 Let's get into our study. Today we're going to be looking at verses 7 through 12 here in chapter 1. I'll begin reading at verse 7. I'll read to verse 12 and give you some introductory comments and all, and then move into our study. We're looking today in the fact that in him we have redemption. That's going to be the subject that we're taking up today as we look at these verses. So beginning at verse 7, reading to verse 12, Paul writes, in him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace, which he made to abound towards us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of his will according to the good pleasure which he purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times he might gather together in one all things in Christ both which are in heaven and which are on earth in him. In him also we have obtained an inheritance being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of his glory. You know as I look at this, let me introduce a big saying, this is deep. These things that he's saying extremely deep and it impresses me that the church, the church there in Ephesus understood what he's saying and it takes it takes me a lot of study just to get a glimpse of the things that they would have understood as this letter because this is a letter. It's like Paul and Apostle writing to the saints in Ephesus, blessings to you and all of that. It's a letter and so as I was reading this today I thought this is so filled with wisdom and depth and I'm so incapable of giving it a study that is giving a study that brings justice to this but I'll do my best to help us to understand some of the things that he has to say here. So let's begin by remembering a few things. Paul is instructing the church in Ephesus concerning what it means to be a Christian. As I shared with you last time the church began through the Apostle Paul and was cared for after Paul had left by a couple by the name of Aquila and Priscilla. Remember with me that Paul had come to the city of Ephesus on a mission trip and he had left Aquila and Priscilla there and Aquila began ministering to those who had come to faith in Christ and the church gathered and began to meet. Now later on Paul returned, it's found in Acts 19, it records how Paul had later returned to Ephesus. It may have been one or two years later and when he had arrived he found some disciples, some disciples of John the Baptist and they had they had they were living there in the city of Ephesus and and he asked him if they had received the Holy Spirit he said have you received the Holy Spirit when you believed and so when he said that they said they hadn't even heard of the Holy Spirit. So what baptism were you baptized with Paul asked them they said well with John's baptism and so that helped to clarify some things for Paul as he's speaking to these Ephesians and he said oh he said okay John baptized a baptism of repentance for the one who was about to come speaking of Jesus and he began to share with them more fully what the gospel actually meant and all and so he began to share the gospel and as he did so they came to faith in Christ and they were saved and then later they received water baptism and the baptism of the Holy Spirit and in Acts 19 verse 6 it says when Paul had laid hands on them the Holy Spirit came upon them and they spoke with tongues and prophesied and so this gives us insight into why Paul would write this letter to the Ephesian church it was his desire that the people not only come to faith in Christ but to have everything that Christ has for them his desire was that they would mature in their faith in Jesus Christ he desired believers to have everything that the Lord has prepared for them and has given to them we need to remember something becoming a Christian isn't just repeating a prayer and then going on and living the life that you had lived before you prayed that prayer when someone saved they receive an entirely new life they receive a new way of life and there's a change that occurs because the Holy Spirit when you're saved comes to dwell within you so when Paul spoke to John's disciples he immediately discerned there's something missing and that something was the presence of the Holy Spirit it was noticeably lacking in them you see his desires for all believers to enter into this new life and not fall short of what God would have for us you see Jesus made it clear that he could provide for us that which nobody else could ever provide and John 6 35 he said I'm the bread of life and he who comes to me shall never hunger and he who believes on me shall never thirst I can give you what the world can't give you is what Jesus was saying well Paul desired them to live in the blessings that God had already provided for them and he wanted them to fully grasp what they had in Jesus Christ now they lived in the midst of a beautiful city an extremely beautiful yet it was terribly corrupt because of his cosmopolitan flavor opportunity to indulge the flesh was always present so to combat this draw they needed to live in what they had in Jesus Christ and so we saw how Paul began reminding the church of the blessings that they have in Christ remember in verse 3 how he said we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing well from there he began to list spiritual blessings that we possess in Christ in verse 4 he said we've been chosen in him before the foundation of the world in verse 5 he said we have been adopted as sons and daughters by Jesus to himself verse 6 he said God by his grace has made us acceptable to himself through the beloved now when he said he's made us acceptable to himself that word acceptable or accepted means to be surrounded by favor it means to be made agreeable he has honored us with blessings by his grace he has honored us with his blessings through the beloved the beloved is another way of speaking of Jesus Christ remember in Matthew 3 17 that a voice had come from heaven when Jesus was baptized saying this is my beloved son and who I'm well pleased so we became acceptable to God we became acceptable to God because his grace provides salvation through Jesus Christ in Galatians chapter 2 verse 16 it says yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ not by obeying the law and we believed in Christ Jesus so that we might be made right with God because our faith because of our faith in Christ not because we've obeyed the law for no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law the law of Moses no man will be made right with God by simple obedience or attempting to obey Moses's law and so he's been sharing concerning these things we're acceptable to God and at this point he continues to write about the blessings that we receive notice in verse 7 how he says in him we have redemption through his blood redemption I'm going to share about that for just a moment because that's the key to this passage in him verse 7 we have redemption through his blood redemption speaks of regaining or gaining possession of something in exchange for payment redemption speaks of the clearing of a debt now I'm going to give some ancient history to some of you in the 60s I'll let that settle it's a long time ago but some of you will know this we had something called s and h green stamps anybody remember those anybody some of you do maybe your grandparents saved them you also have blue chip stamps you remember that s and h green stamps blue chip stamps what were they well they were a loyalty program I actually cut this out I'm reading exactly what it says they were a loyalty program for customers you'd go to a grocery store or a gas station you'd make a purchase and you'd be given stamps in proportion to the dollar amount of the purchase then you take these stamps and you'd put them in a book and you'd collect a number of books and then you would go to what they called the redemption center and there you'd get these amazing dishes or lawn furniture dining table I remember my mom getting a waffle maker I'd never had a waffle in my life but now we have a waffle maker right so but you got those with s and h green stamps and so it was a way of obtaining something through taking these things you collected and then redeeming or purchasing it well in the New Testament redemption is used to speak of how the Lord has purchased us redemption is the action of saving or being saved from sin from error or evil now I'm going to develop this for just a moment here so we understand a little bit because he's speaking concern in this and he says again in verse seven in him we have redemption through his blood redemption we have redemption through his blood in the New Testament there are two greek legal words that are used to to refer to redemption so by combining these words we can get a a more full insight of what he's speaking about there's a word agarato agarato it's also though there's a word that's it's taken from the root agarato it's x agarato those are greek words that are related they speak about buying or purchasing now i've been to greece i've been there a couple of times i spent a month in greece and we were in athens and while we were in the city of athens back in 1975 we went to the agora the agora is the marketplace it's like the flea markets that we have out here so you go to the agora you go to the marketplace well agarata or x agarato speaks of buying something out of a marketplace so you go to the marketplace and you're purchasing something in the new testament it speaks of a spiritual purchase it speaks of redemption it speaks of god redeeming or purchasing us from the marketplace from the marketplace of sin now there's a second word that is used it's lucruel it means to release from captivity by the payment of a ransom so this is paying a ransom in order to release a person from bondage it was used especially when someone was purchased out of slavery now ever since the fall all mankind has been slaves to sin and corruption ever since the fall everyone has been in spiritual bondage to a nature that is in constant act of rebellion against god so before we were redeemed we were in bondage to sin in roman 6 verse 16 paul said do you not know that to whom you present yourself slaves to obey you are that one slaves whom you obey whether of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness so before redemption the bible teaches that we through human nature are in bondage to sin because of a sin nature the bible teaches that sin holds as captive and there is a payment that is required for our release in john 8 34 through 36 jesus answered them truly truly i say to you whoever commits sin is the servant of sin and the servant abides not in the house forever but the sun abides forever if the sun therefore shall make you free you shall be free indeed whoever commits sin is a servant or a slave to sin jesus was saying a person whose life is filled with habitual sin is actually the servant of sin he is the slave to sin and so in spiritual redemption death is the payment that is acceptable to god in leviticus 17 11 the life of the flesh is in the blood and i've given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls for it is the blood that makes an atonement for the soul and so the price of redemption is the blood of jesus christ god himself paid the price when he sent jesus to die for us in mark 10 45 jesus said for even the son of man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many now during the new testament times roam had somewhere around six million slaves so if i was free but my friend was a slave i could actually redeem my friend out of slavery i would have to pay the price and then i would write a certificate and then i having having purchased him could set him free well jesus is a friend of sinners and this is what jesus did for us matthew 11 19 tells us jesus had been called a friend of sinners and so redemption the redemption price according to verse 7 is his blood and we have redemption through his blood and have been set free from bondage to sin he died on the cross he paid the price for all who believe and he has set us free and the one whom the sun sets free jesus said is completely free is free indeed now this was accomplished according notice verse 7 according to the riches the word um riches speaks of the abundance the riches of his grace so according to speaks of the vast revenue and the resources of the grace of god now i'm going to develop this with you for a moment he didn't give us redemption simply out of his grace he gave us redemption according to his grace if he gave us out of his grace well that's not the same as giving to us according to his grace so how can i illustrate that well elon musk some of you know his name makes a cologne for men i'm just kidding there elon musk i wanted to use this as an illustration if elon musk gave out of his abundance a billion dollar gift would not be that much and just think about that for a moment which we really can't understand because i looked up what his net worth is and it's gone up since last time i looked at it his net worth according to a source i got out of i got this today is 277.4 billion dollars okay we don't know what that means i haven't got a clue what that means so i wanted to try and understand that so i said okay almighty google let me ask you a question if i were to spend a million dollars a day a million dollars a day i don't think there's anybody in this room beginning with me who has a vision for a million dollars a day okay i don't have that i i could spend a few maybe a week or two how long would it take for elon musk if he spent a a million dollars every day how long would it take him to exhaust his wealth if he wasn't getting any interest on it it would take around 760 years for him to spend at the rate of a million dollars a day let that sink in 760 years spending a million dollars a day so if he gave out of if he gave out of his resources a billion dollars i wouldn't turn it down but he's giving out of his resources but what if he gave according to his resources that's a different thing because out of his resources a billion dollars is nothing according to his resources he could give abundantly more than that and the point that paul is making is that that that god gave to us not simply out of but according to the riches of his grace if we could only grab hold of what that means because i have to be honest with you all these years i've walked with the lord that still amazes me because his grace is that super abundant there's not a sin not a single sin that i've ever committed that his grace is not going to cover the blood of christ cleanses me from all sin according to his grace if the church if we begin to understand how super abundantly blessed we've been in christ our lives do change our lives do change and we'll see this a little bit we're going to be seeing this in the first couple chapters of of Ephesians i won't belabor that point other than to say he gave out of his abundance he gave according to his abundance rather and that's that's how god gave god gave to us according to the riches of his grace excuse me so god's grace is not only given according to his riches but it has been lavished upon us and his grace covers the complete extent of our sinfulness in other words he doesn't barely cover us with grace he lavishly gives us super abundance of grace and his grace is given to us freely look at chapter 2 verse 7 for a moment here in Ephesians it says that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us in christ jesus so he has given to us in a lavish manner his grace in Romans 3 24 we all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by christ jesus and so paul is making it clear that it's in christ that we have the forgiveness of our sins now notice that in verse 7 when he speaks concerning the forgiveness of sins the forgiveness of sins people often explain sin away you know this i know this i did it perhaps you did it you know we explain it away uh yeah i'm i i did that but that's really my personality yeah i did that but you don't understand my addictions yeah yeah i i i might have done that but you you don't know my parents oh i i yeah i did that but i lived in a bad environment yeah i did that but you see i i never received an education or yeah i i i've done that but you don't understand my culture i did that but you don't understand i was raised in poverty we make excuses and explanations for the things that the bible calls sin we explain it away yeah i have a hot temper but i'm latin all latins have hot temper right i mean that that's what we say you know and all of that well that's simply not true what that is is a sin nature and the bible speaks concerning our sin nature and in glations 5 19 through 21 it speaks concerning the works of the flesh and and paul said it like this he said when you follow the desires of your sinful nature the results are very clear sexual immorality impurity lustful pleasures idolatry sorcery hostility quarreling jealousy outbursts of anger selfish ambition dissension division envy drunkenness wild parties and other sins like these let me tell you again as i have before that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the kingdom of god you can't explain that away you can't argue that away it's an act of the flesh and so people very often try to explain sin away but the bible teaches that sin doesn't cease on its own that sin doesn't go away over time that you don't outgrow it what you do is you actually perfect it you know this when you were a kid perhaps perhaps you lied i know that every person in this room lied if you say you didn't you just lied so but you know when you were a kid and you lied you got busted because you weren't good at it you know you weren't good at it you you just weren't you know you practice long enough you you can become president i mean you you you are you can get good at lying you can get good at stealing you can get good at a lot of things if you practice enough polish it enough you get good at it and so when people say oh i outgrew my sin no you don't outgrow sin you never outgrow sin that's not how it works sin is confessed sin is repented of sin is turned away from but if you don't confess repent turn away you remain in bondage so paul is speaking of the forgiveness of sin and he's telling us that jesus takes it away when he speaks of forgiveness that literally the word literally means to bear away it speaks of removing or taking it away god removes he takes away our sin and our sin can never outstrip the grace of god why because god's grace has abounded towards us so we should never think that our sins are too great to be forgiven take this home in your heart god's grace abounds there's not a sin you've ever committed that god cannot forgive you of not a single sin god will forgive you if you repent you confess you turn away from every single sin the blood of jesus christ his son cleanses us from all sin from all sin and so in Romans 5 20 it says where sin abounded grace abounded much more so a key to the victorious life in christ is to trust that god is truly forgiven us of our sins no matter how deeply we have sinned no matter how long we have sinned no matter what kinds of sins we have sinned when we repent god forgives in psalm 32 verses 3 through 5 the psalmist said when i kept silent my bones grew old through my groaning all the day long for day and night your hand was heavy upon me my vitality was turned into the drought of summer i acknowledged my sin to you and my iniquity i haven't hidden i said i will confess my transgressions to the lord and you forgave the iniquity of my sin that's what god does see in redemption we have forgiveness of sins but not only that verse 8 tells us that we have wisdom and prudence because we are saved we now have two things that we didn't have before in salvation we actually gain wisdom now wisdom has been defined as the understanding of ultimate things understanding things like life and death understanding things like heaven and hell understanding things like righteousness and what sin actually is that's wisdom and and this is given to us this wisdom in god's word because it's god's word which instructs us about living in this world proverbs 2 verse 6 says the lord gives wisdom from his mouth comes knowledge and understanding that's why we study the bible that's why we read the bible that's why we want to know the word of god because it's in the word of god that god gives to us wisdom for life but he also uses the word prudence that's a word we don't use very much if at all outside of scripture the word prudence speaks of spiritual insight it's a practical understanding for daily living it's an understanding of how to live proverbs 8 verse 12 says it like this i wisdom dwell with prudence i find knowledge and discretion so prudence is wisdom applied and practiced on a daily basis and that's what equips us to live in peace and that's what equips us to share this kind of truth with other people and so he says in verse 8 which he made to abound towards us in all wisdom and prudence his riches of grace has been abounding towards us and we've become wise and prudent through that verse 9 having made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure which he purposed in himself so god has made known to us his plan of redemption of grace through faith the plan of salvation by faith was at one time hidden but it's now revealed by the gospel and notice it's been pleasing to god to reveal his plan and his plan is centered on jesus christ and the plan originated with the father and he says is pleasing to him having made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure it's pleasing to him so this plan originated with the father isaib 5310 says it like this this is a beautiful scripture it was the lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer and though the lord makes his life and offering for sin he will see his offspring and prolong his days and the will of the lord will prosper in his hands it was the lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer it's his will the plan originated with the father and it was well pleasing to him that he would give his son jesus to die on that cross for us in verse 10 he says that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times he might gather together in one all things in christ both which are in heaven and which are on earth in him that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he's going to gather together in one in him now when he says in verse nine he made known to us the mystery of his will that word mystery speaks of something that at one time was hidden but has now been revealed so that mystery has been revealed when god determined that it should be and the mystery is that the gentiles can partake in the blessings that were once reserved for jews i was sharing with you last time that or before that that humanity in the scriptures is actually divided in the in the old testament as jew and gentile the jew were the people who are the covenant people of god the gentile is referring we'll see this in the book of Ephesians the gentile is referred to as those who are without god so in the old testament humanity is divided jew and gentile but when you get into the new testament you'll see that humanity has been divided into jew gentile and the church the church and we'll see this as we go through Ephesians but the church is made up it's called the new man and is made up of both jew and gentile the jews did not see that in the old testament they did not understand that god was through his son jesus who was messiah of israel they didn't realize messiah of israel would also bring into the fold those who at one time were not his people and so what god has done is he gave his son jesus christ this mystery that at one time had been concealed he has given his son jesus christ in the mystery that which has been concealed has now been revealed so that we who are not jewish have a relationship with the god of israel based on the son christ who came to dine across for us and brought us into the fold we were those other sheep that jesus speaks about in john 10 other sheep i have well we were those other sheep the jews were his people and though they had disobeyed he still had a work to do amongst him but when god sent his son christ to die on the cross jesus died not just for the jewish nation but he died for all god so loved the world that he gave us only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life which includes jew and gentile so that's what makes us one and that again is what i believe is god's remedy for for for one race hating another it's it's that yeah how can i hate my brother you know if that if he's uh if he's black if he's asian whatever the color may be how can i hate my brother you know i'm not of the wicked one even as kane was of the wicked one and slew his brother but i'm of the lord and those who hate their brother john tells us in first john don't know the lord and so when the lord has saved us what happens is we begin to be the family of god and this mystery of how is god going to save the world which is so large and has grown larger over time he's going to do it to jesus christ when jesus died on the cross and poured out his blood he poured out his blood for humanity for jew as well as gentile and when the jewish person came to faith in christ and when the gentile came to faith in christ they became one in christ and so it's no longer just jew and it's no longer just gentile it is now the one new man called the church and that comes through the gospel and that is that mystery that the gentiles can partake in the blessings that were once reserved for the jews in romans chapter two verses 28 and 29 paul said it like this he is not a jew who is one outwardly nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh but he's a jew who is one inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit not in the letter whose praise is not from men but from god the true circumcision he's saying isn't on the out outer it's on the inner it's in the heart and so we came to faith in christ and brought into the family of god and notice in verse 10 that he did this to gather together in one all things in christ when he says gather together gathering together speaks of summing something up and this is all going to take place beginning in the millennial kingdom and will continue into eternity the millennial kingdom is jesus's thousand year reign on on earth at the end of the thousand years of of jesus's reign we looked at this in the book of revelation satan's influence will be completely eliminated jesus will then rule and reign and the paradise that was lost by adam will have been completely restored by jesus christ and at that time in philippines two verses 10 and 11 it says at the name of jesus every nation bow of things in heaven things in earth things under the earth every tongue shall confess that jesus christ is lord to the glory of god the father he says in verse 11 in him also we have obtained an inheritance being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the council of his will that we who first trusted in christ should be to the praise of his glory so in him we have obtained notice and inheritance the the word inheritance is an old testament concept the the tribes of israel the twelve tribes the tribes of israel were to receive an inheritance and the inheritance that the tribes were to receive was land so israel that land that promised land was divided amongst the tribes but there was one tribe that did not receive a portion of land and the tribe that did not receive a portion of land is the tribe of levi what they received were blue jeans it's just a really no they all were levi so that's a new concept no the tribe the tribe of levi i'm sorry the tribe of levi did not inherit a portion of the promised land interestingly enough when you read in the book of deuteronomy and other portions of scripture deuteronomy 10 verse 9 and all uh fellowship and service to god was the inheritance of levi their portion was not land their portion was god himself that's what they received their inheritance was a fellowship with god so the believer's inheritance is god himself and the blessings that come from fellowship with him remember john 17 verse 3 jesus said this is life eternal that they might know you the only true god and jesus christ whom you have sent this is life eternal that they may know you you know i mentioned to you i have a friend of mine friend that i had for well i've known for since 1983 ray bentley and some of you i've already mentioned this ray had a heart attack and complications apparently from covid and and last week he died and so i had a brother from the san diego area who had called and asked if he could come and and spend some time with me and he came yesterday and we spent some time he's a pastor in that area and we were having a conversation and one of the first things he said to me is he says you know he said ray you know how ray went home to be with the lord i said yeah yeah i know and we talked a little bit about him because this brother is a he's a younger brother and you know he said you know when i started my ministry and he gave me his testimony a great guy marine um was in combat on three different uh three different occasions he was deployed to the middle east and and and he shared with me his injuries and things that he had gone through it was just real touching to to speak to him good brother but as we're speaking he goes you know um when i got out of military he said and i'd been injured so severely i didn't know what i was going to do with my life he said and he said i i i knew the lord i had come to faith in christ and so he said i went and i spoke to ray ray bentley there at marinata chapel and he said i went and saw him he said and and ray was very good to me very kind to me and very loving he said and he put his arm around me and he's helped me and he said and it's it's it's very painful to know that ray ray has died because it's going to be a great loss to me on a personal level and he says you know what happened when he went home and i they said i haven't heard many details and he says well he said he was in his room and one of his children i believe was with him and they were next to him and he said i'm walking up the mountain with jesus and then he said thank you jesus and he died i'm walking up the mountain with jesus thank you jesus and he died well i told my friend i said you're gonna make me cry that that touched me i said that touched my heart do you think when ray was on that bed and he was about to close his eyes and do you think he was there thinking and i wish i'd have bought that car you think man i wish i'd have traveled more man i wish i'd have bought those shoes do you think you thought those things guys do you think that was in his heart and the lord spoke to my heart about that and one of the things that i i can tell you about myself in a personal moment is i appreciate shoes and i appreciate a car and i appreciate travel i appreciate all those things i would never say those things have no value they do have value and and they can bring you joy and pleasure they can thank god if you can do those if you can buy shoes thank god if you can buy a car thank god if you can travel thank god there's nothing sinful about that but at the end of the day the only thing that matters and always remember this is relationship it's the only thing that matters it is the only thing that matters at the end you're not going to cry because you're leaving your car you're going to cry because you're going to not see your friends you're going to cry because i'm leaving my wife i'm leaving my children and leaving my friends and it's not tears of oh boo who i'm because you're going to heaven but the thing that's in your mind isn't going to be material i promise you i've been at the death bed more than one person i've never heard one turn to me and say i wish i would have gotten that material thing not one single time not one single time you see your inheritance your inheritance is not something quote-unquote material your inheritance is fellowship with god forever forever that's your inheritance to be with him not things but relationship not things but him this is eternal life that they may know be the only true god and jesus christ whom thou hast sent so that's what we have in him we have obtained an inheritance our inheritance is god now this inheritance of full fellowship is primarily future but it became ours when christ died on the cross and made it possible for us to have a relationship with god in Hebrews 9 15 through 17 for this reason christ is the mediator of a new covenant that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant in the case of a will it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it because a will is in force only when somebody has died it never takes effect while that one who made it is living so the inheritance is primarily future for us but it became ours when jesus died on the cross that's why you can have fellowship with god now and that fellowship continues into eternity and so in whom he says again in verse 11 we have obtained an inheritance being predestined this is something in the future that is so certain that paul speaks as if it has already occurred and the inheritance that is ours in christ has now been revealed in two perspectives one is god's perspective verse 11 again he says in him we have obtained an inheritance being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will god works according to the counsel of his own will and that's why in revelation 4 11 it reads you are worthy oh lord to receive glory and honor and power for you have created all things and for your pleasure they are and were created you created all things for your own pleasure but also he speaks of that in verse 12 those who have first trusted in christ that we should be to the praise of his glory and so god chooses us but we respond and we trust in christ someone has pictured the divine and human side of salvation in this way when you look toward heaven you see a sign that reads whosoever will may come and after you enter heaven you look back to the same sign and read on the other side chosen in him before the foundation of the world god has chosen us but he's also invited us and so that we who first trusted in christ should be to the praise of his glory the purpose of salvation because we trust in christ is to bring glory to god and that helps us to understand why the lives that we live should be lived in a way that would cause people who don't know god to believe that we do by the way that we live by the testimony of our lives by the way that we speak the things that we do the places that we go not because it's legalistic but because we want to live lives to the praise of his glory because there's so so many times and i was first saved that i didn't understand that that i could actually cause someone to be stumbled in coming to faith in christ by the way that i was as a person and for many years now i've been praying god make me like you help me to lose these rough edges and to become kind and compassionate caring loving sold out help me to be that so that so that i might have credibility when i share with people and i say to them that god transforms people god changes lives god saves people help me to have an impact when we went to this um this um dedication service um as we did this last week marina we're pulling into the the driveway of the church and and i rolled the window down and uh i said to the man who was parking attendant i said is there a place that you have for us we're supposed to park because i've never been to this place before and the guy i'm in indio and the guy looks at me he said hi pastor david and i smiled at him i said hi hi and i'm looking at him he goes i went to your church i said really a lot of people went i said really i was in your worship team with uh tony logan tony was one of our worship leaders many years ago 20 some years ago i was in the worship team i played base i said oh yeah i remember no i said really he goes yeah he says um he goes and he and i said oh that's great he said well anyway you're supposed to park over there and i said well thank you and i'm telling marisa what a blessing and we go when we park and we come he and he comes up to where we're at and he catches up to me and he says i just want to tell you something he says i want to tell you that and this blessed my heart so i'm sharing it with you he said i want to tell you that what happened is i was in the team but i moved to north carolina he said and i approached you after church one sunday and i said to you do you have any churches that you recommend and you shared some things with me he said and we moved out to north carolina he lived out there uh for a while 20 well many years and he said and um and he started sharing his his story with me and i'm just really interested in what he's saying it's a really praise the lord and this is what he said and there's a reason i tell you the story it's to come to this he says i want to tell you something he says i want you to know that the things that you poured into me became the foundations of my life that i have grown in jesus christ and i've served him all these years and i wanted to thank you for the fundamentals that have helped me to stay solid with christ and that is my heart for you that's why we're going through Ephesians so you may know what you have in jesus christ so that you may grow that we as a church may mature so that we would be like him so that our lives will make a difference so that one day when we're laying on our death bed our last words may be i'm walking up the mountain with jesus thank you jesus that's what it's all about guys nothing else matters that does nothing else matters to know who you are in christ and what you have in christ and how he has super abundantly poured out his grace upon you and how he has loved you with an everlasting love how he has washed you and cleansed you with his blood how he has given you his powerful holy spirit how he's given you the word of god to guide your footsteps and to give you wisdom this is yours god gave it to you but what we need to do is embrace by faith and live by faith those things that he's already given to us so may we as a church learn to live in that which he's already given so that we can live lives that count in this world father i asked that you would speak