Well, good evening. If you take out your Bible, please, and turn to Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1. If you'd like a handout for the lesson tonight, there are some gentlemen coming in from the back that have those handouts for you. And even if you don't customarily do the, um, fill in the blanks that we do for these handouts, I'd, I'd ask that you take, take one of these.

I don't think I've got anything. If you'll take one of these, I think it'll be helpful to you for something we're going to do here at the end of the lesson.

I'll just stay here at the mic until you give me the thumbs up Okay, so Ephesians chapter 1, and we'll read beginning in verse 1, here in just a moment. Ephesians chapter 1, beginning in verse 1.

It's not bragging if it's true. Have you ever heard that phrase? Maybe that's not exactly accurate, not exactly the truth. But we've probably all known somebody in our life who is one of those people who Just kind of says what's true, and a lot of times it comes, it kind of comes across as bragging.

I know somebody like that. It's maybe me. Stephanie gets on to me sometimes. I'll say something in a, whatever context. And afterwards she'll say, do you know how that came across? And she'll say, it sounded like you were really kind of arrogant or bragging about that. And I said, that's not the way I intended it at all.

Well, that's kind of at first glance the way the Apostle Paul comes across. At the very beginning of Ephesians, the apostle Paul begins his letter to the Ephesians by talking about God's will for Paul, God's will for him, and that God had some very specific plans and purposes and wills for him. The very first line says this, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God.

Paul claims his apostleship. And he claims that that apostleship is by the will of God. It might kind of sound like it, but, but I don't think that's really bragging on Paul's part. Not even in that, it's not bragging if it's true, sort of sense. No, I think just the opposite. This opening line shows the humility.

Paul acknowledges the reality, and he needs to, to have authority for this letter that is written to the Ephesians. He says, yes, I am an apostle of Jesus Christ, but that wasn't my idea. And I didn't earn it by how great I am or how great I was. It is by the will of God that I'm an apostle. God is the one who chose me.

And any of us, all of us, who are Christians, certainly, are what we are as Christians because of our response to the will of God. Paul was who he was. just as we are who we are, and we should be able to say, just as Paul does here, not that I am an apostle, but by the will of God, I am who I am by the will of God, to everything we are and everything that we do.

We should relate it back to God's will for us as Christians. So what I'd like to do this, this evening is examine that will of God together as we study God's will, especially here in Ephesians chapter 1. This idea of the will of God is a theme in Ephesians that is especially prevalent in the first part of the book.

And I think that if we can see the way the Apostle Paul uses that concept of God's will in this, especially in this first chapter. Then it's going to help us to understand more what God would have us to do and who we are supposed to be by the will of God. In the following verses of chapter 1, Paul describes the grace of God and all that God has done.

And included in that description of God's grace is God revealing His will to us. That word is used three times to describe three distinct but interconnected aspects of this gracious giving of the will of God to us. And this is something I noticed maybe six, eight, nine months ago that you see this word used three times in this first chapter after verse one.

You see it used three times, and it's really clear and distinct, these concepts. And if we can get these concepts clear in our own mind, I think it'll be really helpful to us. Notice these three phrases with me in Ephesians chapter 1. The first is the good pleasure of His will. Begin reading in verse 3.

The Apostle Paul says this.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blame without holy and without blame before him. Then please notice, in love having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself Amen.

According to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. God has adopted us into His family according to the good pleasure of His will. God's will ultimately is what pleases God. It is for His good pleasure. Now we see a number of ways that this word is translated because it's somewhat of a complex word.

This idea of good pleasure in the ESV is the purposes of His will. New American Standard says, His kind intention of His will. So this is God's purpose. This is God's intention. But I think, to a certain degree, that makes this a pretty neutral word when it's intended to be a positive word. Yes, the word describes God's purpose and intention, but it is a pleasurable purpose.

This is not God doing His duty. You know, dogged duty. I've got to do this. And so I'm going to purpose and intend to do something even though I'm not really excited about it. You know, I can purpose and I can intend. In fact, I do. I intend and I'm making the plan and purpose to mow my yard once all of this rain dries up a little bit.

But I know what it's going to be like. It's going to be tall, it's going to be lush, it's going to take forever, the weed eating is going to be unbelievably well, let's not exaggerate too much. I'm not going to like it, but I'm still intending to do it and purposing to do it. With what we see here with God in chapter 1 and verse 5, This isn't just purpose and intent.

It is good purpose, good intent. It is for his good pleasure. The same word is expressed in the negative sense in chapter 2 and verse 3, where it is translated as desire. Read that with me. Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 3. Among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires, that is, the will of the flesh and of the mind.

And we're by nature, that is our habitual practice, our purpose, the things that we were doing, we were by nature children of wrath just as the other. And so in the negative sense, it's our desire there in chapter 2 and verse 3. Well, what is our desire? It was the things that we wanted according to the flesh.

So in the positive sense, this is what God wants according to the Spirit there in chapter 1 and verse 5. This is what He wanted. A couple of paraphrases I think help us with this idea and what exactly he's talking about it. The message says, what pleasure he took in planning this. The New Living Translation says, this is what he wanted to do and it gave him great pleasure.

God intended to do this, God purposed to do this, and he loved doing it. It gave him great pleasure. And what is it that God planned and purposed with great pleasure? What he wants is for us to become part. To be adopted as His children. The will of God has never been an issue in regard to this adoption.

The issue is our desire in response to His desire. Our will in response to His will. Beloved, whether you are a Christian, a brand new Christian, a long time Christian, or whether you are not a Christian and you have not come to know God, at least not yet, You should never have to wonder if you're wanted by God.

God wants you to become His child. That is the good pleasure. When I was in Stephenville a few weeks ago there's a little community about five miles, ten miles maybe from Stephenville. It's a, a ghost town now. There's nothing there except a, a church building and a cemetery. It's, it's the Johnsville community.

And my grandmother texted me about this when she heard that I was going to Stephenville. And so I ran over there with the preacher one day. And there's a cemetery behind this this old Disciples of Christ, now Church of Christ building. And in that cemetery, there are some really, really old graves.

And among those graves is my great great grandmother, who died at the beginning of the 1900s. And it's interesting, that grave when I went and saw it, she didn't tell me ahead of time exactly where it was, just that it was in the cemetery. And when I went and saw it, I saw how new it looked. And I thought that was a little weird, and so I asked her about it, I said, you know, why was the, the gravestone, I mean, I was expecting something early 1900s, you know, early 20th century, I was expecting it to be worn and so forth, and this looked pretty new, and she said, well, Papa, who is her father, this lady in the cemetery's He put up that gravestone in 1947.

And he did it because all she had was a temporary one. And the story is that my great grandfather's mother died there in the Johnsville community outside of Stephenville. And her husband, which would be my great grandfather's father, remarried. And he moved west, to west Texas, then, where my mom eventually grew up.

But the sad part of that story is that His new wife never wanted the sons that she inherited, including my great grandfather, and she treated them like the unwanted stepchildren that they were. And that really shaped my great grandfather and our family in a number of different ways, some of which were positive, but most of which I think probably were negative.

He lost his mother at a young age. I don't think he had yet turned 10. What a terrible feeling that must have been, to lose your mother but then not be wanted by your adoptive parent.

Beloved, never doubt that God wants you. This is what He wanted to do, and it gave Him great pleasure to give you the opportunity to be adopted into His family. Like the little orphan children that we are, at least in regard to our sin, God leans down and He asks us in loving kindness, Would you like to be part of my family?

Would you like to be made part of my family? And that's what God wants, and that's what God desires. The question is, will we accept this invitation from Him to be adopted into His family? And that, too, is a matter of will on our part. It's a matter of willful submission to God. God's will is pleasurable to Him.

But maybe the question should be, is it pleasurable to us, God's will? Do we take good pleasure in the will of God? Do we view it as our new desire? Not just to be made His children, but all that that entails and all that demands of us. We read a moment ago from chapter 2 in verses 2 and 3. There is a contrast, I think, with this idea of the desires of our flesh, that we all once conducted ourselves in the lust of the flesh.

But notice back there in verse 2, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience. So when our desire was according to the flesh, that's what we were. We were children of disobedience. But what God can do By grace, through faith, when we come to Him in humble submission to His will, is that He can save us and turn us into something else with a different will.

Verse 10, For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Which way do we desire to walk? According to the will of God? Or according to our own fleshly sinful will. Which one do we view as better for us? Walking according to the ways of the world?

Or walking according to our loving Father? That idea is expanded in chapter 5 and verse 1. In chapter 5 beginning in verse 1. Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. You're adopted into His family and so now we want to look like Him. We want to imitate Him. How do we do that? And walk in love, as Christ also loved us, and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling aroma.

But, fornication and all uncleanness, with covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for the saints. What is fitting for us as children of God is not these things, but instead the works that God has prepared for us. For us, the end of verse six, it talks about the sons of disobedience.

That's the contrast. Verse eight, for you, were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, not sons of disobedience, not children of darkness, children of light. For the fruit of the spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth. Finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.

What's another way of saying the things that are acceptable to the Lord? The will of God, the things that he desires and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. If you want to be God's child, you have to take pleasure in God's will for you, not just in salvation, not just in the adoption as a child, but in the transformation to sanctification and holiness that he requires of his adopted children.

Do you view, be honest with yourself, do you view God's commands, His will, as for your good always, as a loving parent? Do you take good pleasure in the will of God? Well, secondly, and specifically, it was God's good pleasure to reveal the mystery of His will to us. Go back to Ephesians chapter 1, Ephesians chapter 1, and let's keep reading there in verse 7.

And we'll read down through verse 10, Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 7. In Him, that is Christ, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace, which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times, according to His will.

He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth in him. God made known His will according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself. It pleased God not just to adopt us as sons by His will, it pleased God even more fundamentally to reveal the mystery of His will to us.

The mystery is what in this verse? It is made known. Now don't let that word mystery trip you up. Don't think Oh, this is something I've got to piece together like a murder mystery. No, mystery as it's used primarily in the New Testament is just something that is unrevealed. And in the case of the mystery of the plan of God, His will, we couldn't figure out that mystery until it was revealed.

But once it is revealed, it's no longer a mystery. I've got something in my right coat pocket right here. What is it? It's a mystery, right? And I think I could probably give you a thousand guesses. Maybe I could give every person in here a thousand guesses and you would not guess it. Now, you know some things about it.

It has to be small enough in order to fit in my pocket. It's something you know me enough to know it's probably something that I own or something that I have or something that I would have access to, right? I don't have the universe in my pocket. I don't have a nuclear weapon in my pocket. But there's something in there.

Does anybody know what's in my pocket? Well, technically I do, right? But until I reveal that to you, nobody else knows. So, drumroll please. That's what we say with the girls. Drumroll please. What's in my pocket is I've got this little solar system that's made out of marbles and it is a marble model of the planet Venus.

Would you have ever guessed that in a million years that that was what was in my pocket? Probably not, right? Probably not. But now, I put it back into my pocket and I ask you, what's in my pocket? A marble model of the planet Venus. You know now why. Because the mystery has been revealed, and now you have that knowledge.

Now, if you're taking notes tonight, would you, would you just write down that note out to the side somewhere? That that was what was in my pocket. A marble model of the planet Venus. Okay, can you write that down? At least some of you write that down. So the mystery is gone. And so, too, God's will reveals things to us that we could not have known otherwise, but once that it is revealed, then it is made known, and we know it.

So we go to Ephesians chapter 3, we see this idea expanded upon by the Apostle Paul. In Ephesians chapter 3, notice with me, beginning in verse 2. If indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God, which was given to me for you, how that by revelation he, God, made known to me the mystery, Paul says.

Now, how did Paul get this mystery? How was it made known to Paul? Well, look there in verse 3. By revelation he made known to me the mystery. God told him. And how did the Ephesians get it? Well, keep reading. As I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ.

So let's imagine for a moment. I don't think anybody did because I'm always afraid that I'm going to ask somebody out. But let's imagine for a moment somebody got up and they went to use the restroom right around the time I was talking about whatever it is that's in my pocket. And they don't know what's in my pocket.

And they come back in and they say What in the world is he talking about? What's in his pocket? Well, I could call him out and say, Well, Jesse, you were in the bathroom, so you didn't hear that part of the sermon. Or, what could happen? Kim could just show him the note, and maybe he would furrow his brow and say, What?

What exactly is that? But he could read and see for himself that there is a marble model of the planet Venus in my pocket. And so, that knowledge of that mystery of the will of God is passed on. Not directly from God himself, but it's passed on when those who had that mystery revealed to them wrote those things down so that when we read, we can understand Paul's knowledge in the mystery of Christ.

I don't know about you, but that motivates me to want to read my Bible. I can know the revealed will of God. I can know the mysteries that He wants to reveal to me. And once God reveals those things to me, that means that I can understand those things that He has revealed. I think another passage that speaks to this idea, if you want to mark your spot there in Ephesians, we'll of course be coming right back, but, turn over to 1 Corinthians chapter 2.

1 Corinthians chapter 2. 1 Corinthians chapter 2. 1 Corinthians chapter 2.

Beginning in verse six, Paul says, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age who are coming to nothing, but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery. The hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the ages of our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew for, had they known they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

God's plan, His will, the mystery was Jesus was going to come and die on a cross and through that death, burial, and resurrection, Jews and Gentiles, anyone who desires to come to Him can come to Him. As it is written, verse 9, I have not seen nor ear heard nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.

You and me. To us, the inspired apostles and prophets through his spirit for the spirit searches, all things. Yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man that is in him. Even so no one knows the things of God except the spirit of God. Now, we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who's from God that we might know the things that have been, get freely given to us by God.

These things we also speak. Not in words, which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things.

And now, you and I have that, where we can see the revealed mystery of God's will. If we're willing, if we're willing to seek it out for ourselves. And so, the mystery is described back there in Ephesians chapter 3. In Ephesians chapter 3, In verse 6, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs of the same body and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel.

Of which I became a minister according to the gift of grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power. We are fellow heirs in Christ, partakers of His promise in Christ, children of God, and members of the same body. And what is that body? It is the church! Which is The Manifold Wisdom of God.

Drop down to verse 10. To the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. The eternal purpose, plan, and will of God is now revealed to us by Jesus Christ in the church.

This was God's plan and will all along and now we have the ability to see it And we should have the desire to follow it. That's what God's will does. It reveals what God has done and what we must do. And we don't have to wonder about God, who He is or what He wants, or whether He is good or bad, or what His plans are for us.

It is revealed to us so that we might respond in faithful obedience to that will. That we might walk worthy of the calling by which we are called, chapter 4 and verse 1. Which is the third way that God's will is used in Ephesians chapter 1. The good pleasure of His will, the mystery of His will, and the counsel of His will.

Go back to Ephesians chapter 1 one more time and read with me verses 11 through 13. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.

In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also having believed, You were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. By the word of truth, the counsel of God's will is heard and believed and followed. God's will provides direction and counsel. It directs us in the way we should go.

It is God's design and God's planning. If you drop down to chapter 4 and verses 20 and following, notice with me.

We're supposed to learn God's will. He counsels us by that will. And he describes that in chapter 20 excuse me, chapter 4 and verse 20. But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus, that you put off concerning your form of conduct the old man which grows corrupt according to deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man.

Which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. This transformation is made possible by the change in mind that takes place when we listen to the counsel and the will of God. And that is something that we can understand. Drop down to chapter 5 and verse 15. See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil, but Therefore, do not be unwise, but understand what the will of God is.

We can understand God's will because it is revealed to us. And if we do, we should follow the counsel, the design of that will. Understand what the will of the Lord is. Now that's a couple of things. That's, that's theological, that we've been adopted as sons and obtained an inheritance. So that reality of what we can have in Jesus Christ.

But it's also practical, understanding the will of the Lord, that we are to be imitators of God as dear children. And this is really where the rubber meets the road. Because a lot of times we look at something like this and, theologically, we all love that. We love the idea of being adopted into God's family, that's great.

But practically, what is that supposed to look like in my life? And a lot of times this is where many people, and I'm not reading any hearts here, but that's where many people throw up their hands and say, Well, How can I even understand what it is God wants me to do? And certainly, there are things that are more difficult to understand than others.

But practically, what is the will of God for you in Ephesians? I'm going to put some things up on the board. You've also got them on your handout. As we go through these things, I want you to ask yourself two questions. Number one, what do I need to be doing? in regard to these things that are the practical will of God in the book of Ephesians, the counsel of His will in regard to my behavior.

What is it that I need to be doing? And then secondly, ask yourself, are these things really hard to understand? They're revealed. Do I know what I need to do?

Or am I maybe just not doing it the way I ought to? So let's go through these together. We seek the counsel of God's will as we go through this book, and And again, it's riveting a riveting sermon to just read these, but I want you to see these. I want to express these out loud. And as we go through them, say, What is it that I need to do?

Do your part in the body, in the church. That's chapter 4, verses 7 through 16. You'll see those scripture references there on the screen. I'm not going to read all of those, but Do your part in the body, in the church. That's the will of God for you. Are you doing that? Put off the old man and put on the new man.

And he describes that in all those ways we talked about in Bible class. You have that handout from Bible class this morning. Don't lie, but speak the truth. Don't lose your temper, but make things right with others quickly. Don't steal, but work to give to others. Don't corrupt others with your words, but build them up.

Be kind and forgiving as Christ forgave you. Now that's Reagan's paraphrase of those things, but we see those things. Are those things hard to understand? What it is we're supposed to do. Can I hear your head rattle one way or that way? Maybe some of those are hard to do, but they're not hard to understand what the will of the Lord is.

Let's keep going. In the book, in chapter five, we're supposed to walk in love and walk in light and walk in wisdom. That's beautiful. But then Paul says, let's get specific about what that looks like. Quit sinning. It is not fitting for the saints to to live in fornication and all of these things that you're doing.

You can't live that way anymore. Bear the fruit of the spirit positively. Goodness and righteousness and truth. Don't have anything to do with the unfruitful works of darkness. Don't even play around with those, those works that are dark, but expose those things by the way you live your life. Be aware of what's going on around you.

You can't just float through life. You need to be intentional. Your will needs to align with God's will and make the most of the time that you have on this earth. Don't be filled with wine or drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit in songs and in thanks. We keep, keep going. Submit to one another in all of your relationships.

Chapter 5 and verse 21. That includes husbands, you gotta love your wives. Wives, you have to respect your husbands. Children, you have to obey your parents. Parents, you have to discipline and instruct your children without provoking them. Servants, you need to work for your masters as if they were Christ.

You need to treat your servants as if you were Christ in the way you treat them. And then all of us need to fight the good fight of faith with the armor that God provides. Truth and righteousness, the gospel, faith, salvation, the word of God, and prayer.

This is the will of God for you and the will of God for me. Because we are His children. And because we are supposed to be imitators of Him. Do you know these things? Give me a thumbs up if you know these things. Blessed are we So, what do we learn about the will of God in Ephesians chapter 1? Well, we learn that it is good, and pleasant, and pleasurable.

We should be excited about God's will, just as God is excited about His will. Number two, we learn that the mystery is revealed. We can know what, who God is, and we can know what God desires from us. And number three, that will provides counsel and direction to us. God has directed us in the way we should go, what is best for us, and we should submit and rely on His will like we talked about this morning.

But the final usage of this word, will, is found in chapter 6. If you turn over there, in chapter 6, in the second half of verse 6. Not with eye service as men pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ. Listen. Doing the will of God from the heart. Doing the will of God from the heart. That describes someone who knows the revealed counsel of God's will.

Takes good pleasure in that will, in his or her heart.

In short, that describes someone who is a Christian. A Christian is someone who does the will of God from the heart. And this is God's will for you, and this is God's will for me. What will your willing response be to God's will this evening? Won't you come to God in Jesus Christ, even tonight? Won't you put Christ on in baptism?

Putting off the old man of sin and putting Christ on. By going down into a watery grave of baptism that you might rise to walk in newness of life. And if we can help you with that even this evening, come now, while together we stand and while we sing.