You Were Born to Be Rich

We read the word of God from 1 Peter 1, verses 1 through 9. First Peter chapter 1, verses 1 through 9, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the sojourners scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, grace unto you, and peace be multiplied. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. In this ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold trials, that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ, whom, having not seen, ye love.

In whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. Blessed be God for the blessings that we have through Christ. Mr. J. Paul Getty is reputed to be the richest man in the world.

Some weeks ago there was a newspaper interview with Mr. Getty in which he was complaining that a billion dollars is not what it used to be. And of course we feel sorry for him. Paul wrote a letter about riches, and that letter is Ephesians.

We've come to Ephesians 1 and verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. The theme of Ephesians is, Be Rich. And chapter 1, verse 3, is the key verse.

Paul is writing to people who knew something about riches, because Ephesus was a wealthy city. As you know, the temple of Diana was there. This temple not only was in honor of the goddess Diana, it also was a bank and it was a treasure house.

And tremendous wealth was kept in the temple of Diana. Ephesus was a great city for trade. Ephesus was a great city for tourists.

The people in Ephesus were greatly concerned about the wealth of their city. You'll remember that the apostle Paul got into hot water over that. He was preaching Jesus Christ, and people weren't buying as many idols as they used to buy, and consequently the market fell considerably, and the people had to get together and do something about the wealth of the city.

The people that Paul was writing this letter to weren't concerned much about material wealth, because they had something far better. It's good to have the things that money can buy, provided you don't lose the things that money can't buy. And he writes to them about the riches that they have in Jesus Christ.

He's writing to the Saints at Ephesus, that's their geographical address, in Christ Jesus, that's their spiritual address, and if you are in Christ Jesus, my friend, you are rich. Now this particular letter focuses on the blessings that we have in Jesus Christ, chapters 1, 2, and 3. Then chapters 4, 5, and 6, the behavior that we have in the light of these blessings. Chapters 1, 2, and 3, our riches in Christ.

Chapters 4, 5, and 6, our responsibilities in Christ. Chapters 1, 2, and 3, doctrine. Chapters 4, 5, and 6, duty.

Chapters 1, 2, and 3, wealth. Chapters 4, 5, and 6, walk. We want to look today at verse 3, because verse 3 is the key that opens the door into the treasury.

And Paul is telling us here about the blessings that we have in Jesus Christ. I think the best way for us to understand these blessings is to contrast them with the blessings of God's people under the Old Covenant. So I'm going to invite you to turn to Deuteronomy chapter 28.

In Deuteronomy chapter 28, Moses is telling the people of the blessings that God is going to give to them and how they can get them. Deuteronomy chapter 28, I'm going to read verses 1 through 14, and I trust you'll follow in your Bible. And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments, which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth.

And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy cows, and the flocks of thy sheep.

Blessed shalt be thy basket, and thy meeting trough. Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out. The Lord shall cause thine enemies who rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face.

They shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways. The Lord shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thy hand unto, and he shall bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. The Lord shall establish thee in holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways.

And all the people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of thee. The Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the Lord swore unto thy fathers to give thee. The Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give rain unto thy land in its season, and to bless all the work of thine hand.

And thou shalt land unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow. And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail. And thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath, if thou hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command thee this day to observe and to do them.

And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them. Now in the rest of this chapter he says, but if you don't, then he changes the word from blessing to curse. Cursed shalt thou be in the city, cursed in the field, cursed be your basket, etc., etc.

Now what are we learning? We're learning this. The blessings that we have as Christians are in contrast to the blessings that God promised his people under the old covenant. Now let me give you four contrasts that will help you understand how rich you are in Jesus Christ.

First, the blessings that we have are spiritual, not material. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings. Now this doesn't mean that God isn't concerned about our material needs.

Jesus says, your heavenly Father knows you have need of these things. Paul writes, my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in Christ Jesus. Well God is concerned about our material needs, no question about that.

God has said that his people will not go hungry, they'll not go naked, they will have shelter. He knows what we need. But Ephesians 1.3 says, the blessings that we have as believers are spiritual and not material.

Now that means two things. It means, number one, they come through the Holy Spirit. When you were saved, God gave to you the gift of the Holy Spirit.

And when the Holy Spirit came to live in your body, he united you with Jesus Christ. You are in Christ. This means that everything that God the Father has planned and everything God the Son has purchased, God the Holy Spirit has applied to your life.

Now we're going to be walking through Ephesians 1, 2, and 3 and looking in detail at some of these blessings, these riches. But I'm not going to be running ahead of myself if I name some of them right now. Verse 4, he's chosen us.

Verse 5, he's adopted us. Verse 6, he's accepted us. Verse 7, he has redeemed us and forgiven us.

Verse 9, he's made known his will unto us. Verse 11, he's made an inheritance out of us and for us. Verse 13, he has sealed us.

Verse 14, he's given us the down payment of the inheritance. Chapter 2, the first ten verses, he's raised us from the dead and seated us on the throne with Jesus. Chapter 2, verses 11 through 22, he has reconciled us unto himself and put us into his temple as you go on through Ephesians 1, 2, and 3, you find out the bank book is magnificent.

All of these spiritual blessings and more that God has given to us in Christ. So these blessings that we have are from the Holy Spirit. He's not talking about rain or crops or babies or flocks.

He's talking about the blessings that come from the Holy Spirit. Secondly, these blessings come from the Spirit to man's spirit. Now the blessings that I read back in Deuteronomy are material blessings for the body.

When you read the book of Deuteronomy, God says things like this, if you will obey me, none of the diseases that you saw in Egypt will ever come to you. If you obey me, your flocks and your herds will multiply. You'll have rain from heaven.

The rocks will give forth their wealth if you obey me. But that's not what Paul is saying in Ephesians 1, 3. He's saying God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings. That means God does take care of the body, obviously, because the Holy Spirit lives in the body.

But he says something more. He's saying these blessings are for your spirit, for the inner man. That's why he prays in Ephesians 1, that the eyes of your heart might be opened, that you might see the riches that you have in him.

Over in chapter 3, he prays that you might lay hold of them. First he prays for enlightenment, then he prays for enablement. He prays that you might see these riches, that you might lay hold of these riches and appropriate what God has already given to you.

So the blessings that God has given to us in Christ are spiritual blessings, not material blessings. Now, don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying that in the Old Testament they never had spiritual blessings.

They did. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his holy name, who forgiveth all thine iniquities.

You will find people in the Old Testament scriptures, like David and Jeremiah and the other prophets and the psalmists, who went deep into the law of God, and by going deep into that law came to faith, and they had a deep spiritual experience. But I fear that most of the people under the Old Covenant were content with the material blessings for the body. The blessings that God has given to us are spiritual, not material.

This means if you aren't saved, you don't have these blessings. If you don't have the Holy Spirit living within you, you don't have these blessings. If the Holy Spirit lives within you, you are born again, you have these blessings.

You have all of these blessings, not only what's named in chapters 1, 2, and 3, but what's named in all the rest of the Bible. That leads me to make two observations. Number one, you don't judge a person's spirituality by material things.

May I repeat that? You don't judge a person's spirituality by material things. You never say, Oh, if you were really spiritual, you wouldn't be in the hospital. If you want to help somebody really feel bad, that's the thing to say.

We've had that happen. We've had folks walk into some of our hospital rooms and say to some of our good people, Well, if you were living for the Lord, you wouldn't be here. Paul says, Epaphroditus came to me at Rome from Philippi, and he almost died.

He was so sick. Paul himself said, I have a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan. I prayed about it.

God hasn't taken it away. Don't you ever judge a believer by material things, the state of his body, or his bank book, or the automobile he drives, or the job that he has? Back in the Old Testament, if you obeyed God and did his will, he blessed you materially. That's not true in the New Testament.

You say, Well, is that a contradiction? No, it's going deeper. Back in the Old Testament, God was dealing with the kindergarten children. The only way to get through to the kindergarten children is by material things.

The nation of Israel was under its training period. They were but children in the training period, and so God had to deal with them in a material way. But you see, in the New Testament, we've reached the climax of God's revelation.

Jesus Christ has come, and we have the fullness of God's revelation. I'm noticing, for example, what Paul has to say. You say, Was Paul a spiritual man? Sure he was.

Listen to what happened to him. Troubled on every side, yet not distressed. Persecuted and perplexed, but not in despair.

Persecuted, but not forsaken. Cast down, but not destroyed. That's Paul.

You read over in 2 Corinthians where Paul says, I've been naked, I've been cold, I've been hungry, I've been in shipwrecks, I've been in prison. But Paul, if you were spiritual, those things wouldn't happen. Isn't that all? Who said that? You don't judge a person's spirituality by material things, because God has given to us spiritual blessings.

You judge a person's spirituality by the fruit of the Spirit. I don't care how much money he has, does he have any love, or joy, or peace, or long-suffering, or gentleness, or goodness, or meekness, or faithfulness? Is he cultivating the inner man? Is he growing more and more like Jesus Christ? That's the important thing. Secondly, there's a second warning here.

Since the blessings God gives to us are spiritual and not material, beware of this, quote, Christian success attitude, unquote. I see all sorts of books coming out saying, if you're a Christian, you will have a big bank account. If you're a Christian, you will succeed.

People have the idea that dedicated Christians are millionaires and backslidden Christians are paupers. I have met just the opposite. In the 25 years I've been ministering, I've met some very wealthy people who are not very good Christians.

And I've met some very wealthy people who are good Christians. And I've met some very poor people who are poor Christians. And I've met some poor people who were great, marvelous Christians.

Don't think that success in the Christian life means material things. The people I read about in the New Testament, like Jesus and Paul and the apostles, didn't have a great deal of this life's goods. Peter said, silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, give I unto thee in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, walk.

I would rather be able to say to somebody, walk, than say, here's a ten dollar bill. So would you. So the blessings that we have are not material, they are spiritual.

They are for the inner man, through the Holy Spirit, to build character and to enable us to serve the Lord in this world, regardless of what our circumstances may be. Secondly, the blessings that God has given to us are heavenly and not earthly. Now I don't mean by that that we don't experience them here on earth.

We do, obviously. When Paul was writing, he was a prisoner in Rome. He was on earth.

He was experiencing these blessings on earth. But Paul says, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies. Now, Paul likes this phrase because he uses it several times in Ephesians.

Look at chapter 1 verse 20, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenlies, or in the heavenly places. Not only is Jesus in the heavenlies, but we are, and he hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. So our blessings are in the heavenlies because our Savior is in the heavenlies, and we are in the heavenlies.

In chapter 3 verse 10, to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in the heavenly places might be known by means of the church the manifold wisdom of God. There are angelic creatures in the heavenly places watching us and learning from us about God. In chapter 6 verse 12, we have another reference to the heavenlies, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood.

Your problem is not the boss, your problem is not your mother-in-law, your problem is not your bad neighbor, your problem is not flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in heavenly places. What does he mean by the heavenlies? The heavenlies is a phrase that describes the sphere of life in which we live. Now, it's not just heaven.

He's not saying these blessings are in heaven. I read from 1 Peter chapter 1, where he also starts out, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath begotten us again unto a living hope, unto an inheritance, incorruptible and undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for us. That's not what he's talking about here.

The heavenlies is not heaven. Jesus is in heaven. But the heavenlies represent that whole sphere of authority and blessing and victory that Jesus purchased through his death, burial, and resurrection.

Look at chapter 4 of Ephesians, verse 10. He that descended is the same also that ascended up, that's Jesus now, far above all heavens. You got that? Even though Jesus is seated at the right hand of God in heaven, he has ascended far above all the heavens.

The heaven of the air and the heaven of the stars and the heaven of the atmosphere. He has ascended far above all the heavens. And now on that throne, Jesus is exercising authority in a sphere called the heavenlies.

And we're a part of that. Even though you may be seated in Moody Church in Chicago, Illinois, physically, if you're a believer, you are seated with Christ spiritually in the heavenlies. Now where you sit determines your authority.

Mr. Ford sits behind the desk in the White House, and that determines his authority. Mr. Kissinger sits in the seat of the Secretary of State and so forth, and therefore he has authority. If I were elected, and God forbid that I should be, President of U.S. Steel, I sit behind that desk.

That determines my authority. We get our authority from the fact that we are seated with Christ in the heavenlies, and we share everything that he has. So our blessings are spiritual, not material, and they are heavenly, not earthly.

Now I say that to emphasize to you, my friend, you don't judge God's goodness by material things. You may wonder, why don't we have this? Why don't we have that? How come my unsaved neighbors, they have a brand new car, ours is being held together by bailing wire. Why doesn't God do something? I'll tell you this.

God has made you rich. If God entrusts you with material riches, use them for his glory. I thank God for well-to-do people who can use their money for God's glory.

But to most of us, God has not entrusted great riches, but he's given us spiritual riches. And these riches are heavenly, not earthly. We draw from the heavenly bank all that we need, all how we need patience, all how we need love, all how we need grace, and we draw from the riches of his grace and the riches of his glory.

There's a beautiful illustration of this back in the Old Testament. You remember, God delivered the Jews from Egypt, and he wanted them to go into Canaan. And they got to the borderline of Canaan, and they sent some spies in.

The spies came back with these great grapes and fruit, and they said, man, what a place that is. Ooh! It's a land flowing with milk and honey. Well, God already told them that.

It's a land that's just tremendously wealthy, but, but. We saw some giants there, and we saw some big walls, and we can't do it. We just can't do it.

The minority report from Joshua and Caleb was, we can do it. If God says we can do it, we can do it. If God be for us, who can be against us? Well, the majority ruled, and they started wandering down the wilderness for the next forty years, except for two men, Caleb and Joshua.

Their hearts and their minds were in Canaan. And all those forty years that they were marching in the wilderness and wandering, Caleb and Joshua were living in Canaan land, spiritually, because they trusted God. When that whole generation died off, Caleb and Joshua got into Canaan land with the next generation.

You see, they were in the wilderness physically. They were in the heavenlies spiritually. The blessings that we receive, thirdly, are permanent, not temporary.

With the Old Testament Jew, his blessings were temporary. There were conditions laid down, if you will obey, if you will hearken, if you will do my will, then I will do this and that. But if you don't, I won't do it.

The second half of Deuteronomy 28 says, Cursed you'll be in the city, and cursed you'll be in the field, and I'll curse you here. In fact, I'll turn your blessings into a curse. Now, God doesn't say that to us.

God does want us to be obedient. We'll discuss that before we close the message. But God doesn't say in Ephesians 1.3, Now if you are obedient, and if you're good, and if you say your prayers, I will give you these blessings.

He says, I have already given you these blessings. Now, live up to them. There are those people who say that the only way to get God's people to obey is to threaten them.

He doesn't do that. He doesn't say, Oh, if you aren't good, God will take away your redemption. He'll take away your adoption.

He doesn't say that at all. He says, These blessings have once and for all been given to you through Jesus Christ. The tense of the verb there simply says, It's done.

It's a finished transaction. When you were saved, God made you rich. And these blessings are permanent.

They're not temporary. You see, you got all of them at one time. God didn't say, Now you've been saved for three months.

I'll give you something else. Oh, you've been saved a whole year. Marvelous.

I'll give you something else. You see, we don't collect green stamps and then come and trade the book in and say, Lord, it's time for you to do this. When you were saved, God gave to you every spiritual blessing you will ever need to live for him.

It's just like birth. When a normal baby is born, it's born with everything it needs to grow up and live. All it has to do is eat, keep clean, exercise.

Eat, keep clean, exercise. And the little fingers become big fingers. The little ears become bigger ears.

No teeth become teeth. And before long, the baby is enjoying everything it was born with. So it is with the Christian life.

When you were saved, God gave you everything you ever would need. And having given it to you, he says, now look, draw upon it, keep clean, feed on the word of God, exercise, and you'll grow and draw upon these riches. These blessings that we have are permanent.

They're not temporary. Finally, these blessings that we have received are spiritual, not material. They are heavenly, not earthly.

They are permanent, not temporary. And they are given to us by grace, not law. The whole theme of Ephesians 1, to the praise of the glory of his grace, to the praise of his grace, to the praise of his grace, God graciously has bestowed these riches upon us, graciously.

That means he'll never take them away. You weren't saved by your good works. You can't be lost by your bad works.

God will never come to you and say, oh, you disobeyed me. I'm taking away your adoption. I'm taking, no, no.

All of these blessings are permanent, not temporary, because fourthly, they were given to us by grace, not by law. Now, someone says, Pastor, you're in dangerous territory, because if you tell people they have permanent blessings, and you tell them it came by grace and not by law, they'll go out and live like the devil. Then they aren't saved, because people who are really saved don't go out and live like the devil.

Just the opposite is true. Paul is a prisoner in Rome. He's contemplating all that God has done.

He is led by the Holy Spirit to write this magnificent spiritual bank book that we call Ephesians. And as Paul contemplates election, adoption, redemption, forgiveness, inheritance, grace, love, mercy, as he contemplates the vastness of God's salvation, you know what he does? He sings a hymn of praise. He says, blessed be the God and Father.

He uses a word that's used, I think, eight times in the New Testament, and it's only used of God, blessed. Our word eulogy comes from this. To eulogize somebody means to say nice things about them.

Paul eulogizes God. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. What was Paul's response to these riches? Sin? No.

Submission? Disobedience? No. Praise. When the believer realizes how rich he is in Christ, it doesn't make him want to go out and sin.

When he contemplates how rich he is in Christ, he says, Lord, why me? Why out of all of the billions of people did you choose me? Why did Jesus die for me? Who am I that I should be sharing in the riches that you have for me? The Christian who deliberately sins doesn't really understand how rich he is, because sin is a substitute, and you and I don't need substitutes. We have a bank full of the real thing. Paul goes on to say, don't get drunk with wine.

Be filled with the Spirit. It's much better. Why live on substitutes? We have spiritual blessings.

Why do you labor for that which is not bread? We have the bread of life. Why do you have to go out and get into sin? We don't need those things. We have all of these riches in Christ.

The person who goes out and lives in sin is saying, I don't really understand the riches that I have in Christ. But oh, the person who will, with the Apostle Paul, begin to get a hold of these riches, he'll say, I don't need the sin. I don't need the world.

I don't need the flesh. Satan, you haven't got a thing to offer me. I've got the real thing.

And it's eternal. And it is forever. And it is spiritual.

And it is marvelous. These blessings that we have come by grace and not by law. And he giveth more grace.

And he's the God of all grace. And we are rich. Now, I don't doubt that a billion dollars is not what it used to be.

I can't prove it, but I think I could believe it. Most of us will never see a billion dollars. We don't need it.

But God's blessings are what they used to be. There's no inflation or deflation in the heavenly bank. Redemption is still what it used to be.

Adoption is still what it used to be. Grace is what it used to be. Inheritance is what it used to be.

All that he lists here, these blessings have not lost their value. And we're rich in Jesus Christ. We have blessings that are spiritual, not material.

They cannot lose their value. And they'll last forever. We have blessings that are heavenly, not earthly.

We can draw upon them. Nothing can keep us from reaching up to the heavenlies and getting what we need. We have blessings that are permanent, not temporary.

By faith, we can draw upon them. We have blessings that come by grace, not by law. We don't earn them.

We don't merit them. We just simply say, thank you, Father. Blessed be God for all that he's given to us.

This is why we as Christians sing from our hearts. And you unsaved people don't understand this. You think we're crazy.

But we sing from our hearts, all that I want is in Jesus. He satisfies. Joy he supplies.

Life would be worthless without him. All things in Jesus I find. Gracious Father, forgive us for playing with the toys and trinkets and counterfeit blessings of this world when you have so enriched us in Christ.

We're thankful, Father, that our blessings are spiritual. That's where our biggest need is. We're thankful, Lord, our blessings are heavenly.

Earth can't get to them. Satan can't even rob us of them. Hallelujah.

We're glad they're permanent. We're glad, Father, they come by grace because we never could earn them. Oh, to think that today we have already received every spiritual blessing in Christ.

Now, Father, help us to draw upon these blessings by faith through the Holy Spirit. If there's some father backslidden Christian here today who needs to get back to the real wealth, bring him back. If there's some dear unsaved friend here today, we pray, oh God, that that one will turn to Christ.

Oh, Lord, as we contemplate how costly are these riches. Your Son had to die to make them possible. We simply bow in adoration and say thank you, thank you.

For Jesus' sake we pray, amen.