Every Spiritual Blessing in Christ — Ephesians 1-6

0:00 Oh, where's where's the Christian? There he is. You're gonna turn 67. Right? Yeah.

0:06 But he has hair of a teenager. Look at that bush. Oh, man. Eric. You can buy him a warm dress.

0:12 Yes. Right. That's amazing, brother. You can have hair like that. My my hair do is to cover up the patches, you know.

0:20 Alright. So, let's open your Bibles to Acts chapter 18. Acts chapter 18. And before we start reading, I'm going to just quote to you what a couple of commentators said about the book of Ephesians. Doctor Deffenbaugh, he said it's the Rolls Royce of the epistles.

0:49 FF Bruce, he said, is it quintensense? I think that's how you pronounce it apollism. I don't even know what that means, but it sounds good. C h dot said it's the crown of Paulism. William Hendrickson said this about the epistle of the Ephesians, the divinest composition of man, the distilled essence of Christian religion, is the most authoritative and the most consummate compendium of the Christian faith, full to the brim with thoughts and doctrine sublime and momentous.

1:23 And so I could have gone on and on. There's a lot of great quotes about the book of Ephesians. What do you want to do? Unplug and plug the adapter for the... It's taped.

1:40 Here we go. Okay. Well, if not, that's fine. I'll just I'll just look at it myself and and explain it. I'll go grab the overhead detector.

2:18 Yeah. Okay. So, you think you think you can follow along and read with me while they're trying to get that fixed without being distracted? Let's go to the Bible. Now, I just picked out a couple of verses.

2:32 Otherwise, I'll start speaking all of this and and I don't wanna take up a lot of time because I wanna do like a general overview of the book of Ephesians. So let's go to eighteen eighteen. And we're gonna give you the historical background. We're gonna read it, and and then we'll go into Ephesians, look at a couple of verses there as we're doing this overview. Acts eighteen eighteen, and Paul, having remained many days longer, took leave of the brethren and put out to sea for Syria, and with him were Priscilla and Aquila in Cinquia, and he had his haircut for he was keeping a vow.

3:11 Verse 19, if, that's Acts eighteen nineteen. And they came to Ephesus and he left them there. Now, he himself into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. Now, just for explanation, he left Priscilla and Aquila there. So, but he went in before he took off.

3:30 Verse 20, and when they asked him to stay for a longer time, he did not consent. But taking leave of them and saying, I will return to you again if god wills, he said, sail from Ephesus. Okay, now look at chapter 19 verse one. And it came about that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper country, came to Ephesus and found some disciples. Now look at verse eight.

4:00 Yeah, verse eight. He entered the synagogue and continued speaking out boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. But when some of them were disobedient, becoming disheartened and disobedient, speaking evil of the way before the multitude, he withdrew from them and took away the disciples reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. And this took place for two years so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. Look at verse 11.

4:38 How interesting. And god was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul. So that handkerchiefs and aprons were even carried from his body to the sick and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out. But also some of the Jewish exorcist who went from place to place attempted to name over those who had evil spirits the name of the lord Jesus saying, I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches and the seven sons of one Seva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. Notice verse 15, and the evil spirit answered and said to them, I recognize Jesus and I know about Paul, but who are you?

5:28 And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them and subdued all of them and overpowered them so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. And this became known to all, both Jews and Greeks who lived in Ephesus. And fear fell upon all of it all and the name of the lord Jesus was being magnified. Many also of those who I believe kept coming, confessing and disclosing their practices. And many of those who practice magic brought their books together and began burning them in the sight of all.

6:10 And they conquered the price of them and founded 50,000 pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing. Okay, let's look at, one final passage, chapter 19 and verse 24. Acts nineteen and twenty four, a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines from Artemis or of Artemis that is, was bringing no little business to to the craftsman. But these gathered together with the workmen of similar trades and said, men, you know that our prosperity depends upon that...

6:55 This business. And you see and hear not only in Ephesus but in almost all of Asia, this paw has persuaded and turned away a considerable number of people saying that gods made with with hands are no gods at all. And not only is there danger that this trade of ours fallen to disrupt you but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis be regarded as worthless and that she whom all of Asia and the world worship should even be dethroned from her magnificence. And when they heard this, they were filled with rage and began crying out saying, great is Artemis of the Ephesians. Okay, let's stop there.

8:24 Grace to you and peace from god our father and the lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the god and father of our lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Amen. Okay. I'm done.

8:43 I'm done reading. They're still working on it. So, we're gonna we're gonna just go from from from here. Alright. So this is a a very interesting scenario.

8:54 As you see, they get to Ephesus, and Ephesus was a a a major city. It was huge. It had over 250,000 people living there at the time when and Priscilla got there with with Paul. And really, Aquila and Priscilla did most of the work. Paul just preached a couple of times then he left.

9:16 A 20% of were there and the the church started to grow and by the time Paul came back, there was already an assembly rolling in full fledged. You know what, Tim? That's okay. I'll I'll just I'll just go just put it in the PowerPoint and I'll go from there. Yeah.

9:31 Alright. So just imagine that I'm giving you a PowerPoint and just follow follow the follow the notes. Alright. So it was one of the greatest cities of the first century along with Antioch and Alexandria. Now, in case you know, you want to study church history, Alexandria had a massive church there.

9:51 One of the apostles went there and preached the gospel and there was a massive amount of believers in Egypt and also in Antioch as you know because the Bible talks about that one was a was a very large work with a lot of believers and so the lord chose to focus on another major city which of great importance and that is Ephesians and so they went there and they began a work there. Alright. Now, it's religion as you as we read just a minute ago, the Great Temple Of Artemis, Diana was there. It was considered one of the seven wonders of the world. This particular building and it took over 150 to build.

10:31 So, people from all over the place would come or or of that known world would come to Ephesus to worship the Diana in the Temple Of Artemis. And so we read some of the about that just a minute ago. Okay. So there was many idols of her. Many businesses profit from the sale of her images.

10:54 And so you can imagine it was a great business to sell her idols. And so many of the businessmen became angry because so many people are turning to Christ that they were losing business and thus we read that they started a riot. You can read the rest of the story in your own leisure. Also, if you noticed, there was a lot of demons there and a lot of sickness. Not only that but there was a lot of magical practices and a lot of demon activity.

11:26 I don't know if you all know this or not, but my mom practiced this as well. And when when she came to Christ, we actually went and made a big bonfire and the the pile was about this high of books and potions and things and we had a big fire outside where after salvation came to our home, we burned all all of those magical books. So, when I read Ephesus, what happened there? I'm like, man, that's our home. That was our family.

11:54 That's what happened to us. There was a lot of demonic activity even in our home before Christ came into our lives. I don't know if y'all were aware of that or not but if you wanna hear some details, I can give you some afterwards. Give you part of my testimony. Still not working.

12:09 Okay, that's fine. Alright. So, the day was the year '61 to about '29, thirty years after Christ had resurrected, the church started. They started this particular where this book was written. The book of the to the Ephesians.

13:01 So, from prison in the year '61, Paul wrote this letter to the Ephesians. He also wrote Colossians. He also wrote first Timothy and Philippians from jail, from jail. Now, this was what they call an encyclical. I think I pronounced that correctly.

13:21 If not, think it's correct and it makes me sound smart when when I, you know, read stuff like that. So, I'm going to read to you from Colossians real quick. Listen to what he says here. And when this letter to the Colossians is read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodice sayings, and you, for your part, read my letter that is coming from Laodicea. And so when Paul wrote these letters to to the different assemblies, they they after they ran them, they probably copied them and then they were sending these letters around which became part of the holy writ, right?

13:59 The canon of scripture. And so, the the letter was written to the Ephesians and then shared with all the other churches throughout Asia and of course in in Greece and Rome and all over the the world. Alright. So, Timothy, after Paul was gone, Timothy was sent there to work with the church and keep him from false doctrine and we know also from church history though this cannot be I I won't die on this hill but there's enough evidence that John also served there for many years and that's where he wrote the gospel of John from Ephesus, from Ephesus. Alright.

14:44 So, little more background. So, he was there and for three months, he taught in a synagogue. As you know, that was his practice. He would go into a synagogue where the Jews were and he would reason with them and try to bring them to Christ. After three months, they became hardened.

14:59 They were rejecting the message of the gospel. So, he went and I guess they rented or they let him borrow a school of Tyranus where he was there for two years teaching the word of god. So, this was a well taught and apparently a very mature church. Alright. So, the great impact, Paul performed many miracles.

15:21 Now, you had to kind of freak out when you read that. That he would just... They would just take his handkerchief and people would get healed and demons would be. Like, isn't that like, wow. That's what you call extremely supernatural and unfortunately, try to pass that on today.

15:38 In fact, I was gonna bring you some oil from from Jerusalem, and if y'all wanted to buy some from me, but I thought it doesn't it doesn't... It's so old that it it lost its effectiveness. So I just left it at home. But, you know, people try to push that these days. It's pretty crazy.

15:54 Even his handkerchief, right? And his apron, I guess when he was working in the tents, he would take off his apron, somebody would grab it, and people would get healed and demons would be. Like, wow. So, it was very unique what god was doing there. He was obviously doing a mighty work because it became so powerful that church that all of Asia says, heard the word of god because of what was happening there in Egypt.

16:19 So, a great number of people got saved in Ephesus through the effort of the apostle Paul, Aquila, and Priscilla, and all the other disciples that were working there. Alright, so here comes the outline. Chapter one to three is your position or your blessing in Christ. So, it's a three point outline. I kept it simple.

17:24 That is the outline. Pretty simple and as you read the book or study it, you can you can see that unfolding. Alright, so let's go to Ephesians. We're going to look at what I call the the theme of the book. Now, there's different opinions as to the overall theme but but in in my opinion and and I'm not going to again, I'm not going to die on this hill but as I study the book over and over again and looked at it and looked at commentaries, I think that the theme is the mystery, the mystery.

17:56 Now, follow with me. We're going to look at some verses and we're going look at the mystery and explain a little bit about it. Alright. Now, look at chapter one and verse nine. He made known to us the mystery of his will according to his kind intention which he purposed in him that is in Jesus with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of times that is the summing up of all things in Christ, things in heaven, and things upon the earth in him.

18:30 So, in other words, when we say mystery, we don't say something mysterious but it's something that became evident that god was keeping behind curtains if you will, then he opened up the curtains and he says, look, this is something that I had in mind from way back and then now, I'm opening up the curtain so you can see what I had in mind and what do you have in mind that in Christ that everything was going to come together. So, in other words, today, the the world is trying to fix its problems through through counseling, through through more money, more advances, more this, more that. But as you know, the world is not getting better. It's more perverse. There's more murders.

19:16 Nothing nothing has changed if you will. And so as much as the world tries to fix the world's problems, it never will. But what God revealed to us in the mystery of his will is that Christ is gonna fix it all. Amen? That's right.

19:32 And so that's what what god god said, look, you didn't know this but wait from the beginning. After the chaos of sin entering the world and all the mess that comes with it, Christ is gonna fix it. Christ is gonna fix it. And and heaven and earth and everything is gonna get fixed through him. And he's going to reign for a thousand years.

19:51 And there's going to be peace on earth. And he's going to rule forever and ever. He is going to fix. And this is the the the mystery of his will. Okay, next have the mystery of Christ.

20:02 Look at chapter three and verse four. Chapter three and verse four. And by referring to this, when you read, you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ. There it is. Which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men and as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and to the prophets in the spirit.

20:27 Now, to be specific, here's your, here's the mystery. Verse six, Ephesians three six, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. So, what is this mystery? That that there's no longer any distinction. Before the Jews were were the the nation.

20:53 God was doing everything through them and through them alone, right? And and so, remember Peter, when God told him to go and speak to Cornelius, he said, hey, I've never entered Gentile's house. You know, those dogs and and they would look down on him and speak very bad. But the mystery of Christ is this, that this is no longer true. God God God is no longer holding you as more important than the other person.

21:33 So God doesn't care if you're rich or poor, if you're educated or not. If you're a human being, he loves you and he wants to save you. As we get away with all of the the, you know, the rich and the poor, the educated, uneducated, your background, the white, black, whatever nation you're from, it doesn't matter to god. We're in the midst of your crisis that is we're all equal in him. So, there's no racism.

21:58 There's no arrogance. There's no, I'm better than you. Amen. Not in Christ. That's god.

22:05 And so the mystery of Christ is this, that he brought us all together into one family, one family. And so, there's there's no way I'm gonna look down on anybody here. Or neither should you look down on me. Because we're all saved by the grace of god. None of us deserved it and god was so gracious that he saved us and he brings us into a body.

22:41 This mystery is great. There it is. There's your word mystery. That's why I said this is the theme because the mystery is all over the the Ephesians. This mystery is great, but I'm speaking in reference to Christ and the church.

22:54 So what is he doing? He said, look at this beautiful thing. We have marriage. What what an intimate relationship marriage is. He goes, but there's something more intimate and something greater.

23:05 There's something that wasn't revealed in the Old Testament but now it's revealed that there that Jesus Christ is the bridegroom and the church whom we love is the bride. And this relationship is for all eternity. See, when you're married, it's to death do us part. And you're gonna die sooner or later, right? And and that marriage ends, right?

23:29 And and you can read Romans seven says the same that you're you're obligated in marriage until your partner dies. But when we're in Christ, we're in Christ for all eternity. That never ends. Amen. Wow.

23:42 What a blessing. So, this mystery and and of course, we're not going to go into all the details of that right now but the mystery of Christ and the church, more intimate than marriage, we are eternally united with Christ. Wow. Wow. Okay.

23:58 Then, we have the mystery of the gospel chapter six and verse 19. Look at six nineteen. And pray on my behalf that utterance may be given to to to me in the opening of my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel. Wow. So, now, after the the church was born in Acts chapter two with the coming of the Holy Spirit, now we start to preach the gospel.

24:28 And just in the in the Old Testament, if god didn't reveal this, and so the mysteries, if you will, of Ephesians are we called progressive revelation. What Paul is saying is, all of these things, god didn't reveal them. He had them in mind but he hadn't revealed them yet into the New Testament too. And so all of these mysteries and was not preached in the Old Testament but now it's preached. Right?

25:06 Amen? And so the mystery of the gospel. Alright. Now, what is the great purpose of the mystery? What what is the overall, if you will, what, what, what is the overall great verse of Ephesians chapter three and verse 10.

25:23 Chapter three and verse 10. So, he's talking about the mystery. We should probably read nine just for context sake. So, to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages had been hidden in god. So, again, he hadn't revealed it.

25:44 He had it in mind but he hadn't shown it to us yet who created all things. In order, now, don't miss this. This is this is powerful. In order that the manifold wisdom of god. In other words, god is absolutely wise.

25:57 The manifold wisdom that it's he's so wise. You can't really bring it all together. Would you agree with that? Right? Okay.

26:05 But notice what the Bible says. In order that the manifold wisdom of God might be made known through the church. Wow. Through the church. To the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

26:23 So so in other words, God gets all of the rulers and authorities in the heavenlies. Right? The angels, there's the different ranks of angels. And I'm not sure if it includes Satan and his demons, but most commentators think it's just the heavenly angels, all all that created, and the classroom is the heavens. And it brings them together because now look at this.

26:43 Look at my plan. It was a mystery in the past, but I already had it in mind. What what is But I'm gonna bring people who couldn't stand each other before. Right? We're gonna get Jews and Gentiles to come together and become one body in Christ.

27:04 They're like, wow. Yeah. That's what we're gonna have a Jew and an Arab. We're gonna have a Jew and a German worshiping god together because of the power of the gospel and the angels are like, lord, you're you're wise and only thought. Wow.

27:20 How did you think of this plan? And and so the the as the church then is coming together and and showing forgiveness to be forgiven worshiping and focusing on Christ, the angels are like, wow. You're you're you're much wiser than than we could ever imagine. Coming up with a plan like this. You show that god is working supernaturally in your life and and and giving you patience toward one another because god too, the intended being and I think that's the encompassing verse of Ephesians in the heavenly places.

28:39 There it is again. And in Christ Jesus, to all generations forever and ever, amen. Amen. And so, this was the purpose of god, the great purpose of the ministry is that he can show off how wise he is to the angelic beings through the church, through the church. Okay, what is unique about the book of Ephesians?

29:00 That is not addressed to any particular person. But to believers in general. Secondly, it is not addressing any particular problem. Right? Like like like Colossians is Colossians is addressing four false doctrines.

29:17 Philippians is is addressing two women not getting along and other issues. And Timothy is addressing false teaching and and so forth but this one is is not addressing any problem. It's just teaching us truth so that we can rejoice in what we have in Christ. Alright. Now, this is what I really needed the PowerPoint but the lord's thought different.

29:41 So, just listen then as powers to show the Christians what he or she possesses in Christ. So, notice, one one in Christ. One three in Christ, one four, in him. One six, in the beloved, one nine, in him. One ten, in him.

30:01 One twelve, in Christ. One thirteen, in him. One eighteen, his inheritance in the saints, 120, in Christ. Chapter two verse six and seven. It says it there in every verse in Christ.

30:16 Chapter two verse 13, in Christ Jesus. Chapter two verse 18. Through him, we have access to the father and three twelve in him. So, we are in Christ where Colossians says Christ in you. Ephesians says, you're in Christ, in him.

30:34 We have all these blessings. Okay. So, let's go to chapter one and three. In the little time that's left, I'm gonna expound just this one verse and again, we we don't have the the PowerPoint but that's okay. In the past, they didn't have it either and they still taught the word of god.

30:55 Alright. Now, notice how beautiful. Blessed be the god and father of our lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. So, those of you who know me, when you ask me how I'm doing, what do I say? Blessed.

31:10 What do I say I'm blessed? Ephesians one three. Ephesians one three, there it is. Look, blessed be the father of our lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. So, when somebody ask, how are you doing?

31:27 I'm blessed. Why am I blessed? Because I have every spiritual blessing in mine. I'm not. I I am absolutely blessed and so this should be part of our vocabulary many times when people ask you, what are you as a believer?

31:40 I'm blessed. So, he blessed with every spiritual blessing. Everything god has for the believer is in Christ Jesus. By faith, I'm united to him. The moment the believer is in Christ Jesus, he or she possesses every spiritual blessing.

31:57 Is there one missing? Everyone. Everyone. You are fully equipped. Schafer puts it this way, to be in Christ is to participate in everything Christ has done, in everything he is, and in everything he's going to be and do.

32:18 Tony Evans puts it this way, Doctor Evans. When God saves you, he gives you everything you need to have victory. To live a powerful life as a believer. You just have to learn how to use what God has given you. And again, quoting Evans, we are proceeding from victory.

32:38 Christ has already won. Satan, sin, and death have been defeated or conquered. We are not trying to gain victory. We're starting from victory. Amen?

33:07 Why don't you come hunting with me? Well, sure. So I bring him with me. We're we're out in the ranch, and I have the rifle. I said, here, hold the rifle.

33:15 And the first thing he does is he points and tells me, like, oh my god. I jumped out of me. I pointed him. Said, god. Listen.

33:21 Rule number one, don't point the rifle at your partner or, you know, he's gone. Alright? And then next, I was thinking, okay. There was a a duck. I said, let's see if you can hit that duck.

33:32 Of course, I knew he wasn't going to. But he looks at it. He doesn't know what to do. Right? So he had everything he needed so that Christ but we have to learn and with time as we mature in the faith, we learn more and more how to use everything god has given us so that we can have a victorious life in him.

34:19 See. So, we are we starting from victory. Don't forget that. We're not trying to gain it. We already won.

34:26 Christ conquered and so from that point on, where the problem is that we do our dips, right? And that's that's okay. We all go through that. But we are victorious in the Lord Jesus. Notice also his conclusion and well, alright.

34:49 Verse verse two. Grace to you and peace from god, our father, and the lord Jesus Christ. Now, grace is god's unmerited favor given to the believer in Christ. Without his grace, I would not have everything in Christ. See, god is so gracious that not only does he forgive an undeserving sinner but then he gives you everything you need and he pours out favor upon us day in and day out.

35:22 We are so blessed and every day, he's pouring out his grace. He's pouring out his favor. And when when John is talking about Jesus, he says, he was full of grace and grace upon grace. And So it's just unlimited pouring out every day. Pouring out grace.

35:40 You you just can't stop what's going on. To undeserving people. And so Paul, as he's thinking about this, he says, grace to you. Grace to you. Wow, god's American favor constantly.

35:53 It's not just salvation favor but it's daily favor, daily provision for us so that we can live his life. And then he says, and peace from god our father and the lord Jesus Christ. They already had the peace with god through faith in Jesus, right? Romans five one, we have peace because of our faith in Jesus but they also needed the peace of god. God grants us his peace in our daily circumstances.

36:38 All of the blessings that we have in Christ. Right? So far, he only said that we're blessed but then he's gonna start saying what they are. Right? And so, his grace and his peace are there and what a great way to end this introduction.

36:52 Thank you, lord for your grace. That's unlimited and for your peace. We do have your peace, lord and we are so grateful for it. Thank you that we can go to bed in peace and we can rejoice in your grace. Father, be with us as we go home.

37:08 Thank you for the book of Ephesians and we're so excited for everything you have for us, in your word. We praise you. We bless you. Thank you that we are in Christ. We have every spiritual blessing.

37:22 Amen.