To The Praise Of His Glory

To be alive in Christ is nothing short of a miracle. Do you believe that? 

Ephesians 2, verses 4 to 5 say this: “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, has made us alive together with Christ.” Is that not a miracle?

I’m telling you it’s a miracle. To go from spiritual death to spiritual life, to go from the grave to glory, to go from emptiness to everything, oh that’s a miracle and it didn’t just happen. No! There was a purpose, there was a plan, there was a promise, there was a choice and a grace and a mystery. There was a sacrifice and a redemption and a forgiveness and a sealing and a filling and an inheritance. In fact, the apostle Paul is about to open everything up in Ephesians, chapter 1. He’s going to show us that all three persons of the Godhead, the triune God, the one triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, have been collaborating from all eternity past through to eternity future on this very project of our salvation, which is ours by grace through faith in Christ. It took all of heaven to work this miracle in us to make us alive in Christ. And as Paul begins this letter to the church in Ephesus—as he does so he breaks forth in the most beautiful and transcendent chorus of worship and praise to our triune God who has saved us and made us alive in Christ, all to the praise of His glory.

So, grab your Bibles. We’re going to be in Ephesians, chapter 1, verses 3 down to 14 this morning. Ephesians 1, 3 down to 14. You’ll find today’s reading in the pew Bible on page 976. And these twelve verses are, in fact, one (chuckles) giant sentence in Greek. Two hundred and forty-six words in English! Two hundred and two in Greek! And this is all one sentence we’re looking at today.

As a matter of fact, verses 15 down to 23, are another long sentence, so what you have is, after the salutation in Ephesians, chapter 1, you have two sentences that make up the entire chapter. That’s pretty crazy. I know some of you teachers and English majors are going nuts right now, but that’s what we have before us, and what glorious sentences they are.

We’re going to look at the first sentence today, and the second sentence next time. Alright?

So, verses 3 down to 14! Let us read the Word of the Lord.

“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, even as 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. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ, a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”

That is an amazing sentence, isn’t it? It’s an amazing sentence. All the punctuation in English doesn’t exist. Okay? In Greek it just keeps going.

Now, you’ll recall from last time that the Ephesian church was facing a twofold danger, two-prong danger. Remember? They were in danger of losing the truth of the Gospel and their love for God. The truth of the Gospel and their love for God! And so, Paul begins this letter with a prayer of blessing that will saturate their minds with the truth of the Gospel and will stir their hearts in worship of God. This is a great way to begin. He reminds the Ephesian church and us that we are chosen by the Father, we are redeemed by the Son, and we are sealed by the Spirit. 

Okay? Trinity outline:

Chosen by the Father, redeemed by the Son, sealed by the Spirit!

Let’s pray and ask the Lord to be our teacher as we dive in.

Father, as we turn to this glorious sentence that redounds to the praise of your glory, Father, remind us of the truth. Grab our minds with the truth of the Gospel and stir our hearts to worship you for all that you are and all you have given us in Christ Jesus. We pray this in the name of our Savior and Lord, Amen. Amen.

Number one, we are chosen by the Father, chosen by the Father.

Verse 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.”

Pause: This prayer of praise begins with the word “blessed,” which is both a description and an ascription. Description and ascription! Paul is describing God as blessed because He alone is blessed above all. And he is ascribing blessing to God for He alone is worthy of all blessing and honor and glory. And all blessing rightfully belongs to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Why? What are the grounds of this blessing, the reason for it? Because He is the one who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

Now, it’s hard to notice in your English translation here, but all three members of the Trinity are present here in verse three. It begins with God the Father who has blessed us in Christ. There’s the Son with every spiritual blessing. And this word “spiritual” in the Greek simply means “of the Spirit,” pertaining to the Spirit, as in the Holy Spirit. These are blessings of the Spirit that Paul has in mind here. In fact, I think it would be better almost to capitalize the letter “S” in spiritual because with the small “s” we’re tempted to assume that this means immaterial or non-physical blessings. But that’s not the intent here. These are the blessings of the Spirit, the Spirit-infused Spirit-empowered, Spirit-gifted blessings that the Father has given to us in Jesus Christ.

So, here in the opening lines of this prayer of praise, we have the entire Trinity at work, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is the Father who is the initiating Source of our blessing. It is the Son who is the incarnate Mediator of our blessing, and it is the Spirit who is the indwelling Agent of our blessings. And all these blessings, Paul says, are in the heavenly places, which is where Christ has ascended, and is seated now at the Father’s right hand, from whence He has sent the Holy Spirit with all of His manifold gifts of grace for the sake of the body of Christ.

Now, Paul calls the Ephesians and us, who have been so blessed to be blessed by the Father, who has blessed us in the Son with the blessings of the Spirit, to now return blessing to God for all He has done to us. “Blessed be the God who has blessed us.”

And now Paul is going to enumerate some of those blessings.

Verse 4, “Even as He (This is the Father.) chose us in Him (Christ) before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him (the Father).” So, one of the great blessings that we’ve received from the Father, in the Son, by the Spirit is that we are chosen. We are chosen. “The Father has chosen us in Christ,” he says, “before the foundation of the world.” So before (this is amazing) the dawning of the world, the Father looked down through the corridors of time and beheld us and loved us and chose us to be His very own. Before God said, “Let there be light,” God said, “Let them be mine.” (applause) And there are echoes here. There are echoes here of when God chose Abraham and blessed him and made him His very own, not because Abraham was so great, but because God was so very gracious.

And there are echoes of when God chose Israel to be blessed to be His very own, not because Israel was so great, but because God was so very gracious.

And now God has chosen you to be blessed in Christ, to make you His very own, not because you’re so very good, but because God is so very gracious. And you have been chosen with a purpose, a purpose. Paul says that we should be holy and blameless before Him. This is temple language. Only the holy and blameless could enter into the holy presence of God. Hebrews 12:14 says without holiness no one will see the Lord, and this is relational language. The reason we need holiness is so we can draw near to a holy God, to see Him face-to-face, and to be with Him.

So, don’t you see, friends? We haven’t even started barely, have we? But from before time began, God the Father chose you in Christ, in the Lamb who was slain, before the foundation of the world, to be His very own, that you might be holy and pleasing and blameless in His sight so that you might enjoy His glorious presence forever and ever. From all eternity past God chose you for Himself in love, in Christ, so that in all eternity future you might forever live in love before Him. This is amazing.

And he keeps going. “In love he (the Father) predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his (This is the Father’s) will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.”

So not only did the Father choose us for Himself, in love He has predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to His purpose and will. Now, when someone adopts a child, a son or daughter, as their very own, they choose to give that child all the rights and privileges of blood kinship (right?), all the rights and privileges. It is a legal status that is conferred upon the child. That child now has rights, rights to the family estate, rights to the inheritance. They are truly a part of the family.  They bear the family name. They enjoy the family status, and they are entitled to the family inheritance. Right?

Now through Jesus Christ, friends, Paul says, “We have been adopted as sons of God.” We are sons of God. And just a quick aside, ladies, this includes you too. I know it’s hard to read language that doesn’t have your gender in it, or whatever, but listen to me on this. In the Greco-Roman world, only men inherited, so only sons could inherit properties, which is why Paul deliberately chooses the word “sons.” He’s not excluding you. He’s trying to show you that you are an heir. You are a son. You are an inheritor. This includes men and women. You are a legally adopted heir of God. And just to be fair, in chapter five Paul’s going to refer to the church, men and women together, as the bride of Christ. So, women need to realize they are sons, and men need to realize they are a bride. Okay? So, it goes both ways. End of aside. Okay?

So here we are. The destiny that the Father has willed and has purposed from before the dawn of time was that we might be His own sons and heirs through Jesus Christ. As John says in John 1, verse 12, “Yet to all who received him (Jesus), to those who believed in his name, he gives the right to become children of God.” And all of this, Paul says, “is to the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.”

Now, who is this “Beloved” at the end of verse 6? Who is it? It’s Jesus, the Son of God. When did God use this word “Beloved” of Jesus? It was at His baptism. “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” Beloved is the word that the Father uses to describe the intimate loving relationship that exists between the Father and the Son. As the Father loves the Son and the Son loves the Father, now we too join into this love of God. We have been caught up into the love that subsists eternally between the Father and the Son. We are beloved in the Beloved. And it is all to the praise of His glorious grace.

Friends, we are the undeserving. We are the unworthy, and all of this is by grace. It’s grace. Friends, the Father has chosen you for adoption. The Father has chosen you for adoption. He chose you. He picked you. He wanted you. In making you His own son, He is calling you “beloved.” He is drawing you to Himself, and He has destined that you would be well-pleasing in His sight forever. You are His from before the dawn of time until beyond the ending of the world, and every moment in between, you are His forever and always. You are chosen by the Father. Amen? Amen.

You are redeemed by the Son, as well. Redeemed by the Son! Verse 7, “In him (That is in the Beloved, in Christ) we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight...” So not only are we adopted as sons of God, we are now redeemed by the blood of Christ. Just as Israel, God’s people in the Old Testament, were redeemed from bondage in Egypt through the blood of the Passover Lamb, now we are redeemed from the bondage of sin, death, and Satan through the blood of the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world.

Jesus died. When He died in our place and for our sake and bore all of our sin and shame on the cross, when He exchanged His life, His blood for us on the cross and rose again to make us right with God forever, we have received now redemption through His blood. We have received forgiveness of our trespasses. We have been lavished with the riches of His grace.
(chuckles) What rich extravagancy! What gracious blessing! What a wondrous story! Who could have ever come up with such a beautiful moment of grace as the cross and the redemption of all humanity and the sacrifice of the love of Jesus? Who could come up with such an amazing story? Only the wisest! Only the most insightful Being in all the universe could have crafted this story of grace.

Verse 9: “making known to us the mystery of his will (the Father’s...this is the Father’s will.), according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him (That is in Jesus), things in heaven and things on earth.”

So here we have...through the redeeming blood of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Father has revealed the mystery of His will here on Earth. All along God has had a plan to bring all things to their proper end and fulfillment in Jesus Christ. God is summing up the universe, as it were, in Jesus. Jesus is the summation of the Jewish story. All of the Old Testament was pointing to Jesus, every law, every sacrifice, every prophet, every priest, every king. It was all pointing to Messiah, to Jesus, the one who would come. And Jesus is the summation, not just of the Jewish story, but the Gentile story as well, the story of non-Jewish people, for all the nations must be blessed through the seed of Abraham. And so, one day every nation and people and tribe and language and tongue will gather around King Jesus in glory and worship Him forever.

And not only that, Jesus is the summation of the cosmic story, not just the Jewish story and the Gentile story, but the cosmic story. In Jesus, sin is conquered. In Jesus, death is defeated. In Jesus, Satan is vanquished, and every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. (applause) And in Christ, all things shall be made new. The whole universe will be set to rights and made beautiful again in the person of Jesus Christ. And now this mystery that was hidden for ages is now freely available. We can see it. We didn’t know who would be Messiah. We didn’t know who would be Lord of the nations. We didn’t know who would be King of the cosmos but now we do. Jesus has revealed it all. The Father has made known the mystery of His will to unite all things in Christ. And it’s already begun with you and me. By grace through faith in Christ’s substitutionary death and resurrection on our behalf, friends, you have been united in Christ. Christ is in you, and you are in Christ. You have been immersed into His life, and you are now alive in union with Christ.

And friends, the Son has redeemed you for union. The Son has redeemed you for union. God’s plan all along was that you and I might be united with Christ, that His life might become our own, that we might come alive in Him. How else were you going to be holy and blameless in His sight? How else would you be a son and heir of the God of the universe? How else could you be beloved in Him? How else? But if Galatians 2:20 is correct, that we have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer we who live but Christ who lives in us, and the life we now live by faith we live in the Son of God who loved us, and gave Himself up for us, then our lives are actually hidden in Christ, (Colossians 3:3) and Christ is in us which is our hope of glory (Colossians 1:27). To be united in Christ means we are in Christ and Christ is in us.

Now what does that mean? Give me a picture to anchor to. I mean I can understand if I have a cup and I put water in the cup, I understand Christ in me. And then I can imagine that cup, if I, you know, dropped it in a bucket. You know, I can imagine the cup in the bucket, in the water. I can imagine my life in Christ. How do I put this together? Well, plunge it all the way down until there’s water in the cup. And you’re completely immersed in the life and love of Christ. This is the picture. You are filled to the brim with the life of Christ, and your life is hidden in Christ. You are submerged and tethered to and filled by the life of Christ in union with Him now and forever.

Chosen by the Father, redeemed by the Son.

Now finally sealed by the Spirit. Sealed by the Spirit, verse 11!

“In him (This is Christ.) we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will (That’s the Father).” So, in Christ, we’ve obtained the inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of the Father who works all things according to the counsel of His will.

So, remember, friends, the Father chose us for adoption as His sons, and sons are heirs, and heirs get an inheritance. Right? Paul says you and I in Christ, we’ve received a windfall inheritance, a windfall inheritance, not because somebody died and just happened to put us in their will, but because the Father’s purpose was set before the beginning of time that you and I should share in His eternal estate. “Everything is going according to plan,” Paul says. The Father is working all things according to the counsel of His will. His predestined purposes are unfolding right on schedule (verse 12) “so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.”

Now something funny happens here in verses 12 and 13 because in this verse Paul makes a shift when he says, “We who were first to hope in Christ,” he’s now referring to the Jewish people who have come to trust in Jesus as Messiah in Christ. Remember back in Acts, chapter 19, the very first people to trust in Jesus in Ephesus were the Jewish people. And so, these Jewish believers “were the first to hope in Christ to the praise of his glory.”

But Paul doesn’t stop there. Look at verse 13. “In him you also (Now he’s talking to the Gentiles.), when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirt.”

“When you Gentiles...when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.” Remember they turned from all their pagan practices? They burned their books, the magic and all the things they were living in. They threw down their idols to grab ahold of Jesus. That’s who he’s talking to now.

He says, “You’ve been sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.” Sealed! The word is like a word for a brand, like you would brand cattle or some of you stamp in your books, and you say, “This is from my library,” or you monogram your clothing, “This belongs to me.” That’s the idea. It’s a brand, a mark of ownership. It’s a symbol, an image of the owner that demonstrates that this thing belongs to the owner. And friends, the Holy Spirit is God’s brand on your life. It is His name that is on you. You belong to Him forever.

So here you have Jewish believers who have come into an inheritance as sons of God, and are coming into that inheritance alongside Gentile believers who have also been sealed by the same Holy Spirit (Verse 14) “who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”

Friends, who would have ever thought that Jews and Gentiles would inherit the blessings of God together? Who would have ever thought? But as Paul writes in Galatians 3:28, “In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Friends, in Christ Jesus, we are all inheritors. In Christ Jesus, we all belong to the Father. In Christ Jesus, we are all sealed by the Holy Spirit. And friends, the Spirit has sealed you for inheritance, sealed you for inheritance. You have been branded as God’s very own. You bear His image and likeness. You are adopted as His son and heir. You are sealed by the Spirit. And that Holy Spirit is your guarantee. He is a deposit, a down payment, a pledge, a first installment and foretaste of the glories that are ours to come. The Spirit is a fractional deposit of your great future endowments. And we shall take full possession of it one day as God takes full possession of us.

“Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father,” Jesus says. “And the sons of God will be revealed,” as Paul writes in Romans, chapter 8. And it is all to the praise of His glory.

Three times Paul has said this. Verse 6, verse 12, verse 14, he says it is all to the praise of His glory.

I’m reminded of Isaiah 43, verses 20 and 21 where God speaks and He says, “This is my chosen people, the people I have formed for myself that they might declare my praises.” And friends, here’s your takeaway. Our salvation is to the praise of His glory! Our salvation is to the praise of His glory! All of God’s saving work is for our good, and it is for His glory.

Before time, God knew you and loved you and chose you. And He set His affections upon you and purposed that you would be His child, that you would be with Him and be holy and blameless in His sight. That’s why He sent you Jesus as your Substitute, your Redeemer, your Savior, your Lord and your King. That’s why He sealed you with the Holy Spirit so that you might be His very own possession. He gave you a guarantee of all the glory that will come to you in the end so that in the end He might share all that He is and all that He has with you. The procurement of your good is to the praise of His glory! Amen? Amen.

Whew! That’s quite a sentence, don’t you think? It’s amazing, the Word of God! Doesn’t it seize your mind and stir your heart? Let’s go live it out, friends. This is who we are in Christ. He alone is worthy. He alone is worthy.

Let’s pray.

Oh Father, we give you praise and glory, for you have called us to yourself, destined us to belong to you from before the beginning of the world. Before we were a genetic code, before we were conceived, we were conceived in the mind of God who has loved us with an eternal and everlasting love, who has called us to yourself. This is incredible, amazing. That you would send Jesus to die in our place and for our sake to make us your very own, and that you would lavish us with the blessing of your Spirit, who would activate all of this life in us that we might be alive in Christ to the praise of your glory forever.

We are amazed, for you alone are worthy. We give you honor and glory today, in Jesus’ name.

And all of God’s people said? Amen. Amen.