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Ephesians 2 | The Upward Way | Bible Study with A. Z. Adams — Transcript

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0:00In the previous [music] chapter, Paul
0:01has told us why he's writing the book.
0:03He wants
0:05the the Christians' eyes to be
0:07enlightened to understand what the
0:09church is about. The hope of God's
0:11purpose
0:12>> [music]
0:12>> and administration in and through the
0:14church. In the last verses of the
0:16previous chapter, he told us that God
0:19gave Jesus the highest place, that Jesus
0:23is the [music] incarnate fullness of God
0:25in heaven.
0:26But that that headship and authority of
0:28Jesus
0:29is exercised [music]
0:31in and through the church, which is the
0:33fullness of him who fills all in all.
0:36That's an incarnation statement. [music]
0:38That's a statement that makes the church
0:40the tabernacle, the temple, where the
0:42Holy Spirit is [music] still dwelling.
0:44What a stupendous
0:46claim.
0:47And so, Ephesians chapter 2 does not
0:50break the thought. It picks up like
0:52[music] this.
0:53Verse 1. And you were dead in your
0:56trespasses and sins. [music]
0:59What a juxtaposition. He says, "The
1:01church is the fullness of him who fills
1:03all in all, and you were dead."
1:06And you were dead. You were a big
1:08nothing.
1:10But his point is God uses resurrected
1:13dead things to make something glorious
1:16for his name.
1:18He doesn't He doesn't want us to get all
1:20puffed up and think we're special
1:22because we're part [music] of this
1:23thing. He wants us to keep it about
1:24Jesus. And you were dead in your
1:26trespasses and sins,
1:28>> [music]
1:28>> in which you formerly walked
1:31according to the course of this world.
1:36Now, that word course
1:38I believe is is literally [music] age.
1:41Yeah, the age. But the course, the age,
1:45the zeitgeist of this world. According
1:48to the prince of the power of the air,
1:52of the spirit that is now working in the
1:55sons of disobedience. So, he says,
1:58"God's doing something in the church,
2:01and it's the fullness of him who fills
2:02all in all."
2:04But, there's another church.
2:06And that's how you used to live. There
2:08was another prince who used to incarnate
2:10his will through you. And he's still
2:12incarnating his will through the sons of
2:15disobedience. They are walking according
2:18to the prince of this age like I want
2:20you to walk according to the prince of
2:23peace.
2:25Among them, we too all formerly lived
2:29in the lusts of our flesh,
2:32indulging the desires of the flesh and
2:36of the mind.
2:38Amen. Lusts, desires, flesh, mind. This
2:43is how the prince used to control us.
2:45And we were
2:47by nature children of wrath,
2:53even as the rest.
2:55Well, this is when we were on the wrong
2:56train. This is when we were predestined
2:59because we belonged to the wrong
3:00community,
3:02the wrong covenant. Amen. We were
3:04predestined to hell.
3:06I want you to notice
3:08that Paul does not say we were by
3:10circumstance children of wrath.
3:13He does not say we were by mistakes
3:16children of wrath. He says we were by
3:18nature children of wrath.
3:21The problem was our nature.
3:25And if nature is the problem, then
3:27repentance is not I'm sorry for what I
3:30did, it's I'm dying to who I am.
3:34I'm reckoning with who I am,
3:38and I'm taking that to the cross. It is
3:40a core problem, born in sin, shaped in
3:44iniquity. Out of the man's heart comes
3:47all kinds of evil, not from without
3:49inside, but from inside outward.
3:52We were by nature children of wrath,
3:55even as the rest, but God.
3:59We were belonging to the wrong prince.
4:01We were destined to wrath, but God.
4:05But God,
4:07being rich in mercy.
4:10Here's the kind intention he spoke of.
4:13Rich in mercy.
4:15God did not look and say they deserve
4:17death.
4:19He looked rich in mercy, and he said,
4:22"How do I get these riches of heaven
4:25down to earth?
4:27I know.
4:28I'm going to take on their flesh,
4:31their weakness, their infirmity.
4:34God, being rich in mercy, because of his
4:38great love,
4:40with which he loved us,
4:43even when we were dead
4:46in our transgressions.
4:49He loved us when we were dead.
4:52But he had this rich mercy,
4:54and so he made us alive.
4:57And that word made us alive
5:00is resurrected us.
5:03So he starts the chapter off, you were
5:05dead,
5:07and now he sandwiches it, you were
5:09resurrected.
5:12Through the promise of the Spirit, made
5:14us alive together with Christ.
5:18The power that brought Jesus out of the
5:20grave is still bringing Christians, or
5:23sinners, out of their sins, out of the
5:25grave of their impotence.
5:28Made us alive together with Christ.
5:31Now, this is where he puts a
5:33parenthetical.
5:34He says, "God resurrected you." And he
5:37puts a parenthetical, "By grace you have
5:39been saved."
5:41So the term, "By grace you have been
5:43saved," means you were dead, and now you
5:46are resurrected.
5:48Grace describes the rolling away of a
5:51tomb and the coming out of a dead man to
5:54a whole new life, a whole new power. And
5:57if it describes anything less, it's not
5:58what Paul means. By grace you have been
6:01saved is how he sums up what he just
6:04described. Dead by nature, children of
6:08wrath, controlled formerly controlled by
6:11your lusts, all of that
6:14and he just sums that up with a
6:15parenthetical. What I'm saying is this
6:17is what grace looks like.
6:19By grace you have been saved.
6:24And then he finishes his sentence, and
6:26he seated us with him in heavenly places
6:30in Jesus Christ.
6:33What does this mean? That God has
6:35already
6:37seated us in heavenly places.
6:40This is a powerful imagery that when a
6:43king is taking his throne, he comes in
6:47when the human form of Jesus Christ is
6:50exalted to the highest place, he's going
6:52to take the throne of God. He is going
6:54to be who sits upon the throne. He's not
6:56sitting next to the throne. It's the
6:58lamb upon the throne. Amen?
7:00But when he comes in and sits down,
7:03that's the moment of the kingdom change.
7:06That's the moment where the almighty has
7:09taken up permanent expression and
7:11manifestation through the humanity that
7:13he used to be estranged from. So Jesus
7:16takes the throne. Paul says, "And he
7:18seated us with him."
7:20His court comes in and sits with him.
7:24And Paul is saying that when we accept
7:27and come into the Holy Spirit, the
7:29resurrection, even here on earth, we are
7:33sitting as the court of the king. We are
7:37we are the cabinet members of a king who
7:40dwells in heaven.
7:42He's taken his throne, but we're
7:44supposed to take our dominion
7:47in the spirit. And that's what it means
7:50to sit in heavenly places in him.
7:55So that in ages to come, he might show
7:59So he he seated us now in this age. So
8:03that in ages to come, he might show the
8:05surpassing riches of his grace
8:08in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
8:12So we take our place now.
8:14We take our responsibilities now. We
8:16take the sphere of the kingdom that he's
8:18called us to now
8:20by the spirit. And when we are in the
8:22presence of God, we are in heavenly
8:24places with Christ.
8:27For by grace you have been saved through
8:29faith.
8:30And that not of yourselves.
8:32It is the gift of God.
8:35Not as a result of works,
8:38so that no one may boast.
8:40For we are his workmanship, created in
8:46Christ Jesus for good works, which God
8:49prepared beforehand so that we would
8:53walk in them.
8:55Now,
8:56let's just understand this.
8:58Paul is not against works. He's against
9:01works of the flesh. As soon as he says
9:03it's not by works, he says, "I ain't
9:05talking about God's works. I God
9:09is how you got here."
9:11So, what Paul doesn't want us to have
9:13any pride in
9:15is the works of do-goodism that we can
9:17do apart from the Holy Spirit. But what
9:20the Holy Spirit works in us, well, God
9:23gets the credit for that.
9:25Jesus prophesied of this when he said in
9:28his gospel,
9:29Jesus says, "Let your light so shine
9:32before men that they may see your good
9:34works."
9:35Oh, and glorify your father who is in
9:37heaven.
9:38Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:10, "By
9:41the grace of God I am what I am, and his
9:44grace toward me did not prove vain, for
9:47I worked harder than them all, but it
9:50wasn't I, it was the grace of God in
9:53me." So, grace works.
9:56And if it doesn't work, it's not grace.
9:58It proves vain. Only grace that works is
10:02grace. Only grace that opens the tomb
10:05and calls the dead to life is grace.
10:10The idea is we can't earn
10:12[clears throat and cough] this salvation
10:13because of what we've done in the sense
10:16of adherence to the law, but if we've
10:19been saved by grace, if we're dwelling
10:21in heavenly places,
10:23then grace is working in us.
10:26Amen. We are His workmanship, created in
10:29Christ Jesus for good works,
10:33which God prepared so that we should
10:36walk in them. Therefore,
10:39therefore, remember
10:41that formerly you, the Gentiles in the
10:45flesh, who are called uncircumcision by
10:48the so-called circumcision, which is
10:50performed in the flesh by human hands,
10:52remember
10:54that you were at that time
10:56separate from Christ.
11:00When you don't have the spirit, when
11:02you're not united with Christ, you don't
11:03have the
11:04energy. You don't have the energizing of
11:07grace.
11:10You were excluded from the Commonwealth
11:13of Israel. That's like saying the state,
11:15the nation of Israel.
11:18You were strangers to the covenants of
11:20promise,
11:21having no hope and without God in the
11:25world. You belonged to the corporate
11:27elected community of damnation.
11:32But now,
11:35But now
11:37in Christ Jesus
11:40you who formerly were far off have been
11:45brought near
11:46by the blood
11:48of Christ.
11:50He opened a new and living way.
11:54For he himself
11:56is our peace
11:58who made both groups into one
12:01and broke down the barrier of the
12:04dividing wall.
12:07Salvation is being brought near.
12:10It's fellowship with God by the spirit.
12:13It's coming out of the tombs, out of the
12:15impotence, out of the distance, out of
12:18yourself, out of your former nature, and
12:21it's coming into fellowship with God.
12:26He He broke down the dividing barrier by
12:30abolishing in his flesh the enmity
12:34which is the law of commandments
12:37contained [snorts] in ordinances.
12:40The enmity, that means the hostility,
12:43the hatred, the desire to hurt you.
12:46Jesus destroyed the enmity. The enmity
12:50did not live in God the Father.
12:52The enmity was the law and the
12:55commandments.
12:57Do you understand? Don't let any
13:00know-it-all teach you that the enmity
13:03was in the heart of the Father, but he
13:05killed Jesus instead.
13:07No, it was kind intention. It was mercy.
13:11It was riches of mercy and great love
13:15that the Father had for us while we were
13:18in sin.
13:20The enmity
13:22was the schoolmaster
13:24which was not God. It was merely
13:28the law.
13:30By abolishing in his flesh the enmity
13:33which is the law
13:35of commandments contained in ordinances.
13:39So that in himself he might make the two
13:42into one new man
13:45thus establishing peace.
13:48Colossians is a perfect parallel to
13:50Ephesians and we're going to see that in
13:51the next book. He goes through the same
13:53stuff.
13:54But in his Colossians version when he
13:56tells this, he says that
13:59he disarmed principalities and powers
14:03and nailed their weapons to the cross.
14:07And then he says that what he nailed was
14:09these ordinances of the law. So the
14:12weapon of the devil was the law.
14:15What had been given as a schoolmaster
14:17had become an agency of the devil of
14:20condemnation preventing us from access
14:23to the Father.
14:25So that's what was nailed. That's what
14:27was undermined. The law killed Jesus.
14:30The servants of the law sat in judgment
14:33over him and condemned him according to
14:35their law. It is fitting in our law that
14:38one should die. And so what the
14:40crucifixion did is it nullified the law.
14:44Says if you can commit this
14:45transgression, this law can't be used
14:47anymore on anybody. It was just nailed
14:50to the cross. Boom, gone. Over.
14:53It's satisfied.
14:56He nailed that to the cross so that in
14:58himself he might make the two into one
15:01new man.
15:03So there's the
15:05covenant of and commonwealth of former
15:07Israel and there's the rejection and
15:10death of the Gentiles
15:12damned
15:13and then he makes one new man.
15:17One new man.
15:19That's the body of Christ.
15:21And he says to the Jews, you got to come
15:23out of your legalism, and he says to the
15:25Gentiles, you got to come out of being
15:27controlled by the flesh. Come on, guys.
15:29Let's be part of this one new man.
15:34Thus establishing peace
15:36that he might reconcile them both in one
15:40body to God
15:43through the cross,
15:45by it, the cross, having put to death
15:49the enmity.
15:51So, it's not just Jesus who died at the
15:54cross, it's the legitimacy of the law
15:56that died at the cross.
15:59And he came and preached peace
16:03to you who were far away
16:06and peace
16:07to those who were near.
16:09So, he preached to the Jews, but from
16:11the cross he preached to those who were
16:13far away.
16:15Remember when he said, "I have sheep not
16:16of this fold"?
16:18Those were us who were far away.
16:20For through him we both
16:24meaning Jews and Gentiles
16:26have our access
16:28in one spirit to the Father.
16:33Through Jesus,
16:34a door is opened.
16:36The veil has been torn, and we can get
16:38into the Holy of Holies, which is heaven
16:40itself now.
16:42Do you understand? We have access
16:45through the spirit to the Father. And
16:47that was the whole point, to give us
16:49access. Access that was ruined by sin.
16:53Access that was cut off in Eden. Access
16:56that was barred by the angels at the
16:58gate of Eden. Access that was
17:00represented by the veil.
17:03Blocked by the veil.
17:05Access that is now granted.
17:07So then, you are no longer strangers
17:10and aliens,
17:12but you are fellow citizens
17:16with the saints
17:18and are of God's household.
17:22Isn't that beautiful?
17:23Now, if you're citizens,
17:25does that mean the kingdom has come?
17:27Mhm. That means what I said in the
17:30previous chapter, the administration is
17:32Paul's verbiage for the kingdom.
17:35You are now citizens
17:37of this new realm.
17:40Having been built on the foundation of
17:43the apostles, so he says, "You're
17:45citizens." That refers to kingdom. Then
17:47he says, "You're of the household." That
17:49refers to the temple.
17:51And he's going to dial this in even
17:53more. "Having been built on the
17:55foundation of the apostles and prophets,
17:59Christ Jesus himself being the
18:00cornerstone.
18:03In whom the whole building,
18:05being fitted together,
18:08is growing into a holy temple
18:12in the Lord.
18:14In whom you also are being built
18:17together into a dwelling of God in the
18:21spirit."
18:23This is the the explanation of what he
18:25means when he says the church, which is
18:27his body, the fullness of him who fills
18:29all in all. You're being built into the
18:32house where God is going to dwell. It's
18:34powerful to me that he doesn't say
18:36you've already arrived.
18:38He says it's being built. And I think
18:41it's still being built.
18:43I don't think [music] the capstone has
18:44come back yet. That's when Jesus
18:47returns, when the building is done.
18:49Amen. [music]
18:50That's when the the capstone returns, he
18:53who is also the founding cornerstone.
18:55[music]
18:57So, we're the citizens, we're not
18:59strangers, we're citizens, we're part of
19:02the household,
19:03we're even one of the stones in the
19:05household,
19:06we're part of the building, we're part
19:08of the temple.
19:09And what's [music] the whole point? Is
19:11to become a corporate house,
19:13the church, where God will dwell.
19:16Was Jesus the house of God?
19:19Yes, he was.
19:20It says
19:23in John 1:12, 12, it says, "The word
19:29became flesh and dwelt among us."
19:33What that literally means is that the
19:35the word became flesh and pitched its
19:38tabernacle among us.
19:41So, the flesh in John's view was the
19:43tabernacle, the house of God.
19:47In the same way, the flesh of the body
19:50of Christ church [music]
19:51is the tabernacle of God, and it's still
19:54being built.
19:56And the whole point is this is the place
19:58where God's going to dwell [music] by
19:59his spirit.
20:01In whom you are being built together
20:03into a dwelling of God
20:07in the spirit.
20:09And that fulfills Psalms 127 and all the
20:13the
20:13>> [music]
20:13>> prophecies of the Old Testament and what
20:17is referred to in
20:19Revelations as well.
20:22>> [music]

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