Ephesians 1:20 - 2:10

Teacher: Rusty Kennedy
Series: Ephesians

Rusty's Notes

Ephesians 1:18-19
18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the mighty working of his strength.[1]

• Power – dunamus – dynamite

GOD’S POWER IN CHRIST
EPHESIANS 1
20 He exercised this power in Christ by raising him from the dead

• “exercised” – energized
• Computer gets bogged down… run updates… refresh.
• The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead (Romans 8:11)
• God’s power enables us to use God’s strength & wealth.
• You will never experience the power of His resurrection in the daily affairs of life until you know him intimately.
• Authority and power for victorious living come only through knowing Him and living by His very life.

and seating him at his right hand in the heavens--

• He is sitting… It is done!
• Chapter 2 gets even better!

21 far above every ruler and authority, power and dominion, and every title given, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

• His power will supersede anything ever created.

22 And he subjected everything under his feet and appointed him as head over everything for the church,

• Jesus supplies the very life of the church.
• We live by His life!

23 which is his body,

• Christ being the head and the believers being His body.

the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way.

• The fullness of the deity of resides in us.
• When we learn to walk in the Spirit, we walk in this fullness.
• The Gospels display the power of the Father working through the Son.
• Acts displays the power of the Father working through the Spirit in the form of believers.

 
FROM DEATH TO LIFE
EPHESIANS 2
1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins

• Spiritually dead…
• Can’t communicate with God
• Unable to understand and appreciate spiritual things.
• God is Spirit and we have no spiritual life
• Spirit is dead in relation to God
• Sin (acts) is a result of your natural behavior
• trespasses = deviate from righteousness
• sin = miss the mark

2 in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world,

• “world” – this evil age
• the world’s system of values and perspective of things
• Satan has power in this system

according to the ruler of the power of the air,

• Ruler = prince, chief of the atmosphere
• We are in a battle and natural tendency is to protect our child.
• There is only one way to protect your child…
• 1) Know Jesus 2) Trust Him.
• 1 Peter 5:8 – Roaring lion (Simba-pounce)
• 2 Cor 11:14 – Angel of light

the spirit now working in the disobedient.

• spirit – way of thinking.

3 We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires,

• * Beware of sinful nature in NIV84 & NLT.
• The flesh refers to that fallen nature that we were born with, that wants to control the body and the mind and make us disobey God.[2]
• This is the state in which bad habit patterns get lodged in the brain (flesh)

carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts (mind),

• Unregenerate man – soul & spirit are not redeemed at this point.
• Soul being mind, will & emotions.

and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also.

• It is our nature that condemns us.
• Since we have not been saved by our good works, we cannot be lost by our bad works.[3]
• Answer the baby question (2 Sam 12:23)

4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us,

• This is God’s true nature
• Love is one of God’s intrinsic attributes, but when this love is related to sinners, it becomes grace and mercy.[4]

5 made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace!

• “Us” being the believers (church)
• We received eternal life… no beginning or end… no timeline… freedom.
• Grace - 1) God’s unmerited favor
•            2) God’s ability in you on a daily basis

6 He also raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus,

• God has no timeline… He sees us there now
• If you see yourself in the flesh and here on earth rather than in the Spirit hanging out with the Father… you  never win the battle that is going on here on earth.
• You presently have access to all that is God’s
• A.W. Tozer - Earth may have been good enough for that creature who was created from the dust and clay, but it is not good enough for the living soul who is redeemed by royal blood!

Earth was fit and proper to be the eternal dwelling place for that creature who was made by God’s hand, but it is not appropriate nor sufficient to be the eternal dwelling place of that redeemed being who is begotten of the Holy Spirit. Every born-again Christian has been lifted up—lifted up from the level of the fallen Adamic race to the heavenly plane of the unfallen and victorious Christ. He belongs up there!
7 so that in the coming ages he might display the immeasurable riches of his grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

• What are His immeasurable riches?

8 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift--

• Salvation comes through faith alone
• The division is what is the word “this” in reference to… salvation or faith. (Just another distraction).

9 not from works, so that no one can boast.

• Not as a result of man’s efforts
• The Law confirmed this
• Who has to perform at Christmas to receive their gifts?
• This is what Santa teaches! Naughty or nice?

10 For we are his workmanship,
 -    creation = workmanship, masterpiece

•  It is God’s work that saved us (through the cross)

created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.[5]

• good works being the natural byproduct of our salvation.
• this is Christ working through us… not us trying to imitate Christ through working hard.
• Paul viewed this as his life “in Christ”

 

• GO back to Verse 2:7
• 7 so that in the coming ages he might display the immeasurable riches of his grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
• In the midst of yesterday’s grief for Officer Noah Shahnavaz… we heard how he lived his life for Jesus.
• He was serving the city of Elwood only through his desire to serve the Lord.
• The Lord was working through Noah.
• It’s as if the Lord was saying to Noah and even to you sitting here in this very room…
• “You’re so good… I made you good… I love you… I know you’re restricted in your flesh… It’s gonna be OK… This is not what I intended for you… you’re already in heaven with me. Look…
• Look… stay focused on me… I truly love you!”

[1] Christian Standard Bible (Eph 1:18–19). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.
[2] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, p. 18). Victor Books.
[3] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, p. 19). Victor Books.
[4] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, p. 19). Victor Books.
[5] Christian Standard Bible (Eph 1:20–2:10). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.