Ephesians

Ephesians chapter 1, reading at verse 1. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God to the saints, which are Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. I take that the saints and the faithful are one and the same. Grace be to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Now look down the chapter please to verse 11. In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will, that we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ, in whom he also trusted after that she heard the word of truth, the gospel of our your salvation, in whom also after that she believed, or upon believing, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of his glory.

Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. Paul prayed for these believers and here's what he prays, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead. Now look at chapter 2 and verse 18.

For through him we both have access by one spirit unto the Father. Now therefore you're no more strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone in whom all the building or every building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are built together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. Now look again at chapter 3 and verse 14.

Paul is praying again this time he says he bows his knees, verse 14 of chapter 3. For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ in whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might by his spirit in the inner man that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith that she being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that she might be filled with all the fullness of God. Now unto him that is able and this verse has encouraged me many many times through the years God is able he is able to do and he doesn't finish there he's able to do exceeding abundantly and then he adds words above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us. Now chapter 4 I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation were with your call with all lowliness and meekness with long-suffering forbearing one another in love endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.

Now look down toward the end of the chapter the verse 30 and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God were by your sealed unto the day of redemption let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and be kind one to another tender hearted forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake have forgiven you. Now chapter 5 verse 8 for you were sometimes darkness that is in heathen darkness but now are you light in the world walk as children of light for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth. Verse 15 see then that she walks circumspectly not of fools but as wise redeeming the time because the days are evil.

We've been reminded of that where for be not unwise but understanding what the will of God or of the Lord is. Be not drunk with wine or in success but be filled with the Spirit. Now finally chapter 6 Paul tells them to put on the whole armor of God and verse 17 he says take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit and watching their unto with all perseverance and supplication for all Saints and Paul says don't forget to pray for me and for me.

Now God will bless the reading of his word. There was a quaint Irishman that I knew years ago Mr. George Gould and if he says he used to say if the Lord helps me I'll be through in a half an hour and if he doesn't I might wander around for an hour. Well you can be sure I won't wander around for an hour.

Two things I don't like is long praying and long preaching. The great Winston Churchill who was an orator said you can't hold anyone's attention on any subject for more than 20 minutes. He gave an address one day at a commencement exercise I think it was Oxford University in England.

They paid thousands of pounds to have him come and here was his address never, never, never, never, never give up and he walked off the stage. And they never forgot that. You see sometimes impressions are made in a very very short way.

Now what I have read is extensive reading and I don't intend to look at all of it but we have read the twelve references in the epistles of the Ephesians to the Holy Spirit of God. A divine person. My brother Portman has been telling us about godliness.

Most of us don't know very much about it. It takes a lifetime to develop. I heard Mr. William Wark one of our best expositors say years ago that he would never say an individual was godly because that took a lifetime.

He might say they were spiritual. Well either way you and I am sure can improve. Now what Paul is saying when he writes to these Ephesian believers, they had been delivered from idol worship in Ephesus where there was that temple to Diana the goddess of the Ephesians with its sixty some marble columns and all forms of unmentionable evil were associated with the worship of the goddess Diana of the Ephesians.

I remember years ago being taken there to see the remains of that temple and I thought of this epistle and Paul is telling them that in spite of the fact that they had been idol worshipers now they're seated in the heavenlies. So are you and so am I. Over and over in this epistle Paul tells us in fact in every chapter we're seated in the heavenly places. There's nothing can ever change that.

In a very practical way we're here. We have to get through this world but God views us right now seated in the heavenlies in Christ. That's positional teaching and Paul is reminding them to enjoy heaven on the way to heaven.

That's what he wants us to do. Are you enjoying your salvation or are you enduring it? There's a big difference. Some of God's people you would think they had lost their last friend but God wants us to rejoice.

Weren't we reminded of that in the Bible reading this morning from the Ephesian epistle? It's full of joy and rejoicing but I don't know what happened because these believers who were in such a lofty atmosphere when John writes to them in the Revelation he says, I have against thee thou has left thy first love. I don't know what happened. They didn't lose it they left it and it's possible that you and I can lose the joy of salvation.

I want you to notice what Paul is saying. He begins by saying we, what we have, what we have obtained. Then he goes from that in verse 13 and he says ye, now you've been brought into the good of it.

And then he says again in verse 14, it's ours. Ours to enjoy. Our inheritance.

Now the first mention of the Spirit of God here I want you to think of our identification with Christ. A seal. Upon believing you were sealed by the Holy Spirit.

I was reading just this morning in the book of Esther you remember when the decree was sent out by Haman regarding Mordecai that he detested and eventually Haman was hanged. But the king sent out a decree to have him destroyed and it was sealed with the king's ring. Now that's what Paul is saying here.

If you've been brought to know the Lord Jesus you're identified with him, there are marks upon you. You know God demands more from his people, from all of us, than he did of Israel. Their devotion, their diet, their dress.

You know we're living in a casual age. It bothers me when I see young people and over where I live in Iowa, some think when they're coming into the presence of the Lord they're going to a Sunday school picnic. You can dress casually.

You can put on those, what do you call them, flip-flops or something. God wants us to dress according to who we belong to. If you were going to see the president you would have to be dressed properly.

You wouldn't get walking in there just with an old sweater on or an open-necked shirt. You see God demands more of us. We're identified with Christ.

We're sealed. That implies ownership. We belong to him.

You're not your own, Paul says. It belonged to him. The Spirit of God was promised to remember by God in chapter 1 of the Acts.

He says, what I have promised, you'll come into the good of it. Then when Paul, or John rather, is writing his gospel, he tells us the Spirit of God will come and I'm going to send another, one just like myself, one that will be a comfort. The Lord says the Holy Spirit is coming and in John 16 he says the Spirit is coming himself.

So all the divine persons are involved with the sending of the Holy Spirit. Holy, that's what he is in himself. A holy divine person, not an influence.

Now for young believers here, let me say, it took me a time when I was first saved as a boy to understand that in dwelling me I couldn't see him, but there was a divine person. He's in our gathering. He's in the world convicting of sin and righteousness and judgment.

A divine person, the Holy Spirit, and he says we belong to Christ. It implies ownership. That's what Paul is saying here.

We have an inheritance. It's kept for us and we're kept for that inheritance. The word is, the word pledge.

Somebody buys a property, talk to Jay here, he'll sell you some property. If you're looking for a nice place to retire on the river, you sign a contract, but you don't come into the possession of it until it's all paid for. You see, that's just a pledge.

That's just the assurance that someday it will be mine. It's like a young lady getting engaged. You ever notice them? They get a ring on their finger.

When I was a boy, the old preachers used to say you should give your wife a grandfather's clock or a sewing machine. Well, that's kind of hard to carry around. They like to get a ring on their finger, and you ever notice if they're in a picture, that hand is way out here.

Why do they do that? They want everyone to know. The pledge. They're looking forward to the day when they're united to the one that they love.

Well now, that's what the Spirit of God indwelling you and indwelling me is. The pledge. That one day, he says, at the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of his glory, that's when we'll be presented to him at the marriage supper of the Lamb.

You know, at our weddings today, everybody wants to see the bride. What kind of a dress is she wearing? What color are her attendants wearing? The bridegroom just has to be there. Isn't that right? It's the bride that's the focus of attention, but not in this day.

In this day, the bridegroom, the Lord Jesus, will be the focal point, and we shall be presented to him the church composed of all believers from the day of Pentecost until the Lord comes. So Paul is talking here about identification. Notice again in that same chapter, he talks about illumination.

He's praying that God would give them the spirit of wisdom and that their eyes might be illuminated, enlightened. What's he pray for? It all belongs to him. The hope of his calling, the riches of his glory, and his inheritance, and the greatness of his power.

It's all available for us. That's what Paul prayed for, these believers to have their understanding enlightened, the eyes of their heart, if you will. Spiritual wisdom.

There never was a day when more wisdom was needed than in our day. We were reminded of yesterday. We need wisdom in the assembly.

Brethren that are raised to leadership, and when they make decisions, we must acknowledge that. Otherwise, we have anarchy. They're raised up by God, and God gives them wisdom and discernment.

We need wisdom not only in the assembly, we need wisdom in our home life, our family life. You know, there's a big bad world out there, and the technical age in which we live, just one little click on the computer, and there can be defilement. If you have a computer in your home, you make sure that you know what your children are watching.

I know two brethren that are under discipline because of something they unintentionally got hooked on, on the computer. You know who controls the drugs and the pornography in this country? The mafia. For instance, if you had a teenager, and they wanted to do an essay about the White House, and they put in the computer www.whitehouse.com. That's a pornographic channel.

To get to the White House, it's www.whitehouse.org. That would take you there. You see how the mafia uses subterfuge to get young people and older ones hooked, involved. We need to be careful.

We need wisdom in the assembly, in the home, in the individual lives. James says, if any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God. That's where we get it.

It's available. We have to ask for it. So that's what he prays for.

Then down at the end of chapter 2, now here's the introduction by the Holy Spirit. We're brought into the family of God. God is our Father.

There is no Old Testament saint that knew God as Father. That's for the believer in this age. He's our Father.

We're daughters, sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father. We're brought right into that place of nearness. You remember in the day of atonement, when Israel's priest could go into the holiest of all once a year.

Only once. There's someone else could get in, you know, Moses. Moses got inside to talk with God.

But you and I have been introduced to the Father and on any occasion, we can enter into his presence. His ears open. My wife used to tease me a bit.

She can't do that anymore. She's in heaven. But if I made a phone call and then I'd get a call waiting, another line is rising, hold the line.

I didn't like that. I like to get right through, don't you? Well, you know when it comes to our Heavenly Father, this verse tells us we have access through the Spirit under every occasion right into the presence of our God. There's no delay.

Doesn't have to be a long prayer. You can pray with your eyes open, you know, even when you're driving the car. Remember Peter? Three words.

Lord, save me. A few years ago, when my wife and I spent four months down in Australia, New Zealand, driving on the wrong side of the road, the left side, and I came back and we came back and there was a one-day conference, I think it was in Heightsville over in Iowa, and a brother had lost his wife and she was lying in the funeral parlor in the city of Dumont and I thought, well, I'll go over and visit, try to be a comfort between the meetings, and I'm driving along that blacktop highway about 50, 55 miles an hour and there was a car coming right directly for me and I thought, that fool, he's on the wrong side of the road, and then just before we collided, it dawned on me that I was wrong and I went down into the ditch and back up and I remember I prayed three words, Lord, help me. Well, I was the one that was on the wrong side.

But you see, the Lord's ear is open under any occasion. There's no delay. We can enter into the holiest.

We've been introduced to the Father. We can come at any time. Now that clock's flying.

Some men need a calendar, but I don't want a calendar. I'll be through very soon. Look at a couple of others.

The end of that chapter, he tells us that we're built together, we've been linked with this group of believers fitly framed together. There's growth here. This is a living organism growing onto a holy temple for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

So we're linked with God's dwelling place. Now, a holy temple, that's the naos, the dwelling place of God. When Paul mentions that word in the Corinthians chapter 3, he talks about the local church and then in chapter 6, he talks about the individual believer, but here is the broad universal aspect.

We're linked with him, every believer, as part of the habitation of God through the Spirit. In chapter 3, notice what he says in verse 3 of chapter 4, verse 3, he says we're to keep the unity of the Spirit, not make it, it's already made. We're to keep it, and there's one thing the devil hates, and that's unity.

He's doing his best today everywhere to divide the people of God. I could give you illustrations, I could tell you of assemblies that have closed the doors because of division. You know, there's three words that are hard to say, I am wrong.

And the devil does his best to get a wedge in, but Paul says here, you keep the unity. Even the nations recognize that. If you ever go west, the state of Washington, and you want to go into Canada, to Vancouver, there's a park called the Peace Park, right at the border, and there's a big white arch, and on that arch, in gold letters, are part of Psalm 133.

Here's what it says, how good and how blessed it is, and then on the other side, to dwell together in unity. Even the nations recognize that, a need for unity. Down in verse 30 of this chapter, Paul says, grieve not the Holy Spirit of God.

In chapter 7, I think it is, of the Acts, Luke says, you do always resist the Spirit. And then when Paul writes to the Thessalonians, he says, quench not the Spirit. We can grieve it.

A divine person is very sensitive. We can grieve the Holy Spirit of God by our living, by our actions to others, is displeasing to him. I could say more.

This chapter tells us about the impartation of the Spirit. It says in chapter 5, there should be fruit. There should be fruit.

Our brother reminded us of that lovely apple tree in the song of Solomon this morning. Fruit, fragrance, protection, well there's fruit that God is looking for in your life and in my life. Then in chapter 5, he says, we're to be filled with the Spirit.

Verse 18, one in dwelling, many fillings. It's being filled. It's something that's continuous.

And my brother has just been reminding us that as we feed on this word, we make spiritual growth, spiritual progress. And then in chapter 6, twice over, he tells us about the Spirit of God. He tells us about intercession, praying always, and supplication with thanksgiving for all saints.

Do you pray for the Lord's people? Or is there just certain ones that you pray for? Well, we need the prayers of one another. Paul says, and for me. I need your prayers.

I hope you pray for me. And I thank God that there's times when, when I can get into his presence. And you know, it's not always easy.

The phone will ring, doorbell will ring, something comes to your mind. I should be working out in the yard. But Paul says to pray in the Spirit.

The Lord help us that we may enjoy something of the Word of God. What a cost it was for us to obtain this blessed book. You think of men like John Wycliffe, way back in the early days, when the only one that could read the Word of God was the priest.

And he was opposed to Romanism. He preached against them. But he began to write the Word of God from the original language into what he knew.

Then about a hundred years later there was William Tyndale. He was persecuted, driven out of England for printing the Word of God. They went into hiding over in Belgium, I think it was, in Europe.

And somebody reported him, and he was arrested and brought up before the court. And he'd been saying to a priest, if I'm spared for so many years, he said he would see that the boy that draws the plow would know the Scriptures better than the priest did. And they didn't like that.

And somebody reported him, and he was arrested, and he was put in prison for months. And then eventually he was burned at the stake, and before he was burned at the stake, he was strangled to death. Because of this book, and how little we prize it, the Lord helped us to appreciate our heritage, the Word of God in our own native tongue.

More than half of this world's population has never, never yet heard the name of Jesus. That's hard for us to understand, but it's true. Living in heathen darkness, and we have the Holy Scriptures.

The Lord helped us to enjoy it and appreciate it until he comes.