God Gave
Eph. 1:3-14
Intro: Anyone like to get gifts?
Tomorrow is my birthday…and I’m personally envisioning coming home to a brand new 42 inch LCD HiDef TV hooked up with a replay of the LSU National Championship game showing on it.
Yep…if I was truly loved, that is what I would get.
Now wouldn’t it be crazy if I did get that TV from my wonderful wife, tear off the paper, see what it is and then never take it out of the box?
Yep, show it off to everyone as they come in, because it is sitting in the box in the corner of the living room for everyone to see.
Who would accept a gift but never open it?
You would think only an insane person would do such a thing, but the sad thing is…it is happening even now; perhaps even in here.
You see, God has given us each a gift (get box).
John 3:16, the verse that we are looking at during these next few weeks and studying it part by part says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…”
God loves you and He loves me so much that He chose to give us a gift…one that is beyond any other.
Better than a new car.
Better than a new TV.
Better than any amount of money or anything money can buy...because He gave of Himself.
He gave His only Begotten Son.
Ask: Have you ever known anyone who is like the ultimate gift giver?
He or she is the person who knows you so well and can evaluate your needs and your wants to the point that when you get a gift from them you say, “This is perfect!”…and you mean it.
It is exactly what you needed or wanted, and it is coming to you at just the right time.
That is what Jesus is for us.
He is the perfect gift, given to us at just the right time when we needed Him the most.
Romans 5:8 tells us…
God loved and God gave…
Greek word for “showed” is susistao or susistano, which means to introduce or give…but has a continuous meaning to it.
In fact if you listen to it closely to the greek susistanto, it is similar to the root for our English word “sustain”.
It is literally the gift that keeps on giving.
God loves and God gave and He gives.
This morning in want us to take some time to think that beautiful truth of “God Gave”.
Let’s read together this morning from the book of Ephesians concerning what God has given us.
Read Ephesians 1:3-14 and pray.
Transition.
Paul wrote this letter to the Ephesian church around 64 AD and is considered to be the first of His prison epistles…that group of letters written during his time of being held captive by the Roman government.
In this opening chapter of the letter to the Ephesian church he describes to us what we have as a result of Christ.
It answers the question, “What did God give us”?
This morning I want us to consider that very question together.
We are going to open up the gift and see what is in side this morning together.
Open box and show what gifts are in box:
The first gift God has given us is…
***Take out adoption certificate
1. Adoption
v. 5 He has ADOPTED us.
ILLUS: I had a friend in college named Kevin, his dad was a worship leader in Brandon, MS and he too was a musician.
Kevin was adopted as an infant…and he usually found a way to make light of this.
We were in band together, were suite mates in the dorm and worked at the RA camp in Kosciusko together one summer too.
During that summer we worked at camp on one particular day he was sitting in the camp center, picked up the phone and started dialing…stopped and said, “Give me 2 numbers.”
One of the guys asked “Why” and Kevin replied, “I’m calling my dad.”
The response of course was, “You don’t know your dad’s phone number?” and Kevin said, “I’m adopted, this may be him.”
He didn’t always joke about this though, because it was during that same summer that Kevin, while fighting back tears one night said, “I’m adopted, that means my birth parents gave me up…but my mom and dad chose me because they wanted me.”
He found a great peace because he knew that he was wanted and chosen.
Think about it, God has chosen you.
Why?
Because he wanted you as His child.
In our world today we have a false assumption being promoted by too many people…especially within the church; that we are all “God’s children”.
I scream every time I’m watching something on TV and someone who means well will say, “Well, we are all God’s children.”
This is a lie straight from the pits of hell because it is causing people to have a false hope in who they are not.
Listen to what it says in John 1:12, “But to all who did receive Him, He gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in His name”
Only by faith in Christ can we have the right to be called the children of God…outside of Christ, you have no rights.
And that is part of what you have as a result of your salvation, the rights of a son or daughter of God.
This includes a new Father who is eternal and defines what love is.
You have a new name because you are no longer a sinner, but now are a saint.
You have an eternal inheritance awaiting you because our Father owns the cattle on a thousand hills and there is nothing within or without Creation that is not His personal handiwork.
And this God is our newly adopted Father, and in faith in Christ we can now say according to Romans, “Abba, Father”…which in our language would be “Daddy.”
ILLUS: I’m not sure if you are aware of this or not, but without salvation we were like a stray animal in an animal shelter.
We were under the control of the dog catcher, Satan.
An execution date had been set for our disposal.
There is no escape.
But Jesus not only chose us but placed us I into His family.
He took us out of the miry pit and gave us a bath and a new home.
He gave us his name.
He offered us instant and total access to Himself.
He wrote us into His will.
Like many of God’s treasure chest of spiritual blessings the benefits are not only for us now but are yet to be fully enjoyed.
Read Romans 8:23, “And not only that, but we ourselves who have the Spirit as the first-fruits--we also groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.”
And that actually takes us to our next point this morning; God has given us adoption, but he also has given us…
***Take out coupons…and ask if anyone is a coupon shopper; you’ve got to redeem the coupon for them to be of any value, sitting in a drawer won’t do any good.
2. Redemption
v. 7a He has REDEEMED us.
I want us to consider two aspects of this redemption together and see how it actually relates to us.
1. To buy back. Galatians 3:13, “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, because it is written: Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”
A price was on our head and a penalty needed to be paid.
Our souls were ripe for the picking…and it was Satan who wanted them and had a claim.
But notice what God’s word tells us.
Read 1 Peter 3:18-19, “For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring you to God, after being put to death in the fleshly realm but made alive in the spiritual realm. In that state He also went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison…”
Satan had dibs on my soul, but Christ paid the price on the cross on my sins and then He took it upon Himself to claim those keys with my name written on it.
He said, “These are now mine…on Aug. 6, 1989 Bobby will call out to me and I will use these to set him free, his sins are paid for and he belongs to me now.”
So this redemption means that He has bought me back.
And that takes me to 2nd aspect of the redemption we have in Christ…
2. To set Free. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, “Do you not know that the unjust will not inherit God’s kingdom? Do not be deceived: no sexually immoral people, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, homosexuals,
thieves, greedy people, drunkards, revilers, or swindlers will inherit God’s kingdom. Some of you were like this; but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”
This means that it doesn’t matter what you sins you have committed…if your faith is in Christ you have been set free.
The penalty has been paid, Christ took the punishment that you were deserving of; you have been redeemed.
You are made just because the God of Justice has granted you mercy and grace!
God gives us adoption, He gives us redemption, and third notice that he gives us…
***Take out NT, this is God’s revealed word to us and it reminds us that God has given us Revelation.
3. Revelation
v. 8-9 He has REVEALED Himself to us.
Revealed Himself and His will.
There are two types of revelation…
A. The first is called General Revelation
Psalm 8:1-3, “Lord, our Lord, how magnificent is Your name throughout the earth! You have covered the heavens with Your majesty. Because of Your adversaries, You have established a stronghold from the mouths of children and nursing infants, to silence the enemy and the avenger. When I observe Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You set in place.”
In the heart and minds of every man is a knowledge of the one true God…it is an awareness that there is something out there that is so much bigger than who we are; and there is also an urge to reach up to that which we know is there but unaware of at the same time.
That is what makes our mandate and mission so important, we must tell others who this one true God is before it is too late…the one that all creation speaks of.
B. And then there is Specific Revelation
Acts 1:3 After He had suffered, He also presented Himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during 40 days and speaking about the kingdom of God.
God hasn’t just revealed Himself in creation, He revealed Himself specifically in the person of Christ…the one who came, died and rose again.
And in Christ God his revealed His specific will to us.
In Romans 12:1 we are told to offer ourselves as living sacrifices to God as our spiritual act of worship…and then in verse 2 we are told that we will then be able to test and know what the will of God is; His good, perfect and pleasing will.
What is His will?
That none be lost, that the lost be found, that your sins be washed away, that you be given life and that you find out what your God given potential and purpose is through a relationship with Jesus Christ.
How do we know this?
We find it in His Word…the specific revelation that speaks of the specific revelation of Jesus Christ Himself.
And in Him we have adoption, we have redemption, we have revelation and finally we have…
***Say, “Oh, this is sweet” and take out lifesavers.
Who here likes Lifesavers?
This is a reminder that God has given us salvation.
4. Salvation
Read vs. 13
There is a great old hymn that is very simply titled “Saved” and its lyrics say this:
Saved! saved! saved! my sins are all forgiv’n;
Christ is mine! I’m on my way to Heav’n;
Once a guilty sinner, lost, undone,
Now a child of God, saved thro’ His Son.
Refrain
Saved! I’m saved thro’ Christ, my all in all;
Saved! I’m saved, whatever may befall;
He died upon the cross for me,
He bore the awful penalty;
And now I’m saved eternally—
I’m saved! saved! saved!
Two things we get as a result of this gift of salvation.
a. Forgiveness
v. 7b He has FORGIVEN us. No sweeter word in the Bible.
Psalms 32:1, “How happy is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered!”
Consider the extent of this forgiveness.
Sins of the past.
Sins of the present.
Sins of the future.
It is washed as far as the east is from the west.
Our sins are cast as deep as the ocean floor.
They are covered, washed clean and now and forever taken away.
The image I get is that of Jesus’ hand nailed to the cross, and between his hand and the cross is a list of my sins…and his blood just covers those offenses.
They can’t be seen because of His blood.
That means that I am forgiven.
Without blame.
Cleansed.
We can go on and on describing it, but unless you have experienced it yourself…it will only be words.
This is a gift the comes with the gift of salvation.
The 2nd thing we get from this salvation is this:
b. Hope (vs. 12)
Vs. 13-14 says…He has SEALED us.
In days of old kings always wore rings on their hands, and on this ring was the royal insignia.
Any official correspondence from the king had a dripping of crimson red wax was placed upon the envelope and that ring’s insignia was then pressed into the wax.
It was with this insignia that the official seal was placed…it was as good as gold, and better because it was considered to be the kings very words.
God has placed a seal upon us, not with wax but with blood, and the insignia is God’s presence in our life with the Holy Spirit.
And with this sealing we know that the word and the promise of God are as good as, and even better than gold because He has placed the seal there.
That is where our hope lies, that we are sealed for all eternity by the King of kings and the Lord of lords…and his seal is final and eternal!
Transition: All of this is possible because God gave.
God loved us so much that He gave.
He gave us adoption, redemption, revelation and salvation.
He did it through His Son Jesus Christ, the one who came, who lived and died and rose again.
Closing: Story of son who wanted new car, Father gave him a Bible, he got angry and never spoke to his father again…when father finally died many years later he swallowed his pride and went home to wrap up the family business.
At the funeral he heard how his father was always proud of him and spoke about all the great things he was doing in his life.
He wasn’t sure what to make of it because of what he did to his dad…but found out that a cousin kept an eye on him for his dad.
This son went to his father’s house and the memories just rushed over him, and eventually he made it up to his old room.
In there he found sitting on his dresser the box that held the Bible his father gave him, covered with dust, but unmoved from the spot where it was left so many years before.
He opened up the Bible hoping to find a word of hope and much to his surprise what he opened the Bible a check fell out of it, made out to him and for the amount he needed to buy that car many years earlier
But now it was too late though…he gave up everything and lost everything because of selfishness.
This morning, some of you are in that same condition.
You have the most incredible gift in front of you…but you in your selfishness would rather give it up and in the end you will still be wanting.
You will give up everything and lose everything.
Here’s the good news…you can change that this morning by accepting the gift that God is offering you today.
