Over the last few weeks I have been doing my morning devotions from the Book of Ephesians. I have really enjoyed looking back into one of my favourite books of the Bible. I have been working my way through the major headings. The first heading is “Spiritual Blessings in Christ” and as you can see I have picked out three of the blessings we have in Christ – Chosen, Redeemed and Sealed by God.

Bible Reading – Ephesians 1:3-14

Spiritual Blessings in Christ

3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. 4 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. 6 So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. 7 He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. 8 He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.

9 God has now revealed to us his mysterious will regarding Christ—which is to fulfill his own good plan. 10 And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth. 11 Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.

12 God’s purpose was that we Jews who were the first to trust in Christ would bring praise and glory to God. 13 And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. 14 The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.

Message points

Today I have three main points I want to share from this passage.

1. God has chosen us and adopted us

A great truth of the Bible is that we who are in Christ or Christians are chosen.

Verse 4 of the text says, “Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes.

In this simple verse there are four great truths.

1. Before the world was made we were on God’s mind
2. God loves us
3. We are chosen
4. God sees us as faultless in His eyes.

Paul tells us that God “chose” us to emphasize the truth that salvation depends totally on God. We are not saved by our own good works or because we deserve it, but because God is gracious and loving and chose to freely give us salvation. Because of Jesus’ death on the cross to pay the price for our sin and our faith and our faith and trust in who He is and what He has done, we are saved. And the good news is that because we are saved and in Christ, we are faultless in His eyes.

Verse 5 of today’s text tells us that, “God decided in advance to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ. This is what He wanted to do, and it gave Him great pleasure.”

Again, verse five has a number of great truths.

1. God decided in advance
2. We are adopted into His eternal family
3. It was His idea to save us
4. Our salvation gave Him pleasure

God has adopted us into His eternal family. He decided in advance to do this. We are now His children. John 1:12 says, “But to all who believed Him and accepted Him, He gave the right to become children of God.”

So, we are chosen, saved and adopted by God

2. We are redeemed by God

Verse 7 tells us, “He is so rich in kindness and grace that He purchased our freedom with the blood of His Son and forgave our sins.”

Redemption is an important word in the Christian faith. Redemption is about the buying back or release of an object or person. In the Bible redemption refers to God’s ransoming of believers through the death of Jesus Christ upon the cross and to all the benefits that this brings. So, Jesus paid the price on the cross to redeem us back to God.

Why did we need to be redeemed? We needed to be redeemed because we could save ourselves. When we talk about salvation we see that in our natural state without Christ we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) and that this sin separates us from God (Isaiah 59:2).

Some people and some religions think they can redeem themselves by good works. They think if their good deeds out way their bad deeds, then God will accept them. The Bible tells us that salvation is not by good works, so no-one can boast. It is a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8-9).

This is where Christ comes in with His work on the cross. In Christ we have been freed. Through His death on the cross as a payment for our sin the price has been paid.

Colossians 1:13-14 “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

Mark 10:45 says, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

1 Timothy 2:5-6 tells us that, “There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time”.

Jesus gave His life as a ransom for many. It is by Christ’s shed blood that our sins are forgiven. We celebrate this each week in communion. His death opened the way to God. He is the one mediator between God and mankind. Our redemption is 100% totally and completely paid for by the death of Christ.

3. We are sealed by the Holy Spirit

Verses 13 and 14 of today’s text tells us. “And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, He identified you as His own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom He promised long ago. 14 The Spirit is God’s guarantee that He will give us the inheritance He promised and that He has purchased us to be His own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify Him.”

Again, in these two verses there are more amazing truths.

1. The good news of Christ saves us
2. God identified us as His own by giving us the Holy Spirit
3. The Holy Spirit is God’s guarantee that we received an inheritance and we are His own people.

Ephesians 4:30b says, “Remember, He has identified you as His own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption.”

2 Corinthians 1:21-22 also says, “It is God who enables us, along with you, to stand firm for Christ. He has commissioned us, 22 and He has identified us as His own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first instalment that guarantees everything He has promised us.”

Romans 8:23 says, “And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as His adopted children, including the new bodies He has promised us.

The Bible describes the Holy Spirit as a deposit, a guarantee, down payment of what we will receive.

The Greek word used for sealed is sphragizō. This means to stamp (like with a signet or private mark) for security or preservation. In the ancient world seals were very important. If a letter was stamped with the King’s seal, or Caesars seal, it carried the full weight of the King. It has power. Much like a letter written on the letterhead of the Queen or the Prime Minister carries weight today.

The Holy Spirit is God’s guarantee, His stamp, His seal, that we belong to Him and He will do what He has promised to do in our lives. As believers we can look forward to the great day when are freed from our bodies and we will live forever with Him without pain, suffering or sin.

Because the Holy Spirit is our seal we can know we are saved. We can know we belong to God. We can know without doubt God will do all He promised.

4. Our salvation is all about God

Just before I finish and summarise my message today I want to share some points that really jumped out at me as I read this passage.

V4 – He chose us before the foundation of the world

V5 – He predestined us to be adopted

V7 – In Him we have redemption

V7 – In Him we have forgiveness of sins

V9 – And He made know salvation to us

V11 – In Him we were chosen and predestined

V13 – In Him we are sealed by the Holy Spirit

Our salvation really is about God and His desire to save us, forgive us and adopt us into His eternal family. We truly are chosen, redeemed and sealed.

Closing summary

So today we looked at Ephesians chapter 1. It is a great passage that assures us of a number of things. The three that we looked at today are…

1. God chose us and adopted us

2. We are redeemed by God

3. We are sealed by the Holy Spirit

4. Our salvation is all about God

Amen

Bible readings: John 15:1-5, 2 Corinthians 9:8-11

As you can see on the screen, the title of my message today is “R.E.M.A.I.N. in Christ”. I have been thinking a lot lately how it is important for us to remain firmly connected to Christ.

In our first passage that we just heard read, John 15:1-5 Jesus talks about our spiritual connection and says it is like vines and branches. It stresses the importance a close connection and staying connected.

This passage has lots of good stuff I could speak about today. It talks about God being the gardener who trims us and prunes us. Jesus talks about us being pruned and purified by His message. It talks about producing much fruit. But the part I want to focus on today is the words of Jesus, “Remain in Me and I will remain in you”.

Today I want to share six keys using the letters of the word remain to help us remember. These are my heart, the things I want to live out.

R- Rest in the finished work of Christ

John 19:28-30 – Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. 30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

The Bible tells us that Jesus paid the price for our sin on the cross. He died to take our punishment. Just before He died He said, “It is finished”. The work of salvation is done. Now we don’t have to strive or strain any more. We just have to trust Jesus as our Lord and our Saviour.

Romans 10:9-10 says, “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.”

Church if you have confessed Jesus as your Lord and Saviour it is finished.

Not only can we rest in His work, we can rest that we are safely held in His hands.

Romans 8:38-39 tells us that nothing can separate us from Him. It says, “And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow–not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below–indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

To remain in Christ, rest in the finished work of Christ.

E – Evangelise: share your faith with others

Matthew 28:18-20 – Jesus came and told His disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

I call this passage the “All Consuming Call of Jesus”. In this passage it talks about how Jesus has ALL authority, it talks about how Jesus told us to make disciples of ALL nations, it talks about how ALL the Trinity is involved, it talks about how Jesus told us to teach the new disciples to obey ALL His commands and it finishes with Jesus promising to be with us ALL-ways.

Right from the moment I was first saved back in July of 1989 I have had a desire to tell other people about Jesus. I knew what my life was like before I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Saviour and I knew how my life changed. I had no real hope, purpose or direction. I bounced from one thing to another. That all changed when Jesus entered my world. I had a new hope for the this life and the next to come, I had a new purpose of sharing my faith with others, I had a new direction to learn and grow in my faith, so I could be a light to those around me.

I believe there is something that happens to us when we share our faith with others. We become more alive and more aligned with God eternal plans of salvation. And nothing is more encouraging than people coming to Jesus, people being baptised, people committing to come to church, people truly deciding to be a lifelong follower of Jesus.

If you want to remain in Christ, evangelise others.

M – Maintain a close walk with the Lord

John 15:4 – Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.

In John 15 Jesus stresses the importance of being connected to Him. Our connection to Him is where we get our spiritual life.

Anyone who has ever trimmed trees would have noticed that if the trimmed parts are left in the sun, they quickly wither and die. While the branches still connected, thrive. They can still produce flowers or fruit. They can still do the things they were created to do. We are like those branches, if we stay connected, we can produce the things we were created to produce.

As Christians we know that we keep connected through prayer, worship, serving, Bible reading and church fellowship. Connection via these things are keys to remaining Christ. They keep us strong and our connection strong.

The Greek word used in the text for remain is men’-o. It means to stay. Other words that can be used to describe it are – abide, continue, dwell, endure, be present, stand. These all give us a sense of staying steadfast in one place. This is what Christ wants is to do.

One of the best things I ever did to keep connected to Christ was start a prayer journal. This is my prayer journal from the year 2000. I can look back and see what I prayed for on a given day, what Bible passages I read, that I did a devotion from Our Daily Bread and most importantly I can reflect on how God answered my prayers. Having a prayer journal has kept me firmly anchored to Christ no matter how big the storms of life have been.

To remain in Christ, maintain a close walk with the Lord.

A – Aim to be a vehicle of blessing

2 Corinthians 9:8,11 – And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
11 You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

A great theme of the Bible is God wants to use us to bless others. In our second reading Paul talks about God blessing us, so we can bless others. It talks about God providing enough for us and leftovers to pass on to others.

As Christians we need to see ourselves as vehicles of blessings. We need to think of ways to bless, support, uphold and encourage others. Allow God to move through you each day. Serving God keeps daily keeps us in Christ.

When I was a new Christian a friend of mine had a goal to do one thing a day for others. She had become very self centred and to change her habits she became intentional in her efforts. It might be a nice phone call, a card, helping with gardening, delivering a food parcel. Her goal was to do 7 things in 7 days each week. She would tick it off on the calendar and write down what she did. Before long, her lifestyle changed to one of blessing. After about a year, she no longer had to record it any more as she had changed so much. She became a vehicle of blessing. This story inspired me so much that it has become my goal too.

To remain in Christ, aim to be a vehicle of blessing.

I – Imagine eternity with Christ

John 14:2-3 – My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

Jesus said He is preparing a place for us in eternity. He also said He is coming back for us one day. A great truth of the Bible is we will spend way more time in eternity than we will in this life. It makes sense to think about our eternal home. The Bible says we are citizens of heaven in Philippians 3:20 and Colossians 3:1-2 says that we should set our hearts of minds on things above.

When I think of heaven I think of no more death (Isaiah 25:8). When I think of heaven I think of new heavenly bodies that will never wear out (2 Corinthians 5:2). When I think of heaven I think of no more sadness, suffering and pain (Revelations 21:4). When I think of heaven I think of streets paved with gold and gates made of pearl (Revelation 21:21). When I think of heaven I think of a place that needs no sun or moon as God’s glory will be its light (Revelations 21:23). When I think of heaven I think of a place where we will not need a Temple as God will the Temple (Revelation 21:23). When I think of heaven I think of a place where we will be His people and He will be our God (Revelation 21:3).

Focusing on our eternal home helps and inspires us to walk closely with Christ and Remain in Him. When I imagine our eternal home and that Jesus may come back today, it helps me to keep focused.

To remain in Christ, imagine eternity with Christ.

N – Never allow yourself to be overcome by the world

John 16:33 – I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

Jesus told us in John 16:33 that in this life we will have many trials and sorrows. Unfortunately, this is part of living in a fallen world that is marred by sin. But Jesus also said in this verse to not lose heart, because He has overcome the world.

Jesus, the author and perfecter of our life and faith, has overcome this world. We are on His team and He is for us. A key to remaining in Christ is to not let the world overcome us.

It can be so easy when we hear bad news in the media to lose heart. But I have learned that when I hear of bad things in the media to use it as a call to prayer, rather than an opportunity to be discouraged.

The Greek word for overcome used in this passage is nik-ah’-o. It means to subdue: – conquer, overcome, prevail, get the victory. It gives us a sense of something that is full and complete. Much like when Jesus said, “It is finished”.

Galatians 6:9 reminds us to “not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” The simple fact that Galatians 6:9 tells is not to become weary in doing good, tells us that we can get weary. The world can press in and overcome us. When this happens we need to – Stand firm. Stand strong. Focus on Christ. Keep serving and know that He has overcome.

To remain in Christ, never allow yourself to be overcome by the world.

Closing

Today we have looked at a great passage from John 15. It likens our relationship with Jesus and being like vines and branches. Jesus told us that to produce much fruit we ween to be connected to the Vine.

We saw six keys using the letters of remain.

• Rest in the finished work of Christ
• Evangelise others
• Maintain a close walk with the Lord
• Aim to be a vehicle of blessing
• Imagine eternity with Christ
• Never allow yourself to be overcome by the world

Amen