Okay, let’s continue on… I knew this would happen sooner or later… the
Internet!
Well, anyway, alright, we’re looking at Ephesians Chapter 1, verse 8. An we’re
seeing that… where the Bible says: "Wherein
he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;" We look at that word
"prudence," and it means "intention" or "a frame of mind."
Remember when the Lord Jesus was going to Jerusalem? --He set his face as a flint. He had
intent. He had a mindset –a frame of mind— that He was going to go to the Cross
and pay for the sins of His elect. Now, let’s take a look at Psalm 103, verse 2:
"Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his
benefits:" And that word "benefits" there actually means
"deeds" or "rewards." …[that is] God’s deeds that He’s
done. And His primary deed is salvation through Our Lord Jesus Christ. And the rewards
that He gives us is eternal life, as it says in Luke Chapter 18, verse 30:
"Who shall not receive manifold more in this present
time, and in the world to come life everlasting." And that is going to be our
great reward, because even God said to Abram, ‘I am thy exceeding great reward.’ [Genesis 15:1 KJV – "After these things the
word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield,
and thy exceeding great reward."]. And, you know, when you have people out
there who are looking for rewards… they’re looking for God to pat them on their
back and say, ‘You did a good job.’ And there’s no such thing as God’s
plan of works, or rewards for works, because the works unfortunately that we do are
sin-tainted. And as we get into Ephesians, Chapter 2, verse 10 in a couple of weeks,
we’re going to see exactly what God means by works that He has for us. But meanwhile,
we’re looking at Psalm 103:2: "Bless the
LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:" You know, sometimes when
times get tough, sometimes when things go wrong in our life, we forget all His benefits.
We forget the deeds and rewards that God has done towards us. And that’s why, we must
always remember the benefits that the LORD gives us.
Alright, let’s go on to Ephesians, Chapter 1, verse 9. The Bible says:
"Having made known unto us the mystery of his will,
according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:" Now, the
first three words in Ephesians 1:9, are: "Having
made known…" That is a verb. And that’s the Aorist tense. And if you
remember, the Aorist tense has a beginning, but there’s NO duration spoken of…
no ending. Unlike the Perfect tense… it has a beginning and an end. When we talk
about the finished, substitutionary work of Christ on the Cross, we will put that in the
perfect tense because it is complete. But with the Aorist, the Aorist does not give us any
type of duration. So He’s "Having made known
unto us the mystery of His Will." And so it means, "to reveal" or
"to declare" to us. And therefore, as we continue to study His Word, and as we
continue to pray for guidance, [and as] God begins to teach us through His Word,
[that’s when] we’re able to see things in the Scriptures that many do not,
because He’s making known unto us. You see, unfortunately, too many people are
looking at prophecy books, or looking at commentaries, and trying to get some type of
understanding of Scripture through these commentaries. Or through creeds or confessions,
or all kinds of ways, instead of getting into the Word, and allowing God to make known
unto us the mystery. And of course, that word "mystery" is "musterion"
and it means "something which is kept hidden until the time of revealing." And
there’s always a certain time frame. God always works in a certain time frame. We
read in Galatians Chapter 4, verse 4, when the Bible teaches that when the fullness of
time, God sent forth His Son: "But when the
fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son…" There’s
always some type of time frame that God always has in view. Then the will, the mystery of
His will, the mystery of His purpose. Sometimes we don’t know the purpose of our
lives. Sometimes we sit back and we ask the question: "What is my reason of
existence?" --and I don’t know. What happens is that I have to give God time to
work things out in my life. And remember the verse we looked at last week? --A very common
verse, Isaiah 40:31: "But they that wait upon the
LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles;…" You
know, the eagle has been seen flying as high as 20,000 feet… actually, the eagle does
not fly, they soar… and it says: "…they
shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." So we see
that the LORD is telling us to wait upon Him… it’s an investment. Waiting upon
the LORD is an investment. It’s NOT a waste of time. Now, the Gospel is sent to those
whom God declares it to be revealed to. Now, we will preach the Gospel maybe to a hundred
people and this is the mystery of God’s Will. An unbeliever will not look at that and
say, "What does that mean?" An unbeliever will say, "I don’t care what
it means." But then someone sitting right next to an unbeliever is going to sit there
and say, "Wow, that means something to me!" You see, God is dealing with one,
and He may not be dealing with another. But He will open the heart and mind of whom He
will. It is totally God’s decision concerning whom He will reveal the Gospel to.
Now, God’s purposes are wrapped up in the determinate counsels of heaven.
Let’s take a look at Acts Chapter 2, verse 23. And one of the reasons the world looks
at us strangely is, because we are going against the tide of this world. In Acts 2:23, the
Bible says: "Him, being delivered by the
determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have
crucified and slain:" Now, "determinate" –it means something
that has fixed boundaries. It’s absolutely inflexible. You see, God’s purpose
–God’s Will—is absolutely inflexible! His Will for the Lord Jesus Christ
was to die for the sins of His people. That was inflexible. It could not be undone. The
Lord Jesus Christ could not reject it. It had to have had happened, because it was written
in Scripture. Scripture CANNOT be broken, and the determinate counsel --or the inflexible
counsel-- of God holds true in our lives, too. And we must realize that. Sometimes God has
some purpose for us. He wants us to do something, and He doesn’t let us go until we
do something. And once our decision is in concert with His Will, then we understand that
God has planned something for me to do. The determinate counsel of God rules in the life
of every single believer --not just in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ-- but in the life
of every believer. And it’s in our every day life.
Now, let’s take a look at Ephesians Chapter 1, verse 10. Let’s read verses 9
and 10 together. It says this: "9 Having made
known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath
purposed in himself: 10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather
together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth;
even in him:" Now, "in the
dispensation of the fulness of times…" That word "dispensation"
means "a management" or "a stewardship." As the apostle Paul said he
was given a dispensation, he was given a stewardship. And that’s what you and I have.
We have a stewardship to handle the Word of God properly, and to take the Word of God and
to be able to bring it to an unsaved world, not teaching the way the world would want to
hear it, but teaching the way that God has laid it down in His Word. So when we talk about
having a stewardship, a steward can be the head of the house, but he’s never the
master. And that’s the same with us. We’re NEVER the master, Christ is our
Master. And when we begin to do our stewardship, we have to do it in full compliance with
the way God would have us to do it. Now, He says "in
the fulness of times…" And that word "fulness" means the
"totality" or the "completion." Let’s look at a couple of verses.
And we looked at one already, Galatians 4:4. It says here:
"But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son,
made of a woman, made under the law," You see,
"fulness of time…" --Remember when Moses said the
Israelites came out of Egypt, and God did not allow them to attack? I believe it was the
Amorites, because their iniquity has not yet been full. I believe it’s found in
Exodus, but there’s a passage in Genesis 15:16 that we should look at:
"But in the fourth generation they shall come hither
again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full." You see, the LORD
deals in fullness, when He has a certain time, He has a certain plan, and that particular
plan and that time come together. Then it’s the fullness, and the plan is executed.
God deals in fullness. The two must meet.
Now, He says here [Ephesians 1:10]: "That in the
dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ,
both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:" Now, the first
gathering --or uniting together— was done at the cross when the Lord Jesus died for
His elect, and He broke down all the walls of social separation, as all Christians are on
an equal footing. And we read in Galatians, Chapter 3, verse 28:
"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free,
there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." Every
single believer has the same footing at the Cross. Now, the first gathering –or
uniting together— was when the Lord went to the Cross and died for all His elect.
Basically, this is known as the first resurrection. For those whom God has planned to
save, it was the first resurrection, which was the spiritual resurrection. You see,
basically, there were two judgment days. The first judgment day is when the Lord Jesus
Christ went to the Cross. And as a result, He paid for the sins of the elect. That was
judgment day for the elect. And as a result, the elect were found NOT guilty, because we
had that vicarious atonement with the Lord Jesus Christ who paid for our sins. Now, the
second judgment day, of course, is going to be at the white throne judgment, in which, the
unbeliever is going to pay for their OWN sins. They’re going to stand before the
Lord. They’re not going to be clothed in the robe of Christ’s righteousness. And
what they’re going to be is found guilty of all their sins. And they’re going to
be cast into hell to pay for their own sins eternally. And of course, that means, they
will NEVER, NEVER come out of hell. They will be under God’s wrath for eternity. So
you see, --this is why we call it "free grace"-- because the believers were
given freedom through the Lord Jesus Christ. We were freed from sin… freed from
sin’s penalty, never having to worry about standing before the LORD and giving an
account of our sins, because they’ve all been paid for. If we have to stand before
the LORD and give an account for our sins, then we will be cast into eternal hell. So
those who propagate this doctrine believing that we have to somehow stand before the LORD
and give an account for the sins… I mean, if I didn’t witness to somebody, that
would basically be a sin. So if I stand before the judgment throne of Christ, having just
one sin, that means one thing: I was never saved, and I will have to give an account not
just for that one sin, but the other 57 million sins I’ve committed in my entire
life. So I feel sorry for these folks that feel that they have to stand before the LORD.
You see, Christ stood before the LORD. He stood before the Bema seat, He stood before the
majesty, God the Father, in your place and mine. And He took our sins, and He washed them
all the way, and because of that we’re totally free from sin’s penalty –and
that’s eternal damnation.
Now, the second gathering that we see when He says that He is going to
"…gather together
in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in
him:" Now, the second great gathering will be on the last day when ALL the
believers --both on heaven and earth-- will be united in the great gathering of believers.
Of course, that’s called the rapture. And, of course, there are those, unfortunately,
some people teach that there’s going to be a rapture and then a seven-year
tribulation. I’m sure you’ve all heard it. But the Bible teaches VERY explicitly
that the rapture is going to be on the last day. And then all the believers will be
ushered to the presence of God, where our faith will become sight. Isn’t that
something? Like the hymn says, ‘So that the faith –our faith— should become
SIGHT.’ And then we find… it’s always good to go over even common verses
that we are used to hearing, used to reading. In 1 Thessalonians, Chapter 4, verses 16 and
17, we read this: "16 For the Lord himself shall
descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of
God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:" --I guess maybe there’s
some truth why our parents used to tell us never walk on a grave. Maybe they knew
something.-- "17 Then we which are alive and
remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air:
and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
" Well, you know, sometimes we read these passages, and we say, "Well,
I’ve read them before, I kind of know what they mean." But it’s always good
to go back to study the more common verses, because God can always show us something out
of the different verses, even the common ones: "Then
we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together…" That’s
going to be one great glorious day. Also, it says in verse 17:
"Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with
them in the clouds," Now, I’ve heard it said –I don’t know how
true it is— that it’s saying ‘clouds of believers’ going up. The
believers are going to be raptured and it would be ‘clouds of believers.’ And
that could be a possibility. I heard one preacher say that many years ago. and, it could
be. But I just see that word in the original just saying we would be ‘in the
clouds’… in other words, we’re going to be leaving earth, and we’re
going to be going up with the Lord. So, whether it’s ‘clouds of believers’
or ‘going into the clouds’ -–it doesn’t matter, because we’re
going up on the LAST day.
Okay, let’s continue on in our study now. In Ephesians, Chapter 1, verse 11, and
we’re going to look at verse 10: "10 That in
the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in
Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:…" Remember,
Paul uses this term "in him," "in Christ" over 100 times in this
epistle. "11 In whom also we have obtained an
inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things
after the counsel of his own will:" Now, another great tenet of predestination
is that we have obtained an inheritance, because notice the word. And I cannot stress this
enough. Anytime we read the Bible, anytime we look at the Scriptures, don’t glean
over the statements quickly. Look at the wording: "In
whom also WE have obtained an inheritance." He’s talking about ONLY the
believers. I have heard free-will preachers when they discuss something like Romans 5:8
where it says and while we were dead, Christ died for us.
["…while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."] And
they take that word "us" to mean He died for the whole world. You can’t
wreck grammar and try to teach something that ISN’T there. Like we were having that
discussion in this other room about the Sabbath, when it says the first of the week, like
in Matthew 28:1… when the word "week" is a singular week, even as a
singular word, even though it consists of seven days, yet the word "week" is a
singular word. And in the Greek, the word "sabbaton" is a plural word, so when
the word was translated, it was translated a plural word as singular. And when you do
that, you completely ruin the meaning, and you divert people from knowing the truth. And
it’s dangerous. And we couldn’t get it through to these people in that room. Of
course, they wanted their scholars to be right.
Well, anyway, "…we have obtained an
inheritance." Now, the word here, "obtained" an inheritance, is in
the verb form. Again, it is in an Aorist passive. That means we are RECEIVING it. And
being that we’re receiving this, God is giving it to us. You see, we are totally
passive in salvation. Take a look at 1 Peter, Chapter 1, verses 3 and 4:
"3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and
undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you," Isn’t
that something? Reservation. A reservation in heaven. And that inheritance is
incorruptible, undefiled. Absolutely pure. Absolutely true. And fades not away.
That’s amazing, isn’t it, when you think about it? --That the inheritance that
God is giving us… and after all, He’s the One who did all the work, and we are
the one who are receiving all the benefits. And then we turn around and we say, "You
know, we want more rewards…God is giving more." God can’t give any more.
He’s given enough for now. When we get into the new heaven and the new earth, THAT is
when we are going to have a tremendous eye-opening experience. You know why I believe
this? We’re going to look at God, and we’re going to turn around and say,
"My, and I worried about things on earth?" ---That’s if we’re able to
remember what’s on earth. But like I say, we pointed out in a couple of passages that
we’re not going to remember what happened on earth. But I mean, if we could,
we’re going to turn around and say, "I feared man more than Him?" We
don’t look at the gloriousness, the BIGNESS of Our God!
Okay, let’s go back to Ephesians, Chapter 1:11. Now, He says:
"…11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being
predestinated…" --That word, "predestinate" is the word
"proorizo" and it means He "chosen beforehand," to be pre-elected-- "…according to the purpose of him who worketh all
things after the counsel of his own will:" That word "counsel" means
a "design" or a "plan." You see, everything is designed by God. You
know, the Scriptures even teach us that when we go through the rough times, that God has
designed those valleys for us. But you know, when you think about a mountains and valleys,
what grows on top of a mountain? It’s all kinds of ice and snow and no vegetation.
But when you are in the valley, what grows in the valley? Flowers, greens, that the
animals can eat. You see, it is a time that we go into the valleys that God prepares for
us is and that’s when we grow. You see, this passage here where it says that God is
doing everything after the counsel of His own will, that we have obtained an inheritance.
We have a passage here that reveals that salvation is ALL of the LORD, and that not one
IOTA of God’s salvation plan can be attributed to anything man can do. We would only
wreck it! If God would say ‘Here, I’ll do 99%, and here, you do these particular
works, THEN you can get into heaven,’ – you know what, we’d mess up that
one work, because we would try to improve on it. See, it was God’s own Will that
salvation be totally PASSIVE, since man cannot do anything to inherit it or design it. I
don’t know what kind of salvation plan man would design. Probably, it would be one
that would have a lot of works, one that would have a lot of things to do. You’d burn
out for the LORD, or something like that. But you see, salvation is of the LORD. This is
why God predestined salvation, because of the inability of man to achieve it. God’s
counsel will always stand and will NEVER fall, because it’s perfect in structure and
execution. We may look at the Crucifixion and we may not see engineering, we may not see
design, but if you look at the timing… the timing was absolutely perfect. The Lord
Jesus Christ walked around Palestine for three years, and yet He did not miss the time
that was appointed Him to become our substitute. Everything God does is perfect in
structure and execution.
In Isaiah 55:11, we read a famous passage. Let’s take a look at this verse.
It’s important, and again, it’s another common verse, but it’s a verse we
need to look at. In Isaiah 55:11: "So shall my
word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall
accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it."
How many of you out there like Italian food? I know I do, I love Italian food. So
what I want to give you now is four "stuffed shall’s." Not
"shells," but four "stuffed shall’s" out of Isaiah 55:11.
Okay, the first "stuffed shall" is: "Shall my word." The Word of God
is the basic structure of salvation, because that’s what we send out… we
continue to send forth the Word of God. "Faith
cometh by hearing, and hearing by (or through) the word of God." [Romans 10:17 KJV]. Once
the basics are preached, then the Holy Spirit begins to work in the hearts and lives of
those who heard it.
Now, the second "stuffed shall": "[It] shall not return unto me
void." That word "void" means "empty." There are two basic fruits
of God’s Word: Salvation and damnation. Everything stems from these two antithetical
conditions. God’s Word is out there and preaching to the elect, and it’s
condemning those who are NOT elect.
Now, the third "stuffed shall": "It shall accomplish." It will do
what God determines it to do. It will either soften, or harden the heart. Jesus gave us a
principle --Don’t cast your pearls before the swine [Matthew 7:6 KJV – "Give not that which is holy unto the dogs,
neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and
turn again and rend you."]-- because if the person you’re speaking to is
mocking God’s Word as you’re preaching it, God is hardening their hearts,
allowing their heart to get very hard. It’s that person who you’re speaking to
who wants to hear it again and wants to talk with you more about the Word of God, then
they will come back to you and the LORD might be accomplishing in their hearts, salvation.
But you see, the Word of God is going to produce two kinds of people: It’s going to
harden them and it’s going to cause them to hate it more, or it’s going to
soften them and bring them into God’s kingdom, and the Holy Spirit will indwell them.
The fourth "stuffed shall" is: "It shall prosper." The Word shall
prosper. And the word "shall prosper" there means it "shall succeed."
It will save the elect and guide them in life. God’s Word is powerful. You see,
there’s one thing we have to remember about God’s Word. Not only is it a
spiritual book, not only is it a book that teaches us the deeper things of life… or
rather the deeper things of the Word. Because as we look at the Word of God, we see
surface writing, but then the Holy Spirit begins to give us a little bit of Truth…a
little bit of Truth there… and then finally, we piece together an entire teaching, or
an entire understanding. We also look at the Bible and we can see that there is a surface
meaning to the Bible, which can help in life. For example, the rich rule over the poor. We
know that. We see the rich people ruling over us. And there are certain other principles
in here. The rich ruleth over the poor. You know, every time you charge or something on a
credit card, or something like that, the borrower is slave to the lender. And it says that
in Proverbs. [Proverbs 22:7 KJV – "The rich
ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender."] That’s
a good principle you can also use when dealing with money. You realize that anytime you
borrow, you become a slave to the lender. And of course, this is not… the Bible
teaches us that those who lend to the LORD, and we preach and teach to the poor… now
He’s not talking about money or financial principles, but on the surface, you can use
that as a financial principle. But the Bible has that much… there’s like three
levels to the Scriptures. Sort of like the moral, historical, and the spiritual level
--three good levels that the Bible can be used in all facets of life. And if we just
spiritualize the Scriptures, then what happens is we lose the other two aspects of the
Scripture. We need to interpret the Bible, and interpret it in such a way that we see the
Truth –we see the spiritual Truths. But we can also see sort of like the superficial
Truths (for want of a better word, I can’t think of a better word)… sort of like
the Truth that’s on the surface. And that’s how God made it.
Okay, it says in Psalm 48, verse 14: "For this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be
our guide even unto death." And how does
God guide us? Through the Word of God. He guides us, and He teaches us, and the Word of
God holds us and gives us understanding of God’s Will. It gives us understanding of
the HEART of God, the Father heart of God. And the Bible gets us to understand that God is
concerned about ALL aspects of our life. He just didn’t write the Bible and say,
‘Well, read it and do the best you can.’ That’s why He gave us the Holy
Spirit. That’s why He gave the Holy Spirit to us, because He wants His Word to
accomplish what it will and to succeed. And as we continue to obey God’s Word, on a
continual basis –not just once here and once there— on a continual basis, making
it our lifestyle, then we as Christians will succeed. The world will condemn us, the world
will look at us and say, "You’re nuts!" but we know that when we obey God,
we know in our hearts that we’re on the right path.