WEBVTT 00:00:08.640 --> 00:00:11.839 Ephesians 6, verses 23 and 24. 00:00:14.080 --> 00:00:21.440 Peace be to the brothers and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:00:21.760 --> 00:00:27.519 Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible. 00:00:29.359 --> 00:00:40.240 It was six years ago when a new Guinness Book of World Records was set, a new record for the longest speech ever given. 00:00:40.880 --> 00:00:45.359 It will come as a surprise to absolutely none of you that it was a sermon. 00:00:47.200 --> 00:00:56.560 Pastor Zach Zender of Mount Dora, Florida, preached for two days, five hours and 18 minutes straight. 00:00:57.439 --> 00:01:07.519 To qualify for the Guinness Book of World Records, he was only allowed brief bathroom breaks, and he must have at least 10 people continuously throughout the preaching. 00:01:09.920 --> 00:01:13.040 He chose for his text the entire Bible. 00:01:14.560 --> 00:01:17.120 And he preached from Genesis to Revelation. 00:01:17.280 --> 00:01:28.799 He crossed the threshold to set the world record at the two-hour and 18 or two-day and 18-minute mark, at which point several people in this congregation told him, you know, you've you've set the record now. 00:01:29.120 --> 00:01:34.879 To which he said, I know, but I need five more hours to finish the sermon. 00:01:36.959 --> 00:01:40.079 So I feel that way coming to the end of the study of the book of Ephesians. 00:01:40.159 --> 00:01:43.920 Don't worry, though, I'm not going to make a run for my own record this morning. 00:01:44.079 --> 00:01:49.840 But we have studied this book for well over two years now, and it is, I hope, been an encouragement to your own heart. 00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:54.799 We finish it this morning with our last text in the book of Ephesians, the last two verses of chapter one. 00:01:55.120 --> 00:01:57.359 And I hope it encourages your heart as well. 00:01:57.439 --> 00:02:02.319 I want to give you an outline this morning to guide our thoughts to this three resurrection gifts. 00:02:02.400 --> 00:02:06.000 In these last few verses, this is the benediction from the text. 00:02:06.079 --> 00:02:10.159 This is the where Paul signs off and he closes the letter up. 00:02:10.240 --> 00:02:13.840 And in these three verses are three gifts that he gives you. 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:15.919 Three, you know, gifts he provides to you. 00:02:16.000 --> 00:02:18.800 If you do Easter eggs, picture these as wrapped up inside of Easter eggs. 00:02:18.879 --> 00:02:24.400 These are three Easter morning gifts you can pop open and receive for yourself. 00:02:24.639 --> 00:02:33.919 And you might be wondering, how can words written on the pages of Scripture, so how do words in this book become my gift? 00:02:34.159 --> 00:02:36.400 So how do these words become mine? 00:02:36.560 --> 00:02:39.439 How do I receive them in any meaningful or significant way? 00:02:39.599 --> 00:02:45.120 And the answer is the three things that are offered here at the end of the book of Ephesians can be yours through faith. 00:02:45.199 --> 00:02:46.719 So that's the way the Bible works. 00:02:46.879 --> 00:02:54.879 The Bible conveys information to you, and in this few verses here, it's more than information, it's actual substance the Bible offers you. 00:02:55.039 --> 00:02:59.680 And when you receive those things by faith, they become yours. 00:02:59.840 --> 00:03:02.319 They're applied to your life by the Holy Spirit. 00:03:02.400 --> 00:03:04.159 And so I just want to make sure you understand that. 00:03:04.479 --> 00:03:08.000 So as we look at the three gifts, and I'll I'll cheat real quick and rattle them off for you. 00:03:08.080 --> 00:03:11.120 It's peace, it's love, and it's grace. 00:03:11.360 --> 00:03:12.639 Peace, love, and grace. 00:03:12.800 --> 00:03:35.599 And so as the Bible communicates peace and communicates love and communicates grace to you, those three things are yours in a real, true, and meaningful and actual way, if you receive them with faith, the Holy Spirit applies them to your life, and you actually experience them. 00:03:35.680 --> 00:03:37.919 So that's the exchange that happens. 00:03:38.240 --> 00:03:45.759 You bring your faith, and in exchange for your faith, God applies these things to you. 00:03:45.919 --> 00:03:54.080 So as we look at these things, the peace and love and grace, they become actually yours through faith. 00:03:54.319 --> 00:04:04.560 Real peace, real love, real grace become really yours if you have your faith placed in the truthfulness of what the Word of God says. 00:04:04.719 --> 00:04:06.479 There are three resurrection gifts for you. 00:04:06.560 --> 00:04:10.400 The first of those is peace with God the Father. 00:04:10.719 --> 00:04:13.520 Peace with God the Father. 00:04:13.759 --> 00:04:16.560 Now, peace is all about reconciliation. 00:04:16.639 --> 00:04:17.839 You see it in verse 23. 00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:19.360 Peace be to the brothers. 00:04:19.519 --> 00:04:21.920 This at the end of the verse is from God the Father. 00:04:22.079 --> 00:04:28.639 The word peace in the New Testament and especially in the book of Ephesians means reconciliation between God and man. 00:04:28.720 --> 00:04:30.160 That's what the word peace means. 00:04:30.319 --> 00:04:31.120 Reconciliation. 00:04:31.279 --> 00:04:36.240 There's hostility between God and man, and God makes peace. 00:04:36.560 --> 00:04:40.720 So God ends the hostility by producing peace between God and man. 00:04:40.879 --> 00:04:43.600 So peace in that sense is the fruit of faith. 00:04:43.839 --> 00:04:52.639 You experience peace with God as a byproduct or a result or a fruit of the faith that you have in what the Word of God says. 00:04:52.800 --> 00:04:56.000 So you've made it through the book of Ephesians, all six chapters of it. 00:04:56.160 --> 00:04:59.439 You've gone through it, you've read it, you've believed it. 00:04:59.600 --> 00:05:04.319 The result of that should be a peace between you and God. 00:05:05.120 --> 00:05:09.519 This is why peace is so critical, because sin separates you from God. 00:05:09.680 --> 00:05:26.800 So sin is enmity with God, sin is hostility towards God, sin is division, and you see that division towards family members, sin causes conflict in the home, in parenting, and causes conflict in marriage, sin causes conflict at work, sin causes conflict in nations. 00:05:27.040 --> 00:05:32.560 But more significant than all of that is that sin causes conflicts between a person and God. 00:05:32.720 --> 00:05:41.920 Because sin is a deviation from God, an abandonment of what God's word says, a rebellion against God, setting off your own way apart from God. 00:05:42.480 --> 00:05:47.279 However, you describe sin, at the very fundamental level, sin is leaving God. 00:05:47.600 --> 00:05:48.959 It's rejecting Him. 00:05:49.199 --> 00:05:50.959 And so that creates a distance. 00:05:51.040 --> 00:05:51.759 That's what sin is. 00:05:51.839 --> 00:05:53.040 It's walking away from God. 00:05:53.199 --> 00:05:56.560 So it creates a distance between the sinner and God. 00:05:56.879 --> 00:05:59.199 God is holy, sin is foreign to him. 00:05:59.519 --> 00:06:07.759 And so the person who embraces sin, sinful thinking, sinful affections, sinful actions, is creating a separation between themselves and God. 00:06:07.920 --> 00:06:10.240 Sometimes that separation is just in their attitude. 00:06:10.319 --> 00:06:14.959 They're like, I don't want to think about God, I don't want to pray about God, or I don't want to pray to him, I want to do my own thing. 00:06:15.120 --> 00:06:18.879 Sometimes that separation is more, you know, intense. 00:06:19.199 --> 00:06:22.879 Uh sometimes sin is so strong in your life you don't even want to pray to the Lord. 00:06:22.959 --> 00:06:28.000 You feel like sin is holding you back because you're harboring sin, you can't even send your prayers to God. 00:06:28.079 --> 00:06:30.000 So that's the sep-that's what I mean by separation. 00:06:30.160 --> 00:06:34.800 That you feel like you can't even communicate with God because your sin is holding you away from him. 00:06:35.040 --> 00:06:38.240 So that's the animosity between people and God. 00:06:38.319 --> 00:06:39.600 It comes through sin. 00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:44.160 Sin makes you angry at God, it mutes your prayers. 00:06:44.319 --> 00:06:48.879 And sometimes it's very obvious with an atheist who says, I don't even believe in God. 00:06:49.199 --> 00:06:52.000 That's that's obviously you can't get a more separation from God than that. 00:06:52.079 --> 00:06:53.040 Like I don't even believe in him. 00:06:53.199 --> 00:06:54.240 That's pretty separate. 00:06:54.399 --> 00:07:00.720 And sometimes you encounter people that just say, I just not they don't believe in God, it's just that I don't I don't know about God. 00:07:00.800 --> 00:07:02.319 Like I haven't decided yet. 00:07:02.480 --> 00:07:04.879 Like maybe he exists, maybe he doesn't. 00:07:04.959 --> 00:07:06.480 How can anyone ever really know? 00:07:06.639 --> 00:07:10.480 I don't hate God, I just don't know what I think about him yet. 00:07:10.560 --> 00:07:14.160 It's not a hatred, it's not like an animosity, it's just kind of a shrugging. 00:07:14.399 --> 00:07:19.600 And so let me give you a human analogy to show you why that really is animosity. 00:07:19.759 --> 00:07:21.279 So imagine children. 00:07:21.360 --> 00:07:25.839 We have no Sunday school classes today, so all the kids are in the worship center, which I love. 00:07:25.920 --> 00:07:33.279 And imagine children who might tell their parents, like, hey, mom, dad, here's the thing. 00:07:33.759 --> 00:07:50.240 I know you tell me what to do, I know you tell me what to eat, I know you tell me when to go to sleep, I know you tell me these things, but I mean honestly, I'm just not at a place in my life right now where I'm ready to recognize your authority. 00:07:51.439 --> 00:07:56.160 In fact, I'm not even quite sure if you exist. 00:07:57.680 --> 00:08:00.800 It's not that I hate you, I don't hate you. 00:08:00.959 --> 00:08:10.959 I'm actually thankful for you bringing me into this world and giving me everything that I have in this world, like, thanks, but I'm just not quite ready to acknowledge that or say, like, yeah, you're real. 00:08:13.040 --> 00:08:14.079 I mean, it doesn't work. 00:08:14.160 --> 00:08:22.959 Like, that is, there's probably no more hurtful thing you could do to your parents than just say, I'm not gonna recognize your existence anymore. 00:08:23.439 --> 00:08:33.120 And then how weird would it be for a person to say that and then turn around and be like, it's not that I don't love them or it's not that I hate them, it's just that I don't want anything to do with them. 00:08:34.159 --> 00:08:37.440 And yet that's how people's attitudes are so quickly to God. 00:08:38.080 --> 00:08:39.120 I don't hate God. 00:08:39.279 --> 00:08:45.279 I just not personally at a place in my own life where I'm ready to recognize his authority. 00:08:45.360 --> 00:08:51.360 And do you understand that the things God commands you are more loving than the things your parents command you? 00:08:51.759 --> 00:08:56.559 God's care for you is more loving than how your parents care for you. 00:08:56.799 --> 00:08:58.559 It's more perfect. 00:08:59.279 --> 00:09:06.720 And so that makes the whole apathy act towards God even more extreme, even more preposterous. 00:09:07.039 --> 00:09:16.000 That God shows you, he brings you into this world, makes you in his image, shows you his love and his gifts for a person to shrug their shoulders and say, eh, I'm not just ready for that. 00:09:17.039 --> 00:09:19.679 Sin is hostility towards God. 00:09:20.960 --> 00:09:26.639 And yet, God makes peace with sinners. 00:09:26.799 --> 00:09:28.080 This has been a theme of the book. 00:09:28.159 --> 00:09:31.440 We're gonna three times this morning, we're gonna prance to the book of Ephesians. 00:09:31.519 --> 00:09:37.519 So you can flip back to Ephesians chapter 1, look at chapter 1, verse 2, just turn left, it's three or four pages in my Bible. 00:09:37.759 --> 00:09:38.960 Chapter 1, verse 2. 00:09:39.120 --> 00:09:45.039 The book begins with a promise of grace to you and peace from God our Father. 00:09:45.200 --> 00:09:47.759 So the book, this is more than just a generic salutation. 00:09:47.840 --> 00:09:50.320 It's not like, hey guys, comma, as you write an email. 00:09:50.480 --> 00:09:53.279 This is an actual sincere salutation. 00:09:54.240 --> 00:09:57.279 Peace to you from God. 00:09:57.440 --> 00:09:58.559 That's how the book begins. 00:09:58.639 --> 00:10:07.360 So there's hostility with God, enmity with God, separation with God, and yet God initiates making peace with the sinner. 00:10:07.600 --> 00:10:08.960 God comes to sinners. 00:10:09.120 --> 00:10:12.320 Note the divine source of this peace in chapter 1, verse 2. 00:10:12.399 --> 00:10:14.960 It's from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:10:15.039 --> 00:10:16.320 There's this dual source. 00:10:16.480 --> 00:10:21.279 It's a fountain of peace that comes down to us. 00:10:22.480 --> 00:10:27.840 This fountain comes to us from the Father, of course, in chapter 1, verse 2, and at the end of chapter 6. 00:10:27.919 --> 00:10:30.080 But look over at chapter 2, verse 14. 00:10:30.559 --> 00:10:31.840 To the middle of chapter 2. 00:10:31.919 --> 00:10:33.440 This is a key verse in chapter 2. 00:10:33.600 --> 00:10:40.159 It kind of the chapter 2 hinges on this verse that God saves you at the beginning of chapter 2, he's going to use you at the end of chapter 2. 00:10:40.240 --> 00:10:45.279 And in the middle of this, chapter 2, verse 14, he himself is our peace. 00:10:46.159 --> 00:10:53.440 Chapter 2, verse 13, you were far off, you've been brought near by the blood of Christ, because he is our peace. 00:10:53.600 --> 00:10:54.720 So that's how this works. 00:10:54.879 --> 00:10:57.039 There's separation between God and man. 00:10:57.279 --> 00:11:07.440 The Father wants to make peace with sinners, and so he makes peace by sending Jesus, who is our peace, who tears down the wall of hostility. 00:11:07.519 --> 00:11:23.200 There's a wall built between sinners and God, or in the context of chapter 2, between Jew and Gentile, racial hostility, but it's still the image of separation, be it racial separation, be it religious separation, I don't recognize God, or I'm on animosity with those people. 00:11:23.519 --> 00:11:28.960 Jesus takes the place of that wall by bearing that hostility in his own body. 00:11:29.039 --> 00:11:42.720 So your anger at God or your vitriol towards God, your animosity towards him, your gunshots at him, your attacks and antagonism towards God, Jesus takes those in his body, and so he takes the place of the wall. 00:11:43.039 --> 00:11:46.240 Your antagonism towards God is the wall of separation. 00:11:46.399 --> 00:11:48.399 Your sin is the wall of separation. 00:11:48.639 --> 00:11:54.000 Jesus takes your sin, becoming the wall, by tearing it down in his own body. 00:11:54.159 --> 00:11:57.039 That's what it means when the Bible says he is our peace. 00:11:57.360 --> 00:12:05.279 He bears your sin in his own body, so he erases the division by tearing down the wall. 00:12:05.519 --> 00:12:09.279 Chapter 2, verse 14, he is our peace himself. 00:12:09.600 --> 00:12:18.000 Because of that, chapter 2, verse 17, he can preach peace to those who are far off, verse 17 says, and to those who are near. 00:12:18.559 --> 00:12:20.720 In Ephesians 2, that's Jews and Gentiles. 00:12:20.799 --> 00:12:24.240 Those who are far off are the Gentiles, those who are near are the Jews. 00:12:24.480 --> 00:12:27.279 The Jews need peace with God that can only come through Christ. 00:12:27.440 --> 00:12:30.080 The Gentiles need peace with God who can only come through Christ. 00:12:30.240 --> 00:12:33.039 The Jews are clinging to the shadows of the Old Testament. 00:12:33.200 --> 00:12:36.320 They're hostile towards God because they won't see the reality of Christ. 00:12:36.559 --> 00:12:43.919 The Gentiles are worshiping Zeus and, you know, Diana and all the Greek goddesses, Artemis the Great. 00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:46.639 They're worshiping these pagan gods and goddesses. 00:12:46.879 --> 00:12:49.200 They also need grace. 00:12:49.679 --> 00:12:50.960 They also need peace. 00:12:51.120 --> 00:12:52.720 They also need forgiveness of their sins. 00:12:52.799 --> 00:12:55.840 So it doesn't matter if you're a barbarian or a Benjamite. 00:12:55.919 --> 00:13:01.039 You need peace with God through Jesus Christ, who is our peace. 00:13:01.440 --> 00:13:03.279 And then you can flip back to chapter 6. 00:13:03.360 --> 00:13:05.679 You'll recognize like chapter 6, verse 15. 00:13:05.759 --> 00:13:10.240 I'm skipping a bunch, but chapter 6, verse 15, you get the shoes of the gospel on your feet. 00:13:10.399 --> 00:13:14.080 Those shoes are the readiness of the gospel of peace. 00:13:14.480 --> 00:13:16.159 So you're bringing the gospel into the world. 00:13:16.240 --> 00:13:17.120 It's the gospel of peace. 00:13:17.200 --> 00:13:18.480 So you see the flow here. 00:13:18.720 --> 00:13:22.159 From God the Father, he wants to make peace with you. 00:13:22.480 --> 00:13:25.200 He makes peace with you through Jesus Christ. 00:13:25.519 --> 00:13:33.200 When you receive Christ, you're now reconciled to God through Christ, and you now have the gospel of peace that you can bring into the world. 00:13:33.840 --> 00:13:35.120 That's peace. 00:13:35.759 --> 00:13:39.039 It's peace that comes to believers. 00:13:39.360 --> 00:13:41.120 God is the fountain of this peace. 00:13:41.279 --> 00:13:45.360 The fountain flows to people in verse 23 who are brothers. 00:13:45.519 --> 00:13:48.639 It flows to people who have a relationship with God through faith in Christ. 00:13:48.720 --> 00:13:56.720 So if you want to experience that peace that comes from God, you come to God through the second gift: love towards the Son. 00:13:56.879 --> 00:14:01.279 So you have peace to the brothers, and that peace is from God the Father. 00:14:01.519 --> 00:14:04.480 And you have love toward Jesus Christ. 00:14:04.639 --> 00:14:07.279 So Jesus Christ becomes the object of your love. 00:14:07.360 --> 00:14:08.399 That's what I mean by toward. 00:14:08.799 --> 00:14:11.600 When you love something, your love is toward that person. 00:14:11.679 --> 00:14:13.120 He's the object of your love. 00:14:13.279 --> 00:14:18.720 So to be reconciled with God, to have peace with God, you direct your love towards Christ. 00:14:18.879 --> 00:14:21.919 Love just speaks of the freeness with which God makes peace with us. 00:14:22.000 --> 00:14:26.399 And I want to say that sentence again because it's a really cool sentence and I want you to hear it. 00:14:27.519 --> 00:14:32.480 Love speaks of the freeness with which God makes peace with you. 00:14:32.799 --> 00:14:37.120 So God loves you, and so he freely makes peace with you. 00:14:37.360 --> 00:14:39.039 He doesn't reluctantly make peace with you. 00:14:39.120 --> 00:14:41.120 And let me give you a contrast analogy here. 00:14:41.440 --> 00:14:47.039 Earlier, Pastor Steve talked about uh praying for peace with war between Russia and Ukraine. 00:14:47.200 --> 00:14:58.960 They're very may very well be a ceasefire at some point, they may very well achieve peace because you know Ukraine is tired of being bombed, they don't want to be bombed into oblivion, and Russia is tired of having their soldiers killed. 00:14:59.039 --> 00:15:01.600 You know, that seems to be where the war is right now, right? 00:15:01.679 --> 00:15:14.399 And Russia's not gonna run out of soldiers, they have like a billion people, they're not gonna run out of soldiers, and uh, you know, Ukraine is always gonna be there, but at some point the Ukrainians might say, we're tired of being bombed, and the Russians might say we're tired of having people die, and so there's some kind of peace. 00:15:14.559 --> 00:15:16.960 That is a very reluctant peace, right? 00:15:17.200 --> 00:15:23.759 That's not like a joyful peace, that's like a we're kind of both sick of this, so let's go our separate ways again, kind of peace. 00:15:24.000 --> 00:15:27.600 So that is not at all like the peace that we have with God. 00:15:27.759 --> 00:15:31.440 The peace that we have with God is not reluctant, it's based on love. 00:15:31.600 --> 00:15:36.000 It's that God loves us so much that he wants to make peace with us. 00:15:36.240 --> 00:15:39.120 So think of the prodigal son, the story of the prodigal son. 00:15:39.279 --> 00:15:53.519 The prodigal son runs away, spends all he has, wishes his parents dead, squanders all of his money, comes back a broken and you know, battered dude, and doesn't think his dad will ever love him again, and comes back very reluctantly. 00:15:53.919 --> 00:15:58.799 He's gonna be he'd be even got his speech memorized, like, I'll just beg that I'll be a slave, you know? 00:15:58.960 --> 00:16:05.679 And the dad, if you remember, runs out to meet him and grabs him and hugs him and puts the best robe on him, and no slave for this guy. 00:16:05.759 --> 00:16:07.120 He's gonna have the best robe on him. 00:16:07.279 --> 00:16:12.799 There's an exuberance with the father's peace, and that's because the father loves him. 00:16:12.960 --> 00:16:15.679 So this is how the peace from God the Father works. 00:16:15.840 --> 00:16:18.720 It's driven by love, it's not a reluctant peace. 00:16:18.960 --> 00:16:26.399 So God's not up in heaven thinking, like, man, these sinners are so annoying. 00:16:27.039 --> 00:16:31.519 Like they're wearing me down, and I can't deal with this forever. 00:16:31.840 --> 00:16:34.559 So I guess I'll make peace with them. 00:16:35.440 --> 00:16:44.960 Rather, God sees sinners rebelling against him, and he purposes to make peace with them because of the love he has for them. 00:16:45.120 --> 00:16:48.080 So it's love that is motivating God to act. 00:16:48.320 --> 00:16:50.159 That love is from the father to the son. 00:16:50.399 --> 00:16:53.840 The father loves the son, his own his own son, more than anyone else. 00:16:54.000 --> 00:16:55.200 The son is the image of God. 00:16:55.360 --> 00:16:59.679 The father loves the son so much he's gonna have the son be the mediator, the son be the peace. 00:16:59.840 --> 00:17:07.839 That's how much the father loves the son, as the son will be the peace, and the father loves us too much to let us go our own way, so he sends the son to get us. 00:17:08.000 --> 00:17:12.720 This is all about love from the father to the son that then comes to us. 00:17:13.359 --> 00:17:17.119 The father, through his beloved son, loves us. 00:17:17.279 --> 00:17:20.640 There's nothing more certain in the universe than the father's love for the son. 00:17:21.119 --> 00:17:27.839 And so, in light of that, there's no more sure way the father could show his love for us than sending his son for us. 00:17:27.920 --> 00:17:29.039 Do you follow that? 00:17:29.519 --> 00:17:33.440 The most confident reality in the universe is that the father loves the son. 00:17:34.079 --> 00:17:39.759 And so, this is how God vouches for his love for us by sending his own son to redeem us. 00:17:39.839 --> 00:17:43.920 And you see this again, let's go through Ephesians again, chapter 1, verse 4. 00:17:44.079 --> 00:17:46.960 Hey, this is the last chance to do this, so let's enjoy it. 00:17:47.279 --> 00:17:49.119 Chapter 1, verse 4. 00:17:49.519 --> 00:17:52.559 He chose us in him before the foundation of the world. 00:17:52.799 --> 00:17:54.640 This is talking about election, predestination. 00:17:54.720 --> 00:17:56.240 God chooses whom he will save. 00:17:56.480 --> 00:18:00.559 He predestined us, chose us to be holy and blameless before him in love. 00:18:01.279 --> 00:18:03.920 So the motivating act of God in this is love. 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:08.240 And to verse 5, in love he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ. 00:18:08.319 --> 00:18:10.160 So it's love for Christ and it's love for us. 00:18:10.319 --> 00:18:14.079 God loves his son and he loves his elect, and so he will save them. 00:18:14.319 --> 00:18:19.119 And I've heard people say, oh, election, predestination, that's an unloving doctrine. 00:18:19.440 --> 00:18:26.960 If God was loving, he would, there would be no predestination or election, to which I respond with, okay, but the Bible calls it God's love. 00:18:27.039 --> 00:18:31.920 So there, I mean, the Bible says, in love he predestines us. 00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:36.559 And if you think about it even more critically, you understand why God loves us too much to let us go our own way. 00:18:36.640 --> 00:18:41.279 He definitely loves us too much to just say, to roll the dice and say, let's see who gets saved, and you see what happens. 00:18:41.440 --> 00:18:42.799 Maybe nobody, maybe everybody. 00:18:42.880 --> 00:18:43.279 We'll see. 00:18:43.440 --> 00:18:45.440 You know, God loves us way too much for that. 00:18:45.599 --> 00:18:49.039 He loves us way too much to make us sovereign, because we would botch that. 00:18:49.200 --> 00:18:59.839 He loves us so much that he insists on being sovereign, and he insists on being sovereign by showing his love to us through Jesus Christ, who will save us, who will actually save us. 00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:01.440 That's the love of God. 00:19:01.680 --> 00:19:05.519 You see it all over chapter 1, you see it in chapter 2, look at chapter 2, verse 4. 00:19:05.839 --> 00:19:10.880 God being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us. 00:19:11.359 --> 00:19:13.119 Verse 5 says he saved us. 00:19:13.279 --> 00:19:16.480 So God loves us so much, he sends Christ to save us. 00:19:16.720 --> 00:19:20.559 God loves us so much he actually saves us. 00:19:21.359 --> 00:19:23.440 Our chapter 3, verse 19. 00:19:23.599 --> 00:19:25.119 What is the hinge of the whole book? 00:19:25.200 --> 00:19:29.279 Remember the first three chapters, very theological, the last three chapters, very practical. 00:19:29.440 --> 00:19:32.720 The hinge they swing on here is verse 19. 00:19:33.200 --> 00:19:38.960 That I want you to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, chapter 3, verse 19. 00:19:39.119 --> 00:19:41.200 That you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 00:19:41.279 --> 00:19:43.920 You're not going to find a more profound verse in the whole Bible. 00:19:44.000 --> 00:19:52.000 You're not going to find a more profound sentence in all of literature, or it's impossible to write something more profound than Ephesians 3, verse 19. 00:19:52.240 --> 00:19:56.640 That you would experience the love of God that surpasses understanding. 00:19:57.759 --> 00:20:00.240 That's God's plan for your life. 00:20:00.480 --> 00:20:05.519 The results of that, I mean, time would fail us if we went through chapter 5, but chapter 5, verse 2, you're supposed to walk in love. 00:20:05.680 --> 00:20:06.799 Chapter 5, verse 25. 00:20:06.960 --> 00:20:09.359 Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church. 00:20:09.519 --> 00:20:13.440 There's love all over chapter 5 in the relationships that we have. 00:20:13.599 --> 00:20:15.680 So you can flip back to the end of Ephesians 6. 00:20:15.839 --> 00:20:20.799 In light of that, it's love from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:20:21.599 --> 00:20:23.200 So follow me here. 00:20:23.680 --> 00:20:28.160 God is the fountain, He is dispensing, the Father is dispensing. 00:20:28.240 --> 00:20:29.119 That's what a fountain does. 00:20:29.279 --> 00:20:33.119 The Father is overflowing, the Father is dispensing peace. 00:20:33.759 --> 00:20:37.200 You drink from the water, you experience peace with God. 00:20:37.359 --> 00:20:39.359 The result of you drinking is you return. 00:20:39.519 --> 00:20:42.400 Remember what a fountain does is it overflows, and then the water returns. 00:20:42.480 --> 00:20:43.359 There were cycles. 00:20:43.440 --> 00:20:48.000 So you experience peace with peace with God by returning love towards the Son. 00:20:48.160 --> 00:20:50.640 So God makes peace with Himself and you. 00:20:50.880 --> 00:20:54.400 The result of that peace is that the love goes towards Jesus Christ. 00:20:54.480 --> 00:20:55.599 So it's a cycle here. 00:20:55.839 --> 00:20:59.119 God makes peace, you respond by showing love to the Son. 00:20:59.200 --> 00:21:00.480 This is very Trinitarian. 00:21:00.799 --> 00:21:03.759 Father gives you peace through Jesus Christ. 00:21:03.920 --> 00:21:07.599 You respond by giving love towards Jesus Christ. 00:21:07.759 --> 00:21:09.039 It's a cycle. 00:21:09.440 --> 00:21:15.200 Peace with God only comes through love towards Jesus Christ. 00:21:15.680 --> 00:21:20.400 And the third gift we get is grace from God the Spirit. 00:21:20.640 --> 00:21:21.839 This is verse 24. 00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:26.480 Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with the love that is incorruptible. 00:21:26.640 --> 00:21:30.640 So grace, I defined the earlier two words, peace and love. 00:21:30.799 --> 00:21:33.599 Grace, let me define it this way, is getting something you don't deserve. 00:21:33.680 --> 00:21:34.480 That's grace. 00:21:34.720 --> 00:21:38.240 When you get something you don't deserve, grace. 00:21:38.799 --> 00:21:39.119 Okay? 00:21:39.839 --> 00:21:44.799 So what are you getting in verse 24 that you don't deserve? 00:21:45.359 --> 00:21:48.240 And the answer is love. 00:21:49.039 --> 00:21:50.720 And the other answer is peace. 00:21:50.880 --> 00:21:52.319 So this is a cycle here. 00:21:52.400 --> 00:21:53.920 This is a triangle. 00:21:54.240 --> 00:21:59.519 Peace goes to love, love goes to grace, grace cycles back to peace, and love. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:00.720 Both. 00:22:00.960 --> 00:22:05.359 You get the gift of love and peace. 00:22:05.519 --> 00:22:08.559 And I say that it's a it's grace because the Bible calls it grace. 00:22:08.720 --> 00:22:09.359 Grace be to all. 00:22:09.680 --> 00:22:12.480 This is not just, again, some like normal generic benediction. 00:22:12.640 --> 00:22:14.559 Actually, grace will come to you. 00:22:14.799 --> 00:22:18.559 You receive the grace of God, delivered by the Holy Spirit in the book of Ephesians. 00:22:18.640 --> 00:22:22.319 The Spirit is the person of God who applies grace to your life. 00:22:22.640 --> 00:22:27.359 You experience that grace when the Spirit seals you with his own love. 00:22:28.640 --> 00:22:30.720 Grace means you don't deserve it. 00:22:31.119 --> 00:22:34.640 So you don't purchase access to peace with God. 00:22:34.799 --> 00:22:36.960 You don't redeem yourself. 00:22:37.359 --> 00:22:39.119 You get this as something you don't deserve. 00:22:39.279 --> 00:22:41.680 So one more time, flip back to Ephesians 1. 00:22:42.400 --> 00:22:43.839 This is fun, isn't it? 00:22:45.359 --> 00:22:47.599 Ephesians 1, verse 2. 00:22:47.920 --> 00:22:50.000 Grace to you. 00:22:50.400 --> 00:22:51.279 Notice that phrase. 00:22:51.440 --> 00:22:53.039 At the very beginning of the book, grace to you. 00:22:53.119 --> 00:22:55.440 And he's going to end it with the same phrase, grace. 00:22:55.680 --> 00:22:58.559 So this book is, it's sandwiched with grace. 00:22:58.720 --> 00:23:02.000 There's actual grace, and grace means you don't deserve what's coming. 00:23:02.240 --> 00:23:04.799 And what's coming that you don't deserve is everything in the book of Ephesians. 00:23:05.039 --> 00:23:05.920 You don't deserve this. 00:23:06.240 --> 00:23:08.799 God's giving it to you as a gift. 00:23:09.359 --> 00:23:10.799 Chapter 1, verse 6. 00:23:10.960 --> 00:23:11.680 This is going to happen. 00:23:11.759 --> 00:23:16.880 You're predestined according to his love in verse 5, verse 6, to the praise of his glorious grace. 00:23:17.200 --> 00:23:18.799 So you're receiving this through grace. 00:23:18.960 --> 00:23:19.680 Or verse 7. 00:23:19.839 --> 00:23:22.160 This is according to the riches of his grace. 00:23:22.319 --> 00:23:27.680 So all of this predestination, election, peace, love, it's according to his grace. 00:23:28.480 --> 00:23:31.839 In other words, you don't sign up for it, you don't deserve it, you don't purchase it. 00:23:32.000 --> 00:23:34.079 You have access to this by grace. 00:23:34.160 --> 00:23:36.880 It is a gift to you personally. 00:23:37.279 --> 00:23:40.000 Look at chapter 2, verse 5. 00:23:40.240 --> 00:23:45.440 Even when you were dead in your sins and trespasses, God made us alive together with Christ. 00:23:45.599 --> 00:23:48.000 By grace you have been saved. 00:23:48.400 --> 00:23:50.240 It is a gift here. 00:23:50.799 --> 00:23:54.240 Grace is the means by which you receive it. 00:23:55.359 --> 00:23:57.839 So you are made alive by grace. 00:23:58.000 --> 00:23:59.759 Look at it again in verse chapter 8. 00:23:59.920 --> 00:24:02.720 By grace you have been saved through faith. 00:24:03.279 --> 00:24:05.200 By grace you were saved through faith. 00:24:11.440 --> 00:24:14.480 One might be the Postal Service might deliver it, stuff in your mailbox. 00:24:14.720 --> 00:24:19.839 One might be the FedEx guy who might deliver it, he'll throw it from the driveway, top of the driveway. 00:24:20.079 --> 00:24:24.480 One might be the UPS guy who like puts it all gently on your door and rings the doorbell and goes away. 00:24:24.559 --> 00:24:26.720 So there's different ways the package can arrive. 00:24:26.880 --> 00:24:31.359 And you don't get to choose which of those ways, like it just happens mysteriously. 00:24:31.599 --> 00:24:39.759 So this is kind of salvation here is the gift, and the means by which the gift is delivered here is fed, you know, is UPS or FedEx or whatever. 00:24:39.839 --> 00:24:43.119 The means by which the gift is delivered is it comes to you through grace. 00:24:43.279 --> 00:24:48.400 That's how the gift of salvation arrives to you is by grace. 00:24:49.039 --> 00:24:51.920 You don't pay for it yourself. 00:24:52.079 --> 00:24:53.359 It was purchased earlier. 00:24:53.519 --> 00:24:55.519 It's delivered to you by grace. 00:24:55.680 --> 00:24:57.279 That's the point of chapter 2, verse 8. 00:24:57.440 --> 00:25:00.319 By grace you have been saved, not your own doing. 00:25:00.400 --> 00:25:01.359 This is the gift of God. 00:25:01.440 --> 00:25:03.359 So you cannot buy your salvation. 00:25:03.599 --> 00:25:06.160 It's given to you, delivered by grace. 00:25:06.400 --> 00:25:08.079 Chapter 4, verse 7. 00:25:08.400 --> 00:25:10.319 Flip over to chapter 4, verse 7. 00:25:10.480 --> 00:25:15.359 Uh grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gifts. 00:25:15.839 --> 00:25:19.200 I think we looked at this passage a year ago, last Easter. 00:25:19.279 --> 00:25:24.079 Uh, that grace was given to us by the gifts of Jesus Christ. 00:25:24.240 --> 00:25:25.839 And he gives us spiritual gifts. 00:25:25.920 --> 00:25:28.319 All the gifts we have to serve the church are grace gifts. 00:25:28.400 --> 00:25:31.759 It's even redundant in Greek the word for grace and gift, same word. 00:25:32.079 --> 00:25:36.240 So you're getting these things, these grace gifts, so you can serve the church. 00:25:36.400 --> 00:25:43.599 In chapter 4, verse 29, let no corrupting talk come out of your mouth, only such as good for building up, so that you can give grace to those who hear. 00:25:43.759 --> 00:25:45.039 So this is the fountain of grace. 00:25:45.279 --> 00:25:58.319 Grace comes from the Father through the Son who purchases it, delivered to you by the Holy Spirit, and you now return it by expanding that grace and magnifying that grace to other people. 00:25:58.480 --> 00:26:02.640 So you drink from the fountain, so you can display grace to other people. 00:26:02.720 --> 00:26:03.920 That's the full cycle of grace. 00:26:04.000 --> 00:26:06.079 It's a river of grace, so follow it through. 00:26:06.240 --> 00:26:07.759 God the Father is the fountain. 00:26:07.920 --> 00:26:15.359 From him is coming peace and love and grace that comes to us through Jesus Christ, who purchases it. 00:26:15.440 --> 00:26:18.400 And here's where the Amazon analogy breaks down like you buy it on Amazon, right? 00:26:18.480 --> 00:26:19.359 You paid for it. 00:26:19.599 --> 00:26:23.920 But with salvation, Jesus pays for it before you're even born. 00:26:24.000 --> 00:26:25.119 So you don't know anything about it. 00:26:25.279 --> 00:26:27.119 Jesus secures it, pays for it. 00:26:27.279 --> 00:26:29.920 The price set by the Father, purchased by Jesus Christ. 00:26:30.079 --> 00:26:44.960 So that peace and love and grace from the Father through the Son now is applied to your heart by means of the Holy Spirit, who causes you to believe and delivers you faith so that you can believe by grace. 00:26:45.920 --> 00:26:47.359 That's how salvation works. 00:26:47.519 --> 00:26:54.319 And you receive it and you return it back to the Father again by worshiping Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit. 00:26:54.400 --> 00:26:59.839 You worship Christ spiritually for his death and resurrection in the empty grave, and the Father receives all the glory. 00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:04.559 So, Father, Son, Spirit, you receive it by faith, and it goes back upstream. 00:27:04.799 --> 00:27:09.440 The Holy Spirit helps you worship Jesus, who directs all glory and praise to the Father. 00:27:09.599 --> 00:27:11.839 It's a full cycle of salvation. 00:27:12.000 --> 00:27:13.680 That's what the whole book of Ephesians is about. 00:27:13.839 --> 00:27:17.200 I mean, I hope you see the fingerprints of this all over the whole book. 00:27:17.440 --> 00:27:22.799 Everything is about being made right with God through the love of God by grace. 00:27:23.200 --> 00:27:24.640 You can't earn it. 00:27:24.880 --> 00:27:26.400 It's also effective grace. 00:27:26.480 --> 00:27:28.000 It actually causes you to worship. 00:27:28.160 --> 00:27:29.279 It's Easter grace. 00:27:29.359 --> 00:27:33.680 You were dead in your sins and trespasses, and this grace makes you alive spiritually. 00:27:33.920 --> 00:27:38.240 It's grace that you have salvation not because you rose from the dead, right? 00:27:38.559 --> 00:27:41.359 You have salvation because Jesus rose from the dead. 00:27:41.440 --> 00:27:42.720 That's why it's grace. 00:27:42.960 --> 00:27:47.599 You didn't resurrect to get this, Jesus resurrected to get this on your behalf. 00:27:47.759 --> 00:27:49.920 You can't purchase it, earn it, deserve it. 00:27:50.160 --> 00:27:54.000