Let us pray.
Gracious God and Father, this morning, as we take your word in hand, we remind ourselves
!
The fact that you have given to us the Scriptures, they are one of the sure indicators of your
love.
They are to be prized.
They will abide forever in heaven.
They are the means of blessing and counsel, comfort, correction.
And we are blessed to be able to open this book this morning and rely upon the work of
the Spirit of God.
We ask that you would do a work in us this morning that leads us to confess that what
you've done is of you, not of us, and that it is of eternal significance.
We ask this in your precious name.
Amen.
I want to start.
We're going to be in the book of Ephesians this morning, but I want you to look with me,
if you would, to Psalm 119, verse 18.
Turn to that passage.
Psalm 119, verse 18.
If you don't have a Bible, I want to encourage you to go ahead and take the one that is in
the pew, or if you're sitting on the edges there, you can get it underneath.
But I want you to look at it.
I want you to put your eyes on that text.
We'd have to confess that there are times where we've read the Bible and it hasn't made
a bit of difference.
You ever had one of those moments?
There are times where we have opened the Word, we've either heard it, we've sung the words.
I remember, and I don't remember who it was that said it.
It was a pastor of a previous generation.
He said that the most amount of lying that Christians do is when they sing.
How many of you followed what I said?
Christians lie most often when they sing.
Now, I'm not accusing any of you of being liars, nor am I drawing attention to that in
my own life, but I'm just saying that sometimes we say things and really don't think about what
we're saying.
And sometimes we sit there and we hear what other people are saying.
It doesn't make a bit of difference.
I want you to look at a psalm, one verse, and I am just curious if you have it underlined
in your Bible.
Now, I want to say something.
There's nothing magical about underlining, and I don't want you to ever think that you
get extra points in heaven for having anything underlined in your Bible.
How many of you have seen people that have Bibles that are so full of ink that you're
not sure whether you can really parse what's the rest of it?
You know, it's like I've seen some people, and I hope I'm not tweaking anybody today,
but they have, you know, red for one thing, and they have green for another, and they have
yellow for another, and blue for another.
And their Bible is so color-coded that I'm wondering if they can remember how many of
the different colors are, you know, related and what all the little signals and keys are.
Nothing against that.
But I guess I would say this.
Underlining is one of those things that maybe helps you connect a little bit to things that
are really important.
Agreed?
Look at this passage.
I wonder if it's underlined.
If it's not, I would encourage you to maybe do that.
But more importantly, I don't want you to underline and forget it.
I want you to underline it and weave it into your prayer life.
I have to confess that I remember this in King James, so bear with me.
Open thou mine eyes, that I might behold wondrous truths out of thy law.
That's the psalmist.
He says, I want you to do something with these eyes of mine.
I want you to open them up so I can see what you have for me.
Elsewhere in Psalm 119, it says, every word of God is pure.
It's all valuable.
It's all precious.
It is all significant.
And we, in our natural tendency, come and can sit and endure for a period of time the preaching
of the Word of God.
And apart from the enabling and our desperate dependence upon the Spirit, we can leave relatively unchanged.
It's easy to do.
And so it's appropriate for us to remember, if you think back to the last several sermons that I have preached in Ephesians,
you'll remember that I preached about the importance of you praying for your pastor.
And I am so very blessed to hear numbers of you have said to me this morning.
And it's been a characteristic of our ministry for many years.
People will say to me, I'm praying for you this morning.
I have been praying for you this morning.
I was praying for you earlier.
And I appreciate that.
It is nothing other than a simple reflection of your obedience to the Scripture and a recognition that the Spirit of God has given us careful instruction that it's right to pray for the man who handles the Word.
It's right.
The next thing that we looked at was that passage there in Ephesians chapter 6 where Paul says this.
He says, hey, listen, I want you to understand that preaching is also dependent upon the Spirit of God.
Preaching is not an exercise in rhetoric.
Preaching is a declaration of the glory of God through the enabling of the Spirit of God.
Preaching is not an exercise in the Spirit of God.
Thus saith the Lord.
It is a holy, it is a humbling responsibility.
And at the end of the day, it is one that when it is finished, you should walk out of here and say,
I saw an evidence of the work of the Spirit of God in an earthen, frail vessel.
And it's the Spirit that challenges and makes a difference.
I do say that by way of introduction because this morning we are coming down to this will be the second to the last sermon that I preach on the book of Ephesians.
Lord willing.
Okay?
Now, I mean, where's John?
He's out here.
John, we only have one more because John wants to know months in advance, so what are you going to be preaching on?
He works on our music.
He wants it to be connected to the passage so that there's a direct correlation.
And there's just one more, John.
Okay?
In fact, John emailed me earlier in the week.
He says, can you help me a little bit by telling me what the last…
You're in verse 24.
What are you going to do with verse 24?
That's next week.
This week we are in verse 21 through 23.
Okay?
And as we look at this passage, let me read it to you, lay it out for you, and then we'll get into this passage.
And here's what I want you to understand.
I'm going to tell you ahead of time what the effect of Spirit-enabled preaching will be in the life of humble believers that are dependent upon the Spirit of God to work.
Do you follow that?
You know what's going to happen.
Here's what the effect will be.
You will be unrelenting in your pursuit in loving the people you're with.
Oh, by the way, is it easy to love people you're close to?
Smile, everybody.
I remember the little poem that…
Is Becky Radcliffe in here?
Yeah, there you are, Becky.
I owe a lot to Becky.
She was the first secretary that worked tolerated me here.
And Becky taught me lots of things.
One of them is that you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.
Remember that, Becky?
See?
I needed that.
The other thing that she taught me is that little… a poem that goes somewhat like this.
To dwell above with saints we love, oh, that will be glory.
To dwell below with saints we know.
Well, that's another story.
And…
Huh?
You know that, right?
That's the laugh of familiarity.
You're saying, yeah, I'm there.
Ephesians closes off in a very interesting way with the apostle under the prompting of the Spirit of God saying,
let's bring all this grand theology of the work of God in saving us and the Spirit of God in changing us down into very practical terms of how we get along and stay together.
So, verse 21,
I wrote it out here in notes so I could remember how to pronounce it.
Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will tell you everything.
I've sent him to you for this very purpose that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts.
Peace be to the brothers.
Peace be to the Lord, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's very interesting that Paul would close off this way.
Because if we were thinking of bringing a grand theological discourse to its conclusion in our own practical thinking,
we probably may not be inclined to think of the last thing that we really should drive home is this issue of love.
But that's what he did.
And it is completely consistent with the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We're going to reference it later.
But one of the things that characterized the early church, the New Testament church,
in the profoundly pagan world,
was the undeniable affection that believers had for one another.
I have spent some time at various moments in my life going back and reading some of the references in ancient literature
about the testimony that early believers gave in their relationships with one another.
An illustration would be this.
There was a Roman governor that appealed very strongly to the Senate,
and the Senate finally passed an edict in which they said,
all right, all right, we are going to send X number of whatever it was,
you know, let's just use the term dollars because we'll identify with that.
We're going to send X number of billions of dollars out to the areas of the country
so that those who are in authority can then show benevolence to the needy.
Now, guess what happened in the ancient world with all that wonderful money
that the Senate allocated for the poor people?
Guess who got most of it?
Does anybody know?
Does anybody have any idea where most of the money went in the ancient world
when it was sent with all this benevolent intention from Rome to the outlying regions?
It somehow or another ended up in the pockets of those who were the distributors of kindness.
Do you realize that's the way it is today?
I might be a surprise to you.
But every time the government has a good idea,
and it appeals to the impoverished conditions of certain…
The vast majority of what is actually translated into pockets
ends up not in the pockets of those that are desperately needy,
but those that have been employed to see to it that the government's benevolence is cared for.
In the ancient world, they were so ashamed
when they saw the testimony of the early church's love for one another
that they had the Senate pass laws to officially show the government's benevolence
towards other impoverished people.
And it never worked.
In one case, when one of the bishops was called to bear testimony to Christianity,
one of the things that he said as he was speaking to the Caesar and defending Christianity,
he says,
the common statement being made throughout Rome is,
see how they love one another.
Speaking of Christians,
see how they love one another.
And I want you to understand that unbelievers were struck in the ancient world
most of all by how the early church cared for one another and loved one another.
And I want you to understand that that genuine affection,
that love and that interest in one another,
did not just kind of pop out in a vacuum.
It took the work of the Spirit of God,
and it took persistent nurturing.
Now, what do I mean by that?
Important things that are hard need to be said,
can I say it carefully,
again and again.
Would you agree with that?
Important things that are hard need to be said again and again.
And so here we are coming to the very end,
and Paul wants to remind us about the importance of loving one another.
And so as he goes about it,
I want you to see that first of all,
he gives us an illustration from his own life.
You look there in verse 21 and 22,
he says,
Now, some of the things that help us stay connected and care about one another,
when we are at distance from one another,
were not available in the ancient world.
Do you follow that?
I have two sisters that,
not presently,
they're here with dad and mom,
but as a general rule,
they're over in Egypt.
And in the olden days,
in order to get to Egypt,
it was a journey of biblical proportions.
Do you follow?
It took an incredible amount of time to travel from point A to point B.
And the only way in which you really could continue to stay connected was,
first of all,
to make a conscious and deliberate point of remembering those individuals
and praying for them.
And here is Paul,
as he is bringing his letter to a close.
He says,
Hey, listen,
here I am.
I'm in prison.
I'm not where you are.
But I know that you care about me,
and I am interested that your heart be comforted.
They knew that Paul was in jail,
and they were concerned for that.
Ancient jails were not the club fed.
They were miserable,
despicable environments in which people were kept only temporarily until their judgment
or their execution or whatever it was.
And Paul says,
Hey, listen,
I know you're concerned for me.
I know you're interested.
And so I'm going to send Tychicus to let you know how things are.
I'm really struck,
as I was reading this passage,
by the confidence that Paul had in the Ephesian believers.
He hadn't seen them for a long time.
And for a lot of us,
when someone is out of sight,
they're also out of what?
Out of mind.
We have a tendency of forgetting.
We have a tendency of,
well,
that was then,
and this is now,
and we kind of move on in relationships,
and we're done.
Paul says,
That's not the way it is with me,
because you're my brothers and my sisters,
and I care about you personally.
Given the natural heart of man.
Now,
what do I mean by the natural heart of man?
I mean the way we are by nature.
Apart from the work of the Spirit of God and His grace,
we are not inclined towards lasting relationships.
Do you follow that?
We just kind of play it the moment,
and we deal with the things that are directly in front of us,
and it takes effort,
and it takes the work of the Spirit
to sustain and nurture lasting relationships.
That's one of the reasons why when you bump into people today
that have been married after 40 or 50 years,
you know the attitude of our culture is,
What?
How did you do that?
Well, it takes work.
It takes prayer.
I want you to understand as you look at this passage,
what we find in 21 and 22 is an illustration of this fact,
that when the Spirit of God is at work in people's hearts,
He breaks down the natural tendencies of separation and malice.
Let me say that again slowly so it sticks in your mind.
When the Spirit of God is at work in a people's heart,
He breaks down the natural tendencies of separation and malice.
Do you know that when we're close together,
over a period of time,
we inevitably end up doing things
that are an irritation and an offense to other people?
Some of the things that are perceived offenses
really don't rise to the level of being significant.
However,
we all over time,
by virtue of our own sinfulness,
do things in relationship
that cause problems.
Would you agree?
I remember hearing John MacArthur say that
if you are going to sustain a relationship,
you must consciously choose to forgive
again and again and again.
And I want you to understand
that when the Spirit of God is at work,
He helps us
go against the grain of our nature
and against the natural tendencies that we have
of being unforgiving,
of being indifferent,
being unwilling to invest in the lives of other people.
I don't know if you know,
but I don't have bumper stickers on my car.
Now, I'm going to have the youth group use my SUV.
Pastor Andrew,
do not bring it back with a bumper sticker.
Do you follow that?
That is a no-no.
No.
But I like reading bumper stickers.
Some of the best bits of philosophy
have been stated on bumper stickers.
Now, some of them are just over the top.
But I have to tell you,
bumper stickers say something about people, right?
Isn't that true?
And so,
when I see a bumper sticker
as I'm kind of driving along
and I see this bumper sticker go by,
it says,
I'm spending my children's inheritance.
Or,
the other one that I really like
is the one that,
no, you can't use my truck.
I'm not helping you move.
I read those bumper stickers
and I say,
well, those things tell me
what people's hearts are like.
And that's the attitude of the world,
isn't it?
It's all about me.
It's for my own interest
and really,
at the end of the day,
it's,
what do I get out of this?
On the other hand,
I think about the illustrations
that I just think of the last couple weeks.
I think of the fact that later in the week,
the week before
Vacation Bible School actually started,
it became evident that we needed,
I think it was 220 cupcakes
that some of the ladies in our church
were going to frost
and then they were going to stick
little red Twizzlers on top.
They were called,
what were they called,
Jody?
Cupcake bombs or something?
Dynamite cupcakes or dynamite.
Anyway,
I saw the,
I thought that's a great idea
and so,
actually,
honestly,
I went out on Facebook
and so I posted,
hey,
we need,
bang,
it was done.
I mean,
minutes,
it's like,
did we have too many
we had to give them away?
Yeah,
it's like,
yeah,
wham,
it happened.
And while we're talking about moving,
I can't help but bring up the fact that,
John,
you're moving,
when are you doing it?
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
26,
okay.
Testimony to our fellowship
is that we're willing to help
one another move,
isn't that right?
When I was at,
by the way,
Mrs. Holopeter,
where are you?
I'm not talking about Carolyn,
I'm talking about Megan.
When I was at Aaron and Megan's wedding,
I got a text
and it really made me,
it made me happy.
I got a text saying
that there were 23 of our people
there to help Steve and Marsha move.
Somebody,
somebody stopped
and went off to the side,
I think you sent him over there,
didn't you?
It was Henry.
Where are you,
Henry?
You're out here somewhere,
probably working with the kids.
Anyway,
I get a text that says,
hey,
guess what,
Pastor?
Because I was a little fretful,
you know,
it's like,
I wonder how many people
are going to be there
to help them move
and I'd like to be there
but I want to be at Aaron
and Megan's wedding
and I get this text
that says,
hey,
it's good,
there's 23 people.
In fact,
they were standing in line
and you know,
some guys want to be able
to carry three or four boxes,
you know,
and when you have that many people,
it's like,
you know,
shoebox,
you know,
it's like,
no,
that's two,
you know,
it's like,
okay.
Do you know what that says
about people?
I know one of the men
in our church
shared that
one of his neighbors
moved that same week
and there wasn't
a single person
from the body of people
that he's involved with
that was there to help.
You see,
I want you to understand
that what Paul is
illustrating here
in this passage
is that
when God's at work
in our hearts,
we end up caring
for one another.
Genuine Christian affection
drives us
to help one another
in need.
It drives us
to help
problems
and tensions
within the family of God
with the intention
of bringing about
reconciliation
rather than flaming out.
One of the things
that as I've gotten
older in the Lord,
I have been
so blessed
to watch
is that
I have learned
that in many cases
the body
that is healthy
heals itself.
How many of you
understand what I said?
If
someone has an attitude
with someone else
and someone shares it
with other individuals,
often what will happen
in our fellowship
is that
the someone else's
will say,
yeah,
how did it go
when you talked
with them?
By the way,
that's Matthew 18.
Am I right?
How many of you
understand that?
Will you please
nod your head
so I know
that I don't need
to give a little
rendition here.
Okay?
It's important.
That's what I mean
by the body
heals itself.
It takes care
of a lot of
the little issues
that happen
in life.
We help each other
with that.
A husband
has something
to say,
struggling in a relationship
or a wife
has something,
someone else
will come alongside
and say,
hey,
let me help you
with that.
I love you.
Don't go there.
Furthermore,
when people
have a genuine
affection for one another,
they encourage
those who are wounded
and are struggling.
You know,
the truth of the matter
is that when you
are close to people,
you know what's going
on in their lives,
whether they intend
to let you know
or not.
You don't know
all the details,
but how many of you
know when someone's
countenance has fallen?
Now,
what do I mean
by countenance?
How many of you
know when a person's
kind of disconsolate
or discouraged
or kind of despondent?
You know,
what happens?
Their face falls,
right?
Now,
I don't mean to the point
of needing surgery,
but I'm talking about,
you know,
it's like,
hey,
you're discouraged.
I can see it.
What's the problem?
Now,
don't ask them
in the lobby.
I want you to know
the lobby is the place
where everything is good.
But,
you know,
catch them on the side
and say,
you know,
in the lobby,
I noticed that instead
of having that,
hey,
I'm great look,
what's wrong?
Genuine Christian affection
leads us
to stay through relationships
despite the challenges
and heartaches
that come over time.
And so,
I want you to stop
and think just for a moment
and put it in very practical terms.
We're looking at
this little passage
where the apostle says,
hey,
listen,
I care about you
and I know you care about me.
I want you to ask yourself,
do my actions
and my inner thoughts
reflect the heart of Christ?
Do my actions
and my inner thoughts
reflect the heart of Christ?
So that we frame this properly,
you're in the book of Ephesians
and we're going to come back there,
but I want you to turn back
just for a little bit
to 1 Corinthians chapter 13.
Now,
with your eyes closed,
most of you who are
well-versed in the Scriptures
know that 1 Corinthians
13 is the what?
It's the love chapter
and we all got that down.
I mean,
we don't need any coaching in that,
but let's take a look anyway,
okay?
1 Corinthians chapter 13.
Picking up in verse 4,
it says,
love is patient and kind.
Love does not envy or boast.
It is not arrogant or rude.
It does not insist on its own way.
It is not irritable or resentful.
It does not rejoice at wrongdoing,
but rejoices in the truth.
Love bears all things,
believes all things,
hopes all things,
endures all things.
Probably the simplest illustration
I can give you of a love like this
is that Judith and I
are going to play grandparents
to two of our grandsons.
Sam,
my youngest,
is at Fort Sill
for his military responsibilities,
and he's down there,
and they took two of their four,
and guess who has the other two?
Well,
Heather and Todd
kept them for a week,
and now we're going to keep them
for a week,
and guess what we're going to do?
How many of you understand
that having children
when you're young
is a very intelligent thing?
But,
we're going to enjoy,
and we have a wonderful time
entertaining,
and I've set up a tent
in the bedroom.
Does that make sense?
They're going to tent
with Grandpa
in air conditioning.
Could I have the tent outside?
The answer is yes,
but my neighbors
have attacked squirrels,
and I thought it'd be
much better
to put it inside,
and so I pushed the bed
out of the way,
and I set this little
four-man tent up,
and we sent pictures to Sam,
said,
guess where they're going to stay?
And my affection for them
is Judith has bought candy.
Now,
I'm a diabetic,
and should candy
be in the house
of a diabetic?
What's the answer?
No.
I mean,
I like that, Seth.
Just more insulin, right?
Is that what you're thinking?
But here's the deal.
So,
Judith hides the candy
from me,
but I want to tell you
something about somebody
that grew up
in boarding school.
Everybody listen.
You have to get up
pretty in the early morning
to get ahead of me.
And so,
being as
astute as I am,
I think,
well,
grandkids are coming.
Hmm.
I wonder what's
in the bottom drawer here.
In fact,
I happen to open
a thing of Cheetos,
and she says,
I mean,
you know,
kind of that soft,
loving voice,
don't do that,
that's for the kids.
Okay.
Oh,
yeah,
let's talk about music,
right?
Music.
How many of you realize
that all of us
have our favorites?
Smile.
We all have our favorites.
Do you understand that?
We have favorites,
am I right?
When my grandkids
are in my house,
guess what kind of songs
we sing?
Ad nauseum.
So,
what song would you like
to sing,
Calvin?
Well,
let's sing
Jesus Loves Me.
And after we've sung
Jesus Loves Me Once,
okay,
and what song
would you like to sing,
Eliab?
Well,
why don't we sing,
do you follow that?
And my affection
for my grandchildren
leads me
to willingly
do what their
hearts inclined
to do,
right?
I do ask myself
the question,
are there any
Bible verses
that go along
with that?
Yeah,
okay,
so we're okay.
So,
ask yourself
the question
this morning
as you think
about this
concluding little
portion to the
book of Ephesians.
Here's the apostle
saying this,
when the Spirit
of God's at work,
He works
to help me
love other people.
Well,
Paul's given us
an illustration,
but I want to
finish off by
looking at
verse 23,
where we find
a very interesting
theological summary
that is given
for us.
He says,
Peace be to the
brothers,
and love with
faith.
Now,
circle the little
word from.
What we are
looking at here
in verse 23
is the fact
that genuine
conversion brings
peace to us
in our relationships
that the unbelieving
world cannot
understand.
It's interesting
that the unbelieving
world looks at
peace,
honestly,
as the interlude
between conflicts.
Do you understand
that?
Let me say that
slowly.
The unbelieving
world looks at
peace as being
those brief breaks
between conflicts.
It's incredible
to believe
or to discover
just how much
turmoil and
conflict is going
on around the
world.
It's everywhere
you look.
You can't turn
on the news
without finding
some turmoil
and some conflict
that's really
life-threatening.
Genuine salvation,
on the other hand,
brings peace that
is more than
just a cessation
of strife.
God's peace
brings a
sense of
well-being
and it brings
peace in
relationships.
When the
sinner is changed
by the power
of the cross,
he's changed
from being a
child of wrath
and one who
lives a wrathful
lifestyle to
being a child
of God and
one who is
interested in
those things
that bring
glory to God.
He no longer
lives under the
shadow of God's
judgment.
And a heart
that is received
complete forgiveness
and savors the
gift is that
peace with God.
And that peace
translates into
relationships with
other people.
Do you follow
that?
I was talking
with an individual
just a couple
days ago where
they were dealing
with kind of
working through
an offense that
someone had done
to them,
someone in the
family of God.
And they came
first to kind of
commiserate.
How many of you
know what I mean
by commiserate?
It's like,
you know,
you kind of
chew on this and
it kind of begins
to eat you up a
little bit and
then you have to
say something to
somebody.
It's like,
you know,
I can't believe
they did this.
You know,
and as this
person was talking
and by the way,
it's not a good
idea to talk to
pastor about things
like that because
you know what
pastor's going to
do?
What's he going
to do?
Huh?
Well,
what's the
pastor going
to do?
Probably going
to bring a
little passage of
scripture alongside
and say,
you know what,
I'm wondering.
And providentially,
the Lord allowed
this person to
have what I
call spiritual
belch.
How many of you
know what a
spirit,
it's kind of a
and I,
whew,
man.
And it dawned
on them that
they'd done this
in front of the
pastor and then
they began to
self-diagnose.
Do you know
what it is to
self-diagnose?
Yes.
Okay?
And then they
said this,
they said,
you know,
I have to
think that
God has
actually been
more patient
with me
than I'm
being with
Bubba.
You know,
is there any
Bubba?
No.
Okay,
it's more
patient with
me than I'm
being with
Bubba and I
need to get
over this.
I said,
well,
yeah,
that's right.
Here's the
point.
It says
there in
verse 23,
peace be
to the
brothers.
Listen,
God wants
us who
are part
of the
family of
God to
be at
peace with
one another,
to be in
unity,
to have
mutual
affections for
one another.
And that
doesn't just
come because
we all
happen to
like to
play golf
together.
It happens
because of
our affection
for the
Lord Jesus
Christ.
And honestly,
when you run
into people
who profess
to be
believers but
are always
at odds
and all
stirred up
about things
and relationships,
one of the
legitimate questions
that you can
ask yourself
is,
I wonder
what's going
on in this
person's
life spiritually.
It can't
be that
way.
Now,
look also
at the
second part
of this
verse.
It says,
peace to
the brothers
and love
with faith
from
genuine
conversion
moves the
believer to
being a
loving
person.
I want you
to have that
stuck in
your mind.
Genuine
conversion,
it's not
going to
pop out
on the
slide,
so just
kind of
write it
down
anyway.
Genuine
conversion
leads you
to love
other people.
Let me
argue this
from the
scriptures.
believers.
And I'm
not going
to have
you turn
at the
passage just
because of
the time,
but in
John
chapter 13
verse 35,
here's what
Jesus said.
He said,
this is how
people are
going to
know you're
a Christian
because you
love others.
Now,
I do want
you to turn.
You're in
Ephesians.
I want you
to go to
John,
1 John.
And by
the way,
1 John is
a book
that was
written to
help people
know whether
they're saved
or not.
Stop,
just for a
second.
Let's
understand this
because it's
important.
It's amazing
how easily
we are
deceived.
I am
convinced
there will
be people
that when
they slip
from this
life into
eternity
are going
to be
absolutely
stunned
to find
out that
they have
never come
to faith
in the
Lord Jesus
Christ.
And because
of their
lack of
belief in
Christ,
they will
spend
eternity
in hell.
Satan
deceived
them in
thinking that
because they
got baptized
when they
were 11,
or because
they showed
up on a
regular basis,
or because
they were a
Sunday school
teacher,
that in
and of
itself is
what guaranteed
them a
rival into
eternity.
That's not
the case.
And
Scripture
is often
interested
in having
us kind
of question
whether or
not we're
the real
thing.
Do you
follow that?
Now,
having said
that,
can I tell
you that
next week's
message is
going to
deal with
that?
But in
1 John,
if you
look,
in 1 John
chapter 4,
let me just
read it to you.
It says in
verse 7,
Beloved,
let us
love one
another,
for love
is from
God.
That's not
Hollywood.
That's
lasting
covenant
commitment
and enduring
genuine
affection.
Love is
from God,
and whoever
loves has
been born
of God
and knows
God.
I have
known people
that,
boy,
they're
orthodoxy,
they can
slice and
dice verses
with the
best of
them,
but when
it really
comes down
to relationships,
there is no
evidence of
love at all
in their
life,
and here's
what the
passage says,
love's from
God,
and whoever
loves has
been born
of God
and knows
God.
Anyone who
does not
know love
does not
know God
because God
is love.
Well,
if you go
on to verse
12,
and I want
you to look
at that,
no one
has ever
seen God.
That's a
theological
statement,
it's true,
but if we
love one
another,
God abides
in us,
and His love
is perfected
in us.
How do I
know that
God is at
work in me
because I
love other
people?
It's not
natural to
me.
And by the
way,
lest you're
surprised,
it's not
natural to
you.
And so the
argument that
John is
making is,
hey,
when God's
in us,
we love
other people.
Now look at
verse 19
and 21.
We love
because He
first loved
us.
So how do
we get started
at loving,
period?
Well, He
chases us
down in our
miserable,
despicable
condition of
being an
unrepentant
sinner,
rebellious
against the
glory of
God,
seeking only
our own
glory.
And He
finds us in
our despair,
and He
convicts us of
the darkness
and the
wickedness of
our heart,
and draws us
to the cross
by His grace,
and leads us
to cry out
and say,
I am a
sinner,
deserving
judgment,
but Jesus
died for me.
Jesus loves
me.
And I
cast myself
upon His
finished work
and His
mercy,
and I
ask Him
to be my
Savior.
We love
Him because
He first
loved us.
If anyone
says,
I love
God,
and hates
his brother,
he's a
liar.
For he
who does
not love
his brother
whom he
has seen
cannot love
God
whom he's
not seen.
What we're
looking at
in this
passage in
Ephesians,
going back
to it as
we close,
is Paul
is very,
very interested
in our
understanding
that this
whole book,
which begins
by explaining
the glory of
Christ in
saving us,
and the
wonder of
the work
of the
Spirit of
God in
transforming us
through progressive
sanctification,
ends up in
very,
very practical
terms in
the relationships
we have in
the body of
Christ.
So here's
what I want
you to think
about.
Everybody look
at me for a
minute,
please.
I know
more of
what's going
on in your
lives than
you think I
do.
Does that
mean I know
everything?
No.
But my
appeal to
you this
morning is
this.
Don't
allow the
enemy to
dishonor the
testimony and
the power of
the cross by
nurturing an
unforgiving and
ill spirit towards
another brother
or sister.
That's not of
God.
And he
who saved
you wants
your
conversations and
your affections
when you are
working at
McDonald's or
at Meijer or
at Walmart or
at Chase or
at wherever
to cause people
to say,
you know,
there's something
about you.
You actually
have loving
spirit towards
other people.
it's very
unusual.
And you
can say to
them,
well,
it's not
because of
me.
Amen?
It's because
of the power
of the Spirit
of God.
Everybody
smile.
Who won't
let me get
away with an
unloving,
embittered,
sour spirit
towards those
who are part
of the family
of God.
Amen.
Paul wants
us to
remember
that.
People that
are deeply
affected by
His love
show that
love to
others.
Let's
close in
prayer.
Father God,
this morning
our heart
cannot help
but remember
what Zachariah
the prophet said,
not by might
nor by power
but by my
spirit,
saith the
Lord.
You
who loved
us before
the foundation
of the world,
who willingly
sent Your
Son to be
the example
of Your
love and
His
willing,
loving
death
for us,
has given
us the
opportunity
of salvation
through His
blood and
You have
saved us
and called
us to be
an exception
in an
unloving,
unbelievably
wicked world
and we
want to
be all
that You've
called us
to be.
Help us
to have a
holy
dissatisfaction
with an
unwholesome,
ungodly,
despicable
spirit.
where it
exists towards
a brother
or a
sister.
Cause us
to be ashamed
of what that
says for
Your love
and to
repent and
forbear.
I pray for
those individuals
that are here
this morning
that do not
know Christ,
that this
morning Your
Spirit would
draw them to
the cross
to know
the complete
forgiveness
for all
sin that
may be
found only
in the
blood of
Christ.
And we
ask this in
Your precious
name.
Amen.