back to indexWed Bible Study Ephesians Lesson 6
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Let's bring our attention up here to the front. 00:00:15.320 |
We will take a moment to pray and then jump into our study. 00:00:26.960 |
Our God, we truly want to have our minds filled with your truth so that, Father God, we may 00:00:39.120 |
God, as we have been studying so far your scripture in the book of Ephesians, God, we 00:00:46.720 |
can see, Lord, just how incredibly rich and deep your love is. 00:00:53.000 |
And I pray, Father God, that in our hearts and our souls, there would be such an appreciation. 00:00:59.040 |
Lord, I pray, Father God, that we would exercise our faith particularly here so that, God, 00:01:06.200 |
we can experience just the incredible joy that comes from seeing, Lord, your work towards 00:01:14.080 |
us, the incredible confidence and hope from seeing, Father God, what you have secured 00:01:21.160 |
Lord, would you be with us tonight as we continue to study? 00:01:24.960 |
We do ask for your Spirit's leading and conviction. 00:01:28.280 |
We ask for eyes open to observe, to ask, and to continue learning, Lord. 00:01:40.840 |
It's always good to just follow the trail of thought from Apostle Paul as he is teaching 00:01:47.040 |
this amazing theology, the amazing truth, just the amazing kind of praise of God and 00:01:57.280 |
So remember that in the first, you can just think of the first half, chapter one, rather 00:02:01.760 |
than thinking through like, "Oh, which verse?" 00:02:03.800 |
Just think, okay, chapter, chapter, chapter, first half of chapter one, the overwhelming 00:02:12.480 |
Remember that there was such an emphasis of all cross time, across like the, just the 00:02:22.720 |
It was all in Christ and it was to his praise, okay? 00:02:27.040 |
Now I have a bunch of blanks for you guys and stuff like that on there. 00:02:29.640 |
Just go ahead and jot those down just for your retention's sake. 00:02:33.480 |
Second half of chapter one, remember Apostle Paul says, "So if there is this massive blessing 00:02:39.720 |
that exists in Christ and I hear of your faith in it, I'm so overjoyed." 00:02:46.680 |
He prays that every single person would have their eyes open and enlightened to know what 00:02:51.840 |
is the hope, the riches, and the greatness of his power, okay? 00:02:59.160 |
Now from there, remember that those things are things that we could have just camped 00:03:03.640 |
out on, but very specifically, Apostle Paul focuses on the power of God and begins to 00:03:10.720 |
He begins to unpack, see the power of God that has placed Christ far above, and there 00:03:18.560 |
was a lot of lists of various things that he did. 00:03:24.480 |
Chapter two, what we studied last time, first half, right? 00:03:28.480 |
First half, essentially verses one through 10, you could almost see it as, and there 00:03:32.440 |
is then this great, magnificent display of the power of God and the gospel. 00:03:38.200 |
Ultimately, if you summarize it, it takes you dead and made alive with Christ, right? 00:03:45.440 |
And so we began by saying, "Though you were dead, you were dead in your sins and your 00:03:51.160 |
And we described how that deadness displays itself in multiple ways. 00:03:55.640 |
We described how, I said, one of the focal points of this too was that just like a dirty 00:04:00.480 |
sock puppet with the hand of Satan in it, you are like a lifeless being under the control 00:04:14.920 |
And I tried to give you that visual of a dead man, not just on the floor, but on the floor 00:04:19.840 |
inside of a jail cell with many other dead people throughout the generations of time, 00:04:25.760 |
So if you guys recall that picture I gave you guys, the scripture is teaching us about 00:04:29.080 |
the state of affairs prior to knowing God, okay? 00:04:33.240 |
And then in verses four through five, oops, I think I have an error there. 00:04:37.280 |
Chapter two, verses four through five, he says there's a great transition of the but, 00:04:41.600 |
but God made us alive, and the context of that is all of God and his rich mercy, of 00:04:48.200 |
his love, his great love, and then though we were dead in the transgressions, okay? 00:04:55.400 |
So today, let's take a moment to read our passage. 00:05:00.080 |
We're moving forward from that review to this section of scripture, and I'll read it for 00:05:04.920 |
It says, "But God, being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, 00:05:11.720 |
even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ by grace 00:05:17.400 |
you have been saved, and raised us up with him, and seated us with him in the heavenly 00:05:23.560 |
places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the surpassing riches 00:05:29.800 |
of his grace and kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. 00:05:33.600 |
For by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves. 00:05:38.280 |
It is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 00:05:43.280 |
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand 00:05:53.340 |
So that's our passage, and as you guys know, that passage from in chapter 2, verses 1 through 00:05:59.360 |
10, is such an amazing summary of the gospel that we have received, right? 00:06:05.040 |
If you're walking a non-Christian through the scriptures in order to share with them 00:06:08.440 |
the gospel, that is one primary portion to show. 00:06:14.680 |
The incredible, this is you prior to Christ without the Lord in your life. 00:06:22.440 |
Now let's begin by going to the very first section, verses 4 through 6, okay, verses 00:06:31.240 |
We begin with the question that I asked as a suggested study question, which is, observe 00:06:36.280 |
and re-observe what is the work of God towards us, right? 00:06:40.860 |
This passage and the passage before continue to talk about this is God's kindness towards 00:06:46.400 |
you, this is his work towards you, well what is it? 00:06:50.160 |
And what we notice is the three terms here highlighted, that he made us alive together 00:06:56.480 |
with Christ, he raised us up with him, and he seated us up with Christ, okay? 00:07:03.400 |
Now when you think about this then, you have to start making, start asking questions. 00:07:11.320 |
Is there any kind of relationship between those terms, right? 00:07:14.960 |
And I'm pretty sure a lot of you guys perhaps kind of just felt the growing grace through 00:07:19.720 |
it, okay, meaning there is kind of this like growing magnitude of what God is doing on 00:07:26.280 |
our behalf, to bring us alive with Christ, to raise us up, and then to seat us, right? 00:07:32.280 |
There's this like rising element to that, and that's totally legitimate, totally good 00:07:36.720 |
for us to think about, just to imagine like, you take an individual who previously was, 00:07:43.760 |
again I use that term, a dirty sock puppet that's lifeless, and then you place this 00:07:52.760 |
You place this individual in a seat of power. 00:07:55.240 |
You place this individual in a seat of authority. 00:08:00.480 |
Now for the sake of time, we can sit there and kind of meditate on that for a little 00:08:04.840 |
bit, but what I want to contrast is, previously, Apostle Paul in the description of our deadness, 00:08:11.520 |
he talked about actually the lowering that we had. 00:08:15.040 |
Meaning, previously, he described us by saying we were dead, and then you were oppressed, 00:08:21.880 |
You've been basically existing, rolling around in the mud, right, following your lusts. 00:08:28.440 |
And then to contrast that by saying, and that he made you alive, he raised you, and then 00:08:38.000 |
Now another thing that we want to observe, we observe that some of these terms are actually, 00:08:43.760 |
if you look at all these terms, it's like past tense. 00:08:47.800 |
But there's something strange about that, right? 00:08:50.120 |
You observe that being seated, like with him in the heavenlies, that's for future, isn't 00:09:01.600 |
But instead, it's talked about as in the past tense. 00:09:05.640 |
Now when you think about this, as a matter of fact, there's a lot of scripture, there's 00:09:09.720 |
a lot of things that we know that when we start thinking about sequence of time, it's 00:09:16.080 |
But there's something for us to really glean from all that, which is this. 00:09:21.200 |
The way that God is perceiving his work towards us is not just simply sequence of operation, 00:09:28.880 |
We're talking about spiritual realities that are true for us. 00:09:33.480 |
We're talking about spiritual realities that are true for us. 00:09:37.280 |
That in God's perspective, his work is already finished. 00:09:42.560 |
In God's perspective, God's masterful plan, in God's perspective, the things that he has 00:09:49.160 |
laid out, he has laid out already set in the distant past. 00:09:57.000 |
And the way that he thinks of it, it's good as done. 00:10:00.280 |
For us then, there can be this weird misconception that because we live in such kind of like 00:10:05.600 |
a linear timeline, we're thinking, okay, we're justified, we're sanctified, and then we're 00:10:09.360 |
glorified, and this needs to happen, and then that needs to happen, and we like to cut it 00:10:15.560 |
But actually when you think about it, including our sanctification, including our glorification, 00:10:22.360 |
there is a sense to the already, these are spiritual realities that you possess. 00:10:29.240 |
Scripture says that if anybody is in Christ, he is a new man. 00:10:34.480 |
Well, then therefore, the glorification, the sanctification that we're supposed to be progressively 00:10:40.800 |
working on, those things are conceived to be already yours to some degree, right? 00:10:46.600 |
So there's what I'm saying is an already, and also a not yet. 00:10:51.120 |
What am I saying that we should glean from this? 00:10:53.560 |
Is man, when we think about appreciating God's work for us, take some time to meditate on 00:11:02.560 |
For us, when we think about reasons to really worship, for us, when we're thinking about 00:11:08.680 |
reasons to really praise, there should be in our hearts this overwhelming feeling of 00:11:13.960 |
like, oh my goodness, I have already been blessed, right? 00:11:21.120 |
It isn't that the way pretty much that the whole book began, blessed be God, the Father 00:11:25.160 |
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who's blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly 00:11:35.000 |
Are we experiencing, even in the sentiment, that kind of blessedness? 00:11:40.520 |
Are we experiencing this kind of the spiritual realities are already yours? 00:11:46.680 |
This kind of the riches of the glories of God are already yours? 00:11:54.340 |
Now I want to make a third observation within this, when there's this, within this section 00:11:58.600 |
about the saving work of God, which is, if we notice one of the highlights of this section 00:12:05.240 |
is a repeated idea, again, that all these works of God are to us in Christ. 00:12:14.360 |
So first was thinking through God has made us alive, raised us and seated us. 00:12:20.940 |
Second is working through the idea that there is an already accomplished tense to the blessings 00:12:27.200 |
of God, and then this third part is that is all in the union with Christ. 00:12:33.880 |
The third observation for you is this is all in our union with Christ. 00:12:39.600 |
Please take some time to just meditate on this truth. 00:12:42.120 |
Again, I'm going to use that term quite a bit that we need to meditate on these truths 00:12:45.960 |
because the first three chapters of Ephesians is all about us understanding and knowing 00:12:54.200 |
But take some time to think about this, this amazing, perfect union that we have with Christ. 00:13:15.120 |
Meditate with me on this kind of strange and weird statement. 00:13:19.360 |
Whatever is true of Christ is true of you for salvation. 00:13:26.480 |
If I say whatever is true of Christ is true of you, automatically we should be feeling 00:13:30.980 |
a little bit uncomfortable because Christ is so far beyond us. 00:13:44.480 |
And so for us to say what is true of Christ is true of you, automatically that should 00:13:54.120 |
Because he is before us, he is far above and beyond us, and we are absolutely unworthy 00:14:05.440 |
To us in our salvation, the only way we were saved is to be saved in the person of Christ. 00:14:13.500 |
There is a spiritual, miraculous, almost indescribable power of God exercised where you're united 00:14:25.760 |
Because Christ has suffered, you have suffered. 00:14:29.720 |
Because he pleases God, when God looks upon you, you please him. 00:14:39.480 |
You know, in our table we were just kind of thinking about how this is effective in the 00:14:46.460 |
Let's take a moment just to meditate upon the ramifications of how we even describe 00:14:55.820 |
One, because of recent talks of the corruptions of different religions and cults or whatever 00:15:03.540 |
it may be, because there's constant like talks of like, let's say, even pedophilia within 00:15:11.940 |
There's lots of talks about the horrendous sins that even like, you know, religious people 00:15:23.940 |
When we talk about the gospel, we are talking about not just kind of sinners, we're talking 00:15:30.340 |
So we should be imagining the worst scenario possible. 00:15:35.380 |
If you take an individual who is a repeat offending pedophile, right? 00:15:47.120 |
To our human logic, that individual needs to pay. 00:16:00.180 |
Because that individual in his payment, if he places faith on Christ, guess what? 00:16:08.340 |
Because he's going to suffer and die just like Christ suffered and died. 00:16:16.820 |
He needs the worst, the greatest horrible pain and punishment possibly inflicted. 00:16:24.100 |
If he places faith on Christ, it's going to be true. 00:16:31.740 |
Because any man who places faith on Christ has died with him. 00:16:38.620 |
It's pretty crazy to think about that in our union with Christ, then we are truly afforded 00:16:47.460 |
And that's why this whole series, in our study through the book of Ephesians, that's why 00:16:52.980 |
I entitled it "Every Blessing in Christ," because it's such an emphatic point of the 00:17:07.060 |
In section two, one of the questions that I asked was, "What is the main objective or 00:17:13.420 |
goal that God has displayed in this passage?" 00:17:17.740 |
The grand purpose of salvation is another way to put it. 00:17:21.220 |
And what we see is, he says, "So that in the ages to come, he might show the surpassing 00:17:26.860 |
riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus." 00:17:33.420 |
Let's take a moment to really just kind of put a stake down and just meditate on that 00:17:42.060 |
He just says very clearly, "So that," this is the purpose, "that in the ages to come, 00:17:47.660 |
he might show the surpassing riches of his grace." 00:17:50.880 |
If we were to put it into our own words, we can summarize that by saying that God is going 00:17:55.860 |
to be glorified for his incredible love, right? 00:18:00.340 |
For his rich mercy, for his kindness, for the love that he lavished upon us. 00:18:10.740 |
And it doesn't take a genius to extrapolate that from the passage. 00:18:15.100 |
And so immediately, our question should be, if this is the goal of God, is this your goal? 00:18:22.920 |
If this is the purpose of God in his working and might, is this your ambition? 00:18:29.320 |
Because truthfully speaking, this right here, in terms of glorifying God for his incredible 00:18:33.800 |
salvation which exhibits his incredible sacrificial love, this is to us the foundation. 00:18:41.720 |
This is to us the deep well from which we do everything. 00:18:52.540 |
And the fact of the matter is, if, if for us, we lose sight of the incredible, glorious, 00:18:59.620 |
surpassing mercies of God, if I don't have a stirring appreciation for the rich, rich, 00:19:06.100 |
lavishing love of Christ, then I'm completely missing it. 00:19:11.180 |
I don't understand why people are in a hurry to go. 00:19:13.820 |
I don't understand why people are in a hurry to come to worship. 00:19:16.500 |
I don't understand why people are doing anything. 00:19:23.620 |
The pastors, we had like a, we had lunch on Tuesday and we were just kind of ruminating 00:19:29.280 |
And we were thinking, if an individual in his first step, foundation, in his first primary 00:19:38.580 |
heart condition, if he does not love and see the glory of God's grace towards us, then 00:19:47.260 |
to love even the church is a most dangerous thing. 00:19:54.020 |
To our community, one of the most dangerous people is not the guy going, "Hey, let's go 00:20:04.740 |
One of the most dangerous things that can happen to our church is somebody who literally 00:20:14.180 |
They love church, but they don't primarily have a love for Christ. 00:20:20.420 |
Because that means if our Lord Jesus Christ takes our church a different direction, if 00:20:24.660 |
that means the church is growing and changing, if that means the church is growing and moving 00:20:29.420 |
without that person, guess what that person is going to do? 00:20:34.540 |
Out of their so-called love for the church, they're going to resist Christ's leading. 00:20:41.740 |
Out of their dedication, "No, the church has to stay the same. 00:20:47.100 |
They could literally be at odds with the purposes of Christ. 00:20:51.300 |
Another way to think about it is the most dangerous person is a person who loves theology, 00:20:56.060 |
knowledge, and scripture with no idea of what it means to appreciate the love of Christ. 00:21:02.740 |
Because then every time they are learning and every time they're gaining in knowledge, 00:21:12.980 |
It goes into the bucket of their own accolades, their pride. 00:21:15.940 |
It goes into the bucket or their waist belt of weapons to use against people. 00:21:22.180 |
That's what happens when you do not have the first and foremost sight to see the riches 00:21:30.260 |
To us, our primary ambition should be the primary goal God has said is why he saves. 00:21:43.380 |
This passage comes from Isaiah 48, verses 9 through 11. 00:21:50.420 |
God says this, "For my name's sake, I defer my anger. 00:21:56.260 |
For the sake of my praise, I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off. 00:22:01.180 |
Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver. 00:22:04.220 |
I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. 00:22:18.140 |
That repetition you find in this passage, I did not add it for emphasis. 00:22:25.300 |
God acts in accordance with his glory, and therefore, ultimately, the incredible salvation 00:22:37.180 |
And so that to us has to be our great, great ambition. 00:22:41.100 |
Now, moving forward to the next section, in section three, the logic then of God's glory. 00:22:47.540 |
It's because when you observe this passage, notice how he has various statements that 00:22:53.380 |
says, "So that," and then you have your purpose, right? 00:22:58.140 |
But then the passage begins to continue to flow, where in verse eight, he begins with 00:23:02.900 |
the preposition "for," and then verse 10 also has that same term, "for." 00:23:09.300 |
Which means what I'm saying is that grand purpose statement of God, that he might show 00:23:13.180 |
his surpassing riches, is supported, or at least explained, right? 00:23:18.820 |
Supported or explained and extrapolated by those two thoughts. 00:23:22.500 |
One, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the 00:23:27.220 |
gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast." 00:23:31.500 |
Verse 10, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God 00:23:37.100 |
prepared beforehand, so that we would walk in them." 00:23:42.260 |
If I were to summarize that, I would summarize it like this. 00:23:45.500 |
The great purpose of God and the objective of God is for his glory, right? 00:23:51.340 |
And what shows his glory is the believers understanding the grace of God and appreciating 00:23:56.140 |
the grace of God, but what's more fulfilling, the work of God in us. 00:24:04.140 |
In that first section, we have to understand the logic that God's grace, God's grace reveals 00:24:13.900 |
But oftentimes, what stands against that great glory is our pride. 00:24:21.140 |
Where in our human eye, we want to see cause and effect, and the cause being us. 00:24:28.140 |
You recall the disciples regularly struggling with this desire that as God, like in Christ, 00:24:34.740 |
as God is doing his work, as Christ is doing his work, they constantly want a piece of 00:24:45.640 |
If you're gonna be exalted, can I sit on the right side, right? 00:24:49.160 |
If he's doing his work, it's like, which one's greater though, me or him, right? 00:24:52.020 |
There's always this constant vying for some kind of merit, right? 00:24:57.340 |
But what we have to conclude is, as you do that, you are not glorifying God. 00:25:04.340 |
Take a look at how emphatic this little section of scripture is. 00:25:09.340 |
To see the emphasis, what we see here is two repetitions of describing what it is and what 00:25:17.900 |
He says, "For by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves." 00:25:23.020 |
It is the gift of God, not as a result of work. 00:25:27.300 |
The reason why I say that's emphatic is because for us, every time we're trying to give, let's 00:25:30.920 |
say something like instruction, the way that we make sure something is emphatic is by telling, 00:25:35.540 |
"Hey, this is what it is, but also this is what it's not." 00:25:39.720 |
If I were to tell you guys, "Hey guys, I want you guys to get under your tables." 00:25:45.180 |
In order to make it emphatic, I say, "This is not a drill, right? 00:25:49.580 |
Likewise, in this passage, the Apostle Paul gives both, "This is what it is. 00:25:55.220 |
You have been saved by grace and this is what it's not. 00:25:57.320 |
This is not of yourselves and not as a result of works." 00:26:01.060 |
And what's more, think about how emphatic this is. 00:26:08.140 |
God as a design of His purpose, by the will of His power, as He has deemed it, no man 00:26:19.020 |
And what that makes me think about is the future. 00:26:22.820 |
You guys, if you guys read Revelation, think about the future and the scenes that are to 00:26:28.180 |
What we're going to see in the book of Revelation is like incredibly epic scenes. 00:26:35.380 |
Like these are cosmic scenes where the host of the world, every single person imaginable 00:26:45.260 |
And what's going to happen is like signifying figures, rulers, those with crowns are going 00:26:55.060 |
They're going to sing, "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power, riches, wisdom, 00:27:04.700 |
And they're going to keep crying out without end, "To Him who sits on the throne to be 00:27:09.060 |
praise, honor, glory, power forever and ever, amen." 00:27:15.860 |
And not a single individual is going to sit there and be like, "Yeah, we did it!" 00:27:27.900 |
It's because I want us to really be reflective of that section. 00:27:34.180 |
We're talking about the glory of God and the understanding for us that our salvation is 00:27:39.780 |
truly and purely of God that is directly tied to us giving Him glory. 00:27:47.420 |
But for generations and generations, whether it be church history, whether it be you in 00:27:51.820 |
your own life, we grapple and we struggle, right? 00:27:56.820 |
We struggle within ourselves to truly understand that our salvation is by grace and a gift 00:28:06.100 |
Something innate within us almost reacts like, "It doesn't make sense. 00:28:12.020 |
How could it be that all I have to do truly is to trust and to receive?" 00:28:21.700 |
You have to start thinking the whole context of everything He said is because you were 00:28:26.100 |
truly dead, is because you were truly wretched, is because this chasm that existed between 00:28:35.740 |
And you are absolutely incapable of doing anything else. 00:28:47.300 |
Okay, let me go to this part right here, the workmanship, right? 00:28:58.620 |
If we're talking about the glory of God, okay, and the first portion of it is the grace 00:29:04.260 |
of God that reveals, okay, and the second part of it, He says, "For we are His workmanship 00:29:10.460 |
created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk 00:29:17.540 |
Now, there's a couple things to understand and highlight here, so let's walk through 00:29:21.740 |
it together, and then we'll begin to start wrapping things up. 00:29:25.620 |
Here, in this second portion that supports God's purpose of showing and revealing His 00:29:32.100 |
glory and His surpassing mercies, He says that we are His workmanship. 00:29:38.060 |
So us being the handy work of God glorifies the Lord. 00:29:43.100 |
Now, some people might say some things like, "You are a masterpiece of God." 00:29:48.660 |
For those of you guys who did word study on that, good. 00:30:14.380 |
There is a group of people who we've labeled free grace theologians, okay? 00:30:21.100 |
I've mentioned them before in other contexts of preaching. 00:30:25.500 |
Free grace theologians denounce lordship salvation because they believe if grace is free, all 00:30:32.780 |
I have to do is verbally accept it, and we're done. 00:30:36.580 |
For you to expect of me to either bear fruit or show evidence is heresy. 00:30:41.440 |
To call for change of life is to lay a burden on the saint. 00:30:46.660 |
If I have claimed faith, God's grace is so free, even if you walk away for miles or for 00:30:56.620 |
So free grace theologians believe you can be apostate for some time, but eventually 00:31:01.380 |
you'll come back, and God's grace should not be doubted. 00:31:07.320 |
This passage right here, verse 10, absolutely contradicts all of that. 00:31:13.700 |
Because the scripture is saying the glory of God is revealed in His workmanship, which 00:31:22.200 |
So if a free grace theologian was before me, you know what I would say? 00:31:26.100 |
I would say stop meddling in all the technicalities of your free gift, but glorify God. 00:31:38.960 |
To say to the Lord that maybe, maybe I'll change. 00:31:43.900 |
To say to the Lord in a certain manner, sure, I received the grace, but I don't have to 00:31:50.700 |
We have to ask the question, is that actually the purpose of God? 00:32:01.820 |
It is an amazing mercy and love for you that God is changing you. 00:32:07.820 |
It is His absolute care and grace to you that God is transforming you so that you don't 00:32:13.860 |
just say with words, but rather you are transformed in life. 00:32:19.660 |
And for you to think that you don't have to change, that means you don't get it. 00:32:26.220 |
That means you don't get all the stuff we're talking about, about previous sins. 00:32:30.140 |
That means you don't get the incredible work of God. 00:32:32.540 |
That means you don't get the incredible purpose of God. 00:32:45.300 |
That man can say, "Hey, but I said thank you and amen every time before a meal." 00:32:56.180 |
Technically he said stuff that every good Christian should say. 00:33:05.100 |
For us, we have to understand that the work of God in us to transform our lives, that 00:33:15.180 |
is supposed to be supporting His amazing love and His amazing grace. 00:33:20.500 |
And for us to think that that's somehow, that's somehow either optional, how dare you, right? 00:33:32.980 |
Now as a way to kind of start wrapping things up, you know that age old song that like, 00:33:50.060 |
And as a matter of fact, if we just stop the moment right there, we should be able to say, 00:33:54.580 |
"And thank you, Lord, that I'm not the same person. 00:34:00.660 |
Why in the world would I even want to be the same person? 00:34:04.460 |
If I knew who I was, controlled by dark forces, if I knew who I was in the wretchedness of 00:34:11.020 |
my state, why in the world would I volitionally choose not to change?" 00:34:16.560 |
It just goes to show that we don't understand. 00:34:20.420 |
So by way of conclusion and wrapping things up, are we meditating and blessing the Lord? 00:34:29.660 |
If God's incredible objective and goal is the showing of the surpassing of his grace, 00:34:38.020 |
are we doing that to the degree where we're blessing God because we see it? 00:34:42.180 |
If Apostle Paul's prayer was that our eyes would be open and enlightened to see the knowledge 00:34:48.340 |
of him, to see the incredible calling, to see the riches of his glory, to see the inheritance 00:34:54.060 |
and the blessings, are you meditating on that and seeing it? 00:35:00.620 |
Have you thought about the incredible kindness of God and appreciated the breadth of the 00:35:10.260 |
So far, Apostle Paul has been talking about a kind of thoughtfulness of God that's stretched 00:35:15.900 |
beyond even the time that we know, time itself. 00:35:20.460 |
We've been inundated with the fact that God is so intentional in his kindness. 00:35:25.340 |
We've been shown that the extent of his kindness goes to things that are even incomprehensible 00:35:31.300 |
Why would you honor something that was so decaying and dead? 00:35:49.560 |
The first several chapters of Ephesians is for you to dwell and meditate on the riches 00:35:56.980 |
And that is where at the heart of what we're trying to do, at the heart of what we're trying 00:36:04.580 |
When you start to see, when your eyes are open and you are enlightened, and once you 00:36:09.780 |
see and you're just gripped by it, then you've caught on. 00:36:29.200 |
Heavenly Father, this passage of your scripture is so rich. 00:36:36.860 |
And God, you've shown us, Lord, that your work towards us is glorious. 00:36:44.500 |
Now for us in a brief 30, 40 minutes to appreciate the glory of your riches, the riches of your 00:36:50.760 |
mercy, Lord God, we recognize it's just a quick snapshot. 00:36:56.080 |
But I do pray, Father God, along with your scriptures, that every single one of us would 00:37:01.000 |
know the meaning and to see from different angles and to experience at different moments, 00:37:09.440 |
I pray, Father God, that what grips every single one of us by faith would be your incredible 00:37:15.340 |
holiness and your incredible love, that God, that's the thing we're attracted to. 00:37:20.680 |
And Lord, I do pray, Father God, that there are so many things working against us to try 00:37:24.900 |
to veil your glory, to try to keep us far, to try to keep us distracted. 00:37:31.480 |
But I ask that you'd give us strength so that we could fight against all of those things 00:37:36.440 |
And God, that our great, great ambition is to know you and your love more. 00:37:41.500 |
Lord, we want to thank you and just pray that as we reflect and discuss, you would help 00:37:45.720 |
us to continue to have that eagerness to grow and learn, but what's more, just to really 00:37:52.820 |
We thank you, Lord, it's in Christ's name we pray.