Praising God for Salvation

In Ephesians chapter 1, we'll start in verse 1. You know that salvation is of the most importance. You've got to get that right before you get anything else right. And this is the first thing that Paul praises in Ephesians chapter 1. These many spiritual blessings that are conferred upon you by God is the subject matter for the entire first sentence, verses 3 to 14. And as these spiritual blessings unfold, the first one is sovereign salvation. I want to work my way into that by way of review in verses 1 and 2 just a little bit. So let's start in verse 1 together.

Ephesians chapter 1, verse 1: "Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God to the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus." Now here in verse 1, Paul is making it very clear as he humbly expresses that he is an apostle of Christ. He's not of any rabbi, he's not of himself, he's not on his own agenda — he is on Christ's agenda. Jesus has sent him, he is of Jesus Christ, and it is by God's will. Look with me again as he says, "Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, and it's by the will of God."

In Colossians chapter 1, verse 23, the apostle Paul made it very clear that he had been made a minister. He didn't decide to go into ministry — he was drafted. And so God drafted him, God put it in him, God put the desire to minister inside of his soul. And so Colossians 1:23 says, "I Paul was made a minister." You do not decide to go into ministry — He brings you into it. He opens the door. In Colossians chapter 4, verse 3, Paul asks for doors to be opened for ministry, and it's the same thing for going into ministry. We are all ministers, but you just don't decide to stand publicly and preach His gospel. He brings you into it and we are faithful to this. This is a tremendous thing. So Paul comes right out of the gates and he says, "I'm of Christ and it's by the will of God."

And now he goes forward to address this graceful congregation. But before the introduction, I want to draw your attention to the word faithful as well. He says, "To the saints who are at Ephesus, who are faithful in Christ." And in the Greek, this word faithful is in the active sense of believing and trusting. And so these who are in the congregation at Ephesus are being addressed — those who are actively trusting, actively believing. It's not good enough just to say that you believe, and it's almost like you've checked off a box and you believe that you have your ticket to heaven and that is your fire insurance. You're not going to hell. You've said a prayer or you have proclaimed to be a Christian. It doesn't matter about those things. What matters is that Christ has done a work inside of your heart. He's actually given you a new heart and you can recognize that you have new desires. You abhor the things that you used to love, the sin that you used to do and be embraced in. Now you hate those things. And in fact, when you fall into those, you fall under conviction because we now have the Holy Spirit of God that resides within us. And so you can no longer enjoy sin. You can no longer be about yourself and be at peace. You can no longer be enamored by the things of the world and be right with God.

This is a letter, a rich letter — the letter of Ephesians to this wonderful congregation — addressed to those who are actively trusting. These are the true Christians among the gathering. And so from the very beginning, Jesus said that there will be wheat and tares among you and He will separate the sheep from the goats on that day. He will do that work. But until then, we preach the gospel. We talk about Jesus Christ. We call people to faith and repentance in Christ Jesus, repentance and faith in Christ Jesus. And as we do these things, it's a wonderful work of God inside of someone's heart. And when you are simply expounding upon the truth of the Word of God, the Word of God does a wonderful work in the soul because it's the Holy Spirit of God that will bring someone under conviction and closer to Him.

Christ draws those people whom He wants to save unto Him. Christ draws the net. He says, "Come unto Me." That is a general call for all, and for those whom He is calling, they actually come to Him. And so there are faithful ones among us and there are those who perhaps have been misguided into thinking that they are a Christian. I'm just telling you today, there are evidences of a true believer. You absolutely love Jesus and hate sin. You love the brethren. You want to be corrected. You want to know Christ more. You actually want to serve. You want to be among the fellowship of the believers. You have a desire to pray. You have a desire to become more like Christ. These things are evidences of a true believer. They're actually desiring to abide in Christ and not do the things that you want to do. In fact, you know that your desires have been changed. There has been a change in your life.

And so those who are actively trusting and living and being — their entire being is in Christ — those are the ones who are truly saved, and salvation is the starting point before you could ever enjoy the rest of this entire letter. These spiritual blessings that we're fixing to see here, starting in verse 3, are dependent upon your salvation. You're not going to enjoy these spiritual blessings without being saved. And so these are to the faithful.

And verse 2 says, "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." This is just brilliant, guys. Verse 2 here unites two different groups within one congregation in Christ. This greeting, "Grace to you" — in the Greek, charis — "Grace to you" — it's a Hellenistic greeting that would have been understood primarily by the Greeks. And so the Greeks who have been drawn to Christ inside of the Ephesian congregation would have heard him say, "Grace to you," and they would recognize that. And then he also says — not only "grace to you," which would be appealing to the Greeks in a Hellenistic way — but also "peace from God the Father," which is shalom, which would have caught the attention of the Jews. And so you have Jewish people and Greek people who have been brought into Christ. And so this unity in Christ, our union with Christ, is set before us now to start to comprehend. And I'm just going to be honest with you: it takes a while to truly comprehend our union with Christ. We'll unfold a little bit of that today — our being in Him. "In Him" is a phrase that is repeated over and over and over in this book.

Now He unites these two groups in Christ, and then He moves on to verse 3, and it says, "Blessed be the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." And so verse 3 all the way to verse 14 is one long Greek sentence. Perhaps it's a run-on sentence in your mind. I love run-on sentences. English grammarians don't, but I'm all right with it. Here in verse 3, the sentence helps us to understand that it is referencing God the Father up front. So, "Blessed be the God and Father." This is an interesting point, and I would like to expound upon it briefly, because when you think that God is Father, He has chosen that term to describe Himself. And so you can think of God in fatherly terms, but He is also Father of the Son, Jesus Christ.

And so Jesus utilized a name more than any other name in the Gospels, and that was a reference to Daniel chapter 7, verse 13. Turn there if you would. The name that Jesus uses more of Himself is the Son of Man. And the Son of Man is mentioned in Daniel chapter 7. I want you to see it because when Jesus uses the name — not here in Ephesians, but when Jesus uses the name Son of Man — He is saying that God the Father is my Father. And Son of Man in Daniel chapter 7, verse 13 is also capitalized. So Son being a capital S means the Son of God, being capitalized means He is deity, and that brings in the word man as humanity. And so His humanity, the incarnation, is on display here. Let me read to you Daniel 7:13–14: "I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven one like a Son of Man was coming. And He came up to the Ancient of Days and came near before Him. And to Him was given dominion, glory, and a kingdom that all the peoples, nations, and men of every tongue might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not be taken away, and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed."

Now in Matthew chapter 8, verse 20, Jesus calls Himself the Son of Man, and in the Gospels, 69 times the Son of Man is mentioned — more than any other name He used of Himself. So the self-designation Son of Man is what Jesus used more than any other. And this meaning expresses both the Son of Adam and the coming Messiah. This is very clear for those who perhaps should have understood this message. The Israelite sees this is a fulfillment of prophecy. Jesus said that He's the Son of Man. I am the Messiah to come. I am God. And so this, doctrinally speaking, is the hypostatic union — the full embracement of God in deity form. And so now you have in addition to His full humanity wrapped in flesh, God is. And so this is humanity combined with deity.

Going back to Ephesians chapter 1, verse 3, it says, "Blessed be the God and Father." And so when you think of God as Father, sermons and sermons and sermons can be preached on the fatherly attributes of God. But just for the sake of time and for the sake of emphasis here in the text, this is all about Jesus. And so the word Father — I want to bring your attention to the emphasis of Jesus's deity. And so "Blessed be the God and Father," okay, is what He is saying — "of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places and in Christ." And so those three words — every spiritual blessing — is perhaps the door for the next Greek sentence. This is going to be an unraveling of spiritual blessings.

In the midst of all these blessings, you have another phrase that's repeated — that is today's emphasis. It's "to the praise of His glory." In verse 6 it says, "to the praise of His glory." In verse 12, "to the praise of His glory." In verse 14, "to the praise of His glory." And so Paul is overwhelmed with the glory of God and is praising these spiritual blessings. And that's what I want to invoke in you today. I want to prompt your praising of Jesus for the first spiritual blessing that's mentioned — in verse 2, grace. So "grace to you and peace." And so through this first spiritual blessing, we understand that salvation is preeminent. It is first for us. The first thing that we should praise God for is our salvation. He gave it to us and we're going to see that.

So in this first section, let me do just a quick overview and explanation of these three verses. You can understand this one long Greek sentence in three different sections. The first section praises God for electing them from eternity past. That's verses 4 to 6 and that is the doctrine of sovereign election. And that is all about God. So section 1: God, doctrine of election. Section 2 praises Jesus for redeeming them — so this is the doctrine of redemption. Section 2 is verses 7 to 12. And then the third section is the shortest section and it praises the Holy Spirit for sealing them. That's verses 13b and 14 at the very end of this section. And verses 13 and 14 is the doctrine of eternal security. The Holy Spirit of God seals the deal. He is your guarantee. He is the deposit that is within you. He is the one who convicts you of sin and He leads you into righteousness. He guides you. He is the Paraclete. He is the one who is called beside you.

And so "grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." Verse 3 in Ephesians: "Blessed be the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." And here in verse 4, "just as He chose us."

And so point number 1 is: praise God for His saving grace. Point number 1 is that you should praise God for His saving grace. He's brought it already three times. "Grace to you" — that's God's grace, His saving grace to you. This is a general call for the explanation of salvation. "Grace to you and peace from God." Keep it in mind — peace is priceless. God's wrath upon those who have committed sin is a real thing, but to have peace with God is to mean that wrath has been removed. Jesus took on that wrath and removed it so that you don't have to pay for your sin. And so grace, talking about salvation — peace, talking about salvation. Verse 4, "Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world" — talking about salvation — "that we would be holy and blameless before Him, by predestining us to adoption" — talking about salvation — "as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself according to His good pleasure, His will." And then verse 6, "To the praise of His glory, of His grace, which He graciously bestowed on us in the Beloved." "In Him we have redemption" — talking about salvation — "through His blood" — talking about the blood on the cross for salvation — "for forgiveness of our transgressions according to the riches of His grace" — talking about salvation.

It's very clear here up front that Paul is praising God for salvation. Thank the Lord that He saved me. And so we see in verse 2, "Grace to you," and then we also see peace. And in verse 4, "chose" — verse 5, "predestined" — verse 7, "redemption and forgiveness and grace" — verse 13, "salvation." But then also in verse 18, "His enlightened calling, so that you were once dead, but now you are alive."

Here in verse 18, "Again, so that you — the eyes of your heart having been enlightened — will know what is the hope of His calling, that salvific calling. What are the riches of His glory, of His inheritance to the saints?" Now in Ephesians chapter 2, it really explains it very clearly. Ephesians chapter 2, verse 5 is a verse that makes you understand that He made you alive. You did not make yourself alive. A dead man cannot come out of the grave. When Jesus raised Lazarus, every theologian agrees that that is a picture of salvation. He was dead. A dead man can do nothing for himself. He's dead.

Yeah, that's good to laugh at. He's dead. We love our children in our worship service — they get it.

Verse 5: "Even when we were dead in our transgressions, He made us alive. He made us alive, together with Christ. By grace you have been saved." Verse 6: "And raised up with Him and seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves — it is the gift of God, not of works, that no one may boast."

No work can tip the scales for you in salvation. No amount of giving can tip the scales for you in salvation. You're dead in your trespasses. Chapter 2, verse 1: "You are dead in your transgressions and sin." And so before Christ made you alive, you're a dead man walking. You have a sentence on your life, and that is a death sentence. You are incapable of saving yourself, but you are very culpable. You are responsible for all of this, but Christ is able to save your soul. You're blameworthy. You're guilty. You're hellbound. You have a death sentence. But Christ is able. He is able to save you. You cannot save yourself. No good work will do it. Nothing can help you. Only Christ can help you.

In fact, I would ask the question: Why should we praise Christ Jesus, the Lord our Savior — praise God for our salvation? Why should we do that? Well, a really good reason is that you have escaped God's wrath. You have come out from underneath that and been saved by Jesus. I want you to know that Romans 1:18 says, "For the wrath of God is revealed against all unrighteousness." God's wrath is a real thing, and we're living in a church age of grace right now. The church is spreading the grace of God broadly, and all who come — but we're living in an age of grace. There will be a day when the wrath of God rains down, and that's where you don't want to be. In order to elude the eternal wrath of God, you must come to Christ. You must repent of your sin and place your faith and trust in His substitutionary death on the cross in your place.

There's a doctrine that I want you to know about. It helps us to understand — if you would please turn to Revelation 19. I want to kind of borrow from the Founders Conference that many of us just came from, because there is an amazing truth here that helps us to see that being in Christ is something that theologically you could say is the one and the many. And so I want you to see that not only did Christ die for you as if you were the only one, but He also died for the many. And I want you also to see that as you are in Christ, you are married to Christ as if you are the only one that's married to Him. But this doctrine of the one and the many helps us to understand that we also have the many that are in Christ as well.

The marriage supper of the Lamb is the consummation of all of these beautiful truths. Revelation chapter 19, verse 7 says, "For the marriage of the Lamb has come and the bride has made herself ready." Let's just park there for just a moment. I want you to know that those of you who are saved have an eternal duty to be preparing for. You have a duty upon you now to be making yourself ready for this marriage supper of the Lamb. You've been saved and now you're getting ready for this wonderful ceremony. He said — and this is something to rejoice about — "Let us rejoice and be glad and give glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready."

The duty that you have upon you is personal sanctification. You need to be eradicating the sin out of your life. You need to be saying no to what is wrong and yes to what is right. It's your job to study yourself approved, to be able to discern, to pray yourself pure, to run from evil, to flee from what is evil, and to hate what is evil. The Bible says that love must be sincere — abhor what is evil and cling to what is good. We have to constantly be doing this with our mind and with our heart and with our life. Everything about us is in Christ and about Him, and we're going to reach this day where we will be made public in every area that we have done and that we have not done.

If you've made yourself ready and you go to this marriage supper of the Lamb, then guess what — in verse 8 it says, "And it was given to her," the bride, "to clothe herself with fine linen." These bright linens, the Bible goes on to say, bright and clean — for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. And so those of you who are doing righteous acts right now, the linen that you will be given at this marriage supper of the Lamb will reflect all that you've ever done. God forgets nothing and He doesn't even waste one little tear. And every act of service that you have done behind the scenes that nobody knows about — well, God knows about it, and He will reward you publicly for it.

Everything in the Christian life is this way, especially the sacrificial worship of prayer. When you pray by yourself and nobody knows about it, when you go into your spiritual closet and nobody knows that you're praying, God knows and He rewards you openly. Your life reflects your inner life. God does these things. This is a spiritual thing. We're Christians, we're in Christ. All of these spiritual ideas should dominate the forefront of our lives. We should forget about talking about all these secular, worldly things. Christ and where we're going should dominate our life so much that theology and bibliology and Christology and pneumatology — the doctrine of the Holy Spirit — all of these things should dominate our hearts and minds.

I'm prepping you right now because in a couple of weeks, on Wednesday night, we start back in February and we're starting a series on doctrine. We're going to go through a systematic theology that is going to grow this church — probably going to be a one, maybe two-year run. And this is going to be deep and awesome, and our elders are going to take turns teaching this series. I want you to come. I want you to adjust your schedule so that you can be here. A church that's alive is worth the drive. If you can't fly for today — yes, but someone flew here. Praise God. Thank you, Sam, for flying from Canada to be baptized at Beulah Baptist Church. Wow. To God be the glory. Praise His holy name. Amen.

God has done amazing things here. It's all about Him. We truly are getting ready for this climactic, historic event, and it helps us to understand that being married to Christ — being in Christ as individuals — we also are among the many. And so Jesus, as He died for you, He also died for the many. So the doctrine that I want you to think about is the one and the many — in regards to the cross and in regards to you in Christ. In regards to the cross and you in Christ, He died as if you were the one He needed to die for, but also for the many. And He is espoused to you in that wonderful way.

And so back to Ephesians, if you would please. And as you turn back to Ephesians chapter 1, I want you to listen to me on this point of the cross. You have an advocate according to 1 John 2:1, an advocate — a Paraclete, one who is called beside you to help you. And this Jesus who is helping you has helped you in a way that you could not help yourself. I want you to picture yourself in a courtroom setting here. Before the marriage supper of the Lamb, you're going to be faced before God in judgment. It is appointed unto man once to die, and then the judgment, okay? Both believers and unbelievers will be before God. Now, you in a judgment setting — if you are guilty, how nervous will you be on that day? If you have not the covering of the blood of the Lamb, if you have not been saved by Jesus Christ, how nervous will you be? Because you know that you have an eternal sentence before you — an eternal sentence of death and doom and destruction, demons unleashed upon you just to torture you for eternity. You will be more nervous than you have ever been nervous in your life. You'll be shaking uncontrollably.

I'm convinced we know not of what hell really is. To be separated from the light of Christ is to be in darkness, and to be around demons who have death just drooling from their jaws to destroy you — in complete darkness you cannot see a demon coming to harass and bite and torture you. We don't comprehend hell and how awful it truly will be. And you now have zero ability to keep yourself from going there because you have sinned. "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." We've all sinned and now you have this death sentence. You've fallen short of the glory of God. God's wrath abides upon you. And so now you as the guilty party have zero ability to pay for your sin. Even if you died on the cross for your own sin, you could not pay for your sins because your blood is not pure. You're not worthy. Even if you had millions and billions and trillions of dollars, you could not pay for this sin debt. Money is worthless in this courtroom. And so now you don't have the ability to pay for your sin, nor can you get a lawyer that would be able to overturn your case. You're dead in your trespasses. You're guilty.

But we have a brilliant attorney on our case. We have One who is able. We have a volunteer. We have One who knows you're guilty. And to the credit of Phil Johnson, he made a very interesting point — to say that Jesus is the only advocate that requires you to confess your guilt up front before the judgment. Isn't that interesting? If you don't confess your guilt, you do not have Him as an advocate. If you don't confess your sin, that you are dead in your trespasses, you do not have Jesus on your side as your lawyer, as your intercessor, as your substitute. He is the propitiation — the One who took on God's wrath. He is the payment. His blood is pure and holy and worthy enough to save those who would place their faith and trust in Him. He can pay for sin. And so He is the able advocate and He Himself is the answer.

Hold your place in Ephesians and turn to 1 John chapter 2. I want you to see that He is our advocate. He is our propitiation. 1 John chapter 2 and verse 1.

Do we have any little children in here today? This is not only to the little children in our worship center, which I see them — glad you're here. We have a family worship service. We worship together as families. It starts off with "my little children" in 1 John chapter 2, verse 1. But this "little children" really refers to those who are children of God. "My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate" — this Paraclete who comes alongside of us. "We have an advocate with the Father." You see, Jesus as our advocate with the Father, with the Judge. "With Him, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sin, and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world." And so there will be people out of the whole world that come to Jesus indiscriminately.

God is not partial here. This is amazing. And so now you have an able advocate who loves you, who wants to see you inside of Him, if you will confess up front. He is the answer. He is the answer because He already paid for your crimes. He is able to overturn God's death sentence on you and you can be saved. This is literally the grace that Paul is opening up this letter with. "Grace to you." And this brilliant acronym for grace is really true: God's Riches At Christ's Expense. His expense was that which He did on the cross, and it's out of the riches of God in heaven that He disperses this grace to you.

And comprehending this back in Ephesians causes Paul to offer this wonderful doxology, this wonderful praise from verse 3 to 14. And he starts off with "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." And so Paul is publicly praising God. He's publicly giving a doxology of what he believes.

"Blessed be" indicates something. It indicates that the blessedness — the spiritual blessings — is intrinsic to God. And so Paul, by saying "Blessed is He," is giving God glory for His character and acknowledging that He is the sole source of all blessings. And this is consistent with Paul's writing style as he starts with statements of God's reality. He starts with the Lord and aims at Him and then moves to the believer's necessity. And so God's reality, and then your necessity. And when you see who God is, you see how little you are. When you see how big God is, you see how small you are. When you see how holy God is, you see how unholy you are. And when you start with God, then you get it right. When you start with man, you get it wrong. So Paul, generally speaking, starts with God's reality and then moves to man's necessity of Him.

And so if I were to give you points in this message, point number 1 is: praise God for His saving grace. And point number 2 is that He must be worshiped. He must be worshiped. And now when you understand the saving grace and that it is unmerited — it's by grace that you've been saved, not of your works — when you understand that, it prompts you to a life of worship. And Paul here is just overwhelmed with the grace of God and he offers a blessing to God. It's a "Blessed be God." This blessing is aimed at the Father. He's writing to the Ephesians publicly, but he's praising God. And so God must be worshiped.

In the Jewish Old Testament way of doing things, they would worship God in a public way, and when they would give a doxology — an open declaration of what they believed about God — it's called a Barakah. We've talked about this briefly in some messages prior, but this Barakah is what this is. And so this is not just worship in the form of hymns and songs, but it's also a declaration. And we've challenged our men to be men of God, to offer a declaration of what they believe about God — perhaps before you eat a meal when you have a lot of family and friends over. Stand up, and instead of giving a toast, instead of drinking the night away — get rid of all that alcohol and be all about Christ. Offer a doctrinal statement of what you believe about Jesus. This is a doctrinal statement, a declaration of what Paul believes about sovereign salvation.

And he gives God glory for that. And so you have Paul as a prior Jewish man, now a converted Christian, who was mustering up all of his heritage and all of the tradition which Jewish men in the Ephesian congregation would understand him — a prior Pharisee. And now he is coming together saying, "This is what I understand God to be." And he's declaring this publicly. He is unashamed of the gospel. He's not cowering to sports statistics and shallow conversation. He's not cowering to what the weather is outside and talking about that forever. He's making public what he believes about God. It's equivalent to "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one" — in Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 4, the Shema.

And if you do not have the ability to praise God publicly, to open up with a declaration of God — maybe you get tongue-tied — then just remember Paul's easy outline in this doxology. It's God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Praise God for what you can think of, for what God did. "Thank You, Lord, for creating the heavens and the earth. It's beautiful. Your glory permeates. It's amazing. Anytime I look at a sunset or a river, just the glistening of the water on the sun, the sun rays on the water — it's beautiful. I give You glory." Praise God the Father, and then the Son. "Thank You, Jesus. I thank Jesus for dying on the cross for my sin. I have repented." Say this as a father. Declare what you believe at your home. If you're a single mother, praise to you — do it too. Proclaim God the Father and the Son. And then thank the Holy Spirit for dealing with you. "I would not want to be inside of me and know everything that goes on in my mind. Thank You, Lord, for Your patience and Your guidance and Your conviction and Your tender love and care." Praise God. It's an easy outline. As a father, I want you to give your families something spiritually and give a doxology. Offer a word of praise. Praise God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This is verses 3 through 14. God must be worshiped. And this is what's happening here. It's clear. It's public. It's unashamed.

For example, 2 Corinthians 1:3 says, "Blessed is the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort." Here Paul is praising God for the comfort that he has received. And that comfort is not just for him — it's for helping others. With the same comfort that he's received from God, he's going to be comforting others. God wastes no pain. And then in 1 Peter 1:3, "Blessed be the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. By His great mercy, He gave us a new birth." Here Paul is praising God for his salvation again. Thank You for making me alive in Christ. Thank You for my new birth. Thank You for making me born again. You cannot make yourself born again. You must be born again — John 3:7 says — but you can't birth yourself. There's nothing that you can do to cause yourself to be born. God must do it. And when you give God glory and praise and acknowledge your sin debt and repent of your sin and place your faith and trust in Him, you can be saved. The Bible says in Romans 10:9 that if you confess Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you can be saved — saved from this eternal death sentence.

Again, "blessed" here in Ephesians 1:3 means enrichment — something that is conferred upon you. To be blessed is simply to receive these things. If you receive a blessing, somebody has conferred upon you some type of worth, some type of enrichment. Here Paul is praising God for the spiritual blessings that have been conferred upon them, which are from heaven. And so if you did the who, what, when, where, why in this passage, you would see — who? Well, it's God the Father and Lord Jesus Christ. What? The spiritual blessings. Where? From heaven. When? So glad you asked — that's a hard question.

Go with me to the scriptures if you would. Verse 4, Ephesians 1:4 and following: "Just as He chose us in Him" — here's the when — "before the foundation of the world." It's a settled thing. Let me bring you to complete peace. Do some of you get nervous like me?

Do some of you get a bit anxious unnecessarily — like me? Do some of you worry like me? Just let me put you at complete peace, okay? Everything's already been settled before the foundation of the world. History is His story. Everything God has already planned — it's simply unraveling.

Rest in His glory. Praise Him along the way. If you have that view of God's absolute sovereign control and you've been bought by Him, you're a child of God — then you can call Him Father and lean on His fatherliness and trust in His goodness. It puts you at peace. No matter what happens, I have a Father who cares about me. You say that. The Bible says, "Trust in the Lord," and "In all your ways acknowledge Him," and you do this — it puts you at peace. Now I would confess there are times, there are some difficult days where I have to continuously say, "Casey, trust in the Lord, trust in the Lord." I might not understand, but I trust in the Lord, trust in the Lord, trust in the Lord. It's a very simple statement, but it'll keep you at peace when you lean on Him.

These spiritual blessings the Father has already planned for you to understand and to live out — from heaven. Why? Who, what, when, where, and why? Why? It's all for the praise of His glory, for the spread of His good name, that other people would come to Christ and He would be glorified. He has a bride picked out and He's drawing that remnant and we are a part of His glorious plan. This life on earth is so short and little as compared to what He has planned for the future, and the judgment is just kind of getting things in alignment with what He's going to do with the marriage supper of the Lamb, which is going to unfold eternity for us. I don't know about you, but this makes me excited to say, "Christ, come again." I want to look forward to Christ coming again. Come, Lord Jesus. This is exciting and it makes me want to get ready for this. I don't want to be caught unworthy. I want to be holy before God. This whole thing is for us to be blameless and holy. In verse 4, "Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him in love."

When you love Jesus, this is something that you do regularly. All of these blessings, all of this wonderfulness, all of this blessedness from God in heaven to us — but it's through Christ. In Christ you can have all of these. If you're in Christ, then you're saved. All of these blessings are in Christ. To have Christ is to be rich with God's benefits. All of what the Father has is now being conferred and blessed upon you. Verse 3: "Blessed be the God and the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing." He has blessed you with all of these spiritual blessings, and they're in Christ — in the heavenly places, in Christ. Verse 3 says that these spiritual blessings are in Christ.

Those of you who have been bought by the blood of the Lamb and you've been gloriously saved — these spiritual blessings are now yours in Christ. This union between you and Him is a mutual dwelling. It's participating intellectually with Christ. This union, this being in Christ, is intellectually dwelling and thinking upon the things of Christ. This is a spiritual blessedness. This is not low-level, earthly living. This is not worry. This is not fret. This is not sin. This is looking up and dwelling on things above and not on things of the earth — Colossians 3:2. This is setting your mind. This is an intentional thing — you can set your mind on something different than what you're dwelling upon. If you have stinking thinking, throw the trash out. Set your mind on things above and dwell with Him and be intellectually with Christ, dwelling on Scripture.

This is also a bodily thing in that with your body you can participate in the events that Christ is leading you to fulfill God's will. This is so much bigger than we can comprehend. And being in Christ — listen to me — this union with Christ is the main thing. Being in Christ is the main idea. You will gradually comprehend this more and more and more. If the Reformers would have lived another hundred years, they would understand this doctrine more than they understood then. And if you could live three and four and five lifetimes, you would understand more and more and more on this doctrine of our union with Christ.

Listen to me. This union with Christ is submitting to the Lordship of Christ. Acts chapter 2, verse 36 says, "This same Jesus whom you crucified" — not you, talking to the Israelites — "whom you crucified is both Lord and Christ." He's Master and Savior. Jesus is both. And so to live in union with Christ is to enjoy His masterful Lordship in your life, which is evidence of your corporate membership of body. If you are a true believer, then you are living in Christ. You're walking in Christ. You love the things Christ loves and you do the things Christ did. You're working to emulate Him. You're submissive to Christ. And if you are so blessed to be married, then you are submissive to your husband. And husbands, if you're so blessed to be married, you are also in turn submissive to your wife. And both of you are submissive to Christ. This is not a thing of you trying to be Lord and you trying to dictate and dominate and say what I'm going to do with my life. It is an overwhelming characterization of being submissive and humble. Humility is a necessity in Christianity.

You've got to understand this. And if you're not growing in this direction, I'm concerned about your eternal destination. If you do not love what I am saying right now, there's a good chance you know not the love of God. There's a different love in this world that is not the love of God. If you love the things of this world and you love your life, the things that you can do in this world, the sinful pursuits — the self is the center. You know not the sacrificial love of God. And it's a learned thing. As you come to Christ, you're like a blank slate. You get in the Word of God. You learn all these wonderful things. That is evidence that you've been genuinely saved. The ones who can look at your life and see, "He or she is in Christ" — that's evidence. That is evidence.

Theologically, I talked about the fact that we are married to Christ. And as you grow closer and closer to Him, you see how He is Lord and you are the bride, the one who is submissive to Him. The world's message is completely different. The world's going to tell you you're worth it. But the Bible tells you you're not worth it. It's by His grace and His love for you — while yet a sinner — that He died for you. It's not because of anything that you did. It's not because of any of who you are. Romans 5:8 says, "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

When you totally comprehend these things, number 1 — you praise God for His salvation, for His saving grace. And then number 2 — God must be worshiped. There's nothing else to do. And now, as I start to wrap this up, I will give further explanation on these beautiful doctrines. We just do not have time today, so I'm going to skip to the end and simply say that Paul has opened up here with a doxology of praise. He understands these things and it has literally brought him to his knees. If you continue to read in Ephesians, he is in prayer and worshiping God. He is overwhelmed to the point of bowing down.

And now I want to ask you this question: Have you been overwhelmed by Christ? Has He brought you to a state of conviction of your sin, to where you are overwhelmed with conviction? Have you truly felt that helplessness and seen Christ as the able One? Have you experienced that? Have you understood that? Have you come to true repentance and faith in Christ? Has He brought you underneath this godly sorrow that produces repentance unto salvation? 2 Corinthians 7:10 talks about godly sorrow. This comprehension, if you're not saved, brings you to a really good state of understanding your need — of where you really are.

If you're apart from Christ and you see your eternal destination, there's nothing else but sorrowfulness there. And when you are truly feeling that godly sorrow — you see it's godly, this sorrow is godly — it's not sorry you got caught, it's sorry that you've sinned. You see that your sin is against Christ. You're so, so sorrowful, and at that submissive point you have bowed your inner being to God, and that produces repentance. And now you say, "God, I'm sorry." And you see clearly your error, you see clearly your sin, you see that you are stained, you see that you cannot do anything about it, and you cry out to God and you say, "Forgive me." And you confess Christ as Lord and Master. You see, He's both your Savior and your Master.

You can't have Him as just your Savior and not your Master. That's when you accept Christ — when you're saved, when you're born again and Christ resides in you and you are in Him. Remember, "in Him" is mentioned — a multitude of times — in the book of Ephesians. When you're in Him, you've got all of Him, not half of Him. Steve Lawson said it best when he said, "It's like separating Steve from Lawson. You can't get Steve and not Lawson, or Lawson without Steve. When I come to your house, you get Steve Lawson. And when you have Christ in you, you have Lord and Savior — all of who God has made Him to be."

And so I plead with you today: if your life does not match the description that I've done my best to explain today as a result of being sovereignly saved by the grace of God, I beg you to listen to the words of Jesus. Come to Jesus, come to Jesus — repent of your sin and place your faith and trust in Him and not your works and not yourself. This is something that goes on between you and Him. I can't do anything but preach the Word and point you in the right direction. And it's by God's sovereign grace that He would reach down and draw you into the family of God. But you must repent and you must believe that this happened.

So, so impressed with Frank. Frank felt the need to go to his nephew in the hospital here recently. And his nephew had taken a really bad turn and was in the ICU. And Frank shared this with me and some others. He shared that he needed to go, and as he saw his nephew — his name was Chris — Chris was in a bad way, could no longer really speak well, but he could communicate through nodding. And he passed.

But not before God sent Frank to share the life-saving gospel. And Frank looked around and God had sovereignly worked out the circumstances where he could be alone with Chris. And that was the moment he knew that he had been brought there for. And Chris could not verbally respond. But with his head he responded to the gospel. And Frank said to him, "Did you really truly repent?"

And then he said, "Did you truly believe with your heart?" And he nodded his head.

And the next day he died.

Man, you just never know. You just never know. For those of us who are in Him, you just never know what God is going to lead you to do. And for those of you who are outside of Him, I would say don't delay. Today very well could be the day of your salvation. You're not promised another day. Chris didn't know he was going to die the next day.

I want to thank God for the life-saving gospel, don't you? Let's pray together. God, we thank You for Your sovereign grace. We never know when the Holy Spirit is going to draw a lost sinner. It's like the wind — we can't control the wind. We don't know where it comes from or where it's going. Lord, I pray by the power of Your Holy Spirit that You would draw lost souls unto You even now through the clear preaching of Your Word. We know now that we are sinners in need of a Savior, and it's only by Your saving grace that we can escape God's wrath. Thank You, dear Jesus, for dying on the cross and rising again for our sin. We believe with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength in this salvific event. Thank You, dear Jesus, for extending this to those who would repent and believe. And if anybody is here and needs to do business with You, Lord, I pray that during this invitation time they would bow their inner posture toward You and confess that their life does not live up to what Your holy Word and the standards say. And I pray that You would grant them repentance and faith in You and that they be gloriously saved, gloriously saved. But not only saved, Lord — may their salvation be evidenced by a public proclamation, that they would be baptized, Lord, that they would demonstrate that they once were dead, like in the grave, but You raised them up. And I pray, God, that they would go on to become members of a great church — perhaps this church, a Bible-believing and preaching church — and that they would study Your Word and know You more, that they would go on to evangelize and make disciples. God, may the spiritual path that You've laid out so clearly in Your Word be for those whom You truly saved, and that would be on display, Lord. May we all be disciples who are on display, demonstrating the spiritual growth path. I thank You, dear Jesus, for the wonderful servants You've brought here to this church and this wonderful work that You're doing at Beulah Baptist Church. Thank You, dear Jesus, for the salvations and the baptisms. God, we do give You praise, and it's in Christ's name that we pray. Amen.