Our first scripture reading is from Isaiah chapter nine, Isaiah nine. The first seven verses from Isaiah nine. Verse one, but there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish. In earlier times, he treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt. But later on, he shall make it glorious by the way of the sea on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. Those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them. Thou shalt multiply the nation. Thou shalt increase their gladness. They will be glad in thy presence, as with the gladness of harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. For thou shalt break the yoke of their burden and the staff on their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor, as at the battle of Midian. For every boot of the booted warrior in the battle tumult and cloak rolled in blood will be for burning, fuel for the fire. For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us, and the government will rest on his shoulders. And his name will be called Wonderful Councillor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of his government or of peace on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this. Would you also turn please to Ephesians chapter one as we pick up our series on the book of Ephesians again, Ephesians one, I'll read verses 3 to 12. The text for the sermon is verses 7 to 12. Verse 3 in Ephesians 1. 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, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love, he predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the kind intention of his will to the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely bestowed on us in the beloved. Now a text from verses seven to 12. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us. In all wisdom and insight, he made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his kind intention which he purposed in him, with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times. That is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens, and things upon the earth. In him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to his purpose, who works all things after the counsel of his will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank You for the blessing of being taught by Your Word and by the work of Your Spirit within us. Father, would You grant that since we are being taught that we would also learn, that we may learn inwardly in such a way that we would not be merely hearers of the Word but also doers. Father, we also thank you for the blessing of being taught to give as well as to receive. We are taught to receive your Word but we thank you that we are taught to give praise to your name because of it. And we pray that you would enable us to do that as well. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Covenant people of God, just to recap, because we have had a bit of a holiday break and still a few people away at this time, but nevertheless it has interrupted our series on Ephesians, which we now pick up again. And so to recap what we saw in the previous sermon, we were considering how blessed we are, which is the beginning of this section of Ephesians 1 on how blessed we are. Blessed by the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And we previously considered the Father's role in that, especially the Father's role in blessing us by choosing us, by predestining us to adoption and holiness. But now in this section, we turn to examine the blessing that we have through and in and from the Son, the second person of the Trinity. Though, of course, we don't want to separate those things in an unhelpful or a wrong kind of way. There is a distinction between them, but we don't want to separate the work of Father and Son. After all, the Father predestined us in Christ. And that is why in that first section that we looked at previously, the expressions such as in Christ, in him, or in the beloved, those kind of expressions were sprinkled in the previous verses that focused on the work of the Father. So the text itself then connected that to the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, though the focus in those previous verses was on the first person of the Trinity. And so now as we come to this next section, verses 7 to 12, where you have a shift in focus from the work of the Father to the work of the Son, nevertheless, the Father's work also is brought into that and connected to that. But the focus in that section is, as I say, the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that is why It is especially in verses 7 to 12 that you find these phrases, in Christ or in Him, you find that five times in these verses reflecting that focus. Three points, then, as we consider the Lord Jesus' role in blessing us. Firstly, redemption in Him. Secondly, the knowledge of God in Him. And thirdly, an inheritance in Him. In the first place then, I think most of us would be rather familiar with the fact that the great blessing we have in the Lord Jesus Christ is redemption. And I'm sure I'm not telling you anything terribly new in saying that, that that is one of the chief blessings we have in and through the Lord Jesus. But there are in the New Testament different words for redemption. And the one that's used here has a very particular meaning. It means deliverance that comes by paying a ransom price. So there's a lot of meaning packed into one word there. You should be familiar, we should all be rather familiar, unfortunately, in this fallen world in which we live with the idea of a ransom price to deliver someone. Because it's not that unusual for someone to be abducted, whether by terrorists or by criminals seeking to get money, and asking for a ransom price which must be paid to deliver that person and bring them back to safety again. But here, of course, we are speaking about being delivered from the wrath of God, not something unjust as in the case of those abductions I mentioned, but something that is entirely just and deserved by us, the wrath of God because of our sins. But the Lord Jesus Christ pays the ransom price especially on the cross, in order to deliver us. And the language here in this text implies that this paying of the ransom price, this is something we have in a way at our disposal in an ongoing way. It's something we have on and on and on for the rest of our lives once we are united with the Lord Jesus Christ. That redemption by ransom price is also described with another expression here, the result of that ransom being paid, and that is the forgiveness of our trespasses. And here again there are different words that describe how our sins are dealt with by God because of the Lord Jesus Christ, but the one that is used here is a word that refers to the removal of our trespasses, to the letting go of that on God's part. And here, if we think of other verses that speak of that and describe that in a very poetic way, in this case, we could think of Psalm 103, which uses that great expression that you find taken up in our Lord's Supper forms, that our sins have been removed as far as the east is from the west. That's the idea that is coming to the fore in the use of this word in our text. Removal, complete removal, as far away as you can get. How far, by the way, is it from the east to the west? Well, if you measure it around the equator, that would be around about 40,000 kilometres. You go from one side of the globe back to the starting point, if you want to look at it that way. Or if you wanted to fly from one side of the world to the other, depending on which way you go, it could be as little as 16 and a half hours. Probably also depends on what kind of jet you're in, but 16 and a half hours. But as I'm sure you know, in Bible times, removing something or someone from east to west was something that for them was effectively impossible. To go from east to west, for a man to do that at that time. And so it's an expression that means you remove something to such an extent that it becomes completely unreachable. And that's the point here. The removing of our transgressions from east to west is something that is utterly impossible for us, utterly impossible for man, but not for God. And only the Lord can do that, remove our sins so that they will not be seen again because they are unreachable as far as God is concerned, specifically in the sense of the condemnation that they bring upon us and the guilt because of our sins, that is what has been removed so that it is unreachable. And that is a blessing of enormous magnitude when you consider what it is that we deserve and how far away that has been taken and what the Lord Jesus had to do for that to be taken so far away from east to west. Obviously from what I've been saying and the text emphasizes this, this blessing is found And it is only found in Him, that is, in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is only found in union with the Lord Jesus Christ. It is only found in the sphere of His operations and by faith in Him. It is obtained, we are told, through Him. See how the text is centering us back all the time on the Lord Jesus Christ, in Him, through Him. It is obtained through His blood, by His sacrifice on the cross, and for that matter also, though it's not mentioned here, by His life of perfect obedience for us. In order to get us to think about this and just how great a magnitude this blessing is, this blessing of redemption, the forgiveness of our sins, the apostle adds that this is according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us. And some of that language that's used there, it's obviously getting us to think about the greatness of this blessing and the magnitude of it. and other aspects perhaps we would easily gloss over. But there are four ways in that sentence that the greatness and the magnitude of this blessing is emphasized. It is being emphasized by the word grace itself, which reminds us that this is something we don't deserve. And so there too we see something of the greatness of it. But of course by the word riches, the riches of His grace, the greatness of it. And by the word lavished, a word that in the original means that God makes grace to abound to us. And the form of the Greek there also means once and for all. This has been lavished once and for all. The English word lavish is a word that means something that is sumptuously rich. Like you go to a banquet or a wedding reception or something like that and you have a lavish spread of food on the table, sumptuously rich. That's a good English word then to describe what we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. because God's grace in Christ is spread before us like that banquet in a sumptuously rich manner. That's what we're being told here. And then another way in which that is emphasized here, which can be rather easily glossed over, is this phrase, according to. The text reads, according to the riches of his grace. But that expression, according to, really means according to the measure of His grace. And how big is the grace of God? How big is the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ? It's infinite. So according to the measure of this infinite grace, that is the way in which this sumptuously rich banquet has been poured out for us. Not some small portion, not the throwing of a few crumbs, but a lavish thing according to the grace of God. The blessing of redemption and forgiveness, undeserved, rich, lavish, sumptuous, superabundant, deriving from an infinite source. The second aspect of the blessings that we have in Christ have to do with the fact that he enables us to know God. That's found in verses 8b through to verse 10, and that's our second point, the knowledge of God in him. I guess we commonly, when we think about the blessings we have in Christ, as I indicated before, we frequently think about redemption, the forgiveness of our sins, and it's easy for our minds to jump straight to that because we're well aware that the blessing of redemption lets us off the hook, so to speak. And that's very much in our self-interest then to dwell upon that a lot. It is an emphasis of scripture, and that's a very good reason for focusing on it. But it's not the only blessing that we have, and here we have another one that's mentioned, the fact that the infinite God, the holy God who is so far above us, and who is wholly other, not a creature, whereas we are so small and so sinful, and yet, we may come to know this God. And that in itself is another aspect of the blessing. One that we should think upon the privilege of that, think upon the privilege and the blessedness of that, just as we think upon the privilege and the blessedness of the redemption that we don't deserve. The importance of the knowledge of God is stressed here by the structure of verses eight and nine, which describe the making known of the mystery of his will as the way in which He makes His grace abound to us. To put it simply, you have to know God to grow in God. You have to know God to receive that abounding, that outpouring of grace more and more. God shares his self-knowledge with us in all wisdom and intelligence, we're told. And that's referring not just to his wisdom and intelligence, but also in the way that he brings his grace to us, that it causes us to have and to grow in wisdom and understanding of who God is, of what he has done, and also what his plans are insofar as he has revealed that, what his plans are for us and for this world. These things are described here as mysteries. A mystery in the Bible is something you wouldn't know unless God told you. And these are things we wouldn't know unless God told us. We wouldn't know who he is, we wouldn't know his great and mighty works in the same way that we do, we do see them reflected in creation, shown in all creation for that matter, of course. But there too, that's God's revelation to us, general revelation. But especially through special revelation, we come to understand who God is, what he has done, and also something of his plans for this world. We get to understand that through his word and by the work of his spirit. And here again, we're reminded of the magnitude of this blessing. Such unintelligent fools we are by nature. And yet now, we know the infinitely wise and holy God, and we even know something of his plans. As you may have noticed, this year is an election year and already they're starting to ramp things up as far as that's concerned. I dare say you'd be pretty surprised if the Prime Minister dropped in to let you know about the party's plans, their election strategies and so forth. You'd be pretty surprised if the Prime Minister dropped in to tell you that. Who are you? Who am I to be granted such privileged information? But how much more astounding that the Lord gives us this knowledge and this wisdom that we have from His Word to know His plans. And not just for now, but also plans that run through right to the end of the age and into eternity. This is, we are told, according to the purpose of God. I said before that verses three to six focus on the Father, the blessing of predestination, but they also make clear, those verses, that that involved the Lord Jesus Christ. So here in verse nine, we have this symmetry that in the focus on revelation in Christ, we are reminded that that is the Father's will and purpose. Again, these things are tied back and forth. God's purpose is so strongly emphasized in Ephesians 1. When I speak with Arminians and they don't believe in predestination or they want to describe predestination as God just looking into the future and seeing what's going to happen anyway, irrespective of His will, it's just going to happen. So then He makes His plans to fit in with that. When I hear people talk about that, Ephesians 1 is one of the passages I go to. Romans 9, probably the other one. Those two passages speak so much about these things. And this passage is chock-a-block full with that kind of teaching. God's purpose and predestination stressed in verse 4 with the word chose. He chose us with the word predestined and intention of His will in verse 5. intention and purpose in verse 9, predestined purpose and counsel of his will in verse 11. For you see, the fact that you know God, if you know God, the fact that you do so, that you have redemption and forgiveness of your sins, that you have the richest of blessings, this is not due to your will, this is due not primarily, it is not due to that ultimately, it is due to God's will. So even if you think that you know God's will very well, even if you feel that this is your doing, that you have come to know God. Was it not you who believed? Was it not you who made some decision if you were converted later in life? You may feel that it was very much focused on your decision and what you did, but we are being told here, don't give yourself airs about that, because it is not ultimately, and it is not primarily, and it is not first your will, it is God's. We're also told that this knowledge of God is with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times. Verse 10, there's a lot packed in there to that. An administration, it's a word that's related to the word steward, the steward of a household and the way he manages. The administration is the management of a household, or in this case, of an entire dispensation, an entire age, if you like, or era. We're told here about God's plans, about how he is running things in this era, this time, this dispensation from Christ's first coming in the fullness of times, right through to his second coming. And it is a plan that involves the summing up of all things, so this is what we're told about it. that that coming of Christ has to do with the summing up of all things in heaven and earth under the headship of Christ. Which in turn has to do with the restoring of this entire broken universe, broken by man's sin. Also by the gathering of elect angels and elect men and of the church willingly under the rule of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then the removal of all opposition so that all who oppose Christ and who remain in that opposition will also be subjected to His will, even though in their case, it won't be with any delight, nor in hell, any delight in being subjected to God's will through Christ the judge. But nevertheless, it is the subjection of all things. Hebrews 2, verses five and eight, good passage to us. add to in this picture as well. Now John Stott makes the point that we often get so caught up in our own time. And we get so caught up in our own lives, and our own affairs, and our own problems, and our own issues, and the issues of our churches, and the problems of our churches, and the life of our churches, and the politics of our country, and all such things specifically to do with our lives and our times, and lose sight of the bigger picture. And the bigger picture is that we've been given this enormous privilege, insight into a cosmic plan. insight into a plan that covers the ages, and especially the time between Christ's first and second coming, which is the climax of it all, and which brings not just our lives and the small things going on around us into its scope, but brings absolutely everything and everyone and every creature within its scope under the headship of Christ. how small-minded we can be. And yet we have this great privilege, this blessing of this revelation that brings the knowledge of God and at least something of His plans. In Christ we therefore have this other blessing and it's implied by that because this administration in the fullness of time especially focuses on Christ's first to second coming. And it means that there is also something lying ahead in the future for us. An inheritance. Because of God's plan for the administration of this age. We find that, the inheritance mentioned in verses 11 to 12. Third and final point. An inheritance in Him. Here once again, predestination, the Father's will is brought into it. No doubt to give us the assurance that it must happen. Everything God has predestined must happen. There is no other alternative. And we find that here with this language. We have obtained an inheritance. which may mean also that we have been made an inheritance. Some commentators take it that way. We actually ourselves have been made the inheritance. That is to say we are regarded by God as his portion, as his heritage, and the scripture speaks often of that. Deuteronomy 32 verse 9, Psalm 33 verse 12, and many others. What a great condescension on the part of God that He regards us as His inheritance. But it's that truth that God has made us His portion, it's that that guarantees us our inheritance. Either way, it is because He predestined it, we read. A word that means, and again, to those who think that God is somehow fitting around everything else, This word literally means it was determined beforehand. It was appointed and fixed beforehand by God and the language, also the form of it, once and for all. According to His purpose, Not the purpose of man or some other creature, but according to his purpose, who works all things in that way. All things worked after the counsel of his will. Not looking into the future and seeing what they're going to do, but worked after the counsel of his will. More strong predestination language. And a guarantee that if you know the Lord Jesus Christ, you will come into this inheritance. Why did God do this? Why did He put this inheritance in place and bring us these other blessings? We are told one reason for that, so that those who were the first to hope in Christ, Jewish Christians, Jewish believers, those who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory, verse 12, as they spread the gospel that led many others to give glory and give praise to God as well, as the gospel spread out into the whole Gentile world. God is glorified, not to say that we can increase His glory, but God is glorified on earth as more and more people learn about His sovereignty and learn about His grace. Learn about His infinitely wise and wonderful plans for this world. Learn about His person and His works, works of redemption, their result, the forgiveness of sins. Learn about the blessings He showers upon His people. And God is glorified as people learn that all of this is in and through Jesus Christ. That is why Five times in these verses, in Christ, in Him. That is why this receives emphasis. Predestination in Him. We learned that earlier. Redemption and forgiveness in Him. The knowledge of God in Him. And inheritance in Him and hope in Him. So that God may be glorified and we may be blessed in Him. Amen. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we recognize that in this passage, the blessings that we have from you are only summarized in broad categories of blessedness. We pray that you would make us more and more familiar with the rest of Scripture as we learn more about that blessedness, as these things, these categories are filled out and expanded. so that we may more and more realise just how much the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us and how blessed we truly are. Father, fill us with gratitude for that and will you use it also to strengthen our assurance and the hope that lies before us to your glory. Father, enable us to further the manifestation of your glory on earth by making sure that we tell others of the richness of the blessing that comes through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ and through knowing him. We pray it in his name. Amen. As we have been seeing how vast the blessings which we in Christ possess, hymn 386, We will stand to sing it and would you please remain standing for the blessing and doxology. 386 in the psalter hymnal. Fast the prayer that bears divine, which we in Christ possess. We are redeemed from sin and shame, thankful to God. But He always in letting love, Salvation does bestow. That was thy self-conscurity, in those days men should plan. In thee his grace was given not. hands of sovereign love, we ever shall remain. Nor shall the rage of hell or hell paint thy store-grounds in vain. But while the foes After the blessing as our doxology we sing from the Psalter hymnal number 60, stanza 8. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance on you and give you peace. Amen. ♪ Hail the Lord, be magnified, be glorified. ♪ ♪ Servants of the Spirit, magnify him no more. ♪ ♪ Till he that died will live in grace. ♪ In its salvation I rejoice. You give my heart the praise of more, and blessings of more.