We Are the Chosen

Ephesians - We are the Church  •  Sermon  •  Submitted
0 ratings
· 18 views

The Fathers Plan of Salvation through Christ

Notes
Transcript

​

​

Introduction

Paul Begins the doctrinal portion of this letter by giving praise to God for all of the blessing s he has given us.

​

Eph. 1:3  “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”
There is something very special about this opening verse-
All believers have been given spiritual blessings from God at salvation.
Eternal blessings that reside in heaven with Christ.
Do you see the key word in this verse? Blessing
We Bless God because He has already bless us with His spiritual blessings.
The Word Blessed brings with it the thought of happiness and joy.
Illustration:
Have you ever been Blessed in your ?
I remember 18 years ago when my wife and I were expecting our first baby. We were excited. We went to the doctor and they told us that in 4 months we were going to be proud parents of a new baby girl. We went home painted our nursery with Periwinkle and plum colors - for the men thats pink and purple. We baby proofed our house, and even bought the cutest little dress for our new baby girl to come in. And when the moment arrived for our precious baby girl to be born we rushed to the hospital and nervous as any two new parents would be. During the delivery the umbilical chord got wrapped around the baby’s neck so it wasn’t breathing when it came. The doctors grabbed the baby and rushed out of the room to work on it. In less than 5 minutes (which to us it seemed like an eternity) the baby was brought and the doctor placed it in my arms and said congratulations dad on your beautiful son. and I said “my what?” and he said “your son”.- And I said it cant be our child because we were having a daughter. Apparently the ultrasound system from 19 years ago wasn’t too accurate. But when I held my son in my arms I felt blessed. I felt happiness and joy in my life. I will say that Linden did look pretty cute in the dress he come in.(LOL)
It was a gift that brought with it happiness and Joy.
​
As a redeemed child of God you can have true happiness and joy in your life because of what God has done for you in Christ .
We show God Praise as a response to what He has already done for us in the past.
Praising God is our present tense response- based on Gods past tense Action in our lives through jesus.
Can you think of anything more worthy of our praise than this?
That God has a plan to save you and to give you His blessings!
Notice when we receive these blessings from God.
“who has blessed us”
They are not something that we are earning today, Its not something we have to wait for in the future.
It Says God has already blessed us - past tense_ its already happened.
We already have possession of every spiritual blessing that God wants to give us.
We don’t have to wait for eternity to receive these Blessing.
God has blessed us and He he did it through Christ.
Gal. 3:26-27 “ in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.  For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”
Understand, that if you are a believer -you are in Christ.
Have you ever stopped to think about what this means to be “in Christ”?
When we are in Christ He becomes your Justification.
Before you knew Christ, many of you tried to gain salvation by your actions. Trying to make your good out-weigh your bad, so that God would accept you based on who you are.
but like me, you could never live up to God’s Perfect standard and you failed miserably time and time again.
Isaiah 63 :6 We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
A life that is filled with good works will never be enough to pay the debt for the sins you committed, because each sin requires eternal death.
Romans 6:wages of sin is death
When you are IN CHRIST HE BECOMES YOUR propitiation for your Sins. This means that He takes your place and pays your debt for your sins.
At the moment of your salvation when you realized that you could never pay your debt on your own, and you put your faith and trust in Christ to be your substitute -He becomes your justification.
God takes your unrighteousness and He replaces it with Christ’s perfect righteousness.
and now when God looks at you he sees christ righteousness and not your unrighteousness and its JUST AS IF I HAD NEVER SINNED against God.
Justification Is God moving you from a state of Sin to a state of Grace and he does this through Jesus Christ.
When you are in Christ You are Justified- You are now Righteous before the holy God.
For many years after I was saved after I was Justified in Christ, I still tried to work to be good enough to earn God’s blessings in my life. Its our human nature, its our culture to want to work hard so that we can be rewarded, and you know what, didn’t do very well at that either. I still fail miserably at trying to be good enough to earn God’s favor in my life I lived thinking that I had to follow the law in order for God to be pleased with me so that He would bless me.
I thought that I had to still earn God’s favor in my life even though He had already set me free from the bondage of my sin and given me every spiritual blessing at the moment of salvation
I didn’t understand that His blessings were not based on my behavior.
In Christ - Doesn’t just mean that HE only justifies us, but it means that HE is the one who is doing the sanctifying in our lives.
When I came to understand that Christ is my sanctification.
I realized its not about me trying to change myself, But it Christ Changing me to become like Him.
Christ Saved You and now Christ wants to change you to become more like Him.
As Believers we Have everything in Christ!
God hasn’t promised us physical blessings in this life, but he has promised us EVERY SPIRITUAL BLESSING we need.
and these blessings can only come through Jesus Christ.
That’s How important He is in our life
He not only Saves us, but He also Blesses us with every spiritual blessing.
What more spiritual blessing could we possibly earn if God has already given us everything? NOTHING
There is nothing that he left for us to work for.
There is nothing we have to wait for
when you come to Christ , you received every Spiritual blessing He has for you!
This includes your eternal residency in Heaven . Its secure and will never be taken away from you regardless of how you live here on earth, because it is secured in Christ.
Your actions may not be good here on earth, but if you are a redeemed child of God- you are already in Christ
This means that you have already received every Spiritual blessing from God.
We need to understand that we were not saved because of how Good we are or what we can offer God.
We also need to understand that we don’t have work to gain God’s favor-
The reason we We can live righteously is Because He is the one changing us to be righteous like he is righteous.
The more we become like Christ the more we desire the things of God, and the more we will live righteous lives.
The point of this verse is this- these spiritual blessings are based on what God did in eternity past and not on your present actions.
they are all about who He is and not about who you are.
and Because God makes no mistakes, these blessings will never be taken away from you, they are not based on your actions but on God’s faithfulness.
And this understanding brings us to the point of Doxology in our lives. it causes us to praise God the Father for what he has already done.
Praising God is our present tense response- because God’s past tense Action in our lives through jesus.
We bless God because he has already blessed us with every spiritual blessing.
Can you think of anything more worthy of our praise than this?
That God had a plan to save you and to give you His blessings even before this earth was created!
and we can say like Paul, “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”
What a beautiful verse -we don’t have to earn God’s favor- He has already given it to us as His children.
We are free in Christ, Free to praise him because he has already given us everything.
TRANSITION
Paul begins to unpack just a few of these spiritual blessings we recieved from Christ. These blessings have had much debate over their intended meaning for the church. We are going to look at 2 big theological words and see how they apply as spiritual blessings for believers today.
“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.” Eph1:4-7
We are going to talk about the doctrine election and the doctrine predestination.
Many people want to avoid the controversy that comes with these terms so they run for cover when this is discussed, but as believers we need to understand the weight that these doctrines carry with them for us as the church.
These verses are essentially the most difficult verses in all of scripture for our human minds to grasp.
On the surface They seem to paint God as a non loving, non caring god, that chooses to send people to hell.
They are repulsive to our human nature and difficult for us to grasp the magnitude of what they truly mea for us as humanity.
The Big idea that we see in these verses is that.....

God the Father Sovereignly Planned the Church

This verse takes us back to eternity past to make us realize that our salvation is completely of God and not at all of ourselves.
a. My salvation is all about God and nothing about me.
It originated with God the father, it was paid for by God the Son, and it is protected by God the Holy Spirit.
Your salvation is all about God.
Old Hymn “ Jesus sought me when a stranger , Wandering from the fold of God. He, to rescue me from danger, Interposed His precious blood.

He Chose us in Christ (v. 4)

This is the beautiful doctrine of Election
Warren Wiersbe said “ try to explain election and you may loose your mind. But try to explain it away, and you may lose your Soul.”
Definition-“God Chooses to do everything He does In whatever way He best sees fit.”- John MacArthur
​
The Doctrine of Election Means that every decision God makes, He does so of His own will independently of any outside influence.
You need to understand that God Chose you, He sought you out, He pursued you, so that He could save you.
Romans 3:10-11 “There is no one righteous, not even one, there is no one who understands, there is no one who seeks God.” Rm. 3:10-11
NO ONE SEEKS AFTER GOD FOR THEIR SALVATION
We are totally depraved -Which means we are completely lost without any hope.
We are so lost that we don’t even realize we need a savior.
Jesus Said, “You did not chose me, but I have chosen You.” Jn 15:16
Salvation Begins with God, He chose you
Luke 19:10- "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
God chose you even before the universe was created, so that our salvation was completely of His Grace and not on the basis of anything we have done.
He chose you in Christ-
He chose you because of what Christ did on the cross
He chose you for a purpose-
To be holy and without Blame.
Election in the Bible Means chosen for a purpose. It is privilege that carries great responsibility
God Chose you to be Holy as Christ is holy, to be blameless as Christ is blameless.
Why did God decide to chose me? That is the question that is so hard for my human mind to grasp. I don’t deserve it. I definitely didn’t earn. But yet God in his sovereign plan chose to offer me His salvation.
Our salvation Involves all three of the God-head trinity
God the father chose you in Christ in eternity past.
God the Son paid your debt when He died for you on the cross and rose from the grave.
God the spirit opened your eyes to your sin and drew you to Christ and it was His conviction that brought your repentance of sin.
IT’S ALL ABOUT GOD
Does this mean that man doesn't have any responsibility in Salvation? So does this mean that the sinner responds to God’s grace against his own will?
No, The Sinner responds because God’s grace makes him willing to respond.
UNDERStand that even the ability to believe in Christ is a gift that God soverignly gives you.
This mystery of God’s Sovereignty and man’s responsibility will never be solved in this life. It’s beyond our finite minds comprehension.
God’s Sovereignty and Man’s Responsibility, are Both taught in the Bible, Both are true, and both are essential in our salvation.
Scripture teaches that no one comes to Christ unless God pursues them, and it also teaches that no one is saved unless they respond to God’s pursuing with personal belief.
Your salvation is only because God chose you, because Jesus Died for You, and because the the Holy Spirit opens your eyes, Convictes you of sin, and gives you the ability to believe in Jesus.
Revelation 22:17- tells us that the Holy Spirit says come to Jesus, and whoever will come to Jesus will be saved.
D.L. Moody talking about election said this “the whoeverwills are the elect and the whosoever wont’s are the nonelect. It is up to you. who you will be?
Do you understand that If you don’t believe you are already saved this morning That struggle in your heart alone is the Holy Spirit drawing you to jesus and that means God has already Chosen you. God is calling you today to become His adopted Child.
Romans 10:13- says that anyone calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
If you will open your your heart, you can come to Jesus today. That is all you have to do.
God is calling you to yield your pride and accept His free gift of Salvation today
there is nothing left for you to do but to believe in Jesus.
God has already done all the work.
The doctrine of Election is so precious. - God Chose you before you were even on this earth, before you had anything to offer him, He chose you.

He Adopted Us as His sons (v. 5)

God didnt just choose to Save us, He adopted us into His family
“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.” (v. 1:5-6)
Here is our 2nd Doctrinal Term- Predestination
Definition- Predestination means to ordain beforehand, to pre determine what will happen.
the Doctrine of Election always refers to people- God Choses People.
Predestination always refers to a purpose- and in scripture it always is in reference God’s plan for his children.
God Elects people for a specific purpose.
Understand that no where in scripture does it say that people are predestined for hell. because God’s predestination is always for his Followers. His planned purpose is for His followers.
Acts 4:25-28- We see that Christ suffering and death was predestined by God the father for the purpose of the believers salvation
Romans 8:29-30- Believers are predestined with the purpose to conform to Christ image
And in our passage we see that God determined before the foundation of the world that he would adopt those who believed in Jesus as His own sons and give them a full inheritance in heaven.
Notice that adoption is not how we get into God’s Family. “ He predestined us” people who have accepted Christ as their savior
you get into his family by the new birth that comes through the belief in jesus.
Adoption is God giving believers the complete rights and benefits as an adult child..
He could have chosen to make us his eternal slaves.
he could have chosen to make us his eternal subject. But He didn’t
He chose to adopt us into his family as children with all the benefits and blessings that come with a biological child.
Why did He adopt us at the moment of salvation and not at the end of our life as we enter eternity?
So that we can immediately claim our inheritance and enjoy the spiritual blessings that come with it through Christ.
The wealth that comes from a relationship with Christ.
We don’t have to wait until we are mature in Christ to receive his blessings.
They are given to us completely at the moment of conversion.
Adoption benefits are not just in the present blessings we recieve but also in the future
Romans 8:22-23-Not only this, but we ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we eagerly await our adoption, the redemption of our bodies”
We already have full benefits as God’s children but the moment we leave this earth we will receive a glorified body as part of this adoption. and with this glorified body we will live in the presence of God perfectly forever.
What a truth we have as the chosen of God.
He predestined us to be his adopted children with every blessing that comes with it on this earth and throughout eternity.
So Why did God choose you and accept you to be his child?
Listen to verse 6
Eph. 1:6 “to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
It wasn’t because of who we are, We cannot make our selves acceptable to God.
But God, because of his glorious grace- makes you acceptable in Christ.
The key to your eternal acceptance is all about God’s Grace.
The definition of God’s Grace i-s underserved, unearned favor and kindness.
God’s Grace is what compelled him to choose you,
God’s Grace is what sent Jesus to the cross to pay for your sins
God’s Grace is what leads the Holy Spirit to Convict you of your sin and draw you to Jesus
God’s Grace is what makes you his eternal child.
God’s Grace that holds you tight and will never let you go!
CONCLUSION
God Chose you, he sought you out, he pursued you, not because of what you could offer him, but because of His glorious grace.
Illustration: There’s a story about a boy who wanted to join a conservative southern fundamental church and the deacons asked him “How did you get saved?” He said I did my part and God did his part. “ The deacons thought they had him in. so they said what was your part and what was God’s part. HE said,” my part was the sinning, I ran from God as fast as these rebellious legs would take me and my sinful heart would lead . I ran from Him. But you know what, He dun took after me ‘til he ran me down.
Your part in Salvation is being a sinner in desperate need of a savior. PERIOD
I am going to be in heaven someday and its not because of who Jason Reynolds is.
I am a sinner that deserves the punishment of hell just like you.
I will not be in heaven because Im a preacher, or because I was baptised, or because i am faithful at church, or because my good out weighs my bad.
Non of these things will satisfy God’s demand for perfection in my life . They will all leave me short of the glory of God.
The only reason I am going to be in heaven is because of the glorious grace that God gave me in my life.
I am a sinner that God chose to redeem because of His mercy and Grace.
and today If you you do not know Him, he wants to redeem you too with His grace.
If you have never accepted and recieved jesus into your life. You are still on your way to an eternity in hell
it doesn’t matter who you are or what you have done.-
The only response that is acceptable to God is belief in His Son Jesus
Accept the free gift that God has already given to you and Believe.
If you are here today and you know that you are not an adopted child of God I would love to talk with you about how you can accept Christ and receive Gods eternal blessings in your life today. Stop playing games and trying to be someone you are not. Accept Jesus and Let him change you to who he is.
Believers the gospel of Christ gives us so much reason for Doxology in our our lives.
“God chose to give you salvation before the world was even created. Before you commited your first offense against him.
In love,  He predestined you to be adopted as His own son through Jesus Christ,
and he did all of this for the church so that we could sing His praises.
Stand with me as we sing our doxology to Our God.
Doxology
Closing Prayer
COMMUNION
​
​
Copyright 2024 Logos Bible SoftwareFeatures|Pricing|Privacy|Terms of Use|Support