Praising God for his plan of redemption

Introduction

Recap Series

verse by verse through Ephesians

last week - The Gospel is the Answer

we talked about how the gospel is the will or desire of God, we talked about how the gospel is the answer to a lost and dying world, we talked about how it is the answer to our everyday life

Today - Praising God for his Plan of Redemption

as you know I am a planner, I like to plan out sermon series and things that the church is doing months in advance,

this does not surprise a lot of people

yet, when we speak of God having a plan it comes as a surprise for so many

not that God made a plan when sin happened, but that he had a plan from the beginning, the foundation of the world

You have been loved by the Father from the beginning, so much so, that the Son came to die for you and the Spirit came to dwell in you.

Ephesians 1:3–14 CSB

3 Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him. 5 He predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ for himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace that he lavished on us in the Beloved One. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace 8 that he richly poured out on us with all wisdom and understanding. 9 He made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he purposed in Christ 10 as a plan for the right time—to bring everything together in Christ, both things in heaven and things on earth in him. 11 In him we have also received an inheritance, because we were predestined according to the plan of the one who works out everything in agreement with the purpose of his will, 12 so that we who had already put our hope in Christ might bring praise to his glory. 13 In him you also were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed. 14 The Holy Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of the possession, to the praise of his glory.

PRAY!

Chosen by the Father

The heartbreak of not being chosen

everyone at one point or another in their life finds out what it feels like to not be chosen

it could be in elementary school for the games on the playground, maybe you were picked, but it was last

maybe as you were a little older and you felt left out of a group,

maybe as an adult, you were looked over for a promotion

at some point in everyones life, there is a moment where we can look back and remember the feeling of not being selected

Ephesians 1:3–6 CSB

3 Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him. 5 He predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ for himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace that he lavished on us in the Beloved One.

Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ

it is an interesting way of starting this off, blessed is God?

in our modern english it can sound like we can give a blessing to God

this is how we think of God sometimes, that he is blessed to have us as his worshippers

as if we have something to offer him

we have nothing to give him that did not come from him in the first place

two word blessed in v3

the first, in referring to God, means praiseworthy

the second, in referring to us, means receiving

v4 tells us why he is praiseworthy… He chose us!

There are a couple of words in verses 4 and 5 that honestly frighten people or confuse people about God

I am not claiming to be the all knowing, I believe that we will never fully know exactly how God’s election has happened until we are in his presence

It can scare us, because we know what it is like to not be chosen, and we do not want to wait until we die to find out if we are chosen or not… God does not want that for you either.

What does ‘chose’ and ‘predestined’ mean

chose - to select

what did he choose us for

holy - set apart

set apart for good works, to bring him glory and honor, set apart to show God’s grace

blameless - without defect, physically or morally

predestined - to predetermine, decide before hand

to be adopted as sons

do not change to sons and daughters, takes on a different meaning

daughters at the time this was written had no inheritance rights

we are all adopted as sons… meaning that we all have rights to an inheritance

Galatians 3:28 CSB

28 There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female; since you are all one in Christ Jesus.

For what purpose

the praise of his glorious grace

“When God glorifies his grace, he glorifies his whole character.” Charles Spurgeon

not because we are awesome

we are chosen to demonstrate who he is, to bring light or make known his grace

which shows that we are the opposite of awesome, we are desperate people who need the grace of God

Redeemed by the Son

What does it mean to redeem

definition - gain or regain possession of (something) in exchange for payment:

at this time you could redeem slaves

people would be enslaved for different reasons, debt being a big reason

if somebody paid your debt, they redeemed you

but now they are the owner of your debt and you are their slave

when confronted with our debt, God chose grace

Ephesians 1:7–10 CSB

7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace 8 that he richly poured out on us with all wisdom and understanding. 9 He made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he purposed in Christ 10 as a plan for the right time—to bring everything together in Christ, both things in heaven and things on earth in him.

the plan of redemption was to be paid for by blood

the price that Jesus paid was his own blood poured out for us

the law of God required that a perfect spotless lamb be offered up as a sacrifice for the payment of our sins

Jesus, by living a perfect life, is that spotless lamb that was sacrificed for our sins

that is why in Revelation 5, you see where everyone is crying out, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain.”

the plan of redemption was known and understood by the son

wisdom and understanding

there are some that disagree with me, on this, they believe that “wisdom and understanding” refers back to us

that we now have wisdom and understanding because of what Christ did

I believe that this verse is talking about Christ himself, that he had all wisdom and understanding when he was on this earth

that he went to the cross and paid the price of our sin in all wisdom and understanding of what he was doing

the plan of redemption was agreed to by the son

he went through with it - his passive obedience

active obedience is that he obeyed the law

passive obedience is that went to the cross without stopping it

unity in the trinity

it shows that this was the plan of God and that all three parts of the trinity were fully aware and in unity to complete it

the plan of redemption now made known to the world

at the time there were religions in Asia Minor that are referred to as “mystery religions”

basically the things about God would remain a mystery to all but a few enlightened few

you would have no idea where you stood with God until your death

everything was a mystery and we would have to follow the enlightened few

not completely understood in OT

God began to reveal himself in the OT and looking back as we are, we can see how the story of God unfolds and that everything in the OT points directly to Jesus

but living through them, they did not fully understand the God’s redemptive plan

but now, what was a mystery is made known to all people

contrary to the Asia Minor mystery religions, that only a few enlightened people could know the will of God

Assured by the Spirit

God wants us to live with a confidence that we know him

a lack of confidence leads to a life of works and hopelessness

I cannot imagine God having us live that way, makes me think of an abusive father

never knowing if you would find them in a loving mood or a condemning mood

leaving the child a defeated mess

Ephesians 1:11–14 CSB

11 In him we have also received an inheritance, because we were predestined according to the plan of the one who works out everything in agreement with the purpose of his will, 12 so that we who had already put our hope in Christ might bring praise to his glory. 13 In him you also were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed. 14 The Holy Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of the possession, to the praise of his glory.

because of the plan of the father and the fulfillment of that plan in the son, we receive and inheritance

this inheritance in the Holy Spirit

I am amazed at how underwhelming this seems to most people

if you are a believer you have the Holy Spirit dwelling, living in you

He will not leave you, he is always there

the creator God, all powerful, all loving, lives in the hearts of the believer

I have heard and even said that you have the powerful spirit of God in you,

Acts 1:8 CSB

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

dunamis - power, where we get dynamite

Galatians 5:22–23 CSB

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things.

this is what dwells inside of us

we have the power of God dwelling inside of us, that power allows us to live a life glorifying to him

a life filled with love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness and self control

what must we do to receive the holy spirit

hear the word of truth (scripture, the Bible) and believe

hear - to hear or listen

believe - entrust, do

belief that leads to action

nothing else is in our control,

it is the plan of the father

it has been fulfilled by the son

and acted upon by the spirit

it is only a down payment

my initial thought was like we would make a down payment

what is a down payment

an initial payment that goes toward the whole of what is due

you take possession, such as a house or a car

you get all the bills for that thing, you are responsible for it, but my time you take possession, especially a car, the value is less than when you first got it

I thought that is a lousy illustration, a terrible way of explaining that

Tony Evans - Like an engagement ring, the Holy Spirit is a down payment on an eternal commitment. The Spirit is a heavenly first installment given in anticipation of eternal life, a life that is eternally secure. He’s a foretaste of what’s ahead.

This down payment, the spirit dwelling inside of us, gives us the confidence to live in this world, knowing that we have been chosen by the Father and redeemed by the Son.