UNITING ALL THINGS TO HIMSELF (Eph 1:9-10)

Hello there we are there. We are the microphone does work.

Well. Good morning Wesley Wesley thinks it's a good morning.

That's it all right well guys if you can make your way on in here We're going to start with some announcements before we start our service

For those of you that that that haven't been able to stick around on Sunday afternoons

For Q &A You are certainly missing out I have gotten a tremendous amount of feedback over the past few months of the benefit of staying around for quantity of feast the fellowship time with the

Saints and Then sitting and talking through the sermon you you wouldn't believe how much we're able to cover and and then

Also, I've noticed everyone acknowledging that when we do the Q &A

Somehow throughout the week that the topic of the sermon that text Really resonates and sticks with you throughout the week, and that's what it's designed for Notice we don't do

Sunday school and all different classes and a Sunday night service here. We spend the day together and Everything from the songs the call to worship and everything is aiming towards the the the topic

The the text of the day and Q &A is no different, so I highly encourage you if you can it's a great time to ask questions

Bring rebuke if there's any rebuke needed This is iron sharpening iron and so stay for that Q &A is an excellent time, but also we

We announced Almost every single week the fact that we open up the doors here for prayer

Every Tuesday morning, and I know not everyone's schedule allows for that and I understand that But if you are available even for a few moments between 7 and 8 a .m.

The doors are open and we pray specifically for this church We pray for individuals and families within this church

We pray for people that are on our hearts in the community we pray for the community it is just an excellent time for us to just go to the source and Seek God and prayer and God uses means doesn't he?

God uses the means in which he is prescribed in one of those as prayer So I highly encourage you to come and be a part of that Well speaking of prayer we every single week want to acknowledge

That we are not alone Here in this walk of faith

Not only do we have our Savior we have each other But not only do we have each other we have other brothers and sisters all over the globe that are preparing to meet or meeting as a right now and Worshiping the the one true

God just as we do this morning and we have Churches all over town that are gathering with Saints that are worshipping the

Lord and we do not want to get so Introspective that we think that we are the only church in town.

That is not the case We want to lift up our brothers and sisters, but we're gonna reach a little bit outside of town but not far today we would like to pray for our brothers and sisters at First Baptist Church, Lepanto and First Baptist Church, Lepanto has a new pastor

R .J. Platt And he is good friends with Pastor Jeremiah.

They have been friends for a long time This is a man of God that loves the Word of God. He loves the people here

He loves this church dearly and and we just want to lift him up in prayer.

He has asked specifically for prayer for the marriages of Of the people in his church, you know how that is there's struggles that go on marriage is meant for sanctification

It caught there's there's conflict. There's issues and we want them to know that we're praying for them and lifting up those couples

I know he's wanting to raise up men for leadership within the church. So we need to be in prayer for that We need to pray for this body of believers there as they prepare to worship today

So if you don't mind bow your heads, let's pray with me as we pray for this church dear

Heavenly Father We we just want to come before you this morning and lift up Lift up First Baptist Church, Lepanto God we we we understand that Because of Brokenness and sin in people's lives.

There is no such thing as a perfect church But but it is your bride nonetheless

So father we just want to lift them up to you we want we want them to To know that we care that we are thinking of them that we are praying for them

God we pray for RJ as he is just now stepping into Leading these people as an under shepherd.

I pray that you would give him wisdom God I pray that you would give him strength that he needs for this massive task that you've called him to God, I pray that you would give him peace and wisdom discernment

God, I pray that he is able to point your sheep to your word that he is not like other men that Try and point the sheep to their own words or their own opinions

But Lord, I know that RJ loves your word and I know that that's what he desires to do is point them to you the

Good Shepherd So father I pray this morning that that you would be honored in their worship

Father, I pray that you would use your word this morning to penetrate into the hearts and lives of the people there

Lord that it would work its way into the marriages Lord that it would it would cause the men of that church to die to self and imitate their

Savior Christ That it would cause the women to die to self and imitate their

Savior Christ And Lord that you would grow them in maturity and in the faith and use them mightily for kingdom purposes

For that that town Lepanto Lord I pray that they would be a beacon of light there for the gospel of Jesus Christ We thank you for them

Christ name. Amen. Amen. Well, let's go ahead and stand as we begin our service with a call to worship

Last week we looked at a few verses here in Ephesians that we have been studying and today

We want to pick up where we left off at Ephesians 1 7 through 10 and a read and response

Paul writes 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

Making known to us the mystery of his will Which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time

And all God's people said Amen. Amen. Well, let's go to the

Lord once again in a prayer of adoration. Oh Dear heavenly

Father we come to you today and we are so grateful for who you are Father we are so grateful that you you are the creator of all things the the sustainer of all things

You allow us to be in your presence You restore us to you because of the blood of your son

Covering us and making us righteous holy and blameless before you

So Lord, we stand in that and we thank you for you are holy and perfect and all your ways are good and just I thank you for being

The mighty all -powerful sovereign God that you are And father this morning we long we long to see you in greater light

We see through a glass dimly at this moment because of the frailty of the flesh

But God we we long to see you more clearly And I pray this morning as a people that as we look at your word as we pray as we read your word that You you would show us your your great truth

And that may we may fear you that we may love you that we may

Trust you that we may long for you father Lord be be honored in our worship this morning

Praise God from whom all blessings flow praise him all creatures here below Praise him above ye heavenly host

Praise father son and holy

Ghost Oh We worship a triune

God this morning, don't we? Well as we've walked through the Psalms before we go to singing these great truths to God I want to I want to read the

Psalm that we've come to today, which is Psalm chapter 63 where the psalmist says Oh God you are my

God Earnestly, I seek you my soul thirst for you

My flesh faints for you as in a dry and weary land where there is no water

So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary beholding your power and glory

Because your steadfast love is better than life. My lips will praise you

So I will bless you as long as I live in your name. I will lift up my hands

My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food and my mouth will praise you with with joyful lips when

I remember you upon my bed and Meditate on you in the watches of the night for you have been my help

And in the shadow of your wings, I will sing for joy My soul clings to you my right hand upholds you

But those who seek to destroy my life shall go down into the depths of the earth They shall be given over to the power of the sword.

They shall be a portion for jackals But the king shall rejoice in God all who swear by him shall exalt

For the mouth of liars will be stopped We come together this morning to sing to exalt the name of our great and mighty king

Our king that has made us his father. We get to worship him in spirit and truth this morning

Standing in the righteousness of our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen What a great truth and sometimes we fall throughout the week, don't we?

We fail We failed even this morning at many times. Oh, but there's forgiveness

We don't stand in our own righteousness this morning. Do we? There's nothing righteous about you and I other than an alien righteousness of Christ within us so let's go to him once again before we sing let's pray a prayer of confession and assurance a confession of our frailty and our sin and our our

Wickedness that is within us, but the assurance that we rest in in Christ Dear Heavenly Father.

We come to you once again And we are so grateful that you have called us to yourself that you have drawn us in By the blood of your son father

But even even though in this here and now in the already, but not yet.

We still have this sinful flesh And we fail you But God help us this morning not to come

With that Holding with it holding it with a tight fist Not wanting to let go of our sin father help us to be a repentant people.

Oh Forgive us father for where we fail you where we don't do the things that we should have this week

And and when we do the things that we ought not do father forgive us God mold our hearts father to you and God we stand

We stand righteous even in that because of our position in Christ.

Oh Father help us to help us to rest in that this morning as we sing these great truths as we worship you father

I pray that it would be a sweet smelling aroma to you Because of the assurance that we stand in Because of your great holiness because of your great work which you set out to do in Christ's name

Amen Oh God, we thank you that you are all known, that all of our ways are orchestrated by you,

God, we praise you for everything. Thank you, God. That's almost, um, and that's too comforting to know that it wasn't, that it wasn't me, for sure.

Because I plan a lot of ways that are probably not, uh, not too good. But I'm just thankful that He does orchestrate our steps.

Through this I hope, my hope is only

Jesus. For my life is holy, proud to live.

How strange and divine, I can see. Oh, there's light in the rain.

God, we thank you that you are all known, that all of our ways are orchestrated by you, God, we praise you for everything. Through this I hope, my hope is only Jesus. For my life is holy, proud to live. How strange and divine,

I can see. Oh, there's light in the rain.

How strange and divine, I can see. Well, heights of love are depths of peace.

When fears are stilled and strivings cease.

My comforter, here is the last of hope.

So, confess, born to survive in a hell that's made.

Spirits of love and righteousness, Storned by the ones

He came to save. Till on that cross, as Jesus died,

The world was satisfied. In every sin, on the end was laid,

The death of our

God, since when? With mercy God, He pulled us safe,

From the grave to Him. And as He stands in victory,

Since Christ has lost His gracious blood,

This is the power of Christ in me. When lies burn bright, divine,

Oh, Jesus commands my death. Spirits of love, with the power of His hand,

Till He returns, here in the power of His hand.

Till He returns, or calls me home,

Here in the power of Christ I stand.

Till He returns, or calls me home,

Here in the power of Christ I stand.

God, as we continue to worship You and honor You in this time of giving, I ask that You would receive these small gifts, this offering.

Thank You, Jesus, for the provisions You provided for us throughout the week, that You take care of every small detail, that You go before us, that You make the way for us.

Thank You, Lord, that You make our paths, graceful, through Jesus' name.

Y 'all ready to dive into God's Word? I've been ready. I am ready. Well, let's go ahead and open up your copy of God's Word to Ephesians chapter 1.

Ephesians chapter 1, and our primary text for today is going to be verses 9 and 10, if we can get through both of them together.

But this is week 11 of our series through the book of Ephesians that we have entitled,

In Christ, because that is the theme of the book, In Christ, as we see that phrase repeated time and time again.

But just as I say each week as we're in this particular section, we're going to start reading in verse 3, and we're going to read all the way to verse 14, being that this is one long sentence from the

Apostle Paul. So let's read, starting there in Ephesians 1, starting in verse 3.

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 blood.

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.

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. Let us stop now. Let's go to the source once again and ask that he would work in our hearts and minds to help us to see this great truth.

Dear Heavenly Father, we humble ourselves before you, acknowledging that your word is clear, it is precise, it is perfect.

And in our frailty, we often misunderstand it, misinterpret it.

Oh, but God, we ask this morning that through the power of the Holy Spirit we could read your words as they are, that we would use diligent study,

Lord, that we would be what you have called us to be, and that is students of your great truth and your words.

So, Father, guard my words. Guard my lips from air. Father, I pray that you would illuminate your truth to us.

There's nothing special. You're not sending it into our brains as we sit here neutrally, but you are allowing us to dig, to study, and to use our

God -given minds. But we need your help to do so. In Christ's name, amen. All righty.

Well, over the past few weeks, we have seen in this great text this grand explanation of how

God has blessed each of us, those of us in here this morning who are in Christ.

Every saint that's ever lived, he has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, as Paul writes in verse 3.

And the fact that he chose each one of us, individually, personally, chose each one of us even before the creation, that he loved us enough to predestine us for adoption, to call us as sons and heirs with Christ, and that he has done so by redeeming us, by purchasing us at a great cost, at a cost of ransom of the blood of his own son, he has redeemed us.

And furthermore, he has done all of this, he has lavished all of this upon us, meaning he has extravagantly poured all of this out upon us as children.

It's not just portions, it's just not small little bits. He lavishly, extravagantly poured all of this out.

And he did not do this recklessly. He did not do this whimsically. Nothing about God is reckless.

His love is not reckless. To claim so is heresy. There is nothing about God that is remotely whimsical because God does all things well.

And it says, as Paul says, he did all of this in all wisdom and insight.

He does everything according to the counsel of his will. It is precise. Everything that God does, every move that happens is done with great intention and precision.

Especially this call, predestination, the sonship.

Oh, this was a work of God. And in doing so, he is, as he says here in verse 9 of the text we're going to look at today, making known to us the mystery of his will.

We get some insight here. Paul speaks of this mystery quite a bit in the book of Ephesians. If you kind of do a word study, you'll see he uses this word mystery a handful of times throughout this one letter.

But I would actually like for us to look at the account of him using this phrase in another book.

So if you could, flip over with me to Colossians chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1. If you're not familiar with it in the

New Testament, if you've got your Bible open to Ephesians, flip to the right two books. You've got

Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians. Colossians 1, verses 26 and 27.

I want us to see what Paul is speaking about when he mentions this mystery that is revealed to us.

Here in this section of Colossians, Paul is speaking of making the word of God fully known.

God has revealed his word to him, and he is now revealing that word through writing it to the saints by the inspiration of the

Holy Spirit. And he refers to it as, here in verse 26 of Colossians 1, the mystery.

Now, this is that same mystery, I believe, that Paul is speaking about in our passage in Ephesians. And what does he say about this mystery?

He says that it is hidden. It has been hidden for ages and generations. What does he mean? He's referring to pre -Christ.

Before Christ, these truths, this mystery, had been hidden for ages and generations.

It doesn't mean that there weren't glimpses of it, but you've got to understand, the saints that were saved by looking to a

Messiah, saints like Abraham were saved by looking to a Messiah. They saw through this glass very dimly.

It was a shadow. They saw enough to have faith, God -given faith.

But this right here shows us that this mystery was, for the most part, hidden. And it was hidden from mankind.

It was hidden from even spiritual beings. And he says the mystery, hidden for ages and generations, but now revealed to his saints.

This mystery has been revealed to who? The saints. You've been with us long enough.

You know what saints are, right? They're not special super -Christians. They're us.

They're everyone. This is the us that Paul is referencing back in our passage in Ephesians 1 -9.

This is the us. The saints are the Christians. And what does he say about this?

He says in verse 27, look, to them, the us, the saints,

God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery.

That mystery again, right? Now, Paul goes on, and he actually tells us what this mystery is, doesn't he?

This mystery, which is Christ in you. The hope of glory.

He defines the mystery. He tells us this is what the mystery is. The mystery is Christ in you.

The hope of glory. This mystery that was hidden for ages before that they couldn't quite understand and grasp and very few saw.

Now all of the sudden, Christ has come and made a way. Christ in us. The hope of glory.

And you see, this is why, this is precisely why the gospel is foolishness to those who are perishing, isn't it?

It's foolishness to them. This mystery hasn't been revealed to them. They have no concept of this mystery.

This mystery is a mystery still to them because it's only been revealed to us saints.

And you may say, well, I know a lot of non -Christians who know the gospel. I'm not talking about intellectually knowing the gospel.

Lots of people intellectually know the gospel. But God shows a means, you gotta understand, that seems like foolishness to them.

It seems like foolishness to them. But to us, we see the transcendent beauty of the cross, don't we?

The cross is a stumbling block to some. It's an offense to some. It's pure foolishness to the perishing world.

But to us, the saints, the us, this mystery has been revealed. We see it.

We get to have a front row seat to this mystery because he has made it known to us, the mystery of his will.

And he has done so as he says, look at the next part of our passage in Ephesians 1 .9. He has done so, he's made known to us the mystery of his will according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ.

He has revealed to us, you and I, his children, right, the saints, he has revealed to us that will that had been hidden for ages, that will that he had purposed, that he had set out to accomplish.

God set out to accomplish his purposes, didn't he? This is what God has done and he's revealed this to us.

His will, which he has set forth, he has revealed to us in and through his son,

Christ. This is how he's revealed his will to us. That is the only reason and way that we know, that we can see it, that it's been revealed.

And if you think about this for one second, it's like, wow.

God's purpose, the creator of all things, sovereign will, involved redeeming me.

If you're in Christ, redeeming you. Those of us who have come to faith, that have repented of our sins and trusted in the merits of Christ, what a glorious truth.

This beautiful truth, one that is personal, one that is extremely intimate. And Paul has painted a clear picture of this purpose over the past few weeks, hasn't he?

He's laid that out. He's told us of this mystery of Christ, of God's purpose and plan and how you individually have a personal, relational part in that.

His plan. However, Paul doesn't leave off here.

Paul doesn't just stop there with the personal engagement of his plan.

He goes on into the next verse in verse 10 where he gives us a much larger view of God's purpose and will.

He goes beyond, one that has a much grander scope of God's intentions. This phrase, this passage in verse 10 gets right to the core of God's plan.

It goes beyond the personal and it gets right to the matter.

As a matter of fact, I believe that this verse essentially summarizes the whole of Scripture. You want to know what the whole of Scripture is about?

Read verse 10 of Ephesians 1. This summarizes it for you, the very purpose of Christianity right here.

Something that goes far beyond that magnificent restoration of the individual, the salvation of you and I that we've gotten to gaze upon over the past few weeks that we've been able to sit in and rest in.

That's why Paul started there. He's pointing to the Christians. He's saying, look at the position that you have in God's plan of redemption.

But it doesn't stop there. That plan, that purpose, that will that he set forth in Christ, look at verse 10, is as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him, and things in heaven, and things on earth.

Do you see what Paul's doing? Do you see where Paul's going here? He has been building to this grand crescendo, this highest point of God's purpose and plan is coming into this verse right here, verse 10, building up to the main thing, the salvation of you and I is not the main thing.

I think oftentimes Christianity gets this part right where we acknowledge, oh my goodness, our savior has redeemed us.

I have been brought in. I've been adopted. It's me. I have this relationship with the creator of all things.

Man, what a beautiful truth, and it is, and praise God we have it because it gives us identity.

It gives us security, doesn't it? It allows us to rest, and we know that we play a part in this plan.

But this is just a piece of the whole. It's not the whole.

Here in verse 10, this is a summary of God's grand finale. This is where God's taking it.

We're just seeing a small portion so far of God's plan, and here's the thing.

Because this mystery has been revealed to us, it's not just the mystery of our personal relationship with Christ.

It's the mystery of his plan altogether, and you and I have been given the privilege now, this beautiful privilege of looking into, of meditating on this marvelous mystery of God's plan.

He's let you and I in on the secret. Right? He's brought us in to the family and sat around the family table and said, this is my plan.

This is what I'm doing. Sometimes you get distracted, and you think it's just about you or it's just about your family and the people around you and the church that you're in and the

Christians in your community or even just the Christians that live in this world at this time. Oh, but it's so much bigger.

Oh, my plan is so much bigger than that. Don't get distracted. This mystery has been revealed to us through Christ, and we know how this story ends now.

We know how the story is because we've been brought into the story. We now know what the ultimate plan is, and that ultimate plan is what?

To unite all things to himself, to unite all things to himself.

So not only do we know the end game, what the end game is, we know how he's going to accomplish it.

And here's the thing. In that, I believe, we see something of our marching orders, our marching orders for the here and now.

Some of you may be thinking, where is he going with this? What does that have to do with what we're doing?

Bear with me, because let's be honest. That's really what many of us want to know, isn't it?

Many of us that are here in the here and now, we want to know what our purpose as Christians is.

We want to know what we're left here on earth to do, don't we? What's the game plan,

God? What do I need to do in the here and now?

And that's because I think we look around, we look around and what do we see?

What do we see around us? We see a world that seems to not be united to its creator, don't we?

We see the brokenness. We see the injustice. We see the war and the disunity.

We see the fear going on around us, don't we? We see it.

And as we look around at it, we long for justice. We long for wholeness, don't we?

We long for peace. We long for unity. We desire it. We want it. It's deep within us.

And we long for it because we're made in the image of God, aren't we? We can long for it, but guess what?

Even the lost pagan world can long for it because the most lost pagan you can imagine is still creating the image of God.

Now he has suppressed the truth in his unrighteousness, but let me tell you what he longs for. He longs for justice. He longs for wholeness.

He longs for peace and unity. He longs for it. He just doesn't know how to get it. He doesn't even know what it is. He just knows that he has an internal longing for it.

The world longs for it, don't they? All of us are longing for it. But us as Christians, we see it as it should be.

We see this great Heavenly Father that has created the whole of the universe, and we look and we say, what rebellion and cosmic treason against a holy and just God.

We want it to be made right, don't we? We want it to be made right because he wants it made right.

However, more often than not, our desire to just do something leads

Christians, leads you and I to tend to spin our wheels trying to accomplish this through every means other than the one that God has.

We spin our wheels. We're always trying to make it right because we know it's wrong, and we long for something.

We work very hard trying to accomplish it through things like legislation, don't we? Very hard.

Thinking that if it could just pass, if we could just pass the right laws, things will be right.

We can force justice. We can be assured that the sanctity of life will be upheld.

We can do this if we can just pass the right laws and get the right people in office. Don't we?

We seek to accomplish it through influence, thinking that we can change things by the power of persuasion.

If we can just get Tim Tebow to talk on the news, then the whole world will be just and right, don't we?

Or even worse at times, Christians, and don't put on your holy face with me, thinking, oh,

I don't know what you're talking about. You know good and well what I'm talking about. We often try and bully the world into it, try and bully the world into it through power, trying to force them into submission, don't we?

We're constantly trying to bring about unity, justice, rightness, wholeness.

That's what we want. We long for it. And I have to give many of these Christians, many of the

Christians that fall prey to this, I have to give them credit. At least they're doing something, right?

And I think that's what happens. I think that's why many ministries come along. I've seen them come and go over the years.

There's always one particular ministry that gets real popular and then kind of fades out, and then another one comes up and gets real popular and fades out.

And this is just the natural recourse of the way things work in the world. I've seen them come along, and they look, they're taking action.

They're taking action like the ones I just listed. They're doing something. And so many people, so many

Christians look at them and feel as though, finally, someone's doing something. Finally.

Someone is dealing with all the sin and destruction in our culture and stopping it.

I can get behind that. I can go along with that. I want that.

And they grab a hold of whatever kind of paradigm that ministry philosophy carries with it, don't they?

I can bring about restoration through these actions. And here's the thing.

In many cases, some of these ministries, many of them do produce seemingly temporal results, don't they?

Some of them have enough power behind them where they seem to produce some level of result.

Yet more often than not, they have a way of distracting the church from its actual task.

It's a distraction. What better way for the evil one to get a hold of us?

Because he knows he can't get through us doctrinally. He looks at a church like 12 .5 and he's like, man,

I'm trying to get in all these angles, but these guys are doctrinally sound. I can't get in over here. So what's he going to do?

He's going to try and dangle the carrot outside and say, oh, look at what you could accomplish if you would just spin your wheels trying to bring about justice in this way and keeping us from something else, something that actually has the power to do it.

It's a distraction. I've seen it over and over again through the years, just watching churches and Christians fall prey to this time and time again.

Because here's the thing. The true task of the church is one of often slow -moving common means of grace, one that relies solely on the work of the

Holy Spirit. And very few of us have the patience. Very few of us have the patience to wait on the

Holy Spirit to work. We see the injustice. We want to crush the injustice.

And we want to bring unity with the Creator and the creation through some other means because that seems to produce fruit faster.

There's no power. Because we do truly desire to unite all things to Him, things in heaven and things on earth, because that's what

God desires. And that is His plan. Why do we desire it? Because that's what

He desires. But notice how God set out to accomplish it. Look at verse 9 again.

Look at how God set out to accomplish this task. Making known to us the mystery of His will, this mystery that was hidden for ages but now has been revealed to the saints.

We are now in on the secret. We know what He has done, and it's according to His purpose.

And what's God's purpose? We know now in verse 10 to unite all things to Himself, isn't it? That's His purpose.

That's His plan. That's the whole plan, according to His purpose to unite all things to Himself, which

He set forth, meaning He accomplished in Christ. He set forth to accomplish uniting all things to Himself in Christ.

This is how He accomplished it. Look at verse 10. As a plan.

A plan for what? To unite all things to Himself? For the fullness of time.

So what's His plan for the fullness of time? To unite all things to Him. Things in heaven and things on earth.

And how has He set out to accomplish this? In Christ.

In Christ, this is how He set out to accomplish it. Paul wrote in Romans 1 a very common verse that most of you probably already know.

He says, For I am not ashamed of the gospel. What's the gospel?

Christ. The good news of what Christ has done. The work of Christ. I'm not ashamed of the work of Christ.

I'm not ashamed of the gospel. Why am I not ashamed? He says, For it is the power of God for salvation.

He's essentially saying the same thing He said there in the passage in verse 9 and 10 of Ephesians, right? He's saying that He set forth in Christ.

He began to do it in Christ. He's going to accomplish it through Christ. He's going to carry it out through Christ because that's what

Paul says. He's like, Hey, I'm not ashamed of this gospel. I'm not ashamed of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation.

And what is salvation? God's means of uniting all things to Himself.

That's the purpose of it, isn't it? Otherwise, why would Jesus come and shed His blood for us?

Just because He loved us? That's a part of it. That's just icing on the cake of what

God's initial, real, true, at its core plan is, is to unite all things to Himself.

And Jesus has shed His blood in order to accomplish it. This is the plan that God has set forth.

And here's what that means. You may be confused like, Okay, so what's our game plan? Like, what do we do in the here and now?

Like, what's the purpose? Like, this mystery's been revealed to us. How do we deal with it? Well, here's how you deal with it.

It means that you and I have been tasked with something. Go and tell.

Go and tell. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the

Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. Go and tell.

This is what God has called us to do. God didn't leave us here to try and bring about the uniting of Him and His creation through any other means than the one

He's provided. But it's so easy to get distracted, isn't it?

How often do we try and convince somebody that abortion is wrong and completely forget to tell them the gospel and why it's wrong?

How often do we try and convince somebody that conservative politics is right, but we never give them the gospel to show them why it's right?

We forget. We forget the source. We forget that that's the power of God unto salvation, and salvation is what

God's doing to unite all things to Himself. So what does

Paul mean here in this passage when he says, as a plan for the fullness of time?

There's a little bit of confusion here. There's a lot of discussion as to whether or not this is the same type of reference that Paul wrote in Galatians 4 .4,

because in Galatians 4 .4 he says, Same phrase, seems like, right?

When the fullness of time had come, it had come. Something happened. God sent forth

His Son, born of a woman, born under the law. So this passage in Galatians is meaning that in the perfect time, in the appointed time,

Jesus' earthly ministry began, and He accomplished it in the perfect time, right?

That's what he's saying in Galatians 4. So is this the same fullness of time that Paul is speaking of here in Ephesians?

That's right. It's not. One, because of context. But two, most people don't realize this, but the

Greek word for time is different in each one. Mind you, Paul wrote both of these letters, and he used a different word for time.

As a matter of fact, the word in Ephesians is sometimes translated, the fullness of times.

So what does that mean? I believe what

Paul is referring to is here all time. The end game.

His ultimate plan. Now, of course, we've been given this mystery.

It's been revealed to us, but we also don't know when that time will be.

Jesus Himself said, It's not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority.

We don't know what those things are, but what we do know is that He has already accomplished it.

It's been revealed to us. He has already accomplished it. We know that in Christ we are positionally united with Him, don't we?

You and I are positionally united. We've been made right positionally with the Father. We've been talking about that for weeks.

If you haven't got it yet, we need to go back to square one. But we're positionally made right with God because of Christ.

However, again, Paul is speaking of the ultimate fullness of time. Of times.

Coming to the end. We still experience that longing for that experiential unity, don't we?

That's the thing that we're chasing. That's the thing that we long for. We want that brokenness to be healed.

We want the injustice to be made right. We long for that experientially.

As a matter of fact, the entire creation is groaning for this very thing, isn't it?

It was created for unity with Him, the Creator. That's what it was created for.

But Adam's sin in the garden subjected all of it to this futility. Adam's sin subjected all of creation.

Every molecule in this universe has been subjected to Adam's sin.

And this is why all earthly attempts at justice, peace, unity fall short. That's why every other avenue to try and bring about unity with the

Creator is futile. All of creation was affected.

And that is why the work of Christ at the cross is the only solution, isn't it? It's the only solution.

You might be able to create some kind of pretend justice for a season. We've seen countries do that, haven't we?

We might be able to do this make -believe unity for a time. We might be able to bring about some semblance of peace for a season.

But apart from the saving faith in Christ and Christ alone, humanity is still at war with its

Creator. Fighting against the world with the world's means is using means that are subjected to this futility.

Only the gospel has the power for change. And as we proclaim this good news, as we live our lives as salt and light, reflecting the glory of our

Savior, Jesus Christ, sharing the good news of what He has done, is there true change?

And we do so with a confident hope, don't we? It may not happen as fast as we long for it to happen because everything happens in God's timing.

Sometimes the Holy Spirit comes into a community and brings out a great awakening. And it happens faster than you could even have fathomed it.

And all of these people are being saved and their lives are being changed. There's this beauty that's going on.

But other times the Holy Spirit says, Oh, no, I'm going to use that slow drip of the common means of grace, of you going to church every

Sunday, reading your Bible, praying to me, communing with me, and sharing with the people around you the good news of Jesus Christ.

And then I save here, I redeem here, I restore here. And we have to rest in that instead of trying to push and push and push.

But we do this with confident hope due to the fact that we know that He is uniting all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth.

He is doing it. God will make all things new, won't He? God is restoring the creation.

He is restoring what Adam broke. And yes, we have to wait for the fruition of that.

Because we're in the here and now. We speak of it often here, the already and not yet, right? The already and not yet of the

Christian life as we await the coming of our Messiah. This already in that Christ, He has come.

He's made a way for restoration, hasn't He? He has brought us into the mystery.

He's brought us to the table. And He's made us positionally righteous. Not only that,

Christ already reigns as King, doesn't He? In this already. The writer of Hebrews in chapter 2 and verse 8, he references

Psalm 8. Psalm is referring to Christ, right? The shadow of Christ to come. And in referencing

Psalm 8, he says, putting everything in subjection under His feet. The writer says, now in putting everything in subjection to Him, who?

Christ. He left nothing outside of His control.

Wait a second. Nothing? Jesus reigns?

And He's even in control? He is the King of the most pagan nations you could fathom in your mind?

They may not acknowledge Him as King. They may rebel against that King. Oh, but He's their

King. He is in control of all things. That's the already that we rest in. And so when we look around and we say,

I want to use these other means because we need to bring about unity to the King. And the

King is sitting on His throne going, you foolish child, I've given you the means. Point to me.

And when people fall on their face before me, when the Holy Spirit awakens them from death to life, and they repent of their sins, and they see, and they're brought into this mystery, they see it, and they serve me.

And I am King. And even the ones that aren't, I am King, and I will punish them for their rebellion.

But you, you don't have to take matters into your own hands. You do what I told you to do.

Go and tell. That's what I told you to do. You share the gospel. You tell them of me.

You warn them of the judgment to come. That's your job. That's the whole purpose here. And the writer of Hebrews says, because he even acknowledges that, he left nothing outside of his control.

God left nothing outside of Christ's control because He reigns as King. And then he acknowledges what we feel right now in the already.

At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to Him. He doesn't say, at present, everything is not in subjection to Him.

He says, at present, we don't see it subjected to Him. We don't see these powers that be, this brokenness of this world, is subjected to Christ.

Everything, though, is under His reign. Even if we don't see it, this is the already, isn't it? Rest in it.

The already is not a bad thing. The already is a beautiful thing that we get to just be here and be a part of what

God is doing. Remember how I said the individual salvation of each one of us is a beautiful, great thing?

But it's not the whole. God has an elect from every tribe, nation, and tongue that He's bringing into Himself.

And at the fullness of time, whenever all of that builds to a final crescendo,

Christ will return. And that's what we look for in the not yet.

We're already here, but what is to come is not yet. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15, verses 24 through 25.

Pastor Jeremiah just recently taught on this text, so it was fresh in my mind. Then comes the end.

We're in the already, but there's the not yet. He says the end, when

He delivers the kingdom to God, the Father, after destroying every rule and every authority and power.

He's going to bring justice. Verse 4,

He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. It doesn't mean that His enemies aren't under Him as He reigns at the moment of the already.

What He's referring to is He will force them to their knees. He will force them to submit with justice, righteousness, and wrath.

Jesus doesn't return as an infant in a stable in seeming obscurity.

Jesus returns as a reigning king. And every knee will bow.

Every knee, and He is going to bring this to fruition in the fullness of times, isn't

He? When it culminates to the final enemy, verse 26 there in 1

Corinthians, the last enemy to be destroyed is death.

Death. Adam brought death into the world through his disobedience.

Jesus came and took the sting of death away in His first coming. He reigns, and in God's perfect purpose and in God's perfect will and timing,

Jesus will return again and do away with death completely. This is our blessed hope.

If this isn't true, we are all without hope. If this isn't true, we cannot and will not be restored to our

Creator. If this isn't true, God is a liar. Quit meeting.

Live your life. Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you may die.

But here's the thing. Praise God that this is true. Because God is not a liar.

And God has promised in that return He will restore all things to Himself. And that final enemy, death, will be defeated.

It will be gone. Has God taken away through the blood of His Son the sting of death?

Yes, He has. That's why when we go to a funeral, when we experience loss in this world, we don't grieve as those who have no hope.

We know that there's a lasting hope and an everlasting life and a resurrection to come. We know that.

We rest in that. But we still feel that prick, don't we?

We know it's not right. It's not. God is going to restore all things to Himself.

Praise God. That's our blessed hope, isn't it? Hang to it. Hold tightly to it.

This is not just an individual Christianity. This is God making all things new. This is

God restoring the creation in this process. And I believe

God is simply waiting for that last elect person. I don't have a scripture to say this is

Nathan's opinion. This is 2nd Opinions chapter 3. Jot this down. Verse 46, right? I believe that the moment the very last person is awakened from death to life and brought into faith, that the

Savior goes, Now it's time. I will return, and I will put it all under my feet. And they will bend the knee, and I will reign, and I will defeat death finally.

And they will never suffer that again. They will never go through sin. I will strip it from them completely, and I will reign as their king, and they will be my people.

Not in this already middle ground that we feel the weight of, but in that not yet.

It's a beautiful hope, isn't it? It's a beautiful hope. Rest in it. Now in light of that, what do we need to do?

We need to go to the Lord's table. We need to go to the Lord's table and partake of the elements that God has prescribed for us, that Jesus himself has prescribed.

I want to read one of the accounts in Matthew 14 of the introduction of this

Lord's supper that we get to partake in as his people. Mark says,

And as they were eating, he took bread, Jesus, and after blessing it, broke it, and gave it to them, and said,

Take, this is my body. And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank of it.

And he said to them, This is my blood of the covenant, which I poured out for many. Truly I say to you,

I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.

Oh, our Savior is sitting at the right hand of the Father. And one day we get to join him, and we get to sit at that great feast.

But now we just get a taste. And praise God, that taste is enough, isn't it?

That taste that we get to partake in these elements showing that we have been put in Christ.

We didn't put ourselves there. He put us there. He purchased us. He brought us in. And we come to these elements, the wine and the bread representing the blood and the body of our

Savior. And this is a time of worship. This is a time of looking ahead to the future.

This is a beautiful time, isn't it? This is a glorious time. What a beautiful picture he has left us with.

And even Paul mentioned it, I believe, in 1 Corinthians when he's talking about the Lord's Supper. He said that Jesus told us to do this in remembrance of him until he returns again, meaning he's returning again, meaning that if he's already returned and we're all in this no man's land, quit taking the

Lord's Supper. It's meaningless. Oh, but now it's meaningful to us because we take it until he returns.

Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you for the great sacrifice that you've made for us individually.

But, oh, help us not to lose sight of the big picture. God, that you are restoring all of this to yourself again.

There will be no more brokenness, no more tears, no more pain, no more sin, no more enmity with the

Creator, but perfect unity because you're restoring it. Oh, Father, thank you.

Help us to rest in that. Help us not to get distracted by trying to bring it about by other means.

Father, help us to share the good news of Christ, the gospel, the power of God unto salvation with those around us, knowing that you have an elect from every tribe, nation, and tongue.

You have an elect from our families. You have an elect from our neighbors. You have an elect from our country, our entire world.

Oh, Father, help us to declare this great truth to those around us, knowing that that is what brings about, that alone is what is going to bring about this unification of your creation with you.

Help us to rest in it. Help us be reminded. Father, I pray as we come to this table that you would search our hearts, and Lord, help it to be a time of worship.

Father, help us as your people to look to Christ and Christ alone in these elements.