In Touch Ministries

Dr. Charles Stanley: You acknowledge first of all that you've sinned against him. Now look at this: You have sinned against this God whose eternal desire is to favor you, bless you. And so you ask him to forgive you of your sins. On what basis will he do it?

Because he loved you so much that he sent his only begotten Son Jesus into this world for the purpose of being stretched out on a cross and dying for your sins, so that the Father who wants to bless you has blessed the entire world by sending Jesus.

Guest (Male): Most of us have heard that we should count our blessings, but what's the first blessing on your list? Today on In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley, we're reminded of the greatest blessing every one of us has been given: the Savior Jesus Christ. Stay with us to expand your understanding of the blessings of God.

Dr. Charles Stanley: I was in the grocery store and all of a sudden I sneezed. When I did, some fellow said, "Well, bless you." I turned to look at him and I didn't know exactly what he meant. I'd heard that before, but I never thought about it until I walked away and I thought, "I wonder what he meant by that? Is this some Christian who thinks this fellow's got a problem, so I'm going to pray the Lord will bless him, or was this just a habit that he has that if anybody sneezed around him, he said 'Bless you'?"

But it got me to thinking about how we oftentimes use that phrase "Bless you," or "The Lord just bless you good." Haven't you said that to people? "Just bless you good." What in the world does that mean? We sing "Bless be the tie that binds" and "Blessed be the name of the Lord," and in our prayers we pray, "Lord, will you bless him and bless her and bless this and bless that?" We bless all kind of things, and I wonder what in the world do we mean by it?

If you look in the New Testament, there are two words primarily that are translated bless or blessed. One of them is *homologeo*, which is a word simply translated blessing. There's another word that is translated blessing, *makarios*. If you'll look back in Matthew chapter five and you'll recall in the Beatitudes when Jesus was speaking here, beginning on the Sermon on the Mount, how many times he says, "Blessed are those who mourn," "Blessed are the gentle," "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst," "Blessed are the merciful." Sometimes you'll find in translations that word being translated happy, but there's something far more meaningful here than oftentimes we are aware of.

So what I'd like to do is I'd like to look at it from this perspective first of all: that when God is doing the blessing, when God blesses something or blesses someone, what does it really mean? I want us to go all the way back from the first time you hear anything about anything being blessed is all the way back in Genesis chapter one.

If you'll notice in verse 20 what the Scripture says, "Then God said, 'Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens.' And God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good." So now he's created all these creatures in the sea and the birds, and he says it is good.

Now what does he mean here when he says, "And God blessed them, saying," to these sea creatures, fish and so forth and birds, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters of the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth"? And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day. What is he speaking of? When he says here that God blessed them, what he's referring to is this: This word is a creative word of power. God is enabling those creatures to do exactly what he commanded them to do.

He says, "Multiply." When he says he blessed them and said "Multiply," what he was doing in speaking the word to bless is a creative word of power. He was enabling them to do exactly what he commanded them to do. Well, look if you will in Genesis chapter 12. For here God blesses in a different way, and you'll recall that God spoke to Abraham in a very special way, a very unique revelation of himself. He didn't have a Bible, no prophet came to him. God spoke to him in a special way, and this is what happens.

Chapter 12, verse one, "Now the Lord said to Abram, 'Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your father's house, to the land which I will show you.'" Now look at this promise, "I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing; and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

What is he saying? He's saying, "Abraham, I, holy God, Jehovah God, I have favored you. I have favored you, I have chosen to do good to you. I am going to use you, I am going to bless all the nations of the earth through you." The only way this could take place is for God, who is blessing him, to intervene in the life of Abraham and enable him to do and to become what he could never have become himself.

It's very simple here that God, in these passages, is simply saying when he blesses, he gets involved. When he blesses, he intervenes. When he blesses, he does good. He prospers, he sends abundance. And so I want you to think as we come back now to Ephesians chapter one, verse three. I want you to notice what he says in this passage when we talk about spiritual blessings now.

If you'll notice he said now, verse three, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," honor him, "who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." Now listen carefully. I want you to notice something as we go through this passage. All of God's blessings come in a very narrow channel. I want you to see if you can detect what that is.

Now notice beginning in verse four. What's the first way he blessed us? The Bible says he chose you and me when? When did he choose us? Before the foundation of the world. And he says that you and I should be holy and blameless before him in love. Now let's think about this for a moment. The fact that he chose us before the foundation of the world says you and I had nothing to do with it. We weren't even born, didn't even exist.

He chose us in him, that is in Christ, through the Lord Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world, so that none of us can take any credit for being saved. And so what happens? When we look at our first blessing, our first spiritual blessing is this: God, before the foundation of the world, chose, made a decision to save you before you were ever born. That is a divine choice before the foundation of the world.

And so the first blessing he says here, his first intervention was he chose us. Look at the second one. He says not only that, but he predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the kind intention of his will. Now what does that mean? That means that God planned beforehand. This isn't something that God just decided that he would do on the spur of the moment, but he planned beforehand to do what?

He planned to save us and to place us in his family. Look at this: He says he predestined us to adoption as sons, that is that God, before the foundation of the world, not only chose to save us, but he drew a circle around us. He planned it beforehand, that's what predestination's all about. Planning beforehand, drawing a circle around it. He planned beforehand to place every single one of us who is a believer, every single believer will be placed into the family of God.

So that all of us listen, not only are placed in the family of God, but coming with that are all the privileges that are ours as having the position of being a son or daughter of God. What an awesome blessing, that you and I can come to him in prayer. We can ask for our needs to be met. If you and I will take these verses in this first chapter, every single solitary blessing that you and I need in life, all of them are wrapped up somewhere in these verses.

So blessing number one is that he chose us. Blessing number two is that he predestined us in order that you and I may become his sons and daughters. And if you'll notice how he did it. He said according to the kind intention of his will. So that all of us are responding to the will of God, and he says it's his kind intention.

Look at this: Here's God favoring us. God didn't choose us on the basis of conduct, performance, or promise of better behavior. God chose you and me. He favored us, reaching down into our sinful condition. He chose to save us simply because he wanted to. He chose to do it. He says it is the kind intention of his will.

Third thing I want you to notice in this blessing. He says he did this to the praise of the glory of his grace. Look at that. "To the praise of the glory of his grace," which is God's goodness and kindness toward us without regard to merit, worth on our part, and in spite of what we deserve. He says he chose to do this, which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. That is, the third blessing I want you to see is this: that he accepted us, in all of our sinfulness, in the person of Jesus Christ.

He chose to do it to the praise of the glory of his grace. Now what is he saying? Simply this: The very grace of God is to be exalted. The grace of God is to be honored. The grace of God is to be praised because his grace is his goodness and love toward us in spite of what we deserve. That is, he says we're accepted in the Beloved. He accepted you and me in the person of Christ.

When Jesus went to the cross and you and I received him as our Savior, we became the sons and daughters of God. Blessing number three, accepted in the Beloved. Look at number four, verse seven. He says, "In him we have redemption through his blood." Think about this: The way God favored us is this: He saw us in the bondage of sin.

Redemption means to buy out. He saw us in the bondage of our sin, we couldn't help ourselves. We couldn't save ourselves, we couldn't forgive ourselves, we couldn't redeem ourselves or justify ourselves. We couldn't make ourselves right with God, we couldn't make ourselves be righteous. So what did he do? He favored us, he loved us, he poured out his blessing upon us by favoring us and becoming involved in our lives in such a fashion that he said, "I'm going to redeem you. I'm going to pay the price for your salvation through my Son at the cross."

He redeemed us. Not only that, look at blessing number five. He says the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace which he lavished upon us. Look at that. He forgave us our trespasses. What does that mean? That every single solitary time you and I have ever sinned against God, he says he has pardoned all of our sin. He's forgiven us.

That means that he doesn't hold it against us anymore. He doesn't look at us and see sinner. He looks at us and sees saint, because between us and the Lord Jesus Christ is the blood of Christ. That is, he sees us as his forgiven children of God. Look at the next one. And notice how he says it. He says this grace which he lavished upon us. He lavished it upon us, not stingily, but he lavished it upon us.

That is, God has favored us abundantly. And oftentimes in the Old Testament when God blesses someone, he blesses them abundantly in their material possessions. What you and I want to do is to be wise enough to want God's spiritual blessings. Material things come and go. Those things that are of God, our relationship to him, our intimacy with him, our oneness with him, our desire to walk obediently with him. These are the things that God wants us to be uppermost in our thinking, in our desiring. And he says he's lavished this upon us.

And then if you'll notice this ninth and tenth verses. And when you read these, they seem a little bit confusing. So let me say what it means upfront so as we read it you'll understand. What he's really saying here is that God has made known to us that he is sending his only begotten Son to die on the cross for our sins.

And not only that is that salvation a part of that, but he's also coming again to receive us unto himself. He's summing up all things in which the Lord Jesus Christ will be the ultimate judge, and one day we'll all stand before him and the wicked of the earth will be condemned, and all the earth will speak the glory and praise and honor to Almighty God.

So how does he say that? He said he made known to us the mystery of his will, the coming of Jesus and the Church, according to the kind intention which he purposed. That is, this is what he purposed to do. He did it out of kindness toward us, in him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, bringing the fulfillment, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things upon the earth.

Then he says, "In him we have obtained," not going to but have obtained, "an inheritance, having been predestined according to his purpose who works all things after the counsel of his will, to the end that we who were first to hope in Christ should be to the praise of his glory." What is he saying? He says God says, "This is how I favored you. I have already prepared an inheritance for you. It's already prepared in heaven. I have prepared an inheritance for you."

That's part of God's favor, that's part of God's blessing, that's part of his intervention in life. He says it has been predestined according to his purpose who works all things after the counsel of his will. Listen, there are a lot of things in this passage, but one thing that's very evident: God's in charge.

God is sovereign. He's the one who's doing the choosing, he's the one who's doing the predestiny, he's the one who's doing the forgiving, he's the one who's choosing to redeem us. He's the one who's summing up all things. He's the one who has all of life heading in a single direction. He is the one who is moving us in that direction. He's the one who has provided the inheritance for us. It is all the will and the way and the work and the love of Almighty God expressed toward us, God blessing his children.

Then listen to this. He says in verse 13, "In him," that is in Christ, "you also, after listening to the message of the truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed, you were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge," that's God's pledge, "of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption," looking forward to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of his glory.

Now what he's saying is this: Topping off these blessings, he said here's what God did. God has so favored us as his children that not only did he provide all these other things, but he sealed us. That is, listen to this, he fixed it. Let's put it this way: This is a divine fix. He sealed us with a seal nobody can break, an unbreakable seal.

We can't even break it ourselves. God is the one who did the sealing. He sealed us through the Holy Spirit. That is, the Holy Spirit came into your life and my life, and God was saying to you, "Now, here's proof that you belong to me. And this proof is sealed. That is, this pledge is sealed by God's own hand." Every single person who is saved is possessed by the Holy Spirit.

That Holy Spirit indwelling that person is God's divine eternal seal upon that person, that no matter what happens, God will never forget that person belongs to him. And nobody, he says, can pluck them out of his hand. He says with a view to, that is God is looking forward to, the redemption of his own possession, that is the ultimate bringing us all to heaven to the praise of his glory.

You know what he's saying, simply this: that God loves to bless his children. And look how he's blessed us. He chose us, he predestined us, he accepted us in the Beloved. He has redeemed us and forgiven us and given us an inheritance, and he's given us the knowledge of things to come. And not only that, he has sealed us unto the day of redemption. He says to the praise of his glory.

God gets all the glory for blessing us. And when you and I count our material blessings, secular blessings, worldly blessings, you name them, compare them with what we just read. These are those supernatural, divine, personal, intimate, eternal blessings of God that are sealed by God himself forever and ever and ever. We cannot lose a single one of them. That is the favor of God, the goodness of God, the love of God, the blessing of God. So when you talk about being blessed, are we ever more blessed?

Well, let me ask you this: When you think about your blessings, which blessing in your life are you most grateful for? Well, let me ask you this: If you have never received Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, you're probably wondering, "Well, I don't really understand all this, but how would I get in on God blessing me and favoring me?"

And if you're not a Christian, more than likely you don't feel like that God's on your team, and you're correct. And you don't feel like God's very pleased with you, that's correct. And you'd like for God to be better to you, he's trying. And you'd like to get in on the favor of God, you can. You say, "Well, how do I do that?"

This is the way you do it: to acknowledge your sinfulness, to ask him to forgive you on the basis of what Jesus did at Calvary, and tell him today, "Lord, from this day forward, I'm trusting you as my Savior. I'm asking you to forgive me so that I can become one of your children. And from this moment on, Father, I want to follow you and be the person you want me to be."

You know what happens? All of a sudden this big, huge, worldwide umbrella that God has out there of his favor and grace and love, all of a sudden you begin to enjoy and experience what God had there all along. But because you were so busy in the world, your mind was down here making a living and doing this and doing that and the other, and somehow you never took time to look up and thank God, "What's your will? What's your plan?"

And is it not true that you've about worn yourself out trying to do it yourself? And here he is with this awesome sense of eternal blessing waiting to shower it upon you. Every single thing we've mentioned already has your name on it, if you'll just let him pour that blessing into your life. It's a matter of confession to him and telling him that today you're trusting him as your personal Savior.

And that moment, my friend, your life is going to change. And listen, think about this: One of the most awesome things to me in life is this: that I know when I lie down at night, there's nothing between God and me but pure fellowship. Wake up in the morning the same way. I want you to think about this, friend.

More than likely you have felt you were God's enemy, and you felt that God was against you and God didn't love you. I want to tell you, he's not your enemy. He's not against you. He loves you. But you have to choose to surrender to become one of his children. And my friend, he'll transform your life just that quick the moment you say to him, "Lord Jesus, I do believe." And something happens in your life that for all eternity will never change.

Guest (Male): Thanks for listening to In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. Jesus Christ understands your disappointments, rejoices in your triumphs, and stands with you in your trials. Let's remember to count our blessings beginning with all that God has provided through faith in Jesus Christ.

If you don't have a relationship with Jesus, learn more about becoming a Christian at intouch.org and click over to Today on Radio to hear this message a second time. And connect to our online bookstore to order a copy of Dr. Stanley's complete message, "The Blessings of God." Again, that's intouch.org.

You can also call or text 1-800-INTOUCH. If you prefer, you can write to us at In Touch, Post Office Box 7900, Atlanta, Georgia 30357. The phrase "Bless the Lord" occurs frequently in the Psalms, but how do you bless God when he needs nothing? Today's Moment with Charles Stanley is coming up.

Dr. Charles Stanley: How in the world do you bless God who has everything he needs, who is absolutely perfect and absolutely complete in every aspect? Every single attribute is the epitome and the zenith and the pinnacle that anything of an attribute of righteousness or love or holiness may be. So how in the world can you and I bless God?

I mean, he certainly doesn't need anything. And yet what we are saying is this: When we bless God, we are speaking well of him. We say, "Bless the Lord." We are exalting him. When we say, "Bless his holy name," we're exalting his name. We're expressing love toward his name, we're expressing devotion to him.

We're expressing our desire to follow him, our desire to obey him, we're expressing our desire to share him. To bless God is to do those things that please and honor him. So we can bless the Lord. When you and I walk in obedience to him, what does that do? It's showing favor toward him because we're placing him above everything else.

When we take time to share the gospel with someone else, we're favoring God because what is happening? God is using us in those moments we're making ourselves available for God to use us to do what? To populate his eternal kingdom. Because when you and I share our faith with someone, tell them how to be saved, explain to them what it means to know Jesus Christ as their Savior, they trust the Lord as their Savior, someone is born into the kingdom of God and God has used you. What have you done? You've blessed the heart of God.

Guest (Male): Learn more about being used by God at intouch.org. How are you going to apply what you heard today? We'd love to hear from you. Next week on In Touch, anxiety can steal your contentment. Be back Monday to learn more about living in lasting peace on In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley.

This program is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia, and remains on this station through the grace of God and your faithful prayers and gifts.