Every Spiritual Blessing: Part 1-2

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. This is part two of a message titled, Every Spiritual Blessing. Those two phrases, just as he chose us and in him, are significantly juxtaposed.

It means so much that those two phrases are together. Who is him? Well, it's speaking of Jesus Christ, the Messiah. And what does God refer to him as? He refers to him as, my elect one in whom my soul delights. That gives us all kinds of insight as to why the apostle and the Holy Spirit, under his inspiration, chooses this word to describe God's disposition towards us and our status in him. Just as he chose us in him.

There's no other words in there, and this translation is very consistent throughout all translations. It does not say, just as he chose us to be in him. He says, just as he chose us in him. We need to understand what that means, and there are three specific inferences that come from this phrase. Remember, this phrase, just as he chose us in him, that phrase is a word that encapsulates God's disposition toward us and our status in him. So when he says, as he chose us in him, there's three inferences that I want to cover here.

And they're from the context of all of scripture, from here and from the rest of revealed scripture, particularly in the New Testament, but from the Old Testament as well. The three inferences are this. Number one, preference. He has a preference for us.

Why? Because we are in Christ. We are in Christ. Go back to dealing with our kids. You ever see a group picture? I have kids scattered all over the world, right? And you see a group picture, and there's like maybe a dozen to 20 people in this group. And I know that my child is in this group, right? And I look at the picture. What's the first thing I'm looking for? My child. I'm not looking at all the others.

I don't know who they are. I'm looking for my child. And when I see my child in the picture, I'm looking at them, and I look at them how?

With great love and care and compassion and desire. That's my child. This is how God looks at us.

There is a preference there. On yours, you look with great affection and desire to God. Listen, Christians, here we are dealing with the infinite knowledge of God. God doesn't look down through time, all right?

Let's erase that thought. God doesn't look down through time. Everything that there is ever to know, everything that has ever happened, God knows all of it right here, right here.

Simultaneously, perfectly, completely, thoroughly, all of it. He knows it all right here. He knows every human being that has ever, will ever exist. And He sees them all in one picture.

And in that picture, there are two kinds of people. Those who are His and those who are not. And He knows them all. And He's known them that way from eternity.

And I say, Rich, that just blows my mind. Well, it ought to, because we are dealing with an infinite being here. You and I are finite and by definition limited. We cannot wrap our brains around an infinite God. If we could, we'd be equal to Him. And then we'd have to have another conversation, okay? But as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world.

So think about that. God, if you are in Christ here today, and you know what? There may be some here today that you're not in Christ yet. I can remember back when I was not in Christ in this life before I had entrusted myself to Jesus Christ in faith. Yet still, even before that time from eternity, God knew me as Rich Powell, mine.

Let that sink in, people. Not only is there an inference of preference on the part of a loving, caring Father who knows His own, but there's also the inference of purpose. When He says, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, there's an inference of purpose in that. Remember in Acts 9, verse 15, when the Lord was speaking to Ananias about Saul, who would become the apostle Paul. He refers to him and says, He is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name.

Christians, that's what you are. When Paul uses this phrase, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, this is part of what he means. You are a chosen instrument of His to carry His name. There is purpose in that.

It's an integral part of it. Remember at the beginning of this, he refers to the Christians as saints. What does saint mean? It means a holy one. What does holy mean? It means set apart. So you could translate that, just as He set us apart in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.

So we are in Christ and have been known to Him that way from eternity, set apart, devoted to His service. There's a third inference in this. Not only is there preference, an inference of preference, and not only is there an inference of purpose, but there's also an inference of protection.

Because why? Because you are His. He looks at you and He says, You are Mine, and if I were to look at My children in a picture, I care for them, and I want to be their protecting, loving, giving Father. And that's how God looks at us.

And the protection here is just with the understanding that it is done. What He has for us, it is done. Our destiny is determined.

It is done. It's not left up to how hard we try or how good we are. From God's infinite transcendent perspective, our journey is complete. Remember, God knows everything right here, right now. He doesn't look down the road of time. God doesn't do that.

He can't. He knows everything. And therefore, in His knowledge, from His perspective, your entire journey of life is done.

And how does He see you? Well, this is what He starts describing, because the apostle Paul says, like in Romans 8, for example, Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Peter said that we are kept by the power of God, right? No power of hell, no scheme of man can ever pluck me from His hand. We just sang that a minute ago.

It is so true. So, we've unpacked that a little bit, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. To what end? Chose us for what? Remember, the inference is preference and purpose and protection. But just as He chose us to be holy and blameless before Him. Just as He chose us in Him to be holy and blameless.

This is a perfect reflection of His character. We are, as Paul says in Romans 8, predestined to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, to reflect His perfect life. But it's very interesting. There are two words that could very easily be passed over in here. That we should be holy and blameless before Him. That is such a profound word. The word there is katanopian. Three parts to that word. To see, down, in. From His infinite perspective, He looks down into the core of your being and mine. And what does He see? That we should be holy and without blame before Him.

Katanopian, as He sees down in. So think about this. Think about this. Your infinite, loving, heavenly Father. Christians, I'm talking to you. He looks down into you. And He looks, He's not looking for the hypocrisy. He's not looking for the superficiality.

He's not looking for the faults. But His piercing gaze looks down into you. And He is looking for that delight and that satisfaction that He sees in the perfection of His Son, Jesus. Think about that. That's how He looks at you. And that's why He says, holy and without blame before Him, in love, in love.

Why? Because we are in Christ. And Christ is the Son of His love.

His beloved Son. Numerous times stated like that in scripture. So we are in Christ. And as I am in Christ and He is my element, then as God's piercing gaze looks down into my life, He sees Christ.

The righteousness of Christ in His perfection. And this is why Paul, in Colossians 3-20, uses the term as the elect of God, holy and beloved. And then he continues on with commands, with imperatives. This is what follows. As you are, since you are the elect of God, holy and beloved, then it follows that this manifests in your life. Now what I'm going to do for Sunday night seminars, that's what we do here.

We do Sunday night seminars. I'm going to be unpacking this phrase, the elect of God, holy and beloved. It's necessary.

We need to do that. This is scripture. We need to understand what the apostle Paul means. We need to understand God's disposition toward us and our position in Him, our status in Him. Those who are mine, it's like the Father is saying, this is what I will accomplish in them and here is where they end up. And He sees it all.

It's one complete picture for Him. And He knows it all for us. And then it says, as He having predestined us to adoption as sons, predestined us to adoption as sons.

That word predestines, again, as I said before, it just simply means it's done. Because we are in Him and He is seated. And we are already glorified.

As Paul says in Romans 8, whom He foreknew, He predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. And those whom He foreknew, He called. Those He called, He justified. Listen, those He justified, He what? Glorified.

Past tense. Christians, do you hear that? From God's perspective, you're already glorified. You're already seated with Christ, with Him.

Now listen, part of that ought to just blow your mind, okay? But this is how God sees you. You need to know your Father this way. Let's make sure that we're not worshipping the God of our imagination here.

Know your God in this way. He has predestined us to adoption as sons. In the adoption there, to adoption as sons in the Roman world, an adopted son had the same rights and privileges as natural sons.

You had natural sons from biological birth, and then you had adopted sons. Who is God's natural son? Not by biological birth, but they have the same essence, and that is Jesus Christ. He is very God of very God. He is the second person of the Trinity. He is His only begotten Son.

He is the natural Son of God. You and I are adopted sons of God. But as we are adopted as sons, we have the same rights and privileges as the natural sons.

Isn't that awesome? We are adopted into that sonship. John says, as many as believed, he gave the right, the authority to become children of God.

And we read it earlier during the early part of the worship. Behold what manner of the love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called children of God. This is family, this is relationship. Imagine the love that God has lavished on us that He, an infinitely perfectly holy God, can reach down to me and call me His child, whom He cares for deeply and affectionately and has desire for. What is in a family relationship when a father thinks of his child? It's the name. You share a name. There is a sense of care.

There's a sense of protection, a sense of guidance, favor, love, belonging, all of that. And this is how God looks at us. You've been listening to Delighting Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, lead pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. Visit our church website to see upcoming events or to listen to more messages at gbcwinston.com. To discover how to live by grace, tune in with us on weekdays at 10 a.m.