Ephesians 1:3-6
Ephesians • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 19 viewsNotes
Transcript
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love
5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
Over a week ago we were driving back from Colorado. We left at 5 AM in the snow. Initially the roads were clear, it was easy driving, then we start driving up and down the mountain, the snow got heavier. Soon the road was covered in ice and snow. It was pitch black outside, I couldn’t see to the right or the left only the snow covered road in front of me. It was dangerous and nerve racking. I knew we couldn’t stop because the conditions would get worse. I did only what I knew to do, stay on the road and keep my eyes on the path in front of me. Then it happened, 7 am came around the darkness faded and soon I could see what was on my left and my right, things became visible and then I could drive more confidently. Our understanding of theological truths can often be like driving on an icy road. It can be scary and nerve racking because we do not quite understand certain truths such as the doctrine of election, but we are to stay on the Biblical path asking God to reveal the truth to us and the longer we stay on the path the more we understand. The worse thing to do when we do not understand is to pull over on the side of the road, because the result is we will get snowed in and never reach our destination
-We may struggle with the doctrine of election, but we need to be clear the doctrine of election is Biblical, we must believe it because its in the Bible
-The doctrine of election, and we see it throughout the Bible:
-national election, God choosing a nation, Israel Deut. 7:6
6 “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
-vocational election - God chose individuals for a specific task - Moses, Jeremiah, David, etc.
-Salvation election - Ephesians 1
29 “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
-We must understand what happens when a person comes to faith in Christ. How is it that a person turns from their sin and turns to the saving work of Christ?
-We know it happens through the Preaching/teaching of the gospel Ephesians 1:13
13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,
-It is only when we hear the gospel and the Holy Spirit convicts and works in our hearts, this is a work of God. God takes the initiative in our salvation, and many have a problem with this, but it is a beautiful, glorious thing. Notice we must believe.
Alistair Begg puts it this way: God enables us to believe, but God does not believe for us.
44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.
11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
-v.3-14 are a continuous sentence and it is really a song of praise. Paul in this song of praise wrote:
-Blessed = Eulogetos, eulogy = to speak well of, God is mentioned 1st
13 And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”
-Salvation is God calling out, reaching out to man
-Blessed (speak well of, praise) be the God and Father of Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed (spoken well of) us in Christ with every spiritual blessing = pneumatike = Spirit of God (salvation, sanctification, glorification) in the heavenly places (the divine domain of God, not in human realm but in God’s realm
9 So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
-We see the whole involvement of the Trinity in salvation - Blessed be God the Father who chose us in Christ the Son, v. 13 sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise
-We bless the one who has blessed us
How are we blessed in Christ? God’s grace
1 God’s Unmerited Grace (4)
1 God’s Unmerited Grace (4)
4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love
-Chose us in Christ
-before the foundation of the world
-God pre-planned, it was not some after thought
-Many have a problem with this. What about our belief, what about our faith. We absolutely are to have faith, but you cannot have faith in Christ without God first doing a work within you through His Holy Spirit which He decided before the creation of the world
8 and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.
-But how do you understand God’s sovereign election and our responsibility to have faith in Christ? Do we have to fully believe one or the other?
Charles Spurgeon how he reconciled these two, he replied, “I never try to reconcile friends.”
In the Bible, divine sovereignty and human responsibility are not enemies. They are not uneasy neighbors; they are not in an endless state of cold war with each other. They are friends, and they work together.
J. I. Packer
The doctrine of election does not diminish the human responsibility, but when you ignore the doctrine of election you diminish your view of the sovereignty of God, God harmonizes His sovereignty in our salvation with our choice
-The truth is that there is no reason in of ourselves that we are saved, it is solely in the grace of God
-But what about the whosoevers? Revelation 22:17
17 The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.
11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.”
-So how could you have both, you do. But we must believe in the sovereignty of God. We all believe that. Do you pray? Do you believe God is in control? If God is in control of other things in our lives, why would He not be sovereign over our salvation?
-When it comes to our salvation we should never start with I, it should always start with God in His grace saved me
-Some may say: well that is unfair, it is not just that God chose. Well let me tell you what is just: for God to send us all to an eternity of hell. His grace is in that even one person is saved in Christ
-What did God choose us in Christ for?
-so that we would be holy and blameless, not that we would be happy, not that we would have wealth, not that we would be socially likable, but that we would be holy and blameless. he did not choose us because we were holy and blameless, he didn’t look and say Cody you are an Ole Miss fan, you love coffee, you have a good resume, not at all, but He chose us, filthy sinners, no good on our own to make us holy and blameless
9 who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,
-God in Christ has changed us positionally, we are no longer seen as sinners but the righteousness of Christ is seen upon us
27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
-Maybe a question that comes up is: well how can I know if I am a part of the elect? Are you ok living in sin? If so you are not a part of the elect. Do you have a desire to pursue Christ and to be conformed to His image? Then you are a part of the elect.
60Remember that if you are a child of God, you will never be happy in sin.
Charles Spurgeon
-before Him, before God we can only be presented as holy and blameless through Christ, this is not a comparing ourselves to one another, it is gazing into the perfection and greatness of our God and rejoicing that we are made righteous through Christ
-the major point: God’s grace is unmerited, meaning there is nothing we do to earn God’s favor - He gives it freely - this leads us to say Blessed be God our Father who has extended His grace to us freely!
2 God’s Adoptive Grace (5a)
2 God’s Adoptive Grace (5a)
5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
-In love
-He predestined us - d - Romans 8:29-30
29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
-to adoption
-So you might be thinking: why would God create us knowing we would sin? Because He created us not looking to the creation but looking to the cross, to demonstrate the greatness of His love
-By the way adoption is such a beautiful picture of love, We have examples here today of couples who have made the Christ-like example of adoption
-God predestined, what does that mean? decide before hand
Paul’s focus is the need to praise God because his choice of a people for himself is such a clear demonstration of his grace. (Thielman, F. (2010). Ephesians (p. 51). Baker Academic.)
-Has anyone ever seen the movie Problem Child? The movie was released in 1990, Ben and Flo Healy were unable to have children and they venture to adopt a son. Junior was the child they welcomed into their home. Only thing, Junior was a problem child, he was mean spirited and destructive. Perhaps Ben and Flo would not have chosen Junior if they knew the problems he would cause. Here is the absolutely astounding fact of God’s grace: He looked upon us problem children, full of sin, no good in us, and in love he chose to adopt us before the foundation of the world.
4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,
5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”
15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
-God predestined the adoptive sonship of believers
-What should we understand in the truth of being adopted as sons and daughters of God?
17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
-The status of Jesus, God’s Son, and our status in Him, lifts us out of the status of slaves and moves us into the status of children of God
-We are moved to a place of worship, of blessing God our Father because in His Son Christ Jesus we are adopted as His sons and daughters. God’s grace is relational, it is provisional
3 God’s Willful Grace (5b-6)
3 God’s Willful Grace (5b-6)
5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
-Why has God done this? What is the reasoning?
-according to the purpose of His will
-purpose in the Greek = desire, pleasure
-What does this tell us about God? He desired, He took pleasure in before the foundation of the world predetermining, choosing to adopt us through Christ
-And why did it please Him?
-to the praise of His glorious grace - this brings us back to v. 3 - blessed be
12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.
14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
-God took pleasure in his decision before the foundation of the world to adopt us as sons and daughters to the praise of His glorious grace, God chose the church for His own glory, yes He chose us for our good, but before that He chose it for His glory
10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.
-in the Beloved (Christ)
17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
-But why did Paul say in the Beloved? yes it is the fact that only through Christ can we be children of God, but it is even greater that it is our identification in Christ, the Beloved has made us beloved
25 As indeed he says in Hosea, “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’ ”
-This doctrine of election displays the greatness of God, it shows the value that God places on you as His child, do not stress over this doctrine vs. human responsibility, leave it alone. Know that it is God who saves and one must place their faith in Him
You do not know who the elect are. You do not know whose heart will be broken by the divine hammer of truth. But it is your responsibility to sue the divine hammer on the hard heart. And as the gospel is preached it will attract to itself, by its own power, through the Holy Spirit, those whom God has ordained unto eternal life. - CH Spurgeon
-This leads us to praise God, He is the author of our salvation, before the foundation of the world. Also - since God is the one who initiates our salvation - we are eternally secure, if we were the ones to initiate it then of course it is not secure
-So we sing the wondrous truth:
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
O my soul, worship His holy Name.
Sing like never before, O my soul.
I’ll worship Your holy Name.
