Ephesians 1:1-14
"What God Has
Done For Us"
Page 3
He continues,
verse 5, "…having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will."
He has "predestinated", "pro-horizo". It's, "pro" is "before",
"horizon" is "to mark out a boundary." We say horizon. He's marked out our boundaries. Now "election" is in regards to us
as individuals. Predestination is in regards to what he's called us
to, the boundaries that he's set for our lives.
He'll tell us in the second chapter that there are good works fore-ordained,
that we should walk in them. It tells
us in Romans, remember, "whom he did foreknow,
he did predestinate", only uses that idea of foreknowledge there and in
Acts chapter 2 and in 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 2. In Acts chapter 2 it says there that Christ
was offered, he was crucified, "by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge
of God." By the determinate counsel
and foreknowledge of God--there's a Granville-Sharps rule in the Greek there
that makes "the determinate counsel" and "the foreknowledge of
God" the same thing. In other words,
what it's saying to us is "God does not foreknow something idly."
He doesn't just foreknow, and because he foreknows then he makes choices. No, his foreknowing, because of who he is, is
directly connected to his determinate counsel.
His foreknowing, it tells us in 1 Peter 1 is directly connected to his
"electing". God doesn't foreknow
without activity because of his very nature. So somehow, remarkably, choosing us, making
us his own, that he might look down into us and see us holy and without blame
[and who has he chosen?--this will blow you away. Read 1 Corinthians 1:26-31, "For ye see
your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many
mighty, not many noble, are called: but God hath chosen the foolish things of
the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world
to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things
which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring
to nought things that are: that no flesh should glory in his presence.
But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom,
and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: that according as it
is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord."
Doesn't that last part sound just like what we're studying here? Coupled to a sound reason in the overall plan
of God as to why he predestinated and chose us over the mighty, the wise, the beautiful of the world.
All those will be at the back of the bus in the kingdom compared to us,
those he's chosen.] Jude tells us that
in verse 24, 'he's going to present us faultless before his throne with exceeding
joy.' He says "and having predestinated
us"--set our horizons--unto what?…"unto
the adoption of children"--not slaves, but children. 'He's predestinated us unto the adoption of
children by Jesus Christ, who himself according to the good pleasure of his
will.' Now, he's made us his children.
That was his predestinating work, to make us his children.
And it was in Christ, it says here, an adoption.
Now it's an interesting idea. When
we hear adoption today, we do have an idea, and it certainly includes that,
the idea of picking a child. And there's
a beautiful side to that, that the Lord picked us.
You know, you have a bunch of your own, you didn't pick any of them,
they showed up. That he chose us. But there's more than that. Culturally, that word is also used to describe
the day when a father would take a son who had come to the point of maturity,
where he would bequeath him with the inheritance of the family and recognize
him publicly as an heir, as adult. He
has predestinated us to that, that one day we will stand with Christ and be
recognized eternally and publicly, joint-heirs, God's children, by Jesus Christ,
God did it to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.
What is his will for your life? Important
for us to see. Important
for us to understand. Revelation
chapter 4:11 tells us that we were created for his pleasure, celama, same word,
for his will, his good pleasure. What
is his will? Why did he create you? Very important, because we hear all kinds of
things--that we were created to glorify God.
Well, I think we should glorify him.
That we were created for his pleasure, his will is that we should serve
him. Well, you know what? I think we should serve him. But it says here, that he predestinated us 'unto
the adoption of children', that that was his good will. I have four kids. I didn't have any of them to serve me. It's not like you have one kid, and when they
get to be three or four years old, you know if you have a four or five year-old
what it's like. You're painting, 'Daddy,
can I help? Daddy, can I help? (Augh,
this is gonna drag things out…), 'Ah, you can help'--because you know, they're
going to take the paintbrush and in about five minutes they're going to do this,
and they're going to think 'Why am I doing this? This is boring.' And they're going to drop it and run somewhere
else. And then you're going to have to
patch up what they did. But you let them
help because it blesses them. That's
what I think God does with me. Let's
me be a pastor because it blesses me. And I trust that after we talk about predestination
and election he'll patch everything up when I'm done. But it's not like you have one kid paint, and
you say to your wife, 'You know, if we have four we could get the whole house
painted.' 'I think we should have more
of them.' [And right about then she clunks
you with a frying pan!--it's the women primarily that are in slavery to their
young children till they're older! Dad
gets to go to work for a break.] I think
that your kids should serve you as they grow, they should understand their relationship
to you and to Christ. But that's not why you have them. You don't have them to glorify you. Got a bunch of little kids when you come home
from work and they're waiting, 'Oh Daddy, Oh Daddy, praise you.' And you say, 'Honey, let's have 15 or 20 of
these, it's wonderful, we could start a choir, they could sing to me when I
get home.' No, that's not why you have
them. And I think that as your kids grow,
they should be a glory to you. The Scripture
agrees with that. But that's not why
you have them. You have them out of love,
you have them because of the relationship. What's
important to you is to look into their eyes and to watch them and to know that
they're going to come to Christ and you're going to spend eternity with them. There's nothing that they can give you that's
worth more than that. "According
to his will", God compares his relationship with us with that of parents
to children, he compares his relationship with us to a bride
and a groom. That's a little hotter than
a husband and a wife, you know he stays at that stage, they're bride and groom,
there's heat there, romance and excitement still. It's at the engagement ring stage (the suffer-ring
syndrome comes later), bride and groom. Now guys, if you're not married yet, listen
to some very sound advice here. You don't get married so that your wife can
serve you. [laughter] I think she should, don't get me wrong. And if you love her the way Christ loves the
church, that should be a natural response. You don't get married, men, so that your wife
can glorify you, 'Oh honey, am I glad you're home from work'--but I think that
should happen in the process of--if you walk in Christ, certainly your wife
gives glory to you [and vice versa--or should be]. You get married out of love. You get married for the intimacy, to take a
life-partner. And here it says 'He has
chosen us out from among the world, never to change his mind again, to make
us his own, that he may look down into us and see us there blameless and holy
before his sight, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children…' Man, that's good stuff when the world is falling
apart. I don't know about you, I like
this. "…by Jesus Christ himself,
according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his
grace wherein he made us accepted in the beloved." [And it is the grace of God --God working
in us through his Holy Spirit to purify us--that makes us "accepted in
the beloved, in Christ." Remember,
grace precedes peace. There can be no
peace without the grace of God working in us by his Spirit, purifying us.]
Now look, verses 3-6, this is what he said,
"to the praise of the glory of his grace." Now look, in verses 7 to 12 he's going to talk
about the Son. And look at the way he
ends it in verse 12, "that we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ." Verses 13 and 14, he's going to talk about the
Spirit, and look at the way he ends that, "unto the praise of his glory…" I get the idea that all of this happens and
in the ultimate issue of all of this is the glory of God, that he could chose
you and I, picks us out from among the world, makes us his own, and makes us
holy and blameless, to be his children, to inherit, to stand one day and to
be sons of God, joint-heirs with Christ. It's
to his glory. Then he moves to the Son
and the redemption he has given us. All
of that, he says, is to his glory. Then
he moves to the Spirit and the things the Spirit has done on our behalf, and
he says, it's to his glory. Each time,
he ends with that idea, "to the praise of the glory of his grace."
Now that's amazing, his grace is so glorious that there should be praise
that the glory of his grace should be praised, so that we would praise the glory
of his grace--"wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved."--caused
us to be accepted in the beloved, good place to be. "In whom"--"in the beloved"--now
we move to the Son, in the beloved. That's the rule. In whom, in the beloved--"we have [end
of verse 6, verse 7] and there's a definite article in the Greek here, "In
whom we have "the" redemption", salvation that the whole Bible
talks about. "The"
redemption, in Christ. We have
"the" redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the
riches of his grace." Redemption is the word that's used in the market
place to buy a slave out of the market place for the express purpose of setting
him free. We have redemption. Christ has purchased us from the slavery of
sin and of the world, to set us free. In
whom we have "the" redemption, he says.
Verses 7-8,
"In whom we have "the" redemption through his blood, the forgiveness
of sins, according to the riches of his grace; wherein he hath abounded toward
us in all wisdom and prudence…" verse 9a, "…having made known unto
us the mystery of his will,…" So look at these riches in Christ. 1)
election, 2) then we have predestination, 3) then
we have redemption in verse 7, now in verse 9 we have 4) revelation, "having
made known unto us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which
he hath purposed in himself." He has made known unto us the mystery of his will.
As we sit here this evening, think about all the things we take for granted.
He's made known unto us the mystery of his will. Think what you believe tonight. You believe Jesus Christ is returning [ http://www.UNITYINCHRIST.COM/prophecies/2ndcoming.htm
]. Do you believe it? And do you believe at some point, whether you're
pre-trib, mid-trib or post-trib (all pre-millennial interpretations being referred
to here), that he's going to make the sound of a trumpet and a shout, the voice
of the archangel, and we're all going to be caught up off the face of the earth
in an instant, the speed of light, in the twinkling of an eye, and this corruption
is going to put on incorruption and this mortal is going to put on immortality
[cf. http://www.UNITYINCHRIST.COM/corinthians/cor15-16.htm]
Do you believe that?…and that in the world, scientists are out there
trying to figure out how it got started, looking at evolution, looking at the
Universe, the Big Bang…trying to figure out, you know, 'there's a Doppler effect,
you can quantify this light effect over here…'
and they're coming up with all this stuff.
You and I know they can just turn to Genesis chapter 1, verse 1 and find
out where everything came from [and to read an interesting account of that log
onto http://www.UNITYINCHRIST.COM/dinosaurs.htm
]. Is there a problem here? We know what the future holds. We know it's not going to go on for another
1,000 years and some day humans are going to have real big heads and little
spindly arms that are not working and we're going to get real smart…, you're
laughing. There's Ph.D's out there that
believe all that! What's wrong with you?
Or what's right with you? "He has made known unto us the
mystery of his will"--but not by our five senses, but by an internal Light. We're saved,
he's made these things real to us, that in this troubled world we're looking
forward to something. We have a hope.
It says that we should be ready to give an answer to every man for the
hope that we have, particularly in these crazy times.
That's "revelation", it revelatory, it isn't learned with the
eyes, the ears, the taste, the touch. That's
another one of the spiritual blessings we have.
And he's going to give us spiritual blessings…Here we sit this evening, our lives are completely changed, transformed, because
we see beyond the present world. Not
that that's a problem for someone who's saved, because they [the outside world]
think we're out of our minds. 'I go to
that church, they're all excited about dying and going to heaven up there, I
don't know what's going on. They're all
nuts, they're gonna be drinkin' cool-aid in a week, I know it.'
No, no, no, no, you just come, you listen, you keep breathing, you hit
40, 50, 60, you'll get a little bit more excited about the next world, I
guarantee you that. But the way this
world is going, it's going to happen faster than that.
[We just experienced the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attack
where the
"In whom", here we are again,
"also" (I don't know if I can take more Paul) verse 11, "In whom also we have obtained an
inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh
all things after the counsel of his own will." 'Well' [you may say], 'I don't believe in
God.' It don't
matter. Because he works everything after
the counsel of his own will. He didn't
think to invite you to be part of the decision-making process in eternity.
'Well I don't believe in God.' You
will. You will. We
have an inheritance. And he's predestinated
us, he marked that out as one of our horizons--and
inheritance. That's why it says in Peter,
it's reserved, it's undefiled, it fadeth not away,
reserved. The reason he's reserving it
is because he knows we get there. He wouldn't bother to reserve it if none of
us were coming. He wouldn't have made
reservations. But because he's chosen
us, and he's worked all of this by his own power, and set it in place before
the worlds were formed--he knows, that one day, we will be standing there. We are working on believing that, and growing
in grace and in the knowledge of Christ, increasing in faith. He knows, and sees us complete, in eternity.
Verses 11-12,
"In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who works all things after the counsel of his own will. That we should be
to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in
Christ." Those of us who have hoped in Christ, that all of that would be to the praise
of his glory. Now the Spirit's involved
in this. Verse 13, "In
whom you also trusted, after that you heard the Word of truth, the gospel of
your salvation…"--it's
having believed, having heard, is the idea here. There was a divine act. Having heard, not just with
the human ear, but with the heart. Having
heard, having believed, those two things happening--"…in whom you also trusted,
after that ye believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.
Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased
possession, unto the praise of his glory" (verses 13-14). You were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.
In that culture, say you were shipping something.
The shipping lanes were open, usually from March through November.
If you were going to ship something, to one of the major ports, Putoli
in