Please turn in your Bibles this morning to Ephesians chapter 1 as we look at the blessings that God has bestowed upon our lives. Now keep in mind that Paul wrote Ephesians to show believers the spiritual resources we have in Christ and then how to apply those resources to our lives. Ephesians chapters 1-3 deal with doctrine and then chapters 4-6 deal with the application of that doctrine, those truths of God.
The problem for many Christians is they are living like misers, dying of spiritual malnutrition because they have not taken advantage of the spiritual resources that are at their disposal. Let me illustrate this to you with these two true stories.
First of all there is the story of Hetty Green. She was America’s greatest miser. When she died in 1916 she left an estate valued at $100 million. But as you look at her life you would think that she was very poor. In fact, she tried to exist by scraping every penny just to eat and survive!
She ate cold oatmeal to save on heating the water. Her son had suffered a sever leg injury but instead of seeking immediate treatment she delayed him from going to the doctor till she could find a free clinic to take him to. Because of this delay her son’s leg had to be amputated because of the massive infection in it.
Hetty Green brought about her own death by rupturing a blood vessel in her brain (apoplexy) during an argument over the merits of skim milk verses whole milk because of the cost.
How sad a life this woman lived, she had the resources and yet did not appropriate them into her life. We look at a life like that and think how sad, how tragic and yet many Christians do the same today with their lives, spiritually speaking. They run around like misers never obtaining those spiritual blessings. May we learn the lesson and receive the riches, the spiritual riches that God has for each of us, which is my prayer for this study.
Now as sad and tragic as that story was, listen to this next one, it is just as bad. Several years ago the Los Angeles Times reported the story of an elderly man and his wife who were found dead in their apartment. Autopsies revealed that both had died of severe malnutrition, although investigators found a total of $40,000 stored in paper bags in a closet.
Again, the resources were there, they just did not appropriate them into their lives and many Christians are doing the very same thing. May we not only see and understand the spiritual resources that are at our disposal, but may we apply them to our lives. With that said let’s begin reading in Ephesians chapter 1, starting in verse 3 and let’s see what the Lord has for us this morning.
How often we see Christians living defeated lives. They just give up, drop out, and quit the race they are in because they are spiritual bankrupt. But how could that be? Is God broke? Did the resources of God run out? Not at all. In Psalm 50:10 we are told, “For every beast of the forest is Mine, And the cattle on a thousand hills.” It all belongs to God, He is not broke, He owns everything and His resources are unlimited. The problem is not with God or His resources; it all has to do with our neglecting to apply those resources to our lives.
Paul’s letter to the Ephesians has been called “The believers bank” or “The Christian checkbook” and even “The treasure house of the Bible.” I think that might be a little to flippant but we do need to also keep in mind that Paul tells us that God the Father has blessed us abundantly, super-abundantly with every spiritual resource in the heavenly places in Christ! Thus, this letter tells Christians of their great riches, inheritances, the blessings we have in Christ!
Back during the great depression of the 1930’s many of the banks would allow their customers to withdraw no more than 10 percent of their accounts during a given period of time. The reason was simple, the banks did not have enough resources to cover all the depositors if they wanted to withdraw all of their money. They did not want a run on the bank.
But God’s heavenly bank has no such limitations or restrictions. No Christian, therefore, has any reason to be spiritually deprived, undernourished, or impoverished. In fact, he has no reason not to be completely healthy and immeasurably rich in the things of God. Now please don’t misunderstand me, I am not speaking of a health, wealth and prosperity gospel. I am speaking of our spiritual resources and that God shall supply those needs as we have need. You see, God’s heavenly resources are more than adequate to cover all our past debts, all our present liabilities, and all our future needs and still not reduce God’s heavenly assets! That is the amazing thing of God’s gracious provisions for His children, He never runs out!
Now the key to all these spiritual blessings is that we must be IN CHRIST or we must be saved. Yes, God pours out His rain on the just and the unjust, the saved and those that are not saved because He is a gracious God but His spiritual blessings are only for His children, those who have been adopted into the family of God by faith in Jesus Christ!
As I said on Thursday, in the Greek verses 3-14 is one long sentence and it is a powerful sentence. Once Paul got started he couldn’t stop. And in this section we see the beautiful blessings of God upon our lives. In verses 3-6 we see the work of the Father in the past. Then in verses 7-12 we see the work of the Son in the present. And as Paul concludes this section in verses 13-14 we see the work of the Spirit in the future. So with that said, let’s look at what the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are doing in our lives, the spiritual blessings God is bestowing upon us.
1. THE WORK OF THE FATHER IN THE PAST –
EPEHSIANS 1:3-6
Notice that the Father blesses us with spiritual blessings. We tend to operate purely on the physical realm without considering there is a spiritual realm also operating and as we receive and apply those blessings into our lives they are manifested in the physical realm. And these spiritual blessings that are given to us are based in Christ, that He is our Lord and Savior and thus, we are children of God.
Paul then moves to election – God chose us before the world was created. Now the 5-point Calvinist has taken that to an unhealthy and unbiblical conclusion. They say that if you are going to be saved there is nothing you can do not to be saved and if you are not going to be saved then there is nothing you can do to be saved! That is foolish because it negates our free will, we do have a choice. No one is going to be dragged into heaven kicking and screaming that they don’t want to go!
Yes, in John 15:16 we are told, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.” But in Joshua 24:15 we are told, “And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” And in Revelation 22:17 we are told, “And the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.”
You see, there is election and there is also free will. One seminary professor put it this way. He said, “Try to explain election and you may lose your mind. But try to explain it away and you may lose your soul.” The best way I can explain election and free will is like this. You die and enter heaven and there in front of you is a door that says, “Whosoever will, let him come.” And as you enter through that door that says, “Whosoever will, let him come” you see a beautiful banquet table extending for what seems to be forever. On the table are place settings and by these settings are nametags. As you look you find your name by one of the place settings and then you hear the door close behind you and as you look you see on the door a sign that says, “Chosen before the foundations of the world.”
God does not predestine anyone for Hell, all our names are written in the book of life and a person is blotted out of the book of life when they reject Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior as Revelation 3:5 tells, us, “He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.” Yes, God knows who will respond to His love and who won’t but all have a choice in this matter of their salvation, it is called free will!
So God the Father has chosen us, predestine us and He also has adopted us into the family of God. The Greek word for “adoption” is HUIOTHESIA and it speaks of “taking the place of an adult son.” For the Ephesians, they would see it as a slave being adopted into the masters family and becoming a joint heir with him. You see, slavery was common in those days for in the Roman Empire there were some 6 million slaves! Thus, the Father has done that very thing for us, adopted us into His family and the reason is not that we are so special but His good pleasure, according to His will!
Think of it, God chose us, predestined us, adopted us into His family for His good pleasure and in doing so it shows the glory of His grace. In other words, the angels are scratching their heads saying, “Can you believe God’s grace, Joe is saved, adopted into the family of God!” And the key of course is that we are accepted for only one reason, that we are in the beloved or in Christ, and thus, the glory goes to God and not to us! The work of the Father in the past!
2. THE WORK OF THE SON IN THE PRESENT –
EPHESIANS 1:7-12
We are born into this world slaves to sin but Jesus came to set us free from sin by paying the price for our sin. It is not a temporary covering for our sins but a washing away of our sins by the blood of Jesus Christ. In Isaiah 1:18 we are told, “‘Come now, and let us reason together,’ Says the LORD, ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.’”
On the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur the High Priest would kill a goat, take its blood and sprinkle it before the mercy seat, before God in the Holy of Holies. He then would take a second goat; confess the sins of the nation upon it and then send the goat into the wilderness to be lost, (Leviticus 16). The blood of Jesus atones for our sins; He is the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world, (John 1:29). And our sins have been carried away into the wilderness never to be seen again and a sign is placed so we will not go looking for those sins, it says, “No Trespassing!” It is as Psalm 103:12 tells us, “As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.” And in Isaiah 43:25 we are told, “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins.” Thus, Paul tells us in Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”
Also, the Son has given to us the mystery of God’s will, that He is bringing together into one body those that are saved, He is restoring back the beauty of the earth to the way it was when God created it. Paul, in Romans 8:22-23 tells us of this, “For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.” Also, in Isaiah 11:6-9 we are told what it will be like in the Kingdom Age, “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, The leopard shall lie down with the young goat, The calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; Their young ones shall lie down together; And the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play by the cobra's hole, And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper's den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea.” And in Isaiah 65:25 we see this also, “‘The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, The lion shall eat straw like the ox, And dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,’ Says the LORD.”
As we look at the violence, the immorality, the wickedness in this world, we long for the day when God rights the wrongs in all of His creation and this is all done through the work of the Son who paid for this redemption with His life, the shedding of His blood!
Not only that, but Christ has given to us an “inheritance,” KLERRO (klay-ro’o) in the Greek and as I said on Thursday, it is in the aorist passive indicative which are fancy words that speak of a future event that was so certain to happen that the Greeks spoke of it as if it already occurred! What is that inheritance? I believe it speaks of our salvation and the sanctification process. We are saved, no one can take that away from us, no one can steal it from us, we can’t lose it because, as Paul said in Romans 8:30, “Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.”
Not only has God predestined us, called us, justified us, but He has also glorified us and it is spoken of in the past tense as if it has already occurred. Why did Paul speak of it that way, we are not in glory yet? Because that is how sure it is, God will complete the work that He has started in us! It is as Jesus said in John 6:37, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.” And in John 18:9 we are told, “ . . . ‘Of those whom You gave Me I have lost none.’” If you are His He will not lose you – it is a promise – you are already seen as glorified in the Father’s eyes – that is how certain it is!
Again, as we look at the work of the Son in the present it is Jesus who gets the glory and not us. It is not what we have done but it is what He has done, His grace bestowed upon us, not that we deserve it, but He freely gave it to us because He loves us that much. You see, without Christ we can do nothing, that is what Jesus said in John 15:5, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” You see, it is not what we have done, for God will not share His glory with anyone, but it is what He has done. The work of the Son in the present!
3. THE WORK OF THE SPIRIT IN THE FUTURE
– EPHESIANS 1:13-14
Paul tells us that we have been “sealed” in the Holy Spirit, SPHRAGIZO (sfrag-id’-zo) in the Greek and it speaks of sealing up, preservation. The moment we believe in Christ we are sealed instantaneously by the Holy Spirit, we are the property of the King of kings and Lord of lords! You see, the seal signifies several things for us:
A. SECURITY AND PROTECTION BY GOD
It is a total and absolute security that could only be broken by someone with greater power than has made the seal. Pilate set a seal upon the tomb of Jesus and that seal was broken by Jesus, He had greater power than Pilate, He is God and thus, as He rose from the dead the stone was rolled away, placed in another place and that seal was broken! No one can break the seal that God has placed upon us!
B. OWNERSHIP
When we are sealed by God it is a completed transaction, He will not return us. We are His! Paul put it this way in I Corinthians 6:19-20, “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.”
C. AUTHENTICTY
Having the Spirit of God in our lives shows that we are authentic in our walk, we are real. You see, the fruit of the Spirit will be produced in our lives and without being saved; you can in no way produce the fruit of the Spirit in your life!
D. DELEGATED AUTHORITY
We can go directly to God and speak to Him and He will speak to us. We are told in John 16:23, “And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you.” Also, notice what Paul tells us in Hebrews 4:16, “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” We don’t need to go through anyone else for we have access to the throne of God because we are His children!
Thus, when the Holy Spirit seals us it shows that we are secure in Christ, we are His possession, we are real and we have the ability to go before God. But it does not end there.
Paul says that the Holy Spirit is our “guarantee of our inheritance” and the word that Paul uses for “guarantee” in the Greek is ARRHABON (ar-hrab-ohn’) and it speaks of “purchase-money or property given in advance as a security for the rest” or earnest money. That tells me that the Lord is coming back and the Holy Spirit is the earnest money telling me this truth.
Also, think of it as an engagement ring, the Holy Spirit that is, and the Lord has given to us this ring, the Holy Spirit because we are His Bride, the church. That again tells me He is coming back to receive His bride, the church one day and thus, we should be looking for Him, watching and waiting for that day when He comes back for us! Paul, in II Corinthians 1:21-22 tells us, “Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.” Again, in II Corinthians 5:5 we are told, “Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.”
Thus, when He comes we will be received up into glory with Him and we call this the rapture of the church where the Lord meets us in the air, receives His bride and you can read of this in I Thessalonians chapter 4. Then comes the marriage supper of the Lamb spoken of in Revelation 19:5-9, where we are told, “Then a voice came from the throne, saying, ‘Praise our God, all you His servants and those who fear Him, both small and great!’ And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, ‘Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.’ And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, ‘Write: “Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!”’ And he said to me, ‘These are the true sayings of God.’” We wait for that day!
Again we give praise for the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. It is what He has done, sealed us, given us a guarantee of the Lord’s return for us and thus, He gets the praise and the glory, not us! The work of the Holy Spirit in the future!
As we have seen in our study the richness of the blessings we have, how God the Father in all His love chose us, how His Son redeemed us and how the Holy Spirit has sealed us and He is our guarantee of the promise that God has for us! Praise God for that!
As I begin to close this morning, listen to how Warren Wiersbe sums up this section of Scripture. He tells us:
You will note that all three Persons in the Godhead are involved in our salvation (see also I Peter 1:3). As far as God the Father is concerned, you were saved when He chose you in Christ in eternity past. But that alone did not save you. As far as God the Son is concerned, you were saved when He died for you on the cross. As far as God the Spirit is concerned, you were saved when you yielded to His conviction and received Christ as your Saviour. What began in eternity past was fulfilled in time present, and will continue for all eternity!
-Warren Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, p. 11
Can you rejoice in that? Can you give praise and glory to God for what He has done in your life? I hope you can and I hope you can see the riches of His glory that He has given to us! As I close, and I mean it this time, let me share with you this story, this true story because many Christians live their lives like this. We are told:
In west Texas there is a famous oil field known as the Yates pool. During the depression this field was a sheep ranch, owned by a man named Yates. Mr. Yates was not able to make enough money on his ranching operation to pay the principal and interest on the mortgage, so he was in danger of losing his ranch. With little money for clothes or food, his family, like many others, had to live on a government subsidy. Day after day, as he grazed his sheep over those rolling west Texas hills, he was no doubt greatly troubled about how he would be able to pay his bills.
Then a seismographic crew from an oil company came into the area and told Mr. Yates that there might be oil on his land. They asked permission to drill a wildcat well, and he signed a lease.
At 1,115 feet they struck a huge oil reserve, giving 80,000 barrels a day. In fact, thirty years after the discovery, a government test of one of the wells showed that it still could flow 125,000 barrels of oil a day. And Mr. Yates owned it all. The day he purchased the land he received the oil and mineral rights. Yet, he was living on relief. A multimillionaire living in poverty: What was the problem? He did not know the oil was there. He owned it, but he did not possess it.
That is like many Christians today who don’t realize how rich they are in Christ.
- Parables, Etc., vol. 3, No. 11, January 1984, 4
Folks, we are so blessed in Christ, so spiritually rich and yet many of us live like we are broke. Lord, help us to learn the lessons, to apply these spiritual truths to our lives and use the spiritual resources we have, those that God has freely given to us for His glory!