Ephesians Lesson 27 of 39 part 1

We left off at the end of verse 20 in Psalm 68 without comment so why not do that now before we look at the rest of this Psalm. One might believe that Jesus only ascended one time as Acts 1 may led us to think. But truth be known from this passage and others, we can draw that, when He ascended into Abraham’s bosom and preached His revelation. He took those there held, into the heavenliest, of the by gone eras from Adam until His day. Those to whom He revealed Himself as LORD of all. Which we saw was their hope and trust for they had seen it as only a shadow but were not allowed to speak of it.

From here let us go to the next few verses to see and hear what remains; “But God shall wound the head of His enemies, the hairy scalp of such an one as goes on still in his trespasses. The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan (typically a place of cruelty), I will bring again from the depths of the sea: That Your foot may be dipped in the blood of enemies, the tongue of Your dogs in the same. They have seen Your goings, O God; the goings of my God, my King, in the sanctuary.” 

Jesus, as the Son of man, who was declared the Son of God, as Christ the great Apostle and Shepherd of mans souls, in His return to the place of power at God's right-hand (Hebrews 3:1-2). Is the same God Lord of Psalm 2, 86 and 110, earlier shown elsewhere.

He is the Jesus that the disciples saw and hear in Acts 1, when He open their understanding of Him throughout the Old Testament literature. Who is in the process of building the Church, the Family of God and Body, of those who will become the willing ones to enter into His kingdom. By way of personally putting, in figurative language, to death, all their self-will and the voice of the flesh. 
But I must caution all, that to choose to enter His kingdom a price is to be paid, for entry is not to be taken lightly. It will cost you your flesh life, of self will. It will require a clear eye, and a sincere heart, which means we have to find our “blind spot”, the hidden hindrance, that deceives us and keeps us from the Truth. This is the “the hairy scalp that remains in trespasses,” mentioned above. It is the lie planted in our mind, in our youth by a well meaning parent, teacher, pastor or some other person, who spoke, perhaps unintentionally, as a false prophet and we in our innocents accepted that lie. Just as the woman did before she ate and then Adam, when he followed her. When he listened to the voice of his flesh, which is what the woman symbolized.
Those spoken of as "dogs" here become very clear when we hear who they are, they are those who by the use of their “tongue” (slander, by wagging the tongue) Christ and His Gospel. And who saw “His goings” (this means to walk or to give a message, as a life style such as grace and truth) and works of wonder. Here lies another caution, all who take lightly or mock God, and or, Christ and His Gospel of Grace are classified as “the dogs” as referenced above. The writer of Hebrews reveals no less than five warnings to those who reject so great a Salvation. The Hebrew believers to whom he was writing were about to do this very thing. They were what we might call fence sitters. Simply put, they could have gone either way in rejection of his gospel, which they had heard and received by faith. It is faith alone that hold us to God in Christ, and faith alone that keeps us in His kingdom.
How does this agree with Psalm 2? Let's take a look beginning at verse 7 and see what it reveals; “I will declare the decree: the LORD has said to me, You are my Son; this day have I begotten you (the writer of Hebrews quotes this in chapter 1:5-6). Ask of me, and I shall give the heathen for Your inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for Your possession. You shall break them (the hairy scalps that remain in trespasses) with a rod of iron; You shall dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Be wise now therefore, O kings: be instructed (repent quickly with a sincere heart), you judges of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish from the way (the Way, the truth and the Life revealed in His Gospel), when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust (the place of refuge and hope) in Him.” 

We must at all times remind ourselves that the revelation of Christ is a progressive revelation. For God the Father of Life and spirit's is just this, progressive! John, in his visions of heaven in the panoramic view, heard the angels crying holy, holy, holy, each time they received understanding of the character and ontological essence of God in Christ. We are to learn of Him through the same process of revelation and divine illumination, by which we grow more in Love with our creator. We also then will cry holy, holy, holy or glory, glory, glory as the angels of heaven cry. It is this revelation upon which the Lord Jesus said, that He would build His Church, God's Family and Body.

We mentioned Acts 1 above so lets take a look at it;

Acts 1:11b

"...why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven."

That is when He ascended as we normally think of it. Then as we have shown He took His place as the Lamb on the throne and takes the small book with its seals and opens it at which time or shortly thereafter He reveals these mysteries to Paul.

Back to Ephesians 4 and verse 8.   

Ephesians Lesson 26 of 39 part 9

Ephesians 4:6

"One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all."

He is also identified with the One Lord of verse 5, and the One Spirit back there in verse 4. All of the Ones listed are but the character of Truth, the nature of Christ, the Spirit of Truth.

This all has to be taken in by faith, because we all begin as a babe, and as a babe we wont comprehend it. It is for this reason that many do not grown in knowledge or faith. But do exhibit only the status of a babe, and we do not think anybody that remains as such can receive from God. Because even though He indwells us all as a seed, this seed requires breaking before growth and development in spirit can take place. If we have a blockage in our vision or sight of God, then we are flawed. We are flawed because of our thinking, if thinking is flawed then we are hindered from receiving all things spiritual. If what we hear from say the pulpit is flawed, then we also are flawed. For as Jesus said, a little leaven spoils the whole lump. We are to examine ourselves, by testing the spirit we are hearing or receiving from. And if we are afraid of truth, which is by the way, what we should be asking for, then the whole will remain in the leaven of darkness and sin. Why? Because yeast and sugar create pockets of air, bubbles trapped within the lump and this causes the bread to raise. and this bread is a lie. But unleavened dough has no raising because there is no yeast and sweetness of sin in it, it is said to be true meet for the body. This is the flesh of Christ Jesus given us, which is Truth. Truth is what we need and desire above all other things but if we remain in sin we remain in darkness because we deceive ourselves because there is no Truth in us. And therefore we are none of His.

Three Persons as One? And yet this is the way the Bible teaches what Paul calls then in Colossians the Godhead. 

We are going into another few verses which seem to present a very interesting concept, which had to have taken place when Christ was crucified, or shortly there after, while in the grave those 3 days and 3 nights. 

Ephesians 4:7

"But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ."

In other words, every member of the One Body of Christ have a different level of responsibility, in grace. Even of faith, and that is God prerogative, as we are all different, but we are all members of the One Body. Though we maybe in differing stages of growth, just as a child has differing stages in his or her development and maturing. We have used the embryo or the fetus as an example of this growth in the past.

Ephesians 4:8

"Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men."

Here, we have a flash back to Matthew chapter 27, where it states in verses 52 and 53, "the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many."

From here to Colossians 2 verse 15 where it states this, "having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it." 

And both of these bear witness to Psalm 68 which states this in verses 18-20, " You have ascended on high, You have led captivity captive: You have received gifts for men; yes, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them. Blessed be the Lord, who daily loads us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. He that is our God is the God of salvation; and to GOD the Lord belong the issues from death."   

Ephesians Lesson 26 of 39 part 8

We have been studying Ephesians chapter 4, and the seven unities that it reveals and we have one more of the seven unities to do.

Ephesians 4:6

"One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all."

Remember we have been talking about One all the way through. One Body, one Spirit, one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and now one God and Father of all. Form our perspective after being many years searching for God in the churches that we went to, we did not find genuine love and truth in any one of them. Some had a form of truth, but not real truth and some held to a form of love but not God's Love. Both Love and Truth as Paul, Peter and John reveal is in One person, Christ Jesus. Therefore if we have not the ontological essence of Christ's Spirit we are false in both love and truth. In other words we deceive ourselves because the world lies in error and is therefore a lie. And when we remain as mere men we may have good doctrines of truth, but in fact and actuality we are in Hypocrisy and self-deceit just as Israel was and for that matter is still. The Jewish folks, bless their hearts, they kind of accuse us Christians of being polytheists in that we believe in a Trinity. But for the Jewish person coming out of the Old Testament, that is an anathema to them. So if you would go back to Deuteronomy chapter 6 for a moment, we will see what their reasoning is. This of course is the Jewish view of God being like Paul just said here in Ephesians, "One God." Absolutely He is One! And as we read, remember this is part and parcel of Jewish worship.

Deuteronomy 6:4

"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:" 

And here you have all the letters capitalized. Read it again.

Deuteronomy 6:4-5

"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might."

Remember when Jesus was confronted by a scribe, as Mark records in chapter 12 around verses 28-31? He asked Jesus what is the greatest commandment and Jesus' response was, Hear O' Israel, to this the scribe acknowledged both the love and truth it contains and Jesus said that he was not far from entering the kingdom of God. Then Jesus went on to quote from Psalm 110 where David speaking as an observer of a conversation between God the LORD and Jesus as the Lord, David calls Him, Lord because this is the very term that God spoke of when addressing Jesus in this conversation. Showing the distinction between them, Father and Son though they in Spirit are One. Now this is the bedrock of their Law and the hidden portion of ours, as it is written in our heart and embossed on our minds. As we come up through the Scriptures, even staying in the Old Testament, which was written primarily to the Jewish people, stop at Isaiah chapter 9 for a moment. Again we will look at a verse that we have looked at many times, and that would be in verse 6.

Isaiah 9:6

"For unto us (Israel) a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be* upon his shoulders: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."

*it is still further expanded, it is coming, except for those who have become One Body.

In this verse we have all the names or more correctly His titles of office, not only of God the Father of spirit's, but also who? God the Son! He is the Prince of Peace! Isn’t it amazing? And yet our Jewish friends do not like to admit that this is a reference to Christ. But as far as Christianity is, it is. It is a prophecy concerning the coming of the Christ child in Bethlehem, who would be their Messiah. Come over to Matthew chapter 3, because this was a question someone raised. The question was, "Where in Scripture are all 3 persons of the Godhead mentioned in the same place?" Here in Matthew chapter 3 it is the most obvious, and never lose sight of the fact that we have One God, One Lord, but our view of Him is in 3 Persons. The setting here is at Christ’s baptism in the river Jordan.

Matthew 3:16-17

"And Jesus when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water*: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he (John) saw the Spirit of God (here is number 2, the Holy Spirit) descending like a dove, and lighting upon him**: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, 'This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased'."

*so there in the Person of Jesus we have One of them in God the Son. **and here in verse 17 you have the third One in the voice from heaven, where the Father of spirit's is implied.

There is also one more reference that is just as tantamount, and that would be in 2Corinthians chapter 13, let’s look at the last verse. 

2Corinthians 13:14

"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, (Son) and the love of God, (Father of Life) and the communion of the Holy Ghost (Spirit) be with you all, Amen."

So you have all three persons of the Godhead mentioned here as One God. So we are not polytheists, because we believe in the One God, the One Father of spirit's and Life of all as Paul mentions in Ephesians. So let’s come back to our text in that book to chapter 4, and read verse 6 again.

Ephesians 4:6

"One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all."         

Ephesians Lesson 26 of 39 part 7

We are not putting down what denominations may demand for church membership, that is strictly up to them, that is not our prerogative. Our prerogative is to show what the Bible is talking about. For "If", we have not the Spirit of Truth which is the ontological essence of Christ's Spirit within us, we have a good likelihood of being a false witness. As we progress in Ephesians we will learn more on this Truth.

It is talking about the moment we were saved we were placed into the One Body of Christ! Remember the Holy Spirit never goofs up. There is never an unbeliever or disbeliever placed into the Body of Christ! But sadly there are far to many of such people within the walls of the church, which makes it NOT a True Church. Why is this so? We will find out as we progress. We as believers do not know who is genuinely saved and who is not saved because we can not examine the heart. But the Holy Spirit knows immediately the moment that faith is exercised in this Gospel. Here is where the rubber meets the road, is the institution your are attending proclaiming the Truth or a concoction of mans opinions and theories? What I mean is this, does your mind agree with the word spoken but your inner-man, the inner witness set on edge? Our mind can approve of the outward biblical and doctrinal expressions of correctness of the word proclaimed, but your soul recoil from the spirit of the speaker because his every word contradicts its very syllable. When we are enjoined with the one of radical commitment and sacrifice, while the other is saying, no need to panic; this need not be taken seriously, this is only my weekly sermon which I provide for you while you are to provide for my needs. I wont push you, if you wont push me, and there by we will get along fabulously. Sadly this or another extreme is what we have within the Religious institutions and when we find this to be so, we are to quietly get up and leave its halls and never to darkness it thresholds again. For the spirit, constitution and grit of the one speaking is to be in full agreement with the words spoken, they have to live in the Truth and thereby be true. The example of Elijah in 1 Kings 17:24 should be a good example, "The woman said to Elijah, Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of Jehovah in your mouth is truth."

This is the reason that local churches, and we do not care what denomination, they have unbelievers baptized in water and into their membership, because humans cannot determine, but the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth as He baptizes never makes a mistake.

Let’s come back to Ephesians chapter 1 for a moment and look at a verse on this. This is a good verse, and we would that you use it over and over on your friends. When you get this kind of salvation experience, and pass it on to others then it is genuine. We will at least read verse 13.

Ephesians 1:13

"In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise."

How did the Holy Spirit seal us? By placing us into the One Body of Christ! No church or any other institution can do this. Our affiliation or membership can not do it but sadly there are many well meaning people who believe this is all that is required of them and this is the lie. Many also believe that if they just love and bless Israel and speak well of her that this is what is required and this too is a lie. Israel is not the nation but rather is the land of Palestine that is blessed of God, not the people. Why? because the people are in rebellion against God. That is why He sent them not only the Prophets of old but John the Baptist and also His Son. To bring them to their senses and full righteousness through repentance, but still the nation and its leadership failed to get His message and its meaning. Just as many to this very hour are not hearing the Spirit, though they have the seed of God and of Christ within them.

That is the reason we share and say what we say. If we can just get people to listen (attentively) and back into the Book, and realize that it is the greatest Book on earth. We mean, there is nothing that can compare with it. We trust that most of you realize that we are always trying to bring out how intrinsically put together the Word is, that we are to figuratively to eat it up and digest it as food. When Paul comes up with seven distinct things like these seven unities of the Church we are studying, that is not just an accident. He did not sit there beating his head against the wall trying to figure out how he could do that. But that is just the way the Holy Spirit keeps the Scripture flowing.

We have been studying here in Ephesians chapter 4, and we have one more of the unities left.

Ephesians 4:6

"One God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all."     

Ephesians Lesson 26 of 39 part 6

Ephesians 4:5b

"...one baptism,"

Oh as we have said, there is probably no other word in the Christian language that will set people’s hair on end quicker than to disagree with them over baptism.  This is not at all funny. Something that is really doctrinally unimportant so far as our salvation is concerned can cause such enmity, and the sparks just fly immediately. Probably more than saying that Judaism is nothing more dead works, a Religion of the flesh. Let’s just look at this word for a moment. There is only one baptism, and even as your mind is floating out there among the world of Christendom, how many different kinds of baptism can you think of? Oh some sprinkle, some pour, some immerse, but are they a Truth or a habit of the flesh. The making of it to feel good and a trickery of the mind in its preconceived notion of understanding the use of false words which direct us to envision what is not meant or there. All of this is caused by a spirit of Religion the same deceptive spirit that caused Adam and woman to accept the lie and in affect become liars, children of Satan. Jesus the very essence of Truth and the One Who is True tells us through His very being what Truth is. Just as the Father of spirit is all Truth so is Christ and we are to become ONE with Him, in other words we are to be true in character and nature. How by being Baptized into Him who is Truth and then we possess the Spirit of Truth and live by and in total Truth just as Adam and woman were in Genesis 2:7 when the glory of God filled and surrounded them as a covering and way of Life.

We will never forget years back there were two churches, one baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, and the other baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Other than that their teachings and their doctrines were not all that much different, but they would not accept one another’s members. They were at complete odds simply because of the terminology that they used when they baptized. It is ridiculous isn’t it when you really stop to think about it? But Paul says, "There aren’t four or five different modes of baptism, but only one. We have looked at it previously in 1Corinthians chapter 12, but let’s look at it again.

1Corinthians 12:13a

"For by one Spirit (the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth) are we (believers) all baptized into one body,..."

This Spirit baptism is the only baptism that Paul knows. As we have shared, it is the only baptism that will make a difference for eternity. We can be baptized in water a hundred times and it is not going to fit us for eternity. There is only one baptism that will do that, and it is this one that Paul teaches here. It agrees with the teachings and word of Jesus when they are heard correctly. Now I should interject this just here, yesterday my wife was helping our graned son in his home schooling and the were in the English lesson on listening. In it were these four elements listed, sound, hearing, recognition and response. These four elements have different functions, as a principle in operation within each of us, within our perception of what is being said and what is being read. A good listener needs these four elements in full operation, then we are truly paying attention. But there is one more thing that needs to have happened for us to be fully receptive of God and that is the removal of our own blind spot, developed by a false conception of God and Truth. This blind spot is what Paul calls a block of stumbling and Jesus called a block of offense which hinders man from receiving the Word of God. It is the same blockage Paul speaks of in Romans 11:25 and Ephesians 4:18. We have called it a familiar spirit a spirit of untruth the same spirit God gave to the false prophets of old. We are to have the same spirit which Elijah had as witnessed by Zarephath in 1Kings 17:24. For our churches are full of the familiar spirit of deception because the world is under this spirits influence and we are to be set apart from it. It causes deception to abound and divides the house and home of God our heart.

1Corinthians 12:13a

"For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body...."

This one Body is the one we talked about. It does not matter about our status in life, there is only one baptism that counts for eternity. And our counting for eternity is what it is all about. The moment we believe this Gospel as outlined in 1Corinthians 15:1-4 and Romans 10:9-10 the Holy Spirit in His invisible, all powerful modus operandi is placed the believer and the receive of Christ into the One Body of Christ. This the one baptism that Paul talks about in Ephesians. The Spirit of Truth, the Comforter the revealer of Christ Who is Truth. For He said that "I AM" (referencing Exodus 3:14), the Way, the Truth and the LIFE. For Paul also tells us in Romans 8:9 that "if" we have not the Spirit of Christ we ARE NOT His! We have NO part with Him. He never mentions water baptism in this book, because remember we made that jump up in Ephesians to the higher doctrinal things, and we are coming even from his earlier revelations to those later ones as we had it earlier, and so now he can define the fact that there is only One Baptism that counts for Eternity. Its through death! Which is God's revealed Will for us all, no exceptions here. No wiggle room, no second opinions. For this is what the Old Testament word “everlasting” was pointing toward, the culmination and conception of all things in Christ. The mystery hidden in the small book with its seven seals.

Revelation 5:6-10

“And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And he came and took the book out of the right hand of Him that sat upon the throne. And when He had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of saints. And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.”

Backing up to verse 3;

Revelation 5:2-4

“And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof? And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon.”

So Christ meets with Paul in the wilderness and teaches him the things contained in this small book. The very book that the Old Testament Prophets saw but were kept form revealing, until the “everlasting”, "the end of days" and the prophet Zechariah calls in "in that day" came and ascended and took His place.

Ephesians Lesson 26 of 39 part 5

There are many scriptures we could go to - and we need to hit several. Why? Because we are to use the Word to confirm the revelation of the Word. Or to prove the Word of Truth, though it should be able to stand alone. For all Truth is revealed in and through Christ, Who is the Spirit of Truth. John in his letter in the synoptic gospels in chapter 1 reveals that Truth and Grace is the very essence of Jesus in verses 14 and 17. Let’s back up a page or two to the little book of Galatians chapter 2, and verse 20. This is Paul’s own testimony.

Galatians 2:20

"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live*; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh (our everyday living) I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me," 

*so being crucified with Christ is an identification process. The whole idea or concept is our willing to accept and receive the restoration of God's ontological essence of Christ which was lost to Him by Adam's action of betrayal when he chose to eat of the fruit. When we by revelation share the Lord's Passover in the right understanding of how it relates to a Marriage of an old nature being removed and the New Covenant of the ground and yes even the curse being lifted from us we become as Adam was found in Genesis 2:7, restored to the Father of Life and spirit's. 

In other words, again what is Paul saying? "He’s taking God at His Word." The Son of God is the One Who was declared the first begotten of many brethren. He is rehearsing Genesis 3:15-19 which is part and parcel of that first Covenant spoken to all mankind as the seed of woman. For when we understand the hidden meaning each one of us bruises the serpents head in conjunction with the essence of Christ now brought back to life within us. How and why? By the union of the soul and spirit of man with God in Light and Truth. We can not loose sight of the fact that the word Light means Love, Life and God's own character, now being restored which is called Salvation. Which is why we are told to working out our own Salvation in fear and trembling, because we have to through faith hold it tightly and not allow it to slip away from us, As it did with Adam. That brings us back to still another verse and that would be back to Romans chapter 1 again. We hope this all fits in your mind as at least it does in ours. Let’s begin in verse 4.

Romans 1:4-5

"And declared (that is Christ in verse 3) to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead: By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name:"

And again what is Paul talking about? That people would take God at His Word. And what has the Word of God declared? "That Christ died for our sins, He paid our sin and curse penalty, by His arising from the dead, and we must believe that for salvation." This is all taken in by faith. There is only one faith! You can not put your faith in some other god or by believing something else. We can not put your faith in a denomination or a pastor, teacher or evangelist. Our faith has to be completely centered on the One Who went to the Cross, and rose from the dead. We have to receive Him as our blessing because He is of greatest value, for we are not to neglect so great a salvation (Hebrews 2:3).

Again we hope as we are getting these words one by one, and you are getting the picture that out there in the world around us, instead of being one of many, the world is made up of many. As a house divided, which we know can not stand because its foundation is based on sand, Israel is numbered as the sand or beaches of the world, which is the metaphor for Israel. Now we all know that sand is not restricted to just the beaches of the sea shore but is also found in the arid and desolate parts of the world and is driven by the wind as sifting-sand. We have many so called Bodies of Christ, in Christendom and they know nothing of this beautiful Gospel that we believe. We have so many spirits that are working within mere men. We have many various hopes that people are clinging to, and really they are hopeless. They remain as lawlessness. We have many gods, and not like the pagans exactly, they had gods and goddesses both, and Paul says, "No. There is only One!" We have all the various faiths, and we hope you are getting the picture. Believe it or not, it is the same way with the next word in this verse which is baptism. We have many baptisms also. But remember they are all nothing more than a habit or Religious form for this is the custom of some. Now coming back to Ephesians and let’s go on to the next one.

Ephesians 4:5b

"...one baptism,"

Ephesians Lesson 26 of 39 part 4

Paul in Romans chapter 1 starting at verse 8 reveals God's view of all mankind and from 8 to verse18 shows mans need of righteousness or as we have said in the past mans need for an awakened spirit. This is seen in the very next verse number 9 where Paul states, God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers. Paul is the first outside of the eleven and those others in the upper room to have this enormous awakening of spirit within him. Oh do not get me wrong there were others who had received the LORD the Spirit but Paul is the one who came to the forefront because of his assignment and commission. Verse 16 is where we were headed so we will look at it now.

Romans 1:16

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it (this Gospel) is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth*;..."

* takes God at His Word.

To every person that takes God at His Word. We have to trust God, but how can one trust some one they do not know? I mean take a girl and a boy matters not their age. How can a girl trust the boy? First and foremost by getting the know him, spending large amounts of time talking and dating to build a relationship of trust between the two of them. For some people this may take years or weeks or even just a few months but none the less it takes time. With God it is no different though His breath is our very first breath received at birth and His presence is within from that moment on, keeping in mind that He is the Spirit of all human Life. Yes Human life, for the animal kingdom was spoken into being as were the bugs and plants and do not for get the stars, Sun and Moon they were also called forth by His voice. So how do we come to know God, the answer may surprise you, your very own conscious. Yes, our conscious is the source of our hearing of His voice when we have allowed yourselves to listen. He is always there speaking to us but do we listen to Him? Sadly we do not instead we are forced by violence to accept the voice of our flesh from a young age on. In the Proverbs 22:6 it says, to train up a child so when he gets old he will not depart of God (paraphrased). we are given the word to use as a means of training our children and ourselves but do we use it properly? NO! For many of us we follow the leader not knowing that that very leader does not know Truth. We are therefore mislead by them even though they have good intentions, good intentions are not enough. We all star with good intentions but along the path we go astray either by mans intervention of flesh or by Satan's intervention of false voice, both amount to the same thing and out come, death.

Paul says here that he is not ashamed of this Gospel of good news and later on he says that he does not water it down or twist it in any way shape or form. But sadly there are many who do, they force it to say what it was not intended to say. And our many churches and diverse denominations prove the distortion of the Truth. But Truth is the power of God onto Salvation, not mans contrived message but the Truth is what awakens our souls to receive God's voice when spoken in Love and Truth by those who have chosen the path of hard knocks a path of resistance by the spirit of the world. Which God's angels as Revelation bears record to do battle in our behalf to keep us on the right path to be Christ's messengers on a mission of Love and Truth at all cost of life and limb if need be.

Let’s come on over to where we were several chapters back in chapter 2 of Ephesians. Here in verse 8 is a classic salvation verse.

Ephesians 2:8

"For by grace are ye saved through faith*: and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God:"

* the taking God at His Word by believing Paul’s Gospel.

There are many we could go to - and we need to hit several. Why? Because we are to use the Word to confirm the revelation of the Word. Or to prove the Word of Truth, though it should be able to stand alone. Let’s back up a page or two to the little book of Galatians chapter 2, and verse 20. This is Paul’s own testimony.     

Ephesians Lesson 26 of 39 part 3

We trust that each of you already know our definition of the word faith? It’s simply, "taking God at His Word, more simply it is trusting with the heart wholeheartedly!" For this is the trust or faith that pleases God, just as Enoch and Abraham did. That is never a bad definition. Faith is always taking God at His Word. God said it, and I believe it, and God reckons that as our faith. We just can not simply say, "Well I look at it this way," and someone else says, "I look at it from a different view point." No, Paul says, "There is only One Faith." And Faith is total abandonment to God, Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and Romans 12:1-4, it is like we have said in the past, this Book is narrow. This Book is not something that you can just look at from 15 different directions, and say, "Well we are all going to the same place." No way! When Paul tells us in 1Corinthians 15:1-4, and Romans 10:9-10 that for salvation we must believe in our heart that Jesus died for our sins, was buried and rose again. That its through all that He did during the evening of His Last day from 6 PM until His ascension, then that is narrow. Remember the mystery of the Covenant meal, the Sacrament as some have labeled it, which He shared and we are to have the proper remembrance of 1Corinthians 11 verses 23 through 32. For those who partake of this meal in an unworthy manor get sick or die prematurely. Why? Quite possibly because there is no truth or love in them. 

Romans chapter 3, at verse 23.

Romans 3:23-25a

"For all have sinned*, (because of Adam) and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood,..."

*this could read, for all have sin, because sin and untruth is mans very nature since Adam's fall. So try as we will to do and be good we are not matters not our parental past for they to are sin by nature.

All right let’s use our definition here for the word faith, and let’s just feed it in here. "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation"...(our everything) through taking God at His Word concerning His blood. So what he is saying is, "I’m going to take God at His Word about what He has said about His Blood." We have not the time in which to look at all the various verses concerning the blood of Christ. But from our own knowledge of scripture, what is the one major attribute of the blood of Christ? What does it do? "Cleanses us from all sin!" Do you see that? We know that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin, we also know that the blood of Christ is the power that has been able to withstand all the evil forces of Satan that would destroy us. In it is the power of an Endless Life the bases of our New Covenant as promised through the Old Testament Prophets who only saw it as a thing far off, the everlasting.

Again let us just go back to the night of the Passover. Why did those Jews stand there at their kitchen table eating that roasted lamb with no fear and trepidation of the death angel that was striking all over Egypt? Because the blood was on the door! Remember that? And that blood was their mark of safety, and it is the same way with us. Why are we as believers safe? We are washed by the blood! We are said to be under or in the blood, in Christ. We have passed through the death and the spilling of His Blood. So we have to tell people this constantly, that Satan can not touch us because we are under/covered surrounded by the blood. How do we know we are in the blood? The Bible says so, and if the Bible says so, then we just simply take God at His Word. So this is a good example.

Let’s back up a page here in Romans to chapter 1. This is a well known verse, and the word faith itself is not in here, but the synonymous word is. We have always said there are three words in scripture that all mean the same thing. What are they? Faith, Believe, and Trust. They are all the same thing. We must keep in mind while we are here that this is the ground upon which God sees mankind. What Paul through the eternal Spirit of Truth is revealing to us is how God sees us. Look at them here in verse 16.

Ephesians Lesson 26 of 39 part 2

To complete our thought for the last posting, in Ephesians we have, "one Lord" and we can literally toke it out of the Old Testament setting, when we do, we have "one Master!" This then is in accord with Psalm 82 which states this, but I caution you the listen closely because Jesus quoted this and man has not heard what this is saying, so listen closely;

Psalm 82:6  I have said, You are gods*; and all of you are children of the most High. *this should be a capital "G" because from the very beginning we have been God's, this a positional or an ownership statement.

If we remember correctly the disciples referred to the Lord most times as "Master" didn’t they? It was such an appropriate term, because indeed that is Who He is. So when we come back to Paul’s teachings of the Lord being our Master, then that means everything, because we are His bond slave as it were. He is the benevolent Master, He is never hard to serve, and so consequently we have a Lord that we can serve with all the energy that is in our being, because He is so benevolent toward us, through His Grace in living Truth and trust. In the old LXX Hebrew (*you are gods H430) we find that we carry the staff as an yoke, laid across our shoulders, this is the same yoke that Jesus asks us to carry to learn of Him (Matthew 11:29). For like the older more advanced ox (God) is on one side of the heavier yoke (the law of Moses) to train the younger ox (Israel), the Lord is on the other end of His staff to train us, is the Spirit of Truth. The yoke in our case is the New Covenant in which we are bond to Him and He to us, this is the meaning of being "in Him, in Whom, and in Christ as well as our being positionally in God". We benefit form His divine power through Grace by faith's receptivity in Truth and Love. We just do not know how else to put it. He is the only Lord, or LORD that we are to serve in all Truth. He does not have those other aspects that the pagan gods have. For they only have a false form truth and this causes an inward friction and grinding within us when we hear someone preach but there is NO truth in that person matters not what their words are or what they convey. So we have one Lord, one Master, Who is Truth. You may question why, we are stressing truth here, it will become more obvious as we proceed. Now for the next of the seven ones is. 

Ephesians 4:5b

"...one faith,..."

Boy!, now we could stay here a long time couldn’t we? Stop and think of the world in general. How many different faiths are there? Why we couldn’t even begin to count the number of what they call various faiths. Even in Christendom, and we have to qualify that when we use that word, I’m not talking about the "Body of Christ" the True Church. When we use the word Christendom, we are talking about anybody and everybody that uses the New Testament to some degree or other for the basis of what they practice or profess to believe. So within the realm of Christendom, how many faiths? Even among Protestants look at them. You have the Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Assemblies of God, and so forth. They are broken branches of Christendom down to these various faith. But what does the scripture say? There is only One Faith! We are to stand for the One Faith found in Truth and grounded by Love. Now turn with us to the little book of Jude. We are not to be adversarial, just for the sake of being argumentative, but on the other hand we are to never compromise our faith in the Truth, which we trust is the One Faith that Paul is talking about. If we have not Truth as the Spirit which is working within us. Then we are none of His and are a false prophet, a lie, anti-Christ, for even the lie of false truth is a spirit.

Jude 3

"Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith,..."

“The faith”, not just your faith, but rather “the faith!” Well what is “the faith?” Let’s just go back and look at some of the places that Paul uses this word. We are always stressing that Paul is the Apostle of the Gentiles, Paul is in the Church Age, a called out one an Apostle, and so let’s come back to his letter to the Romans in chapter 3. He uses this word "faith" over, and over through out his letters.

 

Ephesians Lesson 26 of 39 part 1

I always like to remind folks that these teachings are non-denominational, not that we are not a member of a local assembly of like minded believers, but for the sake of reaching people we are just going to stick by what the Word says. This may or may not be in the literal since because as stated elsewhere, shortly after the ascension of Christ and His return as the Holy Spirit who from that point on would indwell all who became willing, things became spiritual. As Paul states in the Corinthian letters. All we like people to do is just search the scriptures, seek the Truth for themselves. For Truth is Spirit and that Spirit is the LORD, Christ Jesus. John in the small letter of 3John states that he rejoices greatly over the believers who live with truth revealed within and then through them when they walk in the spirit of Truth. Remembering that tradition in the scripture is always portrayed in a bad light, and a lot of tradition has been totally misguided, because there is no truth in them. Of course that is all we can ask, if people will just search the scriptures and look at what it says, and what it does not say. Do not take our word for it just seek the Holy Spirit in prayer and asking the tough questions He is more than willing to aid and help us to learn Christ. It must be stated that Jesus when He stood before Pilot and Pilot asked this quest, what is Truth? Jesus being all Truth did not answer him because being Truth revealed He did not need to say one word. Why? Because to do so would have taken from the Truth and bent it be it very so slightly and would have made it into a lie. Once we get into these deeper things, we just can not skip over what we think are little details that make it so interesting. In verse 5 of Ephesians 4 we will continue our studies of these seven things that make up a unity in the One Body of Christ, and they are, "The one Body, The one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all." The next one we will start with is "one Lord." 

Ephesians 4:5a

"One Lord,..."

We are living in a world where we are seeing the New Age Movement, Islam or Muslim, Jewish, and even a form of Christianity "Christiandem" and the Oriental religions being pushed. These and others are coming in, and it is so tragic that this stuff can be taught in our public schools and no one says a word about it. Yes "Christiandem" is still in the schools but it is not the pure Christ likeness that we are to be. The reason for that is, it is all in the name of education. One of the areas of Satan's strongholds. But as we know you can not take a Bible to school, or pray in school anymore, but the ridiculousness of all this is there are so many gods coming up in this world, and yet we as believers are admonished that doctrinally there is only one Lord. What we'd like to show here is the word "Lord" coming out of the Old Testament back in Genesis chapter 2. In fact let’s turn back there and look at it for a moment. 

We must remember back in the Old Testament we have the word Lord used in two different ways. You find it used all capitalized, "LORD" and we have it used "Lord." In this chapter is a good example of what we are talking about. All the way through Genesis chapter 1 we just see the word, "God." God said this, God did this, God was pleased and so forth. But now all of a sudden in chapter 2, and verse 4 we see something different.

Genesis 2:4

"These are the generations of the heavens, and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and heavens."

Was it a typographical error? No. It is exactly the way it is supposed to be. Here we have LORD in capitals. Those for us who have heard the Holy Spirit teach Genesis, it is from this "LORD" that we really get the Old Testament term, "Yehovah" old LLX Hebrew or “Jehovah” new English-Hebrew. He is the anointed Son of the New Testament. He is the Sun in Malachi chapter 4 verse 2, He is the Spirit of all Truth, He is the ever revealing one (Exodus 3:14, the "I AM") in that we are to learn of Him (Matthew 11:29a).

Where as "Lord" in the small case is the word "Adonai," and in the Hebrew is translated over and over throughout the Scriptures as "Master". That makes all the difference in the world. It is the same God, but you see Paul is using the term, "Lord" here in Ephesians as the Master, part of our Savior and our Lord. Coming back to Ephesians we have, "one Lord" and we think we can literally take it out of the Old Testament setting that we have "one Master!"

Ephesians Lesson 25 of 39 part 8

Romans 8:20-25

"For the creature (creation) was made subject to vanity, (the curse) not willingly*, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same (all of creation) in hope, Because the creature (creation) itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption (which is the curse) into the glorious liberty of the children of God.** For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, (the objects of creation) but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, (that is to say) the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it."

*in other words creation did not do anything to bring in the curse, but rather Adam did. So creation fell not willingly. **during the Kingdom age, remember the Lord's Supper when understood makes us God's-children, new Adams, son's of God with the potential of Genesis 2:7. Where God's Salvation begins it's perfect work of restoration to the Genesis 2:7 status and in hope waiting for the Genesis 1:27-28 status. Where or when we escape the worlds wrath of judgment and the fiery indignation to come upon it.

Let’s go all the way back to Genesis chapter 3, to see what Paul is talking about when he said, "all of creation was submerged under the curse." As soon as the curse fell, God also gave creation, what? Hope!

Genesis 3:14-15

"And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life*: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."

*here is God dealing with the creature that Satan used, as well as Satan himself, the serpent. This is the serpent referenced to by both John the Baptist and Jesus. When speaking of the Religious leadership of the Hebrews as a metaphor of their true character and nature, that of having in their mouth the poison of a serpent under their tongue and Jesus even called them white washed sepulchers full of the bones. The bones of the prophets which their forerunners had slain. The use of the term whited or white washed means that they had the appearance of being virgins but were dead on the inside, unfruitful because of their practices of yoking those who flowed their style of life, teachings could not bear the yoke of that teaching or doctrine.

This is the reference to the work of the Cross. And those to whom the illumination of revelation comes by the Holy Spirit within them. For there is more which is hidden here, it is all spiritually discerned. So just as soon as the curse fell, as a result of Adam’s sin, God subjected that same creation to hope. And what was the hope? The work of the Cross, the coming of the Seed of the woman. Then the curse is passed on in verse 16 and 17 so far as Adam was concerned that he would now live under the curse, and so forth. But what we want you see, is that when Romans 8 says, "That all of creation is looking for the day, when the hope will be realized, that they have been lifted out from under the curse." The curse is the yoke of bondage which the Hebrew Preist's worked through the addition to the righteous intent of God's Law when they added to it pure form. It must be noted; that Moses was the first to do this because of his up bringing under Pharaohs daughter and teachers of philosophy, a hidden weakness of mans fallen nature. It is the cross that took the curse from mankind, it is the cross that separated the past from the present NOW of the kingdom age, the Church and Body of Christ. The called out from among them, just as Noah, Abraham and yes even Israel were called out, Israel form Egypt, a figure of the sin filled world of lost mankind in Religions darkness and death. All of this is revealed within Genesis with the carry over from the exodus from Egypt hidden with the next five books.

Oh goodness, a verse just comes to mind, and we did not intend to do, but stop in Isaiah chapter 11, as we make our way back to Ephesians. To us this is such a beautiful illustration of the curse being lifted, this is something that all of creation including us as believers are looking for. We have a hard time comprehending this, but the scripture says it and we are to accept it and then believe it. Even the wild animals that are subjected to the curse, and they are under constant fear from their predators, whatever it may be, yet one day that fear will be no more. This is what all of creation is looking for. The curse will be lifted, and creation can revert back to the way God first created it. But we must understand that this earth is but a copy of the true, just as the Hebrew Temple which Moses made was a copy of the true unseen, invisible to mere human eyes. And look how beautiful this is. 

Isaiah 11:6a

"The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,..."

If it was not for his carnivorous character, a wolf would be a beautiful animal. We just love that big massive head, and those upright ears, we mean they are beautiful. But we have a feeling of detestation, because they are such enemies of so many other creatures. But oh the day is coming when they are going to lay down with the lamb! Will this happen on the earth as we know it, I do not think so. But after it has been reconstructed it just maybe because on that earth there will be no evil or sin, no crime, which causes fear.

 

Isaiah 11:6b-7

"...and the leopard shall lie down with the kid (or baby goat); and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together*; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; (together) their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox."

*in the same pasture. The same pasture that Psalm chapter 23 talks about. Oh the still waters, no turmoil, no death, and then in the midst of all this. These are all figurative of the new creation spoken of by Peter when the invisible world which this earth is a copy of will be seen or known by all new spiritual creatures.

What is this? This is the curse removed, and this is the hope that lies in everything of God’s creation.

Ephesians Lesson 25 of 39 part 7

Ephesians 1:13-14

"In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also* after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory."

*that is the center part of this Gospel, that Christ, died, was buried and rose again within you, as promised by God to Adam and Abraham.

We that are members of the One Body of Christ, we are now under the control of the Holy Spirit. Just as Jesus and Paul were and be it fully known and understand the first Adam was also. It is the Holy Spirit that places us into the true Body, it is the Holy Spirit Who directs us in our daily life, it is the Holy Spirit Who gives us comfort. It is the Holy Spirit Who reveals the Truth of scripture, but we have to make sure that we are listening to the right spirit. That is why John makes it so plain that we are to test them, we are to try them, lest we be led astray. For God fore knew that mere man would cave into the sophistry of mans fallen nature and not retain wisdom. That man would trust the visible phenomena than God. These are mans various opinions, which form conjectures on what is likely possible, of which the greater part is reasoning's which fall short of unadulterated Truth. It is these very things that cause us not to understand God or His prophets because we are programed from birth to resist the Living Spirit of Life, the heavenly Father.

The next one is in Ephesians 4, verse 4, one of the seven unities is hope.

Ephesians 4:4b

"...even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;"

There are many verses dealing with hope, we hardly know where to start. We will just trust the Spirit’s leading again to take us where we need to go. Let’s go first to 1Corinthians chapter 13, the love chapter, and we are going to drop down to the very last verse. In this chapter Paul has been dealing primarily with love. The King James word for love here is charity, but coming to verse 13, is found an amazing statement.

1Corinthians 13:13

"And now abideth faith, hope, charity, (love) these three; but the greatest of these is charity."

What is the second one? Hope. To the casual reader we are sure would never notice it, but as we read Paul’s Epistles from this day forward, we want you to be aware how often these three words will just pop up. They will just jump off the page at us, and they are, "Faith, Hope, and Charity". They may not do it all at once, maybe only one or two at a time, but throughout his letters we are going see a constant reference to Faith, Hope, and Charity. The reason for this is this chapter 13 which says, these are the only three that will remain. Everything else that is further up in the chapter is going to fade off the scene, but these three are going to remain. 

Scripturally hope is not something that we say, "Well I hope it doesn’t do such and such, or I hope I don’t get sick," or anything like that. Scriptural hope is manifest Truth, the wisdom of God that we are to rest upon. We are going to take you back to Romans again to chapter 8 where we just were, but we want to look at another part of it. We will almost have to read these whole series of verses, because they are all connected and even when we were there a little earlier, we hated to jump in on verse 23 by itself. So let’s begin with verse 18.

Romans 8:18-19

"For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us*, For the earnest expectation of the creature (creation) waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God,"

*remember the word we are honing in on is hope.

That is when we come into the place that everything even today is pointing to. When we are going to rule and reign with Christ in the earthly Kingdom with the curse lifted. And we do not think it is that far off. Why? Because believe it, are we not in the kingdom age now? For it began with the ascension and return of Christ, the Holy Spirit. It is this vary thing that has been a stumbling block not only for Israel but for the Religious world of mankind. Because as we have already said Religion resists the things of God, it holds man back from experiencing God, NOW! Our calling is into this Hope because true Hope has substance which is Faith and true Faith is receptivity of God within us through which He functions by Grace known as illumination of revelation of His divine activity. Something hidden with us and our soul but known by outsiders as we walk or speak His Life outwardly to the world of darkness and death that is all around us.

 

Romans 8:20-25

"For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it."  

Ephesians Lesson 25 of 39 part 6

Romans 8:5

"For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but (the flip side is) they that are after the Spirit (they mind) the things of the Spirit." 

It might be interesting to know that among the great Philosophers Moses is said to be renowned among those who stand out because he was taught by the Egyptians and therefore knew of the laws of nature and the world order of things. His Law is that of the worlds balance of nature or all things natural and in harmonious rhythm. And is revealed in he account of the beginning and his narrative of creation in the use of numbered days. Then later in his account of the temple being a copy of the heavenly one not made by mans hands but is eternal in the heavens, which points us to the fact that this world is made as a copy of the invisible or spiritual. This is in agreement with what Paul is here speaking because those who mind the things of the flesh are those of the physical world only and will die in their sin under its curse. But those who choose the exchange of the worldly life for the spiritual life as taught by Jesus will live forever.

Then come on down to verse 9, speaking to us as believers.

Romans 8:9

"But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his."

A person that does not have the Spirit of Christ is not in the Body of Christ. This is required by God because when we have the Spirit of Christ we could be called "Adam" again in agreement with Genesis 2:7 and the hidden meaning within Genesis 3:15. And oh we could go all the way through this whole chapter, and see this constant reference to the Spirit. This chapter is in agreement with Jesus' teachings which we know ran against the beliefs of the worldly flesh ruled doctrines of the Religious leaders of Israel because they failed to carry on the belief pattern of Enoch, Noah, Shem, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob for that of Moses as revealed in Psalm 78. In fact just glance at this chapter, and the word Spirit just jumps up at us off the page. For example in verse 15.

Romans 8:15-16

"For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:" 

This is an obvious agreement with what we shared above because Adam knew his creator as Abba the Father of his being. When we have been restored to this same condition we to call God, the Father of Life and spirits our Abba. This is the same trusting faith which Abraham and Isaac exhibited and which pleases God. Then come all the way down to verse 23.

Romans 8:23a

"And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit,..."

Here we have the word “firstfruits of the Spirit” or which is the earnest of the deposit, the beginning point of our redemption of which we have shared elsewhere in our study. Oh goodness, and now come back over to the book of Ephesians chapter 1, and this is the One Spirit that Paul is dealing with now in Ephesians chapter 4. It is up to us to discern are we dealing with the true Holy Spirit, or are we dabbling in or with another spirit? The church under Religion is full of the other spirit because of its corruption which happened back some 5000 years ago with Israel first. The same corruption has been passed down through the ages by those of the worldly nature in the coping of Israel's pattern of Religion. Then shortly before Paul and Peter's death, when it just escalated to where it is to-day. It is so evident today that a lot of people are dabbling in the evil spirits, the spirit of blindness a familiar spirit. The spirit of anti-Christ is every where. Remember many of them claim to be the right one, but what did the Lord tell the people in His own day and time?

Matthew 7:21-23

"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."

The whole purpose of this is that we are to discern, are we on true solid ground, or are we being hood-winked into something which is totally false. Then in Ephesians chapter 1, verse 13 and 14 Paul states this.