according as he has chosen us in him, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him, in love had he predestinated us under the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to his death, according to the good measure of his will, to the way of the glory of this which wherein he has made us effective in the deluxe. In whom we have eventually to the the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his will, wherein he has the sons which are called us in all wisdom and foolishness, having made known unto us the ministry of his will according to his good will, which he has purposed in himself. But in this meditation the longest of time he might gather together in one hawklings in Christ, both which are his men, and which are others, even in me, whom also we have ascended and heralded, been predestinated according to the purpose of here through whether it's all things after the capital of his own will, and at least was he to the praise of his glory, who was first crafted in Christ, in whom he also crafted after that you heard the verse too, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also having believed you were seeing with that Holy Spirit come, which is the earliest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the first dispossession of his praise of his glory. Wherefore I also, after I heard that your faith in the Lord Jesus, go now to old things, please not give thanks for you. I did mention of you in my service, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you his good wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of giving, the eyes of your understanding, or heart, being enlightened, that she may know what is the hope of his glory and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance. And what if we see in greatness of this power to us with the belief, calling to the working of this mighty power which he brought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at the very right hand in the heavenly places, far above all things the power of him, and power, and might, and within him, and every name that is in him. Not only in this world, but also in that which is his heart, he has put all things under his feet, gave him the hair of all things to the church, which is his father, goals of him, that's the word for the Lord. This letter contains much of what we might call the gospel. It tells us about our needs. It tells us about the way the Lord has met our needs. And so I suppose we may say that there is much of the gospel and the flesh. It may be compared with Proverbs in which also we have a fuller exposition of the gospel. We have a setting forefare in the gospel of God, a very wonderful way. In the book of Romans, it's interesting to notice that the note that is so struck is to note of our own sinfulness, or of our depredity, as we say. In the first chapter, and indeed on the second, And in the part of the third, we have our mind's forest, the deep need of man, how that man is an utterly sinful. However, in this biblical that we're looking at, it also expounds the gospel of the Benedictine Christian. By the way, Christian is all the Hebrew gospel. I don't mean by that gospel, but the same is for the great of God. It is indeed the biblical. If we turn to this biblical, we find that it's different to the Book of Romans. God does not set me for us here in the third chapter. The text of our week. That doesn't come out until we get to the second chapter, where it speaks about what we live in the rest of the book of this. And there's something very instructive in that, isn't there? The book of Romans presents the gospel verse from the standpoint of the me in the heart of man. And this, because of the Ephesians, presents the gospel verse from the standpoint of the me in the heart of God. That is a little explanation. We understand the need in the heart of man, but men should be saved. But there was a need in the heart of God that men should be saved too. God gave him who God, the greatest, loving, compassionate, merciful, as well as righteous and holy ones. He is the one who has a desire in his heart to express his love and his grace to all of us, who are unutterably worthy. For that reason, I think, we have in this first chapter a number of times the mention of our salvation being according to his will, to Joseph in verse five, that he's re-refinanced up unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good measure of his will. That is, it was his first, it was his plan. Notice again verse eleven, in whom also we have ascending inheritance. being related according to the purpose of him, who, well, it all takes out of the council, of his own wisdom. And again, at this point, Matthew, verse nine, having made known unto us the mystery of goodwill, according to his good measure, which he had purposed to himself. This was the divine plan of salvation. This was something that was glorifying the Lord, something that was pleasing to the Lord. And in order to satisfy that need and that craving and that love and that rage, that there's no limit on it. And God defines expression for it. He looked down upon us and selected us to bless us in the Lord Jesus Christ. So that this salvation that we have, not only in this time he didn't take time and done that, and set forth in the book of Romans, but perhaps even more under this sin, is satisfied with the very heart of God. It's something in which he takes pleasure. That new creation of Jesus, that new creation, You remember the old creation. God looked over that old creation, and he said again and again, that is the truth. Everything that God does is truth. And he does satisfaction in that which he has done. God looked over the salvation which is provided for us by the Lord Jesus Christ. And he saw it over our new enemies, the emeritus truth, and satisfied the heart of God. Isn't it wonderful? That we and the believers are all to satisfy our hearts. We are part of the purpose of the thank God, to this one who works all things under the counsel of his own will. And this one who does everything, and he says in verse six, ha ha, is it? First part of the verse, everything is to the praise of the glory of his grace. And notice again in verse twelve, that which is to do the praise of his glory. Don't read that as though it said we ought to be. It means that everything he effected in our salvation was that we should be to the praise of his glory. And thank God, every true child of God is. And in verse fourteen, there's a last part of the verse that says unto the praise of his glory. Now, let me write that first section out for the very nicely. This little quote, mention of the praise of his glory at the end of each section. For in the first part, that is when Romans unto six. If we take another phrase, a climax in one thought, we have the activity of God the Father. And then in the next part, from verse six, down to verse twelve, where again, notice we have that phrase, the phrase of the glory, we have the activity of the Son of God. Then again, in a slightly short section, from verse twelve, down to verse four means, we have the work or the activity of the spirit of God. And the easy way is to the frame of his Lord. How do I tell you this, ladies? Don't go into an exhibition this section. But just an image. That, as we look at this first section, verses one and six, we see that God is the great plan, if you like, if we can't detect about salvation. He's not at all. God's Father, to him, is attributed the plan of salvation. He has chosen unto him before the foundation of the world. And it's speaking about the God's Father, about all Jesus Christ, in verse three. Then, when we look at the second section, and we see the activity of the Son, may I definitely say that he is the executor of the Godhead. He's the one who carries the plan of the architect, in verse six, into effect. Without the Son, the plan could not have been carried into that. Here is something in which Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the next section are in perfect harmony. And if we may look at these first section verses one to six, as speaking to us of God or the divine architect of the plan, the one who thought to follow up and conceive it, and the Son especially at the executor of the plan. Then in verses twelve to fourteen, we may see perhaps as the Holy Spirit as the revealer for the confirmer of that plan. For we notice in that section that he is the one who comes to us and makes that plan of salvation which the Lord gives us, Lord God on the work of the cross, in the work of the cross, he makes the plan of salvation actual, meaningful in our life, and reveals that plan to us, and even seals us with his own gracious servant, that we might be eternally here. So then we have New Zealand, the controller, originator of the planet, the one who brings it into practical effect in our life. So we rejoice in the fact that our salvation has glorified God and satisfied me. And that, indeed, is a cause for worship and praise and thank you. No wonder the Apostle said that God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the English, in Christ. And how we do rejoice. in all that he has done for it is natural and an unspeakable prayer. He prayed for them in verses sixteen on to the end, that is in verse twenty-three, first after it, he prayed for them. He said that in verse twelve fifteen, I heard of the Old Faith and the Old Jesus, and I heard of the Old Faith. He uses the same cutlet in the book of the Epistle to the Colossians. And these are the twins that to reveal a true work of the grace of God. They reveal a person who is truly converted, when these two things are properly evident in the person's mind. Notice, there is faith in the Lord Jesus, and not unto all that is it. That is the normal expression of who is not. Faith in the Lord being intensified that. That is faith in the Lord. There is no blessing from God unless it is through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no other way to the past. There are not many ways to God or to make one of us. There are many ways in our experience of the course of which we come to Christ. But Christ is the only way to God. And here we find that many years of their faith in the Lord Jesus. And that's my dear thing, though. That is just for faith. It is easy to say. Oh, I believe in the Lord Jesus. I believe that Jesus died for our sins or some things like this. It needs to be perfect. But the evidence comes out in our lives to all the saints. Notice that it's real God. Now that's an unnatural thing. Do you know that it's unnatural for you to love Christians? Oh, it's natural for you to love your parents. It's natural for you to love those who are near to you. those who do you good, they're not unanswered, they're just loving you. What kind of a whole group we are. What a mix of that. We're all dear people, we're all queer people, whatever you say, we're all dear. And it's unnatural that we should love each other unless we think of the work of God and attribute that love to the work of the Spirit of God. See, the Lord here can say, now or not, yet the world will hate you. So if you look at the world, you would hate Christians. That is, if your real fears were brought to the service. If you're not saved, you don't want to be in their company. Now, thank God if you have a desire to be in the company of the people of God tonight, you wouldn't want to hear the truth as well. That's a wonderful thing. But when you are born again, there's a love that comes into your heart that is born in the Holy Spirit. How would this work out? Well, I remember when I was converted or reaped. When I came to the Lord and I told you it was afternoon that I didn't know exactly the outcome of the version of it. And I want to qualify that. There was a time when I realized what salvation was all about. And I think I was probably a child of God before that. He said it in a minute. When I came to clearly understand the work of God and commit myself to give, have they changed the age of my life? And it was something I hadn't expected something. It's always done business to make preparation or planning. But it was there. Something that stood the rest. Something very lovely. You see, up to that time, I did not make the company of the Lord. I did not want to be very well. I didn't want to be like it. But I certainly didn't want to be like it. I had no appetite for the things that they had doing. Now, that may have been because I was living unnaturally for Christmas, because I was an appetite, or it may have been. that I was not really a Christian at all. I don't know. It doesn't matter. Meaning now I know who I believe. And I know who I believe, I should say. And I know that I love the brethren. And the Bible says, for we know we can't be dead of life because we love the brethren. By the way, that doesn't mean a certain group of Christians. You know that? What does Paul say again? He says, your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for some of the faithful. Do the things he brings to you? nor love to all the planet. This is the moment when we think that we gather around the Lord's life and we remember it is, and we worship it in the presence of the Lord, that what we are doing, the atonement way of representing that. We are members of this body, but the body of Christ is not there in its entirety. We're only there in a few representations of that body. Did he carry out what the Lord gave us the last one to do? And so we come together to the Lord's Supper, and we remember the Lord Jesus, saying, He's the bread and the wine of each man. But then we do, we remember that we are one with all that love by man. And if we don't remember that, we know who it is. We look beyond our forewalk. We realize that there is a reason, in places perhaps, which we feel is a disgrace or a dishonor to the name of the Son of God. But we realize that we do this, and we rejoice at the fact that we are all one body in Christ. And God, for that day, when he speaks it out to Jesus later on, when he shall all come to you in his place, and the knowledge of the Son of God will certainly man unto him, and he will return to his place, if I take it at the same place. And it's coming again in our rapture, into his praise. My God blessed one, with all the little blessings in heaven, that is in Christ. And just because I may be, and I may be, more intelligent than some other Christians about those things, but maybe, it doesn't mean that there is more mine. They enjoy what I see more. If I understand them, if I meditate upon these things, I enjoy them more. But another brother who knows the Lord better and understands his word more and meditates on the things that are more, he enjoys us more than I do. We have various ways of understanding and of light and appreciation among the Lord's people. But those blessings belong alike to all those who have truth hold on in him. Each of them is sealed. with the Holy Spirit of God, and how we rejoice in that faith. Now then, we said this afternoon that in the first three chapters, then we have the wonderful, spiritual blessing, which are out of us in the Lord Jesus Christ. Our love is now in the third, through the fourth chapter, which goes birth. And I'm going to begin here, where I hope to continue, perhaps, tomorrow in the will of the Lord in the afternoon. In chapter four verse one he says, I therefore the prisoner of the Lord, deceit you that you walk wherever your location, wherever you walk. Now I'm sure that there's a desire in your heart and in mind to walk worthy of the location where it's your hope. The calling where it's your hope. It's not a calling. And if we have the Holy Spirit of God at all, there is a desire Be it ever so varied by perhaps some commonality of ours, some materialistic spirit or whatever else may be affecting our lives. Be it ever so varied in our hearts there is a desire there to be worthy of the call that there is we have called it. That goes on tonight. To be pleasing unto one who has told you. And to behave yourself in the world in such a way as may honor the one who has planned your salvation, the one who has executed your salvation. You don't have to reveal that wonderful salvation to you, or you say, I want to walk worthy of that calling, wherewith I am going. But I don't want you to notice something here. You can't do it under us. You cannot walk worthy of the calling, wherever you are called, in that spiritual death, going by the palm tree, out into the desert, isolated from under the tree. There's no such thing as being able to nurture yourself and develop your own spiritual life in a sort of monastic turn. The best way to grow is to be frequently with the Lord's peace. I am a demon. I believe the truth that's everywhere in the world of God. The best way to grow is to be frequently with the Lord's peace. Because there's an interesting thing when we come to this fourth chapter, where he doesn't have to walk worthy of the location where we have to be at fault in the context. We are in Egypt being a company of our beneath. And then he says, well, you can't walk worthy by yourself. You can't go to the Lord. For you'll notice that in this first section of chapter four, He tells us that we have to grow free and dedicate the unity of the Spirit in the bottom of the sea. Now you can't do that unless you're in touch with our living and that's the real taste of your spiritual rose. And then I want you to notice that he only tells us in this first section here, to keep together. Well that's what he might say in this first section really, that first few verses of the first three particularly, are saying to us, keep together. In the next section that we come to, or on from verse three, on down to verse ten, you have the thought of working together, working together. If we're to keep together, we ask to work together, because in verse seven, I'm sure every one of us is getting ready for God into the measure of the gift of Christ. God. So we keep together the Spirit in harmony. And we learn the word together, each with our different gifts. Each with that contribution and that unique contribution that he can make to the other members of the body of Christ. And let no one despise me, if I will, you'll just know whoever you are. Why ever did the Lord save you? For the same reason that he saved me, I have a unique contribution to make to the growth of the body of Christ. And I say that almost with shade. Or I feel like a little bit of a guru. I might not look where I am and look where I do, but I might look where I have a platform of duties. doing the best that I can do. But oh, I'm so boggling. That in the unconscious life of life, or in the moments when I'm not bugging myself, I'm not all that I can do. Christian view, Christian life is a life of constant watchfulness that we might be glorified and honoring it again. But I have a unique contribution to making the body of God. I've got enough to do. See, I really believe in that saying that I can't, since we've been home from Africa, that everything that is known to me. Now, for the qualifications I do to read, in the church of God, every man does his own things. He has his own work to do. And the Holy Spirit, he's trying to do the thing that belongs to somebody else. And what was my enemy? He's trying to do righteous. And I thought, it doesn't mean I do it myself, you're correct. But if I do that thing that God has expected to do, they must do it for me, for the ministry which he deceived in the Lord, that he will tell it. It's got to do between. Well, that's the judgment he'll be described. I'd like to agree with you as to whether I have to do the things that the Lord wanted me to do. And it's for each one of us to prove what the middle of the Lord is. What is the thing that you wanted me to do? Are you saying that's where my difficulty lies. I don't know what my learning is. I don't know what it is the Lord wanted to do, don't you? Are you not sure? You think, oh, I don't know what the Lord wants to do. I don't know what my learning is. Well, let's just say, it has to come into a truth. which we came to be, that is, he told us, that if you're in the Holy Spirit, that if you're in the Son of God from heaven, it says to me, you are the Ancestine. You are the Ancestine. You are without in the church. But Ancestine goes out serving the Lord, doing diligently that which lies with our hands, we discover what our thing really is. We find that there's a measure of joy in doing this work. that even though toil was later immediately associated with it, we're only happy when we're engaged in promoting that particular activity, doing that particular thing. And moreover, to confirm this, we find that our brethren in the body of Christ and our brethren, after our local attendees bring it back down to the local level, they are encouraging us to do these things. Now I would become very concerned if I felt that my thing was to teach the scriptures with my brethren, never made the opportunity to teach the scriptures. I remember John Smart years ago going to some young men to paint for the Bible school, and from Toronto there, and they had a Bible school, and he said, Mr. Smart, he said, I'm terribly disappointed. And you know, if you make a Bible school, it's not a place that doesn't like pictures. It seems to encourage Christians to do the work of God for them to do. It doesn't make a lot of pictures, is it? Well, this young man is disappointed. If you make a use of smart, then he complained very... much about the brethren in Rolode. He said, you know, he said, they don't understand the idea. They don't ask me to preach the gospel. And I don't know why it is. And Mrs. Marble fell in and he said, you know, I'm having the same talk. And he thought, hmm? Well, it's not. He said, it'd be late, everywhere, so on. And he couldn't understand it. He said, yes, but he was not. And I'm the same father. He said, no, the answer is the answer he didn't think so. I'm not going to fight against the truth at all. But you get the point. I'm not an enemy. I can do the point. But if I try to do it, you might get the point. You might never ask me again, for example. You've asked me to see here today. I think it might be the last one. I'm not sure. You might get away several times again, but I guess it's all true. But you see, We discover what our thing is, we prove what is the work that the Lord has us to do. By simply doing what might do our hand, what our brethren encourage us to do, and what we find in our own hearts to do, that would bring us to serve God and all you to do. And I'm going to do something. It's usually something that will help you. It's usually something that says, well, it helps to give you the faith that you might have had. Because if not to serve, it is not with Christ. And to effectively serve, we have to be humble people. We had to be prepared to watch the train speed through a game. And that's how we learn through our thing of spirit, humility. I'm going to come back to that when we study a little bit more detail at this time. So notice this. Let me just give you a outline before closing. In first people, one through to six, then, you can divide it a little bit. I'm dividing it a little bit harder, clearly. But in both of them, you have the words, keep together. In both of them, do you have the sort of twerking together. And in half of them, Now I'm going to notice this. It goes from twelve to sixteen. You have growing together. Till we all come in the unity of the faith. Notice that in verse thirteen. Verse fifteen, by seeking the truth in love, may draw into him in all things which is the hair in the cross. Seeking together. Working together. Growing together. And that's the only way you can walk well via the vocation well is your call, my brother-in-law mind. That's the argument. Are you moving with the people of God? Have you come from God's word where God wants you to lead? Have you found the fellowship of the Lord's people? Have you understood what really he wants you to do in relation to other believers? Do you understand he wants you to reject fellowship? Then put yourself whole heartily into that fellowship and work for the living of others and you will grow. If you try to work for the blessing of yourself, if you try to stimulate your own spiritual life at home, you'll get nowhere. A such thing becomes such church, and no one will do anybody. But if you grow together with the saint, and at every time you lose, you get something good. Share it with the Lord's Peace. And if it comes down to you, keep it, and it's a match for you, you'll lose it. I learned this secret that I used to love to tell a joke, and unfortunately I still do. Well, I'd say, unfortunately, I don't mind telling jokes, but I don't think there's any wrong with it, but I'm going to go back to jokes that I should have. That's good. I remember, in the days when I was quite a joke of a young man, I had no idea what he was meant to be a joke because as soon as I heard it, I told somebody else, and I still remember some of those jokes today, some of my drives today. If you want to be blessed by some truth, if you want it in the hands deep in your own soul and meaningful to you, in your own life, share it with the people of God. Share it with us. Let him be honest with you, that the Lord is not the only one that I've been doing up here tonight, possibly encouraging. But anyway, perhaps someone here is a little bit older, and he's just begun to preach in us. That is the Lord's suffering. You have an opportunity to share with the Lord's people. That which will help lay the word you say to me. I, Harry Potter. Oh, it's amazing how your expression of love and your Jesus will help you. I've often been going to visiting people, and I've gone and I've got in mind some scripture that I'd like to share with them, some thoughts I'd like to give them, and I'm sure it's going to be a blessing to them. And I get there, maybe it's from St. Brotherhood, Spirit of God, and quite a few people who think through it which we need, and perhaps not one, too well-thought-in-a-thing-so-all, so I know it's a minute to do it. And when I get to her, and I get in consolation for that, the reason it saves me, I will enjoy something as much as we were about. And I lost that. And she did become very careful at all. Nothing very profound, nothing to find in any heavy theological work or anything like that. Something meaningful and precious to her, or to him, that Lord being who knows what it does to me. It makes me grow. He's thrilled by those. He's pleased. It teaches me something more than all of you. Now, I'm not going to have to expect high students, though. And anyone who's listening to the law of the people will experience that. So, let's teach together, let's work together, and in consequence, let's grow together. And thus we shall fulfill what we have in this one. We shall walk worthy of the location wherewith we are called. All of that in the last minute.