Ten Reasons to Give God Praise, Part 3

Today, Chuck Swindoll provides a list of reasons to give God praise. You have what you have by the grace of God. You are what you are by the grace of God. You do what you do by the grace of God.

And you go where you go ultimately by the grace of God. Never, ever, ever forget it. Never cut it short. Never diminish it. Use the word often.

Remember it when dealing with others. Grace. God's grace. Grace with people.

Because that's the only reason we draw a breath. Becoming a strong Christ follower is not a testament to our personal commitment. As a Christian, every blessing that comes our way is rooted in and dependent upon the grace of God. Today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll continues our study in Ephesians called Becoming a People of Grace. In this series, we're reminded that God gives to us what we could never earn. And in his opening statement to the Christians in Ephesus, Paul provides an impressive list of spiritual blessings that God lavishes on His children. Chuck titled today's message, Ten Reasons to Give God Praise. Now we come to the third reason to praise Him, and that is because we have been predestined. Don't miss the first two words that come at the end of verse four.

They go with verse five. In love, He predestined us to adoption. The motivation of the act is love. The result of the act is adoption. You see, Jesus is God's son by nature, being sinless. We are God's sons and daughters by adoption. He walked through the slave market of sin, and He stopped and looked into our sad eyes and saw our pathetic, tragic situation before we were ever in existence. And He said, you're mine. In Roman law, which is part of Paul's background writing here, adopted children, just like in American law, adopted children have all the rights and privileges of biological children.

And so it is here. We are predestined, and as adopted children, we have the same rights and privileges as the son who is a part of the Father, that great thought. When were we adopted? When we believed? John 15, 16 should be in the margin of Ephesians 1.5. John 15, 16, you did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit and that your fruit would remain.

Let's understand who's initiating this. It's the Father. Let's put the Father back where He belongs in our minds and that's enthroned, in charge, and sovereign. He has chosen us. He has predestined us to adoption as His sons through Jesus Christ to Himself according to the kind intention of His will. We give Him praise, verse 7, that He has redeemed us. Look at the word.

Put in the margin of your Bible, if you like, taking notes. To purchase and set free by paying a price. That's what redeem means. To purchase and set free by paying a price. The price is sometimes called a ransom.

A ransom. You and I were born not right with God, but wrong before God. You and I were enslaved.

Face it. We were slaves to sin. It's the Spirit's leading in this that the Father has initiated and it's all happened because the Son has redeemed us.

Look at how it's worded. In Him, we have redemption through His blood. We have redemption through His blood. Number five, because He has forgiven us our transgressions. Look at the end of verse 7. We have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses.

I love it. The forgiveness of our trespasses. Not most of them. Not all, but the very worst.

All of them. Past, present, future, forgiven. Psalm 103 begins to list all the blessings of God and He says He forgives you all your trespasses. And a little later says, as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed your transgressions from you. You know what that says? It says you don't have to live in shame. You don't have to live in guilt.

They're removed. They're forgiven. And we are freed from the sin that once held us captive.

That's good news. Forgiven. And for that we praise Him.

Why? Why would a holy, pristine, perfect God reach His hand into humanity and pick somebody like you or me of all people? It's right here. According to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. Reason number six I praise Him is because He has lavished His grace on us. I love the word lavished. Don't you love it? Lavished.

You just like to say it. Lavished. Like being in a big tub and you're lavished with bubbles.

Not sprinkled. Reminds me of a football coach at the end of a winning season and his players have worked hard and he's had a strategy that paid off and he goes to the championship game and he stands there. You'll see it today when the champion wins.

You'll see the coach. He's there in the last 10 seconds and they're going to win the game and some of the players get this big jug of sticky Gatorade and it's ice cold and they go and it goes down his back and it's four degrees outside and he goes. I just think the guy, everybody else is having a great time in the locker room and he's got this sticky Gatorade all over him that they poured down his back. What did they do? They lavished him with Gatorade.

Now I got better news than that. We got losing seasons. One after another. Year after year. Day after day.

Sin after sin and he finds us and he lavishes his grace on us. You say what? Doesn't make good sense.

Duh. You're not calling the shots. You're not grace. I'm not grace. I find the wrong and I focus on it because that wrong haunts me too. Not God. God in great grace by his own choice says I will lavish my grace on my own people and out it pours.

That's why life is becoming what it is for you and for me. Remember that. When I was at Dallas Seminary we had some interesting times in what was called the mail room. It was a small school back then. There were about 325 students so most of us gathered when our blue books came back from our tests. I don't know if you took tests on blue books but that's the way we did in our graduate studies. I remember going down and you'd go to the mail that's where they'd put your test back. You'd get your test back from your prof in the mail room and you'd pull it out and you could hardly stand to look.

What's it going to say? Some guys would get a B and then they'd say what'd you get on number four? Well number four answered well I answered the same thing.

He'd tell you I was wrong. What'd you get? Well I got an A minus. You got an A minus. I got to be in a buddy's comparing each other.

One of our classmates never looked at a grade. He just pulled out the blue book and wrote grace across it and put it in his coat and walked out. Is that great? The fact that I'm at this school is grace. The fact that I can take the test is grace.

That's the way life is. Whatever happens he has lavished his grace upon you and it falls into that category of unmerited favor. You have what you have by the grace of God. You are what you are by the grace of God.

You do what you do by the grace of God and you go where you go ultimately by the grace of God. Never ever ever forget it. Never cut it short. Never diminish it. Use the word often.

Remember it when dealing with others. Grace. Grace. God's grace. That's why it's written in our in our document as a church. We want to be a church of grace. Grace with people.

Because that's the only reason we draw a breath. He lavished. Lavished his grace on us in wisdom and might.

Here's number seven. He made known the mystery of his will. The mystery of his will. Mustarion is a Greek word. We get our word mystery from it.

Here's something else to write down. A truth once hidden but now made known. That's the word mystery in the New Testament. It's a truth that was once hidden but now it's made known. He made known to us the mystery of his will. Here it is again according to his kind intention which he purposed in Christ. And describes this and puts it all together in the heavenlies in the next verse that follows.

It's a wonderful thought. What is the mystery? I believe it is the mystery of God's plan running its course putting together those who would form his body. Those who would be a part of his plan. He's now made it known to us that there is no line of demarcation between male or female.

Bond or free. Jew or Gentile. We are one in Christ. One man put it this way.

We are able to share in the secret that God will one day unite everything in Christ. Ever since sin came into the world things have been falling apart. First man was separated from God. Genesis 3.

And then man was separated from man. Cain killed Abel. Genesis 4.

People tried to maintain a kind of unity by building the Tower of Babel. Genesis 11. But God judged them and scattered them across the world. God called Abraham and put a difference between the Jew and the Gentile. A difference that was maintained until Christ's death on the cross.

Now here's the secret. Sin is tearing everything apart but in Christ God gathers everyone together in the culmination of the ages we are a part of this great eternal program. That wasn't known before. If you and I had lived in the Old Testament era everything would have been on the basis of are you Jew or are you Gentile? You didn't mix. You didn't school together. You didn't play together.

You didn't partner together in business. You're Jewish. You're Gentile. You're among God's favored. You're among the outcast.

You're the dogs. Jews, Gentiles never mixed until Christ and the veil was torn in the temple from top to bottom and it was as if God was saying in that demonstrative object lesson there is no longer a line between the two. In Christ you are one.

The ground is leveled at the cross. Look around the room. You may see Jews. You may see Gentiles. You don't know. You can't tell by looking.

Even if there were a star of David on the lapel saying my roots are Jewish. If you are in Christ you are one with the other and we with you. It's a secret. It's the will that's now made known.

He goes into that much deeper in chapter 3. Because he has blessed us with all spiritual blessing we praise him. Because he has chosen us in Christ we praise him. Because he has predestined us we praise him. Because he has redeemed us at the cross we praise him.

Forgiven us, relieved us of our sins we praise him. Because he's lavished his grace on us. Because he's made known the mystery of his will.

Look at verse 11, number 8. Because he's provided an eternal inheritance. Having obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to his will, his purpose who works all things after the counsel of his will. Look at the words having obtained an inheritance.

Did you know that? You have an eternal inheritance. Due to your position in Christ you are a co heir with the son.

What a great thought. Look at the riches you have before God. Obtained and it's irrevocable. We deal all the time behind closed doors with revocable and irrevocable wills. At Dallas Seminary we get gifts from people that are often connected to their wills and we get notice of them before the person has died. And we're told in some cases it's irrevocable meaning the children, the mate, the friend, the attorney, no one can change it.

It's coming to the school. It's known in the inner circle as money in our pockets. Now we don't say that in our appeal letters but that's what you think. This is money that God has provided.

It's kind of hard to know how to pray because the person is still living but that's another subject. Don't go there. Don't go there. The point is it is an inheritance that is ours to claim and it's irrevocable. You know the good news? This is an eternal inheritance. No one will ever take away. No one will ever diminish. No one will ever cheapen. It's yours.

It's got your name on it and you get no more than anyone else or no less. It's called grace and it's part of the reason we praise him. Let's look at the empowering work of the Spirit quickly as we close. He has sealed us and for this we praise him. Verse 13, in him you also, now look at the process. After listening to the message, if you wonder about how to know Christ, here it is.

You listen to the message of truth, the good news of Christ's death and resurrection, you hear it. And then second, having also believed, please observe, these are participles leading to the main verb, if you will. Having heard, having listened, having believed, now you were sealed. Sealed.

Done. Permanently, eternally secure. You say, Chuck, you believe that? You believe that if a person believes in Jesus Christ, he is secure forever? Yeah.

I really do. I believe it is impossible for me to trump God's gift. To somehow diminish what God has done having called me, brought me into his family, chosen me, especially when I read that I am sealed.

This means the transaction is complete. In the ancient days it was a piece of wax and the king would press his ring into the wax and it would bear the mark of the king giving it authority. God has pressed his ring into the wax and sealed it.

Sealed it, you're safe. You know, if I didn't believe that, I couldn't sleep at night. Furthermore, if you don't believe that, I have never been able to get people who don't believe it to answer, how bad do you have to be to lose it? They always go, well, that's not the point. It is the point.

It is the whole point. If you can't be good enough to get it, then you can't be bad enough to lose it. It's a gift. None of us deserve it. And when he reaches us and wins us and calls us his own, there's nothing we can do to diminish it or remove it. It's ours. It says we are sealed and it's called the Holy Spirit of promise. Think of your wedding ring when you get to this last one.

Here's the last one. We have the guarantee of our future. He has given us, he's given as a pledge of our inheritance with a view to the redemption of God's own possession. We were redeemed. We have now, we now live redeemed and we will one day be in face-to-face relationship with God fully redeemed.

We'll know the benefit of it. It's a guarantee, not unlike an engagement ring. When you fallen in love and you met your partner for life and you put a ring on, it's called an engagement ring. It was a promise and it was assured that there would be from that the wedding yet to come. The face-to-face joys of a life lived together and that's what the pledge is.

In the old version, it was called an earnest or a down payment. The Spirit of God who empowers all of this is the down payment of more to come. All to the praise of his glory. There you have them. Ten reasons. If you're still awake, ten reasons to give God praise.

A couple of very practical thoughts and we're through. First, since they all start with God, he's the initiator, since they all start with God, then all the glory goes to God. Isn't that great? Heaven will not be peopled with individuals comparing themselves with one another as we used to do with our tests after class. It's not going to be like that. We'll all be so thrilled with life. We'll have grace written all over us having been lavished in grace. All the glory goes to God since it all starts with him. Here's the second.

Since they all center on Christ, then everything revolves around his death on our behalf. Believing it. Believing it.

I started with a moving story and I want to go back to it because I found this fascinating. I had not known of Lee's conversion. He was such a good man.

I'm sure many would have thought, why in the world would he need help? Look how good he lived his life. I was relieved to find that at age 46 something happened. A man as good as Robert E. Lee. July 17, 1853, he confessed the faith that was in him, writes Wilkins, his biographer. To Lee it was a vow never to be broken.

There was no spectacular conversion experience for Lee. He had rather an increasingly strong attraction to the Savior whom he had known of from his youth. That was his mother. An invalid mother where he learned to serve so well. He served his mother for years. He had heard of Christ through his mother.

His faithfulness and devotion to Christ became more overt and increasingly the dominant aspect of his life. Those who served under him saw it as he often called them to prayer and as he sang the hymns with them. Remember the old hymn the soldiers sang that ran across the mountains and down to the coves and caves of Virginia.

Remember that? If you love the hymn you know the words that they sang. The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose I will not desert to his foes. That soul though all hell should endeavor to shake I'll never, no never, no never forsake. That's eternal security. Let's bow together.

Let's close our eyes. Now this is where the Father, the Son, the Spirit do the work. I've told you the truth. You've heard it from the Scriptures. The very words of Scripture have been set forth. Now it's your move. This is your opportunity to believe and find the relief that comes through Christ.

Right where you're sitting just give him your heart. You could even say I don't understand all of this that I've heard but I know I'm lost. I know that I'm without hope and if I died I would have nothing to merit myself before you. I need the blood of Christ to cleanse me from sin.

Today I claim that. Place me in Christ Lord as I turn to him today. Thank you Lord for the truth of the word of God and thank you that even in a passage this deep and profound there is such encouragement for living in this culture that has long since lost its way. Thank you for the quiet hope we can claim for the echoing message of the gospel that comes down through the centuries that has saved the lives of countless millions who have believed. Thank you for your grace that you've lavished on us. We love you Father.

We love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Originally presented in the year 2000 to the congregation in Frisco, Texas where Chuck Swindoll serves as senior pastor, he titled his message, Ten Reasons to Give God Praise.

This is Insight for Living. To learn more about this ministry be sure to visit us online at insightworld.org. Well there's much more wisdom to glean from Paul's letter to the Ephesians so be sure to stay with us for the next program because Chuck will be presenting a practical message titled, Praying Like We Mean It. In addition to the daily study notes for each message posted on our website, you'll be glad to hear that Chuck wrote a commentary on Ephesians. In fact this particular volume in the collection of Swindoll's Living Insights is paired with Galatians as well. When digging deeper into God's word, any student of the Bible can benefit from a trustworthy commentary. And the format Chuck developed is chock full with helpful cultural context, cross references, suggested prayers, and of course plenty of opportunity to apply what you've learned. To purchase Swindoll's Living Insights commentary on Galatians and Ephesians, call us.

If you're listening in the United States, dial 1-800-772-8888 or go online to insight.org slash store. In closing, let me say a word of thanks to our monthly companions and all those who give generously. You're accomplishing far more than you'll ever know because your gift not only allows us to provide these daily visits with Chuck, a small portion is multiplied overseas in our ongoing pursuit of Vision 195.

Vision 195 is our stated mission to reach all 195 countries of the world in order to make disciples of Jesus Christ just as He commanded and to spread the word about God's amazing grace. To give a one-time donation today, call us. If you're listening in the United States, dial 1-800-772-8888. Again, 1-800-772-8888. Or step up your level of support by becoming a monthly companion. You can do that when you go online to insight.org slash monthly companion. Tomorrow Chuck Swindoll presents a compelling message called Praying Like We Mean It. Join us Thursday to hear Insight for Living. The preceding message, Ten Reasons to Give God Praise, was copyrighted in 2000, 2001, 2008, and 2009, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2009 by Charles R. Swindoll Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.