Ephesians – “Focusing on Truth”
Lesson Two: Eph. 1:3 “Too Good Not to Be True-part 1”
There is a serious and growing problem in our society that has really begun to frustrate me – it’s called “junk-email.” Do you know what I’m talking about? I receive more junk e-mail that I care to think about. The problem is that so many junk emails promise to benefit us in great ways.
Beyond just junk solicitation mail, there are two other aggravating types of emails that I receive:
1) The email from a company or person that promises a reward if you forward that email to 500 of your closest friends. For those of you who get suckered into this every time, I want to tell you definitively: there is no way that Applebees or Microsoft or Bill Gates or Neiman Marcus can track your emails that are sent to your friends and family, and furthermore, none of these have gotten their success from giving away their money!
2) The email that claims to be from a rich businessman, widow, or dying king in Africa who claims to have millions of dollars that he/she is looking to dump into your bank account if you will just send them your routing number and checking account number! If you have received this kind of e-mail, do not send them any information! There is an old saying that says, “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” This kind of fraudulent email has led to so many people being scammed out of money. PT Barnum had another saying for those who believe that someone would randomly just give you millions of dollars – “There’s a sucker born every minute!”
These junk email scams along with crooked politics and lying salesmen have made us very skeptical. But put your skepticism aside. This week in Ephesians, I want to share with you some truths from one simple verse that might seem too good to be true, but praise God, they’re not. Over the next two weeks, we will explore how God blesses us and what His blessings mean in our day to day lives. In a world where things that sound too good to be true probably are, Ephesians 1 will show us that God’s blessings for us are simply “ too good not to be true.”
We turn our attention for the next several weeks on verses 3-14. Even though most Bible translations break these verses up into several sentences, in the original Greek, they actually combine to make one big sentence. Let’s read just the first part together in verse 3: “How we praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we belong to Christ.” (PRAY)
In this big sentence, verse 3 holds the main thought (which will be our focus today). Next week, we will explore verses 4-14 and how they carry out the rest of the thought. But verse 3 sets up the rest of the chapter, and there are some great truths that we see just from this verse alone. I want to give you four “too good not to be true” truths that will lead to great victory in your life:
1) God by nature wants to bless you.
In Paul’s opening statement, he starts by praising and blessing God. But I actually prefer how other Bible versions say it: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” In other words, it might read “God the Father is blessed and has blessed us with every spiritual blessing…” While Paul is praising God here, he deliberately uses the term blessed to describe God. He calls God “the Blessed God” – meaning that His very nature is to bless His children. God’s a “Blesser.”
We touched on this last week - what does it mean when God “blesses” us? Shines/imparts His favor on us. There is a famous set of verses in Matthew 7:7-8. Jesus tells His followers: ([“Ask, seek knock”] (but from the NLT) “Keep on asking, and you will be given what you ask for. Keep on looking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And the door is opened to everyone who knocks…” To ask and have it given, to seek it and have it found, to knock and have it opened – these are blessings – God’s favor on us. But why does God do these things? Why does God bless? Verse 12 “Your Heavenly Father gives good gifts to those who ask Him.” – It is God’s nature to bless you! Say it to the person sitting next to you – “God wants to bless me!” And God desires to bless you today! But there is another “too good not to be true” truth that leads to great victory:
2) God has already blessed you if you are a Christian.
The wording in this verse is important. It clearly indicates that God has already blessed us! “…who has blessed us...” What this means is that every Christian in this room is blessed right now by God! You are already blessed. Say “I am already blessed.”
Ephesians is a book of declarations, declaring the truth. This is an important truth to declare – if you are a Christian, you are already blessed. Quit waiting for blessing and start walking in the blessing. Last week we exposed the devil’s biggest weapon - his lies. And this morning, he would have you believe that you are not blessed. And if he can get you to believe that you are not blessed, but cursed, doomed, a failure, miserable, wallowing in the muck and mire of despair, than he will defeat you in this world. This is one of the reasons worship music is so important – it reminds us of truth. “I’m trading my sorrows for the joy of the Lord – I am blessed beyond the curse…” Paul declares here very clearly that we have already been blessed by God! But there’s yet another “too good not to be true” truth that leads to great victory:
3) God has not withheld any spiritual blessing from you.
Read verse 3 again. How many blessings have we been blessed with? EVERY single one. Think about that for moment! What that means is that we all as believers have been equally spiritually blessed! Every Christian has every spiritual blessing!
So let’s define what a “spiritual blessing” is. (we already know what a “blessing” is). A spiritual blessing is favor/impartation that comes from the Holy Spirit to benefit us spiritually. A spiritual blessing is not focused on or meant to benefit you in the physical world, but in the spiritual world. You can’t buy a spiritual blessing. Chances are, you can’t even see any spiritual blessing! You can see the workings and results of spiritual blessings, but you will never physically “see” a spiritual blessing.
Verses 4-14 will carry on the thought of the specific spiritual blessings that Paul is referring to from God, but there are other spiritual blessings in the Bible that are imparted to us:
• The indwelling and presence of the Spirit (John 7:37-39)
• The guidance of the Spirit (John 16:13-15)
• The gifts of the Spirit (I Cor. 12)
• The fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23)
• The Living Water of the Spirit that quenches our spiritual thirst (John 4:10)
• The power of the Spirit (I Corinthians 14:2)
• The sword of the spirit (Ephesians 6:17)
Christian, the truth that will begin to transform your life right now is that God has given you everything spiritually that you need, every spiritual blessing. You don’t need to ask for more. You have every single solitary spiritual blessing that God can give you. Understand that, because at this point, it is not a matter of receiving more spiritual blessing, but of walking in the blessings you have!
But before we move on to the last truth, we need to figure out what meant Paul meant when he said that we are “blessed with every spiritual blessing in “the heavenly realms.” Understanding what the heavenly realms are and why our blessings are there can change our spiritual lives forever. So let’s define “heavenly realms” and then look at the truth that Paul is making.
This term “in heavenly realms” is actually mentioned five times in the book of Ephesians. The term is a key to the book, and understanding what it means is essential if we want to understand Ephesians properly. We already know of several “heavenly realms” (or heavens):
1) Heavens – the air, the sky, i.e. earth’s atmosphere
2) Heavens – the heavens where the sun, moon, and stars are.
3) Heaven – the place where God lives and where will spend eternity.
But none of these are what this verse (along with the others) is referring to. The “heavenly realms” mentioned throughout Ephesians is the unseen world of spiritual reality, the realm which angels and demons occupy. This is the realm where Paul says “principalities and powers,” evil rulers and authorities,” and “powers of darkness” operate. But is in this realm, Jesus Christ is Lord.
It’s in this realm that we are blessed with every spiritual blessing. That brings out the fourth “too good not to be true” truth that leads to great victory from 1:3, and that is…
4) God has blessed us with spiritual insight and victory!
Because Jesus is Lord in this realm, and because we are blessed with every spiritual blessing in this realm, we have insight and victory over demonic forces, over the devil’s schemes, and over any spiritual power that would try to come against us!
Christian, we are in a spiritual battle that takes place in the heavenly realms. Although we’ll look at this verse later on, look at what Ephesians 6:12 says, “For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world, and against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms.” But because of our spiritual blessing, we are able to identify who the enemy is. We have insight.
But we also have victory. The apostle Paul understood this position of blessing in Christ, which is why he declared in Romans 8:37: “… overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.” And why he could write in 1 Corinthians 15:57, “How we thank God, who gives us victory over sin and death through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
Our insight and victory are because of our blessing. And the blessing comes, according to verse 3 “because we belong to Christ.” Satanic power is only over us when we forget that bottom line - we belong to Jesus Christ – we are IN CHRIST. And guess where Christ is? Go to verse 19-20 (read it). He is seated at the right hand of the Father in power and authority, And if that were all, that would be enough. But there’s more - look in Ephesians 2:6 (read it). Because He sits in power and authority in the heavenly realms, WE sit with Him in power and authority in the heavenly realms.
I stated last week the importance of truth, and how it will be our focus throughout Ephesians. Last week, we learned that we are God’s saints –His set-apart people. This week, we have seen that we are blessed – because God naturally blesses; that he is already blessed us with every spiritual blessing; and that because of these blessings, we have insight and victory in the unseen heavenly realms.
Our theme this year is “the truth will set you free.” As I give you truth each week, is it setting you free? Christian, are you thinking, “All this is fine, but I just don’t think I could ever have victory and defeat the devil in my life. It just sounds too good to be true.” Let me tell you this one last thing – and listen carefully.
“There is no need for (you) to defeat the devil. Christ has already accomplished that. We just need to believe it. When we read the ( letters of Paul including Ephesians), it is obvious that Jesus has already delivered us from Satan and from sin. That (is) the good news we just read in Ephesians 1:19-20. God has done all He needs to do in order for you to live the victorious life in Christ. Now you have to assume responsibility.”
“It is your individual responsibility as a believer to repent and believe that the truth will set you free. Nobody else can do that for you. I can’t make you believe the truth. The armor of God that we will study in Ephesians 6 – I can’t put that on for you. I can’t believe the truth for you; I can’t repent for you; I can’t forgive others for you; or make you think about things that will bring new freedom in Christ. But you can take it step by step and walk in the truth. And I can help you.”(The Bondage Breaker, Neil Anderson, p. 27).
I can help you by showing you the truth, and by giving you steps each week that you can walk in. Just like we have fitness trainers to help us get physically fit, I want to be a spiritual trainer to help you gain victory and become spiritually fit. Christian, you have heard the truth today – now here’s what you can do:
If you need to gain some spiritual victory in your life, and if you need to walk in this truth today, I would ask you to walk in your shoes – come forward. Come down here around the altar. I want to guide you into a step of faith today, right now. Let’s not just be hearers, but let’s be doers of the word.
Bow your head and take these steps:
1) Pray and ask God to continue to speak to you through His Holy Spirit. (right now)
2) Thank God for blessing you with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ. (Thank Him for the truth).
3) If the Spirit is speaking to you, repent for not walking in the truth, and refuse to live life any further outside of the truth – outside of these blessings.
4) Ask God to give you spiritual insight into the spiritual battles that are in your life right now - Recognize the enemy, recognize the deceit, recognize the root and the causes – and see things for what they are.
5) Now stand in the truth – claim the victory that you have with the authority that you have in Christ - these battles might continue, but now you have your eyes opened and your heart set on Him.
6) Ask God to continue to speak to you through this word from Ephesians 1:3.
