Our Incredible Salvation - 6

Ephesians 1 is one of my favorite passages on Our Incredible Salvation, containing a list of blessings that come to us in our salvation "package."  Join me in getting familiar with these blessings and feeling extremely fortunate to be a child of God!

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Hello everyone. Welcome back to Jeff's Bible Trek. In this season, we've been bringing out some powerful truths about our incredible salvation and what flows to our lives as a result. This is episode six of the series, and let's go ahead and dive in. Now, at the end of our last episode, we said we'd be finishing up Galatians in this episode. But upon reflection, there really isn't anything new in the rest of Galatians that we haven't already covered. So we're going to move on to Ephesians, which is just about my favorite book on this subject of our incredible salvation. In chapter one, Paul starts off in verse three by saying that, and I quote, every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm has already been lavished upon us as a love gift from our wonderful Heavenly Father, the Father of our Lord Jesus, all because he sees us wrapped into Christ. This is why we celebrate Him with all our hearts. And in the verses that follow, He begins to list those spiritual blessings. You know, I have to say that it is absolutely amazing how much came in our salvation package, if you will. My wife likens it to a download of computer data or what's called a data dump. I remember how I felt immediately after I asked Jesus into my life. There was a quickening inside. And in that instant, I didn't know it, but all the things we've been talking about and all the things we are about to talk about were downloaded into my life. The same thing happened to you as well. Did you notice this download is past tense? He said, has already been lavished upon us. There's nothing more to receive. Peter puts it this way in 2 Peter one and verse 3. Everything we could ever need for life and godliness has already been deposited in us by his divine power. Well, Paul now launches into that list of what was provided to us. In verse 4A, he says that quote, in love he chose us before he laid the foundation of the universe. Is that wild or what? I mean, even before the earth was created, God had already chosen you. You are the chosen. You'll say, how could he do that? Well, God is not bound by time like we are. He lives outside of time. We live inside of it because our time is governed by the solar system which God created. He lives outside of that realm. Therefore, he is able to view our lives according to his foreknowledge. I like to say it this way. God looked down through time and saw that we would choose him. So he chose us. I know it's a rather simple way to look at it, but I like simple. Knowing that God chose you before the earth was created, how does that make you feel about your life here on earth? It certainly brings home the fact that each one of us has a destiny picked out by God, doesn't it? More about that later. In verse four B, it says, and I quote, Because of his great love, he ordained us so that we would be seen as holy in his eyes with an unstained innocence. So this then is the second blessing in the list. This word ordained means predetermined. At the same instant in which he chose us, he determined in advance that we would be holy, set apart in his eyes with an unstained innocence. Now it's interesting that while God decided to see us as having an unstained innocence at the moment he chose us, it takes us a while, oftentimes many years, to see ourselves as having an unstained innocence. But that is our merciful God in action. For the next blessing, verses five and six say this, and I quote, for it was always in his perfect plan to adopt us as his delightful children through our union with Jesus, the anointed one, so that his tremendous love that cascades over us would glorify his grace. For the same love he has for the beloved Jesus, he has for us. And this unfolding plan brings him great pleasure. My goodness, God has adopted us into his family. Now some of you need to hear this because many Christians are being lied to by Satan that no one wants me, everyone has rejected me, and that is a lie from the pit of hell. There's a great reference on this. It's Psalm twenty seven ten, wherein David says, My father and mother abandoned me, but you, Yahweh, took me in and made me yours. There's a footnote to this verse that says, Every child needs four things acceptance, focused attention, guidance, and protection. All four of these emotional needs are met by God. One of the most amazing statements in the whole Bible is up next in this verse that we're talking about. Quote, for the same love he, the Father, has for the beloved Jesus, he has for us. Man, did you hear that? Do you believe that? So if one or two or even a dozen people reject us, brush the feeling of rejection aside, because the God of the universe loves you as much as he loves his only begotten Son, Jesus. Well, that should just brighten up your whole day. Well, what's what's the next spiritual blessing that was given or transferred into our lives when we when we met Jesus? It's in verse seven, and I quote, Since we are now joined to Christ, we have been given the treasures of redemption by his blood, the total cancellation of our sins, all because of the cascading riches of his grace. Now the Greek word for redemption literally means a releasing upon the payment of a ransom. Let me say that again. Redemption literally means a releasing upon the payment of a ransom. This one is easy. The ransom payment for us was the precious blood of Jesus. But the Passion translation talks of the treasures of redemption. The picture I get in my mind on this is a guy who is captured by enemies and is released when a ransom is paid. Then when he gets home, his family throws a huge party for him to celebrate his return, and a lavish pile of gifts are waiting for him. Sounds kind of like the prodigal son, doesn't it? This is consistent also with a verse in Ephesians four, in which Paul quotes Psalm sixty eight eighteen, which reads this way He ascends into the heavenly heights, taking his many captured ones with him, leading them in triumphal procession, and gifts were given to men, even the once rebellious, so that they may dwell with God. The greatest gift of all is the total cancellation of our sins, all because of the cascading riches of his grace. Now I can't leave this verse without talking about grace. The Greek word for grace means that which brings delight, joy, pleasure, and sweetness. Let me say that again. Grace means that which brings delight, joy, pleasure, and sweetness. I love that. That word sweetness has given me a vision in my mind of a heavenly pitcher of honey or some other sweet substance that is being poured out upon us by God. I envisioned this sweet substance being all sparkly because it's filled with glory. I think if you meditate on that illustration for a minute, you just might see grace in a new light, one that you will appreciate greatly. And Paul makes an incredible statement about this grace in verse eight. Quote, the superabundant grace is already powerfully working in us, releasing all forms of wisdom and practical understanding. Man, that is our incredible salvation at work in our lives. Moving down to verse eleven, we read the following Through our union with Christ, we too have been claimed by God as his own inheritance. Before we were even born, he gave us our destiny that we would fulfill the plan of God who always accomplishes every purpose and plan in his heart. There is an individual destiny for our lives that comes to us as part of the salvation package. We find from this verse and others that the Father is the member of the Godhead who, in addition to provision and protection, gives us that destiny. Before I gave my life to Christ, I remember my best friend saying to me, God has a plan for your life. And I would ask, What is it? His response would always be, I don't know, but he has one. This was hard for me to hear that God had a plan for my life, because I had a plan for my life, being that I was in my early 20s and trying to carve out my place in the world. I already had all of that figured out. Boy, was I in for a surprise. Destiny is a huge topic, one that we can't go into in great detail in this season or this episode, but I will make a few comments about destiny stemming from my series on kingdom promises. God said in Genesis 12 1 to Abraham, Go to the land I will show you. In that verse is the very first promise that God made to Abraham, and that was I will show you the land. That land, the land that would become the land of Israel, was Abraham's destiny. In the same way, each of us has a land, a plot of land, a destiny marked out just for us like Abraham. He really does have a plan for our lives. And I encourage people that if they don't know what land slash destiny has been marked out for them, what God has planned for their life, they should ask God the Father to show them where and what it is. I don't even want to call out examples of what your destiny might be, because it could be any one of a myriad of possibilities. Let God show you where and what your life is all about. The last blessing in this chapter I want to share with you, it's kind of a last but not least thing, is in verses 13 and 14. Quote, and because of him, when you who are not Jews heard the revelation of truth, you believed in the wonderful news of salvation. Now we have been stamped with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit. Listen to this next sentence. He is given to us like an engagement ring. Now many versions have the word deposit there, but Paul is really calling it an engagement ring as the first installment of what's coming. He is our hope promise for a future inheritance which seals us until we have all of redemption's promises and experience complete freedom, all for the supreme glory and honor of God. Wow. The Holy Spirit acts as our engagement ring, our engagement to the Lord Jesus Christ. And in the same way others notice your earthly engagement ring and might say something like, Whoa, what's that rock on your finger? People around us may notice something different about us when we get saved or when we got saved. Finally, I encourage you to read Paul's prayer for the Ephesians recorded in verses 17 to the end of the chapter. I also encourage you to personalize this prayer to yourself by replacing the word you with the words I and me. Some people I know have seen a radical change in their lives by doing this. So with that, we conclude this episode, and we'll be back with more rich treasures in Ephesians in our next episode. Until then, God richly bless you.