well thank you asher uh and shalom to
everyone
out there in global broadcast land
it's good to see you it's good to be
with you again
and as usher mentioned we've started uh
teaching a series on the book of
ephesians last time for those of us
those of you who are with us or you can
go to youtube i think and find it
i just talked about the first few verses
and the three
uh players constituents in the letter
paul saul christ jesus the messiah
and the saints and we talked about what
those things mean
today we're going to read verses 3
through 10 we're going to look at them
they are a meaty meaty
section of scripture maybe one of the
meatiest
in all of the bible it's one of these
passages that just sort of goes these
sentences go on and on and each
phrase is so full of truth and
revelation
you just kind of want to stop and pause
and and dwell on it
uh so let's uh first read it okay
and i'm gonna just go through it and
read it uh
slowly trying to sort of uh
savor each meaty uh word
and i want you to space spa pay special
attention to the verbs
that uh the apostle paul uses here in
this section
again we're reading ephesians chapter 1
verses 3
through 10. blessed be the god
and father of our lord yeshua the
messiah who has blessed us with every
spiritual blessing
in the heavenly places in messiah just
as he chose us in him before the
foundation of the world
that we should be holy and blameless
before him in love
excuse me holy and blameless before him
in love he predestined us
to adoption as sons through yeshua the
messiah to himself
according to the kind intention of his
will to the praise
of the glory of his grace which he
freely bestowed on us in the beloved
in him we have redemption through his
blood
the forgiveness of our trespasses
according to the riches of his grace
which he lavished upon us lavished upon
us in all wisdom and insight
he made known to us the mystery of his
will
according to his kind intention which he
purposed in him
with a view to an administration
suitable to the fullness of times
that is the summing up of all things in
messiah
things in the heavens and things upon
the earth
wow uh
did you pay attention to the verbs
here's a list of them
all seven of them he blessed us
he chose us he predestined us
he bestowed you know bestowed as a a
fancy i
i haven't checked the greek words here
but bestowed is it a
high english word for to give to grant
lavished is also to give but just to
give
with such abundance you just or
overflowing
abundance of of the gift of god
he has made known or revealed
and he has purposed everything he's done
has done in us and for us is with
a purpose and that purpose is to bring
everything together
everything what's everything everything
in heaven in the spiritual invisible
places and everything on earth
all together in his son jesus christ
yeshua the messiah if we had to sum up
these verses if it's possible again
there's so much revelation and so much
truth here
i i would choose verse seven right this
is sort of
the center piece the meatiest of the
meaty pieces here
in him we have redemption through his
blood
the forgiveness of our trespasses
according
to the riches of his grace it's all
about his grace
i share with usher the excitement that
we feel here today
and just remembering this grace the
power of the resurrection all of the
hope that we have
of of a renewed body of living forever
with god
in his kingdom i want us to
look at this this section of scripture
and i want to talk about
uh three things that we see here and how
they can
how we can apply them to our lives the
first one is about the timing
the second one is his delight there's
words of god's
delight and his pleasure in his grace
that he's lavished upon us and his plan
those last verses 9 and 10 talk about
the revelation
of god's incredible plan and what that
means for us
okay so first let's look at the
uh expressions of timing in these verses
on the one hand in verse 4 it says that
he
chose us in him before the foundation of
the world
that's yeah it's intellectual a little
bit difficult for us to grasp because
god exists in eternity
outside of our time uh
you know i love studying and watching
things about astronomy and nasa uh
spaceships and what's going on in mars
and galaxy and the
the numbers that they is 700 million
miles in kilometers it takes months and
years to
get to the end of our galaxy the
distances
light years it just makes you stop and
think how
how big how amazing god is and that
he's as big and long and millions and
tens of millions of years
he's beyond that right and from that
place of beyond
he has a plan and he chose us from the
foundation of the world
from before eternity on the other hand
it says in verse 10
with a view it's a little bit difficult
these words with a view
to an administration suitable to the
fullness of time
and that's becomes a theme in this
letter he says it in galatians two in
the fullness of time
god sent his son born of a woman born
under the law
so there's things that god is it exists
in eternity
but he also has a plan for us in time in
history and it's progressively it's
working itself out we see the
fulfillment of
huge parts of his plan 2 000 years ago
in the death the resurrection
the ascension of yeshua the pouring out
of the holy spirit
yeah uh and this whole this whole
question of uh
the times right is it something just old
and ancient and timeless or is it
something really really
new uh is a question that we as jews
israelis here as we share try to share
or try to share we do share the gospel
with our
with our friends with our neighbors it's
something we always have to think about
is it new is it old is it
continuous from the old testament just
one stream
from moses to david to the prophets
samuel the prophets etcetera and then it
just comes right to the new testament
or is there a break is it discontinuous
is there something so
radically new i'll give you a few verses
to think about in this respect john 1 17
for the law was given through moses
grace and truth came through jesus
christ jesus the messiah
wow if you just take that verse it
sounds like
in moses in the torah it's just law
right
there's and but grace and truth only
comes with yeshua
in the new testament that makes it sound
like
there's no law in the new testament and
no grace and truth
in the tanakh or in the torah well we
know that's not
right that's not exactly true here's a
verse from the torah from
one of moses's greatest uh experiences
uh in revelations exodus 34 verse six in
this story
moses is asking god he says show me your
glory god says no one can see my face
and live
but i will pass by you and you'll see my
back and i'll declare the name of the
lord but you can't see my face
when he does pass by the pre-incarnate
yeshua who's walking by there
in his body says the lord jehovah
the lord god compassionate and gracious
there's grace grace
compassionate and gracious slow to anger
abounding
in loving kindness in truth who keeps
loving kindness for thousands who
forgives iniquity
transgression and sin yet he will by no
means leave the guilty unpunished
visiting the iniquity of fathers on the
children and on the grandchildren to the
third and fourth generation
well that sounds that's a lot of grace
and truth right there in the old
testament i mean you can't get
you almost can't get more than that
right
but it is there is something to it that
in the tana
in the torah there is the grace and
truth but it seems to get overshadowed
by you want to call it law you want to
call it
sin the disobedience of our people
right and in the new testament we come
to the new covenant
and we get this revelation as paul is
trying he's almost
he's running out of words in ephesians
one to describe the incredible
gift of god's grace in him through him
in him he says seven
eight times in our verses in ephesians
in him through him
by him okay
and there are also laws in the new
testament there are commands the whole
sermon on the mount
twice paul says those who continue in
certain sins will not inherit the
kingdom of god
so there's this balance it is the in in
the old testament the torah
it's it's grace and truth are there but
there's just so much disobedience so
much sin and so much
legalism in the new testament it gets
flipped we get the revelation to flip it
over
to live in grace and truth and
by living in that by being filled with
the holy spirit and walking in it
we fulfill god's holy torah
okay that's something we always have to
talk about you know i was
just yesterday talking with one of my
orthodox jewish neighbors trying to
share the gospel
and i get this answer that i get many
times which is like this he says
well what do you make it sound like he
said to me you make it sound like it's
an
ios upgrade like moses wasn't good
enough the torah wasn't good enough now
we need
yeshua he says i i have the torah i have
it i keep shabbat
i love god everything's fine
how to answer that i don't have time to
go into but it's like
what he's saying is i've got the old
i've got the grace and truth he's got
some of it
it's there but it's not enough
let's go on to the second theme here in
ephesians
uh chapter one which is god's
love his delight in us
okay this is especially clear in verses
six through nine
okay which we read i'll read them again
it's just i just want to read these
verses over and over again to the praise
of the glory of his grace which he
freely
bestowed on us in the beloved
in him we have redemption through his
blood the forgiveness of our trespasses
according
to the riches of his grace which he
lavished upon us
in all wisdom he made known the mystery
with his
kind intention all these words of god's
kindness
his grace his delight in us
you know our good friend mike bickle
over there at ihop
in kansas city ihop means the
international house of
prayer right well we all love to pray
and it's important to pray
but you know if you just keep on praying
and interceding and asking
and supplicating praying praying praying
you're going to get pretty tired
and he teaches everyone who enters into
the ihop system has to go through his
teaching
on the song of songs on how much
god loves us in him in christ jesus in
yeshua
he delights in us he's happy with us
he's
when you look when he looks down on you
now through his son he's not going like
this
he's smiling he's receiving us
and this is so important for us you see
it in these
paul's emphasis in ephesians 1. it's
grace
he's done it he's chosen us before the
foundation he's lavished upon us
he's blessed us with every spiritual
blessing in the heavenly places
and now when he looks we were covered
like the blood of the lamb on the
on the lintels and the doorposts of the
israelites during the exodus
that blood covers us and it's not just
that the death is past passes over us
it's not just that he's saved us from
death
he's poured out his love into our hearts
by the holy spirit romans 5.
amen i'm sure you're all saying amen and
i'm reminding you of something you know
but i'll tell you it's not easy to stay
in this place
of god's delight and his love for us
i know this and i'm learning it as a
parent
you know i'm a godly parent a godly
father i know the proverbs and the
scriptures about raising up my
my children in the in fear and
instruction of the lord and all that
and i'm i'm pretty strict sometimes
i'm pretty good at pointing out what my
kids do wrong
but i'm learning i have to constantly
remember
to express my love for them
that i delight in them it doesn't matter
what they do they're my children
and that god is happy with him in yeshua
that we can come to him we can be
forgiven
god loves us i love you i'm delighted
i'm
happy i'm smiling at you i don't know
how many of you out there are parents
but if you
if you are and you have a few kids you
know the challenge
but that's how our god is and we're to
be imitators
of him and just close this uh this
portion here with a verse from uh psalm
147
verses 10 and 11. he god
does not delight in the strength of the
horse
nor does he take pleasure in the legs of
a man
the lord favors who wrote say
delights in those who fear him those who
wait
for his loving kindness god loves the
horses
he made them their strength don't get me
wrong he
that excites him too and the legs of a
man our strength
our ability to get things done he likes
that too but that's not where
he's looking people who don't know god
have a lot of strength and they can get
a lot of things done with horses and
with their own legs and arms and we see
examples of that all over the world
all throughout history people who don't
know god don't need god can still
accomplish a lot of things
but god delights in those who look up to
him
who are waiting expectantly for him who
delight in his grace and his loving
kindness
and he responds he loves us he loved us
first
and we can stay and bask in that love
so we talked about the timing right and
when we're in that timing
we can also be renewed as usher spoke
about we can be constantly renewed
and get a sense of god's timing in our
lives and in what's happening in the
world
and his secondly we spoke about his
delight last i want to talk about his
plan
his significant the significance that
his plan
gives us in this life verses nine and
ten
he made known to us the mystery of his
will according to his kind intention
which he purposed in him with a view to
an administration
suitable to the fullness of times that
is the summing up of all things
in christ jesus things in heaven and
things upon the earth in him
also we have attained an inheritance
you know i don't know if you've ever
been in a dead
end job or if you know what i'm talking
about but there's nothing
more depressing in this life than
getting up and going to some kind of
work eight nine ten hours a day and
toiling
in something that you really don't enjoy
doing
that doesn't bring significance that you
don't think you're doing
something that that is meaningful in
this life you feel like you're just
spinning your wheels
like you're treading water i remember
when i built my house in downtown
jerusalem i had different work crews
chinese romanians arabs volunteers
and you know they would do stuff
sometimes
and i'd come home at the end of the day
and i'd look at it and i saw it was
it was done wrong and i'd say to them
guys take it apart start over
now i was paying them by the hour
right okay they got to work a little bit
more but their faces went like this
they hated that i hate it too there's
nothing worse
than doing something then having to do
it over again because you did it wrong
and you feel like you wasted your time
well god's plan
what paul is speaking about here in
ephesians
when we're in him
we walk in significance
everything we do has meaning listen to
what he says
what he writes a few verses later in
chapter chapter 2 verse 10
we are his workmanship created
in messiah yeshua for good works
which god prepared beforehand that we
should walk in them wow brothers and
sisters
when we we have the privilege of serving
god
whether it's in ministry whether it's in
different kinds of work
as parents if we serve him if we
dedicate our lives to him
it brings significance we have that love
you know i've
some of the books that i've read i
forget which one it is but one
christian and he was a christian
counselor he said the two
greatest needs of every human being are
love
and significance love he delights
in us we need to stay in that place and
to know how much god
loves us he chose us he blessed us he
predestined us
he's lavished all these things upon it
and he continues
to do that we we just bask in it but
we don't just sit there all day we can't
just stay like this we're made to work
we're made to do things
and he's laid out things for us to do
good works for us to walk in
and that brings significance our lives
are not empty
we don't have to be depressed we don't
have to think why
why am i here why do i have to keep on
wasting my time doing these things
we don't have to have a mid-life crisis
like a lot of my friends i'm 53 i'm
finding a lot of my friends who i grew
up with are going through this kind of
crisis at this age because they've spent
20 25 years just
investing and achieving and all this
stuff and now they're starting to get
old and going
what does it all mean what did i do
where is it
and they're starting to feel depressed
and get sick but
i won't go into that so my brothers and
sisters
amazing grace the riches of his grace of
his love
think about it stay there delight in him
he delights in you if you're in jesus
this is the foundation
this is salvation by grace we've got to
wake up
and think about this we got to think
about it all through the day and go to
sleep with it that hits
it's about him his plan for us
he loves us
i'm going to read one more verse from
paul and then pray
and we'll go back to our worship team
this is second timothy
chapter 1 verses 9 through 11.
god who has saved us and called us with
a holy calling
not according to our works but according
to his own purpose and grace
which was granted us in messiah yeshua
from
all eternity but now has been revealed
by the
appearing of our savior messiah yeshua
who abolished death and brought life
and immortality to light through
the gospel wow lord we thank you
for these words
and i think about the apostle paul who
when he was writing these things
i don't know how much he was aware of
the fact that he was writing holy
scripture he was writing letters
to his beloved congregations and
churches
but lord he was so inspired
by the gospel by this love
by god's timing by the privilege of
living
at this time and lord we want to also be
excited the fullness of time continues
it's being constantly
renewed we're living in the fullness of
time
every day as we get closer and closer as
we move into
the end times as we get closer to the
fullness the fullness of the fullness
when yeshua returns lord help my
brothers and sisters help me
lord to stay in that in your delight
and your love to remember that you
don't first delight in our strength and
the strength of horses and cars and
iphones and technology and things like
that you delight
in us and we want to delight in you
lord thank you that you are have a plan
and you've laid out good works for each
one of us lord help us to help us to
desire
and to focus to walk in those things and
nothing else
yeshua amen