Every Spiritual Blessing: Part 2-3

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. With that right understanding, we are led to right action. And what is that understanding that we need? We need to understand the release, the forgiveness that we have in Christ. And when we come to grips with that, when we understand that, then we can love God with all our mind and all our strength. Against the dark backdrop of humanity's brokenness, God's great love shines vividly bright. In this message titled Every Spiritual Blessing, Part 2, Pastor Rich talks about the history of Christ's redemptive work and all that we have gained through His lavish grace.

We tend to be lavish, wasting all the good stuff on worthless things. But God is a lavish God where He pours out all of His goodness on us. Today we will continue the third part of our study on Ephesians 1, 7 through 9. How is this possible?

What is this? This grace that God has lavished on us. And now in the next couple of verses, the Apostle Paul is once again going to focus on the profusion of God's grace. He says, according to the riches of His grace, in Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace. That is the wealth, the abundance of His kindness and favor. Titus 3, 4, but when the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, according to His mercy He saved us. The kindness and love of God appeared.

He is acting according to His character. And this means He paid a debt. It was my debt, it was your debt.

He did not owe this debt, but it was a debt that you and I could never pay. And He did so according to the riches of His grace. Now what he says next here is very interesting. Verse 8, which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence. What does this mean? Rich Powell translation, He lavished grace on us. This word to abound means to provide in abundance. God has poured out on us oversized grace, knowing that we had a debt that we could never pay. That we are unrighteous to the core, every one of us. And we in that unrighteousness experience an unquenchable thirst. And we so desperately need the grace of God. And we would think that God in His kindness, as it talks about His kindness in the word of God.

And this is something that the Apostle Paul wants to clear up once and for all. We would think that in that debt, in that unrighteousness, in that unquenchable thirst that in God's kindness He would give us a small trickle of water to bring relief. And this is the grace of God. You would think of Luke chapter 16 where it speaks of the man who fared sumptuously every day. And then he died. And then Lazarus the beggar died and he went to the bosom of Abraham. And the man who fared sumptuously every day was living for himself and then he died and then he was in torment in this unquenchable thirst.

And he says to Abraham, please dip your finger in water and just put a dab of water on my tongue so that I can get some relief. And we think maybe that's how the grace of God is for us. But no, God doesn't give us a trickle of water. He lavishes grace on us. Listen, we have been overwhelmed by His favor and His goodness.

Do you see the profusion here? Paul is gushing forth in praise and doxology because God has gushed forth upon us in extravagance. This is what he says in Romans 5 20. Where sin abounded, grace abounded much more. Your sin can't outdo the grace of God.

There's a hymnal in our seats, hymn number 201. Grace greater than our sin. Marvelous grace of our loving Lord. Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt. Yonder on Calvary's mount outpoured. There where the blood of the Lamb was spilt.

Sin and despair like the sea waves cold threatened the soul. With infinite loss, grace that is greater. Yes, grace untold points to the refuge, the mighty cross. Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace freely bestowed on all who believe. You that are longing to see His face will you this moment, His grace, receive.

God has lavished grace on us loved ones. And it's like it reminds us of the story of the prodigal son. Now, some of us probably misunderstand that word prodigal, because when we think of the prodigal son, we think of this guy who gets his share of the inheritance and goes and lives and wastes it all.

Well, he does. But that's the word prodigal. Prodigal doesn't mean wayward or sinful. Prodigal means lavish. He goes and he lives a lavish life. And then when it's all gone, when he's wasted it all, when he has spent it on worthless things, what happens? He realized there's no better place than with Dad. Every one of you in this room hear me. There is no better place than with your Creator who made you and loves you.

There's no better place. And what did the prodigal do? He got up and we went home and he expected Dad to just be, okay, we'll put up with you. And so Dad sees him coming from afar. And what does he do? He sees him, he waits for him and he approaches and he says, well, it's about time you came home. Is that what he does?

No. What does he do? He writes to him and he embraces him and he throws a lavish party for him. This is your God, folks. This is what God thinks of you. He lavishes his grace on you. So the story really is not only of the prodigal son, but also of the prodigal father who is a picture of God. He is a prodigal God. He is a lavish God.

We tend to be lavish, wasting all the good stuff on worthless things. But God is a lavish God where he pours out all of his goodness on us. And in that picture, then the apostle Paul wants to clear something up. He says, yeah, God's just like the dad who just throws a big party when his wayward son comes home.

Doesn't really care what's going on, right? And he says he's done this. He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence. In all wisdom and prudence. Paul makes it clear this is not a random and impulsive thing that God has done, like a grandpa who spoils grandkids. And I know what that's like now.

I understand. But God is not like us, a grandpa who spoils grandkids. This thing that he has done in all wisdom and prudence, it's his wisdom and prudence, his insight, his special knowledge. What special knowledge does God have? Well, it is supreme knowledge. It is infinite knowledge. It is transcendent knowledge because God sees everything from beyond space and time. And so in that perspective, prudence speaks of a thoughtful plan from his infinite.

All of this is the outflow of his infinite perspective and purpose. God has thoughtfully put together and crafted this plan of our redemption and our forgiveness. But it is also wisdom and prudence for us, because from his wisdom and prudence, even in our redemption, we also get wisdom and prudence.

And what is that? It's understanding that leads to right action. Understanding that our hearts and our minds in Christ, by his spirit, our hearts and our minds are illuminated. Our minds are transformed.

He changes us at the level of thought and desire. And so with that right understanding, we are led to right action. And what is that understanding that we need? We need to understand the release, the forgiveness that we have in Christ. And when we come to grips with that, when we understand that, then we can love God with all our mind and all our strength.

That's the whole being. He has made this abound toward to us in all wisdom and prudence. And he made known to us the mystery of his will. He has explained something here. He has revealed something to us that we could otherwise not know.

Remember, it's the master painter, the master artist. It all begins in his mind. And then he transfers that to the canvas and he's crafting the picture and the painting, the picture of his purpose on the canvas of history in the person of Jesus Christ. So we then, with this understanding, we get the picture of God's strategy from eternity. This is what God is up to. This is what he is doing.

This is where I fit into it. It's revealed to us in his word and he's made it known to us. John Stott says that this answers a question that many people ask. And that question is why God went ahead with creation when he knew that it would be followed by the fall. Why did he go ahead and create man when he knew that sin would enter the picture?

And here's his answer. He says, one answer is that he destined us for a higher dignity than even creation would bestow on us. In Christ, having his release, his forgiveness, his goodness, his righteousness, God has taken us to even a higher dignity than Adam and Eve had in the garden before the fall.

That's amazing that we should be adopted into his family with his righteousness. You know, this is why the apostle Paul is constantly gushing forth in profusion, because he takes us through rich, deep doctrine and then he just gushes out in doxology. Romans 11, 33 is one of them. Oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God.

How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out. Verse 36, for of him, through him and to him are all things to whom be glory forever. Amen.

That is true truth. All of this is done according to his good pleasure. This is done to God's satisfaction. It is done out of his satisfaction in himself, in his character, in his purpose, in what he intended from the very beginning, from before time, from before the beginning.

That's verses three to six. All that has occurred in the mind of God and all of it is the outflow of his goodness on us. It is the highest and most satisfying good for him and for us.

All of it is which he purposed in himself. It comes from the mind of God to our reality. He is our remedy. We are not our own remedy. We can't do that.

It's not possible. 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.