"Why do we praise God?" from First Southern Baptist Church of North Hollywood

1. Title Layout

2. Why do we praise God?
EPHESIANS 1:3-14

3. God Question…
• Is it because we’re supposed to?
• Is it because we always do it on
Sunday and Wednesday?
• Because He is worthy– Church answer or shrug?
• In this chapter Paul discusses ‘Predestination’,
‘Sovereignty of God’, ‘Free will of man’, ‘Election’,
‘Adoption’, ‘Redemption’, ‘Eternal Inheritance’
• If you pay attention to what I’m about to explain, I
think you’ll come to your own conclusion– WANT

4. 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every
spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in
Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the
foundation of the world, that we would be holy
and blameless before Him. In love 5 He
predestined us to adoption as sons through
Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind
intention of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory
of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in

5. the Beloved. 7 In Him we have redemption
through His blood, the forgiveness of our
trespasses, according to the riches of His grace
8 which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and
insight 9 He made known to us the mystery of
His will, according to His kind intention which
He purposed in Him 10 with a view to an
administration suitable to the fullness of the
times, that is, the summing up of all things in
Christ, things in the heavens and things on the

6. earth. In Him 11 also we have obtained an
inheritance, having been predestined
according to His purpose who works all things
after the counsel of His will, 12 to the end that
we who were the first to hope in Christ would
be to the praise of His glory. 13 In Him, you also,
after listening to the message of truth, the
gospel of your salvation—having also believed,
you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of
promise, 14 who is given as a pledge of our

7. inheritance, with a view to the redemption of
God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.
Ephesians 1:3-14, NASB

8. Every Spiritual Blessing
•V3– done deal– past tense– The
answer from the start-- God’s grace,
glory, mercy, His unsearchable riches
•482 x in Scripture, variations of “Bless”
•Greek word is “eulogetos”– to make
happy
•Notice the past tense– James 1:17

9. 17 Every good thing given and every perfect gift
is from above, coming down from the Father of
lights, with whom there is no variation or
shifting shadow.
James 1:17, NASB

10. Every Spiritual Blessing
•Its about understanding from what
or in this case “from whom” your
happiness comes
•Blessings can be financial, but that
would not be the norm according
to this Scripture
•From v4 to v14 lists 9 blessings we
must remember so we can Praise
Him with all heart/mind/soul/body

11. We can divide this section 3 ways
•Vv 3-6, Father initiated
His plan of Salvation
•Vv 7-12, Son
implemented the plan
•Vv 13-14, Spirit
empowers the plan

12. Because He has chosen us…
•V4 is one of the greatest
definitions of “Election”
straight from Scripture
•The Doctrine of
Election teaches that we
are saved only because
in the Grace of God, he
picked us individually

13. Because He Predestined/Adopted us…
•V5, “Predestined,” ‘proorizo’ in the Greek,
means “marked out beforehand.”
•Because God chose to elect us, He placed a
special mark on us – He predestined
us with the knowledge that He would
one day adopt us
•Roman Law and Adoption
•Arminian vs Calvinist Theology

14. Because He has redeemed us…
•Vv 6-7a, purchasing by
paying a ransom, from
slavery or repaying a debt
•1 Peter 1:18-19

15. “…knowing that you were not redeemed with
corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your
aimless conduct received by tradition from your
fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ,
as of a lamb without blemish and without
spot…”
1 Peter 1:18-19, NASB

16. Because He has redeemed us…
•Vv 6-7a, purchasing by paying
a ransom, from slavery or
repaying a debt
•1 Peter 1:18-19
•He redeemed us all the way
back to Adam with His Blood,
paying the price for sin and
judgment, as well as covering
our sin for eternity

17. Because He has forgiven us…
•V-7b, since we are forgiven God
no longer holds our debt
against us– consequences too!
•Scripture says He has forgotten
our sins once they’ve been
forgiven
•Psalm 103:12

18. “As far as the east is from the west, So far
has He removed our transgressions from
us…’
Psalm 103:32, NASB

19. Because He has lavished His Grace on us…
•V-7c-8a, God’s mercy saves us
from what we deserve, his
Grace gives us what we don’t
deserve!
•He didn’t give us Grace
reluctantly, but He dumped it
on us! Abundantly!

20. Mystery of His Will, known to us…
•Vv 8b-10, Though many of
God’s plans He shared over the
ages to Moses and the prophets,
He chose not to reveal some of
them for a long time
•Heaven nor Hell knew how He
would do Salvation
•But we know thru Jesus’ death
and resurrection!

21. He has provided an Eternal Inheritance
•Vv 11-12, our inheritance takes two
forms
•Present- all the rewards of
salvation Peace w/God,
Brotherhood with Christ
•Future- All the wealth of Heaven!
•In addition to that, we are joint-
heirs with Christ, which means
that He cannot claim His
inheritance apart from us– cool or
what?!?!?

22. Because He sealed us in Christ
•V13, Forgiven, and it can never
be taken away from us!
•Freed from the bondage of sin
and able to kick it for eternity
•Remember after the Hebrews
were freed from Egypt,
Pharaoh changed his mind?
•Not God!!

23. Because He guaranteed our inheritance
•V14, the Greek word for
guarantee means “down
payment”, something the
business man in Ephesus
would take to heart
•Guarantees final purchase
•The Holy Spirit is our
guarantee!

24. Take Home!
•“Riches in Christ” tell us that:
•It is a source of great encouragement to know that
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all work
on our behalf to make us spiritually rich
•All these riches are by God’s grace for
His glory
•These riches are only the beginning!
There is always more spiritual wealth to claim from
the Lord as we walk with Him