Mm-hmm. Welcome to Turning Point. You can't rely on wealth, power, or prestige for fulfillment. They can vanish in a blink. If you're a Christian, all you need is what you already have.
Today, Dr. David Jeremiah turns to the book of Ephesians to shed light on the rich blessings God has abundantly given you. Be encouraged as David introduces today's timely and impactful message. Eight spiritual blessings. And we thank you for joining us today.
You know, you should keep this passage in front of you all the time so that when you're having a bad day, You can go look at it and remember when everything is not exactly the way you want it to be down here, God has made provision for you that is amazing. You know, your worst day is better than the best day most people ever have if you're a Christian. And we're going to find out more about that as we look at the book of Ephesians today. I'm so glad you decided to be with us as we finish out the month of September together. We've had a good time studying the book of Jonah.
And now that that is finished, we have a few special messages to complete the month as we get ready for our October series, which is the featuring of our brand new book. I'm glad that you are a part of Turning Point because we get to share together the spiritual blessings that we're going to talk about here in Ephesians today. Hey, don't forget, you can still get the Jonah material, the study guide, the CDs, and all of the other material that goes with the book of Jonah. Go to davidjeremiah.org. There you will find it.
You can order that for your own use, for your small groups or Sunday school, whatever you use to teach the Word of God. Here's some material organized for you to do that. And also, during the month of September, we have featured our calendar for the year 2027. The calendar is called the Light of the World. It's a beautifully, beautifully designed calendar to help you stay together in the new year.
Bible reading, schedule, all the kinds of things that you want to have. It's a wall calendar. It's one of the most beautiful ones we've ever done. And it's yours for the asking for a gift of any size during the month of September.
So don't forget to do that as this month is eking away from us. Here is part one of these two days of discussion of eight spiritual blessings from Ephesians chapter one. Um It was a dream come true for Roman Yorkoff, as a 35-year-old car salesman from. Tula Russia. Yorkov had his share of financial troubles.
including a gambling habit. Like most people in this community, he was doing the best he could to get by. Then one day in May of 2020, Yurkov was surprised to see that 95 million rubles. approximately $1.3 million. had been deposited into his bank account.
The deposit had come through his online bookie, which caused Yerkoff to believe, or maybe hope, that this windfall was the result of some wager paying off in a big way. Still feeling somewhat skeptical, he called his bank. And to his surprise, employees there told him there were no issues with his account. The money was real and really was his. For Roman Yurkov, this unexpected turn of events represented an incredible blessing.
And he set out about blessing himself in every way possible. On the night of May 31st and into the morning of June 1st, Yurkoff made 200 separate transactions. Among the items he purchased on that spending spree were four separate apartments, a new iPhone, a BMW and a Mercedes. I bought everything I wanted, he said, except the airplane. I didn't get around to that yet.
Roman Yurikov's story does not have a happy ending. His bank later became aware of some discrepancies in its accounting. In November, Yerkoff's account, which amazingly still held about $540,000, was blocked. The following month he was arrested on charges of stealing from a bank. Despite continued protestations of his innocence, the court found Yorkoff guilty of taking advantage of a malfunction in the bank's software.
and they sentenced him to six years in prison. For Roman Yorkov, the dream turned into a nightmare. because his hopes for the future relied on resources he did not possess and did not control. He Relied on that which is inherently unreliable. Can I get a witness?
Of course, he's not the only one. Our world is centered on the pursuit of what is temporary. It goes beyond wealth and finances.
Society constantly pushes us. To chase power and authority. Our culture is obsessed with fame and notoriety. Our communities convince us that the right relationships will eventually open the right doors and pathways to purpose and meaning. But power can be pulled away in a minute.
Fame is fickle and relationships founded on self-indulgence quickly go toxic. Worse yet, even if we were to exert ourselves for decades and fiercely hold on to everything that we attain. our money, our reputation, our connections. there is still the inescapable reality of the grave. And I've told you before, the last time I looked, That affected 100% of us.
No matter what we achieve or accomplish or acquire in this life, we will lose it when life comes to an end. Every blessing this world offers is a blessing we cannot keep. If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, the blessings described in the book of Ephesians are already yours. They've already been deposited into the bank. In heaven.
All the numbers, check out. There will be no accounting errors or reassignments. As we walk through the opening verses of Ephesians together, I want to remind you and me about our true wealth, what we really have as followers of Christ, an inheritance that is not vulnerable to the fluctuations of the stock market. Not touched by inflation, it cannot be lost through corruption and greed at the top. In other words, your blessings, my blessings as a believer in Jesus Christ are secure.
They are all ready for us to use even today and even right at this moment. Those resources are enough to cover all your past debts, to meet all your present liabilities, and provide for all of your future needs. The book of Ephesians is all about the blessing of God. on our lives. It's also about our behavior.
In fact, the book is easy to outline around those two themes. The first chapters are about what we believe. And the second chapters are about how we behave. How many of you know how you behave depends on what you believe? And Ephesians just lays that out for us.
Chapters 1 through 3: here's what you believe. Chapters 4 and following, here's how you behave. Paul is telling us that our behavior is grounded in God's blessing, and that is why I have titled this series of messages, Belief That Behaves. This passage of scripture that we're going to study today is truly an interesting one. It is the longest sentence in the Bible.
If you read it in the Greek language, there are no periods. From the beginning of verse 3 all the way to the end of verse 14. I know that's true because when I was in seminary in Greek class, I had to diagram these verses. And the diagram ran off the first page and onto a second page. Everything modifies everything else, and the whole sentence just keeps going and going and going.
It's amazing. I used to wonder why Paul would include such a long sentence in his epistle. But I think I understand it now. I think Paul started dictating to the Ephesians about all the blessings God has for us, and he got so excited he couldn't even take a breath. He just kept going one right after the other until he exhausted everything he had to say, and then he quit.
He started with the blessings connected to eternity past and carried them all the way through our present lives. And then he ended up in eternity future. As a result, this list of gifts is sequential. Everyone reinforces the one that came before and introduces the one that comes after. It's truly an amazing paragraph in the Bible.
I want to follow Paul's example in this message. There's so much packed into these verses that I could write a book about them. I could preach a message on every little phrase. But if I did that, I would lose the essence of what Paul wants. He went through these one after the other like staccato, and I'm going to try to do that the same.
So put on your listening ears. We're going to move.
So here's the whirlwind tour through some of the gifts we've received from our good and gracious Father in heaven. First of all, in Ephesians 1:4, we are told that we are chosen. Paul begins the Bible's longest sentence by telling every person who has accepted the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ that we have been chosen. Notice what it says in verse 4, just as God chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. The Bible tells us that God is love.
And love cannot live alone. Love needs others. And so God determined to bring to Himself a group of people. that he would choose to come and spend eternity with him. And Scripture says he chose these people for himself.
before the world ever began.
Now I know I'm treading on some very controversial territory here. When I write about being chosen, maybe you've heard the word election and it's stuck in your throat. What does it mean when it says Almighty God chose us before the foundation of the world?
Well, I've studied this carefully in the Greek language and in all the commentaries, and I've figured it out. Are you ready to hear what it means? It means God has chosen us. That's what it means. Whether we like it or not, whether we can understand it or not, the Word of God says that before there was a world, before you and I existed, before there was anything in the heart of Almighty God, He had thoughts about us.
He pictured our faces. He understood our hearts. He fashioned the ins and outs of our minds. And then, knowing everything about who you would be and what you would become, If you're a Christian, he chose you. You say war.
How did I get chosen and somebody else didn't? I'll never be able to comprehend that. Truth is a mystery that I cannot explain, but it is still truth and it is still God's Word.
Now, please don't get arrogant about this if you feel chosen, because it's really nothing to do with you at all. You didn't get chosen because you're handsome or because you're pretty. Because you have a great intellect, your IQ is higher than others, or even because you're a good moral person. God chose you and me Because of Jesus Christ. Our choice has nothing to do with who we are, and everything to do with who He is.
The Bible says it. We can't contradict it. I'm unfaithful to you if I don't teach it. Whatever you might think about this truth, Almighty God has chosen you. And you should be able to say with humility, Thank you, Lord, for choosing me before the foundation of the world.
Then were adopted. Verse 5. The second blessing Paul revealed to us is that not only are we chosen, but we are also adopted. Verse 5 says, having predestined to us to adoption as sons of Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will. And there's another one of those dangerous words, predestined.
You've probably heard of that word before. Paul doesn't use that word in the way many people use it today. He was not saying that in eternity past God predestined the entire outcome of your life so that you don't have free will and don't have the ability to make any real choices. No, the word predestined just means to set boundaries around something so that it stays on a certain course. Here's what the Bible says: God chose you in eternity past, and then He predestined or predetermined in His sovereignty that you would be adopted as a son or daughter in His household.
This is a critical truth because adoption in the ancient world was way different than it is now. We have an adopted child, and we've been through the adoption process, and we know what that's all about. But in Paul's day, children didn't really have any legal rights or status until they reached a certain age. Till they became mature, and when that time came, the child would be brought forth and officially recognized as an adult. Which meant they were granted all the rights and all the privileges they deserved as an adult within that family.
So, what God communicated through this passage of Scripture is that when He chose us in the past, He determined that we should be adopted into his family as mature sons and mature daughters. We would have all the rights and privileges associated. with a member of his family. That's news, of course, but here is the really astounding thing. The Bible says that because we have been adopted as mature sons and daughters in the family of God, we have the same status with Almighty God.
As Jesus Christ. We are co-heirs with him, the Bible says. which means everything Christ has with the Father. we have with the Father. Try to let that reality sink in for a moment.
You have been chosen by God. You have been blessed not just with inclusion in his household, but full adoption as a son or daughter. You are legally and spiritually a child of God. And then Paul says, and this one I like about as much as any of them: we are accepted. I recently came across a video featuring a young man named Kurt Kinley from Normal, Illinois.
At the time of filming, Kurt was 20 years old and working two jobs. He also had Down syndrome. And the video captured the moment that Kurt opened an acceptance letter from a local community college. As he takes the letter out of the envelope, you can see the anticipation on his face. as well as the fear.
His head swivels from side to side as he reads the first few sentences, and then he raises his arms in triumph and says, I'm in, I've been accepted. Kurt's laughter and shouts of joy are quickly drowned out by his family and friends gathered around him. And after a moment of filming, he literally bounces with joy. His mom asks him to read the letter out loud. He started.
To do that, he stands with his father and he dutifully reads the first sentence. And here's what the sentence said: We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted. And he couldn't go any further. He just fell apart. Oh, what it means to be accepted.
Oh, and college is important. But to be accepted in life. As you look around the world today, men and women, what you see is. Kurt Kinley's not the only person looking for acceptance. That's the case for all of us, acceptance from our parents.
I've heard so many stories from guys who grew up in my generation who never really ever felt accepted by their father. And they say, well, that was a different generation. Fathers back then didn't communicate very much, they just sort of were stoic, you know. I hope you didn't have a stoic father. And if you are a father, don't be a stoic father.
Sometimes acceptance from our friends. We live in a culture right now where the internet rules and so many kids are getting off the track because they don't feel accepted and they go to the internet and they try to find acceptance there and they don't find it. And if they're not careful, they get on the wrong side of somebody and then they get bullied on the internet and sometimes destroyed. More suicides happening in that age group than we have ever had in the history of our country. because of a lack of being accepted.
Acceptance from the world. Acceptance. where you work. It now includes the shadowy specter of social media And then there's acceptance from God. How do I know that God has accepted me?
Those of us who have chosen to follow Jesus can rest assured. on that last count. As Paul makes clear in verses 5 and 6, we have already been accepted by our Heavenly Father. Having predestined us to adoption by sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to His good pleasure, to the praise and glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted. In the beloved.
Notice the word beloved. It's a term that refers to Jesus Christ. There are three times in Scripture where heaven opens and Almighty God looks down on his Son and says, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Paul was teaching you and me, who were chosen and adopted, that we have also been accepted and because of Jesus Christ, we belong to his family in the same way that Jesus Christ belongs to his family. Don't you love that gift?
Isn't that a blessing worth treasuring? Almighty God accepts you in the same way He accepts His own Son, His beloved Son, Jesus Christ.
So, when you're having that moment of concern, and maybe sometimes it's a little bit of self-pity too. And you wonder, does anybody accept me? Do I belong to anybody? Does anybody care? Let me ask you to go back and read this again.
Underline it with your pen. Almighty God has accepted you. And listen to me. If you've been accepted by the highest source and power in the universe, you have flat out been accepted. And you belong to God.
And you don't have to walk around wondering: do I fit and do I measure up? You measure up with God because He uses the measuring stick of Jesus Christ. And when he looks to measure you, he measures Jesus Christ in your place. And Jesus Christ always. measures up.
We are chosen. We are adopted. We are accepted. Another Bible says we're redeemed. Look at the next verse in the longest sentence in the Bible.
We have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace.
Now, that's a word we hear a lot in church, and I'm glad to get off those other more. distinguishing terms and talk about redemption. What is that? What does it mean to be redeemed?
Well, in the Greek language, Paul used to write this letter. To redeem something meant to buy it back. and cause it to be set free. We think of redemption primarily as a theological concept, but it carried more of a financial association in the ancient world. My wife, Donna, and I have had the privilege of traveling around the country a lot.
Some years back we stopped in a southern city. and stayed at a hotel. While we were checking in, the concierge said to us, Be sure you go and see the marketplace. I said, why is that so important? I mean, after all, if you're married to my wife, you've been to a lot of marketplaces, right?
I'll never forget his answer. He said, Just about a block from this hotel is one of the old slave markets they used to use to sell and buy slaves. But they've turned it into a kind of flea market. And you ought to go down there and see it.
Well, we did. We went down and I have to tell you I had the eeriest feeling while we were there. I was walking through a place that represented one of the worst moments in the history of our nation. A period in which men and women created in the image of Almighty God were bought and sold like pieces of property. Just like the various goods being marketed and purchased at that flea market today.
It's a terrible thought. Terrible image. But I want you to keep that image in mind as you read Romans 6, 17 and 18. But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, Yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. and having been set free from sin, You became slaves of righteousness.
What a wonderful text that is. The Bible says that you and I used to be slaves on the slave market of sin. What does that mean? Before you come to Christ, But it's impossible for you not to sin. I mean, you you still sin if you become a Christian, but it doesn't have to be that way.
But before you have a power within you to help you not to do sinful things, you're a slave to it. You say, well, I'm a good person. But you know, the Bible doesn't look at it that way. The Bible looks at it not only by what you do, but the motives you have by doing it. What is your purpose?
Before you become a Christian, you don't have the ability not to sin.
So you become of like a slave. You're caught up in the slave market of sin. But one day Almighty God came down to buy us back. Did you know what he used for collateral? He used his own son, Jesus Christ, in his precious blood.
He bought us by the precious blood of Christ off of the slave market of sin. and that blood was spilled on the altar of the cross, and he bought us back.
so that we could be free not to sin and free to do right. He redeemed us. We are chosen, we are adopted, we are accepted, we are redeemed. And then it says, we are enlightened, verses 8 and 9. This is kind of a wordy text, but we won't get too much into it.
Let's read it. which he made to abound toward us all in wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure which he purposed in himself.
Now there's two phrases here that I want you to notice. First, God's riches and grace abound toward us in these ways, through wisdom and prudence. When we become Christians, God gives us a certain kind of wisdom and prudence. And then God makes known to us the mystery of his will. This goes back to the idea that before you become a Christian, You can't understand God.
You can't understand godly things. You just wonder, what is that all about? What are those crazy people doing that think that?
Well, let me give you a verse of scripture that explains it. 1 Corinthians 2:14 says, But the natural man. does not receive the things of the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him. He cannot know them because they are spiritually discerned.
What Paul is saying is that before you become a Christian, You can't understand. I've had so many people that I've talked to over the years telling them about my faith in Jesus Christ and leading them to a relationship with Christ. And they say something like this: one guy once told me, you know, I used to try to read that Bible you have, and it never made any sense. And he said, Then I accepted Christ, and in the meantime, somebody rewrote the Bible. And what he meant was But now that he had the Holy Spirit in his heart, He began to understand the Bible.
We can't understand spiritual things in the natural. We need the spiritual. And the Bible says that when you become a Christian, what happens is... that you become capable Of understanding the mysteries of God. There's a verse in John.
Basically, it says this: if you want to know God's will as a Christian, you can know it, and that's the promise of God. And you know, when people tell me they read the Bible and don't understand it, the first question I want to ask them is: have you accepted Christ? Because if you're not a Christian, the Bible can often seem unknowable. When you become a Christian, God gives you this wonderful interpreter called the Holy Spirit, who helps you understand what the Bible says, what it means, and what it means to you. More spiritual blessings from Ephesians 1 tomorrow.
I hope you'll join us then. In the meantime, don't forget that Turning Point is conducting its annual conference cruise to the Caribbean. December the 26th through January the 2nd, and we'll be visiting Grand Turk, San Juan, St. Thomas, Half Moon Cay. Michael Sanchez will be with us, along with Yoriel Vega and many other guests.
We hope you'll come and join us. You can find out more about that at our website, which is davidjeremiah.org. Till next time, this is David Jeremiah. Thanks for listening, and thank you for being a part of Turning Point. For more information on today's special message from Dr.
Jeremiah, please visit our website where we also offer two free ways to help you stay connected. Our monthly magazine Turning Points and our daily email devotional. Sign up today at davidjeremiah.org slash radio. That's davidjeremiah.org slash radio or call us at 800-947-1993. Ask for your copy of our 14-month 2027 calendar, The Light of the World, and deepen your faith daily throughout the coming year.
It's yours for a gift of any amount. You can also purchase the Jeremiah Study Bible in the English Standard, New International and New King James Versions, available in several attractive and resilient cover options. Get all the details when you visit our website, davidjeremiah.org slash radio. This is David Michael Jeremiah. Join us tomorrow for more of our special message from Dr.
David Jeremiah here on Turning Point.
