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Book: Ephesians
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Ephesians 1:3
I. "That we should be holy and without blame before Him in love."
A. We have been chosen in Christ before the foundation of the
world for what purpose?
1. That we should be holy and without blame before Him.
a. "Now unto Him who is able to keep you from
falling and to present you faultless before
His presence with exceeding joy, to the only
wise God our Savior be glory and honor,
dominion and power, both now and forever amen.
b. Further on in chapter 5 in speaking of the
church Paul declares,
EPH 5:27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not
having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it
should be holy and without blemish.
c. To the Colosians Paul wrote,
COL 1:22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy
and unblamable and unreproveable in his sight:
COL 1:28 Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in
all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ
Jesus:
d. To the Romans Paul wrote quoting David, "Oh how
blessed is the man to whom God imputeth not
iniquity."
2. We need to see our position before God in Christ Jesus.
a. God sees us holy and without blame because He
sees us in Christ.
b. God has imputed to my account righteous, not
because I am so good or righteous, but because
His Son is good and righteous, and I am in Him.
c. "God made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin,
that we might be made the righteousness of God
through Him."
3. God sees no fault in me, for I am in His Son. To me
one of the most amazing and wonderful scriptures is
found in the book of Numbers in the remarkable
prophecies of Baalam when he declared concerning God.
NUM 23:21 He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he see
perverseness in Israel:
4. This is after all their murmuring and lack of faith
and failure to enter into the promised land, and
cursed to the 40 year wilderness experience.
5. Talk about a kind, loving heavenly grandfather.
6. What my sons and daughters see as naughtiness in their
children I see as their just expressing themselves in
a cute way.
7. As a Father He will discipline them when necessary, but
He will not allow others to do them harm.
a. You remember that King Balak was trying to
bring a curse upon them and had hired Balaam
for that purpose.
b. The had been under severe discipline by God,
but He would allow others to touch them.
B. Someday you and I are going to stand before God the holy
creator of the Universe, and when we do, we will be without
blame. No charges against you. In the book of Revelation it
speaks of the 144,000 standing before God and it declares that
they are without fault before the throne of God.
1. This is just how Jesus is going to present you,
"Faultless before His presence with exceeding joy."
2. "And when before the throne, I stand in Him complete,
Jesus died my soul to save, my lips shall still
repeat."
C. Does this mean that I am going to attain sinless perfection?
1. Not as long as I am in this body.
a. We and all of creation groan together as we
wait for the manifestation of the sons of God,
to wit, the redemption of our bodies.
b. My spirit is redeemed, but my body is still
subject to the desires and lusts that stem
from by biological drives.
c. God gives me the victory over these drives so
that they no longer control my life. I do not
live to fulfill the desires of my flesh.
d. I live to fulfill the desires of God for my
life.
e. I choose several times a day whether I will
yield to my fleshly desires or to the will of
God.
2. Paul speaks of the warfare between our flesh and our
spirit. With Peter we find that many times our spirit
is willing but our flesh is weak.
a. One day this war will be over, for I will
receive a new body. We know when this earthly
tent is dissolved, we have a building of God,
not made with hands eternal in the heavens.
We who are still in these bodies do often
groan, earnestly desiring to be delivered, not
that I desire to be an uninbodied spirit, but
I desire to be clothed upon with that body
which is from heaven.
II. "That we should be holy and without blame before Him in love."
A. It is my love for God and His love for me, that covers for my
flaws and failures.
1. Peter tells us that love covers a multitude of sin.
2. I need to know how completely God loves me.
3. He only sees you through eyes of love.
4. Once you realize that God is love and He loves you,
you will no longer have fear for perfect love casts
out all fear.
B. When I realize how completely God loves me, my heart will
respond to that love.
1. I will begin to love God completely and that love will
be manifested in my love for you, and all of the
children of our Father.
III. "Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ to Himself."
A. This word translated adoption is a word that has more to do
with position rather than relationship.
1. I have been made a child of God through faith, but God
in His love has placed me as an adult son.
a. A child is not able to appropriate his
inheritance until he comes of age, though he
might be the sole heir of a great fortune.
b. God places us as adult sons so that we can
begin to enjoy the great inheritance that we
have in Jesus.
B. This word predestination has created a lot of confusion in the
minds of people and has created a great division in the body
of Christ.
1. Cognates of the word are used four times by Paul, who
is the only writer in the Bible to use the word.
a. Two times here in Ephesians and in both cases
it is in reference to the will of God.
"According to the good pleasure of His will."
"Works all things after the counsel of His own
will."
b. Twice in his letter to the Romans where it is
related to His foreknowledge.
ROM 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate [to be]
conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the
firstborn among many brethren.
ROM 8:30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and
whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified,
them he also glorified.
2. As we pointed out last week in our belief that God is
omniscient, that is He knows all things, has always
known all things, it precludes His ever learning
anything. If it is to ever be known, it has always been
known by Him.
a. All His decisions, and choices are made then
upon the basis of His foreknowledge.
b. If the word predestination never appeared in
the Bible it would have to be assumed by the
omniscience of God.
3. When Peter was speaking of the crucifixion of Jesus he
told the people that it was by the determinate counsel
and foreknowledge of God.
a. It was the will of the Father that His Son
might reveal the love of the Father to us, by
His giving His life for us.
b. That was all a part of His determined counsel.
4. Our difficulty mainly comes from our trying to
understand God with the limited capacity of our finite
minds.
5. God has done all things according to the counsel of
His own will. Does this preclude our exercising our own
will? No.
6. God has given us the capacity to will, and will not
violate our decisions.
a. Can God's will be thwarted by man? I believe
so.
1. God is not willing that any should
perish but that all should come to
repentance.
2. Have all men repented? No, then that
means that the man that refuses to
repent is thwarting the will of God
for his life.
3. The children of Israel limited the
holy one of Israel by their unbelief.
b. It would seem that for God to exercise His
will for our lives, that there must be an
openness on our part for Him to do so.
c. Stephen accused the religious leaders of his
day of always resisting the Holy Spirit.
C. Here Paul speaks of our being predestined to be adopted as
children according to the good pleasure of His will.
1. What is God's good will for you?
a. That you might enjoy the benefits of being
His child. Thus enjoying all the benefits of
inheritance of the children of the heavenly
Father.
b. Jesus said, "Fear not little flock, it is the
Father's good pleasure to give you the
kingdom."
c. God's good pleasure for your life is far
beyond anything you could ever hope for or
dream.
2. The wisest thing any of us could ever do with our will
is to surrender it to the Father, and with Jesus
declare, not My will, but Thy will be done.
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