God's Masterpiece of Spiritual illumination

Recap of Last Week

Paul spends his Eulogy last week Blessing the Church in Christ for all the spiritual blessings that we have received and have been secured for us in Christ alone.

We have been called out and predestined by the will of God that we should be Holy and walk in Holiness in Christ Jesus. Paul speaks of the great riches of the inheritance that we have in Christ Jesus our Lord. Remember that it is all about the will of God and his plan that was set in motion to adopt us as His children before the foundation of the world.

We talked about eternity and what place we are living in the scope of our eternal destiny. Most people live in the small space of eternity here and now, forgetting that this world is not our home, we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a people for His own possession.

Paul’s Prayer for Knowledge

Ephesians 1:15–23 ESV

15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

The eyes of your understanding being Enlightened

Everything depends on the eyes being opened so that the light may be bright, but if the sight is gone then all is in vain.

This is the same thing with the nature of God, we have no apprehension of spiritual things, no power to discern eternal good, but our foolish heart is darkened. Therefore, the Lord must first enlighten the eyes of our understanding, or else, the precious truth, however clearly it might be stated, we will never be able to apprehend what it is saying.

Note: We must also take into consideration that the eyes of the heart are being enlightened meaning that it has the appearance of being the correct understanding.

There is a difference between the correct understanding and the one who is following in error.

Divine things are usually better seen with the Heart than with our Intellect.

Jesus says: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

The purifying of the heart is at the center of our spiritual eyes being opened. So, the true eye of the renewed man is seated in the heart rather than in the head: holy affections enable us to see, and as far as possible to understand the things of God.

KNOWLEDGE IS INDISPENSABLE TO GROWTH IN HOLINESS

(Write the Word Know)

The Last Man Who Knew Everything

Thomas Young was known as “The Last Person Who Knew Everything.” The 18th-century Britain was a polymath, meaning a person whose knowledge spans a substantial number of subjects, using complex amounts of knowledge to solve specific problems.

As a child Thomas was precociously talented; by the age of 13 he had read 30 chapters of the Book of Genesis in Hebrew, a language he taught himself. In 1801, he had been appointed to a professorship of natural philosophy at the Royal Institution, where he delivered as many as 60 lectures in a year.

In 1808 he completed his medical training at the University of Cambridge and set up practice as a physician in London. Young's skill as a physician, however, did not equal his skill as a scholar of natural philosophy or linguistics. His opinions were sought in many areas, such as the introduction of gas lighting to London and methods of ship construction.

In physics, he had the boldness to contradict Newton and propose a wave theory of light. In physiology, he made significant advances in understanding the mechanisms of the eye, explaining how it focuses, and defining astigmatism. Egyptologists hail Young as one of the founders of their science. He provided key insights into deciphering the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs on the Rosetta stone. In medicine he was a distinguished physician. In music he invented a technique for tuning keyboard instruments. The “Last Man Who Knew Everything” was one of the most versatile minds of the 19th century. The world gives great praise to brilliant minds, such as Thomas Young, Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, and Stephen Hawking. But God considers the wisdom of the world as foolishness (1 Cor. 1:20) because it overlooks the One who was truly wise – “One greater than Solomon is here” (Matt. 12:42, Luke 11:31). Only Jesus could show us the true meaning of life, true wisdom, and could give us eternal life beyond the grave.

“For This Reason”

vs. 15-16

“Given you the Spirit of Knowledge and Revelation”

v. 17.

This is the way that the Holy Spirit meets our spirit.

Ephesians 4 “Being renewed in the spirit of our minds.”

“The Eyes of your Hearts be Enlightened”

v.18a

“That you may know”

v.18b

Note: Paul is always intimately concerned that the Church knows the ‘what’ of their Salvation.

The ‘What’ of the Reason

Note: We have in the text what is known

v.18c “What is the hope of his calling.

v.18d “What is the glorious wealth of his inheritance among the saints.

v. 19 and “what is the supreme greatness of his power toward us who believe in accordance with the effectiveness of the strength of his might.

1. What is the Hope of His calling?

You know God by knowing His calling.

(Write the word Calling)

The hope takes us back to the very beginning of our Christian lives. “Those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified.”

What did God Call us For?

God’s call was not a random or purposeless call. God has called us to belong to Jesus Christ and into the fellowship of .... Jesus Christ.

1:3-6 Blessed us in Christ, he chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be Holy, he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, In Him we have redemption of His blood, to the praise and Glory of God alone.

Note: None of this happens unless the eyes of our hearts are opened.

Do not trivialize or under play God’s calling you to redemption in Christ. Remember Ephesians 2:8-9 Say’s “this is not your doing it is not your own doing, it is the gift of God.”

Have you ever given someone a gift and felt like they did not appreciate either the sentiment or the sacrifice of the gift you had given. Now consider how it sets in our Saviors ears when we take for granted the richness of his grace and sacrifice. Which we read is immeasurable.

Abrahams Call

Consider Abraham’s call. Abraham was living in his father’s house in Ur of the Chaldees when a call came to him. That call came from God. He was to separate himself entirely from all that he had known and go to a land which he had never seen. What was the hope of his calling?

1)The Promise of a great nation. 2) The promise of Blessing. 3) Through your seed I will bless all the families of the earth.

For the hope of that promise he left everything and dwelt in tents, a pilgrim and a sojourner with God, living entirely by faith and becoming the father of all believers throughout all time and history, greater than a prince among the sons of men.

Now there comes to all who are true Christians, true followers of Christ a call from God.

The Effectual Calling of God

(Write the word Effect)

The spirit of God personally applies the truth of the Scripture to the heart, and makes the chosen man to feel that it belongs to him. The believer perceives that he is separated from others by the sovereign grace of God, and that he must come out from the world, and no longer live according to the sight of the eyes and the hearing of the ears, but must live by faith in God, now seeing the invisible God as He truly is in all His glory and Majesty.

Paul wants his audience to understand the hope and its object, which God’s call has provided them, as he also says later.

“Just as also you were called to the one hope from your calling”

Ephesians 4:1-4

Ephesians 4:1–4 ESV

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, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—

Notice that formerly Paul’s audience had no such hope because they were “without God in the world.” We walk in a manner worthy of our calling.

Ephesians 2:12 ESV

12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

What did God Call us to?

He called us to take hold of that for which Christ has taken hold of for us, “Make it our own,” ESV (Phil. 3:12):

The forgiveness of Sin.

Acceptance in Christ.

Adoption into His family.

The nature, rank, and rights as a Child of God. (1 Peter 2:9-10)

You already have in your possession should make you the most hopeful, happiest, joyful people in the world. So, why do so many Christians walk around with sour grumpy faces all the time?

I think people fail to understand the richness of the Bank of God. We carry around with us a bag of spending money in our hands, but the bulk of our wealth is deposited in the Bank of Hope. Remember last week I pulled out this rope representing our eternity, and I pointed out the tape on this small end of the rope is our present state in eternity. I believe the reason that believers are not living a fulfilled joyful Christian life is that they continue to store up their treasures here on earth.

Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 6:19-21

Matthew 6:19–21 ESV

19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

So, God calls us to the living a holy life in the greatness and vastness of the riches of God in Glory. You were not saved to this world.

What then is the Christian Hope?

Our Hope is in His divine Protection

(write the word protect)

Romans 8:28 ESV

28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

The hope is in all things working together for the good of those who are called by God. This is a future hope of what has been done in the past to secure our salvation. Paul expects a stormy voyage ahead of him, but he knows that Christ is at the helm steering the ship to the fair waters of heaven at the end. Paul expects to be tried, but he hopes to triumph. Sustained by this hope he dreads no labors or fears no difficulties.

2 Timothy 4:7 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth their is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.”

Note: We have the picture in vrs.13 that we are sealed by the Holy spirit as a guarantee to acquire the possession of his glory. The deposit has been made.

Our Hope is in the Good Shepherd

(write the word shepherd)

We hope and trust in the Good shepherd “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He who leads me beside still waters. He who restores my soul. He who leads me in the path of righteousness for his name’s sake. (Psalm 23)

“The shepherd is the door to the sheepfold, the sheep hear His voice and know His name when He calls them by name.” (John 10) The sheep are not afraid of death for they expect to actually come into possession of his best possessions. Paul looks for his best things last. Paul believes that when it is time for him to depart, Jesus will come and meet him, and all ideas of the grim grave will disappear as death is swallowed up in sweet victory.

For us there will be no sentence of condemnation, for we know that it is written, “There is now therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:1)

Our Hope is in Absolute Perfection.

(Write the word Perfection)

We know that the God who has changed our hearts will continue to perfect it and sanctify it in us until the day of Jesus Christ return. (Phil. 1:6) Meaning that He has taken every sin out of us, every possibility of sin. Can you imagine a day when you will never have an impure thought again, you will never speak an unkind or selfish word again. We expect Him to renew our hearts completely and set on us divine and heavenly things.

The further along we are in our walk with Christ, the closer to heavenly things we start to resemble.

We should expect Him to renew our entire spirit till when the prince of this world comes he will find nothing in us to accuse us about - not an ember for his sparks, no corruption in which to sow his evil seed and intentions in our hearts. WE hope to be perfect, even as He is perfect.

Just like Adam who came fresh and pure from His makers hand so we be.

The Hope that the Body will be Perfected

We also hope that the body that lies in the grave of dust, unless our Lord Jesus should come before the final hour. In fact one of the greatest fears people have is of the grave. However, we are reminded that in death we put off the mortal body and at the resurrection we will put on the immortal body.

We expect this our earthly body will be raised and changed, but still the same as to our identity. We have the promise in scripture

“I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death.” When our body awakes, though sown in corruption it shall be raised in incorruption, though sown in weakness it shall be raise in great power, though sown a body only fit for the soul shall be raise a body fit to meet our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Our body shall be fashioned like that of our Lord Jesus Christ himself!

We will forever enjoy the greatest most infinite joy and happiness we could imagine in our wildest dreams.

“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, what God has prepared for His Children.”

ITS GOING TO BE GOOD!

2. What is the glorious Riches of His Inheritance?

(Write the Word WEALTH)

You know God by knowing the wealth of His Inheritance.

God’s people are by grace made to be His saints, his elect, his holy ones, and then they are viewed in a way as His Inheritance.

v. 14 reminds us that the Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquires possession of the prized precious gift.

Note: The eyes that are opened to us helping us see things that our physical eyes cannot see.

Are we God’s inheritance, or is He ours?

Acts 20:28 ESV

28 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.

The whole world is God’s. The cattle on a thousand hills and all lands and seas are his, and the starry skies of the universe are His, therefore, we are His treasured inheritance.

His Calling - His Power towards us - His inheritance toward us.

It is all about God, for God, and to God’s Glory alone. Jesus came to earth God in flesh to reclaim what Satan had stolen away from His creation to secure our redemption.

Philippians 4:19 ESV

19 And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

Colossians 1:27 ESV

27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

We hope in the riches of God according to His riches in glory that we will receive as His inheritance towards us.

1 Peter 1:3–4 ESV

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,

Look at verse 4 “who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory.

It would appear that it is both what God has obtained for us through the blood of Jesus Christ alone and as our inheritance becomes more beautiful to us He gets the Greater Glory.

Colossians 1:12 ESV

12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.

What qualifies us to receive the inheritance?

(circle the word Qualify)

Look at the next two verses of Colossians 1:13-14

Colossians 1:13–14 ESV

13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Note: God has loved his people from Eternity past and poor as they are, and sick and sorry as they might be, He loved them from before the foundation of the world: and you know how precious a thing becomes when God has placed all of His affections and lavished them on you.

Imagine it, God has loved you his people so long and so intensely, with such an unbounded love, that there is a wealth in them to his heart that are beyond the greatest treasure that this world has to offer.

While we find ourselves stuck gazing at the splendor of such a love and admiring the beauty of that love we must turn our eyes from that grassy meadow and focus them on the costlier reality of the Lord, his incarnation and death.

When we look at humanity that God has set his affection and love upon we must see the great sweat drops of blood hitting the blood soaked earth, and feel the weight of the executioners whip falling on the flesh of our redemption, as the agonies of death rested upon His shoulders alone which bought and paid for our glorious inheritance.

Jesus knew the cost that it would take for our redemption. He estimated the rate of the cost, “the price that would be fetched,” and Jesus knows what his people fetched when he redeemed them by giving himself for them. Measured by the standard of God and the riches of his inheritance in the saints.

The Father must turn His back on His son, the Son must redeem His people, the Spirit must regenerate what was lost at the fall, and when all of this is done the Godhead’s omnipotence must be put forward to keep Christians alive, and to perfect them, and present them to the father, “Faultless” before the presence of God with exceeding Joy”

The Shared Inheritance with Christ

(Circle the world Shared)

Notice that it is the riches of his glorious inheritance displayed in the Saints.

(Charles H. Spurgeon)

“When the last believer will be perfected by the work of the Spirit, as he will be, man will be an extraordinary creature. God has made all matter, and upon matter has impressed his will, and from the tiniest drop to the mightiest orb, matter never disobeys the law which God imposes upon it for his will and His glory.”

Huge as this Universe is, God has complete power over all of it, just like this ball I am tossing in my hand right now.

It is incredible to consider, however, it is a small wonder compared to that which God has prepared for his people when they arrive at heaven, for they will not be mere dead, inert matter governed by laws, but they will be full of life and moral freedom, and yet they will be as completely subject to the divine mind as are atoms and matter.

Listen again. The perfected saints will be creatures of a very peculiar form, for they will not be pure spiritual dissociated matter.

We are partakers of the Divine nature of God, as children of God.

Man has been renewed by grace and touches the center in Christ Jesus, but being still man he sweeps the circumference of creatureship, and includes withing himself a summary of the whole creation. Being both dust and deity at the same time.

God is making for himself creatures who will stand next to his throne, but will remain reverently loyal to him forever.

Imagine it God is making you one of such of His Favored creatures, if you are a Believer.

Here is the point, if the riches of God’s glory is in his inheritance in the saints, you may read it in another way, and say, “This is the riches of our inheritance too, for what should we be if God is to have us for an inheritance?”

Will you miss it? Will you miss it? Will you miss it?

This is the glorious inheritance that from the foundation of the earth He has prepared for us and it is all here simply by believing and trusting in the name of Jesus Christ.

Will you not have it?

3. What is the immeasurable greatness of His power towards those who believe?

(Write the Word ‘Power’)

You know God by knowing the Greatness of His Power.

God wants you to have the eyes of your hearts illuminated so that you may know His immeasurable greatness towards us.

The power that comes towards us is in accordance with the power that is coming towards Christ. Notice that Paul is using language that makes us FEEL the immense POWER of GOD.

Remember that what was once a mystery has now been revealed to us in Jesus Christ.

Christ is shown here as the power that stands above and over His creation.

The word for “power” here is energeia from which we get the word ‘energy’ we see this shown also in Philippians 3:21

Philippians 3:21 ESV

21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

Colossians 1:29 ESV

29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

So energy drinks have taken over our culture today. You want the greatest energy drink the world has ever known, how about putting on Christ the original energy drink.

Notice that it is not just any power it is the greatness of His power that distinctive attribute of the divine nature that is praised in the New Testament doxologies 1 Timothy 6:16

1 Timothy 6:16 ESV

16 who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.

It is also the might which he possesses and is able to make available to us. Ephesians 6:10

Ephesians 6:10 ESV

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.

How do we come to know the surpassing greatness of His power?

Paul refers to three successive events that show the surpassing greatness of His power.

(1) Jesus Christ’s resurrection from the dead.

Death is the bitter relentless enemy of Humanity.

Death comes to all of us one day, we are dust, and to dust we will one day return. No human power can stop or completely prevent the aging process, let alone bring a dead person back to life.

We have seen a number of icons die this past year, many of whom spent thousands of dollars trying to stay young and slow death from creeping at their door.

God has done what man cannot do. He raised Jesus Christ from the dead. First, he arrested the natural process of decay, refusing to allow his Holy One to see corruption. Then he did not just reverse the process, restoring the dead Jesus to this life, but transcended it. He raised Jesus to an altogether new life that was incorruptible, immortal, gloriously free. A new life that no one had ever experienced before, and which nobody has experienced since - or at least not yet.

(2) Jesus Christ Enthronement over all

(Write the Word Throne)

The King Must Be Enthroned to Rule

The Lion King tells the story of a king's ascent. From the moment the movie begins, Simba is branded as the heir to the throne. He is designated to the office at the start of the movie by the baboon Rafiki, who lifts up Simba before the animals of the kingdom as they bow before him. He is the future king.

The rest of the story describes Simba's exile and his homecoming to Pride Rock. When Simba returns to Pride Rock, he must battle for the throne, which has been seized by his uncle Scar. Simba conquers Scar and the hyenas, but even though he has been designated, appointed, and even conquered, the forces of darkness, his work remains incomplete. At the end of the movie, immediately after the battle, an important scene occurs that is sometimes overlooked. The camera suddenly shifts to Rafiki, bringing the story full circle. Rafiki takes his staff and points Simba to Pride Rock. An old era has ended; a new one is about to begin. In order for Simba to claim his kingdom and be installed as the king, he must ascend Pride Rock, the rightful place of the ruler, to ritually demonstrate he has conquered.

Simba dramatically ascends the rock and roars. When he does, the other lions acknowledge his victory, dominion, and authority. Though Simba has been designated as the king from the start of the movie, though he has conquered in battle, he still is not installed as king until he ascends Pride Rock.

In a better way, Jesus is designated as king and Lord from the beginning of the Gospels and from all creation really. But Jesus had to be installed as king; he had to be enthroned; he had to be recognized as king; he had to ascend to the right hand of the father, sit on the throne, and receive from God the Father all dominion and authority. The Ascension is about the triumph of Jesus the king.

(v. 20)

Jesus is now raised from the dead and God has seated him at the right hand of authority in heaven to fulfill the messianic promise of Psalm 110:1 “The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, till I make your enemies your footstool.”

Note: Paul looks to the power of God as supreme over any supposed demonic competitor that might be around.

To Take ones seat rather than standing was a sign of Royal Enthronement, often after winning a decisive Victory on the field of Battle.

In the New Testament, to Paul, the cross, the resurrection, and the ascension are considered as three parts of one great act of God. The ascension, like the resurrection, is emphasized as being the Father’s work. It is His honoring of His Son with the highest possible honor, but again, it is also the demonstration of His power.

ALL THINGS UNDER HIS FEET

This is probably an allusion to another strand of Biblical teaching. Adam made in God’s likeness was given dominion over the earth and its creatures, and did not altogether forfeit it when he fell into disobedience. Psalm 8:6

Psalm 8:6 ESV

6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet,

However, man’s dominion has been limited by the fall, and is distorted whenever he exploits or misuses what God has put under his authority and dominion.

So the full dominion which God intended for man to enjoy is not fully exercised by Jesus Christ: ‘We do not yet see everything in subjection to him, but, we see Jesus … crowned with glory and honor … (Heb. 2:5-9) But we see Jesus … crowned with glory and honor … Already Jesus has dethroned death, and one day this ‘last enemy’ will be finally destroyed once and for all.

(3) Jesus Christ’s Headship of the Church

(Circle the world Headship)

The Church is the Body of Christ

First, the Church is the body of Christ. “God gave Christ as head over all things to the church.” So, who is the body of Christ? The people of God, the disciples of Jesus, those who are called out from all nations - they are the body of Christ.

Christ Fills All in All

Second, Christ fills all in all. This is the present tense and middle voice implying that Christ is now and continually filling all in all. I take it to mean that Christ is filling every sphere of existence everywhere in the universe in all the ways He pleases. Look at Ephesians 4:8-10

Ephesians 4:8–10 ESV

8 Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” 9 (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? 10 He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.)

SOMETHING HE DOES WITH HIS AUTHORITY AND POWER AS RISEN RULER

Paul is speaking of when Christ arose from the dead and ascended into heaven; and in doing so he broke the bonds of death and captured for himself a host of captives, and led them free from sin and death and fear. Then Paul says Jesus did this that he might fill all things.

Christ now is filling all things until all his children come home and at last all of His enemies are placed under His feet.

CLOSING

What does all of this mean

Focused Prayer

That we would pray for the day to come soon when His great work will be complete.

That we would have the eyes of our hearts enlightened to see and feel the awesome calling of his destiny.

That we would conform more and more to the image of Christ so that our city may be filled with Christ here and now.