The Blessings of the Spirit

Transcript

GR 2308
03/14/2021
The Blessings of the Spirit
Ephesians 1:3
Gil Rugh

We're going to the book of Ephesians. In case you wonder, we are not going to do just one verse every week in Ephesians, probably only one verse this morning, but we will move along to two verses along the way, just however the Lord takes us. Hopefully the Lord will come before we are done and we'll finish the book up there. We are going to Ephesians 1, very special letter of the Apostle Paul as we could say about all the letters but this is a very warm letter. And he is going to lay out the doctrine through the first chapters and then he'll transition when you get to chapter 4 and he'll say, “Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called.” So the first three chapters give us the doctrinal foundation. So crucial we start where God starts us; without a strong, solid, sound biblical foundation, we cannot build the kind of life that God would have us have to honor Him. So we want to be clear on what He is teaching us, then we want to live accordingly.

He started out calling us saints in verse 1, Paul is writing to the saints and we know they are the holy ones, the ones set apart by God. When we get to verse 4 he is going to talk about how we got to this position. God sovereignly chose us before the foundation of the world, which we call the biblical doctrine of election, picking up the Greek word that is involved here for God choosing, very foundational truth. As we noted in verse 3 after the introduction he begins “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” We begin by focusing attention on God, giving Him praise, giving Him honor, declaring His praises. We don't start with ourselves. We start with Him, He is the God to be praised, we come before Him, we come to declare His goodness, His greatness, and the blessings that He has poured out which He is going to move us to.

We are starting with verse 3 with that long sentence, and there is a series of long sentences in this book, this letter, not that long a letter but there are long sentences in it. This first one is the longest, verses 3-14 are one long sentence. Let me just break it down for you, because really he is going to talk about the work of the Father, the work of the Son, and the work of the Holy Spirit. So even though your English Bible breaks it down into sentences, which is fine, and we find it a little easier to read that way, it is one long sentence. But there is a progression in it. He'll start out in verses 3-6 talking about the Father and His work connected to our redemption. And you'll note he'll end in that section in verse 6, “to the praise of the glory of His grace.” Then he'll move on to talk about the work of the Son, Jesus Christ, verse 7, the One in whom “we have redemption through His blood.” He'll talk about the work of Christ down through verse 12 and that section will end at the end of verse 12, “to the praise of His glory.” Then in verses 13-14 he'll talk about the ministry of the Holy Spirit, “the One who sealed us for the day of redemption,” and then that section will close at the end of verse 14, “To the praise of His glory.” So you see each of these sections, there is a focus on a different member of the trinity and what their ministry was in accomplishing the work of redemption. It's a work of the triune God, one God eternally existing in three persons. And each of those persons are marked out here and at the end of each of these sections about each person it's “to the praise of His glory,” “to the praise of His glory,” “to the praise of His glory,” that's what it is all about.

So we begin verse 3 with blessed, praises are to be given to Him. We are the beneficiaries of what God has done, and this is to bring us to bow before Him and give Him praise. It's humbling. We move with verse 4 to talk about the work of the Father in sovereignly selecting us out from the mass of fallen humanity to belong to Him and experience the redemption that He provided in Christ. It's a humbling doctrine. One of the great obstacles for people coming to salvation is sin makes us proud, makes us arrogant, makes us self-centered. And coming to salvation in Christ is a humbling matter, I bow realizing I am unworthy, undeserving, but I cast myself on the mercy of God, the mercy provided in Jesus Christ. So that's what verses 3-14 are about, how God has worked sovereignly, each member of the trinity involved in bringing about a salvation that rescued us from our lostness, hopelessness, emptiness and brought us to new life in Jesus Christ. We see all three members of the trinity joined here.

Come over to 1 Peter 1, look at verse 2, we have been chosen, that's what we were just talking about (we'll pick that up in Ephesians 1 in verse 4), God's work of choosing, electing, election, “according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood.” There you see in a condensed statement it's according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, we are chosen by Him, it's by the sanctifying work of the Spirit of God, the work of the Holy Spirit in applying the work of the Son. We believe in Him and His blood, the effects of His death are credited to our account. So there in one verse you have all three member of the trinity mentioned in a very condensed way, and their work in bringing about our redemption and its application to us.

Well, what we have back in Ephesians 1:3-14 is an elaboration on each of those persons of the trinity, so very important and relevant section. We begin in verse 3, we looked at “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Noted that word ‘blessed,’ just a compound work, it means ‘to speak well.’ The verb would be ‘eulogeo,’ speak well. We have a eulogy -- we just take the Greek word and carry it over into English -- when you go to a funeral somebody will give a eulogy, they'll get up and speak well of the person who is being remembered, comes from this word. And here we speak well, we give God praise, we say we speak well of Him, of His greatness, of His power, of the honor due Him, that all we have and all we are are by His grace. So as His people we begin by giving praise to Him. We corrupt worship when we begin about ourselves. The church under pressure, we talked about this, gives people what they want. What do people want when they come to church? And then we want to structure our service around that. But it's not what we want, it's what we need, it's about God who has provided such great blessings for us. So “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” An interesting expression used several times in the New Testament, it will be used down again in Ephesians 1:17, referring to the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, He's “the Father of glory,” He's “the God (and Father) of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Just back up to Romans 15… we're not going to look at each of the verses that use this same expression, but we will look at Romans 15. We're studying the book of Romans and will be coming to chapter 15 shortly. Look at Romans 15:6, “So that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” You see, what God is doing in our lives is to cause us and enable us to join together, here gathered as God's people in this place with one heart, with the same mind, with one accord, to glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the God of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now there are some cults who deny the deity of Jesus Christ and they'll take you to a verse like this where they say the Scripture says that God is the God of Jesus Christ. So Jesus Christ can't be God because the Father is God and Jesus has the Father as His God. He does have the Father as His God, but remember what happens: Jesus Christ in His humanity, when He became a man He set aside the prerogatives that were His as God, was born into the human race, and functioned as a man during His earthly life. So as one fully human He acknowledged the Father as His God and He lived His life on earth that way. Remember on the cross Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Calls out to Him as His God.

Come back to John 20, and he'll use this expression, similar, but He'll say, verse 17, talking to Mary, “Jesus said to her, ‘Stop clinging to Me, for I have not ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, “I ascend to My Father and your Father and My God and your God.” ‘ “ So He identifies with them, that has to do with the fact He is man, He became fully man, to be the Redeemer of mankind. That's where we are going in Ephesians 1, to explain that clearly that He is a man so that He could be our Redeemer. He doesn't cease to be God because one of the characteristics of God is eternality, and the attributes that make God God He could never cease to have and be, but He set those aside.

Come over to Philippians 1, and then we're going to turn to chapter 2, in Philippians 2 pick up with verse 5, “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God...” He manifested His attributes as God. Remember Isaiah 6, the seraphim cry out to God enthroned, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. And then in John 12 we are told that Isaiah was writing about Jesus Christ, that there was a view of Christ before His incarnation as God enthroned in heaven. Not the Father but the second person of the trinity, God the Son, enthroned as God. But here now, “although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,” to be hung on to, “but emptied Himself.”

In the margin, He “laid aside His privileges” gives you the idea… the Greek word ‘kenosis’ so we talk about the kenosis, the self-emptying, of Christ. He didn't empty Himself of His attributes, but He took the form of a slave, was made in the likeness of man and he humbled Himself, not exercising those attributes that He had as God but He lived fully as man. Now how we understand all that, we don't. We believe it because God unfolds it, He was both God and man, and during His earthly life He humbled Himself as a man to live in obedience to God, God the Father. And He humbled Himself even to the point of death, so verse 9, “God highly exalted Him.”

This is where we are going in Ephesians 1 by the time we get to the end of chapter 1, the exaltation of Christ because He is exalted back. He prayed to His Father in John 17, restore to Me “the glory which I had with You before the world was.” He will then be enthroned again but as Redeemer. God became man without ceasing to be God to provide redemption for man. This is crucial. He didn't become an angel so the book of Hebrews tells us there is no salvation provided for angels, we'll touch on a verse that relates to that. But Hebrews says Christ didn't become an angel, He became a man and His death provided salvation for mankind, human beings, and not angelic beings. There is no Savior provided for angels, so the angels who sinned settled their destiny for eternity, eternal hell, there is no going back. So the work of Christ in His humanity acknowledges God as His God. He will be revealed, when we enter into the book of Revelation we see something of the glory of Him as God revealed in the opening chapter there of the book of Revelation.

Come back to Ephesians 1, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Now let's make a distinction here. God the Father became the God of Jesus when He became a man, when Christ became a man. He was eternally the Son of God. The members of the trinity --Father, Son and Holy Spirit -- are always Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We find God the Father in the Old Testament, we find the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. Back to Genesis, chapter 1 begins by telling us when God created the heavens and the earth, the Spirit of God was present, hovered over the deep. And the Son is also revealed, particularly in anticipation. So that's an eternal relationship, but it becomes manifested to us in a new and unique way when Christ is born, because He was conceived of the Holy Spirit. So in a uniqueness the second person of the trinity, God the Son, took to Himself humanity and in His human form became literally the son of God because He was born into the human race, having been conceived in the womb of Mary by God (the virgin birth). But He was eternally the Son; denotes a relationship, the closeness of the relationship, so that we have three persons comprising the one God. So God became His God when He became a man, but He was eternally His Father. And the uniqueness was He also fathered the humanity of Christ so that He could be born into the human race. Without ceasing to be fully God, He was fully man. So the book of Colossians tells us all the fullness of deity dwells in Jesus Christ in bodily form. He will eternally have a physical body so will be manifested that way, but all the fullness of deity dwelt in that human body. I don't know if I can understand that. That's good to know because I can't either, all the details of that. I know it's true but there is much about the infinite God that finite me and finite you will never understand. But it is clear, God became a man, and as a man He died on the cross. But He is only one person so it was the God/Man providing a universal salvation for mankind even though it was by becoming a man He could do that.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” We had verse 2, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” And there you see something of the deity of Christ because grace and truth come from both the Father and the Son. And then we'll see their work joined together as it is elaborated, as we move through chapter 1. God is our Father and He is our God; because of our connection to Christ we have this special connection to His Father. Remember we saw in Romans we are heirs and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. So we have been given a unique and special position and connection. So the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ in verse 3… it is our Lord Jesus Christ, it's our connection with Him which will be emphasized again at the end of this verse, being in Christ, that brings about this.

We've mentioned Lord Jesus Christ. That's not His full name, like my name is Gilbert Warren Rugh. That's not three names; really you have the titles here with His name. Lord is a title, He is King of kings and Lord of lords. The Lord, the sovereign, the ruler. It's a title used of God throughout the Old Testament. One of the evidences of the deity of Christ, He is our Lord, that's key, we are His slaves. Remember Jesus said why do you call Me Lord, Lord and don't do what I tell you? It's one of those who have been set apart for God Himself, they submit to the lordship of Jesus Christ, He is our Lord. Jesus was His human name; the angel gave it to Mary when he said you shall call His name Jesus. It's a form of the Old Testament name of Joshua—Jehovah saves, Jehovah Savior. And He is known during His earthly life as Jesus of Nazareth. Because they didn't have the full names like we do, they got connected with where they are from, so He was Jesus from Nazareth, that might distinguish Him from someone else with the same name. It's a name. In the Old Testament we have Ben, not connected to Benjamin, but Ben, like Joseph Ben, and it means son of so-and-so. So they get identified by being the son of. So here He is the Lord, we've heard something of His deity since that's the name of God in the Old Testament, then translation into Greek of it. Jesus, His humanity. And Christ or ‘Christos,’ the Anointed One, that is a Messianic title, He is the Christ, the Anointed One. Just like the kings in the Old Testament were anointed, or the priest, the high priest was anointed. Jesus is the Anointed One, the One anointed to be the Messiah of Israel. That is His Jewish title here, Messiah. He is ours, we belong to Him and He belongs to us. So “blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” So you see the connection with Christ that connects us with the Father and that relationship and that love relationship we have with Christ brings us into a love relationship with the Father and the Father for us. We abide in Him and He abides in us; and Jesus says His Father would come and abide in us and we would abide in Him.

So this is what happens here, this is why we are praising God and we are in a position to do that. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” And we are blessing Him for blessing us. A little different form of the word here. That ascription of blessed be the God and Father in verse 3, that's only used of God, that form in the New Testament, declaring God's praises. A form of that same word, but a different form here, the blessings He brings to us. And we still use it that way -- I am so blessed, I've many blessings to be thankful for. He's talking about all the good things, the wonderful things, that God has done for us and bestowed upon us, so we bless Him for the blessings He has brought to us. He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing and what he is going to do in verses 4ff is develop out what those blessings are.

And we find out the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit have all worked together to bring all the blessings that could be provided, they are provided for us. There is nothing lacking when you have the triune God, all three Persons of the triune working to bestow all blessings upon us. You know what happens in this world, we sometimes get our perspective confused and we begin to think what God should be doing for us. And that creates discontent because it's not what I expected, it's not what I wanted, it's not what I planned. And I have things turned around. That's why these foundational chapters are so important. Sometimes I have had people over the years, we'd like to hear sermons that are more practical, that help me live. There is nothing more necessary to a godly life and good living than having a foundation in the truth of God. That's the beginning of wisdom, the fear of the Lord, the wisdom for life, how to live. We have smart people that have no wisdom. They have intellects, they can develop amazing things but they have no wisdom in knowing how to live life as it was intended by God to bring honor to Him, praise to Him. The sad things is when we believers get so turned around that the confusion of the world becomes the confusion of our life and heart because our intention has gotten all confused and blurred.

It's sort of like I take off my glasses and things are blurred, they are no longer clear anymore, I can see shapes out there. That sort of happens to us spiritually, we take off our spiritual glasses and are no longer focused on God and my life becomes blurry, then it becomes confused and I become unsettled and one problem builds to another. The solution is to come back and get focused. So that's how he is doing with us here, He “has blessed us with every spiritual blessing.” Underline that word ‘every,’ it is part of the text, every, all spiritual blessings, that is what is provided for us in Christ, He has blessed us. We'll get the details of that as we move through this section. All spiritual blessings. Well, what are spiritual blessings? Very simple, they are blessings brought to us by the Spirit of God.

So we are going to have God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit brought before us in verse 3. And then their work that they did in blessing us will be seen in the subsequent verses. We had “blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” so we have the Father and Jesus Christ, and now we have the blessings of the Spirit. Spiritual blessings are blessings that are brought to us by the ministry of the Spirit of God, because the Spirit of God is the Person of the trinity who applies and works those blessings in our lives. We were baptized by the Spirit in 1 Corinthians 12:13, “By one Spirit we were all baptized into one body,” the body of Christ, being identified with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection (Romans 6), so that's the work of the Spirit. So we are talking here about the blessings that the Spirit of God brings to us in Christ by the sovereign plan of God. So every spiritual blessing is all the blessings that the Spirit of God brings to us in the salvation that we have in Jesus Christ. The Spirit of God at work in our lives -- we're going to see this not only in subsequent verses in chapter 1 but as we move through this chapter we'll be talking about the Spirit. We'll be warned not to grieve the Spirit who dwells in us. He is the enabling Person, He is the enabling power in our lives. We have spiritual gifts, gifts given to us by the Spirit. He is the One indwelling us, enabling us, providing those blessings for us that enable us to function. There is nothing missing, there is nothing more, there is nothing else.

I've shared my background, early in our salvation taught by a group that you were saved, now you need to be sanctified. There is some of that teaching that goes on and debates in lordship salvation and so on. When you place your faith in Christ and the Spirit identifies you with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection, the Spirit of God takes up residence in your life and with Him comes all the blessings of God that will be given by the Spirit, that provide and enable us to live new lives. And that will be where we will pick up over in chapter 4 as I mentioned, verse 1 “Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy.” So he talks about all the wonder of what God has done for us, and he talks about now you walk consistently with what God has done and is doing in your life, that's our responsibility. And he'll develop the character of this and he'll move and talk about spiritual gifts given by the Spirit that will enable us. And then down in Ephesians 4:30 you have that verse I referred to, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed.” And we're going to talk about the sealing of the Spirit in Ephesians 1:13-14. So you see the letter all ties together. You see something of the wonder of the work that God is doing in our lives, which brings us that there is no reason we should not be living as shining testimonies of the power of God and what He does in a life when He makes it new.
Come back to Ephesians 1. These are the blessing of the Spirit. They are given “in the heavenly places in Christ.” ‘In the heavenlies’ becomes a key expression, used five times in the book of Ephesians, this is the first. What I'm going to do is walk you through those five places, we'll set them out. I think when we talk about ‘in the heavenlies’ we're talking about in heaven, it's a place, a location. Now it's not limited to there, but that's where it comes from. Let's walk through these then we'll talk about it more. This verse 3, it's the place where believers are blessed with spiritual blessings. So in the heavenlies, it's the place where believers are blessed with spiritual blessings. That comes when you have ‘in’ the heavenlies, prepositional phrase because ‘in’ is a preposition, so called a prepositional phrase. In the heavenlies, that's where we are blessed with spiritual blessings. Look at Ephesians 1:20, another sentence here but this is what God “brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenlies.” We have the word ‘places’ added which is fine, it's in the heavenlies. This is where the risen Christ has been seated, so it is a place where the Father is enthroned and Christ is enthroned at His right hand, the position of honor and so on. We see it is a place, it is heaven, where the risen Christ has been seated. Look down in Ephesians 2:6, verse 5 for the context, we were dead in our trespasses and sins, we were made alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved, and He “raised us up with Him,” with Christ, “and seated us with Him in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.” We're going to see that expression next here in Ephesians 1:3 and it is repeated through here a number of times. In Christ, in Him, in whom, that connection.

But believers have been seated with Christ, you are seated here, we're seated, and the picture we're going to see as we move through Ephesians is we're living in two worlds, two realms. It's like you travel out of the country, you have a passport, you may have a visa, that shows your citizenship is here. You are a visitor there, you are an outsider there. And that's the picture, Philippians says our citizenship is in heaven, that's the point, that's my home and, if you will, that's the source that directs and guides me. What do I do as a citizen when I'm in another country? I'm not a citizen of that country, that means I am limited on certain things. You see battles go on in our country if you are not a citizen, what do you do if you want to get a job? We have people move to other countries, I can't get a job there because I don't meet the requirements there, there are different requirements. Our citizenship is in heaven. Do you know what? I fit there, I belong there, someday I'll be transported there, taken home, as we describe it. The picture, we're strangers and pilgrims here, Hebrews 11, they lived their lives as strangers and pilgrims, looking for a city that God prepared, that's the picture here. So we've been seated with Christ, that's home, that's where I am looking forward to dwelling in God's presence.

Look at Ephesians 3:10, he's talking here in the context of the mystery of the church, the body of Christ. It was not revealed in prior generations, verse 5, talking about the mystery of Christ, the work that Christ would accomplish with His death and resurrection and bringing into existence the bride of Christ, the church. That was not revealed in the Old Testament. Certain pieces were, the death and resurrection of Christ, but it was not put together with clarity so it could be understood and that out of this would come a new entity, the church, distinct from the nation Israel. So that's what he is talking about, verse 5, it “was not made known in other generations to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed.” So there is a revelation that gives clarity it didn't have before. “To be specific,” verse 6, “the Gentiles are fellow heirs,” fellow members. So you are familiar with that. You come down then all the way to verse 10, so this now being revealed, what is happening?

It is making known “so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavens.” Do you know what? The angels of heaven are looking at what God is doing in His work of redemption in the church and learning something, have learned something of God's wisdom in providing the salvation to bring Jews and Gentiles together and have them redeemed. So Ephesians 3:10 says the wisdom of God is revealed to angels through the church because angels didn't know until it had taken place. Remember, angels sinned but there was no redemption for angels as we've mentioned earlier, there is no Savior provided for angels. Now they see the wonder of the love and mercy of God in providing a Savior and bringing about redemption and bringing Jews and Gentiles alike together in one body. And they see something of the multifaceted wisdom of God. We are a testimony to angels, they observe and see what God is doing in us and the outworking of that. How important is it that we be what God would have us be.

One more place where ‘in the heavenlies’ is used. Ephesians 6:12, “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenlies.” Wait a minute, I thought we were talking about in heaven, that's where the battle goes on. It does. The outworking of the conflict in the heavens is being worked out down here on earth, the nations of the earth. Remember in the book of Daniel, Gabriel was sent with a message from heaven but a fallen angel from heaven, if you will, that's where angels come from, withheld him so he couldn't enter into that earthly empire. So you see we are in two worlds here, and you and I are living in two worlds in the sense we are living with our minds set on things above but we're living in the context of this foreign world to us now, because we are saints taken out, separated for God Himself, to be His representative in this fallen world. We are no longer a part of it but we are here living in it, among it, so the battle. We go to the book of Job in the opening chapters, what do you have going on in heaven? Conflict, the devil accusing Job. What happens in Revelation 12 when there is war in heaven? The accuser of our brethren is cast down, that conflict in heaven carried out here on earth. We see we sometimes lose, we are just dealing with trying to get through every day. You understand this is a lot bigger, we'll get that when we get to chapter 12. You can't deal with it effectively unless you are armored by God and His provision, which we are back to redemption which the Father has provided through the Son's death and resurrection and is applied to us as believers by the Spirit. And so that enablement to deal here getting through life, it's what we are talking about.

Back in Ephesians 1:3, it's in the heavenlies. So we have half a dozen or maybe a little more years since Paul has been at Ephesus and he is launching right into this letter, believers are expected to grasp this stuff, know it and live in light of it. He'll pick right up with verse 4, talking about the work of the Father and His work is foundational of it all because He did the work of choosing. But this all happens “in Christ,” that last expression at the end of verse 3; we saw it at the end of verse 1, “in Christ Jesus,” “in Christ.” We noted it is that relationship, you have to belong to Christ, you have to be in Christ. We looked at He abides in us, we abide in Him, that is the connection that has brought us into heaven. Understand our prayers come before the throne of God in heaven, you are known in heaven as a child of God, the devil knows you as you are. You are caught up in this spiritual battle and warfare, you are in it when you place your faith in Christ. You are in it before you place your faith in Christ but you are not connected to heaven, you are a slave of the devil and he is working from heaven to do all he can to keep you on the road to destruction and accomplish his destructive purposes.

If we believers aren't clear in this we get so caught up in the world and pretty soon we lose our way. We are in Christ and everything comes by virtue of being in Christ. This is where people get confused and along the way the drift is always this way. We have the statement the first generation gets saved, they battle for the truth; the second generation assumes the truth; the third generation denies the truth. I was reading someone this past week of the battles going on in the evangelical world and he mentioned someone who back when he was student said the same thing—the first generation, then you go to the second generation, but the third generation tends to drift away. That's the battle we face, to stay grounded, to stay focused on the truth, that's the foundation. We get weak in the truth, then we are just sharing opinions and feelings and pretty soon we don't have time for the truth. And so you end up with what we call the major denominations.

Had an article in the paper one of you passed on to me about it's all about climate change and one of the liberal churches in town has big meetings going on about climate change. What about going to heaven? What about heaven and hell? What about the salvation? The big thing we face is climate change. Not the big thing I see. The climate is going to hell, the world is going to hell, it's going to be burned up with fire. I can understand, the world doesn't know it. We get caught up and pretty soon we have the same problems, believers are just as fearful, just as afraid, just as miserable, just as frustrated as the world around them and we say what has happened? I thought Christians were to be different. We are, if you are truly a Christian. We have just taken off our glasses and all of a sudden we can't see and then we become so… well, if I pull it up right here I see. And all we see this close is the world. Then we wonder why our life is confused and unhappy and it's not going the way I planned and… Back up, it's going the way God planned. That's good, today is a good day. You don't know the struggles I have. No, but He does and He has brought them for a purpose. We'll see that.

“In Christ.” If you are not in Christ you have nothing. You could be baptized here, you could quote Scripture, you could teach the Bible and be on your way to an eternal hell. I've shared with you, one person we had who taught in our adult class, prepared a great syllabus, I still have it, on the doctrine of salvation. One day walked into my office, laid it on my desk and said, I don't believe any of this, I'm smart, I just learned it. That was many years ago, to this day no use for truth. We want to be careful, have I really trusted Christ and had the change?

Come over to 1 Peter 1, I have a number of other verses, we are going to get to the doctrine of election, not today. 1 Peter 1:3, we looked at verse 2 where we saw the triune God involved in our salvation. Verse 3, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” And he goes on to talk about we have things stored up in heaven for us, blessings to yet be enjoyed. But we're getting blessings now to enable us for this life. And he talks about the work of the Spirit in giving the truth of God down in verse 11. But look at verse 13, he begins a series of commands here, then you see how this all ties together. “Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit,” alert, “fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children do not be conformed to the former lusts.” Remember we are saints, we are separated ones, we don't live the way we used to live or the way the people around us live. We may eat the same food, wear similar clothing but in the moral and those kind of characteristics we are totally different.

Verse 15, we've spent some time on this, be holy like the Holy One who called you, you must be holy in all your behavior. We live separated lives. One of the great battles in evangelicalism that by and large has been lost with the neo-evangelicalism, the new evangelicalism, we don't want to be separatists, we don't want this separation. We want to be part of the world and influence them with our wisdom and intellect and be viewed as scholars by them. You can't do both because when God saves you He pulls you out. We're going to see that with the doctrine of election, it means to bring out from a larger group. Well, you don't want to be brung out. You can't be a saint. Do you want to believe in Him or not? This is not a negotiation going on. Well, I told God I would trust Christ if that would spare me from hell but I am not going to… Wait a minute, God doesn't negotiate because here are the terms of salvation, here is what I (God) have done. If you will place your faith in what I have done, which involves submitting your life to Me because it will become My life… So that's what we are talking about, you be holy.

Verse 17, “If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one's work,” you must “conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on the earth.” You see again, during your time of stay on the earth. We get so absorbed, whatever happens here just puts us into a good mood or a bad mood, the ups and downs. This is just a temporary stay. When we've been in other countries and things haven't gone well, I'd say to Marilyn, it will be good to get home. It will be. I get too attached here, the world wraps its arms around me and all of a sudden… “Conduct yourselves in fear during the time,” fear what? Reverence for God. My #1 concern is I want to please Him, want to honor Him, I want my life to be a praise to Him. Knowing you were redeemed, you have to come back to that. What happens? We lose the clarity on our redemption and we are flopping around here like fish out of water.

Verse 22, “Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart, for you have been born again.” Keeps coming back to this and back to this and back to this. Separate life and doctrine, our life now as believers, is our doctrine being lived out? Give the world credit, they have sinful, sin-ruled hearts and they live it out, they are flagrant in it. That's what he is saying, we are to love one another.

Down in 1 Peter 2:2, another command, these are a series of commands you may have marked from when we studied, “Long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow.” And that's the devil's work, corrupt the Word, take away that desire. I know, I've been a believer a long time, I know all those things. You never should tire, your appetite ought to grow for good, solid, healthy food. There is a reason he uses that analogy. You don't say for the first twenty years of my life I ate well, now I'm just giving it up, maybe a snack once a week. No, you don't go that way. Christians are like that, they think I've poured my life into it first few years but along the way here I just don't have as much interest in it. That's not the way we go.

So all of this so he can come to Ephesians 1:4. What's he going to talk about? You go read it and what God has done in verse 4, “Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world.” So that's why we can give God praise. It's His work and He did it before He created the world and then He foreordained, predestined, what we were to do.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for the riches of Your grace. You are a God to be praised. How sad it is that our hearts and our minds would not be clearly focused on things above, on the blessings we have from heaven that sustain us, that strengthen us, that enable us to have joy, peace and all the other blessings in this world of turmoil, disappointment. You are a God to be praised. It is good for us to come back to Your Word again and again and again to be sure we are clear, that we are living in light of all You have provided for us as a people who have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in heaven and from heaven. We give you praise for it. In Christ's name, amen.