Are You Quacking Like a Dog?

Ephesians 1:3-6 We are let in on an eternal plan. Are You Quacking Like A Dog? A. The Performance According as He hath chosen us Introduction 1. Do you know why Paul was so overwhelmed and blessed in v. 3? God had 1. How can we stop quacking like a dog? We must see ourselves as God sees us. chosen him before the world was created! 2. Ephesians 1:3-6 In Christ (3) In Him (4) In the Beloved (6) We are dealing with absolute 2. He hath chosen us ‘in Him’ Elect…chosen for Himself. It means to pick a few truth. We will see ourselves as He sees us: In Christ. out of the masses. It carries the idea of an irresistible force and was used of ancient Greeks of a desperately hungry man being drawn to food. How can we stop quacking like a dog? We must see ourselves as God sees us. *Chosen…is in the aorist middle voice, indicating God’s totally independent I. OUR PROSPERITY In Christ 1:3 choice. The verb is reflective. God not only chooses by Himself, but for A. The Source Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ… Himself! 1. Our Praise Blessed we get our word eulogy. It means, to speak well of *Election isn’t a problem. It means that God chooses everybody who is *God, who is also our Father. “God is good to us.” No! God is good. saved! According to His own will (5b, 9, 11b)…Here is where good men That’s flounder: God’s sovereign election and man’s responsibility in choosing Jesus Christ. Our finite minds cannot resolve the problem, so we lean one way or the His character! other. *Whatever the Adversary, whatever the trial, the trouble, the pain, the *What about ‘free will’? It isn’t free. It is bound by sin. Apart from God, struggle, the man’s will is captive to sin, but nevertheless is able to choose. God, because need…we are to give thanks, to praise the Lord. He is immutable. He God has made that choice possible (Jn 3:16; 11:26), man is able to exercise his never own will. Also, no person receives Jesus Christ who has not been chosen by changes! God (Rom 8:29; 9:11; I Thes. 1:3-4; I Pt. 1:2). *James 1:17 Every good and perfect gift comes from the Father. *Anybody who wants can come to Christ…whosoever will. You say, “They 2. Our Possessor Our Lord Jesus Christ are the opposites.” Yes…I don’t know how. I only know both are true. We *In v. 2 the Father belongs to the believer. dare take nothing away from sovereign election or man’s choice. God will have to solve the problem. You can’t! *In v. 3 Our shows believers belong to Christ. He is our Lord and Savior! Since 3. Us…that is the human side. In v. 13 no one will ever go to heaven who does not believers are connected to Him, we are also related to the Father! willfully, consciously submit himself to God. B. The Scope Who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessing: B. The Period before the foundation of the world 1. Who hath blessed…in the Greek this is at the first of the sentence. It means, to 1. Before sin…before you performed any good deed. benefit, to prosper. Has blessed is a past tense participle. This blessing or 2. Before anything existed…before time…you were chosen. The offer is prospering of the believer occurred in eternity past! legitimate. If you are lost it’s because you won’t come! 2. With every spiritual blessing…every spiritual enrichment that is needed for our C. The Purpose that we should be holy and without blame before Him spiritual life has been given already! Since they have already been given or “There is where you lost me.” I am holy and without blame before Him. That’s bestowed on believers, we need to appropriate what is already ours! the way God sees you. Paul is talking about our position. In Christ it is repeated in C. The Sphere two are given: Ephesians 27 times in one form or another. His holiness, His righteousness, His 1. In the heavenlies…we are citizens of heaven, dwelling on earth. This is our spotlessness has been put to my account. position. You are in the heavenlies, even when you are in the dumps! Eternal, not How can we stop quacking like a dog? We must see ourselves as God sees us. temporal… Spiritual, not material. III. OUR PREDESTINATION In Christ 1:5 2. In Christ…from God's perspective: what Christ possesses, we possess. His In love having predestinated us (Rom 8:28, 29) Predestine=foreordain, to determine, resources, His righteousness, His power is ours. His position is our “to position. His mark out before hand” Predestination never has to do with the lost. No one is ever privilege is our privilege. His possession is our possession. His practice is predestined to hell! This guarantees our arrival. our A. The Purpose…having predestinated us (God sees it as so) unto the adoption of full practice. Another way of saying it: Where He is, we are. What He is, we grown sons by Jesus Christ to Himself… are. What Adoption: When the Roman adoption was complete, it was complete indeed. The He has, we have. What He does, we do. This is the way God sees me! person who had been adopted had all the rights of a legitimate son in his new family and completely lost all rights in his old family. In the eyes of the law he was a new How can we stop quacking like a dog? We must see ourselves as God sees us. person. So new was he that even all debts and obligations connected with his II. OUR PREFERENCE In Christ 1:4 previous family were abolished as if they had never existed. William Barclay Paul enlarges upon the spiritual blessings. What I’m about to tell you is a family secret. Jesus not only takes us from one family (Adam), but puts us into His family, erases the past and marks us new…new creations! B. The Pleasure…according to the good pleasure of His will (9b, 11b)

How can we stop quacking like a dog? We must see ourselves as God sees us. IV. OUR PRIVILEGE In Christ 1:6 A. The Source…to the praise of the glory of His grace (12, 14) *Salvation is not partly of God and partly of man. It’s all of God! *Of all people we should be praising God! B. The Secret...through which He has made us accepted in the Beloved *Accepted… is found in Luke 1:28 highly favored…I can enter the presence of the Father. *In the Beloved…this happens at salvation. No sin shall enter heaven…how will we make it? I will get into heaven because His Son will get to heaven. I can approach the Father because His Son can approach the Father. *It’s not what or who I am, it’s who He is!