Let's bow together and pray. Would you join me, please? Father, my prayer is that you would show us the truth of the words that we have sung. We understand those words, and yet we don't understand them. Show us today, in a fresh new way, the depth of your grace and its meaning. Remind us that we are dying people. And that the only hope that we have is the grace of God. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. I'm reminded this morning of standing on a high point near a place in the Switzerland
and looking out to the out, to the south. viewing them in their snow -capped splendor, and then seeing the swift mountains and hills and valleys roll all the way back to the point on which I was standing. The cowbells were echoing in the valley all around in stereo. At that moment, I felt like Julie Andrews. I thought I could go flying down the mountain singing. The hills are alive with the sound of music. There is a
beautiful scene. I could not help but exclaim the praise of the Lord for his creative power and intelligence. Likewise, as we come today to our text in Ephesians chapter 1, the Apostle Paul stands on a peak of revelation, overviewing God's great plan for the ages. He cannot help but burst out with a song of praise, a doxology
of blessing to the Lord. He says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy. and blameless before him. The Apostle Paul blesses God. When he uses that term of God, he is using it the only way that is used in the New Testament. Blessed is found eight times and is always used of the
Lord. Dr. Lewis Ferry Schaefer said, it is an ascription of supreme worship. in which all devotion and adoration that the human heart can give is ascribed to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. To bless someone means to speak well of them. Our English word eulogy comes from the Greek word here. It means that we speak well of God, that we say God is good. that God is worthy of blessing because of his goodness to us. He further identifies God as the Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ. I think it is worthy, as long as we're passing by that phrase, to note that it does describe the eternal relationship between the first two persons of the Godhead, the Father and the Son. are titles that describe their relationship from all of eternity. Theologians call this the eternal generation of the Son.
That means that he did not become the Son to the Father at some point, for example, his incarnation or birth of Bethlehem, nor even in his resurrection did he become the Son, but from all of eternity past he has been God the Son. Again, I say, Dr. Schaefer, the relation of the second person to the first person has from all eternity been that of a son. And like all else related to the Godhead
is not only eternal, but is unchangeable. He did not become a son of the Father by his incarnation or by his resurrection, nor is he a son by mere title, nor is he temporarily assuming. such a relationship that he may execute his part in the covenant of redemption. Here's what I'm going to say. He was the only begotten of the Father from all eternity, having no other relation to time and creation than that he is the creator
of them. It is evident that the Father and Son relationship sets forth not only the features of emanation and manifestation, and does not include the usual conception of derivation, inferiority, or distinction as to the time of beginning. In other words, normally we think of the son of someone as being later in time, or being inferior to, perhaps, or deriving his existence from a father. The priest goes on to say the Son being their God is eternal on an absolute equality
with the Father. And that is worth pointing out because there are some who like to cause our Lord Jesus Christ to be inferior because of this title of Son and of God being called his Father. But that is not the case at all. Paul blesses the God and Father. of our Lord Jesus Christ. Whatever our circumstances, and here I remind you that Paul's circumstances were prison, we are taught to bless God. He is our Father because he has caused us to be born again. We are regenerated
by him. He has imparted life to us as well as family likeness. Because of that, we call him our father. We are reminded by James that all good and perfect things come down from the father of life, with whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. We bless God because all good and perfect gifts come down from him. And even those bad experiences that we have in life, Our God is able to cause to come out for good, Romans 8 .28. I remind you of the outline
of the Ephesians that we have discussed. In the first three chapters, the apostle is talking about our calling in Christ Jesus. He wants us to understand that for which God has summoned us and destined us by our calling in Christ. He wants us to understand something of the riches that are ours in our Savior. So he begins by pointing out the blessedness of God. He says we bless God for what he has done. Then he begins to enumerate what God has done. He mentions in
verse 3 that he has blessed us. Notice the objects that are in view here, us. Of whom does Paul speak? Well, the answer is found in verse 1. The same ones that he calls there the saints. And then further describes them as the believing ones. In other words, Paul is talking about all of us who are saved. We are the objects of God's blessings. I would have you notice the action. He has blessed us. It's the same root word as
blessed. Blessed be God who has blessed us. Remember the Apostle John says we love him because he first loved us. We might say we bless him because he first blessed us. God has spoken well. He has spoken good to us, resulting in our eternal benefit. He has undertaken by his grace to provide for us something that we could not otherwise possess. We have become endowed by God. Colleges and universities seek to build their endowments.
Endowments are sums of money that are set aside by that institution to underwrite certain aspects of their program. The endowment is not touched itself normally, only the interest is drawn from that. And usually an endowment fund is a large fund. There's one university in the east, I believe it is Harvard, which has an endowment fund, a fund they never touch, it's only invested, of over a billion dollars. A billion dollars. Well, I can assure you that most Christian colleges
have a little bit less than that. Some of them don't even have endowments at this point. Endowments refer to benefits. That is there for the good of the institution. We have received an endowment by God. We are blessed by God. And notice the content of the endowment. He says he has blessed us with every spiritual blessing. I think it would be good to say that Paul is not talking here about the popular theology today called
prosperity theology. God is not here promising that every Christian is going to be wealthy and healthy. Indeed, that kind of a gospel is actually a perversion of what the New Testament teaches. Notice that God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing. That is, these blessings are in the realm of the Spirit. We have received blessings from the Spirit without limit, without measure. Every spiritual blessing is ours in Christ Jesus. Everything that we need has been dispensed to
us already. There is no need for us to have a second blessing or some additional work of grace, as some people speak. For already we are complete in Christ Jesus, according to Colossians chapter 2. And here we see that we have already been blessed by God. with every spiritual blessing. Now, it may be that we're not appropriating those blessings. We may not be experiencing them in
our lives. But the point that is made here by the Holy Spirit in these words is that God nonetheless has given us already everything we need in Christ Jesus. Every spiritual blessing is already ours. Peter reiterates this in 2 Peter 1, 3. And he says that God has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the knowledge of him. So there's nothing that we lack. There are some systems of belief. When you hear them taught and preached, you come away saying, what am I
lacking? I'm missing something. God must have something I haven't received yet. And so it causes you to look out there for something more, some additional thing that God might do for you. But the Word of God tells us that God has already blessed us, endowed us with every possible thing that we could ever need in this life. Therefore, Paul says in Philippians 4 .13, I can do all things. through Christ who strengthens me. Now notice the realm of these blessings. Every spiritual
blessing in the heavenly. Some translations say in the heavenly places, but literally it says in the heavenly. The realm of the heavenly. That is not exactly heaven, where God is in a local sense, although he is, of course, on my presence. that heaven is said to be his throne. But this is not exactly equal to that. It's included, but it's a broader term than that. It is not an easy term, frankly, to get a hold of. It's
one of those terms you have to think about. You have to chew on it and roll it around in your spiritual mouth for a while so you can get some flavor out of it. And then hopefully after a while you can begin to digest what it means. We have been blessed by God with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly. I think we might describe that, as one attempt anyway, as the realm of the supernatural. It is that other dimension
that is invisible to us, but is here. And not just here, but everywhere in God's creation. It is the realm beyond the natural that we know. Some people say it this way, that it's the domain of God. I think that's a little weak, but it gets some idea across. There's a phrase that is very significant in the book of Ephesians. It is found only in this book, for one thing. But it's found several times in it. For example, look in verse 20 of this same chapter. And we
find something else about the heavenly. It says, which he brought about in Christ, that is the working of his might, when he, God, raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly. In other words, the heavenly is the realm of Christ's present seat of authority. It says here that he has been seated, he has been enthroned at the right hand of God. in the heavenly, in that realm of the supernatural.
Again, in chapter 2 and verse 6, it says regarding us that we have been, he has raised us up with him, with Christ, and seated us with him in the heavenly, in Christ Jesus. And so it is also the realm of our own enthronement with the Lord Jesus Christ. The heavenly is the sphere of reality that has to do with our spiritual possessions in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the sphere of the blessings which are related to the spirit. There's a linguistic key to the Greek New Testament.
It is found again in chapter 3, verse 10. And you may want to underline these in your Bible. He speaks again of God. and his amazing grace and work, what he's done, verse 10, in order that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly. He is not talking here about President Reagan, Prime Minister Foster,
or Mr. Gaddafi. Those are not the... principalities and authorities the rulers that he's talking about he's talking here about heavenly authority he's talking about those authorities and rulers in the supernatural realm he is talking primarily here about the holy angels and we will come to this at some point in the future but what he's saying is that god right now is teaching them in that realm about his wisdom as they watch
us in this realm. Through the church and what God is doing in the world now, calling us out, he is instructing the angels as to his wisdom. And he says those angels are in the heavenlies, in that supernatural realm. And then it is found once more in chapter 6, verse 12. He says, for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly.
And so he introduces a new thought here. He says, not only is the heavenly this realm where our possessions are, the place where Jesus is enthroned and where we are enthroned in him, not only is it the place where the holy angels are being instructed by God, but it is also the realm or the dimension where demons work. It is that invisible realm of reality where the forces of Satan, where wicked spirits are in spiritual warfare. against
the purpose and the plan of God. And so we have a lot in the book of Ephesians to learn about the heavenly. We can certainly say this, that you and I live in a tension between two realities. We are quite aware of the reality of earthly things. We are born into this in our senses. that we receive, the five senses that we have, related to the natural realm. And we have certain
tensions in that realm of things. But we need to be aware that there is another tension in our lives as well that is related to the supernatural. We'll be learning more about this. But there is another realm, a heavenly realm, the heavenly. So we have relationship. Our citizenship is in heaven, so it's called. So while we are sojourners and pilgrims on the earth, we are citizens, that is permanent residents, of heaven. And since we are related also to that realm, we live in
a tension. Tension in this world and tension in relation to that world also. It is in that realm that our spiritual blessings are. In the Old Testament, God gave primarily physical blessings to his people of Israel. They were not more important than the spiritual blessings, but his blessings to Israel relate primarily to this earth. But the blessings that you and I have received in Christ Jesus are not primarily related to this
earth. It doesn't ignore the earth. that our blessings are said to be in the heavenly, related to that realm of the spirit, and that is far eternally more important than the blessings that might be upon the earth. Whoever would want a health and wealth prosperity theology compared to the heavenly theology that the New Testament really teaches? What is those blessings? That really counts. And we'll be getting into more of them. And I hope we get to one of them yet
this morning. Now he says, going back to our text, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. We don't want to overlook those last two words because they point out to us the source of our blessing. These blessings are ours not because we are somebody, but because of who Jesus is and who we are in him. It is because of our union with the Lord Jesus Christ that these blessings are ours. They
are not ours independent of him. They are not ours separated from him. They are ours in Christ. 1 Corinthians 6 .17 says, The one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with him. That is an amazing statement. I cannot probe that. It does not mean that we become God, that we in some way become deities now or ever in the future. But it does say that there is some very literal, organic sense. in which we become one spirit with the Lord Jesus Christ in this union that
we have with him. That is why the apostle in the book of Romans says, He can separate us from the love of Christ because we're one with him. If we're going to lose out on salvation and ultimately undergo condemnation and judgment, And so is the Lord Jesus Christ, because we are now one spirit with him, having joined ourselves to him by faith. Again, in Romans chapter 8, he says that we are children of God, and then he says
joint heirs with Jesus Christ. Amazing truth, that we are in Christ, united with him, in union with him, identified with him, so that these spiritual blessings that are ours are ours. because they are in him, and we are in him. Again, and for the final time this morning, I want to quote Schaeffer, who says, As the entire unregenerate race is in Adam and constituted sinners by his one act of disobedience, so the entire regenerate group are in Christ and are constituted righteous
by his one act of obedience. Likewise, because of... its relation to Adam, the first creation, became subject to death. So also, he says, the new creation, because of its relation to Christ, has received the gift of God, which is eternal life, and added to this all heavenly blessings,
which are in Christ Jesus. It may be said of the least of the children of God that he not only possesses the indwelling Christ, who is his eternal life, but he is insured in Christ and thus enriched with all that Christ is and all that Christ has received. To conclude by saying these riches are beyond comprehension. There are only two spheres of spiritual identification in the world. Adam and Jesus Christ. The unregenerate
are identified with Adam. If you were to see their names written down, it would be in the circle of Adam. That's where they are. That's how God sees them. When you and I are saved, when we trust the Lord Jesus Christ, God works that miracle of regeneration in our lives, then we are changed. to the second circle. And our names are now written down in Jesus Christ. We have a new identity before God. Now Paul emphasizes this over and over and over again. It is important
for us to grasp that. If we don't grasp that, we'll not understand, really, what our riches are. Now I want you to notice with me, we'll at least get started in the second blessing. Blessed be God because what he's done for us, the first one is that he's blessed us with all spiritual blessings. Now there are some people who say that verse 4 is the enumeration of blessing number 1, and that's one possible way to understand it. But in my outline, I'm going to do it this
way. What has God done for us? Well, in the first place, he's blessed us. Secondly, he has chosen us. And notice again the object, us. Verse 4, just as he chose us, that is those who were unholy and vile by nature, the likes of you and me, sinners, God has chosen us. Notice God has not chosen everyone. God has chosen us. It says. Having noticed the objects, I want you to notice the action that's involved. He's chosen. Selection is in view here. The verb means to take out for
oneself. It's not a complex word at all. You have a can of cookies. You reach in there and you pull out. some for yourself. You're choosing them. It's a very simple concept. But is it ever profound theologically? What it says here is that God has chosen us. This is what the Bible terms the doctrine of election. When God chose us, there was no one else involved. It was not God and... It was not God and the devil fighting over us. It was simply a sovereign act of God.
He chose us. Now there's a paradox that is involved here because there is a human side to this whole thing as well. Someone responds by saying, yes, I know it says that, but what about free will? What about free will of man? I think it's important to point out, at least in passing, that never in the Bible do you find the term free will. The term free will is not a biblical phrase. Now, man does indeed have a will. The Bible makes that clear. The unregenerate has a will. The
regenerate man has a will. But the will of the unregenerate, the unsaved man, is not free by any stretch of the imagination. The will of the unsaved man is enslaved to evil. He does not have the capacity in him to choose good and to choose God. You say, yes, but I know of unsaved people who do good things, and that is absolutely true. That's not the point here. The point is that an unsaved man cannot and will not, of his own volition, choose God. He will follow evil.
There is none, says God, who seeks after him as himself. Perhaps a better phrase than the free will of man would be the term human responsibility. The Bible certainly does teach that man has a responsibility before God. Jesus said, for example, in Matthew 11, 28, Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden. The flipping jailer cried out, What must I do to be saved? Paul responded, Acts 16, 31, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and you will be saved. And so there is a responsibility on the part of man to believe or to come to the Lord. That is human responsibility. I think that John MacArthur makes a helpful statement about the paradox involved here. He says the only way the paradox of God's sovereign election and man's choice can be resolved is in the mind of God. You see, God understands things that we can't. And MacArthur says that's fine. Because if we understood everything, we'd be God. So this paradox
doesn't have to be resolved. But whatever you do, don't take God's sovereignty and man's choice and try to find some middle ground. Or you'll destroy them both. Leave them alone and let the tension be there. Let God be sovereign and don't worry. about how he harmonizes that with people coming to Christ. That's his problem, not ours. That's a helpful statement. Because you see, man does have a responsibility to obey the word of God, to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
to come to him. On the other hand, in God's perspective, it says that he has chosen those who will respond before the foundation. of the world you see these two truths work together in harmony macarthur is correcting saying don't try to chop eastern down and compromise them and find middle ground in doing that one compromises what the bible says on the one hand it says that god chose us on the other hand it says that we believe on
the lord jesus christ And thus we're saved. These two truths work together, and I want to show you at least one passage this morning where they do. This passage is quoting the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Turn with me to the Gospel of John in the sixth chapter. Now in one sentence, Jesus includes both of these profound truths. He doesn't try to resolve them. He simply states that both of these things are true. John 6, 37, All that
the Father gives me shall come to me. Now notice that God the Father is giving to the Lord Jesus Christ, his Son, a people. And Jesus says all. With no exception, all that the Father gives to me, and those are all that he's chosen, all that the Father gives to me shall come to me. There will not be one of them who will fail to believe. They will come to him. But then he goes on to say, and the one who comes to me, I will
certainly not cast out. And so in the same sentence, he speaks to the responsibility of the individual. He says, the one who comes to me, I will not cast out. So you see that there is in this verse no resolution of the paradox, but there's an equal statement of them. It may be helpful to notice these two. work together in one other passage in the book of Luke, here not in the context of salvation at all, but actually in Judith, Luke 22 and verse 22. Here once more
we see the sovereignty of God. What God has determined will take place. And we see a man's responsibility, not his free will, but his responsibility. Therefore, indeed, the Son of Man is going as it has been determined. Notice that. Jesus says, what has been determined, I am now going out to do. What is that? Well, to be betrayed in the garden, be crucified and raised from the dead. And then he says, but woe to that man, by whom he is betrayed. In other words, Jesus squarely laid on Judas
responsibility for his own actions. Judas was absolutely not a victim of God's sovereignty. Judas did what he desired to do of himself. That is the human side of it. Judas was responsible for his betrayal of the Lord Jesus Christ. But the divine side of it, an equal truth, standing over against its intention that only God understands, is the fact that it was predetermined that one of the twelve, and Judas in particular, would betray him. And so we see God's sovereignty a
man's responsibility. These two crews are like the two rails of a railroad track. The rails run parallel to each other. They never meet. A locomotive sitting on the track has to have both of those rails to operate. If it does not have both of those rails, if one of them is missing for some reason, there will be a terrible crash. I like to think of that as God's sovereignty and man's responsibility. On those tracks runs the locomotive of God's salvation. Both of them
are essential. Both of them are a part of God's salvation. Without one or the other, there would not be salvation. You can't take away man's responsibility. You can't take away God's sovereignty. They both are there. And because they are there, the locomotive of God's salvation goes on. We have to beware, beloved, of extremes. of trying to say that everything is God's sovereignty and that man has no will.
That is absolutely not true. That is an extreme position that leads one, ultimately, to theological error. Nor can one say that man is free to do whatever he wants and that God has only chosen man on the basis of the fact that he saw that man someday would believe. Therefore, God chose that person. That is not true. God's sovereignty, man's responsibility. We cannot resolve them. Don't try to. You see, God has kept some secrets to himself. He has that right, doesn't he? The
secret things belong to the Lord. How these two work together? If you try to understand that, you'll lose your mind. You really will. If you try to compromise it or go to one extreme or another, you'll go into theological error. Simply accept what the Word of God tells us, that both things are true and that God knows how they relate. He has chosen us. What a wonderful truth that
is. But you know there cannot be one person here this morning who would say in going out, well, I am not trusting Jesus Christ because God has not chosen me. You cannot say that. You cannot use that as an excuse for your denial of Jesus Christ's lordship in your life. In fact, God has not chosen you. Because God has said to you that if you will, you may come to him. If you wish to, you may believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. And you are responsible for that
decision. Irrespective of what it says here regarding the fact he's chosen his own, you are responsible today for your decision to receive or to reject the Lord Jesus Christ. And I remind you that your eternal welfare, the destiny of your soul in heaven or hell, depends upon whether you will believe on him today or will not. If you have not trusted him, will you do it this morning? May God give you grace to do that. Let's bow
together in prayer. Father, as we begin to dip into the blessings and riches that are ours in Christ, we stand back with our minds amazed, maybe even a little bit boggled, We confess that we of ourselves cannot comprehend these things. And thus we pray that the Spirit of God would be our teacher. Lord, show us the blessing that salvation is, that we may in turn then say, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And Father, if there be some sinner here today who has not yet opened his heart to receive Christ, I pray that you would awaken him today to that truth. Enable him to respond in faith and repent of his sins and be saved. We pray this in Jesus' name. I'd like us to close by singing a couple of verses of 545, a hymn by Charles Gabriel which speaks to the grace of God. And as we sing this,
I want to extend an invitation. There is no greater nor masterful preacher of the truths that we've talked about this morning than Charles Spurgeon in London, England, a hundred years ago right now. But inevitably, he would give an opportunity for people to respond to the grace of God. And he was right in doing so. And today we invite you to respond. If God has worked in your heart and today you want to trust in the Savior, will you come? I'll be standing here at the front.
We invite you to respond to him by coming. Now, in coming itself, that doesn't save you. Understand that. It's your heart's condition before God. But we invite you to make a public response to that. 545, in loving kindness, Jesus came. He came for you. Stand please with me as we sing.
Will you come right now? i want you to sing with me the second verse and notice the words and how they might relate to the message this morning as you sing he called me What a great truth that is, that our Savior stepped into this world and called us to himself and lifted us from the sinking sands of our sins. Oh, Savior, thank you. Father, thank you for the grace that sent the Son that he might accomplish on our behalf. what we could
never do of ourselves. Thank you for awakening us to that truth, for by your Spirit bringing us under conviction and bringing us by new life to an understanding of what Christ had done for us and giving us to believe on the Savior. I pray today that we might rejoice. You would send us on our way blessing you. because of what you've done for the likes of us. In Jesus' name.