The Bride is Blessed with God’s Good Pleasure

1. Read: Ephesians 1:7-10

2. About the Text:

1) Have you ever planned a big family wedding? (or vacation)

2) How do you feel the day of the wedding comes?

3) Do you want everyone to enjoy themselves?

4) God has the same attitude and wants all people to come together in Christ.

5) So, to facilitate this, he has granted the bride great blessings.

3. Ref. to S, T, P, O, and A.

1. What is this?

1) Redemption – God has bought us back from bondage.

2) Forgiveness – God has released us from our guilt.

3) Grace – God favors us in His Son, Christ.

4) “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)” (Ephesians 2:4-5).

2. These blessings are only possible in Christ.

1) Only the bride of Christ has access to these blessings.

2) To be in Christ, one must be baptized into Christ (Galatians 3:27).

3) We must identify and commit to Christ!

3. For the bride, this means full relationship.

1) God has broken down all the barriers between us and Him.

2) He wants this relationship with us.

3) “and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6-7).

4) “that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. 4 And these things we write to you that your joy may be full” (1 John 1:3-4).

4. God’s good pleasure brought redemption, forgiveness, and grace.

1. The mystery is the gospel.

1) “Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began but now made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith” (Romans 16:25-26).

2) “how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets” (Ephesians 3:3-5).

2. The gospel is God’s power for salvation.

1) “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:16-17).

2) “Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever” (1 Peter 1:22-23).

3. For the bride, the lines of communication are open.

1) “For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, And His ears are open to their prayers; But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil” (1 Peter 3:12).

2) “Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart” (Luke 18:1).

4. God’s good pleasure brought the His word to our understanding.

1. We need to understand God’s purposes.

1) God created a problem-free world.

2) Everything He made was good (Genesis 1).

2. Sin creates division and separation.

1) “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear” (Isaiah 59:1-2).

2) “A perverse man sows strife, And a whisperer separates the best of friends” (Proverbs 16:28).

3. He is seeking to unite humanity in His Son, Christ.

1) “Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind” (Philippians 2:1-2).

2) “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me” (John 17:20-21).

4. God restores human persons to their originate state in Christ.

1) “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

2) “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God” (Romans 6:12-13).

5. God’s good pleasure brings everyone together in Christ.

1. God’s good pleasure brings to Christ’s bride . . .

1) Redemption, Forgiveness, Grace

2) The Mystery of the Revelation

3) Unity in the Body of Christ

2. Invitation