[laughing]

I'm not kidding.

You'll take that into consideration, but that's not your center.

You'll do it if it seems to, what? Be practical.

What do you mean by practical? In other words, we, what we center on is our happiness.

We center on what makes us happy, what gives us joy, what makes us comfortable.

So here's a God who is centering on the true and the right, and here is you and me, who's centering on what makes us happy.

Because the gospel truly changes everything.

This month, we continue going through an extended series of teachings from Tim Keller that explore the core truths of the Christian faith and what they reveal about God's purposes for our lives together.

Read verses nineteen to twenty-two.

Uh, four verses.

Very, very critical verses if we're gonna understand how the church is supposed to function.

I'll show you why in just one second it's so important for everybody in this room, no matter where you are, no matter where you stand, no matter what you believe, how important it is for you to understand what the church is, what it can be, what it should be.

Verse nineteen, "Consequently, you are no longer strangers and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.

In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.

Because the gospel truly changes everything.

Who are we? What gives our lives meaning? And is there hope for the future? Today, we continue Tim Keller's extended series of teachings from the Book of Ephesians as he takes a deeper look at how the Christian faith offers the only identity, purpose, and hope that can sustain us through every season of life.

[on hold music] Something that we left off for just a while, and Ephesians is...

The second chapter of Ephesians, the last part of the second chapter of Ephesians is all about the church.

Uh, it's awfully relevant because sometimes, uh, when I see how fast our church here at Redeemer changes, I mean, this, uh, new meeting space being a case in point.

When you move into a new meeting space, it's almost like you have, uh, you have to relearn everything little from the acoustics, uh, who stands where, down to it, it creates a different feel.

You have to say, "How do we enhance our fellowship in this new incarnation? How do we enhance our relationships in this new incarnation? How do we make sure that we're still a ministry center in this new incarnation?" And so on.

And so it's, it's a, it's a good idea for us to spend a couple weeks finishing up chapter two, verses nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, and twenty-two are all about the church, what the, what the church is.

That's gospelandlife.com/give, because the gospel truly changes everything.

[laughs]

"They are," she said, "on the whole, more tolerant, on the whole, more tolerant- more kind, basically more open-minded, more patient, less out just to use you.

And as a result, she said, "I, I really gotta find out a little bit more about what they believe." Now, I wasn't getting, uh, a statement that said, "Boy, I just c-- It's amazing, the quality of the relationships.

There must be something to this." Nor was the particular crowd this person was hanging out with, I don't think, uh, some-- a, a group that, that was just so characterized by love it was gonna turn the world on fire.

And yet, here was an objective skeptic looking and saying that, "There is a oneness there.

There is a quality to the, uh, corporate relationships that I really can't quite account for." You know, even at that level.

And therefore, Jesus says, "That is the plausibility structure that I'm giving the world." And what that means, of course, is that frankly, we, we who claim to be Christians better look at our relationships.

That's gospelandlife.com slash give, because the gospel truly changes everything.

These are good things, but can they really support the full weight of our lives? This summer, we're going through an extended series of teachings from Tim Keller that explore the central claims of Christianity, showing us how the gospel speaks to our deepest questions about meaning, identity, and hope.

Verse 13 to 18.

Now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations.

His purpose was to make in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.

He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.

For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

Your gift helps the message of Christ's love go out all over the world because the gospel truly changes everything.

We live in a culture that encourages us to focus on ourselves, our needs, our goals, our fulfillment, but what if our lives only made sense when we see them as part of a much bigger story? This summer, we're featuring one of Tim Keller's longer sermon series in which he teaches about the core truths of the Christian faith and the big picture of God's ultimate plan of salvation for humanity, revealing how we can find real meaning, growth, and change in Christ.

Just for the record, uh, we're really looking at the same passage and the same idea for one more week.

He Is Our Peace, part two.

We're looking at Ephesians chapter two, and I'm gonna read verses 11 to 16.

"Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called uncircumcised by those who call themselves the circumcision, that done in the body by the hands of men, remember that at, at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of promise, without hope and without God in the world.

But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far away have been brought near through the blood of Jesus Christ.

For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations.

Your gift helps the message of Christ's love go out all over the world, because the gospel truly changes everything.

Today, we continue Tim Keller's series from the Book of Ephesians, exploring the foundational truths at the heart of the Christian faith and how they shape our understanding of who we are, why we're here, and where we find hope for the future.

Let me, uh, turn you back to a part of scripture that we've been looking at for a number of decades now.

I'm gonna read to you from Ephesians.

Before the, uh, holidays and before we did a, a brief series on the hard sayings of Jesus, we've been looking at Ephesians.

We were looking at Ephesians 2, and what I'd like to take you to tonight is back into Ephesians 2, and I'm gonna read Ephesians 2:11.

I think I'll read verses 11 through 16.

Ephesians 2:11-16.

Your gift helps the message of Christ's love go out all over the world, because the gospel truly changes everything.

These are good things, but can they really support the full weight of our lives? This summer, we're going through an extended series of teachings from Tim Keller that explore the central claims of Christianity, showing us how the gospel speaks to our deepest questions about meaning, identity, and hope.

We're looking really at Ephesians two, one to 10.

It's a, it's a, as a whole, and tonight we're gonna look at the end of it.

Let me read Ephesians two, verses eight, nine, and 10.

This is God's Word.

"For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves.

It's the gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast.

Your gift helps the message of Christ's love go out all over the world, because the gospel truly changes everything.

We live in a culture that encourages us to focus on ourselves, our needs, our goals, our fulfillment, but what if our lives only made sense when we see them as part of a much bigger story? This summer, we're featuring one of Tim Keller's longer sermon series in which he teaches about the core truths of the Christian faith and the big picture of God's ultimate plan of salvation for humanity, revealing how we can find real meaning, growth, and change in Christ.

Let's take a look at the passage we've been looking at, and we actually tonight, tonight and next week, we will be looking at the last part of chapter two of Ephesians, which is a chapter we've been looking at for a while.

And I'm gonna read to you the latter section of this section of, uh, chapter two.

Ephesians two verse four to 10.

It's printed in your bulletin.

"But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions.

It is by grace you have been saved.

[laughing]

Today, we continue Tim Keller's series from the Book of Ephesians, exploring the foundational truths at the heart of the Christian faith and how they shape our understanding of who we are, why we're here, and where we find hope for the future.

Look at tonight this passage we've been looking at for a while in Ephesians.

Partly because it's a, it's a holiday weekend, as you can see, we have a little more time than usual.

I would, I would like to indulge in some summarizing, not only for the, for the benefit of people who don't come every single week or for guests and visitors, but also for those of you who are here every week.

Because the advantage, the advantage of going through a book of the Bible in as detailed a way as we have, the advantage is it shows you a, it shows you how rich the scripture is.

It shows you, uh, how important each word and phrase can be.

It, in some ways, it gives you some idea about how to interpret and study the Bible.

Your gift helps the message of Christ's love go out all over the world because the gospel truly changes everything.

But what if our lives only made sense when we see them as part of a much bigger story? This summer, we're featuring one of Tim Keller's longer sermon series in which he teaches about the core truths of the Christian faith and the big picture of God's ultimate plan of salvation for humanity, revealing how we can find real meaning, growth, and change in Christ.

Sometimes when we look at them, and yet you know all of history, in the West at least, is a before and ac- after picture.

We've got BC, before Christ, and we have AD, after the year of our Lord.

If you're a Christian, you can divide your life into before and after as well.

You got before pictures and you got after pictures.

Being a Christian is a monumental change.

What you have here in Ephesians 2:1-5 is you've got a BC and an AD.

Your gift helps the message of Christ's love go out all over the world because the gospel truly changes everything.

Today, we continue Tim Keller's series from the Book of Ephesians, exploring the foundational truths at the heart of the Christian faith and how they shape our understanding of who we are, why we're here, and where we find hope for the future.

In Ephesians 2, I'll just read this, and we're, we're actually getting into a new section, which we'll introduce tonight, but we'll be able to spend a couple weeks on.

It's the whole area of what it means to receive new life from Christ.

Let me read chapter two, verses one through five.

"As for you, you were dead in transgressions and sin, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.

All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts.

Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.

Your gift helps the message of Christ's love go out all over the world, because the gospel truly changes everything.

We live in a culture that encourages us to focus on ourselves, our needs, our goals, our fulfillment, but what if our lives only made sense when we see them as part of a much bigger story? This summer, we're featuring one of Tim Keller's longer sermon series in which he teaches about the core truths of the Christian faith and the big picture of God's ultimate plan of salvation for humanity, revealing how we can find real meaning, growth, and change in Christ.

[instrumental music] Let me take you to our passage.

Believe it or not, we're- we've left Ephesians one as of tonight.

No, don't thank me.

Uh, and no applause.

We finally moved on from Ephesians one because we're moving through the book, Paul's letter to the Ephesians, and we're beginning Ephesians chapter two.

And what I'm gonna do is, though you've got the first three verses in front of you, and that's what we're gonna concentrate on tonight, I wanna read, uh, into the passage a little deeper so you get an understanding of the subject.

Your gift helps the message of Christ's love go out all over the world because the gospel truly changes everything.

Today, we continue Tim Keller's series from the Book of Ephesians, exploring the foundational truths at the heart of the Christian faith, and how they shape our understanding of who we are, why we're here, and where we find hope for the future.

[gentle music] Paul's prayer concludes with these, just these two little verses that are printed in your bulletin at the end of the, uh, songs that you just sang.

Ephesians one, twenty-two to twenty-three, "And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him," that's Jesus Christ, "to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way." I would just like to draw out of the text the, the, uh, the stuff we can feed on tonight as we get ready to meet the Lord at the table.

What does this teach? It's, this teaches that Jesus Christ is head over everything for the church.

We just began to look at it last week, but I wanna look at it this week.

There's two ways in which Jesus is head.

He's head over everything, the whole world, for the church, and then secondly, he's the head over the church as his body.

Your gift helps the message of Christ's love go out all over the world because the gospel truly changes everything.

These are good things, but can they really support the full weight of our lives? This summer, we're going through an extended series of teachings from Tim Keller that explore the central claims of Christianity, showing us how the gospel speaks to our deepest questions about meaning, identity, and hope.

I'll read to you the last section of the passage in Ephesians one that we've been looking at.

It's Ephesians one, and it's nineteen to twenty-three.

Before I read it, let me just remind you that this is a prayer.

This is the last part of a prayer.

And in this prayer, Paul has asked that, that the Ephesian Christians and that, that we, all the people who are reading, uh, this, that he is praying that we might have the eyes of our hearts enlightened to know three things.

Now, the eyes of our hearts means he's praying that we get a feeling sense for these three things.

Your gift helps the message of Christ's love go out all over the world because the gospel truly changes everything.

This summer, and through the end of September, we're going through one of Tim Keller's most extensive sermon series, in which he teaches from the first three chapters of Ephesians, looking at how the Bible's central truths about salvation and grace will shape even the most practical parts of our everyday life.

[instrumental music] Is actually Paul's prayer, and we started looking at it last week.

Let me read it to you.

Uh, and be-- [sighs] No, let me read it first.

Okay.

"For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.

I keep, uh, asking that God, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know him better.

Now here's Dr. Keller with the rest of today's teaching.

Dr. Keller looks at how the truths that shape our understanding of God, ourselves, and our salvation can transform us and free us in every part of our lives.

[upbeat music] One, and we're looking especially at this long section that is printed in your bulletin.

Ephesians 1 we've been looking at for a number of weeks, and we have said that the chapter is explaining, in some ways, the tr- what is in the treasure chest you get when you become a Christian.

Chapter 1 verse 3 says, of Ephesians, says that, "Praise be to the Lord, our God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing." And that means that when you become a Christian, you get, in a sense, an enormous trust fund, the greatest trust fund in the history of the universe, and it's up to you to figure out just what's in there so you can draw on it, so you can make use of it.

And as we've been looking at the chapter, we've seen in the early verses of the chapter that the first great thing that God gives us is He gives us a new family.

We're adopted, and He becomes our Father.

We talked about that.

Now here's Dr. Keller with the rest of today's teaching.

But what if our lives only made sense when we see them as part of a much bigger story? This summer, we're featuring one of Tim Keller's longer sermon series, in which he teaches about the core truths of the Christian faith and the big picture of God's ultimate plan of salvation for humanity, revealing how we can find real meaning, growth, and change in Christ.

[upbeat music] A marvelous passage that has been printed, I think, hasn't it, been printed out for you in the bulletin.

It's Ephesians one, thirteen and fourteen.

And to prepare you to come to the altars where you can make a nest and find a home, I'd like you to-- I'd just like to read it briefly and open it for you for a moment or two.

And Paul says, "And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation.

Having believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession, to the praise of His glory." This is God's Word.

Uh, this-- Earlier this week, I guess a couple of you might have been there.

Now here's Dr. Keller with the rest of today's teaching.

This summer and through the end of September, we're going through one of Tim Keller's most extensive sermon series, in which he teaches from the first three chapters of Ephesians, looking at how the Bible's central truths about salvation and grace will shape even the most practical parts of our everyday life.

[upbeat music] The Bible passage that we're looking at tonight in our teaching is printed in the bulletin.

It's Ephesians one.

And I'm just going to read and make remarks tonight on these two verses, Ephesians one, verses thirteen and fourteen.

"And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.

Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession, to the praise of his glory." Now, we've been looking at this chapter.

We're looking at Ephesians chapter one, verse three to fourteen.

Now here's Dr. Keller with the rest of today's teaching.

Dr. Keller looks at how the truths that shape our understanding of God, ourselves, and our salvation can transform us and free us in every part of our lives.

Ephesians chapter one.

Tonight is actually a, a kind of bridge.

We're moving into, uh, the third and last section of this chapter, uh, Ephesians chapter one.

And what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna read to you ...

Let's see.

Luckily, I didn't need any of that.

Now here's Dr. Keller with the rest of today's teaching.

But what if our lives only made sense when we see them as part of a much bigger story? This summer, we're featuring one of Tim Keller's longer sermon series in which he teaches about the core truths of the Christian faith and the big picture of God's ultimate plan of salvation for humanity, revealing how we can find real meaning, growth, and change in Christ.

As usual, we're going to be reading from Ephesians chapter 1.

I'm going to read just verses 9 to 12 of chapter 1.

Ephesians 1, verses 9 to 12.

And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.

In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with his purpose, the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.

Ephesians 1, we said, is a kind of inventory of everything we have in Jesus Christ.

Now, here's Dr. Keller with the rest of today's teaching.

This summer and through the end of September, we're going through one of Tim Keller's most extensive sermon series, in which he teaches from the first three chapters of Ephesians, looking at how the Bible's central truths about salvation and grace will shape even the most practical parts of our everyday life.

For our teaching time, we're going to look again at Ephesians chapter one.

I'd like to call your attention to the entire section that we've been looking at, Ephesians one, verses three through 14.

But tonight we're going to look again in particular at verses nine to 12.

It's all one thought, and yet there's divisions in the thought.

And we're going to read, I'm going to read from verse three to 14, but tonight we're in particular going to look at verse nine to 12.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

Now, here's Dr. Keller with the rest of today's teaching.

It was recorded in 2014.

[gentle music] Uh, brothers, I think that, uh, the doctrine of the Trinity is something that in evangelical circles we tend to take for granted.

Um, we're always taught that all Christians believe in the Trinity, Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant.

There's no, um, divergence there.

And so we, we tend not so much then to perhaps school our younger, uh, leaders coming up in it.

And we, um, perhaps ourselves don't dwell as much on it.

We, uh, we're much more concerned to be sure that our unders- our doctrine of Christ and of the atonement and of salvation is right.

The universe unravels.

Dr. Keller looks at how the truths that shape our understanding of God, ourselves, and our salvation can transform us and free us in every part of our lives.

Tonight, I'd like to take a look, since we've been going through the book of Ephesians, at least when I was here we were, uh, I'd like to take a look again at this huge sentence that we started looking at in the late spring and early summer.

It's Ephesians 1:3-14, and I'm gonna show you tonight that there is a second major division in it, and I'd like to give you an overview of it.

We've been looking for weeks at the, at the beauty of, of the first part of that sentence and what it means that we were chosen to be adopted as His children, to be His sons.

And, uh, we spent a number of weeks on what it means to be adopted, and I want you to know that I don't know if it helped you, but I, I wrote most of those sermons, uh, sitting, uh, in a convent on the, uh, shore, on the, uh, shores of the Hudson River back in, uh, late May, and it changed my life just to think about the first part of the sentence.

But starting at verse nine, we have a second part, and I'd like to introduce you to that tonight.

Let me read you the whole sentence again.

Now, here's Dr. Keller with the rest of today's teaching.

But what if our lives only made sense when we see them as part of a much bigger story? This summer, we're featuring one of Tim Keller's longer sermon series, in which he teaches about the core truths of the Christian faith and the big picture of God's ultimate plan of salvation for humanity, revealing how we can find real meaning, growth, and change in Christ.

[on-hold music] This is the third talk, the th- third teaching, uh, in a row on the subject of chapter one verse four of Ephesians.

We're gonna read chapter one, I'll read verses four to, uh, to eight.

And tonight, for the last time, we're gonna look at the subject that we've been looking at that's so important, so critical that so many of you in the last couple of weeks during this teaching time have been coming to me about and talking to me about the, the, uh, the, the, how, the teaching that, that, uh, that Paul gives here about our adoption is such a life-changing teaching, how it lays bare the foundations of our lives, how it shows you where you really stand.

We're gonna look at it one more time tonight, and I'm gonna read from chapter one, I'll just read verses four to eight, but we're homing in on the doctrine of our adoption.

Look, "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.

In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

Now here's Dr. Keller with the rest of today's teaching.