I am Blessed!
Ephesian’s
1:3-14
I am Blessed!!
Genesis
1:27–28 (ESV) So God
created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and
female he created them.
28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and
fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and
over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the
earth.”
·
Adam
and Eve had done nothing
·
Gods
blessed them just because
·
We
don’t have to do anything to be blessed
·
God is
good all the time!
o We fail God bless
o We sin God bless
o We fall short God bless!
God
is a God who likes to bless. God is a God who delights in blessing. God is a
Father who doesn’t withhold good gifts from his children. He loves and cares
for them and he’s generous toward them. So, that’s the big idea. God likes to
bless his people.
“Paul wanted us
to know that we don’t need to manipulate God to bless his people. As Jesus
said, God is a good Father who delights in blessing his children with good
gifts. Any effort to manipulate God for blessing is as unnecessary as trying to
make water wet.”
Excerpt From:
Mark Driscoll. “Who Do You Think You Are?
Ephesians 1:3–14, Is the densest verse in
the whole Bible. In the original Greek text It’s one sentence. It’s 202 words,
one sentence, and the big idea is that we are blessed!
1.
We
are blessed in Christ!
Ephesians 1:3 (ESV)
3 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,
·
We’re blessed in Christ,
o Because if we have faith in
Christ,
o We have salvation in Christ,
o We have a new life in Christ,
o We stand in the position of
Christ,
o And we receive the blessings
of Christ.
·
Think about this the great
Blessing God ever gave us is his son Jesus!
o John 3:16
o What better gift can we ever
give than our selves
·
Some of the blessing comes
here in this life, but much of it is stored up in heavenly places.
o It’s not because God is
withholding it from us; he wants us to enjoy the blessings he has for us
forever.
o So, for the believer, this is
as close to hell as you’ll ever get.
o For the unbeliever, this is
as close to heaven as you’ll ever get.
o For the believer, your
blessing awaits you forever, and for the unbeliever, there is no blessing
awaiting you forever.
You
need to start counting your blessings! God is blessing us all the time,
·
We wake up, blessing!
·
We love on our kids, blessing!
·
We
have a great church family, Blessing!
·
We
have Salvation! Blessing!
·
Taking
out a crossed a pasture, Blessing!
·
The
smell of a barn, Blessing!
We some times
get so caught up in the “what we don’t have we miss Gods blessing simply to
allow us eternity in Heaven, all the rest is gravy!
Blessed in Holiness!
Ephesians 1:4 (ESV)
Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and
blameless before him. In love
Martin Luther
was fond of calling Jesus’ work on the cross the “great exchange.” There, our
unrighteousness went to Jesus, who suffered and died in our place, and Jesus’
righteousness came to us. The result is that God now graciously sees us as he
sees Jesus, righteous and holy.
Here’s what this means:
·
You don’t need to be perfect, Christ is your perfection.
·
You don’t need to live a perfect life, Christ already has in
your place.
Ultimately,
the world may not understand you as a Christian. Your unbelieving family,
friends, coworkers, neighbors, they may not praise you, they may criticize you.
They may not see you as living a life that is holy and good, but ultimately, we
live for an audience of one!
Here’s how this
changes everything: if your identity is in Christ and that he has made you
holy, that changes your activity and the decisions you make in your life.
·
So, let’s say you are a teenager, and if your
identity is teenager, you’re probably going to rebel against your parents
because that’s what teenagers do. But if you’re a teenager in Christ, Christ
has made you holy; you should be one who is compelled by the love of God to act
in a way that is holy.
·
Let’s say you are one who is a college student.
If your identity is in, “I’m a college student,” well then, you’re going to get
drunk, and break commandments, and act stupid, because that’s what college kids
do. But if you say, “No, I’m a college student in Christ, and Christ has made
me holy, and I love him and want to live holy,” then out of that positional
holiness will come practical holiness. Because of who you are, that changes
what you do.
What
change has Jesus made in your life? What things you used to enjoy that now
you’re ashamed of? What sinful activities you used to live for and now you
mourn over? In Christ, you’re holy.
You’re predestined!
Ephesians
1:5 (ESV)
5 he predestined us for adoption as sons
through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
This can sound mean!
It
says he predestined us in what? Love. So, whatever you do, connect
predestination and love, and don’t let it go into a wrong view of a fickle God
who’s unloving, and cold-hearted, and cruel. “In love he predestined us.”
What that means is that your
destiny is predetermined in love.
·
You chose hell, God chose heaven.
·
You chose damnation, God chose salvation.
·
You chose to run from God, and God chose to run after you,
·
So
he came as Jesus Christ. In love he predestined us. At PTCC we have a variance
of opinion on this. We hold the Reformed position and that is this: God chooses
us first and then we choose God second, that God puts the Holy Spirit in us and
then the Holy Spirit gives us the faith to cry out to God.
Predestination is a wonderful
doctrine.
What
it means is it doesn’t matter how bad you are, God could save you. It doesn’t
matter where you live, God could save you. It doesn’t matter who you are, or
what you’ve done, or what you’ve failed to do. It doesn’t matter how rebellious
you are, how religious you are, how ridiculous you are. God could love you,
save you, pick you, and bless you in Christ. Amen? That’s good news. That’s
good news.
Blessing of Adoption!
VS 5 “he predestined us for adoption as sons
through Jesus Christ”
Charles Haddon Spurgeon contrasts God’s
adoption with human adoption:
A man, when he
adopts a child sometimes is moved thereto by its extraordinary beauty, or at
other times by its intelligent manners and winning disposition. But, beloved,
when God passed by the field in which we were lying, he saw no tears in our
eyes till he put them there himself; he saw no contrition in us until he had
given us repentance; and there was no beauty in us that could induce him to
adopt us—on the contrary, we were everything that was repulsive; and if he had
said, when he passed by, “Thou art cursed, be lost forever,” it would have been
nothing but what we might have expected from a God who had been so long
provoked, and whose majesty had been so terribly insulted. But no; he found a
rebellious child, a filthy, frightful, ugly child; he took it to his bosom, and
said, “[Sinful] though thou art, thou art comely in my eyes through my son Jesus;
unworthy though thou art, yet I cover thee with his robe, and in thy brother’s
garments I accept thee”; and taking us, all unholy and unclean just as we were,
he took us to be his—his children, his forever.
You ever seen a kid get
adopted?
Doesn’t
something just ring true in your soul like, that’s beautiful. That kid didn’t
have a family, now they have a family. Didn’t have a father, now they have a
father. Nobody was looking after them, now somebody is looking after them.
Nobody was loving them, now somebody is loving them.” That’s beautiful, amen?
Let me say this:
You’re
adopted. If you’re in Christ, you’re adopted. You have a Father named God who
loves you. You have a Father named God who listens to you. You have a Father
named God who blesses you. And I want you to relate to him in that way. Stop
looking at God like an impersonal force and start seeing Him as a Father that’s
loves because he wants to not because he has to, he choose you, that’s right
you. No matter what you done, no matter how bad you think you are he loves you
right where you’re at! So turn and run to him!
Blessed because we are redeemed!
Ephesians 1:7 (ESV)
7 In
him we have redemption through his blood,
Are you a slave?
In
our culture, we use the language of addiction. In the Bible, it uses the
language of slavery, that something has mastered us, enslaved us, is harming us
and destroying us, and we need redemption. We need to be freed, delivered, and
released.
It goes back to the Exodus
·
The Jews were enslaved by Egypt
·
They
need to be freed
·
Pharaoh
repeatedly refused to repent of his ways and release his slaves.
·
So God
sent a terrible series of judgments upon the entire nation.
·
The
wrath of God was eventually poured out on the firstborn son of every household,
killing them in one night.
·
The
only households spared from death to their firstborn son were those who, in
faith, took a young, healthy lamb without blemish or defect, slaughtered it as
a substitute, and covered the doorposts around the entry to their homes with
its blood.
·
As a
result of the lamb’s blood, the wrath of God passed over them and was diverted.
God’s people were redeemed, freed to leave their slavery and live as free
worshippers of God.
·
All of
this symbolized the fact that sin rules over us, enslaves us, and destroys us.
But Jesus was the Lamb of God, whose blood was shed that we might be spared and
freed.
In Christ, you’re
redeemed. Whatever has enslaved you
·
Be it drugs, alcohol, food, sex, gambling,
fears, or something else, Jesus has redeemed you.
·
You no longer have to be enslaved to such
things.
·
Because Jesus died for your sin, you can put
your sin to death, walk away from whoever or whatever has enslaved you, and
enjoy a new life to worship God freely
The Blessing of Forgiveness
Ephesians 1:7 (ESV)
7 In
him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his
grace,
·
What
deep regrets haunt you?
·
What
words have you spoken, deeds have you done, motives have you held, lies have
you believed, harm have you caused, people have you grieved, and shame have you
carried?
·
What
have you done to try to satisfy your guilty conscience?
·
Have
you sought to deny your sin, blame others for it, minimalize it, hide it, pay
God back, or punish yourself for it?
·
How
have your efforts failed?
Jesus’ final words from the
cross is, “Father, forgive them.”
·
If you are in Christ, you’re forgiven.
·
You’re forgiven for everything you’ve done in your past, and
you’re forgiven for anything you’ll do in your future.
·
In Christ,
you are totally, completely, and eternally forgiven.
·
It
doesn’t matter what you’ve done or will do.
·
Jesus
died for it all and lives to forgive it all.
·
God
doesn’t hold your sin against you, isn’t going to punish you, and loves you in
spite of your sin.
The Lord Jesus wants you to
know that he forgives you.
He
means it. You’re forgiven. It’s a blessing, right? It means we don’t need to
pay God back. It means we don’t need to suffer. It means we don’t need to do
anything because Christ has done everything. When he died on the cross, he paid
the full debt for our sin. And when he says that we’re forgiven, we’re
forgiven.
Blessed with Grace!
Ephesians 1:7–9 (ESV)
7 In him we have redemption through his
blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in
all wisdom and insight 9 making
known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set
forth in Christ
God loves all people with common grace and
loves his chosen people with additional saving grace.
God’s common grace allows even those who despise him to learn
to make gains in areas such as science, philosophy, technology, education, and
medicine. God’s common grace allows societies to flourish, families to exist, cities
to rise up, and nations to prosper.
If your in Christ also receive saving
grace. Like common grace,
saving grace has innumerable benefits in this life. However, unlike common
grace, it also provides infinite benefits beyond this life in that it reconciles
us to God through Christ, freeing us to spend eternity in his presence as holy
and blameless.
In Christ, you’re graced!
You’re chosen
by grace, saved by grace, kept by grace, gifted by grace, empowered by grace,
matured by grace, and sanctified by grace. You persevere by grace, and one day
will see Jesus, the best friend you’ve ever had, face-to-face, by grace.
Here is the big
Idea; God lavishes his children with grace. He loves you, he wants good things
for you, he wants you to not only find grace here, but have it eternally!
Blessed by being sealed!
Ephesians 1:13–14 (ESV)
13 In
him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation,
and believed in him, were sealed with
the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who
is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the
praise of his glory.
When you’re sealed, your riding for the
brand!
In the ancient
world, owners would affix a personal seal to their possessions. By placing the
Holy Spirit in us, God also places his seal upon us. We now belong to the Lord.
·
Tell
the story of the brand!
Because your sealed you cant loose your
salvation!
·
This means that a Christian cannot lose their
salvation.
·
Some would ask, “Can you lose your salvation?”
That’s the wrong question.
·
The question is, “Can Christ lose a Christian?”
It’s not my salvation. The Bible says salvation is of the Lord.
o I
don’t save myself, I can’t un-save myself.
o I
didn’t elect myself, I can’t un-elect myself.
o I
didn’t adopt myself, I can’t un-adopt myself.
o I
didn’t seal myself, I can’t un-seal myself.
·
What he says is, once you receive the Holy Spirit, you are
marked and sealed as God’s possession.
o He causes you to be born
again with a new nature, as a new person, with a new heart, and a new mind, and
a new identity to live by a new power, to live for a new Lord.
o And that’s only the
beginning, and he will keep you to the end.
o A Christian does not lose
their salvation because Christ does not lose a Christian. The Holy Spirit keeps
you. That’s the blessing.
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