Ephesians - A Hymn of Praise!

And now as we open the word of God, let's pray together. Thank you, Father, for this beautiful hymn of praise in Ephesians 1, how the Holy Spirit of God inspired Paul to praise you for what you have done in us and for us through Jesus Christ. Help us as we study together. Oh, warm our hearts. Quicken us, I pray, through Jesus Christ, our Lord and our Savior. Amen.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now that's the way Paul begins a long statement of praise to the Lord in Ephesians 1. Ephesians 1:3 down through Ephesians 1:14 is one sentence in the Greek New Testament with 102 words in it. And the key thought is God has blessed us. Notice what he says: "who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." God the Father has given to His saints, His children, all the blessings that they need to live a victorious and satisfying Christian life. In other words, when you were born again, you were born complete. You were born rich. You were born with everything you ever will need to live and serve God. All you have to do is draw upon it, appropriate your position in Jesus Christ.

His theme, of course, is blessing. And in Ephesians 1:3-6, he gives us the blessings of God the Father: He's chosen us, He's adopted us, to the praise of His glory, He has accepted us. God the Father has done that. Then at Ephesians 1:7, we read about what God the Son has done. Ephesians 1:7-12: God the Son has redeemed us, He's forgiven us, He shared wisdom with us, He has made us and given us an inheritance in the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is all to the praise of His glory. The blessings of God the Father, Ephesians 1:3-6. The blessings of God the Son, Ephesians 1:7-12. Then the blessings of God the Holy Spirit, Ephesians 1:13-14. The Holy Spirit of promise, the Holy Spirit who is the seal, the guarantee, the earnest of our inheritance. 

Did you notice that Paul was Trinitarian? Paul believes in God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. That's what the Bible teaches. Those who say, "Well, there is only one God and Jesus Christ is not God and the Holy Spirit is not God," are in error. The Apostle Paul praises God the Father, then he praises God the Son—if God the Son is not God, then this is idolatry, blasphemy. He praises God the Holy Spirit for what He has done. The Apostle Peter would have agreed with him because he gives us the same idea in 1 Peter 1:2: "Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." There we have all three persons in the Godhead who are a part of our salvation.

As far as God the Father is concerned, I was saved according to Ephesians 1:4, when He chose me in Christ before the foundation of the world. But I didn't know anything about that. I did not know one thing about that the night that I was saved. As far as God the Son is concerned, according to Ephesians 1:7, I was saved when He died for me on the cross. That's the message that I heard. The evangelist said from that pulpit, "Jesus died for your sins." As far as God the Holy Spirit is concerned, I was saved according to Ephesians 1:13, when I trusted Jesus Christ because the Holy Spirit did a work in my heart. He convicted me, He revealed the Savior to me, and that night I believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. And this put all three of these things together. What God did before the foundation of the world, what Jesus Christ did on Calvary was all brought together that night by the Holy Spirit of God, and I became one of God's children.

Now this excites me. No wonder Paul starts his letter with a hymn of praise. Usually, he starts his letters with thanksgiving for the people to whom he is writing. Now you don't find that until Ephesians 1:15-16. He interrupts: "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." Now in most of his letters, Paul would have said, "I thank God for you and I pray for you," but he delays that why? That he might sing a hymn—a hymn of praise for what God has done for us. Notice that Paul is not telling the lost how to get saved; he's explaining to the saved how they were saved. He's explaining to us the miracle of our redemption.

Let's look now at the blessings of God the Father. He has chosen us, Ephesians 1:4. He has adopted us, Ephesians 1:5. He has accepted us, Ephesians 1:6. He has chosen us. Now there are four questions that Paul answers here in Ephesians 1:4: Who did it? God the Father. How did he do it? In Jesus Christ. When did he do it? Before the foundation of the world. Why did he do it? To the praise of his glory.

That's interesting, isn't it? Who did it? God the Father. Now we've seen that the whole Trinity is involved in our salvation. "Just as he chose us in him." He chose us. "You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you." You see, the Father in heaven, the Holy Spirit, the Son, long before anything ever was created, devised the great plan of salvation. The fall of the first man and woman into sin did not catch God by surprise. God who knows all things, God who sees all things, had already planned that His Son would become a man on earth, suffer and die, be raised from the dead, exalted into the highest heavens, and then the Holy Spirit would come and apply to the hearts of believers what the Savior had done on the cross. This was all done before the foundation of the world.

I think that we need today a much higher view of salvation. We sometimes get the idea that salvation is something man does for himself, or man cooperates with God and somehow works the whole thing out. Salvation is of the Lord. It begins with Him. He took the initiative. He did the work of planning salvation, and the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb, was slain from before the foundation of the world. It was all worked out long before ever there was a universe. I'm glad for that. That means that the plan of salvation is something eternal, not temporal. It doesn't depend upon me or churches or synods or councils. It is God's great work. He chose us.

You say, "I don't understand that." I don't either. I'm not going to try to understand it. One of my professors in seminary used to say, "Try to explain election and you may lose your mind; try to explain it away and you may lose your soul." It's there in the Bible. Chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. Now, it's not in ourselves that we are chosen. There's nothing in us. We are chosen in Christ. "In Christ," "in Him," is one of the key thoughts in Ephesians. You are either in Adam or in Christ. In Adam all men die; in Christ all men shall be made alive. In Adam means condemnation; in Christ means salvation. In Adam means eternal death; in Christ means eternal life. And all this is the grace of God. We did nothing; we weren't even here. He did this before the foundation of the world. Beyond time and space, above and beyond anything we know, this great plan of salvation was worked out by the loving heart of God. That means it is eternal. That means it is secure. That means it is unchanging. It's not an afterthought. It means that man cannot alter it in any way. Oh, the greatness of God's plan of salvation. He has chosen us.

Now there's a reason why He has chosen us: that we should be holy and without blame before Him. He talks about that in Ephesians 4:1: "Walk worthy of the calling with which you were called." You say, "Well, I'm called of God. God's chosen me." Fine, prove it by your walk. We're chosen to be holy. The word "holy" in Ephesians 1:4 and the word "saints" in Ephesians 1:1 are cousins. It's the same word. We are called saints because we are holy and without blame before Him.

Now people look at us and they can see that there are things wrong with us, but you see we are in Christ. God loves me as He loves His Son. God sees me as He sees His Son. Every day you and I do things we wish we had not done. We say things, we think things, and we wonder, "Oh, how can I ever make it to heaven?" Well, God looks upon us in the holiness and blamelessness of His Son. In Ephesians 1, 2, and 3, Paul tells us what God has done for us: our riches in Christ. In chapters 4, 5, and 6, what we should do for Him: our responsibilities in Christ. Our wealth, our walk. Our position, our practice. Our position is secure. We are before Him holy and without blame. He has chosen us.

According to Ephesians 1:5, He has adopted us: "having predestined us to the adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself." And why did He do it? According to the good pleasure of His will. Just God's good pleasure, God's grace. Why is God doing all of this for us? Well, because we deserve it? No, we don't. He does it because of the good pleasure of His will.

Now the adoption he's talking about here is not the adoption that we know in our own legal system. We can go to an agency and we can take into our family someone who has not been born into our family. The child is adopted. It's a beautiful thing, it's a wonderful thing, but you see that child can have my name, my credit cards, can live at my address, can eat at my table, but there's one thing that child will never have—that's my nature, because I'm not that child's father. My wife is not that child's mother. Now, the only way to get into God's family is to have God's nature, and you do that by being born again. Adoption does not have to do with getting into the family; adoption has to do with where you are in the family. We are sons, not little babies. God does not take us into the family and say, "Now twenty-five years from now, I'll be glad when you have grown up and I can do things with you." No, immediately He adopts us. Immediately He gives us an adult standing in His family. He gives us all spiritual blessings. You see, children can't walk. Little babies can't walk. But He wants us to walk in love, to walk circumspectly, to walk in the light. Little children cannot claim their inheritance—you've got to be mature, reach a legal age—but He wants to give us and has given us all spiritual blessings. So when you were born again, it's an evidence: one, you were chosen by God—you knew nothing about that, but you found it out, He chose you. Number two, He placed you in an adult position. Notice what he says: adoption as sons, not little children. He placed you in an adult position so that you might enjoy His fellowship, you might enjoy His riches, you might carry responsibility, you might walk in freedom and love.

Also this matter of adoption has to do with our future—the future adoption. Romans 8:18-23 will give you light on that: the future adoption, that is, the redemption of our body. We are waiting for the glory to come, the hope of His glory. In fact, he talks about that in Ephesians 1:18. He prays that they may know what is the hope of His calling. He has called us, chosen us. He has adopted us. That means today I have an adult standing in God's family. I can draw upon His riches. Tomorrow—or it might be today—I'm going to have glory in heaven because Jesus Christ is going to take me home. The word predestined just means planned beforehand. It's all part of God's great plan. Before ever I believed on Jesus, God predestined, He determined that all who have trusted His Son will have an adult standing in His family and one day will share in the glories of heaven.

He has chosen us. He has adopted us. Ephesians 1:6: He has accepted us. To the praise of the glory of His grace—not our faith, not our good works, not our religious character—to the praise of the glory of His grace by which He has made us accepted in the beloved. You can translate that verse, "by which He has bestowed grace upon us in the beloved." He has graced us. It's the same statement that the angel used with Mary in Luke 1:28, that she was highly favored of God, highly graced. Mary did not have any experience we have not had. He tells me in Ephesians 1:6 that when I trusted Jesus Christ, God graced me. That is, He gave to me a standing in His grace, not law. Law says, "You do and I'll bless you." Grace says, "I have already blessed you, now do it." Law says, "If you obey me, you'll have this position." Grace says, "I've already given you this wonderful position, now love me and serve me." We are not acceptable in ourselves. We're certainly not acceptable in Adam—he ran away and hid because he sinned against God. Abraham can't save me—Abraham said, "I'm just dust and ashes." Jacob said, "I'm not worthy of the least of your blessings." David said, "In sin did my mother conceive me." Isaiah the prophet said, "I am a man of unclean lips." Peter said, "I'm a sinful man, oh Lord." Paul called himself the chief of sinners. No, we're not acceptable in ourselves; we are acceptable in Jesus Christ.

I think it's wonderful to realize that when you are in Christ, it means you have been chosen—that takes care of your past. You are accepted—that takes care of your present. You are adopted—that takes care of your present and your future. It's all taken care of. We don't have to worry and fret. No wonder the Apostle Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ there in Rome, no wonder before he said anything else in this letter, he launched out into this hymn of praise to God the Father and to God the Son and to God the Holy Spirit for what they had done for him. Oh, the love that drew salvation's plan. Oh, the grace that brought it down to man. Oh, the mighty gulf that God did span at Calvary. And remember, He did it to the praise of the glory of His grace. That's repeated three times here: to the praise of His glory. Let's glorify God today because of what He's done for us in Jesus.

[Interview:]

Warren, in your commentary on Ephesians titled "Be Rich", you ask the question, "Are you wearing the grave clothes or the grace clothes?" Could you explain the difference?

Well, you remember when Lazarus came forth from the tomb, he was bound hand and foot. And the first thing Jesus says is, "Loose him, let him go." Who wants to live with a living man who's dressed like a corpse, smells like a corpse, and acts like a corpse? So in the Christian life, we have to change clothes. Paul often compares Christian character to clothing. And so we have to take off the old clothes, those grave clothes, and put on the grace clothes. Paul says now, laying aside all these old garments, put on—and he goes right down the line. I like that. Every day we have to take off our clothes so we can go to bed, and we have to put on our clothes in the morning so we can go out in public. And every time I do that, I should say, "Have I done this on the inside? Have I taken off criticism? Have I taken off bitterness? Have I put on love? Is my spiritual wardrobe hanging in the closet or is it on my back?" And that's what he means by that. You've been in the grave; get rid of the grave clothes. Put on the grace clothes.