Ep 903 | Jase Shocks Himself by Recommending a George Clooney Movie & Phil’s Bible Mystery Is Solved
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I am unashamed. What about you? Welcome back to the Unashamed podcast. We've been sort of in, I would call it rev mode for our study of the book Ephesians. We're kind of looking at the big picture. I do want to give a little shout out for a friend of mine, Ryan Stack. I met him just through our connection with Chad Robichaux, who's a great brother of

getting into writing some Christian fiction, but they're kind of told from a military perspective. Christian fiction? Christian fiction. Is that possible? Well, what it means is you can tell stories, but you do it

through a spiritual worldview, which is really good because they're exciting. The stuff is really fantastic. And Ryan writes this. He's got a character named Matthew Redd. And so he's written three books in this series, and I love it. And a new one came out yesterday. I told him I was going to mention on the podcast because we're always looking for good stuff to read. I mean, I spend so much time studying for our podcast and for preaching that I'm immersed in the word and

At all times. And so sometimes I like just get out and read something fun that at the end of the day, it just is something that kind of takes my mind off. And then I dive back in and Ryan has that sort of stuff. So check out his stuff, ryanstack.com. If you want to get into some other. Yeah. There's a, there's a lot of Christian fiction out there. That's not good.

Right. Because it's claiming to be fact. Exactly. Well, you know, and it's also a tough genre because like, you know, people in the world, I mean, there's been fiction writers forever, but a lot of this stuff is really vile and terrible. And so they're not too, you know, they hadn't been too open to Christians kind of entering into that. You know, we can have some pretty good stories and think of some pretty good things. I mean, Zach's in the movie business.

Well, that's the problem with TVs and movies because we all enjoy watching a movie. The problem is most of them are so terrible that you feel like you need a shower. Or so vile, right? So it's nice to be able to do it from an idea that we can still tell great stories. They don't all have to be necessarily about faith issues, but they can just be stories without all the filthy stuff. I actually watched a good movie.

the other night because i'm so gun shy now i don't hardly watch movies ever but and it was it's not a spiritual movie i mean it was directed by george clooney of all people so i was a little the one about the rowan boys in the boat oh so good really good movie yeah i hadn't watched it oh it's well worth a watch i watched it on the plane i still got the other one on my list the uh

that y'all talked about with Kevin Costner. He said it reminded you of your childhood. The war. Yeah, so I got that on my list. Now, I haven't watched that in years, so I don't know the rating and all that. But it reminded me of my childhood. That was the only point I made there. Good, bad, or indifferent about the movie. I wasn't. Oh, it's PG-13. I don't remember. We need to have a disclaimer on here, though. Any recommendations for...

for movies, remember these are the same people that watched Friday the 13th when they were six years old. So you got to take... We cannot take responsibility for any...

Except for the blind. Listen to us on that one. That's a good call. The only reference I made about that movie about the war is it just reminded me about my childhood. I didn't have an opinion on the movie overall. I was just looking at the cast. They had some pretty big actors. They were young. They were kids then. But Elijah Wood's in it. Lucas Black, who's a great actor. Lucas...

is from Alabama. He's done a ton of stuff. He's a believer. I follow him on X. You're talking about standing up for the Almighty, and there's one that's a Hollywood guy that doesn't mind talking about his faith. I like that guy. Well, yeah. I mean, look, we come from a family of storytellers, so maybe that's what was so appealing about the story of Jesus.

Because it became more than a story. I was like, I think that's a historical fact. Well, and you're right. I was reading, I'm prepping this week for Sunday, because I'm preaching on Melchizedek, which is a story from, he was brought up in Hebrews. He kind of plays a prominent role in Hebrews, but he was really just a footnote in history. So you just had this little blurb about him back in Genesis 14. But I was reading that. A mystical, mystical story.

Yeah, he was a king. Person of the Bible. Yeah, he was the king of Salem. From parts unknown. It's like, you remember in the wrestling days? Right. When they would have these mystical wrestlers. And so everybody, you know. Skandar Akbar. But they would say, from parts unknown. I always found that so funny. When really the guy was like from Detroit. But it was a lot more exciting if he was from parts unknown. But that's the way Melchizedek, I was reading this story.

And it was amazing because if you read it from a standpoint of thinking about a Hollywood blockbuster movie like Gladiator or one of them, it was really that kind of story. I mean, Abraham's up in the hills and this huge war breaks out down in the valley. All these kings are against each other. There's armies. There's fighting. They've captured his nephew and he's got to go in and rescue. I was just reading it from an action movie standpoint. And I thought, this is a fantastic story. It's just one chapter.

And then it ends with Melchizedek, who's a picture of Jesus. You know, it was pretty amazing. Okay, can we solve Phil's mystery today? Are we going to solve it on this paper? All right, well, here, I'm going to do something kind of crazy. Because y'all are creating mysteries as we're solving them. Oh, I know. You're throwing up Melchizedek now. I mean, now we're talking about, I mean, speaking of a mystery. Well, and now if you feel like you need to put a button on that, I mean, what's fascinating about Melchizedek is

is that there was some mystical things about his origin, which then is compared to Jesus in Hebrews 6, is it? Yeah, Hebrews 7. Yeah, Hebrews 6 and 7. Yeah, it mentions it the last verse of Sue. And which becomes one of the most powerful statements in the Bible, talking about Jesus fulfilling the priesthood by becoming our high priest based on not the fact of some kind of regulation, but

but based on the fact of an indestructible life. Yeah. Where's that? 618? Yeah. So here's my title, Jase. I'm not using it, but I came up with it. You're using that verse, huh? Oh, yeah. But I use this for alternate titles for my lesson. When the undesignated lineage becomes the indestructible life. Just think about that. Think about that phrase. Jesus, our Lord and Savior, who we put all our trust in.

And you say, well, what's so special about him? He's indestructible. Okay. You had me at indestructible.

When we studied Hebrews, that stuck out in my mind. So when I was back studying this week, I went back to that because it's so rich. In fact, it's so good, Hebrews 7, that it's going to have to be a two-part sermon. I'm going to be honest. When I was a new Christian and the first time I read that, I literally walked outside into the woods down at our house, I guess, so less than a mile from here where Phil still is.

And I was just saying, he's indestructible. I mean, our Savior has an indestructible life. I just remember being so excited about that verse. Oh, yeah, it was good. And then back to your boys in the boat reference, there was such a great picture of Jesus

what can be done with people when they just set out on a common goal and decide they're going to do it. These kind of bunch of guys that were thrown together because it would come out of the depression. And all of a sudden they reach this amazing place and they fought against all these odds to get there. And then this, and they won, you know, which is based on a true story. I thought about it when Zach was talking about how the Jews and Gentiles coming together as one. Yeah. Because that, you know, when I see,

Eight guys rolling in a boat. It's not that exciting to me. I thought, we're making an event out of this? A movie. But once I understood it, that it's like, you know, they had a point in the movie where he's talking about, well, it's not eight, it's one. Because the way to win is to function as one. Right. Because just think about it, Phil. We've been in a boat many times, and our motor has...

broken many times. And then all of a sudden we start paddling as efficiently as possible because now we don't have an engine. And it's crazy how that thing starts leaning left and leaning right based on which one of you, how hard you're paddling or,

And, you know, Phil used to like, hey, you know, you're, you're, keep up with me here. You know, I'm like, well. But even when the motor was working, when, when dad was on the front of the boat and you were the motor person, you

When we're dealing with current, how you kept the boat positioned with your motor the whole time you're dealing with the nets up front, well, you had to work together. Oh, yeah. And so- Well, and it was, and your life was in jeopardy a lot of times. Yeah, one wrong move and we're all in the river. Flip, fail out of the boat or whatever. So it was always a scary thing to do. But you learned, we all learned just by nature and by Dad's tutelage that-

That a boat, everything was backwards, so you had to reverse in different an angle. You had to learn that. I mean, that just – but then it became second nature. You understood when I turned the boat this way, the front's going that way. But that all – that had to happen for us to be able to accomplish. Well, what was fascinating about the movie is it's set up in 1936, which was –

Just three years before we engaged, you know, had this war over Germany, but the Olympic Games was in Germany. So you actually kind of, it's the backdrop of,

You're seeing the rise of Hitler and the Nazis. Right. For what was fixing to happen. And the reason it's a good movie is just because it's part of history. They just basically told what happened. Because I had to do an encyclopedia check after I watched it and thought, let me make sure this is right. Is this right? And it was very fascinating. One of the things I noticed, Jase, when looking at a picture of the guys who were actually the guys in the boat versus the actors that played them, is the guys in the boat were very thin. Yeah.

Well, because it was hard times. It was depression. The guys and the actors were all muscle guys, but the guys in the actual boat, they looked like us. I don't think in the 30s we quite had the workout regimen that we have today and the sophistication. And it was just, it was depression times. All right, so let's solve this mystery. So there is something that we haven't brought up in Ephesians that is going to come up a lot.

And it is this idea of wisdom and understanding, which is in verse Ephesians 1, 7. There's some other things. Illumination. Where's that one? Enlightened. Enlightened is in verse 18. Being illuminated. Where's that at? I didn't write these down. But having an understanding of what

He's given us. In verse 17, where he says, I pray that he may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know him better.

I pray that you may be enlightened. Yeah, I think in the other version it says illuminated. So, all right, we'll start here. So he prays that you may be enlightened. You have this wisdom and knowledge that we're in pursuit. And I think it has something to do with wrapping your head around this because it is a mystery that it's called. So I went over to Colossians because you'll see a lot of similarities there.

And especially in the Ephesians 1, 10, where it says about this fulfillment of bringing all things in heaven and on earth. So just let's go over to Colossians and I'll do this as quickly as possible. And then y'all tell me what you think. Yeah. And then just as a reminder, from a historical narrative standpoint, where Jay shares this,

I told you before, this is another region that Paul's writing, and he wrote Colossians around the same time he wrote Ephesians. So it makes sense that as you're reading these letters, he's going to be having this central theme to each one. He just makes it specific. Let me say this real quick, because we are jumping around a lot. You may think, are you guys going to... We're just trying to set a foundation here. So I think all of this is in context, and then we're going to get into...

on the next podcast, kind of verse by verse, look at that first chapter. But you have to kind of set the tone here because it's just so much history from the Old Testament that applies to what we're talking about here. So that's what we're trying to accomplish here. You know, I was thinking about it, Jase. We've been podcasting a long time now. We're in our fifth year.

All right. Yeah, and it's a fairly new format. So we were some of the pioneers of podcasts. There wasn't a time before we came along. And we're nearing 1,000 podcasts, which you say that real fast. That's a lot of podcasts. Oh, it's been a blur because I didn't realize it had been that long.

So there's been a lot that have a podcast, other great podcasts that were a few before us and a lot more since, because this is the way a lot of people like to study and listen now. And one of the podcasts that we love and we'd like for you to check out is from our good friends at Focus on the Family, who have been putting out wonderful stuff for many, many decades now. And they've got a podcast called Refocus with Jim Daly. And it's so good.

because it can be hard to share God's truth, but it's more important now than ever to be able to get the truth out there. And Jim talks to a lot of experts about important issues today.

Recently, he talked to a sociologist about how today's culture is affecting families because obviously these guys are focused there. He discussed evangelism with an Oxford professor who debated Richard Dawkins twice, a very well-known atheist. He even talked to a young woman, and I found this one fascinating. I listened to this one, who went through gender transition as a team, but now she's an advocate to make sure that other children don't get hurt. So they don't shy away from evangelism.

All of the heavy things that are going on out there, critical race theory, cancel culture. Jim's going to do it. He encourages you to share Christ's truth with other people. We love him. Check him out. Refocus with Jim Daly. You can listen at refocuswithjimdaly.com. That's refocuswithjimdaly.com. Yeah, that's why we were talking about the process and the whole Bible, the themes of the whole entire Bible, which he sums up in the first chapter. Yeah.

We go from beginning of creation

To living forever. Inheritance. In 11 verses. Yeah. Well, yeah. 20 if you, but yeah, it's deep. So you look at Colossians 1 and you kind of see the same feel because look at verse 9. It says, for this reason of chapter 1, Colossians 1. Since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God. Well, here's all these same things to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom,

and understanding. Look at verse 10. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord. Now, if you just stop there and read the first verse of chapter 4 of Ephesians, it says, I pray that you may live a life worthy of the calling you have received. The same exact phrase. And just as I continue to read in verse 10,

10, bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power. Well, you're going to see this in the back half of Ephesians 1. According to his glorious might, so that you may have great endurance and patience.

And joyfully giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share. Here's another common theme in Ephesians 1 and Colossians 1. In the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.

For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness. See Ephesians 2.1. You'll see the same phrase. And brought us into the kingdom of the son he loves. You'll see that in Ephesians 4. You remember when he said idolaters are greedy or evil.

Even a hint of sexual immorality, it said those people are not part of the kingdom of God. That's Ephesians 4. Which, by the way, one of the many reasons why we say the kingdom is here is like a verse like this. He has rescued us from, not he's going to. He's going to rescue us from the dominion of darkness and bring us into the kingdom of the Son. He doesn't say that.

He uses the past tense for he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom. So if we're in Christ, we're in the kingdom now. We will be in the future too, but we're here with this now. Same thing with that concept of darkness to light. You were in a kingdom of darkness. Now you're brought into a kingdom of light. Yeah, I misspoke on that. I said it was chapter... No, chapter four was right in Ephesians about living a life worthy of the calling, but Ephesians 5...

In verse 5 says, no immoral, impure, greedy person, such a man as an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

So same kind of thought. And then he uses the whole next section talking about light and dark in Ephesians 5 as well. Exactly. So then he gets into the image of the invisible God, the supremacy of Christ in Colossians 1.15. Now this is powerful. For by him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth. Well, what is Ephesians 1 talking about? Him bringing together everything on heaven and earth under one head.

So here you have visible, invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities, all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things in him. All things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church. Ephesians two at the end is going to get where the temple Ephesians five, where the bride of Christ and the,

He gets into verse 19 of Colossians 1. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him, look, to reconcile to himself all things. Watch this next phrase. Whether things on earth or things in heaven. Exactly, Ephesians 1, 9 and 10.

By making peace through his blood shed on the cross, he says the same thing in Ephesians 2 about bringing Jews and Gentiles together. Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. Back to Ephesians 2, 1 through 3. But now he has reconciled you by Christ's body through death. Now this is powerful. To present you holy in his sight.

So clearly Ephesians 2, 6, in the middle of talking about us being saved in Jesus, that we, he has exalted us into the heavenly realms and seated us with him. Here it's, he's presented you wholly in his sight without blemish and free from accusation. If you continue in your faith established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel.

So then when you get over to the next section, and we talked about this earlier, he starts talking about this mystery being revealed. And just to pick up in the verse 25, chapter 1, God gave me, he commissioned me to present to you the word of God in its fullness. The mystery that has been kept hidden for ages is now to close to the saints forever.

To them, God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles, which Zach talked about, the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. That's it. I mean, that phrase, which is Christ in you. I mean, I cannot overemphasize that. So now I wanted to come to, which is really exciting.

We have a drum roll moment, in my opinion, right here. Because he goes on to say, because we're like, well, what is this mystery? You know what? And Zach's like, that's it. Watch what this says. And I think the reason I discovered this, because it's my treasure hunting nature that I have, that a view is from God. Because watch what he goes on to say in chapter 2 and verse 2. And we're fixed to solve this mystery once and for all.

about this wisdom, understanding, knowledge, illumination, enlightenment. Watch. My purpose, this is 2.2, is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding. If you want to say, what is this all about? What is Paul's point? He's fixing to reveal in the context of revealing a mystery.

In order that they may know the mystery of God. So we have a drum roll here. What is the mystery of God? Well, here's your answer. Christ.

In whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. That is good. So you think, oh, I need to go write a thousand page doctrine on all the unsolved mysteries and all the things I need to become wise and understanding. He gave you one word.

That will solve all the mysteries that will bring you all the riches of understanding and knowledge. And it's actually a person, his son. Namely. And you figure that out when you get in him.

which is why there's 10 times in the book of Ephesians 1, it says, in him, this happened for you. Understanding, knowledge. And so that's why when I look every once in a while, someone challenges me on what we're teaching and they'll opine on a lot of doctrine. And I always ask the same question. And this is why, because of Colossians 2, I ask this question. I say to them, where is Jesus in all this?

Because if you're telling me an hour's worth of doctrine and it is not revolving around Jesus, to me, Jesus is where all the unsolved mysteries, lack of understanding, and what else did it say? All the hidden knowledge and treasures of wisdom. That's why I said the treasure hunting reference.

Got it. When you find Christ or when he finds you, which is probably a more accurate depiction of that, all of a sudden, that's going to make you really smart. You're going to figure a lot of stuff out. And so you say, well, what do I need to spend my time doing? You need to spend a lot of time reading the four gospels, seeing what the image of God, namely Christ, is all about.

No, that's good. Who was Jesus? I don't think it's an accident either. Verse four, after he sets the stage right there for what the mystery is in Christ, by the way, that was really good. Of course you didn't say it. I mean, you're just reading scripture, but it's, but it's good. But he says, I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine, fine sounding arguments. And I think it's a great litmus test for us because we can all kind of drift into the fine sounding arguments and,

And it was what I was saying earlier in a previous podcast about the danger sometimes of, you know, theologies like systematic theology that you get so committed to the system that you forget. We're talking about a person here and we're talking about Jesus. We're talking about who he is. And I think that this hidden treasure of wisdom and knowledge, that language also is very similar to what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1 and 2 when he talks about

Paul, at first it sounds like Paul's dismissing wisdom because he's like, I didn't come to you with wisdom and wise words and persuasive arguments, but a demonstration of the Spirit's power. But then he comes back and he just reintroduces a new wisdom. He says, we did impart to you wisdom that is from God.

And as he begins to explain what that wisdom is, it's very similar to this language of treasure that's hidden because he said what no ear has heard and no eye has seen, what God has prepared for those who love him. So there's some type of treasure that has been hidden in Christ that is revealed to us through the Spirit. So when you go back to this idea of Christ in you, the question that some people may have is, what does that even mean for Christ to be in me?

Well, that's the whole point of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit comes and lives in you. And then what does the Spirit do? The Holy Spirit reveals what is God's. He takes what is God's and he makes it known to us. And so then through his revelation, I would argue, you know, that we can't have a thought until God first speaks. And I'm okay with that. And I don't have independent thoughts. My thoughts are in response to God who has revealed. And then in that response, I could do one of two things. I could say, God,

You're lying to me. I don't believe you. And the word for that is called sin. And it always leads to death because it leads me away from God. But or my other option is I could say, God, I actually believe that you're telling me the truth. And so I'm going to submit to that because I know what you are revealing. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

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Use the promo code Robertson30. You'll get $30 off. Or you can visit blazetv.com slash Robertson for the same deal. Either way, sign up for Blaze TV Plus today. Well, because there is, you know, I don't know if you want to use a phrase like full salvation because, you know, you come to Christ and you're saved.

You're justified. You're safe, you know, because of what God has done in Jesus. But there is a time where you will be, you know, post-resurrect when the resurrection comes. Well, you get a body, 1 John 3, to be like his, and you start this eternal life, which is... Well, and we're talking about crossing around. So I wanted to make a point about this, Jase, because I took some notes as you were in the last podcast, all the different things you were in Matthew and Mark,

You talked about fulfilled righteousness, fulfilled prophecy, fulfilled law, fulfilled the times, fulfilled joy. Now today, fulfilled all mysteries. So think about that idea of fulfillment and being filled, as you were just mentioning. And then compare that to this verse in Ephesians 3. This is 319. This is a prayer that Paul has for the Ephesians. And he closes the prayer with these words. Now think about this, an idea about being full.

that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. And we've been talking about all the ways Christ has fulfilled these things. And then he says, now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than

Then all we ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen. And that idea of fulfillment, I think about all the people. Anytime you deal, all of us deal with broken situations, marriage, individual lives, drugs, alcohol, all the different things that people do. What are they trying to do? It seems like they're trying to fill a hole.

in their soul, in their psyche. You know, I've got this hole that's here. It can't be... So I'm pouring all this stuff into it. It could be a lifestyle. It could be this. It could be that. It's all this idea, how do I fill the hole? And then you read verses like we've been reading here the last two podcasts, and you think, man...

We've got the answer. What you're doing is you're trying to fill the hole with counterfeit treasures instead of the hidden treasures that are in Christ. Or, to borrow from the same language, by the way, Colossians 2, 3, which you mentioned, which says, in whom are hidden all treasures...

of wisdom and knowledge, very similar to what he says here in Ephesians 1, 3, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. I like it when y'all start re-preaching my presentation. But good. It hit home. We're just taking it and making it better. You got to repeat it. You got to repeat it. But that is it. No, that is. And Al gave a perfect lead-in to the last section that I wanted just to give the similarities in Colossians.

About this being full and being filled. Because he does take a little interlude here talking about what Zach brought up in verse 4 about don't be deceived by these fine sounding arguments. And then he kind of doubles down on that in verse 8 where it says, see to it that no one takes you captive through hollow darkness.

and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of the world rather than on Christ. And this makes people really uncomfortable because, look, I've been in a mini debate and a mini argument, and it's always the same argument. They say, well, you need to come with us and understand the deeper things of God.

And I always say the same thing to that response. I have been told that in some form, I would say over a hundred times in a theological discussion.

And this makes them so mad. But I'm basing it on what I'm reading Colossians 2. I'm like, you're not going to get any deeper than Jesus Christ. It's as deep as you need to be. And they're like, what do you mean by that? He's a person. I'm like, that's my point. Read Colossians 2. That is the deep thing of God. That's it. Now, you'll spend the rest of your life getting to know Christ. That's why he threw that in in Ephesians where he says that you may know him better. Right.

You think, oh, well, I got that. You never get that. That's part of being... That's why I'm reluctant. I'm not going to dismiss theological traditions because I appreciate them and I appreciate creeds a lot. But my primary allegiance is not going to be to any human tradition.

Because of this verse right here. It says to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition. And that can be good things. There's going to be things that are actually true. Well, exactly. But to your point, if they move you away from the person of Christ –

And your allegiance becomes the proclamation of a system instead of the proclamation of a man named Jesus, the God-man named Jesus. Then that is a hollow and deceptive philosophy. Even if you're theologically correct in your doctrine, if it leads you away from the person of Jesus, I'd say run from it.

I've said that also in discussions, because, you know, look, when I'm not here, I'm having a lot of discussions about the Bible with various people in Bible studies. You bring in people to the Lord and then somebody's challenging, you know, whatever. And so these conversations are happening. I mean, if you looked at my started going through my text, I would say 90 percent of them.

is around these types of issues. People like, what about this? What about that? What about this? Somebody told me this. Somebody told me that. So what I was going to say is even a lot of doctrines out there that I agree with, it makes people upset when I say, but I don't agree with how you're getting there. And they're like, what do you mean by that? I'm like, because there's no, Jesus is not in here.

That's how we get through everything. Based on what I just read, that is the deep knowledge of God is understanding who Christ is and why he sent him. That's why he had that section when he talked about the supremacy of Christ. Well, if Christ is supreme, what does that mean? There's nothing that you're going to come up with that is better, greater, richer, more

Or, you know, requiring more thought and some kind of special elimination, you know, that they come up with these types of things. So I wanted to end with this. So what does Christ offer? What does he offer?

And if you read in Colossians, then he goes on to in light of what you said about being filled up. Look at what verse nine says. You talk about a powerful statement for in Christ. All the fullness of the deity lives in bodily form. Who is the head over every power and authority? So then he gets into this.

thought about being circumcised and uncircumcised, which goes back into the sign of the promise, Genesis 12, that they would be circumcised, eventually be God's people, chosen under Israel. But he makes a different analogy of circumcision in this light, because watch what he says. In him, which is the phrase that's in Ephesians 1 10 times, you were also circumcised

In the putting off of the sinful nature. And we haven't gotten into that, the realm of being on the earth, a human. Some versions say the flesh. And there's two realms. There's this world and there's God's world. This world, our father's Adam.

And Ephesians is going to get into that in theory with points, but Romans really gets into that. And 1 Corinthians 15 gets into that, the difference in Adam and what he offered and the difference in what Jesus offers. So you basically have a realm on the earth that ends in what? Sin and death. You have a realm in Jesus that ends in forgiveness and life.

And so he says, in him you are all circumcised in the putting off of the sinful flesh. Not with the circumcision done by the hands of men, but with the, that's the, that is the human body when a boy's what, eight days old? Right. Cuts the foreskin off. He's like, I'm not talking about that. But with the circumcision done by Christ, now watch what he brings up, which is interesting.

having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your, here's the sinful flesh, this realm of being part of the earthly Adam world, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins.

Having canceled the written code with its regulations that was against us and that stood opposed to us, he took it away, nailing it to the cross. So having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them triumphing over them by the cross. So if you read this, you're going to find a parallel in what happens in Romans. You go Romans 1 through 5. What does it say?

We're basically all sinners, whether you are under the law or not. Those from Adam to Moses, he addresses. Then from Moses to Jesus, those under the law. Then he kind of recaps it in chapter five. And he's like, you know, sin reigned through death. But Jesus, he has an analogy compared to Adam. And maybe we should read that. And then he makes the same argument.

In Romans 6, by saying, so what shall we say? Shall we sin because we're under grace in what Jesus offered? And then he goes through this baptism process again. We died to sin. How can we live in it any longer? So when you think, well, what is Christ offering? You just read in Colossians 2 here. I mean, just start looking at this. He forgave us all our sins. He canceled the written code.

With its regulations, he nailed it to the cross. Look, he disarmed the powers and authorities. He made a public spectacle of them triumphing over the cross. I mean, what does he have to offer?

He offers an answer to every single problem that we have as living in a fleshly, earthly environment of sin and death. And I like the way, Zach, you framed it a couple of podcasts ago. It's not just redemption or restoration. It's also the idea of transformation. And ultimately, as Paul mentions in Romans 8, it's about glorification.

Because we're like him. Yeah, that's the life in Christ. I mean, I think that's the thing that's, for me, has been a hard transition to understand is moving from, I grew up this way. We all did. I mean, you grew up in the churches of Christ historically, and I'm not saying every church, I'm just the way I grew up.

was very works-based and it was get the right system down, get the right doctrine down, get the right belief system down. And I, even my grandpa loving me was, and I know he loved Jesus, but you know, one time he, he told me the way to heaven was to obey the gospel. I said, agree, but what's the gospel. And he said the Bible. And I was like, so what if I, I don't obey the Bible completely.

He's like, you better do it. Ask for forgiveness. And it was like, he didn't understand that the Bible is about the gospel. It was like it was a system that he was attached to. And I think he came out of that at the end of his life. But it was many, many years under that spirit of condemnation thinking, I got to get something right here. Instead of understanding that life is not

in us getting something right. It's in a person. It's in Jesus. It's communion with him. It's a union with him. It's union together. It's us being together with Christ, participating in the divine life. And that's a different thing because then the revelation from God to me about my own sin is not, hey, don't do that because if you do that,

I'm going to be really mad. And that's not part of the rule system that I've given you. That's not the revelation. The revelation is, hey, don't do that, Zach, because that leads you away from the real source of life, which is with me. And that was the whole thing with the Garden of Eden. They were eating that fruit for the sake of the fruit, not for communion with God. And so that passage that Jace was just in in Colossians, it says this term in here, to pull it back up, something about overflowing with thankfulness.

That's what a life in Christ results in. It's an overflow of thankfulness. So that's what God meant when he gave us the entire garden and said, you can eat from any tree in this garden except for that one. What he meant by that was eat of all of these because all of these were meant to

to eat with me in mind, communion with me. And then you eat it and you ingest the fruit and then you pour that blessing back out and praise to God and thankfulness. But when you let the fruit terminate on itself,

And you say, I want to eat that because it's good and pleasing for the eye and it's going to make me like God. When you eat that kind of fruit, it terminates on yourself. And what happens is it doesn't lead to thankfulness, an overflow of thankfulness. What it actually leads to is a retreat from a community in Christ.

And you go back and withdraw in and of yourself. So I think what he says to make all things new, to bring all things together in the fullness of time, I think that's what he's talking about. God is bringing the blessing of heaven, life, God with man. He's bringing that to earth, and he's going to live in people, Christ in you.

Thank you for wrapping up my sermon, Sunday, because you just made the point of Melchizedek in Hebrews 6 and 7.

the footnote that became the footprint because everything was about this person who was outside the system in this, in that case of the Levitical priesthood in the person of Jesus. So whatever system you're dealing with and working through, and you mentioned about our heritage, that's why it comes back to Christ in him is greater than all of those things. And so you lose your way when you trust more in any system,

whether it's brought about by earth or even by religious people, you miss it. I mentioned to you before, the man that wrote all this that we've been studying here now for several podcasts getting to Ephesians is a man who had to meet Jesus before he thought that going around and terrorizing the followers of Jesus was the right way.

I mean, that's what he was doing. And then he met Jesus and he said, all right, I get it. I've been wrong about this whole thing. So he looked, this is a smart guy who was on the wrong track until what? Until he met Jesus. Yeah. That's what changes you. Well, and what I had a kind of a groundbreaking epiphany when I read this Colossians two, because I thought, well, why in the world would he bring up baptism? There's so much we've had. We've talked about that many times throughout the podcast. And because it's a controversial subject.

Because people equate baptism with some kind of work of man. They're like, well, you know, you shouldn't, you shouldn't, you know, highlight baptism. You shouldn't emphasize, overemphasize. Because there's nothing you can do to earn your salvation and baptism is a work. But that's something that man came up with, those kind of phrases.

What I noticed, the epiphany I had is the certain translation that I have, the NIV from the 1984 edition. When it says in verse 12, having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God. Well, all the other translations, I say all, all but three or four. It says in the working of God.

You know, power works, but it's in the working of God. And when I saw that, I thought I looked up the King James, the New King James, the ASV. It's like in the working of God, which I thought is an interesting statement to put in there in the context of a person surrendering or offering himself. And that's why I tied this in with Romans 6, because if you go over and read Romans 5, he gives a synopsis of what he said in chapter 1.

all the way to this point in verse 12, which is going to be the same vein of Ephesians 1 and 2. He says in verse 5, 12, "...therefore just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men because all sinned. For before the law was given, sin was in the world." So we're going into that period of Adam to Moses.

But sin is not taken into account where there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command as did Adam. So you read Romans 1, 18 through 32, and you'll see that's exactly what he goes through.

But then he says in verse 15, but the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many? And this is an exact quote of Ephesians 2 where it says, you're not saved by works. It is the gift of God, chapter 2.

It's the same vein. And so then when you get to Romans 6, 1, he's like, well, what shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means. We died to sin. How can we live in it any longer? Don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized in his death? We were therefore buried with him.

into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we've been united with him like this, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. Now watch verse 6. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with.

What's he talking about? Well, it made sense when I read Colossians 2 here and then went to Colossians 3 because all of a sudden he starts clarifying what this means of God working in that moment that not only are you forgiven from your sins on what happened at the cross and Jesus being presented at the right hand of God, but you've died to this sinful world.

This being alienated from God is earthly because Jesus came down. So just a few passages here. So look at 220, because that's going to go in with 28 with what we read. 220 says, since you died with Christ, we just read how you died with Christ, to the basic principles of the world. Why do you submit to its rules? What are the basic principles of the world?

You sin and you die. You are, you know, you're detached from God. So then what he says in chapter three, he says, since then you have been raised with Christ. Set your hearts on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Same theme as Ephesians. Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things, for you died.

And that's what that Roman six really brought to life. When you're baptized, you're baptized not into your death, because that's what I always say. You're baptized into his death. Well, what did his death do? It took care of sins. It detached itself from the physical world itself.

It nailed it to the cross. The law itself taken away. It made a public spectacle of all the powers that are evil that stood opposed to us. And it provided an opportunity for his spirit to now live in us, which is the transformation and ultimate glorification part of this.

Exactly. So then it says, for you died and your life is now hidden with Christ. And that gets into all this, we don't belong to the world. You remember John 15? He's like, I chose you out of the world. You don't belong to this world. Right. My citizenship is in heaven. Why? Because Jesus is exalted there and he's presenting me up there with him.

So then it says, when Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also appear with him in glory. And that makes sense of what the next verse says. Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature. That's the being under the Adam influence without Christ. And you see all these sins.

Because of these things, the wrath of God is coming because those who choose not to embrace Christ, they suffer the wrath of God. A life without God is trapped in this earthly existence that provides no hope. You get sin and death. So then it says, you used to walk in these ways and once you lived, verse 8, but now you must rid yourself, and here's another list,

And then it says this, now that you, in verse 9, have taken off your old self. What is the old self versus the new self? The old self is being with Adam. The new self is being with Christ. And have put on the new self, which is being renewed in the knowledge, in the image of the creator. Well, who's that? We're back to this knowledge. Yep.

Because you've come to know Jesus, and Jesus has known you all along since before the beginning of time. All right, that's my presentation. But in verse 12, then it does say, therefore, as God's chosen people. Well, where did that happen? How did you become God's chosen people? In Christ. Well, before we end, let's break open this discussion on my cousin deck real quick. Well, you got one minute. That was a joke. Oh.

I thought you were going to give us a bumper. I thought you were going to give us a bumper. Next time we come back, I'll tell you how that worked out with my cousin because I will appreciate it. I'll send you some resources on that too if you'd like it. There you go. Just make sure you don't send it to him 10 minutes before I preach. Nah. All right. So we have solved the mystery and the mystery is in Christ.

So that's our setup. That's what we've spent a couple of podcasts doing to get us ready for Ephesians 1. So we'll dive into this next time on Unashamed.