Who Are We? // Seven Spiritual Blessings of the Redeemed [Ephesians 1:1-14] (Gavin Lynch)

Good morning, everyone. Today we're continuing our

series, our Who Are We series and we're going to be going.

We've been going through this so far this year and we're going to

continue that as we start a new book.

And that book is the book of Ephesians, which will will be

our focus for the next few months and we'll be looking.

At who we are in Christ. So the question is, do you have

ever have those moments where you're lying in bed and you

can't sleep and you start thinking about things like, who

am I? Why am I here?

Why am I like I am? What is my purpose?

Did I leave the iron on? These are some of the things

that sometimes run through my mind when I can't sleep.

But the good thing is we don't have to rely on human philosophy

to answer these questions. We can rely on the truth of

scripture. And the book of Ephesians tells

us who we are in Christ. It is one of the key themes of

this wonderful book, and earlier this year our young adults

groups actually studied. The the book of Ephesians as

part of the weekly weekly Bible studies.

So they have a bit of a a heads up on this study.

But it is such a great book and it's so good that as a church we

can actually look at this in depth over the next few months.

So today has been read, we're going to be looking at the 1st

14 verses of chapter one in the book of Ephesians, Ephesians 11

to 14. So the heading for this message

is. Seven spiritual blessings of the

redeemed and God's spiritual blessings are not limited to

seven. There are many, many more.

But today we're going to be looking at 7 that are mentioned

in these verses we're looking at and our overall theme is the

redeemed in Christ receive spiritual blessings which gives

God glory, the redeemed in Christ.

Receive spiritual blessings which give God glory and

friends. These are great verses and Paul

the writer gets straight into reminding us of who we are in

Christ. And it is really important.

It's a really important thing for us to be reminded of this,

who we are in Christ, because we can so easily forget this and we

can drop back. Into our old ways.

If we're not careful, the enemy will do all He can to make us

forget who we are in Christ, or make us think we are not worthy

or good enough for what Christ has done for us.

Or tell us we can't get past the sins we have done in the past,

or struggle to accept that the Savior of the world would die

for you. Satan will tell you that you

aren't doing enough and that you are a failure as a Christian.

And this reminder was actually really relevant to me this week.

You know, normally I think I'm a reasonably positive kind of

person. I'm a glass half full kind of

guy and I like to see the best in people and I'm usually truly

thankful for what the Lord has done for me.

But on Thursday this week? I had a few things thrown at me

that really shook me and I easily went into a bit of a woe

is me type of thinking that I was a bit of a failure and not a

good enough person. But the best thing for me was to

come back to these verses and Ephesians and be reminded of who

I am in Christ. These verses reminded me of how

God sees me. And for that, I am so thankful.

I'm also thankful that God doesn't run performance reviews

or have KPI targets on us as Christians that we need to meet

or else I would get fired. We don't have to track our

Christian performance or get an A+ and Christian living to get

the blessings of God. If that was the case, I would

miss the mark all the time. But in these verses, Paul goes

about showing us and reminding us of who we are in Christ and

what we are designed to do, and that is to give glory to God.

So let's walk our way through these verses and see the

richness of what God has done for us and who we are in His in

His sight. Today.

We get the opportunity to track the blessings that we have and

which we can be truly thankful for.

We didn't have to earn any of these blessings, so let's look

at verse one to two. Paul starts his greeting by

introducing himself as the author of this letter and lays

down his credentials an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of

God. And a quick point to note here

is that Paul was doing the will of God by being an apostle.

He wasn't appointed into this role by man, He wasn't.

Chosen by the other apostles, he didn't have a theological degree

that qualified him for the role. This wasn't a job for Paul.

It was a calling, not a qualification.

God qualifies those he calls. God seeks availability above

ability, but for God this was a role given to him by Jesus

Christ himself. And next nine we read of his

conversion by Jesus on the road to Damascus.

And in verses 15 to 16 it says, For he is a chosen vessel of

mine to bear my name before the Gentiles, kings and children of

Israel. For I will show him how many

things he must suffer for my sake.

So the best thing we can be doing is the will of God.

It is important that the ministry or service you are

doing is because you have been called to it by the Lord.

The reason it is important is because.

When times get tough, which they will, we know the Lord will help

us through it, and they'll help help us through those difficult

times because it is He who has called us to it, to that

ministry. If we have gone into that area

on our own strength, it is easier to give it away when the

tough times come. So for Paul, he was doing the

will of God, and this is a good example to us doing what God has

called you to do. Might not be the easiest

sometimes, as Paul found out, but it is the best place to be.

So Paul continues and he says that he is writing to the Saints

of Ephesus and the faithful in Christ Jesus.

So this letter is to believers in Jesus Christ initially

written to the church at Ephesus, and then it would have

been passed around the other churches in that area.

But it is also to the faithful in Christ Jesus that includes

us. Paul would have had no idea that

his words he was writing would be studied at Hukunary Bible

Church in Hamilton, New Zealand in 2023.

But God did. God's word through Paul is as

relevant to us today as it was to the believers in Paul's time.

And then Paul finishes his greeting the same way he does in

all his letters, which we see in verse two.

In this verse we see. The equality of God the Father

and the Lord Jesus Christ, who are both equally divine.

It's continuing to verse 3. This verse is central to the

book of Ephesians. Now if you're if you like

underlining your Bible, then underline this verse.

This is a good verse. If you're even more spiritual

and you highlight your Bible, then highlight this one.

In most of your Bibles there are two blessed words, but they mean

two different things in this verse.

The first, blessed at the start of the verse, starts off with

blessed be God, be the God or. But some versions will say

praise be to God or praise God, which is actually what this

blessed means. It is us giving praise to God,

which is what we are designed and called to do.

But the second blessed is about the blessings that God has

poured out onto us through Christ.

And here we see that He has blessed us with every spiritual

blessing. So Paul isn't talking about

here, isn't talking about physical blessing that God gives

us. The fact that we are here this

morning, the fact that we have breath in our lungs to give him

praise and glory, this is a physical blessing.

We have roofs over our head. Water is in our tap.

Maybe the ability to work or study.

These are all physical blessings which we can be thankful for.

God also physically blesses the just and the unjust equally in

some instances, Matthew 545 tells us that for he makes his

sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just

and the unjust. But what Paul is talking about

here is different. This is spiritual blessings.

And they are solely for those who have Jesus Christ as their

Savior. They are specifically for those

who are in Christ. And God hasn't blessed us with

some spiritual blessings. It says here that He has blessed

us with every spiritual blessing.

This is the graciousness of God, that he would pour out all

blessings on those who are His children.

So let's look at some of these spiritual blessings that God has

so graciously poured out onto us.

These spiritual blessings remind us of who we are in Christ.

So firstly, God chose you and verse four, God chose you.

What a wonderful and encouraging truth that is.

God chose you. He chose you before the

foundation of the world. Now, for some of you, that that

whole thing of being chosen might bring up some really bad

memories of your childhood when you were playing rounders in the

primary school at lunchtime and you know you'd get the two

captains and then they'd start choosing between.

You'd all be there and you'd lined up and.

Then he'd choose one and he'd choose one and they always chose

the sporty boys 1st. And then they chose the sporty

girls. And then they chose their non

sporty friends. And then you kind of left at the

end and you're the last one and it just feels terrible, you

know. But praise God, God doesn't play

rounders. Thankfully you weren't chosen

because of how good you are. It's not on your mirror.

It doesn't matter how good you are, You were chosen by God's

grace. Now this message is focused on

who we are in Christ, not on the doctrine of election or

predestination. I'm sorry to disappoint some

people, but I would like just to say one thing.

Scripture talks about the sovereignty of God and the free

will of man. It talks about both, and I think

Jeff summed it up really well at the start of our One Peter

series with the analogy of the pendulum which can swing right

over to one side. Where people might say that it's

only the sovereignty of God that he knows all things which he

does and controls all things which he does, and therefore

there are those that have been chosen.

And then if you're being chosen, fantastic.

But if you haven't been chosen, well, that's bad luck.

And then the pendulum swings right over to the other side,

where God has given man complete free will, and it is fully at

man's discretion whether he accepts Christ or not.

But in the middle, where the pendulum will rest, that is

where I believe the doctrine of election sits.

God is completely sovereign, and He sits outside of time and He

sees all things. Scripture is clear that He has

chosen you before the foundation of the world, but He has also

given you a free will to make a decision to follow Him.

What we can hold on to in this is the wonderful truth that God

has chosen you. And he has done that for a

specific purpose, that we should be holy and without blame before

him in love. And how can we be holy and

blameless before God? Only through the redeeming work

of Jesus Christ on the cross, because God chose us in Him

being Christ, we the unrighteous receive the righteousness of

Christ because of Jesus we the unworthy.

Become holy and blameless before God.

Our second spiritual blessing is that God has adopted you in

verse five. There is something really

special about adoption. It is the whole thought that

parents make a conscious decision to choose that child

and bring them into their family and give them everything that

any natural born child of the family would get.

Legally, emotionally and physically, the adopted child

receives the family name and is legally a member of the family

and entitled to all that the family has to offer.

And we have an example that in the Bible when we look at Esther

who was adopted into Mordecai's family and it's like this for us

when we adopted into by God through into his family, he has

made a decision to choose you and adopt you as his own.

Why? Because he wants to.

When God adopts us into his family, we are also made into

the image of his own Son, Jesus Christ, and we receive the

riches and blessings of Christ and also His nature.

We are not only become children of God, but we become joint ears

with Christ, Romans 815 to 17 says.

For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear.

But you receive the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out.

Ever Father, the Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit

that we are children of God. And if children, then ears, ears

of God, and joint ears with Christ, if indeed we suffer with

him, that we may also be glorified together.

Verses 5 and six also give us the reason why God has chosen us

and adopted us. It is his will and it is and it

is for his glory. God is glorified by the plan of

salvation, by choosing and adopting us as his own.

All glory be to God. Our third spiritual blessing we

read in these verses is that God has redeemed you.

Verse 7 Redemption, you know, is one of those words that we often

talk about. And Christian circles a lot.

And sometimes we talk about it to the point that we actually

forget how amazing the reality of God redeeming us truly is.

Because redemption is a marketplace term.

To redeem something is to regain possession or ownership of it by

payment of some kind. It is to purchase or buy back

the item, but at a price. The thing about redeeming or

buying back something is that the one who does the redeeming

is willing to pay the price to buy back the item because it is

something that they really want or care for.

God's redemption for you and I was a deliberate and purposeful

act to buy us back from the bondage of sin.

And God was willing to pay the only price that could do that.

And that price was the shedding of blood by a perfect sacrifice.

And the only perfect sacrifice that there is is His one and

only Son, Jesus Christ. The price of our redemption was

death, and that price was paid through Jesus Christ and his

death on the cross. That is the price that God,

through Christ was willing to pay and redeem you and I.

That blows my mind. Our 4th spiritual blessing.

We also see in verse seven God has forgiven your sins and this

is probably one of the biggest, if not the biggest and most

amazing spiritual blessing we receive.

When God Forgives us our sins, it is done and dusted.

The slate is wiped clean and he will never bring them back up

again or hold them against us. But The thing is, as people, it

is really easy for us to go back and back to something that

someone did to us months or years ago and hold it against

that person still. Even though at the time we may

have said that we had forgiven them and we will often put hold

God to our weak and sinful standard.

And that we that we hold to ourselves, we often think well

and that God has forgiven me, but surely he'll remind me of

this, these sins later. Why?

Because that's what I do. But God's not like that.

There is a reason that our redemption through his blood and

the forgiveness of our sins are mentioned together here in verse

7, Hebrews 922 says indeed under the law.

Almost everything is purified with blood and without the

shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins because the

price of our sin has been paid for in full through the shedding

of Christ's blood on the cross. When we repent of our sins and

ask God for forgiveness, then He will forgive us our sins and

wipe the slate clean and we are seen as righteous in God's eyes.

One Dom 19 says if we confess our sins, he is faithful and

just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all

unrighteousness. This is truly a wonderful

blessing from God that the unworthy and sinful creature

that I am that you are, can have our sins forgiven by the one who

is rich and abounding in grace our fifth.

Spiritual blessing that we see in these verses comes in verse

nine. God has revealed the mystery of

his will to you, verses 9 and 10.

Now, I bet a lot of you love a good mystery.

I love a good mystery. You know, a little bit of

Sherlock Holmes, maybe some might like a bit of Agatha

Christie, but you know, you get a good book like that.

There's always that temptation to kind of flick to the end of

the book. Before you even start, you know

and see how it finishes. But the good thing with God is

that we don't have to wait or flick to the end of the book

that we can because it is actually in the end of this book

to see what happens. He has already revealed to us

his end plan, so this spiritual blessing is pretty cool.

God and His wisdom and grace has made known to us the mystery of

His will. Now to me this seems like an

incredible imbalance of sharing of knowledge that the sovereign

God and the creative of the universe would want to reveal

the mystery of His will to us. It's kind of mind blowing, but

this is what he does now. A mystery in the in the Bible.

Here it is, a truth that was hidden in ages past but revealed

in the New Testament. And the many, there's many

through the New Testament, including this in the Ephesians

3 which we'll come to. But Paul goes on to tell us of

the mystery that he is talking about here, and the rest of

verses 9 and 10, where it says, having made known to us the

mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he

purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of

the times he might gather together, and won all things in

Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth in him.

So this mystery which God reveals to us.

Is that in the end of time or the completion of history, God

will gather all the believers together in the millennial

Kingdom? And which is what it talks about

here when it says the dispensation of the fullness of

the times. And then after that God will

gather everything to himself and create a new heaven and a new

earth. All this will be be for those

that are in Christ, those who have been redeemed by the blood

of Jesus and had their sins forgiven.

Our 6th spiritual blessing that we read here in verse 11.

God will give you an inheritance.

Now do you have a will? If you have a will, you know

there will be a list of beneficiaries there in your will

and they will inherit when you die.

They will inherit the things that you want them to have.

They are the people that you want to have.

What is yours? You choose who they are and what

they get. This is their inheritance.

This inheritance that it talks about here connects us back to

our second blessing that we looked at, that we adopted by

God through Christ into the family of God as believers in

Christ. We are now children of God.

Let's look at that verse again in Romans 8. 15 to 17 it said,

For you did not receive the Spirit of bondage again to fear,

but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out.

Ever Father, the Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit

that we are children of God. And if children, then ears, ears

of God, and joint ears with Christ, if indeed we suffer with

him, that we may also be glorified together.

So we are children of God and also ears of God, but it doesn't

stop there because we are also joint ears with Jesus Christ.

It's like joint ownership we we die to our own life and we

inherit everything that Christ promises now and in the future.

This is an inheritance that will never perish or can be stolen.

So the question is, what is the inheritance we have obtained?

1P to 1/3 to four tells us that it is an incorruptible and

undefiled inheritance that does not fade away and is reserved

for you in heaven. Hebrews 915 says that it is an

internal sorry, it is an eternal inheritance.

So as joint is with Christ, we share in all the good and holy

things that are of Christ and for our blessing.

God and His grace shares His heavenly blessings with us

through Christ. Our inheritance is a heavenly

inheritance where we get to dwell in heaven in the presence

of our Savior and our God for eternity.

But just a note, being a joint ear with Christ does not make us

equal with Christ. He is the only Son of God and He

is the only Messiah. And in the rest of verse 11,

Paul reminds us of the reason why God chose to give us this

blessed inheritance. God purposed that that the

redemption and salvation of the lost would glorify God.

We get the blessings so that he gets the glory and our last

spiritual blessing that we're going to look at today.

God has sealed you with the Holy Spirit.

Versus 13 and 14. Now, I love this.

The idea that we have here is of a seal implies ownership.

So if this was a place of trade like many of the towns and the

cities of that time. So people would come to the

markets and they would find what they needed, purchase it, and if

they were going to get other things and other places, they

might leave it there and come back for it.

And if that was the case, they would set it aside.

And they would put their seal on it, their own special mark.

And this would show everyone else that they had paid for

these items and that they owned it.

The seal they put on the items showed everyone that it was

theirs. And it's the same thing for us.

God has redeemed us and paid the price for us to, and he's paid

the price to buy us back from a sinful life.

And then he seals us with the Holy Spirit to show everyone

that we are His. That's amazing.

Let's look at the Spirit 13 again.

And Him you also trusted after you heard the Word of Truth, the

gospel of your salvation, and whom, also having believed you,

were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.

So this is what happens at the point of salvation for the

believer. They hear the word of truth, the

gospel of Jesus Christ. They believe the gospel of Jesus

Christ, and they trust in Him, and at that point they are

sealed with the Holy Spirit. At the moment of salvation, when

you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, you are sealed with the

Holy Spirit, and God says you are mine.

I have paid the price and bought you back, and you are mine.

How cool is that? But wait, there's more.

And it's not steak knives. God Seal isn't a seal of wax or

a mark that can be broken or removed.

His seal is of the Holy Spirit is a living seal.

It is a person, the person of the Holy Spirit, which indwells

in you. And this seal comforts, it,

teaches, it guides, it gives peace, it helps, and it leads

us. This isn't a physical seal.

This is a spiritual seal. And John 1415 to 17 says, if you

love me, keep my commandments, and I will pray, and I will pray

the Father, and he will give you another helper, that he may

abide with you forever, the Spirit of truth, whom the world

cannot receive, because it is neither.

It neither sees him nor knows him.

But you know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

Now verse 14 of Ephesians 1 here goes on to say that the seal of

the Holy Spirit that we receive actually guarantees our

inheritance that he talked about earlier.

So the seal not only helps comforts and teaches us, it also

guarantees our heavenly inheritance.

Praise God. So let's look back over who we

are. Let's us who are the redeemed in

Christ. Look back and see who we are in

Christ. Let's make this personal.

By God's great grace and mercy, you are chosen.

You are adopted. You are redeemed.

You have your sins forgiven. You have been revealed the

mystery of His will. You have an inheritance and you

have been sealed with the Holy Spirit as an individual and as a

church. The question is how do we apply

this to our lives? These verses can be so

encouraging to us all. When we see who we are in Christ

or are reminded of how God sees us, it changes how we view who

we are. If you're a younger person who

is struggling with a world that constantly tells you that you

need to look a certain way or be a certain size or dress a

certain way to fit in and be accepted, then stop and read

these verses. Because these verses remind you

of how God sees you. Your worth is held in who you

are in Jesus Christ. That is your true value.

If you've been through a relationship breakup and you

have been hurt through that and yourself esteem has been not let

go of what you think the other person person thinks of you and

hold on to how God sees you. Hold on to who you are in

Christ. Maybe you're a parent, Maybe

your life is so busy. With life and work and family

that you now only see yourself for what you have to do.

Taxi driver, cook cleaner, the one who brings in the paycheck.

But this isn't how God sees you. Maybe you've lost your job

recently or have been looking for a while, but nobody has

taken you on. Be reminded in these verses that

your value doesn't come from the job you do.

It comes from who God sees you and has made you to be.

You might be older now and health issues are creeping up on

you and you can't do what you used to be able to do.

You might think that you are now no use to your family or friends

or church, but this isn't how God sees you friends as a

believer. So one who has received these

amazing spiritual blessings. When God looks at you, he sees

you cloaked in the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

He sees you as He would see his Son.

Friends now know who you are in Christ because it changes how we

do life and the witness that we can be to those around us.

As a church, our desire should be to be imitators of Christ.

If God loves our brothers and sisters in Christ enough to

choose, adopt, and redeem them, then we should also.

This can be really tough, though, because this church

right here is full of sinners, saved sinners, but sinners

nevertheless. And sometimes we say the wrong

things or we rub each other up the wrong way.

All we stuff up, and I put my hand up for that.

All three of those and many more.

Sometimes we're hard to love, but when we see how God sees the

person sitting next to you, he gives us the perfect example of

how we should value each other as well.

Friends, these verses tell us who we are in Christ.

This is how God sees you and me. Because of the redeeming work of

Christ on the cross, every believer, every person who has

accepted Christ as his Savior has had these spiritual

blessings poured out on them by a gracious and merciful God.

Do we deserve this? Absolutely not.

Should we be thankful for this? Absolutely.

This I don't want this to be a self help clinic where we come

and we pat ourselves on the back and say how special we are.

Because as we read these verses we see that we are only the

beneficiaries. All the blessings that we read

in these verses, they all come because God has graciously and

mercifully bestowed them on us. None of them are from our own

work, but they are all from God. So why does God bless us this

way? These verses also tell us

multiple times why verse five and six tells us it is according

to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory

of His grace by which he made us, accepted in the beloved.

Verse 7 says it's according to the riches of his grace which he

made to abound towards us. Verse 9 According to his

pleasure, that pleasure which he purposed in himself, Verse 11

says it is was according to the purpose of him who works all

things according to the council of the of his will.

Verse 12 says that we should be doing it to the praise.

It's for the praise of his glory.

Verse 14 tells us that it is to the praise of his glory God's

purpose for lavishing these spiritual blessings onto us.

Is for his pleasure and his glory.

Friends, His words say that you are chosen.

You are adopted, redeemed, and forgiven.

He has revealed mysteries to you that were previously unknown.

He has an inheritance for you that is stored in heaven for

eternity, and He has guaranteed that for you with His Holy

Spirit. This is who you are in Christ,

and through it all God is glorified.

All glory be to God. Let's pray heaven.

Father, we thank you for your word.

We thank you for who we are in Christ, and it's nothing from

our own strengths or what we do or.

Our own merit, but it's it's all from you.

And we thank you for the redeeming work of Christ for us.

We thank you for the forgiveness of sin.

We thank you that we are chosen and adopted by you, what you

have revealed and the inheritance to come, and that we

are sealed with your Holy Spirit.

We give you all thanks and all praise and all glory.