Scripture referenced 9 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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Ephesians 1:1-2 the opening address and salutation, called 'the outside of the envelope'
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, to the saints who are at Ephesus, and the faithful in Christ Jesus:
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Keep this verse
Ephesians 1:3-14
described as the longest sentence in the New Testament, a Trinitarian doxology covering father, son, and holy spirit
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 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and without defect before him in love;
5 having predestined us for adoption as children through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his desire,
6 to the praise of the glory of his grace, by which he freely gave us favor in the Beloved,
7 in whom we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,
8 which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence,
9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in him
10 to an administration of the fullness of the times, to sum up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens, and the things on the earth, in him;
11 in whom also we were assigned an inheritance, having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who does all things after the counsel of his will;
12 to the end that we should be to the praise of his glory, we who had before hoped in Christ.
13 In him you also, having heard the word of the truth, the Good News of your salvation—in whom, having also believed, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,
14 who is a pledge of our inheritance, to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of his glory.
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Colossians 4:16
referenced as a parallel circular letter, like the letter to Laodicea, meant to be passed around
16 When this letter has been read among you, cause it to be read also in the assembly of the Laodiceans; and that you also read the letter from Laodicea.
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John 14:6
quoted as Jesus saying no one comes to the father except through him, in context of redemption through Christ
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.
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John 20:21
post-resurrection Jesus saying peace be with you, as the father sent me so I am sending you
21 Jesus therefore said to them again, “Peace be to you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.”
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Romans 8:28
referenced as god working all things together for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose
28 We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.
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Galatians 4:4-5
quoted about the fullness of time when god sent forth his son, born of woman, born under the law
4 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent out his Son, born to a woman, born under the law,
5 that he might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of children.
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Colossians 1:19-20
referenced as a parallel to the Ephesians doxology, the fullness of god dwelling in Christ and reconciling all things
19 For all the fullness was pleased to dwell in him;
20 and through him to reconcile all things to himself, by him, whether things on the earth, or things in the heavens, having made peace through the blood of his cross.
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Genesis 1:2
cited to counter the claim that the Trinity was invented at a later council, noting the spirit of god hovering over the waters in the beginning
2 The earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep and God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters.
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Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
Pastor Ray opened the first Sunday of the new series in Ephesians by slowing down on just the greeting and the opening doxology of chapter one, verses one through fourteen. He treated those lines not as throat-clearing before the real content but as a concentrated statement of everything the letter will argue. The service closed with communion.
What was said
The return address matters. Paul writing to Ephesus is Saul of Tarsus, the man who carried warrants from the Sanhedrin to arrest followers of Jesus, now describing himself as sent out by Christ Jesus. Pastor Ray pointed out that the phrase "by the will of God" stops that biographical fact from being merely surprising and makes it theologically load-bearing. It is not Paul's will that accounts for any of this. The same logic runs through the whole letter.
The recipients get the same treatment. The saints in Ephesus were mostly former pagans living in a city built around the worship of Artemis. Pastor Ray noted that the word saints, hagios, means holy ones, and that Paul addresses them that way not because of what they came from but because of what God has called them into. He made the point that because this letter was circulated among churches, it is not just mail addressed to Ephesus. It is mail addressed to this congregation too.
The salutation, grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, got its own treatment. Pastor Ray quoted N. T. Wright's line that grace and peace sum up the gospel, its origins and its effects. Grace is the unmerited favor God extends toward people who have done nothing to earn it. Peace is what arrives when that grace is received.
From there Pastor Ray moved into the long opening sentence, verses three through fourteen, which he identified as the longest sentence in the New Testament at 202 words in Greek. He walked through it in three movements tracking the persons of the Trinity. The first movement, centered on God the Father, covers the choosing, the predestining for adoption, and the purpose of his will. Pastor Ray pushed back against reading predestination as an exclusive claim and said the point of being chosen is so that others would see God through the church, the same calling Israel failed to live up to in the minor prophets.
The second movement takes up Christ the Son. Redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of trespasses, the lavishing of grace, the making known of the mystery of God's will. Pastor Ray said that looking at how Christ acted on earth is what uncovers the mystery of God's will for what the church should be doing now, because the church is the continuing body of Christ. He connected this to the image of the temple as the place where heaven and earth meet, and said the church is meant to be that now.
The third movement is the Holy Spirit as the guarantee, the earnest money, of the inheritance that has been promised. Pastor Ray drew on the real estate language to make the point that the Spirit's presence is not a symbol but a binding down payment on something that will absolutely be completed.
Pastor Ray returned to a question he raised more than once through the sermon: whether you would rather have God work his will through your obedience or in spite of your disobedience. He framed communion as the moment to sit with that question, noting that Jesus in Gethsemane is the model of obedience when it was hardest, saying not my will but yours be done, and doing it by the Spirit.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- Pastor Ray described Paul as someone who went from being sent out by the Sanhedrin to kill Christians to being sent out by Christ, and said the turning point was 'by the will of God.' Where have you seen God's will override what seemed like an impossible situation in your own life or in someone you know?
- Pastor Ray said the saints in Ephesus were called holy even though they were not holy on their own, and that God calling you holy is truer than what you are feeling. How do you personally reckon with the gap between how God names you and how you experience yourself day to day?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 6,413 words
0:00
Speaker 1But we I know. Okay. It's Sunday morning. It changes on Saturday night. I didn't think about it, but I am so grateful.
0:06
We have made it. And I know it's not been a hard winter. I know that. It's not been a hard winter unless you're a skier or snowboarder. It hasn't been a hard winter but I am kind of a solar powered person.
0:19
I'll just admit that. So, daylight savings time being back is really really good for me and we are in the light of the New Testament. I've talked about for a long time that hey, good to see y'all. We've talked about for a long time that all of the minor prophets are kinda like dark clouds with silver linings. So, the dark clouds with silver linings and I think we've been in it since October.
0:44
Is that right, Peter? October, November ish is when we started and so we've been walking in this deep mud together for a long time and I needed the hope of the New Testament. I try to bring it out every time we see it but we've been in some fairly dark books for a good while now and we are up to Ephesians. Ephesians, we're gonna start with Ephesians one. Hey, and today, we're just going to
1:09
Speaker 2look at the outside of
1:10
Speaker 1the envelope, okay? The the beginning part of it tells who sent it and who he sent it to, right? And then, the salutation is just great and the first sentence. So, that's what we're getting into today. Here we go.
1:26
Ephesians one one and two is the outside of the envelope. Paul, formerly known as Saul, okay? That's a lot right there. We can go into that. If you know the history and the last thing we did before we got to the minor prophets was go through the book of Acts.
1:42
So from Acts nine all the way to the end of Acts, we saw Paul and his various journeys and starting out Saul of Tarsus with writs from the Sanhedrin of warrants, if you will, from the Sanhedrin to go out into the territories and drag back to Jerusalem anybody who is following the way, following Jesus. So like I said, just the first name in there, Paul, formerly Saul, An apostle. That's mind blowing. That he would be one who has sent out. Apostle just simply means one who has sent out.
2:29
Paul, one who is sent out. The guy who used to murder Christians, the guy who used to drag him back, the guy who was exceeding all others in his religious zeal, right? Of Christ Jesus. Those were the people he was persecuting. Right?
2:55
The people who followed after Christ Jesus were the people who's persecuting. So, Paul formerly Saul. One who was sent out by the Sanhedrin to call Chris to kill Christians is now sent out by Christ. And you just go, how can that be? Well, the next line is one that's that stopped me in my tracks Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday this week.
3:18
By the will of God. There's a lot right there. I know this is just the first opening. You know, this is outside of the envelope but if you get an envelope, it's got a little hard on the outside of, you know, that's going be a love letter. You know, this one is going to be about Jesus and this one is going to be about the will of God and all of that stuff that we just walked through for months on the minor prophets where it was old covenant stuff.
3:44
Well, listen, you're not in living up to your end of the bargain. That's what God was saying. You're not living up to your end of the bargain. You are not following after me. You are following after the world.
3:57
You're acting just like everybody else. You've been chosen and you've been given this good law for your good, not so that you can beat people over the head with it. It's for your own good, and you're denying that, and you're pretending. You're serving me with your lips, but not with your heart. Rend your heart, not your garments.
4:16
Don't do just the religious stuff. Right? And Paul was really good at doing the religious stuff. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. If you think the will of Saul, the will of Saul was prove how great he was.
4:35
Prove how awesome he was to God and to the Sanhedrin and everybody else but after he realized who he really is, he says, I'm the chief of sinners. I don't deserve this goodness that I've got. I don't deserve a portion of the new covenant. I failed the old old covenant, something horrible but by the will of God, he's in. Not because of anything that he had done but because of God.
5:06
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God. To the saints. So, return address is finished up there now. Now, he's, who is this to? To the saints, Hagias, the holy ones.
5:25
The holy ones. This is Paul, Saul, who sent in a letter and this says to to Ephesus is the next line, right? To the saints who are in Ephesus but he's sending this letter to the saints who are in Ephesus. The saints, the holy ones who are in the city of the worship of Diana, Artemis of the Ephesians, he's sending a letter to a bunch of pagans? Well, no.
5:56
He's sending a letter to a bunch of followers of the way who were formerly pagan. He's formerly just as Jewish as he can be. Just as Judean, let's say that. Just as Judean as he can be. His upbringing and his way is not God's way.
6:15
Their upbringing and their way was not God's way but we're all called out of whatever it is, affiliation, whatever it is. We're called out of and into and the book of Ephesians is a book about the called out ones, the church. It's about, oh, it's so good. If you don't, if you haven't read it lately, read all of Ephesians this week. Read it two or three times.
6:40
It's not long. It won't take you fifteen minutes to read the whole book. Now, you can bear down on it and spend as much time as I have right here on just these two lines. There's always going to be more that you didn't see but read it. It's good.
6:52
If you get the flow of it, you read it several times, you'll start seeing less about, oh yeah, there's that part in five where I really disagree with it. By the time you get to chapter five and you're understanding what's going on, really, you won't be disagreeing with it. The church is in a way like the temple. The temple of God in Jerusalem is the place where heaven and earth met and we, church, are to be the place where heaven and earth meet. Where the will of God is carried out in the saints.
7:27
So, the saints, the holy ones, though you are not holy, he has called you holy. So, that's how he leads off. Who are in Ephesus? That, I think that, yeah, it's good. It's if it's it's Ephesians but the saints who are in Ephesus, this is a circular just like the letter to Laodicea.
7:46
Oh yeah, Colossians and Corinthians. Y'all send this letter around. Let everybody read it. It's not just to the saints in Ephesus. We're not just reading their mail.
7:54
This is our mail. If you have been called out of whatever your affiliation and into the church, the church triumphant, all believers throughout all ages, then this letter is for you too. It's not just for the ones who are in Ephesus. To the saints who are in Ephesus. So, wouldn't be a sermon without a map, would it?
8:14
Paul's second missionary journey. First missionary journey did not get near Ephesus. Second missionary journey, he goes around up through Pasidian Antioch, over through Troas. He hears the Macedonian call in a dream at night. Goes across really fruitful ministry in Philippi, Lydia, the seller of purple, a woman.
8:37
Slave and the Philippian jailer, Gentile. Woah. It's for everybody. Going on from Philippi down towards Thessalonica and Berea where they wanted to seek out the way of God more accurately. Down from there, Athens.
8:52
Right? Mars Hill, philosophy, reasoning with Corinth, Centra, and then across on a boat to Ephesus. I say that because the next time he does it and the third missionary journey walks back, Acts 18 says and they came to Ephesus and he left the rest of em there. He himself went into the synagogue house was his custom and reasoned with the Jews from the scriptures but it's a pagan area and so there are tons of Gentiles around. He started.
9:29
It's for the Jew first and then, for the Gentiles. So, he did that. And here we are. He's writing to these saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus. Now, if you read this in English, that might sound like they're saints.
9:46
Oh yeah, they got in. Though you're not holy, God's called you holy but these were also faithful but that's not that's not the case. Strike that. The saints are faithful, okay? That's what it says.
10:01
I know that we're we're we do it to kind of make ourselves make sense in English. In Greek though, it says, to the saints, the faithful. It's in a positive. It's like saying to Jose Conseco, the baseball player. Okay.
10:15
If you are a saint, he has given you what you need to be faithful. Okay. And he's it's a high calling and he's given you what you need to live up to that calling even just in the first sentence which we're about to get to. There's the letter right there. Paul, formerly known as Saul, apostle of Christ Jesus, under house arrest in Rome.
10:37
Most people think maybe he was in Ephesus. There are some folks that think it's called the letter to the Ephesians because he's in jail in Ephesus. I don't know. The saints, the faithful in Christ Jesus, Ephesus, province of Asia, sealed. Grace to you.
10:56
I've said this 100,000 times. Y'all know what grace is? Grace is unmerited favor. If you meet someone and you have grace for them, they don't have to do anything to prove themselves to you. You just already have unmerited favor.
11:12
You're already leaning towards them in love and that's what God is saying. Through Paul, to them and to us. He's saying, grace to you. Grace to you and peace. This is the salutation.
11:26
It's like, dear so and so. I don't know why we start letters and just say, dear, Billy Bob, we write three pages and then we say, Ray, oh yeah, I'm glad to know that's Ray. Paul says first, Paul, so you don't get any confusion. This is me. Sent out by Christ by the will of God to the saints here in Ephesus, to the faithful in Christ Jesus and recognize that the the saints in Christ Jesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus.
11:54
It's really about being in Christ Jesus. It's not so much the character of what he called you out of as what he called you into. Grace to you and peace from God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ. That sounds like, oh yeah, throw away line. That's not a throw away line.
12:10
I almost just preached this but I've been going for six minutes here. Okay. Nobody complains about a short sermon. We do have communion today. There's plenty to chew on right there.
12:21
You know, grace to you and peace from God, our father, and Lord Jesus Christ. I'm reading a book recently. After I do my own study, I do go back and read other folks stuff too And this one's good. This is N. T.
12:33
Wright. He says, the greeting of verse two is standard but no less powerful for that. If you really sit with it and meditate on the fact that God through his apostle sent out one is sharing with you his unmerited favor and his peace. Grace and peace sum up the gospel. Its origins are in grace, unmerited favor of God.
12:58
He's got all of the love. He's got all of the truth. He's got all of the resources and he is extending that towards us and what we get if we receive it is peace. Grace and peace to you. Grace and peace sum up the gospel.
13:15
It's origins and its effects. I like that. So, then, inside the envelope. Of course, it would have been a scroll. Don't argue with me.
13:24
I know. I'm contextualizing. Ephesians three one three one three through 14 is the longest sentence in the New Testament. So, grammar nerds, treat yourself to this this week, okay? The longest sentence in the New Testament.
13:42
In Greek, it's two zero two words. Lots of clauses. Not a lot of verbs. So, not a lot of indicative verbs. Not many at all actually.
13:53
Three. In 202 words. But there are lots of participles just kind of all over the place explaining what's going on. So it's 12 verses long and five sentences in English and I challenge you to diagram this sentence. Okay?
14:10
I can see three people that went like the rest of you
14:13
Speaker 2thought, oh, I haven't done
14:14
Speaker 1that since the ninth grade and I don't wanna ever do it again. It'll look something like this. Cheat sheet. Y'all go back and watch real slow and you can see that. So, three through four one three through 14 is Paul's overflowing opening doxology and doxa means glory and loggia or logos means content word, expression, speak, say, whatever.
14:42
It is a saying what is about God's glory. So, here we go. The doxology is this, the first few verses are about God the father, primarily. The next few verses about Christ the son and the last couple are about the Holy Spirit and if you ever hear from your TikTok theologians that the trinity was invented at the council of whatever. No.
15:09
No. No. No. No. The spirit of God was hovering over the waters in the beginning.
15:16
It's throughout both testaments. Don't believe anybody that tries to go back and say, oh, they just invented that. They didn't just invent that. It's there. Read the actual Bible.
15:26
Okay. God the father, Christ the son, and the Holy Spirit. So this passage I think lays a very firm foundation for everything that will follow in Ephesians and God's grace and peace in those first couple of lines do too but then, he gets into this and we'll say God the father is the primary in the first few. There are so many different ways of looking at this. I'm going present you with a few of em before we finish.
15:52
God the father, blessed be. That's the main verb and it's kind of a command and we sang in one of those songs. Let us bless the Lord every day and night. Do you think of blessing God or do you think of God blessing you? This says, bless God.
16:13
Blessed be or praise be unto. God the father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. It is already true in the spiritual realm. Now, you might feel because you're walking it out on Earth in this mortal coil surrounded by folks who don't care and folks who do. You might feel like this is not true of me.
16:41
He's saying this is the truth. This is truer than what you're feeling. Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places even as he, the father, chose us in him before the foundation of the world. That we should be holy. Saints, Hagios, same word.
17:06
Right? That we should be holy and blameless before him in love. In love, he predestined us for the adoption to himself as sons. I could go into it. At the time, adoption as a son was even more It was a bigger thing than being adopted as a daughter, okay?
17:31
Just the way it was in the time. So, when he says, he's a chosen us and adopted us all, men and women, for adoption unto himself as sons with greater rights than a daughter might have. Full heirs. He predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will. There it is again.
17:55
His will by the will of God is the way it starts off in verse one and two and then here it is again. That comes up a lot in Ephesians and I want you to consider the will of God. As you're reading through Ephesians, consider what it is that the whole church is supposed to be doing for the whole world by the will of God. Consider that. According to purpose of his will to the praise of, oh, here it is by the will of God.
18:21
According to the purpose of his will to the praise of his, oh yeah, and if it is about God's will, not just collectively because I've been mentioning it collectively and I think the book primarily is collective but whether it's you individually or us as body. If it's all about God's will and it is, would you rather have God work his will through your obedience or in spite of your disobedience? We have a choice to pray and listen and when we hear the direction of God, either say no or say yes lord. Right? It's yes lord or it's no.
19:09
It can't be no lord. Would you rather have God work his will through your obedience or in spite of your disobedience? Remember that Christ was absolutely obedient. Okay? Absolutely so and we're going to celebrate that right here in a bit.
19:27
He did it by the spirit. We'll get to that. So, if you were seeing that and I was not underlining all of the pronouns and references to God, it's because some of those are for Jesus. If you look at this color coded deal here, blessed be God the father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. It's true already.
19:51
Even as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be blameless, holy before him. In love, he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ. According to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the, and Jesus is, the beloved. That's beautiful. So, got father and son pretty well covered even in that first part but it's primarily about God the father and his will and his way.
20:21
So, let's go to Christ's son in verse seven. In him, in him, that's Christ. We have redemption through his blood. Though we failed at the old covenant just like everybody before us failed at the old covenant, the access to God as Jesus says, no one comes to the father except through me. Jesus's perfect record is available to anyone who will accept the gift of it that he is giving.
20:54
In him, we have redemption through his blood. We have the forgiveness of our trespasses. He will throw them as far as the East is from the West and remember them no more. Blot them out. Though our sins were before him, he will take them and place them behind his back.
21:09
Almighty God says that, okay? Forgiveness of our trespasses. According to the riches of his grace, the father, which he, God, lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will. There it is again. His will is important.
21:29
What is it that God wants? I could do a whole sermon on where it said explicitly in the Bible. This is God's will. One of them is to be grateful. I've covered that recently.
21:40
Making known to us the mystery of his will according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ. If we look at that and we see how Christ acted on this Earth and what he did, that is what uncovers for us the mystery of God's will for what we should be doing. Are we not, church? The continuing body of Christ. Yep.
22:06
That's what we're saying we are. If we are the continuing body of Christ and it'll get to this explicitly in chapter two and three, we are to be declaring to the whole cosmos, everything, the mystery of God's will because it's been revealed in the church. Like I said, the church is like the temple. It's where heaven and earth meet. High calling.
22:30
He set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him. The fullness of time gets me this. When the fullness of time had come, same guy writing this, you know. When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, father, son, born of woman, born under the law to redeem those who are under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons. Greater inheritance.
22:59
He set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him, things in heaven, and things on earth. This sounds like Colossians which he probably wrote within a couple of weeks. For in him, Christ, the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through him, Christ, to reconcile to himself all things. God has a plan and he is working that plan. Christ is the way.
23:26
He is the agent of creation and he is the agent of change. He's the agent of redemption. God is reconciling all things to himself. All things whether on earth or in heaven. He's making peace by the blood of his cross.
23:40
That again is what we're going towards today. In him, we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to the purpose of him. The purpose of God and the will of God are very closely linked who works all things together to the council of his will. We've hit this one recently too. We know that God is working.
24:05
For those who love God, all things are working together for good. To those who are called according to his purpose, the will of God, the purpose of God, very closely related and he's working all those things together. I could ask again, would you rather be through your obedience or in spite of your disobedience? So that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. To the praise of his glory.
24:32
What's the chief end of man? There are no Presbyterians in the room at all. There he goes. Glorify God and enjoy him forever. Yeah.
24:41
To glorify God. That's it. To the praise of his glory. So, we've gotten through God the father with a lot of references to Jesus and if you look back, we got to Christ the son with a lot of references to the father in both of those paragraphs but now, we get to this and Jesus said to them, his disciples, again, this is post resurrection. So, they have seen Jesus conquer death.
25:08
They have seen resurrection power. They have seen God fulfilling the new covenant that it was no longer the old covenant which we none of us can live up to but the new covenant and Jesus is saying, peace be with you. Shalom. Absence of war, yeah, but absolutely resting in God. Peace be with you As the father, just as the father, in the same way that the father has sent me, even so, I am sending you.
25:42
How did the father send him? It was the will of the father that Jesus would come. Jesus came, left the glories of heaven, and it says, and he submitted himself to the spirit even when he got to the garden, right? When it's death is on the line. His death is on the line.
25:58
He says, I don't want to drink from this cup. That's the will of the human side, right? The will of the of all of us. I don't want to do that. Yet, not my will but yours be done, father and by the spirit, he was able to say, not my will but yours be done.
26:16
So, in just the same way that the father sent him out empowered by the spirit, Jesus is sending us out and that's the next couple of lines. It's about the Holy Spirit. Here it is. In him, you also in him, what is that? Jesus.
26:31
Okay. In him, in Jesus, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed in him, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. Who is the guarantee? The down payment guarantee. Let's go into that.
26:59
It is the earnest money. Hey, Jackson real estate agents. There are probably 10 of y'all in the room. It's the earnest money. It's the upfront saying this is going to happen.
27:09
Earnest money, a large part of the payment. At the time, it was much more than it is these days. It's given advance in advance as a security that the whole will be paid. Absolutely, absolutely in Christ. Absolutely glorified if you will.
27:25
Whether on the great and mighty day of the Lord or after we pass in death from this life into the next. Guarantee is the Holy Spirit. So, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of that whole inheritance to the praise of his glory. So, that is all of the verses that we're covering today and I've looked at it in a Trinitarian way. Father, son, Holy Spirit.
27:57
There are 100 different ways you could look at this and glean more information out of. I'm asking you to read it, okay? Read the whole of Ephesians. That's wonderful but if you'd meditate just on this, it'll do you good. I promise.
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I know because I've been meditating on it. It's done me a lot of good. Okay? It's really really been helpful in this week to just let this be flowing over me. Kinda like a bath.
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Washing away that old covenant. Okay? Washing it away and because the anxiety that one feels when you feel like I've done something wrong and there's nothing I can do about it. That's a terrible feeling. What can wash away my sin?
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Nothing but the blood of Jesus. When you lean in and you say, lord, I agree with you about this sin. He takes it. That's wonderful. Okay.
28:46
Let's look back over and see. I'm going to go through this rather quickly and look at all the different references here. We've already referred to God the father, Christ the son, and the Holy Spirit but look at how many are having to do with us, the saints, the faithful, and you think, oh, I'm not faithful. There's no such thing as a junior varsity Christian. If you're a saint, you're faithful.
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That's the way it goes. The book is going to be about holiness and it's going be about unity. Unity in Christ is very very important because the world is not unified. Can I get an amen? Right?
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Blessed be the God and father of our. It's ours. Okay? Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us and if you take it as an us and them, that's a problem because he's called us through no merit of our own. Grace is not because.
29:43
It's not transactional for us, right? We didn't do anything to earn our way in. So, blessed be the God and father of our, he's our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, because God sent him and we accepted him, right? Who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.
30:00
It is true. Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him. It says, if you get stuck on predestination, please don't. The point of this is he chose us to be blameless so that others would see him. Do you get that?
30:19
It's a there's a purpose for that. That predestination part of it is not. It's just us, it's not them. If you look back at the minor prophets, by the time we got to the minor prophets, they knew the Torah well, they knew the history, they were living the history. They knew that they were supposed to be a light to the Gentiles.
30:39
Were they a light to the Gentiles? They wanted to be just like the Gentiles. Give us a king. Give us a king. We want to be just like everybody around us.
30:47
No, you don't. God said, it's not an us and them. When Paul gets down to the first fruits like we're just ahead of some people. We're just a few steps ahead of some people. If we're doing as God would have us to do, it should be attractive and people should be being called out of and into, right?
31:09
Out of whatever affiliation and into the body of Christ. Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the, well, that we should be holy and blameless before him in love. He predestined us for adoption to himself as sons. Through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will, it really is, but his will. To the praise of his glorious grace which he has blessed us in the beloved.
31:32
So, our us, us, we, us, adopted as sons, us. In him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace that he's lavished upon us. In all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him. That's us. He's uniting us to himself and Christ.
32:03
Did you get that? He's also saying all things he's working. It's not universalism. Not everybody's going to accept it but he's working his will to bring people together. In him, we have obtained inheritance, haven't been predestined according to the purpose.
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Whenever you see predestination, it is for a purpose. It's so that others may know. Okay? It's an it is an open question whether anyone else will receive. If it wasn't, it wouldn't say whosoever may.
32:31
Okay? So that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. You might be seeing a theme here that I'm gonna bring up in just a sec. In him, you. When you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation and you believed him, man, you were sealed with the promise of the Holy Spirit, and that is y'all.
32:51
Okay? It's collective because it's about the church. It's not just about you individually. Americans, we have a tendency to individualize everything, especially the blessings of God. But this is in him y'all.
33:04
When y'all heard the gospel of y'all salvation and you believed you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. Who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire the possession of it to the praise of his glory. So, God the father and Christ the son are very actively involved and we are according to God's will exposed to this good gospel and the Holy Spirit is working and pleading, illuminating his word, convicting us of our sin, convincing us of God's goodness and righteousness, his patience, and his long suffering, his way. One more way of looking at this. Okay?
33:55
I'm gonna read the whole thing again. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. This reminds me of a story. Sorry. When I was in the ninth grade, tenth grade, ninth grade, I don't know.
34:08
We had to do the to be or not to be speech. Right? Remember, memorize the to be or not to be speech from Hamlet. And I got to class and I saw it on the board that that's what we're doing today, and I'm ADD. Why not?
34:25
And I thought, I don't know that. And so a couple people were sitting in front of me. I'm in, like, the third chair. And I said, miss Palmer, I don't know it. And she got mad.
34:36
She called me my dad's name. She had flunked him in 1966. She said, Billy. And I and then I let three or four more people go and I said, miss Palmer, I could try and I said it perfectly. I didn't miss a single word because I'd heard, I'm saying this over and over so you'll remember it.
34:58
Okay? I'm saying this over and over. So, this is more important than this story. Alright? But I listened to it three, four, five more times probably.
35:07
And I said, miss Palmer, I could try it. She said, go ahead. To be or not to be, that is the question whether it's noble or not. I could do it right now if I needed to. I don't.
35:14
But I walked past the grade book at the end, and I said, I'm sorry, miss Palmer. She said, it's alright. You know, it's forgiven. I got a zero still. Because when I was called upon, I didn't know it.
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She said it would have been just easy for you, Ray, to know this and you didn't do it and that's fine. I didn't hold it against her. I still made a zero but Here we go. Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
35:44
Who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love, he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will. To the praise of his glorious grace. That's in there. With which he has blessed us in Christ, the beloved.
36:11
In him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace which he lavished upon us. Unmerited favor. According to the riches of his grace which he lavished upon us and all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ. Christ shows us the purpose of God. He is on a rescue mission and we should be too.
36:36
As a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him, things in heaven, and things on earth. In him, we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will. So that we who are the first to hope in Christ, y'all just a few steps ahead of the next folks, okay? Might be to the praise of his glory, to the, did you get that? To the praise of his glorious grace, to the praise of his glory, and then the next one is in him you also, when you heard, y'all.
37:06
The word of truth, the gospel of y'all salvation believed in him, we're sealed with the promised Holy Spirit who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory. There's so many different ways to look at this. It's fertile. Fertile. I I hope our hearts are fertile soil.
37:23
This is amazing. I want you to sit with this and we're going into a time of communion right now. So, I'll ask the usher, the elders to come forward. Would y'all individually and would we collectively as a body of believers rather work God work his will through our obedience like Jesus or in spite of our disobedience. That's it.
37:49
The band's coming back up. Ushers are coming forwards. I'm going to pray Lord God almighty, this representation that we have before us right now, this open table. For anyone who has ever put their faith in you, for anyone who is putting their faith in you today for the very first time. To anyone who says that's what I want, Lord.
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I want for you to reveal to me the mystery of your will through Christ. Show me your way. Allow me the grace to walk in it. I want the peace that is being offered. This is an open table.
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It's not denominational. We are unified by your spirit. We are called by your will through the blood and redemption available in Christ. So Lord God Almighty, I pray that you'd bless this little cracker that's a representation of the body of Jesus who walked out that old covenant perfectly himself. He was in all ways tempted just as we are, yet he was without sin.
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He had a perfect record and he could offer it to anyone who would accept it. And so Lord, for anyone who has accepted it, I pray that they would partake. And Lord, if there's anybody in the room who has not yet, that you would show your purpose and your mystery of your will through us who are humble before you in Christ. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
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