Ephesians (Program #12) – Sealed with the Holy Spirit

Of the three in the Godhead, the Holy Spirit is the most mysterious and the least known. Yet the Bible tells us that the Spirit functions in many definite ways. For example, it is the Spirit that broods over us before we’re saved; it’s the Spirit that convicts us, bringing us to salvation; the Spirit gives life; the Spirit also teaches and guides us into all the reality. But Ephesians gives us at least two additional functions of the Spirit in 1:13-14 “In whom you also, having heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation, in Him also believing, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of the promise, Who is the pledge of our inheritance unto the redemption of the acquired possession, to the praise of His glory.” These verses tell us that the Spirit seals us and also that the Spirit becomes the pledge of our inheritance.  The sealing and pledging Spirit is our subject today and in the next program on this life study from Ephesians.

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Ephesians (Program #11) – The New Testament Believers to the Praise of God’s Glory

Three times in the first chapter of Ephesians, the apostle Paul uses an expression like “to the praise of His glory”. The first time in verse 6, the praise is offered by us – the believers – as the issue of our sonship. The second mention, however, in verse 12 also deals with our sonship but the praise is not offered by us but rather it is the angels even the creation itself that joins in praise to God because of what He has accomplished in us – His sons. Now, not just sons in name and position but sons of God in life and nature.

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Ephesians (Program #10) – To Head Up All Things in Christ (2)

The notion or idea of an eternal struggle in the universe is certainly not new or novel.  Most societies, even most religion makes reference to the struggle of good versus evil that is larger than our world.  But what the Bible actually reveals is that the struggle is not directly good versus evil; rather it is God versus His enemy, Satan – the source of all evil and the source of death.  Actually, if our eyes are open, we realize that God in His wisdom allowed this archangel to rebel.  With one possible reason being the  tremendous opportunity that afforded God to manifest His wisdom through the church by heading up all things in Christ.  This is the view in Ephesians.

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Ephesians (Program #9) – To Head Up All Things in Christ (1)

The book of Ephesians presents the highest view in the entire New Testament. The apostle Paul identifies the focus of this book in the very first chapter when he says, “Making known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, Unto to the economy of the fullness of the times, to head up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth, in Him;” (Ephesians 1:9-10) This is not a book about improved behavior, how to raise our children or even how to have a successful marriage; yet in one sense, it’s on all these things. But fundamentally this book is altogether dealing with God’s eternal purpose which is according to His good pleasure and on how He is working in the world situation without and more specifically on how He is working within us to bring this purpose into reality.

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Ephesians (Program #8) – The Mystery of God’s Will

Ephesians opens with some of the highest speaking in the entire Bible. Our selection, our predestination and our redemption are all mentioned but not as isolated items rather as indispensable steps in the accomplishment of God’s plan which is the great mystery of the universe through the ages. So, we have been chosen, predestinated, and redeemed for what? Ephesians 1:9 says, “Making known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself.” What is God’s will, His purpose, His plan?

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Ephesians (Program #7) – The Mystery of God’s Will

In the first chapters of Romans, the apostle Paul begins by establishing man’s pitiful and sinful condition; almost as though, he is proving to all mankind the need for redemption. Ephesians, however, another letter written by the apostle Paul, also speaks of redemption in the first chapter but from an entirely different perspective. This time it’s from the perspective of God and how He sees us and our need for redemption from the heavenlies. Listen to the marvelous way in which it’s presented in Ephesians chapter 1 “Even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and without blemish before Him in love, Predestinating us unto sonship through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, To the praise of the glory of His grace, with which He graced us in the Beloved; In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of offenses according to the riches of His grace,” What an uplifted view of this matter of redemption we have in Ephesians.

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Ephesians (Program #6) – Redemption in the Son

If we take three simple words from the New Testament like ‘praise, glory and grace’, we may feel quite comfortable that we understand what they mean. But the apostle Paul in Ephesians 1 links them together in one verse, verse 6 “To the praise of the glory of His grace, with which He graced us in the Beloved;” How about now? Do you feel that your understanding is adequate according to the divine revelation especially when you put this verse in it’s context; that is, as the issue of our being predestinated unto sonship in verse 5?  Well, Ephesians is rich, high and mysterious because it is written from the viewpoint of God in the heavenlies. And from that point of view, ‘praise, glory and grace’ flowing out of our sonship are not simple at all but marvelous.

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Ephesians (Program #5) – The Praise of the Glory of God’s Grace

In all the Bible, no book gives us a perspective of the church from the heavenlies as Ephesians does. From the opening verse to the end, the view presented in Ephesians is God’s view, not man’s. And it’s from this view that we see that we have been chosen from the foundation of the world, not to be sinless or even perfect but to be holy. And further, that we have been marked out, predestinated not to be spiritual giants but to be sons of God.

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Ephesians (Program #4) – Predestinated Unto Sonship

When we receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our savior, is it because we choose Him or because He has chosen us?  Well, on one hand, we need to make a decision to receive Him but the Bible tells us in Ephesians chapter 1, “Even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and without blemish before Him in love,” The first blessing in the New Testament is God’s choosing, His selection of us.

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Ephesians (Program #3) – Chosen to be Holy

Let me ask you to consider a simple question, “How has God blessed you?” Most people when asked to recount the many blessings that they received from God would likely list things like their family or their good health or maybe success in business and earthly possessions. Others might give a more spiritual answer like ‘God has blessed me with His enduring mercy or undying love’. But the apostle Paul in his epistle to the Ephesians says very clearly that God’s blessings are all spiritual and they’re in the heavenlies and they’re in Christ. Furthermore, when he had the opportunity to offer his blessing to God, it was not for His mercy that endures forever or for His love or grace, rather it was being the God and Father of our Lord and Jesus Christ. Well this is how Ephesians opens – it is most unusual to say the least but it also conveys a wonderful sense of the rich and profound content of this book.

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