That you may Know — Ephesians 1

0:00 I wanna begin with, two statements before we pray today. One is that, I want to just communicate to you that I love you. I love you, and the... This message is is born out of that as what the lord's laid on my heart to bring from this study of Ephesians. The second statement that I would like to make as as an introductory statement is that I don't know everything there is to know about Ephesians.

0:31 But I'm going to I'm going to attempt this morning to share with you what I've come to understand that this book is is saying. And really more narrow than that what my little portion is saying in in the second half of of Ephesians chapter one. I also recognize that you have understanding and I could very much benefit from what you understand in this book and I look forward to that. So, as we go through some of these things and as we review some of the truths here in scripture, let's share those with one another. I'd love to hear some of your insight and I'm going to share with you the things that that that I've gleaned from this first chapter, Ephesians chapter one.

1:18 Now, let's start with prayer and this is a unique opportunity where Roger Roger made the comment or Anna made the comment the other night at at at Anna's wedding. Sometimes when Roger sits down to dinner, he says, this same group will never be together again and that caused a little alarm among the family But it's a unique opportunity this morning that we can open up this message with Paul's prayer and we're actually be praying the passage or the text that we're we have here this morning. So, let's pray and I'm going to I'm going to pray Paul's prayer that he gives in Ephesians chapter one. Our heavenly father, we want to come before you this morning as a group of believers. Father, we're asking that you would give us the spirit of wisdom, that you would give us the spirit of revelation in the knowledge of the lord Jesus Christ.

2:21 Father, we're asking that the eyes of our understanding would be enlightened. We want to know what is the hope of his calling. We want to know what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. Father, we're praying that we would understand what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe according to the mighty... According to the working of his mighty power.

2:51 We recognize, heavenly father, that you demonstrated this when Christ was raised from the dead. We recognize today Christ seated at your own right hand in heavenly places. Father, we also recognize that the lord Jesus Christ is far above all principality. He's far above all power, all might, all dominion. He's above every name that is named, not only in this world, but the world that is to come.

3:22 We also recognize that you've put everything under his feet and you've gave him to us to be the head over all things, even the church of which we're a little segment or a little local representation of the church. The church being his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. And if you agree with this prayer, say amen with me. Amen. On Monday, we were driving back from North Carolina up here to Ohio and we had my oldest son Will was with me and his new bride Hannah.

4:07 And so we're they chose they're they're they're on their way to Maine but the first leg of the trip was to come to Ohio with us. It's an interesting thing that as we've experienced our our life in ministry together, our kids actually enjoy riding with us in the vehicle and so, you know, it will thought, hey, here's an opportunity to ride. We can, it is, you do have a captive audience, you know, when you when you're all together in the in the vehicle, it is a good time to visit and one of Will's request on the way up here to Ohio was to stop in the Amish country to buy a candle. No, just kidding. He wanted to he wanted to go to Miller's gun shop And so like I was like, sure son, whatever you want.

4:58 So we stopped at Miller's gun shop. Now I don't want to take a lot of time on this because well this is for all you gun fans out there. We're looking at when we walked into Miller's gun shop, there was more guns than normal that were there. I mean, it was kind of like they'd actually set up another display table for to represent all the inventory that they had. Well, we're looking at this and Will is quite a gun buff, has a tremendous knowledge, has way surpassed my knowledge about guns and so he's looking, he's very interested and he takes a long time to look at all these things.

5:36 But one of the things that we noticed was I was like, hey, Will, somebody must have like brought their whole collection of old Winchester rifles in here Because don't you know, like I'm seeing this one, this one, this one, and all of sudden we're we're he's like, yeah, you're right. Like in there's there's some over there and some over here and and so Will went to the counter and asked the guy. I said, hey, there is he he thought maybe the owner, is he selling this, you know, peak time to cash in on firearms? They're at a all time premium. And he said, is somebody cashing in their their cashing in and selling their gun collection of Winchester's?

6:13 The guy said, well, not exactly. Well, kind of. What happened was a fellow passed away and his wife came at the recommendation of some help advisors, came to Miller's gun shop and said, Hey, my husband's got a gun collection. I really don't know a thing about it. Can you guys help us parse this out?

6:34 It turns out he had three twenty five long rifles, the majority of which, like I'm talking over 300, were these antique Winchester guns in premium condition, price today on the market over $1,000 So do the quick math. You know, this lady had like $325,000 worth of gun collection that her husband left behind. So there they were. There they were. They've sold quite a few of them, but there was still...

7:07 That's the reason this influx happened. I tell you that story because what I'd like to do is draw a little illustration that that we want to parallel with the book of Ephesians. Now, put tuck that away just for a moment and let's think about this. There's there's a situation where a man passed away and there's his widow. She is she's figuring out life without her husband.

7:36 She goes to a a financial adviser and the financial advisor looks over all of her situation, her paperwork, her financial situation particularly. She's like, she's kind of feeling a little anxious about not being able to know how to handle things. And he says, look, here's what you need to do. You're spending what you have, you're spending what's coming in, but you're not putting any savings aside. You're not really living in a good spot.

8:07 You need to make some changes and adjustments and there that'll put you on a better track. So he gives her a plan of something to do. This other lady, now this is this is all hypothetical. This other lady who who I just told you about that cashed in at Miller's gun shop. Well, let's let's let's think about her scenario.

8:27 She goes to she goes to the the financial adviser and this is pre gun shop. She he she says, don't think I'm I don't think I got enough money to make it. And he's looking over her things and says, yeah, got a... Like I see, you got a savings account here, $500. You got a checking account.

8:47 It's got about a thousand dollars in it. What what... My husband really didn't have any pension to speak of and things like that. I don't know what I'm going to do here. He says, does your husband have anything, any assets?

9:01 And she's like, no. And she said, well he does have his gun collection but I don't know anything about it. So he gives her the advice, hey, go to Miller's gun shop, get them to appraise it, see what it's worth. And you already know that that ended up being over $300,000 He says, I see here that you've got this checking account, savings account, there's also a safety deposit box. What's in the safety deposit box?

9:24 I said, I don't know. I don't know. It's my husband's. He took care of that and everything. He says, well go get that.

9:28 Meet me here next week. Come back. We'll discuss what might be in there. And so she goes and gets that and she says, I've got these stock certificates from Berkshire Hathaway. And she said my husband happened to be personal friends with Warren Buffett and he bought these stocks years ago and she said ma'am, those stocks happen to be in the top 10 of the most valuable stocks.

10:03 One certificate today is worth $400,000 In January this past year, it hit $450,000 You're sitting on over $40,000,000 in the safety deposit box. Now, the two scenarios that I gave you. The first lady, the financial advisor told her something that she needed to do. Right? Lock in on that word do.

10:30 The second lady, the financial advisor, told her something that she needed to know. Lock in on that word know. When we're reading the book of Ephesians and particularly in this first chapter, you're gonna let the word know jump out. Here it is. These are things that we as Christians need to know.

10:52 You know what? You and I are quite possibly, you and I are living a life like this widow that went there with $500 in her savings account and a thousand dollars in her in her checking account and wondering if she's gonna make it. And she didn't know what she had in the safety deposit box. She didn't know what that gun collection was worth. You've got...

11:16 Well one of these phrases in here is that you've been blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies. You... Well even the word riches is talked about. What do you have in Christ? Know what you have to live this life as a believer.

12:04 That's very important to keep in mind here as we read about these things. This is... These things are intended for the believer. It's not for the unbeliever. It's available to the unbeliever if he would accept Christ.

12:17 But here, Paul is writing in verse 15. Wherefore, I also, Paul, after I heard of your faith in the lord Jesus Christ and the love unto all the saints. Paul is writing to this group, these these believers that are in this region of Ephesus and the first thing that he says here in this portion is that when I heard of your faith, let's think about that for a moment. The faith is fundamental and and so we would use these words that are somewhat interchangeable. We think of a faith, a trust, belief, and he might say it this way, I heard of your belief.

12:55 I heard of your trust. I heard of your faith. And we want to remind ourselves that faith... What what he's speaking of here is that the faith has been placed in the lord Jesus Christ. These people in Ephesus, well, they were in a region that was...

13:10 They were worshiping a false god. The goddess Dianas. Diana was there and and so we can just imagine this carving image if you will and so, here's this thing that people are worshiping that has lips but cannot speak. Has eyes but cannot see. Has ears but cannot hear.

13:29 In fact, maybe some, you know, we we we read about this in Acts and Ray covered some of this for us about these merchants that were carving out images. And Isaiah tells us about this where the ones that carve out images, they carve a god to worship and yet they take the scraps from that and they burn the fire to warm themselves. Kind of a man... Well this is what Paul was dealing with. And so Diana couldn't save them.

13:58 Diana had no qualities about her to save people from their sins. So, the people heard about the lord Jesus Christ and they they accepted the free gift of salvation and so Paul is saying, I've heard about your faith. You've heard of the true and living God. You've believed in the true and living God. You've trusted in the true and living God and now you've been brought in to what the true and living God has purposed, has planned, has designed and I'm going to reveal it to you.

14:27 You see the book of Ephesians is like a mini revelation. He's revealing the things that God has put in motion. It's revealing the mind of God, the heart of God. It gives us explanation of how God has played things out through the events in history. Well, was the first thing he said.

14:49 I've heard of your faith. Now the second thing, get a load of this, I not only heard of your faith, but I've heard of your love for ALL all the brethren in the region. Wow. Do you love the other brothers and sisters in the region? I heard about your love that you had for one another.

15:13 This is hard because, you know, we we have this tendency to to fight and bicker. We have this tendency to be offended. We have this tendency to build walls between each other. But listen, we have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and this will be a great pattern to follow that we would love one another. In fact, it's taught all through Scripture.

15:32 So here he's not saying just like love just for the sake of loving. Later on in the book, he's gonna tell us, he's gonna say, here's to how to love. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you. Be kind one to another. Be tender hearted, Forgiving one another even as God has forgiven you.

15:59 You know what conclusion I draw from that? It's not that people didn't make a mistake. It's not that people weren't offended. But what did they do? They forgave one another.

16:09 What does that mean? The person said, hey, you hurt me when this happened. I didn't like this when this happened. And they sorted it out. They worked it out.

16:18 So what happens? You're tender hearted toward each other. You're forgiving one another. And so the love remains. The love is uninterrupted.

16:28 Oh, Paul heard of their faith. And he heard of their love one for another. I don't know where I picked this up. Somewhere along the way. It's a little saying that goes like this, When you can't see Christ in your brother or sister, see your brother or sister in Christ.

16:47 And so let's keep that love. Let's have that love forefront. We've been brought into a love relationship with Christ, and He wants us to love the brethren. Love those around us. It's a work of the Holy Spirit.

17:02 In Romans chapter five, it tells us this, the love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts. It's like God's love coming right here, shed abroad right here. Hey, don't let anything get in the way of it. I want it to hit Gabe. I want it to hit...

17:14 Hey, you guys are visiting him today. Welcome. Remind me of your first name. Keith. Yeah.

17:20 And Linda. Good to see I want the love to go right to Devin, to Bethany. I want that love to be shed abroad in my heart. And when something interrupts it, I'm going to be tender hearted. I'm going to deal with the issue.

17:33 I'm going to get it worked out. And I'm going to keep it keep it going. Now Paul, he says, I've heard of your faith. I've heard of your love for one another. And listen, these people, the Gospel has just gone new into this region.

18:08 What does that tell us? They are baby Christians. Alright? They're new believers. And so Paul is going to pray a prayer that is appropriate for all believers.

18:19 But let's listen to what he what he says. So this is in verse 16. We'll continue reading. Paul says, I cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. Verse 17, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him.

18:49 We're gonna break this up a little bit. And we're gonna take this phrase by phrase. And so go ahead advance the first slide here. Here's the first thing that Paul prays. That the Father may give you the spirit of wisdom in the knowledge of Him.

19:09 We're told... Some other scriptures probably come to your mind. If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God. We're praying for the Spirit of Wisdom. When do you need wisdom?

19:24 When you're faced with a decision, well, a lot of times we push the pause button and we say, Lord, I need some wisdom on this. I need some understanding on this. I need to know what to do in this way. And you know what? I've found that every circumstance in life, I mean every stage of life, whether I'm a teen, I'm a 20, I'm a 30, I'm a 40 or on up, Every circumstance, every decade in life, I need wisdom.

19:48 I hit up on things that I'm like, I'm really not sure what to do. And so Paul says, I'm praying this for you believers. I'm praying this for you. Would you would you ask the Father that He would give you the spirit of wisdom? I'm gonna ask it for you.

20:02 Would you ask it for yourself? Wisdom. Think about wisdom this way. From the book of Proverbs. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and don't lean unto your own understanding.

20:15 In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your path. He will give you wisdom. You see, this is what we're... This pray for the spirit of wisdom and recognize that I'm not going to trust myself. Now look, here again we need to be reminded about the Ephesus area.

20:37 They were trusting in themselves. They were man's... They would say, I'm a man's man and I can do this myself. Man up. Gird up.

20:48 Do it. Here we go. Their self reliance was prominent. And so the Lord Jesus Christ, well, He gave us this example. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, looking for the spirit of wisdom looking for the spirit of wisdom in the knowledge of Him.

21:09 Go ahead to the next slide. We'll look at this next phrase. You see, we want to use some of our our literary understanding of verse 17. And notice how these conjunctions will allow these things to tie together. So he says, pray for you pray for the spirit of wisdom.

21:33 And so we might say it the same way, we're praying for the spirit of revelation in the knowledge of Him. So the spirit of relates to both wisdom and revelation. And then this little phrase, in the knowledge of Him relates to both phrases as well because it's put together with that conjunction and. So here we go, the second one, that the Father may give to you the spirit of revelation in the knowledge of Him. Now, let's get a little hokey.

22:03 Alright? Let's scare ourselves a little bit. Not really. This verse is talking about revelation. Is there any new revelation?

22:19 Do we have any prophets among us that can give us a new word? And so we're... Understand, we're not going there. Alright? But what we are what we are...

22:29 Is it true that you and I can receive revelation from God? You think that's possible? That Paul is saying, look, I'm gonna pray this for you. I'm gonna pray that the Father would give you a spirit of revelation in the knowledge of Him. Let's go over to...

22:52 Hold your finger in Ephesians. Go over to one Corinthians two. One Corinthians two. We're gonna let scripture explain scripture here. And notice this is the same author, Paul, and this is the same audience, the church.

23:12 Okay? And so we're thinking about both of these concepts, the spirit of wisdom is going to be mentioned here, and the spirit of revelation is going to be talked about. Okay? So listen listen to how Paul explains it to the Corinthian believers who were also who were also ones that needed to learn, needed to gain, and he was also correcting some thinking here. Okay?

23:34 So we'll pick up in one Corinthians chapter one and let's go to verse four. Paul reminds them that he's among them and he says that my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom. We want to we want to we want to contrast man's wisdom and God's wisdom all the way through this in what is being said here and in the book of Ephesians. So my speech and my my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in the demonstration of the spirit of power, God working through him. That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

24:22 Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect or or mature. We speak wisdom among them that are mature. Mature in the faith. Yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world that have come to naught. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery.

24:41 You'll notice the the commonality of the theme in the book of Ephesians talking about mystery. Here it's referred to as the the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory. Now, if we can if we can try to connect some of these thoughts here, is that before, John did a nice job last week of of of highlighting this phrase in the first half of the chapter, unto the praise of His glory. Unto the praise of His glory. Unto the praise of His glory, mentioned three times in in the first half of the chapter.

25:18 And so yes, these things are brought about for the glory of God. We just read a phrase that said, to our glory. Now how does that work? Well, look at what this says. Not only to the glory of God, and I think of it this way, we've been brought in on the good of it.

25:36 But we speak of the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory. This makes a reference back to the verse that we that we have in Ephesians chapter one in verse four, where it talks about before the world before the world began. Some some Bible teachers would use this phrase. I mean, Randy Amos used to use this phrase. He would call it eternity past.

26:08 And so according as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. So we see this this these two things these thoughts, they go together, they jive if you will. And so it's being referred to that God had ordained this. God had thought about this. Here here's the way that I understand it.

26:35 So you've got the Trinity God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. In eternity past, God and and Himself, God the Trinity, existed in perfect love, in perfect unity. And so there you have this... And I've just got to imagine that boy, I sure do enjoy the relationship I have with my children. I enjoy the relationships I have with all of my children.

27:05 I enjoy my father son relationships. I enjoy my father daughter relationships. And here we are, God's... God says... I wonder if he said this, I enjoy the the relationship I have with my son.

27:19 I enjoy this relationship that I have with God the son. God the perfect father. God the perfect son. Enjoying this together. And I wonder if he said this, I want for me more sons.

27:37 I want for me more people like this that I can enjoy this fellowship with. And so here as we think about what has transpired, God conceived this plan, conceived this idea in order to bring about more beings that could fellowship with him. And see that's where he says, I want to make sons and daughters. I want to have a family. And he brought about this plan.

28:12 And so we get some of this insight, we get some of this being revealed to us, and so let's let's continue on as we look at verse eight. I'm I'm back in first Corinthians chapter one verse eight. Now notice the plan is being revealed. We speak of God... I'm back in verse seven just for a minute to make the connection.

28:33 We speak of God, the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory. Verse eight, which none of the princes of the world knew, for if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. You see, that was part of his plan before the foundation of the world, was to have you and I... And listen, we're not plan b. Jesus dying on the cross is not plan b.

29:08 It wasn't like that Satan Satan attacked and Eve bit the apple and God said, oh no, what am I gonna do? No. You see you see, God knew that that that sin sin would enter into this world. And here... We gotta catch this.

29:27 The love that we have for all saints, God is a God of love, that He has done all of this because He desired a love relationship. If He wanted just other beings to fall down and worship Him, He would have stuck with making robots. He could have made us. He could have forced us. But the love relationship only happens when you have a choice in the matter, when you have an ability to love back on your own volition.

29:58 And so here here's God. Here's God. He he says, I'm gonna demonstrate my love. And even though while these people have sinned against me and turned their back against me, I'm going to demonstrate my love and I'm going to send my son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and He's going to die on the cross for their sin to make a tent... Atonement for their sin, to make full payment for their sin so that they can be brought into a love relationship with Me.

30:22 I love them. I want to be with them. I want to replicate a relationship that I have with My Son. Therefore, Jesus died on the cross to make this possible. You see, if the people would have known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory.

30:49 That you might have the spirit of wisdom, that you might have the spirit of revelation in the knowledge of him. Verse nine, but as it is written, eye hath not seen, nor hath ear heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love Him. Notice the word love again. Now if we stop right there, we think, okay, well, it's not knowable. We can't figure this out.

31:16 It doesn't stop there. Look at verse 10. Starts out with the word but. So even though man has not seen these things or heard these things or he didn't come up with the concept of his own, Look at look at this. But...

31:31 Verse 10. But God hath revealed them unto us by his spirit. What's Paul praying for right here? That the father may give you the spirit of revelation. So God does reveal to us.

31:46 God can reveal to us. God is willing to reveal to us. God is willing to make more of His plan known. And so here here we read about it. For the man...

31:56 For what man knows of the thing... For what man knoweth the things of a man except the spirit of a man with... Which is in him. This verse is saying, essentially, like, who knows you better than you? You know you the best that anybody could know you.

32:15 Even so, the things of God knoweth no man, but the spirit of God. Now we have we have received not the spirit of the world. Remember we're contesting these two things. We've not received the spirit of the world, but we've received the spirit of God that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Hey, can you know the will of God?

32:39 Yes. Can you know that God loves you? Yes. Can you know that God knew about you before He He created anything and that He loved you? Yes.

32:51 You can know that. Can you know that God designed a plan to redeem mankind and and He He designed a plan that would put people in sonship, in in in relationship with him? Can you know that that that he would make this available to all? Yeah. That we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

33:22 So we go we go on... I wanna just finish this little little little portion here. Which things also we speak not in words, but in but which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teaches comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God. They are foolishness to him, Neither can they be known to him because they are spiritually discerned.

33:49 But he that is spiritual judges all things and he that is... He he himself judgest no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him, but we have the mind of Christ. And I'd like to suggest to you that that Christ's mind is being revealed in the scriptures, and particularly in the book of Ephesians. Yes, we can have this revelation.

34:18 John chapter 14 speaks of being able to the the father revealing himself. And we we would think about it maybe this way. When you when you sit down and you get to know each other, what are you doing? You're finding you're finding things out about each other. Some of you know that I was, last last Saturday was my grandfather's 100 birthday.

34:44 And so we in North Carolina and got to celebrate his 100 birthday with him. And, Sunday afternoon, we were back over at his house visiting. It was just me and my family. And so it was just me and my grandfather and my kids there. And I don't know, one of you must have asked him about how he met my grandmother.

35:05 Is that right? One of you asked that. And so here my grandfather told the story of meeting my grandmother. And I've heard the story before, but I loved hearing it again. But you know what he was doing?

35:18 He was revealing himself to my children. Oh, I loved the fact that they were getting to experience that for themselves. And so how does God reveal Himself to us? In His written Word. And in the prayer time, and as we spend time with him, he is revealing himself to us.

35:41 He's revealing himself to us. He's making known unto us. Our spirit is communing with his spirit, and we're entering in. We're we're benefiting from this this relationship that He's designed. Not only has He designed it, He desires it.

36:15 Then a prayer for revelation. And look, as God reveals things to you, you want your eyes to catch it. You want to be aware of it. We had this... Does anybody remember the old Dick and Jane books?

36:31 Ever read Sea Spot Run? You know what that? And one of the most... One of the biggest words in those books was the word l o o k. Look.

36:45 Think about that. The spirit of Revelation. Look. See. What has God done?

36:54 Pay attention. Let Him get your attention. Him Him your attention. Look. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened, being open, noticing what God has for you and I.

37:09 This is the prayer. Let's go to the next one. That you may know the hope of his calling. That you may know the hope of his calling. What, what he has.

37:25 Well, I would describe the hope of his calling like this. You have to match it back up to the first part of the chapter in verses four and five. We we have the hope of his calling. One hope is as we as we receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our savior, what what is gonna be played out in that is that we would become holy and without blame. What's another part of his calling?

37:52 Verse five, he's predestinated us. He he's he has predetermined that anyone who accepts the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, they will at one day be holy and without blame just like the bride is pictured in Ephesians chapter five. And the second thing is that here's that here's that family relationship. Here's that concept coming to fruition that God wanted a family. He has predestinated us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ unto himself according to His good pleasure of His will.

38:23 And so these things are set in motion. What's the hope of His calling? Well, the hope of His calling is I'm going to be holy and without blame. That means I'm suited for relationship with a Holy God. The second thing is that I'm brought into relationship with God not as a...

38:38 Well, not as a servant, not as a bond servant, not as a slave, not as a hireling. I'm brought in as a son or a daughter. I'm brought into relationship with God. That's the hope of my calling. That I have this new life in Christ.

38:53 Let's go to the next one. And that you might notice or you might know, remember, we're tracking the word know here. That was the... So look at look at the look at the first one. The Father may give you the spirit of wisdom and the knowledge of Him.

39:13 You know. The spirit of of revelation and the knowledge. Know. The eyes of your understanding being in lighting that you might recognize or know something. That you may know the hope of His calling.

39:23 There's the word know again. That you may know the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. I'll just make a real brief comment about this. We we read about the inheritance, the word inheritance in verse 11. But that was a different inheritance.

39:41 It talks about the inheritance you and I have received, in whom we've also obtained an inheritance. We received this inheritance in the family of God. But here, it's not us receiving an inheritance, It's we might know what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints is. You see, God Himself is enjoying you and I. We are the riches of the inheritance.

40:12 He wanted a family. He's got a family. You see? And so He's building His family. He's building His bride.

40:18 He's putting together the body. And so we are inherit... That His inheritance as well. So that's another truth that we enjoy. And then we have this we have this in verse 19.

41:14 If I could if I could reckon them up in number, they could not be counted. And so here we have this concept. It's in Psalm 40. And and I'm not gonna turn there just to... I'm gonna try to streamline this to to bring these couple of concepts home is that He He talks about His His thoughts and His works that are directed toward us.

41:37 You know, God never had a thought that He didn't follow through on. God God loves the Father. God loved the Son. God said, I want for me a family. That was His thinking.

41:53 That was His thinking. He's carrying through on that that thought. Oh, not by coercion, not by forcing. He's making this available to all. He wants a love relationship.

42:04 And so God's wonderful thoughts, God's wonderful works, how great are they? That's a whole study in itself, but God has put it out there. The the next time that it's mentioned is is right here, this this this phrase, what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward usward who believe? The third time that that this concept of something being directed toward us, well, it's it's found it's found in in the book of Peter. I'll just read it to you.

42:38 Listen to these words, the Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us. To usward, the King James says. Not willing that any should perish. God's will is not that any would perish, but that all should come to repentance. And so what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward usward who believe?

43:02 It's it's this it's this concept of being laid out salvation's plan. Oh, and as we read on, we we understand that from from here on out... Go to the... Is there another phrase there? No.

43:20 Okay. Back up. Back up. We understand right here that the prayer request ends, so to speak, but he's he's affirming what God has already done, which he wrought in Christ Jesus or he displayed in Christ Jesus when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in in the heavenly places, far above all principality and and far above all power and might and dominion and every name that is named in the world, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, and has put everything under his feet and gave him the lord Jesus Christ to be head over all things to the church which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. The first financial advisor told the lady, hey, you need to do something.

44:41 I would like to encourage us as believers to be not in the state of doing, but in the state of knowing. And let our doing flow out of our knowing. You see, because if I'm just if I'm just all about doing something, I I I motivate myself with guilt or I feel guilt because I didn't do something. And and and this this concept, I haven't fully... I don't know if I can fully explain this, but it's it's living in a have to attitude or living in a want to attitude.

45:12 I don't want to live in a have to. That's like yuck. That's wearisome. I want to live in a want to. And look, if I understand what Paul is saying and what he's praying, this takes me to the want to.

45:30 This takes me to the want to. I'm looking for God's Spirit of Wisdom. I want it. I want to follow what he's revealing to me. The spirit of revelation.

45:38 This is this is fresh. This is exciting. This is New Testament Christianity. I'm looking. I'm I'm growing and I'm I'm I'm having my eyes open.

45:48 My eyes are first directed towards them, then they're open. He's revealing. This is alive. It's fresh. The hope of His calling.

45:58 I'm being made blameless. I'm being transformed into the image of His Son. This is happening in me. I live in a much different way. I want to follow Christ.

46:10 I want to read my Bible. I want to love the saints. I want to affirm my faith. I want to grow my faith. I want to go to Peter.

46:20 I want to add to my faith. All the things I'm supposed to add to my faith. I want to do this. I'm living in a sense of wanting to follow God that you may know the riches of his glory and the inheritance of his saints, that you may know the exceeding greatness of his power toward us. I don't want to live meager.

46:41 I don't want to live like I'm wondering, am I going to make it with a thousand dollars in my bank account? I want to know what I've got at my disposal. God the father, god the son, god the spirit, loving me, working in me, transforming me. May we know what we have in Christ. Our Heavenly Father, we give thanks for these truths that are found here in this book of Ephesians.

47:12 We ask this in Jesus Christ's name. Amen.