Series: Ephesians
Title: Holy and Without Blame
Text: Ephesians 1: 4
Date: February 21, 2013
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
Ephesians 1: 3: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ: 4: According as he hath chosen us in him before the
foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in
love:
TITLE: Holy
and Without Blame
Included in that chief spiritual blessing of
election in Christ, are these two spiritual blessings: that we should be:
1) Holy—God is holy. Therefore without holiness no man shall see the Lord. (Heb 12: 14) To be sanctified is to be made holy, to
be given a pure heart, a pure conscious within; and to have our bodies washed
with pure water without. It is how a sinner is made to have communion with God. By God making us one in spirit with
the Lord Jesus our Sanctification.
2) and Without Blame—This may include holiness.
But let’s look at it as being made righteous. To be without blame is to be made
righteous, justified, before the law of God. God is righteous. Therefore a person guilty of breaking the law of God
cannot come into his presence.
Proposition: These
spiritual blessings of being made “holy and without blame” and being kept so,
is the work of the triune God through the blood of Christ Jesus to the praise
of God’s grace.
Divisions: 1)
First, we will see it is God who does this work 2) Secondly, a few words on why
the elect are made holy and without blame; 3) Thirdly, a few words on how the
elect are kept holy and without blame.
I. FIRST, IT IS GOD WHO MAKES THE ELECT HOLY AND WITHOUT
BLAME.
God the Father
First, God the Father made his elect holy and
without blame by eternal election—“God the Father blessed us with all spiritual
blessings”—holiness and righteousness--“according as he hath chosen us in him before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
him in love:”
God the Father sanctified his elect when he
chose us in Christ, as we read in Jude, “to them that are sanctified by God the
Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called.” (Jude 1)
Also, because God the Father chose us in
Christ our Righteousness we have always been without blame before him. Though all the elect of God broke the law when
Adam sinned and though we transgressed as soon as we were born; though we were
conceived by corrupt seed with an unholy, polluted nature, still, the first
sight God had of his elect when he chose us in Christ before the foundation of
the world, how God always sees his elect. As we saw last time, the kingdom
prepared for us, which we shall receive in the world to come, was prepared for
us from the foundation of the world (Matt. 25:34).
So, first, God the Father receives the glory
for making us holy and without blame before him in love, according as he chose
us in Christ Jesus.
God the Son
Secondly, God the Son, Christ Jesus, makes
his elect holy and without blame. The
theme of Ephesians is the wisdom of God our Father, that after the world by wisdom
knew not God, after that great division entered in because of our sin, God
would bring his people together in one, in Christ and by Christ, our risen,
glorified Head. So first God the Son
became one with his elect in human flesh and became the GodMan. It was becoming to God the Father for Christ
to be made one with us and suffer.
Hebrews
2: 10: For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things,
in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation
perfect through sufferings. 11: For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for
which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren,…14: Forasmuch then as the
children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part
of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of
death, that is, the devil; 15: And deliver them who through fear of death were
all their lifetime subject to bondage.
It was becoming to God the Father—becoming to
his perfections, his wisdom, his justice, his grace, and his purpose to exalt
his Son and children—to make Christ Jesus our perfect Captain, Author and Finisher
of our faith, by suffering on the cross. Also, it became us for Christ to come
and serve in holiness for us.
Hebrews
7: 26: For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; Such an high priest
becomes us because he meets all our need.
He is holy and without blame so he could lay
down his life and justify us of all our sin.
He is holy and without blame so he could enter into the holy place into
God’s presence, with his own blood, to sanctify us and to be our
sanctification. And when Christ finished
the work, he perfected his people forever.
Hebrews
10: 1: For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the
very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered
year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. 2: For then would
they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged
should have had no more conscience of sins….5: Wherefore when he cometh into
the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast
thou prepared me: 6: In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast
had no pleasure. 7: Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is
written of me,) to do thy will, O God. 8: Above when he said, Sacrifice and
offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not,
neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; 9: Then
said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he
may establish the second.
Christ abolished the old covenant, fulfilling
all the old covenant. And Christ is the
Minister of the better testament, which is the everlasting covenant of grace
written on the heart.
Hebrews
10: 10: By the which will WE ARE SANCTIFIED through the offering of the body of
Jesus Christ once for all. 11 And
every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same
sacrifices, which can never take away sins: 12
But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat
down on the right hand of God; 13 From
henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. 14 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever
them that are sanctified.
Now the Captain of our salvation—the Author
and Finisher of Faith—is our risen Head and Husband.
Ephesians
5:25: Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave
himself for it;
Christ made the elect to be without blame
when he gave himself and suffered in place of his people on the cross,
justifying his elect so that now we are without blame by his blood. And as
promised, God the Father raised him to be Head over all things to his church
that he might fill all in all. So he sends the gospel to us with the Holy
Spirit. Here is how he makes us holy in
our hearts.
Ephesians
5: 26: that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the
word,
Our Head, our Prophet, Priest and King, ministers
to our hearts the gospel: he saved us and
called us with a holy calling—he gave himself to save us, then called us to
tell us. Here is that end God the Father sent Christ to accomplish
Ephesians
5: 27: that he might present it to himself a glorious Church, not having spot,
or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without
blemish.
So we see that first, God the Father made us
holy and without blame before him putting us in Christ. Secondly, God the Son,
Christ Jesus, makes us holy and righteous by his work.
Colossians
2:10: And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and
power.
God the Holy Spirit
Thirdly, God the Holy Spirit makes his elect
holy and without blame.
Hebrews
10: 15: Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that
he had said before, 16: This is the covenant that I will make with them
after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their
minds will I write them;
God the Holy Spirit also bears witness, that
we are holy and righteous in Christ. The word “laws” means words. Through the
Spirit, Christ writes “the words of eternal life” on our heart. The very words we
see in this chapter: we are “perfected forever by his one offering.” The
following words:
Hebrews
10: 17: And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. 18: Now where
remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.
This is when our conscious is purged by the
blood of Christ, this is when we are sanctified, when of God Christ is made
unto us Righteousness and Sanctification, when we cease trying to make
ourselves holy and righteous and rest in Christ. Now, because God has made us
holy and without blame, our holy and righteous God can, and will, receive us
and have communion with us.
Hebrews
10: 19; Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the
blood of Jesus, 20: By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us,
through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; 21: And having an high
priest over the house of God; 22 Let us draw
near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled
from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
So now in Christ
the Holy One of Israel, we have blessed communion with God, in one
spirit by him.
Psalm 45:13: The king’s daughter is all glorious
within: her clothing is of wrought gold.
II. BRIEFLY, LET’S CONSIDER WHY WE ARE MADE HOLY AND
WITHOUT BLAME.
God has made us holy and without blame for us
to serve him.
Romans
6: 22: But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have
your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
We serve him in newness of spirit, not the
oldness of the letter.
Romans
7: 6: But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were
held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.
Illustration: Like the
vessels and priests in the tabernacle, we have been chosen, set apart by God,
purged by blood, sanctified by the Spirit, for God’s holy use, for God’s glory,
to publish the good news of God’s Son, for the good of God’s house.
Romans
12: 1: I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye
present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2:
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of
your mind, that ye may prove what is
that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. 3: For I say, through the
grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought
to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the
measure of faith. 4: For as we have many members in one body, and all members
have not the same office: 5: So we, being
many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. 6: Having
then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether
prophecy, let us prophesy
according to the proportion of faith; 7: Or ministry, let us wait on our
ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; 8: Or he that exhorteth, on
exhortation: he that giveth, let him
do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth
mercy, with cheerfulness. 9: Let
love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which
is good. 10: Be kindly
affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one
another; 11: Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; 12:
Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; 13:
Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality.
We are separated to serve God: chiefly,
publishing the good news of God’s Son, his gospel, for the calling out of his
sheep and for the edifying of our brethren.
That is our chief purpose.
III. LASTLY, HOW ARE WE KEPT HOLY AND WITHOUT BLAME? BY
GOD.
We see why God separated us, but because
we live in this body of death, we often do a foolish thing: we try to conform
to this world. I know this about you because I suffer from the same infirmities
in my flesh.
Satan is a crafty beguiler. Our flesh lusts
for the smile of this world which brings great weights upon us. It is our lusts
to have bigger, better and faster than we need.
We get ourselves in bondage and debt to this world. The applause of this
world comes with a heavy price.
Before we know it, we are stretched thin. Our
focus turns from God and his house and many arrows pierce us through. We have just so much strength, just so much
time, just so much money. We become
overwhelmed feeling like the government is on our shoulder. Our hands hang down, our knees grow
feeble. We want to serve God but we do
not see how we possibly have time. Our minds have become so entangled that we
can’t be renewed in the spirit of our minds, because we have been turned from
the only one who can renew us.
Without realizing it, we have become
conformed to this world. And we are so frantic to keep up, we neglect the One who
has the power to open so that no man can shut, to shut and now man open, who
has power to provide all our needs for us.
We essentially say, “Father, I will get to you, and your house, just as
soon as I can free up some time from my own work.”
Illustration: When
our children do that to us, we deal with them usually like the sinners we
are. Thankfully, our Father does not
chasten us in an unholy ways; so as to teach us unholy ways.
Hebrews
12: 10:…but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of HIS holiness.
As our gracious Father did in the beginning,
he sends Christ, who ministers the Spirit to our hearts through his gospel. The
Holy Spirit speaks into our hearts, saying, “Lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; And make
straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way;
but let it rather be healed.” (Hebrews 12: 12)
He guides us into
the Truth, saying, “lay aside every weight, and the sin which [is] so easily
besetting [you and run straight] “unto Jesus the author and finisher of [your]
faith…[who] is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:
1-2)
The Holy Spirit
speaks into our hearts, saying, “[Look] diligently [to Christ] lest [you] fail
of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and
thereby many be defiled; Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as
Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.” Lest you trade
all the riches of his grace for those temporal riches and that temporal bread
you’ve been running after. (Hebrews 12: 15-16)
Christ our High Priest
says, “Remember, you can draw near, I have washed you, your heart has been made
pure and your body washed with pure water.
I have made you holy and without blame so you can come to me.” He says, “For ye are not come unto the mount
that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and
darkness, and tempest,…But
ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly
Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,…and to God the judge of all…and
to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that
speaketh better things than that of Abel. (Hebrews 12: 18-24)
The Spirit says, “Wherefore
Jesus also, that he might sanctify [you] with his own blood, suffered without
the gate….go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. For
here have [you] no continuing city, but we seek one to come.” You probably started out in this way with
good intentions, thinking you could better serve Christ, but he says now return
to Christ, “By him therefore…offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually,
that is, the fruit of [your] lips giving thanks to his name. do good
and…communicate.” He says, “For all this sorrow is because you are worried and
serving you and yours, when your true happiness is serving the Lord and his
brethren.” He says, “for with such
sacrifices God is well pleased.” (Hebrews 13: 12-16) For this is why the triune
God separated you and made you holy and without blame before him in love—to serve
him in newness of spirit, praising him and being a help to your brethren.
Now, this
chastening is not pleasant for the moment, “nevertheless afterward it yieldeth
the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised
thereby.” (Hebrews 12: 11) Because when our gracious God has once again translated
us out of darkness into his light, as we “walk in the light, as he is in the light,
we have fellowship one with another, [fellowship with God and his Son] and the
blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” (Colossians 1: 13; 1
Joh 1: 7) This is how we are kept holy
and without blame.
Then in the midst
of our cares, he gives peace reminding you the government is on the shoulder of
your all-powerful Head. The weight rolls off. Your hands are strengthened. Finally, again you rejoice in him. And once
again serving him becomes reasonable service.
Brethren, holiness and righteousness is of our
triune God through the blood of Christ. And we who he has washed, know, that if
our faithful Father did not continue to keep us in Christ our Holiness and Righteousness,
we would become fully conformed to this world in a heartbeat.
Hebrews 13: 20: Now
the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great
shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, 21: Make
you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is
wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and
ever.
Amen.