All right, I hope you guys are in the mood to talk today, because we are going. No. Can you hear me OK? It's OK. It's OK? OK. When we hear a certain age, you know. Can you hear me, Paul? I'm not. Yes, I can. OK. I guess Paul's not as old as Nikki, so I guess. I can hear the dog whistle. Can you hear me, Dan? Yeah. OK. All right, so we're getting into Ephesians Chapter 3 today. The last couple of weeks has been Stuart on Chapter 2. But since Chapter 3 is so, kind of the beginning of Chapter 3 is really kind of dependent on Chapter 2, what I'm going to do is go back and we're just going to blow through a handful of verses within Chapter 2 to kind of set us up for context for Chapter 3, all right? As we get, let's go ahead and open in a word of prayer and then we'll get started. So Father, thank you for this morning and just the ability to come together and worship you and study your word. We thank you that you provided the Bible for us, that you provided your word and that we can understand that you haven't just left us groping in the dark. You've given us guidance and understanding and who we're supposed to be and who you are and just help us to glorify you and everything that we think and say and do. For all these things in Jesus name, amen. All right, now that Josh is here, we can get started. All right, so we're going to take a step back for context, say, into chapter 2, Ephesians chapter 2. So we're going to start in verse 8. We're going to just kind of go through it very, very quickly. As I do this, be thinking about the major points, or what the major point of this is, because that's going to be the first question I ask is, what's the major point of what it is that we're reading? What is Paul really driving at? So chapter two, verse eight, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of work so that no one may boast, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in him. Therefore, remember that at one time you Gentiles Gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcision by what is called by the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hand. Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you once who were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Now let's skip down to verse 18. For through him we both have access in one spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints 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. In him, you are also being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. So what is the point of that section that I just read, that passage that I just read? What would you say is the major thesis? Except Stuart. And that I think is a central message and that's something that we need to, that we definitely get out of Ephesians 1 and 2, is the Trinity. I would agree with that, but I would also put the cornerstone. You've got to put the cornerstone down, because that starts the foundation of Jesus walking on the earth. And we're the bricks and so on that goes in the mortar that goes on top of that. So that's what I'm thinking. So now you've got the Spirit, you've got the Father, and you've got Jesus. So you've got all three of them, right? Good. And I think all of that is crucial. But I think the central point is this idea of the Gentiles and the Jews. all being together in one spirit. Verse 18 says, for through him we both have access in one spirit to the father, right? We have to go back to the first century and think about what it was like then and what the Jewish attitude was then, okay? And to a certain extent what the Jewish attitude is now, okay? But it was a very, it was very exclusive. There is one way to God, and that is through Judaism, through the one true God, through Judaism. The Gentiles were excluded. Now, like Stuart said last week, how would a Gentile worship the one true God? What would they have to do first? They have to become a Jew, they convert to Judaism. In a similar way today, we would have to, you know, a non-believer would have to become a Christian in order to worship the one true God. But that's the whole thing is this mystery, this idea, I just blew up. future question I'm going to be asking, but is this idea of the Gentiles and the Jews worshiping one God, bringing the Gentiles into the faith, grafting them into the body or into the vine of the one true God is, or the one body is, it's a major, I'll call it a paradigm shift, a major paradigm shift in the first century. It would have been absolutely mind-blowing to them. Alright, so let's go into Ephesians 3. Now one thing to remember about this first part, the first 13 verses or so, is it's a parenthetical statement. So Paul's cruising along, he opens with chapter one, and he's talking about being in Christ, and he gets into chapter two, and he's talking about salvation by grace through faith, and the Gentiles and the Jews, you know, coming to God in one spirit. And then suddenly in chapter three, verse one, he goes off on a tangent. And he does so for about 13 verses. And then at the end, the 14th verse, he picks back up where he left off, and he continues on. We're gonna start with verse 14 next week. This week, we're gonna talk about the parentheses. So it's parenthetical. It's related to the previous section, and it depends on it, but it interrupts this flow of argument. All right, so we're gonna read Ephesians 3, one through 13, and then we'll go through it and kind of dissect it a little bit. For this reason, now for what reason? What's that? Because we're one. Because we're one, the Gentiles and the Jews. So you could paraphrase this and say, chapter three, verse one, it starts out, because the Gentiles and the Jews are in one spirit, coming to God in one spirit, I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles, Assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made to the sons of God and other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the spirit. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. Verse seven. Of this gospel, I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me by the working of his power. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things. so that through the church, the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him. So I ask you not to lose heart over what I'm suffering for you, which is your glory. All right, let's scroll back up to the top. Let's go back up to the top. So I've already hit this, but for this reason, I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles. So for what reason? Like Bonnie said, it's because of the oneness of the Gentiles and the Jews. So concerning Paul when he's talking about his situation as a prisoner, does he seem to be upset by it? Is that why he's including it? No. Probably shaking heads, okay. Does he seem to be discouraged? No. Is he apathetic? Like, eh, I don't care. It is what it is. No, it doesn't, right? But what is he kind of worried about there? It might be a thing. might be in vain, and he's worried about what the Ephesians are thinking. He's worried that they're going to be discouraged, right? And maybe it might be something that causes them to move away from the faith, okay? And so that's the reason he goes into this whole section. So why did he wind up in prison? I mean, kind of a silly question, I guess, but did he do anything wrong? No, no, he didn't. But here's another question. Did he seek out persecution? Did he seek it out specifically? I don't think he sought it, but he didn't avoid it. Right. And that's exactly it. I have a friend of mine who got real zealous probably about 10 years ago. And he was telling me that He said, in Utah, there are various sheriff's departments that are really doing bad things to Christians who are trying to convert Mormons. And he said, man, they got real persecution up there. I want to go up there, right? It's like he was seeking out persecution as a badge of honor. And that puts us in a bad place. We do not want to seek out persecution as a badge of honor. If it happens to us, like Steve said, we don't run away from it and we don't avoid it per se, but we also don't seek it out. So concerning persecution, what did Jesus say specifically about when you're persecuted? What was his attitude? Yeah, exactly. Consistent with what we're saying. In the Beatitudes in Matthew 5, chapter 11, which is the opening of the Sermon on the Mount, He says, Jesus says, blessed are you, and of course there he's talking to, the disciples are in front of him, but then there's also a crowd around him. So he's kind of talking to everybody, primarily the disciples, but then also us by proxy. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Key word there is falsely, right, falsely. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. All right? All right. Any questions so far? No? OK. All right, so verse two, assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men and other generations, that has now been revealed to the holy apostles and prophets by his spirit. This mystery is the Gentiles, our fellow heirs, members of the same body and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. So in verse two, Paul begins to kind of assert some authority here, doesn't he? Okay. Can you think of another letter where he's asserted authority? How about Galatians, right, where he's going in and what's he doing, what's the, What's the idea behind Galatians? Is it a positive letter, or is it a beat down? It's kind of a beat down, right? Because the Galatians, oh foolish Galatians, right? Who's take, probably exactly what the wording is, but who, they had a problem where false teachers were coming in, and the Judaizers, who believed in a mix of Christianity and Judaism, had kind of gone in and they were adding works, specifically circumcision and dietary laws to the gospel. And so what Paul does is he asserts his authority there in order to correct the false teachers. Now here he asserts his authority. He says that he's been given this by God, et cetera. But it's not for that purpose, is it? What do you think it's for? Why is Paul asserting his authority here? When I've read, you know, I've always kind of looked at, you know, the message that Gentiles are also included. You know, for the day, I would have thought would have been kind of a Gentile's lives matter thing. You know? That would have been big news and rejected by many. Right, absolutely. I've always thought kind of on those lines that he was kind of stepping out to bring that message and it would have been divisive. Absolutely, and we're getting ready to talk about that specifically in a couple of minutes. But to kind of answer my own question, I think the reason that he's asserting his authority here is encouragement. He's encouraging his readers that he knows what he's talking about here. These things are not happening in vain. God is not surprised that Paul went to prison. God's plan is not being thwarted. Key word there is God's plan is not being thwarted. It's not Paul's plan, it's God's plan, right? And that's what he's trying to get through to his audience. I'm in prison. He's writing this letter, and then right in the middle, what we're going through right now, he's writing this letter, and he's writing a paragraph of assurance to them, kind of as a sidebar, saying God's plan is not being thwarted. I'm in prison, but don't worry about it. It's gonna be okay, right? So he's assuring his audience. And so specifically, in terms of pointing to his, in terms of his authority, is how was the gospel given to him? Specifically, who gave the gospel to him? Jesus. It didn't come from man, right? It's not like one of us went out and evangelized the Apostle Paul. Jesus himself chose Paul and said, you are, and taught him the gospel, gave the gospel to him. So we see this idea of Paul is asserting this authority, but he's doing so so that the Ephesians have confidence in what he's saying, okay? Now, the apostle John, he also assured his audience as well. If you look in, John 21, verse 24, after he goes through this long list, basically right at the close of his gospel, he says, this is the disciple, meaning I am the disciple, who is bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things, and we know that his testimony is true. In other words, what John is saying is, look, I know this is true, because I was there. I saw it, you can bet the farm on it, basically, right? He also says that in 1 John, where he says, look, these things we saw him, we touched him, right? We heard him with our own ears. What I'm telling you is true, and he's really, you know, trying to give them confidence that they can listen to him because the word that he speaks is not his own. And by proxy, again, it's also to us. When we read John's gospel, we get to chapter 21, he's giving us assurance as well. Kind of the way I think about what Paul's doing here is he's asserting confident humility or humble confidence. He's not saying, hey, I have a PhD from the most impressive seminary, so therefore, I am somehow above you. Okay? He's saying, Jesus gave me this. You can bet that these words are true. Right? All right. So we keep using this word mystery. And as in the famous words of Indigo Matoya, that word, I don't think it means what you think it means. Okay? So what is a mystery? Hidden treasures. Okay. What do you think of when you think of mystery these days? Something that's hidden that's now revealed. Okay, something that's hidden. Is that how everyday people use the word mystery? It's a murder. It's a murder mystery. It's the unknown. It's an unknown. Hard to figure out. It's something to figure out, right? And that's kind of where I was going there is a mystery in everyday speech and everyday words, everyday usage, I should say, it's like a puzzle to figure out. It's something you don't know, and what you do is you go get Sherlock Holmes or Benedict Cumberbatch, I think that's his name, or, you know, what was her name, Marla Maples or whatever, or Angela Lansbury. Okay, and you go and you grab some evidence here and some evidence there, and you piece it together, and you say, oh, the butler did it. Or, oh, Bonnie did it, okay? And so, but biblically, that's not what a mystery is. The last thing that we want to do is look at a mystery and think of it as something that we need to figure out. If it's not revealed, we're not going to figure it out. And that is a basic principle that we all have to understand. If it's not revealed, we're not going to figure it out. Now that doesn't mean that the things that God tells us don't have what the Westminster Confession of Faith calls good and necessary consequences. But there are things like, for example, what are some mysteries right now that we'll never really figure out? The election. Bonnie did it. I don't take that back. All right. So from a Christian perspective, besides the election, what are some things that we will never actually figure out, at least not in this world. Any thoughts? Dinosaurs. Dinosaurs? OK. I was thinking something a little more theological. But yeah, that's a good one. How about the Trinity? The nature of the Trinity. Now, I will tell you. concerning the Trinity, you can understand a lot about the Trinity. And what you can't understand is truly beautiful, and it is worth the time and effort to labor over the passages concerning the Trinity. If you need some direction on that, let me know, because I love it. But we will never truly understand how one being can be three persons. We can also never understand how Jesus Christ can be fully God and fully man. not 50-50. We'll never understand how the Bible can be 100% God's word and at the same time 100% man's word. There are certain things we can never understand. The end times right now. There's a lot of questions that we have about the end times. We can be very confident in what we believe about it, but then we can go talk to somebody. If you're, to use the words, if you're pre-millennial and you talk to an Amil, or if you're a mill and you talk to a pre-mill, the other side can make some really good arguments. So listen to R.C. Sproul and John MacArthur talk about it. So there are certain things that are mysteries right now. Why? Because they haven't been revealed. And that's the key, is they have to be revealed in order for us to understand them. And that is what This mystery is going back and pointing back to, so what, let me just ask the question. What is the specific mystery that Paul is talking about here? He says it's the Gentiles. Exactly. He actually answers the question that I just asked in verse six. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. Here's the thing. You and I don't struggle with that, do we? The Jews, it blew their minds. That was a really big deal. And I hate to keep emphasizing that, but that's the whole point of what Paul is talking about here. The Gentiles and the Jews together in one spirit, that's a really big deal. It doesn't have anything to do with racism. I heard a sermon on chapter two last year, that was basically projecting 21st century problems back into the first century text. They're not there, okay? Well, I'm not gonna say they're not there, because certainly there was racism back then, but that's not what Paul is talking about. Paul's not talking about race, he's talking about religion. He's talking about Christianity. He's talking about Judaism. Specifically, worshiping God and worshiping pagan gods. It's as simple as that. You can't read anything else into it. That's what it is. So let's see, where am I? I should have brought my reading glasses, sorry. I was talking about somebody being old earlier today, and I'm really, you notice me kind of tilting back. I got these progressive lenses, and I'm going like at the very bottom so I can see them. So the only way that biblical mysteries are solved quote, unquote, solved are through revelation. And the danger of thinking that we can actually solve these things that God has not revealed is we wind up in a territory known as heresy. I guess it was about, what, three or four weeks ago, the last time I taught, I taught on the idea of, we talked about election, and how you have, man's responsibility and God's sovereignty, and trying to connect those two things together. But we can never do that, okay? And when we do do that, if we think we succeed in harmonizing those two things, then we are solidly in the territory of unbiblical teaching, or false teaching. Because it's just not there. Oh, let's see. Okay, so we talked about, and this goes back to what Steve was saying a few minutes ago, the Jews, how would the Jews have felt about the Gentiles being brought in, and their minds would have been blown, okay? Now, the question is, should they have felt that way? And the reason I ask that question is, what does the Bible actually say? Specifically, what does the Old Testament actually say? I'm only gonna give you about three examples But let's look at what, three examples of what the Old Testament has to say about the Gentiles coming to the faith and worshiping Yahweh. First one is Genesis chapter 12, verses one through three. And this is the call of Abraham, or the call of Abram, and it's the beginning of what we refer to as the Abrahamic covenant. It begins God's earnest, uh, fulfillment. It was a Genesis three 15, the, um, the, the seat of the woman that's going to crush the seat of the serpent. This is where God earnestly begins to, um, redeem his people says, uh, Genesis 12 verse one. Now the Lord said to Abram, go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And it will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you, I will curse. And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. In you, from your descendant, all of the families of the earth shall be blessed, including those Gentiles. Psalm 22, verse 27. Psalm 22, verse 27. All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord. And all the families of the nations, what's another word for nation? What, biblically it's Gentiles. All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord. Oh, by the way, that turn, that teshuvah, that's repentance. They shall repent and turn to the Lord. All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations, the Gentiles, shall worship before you. For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations. He rules over the Gentiles. Okay? So specifically, Psalm 22 is saying here that we're bringing in the nations and they're gonna worship the one true God. Now, Psalm 22, the part that I just read, look up at me, don't look at your Bible. Trivia, what's the first verse, oh, Stuart's cheating. What's the first verse of Psalm 22 say? My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? What's the significance? Who said that? Christ said that where? On the cross. Why did he say that? He's pointing back to Psalm 22. Okay. Jesus is up there. Yeah. He's crying out to God, but he's preaching while he's, while he's crying out. And he used those words to point back to Psalm 22. And specifically in Psalm 22, it's talking about bringing the Gentiles in with the Jews. The nations, they've seen a great light, right? All that stuff goes together, right? It's all tied in. You just have to look at it. It's absolutely mind-blowing. Malachi, or if you're Italian, Malachi. Chapter one, verse 11 says, and what's happening here, significantly here, Malachi is really beating up the priests because they're polluting the offerings. They're not honoring God, they're polluting the offerings. And the prophet says, for from the rising of the sun to its setting my name, or the Lord says through the prophet, for from the setting of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, among the Gentiles. And in every place incense will be offered to my name and a pure offering as opposed to the polluted offering that's happening in the temple. So the nations are actually going to have pure offerings in contrast to the polluted offerings that are occurring in the temple. For my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of Hosts. So we'll stop there, but there's a whole bunch. And so the idea is the first century Jews would have been blown away that the Gentiles were being brought in, but they shouldn't have because There were hints that if they really knew the scriptures, they wouldn't have been surprised. Okay? All right. Any questions so far? Am I losing anybody? Yes, sir? Don't make it too hard. Yeah? 925, as the deep Hosea says, those who are not my people, I will call my people. So is that another reference to that in Hosea that he was bringing in the Gentiles even back then? I mean, that's a straight reference. Who's he talking about? I mean, the Jews. The Jews are the chosen people. Who else other than the Jews I'm going to call those who are not my people, my people? Yeah, and this, he really blows up and really expands and amplifies it in Romans 9 through 11, like you just said. And so, yeah, that would have been, but what's he doing? The whole way he's quoting Old Testament scripture, just like Jesus. You know, Jesus is teaching, what he did was unique, was new, you know. What he taught was Old Testament. Go look at the Beatitudes. You can look at, mostly it's around, it's Isaiah, but mostly, generally, by and large, it's, how can I qualify that more? Between chapter 60 and 66. The Beatitudes were not new teaching. They were not radical teaching. That was Old Testament teaching. Jesus repeated, more or less, what Isaiah said. He wasn't giving them anything new there, right? What he did was new, but what he taught was really Old Testament teaching. He just clarified it, you know, and maybe amplified it a little bit. What was the reference in the Hawkeye? What's that? What was the reference exactly? Chapter 1, verse 11. Yeah. What do you mean what he was doing was new? Well, the fact that he died, he was the, I don't want to come across as saying Christ was the same old thing because clearly Christ was something absolutely amazing and special, right? The creator of the universe entered into his creation and then died for his people. So a new covenant. Yeah, the new covenant was new and his work was new. But his actual teaching, when you go back, almost everything he taught was pretty much from, a lot of it was from Isaiah, but a lot of it was Old Testament. There was a lot of Psalms in there. Maybe John 17 would have been a little bit different. Yes, sir? And I'm hooking off, sidetracking things, but at this time, when Paul is speaking and you're writing, I mean, what existed in print other than the Pentateuch at this time? Well, he would have had the whole test. Because the Pentateuch is the first five books, right? But, well, when I say he would have had the whole Old Testament, he would have potentially had access to the entire Old Testament in terms of scrolls. Well, I think my question really is, the churches at that point, you know, would the churches at the time have had the entire Old Testament at their disposal, or were they more kind of teaching from just the Pentateuch at that time? The churches or the synagogue? Well, the synagogue. We'll just narrow it down to that. So, you know, again, so I guess what I'm saying is, you know, this message that he's bringing that, you know, I'm here for the Gentiles, I mean, how far outside of what they've heard was that? Well, and you're right. I mean, the everyday, the people like us, like you take us, project us back to the first century, make us Jews, right? Yeah, we would have been blown away, right? We would have been blown away. But I guess the point I'm making, and you make a, raise a good question. Point I'm talking about is really the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the religious elite, specifically the religious elite around Jerusalem. They should have known better. As a matter of fact, Jesus even got on them for not really knowing the scriptures, right? So that's actually a great question. So what Jesus taught to the masses would have been new, probably, right? Because it's not like they could fire up the internet and go grab their, you know, ESV version of the Old Testament or something. All right. Great point. Any other questions? Nope. Okay. Verse 7. Of this gospel, I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me by the working of his power." So again, I just want to point out that Paul is calling attention to that he is nothing special in and of himself. He's pointing to God's grace. It's only by grace that it's been given to him. Again, wind back the clock three weeks. The way we talked about grace and what grace is, I mean, it was clear in Paul's mind that he didn't deserve the honor that he was bestowed upon in order to bring the gospel to the Gentiles, right? So he recognizes God's grace there. Now, this idea of given by working of his power, that word power, He's kind of alluding to the Holy Spirit here, or he's very much alluding to the Holy Spirit here. And the reason I really bring this up is I've heard, I don't even know how many sermons around this idea of power in the New Testament. And what'll happen is the preacher will say, well, You know, the Greek word is dunamis, or dunamis, or dynamos, or, you know, something of that nature, right? But it's the word that, you know, we get from, that we get our word dynamite from, okay? And so the idea is what the modern day preacher will say is that, so you have this idea of explosive power, right? But what that's doing is reading back what we understand now, reading that back into the text. That's called eisegesis. It's reading into the text, as opposed to exegesis, getting out of the text. So there's this idea of power, or dunamis, which I'm from Texas, so I can't do the Greek pronunciation at all. I just sound like a moron when I try. But really, dunamis, don't think dynamite. Don't think explosive power. Think mighty. You know, I kind of think like hurricanes and stuff. Think mighty, or even think miracle. Because sometimes this word dunamis is translated as miracle. Because how are miracles performed? In the power of the Holy Spirit, right? In the mightiness of the Holy Spirit. So if you think about a miracle, the idea of a miracle in in the first century is not something unexpected. It's something amazing. It's something that demonstrates God's mightiness. Okay? So it's like, you know, what we often say, well, you know, man, it'll take a miracle. It'll take some kind of divine intervention. It'll take a big surprise, a big turn of events. That's not what it meant back then. What it meant back then was it'll take God's power to change this. It'll take his mightiness. And so we have this idea of the gospel, I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me by the working of his power. And by the way, when you and I think about the word spirit, we tend to think of immaterial, right, as opposed to having a body. So there's body as opposed to spirit. But in the first century, they weren't really thinking like that. They were more thinking spirit as power. So the Holy Spirit was God's power as a person. Does that make sense? Okay. And if you remember, like some of these things I'm telling you, as you go through the Bible and you run across these words, and if you think about it in a slightly different way, it really impacts the way we understand what Paul is telling us. All right, verse eight. To me, though, I am the very least of all the saints. And again, I look at this, and again, it's more humility on Paul's part. I'm the least of the saints. Not the least of the apostles. I'm the least of the saints. He's the least of the believers. And I think he truly believed that. Now, why would he believe that? Why would he think that? Why would he be down on himself, so to speak? Yeah. He told us in Corinthians, because he persecuted the church. He felt, you know, he was unworthy to be an apostle because of what he had done. Right. He actively destroyed God's church. Yes, sir. He was in the same camp as those who Jesus spoke out against. Yeah. Right. Yep, that's a great point. Yep, absolutely. And, you know, and so when he says that, I get the sense that he understands God's grace better than hardly anybody. And it wasn't because he was an apostle per se. It was because He was, I'll say, it's not exactly accurate, but I'll say he was forgiven the most. I remember not long after I'd become a Christian, for those of y'all who don't know me, I came to Christian very, I became a Christian very late in life. I was 36 years old. And not long after I became a Christian, I was meeting with one of the church staff In the inner loop somewhere, we were at a restaurant, and we had gotten done eating. We had lunch together. We got done eating, and we were standing out in the parking lot, and we were chatting. So here I am talking to this guy, a godly man, and right next to him, I could see a sign. And when I say a sign, it wasn't from heaven. It was a neon sign. Some human being had constructed it. And it was the name of a place that one of the most ungodly, decadent, horrendous nights of my life occurred. And it was just this really weird juxtaposition. My salvation wasn't in him, but he kind of represented the new me, the new creation. And I could see the old me there, kind of at the same time. And it really brought in the focus. really helped me to understand grace just that much more. And it was just, it was really, I'm kind of thankful for that little picture, because I can still see it. But I was just that much more thankful after that little conversation, after just that picture, because I had a better, it was driven home, the things that I had been forgiven for. And so you've all probably got stories similar to that. So verse eight again, let me start over. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. I'm sorry, my mind was going a thousand miles an hour as I was reading it. A secondary lesson here is you can't out-sin God. I don't care what you've done. Well, I do care what you've done, but you cannot sin so badly that the blood of Christ doesn't cover it. There's a lot of people that have done things where they think that it's unforgivable. And that's just not true. It doesn't... It matters what you do, but it doesn't matter how badly you sin, Christ's blood will cover that. If you believe him and you trust him, it is gone. Game over. It's out of here. Doesn't matter what it is. Okay. Yes, sir. That's the scandalous part of God's grace. And I harp on this. I read a book. You guys will be shocked by the title of this name. The book's called Three Free Sins. Three? Three free sin. And it's comical, but you recognize the fact that it's a lifetime of free sins. But then it's shocking. We don't want to sin. It's God's grace that constrains us. But at the same time, it's just like what you're saying, Fred. In the preaching of God's grace, it should sound like antinomianism. It should sound like there is no law. And that's how we should present it. Because it's amazing. Great, and that word he just brought up, antinomianism. Anti, against, nomianism, the law. So against law, or against rules. You can also say lawlessness, right? So there are folks that kind of go to another extreme, like he was just saying, and say that it doesn't matter what you do, The sin away, you're forgiven, right? And that's lawlessness, okay? See, and that is the thing about Christianity. It is the most nuanced religion in the world, okay? Because if you, yes, you can continue to sin and be forgiven, but you have the power to not sin. You have the ability to not, you've been given that through the spirit. You've been given the power to not sin. And what happens is the spirit changes our heart and it makes sin grotesque. Again, there are things going back. Was it 15 years now? Yeah, 15 years, gotta do my math. No, actually, I'm sorry, I'm older, I'm not 50, I'm 53 now. 17 years, okay? Going back 17 years, there were things that I just thought were par for the course back then. And they turn my stomach now. I mean, they really do, and I'm thankful for it. It's painful, and it's not pleasant, but I'm thankful for that. It's a good kind of pain, right? And so, That is what the Spirit does to us. He begins to remove the taste for sin, the desire for sin. It never goes away. Because like Paul said, we're a constant war with the flesh. There's that sinful side of us. We're always going back and forth. We're never perfect. But yeah, it's lawlessness. And then, of course, there's other people. Well, we won't go into those other people. We're running out of time. Okay, verse eight, let's try this for the fourth time. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to preach to Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan, I'm sorry, the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things. So that through the church, the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. The first couple of verses we've kind of covered, I think. You know, verse 10, this whole idea of rulers and authorities in the heavenly places, it's God is now making it known to them. Talk amongst yourselves, what do you think? What do you make of that? Who are these rulers and authorities in the heavenly places? Is it? I'm sorry? Pharisees? Well, the heavenly places would be heaven, okay? Rulers and authorities that are in heaven, okay? So that's going to be what we refer to as the angelic host or the heavenly host, okay? Spiritual beings, okay? Now, this gets into, there can be a lot of speculation around this. There's things that we can know, and there's things that we can speculate on, which I'm not gonna speculate, all right? So there's things that we know. One of the things that we know is that there's an angelic host. There are angels, and I'm using angels generically, because I believe that there are other spiritual beings that are not necessarily referred to as angels, but we'll just call them angels for the time being. What other spiritual beings are there? Well, there's a cherubim. So you're the classification of the... Right, right, right. Yeah, cherubim, seraphim. Yeah, I mean, we don't know a lot about these. Oh, no, no. No, they're very physical. They, what do you call it? See, I lost the word. The joke's done because I can't think of the word. Abducted. Yeah, I got abducted. Yeah, they're for, no, I'm kidding. those that have fallen and those that have not fallen. So there is a distinction there. Absolutely. And there seems to be a hierarchy, right? So there's an archangel, Or archangels, right? And then they seem to have different missions that they do. Some are waging war against other spiritual beings, and some are messengers. And actually, that's what angel means, is messenger. And some are ministering to humanity. Ministering to humanity. They ministered to Jesus when he was in the wilderness, after he was being tempted by Satan. Yeah, so that's the thing. I mean, they're mentioned periodically, but we don't have a whole lot of details. And so we get on really thin ice, okay? But there's a handful of things, well, and so I think what Paul is getting to here is in Shakespeare, Shakespeare said, I think it was in As You Like It, he said, all the world's a stage. And in a sense, that applies biblically as well. There seems to be an angelic host that is witnessing God's work as we speak. I don't know what that looks like. I don't exactly know what that means. I thought about it in the shower before, and it kind of freaked me out, but beyond that, Let's look at some verses that kinda give us an indication of that, okay? Luke chapter two, verse 13 and 14. And this one won't surprise you, you just probably weren't thinking of it just now. Luke chapter two, verse 13 and 14. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts, praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace be among those whom he has pleased. Okay, so there appears to be an angelic host that is witnessing what's going on, and they're applauding. John Stott talks about that. He says that as God is, actually John Stott, man, I forgot what book it is. But he said kind of a way to think about it is, like for example, if you go back to Genesis 12, we talked about the, the call of Abram. You know, here's God calling Abram, you know, go from your country to a place that I'll show you or land that I'll show you. And the angelic host is going, Whoa, I didn't see that coming. He's taking a pagan and he's going to use a pagan to actually bring glory to himself? How incredible is that, right? And they're like a crowd kind of applauding and giving glory to God. Here's another one. This is on the backside of a parable. Luke 15 verses 9 and 10. So we're staying in Luke 15 verses 9 and 10. And this is right at the tail end of the parable of the lost coin. So once the woman Finds a coin. She says rejoice with me for I have found the coin that I have lost Just so I took and then Parable over and now Jesus is speaking and he says just so I tell you there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents So it appears that it seems that the angels are the angelic host has an understanding of when somebody repents. Okay, so it's kind of like they see what's going on. Now we're going to Job, chapter 38, verses four through seven. To me, this is bone, I got chills going down my spine right now, this is bone chilling. You think about everything that Job had gone through, and then finally he asks God, why did you do this? And then how does how does God respond to? To Joe, you know, with grace, but he responds in bone chilling words, he says, Who is this that darkens counsel with words without wisdom? And it's like, when you really think about that, the Lord, the God of the universe saying, Who do you think you are? Okay? And it's just, yeah, I really, I'd rather not have him say that to me, to be honest. But anyway, so Job 38, verses four through seven. And this is where you kind of get into, it's kind of a beat down of sorts. But he says, where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know. Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone? When the morning stars, that's the angels, the angelic hosts, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of glory, sons of God, shouted for joy. Sons of God is, essentially here points to angels, or angelic hosts, and the morning stars are also the angelic host. So there's this idea of when God created the world, when he created everything, the angelic host is watching and going, wow, this is amazing, and they shout it for joy. Now, how does that work out? What does that mean? I don't have a clue. If you want to talk about it, maybe Tom will chat with you about it. All right, so far so good? Let's keep moving, we got just a few minutes. Verse 11, let's pick up in verse 11. And this is kind of his, he's wrapping up his parenthetical statement. It says, this was according to the purpose. What was according to the purpose? His imprisonment. Right? He's going back to where he started in verse two, or actually verse one, his imprisonment. So my imprisonment was according to the eternal purpose, eternal purpose, timeless purpose, that he has realized in Christ Jesus, our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him. So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory. So what's the eternal purpose? What's according to the eternal, yeah, what is according to the eternal purpose? That is Paul's imprisonment, and like I said, he's wrapping up this parenthetical statement. This eternal purpose actually points back to Ephesians chapter one, I think it's specifically verse 10, where the eternal purpose, the reason we're here, ultimately the reason we're here, is so all things will be unified and united in Christ. All things will be in Christ, in heaven and on earth. Now, according to this, what he says we have access with confidence, what do we have access to? Yeah, it's more of a who do we have access to, right? Who do we have access to? We have access to God. Now, what's the big deal about that? It is a big deal, but what specifically, why is it a big deal biblically? What's that? Right, exactly. The Gentiles had no access to God until they became Jews. And then the Jews, Right? Exactly. They had what's called mediated access. Who mediated for them? Well, the priests. That's what a priest is. A priest is a representative to God. A priest represents us to God. So we speak to God through the priests. That's why we need the Catholic Church to have priests in their clergy, right? Because we can't get to God without going through a human priest, right? Sort of. Right, right. Well, yeah, but the idea there is, yes, we do have to go through a human priest, but that human priest is not a Roman Catholic. The human priest is Jesus Christ. He's the high priest. Okay. Who in this room is a priest? Every one of us. Exactly. And we are a kingdom of priests. We're a holy nation. What are we, Brandy? Treasured possession. Amen. So we are a kingdom of priests. We have access through Christ to God. He mediates for us. The Spirit prays on our behalf in words that are, or in groanings that are too deep for words. So that's the big deal, right? You have no eternal salvation without without this, without Christ. So, so kind of indicates that we're at a purpose statement here. It's kind of like therefore. He says, do not lose heart over me being in prison. And you know what? That's the whole reason that he wrote what we studied today. That they don't lose heart because he's in prison. Okay? And it's just like, You know, and today we can apply that in our world. Don't lose heart because things don't go your way. God's got a plan. He's in control, et cetera. So in conclusion, we're a couple of minutes over. In conclusion, there's two things that I think are really clear here. There's two points that I think are really clear. One is Paul's confidence in the Lord. He keeps pointing back to grace. He keeps pointing back to God's plan. He keeps pointing back to God is in control, et cetera, right? So he has absolute confidence in the Lord. We can have that same absolute confidence in the Lord. Secondly, Paul's concerned for the Ephesian church. He loved those people and it is obvious. He's writing something. I mean, it's one thing to worry about somebody. It's another thing to worry about somebody worrying about you, right? I know that if I was in an accident, you know, I would want Jan to know, I would want her to hear from me as soon as humanly possible so that she doesn't have to worry, okay? If Dave worries, I'm not that concerned about it. But if Jan's worried, I'm worried about it. I'm grateful you, my son. So Paul has confidence in the Lord, and he has love for the church. And I sum that up in loving God, loving your neighbor, loving your neighbor as yourself. So anyway, I love this book. I think it's amazing. So any last questions? No? Well, Tom, would you mind closing us in prayer? Sure. Father, thank you for this morning to sit here and learn more from your word and your bread teachings and the time you put into this lesson. Be with our church. Be with Tim as he speaks this morning. Let's hope he changed through his messages just before we ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen. Thanks, guys.