Ephesians 1:3-14 The Riches of Gods Treasure House

Ephesians 1: 3 - 14   The Riches of God’s Treasure House

Our Spiritual Bank Account

• Overview of this lesson
• God’s great love for us.   (Psalm 103:1-13)
• We have many spiritual blessings through Jesus Christ.
• God has the right to chose who he will save.  Jesus also states ‘Who shall ever come to me will be saved”..  God’s makes a sovereign choice to chose us, we do not choose God.  We receive God and God accepts and redeems us through his grace.
• God sees our flawed personality, but he also sees our potential.  People will look at themselves as flawed.   We must realize we are a work of God’s art, that we are work in progress, and we can only be perfected through God.
• Forgiveness of sins.
• The Old Testament used a Scape Goat for atonement of sins..   (Leviticus 16:5, 7-10).
• The New Testament has Jesus dying on the cross to wash us of our sins.
• A great mystery.
• God is letting us in on a secret.  We have a new life through Jesus Christ.  We now have a new family, a new culture, and we have gained an inheritance to Eternal Life in Heaven with our LORD and Savior.
• All 3 members of the Trinity are involved in our salvation.
• God chooses us.
• Jesus Christ saved us and bought us.
• The Holy Spirit seals us and convicts us.
• Predestination.
• Why would God choose you?  What merit does God see in our human nature?
• The answer is God’s Character (Deuteronomy 7:6-15)
• God choose us because he loved us.
• Creates 2 questions and problems.
• Did we make the choice to follow Jesus Christ?
• Who has God ordained for salvation and ordained for damnation?  
• God’s wish is that none should perish.
• Irresistible Predestination through Grace (Calvinism)
• You can not do anything about your salvation.
• God’s choice vs. People’s choice.
• Even if you want to be saved, you can not be saved unless you are predestined.
• Jesus says ‘Come to me, you who are burdened and I will give you rest’.
• Limited atonement (Repent and Return).
• Jesus Christ only died for those saved.
• 1 John 2:2 (Jesus died for the sins of the whole world).
• Ephesians 1:4
• We have 2 conclusions that seem to contradict each other.  Which one is correct?
• Verse 4: Guaranteed Inheritance.
• Our downpayment is the Holy Spirit, who dwells within us, and guarantees our eternal life in heaven.
• We receive all the Spiritual Blessings when we come to Jesus Christ.
• It is not part or some, it is not a promise, it is not conditional, and it does not come in stages.
• We stand blameless and holy before God.
• We are adopted Children of God
• We instantly have redemption.
• We are received through the riches of God’s grace.
• If we live in spiritual poverty it is because we don’t realize what is already ours through Jesus Christ.
• The main purpose of Paul’s letter to the Church of Ephesus was to enable others to discover the spiritual blessings available.
• Once we understand our blessings our life will never be the same.
• Verses 4 - 6: Adopted Children.
• Leads to the phrase in our culture, ‘Not the real child’.   To the parents of an adopted child, they are loved just as much as biological children.
• God’s adoption of us as his children is a picture of God’s sovereign grace.   The child does not chose his parents, but the parents choose the child.
• When God adopts us, he gives us his very nature.   We take on the very nature of Jesus Christ, we become like him, we become what Christ is, and we become new creations.   (2 Corinthians 5:17, Romans 8:29)
• Verses 7 - 10: According to his Riches.
• Before we were adopted, Jesus died on the cross for us, Jesus paid the price for our sins.
• We were slaves to sin before our adoption.
• Everything belongs to God.   God held nothing back by allowing his Son to die for our sins, he gave according to his richness.   It was something that would be missed by God instead of something that was insignificant or just a ‘donation’.   It was the ultimate sacrifice.
• God lavished his grace upon us.
• Lavished - God poured out all his grace upon us freely and extravagantly.  His grace is endless as an ocean, vast as the universe.  God’s grace knows no limit, no end, or no boundary.
• A believer who continues to sin does not understand the lavish grace of God and they take advantage of his grace.
• A sanctified sinner understands the lavish grace of God which deters him from sinning.
• God’s Mystery - God’s plan for our life.  We may not understand it completely but we all have a role to play.
• Verses 11 - 14: Guarantee of our Inheritance.
• When we accept Jesus, we receive full inheritance and it is not by chance but by grace.
• These verses offer us another great mystery that we do not fully understand - Predestined.   (Psalm 139:13-16).
• Before the earth was formed, God said ‘You are the object of my love, grace, mercy, redemption, blessing, and choice.   God has formed us at our mother’s womb.  God has willed it that we be his children.  God has opened our spiritual eyes so that we can see that we desperately need him.
• God has blessed us through Jesus with spiritual blessings.
• Peace                           (John 14:27)
• Joy                              (John 15:11)
• Strength in our lives     (Philippians 4:131)
• In times of trouble we need to praise God for our spiritual blessing.
• How should our prayer sound and do we bargain with God.   (page 26).
• Verses 12 - 14:  To the Praise of His Glory.
• This means that God has blessed us, saved us, redeemed us, lavished us with his grace, and he has made known his mysteries to us.
• Everywhere we go we should praise others regardless of the difficulties faced, problem situations, and problem people.   (Romans 8:17)
• Conclusion.
• God’s treasure house is filled with blessing, strength, and power for our lives.   Let us be aware of these riches and claim them every day.  Let us claim all of God’s blessings every day and not miss out on them.