Book Of Ephesians | Ariel Blumenthal

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