The Many Blessings Of God Eph. 1:1-6
Today we’ll try and point out a few of the many blessings we have because of our being in Christ Jesus.
1Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:
2Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
4According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
5Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
Let me say that all this was according to His plan. God the Father planned the church, God the Son paid for the church, and God the Holy Spirit protects the church.
All our blessings come from God the Father because of our Lord Jesus Christ.
You and I had absolutely nothing to do in the plan of our salvation God did it all.
4According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
God planned our salvation way back in eternity before any thing was created. The Lord Jesus Christ is the One who came down at the predetermined time, and He did what only He could do that brought about our salvation there upon the cross.
And then God the Holy Spirit is the One who convicts lost sinners today. He brings us to the place of faith in Christ and to a saving knowledge of the grace of God that is revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul points out many blessings which are our because of our being in Christ.
It seems that in our day, as what must have been true in Paul’s day, is that so many Christians are not living out of the resources that are rightfully ours because of our standing in Jesus Christ.
~~ Listen as I give you this little illustration: I read about a lady that was financially rich, but she didn’t tap into her wealth,She died rich although she lived like a pauper.
~~ Her name was Hetty Green. She died in 1916 and left an estate with an estimated value of $100 Million Dollars. She regularly ate cold oatmeal because it cost too much to heat it.
Her son had his leg amputated because she took so long to get him adequate care because she was looking for a free clinic.
She died in the midst of an argument over milk; she argued that skim milk was best because it was the cheapest.
She was wealthy but she lived like a PAUPER. She never enjoyed nor benefited from the riches that were hers.~~~~~~~~
~~~~~Another person I read about lived on the West Coast of America living in poverty until one day he found out that he was the only living heir to a British Nobleman. when he found out he had suddenly become rich he went to the clothing store and bought the best suit he could find, bought a 1st class ticket to London and returned to England in style! ~~~~~~~~~~~ WHY!
HE BELIEVED WHAT HE HAD BEEN TOLD WAS TRUE AND HE BEGAN TO ACT UPON IT!!!~~~
One of these people might picture some among us of our spiritual life?
Ø PAUL REMINDS US OF OUR GOD-GIVEN TREASURES :
2Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Two basic treasures that are ours because we are SAINTS~ **WE’RE SAINTS NOW,WE DON’T HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL WE ARRIVE IN HEAVEN OR HAVE SOME RELIGIOUS HIARCHY SAY WE ARE.
1) GRACE: unmerited favor…God’s riches at Christ Expense…undeserved, unearned by us but provided through what Christ has done for us on the cross in paying our sin debt.
2) PEACE: Not so much as peace in the world, there’s going to be war and hostilities, but the peace that Christ provided between believers and God.
John 14: 27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
Ø WE CAN KNOW THE Unlimited Spiritual Blessings OF GOD IN OUR LIFE
3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
we see here that our blessings are SECURE! It is all been taken care of ! We don’t need anything more than what we already have in our relationship with Christ.
Our blessings are SUFFICIENT! All Spiritual blessings are ours already.
Let me remind us that we are talking SPIRITUAL blessings and not material and financial health and wealth things. Those may come as God blesses us but we have already in the bank all we need in a spiritual sense.
I believe if we’ll live for & honor Him in our lives then if He so wills He’ll allow His dedicated child to prosper.
The palmist says in ps. 68: 19Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah.
We now have excess to the Storehouse In Heaven v 3 -in the heavenly places in Christ.
Lets realize that the reason for our blessings is Christ. That is where they are found. He is the reason, and because of our relationship with Him these blessings are found.
They are not ours in the past tense, as we live out our lives on earth we receive these blessings from heaven.
If we’ll look around today we’ll see people with lots of things, and for the most part they have chosen the things of the world instead of the things of God.
~~Listen as I give you this little illustration:
Imagine a dying man to whom the doctor offers the only medicine to cure him. The only remedy for his condition. ‘If you take this medicine it will heal you’.
but the man looks at the doctor and says, ‘I don’t believe it!’
soon the man dies and the doctor’s report states that he died of a certain disease but really his death came because he refused to take the remedy and the disease took it’s course.~~~
Its sort of like a ship wrecked man out in the middle of the ocean with the closest land 3 miles straight down, its obvious he will soon die without a doubt, and then suddenly a ship passing by sees the doomed man and throws him a life line willing to save him for his certain death situation, but the man cries out, ‘no thanks I’ll be all right on my own”
And the ship of life sails out of site.
If only the lost sinner could see and understand that the Ship of Life for all mankind is the One and only Lord and Saviour JESUS CHRIST.
Isaiah 43: 11I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no Saviour
HIS VERY NAME MEANS Savoir
Matt.1: 21And she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins.
Every person who has ever lived has had the disease of sin, and the wages of sin is death. God offers us His remedy which is through the person of Jesus Christ.
We can refuse the remedy if we so choose, and what could have saved us on earth will forever remain in heavenly places.
Jesus death on the cross made savation possible and also put in force His inheritance for us and THEN He rose again so that HE might become our heavenly Advocate and make sure the terms of the will were correctly followed.
5Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself
because you and I that are saved are right now the children of God we can know the intentions of God in our life, notice the Title He gives us ~ [children of God]
the Father predestinated us to the place of son ship. When we were born again into God’s family, we were born rich.
God predetermined the final destiny of the redeemed, namely, that He would adopt us as His full-fledged sons
God predestined that there would be a church, and whosoever will may at this time be saved and therefore a part of His Predestined Church.
The bible never states that God has predetermined some to be saved and some to be lost
Rom. 8:15 15For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.** [It is a term expressing warm affection]
Gal. 4:4-7 4But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. 6And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father
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You are of the elect if you hear His voice. You also have the free will not to hear His voice.
The Lord gave us a picture of a big, wide highway and off that highway is a little, narrow entrance. Over the entrance it says, “… I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6), and “I am the door …” (John 10:9).
The broad highway on which most of the people are traveling leads down and gets narrower and narrower until finally it leads to destruction. You can keep on that broad highway if you wish, but you can also turn off if you want to.
You can turn off at the invitation, “… him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37).
You can enter in at that narrow way, the entrance is narrow, but then the road widens out. “… I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).
The broad way of blessings comes after you get through the narrow gate. But you make the choice. To sit idly by and do nothing is a choice of staying on the broad road to destruction.
Whosoever will may come—that includes one & all. You are of the elect if you hear His voice and come .
Let me say right here, I wasted 40 years of my life living in the hog pens of the world, I thank God that He spared my life long enough for me to see and realize my wasted life, although it took a tradigidy in our family to turn me around that most likely wouldn’t have happened if I had lived for the Lord like I should have.
Listen sinner friend, the bottom line is this; if you die in your sin your going straight to hell, I know that that’s blunt and to the point but there’s no nice way to talk about hell, it’s a real place and people are going there just every few seconds, but you don’t have to go, I had rather be a child of God and know that what ever does happen along this path of life it will wind up just fine.
Rom. 8:31-------- If God be for us, who can be against us?
You also have the free will not to hear His voice. God don’t force any one to be saved, He gave Adam instructions there in the garden of Eden but He allowed Adam to decide for himself, God didn’t make man to be like robots, He gave us the ability to have a will of our own. Although it is His desire that every person be saved.
2nd Peter 3:9 --- but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
The ultimate goal of predestination is that believers can have fellowship with
God and will praise and glorify Him for what He has done and for all the many
blessings that He has bestowed upon us.
Lets praise Him and thank Him daily for His mercy and grace.
God is so Good
