The Purpose of God’s Mercy
Ephesians 1:1-14

 

1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus: 

2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 

4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 

5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 

6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. 

7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace 

8 which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, 

9 having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, 

10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth--in Him. 

11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, 

12 that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. 

13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 

14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory. 

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Eph 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus:

From this greeting, it is quite clear that the Apostle is addressing all the church in Christ who are in Ephesus.
Whilst Paul may not have had more success amongst Jews rather than Gentiles, in Ephesus, there would have been some.
Some believe that this letter is a circular letter that was to be read in other churches as well as Ephesus. The reason for this thought is the fact that the words “in Ephesus” are missing from some texts.
 

2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Again, Paul uses his regular greeting to his readers. Expressing the fact that without grace there can be no peace.
 

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 
 

Here is the heart of Paul’s message. All the spiritual blessings that the believer has in Christ Jesus.
Everything that a believer needs for successful Christian life is found in Christ who is seated in the heavenlies.

Spurgeon said:
“We are not sitting here, and groaning, and crying, and fretting, and worrying, and questioning our own salvation. He has blessed us; and therefore we will bless him. If you think little of what God has done for you, you will do very little for him; but if you have a great notion of his great mercy to you, you will be greatly grateful to your gracious God.”

Note: These are spiritual blessings, sure and certain blessings, to ALL believers both Jew and Gentile.
We may not be blessed with material blessings but we can thank God for whatever physical blessings we do have.

Again a quote from Spurgeon:

“Our thanks are due to God for all temporal blessings; they are more than we deserve. But our thanks ought to go to God in thunders of hallelujahs for spiritual blessings. A new heart is better than a new coat. To feed on Christ is better than to have the best earthly food. To be an heir of God is better than being the heir of the greatest nobleman. To have God for our portion is blessed, infinitely more blessed than to own broad acres of land. God hath blessed us with spiritual blessings. These are the rarest, the richest, the most enduring of all blessings; they are priceless in value.” 

I couldn’t even begin to put it better than that.
 

4.  just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 

God gave us every spiritual blessing with certainty, “just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world” In the same way, not because we deserved it but because He loved us and purposed it in the council of His will.
 

5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 

Even though this causes some to question, or to try and reconcile human responsibility with divine sovereignty. 
We have to accept that this is the teaching of scripture and that in His sovereign will, God does as He sees fit.

Usually this comes under the topic of free will and God’s sovereignty.
How can God be sovereign and at the same time, man have free will.

This question is answered in the fact that man’s will is bound in sin and so cannot be truly free.
This is what caused Martin Luther to write his work, “The bondage of the will”.
Luther argued that since man is dead in sin and his will is in bondage to sin, he only has the ability to choose between a greater or lesser evil and in no way can choose God goodness or seek God in his own strength.

Romans 3: 10 As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one. 
11 There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.…
 

John Calvin quote:

We are chosen in Him. “For if we are chosen in Christ, it is outside ourselves. It is not from the sight of our deserving, but because our heavenly Father has engrafted us, through the blessing of adoption, into the Body of Christ. In short, the name of Christ excludes all merit, and everything which men have of themselves.” 
 

Notice also, we were chosen for a reason, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 

Not just for salvation but to bring glory to the Father through holy living.

The one who died for us was Himself holy and blameless and because we are in Him, we too should be holy and blameless before Him in love.

Why? To the praise of His glory.

6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. 
 

Having said that we are chosen in Christ, Paul now goes on to tell us all about the blessings that we have through the blood of Christ. He talks about the  “In ness”, and the inclusion we have because of Christ.

7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace 

8 which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, 

9 having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, 

10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth--in Him. 

11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, 

12 that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. 

In Christ we have:

Redemption.
Paul is clear with his gospel message, Redemption is through the blood of Jesus.

1 Peter 1:18-20 or you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. God chose Him as your ransom long before the world began, but now in these last days He has been revealed for your sake.
 

Hebrews 9:11-15 Tells us: With His own blood – not the blood of goats and calves –

It goes on: Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer could cleanse people’s bodies from ceremonial impurity.  Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God.

Romans 3: People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed His life, shedding His blood. 
Colossians 1:19 For God in all His fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through Him God reconciled everything to Himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.
 

Forgiveness of sins. 

7b. the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace. 8 which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, 

This was no small thing that the Father did in His Son. The cost to us was nothing but to Christ it was everything. The word that is used is “Immense”.
As the great preacher and hymn writer Charles Wesley put it.
 

He left His Father’s throne above,
So free, so infinite His grace;
Emptied Himself of all but love,
And bled for Adam’s helpless race:
’Tis mercy all, immense and free;
For, O my God, it found out me.
’Tis mercy all, immense and free;
For, O my God, it found out me.

God did not think it a waste of His grace to pour out His mercy on guilty sinners. Why?
Because each of us who were chosen by God, who were called and justified are part of a greater plan.
God knows all things and is in complete control of all events including our salvation.

What does this mean? 
At least, regardless of whatever else it might mean, this means that God understands what to do (wisdom), and when to do it (prudence). 
He abounded His love towards each of us in the fullness of time, according to His plans and purposes.

9 having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, 
10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times;

And why did He do it?
 

10b He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth--in Him. 

9. the mystery of His will,

God’s great plan and purpose which was once hidden but is now revealed to us in Jesus. Through the Apostle Paul, God called us to consider the greatness of God’s great plan for the ages and our place in that plan.
 

We have obtained an inheritance:
11. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, 

Again, the reason for our inheritance is revealed to us in the mystery of the gospel. God according to the council of His will and in His great plan and purpose He predestined us.
Our salvation resides in Him and not ourselves.
This is the uniqueness of the Christian gospel.
All other faiths try to reach God by different means. The Christian gospel reveals that it was God that reached down to man.
 

12 that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. 

The object is the praise of His glory. We, who trust in Christ for our salvation, exist for the glory of God.
How did we come to this position in Christ?
After we heard the Word.
 

13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 

It is only through the Scriptures that one comes to an understanding of salvation:

2 Timothy 3:15. "The holy scriptures . . . are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus"

Furthermore, it is the Word which generates saving faith:

Romans 10:17 "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" .

Regeneration.
When one hears the word of truth by the preaching of the gospel, the Holy Spirit applies that word and causes regeneration, (a quickening to life), making it possible for the hearer to call upon the Lord and be saved.
The scales fall from the eyes, the ear is unstopped, the heart is softened and the spirit is made alive.
On belief in Christ, that soul is sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.
 

13b in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 

Guarantee.
The Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance. It is like a down payment, a deposit, a promise, to be made good at the redemption, at the resurrection.

Certain salvation.
We have been bought with a great price, and our salvation is certain.
 

14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory. 

 

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 

Chosen.
Redeemed.
Forgiven.
Given a revelation of the mystery of His will.
Gathered into one,
Given an inheritance.
Sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.

All for the praise of His glory.

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