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Spiritual Blessings in Christ (Ephesians 1:3-14)
54 Plays3 years ago
Spiritual Blessings in Christ (Ephesians 1:3-14)
Ephesians: Growing in Christ
Sunday Message recorded 13 November 2022
by Associate Pastor Josh Shell
First Baptist Church
1700 Milam
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
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Transcript
Introduction and Series Overview
00:00:06
Speaker
Well, good morning, everyone. Good morning. Man, that was awesome. Well done. Y'all get an A plus on that one. That's great. Hey, it's good to be with you guys. It's always a pleasure to be in the body of Christ, amen? Amen. For us to come together into fellowship and to worship together and to study God's word.
00:00:27
Speaker
That's what we're called to do in Christ is to is to grow in Christ right as we talked about last week, which is awesome But I am excited to be with you guys this morning if you want to go and get your Bibles out you can open them up to the book of Ephesians the book of Ephesians
00:00:46
Speaker
As many of you know, we just wrapped up our series through the gospel of Luke, and we have now began a series through this wonderful letter that was written by Paul to the churches in Ephesus. Victor began this for us last week, and he titled it Growing in Christ.
00:01:05
Speaker
And that is very suitable, that's a very suitable title as an introduction to this letter. This letter is saturated with language and with a heart from Paul to the churches and Ephesus of their identity in Christ and them growing in Christ and how they walk together in unison in Christ.
Encouragement and Prayer for Understanding
00:01:26
Speaker
And I hope and pray that as we continue to walk through this letter this morning, that that's exactly what we will do as First Baptist Church here in Columbus. And then ultimately that it will be our prayer, not only for our church, but for our local churches and for the church in America and the church worldwide. That's what we're called to do in Christ. We're called to walk and grow together in Christ for His purpose and His pleasure.
00:01:52
Speaker
And so I'm really excited for us to continue on in this chapter this morning. We're gonna be in chapter one. But I would love to stop and just pray for us one last time as we dive into this together. So will you pray with me? Lord God, we just come before you, and Lord, we just ask that you would just go before this time. Lord, as we gather together,
00:02:19
Speaker
as the body of believers, I pray that it is our heart's desire that it's more than just about hanging out with one another. It's more than just even just worshiping, even though worshiping is a huge part of this. But Lord, I pray that our heart's desire is ultimately to grow in Christ's likeness and holiness every single day. And so I pray that as we work through this letter and as we work through these verses this morning, that you'll remind us of where our identity ultimately is in, and that is ultimately in your Son Jesus.
00:02:49
Speaker
and the spiritual blessings that we receive through being in Christ and how that needs to be the driving factor of why we wake up and why we get so excited about facing each day so that we can live out the gospel for others to see. So we can go and make disciples of all nations. So Lord, I pray this is exactly what we will get fired up about this morning. I know I'm excited about it, but Lord, just please allow it to be your words, not mine. Allow us just to hear you. It's in Jesus' name, amen.
Paul's Purpose in Writing Ephesians
00:03:20
Speaker
All right, so we're gonna be looking at verses three through 14 this morning.
00:03:25
Speaker
But before we actually jump into these verses though, there's a few things I at least wanted to lay out for us as we look at these verses. And one of the first things I wanted to look at was, one, this is a letter written by Paul. Many of you guys know who Paul was. He once saw a great persecutor of Christians who was converted on the road to Damascus. He became a believer and he became a follower of Christ Jesus, the very one whom he was trying to persecute.
00:03:54
Speaker
And he became one of the greatest missionaries of all time. He wrote this letter to these churches in the region of Ephesus, and he actually wrote this letter while he was in prison. Okay, so if that isn't enough to get you fired up about this, that how passionate Paul is about the body of Christ, I don't know what else. I mean, like he was in prison writing this letter.
00:04:16
Speaker
Doesn't matter what he was facing. He was so passionate about the church and about the body of Christ that he was willing to do it even in great situations like that. So he was under house arrest and what many believe was in Rome, and we can actually see that in Acts 28, most likely chained to a Roman guard while he was awaiting his appeal to Caesar.
00:04:36
Speaker
And he wrote this letter to the Ephesian church based off of what we can see in Acts 20, verses 22 through 32, and it was to exhort and to encourage the churches in this region to grow and to thrive in their spiritual identity in Christ. That's going to be a constant phrase that you're going to hear this morning, in Christ. That's key.
00:05:00
Speaker
So to encourage them to grow in their spiritual identity in Christ and to walk in His truth. Because what we saw in Acts 20 verses 22 through 32 is Paul's actually fixin' to leave Ephesus as he's fixin' to go to Jerusalem. And we see this great and bold comment that he makes of, hey, just know that he was like, I'm fixin' to leave you guys and this is probably the last time you're gonna see me.
00:05:28
Speaker
And he says, because what lies ahead for me, I do not know. But what I do know is that I face it with great strength and confidence in the Holy Spirit. But I'm pretty sure persecution awaits me.
00:05:39
Speaker
That's why you're not gonna see me again. And then he goes on and he tells them to, hey, be strong, be confident. Watch out for the evil dogs and all these evil wicked men who are gonna come in and try to distort the truth. They're gonna try to deceive you. They're gonna try to pull you away from the very thing that you chose to believe in and faith in Christ, that Christ came and died for you, rose for you, and ascended into heaven to establish a place for you. That's where your hope lies, not in anything else.
00:06:10
Speaker
And so Paul, as he's fixed it to leave Ephesus, he is encouraging them not to do this. And as he said, this was ultimately the last time that they would see him in person. But there's a few other things about this letter that are pretty unique that I wanted to mention.
00:06:27
Speaker
is that one, when Paul wrote this letter, I mean, it's entitled The Letter to the Ephesians. But again, this is meant to be a circulatory letter. This is a letter that was written not only to the church in Ephesus, but also to the surrounding churches. So once they received the letter, they were to read it aloud, and then they were to pass it on to the churches. So this is a circulatory letter.
Relevance of Ephesians Today
00:06:49
Speaker
And it's also unique in general because it's more of a reflective letter than it is a corrective letter.
00:06:56
Speaker
What I mean by that is this, is that most times when Paul was writing a letter, like if you go to the letter before Ephesians in the New Testament, it's the book of Galatians, you're very, I mean, it's very clear right off the bat what Paul's writing the letter to, right? He's like, so foolish Galatians who has bewitched you, right? Like it's very clear that it's a corrective letter, whereas this one is meant to be more of a reflective letter on who they are in Christ and how he is going to encourage them to walk in that manner. So it's a very unique letter in that regard.
00:07:27
Speaker
This letter is also unique in the fact that it has stood the test of times in regards to the contents in which it was written to the church, to these churches. Everything in which we are going to see, not only in these verses today, but through the remaining letter, it still applies to us today. This is a very contemporary letter.
00:07:48
Speaker
Though Paul wrote it many years ago, it still applies to us very much so today. So it's a very impactful letter, one that we don't need to overlook, one that we always need to come back to. If you're in this building today and you are trying to figure out your identity in Christ and what it means for us to walk in the unity with Him, this is the letter you need to study through and through over and over and over again. Cool? This side note there, all right.
00:08:18
Speaker
But let's go ahead and read these verses together. So if you're able to, stand with me, and we'll jump through these verses together. Picking up in verse three, it says this.
Spiritual Blessings in Christ
00:08:34
Speaker
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.
00:08:44
Speaker
Even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of His will, through the praise of His glorious grace with which He has blessed us in the beloved.
00:09:06
Speaker
In him we have redemption through his blood and the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
00:09:33
Speaker
In him we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things together according to the counsel of his will, so that we who are the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.
00:09:51
Speaker
In him, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation and believed in him were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory. Amen, thank you guys, may be seated. So again, last week as Victor opened up this letter for us, he titled it Growing in Christ.
00:10:19
Speaker
setting the tone for us, right? But this morning, the title of it, what I would like for us to look at is the spiritual blessings in Christ. I don't know about you guys, but one of the biggest burdens in my life right now, I say it's one of the biggest burdens, it's something that definitely weighs heavy on me, is the current condition of the American church. My wife, she's in here, she's probably shaking her head because she hears me talk about this all the time.
00:10:50
Speaker
is the condition of the American church. And you're probably thinking, what do you mean by that, Josh? Well, I don't know about you guys, but when you look out and you look at the churches in America today, one, you see such diverse division among the churches. Sunday morning is probably one of the most divided times in America among the church. We just can't seem to get out of our own way when it comes to the things that we like versus the things that we don't like. And that causes division.
00:11:21
Speaker
Along with that though, it also comes the infiltration of these outside sources coming in to try to deceive us. So what Paul is ultimately trying to challenge us to go against, right? But all I have to say is that the American church, I feel like is that we are being distracted from the truth of the spiritual blessing that we have in Christ.
00:11:49
Speaker
The reason why there's so much division, the reason why the church may be turning away from the gospel is because we are not recognizing the blessings that we ultimately have in Christ. We're choosing to look to outside sources to find blessing, to find identity, to find our purpose.
00:12:11
Speaker
And what we see in these verses today is that Paul, very similar to the churches today, he is reminding the church of Ephesus this very same thing. He says, do not forget where your spiritual blessings come from. And they come from Jesus. He is at the center of it all and always will be.
00:12:34
Speaker
And so that's the foundation that I want us to look through, or the foundation I want us to build upon today when we look at these verses. Now, a couple other notable things that I want us to look at here that will ultimately
00:12:50
Speaker
help us open our eyes to what Paul's trying to say is that these verses that we just read, that's 12 verses that we just read in the American language or in the way that we've translated it. But in the original Greek, this is one continual thought. This is one continual sentence that Paul gives here. There's no break in it.
00:13:10
Speaker
So this is, with that said, you feel the heart, you feel the desire, you feel the passion of what Paul's trying to get across to these people in the churches of Ephesus, that they do not need to forget their spiritual blessings in Christ. So that is my prayer for us this morning as we work through this, that we will hear what Paul's saying through this one continual sentence.
00:13:37
Speaker
and that we will apply it to ourselves today as the church, not the institution, but the body, as individual members of the church, that we will come together in unity in Christ.
00:13:54
Speaker
But the first thing I want us to point out though, is the provision of our spiritual blessing. And we see this in verse three, and I know Victor hit on this first last week, but I wanted to bring this in and tie it back in because it is ultimately what sets the tone for the rest of these verses. What we see here in verse three, when it says, 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.
00:14:21
Speaker
And that's where the verse three ends for us in our translation. But our spiritual blessing, what we see here is a gift from the Father Himself through His Son, Jesus, and ultimately sealed in us through the Holy Spirit. This verse is so complex, this one verse. We could spend the entire morning talking about this. We're not going to, okay? But,
00:14:46
Speaker
What I want us to say is that we see the Trinity at work here in this one verse and how the Trinity is what ultimately provides our spiritual blessing, the unity of the Trinity, the most glorious picture that we could ever have. God.
00:15:05
Speaker
So what Paul is invoking upon his audience is that as a result of this great blessing, it should and always be our first response to act worshipfully to God. And what I mean by that is when you read those verses or when you read that word bless, there in the beginning, bless be the God of the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. That word bless can also be translated as praised.
00:15:29
Speaker
or to speak well of. So we see the nature of who God is. God is blessed. God is praised. He deserves nothing less from us than to be praised. That's who he is.
00:15:47
Speaker
So we need to praise Him. And then when it goes on there, it says, blessed be the God our Father, our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing. So that same word is, it goes from being God in His nature, being blessed to now He is passing on the blessing to those who are in Him.
00:16:09
Speaker
So again, God is blessed, he is praised, he is to speak well of, and now as those who are in Christ, what is our action? What is expected of us? To praise him. So this is something that Paul is setting the tone for us right here in verse three is that there is no other position for us to take than to be one of praise towards God and his provision of spiritual blessing.
00:16:42
Speaker
So in this verse alone, as I said, you see the fullness of the Trinity at work in the lives of believers, the us in this verse, right? He has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. You see the blessed nature of God the Father, you are able to receive the same blessing through the Son, and you are able to have access to every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places through His Spirit. That's the Trinity at work right there, boom. I could drop the mic and walk off and that can be good for the morning.
00:17:12
Speaker
But we're not going to do that.
00:17:14
Speaker
But like I said, that's exactly what we're going to see unpacked by Paul as he expounds on how each member of the Trinity is sovereignly at work within our spiritual blessing and what our spiritual blessings are in Christ moving forward going into verse four. So that's what I want to look at next is I want us to see the Trinitarian work within our spiritual blessing because for us as believers, we need to understand that the Trinity is at the center of it all for us.
00:17:43
Speaker
It's the foundation to how we get our spiritual blessing. We have a tendency of either emphasizing Jesus or emphasizing the Spirit or emphasizing the Father, but rather you gotta remember they're all three in one. They're unified. And so this is just a beautiful picture that Paul is unpacking for us in the remainder of these verses. So what I want us to see in verses four through six is the first aspect of it, and it is the selection of the Father.
Doctrine of Election
00:18:12
Speaker
And verse four says, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. Verse five, it says, in him he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will. So we see this selection of the Father.
00:18:35
Speaker
Now, I think it's kind of ironic. I think Victor does it to me on purpose whenever he sees passages like this, because this election of the Father is talking about this doctrine of election. And I feel like I find myself covering this topic a lot. I don't know why. I think it's Victor passing it to me. But I don't, again, like I said in the past few times when we looked at this doctrine of election, it's not something that we need to be afraid of, but it's not something that needs to be a dividing factor in the church.
00:19:07
Speaker
And what I want us to do here is that, because we have a tendency when we see these words chosen or predestined, we have a tendency of focusing on who the who factor is of the chosen and who is predestined, but rather what we're seeing in these verses that Paul, he's not focusing on the who, but he's focusing on the what.
00:19:27
Speaker
And that's what I want us to see here. So the first thing here in our spiritual blessings from the selection of the fathers that we are chosen. And what is it? What are we chosen to be or what are we chosen for? Well, he says it right there, that we should be holy and blameless before him.
00:19:47
Speaker
So from eternity's past, when God set into motion his divine sovereign plan, before creation, he chose a group of people and individuals to be holy and blameless.
00:20:03
Speaker
Now, again, when it comes to this doctrine of election, God is so far sovereign and so far omnipotent in all knowing that we can ever imagine, that we can never scratch the surface of who God is in that regard. So when it comes to this doctrine of election and chosen and predestined, we have to get out of our own way when it comes to the who.
00:20:26
Speaker
That is one of the most debated topics about this doctrine of all time is who is the chosen, who is the elected, but rather what we need to be focusing on today, like I said, is the what. God chose for individuals to be holy and blameless. And one thing is for sure that we can all agree on when it comes to the chosen, those who are chosen are those in Christ. Those in Christ.
00:20:55
Speaker
So those who are in Christ are chosen to be holy and blameless before him. And what does it mean to be holy and blameless? It doesn't mean to walk in Christ's likeness. Walk in his truth. Don't give an opportunity for the world to see your sin as sin, but rather you need to allow the world to see Christ at work within you.
00:21:22
Speaker
So we are to be holy and blameless before him, to be set apart for holiness in God. The second thing that we see here though, in verse five, is that he also predestined us. Those who were in Christ, he predestined us. What did he predestined? First off, that word predestined in simple terms, it means to be predetermined.
00:21:43
Speaker
So it's a predetermined outcome for a specific, whether it's a group of people, an individual or whatever. So it can be as simple as, let's say Victor here invites me out for lunch after church. And I'm like, sure, let's go to lunch. Where are we going? Well, we're going to Los Cabos. Okay. Where's the predetermined location? Los Cabos.
00:22:03
Speaker
Does that make sense? So God pre-determined, or in other words, He marked out beforehand the final destination or the final position for those who were in Christ. And that is to be adopted to Himself. What a glorious picture that is.
00:22:22
Speaker
So again, within this theme of who we are in Christ and what God is doing, Paul's saying, we don't need to focus on the details that don't really matter, but rather we need to focus on the greater picture here is that we have a holy, righteous, sovereign God from eternity's past who is chosen and predestined for his people to be holy and blameless and to be what? Adopted into his family. A position that we were not in.
00:22:52
Speaker
For we all are sinners. And as a result of our sin, we deserve to be outside of God's family. We are his enemy. But because of what God set forth from the foundations of the world, for those who are in Christ are now in a new position. They are adopted as sons and daughters in Christ. And what is the result of that adoption? Eternal life.
00:23:25
Speaker
Again, I can end this right here right now, and that's enough for us to walk out lifting our hands and praising God. Because we were once in a position completely and totally as enemies of God, deserving death, deserving destruction, deserving to go to hell for eternity. But yet, because of what he predetermined, what he set forth from the very beginning of time before we were even created, we now have the opportunity to be adopted back into his family.
00:23:58
Speaker
beautiful beautiful picture
00:24:04
Speaker
But it goes on here from verses five and then he ends verse six, to the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the beloved. So again, he's ending this first section of the selection of the father with this idea of praise, to the praise of his glorious grace, this unmerited favor that he is bestowing upon us, which he has blessed us in the beloved. Who's the beloved? Jesus.
00:24:34
Speaker
Because of Jesus, we now are able to have this. And that's when it transitioned into verse seven to where we see the selection of the Father to the sacrifice of the Son. And it says, in Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace. So that first thing I wanna see here is that we have redemption through the sacrifice of the Son.
00:25:01
Speaker
the freedom from guilt of sin that is given to us through an unending source of grace by God as he is now lavishing it upon us as we see there in the beginning of verse eight. This is a beautiful picture. Again, if it wasn't for Jesus coming to fulfill the plan that which God has set forth from the very beginning, we would never have access to being adopted into God's family.
00:25:30
Speaker
So the sacrifice of the Son brings about redemption. He redeems us. He purchases us from our sin. He relieves us of the guilt of sin, and He lavishes upon us this grace. So which He lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of His will according to His purpose,
00:25:53
Speaker
which he set forth in Christ. So another thing that we receive in this is this idea of wisdom and insight. You see, before Christ came and died on the cross for our sins, we were walking in our sin. We were walking in our wickedness. We were blinded to the things of this world. We were blinded to the things of God. But as a result of God sending his son Jesus to redeem us, to purchase us,
00:26:21
Speaker
He now opens our eyes to the reality of who God is. We now receive wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of the gospel. And what is this great mystery? The mystery of being Christ, being our sacrificial lamb, our Messiah, our Savior, who brings about forgiveness of sin to all those who believe in Him. The mystery that declares that Jesus is the sinner of all things as God's one and only Son.
00:26:54
Speaker
And this mystery that ultimately unveils God's sovereign plan that he has set forth from eternity's past regarding the spiritual blessing we have in Christ for those who confess and believe in him.
00:27:06
Speaker
So as a result of the sacrifice of the Son, we now have been redeemed and we now get wisdom and insight into this mystery of the gospel that was once veiled in our hearts to where now we were able to understand it. We were able to learn more about it and to grow in it.
00:27:26
Speaker
to ultimately what we see here in verse 11 when you jump down. So I'll just read to you verses nine through verse 11. So, making note to us the mystery of his will according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him. And I just want to stop right there because that right there is powerful.
00:27:49
Speaker
So the whole purpose of Christ coming and redeeming us and bringing wisdom and insight into this mystery of the gospel was for the purpose of uniting all things in him. But yet, and ironic that the church is the most divided place on Sunday morning, the very people who profess and believe in Jesus as Messiah and Savior and Lord are dividing themselves rather than remaining unified in the spiritual blessings of Christ.
00:28:21
Speaker
Let that sink in. What are we doing as the body of Christ to remain unified? We can joke and laugh all day long about the different conversations that we have about like, man, do y'all see how that lady was dressed today? Not in the Lord's house. Or, man, did y'all see that that kid wore a hat into the sanctuary? Or how about, do they listen to rap music?
00:28:53
Speaker
I can't, I mean, I mean, we can go on and on with these different crazy conversations that we have that ultimately divide the church rather than emphasizing a focusing the center of what unites the church. That is Christ.
00:29:14
Speaker
But it goes on in verse 11, in him we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will. So as a result of this, as being redeemed and purchased and gaining wisdom and insight to the mystery of his will and ultimately uniting all things in him, we now obtain an inheritance. Well, what is this inheritance?
00:29:44
Speaker
It's the spiritual adoption into God's family, eternal life. It's the spiritual blessings that we get to partake in every single day. That is our inheritance. But yet we choose to neglect it every day. Again, I'm not trying to be up here to ostracize anybody or to blame or to shame anybody, because let me tell you something. I am just as guilty as any of you are.
00:30:15
Speaker
I neglect the spiritual blessings that we have in Christ Jesus almost daily because of my flesh. I transparently stand before you saying that. But the thing is that I could confess it all day long. We could confess it all day long, but the reality is what are we doing about it? What steps are we taking to acknowledge and to praise God for the inheritance that we now have obtained in Christ?
00:30:46
Speaker
What are we doing about it? Are we just going to let it continue? Are we going to step up as the church and we're going to be the image bearers of Christ? Are we going to be the light into the darkness, the salt into the earth? We have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.
00:31:16
Speaker
So again, that's part of that predetermined position of those who are in Christ. It goes on in verse 12, it says, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be the praise of His glory. This is where it gets good because Paul, what he's doing here is that in verse 12, he's focusing in on the Old Testament chosen people, the Jews, right?
00:31:45
Speaker
But then he's fixing to flip the script on him because up at this point, you got to remember, there's been division between the Jews and the Gentiles. This gospel message was only intended for the Jews. This was the promise. And then Paul is now, he's the ambassador of Christ to the Gentiles and he's bringing this good news to the Gentiles and Jews aren't liking it. So he's saying, so that we who are the first to hope in Christ might be the praise of his glory, talking about the original
00:32:10
Speaker
communal chosen group of the Jews. But he goes on verse 13, he says, in him, you also. Man, he's flipping the script on his audience right now. He says, in him, you, who's the you? The Gentiles. What a blessing and what a beautiful picture that is. Because now what Paul is saying is he's going back up there to verse 10 where he talks about uniting all things in him and he's saying, hey, this gospel message is not just for the Jews.
00:32:42
Speaker
When Christ came, He came to fulfill every aspect of the law so that all who confess and believe in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. It goes from the we to the you, which means all people. That's such great news for you and I, because I don't know about you guys, I think I've said this before, I'm not a Jew, I'm a Gentile, okay? So this is good news for me.
00:33:05
Speaker
But He says, in Him you also, when you have heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation and believed in Him were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.
Role of the Holy Spirit
00:33:18
Speaker
Which goes to the last thing I wanted us to hit on is the seal of the Spirit. We won't take too much time on this, even though this is...
00:33:25
Speaker
I say, well, I won't take too much time on it, but the reality, this is the most important aspect of the Trinity for us today because the Holy Spirit is the one who is most active in our lives today.
00:33:38
Speaker
When it says that we've been sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, he is the one and he goes on in verse 14 and says, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we take possession of it? It is the spirit who lives inside of us, who holds on to that inheritance for us until we're able to one day obtain it in the heavenly places.
00:33:58
Speaker
While we live on this earth, it is through the spirit that we are sealed. That idea of sealed is that we are now imprinted with God's image, with His identity. We've been brought into His family. We are no longer our own, we are His.
00:34:19
Speaker
When you confess and believe that Jesus is Lord of your life, it is no longer the old you that is present. It is now the spirit within you that now transforms you from the inside out. You are different. And the difference is that you are now gods. You are now gods because of the sealed Holy Spirit within you.
00:34:49
Speaker
So again, how are we sealed with the Holy Spirit? Well, I'm gonna read to you Romans 10.9, right? If you confess with your heart or if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. And in that moment that you believe in your heart and confess in your mouth that Jesus is Lord of your life and you are saved, guess what? You were instantaneously sealed by the Holy Spirit in that moment.
00:35:15
Speaker
You are no longer your own, but you are God's. Absolutely amazing. And it is through the active work of the Holy Spirit in us that we continue to have access to our inheritance until we take possession of it. It is through the Holy Spirit that we are able to experience the fullness of the spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus. So why do we neglect it? Why do we neglect the Holy Spirit? Because it's in Him.
00:35:46
Speaker
that we are able to access the spiritual blessings. So again, as we wrap up our time here, because there at the end of verse 14, he says, to the praise of his glorious grace. So again, this one continual thought is all about praising God for the spiritual blessings that he has given us through the work of the Trinity, Father, Son, and Spirit.
00:36:15
Speaker
This is a beautiful, beautiful passage of scripture that we don't ever need to forget. But as we wrap up our time, though, I'm just going to ask this question. Where do you stand in regards to God's spiritual blessings? Where do you stand? Are you partaking in the blessings of the Father?
00:36:43
Speaker
Have you experienced the forgiveness of sins through the redeeming blood of Christ Jesus according to the riches of His grace? Are you sealed with the promised Holy Spirit awaiting to take possession of your spiritual inheritance? If you're any of those things or all those things, let me tell you something. There is no other position for us to take than that one of complete and total worship.
00:37:14
Speaker
After all, that's why we were made in God's image, to worship Him. But if you're here today and you're outside of God's spiritual blessings, I pray that you will hear the appeal of Paul to the believers in the churches of Ephesus, that you'll hear His appeal and that you will desire to partake in the same spiritual blessings. Again, this is a big room of people. I don't know where we're all at.
00:37:44
Speaker
I don't know what we're all experiencing. Many of us are really good at masquerading what's going on in our life. We're really good at covering it up. We could come in here and play church all day long, but in the heart of hearts, there is a lot of things going on that we need to surrender to God. I'm not trying to, well, I say that. If I'm convicting you, it's the Holy Spirit, amen.
00:38:15
Speaker
But all that to say is, is that if you are here today and you are outside of God's spiritual blessings and you want to partake in them, I want you to hear these words of Paul in Romans 3, 23 through 25.
Invitation to Faith and Inclusion
00:38:30
Speaker
It says, for all of sin falls short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift.
00:38:38
Speaker
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith. Amen. By faith. In other words, you are able to receive the same gift of salvation in which many of us are partaking in, which brings about spiritual blessings in God through one act of faith in Christ. So if that's you today and you're outside of this spiritual blessing and you want it,
00:39:07
Speaker
All you have to do is put your faith, help, and trust in Christ Jesus. And just as we said before, when you put your faith in Him and trust Him, you are instantaneously sealed with the promise of the Holy Spirit, which grants you access to these spiritual blessings. And if you think that you're too far gone or maybe I'm just that guy that God doesn't want to save or whatever, or maybe you're going back to the doctrine of election and you're one of those people who is using it as a stumbling block,
00:39:35
Speaker
of whether or not, oh, well, maybe I'm just not God's chosen. Well, let me read to you John 3 16. Many of you guys know this verse. For God so loved the world that he sent his one and only son that whoever believes in him should not perish, but what? Have eternal life. Have eternal life. God desires for his creation to know him and to be known by him.
00:40:06
Speaker
That is awesome. And I also want to appeal to the crowd in this room that's probably thinking, man, Christianity just ain't my thing.
Addressing Skepticism and Closing Invitation
00:40:18
Speaker
It's full of hypocrites. It's whatever. Let me tell you something. We're all broken people. We're all broken people.
00:40:28
Speaker
and to have the newness of life in Christ Jesus in this life, sure, it may look like it's a burden, but let me tell you something. It is actually the most freeing thing to be in Christ because guess what? Christ already paid the price for all of our sin and he took the weight of the world off our shoulders to where we can go and live a glorious and joyful, not happy, but joyful life in him for all eternity.
00:40:53
Speaker
So before you stiff arm God, because of what the church may look like on the outside, you need to give God a chance to allow him to transform you on the inside. And then come talk to us. He desires to bestow his blessing upon those who confess and believe in Jesus Christ. So will you choose that today? That's all I want to say. That's all I want to ask. So now I'm going to have the worship team come back up
00:41:21
Speaker
As we go into a time of invitation, I know typically you guys come up during prayer. I'm going to have you come up. It's fine. Well, they're going to lead us into a song during this time of invitation, and I invite
00:41:38
Speaker
I invite anyone to come and to talk to me, to Pastor Victor, or maybe you just need to stay where you're at in your seat and you need to do business with God right there, but whatever's on your heart that is weighing heavy on you, whether it's something personal in your life or whether it's the Lord weighing heavy and impressing upon you that you need to receive Jesus as Savior of your life, you need to come talk to us. Well, I say you need to come talk to us. You need to talk to God.
00:42:07
Speaker
you make that right and that's exactly what this time of invitation is all about as an opportunity for you to make uh... to to to make that decision
00:42:19
Speaker
So I'm gonna pray for us, and then the worship team's gonna lead us in the time of song. But like I said, if you have anything you need to talk about, come down, talk to me, talk to Victor, stay right there in your seat, whatever the case may be, and we would love for that to happen. But will you pray with me? Lord God, we just thank you so much for the reminder of what it means to have the spiritual blessings in Christ, to being
00:42:50
Speaker
adopted into your family as sons and daughters, through having redemption, to having wisdom and insight into the mystery of the gospel, of obtaining this great inheritance.
00:43:05
Speaker
in Christ Jesus that is ultimately sealed through your Holy Spirit, Lord. This is such a great reminder for us as your people, as the church. And I pray, God, that as we move forward in this, that we will constantly be reminded of these things so that way we can go and be the blessing to those who do not have the spiritual blessings. Lord, that we will truly be the hands and your hands and your feet in this world that is quickly turning away from you.
00:43:34
Speaker
But, Lord, you're not surprised by that. I know you're not. But, Lord, I do pray, though, that we will feel the urgency of sharing the gospel in our lives to those around us and being the light that you've called us to be. But, Lord, I pray that you work in the hearts of those who need you and that they will come to know you today. But, Lord, we love you. We praise you. We thank you. In Jesus' name, amen.
00:44:05
Speaker
This is a ministry of First Baptist Church, located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.