Do you believe that God chose you? That before you were even born, he wanted you, and before he spoke the world into being, he had a plan for how he was going to rescue you. As I spent time studying this first chapter in the book of Ephesians, I was overcome with emotion as the truth that God wanted me all along washed over me. I pray that our time in this passage will have the same life-giving, love-filling effect on you. Because you, my friend, are wanted by the God of the universe. Before I read this passage, I would so appreciate it if you would take a minute and click that subscribe button, and give this video a like. It's one of the best ways to show the YouTube algorithm that you find this content valuable. The book of Ephesians may be very familiar to you; now, it's okay if it's not. By the end of this video series, it will be, so stick around. But if you spent much time in church, you've probably heard multiple sermons preached on the book of Ephesians, and you may have even memorized some passages from Ephesians. I want to urge you, don't let your brain go into autopilot when you hear things you've heard before, or read things that you've read before. Let's be humble as we study God's Word, and not assume that we know what it already says. Let's ask the Lord to give us eyes to see and ears to hear what he has to say as we study. So grab your Bible, and let's seek him together. Now, anytime we're going to study a new book of the Bible, we always want to start with an overview, a background to give us some context for the passages that we're going to study. Now I did this in my last video, which you can find linked in the description below. I gave a really thorough history of Paul's interaction with the Ephesians and gave you some history about the city of Ephesus and the culture there. I'd encourage you if you haven't watched that video, after you finish this one, go click that link because it's going to give you a lot of great information that will impact the way that you understand the book of Ephesians. But in the meantime, here's a quick summary. The Book of Ephesians is a letter. It was written by Paul while he was imprisoned in Rome. Paul was writing to Gentile believers in the city of Ephesus and the surrounding region. Paul had spent more than two years in the city of Ephesus, building relationships with the Ephesians and telling them the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ. Paul loved the Ephesian believers, and so several years after his time there, while he was in prison in Rome, Paul wrote this letter back to the Ephesians. So when we read the book of Ephesians, we went to remember Paul's pastoral heart for the people he's writing to and the great respect that they had for the Apostle Paul. Ephesians is a letter that carried great weight and would have been treasured by the people who received it. As we study this book, we're going to follow a few specific steps, and this will be our system for studying each portion of Scripture.The first thing that we're going to do is make some observations. We're going to look for things like repeated words and phrases. We're going to look for key themes and ideas that are obvious focal points that the author wanted to communicate to his original readers. We're also going to ask questions like who, what, when, where, and why. Then, after we've made some observations, we'll look at interpreting the passage. What did it mean to the original readers? What was Paul trying to communicate? And then we'll consider what does all of this mean for me as a modern-day believer? What can I learn about God? And what can I learn about how to be a follower of Jesus? I'm dividing chapter 1 into three different sections. We'll look really briefly at verses one and two, which is really the introduction to the chapter. Then today we'll spend most of our time looking at verses 3 through 14. And in the next video, we'll cover verses 15 through 23. Okay, let's jump in. I'm going to begin by reading Ephesians, Chapter 1, verses 1 and 2. “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by God's will, to the faithful saints in Christ Jesus at Ephesus, grace to you and peace from God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” So Paul starts his letter with a greeting. Now, if you watched my previous video introducing the book of Ephesians, you will remember that verse 1 actually gives us some really important contextual facts about this book. You see in verse 1 that Paul is the author, and also that it is written to the faithful saints in Christ Jesus at Ephesus. And then he gives this familiar greeting. He says, grace to you, and peace from God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. This is Paul's desire for his fellow believers, that they would know the grace and peace that God offers through Jesus. Keeping in mind these introductory details, let's dig into the first half of Chapter 1. I'm going to read to you verses 3 through 14, and then we'll break it down and look more deeply at it. Now don't get distracted while I'm reading to you, friend, because these words are so powerful and meaningful. I don't want you to miss them. Ephesians chapter 1, verses 3 through 14 says, “Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ. For he chose us in him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in love before him. He predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ for himself. According to the good pleasure of his will to the praise of his glorious grace that he lavished on us in the beloved one. In Him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace that he richly poured out on us with all wisdom and understanding. He made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure that he purposed in Christ as a plan for the right time to bring everything together in Christ, both things in heaven and things on earth in Him. In him we have also received an inheritance because we were predestined according to the plan of the one who works out everything in agreement with the purpose of His will. So that we, who had already put our hope in Christ, might bring praise to his glory. In him you also were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed. The Holy Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance until the redemption of the possession to the praise of his glory.” Now, what we have here in verses 3 through 14 is an outpouring of worship, and verse 3 really introduces this worship. Verse 3 says “Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ.” Another way to translate that first word, “blessed,” would be “praise be.” Really, what Paul is saying is praise be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And then he says that this God that we're worshipping has blessed us or has bestowed upon us every spiritual blessing available in the heavens in Christ. And this phrase “in Christ” comes up over and over and over again in our passage. Effectively, Paul is saying that these blessings that God has given to us, they are available to us because of Jesus, through Jesus. Christ is the key. God the Father is the initiator, and he accomplishes his purposes through his Son, Jesus Christ. Now look at how verse 3 is connected to verse 4 and the following verses. Remember, verse 3 said, “blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ, for He chose us in Him.” So do you see that connecting word? The CSB translation, which is what I use, says, for He chose us. Other translations say things like even as, or just as. What we're seeing is that verses 4 through 14 really lay out for us what it means to be blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavens. So we want to keep that in mind as we're making our observations. First of all, did you notice that we see references to God, the Father, and Jesus Christ over and over and over again in this passage? When we see something repeated, we want to take note, it matters, it's important, and clearly, they are the primary “who” of our passage. While we do learn a lot about what God has done for us in this passage, the emphasis is primarily on God as the doer. We also see some other repeated words and phrases. We see words like chose, predestined, purposed, plan, his will. Again, these are pointing us to the intentionality of what God has done, and words like lavished riches, richly poured out, these are emphasizing God's extravagant generosity towards his people. Now, keep in mind that if you're reading a different translation, you might have different wording, but you should still be able to see these repeated themes and ideas. Another repeated phrase is to the “praise of his glory” and we see this several times in this passage, which communicates the why behind what Paul is telling us that God has done. If you look closely, you will see other words that are repeated, but let's hone in on these as they are the most prominent. Now let's spend a couple minutes looking at the “us” and “we” see repeated throughout our passage. When we're first studying the scripture, we want to really consider how the original readers would have understood the message. Now, remember, we saw in verse 1 that Paul is writing to the faithful saints in Christ Jesus at Ephesus. We also saw in Chapter 3, verse 1 that Paul specifically addressed Gentile believers. And in my introduction video, I explained that it was likely a circular letter. So it was intended not just for the church and emphasis, but to be passed around to other churches in the region. Now I do want us to keep in mind those original readers, the people that Paul loved so much and had spent time with. However, because these verses use the words “us” and “we” so frequently, and the reality is that for those of us who are followers of Jesus, these passages do apply to us as well. I'm going to keep using the word “us” and “we” in our interpretation rather than referring to them and then applying it to us. If you are a believer, then according to the scriptures, you are a saint, and these truths about salvation and the work that God has done, they apply to you and I. These words are for us too. And friend, if you do not consider yourself a believer, or you're unsure of what it means to be a follower of Jesus, to have received the gift of salvation and the precious blessing of a personal relationship with Jesus, then I'd encourage you talk to someone you know who can tell you more about Jesus and the good news of salvation. Or you can click the link in the description below that will take you to a video where I will tell you about my personal relationship with Jesus, and I will tell you how you can know Jesus as your personal Lord and savior, finding freedom from the guilt of sin, and hope in the promise of spending eternity in heaven with God. Okay, considering what we've observed so far, let's seek to understand what these passages are communicating. First, we notice that God the Father and Jesus Christ are the main characters in our passage that we're studying. And if you look closely, you see over and over again that Paul is trying to communicate to his readers that God initiates his plan, and he accomplishes it through Jesus. I want you to watch for that as I quickly go through all of these verses, then we'll go back to them a little bit more slowly. But I want you to look for this reality that God is the initiator, and he accomplishes his purposes through Jesus. In verse 4, we see that God chose us. Remember that “us” Paul is referring to is himself and the believers he's writing to. So God chose us, and then it says “in him” and that him is Jesus. Then in verse 5, “God predestined us to be adopted through Jesus.” In verse 6, we see that God lavished grace on us in the Beloved One, that is Jesus. In verse 7, we see that we have redemption in Jesus through his blood. We also have forgiveness according to God's grace. In verse 8, God richly poured out his grace, and in verse 9, God made known to us his will in Christ. In verse 10, we read about God's plan to bring everything together in Christ. In verse 11, we have an inheritance in Christ because God predestined it. In verse 12, it tells us that this inheritance is for those of us who have put our hope in Christ. Verse 13 tells us we are sealed in Christ. And verse 14 tells us that the Holy Spirit is our down payment to the praise of God's glory. God is the initiator here. He determined his purposes and then accomplished them through Jesus. Now, before we look more closely at what it is that God accomplished through Jesus, I want to turn your attention back to two more of those repeated themes. First, we have the words referring to God's purpose, his predestination, his plan. Now I have no intention of diving into the doctrine of predestination and all the nuances and controversy there. However, I am going to say what is plain as day here in this passage, regardless of what you believe about the overarching doctrine of predestination. Paul clearly states here that God predestined us to be adopted as his sons. And what that means for you, friend, is that if you are in Christ, if you have surrendered your life to Jesus and trusted him for salvation, then you were predestined to be adopted by God. He chose you; he wanted you before he laid the foundation of the world, before he spoke the cosmos into being. He wanted you for his own. He wanted me, this is the truth in this passage that left me breathless and brought me to tears more than once. God wanted me; he planned to adopt me. I was a part of his plan from the very beginning. So when we're reading this passage, and we encounter phrases like according to the good pleasure of his will, and predestined according to the plan of the one who works out everything in agreement with the purpose of his will. Don't lose the significance here. When God decides something, then it will be, and before he created the world, God decided to adopt us, to save us, to make a way for us to be redeemed. He decided it, and then he accomplished it, because he is God, and that is what he does. So the other set of repeated words that I want to point out, we see in verses 6, 7, and 8, and really it's kind of like we see Paul gushing. He uses this dramatic language, and you can see that it's almost like he is struggling to communicate the gravity of what he wants to say. He refers to God lavishing his grace on us, and then he refers to the riches of his grace that he richly poured out on us. I feel like you can imagine Paul saying, this is a big deal. This grace, it's big, this gift of grace, it's extravagant. So now let's go back to verses 4 through 6 where we read, “For he chose us in him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in love before him. He predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ for himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he lavished on us in the Beloved One. In verse 4, Paul tells us that God chose us to be holy and blameless. Again, note that being holy and blameless, it can only be accomplished through Christ. We cannot be made holy and blameless apart from Jesus. I love the way that the ESV Study Bible differentiates between these two words. It explains that holy refers to moral purity, and being blameless is to have freedom from the guilt of sin. So it was God's plan to make us holy and blameless through Jesus, then in verse 5, we see that God desired to adopt us as sons. It was God's plan and desire. Paul calls it the pleasure of his will for us to be adopted as his children. But this could only be accomplished if we were made holy and blameless, and so he sent Jesus to make that possible. This is more completely explained in verses 7 and 8, where we read “In him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace, that he richly poured out on us with all wisdom and understanding.” So you see, in Jesus, we have redemption through his blood, and that word redemption, it refers to being released through the payment of a ransom. In Paul's letter to the Romans, it says, “but now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit that you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord.” It is through the blood of Christ that our ransom was paid. We were bought back and offered forgiveness for our sins because of God's extravagant grace. Now continuing on in verses 9 and 10, it says, “He made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, that he purposed in Christ as a plan for the right time to bring everything together in Christ, both things in heaven and things on earth in him. Now these verses actually bring up a topic that will be discussed more later in the book of Ephesians, and it was extremely significant to those original readers. If you remember from my last video, we saw that Chapter 3 tells us that the majority of the believers in Ephesus would have been Gentiles. Now the mystery referenced in verse 9 has to do with the offering of salvation to all mankind, and the uniting of believers, both Jew and Gentile. This was revolutionary to the early church, and a very difficult concept for both the Jews and the Gentiles to believe. Those early Gentile believers, they would have struggled to grasp the reality that God had chosen them and desired for them to be his children. We'll talk more about that in future videos, but again take note of the fact that the revealing of this mystery was according to God's good pleasure and purpose in Christ. Now let's read the remainder of this section, verses 11 through 14. In him, we have also received an inheritance because we were predestined according to the plan of the one who works out everything in agreement with the purpose of his will. So that we, who had already put our hope in Christ might bring praise to his glory in him. You also were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed. The Holy Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance until the redemption of the possession to the praise of his glory. Okay, so here we're told about our inheritance. Now all throughout the New Testament there are references to our inheritance as believers. This inheritance has immediate as well as eternal implications, including blessings like freedom from the guilt of sin, and peace that passes understanding, and ultimately the promise of eternity in paradise with God. The point in these verses again is that this inheritance, it is according to God's plan, and it is accomplished when we believe in Christ for salvation. Then Paul tells us that the Holy Spirit is our down payment, the guarantee, and the immediate portion of the inheritance that we will receive in full one day when Christ returns, and our redemption is complete. So having studied these verses together, what does this mean for you and I? Friend if you have ever wondered if you are truly loved by God, if you have ever wondered if you matter to him, or if you're even on his radar, let these words wash over you and fill you with wonder and awe at the reality that the God of the universe, he chose and planned for you. Listen to what Paul is telling you about yourself. If you are in Christ, if you have accepted the free gift of salvation that Jesus offers, and surrendered your life to God, because of the forgiveness of your sins through Jesus, you are blessed with every spiritual blessing. You were chosen before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless. It was part of his plan to adopt you through Jesus for himself. He wanted you, and he lavished his grace upon you in Jesus. In Jesus, you have redemption through the blood of Christ, forgiveness of all your trespasses through his word. He has made known to you the mystery of his will to bring everything together in Christ. You have received an inheritance because you were chosen according to the plan of God, who does exactly what he intends to do in his perfect wisdom, and why did he lavish this grace upon us? Why did he send Jesus to offer us forgiveness, so that we who have put our hope in Christ might bring God praise and glory. We are here on this earth to make our God known, to worship him, and to point people to him. And again, because of God's lavish grace, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. He is the down payment of your inheritance that you have waiting for you in eternity with your heavenly Father. And remember, this has nothing to do with you. You did nothing to deserve God's grace, but in his goodness, his mercy, his perfect knowledge and wisdom, he did this. And he did it all through Jesus. It was his brilliant, extravagant, gracious plan. Praise the Lord. He is so worthy of our worship. Thanks so much for joining me in this study. If you found this video valuable, I would so appreciate it. If you would share it with anyone else who may be blessed by it. And if you missed the first video in this series, where I covered the background of the book of Ephesians, you can click this link here and watch that now. Also, I'd love to hear from you in the comment section. Did you learn something new? What stuck out to you in this passage? Let's share with each other what we're learning so that we can grow together. And in the meantime, keep seeking him. He is so worth knowing.