I know today is the last day we’ll be here in this premise. Today is also Mother’s Day, but unfortunately, my sermon has nothing to do with those two events. But anyway before we begin, let’s pray and ask God for help. Let’s pray.

“Our Father in heaven, we thank You again for an opportunity to study Your Word, to understand Your truth. Now we ask now that You’ll calm our hearts. Help us not to think about worldly pleasures. Help us not to think about the care and the worries that we have. Help us, O Lord, to cast this upon You. Help us to listen with humble hearts and to accept Your truth, for all these, we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.”

Now before we dig into the book of Ephesians, I want to introduce to you this book. There are six chapters in Ephesians, and it can be cut nicely into two. First three chapters are doctrinal chapters, and the next three chapters (4, 5, and 6) are practical chapters. If you just look at chapters 4, 5, and 6, I can just scan through very briefly with you. Look at chapter 4 verse 2: “With all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love”. So this is kind of a practical thing to do. Look at verse 26: ““Be angry, and do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down on your wrath”. Look at verse 31: “Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamour, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another”.

Look at chapter 5 verse 3: “But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you”. See verse 15: “walk circumspectly”. Verse 16: “redeeming the time”. Verse 18: “do not be drunk with wine”. Verse 19: “speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs”. Verse 20: “giving thanks always”. Verse 22: “Wives, submit to your husbands”. Verse 25: “Husbands, love your wives”. Chapter 6 verse 1: “Children, obey your parents”. Chapter 6 verse 5: “Bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters”. I know life is very stressful. You go to work, you see colleagues who are annoying. They always don’t agree with you. Some are lazy, your boss is so demanding. You come home, your wife is not submissive. Your children are not obedient.

You thought you go to church, it’ll be a relief. You go to church and you see again people that you don’t like. The church members are so not loving, not hospitable, and you get so stressed up. How am I going to live according to chapters 4, 5, and 6? It’s almost impossible. But relax, Paul knows the stressful conditions of the world, and that’s why he starts with chapters 1, 2, and 3. Now chapters 1, 2, and 3 are doctrinal chapters. And unless you read the first three chapters, you’ll never be able to do what the following three chapters require of you. So let us again go through. Now turn back to chapter 1, and I will start with verse 3.

Sorry, I’ll start with verse 1, and I’ll read until verse 3: “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Jesus Christ: Grace to you, peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ”. Now I want you to note here that there are two types of blessings you can see in the Bible. There are two types of blessings. The first one is earthly blessing, which all of us enjoy. The second is spiritual blessings, which some of us enjoy. Now, what are earthly blessings?

Earthly blessings which all people enjoy just by virtue of the fact that we are staying on earth. All people enjoy earthly blessings, but we enjoy different measures of it. Some of us enjoy good health, some of us enjoy the abundance of riches. Some of us get to travel, some of us have big families, and some of us enjoy nice jobs. But some of us have different abilities. Some of us can swim, some of us sing better than others. Some of us enjoy the sun; some of us enjoy the rain. People in different parts of the world enjoy the snow. All these earthly blessings come from God. Some of us get more, some of us get less, but we all get to enjoy some measure of it.

Earthly blessings are part and parcel of this life, and it ends in this life. That’s why people sometimes call earthly blessings “temporal blessings” right. And if earthly blessings are temporal blessings, then we must ask ourselves: Why do we still live for earthly blessings? Why do we still live for temporal blessings? Is it because we lost the joy of the Lord? Is it because we have forgotten our Creator, or is it because we have forgotten about spiritual blessings? The portion of Scripture we are considering this morning is not about earthly blessings; it is about spiritual blessings. Now some of us here belong to this world, but we also belong to another world. In fact, we feel that we belong to the other world so much that we don’t feel at home in this world. And the people I’m referring to of course is Christians right.

Christians know that this world is a passing world, this world is temporary, and the one that’s coming will be eternal. Christians enjoy earthly blessings just like the rest. Alright we also get our fair share of possessions, we also enjoy the company of family and friends. Some more, some less. Now some of us know how to swim, some of us can sing better than others. But besides earthly blessings, Christians also enjoy spiritual blessings. And I dare say we enjoy spiritual things more than earthly blessing. Now in this earth, of course, we will enjoy earthly blessings, but not all of it. But Christians will enjoy all spiritual blessings. Christians will enjoy every spiritual blessing there is to offer.

So I want you to see the contrast between earthly blessings and spiritual blessings here. We all enjoy earthly blessings, but we will not enjoy all of it. Not everyone will enjoy spiritual blessings, but those who do enjoy all of it. Alright so read again in verse 3: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ”. Those who get to enjoy spiritual blessings (I’m referring to Christians) will enjoy all of it. Now what these spiritual blessings are, how they come to us, the difference these blessings makes in our lives, and the responsibility it lays upon us, now that is the great theme of Ephesians.

And I want to go through with you this morning to focus and know more about these spiritual blessings that fuse our lives, that encourages us and motivates us to live our Christian lives. I want to read again from verse 3 to verse 6, and we will try to figure out what these spiritual blessings are. Again verse 3: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He made us accepted in the Beloved.”.

Now, what do these three verses tell us? Now it tells us many things, and I want to start off with two, and that is: from whom did these spiritual blessings come from, and by whom did these spiritual blessings come? Firstly, from whom did these spiritual blessings come? Well, you see that in verse 3: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing”. Now spiritual blessings did not come from our families or from our parents, we do not inherit them. It does not come from our pastor. Now he may preach to us every week. Certainly, it does not come from our friends. Spiritual blessings come from God. All these blessings are gifts, and they are given to Christians, and they come from God. But by whom do these spiritual blessings come?

Read again in verse 3: “who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ”. Verse 4: “just as He chose us in Him”. Verse 5: “having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ”. In verse 6: “to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He has made us accepted in the Beloved”. Verse 3: “in Christ”. Verse 4: “in Him”. Verse 5: “by Jesus Christ”. Verse 6: “in the Beloved”. Now again spiritual blessings do not come by our parents, they do not come by our pastors, and certainly do not come by our friends. If you are in Christ, you’ll receive all spiritual blessings.

We enter into spiritual blessings by no other means and no other conditions than by simply being in Christ. All that needs to be done to receive these spiritual blessings has been done by our Lord Jesus Christ in His glorious death and His perfect life. Now you may ask: Why do these spiritual blessings come to some men, not all men? You would have noted in verse 4 and 5 some people get spiritual blessings, not all. And I can say here from this verse that some get spiritual blessings because only some are in Christ. We are saved again, we are born again because God chose us, and He chose some. Did we deserve it? The answer is no. Did we merit it? Did we do anything to get it? The answer is no. Is it because we are better than others? Definitely not.

Now if you were to ask me why would God choose you? Why would God choose Woei Shyong to enjoy the spiritual blessings? Why did He choose me? Well honestly, I wouldn’t have an answer. I can’t give you any reason why God would choose me. Even after being baptised since I was twenty one, I can say I’ve continually sinned against God time and time again. But if you were to ask me if there’s any reason why God should not choose you, that I will give you a thousand reasons why God should not choose me. Spiritual blessings come to us, to Christians because God chose us not because of anything. It’s because of His grace, His pure grace alone, and nothing else.

Now spiritual blessings come from God by Christ because of His grace alone, and I want to spend the remainder of the time to discuss with you what are these spiritual blessings that Christians enjoy that we read. Now we continue reading, or in fact, I’ll read again to you verse 5 and verse 6: “Now having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, 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.”. Now just now as Brother Yap has read to you the fourteen verses, I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but Paul here lists down three sorts of spiritual blessings.

He has listed down spiritual blessings to do with the present, he has listed down spiritual blessings to do with the past, and also spiritual blessings to do with the future. At first, we’ll look at spiritual blessings to do with the present, and these are blessings which we as Christians enjoy now. And I’ve just read to you verses 5 and 6 again, the spiritual blessings that we enjoy now are adoption in verse 5 and acceptance in verse 6. Now imagine you are poor needy beggar with no money, no job, no place to stay. And suddenly a rich king, a rich and powerful king, he calls you. He invites you and he asks you to work for him. Now I’m sure you’ll be quite excited. You have nothing, suddenly a rich king invites you to work for him.

Now if that king doesn’t just give you any job, he asked you to be his general to lead his large army, now I’m sure you’ll be quite honoured to hold that job or that title. Now suppose the king went one step further and he says: Come, be my son. The king adopts you to be his son. Now surely this has to be the highest privilege a king can offer you. To be his son would mean that you practically have what the king owns. Now adoption is one of the most wonderful truths found in the Bible. It is not the privilege of all men, only some get to enjoy it, but it is the highest privilege the Bible offers. Adoption means that we Christians now have a heavenly Father. Now, this adoption is not to be mistaken with justification, the two are distinct.

Let me try to give you another example. Imagine you started off as a poor parentless child. Now you didn’t get to experience the warmness of a family, and you wasn’t brought up properly. You became very rebellious. You grow up stealing, you killed people, and now you have been caught. Now you have been caught by the police because you killed someone, and you even take drugs. And you are in the court and you stand before the judge, very high respectable judge. The judge now looks at you, and you’re looking at the judge and you’re just expecting the judge to sentence you to either life imprisonment or worse still, the death penalty.

But instead, the judge says: All is well, you are not guilty. I declare you not guilty and you are free to go. Now that would be one of the most wonderful news you’ve ever heard in your life. You’re supposed to be punished, but the judge declares you not guilty. Now, that is justification. Now suppose the judge, after declaring you not guilty, the judge sees you as this guy has no parents, and the judge says: Come, I will adopt you. Now that is one step further. The judge now adopts this poor needy soul who has no home, no money and has just been declared not guilty. Now, this is a far higher privilege. This is adoption, and it cannot happen without justification, but it always happens after justification. Adoption is concerned with the fatherhood of God in relation to all Christians.

When Jesus teaches us to pray, He asks us to say: “Our Father in heaven”. When He asked us not to worry, He says: “your heavenly Father knows of your needs”. So we have the highest privilege of being adopted. We have a Father who is almighty, full of grace, full of love. But you may think: How is it possible? How is it possible for God to accept such a sinful person such as me? Well Paul says here at this present time we also enjoy the blessings of being accepted. We’re not just adopted, we are accepted in the Beloved. In Romans 1:7, I’ll just read to you, it says here: “To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints”. Now C.S. Lewis comments that this is the marvels of all marvels that He called me “beloved”.

How is it? How is this possible? How can God accept such a sinful person? Well, it is because, in verse 6, we are accepted in the Beloved. Now think for a moment: How acceptable is Jesus Christ to God the Father? I know all kinds of human acceptance has its limits, but I simply cannot imagine the boundaries of the acceptability of Jesus Christ to His Father. God cannot tolerate sin. He cannot bear sin. He must punish sin and evil, and He will only accept a person who is pure, holy, just, and righteous. And Jesus Christ is that person. Jesus Christ was pure and holy. If you examine Him, you will not be able to trace any sin on Him. Although He was tempted, although He suffered, but yet He never sinned. And on the cross, the holy robes of Jesus Christ was given to us Christians.

And that’s why we are accepted in the Beloved. God now sees us through the lens of Christ. When He sees us, He sees these holy robes. And once you are accepted, you will always be accepted. Alright on Facebook, you can unfriend one person, but here in the Bible, you cannot unaccept someone. God cannot unaccept someone. Now you’ll do well to remember the prodigal son in Luke chapter 15. A prodigal is someone who spends money recklessly. Now this son, he was the son of a rich person. Well one day, he got tired. He took his inheritance, he took his money from his father, and he went to enjoy life. He went to stay in the Four Seasons Hotel in KL, he went travelling to Bali. After travelling one time still not enough, he went to Korea.

He came back, he went to nightclubs, he ate one of the most wonderful food you can find in Malaysia. And before you know it, he spent finish all his money. And now he has nowhere to go. He knows that he has sinned against his father. He doesn’t dare to go back after doing this kind of disobedient thing, and he even had to share food with the pigs. Eventually, he came back. He came back to his father, and when he came back, he told his father he just wanted to be treated as a servant. I’m unworthy to become your son. Now, what did the father do? Even before he reached the doorstep, the father ran out the gates to embrace him because this boy is still his son. The father accepts him as his son.

Now we are like this prodigal son. Often we have done things we should not have done. Our eyes have seen things that we should not have seen. Our feet went to places that we should not have gone. But no matter how defile we have become, our father still accepts us as his son. And every time we come to God in repentance, no matter how bad your sin is, God will still welcome you with open arms. He will still accept you. Now, this is truly indeed one of the greatest privileges of a Christian- to be adopted and accepted. Now how is it possible that we can enjoy spiritual blessings of the present? Well, it is because we have spiritual blessings of the past.

Now let’s read verse 7: “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace”. Redemption means to buy back. To buy back means there is a payment that needs to be paid. I’ll pay back with what? You’ll notice here that God didn’t say redemption through His power. Now He didn’t just use His power and pay off all our sins. He didn’t say redemption through His blood because He loves you so much so all your sins have been paid (Mistakenly mentioned “through His blood”, supposedly “through His love”). He said redemption through His blood. The payment was the blood of Jesus Christ. What was redeemed is the forgiveness of sins. Now without the shedding of blood, there will not be any forgiveness of sins. But why is it so cruel?

Well, it had to be done because it brings great honour to God. It reflects who God is. Our God is a God of justice. He cannot forgive sin without any payment. And if He did so, then how can He be just right? How is that fair? Our God has threatened sin, you see in the Bible. He has threatened sin with punishment. But if He does not execute His threats, then how can we take Him seriously? Now our God does not change. He will always do what He says He will do. But man are different, we always change. That’s why we find it really hard to take the words of man for granted. But if you do not take God’s Word seriously, then you are making a big mistake. If He says He will punish sin, then He will certainly punish sin.

And since sin will be punished but we are made to go free, then it will be wise for someone to step in. Now back to the example of you and the judge. Again you have committed so many sins and you are expecting the judge to sentence you to jail or even give you the death penalty. But instead, he declares you guiltless because he said someone took your place. Someone took your punishment, and he has paid. Now that punishment, he has paid the penalty for sins, and now you can go free. Jesus Christ was that someone. He came, He lived a perfect life, and through His blood we have redemption. Now we are redeemed, adopted, accepted. And the following verses, Paul turns his attention to the spiritual blessings of the future.

Now, look with me verse 8 to verse 10: “which He abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to the good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him.”. Now when the time is right, God will gather everyone who is in Christ. And this will definitely be one of the greatest reunions ever, better than Chinese New Year and Hari Raya. You’ll see Christians from the past, you’ll see Christians from the present, and of course Christians from the future. Best of all, you will see Christ.

This is indeed one of the great blessings that we will have. Look in verse 11: “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”. Verse 12: “that we who first trusted in Christ should be the praise of His glory.”. As adopted children, we will get our inheritance. Our Father has prepared an inheritance for us, and there is no chance that we will fail to get this inheritance. And Christians all over the world are gearing up for this. We are getting ready for the time to come when we will receive this inheritance. So the question is: Are you busy living for this world, or are you busy preparing yourself for the time to come? Now, what is this inheritance?

Well, it’s not described here in this passage but it’s mentioned in other places of the Bible its likeness of Christ. There’ll be no sin, no pain, no darkness, no suffering, no corruption, no sadness, no crying. It is going to be one of the most wonderful experiences you’ll ever have. And in case you’re worried that God might not remember you or He might overlook you, now Paul addresses this immediately. Continue reading from verse 12: “that we who first trusted in Christ should be the praise of His glory. In Him you also trusted, after you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.”.

We are sealed with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance. And this sealing does not come before you believe. It comes after you have believed. Now some of you might be wondering: Oh, how do I know that I have received the Holy Spirit? Is speaking in tongues a proof that you have received the Holy Spirit? When you come to worship, you feel nice, you feel great. Now there’s a wonderful feeling of ecstasy in your heart that it proves that you have the Holy Spirit? Oh, I don’t think so right. You can even get that with drugs. But the sign of receiving the Holy Spirit, the true sign is spiritual change.

True believers will love the church. They will truly love the church. They will hunger for God’s Word. They will desire holiness. They will hate sin. This is a true mark that you have received the Holy Spirit. I cannot imagine a time when, you know, if I miss church, there’s certainly something missing in my heart. If I don’t meet Christian friends after one whole week of meeting non-Christian friends in the workplace, all the conversations are so ungodly, unfruitful, unedifying. I cannot help but miss the fellowship of the church, the fellowship of friends. If I don’t read the Bible every day, inside my heart I feel there’s something empty in me. When I was a student, I read about Sejarah, I read about mathematics. But if I don’t read God’s Word, surely there has to be something missing in your heart.

And if you cannot feel that, then you need to question yourself: Do you have the Holy Spirit in your heart? I feel very sad that I hear people telling me that they are saved, but their lives are no different. Their church life is no different, their prayer life is no different, their spiritual life is no different, their devotional life is no different. And I sometimes wonder what kind of a salvation is that. Yes, I know that once saved, always saved, but your life is going to reflect whether you were once saved. And for those who are truly saved, God will preserve you to the end. The Holy Spirit will work in your heart and transform you to make you more and more like Christ.

Now, these are the spiritual blessings which Paul declares here. There are earthly blessings and there are spiritual blessings. Earthly blessings we all enjoy, but spiritual blessings only some of us enjoy. And in these spiritual blessings, we have redemption through the blood of Jesus Christ. We are adopted by our heavenly Father, and we are also accepted by Him. And we will have a wonderful inheritance in the future. And all these you can take comfort because you are sealed with the Holy Spirit, and God will never overlook you.

Now again just want to urge you not to live for earthly blessings. These are temporal, it will not last. But live for spiritual blessings. And with that, I hope that you can understand these wondrous truths. As you continue to read on chapters 1, 2, and 3, you get a bigger, clearer, brighter picture of what these spiritual blessings are, and I hope that indeed you’ll have the burden in your heart to live out your Christian lives. Let’s close in prayer.

This transcript has been lightly edited for readability.