Our Spiritual Blessings

1
Our Spiritual Blessings

• Ephesians 13-14

2
The Lords Supper

• Come to the Lord's table
• Celebrate the remembrance of His death for us
• Focus on our salvation
• Praise God that He has saved us
• Our salvation is fully the work of God
• It has been given to us a gift
• All the glory belongs to Him

3
One Sentence

• One of the greatest passages of Scripture
• Gods eternal plan for the world
• The great blessings of God poured out on those
  who trust His Son Jesus Christ as their Savior
• Verses 3-14 - all one sentence
• Highly structured
• Three distinct sections
• the first addressing God the Father
• the second God the Son
• the third God the Holy Spirit
• Each section ends with the phrase to the praise
  of His glory
• vs. 6, 12, and 14

4
The One Who Blesses (v. 3)

• God, the Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ
• God receives all the praise in salvation
• God is totally sovereign and all blessings come
  from Him
• This is really Who and what this passage is all
  about!
• God has brought about salvation by His own will,
  purpose, and design
• Salvation does not result from anyone's will or
  merit
• The verb translated "He chose" is reflexive "to
  pick for oneself"
• God chose us for His own sake -- for Himself
  personally
• His choice of the saved was made before the world
  began

5
The Description of His Blessings

• Every spiritual blessing
• Gods best blessings are spiritual, not material
  blessings
• Spiritual blessings are vastly superior to
  material blessings
• In heavenly places
• They are the blessings of the inner man
• They are permanent and perfect and eternal,
  lasting forever
• In Christ
• Spiritual blessings are found only in Christ
• He is in heaven and all heavenly blessings are
  His
• He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords and all
  blessings are in Him
• If a person is to experience the spiritual
  blessings, he must be in Christ
• To be in Christ means to believe in Gods Son

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Our Spiritual Blessings vv. 4-14

• He chose us - v. 4
• In Christ
• Our only hope of ever living with God is to
  believe in Jesus Christ
• That we should be Holy and without blame before
  Him in love
• holy to be set apart and consecrated to God
• Same word that is used for saint in Ephesians
  11
• blameless to be free from sin, dirt, and
  filth to be above reproach
• Before the foundation of the world
• God determined before the world was ever created
  that He would have a people...
• who would be in Him, that is, in His Son, Jesus
  Christ
• who would be holy and without blame
• who would live before Him in loveforever and
  ever

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He predestined us to adoption as sons - vv. 5-6

• The dimensions of our adoption
• By Jesus Christ
• To Himself
• According to the good pleasure of His will
• To the praise of the glory of His grace
• By which He made us accepted in the Beloved
• Consider how sinful and depraved we are and how
  much we have cursed, rebelled, and rejected God
• predestination (proorisas) to appoint before,
  to foreordain
• The root Greek word (proorizo) to mark off the
  boundaries
• What God has done for the believer
• Marked off the boundary of being adopted as a
  child of God!
• The believers eternal destiny is determined

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He redeemed us v. 7a

• Through His blood
• In Him
• redemption (apolutrosin) setting a man free
  by paying a ransom
• God Himself has paid the ransom for our release
  through the blood of Jesus Christ
• Why? - because of the riches of His grace!

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He forgave us v. 7b-8

• According to the riches of His grace
• Abounds toward us in all wisdom and prudence
• wisdom (sophia) seeing and knowing the truth
• prudence (phronesei) seeing how to use and do
  the truth
• It is seeing the direction to take
• It is understanding, insight, the ability to
  solve day to day problems

10
He made known to us the mystery of His will vv.
9-10

• The key thought and great theme of Ephesians
• In the Bible a mystery is not something
  mysterious and difficult to understand
• It is a truth that has been locked up in Gods
  plan for ages until He was ready to reveal it
• The mystery of Gods will
• God is to gather together and unify all things in
  Christ Jesus
• All things are to be brought under the authority
  and glorification of Jesus Christ
• God has an eternal purpose and plan for the world
• It is His pleasure to bring it about
• What He does is all good
• A new and perfect and eternal creation will be
  established for the Lord and His followers

11
He gave us an inheritance vv. 11-12

• God has given us an inheritance
• inheritance (eklerothemen) heritage
• God takes the believer and makes him His own
  heritage
• The believer himself is made the inheritance of
  God
• Ephesians 117-18
• Predestined according to the purpose of His will
• To the praise of His glory
• We will live forever in the new heaven and earth
  as the perfect demonstration of His glory

12
He sealed us vv. 13-14

• God has sealed us with the Holy Spirit
• earnest (arrabon) pledge, guarantee, a down
  payment
• The Holy Spirit is given to the believer as
  perfect assurance of his salvation
• How does a person receive the inheritance?
• By hearing the Word of God
• A person has to hear the Word of God before he
  can ever know the truth, the glorious gospel of
  salvation
• By believing and trusting in Jesus Christ
• We know that we are redeemed by the Holy Spirit
  who lives within us

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Why Does God Bless Us?

• To the Praise of His Glory
• 3 Times!
• Only God deserves credit for our salvation
• His blood
• His grace
• His purpose
• His will
• His good pleasure
• His glory

14
Why Does God Bless Us?

• Jesus said that all who don't believe in God's
  Son are condemned already - John 318
• God in His sovereign grace has chosen to save
  those who are saved - Romans 98-13
• A humbling truth
• Why did God choose us and not others?
• Not because we deserve salvation but to
  demonstrate "the riches of His glory" - Romans
  914-23
• Gods sovereign election does not eliminate mans
  choice in faith
• Gods sovereignty and human response are integral
  and inseparable parts of salvation
• Exactly how they operate together only the
  infinite mind of God knows

15
Why Does God Bless Us?

• God saved us by His own free will, yet from our
  perspective we do two things
• we hope in Christ - v. 12
• we believe in Him - v. 13
• That too is to God's own praise and glory - v. 12
• God gives us the power to hope in Christ
• Our faith is a gift from Him - Ephesians 28-9
• He opens our ears to hear the message of truth,
  and enables us to believe
• The entire process of salvation is powered by the
  Holy Spirit, without whom no one could ever hope
  or believe

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Why Does God Bless Us?

• To the Praise of His Glory
• Because we are In Christ
• This phrase qualifies the blessings of God
• in Christ - a key theme in the passage
• Occurs 11 times in the sentence!
• Drives the point home
• It is only in Christ that we experience the
  blessings of God
• There is no other way to the Father but through
  His Son, Jesus Christ!

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More to Follow Charles Haddon Spurgeon

• Every blessing that comes from God is sent with
  the same message "And more to follow"
• "I forgive you your sins, but theres more to
  follow"
• "I justify you in the righteousness of Christ,
  but theres more to follow"
• "I adopt you into my family, but theres more to
  follow"
• "I educated you for heaven, but theres more to
  follow"
• "I give you grace upon grace, but theres more to
  follow"
• "I have helped you even to old age, but theres
  still more to follow"
• "I will uphold you in the hour of death, and as
  you are passing into the world of spirits, my
  mercy shall still continue with you, and when you
  land in the world to come there shall still be
  more to follow

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Our only proper response

• Ephesians 13
• 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

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