Spiritual Blessings In Christ

Ephesians 1:1-4....

A powerful statement of facts by the Lord’s apostle, Paul! Since we began the study of Ephesians on Wed. night, a few weeks ago, my mind hasn’t left this passage, really this verse. Sometimes and I believe a lot of times in Christian circles we get enamored with temporary/earthly blessings! Basically, how it affects our worldly living. Certainly, those temporary blessings are great and we are not deserving of them, but sometimes the spiritual fruit is not seen for the outward blessing! I feel sometimes like I/we miss the forest for the trees!

1 Corinthians 2:10 “But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.” and then in 1 Corinthians 2:14 “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” .......I believe we can become naturalized and not see what God is doing Spiritually!

Paul starts off verse 3 by stating that “Blessed by God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”...........It is bestowing honor upon the One that gives the spiritual blessings........blessings come from God and they are intended for us in His realm, not earthly!.......Ephesians 4:15 “But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:”

The real point here is that spiritual blessings can be all blessings that grows believers into Jesus Christ, where we truly belong.....in the Heavenly places!

Let me just read some of what Spurgeon said about this verse.....… “An enlightened man is grateful to God for temporal blessings; but he is much more grateful to God for spiritual blessings, for temporal blessings do not last long; they are soon gone. Temporal blessings are not definite marks of divine favour, since God gives them to the unworthy, and to the wicked, as well as to the righteous. .......Matthew 5:45 ‘That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.’ The corn, and wine, and oil, are for Dives; and Lazarus gets even less than his share. Our thanks are due to God for all temporal blessings; they are more than we deserve. But our thanks ought to go to God in thunders of hallelujahs for spiritual blessings. A new heart is better than a new coat. To feed on Christ is better than to have the best earthly food. To be an heir of God is better than being the heir of the greatest nobleman. To have God for our portion is blessed, infinitely more blessed than to own broad acres of land. God hath blessed us with spiritual blessings. These are the rarest, the richest, the most enduring of all blessings; they are priceless in value. Wherefore, let me beg you to join in blessing the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed you with spiritual blessings.”...........You see, we must understand see the spiritual of the blessings, to grow and to give glory!

Can you see them now? The new heart, the Son gave us, in which we live unto God, a joint heir........There is more......Life: 1 John 5:11 “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.” .......This is greatest of all.......Romans 8:11 “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.” ........This blessing is beyond comprehension, however, it is only by God’s grace that this is possibles, maybe that is the greatest of all......Paul, one who had persecuted Christians at one point, Ephesians 3:8 “Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;” .......Paul was given so much grace that he was made a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, to preach these unsearchable riches of Christ!!!!

Spurgeon said: “A new heart, a tender conscience, a submissive will, faith, hope, love, patience, we have all these in Christ. Regeneration, justification, adoption, sanctification, perfection are all in Christ.”....… “If Christ is mine, all blessings in heavenly places are mine.”

Everything that God is doing in the believer’s life is bringing us unto Himself through Christ....Colossians 2:8–10 “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:” .......Complete in God the Father.........If Christ is your life.........If He is then there will be spiritual blessings.........

I wanted to share this testimony of man named John Lovell. Bro Hart shared this interview with me the other day........This man was an army ranger talking about his experience in childhood and then into the service........ “In the process of go into the army rangers, he said that he had a traumatic experience when he was 19. Now, when you think about that, you would say a death in the family or sickness, something.......but you would be wrong........You're just standing around waiting in line all day. That's it. There, which would be most people's easiest time in the military, was my hardest. The reason why is I had been, I think, through just a divine reckoning, God would change my life in that moment. It happened around May 22nd of 2001. It's one of the most important dates in my life because everything that was John Lovell died and I was completely remade in a way that is inexplicable and impossible to define the massive departure of I was one way and legit, I became completely different in the course of a couple of days. What happened was, as I had this dramatic conversion to Christian faith, it felt awful. It felt like I was being unmade. It felt like my heart was being broken and destroyed. Then through that, Jesus would... I felt like, not in this divine voice, but I just knew in my knower that Jesus had called me to give him my life. It wasn't as much a question of would I? It was more of a directive, You will, and I did. He crushed me and remade me. Somewhere through all that, I was converted to Christianity.........It felt like death and birth at the same time. I realized how mystical and unsatisfying that would sound for a lot of folks, but I don't really understand what happened to me. I wasn't in church. I wasn't talking to a pastor. I wasn't reading a Bible. I didn't feel like this big void in my life. There certainly was one. I wasn't after God at all. It's like he found me on the road and accosted me. That's what it felt like.”

[00:32:49]

Can you be a little more descriptive? What were you doing at the exact moment when you got that first feeling?

[00:32:58]

It was a picture, a water pot or a kettle warming up, and then it comes to a head of like, That water is warming, warming, warming, warming. That's happening over the course of a few days. I didn't let anyone know what was going on with me. But what it felt like is if you've ever had your heart broken, it felt like my heart was being broken. Then if you've ever had a tragedy before you, something awful that just destroyed your heart, it felt like that too. The problem is I had no tragedy and I had no heartbreak, but those were the feelings. Through it all, what was happening is I was receiving a miraculous conversion to Christianity, where God was giving me a new heart. This is the only way I can describe it. And so once given that new heart, I was deeply sorry for all the horrible things I'd done throughout my life. I was repenting. I was confessing sin. I had offended God. I had not lived to Him. Through that, He remade me, and I was converted to begin not only not resisting Jesus anymore, but I love Jesus. That made every difference.

[00:34:22]

I was truly converted. I became a different man. I don't know how else to describe it.......It was the worst and best moment of my life. It felt like death. It felt like birth. ...........But now, I've loved Jesus and followed Him ever since. It was a permanent change. It was a permanent stick. Now, that didn't mean I didn't run laps in and do stupid stuff and then have to repent again. But the difference is I was actually sorry this time. I actually wanted to please Jesus. Not because I had to, because I wanted to. That was a new heart. That was a different change. 

There is so much in this testimony, but mainly nothing was going on just waiting to get through the early parts of joining the army and God moved upon this man.........John Lovell said that it felt like he was being crushed and remade, God gave him a new heart and nothing was really going on prior.......what I like about that is to understand Who it is that gives these blessings and the blessing itself, which is greater than any earthly blessings! Actually, if you viewed correctly, the earthly blessings should bring us unto the spiritual blessings!

It was the worst moment of his life and the best moment of his life.........when asked could we say this? Is the spiritual blessings of God through Christ the best of your life? I do not want to force you into this view or work you up into this view, but maybe through knowledge of the wonderful blessings of God, we see a new heart within us.....Spurgeon said a new heart is better than a new anything else.......to feed on Christ is the better than the greatest meals!

We make much about a lot of things, because life goes on and other things seem to get interesting but the new hearts in Christ Jesus is the most powerful truth of life! .......This is a familiar passage of Scripture but if you would turn with me to 2 Corinthians 4:1-18.....

False teachers had accused Paul of preaching an antiquated/old/tired message....In verse 2 Paul is basically saying if the message of the Person and Work of Jesus Christ and in Him hearts are made new, if there is a problem with that message then the problem is with the hearer not the message! If that gets old and tired then the hearer is looking for something else!

Satan has blinded those eyes by making presentations of the worldly rather what God is doing......we tend to run away from or preach away from being crushed and made new, but that is the message and He is still making me into His!

The same God that made physical light to shine in the world, has made His light (Jesus) to shine into our hearts........giving us that knowledge of His glory in Christ Jesus not the glory of the world!

Verses 8-9.......reveals to us that no matter what happens in our lives, God is still the same to us, we are still victorious in Jesus Christ.....nothing robs of His Glory, His Life.....

Knowing this That He Who raised Jesus will raise us up also.......nothing can destroy, kill, extinguish this power that lives in us!

All things are for your sakes.....Whatever it is....the TRUE BELIEVER will live out the spiritual blessing that God has given so that God will receive the glory!

Now.........do not lose heart dear brother and sister...........though the outward man is perishing......the inward man, created in Christ Jesus, is being renewed day by day........do not miss the spiritual blessing by grumbling about the outward calamity!!!!! A new heart has God created in us through our faith in His Son Jesus, do not let that be lost in the midst of the things of this world!!!!

Oh the grace that He has bestowed on us, oh the love that has been given.....don’t miss His beauty because of the outward!

Beautiful words from the Holy Spirit through Paul.......

Everything that happens in this world, even the afflictions carry no weight in the view of eternity, nor do the last long in the view of eternity!

John 1:14 “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” ........John 1:16 “And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.”

Spurgeon said in his sermon on this.....… “Beloved, do not let my faint words rob my Lord of any of his glory. He has done such great things for you; bless His name.”