R345 The Foundation of Spiritual Blessing

The Foundation of Spiritual Blessing. That's Dr. Wilton's topic on this edition of The Encouraging Word, Opening God's Word Together.

We head to Ephesians 1 in just a moment. We also encourage you to head to our website, www.tewonline.org. A great spot to sign up for the daily encouraging word email from Dr. Don.

That's online at www.tewonline.org. The Encouraging Word. And now Dr. Don Wilton. Turn with me in your Bibles to Paul's letter to the Ephesians chapter 1. Our subject this morning, The Foundation of Spiritual Blessing.

The Foundation of Spiritual Blessing. John MacArthur in his commentary on Ephesians reminds us in the introduction about the Los Angeles Times report about an elderly couple who were found dead in their apartment some years back. And it was discovered that they died of malnutrition. They had nothing to eat. They starved to death. When they went in there and discovered them and the people and family who went in, they also discovered over $40,000 in paper bags distributed in various places around the house.

They had plenty of money, but they chose to live in poverty. Probably the most well-known documented case was of Mrs. Green who died in 1916. Some of you may remember the story and I've read about it over the years. In 1916, this lady who died here in the United States died with an estimated fortune of over $100 million.

That's 1916. That was a lot of money back then, I believe. She was an exceptionally wealthy lady, but she died in poverty. Her son died some years before her and the reason he died was that he went down with some illness and she spent so much time trying to find a free clinic that could treat him that he died before he could get medical assistance. It is documented that the same lady, valued at over $100 million, would eat cold oatmeal with cold water every morning so that she could save on her hot water bill.

$100 million. The Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, reminds us here in these opening verses that as born-again believers, God has heaped upon us his spiritual blessings. The writer to the Hebrews put it like this.

He said, let me ask you a question. How are you going to escape if you neglect so great salvation? Perhaps what he had in mind there was what the Apostle Paul was affirming here in these opening verses of his letter to the Ephesians. And that was simply this, that as believers, God has opened and made available to us his reservoir of blessing. God wants to give to us so much.

He wants to heap upon us so much and yet we as men and women and boys and girls who claim to know him refuse point blank either to understand or to accept or to appropriate all that God has given to us. I will almost guarantee you right now that you know somebody, maybe even in this congregation, I hope not, maybe even in this congregation who is a believer and yet is miserable. I mean just miserable.

There's no other way to describe them. In fact, if you and I were to go around Spartanburg right now and we were to hand out $50 bills to everybody, they'd complain that it wasn't $100 bills. If you put down green carpet, they're unhappy that it's not red carpet.

If you say it's up, no, it's going to be down. There's always something, they are miserable Christians, they are unhappy. It is possible to die as a believer and be transported by the angels to be seated at the feast table of the king and yet have lived an entire life knowing the Lord Jesus Christ, but being defeated in your life because you have never appropriated all the riches of God's grace. Love our young people, teenagers, you're so special. Of the many things that I wish that I could say to you, I wish I could come down out of this pulpit right now and put on my jeans and my T-shirt that you know that I love to wear and get up in your faces and say to you at the age of 13 and 14 and 15, don't become a Christian who does not appropriate and apply the riches of God's grace to your life. God gives to his children an unbelievable resource of joy. He makes it available to us and he said, come and drink from me, don't withhold yourself from me. I've wanted to walk up to some people and say, why are you so unhappy?

Why do you look like you're always recovering from hookworm treatment? You know the Lord Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ by his grace has given us so much and yet all you seem to do is grumble and complain and moan and fast. And it's no wonder that you're so discouraged. Listen to what the Bible says in Ephesians chapter one and verse three. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love, he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Christ Jesus in accordance with his pleasure and will to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the one he loves.

I love that word freely given. There are very interesting things to notice here at this junction. Two things, the structure of this stanzaic form that we're reading and the theme that the Apostle Paul is about. Do you know that in the original Greek New Testament there's no punctuation? Now we put punctuation in there because we used to. Periods and commas and colons and semi-colons. But there's not that in the original text.

Why? Well, this was a devotional outpouring of the Apostle Paul who understood the riches of God's grace. And there is a very real sense in which the Apostle Paul fell down upon his knees in the presence of God, and he began to just bundle and abound with a ceaseless energy giving joy and praise and thanksgiving to God because of all that God had done for him. This man was writing from a prism. I mean, he was in bondage physically.

I mean, this guy was at the bottom of the barrel. The structure is very important. The first three verses, three through six, deal with the past. They center on the gracious purpose of God. The central part, verse seven through 12, deals with the present, revolves around the redemption of God. And the latter verses from verse 13 and 14 deal with the future, the consummation of God and the work and the ministry of the Holy Spirit. And right smack, bang, boom, crash into the middle of that comes the theme that Paul sets out for us, which absolutely throbs with a sense of the majesty of God.

It's like it's pulsating like a drumbeat. God telling us the joy of what he has in store for all those who bless his name. And right throughout punctuated, right throughout this wonderful stanzaic form, we find repeated over and over, blessed be the name of the God, praise be his name.

No different to what the psalmist did in Psalm 103. Praise the Lord, O my soul, all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Praise the Lord, you angels, in verse 20. Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts, verse 21. Praise the Lord, all his works everywhere in his dominion. Praise the Lord, O my soul. He's saying, I want to just bless the Lord.

There is a sense in which Paul would have been affronted if they'd put a period or tried to put some kind of ending onto the overflow of the praise that came from his heart. Are you thankful today? Are you thankful for what God has done for you? Blessed. What does blessed remind us of? It reminds us of the exclusivity of God.

There's none like him. It reminds us that everything that we have, that God claims his homage, our homage for himself. God claims it. God demands it. God insists upon it. When we find blessed and praise, we know that he is exclusive.

There's none like him. But we also know that God created us for the purpose of worshiping God. And when we do not worship God in spirit and in truth, and when we do not thank God, we are failing to do what God has told us to do.

Beloved friends at First Baptist Church, congregation, look at me. We as a people are guilty as charged in this congregation. I've become more convinced today than I have ever been before that our congregation has not spent nearly enough time thanking God for what he has done. We've grown so accustomed to it. God has blessed our families and he's blessed our community and he's blessed our nation and we sweep it under the rug. And God says, listen, when I use blessed and when I talk about praise, I'm reminding you of my exclusivity and I'm reminding you of my unchanging claim on your homage. Get on your knees.

Get on your knees. That's what God is saying. When Jesus comes, every eye will see him, even those who crucified Jesus and those who mocked the name of Jesus. Do not be shocked or surprised at what's going on in America today.

We had better wake up, America. Jesus is coming again. This month, for your gift of support of the encouraging word, you will receive Dr. Wilton's powerful and timely message, Trusting God, along with the bonus DVD movie on celebrating Ruth Bell Graham, a life marked by the faithfulness of God. Call us at 866-899-WORD to request Trusting God and the bonus DVD movie today for a gift of $20 or more.

Thank you for standing with us. Now back to today's powerful teaching from Dr. Don Wilton on the encouraging word. But he also reminds us that there is nothing that we can add to God or bestow upon God.

Nothing. He says, listen, buddy, when you praise me, let me remind you of something. You cannot add anything to me, neither can you bestow anything on me because I'm God.

Basically, if I could summarize it, he looks at us and he says, what seems to be your problem, brother? I'm God. I'm God. And I choose to give you my spiritual blessings.

I'm pouring out. But there's a fourth thing, blessedness and praise reminds us of our response to God, of our very purpose for our existence. And so how can we understand spiritual blessings? Three ways that we understand spiritual blessings.

Three ways according to this passage. First of all, we understand spiritual blessings by understanding their character. That's what verse three and following is all about. It's about the character of God's spiritual blessings. We've all got children. We love our children.

They're God's blessings. Do you know something? That little boy is going to grow up as a character. Mom's probably already saying, mm-hmm, apparently you can see character from day one. When children and when adults, when we behave the way we do, we often attribute it to our character. That's the way we're made. We've always got a reason for it.

Now attorneys at law are particularly good at that. And sadly enough to say it's infiltrated even the criminal justice system because nobody ever anymore is ever responsible for anything because of their character. You see, character can be misinterpreted into license for behavior. God's word says that character can never be a license for behavior.

Why? Because God is character. And in 2 Corinthians chapter five and verse 17, he says, old things are passed away and behold, all things are become new. You undergo a character change when you receive Jesus Christ. He softens your spirit. He causes you to undergo an attitude adjustment. He changes your endeavors and your whys and your wherefores and your want tos. But if we're ever going to understand the foundation for spiritual blessing, we must understand their character.

Just as we understand our children, they all behave and react in a different way to different things. So what does the Bible say about the character of spiritual blessings? Number one, they come from the Spirit of God. They are spiritual, not material. Number two, they are communicated to us by the Lord Jesus Christ. They are funneled to us directly through him.

Now how does that happen? John 14, 6, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man can come unto the Father but by me. And when I'm washed and redeemed in the blood of the Lamb, I have once again been given access to the Father through the Son. I have direct access to God the Father and God the Father communicates through the Son.

In times past it was communicated through the prophets but now in these last days it has been given to us by his Son and his Son communicates everything that we need to know. Therefore when I stop talking to the Lord, I clamp up that reservoir. I close up that channel of blessing.

But in the third place, if we're going to understand their character, we need to understand that they are appropriate for whatever our spiritual lives require. God gives to us exactly what we need. Now some people say, you know Lord, I don't know why you've blessed me so much. According to Scripture, you haven't been blessed so much. God gives you what God wants to give you and if it's so much, you just thank God for it. You just thank the Lord for it because God gave it to you. How are we going to understand spiritual blessings?

By understanding their character. Number two, by understanding their circle of operation. Where do spiritual blessings operate? Now there are two key phrases here. The first is in heavenly places.

What in the world is that? Does that mean to say we've got to walk around with our heads up in the clouds? Here it is, let's read about it in verse three.

Read it with me there. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms. Now I've heard some people who are so spiritually minded, they are of no earthly value.

And they take a passage like this out of context and they say, wait a minute now, Reverend. God says you're going to be blessed in heavenly places. That means the blessings and the exercise of the blessedness that we have is of spiritual value.

It has no earthly value whatsoever. That's not what Paul is saying. Listen to what he says. He says, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

Now folks, I want you to know something. In the Greek text, that word in there literally translated means because of what God has done, that which is heavenly is interpreted into our ongoing living spiritual lives. It is taking that which comes from God and is applied to where we are.

What does that mean? What does it mean, heavenly places? Well, there are three references at least here in Paul's letter to the Ephesians. Look at them, chapter one and verse 20. Chapter one and verse 20, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms.

What's he saying? He's saying that the exercise, the circle of operation of our spiritual giftedness is in the place where Jesus Christ is. Question, where is Jesus? Why, where is Jesus? Is he just in heaven?

Where is he? Point to him, that's right. Someone has said I'm the only Jesus that anybody will see. I'm the only Bible that someone will read. Jesus in me, I am in him. Paul is saying the head is the body and the body is the head. The head directs the body, I am in Christ.

We're gonna look at that. It's the place where Jesus is. Second, chapter two and verse six, look at it. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus. What is Paul saying? He's saying that the circle of operation of our spiritual blessings is the region the believers have been lifted to in fellowship with Christ Jesus. You and I, when we receive Jesus Christ, we are lifted or we are elevated into that region of fellowship with Christ.

We are adopted into his circle of friends, if you please. And in the third place, chapter three and verse 10, look at chapter three and verse 10. His intent was that now through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities.

Where? In the heavenly realms. What is the apostle trying to say? The apostle is trying to say that the circle of the operation of spiritual blessings is the place where principalities and powers learn about the wisdom of God from God's people. What did Paul say? He said we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers. What does the apostle say here? He says that that which is able to rise up against the wickedness of the world and teach them about the holiness and the goodness of God is the born again believer living out in his life in heavenly places the spiritual blessings that God has given to us.

What a wonderful blessing. Well, that's the first understanding of the circle of operation, heavenly places. The second is in Christ.

Now, we looked at that last week. I'm not going to dwell on it too much, but in these first 14 verses, in Christ is repeated frequently over 14 times. And what the apostle is saying is if we want to understand the circle of the operation of God's blessings, we've got to understand that Jesus Christ is the reservoir. He is the source of all of our blessings.

Look at it with me in these verses. We are fruitful in Christ. We are chosen in Christ. We receive grace in Christ. We have redemption in Christ. We are made a heritage in Christ. We are sealed in Christ. What's Paul saying? You're a believer.

You know Jesus Christ. Dip your fishing rod, your spiritual fishing rod right into the reservoir of God's grace and what you're going to discover. You're going to discover redemption and fruit and grace and heritage and sealing and you can discover everything that God could possibly give to you. Oh, spiritual blessings.

They are so manifold. Never understand them if we don't understand their character and we'll never understand them if we don't understand their circle of operation. But there's a third interesting factor that I want to share with you. We must understand where spiritual blessings come from. Some of you are going to say, well, will they come from God? Well, of course they do. Absolutely.

But it's a lot more detailed than that. God tells us some wonderful truths and there are two key phrases that Paul gives to us that help us to understand where spiritual blessings come from. The first is the phrase, has chosen. God has chosen us to be the means of carrying out His purpose for the redemption of mankind. There it is right there in verse four. For He chose us.

That's an unbelievable thought when it comes to spiritual blessings that God could ever have chosen us. I went to visit a couple this past week who'd been visiting our church and God willing they're here this morning. Not members of our church and they've moved into the community, just wonderful people.

But I tell you something, when I went to visit them and they'll tell you, the first thing they said to me, they said, Pastor, we could never join your church because we're not worthy to sit in that church with all those people who are so wonderful. All right, here we go. Anyone who's wonderful, please stand up.

That's right. Is there anybody here this morning who deserves God's blessings? Would you please stand up? Is there anybody in this congregation this morning who's better than anybody else? Is there anybody here who is not guilty of sin?

Now here comes the big question. Is there anybody here this morning who has been forgiven for their sin by Jesus? Would you raise your hands? Thank you very much. If you're here this morning, beloved couple, I hope you saw that.

My hand, both hands are up too. Paul put it like this. He said, I am what I am by the grace of God.

And you see it's rooted in the fact that God has chosen us. Now God could have done whatever God wanted to do, couldn't he? He could have sent dead people back. I mean, the rich man tried that with Lazarus, turned to Abraham and said, please send somebody back from the dead.

He said, forget it. You've got preachers. You've got the word of God.

You don't need dead people. And that's not God's chosen method of evangelism. God has chosen.

In times past, God has made a decision and it's God's decision. It'd be wonderful if dead people could do the job, get to the end of this message. I say, come on in folks. Dead people who had died in this congregation walked in here and stood up here. I wouldn't even need to preach.

No, sir. Even the most despondent person here would get saved. I mean, people would flood down the isles, but that's not what God has done. The Bible says God has chosen us.

What an awesome thought. But there's a second understanding of that word predestination. Look there in verse four and verse five. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love, he predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ.

Now your key phrase, your operative phrase is in love. He predestined us. Now what is the love of God? For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that only some people who believe in him should not perish but have eternal life. God's word doesn't say that. God's word says whosoever.

All people. Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. He died that all people might come to know him. From before the foundation of the world, he predestined that. He made the decision in the time consciousness of an eternal and a sovereign God. What a powerful time of teaching from the pulpit with Dr. Don Wilton.

Now would you open your heart to what he wants to share as he comes into the studio. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why don't you pray this prayer with me right now? Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner and I know that Jesus died for me on the cross. Today I repent of my sin and by faith I receive you into my heart. In Jesus' name. My friend, I welcome you today into the family of God.

This is exciting news. If you just gave your life to Jesus Christ, let someone know, let us know. Dr. Don would love to be praying with you and for you and putting free resources in your hands if you'll call us at 866-899-WORD.

That's 866-899-9673 if you've given your life to Christ today or perhaps today you rededicated your life. Let us put these resources in your hands. Call us at 866-899-9673 or we'd love to connect with you online at www.tewonline.org. That's a great place to sign up for a number of free resources online at www.tewonline.org. We'll look forward to connecting with you there. The Encouraging Word