Today, I want to talk about how, as Christians, we receive personal blessings from the Lord.
We already have everything we need to be great successes in God’s kingdom, but most of us are rendered incapable of doing such because we do are not aware that we have them!
We have at our command, the entire blessings of the Almighty’s power, and we don’t even know it.
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In America during the Great Depression, there was a man named Yates who ran a sheep farm in Texas.
Times were very hard, and he was quickly going under. Things got so bad that he finally had to go on welfare just to feed his wife and children.
Just about the time he was thinking of packing up and walking off his land, a team of geologists contacted him and told him that they thought oil might be under his property.
They said that if he would give them permission to dig, they would give him a percentage of any oil they found.
Mr. Yates may have been poor but the man was not stupid. He knew he had nothing to lose, and maybe everything to gain, so he gave them the legal permission to dig on his land.
They finally got all set up and began to drill. They went down 500 feet and no oil; 800 feet and no oil; 1000 feet and no oil.
They had decided that they would drill once more and then if they did not find any oil, they would pack up and leave.
The next day, they started drilling, and when they reached 1100 feet, they found the second largest oil reserve in Texas.
Overnight, the family Yates went from being destitute and hungry to being one of the richest families in Texas.
Let me ask you a question.
Before they found the oil, was Mr. Yates sitting on millions of dollars?
Yes he was, but since he did not have any knowledge of it, it did him no good at all.
It’s kind of like having millions in a Swiss bank account, but not knowing the account number to access it.
Have you ever known anyone who was spoiled?
Maybe it was a child whose parents gave him everything he wanted, or maybe it was a young teenage girl whose boyfriend wooed her by buying her the gifts of love that only a teenage boy could buy.
How would you like to have someone like that?
Someone who loved you so much they want to give you everything they have.
Actually, we already have that. That person is God.
God loves us so much that He gives us every blessing He has, but we do not use it because we are not aware that we have them.
Turn with me to the book of EPHESIANS 1:1-7
‘Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God. To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus: ‘Grace and peace to you from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
‘Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world – to be holy and blameless in His sight.
‘In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons, through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will; to the praise of His glorious grace which He has freely given us in the One He loves.
‘In Him, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.’
This small passage is packed full of truth, there is so much truth that it is easy to miss each time we read it. Let me quickly share some knowledge with you.
In VERSE 1, Paul says he is an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God. That means that Paul is aware that God has called him to purpose. Paul was chosen by God to be an apostle of Christ.
The verse goes on to say that Paul is writing to the saints in Ephesus, which are the faithful in Jesus Christ.
Now, be aware that Paul is not writing to all of those in Ephesus that go to church regularly,
or those that sit in church wearing their very best clothes with their noses so high in self-adoration it looks like they are looking at the ceiling.
Paul is writing to those who are truly faithful in their hearts to Jesus.
In VERSE 2, Paul wishes then grace and peace in the name of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
That testifies to the deity of Jesus, or to the fact that Jesus is also God.
In VERSE 3, we see what I said a moment ago about our having all the blessings of God.
It says He has blessed ‘us’.
Who is ‘us’?
‘Us’ is the faithful in Jesus Christ.
We are His sons and daughters.
The text says he has blessed us with “spiritual blessing”
This means that in Christ we have all the benefits of knowing God— being chosen for salvation,
being adopted as his children, forgiveness,
insight, the gifts of the Spirit, power to do God’s will, the hope of living forever with Christ.
Because we have an intimate relationship with Christ, we can enjoy these blessings now.
In VERSE 4, we find that we have all been chosen, and the chooser was God Himself. He chose us before He even made the world.
Now, if that doesn’t make a person feel very special,
nothing will.
Paul says that God “chose us in him”
What he means is that salvation depends totally on HIM
We are not saved because we deserve it, but because God is loving and freely gives salvation.
Predestination maintains that God is the one who wills who will be saved
In verse 5 he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will--
Predestined” means marked out beforehand.
This is another way of saying that salvation is God’s work and not our own doing.
It was His great plan
Also in VERSE 5, we find that He actually adopted us into His heavenly family.
We are joint heirs to the kingdom of God along with Christ Jesus who sits on the right hand side of God.
Let me explain adoption to you.
During the time that the New Testament was written, when a family adopted a child there was no immediate big celebration of that adoption.
But, when that child reached the proper age, there was a celebration, and at that time,
the child was given every single legal standing as every other member of that family.
In other words, once adopted, that child became a full member of that family, along with receiving inheritable rights.
God has adopted us, and now we have every legal right to the kingdom of Heaven – if we would only know it.
Most Christians do not have a clue as to how much they really have through Christ Jesus.
And, just like Farmer Yates and his family, if they do not know it, they certainly cannot use it for their good or for God’s good.
VERSE 6 says we have been given these things because of God’s glorious grace.
But it also says how we can receive them;
and that place is ONLY through the One He loves,
which is Jesus Christ, the Son.
In VERSE 7, we see that Christ redeemed us.
That means we have been bought back by the blood Jesus shed on the cross.
Because of that blood, God has given us forgiveness of our sins through His grace.
We talk a lot about grace and mercy.
Let me tell you what those two words mean.
MERCY = Not getting what we should get. (God’s wrath & punishment)
GRACE = Getting what we shouldn’t get. (God’s love & forgiveness.)
He redeemed us from bondage to sin (Eph. 1:7)
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace
The blood of Jesus was an important way of speaking of Christ’s death.
His death points to two wonderful truths—redemption and forgiveness.
Redemption was the price paid to gain freedom for a slave (Leviticus 25:47-54).
Through his death, Jesus paid the price to release us from slavery to sin.
Forgiveness was granted in Old Testament times on the basis of the shedding of animals’ blood (Leviticus 17:11).
Now we are forgiven on the basis of the shedding of Jesus’ blood—he died as the perfect and final sacrifice.
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EPHESIANS 2:19 tells us that we are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens and members of God’s household.
Now, if we are members of His household, do you think there are any duties we might have?
Every member of every household I know has some kind of duties.
When I was a child, one of my duties was to take the rubbish out.
I can remember that like it was yesterday, but I cannot remember just why it was that I hated that job so much!
Looking back on it, that job doesn’t seem like much, but I hated doing it.
If you were to ask Hanna and me over to your house for dinner tomorrow, one of the first things you would do is make sure all the dirty socks were picked up, right?
You would probably go out of your way to make sure that your house was clean so we would not see any mess.
Don’t you think, then, that as members of God’s household we should ask Jesus to fill our hearts?
If we are going to ask Jesus to come into your hearts,
don’t you think one of your first duties would be to make sure all our dirty laundry and garbage has been taken out so that Jesus would find a nice place to live in?
What are some of the things in your heart that you know you should get rid of before Jesus moves in?
You know what they are, don’t you?
He does too, and He wants you to start cleansing your heart and preparing it for Him.
How many of you think your body has a spirit?
Raise your hands.
I have some news for you.
We are not bodies that have a spirit.
We are spirits that happen to have a body!
It will not be our bodies that are gathered up to Jesus;
it will be our spirits.
Our bodies die and turn to dust.
It is our spirits that will live forever.
In 1 THESSALONIANS 5:23, says that God Himself will sanctify us through and through.
The words ‘sanctify’ means to be ‘set apart’ from the rest.
We are set apart from the world because we have been sanctified in Christ.
The verse goes on to say that may our spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of Jesus.
Our spirits are first named, because – why?
Because our spirits are we, and our spirits just happen to have a body that it lives in while we are on this earth.
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Turn with me to Ephesians 2:1-4
1As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.
In EPHESIANS 2:1-2, we find that before we had Christ in us, we were dead in our sins because we followed the disobedience of the world and not God.
In VERSE 4, it starts off by saying, ’But because ...’
It is because of God’s great love for us that we have been saved from the eternal torment of hell.
It is because of God’s great love for us,
extended to us through Jesus Christ,
that we have been saved,
and not because of anything we have done or said or thought.
But because.
That is one of the most beautiful phrases in existence.
But because.
Abram would have died an old man who had no inheritance; BUT BECAUSE God loved Him,
Abraham became the father of many nations.
Moses would have died a stuttering sheepherder,
BUT BECAUSE God loved Him,
he became the deliverer to God’s chosen people.
We would have all died miserable unhappy sinners,
BUT BECAUSE God loves us,
He has allowed us to be adopted into His family –
with all the rights that Jesus Christ has in Heaven.
BUT BECAUSE God loves us, He has given us every spiritual blessing in the Heavenly realm.
‘BUT BECAUSE’ – what a wonderful phrase to praise God for!
BUT BECAUSE God loves me, I have a spirit and that spirit praises God that I have a purpose in God’s kingdom and so do you.
I told you we were chosen by God.
That is wonderful, but being chosen, by itself, does not help us much. That is only the first step.
After God chooses us, there is something that we must do. We must accept it.
Let me explain about being chosen and then accepting that choice.
Let’s say that I am at home, sitting in my chair and Hanna comes in and puts her hands out.
In her hands, is a beautiful watch that she says she has purchased for me.
Now, what would happen if I yelled at her in anger and said for her to get it away from me and to never do such a thing again?
That would break her heart and end up with my having no gift at all, wouldn’t it?
What would happen if she handed me that watch and I looked at it and then put it on the mantlepiece behind a picture, saying I didn’t want it now,
but “maybe someday” I’d wear it?
That would break her heart, too, wouldn’t it?
And if I did that, I wouldn’t end up with the gift either.
Now, let’s say that she handed me that watch and I said I didn’t want her to give it to me, but I would love to have it so I would pay for it?
That doesn’t even make sense.
Now, what does that watch have to do with the message of God?
It has everything to do with it.
Many people yell at Christians and persecute them all because they do not want the gift.
Still others see that it is worth having,
but they don’t want to stop having worldly fun right now,
so they decide they will get salvation “someday”.
Still others think that the gift of salvation can only be obtained by good works.
This is like trying to buy salvation, but, salvation is something that we cannot buy or earn.
It is a gift.
The only way possible to get salvation is to accept it through Jesus Christ.
There is no other way to receive it.
How many of you eat tinned food?
When companies make tinned food
If they just put it in the can without sealing it properly,
the outside air would get in it and ruin the food.
By sealing it, it stops the outside from getting in and the food stays fresh.
In EPHESIANS 4:30, we are told that we have been sealed in the Holy Spirit, and we are not to grieve the Holy Spirit. That means that by being sealed in the Holy Spirit,
the outside cannot force its way in and ruin us.
We are kept sealed and holy for the day of redemption.
If we turn away from the teachings of Jesus,
we grieve the Holy Spirit, because we break the seal and let the outside get into our hearts, and that spoils us.
There was a young boy who went to church with his father and mother.
When they entered, the little boy looked up and saw a cross on the wall.
He looked at his father and said, “Look, Daddy! A plus sign!”
The cross would have only been a place of persecution,
BUT BECAUSE God loved us so much,
the cross became a place that we find redemption and blessings.
Do you really know that you have all the blessings of Heaven?
In EPHESIANS 1:3, it says that God has already blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Heaven.
That is past tense, but that blessing is like a gift that just keeps on a giving.
And, if we have been blessed, that means we are members of God’s household.
And, if we are members of His household, we have a divine purpose.
Do you know what your purpose is?
Would you like to find out what your purpose is so that you can access all of your blessings?
Part of the key is how you view your relationship with the Lord, Jesus.
He is part of you, and His presence should be so profound in your life that when you look around you, you should expect to feel His presence.
When I stop to look around in my life and do not readily see His commanding presence, I feel empty and completely at a loss. That is because I love Him, and I miss Him.
That is when I instantly go into prayer,
praising Him for loving me enough to be with me and asking Him to let me see His presence.
And He always comes through and lets me see His influence, or lets me feel His love.
And then everything is okay again.
Do you have that same type of relationship with Him today? Do you have this absolute need to be with Him?
If you don’t, you have no idea just how much you have been missing!
And He is giving you yet another chance right now to respond to Him and He will respond to you.
The Bible says that if we draw closer to God, He will draw closer to us.
And that is what we need to do this morning –
draw our hearts closer to Him and expect His heart to be drawing closer to us.
Let us close our eyes and bow our heads, as we go into our time of communion with the Lord.
Let’s open our hearts and invite Him in.
