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Now, here's today's podcast, From Pathway to Victory. God's Word with you every day on this Bible teaching program. On today's edition of Pathway to Victory, the first 14 verses of Ephesians chapter one are Paul's eulogy. Eulogia is the Greek word, words of praise to God for what He has done. If you have your Bible's turn to Ephesians chapter one, as we look at this eulogy for God. Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress. You know, when someone passes away, we often hear eulogies spoken in their memory.
But did you know that eulogies can also be for the living? In fact, the Apostle Paul wrote an amazing eulogy to God in his letter to the Ephesians. Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress unpacks Paul's profound words of praise. Now, here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message.
Dr. Jeffress. This week on Pathway to Victory, we've begun a brand new teaching series on the Book of Ephesians called, Holy Living in an Unholy World. I can't think of a more relevant topic. As Christians, we're sensing a groundswell of persecution building against our churches. So how are we supposed to survive and even thrive in these unhealthy times? Well, I believe the answer comes from tapping into the spiritual wealth that is available to every Christian. And to help you discover the blessing of God's Word. The blessings that God has set aside for you. I've written a brand new book called, Holy Living in an Unholy World.
It's based upon, not my opinion, but the Spirit-inspired wisdom of the Apostle Paul. My book will help you discover all that God has already given you to richly enjoy. Please be among the first to own my book, Holy Living in an Unholy World. A copy is yours when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. And then this coming May, I'd love for you to join us on the Pathway to Victory Journeys of Paul Mediterranean Cruise.
The dates are May 5th through 16th, 2025. One of our stops along the way will be the City of Ephesus, the epicenter of commerce and cultural conflict. And it's the site that inspired Paul's New Testament letter we're studying. Take a look at the wonderful itinerary we've planned for you by going to ptv.org. On this vacation of a lifetime, we'll be sailing through the beautiful Greek Isles as well.
Again, you can find out more and sign up today by going to ptv.org. Well, today we're going to look at the wealth of blessings that God poured out on those who are in Christ Jesus and consider why those blessings should move us to praise. My message is titled, A Eulogy for God. If you could thank God for any one thing, what would be at the top of your list of things you're most grateful to God for? Perhaps it would be your mate.
Perhaps your children or grandchildren would come to mind. Perhaps honestly, the thing you're most grateful for is a dramatic answer to prayer that came at just the right time. Paul wouldn't have hesitated to answer that question. The thing he was most grateful to God for, the thing he could never get over from the moment that he confronted the risen Christ on the road to Damascus until the time he drew his last breath with a swing of a Roman sword. Paul could never get over the fact that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, had shed his blood to take away Paul's sin and that he would never have to fear the wrath of God because of what Christ had done for him. He never got over that fact, which is why it's no surprise that when he began his letter to the church at Ephesus, he began with a eulogy for what God had done for him.
The eulogy we saw last time isn't something you just reserve at a funeral. It literally means words of praise for somebody living or dead. In God's case, it's somebody's living. And the first 14 verses of Ephesians chapter 1 are Paul's eulogy.
Eulogia is the Greek word, words of praise to God for what he has done. Remember we said Ephesians 1 verses 3 to 14 is just one long sentence in the Greek text, but people have tried to break it up and outline it. And one way to do it is blessings that come from God the Father. It's God the Father who has selected us. It is God the Son who has saved us, verses 7 to 12. And it is God the Holy Spirit who secures us, verses 13 to 14. If you have your Bibles, turn to Ephesians chapter 1 as we look at this eulogy for God. Look at verse 7. In him, that is in Christ, we have redemption through his blood.
He is our redeemer. That word was especially important to Paul's audience. Remember when Paul wrote these words, six million slaves lived in the Roman Empire. Six million slaves. You and I were born into this world, born not spiritually neutral. We were slaves of Satan. We were enslaved to sin and we couldn't break that cycle. And all that awaited us for not only this life but eternity was misery and separation from God. But God before no other reason than the great love with which he loved you, Ephesians 2 says, he reached down and he paid the purchase price. He sent his own son Jesus to pay the price to redeem us, to save us from the penalty of sin. He has redeemed us. He has taken us out of the marketplace of sin. Why? So that we could serve ourselves?
No. So that we might serve a new master, God himself. That is the picture of redemption, ex agorazzo. God has done for us what we could never do. We could never come up with the payment to pay the ransom or to purchase our freedom. Christ has done that for us. By the way, what is our response to that? First Corinthians 6 20 says, do you not know you are not your own? You have been bought with a price, the precious blood of Christ. Therefore glorify God in your bodies.
You and I aren't free to live however we want to. We have a debt of gratitude we can never repay to God who has redeemed us. He has redeemed us. There's a second word to describe what Christ has done. He has forgiven us.
Look at verse 7 again. The forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace which he lavished upon us. That word forgiveness literally means to carry away. He has carried away our sin. He has separated us from our sin. He no longer sees our sin.
He has carried away. It gives new meaning to Psalm 103 verse 12. As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. God no longer sees you as a sinner.
He no longer remembers the things you have done. Your sins have been taken away. Micah 7 19 talks about what that means for us. He will again have compassion on us, the prophet said. God will tread our iniquities underfoot.
Yes, you will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. And how has he done that? According to his grace verses 7 and 8 and says which he lavishes upon us. God doesn't just sprinkle grace on our lives. He pours it out on our lives.
That's the word lavish to pour out generously. I don't care what sin you've committed, how many you've committed, how long you've committed them. You can't out sin the grace of God. The grace of God is sufficient because it's based in the blood of Christ. It is sufficient to forgive us of all our transgressions. What has Jesus the son done for us?
He has redeemed us. He has forgiven us and thirdly he has revealed his will to us. Look in verse 9 of Ephesians 1. In all wisdom and insight he made known to us the mystery of his will according to the kind intention which he purposed in him. What does he mean he's revealed to us the mystery of his will? The mystery of God's will is not whom you're going to marry, how many children you're going to have, what vocation you're going to choose. Those are all things related to God's plan for our life. We call it the will of God. It's God's plan for our life.
That's not what he's talking about. No, a mystery in the Bible is a truth that has been previously hidden that is now capable of being understood. Part of a mystery of God's plan, Paul talks about further in Ephesians 3. It's the idea that Gentiles, people like you and me, could be joint heirs with Jewish believers. We could share an inheritance with our Jewish believer friends.
That was unheard of, the idea that Gentiles could be joint heirs. That's what the mystery of the church is that Paul talks about. But I think he has something else in addition in mind here. He said the mystery of his will is this, verse 10, with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of times, that is the summing up of all things in Christ, in heaven, and things on the earth. That word summing up means to add up a column of figures in getting the result. It's the adding up of all things. What he's saying is we're able to see how all things are working together in the earth. The things that have been, the things that are, the things that are yet to come, they're all adding up to one conclusion, and that is the return of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is coming to return just as he promised he would, to reward the righteous and condemn the unrighteous. All things, everything in this universe is all about Jesus Christ.
He is the sum of all things. Not only has he revealed to us the mystery of his will, but finally Christ has given us an inheritance. In him we have also obtained an inheritance, verse 11, having been predestined according to his purpose.
When a loved one dies, many times they may choose to leave you an inheritance, a gift. The moment we become a Christian, there are some immediate benefits we receive, a pardon from our sin, the supernatural peace of the Holy Spirit. There are some things we receive immediately, but there are some things that are still future, which leads to what the Holy Spirit does for us, and that is the blessings from God the Holy Spirit.
There's one blessing he mentions. The Holy Spirit has secured us. The Father has selected us. The Son has saved us, but it is the Holy Spirit who has secured us. Look at this in verses 13 to 14. In him you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed, you were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance with a view to the redemption of God's own possession.
Now, that's a mouthful, but this is the best part of the deal. What is it that the Holy Spirit does? He has sealed us. What does that mean, he has sealed us? In the New Testament, a seal was used for three things. First of all, sometimes a seal was used to authenticate an object, to authenticate an object. If a king or an emperor were going to send a decree, the way you would know it was authentically from that ruler was it would have his seal on it.
Now, a seal on a document was a little piece of wax that the one in authority would stamp with his insignia ring, and that insignia ring would make an impression on the wax that verified, authenticated, this is an official document. Now, in the same way the Holy Spirit has been impressed upon our lives, it's a way to authenticate that we are really who we say we are, a child of God. How do you know what's the best evidence of whether or not you are truly saved? It's whether or not you possess the Holy Spirit of God, his mark on your life. Romans 8, 16 says that the Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God. Well, how do I know if I've got the Holy Spirit to know that I'm a Christian?
Well, there are fruit. There's evidence of the Holy Spirit in your life. 2 Corinthians 5, 17 says, If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. All things are in the process of becoming new.
It doesn't mean we become perfect. The moment we're a Christian, but there are signs of new life. There's a new desire to please God. There's a new desire to read his word. There's a new desire to want to be with God's people. Those are the evidence that we belong to Christ. That's the fruit of the Holy Spirit of God.
Secondly, a seal was sometimes used to make an object secure. Remember in Matthew 27, we've got the story of what happened Saturday after the crucifixion on Friday. Christ's body is wrapped.
It's in the tomb. The religious officials started to get nervous. They said to Pilate, Give us a Roman guard that we might secure the tomb, lest the disciples come and steal the body away and say he's risen from the dead and the last deception will be worse than the first one. And so Pilate said, Okay, you have your guard. Now the word there for guard refers to a guard unit, 16 men who would take eight eight-hour shifts guarding that tomb to secure it. And what they would do is they would take a piece of string and they would stretch it across the tomb and they would hold it in place with the Roman seal, that piece of wax that bore the insignia of the emperor. Now could a tiny piece of thread and a seal hold that tomb secure?
Of course not. It was representative. It was symbolic. It was saying this tomb is being guarded by the full force of the Roman government. And to get to this body, you're going to have to defeat the Roman Empire to do so, so to speak. That's what the seal did.
The seal made an object secure and the power behind it made the object secure. Now, that's what the Holy Spirit does for us. How do I know once I'm saved that I'll always be saved? How do I know that Satan won't invade my life and steal my salvation from me? How do I know that even I, through some bad choice or mess up in my life, won't negate the promise of my salvation? Here's how you know you've been secured by the Holy Spirit of God. In John 10, 28, and 29, Jesus said, I give eternal life to them.
They shall never perish. No man shall snatch out of my hand those whom the Father has given me. You are in the hand of Jesus Christ himself. You are secured by the Holy Spirit of God and for Satan to get you, he will have to work through and defeat the Holy Spirit of God himself and he's not about to be able to do that.
That's what this promise is, to make an object secure. But thirdly, a seal was used as a mark of ownership. In many ways, the Holy Spirit of God is God's mark that we belong to him. So what good does that do me if I belong to God?
What does that mean? Look at verse 14 again. The Holy Spirit is given as a pledge of our inheritance with a view to the redemption of God's own possession. Now stay with me on this.
This is so great. That word pledge can mean one of two things. It can mean a down payment.
In fact, in some translations it says that, an earnest of what is yet to come. You know how that works. If you go out and find a house you like and think you're gonna buy it, you may think, this looks like something I'm interested in. Maybe it's a good price, maybe it's not, but I wanna reserve it. So you put down $500 maybe of earnest money. Now the fact is, you'd hate to lose $500 and find another house, more appealing, but when you think about the price of a house these days, if you found a better deal, you probably would go ahead and forfeit that $500.
No big deal in the big scheme of things. But let's say instead of putting down $500, you put down 99% of the purchase price of the house. You said, this is how sure I am.
I want this property. I'm gonna pay 99% right now. I can't imagine any circumstance that would cause you to forfeit 99% of the purchase price.
I mean, after all, you have made quite a commitment. But listen to me, the moment you become a Christian, the Holy Spirit is given to you as a promise, a promise that the deal's gonna be completed. And when God saves us, he doesn't give us $500 worth of the Holy Spirit. He doesn't even give us 99% of the Holy Spirit. He gives us the whole thing.
We get 100% of the Holy Spirit of God, of God himself, the moment we trust in Christ. And that means God's gonna complete his transaction with us. He's going to give us our full inheritance because he has given us everything. The other thing the pledge can mean, this Greek word, is an engagement ring. You know, if a guy says to a girl, I'd like to marry you, and here's a ring to show you that I'm gonna keep my promise, he may or may not keep the promise. He may forfeit the ring. But God has said to us, I'm giving you an engagement ring.
I'm giving you a present. It's the Holy Spirit of God, and I promise the relationship is gonna be consummated. There is going to be a wedding one day when you are joined together with Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is the down payment. He's the ring that signifies God is going to give us our full inheritance. Remember I said just a moment ago, we only have part of it now.
I think the best part is still to come. Why do I say that? Remember, salvation has three aspects to it. There is justification. That's what happens immediately when you become a Christian. The moment you are saved, you are justified, declared not guilty. That means I am saved from sin's penalty. The moment you trust in Christ, you never have to worry that God is gonna condemn you.
Romans 8 one says, there is therefore now no condemnation awaiting those who belong to Christ Jesus. So I am saved from sin's penalty. But I'm also being saved from sin's power. That's sanctification. When I become a Christian, I start becoming more and more like Jesus Christ.
The more and more I obey Him, the more and more I say yes to God and notice Satan. I am being sanctified. I am being saved from sin's power. I'm saved from sin's penalty. I am being saved from sin's power. But thirdly, I will be saved from sin's presence.
That's glorification. That's the part of the inheritance that is still to come. How are we gonna be saved from sin's presence? By getting rid of these old bodies. These old bodies that are infected with sin. God says, one day you're gonna dwell in a new heaven, in a new earth, with a new body that is free from the sin, the sickness, the sadness of this life.
Aren't you ready for that? That's what God has promised He's going to do. And the Holy Spirit is God's promise that He's gonna finish the transaction.
He's gonna consummate the deal because of what He has already given you. Think of what God has done for you. God the Father has chosen you. He has adopted you into His family. God the Son has redeemed you. He's forgiven you.
He's revealed to you the mystery of all of this stuff and what's gonna happen. And He's given you an inheritance. And God the Holy Spirit has you secure and nothing can ever take God's promise away. The gifts and the calling are irrevocable. Paul said, I can never get all over that fact of all God has done for me. So what should be our response to what God has done?
Do we just say, well, I got all the blanks completed on that line. I'll fold it up like some of you are doing right now. I'm gonna just fold it up and put it in my Bible. What's for lunch, by the way?
Anybody know what we're doing for lunch today? Is that how we respond? Paul dropped to his knees. He praised God for the spiritual riches that were His and would be His one day in heaven. And I just kind of think that truth ought to demand a response from us. You know, the Bible says God delights in the praise of His people. I'm hoping that Paul's response, dropping to his knees and praising God for His blessings, will inspire you to do the same. It all starts when we understand the riches that God has granted His children. As sons and daughters, we receive an inheritance of blessings.
They're spelled out in Paul's letter to the Ephesians. And it's the central message of my brand new book called Holy Living in an Unholy World. You're invited to request your copy today when you give a generous gift to support the growing ministry of Pathway to Victory. In closing, I'm calling upon your sense of mission to join us in this all-out effort to pierce the darkness with the light of God's Word.
You often hear me use this terminology because it clarifies the reason for our existence. You see, I believe this mission is critical because only God knows how many days we have left on this earth to share the gospel. Gratefully, in recent months, we've sensed a groundswell of support among our viewers and listeners who understand the urgency of our mission. Men and women just like you are standing with Pathway to Victory so that more and more people in our country and around our world will have access to this program. Would you join us today by giving a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory?
When you do, I'll be sure to send you my brand new book as a thank you gift. It's called Holy Living in an Unholy World. I'm so grateful for your support. Together, let's reach as many people as possible while we still can with the gospel of Jesus Christ. David. Thanks, Dr. Jeffress. When you contact Pathway to Victory and give a generous gift, we'll send you Holy Living in an Unholy World. That's the brand new book by Dr. Robert Jeffress based on our study from Ephesians. Call us toll free, 866-999-2965 or give online at ptv.org. Now, when your gift is $75 or more, you'll also receive the Holy Living in an Unholy World teaching series on both DVD video and MP3 format audio disc. Plus, we'll also send you the companion study guide that's great for your personal or group study. Again, call 866-999-2965 or go online to ptv.org.
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That's P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. I'm David J. Mullins. Have you ever wondered how to pray for someone you deeply care about? Next time, Dr. Jeffress will examine a heartfelt prayer from the Apostle Paul and share how we can apply it to our own prayer life. Join us for a message of prayer for all seasons Friday on Pathway to Victory.
Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. You made it to the end of today's podcast from Pathway to Victory, and we're so glad you're here. Pathway to Victory relies on the generosity of loyal listeners like you to make this podcast possible. One of the most impactful ways you can give is by becoming a Pathway partner. Your monthly gift will empower Pathway to Victory to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and help others become rooted more firmly in His Word. To become a Pathway partner, go to ptv.org slash donate or follow the link in our show notes. We hope you've been blessed by today's podcast, From Pathway to Victory.
