Ephesians 1:5-
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· 6 viewsThe spiritual blessings of the Trinity in salvation.
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Vs 5- We must tag the previous two words to verse 5
“In love”- thats the reason we chose people, according to this verse predestined the ones he chose to be apart of his family
So what we have seen from verse 3-4 and now in verses 5 is that if any person is saved today its only by the grace of God
Its all done in love- Love chose a people, called a people, and predestined they would be apart of his family
The believer should never run from these truths, but praise God for His grace as Paul encourages the Ephesians to do
So its in love God has drawn believers to be adopted into the family
The word adopt literally reminds us that there was a time when we were not in the family
Illustration- Adoption
A mother was talking to her daughter who just had a baby.
She said he has dark hair like your father.
Daughter said “but mom Im adopted”
Mother- I always forget
What a beautiful thought- That God would look at his people and see nothing but sons and daughters- as if to say, I dont remember anything different
How has he so allowed for this to be?
Clearly its not automatic
“Adopted as sons through Jesus Christ”
-the phrase “we are all Gods children” coudlnt be more further from the truth
-all made in the image of God, endowed with worth for that reason
-But being born isnt the prerequisite for being apart of the family of God
-being born again is and that only comes through Christ
And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
So in love, he predestined to take a sinful people and make them holy at the very expense of Christ.
According to purpose of His will-
KJV- good pleasure of his will
NIV- his pleasure and will
We get the picture- God acted in calling believer according to the delight of his will
VS6- To the praise of his glorious grace
grace is unmerited favor
For believers salvation is all unmerited favor and God deserves the praise
He goes on further and describes why God good pleasure and grace are poured on his people
Blessed in the Beloved
Every spiritual blessings that believers have are all because of Christ
Christ is the Beloved by God and because we are in Christ- we get the blessings of the Father
Paul now shifts his attention to the work of the Beloved in salvation
Vs 7- In Christ we have redemption through his blood
Redemption (redeem) means to be bought back, to be set free from a state of slavery
Paul reminds them of the grace of God on them is only possible because of the work of Christ in salvation
On the cross God satisfies himself in Christ
Christ paid the payment due our sins as there is no forgiveness of sin without the shedding of blood
Redemption, forgiveness- all according to the riches of God the Father
TBKC--The cost of Christ’s blood is the measure of the wealth of God’s unmerited favor to every believer.
Vs8- That unmerited favor isnt sparingly applied
-Its lavished, its excessive
-Its even more excessive than those people who put so much sunscreen on they look like Casper the friendly ghost
-you know who you are, they make spf 90, no reason to put on gallon of spf 10
-I digress- Gods lavishing of grace wasnt done wrecklessly but in perfect wisdom and insight so we would know and understand the depth of his love and grace
Vs9- God planned and orchestrated salvation in Christ perfectly so that all his people would understand he desire for his people
So when we look at the life of Christ, the cross, the revealing of the Gospel to the gentiles- we find no stone unturned and Gods
perfect plan uncovered
Vs 10- this plan reaches the crescendo when God brings time to an end
When Christ returns, gets his bride and judges the unbelievers
Its at that time God will make knee bow
so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
The world sits in a broken state but God will bring all that to unity in Christ
Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.
Jesus said this as speaking to the crowds concerning the hour that is now upon him
The devil is a defeated foe because of the cross but yet there is some final judgement that awaits
A time when Satan and all evil doers are called into account
and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
But also a time where God gathers all of his people to be forever with him
And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
Oh what day that will be, when my Jesus I shall see
When I look upon His face, the one who saved me by His grace
When He take me by the hand and leads me through the Promised land
What a Day, Glorious Day that will be!
All by the blood of Jesus under the divine plan of the Father
Vs11- In Christ we have been given an inheritance
We have been given a chosen portion in Christ
For only one reason
Because God has predestined that according to His will
The foolish thing to do here is think, well if God has done all this for me on His own- then I cant do anything to mess that up- So I will just do as I wish
Thats the logic of man who hates God not loves God
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?
What should happen is that as we traverse this language that is far wonderful for me- is we should run the other way from sin nothing that it came at a great cost to Christ
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
This is a transformative encouragement and hope
Beloved, nothing can touch what God has so declared to be his
Rome cant get it, Satan cant corrupt it
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Which I believe is the heart of vs 12
-At this point Paul is bursting forth- just praise him
Just live for him, just honor him
Its the Jews who first heard of the goodness of God and have first hoped in his plan and purpose
Vs13- but its not just for the Jew but also for the Ephesians who are partakers in the same hope and some plan as the redeemed Jew
Here is the healthy tension in salvation displayed once again
The last 10 verses have been nothing but chosen, predestined, called, Gods purpose but here we see the other side of the same rope
Man’s belief- look there in Vs 13
When they heard the word of truth- the Gospel of Jesus Christ they believed
Which brings us back to the point a couple weeks ago
No one ever gets to have heaven and says you put me here and I didnt believe in you
Just as no one in Hell says, I wanted to repent but you wouldnt let me
Man’s responsibility of responding in belief is never relinquished but so that when the eyes of the chosen are opened and man is regenerated- his heart now yearns for the things of God
We see it in the immediate response of disicples and people who Jesus healed.
They leave the old and run to the Savior- thats the power of God
The great joy of belief in Christ is the sealing of the HS
So far we have seen Gods purpose in salvation in sending Christ and now we see the HS work in Gods divine symphony of salvation
The promise HS who Jesus himself said would come in John 14-16- the same HS who has filled every believer since the day of Pentecost is the security deposit of our future inheritance
One commentator notes
To be marked … with a seal indicates authority, authenticity, and security. It is a validation of ownership. God seals, or marks, his children with the Holy Spirit, indicating that we are his, that we are authentic spiritual children, not fakes or impostors, and that we are under his protection.
So Paul has taken us full circle concerning the blessed work of the Trinity in salvation.
Vs 14- He is our guarantee of salvation until we see God face to face
He is the one who secures our final release of sin whether we we die and see him or he returns and gets us
Either way its the same outcome- and Pauls can not help but stop and praise God once again