Ephesians 1:3-14 -- "Adopted In Christ"

Through Our Redemption in Jesus Christ, God the Father Has Adopted Us as His Eternal Heirs

It’s a sad fact that there are millions of children all over the world who are without parents and family and who are waiting to be adopted; at the same time, parents who want to adopt a child often have to spend tens of thousands of dollars and wait many years before they can adopt. There are children who need parents, and parents who want children, and yet there seems to be no easy way to unite the two.

It also wasn’t easy, but Through Our Redemption in Jesus Christ, God the Father Has Adopted Us as His Eternal Heirs.

We have been adopted as sons and daughters in Jesus Christ (vv 1–6).

A. Before the foundation of the world, we were chosen to receive every spiritual blessing in Christ.

1. Knowledge of and faith in Christ.

2. Forgiveness of sins in Christ.

3. Adoption as sons and daughters in Christ.

B. This is our predestination (God’s choice, His decision): adoption in Christ.

1. We were predestined in view of Christ.

2. We were predestined according to his purpose and for his glory.

3. We were predestined to be God’s children.

C. Any other understanding of predestination misses this point!

1. We were predestined in love.

2. He has blessed us in the Beloved.

3. Therefore, predestination is God’s loving adoption to be his sons and daughters!

As Adopted Children we have been redeemed from our sins and united in Jesus Christ (vv 7–10).

A. Redeemed through his blood shed on the cross of Calvary.

1. Not with gold or silver, but with his holy precious blood.

2. Bought back from sin, death, and the power of the devil.

B. Redeemed according to the riches of his grace.

1. Not because we deserved to be redeemed.

2. Redeemed because he loves us.

3. And now in Jesus Christ God has made known his will that his redeeming grace be for all.

C. This redemption made us God’s, united with him in Christ in the fullness of time.

1. The Church Triumphant—a revealed reality.

2. For now, the Church Militant—a hidden reality.

D. This redemption and uniting is ours already in Holy Baptism.

As adopted children, then, we have His eternal inheritance in Jesus Christ (vv 11–14).

A. Because it is God’s choice for You to be adopted as children of God, we share in our heavenly Father’s inheritance, according to his will.

B. There is unity in Christ for those who hear and hope in the word of truth.

C. We are sealed with the Holy Spirit.

1. The hearing of the Word brings faith, which is the work of the Spirit.

2. The Holy Spirit is one of the promises of Baptism, and we were sealed with the sign of Jesus’ cross.

D. God has promised that our inheritance awaits us and that He will call us to Himself and give us possession of that which he has prepared.

Although because of our inherited sin we were not children of God by nature, God the Father adopted us as sons and daughters in Jesus Christ through Holy Baptism to the praise of his glory. We are no longer without a home, no longer without a family, and no longer without an inheritance. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! Amen.