The Secure Inheritance: Living Out the Gospel in Ephesians

• Inheritance and Predestination [00:00:28 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor introduces the theme of God's unfathomable promises and inheritance for His people, rooted in Ephesians 1, emphasizing that believers are chosen and predestined before the foundation of the world.
• Adoption and Identity [00:11:58 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that being chosen in Christ means being adopted as children of God, distinct from the world, and belonging to Him eternally.
• Redemption and Forgiveness [00:16:07 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor discusses redemption through Christ's blood and the forgiveness of sins, using a commercial analogy to highlight the magnitude of God's grace compared to human financial forgiveness.
• Sovereignty of God [00:17:37 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor asserts that God is in charge of everything and orders all things according to His own will, countering the idea that humans are smarter than God.
• Redemption and Grace [00:15:51 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that redemption comes through Christ's blood and God's grace, using a commercial analogy to illustrate that past sins are forgiven, not held against believers.
• Divine Sovereignty and Providence [00:17:21 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor asserts that God is in charge of all things, ordering everything according to His will, and that believers can trust Him through difficulties because He holds their lives and outcomes.
• The Holy Spirit as Guarantee [00:19:53 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor describes the Holy Spirit's indwelling as an 'earnest' or deposit/guarantee of the believer's future inheritance and eternal life with Christ.
• Spiritual Death and Total Depravity [00:25:10 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that humans are 'dead in trespasses and sins' and lack the free will to choose good on their own, requiring God to quicken them by grace.
• Unity of Jews and Gentiles [00:28:02 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that Christ tore down the dividing wall between Jews and Gentiles, creating one body (the Church) through His blood, abolishing the separation based on law or ethnicity.
• The Trinity [00:31:31 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor highlights the biblical revelation of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit existing as one God with equal power but different functions.
• Salvation by Grace and the Trinity [00:30:25 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that salvation is by grace through faith, not works, because humans are dead in sin. He highlights the Trinitarian nature of God (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) working together for salvation and access to the Father.
• The Mystery of the Church (Jew and Gentile Unity) [00:32:30 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor discusses the 'mystery' that Gentiles are fellow heirs with Jews, forming one new man in Christ. He explains that Christ was involved in creation and that this unity was hidden but is now revealed.
• Repentance and Walking Worthy [00:38:16 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that while salvation is not by law, Christians must 'walk worthy' of their calling. He emphasizes that unrepentant sin builds a wall separating believers from God, making repentance key to maintaining relationship and experiencing God's fullness.
• Spiritual Gifts and Church Unity [00:39:29 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that every believer has spiritual gifts given by Christ to build up the body. He asserts that only the Holy Spirit can bring true unity to a polarized world, countering the 'old man' of sin with the 'new man' of righteousness.
• Putting Off the Old Man and Putting On Christ [00:43:24 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor contrasts the 'old man' (corrupt, vain, alienated from God) with the 'new man' (created in righteousness). He uses the analogy of 'wax on, wax off' to show how practical living instructions connect to the theological truths of Ephesians 1.
• Imitating God and Walking in Love [00:46:18 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that 'followers' means to mimic or imitate God, specifically by walking in love as Christ loved us, despite the internal battle with sin.
• Church Purity and Repentance [00:47:44 ▶️ 📄]
  > He asserts that sins like sexual immorality and covetousness must not even be named among saints, emphasizing that the church must repent and exclude such behaviors to maintain God's presence.
• Cultural and Moral Stances [00:49:33 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explicitly states that the world needs to hear that premarital cohabitation, homosexuality, and transgenderism are wrong, contrasting this with the cultural mantra of 'your truth vs. my truth.'
• Marriage as a Picture of Christ and the Church [00:52:45 ▶️ 📄]
  > He interprets Ephesians 5, explaining that wives submitting to husbands and husbands loving wives mirrors the relationship between Christ (the groom) and the Church (the bride).
• Social Hierarchies and Work [00:54:23 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor outlines biblical instructions for children obeying parents, fathers not provoking children, and servants/employees obeying masters/workers obeying bosses, all done as unto Christ.
• The Armor of God and Spiritual Warfare [00:55:55 ▶️ 📄]
  > He introduces Ephesians 6, explaining that believers must put on the whole armor of God to stand against spiritual wickedness, noting that the specific pieces will be detailed in a future sermon.
• Identity and Inheritance in Christ [00:57:09 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor connects the ability to live holy lives back to the believer's identity as chosen children of God with a guaranteed inheritance, which motivates holy living.
• Christian Living and Identity [00:59:02 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that knowing one's inheritance as a child of God should transform daily behavior, moving away from subjective 'truth' toward Christ as the only source of blessing and peace.
• Spiritual Warfare and Salvation [01:00:24 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor identifies the devil's role in separating believers from Christ and issues a direct call to salvation for those who are not yet sons and daughters of God.

• Sermon Illustration [00:16:16 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references an old radio commercial from car dealerships or banks that offered forgiveness for past financial mistakes, bankruptcies, or divorces to sell cars, contrasting this limited human forgiveness with the complete forgiveness of sins offered by God through Christ.
• Sermon Illustration [00:16:16 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts a radio commercial from car dealerships that offered forgiveness for past financial mistakes, bankruptcies, or divorces to sell cars, using this as an analogy for how God forgives sins through Christ.
• Sermon Illustration [00:45:43 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses an analogy from the movie 'The Karate Kid,' comparing the sermon's progression to Mr. Miyagi teaching Daniel karate. Just as Daniel didn't understand why he was doing 'wax on, wax off' chores until Mr. Miyagi hit him and revealed the moves, the pastor explains that the practical instructions in later chapters of Ephesians make sense when viewed through the theological lens of Chapter 1.
• Sermon Illustration [00:45:43 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses an analogy from 'The Karate Kid' where Mr. Miyagi teaches Daniel karate through repetitive tasks like 'wax on, wax off,' which Daniel initially resents but later understands as the foundation for fighting, illustrating how the previous chapters of Ephesians provide the foundation for the practical instructions in chapter 5.

• Pastoral Charge [00:13:29 ▶️ 📄]
  > Come and bow before Christ, acknowledging His sovereignty and sacrifice.
• Pastoral Charge [00:17:06 ▶️ 📄]
  > Run to Christ for forgiveness and allow lives to reflect this reality.
• Pastoral Charge [00:43:00 ▶️ 📄]
  > Come to the front of the church after the service to pray for salvation and spiritual change.
• Pastoral Charge [01:00:24 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor calls those who are not saved to come to Christ immediately for salvation.
• Pastoral Charge [01:00:24 ▶️ 📄]
  > To come to Christ for salvation if they are not already believers.

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:00:00] Well, as we look at the book of Ephesians, we're going to be looking at selected verses kind of through and seeing some of the themes and as a preview for the Looking for More conference.
[00:00:14] Primarily, we're going to be reading all of chapter 1. We'll be coming back to that at the end and kind of seeing how some of the truths throughout the whole book really come out and apply to us
[00:00:28] in chapter 1 in thinking about the inheritance that God has for us as His people.
[00:00:36] The promises that God has for us in Christ are really, in totality, are unfathomable.
[00:00:47] They are so great to us.
[00:00:49] We can understand them in a little bit and we can grow in understanding them, But it is such an awesome thing what God has for us in Christ that it is worth us getting in and kind of peeling back those layers
[00:01:08] to see the great love that He has for us in Christ.
[00:01:15] So we'll be thinking and seeing how the Holy Spirit comes and lives in us as we believe and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, kind of solidifying that inheritance, which is a deposit or a guarantee of what He has for us,
[00:01:34] that He will come and redeem us and bring us to be with Him forever.
[00:01:38] And so the other theme attached to that is in how we are united with Christ, how we are connected with Him, and by faith in Christ, that there is nothing that can separate us from God and His love and the plans that He has for us.
[00:01:55] So in thinking about the title that I put in the bulletin, how do we live now with a future inheritance or with this future inheritance that it is for later that we will receive the full inheritance but it impacts us now.
[00:02:15] So there is a now but not yet of what God is doing within us but even greater for more to come.
[00:02:24] And this is what really the whole book of Ephesians and how the Holy Spirit worked through Paul was giving to us.
[00:02:34] So let's look together at Ephesians chapter 1.
[00:02:38] And so 4 chapter 1 is going to be up on the screens, but I would encourage you to open your Bibles and to read along, especially as we look at selective verses from 2 through 6.
[00:02:53] Those are not going to be on the screen because I think you're going to get more out of it by looking at those verses that are in the Bible.
[00:03:02] I even found out that if you don't have your Bible and you need one, the main pew Bible that we have, page 1644, is where the book of Ephesians is.
[00:03:16] So here now, a reading of God's Word.
[00:03:19] Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus.
[00:03:31] Grace be to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:03:38] Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
[00:03:51] See, it's kind of going on even now as we are in Christ.
[00:03:57] According as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.
[00:04:12] Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will to the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved
[00:04:30] in whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence having made known unto us the mystery of his will
[00:04:51] according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ both which are in heaven and which are on earth
[00:05:10] even in him in whom also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will, that we should be to the praise of His glory
[00:05:29] who first trusted in Christ, of whom ye also trusted after ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise,
[00:05:50] which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of His glory.
[00:06:00] Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,
[00:06:19] may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, and that ye may know what is the hope of His calling and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints
[00:06:37] and what is the exceeding greatness of His power to usward usward who believe according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places far above
[00:06:56] all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this world but also in that which is to come and hath put all things under his feet and gave him to be
[00:07:11] the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. Ephesians 1 is such a great and deep chapter. The amazing thing is that it applies to all of
[00:07:36] life. It is this big picture thing of what God has done within us and is doing within us and how he is the one who has changed our hearts, who has opened our eyes so that we can believe
[00:07:49] in Christ and be saved and be transformed and that his power can work within us.
[00:07:57] And yet he calls us to follow him, to walk with him, to show that we have been changed by the spirit, to show the light that he has put within us.
[00:08:12] and that is going through all the rest of the book of Ephesians.
[00:08:18] He highlights what our standing is with Him, what the church is to be like, and how Christ works in and through this in these miraculous ways.
[00:08:32] So we'll be coming back to chapter 1 and dissecting it more, but in just looking at a few passages here, You'll notice on the back of the bulletin have points in going through for an outline of Ephesians.
[00:08:48] There are a lot of work throughout the centuries has been done on Ephesians and different outlines.
[00:08:57] And this is just one of many.
[00:08:59] But it kind of deals with these points as it relates to the inheritance that God has for us in Christ and us being united with Him and how that is to transform us.
[00:09:14] So the first thing that we see in the first few verses of chapter 1 is that we are chosen in Christ for all those who are His people, For all those who have been saved, who have put their trust in Christ,
[00:09:33] and as Christ dwells in our hearts by faith in Him alone.
[00:09:40] The fact that Christ does live with us, in us, by faith, is because He has chosen us, He has elected us, He has predestinated us to know Him, to be His people.
[00:09:56] We see in Ephesians 1 verses 3 through 7, love. If God has chosen you, has chosen you to know him, has changed your heart and has opened your eyes, this is a great blessing to us. It means that you belong to him because he not only
[00:10:46] has he chosen us, say, now to be his people, but he has chosen you since before the foundation of the world.
[00:10:56] I mean, this should make you really excited.
[00:10:59] This should make you feel accepted by God.
[00:11:05] And even as we see later in this chapter that Christ came to pay the penalty for our sins Himself so that our sin would be taken away, that the wrath of God upon us would be taken away.
[00:11:20] But it is as we believe in Him and trust in Him and walk with Him and that His power and love are shown through our lives, that our lives look different, we look different than the world
[00:11:35] because we are following Christ because of the change that He has done within us.
[00:11:41] Well, let's keep going here in verses 3 through 7.
[00:11:45] Verse 5, Having predestined us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will.
[00:11:58] Let's stop there and think about adoption.
[00:12:00] If you are chosen in Christ, if you are chosen by God, if you have put your faith in the Lord Jesus and repented of your sins in His name, then we are children of God.
[00:12:15] It is not that everyone in the whole world is children of God, but only those who have received Christ as Savior and those who will receive Christ as Savior by the preaching of the gospel,
[00:12:29] by us living it and sharing what Christ has done in our lives with people so that God's people who have not come to Him yet will come and put their faith in Him and become the sons and the daughters of the Lord God Almighty.
[00:12:47] If God has adopted you as His child, you belong to Him.
[00:12:53] and He has something in store for us, this inheritance which not only is the very riches of heaven but it is being in Christ.
[00:13:04] It is knowing God.
[00:13:06] It is being in His presence for all eternity.
[00:13:11] And you take that, what the flip side of that is, is that if you are not in Christ, you will not be in His presence for all eternity.
[00:13:22] There will be suffering and misery and torture in hell, separated from God, apart from Him.
[00:13:29] Why would you not want to come and to bow before this great King who has made you and made you to know Him and has even come to bear your sin Himself so that the wrath of God would be turned away from you?
[00:13:49] That is why Paul spends so much time in going through the whole book of Ephesians and saying that we need to be children of light.
[00:13:57] We need to walk in His light.
[00:13:59] We need to walk in His truth.
[00:14:01] Because if we look like the world, then we're saying that we don't belong to Him.
[00:14:11] Then maybe you haven't really bowed before Christ.
[00:14:16] You haven't submitted to Him.
[00:14:19] But it is this God who has come.
[00:14:21] and if you belong to Him, He has chosen you since before the foundation of the world and has adopted you to be His sons and daughters in Christ.
[00:14:36] All right, verse 6, chapter 1.
[00:14:39] To the praise, all of this is to the praise of the glory of His grace wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved.
[00:14:47] Now the Beloved is talking about Jesus because it goes in chapter 7 and talking about in whom we have redemption through His blood.
[00:14:58] And it is this One who has died for us that we are accepted, that is our beloved, that you are accepted of God.
[00:15:10] I mean, that makes you think of Romans 8, verse 1.
[00:15:13] It says, Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
[00:15:23] For people that say, well, I want to live my own life, I want to make my own decisions, I don't want to be under the yoke of God, I don't want to have to be accountable to Him,
[00:15:33] I want to think for myself.
[00:15:38] For people like that, they are under the wrath of God even now because of their sins, because of their willful disobedience to Him.
[00:15:51] But there is great mercy, there is acceptance, there is grace, There is redemption in Christ because He came to take the wrath of God on Himself.
[00:16:05] We see that in verse 7.
[00:16:07] In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace.
[00:16:16] There used to be a commercial on the radio years ago, car dealerships wanting to sell you a car, wanting to let you know, hey, you know, your past mistakes and how, you know, some places you go and it affects your credit.
[00:16:30] Oh, well, not here. Why?
[00:16:33] Because, hey, if you've been bankrupt, you're forgiven.
[00:16:36] And this is what they would say.
[00:16:38] Hey, you've been through a divorce, it's affected you financially, you're forgiven.
[00:16:44] If you have made financial mistakes, you're forgiven.
[00:16:48] Man, isn't that what we want to hear?
[00:16:52] That our sins are not held against us.
[00:16:55] I mean, this is a bank saying this, or credit dealers, or car dealerships, but the Almighty God says that you are forgiven through Christ, and only through Him.
[00:17:06] We should be running to that.
[00:17:08] Our lives should reflect that.
[00:17:12] Let's jump ahead to, still in Ephesians 1 to 11, verse 11 through 14.
[00:17:21] In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, this is in Christ as the whom, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will.
[00:17:37] This showing that God is in charge of everything.
[00:17:41] He orders everything according to the counsel of His own will.
[00:17:47] There are people who want to think that, oh, it's like, you know, we're smarter than God or we're smarter than everybody else in the room.
[00:17:55] We don't need God. We don't need anybody else because we have it all figured out.
[00:17:59] Well, that would be the furthest thing from the truth.
[00:18:03] That it is God who holds everything in His hand, including your life, including what you don't know is coming, including the difficulties or struggles that you might be going through right now.
[00:18:19] God knows.
[00:18:21] And He knows what the outcome is going to be.
[00:18:27] And He knows how He is going to help you.
[00:18:30] how He is going to come alongside of you, and how you can depend on Him and know that He will deliver you.
[00:18:41] This is the inheritance that we will be receiving, partially now, but more coming in, more than you can ever imagine, more than I can ever imagine.
[00:18:54] Looking at verse 12, that we should be to the praise of His glory who first trusted in Christ.
[00:19:04] That we would praise Him.
[00:19:06] That He would be glorified.
[00:19:08] That He would be glorified in us.
[00:19:11] When we call out to God, He loves and delights to answer our prayers because when we do, we're saying, Only you can help us.
[00:19:20] I can't do it.
[00:19:23] And He is like, I'm so glad that you have come to me.
[00:19:25] It is my delight to work in your life and to show my glory through you.
[00:19:34] Verse 13, In whom ye also trusted, speaking of Christ, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that ye believed ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.
[00:19:53] We talk about all the time about how when you believe and trust in Christ, that the Holy Spirit comes and lives inside of you, sets up shop right inside your heart, right inside your soul, the core of who you are and what makes you a person.
[00:20:14] Because that's what God does.
[00:20:15] He wants to dwell in us as His people.
[00:20:18] This is what He is saying here, that the Holy Spirit coming and living inside of you is an actual proof or deposit or guarantee or as the word used here, the earnest.
[00:20:33] The earnest money, the guarantee of more of what is coming later and in a legal sense that it is going to happen.
[00:20:43] It cannot be revoked.
[00:20:47] So in verse 14, which is the earnest, The Holy Spirit of promise that we are sealed with is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, until the praise of His glory.
[00:21:00] That is right. You heard that right.
[00:21:04] That if you belong to Christ, that you are the purchased possession that Jesus came to die for, to make you His, and that you will be, and I will be with Him for all eternity
[00:21:16] as we are trusting in Christ.
[00:21:19] and we will be joined with Him.
[00:21:22] That there will be nothing that can separate us from Him and that is part of the inheritance to know Christ.
[00:21:30] What does that mean?
[00:21:33] It does mean everything.
[00:21:34] And it means that anything that the world and that the devil through the things of the world can throw at you, that God will ultimately help you to triumph.
[00:21:44] He will ultimately help you to overcome.
[00:21:47] It doesn't mean that we're not ever going to encounter difficulty, that we're not going to have struggles, but it means that God will take us through them, that He will deliver us whether it's in this life or the next.
[00:22:01] It means that when we die, it's not just that the life is over, that the world is over and that's it.
[00:22:08] You might as well live everything here.
[00:22:09] It is either eternal life or eternal death.
[00:22:14] But the eternal death is what you still know what is going on.
[00:22:20] You're just separated from God and from His blessing and from His presence and His love and His peace for all eternity.
[00:22:31] And God wants to spare us that because of how great He is and how great His love is for us.
[00:22:41] All right, looking at, let's see.
[00:22:44] I just want to mention, starting in verse 17, and look at 17, 18, 19, and 20.
[00:22:59] That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of Him.
[00:23:09] This is the Father speaking, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:23:13] That the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His calling.
[00:23:21] That not only does God want to save you and make you His, but He wants to fill you with hope because the God of the universe is with you.
[00:23:29] And what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints in what is coming by being with God for all eternity.
[00:23:39] And what is the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe God's promises being given to us and coming to fulfillment according to the working of His mighty power which He wrought in Christ
[00:23:56] when He raised Him from the dead and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places.
[00:24:02] I love that wrought in Christ.
[00:24:05] That is what the Father did.
[00:24:06] That is what our salvation is based on is Christ's death and resurrection for you.
[00:24:12] That is how we are cleansed, how we are forgiven, how we are made whole is only through Christ.
[00:24:20] But it means that we have to follow Him.
[00:24:23] It means we have to repent of our sins.
[00:24:26] It means that we have to seek the Lord's will and what the truth of the Scriptures are and seek after it to hunger and thirst for it so that when people look at us, they will see Christ shining through us.
[00:24:44] This takes us to chapter 2.
[00:24:52] And Paul kind of, he's peeling those layers back.
[00:24:56] This is the big picture in chapter 1.
[00:24:58] He peels those layers back and he is talking about what faith in Christ really is, what salvation really is, and how one comes to know Christ.
[00:25:10] We see in chapter 2, verse 1, and you hath He quickened or hath He made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins.
[00:25:25] Now, part of what that's saying, those of you who have been through the new members class and those of you who might want to join in, we'll go through that, we deal with that a lot.
[00:25:36] It means that you don't have free will.
[00:25:40] It means that you can't just choose what you want to do on your own in the sense of choosing what is good.
[00:25:47] Why?
[00:25:49] Because you're dead because of sin.
[00:25:52] You're spiritually dead in your trespasses and your sins.
[00:25:57] So we have free will, but only to choose what is evil, what is wrong, what is selfish, what we want.
[00:26:06] We're not able to come to God on our own.
[00:26:08] Why?
[00:26:08] Because we're dead in our trespasses and sins.
[00:26:11] I didn't write this, okay?
[00:26:13] This is God's Word, and He wrote that, that we are dead in our trespasses and sins.
[00:26:19] But there is hope, it doesn't end there.
[00:26:22] If you look at verse 4, But God, who is rich in mercy for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, have quickened us together in Christ, parentheses, by grace ye are saved.
[00:26:40] So God has made us alive in Christ, even when we were dead in our sins, because by grace we are saved.
[00:26:46] And what does the grace mean?
[00:26:48] It means getting something that you don't deserve.
[00:26:52] We're dead in our sins.
[00:26:53] We are disobedient to God.
[00:26:55] We want to do what we want to do, right?
[00:26:57] I mean, I'm right there along with you.
[00:27:00] But it is only God coming in and changing us and giving us a new heart so that we want to seek after God.
[00:27:08] We want to do what pleases Him.
[00:27:10] And there's this struggle within us that we are constantly fighting against to live for God.
[00:27:19] That's Ephesians chapter 6, really in more detail.
[00:27:25] We look at verse 8 and 9 of chapter 2.
[00:27:28] For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves.
[00:27:33] It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
[00:27:39] Do you hear that?
[00:27:40] we are saved by grace through faith, both of those things, and it is not of yourselves.
[00:27:46] We can't get it on our own.
[00:27:49] It is the gift of God, not of works, so that we cannot boast about it.
[00:27:57] And then we look at Ephesians 2, 11 through 18.
[00:28:02] This is a really interesting part.
[00:28:04] Because here Paul goes in to talk about it.
[00:28:06] He's like, okay, so we talk about being saved, but who all is going to be saved?
[00:28:10] Like, what is the consistency of the makeup of that?
[00:28:13] Is it just going to be Jews? Is it just going to be Gentiles?
[00:28:16] Are the Jews going to be over here on their own, Jewish Christians?
[00:28:19] And Gentile Christians going to be here on their own?
[00:28:22] And he's like, no.
[00:28:24] The wall between that would separate Jews and Gentiles, Christ has torn down by His cross.
[00:28:33] Making one man out of the two.
[00:28:36] Because we are part of Christ's body, right?
[00:28:39] Christ is the head. He only has one body, the church, Jews and Gentiles together.
[00:28:49] Now, for a whole other sermon, it doesn't mean that all of the Jews are going to be saved.
[00:28:56] Only those, I mean, everything we talked about here in Ephesians from chapter 1, verse 1, all the way up to now, the Jewish people have to repent and come to Christ.
[00:29:07] They have to receive Christ as their Savior just as the Gentiles do, which is everybody else.
[00:29:15] All right, let's look at verse 11 of chapter 2.
[00:29:22] Wherefore remember that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, he's talking to the Ephesian church, he's talking to Gentiles, who are called the uncircumcision, those that have not been circumcised and come under the law of God
[00:29:41] with the Jewish law by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made with hands by the Jews who have been circumcised who have come under the law but we're not saved by works, right?
[00:30:00] So the law can't save us, right?
[00:30:03] So it is only by grace through faith in Christ and the Lord Jesus destroyed this separation or this wall between Jews and Gentiles.
[00:30:12] We see that in verse 12, that at that time ye were without Christ being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world,
[00:30:25] but now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off or made nigh or brought near by the blood of Christ.
[00:30:33] For He is our peace, who hath made both one and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances,
[00:30:51] for to make in Himself of twain, of two, of two people, one man, so making peace.
[00:30:58] and we are saved by grace through faith in Christ and not by our works because we can never be good enough.
[00:31:07] Why can we never be good enough?
[00:31:09] Because we're dead in our sins and only Christ can make us alive.
[00:31:17] Verse 17, And Jesus came and preached peace to you which were far off and to them that were nigh or near for through Him we both have access to one Spirit unto the Father.
[00:31:31] One of the most beautiful things in Ephesians and in the New Testament is where the New Testament writers will talk about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in one passage or in one verse.
[00:31:43] It is an incredible thing.
[00:31:47] How the Lord God Almighty exists in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
[00:31:51] And we see that clear.
[00:31:53] All three persons are God.
[00:31:55] they are all equal in power and glory but they have different functions and you start to see that in these verses that's a whole other sermon or sermon series in talking about the Trinity alright but now we see
[00:32:09] also in Ephesians 2 let's go to verse 19 I guess we were already there at the end of 18 now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God.
[00:32:30] So it means that Gentiles, us, I mean, unless, is there anyone here that's Jewish?
[00:32:35] Okay, so we're all Gentiles.
[00:32:37] So we have the very promises of God that were made to Abraham that were in the Old Testament through Christ.
[00:32:45] That's pretty exciting.
[00:32:47] All right, verse 20, and that we are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, and that is the Old and New Testaments, we are built on the foundation of the Scriptures.
[00:33:00] The church is Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth into a holy temple of the Lord in whom ye also are built together for habitation of God through the Spirit.
[00:33:18] That God is building us as the body of Christ also into a temple where Christ is the cornerstone, where the Word is the foundation for the church.
[00:33:31] You see, all these things that we preach on all Sunday, we're not making this stuff up.
[00:33:37] This is what the church is to be.
[00:33:39] This is how God saves us and changes us to make us His own people that we might go out from here and that we might live the gospel and proclaim it and that people would come to Christ
[00:33:52] and be saved by what He has done in us.
[00:33:57] This is how the church grows.
[00:34:00] All right, so that takes us to Ephesians 3.
[00:34:06] Let's look at verse 6.
[00:34:13] It says that Gentiles should be fellow heirs in the same body and partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel.
[00:34:20] Okay, we've already talked about that.
[00:34:22] But there's more to that that chapter 3 deals with.
[00:34:25] It deals with this mystery of God's people that it not only was the Jews, but it was Jews and Gentiles and coming together and becoming this one man in the same body.
[00:34:36] Look at verse 9.
[00:34:37] And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Christ Jesus.
[00:34:49] So the mystery is twofold, that the Gentiles will come in and that Christ was actually part of creation, or not.
[00:34:58] He was involved in creation.
[00:35:01] He initiated creation.
[00:35:03] He created all of us and the world and what would be the church with the Father and the Son.
[00:35:09] And it's like this mystery has been hid that Christ was there all along.
[00:35:14] And now he is being revealed.
[00:35:16] Look at verse 11 and 12.
[00:35:18] according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord in whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Him that we can come before God's presence and be accepted on Him
[00:35:35] because of the blood of Christ but also by the faith of Christ.
[00:35:40] Do you know how we said earlier that we can't keep the law perfectly?
[00:35:45] Well, the reason that we are forgiven and washed clean is because one came and he lived perfectly in our place.
[00:35:54] He was faithful to keep the whole law of God in our place.
[00:35:59] That's how he was able to die in our place for our sins, that the wrath of God would be taken off of us.
[00:36:12] Let's look at Ephesians 3.17.
[00:36:18] It says that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith that ye being rooted and grounded in love, might as well just keep on reading from there to the end of the chapter, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length
[00:36:33] and depth and height, like how full Christ is and His Word is, and to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge that He may be filled with all the fullness of God in the Holy Spirit living in us.
[00:36:52] Christ and the Father telling the Spirit what to tell us which is applying His truth to us and what His plans and purposes are for us.
[00:37:06] And we have the very fullness of God which is why we are to go to Christ, while we are to submit to Him, while we are to follow Him with all of our hearts, because that makes a difference.
[00:37:17] Because otherwise, you might not be experiencing the fullness of God that He has for you.
[00:37:24] Verse 20, Now unto Him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us by His Holy Spirit.
[00:37:36] Unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all the ages, world without end. Amen.
[00:37:45] We can stop here and be fine, because it's talking about that inheritance that is to come.
[00:37:50] And you see the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit all working for our salvation, for this inheritance coming, and how He is working through the church to build the church, to add to the church so that people will be saved and come to Christ.
[00:38:09] All right, let's look at chapter 4 in verse 1.
[00:38:16] I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech ye that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.
[00:38:27] Anyone who says that they're a Christian, but they're not bound by the law, and they don't have to, we're not saved by the law, but we do have to walk in the way that God has for us,
[00:38:43] which is obeying Him, which is wanting to please Him, wanting to follow Him.
[00:38:48] Are we ever going to do that perfectly? No.
[00:38:52] Which is why we get on our knees and we ask forgiveness and He forgives us.
[00:38:56] But if we don't repent, then guess what?
[00:38:58] our sin starts making a wall and it builds up and it separates us from God and all these promises that He has for us.
[00:39:10] So that is why repentance is key.
[00:39:13] But He calls us to walk worthy of the calling or the vocation for which He has called us.
[00:39:24] All right, let's look at Ephesians 4 verse 7.
[00:39:29] this is talking about and how God it's like in order for the church to grow to bring other people in says that there that He will give gifts to men that Christ will spiritual gifts
[00:39:46] do you know each of you if you believe in Jesus if He is your Lord and Savior you have a spiritual gift the question is do you know it and are we using them because if we're not using them
[00:40:01] then how are we going to grow individually but more importantly how are we going to grow as the church that is a whole nother sermon series but they are definitely here in ephesians 4 in romans
[00:40:17] 12 and first corinthians 12 talks a lot about spiritual gifts you you can go and read that the spirit will help to show you what gift that you have could be plural anyway let's look at
[00:40:30] verse 7 and 8 but unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ wherefore he saith when he ascended up on high he led captivity captive and gave gifts
[00:40:44] on to men in verse 11 and he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers and pastors and teachers is where in the history of the church kind of we are
[00:40:58] now for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. This is for the building up of the church so that the church can do the ministry of
[00:41:11] God, can serve people, can proclaim his truth, proclaim his salvation, and that people can be grown in Christ. Verse 13, till we all come in the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the
[00:41:27] Son of God unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ see that the church is the body of Christ with him as the head that Christ wants us as his
[00:41:44] body collectively together to be one man to be united which only the Holy Spirit can bring unity when you look at our nation today and how polarized it is and how far people are away from the truth,
[00:42:01] the only thing that is going to fix it and right it is the gospel of Jesus Christ, is the truth of the Word of God.
[00:42:10] It is because Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
[00:42:14] No one comes to the Father except through me, right?
[00:42:17] Now I'm getting off topic a little bit.
[00:42:19] But it is that only the Spirit brings unity.
[00:42:24] Look at verse 15 in chapter 3.
[00:42:27] but speaking the truth in love that we may grow up into Him in all things which is the head, even Christ.
[00:42:36] See again, I'm not making this stuff up.
[00:42:40] We are the body.
[00:42:41] Christ is the head.
[00:42:44] But only for those whom Christ dwells in our hearts by faith.
[00:42:51] We have to ask ourselves, have you received the Lord Jesus as your Savior?
[00:42:57] Does He dwell in your heart by faith?
[00:43:00] If not, when this service is over, come down to the front.
[00:43:05] Pray for the Lord to save you, to change you, to open your eyes, to give you a new heart, and He will.
[00:43:15] All right, continuing in chapter 4, we see about the old man and the new man, that we all have an old man.
[00:43:23] All right, we all have a crotchety old man inside of us.
[00:43:27] No, I'm just kidding.
[00:43:28] But we have an old man of sin and our old ways, and he's saying, put that off.
[00:43:35] Put on the new man.
[00:43:37] Put on Christ.
[00:43:39] Let's look at verse 17 of chapter 4.
[00:43:42] This I say therefore and testify in the Lord that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind or the emptiness of their mind, the meaningless of their mind, to be vain, to be selfish, to focus on what we want and not on God and His truth.
[00:44:02] Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart, who being past feeling have given themselves over to lasciviousness or in evil ways, perverse ways, to work all uncleanness and greediness.
[00:44:24] but ye have not so learned Christ for so be that ye have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth that is in Jesus that ye put off concerning the former conversation
[00:44:38] of the former ways the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and that ye put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
[00:44:58] You see, how we walk and how we live makes a difference.
[00:45:01] Whether we are showing Christ or we are showing the old man and our sin.
[00:45:10] But only God, as He lives through us and as we yield ourselves to Him, can give us the power to walk after Him while we are constantly repenting of our sins.
[00:45:22] All right, let's look at Ephesians 5 verse 1.
[00:45:33] I'll tell you a second, I wasn't necessarily going to use this example, but all the things that we are looking at, when we come back and we kind of put this, when we look at chapter 1 again, and it's going to be brief as we end,
[00:45:43] because all these things are going to be like on the karate kid when Mr. Miyagi was teaching Daniel karate, and he was having him do all the work, and then Daniel's like, you know, I'm sick of doing all this work for you.
[00:45:57] You're working me like a slave, and then he starts saying wax on, wax off, and all, you know, and Mr. Malachi starts hitting him, and suddenly it all makes sense, right?
[00:46:05] This is exactly what we are doing here.
[00:46:09] Okay, in Ephesians 5 verse 1 says, Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children.
[00:46:18] Pastor Joseph brought this out, it's been a few months back, as he talked about what the word followers means.
[00:46:26] It is the word mimitas, which means to mimic, which means to imitate.
[00:46:36] That we are to imitate God.
[00:46:40] How very, I mean, this is hard for us because of the sin that is still within us.
[00:46:45] That's why it's this battle within us.
[00:46:48] And this is what Paul is telling us in how to fight this.
[00:46:54] But Paul, as he goes on in 5, we'll read this through verse 5 here.
[00:47:01] He says, And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and has given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for His sweet-smelling savor.
[00:47:12] Now what he goes through, he starts listing some things and how people can live that is contrary to God, contrary to the truth.
[00:47:20] And these are things that we see in our world today.
[00:47:23] This is part of those polarizing things.
[00:47:25] But just because people say, well, I have a different view of things, and I'm going to live my life how I'm going to live, Paul's very explicit what he says here.
[00:47:35] And these are other sermons that can be fleshed out more, but here's what Ephesians has to say to us now in verse 3.
[00:47:44] But fornication, or sexual immorality, and uncleanness, or covetousness, Let it not be once named among you as becoming saints.
[00:47:59] Wow, that's pretty interesting.
[00:48:01] If some people say, you know, hey, my life and what I do is my business.
[00:48:05] It's not the church.
[00:48:07] Do you want to rephrase what you thought there according to what Paul is saying?
[00:48:13] Let it not be named among the saints.
[00:48:17] It is not to exist in the church.
[00:48:20] And if it is, then we are to repent.
[00:48:24] But as pastors and elders, if we let this kind of sin go on in the church, do you really think God is going to bless us?
[00:48:33] Do you think His Spirit is going to reside here and be pleased with us?
[00:48:38] No, because we are living in that sin and walking in sin that is akin to the devil and not the Spirit of the living God.
[00:48:51] Verse 4, he goes, on neither filthiness nor foolish talking nor jesting which are not convenient but rather giving of thanks and this is the clincher this is kind of why there's a whole nother sermon but i
[00:49:06] got i got to read it because it's here because this is how we are to walk as children of the light or not walk according to what this is saying for this ye know that no whoremonger
[00:49:15] nor unclean person nor covetous man who is an idolater has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
[00:49:27] That's pretty strong.
[00:49:30] Our world needs to hear that today.
[00:49:33] Our world needs to hear that a man and a woman don't need to be living together before they are married.
[00:49:42] They need to hear that homosexuality is wrong.
[00:49:45] They need to hear that transgenderism, whatever you call it, is wrong.
[00:49:52] They need to hear that in the sense of how we live for Christ as a church matters.
[00:50:00] It can't be that people can do whatever they want and they're still okay in the church.
[00:50:06] But this is why Christ came and died for our sins.
[00:50:10] But we must repent.
[00:50:12] We must turn from our sins, and we will be healed.
[00:50:20] All right.
[00:50:23] So then in Ephesians 5, it talks about there's darkness, which we've just mentioned, and there's light.
[00:50:30] He's like, live and walk as children of the light.
[00:50:38] Otherwise, the Spirit will not inhabit his people, and the church will not be productive.
[00:50:52] Let's look at Ephesians 5.11.
[00:50:56] It says, And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
[00:51:01] For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.
[00:51:06] But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light that whatsoever doth make manifest is light.
[00:51:16] Therefore he saith, Awakest thou that sleeper and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
[00:51:24] And we are to walk in the light.
[00:51:25] We are to be children of the light.
[00:51:29] And Christ is telling us to wake up from our sins and that old man in sinful ways and sinful and selfish desires and follow him.
[00:51:38] And this is the only way that we are going to have forgiveness is the only way you're going to have peace and the strength and the hope of God.
[00:51:49] Remember, we are dead in our sins and the only way we are made alive is by Christ.
[00:51:55] So it doesn't mean that we should go back and live however we want to live.
[00:52:00] Does this make sense?
[00:52:04] And so then, very quickly, as you look at the latter part of Ephesians 5, it talks about in 22 to 33, we're just going to look at a few verses, it talks about husbands and wives.
[00:52:19] It says that even in marriage, it shows the church, it shows Christ's salvation in what marriage is supposed to be.
[00:52:28] This definitely has a huge bearing on our world today.
[00:52:36] Ephesians 5.22, Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord.
[00:52:45] A lot of people don't like hearing this today.
[00:52:49] But when wives submit to their husbands, it is a picture of how we are to submit to Christ.
[00:52:54] You see that?
[00:52:56] But even more in verse 25, husbands, love your wives, not just because that's the right thing to do and what God wants us to do, but it is also even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it.
[00:53:11] Because Christ is not only the head of the body, but he is also the groom and we as the church are the bride.
[00:53:20] That's how all this inheritance really fits in as well.
[00:53:25] Because we receive the blessings of heaven because we will be married to Christ.
[00:53:31] Verse 26, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word.
[00:53:40] That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.
[00:53:52] Let that ring in your ears.
[00:53:55] We are to be holy and without blemish, only made pure and cleansed by Christ and in striving to live for Him.
[00:54:08] All right, we're finally to chapter 6.
[00:54:10] Man, yes.
[00:54:11] All right, in verses 1 through 9, it talks about there how even our relationships that we have in life that we are supposed to honor the Lord in.
[00:54:23] It talks about in verse 1 of chapter 6, children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right.
[00:54:30] It says in verse 4, and fathers provoke not your children to wrath.
[00:54:37] That fathers are to treat their children well and fairly and not oppressively to be encouraging to them.
[00:54:45] In verse 5, servants or workers, which we all have a job, right?
[00:54:51] Or the majority of us do.
[00:54:53] We work for somebody, we all have a boss.
[00:54:56] I mean, even a CEO has a board of directors, right?
[00:55:03] It says that servants be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling in singleness of heart as unto Christ.
[00:55:13] as you obey Christ so even in our work we are to obey those who are under who who we are under and then it says in verse 9 and he masters it says if you're a boss if you have people under you
[00:55:26] that that you are to do the same things unto them forbearing threatening knowing that your master also is in heaven neither is there respect of persons with him and then we come to the last
[00:55:39] passage in chapter 6 where it talks about the armor of god so look at ephesians 6 10 now this is we we've talked about in the sense of walking with god of fighting against our sin struggling
[00:55:55] with our sin trying to be holy trying to to walk in the light confessing our sin before god but But here he gives us, here's how you actually fight against it.
[00:56:09] He says, Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
[00:56:15] Put on the whole armor of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
[00:56:22] For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
[00:56:33] wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand and it has six pieces of armor that we put on
[00:56:48] that will be dealt with next Sunday night in the looking for more conference but of all these things show how we are to follow Christ how we are to be obedient to Him, but also what our standing is with Him.
[00:57:09] That the reason that we are able to do all of these things goes back to chapter 1 because we are chosen in Christ.
[00:57:17] Because we are children of God.
[00:57:21] Because He has an inheritance that starts now that we get a little taste of this deposit by the Holy Spirit within us in how God is with us and Jesus says He will never leave us
[00:57:36] and there is more to come.
[00:57:40] And God says, He says, I will always be with you.
[00:57:45] He says that I will deliver you.
[00:57:47] I will take care of you.
[00:57:49] He says that you are connected to me.
[00:57:52] We are united in Christ and there is nothing that is able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus.
[00:58:02] and that this is the gospel, this is the hope of Christ, that it is him who changes us, who comes in, who gives us a new heart, who puts his spirit within us and who says, follow me.
[00:58:18] And he wants to bless us and to make us more like Christ.
[00:58:25] But it only comes as we yield ourselves to him, as we are seeking after him with all of our heart, as we are trying to get rid of the old man and grabbing on to the new man,
[00:58:40] of grabbing on to Christ, of putting him on, of wanting to walk in the light, of wanting to be the church that he has called us to be.
[00:58:51] Do you see all that?
[00:58:52] Do you see how all the pieces fit together?
[00:58:55] It is only possible because God has made us his and he has an inheritance that is waiting for us.
[00:59:02] So the question is, how are we to live before we receive this inheritance?
[00:59:10] If we know that we belong to God, if we know that this inheritance is waiting for us, it should change how we live.
[00:59:19] We should no longer be living for ourselves by our own truth.
[00:59:24] What we feel is right.
[00:59:26] I mean, that's been the mantra for the last 50 years.
[00:59:30] well your truth is different from my truth this is the truth and Christ is the truth and he is the only one that will give us blessing and rest and peace that is only found in Christ
[00:59:48] and the devil wants to take that away from us the devil wants us to be separated from that and that is what this fight is about and Christ will give us the victory that it is only in Him, but we have to go to Him.
[01:00:07] We have to realize that we are chosen in Him since before the foundation of the world and that we are the very sons and daughters of the living God.
[01:00:20] Are you a son and daughter of the living God?
[01:00:24] If not, come to Him today and be saved.
[01:00:30] Let's look to Him in prayer.
[01:00:32] Oh, Father, Lord, we do praise You.
[01:00:37] We humble ourselves before you.
[01:00:39] We thank you for these great promises that you have given to us in the Lord Jesus Christ.
[01:00:44] We thank you that those who believe in Christ, that we are saved and changed, but those who do not believe in him, that your wrath is upon them.
[01:01:00] And Lord, we pray for their salvation.
[01:01:02] We pray that they will come and that they will embrace Christ, that they will confess their sins in his name.
[01:01:10] Lord, we pray that you would help us to live as your holy people.
[01:01:15] And Lord, that we would spend time on our knees before you confessing our sin and Lord, asking for your direction.
[01:01:24] Lord, that you may guide us by the Holy Spirit, that in all that we do, that we would bring honor and glory to Christ and that he would be glorified through us.
[01:01:35] Lord, fill us with your power.
[01:01:39] And Lord, work through us to bring others to the Lord Jesus that they might be saved.
[01:01:46] We ask all of these things in the great name of Christ our Savior.
[01:01:52] Amen.