling bountiful blessings out of verse three. This is what I am calling bountiful blessings. Let's look at verse three again. Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Now, I'll call verse three, bountiful blessings for several reasons. And I want to go ahead and tell you there's a lot here and I'm going to say there's a lot here a lot because there is a lot in all of this.

So what I'm saying is this, pay attention, get your thinking cap on. Don't doze off on me. First of all, we have a blessing from the apostle Paul that is aimed at God. We see that in the beginning of the verse. It's really easy to see, but we also have blessings plural. They are from God to certain men. And to see those blessings from God, we start here in the verse and then we have to track them down starting in verse four and going on. So there's a lot going on here. Let's get into these bountiful blessings. First, the blessing to God, the blessing to God. Look back at the first part of the verse.

Bless be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ. I've already said that this is the first blessing from Paul and it is aimed at God. And we see this and we can understand this. All that's going on here with one word, one keyword, this word blessed. Now this word can be translated praise, which would make the verse say praise be to God. That's what the new international version has. Some of you may have that copy. That is because this word can mean blessed. It can mean praise. Now the idea here is to speak well of, but more it is to bless. It is to praise. And this relates to worship. This relates to worship.

The reason I say this relates to worship is that this particular word here, it is used exclusively of God in the new Testament. And then right here in the verse, Paul is aiming it at God. So Paul is speaking well of God, but more he is blessing God, but even more he is praising God. This is an expression of praise and worship to God. Look back at the verse. Bless me the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, there's a little more coming out of Paul's heart here. Paul blesses and he worships who God, but more than just God, he says God and the father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, he's piling up words here and he's doing it on purpose.

Paul is blessing. God is God. He is blessing and praising. God is the high and holy one. God is the holy God who sits on his throne and he is what he is inaccessible because of his holiness. The scripture say that God is holy, holy, holy in sinful man cannot have access to a holy God, but he is also God, the father. He is the heavenly father that loves sinful man so much that he gave his one and only son that whoever would confess Christ could have access to him. So Paul is blessing and Paul is praising and Paul is worshiping. God is God, but yet God is the father, but yet there is more. He is also worshiping and praising who?

Jesus, the son, because what does he say? Bless me, God, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, right here, I think there is a lot that we need to see here. I mean, that's just a few verses, a few words in the verse, but there is a lot here. And I want to ask you a question in our personal devotional life. Do we bless and worship God as we should? Paul's in your thinking for a moment. Paul's in your thoughts here with all of the verses and everything that's going on. Just think for a moment. Do we personally worship and bless and praise God as we should?

Do we take the time as we should to bless and worship him asking for nothing, coming with no list, just you and the Lord. And all we're doing is blessing and worshiping, blessing and worshiping. See, we should make the time. We should put forth the effort to worship God really in three ways. We should worship him as high and holy. He is the high and holy one. And then we should worship him as the loving heavenly father, the loving heavenly father that loved this so much that he gave his one and only son. And then we should worship the Lord Jesus Christ who died for us. Are we too busy? Do we have to have too much noise going on in our life?

Oh, even when we're we're being a good Christian and we're reading and we're listening and we're studying, do we just pause? Are we quiet? Will we take the time to just bless and worship God? Would you even take the Psalms and just read through the Psalms and just bless and worship God? These are bountiful blessings, you see? But let's continue with these bountiful blessings. Still in verse three, we've seen first the blessing to God. Second, I want us to see the blessings from God. Now, if we pay attention in the verses, we see a shift to blessings from God to certain men. Look at the verse.

Bless be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, here's the shift, has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Now, we see that the one who is to be blessed and worshiped is now the one giving out blessings to man. And these are great, great blessings. And then starting here in verse four, it just continues. Now, I want us to see here in verse three, Paul gives us two ways that God blesses certain men, two ways that God blesses certain men. First, with every spiritual blessing. Isn't that in the verse? First, with every spiritual blessing. Now, these blessings are spoken of in the past tense.

That means that they've already been given in these blessings are spiritual in nature, meaning they come from Christ or they come from the spirit of God. Well, what are these blessings? These are all the blessings that come from God when one is converted to Christ. These blessings would be possessing redemption in Christ, pardon from our sin. These blessings would be the joy and the peace that comes with knowing Christ. We discussed that last week. This would be the presence and the work of the Holy Spirit of God in the life.

And although this blessing would encompass many things, this is actually one great blessing, which is complete and lacks nothing. So God has blessed those who are in Christ with one great and complete blessing, which encompasses every spiritual blessing. But then second, with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies are in the heavenly places. Now there is a debate if this means heavenly places are heavenlies. Some say the best translation seems to be the heavenlies. Conservative scholars push away from this being in a particular place or particular places. But the idea here is simple.

The idea seems to be that God has blessed believers in Christ in regards to heavenly things and the realm of God's rule. God's bountiful blessings belong to those who are in Christ so that what God has, they have. Believers are blessed with God's righteousness, with God's resources, with God's privileges, with God's position, with God's power and so on. Now, why do I take the time here? Five times in Ephesians, Paul makes this statement about believers blessed in the heavenlies. So God blesses those who are in Christ with every spiritual blessings in the heavenlies. But one more detail here with these bountiful blessings from God.

Who gets the blessings? It's right there in the verses. All men, do all men get these blessings? No, they do not. Notice two words that Paul uses here. "Our in us." "Our in us." Who is he talking to? The Ephesians talking about himself. "Us." He says, "Us in Christ." "Our us." See, these blessings are reserved only for those who are in Christ. And he uses that phrase some 200 times in Christ in him. So notice in summary that we have two blessings and both are in abundance, folks. Paul's bountiful blessings and praise to God and God's bountiful blessings for those who are in Christ, the faithful saints of God. You see?

So we have the bountiful blessings. But then we need to move on to the verses. I just call this "Bountiful Blessings Continued." Bountiful blessings continued. Starting in verse four. Now we've already stated that these blessings that are given by God to his people, they're spiritual blessings, they're blessings in the heavenlies. Now starting in verse four, Paul starts to list out some specifics. To me, maybe he was a little more general in verse three, now he gets more specific in verse four and the following verses. But with these blessings, there is something different. Different from the ones in verse three.

These blessings are seen where? In three times. Remember? These blessings are seen in eternity past. They are seen in time or human history and they are seen in the eternity future. Now this morning we're just going to stay in eternity past, folks. And also these blessings starting in verse four, they all center around what God has done for us in Christ. If we look in the verses, we see this phrase "in him" all through the passages. Look at the beginning of verse four. Even as he chose us in him. Look at the beginning of verse three. In him we have redemption through his blood. Look at the beginning of verse 11.

In him we have obtained an inheritance. And look at the beginning of verse 13. In him. So you see that everything here centers around what God has done for us in Christ. So we see the blessings. They are in eternity past and these blessings all center around what God has done. So first I want us to see the blessing of election and predestination. This is in verse four down to verse six. Let's read the verses. Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.

In love he predestined us for adoption in himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will to the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the beloved. Here we have God's blessing for his people, which began an eternity past. We have the beginning of God's plan for the salvation of his people. Yes, in eternity past God did determine to send his son to die in the place for sinful man. But God also made some other determinations in eternity past as well. Now I want to get to these blessings in different ways. First, I want to explain the meaning of this word election and predestination.

These two doctrines are seen here in the verses and then I will get into the specifics of the verses. So just follow me. I think this will help you. Now, the biblical definitions of election and predestination are similar. Biblically, election is seen as the work of God before creation, whereby he chose some individuals to be redeemed. These who are elected are not chosen based on any foreseen human goodness or any human good deeds, but only because of God's good pleasure. Now predestination is similar. Biblically, predestination is usually understood to have a broader application to refer to those who were elected or chosen.

It also refers to those who are not chosen. Sometimes you will come across this word reprobate that deals with the doctrine of predestination. Now, as we continue to dig out the details, these rich details, I believe we will begin to see that these definitions I've given you are thoroughly biblical. So let's get into this first, the blessing of election and predestination. Notice out of verse four, he chose us. Isn't that what it says? Even as he chose us. Now, the definition of this word chose here is very important. Simply, it means to pick, it means to select, it means to choose. But the construction of the language is important.

The construction of the language in the original, it speaks of a totally independent choice. This speaks of a choice by one and for one. Simply, the picture we have here is this. God is making an independent choice by himself and for himself. You need to see that. The word here tells us that God is making an independent choice by himself and for himself. And the rest of the verses will highlight that reality. But look at what this choosing looks like. He chose us in him. Now, this is an important thing for us to see. Paul is not saying that he chose us because of our expressed faith in him.

He is not saying he chose us because we trusted in Christ. No, that's not what he's saying. To say that would be inserting something into the text. Paul is saying he chose us in him or in his redemptive work on the cross, not because of anything man would do in time. And we will see what time this took place, when this took place. So this simply means that God chose us in Christ. And then also he chose us before creation. This phrase before the foundation of the world is a reference to creation. Paul is speaking of a time before time as we know it.

This would be a time outside of time in eternity past, before the creation, before time as we understand it. Now, remember, this was an independent choice by God and for God. And we see that this was before the creation. So he that's God chose us in Christ before the creation was created even before time. And then he chose us to be holy and blameless. It's right there in the verse. He chose us to be holy and blameless. One commentator said it like this. Election in Christ has a moral aim in view. Let that sink in. Election in Christ has a moral aim in view. I'd like to change that by saying that election has a moral application.

Here, Paul says that God chose us to be holy and blameless. To be holy means to be set apart for the purpose of reflecting God's purity. Let me pause here. Let me deal with the misconception. Look, folks, holiness does not mean being weird. So many people get this wrong. Some people think that being holy is just being different from the world and just being odd, just being weird. I've seen so many people make that mistake. This holiness means to be set apart as to reflect God and God's purity, folks. But blamelessness is different. It means to be free, free from fault, free from blemish. It means to be without defect.

The old covenant sacrificial system, animals that were presented for sacrifice, they were to be presented without blemish, without defect. So Paul is showing the moral application of this election. He chose us in Christ before time and before the creation. And he chose us to be morally holy and without blemish to be a reflection of his own holiness and purity. Now, here's where I say, let's take a breath. Maybe I need to take a breath. Paul is stacking up some deep theological truths here. What does he say? Starting in verse four, he chose us and then he stacks truth after truth in him before the creation to be holy and blameless.

This gets deep, folks. But there's more. There is more. Notice he predestines us. Look at verse five. He predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will. Now, remember, the definition of predestination is similar to election. Predestination usually refers to those who are elect, their chosen and then those who are not chosen. Well, really, the latter is not dealt with in these verses. Paul is only speaking of those who were chosen, those who are elected. But notice what he says. He predestines us in love. Is that what it says? He predestines us in love.

Now, there is a little bit of debate about this phrase in love. Some say it should be connected to verse four. Some say it should be connected to verse five. You know, it goes back and forth. But, you know, remember the original construction. It's one big run on the Senate. It's just all stacked here together. But if we take this to be a part of verse five, what do we see? We see that in love, God predestines us. In love, God predestines. Now, why is that important? This helps us to see that God is not some kind of a cosmic Grinch. God is not some kind of a cosmic Grinch. He chose and he predestined some in Christ out of nothing but love.

So Paul shows us that God predestined. He chose some in Christ and in and out of his love. This was all love, folks. Then he predestines us for adoption as sons. That's right there in the verse. Now, this concept of adoption that we are so familiar with, this was a strange idea to the Jews that were listening. They did not practice adoption like we do, but the Romans did. They did practice adoption. Adoption was very common in their culture and they practiced adoption for various reasons. It wasn't always what we would call a Christian reason. But what do we have here?

This is another expression of God's love for his people in election and predestination. It is out of love and grace that God adopts men to be co-heirs with him in Christ Jesus. One commentator said it like this. This is good. Jesus was God's son by nature. Jesus was God's son by nature. But believers are God's sons by grace and love. You see? So we see that in love he predestines us for adoption to himself. And listen, does he adopt us as slaves or sons? He adopts us as sons. I automatically think about the parable of the prodigal. I'm paraphrasing. But what does he say? I go back home to my father and I'll just be a slave.

But the father took him back, not as a slave, but as a son. And he did it out of love. And then notice he predestines according to his will. It's right there in the verse. Now, this phrase can read according to the kind intention of his will. The New American reads it that way. The King James reads according to the good pleasure of his will. Now, there are two things going on here. First, that God is doing what he willed to do. First of all, this tells us that God is doing what he willed to do. Now, remember his choosing. God is making an independent choice by himself and for himself. But then second, that God is doing what he willed to do.

And he takes great pleasure in doing what he is willed to do. And again, this is all out of his love, all out of his express love for us. So we see that in love, he predestines according to his good pleasure and his good and perfect will. So notice, he chose or predestined us to the praise of his glory and grace. Notice verse six. What does he say? To the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the beloved, the beloved being Christ. Here, Paul reveals God's ultimate purpose in his plan for the salvation of man. You got to get that, folks. Verse six is the climax.

This is the ultimate purpose for God's plan in the salvation of man. And what was that ultimate purpose? Was God's salvation plan ultimately to make man happy? Was God's ultimate plan to give man a ticket to heaven? Was God's ultimate plan to give him health and wealth and prosperity? No, folks, none of this has to do with God. In verse six, God's ultimate purpose and goal in this part of the redemption of man is that his people would praise him for his great mercy and grace. In the original language here, this literally reads the grace that he has be graced us with, he's emphasizing grace, folks.

So he, that's God, chose us and he predestined us to the praise of his glorious grace, a grace that he be graced to us. Now, I think most of you know my habits. Preachers all have habits, good and bad. My habit is usually to dig into the verses and to offer up a summary. But how do you summarize all this? If I try to summarize it, I'm just going to keep going. And you don't want that. The best way to summarize it is just to look at the verses. Look at verse four on down to verse six.

Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him in love, he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the beloved. Now, before I move on, I want to help you here. There could be some of you that are pushing back from this teaching on election and predestination. Oh, I know, folks, that when you use the word election or predestination, they automatically think you're taking them right into that briar patch. You know what a briar patch is?

We don't like them. They hurt and we get out of them, and that right. Some of you are nodding your head and there are various ways people react to this. Some simply ignore the verses. I know people that just go around them. They just don't read them. But others try to assign a different meaning to the verses. And there's a whole host of ways that we can do this. But listen, we've got to get into what this scripture say. We need to get what we have to get here. Now, I want to offer some help here. I want to offer some help here and I want you to follow me close.

We cannot just look at man's salvation only as we see it in time and human history. Our history. We can't just look at man's salvation as it is experienced and expressed in time and in our lives. Now, all of that is valid and all of that is good. And it needs to be a part of the discussion. We should be able to express when God saved us and what that looked like. That is a part of our story and it should be. And we must also look at man's salvation as it is seen outside of time and outside of human history. That is what the Apostle Paul is doing here. Paul took us back before the creation, back before time as we know it.

And we must be willing to examine man's salvation in eternity past. And that takes us to where election and predestination. And listen, these verses tell us that God was not in eternity past. Oh, waiting to see who would choose him. These verses tell us that God was not an eternity past, hoping that you would choose Christ. No, these verses tell us God was at work in many glorious ways. In great grace and in great mercy. And if we can't understand it all, it's OK. We will never understand it all, but we accept it by faith.

Now, look, all throughout the New Testament, election and predestination is the way where the whole of man's salvation is seen and expressed. But, you know, man naturally thinks of himself as a free moral agent. Man naturally, sinfully thinks of himself as a free moral agent. He sees himself as being able to choose to turn from sin and trust in Christ. But there are two things that prove that man does not have the free will ability to do that. First of all, the biblical doctrine of election and predestination. What did we just learn here?

Just by unpacking these verses word by word, phrase by phrase, man was not working then, folks, you do not find man working back then. It's just God on behalf of man. And second, the biblical doctrine of man helps debunk that faulty view. Just Romans, chapter three, folks, it tells us that man does not understand the things of God. It tells us that man does not seek God. By nature, man does not have the capacity to seek God for his salvation. Peek ahead in Ephesians. Look at Ephesians two. Look at Ephesians two, verse one. What does Paul say here? And you were dead in your trespasses and sins. You were dead. Listen, man is dead.

Man is dead in his sin and a dead man can't make that choice left to himself. Man does not have the ability, folks. So we must see that left to ourselves, we would never take the steps to turn from sin and rebellion against God. Left alone, we would never turn to God for salvation in Christ Jesus. It is only because God works first. It is only because God works first that we can come to him. Now, look at how good God is here. Man can do nothing to initiate or bring about his salvation from sin and ultimately ultimate damnation. But God acted in Christ Jesus to do all that needed to be done to provide salvation from sin and that damnation.

And that started when? When did it start? Forever ago before the foundations of the earth were laid. And that starts how? Not just when God decided to send his son. No, but it also started when he chose us in him before the foundation of the world. It started when in love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Christ Jesus. This is election and predestination. But what do we do? What do we do if we don't understand these things? Listen, folks, I'm not good enough to explain it in such a way where you're going to get it all today, as a matter of fact, some of you might struggle and that's OK.

Because listen, those of us who do accept these doctrines and believe in these doctrines have struggled through the years to come to that place. So if you're struggling, that's OK. Join the club, folks. But what do we do? What do we do if we're struggling to understand this? First of all, get your work boots on. Remember, I said that last week. Get your work boots on. Roll up your sleeves. I mean, there's work to do. We've got to get into the scriptures and look, folks, allow the scriptures to help you interpret the scriptures. Listen, folks, the scripture interprets the scripture and ultimately you can stand on the scriptures.

So get your work boots on, roll up your sleeves and get busy in the scripture. Now, if you need help, I can help you. I've got you in the scriptures. I'm not going to share with you my opinion. Oh, we might look at a scholar that helps us understand a word or a phrase, but I'll help you. We can get into the scriptures. And if you're struggling here, join the crowd. But let's mine the great riches that are found here in the verses. Now, let's look at the title of the message. What do we have? Bountiful blessings for his people. That's what this has been all about, folks. And this is a part one because we've just gotten started.

Now, I want to close with verse six. Verse six. Look back at your copy to the praise of this glorious grace. To the praise of this glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the beloved. Now, look at this, folks. Listen, if we are in Christ sitting right in these pews, if we're born again, if we're converted to Christ, listen, we are in this grace. You see, we are big graced. And look, I have said this many times to you. You either enter, you're not. You're either in or you're not. You're the inner, you're not. And if you're in Christ, this is all to you. What does he say? Us, you, us, you is all about us.

But if you're not in Christ, you're out. It doesn't apply to you. And what I say to you is this. Seek Christ, seek Christ while he may be found. Come to Christ. The Spirit of God will enable you to come to Christ in somehow, some way by God's help on the miracle of God. You can be born of God, born of the Spirit of God. You can be given a new heart. You can be what Paul calls a new creation in Christ. So what do we have? Bountiful blessings for his people. Let's pray and we'll commit these things to the Lord and we'll be dismissed.