Ephesians 1:1-10

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So of all the scriptures in reference to the doctrine of election and the sovereignty of God, if you're pushed to make a choice, one of two usually would come to the fore, and that would be either Romans chapter 9 or Ephesians chapter 1.
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Yeah, and that's where we're going to be at this morning.
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And so in this time we have together, Lord willing, I want to take us through this treasure trove of glory and unfold at least half, maybe a little better part of the first 16 verses.
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I'll be teaching again, Lord willing, next Sunday as Mike asked that he be out for a couple of weeks.
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So just to lay a little groundwork about the context of our text, the city of Ephesus was located in what we call modern-day Turkey, and an area that the Bible refers to as Asia.
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And it's basically centered in between Lydia to the north, Miletus to the south, Smyrna to the west, and Phrygia to the east.
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And if you've ever been to Greece, as my wife and I have been, compliments to the United States Air Force, and if you visited what's left of the city of Corinth, you could take a ship from there 200 miles east and you'd be right here.
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You'd be within a mile of Ephesus because Ephesus was a mile off the coast.
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And so it was a massive city for its time with a population of between 250 and 300,000 people.
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And it was located on a trade route, so it made it a place of commerce, such that it houses the chief banking institution in all Asia Minor.
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And this, plus it was the at the home of the temple of Artemis, or she's called in Acts, Diana.
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And it was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, and it made Ephesus this hustle and bustle of most everything you can imagine, and as such it was a perfect place for the gospel to go forth.
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To put the temple size into context was something you'd be more familiar with probably.
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If you've ever been to Greece, if you've ever read a book on it, if you've ever seen a movie, if you've ever been to a Greek restaurant, what you always see is the Parthenon.
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It's the tag that you get, you know, this is what pops into my head when I think of Greece.
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The Parthenon is this large column structure that sits on top of the Athenian Acropolis, and yet as large as it is, and it is quite big, we've been up there and walked around in it, still, the Ephesian temple, it would fit inside of the Ephesian temple.
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The Ephesian temple was 400 feet long, 180 feet wide, and 60 feet tall with pillars such that it would seat 50,000 peoples, and I remember this is a couple of thousand years ago, and it would seat 50,000 people.
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And this temple, just like whatever it's called now, the Temple of the Jaguars down in downtown Jacksonville, generated huge sums of money as people would come there from all over pilgrims to worship Diana, the supposed daughter of Zeus and the sister of Apollo.
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And the Apostle Paul came first to Ephesus on his second missionary journey with Aquila and Priscilla, but then he pushed on quickly, went on to Jerusalem by himself, but on his next missionary journey, however, he spent almost three years there, and he gained such influence that among the people, the craftsmen who were there who made the Diana souvenir statues and ashtrays stirred up a riot against him such that they were worried about him converting their citizens, or at least planting seeds of doubt concerning this false god, and they believed and possibly had already begun to see their trinket trade decline.
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And of course, because of the attack and his subsequent inability to be seen in public, Paul left there and went on to Macedonia.
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On a return trip to Jerusalem, he would ask the elders of Miletus, which was some 35 miles away from Ephesus, if he could join them there that he could bid them a final farewell.
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Now concerning the letter itself, some important later Greek manuscripts do not include the words at Ephesus in the first verse, and leading many to believe that this was meant to be a circular letter, or in other words, it was meant to be sent to the congregation at Ephesus, not just individually as a church, but more likely as a hub where it could be copied and then sent out to the surrounding churches in the region.
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This thought is supported by the fact that for a church that Paul had spent almost three years in, he does not send any specific, any individual greetings, as was his habits and his other letters, Tychicus being the only one who's mentioned, and that's because he's the one who's delivering the letter.
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So, the letter to Colossae, he was also carrying, they believe, the letter to Colossae as well as a letter to Philemon, who was a private citizen of Colossae, and as all three of these letters, they believe, were written at the same time, the same place as he was in his first imprisonment in Rome from AD 60 to 62.
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Also, the contents of the two letters, the letter to Colossae and the letter to the Ephesians, are very, very similar, both stressing doctrine, both giving instruction and practical Christian duties.
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One difference between them being that the Colossians portrays Christ as the head of the church, while Ephesians goes on to show us Jesus as the Ascended and the glorified Christ.
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The major theme, again, here being that the church is the body of Christ, with Paul also speaking metaphorically of the church as being a building of which Christ is the chief cornerstone, and also compared to the church to being a bride to whom they'll be united to the Christ as her bridegroom, and the key idea being that a body has individual parts that must operate as one, with God's plan being that to bring all believers together as Christ, with Christ as the head, and these working together.
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The exact reason why Paul is writing the letter at this time is not known, other than that of Tychicus, his beloved brother, making known all the things that concern Paul in his affairs as he's in prison.
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So it appears that Paul desired to relieve the anxiety of the Ephesians concerning his imprisonment, and also so he could get a good read on the church firsthand from Tychicus, and get a spiritual temperature there.
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No doubt the people of the church at Ephesus, like us, needed encouragement.
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These are people who also lived in a pluralistic culture that was tolerant of many things, the least of which being the gospel of Christ in the church, which sought to proclaim it.
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And despite being surrounded by the world, the flesh, and the devil, still God, like us, had raised them up out of spiritual death, into spiritual life, and that spiritual life eternal.
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So with the stage set, that's your introduction, let's read the first 16 verses, and then we'll move into the letter.
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Ephesians chapter 1, verse 1.
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Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus, grace be to you, and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
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According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace, wherein he hath abounded to us, toward us, in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will, that we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ, in whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession, and to the praise of his glory, wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and love unto all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers." That's a mouthful.
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So, verse 1, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Jesus Christ.
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It seems in several of his letters, he comes right out of the gate, nailing down this matter of his apostleship, and it's a big deal.
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It's a big deal for Paul, as we see here, as well as the opening verses in the Colossae.
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In fact, the two the two books, the verses are nearly verbatim.
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First Corinthians 1, one reading, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy, our brother.
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So basically, the identical, they're identical, as say for the addressee being added in there.
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And again, what is it that he leaves with? He leaves with his name, Paul, and then this matter of authority, an apostle.
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It's as if to confirm that these are not the words of just anyone, but rather, one who had seen the risen Christ, and who had been chosen by God to lay the foundation for the church by preaching, and teaching, and writing scripture.
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And it's worth remembering who and what Paul was.
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Here we have this this amazingly influential Christian, and yet he was a man who was persecuted by the world, as well as often demeaned within the church.
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Even in his own eyes, he considered himself the least of all the saints, and although the scriptures do not give us an insight to his actual appearance, still, the literal meaning of Paul is a little one.
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And also, a second century ancient literature book, the Acts of Paul and Thecla, which was an apocryphal, or early Christian writing that wasn't included in the New Testament, portrays a description given him as a man of little statue, thin hair upon his head, crooked in legs, good state of body, eyebrows joining, and a nose somewhat hooked.
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That's kind of rough, and yet despite Paul's less-than-stellar looks or stature, he is nonetheless a giant in the faith, a little man that became great, and how is it this came to pass? By the will of God, he writes, an apostle of Jesus Christ, an apostolos, a sent one, and yet being sent doesn't necessarily mean much, does it? I mean, I could stand here for 45 minutes and give you my opinion, but to what end would that be? The authority of an apostle to speak and act was dependent on the nature and authority of his sender.
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Paul was all too conscious that he had received his commission directly from the Lord Jesus Christ, just as real as as Peter or James or John or any of the other ones, and this may be why he seems almost emphatic about the matter, especially at times as at times his apostleship had been called into question in some churches and several times in the letters to the Corinthians as well as to the Galatians.
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Paul sees the need to call to attention his testimony, and how without a doubt it validates his apostolic authority, and he wrote to the Corinthians in 1st Corinthians 15.
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He says, moreover, moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which ye have also received, and wherein ye stand, by which you are also saved, if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye believed in vain.
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For I delivered unto you, first of all, that which I received, how that Christ died for your sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve.
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After that he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.
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After that he was seen of James, and of all the apostles, and last of all he was seen of me also as one born out of out of due time, for I am the least of the apostles, that I am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God, but by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was in me.
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So Paul's at the tail end of all these men called into Christ's ministry as an apostle, and yet he was called in just when God would have him there, because it was God who had called him and not Paul himself.
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And with that authority we find came great responsibility, both in preaching the word and also for him, it seems, the most often suffering for the name of Christ.
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He was fully aware as to who had called him, and as such he knew that the one who called him would enable him to do whatever he had called him to do.
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And as we read who it is that the letter is addressed to, there's three manners in which they can be described.
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It says there in verse 1, to the saints that are at Ephesus and they that are faithful in Christ.
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So he begins with the most general description, and then Paul works out from there.
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So the saints would include all those who are set apart for Christ, a Jew or Greek or men or women or old or young or rich or poor or slave or free, all that were sanctified for God's purpose.
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The caution that we would have with this word would be that it it's not speaking of someone who by, like the Catholics would believe, long years of self-effort and toil work their way through to this to be this spiritual elite and so become a saint when they die.
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Rather, saint is one that's set apart for this by this spiritual resurrection and transformation, and that becomes at the beginning of their spiritual life.
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And that word is used there to describe, it's actually the word for holy.
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Saints, you saints, you gotta be holy.
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I'm holy.
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We don't seem holy all the time, but God sees us as holy through Christ.
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Next at Ephesus again, however that played out, whether this letter was intended solely for the church at Ephesus or it was just sent there to be reproduced and redistributed, either way it was sent there to them there.
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And lastly, the faithful.
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So these receiving this letter are not only saints, but they're faithful ones.
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And this faithfulness describes their response to God's grace such that they were full of trust that led to obedience.
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There's your your Bible song for that, trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey.
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And the combination of these two terms pretty much summarizes the structure of the whole letter.
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In the first half, the chapters 1, 2, and 3, Paul describes the character and the work of God through these indicatives, showing us who he is in setting apart these people as saints.
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And in the second half, chapters 4, 5, and 6, it contains the imperatives where Paul encourages them to live as those whose lives are set apart for and under the authority of God.
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Verse 2, grace be to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
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So what we see there is Paul wishes his readers two blessings coming from two sources.
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The first of these blessing is grace.
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Carice, it's where we get the name for Charis, my oldest granddaughter.
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It's grace.
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And this one little word basically summarizes the first three chapters he's about to write.
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And secondly, there is peace, and it's the word Airene, and it's the New Testament version of Shalom.
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And it's this peace.
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It's not just a feeling of quiet in the absence of conflict, but rather it's this well-being of our whole lives via the presence of our Lord.
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And it's what Paul will go on to describe in the second half of the letter.
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It's a reconciliation with Christ that brings forth unity amongst diversity within this community that's now called the church.
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Transforming the way we live and also strengthening us to be able to withstand in the spiritual battle we live in, the spiritual battle that he will instruct them on to arm themselves for in the last chapter.
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So with a firm grasp of the greeting, the blessings coming forth from both God and the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, let's move forward into the content of the letter.
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Verse 3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
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Blessed is Eulogos.
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It's where we get the word Eulogy.
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That's to speak well of.
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When people get up at funerals and speak well of the deceased, that's called eulogizing them.
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And in our text, God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is to be blessed.
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And not simply because he has blessed us, but because he is worthy.
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I mean, he has blessed us.
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And he hasn't done it in a piecemeal or partial way.
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He says, but he has blessed us with all spiritual blessings.
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And you might say to me, Brother Mike, to be truthful, sometimes I don't feel particularly blessed.
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And I would say I agree with you, because sometimes I feel the same way.
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Today is the second anniversary of the passing of our youngest son.
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I don't particularly feel blessed.
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But thankfully, our state of blessedness is not dependent on how we feel, but on who God is and who we are in Christ.
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And they say, well, I'm sick.
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I'm having financial problems, relational issues, I've lost a loved one.
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You plug in the problem.
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And so God isn't blessing me.
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Isn't he? Isn't he blessing us? What does the text read? And who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings? Blessings we'll be reading of in the next few verses.
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Blessings we've already received, as this has, is an aorist participle.
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And in this case, it's past tense.
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And where is it that these blessings are to be enjoyed? It says in heavenly places.
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And Paul's going to be using this reference to this new realm of spiritual realities, which we as believers have been brought into.
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But despite the stickers that you might see on the back of many folks' car windows, the gospel does not promise material blessings as its central benefit.
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So if y'all want, I can help you scrape the blessed sticker off the back of your car after the service, because that's not what he means.
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I mean, to be clear though, that's not to say that its power in our lives might not create greater diligence or wisdom that can lead to such blessings, but that's not at the core of the gospel.
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Rather, the blessings of the gospel are for those who take up their cross daily and die, suffering with Christ as part of our inheritance in him.
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We like all of what we consider the good part, but the suffering, we want to push that aside and compartmentalize and forget about it.
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Paul even concludes the verse with this thought that Christ himself is the source of these blessings, and it is in Christ that God blesses us and not apart from him.
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And we will see it expressed this way as through Jesus Christ or in him as we go out throughout the passages.
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And we have, to get it clear, when we become Christians, we don't just we don't just receive some heavenly benefits package, some spiritual 401k or a box that Christ has given us forgiveness and new life and hope and so on in the box.
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There's so much more involved in it, because in reality, what we receive is Christ himself.
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We are united to him by his spirit so that all that he achieved for us becomes ours.
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Romans, Galatians, Colossians, all of these speak of our being crucified, buried, risen, ascended, reigning, and being with him when he comes again in his glory.
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These are the blessings and so much better blessings than the temporal ones that we too often long for and yet will eventually pass away.
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And God the Father has has these amazing blessings for those in Christ.
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Blessings that we we read about, we like to read about, election, adoption, redemption, sanctification, forgiveness, all these are included in that every spiritual blessing which is ours in Christ.
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So then if all this is ours in Christ, then why would we look anywhere else? If we're honest, too often we do.
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I know I have, I do.
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Verse 4, according as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.
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So according, the even is what the ESV reads, and it's the Greek word kata, and the King James goes with according because it gives a fuller understanding in the English, using the English word according.
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It's the same word that the ESV uses in Philippians 419 where it says, but my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus.
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That one word, according, makes the difference in the way it speaks to a supply that's not out of God has this big jar, like going to Sam's and you get that big pickle jar or the big jalapeno jar.
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He's got this big jar of supply and we being needy, we come to him like Oliver Twist with our bowl.
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Please sir, can I have some more? And he reaches into his big jar and he pulls out some supply and he gives it to us and he sends us on our way and now his jar has less in it than it did when we got there.
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That's not our God.
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And so this word according, kata, has more to do with in relation or proportion to such that his gift is never lacking but always full to the overflow because he is never lacking but always overflowing because he cannot change.
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And so here Paul begins to unfold God's purposes and plans and I think we would all agree that God's blessings in Christ come to us by faith.
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But there are those who may not agree that this is by faith that is not of our own because to be truthful, dead folks don't, men and women who are dead in their sins, they cannot exercise faith any more than a corpse is able to exercise signs of life.
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And so it is that the new life must be the result of what God does.
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The origin our faith is found in his action, in his purpose, in his will and right at the start Paul leads in with this understanding that all the blessings of salvation come to us because he chose us in him before the foundation of the world.
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God has been so gracious to us not only before we were born but even before the earth was created, before any recorded history, God lovingly predestinated a people for himself.
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And why did he do that? Why would he choose us? Anybody? Because he loved us.
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But why? Why would he love us? Because through his loving us he planned to bring glory to his grace in and through us.
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It's not because he looked down through time as some say and saw that we we would choose him.
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It's not because we would be better than most, not even because we would love him for who he was or or even just for what we could get out of him.
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No, again, remember we were hopelessly lost, dead in trespasses and sin, at enmity with him we had nothing to love and yet he loved us.
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Simply by his grace from start to finish he loved us.
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He could have just as easily shown perfect justice by condemning every last one of us because of our guilt.
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But instead he chose to display his mercy by saving some of us and that's hard to get your head around.
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Interesting thought.
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Interesting thought.
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Those who don't hold to election say that we who do don't see the point of evangelism and yet who is it Paul writes the letter to that speaks of election but the people he had he had evangelized them.
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These two matters of evangelism and election, they're not over here and over here.
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They're not in opposition.
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They're friends.
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Paul knew this firsthand as God had intervened on his behalf while he was a full-blown enemy of Christ, ready to persecute the church and certainly his conversion was no accident.
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God had planned it from the foundation of the world and if he worked like that in Paul why not the same for you or for me? Or any other person he would choose.
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I have family members who are lost.
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I think each of us have some loved one in our circle that are outside of Christ but none of them are any more lost than we were.
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And yet sometimes we get weary and think they will never be saved.
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Well, as long as there's breath, there's still hope.
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So we continue to pray for God's mercy.
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And what then was the purpose that God performed this miracle of new birth? The verse closes that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.
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That's not to say that we were chosen because we were holy but we are chosen in order to become holy.
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God takes those who are to be saved, us, unrighteous people and legally declares us righteous.
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A righteousness that Christ imputes to such as us that are made blameless before our righteous Holy Father in love, which is not You don't get confused.
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It's not a love speaking of our love for him, but our love is never what it should be.
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But rather it's his love for us that allows us to be in a position before him.
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Wesley no doubt had a firm grasp on this God love thing when he penned the hymn Amazing love how can it be that thou my God shouldst die for me? I love that hymn.
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Verse 5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will.
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Now different commentators agree that those last two words of verse 4 in love actually belong at the head of verse 5 and if you look there at your Bibles if you have an ESV Bible the ESV goes so far as to place a period after the word hymn Then add the words in love and they're marking it as verse 5 You got that? Have you ever noticed that before? Right Do you see how it gives a clearer picture of not only the outcome of being holy and without blame But also it shows us the motive that drives his doing this which is what? It's love So, let me read it again and see how it unfolds according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world That we should be holy and without blame before him in Love having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ According to the good pleasure of his will so then we can see that with love as his motive God predetermined to adopt literally that is to place us as sons Before the foundation of the world before the world was conceived.
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He chose us because he loved us and This by the work of Christ Which also makes it crystal clear that the cross wasn't plan B After Adam fell in the garden Has that you know, obviously the statement would of course has been prior to the fall and we see also that it it was to the satisfaction of his pleasure as Human parents we can we can place our love or our resources and inheritance on an adopted child And that that's an that's a blessing But only God can place his own distinct nature on those he has elected and adopted those who have trusted in Christ So verse 6 to the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved So we see here the ultimate purpose of the election to salvation is the glory of God and it is through inculcation that's the Were you old enough for Stephen to remember mrs.
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Whitfield teaching that in Sunday School at Terry Road? In cup she said it three times and she and it has stuck with me inculcation is to stress upon through is to Mr.
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Wow No Yeah Inculcation and impressed to impress upon through repetition and she said is Inculcation is is to impress upon through repetition inculcation and it's stuck You at the other third because men need to be told things not just twice but three times, right? And and and the reason I say that is It's not only here in verse 6 But if you look again there in verse 12 and verse 14 We'll see repeated the same thing Look at verse 12 that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ verse 14 Which is the earnest of your inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of his glory So those words wherein he there in verse 6 referred at referring that's referring to his grace He deserved his undeserved love and favor that was has made it possible for sinners like us to be accepted Made made at one with him.
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That's that's how I remember the definition of atonement at it We're at one with God in this through Christ substitutionary death.
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That's a holy sacrifice Bearing God's righteous wrath on our behalf.
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That's our propitiation and By his purchase of us we are redeemed the separation of us being removed we're reconciled with him and as we are then accepted in him in Christ, then we are like him and that We are beloved the ESV reads beloved of God As the verse ends that that's a special place to be That that is how God spoke of Christ his eternal son at his baptism Matthew 3 17 and behold a voice from heaven said this is my beloved son And whom I am well pleased and again at his transfiguration Matthew 17 5 while he yet spoke spake Behold a bright cloud overshadowed them and behold a voice out of the cloud said This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased Hear ye him Is a beautiful term of endearment And to think that's how God thinks of us beloved sons verse 7 In whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace Redemption here speaks to the required payment for the release of a person from bondage Christ's sacrifice on the cross paid the price for every elect person in the grip of sin Just as if we were slaves on the sins block for sale He buys us with the price of his death and we see again this recurring thing not out of the riches of his Grace like that they ever could run out, but it says according to the riches of his grace For if it for it is a grace Without limit such that he saved each one of us and then there's still grace abounding Unless we get unless we get a wrong understanding that our salvation is just some Wonderful thing that and it's out It is but it's somewhere that's just way way way out there in the future And and that it has little to do with our here and now But that's not just about the future it's not just about fire insurance you and I are redeemed now The Holy Spirit and dwells and seals and leads us to freedom in life Now we have fellowship with God Now as well as we have communion one with another as brothers and sisters in Christ all that we have now So I know there's not many of us in here But take a look at the person beside you and tell him you're a blessing to me now.
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Go ahead and say it.
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I'll wait There you go, there you go y'all are a blessing to me now and Despite some folks understanding or Misunderstanding of it Jesus didn't have to And and I've actually spoke to people Persuade or twist God the Father's arm For these blessings to be so as if they were contrary to his will Paul has been unfolding the plan of the father from the start and I know that the he's can get confusing Sometimes but in this case, it doesn't take much to be able to follow along with him So let's look back a little and forward a little and then after we have this thought what we'll need to stop And we'll see it's all of the father's plan.
40:21
So so follow me quickly Verse 2 who is it the grace and peace are from? Grace be to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ verse 3 who has blessed us Blessed to be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Verse 4 who has chosen us? According as he that's God the Father has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame Before him so you've seen the pattern here Verse 5 in love who pre to that who pre Predestinated us under the adoption of children in love having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ To himself according to the good pleasure of his will I mean just goes on and on we're accepted verse 6 redeemed and forgiven Verse 7 and 8 he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and insight Verse 9 having made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure Which he purposed in himself perfect harmony between the Father and the Son and these passages That's the God that we serve.
41:30
That's our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ That's the Holy Spirit that seals us and it's not just somewhere out in the future.
41:36
It is now We're out of time Let's pray Holy Father we thank you for your love for us.