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From the book The Wealth, Walk and Warfare of the Christian by Ruth Paxson
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Part One: THE WEALTH OF THE CHRISTIAN
(continued) by Ruth Paxson
7. The Wealth Defined
In the Greek 1:4-14 is one sentence, said to be the longest in the Bible. There is no place where a stop can be made. Paul is carrying us in God's eternal purpose from the eternity of the past to the eternity of the future; through grace to glory.
May we now let 1:4-14 define for us more in detail the wealth of the Christian in Christ. That wealth is eightfold.
Chosen
1:4. "According as
he hath chosen us in him
before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love."
Perhaps we can best get at the deep and precious meaning of this glorious truth by answering six simple questions: Who? What? Whom? How? When? Why?
Who?
"He"
-- the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
What?
"Hath chosen"
-- picked out for Himself a people to be His own peculiar possession. God is love, and love cannot live alone. God has selected those who will be the habitation in which He dwells.
Whom?
"Us"
-- the saints of 1:1,3. Let us see very clearly that Ephesians has only the Church and the Christian in view. The unsaved are mentioned in only a few passages. So here there is no reference to them. There is no intimation that God has chosen some out of the vast number of
sinners
in this world to be saved, or that He has chosen
any sinners
to be saved. It is not a choice of one sinner versus another sinner, but it definitely states it is the choice of "us" who are saints.
God acts sovereignly in making the choice because of His inherent right to choose those who will live so intimately and eternally with Himself. The choice is both absolute and final, but it is not capricious or partial. God has not acted on the principle of favouritism, nor has He arbitrarily elected some and damned others. His election was made on an absolutely just and reasonable ground which gives to sinners a fair and equal chance. This leads directly to our next question:
How?
"In him."
The sinner is always and only the object of God's superabounding grace. In himself he merits nothing but God's wrath. In making the choice God is not looking at man in himself, but only as he is in Christ. So 1:4 teaches that those who are chosen are those who are in Christ. The rest of the epistle shows that those who are in Christ were sinners who put faith in the redeeming blood of the crucified Son by virtue of which they have been united with Him as members of His Body in an eternal oneness, and have become saints. So every saint has been chosen.
Is it not very plain, then, that those who are lost are lost because they refuse to accept Christ as their Saviour? They choose not to be among God's elect. D. L. Moody stated the truth of election in his own inimitable way: "The whosoever-wills are the elect, and the whosoever-won'ts are the non-elect."
When?
"Before the foundation of the world,"
-- in the timeless eternity of the past, when there was neither a world nor men to inhabit it.
Why?
"That we should be holy and without blame before him in love."
The best commentary to be found on this phrase is in I Peter 1:15,16. Note the utter simplicity of the reasoning.
"But as
he
is holy,
so be ye
holy...
Be ye holy,
for
I am holy."
The Father must have children of like character, that there may be unity and harmony in the divine household. Because He is holy, those who are His habitation must be holy.
Oh! the pure, incomparable joy of being in the company of "chosen" ones! Are you there, my friend? How may you know? The answer is very simple: Are you "in Him"? If you are not, you may be this very moment if, by an act of faith, you open your heart to receive Christ as your personal Saviour.
Predestinated
1:5 "
Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Christ to himself,
according to the good pleasure of his will."
"Predestinated"
-- Are we fearful of the word? Does it sound cold, formidable, and theological? Not so, if we understand its meaning in relation to God's purpose for His chosen ones. The word means "to mark out the boundaries beforehand." It indicates God's next step in His gracious plan for those whom He has chosen.
"Unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself."
Christ Jesus is God's Son in a unique way. He is the eternal Son, "the only begotten in the bosom of the Father." Yet it was the Father's purpose to have a family of sons and to set up a household of "brethren" from every nation and people over which He would be Father. How were these to become His sons and what would be their position in the family?
Through regeneration, which is not at all in view here, the believer in Christ is made a son. Through rebirth he has imparted to him a divine nature and implanted within him a supernatural life that fits him for membership in God's family and for companionship with God.
Now the question arises, What is his position and what are his privileges and responsibilities as a son in the divine family? Dr. L. S. Chafer, in
The Ephesians Letter,
answers this question so clearly that I quote his words:
"The believer is constituted a legitimate child of God by spiritual birth with all its attending relationships, but he is also, at the moment of that birth, advanced to maturity of
position,
being constituted an
adult
son by virtue of that legal placing which in the Scriptures is termed
adoption.
There is therefore no childhood period in the sphere of the Christian's responsibility. Whatever appeal as to a holy walk and service God addresses to one He addressed to all regardless of the length of time they may have been saved."
"By Jesus Christ."
As with every other phase of our salvation, this work is wrought also solely through Jesus Christ. Every believer in Him has been marked out for the son-place, and in this son-position he has the present privilege of free and unlimited access to the Father (2:18), with all its attendant blessings and responsibilities and the pledge for the future inheritance as a joint-heir with Christ. In choosing us in Christ God marked us out as sons who would share all the possessions and privileges of the risen, ascended Son for all the ages to come.
Accepted
1:6. "To the praise of the glory of his grace,
wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved."
"Accepted"
-- what a gracious word! What a wealth of significance in it! Those that were by nature "children of disobedience and wrath"." (2:2,3); so "far-off" from God that they were called strangers" (2:19); so deep down in the abyss of death and depravity that they were "without hope" (2:12); yet here said to be "accepted." How could such a change ever be wrought in the sinner? If so utterly disobedient, he would not want acceptance; if so utterly depraved, he could not make himself acceptable, even if he desired to. The sinner of 2:1-3 is rendered both hopeless and helpless by sin. Then by whom and on what ground was the change wrought by which he was taken into the very heart and home of God?
"Made accepted."
God has left to the sinner not an inch of ground for boasting. Not an atom of anything either in his character or in his conduct can avail to bring him into God's favour. If he is ever accepted by God, God Himself must act on his behalf.
"In the beloved"
-- the Son of His love. How marvelously tender is the relationship between the Father and the Son! How dearly the Son is loved! So dearly that three times the Father opened heaven to tell men on earth, "This is my
beloved
Son, in whom I am well pleased." Christ was the perfect satisfaction of the Father's heart.
"In"
-- Can we ever grasp fully the meaning of this little word to us? In Him whom the Father loves supremely we are. In the Beloved whose righteousness and holiness satisfy every demand of the Father's justice and holiness we stand. The Beloved Son is our divine rainbow, God's pledge to us who are made accepted in Him that we will never again be cast out from His presence. In the Son of His love the Father receives us as He receives Him and loves us as He loves Him. It would be impossible to believe such an apparently incredible statement did not Christ Himself declare it. Then we must believe it and rejoice in it.
John 17:23. "That the world may know
that thou hast... loved them as thou hast loved me.
"
"Near, so very near to God
Nearer I could not be;
For in the person of His Son,
I'm just as near as He.
Dear, so very dear to God,
Dearer I could not be:
For in the person of His Son,
I'm just as dear as He."
"To the praise of the glory of his grace."
Surely every saint should have a singing heart, and the theme of his song should ever be the matchless grace of God. The saints on earth and the redeemed in heaven unite in one grand, glorious symphony of "praise to the glory of his grace" wherein He took sinners like us and "made us accepted in the beloved."
Let us take one backward glance at our immeasurable wealth in the Father's grace before we look forward to that in the redemptive work of His Son:
 | | |
| Through His grace | -- chosen | -- loved |
| Through the riches of His grace | -- predestinated | -- loved as adult sons |
| Through the exceeding riches of His grace | -- accepted | -- loved as the Son is loved. |
Could our Father do more than this for us? Could He do less for His Son? Then should not our fearful, trembling hearts rest full-length upon the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus? And should not the dominating passion of our lives be to live to the praise of the glory of His grace?
Redeemed
1:7. "
In whom we have redemption through his blood,
the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace."
In the work of creation God showed forth His wisdom and His power, but only in the redemption of man could He manifest His grace.
In 2:1-3 we see the sinner in the pit of sin and the special character of deliverance needed. It pictures him as a slave, in bondage to Satan and Satanic forces. How, then, can he be freed?
"In whom we have redemption."
While still in the slave-market of sin as a captive of Satan, the sinner is purchased by the Redeemer, brought out of the market and set free. He is brought out of all that he was that he may be brought into what he never had been but henceforth eternally would be. He ceased to be a slave that he might become a son.
"Have
" -- the verb shows us that our redemption is a present-tense possession; something that is now ours as completely as it ever will be; made ours in such a way that it can never be taken from us.
"Through his blood."
It was release through a ransom and the ransom was the life of the Son of man (Matthew 20:28), laid down in death. "The life of the flesh is in the blood" (Leviticus 17:11), and only as His life was poured out upon Calvary's Cross through the shedding of His blood was the sinner redeemed. Oh! what a price He paid for your redemption and mine!
"The forgiveness of sins."
Out of the many blessings procured for the sinner through redemption only this one is mentioned. Surely no one could be the companion of a holy God who still had the guilt of sins upon him. Nor could he ever feel perfectly at home as a son in the divine family, fully assured of his Father's acceptance, unless he knew with certainty that all his sins were fully forgiven. On the ground of the shed blood of His Beloved Son the Father cancels all the sins of the believing sinner and gives him a clean bill of pardon. He assures His child that, when once He has thus remitted the punishment for his sins, He remembers them no more.
"According to the riches of his grace."
Just here a question must thrust itself upon every sensitive mind. If Christ is the dearly Beloved of the Father, how could He ever let Him suffer, even unto the death of the Cross, for the sake of such sinner-slaves? How could His love for sinners who were alienated from Him both by nature and by choice seem to outweigh His love for the Son who was His own counterpart in oneness of life?
The only adequate answer is in that rarely precious phrase "according to the riches of his grace." Only when we look at the sinless Son upon the Cross can we begin to comprehend the meaning of the riches of His grace, there bestowed upon us far, far above measure. God's undeserved bounty toward the sinner was manifested by the planned-in-eternity redemption through the blood of the Lamb slain. Is it any wonder Paul says that it will take all the ages to come to show forth the exceeding riches of His grace?
Enlightened
1:8,9. "Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence,
having made known unto us the mystery of his will.
"
God has an eternal purpose in Christ Jesus which He is steadily carrying out. Into the knowledge of what this purpose is and how it is being fulfilled God wishes every redeemed child of His to enter intelligently and sympathetically. So He has given to us a revelation of it in His Word, and in His abounding grace He enlightens us regarding these divine things. He gives His children the capacity to know and endows them with the spiritual qualifications for knowing and for acting upon their knowledge.
"All wisdom"
-- Through wisdom the spiritual senses of the saint are quickened and he is made alert to God Himself. Insight into the deep things of God and into His far-reaching plan is also given him. He does not perceive superficially, but goes to the very heart of things and grasps spiritual truths with penetrating discernment.
"All prudence"
-- The apprehension of truth, especially the knowledge of God's wondrous plan of salvation, made effectual through practical application.
"Having made known unto us the mystery of his will."
God wants the Christian to know fully the counsels of His will as they relate to His Son and the outworking of His plan of redemption and reconciliation through Him. So He unfolds them to us in the unveiling of "the mystery of his will," truth once hidden but now clearly revealed.
God's purpose centres wholly in Christ. In Ephesians He gives in perspective both a near and a far view of His eternal purpose in Him. First in this age of grace He reveals the risen, ascended Christ as the One exalted to be Lord over the universe and Head over all things to the Church (1:20-23). As yet His authority is not fully acknowledged, even by those who belong to Him, nor is it openly manifested to the world. But in the age to come all things both in heaven and upon earth are to be gathered together into one in Christ (1: 10), and His authoritative Headship over them will be both manifested and acknowledged. Christ as the centre and the circumference of all things in God's wonderful plan will fulfil His stewardship to the glory of God. Regarding this gracious and glorious plan God would have every Christian fully enlightened.
Obtained an Inheritance
1:11.
"In whom also we have obtained an inheritance,
being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will."
"In whom we have obtained an inheritance."
In Christ the Christian has everything he needs for his entire pilgrim journey on earth. Of this we are assured in Ephesians and in other passages of Scripture.
I Corinthians 3:21,23. "For
all things are yours
... whether things present, or things to come;
all are yours;
and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's."
Romans 8:32. "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all,
how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
"
But our present blessings are as nothing compared to the inheritance that awaits us in the future. Our rights as children of God extend far beyond our earthly life. The moment we are born into the family of God we become heirs to an inheritance beyond our power to estimate.
Romans 8:17. "If children, then heirs;
heirs of God,
and
joint-heirs with Christ.
"
The Son's prayer that we might share His life in glory will assuredly be answered. We who now are possessors of "the riches of his grace" will also be partakers of "the riches of his glory." All that He now is in His glorified life we shall be. We shall even reign with Him and share with Him His governmental authority on the earth.
II Timothy 2:12. "If we suffer,
we shall also reign with him.
"
Revelation 5:10. "And hast made us unto our God kings and priests; and
we shall reign on the earth.
"
Such a thought seems incredible. Perhaps at this moment we are feeling like spiritual weaklings and cowards, not able to face courageously even the burdens and tasks of the day that lies before us. The thought of such a position and such power is preposterous! Dare we believe that any such inheritance is really ours? Let God answer the question and silence our doubt.
"Being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will."
In the eternity of the past God marked us out for that son-place in his family which relationship puts us in line for heirship. Our redemption in Christ was the first step in the outworking of the counsel of His own will. Can God's eternal purpose be thwarted half-way? Can His sovereign will be stalemated? What God has sovereignly purposed will He not sovereignly perform? In God's eternal purpose and His sovereign will we have an all-sufficient ground for assurance that we shall obtain our inheritance in full.
Then stop just here for one moment of silent praise for such an inheritance as you have in Christ. That act of praise will double your assurance of obtaining it and increase your appreciation of its value. If you are not in the royal line of inheritors because you are not a child, will you not this moment become a child and heir by opening your heart to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour?
Sealed
1 13 "In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation;
in whom also after that ye believed ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise.
"
"Ye
heard
-- ye
believed
-- ye were
sealed.
" These are the biographical steps in every soul's salvation.
"Ye heard"
-- The Word of truth which is God's instrument in the sinner's regeneration. This Word presented to you the good news of a perfected salvation, and showed the way of deliverance from the bondage of Satan and of entrance into the liberty of Christ.
"Ye believed"
in Christ as your Saviour and received Him into your heart, and that moment you were born into God's family as His child. But how many earnest Christians there are who have truly believed, yet have no joy in salvation because they lack assurance of their acceptance by God. Thus they become the prey of the enemy who delights in torturing them with doubt. How strategically God has guarded against every such attack, and how graciously He has provided for victory over it! He wants us to have the unwavering assurance that we are His.
"Ye were s
ealed with that holy Spirit
of promise." God marks us as His very own by sending the Holy Spirit, to indwell us according to the promise He Himself had given. God seals every redeemed person as His purchased possession, and the Spirit Himself is the seal. But perhaps the doubt of someone is not fully dispelled because of his fear of grieving the Holy Spirit through sin so that He will depart. Ephesians teaches us with equal clearness these two truths, that we can and do grieve the Holy Spirit through sinning, but that we can never grieve Him away.
4:30. "And grieve not the holy Spirit of God,
whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
"
Upon the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself we can rest assured that when the Holy Spirit once takes up His abode within us, He will abide with us forever (John 14: 16). The work He was divinely appointed to do will not be finished until He presents us faultless before the presence of His glory.
The Seal is a Mark of Genuineness
II Corinthians 3:3. "For as much as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but
with the Spirit of the living Lord.
"
There are professors of Christianity, and there are possessors of Christ. God makes a clear distinction between the two. The professors are those who refuse to enter in by the door, but have tried to climb up some other way. They have trusted in their morality, good works, or religious ordinances for acceptance with God. Christ calls such "thieves and robbers" (John 10:1). Christ disclaims them His. "Ye believed not, because
ye are not of my sheep.
"
The possessors have heard the voice of the Good Shepherd who said He was the door of the sheep, and have come through Him into the fold (John 10:9). To such He says, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me." His distinguishing mark between the false and the true is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
John 14:17. "Even the Spirit of truth;
whom the world cannot receive,
because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him; but
ye know him;
for he dwelleth with you, and
shall be in you.
"
The Seal is a Mark of Ownership
John 10:14. "I am the good Shepherd, and
know my sheep,
and
am known of mine.
"
Christ speaks of His own sheep. How does He establish His ownership? By His own special brand. Vast herds of cattle roam over the plains belonging to different masters, yet ownership is easily established because each of a herd has the owner's mark branded upon its body. Christ has no unmarked sheep. He knows His own, and they know their Master because of the Holy Spirit who indwells each Christian.
Romans 8:9. "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.
Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
"
Do you know that the Holy Spirit dwells within you? Then you may have the assurance that you possess Christ and that He possesses you.
Secured
1: 14. "Which is
the earnest of our inheritance,
until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of his glory."
Another question haunts many true believers, which is, "Once saved by grace, are we eternally saved?" Even though here and now we have the assurance that we are His own, and though we enjoy the privileges of salvation and sanctification provided for us in Christ, is it not possible for us to fall short of future perfected redemption through some failure on our part? Has God given any guarantee of eternal security in Christ and of obtaining our inheritance in full? Yes, a thousand times yes! God's
promise
for the present is also His
pledge
for the future.
"The earnest of our inheritance."
When God purchased us as very own, He gave the Holy Spirit as a
down-payment,
which was His pledge of perpetuity of His right in us and our right in Him. The Holy Spirit in us is God's earnest of the full consummation of our redemption.
"Until the redemption of the purchased possession."
Ephesians more than any other epistle reveals the eternalness of our redemption. It begins in the dateless eternity of the past with God's choice of a Body and Bride for His Son who were to be holy and without blame; it continues through time with the work of the triune God in the salvation and sanctification of the purchased possession; it ends in the dawn of the eternity of the future, when the Son presents unto Himself the Church glorified, sinless and spotless, even as He Himself. God views His whole redemptive plan from one eternity to another. Can we then conceive of His stopping in its fulfilment at some period of
time?
Extract from that word "until" every bit of the sweetness of assurance God placed in it for you.
" To the praise of his glory."
Here is the simple but sufficient reason for God's steadfastness in the perfecting of the redemption of His own. If a single redeemed one, if even one sinner saved by grace, missed the final glorification of that coming day, God's own glory would be diminished to that degree, and Christ's prayer would be to that extent unanswered. "To the praise of his glory" every saint must one day be glorified and be forever with His Saviour in glory.
  
This page Copyright © 2003 Peter Wade. The Bible text in this publication, except where otherwise indicated, is from the King James Version. This article appears on the site: http://www.peterwade.com/.
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