I don't see God trying to fish around to catch some men. I don't see God sitting up there saying, boy, I hope some of these people will respond to the gospel and come along with me because I really have invested a lot in it. I don't see God doing that. What I see in Ephesians 1 is God master planning every single person into the church who is to be in the church before the world began. Welcome to Grace to You, the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur.
I'm your host, Phil Johnson. Imagine you are stranded on a desert island, battling hunger, the elements, and loneliness, and then one day someone finds you and offers you rescue, but he doesn't stop there. The stranger then offers you everything you need for the rest of your life. It would be obviously ridiculous to reject his kind offer and go back to living in misery, but is it possible that you're doing something even worse? rejecting the unprecedented treasure that's yours if you're a Christian.
Question is, what exactly is that treasure, and how do you make the most of it? Find out as John MacArthur continues his series titled Richer Than You Think. and here's John with today's lesson. One of the keys to unlocking the book of Ephesians is to understand that it is an epistle built around the concept of the church. as the body of Christ.
There are many metaphors in the New Testament used to describe the church. The church is called a bride, the church is called a family, a household, a kingdom. The church is called a flock. The church is called a building. The church is called a vine and branches.
There are many ways in which the Spirit of God has designed to give us a picture of the church, but Uniquely, the church is called the body of Christ. Because I believe above all other metaphors, the one which most aptly communicates the unity and yet diversity and mutuality within the church is that of a body. As a human body functions in an incredible multiple phase operation, as it functions totally dependent upon every muscle and tissue and nerve and everything else, so does the church function. As the human body receives all of its direction from the head, so does the church from the Lord Jesus Christ. And as the body manifests the person in the world, so does the church manifest Christ in the world.
And so I think uniquely, the body is the most beautiful symbol for the church. And in fact, all the other metaphors used in the New Testament to describe the church are also used in the Old Testament to describe Israel, except the metaphor of a body. That is the unique identification of the church. And thus it is the mystery of the church as the body, the hidden secret, never known in the past and now revealed in the new age. And so the church then is the body of Christ.
And as we go through Ephesians, we're going to see how the parallels operate between the way a human body works and the way the church is to work. Let me help you to rehearse this theme in your mind for a moment. Look with me at chapter 1, verse 22. And here, referring to what the Father has done for Christ, it says, And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body. There's that first introduction of the theme, the church as the body.
Look at chapter 2, verse 15. Christ has abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, to make in himself of two one new man, so making peace, and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body. There's the body again. Chapter 3, verse 6. That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body.
Chapter 4, verse 16. Speaking of Christ, the antecedent in verse 15, from whom the whole body fitly joined together. Chapter 5, verse 30. For we are members of his body.
Now in those five chapters we have the mention of the church as the body of Christ. Christ the head manifesting his will through the proper functioning of the body. The church is not an organization. It is not something diagrammed on a structure chart. It is an organism, something that functions not by structure in terms of organization, but by the mutual flow of common eternal life.
And so the church is best seen as a body.
Now, In between the high points that we looked at in those five places in Ephesians, the concept of the body is developed in the rest of the text of this wonderful epistle.
So that the body concept really dominates the thinking of Paul as he delineates here the theology of the church. You might say that Acts is the history of the church, the book of Acts the history of the church, and Ephesians the theology of the church.
Now, So more introductory thought. In most of Paul's discussions of the church as the body of Christ, In most of his discussing that, whether in Ephesians or 1 Corinthians 12. He is referring to the present here and now operation of the church. That really dominates his thinking. Most of the time, when he is discussing the church as the body, he is speaking of how it came to be in the death of Christ, how he formed it, and how it is to function.
But In the first chapter of Ephesians, he goes way back into eternity past and shows how God master-planned the church as the body of Christ before the world began.
So this is really a look way back before history. Look with me at verse 3 and let me read you through verse 6a. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ. According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him, in love having predestinated us unto the adoption of sons by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace. Stop right there.
Now, what we have here is God at work before the foundation of the world. It says it in verse 4. Choosing out and forming his church the body of Christ.
So in the first part of chapter 1, actually going all the way through verse 14 from 3 to 14, we have the eternal forming of the body of Christ by God. We're not looking at the here and now operation. We're looking at God's eternal plan as He unfolds His purposes for His church. And this is an incredibly exciting thing to study. In the first place, I'll just mention to you that in the Greek, verses 3 to 14 is one sentence, if you can believe that.
One sentence of 202 words.
Now any English grammar teacher would flunk you on that. But Paul is under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and once he starts ascending the glories of the marvels of God's eternal plan, he can't stop, and so he just keeps going and going and going and going. He probably ran out of gas and had to put a period somewhere. At the end of verse 14. But it's a glorious, glorious passage.
And it is basically a discussion of God's eternal forming of the body. It takes us back into eternity.
Now, I'm convinced that this is needful. It's needful for us to understand this. It's needful for us to see ourselves in the plan of God. It's important for us to get a grip on the fact that we are not some Johnny come lately, that we are not some flotsam and jetsam floating in some big, huge stream, and God is up there with a sort of a divine fishing hook, throwing it down, trying to hook one or two of us now and then just to sort of preserve. His impact on humanity.
I don't see God trying to fish around to catch some men. I don't see God sitting up there saying, Boy, I hope some of these people will respond to the gospel and come along with me because I really have invested a lot in it. I don't see God doing that. What I see in Ephesians 1 is God master planning every single person into the church who is to be in the church before the world began. And history is simply the outworking of his story.
already written and planned in eternity. And it's a tremendous insight, people. By the time we're done with these chapters, you're going to know who you are in Christ. In fact, by the time we get done with verse 14, no question about it, we'll have to preach a sermon on humility. Just to get everybody back down where they belong.
You will have ascended such incredible heights in this section to understand your position in Christ. And I think this is vital for today. You know, I think people today are looking for a sense of self-worth. I think they're looking for a sense of value, for a sense of self-acceptance. They want to be somebody that matters.
They want to have identity. And man, this is the answer.
Now there are other answers being offered, but I think they missed the point.
Sociologically, you know, in our world, unconverted man, unsaved man, just the average man, sociologically, man is seeking for meaning. He really is. He wants a sense of identity. He wants some purpose. He wants some value.
He wants somebody to say, you're worth something. You matter. I think that's why there's so many love songs in our society because people need to be told they're love, they need to have some sense of value. And when they can't find it, why society has to sociologically sort of provide it for them?
So we produce all kinds of books that they can go and read, like I'm okay, you're okay, and like things at seminars that you can go to, and they'll tell you how really wonderful you are, and how to be a successful person, and how to be number one, and how to become an intimidator instead of being the intimidated, and how you can get on top. And if that doesn't work, you can go back to your roots and you can study roots. And if you're not anybody on your own, maybe somebody once in your family was somebody and you can borrow their somebody stuff. And so, if you could just find out that you're half Scotch and half Irish, you're all right, because there have been some good Scotchmen and some good Irishmen, and you've got an identity. And then we've got the ethnic identification thing is coupled with the roots thing.
And really, what it is is a sort of a psychological gloss. It's just a way to kind of give yourself a sense of meaning when you really don't know where your meaning is. You don't know what your value is, you have no sense of worth. And, like everything else, of course, when the world does something, the church does it too.
So, you can go to the Christian bookstore and buy a whole pile of stuff that's based on Christian psychology and Christian self-image and Christian self-worth. And they'll give you a lot of psychology sprinkled with some spirituality and some Bible verses to try to get you to think of yourself differently and to assert yourself and to feel better about yourself and to say what you think once in a while, no matter what it does to somebody, you're worthy of it.
So we developed techniques to help people over guilt and fear and timidity and weakness and inadequacy. And we give them a little psychology that might help them along. But we missed the whole point. You're never going to get a real sense of self-worth out of playing psychological games with your mind.
Some people have realized that, and so they take another approach.
Some people look for their self-worth in a system of works righteousness. They set about to establish their own righteousness, which gives them value. For example, this is the person who feels like he's not with it spiritually, that nobody really respects him. He's not a high-class Christian, and other people don't seem to give him acceptance. And maybe God thinks of him as second class, and he's just barely in by the hair of his chiny-chin chin, you know.
And he's just, he doesn't have any sense of value or worth. And so, what happens is, he says, I'll have to just show people that I am valuable.
So, he begins to do a kind of a works external righteousness trip. And people begin to say, Boy, it's wonderful that you serve the Lord over here, and it's wonderful that you're doing this. Oh my, you're giving so much, you're so dedicated, blah, blah, blah. And it begins to feed that need for self-worth externally. They have to have praise, they have to have commendation, they have to have someone extol them.
So they put their Christianity on the outside. I don't know what's on the inside, it might be less than it should be. And they begin to function externally like the Pharisees, so people will commend them and they go about to establish their own righteousness and thus get a sense of self-worth and acceptance. But what happens is In doing that, they destroy the real spiritual life. which is internal.
And they get into a system that has to be fed more and more and more because it has the law of diminishing returns. And what it does is it pushes the guilt deeper and deeper, and the fear deeper, and the anxiety deeper, and the depression deeper because you know it isn't true about you. You know, it's only a front. And the sad part of it is, it'll work. If you do enough external things, people will commend you, and it'll feed this.
But you see, going about to establish your own righteousness doesn't do the job because you know the truth. You know it's only a game. And playing psychological games with your mind doesn't do it either because you know that's the same thing.
Now, people don't need to understand psychology to get self-worth, and they don't need to become legalists to get self-worth. What you need to have a sense of significance, and consequently, happiness, and joy, and meaningfulness, is simply to understand your position in Christ. See? Your value comes because you're in Christ. That's your self-worth.
And listen to this, people. When I realize that I was chosen in him before the foundation of the world, the conclusion is then I'm somebody. God selected me and placed me into His body before the world began. What a sense of significance. It all began in eternity past.
You, I mean you. You who are a Christian, God put your name down in his church before the world began. Did you get that? Say why? Because he wanted you.
to be with him in the father's house for all eternity. Me? You. I don't understand that. Do you understand that?
I don't understand it. I know me. I don't understand that. I don't know what God has in mind. But I'll tell you one thing, what I don't understand I can still get excited about.
Now Paul starts on the road to grasping this incredible truth by taking us back to eternity. and letting us eavesdrop as the Trinity makes its plans. Plans that involve us. Nobody ever became a Christian. As a surprise to God.
It was all planned. All planned. Let's look at the first verse. That sweeps out of the heart of Paul. Verse 3.
And he can't do anything but praise God before he gets into this discussion of his eternal plan. It's just full of praise. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ. Stop there. He begins with a just a glorious benediction.
A fantastic statement of praise. He opens with praise for God's eternal purpose in revealing. the mystery of the body formed in eternity past. And beloved, as we get into verses 4 through 14, that's the history of every Christian. It's right there, it's just incredible.
It's like walking through a treasure house. I mean, it just explodes on our minds all that Christ has done for us. You remember the guy who wrote the will? I being of sound body and sound mind, spent it all. You didn't remember that guy, huh?
Well, let me tell you something. Jesus didn't spend it all. Jesus paid it all. And then left it. for us to draw on forever.
Riches. Incredible riches. And as Paul begins to talk about him from 4 to 14, he just sweeps through eternity. You could divide those verses into three sections based on the Trinity. From verse 4.
Well, three to six really is the Father. Blessed be the God and Father. Versus 6 on, it's the Son, accepted in the beloved. Verse 6. We have redemption through his blood.
It's the Son. Verses 13 and 14, it's the Spirit. The end of verse 13, the Holy Spirit of promise.
So Paul takes us into the very throne room of the Trinity. And we see the Father's part and the Son's part and the Spirit's part.
Now watch, and it's all being master planned before the world began. And we were part of it. And I'm saved today. I, John MacArthur, am saved to day. Because God planned me into the church before the world began, so are you.
What a reason for praise. No wonder he said, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Bless God. He's full of blessing for God, full of praise. Why?
Well, let's look. There are six aspects of blessing in verse 3. Six aspects of blessing. Let's see what they are. First of all, the Blessed One.
is God. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. What does blessed mean? We get an English word from that eulogy. A eulogy is something that's usually recited at somebody's funeral, and it means to speak well of someone.
To bless means to speak well of someone. to speak good of someone, to say someone is good. And of God, it can be said he is good. In fact, Jesus said in Matthew 19:17, there is none that is good but God. And we ought to bless God because God is good.
And so does Paul. Say good is God. Good is God. I remember a friend of mine in the conversation one time saying, God is so good to me. God is so good to me.
God is so good to me. I said, there's only one thing wrong with that. It ought to go like this: God is so good, period. God is so good, period. God is so good.
Because you're his child, it accrues to you. It's his nature. He's good. Blessed be God. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And of course, from Genesis to Revelation, God is blessed. Melchizedek in Genesis says, Blessed be the Most High God. And in Revelation, you have that great song: Blessing and glory and honor and power be unto him that sitteth on the throne and unto the Lamb. God is blessed from Genesis to Revelation. We are to continually bless the Lord.
Whatever the adversary, whatever the foe, whatever the trial, whatever the trouble, whatever the pain, the struggle, the need, we are to bless the Lord because He is good in the midst of all of it. God is the blessed one. Second element I see here in blessing is that God is also the blesser. He's not only the blessed, but the blesser. who hath blessed Who hath blessed?
Where does all blessing come from? James put it this way: every good and perfect gift cometh down from. The Father of lights, in whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Every good thing comes from God. You know, even when it looks bad, He makes it good.
Romans 8:28.
Now we know that all things work together for what? For good. to them that love God and are called according to His purpose. God blesses Because God is the source of every good thing. Get that in your mind, will you?
God is not the source of some good things, He is the source of what? Every good thing. He made creation, made the entire thing, got all done, looked on it, and said, It is what? Good. It's good.
The bad things in this world come because man is a sinner.
So we see the God is the Blessed One and the Blesser also. who are the blessed. Right after the the word blessed, it says us. That's us, folks. We're the blessed.
In God's wonderful grace and His marvelous providence and His sovereign plan, He has chosen to bless us. Who are the blessed? Who are the us? Those who believe. Galatians chapter 3.
In verse 9, it says, So then they who are of faith are blessed. They who are of faith are blessed. You see, it's we who, chosen by God, have believed in faith. We are the blessed. And I'm telling you, folks, when you start to think about how rich you are in Christ, it's really incredible.
We are blessed. Beyond our imagination. Blessed He lavishes good gifts on his children. When we bless God, we speak good of him. When he blesses us, he does good to us.
That's the difference. Our blessing is our words to Him. His blessing is his deeds to us. How much blessing does he give us? Look at the fourth element, the blessings themselves.
It says, blessed us with all spiritual blessings. Have you ever, I was studying Romans 8 one time and reading that text where he says, We know not what to pray for as we ought. You remember that one?
So, the Spirit makes intercession for us. You know, one of the things we do is we constantly ask God for what we already have. Have you noticed that? Because we don't know our resources. We go to God and we say, Oh God, I need more love.
I just want you to give me more love. And the Bible already says that the love of God is shed abroad in your heart. You say, oh. Don't need that. Lord, what I need is peace.
I'm so distressed. And Jesus said, When he left, My peace I leave with you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Never let your heart be troubled. Yeah. I got that too?
Right.
Well, what I need is, I need joy. I'm unhappy. No, read John 15. He said that he was going to leave his joy in us, that our joy might be what? Fall.
Oh, I don't need that either? Nope.
Well, I know what I need. I need strength. No. You can already do all things through Christ who already what? strengthens you.
You see, we spend a lot of time asking for what we got. You say, well, what am I supposed to ask for? James said, ask for wisdom. And wisdom is the sense not to ask for what you got. You see, God has already dispensed to us all spiritual blessing, all blessing connected to the Spirit.
And people say, well, have you received the second blessing? I always say yes. And the five thousandth, too. All when I receive Christ, I receive how many? All spiritual blessings.
Look at 2 Peter chapter 1 for a minute. It says this in verse 3. according as his divine power.
Now there's the source, people. His divine power hath, past tense, given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness. You see, He's already given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. There is no missing ingredient. The Blessed One is the Blesser who has blessed us with everything we need.
All the resources are there. They're all there. And in Philippians 1:19, Paul calls it the supply of the Spirit. the supply of the spirit. Sadly, though, we don't always appropriate our possessions.
But I want you to know, people, you're rich. Bless God, He couldn't give you more than He gave you in Christ. There's nothing else to get. I mean, there's nothing else to get. It's all there.
All the pneumaticos, blessings, all the good things that the Spirit can dispense have been dispensed to you in the presence of the indwelling Christ. They're yours. It's not a question of finding something else, it's a question of using what you've got.
So don't go stumbling around saying, Well, I don't know if I can do it. Oh yeah, you can do it. The resources are there. You're rich. You are rich.
Incredibly rich. You're listening to Grace to You, the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur. John's current series is titled Richer Than You Think.
Now, this idea of the riches of the Christian life, perhaps you're wondering, how do you respond to the popular teaching that God wants Christians rich in material possessions? John had some thoughts on that issue. Let's hear what he said. I respond to it very negatively. It is a fear.
False teaching. The prosperity gospel, the name it and claim it message, is a false message. It is not what the Bible teaches. Certainly, it is God who gives you the power to get wealth. everything we have.
uh the Lord has provided for us. Our Mental abilities are physical abilities that enable us to earn money. are God-given, our opportunities Our experiences that equip us and prepare us, the privileges that we get, are God-given within the purposes and providences that He plans. But God's purpose is not to make us all rich. That's pretty clear.
If you study the history of the Church you know that many of his most faithful saints were poor. And, on the other hand, many Very unfaithful and ungodly people are very, very wealthy. That is a wrong standard. of spirituality. The intention of God is to bless us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies.
That's right. And those are the true riches that John has been talking about in our current series. Treasures that are far better than anything this world has to offer. And, friend, if these messages are encouraging you, know that we're able to broadcast lessons like the one you heard today because of friends like you who give and who tell others about these programs and who pray for our ministry. If you're benefiting from Grace to You and you want to help others benefit as well, express your support today.
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available free in mp3 and transcript format. That means you can download all of John's current study, Richer Than You Think, as well as any of his studies, at no charge. Simply log on to gty.org. and start downloading. And if John's teaching has helped increase your love for Christ, if it's helped you understand a particular passage and explain it to others, Let us know.
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Now, for the entire Grace DU staff, I'm Phil Johnson with a question. How is your enjoyment of the spiritual blessings of being in Christ related to the difficult doctrine of election? Find out when John MacArthur returns with another half hour of Unleashing God's Truth, one verse at a time, on tomorrow's Grace to You.
