411 - Les Feldick Bible Study - Lesson 1 - Part 3 - Book 35 - Correction In Righteousness

https://lesfeldickbiblestudy.com Through the Bible with Les Feldick LESSON 1 * PART 3 * BOOK 35 CORRECTION IN RIGHTEOUSNESS Before we start the Book of Ephesians I had one more segment of this unfolding of the Church epistles of Paul, and that is the I & II Thessalonian letters. Now again we came through Paul's original ministry among the area, especially Asia minor and Greece, Corinth, and the letters to the Romans and Corinthians, Galatians. Then we saw beginning with Acts 28:28 from his time in prison he writes what we call the prison epistles of Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians. Remember I Thessalonians chapter 4? I Thessalonians 4:17 II Thessalonians 2:8a Now let's get right into the meat of the Book of Ephesians. Ephesians 1:1a "Paul, and apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God,..." Paul didn't just one day say, "Hmm, I think I'll just become an apostle. Paul wasn't a crusader, he wasn't a great politician, he wasn't a great moralist, but he preached the Gospel of the Grace of God. The Believer. "Oh you believe that Christ died for you. (Reference I Corinthians 15:1-4)" The Book declares it, and it cannot lie. Ephesians 1:1 "Paul, and apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful (now the last three words in this verse are the key to the whole letter) in Christ Jesus:" It's a prepositional phrase. The whole six chapters are constantly driving that home that we are now in a peculiar position as believers. You see back here in Romans the whole idea of the letter of Romans was to show that we were nothing but hell-bound, filthy, wicked sinners. Then the remedy for it is the Gospel, that Christ has already forgiven us. Where are we now positioned? In the heavenlies. We're not an earthly people, but rather a heavenly people. So now Paul's letter to the believers in the area of Ephesus probably went out to the other cities in that area. Isn't it amazing that as these various letters of Paul went out to the various congregations back there in the ancient world where there were no copy machines, and no instant communication, that they didn't get lost. Now verse 2. Ephesians 1:2-3 "Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath (it's already done) blessed us with all (not a Cadillac in every believer's garage. Not a seven bedroom home, but rather we are already have) spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:" Forever! Ephesians 1:3b "...spiritual blessings in heavenly places (and how are we seated in the heavenlies?) in Christ." I Corinthians 12:12 "For as the body (the human body) is one, and hath many members, (hands, feet, toes, etc.) and all the members of that one body, being many, (being many) are one body: so also is Christ." In other words He's made up of all of these believers that have come into the Body of Christ ever since the beginning of the Church age. Look at verse 13. I Corinthians 12:13a "For by one Spirit (the Holy Spirit) are we all (not just a few of the most spiritual) baptized..." To be inundated, to be completely inundated. Well if a ship gets baptized at sea, what happened to it? By Faith! In other words they had gotten blinded by lack of faith. Why were they leaving Paul's doctrine of faith + nothing? By faith. So coming back to verse 13. I Corinthians 1:13 "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body whether we be Jews or Gentiles,..." Not a body of Jews and a body of Gentiles, but rather one Body. I said, "Well heavens no. If you're a believer whether you're Jew or Gentile and you're in the Body of Christ, then we all go." Now finishing the last part of verse 13. I Corinthians 12:13b The Book, the Lord, and there's never any feeling of, "Oh I wish we could get these people to talk about the Lord." It just comes out so easily, because we're all members of the Body of Christ. If it's a strain to talk about the things of God, if it's a strain to talk about Scripture, then you know there's something lacking., but that's not very often the case. Now looking at verse 13 again. I Corinthians 12:13 (that One Holy Spirit). So now coming back to Ephesians chapter 1, let's look at verse 3 again. Ephesians 1:3 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:" See there's not a word in here about material blessings, but we hear a lot about material blessings from the name it and claim it people. But the apostle Paul never mentions that. Paul never tells us that if we are believers, whether we're carnal or spiritual, that we're going to be blessed with millions. Never! Now verse 4. Ephesians 1:4 "According as he (Christ Himself) hath chosen us in him (when?) before the foundation of the world,..." Now humanly speaking, can you understand that? #lesfeldick #biblestudy #bible