Luke: 00:10

Heavenly father, we ask this morning that you might, awaken our hearts and our ears and our minds to hear your word for us. Lord, might you make the writings of Paul to the Ephesians come alive to us today here in Jamestown? Might we hear the word that is timeless? Might we hear the applications that are specific to our lives and our situations? Lord, and might you be glorified through the preaching and proclamation of your truth, your word, and your gospel.

Luke: 00:52

Lord, I pray for pastor Cameron. I pray that you would, empower him with your holy spirit this morning, Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. Amen. Good morning, In Jesus' name, we pray.

Luke: 01:09

Amen. Amen. Good morning, church. How are

Cameron: 01:12

you? Good. Good. It's good to see you. We have been praying for you.

Cameron: 01:23

We pray for you all the time. We prayed for you this morning. We prayed, we prayed for you, probably before some of you even got out of bed this morning. We were praying that you would be here. We were praying that the lord would do something in your heart today, that the Lord would speak to you and that you would not leave this place, the same people that you were when you came here this morning.

Cameron: 01:52

Because that's what we really do believe. We really do believe that through Jesus, we are transformed. We're transformed in the presence of Jesus, we're transformed by the power of Jesus, we're transformed through faith in Jesus. As the holy as the holy spirit of God fills us and reveals the truth of God's word to us, we are changed and we are transformed. And we, we pray that over you and pray that for you all the time, this morning included.

Cameron: 02:22

Even if this is your first time here, I know that we were praying for you, and I don't believe you being here is an accident. As Pastor Luke was talking about, we are starting a new sermon series this week through Paul, the Apostle Paul's letter to the church in a small city, smallish city, named Ephesus. And much of what we have in the New Testament or a lot of what we have in the new testament is, similar to this. Meaning that, the apostle Paul, who was a really prolific church planter, he was a, you know, he was a church and Christian persecutor transformed by the presence and power and ministry of Jesus Christ himself to become, to become the most prolific church planter, evangelist, apostle probably in all of human history, traveled around the Mediterranean, and as he went there and preach the gospel to the Gentile people, they would come to faith in Jesus Christ. And then he would, he would he would leave that place and they would there would be elders and pastors and teachers and, who would lead that community of newly newly formed, newly found Jesus followers to create what we would describe today as a church.

Cameron: 03:57

And so he would let he would then leave and travel to a different city, a different region, regions like Colossae, and Philippi, and Thesalonica, and Galatia, and all these places, right? And then he would, as a man who was still, like, really invested in their spiritual growth and in their development, he would write letters to those churches. And so the majority of the New Testament or about 2 thirds of the New Testament, we have the Apostle Paul's letters that he wrote to the churches that he planted encouraging them either or encouraging them or admonishing them or exhorting them in their faith. Sometimes, they needed correcting in their belief or in their practice. Right?

Cameron: 04:49

And so the letters that Paul writes come forward a little bit more, maybe more strongly worded than, others. For instance, the letters to the Corinthians are pretty strongly worded. We have one of the letters here is we're going to study over the next, I think about 8 weeks, all right? The letter to the church in Ephesus or Ephesians, the book of Ephesians, as we call it in the New Testament. So, if you have a Bible, we encourage you to open it to the book of Ephesians.

Cameron: 05:24

If you're not sure where that is, that's okay. There's a table of contents in the front of your Bible. It'll give you the page number of the specific Bible that you're looking in. If you don't have a Bible, there should be one in the in the pew somewhere for you or in in the little slot in the pew ahead of you. And if you don't have a Bible and you want a Bible, I want you to grab whatever Bible you see in that pew and take it home with you.

Cameron: 05:48

Write your name in it. It's yours now. And if there's not one there to take home, there's some on that bookshelf in the back. We want you to make sure that you have a Bible if you want one. And we'll have some of our, scriptures up here on the screen for us this morning as well.

Cameron: 06:04

We're going to start off kind of really slow through this, and it'll speed up as we go along, all right? In the book of Acts, we see that Paul spent about 3 years in Ephesus. Chapter 19 of the book of Acts, chapter 20 in the book of Acts is where Paul, or where the account of Paul being in Ephesus is like from a historical standpoint where we see that. And he spent about 3 years there. 3 years teaching people, 3 years raising up leaders, 3 years establishing good belief and good theology and good practice for them so that when he left, they would continue to thrive in their community.

Cameron: 06:47

And so when he returned to write a letter to them, he started with a really clear description about who this letter was for. And it's something that we shouldn't skip over. Right? In all of Paul's letters, he always has a like a classic ancient Near Eastern greeting. The same the letter starts the same as most letters in the ancient Near East start.

Cameron: 07:09

In Ephesians chapter 1 verse 1, he says, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God. So he's saying, hey, this is I'm Paul. I'm an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. And then he writes, who is this letter to? To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus.

Cameron: 07:32

And obviously, he says grace and peace to you from God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ. But so I don't want to go any further than that right now because I want us to recognize, 1st and foremost, important to recognize from the start that Paul's letter is to those who have already expressed faith in Jesus Christ. They have they have, they have been the the word has been preached to them. There has been a movement on their heart by the Holy Spirit to to repent of their sins, to surrender their life to the Lord. They have they have come into faith in Jesus Christ.

Cameron: 08:08

They are now part of what Paul calls the saints or the faithful in Christ Jesus. They are they are believers already. They have accepted Jesus by faith. They are now living in community with the reality of their faith in Jesus being the dominant factor of their life together. Because Paul goes on to talk about things in Ephesians that he it's important for us to see this because he he goes on to talk about things in this letter that he does not really expect or even ask the world around him to understand, to believe, or to even practice.

Cameron: 08:57

Sometimes what we do is we take scriptures like this, we take letters like this, like the letter to the Ephesians, and we try to transplant the practices, the beliefs, the understandings that like Paul is talking to the Ephesians about and we try to we try to overlay them on a world that does not believe. Okay. This is how this is how you should do this. This is how you should, this is how you should act in relationship with one another. This is what you should say and not say.

Cameron: 09:30

This is how you should be. This is how you should live in unity with one another. But but but Paul's design here and Paul's heart and his purpose is never to say, Hey unbelieving world, I've got some advice for how you can turn things around. Now, does Paul have that kind of wisdom as well? Yes, but not here.

Cameron: 09:54

The letter to the Ephesians is fully and totally and completely a message to the, what Paul's later gonna call the church or the body of Christ. Those who have already expressed faith in Jesus Christ. Those who have already committed their lives to living in a community of others who are expressing faith in Jesus Christ. It's a call to return to something different than the world is espousing as truth in community. For example, here's some things that Paul talks about in Ephesians, specific to those who have already expressing faith in Jesus Christ.

Cameron: 10:35

Paul's going to talk about how grace and not works is the basis of a person's salvation. That is that that is that that we are saved not because we were really good people, not because we have a lot to boast about morally or ethically or spiritually, not because we did more good things than we did bad things and god is keeping some kind of cosmic checklist to make sure that the good outweighs the bad that no. That our salvation is based on nothing that we have done or not done. It is based purely and solely on the grace of god being extended to us in Jesus Christ. That god reached out to us in our sin to draw us close to himself.

Cameron: 11:25

And this is a concept that is completely foreign to an unbelieving world, right? Where everything in life and culture is essentially based on merit. And we talk about this. Do I deserve it? Have I earned it?

Cameron: 11:39

Do have I worked hard enough for it? Do I deserve to get this thing? Do I deserve to do that thing? Have I earned this thing? Have I been good enough?

Cameron: 11:51

Have I avoided the bad things enough? See, we do not live in a world or a culture or a society that upholds grace over works. And so and so for us as a community of faith in Jesus Christ to not just adopt, but to stand on a firm foundation of the way in which we interact with one another and the way in which or the basis upon which our relationship is with God is not on the goodness of our conduct, but on the mercy and grace of God fully is a completely foreign idea to an unbelieving world. It's something that is exclusive to those who have experienced the grace of god through Jesus Christ. It's different.

Cameron: 12:38

Paul talks about how those who have expressed faith in Jesus Christ and are and and have received the grace of god are now part of, the language he uses is a body. We are one body. This is a theme that Paul carries through lots of his letters. Ephesians here, he talks about it. The unity of the body, he talks about it in the letter to the Corinthians as well.

Cameron: 13:03

But how we are one body now that our faith in Jesus Christ unites us and makes us 1. And and how and how that that that body, that faith in Jesus Christ takes whole groups of people who are radically different from one another in culture, in lifestyle, ethnicities and unites them into 1. If you look around you this morning, you might see people that some people that are maybe a lot like you. And you might see people that are not a lot like you. And if you dug a little bit deeper into relationship with the people around you, you're gonna realize that we all come from pretty significantly different backgrounds.

Cameron: 13:48

We've had different experiences growing up. We've we've we've been a part of different cultures, different ethnicities. Some of us speak different languages. Some of us come from different races. Some of us come from different socioeconomics, backgrounds, traditions in our families, faith belief and practices.

Cameron: 14:07

While we may all look each like each other on the surface because we we put the grin on every morning when we're here. Right? Hi. How are you? I'm good.

Cameron: 14:16

How are you? Yeah. We're all the same. Everyone's good. No one's got any problems.

Cameron: 14:20

That's why we're all here. Right? But the reality of the but the reality of the situation is is that if we just peel back the surface of our lives, we recognize that we are all pretty radically different. And we all come from pretty radically different places, so why are we all here in the same room? It's not because we're all the same in what we in how we've grown up, the culture we've come from, what our ethnic background is, what our socioeconomic background is, what even our opinions or preferences or beliefs are in this world.

Cameron: 14:55

There is one thing and one thing only that unites us. It is the miracle of the faith in Jesus Christ. How the miracle of faith in Jesus Christ can take people who are so radically different from one another and create one unified body where we all come together in 1 in in one accord on Sunday morning and say, We are all here because we believe Jesus calling us here by faith to serve one another and the world. It's a radically different, it's a radically different, practice, idea, belief than an unbelieving world who's who loves to separate people into camps of belief, right? How many categories do we separate people in in the world?

Cameron: 15:44

Here, the categories are broken down, the walls are torn down, the obstacles that separate people disappear. And we all gather as 1 under the leadership and headship of Jesus Christ because of our faith in him. All that we do, all that this body does is based on the ethic of Christ centeredness. Jesus centeredness. We pursue.

Cameron: 16:12

We pursue the spiritual life, not with worldly principles of self actualization or our own little individual kingdom truths, the things that are true for us, but not for anyone else. But we let the life of Jesus direct the way that we speak to one another, the way that we speak about one another, the way that we think and love towards one another. It is Christ centeredness that directs and guides everything that we do in relationship to one another and relationship to the world. That is why you're gonna see sections. We're gonna study sections here in Paul's letter.

Cameron: 16:52

For instance, like, I don't know, like, chapter 4, verse 1 through 6, where he says, to the church. Alright? Listen. He's saying, to the church to practice within the church, he says this, Be completely humble and gentle. Be patient, Bearing with one another in love.

Cameron: 17:15

Make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace. He says over in chapter 5, a similar type or, in I'm sorry. The end of chapter 4, similar type of like, how our Christ centeredness affects the ethnic by which we relate with one another. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling, slander along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ, god has forgiven you.

Cameron: 17:54

There is an ethic of Christ centeredness that should exist within the unity of the body of Christ that is far, far, far different than the world around us. Our relationships with one another, the way that we talk to one another and about one another, the way in which we are in relationship with one another, especially when someone here hurts me, injures me, offends me, sins against me, is radically different from me. It's all based on this ethic of Christ centeredness. He talks somewhat, which has become somewhat in this in the book of in the letter to the Ephesians, Paul talks somewhat controversially for our culture today about how our faith in Jesus Christ and life in the body of Christ even guides and directs the relationships between husbands and wives, children and parents. You look at Ephesians chapter 5 or if you're familiar at all with, with Paul's letter to the Ephesians, you might, you might know exactly what we're saying.

Cameron: 19:16

It's scriptures like these. Ephesians chapter 5, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. The husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, which he is the savior. Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy and cleansing her by washing with water through the word to present her to himself holy and blameless.

Cameron: 19:44

In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. It's There's sections in Paul's letter to the Ephesians here that from, as a cultural value are so far outside of the way in which we talk about relationships between husbands and wives, that it really strikes at the heart of like, okay, we better start getting serious about whether, like, whether we believe God's truth to be his truth or culturally conditioned by our own expectations, our own background, our own experiences, our own personal relationships here now. See, and when we approach scriptures like this as we go through this letter, it will be our task to faithfully look at Paul's word words here in Ephesians and elsewhere in scripture, as well as Jesus's own words and practice during his ministry. So that we can by God's grace undo a lot of the ways that these types of passages and more have been used as sort of like this spiritual club to injure others rather than a call to return to a created order that God honor that honors God and loves and serves one another. Throughout his letter here, Paul develops a fantastic metaphor.

Cameron: 21:11

In the end of Ephesians, the last chapter, he, he develops this kind of fantastic metaphor that you may have heard of. In Ephesians chapter 6, he talks about the armor of God, right? Conduit kids just got done with this big huge unit on the armor of God. If you've seen any of the, take home stuff that they've done. And Paul talks about, and he kind of catalogs the way in which the faith believer has been prepared for the realities of the spiritual battle in in the midst of the unseen war that rages around us spiritually.

Cameron: 21:51

And it's really clear about this. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the authorities, the powers of the dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armor of God. So that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground and after you have done everything to stand. We are participants in this spiritual war that Paul describes.

Cameron: 22:21

As sons and daughters of God, we are on the front lines of battle, where the chief goal of our adversary is to destroy us. And then there's about a 100 other things that Paul talks about in Ephesians. Alright? Some of, some of whom that, some of, some of which we hope to get to, on Sunday, well we will get to on Sunday mornings, but I'll also say and, come behind what Pastor Luke has already said, that we'll be studying pretty much everything in the book of Ephesians on Wednesday night. Our Wednesday night Bible studies, here.

Cameron: 23:03

So if you, if you recognize that maybe we have maybe skipped over a section of Ephesians, it's some of the reasons that we're going to skip over sections is because, well, we have dealt with that kind of, that theme that Paul talks about in Ephesians. Maybe we dealt with it when we were talking, when we went through the book of Romans. Or maybe it's kind of adjacent to, other things that we're talking to in Ephesians. But we're gonna focus in on it on, on Wednesday night. So I will say this, before we dive into just a brief portion of the text this morning because this is, like I said, our work this morning is to kind of like set our hearts on the right path as it pertains to Ephesians.

Cameron: 23:55

What is God calling us to? Who is God calling us to be? What is the purpose of the letter to the Ephesians? I want us to be really really clear, right? That this is for us.

Cameron: 24:05

This is for the faithful in Christ Jesus, the saints, So those who have expressed faith in Jesus already. This is God's calling to those people. Ephesians, Ephesians is a letter that demands doing. Let me explain that for a second. This is a dynamic that I struggle with a lot as a pastor and as a preacher.

Cameron: 24:39

Because I always want to do a really good job. I always want to be really clear. I always want to inspire faith in Jesus. I always want to inspire people to to grab a hold of him by faith, to to allow him to transform your life. And I want and I want the the work of my preparation and the work of the presentation be something that inspires us to take a step of faith when maybe we have been fearful to do so.

Cameron: 25:09

Here's some dynamics that I experienced though. It's like, listen, there are certainly times where we need to be taught the word. Where we need to take the the scripture and we need to be taught what it says and what it means. So that we can take that truth right? That that proverbial nugget of knowledge and we could we can stick it into our brain as, as information.

Cameron: 25:35

And then we can hope that the information somehow makes it from like the the gray matter of our brain into our heart. Because as we've talked about before, listen, we all understand that in the progress of our spiritual walk with the Lord, in our growth in the Lord, is that we don't suffer from lack of information. This is the most informationally dense time in human history. We have access to all of the information that you could possibly want. It is not a lack of information that keeps us untransformed.

Cameron: 26:16

It is a lack of conviction. It is a lack of obedience. It is a blockage in taking the nugget of knowledge that we have placed in our head. Oh, now we understand what that means. Okay, great.

Cameron: 26:32

You understand what that means. Are you willing to now be obedient and surrender to the truth that exists within it? Well, are are you now taking that truth and applying it to our lives? Certainly, like I said, we need some of the more complex or nuanced, passages of scripture, like for instance, Ephesians chapter 5. It's going to be unpacked.

Cameron: 27:01

Maybe some context added, some insight offered, some application offered, so that we can apply it rightly to our lives and to our heart. But listen, if we are honest with ourselves, and I've been doing this long enough now to see the look on your faces and to see the fruit, right, of preaching over almost 2 decades of doing this, sometimes we are often simply just entertained by a sermon, by the cleverness of the way that it is presented, by the passion of the one that brings it, or the knowledge that is gained. We say, I really need to hear a sermon on this topic because then it is going to change my life. Listen, we need less sermons. You you need less preaching and you need more doing the thing that the word says.

Cameron: 27:57

We need less sermons that stir us to motivate, and we need more hunger for the things of God that transform us at the heart level rather than just the head. We need more doing the things that the word says and less simply being entertained by the cleverness of the message as it's proclaimed. If I were to take the content of Paul's letter to the Ephesians, I would say it like this, we need more forgiveness. Not the idea of forgiveness, but the practice of forgiveness. We need to forgive each other more.

Cameron: 28:42

We need to be ready to forgive before the sin even occurs. We need more unity in the church. We need more speaking the truth in love. We need more husbands truly submitting and surrendering themselves to the Lord and serving their wives. And we need more wives respecting and honoring the leadership of their husbands.

Cameron: 29:06

We need more encouraging speech. We need less bitterness, less anger, less rage. We need less sexual immorality and we need more fellowship with the light of God's truth in the wholeness of our bodies. We need less fear and we need more faith that God has given us in Jesus Christ the tools to stand firm in the midst of the spiritual battle. Church, listen.

Cameron: 29:31

We need less sermons and more obedience. In Ephesians, I find, or at least I'm receiving it now in this stage of my life, Ephesians is one of those letters that does not let us settle for kind of just like the elegant waxing and waning of some dude on a Sunday morning. And the truth the truth invested here calls us into submission to Jesus, into unity with one another, and into mission to the world. So maybe just let this stand as a exhortation from your pastor this morning is that we need less settling for just being well informed intelligent Christians. And we need more pursuit of hearts that are fully surrendered and submitted to obedience and holiness to God.

Cameron: 30:36

And so that's what we're going to that's what we pursue, as we study here over the next 8 weeks. Paul says in Ephesians chapter 1 starting at verse 3, praise be to the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the foundations of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love, he predestined us to be adopted as his sons and daughters through Jesus Christ in accordance with his pleasure and will to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the one he loves. In him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.

Cameron: 31:33

And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure which he purposed in Christ to be put into effect when the when the times will have reached their fulfillment and to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. In him, we were also chosen Having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in the conformity with the purpose of his will. In order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed you were marked with you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possessions to the praise of his glory.

Cameron: 32:35

Now, there's a lot going on in this little section of scripture. But probably most significant to our eyes is these words that Paul uses to talk about being predestined or chosen. And he uses, kind of, that language 3 separate times in verse 4 and in verse 5 and in verse 11. You have been chosen or predestined before the foundations of the world. In love, he predestined us to be adopted as his sons and daughters.

Cameron: 33:04

In him, we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with his will. Now there has been, I'm not going to solve this in the next 10 minutes. I'm going to tell you that right now. I couldn't solve it in the next 100 minutes if I have it, if I had it. Right?

Cameron: 33:25

Because there has been there there has been conversation. We'll call it conversation, but most people would call it debate over about the last 5 to 600 years in church history over the question about, hey, are we, predestined to follow God? Like, we had no choice or do we have free will? Because it seems here that Paul's like, hey, you were chosen and predestined. You were chosen and predestined.

Cameron: 33:58

You were chosen and predestined. But man, like, I'm pretty sure I got a choice. I don't know. Like, I I'm pretty sure there was a moment that I chose. Because there were certainly moments in life where I was not choosing, I was choosing something else.

Cameron: 34:18

And that sure seemed to be a whole lot of my decision making and not a whole lot of the Lord's decision making. And so what is the like when we come to scriptures like this, predestined, chosen, how are we even as members of the body of Christ to approach it? Like I said, I'm not going to solve the answer of the question today, but I will have I do have some things to say about it. 1st is understanding what we mean when we say predestined and chosen or having free will. Because if you didn't grow up in the church, you're not a theology nerd like I am, maybe these things are like, like, what are you talking about?

Cameron: 34:57

Right? When we talk about something, the idea of predestination or like the idea that Paul talks about here, we're talking about like a predetermined choice by god. To have kind of a basic definition of predestination, up here. Predestination is that essentially the understanding that everything that happens has already been determined by God, And there is no way to deviate from it because his sovereignty has determined this is the direction that all of the cosmos are moving. This is the direction of every single decision that you make.

Cameron: 35:34

And whether or not you feel like you have free choice, you actually don't because there is God who is sovereign in heaven, who has determined everything already and you're just along for the ride. Okay? Now, that may be a generous or not too generous definition of the word predestination, but we'll just let it stand for now. Okay? Because then you have on the opposite side of the proverbial spectrum is the the argument for free will, And the argument of free will basically says, we have the capacity and the will to choose between multiple different choices at any day, at any time, in any situation.

Cameron: 36:18

Meaning, I could have worn whatever color this is or I could have worn a black shirt, right? I could've worn jeans today, or I could've worn my Easter suit. Right? I could've wore well, you know, like, was it predetermined that I wear jeans in this shirt, or was it predetermined that I wear something else or that I have the will to choose? Right?

Cameron: 36:40

And while there are many theological topics that this debate could apply to, is everything predetermined or do we have the freedom to choose? None are really as significant as the debate around salvation. Do you have a choice whether or not to accept Jesus as your lord and savior, to follow God, or has God already predetermined that the choices the choices that you will make in relationship to Jesus and that you are you are without ability to deviate from them. Now this whole debate, right, is kind of, if you were to go and type into Google predestination versus free will arguments, it's probably gonna lead you to, this type of topic. A topic of the debate between alright, just stick with me, alright?

Cameron: 37:34

Are you with me? Shake your heads if you're with me, alright? Okay, we're diving a little bit deep right now. You're gonna see topics about like the comparison between Armenian Theology and Calvinism. Alright?

Cameron: 37:56

And these are here we go. Yeah, our mini inverse Kelly. You're gonna see questions like that. Right? Or you're gonna see debates like that.

Cameron: 38:04

And, while we're not here to, like, elucidate all of the different points between Calvinist Theology and Arminian Theology, I wanted to mention this because if you dive deeper on your own about any of these subjects, you're going to come across these types of terms. Okay? And when you come across these types of terms, you need to understand that Armenian and Calvinism represent 2 major theological figures in the history of Christian thought who have kind of espoused these two sides of the spectrum. The spectrum of free will, a guy named Jacob Arminian, Arminius, and the side of predestination predestination, John Calvin. They both lived and functioned as pastors around the, 14th, 15th, 16th century.

Cameron: 38:53

And honestly, they basically believed the same thing. They believed, both of them, that we are so lost in our sin that on our own we are radically incapable of choosing to follow and obey God. That that our our hearts have been so darkened by sin that our lives have been so marred that we are so far separated from the presence, the power, the grace of God, that on our own, in our own merit, we have no ability to choose God unless God intervenes through his grace to draw us into relationship with him. They both essentially agreed on this one thing. We are darkened and lost and separated in our sin.

Cameron: 39:56

We have no way to god on our own unless god himself reaches out to us with the the first reach and makes a way for us to come to him AKA Jesus. Right? You with me? Got it? Yep.

Cameron: 40:21

Right. Yes. Okay. This is this is a pretty this is a pretty well accepted idea, even if you didn't really think about it in that way already. Right?

Cameron: 40:34

Like Paul says in Romans chapter 5 verse 8, while we were still sinners. Right? Or in the midst of our separation from the Lord, Christ died for us. Right? That even in the midst of our separation that God reached out to us in the work of Jesus Christ to offer a way of salvation.

Cameron: 40:54

Now the difference in these two positions is that Arminius believed that God's grace extended freely to all. That all had the ability that the the grace of God was extended to all of sinful humanity. And Calvin was of the opinion that God's grace extended only to those who would ultimately end up being saved. That there was already a predetermined people who would be saved and that God's grace only really extended to them. Now it's clear that God does move in the span of history and time to choose a people unto himself.

Cameron: 41:48

He did this with Israel. Genesis chapter 12, right? When he talked to Abraham, the forefather of the Israelite nation, I will make you a great nation. You will be my people and I will be your God. Right?

Cameron: 42:02

Jesus Jesus told his disciples in John chapter 15 verse 16. He says what? You did not choose me. Right? I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit.

Cameron: 42:17

Paul says in Romans chapter 8 verses 28 through, what we don't we just studied a couple weeks ago. 28 through 30. 30, he says this, and we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those for those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his son. That they might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters, and those he predestined he also called.

Cameron: 42:49

Those he called, he also justified. Those he justified, he also glorified. It's it's clear that there is a that there is a action of God that goes out to choose a people unto himself. Chooses them for holiness. Chooses them for blamelessness.

Cameron: 43:09

Chooses them to go out in mission. Chooses them to be the conduit of his blessing to an unbelieving world around him. But listen, it is also really clear in scripture that God does not strong-arm people into belief and that God desires that all people will be saved. 2nd Peter, chapter 3 verse 9 is probably one of the most famous examples here. We have the scripture up.

Cameron: 43:43

The lord is not slow in keeping his promise as some understood slowness. Instead, he is patient with you not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. You know what the Greek meaning of the word everyone is there? You know what it is? Everyone.

Cameron: 44:01

Yeah. It means everyone. Yeah. There's there's no other translation. Right?

Cameron: 44:04

The Greek translation of the word everyone is everyone. Right? And so god desires everyone to come into repentance according to his word, right? In Joshua, chapter 24, verse 15, right? The word of the Lord coming to Joshua.

Cameron: 44:21

Right? But if serving the Lord seems undesirable for you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve. Of course, at the end of that verse, but as for me and my house, we will choose what? We will serve the Lord. Right?

Cameron: 44:38

Choose this day. Not, hey, just fit nicely into the predetermined choice that has been offered to you that looks a lot like choice, but there really isn't one there. Choose this day whom you will serve. Maybe we'll end, with Revelation chapter 3 verse 20 is this, is the words of Jesus. Right?

Cameron: 45:01

In the vision to John, in the revelation of John, he says, here I am, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person and they with me. Jesus stands at the door. Right? And he does what?

Cameron: 45:13

Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock. Whose choice is it whether the door opens or not? Does Jesus be like SWAT team kicking the door down? He's like knock, knock, knock. Okay.

Cameron: 45:23

You're not answering. Here I come. No. Knock knock knock. Here I am.

Cameron: 45:28

If you open the door, right, I will come into fellowship with you and you will be in fellowship with me. There is choice there. Right? And so we see examples in scripture both of the choosing of a people by God and also the radical option to choose yourself. You know what's most interesting is that the Bible does not attempt to harmonize this paradox.

Cameron: 46:06

They don't attempt to clear it up at all. It doesn't attempt to clear it up. There's no one verse that's like the silver bullet will be like, okay, but here's the real thing. Here's the real answer. But here's what we can know and I think can believe both from our own walk with Jesus and our own relationship with the Lord, as well as maintaining a faithful obedience to what we see in scripture.

Cameron: 46:29

It's this, we choose freely. We choose whether we open the door when Jesus stands at the door of our proverbial heart and knock. We choose freely. But I would not be able to choose for Christ if god did not first draw me close to him by his grace. I get to choose.

Cameron: 47:05

But if God did not first extend his his his unbelievable, radical, reckless grace and love to me, then I would not in the sin, the darkness of my own life, have the capacity to choose. I would have I would have no recognition of even the presence of god in my life if god did not first reach out to me by his grace. If god did not first come to me in Jesus Christ, if god's if god's mercy was not first evident to me. In this way we could say, God has predetermined to act in an extension of mercy and grace to me, which makes it possible for the wickedness of my heart to freely choose him. Meaning without the grace of God, the mercy of God that extends to me first, I would have no capacity to freely choose him.

Cameron: 48:11

I would only and ever be lost in my sin. But what is interesting here, listen, about these passages in the first part of Ephesians, is that that's not really what Paul is aiming to talk about at all. Paul's really not talking about predestination and free will as it pertains to whether or not you are saved or not saved. It's important to read the context which is why we started at the very beginning by saying, who is the letter to the Ephesians 2? Is it to an unbelieving world that is trying to discern whether or not God has predetermined their salvation or allowing them to have free will in their salvation?

Cameron: 48:58

No. It is to those who have already responded to the grace of Jesus Christ. Right? They are they are already the saints. They are already the faithful in Christ Jesus.

Cameron: 49:08

Paul's point here is not to say how or why someone is chosen to be in Christ, but rather to describe what god has predestined or chosen those who are in Christ to do, to receive, and to be about. Paul doesn't here deal with the question at all of whether we are predestined or do we have free will. It is clear that we are predestined and chosen in Ephesians chapter 1. The question is, what are those who are in Christ predestined and chosen for? And that's what Paul talks about in the first 14 verses.

Cameron: 49:56

That's the basis of all that we of all that we pursue as we walk through Ephesians that we are predestined to be holy and blameless. You are choosing you are chosen to be set apart from the world around you. You are chosen to pursue holiness in life with Christ. Paul says this in the very first the very the very first opening of Ephesians. For he has chosen us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.

Cameron: 50:34

We have been predestined and chosen to be adopted as sons and daughters, to be a part of a family unified under the leadership and headship of Jesus Christ with a mission to the world. In love, he has predestined us to be adopted as sons and daughters in Jesus Christ. He has predestined and chosen us to be a reflection and praise of his glory and honor. In him, we were also chosen having been predestined in order that we who are the 1st in hope to hope in Christ might be might that we might be for the praise of his glory that we might exist. We have been pre chosen and predestined to be and exist for the praise of God's glory.

Cameron: 51:31

And finally, that we have been predestined and chosen to receive an inheritance from the Lord That is kept for us in heaven that is sealed on us with the holy spirit. Having believed you are marked in him with a seal, the promised holy spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our until the redemption of those who are God's possession to the praise of his glory. We have been predestined and chosen to receive a gift from God that eternally exists and cannot be taken from all those who faithfully trust in Jesus. And the holy spirit is the seal of an of that inheritance marking that we are God's children. And so Paul's Paul's point here is that, hey, look, church, you the question of predestined or predestination or free will does not exist in in the context of a argument on whether or not one person is saved or isn't saved.

Cameron: 52:37

We already know you are if you're listening to this Ephesians. The question is is like now that you are in Christ, what are you chosen for? And the and the and the same question remains for us. Those who are in Christ, what are we chosen for? What are we predestined to do in Christ?

Cameron: 53:03

We are predestined to be holy and blameless. We are predestined to be adopted into the family of God. We are we are predestined to reflect the glory and praise of God and to receive from him an eternal inheritance for our lives. Let that be the foundation upon which we pursue the truth of Ephesians going forward. Let's pray.

Cameron: 53:26

Heavenly Father, we thank you for an opportunity to respond to your word this morning. And we ask, Lord, that those of us who are in Christ, the faithful in Christ, That we would, Lord, be for the praise of your glory. That we would, by faith, Lord, pursue holiness and blamelessness. That we, father, would would have would have knowledge of the eternal inheritance that is ours in Jesus Christ. And that you would you would reveal and seal that in us through the power of the holy spirit.

Cameron: 54:14

Lord, overall and above all, we ask, Lord, that we would be people of doing the word and not merely listening to it. That our hearts would be transformed rather than our minds just being fed and our ears being tickled. Lord, transform our hearts. Give us hunger for you, Lord. Make us hungry for holiness.

Cameron: 54:46

In Jesus' name. Amen. Heavenly father, would you set us apart to be predestined and chosen for holiness and blamelessness. Adopting us as sons and daughters. Setting us, Lord, for the praise of your glory.

Cameron: 55:05

Lord, we desire we desire, Lord, an increased hunger in our hearts for you. And pray, heavenly father, that you would transform us, not just in our heads, but in our hearts as well. Yes, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.

Cameron: 55:20

Conduit, you are loved. Have a great week, and we will see you when we see you.