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Thing #178 #178.
Praise Lord, so eternal joy.
Loudly Star Wars to thy bloodless.
Whereas with thou.
Lord.
There will lie long thy birthday, Christ.
We're all around this place.
We're all amazing.
Eternal love, therefore shine is where love my Son.
Yes.
And fill with me.
Eternally.
Is life.
There Christmas.
Of the throne.
Jealous.
But not at all.
So someone.
Thy counsel soon, and all thy own.
Fulfilled by God.
In life.
Spread wide the glory of thy throne.
We're all in glory.
Shine.
Yeah, deeper.
A former joy.
The Father's love.
Children.
And every.
Heart by sweet and glory.
In his eternal.
Praise.
Nor is it sweetness.
Now unknown.
Well proved it was.
On our Father's love.
Where joy wields rebuilding Christ's love.
43 in the appendix.
Oh God.
Grace, our Father. Hope.
Is my sovereign favor.
All blessedness we see.
There only is the mountain.
Wesley Waters.
Flow.
Which like a glorious.
River still lighter. I say go.
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As I notice for know us strongly eternity.
Thy chosen loved ones.
Ever kept present to thine heart?
And when?
He's from his hiding place.
Thy word, thy sound breathe lightning does active by by truth.
Still leading on thy children.
Where gentle.
Work.
Free seed.
The word begun by.
Grace for reach is me and training.
Mother to see thy face.
Let's pray together.
Our Father.
The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Thank you for.
These great things that we've been able to consider these few days. We pray for help now as we open the Word.
For instruction for edification for each one here in the room.
And for direction as we look into the great things concerning our Lord Jesus Christ.
That one who has been exalted to the highest place and as we've sung together.
The one who has revealed the Father to us.
We think of soon that we would see his face.
Our blessed Redeemer and we just ask for help for this time and give thanks in His precious and worthy name. Amen.
Start with verse eight. What did you say, Bill?
Sounds right to me, remembering that we have two more reading meetings and quite a bit of the chapter to get through.
Ephesians chapter one and verse 8, wherein He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence.
Having made known unto us the 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 obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things, after the council of His own will, that we should be to the praise of His glory. Who first trusted in Christ, in whom ye also trusted. After that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, In Whom also after that you believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit a promise.
Which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession unto 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.
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Making mention of you and my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in 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 riches of the glory of His inheritance in the Saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us or 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, in 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 the head over all things to the Church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth All in all.
I have found it helpful, and I suggest that perhaps other brethren can.
Correct, if it's not completely in order. But in the prayer at the end of the chapter, Paul prays in verse 18 that the eyes that they're understanding would be enlightened, that they might know. And there's three things.
That he specifically asks the 1St is what is the hope of his calling.
And I suggest that's what we have from verses 3 down to perhaps verse 8:00 and 9:00.
And the second is, what is the richest of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints? And that's what we have in verses 10 and 11, the inheritance that's spoken of. And then the third thing is in verse 19, what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us were to believe according to the working of his mighty power.
That's what you have in verses 13 and 14. The Spirit of God is the one who is operative and brings this all about. So I just suggest that as kind of an outline of the first part of the chapter, at least down to verse 14.
But we're still in that first section, aren't we, in verse 8?
And so he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence. That word prudence we could also render a spiritual intelligence, I believe.
And that.
Ties in with something that was said back on Saturday and that is that.
We can look at what we have in Christ only as it affects us.
Or at least primarily as it affects us. But what characterizes Paul's ministry?
Is the purposes of God concerning His beloved Son?
And of course that does affect us, but first of all, it concerns him.
And so not only have we been brought into blessing, as it says in verse.
Verses 6:00 and 7:00, not only are we accepted in the Beloved, not only do we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, all those things are wonderful, but now God says, I want you to be admitted into all the purposes and councils that I have concerning my beloved Son.
And that is?
What we get in verse 9? The mystery or secret of His will.
And as we had brought out yesterday, that was not revealed or not yesterday, but Saturday, that was not revealed in the Old Testament. It was a secret hidden God. But now it's revealed and it was brought out. I believe you brought it up, Brother Dave.
There are types in the Old Testament that now we can look back and see the meaning of them, but that secret was hidden in God from before the foundation of the world.
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And now they've been revealed, you and I, as part of the church, see the whole picture of all of God's purposes and counsels in his beloved Son. God wants us to know about them. And so that prayer that you referred to Bob at the end of the chapter, in a broad sense the subject of that prayer is.
That ye may know.
We have to know something before we can enjoy it and walk in it.
And so Paul says, I want you to know these things and that.
Outline you gave really commends itself. All of those things are.
Generally given to us in this chapter and to some degree in the second chapter.
But then we don't get to it with this chapter, but in the third chapter.
There's another prayer, and the emphasis in that prayer is that ye may be.
In this chapter, it's that ye may know in chapter 3, it's a moral state, a moral condition, and a walk that's in keeping with what we know. And so here, first of all, we need to know these things and God says it's all been revealed, now it's all yours.
I love the Spanish translation of this verse. Eight it says.
Wherein he hath super abounded toward us in all wisdom and intelligence. Just think, brethren, we are brought in from being enemies of God, into the very family of God, adopted into his family.
Who sit down at his table to be brought into the enjoyment of all God's eternal purposes. How in the world?
Can this be, and I sometimes say to the brethren, there is a gift to teach the Word. There is no particular gift to learn the Word and that is something that we all have in common. This is super abounded toward us in all wisdom and intelligence. Brethren, are you interested in what God has?
In mind not only for us now at the present time, but for.
That eternal day when Christ is going to display His glory in the fullness of it.
Rather than I just have to say, I just feel so completely insufficient in myself. And it's not a matter of ourselves, it's a matter of how he is abounded toward us. As they go around visiting sometimes, you know, brother and I find some of our sisters that are really laying hold of it.
Sisters are not to teach publicly, but it doesn't mean they can't learn. And sometimes they seem to be more with it than us brothers.
Often think back when the Lord was here on earth and he told them the number of times he said and we're going up to Jerusalem, I'm going to be killed and I'm going to be raised again the third day.
None of the disciples seemed to get it.
But there was one person I believe that got it. She sat at Jesus feet and heard his word. She was not at the cross, she was not at the tomb. She came beforehand and anointed his body to the burial. Mary of Bethany. She listened. Oh brethren, the beauty of that just to have.
A listening ear. I had find so much for myself. I read the scriptures but am I really listening? Sometimes I my mind is somewhere else.
Lord help us, brethren.
Is super abounded to us in all wisdom and intelligence, having made known unto us the mystery of his will. Sometimes say to the brethren in South America, if the president of the country would come to your door and say, I've chosen you to, I want to share all my programs that I have in mind for this country and say, what in the world did he choose me?
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Brother, we're not talking about the president of the country, we're talking about the God of the universe.
That is opened up to his, his eternal counsel.
Lord help us slowly hold it up, brother.
Going to repeat.
What's already been said, at least the thoughts of it in the way that has been helpful to my soul to get a little understanding of it.
Everything begins with God.
I am.
And God himself.
Is what we call his counsels and purposes. You might say, sat down.
And decided what he purposed.
To be.
You say why? I can say why do I exist?
Why am I as a Why did I ever come into existence? Because God purposed it. It begins with Himself.
And it begins and is formed according to what he is in his essential being of light and love.
And as such, God purpose.
The creation.
And in purposing it because he knows all things.
He's not. He doesn't live in time. He doesn't learn things in the passage of time. God is, and God knows all things.
And has known everything from eternity. He knew before he ever created the world. We'd be sitting in this room exactly who we would be this morning.
But in doing so, and it's been said, it's the key to the whole Bible.
In Ephesians chapter one.
In verse 10, according to what he purposed in himself in verse nine, 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, that's a summation.
Of what God purposed, if it could be put in one sentence, that's the.
Whole purpose for which everything is that God decided that he was going to have a creation, there was going to be man, and in that creation he was going to have the Son. God the Son would become a man and in that.
Son, God would honor himself. He would display his glory.
And.
What's unfolded to us here?
Is what his purposes are in it.
He's revealing to us where we fit in to that which he purposes.
And so he does so, and where we are and our blessings and.
Our inheritance and our place is all being made known or revealed to us here.
As where we fit into what he purposes, we're not the center of it.
We're not the primary purpose of it. And what is the?
The revelation of God.
Is gradual.
He could not, properly speaking, have made known to Adam what you and I are sitting and knowing this morning.
It would have been an impossibility, if I can speak for God, to have made known to Adam.
What we know this morning and the reason, the most important reason is some of what God purpose could not be known by us until the work necessary for God to accomplish His purpose had been done. That is the death and work of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross is essential for God's.
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To be carried out and then further than that part of what why the revelation couldn't be made known until it is here and to the Ephesians is the fact that the purposes of God involving.
US required.
Us to participate in life in resurrection the Sunday school worse for the children yesterday.
A new creation in Christ Jesus is essential to the purposes of God, and it's only possible to have new creation in resurrection.
The life yesterday or Saturday when we had yesterday when Bill spoke about the resurrection, it's an essential before God could make himself known in his fullness because we fit in by participating in resurrection life.
That's new creation, and I say that because the character of new creation.
The character of what's called eternal life is only possible in resurrection because it puts us in a place beyond death.
And that's essential to God's purposes.
It so the ultimate.
Revelation is the ultimate making known to us where we fit in.
The body and Bride of Christ.
It's interesting to me the fact that.
The final.
Revelation to mankind.
The work was done. A number of years had passed.
The Apostle Paul saw his visions and his revelations, but he doesn't communicate any of it for years.
When do we get it?
Everyone of the epistles that gives us the greatest amount of understanding of God's thoughts and hearts and mind.
Come after he puts him in prison and he's sitting in his prison.
And at that point, if you will, God says Paul, now I'm ready. I'm going to use you.
And in this epistle and Colossians and so on, which were written in prison, is the time when we get the Revelation finished and finalized and bring it to us. But I want to make one more point in connection with it, and that is.
God's purposes and the work necessary to fulfill them have been carried out.
But this morning God is working in us, in this room.
To bring us into the understanding and enjoyment of them. The prayer that Paul has here in this chapter is part of what he's asking God for the Saints and for us. And then God's response to that prayer is seen in Hebrews 13 when it says it is God that worketh in you.
God is going to answer the prayer of the apostle Paul and work in each one of us.
To accomplish what He's purposed in our enjoyment of it by bringing us unto into the understanding of it. And that's a gradual work. The revelation is made, but each one of us grows in our understanding as we go through the path of life. And so we progressively understand it more and more as we go on through the journey of life.
I think one thing that's really helpful I really appreciate what's been shared in verse 11. It says in whom we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him and if you jump back in diverse 5. It says having predestined is under the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to make all this make sense to us for me.
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We it's got to have a package. We went to Home Depot and we bought all these plumbing parts and the whole cart is.
Just covered with plumbing parts. And I'm like, how am I going to get all this into my pickup and into the house? And the person that was at the the lady said, well, would you like a bag? Yeah. And I put it all in the bag. And if we could put this all in a bag, the thing that makes us make sense, at least to me, is sonship. We're called all these gifts, all these blessings.
Have been brought out in what he's called us to be.
That new life, it's in sonship and in Romans chapter 8, and I think we already read this.
Romans 8 verse 29, it says for whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the first born among many brethren. And so many people go through life and they don't understand like I'm forgiven. But what does that mean? How how does that fit? We're called to be sons and those.
Are called to be daughters and we have a relationship with him and all those things, redemption and forgiveness and all those things fit right in that in his calling to make us sons. And now we can walk as as has been mentioned in the newness of life, as sons. People would say, you know, people, I prayed this prayer, but then there's no difference in my life. How does that make sense?
Well, that's that's not what's supposed to be working in US. What's working in US, as Don just said, is the.
Knowledge and the growth overtime growing more and more into the image of Christ.
That's his work in US.
I'd ask a question yesterday there was a question about whether this was.
The that brings us up to the Millennium or whether it goes into the eternal state and again this is a question, but because it says in Christ and you have heaven and earth and then you have an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of.
Him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will it it? It seems to me this does not go beyond the Millennium. Is that correct?
Because it doesn't say. Because it doesn't say as as.
Was was mentioned, the highest truth of of Scripture is the fact that God is All in all. But that's not brought out here. It's what's in Christ. And Christ gives up everything. He gives up the Kingdom to God.
Or to the Father that God might be. All in all, it seems to me that this is taking up.
What is Christ? What is to be glorified in Christ?
Brings up the inheritance and our portion with it. And that would only be in the Millennium, wouldn't it?
I like what was brought out. I think on Saturday that.
The Millennium is the anteroom into eternity, and I agree with you that it seems that this is the case. And the dispensation of the fullness of times is the millennial day, definitely when all things are going to be brought under the direct control of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And we're going to have an intimate part in that as companions with him, both which are in heaven and on earth. But if you go over to Revelation chapter 21, there you have the new heavens and the new earth. It's interesting to me that.
That is something that is eternal and so.
It goes on into eternity. What is formed in the millennial day to be displayed goes on into that eternal day.
What would you say about that, Brother Bill?
Yes, I agree with that, and one of our best old writers says it much the same way, and I don't.
Just say it because He said it. But I enjoyed it that yes, as I said yesterday in the address, the Millennium is necessary for the public vindication of God's holy character, but then the eternal state.
Is for the everlasting satisfaction of God's heart, and in that sense.
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When Christ is given a Kingdom.
Yes, the outward physical Kingdom that will exist in this world we know is only for 1000 years. Very definitely. And then as we get in First Corinthians 15, he delivers up the Kingdom to God, even the Father, that God that is God in Trinity may be All in all, and that's true in the eternal state.
But here it's the exaltation of Christ.
With his bride.
Over everything in a coming day.
But it's beautiful to see if you go to Revelation 21 when it describes the church in millennial glory. The bride is displayed as a city because administration is in view, but in the eternal state in the first state. Verses of that chapter. And I know this is getting a bit complicated, but I enjoyed it.
In this in the Millennium, the bride.
Is displayed as a city in the eternal state. The city is displayed as a bride.
That is, the relationship is paramount, and so this leads the end point of all of this is the eternal state.
But yes, the proper.
Display of it is definitely in the Millennium.
And we can't really go beyond that, can we?
I was thinking.
That the 11Th and 12Th verse are Jewish and the 13th person is Gentiles and then the eternal state. You don't get Jews and Gentiles. So that's just another proof that this is for the Millennium.
I like to think of three expressions we have in scripture.
And one that applies today is that grace reigns through righteousness. In the millennial day, righteousness reigns. It won't be a day of grace, Righteousness reigns. But in the eternal day, righteousness dwells. There is no need, like you say, of a city with walls. What are walls for? To keep something out?
Gates, there was mean there be no necessary, no necessity of that. And so the city.
In the first verses of chapter 21, which describes the eternal state, doesn't say anything about walls. There won't be any need of that. But I like to think of that, brethren, in verse 10, there are two spheres which are in heaven and which are on earth.
And God promised blessing to Abraham, he said. Your descendants will be like the stars of heaven.
And like the sand by the seashore, 2 spheres of blessing, and that will be go right into eternity. Those two spheres of blessing, that right brother Ed.
The testimony that the servant of Abraham gave when he traveled across the land to find a bride for Abraham's son.
Reminds us now that we in our.
Place can look back on it and see it as a tide of the highest parts of the gospel.
Because Paul refers to the gospel of the glory of the blessed God.
And so the servant, he doesn't want to tarry. He gives that testimony and he gives evidences of it. We'll probably get to that later in the chapter he gave to Rebecca and her family.
Precious things. Gold, silver, raiment.
And the testimony was sufficient that when it came time to ask Rebecca.
Will you go with this man?
And she says I will go.
And in regard to Don's comment about the progress in our understanding?
Of these things, as soon as Rebecca commits to going, she's.
Her die is cast, she's left home, and she's on her way. And you can only imagine what kind of conversations she'd already heard the testimony of the greatness of this man Abraham, and the fact that he to her his son, that they had in his old age, unto him hath he committed all that he has, and she's going to be his bride.
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That's, you might say, in a certain sense consummated before they left.
And then there's that journey. We don't know how long it was, but you can only imagine as I sit here, I feel like I'm on the journey.
And I'm listening to.
The future of this?
This son, and now I'm going to have a part in it that's very intimate and you, you, you imagine her asking questions and the servant unfolding to her as the days went on A.
And brides prepare for weddings, you know, they There's clothing and there's.
All kinds of things. And we know the story of Esther and how she was prepared physically and all of that.
It wasn't that kind of preparation for Rebecca. She was riding on camels, I assume, across, you know, wilderness ground. She was naturally speaking. You say she when she got there, it's like she'd been out camping for weeks, right? But there was a preparation in her understanding, and it's beautiful to think of that she.
She was going to see a one who was so glorious, she was going to have a part with him.
And no doubt she wanted to learn as much about him before she got there as she as she could, and she did so. It's a beautiful to have these things rehearsed for us along along our way.
I think the reason it's so important to see the difference is because.
Whether it's the Millennium or the eternal state, each one has its display of beauty in which the Church is identified with. With the Millennium, we have a body like Christ.
We will reign with him and be a part of his inheritance, sharing his inheritance. We'll have a responsibility in his reigning. We reign with him.
And it's you look around at us and there's going to be this beautiful display of his bride and wife.
That represents his character for the Millennium and that beauty for the for for all to see what those who suffered with him in his rejection.
And the display of blessing that and beauty that he's going to present.
To every created thing during that Millennium. Of course, the eternal state takes on a different character, as Bob has already mentioned. But I just think that that each one has its distinct beauty. I mean, we've talked about, you know, standing before God, the one that we offended, the one that was worthy to judge us, and now we're going to stand before him or do stand before him, holy and without blame.
Before him in love we've been we've been placed as sons chosen out an eternity to to be able to come together and take these things up and take it in and enjoy it. We have the Spirit of God in US and the Spirit of God is ministering to us these these things that were taken up with we say they're the highest truths of Scripture. It is in connection with the Millennium and Christ's glory. But we have a.
Take it in and rejoice in who we are in our relationship. And that's why I I feel it's so important to see the distinction between the two. They're they're both to be able to enter into God's rest, have God come down and and and rest upon the Tabernacle. I can't even fathom it. It's way beyond. I rejoice in it, but I can't enter into it. But but here we can we.
Take it in. We see. We see the progress of what God has accomplished through Christ for us.
It's such a blessing.
The end of the Lawrenceville meetings, the readings, A young brother sitting.
Not far behind me stood up and closed the meeting in prayer.
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And I was very edified by his prayer. And in his prayer he was quoting parts of Psalm 110.
And that is the Psalm, where it is said to the Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies the footstool of thy feet.
And after so I spoke to the young brother and I said, which do you think will be more to the satisfaction of his heart?
His enemies made the footstool of his feet or his people willing.
The day of his power.
I liked his answer, he said. A willing people. He looked out upon the people that were hungry and confused and diseased and sick and agitated.
How His heart went out to them and how He wanted to bless them. And yet on every hand and on every day, the push back, as we call it, He got, and the reproach and all of the rest. And so how delightful and refreshing it will be to Him in that day. Yes, we were enjoying in those meetings the vindication of Christ.
Who was rejected here?
Renewed heart loves to look forward by faith to that day. We look beyond the long dark night, as the hymn writer put it. And we we love his appearing because that's the day of vindication. And so his enemies will be made the footstool of his feet. But he'll have at last a long last, a willing people, that which is to the satisfaction of his heart. So whether it's the Millennium.
Or of course into the day of God that the consummation of that the long unfolding of his counsel to have those who love him and that he loves in in a state of love and enjoyment like he had throughout all eternity. To me, that is the probably the most precious thing to him.
For God's glory.
I trust I want to make a couple of comments about his glory.
The ultimate, and it's been referred to many times in different ways.
Is that God doing all things that counsel of His will, is doing all things that will ultimately display and magnify His glory?
What he is in his excellence.
There are.
Attributes of the glory of God that you and I will never know.
They're beyond comprehension to a created being.
The glory of God is the ultimate.
And what has been in the purpose and counsel of God is to bring us into the enjoyment and relationships that enable us to see enjoy His glory, and as a result his of His work in US creatures that can worship Him.
We praise Him for what He does. We worship Him for who He is.
And in that respect?
The revelation itself, even in the Millennium, is progressive in its character. That is, the heavenly side of it progresses more rapidly than the earthly.
You and I when we are taken into the presence of God by the rapture.
Are ready for eternity because.
Our sin nature and our sins and our bodies and everything that has been corrupted as a result of sin will have been removed from us, and so we will be in a liberty and an enjoyment.
That's not limited by what things are on the earth.
And the difference is in heaven.
Satan will have been cast out and the.
Impurities of fallen angels and so on in heavenly places.
Will have been removed. You and I will enter into a place with himself.
That we will have removed from us all that was dishonouring to God and in the way it's carried out to take us to the day of God goes back to death from our the revelation of it goes back to Genesis 1 when God creates in chapter one it gives the various steps of his creation of the earth.
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And then it says he rested.
From his work. Why? Because he had now created something.
In which he could view it with no sin. Adam in the garden.
The creatures themselves, the earth was sinless.
And so God was able in that state of things. It says He rested on the 7th day.
When Eve sinned.
That was the end of God's rest. He's never rested a day since. From that day when sin entered into the creation, God has never rested, and he will not rest.
He can't rest in the Millennium.
Because there will still be sin in the earth.
Both the earth itself and the creatures in it. Mankind, there will be sinful men in the earth during the Millennium. And so God will be working. He will be for the vindication and honor of His Son, displaying His glory in gathering together with the intent when it's done, all things in heaven and all things on earth.
Will be gathered together in one.
For his glory. And so when the end of the Millennium comes.
There will be a work that includes several things very important to the end result.
That is on the Earth.
It still has all the effect that man's sin has brought and Satan's and fallen angels have brought upon it, and so God says, I'm going to remove it completely from my sight.
I'm going to destroy it and remove it. The not only the earth itself, but the physical heavens are spoiled in the sight of God because of sin, and he will remove them. He will burn up, if you will, and destroy the current heavens and the current earth and create a new one.
One in which there is absolutely no sin.
He will have people on earth.
But those people that will be on earth at that time will be like we who are in heaven.
Having no sin in them.
And having bodies which are suited.
To a sinless condition.
And when all this necessary work is done, we come to the joy of eternity, when God is All in all. But I also enjoy the IT takes eternity to bring it. He shall rest.
In his love, God will be able to sit down and enjoy what he has done and the councils he has fulfilled.
In rest.
Why? Because everything.
Having to do with what his eye sees as sinful will have been removed.
Forever from His sight. And then there will be the eternal state of God All in all, in His glory and resting, and we in that participation that has been given to us as part of it. And I believe one of the highest aspects of it is worship.
Is that we as creatures will be able to worship God.
Regardless of whether we're on earth or in heaven or a part of the Bride of Christ, or whatever our role may be at that time, for us it's the Bride of Christ, and the Lord Jesus, in making us His Bride, is given to us the maximum.
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Place.
That a creature can have in the relationship to the Son. And so that's our supreme blessing of being part of the bride of Christ because it is the maximum position that a creature can participate in a glory that is centered in the sun and to God.
So that emphasizes the mystery of His will.
What we're talking about here in this chapter is Christianity.
The revelation of the mystery.
That which we waited for, which God waited to reveal.
The millennial Kingdom or the 1000 years, that's a subject of Old Testament prophecy and I think it's very important to see that the Old Testament not not bringing in the New Testament yet, but the Old Testament.
Shows a change of order coming in the world.
In other words, Messiah is going to reign. There will be one who comes.
Who is going to set aside enemies, Bruce? You quoted the 110th song.
Many other passages, again, just thinking about the Old Testament, and I was looking at Hosea chapter 2 a little bit as we have here, heading up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens and the things upon the earth.
That the Lord is going to hear the heavens, and the heavens are going to hear the earth, and the earth is going to hear the heavens.
There is contemplated in the Old Testament a time when evil is going to be reigned in and Messiah will reign.
But the Old Testament also shows a suffering Messiah and you might say one of the one of the principles of prophecy. And some of the writers have been very helpful on this.
In a particular passage, you might see these things together.
But in the New Testament, they're split apart.
And one of the reasons why is because in the days when the Old Testament.
Was being put together and the profits were prophesying. There was something waiting.
To be revealed. Nobody knew about it. As we noticed in chapter 3 and verse nine of the book of Ephesians, there was something waiting there that was hidden in God.
It was going to be a long time until.
There was a little child born in Tarsus that God was going to get a hold of one day, and he was going to say, I want you to go tell the world about these things, this mystery.
But before you can do that.
You're going to have a time with the Lord Jesus on that road to Damascus.
So the Old Testament, and this goes all the way back to Moses.
Contemplates a change of order on the Earth.
But now that we have the New Testament, and I'm thinking of what Verne said about the Jews and the Gentiles. There were those who pre trusted in Christ. Now go back to the Lord's upper room ministry. What is he telling his disciples in the upper room ministry? He's telling them about things that we're going to happen.
That God was going to do when he, the Lord Jesus, was no longer going to be here with them.
And one of the things that he's going to do is he's going to send another comforter. He's going to send the Holy Spirit. So that means that with the Lord Jesus gone, his work is accomplished.
And now he's not here anymore. God is going to work in a different capacity.
The Triune Godhead is going to work in a different capacity. So we see the Father and the Son sending the Holy Spirit upon the occasion of the exaltation of the sun in glory, and what we are reading about here in Ephesians and Colossians, these passages where we have the mystery.
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We're reading about something that constitutes Christianity.
Something that was waiting to be revealed and as he has here, those who pre trusted in the Christ trusted first verse 12 and then in whom ye also the Gentiles that looks ahead to chapter 2 where those two companies are brought together in one.
Newman that doesn't mean that we Gentiles become part of Israel.
That's not the teaching. There is one Newman.
That's one of the figures that's used here, United to the heavenly head.
By the Holy Spirit, before there was this heavenly head, you didn't have a body.
Now there's the head and there's the one body, and so that's really Ephesian teaching here. But all during the days of the Old Testament when the prophets were writing, that was waiting to be revealed at the time chosen by God based on the exaltation of the Lord Jesus.
Very good.
I'd like to go back to verse 11. Just a minute. Brethren, I find this something that's very rich. In whom also in the Lord Jesus we have obtained an inheritance. The question of the inheritance, even though we have it, brethren, we haven't possessed it yet.
It remains as.
Reference was made to Psalm 2 and I'd like to read that because this is the time when the Lord Jesus will take his inheritance and.
It says in verse seven of Psalm 2, I will declare the decree. The Lord has said unto me, Thou art my son, this day of I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance.
It's interesting when he says Thou art my Son. That was his eternal relationship to the Father.
This day I by begotten thee that talks about his incarnation. And so when he takes his inheritance is going to be as a man that he takes it and it's going to be in relationship with us. We're going to be with him when he takes that inheritance.
Brother, and I just must say I have to, when I look at the prophetical pictures, say the most glorious event.
In the history of this world will be when the Lord Jesus comes back to take that inheritance at the end of the great tribulation, the revelation of Jesus Christ, sometimes referred to as the manifestation or the appearing and he's going to come back that man that that's world saw last hanging dead on the cross.
In that terribly mistreated body.
Well, they will see coming in power and glory with the hosts of the redeemed billions. I am I'm sure we can say of the redeemed. And not only that, but the hosts of his mighty angels like to say that it's a major invasion from outer space.
And he's going to take the Kingdom for his own to reign supreme. And that's when.
We will possess the inheritance, brethren. I just want to say it in this way. I found it such a blessing, and I think that the enjoyment of this will deliver us from materialism. Why do you spend so much time trying to amass material things in this world if you're going to inherit it all?
Within a few short years, there's no need for that.
I still remember a brother in the Dominican Republic. We were there and.
He had gotten his eyes on material things and if you ever been to the Dominican Republic, it's a beautiful island and beautiful landscape, beautiful scenery. And I say this is all my inheritance too. I'm going to inherit it all and to enjoy it, brethren, but to realize that the possessing of that inheritance is when the Lord Jesus.
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Rises up to take his inheritance.
What we have today is what we have in verse 14, the earnest of our inheritance, and we won't get around to it right now, but it's the Holy Spirit of God is the down payment, the earnest of our inheritance.
Like the way brother Gordon Hajo.
Put it one time, he says, supposing there's a piece of property that is going for the price of a half, $1,000,000. And so he says I want to buy that, so I'm going to give you a down payment. The down payment is $10 million. Is it? It's only worth half, $1,000,000? Why are you going to pay $10 million? Brethren, the Holy Spirit of God.
Is the earnest the down payment and is far greater than the whole inheritance what we have in the Spirit of God? So brethren, these things are real. May the Lord help us not to get so distracted with material things because it's all our inheritance. We're going to inherit it.
Christ in that day of glory.
Just make one more remark as the meeting comes to a close on a practical note.
We often hear about so-called covenant theology or.
As it's sometimes known as reconstructionism and it is sweeping.
Many parts of North America today. Very popular in many parts of Christendom.
And we're part, so we're part of Christendom. Let's not forget that. And many are being taken up with it. I would only say this that this tenth verse and the 11Th verse understood properly, will, if I could use the term, cure us from getting involved with that. But with this understanding.
There are.
Well, let me rephrase that. There is nothing in the Word of God that is contrary to sound reason. But there are things in Scripture, many things, that are ultimately beyond reason.
And when man's mind gets working in the things of God.
He tends to reduce those things that are beyond reason.
To something that he can wrap his mind around. And when we do that, we always, always, always fall into error.
A good example is man's responsibility in God's sovereignty, Calvinism and Armenianism. How much disputing of that subject has there been down through the ages? And it doesn't matter which side you emphasize, you fall into error. We have to accept it, believe in it, but recognize that the human mind can't bring those two things together.
Some of the things that have to do with the carrying out of verse 11.
Are not given us as clearly in Scripture as perhaps some of our natural minds would like. We naturally like to have everything nicely, tightly pigeonholed. Sometimes things aren't given out that way. People say, well, how could God offer to Israel their Messiah?
But yet knowing full well that they would reject him.
Have a plan hatched out, if I could say it reverently in a past eternity, with the other hand behind his back, ready to pull out the mystery of His will, the truth of the assembly when Israel rejected their Messiah. I can't. That bothers my mind. I can't get that straight.
Or how can God present the gospel today to Jew and Gentile? All can come.
And it tells us right in this same book, in the next chapter, that He hath made both one, and broken down the middle wall of partition between US, and so on.
And yet somehow, somewhere, some way, he's reserving those who haven't in that sense, rejected the gospel of the grace of God.
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But have Jewish hopes and Jewish aspirations, and very quickly after we're called home, they're going to rise up and start preaching the gospel of the Kingdom. And millions and maybe billions of people will be saved through that gospel for earthly blessing instead of heavenly blessing. And how is all this going to pan out and work out?
I don't know all the answers to it, and I don't think any of us do, but we can accept what God has given us as to His divine purposes and.
No one will ever understand the Word of God completely unless we understand that God has in His purposes the blessing of the Church in heaven and the blessing of Israel on earth.
Unless we understand that while the Church is not the subject of prophecy.
Because it's a heavenly company, yet the understanding of the truth of the assembly.
As Dawn has been bringing out is crucial to the understanding of prophecy.
And if you don't understand the truth of the assembly, you'll get all mixed up in prophecy. And that's why, and I say it very kindly, not in a proud way, that's why so many dear believers are so far off the rails on prophecy, with all kinds of strange interpretations and lack of proper understanding, and the pieces of the puzzle don't seem to fit together, and so on.
We have to have an understanding of the mystery, the truth of the assembly.
In order to see the whole picture and as Dawn has been bringing out, it wasn't until that man from Tarsus, all the apostle came on the scene that God said. And here's the man I'm going to use to bring out the truth of the assembly so that everything is displayed. What a privilege we have, you and I.
As believers in this dispensation can now look out on everything that's going on in this world and safe.
Well, yes, I know exactly where we are. I know what's going on, I see where things are headed. I don't know all the details, but I know where everything is going. I know where it's going to end. And we can have peace about it. Perhaps we can simplify the chapter by singing hymn #253.
We are one.
Full group.
For no Lord fear.
Is.
From.
And.
We are in heaven.
Love, Spirit.
Unite.
Our souls still.
Are.
And warns us to.
Let fry.
While it is done, we drunk.
And.
Free Grace.
Which gives us.
On the road.
To bring me.
All the same.
48.
I in the.
Father's house.
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There is a war, I swear.
I love my reward.
Where we love.
And.
And glory.
We shall shine.
Is blissful.
President.
Hardy White.
And love and joy.
And we shall grow with God.
Feel eternal.
Day.
Right.
Nor God and our Father. We have been talking about an inheritance.
And we are thankful that the Lord Jesus will be given an inheritance and will share it with him.
But it's nothing without the Lord Jesus.
It's nothing without the relationship of knowing that we stand before God.
Holy and without blame before him and love.
It's nothing without having a body like thyself, Lord Jesus.
To be thy companion, to see thy blessed face.
To worship and praise Thee.
We thank you for this chapter that we've been taking up.
We thank you that the Spirit of God can allow us to not only just have it in our heads.
But that is in our hearts.
Then we thank thee too, that to know these things.
And to enjoy them.
It gives us.
A desire to walk in a way down here that gives glory to thy name.
That were the evidence of a loving God.
Who has paid the highest price?
Thine own beloved son.
To be brought into these blessings.
We thank thee, Father.
The precious and worthy name of our Lord and Savior, Thy beloved Son.
We thank the Lord Jesus and Thy precious name, Amen.