Where Spiritual Blessings Come From

We're going to be in the book of Ephesians today. We're starting the series on Ephesians, and it is an amazing, amazing book. We're going to be in verses three through six today [Ephesians 1:3-6]. And I really doubt that we'll get even past verse four in our message. The outline today is that God has blessed. And then God blesses us. And then we are called to holiness. And because God has blessed, and then he blesses us, we should be motivated towards holiness. That's the trajectory of the whole message today.

Paul, as he's speaking about Ephesians, he's writing from prison, in about A.D. 62 or so. And this is about 30 years after the death of Christ. And he's trying to bring about a transformation in the Ephesians, and the people who gather around the city of Ephesus, and all of their different spots and locations; he is trying to motivate them towards godly living, towards holy living. And how he does that is he first wants to expand their knowledge and understanding of God. You see, because of who we are in Christ, that is the foundational motivation for living holy lives. And when you try and do that on your own, we all fall flat.

Those weeks where nothing seems to go right, and we just seem like we're sinning all over everyone near us, it is because we forget who we are in Christ. And I think part of that is we forget who God is. We forget that we're walking on his planet and breathing his air, and that all things are sustained by the word of his power, like Hebrews says. We forget that he is God, and there's a purpose for our life. And our purpose is not just to go around and be nice people. Our purpose is not just to go around and do nice things for others. Our purpose is much greater and grander than that. And Ephesians calls it “to the praise of his glory.” That's why you and I are created; we’re to be living lives that are to the praise of his glory, you see that in verse six [Ephesians 1:6], and over and over again in Ephesians. And you see at the end of chapter two. Chapter two, verse 10 [Ephesians 2:10], you see that we are actually transformed into people who are his workmanship. You’re a work of God made to bring praise and glory and honor to him. And when we do not do that, [when] we do not understand that, life is very difficult. Life is very difficult.

And when you do understand that, and you do live for God's glory, because you understand who he is, and you understand what he requires, you're able to live through the difficulties for God's glory. They don't suppress us, they don't knock us down and keep us down; they knock us down and we get back up because God is God and he is on his throne. And we are his servants. We are the ones whom he has placed his affection. And Paul in Ephesians, and especially verses 3-14 [Ephesians 1:3-14], he's trying to just expand what our spiritual blessings are in Christ. What our spiritual blessings are in Christ. Look with me at verses 18 and 19 of chapter one [Ephesians 1:18-19], because this is where it's heading. Okay? This is what all of the spiritual blessings are leading to. And there's no short simple sentences in Ephesians. Okay? This is just a robust book.

Paul goes through all of these things. And he says in verse 18, I'm reading out of the ESV, [it] says, “having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you,” [Ephesians 1:18]. That's the first thing he wants us to know, the hope to which he has called us. He also wants us to know what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power towards us who believe. He wants you to have a great hope. He wants you to understand the riches of your inheritance, as you'll see in chapter one, in Christ. And he wants you to not feel like “oh, I can never do this with Christ.” He wants you to think that “I can only do this with Christ.” So he is showing you the power of God's greatness towards us who believe, not according to your might, as it says there, but according to the working of his great might.

God can accomplish every single thing he wants to, in and through you, as we submit ourselves to him. As we know him. But it's not a drive thru scenario, it's a sit down meal. It's take it in, soak it in. And that's really what he's trying to get the Ephesian church to do is to soak in who it is that they serve and know and love. He wants them to understand that their calling determines their conduct. Their calling, the first 3 chapters, will determine and motivate their conduct, chapters 4-6. And you can see that transition in the first couple verses of chapter 4. Today, what we're going to talk about, is the spiritual blessings that we have in Christ. And we're just really going to break the surface a little bit on that. That goes all the way through verse 14, the spiritual blessings. There's so many of them. But Paul reveals our spiritual blessings, so that we may know the hope to which he has called us, our glorious inheritance, and God's power toward us who believe.

So, the first thing: that God is blessed. Look there in Ephesians, chapter 1, let me just read through the first few verses here, “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, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him,” [Ephesians 1:3]. Let's just stop there, the first two verses, and 3-14 is just one long, gigantic, in English, run on sentence. Okay, in the Greek, you just pile it on, you just keep piling on phrase after phrase after phrase. And it's this building crescendo that Paul wants us to kind of take in all at once. In English, we break all those thoughts up in little bite sized pieces.

So, we're going to try and pull out a little bit of what Paul is revealing to us in God's word. Because God's word is inspired, and you all know this, we can't skip over the phrases, and just think, “oh, yeah, I understand that.” Just like the greeting was not just a greeting, it was making us aware of his authority to write this letter. Same thing here. It says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Now, you've probably heard the word blessing 1000 times in church, it really has a range of like three meanings.

One is happiness. It's not talking about that God is Mr. Happy and so he's going to make you happy, too. That's not what this is talking about here in this context. Okay? That's more Psalm 1, “how blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,” [Psalm 1:1] there's happiness when we follow God. That's not what we're talking about here. The second thing is blessedness can mean divine favor. Okay, divine favor, you are blessed by God. That's not what it's talking about here about God either. The third thing is praiseworthy. And that is the meaning here of blessed, “blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” He lives in a state of being praiseworthy. He is in that state all the time. He didn't enter into that state, he didn't come around to it and build himself up into that over millions of years, he is always in that state of being worthy of praise. Because of that knowledge, we understand that then he can bless us. He can bestow His praise worthiness on us and his divine favor. So that's how we are blessed in a different way than God is blessed.

Why is he praiseworthy? It's kind of obvious—he's God. He is God. There's no trick here. There's no great deep meaning in the Greek for this. He is God, he is worthy of that divine favor. But I think it's a simple truth that goes unnoticed in our world. If we would just start with God being God and us not being God, think about how that would change the media. That's our favorite kicking post here in church, right? We just love to kick around the media. Think how that would change those who are running for office. Think how that would change our world, our society, what we live for, if we just simply recognize that God is on the throne and he's worthy of our praise. Second, he is worthy of our praise because he's the one who's given to us. What has he given? He's given us all of these things listed in verses 3-14. These are the spiritual blessings that we will begin to look over.

Have you ever just considered that you know God. I mean, you talk about, you know, maybe you like baseball. And so maybe you know somebody who plays in professional league and so when you go out and you're hitting the ball around with your friends or other people, you go, “hey,” you know, “I know so and so.” Because you're in that sphere of baseball, and you know a famous baseball person. You're excited about that. And you want to let other people know, hey, you know, I know this guy, and he knows my name. You're excited about it. I think sometimes the greatest person that we overlook is the greatest person of all. It's God Almighty, his Son, Jesus Christ, and the helper the Holy Spirit.

Have you ever just considered that as dinner gets burnt, or as your car breaks down, or as somebody cuts you off for the 15th time on the way to work on your commute, or as something pops up at school that you are unaware of and it makes you upset? And God, here’s God, he's controlling the universe in the stars, and he's making sure the Earth rotates at the right speed, and he's upholding all of us in our lungs and sustaining our breath. And we're griping with our breath that he's sustaining us with about our burnt dinner. Or if it's at my house, I tend to leave the bacon on a little too long and get a little distracted and it gets a little burned and the whole house smells like this burnt stuff, “oh, this is happening again.” And we're worked up over the smallest things because we forget who we know. I mean, should we really be concerned about such things that are a trifle? But I know that we are.

Think about it like this. When a child gets hurt, they run to the one who loves them. When they get scared, they run to the one who cares for them. When they don't have anything to eat, they go to the one who feeds them. Do you see the connection? God is our father. He loves us, cares for us, protects us. And I think as you go into Ephesians, I think you should not overlook really just who God is. That he loves and knows and cares for you. Deeply. We had a child, Tyler here, he did a faceplant on the track right outside the soccer field and got a gash in his head. And you know, it's doing what gashes do in the head. And, you know, I thought, “oh, no, maybe he's got a concussion or whatnot.” He looks white as a sheet by the time I got there to school and, you know, when the nurses there are standing with him he's calm. Because he knows the nurse at the school loves and cares for him. That's what she's there for.

And when I get there (I would like to say that everything was okay), but he went on and on about what was happening, and he was kind of excited. But he knows that there's people there caring for him. While he was just around his friends, they don't have that relationship with him. They're kind of just like, “hey, how's your head? How was your face plant?” You know, that kind of thing. But he knows the adults in his life, those whom we have put to take care of him at school, in our home, that we care for him. So, he'll let me put a Band-Aid on his head, knowing that when I take it off it's going to hurt, because I love him. It's the same familial relationship that we should have with God, and I just want to put that out there, so we don't gloss over who God is as we race to [say], “give me a command give me something to do here,” in this passage.

It says that he's the “God and Father,” in verse three [Ephesians 1:3], “of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Lord, the one we submit to. Jesus, that's the name of the Messiah. Christ is the one who was sent to redeem people from their sin. God is the Father of the one whom he has sent to redeem us from our sin. That's what that means. That is showing us the love. The one who was praiseworthy has sent his son, because he loves us, to redeem us from our sin. And you see that. In just the first few words, though, he'll go on to explain that specifically as well. But when you see “the Lord Jesus Christ,” that's what you should think of—the one I submit to, the one who has come to redeem me. That's who it is that he's talking about here.

And I just want to describe Jesus Christ to you a little bit, just so we remember the beauty of who it is that we serve, so that it can encourage your souls. When I say the name “Jesus” what comes to your mind? What comes to your mind? Maybe a picture of the cross, maybe a picture of the resurrection, the one who fed the hungry people who would later be the ones not doing anything about him being hung on a cross, maybe the one who washed Judas’s feet the very night he would betray Jesus Christ and set in motion him being sent to the cross.

What do you think of when you think of Jesus? He's the one foretold of in Isaiah 7 and 9, almost 700 years before he came. He is the promised one, the Messiah, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, the light that dawns on the people. The Gentiles have seen a great light, he is the one who has come. Do we remember this? He's the one who came for you, what does that tell you about your significance? That he went through this grand plan because you and I are such sinners, and we need the grace of God so much, that he had to have his son come and take on flesh and be nailed to a cross. That's how much pain your sin causes a holy and righteous God.

And you'll see at the end of verse 4 that that's the very thing he's called us to; is to live a life of holiness. Not just being a nice guy or a nice girl, not just someone fun and interesting to talk to. We want to engage people. Because we know Jesus. If you have other believers in your life, and look around you do, your relationship with them should be based mostly on your love for Jesus Christ, on the grand forgiveness that you have through the Son. Not because you both like to play bocce ball or basketball or whatnot. Those things are great and fun, maybe Ultimate Frisbee. Because you know Jesus. Sounds kind of funny to compare Ultimate Frisbee with knowing Christ, doesn't it? But that's really some of the things that we base our relationships on.

Listen, dear friends, the mere understanding of forgiveness in Christ alone should compel us to pursue him. Want to know like, where's my motivation here? The forgiveness you have in Christ. That's the motivation we have. It's not something we deserve, we deserve eternal fire. We deserve to be judged for who we are before a holy and righteous God. If you've broken one law, you've broken them all. If you cracked the windshield, it's an imperfect windshield. It's cracked, it's no longer good. It's not in the state it was when it was made. There's something less than pure about it that needs fixed. In the same way, if you've broken one law, you've broken them all. You are seen as no longer pure before a holy and righteous God. If you have a sin, it remains until it's forgiven for all of eternity. Why is hell forever? Sin remains forever. The only way to take care of that is through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. How then is it paid for? It's paid for by the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Look in verse seven. “In him we have redemption through his blood,” [Ephesians 1:7]. That sounds kind of morbid, doesn't it? I mean, think about that. If you talk to a non believer and you say, “we have redemption through this guy who like spilled his blood all over the place for us, isn't that great?” Like you’re kind of weird. That's the seriousness, that's the gravity of sin before God. “The forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,” if God was short on grace none of you would be saved. And I know you very well, I would not be saved either.

You look at the person next to you, and you say, you know, you are only holy because God is holy, because he has paid for your sin through his Son. That is an amazing, amazing truth. He took our sin and crushed his son. How many of you would do such a thing for a complete stranger who hates you? That's the reality of the cross; that God has done that, and while we were sinners, Ephesians 2 [Ephesians 2:1,8], will start out with that, “while you were dead in your sins.” And it will go on to show you that “by grace you have been saved,” as the men learned yesterday, right? That’s one word in the Greek, right? “By grace you have been saved.” In Ephesians, Paul creates this dynamic word to just try and describe what's happened to us in Christ.

All who are saved by his blood follow after their Lord and Savior in life here, and in eternal life. We are changed and we are made new. Does that just sound old to you? Sound alive, and vibrant, and that's the reason for living and getting up and going through your day is that you're saved and you're going to see Jesus one day! Friends, when you see your neighbor come out of the house you should think “man, how can I share the gospel with them? How can I let them know about God who has redeemed them?” Well, they need to know first that they're in a sinful state of being, not just that they sin from time to time, but that their sin makes their nature a sinful nature. How can we be called to holiness if we have a sinful nature? It reveals to people their need for Jesus Christ. Your need for Jesus Christ. And Paul, he's just starting to talk about the rich theology. This is sometimes called the treasure trove of theology; Ephesians. And it's simply just to draw us to the Lord Jesus Christ, to help us to root out those sinful desires, to bring us to his throne, and just to say, “thank you, thank you for my forgiveness.”

The second thing we want to talk about is just how we are blessed in Christ. Look there at the second part of verse 3 [Ephesians 1:3] where it says, “who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.” God has blessed us, the blessing of one God the Father, has blessed us in Christ, with every spiritual blessing. This is not just “here's your ticket to heaven.” If that's all you think and know of salvation, of our blessings in Christ, we have a very small understanding of just what it is that we have. It's like you fill this room up with gifts and fill them all the way up to the ceiling and let it overflow out the back. That's like the blessings that we have in Christ, just blessing upon blessing and wave upon wave of grace.

I think sometimes we feel like we're that guy in the desert that's just come out of the desert and if we could only get a drink, as if there's only a little bit to know about God. And he's like, saying “Come, there's this lake I want you to come up to, and have as much refreshing water as you want, drink and be satisfied.” That's what it's like to know Christ. It's not just a little cup of water. It's an ocean of blessing from the Lord. I want to ask you, do you know about that? Do you know about the blessings you have in Christ? We need to actively engage our minds and think about these things.

What then does it mean to be in Christ? If all of these things come to us for being in Christ, what does it mean to be in Christ? It's pretty straightforward. Once you are saved, you are in Christ, you are placed from where you were to what you are in now. It is your faith that has saved you by God's grace. He has taken his grace and drawn you out of something you couldn't get out of on your own. And he has changed you and made you new and given you desires to glorify God. And he has placed you in Christ. You cannot have impurities in Christ. So how does that work? If you think through that, if we're this impure, sinful being, and we're put in Christ, does that make Christ impure?

No, it's because his righteousness is now given on our account. And that because of his righteousness, you too are seen as pure and holy and righteous. Do you live like this? Do you live like this? Do people know there's something different about you? There's something different that should be seen in an obvious way to all who know you. And you can tell them this is being in Christ. It's not that we have some intellectual understanding that they don't, it’s that our affections have been drawn by Jesus Christ to submit ourselves to him. To submit ourselves to Him. They are sparked by the grace of God. That's why it says in chapter 2 that God made us alive [Ephesians 2:5]. God didn't hand over a gift that we deserve, we would call that a payment. I have this great thing. You then owe me salvation. That is salvation by works, which Ephesians 2 explicitly speaks against. But because you have come to God by faith, repenting and turning from your sin, he has given us salvation as a gift of his grace is undeserved favor. Undeserved favor. We have no blessings before Christ, and we have every blessing once we are in Christ.

Now, the message for those who do not believe, is to repent and believe. It's simple. Don't try and make someone who doesn't know Christ to act like Jesus Christ. Don't try and tell someone who's a sinner to stop sinning. You might tell them that they're offending God, you might explain to them why what they're doing is called sin, but don't expect them to be able to bring glory to God if they're not believers. Just like you and just like me, unbelievers act like unbelievers, and this should not shock us. When you watch the news, you might be shocked at the level of depravity, but you should not be shocked at the depravity. You might be shocked at the level of sin, but you should not be shocked that there is sin.

The message the world needs to hear is to repent of their sin, and they have no idea who Jesus Christ is and why they need to do that. They need to know that they've offended a holy and righteous God, that they cannot earn his favor, that all of their best works are like filthy rags. Even when we appear clean, if it were not for Christ, we too would be in that same state; unclean, unable to even approach the throne of God. The world needs called out of unholiness, and they need called to holiness. They need called out of impurity and called to purity. Men, the world needs called to purity. We need to guard our eyes, we need to guard our hearts. These things that we do all by ourselves and these thoughts that we have, we need to guard our affections, we need to guard our hearts, for it's the wellspring of life, men.

Women, you need to help with that. You can't let your affections go towards somebody else. You have to guard those and say, this is what I was made for I was made to worship God. I don't give affections to anyone whom I'm not married to, even in my mind. I do not long for other people. I only long for my bride. And when you think of those things, right then you just every thought captive. Lord help me, every thought captive. Because your life should be an aroma that is pleasing to the Lord God at all times. And it starts with your heart.

When people are on the news, and they're talking about all the things they want to discuss, and they're trying to talk about, “hey, don't think about my unholiness look what she's done.” Or, “don't think about my unholiness, look what he's done.” Right? They're both two people trying to put each other down, and we're going to pick the one who rises to the occasion. Really. Maybe a third party candidate. There is nothing holy about those who are unholy. We need to tell people to repent and believe. And when we see their unholiness out there all the time, you shouldn't be surprised. It should break your heart, you should get on your knees and pray for people. You shouldn’t go, “oh, never voting for them.” Well, if they get elected, the one that you don't want, maybe it's somebody else besides the two main candidates, you're called in Romans 13 to submit to their authority, to pray for them.

Paul got smacked in the face for reviling the high priest, accurately. And he said I did not know he was the high priest, for God says not to do those things [Acts 23:5]. If we could get that out there to all the Christians, all the blogs will be gone like that. Everybody's talking about how vile this person is, and how vile that person is, and oh, look at her sin and his sin, all the while sinning throughout the day themselves. All the while putting other people down. I have read very few blogs, very few articles, even on a national level from our greatest speakers and preachers, about how we need to pray for these people and that be their main message. If God chooses to put somebody in over us that we don't like we're called to pray for them. We’re called to lift them up before the throne of God, so that God might save them too.

Do you understand how we're to be different? Because we're called to be holy, not just called to do what the political mudslinging does. Friends, when you understand the holiness of God, you understand that we need to give people the gospel. We need to tell them who Christ is. And when you sin, and you find yourself sinning over and over and over, you need to give yourself the gospel, remind yourself of who you are in Christ. That's the very methodology that Paul uses to bring the Ephesian people towards the right conduct. Know who you are in Christ.

Let me just tell you what happens when you become in Christ, because all of this is predicated on knowing that. Isaiah chapter one, verse 18, one of my favorite Old Testament passages Isaiah 1:18]. God kind of establishes a courtroom, so to speak, and he uses courtroom language. And he's speaking to Isaiah, speaking about the people. And he says, “Come now, let us reason together,” would that not just like bring you to your knees? If God the Father spoke verbally to you and said, “you and I, mano a mano, me and you, let us reason together,” you’re kind of like, “oh, no, here it comes.” And then instead of totally laying into the people, what does he say? “Let us reason together, [says Yahweh] says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, [that is as deep red as deep red can get] they shall be white as snow. White as snow.

North of Israel is Mount Hermon. They could see it in the distance during the seasons when Mount Hermon is covered with snow, and they knew that their springs of refreshing water would melt and come down to them from this mountain. And they would know this is the pure clean water that they're able to drink besides the springs in the city. And he's saying though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow. What can take this jet black, tar ridden, sticky substance, and make it clean and pure? What can take something that is sin, stained through and through, and make it pure? Do you think about these things during the week? God's grace is sufficient, friends. I think we need to come to the rivers of eternal life and drink and be satisfied today. Some of you are saying “well, I'm already saved.” Well, remember, the letters are written to who? Believers or unbelievers? Believers. He's reminding the believers of these truths. This is the motivation for godly living.

We drag ourselves around at times, like that person I mentioned earlier coming out of the desert, as though God's grace is hard to find. And really what the case is, is we've taken our eyes off of the Lord Jesus Christ and set our affections and desires on other things. And that's the sobering reality. We need to put our eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ and invite others to do the same. Ask God to remove the cover off our heart, to break the cold callous heart that we have at times. Even saved people can grow cold hearts. You distance yourself from God, that’s why it talks in James, James talking to believers, “draw near to the Lord God and he will draw near to you,” [James 4:8] that supposes a distance between God and his people. How does that happen? Sin. And you need that relationship restored, not that you're saved again, but that your relationship is broken.

We need to keep our eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ. So that, as Paul says, we will know the immeasurable greatness of his power to those who believe, that we’ll know the hope to which we've been called, that we'll know the greatness of our inheritance in Christ Jesus [Ephesians 1:18-19]. We've not even come close to describing the depths of being in Christ. One thousand preachers for thousands of years have tried. D. Lloyd-Jones wrote seven volumes on Ephesians, a great work, a great masterpiece if you want to read it, on this little short book, just trying to plumb the depths. And I want to challenge you, think about where your knowledge and understanding of God is right now. If it's just barely off the floor, by next month get it up a couple inches. Right? If you've been soaring and studying and learning scripture for years and years, but studying the Bible still comes difficult. Let's learn together. Okay, let's learn together. (I'll learn not to put my water so close.)

And if you know how to study and you know how to teach and you know how to preach praise God for that. Teach others. But let us not stay where we are. There's so much to know, there's so much to learn. And I think the more that I learn, the more I understand I don't know a whole lot. I used to teach Sunday school every now and then when they let me at Calvary Bible Church where my dear friends are from. And my old pastor there, he would say “are you nervous?” “No, I'm not nervous.” But what about, we're going to do a Q&A afterwards. Are you nervous about that?” “No, not really. Not really. I mean, I've read the passage.” “Okay...” So, he and his wife were writing notes about me handling the passage, and I got an earful after that. I didn't really understand what I didn't understand.

You think you go into something you’re like, yeah, I can explain that. That shouldn't be too hard. I’ve got my points, I’ve got my introduction, you know, and I've got my illustrations, and I've got my quotes, right? You need at least two or three quotes. Now you get all this? I've got it. It's right there on paper, all I got to do is read it. And then somebody, an older saint, who knows 10 times what you do, asks you what seems like an obvious question, but it's not. And you realize your place before everyone. “I don't know” needs to come out of your mouth. “I don't know that answer, and maybe I will next week, and I'll get back to you.” And we learn that we really don't know as much as we thought we did.

Where are you at in knowing Christ? Where are you at? Could you fill up half a page in your understanding of Christ? Or maybe 2 pages, or maybe 50 pages? And as we've learned to walk with Christ daily, year after year after year, what are we learning about Christ? The truths that we know and learn and understand as we put those into practice, it brings us a new understanding of God and his Word and his grace. And when you are doing well, and then you fall and you hit your face flat on the ground, you have that knowledge that God cares for me, and God will pick me up. God will pick me up.

So what does it mean then to be in Christ? It is what we are placed into when we become saved. What does it mean to have every spiritual blessing? Well, it's those blessings that are specifically given in verses 3-14. That we are chosen; that's a blessing from God to be chosen and predestined before the foundation of the world to know him [Ephesians 1:4]. That is a blessing from God, a spiritual blessing, that you're chosen to be holy and blameless. How is that a blessing, because we all know how much we sin? Everybody elbows each other. “Yeah, right, you’re holy and blameless.”

It is because we know Jesus Christ, that we are chosen, and by faith, we are understanding that God has saved us by his grace to do something we could not do on our own. That's a blessing from the Lord, to have that dependence on Christ, that he's holding your hand as you walk through life, that he's showing you about himself, day after day after day, that's a blessing. That's a blessing to walk with the Lord, that we are adopted as his children. We now bear his name more intimately. All for his praise, it's a blessing to be able to bring praise to God from our life. That we are redeemed, that we're forgiven, that we have this inheritance, and this hope and this salvation, all to the praise of his glory. Those are the spiritual blessings that we have as believers, and this is not an exhaustive list. It is not an exhaustive list.

These are the things that Paul is trying to show us so that we’ll live motivated lives because of who we know about Christ, and because of what we know about Christ. That they're in the heavenly places, it's the origin of these blessings. They're not earthly in origin, they’re heavenly, they have their source in the spiritual. H.D.M. Spence says, see, here's my quote, H.D.M. Spence says, quote, “they are the fruits of the mediatorial works of Jesus Christ.” Quotes, sometimes they work sometimes they don't. Mediatorial means that Jesus mediates between us and God. He's the go-between. And that's good news for you and me, because there's no other go-between. Now that you're saved, you and I are a royal priesthood and we can speak directly to God through Jesus Christ. That's a blessing. These blessings aren't vague, but we need to understand them. And that's why we're kind of taking time to do this.

Let me tie this in with the part of verse 4 that says [Ephesians 1:4], “even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.” Before God, you're to be holy and blameless. How does that work? It all hinges on being in Christ, and track with me here a little bit, okay? When you are born, you're born into this world. Okay? And then as you sin, you are a sinful person. Before that as well, you're under what's called the headship of Adam. You are from an imperfect line. Okay? From Adam, who is a sinful being, all other people were brought forth from that. Okay? So you've come through a sinful line. Jesus Christ, on the other hand, is not. He was born of a virgin by the power of the Holy Spirit of overshadowed Mary, and brought about someone, the only one since Adam was born, who was not under this sinful nature, this line of sin. As an unbeliever, your head is Adam. Okay? As an unbeliever your head is Adam. When you become saved, your head is now Christ, you are taken from the sinful nature and you are given a new nature. The old is gone, Scripture says, and the new has come. You are, by definition, transformed and changed.

That's what makes it so difficult for me to think through, you know, the folks who for decades and decades lived lives of sin, saying with a new changed heart, “but I don't really live any differently. I don't speak any differently. I don't have my affections change, my desires.” It just doesn't line up well. Now there's cases where that happens, right? King David did that for probably eight or nine months. Lived like a pagan, hiding secrets. Right? I don't know how long that timeframe is before you say somebody's not saved, but God knows, and the focus and the purity is that a believer is truly in Christ. He is now our head. That's what it means, you are now called by his name. Now called by his name. When you're called by his name, you then have the opportunity to be seen as holy and blameless before God. We’re seen as and blameless before God, that's a miracle. Just think through your last week. That's a miracle, right? That's a miracle! That God has so changed us and transformed us.

That's what it means to be in Christ, that we now have a new head. We now have been seen as pure as snow. Past, present, future sin, it's all accounted for. It's all atoned for on the cross. That's an amazing reality. Do not let Satan kick you around. If you're a believer. If you're not a believer, hey, engage, right? You should be kicked around, that should bring you to the throne of grace, that should bring you to Jesus Christ. If you're a believer, though, do not be overcome by the sin. We've overcome the sin through Christ. This being in Christ totally changes the outlook on Christianity, once you understand it. It changes your demeanor before people. “I saw you being rude yesterday.” “Yeah, but that was bought by the blood of Jesus Christ.” “I saw you talking bad about somebody.” Forgive me, that was wrong. I've been bought by the blood of Jesus Christ and changed and made new, that is not honoring behavior to God.”

Let me tell you what is. It's to speak well of people. It's to bless those who curse you. It's to go the extra mile. It’s to turn the other cheek. Can you imagine if we had somebody running for office doing that? How people would see the difference that Christ makes. We should never have to wonder if somebody is saved. The difference of knowing Christ and of being in Christ should be so huge that it's obvious. Sometimes people need to grow, you know, you plant a seed, it grows, it's kind of small, it's easy to overlook at times, you're growing and you get crushed a little bit, but you bounce back up. And those of you who are strong in Christ need to come alongside others who are not. And that's a glorious, wonderful thing.

We're called to be holy and blameless in Christ. That's why he chose us in Christ. Because that's the only way we can fulfill his plan for our lives, is to be in Christ. He's chosen us for that purpose, to bring glory to God. That should inspire you to holiness. That should inspire you to holiness. We have the capacity to come before the throne of God, friends. To go boldly before the throne and make our requests. And these are the truths right here in this passage that should give you the courage to come blameless before him. You see that? You don't come like dragging yourself in, woe is me, I'm scum of the earth. That's not what holy in righteousness looks like. It's the understanding that you can come blameless before him. You can come before His throne, knowing that he is not going to condemn you, but he is going to set you free because of his Son, Jesus Christ. You see the difference being in Christ makes?

Friends, I want us to just really soak all this in. I want us to think about who we are in Christ. I want us to realize the beauty and the wonder and the marvelous grace and the depth of the riches of being in Christ, so that we live and breathe to show the world who we serve, and that he is good and perfect and wonderful. Let's pray.

Father God, it is only by your grace that we can come before your throne. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for the grace that you bring, and just the change of heart that you bring. And thank you, Lord, that we are now in Christ.

May that change us, Lord, and may we as we understand our calling, Lord Jesus, may that also affect our conduct, that we may come boldly before your throne knowing that you have paid for our sin. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for all of these truths. And let us just think about what it means for a moment here to be in Christ. Amen.