WEBVTT 00:00:19.359 --> 00:00:26.800 All an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God to the saints here in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus. 00:00:27.039 --> 00:00:31.359 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:00:31.679 --> 00:00:46.000 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. 00:00:46.399 --> 00:00:58.079 In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Christ 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. 00:00:58.560 --> 00:01:21.760 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 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. 00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:37.359 In him we have an 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. 00:01:37.599 --> 00:01:53.200 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. 00:01:53.439 --> 00:01:54.719 And so reads God's word. 00:01:55.120 --> 00:02:09.840 Let me ask you, if you were building a uh a team out, say we were doing a project uh at work or you were uh picking other students to collaborate with, what kind of team uh would you would you build? 00:02:10.080 --> 00:02:12.319 What kind of people uh would you pick? 00:02:12.560 --> 00:02:17.039 Well, presumably you'd you give some thought to to competency. 00:02:17.199 --> 00:02:21.840 You'd want to pick people who could actually get the job done. 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:30.159 So you'd be thinking about their skill sets and say, well, actually, are they a good person to have do they make up a weakness or a deficiency that I have? 00:02:30.400 --> 00:02:33.759 You'd think about the character of the person. 00:02:34.240 --> 00:02:37.039 Is this person going to be uh going to be honest? 00:02:37.199 --> 00:02:38.639 Are they gonna have integrity? 00:02:38.800 --> 00:02:40.479 Are they gonna be hardworking? 00:02:40.639 --> 00:02:49.360 Or are they gonna be like most of the people on your student projects where they actually just don't do anything and you carry uh the whole thing? 00:02:49.919 --> 00:02:52.400 You might think about a person's convictions. 00:02:52.639 --> 00:02:55.520 You know, what's the kind of moral quality of this person? 00:02:55.680 --> 00:03:00.560 What kind of uh things do they uh have centering their lives? 00:03:00.719 --> 00:03:02.159 You might think about that. 00:03:02.400 --> 00:03:05.120 And then you'll think about chemistry. 00:03:05.280 --> 00:03:13.919 Well, actually, this person might have great character, this person might be really competent uh at what they do, but actually, we just don't, we just don't quite get on. 00:03:14.400 --> 00:03:17.039 There's a hostility between the two of us. 00:03:17.280 --> 00:03:21.919 They're a great person, but we can't work together. 00:03:22.240 --> 00:03:24.319 You would consider those sorts of things. 00:03:24.560 --> 00:03:30.960 Now, what if someone came along who didn't have much in the way of skills? 00:03:31.360 --> 00:03:42.479 They weren't the most proficient, have a strong understanding of the task at hand, or indeed a great affinity with the company or the team or the project. 00:03:42.719 --> 00:03:52.159 And historically, this person had had major beef with other people on the team, and they were already rubbing you up the wrong way. 00:03:53.120 --> 00:03:56.400 Would you build a team with those sorts of people? 00:03:58.080 --> 00:04:10.719 When Jesus talks about the kind of community that he is building, the kind of people that he is inviting onto his team, he says this in the Sermon on the Mount. 00:04:10.800 --> 00:04:18.879 He says, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 00:04:21.759 --> 00:04:24.240 Who does Jesus want on his team? 00:04:27.360 --> 00:04:32.000 Answer the people who know that they are a mess. 00:04:34.800 --> 00:04:38.160 The people who know that they are in need. 00:04:39.439 --> 00:04:48.879 Jesus is building a new community, but not just a new community, a new kind of community. 00:04:49.279 --> 00:04:59.839 One where we don't bring our skills and our strengths, first and foremost, but where we bring our needs, our weaknesses. 00:05:01.600 --> 00:05:06.000 This is the church, the team that Jesus is building. 00:05:06.800 --> 00:05:15.439 Now, in a room like this, it's inevitable that I'm sure lots of you are new today, I'm sure you've had lots of different experiences when it comes to church. 00:05:15.519 --> 00:05:27.199 You've perhaps been at different denominations, different uh uh associations, groupings, where there's been slightly different expressions and beliefs. 00:05:27.360 --> 00:05:31.199 Uh, many of you will have had positive experiences about the church. 00:05:31.279 --> 00:05:33.519 It's why you're back here this morning. 00:05:33.680 --> 00:05:37.600 Some of you, however, will have had negative experiences. 00:05:37.759 --> 00:05:41.279 You'll maybe have even been hurt by the church. 00:05:41.839 --> 00:05:46.480 Perhaps you're here this morning and you've never been part of one and you're just exploring. 00:05:46.560 --> 00:05:48.079 Well, welcome to you. 00:05:49.120 --> 00:06:09.360 Over the next uh six weeks or so, we're going to be looking at this uh letter from Paul, the book of Ephesians, and we're going to be looking particularly at what Paul has to teach us about the church, the team, the community, the new kind of community that Jesus is building. 00:06:09.839 --> 00:06:20.000 The beauty of it, the mystery of it, how it is that Jesus has brought it together and what it is for. 00:06:21.279 --> 00:06:28.800 That despite its imperfections, it is God's chosen means of reaching the world. 00:06:28.959 --> 00:06:29.839 Have you realized that? 00:06:29.920 --> 00:06:40.240 You look around to the person sitting next to you and you think, ah, they're part of God's chosen means for reaching others with the good news of Jesus. 00:06:40.560 --> 00:06:42.240 Does that encourage you? 00:06:43.199 --> 00:06:44.240 Yeah, it should. 00:06:44.399 --> 00:06:45.519 Well done. 00:06:46.800 --> 00:06:50.240 This morning, we're going to begin by seeing what the church is. 00:06:50.560 --> 00:07:00.879 And I have to tell you, if you are, if you're new, uh I hate a litterative sermon points, but I'm doing it this morning. 00:07:01.199 --> 00:07:06.480 So please listen to them because I hate myself uh in writing them. 00:07:06.720 --> 00:07:09.120 But it just worked well for the sermon. 00:07:09.279 --> 00:07:12.639 So we do actually have four points beginning with P. 00:07:12.959 --> 00:07:15.199 Uh that is not our usual practice. 00:07:15.360 --> 00:07:19.759 In fact, they can probably go on the on the slide behind me, because I think I send them over. 00:07:19.839 --> 00:07:21.600 Because I'm going to give them all now. 00:07:22.000 --> 00:07:23.120 Maybe they'll appear. 00:07:23.199 --> 00:07:24.560 But okay, here they are. 00:07:24.879 --> 00:07:34.240 What we'll see that the church is the church is planned by God, purchased by Jesus, a preview of the future and purposed for glory. 00:07:34.560 --> 00:07:34.879 Okay? 00:07:35.279 --> 00:07:36.720 Four points beginning with P. 00:07:36.959 --> 00:07:37.360 You're welcome. 00:07:37.439 --> 00:07:38.480 Welcome to City Church. 00:07:38.560 --> 00:07:41.759 If this is your first Sunday with us. 00:07:43.040 --> 00:07:43.360 Okay. 00:07:44.079 --> 00:07:44.800 Do we have it? 00:07:44.959 --> 00:07:45.759 Is it up there yet? 00:07:46.000 --> 00:07:46.160 No? 00:07:46.319 --> 00:07:47.839 Okay, somebody will work it out. 00:07:48.079 --> 00:07:51.680 First one it's planned by God. 00:07:52.399 --> 00:07:53.680 What is the church? 00:07:53.920 --> 00:07:55.360 It's planned by God. 00:07:55.600 --> 00:07:59.120 You think of our graphic there of the blueprint. 00:07:59.199 --> 00:08:06.399 Well, long before any brick is laid in a building, the architect plans the design. 00:08:06.560 --> 00:08:10.160 And so it is with God and his people. 00:08:10.319 --> 00:08:13.120 Let's pick up what Paul says in verses three to five. 00:08:13.199 --> 00:08:31.519 He says, 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. 00:08:32.080 --> 00:08:41.679 In love, he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will. 00:08:42.960 --> 00:08:44.639 See what Paul's doing? 00:08:45.120 --> 00:09:03.200 Before any church is established back in the first century, before ever Abraham was called back in Mesopotamia, before Adam and Eve ever ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 00:09:03.840 --> 00:09:11.200 Long before that, Paul says, back in eternity, God was doing something. 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:27.519 God was planning that in the perfect eternal community that God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, he planned to have a people of his own. 00:09:30.480 --> 00:09:42.480 People sometimes say that the church is a man-made construct, something designed to manipulate and control and exert power over people. 00:09:43.519 --> 00:09:47.360 Sadly, in the history of the church, sometimes it has been used that way. 00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:50.879 But that is not the church's origins. 00:09:52.000 --> 00:09:57.360 No, the church's origins begin in eternity. 00:09:58.159 --> 00:10:06.080 The church, therefore, is the in-time expression of the eternal planning of the eternal God. 00:10:07.279 --> 00:10:09.279 It was a plan to do what? 00:10:10.080 --> 00:10:12.000 A plan to bless. 00:10:12.720 --> 00:10:14.960 A plan to lavish blessing. 00:10:15.039 --> 00:10:16.080 Do you see what Paul says? 00:10:16.240 --> 00:10:18.320 He has blessed us in Christ with what? 00:10:18.879 --> 00:10:22.000 Every spiritual blessing. 00:10:24.159 --> 00:10:27.759 He has lavished blessings upon us. 00:10:28.080 --> 00:10:43.519 That's an important thing, actually, just to kind of reckon with, because sometimes people can have this confused idea that to be a follower of Jesus is a meager life, or a boring life, or a dull life, or a rationed life. 00:10:44.080 --> 00:10:47.759 Jesus' first miracle was to turn water into what? 00:10:48.320 --> 00:10:51.919 Into vats of good wine, about 1,200 bottles. 00:10:52.159 --> 00:10:56.639 Whereas lots of people seem to think that Jesus is the guy who turns wine into water. 00:10:57.840 --> 00:11:05.440 But here we see that the plan begun in eternity was to bless a people of his own, to bless them with what? 00:11:05.600 --> 00:11:17.679 With every spiritual blessing, to lavish blessing upon them, to call a people to himself that they would be holy, blameless, adopted forever into his family. 00:11:18.639 --> 00:11:27.519 Now, depending on your church tradition, sometimes people bristle at the idea of God's eternal choosing. 00:11:27.600 --> 00:11:31.519 They'll say things like, Well, didn't I decide to follow Jesus? 00:11:31.759 --> 00:11:33.440 Yes, you did. 00:11:34.320 --> 00:11:36.159 We mustn't diminish that. 00:11:36.559 --> 00:11:41.440 And if you're not a Christian here this morning, I encourage you to make that decision. 00:11:41.759 --> 00:11:44.240 Decide to put your trust in Jesus. 00:11:44.480 --> 00:11:51.440 Turn to him, turn away from your sin and find life and this lavish blessing in him. 00:11:51.679 --> 00:11:52.960 Do that today. 00:11:54.000 --> 00:12:00.399 But know this long before our choosing, God was planning. 00:12:01.440 --> 00:12:05.679 Long before our choosing, God in love chose you. 00:12:06.240 --> 00:12:08.720 It's what the Bible says. 00:12:10.000 --> 00:12:17.840 What this means is that you are not an afterthought, but you are part of his eternal desire. 00:12:19.600 --> 00:12:23.120 As a consequence, the church, therefore, is not an accident. 00:12:23.759 --> 00:12:28.879 It's not a last-minute prefab that God's just kind of stuck together. 00:12:29.840 --> 00:12:36.879 It's determined and designed by a loving God in eternity. 00:12:38.799 --> 00:12:45.120 Paul says that this eternal planning, this choosing, this predestinating is a blessing. 00:12:45.600 --> 00:12:47.120 It's a good thing. 00:12:48.399 --> 00:12:50.960 Let me tell you how it's good. 00:12:51.200 --> 00:12:52.000 Very briefly. 00:12:52.080 --> 00:12:59.600 Let me give you four reasons from this passage why God's choosing of you in eternity is a blessing. 00:12:59.679 --> 00:13:03.919 It's a good thing to be enjoyed, to be celebrated first. 00:13:04.960 --> 00:13:16.480 It means that the ground of your salvation, that is, your standing before God, is not based on your goodness. 00:13:17.440 --> 00:13:22.159 It's not based on your goodness, but on his grace. 00:13:22.799 --> 00:13:24.720 See more of that next week. 00:13:25.039 --> 00:13:29.120 It's based on his eternal kindness towards you. 00:13:29.440 --> 00:13:37.200 And that's such good news because I'm sure that everyone in this room has things that you are ashamed of. 00:13:37.759 --> 00:13:41.279 That you've done things that you're ashamed of this last week. 00:13:41.519 --> 00:13:44.799 And you think, well, how can I ever come before God? 00:13:44.960 --> 00:13:56.080 How can God ever love me because of the things that I have done, the things that have happened that bring guilt and shame to my mind. 00:13:56.720 --> 00:14:03.200 But the ground of our salvation is not our goodness, it's not our moral clarity. 00:14:03.759 --> 00:14:09.840 Paul says elsewhere in Roma in Romans 5 that while we were still sinners, Daniel prayed a great prayer. 00:14:09.919 --> 00:14:12.399 He said, he said that we so often miss the mark. 00:14:12.559 --> 00:14:15.200 He said, Well, we were consistently missing the mark. 00:14:15.279 --> 00:14:16.000 Hey, bud. 00:14:17.679 --> 00:14:20.159 God set his love upon us. 00:14:20.720 --> 00:14:22.480 Let me give you another reason. 00:14:24.720 --> 00:14:27.679 We all have doubts. 00:14:28.320 --> 00:14:32.159 Some of you here this morning are questioning your faith. 00:14:33.200 --> 00:14:37.360 We all have seasons of that, seasons of spiritual dryness. 00:14:37.600 --> 00:14:42.159 We all have times when we feel weak in our faith. 00:14:43.840 --> 00:14:48.159 What does our assurance rest on? 00:14:48.399 --> 00:14:56.480 Our assurance is our confidence that we are God's and He is ours and He will hold us fast. 00:14:56.639 --> 00:14:58.720 What is the ground of that assurance? 00:15:00.720 --> 00:15:10.720 Well, it cannot be, it can never be the strength or clarity of our faith, but the object of our faith. 00:15:12.159 --> 00:15:30.720 It is not about how how well or how hard we hold on to Christ, but rather it is Christ's eternal holding of us that grinds our assurance and gives us confidence through those spiritually dry and arid seasons. 00:15:31.679 --> 00:15:35.440 Though I fear my faith may fail, he will hold me fast. 00:15:35.840 --> 00:15:39.360 Though the tempter would prevail, he will hold me fast. 00:15:40.240 --> 00:15:44.879 Though my love is often cold, he will hold me fast. 00:15:48.879 --> 00:16:08.159 The third reason why God's choosing in eternity is a good thing, is a blessing, is because if it was not like that, then our evangelism, that is our sharing of the gospel, would be terrifying. 00:16:08.799 --> 00:16:10.159 Let me tell you why. 00:16:11.120 --> 00:16:22.080 If salvation didn't rest in God and in his eternal choosing, then you've got to ask, well, what does it rest in? 00:16:23.200 --> 00:16:34.720 One of the answers is that, well, it rests in my ability to persuade you, non-Christian, to give your life to Jesus. 00:16:34.960 --> 00:16:40.559 That means that your eternal destiny is on my shoulders. 00:16:41.120 --> 00:16:48.000 I need to have the answer that will convince you to put your trust in Jesus. 00:16:48.639 --> 00:16:50.639 Anyone feel the pressure of that? 00:16:50.960 --> 00:16:53.440 That's bewilderingly difficult. 00:16:54.080 --> 00:17:02.399 Have you ever had a conversation as a Christian with somebody who is not a follower of Jesus and they have owned you? 00:17:03.200 --> 00:17:07.599 You have come away as the loser in that conversation. 00:17:07.759 --> 00:17:16.000 And you've come away completely despondent because you're like, oh, and you're you're replaying the conversation in your head, you think, oh, I should have said that. 00:17:16.799 --> 00:17:31.759 Why didn't I think of that in the moment if their salvation rests on your winsomeness, on your ability to persuade, then you walk away from those conversations just crushed. 00:17:32.880 --> 00:17:49.839 But if salvation belongs to the Lord, which it does, He can take your cotton mouth rubbish answers and just blow the spiritual doors off a person's heart. 00:17:51.119 --> 00:18:02.079 It's one of the joys of living in a world under the care of a sovereign God whose salvation is his. 00:18:03.119 --> 00:18:05.839 It means it could take take a prophet like Jonah. 00:18:05.920 --> 00:18:07.200 Remember the story of Jonah? 00:18:07.359 --> 00:18:09.279 Jonah walks in to Nineveh. 00:18:09.519 --> 00:18:10.640 He doesn't want to be there. 00:18:10.880 --> 00:18:12.880 He doesn't want God to rescue them. 00:18:13.119 --> 00:18:19.279 In fact, he wants God to rain down flaming rota from heaven to smite them all. 00:18:19.440 --> 00:18:21.839 It's one of the things that he's annoyed about in the fourth chapter. 00:18:21.920 --> 00:18:23.759 He's like, I knew you were a merciful God. 00:18:23.920 --> 00:18:26.480 And do you know what his sermon is in Nineveh? 00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:30.640 In chapter three, he walks in, he says, five words. 00:18:31.279 --> 00:18:32.559 Five words. 00:18:33.279 --> 00:18:35.279 40 days Nineveh will be overthrown. 00:18:35.359 --> 00:18:36.240 That's it. 00:18:36.559 --> 00:18:37.440 That's it. 00:18:37.599 --> 00:18:40.079 And the whole city comes to repentance. 00:18:40.400 --> 00:18:40.960 Why? 00:18:41.359 --> 00:18:44.960 Because he realizes in chapter two that salvation belongs to the Lord. 00:18:46.079 --> 00:18:52.720 It's as though he drops a cigarette or a match as he walks out because he doesn't want to be there. 00:18:53.359 --> 00:18:58.240 And just the fire of God's Spirit rips through the whole place. 00:18:58.880 --> 00:18:59.519 Why? 00:19:00.720 --> 00:19:06.720 Because evangelism does not depend on us, but on our sovereign God. 00:19:06.799 --> 00:19:08.400 And so we take heart. 00:19:09.039 --> 00:19:13.680 And it fuels us to share the gospel of the more because it means I don't need to know all the answers. 00:19:13.839 --> 00:19:15.599 I don't need to have it all sorted out. 00:19:15.680 --> 00:19:16.960 I don't need to have it all figured out. 00:19:17.039 --> 00:19:24.799 I can share with my weak witness, like the little boy bringing his his two fish and uh and five and or his two loaves and five fish. 00:19:25.680 --> 00:19:29.599 I'm just gonna offer this to Jesus and see what he does. 00:19:29.759 --> 00:19:33.359 And what he does is he brings dead people to life. 00:19:33.440 --> 00:19:35.119 And you're like, you did that with that? 00:19:36.000 --> 00:19:38.000 Imagine if I learned more. 00:19:40.400 --> 00:19:42.000 So encouraging. 00:19:42.480 --> 00:19:44.319 It's such a blessing. 00:19:45.599 --> 00:19:47.359 The fourth reason. 00:19:49.519 --> 00:19:57.039 Some people will say, well, if God chooses me, isn't that just an excuse to sin? 00:19:57.519 --> 00:19:59.920 Why can't I just live however I want? 00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:04.480 You know, I've prayed the sinner's prayer, I've decided to follow Jesus, and so I'm I'm in. 00:20:04.640 --> 00:20:10.720 I've paid my ticket, as it were, and so I'm just gonna live however I like. 00:20:11.359 --> 00:20:14.640 But that's not what Paul says in this passage. 00:20:15.119 --> 00:20:20.799 He says the whole point of God's choosing, verse four, is that we would be what? 00:20:21.279 --> 00:20:23.359 Holy and blameless before him. 00:20:24.160 --> 00:20:24.960 Do you see? 00:20:25.119 --> 00:20:26.720 Let me remind you of verse four. 00:20:26.880 --> 00:20:30.960 Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, why? 00:20:31.119 --> 00:20:32.079 What purpose, Paul? 00:20:32.160 --> 00:20:33.119 What have you done that for? 00:20:33.200 --> 00:20:34.400 What has God done that for? 00:20:34.640 --> 00:20:38.319 That we should be holy and blameless before him. 00:20:38.799 --> 00:20:44.000 Verse 4 says that the purpose of God's choosing is holiness. 00:20:44.480 --> 00:20:54.240 And so God's choosing of us, his election of us, his predestinating of us, is not a license to drift into sin, but a call to grow in godliness. 00:20:55.440 --> 00:21:03.839 Far from making us careless, God's choosing of us is the motivating engine of our holiness. 00:21:04.079 --> 00:21:21.039 Because, and this is important, because it grinds our growth in God not in fear of judgment, but in love, in gratitude for what he has already done. 00:21:21.200 --> 00:21:29.839 We do not obey God in order that he might love us, but because he already does love us, and so we live to please him. 00:21:32.079 --> 00:21:35.599 Fear only ever produces compliance. 00:21:36.319 --> 00:21:39.680 It is love that produces devotion. 00:21:42.160 --> 00:21:45.279 All of these blessings are collective. 00:21:45.920 --> 00:21:49.519 Not just about you individually, they're about the people that you're sitting with this morning. 00:21:49.680 --> 00:21:50.720 They're about the church. 00:21:50.880 --> 00:21:53.359 He chose us, Paul says. 00:21:53.599 --> 00:21:59.599 Paul's letters are written to churches, not to individuals, with the exception of Philemon. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:04.559 He chose us, he chose to bless us as a church. 00:22:05.119 --> 00:22:16.160 The church, therefore, is not an accident in time, but part of the unfolding plan of God, conceived in eternity and expressed in his world. 00:22:16.400 --> 00:22:20.319 Secondly, that's the only point that has subpoints. 00:22:20.400 --> 00:22:23.200 So we'll be able to move quicker through two, three, and four. 00:22:23.519 --> 00:22:28.720 Secondly, the church is purchased by Jesus. 00:22:29.759 --> 00:22:31.119 There we go, we're over there. 00:22:31.359 --> 00:22:34.640 Planned in eternity, purchased by Jesus. 00:22:35.680 --> 00:22:38.960 How does God's eternal plan play out in history? 00:22:39.279 --> 00:22:51.119 Well, the whole story of human history points to and culminates in the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ in history. 00:22:51.279 --> 00:23:01.200 If you're not a Christian, you want to figure out what Christianity is about, you've got to start with the question of is Jesus who he said he is? 00:23:02.640 --> 00:23:06.480 If Jesus is not who he said he is, then conversation ends. 00:23:06.799 --> 00:23:11.440 But if he is, if he is, then it changes everything. 00:23:11.759 --> 00:23:13.440 You even go more specific than that. 00:23:13.519 --> 00:23:17.839 You could ask yourself, did Jesus rise physically from the dead in history? 00:23:18.000 --> 00:23:19.039 Yes or no? 00:23:19.279 --> 00:23:20.880 That's where you aim your fire par. 00:23:21.599 --> 00:23:23.599 Don't come at me with, what about the dinosaurs? 00:23:23.680 --> 00:23:24.720 I don't care. 00:23:25.599 --> 00:23:30.400 You can have dinosaurs or you can believe Satan put the dinosaurs there to confuse scientists. 00:23:31.519 --> 00:23:32.480 Whatever. 00:23:32.720 --> 00:23:33.599 It's Jesus. 00:23:33.839 --> 00:23:35.680 Did Jesus rise bodily from the dead? 00:23:35.839 --> 00:23:37.680 Glad to see you're all still awake. 00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:47.279 Because the resurrection of Jesus is not a metaphor, it is a physical, historical reality. 00:23:50.880 --> 00:23:56.160 Paul says that the church is created by the purchasing of Jesus through his death. 00:23:56.240 --> 00:23:57.839 Let me pick it up in verse 5. 00:23:58.079 --> 00:24:15.599 In love, he predestined us for adoption as sons, according as, sorry, 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 blessed us in the beloved, that's Jesus. 00:24:15.839 --> 00:24:26.000 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace. 00:24:28.079 --> 00:24:34.240 Why does all of human history culminate in the death of Jesus? 00:24:35.119 --> 00:24:37.279 In the cross at Good Friday. 00:24:39.039 --> 00:24:48.319 Well, because the plan of God was never going to work if it was about rescuing good people or deserving people. 00:24:49.200 --> 00:24:50.559 Because none of us are good. 00:24:51.200 --> 00:24:54.480 None of us deserve his kindness. 00:24:55.519 --> 00:25:21.519 The beauty of the plan of God is that it was a plan to bring enemies home, to bring those who are trapped in sin and shame and guilt, and to free them to newness of life, to take the punishment for hostile sinners, to take away their shame so that they could live in the fullness of joy that his presence is forever. 00:25:21.839 --> 00:25:25.920 The death of Jesus is how that plan is executed. 00:25:26.079 --> 00:25:28.480 It's how that salvation is achieved. 00:25:28.640 --> 00:25:34.480 Now, Paul says that that death of Jesus for us was a redemption. 00:25:34.640 --> 00:25:35.839 What does that word mean? 00:25:36.000 --> 00:25:41.519 Paul's picking up a word that's used in the ancient world in the ancient slave markets. 00:25:42.559 --> 00:25:48.559 To redeem something in the slave markets was to pay a price that would free a slave. 00:25:48.960 --> 00:25:53.839 We are all by nature slaves to our own flesh, our own desires. 00:25:53.920 --> 00:25:59.920 We all worship things other than God, whether it's power, money, sex, control, comfort. 00:26:00.799 --> 00:26:08.720 We're all ensnared by those things, and Jesus sets captives free by his death. 00:26:10.079 --> 00:26:16.400 This is the great unanswered question, the great mystery that Paul talks about. 00:26:16.720 --> 00:26:25.279 How is it that those who are hostile to God and hostile to one another, enemies, could be reconciled? 00:26:26.160 --> 00:26:29.440 This is the great answer that you are looking for. 00:26:30.160 --> 00:26:34.160 How can I live the way that I was meant to live? 00:26:34.400 --> 00:26:38.480 You were made to live in relationship with the God who made you. 00:26:39.039 --> 00:26:41.119 And this is how it's achieved. 00:26:41.440 --> 00:26:47.680 You're set free by the death of Jesus by placing your faith in him. 00:26:48.880 --> 00:26:50.559 It's as simple as that. 00:26:52.720 --> 00:26:54.960 And what does this say about the church? 00:26:55.680 --> 00:27:01.839 Well, it means that the church is not a voluntary club of religious people, still less is it a social club. 00:27:02.000 --> 00:27:05.279 Rather, it is a community of redeemed people. 00:27:06.960 --> 00:27:16.160 We are people that exist only because Jesus has paid the ultimate price for us to be together, to make us his. 00:28:08.240 --> 00:28:15.039 It doesn't just start small, it explodes from Jerusalem all across the ancient Near East. 00:28:16.000 --> 00:28:17.920 How did that happen? 00:28:18.480 --> 00:28:31.680 One of the great evidences for the truth of the gospel, the truth that Jesus is alive, that Jesus rose bodily from the dead, is the explosion of the church all across the world. 00:28:31.839 --> 00:28:33.599 And we are caught up in that story. 00:28:33.680 --> 00:28:35.440 You're part of it today. 00:28:37.440 --> 00:28:43.039 It is this good news that creates the church and transforms people. 00:28:43.440 --> 00:28:48.079 And it is this message that the church is a guardian and a herald of. 00:28:49.680 --> 00:29:11.279 Those around us need to hear of Christ's great love for them, that they can be forgiven, cleansed of shame and restored, brought into the family of God, not a family of flawless people, but of forgiven sinners, adopted and made new. 00:29:11.599 --> 00:29:16.079 The church is a community purchased by Jesus. 00:29:17.519 --> 00:29:20.960 Third, the church is a preview of the future. 00:29:21.920 --> 00:29:27.920 In about an hour's time, the lights in here will go down lower than they are now. 00:29:28.799 --> 00:29:32.400 And the next movie screening will begin. 00:29:32.799 --> 00:29:34.960 And before it does, what will they show? 00:29:35.119 --> 00:29:40.319 Well, they'll show the trailers, the things that are coming that you can anticipate. 00:29:40.480 --> 00:29:45.119 You get a little snapshot, a little snippet, a little glimpse of what's coming. 00:29:45.200 --> 00:29:46.880 Well, the church is like that. 00:29:47.039 --> 00:29:51.839 The church is the glimpse in time of where all of history is headed. 00:29:52.880 --> 00:30:10.079 Paul says in verse 10 that God's planning, God's purposing through the church was a plan in the fullness of time to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 00:30:10.880 --> 00:30:18.079 This means that history, that our world, your life, it's not aimless. 00:30:18.160 --> 00:30:19.519 Have you realized that? 00:30:19.759 --> 00:30:24.559 Your life has a directionality to it, it's moving in a particular direction. 00:30:24.720 --> 00:30:30.160 All of history is moving in a particular direction, all of our world is moving in a particular direction. 00:30:30.240 --> 00:30:31.839 And what is that direction? 00:30:32.319 --> 00:30:35.119 Unity under Christ. 00:30:35.440 --> 00:30:37.519 That's where all of history is going. 00:30:38.640 --> 00:30:40.880 And that's such good news today. 00:30:41.920 --> 00:30:54.319 Because what that means is that the fractured storylines of our world will not last forever. 00:30:56.960 --> 00:30:58.640 This week has been hard. 00:31:00.079 --> 00:31:11.119 This week has been one where there has been multiple examples of the terrible hostility that can exist between human beings. 00:31:12.960 --> 00:31:22.960 The murderous hatred that can grip somebody sitting on a bus or at a university campus. 00:31:24.640 --> 00:31:29.200 But this is not history's last word. 00:31:30.559 --> 00:31:34.000 This is not our final destination. 00:31:38.079 --> 00:31:54.640 When you sit in the theater before a performance, you hear the orchestra tuning up, then you competing notes creating a chaotic sound. 00:31:55.920 --> 00:31:57.680 And then the lights go down. 00:31:58.799 --> 00:32:09.599 And the conductor lifts his button, and suddenly all of the instruments come together in one harmonious sound. 00:32:11.440 --> 00:32:12.960 Do you know what the church is? 00:32:14.480 --> 00:32:20.720 The church is the opening bars of the symphony of eternity. 00:32:26.319 --> 00:32:31.359 How do we know that that music has begun? 00:32:33.279 --> 00:32:36.480 Well, because Paul says it has. 00:32:37.759 --> 00:32:46.160 Paul, towards the end of this passage, in verse 11, and then in verse 14, says two things that seem to contradict one another. 00:32:46.400 --> 00:32:50.640 In verse 11, he says, In him we have obtained an inheritance. 00:32:51.200 --> 00:32:59.440 And then in verse 14, he says that the Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance, until we acquire possession of it. 00:33:00.640 --> 00:33:02.240 So what is it, Paul? 00:33:03.680 --> 00:33:04.880 Do we have it? 00:33:05.039 --> 00:33:06.559 Or is it still to come? 00:33:07.440 --> 00:33:08.079 Answer? 00:33:08.799 --> 00:33:09.279 Yes. 00:33:10.880 --> 00:33:11.519 Yes. 00:33:15.279 --> 00:33:16.240 We have it. 00:33:17.119 --> 00:33:19.680 And we will experience it more fully. 00:33:21.119 --> 00:33:35.039 The great symphony of redemption and new creation has begun in this time, in your life, in City Church Dublin, and all of the other churches across this land that call upon the name of Jesus. 00:33:37.519 --> 00:33:47.359 And then we will hear it in all of its eternal fullness, unsullied by hatred and discord. 00:33:48.480 --> 00:33:51.839 Now we have been forgiven and adopted. 00:33:52.079 --> 00:33:53.839 The papers are signed. 00:33:54.559 --> 00:34:00.079 But then, then the Father will come and will bring his children home. 00:34:00.400 --> 00:34:05.759 Now you are being made holy and blameless by the power of the Holy Spirit. 00:34:06.079 --> 00:34:12.320 But then when he finishes that work, you will be holy as he is holy. 00:34:12.960 --> 00:34:17.599 The church is a foretaste of what the new creation will be. 00:34:18.159 --> 00:34:28.159 Unity across ethnicities, cultural backgrounds, classes, political dispositions. 00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:44.719 It is a community of forgiveness, forgiving others now, knowing that we have been forgiven and will one day be together again, never to sin against one another. 00:34:45.039 --> 00:34:55.280 It is a community that hopes in the face of trial, that hopes in the face of despair, that hopes in the face of darkness and murderous hate. 00:34:56.239 --> 00:35:00.400 That one day all tears will be wiped away. 00:35:02.159 --> 00:35:04.000 How do we know that this will pass? 00:35:04.559 --> 00:35:06.880 How do we know that this will happen? 00:35:07.119 --> 00:35:10.639 Because he has given us his Holy Spirit. 00:35:11.280 --> 00:35:29.199 The Holy Spirit is that guarantee, that stamp, that seal, that all that he has promised us will come true, that he is transforming us, that he is reassuring us, that he is encouraging and comforting us until that glorious day when we see him face to face. 00:35:29.360 --> 00:35:32.960 The church isn't perfect, but it is a preview. 00:35:33.440 --> 00:35:36.719 It's a preview of God's promised future. 00:35:38.400 --> 00:35:42.000 So if you're not part of it, don't sit on the sidelines. 00:35:42.800 --> 00:35:44.400 Come be part of it. 00:35:45.119 --> 00:35:46.320 It's glorious. 00:35:46.719 --> 00:35:49.440 It's not perfect, but it is a preview. 00:35:50.079 --> 00:35:54.559 Lastly, it is purposed for glory. 00:35:56.400 --> 00:35:59.360 Why did God set this plan in eternity? 00:36:00.480 --> 00:36:14.320 That God the Son would die to rescue hostile sinners in a broken and sinful world, that he would give them then his spirit to transform and release and unite them? 00:36:14.719 --> 00:36:20.960 Paul tells us three times in this passage that it was to the praise of his glory. 00:36:21.519 --> 00:36:23.199 Why does the world exist? 00:36:23.599 --> 00:36:29.519 To show the matchless beauty of God to the world around us. 00:36:29.760 --> 00:36:39.920 Why does the church exist to show us the matchless worth of the beauty of God who calls sinners, sons and daughters? 00:36:40.639 --> 00:36:48.960 The church is like a spotlight in time, illuminating more of what God is like. 00:36:49.199 --> 00:36:54.800 It does not draw attention to itself, but to Jesus, its Lord and Savior. 00:36:55.119 --> 00:36:57.599 This is the ultimate why behind the church. 00:36:57.840 --> 00:37:04.880 The church doesn't exist primarily for our comfort or our transitions, or transitions, for our traditions. 00:37:06.159 --> 00:37:08.159 We exist to glorify God. 00:37:08.800 --> 00:37:15.360 This means that our worship is not entertainment, it's exaltation. 00:37:15.920 --> 00:37:22.719 Our unity isn't a social experiment, it's a display of God's reconciling power. 00:37:23.119 --> 00:37:33.360 Our good works are not virtue signaling, they are evidences of lives that have been transformed by the grace of God. 00:37:34.000 --> 00:37:40.800 And when the world sees the church as it is meant to be, they don't walk away thinking, what amazing people. 00:37:40.960 --> 00:37:43.840 No, they should walk away thinking, what an amazing God. 00:37:45.840 --> 00:37:48.480 What does this mean for us as we finish? 00:37:49.519 --> 00:37:51.119 Well, personally, it means this. 00:37:51.199 --> 00:37:53.199 It means that your life isn't about you. 00:37:53.920 --> 00:37:57.360 It's not about self-promotion, self-protection, self-fulfillment. 00:37:57.519 --> 00:37:59.599 It's about God and his glory. 00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:01.679 That's where happiness will be found. 00:38:01.760 --> 00:38:05.519 That's where meaning, satisfaction, and joy will be find. 00:38:08.079 --> 00:38:13.199 In your presence are treasures forevermore. 00:38:14.880 --> 00:38:25.519 Communally, as a church, it means that the church's programs, what we do in a Sunday morning, what we do in community group, our strategies, our growth plans, they're all secondary. 00:38:25.760 --> 00:38:35.760 The true measure of whether or not we are a church transformed by him is are we pointing people to the greatness of God? 00:38:37.840 --> 00:38:40.079 So, what have we seen? 00:38:40.800 --> 00:38:42.480 Our four P's. 00:38:43.360 --> 00:38:45.599 The church is planned in eternity. 00:38:45.760 --> 00:38:47.679 You're not an accident of history. 00:38:47.920 --> 00:38:52.320 You are part of God's blueprint from before the foundation of the world. 00:38:52.559 --> 00:38:55.360 The church is purchased by Jesus. 00:38:55.599 --> 00:39:08.320 You are not here because of your merit or simply by chance, but because Jesus paid the ultimate price, he shed his blood to make you his. 00:39:09.360 --> 00:39:12.000 The church is a preview of the future. 00:39:12.239 --> 00:39:23.039 We are a foretaste of where history is heading, where enemies are reconciled, where shame is removed, and where everything is united under Christ. 00:39:23.679 --> 00:39:26.239 And the church is purposed for glory. 00:39:26.480 --> 00:39:40.639 Our existence is not about us, but about magnifying and showing the eternal worth, beauty, majesty, grandeur of him who set his love upon us in eternity. 00:39:41.039 --> 00:39:46.079 If you have never been part of that story, be part of it today. 00:39:46.719 --> 00:39:55.280 Turn to Jesus and be part of that great unfolding drama that continues until the day when we see him face to face.