EPHESIANS 1-6 EVERY BLESSING IN CHRIST2014 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Ephesians 1-6 Every Blessing In Christ

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2014.

And we are going to be looking at this evening Ephesians chapters 1 through 6 as we continue to work our way through the chapters that we read this week going through the Bible in three years. And it's kind of a fun time as we hit these smaller letters of the Apostle Paul where we get to get the whole picture of the things that he wrote to the different churches. And so last week we saw Galatians, this week Ephesians, next week we'll look at Philippians,

and just continue to work our way through these letters of the Apostle Paul to the various churches. The book of Ephesians, of course, is written by the Apostle Paul. It's a letter he wrote to them around 62 AD. It was during this time that he was in prison in Rome. You might remember as he appealed to Caesar there in Caesarea, and they said, okay, well, you appealed to Caesar, and to Caesar you will go the last time.

A few chapters of the book of Acts are recording his journey there to Rome. And then the book of Acts ends with Paul in Rome, in prison, waiting to appear before Caesar. And so it's during that waiting period there in Acts chapter 28 that Paul writes this letter as well as a few others. And so these are called the prison epistles.

And so he's there in prison and he writes this letter to the church in Ephesus, which is a place that he had visited a few times. He spent three years there in Ephesus on his third missionary journey. And so he had very strong ties there. He'd spent a lot of time there.

And as he writes this letter, the purpose we could say is twofold. Number one, it's to declare what we have in Jesus. He goes through the first three chapters and really makes a clear point of all that God has done for us. What we have in Jesus is an incredible inheritance, an incredible redemption, an incredible work of God that we have all found in Jesus Christ.

But then he goes on in chapters 4 through 6 to declare how we're to live in Jesus. As a result of what we have in Jesus, here's what we do with that. Here's how we use those resources that God has given to us.

The book of Ephesians is an interesting book because as you look at it, there's not like a major sin issue that Paul had to address. If you think back to, you know, the books that we've been reading through so far, 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians, Paul was writing to churches that had, you know, a major problem as one church. But they had lots of problems, lots of issues, and he had to address all these different issues.

And in the book of Galatians as well, he was addressing the false teachers there and they're turning away from the gospel to legalism.

The book of Ephesians doesn't have that like one central, this is the main issue or these are the issues. But he's writing to just encourage the saints there in Ephesus, remind them about what we have in Jesus and then encourage them to go forward as a result of what we have in Jesus and live out the Christian life as it's meant to be lived.

Now what makes this extra interesting is we get also a glimpse into the future of the church of Ephesus in the book of Revelation. You might remember in Revelation, Jesus writes a few letters to some churches. And the first one that he addresses there in Revelation chapter 2 is the church of Ephesus.

And he tells the church of Ephesus, hey, you've got a lot of good things going for you. You're diligent in your study of the word. You're faithful to do lots of good works. I mean, you got a lot of things going really well. But he says, one thing I have against you, and that is that you've left your first love.

And so he tells them, go back and do the first works. And so although they looked really good, they had a lot of things going for them, they had wandered from their first love. And so as we look at the book of Ephesus, we're looking here at about 62 AD. Revelation is written about 30 years later. And so over the course of the next 30 years,

They wander. At this time, Paul didn't have any major issues to address. But when Jesus writes to him, he has a major issue to address. And I just share that to remind us all, this is why we need to be engaged in the study of God's word to maintain this walk with the Lord that we don't get to the point where in 30 years, Jesus is telling us, hey, I've got a problem with you. You've left your first love.

Because although we might be really solid right now and not have any huge issues that God needs to address, we need to make sure that we continue to grow so that in 30 years from now, we're still on the right track and that we're progressing and continuing forward with what we have in Jesus and living out the life that God has called us to live as a result. Amen?

All right, going on now, looking at our timeline here. So we're looking at 62 AD. Again, this is Acts chapter 28. Paul is imprisoned in Rome and he writes the book of Philemon, Colossians, Ephesians, and Philippians. And so we'll be seeing Philippians and Colossians over the next couple weeks, which are the letters that he also wrote about the same time.

The geography of Ephesians is pretty simple. Paul was there in Rome in prison after that journey that took a while and there was a shipwreck in between. You remember that the events that happened there in the book of Acts. And then he sends Tychicus back to Ephesus with this letter that we'll be studying through tonight. So we're here in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 3 is the key verse. Here's what it says.

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.

Paul begins the letter in verses 1 and 2 introducing himself and addressing the saints in Ephesus. And so he's writing to the believers, the church there in the city of Ephesus. And he begins in verses 3 through 12 to say that God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

Now, these chapters here in the book of Ephesians are just full of, they're packed with amazing truths. And we could spend a whole lot of time unpacking these things and understanding all that Paul is saying. He's a master of packing in so much truth that there's just this amazing, every time you look at the book of Ephesians, you can be blown away at what God has done for us.

But as you consider, God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ. We can understand that in a few ways. First of all, if there is any kind of spiritual blessing at all available to anyone, it's found in Christ. Every spiritual blessing. There are no spiritual blessings outside of Christ.

Every blessing for your spirit, every blessing for you within internally, every blessing that you need is found in Christ, Paul explains. It's all provided by him. It's all what he has done. And there is no blessings elsewhere. You can't get spiritual blessings by going somewhere else, by following someone else, by practicing something else. Every spiritual blessing is found here.

In Christ. That's something that we need to grasp hold of so that we don't try to fulfill the needs that we have and look for spiritual blessings somewhere else. But that we look to Christ for those blessings. That we look to Him. Here in verses 3 through 12, you can see it's very clear. Paul says, it's all about Jesus. Over and over and over again, he uses the phrase, in Him.

In Him we have this. In Him we have that. In Him this was done. He also says that He chose us. He's the one who made us accepted. It's all about His will for His good pleasure. It's His purpose. It's all about Jesus. And so not only do we have every blessing in Christ, that is every blessing, you know, if we want a blessing, we got to find it in Christ. But in Christ we have everything. It's all about Him.

And here Paul starts us off right and it's a good encouragement and challenge for us to make sure that Jesus has this kind of place in our life. That it's all about in him and he chose and he made and his will.

That this needs to shine through in our conversations, but not just because we're trying to put on a good show, but because this is the reality that I live in this reality where it's all about Jesus and everything I need is found in Jesus and everything I'm looking for, it's found in Jesus and every work that happens in my life that's good, it's from Jesus. And over and over again, it's the immersion into the things of Jesus Christ.

In verse 7, he says, in him we have redemption. Notice it starts out in him, so in Jesus. We have redemption through his blood. So we're talking about the blood of Jesus. The forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. So as he talks about salvation, he doesn't say you have redemption through all the wonderful things that you did for God.

Or through your wise decision to follow Jesus. Or through whatever, right? It's in Him. Through His blood. According to His grace. Then in verse 8. Which He made to abound toward us all in wisdom and prudence. He made this abound to us. He did this work.

It's all about Jesus. God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ. And if you want blessing, then search for it in Jesus Christ. Run to Jesus. Hold on to Jesus. Don't crave anything else. In verses 13 through 14, it says, "...in Him you also trusted after you heard the gospel."

This is the appropriate pattern, right? Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. He says, you heard the gospel and then you trusted in Him. And when you trusted in Him, He says in verse 13, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit. And He says that the Holy Spirit in verse 14 is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of His glory.

And so when you believe in Jesus, you receive the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is the guarantee that you have an inheritance in eternity. Now when Paul uses the word guarantee here, he's not talking about a label on a box. That there's like a warranty, there's a guarantee. That's not what he's talking about. The word guarantee is really a deposit guarantee.

So if you are, you know, intending to purchase something, you know, you go to a yard sale perhaps, you see something, you don't have all the money for it, but you say, here's $50.

To let you know, I'm coming back and I'm going to give you the rest of the price for this item that I want to purchase. That's a deposit that you make. Or, you know, when you rent an apartment or something, you make a deposit, right? And it's your guarantee. Yes, I'm committed to this. I'm going to move in here. I'm going to take good care of it. And so this is the deposit. This is the guarantee, right?

In the same way, the Holy Spirit is the deposit that God gives to us to let us know that He's really serious about, well, the final purchase, about taking us into eternity with Him. And so the question for us is, do you have the Holy Spirit? Because the Holy Spirit is that guarantee.

Paul said in the book of Romans, if anyone does not have the Spirit, then we're not of Christ. And so we need to make sure. We're filled with the Holy Spirit. We need to make sure that we have the Holy Spirit, that we've received that guarantee, because that's the guarantee. But then if you have that guarantee, then understand it's a guarantee. It's a deposit.

God has deposited in you the Holy Spirit and it's his assurance to you because he wants you to know. He wants you to be able to rest assured. He doesn't want you stressing about whether or not you're going to make it to heaven. He wants you to be able to rest and say, I know I'm saved because God has deposited in me the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is at work in my life. He's the guarantee of my inheritance that is to come.

Well then in verses 15 through 23, Paul says, I do not cease to mention you in my prayers. And this is a consistent theme that we'll see through Paul's letters. He was very busy in his prayer time. He was praying for the church of Ephesus. He was praying for the Galatians. He was praying for the Philippians and the Colossians and the Thessalonians. He was praying for Timothy. He was praying all the time.

And as he prays for the Ephesians here, he writes down some of his prayer for them here in verses 15 through 23. And the prayers of Paul and the prayers that you find in the Bible are always good to stop and consider. There's great truth and insights. And if you want help in praying for people in your life, you can look at the prayers of Paul here as an example. He prayed for them that God would give them

Wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. And so he prayed that they would have wisdom and revelation in knowing God. That they would get to know Him. That they would be advancing and developing and growing in knowing God.

But not just knowing about God, he prays specifically in verse 18 and following. He says, I pray that you may know what is the hope of his calling. I pray that you would know what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. And I pray that you would know what is the exceeding greatness of his power towards us who believe. Paul says, I pray that you would know

The hope of His calling. The hope that you have in the reality that He has called you. There's great hope in that. And so I'm praying that you know that, that you realize that, that that becomes understandable to you. I also pray that you would know what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints are. Now this is pretty amazing because Paul's talking about us as His inheritance.

We have an inheritance that's promised to us. The Holy Spirit's given as a deposit. It's eternity with God. But Jesus has an inheritance as well. And it's those who believe in him.

And he's excited about that. In other words, Jesus is excited about you. He's excited about spending eternity with you. And Paul says, I'm praying that you would know the riches of the glory of his inheritance, of his excitement, of how much he glories.

About spending time with you for the rest of eternity. I pray that you would know that. That you'd get a glimpse of that. And also he says, I pray that you would know the exceeding greatness of his power towards us. The same power that was at work in resurrecting Jesus from the dead is at work in you. Sometimes...

We get overwhelmed by the things that we face in this life, the problems that are going on, the difficulties that there are. And Paul says, I don't want you to be overwhelmed, but I'm praying that you would know the greatness of His power that's at work on your behalf. God is powerful. He's on your side and He's at work. And I'm praying that you would know that. And kind of like, I think it was Elisha,

When he asked God to show the servant what was really going on. Remember when the servant was all freaked out because the armies of Syria were there? And Elisha said, Lord, just open his eyes. Let him see what's really going on. And then he got to see the angels that surrounded them and protected them. And those who were for them were far greater than those who were against them. And Paul's praying for the Ephesians. I pray that you would know that same kind of thing. That your eyes would be opened.

That you'd understand the exceeding greatness of his power towards you as you believe in Jesus Christ. God's on your side and he is all powerful. Amazing and beautiful prayer that Paul prays for the Ephesians and a great example for us that we would be able to pray for one another. Well now in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 8 is the key verse.

He says, For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. In verses 1 through 7, Paul explains that he made us alive who were dead in trespasses and sins. He outlines for us the change of our condition. We were, our previous condition was dead. In our trespasses, in our sins, we were spiritually dead. But then...

He made us alive. Something changed.

In verse 4, he says, But God, now he's talking about how dead we were, how hopeless, how helpless we were. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved, and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

That in the ages to come, check this out here in verse 7. That in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 4, 5, 6, and 7 here in Ephesians chapter 2. I mean, these verses, sometimes they should just make you kind of fall off your chair. Because this is amazing.

He says, God who is rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us. Notice, he doesn't say, but you, because you loved God so much. Now we'd be in trouble if this change happened because of us. No, it's God who's done this work. Salvation is God's work. We give ourselves a lot of credit sometimes, but Paul reminds us

Because God is rich in mercy and because He has a great love with which He loves us, even though we were dead in our trespasses and sins, He made us alive. You didn't revive yourself. I didn't revive myself. None of us did. We did not regenerate ourselves. None of us caused ourselves to be born again. He did the work because of His great mercy and His great love. And He not only...

made us alive but then he raised us up and made us sit together in the heavenly places in christ jesus he includes us with christ and we are seated in the heavenly places we're seated there we're with him already we're joined together with christ his future is our future

His eternity is our eternity. We're united together. This is an amazing work that God has done. So that, verse 7, in the ages to come, when we've been there 10,000 years, I forget the rest of the words, but you know the song, right? We've no less days to sing His praise than when we first begun. When we're in eternity for countless years,

God's still going to be showing the exceeding riches of His grace and His kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. For the rest of eternity, listen, God's love and His mercy towards you, His grace towards us is so incredible that for the rest of eternity, God's going to be showing us off. He's going to be holding us up. Can I get everybody's attention? Just check out Zelda for a minute, please. Look at my amazing grace.

A few thousand years later. Everybody stop. Check out Harvey. Amazing grace, right? What a trophy. He was dead. He's alive. And for the ages to come, we're going to be on display. We're going to be in awe. We're going to be amazed at God's grace towards us. This is such a great contrast for us. We need this reminder. It's how much God did and how little we did.

He did the work. He gave us life. He seated us together with Christ. It's all about His grace and His mercy and His love. We need to remember that as we share our story. Then in verses 8 through 10, He goes on to say that by grace you have been saved. He wants to make sure that we get it clear. He already said, for by grace you are saved. But now He says again, for by grace you are saved. Through faith. And then He goes on to say, and that faith is

That's not even of yourselves. It's not that you had such great faith. God gave you the faith. And so you believed because God enabled you to believe. So you didn't come up with this faith on your own. You don't get to take the credit for that either. And then he goes on to say, not of works lest anyone should boast. And so from beginning to end, salvation is all about God's work. It's His work. Grace works.

Grace is God's goodness towards us that we do not deserve and cannot earn. That's what grace is. And it's by grace that you've been saved. Salvation is God's goodness towards you that you do not deserve and you cannot earn. And we need to make sure that we hold fast to this line, that we understand, I've been saved by God's goodness. I don't deserve it. I cannot earn it. God didn't save me because, well, He knew how much I could do for Him.

God didn't save me because He knew how much I loved Him. God didn't save me because of anything about me, except for that He loved me. And so He gave me faith. He made salvation available by faith, so that it could be according to grace, that it'd be accessible to every one of us.

Again, it's how much God did and how little we did. Then in verse 10 he says, For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. You see, it's God's work. He says, we are his workmanship. We're his workmanship. Your life is not your workmanship. It's not even your parents' workmanship. It's his workmanship. You're his project. You're his piece of art.

That's what this word workmanship really kind of alludes to. It's a masterpiece. It's a work of art. You are God's work of art. You didn't make your life amazing. And maybe you think, well, my life isn't amazing. Well, God's not done yet. But when He's done for the rest of eternity, you're going to be marveling at His grace in your life. You're going to be on display. You're His workmanship. Created in Christ Jesus for good works. And so there is the good works...

But it flows out of what God has done. You're not your own workmanship because of the good works that you do. No, no. You're His workmanship and He's designed you. Notice what it says. Which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. He's already laid out. Alright.

I'm going to send Jeff over here and I'm going to set up this station right here. He's going to have an amazing station here. He's going to have opportunity to minister to people over there and he's going to be able to do things that he wouldn't think is even possible. He's going to be gifted by the Holy Spirit and then he's going to go on a little bit further and then I have another station set up for him. And there he's going to get to minister to people in a different way. And I'm going to use him in a way that, well, if I would tell him about it now, he wouldn't believe me.

We're God's workmanship. We're His work of art. He's designed our life as a masterpiece so that then for the rest of eternity in the ages to come we'll be on display showing the exceeding riches of His grace towards us in Christ Jesus. What an amazing work God has done in us. In verses 11 through 18 Paul goes on to say, You who were afar or afar off have been brought near. You were afar off

But now you've been brought near, he says in verse 13. Now here in this section, here in the rest of chapter 2 and then on into chapter 3, Paul is helping us to remember that the Jewish people really do have a special place in God's plan. I know sometimes we think that the gospel and salvation is all about the Americans. But it's the Jewish people who have this special unique place in God's plan. The Jewish people are his people.

God is keeping His promises to Abraham. He's faithful to them. He's serious about them. He's not wavering in them. They are His people. Whether they accept that or not or receive that or not is a different story. But they are His people. And Paul says in verse 12, Without Christ, we are aliens from the commonwealth of Israel. We're separated. If you're not of Jewish descent, you're separated from Israel. You're separated from God.

Well, from this people that have this special place in God's plan. But then when Jesus came, in verse 17 it says, He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. And so Jesus brought in a new work. He hasn't given up on Israel. They're still a huge part of His plan. But what has happened in Jesus is that He's come and He's preached peace to those who were afar off. That's Gentiles. That's Gentiles.

All of us, as far as I know. Maybe some of you have some Jewish descents. But I don't. I'm a Gentile. I'm a far off. I don't have hope of salvation apart from Christ. He preached...

to those who are far off, but then also he preached peace to those who were near. Although the Jewish people are God's people and they have a special place in God's plan, they couldn't come to God the way that they were trying to on the basis of their works. And so Jesus becomes the uniting force for Jews and Gentiles. And in Jesus Christ, we're united together as the children of God.

In verse 18, he says, for through him we both have access by one spirit to the Father. And so Jews and Gentiles come together in Jesus Christ to receive all these amazing benefits and blessings. Every spiritual blessing is afforded to us in Jesus Christ. In verses 19 through 22, he goes on to say, you are no longer strangers but members of the household of God.

You see, before Christ, you were a stranger. You weren't a child of God. You weren't part of God's chosen people. You didn't have access to God. You were a stranger. But now, you're no longer a stranger. Now you're a member of the household of God. You have access to God. You are His child. You're part of all the benefits that come from being in His house. You know, there's benefits that come from

Well, being in someone's household, right? When you're a child, you get to just receive all the benefits of being a part of your parents' house. And if your dad says, you know, I want a TV that fills the wall. As a child, you get to receive part of that benefit, right? You're like, hey, while dad's at work, I can watch my cartoons on this TV that fills the wall. Amazing blessings. Listen, in the same way, God, as he's doing an amazing work in his household,

You're a member now. You get to participate in all the benefits. You get to partake of all the blessings that are found in Christ Jesus because you're a member. You're part of His house. You're a child of God. What an amazing work that God has done in bringing us near and giving us these opportunities. Well, he goes on now in chapter 3, verse 8.

Paul says, In verses 1 through 7, Paul explains that God made known to him the mystery. What is the mystery? That Gentiles should be fellow heirs. This is a mystery. The Jewish people didn't understand this.

It wasn't something that was well known. Although it was declared in the scriptures, you can see in the Old Testament, the verses that speak of the Messiah ministering to the Gentiles, the people missed it. It was a mystery. They didn't understand God's plan. They didn't understand how God was going to do this work among the Gentiles.

He says in verse 5, "...in other ages this was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets." That God's made clear, now after Christ, a mystery. Now a mystery is not like we think of a mystery like a novel, like you're trying to figure out who did it. A mystery is something that was not known, but has now been revealed. And so Paul says it's a mystery.

It wasn't known before. It was hidden before. It was there. We could see the form. But now we have all the details. It's been revealed. God's plan is to include the Gentiles as His children. To unite Jews and Gentiles together in Christ. In verse 6 He says, again here's the mystery, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs of the same body and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel.

So the Messiah that God has been promising to the Jewish people, the mystery, it wasn't understood before, but now it is. It's been revealed. Gentiles get to participate, get to partake of that Savior just as the Jews do. And they get to experience all the benefits and all the blessings of being God's special people. They get to experience all the blessings of being a member of God's household of

It's now been revealed. We have access to these things by the grace of God. He says in verses 8 through 13, this grace was given that I should preach among the Gentiles. So Paul says, this revelation has been given and to me there's been extra grace even though I'm the least of all the saints. I'm less than the least of all the saints, Paul says. I'm not worthy of

This ministry, I'm not worthy of salvation. Again, it's grace. God's been good to me like I don't deserve and I cannot earn. And not only did he save me, but he added grace upon grace to me and has called me to preach among the Gentiles. Verse 10, to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in heavenly places.

God's grace to me is so great that He called me to preach to the Gentiles. And not only is it a work among the Gentiles, but God is using this whole thing to speak, to declare His amazing goodness and grace to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places. God's using this as an occasion to speak wonders to angelic beings, the fallen and the faithful. He's part of an amazing work of God.

And then he throws in in verse 13, therefore I ask that you do not lose heart of my tribulations for you, which is your glory. Remember, Paul's in prison in Rome. And so he says, look, I've been given this incredible grace to preach the gospel. I'm part of this message that it was a mystery, but now it's been revealed. And it's a message that's not just going forth to the Gentiles, but God's using it to speak to the heavenly realm as well. So don't lose heart for me because I'm in prison. Don't get...

frustrated or anxious because I'm in chains. Don't lose heart. God's been super gracious to me and he's using this to accomplish great things. So don't worry about me, Paul is telling the Ephesians. You can imagine it would kind of be as if, you know, well, some of us are

A little bit related and we can kind of think about Pastor Saeed over in Iran who's in prison because he comes from the Calvary Chapel family. He's a Calvary Chapel pastor who's in prison and there are many who are anxious and worried and they're concerned for him.

Just like the saints of Ephesus would be for the Apostle Paul. Or if something happened and Pastor Tom was in prison, we would be anxious and concerned and maybe even losing heart. But Paul says, do not lose heart. God's been gracious to me. He's doing a great work. It might look horrible from the outside, but God has been gracious upon gracious upon gracious to me. Well then in verses 14 through 19,

We see another prayer of the Apostle Paul. He says, I bow my knees to the Father that you might be strengthened. So in this prayer, as Paul is praying this time in Ephesians chapter 3, remember in chapter 1, his prayer for them was that they would know, that they would understand, that they would get a glimpse of God, of knowing Him, but then also of all the power that was on His behalf and the glory of His inheritance, that He's excited about you. But now he prays for them

That they would be strengthened with might through His Spirit. He prays for strength for them. That they would be built up in the inner man. That within they would be fortified. They would be solid. They would be unmoved. They would be strengthened by the power of the Holy Spirit. He prays in verse 17 that Christ would dwell in their hearts through faith. That they would have this internal connection. This strong connection to Christ.

but they would not waver in their faith, and that they would be rooted and grounded in love. He goes on in verse 19 to say, to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that you would be just immersed in love, rooted in love, grounded in love, and then finally that you may be fulfilled with all the fullness of God. And so he prays, you know, that they would just be spiritual giants, spiritual superheroes, incredibly strong, immersed in love.

filled with the fullness of God, that they would be built up as believers in Jesus. And then in verse 20 and 21, he says, to him be glory forever. Rather than talk about these verses, I think it's appropriate just to read them. He says, now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.

To Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. God's amazing. Absolutely amazing. The work He's done in you is incredible. And as I said before, sometimes it should cause us to fall off our chair. It's that shocking. His grace towards us. His plan for us. His workmanship in us.

It's amazing. And as we go forward now in chapters 4, 5, and 6, Paul will go on to now explain to us how that should impact our lives. As we consider, as we receive, as we participate in all these blessings, it's going to make an impact. And what's that going to look like? Well, chapters 4, 5, and 6 are the practical application of the doctrine that is taught in chapters 1, 2, and 3.

And so he starts out in verse 1 saying, I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called. Paul's going to be talking about walking over and over in these next few chapters. So here's all that God has done. Amazing, powerful, incredible things. Now what he calls us to do is to walk. Walking is, well it's one of the

Few things are the first things that you learn how to do, right? It's one of the things that you can do all day without really thinking much about. It's not a huge thing. Nobody gets awards for walking, right? But that's what he calls us to do. So again, the contrast between his part and then our little teensy tiny part. Here's what we do in response to all that God has done. What do we do? Verses 1 through 6.

endeavor to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. Since God has broken down the wall of division between Jew and Gentile by bringing Christ as the one who brings peace, he says, endeavor to keep the unity. Don't separate. Don't separate.

It was the tendency for Jews and Gentiles to separate. It's the tendency for nationalities to separate. It's the tendency for different groups of people to separate. But instead, endeavor, fight to keep the unity because we are united in Christ Jesus. He's our common ground. And we can have all kinds of different backgrounds. We can come from all kinds of different regions. But we center on Him.

He is the one that we're to be united with. He says there's one body, one spirit. There's not many bodies of Christ. There's one body. There's not many different Holy Spirits at work.

In all the different churches and all the different denominations, it's one spirit. You were called in one hope of your calling. There's one hope. All Christians have the same hope. There's one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all. There's a lot of diversity amongst believers in Jesus. But Paul says, endeavor to keep the unity. God united us in Christ Jesus. We have salvation in Him. And so,

endeavor to maintain it. Walk in that unity. In verses 7 through 16, he says that Jesus gave gifts for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry. He himself, in verse 11, gave some to be apostles and prophets, evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. These are leadership roles, leadership positions within his body, within his church, and

For the equipping of the saints. He gave these leadership positions to equip the saints. And then notice in verse 13. Till we all come to the unity of the faith. He's still talking about unity. Here's what Paul is saying. Jesus gave us leaders to help us grow and to help us be united. Leaders help us be united as we grow.

have these spiritual authorities that have been placed over us, we unite together. They help us unite. They bring us together. And they build us up. And until we're all united, until we stand before the Son of God, this is going to be the work. In verse 15, he says that Jesus is the head of the body. But then in verse 16, he says, "...from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effect of working by which every part does its share."

causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. And so here you see the unity that every member is involved in the work of the building up of the church, the body of Christ. Christ is the head. We're all members. We're all different pieces and elements and we have to work together. And as we work together, then we grow. As you work together,

and do your part in the body of Christ, it causes other people to grow. And as they do their part, it causes you to grow. And as you work together, it causes the church to grow. God has designed us to be interdependent. We need one another. Verses 17 through 19, he says, no longer walk as the Gentiles. So here again, we're talking about walking. Stop walking like the Gentiles.

Again, a Gentile is anyone who is not Jewish. And Paul is saying, that doesn't include you anymore because you're in Christ. You're part of his chosen people. So don't behave like unbelievers any longer. Stop walking that way. They're blind. Their hearts are blinded. Their understanding is darkened. And that's why they behave that way. But you don't behave that way because you're not like that anymore. You're not a Gentile anymore. You're not an unbeliever anymore. So don't walk like an unbeliever.

Instead, verses 20 through 32, he says, "...put off the old man and put on the new man created according to God." Put off the old man, the old sinful nature that you had, the old lifestyle that you had. Put that off. Take it off. And then put on the new man that was created according to God. Remember what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5? If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. You are a new creation in Christ.

But you have to put that on. You have to walk in that. It's not something that you are disconnected from that just happens to you and you just like lay there. But it's something that you walk in, that you take steps forward in. You go forward and be all that God has called you to be. You go forward in obedience. You go forward in

The things that he's called you to. And put off. You have to make some deliberate choices. I'm going to stop doing this. I did that as an unbeliever because my heart was darkened. I'm going to stop doing that. And I'm going to start doing the right thing. Verse 25 he says, Therefore put away lying. Let each of you speak truth with his neighbor. For we are members of one another.

And so here's a good example he gives us for the put off and put on. Put off lying. So stop lying. You used to lie. You used to tell all kinds of lies because you were an unbeliever and your heart was darkened. Stop it. Stop doing that. Make a deliberate choice. I'm not going to live that way any longer. But this new life in Christ is not just stop doing that thing.

bad or that wrong thing that you used to do, but it's start doing the right thing. And so what's the right thing as opposed to lying? Well, he says, speak truth with his neighbor. Put off the lying and put on the truth. And so he's saying, replace the old practices with

The old lifestyle. Replace those things. Make deliberate choices. I'm going to stop doing this and I'm going to start doing that. In verse 28, he talks about those who stole. You're a thief. You used to steal. Stop living that way. Make a deliberate choice and start living. Well, what is the opposite of a thief? Well, he says work. Do something with your hands. Work hard that you have something then to be able to give.

That's the opposite of taking. It's giving. Put off. Make a deliberate choice. I'm going to stop stealing from people, taking what I don't deserve and taking what is not mine, and I'm going to start giving to people. I'm going to start doing what's right. Put off and put on. He says in verse 29, put off the corrupt words.

The useless words, the words that tear down and put on edifying words, words that build up. Stop living that way. Make a deliberate choice. I'm not going to use my tongue that way any longer and I'm going to start to use my tongue to do God's work. And so this is how we are to respond to the amazing work that God has done in us. To put off the old man and put on the new man. To walk

In this new life that Jesus has given to us. Well here in chapter 4 we saw that Jesus gives us leadership. This is the third aspect of the spiritual gifts. We got to see this in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. In Romans chapter 12. And this is the third major passage that deals with spiritual gifts. In Romans chapter 12 we saw...

The different roles in the body of Christ that God gives to us. That you have a role, a part to play in the body of Christ. Then in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, we saw that the Holy Spirit then gives you spiritual gifts to help you do your role. To help you fulfill your role and do what you need to do in the body of Christ. The Holy Spirit equips you with spiritual gifts. But there's another kind of spiritual gift that Jesus gives you. And we don't always like this gift.

But Jesus gives you leaders. He puts people in authority over you spiritually. Sometimes what they say we don't like to hear. But it's his gift to you. To help you grow. To help you be united spiritually.

to help you get to where God wants you to go. And so these leadership positions Paul mentions here in Ephesians chapter 4. There's four different ones. Apostles, prophets, evangelists, and then pastor-teachers. Pastor-teachers united together because it's one thought there. And so the apostle is fulfilled by those who have spiritual authority beyond the local church.

There is some debate about this, but this is my understanding and perspective as I consider the scriptures about these different positions that God has established. So some say that apostles don't exist today because they base that on saying that, you know, an apostle had to see Jesus. But that was a criteria that the disciples made up, and you can see that in Acts chapter 1. That was their idea. That was their understanding.

But I would suggest to you that the office of an apostle is filled by anyone who has spiritual authority beyond the local church. So I would consider Pastor Chuck an apostle. Now he wouldn't claim the title and I wouldn't really expect people who are fulfilling these roles to claim the title. That's probably too far. But he had authority and God used him in a mighty way to establish many churches. I would even go as far to say that Pastor Tom

is an apostle. He's a planter of churches and he has authority as a result that extends beyond just the church that he pastors. And so there's a role of this apostle that's fulfilled by those who have authority beyond the local church. And then there's the prophet. Now this is the office that's fulfilled by those who speak God's word to nations. You look at the prophets of the Old Testament.

They were men who were sent by God to speak to a people group. The nation of Israel, the nation of Judah, Syria, Babylon, Assyria, and on and on and on we go. And so we could look at prophets along those lines. And so we could consider someone like Billy Graham and understand that he's a prophet. He speaks to the nation. And God has used him mightily in that way. Then there's evangelists. This is fulfilled by those who bring the gospel to unbelievers.

We're all called to evangelize, but there are those that are uniquely gifted. And so we have a recent example, right, with the Harvest Crusades that have been going on for 25 years. Pastor Greg Laurie, an evangelist. He has a special role in the body of Christ. It's a position of leadership that God has established. And then there's pastors and teachers. This is the one we're most familiar with.

It's fulfilled by those who minister to a local gathering of believers. That we gather together and God raises up a pastor, one to lead and to minister to the congregation. And so these are the different roles and leadership positions that are given to us by Jesus to help us grow and be united together. Chapter 5 now, verse 8 is the key verse. He says, "...for you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light."

In verses 1 through 7, he says, let fornication and uncleanness not even be named among you. Don't let these things be named among you, since you are to put on the new man, imitate God. And in verse 2, he says, walk in love. Walk in love. Fornication and uncleanness, that's not love. Sex outside of marriage, that's not love. Even if you call it making love, it's not love.

Walk in love. Walk in God's love. Imitate God. Uncleanness is not love. Covetousness is not love. And then he goes on with a warning in verse 5 to say, For this you know that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man who is an idolater has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

And so Paul is saying here, look, looking back at chapters 1 through 3, this should impact your life. It's going to change you. And if there's not a change, you need to understand if you're continuing on in uncleanness and fornication and covetousness, you don't have any part in the kingdom of God. If that's your life, if you're still pursuing those things, you don't have an inheritance in the kingdom of God. So walk in love. Walk with God.

Not in order to be pleasing to God, not to try to earn salvation, but because of what he's done. With all that he's given to you, with all those spiritual blessings, walk in love. Then in verses 8 through 14, he says, have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. Here in verse 8, he tells us to walk as children of light. It's one thing to recognize what Jesus has done, but it needs to impact your life.

walk in the light in verse 10 he says find out what's acceptable to the lord you need to figure out what's pleasing to god and do that live that way and not have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness he says instead in verse 11 but rather expose them bring those things to light that's not good that's not of god here's what's pleasing to god and that's what we need to do to walk in light

In verses 15 through 21, he says, Do not be unwise, but understand the will of the Lord. Here he tells us in verse 15 to walk circumspectly. Walk wisely. Be aware of your surroundings. Don't be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Do you know what God's will is? You need to figure it out. You need to be seeking Him and spending time with Him so that you understand what's pleasing to Him, what He desires and the steps that He wants you to take.

So walk wisely, walk circumspectly. He says in verse 18, do not be drunk with wine in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit. Again, it's the put off, put on. You used to be controlled by these other substances. Put that off, make a deliberate choice and instead fill yourself with the Spirit and let Him be the influence of your life.

Then in verses 22 through 33, he says, The basic message here to husbands and wives, wives are to respect and to submit to their husbands, just as the church is subject to Christ in verse 24. Husbands are to love and cherish their wives, just as the Lord does the church in verse 29.

Now Paul doesn't try to cover every possible marriage scenario that you could come across. So he just sets this as the pattern. Look at this example. You, wife, look at the example of the church and the relationship to the Lord. And then that way you'll be able to figure out what you're supposed to do in your specific situation. You, husband, yeah, you've got a problem there. You've got some difficulties. You're trying to figure out what you're supposed to do. Look at the example of Christ and the church.

Use that as the pattern and then you'll be able to see and understand what you need to do towards your wife. And so verse 33, nevertheless, let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself and let the wife see that she respects her husband. This is the appropriate roles of the husband and wife in the Christian home as a result of what God has done for us. Now, here's the thing. It's normal for a husband and wife to be able to point out

How the other one's not behaving. But notice what Paul says. Let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself and let the wife see that she respects her husband. Paul does not say, all right, let the wife make sure the husband does his part and does what he's supposed to do and make sure, okay, husband, you make sure the wife does what she's supposed to do. Paul doesn't say that. He says, mind your own business.

Work out your own heart first. Deal with your own issues first. It's not your job to change the other. You can't change the other. You make sure you do your part. And so you, husband, love your wife. You, wife, respect your husband. You're not responsible for the other as long as you're faithful to do your part. So focus on that. You do your part. Stop pointing the fingers and saying what the other one did or didn't do. But start making sure.

Hear from the Lord that you do your part in the marriage. All right, let's finish this up. Chapter 6, verse 11 is the key verse. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. In verses 1 through 4, Paul continues to deal with the home. He says, children, obey your parents. And fathers or parents, do not provoke your children. So this is the appropriate relationship. Children are to be obedient.

Now, there's not the children in here really today, so make sure you deliver that message, okay, to your children when you get home. But then parents, verse 4, train them in the Lord. You're to raise them up in the ways of the Lord. Teach them to know the Lord. Teach them to walk with the Lord and not provoke them to anger, even if it makes you laugh a lot. Verses 5 through 9, bond servants and masters. I used to hang out with a guy,

who used to be part of the church and we loved torturing the bird. There was this bird in the cage and if you shined a laser on it, the bird would just flip out. I understand. It's lots of fun and you know how to push those buttons and you can see the kids flip out but that's not what God's called you to do. Okay, raise them up, train them in the Lord. Verses 5 through 9. Bond servants and masters do good as to the Lord and not to men. Both sides. If you're a bond servant or if you're a master, we could kind of translate that today to be the employee and employer relationship.

Now, in both sides, a lot of times there's animosity between these two groups. But he says, understand that your reward is from the Lord and do everything as unto the Lord. So you treat your boss as if he's Jesus. And so if Jesus tells you to do something, then you do something. But if you're the boss, then you treat your employee as if he's Jesus. And so give up the threatening, he says, and be gentle and be gracious, be compassionate.

Do it as unto the Lord. Treat one another as if they were the Lord. Then in verses 10 through 20, he tells us to put on the whole armor of God. He talks about the spiritual battle that we're in. And then in verses 21 through 24, he says, Grace be with all who love our Lord. And so as always, he concludes his letter with a blessing of grace to those who receive it. One just last thing to look at here is the armor of God.

Just a couple points. We gave you a handout as you came in on the spiritual war and the different parts of the armor. And there's lots of things that you could look at and consider on your own. But just a couple things to point out real quick. First of all, it's the armor of God. So whose armor is it? It's God's armor. This is an amazing thing. In this battle that we face, the armor that we have is not our armor. It's not our resources still.

It started out with his resources and him doing the work. And you know what? In the battle that we face going forward, it's going to be his resources and him doing the work. And putting on the armor of God, let's make sure that we understand this. It's not like magical phrases. All right? I'm putting on the helmet of salvation. Now I'm protected. Okay. This isn't like a magic formula. Okay?

This is about immersing yourself in the things of God and living in relationship with God and pursuing Him and walking in Him and hiding behind Him, trusting in Him, relying upon Him. That's what this is about. And you fight spiritual battles by running to Jesus, by trusting in Jesus. He says, "...be strong in the Lord in the power of His might."

You be strong in the Lord by trusting in his might and not trying to do things in your strength. So put on the armor of God. Put on the whole armor. Trust yourself completely to God. Rest completely in God. Also notice that the purpose of the armor is that you would stand. The armor is defensive. He doesn't say put on the armor of God and then charge.

He says, put on the armor of God and then stand and then withstand and then having done all, stand. It's defensive. Hold your ground. You see, the idea is the enemy is coming against you and he wants to get you to destroy your life. He can't destroy your life. So he's trying to get you to destroy your life because he can't do it. So he's going to try to

twist things. He's going to try to lie to you. He's going to try to deceive you. He's going to try to rip you off, discourage you. He's going to try to do whatever he can to get you to destroy your life on your own because he can't touch you without God's permission. He doesn't have authority. So stand. He's going to throw everything he can at you. But your main objective is to be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. Don't give up

Don't believe the lies. Don't throw it all away. You don't have to charge the hill. You have to stand. Stand fast. There's a real spiritual battle that's going on. And so protect yourself by immersing yourself in the things of God. Let's pray.

Lord, I pray that you would help us, each one of us, to stand in the battles that we face. The enemy, Lord, we know he's like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. He wants to rip us off. He wants to take us out. But Lord, I pray that you would help us to not give in, to not believe his shouts, his lies, his deceptions.

To not let him push us around. But Lord that you would help us to stand. By trusting in you. And remembering all the spiritual blessings. That we have in you. And the amazing work that you've done in us. And the great workmanship that we are. And how you are excited and glory. In spending eternity with us. Oh Lord it's so amazing. So Lord help us to stand in that. To not forget. To not be moved away. From our awe of your grace. Towards us.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.