as a plan for the fullness of time, to bring all things in heaven and on earth together in Christ.to an administration of the fullness of the times, to sum up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth, in him.That in the dispensation of the fulness 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:unto a dispensation of the fulness of the times, to sum up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens, and the things upon the earth; in him, I say,
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and another verse, look up here on the screen Ephesians chapter one verse 10 says this this is God's purpose that when the time is right God's timing is always perfect when the time is right he will gather his children together from wherever they are to be with him in Christ forever and where is that going to be? it's going to be in this place called heaven there are already millions of people there and other millions will join him. It's a physical place. It's a permanent place. But here's the third thing, and a lot of people get this one wrong. It is a reserved place. It is a reserved place for only God's family. Heaven is not for everyone. Everybody is not going to be in heaven. If everybody could go to heaven, you'd have backbiting and jealousy and gossip and war and lust and rape and murder and all these other things, heaven would be no different than earth. If everybody could go. If Hitler could go to heaven and if Pol Pot and Stalin and Mao and other genociders who've killed millions and millions of people could go to heaven just the way they were, then what's the special thing about it? …
… Okay? This is saying Paul who in Ephesians 1, verses 3 through 14, it's a single run-on sentence in Greek. 12 verses are single run-on sentence in Greek. This is the sort of man Paul is. But here, fascinatingly, he confines himself to only 25 verses and less than 400 words total. But what is interesting is that these 25 verses force us to confront three excuses that I think Christians often have when it comes to remaining in unforgiveness. Three excuses that we will often use to justify why we will not forgive someone. And I want to say this too, I'm speaking primarily tonight to those who have been hurt, those who have been wronged. I'm not directing this message towards the wrongdoer. If that is you, you need to repent, you need to turn to Christ, and you need to seek forgiveness from the person you've wronged. But to be honest, I love you. God bless you. You're not really the focus of what I think we need to talk about. I'm speaking to those who have been wronged. You have been sinned against, and you are struggling to figure out how do I forgive in light of that sin. …
… according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of time he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, which are on earth, in him. In him we also have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of his glory. And all God's people said, amen.
… making known to us the mystery of his will according to his purpose, which he has set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in Christ, things in heaven, things on earth in him. Let's pray. Father, we come to you not even that we can do so, addressing you as father is only because we do so in your only eternal son, our Lord Jesus Christ. We ask you, Father, again tonight, that you would bless your word, that you would bless the preaching of your word. Spirit, would you hold up Christ to us again tonight through your word and bless our hearts. We need you. We need your help. We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. I wonder if, as a child, you had something that really comforted you, Something that was a source of comfort. Or maybe you are a child here tonight or just a little past childhood and you've got an item or a place or a person or a thing. …
… with which which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him things in heaven and things on the earth in him we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory in him you also when you heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation and believed in him were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory. Now before I pray again, let me say something from chapter one encouraging and guiding to the way I want to pray for you and me. Ephesians 1, 3 to 14, what we just read, is the most concentrated, exalted, weighty description of God's purpose in the universe, in the Bible, from eternity to eternity. …
… to the praise of his glory. Now, we've been looking at this chapter. We're looking at Ephesians chapter 1, verse 3 to 14. And we've said that it's all about, the whole chapter is the gospel of your salvation. That's a term that's found in verse 13, see? It says, when you were included in Christ, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, when you heard that and you believed it, you were marked with a seal and you, the promised Holy Spirit. So the point is, the gospel of salvation, the word gospel means good news. This chapter is a kind of inventory of all of the great things that when you become a Christian, you have. It's a little bit like buying a house and going through it to see what you bought, buying a car and driving it to see what you really have there. You bought something, what's really under the hood? and therefore we've been looking at this chapter and we saw in the first four verses, verses four to eight, the first thing God tells us that we have in Christ is adoption. We're brought into the family of God and he becomes no longer our boss or our supervisor or our task master but our father. And then secondly, we looked at verses nine to twelve and we see we not only get adoption but we get a kingdom. We get a God who's in charge of our lives and all of history. He's sovereign, and we looked at that. Now, thirdly, this is what we're looking at now …
… And I'm going to read just verses 12, pardon me, verses 9 to 12 of chapter 1. Ephesians 1, verses 9 to 12. and he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure which he purposed in Christ to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head even Christ in him we were also chosen having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with his purpose the purpose of his will in order that we, who are the first to hope in Christ might be for the praise of his glory Ephesians 1, we said, is a kind of inventory of everything we have in Jesus Christ. I don't know if any of you are, most of you either too, you're not old enough to watch cartoons. and as a result, you might not know or remember much about Scrooge McDuck. …
For teaching time, we're going to look again at Ephesians chapter 1. I'd like to call your attention to the entire section that we've been looking at, Ephesians 1, verses 3 through 14. But tonight we're going to look again, in particular, at verses 9 to 12. It's all one thought, and yet there's divisions in the thought. And I'm going to read from verse 3 to 14, but tonight we're in particular going to look at verse 9 to 12. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will, to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the one he loves. In him we have forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. …
at least when I was here we were, I'd like to take a look again at this huge sentence that we started looking at in the late spring and early summer. It's Ephesians chapter 1, verse 3 to 14, and I'm going to show you tonight that there is a second major division in it, and I'd like to give you an overview of it. We've been looking for weeks at the beauty of the first part of that sentence and what it means that we were chosen to be adopted as his children, to be his sons. And we spent a number of weeks on what it means to be adopted. And I want you to know that I don't know if it helped you, but I wrote most of those sermons sitting in a convent on the shores of the Hudson River back in late May, and it changed my life. Just to think about the first part of the sentence. But starting at verse 9, we have a second part, and I'd like to introduce you to that tonight. Let me read you the whole sentence again. Chapter 1, verse 3 through 14. In the Greek, it was all one sentence, even though the English translators have had to break it up just to make it comprehensible. Praise be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ, for he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be …
… We said last week that Ephesians 1, which we're beginning to look at, is Ephesians 1, verse 3 to 14. In the Greek original was one long sentence. boy now what am I doing wrong uh it was one long sentence and uh therefore it's a it's a massive build-up it's a statement in which Paul is trying to give us the entire scheme of how God saves us and I'd like to read just verses uh three to fourteen but we're only going to look at verse three four and five here tonight for a minute Paul says praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will, to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the one he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times have reached their fulfillment to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. In him we also were …
… to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. In him we were chosen having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will in order that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who was a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession to the praise of his glory. This is God's word. Now, remember, when we began chapter 1, we said that Ephesians chapters 1, 2, and 3 is about salvation. We said last week that in New York City, you talk about being saved, or if you ask somebody else if they're saved, the average New Yorker gets very creeped out by that kind of language because it's considered a narrow and a shallow person who talks about being saved. …
… it's broken into several sentences. Ephesians 1, verse 3 to 14 is one long sentence in Greek. And I'll give you some reasons why I think that happened. It's not good grammar. It's not, even in Greek, to have a sentence that long is not good grammar. It's not good form or style. But Paul was caught up. Let's take a look at this. Ephesians 1, verses 1 to 14. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus, Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, weigh every word. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Christ Jesus in accordance with his pleasure and will to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the one he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ to be put into effect when the times will have …