Good morning, good morning. How are we doing? We good songs. Got a little swagger. It felt like we were marching on Mount Doom. Ready to get after it. My nerds in the room got that joke. Grab your Bibles. Uh, turn to the book of Ephesians. If you're just joining us, this is, uh, our new book study. We're going to be in the book of Ephesians for quite some time. We're taking small bites, taking our time. There's so much in here to get after. And we got a few verses in chapter one that we're going to look at. And these verses present, uh, some profound, uh, heavy big questions not only present the questions, but provide the answers to this. A question that I think, uh, everyone is asking whether you believe in God or not. Uh, we tend to circle around to the question of like, what's the point? Like, what's the point of everything? Like, why do we, we're in this spinning rock going around and around the sun. We live, we love, we suffer. It's kind of, uh, what? But why? What, what's the point of all of this? And there's really a couple ways that you could look at this. There's a idea that everything is just random. Even if you believe in God, maybe it's this idea that he just kind of wound the clock and stepped back and it's just kind of doing its thing. But, but things just happen. It's a crazy world and things kind of happen at random. Or you could look at that. There is purpose in this world that there are no accidents and there is a reason for everything. And if there's a reason for everything, you might be like, well, what's the reason? What's what's the point? What's the purpose behind all this crazy life that we find ourselves in? And there can be a lot of pressure on you to find your own purpose. Like, what did God put me on this earth to do? What am I supposed to do? What's the purpose of my life? Um, but, but in doing that, we gotta admit like, well, this isn't your world. This isn't your universe, this, you didn't create this world. So if you're going to try to find the purpose of your life, I think we need to start by asking bigger questions like, what is the purpose of life? What's the purpose of the world? What's the purpose of everything. What's the point behind everything? And then we can better make sense of like, okay, how do I fit within that? Because the purpose of my life should line up with the purpose of everything. So not to oversell it, but I want to help us make sense of life this morning. I think that's what Paul's trying to do in these these verses. So Ephesians chapter one, uh, we're going to kind of start in the middle now. Uh, we told you before, verses three through fourteen in Greek is just one long run on sentence. So really, if you start anywhere, you're starting in the middle of a sentence. But, uh, we're going to start in the middle of the verses that we're going to look at. So we got verses seven through ten, but I want to start and look at verse nine and ten first. Um, and then we'll go back and look at seven and eight and how they connect together. So you guys ready? All right. I told the nine thirty this, I said, I think the eight left about fifteen amens on the table. And I was like, you guys got to pick them up. They didn't. I'm like, they didn't. So that's on you. And normally I'm like, ha ha, that's a joke. Come on. Like for all right. Just like there's such rich good stuff in there. I know some of that's outside your comfort zone. But for some of you, you're just like waiting. It's like, this has got permission. Okay. So let's get after this. Verse nine. Here we go. Making known to us the mystery of his will. I told you, we're just kind of jumping into the middle of a sentence here, but it'll all make sense by the end. Uh, this is what Paul is saying, that he is making known to us the mystery of his will. Now, the word mystery gets used in the Bible differently than we tend to think about it. We tend to think about mystery. Oh, I gotta solve this. But the way the Bible talks about mystery is like it is hidden, and you're not going to get it unless it's revealed to you. And that's what that's what Paul is saying he's going to do. I'm going to make it known to you. In fact, uh, it's not on the screen, but a little look ahead. He revisits this in the beginning of chapter three. He says this for this reason, I. Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles. Assuming that you've heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you to preach the gospel to the Gentiles, how the mystery. So he's talking about the same idea, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation. So you have general revelation where it's like you can make some conclusions about God by just observing his creation. A creation points to a creator. But special revelation is like, you're never going to come up with this on your own. Like this has to be told to you. It has to be revealed to you. And Paul saying, it was revealed to me like I was. I was let in on this mystery by revelation. And then he says, as I have written briefly, when you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ. And I just want to say, I hope we're lovers of the Bible like this is God's will, his mystery revealed to us. And as you read it and perceive it, we're going to make sense of what life is all about. So you go back to chapter one. He's like, I'm making known to you this mystery of God's will. And then he goes on to say this, making known to us the mystery of his will according to his purpose. Now he uses two different words, and we got two different words in English as well, but they seem to mean the same thing. It could seem like, are you being a little bit redundant? But Paul's making an important point here. You got will and purpose. Well, like, what's the difference? Well, Will is talking about God's desire that he's out to see accomplish. But purpose is talking about how God feels about his will. Uh, some of your translations may say kind intentions. So making known to us the mystery of his will according to his kind intentions. The word can and sometimes is translated good pleasure. So if that's the case, you could read, making known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure. Uh, imagine this. Let's say God works at chick fil A, right? And if you you got to know what's going on in this chapter. And it's like God chose us before the foundations of the world out of love. Uh, in his grace, he's redeemed us through the blood of Christ. He's given us his spirit as a seal, a guarantee of our salvation, that we would be a fellow heir with him, like all this wonderful good news. And you get this. And you want to say like, thank you. Right. And when you say thank you, God says, what? My pleasure. You guys have been to chick fil A, right? He's saying like, this is out of my pleasure. Like I enjoy doing this. And here's what we need to get. We serve a happy God. And I don't I don't know if we always make that conclusion. I don't know what you tend to think about God, but we serve a a happy God and we're not going to get into this. But there's so much Trinity, uh, in this section of Scripture here, like you see the triune work of God in our salvation, that it was chosen by the will of the father through the work of the son and the seal of the spirit. And they have this loving, full relationship within the Godhead. In fact, the word right before our section, the verse six, ends this way to the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the beloved. Who's the beloved? The son. And this is the language that shows up at Jesus baptism. This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. And when Jesus talks about this call to abide in him, why does he say that? So that my joy would be in you and that your joy would be full. Right? I got joy, and I want to give it to you. Like there's this overflow of joy. In fact, God's joy overflows to our salvation. I don't know if you're familiar with the phrase misery loves company. Well, the joy of God loves company. And he's inviting us in on this joy that he experiences, that he offers to us in salvation. Not again, like I said, I don't know what you think God is like when you think of God. I mean, certainly there's clear displays of his anger, but it's connected to his justice and his love. I mean, that's maybe that's a message for another time, but God never loses his temper. Like, what is Psalm two say the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain. But he who sits in heaven. What? Laughs. Yeah. He's not out of control. Like his plans that he takes good pleasure in are going to come about. Like he's in control of it all. And it's going to it's going to come true. And everything out of his joy, out of his pleasure is happening. But here's another reason I think that this is important. We can tend to have a or a. This tendency to base our joy on what is most dear to us. And it can be an indicator of idolatry. Like check your emotions. What makes you most sad? What makes you most depressed? What makes you most happy? And if those things were removed, what's that going to do to you? Like, where do you find your joy? And sometimes it flushes itself out. It's like, well, if my kids are happy, then I'm happy. So if your kids are not happy, then you're not going to be happy. Or as long as my spouse is happy, then I'm happy, or as long as my job is going well, then I'll be happy. Or as long as my team is winning, then I'll be happy. But the disposition of a Christian should be. If God is happy, I'm good, right? Because my joy is in him. But is that your disposition? Uh. If our joy is in God, then it is eternally secure because he's never not happy. Like our God functions in contentment and peace and fulfillment in the Trinity. And out of there, joy spills out into our salvation. So God has a will. He takes good pleasure in this will. He's excited about this will. But it's not just an idea he likes and he's excited about it. He actually commissions it. Or in acts. This will. Look at verse nine again, making known to us the mystery of his will according to his purpose, or according to his good pleasure, which he. What. Set forth in Christ. So it's not just his wishes. It's his command, and it's his command that becomes reality. We've pointed to these verses before, but this is Isaiah forty six and it's just good job description for God. So if you want to apply, you can see if you fit this job description. He says, remember the former things of old, for I am God and there is no other. I'm sorry. It's not a job opening. Can't do that. I am God. There is no other. I am God, there is none like me. So I am the only one true God. What does that mean to be God declaring the end from the beginning? That's something God can do. And from ancient times, things not yet done that he's going to declare, they're going to be done, saying, my counsel shall stand and I will accomplish all my purpose. Calling a bird of prey from the East. So even nature and animals obey him. The man of my counsel from a far country. So even human beings obey his commands. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass. I have purposed, and I will do it. So that's what it means to be God. He's in control. It's his prerogative. It's his world, and he accomplishes his purposes. And this is talking about God's sovereignty like he is in control. But there's a difference here that I want to point out, because when we talk about God's sovereignty, we talk about his power and ability to do whatever he wants. He's God. But when you talk about providence, you're saying God has specific wants. He has a plan that he has set forth that he has enacted. And this is what Paul's letting us in on. It's not just that God can do whatever he wants. He's doing something. He's enacted this plan. It's unfolding. And we need to be let in on this. And he's excited about it. So let's look at nine and ten together, 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. Now notice, even in our few verses that we're looking at here, those two verses you get will, purpose, plan. And then if you keep reading and even if you look at the verses before this, you get more of like to the counsel of my will according to his will, his plan. And that's what we're getting at. What's the point of it all? Like what? What's the point of everything? What's the purpose of everything? Um, and this is what he's pointing us to. So God set forth a plan. Uh, maybe your translation says an administration of. Because you could translate that word plan that way you could read it like this, making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as the administration of the fullness of time. Because that word for plan refers to like household administration. It's like, this is how it's going to function. So if you could picture God trash talking, what he's saying is, this is my house, right? This is my word. You're in my world now, and God is the only person who could literally say that, right? When other people are like, you're in my world now. Ha ha. That's funny, because it's not it's not your world. You didn't make it right. You're in my house. It's like, well, maybe your house, but it exists in God's Word. Like it's, it's God saying, this is my house. This is my world, I made it, I have a will for it. I'm excited about this will. It's out of my good pleasure. I set it forth. It's going to happen. It's according to my plan and this is how it's going to function. Now, when he says time according to the fullness of time. Time here is not talking about chronological time like this happened and this happened. He uses a different word that talks about the seasons of time. And what he's saying is basically the fullness of all the seasons or the meaning of all the seasons of history. So when you look at all the history every season and time period and dynasty and kingdom and Empire, he says, everything is according to my plan. Like nothing is out of bounds in it. Like it's all my plan. And I set it forth. It's like, okay, well, where's it headed then? Like, what's the culmination of this plan? What's the point of it? Look at verse ten again as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. He's talking about restoration like, I'm going to, I'm going to bring things in heaven and things on earth together. I'm going to restore what's been broken. Because even back at the garden, it's like there was rebellion. But God created something in harmony and this rebellion hit a bad note. And that note is kind of ringing throughout history. It's like, that ain't right. I'm going to put it back in tune. I'm going to restore everything. But here's what we need to get. It's not like let's go back to the garden because that's not his plan. You get to the end of revelation. We're not in a garden, we're in a city. So he's saying, I got a plan. It may have started there, but I'm bringing it someplace else and I'm really excited about it. It's on. I set it forth in Christ, and there is a focus to this restoration. And you see it in here when he talks about in Christ, in him, in him. Like this is around the work of Jesus Christ. And that word unite to unite all things in him literally means to sum up, like, if you had to literally translate it to sum up so you could read it like this. It's all my math nerds. The sum of everything adds up to Christ. Like you just add it all up, add all the history. It's going to equal Jesus Christ. Like that's what everything is building to. That's what everything is working to. Like it adds up to Christ because. Stay with me. Now, when it comes to restoration, what's the most important thing that needs to be restored? Not our eternal life, but the worship of God. That's what was lost. And that's the most important thing that needs to be restored. The worship of God. Like I think David Tripp says this, like, we worship ourselves into this mess. We gotta worship ourselves out of this mess. Like there was a false worship in the garden and we gotta get a right worship in, in restoration. And you look at verses three through fourteen, like we said, it's one run on sentence in Greek with one clear point to the praise of his glory. And it starts with blessed be the God. It's called worship. The whole thing is a call to worship, which means the point of everything is the worship of God in Christ. It's the point of everything. The worship of God in Christ and creation owns it. Creation longs like groans for things to be restored. Right? Planets get it. Stars get it. Meteorites get it where the heavens declare what? The glory of God. They get it. Do you get it? When Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey that week before he was crucified, and everybody's giving him praise, crying, Hosanna! And the religious leaders are afraid of a riot's going to break out. And they're like, you got to quiet your people down. What does he say? Well, if they stop, the rocks are going to start because the rocks get it. Like everything is about the glory of God and the grace of Jesus Christ. In fact, there's a, um, a passage in John nine Where Jesus and his disciples come across a man born blind, and they ask probably a very common theological question why? Why is this man born blind? And they make a theological assumption. Who sinned? Where did this man sin? Did his parents sin? Like give us the reason of why this is happening. Now someone sin was Adam, but he didn't go back in like this. But what he says is it's not about this man's sin or his parents sin. This is so that the glory of God or the work of God may be on display. Even in this man's suffering. There's a purpose to it. And it's the purpose is the same, the glory of God, that the work of God might be on display. But it's not this like reluctant worship God. And you're like, all right, I mean, he's God. I'm not. Hallelujah. You know, it's not this like reluctant disposition. That's a sinful disposition, right? That's saying, I don't want him to be God. I want to be God. I don't want him to be about him. I want him to be about me. I want to do it my way. I want it to be about my plans and my purposes and my ambitions. And there's this kind of reluctant acknowledging of God's glory. That's not what he's talking about here. God is worthy of our worship. Amen. Okay. But what we need to see here is he's not just commanding the praise of his people, which he is and which he's worthy of, but he's not just commanding the praise of his people. He's inspiring it. Yeah, he's inspiring it because the glory of God is most clearly seen in the grace of Christ. The glory of God is most clearly seen in the grace of Christ, to the praise of his glorious grace. So that phrase gets repeated three times, but it's different the first time. So three times it's to the praise of his glory, to the praise of his glory, to the praise of his glory. But the first time, it's to the praise of his glorious grace. Because if you get his grace, you're going to follow with some glory. Like it's this enticement into worship when God's saying, do you not only worship me as you were made to do, but see how worthy I am of your worship? And you see that in Jesus Christ? In fact, let's go back to verse seven and see how these verses fit together. Verse seven says this in him, in Jesus we believers have not like someday can earn, but now currently possess. Have what? Redemption? You know how awesome that is. Can you let those words hit you for real? We have. redemption. Like all religion is about redemption. Like all religions trying to figure out like, how do I make it right with God or the gods who have upset and offended? Like, how do I how do I fix this? But redemption literally means to be released by payment. So it's like, okay, well, what's the payment? What's what's the payment? How do I do? Do I got to like show up to church so many times? I gotta join a church. Do I gotta, you know, my amount of good works? Like what? What do I do to be right with God? Some of you guys, uh, are too young to remember, uh, layaway payments just buy on credit now. But it used to be like, I want a couch. I'm gonna go in and get it on layaway. I'm gonna bring my five dollars every week, and by the end of the year, I got my couch, right. Sometimes we treat like justification, redemption, our salvation this way. Like I got a lifetime of just making payments, all my good works. And hopefully at the end of my life, I got enough and I'll get my salvation. But you don't redeem you. And there is a debt we cannot pay. So how are we redeemed? In him we have redemption through his. What? Blood. His sacrifice was a payment for our salvation. I love how Peter puts it this first Peter one eighteen and nineteen. Knowing that you were ransomed. So same idea. Redeemed, rescued from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers. So this broken sin problem, we've got it from a long history of sinners here. Not with perishable things such as silver and gold. Ain't nobody brought cash to get us redeemed. We didn't make any money payment for redemption. Okay, what was the payment then? But with the precious. What blood of Christ, like that of the Lamb without blemish or spot. I love how Isaiah puts it. He says, but we. But he was pierced for our transgressions, his. He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, that brought us redemption. And with his wounds we are what healed. Guys, don't miss this. Redemption comes through the blood of Jesus Christ. Not your works, not your effort, not your attendance. Not how much money you give, not how many good works you do through the blood of Jesus Christ, paid in full. You get that wrong. You get the gospel wrong. But why do we need to be redeemed? And what do we need to be redeemed from? Look back at verse seven. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our what trespasses. Why don't we use that word? Or at least not in this way very often, but our trespasses. We've gone places we shouldn't go. We've trespassed against God. We violated his commands. We've stolen his worship. We took a world that's about him, and we've tried to make it about us. Listen, guys. Human beings are not born innocent. People are not basically good people. Talk that way. Don't talk that way. That's not the way the Bible talks. We're all broken and have a sin problem because we have a sin nature. There's a corruption since the fall in the garden. And everybody, even if you don't even believe in God, recognizes this truth because nobody's what? Perfect, right? Nobody's perfect. Well, do you think God made you that way or did something go wrong? Right. Something went wrong. There was a fall. There was a rebellion. There's a corruption in our nature, and we're in bondage like you. You see, not only do you know this, you experienced this. You do things like I. I'll do something that I know I shouldn't do. And then something I know I should do, I don't do. And then something I know I should do, I say I'm going to do and I don't do it. And there's some things I say I shouldn't do and I'm never going to do again. And I do it again. Do you ever do anything that you know you shouldn't do? Anybody. You're messed up. Who does that like? We're broken and we're in bondage to this, this sin. There's a corruption which means we need redeemed. But your church attendance isn't going to do that. Your money's not going to do that. And your own payments of good work are not going to do that. Only through the blood of Jesus Christ will redeem us. Here's how the author of Hebrews puts it. Since therefore, the children that's us share in flesh and blood, he, Jesus himself likewise partook of the same things flesh and blood. Why did he do that? So he could bleed. So he could die. That through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death that is the devil. And deliver or redeem or ransom. All those who, through fear of death, were subject to lifelong slavery, living in corruption, living in brokenness, living in death like we've got set free from that bondage. Isn't it nice to be forgiven? If that's not the greatest understatement of the world, it's just nice. Even experiencing it. Like, have you ever experienced it on a human level where you've hurt somebody and you go and seek their forgiveness and they give it? They're like, no, I forgive you. And they don't continue to hold it over your head like you lost a relationship, like trust was damaged and it was broken. Like you experienced that heartache, but they just forgave you. Isn't that sweet? Yeah. Can you imagine that on a divine. A divine level? Let me ask you this. Do you think you need forgiven by God? Do you think you need God's forgiveness? Yes. Do you believe that Jesus Christ blood shed on the cross gives you that forgiveness in full? Do you live forgiven like that way? Like, no. My sins are cast as far as the East is from the west. He's not counting our trespasses against us anymore. Do you live forgiven? Do you live adopted like I am in the family of God. Do you live loved? I am loved by God. Do you live like you are a fellow heir with Christ? That I have an inheritance stored up for me forever. Like, can you imagine if we lived that way? It's a sweet thing. And isn't that what Paul's calling us to? Like, why is he letting us in on this mystery? To affect our life. To shape our worship. Look at seven and eight together. 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. Guys, our sin is such a debt. And I know we can struggle with that because when we look horizontally, it's like, not not all sins are morally equivalent. Like lying and murder are different. But yet we all stand condemned before a holy God. And it's not so much what we did, but who we did it to, that we have sinned against a holy God. And that debt is a debt we can't pay. But it says, God is rich and grace. He's rich in mercy, which means he can afford to redeem us. He's got deep pockets. So it's not that our offense wasn't that much, it's that his grace is that much, and he lavishes it upon us. Like, think about that. He lavishes his grace upon us. Sometimes we act like, well, God has given me just enough grace to get in, right? He gave me just enough grace to be saved. That's not what it talks about. He lavishes his grace upon us like grace upon grace upon grace, like the closest picture you get to this is in the parable of the prodigal son. You have this boy who basically wants his father dead. Like, I just want your money now. And he goes and lives this rebellious lifestyle until he kind of comes to the end of his rope and all his decisions and kind of tasting the consequences of those. But he comes up with this scheme of like, well, I'll go back and I'll apply for a job because it's better for me to work for my dad. And he's got this kind of figured out in his head. And as he goes back, what happens when his dad sees him? He runs out to him, puts a robe on him, puts a ring on his finger, kisses him, kills the fattened calf, and throws a party. Are you kidding me? Just lavishes grace upon us. Do you ever look at yourself that way? Like God has lavished his favor and grace upon you. Treats you far better than you deserve. Or are you so trapped in your current circumstances you don't see the point of life? And Paul wants us to know how great our God is and how amazing his grace is. The goodness of God. And these eleven, uh, in these verses, here are our past, present, and future. Like he chose us before the foundation of the world. He and our present. He has redeemed us through the blood of Christ, and he has promised us an inheritance to come. He's just like, guys, do you get it? Do you get how good God has been to you? Do you get how Awesome. His graces and his salvation. Do you see it? Paul picks up this talk in chapter two. We don't have it on the screen, but I just want to read it to you. Just close your eyes and listen to this because he's he's continuing with the same language. He says, but God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus so that, okay, we got a reason, we got a purpose to this grace, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. And it's going to be quite a show. So he's lavish us with his grace. He's rich in mercy. He pours it out on us. But there's a reason behind it. And it's like, I'm going to show my grace. I'm going to show my kindness. I'm going to put it on display. Why? Chapter one my glory. Because the witness of my grace stirs up praise for my glory. It's the work he's doing. It's his plan. He set it forth. He takes pleasure in this plan and it's going to happen. So Paul is saying, I'm revealing it to you. I'm pulling back the curtain so you can see the plan, so you can praise the Savior and live in a life of worship. Think of it this way. God has saved us from Himself to Himself, through himself, by himself, for himself. So we need to write that down. I'll say it slower. God has saved us from Himself to himself through himself, by himself, for himself. You know what I mean by that? So God has saved us from himself. Because who have we sinned against? God. And it's the wrath of God that is justly upon us. But he also saved us to himself because salvation is about a reconciliation back to him. He saved us through himself because he put on flesh and came to us and died on the cross, and he saved us by himself, because it's grace, not our works. And he saved us for himself because it's to the praise of his glory. Right. God has saved us. Go ahead then. Let's not be a church with like twenty people clapping like, is it good news or it's not? Guys, this is God's plan. The mystery of his will that we're being let in on. Let me read it together. It says 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 good purpose or his good pleasure, 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. Or you could say the sum of all of history adds up to Christ. And if you know history and Jesus comes on the scene, what you might say is, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Why would he say that? Because for thousands of years we've been killing lambs. Everything belongs to him. It's all been pointing to him. You go even further back in the garden. The prophecy that God gives to the serpent, that by a seed of Eve. He was. You're going to wound his heel, but he's going to crush your head. Not seeds, but seed. A relative of Eve is going to show up and you're going to wound him on the cross, but he's going to absolutely destroy you. And everything has been building to that. It's all to the praise of God and the grace of Jesus Christ. And getting this is understanding the purpose of everything. And if you understand the purpose of everything, you could begin to understand your own purpose. Because your purpose is not going to be different than the purpose of everything. Purpose of existence and purpose of this world. Can you put it like this? God reveals his plan to stir up our praise so we fulfill our purpose. In church, let me just land the plane this way for you. If your life is not about Christ and His glory and his pleasure and his mission, then you are living your life out of context. You have made life about something life's not ultimately about. If you've made your life about your ambitions and your passions and your desires and your interest. You will come to a very disappointing end when you finally realize life's not about you. And someday every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. And you can either bow or you can bow. Those are your two options. But I plead with you. Bow before you bow. You tracking with me? I think the real underlying cause of discontentment, which I would advocate is, is an epidemic of just we're just not satisfied. We're not satisfied with our life. We're not satisfied with our marriage. We're not satisfied with our job. We're not satisfied with their income and we just chase things and we just chase things and it just never fulfills. I think the underlying cause of discontentment is we try to make life about stuff. Life's not really about, and we think we're going to find it in this relationship and it doesn't deliver. And we think we're going to find it in that job and it doesn't deliver. And we're going to think we're going to find it in this. Having a family and it doesn't deliver. We think we're going to find it in a new place and it doesn't deliver. It may distract, but it doesn't fulfill. So we go from distraction to distraction to distraction. Just discontent because we're trying to make life about something. Life's not about. And Paul's like, let me pull back the curtain and show you the point of everything. Because if you know the point of everything, you know, the point of you and everything throughout history builds to the glory of God in the grace of Jesus Christ. So are you about the glory of God and the grace of Jesus Christ. I love how Paul puts it. We've gone here several times because I absolutely love these verses. But second Corinthians four he says, and even if our gospel is veiled, if people don't get it, it's veiled to those who are perishing. In their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. Do you know what God is like? Get a load of Jesus Christ. You want to know what God is like? Look at the gospel of the grace of Jesus Christ. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus sake. For God who said, let light shine out of darkness, has shown in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Well, saying, I get it like I have sight. I can see it. This is what life's about. And just a few verses later, he comes to this conclusion. For the love of Christ controls us or compels us or motivates us because we've concluded this, that one has died for all. Therefore all have died, and he died for all that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him for their sake died and was raised. So let me ask you, do you see the glory of God and the grace of Jesus Christ? And if you do, are you compelled? Are you motivated to make this conclusion? Life's not about you. It's about Christ. And you're going to make your life not about you, but about his glory. Because that's what it looks like to get it. And when you get it, you live your life in the context of what everything is about. But maybe we need some reminders, because it's easy to start slipping in that for me to be happy, I need to chase my desires and I need to fulfill my dreams. and I need to make my life what I want it to be. And we believe a lie or forget. It's not your world. It ain't your house. It's not your plans. But if we could yield to the plan of God which is unfolding and will be accomplished, we would find the satisfaction we long for because it's what we were made for. But I don't want to just command you like God does. Make your life about God. Make your life about the glory of Christ. I want us to be enticed, like Paul is to be inspired to worship God because we're commanded. Every time we get together, we ought to remember this gospel of Jesus Christ. So I know it's stuck up on you, but go ahead and grab your elements here. According to Romans five eight, through the work of Christ on the cross, God is declaring something to us. And what he's declaring to us is, I love you. I love you, and this love I have for you you can't earn and you don't deserve. That's what the love is being declared through the death of his son. You don't earn it. You don't deserve it. And yet I love you. And we're to do this as often, frequently. To be reminded, to be compelled to be inspired, to live not for ourselves, but for him for our sake. Died and rose again. So the night he was with his disciples, he took bread and he broke it. And he said, this is my body given to you. Do this in remembrance of me. Now wait. Remembrance of what? That I love you. That I've given myself for you. That this is a part of the plan of God that was set forth in Christ to accomplish your redemption. And it is sufficient. So would we remember that together? Let's take. And after he broke the bread, he took the cup. He said, this is the cup of the covenant, the new covenant of my blood, which is poured out for the forgiveness of sins. Do this as often as you drink in remembrance of me. Now wait. Remember what? Forgiveness of sins. Is anybody in here a sinner? But he needed forgiveness. Do you know what this is reminding us of? You have it. You have it. You have redemption through the blood of Jesus Christ. It's sufficient. It's gone because of Christ. God does not treat you like a sinner. He treats you like a saint, a member of his family. And we're to do this and be compelled to be motivated. I'm not going to live my life for me, but for him who for my sake, died and rose again. So let's do this in remembrance of him. Father. We. We love you. We love you, we love you, we love you. And we can only say that because you first loved us and you declared your love for us when we were broken sinners, reminding us that your love for us is not based on our performance, but your grace. And too often we slip into making this life about us. When everything is about you. I pray that we would find our purpose in understanding the purpose of everything that is about the glory, your glory, and the grace of Jesus Christ. And in yielding to that purpose, we would find fulfillment that can only come through you. We pray this in your name. Amen.