(BONUS EPISODE) August 31, 2025 - Sunday Evening Bible Study with Peter D. Jones IV - God's Eternal Plan and Restoration - Ephesians

So when they put Hubble up, that was one of the

first places that they looked. It's called the

deep field. And the night sky, it's about, if

you hold your arm out like this, your thumb out.

It's a patch of night sky. It's about the size

of your thumb. And so they turned the telescope

in that area that they thought was empty, and

they found, you can still see the pictures, countless

points of light in that spot that they thought

was just empty and dark. The points of light

were not just stars, but whole galaxies, right?

Massive, massive collections of millions of stars,

each of them. All of them... ordered and structured

and by the way the distances are far greater

than and they're finding this even with the JWTS

which can look even further the further the farthest

they can look they see whole structures, mature

structures that are not supposed to be there.

Because they're billions and billions and billions

of light years away and are supposed to be so

early in the formation of the universe that they

shouldn't be nearly as formed and as mature as

they are. It's kind of interesting. I think I

sent a video about that sometime out. Where they're

trying to dance around this whole thing. So,

anyway, the point is... Well, the patch of the

night sky about the size of your thumbnail, from

our perspective, turns out to be filled with,

the estimates are something like 750 ,000 galaxies,

each of which are filled with countless stars.

There's no way that, and so these telescopes

are just exploding all of the models that they've

had for both the origin and structure of the

universe. Just blowing it away. What a bang.

Yeah, right. Right. It's in a way, this opening

part of obedience particularly. I was trying

to find an illustration, and that's the best

one I can come up with. There's some really great

videos out there, too, that show you the deep

field. And you can zoom and zoom and zoom and

zoom in, and it's like the more you zoom in,

more things appear, you know, and it's just mind

-blowing. Kind of like you might put man in perspective

if you don't know everything he thinks he doesn't

know. I mean, same thing with Scripture. I mean,

it just seems like every time you turn around,

he's opening up something else. Exactly. That's

right, thank you. That's why you share this,

Roshan, because that's the way this, particularly

the opening of Ephesians, feels like to me. It

feels like we're looking at the deep field. We're

seeing the majesty of God. It's like Paul has

taken us up into orbit, you know? So we don't

have any more of the atmosphere of distortion.

We don't just have our little perspective time.

And we see, from an eternal point of view, what

God has been doing. He's already passed what

He's doing now. And then in chapter 2, verse

7 says, in the ages to come, referring to the

eternity future. So Paul's perspective here as

we open this book is clearly an eternal perspective.

It's like that. It's like being watched in a

space where everything changes in terms of your

perspective. I mentioned this last time, and

I'll say it, but I'll say it again. because I

was encouraged by this, that it's very difficult

to outline adequately these first 14 or maybe

really 12 verses. So the section that we've been

in, those notes are God's eternally loving plan

of restoration. That little outline in the back

there, I... I really struggle to outline that

isn't like really, really detailed because verses

13 through 14, which is where we've been the

last three sessions, I think we were together.

That section... is like I said, it's got everything

is in there. So it's like looking at that deep

field, you know, you, you can see all this gassy

there and gassy there. It's just like this massive

view of stuff that's so encompassing. And so

I've been listening to James Boyce, Dr. James

Boyce. He died a few years ago. He was a really

good Presbyterian minister up in the Pennsylvania

area, I think. 10th Presbyterian. Just a great

communicator. You get a chance to hear his messages.

Anyway, he has a series on Ephesians and I've

been listening to that. And he said about this

section here that many of the commentators that

he looked at were all over the map as to how

to outline this. And some of them just gave up.

Some of the best Bible expositors of generations

past. I just said, can't outline this and then

just go through and study each little section.

The outline I have here though is really was

kind of inspired by what he said that as I read

this again for the umpteenth time from that perspective,

I think that's the best way to understand this

section. You'll notice that outline there on

those notes on page two and I didn't, sorry I

didn't bring any fresh copies. We have new notes

today. but really this section here if you if

you try to outline it based on ideas okay in

other words you know like salvation moving from

man's condition or man's fall to to man's guilt

before God under the law and then and then the

salvation of righteousness available in Christ

like Romans. Romans is very outlineable, right?

It's very easy to see, okay, we're at this milestone.

It's kind of long, but you can outline that.

If you try to do that here around the concepts,

you'll struggle because there's so many concepts

here, all right? The best way to outline this

text, I think, is by centering around the persons

of the Trinity. Okay? That God is really, God

Himself is really the outline. Okay? And all

of these other things are like ornaments hanging

on the tree. The main point is God the Father,

God the Son, and not the Holy Spirit. And then

this thing that they are doing. Okay? So having

said that though, last, a couple times, last

time and the time before that. So the time before

that, if you remember, We made our way through

these verses, but we looked at it from the perspective

of God's riches, right? So that's not to say

that there aren't threads of ideas that run through

this whole section. There are. Okay, so God's

riches is what we looked at two times before

two months ago The last time that we got together

we read through this section again, but this

time We you know, I worked with a challenged

you as with each verse to find places that talk

about his love and expressions of God's love.

And you remember that each verse opens up showing

the love of God and the riches of God. I want

to make one more pass through this today. I don't

want to spend a lot of time, but there are many

ways you can read this and taking a different

perspective. Another one would be the sovereignty

of God. That is very much here. We're going to

talk about the sovereignty of God, however, really

comes in the focus of verse 19. We're going to

kind of save that for our next study, which is

verse 19, in which Paul gives four different

Greek words. to talk about the power and the

energy and the strength and might of God. What

I want to do today as we get started is go back

through verses 3 -14 with us. I do want to move

a little quicker than the last two times, though.

But this time, instead of looking at God's riches

and God's love, we want to look at it from the

perspective of God's of unity, particularly unity

with Christ. Union with Christ, okay? As I've

been thinking about and studying this, of course,

like any topic that you start to take on personally

in scripture, and you start to see it everywhere

in scripture, right? This same thing here, since

I've been thinking about this and drilling on

it, just amazed at... Let me put it this way,

what the implications are for us. In Christ Okay,

so as we go through this again, and I'll just

have us. We'll just read through verse by verse.

Okay, but we're looking particularly for those

indications of our unity with God in Christ Okay,

so things like enterprise in there's another

phrase in here in love, okay? And the reason

this is important is that you'll see that that

thread runs through this whole thing as the means

by which God is imparting to us this inheritance

and this atonement that He gives here. All of

these spiritual riches that God is giving us

come to us only in Christ. They don't come any

other way. Okay? Any thoughts before we dive

in? Christ, it's all about Him. That's right.

Alright, so let's start in verse 3. 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. Okay, so where's

the end here? Yeah, in Christ, right? It's not

hard to get that. Look at the opening part of

this, too. Blessed to be the God and Father of

power. There's a possessive there, right? Our

Lord Jesus Christ, okay? That's a very comprehensive

term for Him too, right? Notice the word Lord

there. And of course, Jesus is His earthly name

referring to His earthly lineage and humanity.

And then Christ is placed as God's anointed one,

Messiah. Verse four, just as... He chose us in

Him before the foundation of the world that we

would be holy and blameless before Him in love.

Where's the unity? When we were chosen. Who's

choosing here? Father. Father, right. How is

he choosing? He chooses through Christ. In Christ.

Before the world. Whenever we talk about, now

this is one of the popular... more popular verses

to support. God's sovereignty and election in

salvation. We talked about that this morning

in Sunday School, right? In the high priestly

prayer, I pointed out to you how four times in

that one chapter, Jesus says, those whom you

have given me, right? Okay, well here, this is

another one of those texts that very clearly

says that God is choosing some and electing some.

And so when we talk about God's sovereignty and

salvation, it's also important that we not, that

we Remember two things related to God's sovereignty.

Both are equally important, okay? The first thing

is God is sovereign over the outcome. That the

end that He intends to accomplish happens. Whatever

that is, right? Most people, I think, have that

in mind. when they talk about God's sovereignty.

What we need to remember also is that God is

not only in charge of the end, but he's in charge

of the means, right? What theologians call the

secondary means through which or by which he

accomplishes his end goal. Okay? So, great example,

and Dr. Boyce brought this out, I thought it

was good. He says, you know, a lot of times people

who accuse those of us who believe in God's election

in sovereignty and salvation they say well you

know God is sovereign why do we need to pray

why don't need to evangelize then I don't need

to do those things right well of course we do

it because he commands but what they fail to

realize is that God's sovereignty doesn't just

mean that he's sovereign of the hands but he's

sovereign also of the means right and he has

in the case of prayer he has he has sovereignly

chosen to use our prayers in His plan. How does

He do that? I don't know. Deep field, right?

How did God make all those stars out there? They're

there! He can do it, right? So, as we see this

verse here, the means by which... God accomplishes

the end goal, which is coming up in chapter 2,

verse 7. That in the ages to come we might live

with Him, effectively, and be examples of the

riches of His kindness to us. That's where it's

all going. The means by which He accomplishes

that is by putting us in Christ. so that your

unity with Christ is vital. I mean, it's like,

you know, the only way I'm going to get to Mars

is in a spaceship or something. I don't know

why I keep thinking of space illustrations, but

this is a good one, right? I'm not going to get

there on my own. I'm not going to fly to Mars,

you know, just as I am here with my shorts on.

Do you like my casual Friday shirt? I'm not going

to get there like this. I have to have special

equipment. I have to have a special environment

in order to even get off the ground, let alone

survive space and land safely there. So being

in Christ is like that. It changes everything

for us. And you'll see that in the book. Verse

5 then. So, in love. Remember, let's say one

other thing here. Remember that these verses

3 through 14 are one continuous sentence in the

Greek, okay? So even though there are, there's

verse breaks in here and there are periods in

here in the English to make it readable, in the

Greek it's all one long, giant sentence, okay?

So this continues from verse 4, that we're blameless

before Him in love. By predestining us to adoption

as sons out through Jesus Christ to himself.

according to the good pleasure of His will. So

where's the unity there? Well, what He's doing

is according to His will. It's in conjunction

with Christ. The means is through... Yeah, the

adoption is through Christ according to His will.

That's right. It's through Jesus Christ to Himself.

So He's adopting us to Himself. But again, the

means is through Christ. to the praise of his

glory and grace which he graciously bestowed

on us in the beloved okay initially I was confused

by thinking the term Beloved here, and I think

we had that discussion right here in this room.

Somebody challenged me on that. Here in this

Bible, this legacy standard is capitalized, Beloved.

I was originally thinking it meant the collection

of saints, Beloved, but in studying that further,

I think it does refer to the Lord. It's an interesting

way of referring to Him and His Beloved Son.

So there's unity there in verse 7. Now, in Him,

who is this now? In Jesus. That's the beloved

He just talked about. Remember, there's no period

there. It keeps going. So in the beloved, in

Him, we have redemption through His blood, the

forgiveness of our transgressions according to

the riches of His grace. Right? Yes, I think

so. I think definitely so. Yeah, and the NIV

translators put that in there to emphasize that

singleness there, right? But in him, okay, where's

the unity with Christ there? In verse seven,

right? How do you get redemption the forgiveness

of trespasses through his sacrifice through his

forgiveness? Yeah, so him it is grace Through

Christ through Christ through Christ According

to the riches and whose grace is that there?

Yeah, it is I believe so it could be Christ It

could refer to both. I've been listening to that

John McArthur series, and I don't know the name

of it, but it's the first part of 2 Peter, and

it really stuck out to me, and I thought about

this a lot, because it says to those who, in

chapter 1 and verse 1 of 2 Peter, it says, to

those who threw the righteousness of our God

and Savior, it doesn't say our God the Father,

it's Jesus or the Savior. But it classifies him

right there as I understand God is with him.

And so he, I don't know if you've listened to

the series or not, but he has spoken about that

a lot, times like that, really stuck out. He's

not only our Savior, he's also our God. Same

thing right here. So it was really, that really

hit home when he got hurt. That's right. That's

really cool. That's right. God our Savior. Yeah.

And we often, and rightly so, we think of Jesus

as our Savior, and He should. But God the Father

is our Savior too. But I think here, He's talking

about it. And He's doing that through Jesus.

See right here, what John mentioned was, it says...

of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. So He has

actually called Jesus God. He classified Him

there and He has classified Him as God as well

as Jesus. So I mean, we normally hear God the

Father and or Jesus Christ. We hear like two

separate entities. But we also a lot of times

forget that there are one. There are one and

the same. We hear it, but we don't. But like

I said, the other one I heard that I was like,

that doesn't make sense. It kind of relates back

to what we're hearing here. Yeah, that's good.

I don't know that you can get too picky about

whose grace this is. Well, it was Christ's blood,

but it's the Father's... Chosen means by which,

so you could say indirectly it's the Father's

blood in the sense that he is the Lamb of God,

right? He's the one God put him forward to be

the propitiation. Interesting word, bitches.

Yes, yes. Riches of his race. Yeah, we talked

about that, like I said a few times back. Remember,

it's there too. Paul is using grace. The illustration

he's using, and we'll see that continue on even

in chapter two, the illustration of grace that

Paul is using is that of money. It's the closest

thing we can come to understanding. And so that

alludes to it here that God's grace is like money

in the sense that it is a legitimate transaction

when Christ... pays for our sin, it's not benevolence.

Put it this way, when the Father receives us

as forgiven, It's not benevolence. It's not like

Santa Claus, where I know you're on the naughty

list, but I'm going to give you the gift anyway,

right? We'll just pretend you didn't sin. That's

not what's happening here. Their grace is legitimate.

It's a legitimate payment. In a sense, it functions

like money that way. So verse 8, then. Which

He caused to abound to us in all wisdom and insight.

That would be the father. Then verse 9 making

known to us the mystery of his will according

to his good pleasure Which he purposed out in

Christ in him in Christ See their unity again

verse 10 for an administration of the fullness

of the times. That's another purpose in him Being

the father agrees with the riches of his grace

being about race Right, right. No, that's good

You're right. The grace he caused to abound.

Paul uses the term in Romans, it's super abound.

Grace that is greater than our sin. That's a

Biblical concept. Making none of us a mystery.

Just that alone, remember we were talking about

God's love last time. Just that alone is an expression.

I was talking to Dori at lunch today and she

was like, I don't know what made her say that.

but we have so much more to be thankful for than

Elon Musk. We're richer than all we know. I was

like, you're absolutely right, because think

of who we know. Think of what we know. The things

we're talking about today are here. The vast

majority of people out there are mumbling around,

no idea about this. And here he says here, making

known to us the mystery of his will. Things that

were hidden in the past, he's revealing to us.

It's amazing. And Jesus, with his disciples,

he said, I no longer call you slaves, but friends.

Slaves do not know his master's business. That's

a privileged place to be. That's personal. That's

personal. That's personal. That's what he said.

Verse 10, for an administration and that is also...

A financial term. That's a financial slash managerial

term. For an administration, the fullness of

the times. And that's an important phrase because

it lets us know, again, in God's sovereign plan,

He's not random. He's not just waiting for events

to happen and reacting as it goes along. But

He has deliberately and purposefully planned

and orchestrated these things. real intent behind

what He's doing and expressing His love in salvation.

So, for an administration of the fullness of

the times, that is the summing up of all things

how? In Christ. Things in the heavens and things

on the earth. In Him. And then the same phrase

again starts verse 11. In Him. We also have been

made an inheritance, having been predestined

according to the purpose of Him who works all

things according to the counsel of His will,

who's that? The Father, right? That's God's sovereignty

expressed very clearly right there. The counsel

of His will is a great way to express God's sovereignty.

If you're looking for a biblical definition,

that would be it. That would be my choice. The

counsel of His will, okay? in terms of what he

determines to happen, you know, and then how

it's to unfold in time, in his time. But notice

again, the in him's in there, right? In him,

in Christ, in him. Verse 13, in him, you also,

after listening... Oh, I'm sorry, I skipped verse

12. tail end of verse 11 there, according to

the counsel of His will, verse 12, to the end

that we who were first have hoped in Christ would

be to the praise of His glory. To the praise,

I think, of the Father's glory. That's what Paul

has in mind here. But again, how is He bringing

glory? How do we have our hope in Christ? Then

verse 13, in Him, that is in Christ again, you

also, after listening to the Word of Truth, the

Gospel of your salvation, having also believed,

you were sealed in Him, in Christ. How? With

the Holy Spirit. All three persons here involved.

You're going to outline this to outline around

the persons of the Trinity. That's the only way

to really make sense of this. And then verse

14, who is, that's the Spirit now, given as a

pledge of our inheritance unto the redemption

of God's own possession to the praise of His

glory. Here again, we see just like we saw in

John 17 this morning, those whom the Father is

giving me write four times. That's God's possession.

He possessed us. He chose us and selected us.

We're going to see that again here in just a

minute in the word saints. That's what the word

saints really infers, is that truth. So God's

possession is given as a pledge of inheritance.

So the Holy Spirit now, who comes to those who

are in Christ, is a pledge of that coming inheritance,

is a down payment. he's a nail -painting artist.

All right. Any thoughts about that? We are called

to do the work of Christ. It is called as an

inheritance unto the redemption of God's possession.

Does that possession refer to the saints that

he has saved? Is that what he's referring to?

That's verse 14. the pledge of our inheritance

unto the redemption of God's possession in the

praise of his glory. I'm just thinking about

what we're talking about, those today that were

given to the Son by the Father. There are those

that he has chosen that are his, and he gives

them as he desires, according to his purpose,

according to his pledge, or by the way, purpose,

that appears next to it. That's right. So what's

your question? to see if that makes sense there

that that phrase possession refers to the saints

in relation to the Bible there is where his possession

that's right that's right that's what I think

it is because I mean otherwise redemption that

word redemption there doesn't make sense and

it's still in context of what he said starting

verse 7 the forgiveness of sins you know and

then In verse, by the way, just in passing, Paul

here is just hinting. Let's see, where is that?

Verse 12. Verses 12 and 13. He may be a little

puzzled by what he says here. To the end that

we who were first... have hope in Christ. And

then in verse 13 he says, in him you also, after

listening to the word of truth, pass through

salvation, believe. Okay, so who's he talking

about here? Versus 12. Who believes in him in

Christ first? The Jews. The Jews are what he

has in mind here, okay? So verse 12 is what he's

doing. Notice the pronouns here. To the end that

we, including himself, who first have hoped in

Christ, and then verse 13, in him, you also.

Okay? Now you may say well I want proof of that

okay so just real quick in chapter two starting

at verse 11, Paul's gonna come back to this idea

again, but he's gonna expand on it more fully.

Okay, and in chapter two, verse 11, to the end

of the chapter, really, he has, and you'll hear

that in the introduction that we're gonna read

here in a minute to our new notes today, but

Paul is tenderly... leading all the believers

into a fuller understanding of what this is that

God is doing, this inheritance that awaits us,

okay? But he's particularly sensitive to the

Gentile believers. And I want to show that to

you here in a second with the notes here where

he's talking about saints. And you really see

that again picking up about half of chapter 2

is dealing with that one subject where Paul is

effectively saying that God has torn down that

dividing wall between Jew and Gentile. And you

Gentiles who once were foreigners and aliens

and strangers away from the covenants and not

any part of, from a human perspective... of the

promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and to

their descendants, God has brought you near.

He's torn that dividing wall down, and now there's

one body, one Savior, one Christ, one flock,

one shepherd, okay, is the essence of it. And

that's important because that's a set up for

what he's gonna say in chapter four about the

unity and how that unity works itself out in

the body so that all of us together, As we're

seeing here, we just saw in this text and we're

going to continue to see how our unity in Christ

brings, among other things, unity with each other.

Okay, so that now in the church, there's no longer.

Okay. Well, you're a Gentile Christian and that's

a second double place behind it below a Jewish

Christian say no God has destroyed that dividing

wall that's chapter 2 verse 14 completely gotten

away with it and So in chapter 4 he's gonna say

preserve the unity of the bond of peace and spirit,

right? So that's verse 13, being diligent to

keep the unity of the spirit and bond of peace.

So in 12, it says, in order that wheat, that's

called to the Jews, that's referred to the Jews.

And then in 12 or 13, it says, when you also,

that's considered the Gentiles. Yeah, it refers

to all the saints. Down to verse 15. That's right.

cool is that he when you were mentioning in chapter

two there in the number 15 by abolishing the

law of the commandments expressed in the ordinances

that he might create in himself one new man in

place of the two so making peace that he might

reconcile us both to God in one body thereby

killing the hostility. If a person believes that

the church is now, takes over the, like, the

preeminence, preeminence or whatever, of Israel,

you know, and takes their place, okay, they're

not important anymore, you know, now the church

is everything. Because that's not what it says

at all. And if it says killing the hostility,

well, that would definitely be causing hostility

and it would not be making for peace. That's

right. That's right. I mean, when you say that,

that, you know, I have heard people say that,

you know, we'll forget Israel, you know, the

church is everything else. And we are, you know,

we are, call it all the specific words, we're

the same. The bride of Christ. You know, yeah,

we're the same. Now we receive everything. Well,

we do receive a lot, but we, but Israel is still

his special people. They will always be his special

people. That's just the way they are. As part

of his sovereignty also. So I appreciate those

verses right there, because that does clear up

a little bit. Let's say it this way. When you

say Israel is His special people, Scripture is

clear, Paul is clear in Romans 2 particularly,

to draw distinctions between Jews who are Jews

by genetics, descendancy, versus Jews who have

been born again. In fact, I think that's what

Jesus really is trying to get to with Nicodemus

when he talks about being born again in chapter

2. John 3, is that Nicodemus, you're trusting

in your lineage. They kept very careful in temple

records because their salvation was tied up in

that. And yes, you could be brought in as a proselytite,

a Gentile, into the Jewish faith, but you had

to renounce your family and be born again as

a Jew. That's what baptism pictured, all of that.

But he's saying to Nicodemus, you need a new

lineage. You can't be saved that way. And then

in John 15 where he says, I am the true vine,

Christ replaces Israel. When we showed that and

when we studied in Isaiah 5, 1 -7, it's very

clear that that picture of the vine in the Old

Testament was the picture of the nation Israel.

But Christ comes in and says, no, I'm the true

vine. And every branch of me bears fruit. In

other words, the kind of fruit that God was looking

for from His people in the Old Testament cannot

be found anywhere other than in Christ, right?

So whether you're Jew or Gentile, you're not

going to have that kind of godly character, that

righteous character that God requires and demands,

and that is really preparation for living with

Him. Because He's not going to live with unrighteous

people in eternity, right? The only way you can

have that is in Christ. However, Christ is the

true Israel. But he's not done with the nation.

He's not done. He will redeem them. That's pretty

clear. Yeah, you're right. So that replacement

theology has a number of problems. And you're

right. It does tend to strain at least the peace

that we have among Jew and Gentile. Let me introduce

them. I'm going to circulate these notes and

keep these handy if you would. because we will

take one and pass it around. And we'll introduce

this. I want to read through this today because

this idea of unity carries over into Paul's word

for believers here. And I think we have enough

for you. Yeah, perfect. Okay. I think we have

just enough for one prayer as well. And so...

I want to take a look at this concept or the

term of saints. What is saints? What does it

mean? Connected with that is concept of holiness.

We'll talk about that. So we'll introduce this.

We'll read this, okay? We'll go through this

briefly and then we'll finish up for tonight.

And we won't actually get into the next half

of chapter one until next time, okay? So for

chapter one, we're dividing it up into these

two sections. So these notes probably... versus

15 through 23 which is the end but we won't really

get into that today. because I want to do this

as a background. A couple of verses at the top

here that are very pertinent to, not in Ephesians,

but are very pertinent to this topic. So I'm

titling this, God's Hope, Inheritance, and Power.

The next section in chapter 1 centers the center

of gravity of chapter 1, verses 15 to the end

of chapter there, 23. The center of gravity of

that is verse 19. All the action really focuses

on verse 19 in this next section of chapter 1.

Well, I should really say verse 18, but particularly

verse 19. The reason I say that is verse 19 then

launches God's power and God's sovereign. Like

I said, we're not going to touch on this this

time. Next time, Lord willing. Survive our trip

to Europe And now we'll do that, but we'll look

at those there's four words in that Verse that

talk about God's power and energy and ability

and might and strength, okay? And then that becomes

sort of like a fountainhead You know how you

have like us like a river or something years

ago. We went to the headwaters of the Mississippi

Minnesota. That was kind of cool. And it's amazing

to stand there. It's fairly big. It's a little

creek. But it starts as a creek, really. It just

kind of comes out of this lake right there. And

of course, the Mississippi becomes massive. But

you trace the Mississippi all the way back to

the headwater. And so the rest of Ephesians is

kind of like that massive river. And it all starts

kind of in verse 19 with the power of God unfolding

in everything that happens with that one. So

that's just a brief outline of this section.

So that's why we get the title here, God's Hope,

Inheritance, and Power. Those three things, particularly

His power, is what's coming. Does that make sense?

Let's read these notes and then we'll finish.

At the top there, Colossians 1 .12, giving thanks

to the Father who has, I love this, qualified

you to share in the inheritance of the saints

in life. God the Father is qualifying us. We

don't qualify ourselves. like God the Father

does. Notice this, the inheritance in who? Of

the saints in life. Next verse, 2 Timothy 1,

8 -9. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony

about our Lord, nor be His prisoner, but share

in suffering for the gospel by the power of God,

who saved us and called us to a holy calling.

not because of our works, but because of His

own purpose and grace, which He gave us in Christ

Jesus before the ages began." Kind of saying

the same thing with what we've just been seeing,

right? Just in a more condensed form. But the

emphasis here is holy calling, because it's interesting.

Oftentimes we talk about the calling of God,

but here, oh, it's qualified with the word holy.

Alright, so when the saints go marching in. The

Apostle Paul, when addressing the believers in

emphasis, and surrounding areas in his letter

to them, which we call Ephesians, refers to the

term saints, okay? And you have those references

there. That's where he uses the term saints.

Notice that every chapter in Ephesians mentions

that word. Chapter one, chapter two, three, four,

five, and six. So this is an important term for

our study in Ephesians, okay? We better understand

what it means. So he uses, prefers the term saints.

for them overwhelmingly as opposed to brothers

only at the very very end after talking about

the spiritual warfare and armor of God praying

in all kinds of occasions for all the saints

only at the very end as he's closing the letter

does he refer to them as brothers. As opposed

to brothers his most favorite term in his other

letters to address believers. I've been doing

some research on the Bible software. You can

count how many times it's used and it's broken

down by Paul's letters and then it went in within

each letter and this kind of thing. The term

saints as opposed to brothers is kind of interesting.

I've never really done that before. How does,

how our believers refer to, you know, particularly

for Paul, generally in the New Testament, okay,

but particularly in Paul's writings, and overwhelmingly,

if you do a survey of all of Paul's writings,

he uses the term brothers, or brother in the

older translations, right, to refer to believers,

overwhelmingly. Saints is sort of second place,

he uses that a lot. In a few places, like maybe

three places, I think I found believers. And

I didn't find the term Christians anywhere in

Paul's writings, which is interesting. He doesn't

refer to them as Christians, although in Acts

it does say that if you actually take your software

and look up the term Christian or Christians,

you'll see it shows up a handful of times, but

never Paul's writings. Peter actually uses it

one time. It shows up in Acts, too. It says that

they first started calling them Christians. So

Paul overwhelmingly used the term brothers, but

in Ephesians, Ephesians just a little. Ah, it

just stands out maybe from the rest of them in

that, especially for as small as it is compared

to books like First Corinthians and Romans, you

know, which are really long books, okay? Ephesians

is pretty, well, fairly small. It's the smallest,

but it's a smaller epistle of his, but it overwhelmingly

prefers this term saints as opposed to brothers,

okay? And then I just put a parenthetical note

there. In his other letters, he uses believers

a handful of times when they were Christians.

What's so special about this term for his audience?

There's a reason why he's using this term overwhelmingly

here for believers as opposed to the term brothers.

Could his reference for this in Ephesians over

his usual term brothers be emphasizing something

to them? Before we answer that, we need to know

what saints means. It comes from the Greek word

hegeos, which means holy or set upon. It's an

adjective, not a noun, meaning that the object...

The object is inferred when not mentioned directly.

What I'm trying to say there simply is that,

do you remember your grammar? A noun is a person,

place, or thing, or idea, right? It's, you know,

okay. What's a concrete noun? Yeah, the abstract

and concrete. Yeah, that has a funny story about

it. He can tell you later. Okay. There's always

one in every class. Oh, yeah. But the noun is

the thing that's received receiving the action

or doing the action, right? An adjective adds...

Describes it? Describes it, right? Adds qualifiers

to it, right? This word, hagios, is one of those

words. It's not a noun in itself. It's an adjective.

So in the verse we just read, right at the top

of your notes there, that's got that holy calling

underlined, that's the word hagios in front of

calling. Okay? So it's a, what kind of calling

is it? It's a holy calling. Okay, that's, you

may remember your, dust off your grammar days,

right? So this term, haggios, is an adjective,

so what? What's interesting is, that's, when

you read the term saints, that's what it is,

it's an adjective. It reads like a noun in English,

but it's really just an adjective, and the noun

is implied. It's there, but it's implied. So

you could translate that, holy ones. But it's

interesting, because it's, you know, that he's...

That's what he's actually saying, and it really

says that holy ones. Yeah, but it doesn't say

holy ones. Yeah, I know. Yeah, well it is I mean

that you have to because it's an adjective you

have to infer what then what it's referring to

right? What's it qualifying? Holy what? Right,

holy ones holy people. Okay, but it's never explicit.

It's not explicitly stated. I thought that was

interesting Letters have been addressed to the

saints Yeah, this letter I'm writing to the holy

is what he said Does it have to refer to believers?

If there's no noun after that, then it's referring

to believers. We'll see. Just hang on. So it's

an adjective, not a noun. And the object is inferred.

So it is used over 200 times in the New Testament.

most frequently as part of spirit. Right? So

spirit is the noun and holy is the adjective.

Who is that? Holy Spirit. Okay? Do you understand?

Okay. So it's part of the spirit to refer to

the Holy Spirit. Sometimes so. I've found it

most often, what I'm saying is I've found this

word Haggaios paired most often with spirit referred

to the Holy Spirit. Alright. Sometimes it's used

in front of inanimate objects such as Holy City,

Holy Place, Holy Ground, Holy Kiss. How many

times does Holy Kiss appear? At the end of three

of Paul's letters. and first Thessalonians. Paul

was big on the hole to kiss apparently. Where's

Larry? You got a homie hug? Holy covenant and

holy scriptures, right? And there are other pairings,

but those stood out, and I'll give you some of

the references there. I just ran out of space.

I kept finding them again and again, and I was

like, okay, you know, so that et cetera means

you can do your own study, okay, if you want

to find all those inanimate objects or inanimate

nouns that are paired with this holy, okay? But

most often, it is used in connection with God,

such as Holy Father, right? We're going to see

that in John 17, a little bit later on, John

17, 11, where Jesus calls him Holy Father. This

was interesting. Holy One and Holy Child refer

to Jesus, okay? And there's several references

there that show that, okay? and then of course

Holy Spirit for the counselor slash helper that's

used 89 times in direct connection to Him. So

this term Haggios or Holy is associated with

with inanimate objects like Holy ground, Holy

covenant, Holy kiss, but most often it's attached

to one or more of the members of the Trinity,

particularly the Holy Spirit. It's also used

in connection with angels and prophets and apostles.

Okay, so holy angels, holy prophets, holy apostles.

Does that make sense? Okay, so you've got, what

I'm trying to point out here is that the term

haggios or holy doesn't really just kind of stand

on its own. It's intended to point to something,

right? It's intended to direct our attention

towards something that is holy. Okay? And we

often, rightly, think of God first when we think

of the term holy. But Scripture is not exclusive

when it comes to that, and it even attaches this

word to inanimate objects. I'll show why that's

important here in just a minute. Okay, so the

next paragraph there. What we gather from this

overwhelmingly popular term pertaining to the

things and people of God is that holiness has

less to do with moral cleanness or righteousness

and more to do with the state of its object as

set apart by God from other objects as something

that is used specifically and directed directly

by him to accomplish his purposes. What I'm trying

to say there is as you study this and you look

at the evidence of it the emphasis again is not

on the moral purity of the thing that's holy.

We often confuse that. You'll hear that very

frequently. People will talk about holiness as

if it's like moral purity before God. Moral purity

may be part of that, but that's not really the

emphasis of holiness. The emphasis of holiness

is the utility, the special setting aside of

that object, whatever it is, for the purpose

of God. Okay? That's the emphasis of it, that

God has a special purpose for that, and He is

setting it aside for His use directly as part

of His plan. Like we said earlier, He's not only

sovereign of the... the end, but also the means.

So these are special means by which he is accomplishing

his end. Through him, right? Through him, right.

That's the whole point. Through the Holy One,

right? Right. Nothing would matter without it

being through him. That's right. The opposite

of holy is profane. Meaning that which is common

and ordinary and not used by God for a higher

purpose. When we talk about profanity, that's

what we mean. It's coarse, common, ordinary language,

right? How many people use profanity, right?

It really means you, but what they're doing is...

You're effectively lowering your communication

down to the ordinary and common, right? Anyway,

that's an interesting thought. Parentheses there.

This isn't to say profane objects aren't used

by God, but they are more like the background,

part of the stage on which God's plan unfolds.

Over time, these terms have evolved to refer

That is, I'm talking about holiness, what is

holy and what is profane. These terms have evolved

to refer to what is unpolluted versus polluted

and dirty. What is better to see that as the

effect or fruit of holiness or profanity and

complementary to them, okay, or the consequence

of them, rather than as the state itself. This

is most clearly seen in places where the Bible

points to inanimate objects such as a city. or

a temple building, or certain plots of ground

as holy. Remember, I didn't put this here to

notice, but Moses is ordered to take off his

sandals because the ground on which you stand

is holy ground, right? That's an inanimate object.

What made that ground special? It's not because

it was more morally pure than the other ground

around it, right? It's because God chose that

particular ground, that area right there, for

a very special and specific purpose, right? And

He's directly working with Moses in His commissioning

right there. So that ground is very special as

opposed to just the profane ground around it.

Does that make sense? There's nothing that ground

could have done to make itself holy. Right. His

holiness is not inherent to it, but inherent

to the choice that God makes for it. No matter

its moral position. That's right. It meant nothing.

That's right. Okay, so these animal objects are

morally neutral and therefore neither righteous

nor unrighteous inherently. So why does Paul

use this term, saints, most exclusively for his

audience in Ephesians, unlike the popular meaning

of saints in many circles today, notably the

Catholic Church, right? You probably think the

other term, saints. Many people think of Roman

Catholicism and the saints. Right. All these

different saints. St. Patrick's Day and all of

these days they have St. Christopher, you know,

from travel and all that. He is not referring

to a... Paul uses this term. He is not referring

to a subset of specially accomplished Christians

who have distinguished themselves. but rather

to all those who have been chosen, adopted, and

called by God the Father to an inheritance which

he purposed in Christ to give to them to show

off his amazingly generous heart of love and

the immeasurable abundance of the riches of his

grace and mercy. It is very important that Paul

reminds these saints that it is God's sovereignty

and not their... worthiness that has put them

in this state. Will you catch that? Let me read

that again. It's very important that Paul reminds

these saints that it is God's sovereignty that

is His choice and His work, and not their worthiness

that has put them in this state of being a saint.

We see Him use this term of holy ones again and

again to drive home the fact that God has done

the work of making His people set apart and not

a function of their self -improvement. Morals

or good works done to please Him. Hear how different

that is from the Catholic conception of Satan?

So it doesn't matter how long your robe is or

how many candles you have. or how many little,

you know, ding -dongs you got hanging in the

front of you. Right. Right. Or how big your hat

is. Or how many poor Indian children you helped,

you know, as in the case of Mother Teresa. Right.

Yeah. Unfortunately. Yeah. She's a saint of God's

makes her one. But she's not a saint otherwise.

Okay. So many verses in Ephesians point this

way. Okay. And you're probably one of the ones

I was thinking of here is Ephesians 2, 8, and

9, and 10, right? Very clearly point to the fact

that it's God's work, not ours, okay? But many

voices in Ephesians point this way, but several

are particularly clear because they directly

mention His purpose of making for Himself a holy

people, okay? So here we go, here's one we just

read a minute ago. Even as He chose us in Him

before the foundation of the world, why? and

we should be holy and blameless before Him in

love. Well, why the redundancy? If holiness means

inherently, morally pure, why say blameless,

too, on top of that? Well, it's both. We're set

aside for His special purpose, and oh, by way,

He's also making us blameless. You see that?

They're connected, but they're not to be confused.

All right? Next verse is there. Chapter 2 says

this. So then you are no longer strangers and

aliens, but you are fellow citizens. He's talking

about the Gentile believers are fellow citizens

with the saints, the holy really literally with

the holy and members of the household of God

built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets,

Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone in

whom the whole structure being joined together

grows into a holy temple in the Lord. God is

taking each of us and growing us together into

this, not only individual, but corporate temple,

right? We know our bodies are the temple of the

Holy Spirit, but corporately together. He says

we're a holy temple. And the last verse there

in chapter five. Husbands, love your wives as

Christ loved the church and gave himself up for

her that he might sanctify her. That's the process

of making holy, okay? Having cleansed her by

the washing of water by the words so that he

might present the church to himself in splendor

without spot or wrinkle or any such thing that

she might be, same two words again, effectively

be holy and without letters. Paul's encouraging,

mind -blowing letter we call Ephesians is written

to believers who are marginalized by the Greco

-Roman culture around them. They weren't especially

noteworthy people. And even among the believers

themselves, the Gentile Christians could easily

feel second rate because they didn't have the

advantages of a Jewish pedigree. We'll see Paul

tenderly reach out to them, especially as he

reminds all believers that none of us have earned

God's grace and salvation. That's 2, 8, 9, right?

And that he has gone out of his way to tear down

the dividing wall we talked about earlier of

hostility between Jewish and Gentile believers.

God is in the business. Here's the punchline.

God is in the business of taking ordinary, profane

people and completely changing their station

in Christ, called sanctification, meaning the

process of making them holy, to a place of direct

and specific use by Him. For what purpose? Paul

answers it this way. But God, being rich in mercy,

because of the great love with which he loved

us even when we were dead in our trespasses made

us alive together with Christ by grace you have

been saved and raised us up with him and seated

us with him in the heavenly places in Christ

Jesus so that in the coming ages he might show

the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness

toward us in Christ Jesus. In other words, God

has called each of us If we're in Christ, right,

out of the masses, so to speak, just the profane,

common, ordinary centers, the run -of -the -mill

centers, not because we've done all these great,

wonderful works, like the Catholic system says,

right, or other systems. I think the Orthodox

system has its own set of saints, right? These

are special, you know, top -tier Christians,

right? It has nothing to do. with those people.

It has everything to do with God's choice to

call and sanctify them and to set them apart

and set aside for His specific purposes. Okay?

Alright? So next time... Like I said, next month,

October, Lord willing, we'll, not next month,

but October, we'll look at this, we'll start

this out. This is worshiped around the Lord.

Amazing. Amazing. Yeah. I was, as I was putting

these notes together, I was like, at one time,

I was just like, tears started coming. I was,

I was just like, man. How do you thank God enough?

Calling us out of the ordinary and the vain and

where we were to be exalted in the heavens with

Christ? It's amazing. Amazing. Simply obey Him,

right? That's how you love Him enough. Yes. You

gave me a pretty simple answer to that. If you

love him, you obey me, right? That's exactly

what he said. Or else we'd be searching for exactly

the question you just said. Well, how in the

world out of all this massive expanse am I supposed

to tell him I love him? That's right. How can

I reciprocate this at all? And so he said specifically,

obey me. And that's it. That's all he said. If

you love me, you obey me. Wow. Okay, well I can

try to manage that. But try to reciprocate, you

know, all this, like you said, the expanse of

deep spray. You can't wrap your mind around it.

And in his knowledge, he knew that, so he just

said, uh, obey me. We all failed at that. Thank

goodness that we have Him that knows our hearts.

And hopefully, if we stumble again, we'll be

as bad. Well, Paul is going to take the second

half of Ephesians to explore that, how he starts

chapter four by saying, in light of God's calling,

live a life worthy. Yeah. Literally, what he

says is live up to the calling you received.

And then he unpacks all that, what that means.

That's right. I think Diana took a special slight

from you. Out of all the saints you could have

chose, chose St. Patty. You know what's cool

about that? In the Catholic system, or in man

-made religious systems like that, you have to

earn that status of saint, right? In Christ,

you're given that status. And then Paul says,

now live up to that. That's what we're called

to. You're a saint. Act like it. They're watching

you more than money. Even more than that is an

insult to the Lord. If He's saving us from sin,

why would we go back to that? Why would you offend

Him again? All right, we're a little late, but

that's close. Good discussion. Father, thank

you. What do we say to these things? If God be

for us, who is against us? I feel like we've

been looking at the deep field of the New Testament

here. just sparkling wealth of yourself really

expressed through this kindness and grace and

love and riches of mercy that we see poured out

of Christ. And to call us saints is such an amazing,

amazing thing. We know, if we're even a little

bit honest, how unworthy we are of that title.

And yet, it is not... not at all baked into the

term to think about our worthiness but of your

calling. And so we thank you for that. I pray

you'll help us to grab a hold of these things,

to live in them and live up to them by the Holy

Spirit and scriptures and mutual fellowship and

encouragement of one another that we may all

grow to.