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[0:00] Well, good morning, everybody. If you've got your Bibles, please find the book of Ephesians, and we'll continue through with our study, verse by verse, every word of every line of the book of Ephesians, and we are in chapter number one.

[0:22] Just a quick announcement for those of you who are praying and for know that our brothers and brother, John Boshman, who normally sits right there at Sunday school and plays the piano, has moved.

[0:36] He's driving right now to Michigan, back home to where he's from, and he's just was struggling with it, but he had to be out of his apartment by today, and he didn't have a place lined up, and every place that he attempted to get was falling through, and the door was closing, and he has a father that's not well health-wise, and he had a sister that I think, I forget where she was from Kentucky or somewhere.

[1:01] She went for about a month and a half to be with her parents and just to help out around the house, and he said it wasn't until Wednesday that the idea struck him that maybe I should go home.

[1:12] And so we talked in the parking lot Wednesday night and said, well, those thoughts come to you sometimes from the Lord if it's his will, and he puts that in your mind, and it just makes sense. And he wasn't sure if that was right, and I prayed with him about it, and he continued to look for a place.

[1:28] I said, if you could find a place, would you stay? He said, yeah, I think I would stay if I could find a place, but I just don't know that that's what I should do. So I prayed with him about it, and he texted me yesterday and said he's packing up and hitting the road, and he's heading home.

[1:44] So don't know if that's indefinite or not, but he's moved away before and came back, so we'll see if his heart draws him back to Los Angeles or not. But be in prayer for him throughout today, and tomorrow he'll be driving and heading home.

[1:59] And so I wanted to let you know about that. So we're in Ephesians chapter number one. We're working our way through. I thought we were getting past the heavy stuff, and we are, but it's like this whole chapter.

[2:14] The introductory chapter of this epistle to this church at Ephesus is just, it's loaded. It's bombarded with this heavy truth that goes beyond today.

[2:27] We'll get into chapter two and three and four, and there'll be some real practical stuff, some real Christian life, boots on the ground, walk with Jesus Christ stuff. But right now, Paul starts very lofty, very theological.

[2:42] He's talking about the predestination, the purpose of God in Christ Jesus before the world began, what God has set in motion and planned for his son, and for those who get in his son.

[2:55] That would be us, the body of Christ, and that's something that he talks about here in these next few verses. And as he's not just talking about redemption and forgiveness of sins in verse seven, that's the kind of stuff we get, we can pull out and act like that's what the whole theme is, but it's not.

[3:12] And we can pull out the gospel in verses 13 and eternal security in verse 13 and 14, and we get that truth, and that's a blessing. Those are verses I turn to when I want to show somebody eternal security, that once you're saved, you're always saved, no matter what you do.

[3:26] You have the spirit of God, the Holy Spirit of promise, but the real overview, the overwhelming context is a future thing for the body of Christ and what God has purposed for us in his son, that we're predestinated unto the adoption of children.

[3:46] We studied that from verse number five, that that is when it's physically manifest that we are the sons of God, when he changes our vile bodies and fashions them like unto his glorious body.

[3:57] It will be complete, but until then, we're waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. And he goes on and talks about that inheritance in verse 11, and I believe that's the same thing, because that's what he uses in verse number 14 to describe our new body, is the word inheritance, and the Holy Spirit of promise is the earnest of our inheritance.

[4:19] So let's start in verse 13, and we'll pick it up where we stopped, and then try to move forward. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

[4:45] Now, let me pause and just make a statement here. To he that hath an ear, let him hear. I like saying that. Some churches, this is all they ever get in the pew, is milky doctrine.

[5:03] Every Sunday, every Wednesday, every Sunday, every Wednesday, all they'll pull out of chapter one is the gospel. And as important as that is, praise the Lord for the gospel of Jesus Christ, and for the eternal security we have in Jesus Christ, and the sealing of the Spirit, and all of these things.

[5:21] But being that this is Sunday school, don't you want to go further than the gospel? I mean, once you've got the gospel, do you need it again and again and again? Do you not need the rest, the whole counsel of God?

[5:35] And so while we study these words and these lines, I'll go as far as I can possibly go, which is limited. There's a ceiling to my teaching. I understand that. But we'll give as much as we can.

[5:47] And I'll give you as much Bible as I can give you in Sunday school hour and try to feed you and try to get you to know the words of this book. Because God gave the book to us, not just the gospel.

[6:00] So that's a small little portion of what we have in Christ. And we need to learn some more things. And if God gave it to us and we can discern it and understand it, then let's do that. So shame on the men that that's all they do is just give them bottles every Sunday and let them suck on a little bit of milk.

[6:18] And that's all these Christians get is get saved, get baptized. Get saved, get baptized, and go jump on a Sunday school bus somewhere. And you need some Bible. And this is not the only thing you need either, okay?

[6:29] You do need to serve the Lord Jesus Christ and not get filled with knowledge. But Sunday school hour is for this, so let's do it. All right. So in verse number 15, we'll move forward. Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers.

[6:51] And he's going to go forward with some things he makes mention of. But let's take a pause here. Look at verse 15 again. He says, I heard of two things. I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and he heard of the love unto all the saints.

[7:05] I just want to point out to you that these two words go together. They're both fruit of the Spirit, faith and love, from Galatians chapter 5.

[7:16] And they go together in balance. Take a look at the end of this epistle, chapter number 6, and look at verse 23. Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.

[7:37] Let's run at just a few verses here, not many, but look at Colossians chapter 1. Colossians 1, verse number 4.

[7:51] Very similar introduction, very similar wording. Verse 4, he says, actually I'll back up to verse 3. He's giving thanks for them also. We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love which ye have to all the saints.

[8:08] And then he brings up another word, hope, for the hope. We'll see that in a few minutes, but just put that in the back of your head. Look at 1 Thessalonians, next book to the right. Chapter 1, verse 3.

[8:20] Remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love. And then there's a third one, impatience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. One more verse, same book, 5, 8.

[8:32] But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for in hell meant the hope of salvation.

[8:44] There's the hope again. That shows up pretty closely with faith and love a lot of times. I pointed out when we were back in chapter 1 of Ephesians in verse 8, how wisdom and prudence, those two words go together in verse 8, and I, wisdom, dwell with prudence.

[8:57] We did a little Bible study on that. Now we've got two more words that God put in His holy book and put them together. And their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and then what should come after that naturally is love unto all the saints.

[9:14] And we're not going to take the time to run verses on that, but that's a New Testament doctrine. That is the doctrine of Christ is to love the brethren, loving one another.

[9:25] Just park in 1 John. Read the epistle of 1 John and see if you can't figure it out. So faith and love. And then the word hope. That's going to show up in this passage, and we'll get to that in a minute.

[9:37] Come back to Ephesians 1, verse 15. And wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His calling, and what is the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.

[10:08] There's that word a third time. And what is the exceeding greatness of His power to usward, who believe according to the working of His mighty power which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places.

[10:23] And I can't keep going. I'm trying to finish the sentence, but it goes all the way to the end of the chapter. When He prays for them, He prays some specific things. And I'm not going to parse all of these verses and pull out every phrase and run every word and try to make connections as we very easily could.

[10:41] But His prayer is simply a few things. Very potently, He's looking for them to grow. He's looking for them to understand this purpose that He spoke of earlier in the chapter that God has for them.

[10:54] In verse number 17, He prays that God would give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.

[11:05] Now, I'm not going to run the verses with the spirit of wisdom or things about that, but I think you get the concept there. He's praying for them to have knowledge. That God would give them the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.

[11:24] The eyes of your understanding being enlightened. So, if you know anything about grammar, you see that verse 17 ends with a colon. And what follows is an explanation or a continuation of that.

[11:36] The eyes of your understanding being enlightened. Then there's a semicolon which kind of puts a stop to it as far as that thought. So, maybe you could say that verse 18, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened is kind of a rewording of the previous thought.

[11:54] That He'd give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened. Now, these are spiritual eyes. These are the eyes of your understanding.

[12:06] Look at Luke chapter, I want to say, 24. Look at Luke 24. Look at Luke 24. And this is the Lord Jesus Christ speaking to some disciples and they didn't even know it was Him.

[12:27] And He's expounding in verse 27. He's expounding the scriptures to these men. And they're just, they're eating it up. In verse 29, they constrained Him.

[12:41] They said, don't go. Stay with us. And then He opens their eyes. Verse 31 says, and their eyes were opened and they knew Him. And He vanished out of their sight. And they said one to another, did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us by the way, while He opened to us the scriptures?

[12:55] Now, later on, He comes and meets the rest of them. And He sits and He eats with them and He proves that He's not a spirit, that He has flesh and bones.

[13:07] And they're scared. And so come to verse 44. He said unto them, these are the words as I spake unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses and the prophets and in the Psalms concerning me.

[13:20] Then opened He, their understanding, that they might understand what? The scriptures. He didn't open their eyes to see spirits flying around and angelic beings.

[13:34] And He didn't let them hear a voice from heaven. It was nothing that was outside of this book. He just opened their eyes to the book.

[13:45] And come back to Ephesians, that's all you need. You need your eyes open to what's in this book. You don't need to have some revelation outside of this church building and outside of this body.

[13:57] You don't need to get outside of your frame and get in touch with the spirits and the ancestors. You don't need to smoke something and have some revelation come to you. That's not how God works.

[14:08] He works through the words of His book. And so in verse 17 and 18, if He's going to open the eyes of your understanding, He's going to do it by giving you understanding in the words of God.

[14:19] It's all in here, by the way. Everything that needs to be written has been written. This thing is closed in the sense of it's completed. And if God's going to speak to you, He's going to do it from the Word of God.

[14:33] If He's going to teach you and reveal something, if you're going to get some wisdom, the spirit of wisdom, the revelation and the knowledge of Him, it's going to come from the Word of God. It's going to come from the book. And so you know what you ought to hold precious to you?

[14:47] You know what ought to mean something to you? You know what you ought to study and read and care about? Yeah. The holy words of God.

[14:57] Not just because you are so privileged to have a copy, which you are. Several copies probably, right? Not just because you're privileged and that, you know, God's blessed this land or something like that.

[15:11] Because they're the, this is, what else is there? What else is holy on this planet that you can pick up and touch with your hands? What else is pure?

[15:22] Where can you learn of God? Where can you know Him? You can look at the mountains and the trees. You can study science and study botany and anything you can put your mind to.

[15:33] Biology and it all points to the Lord Jesus Christ. And it points to His wisdom. But where can you know His wisdom? Where can you learn of His wisdom? It's in the Word of God.

[15:44] And this book reveals more than you will ever get. And I promise if you devote your heart and your time to it, you'll get some stuff. He'll speak to you. He's not trying to hide Himself.

[15:57] He's not. He'd love to let you learn of Him. Now, I'm kind of leading into the next hour, so I'll try to back off of that for a little bit here.

[16:08] We're in verse 18. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened. That ye may know. What are you going to learn when He enlightens your eyes? Some of this material that He's just been talking about earlier in the chapter.

[16:22] That ye may know what is the hope of His calling. And what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. It's a comma. He's continuing. And what is the exceeding greatness of His power to usward.

[16:35] Notice that. Who believe according to His working of His mighty power which He wrought in Christ when He did what? Raised Him from the dead. So this is all one thought here that we're covering.

[16:47] That our understanding can be enlightened to. That He's praying that God would give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of Him. The hope of His calling.

[16:57] Now, one thing I want to say here is this Bible. There's Bible language that we need to be familiar with. Nobody walks around talking about the hope of my calling.

[17:12] Is that the hope of your calling? We don't use that phrase. That's a Bible phrase. That's a phrase that has a meaning to it. A scriptural and doctrinal meaning for the body of Christ.

[17:24] The lost man can't receive the things of the Spirit of God. Their foolishness to Him. He'll use the word calling. Where have you ever used or heard the word calling in this world?

[17:36] How does a lost man use that word? He might talk about, is that your calling in life? To be a carpenter? Is that your calling?

[17:46] To be a... Is it? A plumber? It's my calling. Oh, it's His calling. That's...

[17:57] How else do we use that word? Besides in the verb sense of calling somebody to dinner. Amen. But we use it in that sense of what they're here to do or something.

[18:08] Like here, here. But that's not the Bible use or application of that word at all. It has to do with there. It has to do with being a called out assembly. That's what the word church means.

[18:20] And we are called... In Romans, we're called the called. He calls us the called according to His purpose. And so this term called is the same body of Christ connecting to Jesus Christ, being in Christ.

[18:35] And the hope of His calling is a future reference. Always future. The hope. Hope. He's our blessed hope. Reference to His return. What happens at His return?

[18:46] We're changed. We're made like unto Him. And the adoption of children. The whole thing starts to get set in motion in reality.

[18:56] Whereas now it's just... It's our hope. It's what we're waiting for. Now understand also the word hope is not a wish. Like I hope it doesn't rain today. It's not that word at all.

[19:07] The Bible's use of the word hope is an expectation. It's a promise. It's when I receive the promise. And that promise is mentioned at the end of verse 13.

[19:18] That Holy Spirit of promise. What was that promise? That He's going to change our bodies. He's going to redeem our bodies. And give us a new one. It's the hope of His calling.

[19:29] I want you to just see these terms. They're all intertwined. It's all pointing to the same theme. And same message of this opening chapter. So verse 18. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened. That ye may know what is the hope of His calling.

[19:42] And what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. And that's connected to that earlier we saw it. That new body. And in verse 19 He's going to move right into that.

[19:53] Because He is going to raise us up. According to His mighty power. What is the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe. According to the working of His mighty power.

[20:04] Which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead. That same divine work. That same divine work and power. God implemented toward Jesus Christ. He's going to implement toward us. The called in Christ Jesus.

[20:16] And initiate His plan. Through us. Verse 21. Which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead. And set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places.

[20:27] So the whole inheritance thing. The whole hope of His calling. The whole teaching that He wants us to have revelation in. Doesn't stop with just resurrecting a new body.

[20:39] It has to do with going up and being seated. When Jesus Christ in the heavenly places. Far above all principality and power and might. And dominion. And every name that is named.

[20:50] Not only in this world. But also in that which is to come. And His purpose and plan for us. Is in Him. And it goes all the way up to the top.

[21:02] Okay. So we. I know I mentioned this last week. That He set Him at His own right hand. A reference to His authority. A reference to not Him just sitting down and taking a break. But rather a position.

[21:13] And that position is far above all principality. And power and might and dominion. Every name that is named. Now. There's some names that are named. And we just sang a song.

[21:24] Said blessed be the name of the Lord. And the Bible says that God hath given Him a name. Which is above every name. And it says that He's going to set Him above. Every name that is named.

[21:35] Now no matter who you are. You know some names. That are named. Names of men. At least down here. Earthly speaking. Every one of us. Have some names that come to mind.

[21:47] That are higher than us. If you're a teenager. There's certain names. There's teenage girls in this world. They just. The cute boys that sing. And they're on their TVs.

[21:58] And on their iPods. iPods. Yeah. Whatever. On their phones. Sorry. Their iPhones. Some of you didn't even get why that's funny.

[22:09] Sorry. That's out of date. Okay. So the teenagers. What they're seeing. There's names that. They could care less who the president is. They could care less who is making decisions in some council over in Europe.

[22:24] That doesn't mean anything to some teenage girl. All she cares about is what she looks like on the social media. And certain names of certain celebrities in her little round little circle.

[22:34] But then you get a little bigger and there's different names. And you get a little bigger and there's different names that are named that you find that have some appeal or some authority in your life.

[22:47] But when this thing gets wrapped up and we're in Jesus Christ. I'm looking forward to it. Because I have an understanding of it from the scriptures. Thank the Lord. That when I'm with Jesus Christ and I'm exalted to that heavenly place above every name that is named.

[23:04] I'll be able to look down. And maybe not literally geographically. But positionally speaking. Look down on all those names. And all those wannabes.

[23:15] And all those powerful things and heads. Not even down here. But in the heavenlies themselves. Where there's other names that we really don't know a whole lot about.

[23:27] And there's names up there that have taken power and control. Different principalities he mentions in verse 21. Power, might, and dominion. And we're going to be able to look down on them in Jesus Christ.

[23:39] And thank God and understand fully. We made the right decision to get in Christ. And if you're struggling in this world to make a name for yourself.

[23:50] Then you need to get this prayer answered of the Apostle Paul. That you'll have the spiritual understanding. And be enlightened to realize.

[24:01] That making a name for yourself down here means nothing. But everything you can do in Jesus Christ and for him means everything. Because he's far above.

[24:12] And you'll be far above with him. So look toward that end. Amen. Alright, now finishing the chapter. He says, And hath put all things, verse 22. Hath put all things under his feet.

[24:23] That is Jesus Christ's feet. And gave him to be the head over all things to the church which is his body. The fullness of him that filleth all in all.

[24:34] A few things to note here if I can remember all of them. One is that the church is his body. So say at the scriptures. The church is the body of Christ.

[24:45] That's another, that's an interchangeable term used several times by the Apostle Paul. So sometimes he says the body of Christ. Sometimes he says the church. Now that we're talking about the same thing. And as you know, we've studied that you get into the church or into the body of Christ by faith in Christ Jesus.

[25:03] By the gospel of your salvation, verse 13. You believe in him. And you are baptized spiritually. You're placed into the body of Christ.

[25:16] This has nothing to do with joining any church on this globe, past, present, or future. You don't sign with your blood or with anything else to join this body, this church.

[25:28] This church is a spiritual entity. It's not physical. This church, verse 23 says it filleth, it's the fullness of him that filleth all in all.

[25:40] That can't be a reference to Bible Baptist Church in Silmar, can it? I don't think so. And by the way, in verse 22, do you know who's the head over all things to the church?

[25:53] Do you know who's not? A man that wears a big white robe and a big white hat and sits on a throne in Vatican City and goes around kissing everybody and raising money for his empire, the Pope.

[26:09] He is not the head over all things to the church. My Bible says that the Lord Jesus Christ is far above, not just the Pope and any religious system on this planet, but he's far above every name that is named.

[26:23] He is the head over all things to the church. And the word of God never tells me that there's a man in charge of the church down here, of his body.

[26:35] That there's a man that's been relegated by Christ to rule over the body down here and to fight battles for the body. That's not a biblical doctrine. So he hath put all things under his feet and gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.

[26:52] Let's get into chapter number two a little bit here. I don't know if I even have notes for that. And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins.

[27:09] So doesn't this Bible teach you some things about yourself that you otherwise really didn't know, you didn't have the understanding of until the word of God starts to say, you know what, before you were saved, you were dead.

[27:22] You were dead. Now a lot of people teach that your spirit was dead. And I'm not prepared really to run into this. I'm leaning toward it being your soul. And you say, well, how can your soul be dead?

[27:34] I say, well, how can your spirit be dead? And I can run references on the spirit of man as the candle of the Lord. And it's searching the inward parts of the belly. I don't see how the body without the spirit is dead.

[27:47] But my body's alive, so it has a spirit. And how can the spirit be dead? It's got to be alive to give life to the spirit and life for like the synonymous terms. Now, that's another study for another time or maybe not.

[28:01] But either way, you are dead. You're walking around breathing because you're functioning as a human being, just like an animal is functioning and living and birds are flying and plants are, they have life in them.

[28:16] You have life in your body. But spiritually speaking, you're dead. Why? Because you're in sins and you're in trespasses. You've violated God's laws.

[28:27] Come back to Romans chapter 7. This happens at a moment. And it might be a moment that's different for everybody else individually, but it happens nonetheless.

[28:38] You say, when did I die? Well, Paul tells us not when exactly, but he identifies the circumstances which brought about his death before the Lord.

[29:01] Verse, wow. Romans 7. Look at verse, I'll start in 5.

[29:12] We can start in 4. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

[29:25] For when we were in the flesh, the motion of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.

[29:36] But now we are delivered from the law. But now, that's currently being in Christ, we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held, that we should serve in newness of spirit, not in the oldness of the leather.

[29:50] What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin but by the law, for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. Now, here we go. Verse 8. But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence.

[30:06] For without the law, sin was dead. For I was alive without the law once. But when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.

[30:20] And the commandment which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me and by it slew me. Sin slew or killed him.

[30:32] Spiritually before God, he was alive when he didn't have the knowledge of sin. Without the law, he says. The law brought about knowledge of sin.

[30:44] He said, I did not know sin. I did not know lust. In verse 7. Except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. So let's just bring Paul along in life.

[30:55] He's an innocent young boy. He's just who he is. He's alive in this world. And he's sinning. But it's not affecting his state before God because he's ignorant of his sin.

[31:09] But when he gets understanding that what I'm doing is wrong, the law taught me that I'm not allowed to lust. And then he realizes, I have been doing that.

[31:21] And now, the law slew him. Because now he has the understanding that I'm guilty before God.

[31:34] I'm a sinner. The word of God showed that to me. Now what do I do? Well, thankfully, the word of God shows you what to do. But there's a case, and again, it's different for any man and any woman and any child.

[31:48] Somebody coming up through church can get the word of God plugged into them at a young age and they can have the eyes of their understanding open quickly. But somebody else may be a little bit further down the road until they realize they're a sinner before Almighty God.

[32:04] And when that clicks, there's death that's working. Sin is working all manner of concupiscence in them. I mean, sin is in them. They're born in sins. And it is just working its way, taking over as much as it can, as quickly as it can.

[32:18] And then when the knowledge of sin comes, boom, you're dead. And now that you're dead before God, you need life. You need eternal life. You need His Spirit.

[32:30] And verse number one, back in Ephesians chapter two, and you hath He quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past, that's assuming that you stopped walking like this and that you changed.

[32:45] He talks to people that have changed and conformed their lives to the Word of God and to Christ. He says, in time past, you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

[33:11] So this is a bad spot to be in, is to be without Christ. Oh, look at that. That's in time past. They're walking according to the course of this world.

[33:22] They're walking according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in children. And they're fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. In verse number 12, that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

[33:43] Now that's a quick little biblical description of a lost man. He's in sin, just fulfilling his own fleshly lusts and desires.

[33:54] He's dead before God in his trespasses and sins. He has no hope. He has no Christ, a Messiah, a Deliverer, a Savior.

[34:07] And he doesn't have God. He's just hopeless. And he's following, ignorantly following, the course of this world, being led by the prince of the power of the air, the devil himself, going straight to hell.

[34:23] We could say it even plainer. Man, woman, and child, when sin gets in and just does what it says in Romans 7, brought all manner of concupiscence in him, just drives man to lust and to sin and to unrighteousness.

[34:38] And how quickly he's entangled in that sin. How badly he needs somebody to interject some light, some truth, some hope.

[34:52] And how ignorant lost man is to think and puffed up, that sin puffs up in pride sometimes. That's one of the sins. It puffs up and says, I don't need that. You're not better than me. I can do that.

[35:02] I'm smarter than you anyway. I make more money than you. What do I need to listen to you for? And that's just another fruit of sin inside of him. Closing his eyes, closing his heart, hardening him to something that he needs desperately.

[35:17] All right, now you, we'll end with this in verse 1, and you hath he quickened. Quickened means made alive, means given life to.

[35:29] There's an old movie years ago called The Quick and the Dead. You're either alive or you're dead. And this is God quickening or making alive somebody who had no hope.

[35:43] And in Jesus Christ he gives us life. And we're going to have to stop there and maybe next week talk a little bit more about the prince of the power of the air and that spirit that, notice in verse 2 at the end, now worketh.

[35:57] It's current. It's up to date. It's as Paul's writing. That spirit is currently working. And we'll talk about that a little bit more next week as we continue into chapter 2. So let's take a 10-minute break and we'll come back.

[36:08]  And we'll be right back.