Sermons From Ephesians - Executable Outlines

Mark A. Copeland
INTRODUCTION
Blessings Involving The Son
Ephesians 1:7-12
1. We saw in the previous lesson that Paul starts his epistle to the Ephesians with praising God
for the spiritual riches (blessings) that we have in Christ - Ep 1:3
2. Throughout Ep 1:4-14 Paul lists some of these wonderful blessings that are ours, and in verses 4-6
we saw those blessings which center around the Father, how we who are in Christ are:
a. “Chosen by God”, to be holy and without blame before Him in love (1:4)
b. “Predestined by God”, to receive the adoption as sons of God (1:5-6a)
c. “Accepted by God”, that is, to be highly favored by Him (1:6b)
3. How is it that we who are sinners are so blessed by God?
a. The answer is hinted at in verses 4-6 by the repeated reference to Christ:
1) “chose us in Him”
2) “adoption as sons by Jesus Christ”
3) “made us accepted in the Beloved”
b. Thus it is only through Jesus Christ that we can receive these wonderful blessings! (1:3)
4. This becomes even clearer as we now consider verses 7-12, as Paul expands upon “Blessings
Involving The Son”...
a. Please note that the distinction being made between blessings involving the Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit is a narrow one
b. For each of the blessings usually involve two or more Persons in the Godhead
c. But for memorization purposes it can be helpful to divide up the blessings in the way we have
done
[The first blessing we notice in this section is that through His Son...]
I. GOD HAS REDEEMED US (7a)
A. DEFINING “REDEMPTION”...
1. The Greek word is apolutrosis {ap-ol-oo’-tro-sis}
2. It means “a releasing effected by payment of ransom”
3. As Hendriksen defines it, “deliverance as a result of the payment of a ransom”
4. Hendriksen goes on to suggest that this “redemption” implies:
a. “emancipation...from the guilt, punishment, and power of sin” - cf. Jn 8:34; Ro 7:14;
Ga 3:13
b. “restoration to true liberty” - cf. Jn 8:36
B. OUR REDEMPTION IS “THROUGH HIS (CHRIST’S) BLOOD”...
1. The price paid in order to redeem us was the blood of Jesus - cf. 1 Pe 1:18-19
Sermons From Ephesians 10