1 00:00:01,360 --> 00:00:05,360 Our scripture reading today is one verse, the third verse in 2 00:00:05,360 --> 00:00:07,320 the book of Ephesians. As with that we're studying 3 00:00:07,320 --> 00:00:12,360 together as a congregation. This verse of just a couple 4 00:00:12,360 --> 00:00:20,320 dozen words includes so much it it points to so much that just 5 00:00:20,320 --> 00:00:23,600 in the few minutes we have together we will not be able to 6 00:00:23,600 --> 00:00:26,920 scratch the scratches on the surface. 7 00:00:27,480 --> 00:00:31,680 We will see how good the Lord has been to us in all that He 8 00:00:31,680 --> 00:00:35,400 has done for His people, the covenant blessings that He has 9 00:00:35,400 --> 00:00:41,040 kept himself that Adam and Abraham, David and Moses could 10 00:00:41,040 --> 00:00:44,360 not. The benefits of our salvation in 11 00:00:44,360 --> 00:00:48,040 Christ will be reminded. This is a great opportunity to 12 00:00:48,040 --> 00:00:54,160 see in just a few words the majesty and love of Jesus in 13 00:00:54,160 --> 00:00:59,480 your life and in mine. And since it's only one verse, 14 00:00:59,800 --> 00:01:01,680 let's read it together, shall we? 15 00:01:02,680 --> 00:01:07,920 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has 16 00:01:07,920 --> 00:01:12,640 blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the 17 00:01:12,640 --> 00:01:16,040 heavenly places. This is the word of the Lord, 18 00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:18,880 Amen. Please be seated. 19 00:01:21,800 --> 00:01:25,520 Pray with me, will you? Oh Holy Spirit, we thank you for 20 00:01:25,520 --> 00:01:30,640 Your humble, kind, gentle ministry of teaching us this 21 00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:34,520 morning. And we thank You that whatever 22 00:01:34,520 --> 00:01:40,360 You have for Your people, you will bring it to us for the 23 00:01:40,360 --> 00:01:45,720 glory of Your holy Name and for our transformation from one 24 00:01:45,720 --> 00:01:50,200 state of glory into another, according to all that you have 25 00:01:50,200 --> 00:01:56,640 planned before the world began. And so this day, Lord, we stand 26 00:01:56,640 --> 00:02:00,400 in you and give you thanks for all of your blessings in your 27 00:02:00,400 --> 00:02:02,320 holy Name. Amen. 28 00:02:03,680 --> 00:02:07,240 I don't know if you can see it or not, but the light on the 29 00:02:07,240 --> 00:02:11,640 pedal board on the organ is flashing and I hope it's not 30 00:02:11,640 --> 00:02:13,280 distracting. I do feel like the service, 31 00:02:13,280 --> 00:02:15,160 though, kind of needs one of those disclaimers. 32 00:02:15,360 --> 00:02:18,360 This service will include strobe effects for those. 33 00:02:19,960 --> 00:02:24,160 So sorry about that. You know, attending a worship 34 00:02:24,160 --> 00:02:31,320 service is one thing, but living a life of worship is an entirely 35 00:02:31,440 --> 00:02:35,680 different endeavour. You know, we can show up in this 36 00:02:35,680 --> 00:02:41,360 room, attend the service, have fun in our fellowship, but when 37 00:02:41,360 --> 00:02:45,760 we leave and life presses down on us with its continuing whack 38 00:02:45,760 --> 00:02:50,680 a mole complexities and and perplexities, it's a different 39 00:02:50,680 --> 00:02:54,000 ball game. You know, even attending a 40 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:57,000 worship service reveals our need for Christ, doesn't it? 41 00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:00,240 We we say the words, but we criticize the liturgy. 42 00:03:01,080 --> 00:03:02,400 We sing the songs. What? 43 00:03:02,400 --> 00:03:06,320 We judge the music based on our preferences and prejudices. 44 00:03:07,040 --> 00:03:09,760 We listen to the sermon but wish it would be so much more 45 00:03:09,760 --> 00:03:14,320 engaging. When Mark introduced Ephesians 46 00:03:14,320 --> 00:03:17,640 to us a couple weeks ago, he said that we're going to improve 47 00:03:17,640 --> 00:03:22,520 the eyes of our hearts, the spiritual eyes of our hearts, so 48 00:03:22,520 --> 00:03:25,320 that we will begin to see the riches of our salvation in 49 00:03:25,320 --> 00:03:30,520 Christ with more clarity, with more immediacy, and with more 50 00:03:30,600 --> 00:03:35,720 relevance. And so this verse that we have 51 00:03:35,840 --> 00:03:39,600 before us today starts our worship. 52 00:03:40,280 --> 00:03:44,040 Blessed be the God. It keynotes. 53 00:03:44,240 --> 00:03:48,160 It actually keynotes a run on sentence in the original 54 00:03:48,160 --> 00:03:50,920 manuscript. It's one sentence from verse 3 55 00:03:50,920 --> 00:03:53,040 all the way to the end of verse 14. 56 00:03:54,120 --> 00:03:58,280 And this is the keynote of this beautiful, grand, eloquent, and 57 00:03:58,280 --> 00:04:02,680 powerful list of the riches we have in Christ Jesus. 58 00:04:03,240 --> 00:04:08,680 And the purpose of a keynote, as you know, is to set the tone and 59 00:04:08,680 --> 00:04:11,520 the theme. It's to establish the vision of 60 00:04:11,520 --> 00:04:15,120 what's to come, to unite us as listeners, and to give us 61 00:04:15,120 --> 00:04:18,640 context. So that's why it's worth 62 00:04:18,640 --> 00:04:23,000 spending a whole day on this one verse. 63 00:04:23,880 --> 00:04:27,920 It's such a powerful keynote because it's setting the agenda 64 00:04:27,920 --> 00:04:31,720 of our heart for what we are about to read next week. 65 00:04:32,120 --> 00:04:36,120 A heart of worship. It's emotionally influencing us 66 00:04:36,120 --> 00:04:41,240 before we start to review the doctrines that we so well know 67 00:04:41,680 --> 00:04:47,480 in our age and time. And it sparks our imagination by 68 00:04:47,720 --> 00:04:53,320 the repetition of the Word blessed by Speaking of Christ 69 00:04:53,360 --> 00:04:57,600 and His blessings not only here but also in heaven. 70 00:04:59,240 --> 00:05:06,040 It impacts the congregation. And so this keynote tells us to 71 00:05:06,040 --> 00:05:10,800 bless the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the only true God, 72 00:05:11,000 --> 00:05:14,440 not the one of many gods in the Mediterranean world. 73 00:05:14,440 --> 00:05:19,200 When Paul is writing where the pantheon of deities from Babylon 74 00:05:19,200 --> 00:05:23,240 and Persia and Greece and Rome are flourishing in their own 75 00:05:23,240 --> 00:05:27,640 houses of worship. This is very foreign to our 76 00:05:27,640 --> 00:05:34,400 culture where we have churches on many corners, but in Ephesus 77 00:05:34,800 --> 00:05:40,560 there were temples to deities also on many corners. 78 00:05:41,840 --> 00:05:46,240 Ephesus was the crossroad of culture and commerce and 79 00:05:46,240 --> 00:05:50,720 religion. It was in between Jerusalem and 80 00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:53,120 Rome. You know, if you think of 81 00:05:53,320 --> 00:05:56,600 Jerusalem like New York City and Rome as Seattle, and then in the 82 00:05:56,600 --> 00:06:00,480 middle you kind of smash up Denver and Dallas and you've got 83 00:06:00,480 --> 00:06:04,800 this huge metropolis between those two points. 84 00:06:04,800 --> 00:06:09,120 That's Ephesus. In between Jerusalem and Rome, 85 00:06:09,400 --> 00:06:15,360 the great city of Ephesus. And just as we might consider 86 00:06:15,360 --> 00:06:19,960 Jerusalem as the home to three of the world's religions, 87 00:06:20,400 --> 00:06:25,680 Ephesus was the home to one of the most important of all of the 88 00:06:25,680 --> 00:06:30,040 Greek goddesses. Her name was Artemis. 89 00:06:31,320 --> 00:06:33,360 Her name, Her Roman name was Diana. 90 00:06:34,520 --> 00:06:39,040 And Artemis was born to Zeus and Leto, along with her twin sister 91 00:06:39,040 --> 00:06:44,480 Apollo, on the island of Dallas, about 120 miles West of Ephesus. 92 00:06:45,040 --> 00:06:48,800 The difference, though, between this and Jesus is that Jesus 93 00:06:48,800 --> 00:06:55,480 really was born in Bethlehem and really lived and died and rose 94 00:06:55,480 --> 00:07:00,400 again. But the Ephesians loved 95 00:07:00,440 --> 00:07:06,080 believing that Artemis was real. Her temple in Ephesus was four 96 00:07:06,080 --> 00:07:09,040 times larger than the Parthenon in Athens. 97 00:07:10,080 --> 00:07:14,320 It was considered this one of the seven wonders of the world. 98 00:07:14,720 --> 00:07:20,040 It had a storied history before Jesus was born and long after. 99 00:07:21,720 --> 00:07:25,080 The reason why this is so important is because Paul is 100 00:07:25,080 --> 00:07:29,480 writing against this backdrop. The businesses and Ephesus 101 00:07:29,480 --> 00:07:34,880 became rich and profitable by the sales of wood and metal 102 00:07:34,880 --> 00:07:39,160 figures of Artemis herself. Now, if you were to travel to 103 00:07:39,160 --> 00:07:44,320 Ephesus today, you could still purchase your choice of an 104 00:07:44,320 --> 00:07:46,200 Artemis action figure or bobblehead. 105 00:07:48,320 --> 00:07:51,240 But Paul spent three years in Ephesus and he started teaching 106 00:07:51,480 --> 00:07:54,040 in the synagogues for about 3 months, and then he rented A 107 00:07:54,040 --> 00:07:58,720 lecture hall and he had a prosperous teaching ministry 108 00:07:58,720 --> 00:08:02,480 about Messiah in Ephesus for about 3 years. 109 00:08:03,360 --> 00:08:07,280 It was so profitable. I'm so effective, I mean, and so 110 00:08:07,280 --> 00:08:12,080 blessed by the Lord, that the prophets of the silversmiths 111 00:08:12,080 --> 00:08:18,240 began to be compromised, for people began believing in Jesus 112 00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:25,360 and the sales of these modelled idols began to decrease. 113 00:08:26,760 --> 00:08:31,920 Eventually the tide turned against Paul and what began as a 114 00:08:31,920 --> 00:08:36,280 thriving teaching ministry in one of the most important 1st 115 00:08:36,280 --> 00:08:41,000 century churches cities turned into a battle against the idols 116 00:08:41,000 --> 00:08:47,080 that made Ephesus a signature religious cult and the 117 00:08:47,080 --> 00:08:53,280 silversmiths Rand Paul out similar events in Paul's life in 118 00:08:53,280 --> 00:08:57,760 Colossi and Philippi. And eventually Paul was 119 00:08:57,760 --> 00:09:01,360 arrested. And this letter that we are 120 00:09:01,360 --> 00:09:05,520 looking at right now, that this mail of Paul's that we opened to 121 00:09:05,520 --> 00:09:10,760 read was written from prison, not sure where, somewhere 122 00:09:10,760 --> 00:09:13,960 between Ephesus and Rome, probably in Ephesus. 123 00:09:14,800 --> 00:09:18,960 And he writes this letter, and he writes Philippians, and he 124 00:09:18,960 --> 00:09:22,960 writes Colossians, and he writes Philemon while under house 125 00:09:22,960 --> 00:09:26,040 arrest. We commonly call them the 126 00:09:26,040 --> 00:09:31,320 captivity letters. And he keynotes this letter with 127 00:09:31,320 --> 00:09:33,680 worship. While he's in prison. 128 00:09:33,920 --> 00:09:38,760 He's writing this doxological statement to grab our hearts, to 129 00:09:38,760 --> 00:09:41,560 tell us about the blessings we have in Jesus Christ. 130 00:09:41,880 --> 00:09:45,800 You see, because it's easy to attend a worship service, but 131 00:09:45,800 --> 00:09:50,000 it's an entirely different calling to live a life of 132 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:55,560 worship, to write about the glories of Christ while in 133 00:09:55,560 --> 00:09:59,240 prison. So let's pick up our verse 134 00:09:59,240 --> 00:10:00,640 again. All right, let's take a look at 135 00:10:00,640 --> 00:10:02,480 it. Blessed be the God and Father of 136 00:10:02,480 --> 00:10:05,400 our Lord Jesus Christ. And here Paul is moving 137 00:10:05,400 --> 00:10:08,240 thousands of years past Israel's Shema. 138 00:10:08,240 --> 00:10:10,960 Here, O Israel, the Lord is our God. 139 00:10:10,960 --> 00:10:15,520 The Lord is 1 and now he's saying this very same God is the 140 00:10:15,520 --> 00:10:21,200 Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is from the pen of the same 141 00:10:21,200 --> 00:10:25,920 person who was committed to silencing by imprisonment and 142 00:10:25,920 --> 00:10:31,560 death anyone who followed Jesus. And now he's the first 143 00:10:31,560 --> 00:10:36,480 missionary to the Gentiles, calling us to worship the second 144 00:10:36,480 --> 00:10:42,320 person of the Godhead. And he uses bless a second time. 145 00:10:42,320 --> 00:10:45,040 Look at the verse again. Blessed be the God and Father of 146 00:10:45,040 --> 00:10:48,680 our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ. 147 00:10:48,880 --> 00:10:52,600 Now the word in the original text for blessed is eulogia. 148 00:10:52,840 --> 00:10:55,760 It's the root from where we get the word eulogy. 149 00:10:55,760 --> 00:10:59,840 It's a piece of writing to praise someone, to honor 150 00:10:59,840 --> 00:11:03,520 someone, to bless someone publicly, and to speak of how 151 00:11:03,520 --> 00:11:07,960 they have blessed us. And he uses this word eulogia 3 152 00:11:07,960 --> 00:11:10,440 times in this verse. Look at it again. 153 00:11:10,440 --> 00:11:14,600 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has 154 00:11:14,600 --> 00:11:19,800 blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the 155 00:11:19,800 --> 00:11:25,080 heavenly places. So brothers and sisters, this 156 00:11:25,080 --> 00:11:31,680 begs some questions. If we are so spiritually rich in 157 00:11:31,680 --> 00:11:39,960 Christ, why are we so selfish? If He has forgiven us so freely, 158 00:11:40,280 --> 00:11:42,880 why are we so slow to forgive others? 159 00:11:45,240 --> 00:11:49,600 If His grace extends to the worst of the worst, including 160 00:11:49,600 --> 00:11:54,040 the author of this letter and you and me, why do we judge 161 00:11:54,520 --> 00:11:57,520 others so quickly who are different from ourselves? 162 00:12:00,200 --> 00:12:04,800 If He gave his life and died a violent death to reconcile you 163 00:12:04,800 --> 00:12:10,960 and me to our Father, why are we so stone heartedly cold to 164 00:12:10,960 --> 00:12:13,920 reconcile our own broken relationships? 165 00:12:18,840 --> 00:12:24,480 If Jesus lavished His abundant grace on us with an unbounded 166 00:12:24,480 --> 00:12:31,760 generosity, why are we so stingy in blessing others whose lives 167 00:12:31,760 --> 00:12:38,520 are much harder than ours? It's one thing to attend a 168 00:12:38,520 --> 00:12:42,080 worship service. It's an entirely different 169 00:12:42,080 --> 00:12:45,880 calling to live a life of worship. 170 00:12:49,760 --> 00:12:53,320 So Paul is reminding us that our worth and our power for godly 171 00:12:53,320 --> 00:12:56,640 living rest not in our performance, but in our covenant 172 00:12:56,640 --> 00:13:01,240 union with Christ, so that we trust and worship and live out 173 00:13:01,240 --> 00:13:05,000 our heaven realities. Now when we worship as God's 174 00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:09,800 people on Sunday morning, we remember and rehearse our 175 00:13:09,800 --> 00:13:15,640 identity in Christ, confession, the sacraments, the preaching of 176 00:13:15,640 --> 00:13:19,480 the Word, prayer, study and fellowship. 177 00:13:19,480 --> 00:13:22,800 And then we are sent. We're sent out to live 178 00:13:22,800 --> 00:13:27,200 courageously and lovingly in the world as those who are 179 00:13:27,200 --> 00:13:33,520 spiritually blessed, serving, resisting sin, and testifying to 180 00:13:33,520 --> 00:13:37,920 the Lord's love and grace and mercy. 181 00:13:40,160 --> 00:13:44,920 We do this because we have already in possession of these 182 00:13:44,920 --> 00:13:47,520 blessings. While we're slogging through 183 00:13:47,520 --> 00:13:50,840 life, we still have all of the access to the spiritual 184 00:13:50,840 --> 00:13:55,200 blessings in Christ. It's like that depression era 185 00:13:55,640 --> 00:14:00,160 sheep herder in West TX. His name was Ira Yates. 186 00:14:00,160 --> 00:14:04,960 He can barely make it living day-to-day, taking care of the 187 00:14:04,960 --> 00:14:09,160 sheep that needed to be shorn or rescued because they happened to 188 00:14:09,160 --> 00:14:12,600 fall on their back and couldn't get up on their own, or they 189 00:14:12,600 --> 00:14:17,160 needed to be healed or bound in some form or fashion. 190 00:14:17,160 --> 00:14:20,680 And one day the petroleum company comes in and says, Mr. 191 00:14:20,680 --> 00:14:24,480 Yates, we would like to extract natural resources from your 192 00:14:24,480 --> 00:14:28,560 property. He instantly became a wealthy 193 00:14:28,560 --> 00:14:32,080 man and never had another financial worry for the rest of 194 00:14:32,080 --> 00:14:36,240 his life. He was in possession of that 195 00:14:36,240 --> 00:14:42,600 wealth his entire life. He was always standing right on 196 00:14:42,600 --> 00:14:47,760 top of it. And so our verse has these three 197 00:14:47,760 --> 00:14:53,560 prepositions that tell us how we identify these blessings that we 198 00:14:53,560 --> 00:14:56,520 present possess. First, in Christ. 199 00:14:57,080 --> 00:15:00,320 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has 200 00:15:00,320 --> 00:15:04,800 blessed us in Christ, which means we are no longer in Adam 201 00:15:05,600 --> 00:15:09,880 for blessings, we might remind ourselves Christ's incarnation, 202 00:15:10,600 --> 00:15:17,200 the indwelling Holy Spirit. We are eternal and we live for 203 00:15:17,200 --> 00:15:22,600 Christ. Our election as part of God's 204 00:15:22,600 --> 00:15:25,960 people, which Paul's going to talk about in a few words later, 205 00:15:26,280 --> 00:15:30,640 was forged not only in eternity past but represented in the 206 00:15:30,640 --> 00:15:35,520 incarnation. We are in Christ by the gift of 207 00:15:35,520 --> 00:15:39,240 the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit shows us Jesus. 208 00:15:39,800 --> 00:15:44,200 How does Jesus teach us? How does Jesus nudge us, 209 00:15:44,400 --> 00:15:48,280 influence us, mold us, shape us, comfort us? 210 00:15:49,240 --> 00:15:52,040 How does he counsel us, mature us? 211 00:15:53,120 --> 00:15:58,920 By the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit, His Word worship in 212 00:15:58,920 --> 00:16:01,640 His church. We are in Christ because the 213 00:16:01,640 --> 00:16:05,160 Holy Spirit is revealing the ministry of Christ to us moment 214 00:16:05,160 --> 00:16:08,040 by moment. Galatians 2 says I have been 215 00:16:08,040 --> 00:16:11,760 crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but 216 00:16:11,760 --> 00:16:16,000 Christ who lives in me and the life I now live in the flesh. 217 00:16:16,000 --> 00:16:21,120 I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave 218 00:16:21,120 --> 00:16:27,160 Himself for me. In Christ we are also eternal. 219 00:16:29,560 --> 00:16:32,800 He chose His people before the foundation of the world. 220 00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:36,960 In the mind of the Trinity. We were predestined in His love 221 00:16:36,960 --> 00:16:40,840 to be brought from the family of Adam, to become a member of the 222 00:16:40,840 --> 00:16:43,520 family of God's people in Christ. 223 00:16:45,360 --> 00:16:49,880 Our redemption was purchased by Christ's sacrifice, planned 224 00:16:50,120 --> 00:16:53,360 before the dawn of time for His people. 225 00:16:54,800 --> 00:16:58,480 We are in Christ, which was purposed in the heart of God 226 00:16:58,840 --> 00:17:02,680 before the foundations of the world were laid. 227 00:17:05,480 --> 00:17:08,240 And if we are in Christ and His death, we are in Christ and His 228 00:17:08,240 --> 00:17:11,200 resurrection. Since we have been united with 229 00:17:11,200 --> 00:17:15,520 Him in His death, we will also be raised to life as he was. 230 00:17:16,160 --> 00:17:20,400 Paul writes to the Romans this we know that our old sinful 231 00:17:20,400 --> 00:17:24,280 selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose 232 00:17:24,280 --> 00:17:30,640 its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin, 233 00:17:31,800 --> 00:17:36,440 for when we died with Christ, we were set free from the power of 234 00:17:36,440 --> 00:17:40,040 sin. And since we died with Christ, 235 00:17:40,680 --> 00:17:43,880 we know we will also live with him. 236 00:17:45,880 --> 00:17:49,360 We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead 237 00:17:49,600 --> 00:17:52,800 and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power 238 00:17:52,800 --> 00:17:56,320 over him. When he died, He died once to 239 00:17:56,320 --> 00:17:59,880 break the power of sin, but now that he lives, he lives for the 240 00:17:59,880 --> 00:18:04,080 glory of God. So you also should consider 241 00:18:04,080 --> 00:18:08,000 yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God 242 00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:14,640 through Christ Jesus. Romans 6 by the way, when we get 243 00:18:14,640 --> 00:18:19,280 to the word you in Ephesians, in English, we have one word for 244 00:18:19,280 --> 00:18:21,800 you. It's you, singular or plural. 245 00:18:21,800 --> 00:18:24,120 And and we, we determined by the context. 246 00:18:24,120 --> 00:18:27,760 But in the Greek language there's 2 words for you, a 247 00:18:27,760 --> 00:18:32,240 singular you and a plural you. And as we start to work our way 248 00:18:32,240 --> 00:18:37,840 through the verses in Ephesians, we will see we and us and we and 249 00:18:37,840 --> 00:18:42,000 us and we and us. And then we get to you and it's 250 00:18:42,000 --> 00:18:44,920 the plural. And when you read Ephesians in 251 00:18:44,920 --> 00:18:48,320 this part of the country, you always want to read it as y'all. 252 00:18:49,880 --> 00:18:52,800 It's the plural. Yes, it's you. 253 00:18:53,280 --> 00:18:56,680 But isn't it beautiful that God chose a people for himself 254 00:18:56,960 --> 00:18:58,920 before the foundation of the world? 255 00:18:59,240 --> 00:19:02,480 It's not about us, it's about God's people. 256 00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:05,280 It's about him always having a people. 257 00:19:05,840 --> 00:19:09,400 It's about Him being our God and we are His people. 258 00:19:10,040 --> 00:19:13,720 Less about this American individualism that every word in 259 00:19:13,720 --> 00:19:16,280 the Scripture is just really all about me. 260 00:19:17,520 --> 00:19:21,040 These are the riches of the spiritual blessings we have in 261 00:19:21,040 --> 00:19:23,360 Christ. The second prepositional phrase 262 00:19:23,880 --> 00:19:29,720 with every spiritual blessing. There's not enough time to talk 263 00:19:29,720 --> 00:19:31,640 about these. Let's pick some, shall we? 264 00:19:32,280 --> 00:19:36,440 Let's talk about how Jesus Christ was able to keep a few of 265 00:19:36,440 --> 00:19:39,080 the covenant blessings promised to God's people. 266 00:19:39,880 --> 00:19:41,480 The covenant blessings with Adam. 267 00:19:42,440 --> 00:19:46,680 If the covenant were kept, eternal life would continue. 268 00:19:47,240 --> 00:19:50,000 We would remain securely in paradise. 269 00:19:50,680 --> 00:19:52,360 We would dwell in God's presence. 270 00:19:53,560 --> 00:19:55,200 In Adam, the covenant was broken. 271 00:19:56,600 --> 00:20:00,000 In Christ, the covenant was kept. 272 00:20:01,240 --> 00:20:05,000 He secured our eternal life in eternity where we will dwell in 273 00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:08,080 the presence of God. What about Abraham? 274 00:20:08,800 --> 00:20:13,040 Also included paradise, a people, God's presence. 275 00:20:14,800 --> 00:20:19,080 But the covenant was not kept because of Abraham's unbelief, 276 00:20:19,240 --> 00:20:24,320 brokenness, and weakness. But Christ remains faithful even 277 00:20:24,320 --> 00:20:27,320 in physical death, and we are his people. 278 00:20:27,520 --> 00:20:31,000 He is our promised land, and by the Holy Spirit we have God's 279 00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:36,520 presence, Moses and Israel. Promise was not kept, but in 280 00:20:36,520 --> 00:20:41,400 Christ's perfect obedience came the blessings of eternal life, a 281 00:20:41,400 --> 00:20:44,760 family of God's making Jesus our promised land. 282 00:20:45,160 --> 00:20:48,920 And not a cloud over the Tabernacle, but the indwelling 283 00:20:48,920 --> 00:20:54,400 Holy Spirit in each one of us. What about David? 284 00:20:54,600 --> 00:20:58,520 The king over all of the nations ended with David's bones drying 285 00:20:58,520 --> 00:21:01,760 up in a grave. But Christ, the King of kings, 286 00:21:02,000 --> 00:21:05,040 the Holy One, anointed over all the nations. 287 00:21:05,040 --> 00:21:08,640 His bones did not see decay, but after three days came to life 288 00:21:08,840 --> 00:21:12,480 and ascended into heaven, where for the first time in history a 289 00:21:12,480 --> 00:21:16,240 human being, all God and all man, is at the helm of the 290 00:21:16,240 --> 00:21:22,440 universe. What about these blessings, 291 00:21:23,560 --> 00:21:28,680 Justification for our sake? He made him to be sin who knew 292 00:21:28,680 --> 00:21:33,760 no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. 293 00:21:35,280 --> 00:21:39,640 What about adoption? Those of us who long to be in an 294 00:21:39,640 --> 00:21:44,960 intimate family where we're not judged but accepted, He 295 00:21:44,960 --> 00:21:49,240 predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, 296 00:21:49,680 --> 00:21:52,080 according to the good pleasure of His will. 297 00:21:54,080 --> 00:22:00,040 What about our sanctification? So Jesus also suffered outside 298 00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:04,360 the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own 299 00:22:04,360 --> 00:22:08,440 blood. What about our eternal security? 300 00:22:08,440 --> 00:22:13,200 Are we really going to heaven? Blessed is the one who 301 00:22:13,200 --> 00:22:17,160 perseveres under trial, because having stood the test, that 302 00:22:17,160 --> 00:22:21,360 person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised 303 00:22:21,360 --> 00:22:26,840 to those who love him. No one can pluck his people out 304 00:22:26,840 --> 00:22:32,960 of his hand. These are just a few of our 305 00:22:33,160 --> 00:22:38,840 spiritual blessings in Christ, heavenly blessings that we now 306 00:22:38,840 --> 00:22:42,760 already possess. But there's more. 307 00:22:44,080 --> 00:22:49,040 Our last prepositional phrase in the heavenly places. 308 00:22:49,720 --> 00:22:54,480 Those who have gone before us, now fully living in the radiance 309 00:22:54,480 --> 00:22:58,120 of Jesus presence. Understanding everything. 310 00:22:58,120 --> 00:23:05,000 I'm so trying to explain feebly. They live and breathe and 311 00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:08,360 experience it in Christ. We already have all these 312 00:23:08,360 --> 00:23:10,840 spiritual blessings, but there's more to come. 313 00:23:11,080 --> 00:23:15,800 The consummation of all things is not yet, which is why we call 314 00:23:15,800 --> 00:23:23,000 it already slash not yet. For we have been justified and 315 00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:27,360 adopted and sanctified, and we will persevere, but we will also 316 00:23:27,440 --> 00:23:30,600 be glorified. Who doesn't want to live with 317 00:23:30,600 --> 00:23:35,000 God forever? And those who are in Christ 318 00:23:35,640 --> 00:23:40,760 will. He goes to prepare a place for 319 00:23:40,760 --> 00:23:43,640 you and me. And this is true because He said 320 00:23:43,640 --> 00:23:45,600 it, and it's true because He said it's true. 321 00:23:45,600 --> 00:23:46,960 Otherwise He would not have said it. 322 00:23:46,960 --> 00:23:50,920 And those who have gone before us live that entire verse and 323 00:23:50,920 --> 00:23:53,200 live this verse that we're Speaking of today. 324 00:23:53,400 --> 00:23:57,080 They had every spiritual blessing like you and I have in 325 00:23:57,080 --> 00:24:02,400 Christ and now they experience every spiritual blessing with 326 00:24:02,400 --> 00:24:08,160 Christ. We are in the already not yet in 327 00:24:08,160 --> 00:24:11,480 Christ. They are fully in the presence 328 00:24:11,920 --> 00:24:17,680 of God. No wonder Paul can't help 329 00:24:17,680 --> 00:24:23,800 himself by penning a doxology of praise before he starts talking 330 00:24:23,800 --> 00:24:29,080 about all of these blessings that we have in our 331 00:24:29,080 --> 00:24:32,800 glorification. When Christ returns, they will 332 00:24:32,800 --> 00:24:35,480 be with him. It's like Jesus says to his 333 00:24:35,480 --> 00:24:37,160 Father, I can't go back without them. 334 00:24:37,160 --> 00:24:40,840 They are mine. They are in me and with me. 335 00:24:40,960 --> 00:24:44,080 They belong to me. They are my beloved sons and 336 00:24:44,080 --> 00:24:48,520 daughters, Princess and princesses, vice regions and 337 00:24:48,520 --> 00:24:52,960 royalty with me. If I go back, I must take them 338 00:24:52,960 --> 00:25:01,840 with me. And He will, when he returns, 339 00:25:02,080 --> 00:25:05,720 they will be with him. And if we're still here, we will 340 00:25:05,720 --> 00:25:09,320 join them very quickly. And in the procession of the 341 00:25:09,320 --> 00:25:14,120 king, once again, heaven and earth will be brought together. 342 00:25:17,520 --> 00:25:23,840 I'll close with this. You know, a worship service is a 343 00:25:23,840 --> 00:25:27,880 little bit like heaven and earth being brought closer together. 344 00:25:29,600 --> 00:25:34,560 Like when we live a life of worship, when we offer our lives 345 00:25:34,560 --> 00:25:37,600 and surrender our stubborn wills, when we live self 346 00:25:37,600 --> 00:25:41,040 sacrificially to bless the Lord and to others for His glory and 347 00:25:41,160 --> 00:25:43,840 His glory alone. It's like helping heaven and 348 00:25:43,840 --> 00:25:48,040 earth touch again, like our worship service does every hour 349 00:25:48,040 --> 00:25:52,960 on Sunday morning. Heaven and earth touch a little 350 00:25:52,960 --> 00:25:57,600 bit more. And so Paul says, blessed be the 351 00:25:57,600 --> 00:26:02,600 God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who by his covenant love 352 00:26:02,600 --> 00:26:08,160 and grace enables us to not merely attend a worship service, 353 00:26:09,920 --> 00:26:13,440 but by the power of the Holy Spirit transforms and 354 00:26:13,440 --> 00:26:20,960 strengthens us to live every day as a continual sacrifice of 355 00:26:20,960 --> 00:26:26,920 worship to Him in Christ with every spiritual blessings that 356 00:26:26,920 --> 00:26:36,240 we have already and not yet. Lord Jesus, we thank you for 357 00:26:36,240 --> 00:26:41,560 your Holy Spirit driving these things deeper within our hearts 358 00:26:41,560 --> 00:26:46,280 and within our understanding. And may these words not go by as 359 00:26:46,280 --> 00:26:52,040 another box that's been checked this week, but may we linger in 360 00:26:52,040 --> 00:26:55,240 this time of worship. Blessed be the God and Father of 361 00:26:55,240 --> 00:27:02,280 our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ with every, 362 00:27:02,480 --> 00:27:10,040 every, every spiritual blessing. Already and not yet. 363 00:27:10,720 --> 00:27:15,480 We so long for that time when we will see this fully and clearly 364 00:27:15,480 --> 00:27:17,840 and be with you. Lord Jesus, thank you for being 365 00:27:18,280 --> 00:27:20,680 with us today. By the power of Your Holy 366 00:27:20,680 --> 00:27:24,360 Spirit, we commit the rest of our worship to You in Your holy 367 00:27:24,360 --> 00:27:25,840 name. Amen.