With Him | Part 3

On the first day of the week, at early dawn,

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to the

tomb bringing spices which they had prepared,

and they found the stone rolled away. But when

they entered, they did not find the body of the

Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this,

behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling

attire. And the men said to them, why do you

seek the living one among the dead? He is not

here, he has risen. And with that, all of human

history changed forever. Think about that. As

a historical nerd who loves to study ancient

biographies and read old, really old manuscripts,

I always feel compelled on Easter Sunday retelling

of how the tomb was discovered empty. And it

is a simple account, isn't it? So many ancient

biographers, when you read them, they embellish

their stories in order to make their heroes seem

greater than they actually were. So much flowery

language to draw you, the reader, in to believe

all the hype about their particular subject.

But that is not true of the gospel accounts.

It's very unusual in the ancient world. When

telling the story of the empty tomb, Matthew,

Mark, Luke, and John don't go out of their way

to sell you anything. It's just a very straightforward,

factual account. What they say is, and I'll paraphrase

in my terms, here's what happened. We woke up

on that first day of the week on Sunday morning,

devastated by the events of the previous days.

And we were afraid for our very lives. Our master,

our rabbi, our Lord was gone, dead and buried.

And we were lost in hopelessness and fear. But

the Marys, God bless them, they faithfully woke

up early that morning and went to the tomb to

minister to Jesus' body, which had been laid

in Joseph's tomb. But when they got there, they

found the stone had been moved and the body was

gone. And then suddenly out of nowhere, they're

met by these angelic beings from a spiritual

realm. who told them very simply and very clearly

he has risen. That's it, friends. That's the

whole account. The most important event, the

focal point of all human existence, basically

given to us in a couple of paragraphs in just

one chapter of all four gospel accounts. But

remember, all four were either eyewitnesses to

the resurrection or they interviewed eyewitnesses

who saw Jesus back from the dead, risen from

the grave with a glorified body. And as John

closes out his account, he writes this. Among

other things, he says, this account that I'm

writing, especially that of the resurrection,

is written down for this one purpose, that you

may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son

of God, and that in believing you may have, look

at that word, you may have life in his name.

And that is my prayer for anyone here this morning

who hasn't yet put... his or her trust in Christ.

And perhaps you're here today, it's a holiday,

but you're seeking truth. And if so, I commend

you for that. I want you to know that there are

no accidents in God's world. It's no accident

that you are here in this place this morning.

And if you've been a skeptic in the past, and

you're not sure if the Bible is trustworthy or

not, I want you to know, I get it. I was once

in that same place. But the evidence for these...

Gospel accounts in general and the evidence for

this event, the resurrection, is so overwhelming

that if you'll do an honest investigation, if

you truly are open to it, it's going to lead

you to the same place that led me some 40 years

ago. And that is to saving faith and to peace

and joy and contentment beyond anything that

this world can ever offer to you. And so that's

my prayer for you this morning if you don't know

Jesus. But back to the story, how hard the Jewish

and Roman authorities tried to squash the Jesus

movement back in the day. All the news about

the crucifixion and the resurrection. At various

times, in various ways, they persecuted early

Christians. They chased them all over the region.

But all that did was cause Christianity to grow

and spread faster and faster. From Jerusalem,

where it was encapsulated, west across the entire

Greco -Roman world. And the odds of that happening

are so astronomical because I want you to think

about this. Here was the founder of a religious

movement who in the culture of that day died

in disgrace. He died crucified as a criminal.

Who follows a criminal? Here's a man who was

betrayed by one of his insiders. A man who was

denied three times by one of his closest friends.

He was abandoned at his death by almost every

follower that he had. He left no property behind.

He left no wealth. He left no army. And he did

not have a biological heir. What are the odds?

Yet over time, the message of his life and his

teaching. and his death, and most critically,

his resurrection, overwhelmed and outlived the

most powerful empire the world has ever seen.

Think about that. And unless those first eyewitnesses

actually saw a dead man come back to life and

ascended to heaven, there's absolutely no rational

reason they would persist in telling that lie.

But they saw it. They were eyewitnesses to it.

Looking back on this, the great church father

Augustine wrote the following in his important

work, The City of God. And as you read this,

it's gonna be up on the screen. Keep in that

mind that before his conversion, Augustine was

immersed in the world of philosophy and rhetoric.

He was a man of the academy of his day. But he

logically worked this out and this was part of

his argument. He says this, now we have three

incredible things and yet all three have come

to pass. First, It is incredible that Christ

rose from the dead in the flesh and ascended

with his flesh into heaven. Second, it's an incredible

thing that the world has come to believe something

so incredible. Third, it's incredible that a

few unknown men with no standing and no education

were able to persuade the world of something

so incredible. Of these three incredible things,

the people we are debating refuse to believe

the first, They're compelled to grant the second,

but they cannot explain how the second happened

unless they believe the third. I know you're

working that math out in your brain. It's okay.

He was a philosopher at heart. It is beautiful.

So we have a remarkable story in the gospel accounts,

and we have a remarkable faith, but most of all,

we have an extraordinary object of our faith.

Jesus of Nazareth, fully God, fully man, Christ,

Messiah, and Savior, and Lord. And everything

about life as we know it, everything about what

we know about death, everything about what's

to come after death, it all hinges on this one

person, Jesus, and your relationship to him.

Think about that. Everything, everything we know

about this life hinges on one person and your

relationship to him. And that brings us to the

main thesis and theme. for our celebration of

Easter this year, Union with Christ. Or as you

see in the title there, simply with him. Now,

so far in our service last Sunday and on Good

Friday, we've talked about some really important

biblically rooted concepts. I'll give you a list.

Being found in Christ. Being clothed in his righteousness.

Our lives being hidden in him. And then on Friday

night, we looked at suffering with him, dying

with him, being buried with him. And now this

morning, we get to lay that final building block

on, the most important one of all, being raised

to life with him. And this too is found in Romans

6, which we looked at on Friday. I'll put it

up on the screen because it's so important. Paul

says, do you not know that all of us who've been

baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized

into his death? Therefore, we've been buried

with him through baptism into death. So that,

wherever you see a so that, this is a purpose

statement. Here's the purpose of us dying with

him. So that as Christ was raised from the dead

through the glory of the Father, so we too might

walk in newness of life. Newness of life. For

if we become united with him in the likeness

of his death, certainly we shall also be in the

likeness of his resurrection. Now, look at what

I've highlighted there. United with him. If you're

sitting here this morning and you have put your

trust in Christ alone for the forgiveness of

your sins, if you've submitted your heart and

your life to him, that is a factual statement.

You are united with him right now. Now, as I

say that, I know this is hard. It's a bit of

a metaphysical concept, isn't it? What does it

mean to be united with him? Is that something

we're supposed to see with our eyes or feel in

our bodies? The answer is no. It's not that tangible.

But it's absolutely real. It is a living connection

that we have with our Savior. Sometimes we call

it a mystical union because it's a truth that

is supernaturally, specially revealed in the

Word of God and then supernaturally applied by

the Holy Spirit who lives within us. So it's

not as tangible as you might think. But as a

doctrine, this idea of union with Christ is found

in the prepositions of the New Testament. It's

everywhere. The problem is we often read past

the little words in Scripture, right? They're

so subtle, we read right past them. But then

once you start to look at the prepositions in

Scripture, you begin to see them all over the

place. In Paul's writings alone, more than 70

times he uses one of these phrases, in Christ,

with Christ, or through Christ. And then if you

expand that to the entire New Testament, more

than 200 times. We see that we are united with

Christ in those little prepositions that we often

miss. And then there's the metaphors. The beautiful

metaphors that the biblical writers use to try

to illustrate for us, and we need this, right?

When we're dealing with a metaphysical concept,

we need illustrations. And they give us these

word pictures that are so beautiful that describe

the richness and the intimacy that we have with

Jesus. And I know you've probably heard these

before, but have you ever stopped long enough

to think, what is the depth of the connection

in these particular words? So for example, he

is the vine. And we are the branches on that

vine. That is an essential connection we have.

He is the head of the body, the church, and we

are members or parts of that same body. Think

about the depth of that, the intimacy. He's the

cornerstone of the building and we are living

stones being built upon him. He is the good shepherd

and we are his flock of sheep. And he is the

bridegroom and we are his bride. And that last

one is especially powerful because consider how

marriage brings a man and a woman into a one

flesh union. How from that moment on, their lives

are shared completely together. And that is true

of our union with Christ. Only in our coming

together in this one shared life, who gets the

better deal? We get an incredible deal. After

all, what do we bring to that relationship as

the bride? Our fallenness. our sin, our weakness,

our guilt, and all of that mess is imputed to

our bridegroom. He takes it upon himself. And

what do we get in this union? His perfect life,

his holiness, his righteousness. As his bride,

we get all of that. It becomes ours and our entire

body of sin gets nailed to the cross and our

old self, that old nature that was once under

the headship of Adam is now made new under the

headship of our bridegroom. That is what we call

the great exchange in this relationship. In fact,

when he was raised from the dead on that Sunday

morning, every person who will ever trust in

him was also raised. From spiritual death to

spiritual life. Let me show you Romans 6, 5 again

so you see it. If we become united with him in

the likeness of his death, and we all claim that,

right? That's how our sins are washed away. Certainly

we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection.

That means for the believer, because Jesus defeated

death, our death is defeated. We have that victory.

The sting of death is taken away. It has no power

over us anymore. And then the real kicker in

all of this is because Jesus was not only raised

from the dead, he was seated in the heavens at

the right hand of the Father. And so positionally,

we as believers are also raised and seated in

the heavens. Paul actually talks about this in

Ephesians 2, and it blows my mind. He says, God

being rich in mercy because of his great love

with which he loved us, even when we were, what,

dead in our transgressions, dead people cannot

bring themselves back to life, He made us alive.

He did. Together with Christ. There's another

one of those statements. Together with Christ.

By grace you have been saved. And he raised us

up with him and seated us. Seated us with him

in the heavenly places. In who? In Christ Jesus.

It's all in Christ Jesus, isn't it? So we can

add two more things. Made alive with him and

seated with him. So even though we're in this

already not yet place right now, we are still

having to live our lives out here on the earth.

But right now, positionally, we are citizens

of heaven in that realm sharing in the victory

that Christ has won for us. Mind blown, right?

This is wild stuff. And the New Testament evidence

for this is overwhelming. His life is your life.

His death is your death. His resurrection is

your resurrection. And because that's all true,

his righteousness is yours. His favor with the

Father is yours. His holiness is yours. You are

now knit together with your Savior. Amazing stuff.

And as you hear that, perhaps then Paul's statement

in Galatians 2 makes more sense when he says,

look, I've been crucified with Christ. It's no

longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

Because we're one life shared together. Isn't

that amazing? Coming back to the brilliant Augustine.

In one of his sermons, he put it this way. He

literally preached this in the fifth century.

He said, it's as if Jesus said to us, I'm inviting

you into my life. It's a place where nobody dies,

where life is truly happy. I'm inviting you into

the realm of the angels, to the friendship of

the Father and the Holy Spirit, to the everlasting

supper, to be my brothers and sisters. I'm inviting

you into every part of my life. Sounds good,

doesn't it? Who refuses that? Who in his right

mind would refuse such an offer from the God

of the universe? So in the time we have left,

what I want to do now is point you to even more

amazing things that come with being united to

Christ. Can you handle more than that? Because

that's enough. That was a meal. You just got

a meal of all kinds of amazing things. There's

more. Okay, grab your Bibles. Grab your Bibles.

We're going back to Ephesians 1. You're saying,

you know, I have a shorter amount of time than

usual this morning. So we're about to go through.

I'm gonna have to go through fairly quickly without

a lot of detail. But man, if you wanna buy me

coffee, we'll talk more about it. I'm happy to

meet with you. All I wanna do before we wrap

up is pile on the blessings of what it means

to be united to Christ. And we're gonna look

briefly at the blessings in Ephesians 1. As you're

finding your place there, can I do a quick commercial,

shameless plug? If you're visiting with us here

this morning, come back next Sunday. Come back.

Easter's great, but you know what? We do this

every week, and it's awesome. And right now,

we are in this great expository study in the

letter to Titus, and we're going through it deeply

and slowly and thoroughly. And then, Lord willing,

in a month or two, we're gonna be taking a journey

into the Old Testament and looking at the book

of Esther, which is an amazing story of faith

in action, but also... a great historical work.

We get to look at how the ancient Jews were scattered

among the Persian people under the kings of the

Achaemenid dynasty, and it is amazing. So hashtag

historical nerd time. You're gonna enjoy that.

So that's my commercial. Come back. We would

love to have you. Okay, we've already heard a

portion of Ephesians 1 this morning. Grant read

a section, verses 3 to 14, is our call to worship.

Guys, this is one of the most extraordinary passages

in the entire Bible. In my numeric standard,

it is six sentences and 12 verses. But in the

original Greek, it is what? One sentence. Just

the longest run -on sentence in the entire Greek

text. 202 words with absolutely no punctuation.

It's just a cascade of truth that just poured

out of Paul. It really is amazing. It's actually

been suggested by scholars that when Paul sat

down to write to the Ephesian church, He was

so filled with joy and intensity with what God

had put on his heart that this is the shortest

greeting he has in the New Testament. He's like,

I just want to get to this. And he's so excited

by how the Spirit's carrying him along that as

he's writing, he doesn't want to stop to take

a breath, let alone end a sentence. So think

about that as we look through this. It's really

amazing. So look at verse one. Paul, an apostle

of Christ Jesus by the will of God. to the saints

who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ

Jesus. There it is again, in Christ Jesus. Grace

to you and peace from God our Father and the

Lord Jesus Christ. Short greeting, here he goes.

And verse three is our key. Blessed be the God

and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. So he starts

with God, which is always a good place to start

because God is the initiator of every good thing

and every good gift. Continuing on, he has blessed

us with every spiritual blessing. Underline it.

Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

In who? In Christ. Here come the prepositions.

They're everywhere. In Christ. And that makes

logical sense, by the way. 1 Timothy 2 .5 is

a really important passage. It says there is

one mediator between God and man. And who is

it? It's not any other man. It's not any priest.

It's not any intermediary. There's one mediator,

and it's Christ. So any blessing we receive from

God will obviously come through him because he's

our mediator, because of our union with him.

Now, notice the location of these blessings.

This has served to be a bit of a confusing thing

for people in the past. These blessings are in

the heavenly places. Now, we tend to make one

of two mistakes when we read that. First of all,

we might think, oh, these blessings, they're

floating around up there in the sky, up in the

heavenly realms, and they're these vague things.

That's one mistake because we think, what do

we think? Heavenly realms, we think beyond us,

right? Or we begin to think, well, those things

are for after we die. They're waiting for us

up there. But guys, Paul's talking about a list

of present realities here. Present realities.

And they're not vague concepts floating out there

in the ether. By heavenly places, Paul is simply

talking about the place where all the spiritual

activity in the cosmos takes place. The spiritual

realm that's unseen, that we know it's real,

but we can't see it. This is the unseen realm

where God is at work, where angels and demons,

spirit beings, are also at work, where there

is sometimes conflict. And these blessings are

applied in our lives, not physically, but spiritually

in the inner man. So all of the spiritual activity,

the most important activity, is actually taking

place not out there, but in here. And that's

what's going on here. In the heavenly places

is the heart of man and woman. And that's where

these blessings are applied. Does that make sense?

So don't be confused by that. Okay, what are

all these promises then? First thing we should

say is this is not an exhaustive list. If you're

found in Christ, You are spiritually rich beyond

anything you could imagine. We could sit down

and try to list all of the blessings that God

has decreed for us and we'll never come to the

end of it. In fact, I'm convinced that for all

eternity we'll be learning even more things about

God's grace and how he has blessed us. And I

don't know about you, I'm excited to learn all

of it. So know that first of all. Second thing

that has to be said is While our God is a great

provider and he promises to meet our basic needs,

when you look at this list of blessings, you

will not see any promises related to our physical

health or our physical wealth. Not in this lifetime.

We are rich beyond compare, but this is not physical

material blessings. There is no promise in here

for a big house or a Cadillac in your driveway

or a full savings account or tropical vacations

on demand. Do not let the religious grifters

out there sell you on this prosperity nonsense.

The promises that were given here in Ephesians

1 are not material, they are spiritual. Are you

with me on that? If you have a question about

that, ask me later. All right, let me also give

you just a quick bullet point summary of the

structure of these 12 verses. Guys, only the

Holy Spirit could inspire this. The structure

of these 12 verses is so amazing. First of all,

all the Trinitarian persons are involved. If

you look at it, you might need to take a picture

of this. Verses four through six focus on the

activity of God the Father. Verses seven through

12 are all centered in Christ, and it wraps up

in verses 13 and 14 by bringing in the Holy Spirit.

Amazing, right? All those people out there, oh,

there's the Trinity's on the Bible. It's everywhere.

You just gotta look. All three persons are here.

Second thing to see, at the end of each stanza,

after God, After God is mentioned in these three

persons, there is this similar refrain. Verse

6, to the praise of the glory of God's grace.

Verse 12, to the praise of God's glory. Verse

14, to the praise of his glory again. And guys,

I'm going to stop here for a second. This is

a theme that every believer in here this morning

cannot miss. The praise of his glory. In fact,

this is the highest explanation of why God has

poured out these blessings in your life. It's

for his own glory. Now, on one level, it's driven

by his love for you, by his mercy and compassion.

But the higher plane is, it's because he is passionate

about his own glory. Now, when people hear that,

and maybe you're like, that doesn't sound right.

People hear that, they object. They say, well,

doesn't that make God a narcissist? I've heard

this so many times. When someone says that, and

I don't blame you for it if that's the first

time you've heard it, it just means you don't

really understand who God is. Okay, so it would

be narcissistic if a fallible, sinful human being

said that. It's all about my glory, but God is

altogether different from us. If you want an

interesting recommendation, the great Jonathan

Edwards wrote a whole treatise on this subject.

It's called The End For Which God Created The

World. And I highly recommend it. And here is

his basic argument. Because God is infinitely

perfect, he must, he must seek out his own glory.

Because of his infinite perfectness. In fact,

he would be unrighteous if he didn't have a passion

for the glory of what is infinitely perfect,

which is only himself. Think about that. So the

glory of the uncreated creator is the greatest

and highest end of all things. So naturally,

that is what God is ultimately most concerned

about. I know you'll process that as time goes.

You might need to re -listen to this. Or look

at that little treatise by Edwards. It's really

amazing. But in relation to you and I as believers,

God's perspective is clear. What he desires,

what brings him glory is our worship, is our

sense of awe in his presence, our thankfulness

and our obedience to his word. That's what gives

him glory. What he wants to hear is, my God,

how great thou art. And not just from our lips,

but from our hearts, from our inner man. That's

what he wants. That's what brings him glory.

Can I also share with you what he doesn't want?

What he doesn't want, and the Bible makes this

very clear, God, listen, God will not share his

glory with another. He will not. That it's the

greatest insult to his person to try to take

even a sliver of his glory. So when we as fallible

creatures run around claiming that we can contribute

to our salvation by our good works or that we

can earn merit before an infinitely holy God,

think about that. We are attempting to claim

at least partial credit for our salvation. And

that is a great insult to our God. It's an attempt

to steal a portion of his glory. It's the ultimate

insult to his merciful nature. And that's why

we talk about we come to him empty -handed, relying

solely on his grace through Jesus Christ. And

listen, God is pleased to pour out the blessing

of salvation on anyone who will come with those

empty hands and say, I don't deserve it. And

I don't bring anything to the table. That's when

he is. He is pleased. That's when he is glorified,

when we trust in him 100%. Then when we're saved,

for all eternity, we have absolutely no grounds

to claim any of that glory. It all goes to him.

And that's what he's about. Amen? All right,

continuing in our summary of the divine structure

here. A third thing we see is a repeated emphasis

on God's sovereign will, sovereign purpose, and

sovereign plan. Verse five, according to the

kind intention of his will. Verse nine, the mystery

of his will. Also verse nine, his kind intention

which he purposed. Verse 11, according to his

purpose and also the counsel of his will. Listen,

guys, this raises a rhetorical question. Do we

earn any portion of these things or do they come

because of God's sovereign will, purpose, and

plan? It's obvious, isn't it? So why do we always

want as human beings in our flesh to inject us

into it when it's all God, all his plan, all

his purpose, all his will? And sovereignty is

written all throughout this passage in at least

11 different places in these verses. You'll see

it, including references to him choosing us and

referencing twice that he's predestined us. And

then piggybacking on that, you see the concept

of grace being mentioned. along with some beautiful

descriptions of it. First in verse six, to the

praise of his glorious grace. Verse seven, according

to the riches of his grace. And then verse eight,

we're told that God not only extended grace,

but lavished his grace on us. The language is

so powerful here. Guys, are you seeing in the

structure how amazing these verses are? Man,

go home this week, you want an assignment, just

study this passage and you will be blown away.

Okay, the picture that I get, the picture I get

as I was working on this last night, it's like

Paul's walking down a corridor of treasures and

he's walking down this long hallway and he's

just describing all the things that he sees as

he goes. These beautiful treasures that God has

given to us and what he realizes as he's writing

and he can't take a breath, he's like, well,

if I talk about that one, I gotta talk about

that one. If I talk about that one, I gotta talk

about that one. And he just goes on and on. It

is just so beautiful. And all these truths are

interconnected. Okay, enough, Jeff. Just get

to the blessings, right? Okay, so verse three

again. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord

Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual

blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just

as he, what? Chose us. in him. Another one of

those important phrases. Chose us in him before

the foundation of the world. Can that be true?

That we would be holy and blameless before him?

Okay, blessing number one. Because we've been

raised to life with Jesus, we've been chosen

to be holy and blameless in his sight. I mean,

that alone is a mic drop, is it not? Because

The reason this one is put first is if without

this, all the others would never happen. All

the others would not matter. But for every believer,

we're told over and over in Scripture that God

foreknew us in the sense of foreloving us. When

you see the word foreknow or foreknew in Scripture,

don't misunderstand. It's as if God just had...

knowledge about us no he for loved us he marked

us out for salvation even before he began to

create the world and so this not only emphasizes

god's 100 sovereignty over salvation but it rules

out our participation in it because not one of

us was present at the foundation of creation

so it's ruled out now within time and space we

I always have to give this disclaimer because

I don't want you to think we believe in robot

theology. Within time and space, we do truly

make a decision to put our trust in Christ. Of

course, I know I did many years ago. I wanted

it. I made that decision. But what the Bible

tells us, almost like Wizard of Oz pulling the

curtain back to see what's really going on, right?

What the Bible tells us is without God choosing

us first, not one of us would ever have arrived

at that very real decision. And those two things

can fit together. God's choice in eternity past,

our decision in time and space. Behind the scenes,

what had happened was God chose us, elected us,

and then in time and space called us, drew us

to himself, and then he regenerated our hearts,

changed our affections such that we would turn

to him and make that decision to be saved. But

if God doesn't do that work, none of us gets

here. Not one of us would be in this room worshiping

today if God hadn't done that work. And to think

that my election, my election proceeds from a

grace that was born at the dawn of creation is

such a glorious thought. It really is. Don't

let it make you arrogant. Let it make you humble

that at the dawn of creation, God had you in

mind, that your name was written on his heart.

Amen? It got quiet there. And then don't miss,

by the way, what Paul says in verse four, that

we're chosen in Christ in union with him with

a particular end result, that when it's all said

and done and we pass from this life, right, into

a better stage of life, that God will have completed

the work he promised to do in you. Catch that

now. He's promised to complete his work in you.

And someday he will perfect it and you will be

holy and blameless before God. That's amazing.

All right, we'll go faster to the other ones.

Number two, because we've been raised to life

with Jesus, we're predestined to be adopted as

children of God. Look at the end of verse four

and end of verse five. In love, he predestined

us to adoption as sons. Here it is, through Jesus

Christ to himself. according to the kind intention

of his will, to the praise of the glory of his

grace, which he freely bestowed on us in his

beloved. So building upon God's choosing of us

before the world was made, now we see that God

predestined or foreordained that we would, and

there's no uncertainty in this, that we would

come into his family, that we'd be adopted as

sons and daughters. And be adopted how? Through

our mediator, Jesus Christ, our only mediator.

He grants us full status as his children. We

get full access to God the Father. We now go

straight to the throne of grace with confidence,

the Bible says, through Jesus Christ. We don't

need priests. We don't need any human beings.

We have the confidence to go to the throne of

grace because of this. This is staggering, you

guys. We can say, we can call God Abba. And what's

so staggering about this is prior to us being

saved, we were sons of disobedience living under

the wrath of God. Talk about a reversal of fortune.

And now we're sons and daughters with access

to the creator of the universe. Are you seeing

it? Are you seeing the blessings? Wow. Before

we move on, take note that this predestination

is according to the kind intention of God's will,

according to his pleasure. Listen, I know election

is hard for us as human beings, but God loves

it. He's pleased by it. It's part of his kind

intention. He doesn't do it reluctantly. He is

delighted to elect us unto salvation. And imagine

this, choosing in his absolute freedom to save

sinners, rebellious people, and make them his

beloved children for his own pleasure, for his

own glory. This should be an absolute wonder

to us that any of us is saved. And that's why

week after week we get up here and what do we

do? We sing his praises because we understand

who we were and who we are now. Praise the Lord

for that. Blessing number three, because we've

been raised to life with Jesus, we are redeemed

by his blood and our sins forgiven. Verse seven,

in him we have redemption through his blood,

the forgiveness of our trespasses according to

what? The riches of his grace which he lavished

on us. This one speaks for itself, doesn't it?

This is a direct result of the cross. Jesus is

voluntary laying down his life and becoming our

substitute on the cross. What does the word redemption

mean? It means paying something to free somebody.

Paying the ransom price in order to set us free.

It is the zeroing, accountants in the room, the

zeroing out of our accounts of sin. It's just

wiped. It's wiped. And imagine the collective

weight of mankind's sin put on his head as he

endured the wrath of God for six hours on a cross.

Are you grateful this morning that you have a

substitute? What a blessing. Number four, because

we've been raised to life with Jesus, we're given

knowledge of his mysterious will. End of verse

eight. In all wisdom and insight, he made known

to us the mystery of his will. Again, according

to his kind intention. Guys, he's being kind

to us. In all of these things, which he purposed

in him, there it is again, with a view to an

administration suitable to the fullness of the

times, that is the summing up of all things in

Christ, again, things in the heavens and things

on the earth. So how has God revealed his will

to us? Through his divine word, which first of

all is the person of Christ. He is the divine

word, is he not? He's the logos. in whom, Paul

says, are hidden all the treasures of wisdom

and knowledge, all in Christ. First of all, that's

how God has shown us his will. It starts with

Jesus. And then secondly, it's the written word

of God, which I see sitting in your lap. Oh,

that silly little book? Yeah. All the divine

mysteries of God's will, the creator's will for

you. And the part of God's will that Paul has

in mind specifically here is how all things are

gonna end up. Don't we all wanna know how things

are gonna end? How all things are gonna be summed

up in Christ. How by studying God's word and

by the wisdom and insight that the spirit gives

us, we can come to conclusions about the ultimate

purposes of redemptive history and how it's all

gonna come to an end because God has revealed

it to us in his divine word. Wow. Number five,

because we've been raised to life with Jesus,

we are heirs to a great inheritance in the life

to come. Who didn't love a good inheritance,

right? In him, verse 11, also we have obtained

an inheritance, having been predestined, there's

that word again, according to his purpose, who

works all things after the counsel of his will.

Oh wait, did you hear that? He doesn't work some

things and then lets human beings decide everything

else. No, he works all things after the counsel

of his will to the end that we who are the first

to hope in Christ would be to the praise of his

glory. Every one of these is a sermon series.

It's just amazing. But this is so beautiful.

As adopted children, we have been written into

the will. We have been written in. Adoption leads

to inheritance. And we're told in Romans 8, as

undeserving as we are, that somehow we've been

made co -heirs with Christ to everything that

God has. Are you serious? That we can look to

Jesus almost like our big brother. We're co -heirs

with him. And then Paul says this amazing thing,

1 Corinthians 2 .9, Paul says, look, things that

no eye has seen. No ear has heard, no mind imagined

are the things that God has prepared for those

who love him. Your inheritance is beyond anything

that you can imagine. Anybody feeling blessed

yet? Because there's one more. Number six, because

we've been raised to life with Jesus, we are

sealed in him by the Holy Spirit. Verse 13, in

him you also, after listening to the message

of truth, that's the gospel, the gospel of your

salvation. having also believed you were sealed

in him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who was

given as a pledge of our inheritance with a view

to the redemption of God's own possession, that's

us, to the praise of his glory. The language

is amazing here. And what a way to end this list

of promises. All of these promises are sealed

and guaranteed by God himself, the Holy Spirit.

They cannot be broken. They cannot be taken away.

They cannot fade. They're guaranteed. He has

put his mark of ownership on us and he's given

us an absolute pledge concerning our eternal

security. The fact that the spirit of God indwells

us now is said to be a down payment towards our

full redemption on that day when we would be

ushered into the presence of Christ. We have

a down payment in the spirit. Wow, what a list,

right? I'm going to ask the question again. What

rational person says no to this? If you're here

this morning and you don't trust in Christ, why

would you refuse this? Every blessing in the

spiritual realms. But let me finish with this.

I'll finish with this reminder and just wrap

up. Again, all of this blessing is found only

in Christ. Only in Christ. If he's not your savior,

if he's not your Lord, if you haven't died to

yourself and taken up a cross to follow him,

these blessings are not yours. You don't have

them. And you can't go buy them. And you can't

try to wake up tomorrow and say, I'm gonna work

harder to try to earn God's favor. You'll never

earn enough. You can't find a loophole. Can't

go to your lawyer and say, find me a loophole

in this so I can get in. What it takes is simply

saying, I have nothing to offer you, Jesus. I

have nothing to offer you except my repentance

and my desire to know you and to give up my life

so that I can find true life in you. That's it.

That's it. If that describes you and you want

that and you've sensed the Spirit of God drawing

you this morning, don't delay. Today is the day

of salvation. Put your trust in him today. And

if you have any questions about anything you've

heard today, will you find me after the service

or look me up this week? It'd be my pleasure

to talk to you about it. For those of us who

are here this morning who are found in Christ,

the message this Easter morning is pretty simple.

Because he was raised to life, you are raised

to life. That is a present reality. You are raised

to life and being blessed by God with every good

gift that we need and every spiritual blessing

in the heavenly realms. And because we have those

things, we bless God. Because that's how it starts,

right? Blessed be God. We bless God in return.

Now, when we do that, we're not giving him anything

that he lacks. He lacks for nothing. Our blessing

is to give him praise, to give him thanks, and

to joyfully. together as a body, offer our lives

to him as living sacrifices. For what? For his

glory. That's how it works. Friend, why do you

seek the living one among the dead? He's not

in that tomb. He's risen. Let's bow our heads.

Lord, this passage renders us almost speechless.

when we think about what it means to be united

to you. We're so undeserving, Lord. We're so

rebellious. We're so selfish. And then you changed

our hearts and none of us here this morning can

explain why you did that except your good pleasure

and your choice and your will. And so we are

not arrogant about it, not even close. We are

humbled by it. That at the dawn of creation,

our names were written on your hand and you marked

us out and forloved us and said, there's coming

a time when I will draw them and call them and

regenerate their hearts and then justify them

in my sight and then complete a work in them

so that someday they can come to me for all eternity,

holy and blameless, and spend all of eternity

worshiping and praising the name of the Lamb

who has taken away our sin. What a story we have.

Lord, I pray that you will continue to seal these

truths in all of our hearts, that we would not

keep it to ourselves, that we would go out into

this world that is so lost and so in need of

this message and begin to share with people how

great you are and how many blessings you have

for those who will simply come with empty hands.

Father, thank you for saving us this morning.

Lord, for every person here this week will help

us, cause us to meditate on these truths and

to praise you all the more and help us to do

that right now as we continue to sing. Lord,

we love you and we praise you that we were found

in Jesus this morning. Amen.