Woe Unto Me
Woe Unto Me
WUM Ephesians 1
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Butch and Rod explore Ephesians chapter 1, highlighting the incredible love God has for His people. This discussion invites listeners to reflect on the magnitude of divine affection and consider how deeply God loves them.
Good morning or good afternoon, whatever time it is for you. Welcome to WUM.
SPEAKER_02I'm Butch and I'm Rod, and we are back for another exciting adventure of Woe Unto Me. How are you doing, my friend?
SPEAKER_00I am doing well. I'm fired up to get into Ephesians chapter one. How about you?
SPEAKER_02I'm excited too. I think it's going to be a great study as we look at the life of the Ephesian church and see what the Apostle Paul has to say to them and what he has to say to us as well.
SPEAKER_00Amen. Amen. I've been reading through just the whole book and just getting the renewed excitement and passion. You know, I haven't been in the book of Ephesians for a while for this kind of concentrated effort. And I'm like, this is really cool. I mean, we start off with just a whole bunch of benefits. It's just like, wow. And there's more. And wait, there's more. And wait, there's more. There's more. Every time you think you've exhausted it. Right. Yeah. Yep.
SPEAKER_02Right? I um was talking to somebody this this past week, and I think the the consensus with us is that we really don't know how great our God is. We don't realize sometimes not only how great God is, but what He has done for us. And I think as we go through at least this beginning chapter, we will we will see what God has done in our lives. Things that we couldn't do on our own. And I hope we we God gets glory when we realize that the Lord has been working in our lives, all of our lives. And sometimes we maybe we just didn't realize He was working. When we were not saved and not and not drawn at that time, but we're still out in the world and God was there.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's like I was thinking about Romans 1, how in Romans 1 and 2, actually, right? Where when we're not saved, we sometimes are presuming on his kindness and his forbearance, right? That he overlooks the sins that we're committing at that time because he knew before the foundation of the world that he was going to bless us in the heavenly places. Yes. With every spiritual blessing. I'm starting to steal from additional things in chapter one, but I can't hardly stand it.
SPEAKER_02I'm like, I want to dive in. That's okay. Well, let's let's get into it. Um, just real quick, as a thought came to mind. Um Ephesians chapter one does answer some questions that I have noticed within Christendom. Uh, some folks have questioned uh God's choosing of his people. And one of the issues has been, well, why did he choose so-and-so and not so-and-so? And although we may never know the reason why he chose certain people, but God does tell us why he chose and we'll and we'll see that. And maybe maybe it's like um like we mentioned this weekend, why don't we just believe the Bible and take it at its word? And uh if if God God's word says XYZ, why don't we believe XYZ?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I I had this very brief discussion with my youngest son before we came here. So I fired off a Greek word, and he was like looking at me funny, because you know it's not a word you probably hear very often, and he was like, What? And I said, Yeah, it's a Greek word. And he was like, huh? I said, that proves my point. These are things that we probably should spend more time thinking about, like prorezo, like we'll read about this here in a minute, right? And take him at his word, yeah, not start questioning and doing all this fighting amongst each other about who's in this camp and who's in that camp and who believes this and who believes that. Forget all that. What pages are these things on? Right? All these arguments about these many points of this camp and this many points of that camp to counter it, and you're like, you know what? When you look at scripture, it says what it says. God is who he is, and said his ways are so much higher than our ways.
SPEAKER_02Amen to that.
SPEAKER_00And there are things that we aren't gonna know. We are gonna know how he uses our free will, but yet uses the cho the very clearly we'll see how he chose us in him before the foundation of the world. And you're yeah, well, I agree. You can argue with me if you want to. I'm just gonna point you here to go.
SPEAKER_02Here's what he said it says. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Paul wrote this by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, which is a member of the Trinity.
SPEAKER_02So that's right.
SPEAKER_00If you want to argue, argue, take it up with God.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, right? Hey, I'm with you.
SPEAKER_00I think that's where I think we're on the same page.
SPEAKER_02You ready to preach now? Go for it, brother.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Well, let's hop in. Ephesians 1.
SPEAKER_02Let's jump in.
SPEAKER_00So he starts off with Paul, right? He he introduces himself, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a very typical greeting. This isn't anything unusual for Paul. He always seems to want to impart a blessing of grace and peace to whoever is reading. It's like, what a great example to all of us, right?
SPEAKER_02Right. But I love what he says right out of the right out of the gate in verse one. Um he introduces and said, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, because I chose to go serve. I chose to go serve the church, right?
SPEAKER_00Because I'm the man.
unknownRight.
SPEAKER_00I decided I'm the man.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, and I'm gonna be the man. No, it is by the will of God. In other words, this apostleship was not Paul's idea, it wasn't his desire, it wasn't his plan. Matter of fact, he was on the road to Damascus to go and persecute some other Christians when he encountered the risen Lord in his glorified state. And uh, as as Paul says, it was noonday, but Jesus was brighter than the sun. And he called Paul from uh from being a persecutor to being a preacher of God's word and being a preacher sent to God's people. And I love this. It's like this wasn't Paul's, not his idea, it wasn't his doing.
SPEAKER_00And then God meets with another man and tells him that he's gonna do this for the apostle Paul, make him an apostle, and tells him that I'm gonna tell this guy all the things he's gonna suffer in my name. Yeah, it's like it's an incredible blessing, but it's also an incredible responsibility.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. I must show him how much he must suffer for my name's sake. And it's just like, hmm. Right? But I love the fact that this is God does the calling. Yeah, and Paul didn't one day say, I think I want to stop persecuting the church, I think I want to go uh go go go serve.
SPEAKER_00I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go tell people about the gospel. No, he thought the gospel was a bunch of hoois.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and this is God's doing. And I love this. This is he is an apostle by the will of God, and and conversely, we are followers of Jesus Christ by the will of God. Because this wasn't my plan. Um be a pastor and and preach God's word and teach wasn't my plan at all. Uh I was looking in a totally different direction.
SPEAKER_00And I'm quite certain Paul had no thought that he would he would receive so many incredible things on both sides, incredible joy and um spiritual fruit, but also a massive amount of physical suffering. Yes.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Wow.
SPEAKER_00So But it was part of the deal for him.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. And it's not like um God said, Well, Paul, what do you think?
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02No, no, God says, No, no, you are a chosen vessel of mine. No, I have chosen you. It's the same for us. When God calls, when he calls us, he calls us. Um, there is no, well, Brought, think about it, and you let you get back with me on a week. No, it's hey, you're mine. I got plans for you to encourage my people, and uh, you got to get to work.
SPEAKER_00And I have work for you to do.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and we'll see that later on how he literally picks offices and positions for people specifically to say, you're gonna do this job, and then your job is to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. Yeah, so nobody gets out of the work. It's just a matter of what did God call you into? What part of working for the body of Christ are you in it?
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_00We're all supposed to be working.
SPEAKER_02And we all have we all have work assigned in our hands to do. Yeah, but it begins with God calling us, calling us to himself. All right, go ahead.
SPEAKER_00And then he's he lets it be known. Hey, this is these are for saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus. Gives us a spiritual blessing of grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. But then he starts in verse 3, and we start seeing about these spiritual blessings that there are in Christ.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah, and I love this because he says, Blessed be uh the God and Father of our of our Lord Jesus Christ. And he says, Blessed, blessed be God the Father. Why? Well, look at what God the Father has done for us. He says, Who, talking about God the Father, has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. And the Father has blessed us with spiritual blessings in the heavenlies. Um, and so we are blessed from the get-go, whether we know it or not.
SPEAKER_00Have you ever thought how interesting this is in these phrases, which I hadn't until right now. I had never sat and really thought about how interesting this is. These things cannot be touched by anything on earth. Right? He said he blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.
SPEAKER_01That's right.
SPEAKER_00Not tainted by human hands or thought or ridicule or persecution or anything. It's like it is that this is in the heavenly places.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's uh that's an MC Hemorrhyth. Can't touch that, right? Yes.
SPEAKER_00Without the funny little pants hanging down to your knees.
SPEAKER_02You're right.
SPEAKER_00But they were cool dances. They were, yeah.
SPEAKER_02But he we have so we we we bless God the Father because he has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. And he says this just as he, just as God the Father, just as he chose us in Christ, before the foundation of the world. That says a lot. That says before, to me in my mind, that says before the world, before the earth was formed.
SPEAKER_00Before Genesis 1, 1.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and put in its place. God had already chosen us in Christ.
SPEAKER_00And chosen us to give impart every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. Do we, you know, I I often wondered, wow, do we really realize how blessed we are? You know, do we do we spend time looking at the things around us, the things in this world, those things that distract us? Or how often do we take the time to think about just how blessed we really are? Do we have trials and tribulations and issues and troubles? Absolutely. But in the grand scheme of things, we are truly blessed. As a friend of mine likes to say, blessed and highly favored. Amen.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Because that's not being arrogant or cocky either, right? Although sometimes it feels that way.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00But if you really look at what scripture is saying here, it this is exactly it. We're highly favored. He chose us. Before. Before the foundation of the world. Before we were born, before we are conceived, before we did good or bad.
SPEAKER_02Before our parents, before our grandparents and their parents, before Adam and Eve. Before humanity. Wow. We were on God's mind and he chose us. And if you're listening and you belong to Jesus Christ, and he is your Lord and Savior, the same is true for you. Before you were born, before the world was formed, God had already chosen you in Christ. And he says he chose us in him. And there's a purpose of the world. That we, here's a purpose, that we would be holy and blameless before him. Alright, question. Help me out. I'm from Arkansas.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_02How can we be holy and blameless before God the Father?
SPEAKER_00Only if it is imparted to us, right? Yes. Because we're all subject to Adam, right? Is it Romans 5? Where we're all born because and into Adam's sin, right? Because of what Adam did. But because of Christ and the spiritual blessings that he showed us in Christ, that's how he could say we're holy and blameless before him. Right? Because it we see all kinds of scriptures where you could never even look at God because you would burn up. You'd die. You can't. He's so beautiful, so holy, so otherworldly. But yet in Christ, he's saying we're holy and we're blameless.
SPEAKER_02Because of what Jesus did for us on the cross and declaring us righteous, those of us who believe the gospel, who place our faith and trust in him, we are declared declared righteous before God the Father. Holy, blameless before God.
SPEAKER_00And we see not only did he choose us, but then he carried out a very specific plan and a purpose for that. Like, yes, the plan is that I'm going to save the people that I choose. I chose you. Right. Right? He told the disciples, you did not choose me, but I chose you. And they all do you didn't see them arguing over it. They were dumb enough, like we are sometimes to believe it and go, oh, okay. And sometimes they were dumb enough to argue over who's better than the other. And like, well, there's a woman here who really needs help arguing over who's the greatest in the kingdom. And you're like, this is silly. I don't think anybody's arguing in the kingdom when they get the fullness of realization that I did nothing to get this privilege.
SPEAKER_02Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_00Nothing.
SPEAKER_02And yet God, in his wisdom, for whatever reason, and God knows what those reasons are, and he may never reveal those to us, but he chose us.
SPEAKER_00But we do know this. This is what's cool. I is we're seeing here.
SPEAKER_01Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_00We do know that when he says he chose us before the foundational world, the purpose is that we would be holy and blameless before him.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Right? And he goes on. I like this because in the Greek it's hard to see is the in love part about he chose us to be holy and blameless before him in love, right? Or is it in love that he predestined us for adoption as sons? And to be quite honest, to me, it looks like it's both. Right? Because this is obviously love that he chose us. So in love we were chosen. But also in love, he predestined us. That's the word I was talking about to my son earlier, prorizo.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Marked out beforehand. Right. This was literally written down before. We're predestined for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ. Yeah. Now I've always thought adoption is one of the most incredible things when you think about it. I didn't choose Josh and Joel to be my sons. That's what God determined in his their mother's womb. Right? So they came out, that's my son.
SPEAKER_02Right? Right.
SPEAKER_00I didn't specifically go out and choose Joshua after he's born. This is what's crazy. Before we were even conceived, God adopted us as sons and daughters.
SPEAKER_02Well, you talk about you talk about blessed and humbling. And that's why we should be blessing God the Father for things such as this. Like you mentioned in verse 5, in love, he predestined us to adoption to sons through Jesus Christ to himself. And so we were in God's mind to be adopted, to be grafted into the family long before there was creation.
SPEAKER_00And what's crazy when you really think through this stuff is adoption, you know, in Romans, we talked about this many, many weeks before. We're grafted in. Because Israel as a whole, the nation rejecting him as their king and coming Messiah, God grafted us in.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we're the wild olive branch that gets added to the man, right?
SPEAKER_00We're the the uh for la I hate this term sometimes, but I think it's it is interesting, right? You say the redheaded stepchild, right? The the one who people are like, and I don't mean it against redheaded people, it's just that bad stereotype. Right, you're the awkward step kid that you're not sure about. Well, that's not how it is with us. No, he chose us to be grafted in, right? Yeah, to be put in with the root of Jesse so that we can receive spiritual blessing from the root, which is it ends up being not just Jesse, but Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. You know, I used I used to wonder in um in Genesis chapter 12 when talking about Abraham, how um the nations of the world will be blessed through him, and I used to wonder how are how are the nations going to be blessed through Abraham? Right? And then as as as as you're growing, you learn and you read through the scripture and you get to Jesus, and it's just like there it is.
SPEAKER_00Through his bloodline, you watch through Ishmael and through Isaac, you see how differently those two nations go off, and they're both blessed in different ways, but you're like, this is part of God's choosing, and his and it again, it's according to his will.
SPEAKER_02Right, right, and I love that.
SPEAKER_00End of verse five.
SPEAKER_02And that's the purpose, that's the reason. Why did God choose me? It is according to the kind intention of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace. God's will before the foundations of the world was to choose us so that through his grace he'd be glorified.
SPEAKER_00And I think you just nailed it when you said, How often are we really thinking through how blessed we are? But look at what what Paul is imparting to us in verse 6, right? It's to the praise of his glorious grace. Yes. How often do we sit and think and praise him for the fact that he chose us in him before the foundation of the world? Yeah. I can't do squat to earn this, I can't do squat to keep it. I yet he chose me in love.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and you didn't do squat to get in, to get in his mind, to come before his face, to go, I need to say, I need to save.
SPEAKER_00I save that guy, Rod. He's he's gonna end up being a great preacher and he's gonna love my people. I'm gonna choose him. Right. No, no, no, we don't know because if he did this before the foundation of the world, where were we? You didn't have a chance to do anything.
SPEAKER_02No. Uh-uh. And I know that in Christendom there is there is um there's there's a part of Christianity that is against this, this this belief with what the scripture is saying here, but it's true. This is the word of God, and God chose us according to the kind intention of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace. And I love that old hymn, the old one, not the new one, but amazing grace. And how how glorious is God's grace in our lives? How glorious is that unmerited favor? Yeah. That undeserved favor that God lavishes on us each and every day.
SPEAKER_00I once was lost, but now I'm found. But what's interesting is that's our perspective.
SPEAKER_01Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_00And when you think about it, this was never God's perspective because before the foundation of the world, he already knew you were his sheep. Yes. And he promised he would take care of his sheep. All the things that could have ended in destruction because of whatever we did before.
SPEAKER_02Right, right. When's the last time and a purpose? Yeah. When's the last time you you've looked over your life during those those BC days, those before Christ days, and you saw God working in your life to save you from yourself? Can you can you imagine? I I often think about uh just my own past, how God saved me from this situation, in that situation, in this situation. Um, where had had He allowed me to follow through, probably wouldn't be here today.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I was watching a movie with my wife just recently. I remember looking over at her, and she looks at me because she realized, wow, this has got to hit home with you. And I'm like, Yeah, I'm like, I I could see this could have been me. Yeah, what happened here?
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00Lady's inebriated and rolls the car, and the passenger dies, and she goes to prison guilty. Yeah. And I'm like, oh my gosh, that could have been me when you think about it, but yet somehow God chose for me not to end up with the consequences of these things. But it's because he has a plan and a purpose. This is not just a willy-nilly duck duck goose. Right. Right? I chose you, I didn't choose you. He's like, this is according to his will. There is a purpose. And then we see what else is coming here. Well, in him, right, verse 7, we have redemption through his blood. So then he starts explaining how, how he can still be just in picking people that don't deserve it. So it's well, it's in him we have redemption through his blood. This is where we get the forgiveness of our trespasses.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. We've been redeemed from sin, from the curse of the law. By the blood of Jesus Christ. It is the blood of Christ.
SPEAKER_00That's it. Yeah, but that's the only way. And Hebrews goes through all of that in incredible detail about how the blood of bulls and goats couldn't cleanse conscience, and all it did was let God overlook things, and he was just like, okay, we'll cover it up.
SPEAKER_02We'll cover it for now.
SPEAKER_00We'll cover it for now, but then when Jesus' sacrifice came, then it washed all of it away.
SPEAKER_02And it kept it wash for the believers. Right? Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And here he is again. It's according to the riches of his grace. Are you sensing a theme here for Paul to be saying, Where's our worship? Right? Where's our worship of him and appreciation and gratitude? That it's according to the riches of his grace, right?
SPEAKER_02So what's that say? God isn't just gracious, gracious, but he is rich in grace.
SPEAKER_00Glorious grace. The riches of his grace. I mean, it it it's gonna get more, but he lavished upon us.
SPEAKER_02You get the idea of lavish, just poured on, on, and more and more. Yeah, what we were saying before.
SPEAKER_00And wait, there's more.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And we'll see even later on, we'll see later on, won't see it today, but we'll see later on that we can't even think or imagine how much of this is really going on. Because we only see a small piece of the puzzle.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00Half the time we don't even recognize all the little quote minor sins that we committed that he overlooked until he washed it all away from the blood of Jesus being applied to us when we believed.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, in time. Yeah. Oh, agree with you. So, so so so much. And so, in all wisdom and insight, he made known to us the mystery of his will.
SPEAKER_00Oh, another mysterion, right? A mystery.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Because this is a this is an absolute mystery.
SPEAKER_02The will of God.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, he could. I saw this on a podcast the other day, and they were like, and they were kind of giving this guy grief. It was an atheist saying, like, this is so dumb. Why would God choose to do it this way, to choose Jesus and pay for sin and blah blah blah. He could have chosen anything. That's what you're saying. I'm like, no, you're pretty close, right? You're right there. And you realize the very definition of God. He can do whatever he wants.
unknownYes.
SPEAKER_00But he chose to do it this way.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And that's what is amazing about the mystery of his will, because it's according to his purpose, not butches, not rods, not whoever's listening. He set it forth in Christ.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. And not just his purpose, but uh according to his kind intention, which he purposed in him, which he purposed in Christ. Uh, with a view to the administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is the summing up of all things in Christ. Uh, things in the heavens and things on earth.
SPEAKER_00So there's coming a time when he is going to unite everything. Yes. In heaven and on earth. It's coming. When you look around right now, that seems impossible.
SPEAKER_02I was reading about this earlier. Oh, it is coming.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And and God tells us what to look for.
SPEAKER_00Jesus tells us what's the signs of the times.
SPEAKER_02What to look for? Oh, it's coming. He tells us, hey, don't be unaware.
SPEAKER_00And we're seeing the birth pains of it.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah. Yeah. Even today.
SPEAKER_00This is incredible.
SPEAKER_02And maybe tomorrow. But this is this is God, all God's the Father's doing. And he's telling us, look, this is what I've done for you.
SPEAKER_00And there's way more coming.
SPEAKER_02And there's more. Like I said. But wait, there's more. Right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and then he he starts to give details, right? In him. Verse 11, we've obtained an inheritance. Oh, wait. So not only were we chosen in him and adopted as his children.
SPEAKER_02Right. Redeemed by the blood of Christ.
SPEAKER_00And we have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. But oh, by the way, you're going to obtain an inheritance too.
SPEAKER_02Wait a minute. What do I have to do for this inheritance? Do I need to work for it? Do I need to go out and buy it?
SPEAKER_00He tells us you've been predestined. Again, pro readzo, same word again. You've been marked out beforehand according to the purpose of him who works all things. Not who rod works some things so that God would then go, let's work together and I'll give you this inheritance. Right.
SPEAKER_02So no synergism. Okay.
SPEAKER_00No, he says the purpose of him, him who works all things, according to the counsel of Butch.
SPEAKER_02Uh-huh. And Butch's will. His will.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_02And who does God counsel with when he needs to counsel on something? Who does he himself? Himself.
SPEAKER_00The Trinity.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_00Who makes these, who made these decisions before the foundation of the world. Yeah. That this is the plan that the God the Father would put in place, and Jesus Christ would carry out his part of it. And then when he ascended and then sent the Holy Spirit, then the Holy Spirit would say, I'm going to go convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I'm going to indwell my people and empower them to spread the good news.
SPEAKER_00And we'll see more of what the Holy Spirit's role is going to be here coming up.
SPEAKER_02Oh, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00So all of it. Oh, go ahead. Verse 12, right? Right? Purpose, right? So that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. What? Yeah. A guy like me? I'm so oh.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00This gets me every time. He looks upon us as these crowning jewels of creation. And we are holy and blameless because of Christ, and he looks at us, and we're worthy of the praise of his glory.
SPEAKER_01What the?
SPEAKER_00This is nuts. This is absolutely praiseworthy, right? It is. Complete worship.
SPEAKER_02It is.
SPEAKER_00I can't even think of the right words. Just oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_02So are you saying that God gets glory and praise because of the things that we do in Christ?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and how could he not?
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_00If it's his plan, his purpose, his initiating and his carrying these things out and working all things together for our good, how could it not be to his praise and his honor and to our worship in response to it?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah. Oh man agreed. Verse 13. I love verse 13. In him, Paul says, in him, in Christ, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed, you were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who was given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of his glory.
SPEAKER_00Look how many times he says this. These things, they're all to the praise of his glory. To the riches of his grace, to the according to the purpose of his will. Here it is. We're when we heard the truth and we believed the gospel, we're sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. Just what he told the disciples the night before he was killed. Well, when he gave himself up to die.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_00His choice.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Sealed. And it's a guarantee, a pledge, I get it, that both of those things, those words work very well together with the Greek here. This is a promissory note written in blood by Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_00Guaranteed.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00We're sealed.
SPEAKER_02It's better than layaway.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, because layaway, if you don't make the payments, they go, we'll take that back. Right. And they'll keep the payment.
SPEAKER_02Yes, they will. But when you go and you redeem what you put on layaway.
SPEAKER_00You get it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00But we get it initially.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00Right? We get this every spiritual blessing. There are things we aren't going to attain until then. But there's this dual thing happening here. Yeah. Right now we get the promise that He indwells us permanently.
SPEAKER_02And that's the pledge. That is the pledge. That's the guarantee. I'm coming back.
SPEAKER_00Here's my here's the promissory note written in blood by Jesus Himself.
SPEAKER_02Right?
SPEAKER_00You're this is the guarantee of our inheritance. Until we acquire possession of it, right? So we know there's coming a time when we get through the suffering and persecution and the struggles of I want to do this, but I don't do that. And I should be doing this, but then I don't do it. All that stuff is going to be acquired possession someday.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, there's a redemption coming from all of this. And I'm loving it.
SPEAKER_00We did like this incredible down payment that's not really just a down payment.
SPEAKER_02And what is it? It's all to the praise of his glory.
SPEAKER_00Oh, you mean I don't get a pat myself on the back that I believed. And so good on me. I'm a oh I was smart enough to believe.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_00Praise me for choosing Jesus.
SPEAKER_02Uh-huh. Well, how can you choose when he chose you before?
SPEAKER_00This is the trick that we are being told. A lot of the church is afraid to go right here.
SPEAKER_01That's true.
SPEAKER_00And say, hey, like it or lump it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00We're saved because God chose us.
SPEAKER_01Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_00How he chooses to use, whether I prayed a prayer, walked the aisle, got baptized, however, we think that that's what caused us to be saved, it's kind of to our shame.
SPEAKER_02Oh, agreed.
SPEAKER_00Because these scriptures are telling us this is all to the praise of his glory.
SPEAKER_02And it's all about him.
SPEAKER_00It's not about me being smart enough, or Rod gave me such a great presentation of the gospel that I was like, oh, I'm going to believe now because this is according to his will.
SPEAKER_02It's according to his will. To the praise of his glory. And to the praise of his glorious grace. I mean, when you think about how gracious God was in your life and in mine and bringing us to this point of salvation, I remembered many years ago, after first moving here to the valley, and sitting down with my wife, and we were we were going through the scripture, and we we had this epiphany, the light bulb went off as we as we we got a glimpse of God's mercy in our lives and saving us. And it's like God was He was merciful to us. And He brought us to Himself and He saved us. And we just sat there in awe that God would save us. And you talk about giving God praise and thanking Him for His grace. It was just one of those wow moments.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's like you have those moments, right, where words are just fall short. Like earlier, I came up with some weird word out of the blue that I was like, where did that even come from? That didn't even fit what was in my head. Because I'm I was just stunned of thinking about this again. Man, he chose us in him.
SPEAKER_02Right. That's that that's humbling. You think that it wasn't us.
SPEAKER_00I got this little song that we sang yesterday in church in my head, sing with me. How great is our God.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And all will see how great, how great is our God.
SPEAKER_00And not all are gonna see exactly how great our God is, but some are gonna see, oh wow, you have to bow the knee.
SPEAKER_02That's right. And every tongue will confess.
SPEAKER_00That Jesus is Lord.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, but to see, to get a glimpse of how great God is, as we look over our lives and we see, we look back and we see Him working in our lives, and we go, that's why this had to happen. That's why that happened. You know, and some some of those events are painful, but when we look at the outcome, that ought to give God praise.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Of the the way that he lavished his grace on us. Yeah. Grace doesn't always include ease and you know, your best life now and all these things that we're fooled by. Right. Sometimes it means I get I'm gonna get to suffer in his name.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, what it what did God tell Paul? You know, my grace is sufficient for you.
SPEAKER_00After three times of asking, oh, okay. Well, at least Paul only asks three. Sometimes I'll ask three hundred before I understand. Before I learn the lesson.
SPEAKER_02The answer is the same. God's grace, that unmerited favor. It is sufficient. That sphere that we exist in is always available. I mean it it surrounds God's grace, it surrounds us. Yeah, geez. Right. Um, verse 15, Paul says, for this reason, to the praise of his grave of his glory, for this reason, I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you while making mention of you in my prayers. It is something that Paul would write and say, not only am I giving God praise for you, those saints at Ephesus, but I'm praying for you. Can you imagine what the encouragement that would bring to these these folks in the church?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, as they're reading through, we know, yeah, yeah, we know God's working, but then when you start thinking through like how God chooses to use another brother or sister to bring blessing to you, because of him, not because of Rod, but because Rod is obedient to follow God, you're getting you're getting a blessing, a spiritual blessing. Like that. Yeah, this is just mind-boggling when you think of it. Right. And Paul just saying, Man, I'm he's even encouraged by hearing about their faith in the Lord Jesus and the love that they have to other saints. Yes. So he's thinking through that too. Like, wow, why don't we think about that? Like how much God blesses other people by using his adopted children to bring blessing to other people.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Because the joy shared is in is can be multiplied.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. And isn't that what what our gifting is for to use to edify the body of Christ?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and we should be praising God for all of that. Yeah. Like that you you brought all these different offices and titles and positions, and you gave all these giftings, and they're all different.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And yet you somehow weave all of that together in the church body to bring blessing to everybody everywhere on this earth.
SPEAKER_02What the what in the world? Right? No, I agree, sir.
SPEAKER_00To his praise, right?
SPEAKER_02Yes, sir. Um, where he says that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of him.
SPEAKER_00Wow, what a spirit what a prayer, right? I want the God of all to give you, to open your eyes, right? To give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of him.
SPEAKER_02Gee, now who might him be? Gee. So does Paul want us, through the spirit of wisdom and of revelation, to grow in our knowledge of Jesus Christ?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that is his biggest heart's cry for all believers.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Now, is this just knowledge for knowledge's sake so that we can know all these facts about Jesus and we can quote stat we can quote statistics about Jesus and what he's done?
SPEAKER_00I would say no based on verse 18. Right? We go to the God's Word. Right. Right. So this is the purpose is having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, so that, right? Here's your purpose statement so that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you.
SPEAKER_02Oh man. The hope of his calling.
SPEAKER_00Isn't that what almost every human being says they want to know? What's my purpose?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Why am I here? What is God's will? What am I doing here?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. What am I even doing here? Isn't that the question that everybody seems to claim that they want to know?
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_00Paul's saying that that's what he's praying for all of us to have. Yeah. That our hearts are the eyes of our hearts enlightened, right? So that we would know what's the hope to which we are called, and what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints?
SPEAKER_02Wow. And what is the surpassing? Greatness of his power towards us who believe. What does that sound like blessed and highly favored to you?
SPEAKER_00Yes. Yes. Because in him we can find out what is my purpose? Why am I here?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Why did you choose me before the foundation of the world? I hear you. You say to be holy and blameless, right? Before you. I get that. But that doesn't solve the question until here.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00That wait, you want me to know what my specific calling is? You want me to know what specific gift I have?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And the works that you set out, we'll see in the next chapter that you created beforehand. Right. That I just walk in those.
SPEAKER_02Right. And here's the question. What's the ultimate purpose of all of this? To bring glory to God.
SPEAKER_00Honor to him because of the praise of his glory? Right. Whoa.
SPEAKER_02That is amazing.
SPEAKER_00And this is according to the oh, I skipped first part of 19.
SPEAKER_01Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_00But not just that. Here we go again. And there's more. And there's more. And what is the immeasurable? This is what else he wants our hearts to be enlightened by. What is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe? This is what is wild to me.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00He says it's immeasurable.
SPEAKER_02So what's that? What's that mean?
SPEAKER_00He wants our eyes to be enlightened to the fact that his power, the greatness of his power toward us, it's immeasurable. We can't even measure how great this power is that our eyes should be enlightened to see the mystery of Christ.
SPEAKER_02And it's working in us. Right? That's the point. Right? God has done so much for us that sometimes we're even unaware of how much he's done for us. And he's done all of this so that he would receive praise and honor and glory.
SPEAKER_00And then he gives specifics according to the working of Butch's great works. Oh, no, no. According to the working of his great might. Yes. That he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places.
SPEAKER_02That place of honor. That's where Jesus is seated, at the right hand of the Father.
SPEAKER_00No room for human effort. No. Human attempt to steal any glory, praise, worship, adoration, thanks, none of it.
SPEAKER_02No synergism whatsoever.
SPEAKER_00Every single thing here is pointing back to according to the working of his great mark. He worked it in Christ. He raised him from the dead. He seated it on the right hand in the heavenly places. Plan before the foundation of the world. Worked out the plan up until the cross, and then even after the cross, he's still working his plan.
SPEAKER_02Yes, through us to bring glory to himself.
SPEAKER_00And where is it? Verse 21. What does he say?
SPEAKER_02Far above all rule and authority and power and dominion. And every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come.
SPEAKER_00Nobody, past, present, or future, can steal the praise of his glory.
SPEAKER_02That's right.
SPEAKER_00Because of him choosing us before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him.
SPEAKER_02Yes. Thank you, Jesus. Yeah. Yeah. Just mind blown.
SPEAKER_00I got nothing to say. Even the whole thing of when I said sing with me. This happened to me yesterday. I couldn't sing. Uh-huh. When I started to think about how great is our God, I was speechless. I believe I had nothing. I was like, wow. Felt like Isaiah, like, oh my gosh, my tongue is unclean. Like, what am I going to give back to you? Yeah. Even giving you my heart and giving me everything is not enough. But that's the point.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00He did it all.
SPEAKER_02You're right.
SPEAKER_00He's not impressed by me being speechless yesterday, or he's not impressed with my tears about whatever. He's like, dude, I love you. I love you.
SPEAKER_02And that's the point. But we don't see that sometimes. We're so distracted by everything else. This, this, it's almost like it's a love letter.
SPEAKER_00Oh.
SPEAKER_02Right. To the church, to the saints who were at Ephesus.
SPEAKER_00And that's what he puts that little phrase in there in the middle of all this, right? In love.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00He chose us in him in love. He predestined us in love. That's why it seems to me this all does point back where I'm like, well, we can argue where the in love word fits. And I'm like, it's everywhere. That's the point. Yes. It's to the praise of his glory.
SPEAKER_02Yes. And when we get this realization of how much God loves us, our response ought to be praising him. Praising him for his grace. Praising him for what he's done in our lives, that his glory would be praised. Ain't about us.
unknownMan.
SPEAKER_02It's about him.
SPEAKER_00He just lavished all of this on us.
SPEAKER_02Right? Not only that, but wait. Oh, and right? He put all things in subjection under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
SPEAKER_00Jesus Christ was given this.
SPEAKER_02Yes. Everything is subject to him. Think about this.
SPEAKER_00This is like revelation when John gets to see. Wait a minute, he's saying everything in the heavens, in the air, on the land, in the sea, under the sea, he's going down the list of every realm and physical place that you could think of, he's saying Christ is the head of it.
SPEAKER_02It's all subject to him. Now, if everything, and by everything, I mean everything. If everything is subject to him, and there's not anything that is not subject to him. And if he's for us.
SPEAKER_00Who can be against us?
SPEAKER_02Who can be against us? Why do we worry?
SPEAKER_00It's oh my gosh. This is Job.
SPEAKER_02Why do we fret?
SPEAKER_00This is Job, right?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, knowing this. Maybe we don't know this. Maybe we're just realizing that everything is subject to him. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00If he chose us before the foundation of the world for us to be lavished on and lavished over because of Jesus, why do we worry? Like here we are when you look back at the things Jesus said to the disciples. Look at the birds of the air.
SPEAKER_02Right. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Look at the flowers in the field.
SPEAKER_02Right. They don't spin, they don't toil.
SPEAKER_00Look how beautifully dressed they are. And some of the flowers in the field are just spectacular. They're gorgeous. They don't worry about their clothing. And the birds of the air, they don't worry about food and all that because they know that God is their provider.
SPEAKER_02Right, but your God feeds them and he clothes the flowers the flowers of the field. And if he cares for these, how much more?
SPEAKER_00Does he care for you?
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Rod.
SPEAKER_02Right. Butch, how much more?
unknownRight? Oh my God.
SPEAKER_02Right?
SPEAKER_00I'm just having one of those hysterical laughter of Butch has his hands up in the air praise.
SPEAKER_02So and that's the point.
SPEAKER_00Right?
SPEAKER_02How much does God love us? That should invoke praise and and adoration and worship when we stop to realize how blessed we really are.
SPEAKER_00And we haven't even got to chapter two.
SPEAKER_02No, not yet. Uh-uh.
SPEAKER_00This is such a cool place to stop. Right? There's a whole lot more. And some we're not we're not even gonna know because he said it. He said that our b our imagination can't even come up with how incredible it's gonna be.
SPEAKER_02No, this is this is like taking the ocean and pouring it in a Dixie cup. Pastor Darrow said, that's the rest, you know, you you you you fill up what you can, but the rest of that is spillets. We just we can't and we won't, and we may never know.
SPEAKER_00But this is this is why we're here. This is why we're in Ephesians 1. Absolutely. For us to bless each other with the remembrance of things, you know. Rod and I have talked through this chapter before. We've sat, I remember sitting in Denny's and we were talking about this stuff many years ago. It was like almost 20 years ago. Maybe it was over 20 years ago.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Eating eggs and bacon and drinking coffee at like five o'clock in the morning, and realizing coming full circle, sort of, so to speak.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_00Of revisiting this and just seeing it hasn't changed at all. It's not lust a luster at all, it's even gotten greater.
SPEAKER_02And we're still blown away. Yeah. By God's awesome love for us. And maybe you're listening to this, and maybe you're starting to realize just how much God loves you. And I'd encourage you to look back over your life during the difficult times and the good times and and try to identify those times where God showed up in your life and and and and kept you from yourself and saved you from yourself and and and provided in a miraculous way. And as a result of that, give him praise. Because he's brought you through so much. I don't know, he's brought me through so much a lot, and I don't know he's brought you through a lot. And he's not done with us.
SPEAKER_00No, because we're breathing.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_00Right, so we know. Yeah, not he's not done yet.
SPEAKER_01No.
SPEAKER_00We don't know if tomorrow's coming, but we know as of right now, which is considered the day of our salvation, right? Today is the day of salvation.
SPEAKER_02Tomorrow's not promised to us.
SPEAKER_00Right? And that's what we would encourage for anybody here who has never known the love of Jesus. Yeah, consider that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Think on these things. That Jesus Christ died for your sins. He paid the price for your sins.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah. And if God is working in your life and you're at this point to where you're searching and you're trying to understand and you're seeking, um cry out to Jesus. Go ahead.
SPEAKER_00You may be even feeling this thing of complete unworthiness.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00That's where I was before I got saved. I didn't need to be convinced I was a sinner.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00I get a lot of people say that now, like, oh, I know I'm not a sinner. I didn't do this. That was not me. What I needed to know was that God loved me. And when I heard it, it was so clear. Jesus died for me. It broke me.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00But then that brokenness is what God chose to draw me to Himself.
SPEAKER_01Yep. Yep.
SPEAKER_00And say, yeah, you're broken. You're unworthy. I get it. But I chose you.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And to bring you to that point of repentance and faith in Christ.
SPEAKER_00And don't sit and go, yeah, and just wallow in the I'm unworthy.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Wallow in the fact that God loves you so much that He's revealed that to you to say, yeah. To most human beings, you would not be worthy of redemption, right? Let's just be honest.
SPEAKER_02Well, we're all sinners, and we're not worthy.
SPEAKER_00Right?
SPEAKER_02But God.
SPEAKER_00But God knew that. So he sent Jesus to pay the price that you couldn't. That's right. That I can't, that Rod can't, that no one in history is even able to pay except for Jesus.
SPEAKER_02That's right. And because of Christ, we can stand holy and blameless before God the Father.
SPEAKER_00And all of it, all the guilt, all the shame, all the regret washed away.
SPEAKER_02Amen. Although we do bring it back, and we try to put that coat back on sometimes, right?
SPEAKER_00We try to resurrect the old self. Right. Right? And you go, let's bring that old guy back. Let it die.
SPEAKER_02Leave it or dead. Leave it.
SPEAKER_00Let him stay in the grave. That's where he belongs. Dead.
SPEAKER_02Because in Christ, we're this new creation.
SPEAKER_00And and blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. That's right. Given the guarantee of the inheritance that's to come, right? Where we get to find out what is this thing that we can't even think or imagine how spectacular it'll be to be in his presence.
unknownRight.
SPEAKER_02But wait, there's more. There's more coming.
SPEAKER_00There's more coming.
SPEAKER_02There's more coming. And the end of the end, this life is not all that there is.
SPEAKER_00And there's work for us to do, right? Yes. That whole thing of, hey, this is cool that we get to see, oh, God's going to bless us and he's going to save us. But get to see that God's choosing of us is so that we'll do some work for him. He created the works. Yeah. Your job's just to walk in them. That's right. And to give him praise that he's letting you work to do these things. It's not you, you're so grandiose that you chose to work. He chose the works for us to walk in.
SPEAKER_02And we have to walk in them and through obedience carry out what he's called us to do.
SPEAKER_00But it's with his power.
SPEAKER_02It is. Not ours.
SPEAKER_00So you every time you start to think, I got something to do with this, or I have something to do, you're like, wow.
SPEAKER_02It's all on God.
SPEAKER_00It's to the praise of his glory.
SPEAKER_02Amen.
SPEAKER_00Worship him today, like I. Yeah. I feel like I just want to get in the truck and just sit silently before him.
SPEAKER_02Amen. Amen. Because we we serve an awesome God.
SPEAKER_00And we're grateful, whoever is listening. We pray that you would have the eyes of your heart enlightened. Yes. And all wisdom and revelation of Christ. That that would be in your heart today.
SPEAKER_02Amen. Amen. So if this has been an encouragement to you, drop us a line and let us know. You can email us at wumthenumber two guys at yahoo.com. Again, that's wmthetnumber two guys at yahoo.com. We would love to hear how you've been encouraged or even challenged through our discussion of Ephesians 1 today.
SPEAKER_00Amen. We really appreciate you listening. Lord bless you. Lord willing. We'll talk to you next time when we hop into chapter 2.
SPEAKER_02Amen. Have a great day, and we'll see you soon.