Good to see you out this morning.
I have quite a few out this morning. Stan's been exposed, so he stayed
at home. Clara's on a trip. She's, her
brother, her sister's son died, a young man died, and she's gone
to Jacksonville, Florida, so remember them in your prayers.
Other folks, I don't know where they are. They're somewhere.
They're somewhere other than here, so. Okay, happy birthday
this week to Trish. 29 again, it's tough. And Tyler's having a birthday
this week, he's gonna be 21. We'll have the Lord's table after
this morning's service. Okay, that's it for the, oh,
another name added to the prayer list, the Walking Stick family,
John Ed passed away. And also the Iams family, Danny
Iams, up in Kentucky. He's the brother of Susan Bird
Iams, Susanna Bird Iams. husband, and Susanna is Jim Byrd's
daughter. So this is the Iams family. They're
believers, strong believers, and have been for years. He had
a heart attack, I think, while he was asleep? No. Sometime around
two after. He had a massive heart attack
and died. So remember that. You know the
Iams family, don't you? Danny Iams is his name. He's
got a brother named David. Dwayne and David and Danny. Remember
those folks in your prayers also. Seek the Lord's help for them.
Let's begin our worship service this morning with hymn number
475, Redeemed How I Love to Proclaim. ? Redeemed, now I love to proclaim
it ? Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb ? Redeemed through His
infinite mercy ? This child and forever I am ? Redeemed, redeemed
? Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb Redeemed Redeemed His child and
forever I am Redeemed and so happy in Jesus No language my
rapture can tell I know that the light of His presence With
me doth continually dwell Redeemed, redeemed Redeemed by
the blood of the Lamb Redeemed, redeemed His child is whoever
I am I think of my blessed Redeemer I think of Him all the day long
I sing for I cannot be silent, His love is the theme of my song. Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb. Redeemed, redeemed, ? His child
and forever I am ? I know I shall see in his beauty ? The king
in whose law I delight ? Who lovingly yardeth my footsteps
? And giveth me songs in the night ? Redeemed, redeemed redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb, redeemed, redeemed, is, shall, and forever
I am. After Scripture reading and prayer,
we'll sing number 326, more about Jesus. If you have your Bibles,
turn them into the first chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesian
Church, Ephesians chapter 1. We will read all 23 verses. I have taken my text from verses
15 through 22 today in that passage. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ
by the will of God to the saints which are at Ephesus and to the
faithful in Jesus Christ. Grace be to you and peace from
God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as
he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having
predestinated us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the
praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted
in the beloved, in whom we have redemption through his blood,
the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace, wherein
he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having
made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to the
good pleasure which he has purposed in himself, that in the dispensation
of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things
in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on the earth,
even in him, in whom we have also obtained an inheritance,
being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh
all things after the counsel of his own will, that we should
be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ,
in whom ye also trusted after that you heard the word of the
truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom after that you believed
you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the
earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased
possession and to the praise of his glory. Wherefore I also,
after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love to all
the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention
of you always in my prayers. that the God of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit
of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of Him, the eyes
of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the
hope of His calling, and what is the riches of His glory and
His inheritance to the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness
of His power to us who believe according to the working of His
mighty power, which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him
from the dead and set Him at His own right hand. in the heavenly
places, far above principality, and power, and might, and dominion,
and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also
in that which is to come. And it put all things under his
feet, and gave to him to be head over all things to the church,
which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all. Let
us pray. Our Father in heaven, most blessed
and glorious, gracious, wonderful Father, who has held nothing
back from your children and given them all things in Christ. We bless them with all spiritual
blessings, that they have need of nothing, that they are complete
in Jesus Christ, that they are your children and saints, sanctified
by your grace and your mercy, and even Christ himself has been
made to be their sanctification. We praise you for who you are
and what you've done. We can never utter thanks worthy
of what you have done for us. And we praise you as well as
we can in our poor, feeble frames. Father, we pray for those who
are sick, those who are going through trials, those who are
shut in, remember especially these families of lost loved
ones, the Walking Stick family, the Iams family, we ask Lord
your help for them. Continue to pray for Sarah and
for for Brother D. Parks as he's going through these
cancer treatments. I ask Lord you'd be with him
and his family and Christy and the kids and Moose and Sandy
as they minister to him. Help us Lord to remember each
other in our prayers and seek the Lord's help for one another.
We thank you for the manifold blessings that are ours every
day, the new mercies we see every morning. We don't deserve anything
but an eternal hell. But you Father, and chose us
before the foundation of the world, predestinated us to be
holy, predestinated us to the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ unto yourself, all for the good pleasure of your own
will. We're thankful for your will, that it was kind toward
us. Help us now to worship you in
spirit and in truth, we pray in Christ's name, amen. Hymn number 326, More About Jesus. More about Jesus would I know
More of His grace to others show More of His saving fullness see
More of His love who died for me More, more about Jesus. More, more about Jesus. More of His saving fullness see. More of His love the ? More about Jesus let me learn
? More of his holy will discern ? Spirit of God my teacher be
? Showing the things of Christ to me ? Oh, more about Jesus
More, more about Jesus. More of His saving for me. More of His love who died for
me. More about Jesus. with my Lord, hearing His voice
in every land, making each faithful saying mine. ? More, more about Jesus ? More,
more about Jesus ? More of His saving fullness see ? More of
His love who died for me ? More about Jesus for His throne Riches
and glory all his own More of his kingdom sure increase More
of his coming Prince of Peace More, more about Jesus Let's pray. Father, again we
approach in the name of Christ. we ask fathers we render these
gifts that we have been given from your grace and mercy as
we render them back unto thee let us do so with the knowledge
and understanding that what we have we have because of mercy
and grace we ask this in Christ's name amen I invite your attention back
to Ephesians chapter 1 verses 15 through 22. It is Paul's prayer
for the believer. This portion of Ephesians 1 beginning
with the word wherefore in verse 15. This means that what follows
is based upon and conditioned upon or declared according to
that which has already been asserted or proven by Paul in the previous
part of the text. that which preceded this thanking
God for the faith and love that he has heard of about the saints
at Ephesus, preceding that is the blessing or eulogizing of
God for the divine process that made these people saints and
made them children of God. And this divine process is referred
to as all spiritual blessings in verse 3. And these are declared
to be found only and completely in one person, and that is the
Lord Jesus Christ. And those spiritual blessings
all redound to the praise and glory of one thing, and that
is God's grace. Everything will ultimately redound
to that, to the glory of God's grace. These things spoken in
these first fourteen verses span the realm of time, touching eternity
on both ends, and never stray from the singular source established,
which is one person, the Lord Jesus Christ. These blessings portray the work
of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost in the full and free
salvation of those and all the saints to whom Paul is addressing
in this epistle. These blessings begin in eternity
with the work of the Father in choosing the people, predestinating
them to be holy, and predestinating them to be adopted by Jesus Christ
unto Himself, to the praise of the glory of grace, wherein He
has made them accepted in Jesus Christ. That is found in verses
4 through 6, and also His work found in verses 11 and 12. It
says, In whom, that is in Christ, we have obtained an inheritance. Why? Because we are a family.
that's what you do for family they get a part in the inheritance
according to the purpose of him that worketh all things after
the counsel of the purpose of his own will everything works
according to his will according to his will and that was the
reason that is that it's all by his grace and according to
his will is that we should be exist in this world for his glory
now how do we exist through his glory Is it because of our testimony,
because of our giving? No, it's because of His grace.
We exist as sinners paid for by blood to show forth that God is gracious
to the worst of mankind. We are to be for the glory of
His grace. These blessings precede the creation
of the universe. They're an election, an election
with a purpose, the purpose being to render the elect both holy
and without blame, predestinating, and that is flowing from divine
love, to the adoption or establishment of a familiar relationship with
those he's selected. And that's all according to the
good pleasure of his own will, nothing to have to do with our
will. In fact, our will is vacant in any of these passages that
deal with our salvation, and it's simply not there. further
revelation indeed proof of this relationship these elect predestinated
and adopted and accepted ones have obtained this inheritance
now that inheritance is spoken of as that new covenant that
is ratified by the blood of the lord jesus christ in the galatian
epistle and those who are in that relationship or in that
will and testament of god all have the things that christ bought
for them when he died because that's when you receive your
inheritance when you die when your parents die or your benefactor
dies, that's when you would receive the inheritance. Now he died,
so you have it. You are heirs and joint heirs
with the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul sets forth the blessing
wrought by the substitutionary work of the Lord Jesus Christ
in verses seven through nine. He says, In whom we have redemption.
In whom we have redemption. We just sang it. Redeemed how
I love to proclaim it, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. We
have redemption through His blood we have the forgiveness of sins
according to the riches of his grace. Why are we forgiven? Because
his grace is rich. You can't spend all that checking
account. It's all there for the children
of God. His grace is rich and therefore
you have forgiveness and you know if you know what you are,
you know you need that every hour of every day. You have forgiveness He's also abounded to you in
wisdom and prudence. What that means is He's taught
you things that no other people can know on the face of the earth
save those whom He's saved. You are privileged to understand
the book. The book that's sealed with seven seals to everybody
else but the Lord Jesus Christ has opened up the seals. He's
the key of knowledge. He's loosed the seals and tells
us what's in the book. You understand things that nobody
can understand. as a human being born of Adam,
unless God has done something for you. You can understand it.
You understand it is all about the Lord Jesus Christ. He has
abounded towards you. Not just given you wisdom, He
has abounded towards you in wisdom and prudence. What is this abounding? He has made Christ to be your
wisdom. Boy, that is abounding. That is abounding. Because in
Proverbs chapter 8, He is the wisdom of God. That in the dispensation
of the fullest times, according to his time and that by appointment
he might gather together in one all things, that's you and me,
and all believers in Christ, both which are in heaven and
which are on earth, even in Christ, they're all there, in Christ,
in Christ. Sometime take your Bible and underline the word
in in these fourteen first verses and you'll find out where all
the blessings are. We've obtained that inheritance.
Paul speaks of the blessings set forth by the substitutional
work of Christ in In Christ, there is the spiritual blessing
of redemption, forgiveness, all based on the riches of His grace.
God is abounding toward us in wisdom and understanding. He
is pleased to do this according to His divine purpose. He says
that in verse 10, 13, and 14. It is all according to His purpose.
I think it was Ralph Barnard who told Henny Mahan one time
many years ago, Ralph Barnard said, Son, if you ever learn
anything about Scripture, this is what you are going to learn
to start with. God does everything on purpose. and nothing slips
up or nothing occurs to him, and he doesn't react to anything.
He's an actor, not a reactor. Spiritual blessings brought by
the Spirit of God are He gathers those in Christ in one. He gives
them faith to believe the good news that they've already been
saved. That's spoken of in verse 13,
in whom you also trusted. After that you heard the word
of truth. What is the word of truth? That you're saved. That you've been redeemed. The
word of truth is the good news, the God's gospel of your personal
possessive pronoun. Of yours always. You mean it's
mine? It was mine before I had it.
It was mine before I knew it. And it was mine before I heard
of it. And the good news was that God told me by His grace
through His gospel that I had been redeemed. What a thing!
That's the good news year. That good news has nothing to
do with possibility, probability, or availability, like a commodity
in a grocery store. That good word is, this is a
done thing! This is what you find out when
you hear the Gospel if you're a child of God. Woe, lo and behold, I
am redeemed! How I love to proclaim it! They
are guaranteed to a final glory by the indwelling of the Holy
Spirit living in them. And all this was done for the
praise of the glory of God, and it is upon this grand declaration
that Paul gives thanks to God for them, for their faith and
love. It is upon this grand declaration
that Paul thanks God for their faith in Him, and love for the
saints, and tells them what he had prayed for to God for them
in verses 15 and 16. He says, Well, for also after
I heard of your faith and love in the Lord Jesus Christ, and
love to all saints. Cease not to give thanks for
you, making mention of you always in my prayers." He said, I always
pray for you. He prays that they will be given
the spirit of the living vital spirit and use of the knowledge
that they have been given. They have been given the knowledge
of Christ and the revelation which is growth in grace and
in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. This growth or
increase in revelation is for a singular purpose. Why do you
know what you know? Why has God given you this wisdom?
Why is He bound toward you in all wisdom and prudence? Why
does He do it? For the acknowledgment of God. for the acknowledgement
of God. That's what it says. Verse 17,
that the God of our Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, may give you
the spirit of wisdom and revelation, and you'll notice that there's
a marginal reading in the knowledge of Him. It's for the acknowledgement
of Him. What is the first steps of reprobation in Romans Chapter
1? The first sign of reprobation,
they refuse to retain the knowledge of God in their heart, and actually
that means they refuse to acknowledge God. The children of God, all
they do from the day they come to know Christ is to acknowledge
God. It's God that did it. It's God
that saved me. It's God that loved me. It's
God that paid for my sin debt. I'm going to acknowledge that
it's God. And all the wisdom you have and
all the understanding that you've been given is so that you would
acknowledge God. That is the singular purpose.
All growth, all further learning is neither growth nor learning
if it does not cause the believer to decrease and Christ to increase.
Growth and learning will not be about you, but it will be
about Jesus Christ. If you, per se, believe that
you have grown, and like those of the legal forensic ilk, can
and do point to that growth and that learning as having to do
with you, you have neither grown nor have you learned. almost seems to be a parenthetical
expression or phrase that might be inserted after the first phrase
in verse 18. The eyes of your understanding
being enlightened. Paul makes it unmistakably clear
that the revelation of the gospel is basic and essential knowledge
in verse 13 when he said the gospel tells you that you have
been saved. It is essential knowledge. It
is primary stuff. It is kindergarten in the gospel. People say, well, these doctrines
of grace, the doctrine of God's absolute salvation, that's high
doctrine. You know, we had to start out
as a baby kind of getting, no, this is the first thing you learn
when you hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. If someone's told you
the gospel of Jesus Christ, he's told you that Christ has saved
his people from their sins 2,000 years ago on Calvary. He redeemed
them by his blood, and they are safe in him, and they will be. until God opens their eyes to
what He's done for them. But that's already done and accomplished. That's an elementary understanding. It's an elementary understanding.
You don't start out with a weak and frail understanding. You
start out with the most primary and paramount understanding of
the truth when you hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. What a thing
that is! Paul makes that unmistakably
clear. I remember many years ago, I was preaching. I think
it was up at Todd's Road in Abbey's Church. And after I finished
preaching, we was having a fellowship over at Todd's house. And this
missionary, who hadn't been long from the field after hearing
me preach, along these lines, he cornered me. I was in a doorway.
And he put himself on the other side of the doorway. And he said,
I want to ask you a question. I said, OK. He said, are you saying you have
to know the gospel to be saved? And I said, if you're saved it's
because you know the gospel. It's because you heard the gospel.
And I said, yes, that's precisely what I'm saying. And he hurried
over to his pastor and said he wanted to be baptized because
he wouldn't need to confess Christ, all that stuff he had before,
he didn't know God. He'd never heard the gospel. He'd never
heard the gospel. Now, understand me here, the
REVELATION OF THE GOSPEL, the gospel of God's sovereign grace,
is the FIRST THING that God teaches His people. It is the first thing
on the SYLLABUS OF LIFE. The gospel is revealed as we
just read it in verses 3 through 14. It is the mother's milk for
the elect. It is the first primary, essential,
and ELEMENTAL TRUTH that a person learns if he is a child of God.
So Paul is not praying for them to LEARN THE GOSPEL here. You
can't do that anyway. It is the initial eye-opening
revelation from HEAVEN that you know the Gospel. Paul is praying
that these will get a greater understanding of ALL that that
means, and if you've lived a while under the Gospel, you know you've
learned some things. You've learned the application
of the Gospel. He is praying that the rest of their lives
will be spent understanding even MORE and MORE about the fact
that it's ALL in Christ, and Christ is ALL. Old Scott Richard
used to say, I wish my vision was so filled with Christ that
everything I see would be viewed in Christ. That day by day these would see
more and more and more of what Christ has wrought for them.
We sang more about Jesus would I learn. This is what he says,
the eyes of you understanding be enlightened that you may know
what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of his glory
and his inheritance in the saints. that you may perceive, understand,
the eternal glories, things of God are without repentance. Paul
prays that these might perceive that the power that raised Christ
from the dead, the exceeding great sovereign power is that
same power which raised them from the dead. It says that in
verse 20, verse 19 and what is the exceeding
greatness of his power to us who believe according to the
working of his power which he wrought in Christ when he raised
him from the dead and if you read chapter 2 in verse 1 it
says you hath he quickened who were dead and trespassed and
sinned he goes on to say in verse 5 of chapter 2 that you were
quickened together with Christ the same power that raised Christ
from the dead is the power that raised you from spiritual death
to life in Jesus Christ. He said, I want you to know and
understand that. I want that to be revealed to you that your
life had nothing to do with you. You didn't work it up. You didn't make it happen. You
were damned and God raised you from the dead. That's spiritual
life. Paul praises the believer that
you and I might day by day better understand the POWER THAT BELONGS
TO GOD! What power belongs to God? ALL POWER BELONGS TO GOD!
Scripture says that POWER BELONGETH TO GOD! He is the Sovereign Ruler
of the WHOLE UNIVERSE! And it is His UNIVERSE! Do we perceive that? That the
same power that set Christ in heavenly places has set us there
too? where it says we're seated together in the heavenly places
of Jesus Christ in chapter 2. But it says this in verse 20,
which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead,
and set him in his own right hand in the heavenly places.
So you're there with Him. How? By the power of God. You
don't think you ascended to heaven. You don't think you sprouted
wings and flew to the sun, do you? I don't think you did either.
You're there because you were in Christ before the world began.
And then he says this, he says this, he prays that the elect
would grow in understanding of the church. What is the church? It ain't this building, it's
this body, this group of people, this group of people. The church
is the body of Jesus Christ. And whether it's in a lean-do
out in the middle of nowhere, or whether it's in somebody's
backyard, or in the early days in people's houses, Wherever the body meets, that's
the church of the living God. Remember the story, back in the
days of the Iron Curtain, a young Russian girl was going to worship
God on a Sunday night, walking in the snow. And they were meeting
in a little old shack way out in the woods. Nobody knew about
it. She didn't think nobody knew about it. And while she was walking
on the road, had a little flashlight, she was walking along, a KGB
car stopped beside her. opened up the door and said,
where are you going? She said, my brother has died,
and we're going to the reading of the will. And they let her
go. Where was she going? She was
going to the place where they talked about her dead brother,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who had died, and they were reading the
will, all that she had gotten from that death. My brother died,
and I'm going to the reading of the will. Paul prays that
they might see the heavens are his throne, and the earth his
footstool, that no matter the trial, the circumstance, whether
nations rise or fall, whether there's war or peace, life or
death, the Lord says, Shall there be evil in the city? And the
Lord did not do it. Amos chapter 3. It is the Lord, let him do
what is good in his sight. This is what Paul says, I want
you to grow in knowledge every day. And really we do, because
you know if you look around in the world today, you do not have
a whole lot of confidence that things are going to turn out well. I
do not, as far as the world goes, but I know for the child of God,
everything is going to turn out well. Christ said, say unto the
righteous, it shall be with thee. And finally Paul prays that the
elect will grow in understanding of the church. The Church, that
Christ is ahead over all things concerning the Church. He's ahead
of the body of the Church who is the beginning of the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things He might have preeminence. He
is the Church's existence. We consist by Him, it says in
Colossians 1. He is the message of the Church.
He is the MESSAGE of the Church! He is the METHOD of the Church! He is the MUSIC and the SONG
of the Church! He is the BUSINESS of the Church!
He is the REASON for the Church EXISTENCE! He is the GLORY of
the Church! The Church is His BODY! That
is what He says! And it put all things under His
feet in verse 22, and it gave Him to be HEAD over all things
to the Church! Over all things to the Church!
Then Paul ends his prayer with the most astounding and glorious
statement. I still am astounded when I read this statement. The
first time I read it, I thought, nah, that can't be right. I'm
going to read another translation, see if I can find out what that
is. No, it's right. It's right on the money. The church, which
is his body, the church is the fullness of him that filleth
all. Let's roll that around in your
noggin for a second. The Church is the fullness of
Jesus Christ. Think about that. This is beyond
wonder. This is about particular redemption,
about the sure and absolute salvation of His Church. Now, the Bible
talks about that. Christ talked about it Himself.
When the angels did it to start with, they said, name him Jesus.
How can you call him Jesus? Because he shall save his people
from their sin. The Greek derivative of the word
Joshua, which comes from the word Jehovah. Call him Jesus. Why do you call him? Well, let's
call him Moses. No, it ain't going to be by the law. Well, let's call him Elijah.
No, it's not going to be by the prophets, because he's the prophet.
Let's call him Jesus, Joshua. Why? because he's going to save
his people from their sins. That's a sure thing. His people,
whoever they are, are going to be saved from their sins, whatever
their sins are. Another place, our Lord said,
I lay down my life for the sheep. I lay down my life for the sheep."
And in the same chapter he says to some folks, you don't believe
because you're not my sheep. He said, my sheep hear my voice
and they follow me. So evidently the ones he was
talking to that wasn't his sheep wasn't going to follow him, they
wasn't going to hear his voice, and he wasn't going to call them. Because his sheep hear his voice.
That's particular. Paul, when talking to the benefits
of what God had done for his people in Romans chapter eight,
one of the good things he said, there is therefore now no condemnation
because Christ has died. What? Yes, he died. People say, well, he died for
everybody. Then everybody could say that they weren't condemned,
couldn't they? He says, there is therefore now no condemnation.
They were in Jesus Christ who walked not according to flesh
but according to spirit. But he said, who is he that condemned?
Who can do it? Christ has died and therefore
the condemnation for those for whom he died is removed. It's
removed. All things are set forth. This is something I want to fully
understand. I want my eyes of understanding
open here. I want my knowledge expanded
here in the fullness of what Jesus Christ has accomplished.
The Declaration is overwhelming here. Think about it. Which is
His Body, the Church. The Church is the fullness of
Him that filleth all. Filleth all. In light of these
facts, the Declaration is overwhelming. If taken conversely, Paul is
stating that Christ would not have fullness without the Church. He wouldn't be full. Because
the Church is the fullness of Him that filleth all. Paul is stating that, that Christ
would be empty or missing something without the Church. The first
time I read this, it gave me a twitch, I'll be honest with
you. It kind of stirred me up. The first time I said it aloud,
it made me more uncomfortable. The first time I pondered it,
I thought, hold on a minute, that just can't be. Maybe it's
a weakened translation, but it's not. There it is. What does it mean? What does
this mean? The Church is the fullness of Him that filleth
all. It means you cannot separate
Jesus Christ from His work to start with. Him and His work
are inseparable. You can't talk about His work
without mentioning Him. You can't talk about Him without
mentioning His work. You can't even say His name without mentioning
His work. Jesus is Savior. His name should
be called Jesus. for he shall save his people."
There He is, Him in His Work. He's the Anointed, He's the Christ,
anointed for what? For the salvation of His people.
He's the Lord of all things that He might give eternal life to
as many as God has given Him. You cannot be speaking of His
eternal being when it says, The fullness of him that filleth
all. Because as God, He is and was, and is to come, and is fully
full in all Himself. Can I be speaking of His physical
being? Because a man, as a man, He was a man, possessing all
the characteristics and mineral and chemical makeup of humanity,
yet without sin. What does this mean? Well, you
can be sure that whatever it means, it is God's Word, and
therefore it's true. The glorious statement is speaking
of particular and successful redemption. Christ gave Himself
for who? According to Ephesians 5, verse
25, He gave Himself for His church. According to John 10, He died
for His sheep. He died to redeem them and make
them righteous before God. And listen carefully, everyone
for whom He died must be, must be fully, finally brought into
that body. Elsewise Christ's body would
be incomplete and he would be deemed a failure.
He would not be full. He would not be the fullness
as he is called in Philippians and Colossians. His mystical
body would be missing an organ or an appendage. He would not
be perfect and glorious but rather maimed and broken. glory to His
name, praise and glory of His grace, every one for whom Christ
died is eternally redeemed and are in His body, and are the
fullness of the body thereof." That is the language that is
used here. Think about that! Oh, to fully perceive this! Open
my eyes to understanding! Enlarge my knowledge in this!
Cause me to perceive this! Keep praying for me, Paul, that
I might see and understand this! where I can say without hesitation,
the church is the fullness of him that filleth all. What a
thing. What a wonderful, amazing, and
beautiful thing. It is so. Paul's prayer is that
all believers would grow into a fuller understanding of it,
that their eyes would be opened. The church, which is his body,
the fullness of him that filleth all. We take the Lord's table. You
can leave it running for the Lord's table. We take the Lord's
table. What we're doing, we're celebrating
this glorious fact that Jesus Christ's death was absolutely
and completely a success. Jim, you want to help me serve
today? I think one person can do it today. No, we'll probably
need two since we've got two hands. Fred, you want to help
too? On the night our Lord was betrayed,
He took bread and broke it and gave it to His disciples. It
was the night of the last Passover and the first Lord's table. All
the Passovers that had been done before that pointed to this one
night. Our Lord took the bread, the unleavened bread and broke
it and gave it to His disciples and told them to eat it. It was
a representative of His body, which was broken for them. And
then He took the wine and He gave it to them to suffer. The
wine said, this is the blood, this is my blood and you cover
it. as often as you do this, do this
in remembrance of me, and it became what is called a church
ordinance. There are three, I believe. One is preaching of the gospel,
what we just did. This taking of the Lord's table
is the second one, and the third one is baptism, which also sets
forth His death, and your death in Him. This table is meant for
believers, those who Paul prayed for, those who are described
in Ephesians chapter 1, verses 1 through 14, as receiving this
grand and glorious salvation from pole to pole and all elements
of it in Jesus Christ. Paul prays that we learn more
about it, that we study more about it. This is one of the
things that we've learned. When we take the Lord's table, it
has no actual spiritual benefits other than obedience to Christ
to do it. These elements are just elements. They can't become
anything. Roman Catholics believe the blood
actually becomes The wine actually becomes the blood of Christ.
I call that transubstantiation. And then those reformers who
left the Roman church and formed the Lutherans and the Presbyterians
and a whole bunch of other groups, they believe, a lot of them believe
in what's called consubstantiation, which is they believe the wine
becomes spiritually the blood of Christ. None of those things
are true. It's just wine. And it's just bread. So what
we're doing is we're saying When we take these elements, I am
trusting only in the fact that Jesus Christ's death was successful
for his church and for me. That it actually put away my
sin. I discerned the body and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I understand it, and I appreciate it. So if we take this table,
let us do so as believers rejoicing in Jesus Christ. If they're not
taking the table, it is went out. she is coming back since the
bible says tarry for one another make sure that hannah gets her
bread and wine let's ask the lord to bless him upon the table
father we receive these elements at this table let us do so with
joy in our hearts and thanksgiving knowing full well as much of
a wonder as it is to our own minds that this represents the
body and blood of jesus christ which fully and completely purchased
the church and brought it into his body. And wonder of wonders,
it became, according to your word, the fullness of him that
shall be called. We are thankful for that blessed word. We are
thankful that you can understand it. Help us, Lord, now to rejoice
in him that we show forth this death until it comes again. Realize
him fully, this death, before you was our death. And we are
dead in Him, and we are alive in Him. Thank you, Father, for
this knowledge and this understanding. Teach us, O Lord, every day to
look to Him alone. We pray in Christ's name. On the night I was betrayed,
he took bread and he breaks it and gave it to his disciples.
He said, take it. He said, Orphan, as you eat this, do this in remembrance
of me. This is my body broken for you. On the same night, he took a
cup and he said, this, he said, this cup is the new covenant,
the new testament in my blood. He said, Orphan, as you eat this
bread and drink this cup, you do show forth my death until
I come again. do this in the remembrance of
me. On the same night they sang a song,
sang a hymn, and they departed. Let's stand together. Would you be free from your burden
of sin? There's fire in the blood, fire
in the blood. Would your people a victory win? There's wonderful power in the
blood. There is power, power, wonder-working
power in the blood of the land. There is power, power, wonder-working
power in the precious blood of the lamb. Now normally, we hug
each other and say we love each other, but since a lot of you
have been exposed to COVID, you don't want to be hugging nobody.
Just look each other by the eyeball, shake their hand, and tell them
you love them. There's a thing over on the wall here. Do your
hand sanitizer if you need it. So good day, and God bless you. and wish Trisha a happy birthday.