Well, good afternoon again. Our scripture reading this afternoon is taken from Ephesians chapter one verses one through six. Ephesians chapter one verses one through six. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace to you and peace from God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be God, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he choose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him in love. He predestines us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the beloved. Heavenly Father, we thank you that In your prophecies, you brought us together today, this date, to open your word and hear your word and hear your voice speaking to us. We thank you that you have not left us alone to understand your word, but it's by the power of the Holy Spirit that we can read it and believe it. We pray, Lord, that these verses that we are considering today will move us, move our hearts to worship you, to praise your name for who you are and for what you have done for us in your grace, in your mercy. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. So this section that we are considering today, verses three through six, are part of a long sentence in Greek, which is verses three through 14. So, it is not a paragraph, that is a sentence, verses three through 14. And I wish I knew that before. I mean, when I was little, growing up, Spanish was one of my most difficult subjects to deal with. And I used to write long sentences. And if I would know that the Greeks wrote long sentences like this, I could have said, well, you see, if the Greeks did it, I can also do that. But I didn't know that at that time, so I cannot go back in time. This is a long sentence, verses three through 14, and in this sentence, this passage, this section, Paul is focused in doing two things. He first, not first, he second, but I will say it first, he describes the blessings that we have as Christians in Christ. He describes all the blessings that we have as believers of Jesus because we are in Christ. And then as a result of that, then he prays God for these blessings. And he describes and he meditates and he teaches, he let us know all these great blessings that we have from the grace of God based on our union with Christ. And then as a result of that, then he goes and praise God. He give praises to the Lord. Somebody says, any good theology should result in good doxology. If you have a good understanding of God's word, if you understand, if you really understand what the word of God is teaching you, it should move your heart to praise God. So my hope, as we consider these verses, is that we join Paul in praising God, as we consider what Christ and what God has done for us through Christ. It's my hope that we leave this place today praising the Lord. Even if I didn't do a good job delivering the message, just by reading it, you should leave this place praising the Lord. Because what Paul tells us here, that God has done for us through Christ, in Christ, is just wonderful. You see the first verse, in the first verse, Paul starts saying, blessed be the God, and then he goes to say he has blessed us with spiritual blessings. The word that Paul uses here actually is the same word. It's right that the English version is using the same word because it's the same word, eulogetos, eulogeo, eulogia. To describe two things that are very different. One is the way God has blessed us, the blessings that we have received from God, and the way we praise God for those blessings. I'll say that Paul could have used the word, thanks be to God, for the blessings that we have received from him. But I think that The reason why probably he used the same word is because it requires more from us than just simply saying, thank you, God. But it requires that we actually praise God for the things that he has done for us. And when we say we praise God, blessed be to God, or blessed be the God of our Father, of our Lord Jesus Christ, it's more than just saying these words. giving our lives to God in adoration, in praise to him for what he has done for us. Then Paul says, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ with spiritual blessings in the heavenly places. is praising God for what he has done for us. And what he has done for us is that God has blessed us with spiritual blessings in the heavenly places. Then you can question or wonder what are spiritual blessings and what are the heavenly places? For example, John Stott will interpret that spiritual blessings are blessings that come from the Holy Spirit. Some other scholars joined him to see a very prominent Trinitarian structure, which is praising God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit throughout these verses. But I will actually agree more with one of our former pastors, James Boyce, who will describe these spiritual blessings in contrast with material blessings. Why? Because you see that through the end of the test. So spiritual blessings refer to those things that are unseen to the world that God is giving to us. They are unseen because material blessings are seen and are seeked by people. People want material blessings, want to see things that they can touch. We saw Some weeks ago, the example of this man, the paralytic who comes to Jesus that is brought for these four men, seeking to be healed. He was seeking immaterial blessing, but Lord Jesus instead gave him first the greatest spiritual blessing that he could ever receive. Your sins are forgiven. that then God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ has blessed us with the spiritual blessings, blessings that we cannot probably see with our eyes but are real and we understand them from the word of God. Now what are the heavenly places? In the heavenly places? This word is actually a word that only appears five times in Paul's writings. And all of these five times are in this book, the book of Ephesians. So I think that's something that is helpful for us to understand what Paul means by heavenly places is to look at what he meant in these other occasions. For example, chapter three of Ephesians verse 10 says, so that through the church, the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. Ephesians chapter six, verse 12 says, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers and against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness. against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. So the heavenly places, you could say, is the sphere in which principalities and powers continue to operate in this world. It's not something or a place out from here, but right here, right now. where spiritual powers and principalities continue to work against the kingdom of God. Also, the other two occasions are Ephesians 1.20 where Paul says that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places. Ephesians 2 says like this, and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Therefore we see also that the heavenly places is the sphere where Christ reigns. So we know that the kingdom of God is at hand meant that the kingdom of God has come. Christ is the king, right here, right now. Heavenly places, then, is not a place that is far away from us, but is as Stott would say, the unseen spiritual world that is around us. And Paul is telling us that God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ has blessed us in Christ with spiritual blessings in the heavenly places. This is that many people around the world, many people around us will not see the kind of blessings that we have received from God. They will see us as normal people with normal problems as they have. Even in some cases, some of our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world who are persecuted are seen by the world as people who are defeated and not people who are blessed. Yet God has blessed them as he has blessed us with spiritual blessings in the heavenly places. Now Paul, in the following verses, describes two of those spiritual blessings that we are recipients as followers of Jesus. And remember, those blessings that we will consider should move our hearts to say what Paul is saying, blessed be the God, to praise God. The first one is that he chooses us to be holy in holy and blameless, that God choose us to be holy and blameless, even as he choose us in him before the foundation of the world. It is not just that he simply choose us, but he choose us in Christ. It means that, as he says, before the foundation of the world, before anything that was created was created, before even time was created, before we were born, before sin was in the world, before we were able to do good or bad, God has already chosen us. And it's not just that he choose us, but he choose us to be in union with Christ. In God's election, he have chosen us before the foundation of the world to be in union with Christ. And to be in union with Christ for one purpose. He says that we should be holy and blameless. Before the foundation of the world, God choose us to be holy and blameless. And I will say that there are at least three ways in which we can see this happening in our lives. One is that he made us holy and blameless through our union with Christ. If you have your Bibles or your phone, you could go with me to Romans chapter nine, verses 30 through 32. which is a very important passage for our understanding of how we are justified or declared just before God. What shall we say then, that Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have obtained it? That is a righteousness that is by faith? But that Israel who pursue that law, who pursue a law that will lead to righteousness, did not succeed in reaching that law? Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works, they have stumbled over the stumbling stone. The Jews were right in one thing, that righteousness is necessary to be in communion with God. Holiness is necessary to see God. But they were wrong in one thing. That they thought that the way to become righteous, or what God have revealed to them through the Old Testament, that the way to become righteous is by works. In reality, the law was revealed to them in the Old Testament to reveal to them that they were not able or capable of keeping the law. Something that Ross mentioned some time ago, total depravity. They were not able to keep the law because there is no one who understand, no one who does good. But they understood that the way to become righteous was to do works. Paul tells us here is that Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have obtained it. It is not that they just did not care about righteousness, but that the gospel came to them, and when the gospel came to them, they became righteous through that righteousness that is by faith. The problem was not that the Jews were pursuing righteousness, but they were pursuing righteousness on their own. And how is that righteousness a reality in any believer is that as you put your faith in Christ, Christ's righteousness is imputed to you. is counted as your righteousness. In your union with Christ, your faith in Christ makes you righteous before God the Father. You are declared just, righteous, justified before God the Father. So when Paul says he choose us in him before the foundation of the world so that we will be holy and blameless, remember he choose us in Christ so through our union with Christ we will fulfill the requirement of the law by faith in Jesus. Also he choose us in him that we will be holy in the sense that through the power of the Holy Spirit he will empower us. to follow God's law and to keep his status. Another passage where you can find that is Ezekiel chapter 36 verses 26 to 27. It says like this, and I will give you a new heart. And a new spirit I will put within you and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my status and be careful to obey my rules. And God choose us before the foundation of the world in Christ so we will be holy and blameless is that he was promising to us also that he will send the Holy Spirit who will give us a new heart and who will enable us to do the will of God. It doesn't mean that we become perfect on this time that we have here on earth. We start this process of sanctification that begins from the very moment when we put our faith in Jesus and ends when we die and we are glorified and we go to the presence of God. He choose us before of the foundation of the world to do this transformation in our heart to empower us to do his will. And also this means that he choose us before the foundation of the world So that at the end of the time, whether Christ will come if we are alive or we are asleep, when Christ come because we have died, that we will be transformed, which means that we will be glorified. That one day we will stand before God and we will be holy and blameless because the redemption work has been completed in us. We see here the sense of already but not yet. You are already a new creature in Christ but you are in that process of being sanctified before God. Remember, we're looking at these verses and these verses should point us to praise God. Praise the Lord because when he choose you before the foundation of the world, you have not done anything good or bad. To deserve this, this is all based on His grace. Even though the word grace does not appear in verse four, the fact that it's before the foundation of the world remind us that it's not on the basis of who we are, but it's on the basis of God's will. Second, He predestined us for adoption as sons. He says, in love he predestined us. One passage that is very close in the meaning of what we see here is Romans chapter eight verses 29 through 30. He says, for those he foreknew he also predestined. Some people have misunderstood this for knowledge of God as if God went through the future and so that you would choose him, then he predestined you. But that's a wrong understanding of what Paul means here. This word, actually, if you see it in the context of the Old Testament, means that he love us. Remember when a man knew his wife means that he has intimate relationship with her. So God knowing us is establishing this love for us. So before we were born he already loved us and in that love he predestined us. In love he predestined us. The motivation of preordaining our destiny was his love. The basis of his decision was his love. It was not us who seek for him. But then he says that he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons. Think about this, God could have saved us give us salvation, save us from his wrath, and maybe not giving us even the adoption that he gave us, but this is a wonderful privilege. He brought us to be his children. And as his children, we have the privilege of being called children of God, a child of God, but also the responsibilities of living as such, as children of God. But even in that, We also experience this already, but not yet. We are adopted, we are adopted, we are children of God, but we're looking forward to be adopted. You find that in Romans 8. It says like this, and not only that creation, but we ourself, who are the first fruit of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoptions, for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. then you may wonder what does that mean that we are already adopted but we are also waiting to be adopted. And I think that an illustration that explain that is that case of a couple who decide to adopt a child in a country overseas and they do all the paperwork and they do all the process to bring that child here to this country. And once they are close to that moment, They travel to that country, and once they get to that country, from stories that I have heard from couples that have gone through that process, they cannot come back right away, but in many of these cases, they have to stay there a month or two months, and that time they are finalizing some process there, but they get the child, and the child goes to be with them, and probably stay in a hotel, The child is not still experiencing all the blessings that he's gonna receive as an adopted child. He's not still in his house. And eventually, that couple bring the child here, and he gets his room, he gets his house, and he start to experience all the blessings of having a family. In the same sense, we all believers has been already adopted, but we are still here on Earth. Christ the King is right now, right here. We are children of God, but we are still here on earth. And we look forward to that moment when that adoption will be finalized, when we will be in his presence forever, enjoying all the blessings of being called the children of God. So he predestined us in love before the foundation of the world, according to the purpose of his will, to be called the children of God. Now the question is, why did God do all that? Well, Paul respond that question right here in verse six. He says, to the praise of his glorious grace. To the praise of his glorious grace. That circles back to what he says at the beginning. Blessed be the Lord, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because he has blessed us with spiritual blessings. We have been chosen to be holy and blameless, predestined to be adopted, and all this is to the praise of his glorious name. Grace. When we come to passages like this, brothers and sisters, we come to passages that remind us of what Christ has done and God has done for us. And remember, good understanding of God's word should move our hearts to good doxology, to the praise of his glorious grace. But the reality is that many times, We don't praise God as we should. Why? Because we are so distracted by the material blessings on the earthly places, pursuing them, that we are missing that God has already given us spiritual blessings on the heavenly places, that God already As he said to the paralytic, your seeing has forgiven. God has already given you, given me, the greatest gift that somebody could ever receive, which is reconciliation with God, that we miss the wonder of grace because we are still pursuing material blessings. It doesn't mean that God will not provide for you. We're called to ask God for our daily bread. It doesn't mean that God does not bless you in many ways on this earth while you are here. But God has already blessed you and is blessing you with spiritual blessings daily with the work that he's already doing and has promised to do for the rest of your life. Material blessings are perishable. They pass away. But these spiritual blessings are eternal. This should move us to doxology. Let us join Paul saying, blessed be the God of our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ who have blessed us. Let's pray. Dear God, we thank you for your blessings, your spiritual blessings, those that sometimes we ignore because we are distracted by the present sufferings of this life. Help us, Lord, to be moved in our hearts to praise your name for what you have done, for what you have promised. Blessed be the God of our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.