0:07 Most people say that Brother Zach is always giving strong exhortations and challenges and telling us to reach a standard which is so difficult to reach. I don't believe that I ever preach anything which is outside 0:26 what Jesus and the Holy Spirit taught. What Jesus taught in the Gospels and what the Holy Spirit taught in all the Epistles. Unfortunately, because we have all been so used to listening to 0:43 what is taught in most churches which is just giving us a false comfort. Whenever we hear a challenge we think that's far too much for us to attempt. And that is the devil's way of keeping us 1:03 perpetually stagnant at a low level. Keeping us in the kindergarten forever. Now, that's not God's will. And that's why you find in the Bible there is comfort and there is challenge. 1:22 Both. So, we must have a balance in our life. We must know first of all what God has done for us and what the Lord wants us how the Lord wants us to walk. And one of the finest Epistles of Paul which gives that balance 1:41 is Paul's letter to the Ephesians. So, that's what I want to look at today. We want to do uh a little Bible study in Ephesians. And Ephesians is very neatly divided into two parts. 2:00 You see, Paul was a very intellectual, clever type of person. He was not an uneducated fisherman like Peter or John. They were all inspired by the Holy Spirit. Peter's letters, John's letters, 2:17 fully inspired and greatly challenging. But Paul's letters are more intellectual. Cuz that's the way God trained him. And both are necessary. And particularly if you read Romans, you find it's an intellectual presentation of the 2:37 gospel. Likewise, Ephesians. These are two of Paul's great letters. Romans and Ephesians. And Philippians, for example, is very practical letter. So, now among those, I thought we could look at Ephesians. And Ephesians is 2:57 neatly divided into two parts. The first three chapters don't give us any exhortations. It's all telling us 3:15 what God has done for us in Christ. And the next three chapters are telling us what we should do 3:34 in response to what he told us in the first three chapters. So, think of that. Ephesians is a neat division between in these two parts. And as you study the letter, keep that in mind. So, 3:54 I plan to only do the first three chapters to show us what is our position in Christ. Because if we understand that, then we can go to the challenge of chapters 4, 5, and 6. And 4:11 Ephesians chapter 1 to 3, as I said, there are no exhortations. There are no challenges there. The all the three chapters are telling us what God has done for us in Christ. And I feel that there are many people, 4:29 perhaps in our churches, who hear so many exhortations, which is good. >> [snorts] >> But if it is not based on what God has done for us in Christ, it'll be trying to build a huge skyscraper 4:47 without a foundation. That's why many people to get discouraged. Their big skyscraper collapses. Whether people to build a one-story, two-story, or a skyscraper, it collapses if there is no foundation. So, even if it's a one-story building, 5:05 you need a foundation. It's a skyscraper, that's what the Lord is building in us. You need a very strong foundation. And that is why it's very, very important for all of us to be firmly established in Ephesians 1 5:23 to 3, the first three chapters. So, I'm not going to go through every verse. I'll just take some of the main verses. Uh You've probably seen that Paul refers to 5:40 the believers as saints. Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 1, "To the saints who are in Ephesus. Now, the word saint is unfortunately got a different meaning today from what it is in the Bible. Today, when you talk about a saint, you 5:56 think of a very holy person and the Roman Catholics have made certain people saints. So, when somebody says so-and-so is a saint, you are saying he's such a holy person. But, that's not what the Bible speaks means when it says speaks about a 6:09 saint. It calls every believer a saint. Even the Corinthian Christians who some of them were carnal, they were called saints. So, what it means is those who are separated from the world for Christ. Even if you are born again 6:25 today, you're a saint. That means separated from God. So, let's not look at that word saint because it's got a wrong meaning compared to what the way we use it today. So, I want to correct that. Saints are just means separated unto God. Please 6:39 remember that. Okay, so it's written to all believers. And after a greeting, he says, "Blessed Verse three. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 6:59 who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." But, just look at that. Let's go slowly. He's praising God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, because he has already blessed us. It's 7:16 Now, I'm talking about the foundation now. Please remember, we are not building the building now. We are laying a foundation. If you have this foundation strong, you'll be able to obey God in all the commands that come in the remaining 7:31 three chapters and the rest of the Bible. So, it's very important for you to understand this. And it's very important for you to understand that as you read this, there is no exhortation here. God's not asking you to do anything. 7:45 He's only asking you to believe what he has done for you. We could say Ephesians 1 to 3, chapters 1 to 3 is what God has done for us. Ephesians 4 to 6 is God telling us what we should do in response to that. So, as you read these chapters, don't 8:00 read into it something you're supposed to do. You're supposed to do zero. When I say zero, it means zero. There's nothing here you are to do. You have to only believe what God has done for you. Number one, 8:18 he has blessed us. Now, who is it addressed to? Every believer in the church in Ephesus, verse one. It's not to certain spiritual ones. He's not saying, "I'm writing to this all to all the spiritual ones in Ephesus." No. 8:33 To everyone. Every believer, whoever you are, whatever your spiritual level, whenever you may have been born again, even if you were born again today, you God has blessed you in Christ with every single blessing of the Holy 8:50 Spirit in heavenly places. Now, [snorts] there are Now, some words we must remember here. First of all, the blessings are all in Christ. It's because I'm connected to Christ as my head that these blessings are mine. It's not because I deserve them. 9:08 I will never deserve them. And it's only as we keep connected with Christ, we have these blessings. If you break your connection with Christ by sinning or disobedience, then those blessings won't come to you. And it's very simple to keep your 9:24 connection with Christ simply means keep your conscience clear. That's all. Very simple. It's not some very high standard. And everybody's conscience is at a different level. I've been a Christian 67 years, and my conscience is more sensitive than the 9:41 believer who is converted yesterday. But, God's not asking him to live at my level. He must live at his level, just like a kindergarten student has got a certain level, and the 10th grade student has another level. So, at your level, whatever your 9:56 conscience tells you, keep that clear. And in Christ, you can receive these blessings. The next thing I want you to notice, these blessings are spiritual. God does bless us materially with many things, food, clothing, shelter, money, 10:14 housing, and children, and so many earthly blessings. That's true. But, here it is talking about spiritual blessings, which are primary. So, we need spiritual blessings primarily. Remember, man is spirit, soul, and body. 10:31 And unfortunately, most men think of body first. We must think of spirit first. And so, spiritual blessings, there's not a single blessing we can earn. That's the other thing we must remember. God has blessed us. It's not by your 10:47 working hard that you'll get a spiritual blessing. God has already deposited, it's like a bank account, into which God has deposited what? Every single blessing of the Holy Spirit. Why is it then some people have more, and some people have less? 11:05 Because some people go and cash in from the bank more, and some people go with a measly uh check asking for $1. That's all they get. And somebody else says, "Give me a million dollars." He gets a million dollars. I'm talking 11:18 about spiritually. So, somebody goes to the bank of heaven and says, "Heavenly Father, give me all this this this this." Spiritually. He gets it. Someone else goes and says, "Father, please, can you just forgive this sin of 11:31 mine?" That's all he gets. So, remember my brothers and sisters, every single blessing of the Holy Spirit, read it like that. Spiritual blessing means every single blessing of the Holy Spirit is yours in Christ 11:49 in the heavenly places. It's not earthly blessing, that's the thing primarily I want to show you. They are heavenly blessings and you can only get them in Christ. That's why we've got to keep our conscience clear to keep our connection with Christ. 12:04 And there is no blessing that another person can get that you can't get. So, if you see that somebody else has become more spiritual than you, you know the reason. He wrote a bigger check and claimed more of his inheritance. 12:21 Whereas you were so doubtful, does God put so much in my account? And you went for $1 or $2, that's all you got, spiritually speaking. Whereas as I said, the other guy writes a check for million dollars and he gets what? And you wonder why some people are 12:36 more spiritual and you are not. Here's the reason. That person goes to the bank of heaven and says every spiritual blessing here is mine. Here I'm Jesus Christ assigned this checkbook, this check leaf, and see, this is what I want. 12:52 I'm not saying every material blessing. Most people go and ask God for all kinds of material blessing. God does bless us materially. He told us pray for give us this day our daily bread. He'll give you your daily bread. 13:03 Give us food and clothing, he'll give it to us. But when we ask for so many other luxuries, there's no promise that God will give it to us. But when it comes to spiritual blessings, the word here is every, e v e r y. There's no 13:19 no spiritual blessing that is not in your account in Christ. How much you draw from that account is up to you. And that is where faith comes in. So, this is the very important verse. God has already blessed us with every 13:35 single blessing of the Holy Spirit in Christ in the heavenly places. So, if you're seeking for heavenly blessings, every one of them is already into your account. Draw on it as much as you like whenever you need it. Any spiritual lack in your life, 13:52 you can go and claim it from heaven. Okay, let's move on. The next thing he tells us is that God did not choose us on the day you accepted Christ as your savior. I accepted Christ as my savior 67 years ago. But that's not when God chose me. 14:12 God chose me millions of years ago before he created Adam. It says here, from the foundation of the world, before the foundation of the world. Foundation of the world is described in Genesis chapter 1. God made the heavens and the earth. 14:27 Before that, before Genesis 1 verse 1. God had in his mind you. Your name was in his mind. Do you believe that? At least believe it now. He chose you in Christ. 14:47 He didn't chose you choose you because you're a very spiritual person or very humble person or none of all that. He just chose you in Christ. And you came to understand that when much later. Whenever you accepted Christ, that's the 15:03 day you understood, "Oh." But that's not the day God thought about you. He thought about you before he created the worlds. It's a wonderful thing for me to realize that before anything was created on the earth, in God's mind when he thought about the 15:18 whole future, my name was there. That gives me tremendous comfort, consolation. And I want all of you to have that consolation as well. I hope you'll be rooted in this truth. Even if you don't study anything else in this 15:36 three chapters, if you can be rooted in this these two verses, every single blessing of the Holy Spirit in heavenly places is already in your account. Draw on it. And secondly, God thought of you before he created the earth. 15:51 And his plan was, when he thought of you, what did he plan for you? Now, we don't plan many things for our children as before they are born as soon as they are born. Very few people do that. But God had a wonderful plan for 16:06 your life before you existed, before your parents existed, before Adam existed. Wonderful to know that. And his plan was not that we should be rich, not that we should be famous, not that we should be handsome or good-looking or pretty. None of those 16:25 earthly things which have no value in eternity, no value in heaven. He wants to bless us with the real riches. And what is that? He wants you to be holy. He chose you to be holy. 16:45 Now, many people, you ask them, "Why has God chosen you?" You'll say, "To go to heaven." Wrong. Nowhere does it say God chose us to go to heaven. It's very sad that so many believers always think, "I'm going to heaven. I'm 16:58 preparing. I'm getting ready to go to heaven." I'll tell you, to tell you honestly, I'm not really thinking of going to heaven. I'm waiting for the coming of Jesus Christ. Now, I think I'll be with Jesus. I don't care where that is. 17:14 Wherever Jesus is, that's going to be heaven for me. If Jesus comes to earth, my heaven will be there. In fact, my heaven is already begun in my life because Christ is with me. And it will be a fuller heaven when I see him face to face. That's all. 17:27 So, it is in heavenly places that God has blessed us with every blessing in Christ. Remember that. And he chose us that we might experience these heavenly blessings. And that should we should be holy. And one more word is added, blameless. 17:46 Blameless means there's nothing that God can find fault with in me. Isn't that amazing? And it says here blameless before him, not blameless before men. You read each word slowly. 18:04 To be blameless before men is easy because they do they do not know 99% of our life. How much do you think other people know of your life? 1%. 99% of your life, your private life, your thought life, and so many things, even your husband and wife don't know 18:23 what all is going on in your thoughts, what is in your heart. Nobody knows. The major part of our life is hidden. But God knows everything. And it says here God wants you to be blameless before him. That means he who knows everything about 18:40 my life, he wants me to be perfectly holy in the innermost being, completely blameless. That was God's choice for us. It's just like some multi-billionaire wants to prepare his son to also be a billionaire. 18:58 God spiritually wants us to be perfectly holy and perfectly blameless before him. Please remember this. This is God's plan for your life. And once you understand that, you'd say, "Lord, this is going to be my goal also to be holy and blameless before you, not 19:18 before men, before him." So many people are trying to be holy before men. That is seeking honor. Dear brother and sister, finish with it. Seek to be holy and blameless before him. Let's teach our children not to just behave well before parents 19:38 and before people who tell them to be adults, before God who can see them all the time. Holy and blameless before him. Always, always, always. Make that your goal. And God has chosen you for that purpose, and he will help you. 19:55 Okay. Then it says here, "In love he predestined." Predestined is a great word. That means long ago. Destination is where we going to reach. And you think is I'm traveling somewhere, I say, "This is my destination." I'm traveling 20:15 somewhere, and I say, "This is my destination. I'm going to travel to Loveland. That's my destination." Spiritually, here is my destination. He My destination is to become a son, a mature, 20:32 grown-up So not a child, but a mature, grown-up son of through Jesus Christ according to the kind intention of his will. He predestined us to be a mature son of Jesus Christ. 20:52 We are born again, then we're like a spiritual baby. But God has destined this person is not going to be a spiritual baby. He's going to be a mature, grown-up person in my eyes. Remember that as your goal, dear brother and sisters. 21:07 Don't be satisfied that you're just saved and you can go to heaven. That's a very low level of salvation. He has predestined us not to go to heaven. No. He predestined us to become mature sons. Many people think, "Oh, I've been predestined to go 21:26 to heaven." No. I've been pre-destined to be a mature son of God. My God, when he says son, that refers to men and women. In in God's eyes, there're not going to be any sexes in heaven. And the purpose of this, now here's 21:46 another very important part. We say we can think, "That's great. God has predestined that I should be a mature son of God and we can get a little proud about it." And God deflates us by saying, "The purpose of this is not that 22:00 we can boast about what we are. No. So that God can be glorified." Verse six. "All this is for the praise and the glory of his grace which he freely bestowed us on the beloved. So when we become mature, holy sons of God 22:19 and stand before him, we're going to get zero glory for that." Are you happy? How we strive on this earth to show others that we are spiritual and to show others how effectively we can pray or how effectively we can preach, all 22:38 types of things that believers seek on this earth. Here it says, "That's not the purpose to be accepted before him according to the kind intention of you of his will 22:58 to the praise of the glory of his grace." So in other words, my ultimate desire in my life must be Lord Jesus, you must be glorified when people look at my life. I don't want to be glorified. Dear brothers and sisters, let me ask 23:14 you. Can you honestly say that is the passion of your heart that Jesus Christ will be glorified as people look at your life and see how you behave and see how you speak and see how you relate to them or see how you forgive them and see how you do 23:33 good to them? Don't seek for a reputation that oh, I'm people must know that I'm a person who helps everybody or does good to people. That is honor seeking. That is self-centered and demonic. Self-centeredness, that's how sin came 23:50 into the world. Lucifer, the archangel, was self-centered and became the devil. Adam and Eve were self-centered and ate something for themselves that God forbade and they sinned and were cast out. This self-centered life 24:07 is the demonic life that even many Christians have. They want to be holy for them to get glory. No. God wants us to be holy that he'll be glorified. The most spiritual person on earth is the one who does not want any glory 24:24 for himself. He wants God to be glorified through his life, through everything that he does, everything that he says, everything that he thinks, even things that other people cannot see in our life, but the devil sees it, some of it, and 24:38 God sees everything. I want God to be glorified. In other words, zero for me, everything for God. 100% for God, nothing for myself. No glory for myself. Dear brother, sister, is that the life you want to live? 24:57 No glory for yourself. That is what God has chosen us He's chosen us first. And if you trust him, he will work it in you. That's the best part of it. And it says here it goes on to say what he'll do for us. In him, in Christ, 25:15 we have redemption. That means we are purchased out from the slave market. We were slaves to sin. And it purchased us from the slave market of sin through his blood. Now, some people foolishly think that Jesus paid a price to the devil to 25:32 purchase us. No, sir. God doesn't have to pay anything to the devil. We don't owe anything to Satan. Jesus paid the price to the law of God. The law of God demanded hell for us because of our sin. And Jesus paid the price to the law of God. 25:50 And the law said, "Okay, he's free. He won't go to hell. He can go to heaven. He can be forgiven." So, redemption means purchased out of the slave market. The slave market of sin is where we were in. In the olden days, they used to sell 26:10 slaves and you had to pay the money to the slave master. The And the we were slaves, the law demanded us to be holy. We were not holy, so Jesus paid that price and that price was his own death, taking the punishment for all our sin. 26:26 That is the meaning of redeemed through his blood, purchased from the slave market by his blood. There's never been a purchase of slaves like this. People paid $1,000, $2,000, $4,000 to buy slaves in the olden days. But here is a purchase with 26:43 all every drop of blood in the body of Jesus Christ was paid to purchase me a slave of sin to belong to God as his son. What a wonderful thing. And the result is in verse seven, all my sins are forgiven. And that is according to the riches of 26:59 his grace. Not because I did deserve it. Not even because I confess my sin. It's true, I have to confess my sins for to be forgiven. But that is according to the riches of his grace. Even the ability to confess is something that God gives us. 27:18 What I'm trying to say is we can get no credit for anything. It's 100% the work of God. If I'm born again, I can't even take the credit saying, "I asked Jesus to come into my heart." No. The Holy Spirit moved me 27:37 and opened the door. I just cooperated. And Jesus came in. I can take credit for zero. Take this attitude, dear brother sister, your life will be will shoot up to a higher level. The thing is so often we are taking so much credit for ourselves. 27:55 We forget that everything is of grace. Everything is of grace. The riches of his grace, according to the riches of his grace we are forgiven, according to the riches of his grace we are made his children, according to the 28:08 riches of his grace everything mentioned there that we are accepted before him according to the riches of his grace. And this grace, it's a great word, has been lavished on us. Lavished is the word means poured out in abundance. Verse eight. 28:26 And then the next phrase in all wisdom and insight he has made known to us the mystery of his will. Verse nine, according to the kind intention which he purposed in him. It's a wonderful thing that God has revealed his will. 28:42 And this word mystery in verse nine mystery is a New Testament word, you never find in the Old Testament. Mystery means a secret which only God will reveal to his children. Others cannot understand it. Worldly people cannot understand it. It's more 29:00 than a secret. The mystery of his will. It's a secret. Even some of the things we have heard so far, some of you may be getting light on it which you never thought of before. And God is revealing it to you, his will. And that is according to his kind 29:17 intention which he purposed in Christ for us. Everything, God has planned something wonderful for us, for every one of his children. And the ultimate purpose is that in the fullness of time, verse 10, when everything is going to be gathered 29:36 up in Christ, in heaven and on earth. One day, Christ will come and he says, "Everything will be summed up and gathered up in Christ." And in him we will discover in that day, and he's telling us right now, 29:54 "We have obtained an inheritance." Verse 11. You know, a billionaire father will leave a big inheritance for his children. And God is the wealthiest father in the whole universe and he's left an inheritance for us. Do you believe that? 30:12 It's wonderful for me to know that I'm not some poor beggar's son. I'm the son of the richest person in the universe, almighty God. And I don't count my riches in terms of dollars and cents. That's the only difference. Something far more valuable than good 30:29 dollars and cents. Divine nature. That's the currency in heaven, divine nature. Love, humility These are the 30:47 things God credits to my account. Much more worth than billions of dollars. So he wants to sum up all things in Christ one day in heaven and on earth and in him we have obtained an inheritance 31:05 and we have been predestined according to his purpose who works everything according to the counsel of his will that in the end we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of his glory. Okay. So it's a pretty long sentence but 31:24 basically what it means is that God's perfect plan is that one day our when we stand before the Lord Jesus Christ will be glorified as our heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit show the angels and the whole universe 31:42 see what I made out of this man. See what I made out of this woman. See what rotten sinners they were once upon a time. Always living for themselves, getting angry, lusting and fighting for money and all types of stupid earthly things 31:57 just like everybody in the world but see what I have changed them into. Do you see the likeness of Christ now in them? In the way they speak, in the way they think, in their attitudes towards others. See what I've done in them. 32:10 To the praise of his glory. What a wonderful thing it is. That's our inheritance brother. Sister. Not heaven. Don't think it does I'm going to heaven when I die. No. My goal is not to go to heaven. My goal is to become like Jesus Christ. Don't 32:29 ever talk in future about going to heaven when you die. I want to become like Jesus Christ 100%. And I'm working towards that. And I've already started that work. The Holy Spirit has started that work in me long ago. I'm sorry to say in the early years I 32:47 did not cooperate with him enough. And so it got slowed down. But I'm so ashamed of that that now I decided to cooperate 100% with the Holy Spirit. What does that mean? It just means that when the Holy Spirit prompts you to do something, you do it 33:01 immediately. The Holy Spirit prompts you, ask forgiveness from that person. Immediately. If I have to write a letter, I write a letter. If I have to send an email, I send an email. If I have to call him up, I call him up. I do 33:16 it immediately. Ask his forgiveness or forgive somebody. Or set that matter right. Very, very important. And God's purpose is one day as we keep living like this, he may he'd have shown us what a 33:34 wonderful change. And the Lord will show, "Did you know what this guy was? I'll show you what he was when I picked him up. A rotten, good-for-nothing, stinking sinner." And now see the fragrance of Christ in his life in every area of his life. In 33:49 his thought life. He's thinking like Jesus. He's speaking like Jesus. Behaving like Jesus. His attitude to people is like Jesus' attitude. How did that happen? And God says, "By the Holy Spirit. I sent the Holy Spirit into his heart." 34:06 All he did was just cooperate. And see the result in his life. To the praise of his glory, verse 12. And then it says here how what all God did for us. He talks about forgiveness first. Then he says, "After we believed in him, 34:25 he gave us the Holy Spirit, which is a tremendous gift." God gave his son to die for us. And he gave us his Holy Spirit. That is what it says, called the Holy Spirit of promise. Means the Holy Spirit was promised. That God's children will receive his 34:41 Holy Spirit. So, the moment you're born again, the Holy Spirit comes in. When you ask Jesus to come into your heart. You see, we tell people, and say, "Lord Jesus, come into my heart." Do you know who comes in? The Holy Spirit. 35:02 Because Jesus is in heaven. He's still in heaven. He's got a body. He's still in heaven. He didn't come to the earth a second time. He's not yet. He's going to come one day. So, when you say, "Lord Jesus, come into my heart," it's the Holy Spirit. The 35:19 Spirit of Christ who comes in. And that's why it says, let me read you a verse in Romans 8. In verse 9. In Romans 8 in verse 9, the last part. It says, "If anyone does not have the 35:37 Holy Spirit, that is the Spirit of Christ, he doesn't even belong to Christ." Do you get that? When you belong to Christ, you get the Holy Spirit within you. You don't have to wait 1 second. As soon as you receive Christ, the Holy 35:56 Spirit has come in. But, it goes on to say in Ephesians itself, chapter 5 and verse 18. To people who have received the Holy Spirit, he tells them, "Be filled with the Holy Spirit." So, you can receive the Holy Spirit as 36:18 soon as you're born again, and you become a child of God. But, that's not the same as being filled with the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 5:18, he's writing to people who have received She said here in Ephesians 1 13. You have received the Holy Spirit. 36:37 Sealed with the Holy Spirit. But to such people he's telling them in Ephesians 5 and verse 18, be filled with the Holy Spirit. And the best illustration I can use is this. Our heart is like a home. A house. Let's take an example of a house with 10 36:56 rooms. One room is forgiveness of sins. Becoming a child of God. Christ comes into that one room. All your sins are forgiven. 37:14 You've become a child of God. So we can ask If you ask a question, is there light in that house? Yes. Light has come in. It was dark till now. The entire house was dark. But light has come into that one room. Christ has come in. 37:30 The Holy Spirit has come in. But then you ask, is that house filled with light? No. Nine rooms are empty. Nine rooms are dark. Is there light in that house? Yes. Is it filled with light? No. Has that person received the Holy 37:47 Spirit? Yes. Is he filled with the spirit? No. Why is he not filled with the spirit? Because he has closed certain doors, certain areas in his life, and not allowed the Lord Jesus to have complete control of that area. 38:07 So, that means you've shut the door. Every door that you open, the Holy Spirit will come in immediately. It's like sunlight. If you pull the blinds and keep the window shut, no light will come in. Pull down the blinds, the comes in. 38:22 Open the door. The window of the spirit will come into your into that room. It's like turning on the electric light. Light comes in. So, I can see that many believers have got maybe two rooms out of 10. There's light. Some people are just born again, that's 38:39 all, nothing else. One room out of 10. So, what does it mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit later on? And it says in Ephesians 5:18, the real translation of Ephesians 5:18 is be being filled with the spirit. That means keep on being filled with the 38:57 spirit. Why? Because sometimes we are a little insensitive to something and light goes off in that room. It was a room that was lit. But it goes off. Here's a person with seven rooms lit. Seven out of his 10 rooms are lit. 39:16 Then the next day, six rooms are lit. How did one light one room light go off? He did something wrong and he did not immediately confess it. He did not immediately forsake it. He hurt somebody. He did not ask forgiveness. 39:28 So, the light went off in that room. Do you know that whenever you hurt somebody and you don't ask that person's forgiveness, the light goes off in that room of your heart? That's how easy it is to lose the fullness of the spirit. 39:42 The best life you can live is a life sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit. And we'll go to that later. The Holy Spirit of promise, it says in Ephesians 1:14, is given as a pledge of our inheritance. Please read Ephesians chapter 1 and 39:57 verse 14 in your Bible. Here the Holy Spirit is called the pledge, guarantee of our inheritance. The fact that the Holy Spirit has come in, you received Christ and he came in, you had a witness in your heart that Christ is there, the Holy Spirit is 40:15 there. That is a pledge. A pledge means there's a guarantee that one day you will get all that God has promised. How do I know I'm going to get everything that God has promised me? Because I have the Holy Spirit within me. 40:30 You can be sure of that. And for this reason, verse 15, Paul says, "I'm I mean, I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints." See, these are two things that we must always see go together. Verse 15. 40:46 Faith in the Lord Jesus and love for all the saints. What God has joined together, don't separate. Like we say, husband and wife. What God has joined together, don't separate. Faith in the Lord Jesus, love for all the saints must always go together. 41:04 So, when you say, "Have you accepted Christ?" Yes. "Do you love all the saints?" Aha. The answer should be yes. They should go together. Right? Yes or no? What God has joined together, let no one separate. There shouldn't be 41:22 a divorce. People are divorcing. Husband and wife here. People are divorcing what God has joined together. Faith in the Lord Jesus and love for all the saints must go together. Please remember that all your life. Don't just say I've accepted Christ. 41:35 Also say I love all the saints. It must be true, though. But it must go together. That was God's will that it should go together. And Paul says, "Because you have that, I keep on thanking God for you." And I want to thank God for every child 41:53 of God that's attending this meeting today who has received Christ as your savior. Look at the tremendous inheritance that you've seen here in these verses. Absolutely amazing. Make sure that faith in the Lord Jesus and love for all the saints go together. 42:11 Okay. And so, he says, "When I see this, I never stop giving thanks for you." That's a wonderful thing, you know, when you see a believer to give thanks for him. Thank you, Lord, for this dear brother. Have you ever thought of thanking God 42:26 for some of the brothers and sisters in your church? You know, that's something we don't think of much. We pray for them. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Somebody's in need. Somebody needs a job. Somebody's looking for a wife. Somebody 42:38 is sick. Or somebody's looking for a house. All the time we pray, pray, pray, pray, pray, pray, pray. Good. What about what Paul says, "I give thanks for you"? I think we have all failed there. Think I'm not We can't pray for all 42:57 thank give thanks for all the saints in the world. Impossible. And God doesn't ask for any such thing. But think of the people you know well. And even in a local church, even like in a small church like RLCF, you may not know everybody. 43:12 But I believe you should try to mean know more and more people as as the years go by. I mean, when you started out 5 years ago, if you knew 10 people and you still know only 10 people, something's wrong with your Christianity. 43:26 You should be knowing more and more people in the church, in your local church, I mean. And the people you know, do you give thanks for them? Dear brother, how many times have you given thanks for your wife? Sister, 43:45 how many times have you given thanks for your husband? I know we complain about them many things. This thing's wrong, that thing's wrong. Change my wife, change my husband. Oh, we're very quick in that. Why not learn to give thanks a little 43:57 more? Miracles can take place when we give thanks. You remember the story of the 10 lepers? All 10 got healed. You read that in the Gospel of Luke. One of them came back to give thanks. 44:16 You know, he got something more than healing? You read there he got salvation. The other nine didn't get salvation. You read that passage and you'll find that one out of 10 got salvation because he came back and gave thanks. 44:35 It's amazing what happens. That's what Paul says here. I do not cease to give thanks for you. Uh I'm not sure if I my memory is not always perfect. But I think it is you know, Leviticus, I'm sorry, Luke chapter 17. 44:53 Let me just give you the reference. And Luke chapter 17, one of them came back and with a loud voice Luke 17:15 with a loud voice he began to give thanks. He fell on his face. And he was a despised Samaritan. All the other Jews, nine were Jews and 45:12 one was a Samaritan. And the one who was most despised was the one who came back. And then Jesus said verse 19, "Stand up. Your faith the margin of my Bible says, your faith has saved you." What did he get? Salvation. 45:30 Luke chapter 17 verse 19. What did the others get? Healing. Nine people got healing. The 10th person got salvation. Why? Because he came to give thanks. My dear brother sister do you know what you have missed in your life 45:48 by not developing the habit of thanksgiving? Thank you, Lord, for what you've done for me. Thank you, Lord, for what you've done for my family. Thank you for every single thing. Learn to give thanks. Paul gave thanks for 46:01 even for other believers. Lord, I give you thanks for this saint and for that saint. He He's I give thanks for you and I pray for you. I'm sure we pray for the saints, but I wonder if we give thanks for them. Okay. And now he says this is what I'm praying 46:18 for you. My prayer is verse 17. I'm not praying that you'll become rich or famous or even healthy. It's a good thing to pray for health, but that's not the main thing. He says, I pray that God of our Lord Jesus Christ verse 17, the Father of glory 46:36 will give you what? The spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ. That's the greatest thing you can pray for. Not even physical health. I'm sure we all pray for physical health for our fellow believers. That's great. 46:50 They we need physical health. Lord, that person's looking for a job. That person looking for a wife. Wonderful. But he's praying for something far more spiritual. Lord, give them a spirit of wisdom. Wisdom is the great need to live in this 47:05 world. To be wise, what to do in this situation, what to do in that situation, what to do in the other situation. That's wisdom. Don't you need it? I find I need it all the time. Even when I'm seeking God, what should I 47:17 speak to these people? For example, I have to speak so many meetings sometimes in a week. And the congregation is so different. I don't know all of them. I don't know. 99% of the people I speak to I don't even know. I say, Lord, what should I speak to 47:32 them? Give me wisdom. Even when you have to go and if you're going to counsel one person, you need wisdom. Lord, give me the spirit of wisdom and revelation. Revelation is the word is when the word of God becomes living 47:47 to you. How do you know whether you understood the word of God or got revelation of the word of God? These are two different things. In the Old Testament, the emphasis was on understanding. In the New Testament, the emphasis on 48:00 revelation. The Old Testament, the emphasis do you understand the law of God? Do you understand the Ten Commandments? In the new covenant, you get revelation. See, Jesus said that the old covenant said don't kill. Revelation on that 48:16 means don't get angry. Angry is the root from which murder comes. God Jesus said the old covenant said don't commit adultery. The root of that is lusting with the eyes. That's revelation. Revelation is much deeper than just 48:32 external knowledge. He says, "I'm praying that you'll get the spirit of revelation in the knowledge of Jesus." That's different from just reading the four gospels and knowing that he raised the dead and healed the sick. No, 48:46 no, no, no. A revelation in what the character of Jesus Christ. How do you know whether you got revelation or knowledge? Revelation will change your life. Knowledge will only fill your head with information. When you have information about Christ 49:03 in your head, you can preach it. Most preachers preach out of information. Very few people speak out of revelation. Revelation changes your life. You discover something that God reveals to you, it changes your life. If something has not changed your life, 49:19 it's knowledge. He says, "I'm praying that you'll have revelation in the knowledge of Christ." And then he says, "The eyes of your heart should be enlightened." He's not saying that you must know things in your mind. Your heart. The heart is deeper than the 49:36 mind. It's your spirit. And he says that there are eyes in your heart. And he says, "I pray that the eyes in your heart will be enlightened so that you learn three things." Very important three things. First of all, I want you to get revelation on the hope 49:55 of your calling. There's a hope we have. Hope is something we don't see yet. Faith is something we can see right now. Hope is the future. What is the hope of my calling? If I were to ask you, dear brother and sister, what is the hope of 50:12 your calling? What is your answer? I can answer immediately. The hope of my calling is one day I'll be completely like Jesus Christ. Some people are hoping for more money on this earth or a better job or a good-looking wife or a rich 50:28 husband. Rubbish. Lord, my hope is I want to become like Jesus Christ. That is the hope of my calling. He says, "I'm praying that the eyes of your heart will be enlightened." Not that that now you've got the right answer, that in 50:43 your mind you've got the right answer. Somebody asks you, "What is the hope of your calling?" and you give an answer from your mind. That's not it. You've got to be gripped in your heart. That's the hope of my calling. That 50:54 means I'm going to be gripped by that live every day of my life with that hope. Secondly, I'm praying that the eyes of your heart will be enlightened to see the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. Not my inheritance in heaven. 51:09 A lot of people think of my inheritance in heaven. Here's an amazing truth that God has got an inheritance in me. Wow. And it's only you go to God and say, "God, can you give give me What is What is your inheritance? Do you have an 51:23 inheritance in someone in something?" Yes. Zach Poonen is my inheritance. Ah. Imagine God saying that. Put your name there. Aren't you born again? God says you're part of his inheritance. Imagine if God's We think of our 51:40 inheritance in heaven. This is the opposite. God's inheritance in me. That gives me a tremendous sense of worth. It doesn't make me proud. I'm a sinner saved by grace. I should never forget that. But, I recognize also that 51:59 when when you ask God for his inheritance, my name is in that list. Brother, sister, if you're born again, your name is in that list. You're part of God's inheritance. And you know you know it in your mind. Paul says, I pray that the eyes of your 52:13 heart would be open that you'll be gripped by it. That in the time when you're discouraged and you think that God is not listening to your prayer, you would be gripped by the truth. Boy, I am part of God's inheritance, man. I didn't know that 52:26 until today. What a wonderful person that God has made me into. I pray that the eyes of your heart He doesn't say your mind will understand. Your mind has understood it now what I said. But, I don't know whether your heart is 52:40 gripped by it. I pray that the eyes of your heart will be enlightened. Light will get turned on in your heart. Then you discover, "Hey, I am part of God's inheritance." First, what the hope of my calling to become completely Christ, the 52:56 inheritance God has in me, and number three, the tremendous power, the surpassing greatness of his power which is available to us who believe. And that power is manifested when he raised Jesus from the dead and seated 53:13 him verse 20 in the heavenly places above all rule, authority, power, dominion verse 21, and every name that is named, and put everything subject under his feet verse 22, and gave him as Well, he did everything, and then God, 53:28 what did he do at the end? He made him my head. Gave him as head to the church, which is his body. What a wonderful thing. That God raised up Christ and gave him all authority, power, dominion, and put him right up there in the heavenly 53:46 places. And then what did he do? He gave him to be my head. Boy, what a blessed man I am. I'm so excited. Dear brother and sister, I thought I'd go through three chapters. I can't finish chapter one. There's so much in God's word. 54:04 Dear brothers and sisters, this is the way we should study the Bible. I've only given you an example today how you how you should read every chapter of the Bible. Meditate on each sentence. 54:23 Read it slowly. Don't rush through it. This is an amazing chapter. And if any says his body is given all these things that are God has seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places and given all authority, power verse 21, 54:42 dominion, and every And he's saying Remember he's saying in verse 18, "I'm praying that your eyes will be enlightened to see this." The main point is not not just what God did in Christ, but I pray that the eyes of your heart will be enlightened to see 54:58 that God did all this in Christ. And after having given done all this in Christ, he said, "Okay, he's now your head." He's the head of Zacharias. Put your name there. And I'm part of his body. The fullness of him who fills all in 55:17 all. How blessed we are as children of God. Wonderful. And if all things are verse 22 are under his feet, and it's a Read this carefully now. God verse 22, meditate. God has put all things in subjection 55:36 under Christ and under his feet. Do you get that? Once again, he was put everything in subjection under Christ's feet and made him the head of who? Of me. His body. 55:56 Where are the feet? Tell me. Are the feet in the head or in the body? The feet are in the body. So, in Christ all things are under my feet. Do you know that? Because it says here, 56:16 he put everything under his feet and he's given him to be the head of his body which is me and you. Ephesians chapter 1 is one of the most profound and exciting chapters that tell us the riches 56:34 we have in Christ, spiritual riches and wealth. Now, what you need to do is thank God that you can listen to this message again on YouTube. I don't think you got everything by hearing me in the last 25 minutes or 1 hour. 56:53 You probably need to listen to it again. And then go slowly. Meditate on each verse. This is one of the richest chapters in the entire New Testament. Amazing. But you see what a lot there is 57:12 we miss when we rush through scripture and don't meditate. Let me close with the verse I always like to quote, Psalm 1. Psalm 1 we read 57:37 You know, it talks about meditating day and night in Psalm 1:2. His delight is in the law of the Lord, that is in the Bible. And in the Bible, he meditates on the Bible day and night. He doesn't read the Bible day and night, 57:54 that's not possible. Cuz I got to go to sleep. I got to do my work. But he meditates on God's word all the time, 24 hours. He reads it and then he meditates and meditates and meditates. You know what will happen? 58:12 He will always be fruitful, verse 3. Even when everything else is dry, other believers are dry, you'll be fruitful. And that means you'll never be discouraged. You'll be full of the joy of the Lord all the time. You'll always have faith for every 58:26 situation. You'll have joy in every situation. You'll be able to love people who don't love you. That is to have fruit all the time. And here it is, the last part of verse 3, I love that. Whatever he does, he will prosper. 58:45 He may not be a millionaire. He may be poor like Jesus was. But whatever he does, there'll be a spiritual prosperity that comes in our life in everything he does. God will bless him. I want that life. Where God blesses every single thing I 59:01 do. I pray God will bless every single message I preach. I pray God will make every com- conversation I have with people a blessing to them. God will bless me in everything. Everything I do will prosper. I must meditate on God's word. 59:21 I must stay away from sin. I must recognize what my inheritance is in Christ. Well, anyway, I've given you a start. I hope that you will read further and get a lot from this wonderful book, especially the New 59:40 Testament. 27 books of the New Testament, fantastic truths all over. God bless you all. Let's pray. Let's stop for a moment to think of anything that God particularly spoke to you, and as I always say, 1:00:00 if you want God's full blessing, forgive everybody who hurt you. Make sure there's no unforgiveness, zero unforgiveness in your heart. Say, "Lord, I've forgiven everybody." Thank you, Father, for this time together. Thank you for 1:00:15 your word. Give us revelation. We've got a lot of knowledge, give us revelation. And make everything we heard today a blessing to everyone, Lord. Father, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
