[Sunday School] Ephesians #1

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Transcript

SPEAKER_03 1:51

Father God, we are we're grateful that you have brought us together this morning to to look at your word and uh study Ephesians. Lord, we we thank you for your glorious grace and the gifts and the blessings, the exceeding riches of your grace toward us and the spiritual blessings that we are going to study about today that you have given us in Christ. Lord, I pray that you would just open your word to us, help us to grasp it, help us to apply it to our lives. And Lord, may we live and rejoice in these things always because you have accomplished, you have given these things to us and they are guaranteed in Christ. And we ask this in Christ's name. Amen. Um would you mind talking about a little bit about just kind of the date occasion, just a little intro into the well the date occasion probably around 60 to 62 um AD after at one point uh I mean it's one of the uh I think it may be that it was when he was in house under house arrest in Rome.

SPEAKER_07 3:11

That was before the prison. That's why I said prison.

SPEAKER_03 3:20

Rabbit chair, yes.

SPEAKER_06 3:22

If we need to move back to the fellowship hall, we can start getting a little too much. I think we might start. I think we might start being too everyone's coming from Allen. Should we go should we no should we go to the little just a little bit about the occasion occasion?

SPEAKER_03 3:47

Yeah, Paul is in prison, believe it would probably be in under house arrest in Rome when he writes a letter in somewhere between 60 and 62 AD. And uh it's a typical epistolary letter. It has an opening, it has uh a body, and it has a conclusion. Many people believe that uh, many of the scholars believe that it was written to Ephesus, but some of the early some of the most recent scholars question whether it was written to Ephesians, to Ephesus, because it was removed from the uh manuscripts of some of the best manuscripts that we have. But it is believed that it was a circular letter that was going to be circulated to the churches in the region, and Ephesus being one of the being the hub of that region, and the the letter would be read in all the churches. So it's a as I said, it's a circular letter more than likely, and um and it's to the church specifically to encourage the church. Um Paul in his standard uh openings, he gives his name and his title. He is he is a he is an apostle of Christ, you know, and appointed by Christ to declare his revelation. And then he talks about the grace and peace of God. He comes, Paul is known as the apostle of grace. And in that, in that being said, he is uh when Paul talks about preaches the gospel, he focuses on the consequences of God's grace to us in Christ as a result of having peace with God. So today I guess we we start, we're gonna go through verse 14. I'll read those.

SPEAKER_06 5:57

Yeah, we're gonna we're gonna spend our time just through those first uh, I guess first 14 verses really honing in on the 3 through 14. Um and what's interesting about the letter to you know the letter to Ephesus as well is when you know a big part of Ephesus was they have this, they had one of the they hosted one of the ancient seven wonders of the world, yeah. That being uh a cave, uh a monument to uh with the goddess Diana. So um there uh there's some great things in here that would actually later on in chapters like five and six that would really pierce into the people of Ephesus and even around it, speaking about you know God's nurturing uh sense of uh of love and care for for his people. So um it's just a it's a really interesting uh case of which uh you know they were a central hub for for uh Greek worship in that way. So um, but yeah, the I'd love for us to read through uh three through fourteen. Um I can go ahead and read for us if you'd like. Um Ephesians 1, 3 through 14. 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 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, with which he has blessed us in the beloved. 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 in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he has 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. 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 were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were 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. Amen. Yeah, I was saying earlier, we were saying earlier that in our time that we've been looking over this, talking about it, it's just been such a joyous um time. And it's mainly because that's the whole framework of this letter of just praising God for his glory, and that's what we get here in this section. Um in those first kind of first couple verses, we kind of get almost a little bit of a teaser to what we have rest in uh in the rest of uh in the rest of the text in verses three and four, um, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Um I don't feel that way. I don't feel that way. I I don't I certainly don't uh I don't I don't feel that way until I do I do feel blessed. I feel blessed, but uh I don't feel like I've reached in everything, you know? Right uh has that permeated everything yet? Um I I think it has, but effectually it hadn't worked out it hadn't been worked out.

SPEAKER_03 9:31

It hasn't been worked out as yet.

SPEAKER_06 9:34

Yeah, absolutely. Um, I knew we were gonna we were gonna talk about this too, but um when we're into Ephesians, as we're as we're kind of getting started in this letter, is there anything that when you think of Ephesians that kind of comes to mind that kind of speaks to what is a word or a phrase that when you think of Ephesians that you associate with Ephesians?

SPEAKER_07 9:58

The sovereignty of God in our salvation, yep, predestination. Well that and uh and it's by grace, yeah, not us. We boast in Christ, not not us, we're saved by God's grace, so therefore we can't boast in who we are or what we've done. We boast in Christ. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_12 10:19

What about the Holy Spirit? We've sealed by the Holy Spirit.

SPEAKER_06 10:22

Yep. I first thought marriage before we talk about that. Because I think of Ephesians 5. Um later on, and that was kind of the first thing that that came to mind from Ephesians for me.

SPEAKER_09 10:42

I have uh would always I love Ephesians since I was a teenager. I think it was uh I don't know what was the paper with me, was the message. I remember they say signed, sealed, and delivered. Yeah. So I always heard from Ephesians. I think they say that ASV.

SPEAKER_03 11:06

Gospel song too. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_09 11:09

I know it's it was a non-gospel song. It's true.

SPEAKER_03 11:13

There's there's one of those too, yes.

SPEAKER_12 11:16

And there's the armor of God chapter, too.

SPEAKER_06 11:18

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_12 11:19

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_06 11:20

That's also Ephesians. Is that Ephesians 5 or 6? 16 and 6, yeah. 10 through 18.

SPEAKER_03 11:26

Mystery. Mystery. Yes, it comes up a lot in Ephesians mystery. Any other thoughts on when you think of Ephesians? Well, we know that uh Paul jumps right into um to predestination right off the bat, but just before he does, he praises God. This is a doxology in three through fourteen. And we know that doxology is a response to God's grace. It's a response to his grace. So he he is unfolding this, the triune nature of our salvation. And in the first three through fourteen, God elects, Christ redeems, and this the Holy Spirit seals. So y'all y'all covered a bunch of those thoughts in what you what you mentioned, and uh you want you're gonna go through that.

SPEAKER_06 12:39

Yeah, so um in those first those first kind of few verses of uh that he has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us before the foundation of the world, um, that we should be holy and blameless before him. When we were reading this together, I uh in fact we grabbed coffee yesterday, we're looking at it again. And I have plenty of friends in my in my because I went to a very Arminian type school and college. Pretty much most of my friends are still staunch Arminians. And so I ask him, what do you how do you read Ephesians 1, 3 through 14? And there's this on he had they have the understanding, he has the understanding of a of a corporate call. Um, that this corporate predestination almost, as if everyone is predestined, and then it's up to us to also come alongside and and make that decision, you know, our agency to go and to go and do those things. So it's an interesting way of reading that. But I think the language here that we see from Paul is not a it will happen or possibly, it has. It's accomplished, it is done, even as he chose us. According to the council of his will, right? Right. Right, and we can see we can see that in as we look in Ephesians, uh, Ephesians uh verse five, um, according to the purpose of his will. You skip down to verse 11, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will. Uh, and then you get uh again well I think it's actually up in uh up in uh well and then but here in verse 4, that we should be holy and blameless before him. And that that that language before him makes me think of coming before Christ, coming before judgment, right? The throne. Coming before the throne of grace. And we are seen as holy and blameless. And a text that that reminds me of that is a is a text from Isaiah 61, where we hear that we are going to be clothed in the garments of salvation, the robe of righteousness, that being Christ. And when when we go before him, when we go before God the Father on judgment day, that he's going to see those robe, that robe of righteousness, those garments of salvation, that being Christ, and therefore we being seen as holy and blameless, and then ultimately being made holy and blameless in glory. Um but yeah, this then verse 5 and verse 6, there's so much, there's like there's like seven or eight prepositions in there that we could spend 30 minutes on each just going through them. But um, we're gonna see if we can count them all, I think. But 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, which he has blessed us with in the beloved. There is so much, so much there. Um and this this doctrine, though, of of election is riddled all throughout Ephesians as well as many other of Pauline's letters and ultimately scripture. But we won't have to talk about that so much. We don't have to go through all scripture today. But um, in terms of predestining us for for what exactly? Well, for adoption. And when we understand how how would you guys, I guess, understand the you know, adoption in terms of what that means for us and as Christians?

SPEAKER_11 16:50

Um and if heirs with Christ.

SPEAKER_06 16:53

Heirs with Christ. Yeah, praise his glory.

SPEAKER_00 16:58

I think of adoption, I think of uh we're not because we have because of our parents, because we're born into sin, we don't have the right to be sons of God. We're we're we're we're separated from him. Yeah, and nothing will bridge that gap unless he reaches out and takes us as one of his until when someone gets adapted, they don't know the way usually works is they don't know until they're approached by whoever's going to adopt them. They don't know that they're going to be adapted.

SPEAKER_08 17:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:46

And uh the emphasis on the adopter to make themselves know to the adaptee. Yeah. And um, so first of all we need to become aware, and then uh it's a process for some extent, like almost instantaneous thing for other people. It can be uh any period of time between the time that they become aware of their sin and the time that they realize that they've been adopted.

SPEAKER_06 18:20

I like that framework that the adopter is the one who approaches, not the adoptee. Please adopt me.

SPEAKER_11 18:27

And then adoption you're chosen. I mean, I could adopt somebody else, but you know.

SPEAKER_05 18:35

Well, you you have the concept of justification, so the restoration. Um then you have the adoption that says now I'm bringing you into the family.

SPEAKER_03 18:43

Yeah, to an adoption as you know, that really one's legal and one's familial.

SPEAKER_05 18:50

But you actually all still use them kind of legally, you know, from my aspect here, but you know, just from terms, but it is that I'm not leaving you out to drive, you're part of the family. Yes. I've chosen you and bringing you into the family.

SPEAKER_03 19:04

Right.

SPEAKER_05 19:04

Great cool concept.

SPEAKER_03 19:05

And adoption was not uh that terms adoption is not seen in the old testament, I don't believe. And um, and what he was explaining here is that it it was from like the Roman, the Roman um people understood adoption in this way, and it was he used that to explain what it was to be brought into the family of God by you choosing that term. Yeah. The full rights and privileges of being his son or a daughter.

SPEAKER_08 19:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:42

They were greater than uh just as great or better than that of a natural natural child.

SPEAKER_06 19:53

Makes me think of the uh, you know, it makes me think of David in the sense of 2 Samuel 9. We talked about this too. But um, 2 Samuel 11 is where we get David and Bathsheba. But two chapters before that, I think we see one of the most beautiful pictures of the gospel where Mephibosheth, I think a grandson of Saul. It was the uh grandson of Saul. And the son of Jonathan was crippled. He was crippled, right? He comes before David and he is fearful, thinking I'm done for. Yeah, I'm screwed. And David blesses him with the land of his fathers and uh seat at the table. And a seat at the table, always. Always. And what does Mephibosheth say?

SPEAKER_10 20:44

Because he was the son of Jonathan, he was closer than a brother to dead man.

SPEAKER_06 20:49

Right. But what does, and then what does what does uh Mephibosheth say? That why would you treat me such a way, you know, that I am a dead dog, such as I. And uh that's almost it's almost as if when it comes to adoption, it's how I've how I see it for me is you know, God has chosen to call me his son. And I go, me? Yeah, a dead dog, such as I? Uh, and yet uh he does that in love, right? Uh which is just it's uh it's a beautiful, it's a beautiful thing. So adoption, go ahead.

SPEAKER_03 21:25

Yeah, I just think it's um why did why did God choose us? Why did God, why are we saved?

SPEAKER_07 21:37

By his grace and for his glory, ultimately. This says in 14, for his glory. For his glory.

SPEAKER_06 21:44

Now, how do we reconcile that though, with like a text in 1 Timothy 2? Right? 1 Timothy 2, I think it's verse 14, that says that for God desires for all to come to saving faith and knowledge of him. And yet, would that would my friend then who says that this is a corporate call to everybody, does he have a leg to stand on there, or or is he perhaps uh taking a shot out in the right field so unless you end up a universal. What's that?

SPEAKER_05 22:15

Unless you end up in universal. Right. Literally your only option there. If God desires it and he wants it to be that way, then that's the way it's gonna be.

SPEAKER_06 22:23

Yeah, or or he's not sovereign and man is.

SPEAKER_12 22:39

I've heard it said that that all could refer to both Jews and Gentiles after Jesus he did.

SPEAKER_06 22:47

Oh, all is in not just Jews anymore, but you know, man, man, woman, slave-free, Greek, Jew. In just terms like world.

SPEAKER_05 22:55

The entirety of the world was the known, you know. Does that mean the US? That was in the math, yeah. So you have those discussions with folks. Yeah. And in my early days, when I when I came to the doctrine of sovereign grace, it was through a book called Reform Doctrines of Predestination of a Grand Battle. And uh that's a tough cheat.

SPEAKER_03 23:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 23:15

It took about four years to get through it, angry at God for portions of it. And when I was done, one question kept popping up for me was why? I went to some legendary conferences and RC as possible speaking to it. But the thing that was conveyed to me was the why to be simple. You don't deserve anything. So it's not that you're better or I'm better, whatever. It's going to be all suck. And you deserve the exact same filthy destruction that I do.

SPEAKER_06 23:45

My mom would tell you to say stink, not suck.

SPEAKER_04 23:50

I always call that for God's lens of justice. Just because you desire to do something doesn't mean that God rules, he lives as God.

SPEAKER_06 23:59

That's a great point.

SPEAKER_04 24:00

I don't see God as God is, right? I'm just trying, right? But uh, you know, if if he's if if everything he does is just and everything he does is right, for me wrong, he can act on whatever he wants. But it seems through the whole of the Bible there are occurring themes that he holds himself accountable to, to is his own business to, right? Yeah. So he can predestine what he wants to predestin, he can do what he wants to do. And there's not a there's not a conflict for me there. I totally get it. Yeah. At work, they would desire that I do a lot of really great things and my productivity go up by another 75%. Not going to be fired and be disowned if I don't make that, right? They would really want that to happen. I think God would have liked to say to the whole world, but in his own view of justice and fairness and whatever you want to call it, balancing the skills, however, God sees that, he doesn't just always act over.

SPEAKER_06 24:59

That's a great point of differentiating desire versus will. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's a great way to differentiate.

SPEAKER_04 25:06

It's weird to talk about, man. I'm just trying.

SPEAKER_07 25:20

Jesus said, I don't pray for the whole world. I just pray for those that you, God the Father, will give me. And then I'll I'll single out uh in verse 12 that's talks about Joseph's Iscariot, of he was the son of perdition to fulfill scripture. Oh, that and was God unfair in singling him out and sending him off to hell? No, he got what he deserved. And I mean, we all deserve it. So God's not unfair in giving anyone what they deserve. Absolutely. So that's how I would counter those on the Armenian side who would I love it.

SPEAKER_06 25:54

You guys are giving I'm I'm going on a guy's trip with these guys within a few weeks, we're playing some golf, so you guys are giving me great ammo here, so I I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_03 26:02

Um and so and I think it's important that we remember we were before the foundation of the of the world, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit made a compact or our covenant together that God would elect, that Jesus would die, that he would redeem of fallen people, and the Holy Spirit would seal it. But this is to honor Christ. God gave Christ all who are saved as a possession, as a gift to him because of his obedience and life and death and being resurrected and set at the right hand of God the Father. It's because of Christ, he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless.

SPEAKER_06 26:58

How I told our youth when we're uh going through this, because we're right now walking through the the order of salvation, and today we're going to be talking about faith and repentance. And how I taught them this was basically the three P's that the Father predestines, the Son purchases, and the Spirit preserves. And it's all done for his glory, for the glory of God. So but yeah, so we continue in verse 5. He predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus through Jesus Christ, as we mentioned, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has blessed us with in the capital B, beloved. Then we get into the role of Christ. So we have seen that the Father predestines us in love according to the purpose of his will for his glory. Now, verses 7 through 12 is kind of really giving us the framework of what God the Son uh and his role in our in the in these uh spiritual blessings and in our salvation. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace. I think you mentioned earlier that this this portion is like the longest sentence in all scripture. And Greek is the longest sentence in the Bible. If you asked Pam and her opinions on the grammatical things of this, she probably and my mother as well. English teachers, they would not uh run on sentence after run on sentence after run-on sentence. They'd make you diagram it. Yeah, they certainly make you diagram it. Um yeah, that's that's what yeah, Pamela. I we should get her, we should we should we call her in right now? Um certainly would not be performing well in her class. Um the I I I and you mentioned just his glorious grace earlier. That's what sticks out to me in verse 7. According to the riches of his grace. And I think uh I I I I really do just enjoy it's it's why it's the doxology, in my opinion. Yeah. It's just because everything is focused on according to him, according to his grace, according to his will, according to his love. It's it's just uh it's such a joyous thing. But um did what did you have any other notes on on seven, eight, things like that? I'm just thinking redemption.

SPEAKER_03 29:35

Um that's an economic term in the in the Hebrew, and it's uh the kinsman redeemer comes to mind as one being redeemed and a price being paid for that. And we see that we owe a price to God because of our disobedience that we cannot pay, but Christ, through his blood, pays makes that payment for us.

SPEAKER_06 30:05

Yeah. They brought up mystery as well. And as we get into verses eight and nine, right, these according to the riches of his grace, which he lavish upon us all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will. Um that makes me think of also Hebrews, right? How Hebrews starts in these latter days, they spoke to us by the way of the prophets, but now they've spoken to us through his son. Um we we truly have the full picture here. And we live in it, especially since then, you know, certainly immediately after the gospels, this time, you know, you're starting to deal with early Gnosticism, Arianism, some just some early heresies of the Christian church. And you're all tied up. There we go. No, you're good. Um and the and and of course we're still dealing with those types of uh in terms of the mystery of his will and some sort of like secret knowledge or things that are still left undone or rocks that still need to be unturned overturned. And um no, we have it here. Um we have the book for all things pertaining to life and godliness in Christ. And um the full mystery of his will was displayed in in Jesus. Um again, according to what? His glorious grace. His glorious grace, his purpose.

SPEAKER_03 31:32

And that mystery that he's talking about is not like a who-done it, you know, detective show or a book. It's it's something that was hidden in the Old Testament that has been fully revealed to us now in Christ in the new.

SPEAKER_06 31:50

Yeah, it wasn't some, you know, yeah, exactly right. It wasn't like a murder she wrote, right, you know.

SPEAKER_12 31:56

Well, in three, Ephesians 3.6, it says the mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body.

SPEAKER_06 32:04

Right. Yeah, the the idea that now as it says in later on that in uh that we have obtained an inheritance, um, that we were the that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praises, glory, but in him you also, right? The the idea that we the Jews, who were the first to hope, but now also you, Gentiles, have been, you know uh welcomed into the family of Christ. Um and that's uh, as you said, that's the mystery from Ephesians 3. The um is there anything left that you guys think in terms of mystery? Well, I guess the question question I'm trying to ask. Because we have we have full revelation here in Scripture, the mystery of it being revealed to us. Yeah, is there still things that does that mean that we can fully comprehend all of this? Um, or is there still some things left uh to our introspection or to our uh imagination?

SPEAKER_11 33:17

Well, you know, even Jesus told the disciples that he was only revealing what they could understand at that moment, yeah, and there were still mysteries, and that it would unfold. I think that there are there's so much mystery. I mean, we keep studying the Bible and studying the Bible and coming to church and Sunday schools and all that, and there's still so many mysteries, and mystery being different interpretations.

SPEAKER_05 33:47

Sure.

SPEAKER_11 33:48

And oh, there's so much I don't understand, and I don't think it's gonna ever be totally 100% revealed until we see God face to face. That's my I mean that's my narrow, limited knowledge.

SPEAKER_02 34:05

You know, but but those of us that accepted Christ understanding, but those who know outside of us, they had no concept whatsoever of what we think from. You know, because I came from the Lord when I was 35. So, you know that all of a sudden going from here to here became very aware to me that something new has happened to me. Yeah, you know, there's a mystery there. Certainly now I understand what's God coming in, but how can I explain that to somebody else?

SPEAKER_04 34:45

Yeah. I don't know, I don't think it's for me to explain that. Was it the Bible says in the game was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. So the word is God, just as God revealed himself to Moses in a different way, right? Moses saw his back sign. But you know, God revealed himself to Elijah, just took him. He's he's seeing God in a way that's ultimately very personal. I think it's the same when we study. I think the mysteries that are revealed to us, you know, as we study and we work out our own salvation, he he shows us himself in the way that he intends to to us as individuals. I'm not saying that as a church, there's not a thing there there is, and we're not supposed to support each other, but he reveals himself to us in the way that he wants to, and the way that ultimately I think is guided by his will.

SPEAKER_03 35:38

And through his word.

SPEAKER_04 35:39

Yes, absolutely. Yeah, no burning bushes I have in my house, just saying. Only in the fireplace. Right.

SPEAKER_06 35:47

Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_05 35:48

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 35:51

The yeah, there's that level of which, you know, like we can apprehend and even comprehend to it to a certain extent, but in terms of a full comprehension of the will of the purpose of God, um I haven't reached that. I don't think I don't think I ever will uh here on earth, in terms of just a full being able to fully grasp God's purpose and his will uh for for my life. Uh and I can apprehend it, I can have a basic knowledge and understanding of it. Uh, and even maybe not even just basic, maybe even a little you know a deeper one as as I go, Lord willing. But um still a full comprehension of that. There's still, like you mentioned, there's still just a little bit of mystery in terms of how all this exactly kind of kind of plays out.

SPEAKER_03 36:40

Even for eternity, uh, probably because God will still be God and we will still be a creature, yeah, but we will grow in our knowledge and understanding of who he is and who we are in him. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_06 36:58

Um so in verse 9 and 10, 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. Kind of going back earlier, you know, even as he chose us before the foundation of the world, as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. That Christ, for the fullness of time, the plan was for him to come and basically bring heaven here, and then he will do that fully in his second coming, and truly accomplish that. Um that uniting portion we're we're I'm we're teasing later on into Ephesians 2, but that that type of that we are one in Christ. That that remember, you Gentiles who are hostile to God, alienated and uh and and um alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, having no God and no hope in the world, you who were far off have been brought near. I think of a mom dragging her her kid through the you know, the kid you know, the kid wants the candy bar and she takes him over there and drags drags him over here. Get your butt over here, we're leaving. That's how I think of being when God brings us near, it's just like it's not like come on, little buddy, you want to come over? He's like, get over here, go over here. And that's and I imagine my mom doing that and I get scared of her. So um, but the this idea that we are that God has through Christ has united all things in him. What is I I don't to me, that for us, in terms of our message to the world, that does so much, I think, um, in terms of our witness to non-believers, uh, to the world around us. Um I I just think that is such a testimony to, I mean, everyone speaks of unity nowadays, whether it's unity on political things, unity on social and cultural things, you know, you know, just less divided, unity in the church, especially. Um, and certainly for uh well yeah, and just unity in in all sorts of ways. Yet in Christ we have been united as one in him. Um yeah, any anything, anything, any notes that you have on uh that on nine and ten, or any other thoughts that you guys have for those things as a plan for the fullness of time, uniting all things in him. Do you have anything in that? No. What's that?

SPEAKER_11 39:47

Divine things.

SPEAKER_06 39:49

Divine things. To unite all things.

SPEAKER_11 39:52

All things that's everything. Things in heaven and things in earth. Yeah, well, things.

SPEAKER_03 39:58

It's the what sin destroyed in the fall. You know, our separation from God and the fact that there was a unity between heaven and earth before the fall, and Adam did not manage that household well, and Christ is coming to bring that all back together to unite it and heal those fractures, the splinters in the family. And it that's talking about in heaven and on earth, it's the the heavenly things and the earthly things are united in Christ.

SPEAKER_06 40:42

So yeah, the question is what's been corrupted by sin, right? And it's that makes sense. And it's us, it's man, it's creation itself, it's our world, it's it's you know, the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, every creeping thing, you know, trees die, you know, you know, the land doesn't operate the way that it's you know, one year our my family in Illinois has a great season of crops, the next year there's a drought, and you know, they lose a bunch of money. It's like the world, we till and till and till, and then sometimes it produces and sometimes it doesn't. Uh it doesn't work how it's supposed to. Um so all things, uh that's the whole shebang.

SPEAKER_03 41:26

And it's pointing to, and like he said, like Brendan said, it's looking forward to chapter two when the Jew and the Gentile, you know, the slave and the free, every everybody are brought together as one in Christ and the family of God, he's healing those relationships. But it also has the aspect of this the heavenly realm being um brought back together in the restoration of all things.

SPEAKER_06 41:54

Yeah. See, now a concordance would be helpful because I was thinking now I'm thinking of uh the text where the lion and um lion and the lion. Well, they'll sit down together and pasture. Uh what Isaiah Isaiah. Well we read yeah, that was Isaiah 61.

SPEAKER_07 42:13

It's in Revelation too, isn't it? It might be in Revelation. It's in Revelation.

SPEAKER_06 42:18

I think it's in Isaiah. See, now a concordance. Why didn't you bring a concordance? That's true, that's true.

SPEAKER_12 42:25

Would you think the Bible gateway?

SPEAKER_06 42:28

The uh that you know, in part, you know, that's also what uniting all things looks like you know things in creation, not just we ourselves, but um, all things in creation are going to be united together and be what they were meant to be and what they were in the garden. Um and just the the the it's just a beautiful picture of those things that Christ has come to do. So, and then verses 11 and 12 as we kind of wrap up this section of Christ, the Son of God's role, uh, or God the Son's role in in our salvation. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things, all things, according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. Um verse 12 is a bit oh wait when I was younger especially always gave me a little bit of uh confusion. So when I always heard we, and then you also, I was like, who is he who is he talking about there? Um and in verse 12, I think we have we have that that we who were the first to hope in Christ, we being God's people, uh, and God's people and that the the Israelites, um that we would uh that all those things would uh be to the praise of his again, his glory. But then in you, him also, uh, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, we're getting into now the the role of the Spirit, we're sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it. To the again, to the praise of his glory. Um so when it comes to the spirit, what have we in terms of We only have two chapters and not two chapters, two verses on the spirit. Um what other things do we have in scripture that talk about the spirit's role in our life? I mean, one of them is what I think of Ephesians. Ephesians 8 is what comes to mind to me, is just this differentiation that Paul makes between those who set their minds on the things of the flesh, those who set their minds on the things of the spirit. Yeah, yeah, that's what that's what he meant. He meant Romans. Did I say Ephesians 8? Yeah. Ephesians. We can scratch that from the phone now. Yeah, I want to see your Bible. Yeah, I have a special text. Is that the Catholic Bible? It's yeah, the Apocrypha is somewhere in here. Yeah, the Gospel of Thomas, you know, those sorts of things. Yeah. I got the fun, I got the fun Bible. Um Romans 8. Thank you. You guys are keeping me on my toes. Um Romans 8. Yeah, just this role of the spirit of sending the mind and the things of the flesh. Versus sending the mind to the things of the spirit, the fruits of the spirit versus the fruits of the flesh in Galatians 5. But, you know, he is the guarantee, the spirit is the guarantee of our salvation. What does that do for you in terms of your Christian walk personally? Um what does that give you? Does that offer you anything? Is it just like cool? Or does it actually because to me it grants me assurance? Assurance. It grants me assurance. That it is a guarantee, not a possibility, not a gee, we'll see how we'll possibly. Uh that it is an assured thing before the foundation of the world that the Spirit would guarantee uh this inheritance that I will acquire possession of. So there's no take backs. No take backs. God's not gonna take it back. And no trade-ins, because uh, you know, especially early on, we're like, we don't, I don't need salvation. I'd rather just do it on my own. Can I trade this in? He's no, can't do that. Um other places in scripture though that we know of what this how the Spirit does or or uh his role in role in our lives.

SPEAKER_07 47:03

John 16? Convicts us, convicts us, Christ says he's gonna leave. Yeah. But don't worry, I'm sending a counselor of the Holy Spirit to convict us. Convict you of sin, guide you, guide you in truth of righteousness. Yeah, true.

SPEAKER_08 47:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 47:20

Romans 8 says something similar to like 1314 here, the when you believed upon Christ for salvation, you were filled with the Spirit of Christ, then it specifies the Holy Spirit.

SPEAKER_08 47:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 47:33

I think the word used is dwell, the Holy Spirit came to dwell within you.

SPEAKER_00 47:39

Yep. I don't have a uh I don't have a chapter or verse, but there's there's a scripture that talks about how um his spirit testifies with our spirit. So that uh you know I can sit in Sunday school and say that I know that I'm saved and that I have a sharing. But because of the um because of the things that go on in the world, there are things that happen that I have to interact with. And when I, in that process of interacting with the things of the world, when I find myself sinking, and I have to remember that his spirit testifies with my spirit, that's a process. He has to make himself known to me again, and I come to real, I come to remember that I'm gonna be okay because his spirit testifies with my spirit, that I'm a son of his, and that he's a father of mine.

SPEAKER_06 48:39

Yeah. The I think of that makes me think of 1 John. Because when I when I ever think of like, if anyone, if if you guys or if you know anyone who's ever struggling with assurance, if there's a place to go to, I always think 1 John. I think 1 John is almost written to uh help with assurance of salvation. And that you know, the spirit, you know, uh working with, you know, and uh confessing to our spirit, uh it's it's in 1 John 2 that John mentions that you know when our when our heart condemns us, I mean when sin comes in our lives and we're like, I am I am a filthy, wretched sinner, I can there's no way I can be saved. When our heart condemns us, it says that God is greater than our hearts. And that's the spirit dwelling within us. That uh the spirit reminds us that he dwells within us, and because we have the spirit that uh we have one, the opportunity to repent of sin, but also the assurance of salvation and uh forgiveness of those things that we come to him.

SPEAKER_07 49:56

So Genesis 1, the Holy Spirit shows up, says the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

SPEAKER_06 50:03

The Holy Spirit was there in creation, I thought. Hard to believe. Yeah. Yeah, well it's a joke, everybody, but hovering over the waters.

SPEAKER_07 50:11

The earth had not yet been created, but the Holy Spirit was there involved in the creation. Right.

SPEAKER_06 50:17

I had a I had a conversation this week with a friend of mine through work. Uh he goes to uh you may know the church for bad reasons. Uh Remnant Fellowship.

SPEAKER_12 50:28

Uh cult in the world.

SPEAKER_06 50:30

That cult church in Brentwood where that lady had like a.

SPEAKER_07 50:36

Yeah, Tarzan was killed with her.

SPEAKER_12 50:38

I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_06 50:45

It was it's a church down in Brentwood where I think the the leader, she had this like thing of like a weight loss program type deal. It's uh it's a whole it's uh it's a it's a cult to call it just as it is. Well, I have someone that goes there. And I started a Bible study with some with some guys in this group, and he mentioned that uh he mentioned that they he's like, yeah, some people don't like us because we don't believe in the Trinity. Oh yeah, it's kind of a big deal. Kind of a big deal.

SPEAKER_05 51:22

Kind of a damnable heresy.

SPEAKER_06 51:23

Yeah, that's uh that's a little bit of an issue. Um so you know we can deal with the other stuff later, but I was like, let's let's figure that out. But yeah, it it's it's hard to uh it's hard to deny the truth when you see places like Genesis 1, the Spirit is ever so present, Colossians 1 with the Son of God, that he is Jesus is before all things. In him, all things you know all things were created by him, through him, for him. But yeah, the spirit being ever so present throughout all the time.

SPEAKER_07 51:55

Just getting back to Genesis 1, when God made humans, it's 26 and 27, it's interesting. It says God says, let us make man in our image. It's plural, right? And then the verse after that it says God made man in his, it's just a singular male and female remain in God's image. So that's I think an inference to the other the Trinity.

SPEAKER_06 52:17

Oh, certainly, certainly.

SPEAKER_01 52:19

Um going back to assurance, um how can you teach election to someone who's struggling with assurance and if they are the elect? Um because I didn't learn these things before I was a Christian. It was after I grew up in a Armenian Baptist church. So we have a child who's struggling with assurance, who's learning these things as he's we know we're not sure if he's a Christian or not. So I don't know, just would love wisdom with that.

SPEAKER_07 52:50

I would say a bare minimum, the Bible says anyone who calls upon Christ will be saved.

SPEAKER_08 52:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 52:57

Anyone who confesses Christ as Lord and believes in the heart that God raised Christ from the dead, you'll be saved. I bare minimum that's what I would deal with. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 53:06

That's what we've kind of said is just like if you're desiring to be a Christian, I think you are the elect. I get it's not. Yeah. Whether it's happened or not yet.

SPEAKER_06 53:16

But I think a lot of times we assurance, we we we lack assurance because we're looking to ourselves for that assurance. We we look in the mirror, we see ourselves, and we go, there's no way I can be saved. But assurance is not found in me. Assurance is not found innovation is not found in me, it's in Christ.

SPEAKER_03 53:36

Yeah, what he has done and what you keep saying. What's who's in uh in three through fourteen? Are we there?

SPEAKER_06 53:46

Oh yeah, so unintended.

SPEAKER_03 53:49

What's that say it again?

SPEAKER_05 53:51

Unintended.

SPEAKER_06 53:52

Yeah. The like when I when I look through this portion of three through fourteen, it's not what may be done for you, what what's possibly could be done, depending on your will, your your efforts, your you know, God looking down the corridors of time and seeing that you would choose it. No, it's already been done. It's been accomplished. And because he loves us. And knowing what has been done and understanding uh that our assurance is, I think, outside of ourselves. May at some point, I mean, I at some point it can also give us at times, I think, a little bit of uneasiness. We want to be assured because of ourselves. I at least at least I do sometimes. I want to be assured that no, I'm I'm doing well enough to secure this, and then I'm like, wait a minute. Not in the world.

SPEAKER_05 54:46

It's more rudimentary. It's it's it's keep it, you know, especially when you're dealing with my wife's all the health problems, and she's like, you know, she can't tell because of that, so she's like, you know, fellowship, there's these issues, you know, all these types of things a lot, and we have discussions about that. So I wonder if I'm safe sometimes, it's real simple. The book says that no man's even searching or desiring for God.

SPEAKER_02 55:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 55:09

Do you have desires for God at all? Only a heart that's been turned from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh are going to have those kinds of situations. And then as we're gonna get to an efficient, the Holy Spirit has now sealed you.

SPEAKER_07 55:21

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 55:22

Are you powerful enough to break a seal of the Holy Spirit? I'm not. Yeah. So uh, you know, let's just put this to the side here. You know, I get it. We're all worse critics. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 55:34

As the white shirt from the office says, keep it simple, stupid. Yeah. That uh that was yeah, I think very rudimentary in that. Yeah, if you confess in your heart that Jesus Christ is Lord, confess where your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord, you shall be saved.

SPEAKER_03 55:50

You shall be saved.

SPEAKER_12 55:51

And that Rogers raised him from the dead.

SPEAKER_03 55:54

And we be reminded that he saved us and he called us. And the fact that I have, like Ron said, I have the fact that I have a desire of any any amount of desire is because the Lord is work in our heart. Give us a heart of flesh, taking out the heart of stone.

SPEAKER_06 56:14

Yeah. Even those doubts, like, because he desires, I think it sounds like he desires to be to have that assurance. It's like even the doubts are questioning or thinking about those things is a good sign. Yeah, I would say. You see, Paul?

SPEAKER_05 56:28

Yeah, why do I do the things I don't do? Things I want to do, I freaking can't nail it down. That's what I can still want. Yeah, you know, and it's just I love that.

SPEAKER_06 56:37

Who will save me from this wretched body of death? Praise be to God through his son Jesus Christ. Yeah, well, let's close. Yeah, I know what uh it's been great. What's your what's your is it a son? Daughter, son?

SPEAKER_01 56:52

Yes, Henry, you may have met Henry.

SPEAKER_06 56:53

Yeah, he was here a couple weeks ago. So yeah. Well we'll pray for Henry and then he'll pray for us as we head into service. So Lord, we just give you thanks for your glorious grace. We praise you for your love for us. That before we had either done anything good or bad that you chose to show your love to us by sending your son, Jesus Christ, to pay the price that we were meant to pay, but couldn't. The price for our sin. It was too heavy, it was too lofty, it was too pricey for us to ever even think of paying back. So, Lord, we give you thank you thanks for your son. We thank you that you've predestined us for adoption. We give you thanks that your son has purchased us by the shedding of his blood. Lord, we give you thanks for your Holy Spirit, who preserves us, who secures us, who guarantees our hope. Lord, who right now makes this prayer pleasing to your ear. Lord, we ask that as we head into service and into worship, that you would be glorified, that you would be praised. Uh, we pray for Rick this morning as he preaches your word, that he would preach it with accuracy and clarity. Lord, be with us, that we would have ears to hear, eyes to see. Lord, we pray for Henry as we think of these understandings of how God has saved us and the fact that we're not involved in that. Lord, that oftentimes that can lead us to doubt, and to wonder, to lack assurance. Lord, give Henry just the peace that surpasses all understanding. The peace that in knowledge and a belief that he in fact is yours. Not because of anything that he has done, but because of what you have done in him. Lord, be with his parents as they seek to minister and care to him, as he continues to work and iron through these things. Um Lord, give them ultimately ultimately hope and trust in you that you will indeed, your promises of salvation uh will come to fruition. And Lord, we pray all these things and many more in your son's holy and precious name. Amen. Coming on, appreciate it. We're uh we'll be uh remainder of Ephesians 1 next week, so