Ephesians Part 3 - Mercy & Mandate

Mark: Honestly, in sharing with you today from the book of Ephesians, I honestly do not feel adequate. What I'm about to open to you today cannot be communicated by intellectual or scholastic means. This has to be communicated by the Spirit of God, or you will never get it. And would you mind praying with me just right quick here? I've just anticipated this morning, and the way we've ministered in song today and the things that have been going on, it's really tugging at some hearts today. And I'm praying that somehow the Lord will use this faulty vessel to communicate some things to you by the Spirit that will transform you. It's meant to. So let's pray, okay? Father, we we absolutely confess before you today that we don't understand. Many times what you're saying and what you're doing. Lord, I feel so inadequate today to try and bridge that gap intellectually. But by your spirit, Lord, you breathe on us. You open the eyes of our understanding that we might know what is the hope of your calling. And I pray today, Lord, that that will transpire in such a way that we will know it was you. The people will leave here with something in their heart that sustains them. So Lord, we pray, Holy Spirit, do what you do. Somehow help us to sync up with you today. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. I'm sharing with you today from the book of Ephesians. ⁓ Many commentators have said things along this line, and I'll repeat it, that the book of Ephesians is like the Alps of the New Testament. Probably the highest order of communication of the gospel as a whole, from the beginnings of time to the summation in Christ. Everything is then packed into this in some form or another. And so it's a fantastic book. And we can't do justice to it. Even if we spent a year on it, we would not be able to do justice to it. And scholars believe. That sometime in the spring of the s of sixty-two AD, that four men left the Apostle Paul there in Rome, where he was being retained either in house arrest or in prison. We're not exactly sure. Paul was dispatching them to three churches and one individual he knew very well in the province of Asia. Each man carried a letter bound for the church leaders and believers in his own hometown. Ephaphroditus carried a letter to the Philippians. Tychicus returned with a weighty document to Ephesus, where Paul had taught for three years. Epaphorus took a timely letter home to his fellow Colossians. And Onesimus took a special note to Philemon, a prominent man there in Colossae. These so-called prison officials or letters, or they probably epistles, or letters, were being sent to bring pastoral input and instruction and general well-being to the churches, as well as to specific treatment of situations being faced in the lives of believers in those regions. Even though these letters were addressed to certain cities and individuals, they were soon to be widely shared with churches everywhere. And came to be known as circular letters due to the critical insights that made them so valuable to other locations as well. What we don't usually understand about these books is that they were letters. They were written as God began to reveal pieces of his plan, and apostolic leaders would hear from the Lord and they would write these letters because all the other people had was a cursory understanding of the Old Testament. And while those things were important and why the tabernacle was important in the culture, God was doing a new thing. He was building on all of that, a new superstructure for relational aspects of man and God. And so they were learning as they went, and God was revealing things prophetically to these leaders that today we have ensconced in something called the Bible in the New Testament. So the letter to the Ephesians was the longest of the four. And perhaps represents the most extensive panoramic view of God's redemptive purpose due to the wide scope of the commentary. Literally, it ranges from the foundations of the world, as I said, to the finished work of Christ. As one commentator put it, it's not a stretch to say that the breadth of the entire biblical message is encompassed within this brief letter. As a way maybe to understand and make it more practical to us, there are two divisions in the book. The first three chapters deal with what God has done for us. Basically, it's a beautiful discussion of our heavenly calling, who we are, and our doctrines, our privileges, and God's plans. Chapters four through six. Began to be a whole different discussion. This is our earthly conduct. What we're to do. It deals with duty, responsibility, and practice. And so when you combine these things, it's not just something to entertain us, it's to equip us and then send us. And that's the that's the sum of them of the whole gospel. So What we want to see today, Pastor Josh did a great job last week dealing with chapter one, things like adoption, acceptance, redemption, forgiveness, inheritance, and so forth. God has come to us in a way that begins to educate us and reveal things to us, and He's sealed us with the Holy Spirit. The word sealing that we see in the in that particular passage talks about something of Guarantee of delivery, affirmation of ownership. And through the agency of the Holy Spirit, God's promises to confirm and deliver on his promises to us. And so it's a glorious thing when we realize that God is interacting with us in such a way that not only to get the message out to but to preserve us for eternity. And that's it's so important. As Paul closes out chapter one with the proclamation of Jesus' resurrection and his elevation to the throne, to reign above every other authority and to his sovereign position as the headship of the body, which is the church, then without a pause, because there are no chapter breakdowns in these letters, he continues when what we call chapter two and says this: And you he made alive, who were dead. In trespasses and sins. Although we were corrupt and hopelessly lost, as prisoners of our own fallen nature, out of his great love, he extended mercy. That is the first aspect that we learn about with Jesus: mercy. Mercy is withholding deserved punishment. When you have mercy on someone, you're not exacting justice from them. You're showing them mercy. You're giving them a chance. How many of you in this room today are pretty glad God is full of mercy? Seriously. You realize that one sin dooms you to hell. All have sinned. And falling short of the glory of God. There is no other alternative but mercy and And the second aspect, which is grace, which literally means unmerited favor being bestowed. God's grace follows his mercy. You need to understand his mercy first, so that you can appreciate the second aspect, which is his grace. God looks at you and says, I understand there's nothing they can do. All have sinned, all are sentenced to death. Happened in the garden. God created Adam and Eve and gave them a commission to work with Him and to function with Him and to be in a partnership with Him. And they chose to go their own way, having been seduced by the enemy Himself. And God had to exclude them from the garden. From that day to this, man has gone on a degraded path. We see today literally a division between black and white. In terms of purity and impurity. And so what has happened is man has continued to devolve. But on the other hand, the church is tending to evolve. And we're understanding more about the Lord as he reveals it to us. And maybe walking in more truth than we did in the past. And hopefully that will continue until the day he calls us home. But you, he says, have been made alive. You were dead in trespasses, and although we were corrupt, he had an answer for that. John Calvin, famous writer, theologian, pastor, leader, said this. In his writings, what is meant here? Is real and present death. Due to the fact that the most vital part, I want you to hear this: the most vital part of man's personality, his spirit, is dead. It's that it can't it can't get there from here. In other words, it can't it can't approach God, it can't understand God, can't receive from God in its sinful state until God shows mercy and approaches us with grace. Verses two through five. Chapter two says this, in which you once walked, that is referring to that sin life, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, which of course is demonic power and Satan himself, the spirit who now works and the sons of disobedience. All you have to do is turn on the news today, and you will see the chaos, the hatred. The deception, the fear that our enemy is sowing in the world. But let me say this: in the midst of that darkness, light looks even better. We're starting to see some turnarounds in society where people are rejecting some of the chaotic, woke nonsense, and young, younger generations are turning to the Lord in massive numbers. What we need to understand about this is this could be the very beginning of something that's going to usher back in the the coming of the Lord Jesus. I think it's very soon. And God's promised that kind of a thing at the end of time itself. Now, he goes on to say among whom this group, that we all conducted ourselves in the lusts of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. And we're by nature children of wrath, just as others. But God. But God. Who's rich in mercy. And because of his great love, he has w with which he has loved us. Even when we were dead in trespasses, he made us alive together with Christ. By grace you've been saved. God could not, in essence, coexist with man as intended because he would necessarily be associating and approving of a lifestyle of sin, which had a satanic origin, as opposed to remaining righteous. But yet, he is not hostile toward those who he created. Instead of total rejection, his love leads him to show mercy. God's compassion for our helplessness as sinners caused him to make provision. To resume the fellowship. The one man had lost in the Garden of Eden. Do you understand with me today that the Lord is not just interested in us coming to church? That's part of it. You're not supposed to not supposed to forsake the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some is, especially as you see the day approaching. But that's not the goal. That's a means to his end. So that we can be raised up and as a ⁓ People recognize the power of God inside us and literally manifest the body of Christ. It takes a body to deliver a message. And God wants to create such a picture in the Christian community that people say, that looks like what I've read about God. body of Christ. And we get to be part of that. The Old Testament dreamt of this day. The prophets foresaw pieces of this day. And now we have access to this. We don't realize what we've got. When we stand before the Lord one day, we'll be judged by how much we have and how little we've used. And those that never had what we have will look at us and wonder, What are you, what were you thinking? Because the very Spirit of God now is given to inhabit people who were sentenced to death and has made us acceptable to To our beloved Lord Jesus and to his Father. Guys, I don't know about you, but that's humbling. What we've been given is nuclear. It permeates. It changes everything it touches. And yet we take it for granted. We just go through the motions sometimes. This is the most outrageous thing that mankind has ever touched. And yet it's become common. The value is not there like it should be, probably. In verse six The resurrection of Christ allows mankind the option of forgiveness for sins and transgressions, then literally says he raised us up together and made us alive together with Christ. The whole crucifixion scenario is so powerful. The Bible tells us that the Lord laid upon him. The iniquity of us all. It's a substitutionary scenario. Much like for ages, Israelites had gone through the motions of sacrifice. The priest would lay hands on a goat or or a lamb and confess the sins of Israel over that animal and then take it into the wilderness for destruction. That's exactly what God did. He's the Lamb of God. And every time that an Israelite laid hands on an animal and confessed the sins, all of those sins were catalogued and placed on Jesus. All of those sins that were yet to come were placed on Jesus. When he was crucified, they put a sign over his head, which typically what happened is when a person was being crucified, their offenses would be listed there as the cause for their death. When it says the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all, it's as if all of our sins, past, present, and future, were laid up there for all to see, before demons and before angels, and before God Himself. And he died, and he descended into the abyss, a place we never want to go, where he led captivity captive and began to give gifts to men, where he confessed God. And he came out of that place and he rose to sit at the right hand of God the Father, where he ever lives, to make intercession for you and me. It's glorious thing that's happened. And we're living in that reality today, but yet we don't realize it. We have access to things that people never had access to before Christ. I can just tell you, the more I learn, the more ignorant I feel. Having been forgiven of our sins, we are told that we've been raised up together. To sit together in heavenly places in Christ. What does that mean? Well, folks, we have access by the Spirit of God to things that only the Spirit of God can reveal. In effect, when you sit with your Bible and you open it and you pray, God, help me to understand this, you find yourself sitting with Him in heavenly places. Things that can only be described by the one who's been there. Can I just say we need to ask more questions? We need to open this book and we need to look at it and we need to find out what is he talking about? And more than an intellectual journey. It's meant to be lived. Do we do you realize that that the testimony of your life is powerful? That's why the enemy works so hard to keep you from giving it. You're opening a door into heaven for people because you've quote been there. ⁓ I'm not trying to get weird here, but I'm just trying to say what you understand, probably, having been in church and having prayed and having read your Bibles at some level, you have a re a level of heaven in your heart. And that can be increased. Some of us look at Bible reading as a duty. Let me just tell you, under the right circumstances, it's a periscope into the things in the heart of God. That He means not to keep to Himself, but to reveal to you. Some of my most precious moments as a believer haven't been the high moments of pastoral or travel or what whatever. Some of my favorite moments in time of when God just kind of pulled back the shades and let me see something. Or spoke to me about what's next. Invited me to go on a journey with him. ⁓ Things I would never have dreamt of in a in a thousand years that God said, Let's go here. Let's do this. Did you know this? You know, it's like a feast. And yet at the same time, I'm like you. I sometimes I'm Too busy. Or preoccupied with other stuff. I'm just here to tell you today, if I don't do anything else, I want to light a fire under you so that you don't waste your time. And should I say waste God's time? Because He's given it to you as a steward and me as a steward. We're holding in our hands not a book, but an invitation to sit in heavenly places. to literally be an ambassador for him when we come back. This isn't in the notes, so I'm I'm just I'm random here. But I I I really feel this today for us. I've only got about t sixteen pages here, so we're gonna have to The original languages here are so powerful. Let me read ver verse five seventeen of chapter five, just for fun here out of Romans. It says, For if one man's offense, if by one man's offense death reigned, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life through one Jesus Christ. One writer put it this way Adam sinned once, and all he represented, that is mankind, were found guilty. Christ obeyed through his whole life, and all he represented will be made righteous. We got it from Adam and it got healed in Jesus. You no longer are separated from him by your sins. You've now been made acceptable in the beloved. What an amazing thing. We we say that well, I prayed a prayer one time and I received Jesus. Well, yeah, okay. Good. Good plan. But now what? You know, there's so much more. The original language is here where it talks about this concept of reigning. Мінз то рулефас. And and it's it's like being an ambassador or or let's just use current people. Reigning in this sense that's described here in the scripture has not to do with you being a potentate of some sort. It has to do with you representing someone who is the power. When we have negotiations with Iran or or some other place in the world today, whoever goes there. Goes there in power. But their power is borrowed authority. They go there to represent the interests of the one that sent them. It's not about them. It's about the message they carry from the one who has the power to enforce. That's what we've got. That's what we have. It's that simple. It's not my authority. It's not your authority, it's not my wisdom, it's my not my great personality. Well, I'm carrying something that was supernaturally invested in my life called the Holy Spirit. And I'm carrying a mandate, I'm carrying words, I'm carrying thoughts, I'm carrying plans, I'm carrying warnings. And wherever I go, I'm not speaking for me, I'm speaking for thee. And so are you. Probably the best thing we could do this morning is ask you to raise your right hand and pledge. That you take your role seriously. There are people all around us that need to know what we guard. It wasn't meant to be guarded. It was meant to be shouted. It's meant to be shouted. If we really have it, how could we keep silent? This is what the Bible calls imputed authority. It draws legitimacy from the original source. This understanding gives further animation to the power of praying in Jesus' name. When I pray in Jesus' name, I need to be praying things that Jesus endorsed. Can I just say your plan added in Jesus' name? Has a zero balance. You can say in Jesus' name as much as you want. But that which is without faith is sin. How do you get faith? Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. If I've heard from God, I can't experience legitimate faith. If I'm just trying to tag on his authority to my plan, I should be recalled from duty. Marco Rubio went to Iran tomorrow and came up with a plan on the plane. That the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the President had no idea about, he would be immediately removed from his position and try and find another line of work. And yet sometimes our prayer meetings mostly private. Or us trying to talk God into doing our plan. He didn't know I was listening to your prayers, did he? How do I know? Because I do the same thing. I come up with a brilliant idea, God, I know you'll want this. In Jesus' name you do. I found he's not real impressed by that. So when we pray in Jesus' name, we are literally praying his words back to him. Well, agreement. How many of you ever been in a prayer meeting with somebody? I just want you to agree with me that I can get this car. Agree with you? Well, if any two agree, it's touching anything they ask. Let me just tell you, it's not two of us that need to agree. It's you and God that need to agree. And then the rest of you will agree anyway. I'm probably preaching this to the second crowd, but I'm I'm trying it out on you first. Exercising heaven's will on earth is the commission of those reigning with him. As one who is under authority, I have authority. If I'm not under authority, I have no authority. This in effect this is in effect the commitment that the body of the church will facilitate the desires of the head. For for instance, in the way that military forces expend and extend power, that's what God will do through his church. In the letter delivered to the Philippians, we see much the same kind of message. I love this verse. This was made very real to me in several scenarios in my life. And it's so powerful when it happens. It's this Philippians 2 13. It is God. Who works in you both to will, to want to, and to do, to be able to. He has a good pleasure. I've had several experiences in life where I b begin to hear the voice of God telling me to do something. That I have you had this experience? I don't want to do it. ⁓ Timeout. Don't want to do it. And as time goes on, as you pray, as you read, as you walk with the Lord, over time he changes your desires to the point where you're shocked, I really want to do that. I I could tell you three or four testimonies like that that were major, major, major things in my life. And ultimately have been major things in your life because you're here. But the joy of that is that God says, Listen, I want to work with you. I see your heart. I know you have plans, but you're thinking too small. How about you listen to me? And so he goes ahead and begins by the Holy Spirit to transform you by the renewing of your mind. And the more you read the Word of God, the more you'll experience this, maybe the more rapidly even. When you begin to ingest kingdom revelation, God gets hold of your heart and transforms you by the renewing of your mind. Because if you can't serve God well with a mind On the frequency of your lost self. Can't do it. And God gets hold of us and begins to transform us to agree with Him. Chapter 2, verse 7 through 9, back in Ephesians. It says that in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us in Jesus Christ. For by grace you've been saved through faith. That not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. As a whole, these verses serve to remind us now and forever of God's amazing generosity and kindness toward us. As the infinite future unfolds, we will increasingly understand what an immense gift this relationship with Him really is. Think about the infinite future. The infinite future will give us perspective that we don't have yet, not only through our own life, but through time. And we'll see how blessed we are to have come in this particular segment of time. And we'll also begin to see how we missed opportunities, how we prioritize temporary things over eternal things. You know, when you're kids you think I I'll just die if I don't get this thing, whatever this thing is. And you'd do anything for that thing. Five years later you look at that thing and say, Psh, What was I? Thinking. I have a feeling that we're gonna spend probably the first thousand years saying, what was I thinking? In light of what was potential? What an idiot I was. I was making big decisions with a small brain. I was thinking with a with a pr parameters of desire that were this wide when God had the whole world before me. I was just looking for a yes. What would God do in you, through you, for you, if you just turned in your authority card? Is that okay? Let me just be your your man, your woman. Let me just go for it. Let me just lay down my life and take up your cross. Let me let me let me let me do that, Lord. I I w I wanna I wanna I wanna lean into eternity, not into today's headlines. This is for five of us. I the rest of you just watch. You know, Paul has illuminated here, what he's illuminated here, it legitimizes a sense of joyful anticipation, looking forward. There is a new and promising spiritual economy ahead. Hopelessness has been replaced by positivity and joy. You know, a lot of us have trouble downloading a new life. A new thought pattern, a new a new sense of what is true. And I I'm thinking back a little bit, ⁓ growing up, I grew up with a father that had had had to go live with other people because his family was broken apart by an injury to his father, and you know, just all kind of stuff. And and this was on the tail end, of course, of of World War II, is right right in there, World War I. And in between that, the world suffered a great depression. And in the Great Depression, people that were millionaires one day, had nothing the next day. They were jumping out of buildings and all kinds of things because they their world had collapsed. But as the world adjusted to that, people began to be very, very interested in saving every little thing they could have because they had a fear of tomorrow. You know, if you got a box somewhere, you saved the box. You know, you folded it down where you could store it and store a bunch of boxes that you'd never use. Because you might need them someday. Or your shoes might become so thin that you'd have to put some cardboard inside them to keep from rubbing your foot on the ground. That people lived like that for a long, long time. But when that season passed, a lot of people never abandoned their. poverty mentality that they had back there and they were still saving their aluminum foil, they were still saving twist ties, they were still saving anything plastic, anything like a cardboard box, anything they could have, because you never know. A lot of us Christians need to lose the culture of the old man and trade it in for a born-again mentality. Old things have passed away, all things become new. That's a promise. Not just a theory, it's a promise. Sealed in Jesus' blood. Am I talking to anybody here? Some of us need to abandon the quote prosperity message that that's designed hear me? That's designed to get me what I want. What you want is nonsense compared to what he has in store for you. He knows what you have need of before you even ask. Not a problem. But when we start taking our desires and exalting them above his, we start wondering, where did God go? Why doesn't God answer my prayers? Because he loves you too much to answer your prayers that way. Because you may get what you want, but you won't want what you got. I I I know this is for a second hour. I'm just trying it out on you. But there's there's something today, if I if I'm successful before God, I will have lifted your eyes above false goals. to have a eternity oriented perception. And hopefully a hunger and a thirst for that kind of righteousness that that says, God, not my will but yours be done. And and folks, you know, I've I've lived a few years past the time when I made that decision. And every day I still have to make it over again. Have to renew. Because we slid back into wanting to be Lord of our own life. And God invites us, no, no, no, no, no. I I'm better at the job than you are. Come into me, all you that labor and heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. I'll make some decisions. I'll I'll lead you and guide you in paths of righteousness for my name's sake. And you'll love it. You'll never regret it. ⁓ how many of you don't raise your hands, but how many of you said I really got some major regrets in my life? Major. Well, that why don't we draw a line right there? Still create any more. You got yourself into those places. You made bad decisions and you reaped the fruit of your own ways. The seeds we plant come up. God wants to install some weed killer in your ground. So that what comes up looks like him. You'll never regret that. You will never regret that. In our memories of the past are valuable. However, they're most valuable as perspective. Anytime we find ourselves starting to take credit for the progress that we may have experienced, it's always wise to remember even our salvation was his idea and his gift. The plain truth is that any good that we might accomplish flows from that same expression of grace. The honor belongs to him, and it's a great privilege for us to have any part in it whatsoever. Verse 10 is I love this one. And we'll close with this one. Verse 10 is such a beautiful unveiling of what God has in mind for us. Imagine this. Can you get your mind around the fact, as revealed by the Word of God, that we are His workmanship. Created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has prepared beforehand. That we should walk in them. The word workmanship here is gorgeous. It literally means something created, manufactured, a product, a design produced by an artisan. God is, in fact, the ultimate artisan. He came up with a whole plan. He was the creator. In the book of Genesis, he literally speaks, and the world and the cosmos and an infinite vr infinite variety of living things that populate our planet come into existence. Then, at the conclusion. Man is fashioned, not just spoken, fashioned, as if God molded him and made him in the image of himself. Something about us carries the divine DNA. And we don't want to let it lay dormant. He's fashioned you. For good works. Those are the kind of works that one day when we stand before him that final moment and all things become clear, he'll say, Well done. Good and faithful servant. Enter the joy of your Lord. All of our decisions are gonna look small at that point, except the ones that were wrong. you stand. I'm about a third of the way through. Chapter four of Ephesians really follows on this same theme. The Lord declares that he dispenses gifts and callings to equip literally every believer to participate in the work of the ministry for the building up of the body of Christ. There's work to be done. Work that was set apart for you before the foundations of the world based on scripture. It may be a general thing, or it may be a very, very specific thing. But I can promise you this: you do not want to stand before the Lord someday and find out what you had. Pushed aside. Here in June of 2026, there are invitations from the Spirit of God being issued right now. Moments before Him. Him saying, Would you allow me to call you to do this? Would you take up your cross and follow me here? Would you lay your will on that cross and let me Do something with you. Your choice. But please make it in light of what 10,000 years from now would call valuable. Close your eyes for a moment. Is there anyone in this room that says, Lord, I hear you? And I in this moment want to resign as chairman of the board of my life. And I ask you. Take the leader seat. Let me see your hands. How many of you would say that right now? If you mean it, be very sensitive going forward. Take opportunities that you find yourself in. The steps of the righteous are ordered of the Lord, and if you give him the role, he will direct your path. So, Father, I pray in the name of Jesus today. According to your plan, according to your word, according to your promises. That you will visit my friends, that you will touch their lives, touch their minds, let their heart burn, ⁓ God, with the thing that you are calling them to. Let it happen in conversation, let it happen around the office, let it happen at home, let it happen wherever they go, let them impact people because they're carriers of uranium from heaven. God don't let us ever become complacent. Don't let us ever forget the price you paid. And this morning, ⁓ God, we give you glory. And most of all, we give you what you've died for. And that is our heart. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. And amen. God bless you.