EPHESIANS SERIES
EPHESIANS 1:1-6
THE DEPTHS OF THE LOVE OF CHRIST
INTRODUCTION
1. Friends of Jesus, thank you for coming here today. I pray that you will see Jesus today, and know what call He has on your life. I also pray that you will allow The Holy Spirit to influence you to become more like Jesus.
2. Beloved, in the past, we have looked at what we are doing wrong in our lives as Christians, in fact until we are blue in the face, and I have found that it has done very little to effect the changes that we need in order for us to be Christ like. The biggest problem as I see it in my life, is that we are inward focused. We are selfish in our lives and this also flows over into our church.
3. Today, I wish to share with you some wonderful, fantastic truths, right out of the Word of God. We will work directly out of the Word today.
4. As I search the Scriptures, there is one thing that I never find, and that is a church that is focused on programs and entertainment, and things that benefit the members of the Church. NO! the Church of Jesus Christ was, and has always been outward focused, on saving the lost. The mission of Christ and His Church has been to save souls from eternal damnation. The church that is not outward focused and working in the Kingdom is full of selfish, useless dead Christians. They are like salt that has lost it saltiness, of no use.
5. As we begin, I want to establish one point of truth, that the world needs to hear and know. The Creator God is exactly that, He is Creator God, and we need to understand some basic principles that are evident in being God.
I. God is omnipotent - that is He is all powerful.
Ii. God is omnipresent - that is He is everywhere at once.
Iii. God is perfect in every aspect. His motives, His actions, He everything.
Iv. God is all knowing, the past, present and future.
V. God is The Creator and He owns you.
Vi. God is not inward focused, but focused on you.
6. One question, “is this the God that you serve, and are trying to emulate, or are you lying to yourself, only taking to yourself those majestic characteristics that benefit you, so basically allowing you to satisfy the desires of your sinful nature.” Beloved, beware of the lies of the sinful nature, as liars are not allowed to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
7. The world is lost and dying, with people crying out for someone to throw them a lifesaver or a life jacket, or a rope or something. I want to liken the church to a ship, crewed by Christians, sailing the ocean of life. All around the ship in the ocean are those whose ships have been sunk, and they are now floating in the ocean of life, covered in the oil of their failures of sin. They are weakly crying out in confusion. Some, because of their confusion are stubborn and angry because their ship has been sunk. As the ship “USS Jensen Beach Christian Church” sails by, we all peer over the rail into the ocean, and hear the cries, and see the pain and suffering, and we know that once we too were in that water. We are now comfortable, and just feeling quite fine. As the ship glides through the water, the bodies of those in the water are bumped out of the way. We stand by the rail and in fact we ignore the cries, the pleading, we shut our eyes and pretend that it is not there. Some ever begin preaching about how it is their own fault and choice that they are sunk and in the ocean. Just by reaching out a hand, we could bring those poor souls into the church, but we might have to actually do some work by extending our hand, or getting their attention. The Love of God is only for certain people, and really I am quite comfortable thank you very much. This is not the heart of the Savior, and it is not the heart of the real Christian.
7. Part of the problem, is that many do not know what they actually have to give to others to save them from drowning in hell.
8. Let us go to the Scriptures. Today, I am going to be reading first from the NIV, and then from the Beck translation, as I like the easy language flow for this study, but you can follow along in your translation.
EPH 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus: 2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ
Ephesians 1:1-Paul, apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will, to the people who are holy and faithful in Christ Jesus: 2 May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ love you and give you peace. 3 Let us praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in Christ has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heaven. (Becks)
I. The Love of God Has Blessed Us.
1. Beloved, I want you to see something here. God has blessed His own with every spiritual blessing in heaven. Those who claim Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, and who manifest in their lives the love of Christ, are the ones who are blessed.
2. Secondly, I want you to see, that the blessing has already happened, and is happening. It is not reserved to a future happening. God, in Christ, has blessed you, with every spiritual blessing in heaven. These blessings have been given to you already, for your use, but also for the benefit of others. Paul tells us that His receiving love from God was a benefit to others. 2CO 4:13 It is written: "I believed; therefore I have spoken." With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, 14 because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. 15 All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God
3. The problem is that you may not recognize the blessings for what they are, and may have not used them for the benefit of others. It is easy to apply blessings to ourselves, but to give them away. OH NO! this leads us out of our comfort zone. These blessings are gifts from the Holy Spirit, available for you to use now, here on this earth, to benefit both our growth in Christ and the growth of His Church. How naïve to think that His blessings are ours, for our personal use and storage.
4. NO, the Holy Spirit in us testifies to the love of God for His church, in which you are a worker. We are owned by God, as one owns a slave, and are to work for Him. He anointed us, 2CO 1:22 set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. The Holy Spirit, is a down payment of heaven for us. Heaven, is dwelling with God, and we can dwell with God now.
Ephesians 1:4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.
Ephesians 1:4 In Him He chose us to be holy and blameless before Him,
II. The Love Of God Makes Us Holy And Blameless.
1. Right now, if you know Jesus Christ, you are Holy and blameless before God. Do you understand this. Take a few moments to contemplate that most evil sin that you have committed. If you are in Christ, and He is in you, it is GONE, as far as the east is from the west.
2. Let me share with you grace. Grace is, God giving to us that which we do not deserve. We deserve death for sinful disobedience, and God give us His life, and takes our death upon Himself. Grace, however, is not grace if it is kept to ourselves, it has to be shared with others, this makes it grace.
3. Listen to this, God gives us His Life and takes our death upon Himself. This is grace, and the motivator of grace is God’s LOVE for us. “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Will you extend your grace and God’s grace to your neighbor? Will you be inconvenienced and uncomfortable for the grace of love.
EPH1:4b In love 5 he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will--
Ephesians 1:5 He has done what in His kindness He planned to do: before He made the world, He who loved us appointed us to be made His sons by Jesus Christ.
III. The Love Of God Chose Us Before We Were.
1. This is the part that I really don’t understand, but it is real and truth. Our God created us knowing that we would sin and that He would have to die a painful death at the hands of His creation. Knowing this, in love He made us and covered us with His grace, even before you were born.
2. He did this to show us the depths of His great love and grace. Without man falling into sin, there would be no way for God to manifest His love and grace. Without sin, man would never have to choose God. God does not want robots to be forced to worship Him or have a relationship with Him. God is not desirous of worship, bible reading or any other religious function. He desires to have a relationship with you. The Word is chock full of relationship, relationship, relationship with His creation.
3. Do not think for a minute that God made sin, or that God makes us sin, to benefit Himself, He does not. We are full of sin, and He is full of grace. The Law and sin are the vehicle through which God chose to make His love known to us. God gives us free will, and wishes that man would choose relationship with Him over relationship with Satan, but as man did not, He provides a way out of the relationship with Satan. When people come to their senses, they can realize their mistake and start again.
4. Listen to what God says about His love for us, and His wonderful protection of us. RO 8:31 What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died--more than that, who was raised to life--is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
5. Glory, we are loved, provided for, and protected by Christ, God. This is the part that my feeble human mind cannot understand, and I do not even try to, I just accept it, because it is good. It reminds me of the penguins in the cartoon “Madagascar” where they say, “Just smile and wave boys, just smile and wave.” I just smile and wave.
EPH 1:6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. 9 And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ,
Ephesians 1:6 in order to praise the glory of the love He gave us in His dear Son, who bought us with His blood to forgive our sins and set us free. So He poured out the riches of His love on us, giving us ever kind of wisdom and understanding as He told us the hidden meaning of His will.
IV. THE LOVE OF GOD POURED OUT WISDOM
1. The things of God were a mystery throughout the ages. Not even the angels knew what was happening. Even the prophets that were proclaiming that which was to come, did not know what was going to happen, and they longed to see it, but could not. It was difficult for them to look forward to the revelation of God in the flesh. Jesus tells us MT 13:16 But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. 17 For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.
1PE 1:10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, 11 trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. 12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.
3. We are blessed with wisdom and understanding, as the love of Christ has been revealed to us for a purpose, and that purpose is so that we can praise Him for His glorious grace, and share it with others. God is so wonderful. Beloved, if you believe that God is a stern angry God that sits in heaven on his throne, angry with you, and making things impossible for you to attain, then you are in error in your theology, as truthfully, according to His Word, He has done it all for us, and has even poured it out on us.
4. There is nothing left for you to do except to yield to its power, and relationship with Jesus Christ, and to share that power and relationship with others who are dying in the sea of despair.
CONCLUSION
1. Beloved, if what we have discussed today, is not how your walk with Christ is, then you are being led astray. If you are quite comfortable in your belief, in your church, in your fellowship, then you are in danger of destruction.
2. There is nothing that you are obligated to do to get salvation, all you must do is receive it. But in the love of Christ, you are obligated because of love of others, to share the grace, or it will not be grace for you. It can only become grace if you share it.
3. The love of God is so powerful, and it is for all to share in. If you do not have a relationship with Christ, where you talk to Him each day, and He shares with you, then you do not know Him and He does not know you. It is time to get up and out of our comfort zones for Jesus, and watch the difference in our lives, as we begin to build a relationship with Jesus.
4. If you have never accepted Jesus Christ, then I want to ask, “Why not?” What is keeping you for getting to know Christ? If you are doubting, then truthfully search your heart, as you know there is a designer to our world, it did not just happen by accident.
5. If you are just sleeping, or procrastinating, then wake up and get moving. Come on, let’s go, get up here to the front now, and let us take this journey together.
