In Christ: Know It, Live It - 18 (Not Satisfied)

"I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers..." Ephesians 1:16

The Apostle Paul has heard of the faith and love of the Ephesian saints...they ARE true believers. He is THANKFUL for that. What glory! These who should have been blasted by God's just wrath have been blessed from eternity by God's gracious choice of them to be His very own children. It is such a glorious truth that Paul CAN'T STOP giving thanks for them. He is thankful for God's choice of them and their faith in Christ and their love for all the saints.

I hope you are still finding a never ceasing thanks in your heart to God for His saving you. I hope that you are regularly thankful for your FAITH in Christ, because it is the GIFT of God (Ephesians 2:9). I pray that God has given you a living faith that extends out to others, that is BIGGER all the time in terms of whom it embraces. And I pray that you are thankful to God for every time He empowers you to love someone else instead of yourself. What a divine miracle.

May God's grace enable us to NEVER GET OVER what He has done for us in Christ.

But this great salvation is NOT THE END OF IT. There's more. In Christ there is ALWAYS MORE.

Not only does Paul give thanks to God for the Ephesians' faith and love, He also keeps remembering them in PRAYER. He PRAYS for them to KEEP ON GROWING in faith and love. He is thankful that they KNOW God...HE now prays (vv.17-19) that they would KNOW HIM MORE!

Paul is NOT SATISFIED with the glory of their salvation and the clear evidence of it. He wants MORE for them. He wants them to KNOW God more deeply as the God who has called them to HOPE, who has made them His INHERITANCE, and who works in them and on their behalf with IMMEASURABLY GREAT POWER (prayer of vv.17-19).

Let us NOT be satisfied, either. Let us not neglect to be thankful always for our great salvation. But let us CRY out to God daily for MORE, the MORE He has promised us and purchased for us in Christ. Let's PRAY for everyone on our prayer list who knows Christ to keep progressing towards knowing Him more clearly and deeply.

We will look at this great prayer in the days ahead, Lord willing.

In Christ: Know It, Live It - 17 (Praying for Believers and Unbelievers)

"For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers..."
Ephesians 1:15-16

The well known prayer of Paul's that follows the above verses is a prayer to be prayed for Christians only. It is NOT for unbelievers. The Apostle has REASONS for praying the prayer in verses 17-19 for the Ephesian church. His reasons, detailed in the above verses are:

• He has heard of their FAITH in the Lord Jesus. Apparently the Ephesian believers had a testimony that reached beyond Ephesus. Perhaps an associate of Paul's brought the report. Even though Paul had spent 3 years with the Ephesian church, it had been several years since he had been there and there were doubtless many new believers in the church. Add to this the possibility that this letter was to go to other churches in that part of Asia and it is clear why Paul refers to his HEARING of their faith as though it was news to him. They had faith in Christ. This is surely the most basic definition of what a Christian is. Paul heard, to the relief and joy of his heart, that the members of the church were still holding to Christ as Lord.
• He had also heard of their LOVE for all the saints. Saving faith has an effect in the believing one. Faith shows itself, it WORKS through LOVE (Galatians 5:6). Faith shows its reality in a transformed heart that gives for the good of others. But this love was not just for SOME of the saints, it was for ALL the saints. Love from a saved heart is increasingly BIG, reaching out beyond affinities, beyond financial status, beyond race, education, circle of friends, age, Bible knowledge, application of Scripture, etc. It more and more embraces ALL the saints. Jesus said that even pagans love those who love them. But how about those folks who hold no promise to give us a return for our investment of time and energy? Do we love them? The Ephesians did.

And so, having heard of this real faith demonstrated in a BIG love, Paul PRAYS for them as BELIEVERS. He prays a prayer that can only be effectively prayed for God's people.

Paul did NOT pray for unbelievers in this way. A short, passionate example of how he did is found in Romans 10:1. Here he prays for unsaved Israel, "Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved." Unsaved individuals should not be prayed for to know God better or to better understand the riches of their blessing in Christ. They have none. They are without God and without hope in the world (Ephesians 2:12). They need prayer for things such as:

• That the god of this world will be able to blind them to the gospel no more...2 Corinthians 4:4
• That the Spirit of God will convict them of sin, righteousness, and judgment...John 16:8
• That they will have opportunity for a clear hearing of the gospel...Ephesians 1:13
• That God will open their heart to the gospel when they hear it...Acts 16:14

The point of all this is that we are to pray with understanding, wisdom, and REASON for our family, friends, and work associates. If there is evidence that they are believers, pray for them the prayers of Scripture such as the one here in Ephesians 1. Do they profess and show real faith in Christ the Lord? Is there evidence of Spirit-produced love in their life? Do they have an appetite for the Bible and the fellowship of other believers? Then PRAY with confidence for their further growth in Christ and in the Word of God. But if they show no evidence of being a believer, don't pray for God to bless them, pray for them to be saved and to be delivered from sin and hell. Pray for them to hear the gospel. Pray for their eyes to be opened to Christ the Rescuer.

In Christ: Know It, Live It - 16 (The Down Payment)

"...the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance, until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of His glory." Ephesians 1:13,14

Not only is the Holy Spirit the SEAL of our salvation, marking us as God's own and securing the safety of our journey from the cross to Heaven, He is also God's GUARANTEE. What does this mean?

• The word for GUARANTEE here means an earnest, or down payment. It was very much like what many of us did when we purchased our homes. We paid a part of the price as a first part of the full price. It was our promise that the rest would be coming, as well.
• The Holy Spirit in us is God's down payment OF OUR INHERITANCE, that is, our inheritance of God Himself, and Christ, and Heaven. The first part of our final inheritance in heaven with God and Christ has been given to us through the indwelling Holy Spirit. HE has brought into our lives the LIFE of Heaven. We are experiencing NOW the Life of God and Christ and Heaven...in a measure. We know God, we fellowship with God, we are being made to be like Christ, we know Spirit-enabled worship, we experience multi-cultural fellowship with Christ's body, we battle victoriously against Satan...and more.
• But there's MORE TO COME! The best of the Spirit-filled life at this time is only a taste, a PART of what is to come when we receive our full inheritance. YET it is a REAL taste! Think of it...no matter how good and sweet and precious and pure and liberating our worship or fellowship is now, it is only a TASTE of what is to come. Bring it on, Lord!
• And though this life the Spirit has brought is just the down payment, it is a GUARANTEE that the rest is coming. Count on it! The Spirit in us is GOD's PROMISE that the full inheritance will be ours. We WILL see His face. We WILL have His name written on us. We WILL enjoy pleasures at His right hand forever (Psalm 16:11). There will be NO MORE crying or pain. We WILL worship WITHOUT impure motives, fear of man, distracted minds, or diminished passion. Bring it on, Lord!
• This God the Guarantee will continue WITH US, indwelling us, UNTIL we "acquire possession of it" v.14.

Life here during our earthly journey is PRIMARILY ABOUT HEAVEN. We are being schooled for eternity. God is shaping us in the gym of this life for the next. Is it not because we still have so little understanding of this that life here and now yields so little joy and heaven lacks motivating passion? We have a destiny, brothers and sisters. It is not a $300,000.00 home or a six digit job or an ideal retirement...it is HEAVEN. IF you and I do not get all the taste of heaven we can now by pursuing Jesus passionately by the Spirit...WHAT will we miss in HEAVEN? The Scriptures are clear that how we live NOW will have a determination on how we enjoy and experience Heaven.

Think about it. And...let us also remember that the Spirit GUARANTEE is doing all this for "...the praise of HIS glory."

In Christ: Know It, Live It - 15 (Sealed for Final Delivery!)

"In Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of His glory" Ephesians 1:13-14.

In vv.13-14 of Ephesians 1 we see the salvation ministry of the Holy Spirit. He is our SEAL from God. In Paul's day, an important document might be sent from one individual to another. Before the document was taken on its way, the sender would roll it up, drip hot wax on the closing edge of the document, and then stamp his SEAL into the wax. This seal was to accomplish several things:

• provide a mark of OWNERSHIP
• provide a mark of AUTHENTICITY
• provide SECURITY for the document, so that it would not be tampered with

God the Holy Spirit is God the Father's SEAL in the life of all His redeemed children. The Spirit MARKS us out as God's own. See Romans 8:9. His fruit, gifts, and other ministries identify us as the regenerated of God. The real thing...AUTHENTIC. The Holy Spirit also SECURES us in God the Father's love and power from salvation to Heaven.

Think of this: if you had a very precious item that you wanted to transport to a distant place, you could send it UPS or FedEx and it would probably arrive safely and intact. However, no one values your "precious" like you do and no one would take as good care of it as you. Therefore, an even BETTER way to secure the safety of your precious item would BE TO TAKE IT THERE YOURSELF! This, friend, is what God is doing for us, His precious, blood-bought inheritance. He has come to INDWELL us in the person of God the Holy Spirit so that He HIMSELF can take us from salvation to Heaven! And with omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence overseeing the route...WE ARE SECURE whatever the enemy of our souls, the world, or our own flesh raises up to stop us. We WILL be safely delivered to Heaven. The unchanging God and His Spirit guarantee it.

I WILL see you there.

In Christ: Know It, Live It - 14 (ACCORDING TO, Not OUT OF)

"In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which He lavished upon us..." Ephesians 1:7,8

How GREAT is God's forgiveness toward us though the ransom payment of Christ's own blood?

Consider these two additional phrases the Apostle Paul uses:

1. "...According to the riches of His grace..." v.7. Note:

• "according to" is different from "out of": John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937) was possibly the richest man to ever live (apart from Solomon!). His estimated wealth, when converted to 2007 dollars, was 318.3 BILLION dollars! He made his money in kerosene and oil, and was a great philanthropist, giving away tens of millions of dollars. As Rockefeller grew older, he developed the habit of giving DIMES to children on the street. The dime was welcome, I am sure, especially coming from Rockefeller, but it was not going to rescue anyone from poverty, let alone make them rich. A billionaire giving someone a dime is to give "out of" his wealth. 
  

• Suppose, on the other hand, Rockefeller approached an orphaned street urchin one day and announced to him that he wanted to make the boy his son and to give him the legal and actual rights to all his multiplied billions, right down to the last DIME?! This would be a picture of giving "according to" or "in measure with" his wealth. Not a restricted or minimal portion, but a gracious and lavish pouring out...a sharing of ALL.
  
• God our Father has given us forgiveness "according to" the riches of His grace. We have not received a DIME's worth of forgiveness, covering some of our sin or most of our sin or the least abominable of our sins...we have received a CENTILLION, CENTILLION worth of forgiveness. What is a CENTILLION? It is a "1" followed by 303 ZEROES! Yet even this number is a poor illustration as it has an end, a limit. God's forgiveness of us through the blood of Christ has NO forgiving limit. All our past, present, and future sins are forgiven. All our past, present, and future sins are FORGOTTEN (Jeremiah 31:34). All our past, present, and future sins are CLEANSED (1 John 1:9). That sin of ours which no one knows about...in the past...too painful to recall to mind...it is forgiven ACCORDING TO the riches of His grace. That sin whose CONSEQUENCES have lingered and will be present until Christ returns...it is forgiven ACCORDING TO the riches of His grace.

2. "...which He lavished upon us." v.8a 

• "Lavished" means: more than enough, excess. Whatever it took to forgive all my sin, all your sin, and all the sin of the multiplied millions of redeemed throughout the ages was MORE THAN provided for through the blood of Christ and the riches of God's grace. This forgiveness will never fail to cover any sin unto eternity.
  

Therefore:

• Let us rest in the SECURITY of God's forgiveness, ACCORDING TO the riches of His grace.
• Let us REFUSE to live one moment more under the guilt of fully forgiven sin.
• Let us REFUSE to PUNISH ourselves for past, present, or future sin, knowing that only the infinite payment of Christ's blood COULD and HAS paid for it. Penance is mockery of Christ's redemption.
• Let us REFUSE to listen to Satan's lie that our past sin has relegated us to the corner of God's dining room and that only the crumbs of grace are available to us.
• Let us COME boldly, confidently, regularly into the very presence of our Father, breathing the fresh air of His "according to" forgiveness, worshipping with a heart set free at the same time as we request His gracious supply for today's demands.

There has been a DIVINE BAILOUT for morally bankrupt, spiritually dead folks like you and me, facing a debt we could never begin to pay. This bailout is offered freely and lavishly by God's grace and Christ's blood and pays our debt so fully that WE CAN NEVER ACCRUE additional debt.

Have you accepted this bailout offer? If you have, are you living in it?

In Christ: Know It, Live It - 13 (Forgiven!)

"In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace..." Ephesians 1:7

Forgiveness in our day, like too many other lofty and glorious words, has lost its heart-stopping, mind-blowing impact.

The very life blood of the eternal Son become also man was paid as the ransom price for our redemption from sin's penalty and power. What came to us with the payment of this price? FORGIVENESS! Forgiveness comes from a verb meaning, "to send away." It also has the idea of "loosing someone from what binds him."

A wonderful Old Testament picture of this took place on the high Day of Atonement...see Leviticus 16:15-22. On that day the high priest would take 2 goats for a sin offering. He would slay the first goat for the uncleanness and sins of Israel. He would then take some of its blood into the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle and sprinkle the blood over and in front of the mercy seat. Afterwards, some of the blood of this same goat would be sprinkled on the altar of burnt offering outside the Tabernacle. Next, the high priest would take the remaining live goat and put his hands on its head, confessing over it the "iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins" Leviticus 16:21. After the sins were confessed on the goat it was taken away into the wilderness to a distant place from which it will never return, signifying the permanent removal of Israel's sin.

Note:

• Both goats are pictures of Jesus! The first goat is killed as a substitute, taking the punishment (death) of the people. The innocent suffering death for the guilty. Its blood is sprinkled on and in front of the MERCY SEAT. Over the mercy seat dwelt God in his holiness and Shekinah glory. In the mercy seat was the law of God that Israel had broken and transgressed. How could the holy God look down at His holy law the people had broken and not punish them? ONLY when SOMEONE ELSE was punished for them. A blameless sacrifice suffering for the blameworthy. Hallelujah for our blameless substitute Savior! The second goat, which remained alive, had the sins of the people confessed on his head, symbolizing that the sins were being laid on him and he would "carry" them in the sense of being a sin bearer. He was taken into the wilderness from which place he would never return, symbolizing the permanent removal of the people's sins. NEVER would the people awake one morning to heart the sound of that goat's bleating. Jesus carried our sins outside the city of Jerusalem to a hill on which He was crucified as the final, ultimate Sin-Bearer, the SCAPEGOAT for our sin, all our sin, past-present-future sin, forever. Hallelujah for our Sin-Bearing Savior!
• The Mercy Seat is also a picture of Jesus. HE is the place where mercy can be offered, where a propitiation of blood can turn away the just wrath of God against us as law-breakers. He TURNS ASIDE God's wrath from us. Hallelujah!

How far has our Mercy Seat, Scapegoat Savior taken our sin away?

"As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us" Psalm 103:12.

"...He will tread our iniquities under foot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea" Micah 7:19.

With such complete and permanent forgiveness, let us approach God with bold confidence through the blood of Christ, knowing that we do not come before Him with lingering sin, partially forgiven sin, the fragrance of sin, the guilt of sin, the memory of sin (See Jeremiah 31:34!), the threat of wrath for sin, or distance created by sin. We come FORGIVEN!

In Christ: Know It, Live It - 12 (Redeemed, How I Love to Proclaim It!)

"In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace..." Ephesians 1:7

When I was a boy I remember my mom saving green and gold stamps that she received from grocery stores for her purchases. S&H Green Stamps and Gold Bond Stamps were that extra "perk" the stores hoped would bring in faithful, repeat customers. Are you old enough to remember them? I can see mom dutifully licking the stamps and putting them row by row into the savings books. Occasionally, when she had saved enough stamps, we'd make our way down to the "Redemption Center" where you could surrender your stamp-filled books to "redeem" the prize of your choice: a toaster, some glassware, or perhaps some cookware.

In this case, to "redeem" meant to "pay the price" of savings books of stamps to "purchase" the desired prize.

In Ephesians 1:7, "redemption" means "to pay a price to set the captive free." In NT times, the Roman Empire had a large population of slaves. The market where these slaves were sold was apparently a familiar place to Romans citizens. There a slave would be marketed and the "master" who desired to purchase the slave would pay the asking price to "redeem" him into his possession.

In CHRIST we have redemption. His very own life, taken away by unjust violence in the will of God, was the price paid to set us free from slavery to sin. The blood of Christ was the price for our freedom from sin's condemning penalty and controlling power. AND IT HAS BEEN PAID. We HAVE redemption through His blood.

WHAT a price! The life blood of the eternal Son of God/Son of Man. Did you happen to see THE PASSION of CHRIST movie? In spite of numerous non-biblical elements, it DID portray effectively the suffering of our Lord. Why did He suffer like a gutter-level criminal? "For Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a RANSOM for many" Mark 10:45. RANSOM is the technical name for the PAYMENT that redeems a slave. Christ's suffering was the suffering of the RANSOM payment for the sin of mankind.

Note:

• This payment could NOT have been more precious or costly. Any life is precious in the sight of God, especially human life, man made in the image of God. THIS human life was the Son of Man, Jesus Christ, who not only was man but was a PERFECT man. "He committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth" 1 Peter 2:22. This was the Lamb of God without spot or blemish. And not only was He perfect, spotless man, He was the God/Man. There was DIVINE value to His life. In Acts 20:28 Paul speaks of "the church of God, which he obtained with HIS OWN BLOOD." Therefore, the value of this ransom payment was as infinite as the ONE who offered it up.
• This payment was FULL and FINAL. Just before Jesus breathed His last on the cross He uttered "It is finished!" John 19:30. This had the meaning of, "It is paid in full." With such a costly and infinitely valuable payment, even the debt of sin incurred by multiplied millions against the infinitely holy God was paid.
• A ransom payment was paid to free a slave FROM his present master to belong to another master. By Christ's blood we are freed from sin and Satan TO BELONG TO GOD. We are not our own masters. "You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body." 1 Corinthians 6:19-20. TRUE FREEDOM is to be a love slave of the Father who has ransomed us at the price of His Son's blood. Slavery to God is pure and undiluted joy.

Do you ever wonder if God loves you, if He is aware of your situation, if He cares? Wonder no longer. Look to the cross, where the PRICE of your REDEMPTION was paid, the BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST..."according to the riches of [the Father's] grace" Ephesians 1:7. If that objective, historical demonstration of love is not enough to assure you and I of the Father's undying love, then nothing will ever do so. LOOK TO THE CROSS!