Transcript

During this time together in God’s Word, we’re going to be looking at the first 7 verses of the book of Ephesians.

The great missionary explorer, David Livingstone, served in Africa from 1840 until his death in 1873 which bore much fruit. Pastors Robert Lewis and Wayne Cordeiro tell of the following incident that took place in Livingstone’s life.

David Livingstone was eager to travel into the uncharted lands of Central Africa to preach the gospel. On one occasion, the missionary and explorer arrived at the edge of a large territory that was ruled by a tribal chieftain.

Hearing of his arrival, the chief came out to meet him there; but Livingstone could go forward to him only after an exchange was made.

According to the cultural tradition, the chief would choose any item of Livingstone’s personal property that he wanted and keep it for himself, while giving the missionary something of his own in return.

Livingstone had few possessions with him, but at their encounter he obediently spread them all out on the ground—his clothes, his books, his watch, and he even brought the goat that provided him with milk forward.

The goat was important to Livingstone, because chronic stomach problems kept him from drinking the local water and required him to drink goat’s milk every day. To his dismay, the chief took the goat.

In return, the chief gave him a carved stick, shaped like a walking stick. Livingstone was most disappointed.

He began to gripe about what he viewed as a just a dumb walking cane. What could it do for him compared to the goat that kept him well?

Then one of the local men explained, “That’s no walking cane. It’s the king’s very own scepter, and with it you will find entrance to every village in our country. The king has honored you greatly.”

In the Book of Ephesians we learn how the King of kings has honored and blessed us greatly according to the riches of His grace and with all spiritual blessings.

Ephesians has been called “the treasure house of the Bible” and in it we are told of the great riches, the spiritual treasures we enjoy in Christ.

Pastor Charles Swindoll says this about the book: “In Ephesians…[Paul] reveals a magnificent vision of Christ and His grand design for His church.

“In this letter, Paul lifts our heads above the smoke and dust of our struggles and gives us a view of what Christ has done for us and why. He gives us a higher perspective, a new vision of our purpose and calling as the Body of Christ & how we are to live it out.”

Commentator Walter Liefeld says this about Ephesians: “Paul wrote to expand the horizons of his readers, so that they might understand better the dimensions of God’s eternal purpose and grace and come to appreciate the high goals God has for the church.”

Ephesians 1:1 says, “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus.”

Paul is the author of the letter, and he states that he is “an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God.” He was not an apostle by his own will or choice, but by the will of God, according to God’s purposes.

As by God’s will, Christ revealed the mystery to Paul and the dispensation of the grace of God was given to him (3:2,3), and he was made an apostle and sent out with authority by God to make all of this known far and wide.

Being an apostle of Jesus Christ Paul is saying that he belongs to Him and is commissioned by Him and thus has “divinely-bestowed authority.”

Paul states here that he is “an apostle of Jesus Christ” and in 3:1 he says that he was “a prisoner of Jesus Christ,” and also calls himself “an ambassador in bonds” in 6:20, as Paul is writing this letter from prison in Rome.

In this imprisonment, Paul was guarded by soldiers, but was able to receive visitors, preach the gospel, and write to the churches. Paul penned the epistles to the Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon during this time.

And this letter was delivered to the Ephesians, along with Colossians and Philemon, by Tychicus (6:21). Talk about valuable mail!

He was carrying God’s inspired Word and each of these books contain incredible truth about our Savior, our salvation, and the believer’s standing and state under grace.

Paul writes “to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus.” Not writing to two groups, he addresses those he writes to as “saints” and or even “the faithful in Christ Jesus.” It’s a two-fold description of one people.

It’s been said, “Saints are sinners saved by the grace of God, separated from sin, and set apart for God.” Saints are not sinless in practice, but they are sinless in Christ, as positionally we are holy, forgiven and clothed in Christ’s righteousness.

Paul addresses and speaks of “saints” 9 times in this relatively short letter (1:1,15,18; 2:19; 3:8,18; 4:12; 5:3; 6:18). Saints are not dead people who’ve achieved such great heights of spiritual eminence that they are given a special title by men.

Saints are people who are very much alive, both physically and spiritually. Every believer who has trusted Christ as their Savior is a saint because of our life and position in Christ. And now as saints belonging to God forever we are to live set apart lives in practice as well, by the power of God.

Paul writes to the saints and “the faithful.” This is a high commendation for the believer. We each are called to be faithful in the Christian life, faithful to the Lord and to the truth. God is well-pleased with faithfulness to Him.

Geographically, those whom Paul wrote to were “at Ephesus.”

Ephesus was a prominent port city of about 300,000, in the Roman province of Asia Minor and was its capital. The city was home to one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient World, the famed Temple of Diana, who was also known as Artemis.

While their physical location was in Ephesus, spiritually Paul says they were “in Christ Jesus,” which was infinitely more important (as it is with us).

Ephesians 1:2 says, “Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Paul, as he does in most all his letters, gives a declaration of grace and peace from the Father and the Son.

Judgment and wrath are coming to this world in the Tribulation period following the catching away of the church. But today in the dispensation of Grace, God offers the opposite of judgment and wrath, offering grace and peace to this world.

He offers grace and peace to both sinners and saints. To sinners, God in His grace and peace He offers salvation to all men, and to saints He offers grace and peace in greater measure for us to live in, to enjoy and grow in.

Ephesians is a book of grace. Grace permeates the letter, speaking of how we are accepted, redeemed, forgiven, and saved by God’s grace, and how God will show us the exceeding riches of His grace, “in the ages to come.”

And Paul speaks of how we are enabled to serve by His grace, how we are to live by His grace, and to speak with grace.

Ephesians 1:3 reads, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.”

Paul says here, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us.” In other words, “Highly honor Him because He has highly honored you. Bless His name because He has richly blessed you!”

Our heavenly Father has made us rich in Christ. And because of this Paul says we should rightly offer up our praise to Him.

These spiritual blessings are ours now, they are a present possession and God wants us to enjoy them now and live in light of them now by faith. Paul isn’t speaking of blessings that will be ours when we get to heaven, but blessings that are ours now.

We find the source of our blessings as being from “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The scope of our blessings is “all spiritual blessings.” The sphere of our blessings are “in heavenly places in Christ,” or in the heavenlies in Christ.

The sphere of our blessings is the heavenlies because that’s home, that’s where our hope and citizenship is as members of Christ’s Body.

And by virtue of our union with our Savior, we are blessed by the Father with all spiritual blessings, to the fullest extent possible, with the wealth of heaven in Christ.

And Paul goes on to elaborate on some of the wealth and blessings and riches we enjoy in Christ.

Ephesians 1:4 says, “According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.”

In verse 4, Paul goes back in time to show that the Body and our blessings in Christ were not an afterthought of God, but a forethought.

Paul doesn’t say God chose us to be in Christ, but He chose “us” in Him. Paul is writing to believers and the Body of Christ. So before the creation of the world, God chose “us,” the Body of Christ, that whosoever believes in Christ in this dispensation of grace should stand positionally holy and blameless before Him in the heavenlies in love.

Having trusted Christ, we are in Christ, and being in Christ, God chose before the foundation of the world what would happen to believers in His Son, that we, the Body of Christ, should have a standing before Him in grace, positionally and eternally holy and blameless in Christ in heavenly places in Christ.

This spiritual blessing, this positional reality before the Father is to translate into our every day living, so that by faith, out of gratitude, and by God’s power, we should strive to live holy and without blame, above reproach, before Him in love here and now.

What we find here is that God determined beforehand what would happen to believers and how He would richly bless them in Christ.

It has been said “what God foreknew was not merely what man would do, but rather what He would do for man.”

And in this regard also, Paul says that God “predestinated us.”

Ephesians 1:5 says, “Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.”

God predestinated “us,” again believers in the Body of Christ as a whole, “unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself.”

The adoption spoken of here isn’t the normal type of adoption we think of going to an orphanage and adopting a child into your family. We don’t get into God’s family by adoption, but by regeneration, by being born again, by the new birth.

Titus 3:5: “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost.”

Adoption is rather a spiritual blessing for one who has trusted Christ. It is an act of God by which He gives His born again child an adult standing before Him, appointing us as sons and full heirs in Christ.

The phrase “adoption of children” speaks of “placing as sons,” and in Gal. 4:5 Paul speaks how we are redeemed, “that we might receive the adoption of sons.”

In biblical times, adoption had to do with position, taking one who was already their child and at a time appointed declaring openly and confessing before others that this child was now a full-grown son and heir to all that the father had.

This is what God does for us. Here Paul says God predestinated, or predetermined that those who trust Christ as their Savior should be adopted as sons.

Having been born again, we are up front and immediately given the full rights and privileges of an adult son, appointed and declared to be heirs in Christ, given a rich, eternal inheritance in Him, and thus blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ, showered with eternal riches in Christ.

And verse 5 says that God does all this, “according to the good pleasure of His will,” or according to the kind intention of His will.

In other words, it was not due to anything good in ourselves or it was not anything we attained to, but due solely to God’s kindness and goodness toward us.

Having placed our trust in God’s blessed Son, as our Savior God gives us an exalted position in Him by His grace, and this phrase tells us also that God delights to do this for us. It pleases Him to bless us in Christ.

Ephesians 1:6 says, “To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved.”

The placing of believers as sons and heirs and being positionally holy and without blame, is all “to the praise of the glory of His [the Father’s] grace.” It’s all of grace. It all reveals the glory of His grace.

And not only has He done this, but to the praise of the glory of His grace He also has made us “accepted in the Beloved,” or in the Beloved One.

As the Father twice broke forth from the heavens and declared during the Lord’s earthly ministry: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” We are accepted in the Beloved, the Son of His love, because we are in Him.

We are accepted because we are holy and without blame in Christ. And being accepted in Christ, we are accepted in God’s holy presence in heaven, and we are welcome there.

The phrase “made us accepted,” is used one other time in the N.T. in Luke 1:28 speaking of Mary where she is told by the angel: “thou art highly favored.” We too are “highly favored” in Christ and completely accepted in Him.

As a poet has expressed: “Near, so very near to God, nearer I could not be; for in the person of His Son, I’m just as near as He. Dear so very dear to God, dearer I could not be; for in the person of His Son, I’m just as dear as He.”

This is how we are accepted. In no way can we make ourselves acceptable to God, but by His grace, God makes us accepted in Christ. And we are accepted, because we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

Ephesians 1:7 says, “In Whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.”

Clara Null writes, “I had just finished a lesson on Christian behavior. “Now, Billy,” I asked, “tell me what we must do before we can expect to be forgiven for our sins.” Without hesitation, Billy replied, “First we gotta sin.”

That’s not a problem. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God, God’s Word tells us. We’ve all sinned, we all need forgiveness, we all need to be saved from our sins. And we receive the forgiveness of our sins by the Cross, by faith in His shed blood.

A mother of a 9 year old boy, Mark, received a phone call in the middle of the afternoon. It was the teacher from her son’s school. “Mrs. Smith, something unusual happened today in your son’s third grade class. Your son did something that surprised me so much that I thought you should know about it immediately.”

Parents seldom want to hear from their child’s teacher in the middle of the day. The mother was uneasy and nervous by such a beginning to a phone call. “What now?” the mother wondered.

The teacher continued, “I have been teaching for many years and nothing like this has happened until now. This morning I was teaching a lesson on creative writing. And as I always do, I tell the story of the ant and the grasshopper.

“The ant works hard all summer and stores up plenty of food. But the grasshopper plays all summer and does no work. Then winter comes.

“The grasshopper begins to starve because he has no food. So he hops to the ant’s house and begins to beg. ‘Please Mr. Ant, you have much food please let me eat, too.’ Now boys and girls your job is to write the ending to the story.

“Your son, Mark, raised his hand. ‘Teacher, may I draw a picture?’ ‘Well, yes, Mark, if you like, you may draw a picture. But first you must write the ending to the story.’ The papers came in.

“As in all the years past, most of the students said that the ant shared his food through the winter and both the ant and the grasshopper lived.

“As always, a few children said, ‘The ant said, No, Mr. Grasshopper. You should have worked in the summer and not played. Now, I have just enough food for myself.’ So the ant lived & the grasshopper died. (One student wrote: Absolutely not!).

“But your son ended the story in a way different from any other child, ever. He wrote, ‘So the ant gave all of his food to the grasshopper; the grasshopper lived through the winter. But the ant died.’

And the picture at the bottom of the page that Mark had drawn was three crosses under which he wrote: ‘He gave us everything so that we might live.’”

Our Savior did give us everything so we might live. And by His Cross, by Christ’s shed blood, we are saved, we are redeemed, we have the forgiveness of all our sins, and these spiritual blessings are all because of the riches of Christ’s grace.

In Christ, the Beloved and by His grace, we have been redeemed and we are forgiven. Redemption means “to purchase and set free by paying a price.”

In the days of Paul, a person could fall into debt, lose their land, & become completely destitute. They faced debtor’s prison or starvation being in debt and unable to pay.

And the only way to avoid this was to ask someone wealthy with lots of money to pay off one’s creditors in exchange for slavery. The years of service would be determined by the amount of the debt paid.

But a greedy or cruel master could keep a slave perpetually indebted and keep them as a slave forever. But if someone was unimaginably kind, he could go to the owner of that slave, purchase him or her for themselves and then tell that person “I just purchased your freedom, you are no longer a slave, go free.”

That’s what the word redemption speaks of “to buy somebody to set them free.”

Everybody that comes into the world is a captive, the Bible says. We are each a slave. No person is free. We are all born into sin, and we all sin and are sinners Rom. 3:23 says.

The captor of every man is sin. We each are in bondage to sin. Sin is the captor that holds each person. Sin is what separates each of us from the life of God. And sin demands a price to be paid to release its victim. “The wages of sin is death” Romans 6:23 says. The price of sin is death. Somebody had to die.

So in order to purchase sinners from the bondage of sin to set them free, there must be death. The price was death, and Christ died that death, and shed His blood for us. He took our place and died our death and paid for our sins.

Out of His infinite kindness, by His Cross, Christ purchased us for Himself and tells us who believe “I purchased your freedom, you are no longer a slave, go free.”

God has purchased us and set us free from the penalty of our sins, by paying the price with His own blood, and we are completely His for eternity. That is a blessing.

And through His blood we are cleansed, all our sins are put away, washed away and carried away, removed as far as the east is from the west. We are forgiven.

Christ forgiveness is free, full, and final. There is no possibility of unforgiven sin. All sin, past, present, and future is forgiven the moment you trust Christ as Savior.

And our redemption and forgiveness is only “according to the riches of His grace,” and not by anything we have done or ever deserved.

It’s said that in the 1930’s, millionaire John D. Rockefeller used to dress up from time to time in a suit and a top hat and have his picture taken giving some poor boy a dime. A dime was a lot of money in those days.

It would be the equivalent of $10 today. But even so, the most that could be said of Rockefeller is that he was giving OUT of the abundance of his riches.

However, if he had gone to one of those boys and had purchased for him a mansion in the country and given him a chauffeur-driven limousine, then it could be said that he was giving ACCORDING TO his riches.

And that is the way God has saved and blessed us. Not merely out of His riches, or off the top, but according to His riches. How rich is God? How much grace does He possess?

An inexhaustible supply. All of God’s attributes are of infinite measure.

So if He has graced us according to the riches of His grace, then He has graced us very richly indeed. God’s blessings on us are relative to and in proportion to the immensity of His eternal wealth and unlimited resources, as generously as is consistent with His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. And this is amazing grace.