1 00:00:00,781 --> 00:00:06,139 Ephesians 1:1, 2 00:00:06,139 --> 00:00:17,699 Paul addresses the church at Ephesus with these words: 3 00:00:17,699 --> 00:00:22,320 "Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. 4 00:00:22,320 --> 00:00:24,229 To the saints who are in Ephesus, 5 00:00:24,229 --> 00:00:27,209 and are faithful in Christ Jesus, 6 00:00:27,209 --> 00:00:29,355 grace to you and peace from God our Father 7 00:00:29,355 --> 00:00:33,318 and the Lord Jesus Christ." 8 00:00:33,318 --> 00:00:41,195 Now, I've heard preachers say... 9 00:00:41,195 --> 00:00:45,130 and I'm sure this is very common for anybody 10 00:00:45,130 --> 00:00:51,138 who preaches through an entire book of the Bible. 11 00:00:51,138 --> 00:00:53,456 I remember hearing John Piper say it, 12 00:00:53,456 --> 00:00:56,252 that when he got to the end of preaching through a book, 13 00:00:56,257 --> 00:00:59,408 he began to recognize more fully 14 00:00:59,408 --> 00:01:00,885 what was being talked about 15 00:01:00,885 --> 00:01:03,795 at the beginning of the book. 16 00:01:03,795 --> 00:01:06,495 And that's true. 17 00:01:06,495 --> 00:01:09,877 I've found the same thing. 18 00:01:09,877 --> 00:01:12,288 I remember preaching through Romans. 19 00:01:12,288 --> 00:01:14,995 I get to the end of Romans and I recognize realities 20 00:01:14,995 --> 00:01:17,864 at the beginning of Romans that I didn't really grasp, 21 00:01:17,864 --> 00:01:20,205 because I didn't really have a good feel 22 00:01:20,205 --> 00:01:22,650 for the whole book of Romans. 23 00:01:22,650 --> 00:01:26,497 And so, what I've sought to do in preaching through whole books, 24 00:01:26,497 --> 00:01:29,637 is read the entire book through 25 00:01:29,637 --> 00:01:33,559 over and over and over... again. 26 00:01:33,559 --> 00:01:35,626 When I would preach through Hebrews, 27 00:01:35,626 --> 00:01:37,910 I got it down to where I could read the book through 28 00:01:37,910 --> 00:01:41,627 in 35 minutes, and I tried every week 29 00:01:41,627 --> 00:01:43,902 to be going through the book beginning to end, 30 00:01:43,902 --> 00:01:45,755 because I wanted the whole book fresh. 31 00:01:45,755 --> 00:01:47,620 I wanted a feel for the whole thing. 32 00:01:47,620 --> 00:01:49,583 Not only am I seeking to read Ephesians 33 00:01:49,583 --> 00:01:51,536 through from end to end, 34 00:01:51,536 --> 00:01:55,475 I've worked on memorizing it in the past, 35 00:01:55,475 --> 00:01:57,885 and I'm trying to memorize the whole thing again. 36 00:01:57,885 --> 00:02:02,100 I've got the first three chapters down. 37 00:02:02,100 --> 00:02:05,964 I'll be working on chapters 4, 5, and 6 in the days ahead. 38 00:02:05,964 --> 00:02:08,575 But what's happening is this: 39 00:02:08,575 --> 00:02:10,673 something is becoming clear, 40 00:02:10,673 --> 00:02:12,541 that even here in the beginning, 41 00:02:12,541 --> 00:02:15,343 in this introduction, when Paul says, 42 00:02:15,343 --> 00:02:17,911 "to the saints who are in Ephesus, 43 00:02:17,911 --> 00:02:19,958 and are faithful in Christ Jesus." 44 00:02:19,958 --> 00:02:23,887 He brings forth three realities. 45 00:02:23,887 --> 00:02:30,960 Saints, faithful, in Christ Jesus. 46 00:02:30,960 --> 00:02:32,259 And it's interesting to me, 47 00:02:32,259 --> 00:02:38,437 especially in just thinking through the first chapter as a whole, 48 00:02:38,437 --> 00:02:43,684 that these are three very prominent realities 49 00:02:43,684 --> 00:02:47,340 that come out in this first chapter. 50 00:02:47,340 --> 00:02:49,164 And what I'm recognizing here is 51 00:02:49,164 --> 00:02:52,741 these three realities about the Christian 52 00:02:52,741 --> 00:02:57,696 are very much, in concise form, 53 00:02:57,696 --> 00:03:00,468 that which he is going to go on and deal with 54 00:03:00,468 --> 00:03:06,423 in much more detail in these verses ahead. 55 00:03:06,423 --> 00:03:09,143 These are three realities that we don't want to pass over. 56 00:03:09,143 --> 00:03:13,312 Because they're not just realities about the Christian life 57 00:03:13,312 --> 00:03:16,587 that Paul randomly pulled out of the air. 58 00:03:16,587 --> 00:03:19,945 What he's doing here is he's setting the direction, 59 00:03:19,945 --> 00:03:24,210 he's setting the course for where he wants to take us. 60 00:03:24,210 --> 00:03:26,873 When Paul when to write, he didn't just start writing 61 00:03:26,873 --> 00:03:28,384 not knowing where he wanted to go. 62 00:03:28,384 --> 00:03:30,528 He knew the things that he wanted to say. 63 00:03:30,528 --> 00:03:33,183 And even in the introduction here, 64 00:03:33,183 --> 00:03:35,627 he's drawing out realities that pertain to 65 00:03:35,627 --> 00:03:39,669 the very things that he wants to deal with. 66 00:03:39,669 --> 00:03:42,201 And we looked last week at this reality, 67 00:03:42,201 --> 00:03:46,141 "To the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus." 68 00:03:46,141 --> 00:03:49,087 We looked at "saints." We really focused in on that. 69 00:03:49,087 --> 00:03:50,944 Saints. What's the idea? 70 00:03:50,944 --> 00:03:56,818 Just very quickly, in review. 71 00:03:56,818 --> 00:03:58,909 Where does saint come from? 72 00:03:58,909 --> 00:04:01,212 Well, as we looked at, the term is actually 73 00:04:01,212 --> 00:04:05,470 very closely related to "holy" and to "sanctified." 74 00:04:05,470 --> 00:04:07,084 Do you know where it comes from? 75 00:04:07,084 --> 00:04:15,675 Saint comes from the idea of sanctified. 76 00:04:15,675 --> 00:04:19,923 In fact, William Tyndale, 77 00:04:19,923 --> 00:04:24,340 he translated his translation about 500 years ago. 78 00:04:24,340 --> 00:04:36,637 Here's the William Tyndale translation: 79 00:04:36,637 --> 00:04:43,899 "Paul, an apostle of Jesu Christ, 80 00:04:43,899 --> 00:04:47,752 by the will of God, to the saynctes." 81 00:04:47,752 --> 00:04:52,169 Now I'm not exactly sure how he would have said that, 82 00:04:52,169 --> 00:04:57,792 but it's s-a-y-n-c-t-e-s. 83 00:04:57,792 --> 00:05:00,361 Saynctes. 84 00:05:00,361 --> 00:05:03,033 It comes from the word sanctification, 85 00:05:03,033 --> 00:05:05,001 you see the obvious connection there. 86 00:05:05,001 --> 00:05:09,028 But 500 years ago, they didn't call each other "saints." 87 00:05:09,028 --> 00:05:11,836 In fact, I looked up a page of the William Tyndale, 88 00:05:11,836 --> 00:05:18,081 and the first page of the Gospel of John, 89 00:05:18,081 --> 00:05:23,193 and it says "the Gospel of Sayncte John." 90 00:05:23,193 --> 00:05:24,642 And it's got a "c" in there. 91 00:05:24,642 --> 00:05:26,884 Well, at some point they dropped the "c" out. 92 00:05:26,884 --> 00:05:29,358 But that's the idea. 93 00:05:29,358 --> 00:05:30,936 That's where "saint" comes from. 94 00:05:30,936 --> 00:05:32,871 What does that mean? 95 00:05:32,871 --> 00:05:39,263 That means not first and foremost a holy people 96 00:05:39,263 --> 00:05:41,257 in the sense of morally pure. 97 00:05:41,257 --> 00:05:44,514 In the first sense it means a people set apart 98 00:05:44,514 --> 00:05:47,001 and reserved for God. 99 00:05:47,001 --> 00:05:51,141 And listen, one of the things we want to recognize 100 00:05:51,141 --> 00:05:52,853 is we're not talking about any kind of special 101 00:05:52,853 --> 00:05:55,350 higher order of Christians who tower 102 00:05:55,350 --> 00:05:57,256 above all the normal Christians. 103 00:05:57,256 --> 00:06:00,602 We're talking about anybody who is a Christian, 104 00:06:00,602 --> 00:06:05,116 is a saint. They're a sayncte. 105 00:06:05,116 --> 00:06:07,873 But I want you to know something, 106 00:06:07,873 --> 00:06:11,396 back 2000 years ago, 107 00:06:11,396 --> 00:06:15,402 typically when Paul went into pagan cities, 108 00:06:15,402 --> 00:06:16,956 you know what he would find? 109 00:06:16,956 --> 00:06:19,253 He would find a population of Jews. 110 00:06:19,253 --> 00:06:21,205 You've got pagans over here - the gentiles, 111 00:06:21,205 --> 00:06:22,773 and you've got the Jews. 112 00:06:22,773 --> 00:06:25,102 Typically, he'd go to the Jews first 113 00:06:25,102 --> 00:06:28,579 and he'd go into those synagogues. 114 00:06:28,579 --> 00:06:30,379 But I can tell you this, 115 00:06:30,379 --> 00:06:33,727 the very idea to those of a Jewish upbringing, 116 00:06:33,727 --> 00:06:37,498 that that term "saint" would be applied 117 00:06:37,498 --> 00:06:40,287 to a pagan gentile, 118 00:06:40,287 --> 00:06:44,159 they considered it a rape 119 00:06:44,159 --> 00:06:46,445 of the sanctified language of Scripture. 120 00:06:46,445 --> 00:06:47,882 Because you know what? 121 00:06:47,882 --> 00:06:50,998 The Septuagint, the Greek Old Testament, 122 00:06:50,998 --> 00:06:54,532 they knew that term "saint" was applied 123 00:06:54,532 --> 00:06:58,117 to Old Testament Israel. 124 00:06:58,117 --> 00:07:00,992 It was applied to God's people of the 125 00:07:00,992 --> 00:07:04,009 Jewish lineage in the Old Testament. 126 00:07:04,009 --> 00:07:07,350 And they considered that a rape of sacred language, 127 00:07:07,350 --> 00:07:10,987 that such terminology would be ripped out 128 00:07:10,987 --> 00:07:14,509 and applied to these pagan gentiles. 129 00:07:14,509 --> 00:07:16,372 They hated it! 130 00:07:16,372 --> 00:07:18,322 And yet that is the term that God 131 00:07:18,322 --> 00:07:20,691 has chosen to give to us. 132 00:07:20,691 --> 00:07:23,567 Saint. 133 00:07:23,567 --> 00:07:26,364 But, there's something else here. 134 00:07:26,364 --> 00:07:31,437 Christians are in the second place: faithful. 135 00:07:31,437 --> 00:07:36,207 Many of you remember, maybe four or five months ago 136 00:07:36,207 --> 00:07:39,271 I preached from that very word on 137 00:07:39,271 --> 00:07:42,698 the faithfulness of Christians. 138 00:07:42,698 --> 00:07:45,190 And you know what? That whole message stands. 139 00:07:45,190 --> 00:07:47,088 Don't believe that anything I say today 140 00:07:47,088 --> 00:07:49,357 undoes that message. 141 00:07:49,357 --> 00:07:52,215 Because obviously, there is a faithfulness 142 00:07:52,215 --> 00:07:54,166 about Christians and it can be proved 143 00:07:54,166 --> 00:07:56,721 from many different texts. 144 00:07:56,721 --> 00:07:59,204 I'm just not so convinced anymore that this is the text 145 00:07:59,204 --> 00:08:02,217 that I would have wanted to prove it from. 146 00:08:02,217 --> 00:08:04,585 And I'll show you in a second what I mean. 147 00:08:04,585 --> 00:08:09,484 The term faithful in the original is the term "pistos." 148 00:08:09,484 --> 00:08:12,572 P-i-s-t-o-s. 149 00:08:12,572 --> 00:08:18,007 And it carries two very distinct meanings. Two. 150 00:08:18,007 --> 00:08:21,469 The first meaning is, here we are in Ephesians, 151 00:08:21,469 --> 00:08:23,914 go over to chapter 6, I'll show it to you. 152 00:08:23,914 --> 00:08:32,429 Chapter 6:21, Paul says, 153 00:08:32,429 --> 00:08:35,216 "So that you may know how I am and what I am doing, 154 00:08:35,216 --> 00:08:40,506 Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minister." 155 00:08:40,506 --> 00:08:44,819 See, there's the exact same word: faithful minister. 156 00:08:44,819 --> 00:08:46,425 Basically, what does it mean? 157 00:08:46,425 --> 00:08:49,159 You know, you talk about a faithful dog. 158 00:08:49,159 --> 00:08:51,958 What are you talking about? 159 00:08:51,958 --> 00:08:53,646 What do you mean? 160 00:08:53,646 --> 00:08:59,789 Loyal. Yes. Trustworthy. Reliable. 161 00:08:59,789 --> 00:09:08,514 Loyalty. That is one definite meaning to the word "faithful." 162 00:09:08,514 --> 00:09:11,458 But there is a second meaning. 163 00:09:11,458 --> 00:09:16,861 And it comes from really the old meaning of faithful. 164 00:09:16,861 --> 00:09:21,394 Faith-full, or full of faith. 165 00:09:21,394 --> 00:09:25,190 Let me show it to you used this other way. 166 00:09:25,190 --> 00:09:30,117 Look over at John 20 with me. 167 00:09:30,117 --> 00:09:34,732 Basically, it refers in the second usage 168 00:09:34,732 --> 00:09:38,326 to someone who is a believer. 169 00:09:38,326 --> 00:09:42,148 Someone who exercises faith, or is full of faith, 170 00:09:42,148 --> 00:09:44,517 faithful in that way. 171 00:09:44,517 --> 00:09:48,997 Faith-full. And you see it. 172 00:09:48,997 --> 00:09:52,141 Paul uses it both ways. 173 00:09:52,141 --> 00:09:54,372 And the only way you can really tell how 174 00:09:54,372 --> 00:09:58,280 he is using it is by the context. 175 00:09:58,280 --> 00:09:59,972 But, I'll show it to you here. 176 00:09:59,972 --> 00:10:03,802 This isn't Paul's usage of it, it's our Lord's usage of it. 177 00:10:03,802 --> 00:10:08,449 John 20:26 178 00:10:08,449 --> 00:10:15,273 "Eight days later, His disciples were inside again." 179 00:10:15,273 --> 00:10:19,061 You remember, He showed up. 180 00:10:19,061 --> 00:10:21,146 He appeared to His disicples the day that He 181 00:10:21,146 --> 00:10:24,408 had arose from the dead. 182 00:10:24,408 --> 00:10:26,235 Thomas wasn't there. 183 00:10:26,235 --> 00:10:27,815 Thomas said that he wasn't going to believe 184 00:10:27,815 --> 00:10:30,631 unless he was able to actually see the Lord himself 185 00:10:30,631 --> 00:10:33,272 and put his fingers in the wounds. 186 00:10:33,272 --> 00:10:35,899 "Eight days later, His disciples were inside again. 187 00:10:35,899 --> 00:10:38,374 And Thomas was with them. 188 00:10:38,374 --> 00:10:40,087 Although the doors were locked, Jesus came 189 00:10:40,087 --> 00:10:41,666 and stood among them, and said, 190 00:10:41,666 --> 00:10:45,845 'Peace be with you,' and then He said to Thomas, 191 00:10:45,845 --> 00:10:49,672 'put your fingers here and see My hands, 192 00:10:49,672 --> 00:10:54,977 put out your hand, place it in My side.'" 193 00:10:54,977 --> 00:10:56,313 Now notice this: 194 00:10:56,313 --> 00:11:02,099 Do not apistos (the "a" negates) 195 00:11:02,099 --> 00:11:05,678 Don't disbelieve, but believe. 196 00:11:05,678 --> 00:11:07,446 See here's our term again. 197 00:11:07,446 --> 00:11:10,257 This is the same term that is translated "faithful" 198 00:11:10,257 --> 00:11:12,217 in Ephesians 1:1. 199 00:11:12,217 --> 00:11:15,061 Believe. 200 00:11:15,061 --> 00:11:17,093 Be a believer. 201 00:11:17,093 --> 00:11:20,220 Jesus isn't telling Thomas to be reliable 202 00:11:20,220 --> 00:11:23,053 and trustworthy and loyal. 203 00:11:23,053 --> 00:11:28,363 He's telling him, you need to believe, Thomas. 204 00:11:28,363 --> 00:11:31,301 Exercise faith. Quit with the unbelief. 205 00:11:31,301 --> 00:11:35,565 Look, there's not the slightest debate among scholars 206 00:11:35,565 --> 00:11:38,393 that there's two entirely separate meanings 207 00:11:38,393 --> 00:11:41,525 to this word. Everybody agrees. 208 00:11:41,525 --> 00:11:44,122 It's very plain. It's very obvious in Scripture, 209 00:11:44,122 --> 00:11:47,188 that it's got two meanings. 210 00:11:47,188 --> 00:11:51,325 Faithful as in reliable, loyal, trustworthy, 211 00:11:51,325 --> 00:11:55,094 and it also means a believer. 212 00:11:55,094 --> 00:11:58,178 It means somebody who has faith, 213 00:11:58,178 --> 00:12:00,899 they're full of faith, they exercise faith. 214 00:12:00,899 --> 00:12:04,079 I tell you that because if we're going to 215 00:12:04,079 --> 00:12:07,604 properly interpret Scripture, we need to understand this. 216 00:12:07,604 --> 00:12:09,704 And then when we look at Ephesians 1:1, 217 00:12:09,704 --> 00:12:10,905 and we're looking at, 218 00:12:10,905 --> 00:12:14,403 here's Paul and he's addressing these Christians, 219 00:12:14,403 --> 00:12:16,597 and this is God-inspired language. 220 00:12:16,597 --> 00:12:18,304 What's he saying about them? 221 00:12:18,304 --> 00:12:22,004 What is it that we ought to see is real of Christians? 222 00:12:22,004 --> 00:12:23,077 We looked at it before. 223 00:12:23,077 --> 00:12:24,464 Christians are saints. 224 00:12:24,464 --> 00:12:26,300 But Christians are also faithful. 225 00:12:26,300 --> 00:12:27,618 Does that mean loyal? 226 00:12:27,618 --> 00:12:30,917 Yes, it does, and we could definitely prove that. 227 00:12:30,917 --> 00:12:34,986 And we could look at that reality in various places. 228 00:12:34,986 --> 00:12:39,500 But listen, again, I want to quote Tyndale. 229 00:12:39,500 --> 00:12:43,767 Listen to how Tyndale translates this. 230 00:12:43,767 --> 00:12:46,737 I like to look at Tyndale often, 231 00:12:46,737 --> 00:12:50,343 because all of our English translations 232 00:12:50,343 --> 00:12:55,088 owe so much to his work. 233 00:12:55,088 --> 00:12:57,601 And because he was the first one who 234 00:12:57,601 --> 00:13:04,073 translated the Scriptures from the Greek into the English. 235 00:13:04,073 --> 00:13:07,598 Now they'd been translated from the Latin into the English. 236 00:13:07,598 --> 00:13:10,561 Anybody know who did that? 237 00:13:10,561 --> 00:13:12,611 Wycliffe, yes. 238 00:13:12,611 --> 00:13:16,307 But Tyndale did it from the Greek into the English. 239 00:13:16,307 --> 00:13:18,694 Now listen to how he translated, 240 00:13:18,694 --> 00:13:22,494 "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, 241 00:13:22,494 --> 00:13:25,678 to the saynctes which are at Ephesus 242 00:13:25,678 --> 00:13:29,856 and to them which believe on Jesus Christ." 243 00:13:29,856 --> 00:13:33,639 See, he took that term to mean "believer," 244 00:13:33,639 --> 00:13:37,044 not "loyal." 245 00:13:37,044 --> 00:13:44,076 I looked at seventeen commentaries. 246 00:13:44,076 --> 00:13:48,646 Sixteen of the seventeen commentators 247 00:13:48,646 --> 00:13:53,608 were quite convinced this should be translated 248 00:13:53,608 --> 00:13:57,390 "believer." That it means "believer." 249 00:13:57,390 --> 00:13:59,515 Listen to Alexander McLaren, 250 00:13:59,515 --> 00:14:01,552 my wife just discovered this guy. 251 00:14:01,552 --> 00:14:04,218 Scottish Baptist, actually a contemporary 252 00:14:04,218 --> 00:14:07,620 of Charles Spurgeon. 253 00:14:07,620 --> 00:14:09,741 Listen to how he says it, 254 00:14:09,741 --> 00:14:13,479 "Faithful here, of course, does not mean, 255 00:14:13,479 --> 00:14:15,392 as it usually does in our ordinary language 256 00:14:15,392 --> 00:14:18,721 true, trusty, reliable, keeping our word, 257 00:14:18,721 --> 00:14:21,797 but it means simply believing, having faith." 258 00:14:21,797 --> 00:14:24,886 Lloyd-Jones says, "faithful is a somewhat 259 00:14:24,886 --> 00:14:27,464 unfortunate translation because we tend to give 260 00:14:27,464 --> 00:14:30,623 not a primary meaning to this term, 261 00:14:30,623 --> 00:14:32,703 but once more a secondary meaning." 262 00:14:32,703 --> 00:14:34,582 And he means we tend to give it the meaning 263 00:14:34,582 --> 00:14:36,411 of reliable and trustworthy. 264 00:14:36,411 --> 00:14:38,038 He says essentially this word "faithful" 265 00:14:38,038 --> 00:14:40,535 means exercising faith. 266 00:14:40,535 --> 00:14:44,133 Now you see, McLaren says of course it means that! 267 00:14:44,133 --> 00:14:49,454 And so many of the commentators said it like that, 268 00:14:49,454 --> 00:14:51,314 well, of course, it's clear. 269 00:14:51,314 --> 00:14:53,163 And I'm looking, but they never say 270 00:14:53,163 --> 00:14:57,476 why it's so clear. 271 00:14:57,476 --> 00:15:01,079 And, brethren, I'll tell you - you know what I think 272 00:15:01,079 --> 00:15:04,605 actually makes it kind of clear? 273 00:15:04,605 --> 00:15:11,432 Is the first chapter of Ephesians itself. 274 00:15:11,432 --> 00:15:13,373 You say, how so? 275 00:15:13,373 --> 00:15:18,545 Just notice. Look with me at Ephesians 1. 276 00:15:18,545 --> 00:15:25,588 First, when we're told about all the spiritual blessings 277 00:15:25,588 --> 00:15:31,796 that are ours, notice the first one that's gone to: 278 00:15:31,796 --> 00:15:37,070 Saints. Notice it in verse 4. 279 00:15:37,070 --> 00:15:39,234 You say the word saint's not there. 280 00:15:39,234 --> 00:15:43,346 No, but listen, if we remember what "saint" is, 281 00:15:43,346 --> 00:15:47,103 it's a people set apart as holy to God, notice this: 282 00:15:47,103 --> 00:15:52,828 "God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, 283 00:15:52,828 --> 00:15:55,947 that we should be holy and blameless before Him in love." 284 00:15:55,947 --> 00:15:57,595 You know what's very interesting? 285 00:15:57,595 --> 00:15:59,258 He doesn't run right to faith, 286 00:15:59,258 --> 00:16:01,297 he doesn't run right to believing. 287 00:16:01,297 --> 00:16:04,931 He runs first to the fact that God chose us to be saints. 288 00:16:04,931 --> 00:16:07,503 God chose us to be holy. 289 00:16:07,503 --> 00:16:10,047 Does he get to talking about faith? Yes. 290 00:16:10,047 --> 00:16:13,837 And when he does, it's not reliability. 291 00:16:13,837 --> 00:16:15,632 It's us believing. 292 00:16:15,632 --> 00:16:17,853 You say, where's that happen? 293 00:16:17,853 --> 00:16:22,368 Well, go to verse 12. 294 00:16:22,368 --> 00:16:26,616 "We who were the first to hope in Christ, 295 00:16:26,616 --> 00:16:29,332 might be to the praise of His glory." 296 00:16:29,332 --> 00:16:32,148 And then in verse 13, "in Him you also, 297 00:16:32,148 --> 00:16:35,704 when you heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation, 298 00:16:35,704 --> 00:16:39,341 and believed in Him, 299 00:16:39,341 --> 00:16:41,664 were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit 300 00:16:41,664 --> 00:16:43,434 Who is the guarantee of our inheritance. 301 00:16:43,434 --> 00:16:46,149 Notice 15, "for this reason, because I have heard 302 00:16:46,149 --> 00:16:49,172 of your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ." 303 00:16:49,172 --> 00:16:53,621 What's very interesting is this: 304 00:16:53,621 --> 00:16:56,873 the idea of being chosen by God to be a saint, 305 00:16:56,873 --> 00:17:01,424 or to be holy unto God, the idea of us believing, 306 00:17:01,424 --> 00:17:05,948 and all the time just swimming in the language 307 00:17:05,948 --> 00:17:10,773 of being in Christ, in Him, in the Beloved. 308 00:17:10,773 --> 00:17:15,304 That permeates this first chapter. 309 00:17:15,304 --> 00:17:21,650 Nothing is said about reliability when it comes to "faithful." 310 00:17:21,650 --> 00:17:23,968 Not reliability, not trustworthy. 311 00:17:23,968 --> 00:17:27,419 It's the fact that we as Christians are believers. 312 00:17:27,419 --> 00:17:30,877 Now look, I'm belaboring this for a reason. 313 00:17:30,877 --> 00:17:32,444 Because as I said last week, 314 00:17:32,444 --> 00:17:34,534 if there's anything that's important in our day, 315 00:17:34,534 --> 00:17:38,441 it is that we understand who Christians are. 316 00:17:38,441 --> 00:17:42,633 We live in a country where our president says 317 00:17:42,633 --> 00:17:45,410 he's a Christian. 318 00:17:45,410 --> 00:17:49,469 He brags on Allah and the Koran 319 00:17:49,469 --> 00:17:52,370 and yet he's a Christian. 320 00:17:52,370 --> 00:17:55,714 We live in a country where multitudes 321 00:17:55,714 --> 00:17:57,754 profess to be Christians, 322 00:17:57,754 --> 00:17:59,017 and you know what? 323 00:17:59,017 --> 00:18:00,329 Those of us that go door to door, 324 00:18:00,329 --> 00:18:01,649 you know what we are finding out? 325 00:18:01,649 --> 00:18:05,450 We are finding out that people do not know the Gospel. 326 00:18:05,450 --> 00:18:08,483 Just recently, Glenn, Krystal and I, 327 00:18:08,483 --> 00:18:10,325 we were in somebody's apartment, 328 00:18:10,325 --> 00:18:13,133 and I asked, after we told them the Gospel, 329 00:18:13,133 --> 00:18:17,724 have you ever heard anything like this before? 330 00:18:17,724 --> 00:18:19,962 And one of them shook their head. 331 00:18:19,962 --> 00:18:21,512 No, never heard anything like this. 332 00:18:21,512 --> 00:18:24,954 I was downtown with Kevin Williams, 333 00:18:24,954 --> 00:18:26,355 and I remember we talked to somebody 334 00:18:26,355 --> 00:18:28,333 down there by the Alamo, and the same thing, 335 00:18:28,333 --> 00:18:30,408 after we got done with the Gospel, 336 00:18:30,408 --> 00:18:33,067 I asked them have you ever heard anything like this before? 337 00:18:33,067 --> 00:18:35,087 Nope, never heard anything like this before. 338 00:18:35,087 --> 00:18:37,114 We've got people running around all over the place 339 00:18:37,114 --> 00:18:39,615 claiming to be Christians, and yet it is amazing, 340 00:18:39,615 --> 00:18:41,103 there is an ignorance. 341 00:18:41,103 --> 00:18:43,929 We heard in the first hour about the former ignorance? 342 00:18:43,929 --> 00:18:45,777 Brethren, sometimes we have this idea 343 00:18:45,777 --> 00:18:47,689 because we were formerly ignorant, 344 00:18:47,689 --> 00:18:49,185 we've come into the truth, 345 00:18:49,185 --> 00:18:51,611 we've got this idea that people should know. 346 00:18:51,611 --> 00:18:53,272 But you know what? We're hearing about - 347 00:18:53,272 --> 00:18:55,980 John Sytsma can come back from Nepal 348 00:18:55,980 --> 00:18:58,150 and say that he's hearing about whole villages 349 00:18:58,150 --> 00:19:00,349 where they don't know the name of Christ, 350 00:19:00,349 --> 00:19:01,598 but I'll tell you this, we live in a day 351 00:19:01,598 --> 00:19:03,439 when people do not know the Gospel, 352 00:19:03,439 --> 00:19:06,471 and they do not know what true Christianity looks like. 353 00:19:06,471 --> 00:19:07,770 We've got people deceived. 354 00:19:07,770 --> 00:19:10,301 And it's not just their former ignorance, 355 00:19:10,301 --> 00:19:11,883 it's their present ignorance. 356 00:19:11,883 --> 00:19:13,606 And we need to blow that away. 357 00:19:13,606 --> 00:19:15,500 What is true Christianity? 358 00:19:15,500 --> 00:19:18,312 Well, on the first place, on the first footing, 359 00:19:18,312 --> 00:19:21,768 on the first foundation, Christians are saints. 360 00:19:21,768 --> 00:19:24,198 They are a people set aside by God. 361 00:19:24,198 --> 00:19:26,965 And in the second place, they are believers. 362 00:19:26,965 --> 00:19:29,197 They believe something... 363 00:19:29,197 --> 00:19:30,996 different from what the rest of the world believes. 364 00:19:30,996 --> 00:19:34,076 Listen, the whole world believes something. 365 00:19:34,076 --> 00:19:37,049 But what Scripture talks about is the former ignorance. 366 00:19:37,049 --> 00:19:39,551 In other words, what we formerly believed 367 00:19:39,551 --> 00:19:41,155 isn't what we believe now. 368 00:19:41,155 --> 00:19:43,737 Formerly, we did believe a whole bunch of things, 369 00:19:43,737 --> 00:19:47,102 but it's called deception, and it's called ignorance. 370 00:19:47,102 --> 00:19:49,293 Why? Because what we believed was a lie. 371 00:19:49,293 --> 00:19:52,212 And there was a whole lot that we didn't believe, 372 00:19:52,212 --> 00:19:55,321 that we needed to believe, that we were ignorant of. 373 00:19:55,321 --> 00:19:58,028 Brethren, this is where our evangelism comes in, 374 00:19:58,028 --> 00:20:01,425 just as well as our own self-examination. 375 00:20:01,425 --> 00:20:02,855 Are we the real deal? 376 00:20:02,855 --> 00:20:04,507 Are we saying the real thing? 377 00:20:04,507 --> 00:20:07,649 Are we proclaiming what true Christianity is to the world? 378 00:20:07,649 --> 00:20:10,752 We need to blow the ignorance away. 379 00:20:10,752 --> 00:20:12,548 Why? Because ignorance kills. 380 00:20:12,548 --> 00:20:14,291 You know what? Ignorance is not harmless. 381 00:20:14,291 --> 00:20:15,831 Ignorance is not bliss. 382 00:20:15,831 --> 00:20:18,820 Ignorance is deadly. Ignorance takes people to hell. 383 00:20:18,820 --> 00:20:21,383 The former ignorance we heard about from Peter 384 00:20:21,383 --> 00:20:22,922 in the first hour, 385 00:20:22,922 --> 00:20:24,088 is an ignorance you die in. 386 00:20:24,088 --> 00:20:27,088 You will die in your sins. 387 00:20:27,088 --> 00:20:29,119 True Christians are saints. 388 00:20:29,119 --> 00:20:32,259 And if there is Christianity, and it's all over the place, 389 00:20:32,259 --> 00:20:34,740 that's being proclaimed that is not holy, 390 00:20:34,740 --> 00:20:37,842 there is a form of godliness but it denies the power. 391 00:20:37,842 --> 00:20:42,311 Brethren, it is a deadly religion. 392 00:20:42,311 --> 00:20:45,366 All that says it's Christianity is not Christianity. 393 00:20:45,366 --> 00:20:47,075 And you know what you would have found 394 00:20:47,075 --> 00:20:50,324 if you would have viewed these saints 395 00:20:50,324 --> 00:20:51,953 who are at Ephesus? 396 00:20:51,953 --> 00:20:54,403 You would have found they believed things that 397 00:20:54,403 --> 00:20:56,893 they didn't believe formerly. 398 00:20:56,893 --> 00:20:58,839 Oh, you've got people running all around Ephesus, 399 00:20:58,839 --> 00:20:59,964 and what did they believe? 400 00:20:59,964 --> 00:21:03,167 They believed in Artemis, Diana. 401 00:21:03,167 --> 00:21:05,483 The temple was there. 402 00:21:05,483 --> 00:21:08,180 They believed in the stone, the sacred stone, 403 00:21:08,180 --> 00:21:11,978 that was thrown down from heaven by Jupiter. 404 00:21:11,978 --> 00:21:14,323 They believed in those things. 405 00:21:14,323 --> 00:21:16,504 But I'll tell you what, Christians believe something 406 00:21:16,504 --> 00:21:18,244 the rest of the world doesn't believe. 407 00:21:18,244 --> 00:21:21,043 And if you would have asked these Christians, 408 00:21:21,043 --> 00:21:24,997 they were a group of people and they believed something. 409 00:21:24,997 --> 00:21:26,704 What did they believe? 410 00:21:26,704 --> 00:21:28,403 They didn't believe it was a sacred stone 411 00:21:28,403 --> 00:21:29,692 that got thrown down from heaven, 412 00:21:29,692 --> 00:21:32,602 they believed that the Son of God came down from heaven. 413 00:21:32,602 --> 00:21:35,015 And not from Jupiter, but God Almighty, 414 00:21:35,015 --> 00:21:37,975 the living God sent His Son into this world. 415 00:21:37,975 --> 00:21:39,384 Brethren, I'll tell you this, 416 00:21:39,384 --> 00:21:43,226 they believed in the Incarnation. 417 00:21:43,226 --> 00:21:46,589 They believed that God came from the halls of heaven, 418 00:21:46,589 --> 00:21:47,771 and He came here. 419 00:21:47,771 --> 00:21:48,961 They believed that. 420 00:21:48,961 --> 00:21:50,927 They believed that Jesus of Nazareth 421 00:21:50,927 --> 00:21:52,650 was not just like you and me. 422 00:21:52,650 --> 00:21:54,659 He was not just like every other human being 423 00:21:54,659 --> 00:21:55,880 on the face of this earth. 424 00:21:55,880 --> 00:21:57,688 They believed that was Immanuel. 425 00:21:57,688 --> 00:21:59,260 That was God with us. 426 00:21:59,260 --> 00:22:01,299 This was the Son of God, the Word of God. 427 00:22:01,299 --> 00:22:03,655 And He's come down. 428 00:22:03,655 --> 00:22:05,894 And as I heard Piper say last night, 429 00:22:05,894 --> 00:22:08,577 I'm drifting off to sleep, my wife had a message on, 430 00:22:08,577 --> 00:22:11,044 He took upon Himself humanity. 431 00:22:11,044 --> 00:22:13,070 He took upon Himself a body. 432 00:22:13,070 --> 00:22:14,992 He had to have a forehead, why? 433 00:22:14,992 --> 00:22:17,541 To have something for the thorns to pierce. 434 00:22:17,541 --> 00:22:19,574 And He had to have a broad back, why? 435 00:22:19,574 --> 00:22:21,426 For the sake of the scourge. 436 00:22:21,426 --> 00:22:23,880 And He had to have a brain and a spinal cord 437 00:22:23,880 --> 00:22:25,496 with all the nerves, why? 438 00:22:25,496 --> 00:22:28,223 So that He could feel the fullness of the pain 439 00:22:28,223 --> 00:22:31,891 with no vinegar, with no sour wine, with no gall. 440 00:22:31,891 --> 00:22:33,094 He endured it. 441 00:22:33,094 --> 00:22:35,335 He felt it. 442 00:22:35,335 --> 00:22:37,491 He would not numb Himself. 443 00:22:37,491 --> 00:22:39,783 He went to that cross, and He was determined 444 00:22:39,783 --> 00:22:43,379 to bear our punishment and bear our guilt, 445 00:22:43,379 --> 00:22:45,543 and He took it there in a body. 446 00:22:45,543 --> 00:22:47,555 He became like us, so that He could become 447 00:22:47,555 --> 00:22:50,295 a mediator between God and man. 448 00:22:50,295 --> 00:22:53,689 Somebody who could satisfy God as a man, 449 00:22:53,689 --> 00:22:56,261 being righteous as a man, 450 00:22:56,261 --> 00:22:59,261 dying the death of a man in our place. 451 00:22:59,261 --> 00:23:02,042 See, they believed that. They believed that. 452 00:23:02,042 --> 00:23:03,811 The rest of them, they didn't believe it. 453 00:23:03,811 --> 00:23:06,372 They believed Artemis, and you know, god of fertility, 454 00:23:06,372 --> 00:23:08,060 and we've got to appease and placate. 455 00:23:08,060 --> 00:23:10,844 And these people recognized, no, none of that! 456 00:23:10,844 --> 00:23:13,194 We cannot placate with our offerings, 457 00:23:13,194 --> 00:23:15,114 and with our produce, 458 00:23:15,114 --> 00:23:17,514 and with anything that we do in our lives. 459 00:23:17,514 --> 00:23:20,658 They recognized, One came into this world 460 00:23:20,658 --> 00:23:22,793 to save sinners, and it's not Artemis, 461 00:23:22,793 --> 00:23:24,290 and it's not Jupiter. 462 00:23:24,290 --> 00:23:26,101 It is the Son of God Himself. 463 00:23:26,101 --> 00:23:28,754 Rejected by those pagans, rejected by the Jews 464 00:23:28,754 --> 00:23:30,254 that were there. They believed that. 465 00:23:30,254 --> 00:23:31,788 And I'll tell you what else they believed: 466 00:23:31,788 --> 00:23:34,371 They believed that He died, but He didn't stay dead. 467 00:23:34,371 --> 00:23:37,140 He came out of the grave. They believed that. 468 00:23:37,140 --> 00:23:40,433 The resurrection? Yeah, you better believe, they believed that. 469 00:23:40,433 --> 00:23:44,001 After many infallible proofs, 40 days, 470 00:23:44,001 --> 00:23:46,853 He showed Himself to above 500 people. 471 00:23:46,853 --> 00:23:49,444 They knew it. Those Christians knew it! 472 00:23:49,444 --> 00:23:51,575 The testimony went all over through the churches. 473 00:23:51,575 --> 00:23:54,715 In this day, probably some of those people were still alive. 474 00:23:54,715 --> 00:23:56,589 Maybe some of them had even migrated 475 00:23:56,589 --> 00:23:57,707 over to Ephesus. 476 00:23:57,707 --> 00:23:59,618 People who had seen Him resurrected. 477 00:23:59,618 --> 00:24:02,000 Can you imagine seeing somebody 478 00:24:02,000 --> 00:24:04,606 who saw Christ resurrected? 479 00:24:04,606 --> 00:24:07,134 I mean, I don't know what you would do, 480 00:24:07,134 --> 00:24:09,267 but I would swarm the guy! 481 00:24:09,267 --> 00:24:10,960 I would grab him and pull him aside, 482 00:24:10,960 --> 00:24:14,002 "you tell me everything!" 483 00:24:14,002 --> 00:24:17,161 Tell me! Tell me! Tell me! 484 00:24:17,161 --> 00:24:18,707 Why? Don't you want to know more? 485 00:24:18,707 --> 00:24:20,081 Don't you always want to know more? 486 00:24:20,081 --> 00:24:21,888 More than even what the Bible tells you? 487 00:24:21,888 --> 00:24:23,475 Isn't that the longing of your heart? 488 00:24:23,475 --> 00:24:25,308 That's not a bad desire. 489 00:24:25,308 --> 00:24:29,436 Here are these people, and you know they stood out. 490 00:24:29,436 --> 00:24:30,847 Why? Because they had holy lives 491 00:24:30,847 --> 00:24:31,893 and because they believed something like 492 00:24:31,893 --> 00:24:33,647 the rest of the people did not believe. 493 00:24:33,647 --> 00:24:37,037 And they were telling the people what they believed. 494 00:24:37,037 --> 00:24:39,018 Paul says when he went to Ephesus, 495 00:24:39,018 --> 00:24:40,700 he fought with beasts at Ephesus. 496 00:24:40,700 --> 00:24:42,187 There were people there. 497 00:24:42,187 --> 00:24:46,969 That's the same place where Demetrius the coppersmith was at. 498 00:24:46,969 --> 00:24:48,824 They were taking their trade away. 499 00:24:48,824 --> 00:24:52,378 These people are saying that these gods 500 00:24:52,378 --> 00:24:54,220 that we're making with our hands, 501 00:24:54,220 --> 00:24:55,787 they're all a deception. 502 00:24:55,787 --> 00:24:58,876 This is having an impact on my ability 503 00:24:58,876 --> 00:25:01,373 to put bread on the supper table for my family. 504 00:25:01,373 --> 00:25:03,864 So, you better believe they recognized it. 505 00:25:03,864 --> 00:25:04,961 You better believe they knew it. 506 00:25:04,961 --> 00:25:08,017 Paul, he was over there at that hall of Tyrannus 507 00:25:08,017 --> 00:25:10,269 for what? a number of years, 508 00:25:10,269 --> 00:25:15,324 preaching and teaching, and the Word was going everywhere. 509 00:25:15,324 --> 00:25:18,335 They believed. 510 00:25:18,335 --> 00:25:21,319 They were believers. 511 00:25:21,319 --> 00:25:23,418 But that's not all. 512 00:25:23,418 --> 00:25:26,243 Saints believe certain things. 513 00:25:26,243 --> 00:25:29,909 But brethren, I want you to notice this: 514 00:25:29,909 --> 00:25:33,321 notice the order of these terms. 515 00:25:33,321 --> 00:25:35,629 And again, I don't think this is random. 516 00:25:35,629 --> 00:25:40,365 Because it's not random in the first chapter of Ephesians. 517 00:25:40,365 --> 00:25:44,490 Nor is it random in other places in our Bibles. 518 00:25:44,490 --> 00:25:48,987 Saints, first. 519 00:25:48,987 --> 00:25:53,237 Believers, second. 520 00:25:53,237 --> 00:25:55,641 And I think we need to look at this, 521 00:25:55,641 --> 00:25:58,051 because I think most of us have this idea 522 00:25:58,051 --> 00:25:59,168 about Christianity: 523 00:25:59,168 --> 00:26:04,681 justification and then sanctification. 524 00:26:04,681 --> 00:26:06,700 We're justified by faith, 525 00:26:06,700 --> 00:26:10,964 so we would have the idea of believing and being justified; 526 00:26:10,964 --> 00:26:14,448 and then sanctification, and that's the idea of 527 00:26:14,448 --> 00:26:17,393 progressively becoming more and more holy 528 00:26:17,393 --> 00:26:20,331 and more and more Christlike. 529 00:26:20,331 --> 00:26:22,738 And yet isn't it interesting, saint is first, 530 00:26:22,738 --> 00:26:24,274 believer second? 531 00:26:24,274 --> 00:26:25,531 And you say well, maybe that's random, 532 00:26:25,531 --> 00:26:27,826 or maybe just standard protocol demands, 533 00:26:27,826 --> 00:26:29,953 if you're going to address somebody, 534 00:26:29,953 --> 00:26:34,377 maybe it just came off the tongue easier to say saint first. 535 00:26:34,377 --> 00:26:35,928 I don't believe that. 536 00:26:35,928 --> 00:26:38,699 I believe there is doctrinal significance to the order here, 537 00:26:38,699 --> 00:26:41,620 and I'll show you why. 538 00:26:41,620 --> 00:26:50,155 Turn over to 2 Thessalonians 2:13. 539 00:26:50,155 --> 00:26:52,690 This is not a random reality, 540 00:26:52,690 --> 00:26:55,301 when we begin to study very closely. 541 00:26:55,301 --> 00:26:59,207 We will see that the idea of sanctification 542 00:26:59,207 --> 00:27:05,666 is more than once, often, put before 543 00:27:05,666 --> 00:27:10,839 our faith and obedience to Christ. 544 00:27:10,839 --> 00:27:15,289 2 Thessalonians 2:13, "We ought always to give thanks 545 00:27:15,289 --> 00:27:19,478 to God for you, brothers, beloved by the Lord." 546 00:27:19,478 --> 00:27:21,214 Now notice this: 547 00:27:21,214 --> 00:27:28,219 "Because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved." 548 00:27:28,219 --> 00:27:29,643 Now this is very interesting because this 549 00:27:29,643 --> 00:27:33,411 is similar language to Ephesians 1:3-4 550 00:27:33,411 --> 00:27:35,166 where you've got this idea 551 00:27:35,166 --> 00:27:43,422 that God chose them to be holy and blameless. 552 00:27:43,422 --> 00:27:49,867 They were chosen in Christ. 553 00:27:49,867 --> 00:27:53,888 And notice this, "God chose you as the firstfruits 554 00:27:53,888 --> 00:27:59,622 to be saved through sanctification by the Spirit 555 00:27:59,622 --> 00:28:02,398 and belief in the truth." 556 00:28:02,398 --> 00:28:06,257 But again, it's interesting that sanctification 557 00:28:06,257 --> 00:28:11,661 is first, faith; belief is second. 558 00:28:11,661 --> 00:28:15,063 Ok, go back to Ephesians again. 559 00:28:15,063 --> 00:28:25,009 I want to draw this reality again out of Ephesians 1 for you. 560 00:28:25,009 --> 00:28:28,356 In Ephesians 1, notice verse 4, 561 00:28:28,356 --> 00:28:35,958 "He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world 562 00:28:35,958 --> 00:28:40,219 that we should be holy and blameless before Him." 563 00:28:40,219 --> 00:28:42,420 Again, you get that idea, 564 00:28:42,420 --> 00:28:44,420 and then faith, like I showed you before, 565 00:28:44,420 --> 00:28:49,397 the hope in Christ is found in verse 12. 566 00:28:49,397 --> 00:28:55,770 The believing in Christ is found in 13. 567 00:28:55,770 --> 00:29:00,222 Our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is found in 15. 568 00:29:00,222 --> 00:29:05,357 And so it's interesting that in his initial salutation, 569 00:29:05,357 --> 00:29:13,969 saint first, believer second. Full of faith. Faith-full. Second. 570 00:29:13,969 --> 00:29:17,417 That's what we find in 2 Thessalonians. 571 00:29:17,417 --> 00:29:21,144 That's what we find as he opens up these realities 572 00:29:21,144 --> 00:29:22,984 in Ephesians 1. 573 00:29:22,984 --> 00:29:26,188 Listen, what you have to recognize is this: 574 00:29:26,188 --> 00:29:28,960 What he is going to begin talking to us about 575 00:29:28,960 --> 00:29:33,934 is all the spiritual blessings that have been heaped upon us 576 00:29:33,934 --> 00:29:36,501 being in Christ, and as he goes through 577 00:29:36,501 --> 00:29:39,469 and he begins to elaborate on what those blessings are, 578 00:29:39,469 --> 00:29:41,992 the very first thing that he goes to is the fact 579 00:29:41,992 --> 00:29:43,278 that God chose you. 580 00:29:43,278 --> 00:29:46,767 And He didn't choose you just to be saved, 581 00:29:46,767 --> 00:29:49,309 He chose you to be holy. 582 00:29:49,309 --> 00:29:51,870 He chose you to be a people for Himself. 583 00:29:51,870 --> 00:29:54,871 He didn't just choose you to miss out on hell. 584 00:29:54,871 --> 00:30:00,551 He chose you to be holy and blameless before Him. 585 00:30:00,551 --> 00:30:05,650 And then it's verses later before you get to the fact that 586 00:30:05,650 --> 00:30:09,638 there's faith involved in this. 587 00:30:09,638 --> 00:30:12,589 You get to chapter 2 before you find out 588 00:30:12,589 --> 00:30:19,554 that we're saved by grace through faith. 589 00:30:19,554 --> 00:30:21,602 It's a gift of God. 590 00:30:21,602 --> 00:30:24,283 But he starts on the note of sanctification, 591 00:30:24,283 --> 00:30:26,465 if you don't see it, that's what the idea of holy, 592 00:30:26,465 --> 00:30:28,419 being chosen to holiness, 593 00:30:28,419 --> 00:30:31,972 being chosen to sanctity, to sanctification, 594 00:30:31,972 --> 00:30:34,569 being chosen as sanctified ones, 595 00:30:34,569 --> 00:30:36,409 being chosen as saints. 596 00:30:36,409 --> 00:30:37,593 That's the idea. 597 00:30:37,593 --> 00:30:38,864 It's the same thing, even though you 598 00:30:38,864 --> 00:30:40,735 don't see the word saint there. 599 00:30:40,735 --> 00:30:42,472 It's the same idea. 600 00:30:42,472 --> 00:30:43,844 There's a sequence. 601 00:30:43,844 --> 00:30:47,597 Now why do I emphasize this? 602 00:30:47,597 --> 00:30:52,272 I emphasize this for this fact. 603 00:30:52,272 --> 00:31:00,649 That you cannot be a believer unless you're a saint. 604 00:31:00,649 --> 00:31:02,360 And that's critical. 605 00:31:02,360 --> 00:31:05,556 That's critical to what Christians are. 606 00:31:05,556 --> 00:31:10,019 Are you a person who's been set aside for God? 607 00:31:10,019 --> 00:31:14,207 Holy, blameless? Is that the reality about your life? 608 00:31:14,207 --> 00:31:16,565 Is there obvious evidence? 609 00:31:16,565 --> 00:31:18,798 Listen, we need to recognize, 610 00:31:18,798 --> 00:31:21,750 we become new creations in Christ Jesus, 611 00:31:21,750 --> 00:31:24,091 old things pass away, all things become new. 612 00:31:24,091 --> 00:31:25,957 There is such a thing as being born again. 613 00:31:25,957 --> 00:31:28,399 True Christianity is supernatural. 614 00:31:28,399 --> 00:31:32,756 There is a non-supernatural form of Christianity 615 00:31:32,756 --> 00:31:35,078 that's pumped in this world. 616 00:31:35,078 --> 00:31:37,902 "Oh, I believe. I believe in God." 617 00:31:37,902 --> 00:31:41,116 "I believe this." 618 00:31:41,116 --> 00:31:45,669 Craig's been helping James out with some of the emails, 619 00:31:45,669 --> 00:31:46,919 and Criag's been telling me about, 620 00:31:46,919 --> 00:31:48,809 and I come across this too, 621 00:31:48,809 --> 00:31:54,406 it's amazing how often we see emails 622 00:31:54,406 --> 00:31:58,398 where people start the email, "Oh, I know I'm saved..." 623 00:31:58,398 --> 00:32:02,000 "Oh, I know I'm born again..." 624 00:32:02,000 --> 00:32:05,021 "but, I live in sin, I'm a slave to sin, 625 00:32:05,021 --> 00:32:08,735 would you please explain to me how this can be?" 626 00:32:08,735 --> 00:32:15,318 That doesn't require a long answer. 627 00:32:15,318 --> 00:32:17,110 It can't be. 628 00:32:17,110 --> 00:32:18,961 I mean, you're basically describing something 629 00:32:18,961 --> 00:32:22,593 that the Bible says does not exist. 630 00:32:22,593 --> 00:32:25,768 Unholy believers. 631 00:32:25,768 --> 00:32:28,595 And what Scripture is saying is 632 00:32:28,595 --> 00:32:31,612 listen, this is supernatural. 633 00:32:31,612 --> 00:32:35,062 God chooses. God is active. 634 00:32:35,062 --> 00:32:38,249 God sets people aside. 635 00:32:38,249 --> 00:32:41,625 And that's first, before we even look at being a believer. 636 00:32:41,625 --> 00:32:43,342 Yes, believers believe. 637 00:32:43,342 --> 00:32:46,342 Believers believe what Christians believe. 638 00:32:46,342 --> 00:32:48,763 They believe the Scriptures; they believe the Gospel. 639 00:32:48,763 --> 00:32:51,365 They believe the realities about Jesus Christ. 640 00:32:51,365 --> 00:32:53,931 But first and foremost, they are people set aside. 641 00:32:53,931 --> 00:32:55,497 And I would just say this, 642 00:32:55,497 --> 00:32:57,902 has that happened to you? 643 00:32:57,902 --> 00:32:59,533 I mean, is there evidence in your life 644 00:32:59,533 --> 00:33:02,448 that you are a holy vessel put aside by God? 645 00:33:02,448 --> 00:33:04,468 Has something like that really happened in your life? 646 00:33:04,468 --> 00:33:06,792 I don't mean, did you just decide one day? 647 00:33:06,792 --> 00:33:08,673 Oh, I think I'm going to become a believer, 648 00:33:08,673 --> 00:33:10,305 and I think I'm going to do this, 649 00:33:10,305 --> 00:33:12,887 and I'm going to start going to church, 650 00:33:12,887 --> 00:33:15,454 and I'm going to try to get my life right. 651 00:33:15,454 --> 00:33:18,838 You see, that's not the picture that we get in Scripture. 652 00:33:18,838 --> 00:33:21,336 What we get in Scripture is the picture that God 653 00:33:21,336 --> 00:33:28,617 chooses to set a people aside, and that's first. 654 00:33:28,617 --> 00:33:33,096 And then, believer. 655 00:33:33,096 --> 00:33:36,768 He's not talking about then how reliable we become. 656 00:33:36,768 --> 00:33:40,097 He's not saying, saint, then you become reliable, though that's true. 657 00:33:40,097 --> 00:33:44,633 The idea is you're a saint first, and then you're a believer. 658 00:33:44,633 --> 00:33:49,242 And that's the direction he goes in in this first chapter. 659 00:33:49,242 --> 00:33:54,044 Brethren, here's the question. 660 00:33:54,044 --> 00:33:56,714 Why is it that we so often think of believing first, 661 00:33:56,714 --> 00:33:59,352 and then we go through a process of sanctification. 662 00:33:59,352 --> 00:34:01,234 Well, I know why that is. 663 00:34:01,234 --> 00:34:03,389 Because most of the time when we think about 664 00:34:03,389 --> 00:34:06,468 sanctification, we're thinking about the progressive reality. 665 00:34:06,468 --> 00:34:09,378 Moving to more and more Christlikeness. 666 00:34:09,378 --> 00:34:12,448 But the truth is the idea of being a saint, 667 00:34:12,448 --> 00:34:15,905 and the idea of sanctification and the idea of holiness 668 00:34:15,905 --> 00:34:21,067 is very often in Scripture set forth as a positional reality, 669 00:34:21,067 --> 00:34:24,093 not a progressive reality. 670 00:34:24,093 --> 00:34:27,836 It's God placing us aside for Himself. 671 00:34:27,836 --> 00:34:30,182 And it's real. 672 00:34:30,182 --> 00:34:33,801 This isn't artificial, this really happens. 673 00:34:33,801 --> 00:34:37,346 It's not make believe. 674 00:34:37,346 --> 00:34:40,375 Do you know something about that in your life? 675 00:34:40,375 --> 00:34:45,216 Where God has set you aside? 676 00:34:45,216 --> 00:34:46,633 How does it happen? 677 00:34:46,633 --> 00:34:57,735 Well, it happens in the mind; it happens in what you believe; 678 00:34:57,735 --> 00:35:01,569 it happens in the desires that you have; 679 00:35:01,569 --> 00:35:05,027 it happens in the love that you have; 680 00:35:05,027 --> 00:35:06,529 it happens there, brethren. 681 00:35:06,529 --> 00:35:09,336 We heard in the first hour about these passions 682 00:35:09,336 --> 00:35:11,000 of our former ignorance. 683 00:35:11,000 --> 00:35:12,806 That's where it happens. 684 00:35:12,806 --> 00:35:14,423 We have new desires. 685 00:35:14,423 --> 00:35:16,849 We hunger and thirst for righteousness. 686 00:35:16,849 --> 00:35:18,932 The old is passed away - in what sense? 687 00:35:18,932 --> 00:35:21,216 That we see things, we recognize things, 688 00:35:21,216 --> 00:35:22,549 we believe things. 689 00:35:22,549 --> 00:35:24,639 It's like the light's been turned on. 690 00:35:24,639 --> 00:35:26,262 We see the glory of Christ. 691 00:35:26,262 --> 00:35:28,901 We have a love for Him, and we see Him in ways 692 00:35:28,901 --> 00:35:30,481 we did not see before. 693 00:35:30,481 --> 00:35:33,179 And we want to live our life for Him now. 694 00:35:33,179 --> 00:35:36,091 That is the indication of being set aside. 695 00:35:36,091 --> 00:35:39,225 We recognize, we're not like the world anymore. 696 00:35:39,225 --> 00:35:40,598 This isn't, oh, I'm like the world, 697 00:35:40,598 --> 00:35:43,058 but I just plaster religion on it. 698 00:35:43,058 --> 00:35:47,568 Something happens - it happens different with different people. 699 00:35:47,568 --> 00:35:50,349 For some people, it is dramatic, 700 00:35:50,349 --> 00:35:55,911 the moment, the day can be identifed. 701 00:35:55,911 --> 00:35:57,543 With other people, it's more gradual. 702 00:35:57,543 --> 00:35:59,878 But whichever way it happens, the truth is 703 00:35:59,878 --> 00:36:01,712 you are a new creation in Christ. 704 00:36:01,712 --> 00:36:03,595 You are one of these people who has been 705 00:36:03,595 --> 00:36:05,942 put aside by God. 706 00:36:05,942 --> 00:36:08,739 And then, the faith follows that. 707 00:36:08,739 --> 00:36:12,920 No man is a believer who is not first a saint. 708 00:36:12,920 --> 00:36:15,351 One of these people that clearly have been 709 00:36:15,351 --> 00:36:17,074 set aside for God. 710 00:36:17,074 --> 00:36:21,416 Clearly have been chosen by Him. 711 00:36:21,416 --> 00:36:24,617 A people chosen to be holy unto Himself. 712 00:36:24,617 --> 00:36:31,399 And then according to the gift of God, we believe. 713 00:36:31,399 --> 00:36:35,428 We become believers. 714 00:36:35,428 --> 00:36:38,830 And then there's a third reality here. 715 00:36:38,830 --> 00:36:43,093 And it's "in Christ Jesus." 716 00:36:43,093 --> 00:36:48,004 Now, I don't look at this like necessarily 717 00:36:48,004 --> 00:36:54,427 three different separate identifications or 718 00:36:54,427 --> 00:36:56,987 characteristics of the Christian. 719 00:36:56,987 --> 00:37:00,425 Although I want to look at them that way. 720 00:37:00,425 --> 00:37:07,207 But it's more like you have two qualities that 721 00:37:07,207 --> 00:37:10,380 are being modified by the third. 722 00:37:10,380 --> 00:37:13,588 In other words, when Paul addresses these people, 723 00:37:13,588 --> 00:37:17,502 he's not saying that their faith is in Jesus Christ. 724 00:37:17,502 --> 00:37:20,881 He is saying they are in Jesus Christ. 725 00:37:20,881 --> 00:37:28,108 He is saying that as saints, they are saints in Christ. 726 00:37:28,108 --> 00:37:34,791 As believers, they are believers in Christ. 727 00:37:34,791 --> 00:37:38,119 I'm not even sure as a young believer, 728 00:37:38,119 --> 00:37:40,537 as I started reading Scripture 729 00:37:40,537 --> 00:37:42,811 that I probably didn't even recognize... 730 00:37:42,811 --> 00:37:45,322 When you are a young Christian, 731 00:37:45,322 --> 00:37:47,219 you are looking for the bigger thoughts 732 00:37:47,219 --> 00:37:49,019 and the bigger ideas. 733 00:37:49,019 --> 00:37:53,430 And there's a lot of language in Scripture 734 00:37:53,430 --> 00:37:57,291 that you can pass over when you're a young believer. 735 00:37:57,291 --> 00:37:59,875 It's just, there's words there, but you're not really... 736 00:37:59,875 --> 00:38:03,100 "In Christ, in Christ," you know, ok, whatever, 737 00:38:03,100 --> 00:38:07,060 you read past those because they're everywhere. 738 00:38:07,060 --> 00:38:08,989 It's almost like religious langauge, 739 00:38:08,989 --> 00:38:14,989 it kind of gets plugged in there. 740 00:38:14,989 --> 00:38:27,060 I want you to get a feel for how prominent this idea 741 00:38:27,060 --> 00:38:30,790 of being in Christ actually is. 742 00:38:30,790 --> 00:38:35,609 Look with me at chapter 1, verse 3, 743 00:38:35,609 --> 00:38:38,319 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 744 00:38:38,319 --> 00:38:41,520 Who has blessed us..." notice this: 745 00:38:41,520 --> 00:38:43,620 "In Christ." I'm sure as a young believer, 746 00:38:43,620 --> 00:38:47,526 I would have read right over that. 747 00:38:47,526 --> 00:38:51,844 In Christ. 748 00:38:51,844 --> 00:39:01,133 Notice, verse 4, "even as He chose us in Him." 749 00:39:01,133 --> 00:39:04,498 Notice verse 5, "He predestinated us for adoption 750 00:39:04,498 --> 00:39:10,963 as sons through Jesus Christ." 751 00:39:10,963 --> 00:39:18,811 Notice 6, "He has blessed us in the Beloved." 752 00:39:18,811 --> 00:39:25,793 7, "in Him, we have redemption through His blood." 753 00:39:25,793 --> 00:39:32,951 I don't know that this "in Christ" terminology 754 00:39:32,951 --> 00:39:37,668 is found anywhere else in the Bible 755 00:39:37,668 --> 00:39:48,220 in such repetition as it is found here 756 00:39:48,220 --> 00:39:50,578 in this first chapter of Ephesians. 757 00:39:50,578 --> 00:39:53,955 We keep reading... 758 00:39:53,955 --> 00:40:00,680 9, "according to His purpose which He set forth in Christ." 759 00:40:00,680 --> 00:40:03,111 Notice 10, "as a plan for the fullness of time 760 00:40:03,111 --> 00:40:06,634 to unite all things in Him." 761 00:40:06,634 --> 00:40:14,088 11, "in Him, we have obtained an inheritance." 762 00:40:14,088 --> 00:40:18,655 12, "first to hope in Christ." 763 00:40:18,655 --> 00:40:23,716 13, "in Him, you also when you heard the word of truth 764 00:40:23,716 --> 00:40:27,046 the gospel of your salvation and believed in Him." 765 00:40:27,046 --> 00:40:31,514 You see, the idea here is, we see that 766 00:40:31,514 --> 00:40:37,603 us being chosen as a people holy and us having faith, 767 00:40:37,603 --> 00:40:40,873 being believers, we see that there's kind of an order 768 00:40:40,873 --> 00:40:44,423 in Scripture where us being sanctified, being saints, 769 00:40:44,423 --> 00:40:48,048 is set forth before being a believer. 770 00:40:48,048 --> 00:40:51,945 And yet both of them are swimming in the reality 771 00:40:51,945 --> 00:40:55,644 of being in Christ. 772 00:40:55,644 --> 00:41:00,451 That is the chief characteristic. 773 00:41:00,451 --> 00:41:03,408 It's kind of like the holiness of God 774 00:41:03,408 --> 00:41:07,496 when you go to describing God's attributes. 775 00:41:07,496 --> 00:41:13,305 Holiness cannot be separated from any of God's attributes. 776 00:41:13,305 --> 00:41:17,950 If He's merciful, it is a holy mercifulness. 777 00:41:17,950 --> 00:41:21,742 If God is angry, it is a holy anger. 778 00:41:21,742 --> 00:41:24,266 You see, it describes everything about God. 779 00:41:24,266 --> 00:41:29,244 And that is what we find with this characteristic. 780 00:41:29,244 --> 00:41:34,446 To be in Christ covers everything. 781 00:41:34,446 --> 00:41:37,521 If we're adopted, it's in Christ. If we're chosen to holiness, 782 00:41:37,521 --> 00:41:39,858 it's in Christ. If we're believers, it's in Christ. 783 00:41:39,858 --> 00:41:41,522 If there's a plan, it's in Christ. 784 00:41:41,522 --> 00:41:45,071 If there's any good for us, it's all in Christ. 785 00:41:45,071 --> 00:41:48,618 We could keep going on here, but here's what I want us to do: 786 00:41:48,618 --> 00:41:54,443 I want us to think about what this means. 787 00:41:54,443 --> 00:41:58,371 Because you can hear the terminology. 788 00:41:58,371 --> 00:42:01,631 See, if I talked about being in a sleeping bag, 789 00:42:01,631 --> 00:42:04,456 or in this room, 790 00:42:04,456 --> 00:42:07,820 or in this pulpit, 791 00:42:07,820 --> 00:42:15,635 you have a very physical, positional idea. 792 00:42:15,635 --> 00:42:18,910 You form a picture in your mind. 793 00:42:18,910 --> 00:42:21,895 We're talking about a spiritual reality here. 794 00:42:21,895 --> 00:42:26,709 What does it mean to be in Christ Jesus. 795 00:42:26,709 --> 00:42:31,482 Because this is life and death. 796 00:42:31,482 --> 00:42:35,056 In Christ Jesus. 797 00:42:35,056 --> 00:42:37,339 To the saints who are in Ephesus 798 00:42:37,339 --> 00:42:45,770 and are faithful in Christ Jesus. 799 00:42:45,770 --> 00:42:49,613 Here's the first thing I want you to feel about this. 800 00:42:49,613 --> 00:42:52,707 It is a positional reality. 801 00:42:52,707 --> 00:42:55,722 "In" is a preposition. 802 00:42:55,722 --> 00:42:58,260 And in the Greek, that's basically what you have. 803 00:42:58,260 --> 00:43:01,822 You have the word "in." 804 00:43:01,822 --> 00:43:06,514 More akin to "en," but it's a preposition. 805 00:43:06,514 --> 00:43:11,076 And what do prepositions do? 806 00:43:11,076 --> 00:43:13,759 Can anybody shoot off some of the prepositions? 807 00:43:13,759 --> 00:43:16,922 In, out, above, on, etc. 808 00:43:16,922 --> 00:43:22,654 What do prepositions do? 809 00:43:22,654 --> 00:43:27,010 They basically identify the relationship of 810 00:43:27,010 --> 00:43:29,800 one person or object to another. 811 00:43:29,800 --> 00:43:32,785 That's basically what they do. 812 00:43:32,785 --> 00:43:36,080 If I am in Christ, what that is doing is 813 00:43:36,080 --> 00:43:40,602 describing my relationship to Him. 814 00:43:40,602 --> 00:43:43,674 Physically, where are these people? 815 00:43:43,674 --> 00:43:48,714 To the saints who are in Ephesus. 816 00:43:48,714 --> 00:43:51,604 Physically, they're in Ephesus. 817 00:43:51,604 --> 00:43:55,330 Spiritually, they're in Christ. 818 00:43:55,330 --> 00:43:56,870 One thing we have to recognize about 819 00:43:56,870 --> 00:44:00,509 physical realities, is in many ways, 820 00:44:00,509 --> 00:44:02,527 I'm in a lot of different places. 821 00:44:02,527 --> 00:44:04,290 I'm in this shirt, I'm in this pulpit, 822 00:44:04,290 --> 00:44:09,829 I'm in this room, I'm in this city. 823 00:44:09,829 --> 00:44:11,967 I'm in this state. 824 00:44:11,967 --> 00:44:15,987 And I could be in many different cities. 825 00:44:15,987 --> 00:44:22,257 But you know spiritually, there's only two cities. 826 00:44:22,257 --> 00:44:24,829 And you're in one or the other. 827 00:44:24,829 --> 00:44:30,319 There's the city of destruction or there's the city of God. 828 00:44:30,319 --> 00:44:33,714 You're in Christ or you're in Adam. 829 00:44:33,714 --> 00:44:39,248 Lots of choices in the physical realm of where we are. 830 00:44:39,248 --> 00:44:41,178 But there's only one of two places, 831 00:44:41,178 --> 00:44:42,902 and that's true of everybody here. 832 00:44:42,902 --> 00:44:45,379 You're either in Christ or you're out of Christ. 833 00:44:45,379 --> 00:44:47,113 I'm not saying whether you're religious, 834 00:44:47,113 --> 00:44:48,383 or whether you're at church today, 835 00:44:48,383 --> 00:44:50,902 or whether you hold a Bible in your hand. 836 00:44:50,902 --> 00:44:52,281 I'm not talking about whether you grew up 837 00:44:52,281 --> 00:44:55,263 in a Christian family. 838 00:44:55,263 --> 00:44:57,561 I'm not talking about whether other people called you 839 00:44:57,561 --> 00:45:00,165 Christians or called you brother and sister. 840 00:45:00,165 --> 00:45:01,792 I'm talking this is a reality here. 841 00:45:01,792 --> 00:45:03,714 You are in Christ or you are out of Christ. 842 00:45:03,714 --> 00:45:06,747 And though we may not recognize the reality of it, 843 00:45:06,747 --> 00:45:09,227 though we may not be able to see it with our physical eyes, 844 00:45:09,227 --> 00:45:13,285 it's true, and it's just as true as the fact that we're in this room. 845 00:45:13,285 --> 00:45:15,452 And it is a greater reality, 846 00:45:15,452 --> 00:45:19,466 because it has to do with your everlasting state. 847 00:45:19,466 --> 00:45:23,702 It is a positional reality. 848 00:45:23,702 --> 00:45:25,424 That's the first thing. 849 00:45:25,424 --> 00:45:31,385 The second thing is that the idea of being in something, 850 00:45:31,385 --> 00:45:34,941 think about this, we talked about baptism yesterday. 851 00:45:34,941 --> 00:45:39,272 And the fact that Biblical baptism is by immersion, 852 00:45:39,272 --> 00:45:42,458 not sprinkling. 853 00:45:42,458 --> 00:45:46,503 If I'm immersed, I'm in the water. 854 00:45:46,503 --> 00:45:51,562 You see to be inside something means it surrounds me. 855 00:45:51,562 --> 00:45:54,601 Oh, this is a sweet picture. 856 00:45:54,601 --> 00:45:59,732 If I'm in Christ, I'm surrounded by Christ. 857 00:45:59,732 --> 00:46:01,672 If I'm in water, I'm surrounded by that water. 858 00:46:01,672 --> 00:46:03,964 If I'm in a sleeping bag, I'm surrounded by that sleeping bag. 859 00:46:03,964 --> 00:46:05,950 If I'm in this pulpit, I'm surrounded by this. 860 00:46:05,950 --> 00:46:10,161 If a child is in it's father's arms, it means 861 00:46:10,161 --> 00:46:12,897 they are surrounded by those arms. 862 00:46:12,897 --> 00:46:19,379 To be in Christ means I'm surrounded by Christ. 863 00:46:19,379 --> 00:46:22,109 That's a good thought. 864 00:46:22,109 --> 00:46:27,471 He embraces the believer, in His own life, 865 00:46:27,471 --> 00:46:30,314 in the embrace of His everlasting arms. 866 00:46:30,314 --> 00:46:33,795 The saint - that's who we find are in Christ. 867 00:46:33,795 --> 00:46:35,946 Saints. 868 00:46:35,946 --> 00:46:37,906 Believers. 869 00:46:37,906 --> 00:46:41,987 In Christ. 870 00:46:41,987 --> 00:46:43,383 They all go together. 871 00:46:43,383 --> 00:46:46,109 It's not possible that one of these characteristics fits you 872 00:46:46,109 --> 00:46:50,853 and the others don't. They all go together. All or none. 873 00:46:50,853 --> 00:46:53,616 How about a third? 874 00:46:53,616 --> 00:46:56,187 This is a spiritual union. 875 00:46:56,187 --> 00:46:59,267 Now I know I said it before, but I want you to see this 876 00:46:59,267 --> 00:47:00,827 in greater reality. 877 00:47:00,827 --> 00:47:06,013 Turn to 1 Corinthians 6. 878 00:47:06,013 --> 00:47:11,739 This is a truth you don't want to forget. 879 00:47:11,739 --> 00:47:13,452 If this truth has never grabbed you before, 880 00:47:13,452 --> 00:47:16,637 I hope it might grab you right now. 881 00:47:16,637 --> 00:47:24,236 1 Corinthians 6:15 882 00:47:24,236 --> 00:47:28,707 Paul is seeking to use argumentation 883 00:47:28,707 --> 00:47:33,165 meant to convince these Corinthians 884 00:47:33,165 --> 00:47:37,558 that having sex with prostitutes is not a good thing. 885 00:47:37,558 --> 00:47:42,787 You might think, wow, that's amazing 886 00:47:42,787 --> 00:47:44,369 that he would even have to try to convince 887 00:47:44,369 --> 00:47:49,065 Christians that that's not a good thing. 888 00:47:49,065 --> 00:47:50,807 But let's be glad that he did have to, 889 00:47:50,807 --> 00:47:53,268 because in doing so he shares with us 890 00:47:53,268 --> 00:47:58,419 some precious truths about what it means to be in Christ. 891 00:47:58,419 --> 00:48:02,605 "Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?" 892 00:48:02,605 --> 00:48:06,204 Your bodies are members of Christ. 893 00:48:06,204 --> 00:48:08,793 That's one thing. 894 00:48:08,793 --> 00:48:12,842 To be in Christ means you're in His body. 895 00:48:12,842 --> 00:48:16,334 You're part of the body. You're connected to Him. 896 00:48:16,334 --> 00:48:19,036 He is the head. You are the body. 897 00:48:19,036 --> 00:48:23,607 You're a member of His. You are part of His body. 898 00:48:23,607 --> 00:48:26,014 "Shall I then take the members of Christ 899 00:48:26,014 --> 00:48:31,351 and make them members of a prostitute?" 900 00:48:31,351 --> 00:48:37,146 You see there is a real-ness, a true-ness, 901 00:48:37,146 --> 00:48:43,542 about the fact that a Christian is a member of Christ. 902 00:48:43,542 --> 00:48:49,135 It's so real it ought to impact what we do with ourselves. 903 00:48:49,135 --> 00:48:52,879 Because we are holy vessels. 904 00:48:52,879 --> 00:48:54,892 You didn't just go and use holy vessels 905 00:48:54,892 --> 00:48:57,483 in the Old Testament for any use. 906 00:48:57,483 --> 00:48:59,241 God would kill you. 907 00:48:59,241 --> 00:49:02,383 You would be cut off from your people. 908 00:49:02,383 --> 00:49:05,530 We are holy vessels. 909 00:49:05,530 --> 00:49:08,377 There are certain things that are appropriate to do with a holy vessel 910 00:49:08,377 --> 00:49:11,488 and certain things that are not appropriate. 911 00:49:11,488 --> 00:49:15,922 But notice, "do you not know that he who is joined 912 00:49:15,922 --> 00:49:18,005 to a prosititute becomes one body with her? 913 00:49:18,005 --> 00:49:20,937 For as it is written, 'the two will become one flesh.'" 914 00:49:20,937 --> 00:49:25,644 And notice this, "but he who is joined to the Lord, 915 00:49:25,644 --> 00:49:29,423 becomes one spirit with Him." 916 00:49:29,423 --> 00:49:34,381 If you are a Christian, if you are in Christ, 917 00:49:34,381 --> 00:49:37,463 if you're joined to the Lord, 918 00:49:37,463 --> 00:49:43,211 you are one spirit with Him. 919 00:49:43,211 --> 00:49:45,827 Just think here. 920 00:49:45,827 --> 00:49:47,560 Let's think of a man and a woman, 921 00:49:47,560 --> 00:49:51,075 because marriage is a picture of the union 922 00:49:51,075 --> 00:49:53,281 that we have with Christ. 923 00:49:53,281 --> 00:49:55,727 But just think, imagine with me, 924 00:49:55,727 --> 00:50:01,167 imagine a man and a woman who are married. 925 00:50:01,167 --> 00:50:04,496 That achieve the highest degree, 926 00:50:04,496 --> 00:50:10,364 they experience the greatest extents, 927 00:50:10,364 --> 00:50:14,513 the farthest reaches of the Biblical ideal 928 00:50:14,513 --> 00:50:17,413 of the married life. 929 00:50:17,413 --> 00:50:20,159 The two become one. 930 00:50:20,159 --> 00:50:21,821 Their love for one another, 931 00:50:21,821 --> 00:50:24,821 their esteem for one another, 932 00:50:24,821 --> 00:50:27,010 their intimacy with one another, 933 00:50:27,010 --> 00:50:29,420 their communication with one another, 934 00:50:29,420 --> 00:50:32,983 reach the highest of the Biblical ideal 935 00:50:32,983 --> 00:50:36,118 of what marriage should look like. 936 00:50:36,118 --> 00:50:40,830 Their wishes, their desires, blend together. 937 00:50:40,830 --> 00:50:44,791 Their lives blend together. 938 00:50:44,791 --> 00:50:50,078 What affects each of them affects the other. 939 00:50:50,078 --> 00:50:55,682 Their lives are swallowed up in one another. 940 00:50:55,682 --> 00:50:58,598 You see, as you begin to think about that, 941 00:50:58,598 --> 00:50:59,758 where your thoughts become - 942 00:50:59,758 --> 00:51:02,182 you almost know what the other person is thinking, 943 00:51:02,182 --> 00:51:03,906 you know them so well. 944 00:51:03,906 --> 00:51:08,750 Think about the highest reaches... 945 00:51:08,750 --> 00:51:13,558 intimacy gets deeper and deeper and deeper. 946 00:51:13,558 --> 00:51:16,180 The intimate association - what does it do? 947 00:51:16,180 --> 00:51:19,503 It tends to create conformity. 948 00:51:19,503 --> 00:51:21,375 You actually become like one another 949 00:51:21,375 --> 00:51:25,618 the more you get close to the other. 950 00:51:25,618 --> 00:51:29,692 So the true Christian in their conformity to Christ, 951 00:51:29,692 --> 00:51:32,450 in their unity to Christ, in their intimacy with Christ, 952 00:51:32,450 --> 00:51:36,411 in their association with Christ, in their purposes, 953 00:51:36,411 --> 00:51:38,050 in their desires, in their thinking. 954 00:51:38,050 --> 00:51:39,356 Have you ever read in Scripture, 955 00:51:39,356 --> 00:51:41,138 we have the mind of Christ? 956 00:51:41,138 --> 00:51:42,685 Do you ever just stand back and say 957 00:51:42,685 --> 00:51:45,126 that's not just because we have Scripture. 958 00:51:45,126 --> 00:51:48,682 It's because what is in Scripture, that Christ has given to us, 959 00:51:48,682 --> 00:51:50,984 our minds have been opened to it. 960 00:51:50,984 --> 00:51:53,985 And we grasp it, and we have a heart like His. 961 00:51:53,985 --> 00:51:56,233 And our desires are made like His. 962 00:51:56,233 --> 00:51:58,192 And our loves are made like His. 963 00:51:58,192 --> 00:51:59,933 And our passions are like His. 964 00:51:59,933 --> 00:52:02,072 Our conformity from one degree of glory 965 00:52:02,072 --> 00:52:04,002 to another - we become like Him. 966 00:52:04,002 --> 00:52:05,918 Which means what we are, who we are, 967 00:52:05,918 --> 00:52:09,297 how we think - the mind, what goes on in our minds. 968 00:52:09,297 --> 00:52:11,834 It's becoming more and more like Him. 969 00:52:11,834 --> 00:52:16,061 There's a spiritual in-ness. 970 00:52:16,061 --> 00:52:20,354 Listen, J.C. Philpot, one of these old - 971 00:52:20,354 --> 00:52:22,229 some of you have probably not heard of him, 972 00:52:22,229 --> 00:52:24,308 but an old strict Baptist or Particular Baptist. 973 00:52:24,308 --> 00:52:25,621 Listen to what he says, 974 00:52:25,621 --> 00:52:32,903 "the Spirit of Christ in Christ's glorious Person, 975 00:52:32,903 --> 00:52:37,354 and the Spirit of Christ in a believing heart, 976 00:52:37,354 --> 00:52:38,560 meet together." 977 00:52:38,560 --> 00:52:41,647 This is what it is to be in Christ. 978 00:52:41,647 --> 00:52:43,766 And he says, "meeting together..." 979 00:52:43,766 --> 00:52:45,254 And you know what he pictures? 980 00:52:45,254 --> 00:52:48,431 And we've all seen this. 981 00:52:48,431 --> 00:52:52,941 He's imagining rain that falls on a window. 982 00:52:52,941 --> 00:52:55,513 And you've been there, in a car, or looking out a window. 983 00:52:55,513 --> 00:52:57,387 And the rain is coming. 984 00:52:57,387 --> 00:53:01,091 And you're seeing the drops as they start dripping down the window. 985 00:53:01,091 --> 00:53:02,996 And have you ever seen two drops 986 00:53:02,996 --> 00:53:08,509 and they're coming down, and they come together. 987 00:53:08,509 --> 00:53:11,321 Or you see one coming down, and there's another drop 988 00:53:11,321 --> 00:53:12,938 on the window that's not moving, 989 00:53:12,938 --> 00:53:14,490 and you watch it, and you know when it hits it, 990 00:53:14,490 --> 00:53:17,541 it's just going to take off. 991 00:53:17,541 --> 00:53:23,558 Philpot sees us being in Christ like those "two drops 992 00:53:23,558 --> 00:53:26,707 of rain running down a pane of glass, 993 00:53:26,707 --> 00:53:33,269 kiss into each other, and are no longer two, but one. 994 00:53:33,269 --> 00:53:37,352 Now if you've been ever blessed with a manifestation of Christ, 995 00:53:37,352 --> 00:53:40,932 your spirit has melted into His. 996 00:53:40,932 --> 00:53:43,711 And you have felt the sweet union and communion 997 00:53:43,711 --> 00:53:47,409 with Him that you saw as with His eyes, 998 00:53:47,409 --> 00:53:49,623 heard as with His ears, felt as with His heart, 999 00:53:49,623 --> 00:53:53,969 and spoke as with His tongue." 1000 00:53:53,969 --> 00:53:56,849 We're one spirit with Him. 1001 00:53:56,849 --> 00:54:02,923 And again, this is not imaginary. This is real. 1002 00:54:02,923 --> 00:54:05,451 You see, sometimes we get so taken up with this 1003 00:54:05,451 --> 00:54:09,551 wretched man syndrome, that we forget, 1004 00:54:09,551 --> 00:54:10,932 we do have the mind of Christ, 1005 00:54:10,932 --> 00:54:14,249 which means, we really do love the same things, 1006 00:54:14,249 --> 00:54:15,658 and we desire the same things, 1007 00:54:15,658 --> 00:54:18,230 and we really are becoming like Him. 1008 00:54:18,260 --> 00:54:21,512 And we're melding together with Him, 1009 00:54:21,512 --> 00:54:23,156 and Who He is. 1010 00:54:23,156 --> 00:54:25,587 In Christ. 1011 00:54:25,587 --> 00:54:29,397 Here's a fourth reality. 1012 00:54:29,397 --> 00:54:34,948 It is a union like that which the Father has with the Son 1013 00:54:34,948 --> 00:54:37,687 and the Son has with the Father. 1014 00:54:37,687 --> 00:54:42,374 John 17:21, listen to this, you don't have to turn there. 1015 00:54:42,374 --> 00:54:45,036 Listen to these words: 1016 00:54:45,036 --> 00:54:49,343 "Just as..." this is our Lord speaking. 1017 00:54:49,343 --> 00:54:51,502 Intercessory prayer in John 17. 1018 00:54:51,502 --> 00:54:57,526 "Just as..." Lock onto those two words. 1019 00:54:57,526 --> 00:55:05,824 "Just as You Father are in Me," just like that. 1020 00:55:05,824 --> 00:55:11,256 "and I in You." Just as Father, You are in Me, the Son, 1021 00:55:11,256 --> 00:55:13,422 and I am in You, the Father... 1022 00:55:13,422 --> 00:55:18,144 "that they" - that's us, Christians, the saints, believers, 1023 00:55:18,144 --> 00:55:22,731 "also may be in us." 1024 00:55:22,731 --> 00:55:28,558 Just as You are in Me and I am in You, 1025 00:55:28,558 --> 00:55:32,740 may they be in us. 1026 00:55:32,740 --> 00:55:38,799 Just... a lot of people start imagining, 1027 00:55:38,799 --> 00:55:43,084 the Father is God, and the Son is God, 1028 00:55:43,084 --> 00:55:45,031 and it just becomes incomprehensible. 1029 00:55:45,031 --> 00:55:47,965 I don't think that's where you want to go. 1030 00:55:47,965 --> 00:55:50,230 I think what you want to picture 1031 00:55:50,230 --> 00:55:54,523 is the Father's relationship to the Son, 1032 00:55:54,523 --> 00:55:59,854 as the Mediator, as our representative, as our Head. 1033 00:55:59,854 --> 00:56:03,362 And we are in His body. 1034 00:56:03,362 --> 00:56:07,449 And being in His body, brethren, you know what Scripture says? 1035 00:56:07,449 --> 00:56:12,059 In Christ, you are seated in the heavely places. 1036 00:56:12,059 --> 00:56:20,135 In Christ, we are part and parcel with Christ. 1037 00:56:20,135 --> 00:56:24,235 In Christ. There becomes realities that are true 1038 00:56:24,235 --> 00:56:27,083 between the Father and the Son 1039 00:56:27,083 --> 00:56:29,945 that you and I have full access to. 1040 00:56:29,945 --> 00:56:32,775 The same things. 1041 00:56:32,775 --> 00:56:35,295 Brethren, the thing is to be in Christ - 1042 00:56:35,295 --> 00:56:37,097 we don't think about this enough, 1043 00:56:37,097 --> 00:56:39,338 we don't go here enough. 1044 00:56:39,338 --> 00:56:46,015 Brethren I'll just tell you, repeatedly studying the Scriptures, 1045 00:56:46,015 --> 00:56:51,738 you get blown away to recognize, to be a Christian, 1046 00:56:51,738 --> 00:56:56,033 brethren, what it is to be a Christian is so 1047 00:56:56,033 --> 00:56:59,197 out-of-this-world, it is so phenomenal, 1048 00:56:59,197 --> 00:57:03,667 it is so much a privilege, it is such a treasure, 1049 00:57:03,667 --> 00:57:07,229 it is so valuable. 1050 00:57:07,229 --> 00:57:11,057 Brethren, if we could just grasp it. 1051 00:57:11,057 --> 00:57:14,186 If you were to find out as a Christian, 1052 00:57:14,186 --> 00:57:17,481 oh, there's no hell, but there's annihilation, 1053 00:57:17,481 --> 00:57:20,254 or there's no hell, but you don't get what's promised in Scripture, 1054 00:57:20,254 --> 00:57:22,180 you get what the Jehovah's Witnesses promise, 1055 00:57:22,180 --> 00:57:26,087 and you can have this world for the rest of your life 1056 00:57:26,087 --> 00:57:28,190 and just stay here and basically live like this. 1057 00:57:28,190 --> 00:57:29,746 Or you can be like the Mormons where you can 1058 00:57:29,746 --> 00:57:31,105 get your own planet somewhere. 1059 00:57:31,105 --> 00:57:35,802 Brethren, if you know what true Christianity is, 1060 00:57:35,802 --> 00:57:38,198 and any of those things, you ended up finding out 1061 00:57:38,198 --> 00:57:40,398 were reality, there would be reasons to just weep 1062 00:57:40,398 --> 00:57:43,355 buckets of tears even if you were going to escape hell. 1063 00:57:43,355 --> 00:57:47,060 Because this thing is so great... 1064 00:57:47,060 --> 00:57:52,282 Paul could just say eternal weight of glory. 1065 00:57:52,282 --> 00:57:59,730 Because these things surpass words. 1066 00:57:59,730 --> 00:58:04,089 Just as... 1067 00:58:04,089 --> 00:58:06,258 Something about the same essential nature 1068 00:58:06,258 --> 00:58:08,815 of the relationship Father has with Son, 1069 00:58:08,815 --> 00:58:11,639 that's true of us being in Christ. 1070 00:58:11,639 --> 00:58:18,357 Another thing: this in Christ, it's a union of life. 1071 00:58:18,357 --> 00:58:19,636 Just listen to these: 1072 00:58:19,636 --> 00:58:24,267 "in Him was life." 1073 00:58:24,267 --> 00:58:26,632 You see, you're either in Him or you're out of Him. 1074 00:58:26,632 --> 00:58:28,873 And to be in Him - remember what He said about, 1075 00:58:28,873 --> 00:58:33,338 He is the vine, we are the branches. 1076 00:58:33,338 --> 00:58:37,463 You've got to be connected to Him if you would have life. 1077 00:58:37,463 --> 00:58:42,344 "Abide in Me and I in you." 1078 00:58:42,344 --> 00:58:46,263 He says, "I am the vine, you are the branches." 1079 00:58:46,263 --> 00:58:50,946 We're told this: "in Christ shall all be made alive." 1080 00:58:50,946 --> 00:58:53,175 We're told this: "I've been crucified with Christ, 1081 00:58:53,175 --> 00:58:56,938 it is no longer I who live, but Christ Who lives in me." 1082 00:58:56,938 --> 00:58:59,082 Our life is tied up in Him. 1083 00:58:59,082 --> 00:59:00,461 Our life is His. 1084 00:59:00,461 --> 00:59:02,167 His life is ours. 1085 00:59:02,167 --> 00:59:04,684 Here in Ephesians 2:4-5, 1086 00:59:04,684 --> 00:59:07,462 we recognize that we are raised together with Him, 1087 00:59:07,462 --> 00:59:10,789 we are raised to life with Christ, in Christ, 1088 00:59:10,789 --> 00:59:13,027 we are raised together. 1089 00:59:13,027 --> 00:59:15,246 Or you have this in Colossians, 1090 00:59:15,246 --> 00:59:17,091 what a truth! 1091 00:59:17,091 --> 00:59:18,333 We find this in 1 John, 1092 00:59:18,333 --> 00:59:22,428 whoever has the Son has life. 1093 00:59:22,428 --> 00:59:24,835 But in Colossians, what a glorious statement 1094 00:59:24,835 --> 00:59:29,886 Chapter 3:4, "when Christ Who is your life appears..." 1095 00:59:29,886 --> 00:59:34,030 to be in Christ is to be connected with life. 1096 00:59:34,030 --> 00:59:39,169 Or this: it's a union of representation. 1097 00:59:39,169 --> 00:59:43,614 "As in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive." 1098 00:59:43,614 --> 00:59:45,522 We know this. This is the great truth that is taught 1099 00:59:45,522 --> 00:59:47,485 in Romans 5. 1100 00:59:47,485 --> 00:59:51,793 To be in Christ means Christ is my federal head. 1101 00:59:51,793 --> 00:59:53,086 He's my representative. 1102 00:59:53,086 --> 00:59:55,040 To be in Him means that all that happens to Him, 1103 00:59:55,040 --> 00:59:58,130 happens to me. All that is His is mine. 1104 00:59:58,130 --> 00:59:59,637 Did He come and earn a righteousness? 1105 00:59:59,637 --> 01:00:01,203 That righteousness is mine. 1106 01:00:01,203 --> 01:00:03,234 I'm made the righteousness of God, remember? 1107 01:00:03,234 --> 01:00:05,664 Remember those two little words that are attached 1108 01:00:05,664 --> 01:00:08,848 there in the last verse of 2 Cor 5, 1109 01:00:08,848 --> 01:00:10,949 what is it? In Him. 1110 01:00:10,949 --> 01:00:13,324 In Him I become the righteousness of God. 1111 01:00:13,324 --> 01:00:15,536 He Who knew no sin, became sin. 1112 01:00:15,536 --> 01:00:18,267 But it's in Him. Not outside of Him. 1113 01:00:18,267 --> 01:00:21,737 It's in Him. In. Him. 1114 01:00:21,737 --> 01:00:23,153 And in Him I'm represented. 1115 01:00:23,153 --> 01:00:25,723 Notice what Scripture says, 1116 01:00:25,723 --> 01:00:28,471 if I'm in Him, did He die? Yes, I died. 1117 01:00:28,471 --> 01:00:31,105 Was He buried? Yes. Then I'm buried. 1118 01:00:31,105 --> 01:00:35,275 Was He crucified? Then I'm crucified with Christ. 1119 01:00:35,275 --> 01:00:37,612 Did He rise from the dead? Then I rose from the dead. 1120 01:00:37,612 --> 01:00:38,826 Does He have a righteousness? 1121 01:00:38,826 --> 01:00:41,188 Then that righteousness is mine. 1122 01:00:41,188 --> 01:00:44,083 Brethren, is He seated at the right hand of the Father? 1123 01:00:44,083 --> 01:00:46,677 Yes. Then so am I. 1124 01:00:46,677 --> 01:00:50,129 Brethren, He's got His eye on you. 1125 01:00:50,129 --> 01:00:51,923 You are betrothed to Him. 1126 01:00:51,923 --> 01:00:53,563 He knows who His own are. 1127 01:00:53,563 --> 01:00:54,731 And He's watching them. 1128 01:00:54,731 --> 01:00:57,831 And He is jealously protective. 1129 01:00:57,831 --> 01:00:59,333 And He means to bring you there, 1130 01:00:59,333 --> 01:01:01,794 holy and blameless before Him. 1131 01:01:01,794 --> 01:01:03,997 He means to gather you. 1132 01:01:03,997 --> 01:01:05,359 You are in Him. You are His. 1133 01:01:05,359 --> 01:01:07,187 You are connected to Him. 1134 01:01:07,187 --> 01:01:08,683 Your life is in Him. 1135 01:01:08,683 --> 01:01:11,568 There is a union of representation. 1136 01:01:11,568 --> 01:01:13,239 As a head to the rest of the body, 1137 01:01:13,239 --> 01:01:14,319 that shows up here, 1138 01:01:14,319 --> 01:01:16,282 speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up 1139 01:01:16,282 --> 01:01:20,095 in every way into Him Who is the Head, into Christ. 1140 01:01:20,095 --> 01:01:23,641 What this tells me is it's a dynamic union. 1141 01:01:23,641 --> 01:01:27,055 In other words, I'm growing into Him more and more. 1142 01:01:27,055 --> 01:01:30,774 This is speaking the truth in love, 1143 01:01:30,774 --> 01:01:32,500 we are to grow up in every way. 1144 01:01:32,500 --> 01:01:38,863 We are to grow out of self, into Him, into love. 1145 01:01:38,863 --> 01:01:43,510 Out of self-indulgence and self-exaltation 1146 01:01:43,510 --> 01:01:46,483 and self - growing into that which is only 1147 01:01:46,483 --> 01:01:47,813 to be found in Him. 1148 01:01:47,813 --> 01:01:49,602 It's like that fertile soil; 1149 01:01:49,602 --> 01:01:51,124 I'm thinking of places in my own lawn 1150 01:01:51,124 --> 01:01:53,161 where I dumped really rich soil, 1151 01:01:53,161 --> 01:01:56,855 and you know the smart plants send roots over there. 1152 01:01:56,855 --> 01:02:00,373 That's what we're doing, we're sending roots deeper, 1153 01:02:00,373 --> 01:02:03,221 and deeper and deeper into Christ, 1154 01:02:03,221 --> 01:02:05,735 drawing the nutrients up out of Him. 1155 01:02:05,735 --> 01:02:12,516 Brethren, this union. I can't see it. 1156 01:02:12,516 --> 01:02:14,789 But, oh, you can sense it. 1157 01:02:14,789 --> 01:02:17,108 I can't see it, but I'll tell you this: 1158 01:02:17,108 --> 01:02:22,114 God makes it happen, God knows it happened, 1159 01:02:22,114 --> 01:02:25,103 God keeps it permanently from ever coming apart. 1160 01:02:25,103 --> 01:02:26,692 One of the things we find in Scripture, 1161 01:02:26,692 --> 01:02:28,809 these people that believe you can lose your salvation 1162 01:02:28,809 --> 01:02:31,343 don't understand what it means to be in Christ. 1163 01:02:31,343 --> 01:02:33,868 Because Scripture says that if you're in Christ 1164 01:02:33,868 --> 01:02:37,684 it is in indissoluble union. 1165 01:02:37,684 --> 01:02:40,984 Paul says this, "I'm sure that neither death nor life, 1166 01:02:40,984 --> 01:02:42,767 nor angels nor rulers, nor things present 1167 01:02:42,767 --> 01:02:44,988 nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, 1168 01:02:44,988 --> 01:02:47,330 nor anything else in all creation will be able to 1169 01:02:47,330 --> 01:02:53,941 separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." 1170 01:02:53,941 --> 01:02:57,095 I'm going to wrap up by saying this: 1171 01:02:57,095 --> 01:03:04,112 One of the reasons that we have pity parties, 1172 01:03:04,112 --> 01:03:06,496 one of the reasons that we fall into the depression that we do, 1173 01:03:06,496 --> 01:03:08,068 or the despair that we do, 1174 01:03:08,068 --> 01:03:12,473 when you start really grasping truths like this, 1175 01:03:12,473 --> 01:03:16,297 what it should tell us is we need to repent of our complaining, 1176 01:03:16,297 --> 01:03:20,191 our lethargy, our depression, our lack of joy, 1177 01:03:20,191 --> 01:03:22,476 our envying what the world has out there. 1178 01:03:22,476 --> 01:03:25,418 They don't have anything on us. 1179 01:03:25,418 --> 01:03:29,799 We're in Christ. In Christ. 1180 01:03:29,799 --> 01:03:33,276 These folks, they were saints, they were full of faith, 1181 01:03:33,276 --> 01:03:35,148 they were in Christ, and all the while 1182 01:03:35,148 --> 01:03:37,518 they lived in Ephesus. 1183 01:03:37,518 --> 01:03:39,600 The pagans knew these folks were there. 1184 01:03:39,600 --> 01:03:41,415 I'll tell you when this characterizes your life 1185 01:03:41,415 --> 01:03:44,313 and you live in the reality of these truths, 1186 01:03:44,313 --> 01:03:46,049 the world out there recognizes, 1187 01:03:46,049 --> 01:03:49,276 there's something different about these people. 1188 01:03:49,276 --> 01:03:51,176 Brethren, we're saints of God. 1189 01:03:51,176 --> 01:03:55,885 We believe that Jesus Christ shed His blood for us. 1190 01:03:55,885 --> 01:03:58,925 We believe, brethren. We're in Christ. 1191 01:03:58,925 --> 01:04:01,010 God has put us in a position where 1192 01:04:01,010 --> 01:04:03,698 we are so intimately connected with Christ, 1193 01:04:03,698 --> 01:04:04,903 and it's never going to go away. 1194 01:04:04,903 --> 01:04:07,579 God is never going to let us out. 1195 01:04:07,579 --> 01:04:09,804 You're connected to Christ. He never lets you go. 1196 01:04:09,804 --> 01:04:11,919 He takes care of you. He protects you. 1197 01:04:11,919 --> 01:04:15,469 He surrounds you. Surrounded by Christ. 1198 01:04:15,469 --> 01:04:18,290 Brethren, if these things are true of us, 1199 01:04:18,290 --> 01:04:21,545 the world's going to sit up and take notice. 1200 01:04:21,545 --> 01:04:24,463 They may be like the beasts at Ephesus, 1201 01:04:24,463 --> 01:04:25,628 they may persecute us, 1202 01:04:25,628 --> 01:04:27,793 they may stone us, they may seek to kill us, 1203 01:04:27,793 --> 01:04:30,035 they may hate it, they may want to stay 1204 01:04:30,035 --> 01:04:31,938 as far away from here as possible, 1205 01:04:31,938 --> 01:04:34,417 but they will sit up and take notice. 1206 01:04:34,417 --> 01:04:37,476 But brethren, I wanted to focus on these things 1207 01:04:37,476 --> 01:04:38,623 just as we get going. 1208 01:04:38,623 --> 01:04:40,787 I know this is only introductory, 1209 01:04:40,787 --> 01:04:42,169 but this is key. 1210 01:04:42,169 --> 01:04:43,708 Paul doesn't randomly use these. 1211 01:04:43,708 --> 01:04:46,218 Paul is going to develop these three concepts 1212 01:04:46,218 --> 01:04:48,385 throughout chapter 1: 1213 01:04:48,385 --> 01:04:54,209 saints, believers, in Christ. 1214 01:04:54,209 --> 01:04:56,888 We're going to see this a lot. 1215 01:04:56,888 --> 01:05:04,600 But oh, what truths come out of this first chapter. 1216 01:05:04,600 --> 01:05:09,827 It's going to be exciting. 1217 01:05:09,827 --> 01:05:17,739 Father, we marvel at the realities 1218 01:05:17,739 --> 01:05:21,949 of what's true, what's really true, 1219 01:05:21,949 --> 01:05:25,043 about those who are Your people. 1220 01:05:25,043 --> 01:05:29,029 I marvel. 1221 01:05:29,029 --> 01:05:30,710 Lord, help us to see, help us to know, 1222 01:05:30,710 --> 01:05:31,946 help us to remember. 1223 01:05:31,946 --> 01:05:34,786 Bring us in remembrance of all these things. 1224 01:05:34,786 --> 01:05:37,045 In the midst of this crooked and perverse generation. 1225 01:05:37,045 --> 01:05:39,038 In the midst of which You've put us. 1226 01:05:39,038 --> 01:05:40,859 Just like Ephesus of old. 1227 01:05:40,859 --> 01:05:42,989 Those people were able to be saints 1228 01:05:42,989 --> 01:05:45,781 and believers and in Christ in Ephesus. 1229 01:05:45,781 --> 01:05:48,827 In the very capital of the Artemis worship 1230 01:05:48,827 --> 01:05:51,807 and the temple and the sacred stone that came down 1231 01:05:51,807 --> 01:05:53,257 from the sky. 1232 01:05:53,257 --> 01:05:55,034 And Lord, in the midst of all the magic books 1233 01:05:55,034 --> 01:05:56,713 and the demonic and the darkness 1234 01:05:56,713 --> 01:05:59,595 and the enemies of the cross, 1235 01:05:59,595 --> 01:06:02,079 and they were able to be saints, 1236 01:06:02,079 --> 01:06:05,953 believers, in Christ, and so should we 1237 01:06:05,953 --> 01:06:07,088 by the grace of God, 1238 01:06:07,088 --> 01:06:09,372 and I pray that it would be said of these, 1239 01:06:09,372 --> 01:06:14,349 Lord, that we may have the same testimony, 1240 01:06:14,349 --> 01:06:15,342 as true believers, 1241 01:06:15,342 --> 01:06:17,118 I ask in Christ's name, Amen.