All right, turn in your Bibles to the book of Ephesians chapter one, Ephesians chapter one. Tonight's message is gonna be on the blessing of eternal life. And I want to put an emphasis there on eternal. A few weeks ago in the sermon on the last part of Mark chapter 9, I wasn't very clear in some of my exposition on certain of the verses concerning eternal life for the elect. So I want to try to clarify a few things about God's elect and about eternal life by looking at this wonderful passage of scripture. It's one of those passages you probably could never spend too much time on. There is so much in these verses, and I'm not even going to attempt to bring out everything from these verses, but I do want to focus on the eternal life of God's elect. So to read, I want us to go ahead and read verses 3 through 14. before we pray, and then we'll go back and look particularly at some of the earlier verses that we read here. Verse three, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together and one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will, that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ, in whom he also trusted after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that you believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of his glory. Let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father, oh Lord, we thank you for these words, these precious words that we have just read here. And I just pray for your Holy Spirit to direct our thoughts to those things that you wish for us to really focus in on here tonight. Help us, Lord, to understand the beauty and wonder of eternal life and the eternity of that eternal life, oh Lord. I just pray that you would bless this service, that you would use this to your honor and glory and the edification of your people. I pray this in Jesus' name, amen. So going back to verse 3, the first point I want to bring out is God's elect are elect from before the foundation of the world. We see there in verse three, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, note this is speaking of a spiritual blessing from God. And that's partly why I chose the title that I did, The Blessing of Eternal Life. It truly is a great blessing from God that he gives unto us eternal life, okay? God, you know, people, we sing a song, many blessings, count your blessings. We have so many blessings. In these human bodies, I think we tend to focus sometimes more on the material blessings that he gives us. But the richest blessings that God has given to us are those that are spiritual. And eternal life has got to be right there at the top of that list. But this is a great blessing from the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Verse four, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. So this was done before the foundation of the world as a sovereign act of God the father. He did the electing, he did the choosing of a people for his son. This election was not some general election of a general group of people. This was a specific election of a specific number of people. And it was done, again, before the foundation of the world. Before the world was even created, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit entered into an eternal covenant with one another as to the creation of and the redemption of a people for the Son of God. And the Son of God, indeed, his part, he was willing then and agreed then that he would die a death. that would be sufficient for the redemption of that people. His death would accomplish the payment of sins, the price for those sins, would accomplish redemption, it would accomplish all of these things in time at the appointed time as they agreed upon. And we know he did that. We know from the scriptures, indeed, that he did that very thing. But going back to the point here, it is God the Father who chose us, that is, those who are his elect before the foundation of the world. And we see his purpose given to us at the end of verse 4, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. That was his, indeed, it was his ultimate purpose that he would establish a people for himself and for his son who should be holy and without blame before him in love. Did, was he making a people who could accomplish that themselves? Absolutely not. He understood well because he is all knowing and his wisdom greatly surpasses that of humanity. He absolutely knew that Adam would fall. That was no surprise to him. He wasn't forced to come up with another plan when that happened. It was his intention for this to happen so that he might establish before us his great love for us. And in so doing, he made it through his son, through the Lord Jesus Christ, and the righteousness of Christ, which we'll speak more of in a moment, he made it possible for this people to be holy and without blame, not by action of their part, but by the action of his son. and then the work of God in us to give to us, to quicken us and to give to us eternal life. So going on now to verse five, a second point I want to bring out is God's elect are chosen according to his good pleasure. Let's look at these verses. Verse 5, having predestinated us into the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself. So this, he predestinated for this to happen. Again, not some general predestination of a group of people Number unknown in in vague but a specific people of which a list I believe was made in heaven and that Specific people will be quickened by the power of God and will be given eternal life And there's not anything that can change that But into the adoption of children we are to be brought into the family of God by Christ himself Adopted in his children according to the pleasure of his good pleasure of his will So this means that we'd had no part in it. We didn't we don't earn it. We don't choose it God chose according to the good pleasure of his will What does that mean exactly? Well, I'm not sure we understand the depth of that, but I do believe this, it pleased God to do what he did. And that's what it's saying in its most simplest way. He was pleased to do this. And whatever pleases God must be right. Whatever pleases God is good. Whatever pleases God is, it cannot be outdone even. It is of great, I think, emphasis should be placed on this, great emphasis that this was done for his good pleasure. And again, we see a purpose given here, an insight into his purpose, if you will. In verse six, to the praise of the glory of his grace. This is for that, so that he could be praised for the glory, unto the glory of his grace. Grace is a difficult thing, I think, for us to grasp, because we are so accustomed in this world to having to do something to get something, right? And grace is the free gift of God to us. It is his free grace given to us without us doing anything for it, to earn it in any way. And that's, I think, part of the difficulty in understanding grace lies there. But we need to understand that this is done to the praise of the glory of his grace. We, who have been born again, understand more about grace than we ever would have before. Well, first of all, before you're quickened, you don't understand anything about God, any spiritual thing at all about God. But we come to understand his grace when we look upon what Jesus has done for us and how God purposed all of this and brought it to pass. He, it says, to the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved. He made the elect accepted in the Beloved. Again, this is all the work of God and none of man. Those who are not of the elect are doomed to hell. And their sins that they commit here upon this earth add up and add up to their eternal judgment and disposition. Now this is getting into the area where I was not clear a couple of weeks ago. The passage from Mark in Mark chapter nine, you might want to turn there and look at it. Mark chapter nine, verse 43. I'll give you a moment to turn there. In trying to break down these verses, I was trying to, I was just too general, I think, in my approach to it, but the verses say, well, let's just read them, Mark 9, verse 43. And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off. It is better for thee to enter into life maimed than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched, where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched. And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off. It is better for thee to enter a halt into life than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched. where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out. It is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire, where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. Now, a few weeks ago I said something to this effect. These admonitions to cut off hand or foot or pluck out the eye are not meant to be taken literally. The Bible, in fact, condemns self-mutilation. So then we must understand that this is a spiritual thing, a spiritual principle or lesson that we should learn from this. I further say that this does not diminish the impact of what Jesus is saying, which is that the things that we value greatly physically, hand, foot, eye, must not stand in the way of eternal life and spiritual things. So here's where I need to be very clear. For the elect of God, these things, these pursuits in life, these things that we give such value to, represented here by hand, foot, eye, these things never will stand in the way of eternal life and spiritual things for God's elect. Never. They cannot stop us from entering into heaven. We know We know once we're quickened, once we come to conversion, we know we're gonna sin. But those sins in no way, in no way can take away from or cause us, let me state it this way, cause us to lose our eternal life. Once we are given spiritual life by God in what we call quickening, what the scriptures call quickening, once we are born again, we're given that spiritual life, that spiritual life is eternal. It never ends. It will never end. There is no power in all of God's creation that can cause it to end. And that includes actions upon our own part. So if I do let things of this world get in my way, they will never cause me to lose my eternal life. or get in the way of those spiritual blessings that we referred to earlier that are given to us by God. Jesus has seen to that by taking on himself our sins and paying for these sins with his blood, and then also by giving to us his righteousness. Though we sin in the flesh, those sins will never change the fact that we have eternal life. Eternal life is eternal life Eternal means forever It is truly a word I don't think we can comprehend because eternal goes back to the beginning God God is absolutely eternal. No no beginning whatsoever to God. There will be no end to God. Absolutely We have a beginning and God, and in some respects, you might say our beginning is found when His eternal plans before He even creates the earth, He knew us then. We, so in God's mind, we existed. Now we wouldn't come to be until time, and the appointed time would come to pass, and that's when our existence comes into being, physically, and then at the time that he quickens us, spiritually. But we have, certainly from that quickening forward, we will have an eternal life that we will never lose, never lose. So note also that for the elect, sins committed before quickening can never prevent you from being quickened, okay? So even if you go back before we are given spiritual life, because God has ordained his elect to be given spiritual life, there is nothing before we're quickened that we can do to cause that not to happen. Okay? God, that's the power of God. That is the power expressed through Christ's death and sacrifice on Calvary. That is the power expressed when Jesus rose again from that grave. White God, his purpose will come to pass. So back when it says that God, going back to those verses at the beginning, let me go back so I make sure I quote it correctly. According as he hath, verse four, as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that purpose of God will be met. Every single person chosen at that time will be quickened by God and given eternal life. everlasting life. And again, nothing can change that or stop that or get in the way of that. A verse I referred to a few weeks ago was Romans chapter 8 verse 13, for if you live after the flesh, you shall die. But if you through the spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live. Now, here's how we need to understand this. And there are You always need to be careful to take scripture in context, not only just with the verses around it, that context, but also in context with the doctrines that we find throughout God's Word. God's Word always supports itself, okay? And when you find a doctrine established, then it is always established. And if you come across a verse of scripture that seems to indicate otherwise, then you need to keep studying that verse of scripture till you understand how it fits in with that doctrine. Does that make sense? So when we look at this verse, if you live after the flesh, you shall die. Everyone who is not of the elect of God will live after the flesh and they shall die. It's that simple. as it goes on, but if you through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body. The only way you're gonna mortify the deeds of the body through the Spirit is if you have been given spiritual life. So this speaks of the elect of God. And through the Spirit, we will mortify those deeds of the body and live. We don't mortify them to live. It's like faith and works. We mortify them because we live, okay? And so we need to understand that and understand what a verse like this means. I want you to turn to one more that I think is appropriate for this. And I was thinking about it because I used it yesterday in the message that I preached. So you'll probably be hearing it again here in a couple of weeks, I think. But Revelation 22 in verse 11, I want you to turn to that. Revelation 22, verse 11. He that is unjust, let him be unjust still. And he which is filthy, let him be filthy still. And he that is righteous, let him be righteous still. And he that is holy, let him be holy still. The unjust and the filthy will remain so because they are full of sin and full of this unjustness and this filthiness that is referenced here. And they will not be quickened, which because they're not of the elect. OK, that's why they're unjust. That's why they're filthy. They'll remain that way. The righteous and the holy in that verse will remain righteous and holy, not because they make themselves such through their own deeds, but because they are clothed with the righteousness of Christ as his elect. This work, you see, is eternal. Again, it is eternal and cannot be changed. Verse seven, God's elect are chosen for eternity. Verse seven, and I'm just gonna take the remainder of the verses here and just comment on each one. In whom, this is in Christ, we have redemption through his blood. You redeem something that is held captive. You redeem something that is a slave. We know from the scriptures that we are slaves to sin. until we are redeemed by Christ. But he redeems us, he buys us, he purchases us out of that slavery through his blood. There has never been a more precious price paid for any person or any group of people than the blood of Christ that he paid to redeem his people. The forgiveness of sins, it says, according to the riches of his grace. We have the forgiveness of sins. Folks, when God says he has forgiven your sins, he means it. He's not gonna come back to you at a later date when you have sinned again and say, okay, because you've sinned now, I'm gonna take away that forgiveness. I'm gonna take away your redemption. That's not the way God works. The forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace. Who could afford this? Who could afford this? Only God. And only the perfect, let me back up, the sacrifice of the perfect Son of God could accomplish this. There is a wealth there that we could never touch, that we couldn't even approach. So there's no way we can buy our own salvation. There's no amount of righteousness, righteous deeds we could ever do. First of all, because our righteousness is as filthy rags in the sight of God. But we couldn't. It takes the wealth, the riches of his grace. Verse eight. wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence. He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence. The very wisdom of God comes into play here. God's wisdom makes it so that everything God purposes and does is the absolute best that can be done. God is absolutely perfect in his workings. Not a one of us can say that. We're very imperfect. We make mistakes. We can't even approach that. But because of his wisdom, his prudence, that's one way to understand this verse, he hath abounded towards us in all these things. Verse nine, having made known unto us the mystery of his will. How has he done that? How has he made known unto us the mystery of his will? Well, his will was very much a mystery. Throughout time, particularly throughout the Old Testament, when did it become clear? It becomes clear through the gospel. The gospel is a mystery to those who aren't born again. It is something they cannot fathom. Therefore, they ridicule it, and they ridicule those of us who believe it. But the gospel is the way that he has revealed or made known unto us the mystery of his will, this mystery of this eternal life, this blessing of eternal life. The gospel's purpose is not to quicken us, but to open up our understanding to what God has done in us when he quickened us. is to bring us to conversion to that point where we can believe. How can we believe if we don't know what to believe? That's the purpose of the gospel is to teach us this. And so that's very important for our conversion. And so that's why it's important for us to preach and teach the gospel so that those who have been quickened can hear it and so that they might indeed be brought to conversion. And again, this phrase is used, the last part of verse nine, according to his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself. His good pleasure. It pleased him to do this. to reveal these things to us through the gospel, to share with us this mystery of his will. And he purposed this in himself. Verse 10, I love the wording here, 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, even in him. Oh, folks, there's coming a day when God's going to gather together all of his elect with their eternal lives so that we can then spend the rest of eternity with him in his presence, understanding him more, worshiping him more deeply, then we will know things that we don't know now and don't understand now. There will be no sin to plague us, no temptations to trip us, no distractions to take our eyes off of God. And I don't think we can comprehend one bit, really, what that's gonna be like. I think we know enough and can understand enough that we might long for that. And oh, we should be longing for that. We experience eternal life here on this earth. Through the spiritual blessings of God now. But can you imagine what it would be like when we get to heaven? And how much richer that eternal life is going to be. and how much a greater of a blessing it's going to be. Oh, that will be so wonderful for us. Verse 11, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance. We have obtained an inheritance in Christ. Sometimes we think we have a little something here that we might wanna pass on to those who come after us, our children, our grandchildren, or something. Folks, no way that compares to that inheritance that we have in Christ. By the way, that justly belongs to him and him alone. But he shares it with us. because we are made joint heirs with him, because we are adopted into the family. And we get to share with that. Being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. Our eternal life is predestinated. What that eternal life will consist of has been predestinated. And God is already preparing these things. He told the disciples that he was going to prepare a place for them, and if so, he would come for them again. That promise is extended to us, I believe. And this is all being prepared for us, and we have no idea what it is we're going to see, this inheritance. But it's according to his purpose. He worked these things. He made these things happen. And again, why verse 12, that we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. I think he speaks here of the Jews. I believe that Paul is speaking of himself and the Jews who first trusted. But then he goes on in verse 13 and says, in whom he also trusted, meaning the Gentiles. After that, he heard the word of truth. The gospel, we trust and we believe, remember as we said a while ago, when we hear that gospel, when that's revealed to us and we know who to trust and why we should trust, at least to some degree. After that, you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Again, the gospel doesn't save us, it tells us about our salvation. It tells us about this eternal life. It tells us about what Christ has done for us. It tells us of the great need we have for Christ to do these things for us. It tells us that this is all for the pleasure of God. It pleases him. The gospel of your salvation, whom also after that you believed, You were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance. Until the redemption of the purchase possession into the praise of his glory. God has given to us his Holy Spirit. To speak to our spirit, that spiritual life that we were given, that spiritual being that we are when we have been born again. His spirit speaks to our spirit to encourage us, to assure us, to keep us focused on what will come. We have not, we here on earth sometimes we struggle because of sin. We struggle to understand what God is doing with us. We we as we've said it's it's difficult for us to grasp what heaven is going to be about What eternal life really is in eternity? We struggle with these things, but the Holy Spirit comes along and whispers to us and comforts us and teaches us and leads and guides us So that we can Be hopeful, full of hope about these things. And understand, in the New Testament, when it speaks of this kind of hope, we use that word, you know, I hope I'm going to have something to eat after I get out of here tonight. May or may not happen. But in the scriptures, when it speaks of this hope, it is a certain thing. It is something we set our hearts upon and we can count on and believe. And the only way that's possible is because God himself guarantees it. And that's what he's doing when he communicates with his spirit to our spirit. He is guaranteeing to us our eternal life. Glory be to God. Eternal life is a great blessing. And it's one that we should always cherish and never lose sight of. This great work of God, to his glory, to his praise, because it pleases him, let us hang on to it. And let us understand as best we can how precious this blessing really is. I want this blessing far more than the blessing of a healthy life or wealth in this earth. Those things are nice. It's okay to ask God for those things, to seek those things, but never forget the spiritual blessings we have are far, far greater. And oh, how thankful we should be. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Our kind and most gracious heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you for this time together here tonight and for this opportunity, Lord, to share in these wonderful scriptures and understand them, Lord, as you have led us to. We thank you for this eternal life. We thank you for the work of Christ, our Savior, who's made this even possible and has brought this to pass. We thank you, O God, the Father, for your Election before the foundation of the world. Of the people for your son. Or we just we just want to bask in your glory now. Help us to take this with us. Help this to be an encouragement to us this coming week. Help us Lord when we get down to think on these things. When we're challenged to look to this. And know that you are our great God and that you have done this. We ask this all in Jesus' name, amen.