(audio cuts out) Attention up here. Trust that you guys had some great conversation, right? This section of scripture is super rich. And I know that a lot of the terminology is like some amazing, you know, like summaries of the gospel and our salvation. So hope you guys had a great conversation.

Just got a quick like note. If you guys can tell, like I'm trying to modify things that can be helpful. One of the things I did was for the next study, what I'm gonna be doing is I'm gonna try to actually like, A, have the study questions for the next section of the study, and next section's gonna be chapter one, verses 15 through 23.

It's a little bit longer. And then I'm gonna put the Bible verse there on the paper for you so that if you guys are like, just, you know, bringing a binder and then tracking along, then you guys can just do your study on here. I'm still gonna have the text at the beginning, but I kinda realized like if we're expecting you to show up having work done, then putting the text, well, you know, at the beginning of this packet, when you pick it up here when you arrive, that doesn't make sense, right?

So the text of the passage is going to be there on the packet at the end for you, okay? Also, I did wanna kinda make mention because sometimes theological concepts that are big come out. If you notice on the last packet that I sent to you guys, I added like a very brief extra reading section about what predestination could be and how it fits the rest of biblical worldview, how it fits the doctrines of our depravity, how it fits the doctrines of salvation, and all that kinda stuff, how it fits the doctrine of salvation by grace alone.

Election and all of that is in God's world, and so therefore it fits the rest of the biblical worldview, okay? So that was just a really brief thing that I attached to the end of the last packet. Okay, let's take a moment to pray and then jump into today's study.

Our Lord, God, we take a moment to really ask that your spirit will help us and guide us as we study, and what's more, Lord, that your truth and your word will affect every aspect of our thinking and then our emotions, and most importantly also, our desires. God, that as we look at the salvation that you have enacted across history, Lord, that our hearts would be most desiring of such a gracious God, such an intentional God, and our desires would be set upon you and the salvation that you give.

And even though for many of us, Father God, we've been walking as a Christian for many years, may that longing for you, may that longing for eternity be all the more real as we walk with you, Lord. We thank you so much in Christ's name we pray, amen. Okey dokey.

So we're gonna begin with a couple of just highlights from the last time. I mentioned to you that this whole section is verse three through 14, one long just rhapsody, like it's a lyrical, there's a flow. (phone buzzing) Good call, dude, thank you. I'm sorry. For the viewers at home.

There we go, great. Okay. Okay, so then overall the impression that we get when we read through the passage is like, dang, what an amazing just explosion of praise and worship, right? And I gave you various like, I guess tips as to, man, this is such an amazing, just like, it's both beautiful, super articulate, and there is this like, kinda long windedness to it.

There is this repetitiveness, there are these terms where he can see the big picture and give you amazing summaries of huge thought into little, just like little summary phrases. But also there was something else that I found as I was studying was, you know how again, when you, if you speak a different language, you know that there are certain terms within your culture that hits a certain note, yes?

And there are certain terms and idioms that you use in your culture that really does capture the emotions of it, right? And what I found was that as we go through this portion of scripture, there is actually a ton of variance between different translations. Have you noticed that? If you compare the translation, there's like good amount of variance and what that was showing was that certain terms were hard to capture in one English word, yes?

And so what you find is that kind of, man, this is just like depth of the expressions that Apostle Paul is giving within this. And the effect that we have then was there was an overwhelming, like the way I wanted to say it was we were just like drenched with the feelings that there was so many spiritual blessings of God in Christ, okay?

And so I got a bunch of blanks for you there that you can fill in. The whole section is about the blessings, every spiritual blessings God has given us in Christ. And it's amazing how it just delineated, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, and there was this overwhelming feeling in that.

And what's more, what was so clear was that the means to all of these blessings was in Christ and Christ alone. So many times we saw in Christ, so many times we saw through Christ, through his blood, right? And what's more, I think what was pretty emphatic was that we were enamored by the manner of the grace, that it was so descriptive that his grace was freely given, it was lavished upon us, it was intentionally given, right?

Those adverbs matter. It shows us the manner by which he was showing his grace. What's more, our minds were blown because we noticed that he repeated the idea there was a central focus in last paragraph, or at least the first portion of the paragraph, the extent of the grace.

Extent meaning it wasn't five minutes ago he thought, you know what, be nice, right? It was prior to the foundation of the world he predestined us. When you think about that kind of chronology, that should blow your mind because then the extent of his intentionality crossed far beyond what you and I can even fathom.

And then what Apostle Paul was challenging us to do was, when you see this, when you see the means, the manner, the extent of his grace, you should bless the Lord, right? There was this implicit challenge for you to bless and praise God. Now today, as we transition into that, here's what I'm gonna say.

This next section obviously has an ongoing list of the blessings of God, and they're gonna be magnanimous, they're gonna be amazing. But he's going to emphasize all the more that there is intentionality and purpose to all this, okay? Intentionality and purpose. So you're gonna see the repetition and the thoughts of purpose behind all the blessings that God gives, okay?

Now, what I'd like to do then is read. I'll read for us starting from verse three. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before him.

In love, he predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself according to the kind intention of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely bestowed on us in the beloved. In him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished on us.

In all wisdom and insight, he made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his kind intention, which he purposed in him, with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth.

In him, also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to his purpose, who works all things after the counsel of his will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of his glory. In him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed, you were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of his glory.

Man, what a, again, really, really rich, rich section of scripture, summarizing just the massive, like, redemptive history, what God has been doing, what God is going to be doing, and all the blessings he has incurred on you, okay? Within this section, though, what I, as you guys know, what I like to do is always break things down into digestible sections.

I hope that if you're not able to, like, diagram a sentence, 'cause you don't have to do that every single devotion that you do, right? But what you do is at least hit the main thrust of the thought, right? The main statement that God is giving you in every section of scripture, precept by precept.

And so when you look at this, right, you're thinking, wow, what a mass of truth's coming at me. And if you're reading just one cursory time, there's very little that's gonna stick. You might hit certain things like, whoa, he said to his glory many times. So that'll stick, 'cause he repeats it a bunch.

But what we need to do is break it down just into sentences. Now, here, the verses, okay, the verse, like, verse nine, verse 10, whatever, it kinda doesn't help. (laughs) Because it's like, it was placed into, like, weird settings, right? But what does help is, again, the formulation of the sentences that were there.

Now, these sentences are still long. If you guys remember, I mentioned that starting from verse three to 14 in the Greek is actually one long run-on sentence, so it's just, like, hard, okay? However, there are markings that help us at least consolidate a thought. And here, you notice, this is what I did.

Verse 8b to 10, the main concept there is, he made known to us the mystery of his will. Blessing one, boom. Identify it, tag it. Verse 11, he says, we have obtained an inheritance. The blessing of inheritance is there. Tag it. Verse 13, it says, you were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit.

Tag that and label it as a blessing. For those of you guys looking at the, oh, hold on, looking at your packet, I summarize those things by saying we have three major blessings to deal with here, then. We have the blessing of revelation, okay, which is the first one, when he says, he made known to us the mystery of his will.

In the second part, we have the blessing of inheritance. We have obtained this inheritance from God. And then, in verse 13, the blessing of the seal by the Spirit, by the Holy Spirit, okay, blessing of the seal. That alone, for you, when you identify three major blessings from God, you could have a time of meditation and devotion to the Lord.

How have you blessed me in this way? How in the world is making known to me a mystery? If you tell me a secret, how is that a blessing to me? And then, as you think through that, that should really, really warm and encourage your heart. Okay? But for our sake, just like last time, we're gonna do a quick walkthrough of the observations and then draw some conclusions.

First section, observations in section one, where we say, in all wisdom and insight, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his kind intention which he purposed in him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens, and things on the earth.

Again, when we look at it in paragraph form, it's a little tough because there's so much. What I'll typically like to do is break it down into phrases. Why? When you write your essays, you guys do the exact same thing. Your paragraph has a thought. Then, your sentence has a thought.

Then, each phrase of your sentence has a thought. And all you're doing is making sure that you appreciate every element of the thought there. Right? And truthfully speaking, let's say, for example, if I was preaching a sermon, and I know you guys don't preach sermons, however, the whole point of preaching the sermon is that there's exhortational points for you to take home.

Then, likewise, when you do your Bible study, each one of the phrases can be points for you to take home. Think about this. In all wisdom and insight, question one, who's wisdom? God's or yours? Is God giving you wisdom, or is he exercising his wisdom? All wisdom. Hmm. What kind of wisdom is included in all wisdom, right?

And then, if I sat here and I said, you know, I can make a sermon out of this, can we take time to cross-reference every time the scripture was, wow, look at the wisdom of God. Let's appreciate the wisdom and insight that God has. Right? I could sit here and just dwell and meditate on one phrase.

What's more, him making known to us a mystery. What is a mystery? Is it like, ooh, the unsolved mysteries of crime? Like, is it that kind of mystery? According to his kind intention, I mean, we could sit and just reflect and meditate on the kindness of God and the intentionality he expresses, right?

We would have to stop right there. Right? And that's how some pastors preach one book for seven years. Okay, because they stop at three phrases of the Bible. And so, we recognize, I recognize, guys, that sometimes even our effort to break down this Bible study into smaller verses, it's still tough, huh?

Right? 'Cause if you did it this way, it would take you even just an hour just to go through several verses. However, I wanted to at least show you this because sometimes, as you regularly do Bible study, certain concepts were repeated, and you don't have to sit there and camp on every single word.

However, you should be able to notice, within this paragraph, what was the main point? I underlined he made known to us the mystery of his will, but why did I underline that? Right? Like, could I be wrong? You know, Pastor Mark, I think you're wrong, right? I think it's this last one where it's summing up all things in Christ.

How do I know? Well, this is where I think good inductive Bible study and observations is key. The reason why I did this was because, remember one of the things I shared with you guys in terms of Bible study, is that not only is delineating the different phrases important, but seeing the relationship.

Right? And one of the key things I always like to show people is this. How do you find the main thought in this huge list of various concepts? You make sure to tag the stand alone concept. Meaning this, if I just read, in all wisdom and insight, can that stand alone as a sentence?

No. And as a matter of fact, it is just a pointer, so I could actually even move it around. I can move it around after. I can move it around later on. Right? It doesn't even have to be right there. What's more, according to his kind intention, can that stand alone?

You know exactly what I'm saying now. The stand alone sentence is, he made known to us this mystery, period. That could be a stand alone sentence that's giving you a complete thought, and everything is giving you additional information about his making known to you the mystery. For those of you guys who like a visual, boom, okay?

You don't have to take a photo or whatever. I'm just wanting to give you a visual that this is how I like to say, you know what? What I need to take home is this incredible blessing he made known to me his thought. He made known to me his intention, particularly his will, what he desired to accomplish, he revealed that to me.

He did that in his wisdom. He did that because his heart's kind, and he did that with an administration, meaning a plan. Does that make sense? And then all the different parts just describe it, and this is the way I map it out for you, that his intention was purposed in him, that is Christ, and one of you guys asked the question, man, is there a way, easy way, to differentiate the pronouns?

Because there is him and he and him and he, and then it's like, is that God, is it Jesus? Is it God, is it Jesus, right? That part's hard. Well, what I'm gonna say is, when you try to do a mapping of this way, of the pieces of the sentence, it's actually very helpful to try to identify who it's talking about, because typically, your pronoun only points to the immediate previous individual it's talking about.

Okay? Now, here, again, you don't have to memorize all this kind of stuff, but the sentence just simply read, going back here, in all wisdom and insight, he made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his kind intention, which he purposed in him, with a view with an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens, and things on earth.

I mapped it out for you guys like this. What, that little phrase that you see, what is it describing? Okay? For me, though, the way I like to see it is like this. Why? Because it's very easy for you at home, it's hard for you to draw bubbles and lines, but it's very easy for you at home, on your computer, to take the paragraph and just hit enter.

Here's a break, poof, poof, poof, right? And then you have to do the hard work of asking yourself, what is this? In all wisdom and insight, I believe is more so the source of the plans of God. That's God's wisdom, and his understanding, as a source dictating what he's going to do.

And the blessing is the blessing of revelation that he made known to us this mystery. He made known to us, essentially, his insight. He made known to us his wisdom, according to the kind intention of his, to the kind intention which he purposed in him. We talked about that last week.

Verse 10, with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of times. The context of the revelation, he is looking at the administration. And if you're doing good Bible study, you should be asking yourself the question, the administration, what is that? That would be to you a key term to look at.

And then he says, that is, okay, that is the summing up of all things in Christ. If you notice earlier, I put an equal sign here. Because of this section, what he does is he has a parallel thing. This is the administration of the fullness of times. What is it being defined?

It's the summing up of all things in Christ. Things in the heavens and things on the earth, okay? And you should be asking, man, this is kind of crazy, right? Like, what is it, like, there's so many questions to ask. What is the summing up? What does that mean?

Earlier again, what is the administration? And what's more, like, even the making known the mystery of his will, which he purposed in him, what does it mean to have purposed in him? And you could ask lots of questions. If God had a certain will and it was purposed in him, what does that mean that it's purposed in him?

Does it mean that it was purposed through Jesus Christ? Was Jesus Christ, like, conferring and talking with God? Like, how is that all made out? 'Cause we don't necessarily always talk like that, right? Okay, now, I know this part of it, it can get a little bit technical and it can get a bit tough to follow, but all I wanted to show was that these pieces of the sentence, to us, reveal very important things.

Why? Because, I wanna go back to earlier when I did this. Whoa, okay, right here. What I shared with you was, by divvying up and sectioning off those sections of the passage of that sentence, we were able to identify that God is highlighting the means. We were able to identify that God is highlighting the manner.

We were able to identify that God was highlighting the extent, right? And when you do that and you see the pattern, then all of a sudden, you're able to appreciate, like, oh my goodness, look at how much he's emphasizing the manner in which he's showing us his grace, okay?

So going back to over here, we wanna do the same thing. Okay, what I'm gonna do is move quickly to make observations on the next sections, and then we're gonna draw some conclusions, okay? Oh, sorry. That was all to show that each section was, you know, contributing and pointing to the main thought.

Okay, likewise here, let's walk through this section together. It says, "In him also, we have obtained an inheritance, "having been predestined according to his purpose, "who works all things after the counsel of his will, "to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ "would be to the praise of his glory." Okay, again, all I'm gonna do is section off the phrases.

The main thought here is we have obtained an inheritance, stand alone sentence, having been predestined according to his purpose, who works all things after the counsel of his will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of his glory.

Again, what I've done for you here, you can take a moment to start writing on the side of the, on your packet, where I have the kind of delineated thought, some of the labels and the categories of what that phrase is. "In him" is, again, repeating the means of all the blessings that come to us.

If we're to receive an inheritance, it comes through Christ. Having been predestined according to his purpose, who works all things after the counsel of his will. Okay, if you're asking the question, according to his purpose, whose purpose? It's God's. God, who works all things after the counsel of his will, highlighting this idea of the intentionality where God determines, where God purposes, and he works.

Okay, you see that progression there? And then what's more, what I highlighted for you is this. There is this repetitive idea that there is an end to which God is working. To the end, that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of his glory.

And you notice that this concept of being to the praise of God's glory is repeated many times. Okay, many, many times. All right, I see some of you guys are still writing. Take a moment to think about this, and then we're gonna draw some conclusions. Okay. Okay. Oh, more arrows.

(laughs) Okay, I'm just gonna speed through that section here. Verse 13, "In him you also, "after listening to the message of truth, "the gospel of your salvation, "having also believed, you were sealed in him "with the Holy Spirit of promise, "who was given as a pledge of our inheritance "with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, "to the praise of his glory." Okay?

Again, if you're looking just at paragraphs, if I looked at this paragraph and the previous paragraph, it'd be very difficult for you to identify any kind of pattern. You would see repetition of words, but difficulty to identify patterns. Break it up into phrases again, okay? This part, I'm just highlighting for you, standalone sentence, "You were sealed in him." Every other sentence, whether it be, "After listening to the message of truth, "having also believed," those are all just phrases, right?

Incomplete, partial thoughts, subordinate clauses. Here, in him, same thing, the means. But take a look at this. After listening to the message of truth, okay? The gospel of your salvation is just defining what that truth is. It's a synonym saying, "Hey, the message of truth, it's the gospel. "Having also believed," notice how I labeled those conditions.

I believe one of you guys had a question, and that question was, "Do you have to actually hear a message "in order to be saved, "or is there any instances of the Holy Spirit "coming into a person who hasn't heard?" Good question. If this is a condition, you should be asking the question, "Is this a necessary condition?" Right?

So, great question. I'm just gonna say this. Biblically speaking, the word of God is absolutely powerful, right? Scripture says, "Sanctify them in truth." Your word is truth. Scripture says, "The word is a light. "The word has precious life in it." Yes? How does one come to faith, which is absolutely necessary for salvation?

Faith comes by hearing of the word of God, right? Is it absolutely necessary for an individual to hear the message of Christ's sacrifice and resurrection? Yes, because that's what they're gonna put their hope in. That's what they're gonna put their trust on, and their faith and trust is what appropriates that union with Christ.

There is this popular thought that, like, right now, people who are maybe afar just randomly is gonna receive the Spirit. Could it happen? Maybe you can possibly think, like, "I guess it could happen 'cause God could do anything." But God regularly works by the conditions of his own righteousness.

Yes? An individual who does not have, by faith, the salvific work of Christ, the substitutionary work of Christ applied to them, does not hold anything that dictates God's acceptance of them, meaning they don't have the righteous way for God to say, "And therefore, you're justified." Does that make sense?

Okay, so if we're looking at this, if listening to the message and having believed our conditions, you could even say mandatory conditions, okay? The blessing, though, is you are sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise as a pledge of our inheritance. And if you're doing, again, inductive study, you should be asking, "Man, if it's a promise, "if it's a seal, if it's a pledge, "you should be defining those terms.

"What is this?" Okay? All right. And then it says, "With a view "to the redemption of God's own possession." I wrote context there, the redemption to God, but you could even argue that that's another purpose of the Lord, that God is, yes, seeking the praise of his glory, but he's also seeking his own possession.

If you recall, God says that he is going to present holy and blameless to himself. It was an adoption to him, right? It was an adoption to him. So there is this agenda of God to hold us as his precious possession. Okay, let's take a moment to breathe. Take a breather right there.

That process that we just did, it felt kinda long, yeah? It was kinda long. It took us about 17 minutes or so. Now, when you go home and do your Bible study, I don't know how many of you guys are doing that where you're trying to take a look at every phrase.

It can get monotonous, and you end up reading the passage multiple times. But do you guys know that that kind of arduous work, that kind of tedious, repetitive work is absolutely necessary? Why? Because if you're going to observe the right pattern, if you're going to actually say, "Hey, this is the emphatic point," you actually have to see why.

Because I looked at every other phrase, and they're conditional clauses. They're subordinate clauses. They're just incomplete thoughts. The main point is this, right? You should be able to say that. But what's more, from the fruit of the observation comes your conclusions, okay? Conclusion number one. And here, we wanna take a moment to say, "Hey, did we really observe these things within the text?" And the answer is, clearly, we have some massive blessings.

But the way I would like to say this is the blessings that we see here, combined with the blessings we saw earlier, summarize for us salvation is absolutely of our triune God, okay? Our Christian faith says the salvation we have is gifted to you and is not of yourself, right?

It is not of your works, and no man will ever boast that I had a hand in it. No man will ever boast that they had some peace. They contributed to this with their own effort, right? And this portion of Scripture all the more emphatically shows that. If we think about the many blessings that we saw, we saw previously before that we had the blessing of God choosing us and then intending us to be holy and blameless.

We saw the adoption. We saw the redemption, the forgiveness. And then today we're looking at making known to us the mystery, right? Making known to us the mystery. You know what, did I? Oh no, okay, I'm getting there. Sorry about that. Making known to us the mystery. Today we're talking about obtaining inheritance and the fact that we were sealed then by the Holy Spirit.

And you observe, God the Father is there in this passage as he is one choosing, as he is the one predestining. You see Jesus Christ, who is the one through whom the redemption is coming, through whom the forgiveness is accomplished. And then what's more, there is the mystery being shown that's in Christ, the obtaining of the inheritance that's absolutely in Christ, and then saying that you were sealed by the Holy Spirit.

Think about this. From the back, middle, and end, the whole of salvation is of God. Somebody in our group discussion asked this question. Hypothetically speaking then, what if the Holy Spirit didn't seal you, right? Hypothetically speaking then, could any of those pieces not have been there? And what that points to is to say this, the massive task of redeeming sinners from the pits of hell, taking sinners from the kingdom of darkness and transferring to the kingdom of light, it had to be of God, right?

It absolutely had to be God. And what we appreciate is that every element of our salvation, the depth of all that is needed, was accomplished by God, right? And in thinking about it even more, let's take a moment to dwell on this. For us to know the mystery of God's will, let me ask you this question.

How is you getting some secret, like you learning about what God is doing, how is that a blessing to you? Have you thought about that? I mean, to a certain extent, if someone tells you like, ooh, I got a secret for you, and you're like, okay, tell me, and they're like, I've got this massive plan, and you're just kinda like, oh, cool.

But how is that a blessing to you, though? Does that benefit you in any way? But man, I want you to think about that. For you to know the salvation of mankind, what kind of security that builds, for you to know what God is intending for you, what kind of solidarity, what kind of firm footing you have, right?

What a huge blessing for this lost generation who's out there searching for a purpose, out there confused as they're to that identity, what kind of massive blessing would it be for you to have some clarity in your life? That's a huge blessing. But I want you to think about it another way.

There's a passage I wanna highlight for you guys. John chapter 15, verse 15 through 16. Jesus says to his disciples, "No longer do I call you slaves, "for the slave does not know what his master is doing. "But I have called you friends. "For all things that I have heard from my Father, "I have made known to you." Do you understand what a massive, what a massive uplifting and raising that is for you when Christ is sharing with you all that he is, but that all that he is doing in this life?

He is raising you. I want you to think about this. How many of you guys in your workplace saw a board meeting of CEOs, walked in, and was like, "Hey, what are you guys talking about?" Right, like, who does that? I mean, how many of you guys would just dare to go up to your president and just like, "You know what?

"I would like to know what your plans are for me "and my job and my position. "I wanna know your plans for him. "I wanna know everything. "Give it to me." They'd be like, "That's above your pay grade, man." Right, that's what they would say. "It is absolutely above your grade." For God to say, "Let me tell you my will." That is grace upon you.

But think about this. Scripture says when God reveals his truth to you, that is light. You live in absolute ignorance. I live in absolute ignorance. And when the Lord reveals his plans, his goodwill, his redemptive plans, that is a tremendous blessing to every single one of us. He is lifting us, he is raising us, and through his revelation, he is absolutely blessing us.

And just, again, every time I think about Bible study and all that kind of stuff, I just think of it as like, "This is a massive grace of God upon us." Amen? Okay, so we have to absolutely appreciate that. And then the next part of it, quickly, he says, "And what's more, we have obtained an inheritance." Right?

"We have obtained an inheritance." And remember, we repeatedly saw that the forgiveness, the redemption, and every single one of these blessings is through Christ. And it has to be. For think about what an inheritance is. We don't have to go searching through like, "Oh, let me look up the lexicons and dictionaries for it." What is an inheritance?

You know exactly what it is. Whatever your father owns, whatever your mother owned comes down to you, right? Property, car, and you know, whether it be like bank accounts, it just comes to you. Whatever the parents have set aside as a legacy for you to carry on, that's yours.

You know exactly what it is. So then, immediately when you think inheritance, you should be thinking child of God. You should be thinking heir. You do not get to choose that all of a sudden, I'm gonna be your heir, right? That only comes by your union with Christ. Scripture is so emphatic about this.

There's another passage I wanna highlight for you. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For you have not received the spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry, "Abba, Father." The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also.

Heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ. You see that? So logically clear. And so we think about this incredible blessing that Christ, who is the son of God, who genuinely pleases the Father, we share in his share. That's just crazy, mind-blowing stuff. And what's more, that inheritance, what's more, that promise, completely guaranteed by the Holy Spirit.

We are sealed in him, right? Think about that. I mean, to have a kind of deposit, to have a kind of guarantee, for those of you guys who are doing word studies, again, when it has some repetition thoughts like that, where it says promise, seal, you know, that kind of stuff, a pledge, you should be studying those concepts.

And I wanna just make mention of the fact that the idea of seal is so rich. Why? Because to seal it doesn't mean to take your Saran Wrap and make sure it's like, I'm saving this for later, you know? No, that's not the kind of seal we're talking about.

We're talking about a kind of seal where God says, this is my possession. I put my name on it, right? We're talking about a seal of ownership. We're talking about a kind of seal where you identify and mark off, this is mine. And it goes right in line with God is saying, we are going to be to God, His own very precious possession.

And all of that is absolutely guaranteed because when it says pledge, it means the idea with any kind of merchant transaction. If a transaction is made, there is a note that says, this deal is done, right? It's a permissory note. And that's exactly what it is. It delineates this deal is done, you are God's.

How rich, what an amazing passage. And here, there's more to it. It's in Corinthians chapter five, where it says, inasmuch as we having put it on, will not be found naked for indeed while we are in the tents, we groan being burdened because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life.

Now, he who prepared us for this very purpose is God who gave us the spirit as a pledge. Amen. It's so crazy to think about the many ways that God has blessed us, and we're so encouraged by that. Next, and we're gonna start, there's only just two more points to start wrapping up.

One of the conclusions we drew from looking at the observation of the passage was that there was incredible purpose in what God is doing, right? Incredible purpose in what God was doing. We saw in previous passages that God is making us, transforming us to be holy and blameless, but there is more.

He was causing us to be that so that we would be to the glory of God, right? Think about this. In our adoption, when we become precious children of God, that is to the glory of God. It reveals his fatherly love. In his sanctifying and in his teaching, in all the things that God is doing for us, it absolutely reveals the nature and character of God.

And then what's more, he says then that, so the point that I wanted to make there is we were made for God in his glory, right? When you think about your purpose, take a moment to think about this. There are, for us, thoughts that we know ought to be, and then there are, for us, moments when we actually identify, these are the thoughts I currently have.

And a lot of times, we have this gap, yes? Every single one of us experiences this. We know, if someone asks you, what's your purpose in life? You know what you should say, to enjoy God and glorify him forever, right? You know that ought to be. I wanna give you a personal challenge here.

Whenever we think about this idea, like to the praise and majesty and glory of God, right? It sounds so majestic and big. But the fact of the matter is, we would all agree, that is the greatest purpose to live for. And everything else is feeble, fleeting, and falls short, right?

And that kind of conviction has to exist in every single one of us. Okay, for the sake of time, when it comes to the summing up of all things in Christ, I exhort you, meditate on that for a while. Next, okay? (laughs) Number three, we have to appreciate in this passage, God's will, right?

How many times has God said, that all that he's doing is according to his will? How many times has he said, this is according to the riches of his grace? How many times has he said, this is according to his sight, his wisdom, his thoughts, his plans, his counsel, his mind?

And this is pretty incredible, isn't it? That God would exercise that desire in his own heart, in the most informed, in the most insightful way. And he's planned it in such incredible detail, exercising it exactly in accord with what he has planned. And it's gonna come to fruition, because he's guaranteed it.

That's crazy, right? We can only hope to emulate that to a small degree. What do I mean by that? I wish I would grow up, you know? Like, there are times when I wish I would behave out of and according to what's actually in my heart, right? I wish that I could be as intentional as this, and I love the people around me.

I wish that I could emulate this, even to the smallest degree, that I would be operating by wisdom and insight, because I know something, right? Rather than typically saying, "Oopsie daisies," right? I want you to think about this. You know, this past week, I was talking to Pastor Peter Chung.

You guys are praying for him. I know you are. I see it. People are starting prayer lists. People are starting ministry lists. Yeah, Pastor Peter Chung, to be hit with the news that he has cancer, that's huge, right? That just kind of shakes you for a little bit. But you guys know Pastor Peter Chung.

He's just gonna, with this big old dimple smile, and just be like, "This is great!" You know? (laughs) And he said some weird stuff. He was like, "Oh, man, guys, this is great, "because it's just all working out where this is treatable. "My treatment's gonna be manageable." Sure enough, this week, he had his first rounds of chemo, and things like that, starting Tuesday.

He's had his medication, and all this kind of stuff. But if you have talked to him, even just the shortest, you know what he'll say. He's like, "You know, it's just crazy, "because God does not waste a thing!" Have you guys heard him say that? And he just repeated it.

On the pulpit, he says that. When you talk to him in person, he says that. And every time, we should be like, "Amen, it says so right here!" He's so wise, so intentional. God does not waste a single thing. It's absolutely true. What confidence we build when we reflect on the truths that we see here.

That God has such intentionality and purpose behind everything. He makes no mistakes. Whereas I regularly say, "I didn't know, oopsie daisies. "Oh my goodness, I could do so much better." God does not have moments when he says, "Whoops." But rather, everything he is working, he is working according to the wise counsel of his will.

And scripture says, in response, "Wow. "When I look at your heavens, the works of your fingers, "the moon and the stars, which you have set in its place." Then rather than thinking like, "God, what are you doing?" Instead I think, "Oh my goodness, what is man "that you are even mindful of him?

"The son of man that you should even care." Right? God in his immense wisdom is working out not just this meticulous, masterful plan, which it is, but he is working out the kind intention of his heart. Regularly, I think about the opposite. If God did not have kind intentions in his heart, even if, even if you weren't a wretched sinner, even if, let's say, you had some wisdom in you and you had some goodness in you, if you asked the question, "God, tell me your will," he could just look at you and say, "No." This is a conversation between me and my perfect son, "See you later." Right?

If you came up knocking on his door, "Please, I'm a good guy, give me your inheritance," he could just look at you and say, "Are you crazy?" "No, you have absolutely no right to even ask me. "How dare you ask me for my inheritance, "you selfish, jealous, wicked man." Yes?

Can you promise me that you'll do me good and when you enact your kingdom and bring people into heaven, include me? No. Why would I have to do anything for you? You see, when we think about this and just meditate, we recognize God is not just a mechanical being working out intricacies of his determined world.

God is working out his love. And it's so deep and rich and full of blessings for us. Amen? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I do pray, and I'll let the many saints of old ask this question, Lord, help us to behold marvelous and wonderful things in your word. And God, today we recognize, God, that there are, just, you can call them blessings, massive gifts of grace, mercies, and privileges that only come by your gracious offer of salvation.

And God, we wanna thank you so much. And it is sometimes weird to think that it's as easy as believing it, just taking your word for what it is and then trusting it. It seems so easy. But we recognize, Lord, that's how it has to be. For God, we know that in of ourselves, this plan, this salvation plan would not be our idea.

So Father, thank you so much that you enacted it according to your kindness, that you prepared the way, that you took the time for the fullness to come. And God, what's more, that your son, God, according to his work, has made it all accomplished. So Father, we wanna take moments to thank you.

I pray that the meditation of our heart, I pray that our faith would be pleasing to you. Lord, we wanna just lift you up. We want to praise you and bless you. It's in Christ, let me pray, amen. Thank you.