Ephesians 2
You may remember that we started last time to discover some of the thrill and excitement Paul had when he thought of all that :God had done for him and for all believers through Jesus Christ. He tells us about it in the letter .we are discovering together He says, you remember. that God has blessed us with every spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. We began to speak about some of them last time. We thought how he says that God has chosen us in Christ to be holy and blameless before Him and for this purpose. He his chosen us to be His children. All this shows He has a plan for us.
Now he goes on to tell of some more blessings. I hope you have your Bible or New Testament ready so you can follow along as we discover this Letter to the Ephesians together. We are still in chapter 1, and so now find verse 7. It reads like this, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our sins, according to the riches of his grace which He lavished upon us.” 'Three things stand out in these words: first, redemption, then forgiveness and lastly the measure of these blessings - they are according to the riches of his grace which He lavished upon us.
First then, we have redemption. The word means being bought back, usually from slavery. You see we are by nature slaves of sin and .Satan. If you read in Romans chapter 6, you will see that Paul says the same thing there. Jesus said it too. In John chapter 8 and verse 34 we read," every one who commits sin is a slave of sin." Evil habits and thoughts hold us in their grip and enslave as. Our own selfish desires and lusts rile our lives. We are servants to Satan rather than to the Lord Jesus. While we are in this state we cannot be friends of God or serve Him. We cannot either be fit to go into His presence when we die. This is just why Jesus died for us. It was to buy us back from the power of Satan and sin and to set us free from them. He does this first of all by forgiving our sins. Another word is sometimes used for forgiveness. sometimes we speak of remission of our sins and this is just what the word really means. Remission means the putting away of our sins ,with their guilt and their power. Do you see all that that means? First the barrier between us and God is removed and we can have, fellowship with Him and be part of his family. Then also our lives begin to be changed; the power of sin is broken ; we are no longer its slaves.
Then look at the measure of this blessing - it, is according to the riches of his grace - grace that has been lavished upon us, given in full measure, plenty of it. Quite a lot is said in this letter about God's riches of grace and glory. We shall come. across it again. God does not give in a half-hearted, mean, miserly way. He gives generously and with a large heart. His forgiveness, the putting away of sin, is like this.
The next point Paul mentions has something to do with God’s plan again. You remember we had something to say about this last time In verses 9 - 12 he gives a brief picture of all that God is going to do with this lost world through Jesus Christ. In the fullness of times , that is at the end of the age, at the final putting right of all things, He is going to gather together in one all things in Christ, What does this mean? It is saying very much the same thing as John is saying at the end of the Book of Revelation. It refers to the new heaven and the new earth which we read of there. All things are to be new in Christ. We who have put our trust in Him and become one of his family are going to share in the wonderful glory of the new creation.
In verse 13 Paul turns to those to whom he is writing (add so to us as well) and who have trusted in Christ and speaks of one great further blessing. Listen to what he says - you who have believed in Christ "were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, which is the Guarantee, of our inheritance until we acquire the possession of it”. Notice what he says. First that we are sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. What, does this sealing mean? The seal was the sign of ownership and also of the fact that the object sealed was genuine. It is the same today. The seal on any object shows to whom it belongs and shows that it is genuine.
This is just what the seal of the Holy Spirit is. The ordinary type of seal is external and on the surface. The seal of the Holy Spirit , though, is inward,, in the heart, in the spiritual part of us. Paul says in the letter to the Romans, that the Holy Spirit witnesses with our spirit that we are the children of God. You will find this in Romans chapter 8 and verses 15 and 16. This is an inward consciousness and assurance that, we are God's children. We all have a right to this seal and Paul reminds the Ephesians that they were sealed in this way.
Paul goes on to say something, more about the meaning of this seal- He says it is the guarantee of our inheritance, until we acquire possession of it. Another version translates rather freely and puts in like this - "The Spirit is the guarantee that we shall receive what God has promised his people and assures us that God will give complete freedom to those who are His." Do you understand what Paul is saying? He is saying that if we have this seal, this witness and
assurance of the Holy Spirit whispering in our hearts, if, by this same Spirit we can say, “Abba Father”, then this is the guarantee that all that God has promised us of his cleansing, presence and keeping power, and all that He has promised in his word for the future, will surely be made real. Paul, in other words, is giving the same assurance as he is giving in Romans chapter 8 and verse 28, that “ in all things god works for the good of those that love Him and are called according to his purpose.”
What a blessed and wonderful thing it is to know God and experience his grace in Jesus Christ. Paul has a great deal more to tell us about it but we haven’t got time for any more just now. Next time we shall be thinking of the first of the two prayers that are in this letter to the Ephesians.