Salvation By the Father

Transcript

GR 137
06/01/1975
Salvation By the Father
Ephesians 1:1-6
Gil Rugh

I usually start out when I begin a letter by giving you outlines and then pretty soon I forget about the outlines as we move along, but to be consistent I have broken these verses down. In relationship to the Father His person considered in verse 3A that His work presented in verses 3B to 5 His work presented, then His purpose revealed in verse 6. Simply putting the stress on the Father and His work in redemption begins with a statement of blessing. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and here this revels something of His person as Paul addresses blessing be to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This word blessed, used approximately 8 times in the New Testament always of God, it’s where the only use of God in the New Testament. It denotes something of his intrinsic character as worthy of praise, adoration and worship. So here as we look towards God the Father, we see him as the one because of his intrinsic character is worthy of our adoration, praise and worship. And that is only God who can be said to be blessed in the sense of this word because he alone has that intrinsic nature and character that makes him worthy of our adoration and of our praise.

We develop them a little bit in talking about the relationship of God the Father with God the Son. But he says that he is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. This expression is used a couple of other times in the New Testament, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and as you read it, it may seem to be problematic at first. If Jesus Christ is indeed God also, how can God be the God of Jesus Christ? That would seem to imply then that Jesus Christ is inferior to God because his God is the same God that we have as Jesus Christ’s God, then God the father can be God of God. And also those who do not believe in the Trinity will often turn you to this verse and tell you that Jesus Christ was not God because God was his Father. It is very simply explained in that from his humanity Jesus Christ did have God the Father as his God.

So we are talking about a phenomenon that had its beginning at the incarnation, a relationship that began at first at the incarnation of Jesus Christ, when Jesus Christ became a man then as humanity he could address the Father as God. And so this is not denoting any eternal relationship here but one that began when Jesus Christ became a man, and thus Jesus would refer on occasion either to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.

On the cross he would cry out “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Because humanly speaking and Jesus Christ was man as well as God, viewing him as humanity then the Father was indeed his God as well. As a man we find Jesus praying to God the Father and so on. So viewing God as in relationship with Jesus in his humanity, now the second statement the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ denotes the eternal relationship. This relationship as Father and Son is an eternal one, has nothing to do with what we have talked about before with derivation. It is simply a relationship and an order within the Godhood and it has always been in the Father Son relationship.

So in viewing him as the God of Jesus Christ we are looking at Christ in his humanity. Viewing him as the father of Jesus Christ there is an indication of his deary as well because this is an eternal relationship. We know in verse 2 and we will be talking about this a little later this morning that Paul has addressed them, the Greek has graced you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Now there is three the stress is on the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, so instead of addressing him as our Father, now he is the Father of Christ who is our Lord.

There is a relative progression here because I can call God my Father because Jesus Christ is my Lord and this relationship precedes being able to talk about God as Father as we become clear as we move through. The full title of God the Father then is God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The full title of Jesus Christ is the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a full presentation of the titles both of the Father and of the Son. The Son is the Lord Jesus Christ and Paul makes it very personal because he is our Lord Jesus Christ and because he is our Lord Jesus Christ, we can address his father as our Father because of the relationship we enjoy through the Son, through our Lord we were born in the God’s family and thus his Father is our Father.

Thus Jesus said I go to my Father and to your Father, so the person that we are dealing with here is none other than God the one who is worthy of all praise, the one who enjoys that special and unique relationship with Jesus Christ, but that one who has a special relationship to us as well because of our relationship in him through Jesus Christ.
Now he moves on to talk about the work and this is what he wants to really develop. The work that God the Father has accomplished on our behalf, what he has done.

I have broken it down into three areas, he has blessed us, he has chosen us and he has predestined us. First he has blessed us, blessed be God who has blessed us, so the one who is himself blessed is now blessing others, pouring out benefits upon others. He has blessed us, now you note this is a past tense and its participle and to know something that God has done for us, important because we get to this section in mind rather it will settle forever the matter of future blessings as believers.

But for ever laid rest if people were clear on just this verse in Ephesians, the work of a second work of grace or the second blessing and all related types of doctrine. He has blessed us; it does not say he will bless us. It is not a present participle; he does not say he is in the process of blessing us. But he says he has blessed us something that has already definitely occurred, stress of that airs is you usually want to point into the past. He has blessed us and there is something about believers here.

The stress of disciples is believers in Jesus Christ and you can go down and note the many times he uses the words like us and related words, he has blessed us, in verse 4 he has chose us, in verse 5 he predestined us, verse 7 in him we have redemption, in verse 8 he lavished upon us, in verse 9 he made known to us, a constant and firm stress on what God has done in 4 and 2, you and I as believers in Jesus Christ. So the “us” here is limited to those who are the saints, who are believers in Jesus Christ of verse 1. Now to this group of people believers in Jesus Christ God has blessed us.

Now what has he blessed us with? What did this blessing involve or entail? Note he has blessed us with every spiritual blessing and it will be a series of three participle phrases here. With every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ, and first with every spiritual blessing and you put that together, he has blessed us with every spiritual blessing. If that statement is true that means there is no other added blessing that can come to me as a believer in Jesus Christ because God has already blessed me with every spiritual blessing, all spiritual blessings, everyone.

Now someone comes along it is fine, you have been saved, but you have been sanctified, no it’s not. That’s the second work of grace, in his second work of grace I thought I got every blessing. Not everyone but one, very important one. It is the second one, well it doesn’t say who has blessed us well everyone but one, he has blessed us with every blessing. So that forever laid to rest, there is nothing else I can get. I have got every blessing that God has to offer. Now this is going to become crucial.

Well, what’s the difference, a little theological point. It is a major difference because we are going to see at the conclusion of this section that what is at stake is the issue of God’s grace as manifested to man and as soon as man begins to add additional blessings as being available he is adding to the grace of God and that is a serious doctrinal divergence and error as you can have in the New Testament. To add to the grace of God because as soon as you do that you will nullify the grace of God. As soon as you nullify the Grace of God you have cancelled the work that he has accomplished in Jesus Christ. So he has blessed us with every blessing in the heavenlies as he goes on.

The sphere that we talked last week, the new position, the new realm in which I now function. In the heavenlies, in the next statement in Christ, because the access into the sphere of the heavenlies is Jesus Christ, so I must be in Christ to be in the heavenlies and that has developed down in a few verses, look at verse 20 of Chapter 1 the verse that we looked at last week, which he brought about in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenlies.

Now look down at verse 6 in Chapter 2 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. So Christ has been exalted to sit at the right hand of the Father in the heavenlies, I have been exulted in him to sit with him in the heavenlies. That is not being in him, functioning now in this new sphere, this new realm of existence, I also function in the new realm of existence known as the heavenlies. This is the place of my new existence, my new functioning, my new thought life, the whole area now that I live, move, and dwell in.

He has blessed us with every spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ and you can check the -- again go through this section, and just mark all the time that when he talks about in Christ or in him. And see the stress on being in Christ and being in him because if you are not in him, if you are not in Christ you have nothing. If you are in him, if you are in Christ you have everything. You know there is no middle ground. You either have nothing or you have everything.

There is no one here who has a little bit; there is no one here who has a good bit. There are people here who have nothing, and there are people here who had everything, period. No in between, you cannot get half in Christ and half out. So if you are in Christ you are in the heavenlies and you have been the recipient of every blessing. If you are not in Christ you are not in the heavenlies and you have been the recipient of no blessings in the context of what Paul is talking about here.

So it’s everything or nothing and no in between. And again this is where Christians get being out of faith today, while we are such a strong movement experientially oriented. Our Pentecostalism and the charismatic movement can get such a strong hold on Christians that you have to realize that we already got everything and they go up on to search, somebody offer them something new I’m going to get more, and you are not because there is nothing else. There is nothing more, all right.

It is gracious, as years you were almost thinking was egging for a fight but he is not and even am I. Verse 4, second area of the Father’s work. Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, we could translate this very simply, just as he has elected us in him, so far was only on the 4 verse as we have it in our bibles and now is going to bring up the doctrine of election and very simply he says that connecting with the blessings that we have received is the work of election. He has blessed us just as he has elected us, and the word to elect means to select or to choose for oneself.

To select or chose for oneself. So, just as he has chosen us for himself you could translate this into the doctrine of election which causes some problems as believers considered and try to come to a biblical perspective on it is very simple. It is not so hard to understand the doctrine of election. The hard thing is for me to accept it, but I realize that puts me at zero. And very early in this epistle and we are talking about our positioning in Christ prize where we have to understand something of the sovereignty of the God who is working.

He is totally sovereign in what he is doing. He has blessed us, he has elected or chosen us in him and I will talk about election apart from Jesus Christ. The election occurs in Christ and again the sphere and this relationship is crucial to everything else but he has elected us, chosen us for himself in him. Not to elect someone for himself apart from Jesus Christ but could not elect someone for himself apart from Jesus Christ. That means a person who never hears about Jesus Christ and dies without believing in him could not be one of the elect because the election only occurs in Jesus Christ, and so there could be no salvation apart from him.

Now this would elect incidentally there is tense as well as we talked about blessed there is tense again to notice something he did at a point in the past. Now you want to find out how far in the past he chose us. He elected us before the foundation of the world. You know he does not say he elected us when I believed. He elected us when he believed, no. He elected us before the foundation of the world. That is a way of expressing eternity., what means to cast down, and before the worlds were cast down, laid out, God elected us, and that means in what we will call eternity past because we cannot go back in our minds before Genesis 1:1.

Back before that God elected us, you say that’s interesting, I thought I did it on March 3rd, 1962. No God did it eons and eons and eons of time ago. I responded to his election maybe in March 1962 or rather that God elected me chose me for himself before the foundation of the world in there, and I think the stress of the doctrine of election is God’s choice. God is dealing with sinful men and women.

Those who are unrighteous by choice is obligated to save none, keep that in mind. He did not save you on the basis of foreknowledge looking ahead to see what you would do. We have already looked at the word foreknowledge, and if you have questions on it you can listen to the tapes on Romans 8 where they presented, you will never have a question again. Foreknowledge simply means the foreordained, when God foreknows something, he foreordains to come about that nothing comes about without his sovereign approval and direction. So he has elected us, chosen us for himself before the foundation of the world.

This does not take up human responsibility I should mention that. Some of you may be sitting here and saying I knew there was a reason that I don’t believe I haven’t been elected. Well there is a certain truth to that. If you have been elected you won’t believe you know why, because you are so rotten sinful that you won’t do it. You want to bet? I see you believe, I mean you say you are not saved because you are not elected. I say you are not saved because you won’t believe. And your sin won’t allow you to believe and that’s why God had acted in sovereignty and chose you.

I hope he chose you and not your sin will prevent you from ever believing in him. That becomes an act of love and grace and mercy as will be developed here in a moment, now note the goal of election, an order that we should be holy and blameless before him that we should be holy and blameless before him and the purpose of election was in order that God could have a group that he has called out for himself that could stand before him as those who are holy and blameless. Holy word that related to the word saint, sanctified all basically same word, means to be set apart for God when something is sanctified it is set apart for God. If someone is a saint he is someone set apart from God -- for God. When someone who is holy he is someone who is set apart for God and so he has elected us in order that we might be holy.

We might be set apart for him and blameless is the word that were used of the absence of defects in sacrificial animals that had to be blameless or spotless. That is used several times in the New Testament of Jesus Christ himself in his sacrifice you can jot down the references we won’t turn to them because of time. First Peter Chapter 1 verse 19; First Peter 1:19 and Hebrews Chapter 9 verse 14 use this word regarding Christ, he is the lamb without spot and without blemish and we are those who are blameless. We are blemishless before him because he has elected us in order that we should be this and note this is what we are because of his election it has nothing to do with what I do.

Now we get the order reversed. We try to be holy; we try to lead a blameless life in order that God might accept us. That is what the Armenian view of election says because I did this then God chose me. The order of scripture is exactly reversed. He chose me and that determine my character as acceptable to him. I tell you we are talking about our position in Christ here and we should be holy and blameless and this is what I’m. I’m holy and I’m blameless as God looks at me. I’m spotless; I’m perfect, there is nothing but nothing, but nothing, but nothing that could be added to make me more acceptable before God. As God looks at me, I’m just as pure, just as holy as he desires me to be.

I’m perfect there has been no lowering of the standard remember, God simply elevated me to the standard. He did not lower the standard to meet me and he has chosen me to be holy and blameless before him and that is key not before you, not before others, but before him. We set down human standards you think that is good enough. Well God says it has to before me that a person is holy, that the person is blameless, that means perfection, it is not good enough if there are just a few spots, no it’s perfection, no spots, no blemish and so in Christ, before God I’m perfect.

Now this is going to become the foundation for living my Christian life that Paul will talk about later in Ephesians. But first I must realize what I’m, who I’m and where I’m really before I can begin to live the Christian life. We try to tell people how to live a holy life, you have to live the godly life, you have to be blameless before God, we need to backup and realize what you are already. I’m holy, I’m blameless, all I got to do is live a life with what I already am, but before God perfect and without spot.

Okay, the last proposition or phrase there in love, King James connects it holy and blameless before him in love and that is a possibility grammatically when we function in the realm of love, what emphasize human love here and being holy and blameless before him would be going on in the sphere of love. I think more probably which has, the new American Standard has it, in love he predestined us. This would be the emphasis here. He predestined us in love so this is the third area of the Father’s worth we are talking about, first he blessed us, then he elected us, he blessed us just as he elected us. The blessing is a direct result of his electing work, he had not elected or chosen us, we could not be blessed by him.

Third area he predestined us # participle for those of you who are keeping track, he predestined us now the word means to mark out or determine before him. Predestined to destine before is the idea well, now it is different than election. Again we have talked about this particularly in our study in Romans 8. Election refers to God’s choosing of individuals for himself. Predestination refers to God’s plan for those individuals whom he chooses. The predestination is always used in the context of believers, because predestination follows on election because those whom God elects, he predestines. Those who he has chosen for himself, he has predestined into the world, with any doubt about the basis of God’s operation here it’s a credit to his love.

In love he predestined us, not out of obligation, not out of responsibility but in love he predestined us with until adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself, to adoption as sons being placed as God son. The God elected me, chose me for himself, then he predestined me to be adopted, placed as his son. Look close to Colossians that the book just in front of Ephesians, turn back to Colossians Chapter 4 verses 5 and 6. Colossians 4 verse 4, the sentence here. And when the fullness of time came God sent forth his son born of a woman, born under the law in order that we -- in order that he might redeem those who are under the law that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons -- no because you are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his son into our hearts crying our Father.

We are going to talk about the spirits work here when we talk about verses 13 and 14 in Ephesians 1, that is an inseparable part of adoption as sons and I’m placed as God’s son. He has predestined me for that position. Now I’m already the son of God. verse 6 of Galatians 4, because you are sons, that’s why you have the spirit within your heart, that’s why you can cry out Father, Father, Father to God as your Father. Now the full revelation revealing of this will not occur until we are unveiled that the second coming of Jesus Christ to be his son. This is the event which all creation groans together in anticipation of. That’s in Romans 8 and we will do that in a little more in detail when we look at the verses connected with the spirit in verses 13 and 14 of Ephesians 1.

Alright, back to Ephesians 1 predestined us through adoption as sons, I’m God’s son, I address him as my father. I’m in air, enjoyed air with Jesus Christ of all the glories that the Father has prepared for us in him through Jesus Christ to himself, adoption as a son to him. Now ultimate, exciting thing to be placed as a son and this was more of familiar practice in the days of the Romans when adoption occurred and one was placed as a son and give him the full prerogatives and privileges of son hood.

Now I’m a son to him, adoption as sons to himself, now think of that, the God of all glory, the God who has created it all, the God who is responsible for our very existence as ordained that I will be placed as his son with all the privileges and prerogatives that go with son hood. I’m adopted as his child and when adopted now clearly some of the ideas always does, but the idea of being placed as a son, and again we will talk about that a little further later in the chapter, and through Jesus Christ this all occurs. Again the stress this cannot happen apart from Jesus Christ. It is through Christ that this all occurs; now you all, the stress is on what God has done for me through Christ, again it should lay the work to rest and he works on my part. It does not say it is what God has done through Jesus Christ in my efforts. It doesn’t even have anything to do with my responses. It is totally the work of God through his son. I’m simply the beneficiary because of what he has done.

All right moving on to the last statement. According to the kind intention of his will, according to the kind intention of his will, the kind intention is # translation although they should have done it literally as they have it in the margin the good pleasure of his will. And I don’t know why the change was made except maybe to soften it, maybe sounds too arbitrarily to say according to his good pleasure but that’s what it is. Now for you and I it was the kind intention, we are the beneficiary, that’s right. But you are looking for a basis and a foundation for God’s election and God’s predestination; it is not to be found outside of the sovereign will of God.

Why did God choose and predestine me, because I chose him through our belief and that’s not what it says. It says it was according to what, the good pleasure of his will, he decided it would please him to do it, so he did it. He didn’t even ask me, he didn’t even ask you, he didn’t say what you think of this plan. He did it because it pleased himself. So you see something of the sovereignty of God and this is why it’s hard for us to accept the doctrine of election because that grates against my liking to be independent. We think that there are several sovereigns and we are one of them, and God is sovereign but he is not sovereign if I decide he is not sovereign, that’s not the way it is, he is sovereign, period. And he acted on the basis of his own will; it pleased him to do it so he did it, period.

So I’m saying because of God’s love that he manifested in choosing and predestining me on the basis of his own free choice, his own sovereign will. Alright, the purpose of this is revealed in verse 6. We draw to a close to the praise of the glory of his grace. You know why he was operating, he wasn’t operating even for my good, not even for my blessings as one who has received salvation, but the goal of it all was that he might receive the praise and I know this praise expression is repeated again at the end of verse 12, to the praise of his glory, again at the end of verse 14 to the praise of his glory, who is to get the credit and the praise for it all, him and him alone that is why he did it all.

There is no room left for me to go, I didn’t do anything, but wait salvation that is a result of God’s work in my work, and what is it, result of God’s work. Why am I saved? I’m saved because God chose me, a result of his gracious choice, I believed in him and all that does is magnify his grace. You say it’s not fair, even if it’s not fair, you are a sinner aren’t you. I’m a sinner, if you send us all to hell that would be unfair, I’m not about to cry for fairness here and I’m not about to ask God to be fair because God is fair and just we would all go to hell and that will settle the issue. I don’t like that either, so you find out -- we find out what the problem is, we are just not satisfied with any place, are we? We want to be sovereign, we don’t want God exactly to be fair, but we don’t want him to do the way that he did it either. What we are saying is God why didn’t you take my plan and use it, and in fact you are saying why could not it be God and that ought to be obvious to you. I still have to wrestle it for myself. I don’t mean that sacrilegiously but it’s terrible on tape.

To the praise of the glory of his grace, God is operating always in order that he might be blessed, and he might be the one who is praised. You know it’s the praise of the glory of his grace. God has dealt with us according to grace in order that his grace might be exalted. Grace having to do with unmerited favor and God enduring with us in providing salvation for us and predestinating us to be placed as sons, he has done it all in grace, and all that does that I now stand as his son it magnifies his grace. It should cause men to praise the glory of his grace. As you read these verses what does it do to you, it bends out of shape because of election and predestination. It causes to sit back and marvel and be amazed at the grace of God because you want to praise him for the glory of the grace that he has displayed, that is the impact you should have. That’s why God has worked like this, that is why God has elected and predestined in order that men might praise his grace and the glory of the grace that he has displayed might be exulted.

Note to the praise of the glory of his grace which he freely bestowed on us in the beloved where his grace manifested. He freely bestowed, that is a word related to the word grace as well and only used if God’s bestowing because God bestows in grace, and only God can operate on this level. A gracious bestowment, he graced us in the beloved that his grace is revealed where, in the person and work with Jesus Christ. Only time in the bible this expression is used as a name for Jesus Christ that is where he is called the beloved son and so on, but here only is the beloved as a title and the name for Jesus Christ is the one who loved by God. And you cannot understand the grace of God apart from the work of Jesus Christ.

His grace was freely bestowed on us in Jesus Christ. If you do not realized that then you are not yet functioning in light of the grace of God. Note, that means as Christians his grace was manifested as in Christ in providing everything I need, every blessing and placing me as his son. Now you are living in light of your position in Jesus Christ. In light of the awareness that you have every blessing or you are seeking more, or is just the right fruit for the next group or person to touch on the shoulder and tells you about something more that you can have.

Well if this is possible then it won’t be the praise of his glory because his grace and the glory of his grace is praised because the fact that he has given us already every blessing in connection with his work of choosing us and predestinating us. Here this morning you may not believe, this may sound hard and you may think that you sat here rejected in week after week by your choice, it just may mean that he hasn’t chosen you at all to bed, you would have stayed home and watched Maundy mass this morning and not to come. But the fact you are here is an indication of God’s grace, you are sitting under the sound of the good news of Jesus Christ.

You are sitting in the sound of the message of the grace of God as manifested in the beloved and you cannot say anything that God has dealt with you in grace, the very fact he has let you come this morning. You are able to come and hear his grace present, and the only thing is will you respond to his grace as manifested in his son Jesus Christ. There is no grace to be manifested apart from Christ. Salvation is found only in him and that is there with you in love and in grace. He has brought you here, he has provided for your salvation, he invites you to become his to receive the cleansing that he has made available to allow him to establish you and His Son in the heavenlies as the heir of Himself. Now the question is yes or no, do you believe in Jesus Christ or will you not, and you see the issue comes down to our own improvement.

I refuse that as too humble, later admit I’m a sinner and had a need here. You have to do it to me that is not significant but you do have to place your faith in Jesus Christ and that’s an act of your will that God will be aware of, the moment you do that you become aware of the fact hey I was elected and it is believed, and now I’m placed as his son. Let us pray to god. How do we do marvel at your grace and the glory of this grace that provided so full and complete the salvation in the person of the one who is the beloved, we thank you for such great love, even while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.

I’ll pray that we as your children might be living in light of the great blessings that are ours in Christ that every blessing is ours that we are holy and blameless or rather than striving to do something we already are rather than living in light and in the enjoyment and the full realization of what we are in Jesus Christ. I will pray for those who again you graciously brought here this morning who have yet to place their faith in Christ. I’ll pray that nothing else might come through to them this morning but your love for them, your gracious way in dealing with them in providing your only son to die in their place. I pray that you to melt their wills that they might place their faith in Christ this morning, that they might know what it is to address you as Father, to enjoy a personal relationship with you. We pray in Christ’s name, amen.