Great Truths From Ephesians - Part 1 — Zac Poonen

Studying Scripture Through the Book of Ephesians

A series of three messages titled Great Truths and Ephesians. Now, most of the time when we hear God's Word, we probably hear a message on a particular subject, a topic. Well, that's called topical preaching.

But sometimes it's good to go through scripture as a whole book, particularly some of the smaller books like Paul's letters, because that brings us into the depth of scripture and gives us some solid meat to make us strong.

Scripture as Spiritual Nourishment

God's Word is given to us as milk for babies and meat for grown-ups. And there are a number of verses in scripture that teach that God's Word is meant to be to our soul and spirit exactly what food is to our body.

So, a person who neglects food is not going to be strong and a person who neglects God's Word is not going to be strong spiritually. Now, when we hear God's Word proclaimed from a pulpit like this, we can say that's like spoon feeding.

Somebody else has digested the food and he's giving it to you. We need it in the beginning. But as we grow up, just like children need to be spoon fed, but we hope that they will grow up quickly to the place where they can feed themselves.

And one of the great tragedies in Christendom today is that far too many Christians are like babies. It's not only today. Even in the first century, the Apostle Paul, when he was writing to the Corinthians, he says, I can't give you anything but milk because you're babes.

I mean, you've been alive in Christ for a number of years, but you're still babes. It's like a 10-year-old boy or girl getting milk out of a feeding bottle. That's how many Christians were. And to the Hebrews also, the author writes, you should have been eating meat by now, but you're still only capable of drinking milk.

So right through the history of the church, one of the great tragedies has been that Christians have not seriously gone into God's Word. And this is one of the master schemes of Satan. The reason why many Christians are not able to overcome Satan, overcome sin and live a triumphant life, the type of life described in the New Testament, is because they don't go into the depths of God's Word.

So I want to try and help you to see some things here in Ephesians. We won't have time to go through the whole book, every verse. But some of the most important truths in this book. So if you have a Bible, if you can turn to Ephesians.

The Two-Part Structure of Ephesians

And Ephesians is one of those books which is very neatly divided into two sections. The first three chapters deal with what God did for us. And the next three chapters, what God did for us in Christ. And the next three chapters deal with how we should live on earth as a result of what God did for us.

So these are the two sections of Ephesians. In fact, I can't think of any other book in the whole Bible that's divided so neatly. So by the time you go through this series, you'd have known quite a bit about this letter to the Ephesians.

Now Paul is a very logical writer. He writes very logically in all his letters. And it's very important for us to have a foundation. And to know what God did for us before we do something for God. And I've discovered through counseling and contact with many, many Christians through more than 40 years.

That the problem with many Christians is they don't have an adequate understanding of what God has done for them. And they are rushing out to do something for the Lord. Very sincere, maybe sacrificial, devoted.

But they run into problems very quickly. Because they are like people who are building a house without a foundation. If we try to go out and do something for God. And when I say do something for God, I mean just live the Christian life.

Or try to build a Christian home. Or go out and serve the Lord. Or fight the devil. Or whatever you do. If we try to do any of those things without a clear foundation of understanding what God has done for us in Christ.

We are going to have problems sooner or later. And if the devil knows that, and he does. He is going to make sure that you don't understand fully what God has done for you in Christ. And if you get to know a little bit.

He will try and make sure that you don't know anymore. So that your foundation is weak. I have met numerous Christians. I believe that their problems lie with the foundation. You know if you get a crack in the third floor of a building.

The problem is usually in the foundation. If you get a problem if the doors don't shut somewhere up in the higher floors. It's because of the foundation sinking. And many a time a person can go on as a Christian for 10 -15 years.

And then have a problem in his life or his married life. And the problem lies with the foundation. So we want to get a good foundation in Ephesians first. And what is that? What God did for us in Christ.

Humanity Dead in Sin

So when we think of what God did for us in Christ. To appreciate it sufficiently. We must know something about what our condition was before Christ came into our life. And that is why I don't want to start with chapter 1.

I want to start with chapter 2. In chapter 2 we read here in Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 1. You were dead in your trespasses and sins. That's the perfect description of all human beings. When they are born into this world outside of Christ.

What they need is not reformation. I mean if you have a dead man here. What he needs is not reformation. He doesn't need to be beautified or put better clothes on him. What he needs is resurrection. And there is a lot of difference between trying to reform a person.

And trying to raise him from the dead. To reform a person, a criminal for example. A lot of criminals who get reformed. That's not a great miracle. But to raise a person from the dead is a tremendous miracle.

Only God can do it. Man may be able to reform another person. But man cannot resurrect a man from the dead. So if we don't understand that our problem is not just a little bit of bad behavior. Or a bad temperament.

Or some inherited weaknesses in our personality. No, it's much more serious than that. We are dead. And this is the mistake that all religions make. There is no religion in the world that teaches that man is dead in sin.

All religions may teach that man is a bit bad and needs to become better. And various religions try to improve this man whose behavior is bad. But it doesn't solve the problem. Because it's like trying to dress up a man in better clothes.

A dead man in better clothes. That's all that religion does. You know how they, in the olden days, the pharaohs in Egypt. They used to make mummies out of them. You know, preserve them. In such a way that they seem to be not fully dead.

Even after many years. But it doesn't solve the problem. Person is dead. And that's what religion does. And a lot of people, for them, the Christian religion is also like that. They come to church. And they feel, well, I got to change my behavior at home.

And maybe be a little more upright in financial matters, etc, etc. It doesn't make them Christians. Not at all. What they need is resurrection. So, that's what Jesus came to do. To become a child of God is an absolute miracle.

And that's what Paul is trying to tell the Ephesian people here. Once upon a time, you were dead in your trespasses and sins. And unconsciously, you were obeying this unseen ruler of this world. That's how it says in one of the paraphrases.

When it says here, you're walking according, verse 2, according to the prince of the power of the air. In verse 2, what it means there is, you were unconsciously obeying this unseen ruler of the world.

There is an unseen ruler of this world. His name is Satan. And all human beings unconsciously have obeyed him, till they come to Christ. And unfortunately, if they don't understand the gospel properly, even after they come to Christ, very often they unconsciously obey this unseen ruler of the world.

So, that's our condition. This same attitude that's found out there in the world. But, what did God do? Verse 4, it says, God who was rich in mercy. See, what we needed first of all was mercy. Because we've done so many wrong things in our life.

With his great love, with which he loved us. When we were in this dead state, made us alive. This is the best description of what the Bible says, when it says you must be born again. When the Lord told Nicodemus, you must be born again.

This is what it means, that a dead person is raised to life. The greatest miracle that God can do, is to raise a man who is dead in sin, and bring him alive in Christ. It's a greater miracle than physical resurrection.

And unfortunately, we don't appreciate that. Because so many people, who claim to be born again Christians, live just like they lived before they were converted. Or claim to be converted. And so then our faith in this experience of new birth, begins to shake.

We say, is there much in this? If a person is really born again. If he is allowed Jesus Christ to come into his life. And allows the Holy Spirit to give him the life of Christ within him. It is a resurrection.

God has made him alive. Now there is one thing I want to say here concerning this phrase, God is rich in mercy. You know when we first confronted God, if you were a Christian today. The first thing that you received from God, was mercy.

Mercy as the Character of Christian Life

And that teaches me something. A very important truth, which I did not realize for many, many years after I was converted. And that is, if you and I, once we become Christians and we are supposed to represent God to the rest of this world.

That's our calling by the way. If you have given your life to Christ, now you are supposed to represent God to the rest of the world. If so, and if the first thing that you got from God when you encountered him was mercy.

Then the first thing and the most important thing that other people must encounter in you and me. When they meet us, is mercy. That's the character of God. If we cannot be merciful to other people. Then I would say to you, you don't have a God who is rich in mercy.

You haven't encountered a God who is rich in mercy. We treat other people the way we think God has treated us. If you think God is very hard on us, we are hard on other people. And the reason why so many Christians are so hard on their wives and their husbands and other people.

Is because they got a God, an imaginary God that doesn't exist in the Bible. Who has been hard on them. They haven't encountered the true God of the Bible. Who is rich in mercy. Ready to forgive any number of sins, any number of times.

A million sins in a moment he overlooks and forgives. This is the God I encountered. And this is the God I am supposed to represent. What a calling. That's why Jesus said we must forgive others. Just like God forgave us.

It's a very very important truth. It's one of the fundamental truths of the Christian life. Because Jesus said if we don't forgive others. God will not forgive us. That's very very important. Let's move on now.

Raised and Seated With Christ

And it says here that God raised us up with Christ. And made us sit together with him in the heavenly places. Now this is an amazing truth. That God put us, this old man of ours to death with Christ on the cross and raised us up.

And spiritually something amazing has happened. In a true Christian. Now none of this becomes true if you don't believe it. I mean I can prove that to you. Christ died for the sins of the whole world.

Why is it there are so many millions of people in the world then. Whose sins are not forgiven. Even though Christ died for them. Why is it for so many years your sins were not forgiven. Even though Christ died for them 2000 years ago.

It's because everything that Christ did. Including his death on the cross. Has validity in your life. And becomes real in your life. Only when you believe. It's like putting on a switch. And the lights come on.

Now if you know a little bit of electricity. You know that inside that switch. All that a switch does is. Connect two wires that are kept at a distance when the switch is off. That's all there is in a switch.

The wires are kept apart. And when the switch is put on the wires connect and the lights come on. Everything turns on. That is faith. Lord I believe. And when you did that. It became real in your life.

Otherwise it can be there. The power can be there coming right up to the switch. And there is no light. Until you make that connection. It's something like that. And you know in your life that. You never experienced forgiveness of sins.

Even though Christ died for all of them 2000 years ago. Until you believed. Can you consider this possibility. There could be many other things that Christ did for you. Which you are not experiencing today.

For the same reason. That you don't believe. Here is one example. That spiritually. God raised us up. In our spirit. My body is still on the earth. But in my spirit. Which is the deepest part of me. God did a miracle when I was born again.

And lifted me up. And united me with Christ. Who sits on the throne in the heavenlies. Now when I understood this. And believed it. It changed my whole outlook to life. Don't you think the world would look different.

If you were sitting in heaven today. Compared to what it looks like. When you stand on this earth. You know most of our problems. Are because we have this earthly viewpoint. Because we haven't believed.

That God raised us up. And made us sit together. Ephesians 2 .6. With Christ. In the heavenly places. I want you to consider this seriously. Those of you who have. Received forgiveness of sins. Because you believe that Christ died for your sins.

To recognize this wonderful truth. That God has placed us in Christ. In the heavenlies. I want to say it's not Imagination. I'm not talking about visualizing something. Which is unreal. You know we can't imagine Something that's unreal.

And make it happen. I mean however much I may imagine. That I'm a millionaire. I'm not going to become one. It's not like that. And I'm not trying to teach you that type of rubbish. I'm telling you something that's true.

It's like An illustration I could use is If you don't have many beggars Sitting on the streets like we have in India. In our country we have many many beggars Sitting on the streets. Extremely poor. With their little tin cans and a few coins in them.

And I've thought about salvation like this. Some rich king comes along and Tells this beggar. Hey I've opened a bank account in your name. And I put a million dollars there. And this beggar thinks This guy is just making a fool of me.

Why should he do it? But another beggar sitting next to him Says hey I don't lose anything by going to the bank and checking up. At the most I'll make a fool of myself. Nothing more than that. And he goes to the bank and checks up and discovers What the king said was true.

There is an account in his name with a million dollars And he stops being a beggar from that moment. But the other beggar Who didn't believe He just sits there with his tin can And a few cents in it for the rest of his life.

This is the picture of two types of Christians. God did the same for both of them. One person enjoys the benefit of it And the other doesn't. Why? Because one person believed it Went to the bank of heaven And cashed on what Christ has done for him.

The other person sat and said no that can't be true. It's too good to be true. And he sits as a beggar for the rest of his life. Now I want to say to you my dear brothers and sisters This is absolutely applicable Perhaps to your life.

That the reason why You Find yourself defeated Frustrated, depressed, discouraged Bitter, unforgiving Unable to overcome so many things in life Is because You don't believe That Christ has done something fantastic for you.

It's so unbelievable. It's like telling this beggar that a million dollars has been put to his account. Who can believe it? It's amazing. Here in this Ephesians It speaks about the unsearchable riches of Christ Put to our account.

So what I am saying is something Absolutely true. This illustration I used is absolutely relevant To the message of the gospel. So Christ is He has raised us up with Christ And made us sit in the heavenly places.

Grace Through Faith

And all of this we read in Ephesians 2 8 Is by grace And through faith. Now these are two great words Of the New Testament. By grace through faith. Ephesians 2 verse 8. Everything That God does for us Is by grace through faith.

By grace is God Stretching out His hand and giving us Forgiveness or The power of the Holy Spirit or healing Or Power to serve Him or anything The gifts of the Holy Spirit. It's all by grace. What is faith?

Faith is my stretching out my hand and saying Thank you Lord Taking what He offers. Now the problem with Many Christians is God is offering His gifts. But they don't stretch out their hand and take it.

They are praying instead Lord give me a gift Give me something. And God is stretching it out all the time. What we need is faith. Imagine if somebody prayed to God like this Oh Lord I am a sinner. Will you please send Christ to die For my sins.

Please Lord please send Him. Please send Him. Please save me. And the Lord says I sent Him 2000 years ago. What do you need to do now? I don't need to send Him again. You just need to receive what I have done For you Through Him.

Now apply that same thing To some of these other wonderful things written here In Ephesians. Let me show you this. In Ephesians chapter 1 verse 3 It says here. Blessed be the God and Father Of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Listen to this. This is one of the most fantastic verses Concerning our wealth in Christ In the entire Bible. Blessed be the God and Father Of our Lord Jesus Christ Who has blessed us. Past tense Just like Christ has died For all our sins.

Past tense He has blessed us With every spiritual blessing. Now you got to go slowly in this Ephesians 1 verse 3 With every single Spiritual blessing In Christ In the heavenly places. Now that means Spiritual blessing means Blessing of the Holy Spirit.

Potentially God has already given me In Christ. It's like this million dollars put into the bank account Of this beggar. He hasn't drawn on it. He hasn't written a check and withdrawn that money. But it's there in His name.

Now if He doesn't believe it. And if He doesn't write out a check He may live as a beggar for 50 years. And another person Goes in there and draws that money And lives like a millionaire. This is the difference Between different types of Christians.

It's a question of how much we believe God has done for us. Now if one beggar Let's say one beggar is better than the other one. Let's say a number of beggars sitting here. And one of them believes Well I don't believe.

He's put a million dollars to my account. But I think there must be at least a hundred dollars. So he says I'm not going to write a check For more than a hundred dollars. And he lives on a hundred dollars for the rest of his life.

He's not much better than the other beggar who lives on a few cents. And here's another one Who says no maybe not a hundred. Maybe He's put a thousand to my account. But what does God's word say? Every single Blessing of the Holy Spirit That any human being Can ever have Has already been Put to my account In the heavenly bank In Christ.

God's given me a lot of blank checks. With Jesus Christ's signature on it I can fill in whatever I want and take it. It's up to me If I don't Avail of it. And I keep admiring these checks. Like Christians admire the promises.

You get nothing. We got to claim them. Go back to the matter of forgiveness of sins. Did you get forgiveness of sins? Because Christ died on the cross two thousand years ago. I didn't. For nineteen years of my life I didn't.

But one day I got it Because I believed I put on the switch, the lights came on. That's what we need to do With many many of the other things. In the Christian life So many people are seeking for something.

And God says I've given it to you. Receive. We need to receive The blessings of God. By grace God stretches out. Thank you Lord I take it from you. We need a greater boldness To come before God and take from Him What He has already purchased in Christ.

Can you think of the Disappointment of God When He sees His children Living like beggars. Spiritually speaking When they should be living like kings. I'm sorry that my own life Was like that for many years Till God opened my eyes to show me That spiritually I could Live like a king on the earth.

The Bible says in Romans 5 That we're supposed to reign in life. I'm not supposed to be A defeated, frustrated Grumbling, murmuring Bitter type of person saying Jesus died for my sins. That's a pathetic testimony So often Our testimony is weak Because our life doesn't back it up.

It's like I heard that story Of the long faced person who was witnessing To somebody about Christ and said Don't you need Christ? He said no, I've got enough problems already. Because he looked at this person's face And said this is what Christ has done for you.

I don't want it, thank you. Ask yourself, is that your testimony? I want to say to you It can change From today. Not if you'll believe what I say. But if you'll start believing what God's word says That He has Blessed us With every single blessing of the Holy Spirit.

What blessing of the Holy Spirit do you need? It's there in Christ. Seek it, the baptism in the Holy Spirit. I have to come to Christ. Say Lord this is already mine. I want you to give it to me right now.

I don't have to fast and pray and wait for five years before I get it. In Christ everything is there. Whatever I need in life. The Bible says my God shall supply All your need according to His riches and glory in Christ Jesus.

There's nothing That He cannot do and will not do. Doesn't God want Me to live as a victor on this earth As a conqueror. Jesus said I want you to overcome Even as I overcame. And isn't it such a Disappointment to God When so many of His Christians So many of His children Fail and fail and fail and fail.

How would you feel If your child Was failing in the first grade Repeatedly Every year. Failing, failing, failing I mean he may be alive, but he's failing. You wouldn't be happy. Neither is God. So I want to deliver you from this Deception of Satan.

I want to encourage you to believe what God has said. And I want to move on to verse four. This is an amazing verse. God chose us In Christ Before the worlds Were created. So that we should be Holy and blameless Before Him.

Chosen in Christ Before Creation

Now I want you to use your imagination A little bit. We have used our imagination For a lot of filthy things when we were unconverted. Let's use it for some Good things now. So use your imagination now and Think back to that time Before Adam was created.

And then you go back To the time when the angels were there. And go back before that when there were no angels. And go back Before that to the time when There was only this universe. And then go back to before Genesis 1 verse 1.

Before Genesis 1 verse 1 To the time when There was no universe It was only God. Way back in eternity Only God Father Son And Holy Spirit. And Me In the mind of God. And you In the mind of God. Is that too much to believe?

That's what this verse says Before the foundation Of this universe He chose us in Christ. Now if you have responded To this Salvation that I described in Chapter 2 where I recognize I'm dead and I receive this forgiveness Freely without any works Freely from God.

Lord thank you for dying for me. If I have received him Then the Lord says according to his foreknowledge. Foreknowledge just means That God knew beforehand What you are going to do A million years before you did it.

That's all foreknowledge means God knows what Is going to happen tomorrow. He doesn't influence your actions. But he knows them. Foreknowledge doesn't mean God forces you to do this or that. That's False religion teaches that Whatever happens that's God's will.

Whatever happens is not God's will. It's what some stupid thing you do. You can't say that was God's will. No. But God knows beforehand That you'd go and do the stupid thing. And you'd reap the consequences off it.

But he doesn't influence it. He gives you a choice To choose the way of wisdom or the way of stupidity. That's up to you. But God knows it He knows and he doesn't influence it at all. Way back Millions of years before he created the world He knew In this 21st century Who Would open their hearts to receive Christ's salvation.

And in his foreknowledge He chose them By name You and me And put our names In the book of life He chose us in Christ. Now this is Something which brings a Tremendous sense of security to a person Like me I grew up as a very insecure Christian as a young man when I was converted.

And When you're insecure you're always Trying to impress people And always competing With others, jealous of others. And many many other problems insecure people have. Relationship problems. All relationship problems In the human race are because of Insecurity.

The only solution is to find security In God. And here is something I tell you, believe me my dear Brother and sister. If you will believe what God's word says It can change Many many areas Of your life because you will come to security In God.

What God has done for us in Christ Before The worlds were created. He knew your Name And he chose you To be his child. I was not An afterthought with God. Neither were you. He knew you. And When I realized that This is how it comes to me When I was born And when I was a little boy I mean I didn't know that one day I'd be a child of God.

And one day I would serve him. God knew it. And so God was watching over me When I was a little child Make sure I didn't Die in an accident or Get some sickness Or something like that watching over me.

And here I was going along As a young man in my own Rebellious way Without having time for him and he was still Watching over me and you In all those years when you didn't Care for him. But he knew that one day You would turn And he watched over you and patiently Patiently worked with you for many Many years till that point Of time came when you finally Yielded to him.

Do you think you did it? Oh no. Like the hound of heaven He was following you The love of God Following you, following you, protecting you Here and there, saving you from Accidents, sickness and death.

Because he had chosen you Before the worlds were created And he had to fulfill that purpose. I tell you if that doesn't give you A sense of how important a person you are. I don't know what will. That's what brings Security to me.

I'm not an accident. You know a lot of people say that child was born By accident, rubbish. You are no accident, even if you are An illegitimate child, you are no accident. God chose you. If you have given your life to Christ God has chosen you before the worlds were created.

Maybe your father and mother did something wrong. It doesn't make any difference to God. Because you are an individual soul In his eyes. And he called you And he chose you. And he has a purpose for your life.

Calling, Gifts, and the Body of Christ

You know when I think of my own life I apply it to myself. And you can apply it to yourself. I'm applying it to myself not because I'm different from you. The same God who chose me Chose you as well if you have given your life to Christ.

But the way I apply it to myself is like this. See God knew that he had a certain plan For my life. And part of that plan was To give me a ministry of teaching in the church. That's not the most important ministry.

Your ministry is equally important Even though it may be a little different. Don't think that it's only the ministries That stand up here in the pulpit that are most important. These are more the visible ministries Like the eye and the ear And the tongue.

Maybe some of you sitting there who never come up here Have got invisible ministries Like the heart And the liver And the kidney. Do you believe these are unimportant? Certainly not. They are not visible But they are very important.

So I apply this to myself only so that you can apply it to yourself. I believe that since God Saw that he had a certain ministry for me Before As soon as I was conceived In my mother's womb Going back so many years.

When I was conceived In my mother's womb God put certain things Into my DNA To equip me For that particular Task That he'd have for me 30 years later 35 years later. And he's done the same for you. And those are the natural gifts He gives us.

And then later on he fills us with the Holy Spirit And gives us spiritual gifts too. And if we can believe this We find the ministry God has for us and we're not in competition With anybody else. I'm not in competition with anybody because God has programmed something into my DNA And Given me those unique gifts For the particular Task I'm supposed to do for him on this earth.

And I want to say to you He's done the same for you Because he chose you and me Before the worlds were created. It's very important to understand that. Now you may have given your life to Christ when you were 35 years old.

That's when you realized That you could be a child of God. But when did God know that? Before he created Adam, before Genesis 1 verse 1. That's what this verse says. And therefore he watched He was watching over you from childhood.

Because he had this wonderful plan for your life Chosen in Christ Before the worlds were created Blessed with every spiritual blessing In the heavenly places in Christ. I want to move on now. I don't have time to read all of this.

Revelation Through the Holy Spirit

I want to turn to Ephesians In chapter 1 And Verse 17. Now Paul says I'm praying for you Since all these wonderful things are true I'm praying that The God of our Lord Jesus Christ The Father of Glory May give to you A spirit of wisdom And revelation In the knowledge of him.

And he goes on to say I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened. Verse 18 Ephesians 1 Verse 17 And 18. Now He doesn't say Listen fellas I want you to read this letter of mine 10 times. And you'll understand it.

I want you to meditate on it. Now all that is great. But this is more than meditation. Meditation was the great word of the Old Testament. Revelation Is the great word of the New Testament. You don't read much about Meditate in the New Testament.

Maybe one or two references In the Old Testament is Blessed is the man who meditates on the law of the Lord Psalm 1 day and night. Because They did not have the Holy Spirit within To explain These scriptures to them.

And meditating on scripture Is Like using our Human mind Without the aid of the Holy Spirit And trying to understand What God's word says. Just like you would study a chemistry book Or a history book.

Like you study your books in school. You study with using your mind. And Most Christians Study the Bible exactly like that. And that's why their lives don't change. Will you become more spiritual If you study a chemistry book Or a history book.

Well it won't change if you read the Bible either In the same way You use your mind To understand what the Bible says. That's great. But it shouldn't stop there. You know man is Three parts Is a trinity Like God is a trinity.

The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 5 23 Man is spirit, soul and body. Soul is our mind. Mind is one part of the soul. When we read the Bible In the New Testament time We use our body. You know our eyes Or your ears right now as you listen to me We use our body.

But If you use your body And don't use your mind For example even if you are sitting here listening to me And your mind is 10 miles away or 50 miles away Thinking about something else. You are not going to get what I am saying.