The sermon opens a new expository series in Ephesians, picking up at chapter 1, verses 3-14 — a single, unbroken sentence in the Greek text and, the preacher notes, likely the longest sentence in the whole Bible. Rather than rushing to practical application, Paul begins with doctrine: before telling believers what to do, he grounds them in who God is and what God has already done for them. The preacher cites Martyn Lloyd-Jones's observation, drawn from decades of pastoral ministry, that the most miserable people he met were invariably those fixated on themselves, while those who fixed their gaze on God and his character discovered joy — echoing Augustine's line that the heart is restless until it rests in God. This, the sermon argues, is why Paul opens Ephesians not with commands but with worship: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ."

The first blessing Paul names is election: God chose believers in Christ before the foundation of the world and predestined them in love. The sermon acknowledges this doctrine as one of the most contested in Scripture — provoking objections that it makes God unjust, reduces people to robots, or renders evangelism pointless — and insists these objections arise from human logic rather than from Scripture itself. The preacher recalls a long, unresolved argument with a church visitor in Auckland who repeatedly affirmed the biblical teaching in conversation yet kept returning to the same objection. Rather than resolving the doctrine of election itself (promised for the following week), this sermon focuses on the phrase that anchors the whole passage and recurs six times: "in Christ." Every blessing — election, redemption, sealing by the Spirit — belongs to believers only because they are united to Christ, much as a branch draws life only by abiding in the vine (John 15).

The sermon traces a Trinitarian structure across the passage: verses 3-6 describe the Father's work of choosing and predestining; verses 7-12 describe the Son's work of redemption through his blood; verses 13-14 describe the Spirit's work of sealing believers. From there the sermon asks how a person actually comes to be "in Christ," and answers in three movements. First, the Holy Spirit works through the preached gospel: hearing the word of truth precedes believing. The preacher pushes back on the charge that his own Reformed tradition (GRII) undervalues the Holy Spirit, arguing that the Spirit's greatest work is not healing or tongues but uniting sinners to Christ — exactly what happened at Pentecost, when Peter's Spirit-filled sermon in Acts 2 pointed entirely to Christ crucified and risen, not to the Spirit himself. This leads to an appeal to pray for an upcoming Christmas evangelistic rally at Indonesia Arena in Jakarta, led by Pdt. Stephen Tong, as another occasion for the Spirit to work through gospel preaching.

Second, union with Christ comes through faith, itself a gift rather than human achievement (Ephesians 2:8). The sermon stresses that Christ is not merely the object of faith, as one might trust a reliable person, but the very place in which faith exists — believers have faith "into" Christ, not simply toward him. Paul's declaration in Galatians 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ... yet I live, no longer I, but Christ who lives in me," is unpacked at length: Paul was not present at the crucifixion, yet through faith he is mystically united to Christ's death and resurrection, so that his old, sinful self has genuinely died and Christ now lives through him. An illustration from a film about an estranged father who secretly protects his CIA-agent daughter is used to picture how knowing someone's character and commitment reshapes one's own identity — a natural analogy, the preacher notes, for how union with Christ reshapes a believer's self-understanding.

Third, this union rests specifically on Christ's atoning death. Because Christ lived in perfect active obedience and died bearing the punishment for sin, believers obtain redemption through his blood (v.7). Answering the philosophical objection that no just court would punish an innocent party in place of the guilty, the sermon argues that the substitution is not merely one person standing in for another (as with a friend paying a friend's fine) but a real union: because all who believe are united to Christ, when Christ died, they too died with him (2 Corinthians 5:14-15) — so justice is satisfied within the believer's own union with Christ, not by an external swap. As the Good Shepherd, Christ also lays down his life for sheep "not yet of this fold" — the many peoples still to be gathered from every nation — and will call them through the same preached gospel. The sermon closes by urging the congregation to rest in this settled identity: no longer living for themselves, but for the One who died and was raised for them.

Bible Verses Used

• Ephesians 1:3-14: The sermon's main text; unpacked as one continuous sentence describing every spiritual blessing given to believers "in Christ," structured across the work of Father, Son, and Spirit.

• Ephesians 2:8: Cited to show that faith itself, the means of union with Christ, is a gift of grace and not a human achievement.

• John 15 (vine and branches): Used to illustrate that believers draw all spiritual life only by abiding "in" Christ, as a branch abides in the vine.

• Acts 2 (Pentecost): Cited to argue that the Spirit's characteristic work is to point to Christ, since Peter's Spirit-filled sermon proclaimed Christ crucified and risen rather than the Spirit himself.

• Galatians 2:20: Expounded at length to explain mystical union with Christ — the believer's old self has died with Christ, and Christ now lives in and through the believer by faith.

• 2 Corinthians 5:14-15: Used to resolve the objection to substitutionary atonement, showing that Christ's death is just because all who believe were united with him in that death, not merely replaced by him.

• John 10 (the Good Shepherd): Cited to show Christ laying down his life for sheep from every nation, including those not yet gathered into the fold.