notes

Main point summary

Praise God the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit for what He has accomplished for us to the praise of His glory therefore I desire for you to grow in the knowledge and experience of the grace and greatness of Christ which is for you in Christ alone.

Joy in Chains

editing

NT

Ephesians 1:3-23

esv

e Blessed be f the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing g in the heavenly places,

h even as he i chose us

in him

locative

j before the foundation of the world,

temporal

that we should be k holy and blameless before him.

actionpurpose

In love

l he predestined us 1

actionmanner

for m adoption as sons

actionresult

through Jesus Christ,

n according to the purpose of his will,

ground

o to the praise of his glorious grace,

with which he has blessed us in p the Beloved.

ideaexplanation

q In him

we have r redemption

s through his blood,

t the forgiveness of our trespasses,

u according to the riches of his grace,

which he lavished upon us,

in all wisdom

and insight

series

v making known 1 to us the mystery of his will,

n according to his purpose,

which he w set forth in Christ as a plan for x the fullness of time,

y to unite all things in him,

things in heaven and things on earth.

In him

we have obtained z an inheritance,

a having been predestined

b according to the purpose of him

who works all things

according to c the counsel of his will,

so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be d to the praise of his glory.

In him you also,

when you heard e the word of truth,

the gospel of your salvation,

and believed in him,

progression

f were sealed with the g promised Holy Spirit,

who is h the guarantee 1 of our i inheritance until j we acquire k possession of it, 2

l to the praise of his glory.

For this reason,

m because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love 1 toward all the saints,

I n do not cease to give thanks for you,

o remembering you in my prayers,

that p the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, q may give you the Spirit of wisdom

and of revelation in the knowledge of him,

r having the eyes of your hearts enlightened,

that you may know what is s the hope

to which he has called you,

what are t the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,

and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe,

u according to the working of v his great might that he worked in Christ

w when he raised him from the dead

and x seated him at his right hand y in the heavenly places,

z far above a all rule

and authority

and power

and dominion,

and above b every name that is named,

not only in c this age but also in the one to come.

And d he put all things under his feet

and gave him as e head over all things to the church,

f which is his body, g the fullness of him h who fills i all in all.

comparison

inference

discourse

Joy in Chains

Intro - Please open your Bibles to Ephesians 1. We’ll be flying through v3-23. - What would you tell your congregation to help them in tough situations in life? - How would you rally the troops to keep fighting for joy even in midst of suffering? - What fills up your tank to love God and the church? - I believe Paul answers our questions. - You can feel Paul's joy in this letter despite being in prison. - But yet still in this letter his heart is overflowing with gratitude, joy, and praise. - And he desires the believers in Ephesus to experience this gratitude, joy, and praise. - Valuable things in our lives brings us joy and is completed with praise. (Example: Grand Canyon;Sports teams;Spouse) - So what does Paul have a grasp of which is so valuable and gives him the drive? - Is it his own self worth and greatness? - Does he try to lift up his audience's self esteem? - So what does Paul share and desire his audience to know? It is God and what He has done. Body v3-14 I: God is center of Paul's joy/praise. - "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," (v3a) - But why ? II. What God has done is center of his joy/praise. "he has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,". (3b) - Do we deserve this act of kindness by God? (Ephesians 2:1-3) - We are evil. God is good. -We deserve God's justice not His blessing. - We bless him with our praise. He blesses us with his deeds. - "every spiritual blessing" - God has not withheld any blessing from His people. - But sometimes we forget what we have in Christ. - We sometimes ask for things already given in relation to the work of the Holy Spirit. - Love (Romans 5:5); Peace (John 14:27); - Happiness Joy (John 15:11); Strength (Philippians 4:13) - Not only these blessings are given but so much more. - How has God blessed us? III. How God acted kindly toward The Church. (v4a-14b) 1. W e were chosen in Christ by God the Father. (4a-4b) * This word chosen means chosen for oneself. *This is a personal choice. *A loving gracious choice by God. * When did God make this choice? * Before the world was created. (v4c) * For what purpose? * Before God we would be Holy and Blameless. (V4d) * (Gospel) This holiness and blamelessness is not ours but Christ's. * Christ paid our debt. *The plan of the cross and everything else in between was set before all time (Acts 4:27-28) *Christ through His life provided holiness and blamelessness for us. 2. Predestined to be adopted sons through Christ in love. (4e-6b) - God could've not adopted us. - But He did. - Seat at the family table. (1:6b) (1 John 3:1) - Heirs. (Romans 8:17; Galatians 4:7) - Kingdom of God. (Colossians 1:13) - We have the same love as the Father has for the Son. (John 15:9;John 14:9-10) 3. God has give us redemption and forgiveness . (7a-7d) - God has rescued us from the penalty of sin. (Romans 6:23) - Christ paid the debt. (1 Corinthians 6:20) -Christ satisfied justice of God due to our sin. (Romans 5:9; Isaiah 53:10) - So that we can be forgiven by His death (7c) - Christ provided the righteousness for us. (justification) (Romans 8:29-30) - We are being saved from power of sin. (sanctification) (1 Peter 2:24) - Away from the presence of sin into presence of God. (Glorification) (Romans 8:29-30) - Example (Israel redeemed by God) 4. God revealed to us the mystery of the gospel. -The mystery is: (Ephesians 3:6) - This mystery; All things will be united in Christ. - God predestined that all things will be united in Christ full of glory and praise. - Which we will partake in that on that day of redemption. 5. God has given to us an inheritance. (V11b) - All that Christ has is ours. - We are heirs. -We also are an inheritance. - Christ inherited us. - We are a love gift from the Father to the Son. (John 6:39-40) (John 17:6-12) 6. God has sealed with promised Holy Spirit . (V13e) - By the giving of the Holy Spirit; We know we have the inheritance. - It marks us as His Children. -The Spirit is the down payment. - When we believed the gospel. - We are His til the day of redemption away from sin entirely. IV. Why has God given these blessings? (V6a;12;14b) - God has done all these things not because of your own doing. - Not because of anything value within you. - God has done all these things according to His will so that He will be praised. The Call * God is more valuable than anything in this world. * All God has done reveals His beauty and majesty which brings us joy. * Therefore let us complete our joy in praise to Him everywhere we go. Transition Read v15-23 Therefore due to - who God is and what He has done and will do - and because of the churches faith in God and love for the saints - What does Paul do? V. Paul prays for the Church. *What for? 1. He prays the believers to grow in the knowledge of God continually. (17a-17b) - The Christian life is a continual desire to knowing Him more. It is unending. - eternal life is to know Him. (John 17:3) - He didn’t pray for them to have a good life full of riches and good health. - Too many people today claim today claim their going to heaven because they made a decision a long time ago but yet see no progress or desire to know Him. -Christianity is not just a claim your ticket to heaven. - Do you know God better than you did a year ago? Two years ago? Are you growing? Is your faith in God and love for the saints growing? 2. The purpose of knowing God more?(18b-19a) -So that you may see and understand more of the redemptive work. -Also know the riches you have in Christ -And know the same power and work that rose Christ and seated Christ above all rule, authority, power, and dominion is also in you! (19b-23) VI. What now? 1) So let us also pray for each other that we may grow in knowledge and love for God and His work which He has done for us (chosen us; predestined us), doing right now(Redemption; Justified; Sanctified), and will do (Glorified; also creation which we partake in due to His work he decided all time and creation; Unite all things in Christ). 2) Let us pray to God and study that He may enlighten the eyes of our hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit that we may see beauty and riches of the hope and power revealed in Christ through His word. 3) Keep fighting in your Christian life. Kill sin and strive for holiness and believe God because of who He is and what He has done and promised to you so that you may know Him better. He is worth it because He far above more valuable than anything in this world. Put the Grand Canyon, Ocean depths, everything that brings delight to your eyes put it on the scale and put Christ on the other He outweighs them all! He Himself is our joy and delight. Give all that you are to all that He is. Repent and believe God.