We see the greatness of God…
I. BY ALL HE HAS DONE THROUGH JESUS CHRIST
1. He has blessed us
Ephes. 1:3
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. Our text says he has blessed us with “spiritual blessing”
This means that in Christ we have all the benefits of knowing God—
being chosen for salvation,
being adopted as his children,
forgiveness,
insight,
the gifts of the Spirit,
power to do God’s will,
he hope of living forever with Christ.
Because we have an intimate relationship with Christ, we can enjoy these blessings now.
2. He chose us
(Ephes. 1:4)
For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love Paul says that God “chose us in him” What he means is that salvation depends totally on HIM
3. He redeemed us from bondage to sin
(Eph. 1:7)
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace
The blood of Jesus was an important way of speaking of Christ’s death. His death points to two wonderful truths—redemption and forgiveness. Redemption was the price paid to gain freedom for a slave (Leviticus 25:47-54).
Through his death, Jesus paid the price to release us from slavery to sin. Forgiveness was granted in Old Testament times on the basis of the shedding of animals’ blood (Leviticus 17:11).
Now we are forgiven on the basis of the shedding of Jesus’ blood—he died as the perfect and final sacrifice.
We see the greatness of God….
II. Through the revelation of the great plan of God
1. He Predestined us
Predestination maintains that God is the one who wills who will be saved
They quote Romans 9:16
It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.
God is the one who ordains the Christian into forgiveness,
Ephes. 1:5
he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will--
Predestined” means marked out beforehand.
This is another way of saying that salvation is God’s work and not our own doing.
It was His great plan
2. He made known his plan
Ephes. 1:9
And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ,
God was not intentionally keeping his plan a secret (“the mystery of his will”),
but his plan for the world could not be fully understood until Christ rose from the dead.
There is coming a day when all will see His greatness
We see the greatness of God….
III. THROUGH HIS GREAT LOVE
1. Out of His great LOVE He chose us
Ephes. 1:4
For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love
We are not saved because we deserve it, but because God is loving and freely gives salvation.
2. Out of His great LOVE he had mercy on us.
Ephes. 2:4-5
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved.
When he saves us God does not take us out of the world or make us robots—we will still feel like sinning, and sometimes we will sin.
The change is that before we became Christians, we were dead in sin and were slaves to our sinful nature. We could do nothing but sin But now we are alive with Christ We have been freed from Sins power over us by His Great love for us
We see the greatness of God….
IV. Through the great power of God
Ephes. 1:19-20
and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, [20] which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, The world fears the power of the atom, yet we belong to the God of the universe who not only created that atomic power but also raised Jesus Christ from the dead.
God’s incomparably great power is available to help you.
There is nothing too difficult for him.
Sources: Dictionary of Paul and His letters, IVP; Life Application Notes, Navigators