The Uniting of All Things Under Christ

For the glory of God and for the edification of his people if you have a Bible, please turn to Ephesians chapter 6

We're gonna be finishing up this Wonderful book the sacred book this epistle from the

Apostle Paul to the church in Ephesus We're gonna be reading starting in verse 10.

So please do stand when you have that scripture Hear ye this morning the word of the

Lord Finally be strong in the Lord and the strength of his might

Upon the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood

But against the rulers against the authorities against the cosmic powers over this present darkness against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places

Therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand withstand in that evil day having all to stand firm

Stand therefore having fastened on the belt of truth and put on the breastplate of righteousness and as shoes for your feet

Having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace in all circumstances take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one and Take the hell in the salvation the sword of the

Spirit, which is the Word of God Praying at all times in the spirit with all prayer and supplication to that end

Keep alert with all perseverance making supplication for all the Saints and Also for me that the words may be given to me and opening my mouth boldly proclaim the mystery of the gospel

For which I'm an ambassador and change that I may declare it boldly as I ought to speak So that you may also know how

I am and what I am doing Tychus the beloved brother and faithful minister and the Lord will tell you everything

I have sent him to you for this very purpose that you may know how we are and That we may encourage your hearts

Peace be to the brothers and love with faith from God the Father and the

Lord Jesus Christ grace Be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible, amen, you may be seated

Father as you pray a blessing over the preaching of your word Lord use a weak servant to bring forward this powerful message of Faith life redemption forgiveness of sins and the redemption that came through Jesus Christ unto the glory of the

Father May the spirit work in our hearts as we hear this word in Jesus name. Amen Well brethren it's been several months

Since I've had the privilege of being your pastor. Also the privilege of bringing forth this beautiful text of Scripture Probably my favorite book in all of the

Bible the book of Ephesians and it's usually joked around amongst pastors It's a pastor's favorite book, especially of their

Calvinist because there's so many wonderful beautiful truths that come so mildly through the pages of Ephesians And I want to if possible to tie this whole beautiful book together in this final message from the book of Ephesians So that we may be able to grasp and comprehend the length of breath and the height of God's love and the

Redemption that came through Jesus Christ My hope is that in today's message

You will see the grand theme not only of the book of Ephesians But I hope also the theme of the

Bible come alive to you namely this the uniting of all things in heaven and on earth under the principal head of Jesus Christ Truth is beloved that all things in heaven and on earth belong to God You belong to God your children belong to God your job

Belongs to God your money belongs to God your vehicle that brought you here this morning belongs to God Everything that you have the breath in your lungs

The ability to speak or in my case hardly to speak comes from God Everything is from him to him and from him are all things scripture says

Therefore we must not forget this important truth that all things belonging to God Yet in this state in which we are in There are things that we observe that we see with our eyes and with our life experience

They have not yet come under the full Lordship of Jesus Christ and I will explain what

I mean by that in a moment but before I even get there I Want you to examine the the the last few words of Paul to the church in Ephesus now this member from earlier sermons the church in and Ephesus was a

Marvelous work matter of fact this church that was likely started by the Apostle Paul That was well supported by the other

Christian brothers and sisters around the the Empire at this time and Ephesus was it was a major trade route in a major economic powerhouse at that time

This church would go on even past Paul's life

To continue to be a faithful witness of Jesus Christ So much so that we see in Revelation chapter 2 and 3 as Christ addresses the seven churches of Asia Minor he brings up Ephesus and Commends them for their faith and vibrancy in the

Lord Jesus Christ and so the words That Paul preached the words that he delivered through this epistle left a mark on this people left an imprint on them and my hope is as we go as we have gone through this book as You have heard the

Word of God preached to you that the closing words and even all of the words that we have yet We have so far examined

Will be a blessing to you that it will stick with you that it would empower you to be faithful to Jesus Christ Well past the time that we have spent in the text

They would be an anchor for us to persevere to put on that whole armor of God To be a people a peculiar people known for love and good works

Paul says this in verse 19 He says and also for me that the words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly proclaim the mystery of the gospel for which

I am an ambassador in chains Let's not forget

Paul's situation Paul's predicament in this letter as he's writing it or dictating it sending it to the church in Ephesus This is a man who?

though in chains though imprisoned None of those things could stop him from boldly proclaiming what he believed

Church Regardless of your circumstances in life Regardless of your economic situation your

Physical limitations regardless of where you may find yourself in season in life know and proclaim this

That Jesus Christ is Lord over all Will you be able to proclaim that even as Paul did in chains?

He could not stop and he would not stop from boldly proclaiming the mystery of The gospel so if you're following along today's teaching

Please write this even chains cannot stop Paul from boldly proclaiming the mystery of the gospel now this idea of a mystery is

It pervades the entire letter that Paul writes to the church in Ephesus Notice that I want you to examine with me the the kind of the background of the church in Ephesus is a church in Asia Minor kind of what would be modern -day

Turkey and this church was made up of Jews and Gentiles They had a lot of Gentiles, but you also had

Jews in the mix and in this point in redemptive history You had these two people groups who were often time pit against each other who are often times opposed to one another

Very similar to the history that we have in America with people who are white and people who are black

There's this tension that has been in our culture that has been in our society and the same was true back then amongst the

Jews and the Gentile world and Paul writing to this church that is made up of Jews and Gentiles.

He speaks to them boldly about the mystery Now, what is this mystery?

What mystery is Paul referring to here? Well Paul's referring to the sacred mystery of the good news of Jesus Christ and This is a man who was bold about it

He would not stop preaching and teaching if you can turn to Acts chapter 28 for a moment before Paul's imprisonment

We read this report at the end of the book of Acts in Acts chapter 28 in the closing verses in verse 30 and 31

The word of the Lord says he lived there. This is regarding Paul Two whole years at his own expense and welcomed all who came to him

Proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with what?

boldness and without hindrance boldness and hindrance and without hindrance

These are two things that we must examine our own lives Are we bold when it comes to our personal declaration of the gospel of Jesus Christ?

Or do we just like every other or most churches do most Christians do? They come to church to hear the gospel and they pay a preacher to preach the gospel

But then they're not preaching the gospel Well friends, may I challenge you?

May I tell you a truth that may make you a bit uncomfortable this morning It's not just the preachers job to preach the gospel.

It's your job, too It's your job. It's your responsibility This good news isn't just to be preached by the hands of a few by but by the hands of many

This good news isn't just for the mouth of the preacher to declare But instead Jesus Christ has called you all to be preachers and heralds of the good news of Jesus Christ every single one of us

Every single Christian who has come under the Lordship of Jesus who has been filled with the

Holy Ghost Has been called to be a minister of the marvelous works of God This is part of the mystery beloved.

You have a responsibility May you fall after the example of Paul who who went boldly without hindrance?

Preaching the gospel. What does that mean to do something without hindrance? It means that regardless of the obstacles in life in the way

He could not be stopped He could not be stopped Several years ago around this time actually

When I lived in Connecticut I went with a brother in the Lord and we would go out ministering and we would just pick really random places

We ended up once at a room. We noticed that there were a lot of cars parked outside of a Roman Catholic Church So we went to the

Roman Catholic Church and they were teaching catechism And so I was like great waiting for them to come out and we'll start talking to him and so when they came out we started preaching the gospel to them and the priest came out and and he was kind of rude and I guess

I don't blame him. Here's these two Protestant, you know guys trying to preach the gospel to his congregants who just came out of catechism and He came up to us.

He got right in our face. He's like listen, you can't I'm not gonna say the word But it's graphic.

He says you can't BS a BS er That's what he said And I was taken aback by that And I said, you know what this guy needs

Jesus to obviously so I started preaching the gospel of him Later on that same night.

Actually, we decided, you know, let's go to the park and we saw this group of adult adult males having a baseball game and And afterwards we decided to engage them in the gospel conversation

And they're all drinking beers and they're being profane and they're dropping literally throwing beer cans at our feet

And about over a course of an hour talking to these folks They would catch each other when that one person would swear.

Hey, don't say that in front of the guys All right, they start picking up the beer cans They start to change the way they're behaving because of the light of the gospel that was being preached to them

You see in life circumstances, you'll be thrown maybe different curveballs Maybe you'll be put in situations that are not ideal

But every opportunity that the Lord opens in your life May you use it to his glory to advance the message of the kingdom to advance the gospel of Jesus Christ Whether it's at a baseball game whether it's at a

Roman Catholic Church Whether it's at Walmart whether it's at your school or at your work wherever it is that you find people may you find

Opportunity to share this good news about the Lord Jesus Christ May you find these opportunities?

Because we can be one of two churches We can be a church that opens our doors and hopes and prays that people find us or We can be a church that opens our doors so we may go out those doors and find the people who need

Jesus What church would we be? What kind of people will we be as? Disciples as Christians as those who follow

Jesus I pray and hope that we will be a church They'll follow after the example of the

Apostle Paul who with all boldness and without hindrance declared the mystery of this

Incredible gospel and this gospel is so powerful. So wonderful. So beautiful that we should not hold it

Ransom that we shouldn't put it under a basket But instead we should be a city on a hill shining that light of Jesus Christ to men women and children everywhere

So church, here's the Here's the call Be a witness of Jesus Christ be a witness of the mystery of the gospel and proclaim it boldly as Paul did so faithfully and as Paul so beautifully declared it in this text of Scripture and Ephesians.

I Want you to examine with me for a moment Let's look at the thematic overview of The book of Ephesians so that we will not forget but instead that we will hold fast to the word has been brought to us

There's a mystery here And it's a sacred mystery. It's a wonderful mystery and the mystery of the gospel is

How God is uniting all things

Under Jesus Christ Here's the mystery all things belong to God yet not all things have yet been totally subject to God Because of sin because of the corruption of Adam and the corruption that we've inherited and also engaged in The world is not as it should be

The world is filled with crime of murder with sin selfishness deceit wickedness of all sorts

The world is in chaos There's wars rumors of wars

There's pestilence pandemics There is nation rising up against nation there's issues amongst people groups and tensions in the culture and there is a cooling off of the love of many all things prophesied by our

Lord Jesus Christ The world is far from perfect But God is at work and bringing all things together under the proper headship of his son

Even Jesus Christ our Lord, please turn to Ephesians chapter 1 Let us examine the theme of the mystery of God and how it's unfolded through the book of Ephesians Ephesians chapter 1 verse 9

Paul says that God making known to us The mystery there's that word again of his will

According to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan.

Here's the plan Here's the good news. God has a plan And that plan will come to fruition and that plan is this

For the fullness of time. That's the appointed day and time that God has ordained in heaven and in eternity past to unite all things in Him the him the subject being

Christ Things in heaven and things on earth

Here's the theme of the book of Ephesians Arguably the theme of the Bible how

God is bringing all things under the lordship and headship of King Jesus That's his plan and that's the mystery

Now this is incredible because God has revealed to us his mystery his plan

To bring all things and have it on earth Under the principal head of all things even

Jesus Christ our beloved Savior and Lord But it goes on to say in chapter 3 if you can turn there

We get more insight into this mystery in Ephesians chapter 3

Starting in verse 4 When you read this you can perceive my insight into the mystery.

There's that word again of Christ Which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as It has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the

Spirit this mystery Here's the mystery folks is that the

Gentiles are fellow heirs members of the same body partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel

You're following along today's teaching the mystery of the gospel is how God is uniting all things under Jesus Christ starting with Jews and Gentile here's insight into God's plan

Insight into God's mystery how he's uniting all things he begins by healing the divisions and the racial tensions and wounds of two people groups

Jews and Gentiles you remember Gentile in the simple Greek word which means nations

So there's the chosen people of God There's Jacob Israel And then there is the nations of the world and if you remember anything about redemptive history in the book

In the first in the Torah in the first five books of the Bible you see that God made a covenant with Abraham He promised

Abraham Descendants as numerous as the stars he promised them a land and a people

That would then go in turn to bless the nations that through Israel through this promised seed all the nations would be blessed that was

God's covenant his promise to Abraham and Yet the nations came under the administration of the sons of God they became corrupt

We see this come out at a breaking point in Genesis chapter 11 with the Tower of Babel When the nations gather in opposition against the

Lord and then the Lord scatters the nations across the surface of the earth but then he chooses for himself a people a particular people the nation of Israel and then they go into slavery and God delivers them from slavery and Brings them to the land that was promised to them the land of Canaan a land

Flowing with milk and honey a land of promise in a land of blessing yet Israel Though blessed with the covenants of the patriarchs

Was not able to hold to the promise and a steadfast love of their

God Yahweh Instead they forsook the loving -kindness of God They forsook the

God of creation and began to worship created things even things carved of human hands and Because of their failures and their immorality and because of their spiritual apostasy

God turned his attention to the nation's By bringing forth his son

Jesus Christ Born in the fullness of time born of the Virgin to live a holy and perfect life life to live the life that you and I could not live holy perfect and blameless never sinned and Yet he died the death that we deserved as criminals

As a sinner was treated was spat on was disrespected was wounded and Then was pierced on a

Roman crucifix on a Roman cross And yet God did not turn his heart away from his son, but he raised him from the dead on the third day demonstrating that this

Jesus is the Lord of life and that this Jesus Who said of the

Jewish people and of those whom he would include in the fold of Abraham I have other sheep which are not of this fold and they too

I will bring in and I will make them one people one head

This is what we find in Scripture to be the truth that God through the personal work of Jesus Christ brings forth

Reconciliation between Jew and Gentile in that that which not which once distinguished him now becomes indistinguishable in Jesus Christ It's not no longer about the outward circumcision, but it's about the circumcision of the heart

It's not about he who is a physical seed of Abraham But rather who is the descendant of the true seed of Abraham namely

Jesus Christ? When we become spiritual descendants of this Christ through faith and repentance in his name

This is the mystery how God has brought together two people groups Showing that if God can bring together two people groups

He will bring all things eventually under his headship and lordship

Even the nations and the world and the cosmos will be under the dominion of King Jesus This is the mystery of This wonderful Excellent gospel that we believe that we hold that we hear and that we confess

And this has application for us today beloved We live in a world that's divided.

We live in a world. That's So much tension whether it's around ethnic lines socioeconomic lines regardless of Of what the world says and you know the cancel culture that's out there and exists beloved

Let us love one another What separates in marks Christians or what ought to separate in mark

Christians? Is that our head knowledge? Which granted as reformed Christians as reformed

Baptist we tend to do pretty well in that area. We tend to know a lot But beloved may

I ask you do you love a lot? Does the amount of knowledge that you have

Meet and match and even exceed the love that you show towards the

Saints and even those who don't know Jesus Because they don't they won't know you by what you know, they'll know you by your love

They'll know you by your love. I Went to a visit once With a mentor of mine to To visit someone in our first church and This person was having a particular struggle

And this struggle and so I started researching and had all this stuff And I had like you know like ten pages of research ready and so beforehand.

I meet with my mentor we're gonna go visit this person and And I'm saying look at look at all the research.

I've done. I'm gonna. You know we're gonna we're gonna really show this brother the error of his ways and And he looked at me he said

There's my mentor. He says Brian you don't get it. Do you I? said what do you mean

I Did all the research of course I get it. I've got it all here. I've prepared and he's like he's like Brian You don't get it

They don't care how much you know they care about how much you care and how much you love

And at that moment I get I got it. That's okay. I get it. I get it We can often rely too heavily on what we know

We have to remember that knowledge is a servant to love That we use our knowledge in order to serve and in order to love better Not to beat people over the head of it

Which is a nice thing that Christians are known for sometimes being Bible thumpers We don't just dump through the Bible.

We're able to you know drop these Bibles on people's heads. That's not gonna get them saved That's not gonna get them to to know

Jesus, but rather it's the love and I love how Paul Knits all these things together

By reminding us in his final greeting. What is the most important aspect of the

Christian life namely love? Notice we says in verse 21 of Ephesians chapter 6

So that you may also know that I am how I am and what

I am doing Tychus the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord will tell you everything

And I have sent him to you for this very purpose that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts

You're following the law Paul emphasizes the importance of faithful ministers

By Tychus whom he sent For their encouragement.

See Tychus was a man who was sent by Paul. We see him in other places in Scripture We don't have much information about him

But we know that Paul sends him in Acts chapter 20 verse 4 to 6 we see him again addressed in 2nd

Timothy 4 12 so he was a Faithful minister. He was a person who faithfully loved the

Saints who served alongside the Apostle Paul Who was a man of integrity who was a man of love and the whole purpose of Paul informing the

Ephesian church He's like listen, I'm in chains. I can't come to you He doesn't know if he'll be able to see them again

But he says the next best thing I can do is send you this man This man who's a faithful minister a beloved brother in the

Lord he'll tell you everything you need to know and he's gonna do so with the purpose of Encouraging your hearts

Encouraging your hearts Beloved I know that we live in discouraging times

There's often times in our lives where we face trials and tribulations and we're just discouraged and we're in need of encouragement

Beloved I hope and pray That this is a church where you find encouragement

Where when we come together on service, it isn't just to fulfill a religious duty But instead or an obligation it is those things but I want it to be more than just those things

This is a place where you come and you can be encouraged That the discouragement of your life can begin to melt away under the preaching of the

Word of God that you receive this soothing balm for your soul

Through the gospel of peace the very gospel that we were to put on as part of the the armor of God and Yet my hope is also that as your pastor and as a lot alongside the other pastors here that we serve in faith faithfully minister to you on to your encouragement an encouragement to do good works an

Encouragement to be obedient to the gospel call an encouragement to live lives worthy of the call that you've received

And that throughout the week on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday until we meet again on the

Lord's Day on Sunday That we have the strength necessary to to live out the

Calling to which we've been called And that's exactly Paul's heart towards the church.

That's his heart towards the people of God in this context He wants him to be encouraged not discouraged

Because without encouragement it's hard to live this Christian walk in life

Now that's why brethren. It is declared in God's Word That we were to meet together often

Then we were to gather as often as we can So that we do not grow weary or do not grow discouraged

Because the world that we live in is wicked if you have a secular job and you work amongst secular people

If you notice the way they talk It's not the way we ought to talk often what their interests are don't always align with what our interests are and Therefore as we are in a world where we are totally outnumbered

It's important that we meet together as often as we can to incite one another to good and fine work and most importantly to incite each other in love and That's the theme that Paul closes with in verse 23

He says peace be to the brothers That's the shalom the shalom of God the peace of God the peace of God that he sells elsewhere to the church in Philippi that surpasses all understanding

It's a piece that only God can grant Maybe you've had a time in your life where you experienced that peace.

Maybe you were in a difficult time Maybe you lost a job. Maybe you lost someone you loved dearly and yet you had this overwhelming sense of peace peace that cannot be purchased a

Peace that cannot be robbed and a peace that is enduring and that's the peace of God That's the peace that God gives

And it's the peace that he declares over the brothers over the brethren over the church And he does so by saying this peace be to the brothers shalom and love agape

Love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ this benediction

Reflects the theme of Paul's epistle to the Ephesians That which he wants to close with are the things that he has emphasized throughout this entire letter

Namely first and foremost peace Again, it's the peace of God the peace of God that Surpasses understand to me.

So what a marvelous statement that is from Philippians 4 this peace that surpasses

Understanding. I don't even think I quite understand that. I don't think I quite understand the

Incredible depth of that statement that there exists a peace a calm in the middle of the storm

That surpasses what I'm able to understand and comprehend It's amazing

It reminds me the story where Jesus is indeed on that boat going over the lake over the sea and the storm rages and the disciples are all freaking out and They're terrified and they're scared and what's

Jesus doing? He's taking a nap And it isn't until these guys wake him up that he gets up.

And what does he do? He calms the storm You see What's the marvelous thing about our faith?

It's not that life will be devoid of storms Not that life will be devoid of trials or turbulence or tribulation or difficulty

But rather when the storms of life are raging we have in our possession a sure anchor for our soul

Namely the Prince of Peace himself Jesus Christ Do you rely on this gracious Prince of Peace?

When the storms are raging around you Know that the one who is in you can calm the storms of life

He'll grant you that peace the Shalom of God will come over you. So you may know the agape love

That he has towards you And he has this love and this peace towards you in Jesus Christ So marvelous is this benediction peace be to the brothers with love and love with faith with faith

There's this peace. There's this love this love that the also anchors us

This love that is beyond comprehension brethren Do you recognize the grandeur of God's love?

I Don't think you do. I don't I Can't even begin to drink from that fount of how incredible His love is towards us in Christ so much so That he would send forth his son in the fullness of time to die for you a sinner and a wretched one at that Not just a small little sinner, but but a terrible sinner and that he would die for me.

I Can't fathom such love I Can't fathom such a thing that God would die for me, but alas, that's the love of God It's this love that is able to transfer us from death to life

It's just love which is able to motivate us to good and fine works It's this love that changes us just like when if you ever had the privilege of falling in love

That privilege of falling in love you you recognize that once you meet this person and you fall in love them.

Nothing's the same Nothing's the same again. And then when you're away from them or if something bad happens in a relationship

There's literally a physical reaction in your life to it. You can't eat you can't drink you can't sleep everything changes

Brethren so much more ought the love of God change your hearts

So much more should God's love affect us that we are

Truly changed from the inside out So great as God's love for us

And so little Can we actually comprehend of the depths of the riches of his grace and love and kindness towards us in his son

Jesus Christ and yet Paul also mentions this love but also this faith

This faith is love with faith from God the Father and the

Lord Jesus Christ We cannot avoid Love from faith because we love because he first loved us and he who first loved us has

Transferred us from darkness to light from the dominion of Satan to the kingdom of his beloved son

That's love working through faith does your love and Does your faith?

Align with the principles of the gospel because namely this is the most important thing for us to recognize is

That love and faith are gifts from the Almighty They're gifts to you and me

But if we don't we've never come to know true love until we've met true love in Jesus And we've met true love in Jesus.

We also meet true faith namely faithfulness Because God is faithful God is faithful.

I don't know what you're going through this morning. Maybe you've had a great week Maybe you had a terrible week. Maybe you had a difficult morning getting the kids here

Maybe you had a difficult car ride here. Maybe you're having a difficulty even hearing this message this morning. I Don't know what your struggles are

But I do know That there's love and faith available for you in Jesus and if you're faithful Remember that he is faithful and just and he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins

But I only forgive us our sins but to empower us by means of the ministry of the Holy Spirit to live renewed lives after the image of Christ This love and faith are from God the

Father and the Lord Jesus Christ All these beautiful things love peace faith all come from the fountain and the source of such

Even God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ He then says in verse 24 grace be with all who love our

Lord Jesus Christ with love Incorruptible. This is actually a very different Often a kind of a shorter benediction

Than what Paul usually gives But I think he sums up the letter that he wrote to the brothers in Ephesus He namely in verse 24 where he says grace

Be with all who love our Lord grace It's grace

There's one word. I To describe this book it'd be that one right there

It'd be grace because part of the mystery of the gospel is

God's amazing grace It's disgrace that saves us from spiritual death and depravity.

It's this grace that transfers us into Sonship it's disgrace that transfers us into light

And it's this grace that will sustain us and sustain the church until he returns grace is what we found and grace is what will carry us home and Brothers and sisters.

We're almost home We're almost there Our salvation is near now than it was then

Do not lose heart Do not faint do not grow weary Pursue the grace that surpasses

Understanding the peace that surpasses understanding the love that surpasses understanding pursue it in Jesus Christ Following along the benediction reflects a theme of this epistle namely peace love faith and grace and grace

Paul focuses much on grace in Ephesians chapter 2. I want you to turn to her if you can Read this also in our

Sunday school But in Ephesians chapter 2 we're reminded of the riches of God in verse 4 after being called wretched sons of corruption of wrath

God says in verse 4 through the Apostle Paul, but God being rich in mercy Because of the great love with which he loved us you see the love of God at work

Even when we were dead and our trespasses and sins Made us alive together with Christ There's the hope there's the promise

So then the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus For by grace you have been saved through faith

Here we see the riches of our work of a Reformation history Even now as we're in a historic time

We're remembering in October in October 31st Reformation Day, and we're reminded of the great works

Theological works and truths that were uncovered from the errors of Rome Chiefly in this one for by grace you've been saved through faith.

It's by grace It's by grace through faith

This is not your own doing It's not by any merits not by any work It's not by anything you've accomplished, but it's all by the accomplished work of Jesus Christ For it is the gift of God not a result of works so that no one may boast

You see here lies the great distinction between the

Reformers and Everyone else who teaches another path of salvation

Ours as Charles Spurgeon once said is the only position that they can that can declare emphatically with on a reservation that Salvation is of the

Lord totally of the Lord Not of man that of works not a combination of the two it is totally a work of God and it's by grace

It's in his kindness. It's in his mercy. It's in the great depths of his love for us that he saved us

He is the Savior We are the ones who become benefactors of the saving work of Jesus We receive this great salvation through faith in him and his grace

That saves us and grace that again will sustain us until the end my word to you brethren is

Stay firm in the grace of God To you who are here in our midst

Maybe you're visiting. Maybe you've not ever made a declaration of faith in Jesus Christ The Bible teaches and tells us this it is appointed for man to die once and then the judgment

We are all as humans part of the ultimate statistic Ten out of ten people will die

We are all in that boat. We are all in that category and we will all one day stand before our maker and know this

You will have to make an account and give an account to him To the one who made all things

The one who made you and the one who seated you in this place today so you may hear this word and hear this message and God calls you now to repent of your sins.

That's a turning from sin Not just not liking your sin, but turning from it and then looking to the cross of Jesus Recognizing that in the cross of Jesus He has provided all that we need for salvation and that it is only but by the grace and the gift of God That we can approach that Marvelous cross and when we come to that cross

We recognize that we're a sinner that we're in need of a Savior and that only

Jesus and his blood can save Truly on Christ the solid rock

I stand all other ground is sinking sand

May you learn today? The beauty and the majesty of the rock of ages and may you come to him

Not to be tossed to and fro by the winds of life But instead the rock there'll be anchor for your soul

May you know him today and may he sustain you to the end? Grace and peace to you from God the

Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me pray Tender father of mercies

We thank you for your goodness We thank you for this grace that you have lavished on us though undeserving we may be

You did so according to the counsel of that good pleasure and will and that you are working all things out to unite all things under the sovereign

Headship of Jesus Christ May we today? willingly

Receptively come under the headship of Jesus and be changed transformed in the renewal of our minds

Then we may taste and see even this afternoon That you are good and that your mercies endure forever

Help us Oh God in our weakness to be strong and to find our strength only in you Help us to run away

From all other worldly pursuits and flee from all sorts of things that will carry us away from the rock of ages

Oh Lord bless us Lord Watch over us Grant us your peace

Grant us your grace Grant us your love with all faith and perseverance and may you sustain us to the very end

Unto the glory of your Son even the Lord Jesus Christ Amen, we're gonna close together in song before we enter

Into the time of observance of the Lord's table and a song that we're going to be singing together

We found in the back of your bulletin The name of it is to the praise of his glorious grace

There's song that we introduced to you at the beginning of the sermon series It's a song that I thought would be appropriate to close our time together in the book of Ephesians so that we remember that God is uniting all things under the headship of Christ and Namely, he's doing it to the glorious Praise of his grace.