Ephesians 1:15 - 2:10
Book of Ephesians • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Ephesians 1:15–16 (KJV 1900)
15 Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, 16 Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;
Paul expresses his thankfulness for a group of people who have faith in Jesus Christ and display their faith by living and loving others. We as believers should also recognize those who are living for God and loving others and thank God for them. They are giving Glory to God in a great way. Many times when people see others living right, they get jealous, They may feel like the other person is just showing off or trying to make us look bad. That is the wrong spirit to have though, we should be glad they are living right and we should help encourage them to continue living right!
17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: 18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
Paul is praying that God would continue to equip them with wisdom and knowledge that only comes from God. He emphasis that we should know the hope that we have through Jesus Christ. Yes life is hard, yes we face many trials but we have a hope that no one can take away. Our hope is not in our ability to do good! If it was, there would be no guarantee. Our hope is in the blood of Christ which can not fail! In this passage we see words Knowledge and understanding. For us to have the spirit of wisdom and revelation we must have knowledge of Who God is and What he desires of us.
19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, 20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
Salvation is all about HIM, it has nothing to do with me or my ability to live a certain way. Salvation comes through HIS POWER as we see in Verse 19
SCREEN CHANGE
21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: 22 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, 23 Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.
Jesus Is above all things. Jesus conquered death, hell and even the penalty of Sin. All things are under Jesus’ feet. in this world and in the world to come, the New heaven and earth. Jesus is the head of the Church and He pulls us all together into the body that we call “the body of Christ”.
Think about the fact that Christ pulls us all together to be one united body. Christ says we fill his body as He fills all things! CHRIST CHOSE US TO BE THE FILLING OF HIS BODY!
1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
Jesus made you alive spiritually! did you know before you put your faith in Christ, Your spirit is dead? with a dead spirit you we unable to please God in any way, you were unable to communicate with God through prayer, you were an enemy of God and on your own in life. At the moment of salvations Christ brings your spirit to life which allows you to communicate with the Holy Spirit. The bible calls this the second birth.
5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly I say to you, unless a man is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
The birth of water is you physical body coming into this world through your mother. The spiritual birth happens at salvation where your spirit is brought to life through the power of Jesus Christ.
2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
We used to be in the complete control of the devil. He was our master, but now Christ has taken over as Lord of our life. We no longer serve self and sin we now serve God because He has reclaimed us through His Blood! This means my purpose for life has changed from doing what makes me happy to doing and living for what makes God happy!
SCREEN CHANGE
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
Even while we were still full of Sin and living for self, Christ gave us life and forgiveness. He did not give a list of duties for us to fulfil first. He simply offered us a free gift of salvation that we could not obtain on our own. We could not clean up so Christ died to pay the penalty for our sins.
6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: 7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
God wants to show us for all eternity how much He loves us, and He wants us to see His grace in full view. If salvation were obtained by anything I did than I could be puffed in pride telling everyone how much I have accomplished. But because I cannot do anything to save myself, who gets all the glory and credit? God Alone, salvation is all about Jesus Christ it is not about me.
Many times people ask why God would save people like us, I believe Verse 7 gives us the reason. So God could show His great Mercy and Grace and Kindness.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
So, the final question is this, if we were saved in spite of our sin, does that mean I can go live and sin as much as I want? No, Salvation was obtained only because of Christ and now I am owned by Him (adopted by Him as we saw last week) This means my new purpose in life is to serve Him. If my eternity is only because of Him, the life I live now is only for HIM!