Grace, Love, and Doctrine in Ephesians 1:3-6b

SPEAKER 02 : 0:07

Welcome to Expository Truths, where we exalt Christ by bringing clarity of truth through the scriptures with Dr. John Kyle, pastor of Faith Community Church in Vacaville. As Christians, we’re called to know the truth and be able to proclaim it. We can know truth when we know the Word of God, which is precise, without error, and powerful and effective for both salvation and spiritual growth. Enjoy digging deeply with Dr. Kyle as he takes us verse by verse through the powerful book of Ephesians, giving us a marvelous summary of the good news of Christ and its implications for our daily lives.

SPEAKER 01 : 0:51

Please turn with me in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 1, verses 3 through 6. Ephesians 1, 3 through 6. The letter of Ephesians was written by the Apostle Paul to the faithful saints living in the city of Ephesus, which was the fourth largest city in the world at that time. Paul wrote this while he was under house arrest in Rome in about AD 62, and he wrote it to lay a proper doctrinal foundation for these believers so they could then live out these doctrines for the glory of God. See, he wants these Christians to be established and equipped more and more in their faith, thus this letter. Today we begin to look at the doctrinal section of this book. Let’s look. at the first third of that very long sentence, verses 3 through 6. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. Having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. Don’t you love how Paul starts off this letter? Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that’s the key. And this verse is really setting the stage for the rest of this very long sentence. Blessed be our God. The call here is to give praise and honor and blessing and proper recognition to this amazing God whom we love. Why? Because he’s blessed us with every spiritual blessing, that’s all. Hey, that’s everything. Not a few spiritual blessings, not some spiritual blessings, not a lot of spiritual blessings, but every spiritual blessing. And he shows us a few of those blessings in this very long sentence. Not all of the blessings, but he shows us a few really cool blessings. Notice that God has already given us these spiritual blessings. This means that we’re already blessed in many ways and don’t we know it? And it also means that there are many blessings that are yet to come, but they are indeed guaranteed to come for us in Christ. See, it’s as good as done and the best really is done. Yet to come for us, and that’s an ironclad fact that we in Christ can bank on. Note also that while God blesses us as people in many ways, even in many physical ways, the best blessings are spiritual blessings, right? The things that concern eternity. The things that concern the soul. Things that have true and lasting value and worth and not just fading away. temporary value and worth. Christ is the one who gives all this to us and it involves heavenly things. It involves eternal things. It involves spiritual things, the things that truly matter. Question, would you say that you’re blessed today as a Christian and that you have many great reasons to bless God? You have many great reasons to praise God today, would you? Yeah? Amen? Amen? Paul would agree. And now, he’s going to show us some of those reasons. First, he chose us in him. Note that God chose us, referring to believers, saints, the faithful ones, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. See, He didn’t choose us because we were already holy and blameless. No, He chose us that we should be holy and blameless before Him in love. That’s the purpose. See, because God chose us and we’re now united with Christ, we have our blame removed. What shames us and justly condemns us isn’t held against us any longer. As Christ is without spot, so also are we blemishless by virtue of His work on our behalf. Not only does our union with Christ remove our blemishes, but it also supplies His righteousness. We are holy and blameless before the Father. The righteousness that was Christ’s through His perfect obedience is credited or imputed to us who believe. It’s truly amazing that God sees me as being as holy as His own Son as a Christian. Not only do I have my debt wiped away, I have the riches of Christ’s righteousness applied to my spiritual account. One said, God doesn’t pay our debt and then leave us with a zero balance. Rather than have us destitute, He opens the vaults of heaven to give us the benefits of the storehouse of His grace made full by Christ’s obedience. And that’s an amazing thought. That all happens because God chose us, and this gives us some great reasons to bless God today. Note how this all goes to the love of God. In love. In love. See, it’s all about the love of God for undeserving sinners like us. He loves us. Why? Because. And look how He showed us that love. He chose us. God the Son came and died for us. And then God the Spirit comes and lives inside of us, guaranteeing the eternal blessings that are to come. Hello? That’s absolutely incredible. And God’s love is truly an ocean that washes over undeserving sinners like us. So, how are you doing with this doctrine? The Bible is clear. What you do with it is up to you. How about this though? How about responding to it the way Paul did? With praise to God. With praise to God. Sinclair Ferguson said, until we come to the place where we can sing about election with a full heart, we’ve not grasped the spirit of New Testament teaching. Robert Self said, to either deny sovereign election or to store it away in some theological closet on shelves labeled good for nothing or harmful is to rob the people of God of the fullest views of God’s glory and to limit the church’s worship to the realms of human logic. That’s right. This is beyond us, but it’s true. Spurgeon said, it’s one of the axioms of theology that if a man be lost, God must not be blamed for it. And it’s also an axiom of theology that if a man be saved, God must have the glory of it. He added, I believe the doctrine of election because I’m quite sure that if God had not chosen me, I should never have chosen him. And I’m sure he chose me before I was born or else he never would have chosen me afterward. And He must have elected me for reasons unknown to me, for I never could find any reason in myself why He should have looked upon me with a special love. He’s absolutely right. And our call is to exalt our God for choosing us in Him before the foundation of the world, because if that didn’t happen, then none of us would be saved, and every person here would be heading for hell right now and without hope in the world. So I say, exalt Him today. Exalt Him today. Praise Him. And don’t fight against the doctrine that the Apostle Paul exalts. Even if you don’t fully understand it. I don’t fully understand it. But I believe it. Second reason to bless God. Here’s another word. He predestined us to adoption. Verse 5. Having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will. The word predestined means to determine beforehand, and it ties in with the word chosen, obviously. The idea is this, that in the counsels of God, the reason He chose the saints out of the mass of humanity is because He predetermined their destiny. And here, that destiny is that we would be His sons, that we would be His beloved children. How did that happen? Predestined. by Jesus Christ to himself or through Jesus Christ. See, he came to secure the believer’s salvation. So what did he do? Jesus God the Son left heaven, took on human flesh and became a man, 100% man and 100% God at the same time. He lived a perfect life. He died on a cross. And then three days later, he rose up from the dead. Why? to save His people from sin, hell, and eternal wrath. See, we are all sinners, and sin separates us from God and condemns all of us to hell, which is the just wages of sin. How so? Because even one sin committed against an infinite and eternal God is worthy of infinite and eternal wages. So here’s the verdict. Either you pay the wages of your own sin for all eternity in hell, or else Jesus Christ paid for your sin once and for all on the cross. And it’s one or the other. It’s one or the other. The good news is that for all who believe on Christ in saving, repentant faith, they will indeed be forgiven of all their sin and declared righteous in the sight of God, ensuring heaven as their eternal inheritance. How’s that possible? Because on the cross, God punished Jesus for every believer’s sin. Because on the cross, Jesus became the believer’s substitute for sin. Because on the cross, God treated Jesus as if he had committed every sin ever committed by every person who would ever believe, even though Jesus committed no sin. See, every believer’s sin was placed onto Jesus, and God poured out His divine wrath against all that sin onto Christ, so you, the believer, could then be showered with amazing grace and mercy. And it’s because of what Jesus did for every believer that we can then be adopted as God’s own children. And that means everything. And look, it was all planned out by God before the foundation of the world. And it’s very, very personal. Adopted. The Greek word for adoption literally means to place one as a son who is not formally a son or a daughter. Adoption means to formally and legally declare that someone who is not one’s own child is from here on out to be treated and cared for as one’s own child, including having the complete rights of inheritance, full inheritance. The Westminster Confession defines adoption in these terms. All those who are justified, God grants in and for His only Son, Jesus Christ, to make partakers of the grace of adoption, by which they are taken into the number and enjoy the liberties and privileges of the children of God, have His name put upon them, receive the spirit of adoption, have access to the throne of grace with boldness, are enabled to cry, Abba, Father, are pitied, protected, provided for, and chastened by Him as by a father, yet never cast off, but sealed to the day of redemption and inherit the promises as heirs of everlasting salvation. Come on. How good is that? Adopted. Well, we as Christians have been adopted by God. John Murray says that adoption, as the term clearly implies, is an act of transfer from an alien family into the family of God Himself. This is surely the apex of grace and privilege. And that’s right. See… This isn’t a cold act by God where he does this. No, this is a family idea that’s filled with love and care and affection and relationship. Look, when it came to adoption in Roman society, the adopted person lost all the rights of his old family and gained all the rights of a legitimate son in his new family. In the most binding legal way, he got a new father. Also, he became heir to his new father’s estate. Even if other sons were born later, it didn’t affect his rights. No, he was now unreservedly co-heir with them. Also in Roman law, the old life of the adopted person was completely wiped out. And he was then regarded as a new person entering a new life with which the past had no bearing on him whatsoever. Everything changed, see? And that’s what God’s done for us. The picture? We were dirty, diseased, impoverished orphans with no one to care for us. And we weren’t there as helpless victims, no. We were there because of our deliberate rebellion against God. But one day, he showed up at the cardboard shack that we were sleeping in, and in love, he chose us to be in his family. He cleaned us up. He removed our rags. He clothed us. He brought us into His family where we now have brothers and sisters to share our burdens and our joys. He adopted us as His own so that throughout eternity we will enjoy the unfathomable riches of Christ. God is now my Father. My eternal fate is sealed and I stand forgiven of all my sin. Jesus paid the penalty for all my sin on the cross. God loves me and nothing can now separate me from the love of God. What’s there to fear in light of all that as an adopted child of God? Romans 8 tells us that now, as God’s adopted children, we can now cry out to him, Abba, Father. Father. Cry is a loud cry signifying deep emotion. Abba is an Aramaic word for Papa or Daddy, which is a very intimate term. It’s a word of trust. It’s a word of dependence, of intimacy, of tenderness, and of love. It’s the same word that the Lord used when He spoke to the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane. And we can go to Him like that. Isn’t that amazing? And guess what? He won’t cast us out. Once we were trembling sinners living in fear, and now we’re sons in the beloved care of our Father. Once we were strangers, now we are family. Once we were shut out, now we are intimate. And we can go into the presence of the Holy God of the universe, and we can say, Papa, and He will say, I’m here for you, my beloved child. It’s a picture of a soul in need. Anybody in need? Yeah? Yeah? It’s a picture of love and freedom and a rushing into his presence with a real need, knowing that he’s intimate with you. And you with Him. Speaks of love, of care, of concern, of heart, of passion. God towards you, His child that He rescued. So adoption means that you have a new family. The old family’s gone forever. The old master’s gone forever. The old name is gone forever. God is your Father. The Lord Jesus is your Savior. And the Holy Spirit now lives in you. Adoption means that you have a new privilege. You have the same rights as the oldest saints of God. One said, in our world, there are exclusive clubs with members dependent on who you know and how much money you have. But God only has one level of membership. Everyone who comes into the family of God comes in the same way because the ground level is at the foot of the cross. He only has one class. Everyone in God’s family has gold card standing. Everyone’s born again. Everyone has full rights. Everyone’s at the head of the class. Everyone comes in at the best possible level. Adoption also means that you have a new responsibility to live for the glory and honor of God with passion until you receive the ultimate rewards that come from that adoption. Look, you’re rich now, so don’t live like a pauper. You have the Holy Spirit, don’t dwell in the flesh. You have access to God, use it. You have brothers and sisters, lean on them. You have spiritual gifts, put them to work for Christ. You have been set free from Satan’s power, don’t mess around with the devil anymore. You have a new family, stop living like you belong to your old one. Adoption is a wonderful truth for all of us in Christ. So bless God for it. Praise God because of it. Question, why would God do this for us? What’s the motive for such lavish grace? Because he wanted to. According to the good pleasure of his will. So why did he do this for us? Because it pleases God. It’s a really deep thought. One noted, the picture here is not of a grim Lord watching over the execution of His predetermined plan, but of a smiling Father who’s to be praised. He enjoys imparting His riches to His children. And that’s right. So this act of free love was grounded totally in God Himself, freely from His own goodwill. He wanted you. He wanted to save you. He wanted to adopt you as His own. And while this isn’t an indictment on those that he didn’t adopt, it’s simply pointing out the blessings on those that he did adopt. And also it goes to the greatness of his love in adopting us. One note of this. Predestination was never meant to be a doctrinal club used to batter people into acknowledgments of God’s sovereignty. Rather, the message of God’s love preceding our accomplishments and outlasting our failures was meant to give us a profound sense of confidence and security in God’s love so that we will not despair in situations of great difficulty, pain, and shame. And that’s right. And great praise should be given to God because of it. Note how Paul adds these words, to the praise of the glory of His grace. This shows us that God must get all the glory for our salvation and that not one bit of credit can go to us or to any human being. He did it according to the good pleasure of His will and therefore this doctrine should cultivate the deepest humility in us and it should also provoke us to the highest form of praise. Try to contemplate His amazing grace, His undeserved riches that He has lavished on you. Try. Try. You can’t. Right? You can’t. But while it’s too great to truly fathom, you can praise Him for it. See, this doctrine of God choosing us, of God predestining us, which is a biblical doctrine, isn’t meant to separate believers or to instill pride in being chosen. No, it’s meant to bless us. Brian Chappell said, this isn’t meant for endless argument. Instead, it’s our basis of comfort when we face the limitations of our actions, will, and choices. For this doctrine greatly assures the beleaguered who are wrestling with their sin and the world’s trials. To such, God says, I loved you before the world began, so don’t doubt me now. He said, predestination is the Heavenly Father’s shout of eternal love that echoes in our songs of thankful praise as our strength is renewed by the assurance of His care. When predestination is properly taught, it accomplishes what Paul says is his goal. Praise to God for His glorious grace and peace to His people. And that’s what I pray is the result for us from this doctrine. Why do you think Paul starts off with this doctrine as a first reason why we should bless and praise God? Just as God said to Israel, so as God said to us who believe today, I have loved you with an everlasting love. Before the world was made, I called you my own. You are mine. And while we might have a hard time grasping this doctrine in our own fallible human minds, look, the next time you’re wrestling with sin, difficulty, hardship, pain, trials, or past failures in your life, may you hear this shout from heaven in your mind. You always have been on my heart no matter what happens. I have chosen to love you since before the world began. You are mine. Come on, is that encouraging? What a great reason. to jump for joy and praise God. Don’t reject this doctrine. Don’t reject it. Praise God for it, even if you can’t wrap your brain around it. Finally, look, third, we can bless and praise God because He made us acceptable in the Beloved. The Beloved is Christ, and look, God not only chose us and predestined us and adopted us, but He also made sure that we would be accepted by God and allowed all the glories of heaven. How did that happen? Through Christ and what He did for us, all because of the amazing grace of God. Talking about an overflow of grace from God, undeserved favor from God, abundant grace from God. And it’s because of what Christ did on that cross that all who believe, the chosen ones, will then be accepted forever. Forever. Because of Christ. So look, God didn’t just choose you, but he took great lengths to save your desperate and lost soul. I mean, he died to make you his. Talk about love, right? He suffered to make you his. Talk about love. He was mocked and tortured and ridiculed and he faced God’s painful divine wrath against all your sin to make you his. Talk about love. And now by grace through faith in Christ because of what he, our beloved one, did in our place on the cross, accept it. That’s incredible. That’s incredible. Oh, the joy of being beloved, adopted, and accepted by God the Father because of his beloved son. That’s us in Christ. One wrote, near so very near to God, nearer I could not be. For in the person of his son, I’m just as near as he. Dear so very dear to God, dearer I could not be. For in the person of his son, I’m just as dear as he. That’s amazing. All because we are in Christ, because He has graced us with His grace. It should blow us all away, but it’s biblical. And it’s true. And our only response should be to praise Him abundantly and to love Him with more fervor and with more passion. I mean, how could we not? I mean, who are we? And look at what He’s done. Here’s the conclusion. Here’s the conclusion. God took the initiative to predetermine our destiny as adopted sons in the family of God. He accomplished this through His Son, Jesus Christ, to bring us to God Himself. This was done according to His pleasure, freely operating from His own will. Because He has predestined us, He chose us out of all humanity. These actions are not only the basis of every spiritual blessing, but also they are the spiritual blessings themselves. is it any wonder that God is to be praised? So, praise Him. Again, even if you can’t understand all of it, even if you don’t have it all figured out in your head, praise Him still because He is worthy. Paul says these are the reasons why we should bless and praise God. And I agree. Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, fill us with Your praise as we contemplate Your truth. Help us, Lord, to trust Your Word. Help us to take You at Your Word and to respond accordingly to who You are and to what You’ve done for undeserving sinners like us. Help us to exalt Your mighty name and to live like we believe it. Speak to our hearts. We love You and thank You. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

SPEAKER 02 : 24:45

Thanks for joining us for today’s exposition from the book of Ephesians on expository truths with Dr. John Kyle. Continue on with us next week at this same time. And to find this sermon in its entirety as well as other sermons, visit vacavillefaith.org. Faith Community Church seeks to exalt Christ by bringing clarity of truth through the Scriptures with a commitment to glorifying God through the pure, deep, and reaching message of the Gospel through faithful exposition. Pastor John is the preaching pastor at Faith Community Church of Vacaville, a seminary professor and a trainer of preaching pastors overseas. Join Faith Community Church for worship Sundays at 9 and 1045 a.m. Located at 192 Bella Vista Road, Suite A in Vacaville. To learn more, visit vacavillefaith.org or call 707-451-2026. That’s vacavillefaith.org.