The Foundations
Rev. Erick J. Adams
Kiel Alliance Church
April 10, 2005
Thesis
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, (V 3)
Ephesians 1:3-14
3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
4. just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him In love
5. He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,
6. to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
7. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace
8. which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight
9. He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him
10. with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him
11. also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will,
12. to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory.
13. In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation--having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,
14. who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.
The Structure
– One Sentence.
– V. 3-14
– Unbroken sentence with many adjectival phrases.
– This is Paul’s way of showing how the truths in this passage are all interconnected.
– The blessings gather around the person of the Trinity.
The Trinity
– The work of the Father. (3-6)
– The work of the Son. (7-12)
– The work of the Spirit. (13-14)
The Heavenlies
– Paul is not talking about heaven.
– “Heavenlies” or “Heavenly Places.”
– Paul’s statement does have eternity in mind but it also has the here and now in mind.
– If we are “In Christ” we are experiencing heavenly places NOW!
More Than Mere Doctrine
– These are facts.
– Foundational truths.
– The concrete of our spiritual soul.
– We are going to take each one separately.
Chosen to be Holy & Blameless
– Chosen.
– “Election” some call it.
– What is this all about?
– “He chose us before the foundation of the world.”
– We have a struggle with the doctrine of “free will” and the “election of God.”
– What others say:
– “God can foresee the future, so he looks down and sees that we are going to make a choice, and on the basis of seeing what we will determine to do he then says, “All right, I elect them to be part of my process.”
– Great thought but is it scriptural?
– No, (God is subject to man)
– How about some others:
– Well, God sees what we will be when we become Christians. He sees the value that we will have toward Him, and so he chooses us on that basis.”
– Great thought but is it scriptural?
– NO!, (Holy Racism)
– It is true we are chosen by God.
– John 6:44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.”
– It is also true that man has a free will.
– Matthew 11:28 “Come unto me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
– God began the process, it was He who chose us, and we have been drawn to Him by His spirit at work in our spirit, But we have a choice to accept or reject the Good-News of Christ.
– When did God began this process.
– Before the very foundations of the world.
– We are not accidental numbers.
– It is not because of anything in us, as we’ll see in a moment, but because of everything in HIM.
– The purpose of all this is to be Holy and Blameless.
– HOLY.
– Holiness is not sanctimoniousness.
– Holiness means wholeness and wholeness means restored to the originally intended functioning, to be put to the proper use, that’s all.
– When you function the way you were intended you are HOLY.
– You may not always function properly, but you have the capacity to do so.
– We all have the capacity to function the way God wants us to.
– Blameless not Sinless.
– Never having done anything wrong is sinless.
– You can still be sinful and still be blameless.
– Handling your sin the right way.
– If you did something that injured someone else, and the full result was not visible to you when you did it but afterward you saw how much you had hurt that person and you acknowledged it, apologized to them, did what you could to restore it, then there would be nothing further you could do would there?
– You would not be sinless.
– You still did it.
– But you did all you could do to handle it rightly.
– What can we do about our sin, we are evil.
– We can acknowledge our sin and ask and receive his forgiveness.
– We can be Blameless.
Destined As Sons
– How does God take care of all of our past?
– He changes our family relationship.
– We become adopted into His family.
– We all initially belong to the family of ADAM.
– We leave that family “IN CHRIST.”
– We change identity.
– We immediately have access to full rights, privileges, history, and resources in our new family.
– He destined us in love to be his sons & daughters.
– According to the purpose of His will.
– To the praise of His glorious grace.
Conclusion
– II Corinthians 8:9
– Are you and I enjoying our inheritance??
