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Ephesians: New Testament with Lynne Wilson (Come, Follow Me) · Scripture Central

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Hello, welcome back to Scripture Central.
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I'm Lynn Hilton Wilson, part of the Scripture Central team on
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Come Follow me. And I love the book of
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Ephesians. Today we're in the New Testament
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in the Epistles. This is one of the epistles
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attributed to Paul, although that's debatable.
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We'll talk a little bit about that.
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And it appears that it is a general circulatory letter that
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went to many different churches. It's filled with hymns and
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praise, but the whole theme is to come unto Christ.
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It's just beautifully written and executed.
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Paul says he's in bonds during this letter, so we have put it
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with the letters of the time period when Paul's in prison.
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Do you remember from the Book of Acts after his third Apostolic
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mission, he is taken prisoner in Caesaria for two years and then
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to Rome. We assume this is consistent
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with the Roman letters because of the way that he shares
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similar information to the other letters that were written at
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this time. But if you want to read more
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about it, go to Acts chapters 21 to 27 or 28 and you can see some
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of those things there. I want to talk next about the
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title and the audience. We refer to it as Ephesians, so
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that's how I'm going to refer to it.
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It probably wasn't written only to the Ephesians because
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remember, Paul served an Ephesus for three years.
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He was there the longest of any other place that he had ever
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been and all of the time that he served as an apostle.
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And yet in this letter he gives no personal greetings.
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The audience does not know him and he doesn't know them.
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We have lots of examples in the scriptures that I hope you can
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see them as you're reading through.
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And I hope the Spirit can guide you too.
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I don't want to dissuade you away, but I think that it's
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helpful to say we've done the best we can to keep accurate and
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records and we've got thousands of copies of these Greek
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manuscripts and biblical scholars are trying hard, but it
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doesn't appear that this was written to the church and
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emphasis probably a circular letter just like first Peter was
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and Galatians was. That goes to several different
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churches. And so he's not going to point
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out, oh, hello Jacob, I hope you're doing well.
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Philo, you know, he, he doesn't have that kind of relationship
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when he's writing a a general circulatory letter.
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The other thing that's interesting about this one is if
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he's in his Roman imprisonment, which it says he's in bonds, it
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probably fits in very nicely with Phi Lehman, Colossians and
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Philippians as well. And we see the same kind of
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vocabulary now. He had served in this area on
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his third mission. He wanted to go there on his
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second remember in the book of Acts the Spirit told him don't
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go there. But the majority of his third
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mission was there, an Ephesus. And so he probably had a broader
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area. Ephesus is also where the
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apostle John came and served. According to history books, we
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have 4 letters that claim to be written during Paul's first
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Roman imprisonment. We have one Roman imprisonment
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where he's on house arrest. People can come visit him, he
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can preach the gospel, he can write letters.
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And then he has a different imprisonment where he's cold and
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hungry and no one's with him. And it's a very different
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feeling. One is more torturous, what is
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more freedom. So we assume that these 4
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letters all came out of this freedom time.
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They're Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Feiliman.
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Now Ephesians, we're told who the carrier is and I mentioned
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he gives no greetings but the others we see similar carriers
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and similar people that he greets in each letter.
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I'd like to go through the outline of the book before we
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jump in. There's only 6 chapters and as
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usual he starts out with a beautiful greeting and then he
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turns into chapter one talking about Christ's spiritual
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blessings. He gives them a prayer to have
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revelation to know Christ and he then in chapter 2 talks about
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becoming alive in Christ. He wants the Gentiles to become
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one in Christ. He talks about being a citizen
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and this is very important in that Roman world.
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And he talks about if we become citizens of God's house.
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It's like entering into a holy temple.
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Chapter 3 talks about some mysteries of God and he refers
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to the plan of salvation with other titles.
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Chapter 3 also gives another prayer or Paul asks for them to
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know of Christ's love. Then in chapter four, he uses
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again the theme of unity, becoming one in the body of
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Christ. In the second-half of chapter 4
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gives instructions on how to live as children of Christ.
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Those instructions continue on in this household code, where we
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get instructions for marriage, children, parents, servants, and
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masters. And then chapter six turns to
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the armor of God, and he concludes in the end of chapter
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six with his personal news and final greetings.
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With that as our outline, let's dive into the text.
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Interestingly, people wonder if Paul wrote it.
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It starts out in Ephesians chapter one, one Paul and
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Apostle of Jesus Christ to the Saints.
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So this is his section on the greetings.
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But we have a problem. Not only does he not know them
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and they don't know him, we also have a different vocabulary.
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There are 80 words in this epistle that are not used in the
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other Pauline epistles. Now he has a huge vocabulary and
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we have different words in Hebrews as well as in First
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Corinthians and in Romans. So maybe that vocabulary
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shouldn't be such an issue. It is interesting, though, that
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when we do the computer studies with a textual analysis of how
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different authors use different words, and it's very complicated
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studies on where words fall in stylometry.
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Paul does not appear to be the sole author of Ephesians, so
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he's writing, he's in prison. It says it's written from Paul.
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Could he have asked one of his companions take that last sermon
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and write it into a letter? Or could you please write to the
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churches in around Ephesus and organize these thoughts?
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Here's my outline. Can you flesh it out?
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You know, there's many ways that it could still have been Pauline
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even without having it fit perfectly into the same pattern
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that we saw in Galatians and Corinthians, and we will see
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soon in in the Thessalonians. He also continues on in this
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greeting in chapter one, verse one that he's writing to the
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faithful in Christ Jesus. Now remember, the word Christ is
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the word Messiah in Hebrew, but it's also the anointed.
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And he uses this word in Christ many, many times in his letters.
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We've already used it in letters previous, and we're going to
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continue to use it. But I just wanted to emphasize,
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what does that mean to you? If it's in Christ, it can mean
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on Christ or among Christ. But the Word is anointed in the
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anointing, among the anointing. I'm writing to those of you who
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are among the anointed or you have received my anointing.
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They're just beautiful. I think it's temple imagery.
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I I think it's just gorgeous. So just look out for that phrase
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in Christ. You'll see it almost 99 times in
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these polling epistles and in fact 22 times just in the book
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of Ephesians. Verse two says grace be to you
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and peace from our God. And remember peace is Shalom.
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It's this beautiful blessing. Verse 3 to 14 talks about
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spiritual blessings and all the way from verse 3 to verse 14 in
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chapter one is 1 sentence. It's the longest sentence in any
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of the Pauline corpus. Another reason why people doubt
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it was Pauls. He didn't write like this, but
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this one long sentence, these first nine verses become an
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abstract of the rest of the letter.
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First three begins, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
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Jesus Christ. Now in English we use the word
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blessed in the Beatitudes. Remember in Christ's Sermon on
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the Mount in Matthew chapter 5, it says blessed are the poor and
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spirit. Blessed are the meek.
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Blessed are they that come unto you.
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Know that blessed is fortunate. Are you or happy are you?
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This is a different word. This means let us praise our
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God. He is worthy of being blessed.
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So it's a it's a different word even though in English they're
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using it the same. Let's move on to verse four and
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five. And there's a a word here that I
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want to make sure that we understand clearly in the Greek
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because it has different meanings in English, the BLB
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reads, which is very good literal translation as he
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meaning Christ chose us in him before the foundation of the
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world for us to be holy and blame this before him in love,
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having predestined us for divine adoption.
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Now because of different theologies, the word predestined
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has often been tied with the Reformed traditions that believe
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in the Tulip, total depravity, unconditional election, limited
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atonement, irresistible grace, and the perseverance of the
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Saints. But the word predestined itself.
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If we go back to the Greek, it's divided into two words, pro,
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meaning before and then zorio, meanings for ordained.
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And that's how it's translated in the ERV, the ASV, the LSV,
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the YLT. But it also means in Greek to
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mark off or predetermined. And I really appreciate every
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time you see the word predestined if you could just
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fill in your mind for ordained or preplanned.
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Paul is so clear. It's saying we lived before, and
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yet other faith traditions don't have that in their theology.
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They say God lived before man was created out of nothing.
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You know the creation. Ex Nalio Seasons chapter one,
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verse 5 is very similar to what we read in Romans 8 or in
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Galatians 4. He talks about Christ as our
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Father. How does Christ become our
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Father? It is through adoption.
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We read the same thing in Jacob chapter five with this allegory
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of the olive tree. You know you take a branch and
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you put it in. And he calls us the children of
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Christ. If we come unto Him, we are
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children of Him. If we covenant to live with him,
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if we take upon ourselves His name, we become His children.
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When we are living worthy of His spirit, we we are His children.
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First nine also says in the ESV, making known to us the mystery
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of His will according to His purposes which were set forth in
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Christ. Now they use this word, mystery,
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six times in this letter, and it's interesting.
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It means a secret or an initiation is necessary or
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mystery can also mean a revelation or a council of God,
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once hidden but now revealed in the gospel.
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So the mystery can be Jesus is actually not the Son of Joseph,
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He is the Son of God. So now in verse 10 we're going
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to learn what this mystery is. In the dispensation of the
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fullness of times, he might gather together one in all
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things in Christ. Now the word dispensation, we
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use it one way in our faith tradition, but other Christians
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have it in their scriptures as well and they use it as a
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management of household affairs. It's a stewardship.
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In Greek, it's an administration or a plan.
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Now in the ESV they don't say dispensation, they say a plan
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for the fullness of time. But we find this Word
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dispensation 9 times in the King James translation, and it refers
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to this whole idea of God's stewardship that whenever
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there's a dispensation, there are those who are given a
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stewardship to act accountable to God.
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And I believe that as baptized members of the Church of Jesus
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Christ, we have a stewardship to do his will and to work for him
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as his servants. The Word dispensation also
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saturates restored scripture in the doctrine cabinets.
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We have at least nine different places where it's referenced and
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nine different sections, and even more if you count each time
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it's referenced. I'm just going to read two of
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those. Section 27, verse 13.
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I have committed the keys of my Kingdom and a dispensation of
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the gospel for the last times and for the fullness of times in
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the which I will gather together in one and then in section 128,
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verse 18. It is necessary in the ushering
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in of the dispensation of the fullness of times, which
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dispensation is now beginning to usher in, that a whole and
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complete and perfect union, the welding together of
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dispensations and keys and powers and glory, should take
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place, and be revealed from the days of Adam even into the
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present time. Now this is very important that
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he says it is beginning now because most Christianity refers
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to the dispensation of the fullness of times from Christ's
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resurrection until now. Ever since the Lord came and
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gave Peter and the apostles charge of His church, they have
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referred to that as the dispensation of the fullness of
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times. So section 128 is very helpful
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to say no, that is not my definition.
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I think that there was a falling away and there needed to be some
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corrections there. There's much good in
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Christianity. It is done a wonderful amount of
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good in the world, but it's not exactly what needed to be and
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that's why the Lord needed a restoration.
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In chapter one, verse 11, He continues on.
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We have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to
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the purpose of Him who work with all things after the council of
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His will. Now our Prophet Joseph Smith was
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referring to this, and he says the unconditional election of
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individuals to eternal life was not taught by the apostles.
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God passes over no man's sins. You can't be saved just because
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you were predestined. If you're a Sinner, you have got
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to be a repentant person in order to be saved by Jesus
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Christ. You've got to come unto him.
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Every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess.
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So Joseph, not only in his scripture, but also in his
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servants, was able to correct that misunderstanding of that
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word, predestined as it was interpreted in the 19th and 20th
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centuries for us. But remember, in Greek it means
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just planned ahead, a stewardship fordained.
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I love this next section, chapter one, verse 12 to 15.
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After that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of
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promise which is the earnest of our inheritance until the
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redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of
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his glory. This is the only place in the
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New Testament that refers to the Holy Spirit of promise.
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I've read many, many, many other Christian ideas on what this
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word means, and they interpret it starting from the time of the
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19th century all the way through now as the promise that the
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Spirit was going to be given to those who believe.
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But in the Encyclopedia of Mormonism, and there's a
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different definition, and there's also a different
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definition in our modern scripture, I'll read first from
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the encyclopedia. The Holy Spirit of Promise is
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one of many descriptive names or titles of the Holy Ghost and
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refers to a specific function of the Holy Ghost.
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The Holy Spirit of promise is the power by which ordinances
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and other righteous acts performed on this earth, such as
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baptism and eternal marriage, are ratified, validated, and
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sealed in heaven as well as on earth.
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He goes on to explain there and quotes Joseph that the Holy
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Spirit of promise is also another name for the other
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Comforter, which is of course the manifestation of our Savior
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that we talked about in the Last Supper.
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The Doctrine Covenants has seven different references to the Holy
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Spirit of promise. It's interesting that Joseph
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Smith often takes phrases from the King James Version, but then
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the Lord builds on them and gives them their own definition,
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their own meaning. They are still consistent with
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where they came in the scripture In Ephesians it says you're
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sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise.
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We know those two are going together.
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They also later in the next verse refer to the earnest of
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the Spirit, which is another phrase that is used by Joseph.
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But the Lord taught Joseph. More about this in the Doctrine
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Covenants section 7688, One 24, but most of all in section 132.
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We haven't referenced four times there.
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And in six of those seven references, it's not talking
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about just the conditional ratification that the Spirit has
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to make sure it's an ordinance was done with proper authority
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at the proper time by a purified repentance, humble St. but a
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permanent ceiling. That one will then be enabled to
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receive their permanent calling election or the gift that is
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usually given in heaven. Joseph Sponsor spoke a lot on
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this in his sermons. And if you're interested, I've
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got the all the references in our handouts when we read the
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restored scripture and Joseph sermons, we see a spectrum of
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the Holy Spirit of promise that at first the Spirit will ratify
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our ordinances. But we have to prove, we have to
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be willing to take upon ourselves the name of Christ.
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We have to prove that we will obey all that he asks us to do
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and sacrifice and and honor his stewardship.
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And then the Holy Spirit of promise refers to a permanent
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ceiling that is done according to section 132 by the Prophet
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Joseph was giving a sermon on this verse, Ephesians 113, and
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he elaborated on what does it mean to be an heir of salvation.
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He says God set the ordinances to be the same forever and ever
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and set Adam to watch over them, to reveal them from heaven to
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man, and to send angels to reveal them.
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Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister
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from them who shall be heirs of salvation?
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That's when he quotes Paul and he's saying no.
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The the Holy Spirit of promise is given to those who will
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become heirs of salvation. Next in verses 15 to 23 of
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chapter one, Paul gives a beautiful prayer for the Saints
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and he's praying that they will know who Christ is.
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And I'm just going to allow you to read this beautiful prayer
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with the Spirit of the Lord. I won't go into any details the
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verses that seem to be pretty self-explanatory and filled with
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the spirit. I hope you can have a prayer in
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your heart as you study them and get a great message out of them.
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But moving on to chapter two, we learned that from verses 1 to 10
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All Saints can become alive in Christ not only in eternally
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alive, but alive now that if we have the Spirit with us, we are
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more effective. First four and five.
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Reading the NIV God who is rich in mercy has made us alive.
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Now in the King James has quickened.
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Remember, quickened means alive. We are made alive with Christ
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even when we were dead in transgressions.
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It is by grace you have been saved.
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We have to repent of our sins. We have to have those mortal
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naggings and selfcentered behaviors, proudful thoughts
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removed. We cannot desire things of the
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world. We have to desire things of God
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in order to receive these blessings.
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In fact, he uses the fun idea of of a joint venture in verse 10.
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This is chapter 2 in the BLB, having been created in Christ
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Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we
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should walk in them. Now, he's not saying that we're
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preprogrammed, We're saying that Christ and humanity can work
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together, that he's got a plan made.
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And I told you he didn't use the phrase plan of salvation, but I
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think that's the joint venture. I think that's what he's talking
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about, the second-half of Chapter 11.
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This now refers to the Gentiles becoming one with Christ.
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I'd like to read from chapter 2, verse 14 in the MIV, for he
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himself is our piece. Who has made the two groups?
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One, and it's destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of
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hostility. Now I just assumed that that was
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a barrier between us and God, that we've we've created Sin is
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is a problem for us and it it removes us from God.
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But many biblical scholars say Paul is talking about the
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Gentiles and the Israelites, and that barrier is symbolically the
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separation between the court of the Gentiles and the court of
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the women on the Temple Mount. That we need to remove that wall
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and allow all to come unto Christ, all to enter into his
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presence, all to go into the sacred holy spaces.
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Verse 15 talks about Jesus as the new man.
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And I love this in light of what we learn in the Doctrine
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Covenants, that our Father's name is man of holiness, and so
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Christ is the Son of man of holiness, and here he is a new
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man. And we can become new men if we
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will, but follow him and become heirs with him.
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But it says in the new King James version of chapter 2,
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verse 16, he might reconcile them both to God in one body
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through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.
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He's saying he's already done the work, just repent and change
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and come unto him. It's there, it's finished.
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The atonement is in place for us to receive not only his grace
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but his help. 1st 19 to 22 then talks about this idea of
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citizenship. But citizenships in God's house
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is a temple and Christ makes that clear in His ministry as
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well. 1st 19 reads, He are no more strangers and foreigners
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but fellow citizens with the Saints and the household of God.
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Remember what it meant to be a citizen in that day and age.
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Paul was a citizen. It was very expensive for some
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people. Other people were born with it.
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But there were very few in the diaspora.
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You know, outside of Rome, there's only about 1% that were
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Roman citizens. And if you were a Roman citizen,
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you received these three new names.
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You got to wear the new toga, you know, 35 pounds of white
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wool. You had a voice in the
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government. You had a legal appeal.
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You received rule by law. You were exempt from taxes.
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But when we go into the Kingdom of heaven, our citizen is based
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on repentance and obedience to Christ teachings and that way we
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are absolved from paying from our sins.
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We repent and are forgiven and Christ takes care of it.
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First 20 in chapter 2 says, Built upon the foundation of the
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apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief
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cornerstone. This idea of building a
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foundation was very important. Remember the gorgeous buildings
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that Herod the Great Builder started and his posterity
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afterward continued the Roman Empire with its marble roads and
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miles and miles of cobblestone paved roads and courtyards.
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You know, they really understood building technique.
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Paul uses these analogies and says let's build on Christ as
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he's talking about prophets. Though remember that in the New
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Testament a prophet is one who has the gift of prophecy.
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He's not talking about the head of the church.
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Prophets are those with Prop who can prophesy or those who have a
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testimony of Jesus Christ. We learn in the Book of
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Revelation chapter 19, verse 10. Ephesians 221 has another
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beautiful tie to Christ in the building in the NIV it reads.
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In him the whole building is joined together and rises to
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become a holy temple in the Lord.
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Chapter 3 now goes to that topic of the mysteries that I had
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mentioned before and he talks about the mystery of God's plan,
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which we refer to as the plan of salvation, and that he talks
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about it for all humans. I'm going to read from the ISV
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of Ephesians 33. This secret or this mystery was
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made known to me through a revelation, just like the book
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of Galatians Paulus Tillis tried to say.
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I learn through revelation. Everything I'm teaching you I
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have from the Spirit. And then in verse five and six
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from the BSB, it reads it has now been received by the Spirit
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to God's holy apostles and prophets.
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This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are fellow
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heirs. This beautiful idea of the
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mystery is that it's not just the chosen blood that came
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through the tribes of Jacob. Anyone who comes under Christ
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can receive the best feeling of God.
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The second-half of chapter 3 now turns to another prayer, and the
23:44
text is just beautiful as they pray for all to know of Christ's
23:49
love. I'll just read a few of the
23:50
verses, Chapter 3, verses 14 to 15.
23:54
I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of
24:00
whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named.
24:04
I believe there is extra power in my prayers when I am on my
24:09
knees. There's something about a
24:11
dependent position that when my physical body is in a position
24:16
to face God, I feel like it helps my spirit to go further.
24:21
And then in verse 16 to 18 it reads in the MIVI pray that out
24:25
of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power
24:30
through his spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell
24:34
in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you being rooted
24:38
and established in love, they have power together with the
24:42
Lord's holy temple to grasp how wide and long and high and deep
24:47
is the love of Christ. See, these same themes are
24:50
Oliver Paul's letters. So I still think he had a hand
24:52
in this, even if it doesn't quite fit.
24:55
But the idea that the Spirit is power is linked so many times in
25:00
Scripture and dozens of more times in modern Revelation than
25:03
he did even in the New Testament.
25:05
But this is a beautiful connection, that when we receive
25:09
the Spirit, we have God's power. The second-half of the epistle,
25:13
now starting in chapter 4 is action-packed.
25:17
There are 36 verbs that are all used in the imperative, and he's
25:20
talking about how to become one in Christ.
25:23
In the 1st 16 verses of chapter four, he gives a whole bunch of
25:27
things to not do and a whole bunch of things to do.
25:30
Chapter 4 verse one through 3 reads in the MIVI urge you to
25:35
live a life worthy of the calling that you've received and
25:39
skipping down a little ways. Keep the unity of the Spirit
25:43
through peace. I think this is wonderful
25:45
because sometimes we offend the spirit.
25:47
We don't even know it. It's through being a peacemaker
25:51
that we can maintain the Spirit, having our thoughts and prayers
25:54
always ascending to God, repenting, apologizing and and
25:59
being a peacemaker. Continuing on in that beautiful
26:02
section, Chapter 4, verses four to six, he calls on the Saints
26:06
to become one. He says Have one body, one
26:10
spirit, 1. Hope 1 Lord, one faith, one
26:15
baptism, one God, and Father of all who is above all and through
26:21
all and in all. But this idea of becoming one is
26:26
also the idea of becoming the air that he mentioned earlier.
26:29
We're becoming one with God. This was the whole intercessory
26:32
prayer. Christ, Last Supper.
26:34
That beautiful message of becoming one with him is when we
26:37
take upon ourselves His name, when we put on his robes of
26:41
righteousness. And I hope that every day, in
26:45
and out, as you step into your robes of righteousness, that you
26:49
can take upon yourself the name of Christ.
26:52
Verse 11 is one of these verses that talks about the
26:55
organization, the church, and it's repeated so many different
26:58
times. And we have a few of the things
27:00
that are mentioned in the sixth article of faith here.
27:02
He gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists
27:06
and some pastors and teachers. So Jesus gave the organization
27:10
to the apostles and to the Saints as a gift, but Christ
27:14
gave himself to the apostles. I also forgot the word
27:18
evangelist is in Greek, someone who's a missionary, someone
27:22
who's sharing the message. But Joseph Smith again uses a
27:25
King James vocabulary and gives it a different definition, and
27:29
he refers to an evangelist also as a patriarch.
27:32
He goes back to the Father Jacob who became Israel in the Old
27:37
Testament and said he gave blessings.
27:39
We will need a patriarch to give blessings in our church as well.
27:43
And he says all of this is for the perfecting of the Saints in
27:46
verse 12, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of
27:50
the body of Christ till we all come in the unity of faith.
27:54
Now in KJV the perfecting is also translated in other
27:58
translations as equipped or in training.
28:01
The whole church is to train us it to become more Christ like.
28:05
It's to train us to learn how to serve and to love and to to get
28:07
along with people that we wouldn't usually serve with.
28:10
That is the whole message Ephesians 4, verse 14 in the new
28:14
King James Version reads. He's warning them not to be
28:17
tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of
28:21
doctrine by the trickery of men and in the cunning craftiness of
28:24
deceitful plottings. We live in a day and age where
28:28
there is cunning, craftiness of humanity, and deceitful
28:32
plottings against those with faith, against those with
28:36
morals, against those who are striving to live the
28:38
commandments of God. It's so difficult to love those
28:42
who persecute you and to do good to those who despitefully use
28:46
you, but we're told to pray for them, and then our hearts will
28:49
soften. We're told to come unto Christ
28:52
and to ask that we can hold true while having charity.
28:57
It's very difficult, but this, I believe, is a verse that refers
29:01
to our day and age as much as it did to Paul's times.
29:04
The last half of chapter 4, as well as all the way through the
29:07
first half of chapter 5, give instructions on how to live in
29:10
Christ's life. And we've got at least 10 verse
29:12
with attributes to become like disciples.
29:15
And the whole thing is leaving behind selfishness and becoming
29:19
selfless. And I mentioned before, there's
29:21
all these imperative verbs that thou shalt kind of verbs.
29:24
That's imperative tense. Chapter 4 verse 22 reads, put
29:29
off your old self corrupted by the deceitful desire and then in
29:33
24 in the NIV put on the new self created to be like God in
29:39
true righteousness. You know like a butterfly.
29:44
Let's leave our old self behind and allow the spirit to bless us
29:48
and soar and become all that God created us to become.
29:52
Skipping down quite a ways to Ephesians 4, verse 30 In the BSB
29:56
we have a very important warning.
29:58
Do not grieve the Holy Spirit in whom you were sealed for
30:04
redemption. We can grieve the Spirit by sins
30:08
of omission and sins of Commission.
30:10
You know, sometimes we do it by the things we listen to and
30:12
watch and do and say. Sometimes we do it when our
30:15
hearts are set too much on the things of this world according
30:18
to section 121. Sometimes we offend the Spirit
30:22
by not following it, by not taking that leap of faith and
30:27
following every prompting we receive or following the
30:29
guidance that others have given us through blessings.
30:31
Our patriarchal blessings, our general conferences.
30:34
We can offend the Spirit in many ways, and he's begging them live
30:38
by the Spirit. It is such a powerful gift if
30:41
you use it. Otherwise, you're just letting
30:43
in a very expensive instrument sit in your garage and never
30:47
touching it. Allow that spirit to work with
30:49
you and you will be able to move spiritually and grow in ways
30:53
that you haven't before in chapter 5.
30:56
He's still on this long list of things to do and don't I want to
31:00
read from verse six in this CSB translation.
31:03
Let no one deceive you with empty arguments.
31:07
I chose this one because I just feel so many people are being
31:10
led astray with empty arguments. One of the reasons why I started
31:14
Book of Mormon Central, which is now scripture central, is so
31:17
that we would have a safe place to go to to get answers.
31:21
Our archive is fabulous. It's the largest archive and
31:25
repository of accurate scholarship that we have in the
31:28
church. When you have questions, don't
31:30
allow some shallow minded anti to pull you down.
31:35
Look for deeper answers when I did my whole series of hard
31:39
questions in church history. I have handouts and we have not
31:43
only those in the archives, but 100 times more information.
31:47
My other colleagues here have also done a fabulous job on
31:50
these things and I hope you can use our resources to find them.
31:53
Continuing on in chapter 5 verse eight, it reads in the New
31:57
American Standard Bible, you were formerly darkness but now
32:02
you are light in the Lord walk as children of the light.
32:07
Now remember you're a child. When it says children, it's not
32:10
necessarily he's talking about your age here.
32:12
He's talking about the fact that children are covered by the
32:15
atonement and a child is meek and humble.
32:18
Not necessarily in our world, but in that world where they
32:20
used a lot of physical punishment.
32:22
You believe that children were humble.
32:24
We go back to the gifts of the spirit in chapter 5 verse nine.
32:27
We had talked about these last week in Galatians chapter 5 and
32:30
here we are in Ephesians 5. And he says, for the fruit of
32:33
the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth.
32:38
You know he doesn't go into all the details that we had in
32:40
Galatians. He uses different words, but
32:42
it's still the same message that if you're feeling the Spirit,
32:45
you're going to feel goodness and truth.
32:49
Ephesians 518 now turns to things not to do.
32:52
He says in the MIV, do not get drunk on wine, which leads to
32:56
debauchery. Instead, be filled with the
32:59
Spirit speaking to one another with psalms and hymns and songs
33:02
of the Spirit. Sing and make music from your
33:05
heart for the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father
33:10
for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
33:13
Remember in the ancient world, wine was used as a purifier of
33:16
the water. Now, if you were wealthy, you
33:19
didn't have to dilute it so many times, but the average home in
33:23
Palestine would dilute their water with one part wine, 10
33:29
parts water. But on important days like
33:32
Passover, you would only have three parts water to one part
33:35
wine. And according to some scholars,
33:38
they think a strong drink was two parts water, one part wine.
33:43
So this just helps, put that in context.
33:45
But I think there's something powerful about this message of
33:49
singing and praising the Lord and adding music into our life.
33:52
Good, wholesome, uplifting music.
33:54
The spirit often works better in music than it does even in the
33:57
spoken word. As a musician myself, I am so
34:02
grateful for the gift of music and the gift of the spirit
34:06
working through music. In chapter 5, verse 21, we now
34:10
begin this advice on families and it's called a household
34:13
conduct. We find four of these in the
34:15
Epistles in the New Testament. Ephesus, First Peter, Colossians
34:19
and Titus all talk about them, but this is a really long one
34:23
and some of them are a little bit tricky.
34:24
So in Ephesus, chapter 5, verses 21 to 33, he gives instructions
34:30
on Christian marriage and he says in verse 22, wives, submit
34:35
yourselves unto your husbands as unto the Lord.
34:40
I want to remind you that this word, submit from the Greek is
34:44
used many, many times the New Testament 38 times.
34:47
Paul uses it 28 times in the corpus that's under his name.
34:51
And remember that it has two meanings.
34:53
Initially it meant to arrange in a military fashion under the
34:57
command of a leader, but over time this Greek word added on
35:02
different meanings. I appreciate Jack Welch and John
35:04
Hall's translation In The Charting of the New Testament,
35:07
The wife will stand behind her husband in all things when the
35:12
husband stands behind Christ, and only the wife knows that she
35:15
has to have the spirit of revelation to know when we're
35:17
they're going to cooperate. But outside of the military
35:20
setting, this word in Greek developed a non military
35:24
definition and I'd like to read that to you.
35:27
A voluntary attitude of giving in, cooperating, assuming
35:31
responsibility and carrying a burden.
35:33
Now I've mentioned this so far in all of the epistles and I
35:36
hope we continue to get it into our head that anytime you read
35:40
the word submit, put in place voluntarily agreeing to carry on
35:45
a burden to help. However, I'm interested to learn
35:48
that in this verse, chapter 5, verse 22, the best Greek texts
35:53
do not even have that verb here. It reads wives to your own
35:58
husbands as to the Lord, which adds a whole nother idea to what
36:04
it means. 1st 23 continues with its advice to the spouses, for
36:09
the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head
36:12
of the church. As we talked about this in First
36:14
Corinthians Chapter 11, the word head kefal means the source or
36:19
the origin. Adam was the source of Eve.
36:24
Christ was the source of Adam, and God the Father was the
36:27
source of Christ, you know. So he has this, this we're going
36:29
back to the Garden of Eden is what we're talking about here.
36:32
We went back to the creation, but Paul is not using the word
36:35
Archon, which is chief or ruler. This is not what he's trying to
36:39
say. He continues on in verse 25.
36:43
Husbands love your wives. Even as Christ also loved the
36:48
church and gave himself for it. He gives advice to the wives.
36:52
He gives more advice to the husbands.
36:54
If the wives are upset because he starts with them, just read
36:58
verse 25 first and then you won't be too upset.
37:01
I hope 25 also uses this word agape.
37:04
Do you remember when we talked about the different ways of
37:07
expressing love in Greek? They had four or five different
37:09
words to mean love. And whenever Christ refers to
37:13
love all times except for once, he's uses agape.
37:17
And that is what Paul is using here.
37:19
The husband is to have agape. He is have to have Christ like
37:23
love. He is to love as he loves as
37:26
Christ loves. That is how a husband should
37:27
love his wife. And then Christ has pure love
37:31
agape for the church. This was completely new doctrine
37:36
in this community, not just in this community.
37:38
In the whole Roman Empire, you know, marriages were arranged
37:41
very young. Most marriages were arranged
37:43
before 12 1/2. And in fact, I want to read from
37:46
one good scholar. This requirement was a new
37:49
radical idea that Christian husbands were also to love and
37:54
submit to their wives rather than control them.
37:58
As I mentioned, I think Christ was not only a defender of women
38:01
and marriage and family life, but he was a defender of
38:05
mutuality. He didn't want one above the
38:08
other. The only thing we are to submit
38:10
to is Christ and then we work together and cooperate to build
38:14
His Kingdom. Continue on in verse 31 of
38:17
chapter 5. I'll read from the NIV for this
38:20
reason. A man will leave his father and
38:22
mother and be united to his wife and the two will become one
38:27
flesh. Paul is always very candid and
38:30
open about the importance of intimacy in marriage and we see
38:33
it here in Ephesians as well, 1st 33 reads in the BSB.
38:38
Each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself and
38:43
the wife respect her husband. Again, Paul goes back to the Law
38:47
of Moses and not to the higher law that Christ taught at the
38:50
Last Supper, President Russell M Nelson wrote on husbands and
38:53
wives. But their stewardships are
38:55
equally sacred and important, do not involve any false ideas
39:00
about domination or subordination, and earlier than
39:03
that, the past Boyd K Packer wrote.
39:06
In the church, there is a distinct line of authority, but
39:09
in the home it is a partnership with husband and wife equally
39:14
yoked together, sharing in decisions, always working
39:18
together, another conference report.
39:20
In marriage there is not a president or a vice president.
39:24
The couple works together and they are on equal footing.
39:27
And that's Elder L Tom Perry. I could have kept going and
39:31
going and going almost every conference there is something on
39:34
this subject. Ephesians Chapter 6 now turns to
39:38
instructions for children and parents.
39:40
In the 1st 4 verses first one reads children obey your parents
39:44
and the Lord. For this is right and I always
39:47
had my children memorize this as their first verse of scripture.
39:50
Usually by age 2, they all had this verse down.
39:53
You don't have to follow them unless they're following our
39:56
savior. You can still cooperate, but you
39:58
do not follow unless they're following God.
40:00
Continuing on with advice for parents in chapter 6, verse
40:04
four, it reads fathers provoke not your children to wrath, but
40:08
bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
40:12
Much to my surprise, Paul next turns or the author of the
40:15
letter next turns to talk about advice for servants and slaves
40:18
and masters. Remember, every household had
40:21
many. And I just want to go back to
40:23
remind you, we talked about this in the past, that Christ did not
40:27
get rid of servitude. And as we talked about in the
40:30
Gospels many, many times, he says I came to serve and he
40:35
takes on the role of a slave. When he washes the feet at the
40:37
Last Supper, he is turning the social hierarchy on its head.
40:42
He did not come to be served. He came to teach masters how to
40:46
serve. That is how we become unified is
40:50
we are serving one another. We are all there to build the
40:54
Kingdom of God on equal footing. And so as we move forward, he
40:58
says in chapter 6, verse five and six slaves, you must obey
41:03
your earthly masters, show them great respect, and be as loyal
41:07
to them as you are to Christ. Try to please them at all times
41:12
and not just when you think they're watching.
41:14
You are slaves of Christ. Now.
41:17
That's the CEV translation. Remember, slave and servant is
41:20
the same word. So if slave offends you, just
41:22
take it out. And remember, slaves are
41:23
released in the Roman Empire by age 30 in some provinces and 35
41:27
and others, And Jewish male slaves only served for seven
41:30
years. Females could serve for life if
41:33
they were to raise children up to their masters, but that whole
41:36
idea is foreign to us. Think of an indentured servant
41:40
or something, but I like it. In relationship to our God, we
41:45
are to serve Him every morning on our knees.
41:49
What can I do for you today? I'm here to serve you.
41:51
And then throughout the day what else can I do?
41:54
Send me more promptings. I will follow.
41:56
What else can I do? We are to wait on the Lord.
41:59
I'll also love verse seven and eight in chapter six with
42:02
goodwill, doing service as to the Lord and not to men.
42:07
What's over? Good thing any man doeth.
42:10
The same shall be received to the Lord, whether he be bond or
42:12
free. He's saying if you're a servant
42:14
or you're a master, if you're doing good and serving those
42:17
around you and being kind and gentle, you're open God.
42:21
So it doesn't matter if your job is sweeping the floor or if your
42:24
job is directing the company. I want you to be a servant of
42:29
Christ, and I want you to be kind and gentle and
42:32
long-suffering and patience and full of love.
42:34
Verse 9 continues on in the MIV masters.
42:38
Treat your slaves in the same way.
42:40
Do not threaten them since you know that he who is both their
42:44
master and yours is in heaven and there is no favoritism with
42:48
him and he's constantly warning them.
42:51
And just because you're the one paying the bills right now,
42:54
you're the one supplying the bed and board, you have no right to
42:57
not treat them with respect and kindness.
43:00
He then has 10 verses, Ephesians chapter 610 to 20 on putting on
43:05
the whole armor of God. Now every town and village had
43:09
Roman soldiers. We all know what a police car
43:11
looks like. We know what a policeman usually
43:13
dresses in, and that is why he uses this analogy.
43:16
But I love the way he ties it to Christ, because we are too in a
43:21
battle against the adversary, he says in verse 12.
43:25
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against the
43:28
principalities, against powers, against rulers of the darkness.
43:33
And that's why we have to put on the armor of God.
43:36
And he says in Chapter 6, verse 12, Wherefore take unto you the
43:40
whole armor of God that ye may be able to stand in the evil
43:44
day. You know, I feel like in our
43:46
culture, we're so careful about buckling in our little kids in
43:49
seatbelts and having them in car seats until they're old enough
43:52
to see out the window and then a booster seat.
43:54
And we keep them buckled. Insecurity.
43:56
And when they're on their bikes, we tell them to wear helmets.
43:58
We are more worried about their physical safety than we are
44:01
their spiritual safety. I feel like the armor of God is
44:04
all about spiritual safety. He's asking us to put these
44:07
things on. And verse 15 and 16, he says
44:10
that your feet should be shod with the preparation of the
44:13
gospel and the shield of faith. Don't you love that image?
44:17
It says to quench the fiery darts of the wicked.
44:20
If we have faith, if we look through the lens of trusting
44:24
God, all these things though are defensive warfare.
44:27
The shield, the shoes, the buckler, the helmet.
44:30
The only offensive warfare is the sword.
44:34
And in verse 17 we're told that the sword is the spirit, which
44:38
is the word of God. That's in the BSB translation.
44:42
If this sword is offensive, that means our scriptures are what we
44:47
use to attack the devil, and our scriptures are what we use to
44:51
attack the adversary of any sort.
44:54
I am so grateful for the scriptures, and I hope that you
44:57
can learn them so well that they too can be at your fingertips.
45:01
Remember, Christ denounced the devil during the temptations by
45:05
quoting Scripture, and the apostles have done it throughout
45:08
the rest of the New Testament over and over again.
45:09
And we can do the same thing. If we know our scriptures we
45:13
cannot be deceived. And if we know the Spirit, we
45:16
can use it to follow the promptings, to know when to
45:19
bless and when to defend the Lord.
45:22
Chapter 6 verse 17 also says take the helmet of salvation.
45:27
Now remember a wound to the head could kill someone and they used
45:31
to just have a leather cap. But the Romans and the Greeks
45:34
began using different kinds of metal and it became very
45:37
important. In fact, this helmet was either
45:40
a bronze or iron. In some cases it was even gold.
45:43
Nothing short of an axe or a hammer could Pierce that heavy
45:47
helmet. And then Paul gives his personal
45:49
greetings. Chapter 6, verses 21 to 24.
45:53
Peace be to the brothers and sisters and love your faith.
45:57
Of course that's the NIV, because it includes the sisters,
45:59
but that's the whole message and there's no specific greetings to
46:02
anyone. He does say the one, verse 20,
46:04
and the NIVI am an ambassador in chains.
46:08
Pray that I may declare it fearlessly as I should.
46:12
And so Paul concludes another letter or Paul had someone else
46:15
write it. But we have another book of
46:18
scripture that is filled with wonderful counsel.
46:21
I believe that these scriptures are as applicable to our day and
46:24
age as they were in Paul stage. But I am even more grateful to
46:28
have a living profit, and I believe that his messages are as
46:32
important, if not more so, than our canonized Scripture.
46:37
I believe that all of them, though, are deleted to Jesus
46:39
Christ as we prepare for his second coming, May we all put on
46:43
the armor of God. I pray in the name of Jesus
46:45
Christ. Amen.