Ephesians: For His Glory

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

Have you ever thought why God has saved you?

Why would He sacrifice His own life on a cross for me and for you?

What have we done to deserve that?

1 John 3:1 ESV

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

Why show us this love?

All People are by nature spiritually dead, transgressors of God’s law, and are under the rule of Satan

Sin entered this world , nad curroptd what God had declared as Good

and everyone is under its rule

When we turn on the news and see murders, rapes, broken families, drug addiction, Abuse, neglect, stealing, lying, hurting

Romans 3:23–24 ESV

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

This is the starting point we need a savior

This Savior Chose us in Him

In Him because without the

Hebrews 9:22 ESV

Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

We Have redemption because of the Savior’s sacrifice for us with was planed all along in Christ

The Cross wasn’t a surprise but a plan for redemption.

There was never a chance for losing

it wasn’t a whimsical or arbitrary decision

It wasn’t “reckless”

Ephesians 1:7–10 ESV

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

It was according to His Purpose “in Christ”

The ESV Study Bible Chapter 1

Since God chose his people in his love, they can take no credit for their salvation.

Our Praise should be extra loud because of the gratitude we have in our hearts, because we were lost in sin, dead in sin, But God has chosen us for redemption through Christ

not anything we have done, but in love through Christ.

Predestined: Previously ordained or appointed to some position. God’s election of Christians (v. 4) entails his predestining them to something—in this case to adoption as sons

The Purpose of the Cross was so we could be adopted into the family of God.

This was for the purpose of His Will-

Ephesians 1:5 ESV

he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,

Ephesians 1:9 ESV

making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ

God Predestined his elect to redemption and holiness in Christ according to the free counsel of his will

The ESV Study Bible Chapter 1

God cannot be constrained by any outside force, and his inexorable will for believers is to pour out his grace and goodness on them in Christ Jesus.

Inexorable: impossible to stop or prevent.

God’s will cannot be stopped! What He predestined for the begin will happen, and has happen even with the cross.

We have redemption because of the Will of God

Redemption denotes ransoming someone from captivity or from slavery.

The ESV Study Bible Chapter 1

Forgiveness of our trespasses explains the nature of redemption: Christians are freed from slavery to sin and guilt. This was effected by Christ’s blood, which means his death as an atoning sacrifice

This is the Mystery is verse 9- Through the Blood of Jesus Christ God is “uniting all things in Him”

We are one in Christ. There is no skin color, no social economical status, or popularity contest.

WE are one people redeemed through the blood of Jesus Christ- We are Brother’s and sisters

The ESV Study Bible Chapter 1

How God’s sovereignty and human responsibility work together in the world is a mystery no one can fully understand.

God uses Human means to fulfill what he has ordained

That is the Church- God’s redeemed coming together as one.

verse 10 “in the fullness of Time”

“When the time was ripe” God sent Jesus Christ to redeem a people from the wages of Sin according to His will

That is God’s Glorious Grace!

Ephesians 1:13–14 ESV

In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

The Spirit of God protects and preserves Christians until they reach their inheritance.

It is the certification of the acceptance by God

The Spirit is the guarantee “or the down payment” of what is to come

We have only gotten a taste of what redemption truly is.

We have an inheritance with Christ because of the Will of God to Redeem us.

Colossians 1:21–23 ESV

And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.