[0:00] on Ephesians in your Bible, and we just began, I'd say, I guess two Sundays ago, the book of Ephesians, verse by verse, every word, every line, and seek to study through this book over the next few months.
[0:21] And we got, we didn't get far. We got into verse four, I suppose. So the book of Ephesians, chapter number one, got a few empty spots here this morning because some folks have been traveling, and some I've heard from Jason Wells that he drove across to Ohio, like I mentioned last Sunday, about him taking a teaching position over there.
[0:54] And so his wife Andrea flew to Cincinnati on Friday, and they're there getting things set up for him for this school semester upcoming, and he's pretty nervous about it.
[1:05] He was, I don't know if you noticed last Sunday, pretty emotional. He was kind of, it's on. Now it's on. There's two steps to this process.
[1:18] And so he's pretty emotional about leaving here, really loves it here, and looking forward to getting back over the holidays. And then, of course, the Petersons, they took off on Thursday night around, or actually it would have been Friday morning, 1230 in the morning, to drive across the country to Pensacola to drop Riley off, get him set up in an apartment to start Bible school.
[1:42] And so they made it. They were struggling. They were texting us every now and then saying we're, I think they were down to just going one hour apiece. They were that wore out from driving all day Friday, overnight, and all that.
[1:55] And so I said, well, maybe you need a little encouragement. And so I text them and said, suck it up, Petersons. And so anyway, I said, pedal down, Pensacola bound, let's, so anyway.
[2:08] They made it, and they were, Eric texted me this morning saying that they made it to the church and they were excited about being there. So let's get into the text. All right. We got into, let's just begin at the very beginning and we'll catch up a little bit, review if needed, and then move forward.
[2:25] Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God to the saints which are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. Remember, remember, remember, in Christ Jesus.
[2:35] You'll see it all over the place, in Christ. Everything is attached to and connected to your being in. And last week we looked at how you get in. And it's a spiritual baptism.
[2:46] The Holy Spirit of God places the believer into the body of Christ. It is not a water baptism. And we studied this out last week. And if you're in Christ, you're a new creature.
[2:57] And pretty much nothing else matters about your age, your sex, your height, your weight, your IQ. None of that matters anymore.
[3:07] It's like the slate's wiped clean. God doesn't need any of that. He puts a new creature inside of you, his spirit within you. And so verse number two, grace and peace, or grace be to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
[3:21] Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings, not physical blessings, spiritual blessings, not on earth, in heavenly places.
[3:34] And there it is again in Christ, of course. And I think we made enough comment on that to suffice. If you didn't get it, you'll have to go online. Now moving into verse four, this blessing that God has given carries on.
[3:51] According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
[4:14] Now the thought we got on and continued into last week, I suppose it will continue this week a little, is this thought of God choosing someone and choosing them before the foundation of the world and predestinating some, as they presume, to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ.
[4:34] And regardless of the wording of the text, many just kind of just veer off and say, oh, well that means that God predestinated me to be saved and predestinated that I, this is my life.
[4:50] And then others, well, if they didn't get saved, then that's obviously the case with them too. God predestinated, you have to assume that they be damned. And that's this pretty sorry teaching.
[5:01] And it finds it's, it doesn't just go to John Calvin. It goes before him, but that's kind of the name that got attached to it and became known as Calvinism. And because there's such a teaching and a theology as Calvinism, there's other teachings with ISM endings, isms.
[5:19] So some people just say, you know what, we reject all isms. We don't believe in dispensational ism. We don't believe in Calvinism. And then there's many others. And they just presume it's all man, just coming up with things.
[5:31] And so they reject anything that ends in an ISM. And then they pretend that they study their Bible the way it was given to them. And so you can thank God if you know how to rightly divide the word of God.
[5:44] That's a big, big, big deal. Now let's go back to the text here. We covered this last week, so I'll just say a few words. is that he didn't choose who gets in Christ.
[5:55] He didn't choose you to get in Christ. The teaching is not that at all, but rather he chose us in him. So if you're in Christ, you're chosen. The analogy I gave you last week that kind of blew up in my face was saying about a plane going to Las Vegas.
[6:10] And then I realized I have the body of Christ going to Sin City for the weekend. And it just didn't make good sense. So I tried to retract that. But the idea was that if you choose to get in Christ, your destination now is fixed.
[6:26] And it's just like choosing to get on a plane. You didn't, the captain didn't choose you to get on the plane. Jesus Christ didn't, God the Father didn't choose you to get in Christ.
[6:36] But rather you chose to get on a plane and the captain said, this plane is going to heaven, so it's fixed. It's settled. And on the way, there's an awful lot of good perks and benefits too, by the way.
[6:47] And that's because you made a choice to get in Christ. So he hath chosen us in him, verse 4 says, before the foundation of the world. And God, as we'll see in this passage, has a purpose and a will that goes all the way back to the beginning.
[7:04] It's something that man can't, it's just, you have to dig into the scriptures to start to unravel and to figure it out or place it in order. God has a plan and his wisdom is, Paul says, who hath known the mind of the Lord.
[7:21] And I know why he says that. He's even had some special revelation and now he tries to convey to us what he's learned and it's sometimes hard to put together. But God set this up, not for individuals to get in Christ, but rather those who are in Christ to receive, in verse 5, the adoption of children.
[7:39] So let's move into that. Can we move into that yet? Yeah, let's just move into that and see where this goes. So verse 5 says, having predestinated us.
[7:50] There's the word, that's the big one that people get all excited about. And the word predestinated means to predetermine a destiny. It's predetermined and like I said, you get saved, then your destiny is fixed and settled, it's predetermined.
[8:06] But no one has ever predestinated to salvation and you can't make a case out of that from the text of the Bible. You have to twist things and presume things. And as I said last week, predestination always follows salvation.
[8:20] You get saved, now you've gotten into predestination to be conformed to the image of his son, to receive the adoption of children, to receive an inheritance later on in verse 11.
[8:32] All right, so let's continue in verse 5. Having predestinated us under the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will. Now the adoption of children, come back to Galatians chapter 4.
[8:46] And let's let the Bible speak for itself here. Galatians 4. Paul's the one that teaches this to believers.
[9:02] And here he uses an example that they would understand related to their culture about a son who is an heir to everything that's his father's.
[9:17] And he's really connecting it back into the Jewish culture and custom with Abraham ending chapter 3. But going on into chapter 4, we'll begin there. Now I say that the heir, as long as he's a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all.
[9:32] He might be the only son and due to take over the entire thing, the estate and all of it. But if he's just a child, he doesn't get, he's not sitting on a throne, is he? He's not making the decisions and calling the shots.
[9:45] He's not in charge of anything. Even though he's lord of all of it, he's going to get it all. And now verse 2, but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed to the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.
[10:00] But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
[10:11] Because of your sons, God hath sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Notice he sends forth the spirit. That's important. I'll just show that in a minute. Into your hearts.
[10:21] Wherefore thou art no more a servant but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. Now, you've been made a son, but you're still an heir.
[10:33] You haven't received it, right? So you're still kind of like that child. But you are made a son. You're no longer a servant. You're part of the family. You've been brought into the family of God upon salvation, faith in Christ, placed in the body of Christ.
[10:47] But you haven't received yet the, quote unquote, the inheritance. You're still an heir. As he says in the passage. Now, come back to Romans chapter 8. And so the thought here, the adoption, you're predestinated to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ.
[11:06] It hasn't taken place yet, the adoption that is. Think of it like this.
[11:17] Like, you've been saved. You're part of the family. The documents have been signed and stamped and it's official. You just haven't moved in yet. You're still stuck in this, like he said in Galatians, the world, the elements of the world where we're stuck in.
[11:35] We're still there. Romans 8, notice verse 14. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage, again to fear, but ye have received the spirit, there it is again, the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
[11:54] The spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children, then heirs. Heirs of God and join heirs with Christ. We're still called children, though, aren't we?
[12:05] Even though we're a son, we're a child. We're not yet made or manifest to be that taking over. So the language matches in the passages when we carefully look at it, but it's important that he uses it on purpose, the spirit of adoption.
[12:23] The spirit of adoption. You don't, well, if you still have Ephesians, flip back there, keep Romans, and notice, notice verse 13 of chapter 1.
[12:35] In whom you also trusted, after that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. In whom also after that you believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance.
[12:49] Because we're heirs. And we didn't get the inheritance yet, and it's not yet been manifest that we are the sons of God. We still look the same, and all of that.
[12:59] But he's placed his spirit within us as a promise, as the word earnest. If you know banker's terms, you know that's a down payment or a pledge. And so God gave you a pledge, a promise, a token of what he's going to do.
[13:14] You are predestinated to a much better future. It's already fixed and settled, and proof of that is God gave us his spirit within us as a earnest until, he says in verse 14, the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession.
[13:34] And Romans 8 shows us that's our body. Come back to Romans, and just, I don't have time to talk it all out, but look at the end of verse 23. Romans chapter 8, verse 23, waiting for the adoption, see, we're waiting for it, to wit, the redemption of our body.
[13:51] Has that happened yet? No. Look earlier in the passage, look at verse 19. For the earnest expectation of the creature, that's me, inside this body, waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
[14:09] And then the passage continues, the same language, all the way through, that we are waiting for, we're groaning within ourselves, we desire to be clothed upon with immortality and life.
[14:19] And so the adoption of children that we're predestinated to, the reason we can say it that way, and the reason the Bible's right to say it that way, is because it hasn't taken place yet.
[14:31] When somebody takes that phrase, the adoption of children, and says, that's salvation, then you have yourself being predestinated to salvation. You can't equivocate the two. They're not. They're not the same.
[14:42] The adoption of children is a future thing. He's given us the spirit of adoption. And we wait for the adoption. And the spirit is him within us as a down payment until he does, in fact, make in us what he intends to.
[14:59] And we're manifest what we are in Christ. Because it's going to happen. We're going to get that new body. I didn't keep you in Romans 8. I'm sorry. I just wanted to read a verse.
[15:10] Verse 29. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son. And this goes a lot farther in scripture, especially, I was in it yesterday, and I just realized I can't keep running these references.
[15:28] We'll be here all day just on this. That he might be the firstborn among many brethren. And that stuff starts making connections through the Bible.
[15:38] But we'll have to stop with that. I just want you to understand the fact that you're predestinated unto the adoption of children, Ephesians 1.5. When you get saved and are placed in the body of Christ, you receive the spirit of adoption.
[15:50] And that is a pledge. The spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And we're sons of God, but it's not yet been manifest. We're not inheriting yet what's going to be given to us.
[16:03] We're heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. All right, let's move forward with Ephesians 1.5. Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.
[16:18] Now, that phrase that there at the end, the good pleasure of his will, is not just saying just because he wants to do it, whatever he wants to do. That's not what it's saying. That he did that because it pleased him.
[16:29] That goes a little further than that as well. Look a little later in the passage. Oh, where would this be? Look at verse 9. Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself.
[16:44] So this is something strategic. It's not just, I do what I want to do because I'm God, so I did that. He had a plan, and we saw it already that it was before the foundation of the world, that he had set some things in motion here.
[16:57] Look at verse 11 of the same passage, Ephesians 1, 11, In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will, that we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
[17:16] Now, keep your place and come over to 2 Timothy, chapter 1. 2 Timothy, chapter 1. So God has purposed, according to his own will, he has a will, and he has chosen for something to take place, and he's chosen for those who trust his son Christ and get in the body of Christ.
[17:49] He's chosen and purposed that a body, a congregation of people, that he created for his own glory and for his own pleasure, he purposed that these, not the entire human race, but the ones who will be justified by faith through the shed blood of his son, he chose for that body to do something.
[18:15] And this is going way back in his mind. 2 Timothy, look at chapter 1, verses 8 and 9, Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me as prisoner, but be thou a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God, who hath saved us and called us within holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.
[18:45] Notice how that connects to what he said in Ephesians. And it's his own purpose, and there's the word grace, which is popping up all over Ephesians chapter 1 as well, which was given us.
[18:57] No, no, no. It wasn't given us. Not to you, to me, and to anybody. No, it was given us in Christ Jesus. You better be in Christ Jesus or you're not getting any of this.
[19:08] It has nothing to do with you. But you're in Christ Jesus. So what God purposed and willed has to do with his son and to those who get in his son and become joint heirs with his son.
[19:21] Now come back to Ephesians again. And let's see a few more things here if we can. It's called a mystery in verse 9.
[19:39] Having made note unto us the mystery of his will. It is a mystery. And I think it's a little more mysterious than just saying it's the mystery of the body of Christ.
[19:51] In chapter 3, he describes that a little bit as a mystery and a revelation. And look at chapter 3 in verse 3, how that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery as I wrote for a few words.
[20:06] And he talks about the body of Christ there as well. And typically people say, well, that's something revealed to Paul is the body. Yes, I agree with that. But he reveals the purpose for the body.
[20:17] Not just that there is a body. Are we ready? Are we okay? Let's go to Ephesians 3. Let's stay there for a minute. The purpose of the body.
[20:29] If we can catch any of this and I can't speak purely definitively about this. But come to verse 9. And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God who created all things by Jesus.
[20:46] Do you see that mystery? It's been hid from the beginning of the world. It's been the purpose and the will of God for this. Verse 10, You do see the connections that are being made here about the redundancy of the purpose and being in Christ and before the world began that he had a plan for those who get in Christ and for that body.
[21:20] And the plan has something to do with the heavenly places in verse 10 and the principalities and powers that are currently there. Let me see if it's in Philippians here.
[21:39] Yeah, look at Philippians 3. This is just a little bit of speculation in connection with this.
[21:54] Verse 20, Philippians 3.20, For our conversation is in heaven. For whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body.
[22:06] And there's that adoption of children unto himself. And there's where we're manifest as the sons of God and get a better body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, a body that can be in the heavenly places and that can, who knows what, immortal.
[22:25] Okay, so finish the verse here. Fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things. That's a key phrase. All things unto himself.
[22:37] The all things, should we start studying that out in the Bible, goes into all things were created by him, whether they be visible or invisible.
[22:48] Dominions and thrones and principalities and power. All things were created by him and for him. But right now, they're not all for him, are they? And he hasn't subdued them unto himself. But the Bible says he's going to change our vile bodies and make them like his glorious body.
[23:03] And he connects that with the thought of subduing all things unto himself. It seems he's going to use us to take over and to subdue the rebellion in the heavenly places and not get the earth and reign on the earth like many suppose.
[23:20] But his purpose and plan for us goes far beyond this earth. It was before the foundation of the world. It was before that. It was that we take over what fell apart.
[23:32] So get back in Ephesians. I told you at the beginning of this book there's some heavy stuff in here that I don't know. And I stand by that statement. But there's certainly some things.
[23:42] It's more than just a little walk in the park here in Ephesians. And he starts off pretty heavy with some very doctrinal stuff. And this Bible's amazing if you haven't caught on.
[23:54] Ephesians chapter 1. I did not mean to dive into that so we'll try to push past it. Verse 5 again. And having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will to the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
[24:16] That is his grace wherein. You see the wherein following the word grace. It does it again in verse 8. Wherein follows the word grace. The riches of his grace wherein he hath abounded toward us.
[24:29] And so that's why I pointed that out in 2 Timothy 1. His own purpose and grace. That's what Paul calls this dispensation in chapter 3 of the grace of God given to me to you word.
[24:44] That we should be fellow heirs with the Jews that we can get in to something that we have no business getting into. And God gives us something special.
[24:56] And it's all connected to his grace. His grace is grace so to the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. Now what's that mean?
[25:07] Everybody wants acceptance today. I mean everybody. I don't care if you're a loner you still want it. You don't want rejected do you? Nobody wants that. Everybody wants to be accepted. Cain wanted to be accepted.
[25:18] And he tried to find a way that didn't work. Abel found a way that worked. And God even said that in Genesis 4. If thou doest well shalt thou not be accepted but you didn't do well.
[25:31] But you know where we get accepted? It's in verse 6. It's in the beloved. What's that mean? The Lord Jesus Christ. What's he called? From a voice speaking out of heaven and he said this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.
[25:52] Jesus Christ the beloved and it's in him. It's in Christ. It's in whom in verse 7 and in verse 6 it's in the beloved.
[26:03] We're accepted in the beloved. You're not accepted if you're not in Christ. You're just offering your good works like Cain. You're doing your best. You're not accepted but in him we're accepted.
[26:15] Wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. More than that verse 7 in whom you better have I made it clear enough that everything is contingent upon being in Christ in whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins praise God according to the riches of his grace.
[26:35] There it is again wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence. We are not going to get through some of this stuff. Man. In whom we have redemption through his blood.
[26:47] Our redemption is through Jesus Christ. Look at 1 Peter chapter 1. What is redemption? Redemption involves a price or a cost. It is a purchase.
[27:00] It means to buy back. Another term that's connected to it is ransom. Redemption. This is a Bible term.
[27:12] It's cover to cover. Redemption is in this Bible. You redeem animals in the Old Testament. You redeem the firstborn child in the Old Testament. There's cases where they have to redeem the house and the land.
[27:28] But here people souls are redeemed. And look at verse number 18. 1 Peter 1.18 For as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things money as silver and gold from the vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers.
[27:44] That's the Old Testament law right there. the vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers. You pay this much pay that much to get redeemed. Not anymore. You know there's different prices to redeem a man or a woman.
[27:57] Different prices based on your age and through life. But that's over with. You're not redeemed with any of that anymore. Verse 19 But with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world.
[28:15] On and on. Okay the redemptions in Christ it is through his blood. I wanted that verse in Peter to stand out because in verse 7 of Ephesians those three words through his blood are just ripped out of the new versions.
[28:30] It's missing. Oh it's not in the best manuscripts they say. And so their versions read in whom we have redemption the forgiveness of sins. And sadly those are two different things.
[28:44] They're related yes but they're not the same. And grammatically that introduces an error into the text to say that forgiveness of sins and redemption are identical as if the one's expounding or explaining the other.
[28:58] It's not true. In whom we have redemption through his blood. In Colossians 1.14 it says even the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. That word riches is a word that Paul likes to use.
[29:12] He uses it in this book quite a bit. He uses it in verse 18. At the end it says the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. He uses it again in chapter 2 verse 7 to describe the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us.
[29:28] Could I highlight that word kindness toward us for the next hour? Just everybody here got that? Okay. Then I won't have to go. His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. He mentions it in chapter 3 a few times.
[29:41] It's in verse 8 and 16 where he calls it the unsearchable riches of Christ and in verse 16 the riches of his glory. That's a pet word of the apostle Paul here in Ephesians for sure.
[29:58] Now we're going to try to get through verse 8 here do a little Bible study on this verse. Wherein his grace according to the riches of his grace wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence.
[30:14] Let's take a look at this. Come back to Proverbs chapter 8. These words wisdom and prudence showing up together and some of the perversions of the Bible get rid of the word prudence and they change it to insight or they change it to understanding.
[30:33] But wisdom and prudence belong together so saith the Bible. Watch this Proverbs chapter 8 verse oh I lost it verse 12 because they dwell together.
[30:51] I wisdom dwell with prudence and find out knowledge of witty inventions. I wisdom dwell with prudence and find out knowledge.
[31:03] Find out knowledge. look at chapter oh I don't know if I marked it. It might be 18. Yeah 1815.
[31:23] Here's the prudent and the wise being the same person. The heart of the prudent getteth knowledge and the ear of the wise seeketh knowledge.
[31:34] Saying similar things as back in chapter 8. Now what does the word prudence even mean? The Bible says the wise in heart Proverbs 16 21 shall be called prudent.
[31:46] They go together. But let's look at the word prudent just for a quick second here. Chapter 14 verse 15 Proverbs 14 15 try to get a little bit of an idea or definition of the word.
[31:57] Proverbs 14 15 The simple believeth every word. Just simple faith. Just believe everything you hear. But the prudent man looketh well to his going.
[32:10] Looketh well to his going. That's looking in front of him. Alright now let's pair that with chapter 22 and verse 3. chapter 22 verse 3 we're going to make another distinction here and then we'll go back to Ephesians and wrap this up.
[32:36] Proverbs 22 3 A prudent man foreseeeth the evil and hideth himself but the simple pass on and are punished. So what do we learn about a prudent man here? That he foresees he looketh well to his going.
[32:49] He looks ahead. He pays attention. He's aware. He's cautious. He sees what's in front of him and reacts accordingly. Is that not what he says there? He looketh well to his going or he seeth the evil and hideth himself?
[33:02] He's not going to get destroyed. He's going to make good decisions. Wise and prudent decisions. I'd say this.
[33:12] He has his eyes opened and he understands the future. what's coming. So look at Hosea. Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea.
[33:26] And let's see these two words and an application they can make here. And then we'll go back to Ephesians.
[33:38] Hosea 13 all the way near the end. wisdom and prudence. So I just want to make a few points here.
[33:52] This is prophetic here, Hosea 13, 14, much of the book, but in the end here he's looking well to the Jews' future. And he describes what we'll call the tribulation time ahead in verse 13.
[34:07] notice if you know the 13s in your Bible, Hosea 13, 13 is not pretty. The sorrows of a travailing woman shall come upon him.
[34:17] He's an unwise son. So this is, I don't have time to really build this case, but the terminology connects itself to the time of Jacob's trouble and to tribulation.
[34:31] Now fast forward into the next chapter and look at verse 4. I will heal their backslidings. I will love them freely for mine anger is turned away from him.
[34:44] Prophetically speaking, the second coming of Christ, the establishment of the kingdom, the restoration of Israel and God salvation brought to them as a nation and God through this passage I will be due unto Israel.
[34:58] He shall grow as the lily and so forth. And now come down to the very end. If you understand that prophetically of the tribulation of the second coming of Christ, of the established kingdom and the millennial reign, then look at verse 9.
[35:11] 14, 9. Who is wise and he shall understand these things? Prudent and he shall know them. For the ways of the Lord are right, the just shall walk therein, the transgressor shall fall therein.
[35:23] The wise and the prudent man has understanding of what's ahead. Now come back to Ephesians. And just a quick little Bible study on these words seems to match.
[35:37] verse 8. Ephesians 1, 8. Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all, these words are the right words, in all wisdom and prudence. And then continue the thought.
[35:49] Having made known, there's the knowledge that we saw earlier, having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he had purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, future stuff.
[36:02] And he makes that known to us, as he's abounded to us, in wisdom and prudence, because we're in Christ, and we can understand and know the mystery of his will.
[36:15] And so there's a little ending there, there's more, you don't just read through that and say, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, but when you park on it and study it and seek to learn it and teach it, there's so much in this book, and it all just is interwoven throughly and connected deliciously, I think.
[36:35] All right, let's have a word of prayer and then we'll take a break. Father, thank you for the study this morning, for God, I know there's more in this book than I understand, and that's fine with me. I thank you for this holy book and for what you have.