Studies with Stearman: Chosen Before the Foundation of the World

[Music] welcome to studies with stearman join us as we look deeper into the bible strengthen your faith with us even as we see the day approaching and now here's gary hello i'm gary stearman and it's time for another study with steerman it's good to be back after a little hiatus you can't always do what you'd like to do other things sometimes get in the way and but i must say i'm glad to be back with you we're going to look at the book of ephesians today and ephesians is complex before i even start i'm going to tell you that we will not plumb the depths of ephesians you could go over it all your life and you'll never see what what is there in in a in a full sort of way it's ephesians is addressed to a group of people uh in a special place and these people by are said by theologians to to be rich beyond measure but spiritually they are paupers now ephesians uh the ephesians lived in a marketplace in western asia minor it was a a seaport on the aegean sea a lot of traffic and trade and the the famous temple of diana of the ephesians was called one of the seven wonders of the ancient world and so there was a lot of competition there between the greco-roman style of life and the christian lifestyle it's fascinating to to think about uh paul writing to a group of people whom he wants to make understand totally understand who they are in christ in fact that phrase in christ is used 35 times in ephesians and it's a very important phrase in christ is our position but we have also possession that is we have we must take possession of the things that are are ours in christ and and this is the very complex theme that runs all the way through this book position and possession our position in christ is absolutely locked in and in fact in christ and again it's this phrase is used 35 times in in the book of ephesians really [Music] sets the theme i'm going to start here and we'll stop them and and talk about the verses in ephesians uh carefully but you've got to understand that this book is very very deep so we will not be able to plumb the entire depths of the book as would be uh possible say if we had a a three-month course in ephesians paul verse one an apostle apostle of jesus christ by the will of god to the saints which are at ephesus and to the faithful in christ jesus first verse he wants the faithful to know that they are in christ jesus now you can think of that as a throwaway line almost like in christ jesus what does that mean well you're going to find out and in fact this whole epistle explains what it means to be in christ jesus second verse grace be to you grace that's the grace of god the loving kindness of god for god is love and the only source of grace ultimately is god grace be to you and peace from god our father and from the lord jesus christ now god our father and the lord jesus christ are one and so paul in the first two verses has opened with the idea that you are in christ and that grace is emanating from the godhead to you grace be to you in peace from god our father and from the lord jesus christ the next verse verse 3 runs all the way to the end of verse 14. it's one long sentence in greek in greek it is possible to write what is called a periodic sentence whereas in english we have a subject we have a predicate we have a an object we have a sentence structure but after you run 12 15 words maybe you put a period there and that's the end of that sentence and you start a new one in greek it's possible to write a periodic sentence which is in this case from verse 3 to verse 12. verse 3 opens blessed be the god and father of our lord jesus christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in christ we are blessed in heavenly places in christ now that's the opening phrase in this long sentence and what is it saying we are blessed paul opened with grace and now he's talking about a blessing blessed be the god and father of our lord jesus christ who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings and that means all there are none left out but at this point in time you have to stop and say okay paul is writing this letter to a group of people who are not perfected in their christian walk and when you read this book you become as we go along in fact we'll point this out you become aware of the fact that he's talking to people who have to be convinced they have yet to be totally convinced of of not only the gospel but the christian walk in christ jesus and that's why he writes this book it's a book that you could read over and over and over again for the rest of your life you'll never get it all i've read it over it i don't know how many times i've read ephesians and i don't get it it just goes on beyond the horizon and every time you read it you get something a little bit new so that's verse three we have been blessed in heavenly places in christ now we begin here with what has been called a very controversial uh verse this is verse 4 according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love okay i understand that do you before the foundation of that's a long time ago nobody knows how how long ago that is but before the foundation of of the world he hath chosen us in him again this preposition we are in him we are and then we are in his son the lord jesus christ and we are in them immortally irreversibly infinitely and mind you we've just gotten uh to the third and fourth verses now and we have opened up this amazing statement and you can see why i would say even even after the first three or four verses here you never totally understand the book of ephesians and yet you will you'll you'll get it you'll figure it out and and it will apply directly to you and it's good to read it over and over again as your christian walk matures because every time you do you'll get just a little closer to finding out exactly what he means and so here we go in in the the first part of this periodic sentence verse 4 says according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world you mean i existed before the foundation of the world yep in the mind of god so this question of being chosen is not a question of he saw me walking down the street he looked down and he said there's gary stearman and uh i think you know i think i'm going to take him in to my group i will choose him no because i didn't even exist before he chose me and so i i wasn't chosen for anything that i am in particular except that he knew who i was even before he chose me and even before i existed that puts a whole new light on uh predestination you can't argue with this because you do not occupy the same level as as the lord god we don't even understand fully what immortality means or infinity we don't understand that and yet we understand his love we understand that he was watching something that we can't quite grasp but it says here according as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world now this world is the world system that is to say it is a system operated by intelligent beings and when you read the old testament you read about the angels you read about the anointed cherub who stood beside god before he rebelled and took with him a host of angels and they all fell and and we find that that satan even the creation of adam and eve was there in opposition to god so a lot had happened before mankind was even created but we come back to verse 4 according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him and love now holy and without blame holy means dedicated that is to say holiness does not mean walking around humming hymns and acting like you're holier than anybody else around you that's not what it means holy means dedicated to god everything that you can possibly think of to dedicate to god you do that that's holiness he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love so here we are in christ in the father in love and in means in that a total dedication now i have to confess something at this point in time i haven't achieved that yet i've been working on it for a long time and something tells me i never will but i'm working on it however that's not a problem because on his side he's working on it too i am in him and he is keeping me and he's far more dependable than i am so that's called trusting in god he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world system that is to say it's not we're not just talking about the planet here we are talking about the people of the world and those people operate at many levels they operate at the angelic level they operate at the demonic level they operate at the human level and humans operate at many different levels some totally dedicated to god some totally dedicated to satan some totally dedicated to themselves and don't have enough sense to to know even what they're doing but they think that what they're doing is right this is a strange place this world and the object of this world is that god is building a kingdom and a people who are to be the people in his name and and totally dedicated to him and who will serve him throughout eternity this is an amazing thing now paul's writing this letter to let's call them baby christians in ephesus there they are living they are working they are probably as young christians staying as far away from the temple of diana of the ephesians as they can possibly stay they've got their own little place where they live and fellowship and yet at this point in their lives they know that the lord jesus christ the son of god and that he was crucified and that he died he was buried rose again on the third day and they know all the fundamentals of christianity at that point but they don't have the bible they don't have the new testament like we do and so they are living on those fragments of the blessed hope in a territory that is dominated by commerce and diana and i don't even want to get into what the diana worshipers did but people came from all over the world to worship in that temple verse 5 having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by jesus christ to himself those are important words having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by jesus christ or through jesus christ through the death burial resurrection of jesus christ through the fidelity of the son and the fulfillment of that prophecy we are adopted into his family according to the good pleasure of his will you really can't argue about predestination uh i had a quote here by charles hedon spurgeon that i was going to read at this point charles had in spurgeon metropolitan church london england back in the 19th century he thousands of people were saved in that church and and and there was revival and the man was an amazing gifted preacher but he once said and in fact it was as he taught in ephesians he said god chose me before i came into the world because if he had waited until i got here he never would have chosen me he would have seen what i am and said i don't want that guy charles spurgeon that's that was spurgeon's i i guess you could say humorous he was a kind of a humorous guy but on the other hand it's not humorous it's true uh all of us are born in in sin being human and the sin nature came to us through a very convoluted process that we read about back in genesis but this idea of predestination did did i choose him did i choose to follow him yes i did but wait a minute how can that be true he chose me before the foundation of the world well it can be true believe me because we're talk we're talking about the things that are infinite here that are far beyond our pay grade to understand and so he predestinated me unto the adoption of being a child by christ jesus to himself according to the good pleasure of his will diagram that sentence wow i'm part of something so big that i don't fully understand it the little bits and pieces that i do get i i get of course through scripture and the leading of the holy spirit but i do not consider myself in any way shape or form to have arrived at understanding of my position it's that's where faith comes in uh you can say god i just really i don't understand you don't have to understand you have to believe and trust that's it the plans are his plans they're not my plans by the way can you tell me what you're going to be doing uh three months from now no [Laughter] well you think you know you've got a vacation plan and you're going to go go to this place and do that and so forth so are you sure uh no why because you depend on the lord and you have faith in his grace and in his guidance and on and on and on we're still in the this first sentence excuse me that runs from verse 3 to verse 12 and we are now in verse 6. to the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved wow to the praise the glory of his grace in other words i'm supposed to be a demonstration of the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he made me accepted in the beloved now i don't want to overdo this but i know exactly what my shortcomings are and so do you and between us um you probably think about them sometimes and you think wow i shouldn't have done that lord i shouldn't have had that thought i shouldn't have reacted in that way i should have done this this would have glorified you i had an opportunity to to give to a certain cause and i didn't do it i really should have done that or well the list could go on i could talk like this for the next three hours but you you do too you you know exactly what you think about your own spiritual walk and i don't want to go too deeply into this but we're all probably a little self-critical uh and we say you know as much as lord has done for me i really don't measure up to him and this is the idea that he wants to plant in the ephesians to bring them to a higher level of maturity verse 7 and we're still in the first periodic sentence in whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace the magnificence of this sentence is beyond compare we are wealthy beyond compare wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence that's verse eight wisdom wisdom and prudence prudence acting responsibly acting wisely how many people do you know who really don't act responsibly and wisely but you know it says right here in verse 8 he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence so we have access to this wisdom and also to a systematic approach to life prudence doing what we should do when we should do it and glorifying god in the process and again this is the opening phrase or two in the epistle to the ephesians verse 9 having made known unto us the mystery of his will wow now that's first nine we could have just limited our study today to verse nine and that's it just one verse study because in this verse it says he's made known to us the mystery of his will but somebody like to tell me what is the mystery of his will show of hands well never mind do we know the mystery of god's will it says it right here we we do and we do where it applies to the church it is the will of god to create a people for his name and he has provided all of the elements and steps necessary to get there and as believers the holy spirit has revealed to us the mystery of his will and that we know do we know god's will for the universe throughout all time and eternity in every dimension no we do not but we do know the mystery of his will when it comes to his desire for us and that's what we're talking about here blessed be the god and father of our lord jesus christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings so the mystery of his will is what it is the mystery of redemption the whole story of redemption now the bible is more than a story of redemption of individual human beings in a way it's a story of the redemption of the entire universe and it's it's divided into various segments but for now it's it's good just to say we know and you say well i don't know well you will if you read ephesians for yourself and allow the spirit to guide you you will know the mystery of his will and particularly the mystery of his will for your life according to his good pleasure with which he hath purposed which he hath purposed in himself verse 10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in christ both which are in heaven and which are on earth even in him the mystery of his will is that there is something called the fullness of times wait a minute not time times plural wow what an amazing thing wish we had time to talk about that but we don't and so we'll move along here he's going to gather together all things in christ both which are in heaven which are in earth even in him in whom also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will verse 12 that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in christ that's the end of the first sentence of ephesians what a sentence i mean it's amazing we are sealed in the spirit verse in whom you trusted after that you heard the word of truth the gospel of salvation in whom also after that you believed you were sealed with that holy spirit of promise you are sealed as we would say in in our uh daily conversation signed sealed and delivered it's done and what a glorious thought that is we can't undo it by our uh weakness our frailness our mistakes uh by our misgiving we can't undo it it's done we're sealed with the holy spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of his glory think about the solidity of the ground upon which you walk in christ wow sometimes you might think well i made a terrible mistake god can never forgive me for that yes i can you are you are delivered in christ if you have if you have given your life to the lord you're there and now paul is writing this letter so she'll understand where there is now he talks about as we approach the end of chapter 1. we talk about hear a prayer wherefore i also after i heard of your faith in the lord jesus and love unto all the saints cease not to give thanks for you that the god of our lord jesus christ the father of glory may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him the eyes of your understanding being enlightened that you may know what is the hope of his calling and what is the riches of the glory of the inheritance of the saints he says i want you to know all this and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us word who believed according to the working of his mighty power that's verse 19 which he wrought in christ when he was raised when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in heavenly places this is a repeat this three three word phrase in heavenly places is also back in verse 3 because he we receive a blessing in heavenly places writes paul and now he says he set christ at his own right hand in heavenly places we are where christ is amazing and where is that exactly well paul goes to goes ahead and describes it we are far above all principalities this is verse 21 by the way far above all principality power might dominion every name that is named not only in this world but also in that which is to come wow and hath put all things under his feet and gave him to be the head over all things to the church that's us we are the body of christ to the church those called out the word church is a translation of a greek word that means the called out body of believers that's us we have been called out and we answered the call last verse ephesians chapter 1 which is his body the fullness of him that filleth all in all wish i had more time but i think you get the idea as we continue in ephesians we'll be referring back to this first chapter it's staggering it's awe-inspiring it just amazes me what's in there and we didn't touch that much well we're out of time i'm gary stearman hey you have a great day in the lord and keep watching we are

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Length: 31min 50sec (1910 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 12 2021