A. The mystery (Ephesians 1:10; 2:16; 3:6)
B. Man’s trust in His gospel (Ephesians 1:12-13; Romans 1:16-17; Hebrews 11:1; Acts 19:4-5)
II. The result of trust: “sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise” (Ephesians 1:13)
A. “The Lord knows those who are His” (2 Timothy 2:19)
B. The seal is evident through the way we live and the fruit we bear (Galatians 5:22-25)
III. “The guarantee (earnest—KJV) of our inheritance” (Ephesians 1:14)
A. An earnest is a pledge that the remainder of the promise will be forthcoming
B. When will the fullness of our inheritance be realized? (Ephesians 1:14; Acts 20:28; Ephesians 1:7; 4:30)
C. “To the praise of His glory” (Ephesians 1:6, 12, 14)
I. Peter’s faith was fixed on Christ (Matthew 14:28-29)
A. Peter could do the impossible because of his absolute faith in Christ
B. Peter not only believed that he could do it, he did do it!
II. Doubts and distractions (Matthew 14:30-31)
A. Panic set in
B. “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”
C. “The just shall live by faith” (Habakkuk 2:4; Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38)
D. Faith purifies us (Acts 15:9), allows us to receive remission of sins (Acts 10:43), justifies us (Romans 3:28), sanctifies us (Acts 26:18), gives us peace with God (Romans 5:1), saves us (1 Peter 1:9), gives us the victory that overcomes the world (1 John 5:4)
E. “Without faith, it is impossible…” (Hebrews 11:6)
III. The power of a godly, Biblically-based faith
A. Faith is powerful, not because we are great believers, but because we believe in a great God
B. Don’t be robbed of all risk and adventure (Hebrews 11:8)
C. Faith is absolute surrender to Christ (Philippians 1:21; 4:13; Galatians 2:20)
D. The Christian life is an exchanged life (1 Peter 1:5; 2 Tim 1:7; Mark 9:24)
A. Deliverance from sin
B. “Through His blood” (1 Timothy 2:6; Hebrews 2:9; Rev 1:5; Rom 5:8)
C. One comes into contact with His blood at baptism (Romans 6:3-4)
II. Knowledge of the mystery of His will (Ephesians 1:9-10)
A. What is the mystery? (Ephesians 3:6; 2:16)
B. The revelation of the mystery destroys denominational division (Ephesians 2:16; 4:4)
C. “The dispensation of the fullness of the times” (Eph 1:10; 3:2; Gal 4:4-5)
D. Gathering together in one all things in Christ (Ephesians 1:10)
III. An inheritance as the heritage of God (Ephesians 1:11-12)
A. We belong to Him; we are His (Psalm 4:3)
B. Conditional upon obedience (Matthew 7:21)
C. “To the praise of His glory” (Ephesians 1:12, 6, 14; Luke 2:17, 20)
A. The people had not behaved as God desired (1:2-3; Jeremiah 8:7)
B. The description of Judah (1:4)
C. The punishment (1:5-9)
II. God’s disdain for sacrifice without submission (Isaiah 1:10-15)
A. Going through the motions but not living right (1:10-11; Matt. 5:23-24)
B. Their worship was not accepted (1:12-15; Proverbs 15:8; 1 Timothy 2:8; James 5:16)
III. Restoration is called for (Isaiah 1:16-17)
A. The devastating reality of sin must be recognized (1:16; 2 Cor. 7:10)
B. “Wash yourselves” (1:16; Psalm 51:2; Jeremiah 4:14; Zechariah 13:1; Ezekiel 36:25)
C. The cessation of sin must be followed by the commencement of right (1:17; Ephesians 4:25-32)
IV. Is it reasonable to be righteous? (1:18-20)
A. Paul thought so (Acts 17:2, 17; 18:4; 26:25; Romans 12:1)
B. God has the power to remove the scarlet stains of sin (1:18)
C. The people of Judah had a decision to make; today, people face the same decision (1:19-20; Romans 11:22)
A. Beware of Calvinistic error
B. God set the standard (Eph. 1:3-5; Gal. 3:27; Rom. 6:3; 2 Thess. 2:13-14)
C. “Holy and without blame” (Ephesians 1:4; 5:25-27)
III. The purpose of our adoption
A. By adoption, we are afforded all privileges of family membership
B. Because of that, we should manifest praise to God
C. “He made us accepted in the Beloved” (Ephesians 1:6; Isaiah 59:1-2; Revelation 17:14)
A. New Testament examples (Acts 2:44-45; 4:32-35; 11:27-30)
B. A command (1 Corinthians 16:1-2; Hebrews 8:6; 7:4)
II. A spiritual activity
A. An act of grace (2 Corinthians 8:1-2, 6-7)
B. An act of fellowship (Psalm 41:1-3; Acts 20:35; Luke 12:32-34; Philippians 1:5-7)
C. An act of joy (2 Corinthians 9:7)
D. Giving liberally/sacrificially (2 Corinthians 8:3-5, 12; 9:6)
1. The apostles (Mark 1:18, 20; Luke 5:27-28)
2. The widow (Luke 21:3-4)
3. Barnabas (Acts 4:36-37)
A. Delay caused by weather (Acts 28:11-13)
B. Confinement (Acts 28:16-20)
C. Chains (Acts 28:20, 30; Philippians 1:12-14)
D. Government (Acts 28:30-31; Romans 12:18; 13:1-7)
II. Unhindered by attitudes
A. Superstitions (Acts 28:11, 2-6)
B. Apprehension (Acts 28:13-15)
C. Intimidation (Acts 28:16)
D. Rejection (Acts 28:21-29; 9:15)
A. Poverty, homelessness, hunger, suicide (John 10:10b)
B. Jesus offers hope that transcends financial security (Colossians 1:27; Matthew 6:19-21; 2 Peter 1:4)
C. Jesus offers hope that transcends temporary relief of famine and poverty (John 6:35; 4:14)
D. Jesus offers hope that transcends disease and death (John 11:24-26)
II. Jesus is the answer to threats against the faith
A. From the outside: humanism, postmodernism, atheism, agnosticism, Buddhism, Islam, denominationalism
B. From the inside: liberalism, ultra-conservatism (anti-ism)
C. Jesus is the answer (Acts 9:5; 2:37-38; 1 John 1:1-3; 1 Peter 1:22; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9; 2:15; Galatians 1:6-9; 1 John 2:24-25)
III. Jesus is the answer to our permissive society
A. Tolerance of sin (Isaiah 5:20)
B. Jesus is the answer (Titus 3:3-7; Philippians 4:8; Psalm 1:2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11)
IV. Jesus is the answer to our search for spiritual perfection
A. Seeking God (Hebrews 11:6) and to be like God (Genesis 3:5-6)
B. Jesus is the answer: follow Him! (Matthew 5:43-48; Colossians 1:28)
A. God’s Word is truth (John 17:17) and it cannot be destroyed (1 Peter 1:22;23; Mark 13:31; Psalm 100:5)
B. No man can destroy the Word of God (Jeremiah 36:1-2, 20-23; 31:33)
II. Truth is unchangeable
A. People may exchange truth for a lie (Romans 1:25)
B. God does not change (Hebrews 1:10-12)
C. The Word is God’s power (Romans 1:16; Galatians 1:6-7)
III. Truth is powerful
A. It is sharp (Hebrews 4:12)
B. It causes men to want to change (Acts 2:37) and tremble if they don’t (Acts 24:25)
IV. What can the truth do for us?
A. It can make us free (John 8:32)
B. It can sanctify us (John 17:17)
C. It can purify us (1 Peter 1:22)
V. What is our responsibility toward the truth?
A. Lovingly teach it (Ephesians 4:15)
B. Worship according to it (John 4:24)
C. Rightly divide it (2 Timothy 2:15)
D. Meditate on it (Philippians 4:8)
But when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized. (Acts 8:12)
ConcerningJesus.com 