Compass Point Church

What are the spiritual benefits of being “In Him?”

Intro: What is so great about being a Christian? For example, we hear a quote from A. W. Tozer who said, "The only thing that matters in life is knowing Jesus Christ" and we think, "Yes, it is nice to be a Christian, but isn't that a little extreme? I mean, I'm a Christian, but there are other things which are just as important. I would like to be successful in my career, I want to get married and have a good family, I'd like to buy a nice house and car, I want to do some traveling, and I'd like to stay healthy and enjoy retirement. I just can't buy the idea that Christianity is the only thing that is important."
Now, I want to be clear, there is nothing wrong with any of those other goals. But I agree with Tozer: Compared with being a Christian, compared with knowing Jesus Christ, those other things just are not very significant. I like the way the Apostle Paul put it in regard to his life achievements.

Philippians 3:7-9 (NIV)
7 But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him…

There is nothing better than knowing Jesus! Maybe some of you would say, "Neil, you are a pastor. You are supposed to say it is the greatest thing there is. You are kind of a salesman for Christianity and I expect you to exaggerate the benefits of being a Christian." Yes, salesmen often do that. But I believe all of us sometimes devalue Christianity. We underestimate the benefits of knowing Christ, either because we have forgotten or never understood them. We don't realize how great it is to be a Christian.

As we read this text, it is obvious that Paul is excited about Christianity. In the Greek, these first twelve verses, 202 words, form one long, very complex sentence. It almost seems as if Paul gets a little carried away. In fact, one commentator says, "These verses are like a snowball rolling down the hill, going faster and getting bigger each second." As Paul writes about how God has blessed us and the benefits of being a Christian, he finds it difficult to stop. For Paul, knowing Christ was clearly the greatest thing he could ever imagine. Today my hope is that God will use His Word to remind us of the marvelous benefits of knowing Jesus, and to help us better realize how great it is to be a Christian. Let's pray that would happen.

PRAY
The great theme of the Bible!

I. In Christ We Have Redemption. (vss. 7-8)
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight

A. God wants to repair what was broken in the world. (7)
Redemption is the theme of the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation! If someone asks you, “What is the theme of the entire Bible?” you are correct in answering them by saying, “Redemption!”
One great theological scholar by the name of B.B. Warfield wrote, “There is not one of the titles of Christ which is more precious to Christian hearts than ‘Redeemer.’”

The problem is, what does redemption mean? When we think of redemption the first thing that may come to mind is redeemable bottles. We can take our bottles to the redemption center and they “buy back” the bottles from us.
The entire theme of the Bible is God’s buying back a relationship with humankind! In the garden, Adam and Eve had a perfect relationship with God – Shalom, peace with God in everyway! Then the Fall.
Then from there on, all the rest of the Bible is the story of God buying that same kind of relationship back again. God wants intimacy with us just like back in the garden before the whole thing got broken!
If you want to have a snap shot of what yours and my relationship with God is supposed to look like, then read Genesis 2:4 and following. There you will find that God and man commonly spoke to each other. The relationship with God was alive and vibrant!

When Paul uses the word redemption here he is using a metaphor taken from the customs of ancient warfare.
It was a frequent practice for the conqueror to take captives who could then be made slaves to work in all sorts of useful service. However, if they were people of importance then they could be set free and restored to their rightful place by a process called redemption.

The word was also used in the realm of slaves who by going through an elaborate process, could buy their freedom by paying a ransom. However the word is used it is always that a person has been a captive of which they are totally unable to break free from, and yet they are set free due to the payment of a price paid for their redemption.
Paul uses this powerful word which paints such a profound picture of what we have in Christ because it so clearly demonstrates what happens when sinners are set free by Christ.

B. We all need forgiveness! (7-8)
The primary result of redemption for the believer is forgiveness. John the Baptist said it best when He first spoke about Jesus as he saw Jesus coming to the Jordan River. He said, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
Forgiveness means that God has no record of any of our past sins. One man put it like this, He said it’s kind of like God took our personal individual sins and bundled them all up and threw them into the deepest part of the sea and then placed a sign there that said, “No fishing!”
Because of Jesus we have total forgiveness, but that forgiveness comes at a price!

That price was paid by Jesus for us in His blood!
Shedding of blood as used here in our text is the same as death. Christ’s own death in giving His blood, was a substitute for our death.
He made payment for what otherwise would have condemned us to death and to hell.
In the OT the blood sacrifice of animals was continually offered on the altars of the Tabernacle and the Temple. That blood was never intended and was never able to take away the sins of those offering the sacrifices.
Those animals were only symbolic substitutes. Just as the author of Hebrews writes in

It is no wonder that John saw the four living creatures and the twenty four elders singing, “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.” (Rev. 5:9)

We are told that this forgiveness provided to us through Jesus’ shed blood was given to us for a reason.
Now we might want to think that we were selected to receive this benefit of redemption because of our goodness.
Or possibly because we at least aren’t as bad as someone else we can think of. The bottom line is that it is lavished on us with no connection to merit.

ILL. Unlike any other world religion. Every other religion – works oriented. Christianity - by grace! Through Faith! What a silly foolish concept!

Trans: So we find that one of the benefits of being in Christ is that we have had Jesus Christ pay in full the cost necessary to buy us back into relationship with Him.
But there are other benefits!

II. In Christ We Can know God’s Purpose From The Beginning. (vss. 9&10)
9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

A. The mystery of God’s Will is revealed to us.
People have longed to know the purpose and the reason for this existence we call life. Most people go through this life with no sense of purpose or direction. The American Dream? Find happiness? Security?
One French philosopher put it well when he wrote, “The universe is indifferent. Who created it? Why are we on this puny mud heap, spinning in infinite space? I have not the slightest idea, and I am convinced that no one has the least idea.”

It is not surprising that those who do not even recognize that God exists, much less trust and serve Him, do not have the least idea of what life, the universe, and eternity are all about.
Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.” Matt. 11:25

James 1:5 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives to all men generously without finding fault, and it will be given to him.”
When God takes away our sin, He does not leave us in a spiritual, moral, and mental vacuum where we must work things out for ourselves.
He lavishes wisdom and insight on us. He gives us the answers to the mysteries that have eluded humankind since creation.

Paul’s use of the word “mystery here is ironic, because what he is saying is a mystery to many who read this text.
It doesn’t need to be a mystery to us though. In Bible language a mystery is something that was formally unknown but now is revealed.

B. The will of God involves restored Shalom.
What Paul reveals in this verse is that God’s ultimate purpose in redemption is to “bring all things in heaven and on earth together” again under Jesus Christ.
What is interesting is that in most English versions of the Bible there is an omission of a word which is key to understanding this verse.
The word is “again” and it occurs in the Greek in connection with the verb “bring under one head.” The verb is a strange one and its root is kephale which means “head” or “headstone” or cornerstone.”
The verb here in Ephesians 1:10 has the Greek word ana linked to it which means “again.”

The word really says that it is God’s purpose “to bring together, unite, or sum up” all things “again” in Jesus Christ.
In other words, everything was together in Jesus once, ceased to be united to Him in the Fall of Gen. 3 and will be reunited in Him again by redemption!
When times have reached there fulfillment simply means when it is truly finished and Jesus returns again we will be going back to the way it was in the garden. – Shalom!

Trans: So we find two benefits of being in Christ. Redemption, paying off our debt by grace! The inside scoop on what God is all about in bringing things back again united under the Lordship of Jesus. There is yet one more benefit to look at in today’s text.

III. In Christ we have An Guaranteed Inheritance. (vss. 11-14)

A. Our inheritance is from before time began!
11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.

There is always something good about being chosen for receiving a blessing! But there are two sides to it.

It’s great to be chosen, but what about those who aren’t chosen? My heart always goes out to the poor kids that aren’t chosen till last to be on a team.
That’s the real essence of the whole debate about predestination.
What does being predestined mean?

As I mentioned last week, the word for predestined means literally “to mark out before hand.”
It has about it the idea of election and that God chose us before time to be His. We would not have expected that, for it is natural for us to expect that we make the initiative, that we decide whether to be saved or not.
There is a place, of course, for the human will, and the New Testament never regards people as mere robots or marionettes moved about by God without regard for their own desires or the exercise of the free will God has given them.

We are mistaken, however, if we see salvation as something we decide by our own choice. Paul addressed this in his letter to the Roman church:

Romans 9:20-21 (NIV)
20 But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?'"
21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?
Because we like to think that we have all the say, we tend to be suspicious of such teachings as election, divine call, and predestination.
Some Christians find it completely unacceptable, saying that it reduces us to the level of puppets, people who are simply moved around as God chooses and who have no wills of our own.
But this is not the way the New Testament views it.
For the New Testament writers, predestination is a way of saying that the whole of our salvation, from first to last, is a work of God.
Left to ourselves, we would never make the effort of giving up evil and turning to God. It is only because God works in us first that we come to him.
One scholar feels that the question to settle in order to truly get to the heart of predestination is: How far did the human race fall when it fell?
Did man fall upward? That is the view of secular evolutionists, that we are all getting better and better. (Star Trek)
Did man fall part way but not the whole way, so that he is damaged by sin but not ruined? That is the view of Pelagians or Armenians. It affirms that we are affected by sin but insists that we nevertheless possess the ability to turn from it and believe in Christ when the gospel is offered by our own power.

Or did man fall the whole way so that he is no longer capable of making even the smallest movement back toward God unless God first reaches down and performs the miracle of the new birth in him? That is the view of Scripture.
The Bible says that at we are "dead in ... transgressions and sins" (Eph. 2:1).
It says, "There is no one ... who seeks God" (Rom. 3:11).
'Jesus declared, "No one can come to meunless the Father who sent me draws him" (John 6:44).
It is written in Gen. ,,the LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time" (Gen. 6:5).

The truth is clear from Scripture that humankind fell all the way.
We are too hopelessly lost in sin ever to partake of God's great spiritual blessings on our own.
Instead, God in his mercy chose us and then made his choice become reality in us.
First He made our salvation possible by sending the Lord Jesus Christ to die for our sin. Then He made us capable of responding to him by sending the Holy Spirit to open our eyes to the truth and glory of the gospel.
Thus, all the blessings we enjoy must be traced back to this sovereign electing purpose of God toward us in Jesus Christ.

Some would say, “Then why evangelize? Why tell others about Jesus. God has already chosen and predestined people? It is true that He has, but while He knows, we do not and He has commanded us to go and make disciples. Be a people who are obedient and even excited about telling others about redemption and this great mystery revealed in Christ. God knows who will and who will not respond, but that is irrelevant to us in that we are not told, “Go and make disciples of the elect.” But rather just Go and make disciples and know that God will lead us and guide us as we do so.

Trans: So we have the spiritual benefit of being chosen by God before time began. But we also have that election made secure today because we are sealed and given a deposit of guarantee.

B. We can be secure in our status with God. (vs. 13)
13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,

Too many people struggle with their spiritual security. They have heard the truth of the Gospel, responded by faith and believed, and yet they doubt whether they are truly Disciples of Jesus, truly saved by His blood. This is called “eternal Security”. The Bible here says we can know this security because of the Holy Spirit in us!
This being “sealed” by the Holy Spirit which Jesus promised to send when He ascended into heaven:

John 16:7 (NIV)
7 But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.

So, the way we can have confidence and boldness in our status with God is provided by the obvious work of the HS in our lives.

A failure to experience life guided by, directed by, taught by, convicted by the HS is a life that has valid concerns about one’s salvation.

The Holy Spirit verifies that the one receiving him really is God's child, as Paul says in Romans 8:16 ("The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children").

C. Living a Spirit-filled life is our proof of eternal life.
14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

The Holy Spirit living in us, God in us, changing us, conforming us more and more into the image of Jesus is the guarantee, the proof, that we are going to live with Christ for eternity!

Living a life governed by the Holy Spirit is our day to day evidence that we are saints. Holy ones who have been elected and predestined to know God and be with Him for eternity!

The Holy Spirit is our guarantee that God has done what He promised. A daily reminder that we are His children!

Sealing us with the Holy Spirit answers all our needs. It assures us of God's favor. It shows that we belong to him. It renders our salvation certain.

Conclusion: To God Be Glory
The bottom line to all this is that we have so much blessing and benefit from being in Christ. How should we live as a result. The answer, I believe is found in the last words of this great opening sentence of the apostle Paul. They are "to the praise of his glory." It is an appropriate end, just as it was an appropriate beginning. In verse 3 Paul began by exclaiming, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ." Then, after he has enumerated those blessings, he returns to the place from which he set out, saying that this is "to the praise of his glory."

Twice in this long sentence of blessings heaped on blessing Paul has declared in verse 3, 6 & again in 12 & 14 God’s ultimate Goal in redeeming humans is The praise of His Glory! We are not saved and blessed for our own glory but for God’s. When we glorify ourselves we rob God of what is rightly His. He saved us to serve Him and to praise Him!