Pastor Nate continues our study through the Bible in the book of Ephesians.
[00:00:01] You are listening to the Through the Bible Studio series with Pastor Nate Holdridge.
[00:00:07] Join us as we continue our study through the New Testament book of Ephesians.
[00:00:13] Here's Nate.
[00:00:14] Well, the message of the Gospel is definitely worth exploration.
[00:00:21] The book of Ephesians, Paul's letter to the church in Ephesus, is a letter in which
[00:00:26] he will explore the nooks and crannies of the Gospel and how it gives to us as believers
[00:00:35] a new life, a new society called the church, a new set of standards for life and wonderful
[00:00:44] and new relationships.
[00:00:46] The Gospel of Christ permeates each and every area of our lives.
[00:00:54] The book of Ephesians attempts to get into that message of the Gospel in Ephesians 1-3
[00:01:02] and then demonstrate how that message interacts with and permeates the rest of our lives,
[00:01:09] practically speaking, in chapter 4 through 6.
[00:01:16] So just a powerful epistle that Paul gives to the church in Ephesus and by extension
[00:01:23] gives to us.
[00:01:25] Now Paul was more than likely in prison at the time that he wrote this epistle.
[00:01:32] It sure sounds as such in Ephesians 3 verse 1.
[00:01:36] He refers to himself as a prisoner for Christ Jesus.
[00:01:40] He talks of himself as a prisoner for the Lord in chapter 4 verse 1 and in chapter
[00:01:47] 6 verse 20 he talks of himself as an ambassador in chains.
[00:01:54] So likely in prison, likely in the imprisonment there in Acts chapter 28 and so we're dealing
[00:02:04] with a time now that is about 10 years after Paul had initially gone to the city of Ephesus
[00:02:12] in Acts chapter 19 where they had a glorious birth as a church.
[00:02:19] The church in Ephesus was a strong and dynamic fellowship.
[00:02:23] It says in verse 1 as Paul introduces his epistle.
[00:02:28] He says, Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God to the saints who are
[00:02:35] in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus.
[00:02:39] Grace to you, verse 2, and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:02:48] So we have first here our author.
[00:02:51] His name is Paul and you know him as the apostle.
[00:02:55] A man who previously had hated the church of course, had been Saul of Tarsus a Pharisee
[00:03:04] and persecuted the early church but had a radical conversion in Acts chapter 9 and Paul refers
[00:03:11] to that here in his introduction.
[00:03:13] I'm an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.
[00:03:17] The Lord himself put me into all of this.
[00:03:20] This is something that man could not do, but that God himself has done.
[00:03:24] He has made me into an apostle to the church which would mean that they would be all
[00:03:31] ears ready to listen.
[00:03:33] Here this is a message from an apostle to the church.
[00:03:38] We have secondly not just our author but also our audience.
[00:03:42] Notice where they were living.
[00:03:45] Paul says in verse 1, you are the saints who are in Ephesus but secondly you are faithful
[00:03:52] in Christ Jesus.
[00:03:55] They dwelled in both places.
[00:03:57] First of all in Ephesus a difficult city, a pagan culture.
[00:04:05] Not an easy place to practice your faith and to exist as a believer.
[00:04:10] A hard city but a strong church.
[00:04:14] Secondly though not just in Ephesus but also in Christ Jesus absolutely one with the Lord
[00:04:23] and Paul refers to them as saints and as faithful in Christ Jesus.
[00:04:30] In verse 3 Paul introduces what really is just one single complex sentence all the way from
[00:04:41] verse 3 all the way to verse 14.
[00:04:45] In this Paul is going to begin to explain some of the deep blessings that are ours in Christ
[00:04:55] as a result of the reception of the message of the gospel receiving Jesus into our lives
[00:05:02] and hearts.
[00:05:04] Paul is going to talk about the great standing that we have in Christ with God.
[00:05:10] Listen to what he says in verse 3.
[00:05:13] He says, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in
[00:05:20] Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.
[00:05:26] Now this is one of my favorite verses in all of God's word because it describes for us
[00:05:32] the incredible position that we have in Jesus, the great blessing that is ours.
[00:05:39] Notice first of all the content of this blessing in verse 3.
[00:05:42] He says we have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places and as we move through
[00:05:51] this epistle we are going to see that they are heavenly blessings that are given to us
[00:05:58] in Christ.
[00:06:00] In chapter 1 verse 20 he will speak to us of the heavenly places that Jesus is currently
[00:06:07] seated at in chapter 2 verse 6.
[00:06:10] We will discover once again the heavenly places that we will be seated with Christ at and are
[00:06:18] currently positionally seated with him in and on and on through this epistle we will
[00:06:24] see this reference to the heavenly places.
[00:06:28] And so the content of our blessing is heavenly, it's spiritual versus physical.
[00:06:35] Now this is interesting because of course for the people of Israel so many of their blessings
[00:06:41] were physical in nature.
[00:06:44] You know if you walk with me as my covenant people you live a life of obedience to me, I'll
[00:06:51] give you reign, I'll give you produce, I'll give you victory over your enemies.
[00:06:57] A lot of the practical blessings in life connected to their walk with the God of heaven.
[00:07:05] But still they were a covenant people, they had been placed into a place of great blessing
[00:07:10] not just physically but also spiritually from God.
[00:07:15] But for us as a church we are in a place where we receive primarily the spiritual and
[00:07:22] heavenly blessings from the Lord and as we receive those blessings from the Lord
[00:07:28] there is also this practical experience where the Lord will take care of us in
[00:07:33] some practical and physical ways as well.
[00:07:37] But in comparing the spiritual blessings with the physical blessings you're comparing the
[00:07:44] superior blessings that which are spiritual and heavenly and eternal with the inferior
[00:07:51] blessings that which is physical and temporary.
[00:07:56] And so he says you have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.
[00:08:04] Now the book of Ephesians as we pass through it I think will continually remind us of the
[00:08:09] Old Testament stories of the book of Joshua.
[00:08:14] What you have there in the book of Joshua is that God had previously declared and
[00:08:19] had given to the nation of Israel the promised land, the land of Canaan.
[00:08:25] But they needed to then go into the promised land and every place that the soul of their
[00:08:32] foot set down upon God then gave to them as a people.
[00:08:39] And here now as Christians one of the first things that we learn is that we have already
[00:08:44] received every Paul says in verse 3 spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.
[00:08:51] They all belong to us, they are all already ours but there is now an appropriation of
[00:09:00] what God has already given to us.
[00:09:04] Notice the timing of this blessing as well.
[00:09:06] He says he has verse 3 blessed us.
[00:09:11] It says nothing to do with works, nothing to do with our holiness or godliness.
[00:09:17] It does everything to do with what Jesus Christ has done for us as we've been placed
[00:09:23] into Christ and of course in Christ is the source of blessing.
[00:09:26] He says the Father who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the
[00:09:33] heavenly places.
[00:09:34] The source of our blessing as believers is not just a place but a person.
[00:09:42] Jesus Christ, he is our source of blessing and he'll be mentioned in these first few
[00:09:47] verses all the way through verse 14 at least 15 times directly or indirectly.
[00:09:54] And there's this great position for Christians called being in Christ and identified with
[00:10:01] Christ so closely aligned with Christ covered by Christ, baptized into his death, his burial
[00:10:08] and his resurrection to where you are now pronounced as one with him and in him.
[00:10:16] And this is the position, the place of great blessing in God.
[00:10:22] Now in verse 4 we move on to the inspection of Paul of this blessing practically speaking.
[00:10:30] He says in verse 4, even as he chose us speaking of the Father, in him before the foundation
[00:10:37] of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him.
[00:10:40] In love he predestined us, verse 5, for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ according
[00:10:48] to the purpose of his will to the praise of his glorious grace with which he has
[00:10:54] blessed us in the beloved.
[00:10:58] So as Paul begins to unpack this great blessing that we have in Christ, the spiritual blessings
[00:11:05] and the heavenly places, the first thing that he mentions is that we have been chosen by
[00:11:10] him.
[00:11:11] Verse 4, he chose us in him before the foundation of the world.
[00:11:17] And of course many have struggled with the idea of being chosen.
[00:11:22] We sometimes like to feel as if we were the ones in control and we were the ones
[00:11:26] doing the choosing.
[00:11:28] And so often that's exactly how it feels or how it seems until you look back upon your
[00:11:34] life and you realize the relentless pursuit of the Lord upon your life.
[00:11:40] That said, where does a man's will come into play?
[00:11:44] Jesus said in John chapter 6 verse 37, all that the Father gives me will come to me
[00:11:49] and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.
[00:11:53] He said in John 3 verse 16, whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
[00:12:02] And so there seems to be this responsibility that is placed upon people but nonetheless
[00:12:08] those who the Lord desires he chooses.
[00:12:12] He says he chose us in him before the foundation of the world.
[00:12:17] Now for some this would be a struggle because does this mean that the Lord has not chosen
[00:12:23] some?
[00:12:24] Well the scripture doesn't teach the other side of the coin that God has refused or not chosen
[00:12:33] some.
[00:12:34] It just says here that there are those that he chose in him before the foundation of
[00:12:38] the world.
[00:12:39] We know from 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 3 and 4 that God our Savior who desires all
[00:12:45] people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
[00:12:49] So there isn't this partial desire from God.
[00:12:53] His desire is full and complete, very well rounded for the world in which we live.
[00:12:59] But notice that this selection he says he chose us in him.
[00:13:04] It's a blessing to be chosen and he says before the foundation of the world.
[00:13:13] This is amazing to think of this timeline before the Father that even before the foundation
[00:13:21] of the world he looked into from eternity past our moment in time and looked into my
[00:13:31] heart or your heart and said I want them.
[00:13:36] I choose them.
[00:13:39] This is a great and incredible blessing.
[00:13:42] He has 2 Timothy 1 verse 9 and 10 saved us and called us to a holy calling because of
[00:13:50] our works but because of his own purpose and grace.
[00:13:55] And Paul goes on to say there that he did this for us in Christ Jesus before the ages
[00:14:02] began.
[00:14:04] So there is this eternal nature to God's work in the life of every individual believer as
[00:14:15] it says in Revelation 13 verse 8 all who dwell on the earth will worship it except for everyone
[00:14:21] whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life
[00:14:27] of the Lamb who was slain.
[00:14:29] And so there is this book that is written the book of the life of the Lamb who was slain
[00:14:34] and written notice before the foundation of the world.
[00:14:39] Revelation 13 verse 8.
[00:14:41] Now what have we been chosen to?
[00:14:43] That's the good question.
[00:14:45] He says there at the end of verse 4 back in Ephesians 1 that we should be holy and
[00:14:50] blameless before him.
[00:14:53] So much of the talk about God's election and choosing people is dedicated to the cosmic
[00:15:03] decision making process of God instead of asking the question what has God chosen us
[00:15:10] for?
[00:15:11] And that seems to be really the biblical emphasis not just that God chose us but
[00:15:17] that he chose us for a reason.
[00:15:19] And here's what he says that we should be holy and blameless before him.
[00:15:25] In other words his work in us before God and man is holiness and a blamelessness about
[00:15:35] our lives.
[00:15:36] And so his desire is to take us and to change us and to transform us to choose us
[00:15:41] for a holy life.
[00:15:43] And so the great blessing of just receiving this deep truth to say Lord thank you for
[00:15:48] choosing me.
[00:15:49] Lord thank you for setting your hand upon my life.
[00:15:53] Lord thank you for before the foundation of the world wanting me to have a life that is
[00:16:01] blameless and holy and pure before you.
[00:16:07] Notice also though in verse 5 that there's this other blessing not only have we been
[00:16:12] chosen but verse 5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Christ Jesus according
[00:16:20] to the purpose of his will.
[00:16:24] So Paul tells us that part of our great blessing from the Father is that we have been
[00:16:28] predestined to adoption as sons.
[00:16:34] That word predestined is a word that regards something that God does for saved people
[00:16:42] in other words he predestines us to something.
[00:16:47] And here what he's saying is he has predestined the people that he has chosen to or for adoption
[00:16:56] as sons.
[00:16:57] Now in John chapter 3 when Jesus met with Nicodemus at night he introduced Nicodemus
[00:17:03] to the concept of being born again.
[00:17:06] You believe in Christ and you become born again you receive newness of life.
[00:17:12] It's a true and wonderful reality but beyond being born again there's also this wonderful
[00:17:19] picture of adoption not just born into the family but also adopted into the family.
[00:17:27] This speaks of an adult status or standing inside of the family of God.
[00:17:34] Paul said in Romans chapter 8 verse 14 all who are led by the Spirit of God our sons of
[00:17:41] God for you did not receive the Spirit of slavery to fall back into fear but you have received
[00:17:46] the Spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry Abba Father.
[00:17:52] The Spirit himself Paul said bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God
[00:17:58] and if children then heirs heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ provided we
[00:18:04] suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
[00:18:08] So there's this great position that we have we've been adopted we are co heirs with Christ
[00:18:13] Jesus.
[00:18:14] It's a strong standing before the Father not just born again as infants before the
[00:18:20] Father but adopted as full fledged heirs through Jesus Christ.
[00:18:27] Then he says in verse 6 another part of this blessing to the praise of his glorious
[00:18:31] grace with which he has blessed us in the beloved.
[00:18:36] In other words blessed us in Christ we have a position of blessing grace favor flowing
[00:18:43] our way if we are in Christ Jesus.
[00:18:48] I think this is a great truth that we need to remember and fight to remember everything
[00:18:54] within us will drift and tend towards legalism.
[00:18:57] I know even myself as a pastor and as a teacher there are moments of difficulty it's hard to
[00:19:03] continually keep the strong edge of God's grace flowing in each and every sermon.
[00:19:13] And it's so difficult to maintain that but to remember the great position of blessing
[00:19:19] and grace that is ours in Christ.
[00:19:22] Now in verse 7 he moves on to speak of another part of our blessing in him not
[00:19:26] just that we've been chosen and adopted and put into a position of grace but redeemed by
[00:19:32] the Lord.
[00:19:33] This is in verse 7 in him we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of our
[00:19:40] trespasses according to the riches of his grace which he lavished upon us in all wisdom
[00:19:48] and insight making known to us the mystery of his will according to his purpose which
[00:19:54] he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him things
[00:20:02] in heaven and things on earth.
[00:20:06] So here Paul begins to speak of redemption and of course in order for adoption to fully
[00:20:13] occur there had to be a purchase that took place.
[00:20:17] Now there are wonderful Bible words that describe what happened to us when we became
[00:20:22] Christians when we became born again and gave our lives to him there's the word justification
[00:20:28] perhaps you've heard that one it means that someone who was accused is now declared righteous
[00:20:36] before God.
[00:20:38] There's forgiveness as well beyond justification that someone who was a debtor has a cancellation
[00:20:46] of debt.
[00:20:47] There's adoption which we just saw someone who was a stranger but who is now a full fledged
[00:20:54] son.
[00:20:56] There's reconciliation spoken of in scripture that's where you have an enemy who now becomes
[00:21:01] a friend but here we have the word redemption and this is a word that indicates that
[00:21:07] someone was once a slave but has now been granted freedom and so the question would
[00:21:13] be what were we enslaved to and have been set free from through his blood according to
[00:21:23] verse 7.
[00:21:25] Jesus said in John chapter 8 verse 34 truly truly I save you everyone who commits sin is
[00:21:33] a slave to sin.
[00:21:36] So with redemption we have this act of God by which he himself pays the price for sin
[00:21:44] in order to set us as human beings free.
[00:21:49] A beautiful thing even in the slave world and market there would be the purchasing
[00:21:55] of a slave in order to make him or her your own but then there would be this kind of
[00:22:01] redemption where there was a purchasing in order to set free in order to fully redeem
[00:22:09] and that's what Jesus Christ has done for his people he has set them free from their
[00:22:15] captivity to sin.
[00:22:19] Notice where or who gives us that redemption he says in verse 7 in him Jesus is the
[00:22:25] author of that freedom he says in him we have not we are trying to obtain or someday will
[00:22:35] have he says no in him we have we have fully received that freedom from sin not that
[00:22:44] were walking around as sinless people fully perfect and glorified here in this life.
[00:22:52] We are moving towards glorification to be sure we are moving towards a place of sinless
[00:22:58] perfection throughout all of eternity but here on earth it's good to understand that
[00:23:02] in Christ we are positionally set free from all sin and so as we walk with the Lord of
[00:23:11] course we will experientially sin but as we walk with the Lord the more we walk with
[00:23:16] him the closer we draw to him the more we experience this great position that he has
[00:23:22] given to us I won't be sinless but I will if I'm walking with the Lord sin less than
[00:23:31] I currently sin and so we are already recipients of redemption in him we have he says redemption
[00:23:40] and notice the price of redemption he says through his blood and the result of course
[00:23:46] is the forgiveness of our trespasses and in all of this of course you have God working
[00:23:53] and his will and purpose and plan verse 9 and 10 to unite all things in him things in
[00:24:01] heaven and things on earth and so just a wonderful plan of God he's been purposing
[00:24:07] and planning for our unification unto him our restoration our redemption for a very long
[00:24:15] time has put this together and that day is coming when we will be unified unto our Father
[00:24:22] in verse 11 he goes on to speak of this blessing even further by talking of our inheritance
[00:24:28] that we have in him he says in him verse 11 we have obtained an inheritance having
[00:24:34] been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the
[00:24:39] counsel of his will so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise
[00:24:46] of his glory Paul refers here to the great inheritance that we have in Jesus Christ and
[00:24:54] you know when when you gave your life to the Lord he received you and but the better
[00:25:02] deal I think was ours we received him we received his position we received his eternally good
[00:25:14] name we received his righteousness we received his purity we received his future and so our
[00:25:22] life placed into his life a grand inheritance as Paul would say indeed and lastly here for
[00:25:30] this study verse 13 and 14 he says in him you also and here we are concluding this one
[00:25:37] sentence in the Greek that began in verse 3 he says in him you also when you heard the
[00:25:42] word of truth the gospel of your salvation so when you heard this word you heard the
[00:25:47] message of the gospel and you believed in him wasn't enough to hear but you had to
[00:25:53] believe there had to be this faith that was welling up inside of you you placed
[00:25:58] your trust into Christ he said you were sealed with the promised holy spirit who is the guarantee
[00:26:07] of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory so Paul here
[00:26:14] announces a beautiful part of our inheritance and our blessing that we have received every
[00:26:21] spiritual blessing he said in verse 3 in the heavenly places is ours in Christ and
[00:26:27] one of these major and significant blessings that we've received is that we have been
[00:26:31] sealed with the promised holy spirit now the idea of a seal in scripture speaks of a lot
[00:26:39] of different things you have first of all security I remember when Daniel's was placed
[00:26:46] in the lion's den and Daniel chapter 6 that lion's den was sealed you might remember
[00:26:52] when Jesus's tomb was sealed in order to secure the tomb and just the security that we have
[00:27:01] in the Holy Spirit indicating that we belong to God and that we're not going anywhere it
[00:27:07] also would speak of authenticity it marked something is truly genuine and the spirit
[00:27:14] the Holy Spirit his presence inside of our lives marks us as truly genuine believers
[00:27:21] the seal would also speak in scripture of a transaction in Jeremiah 32 it was used as a
[00:27:27] receipt a finished transaction and it would also speak of authority the kingly seal placed
[00:27:37] upon us the Holy Spirit inside of our lives and upon our lives is the kingly mark of ownership
[00:27:44] upon us authority over us and so he says you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit he's
[00:27:51] the guarantee he's the down payment so to speak of a purchased possession to the praise of God's
[00:27:59] glory a day is coming where God is going to come and receive all that he has purchased whom he
[00:28:06] has given the Spirit of God to and call us to be with him in heaven redeemed covered experiencing
[00:28:17] fully in the heavenly places the great blessings and riches that are ours in Christ I hope you
[00:28:24] remember the Spirit of God upon your life he wants to speak to you and lead you and bear fruit
[00:28:30] through your life I'm reminded of Galatians 5 walk in the spirit that you might not fulfill the lust
[00:28:37] of the flesh God bless you and amen thank you for listening for additional resources and teachings
[00:28:46] or to contact us please visit us at Nate Holdridge.com