Our Riches in Christ

me all this morning to Calvary Chapel and those of you who are joining us online would you stand with us would you join me in prayer Father we thank you for this opportunity this morning to come and gather together corporately as a body of believers to worship you in song and to study your word Lord Father we come just as we are we lift our hearts to you Lord may we just be real before you sing by faith as unto you because you're worthy of our worship Lord and we give you praise and thanks the Lord of all Father thank you for what you did on the cross for us and oh when that work of the cross was done Lord and that veil was torn and so by the Holy Spirit that you sent Lord Jesus so that we wouldn't be little orphans running around

but you would lead us and guide us and convince us of sin righteousness and judgment and Father we have access to you now through the work of the cross thank you we're in you Jesus thank you Father God for sending your Son and for sending the Holy Spirit oh thank you Lord for your grace your mercy Lord all that we are and can be as we look to you Lord and trust you to give us the strength to do this for you Lord and I thank you that we're not alone in all that we face pressing into you thank you Lord Jesus thank you thank you Lord thank you and Lord then I'm reminded of casting our mind to Calvary and what you did for us Lord thank you Jesus cast my mind and died for me I see his hands his feet my Savior mercy his body bowed and died in Joseph's tomb

entrance in yes here we go now oh praise the on the third yes shall be then I would you all stand as we sing this last song Father we give you praise Lord and so Lord as you did all that for us and you're coming back with your heart there's a peace in all that Lord there's a peace I've called Jesus there's a day that's strong through death Lord the rapture there'll be a transformation and we thank you Lord Jesus but meanwhile as long as we're here on the top side of the earth may we look to you and trust you and serve you as you give us strength give us a hunger for your word and a desire for the things of you Lord in this world in which we're living and we'd ask you to give us strength and we'd ask that you would anoint Pastor Ryan

with the power of your Holy Spirit as he teaches your work your word we also ask for your blessing and anoint those teachers there at the other end of the hall with those youngsters they teach them in Jesus name Amen Lord bless you all let's have some fellowship if you could begin the process of locating your seats grab a bulletin we'll get ready to go over a few announcements here really decipher that for a second um hey welcome to Calvary Chapel I'm glad that you're here this morning a few things to take note of in your bulletin over on the left hand side of your bulletin are different studies to get involved in during the week so I would encourage you to look down through those and see where you think you might fit in

so that you can get plugged in over in the middle section of your bulletin one thing that is not in there is that there's a men's breakfast coming up this Saturday this coming Saturday at 8 o'clock down at the other end of the hallway so fellas jot that down so that you remember to come join us for the next one for some food and fellowship and then the other thing that is in the middle section of your bulletin that is there is that Vacation Bible School is coming up at the end of July and Erin look at me are you proud of me right now? Erin is going to come up and make an announcement she wanted me to remember and sometimes I don't remember things and so another opportunity this year to serve our neighborhood and serve our community with VBS

and so I'm really excited about that we served almost 100 kids last year so that being said we're going to need some help VBS is the 26th through the 28th 6 to 830 our theme is Pets Unleashed specifically Jesus Cares for You and there's a few ways that you can help number one we've got a work day coming up June 25th which is two Sundays from now I believe you'll just stay on the website and we'll see you there and we'll see you there we've got a free lunch today after church if you're interested we're going to provide lunch and Lauren has all kinds of jobs ready to go but we would like you to sign up if you're going to come so we know what all to prepare and how much lunch to order so there'll be a sign up sheet after church if you're interested

there's a cookie sign up if you'd like to bake cookies those will be for our workers this year so there'll be a sign up for that there's a donation list that'll be out there it's small right now but it's going to be a great thing but I'm sure it'll grow as the needs change but if there's a if you have bird cages or pet carriers some things like that we'll need those and then the last thing is if you want to help with VBS you want to get in there with the kids we've got lots of opportunities for that we do want you to be a believer and have come to church for about six months before you sign up for that and of course love kids but if that's you you can help at one of the stations or be a crew leader and then we'll see you there

and there's sign ups out in the hall for that too so I think that covers it registration we're rolling out in the next couple weeks so if you've got kiddos that you want to come just hang tight we'll get that up and running here in the next couple weeks so I think that's it awesome okay those are the things that are going on for our responsive reading this morning we are going to be in Psalm 101 for our responsive reading we're looking at the New American Standard if you don't have a copy of the New American Standard with you there should be one in a row around you and so as you are turning to Psalm 101 if you would stand in the honor of the reading of God's word yeah no don't take that one that's the reverbed one you'll echo everywhere Psalm 101

I will read the odd verses if you will follow along with Lewis and the evens Psalm 101 a Psalm of David I will sing of loving kindness and justice to you O Lord I will sing praises I will give heed to the blameless way when will you come to me I will walk within my house in the integrity of my heart I will set no worthless thing before my eyes I hate the work of those who fall away it shall not fasten its grip on me a perverse heart shall depart from me I will know no evil whoever secretly slanders his neighbor him I will destroy no one who has a haughty look and an arrogant heart will endure my eyes shall be upon the faithful of the Lord the land that they dwell with me he who walks in a blameless way is the one who ministers me

he who practices deceit shall not dwell within my house he who speaks falsehood shall not maintain his position before me every morning I will destroy all the wicked of the land so as to cut off from the city of the Lord all those who do iniquity and Father we come to you and we praise you for who you are that you are the God of loving kindness but Lord also the God of justice and so Lord I thank you for the sacrifice that you made for us on the cross to allow us to stand in your presence and as we spend time in your word this morning looking at the riches that we have in you looking at our position in Christ may we understand more deeply exactly what you've done for us and have confidence in who we are in you

and we just thank you Father in Jesus name Amen you may be seated if you would open up in your Bibles to the book of Ephesians chapter 1 Ephesians chapter 1 before we get into the study this morning I want to share with you for just a minute so a handful of you have made comment on the t-shirt I'm wearing this morning and no I didn't change my name to Blake somebody asked me that nope my name is going to be the same however there is a player for the Dodgers and his name is Blake Traynon which is the t-shirt I'm wearing this morning and he made a very strong stand for faith I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to say that to you all of you are aware what the Los Angeles Dodgers did but this is pride month and so what they did

is they invited the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence to come and perform for pride night for the Los Angeles Dodgers and if you don't know what the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence is praise God they are a they are a blasphemous trans group that don't look up any of their videos I watched one on social media and I'm not pleased that I watched it so don't look up what they do but it's pretty easy to find them but one of the players this guy made a stand and so I want to read to you the letter that he wrote to the Dodgers this guy Blake is a relief pitcher for them and this is the letter that he wrote he said I'm disappointed to see the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence being honored as heroes at Dodger Stadium many of their performances are blasphemous

and their work only displays hate and mockery for Catholics and the Christian faith I understand that playing baseball is a privilege and it's not a right my conviction is in Jesus Christ and it will always come first since I've been with the Dodgers they have been at the forefront of supporting a wide variety of groups however inviting the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence to perform disenfranchises a large community and promotes hate of Christians and people of all faith this single event alienates the fans and the supporters of the Dodgers Major League Baseball and professional sports people like baseballers and footballers and footballers and footballers baseball for its entertainment value and competition the fans don't want propaganda

or politics forced on them the debacle with Bud Light and Target should have been a warning for companies and professional sports to stay true to their brand and leave the propaganda and politics off the field I believe Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins I believe the word of God is true and in Galatians chapter 6 verse 7 it says do not be deceived God cannot be mocked whatever a man sows that he reaps this group openly mocks Jesus Christ the cornerstone of my faith and I want to make it clear that I do not agree with nor support the decision of the Dodgers to honor the sisters of perpetual indulgence as for me and my house we will serve the Lord and I found out a bit this by the way this guy's from Kansas he's from Osage City, Kansas

the Melvern area and so when I found out about it I said man if that guy's going to make a stand like that in professional sports then you better dog on me dog on believe I'm going to stand with him and so I told my wife I said I'm going to buy one of his jerseys and so I looked up one of his jerseys it was $125 I said I'm going to buy one of his t-shirts so I bought one of his t-shirts and so but guys pray for guys like this because he has faced a great deal of heat I read two incredibly negative articles about him you know the most negative thing that they've said about him in the letter that he wrote it's really poorly written grammatically and this guy's an idiot because the grammar in his letter is so bad and that's the big thing

that they can find to accuse him of because he's standing strong but he's not the only one I know Clayton Kershaw is another one that made a strong stand for this there was a guy and I can't think of his name right now but he played for the Washington Nationals that made a strong stand for this and so we need to be praying for these kinds of men because if you think you face peer pressure when it comes to this imagine the media of the world coming down on you for the stand that you've made for Jesus Christ and for the sanctity of marriage and the sanctity of the sexuality that God has given to us so I just want to take a moment and I want to pray for Blake and any of the other professional athletes or people in the public spotlight

that are taking a strong stand for faith so Father we come before you now Lord and I just thank you that there are men in the world that there are men in the world who are taking a stand for faith that there are men in the world who are willing to stand up even when it's incredibly unpopular and may cost them their career men who are willing to show us what it looks like to stand up for what's right and Lord I just want to pray for your protection Lord I want to pray for your protection against crazy fans who might want to come against them Lord I want to pray for your protection against teammates that may disrespect them Lord I want to pray for your protection against the attacks of the enemy that will come

and Lord I want to pray for your protection against the flesh for these men that are taking strong stands for you so that they will not compromise their witness in any way Lord I thank you that you have provided men like this and Lord may we stand with them alongside them as they take a stand for what's right in Jesus name Amen Alright Ephesians chapter 1 As we move into the book of Ephesians we said that really the main theme of Ephesians is our riches in particular in Christ and so Ephesians is going to break down two different ways we got started into this book last week we talked about the introduction the people of Ephesus if you did not hear the beginning if you didn't hear the introduction to Ephesians you should go check it out

by the way if you ever want to check out any of our studies you can go to our website calvarychapelarccity.org and click on the message tab so keep forgetting to make this announcement we have an app as well now so you can go to the app store and search Calvary Chapel of Arc City and you can download the app and all the messages are on there as well you can go back and check that out so the book of Ephesians breaks down two different ways the first half the first three chapters are our riches in Christ the second half are how we live based upon who we are in Christ based upon those riches in Christ and so this morning what we come to is verses 3 through 14 of chapter 1 in the title that I've given to it is simply our riches in Christ

so what I want to do is start in chapter 1 verse 3 and I'm going to read all the way through verse 14 it says this 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 just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we would be holy and blameless before him in love he predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself according to the kind intention of his will to the praise of the glory of his grace which he freely bestowed on us in the beloved in him we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace which he lavished on us in all wisdom and insight

he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his kind intention which he purposed in him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times that is the summing up of all things in Christ things in the heavens and things on the earth in him also we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to his purpose who works all things after the counsel of his will to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of his glory in him 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 is given as a pledge of our inheritance with a view to the redemption of God's own possession

to the praise of his glory now I read that as one long sentence because in the Greek structure verses 3 through 14 are one long sentence Paul had never heard of a run-on at this point in time in life right he too would be criticized for his use of grammar because he didn't understand what a run-on was and so he gives us this whole sentence but I want you to think about something just as a quick sidebar remember Paul dictated most of his letters right so someone is writing as he is talking I want you to imagine what it must have been like to be the guy dictating this and the typical introduction grace and peace to you period and then he goes into it he starts writing he keeps writing he keeps writing he keeps writing he keeps writing period right

like that would have been he had a writer's cramp by the time he was done but it's one long thought because there's one thing that Paul wants to convey to the Ephesian people and that's the riches that they have in Christ and so as we look at this today there's two things that we're going to see the first thing that we're going to see is the source the second thing that we're going to see is the riches let's first look at the source in verse 3 it says 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 the first word he uses there is is blessed now there's two different words for blessed in the Greek language the first word for blessed

means spiritually prosperous or happy is this individual that is blessed that's the word that's used in the Beatitudes remember when he says blessed are the poor in spirit but there's a second Greek word that's used in the Beatitudes but there's a second Greek word that's used in the Beatitudes that's used for blessed and that Greek word means to speak good of or to speak well of that's the word for blessed that's used here and so I want to read it to you in the way that it would have been spoken what he would have said is worthy of praise is our God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ because when he thinks about all of the riches and the source from which those riches come from all he can do is simply praise God for the amazing riches

that we have in Christ so blessed or worthy of praise is this one and where do those riches come from from God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ these riches that we have come directly to us from God now I brought this up as an example earlier I don't think Warren Buffett left any of his money to his kids apparently if he even had kids I don't know if he had kids but I think one of the richest men in the world right now is Warren Buffett Elon Musk may have passed him I really don't know I don't pay that close of attention but I do know that he's worth billions of dollars if you don't know who Warren Buffett is he owns Berkshire Hathaway he also owns most of he's the majority shareholder of Burlington Northern Santa Fe

he owns Nebraska Furniture Mart to which most of us just went okay now I know who that guy is he's one of the richest men in the world now can you imagine being one of his kids if he left all of his money to you you would go blessed be my father who has blessed me with all of these amazing material things right because the blessings come to you because of your relationship to your father well that's the idea that's given to us here blessed be the source blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ why? because he is the source of every spiritual blessing and all of the blessings that he's going to list to us are ours because of our relationship to him he says blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ he then goes on to say

who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing now the second time that the word blessed is used it's the same Greek word but it's used in a slightly different way the first time we said it means to speak good of this time it means to do good to it means to do good to someone to do good to another to bless someone with good things something for instance if I told you hey at the end of service when you guys come by and shake my hand I'm going to give everybody a hundred dollar bill I would be blessing you right like you would feel blessed and I would bless you now I'm not going to do that no matter how long Lloyd stands there and holds his hand out I'm not going to give anybody a hundred dollar bill when they walk out the door right

but that's the idea that's being given to us here blessed because of what Jesus has done for us he says he has done good to us and what has he given to us? he has given us every spiritual blessing I want to point out two things about the fact that the blessings that he gives to us are spiritual blessings the first is a little bit indirect in the context but I think it's a point that begs to be made they are spiritual blessings in direct opposition to material blessings our world is so focused on material things our world is so focused on the things that are tangible things that we can hold and the blessings that we have through Christ Jesus are not blessings that we can spend it's not something we can drive it's not something that we live in

it's not something that we can eat it's not something that we can taste, touch, and smell and yet they are more real than all of those things because they are very spiritual blessings but the second thing that I'll point out to you about the fact that the word spiritual is used there is the fact that they come from the Holy Spirit as their source now I want you to think about something that has to do with this verse because in this verse we see the Trinity we see that the blessings that we have these spiritual riches come from God the Father they are given to us through the Holy Spirit and they are because we are in Christ kind of an interesting picture of the Trinity that's given to us right here in this verse, is it not?

and so these are spiritual blessings that have been given to us but I want you to take note of the next thing that it says it says blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places now I want to give you a little bit of a again a little Bible study lesson you may note that the word places is in italics that's because in the Greek the word places isn't there and so what he really says is he has blessed you with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies now again I think that that means two things number one it means since they are spiritual blessings that are given to us in the heavenlies they come directly from the throne room of God

right if we were to get a package in the mail that was this spiritual blessing it would say to Ryan from the throne room of God because that's exactly where they came from but you know it means something else since they're given to us in the heavenlies we begin to understand what they're like on this earth but they carry with us into all of eternity in the heavenlies the last thing that he tells us is that these blessings are given to us in the heavenlies these blessings are given to us in Christ now you may remember this is now the second time in this chapter that we've seen that phrase in Christ and if you're an underliner or you like to mark in your Bible I would encourage you as we go through these 11 verses that every time in Christ or in him

or in the beloved shows up that you either underline it or circle it or highlight it because that is the theme of where all of these things come from these things come to us because we are in Christ me being in Christ is what makes me fit to receive all of these blessings me being in Christ is what allows me to receive all of these blessings because we have to understand something if you're here this morning and you're not in Christ none of this applies to you and I hate to say that I don't want to say that I wish everybody in here belonged to Jesus but you see there's only two positions you can be in in this world you are either in Christ and you have all of the spiritual blessings that are given to us or you are in sin you are in sin you are in sin

you are in sin And you receive not only none of the spiritual blessings, but you are simply awaiting the wrath of God. So I don't know where everybody in this room sits this morning as far as your position in Christ. I don't know where everybody online sits this morning as far as your position is in Christ, but you're in one of those two positions. There's no happy medium ground where you could just kind of be a good person.

You're either in Christ or you're in sin. And this morning, if you're in sin, then it's the time for you to become in Christ. And the only way that you do that is by confessing your sin and accepting Him. And the moment that you do, you are placed in Christ and then all of these things are true of you as well. And so all of these benefits, all of these blessings come to us because we are in Christ.

And now starting in verse four, he gives us a list of the riches that we have in Christ. I've come up with seven of them. Depending on who you read, they break them out just a little bit different, but there's seven of them all together that I've come up with. And so I would like to go through these one by one and just talk about what each of them mean for us.

Number one, you are chosen. You are chosen. Notice what it says in verse four. Just as He chose us in Him. There's that again. You might circle it, underline it, or highlight it. Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we would be holy and blameless before Him in love. The word chosen means selected out for the world. For the world.

For the world. For the world. For the world. For Himself. And if you're here this morning, and you're a believer in Jesus Christ, you've come to Him. I need you to understand something. He chose you. Now a lot of people get scared of the fact that God chooses. And they get scared of it for a couple of reasons. Number one, they get scared of it because they think to themselves,

what if I'm not chosen? Well, let me tell you how you can identify whether or not you're chosen. Come to Jesus. Because you know what we're told? You know what Jesus said? All who come to me, I will in no wise cast out. That means if you come to Jesus, you're chosen. And so prove that you've been chosen by coming to Jesus. That's how you know for sure. But there's a second reason

why people get nervous about this word chosen. It's because they hear the word chosen, they say, well, if God chooses people for salvation, does that mean God chooses people to not be saved? I don't see that in scripture. But you know, one of the things that I don't fully understand about God is how He chooses. See, I agree with C.H. Spurgeon on this. I have no problem with the fact that God chooses.

I get a little concerned that He chose me because it doesn't make much sense to me. I would have chosen somebody much better than me, right? But God chooses us. Now, the third reason why people get a little bit upset about this is because they say, so does that mean I don't have any choice in the matter? If God chose me, does that mean I don't have any choice?

Well, absolutely not. Because throughout scripture, we're also told that man has free will. As a matter of fact, Jesus said, all who are thirsty, let him come to me and I will give him living water. As a matter of fact, out of his inmost being will flow rivers of living water. He also went on to say, all who are weary can come to me and I will give you rest.

So anybody can come to Jesus and you're still held accountable for your choices. So yes, you have free will, but also God is sovereign and chooses. You say, Ryan, that doesn't make sense to me. Trust me, it doesn't make sense to anybody, but it does make sense to God. Because here's what we have to understand. The secret things belong to God. The revealed things belong to me.

And God didn't ask me to understand it. He just asked me to believe it. I also don't fully understand how my lungs work, but I'm sure glad they do. And I believe in them. And so I keep breathing, right? Like there's a lot of things in life we don't understand, but we continue to do it, right? So he says, you are chosen and you were chosen before the foundations of the world.

Brothers and sisters, rather than being scared of the fact that God chose you, can I tell you something? You should be excited that God chose you. You see, one of the things that we struggle with the most in our world is we struggle with insecurity. People don't always know if they're good enough. People don't always feel like they're smart enough, they're strong enough, they can do enough.

And they think, I'm not sure that God would choose me because I don't know if I'm worthy of him choosing me. I want you to know something. God chose you before the foundation of the world. He didn't have to see the trailer. He didn't have to read the previews. He knew you were coming and he chose you. And that should make you feel more loved than you can ever imagine.

He chose you before the foundation of the world, but notice what he chose you for. He chose you to be holy and blameless before him in love. The word holy means consecrated or set apart. We talked about that last week, right? That's who you are. It's not what you're trying to be. It's who you are because he chose you. You are holy. Not only are you holy, but you're also blameless.

The word blameless means without spot or blemish. It means there's no spots on you. Listen, one of the things that's happening to me as I get a little bit older is I look at myself in the mirror and I'm like, son of a gun. There's some blemishes up in there, right? I get up first thing in the, I actually bought this stuff. Listen, don't judge me, okay? I bought some anti-aging cream for my face the other day.

Because when I get out of bed in the morning, I'm like, why do I have three eyelids? Like, what is going on here? Where these extras come from down here? What's that business all about that's going on right there? And I look at me and I see blemishes. When Jesus looks at me, he doesn't see any. He doesn't see any physical blemishes, but you know what else he doesn't see?

He doesn't see any spiritual blemishes because we are before him, holy and without blame. Now, I love the way, I can't remember if it's the Amplified or the Weast puts this, but I love it because it says, you were chosen in him to be holy and blameless before his penetrating gaze. Isn't that great? It means that God who has the ability to see past all the inside and see exactly what's on the inside, he looks at you and still says, you're holy and you're blameless before his penetrating gaze in love.

You're chosen. Number two, you've been adopted. You've been adopted. Notice what it says. Verse five, he predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the kind intention of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely bestowed on us in the beloved. There's that phrase again, in the beloved. We have been adopted,

but this adoption starts off with the word. He says, you have been, you have been predestined. Uh-oh, that's another one of those scary words, isn't it? Listen, don't let the word predestined scare you. The word predestined simply means marked out beforehand. In other words, when God chose you, he already decided what he wanted to do with you. When God chose you,

he knew exactly what he was gonna do. And what he was gonna do is he was going to adopt you as his own son. Now, adoption is such a beautiful thing. As a matter of fact, I think there is no clearer picture of the gospel than adoption. And I love the place that we have here in town, Family Life. Services that does that exact work for people. But you know, even in the adoption

that we see in our culture, it doesn't always carry with it the weight that adoption carried with it in the Greek culture of that time. Because in the Greek culture of that time, if you were a slave and you wanted to be adopted into a family, it would be because that family chose to adopt you as a slave and bring you into their family. And it meant something. Number one, it meant that any identity you had beforehand, a slave, is now nullified.

You are no longer viewed as a slave that's been adopted into a family. You are just adopted into the family because your previous identity has been completely made null and void. But do you know what else is made null and void? Any debt that you owed before you were adopted. Anything of your past life is completely nullified. And then you are placed as an adult son within the family.

Now again, that means something because when you're placed as an adult son in the family, it means that you have all the rights of an adult son. Until you came of age, you were under a tutor. You were under a slave who made all of your decisions for you and wouldn't let you have any of your money until you were old enough to handle it. But once you came to full age and you were adopted as a son, you received all the rights and privileges of a son.

Meaning that everything that belonged to your father also belonged to you. All of the blessings of being the son of your father now belong to you. What were you predestined to be? You were predestined to be adopted as adult sons into the family of God with all the rights and privileges. I always love the idea of the rights and privileges of a child within a family

because I always like to talk about the family. I like the fact that my daughters don't worry about what my schedule looks like. They just come talk to me. My daughters don't worry about making an appointment with me. They interrupt me all the time. My daughters have no problem asking me for things because they just come and ask me because I'm their dad, right?

I'm a sneakerhead and both of my daughters are sneakerheads. And so if they want sneakers, you know who they talk to? Me. You know why? Because they know they can talk me into it because I'm weak and because I'm their father, right? And that's the reason that's the rights and privileges that they have as my daughters. That's the rights and privileges that we have as God's kids

is that we don't have to make an appointment. He's always available and everything that belongs to him belongs to us. Not only that, but it says that it was according to the kind intention of his will. Let me put that in Ryan's translation. He meant to do it. You ever done something nice for somebody on accident? You ever just, like you're going about your life,

like, okay, let me give you an example. The other day, there was a grocery shopping car that was going by. There was a grocery shopping cart that was about to run into my truck or run into my car. And so I stopped it before it hit my car and I took it and I put it away. Now, I didn't do it because I wanted to be nice to the Walmart worker, although it was a wonderful

fringe benefit, but the Walmart worker goes, thank you. I have so many carts to you. And I was like, ah, hey, yeah, you're, you're welcome. I was protecting my car, right? But ultimately, I ended up doing something nice for them, right? That's not what Jesus did with us. Jesus wasn't like, look what I've done. Son of a gun, that was nice for them, too, wasn't it?

No, he did it on purpose. He knew exactly what he was doing because it was according to the kind intention of his will. Because when he died on the cross, he was thinking about you because he chose you before the foundation of the world and predestined you to be adopted as one of his sons. And it was according to his grace. In other words, it came about because of his unmerited favor,

which he freely bestowed on us, which he lavished on us. Number three, we have received redemption. Notice what it says in verse seven. In him, we have redemption through his blood. The word redemption or to redeem means to release through the payment of a ransom. It could also be translated deliverance. That's what we've received in Christ. He paid a ransom

for our deliverance. He paid a ransom so that we could be released. You see, you and I were in two very different positions, but they ultimately landed us in the same spot. Number one, we were slaves to sin. Number two, we had been taken captive by sin. And perhaps you could do those in the opposite direction. We had been taken captive by sin. Therefore, we were slaves to sin.

And the only way that we could be set free is if we were purchased off of the slave market, is if we were purchased out from that slave market. And so that's what Jesus did for us. Only, how did Jesus do that for us? Jesus did that for us through the substitutionary work of his blood. Basically, what he says is, I know that they're a slave. Take me instead.

I know that they owe a debt. Take it from me instead. So what did he do? Well, he knew there was only one way that you and I could be set free. There was only one way that you and I could be ransomed. Because apart from the shedding of blood, there is only one way there is no forgiveness of sin. That's why all the way back in the Old Testament, from the very beginning,

the one thing that they were always to make sure that they held in high regard was the blood. Because the blood was the one thing that would set them free. The one thing that would pay the ransom for sin. In him, we have redemption through his blood. Number four comes to us in the same verse, and that's forgiveness of sins. In the New American Standard, it translates,

it trespasses, but I'm going to stick with the word that's in the New and the Old King James, and that's sin. And I find that in my list, this happens to land right in the middle. And I think that that's interesting because right in the heart of every issue that man faces is sin. I would guarantee that if you took a survey of people and said, what is the biggest problem in our world right now?

They would give you a handful of answers. Some of them may bring up world hunger. Some of them may bring up violence. Some of them may bring up wars. Some of them may bring up the fact that some people don't feel accepted. Some people may bring up depression or substance abuse. I would tell you all of those things are true, but you know what lies at the heart of all of them?

Sin. Sin is the central issue that humanity deals with. That's why when Jesus came, he didn't come just as a teacher because if we needed a teacher, then he could teach us the right things to do and we would be able to do them. He didn't just come as a good man. He didn't just come as someone who gave us an example because if we could be good enough, then he wouldn't have had

to go to the cross. If all we had to do is follow his example, he wouldn't have had to go to the cross, but he didn't come just as those things. He came as a savior for sin because sin, brothers and sisters, is the one thing that will separate you from all of these riches. So number four is forgiveness of sins. The word forgiveness means complete pardoning.

Liberty, putting away sin.

Complete pardon. I don't know why, but this second service, that stuck out to me more than I did first service. I don't know who needs to hear this, but somebody needs to know that you're guilty and according to the blood of Jesus Christ, you've been pardoned. I picture somebody who's on death row. Somebody who's on death row because they committed a crime.

Because of the, the sins that they committed. And as they get ready to step up to pay the full penalty for their sin, another steps in their place. It says, I know he's guilty. I know these are all true of him, but I want to bear the death penalty for him. And they say, if you're willing to bear his penalty, then we will pardon him from his iniquity. A full pardon,

it's granted to us. And how is this full pardon granted to us? Well, it's granted to us according to the riches of his grace. There's that word again, grace, unmerited favor. According to the wealth of his grace, he is granted to us forgiveness. And that grace came about through the blood of Jesus. And I want you to take note of what it says next about this wealth of grace.

Notice what it says in verse eight, which he lavished. On us. Which he lavished on us in all wisdom and insight. I love that picture of what God does with his grace that he lavishes it on us, right? Picture, if you will, a kid who's never had anything before and their rich uncle finally comes and adopts them. As their rich uncle finally comes and adopts them,

they give them everything that they want. You want more food? Eat more food. You need new clothes? I'll buy you new clothes. You want a new car? I'll buy you a new car. And they lavish gifts on them. That's the picture that's given to us here of what Jesus does. What Jesus does with his grace is he lavishes it on us. The Amplified Bible translates it like this.

According to his grace, which he has made to super abound towards us. And then the last thing he says is this, with all wisdom and insight. What does that mean? Well, God, according to his wisdom, knew the only way that he could save us could never be by our own good works. It had to be by his unmerited favor. So brothers and sisters, you've been chosen. You've been adopted.

You've been redeemed and you've been forgiven. And number five, you've been granted the knowledge of his will. The knowledge of his will. Look at verse nine. It says he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his kind intention, which he purposed in him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of time. That is the summing up of all things,

things in the heaven and things on earth in him. Now, don't worry. We're going to unpack that because that was a mouthful. Amen. So let's unpack this. He says he made known to us the mystery of his will. Well, the word mystery in scripture is not trying to figure out who did it. The word mystery means something that was previously concealed, but now is revealed.

Some mysteries are Old Testament truths that were concealed, but in the New Testament, they're revealed. This mystery is a mystery that is concealed to unbelievers, but revealed to those who are in Christ. And what is the mystery? Well, he tells us that with a view to an administration to the fullness of times, that is the summing up of all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth.

You understand now, right? Now, I need you to know something. I don't understand this either. Well, I do now, but only because I did some studying. Now, I want to, I want to give you a little Bible study lesson here, okay? So sometimes when you're reading scripture, especially in like the New American Standard or the New King James or praise Jesus if you like the Old King James,

you read things and you're like, huh, I have no idea what that says. Anybody, right? Quick show of hands who all has done that before. Yep, good number of you and those with your hands not up, you're lying. So, Jesus can forgive, right? Repent. So here's what I like to do. When I read a section of scripture that I don't understand, I start reading in other Bible translations

because sometimes in other translations, they'll put it in a way that makes a little bit more sense. For instance, the New American Standard and the New King James are what are called word for word translations. They literally take every word and translate it. So they, and then they do the best that they can to put it together in a sentence. But sometimes when you read it,

you're like, that doesn't fully make sense. So that's when you need to break out another translation called a thought for thought translation. The New International Version, the New Living Translation. Those are both thought for thought sort of translations. They carry the sentence structure, but it doesn't do word for word. So it puts it more in a language

that you could understand. Well, I read this in the New Living Translation. And I want you to, I want to tell you what it says in the New Living Translation. It says, when the time was right. Now that makes sense. Here it says, with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of times. At just the right time. At just the right time. Okay. So let's read this

for what it would say in the New Living Translation. At just the right time, there will be a summing up of all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth. Ah, now it's starting to make a little bit more sense. Amen. Make a little more sense to you guys that at just the right time, he's going to sum all things up. And it's a mystery that was hidden,

but is now revealed to us as believers. So what does this mean? Go with me one place in scripture real quick. Go to the book of Revelation. Ryan, I want to understand why are we going to Revelation? Go to Revelation 21. And I want you to start in verse one.

Revelation 21, verse one. It says this. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth passed away. There's no longer any sea. I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne of God. And I heard a loud voice from the throne of God.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne of God. And I heard a loud voice from the throne of God. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is among men and he will dwell among them and they shall be his people and God himself will be among them and he will wipe every tear from their eye. And there will no longer be any death.

There will no longer be any mourning or crying or pain. The first things have passed away. He who sits on the throne said, behold, I'm making all things new. He said, write for these words are faithful and true. They are faithful and true. And then he said to me, it is done. I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring

of water of life without cost. What is the knowledge of his will that he has now made known to us? Well, at just the right time, he will bring all things together and he will restore them to their original intended glory. State brothers and sisters. That means God has a plan for us that I has not seen ear has not heard, nor has even come into the heart of man

that he has prepared for us in eternity. And it's the most amazing thought in the world. You see so many things that we see in this world, the pain that we see, the death, the mourning, the, the, the struggles, the addictions, those God didn't intend for all those things. All that stuff came in because of sin. All of that stuff came in because of sin entering the world.

And God has made known to us the mystery of his will. And the mystery of his will is that there's going to come a day where he'll do away with all of this old earth and he'll do away with all of this old heaven and he'll do away with all of the sinful things and he will give us a brand new earth and a brand new Jerusalem and a brand new heavens and we will live with him for ever. And everything will be as God originally intended for it to be. That is the mystery of the knowledge of his will.

The unbelievers don't get it. The people living in the world don't get it. They don't understand that we have an eternity that we're looking forward to. They're like, why do you live your life the way that you do because this place is not my home? Why do you live your life the way that you do because I'm looking forward to something beyond this place? How do you know?

Because he's made known to me the mystery of his will. Number six, go back to Ephesians. We've been given an inheritance. Notice what it says in verse 11. Also, we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to his purpose who works all things after the counsel of his will to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of his glory.

What is our inheritance? Well, I shared with first service that my parents have made very clear to me that we are not waiting for anyone to die that is a millionaire that will leave us some amazing inheritance. They've assured me that that is not going to take place. And so I don't have one of those kind of inheritances to look forward to. But in Christ, I have an even better inheritance than that.

Now, usually when we think of heaven, when we think of the inheritance that we have, we think of all of the amazing things that are going to be there, right? Like I was telling the service the other night when we were in Revelation chapter 21 because it talks about the fact that the streets are made of gold. Have you ever noticed that that's what everybody talks about when it comes to heaven? Everybody says that the streets are made of gold.

And that's the one thing that we always talk about. I can't wait to get to heaven because the streets are made of gold. You know why? Because the inheritance that we see in heaven oftentimes is based upon our desire for material things on earth. I want to tell you the inheritance that we have obtained has nothing to do with how awesome heaven is going to be.

As a matter of fact, the destiny that we have claimed by God as his own is none other than him. He is. He is our inheritance. I want you to think about what it says in Revelation chapter 21 verse 3. In Revelation chapter 21 verse 3, it says, God has come to dwell among men. Matter of fact, it said it three times within that one verse. You know why? Because God with us

is what we've always been looking forward to. It's what God always had intended for his people. Go all the way back and think about what God had done with humanity to show us that his desire, his plan, the greatest thing for us is for him to dwell with us. Well, in the book of Genesis, before Adam and Eve sinned, what did God do every day with Adam and Eve?

He came and walked with him in the garden, right? We're told that that's what he did every day with them. Well, then you come along down the way and that's the children of Israel after sin and God calls the children of Israel apart and he gives them the law. The first thing he tells them to build is a tabernacle. Why? Because the tabernacle was the visible representation

of God among the people. As a matter of fact, the tabernacle dwelt in the midst of the camp of the nation of Israel because God would dwell among them. Well, then you go into the nation of Israel and when they were in the nation of Israel, God said, you're going to build a tabernacle for me in the city that I choose to you where I put my name so that I will always be among you. Well, then when the promise of Jesus was made to Joseph, when Joseph was like, dude, I don't know if I'm going to marry a girl that's already knocked up and the angel says, it's okay, it's the Holy Spirit because this is Jesus and you're going to call him Emmanuel.

Do you remember what Emmanuel means? God with us. And then, he lived among the nation of Israel for three years and when he got ready to leave because he was resurrected and he was getting ready to ascend, do you remember what he said? He said, I won't leave you orphans, I'll leave you the Holy Spirit. He will be with you because he will dwell in you. And Paul then told us

that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, not only each of us as believers, but all of us as the church because where two or three are gathered together, he's right there in our midst. It's what God has always wanted us to think about, that his plan is to dwell among us. And so what's the inheritance? That in eternity, he will dwell physically among us. See, the problem with Jesus living with me right now,

I don't see him. I can talk to him. I believe by faith that he's here. I believe by faith that he's here with me right now through the presence of the Holy Spirit. We'll talk about that in just a minute. But what I ultimately am looking forward to is the day that he dwells among me when every day I get to give Jesus a holy high five, right? Or every day I get to give Jesus a sweet bro hug, right?

And we, right? And that's going to be amazing because that's my inheritance. But do you know there's another thing about the inheritance? He sees you as his inheritance. Notice what it says. To the end, verse 12, that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of his glory. As a matter of fact, in the next section in chapter one, he's going to pray that we would understand

his inheritance in us. You've obtained an inheritance. Then number seven, let's wrap this thing up. You are sealed with the spirit. You are sealed with the spirit. It says in him, verse 13, 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 is given as a pledge of our inheritance

with a view to the redemption of God's own possession to the praise of his glory. You were sealed with the Holy Spirit. You see the day that you came to know Jesus is your Lord. You were sealed with the Holy Spirit. You were sealed with the Holy Spirit. You were sealed with the Holy Spirit. You were sealed with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit came and dwelt inside of you

and it became a seal. Rain, what does that mean to me? Well, let's understand a little bit about Ephesian culture at that point in time. Ephesus was a seaport city and lots of very rich Roman merchants would purchase goods in Ephesus, put them in a crate, put them on a boat and send them back to Rome to prove that they belong to them. They would put a little ball of wax on there

and smash it down. And then they would take their signet ring and they would push on it and it would be sealed so that when that crate shows up, in Rome, everybody knows, well, this one belongs to this person because it's been sealed. We know who it belongs to. That same seal is given to you through the Holy Spirit so that everybody knows you belong to Jesus.

So that when the enemy comes against you with accusations, you can say, but I've been sealed with the Spirit. So that when the father hears the accusations from the enemy, he can look and say, but he's been sealed. He's been sealed with the Spirit. And that seal is not only proof of ownership, but it's also our down payment because notice what it says. Having also believed, verse 13,

you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise who is given as a pledge of our inheritance to the view of the redemption of God's own possession. That pledge is the first installment. In our world, we call it a down payment. In other words, Jesus gave us the down payment of the Holy Spirit that proved to us that he would finish the redemption, that he would guarantee the full payment because we are awaiting the redemption of the purchased possession.

You say, wait, Ryan, you already told me that I'm redeemed. You already told me that I have redemption. Yes, you have been redeemed, but there is a redemption you're still waiting for because you still have this outward body that you live in. The final point of redemption is you going home to be with Jesus and receiving that blessing. The brand new body, the purchased possession,

what Jesus has gone to prepare for you. And all of this is according to the praise of his glory. Brothers and sisters, I can't begin over the last 45 minutes to enumerate to you all of the amazing riches that you have in Christ, all of the confidence that you can have in Christ. And so here's your homework. Are you ready? Your homework is to read back over this prayerfully

and seek God to understand in a deeper way who you are in Christ so that you can live in confidence in Christ because prayer is now the key to you understanding this, which is why the next section that we'll go over in a couple of weeks in Ephesians chapter one is Paul praying for the people to understand it even deeper. Quick word by way of kind of housekeeping. I'm gone Wednesday and Sunday. Dad will be teaching Wednesday.

Lewis will be teaching Sunday. Because Wednesday, I'm going to camp with my daughter. And then the next Sunday, I'm going to be watching my oldest daughter play in a basketball tournament, kind of determined to spend more time pouring into them this summer. So when I come back from that the next Sunday, we will talk about this amazing prayer in the book of Ephesians.

Would you guys stand?

And if you'd bow with me. Father, we come to you and I praise you for who you are. And I praise you for the great riches that you have blessed us with. And Lord, I just ask right now the power of your Holy Spirit. You would begin the process of bringing a deeper understanding, Lord, that the eyes of our hearts would be opened, Lord, to know more deeply who we are in you.

And Lord, that we would walk confidently in our position in Christ. We just thank you, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.

Riches and houses and cars will pass away instead.

Father, may we be yielded to you. That you may use us for your glory. In Jesus' name, amen. Lord bless y'all. Have a great week.