Every Spiritual Blessing: Part 3-3

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. In his message titled Every Spiritual Blessing, Part 3, Pastor Rich reminds us that Christ is our greatest benefit and pleasure. A day is coming when God will bring all things back to the main point. The main point is not a concept, but a person, our Savior Jesus Christ. He is the focal point of all time in history. For Christians, a clear understanding of our current status and our future inheritance in Christ equips us to live for Him with a confident joy and hope today. You're listening to the third part of this message. He is the guarantee of our inheritance.

So what is this? The Holy Spirit of promise, the promised Holy Spirit, God indwelling each believer child as Peter says it, we have become partakers of, we share in the divine nature. Listen, that doesn't make you and me God, but God is willing to share His righteous holy nature with us.

That's amazing when you think about that. And He does so through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. To what end? That we become like Christ, that we think His thoughts, that we follow His steps. You see, it's not done just by pulling yourself up by your bootstraps and checking into your grit and saying, I'm going to do this by God. No, it's done through the power of the Holy Spirit in your life. It's why we're studying the fruit of the Spirit in Sunday school.

But we realize His blessing, these blessings where He says He's given us every spiritual blessing it is realized through the indwelling work and presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. So redemption is initiated by God, it is mediated by Christ and we experience it through the transforming work of the Holy Spirit. We see those three in this text. Here's another important set of three. Redemption in three parts.

Number one is justification. As it says in verse 7, in Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. That is justification in Christ. Remember Christ is my element. If I am in Christ, He is my element and God sees me in Christ. I have His righteousness credited to my life and that's how God sees me. And therefore I am accepted before infinite holy God. That's justification.

He accepts me. I stand righteous before Him, not with my own righteousness, but with the righteousness of Christ. Isn't that an amazing thought? This is the grace of God, this is the gospel of grace. That is why the Apostle refers to his readers as saints, which means holy ones. We are set apart ones. We are set apart why?

Because we have the righteousness of Christ and therefore we are set apart to enjoy God and to serve Him in that joy, saints. So that's justification. Listen to me. That justification, if you are in Christ, that justification that you are accepted before God and nothing changes that, that is a fixed fact for you as a Christian. You need to understand that.

Nothing changes that. That's the first part of salvation. The second part is sanctification, meaning you are being made holy and you are in the process of being set apart.

Now Rich, how can that be? How can I be holy and set apart and yet I am still being made holy and being set apart? Because you have to understand that what we are dealing with here is a perspective of an infinite transcendent God. All that there is to know, God knows and sees right here, right now, holy completely, perfectly, absolutely. He sees you in Christ. He accepts you in Christ.

You are justified before Him, that is a fixed fact, nothing changes that. However, you are still living in this mortal life and God has a plan for you, just like Michael realized. God has a plan for you and that is what? To make you like his son Jesus Christ. To continue setting you apart so that you reflect his character and his purpose.

So that you enjoy him and serve him in that joy. He is working that in your life and mine if you are in Christ. So we are becoming more like Christ in thought and act. We are moving toward the fulfillment of this promise and while justification is a fixed fact, sanctification is a present progression.

It is a present progression. If you are in Christ, God is working in you and I would be so bold as to say that by virtue of the fact that you are in this room this morning hearing these very truths without exception in this room, God is working in you. It is the power of the word of God because the Holy Spirit is the author of the word of God. Here is the third part of salvation. We have justification, the fixed fact that I am accepted before Holy God. There is sanctification, the fact that God is working the present progression, that God is accomplishing in my life to make me like Christ in character and conduct. But here is the third part and it is glorification, glorification.

This is what we find revealed to us in this text. And we don't normally talk about ourselves in that kind of language, do we? But glorification means this, when we will be all that we were meant to be.

And this has nothing to do with joining the army. When we will be all that we were meant to be. You were created with a specific design and purpose in mind. And you will in Christ, you will arrive one day at that place where you will be all that you were created and meant to be. This is the plan that God has.

This is our glorification. Once again, you will be fully alive, living and operating at full capacity, body, soul and spirit. You will be perfectly like Christ. We will be forever with Him. This is our promised inheritance.

This is what God has in store for us. There's three points of emphasis here and this is a bit apologetic in nature, but it's also theological, but it is what we have from the text. The first point of emphasis is this, the exclusiveness of truth. Truth is exclusive.

What do I mean by that? If truth wasn't exclusive, there would be no such thing as truth. If truth is exclusive, that means that there is that which is false.

How do we know that truth is exclusive? Well, we need to go back to verse 10, that he might gather together in one all things in Christ, all things united in Him. He is the point of reality. Truth is exclusive because all of this is done by His counsel according to His will.

It's His plan. Listen, it's His universe. He is the one that created and established reality with a specific plan and a specific purpose. He brought you into it. He brought you into it. You don't bring God into your world and your existence. That is a delusion of a fallen created being. You don't bring God into your world and your existence. God has brought you into His.

All things were created by Him and for Him. That's reality in a nutshell right there. And until any person comes to grips with that truth, they're not going to be able to make sense of everything that's going on.

Life and death. You see, truth is not just a concept. Truth isn't just a list of facts. Truth isn't just data. Truth is a person.

That person has a name. Truth is exclusive. And truth is derived from His character and His purpose. You can have your opinions, but you cannot have your own truth.

Not possible. Truth is exclusive. So a point of emphasis here is the exclusiveness of truth.

Let me mention a second one here. The second point of emphasis is the inclusiveness of the Gospel. The inclusiveness of the Gospel. I want you to look at some pronouns with me beginning at verse 12, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.

What is Paul referring to there? The we in verse 12 refers to the Jews. As Jesus said, John 4, salvation is of the Jews.

What does he mean by that? God's plan of salvation is through Messiah, and Messiah came through the Jewish nation. And they were the ones to whom the Gospel was preached first. Paul was a Jew.

All the apostles were Jews. And they were the ones who preached the Gospel. They were the ones who first trusted in Christ to the praise of His glory. To the praise of His glory. That was the whole purpose of their proclaiming the message of the Gospel to the praise of His glory. This was a purpose that was described all the way back in Isaiah chapter 43. The people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise.

Listen folks, listen to me please. That is the essence of evangelism. It's not trying to convince people about spiritual facts. It's not trying to convince people that there is a God. The essence of evangelism is declaring His praise. Please learn that. And let yourself be freed from the clutches of fear. Thinking that you have to convince people that you're right.

No. Evangelism is declaring His praise. Acts 1.8, you shall receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you will be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, and Sumeria to the end of the earth.

First Peter 2.9, a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation of people for His own possession that you may what? Convince people that there is a God. Know that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. That is the single most powerful apologetic. The Gospel lived. You enjoying God and finding your satisfaction in Him is the single most powerful apologetic.

That's what we're called to. You see, in us, others will see the satisfying goodness of God. You've been listening to Delight in 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 www.gbcwinston.com. To discover how to live by grace, tune in with us on weekdays at 10 a.m.