R345 The Foundation of Spiritual Blessing

The foundation of spiritual blessing. That's Dr. Wilson's topic on this edition of The Encouraging Word opening God's word to go head to Ephesians 1 in just a moment. We also encourage you to head to our website.

DEW online.org great spot to sign up for the day The Encouraging Word email from Dr. Don that's online that DEW online.org now.Chapter 1 how subject this morning. The foundation of spiritual blessing. The foundation of spiritual blessing.

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

They had plenty of money but they chose to live in poverty, probably the but most well-known documented case was of Mrs. Greene who died in 1916. Some of you may remember the story and I've read about it over the years. In 1916, this lady who died here in the United States died, with an estimated fortune of over $100 million. That's 1916. That was a lot of money back then. I believe she was an exceptionally wealthy lady, but she died in poverty. Her son died some years before her and the reason he died was that he went down with some illness and she spent so much time trying to find a free clinic that could treat them that he died before he could get medical assistance. It is documented that the same lady valued it over $100 million would eat cold oatmeal with cold water every morning so that she could save on a hot water move hundred million dollars. The apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Spirit of God reminds us here in these opening verses that is born again believers. God has heat upon us his spiritual blessings.

The writer to the Hebrews, put it like this. He said to me, Oscar? How are you going to escape. If you neglect so great salvation. Perhaps what he had in mind.

There was what the apostle Paul was affirming here in these opening verses of his letter to the Hebrews are related to the Ephesians and that was simply this, that, as believers, God has opened and made available to us is a reservoir of blessing God wants to give to us so much he wants to keep upon us so much and yet we as men and women and boys and girls who claim to know him refused point blank either to understand or to accept or to appropriate all that God is given to us. I will almost guarantee you right now that you know somebody maybe even in this congregation. I hope not. Maybe even in this congregation who is a believer and hit his miserable.

I mean, just miserable. There's no other way to describe it.

In fact, if you and I would go around Spartanburg right now and we would hand out $50 bills to everybody. They complain that it wasn't $100 bill. If you put down green carpet quite unhappy that it's not written, if you say it's not it's going to be down. There's always something they are miserable Christians.

They run happy. It is possible to die as a believer and be transported by the angels to be seated at the feast table of the king, and yet have lived an entire life knowing the Lord Jesus Christ. But being defeated in your life because you have never appropriated the riches of God's grace loved our young people, teenagers useof the many things that I wish that I could say to you. I wish I could come down out of this point, but right now, put on my jeans and my T-shirt that you know that I love to wear and get up in your faces and say to you, at the age of 13 and 14 and 15 become a Christian who does not appropriate and apply the riches of God's grace to your life.

God gives to his children and unbelievable resource of joy he makes it available to us anything and drink from me. Don't withhold yourself from me. I wanted to walk up to some people and say why you so unhappy what you look like you always recovering from hookworm treatment what what what you do know the Lord Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ by his grace has given us so much and get all seem to do is grumble and complain and moan in Folsom.

It's no wonder that you're so discouraged.

Listen to what the Bible says in Ephesians chapter 1 in verse three praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus, for he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight in the love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Christ Jesus in accordance with his pleasure and will to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the one he loves. I love that word freely given that there's some very interesting things to notice here at this juncture, two things the structure of this stanzaic form that we reading and the theme that the apostle Paul is about. Do you know that in the original Greek New Testament, there is no punctuation that we put punctuation in there because we used to periods and commas and colons and semicolons, but there's not that in the original text. Why, because this was the devotional outpouring of the apostle Paul who understood the riches of God's grace and there is a very real sense in which the apostle Paul fell down upon his knees, in the presence of God, and he began to just bundle and a bow with them, whether ceaseless energy giving joy and thanksgiving to God because of all that God had done for him and dismay was writing from a prison. I mean, he was in bondage physically. I mean this guy was at the bottom of the barrel.

The structure is very important. The first three verses three through six deal with apostate. They seem to wrong the gracious purpose of God.

This central part verse seven through 12 deals with the present revolves around the redemption of God and the length of verses from verse 13 and 14 deal with the future the consummation of God and the work of the ministry of the Holy Spirit and rights Rangoon trash into the middle of that comes the theme that sets out trust, which absolutely for all with a sense of the majesty of God. It's like it's safety market drumbeat God telling us the joy of what he has in store for all those who bases name and right throughout punctuated rights throughout this wonderful stanzaic form, we find repeated over and over. Blessed be the name of the God praise be his name, no different than what the psalmist did in Psalm hundred and three.

Praise the Lord, O my soul, all my inmost being, praise his holy name, praise the Lord my soul and forget not all these benefits praise the Lord you angels in verse 20. Praise the Lord all he's here because verse 21. Praise the Lord all his works everywhere in his dominion, praise the Lord, O my soul.

He sign I want to just bless the Lord, there is a sense in which Paul would've been affronted.

If I put up. Or tried to put some kind of ending onto the overflow of the praise that came from his you thankful today. You thankful for what God is done for you. Blessed. What is blessed remind us of it reminds us of the exclusivity of God, there is none like him. It reminds us that everything that we have that God claims his homage homage for himself, God claims it God the moans and God insists upon it. When we find blessed in praise. We know that he is exclusive. There is none like him, but we also know that God created us for the purpose of worshiping God and when we do not worship God in spirit and in truth.

And when we do not thank God we are failing to do what God has told us to do. Beloved friends at First Baptist Church congregation. Look at me. We as a people guilty as charged in this congregation, I become more convinced today than I have ever been before that our congregation has not spent nearly enough time thanking God for what he is done we grown so accustomed to it. God is blessed our families and he's blessed our community and he's blessed our nation and we sweep it under the rug and God says listen when I use blessed and when I talk about praise. I'm reminding you of my exclusivity and I'm reminding you of my changing claim on goal homage get on goal. We get on your knee. That's what God is saying forgive the interruption will be back with the rest of today's message with Dr. Don Wilton in just a moment, but I would encourage you to spend a moment checking out our website TW online.org that's tewonline.org G great place to sign up for the daily Encouraging Word email devotional from Dr. Wilson that's tewonline.org OR G is been much discussion about the new book about Dr. Billy Graham call Saturdays with Billy, but is also an interesting opportunity to gain some insight from Dr. Graham's wife Ruth Bell Graham hears this with all the details. When Jesus comes every I will see even those who crucified Jesus in this and not Jesus.

Do not be shocked or surprised at what's going on in America today had better wake up America. Jesus is coming again this month for your gift in support of The Encouraging Word, you will receive Dr. Milton's powerful and timely message trusting God along with the bonus DVD movie on celebrating Bell Graham a life marked by the faithfulness of God, 686682 request trusting God in the bonus DVD movie today for a gift of $20 or more.

Thank you for standing with us now back to today's powerful teaching from Dr. Don Wilton Encouraging Word, but he also reminds us that there is nothing that we can add to God will bestow upon God.

He says listen buddy when you praise me.

Let me remind you something you cannot add anything to me. Neither can you bestow anything on me because I'm God. Basically if I could summarize the looks of us and he says what seems to be your problem brother I'm God and I choose to give you my spiritual blessings. I'm pouring, but there's 1/4 thing blessed listen.

Praise reminds us of our response to God about very purpose for our existence and so how can we understand spiritual blessings.

Three ways that we understand spiritual blessings.

Three ways according to this passage. First of all, we understand spiritual blessings by understanding their character. That's what verse three and following is all about. It's about the character of God's spiritual blessings we've all got children. We love our children by God's blessings. You know something that little boy is going to grow up as a character. Moms probably already sign in. Apparently you can see character from day one. When children and when adults when we behave the way we do. We often attributed to our character. That's the way we made we've always got a reason for not attorneys at Law particularly good at that and sadly enough to say it's infiltrated even the criminal justice system so that nobody ever anymore was ever responsible for anything because of their character.

You see, character can be misinterpreted into licensable behavior. God's word says that character can never be a licensable behavior. Why, because God is character and instinct. The Corinthians chapter 5 in verse 17 he says all things, apostolate, and behold all things are become new.

You undergo a character trait when you receive Jesus Christ. He softens your spirit causes you to undergo an attitude adjustment. He changes your endeavors and your wise in your wherefores and you want to use.

But if we're ever going to understand the foundation for spiritual blessing. We must understand the character just as we understand our children. They all behave and react in a different way to different things. What is the Bible say about the character of spiritual blessings. Number one they come from the Spirit of God.

They are spiritual, not material.

Number two, they are communicated to us by the Lord Jesus Christ. They are funneled to ask directly through him. Now how does that happen. John 14 six I'm the way the truth and the life no man can come to the father by me and when I washed and redeemed in the blood of the Lamb have once again been given access to the Father through the son. I have direct access to God the father and God the father communicates through the son in times boss was communicated through the prophets, but now these last days. It is being given to us by his son and his son communicates everything that we need to know. Therefore, when I stop talking to the Lord our clamp up that risible are close up that channel of blessing, but in the third place.

If we can understand the character we need understand that they are appropriate for what ever our spiritual lives require God gives to us exactly what we need that some people say you know Lord I don't know why you blessed me so much. According to Scripture, you haven't been blessed so much. God gives you what God wants to give you and if it so much. You just thank God for you just like the Lord for it because God gave it to you how we can understand spiritual blessings by understanding the character number two by understanding their circle of operation where do spiritual blessings operate. Now there are two key phrases yeah.

The first is in heavenly places. What in the does that mean the site walk around without hands up in the clouds. It is let's read about it in verse three, read it with me that praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in the heavenly realms. Now I've heard some people who are so spiritually minded date of no earthly earthly value and they take a passage like this out of context and I say wait a minute now Rev. God says you gonna be blasting heavenly places. That means the blessings in the exercise of the blessedness that we have is of spiritual value.

It has no earthly value whatsoever. That's my proposed site listen to what he says. He says who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ, folks, I want you to know something. In the Greek text that would inveigh, literally translated means, be close of what God has done that which is heavenly is interpreted into our ongoing living virtual line. It is taking that which comes from God and is applied to where we are, what does that mean what does it mean heavenly places. Well there three references at least Karen Paul's letter to the Ephesians look at them. Chapter 1 verse 20 chapter 1 verse 20 which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms. What's he saying he saying that the exercise, the circle of operation about spiritual giftedness is in the place where Jesus Christ is? Where is Jesus. Why where is Jesus Zeke just in heaven.

Where is he point to him as rock someone is said I'm the only Jesus that anybody will see on the only Bible that someone will read Jesus in me arming him. Paul is saying the head is the body and the body is the head that had direct the body. I am in Christ, we gonna look at that. It's the place where Jesus is second chapter 2 in verse six.

Look at, and God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus what is porcine. He saying that the circle of operation about spiritual blessings is the region. The believers have been lifted to in fellowship with Christ Jesus you alive when we receive Jesus Christ we all live. We are invited into that region of fellowship with Christ we are adopted into his circle of friends, if you please, and in the third place. Chapter 3 in verse 10.

Look at chapter 3 in verse 10. His intent was that now, through the church the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities where in the heavenly realms. What is the apostle trying to say. The apostle is trying to say that the circle of the operation of spiritual blessings is the place where principalities and powers learn about the wisdom of God from God's people wanted Paul say he said we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers. What is the apostle site here. He says that that which is able to rise up against the wickedness of the world and teach them about the holiness and the goodness of God is the born-again believer living out in his life in heavenly places. The spiritual blessings that God is given to us. What a wonderful blessing.

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

Now we looked at that last week.

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

All he is the source of all of our blessings look at it with me in these verses we are fruitful in Christ we are chosen in Christ, we received grace in Christ, we have redemption in Christ. We all made a heritage in Christ, we are sealed in Christ. What's bull's-eye you believer you know Jesus Christ, the pill fishing rod spiritual fishing rod right into the reservoir of God's grace and what you're going to discover you going to discover redemption and fruit and grace and heritage and ceiling and you can discover everything that God could possibly give to you. All spiritual blessings. They also manifold live understand them if we don't understand the character and will never understand.

And if we don't understand their circle of operation. But there's 1/3 interesting factor that I want to share with you. We must understand where spiritual blessings come from some of you going to sell will I come from God will of course later. Absolutely.

But it's a lot more detail than that.

God tells us some wonderful truths and their law there are two key phrases that pull gives to us that help us to understand where spiritual blessings come from. The first is the phrase have to chosen God has chosen us to be the means of carrying out his purpose for the redemption of mankind, there is right there in verse four, full he chose us. That's an unbelievable thought when it comes to spiritual blessings that God could ever chosen us. I went to visit a couple is possibly could be visiting our church and God willing, they go this morning are not members of our church and they moved into the community. Just wonderful people but I tell you something. When I went to visit them and they'll tell you the first thing I said to me.

They said pasta we could never join your church because we not worthy to sit in back church with all of those people who are so wonderful all right there we go.

Anyone who's wonderful please stand up.

That's right, is there anybody here this morning who deserves God's blessings. Would you please stand up. Is there anybody in this congregation this morning who is better than anybody else. Is there anybody here who is not guilty of sin, I got comes the big question. Is there anybody here this morning who has been forgiven for their sin by Jesus, would you raise your hands thank you very much. If you go this morning beloved couple. I hope you saw that my hand both hands are up to.

Paul put it like this.

He said I am what I am by the grace of God and you see it's rooted in the fact that God has chosen us that God could have done whatever God wanted new goodly he could send dead people back. I mean arming the rich man tried that with Lazarus turned Abraham said please send somebody back from the dead. He said forget it. You got preachers you got the word of God.

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

God has chosen in times possible God has made a decision and it's God's decision be wonderfully dead people could do the job. Get to the end of this message, I say come on," dead people are died in this congregation walked in. Jan stood up to. I wouldn't even need to preach. No, sir.

Even the most despondent person that would get so I mean people would slide down the arms.

But that's not what God is done. The Bible says God has chosen us want and Orson thought, but there's a second understanding exact word predestination. Verse four and verse five for he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless. Any side in love he predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ Nigel key phrase your operative phrase is in love he predestined us now. What is the love of God for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that only some people who believe in him should not perish, but have everything eternal life. God's word doesn't say that God's word says whosoever will people. Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. He died that people might come to know him from beef foundation of the world keep cream testing that he made the decision in the consciousness of any terminal and a sovereign God. What a powerful time of teaching from the pulpit with Dr. Don Wilton now would you open your heart to what he wants to share as he comes in the studio. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Why don't you pray this prayer with me right now.

Dear God, I know that I not know that Jesus is God today. I repainted my sin and by faith I receive you into my phone in Jesus name, my friend. I welcome you today into the family of God.

This is citing you just gave your life to Jesus Christ.

Let someone know let us know. Dr. Donald love to be praying with you and for you and putting free resources in your hands if you call us at 866898668996732. Given your life to Christ today or perhaps today. Rededicate your life.

Let us put these resources in your hands. Call us at 866-899-9673. We love to connect with you on line@twonline.org is a great place to sign up for a number of free resources online at tewonline.org G will look forward to connecting with you there