Ephesians chapter one. If you are visiting tonight, welcome. It is our honor to have you to serve you. We are Christ Fellowship Bible Church, a local congregation of believers saved by the Lord Jesus Christ. God has had great mercy upon sinners like us. We are not a gathering of good people, perfect people, righteous in our own doing. Not at all. We are those who triumph in glory in Christ. And we we gather together on Sunday to be taught the word of God is a family of believers to sit under the authority of the Bible. The Bible is the word of God. It does not change. It is sufficient. It is without error. And God, the spirit uses the preaching of Christ for the magnification of this great, this awesome, this majestic God. to equip us so that we can serve him and live for him and glorify him and proclaim him in the world in which we live. We're going through Titus chapter, Wednesday night, I love the book of Titus, but Sunday night, we're going through the book of Ephesians, Ephesians chapter one. And tonight we are in verses eight through 10. Where is history headed? I want to preach tonight on the summing up of all things together in the Lord Jesus Christ. Follow with me as I begin in Ephesians 1 verse 3. I want to get the full context, the full picture of this opening praise with you. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love, He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, to Himself according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace. which he lavished on us in all wisdom and insight. He made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his kind intention, which he purposed in him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times. That is the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to his purpose, who works all things after the counsel of his will to the end, that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of his glory in him. You also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed you were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory. Where is this world headed? What is going on? What are all things moving toward? What is the goal? What's the end? What is the big picture purpose of everything? Your life. My life. God's salvation, God's plan, Christ's redemption, all things in creation, the world history, all events, every moment, every space, every place, every object in all of the world. Where is it all leading? Where is it all going? What is the big picture of everything? What's the purpose in Shanghai, China? There was a man, a Chinese man, who once rightly said in 1939, Jesus Christ is the sum of all spiritual things. Christ is the means and He is the end goal of all of God's plans. If Christ, he said, is all in all, then all things must be summed up in Him. And that day is coming when the eternal purpose of God will be fulfilled. And what's the conclusion? The church needs to behold Christ. I think he's exactly right. I think he's exactly right that Jesus Christ is the sum of all things. That's what our text tells us in Ephesians 1 and verse 10, that all things will be summed up in Christ. And so church family, congregation of believers, we need to behold Christ. We need to behold the Savior. And what I want to do tonight is I want to open the garage door. I want to open the garage door for you so that you can drive in, you can pull in and you can see the inner workings of God. You can see the wondrous plan of God. You can see the beauty of Christ as you pull in your car and you park it and you see what God is doing on the inside. Ephesians chapter 1 is a wonderful way that Paul begins this letter. to the Ephesians because where we are in Ephesians 1 verses 3 to 14, the Apostle Paul is taking us high in doxology, praise to God. And in so doing, he's taking us low and deep in theology. He's wrapping his arms around the great doctrines of God and what God has done to save men. for his glory. And we have spent a number of weeks in Ephesians one verses three through six, talking about the work of God, the father in salvation, that God, the father is the one who predestined. He is the one who elected. He is the one who loved. He is the one who lavishes grace. This is the God, the father who saves for himself by himself resulting in his glory. And then beginning in verse seven, we have turned as Paul has led us to God, the Son, and how God, the Son, Jesus, the Son has redeemed his people through his blood. He's given full forgiveness of sins, that he has lavished riches of his grace toward us, that Jesus Christ has saved us by his wonderful, undeserved grace. We are really climbing the mountain and coming to the climax tonight of the section in verses 8, 9, and 10, or maybe the development of the emphasis of the section here on Jesus the son. It's kind of like right here. The apostle Paul is going to drop his main thought. He's going to, he's going to drop the main point in one of the central statements in the whole letter of Ephesians. The end of verse 10 tells us that all things are summed up in Christ. And all of this reality expanding in verses seven and eight about having redemption and forgiveness and the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and how he has saved sinners by his mercy. It's all traveling to a climax. And right here where we are in verses eight through 10, we come to the climax tonight. It's kind of like, remember last week I talked about a sunset and every moment it's like things get better and the colors get a little bit brighter and a little bit sharper and a little bit crisper. And you wait a little bit longer and you think it can't get any better, but it does. And that's where we are tonight in verses 8, 9, and 10. The most colorful, the most breathtaking moment in the sunset of the work of Christ's redemption is found in these verses. But tonight in our text and in my sermon, it's not so much about all the tools and the nuts and bolts of salvation and the workings of salvation and all the theological doctrines. I'm not going to talk about predestination and election and redemption and adoption and justification. I'm not going to talk about the doctrines. What Paul does tonight is he takes us back to the drawing room. where, where the architect is going to tell you, here's what I'm doing and here's why I'm doing it. And the architect is going to say, here's my goal in what I'm doing. There, there is the right occasion for all the nuts and bolts and the theological doctrines that we've looked at the last few months. But tonight we are with the architect. in the inner room where He has drawn up this plan. We're looking at the overarching purpose of the work of Christ. We're looking at the big picture of the work of Christ. We're looking at the main point of everything. Why does God do what He does? Now, verses 8 and 10, 8 through 10, are long verses, and they are detailed verses, and they are very wordy verses. There are a lot of phrases here, but they're all connected to one main phrase. If you get nothing else tonight, hear this. The main point of verses 8 through 10 and what I'm going to say tonight, the main point is the end of verse 10. It is the summing up of all things in Christ. One English translation has to bring unity to all things under Christ. The ESV has to unite all things in Christ. The King James has to gather together in one all things in Christ. The New American Standard has the summing up of all things in Christ. It is the idea of bringing everything under the authority of Jesus Christ. It's talking about the main point. Here's the summary. Jesus is the focal point. He's the center point in gathering and united all things into one. Maybe to summarize these verses before I begin to expound them. The purpose of God in history. is to bring glory to himself. By bringing all of creation, get the bigness of that, all of creation under the headship, under the authority, under the rule of Jesus Christ. Even in the fourth century, I think of the preacher John Chrysostom, who was preaching on this text, and he said that Jesus sums up all things under his own headship and under his own authority and under his own dominion. Everything in all of the world, in all creation, in all history, and in all time will be gathered together under the authority of Jesus Christ. Think of it this way, the word. In verse 10, for the summing up, the uniting, the gathering together, the summing of all things, the authority, that word that is used here was used when an orator, a speaker, would close a discourse in the ancient world, and he would sort of bring everything together to a main summary, to a main point, to a main conclusion, to one ultimate concluding point. This is the word he would use. Or maybe think of it like this, in a long writing composition. a long writing composition. It has to be summed up. It has to have sort of a main point bringing the whole thing together, like a dissertation, like a research paper. It could be 200, 300, 500 pages long, but you've got to have a summarizing main point that brings it all together. And that's what this is. That's the same word that Paul uses right here. in Ephesians chapter 1. It's the same word that the author of Hebrews uses in Hebrews chapter 8 when he says this, now the main point in what has been said is this. That's the same word. Here's the main point. Here's the climactic summary. Hebrews 8 verse 1 is that we have a high priest who has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne in the majesty of the heavens. It's like conveying the reality that all things are brought together and brought under the Authority of Jesus Christ if we could say here's the concluding reality Here's the main point of all history for everything every person every moment, every event, every situation. It is the authority and summing together and uniting of all things together under the headship and glory and power of Jesus Christ. It's amazing. So a couple of thoughts on that. If verse 10 tells us that there's a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, what is this? The summing up of all things in Christ. The uniting together of all things in Christ. So how do we explain that? Help me understand that more, Jeff, you might say. Well, a couple of brief thoughts. Number one, God sums up all things in Christ by God's initiative. It's God's initiative. It's God's power. God is the one, God alone is the one who is working and accomplishing all things in bringing them together under Christ. It shows the initiative of God, the power of God, the plan of God to execute his plan and to bring it to pass. But not only that, I have to get a little technical with you for a moment. Number two, God sums up all things in Christ for his own benefit. This is one of those Greek words that uses a verbal form in the language. It's not as though God sums up all things for me or for you. The way the Greek verb is used, God sums up all things for his own benefit. You've got to get the delight of God, the joy of God, the happiness of God. God is doing everything in history to bring it under the authority of Christ for God's own delight, for his own pleasure, for his own advantage, for his own enjoyment, for his own joy. God sums up all things in Christ by his own initiative for his own benefit. God sums up all things in Christ, just like scripture has promised. Scripture has promised at Matthew 5, 17, Christ came to fulfill the law and the prophets. We think of Luke chapter 24, when Jesus himself said, all things in scripture have been fulfilled in me. Psalm 110, all the enemies will be made a footstool for the feet of our great savior. God is summing all things up in Christ also is the head of the church. He is the head over his church and not only the head over his church, he's the ruler over all creation, over all creation. All things were made by him and for him. Colossians says Jesus is holding all things together. He is the head over his body, the church. He is to have preeminence, first place in everything. And later on in Colossians 1 20, he reconciles all things to himself. I can't explain all that. In Romans chapter eight, we even read that all creation, creation is longing to be set free from the curse. You look around, you take a walk at the park, you go on your sidewalk and you see a dead leaf. You see a dead animal. We see death all around us. This is creation groaning, longing for their redemption from the curse and from its effects. I think of revelation chapter five, when the song of heaven is worthy is the land that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. Even get this Philippians chapter two, that God has exalted Christ and given him a name that is above every name. So that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Every tongue will confess the lordship of Christ. Every person will confess it. Now here's what that shows us. That God is a very God centered God. He is a very Christ centered God. God, the father loves his own son and he is fully pleased with his own son. God, the father is delighted in his own son and he is satisfied in his own son. And what we want to do tonight is we want to flesh that reality out in a couple of ways in these. verses as if you and I had a camera and we were looking at the summing up of all things in Christ. I want to zoom in on that phrase, which we've done for a moment. And we want to look at the context of these verses and sharpen our focus and understand, well, what does it mean that all things will be summed up in Christ? Paul, how do you explain it? So we want to look at how Paul is going to explain it. in three ways. I want to show you three ways that Paul is going to show us how all things are summed up in Jesus Christ. Number one, the profound mystery. The profound mystery. It's going to answer the question of how. How are things going to happen? Why? Why are things summed up in Christ? The profound mystery. Number two, I'll show you the precise time, the precise time. When is this going to be? When are all things going to be summed up in Christ? And then third, I want you to see the perfect culmination, the perfect culmination. So what is really included in this? What what's really included? What's the perfect culmination of it all. Let's begin number one with the profound mystery. I want to ask the question, how? Why? Why the summing up of all things in Christ? Last week we ended in verse eight. Look with me at God's word in your copy of the Bible in verse say, we talked about the riches of the grace of God, which he lavished on us. Now we stopped there last week in verse eight. Now picking up there in all wisdom and insight, here's what God does. God is going to make known to us the mystery of his will, according to his kind intention, which he purposes in Christ. So in great kindness, in great mercy, God wants to make his plan known. God wants to make his plan known. It's the greatest story ever told. And God is the greatest evangelist that ever lived. He's the truth proclaimer. And God wants you to hear and he wants you to know. this plan that he has. And in verses eight and nine, we see how the wisdom and the insight have been given as God makes known the mystery of his will. It's like God graciously is going to reveal truth. And Paul's going to say, I just can't get over it. God doesn't conceal it from us. God wants to reveal this. That's what verse 9 is about. God is making known the mystery of his will. Don't think of the word mystery like a mystery novel. Don't think of the word mystery like I have a riddle and I've got to figure out some trick. That's not the idea of mystery in the Bible. When Paul uses the word mystery, it's the idea of this, something that was formerly kept secret, but now it has been fully revealed. It was formerly unknown, but now it is fully known. God is revealing something glorious. And Paul's like, I can't get over this. I want you to know what God is doing. It's kind of like, maybe I illustrate it like this. It's like a golfer. It's like a golfer who has bad eyesight. How do you be a golfer with bad eyesight? Not very clear eyesight. It's not crisp. And he needs to have eye surgery to see even better, even clearer. And after the surgery, he comes to a friend and he says, you know, it's, it's wonderful. After the surgery on my eye, I couldn't see the dimples in the golf ball before they were there, but I couldn't see them. But now after the surgery, now they're revealed. Now I can see them. Now they're in clear focus. That's the idea of a mystery. It was there before, but it wasn't known. It was there before, but it wasn't seen. And Paul is saying here in the context of Ephesians chapter one, that this revealing of the great mystery, something that was not known before, and now it's revealed, it's all graciously revealed by God. And Ephesians 1 verses 7 to 12 is all about God, the work, God, the son and his work in salvation. And Jesus is worthy of all praise and is worthy of all glory. Not just because he's redeemed you, not just because he's forgiven you, not just because he's lavished grace upon you, which we looked at last week, but because all things in creation will be brought under submission to the headship and the authority of Christ. He's worthy of praise. He's worthy of praise. Well, you say, well, why? Why would God do this? Why would God make known the mystery of his will? Why would God do that? Well, look at the end of verse nine, look at the end of verse nine. Why would God do that? Why does God reveal his will to us to sum up all things in Christ? Well, it's according to the kind intention, which he purposed. in Christ, according to the purpose of God, the kind intention of God, according to the benevolence of God. It's the Greek word according to the pleasure of God. It's like God comes to you and God whispers, Hey, God says, I want you to come with me. I want you to, I want you to come right here with me. And I want to, I want to whisper to you. I want to show you an amazing reality that was formerly unknown. But now I want to reveal it. Now I want to show it to you. Now I want you to see it in clear focus. You've not understood it before, but I want you to see the reality of it right now, that God's great plan is to sum up all things in Christ. It's a profound mystery. It doesn't come naturally to you. Men and women don't get this on their own. This isn't found by just natural human intuition. It comes from the revelation of God. Profound mystery of the summing up of all things in Christ. Formerly unknown, but now God has been delighted. God has taken pleasure. God has, according to his kind intention, wanted to reveal this thought to us tonight. that I'm going to sum up all things in my son. That's the profound mystery. Okay, well then another way that we could ask the question, number two in your outline, not just the profound mystery, but number two, the precise time. Okay, so when is this going to happen? What is the precise time? It's asking the when question. When are things going to be summed up in Christ? And that leads us right here to verse 10. And there's a lot here, there's a lot of words here, there's a lot of phrases here, and the English translations are different here. Verse 10 is the big picture verse. It's like the whole sketch. It's like the site plan. It's like the drawing. It's like the architect's design. The new American standard has with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times. Or the ESV has a plan for the fullness of time. Or another English translation, when the time is right, God will do what he has planned. Or another English translation, God plans to bring all of history to its goal. That's the idea of verse 10. And I want you to focus with me in verse 10. Look in your translation on the word plan or the word administration. Whatever translation, it'll have plan, or administration, verse 10, with a view to the plan or the administration of the fullness of the times. That word plan. Or that word administration is a is a word that refers to an arrangement. A set order of something. It could refer to a strategy. God has a plan. God has a strategy. God has an administration. He's the manager whereby he's arranging all things according to his perfect plan. Maybe you think of verse 10 like this. God has purposed in Jesus Christ in the plan, in the strategy of the fullness of the times, the perfection of the times where God will unite all things under one head, Jesus Christ. You say, Jeff, I get it. All things summed up in Christ. When is it going to happen? When is that going to happen? That's the question. When? What is the precise time? Well, last week we looked Ephesians 1.7, in Christ we have redemption through his blood. We have been reconciled to God through the redemption of Christ. We also read in Ephesians 2 and verse 16 that God reconciles them both. That is Jew and Gentile in one body to God through the cross. So there's an element at the cross. When Jesus died, when he shed his blood at the cross, we are reconciled to God. That's true. But there's more. Look at the end of Ephesians chapter one, verse 20. which God brought about in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age, but in the one to come at the resurrection of Christ, at the ascension of Christ. And then when he was exalted at the right hand of God in the heavenly places, that is also a part of the plan. But look at the end of verse 21, not only in this age, but also in the one to come, this reconciliation, this perfect time where God is going to sum all things up in Christ. It's not only something that happened at the cross. It's something that will even take place in the age to come. I mentioned earlier Romans chapter eight, and I'll mention it again, Romans eight. It's not only a hope for believers where there will be a full reconciliation, but even for creation, even for nature, even for the cosmos. When, when there will be a full new creation, as right now, the creation is groaning and longing for the day when it will be released from the curse. But there's also a day. When we read from the Old Testament prophets, when there will be a coming king, a righteous king, the righteous branch who will reign as king. He is the Lord, our righteousness. When his kingdom and the world and creation and men will see the preeminence of the Lord, our righteousness, and they will bow before him and he will reign until he has put all of his enemies under his feet. That day is coming. That day. It's coming. It is coming in the future and it will certainly come. What's Paul saying? Well, in verse nine, the plan is this. It's a profound mystery. But God has been desiring and eager to reveal this plan to you. Now, in verse 10, we've seen the precise time that God is going to sum up all things in Christ when the perfect plan, the strategy is fulfilled, the fullness of the times, not only in this age, but even in the age to come, culminating in the kingdom and then leading to when all things are placed under the feet of Christ. And he is all in all. God will gather all things to himself and he will sum up all things in the Lord Jesus Christ. Okay, the summing up of all things in Christ, you say, Jeff, okay, the summing up of all things in Christ, we've seen the mystery of it. It was not known before, but now God revealed it. We've seen the timing of it. God doesn't give us the date. He doesn't give us the year that it will happen. Not only at the cross, not only at the resurrection, but it will come in the age to come when all things are put under Christ's authority. But third, the perfect culmination. You say, okay, so God revealed it. You say, okay, so it will come in the future. What's included, what, what is included in the summing up of all things in Christ? What, what is it? What are the details architects? Give me the details here. I want to know all the details of this plan. Verse 10 with a view. to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times. That is, here's the main point, the summing up of all things in Christ, and here's how Paul's going to elaborate. You say, what things? What is the perfect culmination? End of verse 10, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth. If you and I were to get on an airplane and travel to Ephesus, modern day Turkey, and you Get in the car and you travel to the ancient site where all the archeological ruins are. And you enter through the main gate and you come into the ruins. You're going to find there a large statue of the Roman emperor Trajan. And he had his foot on top of the world on top of the globe. You think in his dreams, he was ruling over the world. His reign long since ended. But the reality of the Bible is that Jesus will rule with all things under His feet. He will rule with all things perfectly culminating together under His dominion. He really will be Lord over all. He really will be the one who has all creation submitting to His authority. Verse 10. is clear. It's all things end of the verse, all things in heaven and then the things in the earth, all the things in the created universe through Jesus is death and resurrection. Chapter one of Ephesians tells us that he is seated far above the rule and authority and power and dominion. Anything that could possibly named Jesus has more authority than at all. In Ephesians 1 verse 22 and 23, he's the head over the church. Not a man, not a Pope, not a committee, not a team, and not a powerful person. But Jesus Christ is the leader, the head, the authority over his body, the church. We also know that he is head over all things, Ephesians 1.22. He is the authority over all things and he's given to his church. We read in Philippians 2 that every creature heavenly and earthly and under the earth will pay homage to Jesus for and resulting in the glory of God. Even in Colossians chapter one, Jesus is reconciling all things together. all things in the heavens and in the earth through Jesus Christ. In fact, turn there with me. Let me just show you. Turn to Colossians chapter 1. Because in Colossians 1, verses 15 to 20, we have the Apostle Paul giving a portrait of Christ that is unsurpassed. He is God. He is Creator. He is Sustainer. He is Divine. And then, in Colossians 1.19, it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Jesus Christ. And through Christ, God reconciles all things to himself. And here's what God does. He has made peace through the blood of his cross, through him, I say, whether things on earth or the things in heaven. There are cosmic dimensions here. There are huge dimensions to the work of Christ and his authority and his power and his dominion and his headship over all. of creation, the summing up of all things in Christ. If you turn back to Ephesians chapter one, I began by sort of zooming in on the phrase, summing up of all things in Christ. And what I've done is I've given you three brief ways that Paul sort of fleshes out that phrase in verses eight, nine and 10. Look, they're difficult verses. They're wordy. There's a lot of phrases. There's a lot of of of clauses here that Paul brings out. But we have seen that what Paul is doing is we have seen first the profound mystery of the summing up of all things in Christ, the precise time of the summing up of all things in Christ, and then third, We have seen the perfect culmination, the culmination of all things in Christ. So if all things Ephesians one and verse 10 things in the heavens and things on the earth are going to be summed up in Christ. Let me give quite a bit of application here. I think it reveals the immense wisdom of God. Everything. All things. The summing up of all things in creation, in history, in space, in time, in relationships. All things in the created realm that you and I can see, that you and I know about in our own lives. Everything will be brought under the authority of Christ. What wisdom of God this must, must demand. To behold the wisdom of God. in His powerful, perfect, precise love for His Son, summing all things up in Him. It shows us, number two, I think, the biblical testimony of the Spirit. That from the Old Testament, even to the New Testament, from Genesis to Revelation, all things that Scripture is revealing is all pointing to one main apex, and it's this. Jesus Christ is to be glorified. He will be head over all. He will be all in all. All things will be summed up in Him. It shows the biblical testimony of the Spirit that from beginning to end, the Spirit of God is working all things together in His Word for the glory of Christ. I think it shows, third, the cosmic restoration of all things. It shows that God has a plan with this world and the next. It shows that God is far bigger than just your life and my life. This church and other local churches, all of creation, even the cosmos, even the world, even the universe, even inanimate creation that doesn't live and breathe rocks and trees. We understand that God is working all things for his glory and the glory of his son. but it shows us forth the majestic glory of Christ. Let me camp here for a minute, and I have to because this is the main point of our whole sermon text, the summing up of all things in Christ. I want you to gaze with me for a minute. I want you to, I want you to marvel with me for a minute at how great this majestic Christ really is. Hebrews chapter one tells us he is heir of all things. that in him all things hold together, that he is the radiance of God's glory, the exact representation of God's nature. He's the heir over all things. What a savior. He also has authority over all creation, not just the heir, But He has authority over all creation. Just before He would ascend to go to heaven, Matthew 28, He said, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. He has authority. This Christ, this majestic One, all things will be summed up in this authoritative, sovereign, perfect, powerful Savior. Third, we see that this reveals that all of God's enemies will be placed under the feet of Christ. All the enemies will be placed under the feet of Christ. The author of Hebrews brings this out in chapter one. Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for our feet. All things summed up in Christ, all things brought under the headship to Christ, pointing to the summation of this great one who is worthy. Even the enemies of God will be placed under the feet of Jesus Christ. Creation groaning for its redemption. Jesus possessing the ends of the earth. Psalm 2 tells us that that he will rule from Mount Zion and the earth will be his and he will rule and he will have dominion. He will have kingship from pole to pole and the kings and the nations will come and they will worship him. He will possess the ends of the earth. He will be made great and receive worship. On the world. He is also the one that all people will confess Jesus is Lord. All people will confess Him is Lord. And we just can't get past it again. In Philippians chapter 2, the Apostle Paul says that God has highly exalted His Son. And God has given Him a name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow in heaven and on earth, and under the earth in every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. In heaven, we could just catapult ourselves to heaven. Jesus is the center point of heaven. He's the theme of heaven. He is the all in all of heaven. He's the apex of heaven. He's the focus of heaven. Worthy is the lamb that was slain. Jesus is the summation of all things. All things in the world are brought together under this great sovereign, glorious head. You say, Jeff, OK, I get these verses, I get the reality that all things will be summed up in Christ. I don't want you to leave this place tonight just in your head thinking that that's kind of profound. Wow. I want you, number one, to magnify the goodness of God. To worship God. And you know why this is so great? It's so great because God's plan is not man-centered. This world and non-believers and human nature by default is totally man-centered. It's self-centered. But not God. He's a very God-centered God. And it reminds us that this great God loves his son so much that he will sum all things up in his son. You and I do well to worship, to consider, to ponder, to obey, to marvel at, to be in awe of this great savior. If the father has such a high regard for his son, how much more should you and I have such a high regard for this son? Not just magnify the goodness of God, but number two, fall low before the power and plan of God. What kind of a God is this? That all of human history, every event, every moment, every person, all of creation is all working out the plan of God to bring all glory to Christ. Who could do this? What kind of a God is this? What power does this God have? What plan does this God have? To be humble before him. To fall low before this great God. Third, I think to give ourselves fully to his service. to give ourselves to the service of Christ. Look, God's plan is to sum up all things in Christ. You and I do well to jump on the father's plan, to jump on his bandwagon. As it were, God is saying, I'm going to sum up all things in my son. I'm going to magnify my son. You and I do well to give ourselves fully to the living and glorifying and praising of Christ. I think there's another application for us. Don't be overly concerned with this world. Don't be overly concerned with this world. There's a proper perspective that this gives us. God is going to sum up all things in Christ. All things in this world are going to bring glory to Christ. He will be the head over all things. He will be the all in all over everything. Don't be overly concerned with the things of this world. We live here. We work here. We want to serve God here and serve Christ here and worship our great head and our great Lord and the one in whom all things will culminate in him. I think finally, number five, another application for us is to vigilantly pursue a deeper closeness with Christ. The theology of these verses is wonderful. Going into the architect's room and having the architect tell us, here's what I'm doing, why I'm doing it, and how I'm going to get there. That's great, but it's more than just head knowledge of knowing what God is doing. We want to vigilantly pursue a deeper closeness with this Christ. All things will be summed up in Him. Pursue Him. Love Him. Worship Him. know him, study him, pray to him. The text tells us in Ephesians 1, verses 8, 9, and 10, many words and many phrases and many clauses about the mystery of God and the kind pleasure of God to reveal it to us. And that God has a fullness of the time, a precise strategy and administration whereby He will bring all of this to fruition, even all things in the heavens and things on the earth. What's the main point, Paul? All things will be summed up in Christ. May that be a description of your life and my life as well. May it be for the summation of Christ, for the glory of Christ, for the magnification of Christ. There was a man who lived. Born in 1600 in England by the name of Thomas Goodwin. He was born in a little village. When he was 20 years old, he went to a funeral and heard the gospel. God awakened him to his spiritual condition, but he was not converted yet. It wasn't another seven years before God would mercifully save Thomas Goodwin. Well, when the Lord did finally save him, Goodwin became a powerful preacher, a powerful writer, a powerful theologian in the Puritan era. One of the books that he loved to teach and preach on was the book of Ephesians. In chapter one alone, his sermons are 560 pages long to read of Ephesians chapter one. There is so much in these three verses that I looked at tonight with you, Ephesians 1, 8, 9, and 10, that it takes 80 pages to read his expositions, his sermons from these three verses. And you say, why? Why all of this? Because Thomas Goodwin wanted to show the grandeur of what's here. He wanted to show the plan of God. He wanted to show that all things really are summed up in Jesus Christ. Goodwin said, I want to show you the fullness of the glory of Christ. And then he would say, I want to show you the happiness of the Father in His Son. And then he would say, I want to show you the power and the deity of Jesus the King. And then he would say, I want to show you that all realms are subject to Christ. The angelic realm, the human realm, and the inanimate realm. He said, I want to show you that all ranks of men are under the lordship of Christ. Doesn't matter how powerful somebody may be, or popular, or known, or unknown. All ranks of men are under the lordship of Christ. Goodwin continued. He said, I want to show you the glorious restoration of all things like the original creation in Genesis one and two. I want to show you the eternal joy and peace is found in being in this Christ. He said, kiss the sun. And then. he would lovingly exhort those in his congregation and non-believers that had gathered. Goodwin would say this, be sure that you have gathered yourself into this head. Be sure that you find your rest, you find your hope, you find your security, you find a life everlasting in the one that all of creation will be summed up in. Come to this one. Trust in this one. All of the world, you might say, is about Him. And it's leading to Him. And it will be resulting in His glory. Thomas Goodwin would preach this. We need to have Jesus Christ continually in our eyes. And then he would say this, and I love this phrase. We need to have a habitual site of Christ. And I think that's a great way to summarize and to conclude these verses. I think that's what Paul wants. I think Paul, in writing this, talking about the redemption of Christ and the forgiveness of Christ and the glory of Christ and the grace of Christ, he wants us to know that this is the great Savior, the great God, the great one, that all human history is working according to the plan and the administration and the strategy of God. to be summed up under his lordship and under his kingship and under his power. We need a habitual site of Christ. God, the father is working all things to be summed up in his son. And if God, the father has such a love for and an affection for his son, Church family, I think you and I would do well to regain and maintain a habitual sight of Christ. May the Lord help us to do that for his glory. Amen. Father, thank you for your son, the Lord Jesus. We thank you, O God, that all things in heaven and things in the earth will be summed up in Christ. How? We do not fully understand. Even when the precise moment all of that will come to pass, we don't fully understand. But you have revealed in your Word right here the glory of Christ, the beauty of Christ, the sovereignty of Christ, the headship of Christ, the lordship of Christ. Help us, O Father, that we would gain and maintain a habitual site of Jesus Christ. Oh Lord, may we not be a church that is just so worldly minded and self-focused and temporary minded in our thoughts and our ambitions and our plans and our programs. But may we be consumed with and concerned with and captivated with the glory of Jesus Christ, how great he is, how lovely he is. Thank you for bringing us into the inner chamber of your workings. Oh, father, that we can behold your great plan for space and time and for all of human history. to sum up all things in your son. Help us to love him as you love him, to serve him and to worship him. In his great name and matchless name we pray. Amen.