Scripture Reading: Ephesians 1:1–14

Well, if you'll turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Ephesians, chapter 1. That'll be the book of Ephesians, chapter 1. Tonight we will look at how the Father functions in the whole work of redemption within the triune God. That will be verses 3 to 6, but I will read verses 1 through 14 to set the context.

So Ephesians 1, verses 1 through 14, let's read together. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus, Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 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.

Predestination unto Adoption

In love, He predestined us for adoption 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 as 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.

Amen. Well, let us pray.

Opening Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for this Lord's Day. We thank you for your goodness and your grace upon us, Lord. We pray now that you would forgive us of our sins. Oh, as children, Lord, we disobey you, and we pray that you would forgive us for those things.

For we do not love you as we ought, and we do not love others as we ought, Lord God. I pray that by your grace and by your Spirit you'd convict us of our sin, that we might praise you and worship you for your wonderful work of redemption, your wonderful plan to save sinners in Christ. We praise you for that wonderful gift, Lord God. We praise you that you've called people out of darkness into marvelous light, those you have predetermined to save according to your grace.

And Father God, I pray now that you would give us ears to hear what you have to say. Help us to be awake and attentive, for this is your word. Give us your Holy Spirit there, Lord, and I pray that you would bless the preaching as well. For without your spirit, this is not preaching.

And I need your strength and I need your aid now, Lord God, for without you, no one will be convicted. And Lord, I pray that you'd be with me and that you would be glorified in all things, and that Christ might be magnified as well, and we might just relish in the wonderful gift in Christ. Amen. Well,

Introduction

I'm sure most of you know today is Father's Day, and I'm sure you had wonderful times celebrating your earthly fathers. And that's all fun, and we should praise or bless our earthly fathers, but we must remember our Heavenly Father as well. And so I want to ask you to come with me, and let's turn our eyes to the Father. For today is really something very special.

We actually get to see a glimpse into the boardroom of Heaven, if you will. We actually get to see the plan of redemption that was planned between the Triune God, And tonight we'll look at the Father's role in that. We'll look at how He functions in the whole overarching plan of redemption. And Ephesians 1, 3-14, a lot of the stuff that we see here is going to be fleshed out through the rest of the book.

So it's really important that we understand what's going on in the first 14 verses. Ephesians as a whole can be split up between chapters 1-3, which I would call orthodoxy, And chapters four through six, orthopraxy. So after we see the grace of God in one through three, Paul gives us practical applications for how we should live our lives in gratitude to the grace of God upon us. And

The Covenant of Redemption Explained

what theologians call this thing that's going on in verses three through 14 is called the covenant of redemption. It's also called the pactum salutis, or the pact of salvation. So the Father promises to give a people to the Son, and the Son willingly undertakes to be the mediator for those people. And this pact is between the Father and the Son to save sinners.

And this covenant of redemption is the pattern or the backdrop for the covenant of grace, wherein God offers salvation unto sinners in Christ. And so this is super significant. It is extremely important because the father plans, the son accomplishes, and then the spirit applies. And the way that he does that, the way that the plan works, is he does that through preaching.

So even now, we can see God's plan being fulfilled when sinners come to Christ. And so, as I preach through this, I said I'm going to look at the Father first, verses 3 through 6. Then the next time I preach, I'll look at the Son, verses 7 through 12. And then I'll look at the Spirit, verses 13 and 14.

So in Ephesians 1, verses 3 to 6, Paul praises God the Father for his plan of free and sovereign grace, where he chooses to save sinners in Christ. So Paul praises God the Father for His plan to save sinners in Christ. He praises Him for predestination and is a wonderful and blessed thing we will behold today. And I will look at this plan of the Father under three points.

Point one will be the blessing for the Father. Point two will be the predestination by the Father. And point three will be the praise to the Father.

The Blessing for the Father

So let's look at that first point, the blessing for the Father. Right off the bat, Paul says, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And this word here, blessed, is primarily used in the New Testament when it's praising God Almighty. It was also used in the Jewish setting to open up worship.

And typically, in the ancient world, is you would read aloud letters like this. People didn't have Kindles, they couldn't go to chapters and buy their Bibles, they had to be read out loud. And if you haven't been practicing this before, I would encourage you to actually listen to scripture as it's being read. You might hear some things that are new or different.

So right off the bat, as the messenger's reading this out, he's calling us to praise God. be the God and Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This also has Old Testament application as well. We looked at Exodus 18 on Wednesday night, and one of the pinnacle of Exodus of that section where God delivers the people up out of Israel is this, is that a Gentile believes in the Almighty God. And so this Gentile says in Exodus 18.10, blessed be the Lord who has saved these people out of the hands of Pharaoh.

We see this blessing idea in 2 Chronicles 6.4, where Solomon blesses Yahweh for the promises that have been fulfilled to build the temple that were promised to David. So you see, Paul in prison is calling us to praise the God, the Father. And that sets the stage for the rest of 3, verse 14. So Paul is calling us to praise God, the Father, for the Father's work.

He's calling us to praise God, the Father, for Christ's work, and he's calling us to praise God, the Spirit, or praise God, the Father, for the Spirit's work. And notice as well that this object of blessing here is God, the Father. He is God the Father, we must give Him praise and honor. And it's interesting, the same word is used throughout this verse.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. We must praise God for the blessings that He blesses us with. We must praise God for the blessings of His spiritual blessings. And that's the reason why we give him praise, because he's gracious and kind and seeks to bestow on us these benefits that we don't deserve.

And I think these spiritual benefits aren't so much charismatic gifts. There's not so much this idea of this inner dwelling within us, but it's more the redemptive benefits that we have in Jesus Christ. Things like justification, where we have pardoned for sin, and we are clothed in a righteousness not our own and declared not guilty. We have sanctification, by which we die more and more unto sin and grow more and more unto Christ.

Listen to one of the commentators. The blessings consists of God's saving activity in Christ, and this fullness of divine blessing can be described as spiritual. Not because it belongs to a person's inner hidden life, but because it is bound up with the Holy Spirit. You see, what happens is, After the Son accomplishes what the Father plans, the Spirit then applies these things in the life of believers.

Believers who are predetermined will be, what, called out of darkness into marvelous light. They will be given that new heart. They will have that heavenly heart surgery performed on them. They will see their need for Christ and repent.

They will have faith. then they will be justified, adopted, sanctified, they will persevere until the end, until ultimately one day they will be glorified. And there's a difference here between what is spiritual blessing or a heavenly blessing and what's an earthly blessing as well. Notice where these blessings are, in the heavenly places at the end of verse three. Remember Deuteronomy 28, verses one through four.

The people were to receive physical blessings for physical obedience. We know that they didn't fulfill that. And in Ephesians 1 verse 3, we see the spiritual blessings for Christ's obedience. And again, remember, Paul is in prison.

So we may not receive physical blessings in life, but we will have spiritual blessings. We will have spiritual blessings that cannot be taken away, and they are wonderful and blessed, and we will see some of them in the following verses. And notice that these blessings not are only for future, but believers now can experience these things. Listen to Bruce, FF Bruce.

Even if they live on earth in mortal bodies, they can enter into the good of their heavenly inheritance here and now through the ministry of the Spirit. We can experience these blessings now because of that work of the Spirit as He applies the benefits that Christ procured for us. And notice as well that these blessings are in Christ. Christ consented.

Christ willingly offered himself up on behalf of a people. He is that one who said he would bear the brunt of the punishment to save sinners. He is our federal head. He is the head of his people.

Just as we all die in Adam as our federal head in the physical sense, Christ is our federal head in the spiritual sense. And this idea of being in Christ is repeated throughout verses 3 through 14. In Him, we have redemption. In Him, we have obtained an inheritance.

In Him, we heard the word of truth, and we're sealed with the Holy Spirit. And so, there's something we can take away from this. While we may not experience spiritual blessings, or excuse me, we may not experience physical blessings, we will experience spiritual blessings. And

Spiritual Versus Earthly Blessings

the spiritual blessings far outweigh the earthly blessings. So we may have pain and sorrow in this life, but one day that pain and sorrow will be gone. And one day we will be with that High King of Heaven. And it will be wonderful and it will be glorious.

And you think about it, it's only what, 80 years is the average that you have to live? And it's not all bad. Then we get to go to heaven and experience the fullness of the spiritual blessings that we receive. So you see, we're called to bless the Father because of the blessings that he gives us.

That was point one.

The Predestination by the Father

Now let us go to point two, the predestination by the Father. Point two. Verse four, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, Notice here that Paul is praising God for election. Paul is praising God for predestination.

And this word of election here means this, to make a choice in accordance with significant preference. To make a choice in accordance with significant preference. God is free and God is sovereign. And he has determined who he would save out of his grace and mercy.

And one commentator notes that there's a difference between the word chose here and even the word predestined in verse five. In verse four, the word for election or to choose has the idea of people, of a multitude. Has the idea of a people of a multitude. I really like this one commentator's comment.

This is what he says.

Election Before the Foundation of the World

Before the world which was to be lost in sin and misery was founded, its guilt and helplessness were present to the mind of God, and His gracious purposes toward it were formed. And I liked what Gil has to say as well. Election does not find men in Christ, but puts them there. It gives them a being in Him and union in Him.

Election does not find men in Christ, but it puts us in Christ if you are a believer. It puts us in Christ if you are a believer. And he says in verse 4, he chose us. Who's us?

We know from verse one that Paul is speaking to the saints who are in Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus. So what we see is this church of Ephesus where we see that the mysteries of God being fulfilled, where the Gentiles are united with the Jews into one body. And that's one of the themes that Paul picks up throughout this book. In chapter two, verse 20, he says, so then you are no longer strangers and aliens, speaking to the Gentiles.

But you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone. You see, God has brought the church into one. He has predetermined that those who would believe on Christ would be saved. And we see those people formed into one body, one household in the church.

Chapter 3, verse 6 in Ephesians. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. And notice when this occurred. Before the foundation of the world.

In eternity past. Before the world was formed, God in His plan and for His purposes sought to save a multitude. And you see, this is where we get this glimpse into eternity. In Psalm 2-7.

The psalmist is commenting, he's writing, and this is what he says. Tell them of the decree. The Lord said to me, today I have begotten you. Today I have begotten you.

When did that happen? Psalm 110 verse 1. My Lord said to my Lord, I will make thine enemies a footstool under you. When did that happen?

When did this promise occur? It happened in eternity. And so this leads us to another point. This is another passage that highlights the eternality of Christ.

Because Christ was with the Father before the foundation of the world. Christ was with the Spirit before the foundation of the world. And the triune God planned to save a multitude in Him. And notice the purpose. for this predestination, to be holy and blameless before him.

To be holy and blameless before him. The word holy has the idea of being dedicated to the service of God. The word blameless refers to the idea of being without fault or morally blameless. And I actually think one commentator sums it up very well.

The first, referring to holy, is inner consecration to God, or a holy principle. The latter refers to its result. The life governed by such a power must be blameless and without apprehension. You see, the eternal purpose not only pardons, but also sanctifies.

It absolves in order to renew, and it purifies in order to bestow perfection. Now, we know that in this life we will sin. We know that according to Galatians 5 and Romans 7 that we will sin. But one day, we won't sin.

But even now, we must strive out of gratitude in response to the Christ-saving work to live in a manner consistent with the gospel. And notice, let's look at chapter 5, or excuse me, verse 5. In love, he predestined us for adoption. In love, he predestined us for adoption.

I take in love to go with what's following because it refers to something about the Godhead and God the Father. God the Father predestined in love. Not because he's a tyrant, not because he's mean, but because he loves his people, and there's this demonstration of his love throughout history. And even in eternity, he planned to save a people because he loves them, not because he hates them.

And you see, if love is in eternity, then I think heaven is really the place to be one day, where we get to experience a love that has been not stained. It has not been defiled, but it is perfect. We get to see that because of the work of Christ. Look what he says.

He says, predestined us for adoption. Predestined us for adoption. Now, this word has the idea of there's an appointed end to the predetermining and that's for adoption. And I don't think we really understand the importance of this doctrine.

We love justification, and we should. We love sanctification, and we should. But I don't think we understand adoption, because in reality, very few of us have either been adopted or have adopted someone else. And moreover, adoption typically in our day is for children.

But I want you to pay attention. Concerning this idea. I'm going to read I'm going to explain what goes on in the ancient world for this and hopefully it brings out something very very very wonderful Why was there need for an adoption? There may be someone didn't have an heir, so they adopted someone else in order that they would bestow their inheritance on someone else.

This is a lengthy quote from a very good first century scholar, and you go to this man first. His name is Ferguson. You go to this one first when you want to understand about the ancient world. This is what he says.

Adoption is far more frequent and important than it is today. The person adopted, at any age, was taken out of his previous conditions. All old debts canceled, and he started a new life in the relation of sonship with the new father of the family, whose family name he took, and to whose inheritance he was entitled. The new father now owned this adoptee's property, controlled his personal relationships, and had the right of discipline while assuming responsibility for his support and liability for all his actions.

All just as with natural children born into the home. It's pretty wonderful, isn't it, when you think about adoption that way.

Adoption in the Ancient World

Adopted from any age. And you think about our former condition when we were once slaves to sin. Yet God in his goodness, through Christ, adopted us. He's taken us out of our previous conditions.

He's canceled our old debts. And now we've started this new life in relationship of sonship with our Father. It's truly, truly a wonderful doctrine that we need to consider and understand, especially in light of how it functioned in the ancient world. Very wonderful and very, very, very blessed.

And notice at the end of chapter, or verse five, why he does it. It's according to the purpose of his will. I actually don't like the word purpose here. I think the New King James sums it up better when it says good pleasure. the good pleasure of his will.

And it refers to the idea of being favored. He's kind, he's being favorable in his will. And notice this is his will that he has decreed in eternity past. Not what we need to do, but what he determined in eternity.

And he determined that he would adopt people. He determined that he would save people. It is truly a wonderful thing to understand. And notice this plan of salvation is really only one way.

We cannot take any credit for our salvation. I like the way Paul sums it up in Romans 9. Romans 9 at verse 11. I'll start at verse 10.

And not only so, but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad, in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works, but because of him who calls. Not because of works, but because of him who calls. You see, God in eternity planned to save people that didn't deserve it. He planned to save a people that rejected and rebelled against him.

And it's something that we do need to, as Paul does here, praise God for each and every day if you are in Christ. We must praise God every day for that in Christ. And there's definitely something we can take away from this idea of adoption. And I think Paul stresses it, especially in chapter 5 of Ephesians, verse 1. walking as children.

We need to walk as children, especially in light of the gifts that he's given us. Especially in light of the gifts that he's given us. Now, children. When you obey, when you disobey your parents, you're disobeying your heavenly father.

When you disobey your parents, you're disobeying your heavenly father. but adults who believe in Christ. When you disobey God, you're disobeying your Heavenly Father. And we must be able to check our own ideas at the door, because we as sinful people, even as believers, still sin against our Heavenly Father. Our earthly fathers may not see what we're doing, but our Heavenly Father does.

And you know, when you think about it, after all the grace that He's given to us, Pretty wretched, isn't it, when we sin? It's pretty awful that God, who's called us out of darkness, who's predetermined to save us, who's adopted us and given us these wonderful blessings, it's pretty awful when we sin against Him. And that's why we praise Him for salvation. That's why we praise Him for the work in Jesus Christ.

That's why we praise Him that He applies salvation through the Spirit to believers. We know we're not going to be perfect on this life, and when we sin we must repent and seek the Spirit for help. But hopefully this deters us from sinning, knowing how awful it is after the gifts that He's given us. We must be careful and be aware.

It's easy to look at the kid who's screaming and forget to check our own hearts. So we must be careful to do that as well, to check our own hearts.

Confession on Adoption and Chastening

I really liked what the London Baptist Confession chapter 12 had to say in one part concerning this idea of adoption. Those who are justified 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. You see, as believers, we can fall under a fatherly displeasure. We can be chastened by our God for sinning against Him.

That's why it's blessed that He will never cast us off, that we can repent and seek to move forward. Repent and seek to move forward. So that was the predestination by the Father.

The Praise to the Father

Now let us look thirdly, at the third point, praise to the Father in verse 6. Verse six, to the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the beloved. It's kind of interesting. It's almost like he's saying to the praise of his glorious grace with which he graced us.

It's a different word from blessed that we see in verse one, from the grace that he graced us with. And what it highlights, this idea of grace, is this idea of granting to another that's not otherwise obligatory. Do you know that God didn't have to save people? God didn't have to plan it this way.

Yet in his goodness and kindness he did. Yet in his goodness and kindness he did plan to save sinners. And so what's Paul calling us to at the end? Or at the end of verse six?

To praise him for it. To praise him for his glorious grace. To praise him for calling us out of darkness into marvelous light that we might believe on Christ. That's why we come on Sundays, to give Him glory and honor and praise for all that He has done.

And we can gather together as a household. We can gather together as brothers and sisters in Christ. And Bruce sums it up very well. This grace emphasizes the free and sovereign character of God.

This grace emphasizes this free and sovereign character of God. And this is the goal of redemption, that we might praise God. What's the Westminster Lodger Catechism? Question, answer, one say.

What is man's chief aim? to glorify God and enjoy him forever. Why would you not want to do that? Why would you not want this inheritance that you didn't deserve? Why would you not want to praise God unending?

And notice that he does it in the beloved, in the one whom he loves. And this refers to God's love for Christ. This refers to God's love for Christ, that God in His goodness, in His love for Christ, and love for us, saves us. And so the application, I think, is pretty clear.

Praise and worship God. Praise and worship God for what He has done in Christ, for His plan to save a multitude that no man can number.

Application

So as we close, we see that the Father elects out of His mercy. He chooses out of His mercy to adopt people into His household. And there are several reminders that we just need to reiterate here as well. We need to, as children, walk in the truth.

We, as children, need to walk in the truth. We need to be imitators of God. And Paul spells that out for us, thankfully, in chapters 4 through 6. We need to love our wives if you're a husband.

Wives need to submit to your husbands. We need to honor the authorities. Children, obey your parents. There are ways that the Apostle Paul indicates how we can walk.

Secondly, in our reminders, is the idea that we need to worship God. We need to praise Him for His glorious grace that He's bestowed on us in Christ Jesus. And thirdly, I said at the beginning, this is the plan of salvation. The Father plans, Christ accomplishes, and the Spirit applies.

And the way He does that is by giving gifts to the Church, namely, men who preach the truth. And that is exactly what we see in Ephesians 4. God gives gifts to men. Apostles, evangelists, prophets, shepherds, and teachers.

And the primary means that he brings about this plan of salvation is through the proclamation of the Word with the aid of the Spirit. So we must praise God for the proclamation of the truth each and every Lord's Day, that we can see this plan coming to fruition each and every day as God saves sinners in Christ. Now, unbelievers Why would you not want this inheritance? Why would you not want this inheritance to be adopted into the family of God?

As the Apostle Paul says in Ephesians chapter 2, set forth to be a propitiation, to turn away that wrath of God, to save sinners. And so believe on the Lord Jesus Christ now that you might be saved, that we might actually see the plan coming to fruition more and more each and every day. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Let us pray.

Closing Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day, Lord God. We thank you for your grace and your goodness upon us. We thank you for the salvation that is in Christ. We thank you that in eternity past you sought to save sinners.

You chose a multitude that no man can number, Lord God, and we see that coming to fruition every time your word is preached and every time that people call you Father. I pray, Lord, that you be with us believers, when we are quick to judge others, when we are quick to see other disobedience, Lord, help us to remember that we need to obey You, because of Your goodness and because of Your kindness, because You have adopted us, Lord God, and we praise You for that wonderful truth. We pray now, Lord God, that You bless us as we go out into the world, give us strength and aid each and every day, and when we sin, help us to repent And we pray that your spirit will continue to do the work that you've planned him to do. May you be glorified in all things, Father God, and may Christ be lifted high.

Amen.

Scripture References

• Exodus 18:10
• Deuteronomy 28:1-4
• 2 Chronicles 6:4
• Psalm 2:7; 110:1
• Romans 7; 9:10-11
• Galatians 5
• Ephesians 1:1-14; 2:20; 3:6; 4; 5:1