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We go across a trackless wild our Jesus footsteps ever show the path for every child.
Our God is light and.
But.
Until God.
Make it the whole world and swinging.
The.
Lord.
Second Samuel.
Second Samuel.
In chapter 16.
We'll just start with verse 13, Second Samuel 16, starting with verse 13.
And as David and his men went by the way.
Shimmy I went along the hillside over against him and cursed as he went.
And threw stones at him and cast dust.
And the king.
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And all the people that were with him came weary.
And then these words and refresh themselves there.
Let's pray.
Our brother Don mentioned how.
Our God is a giving God and we don't have perhaps another place in scripture where.
We have the vast panorama blessing as we do in this chapter.
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God to the Saints which are at Ephesus.
And to the faithful in Christ Jesus, grace be to you, and peace from God our Father.
And from the Lord Jesus Christ, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who have blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places.
In Christ, according as He hath chosen us, in Him before the foundation of the world.
That we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He have made us accepted in the Beloved.
In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace, wherein He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us a mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in himself.
That in the dispensation of the fullness of times, He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in Him in whom also we have attained an inheritance.
Being predestinated according to the purpose of him, he worked with all things after the counsel of his own will.
That we should be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ, in whom He also trusted. After that he heard the word of truth.
The gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit, with that Holy Spirit of promise.
Which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession under the praise of His glory.
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, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, and the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His calling.
And what the richest of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints? And what is the exceeding greatness of His power to 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 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 has put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him, that Phillip All in all.
There is the vast array of blessing that belongs to every believer in the Lord Jesus.
Many, many of God's dear people do not realize it, but what we are going to talk about in this chapter applies to every single one and it is interesting. Toward the end of this chapter we have the prayer of the apostle Paul and it's interesting to see what he asks for. Just to briefly refer to it in the.
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17th verse.
He begins, and it says in the 18th verse, the eyes of your understanding.
Being enlightened that ye may know. And then He asked for three things that they would know. First of all, what is the hope of His calling? That is our heavenly calling. That is the blessing that belongs to us, that which we have been called to.
And then next is what is the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints? And in verses 10 and 11, it speaks of that inheritance that is ours. An inheritance is something that we will come into the full enjoyment of in the future. Can't say it's all ours now except by the word of God, but we're going to come into the full possession of it when the Lord Jesus.
Takes His possession of the inheritance in that future day. And the third thing is verse 19. What is the exceeding greatness of His power to us word who believe according to the working of his mighty power. And that's what you have in verses 13 and 14. It is the Holy Spirit that is the power of enjoyment of these things.
And Paul does not ask that they receive more blessing. And in the sense that we have it in this chapter, brethren.
We cannot ask for more blessing. We have it all right here and now. We do not have to wait for a coming day for it. We, in a certain sense, will not be more blessed in heaven than we are right now. We have every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ. Do we live in the enjoyment of it?
I have to confess for myself that I'm afraid I don't. But that's why we have the exhortation of Scripture. But if we do not know these things, brethren, then how can we enjoy them? It's important that we go over them again and again. I don't think there's anybody here that is completely ignorant of what this chapter presents to us. But the challenge that comes to my own soul is.
Going over them and to speak of them and to be reminded of the reality of these things.
Like was mentioned in the address, we're living in a materialistic age and it seems like our minds are trained to value things materially. And when we speak of spiritual realities, we think, well that's not in the realm of real hard, down to earth reality, brethren, it is.
Things that are spiritual are far more real.
Than things that are material.
The end verse of Second Corinthians.
Four was read while we looked not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal means just for a time. The things which are not seen are eternal. So when we're talking here in this chapter about spiritual blessings, remember they are far more real and lasting.
Than any material possession could ever be.
What you're saying is that it was written to Saints and faithful in Christ. That is true of every believer. That is the standing of every believer. That's not two classes or a special class of believer. But many believers are ignorant of these things, as you were saying. And so I remember when I was a boy, there was a woman who pleaded with the authorities to give her welfare. And they looked into her case and they just because she was living in a boiler room and they looked into her case and they discovered she owned over 20 apartment houses.
In Ottawa, and it wasn't that she didn't have, well, she didn't know it. And in Paul's second prayer, the first prayer was that they would know what their blessings were. And in his second prayer is that they could enjoy those blessings. I remember that one of the wealthiest men in a prior time in the United States, I think a Rockefeller, said he would give a billion dollars if he could eat a hot dog because he had a such a bad stomach, he couldn't enjoy it. He could probably have bought every hot dog factory in the United States, but he wasn't able to enjoy it.
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And so we need to know what our blessings are and we need to be able to enjoy them. And I believe that the reason that there's a large degree of ignorance about these things is we find great in the very first verse, a hint as to what he says that.
To the faithful in Christ Jesus who are at Ephesus. There's a little note in Mr. Darby's Bible that some ancient manuscripts leave this out because they considered it was a circular letter. Well, I believe indeed it belongs there.
But this was read, and we read at the end of Colossians. Let's just read it in Colossians 416 because our brother alluded to that in the prayer about being at the assembly meetings.
I'm going to read it from Mr. Darby's translation.
And when the letter has been read among you, 'cause that it be read also in the assembly of the latest seans, and that she also read that from Laodicea.
And he suggests that the assembly, the letter from late that was at Laodicea was the Epistle to the Ephesians. And so we have divine authority for what we're doing is reading this, not just at home we ought to, but in the assembly. And so that is a divine direction of God. And if we don't do that, the reason that the Saints of God are ignorant is to these things is because they're not reading these things. They're not in a place where the Lord is in the midst, and these things are being read.
As they were and in the place that they were intended to. And He intends us to lay hold of these truths. You may get a little bit of truth from this chapter, a little bit of truth from that chapter, a little bit here and there. And God teaches us that way. But He intended that these epistles be read in the assembly and that we be there where He is so that we might enjoy what our blessing, know what our blessings are, and then be able to enjoy them. And as we have in the second prayer, enjoy them together.
That these blessings that we read of here, and all that is brought before us as to what we have in and through Christ is for our present enjoyment. It's interesting that in the Old Testament we have brought before us the land of Canaan, and I believe that the land of Canaan in the Old Testament pictures to us in type that which we can have an enjoyment of now in our souls. Some of the old hymns, not ones we sing, but some of the old hymns in old hymnals, speak of the.
Land of Canaan as that which comes after death, after the Jordan. And it's true, brethren, that now we know in part and we prophecy in part, but we don't have to wait till we get to glory to enjoy all that is ours in Christ. He wants us and his desire is that we would enjoy it now, but we're not going to enjoy it with the intellect. We're not going to enjoy it with the natural mind. And that's why later on in the chapter when he prays for them, he prays that the.
Eyes of their hearts might be opened, because we must open our hearts to receive these things if we're going to take them in and enjoy them and walk in the good of them. It's not just enough to sit here these next few days and enumerate these things in an intellectual way. Yes, it is good to have a knowledge of the truth. Yes, it is good to be able to enumerate our blessings and the fundamental doctrines of the Word of God. But that in itself is not going to be enough.
If we're going to take up this chapter, and we're going to take it up strictly from an intellectual standpoint, we're going to go away from here at the end of this weekend, and it's not going to have the practical moral purifying effect that it ought to have. I mentioned that Canaan is a picture to us in the Old Testament of what we have here in Ephesians. Bob has referred to it, and I think it's a good expression as that vast panorama of blessings that are ours in Christ.
I just want to notice something in that connection in the book of Joshua, because there are two remarkable statements in connection with the land and the children of Israel taking possession of that land. First of all, in the 11Th chapter, we know that in the book of Joshua, Joshua has been raised up to lead and leads the people through the Jordan and into the possession of the land. And that's really where the conflict began. They had a few skirmishes in the wilderness.
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But the real conflict never began until they went in to take possession of the land. And in the measure in which you seek to enjoy in your soul and walk in the good of all that is yours in Christ.
And those heavenly blessings and the calling of the church in that measure, the enemy is going to be right there.
To seek to rob you of it. The enemy is going to be here in these meetings this weekend. He doesn't want you to listen to the truth of God. He doesn't want you to have a little deeper and fuller enjoyment of the precious things that we have in the first chapter of Ephesians. That's why in the 6th chapter we find the conflict there and we wrestle not against flesh and blood as Israel did. Theirs was a physical inheritance, and it was right and proper that they go in and fight their physical enemies.
We don't fight in that way, but there's a very real warfare going on, a spiritual warfare, because the enemy of our souls is right there to rob us as we seek to take possession in our souls of these things. But just notice the end of Joshua 11. Joshua is a picture to us of the Lord Jesus as the captain of our salvation. And verse 23 says, so Joshua took the whole land. I want you to notice that statement. Who took the whole land?
Joshua and brethren, who has secured our blessings for us? Oh, it's our Joshua. It's nothing of ourselves, it's the Lord Jesus. He fought the victory. He came to Calvary Cross, and not only did he die on Calvary's cross, but he's risen, he's ascended, he's seated at the right hand of God as God's Amen to the work of Calvary. There's been a tremendous victory won to secure our blessings for us.
And can I take any credit? Can you take any credit for one of your blessings? No, Joshua took the whole land. Our Joshua has taken the whole land. He's purchased it. The blessings, they're secure in him because of what he's accomplished. But now just go on in the 12Th chapter.
Or perhaps it's the.
13th chapter chapter 13 and verse one. Now Joshua was old and stricken in years.
And the Lord said unto him, Thou art old and stricken in years. Now notice this. And there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed. You say, I thought Joshua took the whole land. Is this a contradiction? Not one bit. Yes, Joshua, as a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ took the whole land. But at the end of his life there was very much land to be possessed. And brethren, don't we have to admit, at least I do. Maybe I better not include anyone else.
But at least I have to hang at my head and admit that in the years that I've been a Christian, there remains very much land to be possessed. I have enjoyed in my soul so very little of what is really mine in Christ. I have taken possession in my soul of so very little of those heavenly blessings that we're going to enumerate in the first chapter of Ephesians. But brethren, as we open up this chapter and read it and seek to meditate on it a little bit in these meetings.
Let's open our hearts to take a little more possession of the land, as it were. There's much we haven't entered into and enjoyed, but His desire is that we would enter in and enjoy a little more of it in a little deeper and a little fuller way. What is ours in and through our precious Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's taken the whole land, but there remains very much to be possessed.
Practical enjoyment of what is really ours the enemy can't take it away from us, but he can take away the enjoyment of it from us, and that's his constant battle. And brethren, I have especially noticed that when we go over this chapter so often afterwards some major distraction comes in the enemy trying to get our.
Enjoyment off of the spiritual realities that we have been called to there are ours.
But we need to set our feet on them, just like the children of Israel. We're told every place that the soul of your foot shall tread, it shall be yours. So it's the practical enjoyment of it all. Like Jim was saying, we can know these things in a mental way. That's not enough. It is practically enjoying them in our souls. The Lord help us.
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Meditating on these.
Things are in heavenly places. Our mercies are here. And you know, we travel to a conference like this over nice roads and we're thankful for mercies, health to enjoy it in a nice place. But every one of our blessings is spiritual and it's in heavenly place. In contrast with the Jew, all of their blessings were earthly. And so we understand when we read the Psalms that you cannot enjoy his inheritance now because the enemy is in the land and the only way for them to enjoy their proper blessing.
Which God has purpose for them is for the enemy to be removed from the land. Now they're trying to do it with horses and Chariots and not trusting in the name of the Lord. And they're getting into a lot of difficulty. And likewise, we may try to lay hold of spiritual blessings by carnal means, but the only way that we can enjoy them is is to enjoy spiritual blessings and to realize they're there. And the thing that is that very many difficulties that come into our life are may actually cause us.
To enjoy our spiritual blessings more. A sickness comes in. Well, to a Jew death was the death of all of his hopes, but to a believer it just ushers us into the glory to the presence of the Lord. A sickness may just cause us to enjoy the Lord more. A loss of job may bring us into a into a closer relationship with the Lord. All things are yours, whether life or death or Paul or Apollo's. And so because they are spiritual blessings.
Display of power that's ever been.
Shown is made known in this chapter and it concerns resurrection. This is one of the things we ought to enjoy ahead of time.
Think we understand and we go to the end of the chapter again to see that.
To know what is the exceeding greatness of His power, verse 19.
To Usford, who believed.
Why does it put that in there?
When it goes on and says according to the working of his mighty power.
This is the greatest power that God has ever displayed. My dad used to tell me about Walter Potter, who used to come here to Saint Louis a lot.
And he said.
When Christ was in the grave, those.
Three days the power of God was called in question. What could he do? What would he do? What did he do? He raised him up. So it goes on and says.
According to the working of His mighty power, which he wrote in Christ, when he raised him from the dead and set him at His right hand in heavenly places forever, we didn't just leave him on this earth, He took him up to glory. But these, those words to us, word who believe, if we don't believe these things, if we don't read them, if we don't believe them, we're not going to know them.
They got the greatest message for us that's possible to have resurrection and heaven.
The proper sphere that we're called to is heaven, isn't it? Where is Jesus now?
Far above all principality and power and might and dominion, every name that's named, not only in this world, but that which is to come there. He is a real man of flesh and bones. One of our race is in the glory of God, brethren, and we as His people are united intimately to Him now in that position. So our blessings are in heavenly places. They're not down here. And it is something we need to be challenged about in our souls, brethren.
As.
We see the tendency in our country here for Christians to get involved in politics and earthly movements.
Perhaps right movements in themselves to oppose abortion and homosexuality, but they are earthly movements. We are called to hire things than that. And what happens when people become involved in those kind of things as they get earth before them? We're called to heaven, and heaven's glory far outshines earth, Oh, brethren, to get a glimpse of it in our souls, the tremendous.
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Blessing we've been brought into. Just just look at verse three, brethren. It just thrills the heart to read it.
Bless it, be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Who has blessed us with all new translation says every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ.
Every single spiritual blessing that can be enumerated is already ours in Christ. You believe it.
Oh brethren, let it sink into your soul. Let's enjoy it.
How can we? I know we have trials in this this life and we have troubles and problems.
But how can we walk through this light moping when we got this kind of a portion? This is ours right here and now. I must say, rather than that I have been challenged by being with some of our poor brethren to the South as to the reality of these things.
Spiritual blessings. They just don't seem to register with us here in the States very much.
And remember, with Brother Clem, we were down in Dominican Republic, Los Michi's little town up on the eastern side of the country, and there we visited a brother. His name was Juan Bosquez is with the Lord now.
Juan Vasquez, who is black, but.
He really enjoyed the Lord, his soul, and he didn't know how to read, I don't think. And but we were invited to his house. And I don't know that I've been much poorer house than that, but banana leaves for a roof. And when it rained, you had to kind of sit yourself accordingly so you didn't get rained on. And we were invited to lunch there. And well, the sister is preparing a lunch.
We sat down at his little rickety table.
He didn't have a whole lot of house to show us around in and how nice it was. He didn't have a nice car out front. He didn't have much of crops around either. But he cut out his Bible and he opened it up and he started quoting verses. I didn't realize he couldn't read right then. I wish you could have seen that face. Shine, breath.
I just had to put my head down to say Lord.
What is it about our culture that blinds us to the reality of these spiritual things?
I must say it's been one of the most rich spiritual experiences I've had is with that dear brother who had so little of this world's goods. Material things don't have to dull the enjoyment of spiritual things, but brethren, they do.
Let's admit it. I have to confess it for myself, and I'm afraid it's something that is generally true. And the Lord stir our hearts to realize the reality of what we've been brought into in Christ. These things are going to last forever. These are things that are ours for all eternity, not just for a few brief moments of time.
They die for a young person, a brand new car. I think you'd be quite interested.
Talk about the blessings of Ephesians 1.
Maybe we find it a little bit boring.
Originate.
Chosen in him.
Before the foundation of the world.
That's a manifestation of God is love.
Chapter of ephesians that there are 17 his.
There's, there's a note in the back of my Bible, there's 28 in the whole epistle and 17 in this first chapter. So everything that we have here.
According to the good pleasure of His will, and the 5th. 1St To the praise of the glory of His grace, and whom I have redemption through His blood. According to the riches of His grace, and on down through the chapter 17 of them. His grace, His glory. And He has dispensed what is of Himself to us, hasn't He?
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I'd like to just.
Follow up to what Bob has brought before us that we don't want to ever get the impression that we are to despise the mercies that we enjoy in a land like this. We come to this conference this weekend. We're thankful for climate controlled room. We're thankful for the comfortable chairs, a bed upstairs at night, good meals provided. We want to be very thankful for the mercies that God has provided. But I believe what we need to realize, brethren, they are not the bottom line to our enjoyment of the truth.
And sometimes we think they're not necessary to enjoy the things of God together.
I remember an elderly sister in the West Indies, and if you approached her home before she knew you were coming, she was often sweeping her dirt floor in preparation for your arrival. And Singh met him. I have Christ, what want I more? Brethren, do we Polish our marble floors and sing? I have Christ, what want I more. Not that we despise the things that God has given us, but when you go to a conference in one of these countries.
Sometimes I've had to keep a fresh handkerchief for every meeting to keep the water out of my eyes. I've never figured out whether it's better to get a bench with a right angle or no back at all. But brethren, when you open the Word of God, you see that they're rich in faith. They're poorest to this world's goods, but they're rich in faith, and there's nothing to hinder the enjoyment of their heavenly portion. And so I just say that because, as Bob said, we want to be very careful.
That we don't let the mercies, and we have many of them in this land that we're thankful for, but that we don't let them stand in the way of our enjoyment of the truth. And when the Lord Jesus prayed for his own, he said they are not of this world, even as I am not of this world. And it's interesting that this epistle is addressed not to the Saints of Colossi, but the Saints at Colossi. I'm sorry. At Ephesus, I'm sorry.
Because here we are today, we're at Saint Louis, and we're still physically here in this world. But brethren, while we're at Saint Louis and we're at the Sheraton Hotel, I trust there's some realization in our souls that we're not of this world. We're still in this world.
But we're not of this world. And so it was not the Saints of of Ephesus, but the Saints act. The only thing that we have as far as this world is, is the fact that we're still physically here. But the Spirit of God is very careful in Christianity to detach us in every way from this world. So careful is the Spirit of God that in the verse that was just quoted, it says he has chosen us in him.
Before the foundation of the world is. Keep your finger here and go back to the book of Matthew. We've spoken of the blessings for Israel, but just notice something in the.
I believe it's the 25th of Matthew. Yes, Matthew 25. Now this is looking on to a future day when Israel will be brought back into the good of their inheritance, their earthly inheritance. They'll be the shout of a king amongst them.
And the Kingdom will be set up here on earth. And just notice what it says in verse 34, Matthew 2534. Then shall the king say unto them, on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you. Now notice this next word from the foundation of the world, not before the foundation Scriptures. Tremendously accurate.
And here we find with Israel their blessings, as we've been saying, are connected and will be yet connected with this world, and the blessings for them are from the foundation of the world. But lest we think that any of our blessings, hopes, goals, or aspirations are connected with this world in any way, when he writes to the Ephesians, he says before the foundation of the world, brethren, when we think of what is ours in Christ.
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But we have for our enjoyment now all that we are going to enjoy in a deeper and fuller way in a coming day when the hindrances will be completely removed. Why do we want any part of this world? Why do we want something here? Why did Moses? Why would Moses want to be in the court of Pharaoh and raised up to a position of perhaps being king of Egypt and a pyramid built in his honor that people today could go and view?
And standing off, why would He want that when He endured us seeing Him who is invisible, He reckoned that the sufferings of Christ were not worthy to be compared with with what is ahead with the glory that's ahead. Oh, brother. And if we could just enjoy more in our souls of what is ours in Christ now and what is ahead in that day of glory when we share with Him, I believe it would detect just from this world without any scoldings or admonishments as to separation and all that kind of thing.
What is going to wean our hearts is not a scolding, brethren, not being told we should do this or we shouldn't do that or we shouldn't be involved in this. We shouldn't be involved in that. Know what is going to wean our hearts is to get ahold of what we have in Christ in this chapter.
As the title, just give me Earth.
And that's the interest of the person that made the statement. Just give me Earth. That's where their interest is.
And that's where their will is found. And I think it's important to recognize in this chapter that this chapter is about the will of God. If I'm interested in my own will, that's one thing.
But am I interested in what God's will is, what God plans and purposes in contrast to my own will? Sometimes we have a discussion with somebody else and we say, what do you think? And they tell us what they think. We may say, well, what does so and so think?
Because they want to know. Or the response was maybe, oh, I don't really care, it doesn't really matter. What's your dad thing? Well, I don't know or I know or whatever. It's our interest in somebody else's will is according to the measure in which that person is important to us in some way. And the apostle Paul wanted to tell his brethren about the purposes and councils of God according to his will.
And in fact, I think it's on his mind in such a way that he begins that way. And he says, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God. And so he says, brethren, it wasn't my choice, but my God has a will. And he chose this responsibility for me. And this is what I am. And now I'm going to pass on to you those things which my God has given to me to tell you according to his will.
So in verse five he says according to the good pleasure of his will. Well, it's good for us to know what what God pleasures, what he wants, what he's interested in. Does he not have a say? Do we not care? Of course we do. And so then in verse nine he says, having made known unto us the mystery of his will, which according to his good pleasure, which he had purposed in himself.
God didn't have a little counsel with us and say, well, what do you think? Let's decide what's good between you and I? No, God had his own counsel and he said, according to my counsel, this is my pleasure and I'm going to tell it to you as well.
You know, sometimes someone has a will, but they don't tell us and we don't know and we can't enjoy it even ahead of time. Sometimes maybe somebody says to us, well, it's your birthday and they put the present out on the table. What is it, daddy? And we'll wait and see. So we have to wait. We can't enjoy it ahead of time. We've got to wait. It's a surprise for us and there's a place for that. But here God says, I want you to enjoy right now. So I'm going to tell you ahead of time.
Some of the things that I've already done for you, some of the things I'm doing now and some of the things that are still future.
For you the good pleasure of His will down, verse 11.
Who worketh all things according to the council of his own will. You know, I've willed a lot of things in my life and they never came to pass.
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I perfectly expected to do them, and I was doing them for somebody else and they never happened. I had the purpose, I had the plan, I had the intention, and I couldn't carry it out. God says, I want to assure you that all these things that I've given to you in Christ, you're going to realize none of them. I'm going to have to say later, oops, I'm sorry. I couldn't really carry it out. And he gives us the truth, the resurrection.
Which is an absolute assurance to our hearts that there's nothing that God has willed that he can't accomplish and will not fail to accomplish. And so he says, oh, just rather open your eyes and see. But it's important for us in the very beginning. In a sense, these things will thrill our hearts if we are interested in God's will.
What is ultimately the will of God? That all things, whether they be heaven and earth, be headed up in Christ.
And this comes back to what Brother Bob was saying. What is that wicked servant begin to do? He begins to say, If that servant begins to say, my Lord delayeth his coming, he begins to beat the men's servants.
And that's the character that we take on that instead, we become beaters.
And you see this, I was thinking of the apostle Paul here he was in prison.
The king was waiting for a bride. The Jews wanted him there. The king forgot about him and finally he's released and he stands before the king. And this comes back to what Brother Jim was saying. He's standing before the king, and he says, what does he say? He says, I wish that thou art all together as I am, yet without these chains.
We don't want chains. He didn't want, didn't enjoy being in prison. But the lesser is blessed of the greater, and we lose our character of being messengers of the great blessing of God, because if we could rid the world of terrorism.
Would it give Christ his proper place according to the will of God? If we could get rid of all alcoholism or all abortion or all of these things, would it make would it 'cause this world to be headed up by Christ? Not a bit. That's what man wants. He wants to enjoy the world in peace and safety and in good health without Christ.
What God wants all things to be headed up in Christ.
And so we may actually be laboring to accomplish that which is against the councils of God. God is overturning.
Overturning until he was right. It is his coming. He's going to give it to him. That's what we're to be looking for.
If we're looking simply for peace and safety in this world, then we're going to take on the character of beating the men servants and rather than being blessers.
Just the other day and he said to me, and I believe he's a sincere believer, but he said to me, I have no greater aspiration than my son who was standing beside him and looked to be about 11 or 12 years of age. Then my son grow up and run to be senator of the in the United of the United States, a member of Senate to be a Christian influence in in high places. Well, I sought to bring before him and I just repeat it because I think it's helpful in keeping this in perspective.
That if we can just remember, brethren, that we're ambassadors for Christ, I think it will adjust our perspective and our relationships in many ways. Because of sometimes said, there are three things that characterize an ambassador. One is that he represents the country from which he has been sent in the country to which he has been sent. That is if we send an ambassador to from Ottawa to DC.
That man is a foreigner here in this country. He retains his Canadian citizenship. He is not a citizen of the United States. And he is here simply in the United States to represent and portray the image that we as Canadians want to portray to the American people. In fact, if he doesn't, we reserve the right after remonstrating with him to recall him. And I believe that's what the sin unto death is. It's really the recalling of the ambassador.
We're here to represent heaven in Christ, and if we don't represent heaven in Christ, the Lord may take us home. And so the ambassador represents his country in the foreign country. The other thing an ambassador does is he takes up the interests of his own citizens in that country. And brethren, we're fellow citizens with the Saints and of the household of God. It tells us in the end of the second chapter of this book. And we're here to take up the interests of our fellow citizens.
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If I go to a country where there's political and civil unrest, I'm encouraged to register at the Canadian embassy because if there's a problem, the Canadian ambassador will take up my interests, perhaps give me safety refuge at the Canadian consulate, help me get out of the country, whatever it might be. We're here to take up the interests of our fellow believers. The other thing an ambassador does is he tells the requirements of becoming a citizen of his country.
If you want to become a Canadian citizen, you can go down to the Canadian Consulate in Washington and the Canadian ambassador and his staff will give you the forms, perhaps even walk you through the steps and tell you the requirements of becoming a Canadian citizen. And we're here to tell others how they can become citizens of heaven. And I would suggest that if Christians spent more time doing that, it would have a greater effect than out lobbying for all the abuses of humanity.
What this world needs is not reformation. They need a change of heart. Man needs a change of heart. And so we're here to tell others how they can become citizens of heaven. But that's all an ambassador does. If an ambassador, if the Canadian ambassador showed up at a polling station in Washington on Election Day and wanted to vote, why they'd laugh at him. They'd say you can't vote. You're not a citizen of this country if he tried to get involved in the political wranglings of Capitol Hill.
Why they say you're completely out of place. This is not in keeping with your position as an ambassador of Canada. They wouldn't allow it for a moment and.
As we've been saying, we're not of this world. We're foreigners here in this world. We're here, I say, to represent Christ in heaven. We're here to take up the interests of our fellow citizens. And we're here to tell others how they can become citizens of heaven, how they can belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you and I can keep that in view, I believe it will adjust our perspective and our relationships and our activities.
While we're here and on foreign soil.
Respect the laws of the country where he is sent, wouldn't he? And that is our purpose too. We need to respect the laws and submit ourselves to them. Measure we Can I carry an American passport when I travel. That does not mean that I am involved in the political wranglings of my the country I come from. My home is in heaven. Our citizenship is in heaven. From whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Next we have the expression the beloved you can really capitalize that be it refers to the Lord Jesus and.
Term of endearment between himself and the Father. The Father looks at that Son and he says that's the beloved, and all the plans and purposes of God in this chapter are in that person.
Who God loves, Who has satisfied God completely in his work here on earth?
One, that God opened heaven so that he could tell us, as it were, he couldn't restrain himself. And he opens heaven and he says, this is my beloved Son. And now that he's gone back to heaven, in Hebrews, he opens heaven so we can look up there and enjoy them. And so we have heaven open to our eyes of faith, that we might look and gaze upon the beloved 1.
And every blessing that God purposes and has given to us, as we've already had in verse three, it's in him. It's in that man Christ Jesus. And so God's purposes, his will, his pleasure.
Is that man, and everything that we have brings us into association with him.
Because God is so satisfied with that, one finds his pleasure, the object of his heart, and he says, I'm going to let him be the object of your heart forever.
There's going to be no distance. You're going to sit down with me in perfect peace.
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With no sin, nothing that would hinder us, that we who might be holy and without blame before me, so that we can share together at that eternal meal, if you will, of our shared enjoyment and pleasure.
In the Christ beloved.
What a tremendous privilege and pleasure to our hearts to think that God willed it and will carry it out. That the one that so delights his heart, He doesn't where it would say to us, he satisfies me, so of course he'll satisfy you.
Point out in verses four and five, we have two very interesting and connected truths of Scripture. Verse four is election. It's choosing. That's election. It's the truth of election. Verse five, we have predestination. Somebody has put it this way and it's helped me to remember it this way. Choosing or election is.
In.
Connection with our persons.
Whereas predestination is in connection with the position that He has in mind for us to fill. So in verse four we have.
Election choosing chosen in him.
Before the foundation of the world.
And beautiful to think, brethren, God was thinking about you and me before there was any universe in existence.
That's the place, the church.
Has in the councils and the thoughts of God and those eternal councils. Before there was any world in existence, He had his beloved Son there, and he said, I want a companion for him. And accordingly He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, you say, how in the world could he know us?
If we didn't even exist yet, that's where we have another word in Scripture that's called for knowledge. He chose us according to His foreknowledge. He knew. He knows everything beforehand. He inhabits eternity to God, past, present and future means nothing from where He dwells in eternity. It means a lot to us.
That by probably that's the only way we can think.
But not to God. And so in that those eternal councils, you and I were chosen with a specific purpose. Oh, the wonder of it, brethren. Why did He choose me? Why did he choose you? And it was here in this verse. I love it the way it puts it, that we should be holy and without blame before Him.
In love.
Isn't that wonderful, brother? You young people think about being in love?
That's the expression we use quite a bit.
It's a pretty tremendous experience to be in love.
Every believer in this room is in love. There it is, right in the end of verse 4. You enjoyed it. Nothing that really thrills the heart. We've been made that way. We're creatures of a relationship, and to know that we're in love really is tremendous. Here it is. You and I who are believers in the Lord Jesus are in love. But look at this.
Says that we should be holy and without blame before I'm in love now That's the position you and I occupy before God in Christ, right here and now. It's not something I'm striving to obtain. No, here where it's our position that's in question. It's a place that I already occupied.
Holy and without blame.
Don't look at me too carefully, brother, and you'll find some stuff that is to be blamed in me. That's our condition in this world. Yes, and that's why in the latter part of this epistle we find a lot of exhortation. What do you tell these Ephesians? Don't lie to one another. Christians lie to each other.
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I guess so, because that's why we're given the exhortation.
But brethren, as far as our position in Christ, it is holy and without blame. God looking at us in that position cannot find a flaw. Oh, how wonderful it is, brethren. And it's the sense that that's the position we've been brought into that gives us power to walk in holiness of life. Yes, Scripture does say.
Perfecting.
Holiness and the fear of God. There is that practical side of it that we need to be exercised about.
But it's not trying to attain a position before God. It's a condition. It's a position I already have in Christ. And if I really let that sink down into my soul, this is my position. What care it's going to give to me to walk through this world properly if a girl has a nice beautiful white dress on and she goes down into a coal mine.
Can you imagine how careful she's going to be to keep her skirts off that dirty coal and not get it dirty? Why is she being careful? Is because she has a white dress on. And that's the same way God has set us in a position of perfect holiness. Not one thing can He see in you and me in Christ to blame. Now, brethren, let's walk in the enjoyment of that.
And be careful that we walk in the practical reality of it as well.
I like this, not to take from what Bob has said, but there's many places in the world we have no right to be like the woman in the coal mine with a white dress.
Very good, but also the IT is our present position, but according to the will and purpose of God, it's coming to be our our eternal condition.
It's good for us to look forward to that as well. God wants us to sit down with Him and enjoy His Son for eternity.
In our coming condition, we'll be like God, holy and without blame, in love in that coming day, and we will enjoy our God according to the very nature that He has given to us through that new life in Christ, so that we can stand with Him and be with him there in peace and love and consistent with God's own nature and heart.
He said you want to be with me for eternity. Well, good. And I'll make you now holy and without blame before me in love. And when I bring you home into my house to dwell there forever, I'll make that your condition of life as well. And we.
Will be like God.
And light and love and holiness. It'll be our very nature forever. That fifth verse shows children. And they want children like Him. Having predators in US predestinated us unto the adoption of children. God wanted children.
He's going to get us there. The Lord said. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me. He's going to take us there.
We're going to know God is Father then are we doing knowing that right now? Talk about being a stranger. God that we see there, It'll be our Father.
240.
Our blessing is our portion. When we look upward within the veil, our life is there. Yes, blessed is our portion. Blessed He who in His grace before the world began, did set on us His love, sovereign and free on us, the sinful heirs of dying man, and blessed us.
214.
How blessed it is our fortune where we love.
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All the world.
We are live in there.
Our neighbouring in love I have gone for.
We're hungry. Where are my?
Savior.
Prison.
Contented more.
Psalm 65, verse 4.
In our chapter we had blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and the next verse begins according as he and it went on to say what he had done. We bless because we are blessed. Psalm 65 and verse four. Blessed is the man whom thou chooses and causes to approach unto thee.
That he may dwell in thy courts, we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple. Skip Thanks.