David Jeremiah - Eight Spiritual Blessings
It was a dream come true from Roman Yurkov. As a 35-year-old car salesman from Tula, Russia, Yurkov had his share of financial troubles, including a gambling habit. Like most people in his community, he was doing the best he could to get by. Then one day in May of 2020, Yurkov was surprised to see that 95 million rubles, approximately $1.3 million, had been deposited into his bank account. The deposit had come through his online bookie which caused Yurkov to believe or maybe hope that this windfall was the result of some wager paying off in a big way.
Still feeling somewhat skeptical, he called his bank, and to his surprise, employees there told him there were no issues with his account. The money was real. It really was his. For Roman Yurkov, this unexpected turn of events represented an incredible blessing and he set out about blessing himself in every way possible. On the night of May 31 and into the morning of June 1 Yurkov made 200 separate transactions. Among the items he purchased on that spending spree were four separate apartments, a new iPhone, a BMW, and a Mercedes. "I bought everything I wanted," he said, "except the airplane. I didn't get around to that yet".
Roman Yurkov's story does not have a happy ending. His bank later became aware of some discrepancies in its accounting. In November, Yurkov's account, which amazingly still held about $540,000, was blocked. The following month he was arrested on charges of stealing from a bank. Despite continued protestations of his innocence, the court found Yurkov guilty of taking advantage of a malfunction in the bank's software and they sentenced him to 6 years in prison. For Roman Yurkov, the dream turned into a nightmare because his hopes for the future relied on resources he did not possess and did not control. He relied on that which is inherently unreliable. Can I get a witness?
Of course, he's not the only one. Our world is centered on the pursuit of what is temporary. That goes beyond wealth and finances. Society constantly pushes us to chase power and authority. Our culture is obsessed with fame and notoriety. Our communities convince us that the right relationships will eventually open the right doors and pathways to purpose and meaning. But power can be pulled away in a minute. Fame is fickle and relationships founded on self-indulgence quickly go toxic. Worse yet, even if we were to exert ourselves for decades and fiercely hold on to everything that we attain, our money, our reputation, our connections, there is still the inescapable reality of the grave.
And I've told you before the last time I looked, that affected 100% of us. No matter what we achieve or accomplish or acquire in this life, we will lose it when life comes to an end. Every blessing this world offers is a blessing we cannot keep. If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, the blessings described in the book of Ephesians are already yours. They've already been deposited into the bank in heaven. All the numbers check out. There will be no accounting errors or reassignments.
As we walk through the opening verses of Ephesians together, I want to remind you and me about our true wealth, what we really have as followers of Christ, what really matters: an inheritance that is not vulnerable to the fluctuations of the stock market, not touched by inflation, it cannot be lost through corruption and greed at the top. In other words, your blessings, my blessings, as a believer in Jesus Christ are secure. They are all ready for us to use even today, and even right at this moment. Those resources are enough to cover all your past debts, to meet all your present liabilities, and provide for all of your future needs.
The book of Ephesians is all about the blessing of God on our lives. It's also about our behavior. In fact, the book is easy to outline around those two themes. The first chapters are about what we believe. And the second chapters is how we behave. How many of you know, how you behave depends on what you believe? And Ephesians just lays that out for us. Chapters 1 through 3, here's what you believe. Chapters 4 and following, here's how you behave. Paul is telling us that our behavior is grounded in God's blessing. And that is why I have titled this series of messages, "Belief that Behaves".
This passage of scripture that we're going to study today is truly an interesting one. It is the longest sentence in the Bible. If you read it in the Greek language, there are no periods from the beginning of verse 3 all the way to the end of verse 14. I know that's true because when I was in seminary in Greek class, I had to diagram these verses and the diagram ran off the first page and on to a second page and everything modifies everything else and the whole sentence just keeps going and going and going. It's amazing. I used to wonder why Paul would include such a long sentence in his epistle. But I think I understand it now.
I think Paul started dictating to the Ephesians about all the blessings God has for us. And he got so excited, he couldn't even take a breath. He just kept going one right after the other until he exhausted everything he had to say. And then he quit. He started with the blessings connected to eternity past and carried them all the way through our present lives. And then he ended up in eternity future. As a result, this list of gifts is sequential. Every one reinforces the one that came before and introduces the one that comes after. It's truly an amazing paragraph in the Bible.
I want to follow Paul's example in this message. There's so much packed into these verses that I could write a book about them. I could preach a message on every little phrase. But if I did that, I would lose the essence of what Paul wants. He went through these one after the other like staccato and I'm gonna try to do that the same. So put on your listening ears, we're gonna move. Here's a whirlwind tour through some of the gifts we've received from our good and gracious Father in heaven.
First of all, in Ephesians 1:4, we are told that we are chosen. We're chosen. Paul begins the Bible's longest sentence by telling every person who has accepted the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ that we have been chosen. Notice what it says in verse 4: "Just as God chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love". The Bible tells us that God is love and love cannot live alone, love needs others. And so God determined to bring to himself a group of people that he would choose to come and spend eternity with him. And scripture says he chose these people for himself before the world ever began.
Now, I know I'm treading on some very controversial territory here when I write about being chosen. Maybe you've heard the word "election" and it stuck in your throat. What does it mean when it says "Almighty God chose us before the foundation of the world"? Well, I've studied this carefully in the Greek language and in all the commentaries and I figured it out. Are you ready to hear what it means? It means God has chosen us. That's what it means. Whether we like it or not, whether we can understand it or not, the Word of God says that before there was a world, before you and I existed, before there was anything in the heart of Almighty God, he had thoughts about us. He pictured our faces. He understood our hearts. He fashioned the ins and outs of our minds and then knowing everything about who you would be and what you would become, if you're a Christian, he chose you.
You say, "Well, how did I get chosen, and somebody else didn't"? I'll never be able to comprehend that. Truth is a mystery that I cannot explain, but it is still truth and it is still God's Word. Now, please don't get arrogant about this if you feel chosen because it's really nothing to do with you at all. You didn't get chosen 'cause you're handsome or because you're pretty, 'cause you have a great intellect, your IQ is higher than others, or even because you're a good, moral person. God chose you and me because of Jesus Christ. Our choice has nothing to do with who we are and everything to do with who he is.
The Bible says it, we can't contradict it. I'm faithful to you. If I don't teach it, whatever you might think about this truth, Almighty God has chosen you. And you should be able to say, with humility, "Thank you, Lord, for choosing me before the foundation of the world". Just one of the blessings. There's eight of them. Then we're adopted, verse 5. The second blessing Paul revealed to us is that not only are we chosen, but we are also adopted. Verse 5 says: "Having predestined to us to adoption as sons of Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will". And there's another one of those dangerous words, "predestined," you probably heard of that word before.
Paul doesn't use that word in a way many people use it today. He was not saying that in eternity past God predestined the entire outcome of your life so that you don't have free will and don't have the ability to make any real choices. No, the word "predestine" just means to set boundaries around something so that it stays on a certain course. Here's what the Bible says: God chose you in eternity past and then he predestined or predetermined in his sovereignty that you would be adopted as a son or daughter in his household.
This is a critical truth because adoption in the ancient world was way different than it is now. We have an adopted child and we've been through the adoption process and we know what that's all about. But in Paul's day, children didn't really have any legal rights or status until they reached a certain age, till they became mature, and when that time came, the child would be brought forth and officially recognized as an adult, which meant they were granted all the rights and all the privileges they deserved as an adult within that family.
So what God communicated through this passage of scripture is that when he chose us in the past, he determined that we should be adopted into his family as mature sons and mature daughters. We would have all the rights and privileges associated with a member of his family. That's news, of course, but here is the really astounding thing. The Bible says that because we have been adopted as mature sons and daughters in the family of God, we have the same status with Almighty God as Jesus Christ. We are co-heirs with him, the Bible says, which means everything Christ has with the Father we have with the Father.
Try to let that reality sink in for a moment. You have been chosen by God. You have been blessed not just with inclusion in his household but full adoption as a son or daughter. You are legally and spiritually a child of God. And then Paul says, and this one I like about as much as any of them: We are accepted. I recently came across a video featuring a young man named Kurt Kinley from Normal, Illinois. At the time of filming, Kurt was 20 years old and working 2 jobs. He also had Down syndrome, and the video captured the moment that Kurt opened an acceptance letter from a local community college.
As he takes the letter out of the envelope, you can see the anticipation on his face as well as the fear. His head swivels from side to side as he reads the first few sentences and then he raises his arms in triumph and says, "I'm in. I've been accepted"! Kurt's laughter and shouts of joy are quickly drowned out by his family and friends gathered around him. And after a moment of filming, he literally bounces with joy. His mom asked him to read the letter out loud. He started to do that. He stands with his father and he dutifully reads the first sentence and here's what the sentence said: "We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted," and he couldn't go any further, he just fell apart.
Oh, what it means to be accepted. As you look around the world today, men and women, what you see is Kurt Kinley is not the only person looking for acceptance. That's the case for all of us, acceptance from our parents. I've heard so many stories from guys who grew up in my generation who never really ever felt accepted by their father and they say, "Well, that was a different generation. Fathers back then didn't communicate very much. They just sort of were stoic, you know"?
I hope you didn't have a stoic father. And if you are a father, don't be a stoic father. Sometimes acceptance from our friends. We live in a culture right now where the internet rules and so many kids are getting off the track because they don't feel accepted and they go to the internet and they try to find acceptance there and they don't find it, and if they're not careful, they get on the wrong side of somebody and then they get bullied on the internet and sometimes destroyed. More suicides happening in that age group than we have ever had in the history of our country because of the lack of being accepted. Acceptance from the world. Acceptance where you work.
And then there's acceptance from God. How do I know that God has accepted me? Those of us who have chosen to follow Jesus can rest assured on that last count. As Paul makes clear in verses 5 and 6, we have already been accepted by our heavenly Father: "Having predestined us to adoption by sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to His good pleasure, to the praise and glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved". Notice, the word "Beloved". It's a term that refers to Jesus Christ. God looks down on his Son and says, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased".
Paul was teaching you and me who were chosen and adopted that we have also been accepted. And because of Jesus Christ, we belong to his family in the same way that Jesus Christ belongs to his family. Don't you love that gift? Isn't that a blessing worth treasuring? Almighty God accepts you in the same way he accepts his own Son, his beloved Son, Jesus Christ. So when you're having that moment of concern and maybe sometimes it's a little bit of self-pity too, and you wonder, "Does anybody accept me? Do I belong to anybody? Does anybody care?" let me ask you to go back and read this again. Underline it with your pen. Almighty God has accepted you.
And listen to me, if you've been accepted by the highest source and power in the universe, you have flat out been accepted. And you are accepted and you belong to God and you don't have to walk around wondering, "Do I fit"? and "Do I measure up"? You measure up with God because he uses the measuring stick of Jesus Christ. And when he looks to measure you, he measures Jesus Christ in your place. And Jesus Christ always measures up. We are chosen, we're adopted, we're accepted. And then the Bible says we're redeemed. Look at the next verse in the longest sentence in the Bible: "In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace".
Now that's a word we hear a lot in church, and I'm glad to get off those other more distinguishing terms and talk about redemption. What does it mean to be redeemed? Well, in the Greek language Paul used to write this letter, to redeem something meant to buy it back and cause it to be set free. My wife, Donna, and I have had the privilege of traveling around the country a lot. Some years back, we stopped in a Southern city and stayed at a hotel. While we were checking in, the concierge said to us, "Be sure you go and see the marketplace. Just about a block from this hotel is one of the old slave markets they used to use to sell and buy slaves, but they've turned it into a kind of flea market and you ought to go down there and see it".
Well, we did, we went down and I have to tell you, I had the eeriest feeling while we were there. I was walking through a place that represented one of the worst moments in the history of our nation, a period in which men and women created in the image of Almighty God were bought and sold like pieces of property, just like the various goods being marketed and purchased at that flea market today. It's a terrible thought, terrible image. But I want you to keep that image in mind as you read Romans 6:17 and 18 with me. It's on the screen. "But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness".
What a wonderful text that is. The Bible says that you and I used to be slaves on the slave market of sin. What does that mean? Before you come to Christ, it's impossible for you not to sin. I mean, you still sin if you become a Christian, but it doesn't have to be that way. But before you have a power within you to help you not to do sinful things, you're a slave to it. You're caught up in the slave market of sin. But one day, Almighty God came down to buy us back. Did you know what he used for collateral? He used his own Son, Jesus Christ, and his precious blood. He bought us by the precious blood of Christ off of the slave market of sin. And that blood was spilled on the altar of the cross.
And he bought us back so that we could be free not to sin and free to do right. He redeemed us. We are chosen, we are adopted, we are accepted, we are redeemed. And then it says we are enlightened, verses 1:8-9. Let's read it, "Which He made to abound toward us all in wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Himself".
Now, there's two phrases here that I want you to notice. First, God's riches and grace abound toward us in these ways: through wisdom and prudence. And then God makes known to us the mystery of his will. This goes back to the idea that before you become a Christian, you can't understand God. You can't understand godly things. You just wonder what is that all about? What are those crazy people doing that think that? Well, let me give you a verse of scripture that explains it. 1 Corinthians 2:14 says: "But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; he cannot know them because they are spiritually discerned".
What Paul is saying is that before you become a Christian, you can't understand. I've had so many people that I've talked to over the years telling them about my faith in Jesus Christ and leading them to a relationship with Christ. And they say something like this. One guy once told me, he said, "You know, I used to try to read that Bible you have and it never made any sense". And he said, "Then I accepted Christ and, in the meantime, somebody rewrote the Bible". And what he meant was now that he had the Holy Spirit in his heart, he began to understand the Bible. We can't understand spiritual things in the natural. We need the spiritual. And the Bible says that when you become a Christian, what happens is that you become capable of understanding the mysteries of God.
There's a verse in John, it always is such a blessing. And basically, it says this: If you want to know God's will as a Christian, you can know it. And that's a promise of God. The issue is sometimes we don't wanna know it. We wanna know it so we can measure it against our other options. If you wanna know the will of God, you have to know the will of God so you will do it. You have to say, "Okay, Lord, tell me what to do and I promise you when you tell me what to do, I'll do it". That's how you find the will of God. And then we're chosen and adopted and accepted and redeemed and enlightened. And then the Bible says we have an inheritance waiting for us.
Ephesians 1:11-12: "In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory". Now listen, if you're a follower of Christ, you have an inheritance that is reserved especially for you. Because you are mature sons and daughters in God's family, because you have been adopted into his family, and you have been accepted by the Father, you have all the rights and privileges that come with that legal status and one of those rights and privileges is an inheritance that is a special blessing each of us will receive one day.
Let me give you a little thought. If you are putting all your resources in what you have here today, you are gradually moving away from your treasure. If you put your resources in the things of God, you're gradually moving toward your reward. You've gotta make a choice. What is that inheritance? What does he mean when he says we're gonna get an inheritance? I don't really understand that completely.
But the apostle Peter offered us a little more in terms of a description. He said, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you". In other words, Peter says you are a Christian and God has a special reward, a special inheritance for you in heaven. Notice how he describes it. It's incorruptible, it's undefiled, and it doesn't fade away. It isn't subject to inflation, praise the Lord.
I read a sad story about a woman named Kathy from Astoria, Oregon, who passed away inside a homeless shelter. Much of Kathy's life was difficult and she had addicted herself to drugs. She was suffering from mental health issues. She was alone and disconnected, spent years on the street with no safe place to call home. In other words, she needed a lot of help. But the saddest part of her story is this. Her mom had passed away some years before and left her daughter $884,000 deposited in a state bank and people had tried to connect Kathy with the money she was owed. There were newspaper ads and even a private investigator hired to locate her, but unfortunately Kathy was never found and the money remained unclaimed at the time of her death.
I wanna tell you that won't happen with your inheritance. God has promised to us it is incorruptible and it is reserved in heaven for you. Whatever the nature of that may be, it's more wonderful than anything you can imagine. It's more grand than anything you can possibly write down on a sheet of paper. And then number seven is we are sealed: "In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise". What does that mean, "We were sealed"?
The Bible says this: When you become a Christian, a number of things happen at that moment. One of them is that the Holy Spirit comes to live within you. Comes to live within your heart, not your heart muscle, but the heart of who you are, the real you, your personality, your spirit, your soul. The Holy Spirit comes to indwell you.
You say, "Well, I always thought that you had to do something after you got saved and then you get to..." No, that's not what the Bible... the Bible says you can't be a Christian without the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit comes to live within you. Most people live their whole lives and don't realize the tremendous resource they have living inside of them: The Holy Spirit enabling them to live their lives in a way they could never imagine.
When the Holy Spirit comes to live within you, that Holy Spirit serves as a seal that you are God's. He is the guarantee that tells you no matter what is happening in your life, things are gonna be okay 'cause God is with you. He's in you. And the best way I can explain that is what happens when you send a piece of registered mail. When you go to the post office and you fill out a form and give them the letter and then they stamp a seal on that letter so that nobody can open it without the recipient knowing what happened, that seal provides a guarantee for the authenticity of the letter. The Bible says the Holy Spirit is the guarantee that what God promised from the past, he's gonna fulfill in the future.
How do I know? The Bible says the Holy Spirit lives in my heart. How do I know the Holy Spirit lives in my heart? Because the Bible says he witnesses with my Spirit that I am a child of God. And so the Bible tells us one of the blessings we get when we become a Christian is the guarantee that everything that God promised to us he will fulfill. We are Christians, the Holy Spirit is the seal. 'Cause we have the Holy Spirit, we know that one day everything he said is true, it's going to happen. As followers of Jesus, we are chosen, adopted, accepted, redeemed, enlightened, given an inheritance, sealed, and now finally, we are secure.
Verse 14, "The guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory". Some older translations of scripture replace the word "guarantee" with the word "earnest". Do you ever hear of earnest money? Do you know what earnest money is? When you go to buy a piece of real estate, you put down some earnest money, so that you're not just messing with them and they're not wasting their time. Usually it's enough to be painful if you lose it. So earnest money is the idea that you're going to buy this house that you've seen. By making that payment, you are showing the seller that your offer is serious. You are putting your money where your mouth is.
In a similar way, the Holy Spirit is the earnest money for our inheritance. He has provided part of our inheritance so that we can rest assured and rest secured in his promise that he is going to take us one day to be with the Father. To say all of that in another way: Once we receive the blessing of the Holy Spirit in our lives, our salvation is secured. The Spirit is proof positive that you and I will be in heaven one day. Some of you might want to argue over the doctrine of eternal security. You go ahead and argue it, but don't argue with me 'cause I already made up my mind.
I read the Bible and the Bible says when the Holy Spirit comes to live within you, God doesn't come and take him away. And as long as you have the Holy Spirit in your heart, you're on your way to heaven. How are we to say what we need to say to all these blessings? Ephesians 1:3 and 14 says it this way: "All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. He did this so we would praise and glorify him".
It was a sad day in the Williams household when they learned their neighbor Ken Watson had passed away. Ken's death wasn't a surprise. He was 87 and he suffered a lot of setbacks in his health, but Owen Williams and his wife knew that Ken's passing would be especially difficult for their young daughter, Katie. You see, Katie was only 2 years old at the time and she had a special connection with Mr. Watson.
In fact, he treated her more like a granddaughter than a neighbor, made special effort to deliver Christmas presents every year. And his passing would leave a really empty place not only within their neighborhood and street, but in little Katie's heart as well. Thankfully, that's not the end of the story. It turns out Ken Watson had one more trick up his sleeve before he died or to say it more accurately, one more gift to give. Shortly after Ken's death, his daughter stopped by with a large bag. She said it was for Katie. Inside were 14 gifts Ken had purchased for his friend. Fourteen wrapped gifts to bless the young girl for the next 14 Christmases.
He said, "I kept reaching into the bag and pulling out another gift. Seemed like they would never end". Fourteen of them in that bag. The gifts that Ken Watson left Katie Williams were something special indeed. But the gifts God has showered on us are infinitely better. Upon his death, Mr. Watson delivered 14 gifts to last for 14 years. But God the Father has lavished us with every spiritual blessings that span the horizon of time from eternity past to the eternity of the future and right into our lives today. So we have been blessed even more than little Katie. We have been blessed with eternal blessings chronicled for us in the book of Ephesians.