Hello everyone, welcome to our final session in the study of the book of Ephesians. Today we're going to be concluding with a review, a final exhortation from this book. Let's go before the Lord in prayer as we jump into the study. Lord we want to thank you for your grace.

God we are so grateful that in many ways Lord you have sent your truth, you have sent your grace, your servant in so many different ways. You have reached out to us so to speak and we're so grateful for that. I pray Lord that the truth that you have for us, that these things we would take to heart and God that we would learn.

And Lord what's more by understanding and Father God by believing that we would truly be strong in faith. What's more Father God we would be strong in every way. Lord we just want to thank you again for the study and pray that you would help us to be engaged in both mind and spirit.

We thank you it's in Christ name we pray, Amen. Okay what I'd like to do is take a moment to read for us the final concluding section. Now although we could take time to dissect and analyze each section, what I would like to do is just review this and then also review the whole book.

So there are going to be certain elements about this section of the scripture that I won't cover today but I'll leave that to you for your own independent study. We have it in Ephesians chapter 6 verse 21. Okay so take a moment to turn there. Ephesians chapter 6 verse 21 it says, "But that you also may know about my circumstances how I am doing.

Such a case the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord will make known everything sorry will make everything known to you. I have sent him to you for this very purpose so that you may know about us and that he may comfort your hearts. Peace be to the brethren and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Grace be with you with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an incorruptible love." Okay as we take a look at that passage there is something that I like to highlight here that in terms of the picture of the book you can typically summarize a book by the emphasis or the exhortation given at the end.

Now what's interesting is as you look at this last portion of the passage there isn't necessarily a command. There isn't necessarily a specific exhortation of thou must do this. But nevertheless there is a desire of the author Apostle Paul that he wants to be in reality for the recipients.

And likewise anytime we write people letters and things like that what we're doing is more so expressing what we want for them in life. And what he describes is that he wants them to be in the know. He wants them to be informed. He wants them to be comforted.

But more than anything he says peace be to the brethren and love with faith from God the Father the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an incorruptible love. So if you summarize and think about what Apostle Paul wants for them he wants there to be peace, love, faith and grace and this love that is also coming from them.

So as we think about that we actually realize that has been Apostle Paul's tone and is I guess the content the whole time through the letter. And the way that I'm going to review is going chapter by chapter. And what I'll try to do is emphasize for you what I would like to boil down this review as to one theme that I see.

So what is the theme? What is the running ongoing content that has been the pattern of Apostle Paul's prayers, the content of his teaching, but also even in this last concluding address. And the theme is strength. Strength that's real and true. Strength that comes from faith. And I'll show it to you.

Starting from chapter one. Sorry that's not working right now. There we are. Starting from chapter one. He says, recall that in chapter one a significant key verse in chapter one that you should kind of have in your memory bank says chapter one is mostly about this which is, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places." The idea here then in chapter one is that there has been what I like to call a bucket of blessing.

Apostle Paul wants to bless God and have every single one of us bless God because we have received, another way to say it, is a truckload of blessing. He describes that we have in Christ every spiritual blessing. And that's why actually when I started the study a long time ago, already a while ago, I started by saying that this book is all about every blessing in Jesus Christ.

Every blessing that we're seeking, every blessing we could potentially even want, it comes in the person of Christ. Now as a challenge and as an exhortation for us thinking about this, can you fill this bucket? Can you describe what is contained in this truckload? Can you go from the broad categorical summary that you've been really, really blessed, can you go from there to describe the specific ways that you've been blessed?

Another way to put this is sometimes I have seen within scripture a pattern where it gives you this lofty summary conclusion. You've been lavished. That's a conclusion. You have been freely given. Those are summary conclusions. And what's more our scripture uses the word richly. You've been richly graced. You've been richly loved.

You've been richly cared for. So those are all actually summary conclusions and my challenge and question to you is can you give an example? Because sometimes we may say large categorical summaries but if we do not have the specific details then all of a sudden people will call your bluff.

If you say you are a massive, massive fan of a specific team, let's say the LA Dodgers and someone asks you, "Really? When did you start?" "Well, you know, always." "Oh yeah? Who do you like?" "Oh, don't ask me questions because I don't really know who's on the team." It's kind of like the specifics matter because it goes from specifics to the conclusion otherwise we do it backwards.

But I just want you to recall with me because this is such a significant point and there was so much contained in the book, in the chapter one just alone, we have thoughts of that God has chosen us from before the foundation of the earth, that God has chosen us to be holy, a purposeful intent in his heart.

God has adopted us, God has given us redemption, he's given us forgiveness in the name of Christ and that forgiveness is in accordance with the riches of his grace. He's given us the knowledge and the mystery of the gospel. He's given us also a seal, okay? A seal, ignore that what's on the screen there, a seal of promise is what it's supposed to say.

Yeah, what's more we have the pledge of the Holy Spirit for our inheritance and most of all that first chapter was actually talking a lot about the fact that if you have Christ then you have a glorious, holy, loving, all-sufficient head. Jesus Christ is the head of the church.

We know that we need leaders. We know that we need provision. We know that we need good models and examples. The amazing thing is we have a perfect one. For the church we have a perfect example. For the church we have a perfect resource. That is Christ himself and that to us is to us our great, great blessing.

So I want to take a moment to say chapter one it began with such, I guess you can just say again a truckload of gold. Okay, so if you pick up the picture here those are gold bars. You have gold bars of the Christian faith. To say that you have someone who loves you so much that he desires you to be a part of his home, to adopt you, to redeem you and again there's so much to say about all those things.

But the truth of those things are to us gold meaning they're riches and if you don't understand this then that means you're going to live a life constantly thinking you're poor, constantly living in scarcity, feeling like you have to fight for scraps and if you've ever met somebody who is constantly competitive, always designed to compare, you've met somebody so insecure about their own well-being and therefore feeling the need to make sure that they're not taken advantage of.

It's a difficult time. It's a difficult place. It's a difficult way to live. There is no peace. And so you have to remember and know this. Apostle Paul's great prayer and Apostle Paul's exhortation is to remember this and to know what glorious riches we have. If we do not, we live life acting like we're beggars.

We live life weak. Weak to temptation. Weak to allurements. Weak to people offering anything. Why? Because we feel like we don't have it. So this is an incredible starting point that we study in the book of Ephesians. Now moving to chapter 2. In chapter 2 it says, verse 4 and 5, "But God being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our transgression, made us alive together with Christ.

By grace you have been saved." Chapter 2, if chapter 1 was a bucket of blessing, or you can say every blessing in Christ, right? So just think of chapter 1, blessing, blessing, blessing. God be blessed for blessing us. That's chapter 1. Chapter 2 was the before and after. Chapter 2 was a before and after description of you as an individual.

You were dead in your transgressions and sins. But God being rich in mercy made us alive together with Christ and raised us and seated us with him. That's you as an individual receiving the great transformation, the great change, the radical difference going from dead to alive. But likewise, the Apostle Paul describes the community.

That as a community he says, you Gentile people, you are separate and excluded. You are a stranger, you are without hope, without God, and you are far off. Yes, individually applied, that's also true. But he was emphasizing the community aspect of it. We are all, all are Gentiles, okay?

But we were made to be one holy household, a temple, the dwelling of God. That's chapter 2. Chapter 2 is showing us the depth of the difference, the comparison of where you were before. The depth from which God has pulled you. And we have to understand this because if we do not, then not only are we weak, we're so shallow and superficial.

There's no depth to our understanding. There's no depth to our gratitude. And therefore if we don't have a depth of understanding, then that means every activity we engage in becomes shallow. And Apostle Paul recognizes this to be a foundational truth that every single person in any community needs. If your understanding of your faith and the appreciation you have for the gospel is shallow, you will have shallow unity.

You will have shallow participation. You will have shallow engagement. You will have shallow fellowship. I mean, think about it. There is no unity if you're not sharing any joys. There is no shared unity if you're not sharing the kind of, wow, gratitudes, the adorations, the same kind of experience.

You think about individuals who have incredible camaraderie because they've survived something tragic together. Whether it be some kind of disaster, they survived a natural disaster or an act of terrorism and they came out of that realizing we could have been dead. But look at us, we're alive now. Well if you don't have that kind of depth of experience, you're not going to have any kind of depth of commonality.

And so for the sake of the unity of the church, for the sake of peace, it has to be an understanding of chapter 2. Now in chapter 3, Apostle Paul says this, and this is a lengthy portion of the text and so I'd like to read it here. Apostle Paul in chapter 3 is talking about the amazing love and grace of God.

And he says, "For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power through his Spirit and in the man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breath and the lame and the height and the depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God, that in him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to him be the glory of the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever.

Amen." Considering the work of God, the mystery that was hidden, but now has been made known, the administration of his grace, of how he's giving it out. He says, "I want you to understand all this, because I want Christ to fill you completely. This is going to cause you to be able to stand.

This is to you true strength." I asked this question as a Bible study question, "What is the prayer of the book of Ephesians?" This is the prayer. God wants you to have true power, real strength, real empowerment and change. And that's not going to come because there were some platitudes given to you.

That's not come because there were some small encouragements given to you. That wasn't going to come because there was some kind of pat on the back. That wasn't going to come because, "Oh, those bad guys out there, take some of them out of your life for you." The change of your circumstances, the mitigations of your pains, everything else, parallel in comparison to having Christ reside right here fully.

Apostle Paul says, "By faith, I want you to have it." The one true source of true power in our lives. Indwelling in you, empowering you. And so, from there, he is able to give the application, the exhortation. So he moved to chapter 4. Recall that in chapter 4, he begins the whole section of application starting from chapter 4 all the way through chapter 6.

"As therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called." So I remind you, you see now, the theme, yes, is blessings and grace, the gospel. But also the theme is true strength. Because what Apostle Paul is saying is through the indwelling of the Spirit, through the faith that you have, this powerful faith that God gives to you, you're going to be able to walk.

Walk according to all of that. To the way that he has called you. And so, one of the passages that you recall is within the first section of chapter 4, he calls us to walk united as one. And you think about it, the challenge for us to walk in a manner where we are exercising, he says putting every effort.

It's going to require strength, it's going to require effort, it's going to require long suffering. And I believe for a lot of people sometimes think that if I have an objective then I have a power just to accomplish it. Yes. But there's another kind of strength where scripture talks about long forbearance, long suffering, love that is patient, kind, intent on the well-being and the good of the person that you love.

There is a kind of extended strength of perseverance that is embedded as a requirement or I guess a need and a platform by which we build the unity that we long for in the church. So what am I saying? Clearly Apostle Paul is challenging us to walk in a certain fashion.

And what I'm saying is you see this theme that only when you understand the riches that you have, only when you understand the comparison between before and after and the incredible love of Christ dwelling in us, can you have the power even to walk like this. There are some people who think they're strong or they're just like, you know, they're rocks.

Being a rock just means you're thick, right? There's a kind of strength that comes with vulnerability. There's a kind of strength that comes with sacrifice. There's a kind of strength that comes with all that is involved with building unity. And so in the next half of chapter four, Christ talks about, Apostle Paul talks about how all walk needs to be mature in Christ.

For example, this one I'm just going to read to you. So please listen. Remember that it says, "As a result, you are no longer," so this is verse 14, sorry, verse 14. He says that, "We are no longer to be children tossed here or there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness and deceitful scheming.

But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ. From whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love." Right?

So this I say, "And affirm together with the Lord that you no longer walk as a dental walk in the futility of your mouth." So if you take a look there, the challenge again is a walk that is, yes, strong, but another way to put it is mature, steady, not being all wishy-washy and being moved by every wind of doctrine, being moved by their own lust and preferences.

And this is so important. Think about strength. Think about the strength you need. You know, sometimes I stray on one side or the other when it comes to strength. There are moments when I'm angry about something and I'm just going to bite my tongue and not say anything. So I think I'm strong.

So I'm like, "Ahh!" Right? Yes, that is better than blowing up in anger, but that is not necessarily the height of being strong. Why? Because all I've done is clammed up my anger. Scripture actually says, "Speak truth." Do you realize how much fear, how much of our own selfishness and pride you have to overcome to speak truth?

And then there are these people who are like, "Yeah, I'll speak truth. I'll tell it like it is. I'll tell you what's up." And then you realize, "Well, that's not strong either because that truth is without love." God wants truth to be spoken in love and that takes maturity.

Combating your own pride, selfishness, checking your own preferences, checking the limitations of your own scope, exercising humility. There's a kind of maturity to that. And that's all strength in my eyes. Next chapter five. Chapter five, the application of knowing chapter one, all your blessings, chapter two, the great depth of the comparison between before and after, chapter three, the indwelling of the love of God in you.

He says, "Then imitate God." As an application, imitate God. Recall that this exhortation, emphatic exhortation, told us, "Therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love just as Christ also loved you and gave himself up for us, but offering in a sacrifice to God as a flagrant," sorry, not flagrant, fragrant.

Not a flagrant vow, but more of a fragrant aroma that's pleasing to God. We talked about that. God's desire for us is to be like him. God's desire for us is to want us to reflect. And I want you to understand that because God to us is one of the great, great acts of love given to us that we can just meditate and soak in for the rest of our lives.

What does God want for you? God wants for you what's absolutely best. But what's best? What's best is to have the character of God. So chapter five, there's a lot in there, but chapter five talks about being God-like in holiness. So scripture says in verse eight, "Walk in light, not in the darkness." What's more, scripture challenges us to discern what is pleasing to God so that we would be like God in his delights.

And you realize that your depravity has much to do with what is pleasing to you. Is wickedness pleasing to you? Is selfish pleasure pleasing to you? Is what makes you happy all the vices of the world? Is what's cool in your eyes the things that are detestable? That speaks to your character.

It is to our benefit, it is to our sanctification, holiness, and transformation to delight in the things God delights in. Scripture also talks about having the mind of God, verse 15. Verse 17 talks about discerning God's will. Think about this, most of us, we lack of willpower. I wish I had more willpower.

Honestly, like, I'm just confessing to you, there are days you just tell and you're like, "Dragging your knuckles, I don't want to do it." There are things you know you ought to say and do, just don't want to do it. I mean, diets, exercise, work ethic, things you should say and do for your family.

Everything I know up here is good and Godly and profitable. Just lack willpower. Scripture says He wants us to be like God in His intent and will. But what's more, you recall all the relationships of husband and wife, parent and child, and you recognize God wants us to be like Him, relationally.

You know what's super lovely? God as Father. You know what's super glorious? God as Love. The One who has pure intent in His heart. Sincerity, consistency, unchanging, unwavering, kindness, compassion. That's beautiful. And He wants that in you and me. And that to us is amazing love upon amazing love.

And so, really we want to take this kind of mentality upon us. Sure, in the moments when we're not sober, we're like, "I just don't want to do this stuff," or, "It's too hard." But actually we can perceive of it as God's love to us. And He wants us to be like Him in all motive, in all work ethic, in all of that He is doing to seek to be like God.

Because truly, there's nothing greater than to be like our Heavenly Father. And so, we come to chapter 6. In chapter 6, Apostle Paul challenged us and said, "Finally, be strong in the Lord and the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil." One of the small group guys in my group just kind of keenly noticed, initially, there seems to be a disconnect.

You go from, "Hey slaves, make sure that you are also exhibiting godliness, even if you are a slave." And, "Hey masters, make sure you're exhibiting godliness, even if you're a master. You think you're a peer, you know you have a master in heaven." And so, he says, those relational interactions, "You have to be godly.

You have to be godly." And then there's this big jump, and it says, "Finally, brethren, be strong." And so, my case in that exhortation to you was, although it may seem like there was a quick transition to go from those relationships to an exhortation to be strong, what you realize is that that was the theme of the book so far.

Not just the only theme, but significantly. That the Christian message to us is Christ in us. And therefore, we have the enablement and the power of Christ. We have victory. So why and how is a slave, a slave, able to be godly in the circumstance of his oppression under human law?

What does the scripture say? Because you're a free man in Christ. You've got everything in Christ. You have your liberty, your victory, your voice, everything in Christ. And that to him is power. Power that the owner cannot take away, no slave master can take away, no government can take away.

And so, he says, "Don't think like them. Don't succumb to the kind of oppressions that the world tries to put upon you. Look at you, man, you're just a slave. In our faith we know Christ in me is true liberty. If he set me free, I'm free." And so that is power to us, it's strength.

And so if Apostle Paul is challenging us, you need to be strong in every way. You need to be strong and put on the full armor of God. And you guys recall that the full armor of God included so many pieces that I'm not going to review today because we did two weeks of it last time.

But you recall, those were first objective truths. Gird your loins with the truth. There's righteousness. But what's more, there's the subjective experience. There's the helmet of salvation. There's your faith, the shield of faith. All those things point to what we have in Christ and the blessings that we have in Christ.

And I made the argument to you that if you do not have those things in clarity, in regularity, then you are weak. You're susceptible. You're susceptible to all the attacks of the devil. Now, I do want to talk about this, which is, even in the putting on of the armor, I recognize we should pause a moment to think about God and his love for us.

What am I talking about? I am talking about this, you think about who wants you to put on your helmet. And of course, it's typically our loving parents. It's dad, it's mom, about to go out for a bike ride. It's like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, gotta put on that helmet." Clearly, God as our Heavenly Father wants us to walk like him, imitate him, as children.

But he also wants us to put on the armor because he is our Heavenly Father who loves us. He protects us. He's given to us all the essential pieces so that we will be strong in Christ. Do not fall to be strong outside of Christ. Be strong in what God has provided.

This is just a picture of a good father putting on a helmet for his young daughter. But God, remember I showed you this picture, God's putting on this incredible armor that covers us from head to toe. But what's more, he has entrusted to us a powerful weapon in the word of God, the scriptures.

And therefore, we must take full responsibility. And he also said, not only are we to put on the armor, but we're supposed to be praying in every way at all times, in all types of prayer and petitions, praying, praying, praying, in dependency on God. Why? Because that's when you're strong.

Because that's when you're clear. That's when you're solid. That's when you have your footing. That's when you can fight. And so I think about the book of Ephesians and clearly, Apostle Paul is in the circumstance. I asked this question, where is he now? Just recall, and you guys all know this now because we've talked about it multiple times, he's in jail.

He's suffering. And the people are thinking, oh no, what do we do now? What's going to happen? And there was this confidence in Apostle Paul that the word of God is going to proceed in heaven. And what's more, that even if he's not there, clearly, he's not going to be able to be present with that.

He has confidence. These people are going to find strength in God. In the Son of God, Jesus Christ our Savior. And what's more, he challenges us to then respond. And I want us to meditate and think about this, okay? I thought from a perspective of somebody who is just a downer.

A constant skeptic. Perhaps somebody who is always playing the devil's advocate. And he says, what? If God still wants us to be strong, and he's putting on armor, and he's putting a sword in our hand, and we're like children, why doesn't he just go ahead and eradicate the enemies?

Why not just get rid of the hospitals and oof? And there's so many times people in the midst of growing, in the growth process, they're like complaining and whining. Why can't we be this alternate universe where we do the major thing, we stick the USB into our head, we get the maturity, we get the wisdom, we get the discipline.

Why can't we just be mature without all this suffering? Now sometimes I too say that because of my own stupidity I learned the hard way. And I think those kind of why, why, why, complaining and whining sometimes actually needs to be answered and then put away. It needs to be done.

It can't keep coming up again. And what I recognize, number one, is number one, you are the hostile. Apostle Paul is teaching you, you are hostile and mild. You are in transgression, running with the rest of them, you are sons of disobedience. God has no obligation to you. Only by which of his own volition and his own promise.

But not because of you. He does not owe you a thing. So if you imagine an alternate universe, yeah, you could get rid of the hostiles, right? But the other part of it is I keep thinking, wow, what love of the Father. God is not just simply making things be without consideration of the growth of his children.

That we would be able to learn how to love like he does. He wants us to love with faith and then he wants us to have an incorruptible love in all hearts. Think about that. I got high expectations for children. I think about that, I'm like, my love is fickle.

My love has moods. My love has seasons. My love has limitations. My love is just sometimes weak thoughts. It's sometimes naive, has no energy or like, you know, awareness. My love is just flawed in so many ways. But what God is building into us through his Son and his Spirit and his Word is his kind of love.

And that to me is the amazing love of the Father. To tell his children, I want you to learn like I love. And so be it that we're left in this world to love the brethren. Yes, Lord, I want to learn. Teach me to love like you do. What a good exhortation for us as we end this book.

Let's take a moment to pray. Lord, we thank you so much for your grace. And as we take a step back to look at what you've done. Lord, we're amazed at Apostle Paul. This is, this is the incredible treasure of treasures that you have been working for generations upon generations to call people to yourself who were wretched.

So sinful. And to take them, to wash them, to purify them, to cleanse us. We thank you so much. This to us, Lord, is the bedrock upon which we stand. Is your love for us. And so I pray God that every single one of us, if we're lacking strength or lacking motivation or lacking willpower, help us to come back to this.

Through Christ Jesus, our Lord, we have you as our heavenly father. Good, perfect, holy. But we have the parental love. Teaching us, guiding us, and leading us to your likeness. And for that we thank you. And we commit ourselves to you, to follow you in every way. We thank you, Lord, in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen. (tranquil music)