just want to read from uh we've done this a lot Ephesians 1 um but it's to me it it's almost like you know when you hear a song and you love it and you just put it on repeat because you want to hear it again and again and again I feel that way about Ephesians 1 I'm like I don't think I'll ever get old I you know get tired thank you I will get old I don't think I'll ever get tired of this passage um and let's just remember like when I read from the word
of God this is different than this this is a human being talking to you but when I stand behind here and I actually read from the scriptures this is like a voice from heaven and so we pay special attention to it Ephesians 1 verse 1 Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God to the Saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us
in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the Heavenly places even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him in love he predestined us for adoption to himself as Sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will to the Praise of his glorious Grace with which he has blessed us in the Beloved 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 in all wisdom and insight making
known to us the mystery of his will according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him things in heaven and things on earth may the Lord bless the reading of his word something I really want to get across to you today today if there's one thing you leave with it's this thought based upon Ephesians 1 God is the subject God is the subject okay quick quick English lesson um David ate a cheeseburger what is the subject of that sentence David good
what is the object of that sentence good okay Jesse ate 12 cheeseburgers could happen so Jesse is the subject and the cheeseburger is the object okay we understand how a sentence Works um I want you to think through I want I I just wanted to look at Ephesians 1 for a second Ephesians chap 1 starting in verse three blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us so who's the subject of that God the father who's the object us verse four even as he he chose us who's the subject
he he chose us verse five he predestined us again who's a subject God here we are the object verse six to the praise of his glorious Grace which with which he had has blessed us in the Beloved again he's the subject we're the object now look at verse 7even though it says in him we have redemption in that sentence what's the object we right we have Redemption but still where where're it's a passage it's a receiving we have something from him verse 8 which he lavished upon us when I think about life and when I
go through life I am usually the subject of everything I wake up in the morning I decide to go brush my teeth I decide to read the Bible I decide to cook myself some breakfast I decide to go into my car everything's about me being the subject and so we're just used to that and so sometimes it's weird being in the place of the object in fact for some people we have a real hard time with this because we like control and so we like to decide we don't like things just happening to us we
want to make things happen so those of you who are in school right now you want to one day say I earned my degree and once you get a job it's like gosh I applied for this job and I got it when you buy a car you're like I saved up and then I bought this we we we want to control things and so we like being the subject and I I've had a hard time as I'm looking at this passage and I'm just realizing wow I don't really do anything in this passage I'm the
object and it's really hard because even with salvation we're so used to being in charge and we're so used to being the subject when we read this this passage saying that he chose us he predestined us he blessed us he lavished upon us and now God says this is by the will of God and how he chose us like like what did we do see it's very natural for us to want to say well I chose him and I became a Christian and and and I decide to make him the Lord of my life and
all those things are true but you got to look at the emphasis here the emphasis is what God has done for you I love verse 8 talking about his grace according to the riches of his grace which he lavished on us the rich is of his grace which he lavished on us remember going back a few weeks when we talked about uh Exodus 347 when it says the Lord the Lord a god merciful and gracious like that's just who he is he's he's gracious like Grace is spilling out of him and so here when he
says according to the riches of his grace which he lavished that's just that's just who he is he can't help but show his grace I love that phrase he lavished Upon Us in all wisdom and insight The Riches of his grace that he lavished upon us I want to I want you to think about this Grace LLY hi Grace can you come up here just cuz you're named Grace and I want people to why don't you have her sit there you can have the seat says Grace everyone knows Grace Grace is there another Grace in
here no okay all right you're the only Grace thanks for coming up here here's $20 right you didn't really earn it it's just Grace get it you're getting it but that's not really like lavishing 20 bucks and that's called Cash yeah your parents and I we use this stuff before it it works it's not venmo it's not you know just clicking your phone it but it's $20 you go okay that's that's nice that's Grace but that's not really lavishing what does it mean to Lavish you get to keep this okay otherwise it's not a good
illustration here here's some here's some more 20s okay here's some Grace here you want some more grace here's some more grace yeah yeah yeah that's a lot of Grace for doing nothing yes you're keeping all of it yes you have to it's great it's a bad illustration then then you're saying God gives you stuff and you don't keep it oh whoa whoa okay okay all right you can't give it back and you have to spend on yourself go buy something nice okay that's Grace it's Grace okay you have to I know it doesn't feel right
you just showed up and someone just starts throwing all this money on top of you like you were just lavished with this money that's that's this picture here it's like wait a second I I just I'm just here and then you picked me before the foundation of the world and you chose me and you adopted me as your child why according to the purpose of Your World just because you wanted to just to the praise of your glorious Grace and you you redeemed me and you forgave me through your blood of everything I've ever done
according to the riches of your grace which you just lavished on on me it's a picture of extravagance it's a picture of this almighty God saying I just want to Lavish you with my grace why it's just who I am I'm a God merciful and gracious see it's not so bad being the object when God is the subject subject when you go wow Lord this is all about you this is all about you he lavished on us in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will according to his purpose which
he sent set forth in Christ so how does God lavish us with his grace he makes known to us the mystery of his will one of the ways God blesses us is he lets us know what he's doing I I was reading in Amos and it says in Amos 37 it says the Lord does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets God says I I don't do anything but I tell the prophets is in the Old Testament goes I always tell the prophets what I'm up to and that's so cool to think
W there were certain people on the Earth God says whatever I'm going to do I'm going to tell them first remember when God was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah and you remember when he says well am I going to keep this from Abraham that's such a we weird phrase he goes how can I keep this from Abraham I can't just go down to Sodom and Gomorrah without telling Abraham first I love that he goes can I do this thing without telling here he's saying I'm now that you are all my children let me make
known to you these mysteries of what I'm doing he has a plan verse 10 as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him things in heaven and things on earth so God says I have a plan and I want to tell you my plan because I love you I've always revealed my plan to those that I love I showed it to the prophets and and they passed it on to the people I told it to Abraham cuz he was my friend and he says to us he goes I have a
plan he goes it's for the fullness of time I'm going to unite all things in Christ things in heaven and things on earth God says I'm going I have a plan and in the fullness of time I'm going to unite Heaven and Earth the things in heaven cuz things are going on in heaven right now right you know we've looked at Revelation 4 you know many times about all the praise and worship that's going on amongst the 100 million angels and then the chapter five where where Christ is there and and you know and every
creature just giving him glory like that's going on there's this worship going on we talk about those High angels that are covering themselves up and screaming out his Holiness meanwhile when we worship and here you know even even tonight I was just trying to think okay I'm joining the things in heaven like that's going on worships going on up there and worships going on in this room and there's like this split thing where something's happening up there and we're kind of joining it but we can't see it and God says I've got a plan it's
all going to unite at some point and and so right now I am lavishing this Grace upon you I've chosen you to be a part of this when did God make this plan when did God decide to do this well we talked about this the last couple weeks right he chose us in him before the foundation of the world so it was before the foundation of the world see you kind of catch this so God existed before you you all knew that right okay he's the I am he always was he was there he existed
before you and he he existed before he said let there be light and before he made an earth it says he chose he chose you before the foundation of the world so this is when the plan started he had not made the Earth yet and he already chose Elliott then he says Earth and he makes the world so this plan was before the foundation of the world and then he explains this plan goes on and on and on and continues and I have a plan at the end I'm going to unite the things things in
heaven with the things that are on the earth in the fullness of time so this whole thing is going on so it's not about us okay you weren't there you you don't have this plan this plan is going to happen because God is faithful and true and whatever he says is going to happen is going to happen and we've seen that through history and I know this frustrates people that God has a plan because he never asked you about it he didn't need your opinion he just said this is what I'm going to do you
can't stop me but I want to bless you with it because my plan includes you and I want to shower you with Grace I want to forgive you for everything I just want to Lavish you with my grace and then one day I'm going to unite you with everything that's going on up here it was all a plan from the beginning so why would God make a plan like this why is he going to unite everything in heaven and earth I think Colossians 1 gives us a a clue in Colossians 1 I don't put all
the verses on the screen screen this way you bring your Bibles Colossians 1 verse 15 says he is the image of the invisible God the firstborn of all creation for by him all things were created in heaven and on Earth visible and invisible whether Thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities all things were created through him and for him so God says everything that was made was made through Christ and he goes not just the things that are visible okay so everything you see in this room was made by Christ he goes but also the
invisible things the the Thrones of the dominions you see the the physical Thrones you see the physical leaders but then there's this whole spiritual world that's going on all of that was made through Christ and the Bible says that all things verse 16 says all things were made by him and for him that's really important these things were made for him and so when God made man when he made him out of the Dust of the earth he made Adam for himself when he made Eve out of Adam's Rib he made her for himself everything
that Jesus made was created by Him and for him but you know the story in the garden you know that they rebelled and and they decided that we don't want to follow your law we want to do our thing and so there they are cast out of the garden that was our Reb ion but God's intention was no I made this for me and so when he says that he made all things for him he's saying there's a plan if you look at Colossians 1:9 it says for in him all the fullness of God was
pleased to dwell and through him to reconcile to himself all things whether on Earth or in heaven Making Peace by the blood of his cross so he says I made Adam Eve humans Noah I I made mankind for me and they rebelled against me but there's going to come a day when I bring them back to myself and they are Redeemed by the the blood of of Jesus now a lot of people read this verse and they go okay well it says it's a plan Ephesians 1:10 as a plan for the fullness of time to
unite all things in him things in heaven and things on Earth you you know how in Revelation 21 it talks about the New Jerusalem he goes I see a heavenly jerus Jerusalem coming out of heaven like a bride adorned and so it's this this this heavenly City but what does this heavenly do it comes down out of heaven and lands here on the earth there's a uniting now now we don't get this this is kind of like over our heads this is a plan from the beginning of time where God says I knew everything was
going to happen I chose you before the found foundation of the world you're no accident you're not in this room by accident you don't believe in Jesus by accident acts 17 says I I chose where you would be born and when you would be born and I knew you would feel your way towards me and find me whether you were born in a a home that taught you about Jesus or you were born in a in a home that told you don't believe in Jesus somehow he created a path for you to kind of feel
your way towards him and then you find him it's not coincidence that was him lavishing his grace on you he chose you for that that's not coincidence it was his plan and he has this plan he says at the end I'm going to unite Heaven and Earth and you're going to see the Heavenly Jerusalem come down to earth now some people read this and they go well if he's going to cause all things to come together does that mean that everyone goes to heaven this verse is often used to uh defend universalism which basically means
everyone goes to heaven it's Universal that what Jesus did on the cross that means everyone and there's no punishment but if you really read the scriptures you see over and over again that there is a punishment there's an end of blessing there's a heaven and there's a hell what he's talking about here is somehow uniting just like on Earth there are those of us who have ch chosen to follow Jesus to be Redeemed by his blood God's lavish his grace Upon Us in such a way that we repent because of his kindness it leads us
to repentance well the same thing is true of the Heavenly beings it's not like all Heavenly beings are following God in fact if you look at second Peter in second Peter chapter 2 verse 4 it says for if God did not spare Angels when they sinned but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy Darkness to be kept until the Judgment if he did not spare the ancient world but preserved Noah a Herald of righteousness with seven other when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly if by turning the
cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to Extinction making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly so he he goes and he explains look God did not spare the Angels who sinned in fact he says he's kept them in Gloomy darkness in Chains until the time of the judgment and when you read Revelation 20 and it talks about this Lake of Fire which Jesus says in Matthew 25 that it was created for Satan and his demons if you read re Revelation 20 explains that that the the Beast
the false prophet they're thrown in this Lake of Fire but then it also says anyone any human any person whose name is not written in the Book of Life he too is thrown into a lake of fire so there's a truth that is so beautiful that God takes the Heavenly beings who are worshiping him and the Earthly beings who are worshiping him and it's like this heavenly Jerusalem coming down and joining with the Earthly Believers in the same way there are demons these are the angels that have fallen that he's kept in darkness some of
them he's he has chained up some of he goes it's all for this coming judgment that's going to be the same fate of those people who rebel against me it's a joining of things in heaven with things on earth to Eternal destruction or to this eternal life and this is the plan of God these are things that are just over our heads and I know that can be frustrating cuz you have no say in it he chos us before the foundation or he tells you what's going to happen at the end but there's also a
beauty to it this is why we don't stress out okay because we realize we're the objects of his grace we were by nature objects of Wrath and now we're these objects that he has lavished his grace upon I tend to want to control things fix things and what Ephesians 1 reminds me is it's it's never about me I was never the subject and so you just enjoy it you go this is Way Beyond me I can't change it and I can't get in the way it it's kind of like you know remember when you first
learned learned about the Earth and you realize it's tilted on an axis and you go wow that's so crazy like that determines the seasons everything's just so perfect it's just tilted but hopefully you don't wake up in the morning thinking gosh I hope too many people don't move to Greenland because I might tilt it too much no you just go this there's nothing I can do or you say oh no the Earth is spinning at 1,000 miles an hour I better not eat too much cuz I don't want to sleep slow it down no that
thought doesn't go through your head you go that's stupid this is so much bigger than me and in the same way I think sometimes for me I think a lot of us we can put a lot of pressure on ourselves like I got to save myself I've got to save my friend got to save my family I think I screwed up I don't think I did things right and I think this person rejects God now because of me and we look at Ephesians and we go no wait a second this I'm not the subject of
this God is we need to learn how to live as objects of his grace and to realize there's this eternal plan that he started before we were born and he says here's how it culminates and so we're just here for a few seconds on this planet and he made you to be a part of his eternal plan what I want to do is I just I want to have Lisa come up and uh just read from Revelation chapter 21 to 22 just remember this is the word of God this is the culmination of all things
then I saw a new Heaven and a new Earth for the first Heaven and the first Earth had passed away and the sea was no more and I saw the holy city the New Jerusalem coming down out of Heaven from God prepared as a bride adorned for her husband and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying Behold The Dwelling Place of God is with man he will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will be with them as their God he will wipe away every tear from their eyes
and Death Shall be no more neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore for the former things have passed away and he who was Seated on the throne said behold I am making all things new also so he said write this down for these words are trustworthy and true and he said to me it is done I am the Alpha and the Omega the beginning and the end to the Thirsty I will give from the spring of the Water of Life without payment the one who conquers will have this Heritage and I will
be his God and he will be my son but as for the cow cardly the faithless the detestable as for murderers the sexually immoral Sorcerers idolators and all liars their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur which is the second death then came one of the Seven Angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me saying come I will show you the bride the wife of the lamb and he carried me away in the spirit to a great high mountain and showed me the
Holy City Jerusalem coming down out of Heaven from God having the glory of God its Radiance like a most rare Jewel like a Jasper clear as Crystal it had a great high wall with 12 gates and at the gates 12 angels and on the gates the name of the 12 tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed on the East three gates on the north three gates on the south three gates and on the west three gates and the wall of the city had 12 foundations and on them were the 12 names of the twel
Apostles of the lamb and the one who spoke with me had a measuring Rod of gold to measure the city and its Gates and walls the city lies for Four Square its length the same as its width and he measured the city with his Rod 12,000 stadia its length and width and height are equal he also measured its wall 144 cubits by human measurement which is also an angels measurement the wall was built of Jasper while the city was pure gold like clear glass the foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every
kind of Jewel the first was Jasper the second Sapphire the third aate the fourth Emerald the fifth Onyx the sixth Carnelian the seventh chrysite the eighth Barrel the ninth topaz the 10th chapra the 11th jessin the 12th amethyst and the 12 gates were 12 pearls each of the gates made of a single Pearl and the street of the city was pure gold like transparent glass and I saw no temple in the city for its Temple is the Lord God the almighty and the lamb and the city has no need of sun or moon to shine
on it for the glory of God gives it light and its lamp is the Lamb by its light will the Nations walk and the kings of the earth will bring their Glory into it and its Gates will never be shut by day and there will be no night there they will bring into it the glory and the honor of the Nations but nothing unclean will ever enter it nor anyone who does what is detestable or false but only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life then the angel showed me the river of
the Water of Life bright as Crystal flowing from the Throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city also on either side of the river the Tree of Life with its 12 kinds of fruit yielding its fruit each month the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the Nations no longer will there be anything accursed but the Throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it and his servants will worship him they will see his face and his name will be on their foreheads and
night will be no more they will need no light of lamp or son for the Lord God will be their light and they will rain forever and ever and he said to me these words are trustworthy and true and the Lord the god of the spirits of the prophets has sent his Angel to show his servants what must soon take place and behold I am coming soon blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book I John and the one who heard and saw these things and when I heard and
saw them I fell down to worship at the feet of the Angel who showed them to me but he said to me you must not do that I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets and with those who keep the words of this book worship God and he said to me do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book for the time is near let the evildoer still do evil let the filthy still be filthy and the righteous still do right and the holy still be holy behold I
am coming soon bringing my recompense with me to repay each one for what he has done I am the Alpha and the Omega me GA the first and the last the beginning and the end blessed are those who wash their robes so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates outside are the dogs and Sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolators and everyone who loves and practices falsehood I Jesus have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for
the churches I am the root and the descendant of David the Bright Morning Star the spirit and the bride say come and let the one who hears say come and let the one who is thirsty come let the one who desires take the Water of Life without price I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book if anyone adds to them God will add to him the plagues described in this book and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy God will take away his share in
the tree of life and in the holy city which are described in this book He Who testifies to these things says surely I am coming soon amen come Lord Jesus the grace of the Lord Jesus be with all amen I don't know about you but hearing those words and going okay this is what it's going to be like this is the grace of God and I want be a part of that I just think there's some of you tonight maybe who you've never really tasted of God lavishing his grace upon you maybe there's someone tonight
they're going are you telling me that with everything I've done in life I can be washed clean just like that that it's not a coincidence that you showed up here tonight that this could be a part of God's Eternal plan of him chose choosing you before you were even born and he brought you in this room tonight you've been the subject your whole life like I'm going to do this I'm going to do this I'm going to get to heaven through the and maybe tonight's the first time you realize no God so loved you that
he gave his only begotten son he gave Jesus on that cross and is through his blood you can be forgiven that's just him just lavishing he can just wash you completely clean right now just because that's who he is he's a gracious God and if tonight you're having doubts and you're questioning God's love for you go I don't know if I've ever really just receiv the grace of God then as we're singing I'm going to have a couple of leaders we'll just be standing in the corners of both sides some elders and some of the
women leaders if you could just stand over there and they're just there to to pray for you [Music] God right now we just thank you for lavishing your grace on us and I just pray Lord that if there's anyone here that has never believed in your grace that you are a God who just full of grace that tonight you would open their eyes that they would receive your grace this evening in Jesus name amen
