Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] If you have your Bibles, I'd invite you to find Ephesians chapter number one.
[00:00:08] And just as. Just as Jason told you last week, verses 3 through 14 are one sentence.
[00:00:16] I get to tell you that tonight verses 15 through 23 are in the Greek one sentence.
[00:00:22] And I kind of personally come from the Puritan tradition. I think we could take every word, and particularly every clause and treat it literally, like a dishcloth soaked in water. And we wouldn't have wasted our time if we squeezed and squeezed every drop out of every clause. And Matthew Acrey would be delighted if we had 500 messages in Ephesians.
[00:00:54] But the elders tasked me to outline the book. And I believe it's critically important that over the course of a few weeks, we gather the big thought so that we might see this godward move of what God longs for us to realize he's already doing. Now, let me say that again, that we gather this godward move of what he's already doing in our lives. This isn't something we. We pray into existence, but it is something we can pray we realize in our existence, God's already at work. Now, I don't know if y' all knew this, because there's some visitors, but you folks that ain't visiting supposed to know what you said right there.
[00:01:36] Okay, thank you, Clay.
[00:01:38] God's already at work.
[00:01:41] And what we all wrestle with and what is going on is a great cosmic wrestling.
[00:01:47] There's warfare going on. There's war in our flesh. There is. There is darkness all around us.
[00:01:55] And it's not that God isn't working. It's that it's sometimes very hard for us to connect with his work.
[00:02:02] So out of this glorious. I don't think before last week, Dr. Evans, I would have called it a eulogy, but that's exactly what it is. Thank you for that. This glorious praise of God. We Paul now basically says, if you'll let me be the person. County version of the Apostle Paul, ain't no way y' all ever gonna get that on your own.
[00:02:24] Let me pray for you.
[00:02:28] Really? That's what he says? That's big. That's awesome. That's more than you can comprehend. But you need to comprehend that's more than you receive, but you're receiving it. I want you to know what you're receiving. Let me pray for y' all.
[00:02:42] This week we were down at Surf City. Now, I know some of you people like the beach. You know how I feel, okay?
[00:02:49] But one thing I think I like about these tourist areas is ice cream stores.
[00:02:55] They're everywhere.
[00:02:59] The Lord wanted me to feel blessed.
[00:03:03] So the first place we walked into was also the last place we walked into because they were serving chocolate moose tracks.
[00:03:11] And I said, show me the fat of the land, Lord.
[00:03:16] Well, I like these places. They have these tiny little spoons, you know, and they don't turn you loose over in the buckets, you know, but they will take the tiny little spoons and give you a sample of every one. And I think it's good business to not give you a big spoon because then you'd be full. It's good business to give you a little spoon so you can find that flavor you want tonight and maybe that flavor you want tomorrow night, maybe that flavor you want Wednesday night. You know that that's good business. Well, I'm here to tell you in the time we have allotted to look at Ephesians, chapter 1, verses 15 through 23, I'm going to give you a lot of little spoons, but you're going to have to keep coming back and filling up the cup because there's more here than I think I'm humanly in. Even with some training, some experience, it's more here than I'm humanly able to give you. I feel overwhelmed at the task, but I feel confident that my little spoons will reveal to you many flavors that you'll want to come back and get multiple scoops of. Very confident, very confident of that.
[00:04:23] So I want you to think about something, and it's really that this is more than you can think about. I want you to receive something, and it's really, this is more than you can receive. And I want you to know something.
[00:04:34] This is really more than you can know, except across the scope of eternity.
[00:04:39] Hallelujah. The redeemed have time.
[00:04:44] Isn't that neat?
[00:04:46] I. I didn't stay at the beach, thank God, long enough to eat all those flavors.
[00:04:54] But I've got time.
[00:04:56] I've got time.
[00:04:58] If you've been at Easter rock for a while, I don't think my brother was at all nervous to read the scriptures and to point out that it talks about things like election or predestination. Last week, I don't think my brother shrunk from the task. I think he was wise to say that whether we're wrestling with with it, we should receive it. That is the goodness of God. And why do I bring that up? Because that's also part of why I think. Paul next launches into a high exalting prayer and request because he's asking for people to comprehend the incomprehensible, to receive the difficult to understand.
[00:05:43] And he knows that they're knowing will radically inform their experiencing.
[00:05:53] Silly illustration. That's why they'll give you so many little spoons. They know that if you know 18 flavors and you're highly likely to get your favorite more often than not, but you'll come and get some other one some other time. It's good business.
[00:06:12] Well, this is good business. Tonight God is showing us that there is much he has for us and there is little in our capacity to receive it except his almighty power be at work in us. Good news it is.
[00:06:29] Hallelujah. It is at work in us.
[00:06:33] As a matter of fact, a few weeks ago I have to read a longer quote to get to. To get to a pointed quote that I think is very pertinent for tonight. Let me. Let me throw up here a paragraph from John Calvin's commentary on Galatians and Ephesians. This is from the Ephesians section. He says this the first three chapters are chiefly occupied with commending the grace of God. Immediately after the salutation. In the commencement of the first chapter, he treats of God's free election.
[00:07:05] This affords them an opportunity of stating that they were now called into the kingdom of God because they had been appointed to life before they were born.
[00:07:13] And here occurs a striking display of God's wonderful mercy when the salvation of men is traced to its true and native source, the free act of adoption. Paul's Can I tell y' all what John Calvin just said in Timbo's terms?
[00:07:29] It blows folks mind when they realize that there ain't nothing they can do to save their self. And. And it's all the work of God.
[00:07:36] Some of us balk at that. Wait a minute. I bound to have something to do with this.
[00:07:41] You did. You sinned.
[00:07:45] And I really wanted to say all that to get to this quote, but in the context that Dr. Calvin wrote it.
[00:07:51] But as the minds of men are ill fated pause. Can we all just confess that none of us know it all? It's easy to say that, right?
[00:08:02] But as the minds of men are ill fitted to receive so sublime a mystery, he betakes himself to prayer. I wish we still talked like this.
[00:08:12] He betakes himself to prayer that God would enlighten the Ephesians in the full knowledge of Christ. In other words, your salvation is a marvelous thing wrought purely, singularly by the hand of God. Would it be to God that you could see his glorious kindness in this thing so Paul says, let me pray for y' all.
[00:08:36] And tonight I would say, brother Paul, pray for us.
[00:08:40] And I would say, we ought to receive this like Brother Paul's praying for us.
[00:08:45] But more importantly, we ought to receive it like the Holy Ghost is praying for us. Because it was in his wisdom that he gave this to the believers at. At the church at Ephesus. And it was in his kindness that he decided that the Holy Spirit's kindness that he decided this would be part of the New Testament canon for the whole church.
[00:09:03] So we can say this is God's intended prayer for the Ephesians. Amen.
[00:09:09] Do you know what else we can say?
[00:09:11] This is God's intended prayer for East Rock Community Church.
[00:09:19] I'm floored by this.
[00:09:21] So let me read it and you follow along.
[00:09:24] And it's funny to preach on a prayer that really I'm urging you to learn how to pray more.
[00:09:29] I'm preaching on a prayer to lead you to pray.
[00:09:34] But really, it's the point of the prayer. That you may know and in knowing your love, may abound. Your worship may abound.
[00:09:43] That theme came up at our My Life Matter staff retreat all week. Jason said last week, it's hard to. To praise what you don't know.
[00:09:50] Andrew Liggett said over and over again, it's hard to love that which you don't know.
[00:09:56] So let me read this beginning Ephesians 1, verse 15.
[00:10:01] For this reason. What reason?
[00:10:04] What reason? That we have a guarantee of an inheritance through the Holy Spirit. For that reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him having the eyes of your hearts enlightened.
[00:10:34] Read those next four words with me. That you may know.
[00:10:40] That you may know. Does this sound like we're being called to blind faith?
[00:10:45] That you may know.
[00:10:50] Man, I'm hung up on those four words. That you may know what is the hope to which you're called.
[00:10:57] Let me read it like this. That you may know what is the hope to which you're called. That you may know what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints. And that you may know what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe according to the working of his great might.
[00:11:14] That he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places far above all rule and authority and power and dominion. And above every name that is named not only in this age, but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him his head over all things to the church which is his body, the fullness of him who feels all in all. Would you pray with me, oh, Father, what a prayer to pray over a prayer.
[00:11:50] But, Father, I commend the people of East Rock Community Church up to you.
[00:11:56] That this prayer over the church would be over this church.
[00:12:02] And I commend these people back to you.
[00:12:06] That you work your working and that we have spiritual enlightenment to understand what you're already working.
[00:12:14] Help us, God in Jesus I pray. Amen and amen.
[00:12:20] Now, there's this thing that happens a lot in my life.
[00:12:24] I don't know if y' all ever heard of it, but I have this thing called a wife.
[00:12:30] And I'll come in and put something exactly where I put it.
[00:12:35] And when I go to look for it, she'll put it exactly where it belongs.
[00:12:40] And 1% of the time I'll think to look in the place it belongs.
[00:12:46] But most time I don't because I'm an idiot.
[00:12:50] And I asked my wife, where's this thing that I put here?
[00:12:54] And she always graciously says, it's right where it belongs. And then I have this strange confession. Perhaps I don't know where anything belongs.
[00:13:09] I know where I left it.
[00:13:11] I don't know where she put it.
[00:13:13] We're getting concerned that she's becoming a woman of a certain age.
[00:13:17] That not only will she put it back where it belongs, that she'll I never knew and she'll forget.
[00:13:23] And by the time we're 60, neither one of us will know where anything is.
[00:13:27] If we'll get out in public with our clothes on, you'll know we're doing great.
[00:13:32] Stop giggling, Carrie. You know I'm just telling the truth.
[00:13:37] I think there's something funny about knowing that changes things.
[00:13:43] And I think sometimes we do a lot of information taken in without application. But I think we're honestly more guilty of trying application without information.
[00:13:57] Now, why do I say that? Because we're living 24 7. But are we living what God has called us to live 24 7.
[00:14:04] In other words, you're doing application all day long, every day.
[00:14:08] But is it informed application?
[00:14:12] We're told to pray without ceasing. How radical would our prayers be if we really knew how to pray as we ought?
[00:14:21] Well, the apostle Paul knows some things and he knows them not because he's a superior human.
[00:14:26] He has a singular calling. He's called to be an apostle of God.
[00:14:31] He is continuing in that prophetic ministry where it's thus saith the Lord and this thus has a thusness in Christ that I'm going to explain to you. That was what was different about the apostles versus simply the prophets. It's not thus saith the Lord, it's this thus has to do with his dustiness manifested in Christ.
[00:14:51] The apostles took the scriptures as Jesus did in Luke 24 on the road to Emmaus, says he, He. He showed them all the things in the prophets, in the law, how they pertain to him. Then he gave that apostolic ministry to the apostles.
[00:15:10] So Paul is saying, if you'll let me put it in person, county language, let me tell y' all how all this relates to Jesus and how Jesus is relating all this to y' all.
[00:15:19] It's not very eloquent, it's very earthy, but I think you get what I mean one way or the other.
[00:15:26] So firstly I'd like us to see this. What the apostle Paul knows about what God is doing is what fuels the apostles praise and thanksgiving.
[00:15:38] He knows God is doing some things in the Ephesians and that provokes him to gratitude and praise and it's a two way praise. He praises God, but in so doing he's telling them what is praiseworthy about what they're doing.
[00:15:56] I have attempted, and maybe you can interview Katie and Rachel after this and see if I've been at all successful.
[00:16:03] But I've attempted over the years to praise what I see God doing in their lives and to thank them for how they responded so that they'll know I see God doing this and the way they're responding is praiseworthy. I praise you and that's praiseworthy.
[00:16:21] I think in the same way the apostle sees the children of God and is opening the Father's heart to them.
[00:16:29] And let's see something here very quickly. There is praise for the profession of faith unto a confession among the Ephesians. What do I mean by that? He says, listen, for this reason I have heard of your faith.
[00:16:43] Their faith is being noised abroad. They have made a profession of faith and they're making a confession of faith so that it's public and known.
[00:16:54] And I don't. What I mean by public is it's outside of them and it's spread away from them.
[00:16:59] He says, man, I know God's gonna save y' all. He Done saved y' all so much that you can articulate, you know you're saved, you can articulate how God has saved you.
[00:17:11] There's something extremely important about what he says here, though. He says, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, now if I go there, I have to go there, so I'm not gonna go there. But it's something very interesting here.
[00:17:26] In the Old Testament, for example, the faith is always called things like the God of Israel or the God of Abraham. It's a God of a particular tribe, a particular race, a particular nation.
[00:17:38] But now the apostle Paul says, I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus.
[00:17:45] He is connecting the divine work of God to the incarnate ministry of God. In other words, he says, you see that this Jesus of Nazareth is God in the flesh, who was sent by the Father, was empowered by the Spirit, took on the flesh.
[00:18:06] And now this is not a faith that can only belong to a tribe, a race, a nation, anyone, any man who would come to that man Jesus can be saved. And you have come to believe on the sent one of God. It's moved outside of the tribe and it's gone to the nations.
[00:18:30] In other words, the promise in Genesis, chapter 12, verse 3 that Abraham would be a blessing to the nations has now become true in Christ Jesus.
[00:18:44] Jesus is the exclusive human mediation of mankind to the Father, but he's also the available mediation of mankind to the now. It would be terrible if it was only one way to get to God. And God didn't tell you the one way.
[00:19:01] It'd be terrible if it was only one way to get to God. And God hid the door.
[00:19:08] He didn't hide the door. He made the door. He sent the door. He gave the door a voice. And the voice cried out.
[00:19:15] The voice didn't just come with platitudes, he came with action. He died on a cruel cross without sin.
[00:19:23] He was buried in a borrowed tomb. You know why? He didn't eat it for very long. On the third day, he rose this man Jesus, the acceptable sacrifice to God.
[00:19:38] Now, I could list all kinds of scriptures, but let me tell you the most succinct one. I'll share it with you on the screen. Acts 4, beginning at verse 11. This Jesus, is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation where church and and nowhere else. Where there is no other name under heaven given among men, by which we must be saved. Here's what's interesting to me. There's only one way, but he makes that way known.
[00:20:11] There's only one way, but he makes that way available.
[00:20:14] And so Paul is praising God that the door that has been made to welcome them in, the voice that has been given to call them in, the blood that's been given to pay them in the resurrection, that that's been accomplished to save them in they know and receive.
[00:20:39] And just so we're clear today, and I know I always sound like a broken record when it comes to these things, but I don't mind it when the record gets stuck on a favorite tune.
[00:20:53] Believing the Gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, is the only means of salvation for any soul.
[00:21:00] This is made clear all over the scriptures. I won't put them up there because y' all know what will happen if I do. But Romans 10:9 says, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. That's a mouthful. Acts, chapter 16, verse 30, says, Then he brought them out and said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, believe in the Lord Jesus and you'll be saved. John 6:47 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.
[00:21:28] John 8:24 I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.
[00:21:37] Ephesians chapter 2 for by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works so that no one may boast. Paul praises God that God has made a way of salvation. He thanks God that the Ephesians have received and believed.
[00:21:59] And the reason I stress that salvation only comes by believing the Gospel is because it's necessary. It is our calling. The Apostle Paul would say in 1st Corinthians 15 that he delivered that which was of the first importance. He said, I'm telling y' all the best thing I ever got.
[00:22:16] That's some of that Tim Bose paraphrase. I'm telling y' all the only thing I got worth telling you. And it's the best thing I ever got.
[00:22:23] That Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.
[00:22:31] Now he as Romans 4:25 says, he who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. In other words, there is a lot to thank God for when you run into anybody who has found life.
[00:22:49] And he says, listen, I know you got it you know how to articulate. You're living it out. There's praise also for proof of their discipleship under conversion. Did you guys see it? He says, listen, I've heard about your faith and your love toward all the saints.
[00:23:06] There's a lot of scriptures I could go to here. There's a lot of scriptures I want to go to. But the test passage I believe.
[00:23:11] John, chapter 13, verse 34 and 35.
[00:23:15] Jesus said this before he was crucified.
[00:23:19] A new commandment I give you that you love one another just as I loved you. You also are to love one another by this. What church? Who?
[00:23:27] All people. Do you see this? The outworking of love. A A It is the test of your actual believing in Jesus, but it's also the testimony.
[00:23:40] See what I did there? I felt smart when I wrote that down.
[00:23:45] Y' all ain't looking like as smart as I feel it.
[00:23:52] My wife hates it when I do that.
[00:23:55] You do, too. Praise God.
[00:23:58] The people I annoy. The group is growing. Thank you, Jesus.
[00:24:03] Look at what he says here by this. All people know you are my disciples. Like, do you know you Jesus disciple? There's a ton of people telling me they love God, but they don't love his church.
[00:24:13] Let me go over here and take a break while y' all think about that.
[00:24:29] I don't know if I'm making sense to anybody yet.
[00:24:33] Why is he so praiseworthy? God has saved them and given them a love.
[00:24:39] And listen, they're the real deal. Why?
[00:24:42] Because they love the saints, so they're passing the test. How do we know? We. Well, we've got a confession and we got a lifestyle. And we have the chief evidence. We've passed the chief test. We love, but it's also a testimony according to Jesus. By this, who would know?
[00:25:01] Now, don't raise your hand less than you want to and all.
[00:25:06] I'm going to raise my hand.
[00:25:10] I didn't grow up in church, and I didn't really have. There was no appeal to church for me because I did not see anything in churches but fussing and feuding and fighting and foolishness.
[00:25:28] You got all them fussing and fighting and feuding and foolishness.
[00:25:32] That's alliteration. Joe Paul's like, man, y' all getting some of God. Here's how I know you have a faith that you can articulate into a confession that is said loud enough and broad enough that people know about it. Even I'm hearing about it.
[00:25:56] And you have a love that is exponential and evangelical.
[00:26:04] It's A test of your salvation, a testimony of your salvation. You can know, and they do know. It's an experience of what God is doing. And it's the evangelism of God toward those who don't know what he's doing.
[00:26:18] I'm preaching better than y' all. Note taking. I don't smell no burning lead.
[00:26:25] That. That's a new one for y' all. I'm working on some new sayings.
[00:26:29] As a matter of fact, tonight, I would actually challenge you to pick up your Bibles and read through 1 John 4.
[00:26:37] I mean, well, just 1 John.
[00:26:40] 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. First John, the whole book.
[00:26:44] I think it'll take you, I don't know, 10, 15 minutes at the most, Right? And multiple times now, up until about 4 o' clock, there were 97,000 screens on my presentation here. It's now down to, like, 20. So praise God.
[00:27:01] Why are you nodding so heavily? Care.
[00:27:05] Wow, I'm triggered.
[00:27:08] So I want you to see something here, and I don't want you to miss it. And I know time is fleeting and you'll have to trust God with that.
[00:27:17] What the Apostle Paul knows about what God is doing is what fuels his praise and his thanksgiving. He knows God has saved some people here.
[00:27:27] Man, I hardly ever think about now. I. I do think about East Rock sometimes and get aggravated like, it just drives me crazy that everybody here seems to know how to turn lights on and unlock doors and use toilet paper.
[00:27:49] There seems to be a limited supply of people who can turn them off or lock it back and replenish it. Right.
[00:27:54] That's more my sin that I sometimes am distracted by these very menial, meaningless things.
[00:28:04] When I think of this congregation, I think of a congregation as a bunch of saved folks in it folks. Folks that have faith in the Lord Jesus, who have found the door, who have heard the voice, who have been converted from goats to sheep, who've been brought from left to right out of darkness into light. When I think of this local church, I'm literally getting chills as I say this. I can pray with the Apostle Paul and say, when I think of you, I praise my God, I give thanks for you.
[00:28:35] And I think of a people that there is no shortage of to the possibility of experience in love.
[00:28:43] Could it abound?
[00:28:45] Could it grow?
[00:28:46] I think the more we know of God, the more it will.
[00:28:50] Now, having praised this congregation for actual, genuine faith in Christ, I think he now is going to tell them exactly how he's praying for them.
[00:29:07] They have heard the gospel, and the greatest minds the world has ever produced, struggles with the simplicity and the complexity of it all at once.
[00:29:20] But they have received it joyfully. As brother Jason said last week, hey, they might not get it all, but they accept it with joy. They accept it as good from God. Amen.
[00:29:30] And so he's saying, you know, there's more, so I'm gonna pray y' all get more.
[00:29:36] And so now we get into what he is praying for them. Let's couch it in two sentences. First, this what the apostle Paul knows about what God plans to do in his people fuels the apostles intercession.
[00:29:52] Paul wants these believers to know that they are in the heavenlies already complete in Christ. God sees his church as a finished work. He knows it's a done deal. And what they're wrestling with is how he is completing in what we call the present time, what is completed for all time.
[00:30:16] And the more we know of what God is doing, the more likely we are to enjoy, praise, agree with, participate in.
[00:30:30] And so there's a prayer for them to know God. And for me, I think those little four words are key to this whole thing that you may know, you may know. It's like all my belongings at my house. I know I could enjoy them more if I know what care deal with them.
[00:30:53] You, you would enjoy way more ice cream if you knew how those flavors tasted that you wouldn't buy if they didn't give you a free sample.
[00:31:01] Like I, I'm, I don't generally eat anything blueberry. I, I don't really know why, but care gave me a little. I didn't even ask him for a tiny spoon. I'm like, I don't want your tiny spoon. There's chocolate moose tracks here, go away.
[00:31:15] But Kara got blueberry cheesecake and she gave me a bite of it. And when we went back down there, I said I'll have some of that blueberry cheesecake because the taste made me want the serving.
[00:31:32] I'm here to tell you, don't avoid, don't disdain, don't subtract yourself from every opportunity for God to teach you what he's doing and has done and plans to do. So that in that knowing your eager expectation, your anticipation, the possibility of your participation will abound, abound and abound. In other words, the more you know what he's going to do, the more excited you'll be about it. Sometimes Katie cooks a lot for us, praise God.
[00:32:06] And sometimes I'll ask her what she's cooking.
[00:32:10] Cause some nights she'll be cooking this bougie healthy stuff.
[00:32:14] And I go ahead and eat a Big Mac for lunch.
[00:32:19] She'll tell me, that's nice.
[00:32:22] But then some nights, she'll be cooking stuff that I really like. Like, she makes this one thing called Mississippi chicken.
[00:32:28] Whew. I'm going through Mississippi soon. They better give me something those nights. Your boy skip lunch because I'm going in. I'm not going in with the fork. I'm going in with the tongs.
[00:32:40] I don't want a baby spoon. I want a Tim serving. Right.
[00:32:45] Well, I'm here to tell you all that God would serve you is delectable. But if you don't know what he's serving, there's no idea that you could ask for it on your plate. There's no idea you could expect it at the table.
[00:32:58] So there's a prayer for them to know God, and I think that's really important.
[00:33:01] And what is that prayer mostly about? It's for spiritual wisdom. Did you guys notice that? That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know.
[00:33:21] And then we get into something. We'll get into that in just a second that you may know. He's like, listen, first off, this is something only God can do.
[00:33:36] The work that the spirit is always doing is revealing Christ to people. That's the chief work of the Holy Spirit. Did y' all know that? Don't take my word for it. I won't go there. We won't put it on the screen. But in John 16, Jesus says, Listen, it's good that I go, because right now I'm walking around and you're getting information in a very analog fashion. You're watching me. You're walking with me. You're listening to me.
[00:34:00] But it's getting ready to go high tech.
[00:34:03] And this is for the nerds. I'm preaching this way for the nerds.
[00:34:07] He's moving from analog to. What's the other thing that ain't analog? It's what.
[00:34:12] Yeah, digital. That's what I meant, right? It's going wireless.
[00:34:18] Jesus went wireless.
[00:34:20] I don't know why. I think it's so funny, but think about it. Everything you had to plug into Jesus, like, they had to walk with him. Engagement. Does that make sense? Very analog.
[00:34:31] Secret to Tim. I like most things analog.
[00:34:34] And so it felt like to them, their one source of really understanding God was going away.
[00:34:40] So, like, no, Jesus don't talk like that. Especially Peter.
[00:34:45] Peter's like, don't. Don't talk like that, man. You gonna mess up the business.
[00:34:49] He. And you know Jesus. Let me quote it from the King James. Jesus tells people, shut up, devil.
[00:34:58] He speaks very strongly to him. Hush.
[00:35:01] That's in a different passage, but in John 16 he says, Listen, it's to your advantage that we do away with the analog system, alright? Who's old enough to remember dial up Internet?
[00:35:20] I worked off and on all week trying to imitate that sound it would make. I couldn't do it.
[00:35:26] I hated it.
[00:35:32] And now, now sometimes, like when the Internet's not working at home, wherever, I'll be like this.
[00:35:38] I don't know where it went.
[00:35:40] Could we please.
[00:35:47] I get conceptually, scientifically how it works, but where is it?
[00:35:52] I'm getting an email through the text waves that my wireless doesn't work.
[00:36:00] It seems like you chose the harder thing, fix the other thing. I don't know.
[00:36:06] It's to your advantage. He says, now why am I belaboring that? Because what Paul prays is this.
[00:36:12] He's actually saying, I'm praying that what the Holy Ghost is wirelessly doing 24, 7, 366, that what God is doing would enlighten you, that you would know. And what did he want them to know? He wanted them to know the hope to which they have been called.
[00:36:41] They formerly had no hope.
[00:36:43] They were, as chapter 2, verse 12 says, without God in the world, now they have one hope, as chapter four, verses one and four says that one hope is Jesus. You once had no hope. Now you have this great hope. And I want you to know him and I want you to look at how this builds. They, in theology and literature both, they actually call this a tricolon crescendo. Three statements. Each one gets bigger and more impactful. I didn't come up with that. I just learned how to read in school though.
[00:37:13] When I was reading about it, I said, colon. Why they got the colon up in here?
[00:37:17] It. It makes sense. This is not a pause. There's a tri, colon, crescendo.
[00:37:24] They're telling you literarily, Grammarly, grammatically, somethingly they're building. It's like they're knock, knock, knocking on heaven's door.
[00:37:37] The Guns n Roses version.
[00:37:42] Get out.
[00:37:45] Okay, we run the English off. Why y' all trying to keep listening to the bands anyway?
[00:37:52] I got a kid laughing. They don't even know what they're laughing at.
[00:37:58] What God has called his people to is a fixed expectation In Christ, when you hear hope, hear fixed expectation. Not wishful thinking. Don't hear wishful thinking, say it. No wishful thinking, fixed expectation.
[00:38:15] He says, I'm going to pray that your hearts are light and that you will know the hope to which you're called, that you will know what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the Saints. Now there's a debate amongst scholars who whether the inheritance is the saints or it's the riches of God amongst the saints. I love that argument. It's sort of like, I don't agree with Jason about the in love thing, but why can't we have both?
[00:38:43] He did this in love and in love he did this.
[00:38:47] Can you go with that, Brother Jason? Like, why can't we have both here? There's a richness in the church.
[00:38:53] If you ever change your mind about that, you'll see the church differently.
[00:38:58] Sort of like watching a basketball game.
[00:39:00] If you're really smart and like the right teams like I do, then when you like your guys and a play is getting ready to happen and something happens, you immediately think somebody's gonna get foul. So you say foul. A lot works on your anticipation.
[00:39:17] But our anticipation needs to be rooted in truth.
[00:39:21] So what we should anticipate is a physical play just happened, Right? Does that make sense?
[00:39:27] Not already decided a foul was going to happen before it happened. But that's what we do as fans, right? God says, be a fan of this great truth and expect it.
[00:39:36] Have a fixed expectation in Christ Jesus that the riches of God are coming to you.
[00:39:45] And part of that is the church. Start thinking about the church in the way God would have you think about the church and you'll start feeling about the church the way God would have you feel about her.
[00:39:55] What are the riches? Well, all that's coming to Christ is coming to us. And I see the time I gotta fly. And he also says, he also says, and I pray that your hearts may be enlightened, that you would know not just the hope to which he's called you, that you would know not only what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, but that you would know what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe.
[00:40:23] Hope, riches, power.
[00:40:28] That sounds like a lot different church than these mealy mouth folks that go around apologizing for believing in a living God.
[00:40:38] I don't even want to be part of that church.
[00:40:43] I am not ashamed of the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:40:48] So one thing Paul knows is that the more their knowing abounds, the more Their hope will be realized, the more their riches will be realized and the more their power will be realized. And in this power, they will not only preach the gospel, they will not only love courageously, they will do it openly, without shame, even in a culture at that time that might kill them for it.
[00:41:11] What God has called his people to is his power working on our behalf in in Christ Jesus to deliver us from death.
[00:41:22] Now, whenever I'm waiting for somebody these days, if I have a book with me that's not too deep, I'll pick it up and read it.
[00:41:31] But more times than not, I'll start watching reels.
[00:41:36] I love them.
[00:41:38] I'll send them to you in the middle of the night.
[00:41:43] I don't know who I'm waiting for, but it happens then too.
[00:41:46] Thank you, Rachel. I'm usually waiting for the rooster to crow, you know what I mean?
[00:41:50] But today I saw one, it was amazing.
[00:41:55] It was a water driven sawmill from like the 17 or 1800s. Okay. And here's the thing, the sawmill is just sitting there at a river, right? And you know what they had to do?
[00:42:10] They had to drop a thing into the water so that the water that flows every day, all day long would be converted to make mechanical power for the sawmill. In other words, God's power is always here. God's power is always working.
[00:42:29] Paul wants you to know how to get yourself in God's gear.
[00:42:35] And he knows that's something to a degree that is part expectation for us, but it's really at the discretion of God. He says, I'm praying that your eyes would be enlightened, that you would know the immeasurable working that God has already done is doing. And this great work through Jesus Christ, it's towards you, it's for you, it's always working for you. The devil can come at you, your flesh can come at you, your failure can come at you. But I'm here to tell you he's always working and his work is worked. And I want you to know this work works and will always work for you.
[00:43:13] And Paul is praying all this up because God, because asking God for it is the only way we will ever have an understanding that God is already doing it.
[00:43:26] So go back to that little bit of a quote from John Calvin.
[00:43:32] Can we confess this a little more openly as the minds of men are ill fitted to receive so sublime a mystery. Amen.
[00:43:42] He betakes upon himself to pray that God would enlighten the Ephesians in the full knowledge of Christ.
[00:43:50] Now if you go down to surf city.
[00:43:53] To my knowledge, other than a boat, the only way to get over by a car is this one bridge and you're on 210 and 210 meets 50 and it's a roundabout there.
[00:44:06] And like, if you're bored and don't have much money, just drive around it several times.
[00:44:11] But if you can shoot out that thing on the 210, north side or east or west, left, there's a yellow building there.
[00:44:21] And I'm here to tell you right now, 6:00pm Sunday, May 25, I think there is chocolate moose tracks in that yellow building.
[00:44:40] Now, with this knowledge, it's up to you.
[00:44:44] Do you want to experience it?
[00:44:51] Whoo.
[00:44:53] Because what has happened, I have enlightened your mind. And if you've never had chocolate moose tracks, repent.
[00:45:02] Find a store. That kind they sell over in herd o meals is not the best kind. Don't start with that.
[00:45:08] That's a whole nother story.
[00:45:12] Not quite yet, baby. I think she told me to stop.
[00:45:16] Lastly, I promise very quickly, what the Apostle Paul knows about the powerful person and plan of God fuels the apostles prayers for a full of power church. And I didn't say a powerful church. I said full of power powerful church sounds like something we attain. A full of power looks like something that attains us.
[00:45:42] Now, I won't get into it, but if you read the book of Hebrews, if you want to find a pointed reference, you can look at Hebrews chapter 10, verse 34, and you would know that many early Christians literally suffered ruin for their belief in Christ.
[00:45:57] Hebrews chapter 10, verse 34 says you had compassion on those in prison and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property.
[00:46:07] There were Christians who lost lands and homes and businesses just for their confession of faith.
[00:46:13] That's tough, isn't it? That's tough. How do you find power to endure when your heart's belief causes your hands grief, when believing on the revelation of Christ cost you in this world? Well, I'm here to tell you, Paul is praying for the very thing that will help you endure. He says, listen, he worked it in Christ verse 20, when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places. All right, this has been worked. Your encouragement has been worked. Your consolation has been worked.
[00:46:48] The. The. The. The supply for your need has been worked.
[00:46:54] Now the Apostle Paul experienced times of great weakness in body and in spirit. Second Corinthians, chapter 12. He says, Listen, I've learned something. Listen. God told me my unmerited favor. My grace is sufficient for you. My power will show up when you're weak, he says. So I'm going to boast. I'm going to boast when I'm weak because God's going to show up. Why? Because he's already working it. He has worked it in Christ. He's working it Christ out to me.
[00:47:26] That's what he prays for these guys.
[00:47:28] So these Christians there in Ephesus, they're surrounded by pagans or actually what I would label is the occult, not a cult, the occult, the whole lifestyle. There was the occult, there was a cult there that was a prominent cult, the cult of Diana.
[00:47:52] And they needed to know, they needed to know that the God at work above and in them was greater than the gods witness around them.
[00:48:05] The Apostle John says, little children, you are from God and I've overcome them.
[00:48:12] Who knows what comes next?
[00:48:14] For he who is in you is what greater.
[00:48:19] Do you realize what, what Paul is praying for the Ephesians is God has worked a mighty work. And that mighty work he's worked in Christ Jesus being worked to you.
[00:48:29] And so what you need to work for you has been worked and is working. And I need you to know this work of God. Why? Because spouses die, children get sick, jobs get lost, health diminishes, oppression comes, the enemy attacks, Satan's alive.
[00:48:46] There's so many things that can beset a saint.
[00:48:51] The power of God.
[00:48:54] I'm going to pray that you would see this already working, always working. Power is working toward you who believe.
[00:49:04] God wants you to know. Precious saints, look at me, listen to me with your faces. God wants you to know.
[00:49:10] Precious saints.
[00:49:11] God wants you to know.
[00:49:15] He wants you to know that not only are you secure, you're secure because you were lost and he sought you. He sought you and he saved you. He saved you and he sealed you, sealed you and he is sanctifying you.
[00:49:34] The power of God is at work in you.
[00:49:42] Jason said last week when he told thank you for your transparency. I'll say that publicly when he told the story of his conception and birth. And my favorite little Jason joke was he was at both of his parents weddings. If you, if you didn't hear that one, that was pretty awesome.
[00:50:06] I loved how you illustrated that God's love. I don't remember your exact words, so forgive me, but it's not capricious.
[00:50:15] It's not like God is just following some springing up desires.
[00:50:19] It's well ordered, well organized, it's well done and it's Long settled that he has solved your salvation, your sanctification, your glorification.
[00:50:28] Christ Jesus.
[00:50:30] So how does he do it? He does it through the resurrection. Resurrection, that's what he says in verse 20. That he worked in Christ. How? Through the resurrection.
[00:50:39] How through exaltation. He seated him at the right hand in the heavens. How through victory he put all things under Jesus feet.
[00:50:52] There's this, there's this weird things been going around for years where people will, people will say you want to make sure you're on the right side of history.
[00:51:00] Like if you don't believe this, you might be on the right wrong side of history.
[00:51:04] A lot of that is unmitigated hogwash.
[00:51:08] But I'm here to tell you if you don't believe in this Christ, you're on the wrong side of eternity.
[00:51:18] And so what does he say? Listen, he's doing it in and through his church.
[00:51:22] He's done it in Christ so that he can make for himself a body that he does a thing in.
[00:51:30] And we get this glorious, we get this glorious description. He put all things under his feet and gave him head over all things to the church.
[00:51:41] So tomorrow's Memorial Day and actually mine and David's oldest brother, though not in combat, died while he's in the military service. It's honestly Memorial Day is not an excuse to go to the beach or the lake for me. Can you appreciate that?
[00:51:56] Three day weekend. I'm like, it calls to mind something different in our family, right?
[00:52:07] I love this country.
[00:52:09] But do you know the church will last through eternity, but this country has a timeline.
[00:52:17] So when he says through Christ, he's putting the church over everything, he's given the church preeminent, preeminent rule through eternity.
[00:52:32] Why? Because he is Lord and he is head of his body.
[00:52:38] So we have Creator and conquering Lord who is the head of the church, who is filled with all the fullness of God.
[00:52:51] And he's filling all things. Say amen.
[00:52:55] And he's ruling all things for the sake of his body and this church, capital C and all her churches, little C is the community are the communities which Christ in whom God's fullness dwells now indwells them, filling them up with his presence, overwhelming it with his grace, conforming it to his image until it's filled with his likeness and abiding with him in his eternity.
[00:53:40] So when you read this prayer from now on, know that Paul was asking for that which only God could do.
[00:53:47] And he was asking God to make sure the church didn't miss it help them to know it God. And not just in knowing that they'll expect to experience it and then experience it. Their joy and their power and their confidence, their joy in the work of God, their joy in sanctification would be filled up and being filled in the fullness of God, they may be able to obtain all these spiritual blessings that are already theirs.
[00:54:24] Sometimes you ain't done, but you need to quit.
[00:54:28] That's also ice cream. Reference.
[00:54:36] Brothers and sisters, I submit to you that this salvation that God has for us is no light matter that calls for 90 minutes of our time a week.
[00:54:50] It is not even just a lifestyle. It's life.
[00:54:56] It's life.
[00:54:57] And what Paul prays is that they would know the life of God to experience the life of God.
[00:55:08] So what do I find myself praying in close? Would you bow your heads with me, Father? God, as I remember East Rock Community Church, as I remember her many precious saints and families, I do not cease to give thanks.
[00:55:45] And I pray that you would give our local church a spirit of wisdom and a revelation in the knowledge of your goodness.
[00:55:55] Having our hearts enlightened, that we would know what is the hope to which you have called us, that we would know what are the riches of his inglorious inheritance in the saints. That we would know the immeasurable greatness of your power toward all we who believe that according to your working of your great might, that you are working in Christ, when you raised him from the dead, when you seated him at your right hand in the heavens, when you seated him far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, when you seated him above every name that is named not only in this age, but also in the one to come. And when you put all things under his feet and gave to you Christ is head over all things to the church which we are your body, the fullness of you, Christ who feels all in all.
[00:56:51] I pray that you would enlighten our hearts that we may know in Jesus. I pray. Amen.
[00:57:01] Now I say in this place, I hope I was clear with the gospel today.
[00:57:05] Have you.
[00:57:07] Have you come to know? Has the revelation that Christ is the way, the truth and the light? Has that landed in the throne room of your affections? And would you now accept it in the throne room of your thinking? And would you issue it from the herald of your soul? Would you say I believe?
[00:57:26] Have you received, believed and received the Lord Jesus yet None.
[00:57:32] He's probably calling you today.
[00:57:35] And in calling you, he's also calling you to believe and be baptized believers.
[00:57:44] When was the last time you just said. You just said, like, open God. What? I know, I know, but I surely want to know more what I've experienced. Thank you, but I really want to experience more.
[00:57:59] Maybe you could take your scriptures and while some of us sing, some of us would open and we would pray that prayer over our family or over this church. Maybe even take the scriptures to the altar. And you, you pray that prayer for yourself. In the boldness of Christ, as we stand together and sing, I beg you to consider how the Spirit might be working in you, Clay.
