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Growing in Christ (Ephesians 1:1-3)
56 Plays3 years ago
Growing in Christ (Ephesians 1:1-3)
Ephesians: Growing in Christ
Sunday Message recorded 06 November 2022
by Pastor Victor Morrison
First Baptist Church
1700 Milam
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
Recommended
Transcript
Mission Trips and Spiritual Growth
00:00:06
Speaker
I get so excited when our families are going as a family on mission trips to represent the Lord Jesus Christ and share the gospel and then to see our young people singing and praising the Lord with the gifts and abilities that God has given to them. It's just exciting.
00:00:24
Speaker
Another exciting thing is whenever I see Christians growing in their faith, when I see disciples following Jesus Christ daily and walking with Him, that's what we're going to be looking at for the next few weeks, maybe even months, as Josh and I take you through the book of Ephesians. There are so many wonderful truths that are found in the book of Ephesians. And so while we finish Luke now, we're going to move in the direction of Ephesians.
00:00:54
Speaker
I want to call it Growing in Christ. That's the title of the message today. But I think that'll also let you know, what can I expect as we go through the letter that was written to the Ephesians?
Ephesians: Identity in Christ
00:01:07
Speaker
There's a commentator named Kent Hughes who states that the book of Ephesians has a dual focus. And I think this is going to bless you. Part of his focus, the writer, the apostle Paul, was on the Lord Jesus Christ.
00:01:23
Speaker
helping us to understand who He is, helping us to know how we fit into Christ and so forth once we trust Him as our Lord and our Savior. But also, there's another focus on who we are as disciples, as believers, as a local New Testament church. And so I know that God is going to bless you. He went on to say something that I thought would give us a good way that we could approach this book as we begin this morning.
00:01:52
Speaker
He says, this is Kent Hughes, it answers the question, what does it mean to be in Christ? What does that mean? And what does this demand of us? I think both of those things together will be addressed as we look at the different principles and promises that are mentioned throughout the letter that we call Ephesians.
00:02:16
Speaker
Another commentator named John Stott said, to be in Christ is to be personally and vitally united to Christ as branches are to the vine and members to the body, and thereby also to Christ's people. For it is impossible to be part of the body without being related to both the head and the members. According to the New Testament, to be a Christian is in essence
00:02:46
Speaker
to be in Christ, one with Him and with His people. I think you can see there that dual focus of being vitally connected to Christ like branches to the vine, but then also we're connected through Him to one another as a church family.
00:03:04
Speaker
You know, the letters of the New Testament written by Paul use that phrase in Christ, at least about 165 times here in Ephesians, you'll see it over and over again, 35 different times. He talks about you and I, those of us who know Christ already, we are in Christ right now today. That's our identity. That's what I pray that God will solidify and strengthen is your sense.
00:03:33
Speaker
of who you are in Christ. But also, we should be moving from our identity in Christ. Because of who we are in Him, we should be moving forward in maturity. We should be growing. This is a common theme throughout the New Testament. For example, the Apostle Paul will say later in Ephesians in chapter four, verse 15, that whenever a church gets together, we should speak the truth and love.
00:04:02
Speaker
We're to grow up in every way into him who is the head. But then also in 2 Thessalonians chapter one, verse three, he's giving thanks. You know, we're moving into the Thanksgiving season very quickly now that we're in November.
00:04:18
Speaker
Here's what he wrote in 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 3, always to give thanks to God for you. He's thanking the Lord for the church at Thessalonica because your faith is growing abundantly and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing.
00:04:39
Speaker
That's true, genuine, authentic spiritual growth that's in line with scripture. Like newborn infants, Peter writes, you long for the pure spiritual milk that by it you may grow up into salvation. Are you growing up into salvation? That's God's purpose for each one of us.
Spiritual Maturity vs. Worldliness
00:05:02
Speaker
But also Peter wrote at the end of his second letter, 2 Peter chapter 3 verse 18, but grow, grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, to Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. You see, every believer that's here this morning, every one of us, we're always growing up.
00:05:27
Speaker
If we're not growing up in Christ, you know what we're doing? We're going backwards. And so we need to turn around. We don't want to be like Demas. Do you remember Demas? He was one of those that was following the Apostle Paul for a while. But in 2 Timothy 4.10, the Apostle Paul shines the light on his bad example and says, don't be like him. And what he says is he left because he was more in love with this present world.
00:05:57
Speaker
Didn't it bless you to hear our students stand up here and sing to the Lord and say, I will not bow down to the world? I thought that was so powerful for them to sing that and to mean that. You know, it's amazing to compare some of the beautiful live oak trees that are in our community with, let's say, a bonsai, a bonsai ornamental tree.
00:06:23
Speaker
Which would best represent your spiritual growth? Are you more like a small little bonsai tree? Or are you more like a mighty oak that God is growing in grace and in Christ?
00:06:37
Speaker
Did you know that in order to have a miniature tree like a bonsai tree, you have to make certain choices. There's an intentional thing that people do to keep that tree little, to make it where, oh, it's so nice and pretty. Look, you can just keep it right there on your shelf or whatever. You got to keep the pot small.
00:06:57
Speaker
You got to prune the roots. You got to pinch off new growth. You got to remove bark if you want to give it that illusion like in that photo a while ago of an ancient tree. Then you got to make it have this illusion like it's really old when it's really not. You see, it's not real, but also you force the direction of growth with wires. You have to wire it so that it grows this way and not in every different direction.
00:07:25
Speaker
You know, Jesus spoke in a parable of what can hinder spiritual growth. Do you remember in the parable of the sower, the parable of the seed, in Matthew 13, 22, he says, the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and it proves unfruitful.
00:07:47
Speaker
So how can we, how can each one of us here, how can we move forward and not be like a bonsai tree, but to grow with an incredible growth that comes from God, from His word, how can we be more like a live oak? I want you to stand if you will. I just have three verses this morning that I'm gonna read. The first three verses in the letter to Ephesians, I think we're
Paul's Transformation and Authority in Christ
00:08:11
Speaker
gonna find truths in this letter that are gonna help us keep growing in Christ.
00:08:18
Speaker
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus, grace to you in peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ,
00:08:45
Speaker
with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Let's go to father in prayer. Lord, I just love my church family. They belong to you. You redeemed them. You're the head of the church. And so Lord, I know you're way out front of me in how much you love this congregation, this church family. So help us as we walk with you every single day.
00:09:10
Speaker
to keep growing in Christ. Help us understand what it means to be in Christ. Lord, we're about to start this new journey through the epistle to the Ephesians. And so God, use these truths to absolutely transform each one of our lives. We are waiting and we're excited not to hear the voice of man today.
00:09:33
Speaker
the voice of our Heavenly Father, the voice of your spirit, taking the living, abiding word of God that's eternal, that's active, and that you will speak through that word today to each heart. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Thank you, you may be seated.
00:09:51
Speaker
So like I was saying, as we study through Ephesians, the Lord is going to help us to discover some biblical truths that will equip us for continued growth in Christ. So this morning we're going to review, you may have already learned these before, but we're going to review four fundamental truths about growing in Christ. Do you want to grow? Do you want to keep growing? Nobody wants to plateau and be stagnant.
00:10:17
Speaker
We all want to grow in the Lord. And so I'm praying that God will use this study through Ephesians to help us keep growing. Well, let's get started.
00:10:27
Speaker
The first truth related to growing in Christ is understanding our position in Christ, understanding our position in Christ. You know, there's a big difference between who we are in Christ as we've trusted Christ, we've turned from sin, we've placed our faith and our trust in the finished perfect work of the Lord Jesus Christ. So that's our position spiritually, we're in Him.
00:10:53
Speaker
But then there's a difference between that and also daily walking with him. And so Theodore Epp, another theologian, a commentator from the past, said the first half of Ephesians is helping us to understand our position in Christ.
00:11:12
Speaker
But the second half of Ephesians will help us understand how to walk with Christ. Both are so important, and I want you to see how it all fits together. Today, how do you sign a letter? If you're going to sign a letter, if you're going to send a letter to someone, wouldn't you sign it at the end of the letter?
00:11:33
Speaker
Well, back then, they signed their name at the beginning of the letter. So the author who was the human instrument that the Holy Spirit inspired to write this was named Paul. He signs it right there at the beginning. It may not seem very significant that he would just write his name right there, Paul.
00:11:54
Speaker
But if you were to read the rest of Ephesians, if you were to go through the New Testament, you would see that what he's trying to do is he's trying to be authentic. He's not claiming to be someone that he's not. What's happened is his life has totally been transformed.
00:12:10
Speaker
This man has a history. Just like every one of us in this room, we all have a history. All of us at some point were walking in a different direction than the Lord Jesus Christ. Each one of us had to repent of our sins and turn in faith and trust to Jesus Christ. Look at Ephesians chapter 3 and verse 8. I want you to hear from the pen of this man Paul
00:12:36
Speaker
what he says about himself. We're going to look at two cross-references. So the first one is right here in Ephesians. The second one is going to be a little bit later in the New Testament in 1 Timothy chapter 1. But in Ephesians chapter 3, verse 8, here's what Paul writes about himself. Is he trying to say, I'm so much better than the rest of you guys over there in Ephesus? Is that what he's trying to say?
00:13:03
Speaker
I think before you make a judgment call on that or on saying, I think all those people at those Christian churches, they're just acting like they're so much better than me. No, I think you might want to rethink that based on biblical truths. Here's Ephesians three eight to me.
00:13:21
Speaker
Though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ." Do you hear what he's saying? I mean, if you and Paul were to stand up here, he would say, I know that you're further along than I am because I started out as a persecutor of the church.
00:13:46
Speaker
But God has totally changed my life. I want you to look at 1 Timothy and listen closely.
00:13:53
Speaker
listen very thoughtfully to what he's saying and what he's admitting, what he's acknowledging. It's the same thing that all of us are saying. You see, I believe that part of being in Christ, part of our position is we don't forget about the past. We're being very authentic about where the Lord saved us from. That keeps us
00:14:17
Speaker
humble. It keeps us realizing I want to share this wonderful news with someone else who right now is where I once was. The Apostle Paul writes in 1st Timothy chapter 1 verse 12, I thank him who has given me strength. Christ Jesus our Lord because he judged me faithful appointing me to his service though formerly
00:14:42
Speaker
I was a blasphemer, persecutor, an insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are where in Christ Jesus.
00:15:05
Speaker
The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, listen to what he says next, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason that in me as the foremost,
00:15:27
Speaker
Jesus Christ might display His perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in Him for eternal life, to the King of the ages, immortal, invincible, only God, the honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
00:15:47
Speaker
Can you hear what he's saying? He's not trying to be prideful, is he? No, he's being very genuine, very authentic, very real about where he was.
00:15:58
Speaker
and where he is now. So see where he was is, well, you could kind of compare it to John chapter eight, where there was a woman called in adultery. And the woman called in adultery was up against the wall and there were some men ready to stone her to death. And they asked Jesus, what do you think? And he said, you know what I think is, those of you without sin, why don't you be the first one to throw a rock at her?
00:16:24
Speaker
One by one, from the oldest down to the youngest, they dropped their rocks, and they all walked away. And he says to the woman, woman, where are those who came to condemn you? You know what she said? They're not here. They're all gone. And you know what he said? He said, neither do I condemn you.
00:16:44
Speaker
That's your position in Christ. That's being authentic. She was being honest and real about what had happened here. But Jesus says, you know what? All your sins, they're all forgiven. But he didn't stop there, did he? The next thing he said was,
00:17:00
Speaker
neither do i condemn you go and sin no more and so even though there's authenticity for those of us who are in christ our sins are forgiven our past is forgiven does that give us the right to totally ignore the bible to totally ignore christ no way i think that we step into something next called the authority
00:17:23
Speaker
over the present. Of course, we're being authentic about the past. But right now, today, if Jesus has forgiven your past, how should we live right now, in this day? You see, that's part of what I think the apostle Paul was getting at whenever he says, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God.
00:17:50
Speaker
Man, I think that's so powerful that he's surrendering his life. He's surrendering his life and saying, now I got a new authority. And you know what it did? It brought him together in unity with those that were against him because, well, they weren't against him. He was against them. But he was persecuting Christians.
00:18:12
Speaker
You know, I think rather than CRT and all those kind of things that are going around our country, I think the one thing that will bring this country more than anything else is the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's where we all come together. He loves every race.
00:18:27
Speaker
every person. And so as we share the gospel of Christ, think of what can happen whenever we, like the Apostle Paul and others like the Apostle Paul, we come together and say, let's live for Jesus Christ and honor Him. I mean, think about it. The Lord Jesus turned a persecutor into a preacher, a man who was anti into someone who was an advocate. And now what's he's living for? The will, the
00:18:55
Speaker
the will. Are you living for the will of the Lord Jesus Christ?
Importance of Church Community
00:19:00
Speaker
If you live for the will of the Lord Jesus Christ, is it always going to be great for you?
00:19:06
Speaker
Was it always great for Paul? Where was Paul when he was writing this? I just want to show you where God's plan could possibly take you. Rather than everybody giving you a high five, whether everyone giving you a fist bump, patting you on the back and say, you're the greatest. You know what could happen? Look at chapter 3 and verse 1. Chapter 3 and verse 1 says, for this reason I, Paul,
00:19:30
Speaker
a prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles. Look at chapter 4 and verse 1, I therefore a prisoner for the Lord urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. Look at chapter 6 when it gets down to the end of that chapter in chapter 6 and verse 20,
00:19:54
Speaker
where he says, for which I'm an ambassador, where, how, in chains. I'm an ambassador in chains that I may declare it bully, as I ought to speak.
00:20:05
Speaker
You see, Paul was facing opposition because of submitting and surrendering his life to the lordship of Christ. Part of being in Christ means all my past sins are forgiven. But also part of being in Christ means that now I'm under a new leader. I'm following Christ. I'm not following the culture. I'm not following what someone else in my life tells me to do. I'm following him.
00:20:32
Speaker
So that's position in Christ, but notice you're not alone in this. There are also secondly, another truth, the people, the people in Christ. You see, the second truth that facilitates growth in Christ is remembering the necessity of commitment to the others, the other disciples who are in Christ. Let's review. The first truth was that we are not going to grow unless we abide in the vine.
00:21:01
Speaker
unless we keep that vital personal relationship with Christ stoked if it's fresh and so forth. We're going to be growing if we abide in Christ. But the second truth is we'll not experience healthy spiritual development
00:21:17
Speaker
apart from a church family, apart from saying, I need others in my life. I need some who are older than me. I need some who are younger than me. I need some who are my age. I need to be surrounded by people who are also committed to following Jesus Christ and maintaining a close relationship with Him.
00:21:38
Speaker
other people in Christ. That's why he's writing to them in Ephesus. And he says, here's what he says, to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus. Well, let's just look at what he means by these things. Whenever he's writing about that, I think first you see a people with a spiritual calling.
00:22:00
Speaker
Do you feel like a saint today? Man, most mornings I wake up, I don't feel like a saint. Then I go and look in the mirror and I say, I certainly don't look like no saint. So it's like that every single day. But you know what? I don't go by feelings. I don't go by appearances.
00:22:16
Speaker
We live by faith in what God has promised, what He said in His Word, and what God says about you and I in His Word is, we are saints. It's mentioned throughout the book of Ephesians in chapter 1, verse 15, and verse 18, chapter 2, and verse 19.
00:22:33
Speaker
But what does a saint mean? Maybe it's because we have some elevated view of what a saint means. You know what a saint means? It means somebody that's set apart. It means God says, I've got something better for you. Rather than going over there, I set you apart from this day on that you would live for this. And so that's why I'm trying to tell you is,
00:22:55
Speaker
We must practice who we are in our position in Christ. That's why we've been set apart, that the Lord would help us to grow in Christ's likeness. But also notice that there are people not only with a spiritual calling that we need to be connected to and committed to, but there are also people from a local area.
00:23:18
Speaker
that we need to be committed to. He says to the saints who are in Ephesus, that's why this whole letter is called Ephesians, the letter of Paul to the Ephesians. Do you know that if you were to count them up, there are 32 different congregations, gatherings, places where people are worshipping together, studying together, serving together that are mentioned throughout the New Testament.
00:23:41
Speaker
Maybe you'd say, wait just a minute now, there's Galatians, there's Corinthians, there's Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians. I don't know about 33, but don't forget, all throughout Acts, all throughout Revelation, there are more churches than just the church in Ephesus, the church in Galatia, the church in Thessalonica, the church in Colossae, and so forth. If you add them up, it's incredible how many local
00:24:09
Speaker
expressions of the body of Christ are mentioned throughout the New Testament. And I know that some people say, look, I'm going to be a Christian. I don't have to be a member of a church because a member is not even mentioned in scripture. That's what some people say. But I just want you to know I'm not asking you to be a member of a local church because it is not in the Bible, but because it is.
00:24:36
Speaker
in the Bible. Do you know that the word member is mentioned throughout the New Testament? As a matter of fact, I'll show you like in say chapter two and verse 19. Look at chapter two and verse 19. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. You look at chapter four and verse 25.
00:25:06
Speaker
Chapter 4 and verse 25 says, therefore, having put away falsehood, let each of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. And chapter 5 and verse 30 goes on to talk about, for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body.
00:25:32
Speaker
We are members. Do you know that Corinthians says we are members? The letter to the Romans says we are members.
00:25:39
Speaker
What is it with people saying, that's why Paul started churches, so that people wouldn't have to live the Christian life by themselves. I just want you to know that there's ample evidence of membership within the word of God. And so don't go for it when people say, I'm just gonna be a Christian and live by myself. I'm gonna live out the Christian life all by myself.
00:26:04
Speaker
It's not the way he attended. We need one another. And so that's why it's so important to realize I need to plug in and connect with a local church wherever God has me at this moment in my life. That's why Hebrews chapter 10 verses 24 and 25 says, do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together. That sounds local, right? Do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together as is the habit of some.
00:26:33
Speaker
but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near. So whenever you feel like, I think we're getting close to end times, rather than drifting away from the church, it's time you better start coming in to the church because it's gonna get rough. So we have to say, oh Lord, help us stand together. So we connect with people with a spiritual calling, people from our local area, but we also connect with people with a continual commitment.
00:27:01
Speaker
You know, Paul could choose one word to describe these believers, these disciples in Ephesus. What word did he choose? Here's what he chose to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus.
00:27:18
Speaker
faithful in Christ Jesus. If we were to interview people in the community, would they say, yeah, you know what, those members at First Baptist, they are faithful to Christ Jesus. Was that what they would use to describe us? You know, I thought that was so amazing that in Acts chapter
00:27:36
Speaker
2 and verse 42, the very first thing it says that they did, they devoted themselves to one another. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship and breaking of bread and so forth. You see, if we're going to grow in Christ,
Power of Prayer in Spiritual Growth
00:27:53
Speaker
we will grow with others that are following Christ, that are committed to Him. But let's move to the third truth about maturing in Christ. It's all found right here. Maybe verse 2 of Ephesians 1, it looks like a wish. Maybe it looks like a greeting.
00:28:10
Speaker
But I'm telling you, there's more behind this. If you were to check out what the Bible scholars would say about verse 2, almost every single one of them would say, no, this is a prayer. This is a prayer. So prayer lifted up in the name of Jesus Christ. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you remember as we were going through Luke,
00:28:36
Speaker
If you've been reading personally in Matthew and Mark and John and so forth, do you ever remember at times when Jesus, Jesus, the Son of God, Jesus, our Savior, Jesus, who's perfect and never sinned, have you ever noticed how often Jesus would pull away and pray? And so if Jesus was committed to prayer,
00:29:00
Speaker
And we're following Him. Why do we not follow Him in the direction of prayer? It's so important. You know that I tried to find out how often did Jesus pull away in the gospels to pray? And there are at least 25 times. Perhaps I missed some, but 25 times. Do you know that the New Testament also records this author, the Apostle Paul, 45 times.
00:29:26
Speaker
The Holy Spirit inspired Paul. Paul, I want you to write down exactly what you're praying for those people. I want you to write it down.
00:29:35
Speaker
That would be a great study for each one of us. You ever looking, how can I beef up my prayers? You know, we like to go to gyms and so forth, keep in shape. What about spiritually? How are you spiritually going to keep moving forward in your prayer life rather than saying a two minute quickie? Oh, Lord, bless us as we start our day. And that's it. God doesn't hear from us the rest of the day.
00:29:57
Speaker
Well, I recommend those 45 prayers that are written across the letters of the New Testament, the ones that the Apostle Paul was inspired to write. Go to those. As a matter of fact, you know that this morning I was praying over you. Before you came today, I was lifting up Ephesians 1. Let's just look at it. Would you look at Ephesians 1 verse 15?
00:30:21
Speaker
I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers 16, verse 17, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory may give you the spirit of wisdom and a revelation in the knowledge of him.
00:30:38
Speaker
Just a point, Paul's not praying for himself, right? He's not saying, oh God, please help me on this test. Oh God, please help me get that job. Oh God, please show me what to do with this. Oh God, please heal me from this, you know, and that sometimes it seems like the majority of our praying is just for ourselves, but not this man.
00:30:58
Speaker
This man, so led by the Holy Spirit, he's always praying for other people. And what is he praying for other people? He's saying, Lord, they're going to need the Holy Spirit to give them wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of who you are. That's a lot of the things we deal with in life if we just remember who God is.
00:31:17
Speaker
But we forget who He is, but if the Holy Spirit would give us wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, I'm telling you. But then He goes on in verse 18 to say, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which you have been called, what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe according to the working of His great might.
00:31:42
Speaker
You see the depth? This will give your prayers for your children, your prayers for your grandchildren, your prayers for your Sunday school class, your prayers for our community, your prayers for our church. It'll make them so much more powerful. You'll pray these things over those that you care about.
00:32:03
Speaker
So I wanna go back to verse two and just point out a couple of things about if you're saying, what can I pray? What can I pray for other people? Well, one thing you could pray is to pray for a supply of grace for other people, a supply of grace. He says in verse two, grace to you, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
00:32:27
Speaker
Do you know there's a lot of different kinds, sort of like types of God's grace? For example, in Ephesians, you're going to learn as we go through here, there's saving grace. But that's not all. There's not only saving grace, there's serving grace.
00:32:44
Speaker
There's speaking grace. If you got somebody that's in your family and say, Lord, they really got to work on their mouth. Well, just pray God to give them grace. Pray for sustaining grace so that they don't give up.
Claiming Spiritual Blessings in Christ
00:33:00
Speaker
Do you know anybody that needs that kind of grace? Of course. It's like a fountain. And from that fountain, you know what flows out from it? Peace. You know anybody these days that's kind of rattled?
00:33:12
Speaker
kind of troubled, having a lot of anxiety, a lot of fear. You know anybody around you that needs peace? I know all kinds of them. We need to pray for one another that God made the streams of peace, going waves over those that we know.
00:33:30
Speaker
It's like a river, it's like a stream flowing from that fountain of grace. Whenever you know you're accepted by God unconditionally through the finished work of Christ, whenever you realize, I'm not saved by my works, I'm saved by grace, I'm telling you what it does, it gives you peace. And you're saying, you know what, today, I don't have to measure up.
00:33:49
Speaker
because Christ measured up. He's enough. He's sufficient for me. And so it brings peace to you. I love that song that we sang earlier, but there's a vertical piece. There's an horizontal piece. I'm just thinking, thank you, Lord, for the wholeness that comes to those who have the fountain of grace on the inside, because from them flow out rivers of peace. Let me close with one fourth and final truth.
00:34:18
Speaker
That is, if we want to keep growing in Christ, there's one more thing we've got to base it on. Accessing one's spiritual possessions in Christ.
00:34:30
Speaker
Whenever we go through this book, I want you to keep tabs on every time the word riches mentioned, riches. Riches and then the word inheritance. Those two words, those two words and their frequency throughout the letter of the Ephesians is why some people choose to call this book, Ephesians, the Treasury of the Bible, the treasure house of the Bible.
00:34:55
Speaker
You see, Lord willing, next week, Josh is going to itemize the assets. I'm just going to fly over just with verse 3. But after this, Josh is going to show us, OK, what kind of riches, what kind of blessings, what kind of inheritance do we have whenever we trust Christ?
00:35:16
Speaker
Will you wake up in the morning and have a BMW, a Mercedes Benz, or something like that? You know, Lamborghini in your driveway? Is that gonna be the kind of riches? I want you to see something about this. It also says that God has already blessed us in Christ, right? Let me read it one more time, verse three. Bless be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Get ready, listen to the tense.
00:35:42
Speaker
who has blessed us, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. You see, John MacArthur points out rightfully so, that past tense makes it where this is not a promise.
00:36:00
Speaker
This is a possession. It's already ours. It's already waiting on us in Christ. The problem is, are we even accessing it? Do we even go to the Lord? And so I want to close out with the source of blessing, a reminder. Of course, it's the Father. The Father, He's the one. Whenever you come to Jesus Christ in Christ, that's where all the blessings, maybe you'd say, God's not blessing me.
00:36:26
Speaker
Well, if he's not blessing you, are you in Christ? We want you, that's what the invitation will be about. We want you to know you are welcome to step in Christ this morning. He died on the cross so that you could be on the inside track of his blessing. The other thing I want you to notice is not only the source of blessing, but the scope of it. It says every spiritual blessing, every spiritual blessing,
00:36:55
Speaker
You know, where there's some things in life you'd say, I wish I could have that, but I can't have that. You know, spiritually in Christ, there's nothing like that. It says every spiritual blessing that God has, Jesus has already provided for all of that.
00:37:10
Speaker
Are you looking for joy? Are you looking for peace? Are you looking for contentment? Are you looking for purpose? Are you looking for hope? Are you looking for strength? Are you looking for power? What is it that you're looking for? All of those things, they're all found in Christ. That's part of the scope of the blessing. Sometime read 2 Peter 1, 3 and 4 where it says, you know what?
00:37:33
Speaker
God has given us everything we need to live a life of God, everything. It's all provided in Christ. And so the sphere of our blessings is one thing we need to keep in mind. It says He's blessed us right in Christ with every spiritual blessing. So where are they? In the heavenly places. In the heavenly places. Man, that's the sphere.
00:37:58
Speaker
I just wanna encourage you, don't settle for less. When I was growing up, my mom was always telling me, Sonny boy, you do that, it'll stunt your growth. Did your mom ever tell you that? My mom used to tell me, if you don't eat those vegetables on your plate, it's gonna stunt your growth. She would tell me, if you don't go to bed right now, it's gonna stunt your growth.
00:38:20
Speaker
She would say, if you don't lay off that candy, it's going to stunt your growth. If you don't slow down on those sodas, it's going to stunt your growth. Maybe you'd say, you should have listened to your mama. Look how short you are, buddy. Guilty as charged. But you know, there are things that will stunt your spiritual growth.
00:38:37
Speaker
I was amazed this week at my own personal devotion time. When I read through Hebrews 5, 11 and 14, he identifies some of those things. Don't settle for less. Go for the best in Christ. Let's grow together. That's our purpose in the Lord. We're gonna have a time of invitation that just simply says, oh come to the altar. Is there something, maybe you can pray right there, maybe you just need to have a seat right there, but maybe say not me.
00:39:06
Speaker
I'm visible. So I need to come down and do something expressive and get on my knees before God and say, Lord, I'm not growing. I'm just simply not growing. Whatever God is laying on your heart, maybe you'd say, I'm not even on the inside. I'm not in Christ. I'm out of Christ, but I want to be inside.
00:39:25
Speaker
Well, that's why he died for you. That's why they rolled away the tomb to let you know, you can come on in here. He's alive. He can change your life. Why don't we stand? I'm going to close this with a word of prayer, and then we'll have this invitation song. Lord, thank you so much for this time to put our focus back on you. Oh, Lord, I pray that if we need to come to the altar, I pray we would do so. The altar is not before man.
00:39:54
Speaker
The altar is before you, it's before your throne. And so if we are the expressive type of person, if we're an extrovert and we need to be up there in front of people, and we need to say, God, I don't care what others think, I'm going to return to you, or
00:40:11
Speaker
If we're more private, we're an introvert, we just need to go to the Lord where we are. Maybe rather than singing along with the student worship team, maybe we just need to say, Lord, I'm going to talk to you during this song. And the words that I hear are the words I'm going to say to you privately and from my heart. Whatever it is, oh Lord, if there's somebody here without Christ, may this be the day they come to Christ. We love you. We give you this time.
00:40:37
Speaker
Speak to our hearts during the invitation as we prepare to go and study Your Word in small groups. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. This is a ministry of First Baptist Church, located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.