In Jason Dohm's sermon 'Blessing God the Father for Blessing us,' he explores Ephesians 1:3-4, emphasizing the dense theological concepts within these verses. Dohm highlights the Apostle Paul's consistent opening message of grace and peace, underscoring God's disposition towards believers. He explains the distinct roles of the Trinity—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit—in the salvation of sinners, attributing specific works to each. The sermon stresses the importance of spiritual blessings over material ones, noting that spiritual blessings are secure and eternal, unlike the fleeting nature of material wealth. Dohm discusses the concept of being chosen by God before the foundation of the world, emphasizing that salvation is not a result of personal merit but of God's grace. He connects this to the believer's responsibility to bless God, suggesting that true blessing begins in the heart, manifests in speech, and extends into action. Dohm also links the act of blessing God with evangelism, urging believers to be vocal and active in sharing their faith, driven by gratitude for God's abundant blessings.

For context, I'll read one and two and then the one sentence that comprises verses three through six. English teacher's nightmare. Please follow along. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus and faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace to you and 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. 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 by which He has made us accepted in the beloved. O Father, open our ears, soften our hearts, speak to us through your servant Jason that we might have the message for us today. We commit this time to you in the name of Jesus who is Christ. Amen.

Title of the sermon this morning is Blessing God the Father for blessing us in Christ And I think it's a reasonable summary of the whole two verses that we're studying today. We're only studying two verses. I say only. I think we actually probably have bitten more off than we should have. But We'll keep pressing on with the plan.

This is so dense. There's so much in such a little space here. And that's a challenge. Last week we saw that Paul was a man sent under orders. That's what it means to be an apostle.

An apostle is just a word that means one sent under orders to speak the words of the sender, and to do the will of the sender. Paul begins, as he does, in 100% of his 13 inspired letters, by proclaiming the fundamental disposition of God towards those who have entrusted themselves to Jesus. It is a fundamental disposition of grace and peace. If you're in Christ, if you've entrusted yourself to Jesus, and you've been wondering what's God's disposition towards me, now you know. Paul told you 13 times at the introduction of all 13 of his letters, he won't say anything else until he says this, God's disposition towards you, believer, is a disposition of grace and peace.

Praise God. Now Paul begins to develop and to explain that truth. So this is just a follow on from what he started the letter saying as we go to our text. Let's ask the Lord to help us. Oh God, bless you.

Bless you for blessing us so abundantly, so richly, so thoroughly in Christ, Holy in Christ, in your Son. So fitting that your praises should be on the lips of your people. Pray that you would use the two verses that we're in today to cause our hearts to sing. Send us out of here with singing hearts. Pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

Well, we'll subdivide the text into two. Verse three and then verse four. So hopefully you're still in Ephesians chapter one. Let me reread verse three. Follow along.

Ephesians chapter 1 verse 3. Paul writes, 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. Here in verse 3, Paul tells us who ought to be blessed and why. So if you're taking notes on the handout and by filling in blanks, who and why fill in the blanks. Paul tells us who ought to be blessed and why.

Who ought to be blessed. Paul blesses God and by extension, he exhorts his readers, that's us, to bless God. Paul uses plural pronouns, our and us, to bring all saints into a single group. And all the blessings that causes Paul to bless God belong to us as a single group, those who are saved by the Lord Jesus Christ. So Paul blesses God, but it's also an exhortation for you to bless God too if you're in Christ because all the blessings that he is blessing God for are yours also in Christ.

But Paul gets specific. Paul is not content to simply bless the one true God. The one true God exists in three persons. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And Paul is specific to each person.

He calls out each person of the Trinity in chapter 1. Now let me take a minute to talk about the structure of today's text through verse 14. It's going to take us a while. It's going to take us many Sundays to work through verse 14. Let's start by looking at the whole structure starting with today's text and working through verse 14.

In verses 3-6, Paul speaks of God the Father and His great work in the salvation of sinners. So this week and next week we will be talking about God the Father and the work that He has done to save sinners. And Paul concludes that, verses 3-6, to the praise of the glory of His grace. God has done something to save sinners. God the Father has done something to save sinners and this is to the praise of the glory of His grace.

Then in the next section, verses 7-12, Paul speaks of God the Son and his great work in the salvation of sinners. And then he ends that section, look at the end of verse 12, saying to the praise of his glory. So he starts with God the Father in his great work to save sinners, his part of it. And he says, it ends that by saying to the praise of the glory of his grace. Then he talks about Jesus, the Son, and his part in the saving work.

And he ends that section with to the praise of his glory and then verses 13 and 14 Paul speaks of God the Holy Spirit and his great work in the salvation of sinners his part in the great saving work of rebels and he ends that look at the end of verse 14 to the praise of his glory so Paul is into praising God but he's not praising him generically He is calling out each member of the Trinity. The one true God exists in three persons. And so he says, person number one, God the Father, you did this to save sinners, you ought to be praised for it. And God the Son, you did this for the saving of sinners and you ought to be praised for it. And then God the Spirit, you did this for the saving of sinners and you ought to be praised for it.

So we are going to be saying many of the same things, but attributing a different part of the saving work to a different member of the Trinity. One true God existing in three persons, all three of the members of the Trinity having a crucial work in the salvation of sinners. So someone is blessed by Paul and it is God the Father of Jesus, who was God the Son. He doesn't call him God the Son here, but we know that Jesus is God the Son. And I would add, it is God as Father who Paul is blessing.

Meaning, Paul could have picked a dozen things by which to identify this member of the Trinity. But it is God as Father, as the Father of Jesus, as the Father who sent this Son that He loved to do His work for the saving of sinners that Paul is blessing. And notice how Paul refers to Jesus, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ. God is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This provides us a hint about the why. So the who Paul is blessing and who we to bless, it's God the Father. Why should we bless him? Paul is transitioning into that explanation. I want us to understand the identification, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Just stop for a minute and think about that. He could have just said Jesus, but he didn't. He said the Lord Jesus Christ. In this identification you have God, and man, and Messiah. He is the Lord.

He is divine. He is a co-equal member of the Trinity, but not just that. He is Jesus. Did you know the word Jesus doesn't appear in the Bible before Matthew 1.1? It is His name in the Incarnation.

It is Jesus as man. I have a name, I'm Jason. He was a man, he's Jesus, but he's not just a man, he is the God-man, he is the Lord Jesus. He is the Lord Jesus Christ, or Messiah. Christ and Messiah mean the same thing.

They just literally mean anointed. God anointed him for this great mission to save sinners. He set his son apart to be the one to come do the work to save sinners. The Lord Jesus Christ. God, Man, Messiah.

And why? Why is God the Father to be blessed? Because He has blessed us. Paul blesses God for the blessings He's received. He has blessed us beyond all measure.

He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing. At this point we should slow down a bit and take it word by word. Every, every spiritual blessing. So which spiritual blessing has been withheld from the saints. Remember Paul's writing to the saints, or to the ones who have been called out to be set apart to be gods for his glory in the world.

And from this group of saints which spiritual blessing has been withheld? No, no, no. No blessing has been withheld. Every spiritual blessing, not one spiritual blessing, has been withheld from believers. Peter says something similar in 2 Peter 1 verse 3.

Listen to 2 Peter 1 verse 3 where Peter says, His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. His divine power, God's power, has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. We have every spiritual blessing. We have all things that pertain to life and godliness. God has it all?

That's what it's like to be all powerful. It's the ability to do anything with anything at any time. He has it all, and He has given it all. He's made every spiritual blessing available. He's poured it out on his people.

Then spiritual, every spiritual blessing. Paul identifies these blessings as spiritual blessings. Here's a question for you. What if Paul had said instead, what if Paul had said, God has blessed us with every material blessing in the earthly places? What if he had said that?

I would be left wondering, but what will become of my sins? What will be done about my sins? I know gold can't buy freedom from my sins. It might be good to prosper in material things, but what will it profit a man to gain the whole world if he loses his soul? That's the question that Jesus asked.

What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, if every material blessing is his in earthly places, and yet he forfeits his soul? The Bible says that our life is like a breath, it's like a vapor, a puff of steam that just disappears in air. It comes today, but The Bible says that our life is like a breath, it's like a vapor, a puff of steam that just disappears in air. It comes today, but the Bible says that our life is like the flower of the field. It's here today and gone tomorrow.

In the backdrop of eternity, our life is a second in time. So what if you enjoyed every material blessing in your second of time, but then in your eternity your sins cling to you and God deals with you as you deserve for all eternity? So thank God that the message from God through Paul, who has been sent to speak God's words to his people, wasn't, God has blessed us with every material blessing in the earthly places. Even though we're only in verse 3, Paul has already been headed down this track. What are grace and peace?

Remember verse 2. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. What are grace and peace? Are they material blessings in the earthly places? Remember I said last week, hold my grace.

Oh, that's a lot of grace. That's heavy. No, no, no. That's not how it works. Grace and peace are spiritual blessings.

They're real and they'll change your life forever. God's grace and peace will turn your life upside down. So they're not imaginary, but they're not tangible. I can't hand you my grace and peace, where you would say, now I'm weighted down with all of your grace and peace. They are spiritual blessings.

Just in the next few verses, we haven't come to them yet, but we'll come to them in the next couple of weeks. We have being chosen by God, adoption, you used to be his enemy, but he made you a son or daughter. We have redemption through Jesus' blood. You were sold into slavery by your sin, but Jesus bought you back out of slavery by shedding Jesus' blood. We have forgiveness of sins.

All of those are spiritual blessings. So put the prosperity gospel preachers on notice. God has given us every spiritual blessing and we should be glad that He did. Those are the ones we really need. Those are the ones we really need.

And the material blessings can actually be dangerous. And so we need God and His wisdom to give us the material blessings when we're ready, when the time is right, in His perfect wisdom, according to His own timing, so we don't get harmed by material blessings in the earthly realms. Does God give material blessings? Health is a material blessing. It has to do with your body.

Your body is made of stuff. Is wealth material? It is. Does God give health? Yes.

Does He always give health? No. Sometimes He withholds it for good purposes. Because good health at certain times in your life would be dangerous. You would become independent, autonomous.

I feel healthy, I feel strong, not a care in the world, I don't need God. There are times in your life where health is like a boat anchor. There are times in your life when wealth, money, and abundance of material possessions would harm you. So God in His wisdom withholds them, but He never withholds His spiritual blessings. They are ours.

They are ours. Grace and peace. And all that that means in a practical sense are ours. He doesn't withhold any of them. Every spiritual Blessing.

Finally, blessing. Every spiritual blessing. God's fundamental disposition towards the believer is grace and peace, and He acts accordingly. He acts accordingly. He is for us.

He gives to us. He pours out His kindness towards us. In other words, grace and peace isn't just sentiment. It is sentimental. God does love us.

It is emotional on his end, but it's not just emotional. His grace and peace manifests itself in real things like the forgiveness of sin, like adoption into his family. It's not just warm feelings about you. He acts accordingly. He is for us.

He gives to us. He pours out his kindness. Then Paul adds two explanations about this super abundance of spiritual blessings. They are in the heavenly places. So Paul adds that, wanting to teach us something about these spiritual blessings.

They are in the heavenly places. A couple of things to say. First, this is not just a passing comment for Paul. He speaks of the heavenly places, this phrase that we encounter here, five times in the six chapters of Ephesians. So he'll be back to the heavenly places, and back to the heavenly places, and back to the heavenly places five times over.

We encounter it here, we encounter it in verse 20. We encounter it in chapter 2 verse 6, in chapter 3 verse 10, in chapter 6 verse 12. If I'm going faster than you can take notes, we'll get there. My intent isn't to pre-preach those sermons or those texts, but to just say, this isn't a passing topic or thought for Paul. He's going to come back to it, and come back to it, and come back to it five times in the heavenly places.

So first, it's not just a passing comment for Paul. Second, I want you to consider something that Jesus said. If you want to, you can turn to Matthew chapter 6. Matthew chapter 6. Consider what Jesus says in Matthew chapter 6 verses 19 through 21.

Jesus says, Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." What is Jesus saying there? He's pointing to the truth that material blessings in earthly places so often Take up wings and fly away. You have them today.

My health, I have it today, I don't have it tomorrow. My house, I have it today, I might not have it tomorrow. My 401k, My retirement plan, I have it today, I might not have it tomorrow. A thousand things can happen to strip away earthly blessings. Material blessings in earthly places.

They take wings and fly. That's why Jesus' counsel in Matthew chapter 6 is put things in heaven where moth and rust can't get to them, where thieves can't steal them. Look at what Paul takes up again regarding in the heavenly places in verse 20. So we're back in Ephesians 1, now looking at chapter 1 verse 20. Which he, God the Father, worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places.

So in verse 20 he'll say, that's where Jesus is now sitting at the right hand of God as the representative for his people advocating for the good of His people. In other words, every spiritual blessing is perfectly secure. It's not like the earthly blessings that can grow wings and fly away in a day's time. They are secure in the heavenly places where Christ is advocating for the good of His people. This has to do with the perfect security of these spiritual blessings.

So Paul says by way of explanation, every spiritual blessing, these blessings are in the heavenly places, and he says they are in Christ. Every spiritual blessing flows to us in Jesus the Messiah. That's what it means for Him to be the Messiah or the Christ. God anointed him to be the channel of all these spiritual blessings. God's purpose was to make Jesus the conduit, the channel, through which all these spiritual blessings would flow.

They are ours in Christ and only in Christ. It is the union of the believer to Jesus which secures these. In other words, when you're joined to Jesus by faith, the blessings then come to you through the channel of Jesus Christ. Without Jesus, you have nothing. Without Jesus, you are God's enemy.

And so, none of these spiritual blessings can flow to you. It is the union of the believer to Jesus by faith, by trusting in Jesus which secures these spiritual blessings. So they are ours in the heavenly places, they're perfectly secure, they're where moths and rust can't get at them, where thieves can't steal them, and they are ours in Christ. It's our union with Him that gives us a claim to these spiritual blessings. Friends, the most fitting thing in all the world is for those who have had grace and peace poured out on them to bless the one who did it.

Nothing makes more sense than that those who have received the grace and peace from God turn and bless God for it. That's what Paul is saying here. And that starts in the heart and proceeds to the lips and extends into the life. In other words, blessing God has to be more than just going into a church service and playing along with the order of service. We should participate in the order of service, I'm not discouraging that.

I'm just saying you could come and participate in the order of service and say the words that everyone else is saying but not be blessing God. Your neighbor says they're blessing God. God says I see through all that. So blessing God, really blessing God starts in the heart and it proceeds to the lips and it extends into the life. The blessing of God extends into your life.

Verse 4. Ephesians 1 verse 4. Follow along. 1 verse 4. Follow along.

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. In verse 4, Paul expands on the Father's blessing. Choosing for a purpose. So if you're taking notes on the handout, filling in blanks, choosing and purpose fill in the two blanks. Paul expands on the Father's blessing.

Choosing for a purpose. Paul begins to describe the spiritual blessings. He chose us in him before the foundation of the world. Now, let's unwind the pronouns. Let's replace the pronouns because there's the he and the us and the him.

What are we talking about here? God the Father chose the saints, the believers, in Jesus the Messiah. He chose us in Him. God the Father chose the saints, the believers, in Jesus the Messiah. Where did this grace and peace which is expressed in the giving of every spiritual blessing come from?

Where did that come from? Well I used to have all these bad habits, And then I addressed them in my life. I got my act together. So now I'm an acceptable target for grace and peace. No!

No! That couldn't be further from the truth. The grace and peace didn't come to you because you got your act together and made yourself an acceptable target for God's goodwill towards you, for God's friendship. That's friendship. If you're a believer, you were dead in sin.

Not fit to receive any good thing. Dead in sin. Not sick in sin. Dead in sin. So then how did it happen that you became a target?

An acceptable target for God's grace and God's peace. Consider John 1. We keep going back to John 1. When you preach through a book of the Bible, you just keep going back to it because it just pops, these texts pop to mind again. John chapter 1, consider verses 12 and 13.

But as many as received him, as many as received Jesus, to them he gave the right to become children of God to those who believe in his name. So far in verse 12 John 1 verse 12 John is saying that as many as receive Jesus, God gives those people, the ones who receive Jesus, the right to become children of God. Then verse 13, who were born, not of blood, not because of your family tree, Nor of the will of the flesh, not because a decision that you made or efforts that you made. Nor of the will of man, not because another person pronounced you to be this, but of God. Who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

God did it. It was God. How do people receive Christ? God does it work. It's not who your dad is, your mom is, your grandparents are.

It's not a blood. It's not the will of the flesh. It's not you deciding, okay I'm getting my act together now, and I'm going to work hard now and make myself a worthy target of God's grace and peace. It's not of the will of man, it's not somebody else deciding. We're going to pronounce Him to be this.

It's God. It's of God. That's how people are born again. That's how people go from death to life, from darkness to light. It all starts with God.

God the Father willed it. Jesus the Son accomplished it as the Messiah. God the Father chose us in Jesus Christ. So now we are back in Ephesians 1, we are back to our text. God the Father chose us in Jesus Christ.

It was in Jesus. It had to be in Jesus. None of the puzzle fits together without Jesus and His saving work. You don't have God the Father choosing rebels apart from a reconciling work. The puzzle doesn't fit.

You cannot have God in His perfect holiness choosing sinners unless there's one who can deal with the sin first. That one is Jesus. We're chosen in Christ. Jesus and His work is the puzzle piece that makes all this work. It doesn't work without Him.

You have to see that. And Paul thinks it's important that we understand the timing. This happened before the foundation of the world. If you're a believer, if you're a saint, if you're one that God put His hand on you and said, you're mine, in spite of your sins, in spite of your rebellion, your mind, I'm saving you. His decision to do that didn't come in your lifetime, or your father's lifetime, or your grandfather's lifetime, or your great grandfather's lifetime, or your great great grandfather's lifetime.

It happened before the foundation of the world. The Reformation Heritage Study Bible says, before we chose God, He chose us. And it's not by a little. It's by thousands of years. If you're in Christ, if God's given you the grace to repent and believe it was a gift, we're coming to that in chapter 2, it's a gift.

Don't think that repentance is yours, it was a gift. Don't think that faith is yours, it was a gift. And God decided to give you that gift thousands of years ago, before the foundation of the world, before He started construction on the world. Thousands of years ago. Think how thoroughly this should set us to blessing God and to strip away pride.

Alright, now how are you going to be proud of it now? How are you going to be proud of you being a Christian now? Knowing that you're not a Christian because you're smarter or better or more proactive or even in the right family or any of that that really the thing that made you a Christian was God's decision thousands of years ago. Now how are you going to take credit for that now? Jesus taught this.

Listen to Matthew 25 verse 34. Matthew 25 verse 34. Then the king will say to those on his right hand, Come you blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Come You blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you before the foundation of the world.

Come into your heavenly home which was made ready for you before the foundation of the world. It's not just Paul teaching this. Jesus taught this. Paul taught this in other places. Listen to 2 Timothy 1 verse 9.

2 Timothy 1 verse 9. Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began." Let me just read that to you again. That's striking. 2 Timothy 1.9, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, so not because you got your act together and tried harder, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ before time began. Before construction began on planet earth.

Peter taught this, 1 Peter 1 verse 20. Listen to 1 Peter 1 verse 20. He, Jesus, indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you." So, he brings us to the present tense, Jesus was manifest for you, he came, But he was foreordained, he was beforehand planned, and commissioned before the foundation of the world. John related this, the Apostle John relates this in Revelation 13 verse 8. Listen to this phrase from Revelation 13 verse 8.

The book of life, so we've got a book, there are names in the book, people who are appointed to eternal life. The book of life of the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. Jesus was as good as sacrificed before construction began on planet Earth. The book of life of the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world, before the first sin was undertaken, Jesus was savior of sinners. Lloyd Jones says this, let us get rid forever of the idea that salvation was an afterthought in the mind of God.

It was not a thought that came to God after man had fallen into sin. Jesus is not a response to man falling into sin. Salvation of sinners is not an afterthought. It was planned and readied before the world was made. Think of how secure this makes the true believer.

The Almighty God decided to save sinners, to show His mercy, to put His mercy on display, before he ever made the first person who would sin. And what was the purpose? What was the purpose of all this? Well, three times in the upcoming weeks we'll see to the praise of His glory. I submit to you that that was the ultimate purpose, is that people would see who He is and praise Him for who He is.

This is a display. The salvation of sinners is a display of who God is. He is merciful. He is a God of love. So it is to the praise of His glory.

But Paul gives us another purpose in this verse. That we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. So what did God have in mind when He was gracious to sinners? That we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. Now we are going to encounter places where because of how similar Ephesians and Colossians are, Paul will say something in Colossians which is fantastic commentary on Ephesians.

So here we are. I turn to Colossians 1. This is Colossians 1 verses 21 and 22. Colossians 1 verses 21 and 22. So in our text, Paul has just said that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.

In Colossians 1, 21 and 22 he says this, and you who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now he has reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and blameless and above reproach in his sight." Let's just walk back through those two verses again. You used to be an enemy in your mind by wicked works. That's the natural state. Enemy to God. Because of wickedness.

It can even just be wickedness in your mind, so that your neighbor might not know it. You're respectable to everyone, but it's the wickedness in your mind. Your pride, your self-sufficiency, your autonomy, your thoughts. Yet now he has reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, whose flesh, whose death, Jesus'. He reconciled the person who was wicked, his enemy, through Jesus' death, to present you holy and blameless.

Just what he says in our text. Jesus died to take this enemy and present the enemy to his Father, holy. Father, this one is now set apart to you to live to your glory in this world. Ready for that, cleansed for that, blameless for that, And above reproach in His sight. The believer is above reproach in God's sight.

God's sight! Holy and without blame before each other? No, that's easy. We lower the standard for each other. I lower the bar a little for you, you lower the bar a little for me.

Wink, wink. And we don't see much. God has a bar of perfect righteousness that he will not lower a millimeter for anyone. He cannot because of his righteousness. And He sees everything.

So it's not holy and blameless before each other. We would lower the bar for each other and we don't see much, but God never can lower the bar because of His perfect righteousness and He sees everything. But yet we are holy and without blame before the all-knowing, perfectly righteous Judge. Friends to be in Christ, to be joined to Christ by faith so that it can be said of you, you are in Christ, is to be before the all-knowing, all-righteous judge in love. The righteous judge loves you for Christ's sake.

For Jesus' sake. You're joined to Christ so now all of a sudden the enemy is the object of love. Holy, blameless, before Him, even though He knows everything and could never lower the bar a millimeter. I will develop this more next week when we encounter the phrase accepted in the beloved. Accepted in Jesus as the beloved.

You are accepted in the beloved. But It's the same thing here. Holy and without blame before Him in love. You were His enemy, now you are the object of His love, because He sees you in His Son, who lives the perfectly obedient, perfectly thankful, perfectly cheerful life. That's what he sees when you're washed by His blood.

Let me end with this and then a few applications. The word translated holy here, holy and without blame, is the same Greek word which was translated saints in verse one. To the saints and faithful brethren, full of faith brethren, to the holy ones could have been translated. To the saints, now in verse 4, you are holy and blameless. You are saints because God purposed for you to be saints.

You are holy because God purposed for you to be holy. Applications two. Number one consider the link between this and evangelism. Consider the link. What does Paul start this by saying?

Blessed be God. Blessed be God. Blessed be God. Because I am the object of every spiritual blessing, I am the worthy target, because of Jesus and his blood, I am the worthy target of God's grace and his peace. I bless God." Now, think of evangelism as a second, a separate category, sort of sectioned off category that you have to sort of work up something to do.

This is not right. This is not right. The person who is marinating in this, Bless God for blessing me with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places where they can't be touched by rust or moss or the. It's totally secure. They're all mine.

Bless God for it. Now think of evangelism as this other thing that we just can't quite get ourselves to do. This is not right. It means we're not marinating enough in this. So that our souls are so happy that blessing God is in our heart, and it proceeds to our lips, and it extends to our lives.

That's just a symptom. The disease isn't, I can't do evangelism, I don't want to do evangelism. The disease is somewhere else. This is the symptoms of the disease. It's that we don't really have this top of mind appreciation for all that is ours in Christ.

You're an enemy, but now the all-seeing judge sees you in love. That sounds hard to be quiet about. Number two. Finally, God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has not withheld. Satisfied with that statement?

God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has not withheld. Has not withheld what? Has not withheld anything! Has not withheld his only son! Has not withheld any spiritual blessing!

So the application is this, don't you dare withhold. Paul couldn't withhold. He has to say, bless God. Here's what Lloyd-Jones says. Look at the matter in this way.

Here are you and I, miserable worms in this world, miserable worms with our arrogance and our pride and our appalling ignorance. We deserve nothing but to be blotted off the face of the earth. But what has happened is that before the foundation of the world, this blessed God, these three blessed persons considered us, considered our condition, considered what would happen to us, and the consequence was that these three persons, God whom man has never seen, stooped to consider us and planned a way whereby we might be forgiven and redeemed. The son said, I will leave this glory for a while. I will dwell in the womb of a woman.

I will be born as a babe. I will become a pauper. I will suffer insult in the world. I will even allow them to nail me to a cross and spit in my face." He volunteered to do all that for us. And at this very moment, this blessed second person in the Trinity is seated at the right hand of God to represent you and me.

He came down to earth and did all that and rose again and ascended to heaven. And it was all planned before the world for you and for me." In the shadow of that quote, how can you withhold? It's unthinkable to withhold. But it becomes very thinkable. Tomorrow, when the pressures of life press in on us, and we return to our self-focused state, it chokes out blessing God.

It's like He never did anything for us. God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has not withheld. Don't you dare withhold. Believer, don't you dare withhold. Our God, you are worthy of all praise, of all blessing.

Yes, because of who you are, but if nothing else, because of all your blessing of us, you have blessed the believer with every spiritual blessing. God, don't let us lose sight, I pray. Please help us. In Jesus name, Amen.