Unloading the Theological Truck, Part 3

Today, Chuck Swindoll describes the lavish inheritance passed down to anyone who follows Christ. I read the other day about an old crotchety guy that had written his will and had a family call together after he died. And the will read, I spent it all.

And that was the end of the will. They get a blessed thing. God gave all of his inheritance to Christ. And if you are in Christ, you get all of the inheritance that Christ gets. God had us in mind when he put the inheritance together. Paul's letter to the Ephesians is packed with deep theological terms.

Things like spiritual inheritance, predestination, redemption, grace, adoption, and the mystery of God's will, just to name a few. Today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll invites us to engage in this beautiful first century letter because these phrases contain promises that can radically alter the course of our lives today. We're just getting started in a study of Ephesians titled, Becoming a People of Grace.

Chuck's message in the first chapter is called, Unloading the Theological Truck. Do you know that if you are in Christ Jesus, you're a saint? Paul is a saint. Tychicus is a saint. Where did I get that name?

I'm glad you asked. Look over at chapter 6. I'm going to show you why I mentioned Tychicus. Chapter 6 of Ephesians.

Now look at verse 20. I think Tychicus was the one who took the letter in scroll form after Paul wrote it on papyrus. He gave it to Tychicus because Paul couldn't leave. He was under arrest in Rome.

He couldn't get out of the house. So he handed it to Tychicus and he said, take it to Ephesus and make sure the letter makes its rounds. So Tychicus, one of Paul's fellow ministers, is a saint.

Saint Tychicus, Saint Paul, other saints we could name in the city of Ephesus. To the saints who are in Ephesus, he also says of these people, they are faithful in Christ Jesus. They are people who live by faith.

They walk by faith. Please observe the key expression in the letter to the Ephesians is in Christ Jesus. Did you know when you came to faith in Christ, did you realize that at the moment you said yes to the Lord Jesus Christ, the moment you received him as your own personal God, your own savior, did you know that you were placed into Christ? You were placed into not only the body of other believers who are in the family of God, you were made a part of the church universal, you were placed into Christ. In God's eyes, when you said yes to the Lord Jesus Christ, he took you into his own and he placed you into his beloved son so that the very things he sees about his son, he sees about you. This is called your position in Christ.

You are in Christ. What is true of the son is true of you. He has power over the enemy. You have power over the enemy.

He dominates the times in which he lived and you are able to dominate the sin that once ruled you. It's called positional truth and we'll walk through it over and over and over in the letter to the Ephesians. Then this great Pauline salutation, two words that I want you to become ultimately familiar with. Verse 2, grace and peace. Grace and peace. Grace is God's free, undeserved mercy and favor. He showers it on us because of his great love for us. God in grace reached down, saw us in our need and in our coming to Christ, he poured out his favor upon us and continues to do that until we die.

You don't earn it, you can't deserve it, nor ever will you be able to repay him for it. It's favor that keeps coming and keeps coming and peace is the result of that. Peace is what God does for us when he reconciles sinners to himself.

When he puts us right with himself, peace comes as a benefit. One man writes, the Lord Jesus Christ dominates Paul's mind and fills his vision. It seems almost as if he feels compelled to bring Christ into every sentence he writes, at least at the beginning of this letter. The better you come to know Ephesians, the better you will come to know your Savior because it is full of Christ.

Now we're ready for the letter itself. After meeting the one who wrote it and reading about the recipients and the salutation he gave them, he launches into an incredible series of thoughts that are mind-boggling. 3 to 14, Paul praises his God. 15 to 23, he prays for his readers.

3 to 14, Paul is standing with his arms lifted up, exalting his God and explaining to the recipient who this God is and what he has done for us. When he gets to verse 15, to the end of the chapter, turn over there and look, he begins to pray. For this reason, I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints, the other believers, do not cease giving thanks for you while making mention of you in my prayers. Here is his prayer. You wonder how to supplement and how to freshen your prayer life, learn the prayers of the Bible. In fact, this is a great one to start with, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. I pray the eyes of your heart may be enlightened. Look at that. You ever thought of the heart having eyes? You understand it when you dig into it.

The whole inner being gets eyesight and you get a glimpse of the living God like you've never had before so that he floods your entire existence. He's full of praise and prayer. Have you forgotten where he was sitting? He is sitting under arrest. Can you believe a man under arrest would be so preoccupied with Christ and God and his fellow saints? How could it be? How could he live like this?

How could he write a letter like this? Christ has control of his mind, his attitude, his heart, his desires, his motivation, his perspective. And the reason that was true is because of the theology set forth in verses 3 through 14. Now, let me give you what I believe are the things God does for us according to verses 3 through 14. Understand, this is what God does for us. This is what God does for us. We're living in a day when so much emphasis falls on what we do for God and the achievement and the earning of God's favor and the pleasing of God so that somehow his anger will be assuaged. Nonsense! God has come to our rescue.

We're not coming to his. He has done for us these magnanimous things that we don't deserve because of his grace. What are they? Well, get your pencil handy or pen. I want you to put numbers in the margin of your Bible if you don't mind marking.

I want to have you notice they're all right here in the text, and I want to give you the subjects 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 down through 10. Number 1, verse 3. God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing.

That's number 1. Put a number 1 in the margin of your Bible. Good for you.

Thank you. He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing. Everyone.

Can't even fathom that. Number 2. You think that's deep? Number 2, verse 4. He's chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. Before there was ever a world.

Okay? Before he said let there be matter. Before let there be light. Before there was ever anything created, God chose you. Number 3, verse 5. He predestined us to...oh, no, Chuck, don't go there.

Don't go there. I'm a Baptist, Chuck. I mean, I've had churches split over this predestination thing.

Well, you know what? I'm sorry they split over it. That truth was never given to split churches.

That truth was given to bring enormous comfort and hope. The difficulty is we can't fully grasp it and keep it in balance. That's the problem.

We're the problem. But the verse says, and you need to put number 3 beside it, he predestined us to adoption as sons and daughters through Jesus Christ to himself. You know, I just got a thought. Verses 3 through 6 take us to eternity past. That's before there was ever anything about earth in existence. Verses 7 to 14 takes us to historical past, since creation. Boy, that's a great thought.

3 to 6, should have had a V8. Look at...and he did it all to the praise of the glory of his grace. Isn't that great? To the praise of his glory, not ours. I want to make you feel good.

No. He's not concerned with how you feel. This is not about us. Let's get this straight. This is about God in the vastness and profound nature of his character. He, in grace, put a plan in motion that included us, blessed us with all spiritual blessings, chose us, predestined us. Now, when you get into history, look at verse 7.

Put number 4 by this one. He redeemed us. In him, there's our word again, in him we have redemption through his blood. You can't appreciate it because we don't have slaves today. We don't even have green stamps today.

If we did, it would help. Remember when you used to save stamps? You finally get the book and you redeem the book. You can redeem the book, the green stamps here. Some of you are going, was that in about 1920? When was that?

Not long ago. You'd redeem the book. You would have paid the price and you get something in return. In the case of slavery, when a slave owner walked up to the slave block and looked at a slave and sized him up, he bought the slave. And the slave became his property. The owner could do with the slave whatever he wished. In some cases, he set him free.

Rarely, but in some cases. This word for redeem means that. He took us from the slave block of sin and we became his bondservants and he set us free. Isn't that marvelous?

Oh, love that thought. Free to obey, free to serve him, free to honor him, free to live, free to be. He redeemed us through his blood. That's the payment.

We'll get to that next time. Number five, he's forgiven us. Look at verse seven. We have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace. See the word forgiveness?

That's number five. He has forgiven us all our trespasses. John 1 29, he takes away the sin of the world. Psalm 103 verse 11, verse 12. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so far has he removed our transgressions from us, as far as east is from west.

How's that for analogy? As far as heaven is above earth, as far as east is from west, he's removed our transgressions. That's forgiveness. That's number five. Here's number six, the end of verse seven. According to the riches of his grace, which he lavished on us.

That's number six. He lavished his grace on us. He didn't give us just a little bit.

He didn't put us on probation and said, let's see how you act the first three years of your conversion. He lavished, he lavished his grace. It means to super abound.

It always means more than enough. He overwhelmingly gave us more than enough. Number seven, verse nine, he made known to us the mystery of his will. He made known to us the mystery of his will. That's nine and 10. Verse 11, he provided an inheritance.

You say, man, this list gets better and better. Look at verse 11. We have obtained an inheritance. An inheritance. God had us in mind when he put the inheritance together. I read the other day about an old crotchety guy that had written his will and he had a family call together after he died and the will read, I spent it all, and that was the end of the will. They didn't get a blessed thing. God gave all of his inheritance to Christ, and if you are in Christ, you get all of the inheritance that Christ gets.

You talk about giving reassurance for life. That's number eight. As inheritors, we're able to claim everything in Christ's future.

That includes us. Number nine, look at verse 13. In him, there it is again, 13, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having believed, you were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise.

That's number nine. He has sealed us. In those days, sealed meant completion. It was a soft piece of wax that sealed a document. It spoke of finishing something. Signed, sealed, and delivered.

We have that expression. It meant ownership, security, protection. All of that is ours in our being sealed in Christ. And finally, number 10, verse 14, he has given us his pledge.

The word means earnest or down payment. The Holy Spirit is the first installment of more to come. He's the guarantee that the inheritance is good. Right about now, you're probably thinking, I've got the truck dumped on me, and that's exactly what the plan was, so that you would realize that this train is never ending.

The load is more than you'll ever be able to count. It is yours forever as a child of God. As one without Christ, none of it is yours. What a shocking thought. None of it. Can't you see now why Christians at times get very zealous about your soul? Can't you see what you're missing out on?

Now this is your position. It has nothing to do with materialism. This is not about getting your pockets lined, therefore you come to Christ to get rich.

That's nonsense teaching. This is about spiritual inheritance, spiritual riches. This is about the inner person, the changed attitude, the ultimate eternity when you breathe your last and you step onto the shores and realize all of the best was saved till now. You know who gets the glory in it?

Three times he tells us. I close with this. Verse 6, to the praise of the glory of His grace. Verse 12, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. Verse 14, to the praise of His glory. You like marking your Bible, underline those three.

You won't read about that in today's media. The praise of His grace, the praise of His glory, the praise of His glory. I don't want to break your back with this. I don't want to, you know, be overbearing. But I sure want to get deeper than just a superficial feel-good talk. Ephesians won't let me do that, thankfully. If you keep returning with me to this book, it won't be long before you will begin to say, oh, that's the kind of depth to which I want to go. I've had enough of the other.

I now want to dig in and get ultra serious because every day I'm not getting any younger. Every day I'm needing this kind of truth more. I need to know how I stand before God because I need to care less what other people think. And Ephesians will help that to happen. Most importantly, you will ultimately find yourself asking, does this glorify God?

Is that what this will result in? Let's bow our heads. Let's just close our eyes. Isaiah said he saw the Lord high and lifted up and immediately he searched his own soul and said, woe is me. I'm ruined. I can't make it. I have habits that I can't break and I have a conscience that won't leave me alone and I have sins that are too numerous to mention and I don't qualify.

I don't deserve your goodness. And the Lord came to his rescue. In this high and holy section of scripture where God is lifted up above the opinions of men and the concerns of our culture and you get a glimpse of eternity, you realize what life will be like when you breathe your last. You'll either stand before your God with great joy and relief and delight because you're in Christ or you're bound for an endless eternal hell where the fire is not quenched. And you have no choice after death to change your destiny.

It takes place in time, in life, like now. That's why at the close of every message we give you an opportunity to receive the gift of Jesus Christ, his death on your behalf, his resurrection, which proved that he had paid the penalty for sin and God raised him from the dead. And you can be declared righteous positionally before God, right where you're sitting by believing in Christ. Lord, we sit before you today in silence, which is appropriate. In a world of noise and busy work, commercialism and human plans and cultural agendas, we sit quietly before the God of glory to whom we will one day give account of our lives and we worship you. We worship you.

And we thank you. Our hearts reach to those who've never come to know you and we realize the stuff that they're living with and we long for their souls to be transformed, like Paul's was, even in midlife. We pray for their salvation. We ask you to intensify their misery in their lost estate until they come humbly to the cross to know the Savior as the God and Master of their lives so they with us can worship you.

Amen. For the last three programs, we've heard the message from Chuck Swindoll called Unloading the Theological Truck. It's message number two in our comprehensive study through Paul's letter to the Ephesians titled Becoming a People of Grace. To learn more about this ministry, visit us online at insightworld.org. At Insight for Living, it's our prayer to help you get to know God. At Insight for Living, it's our prayer that this series will inspire you to become God's agent of grace in a world that's starving for a touch of kindness.

We are living through a season of global uncertainty, tension, and contempt, the likes of which we've never witnessed before. It's all the more reason to instill these biblical principles in our lives so that Paul's message to the Ephesians becomes a way of life. Along these lines, let me remind you Chuck has written a daily devotional for you to add a measure of biblical inspiration to your day. Receiving the daily devotional by email is free. To subscribe, just go to insight.org and follow the instructions. While you're there, take a look at the Searching the Scriptures study notes that coincide with each of Chuck's radio messages.

These interactive notes are found at insightworld.org slash studies. And then finally, on Sunday morning, remember you can join the online worship service at Stonebriar Community Church. Just log on to your Facebook account and search for Pastor Chuck Swindoll. You'll find a link to our live feed there. Or stream the service directly from insight.org slash Sundays. And thanks for bearing in mind that all of these resources are made possible through the generous gifts of listeners like you, including our monthly companions. A monthly companion agrees to give a contribution every month in the amount that best suits them. To become a monthly companion, call us. If you're listening in the United States, dial 1-800-772-8888. To give a one-time donation online, go to insight.org. Join us again Monday when Chuck Swindoll's study called Becoming a People of Grace continues right here on Insight for Living. The preceding message, Unloading the Theological Truck, was copyrighted in 2000, 2001, and 2009. And the sound recording was copyrighted in 2009 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.