Ephesians; 1:4 – Elected to be blameless. Humility and obedience are the only way.

Sunday February 24, 2019
 

Title: Ephesians; 1:4 – Elected to be blameless. Humility and obedience are the only way.  

 

There was never a time, all of the past, the present, and into all of the future when you were not elect in the mind of God. There was never a time when you did not have a deep, deep connection with the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Joh 17:16 "They [elected and predestined sons] are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

 

Joh 17:17 "Sanctify [make them holy] them in the truth; Thy word is truth.

 

Holiness cannot be experienced without the truth. One cannot draw near to God with false doctrines.

 

Joh 17:18 "As Thou didst send Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. [lights of the world]

 

Joh 17:19 "And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.

 

Joh 17:20 "I do not ask in behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word;

 

Joh 17:21 that they may all be one [unity is demanded of heavenly citizens]; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that Thou didst send Me.

 

Unity (Phi 2:1-4) of the citizens of God’s kingdom is like that of the Trinity.

 

Joh 17:22 "And the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given to them; that they may be one, just as We are one;

 

Joh 17:23 I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, that the world may know that Thou didst send Me, and didst love them, even as Thou didst love Me.

 

Joh 17:24 "Father, I desire that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am, in order that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me; for Thou didst love Me before the foundation of the world.

 

It is a wonderful question to explore, where is the “where I am” He is referring to? At the moment He is in Gethsemane, “the oil press.” Does He desire that we experience His conflict, His war, and His victory? That is true according to the scriptures, specifically Phi 3:10.

 

Phi 3:10 that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;

 

Phi 3:11 in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

 

Is He referring to His resurrection? This is also a truth.

 

Is He referring to the event of His ascension, which would occur a little over forty days from this moment, meaning, sitting with Him in the heavens at the right hand of the Father? This is also a truth.

 

Eph 2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,

 

Eph 2:5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

 

Eph 2:6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus,

 

Eph 2:7 in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

 

Joh 17:24 "Father, I desire that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am, in order that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me; for Thou didst love Me before the foundation of the world.

 

His trial, His victory, His resurrection, and His ascension with the life on Mt. Zion (Heb 12) are likely all in view in “where I am.”

 

Joh 17:25 "O righteous Father, although the world has not known Thee, yet I have known Thee; and these have known that Thou didst send Me;

 

Joh 17:26 and I have made Thy name known to them, and will make it known; that the love wherewith Thou didst love Me may be in them, and I in them."

 

Our main passage:

 

Eph 1:3 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,

 

Eph 1:4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love

 

Eph 1:5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,

 

Eph 1:6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

 

Jesus is, always has been, and always will be the origin, meaning, and destiny of your existence. He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.

 

We were elected so that we should be holy and blameless. We were elected to be before the foundation of the world and we will be so forever, and so we are commanded to be in time. It is who we are, it is also who Jesus is, and it is what our New Covenant is.

 

The blameless elect receive a blameless covenant – the New Covenant in His blood.


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