Spiritual Blessings In Christ Series

“Spiritual Blessings in Christ,” Ephesians 1:3-14

Outline

I. Prolegomena

II. Introduction

III. Transition

a. In the Greek, verses 3-14 comprise one sentence and encompass the past, present, and future of God’s eternal purpose for the church. It is Paul’s outline of God’s master plan for salvation.

IV. Exposition

a. In 3-6a we are shown the past aspect, election.

b. In 6b-11 we are shown the present aspect, redemption.

c. In 12-14 we are shown the future aspect, inheritance.

V. Conclusion

“Spiritual Blessings in Christ,” Ephesians 1:3-14

Prolegomena

For the next several weeks, we will be walking through the New Testament book of Ephesians. While there are grounds for dispute with regard to the authorship and the date of the writing of the Epistle to the Ephesians, the majority view in the Church has long been that the Apostle Paul wrote this letter to the Ephesians during his imprisonment in Rome from about 59 – 62 A.D. Paul’s purpose in writing this letter was to exhort Christians everywhere toward unity. The entire letter is centered upon unity in the Body of Christ for a common purpose in Christ.

Introduction

A woman hearing a preacher speak on predestination said, “Ah, I have long settled that point; for if God had not chosen me before I was born, I am sure He would have seen nothing to have chosen me for afterwards!”

Transition

The message of Ephesians 1:3-14 is simply this: believers are chosen from the foundations of the earth, redeemed in Christ, possessing an inheritance of matchless worth. Glory to God for so great a salvation as this!

In the Greek, verses 3-14 comprise one sentence and encompass the past, present, and future of God’s eternal purpose for the church. It is Paul’s outline of God’s master plan for salvation.

In vv. 3-6a we are shown the past aspect, election. Our salvation is secure from before the foundations of the world.

In vv. 6b-11 we are shown the present aspect, redemption. God saved us in Jesus Christ, who has paid the ransom for our sin, broken the shackles of our enslavement to Satan, and covered us with His righteousness by His blood.

In vv. 12-14 we are shown the future aspect, inheritance. We are the sons and daughters of God in Christ; adopted and given access to the glory of Heaven. We are no longer slaves to sin. We are sons and daughters of the Most High!

Exposition

There is perhaps no more hotly contested, misunderstood, or maligned doctrine in all of modern Christendom than the doctrine of election. It is contested because the implications of its understanding speak right to the heart of the nature or even existence of human free will and the nature of God’s love for us.

It is misunderstood because in our limited understanding it is complex. Its biblical presentation falls outside of our normal logical ways of thinking. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD.” (Isaiah 55:8 NIV84) How can it be that God calls us to repent and yet salvation solely the work of God? This seems contradictory in human thought.

Men most often simply reject what they struggle to comprehend. This is simple and we see it every day. We reject what is not immediately accessible to us.

It is maligned because it is said to make God the arbitrary guarantor of salvation to whom He chooses. To assume this position, though, is to become the judge of God and lose sight of the enormity of His reign over the Universe and every individual human life. To malign the doctrine of election is to complete misconstrue it and to ignore it within the scope of its overall biblical context.

God does indeed require faith and repentance for salvation. God does indeed require that we incline our will toward His will in order to receive the gift of salvation. However, having received the grace of God, the Apostle Paul, cries out from a place of having received the overwhelming experience of God’s grace in salvation and the Apostle rejoices in God who saved Him according to His grace!

Those who malign the doctrine of election, which is so prevalent in the Scriptures, misunderstand the heart of the Apostle, writing under the inspiration of the Holy

Spirit, who rejoices that it is God who saved Him; God who draws him to repentance; God who secures salvation from before the foundation of the earth!

At the end of the day we owe every aspect of our salvation to God. If we used our lips to repent it is because God put breath in our lungs to do it! When we sincerely repent and receive Christ we are only able to do so as we respond to the preaching of God’s Word which He gave us, through the preaching of His servant whom He created and called, as we drawn by the Holy Spirit to repent.