Ending Ephesians

Take your Bibles, if you would please, and turn to the book of Ephesians. Today's title is "Ending Ephesians." Ending Ephesians is the title for today, and I cannot believe after nearly two years we are wrapping up today. We're on the last two verses, Ephesians 6:23 and 24. On November 29th, 2023, is when we started going through Ephesians. How many of you were here for that first sermon on Ephesians? Fantastic. And now today, October the 5th, we're ending Ephesians. So two months shy of two years, and we have benefited richly from Ephesians. In fact, that is one of the higher themes in Ephesians — that we are richer in blessings because of it. Also in chapter two, we're grateful for salvation. In chapter three, we're comprehending the promises. And in chapter three as well, we're strengthened in power and under Christ's headship in chapter four. And we have been benefiting from being able to walk more worthy and humbly and gently and patiently in unity. And then as well, filled with the Spirit and functioning better as families, working better at work and stronger in the Lord, stronger against Satan's schemes, proclaiming with boldness. We've benefited as well from meeting one another's needs and learning about that and receiving grace and peace. And today we will learn more about what it is to be overwhelmed with the love and glory of Christ.

So let's read the last two verses in Ephesians chapter six and proceed forward. Ephesians 6:23 says, "Peace to the brothers in love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with incorruptible love." Let's pause for prayer. Lord, thank You for these concepts in these last two verses. This benediction is wonderful. I pray that we would benefit from it and that we'd be enriched by it as well. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.

In these last two verses, you see Pastor Paul pile on three concepts: peace, love, and grace. Look here in verse 23: "Peace be to the brothers in love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with incorruptible love." It's almost as if your heart now is going to be overwhelmed with peace, love, and grace from God the Father. Grace is from God. In fact, He had already established that in chapter one in verse six when He says, "To the praise of the glory of His grace, which He graciously bestowed on us in the beloved." And so this is a triple blessing. I love getting a triple helping when I go to the buffets, and this is like on top of one another, on top of one another, on top of one another — just many blessings on top of your heart and soul.

And then he ends with a specific responsibility from your position, a right response, a phrase that encapsulates a high view of Christology. This is what's called incorruptible love. And so because of the peace that's from God, and because of the love that's with faith, and because of the grace that He has given us, we respond with an incorruptible love: peace, love, and grace.

Now peace is something that's interesting. Christ Himself is actually our peace. Look back in chapter two with me. Ephesians chapter two verse 14. Notice that Christ is our peace. Ephesians 2:14 says, "For He Himself is our peace." And this is a beautiful verse because it extends to both groups, and there has been now no dividing wall between Gentiles and Jews. It's been removed, and the peace of Christ is available for those who would repent and believe.

This idea of peace, back to chapter six verse 23, is qualified to the brothers. And so this is peace — this is Christ to the brothers. And so this tranquil quietness of soul, this ability to have no inward disturbances, is for the brothers. It's for Christians. It's for those who have been saved, gloriously saved. This is a different kind of peace than the world can experience. This is Christ in you as the hope of glory. And so the Hebrew understanding of shalom is more than an absence of war. It's an inner peace that comes from Christ. Christ is our peace. To have Christ as Lord is to have peace in your heart, and that is to be protected.

Turn to First Peter chapter three. First Peter chapter three in verses 13 through 15 helps us to understand how to protect this peace. First Peter 3:13–15: "And who is there to harm you? If you prove zealous for what is good, but even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed and do not fear their intimidation or fear their fear and do not be troubled." Okay, this is talking about that inner tranquility, that inner peace — you not being disturbed by the fear-mongers or by the slanderers or by the intimidators because of who Christ is in you. You can do this because it's Christ who does this. Christ can put you at peace, but it's only the ones who are saved who have Christ inside of them who cannot be troubled.

You see this in verse 15: "But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts." You cannot be troubled by the intimidation of those who are around you because you sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. That means you're removing any type of master over your heart other than Christ. Letting nothing other than Christ lord over your hearts. And don't give a position to an intimidator, don't give a position to a slanderer over your heart to trouble you, and so you're protecting the peace that's within you.

And as we go back to Ephesians now, continue in the verse: "Peace to the brothers and love with faith, from God the Father." Now this love with faith is superbly interesting. It is agape, this love, and it means a benevolent affection that is externalized. And so the love that you have within your heart that has been birthed from God first loving you is now put into action. Love is a verb, it's an action — you've heard that — and so the love that you have inside of you is now externalized. You are exuberating peace and love outwardly. So you have the peace from God, and this love is being externalized. It's qualified with faith. Look in your verse again: "Peace be to the brothers and love with faith." So you have both peace and love that are qualified as to be with faith.

This is very important because there is a false peace and there is a wrong definition of love. It has to be according to what the Word of God says in order for it to be a godly love and a godly peace. And so with faith — what is faith? Faith is right belief. There's a whole lot of wrong beliefs out there, but faith, our faith in Christ, is a right belief. Our faith is to be known. And so peace that actually puts you at peace — not a pseudo-peace. I'm not talking about trying to pacify some worry for today and get to the point where you can fall asleep and then get your mind on something else and just get beyond it. I'm not talking about getting through life. I'm talking about an actual peace that puts you at peace. What is that? Well, it comes from not only not being troubled and having Christ as Lord in your hearts, but it's accompanied with this deep, studied faith. This is basically knowing God. It is theology. The study of God's Word and knowing these precepts is what is accompanied with true peace and true love. It's kind of like guardrails. Within God's parameters, you have true love and true peace.

Faith in this verse in the Greek, "pistis," is the conviction of truth. It's not only truth, it is conviction of truth. I own it. I have convictions. I know what I believe and I'm going to live it out even though it's difficult. You have a commitment to the truth of God. And so this is a fervent trust in God and His precepts. This truly comes from God. Faith is the gift. In Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8 and 9, you see that faith is the gift that God has given to those who believe, but faith is not alone — it accompanies works. And so you see peace and love are going to be exuberating here in this verse. As you receive it from God, you're going to be able to live it out. And so true peace and love are from God and only last when accompanied with deep convictions and deep spiritual persuasions. And that's the reason why you love to study the Bible. It keeps you safe and at peace inwardly — not only inwardly, but you're able to live that out. And so peace to the brothers and love with faith. So the love that you have and the peace that you have is with faith. It is with the right precepts, the right biblical information, and it's all from God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

That's verse 23. Verse 24 says, "Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ." Grace is "charis" — it means favor. It means to be the benefactor. The interesting part of this idea of grace is that the one who is the benefactor is not the main one to be looking at. The grace actually points to the grace giver, the gracious one who has bestowed the benefits upon the receiver, the undeserving ones. And so grace is about the giver, truly. And it is not about the recipient. And so we enjoy the grace of God, which is manifold, but it's not about us. It's God's grace. God has His attributes on display and He is exercising them. We receive them and it's wonderful. And it is to point as a mirror to the Lord and to glorify the Lord.

Romans 8:28 says that all things work together for those who love God. And so we have this as a qualifier as well — grace to those who love God. Think with me through this verse again: "Grace be with all those who love, who love the Lord Jesus Christ." And those who love Him are the ones who are the recipients of these things. And now you have the result of this. Now we're going to respond with an incorruptible love. This is to be perpetually pure, to give yourself to purifying your heart. An incorruptible love is almost incomprehensible. This is an inward condition. The inward condition of your heart and soul is to be being purified constantly. And so this incorruptible love is something that must be maintained from corrosion. We are given to being idol worshipers. We're given to sin. We're given to fall away from Christ and seek the things of this world rather than the Lord. Our inward condition can be corrupted by the sinful desires of our heart. And if you want to respond rightly to this undeserved grace, this wonderful love, and this true peace, then you would respond with an incorruptible love. Those who have received peace, love, and grace from God respond to God by loving Him purely.

This is an application — and if you would turn to the book of Exodus — an application of the second commandment, which is to not have any idols. Exodus chapter 20 and verse 4 and following is a commandment not to have any idols, and this is to keep you inwardly pure. In Exodus chapter 20 and verse 4: "You shall not make for yourselves an idol or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them, for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me." If you circle in your Bible, circle the word "hate." In verse 6 it says, "But showing loving kindness to thousands, to those who love Me." This is an incorruptible love — to love God back with the love that He's given you — "to those who love Me and keep My commandments." Notice within this context, to love God is to have an incorruptible love with Him that's void of idols, and as well, to not love God according to His own definition in verse 5 is to hate Him. And so not to love God is to hate God. God views a lack of love from us toward Him as hating Him. And so once again you see His pure deity. God is light and in Him is no darkness at all — that's 1 John 1:5 — and so in His purity He wants us to be absolutely pure and have an incorruptible love toward Him void of sin, void of idols. We are to be holy as He is holy. 1 Peter 1:16 says so.

So point number one, if you're taking notes, is that Christ is our peace. Christ is our peace. And obviously Christ is pure and holy, and inwardly He sustains these things and helps us as we yield to Him.

Point number two is that peace is inner completeness. Peace is inner completeness. Now when Paul wishes peace benevolently to the Ephesians, he's reaching back into the past — with all of his Hebraic history, and with all of his Christian transformation, and with all of his life that he now lives in Christ, and with all of his well-being and his glorious future benefits and understanding of heaven — he says in Greek, "Eirene." Peace. He leaves the Ephesians with this peace, but they would know that culturally he would have said for a lot of his life, "Shalom." Shalom is the cultural greeting for the Jews when they first see or leave one another, and Paul graciously includes peace or shalom at the beginning and the ending of Ephesians as well. And so we say hello, but they would say shalom when you see one another — when you see her, you say hi and bye. Shalom, shalom. At the beginning of Ephesians, shalom. At the end of Ephesians, shalom. And so Paul is truly extending a lot of who he is to be able to wholeheartedly wish the best for the Ephesians.

And so from the time you would first meet Paul until the end of your time with Paul — whether it was a conversation or whether it would be years — he would be wishing and working towards your life being characterized by shalom, the peace of God, and being developed inwardly by God. He would be wishing and praying and working to that end so that you could experience the fullness of God, a well-being in totality, the completeness that we have in Christ — that you may be filled up to all of the fullness in God.

Turn to Numbers chapter 6 verse 24 and see this Aaronic blessing that he ends with. In Numbers chapter 6 and verse 24 and following, you see this famous blessing, and this is ending in peace and shalom. In Numbers 6:24–26: "Yahweh bless you and keep you. Yahweh make His face to shine on you and to be gracious to you. Yahweh lift up His face on you and give you peace." And so Paul is ending with this tremendous idea of peace. I personally feel like this is the most important subject for us to end on in this Ephesian letter, because we understand the grace of God in regards to Him extending salvation and provisions on our life. We understand love. We really understand love because of how the culture has violated that concept. We know this. But I think that Christians lack this internal tranquility in Christ as they live every single day. I think that Christians — you and I — I think that we lack the spiritual skill set to be able to be at peace no matter what's going on. I think that we need to work in this area. So I'm leaning in on the subject of peace today.

And point number three is that peace is Christological. Peace is Christological. We need who Christ is. This communicable attribute of Christ we have. You see, Christ is not disturbed about wars and He's not disturbed about wrongdoings. He's not disturbed about these things, but sometimes we allow ourselves to be easily troubled. And we're not supposed to be easily troubled. We're not supposed to be easily shaken. We're supposed to be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. Our consistency is set upon Christ the rock on which we stand. And so we want to avoid the extreme highs and extreme lows in reacting to the world's things. Don't let things come and shock you. So theologically, a deep peace comes from a high Christology. If you view Christ in a high manner and you understand Christ in a high way, theologically, then you are able to be at peace — calm and cool and collected — because of who Christ is in you and because you know that God is in control.

This again is qualified in verse 23 as for brothers. And so if you tell someone who is not a Christian not to worry, it's not really something that they are completely able to do, because it's Christ in you that really actually does this. Peace to brothers. This is exclusively available to Christians. This is Christology. So Christians then should demonstrate a peculiar peace even through persecution and intense problems. Christians should be demonstrating this strange and peculiar and different tranquility through life. Christians should be at peace on display daily so that a lost and worried world can see a difference in us because of what Christ is in us. You don't take the glory and say, "I am able to do this because I know or because I am." No, no, no. It's Christ in you, the hope of glory. And so you're at peace and you're not worried, you're not fretting, you're not biting your fingernails off. And then when you get done with your fingernails, you try and bite your toenails off and you find something else to worry about. Isn't that true? Sometimes we worry about things and then when we've got that conquered, we'll find something else to worry about.

It's a bad habit. It's a sinful habit. And so now we truly need to understand that peace is truly from the Lord. The implications are immense. Peace is one of the accomplishments from the cross. And so Christ achieved peace for His own people, right? And if the people of God act or live or demonstrate a lack of peace, it diminishes the work on the cross. Christian fretfulness is truly a rejection of Christ in you, the hope of glory, which is Colossians chapter 1 verse 27b. And we need to realize that when we demonstrate fretfulness and worriedness, as if God is not on the throne, it diminishes the work of the cross. And so have a high view of Christology and peace, and regularly reminding yourself that I am under authority and I'm controlled and operated by the Lordship of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm glad He's in control and He knows the ending. Everything is going to be just fine. Remember that anxiety is man-made, but peace is made by God.

Anxiety truly is drummed up from within yourself. It's man-made, but peace is from God. Peace is Christological. Charles Spurgeon said it like this: "If Christ be Lord at all, He must be Lord of all." And that includes our inner well-being. So we must demonstrate a confidence in our Creator, because He's truly sustaining us, by being a peculiar people who are at peace through problems and persecution.

Point number four is that peace helps in every area of life. It truly does. And I pray for all of the sheep here to have this tranquility. I pray for God's peace to be among us. I pray that as we are obedient to God's terms, His covenantal terms, that it would remove the hostility between us and the Lord and you would experience internal peace. It's a byproduct of a lot of different things. One of those would be prayer. And if you would pray according to Philippians 4:6–7, then the byproduct is going to be peace. You can be put at peace as you really, truly air out all of your worries and your anxieties and lay them on the Lord. Transfer them from your heart to His. He is able. I know that we aren't. And it brings us peace because God is in control. It's a byproduct of simply acknowledging that God is God. In Job 42:2, this acknowledgment put Job at peace, even though he had a lot of turmoil.

And this peace not only helps you inwardly, but it helps in between us in our marriage. And so marital peace is important because Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 4 says to honor marriage above all. And so this word "honor" means to be esteeming the marriage as a very high price. This is something that is valuable and to be taken care of, to be nurtured, to be spoken to, to be protected. It's something that comes at a high price. Not only should you value it as valuable and honor it and esteem it and hold it high — as if you have something very precious to take care of — but you should also pray for that and be very delicate in regards to handling something that is so wonderful and so valuable. No one treats something of extremely high value with flippantness or an irrational response to it or with a harsh tone or a harsh action. And so marriage is to be honored above all, Hebrews 13:4. And when you do that, you have the peace of Christ operating within the marriage that is truly valuable. It's wonderful and it's something that Christ gives Christians.

Parental peace is important because we need a confidence and a calmness from Christ that would help us as we remove society's secular expectations. And remember this: society pretty much has a mass consensus of what is selfish and sinful, and that's going to be advertised and it's going to be expected for you to comply. And as a parent, you cannot subject your children to be discipled or educated by what is evil or secular, but it's going to be expected of you. And if you have a false sense of peace and think that you have to do it the way that it is expected, then you could lose perhaps the peace of Christ that's within you and be troubled. You would truly think that you're doing something that's wrong — it's a false sense of peace. But a true sense of peace is to stick with Christ as Lord in your life. And then you would be fulfilling the law of the Lord to love Him with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength. This confidence and calmness of spirit that comes from obeying God to raise your children in the Lord is to truly remove from our inner being the secular expectations and renewing our mind according to the Scriptures. Romans chapter 12 verses 1 and 2 talks about this renewing of the mind, and I think that it's important for us to acknowledge that we all can be warped by the ideas in this world and it causes us to lose not only our mind, but our peace. And so we need to renew our minds regularly, to have more intake of Scripture and less intake of sin.

Not only can you have marital peace and parental peace, but also you can have congregational peace as a church. And the peace that comes from the unity in the body produces a joy that lasts beyond a church service, and it produces an inner well-being that is truly something that Jesus prayed for in John chapter 17 verses 20 to 26. And this unity and this peace that comes is really truly addicting. It's something that you can't get enough of. You are satisfied with it when you're here and it's exciting, but you can't wait to come back and get more fellowship and more of the Word of God and more worship and more prayer. This that happens — this peace, this tranquility — is a byproduct of just simply obeying God and the things that He has designed. It's a reward. This peace that you have inside of your heart is a reward. It's rejoicing in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice. This is Christ in you. This is truly wonderful.

There's also a neighborly peace. In Leviticus 19:18 it says to love your neighbor as yourself, and then followed up in Mark 12:31, love your neighbor as yourself. And so this is actually doing something to love your neighbor. This is actually being self-sacrificial to do something that's for the benefit of your neighbor. Yes, lost neighbors are to be loved on in a godly way, and this produces peace. I love having peace with my neighbors, and they're there for me when I need them, and I want to do everything that I can to promote this godly peace. And through serving them, perhaps they would see this internal peace that goes to a different level than the peace that they, if they are lost, don't have.

Number five: be resolved to be at peace. Resolve in your heart and mind, "I will be at peace." That is to say peace be with you — like Paul is saying — is to say, "May you have all of who Christ is. May you have all of who Christ is." Don't, don't eliminate some of who Christ is and choose to worry about some things. Don't push Christ aside in some areas and choose to do it yourself, but have all of who Christ is. A song by Aaron Jeffrey in 2006 goes through the Bible and speaks to who Jesus is in all of the books of the Bible, and I'll just give you the Old Testament. To have all of who Christ is is to accept what Paul is extending to the people there in Ephesus, and by way of extension I also say that this is available for us — to be able to have Christ as our peace.

This is important. And who is Christ? Well, in Genesis He's the Creator. In Exodus He's the Passover Lamb. In Leviticus He's our High Priest. In Numbers He's the fire by night. In Deuteronomy He's Moses's voice. In Joshua He is our salvation. In Judges He's the lawgiver. In Ruth He's the kinsman redeemer. In First and Second Samuel He's our trusted prophet. In Kings and Chronicles He's sovereign. In Ezra He is the faithful scribe. In Nehemiah He's the rebuilder. In Esther He's Mordecai's courage. In Job He's the timeless redeemer. In Psalms He is our morning star. In Proverbs He's our wisdom. In Ecclesiastes He's to be remembered early in life. In Song of Solomon He's the lover's dream. In Isaiah He is the Prince of Peace. In Jeremiah He's the weeping prophet. In Lamentations He's the cry for Israel's repentance. In Ezekiel He is the call from sin. In Daniel He's the stranger in the fire. In Hosea He is forever faithful. In Joel He's the Spirit's power. In Amos He's the arms that carry us. In Obadiah He's the Lord our Savior. In Jonah He's the great missionary. In Micah He's the promise of peace. In Nahum He's our strength and shield. In Habakkuk and Zephaniah He's the pleading one for revival. In Haggai He's the restorer. In Zechariah He's our fountain. In Malachi He is the Son of righteousness rising with healing in His wings.

And so I say to us: be resolved to be at peace because of who Christ is in you as the hope of glory. Then you're able to respond with an incorruptible love for God. And so our inner state and condition is to be pure for Christ. This realm of inner peace and love and purity for Christ is to be unadulterated, unhindered, and fully focused, and alive and well. God has given us a tremendous amount of love in our hearts and we give it back to Him through worship. We give it back to Him through serving others and we give it back to Him by keeping a clean life.

And so I end today with two take-home truths. Number one, theology really matters. It really does. In Hosea chapter 4 and verse 6 it says, "For lack of knowledge my people are destroyed." Theology matters — not only because you want to keep your life from being destroyed, but also to be at peace inwardly. Theology matters. A cheap and shallow understanding of our faith in God will not sustain you in dark days. Comprehension of God — it truly is earned. Salvation is a gift, but comprehension of God takes study. Theology is the study of God. And we do theology on Wednesday nights. We call them Theology Wednesdays. And those of you who are able to come, or those of you who are able to keep up online, those of you who have benefited from the last two years of going through systematic theology, know that this has deepened our faith and trust and inner peace in God. And so having peace through chaos and through loss, through disappointment, through tragedies, and even dealing with ongoing concerns, only comes textually with faith. Back in verse 23, Ephesians 6:23: "Peace be with the brothers and love with faith." This faith, this understanding of core beliefs about God — this theology matters for your tranquility. This peace matters for your being able to be at peace, to be able to sleep all night, to be able to reflect who Christ is authentically, to be able to be one who is not constantly given to anxiety.

I think we should try this before depression pills and SSRIs and all these other types of things, right? I think we should try God in His ways before we subject ourselves and our children to what the world has to say by way of maybe psychology or medicine. I think that we truly need to understand who God is and allow Him to work in our hearts and lives and put us at peace, and not take on all the concerns and the worries of this world. Is not God the sustainer and the owner of this world? And what are you going to do by worrying about it? Turn your hair gray, right? For some of us, lose our hair.

Paul concludes by reminding the church that this deep theological letter, the Ephesian letter, it matters. He is saying if you want to be at peace, it's with faith. And I just gave you these tenets of belief. I just gave you one of the best theological documents that you could ever hear — Ephesians chapters 1, 2, and 3. Some of the deepest theology in all the Bible, chapters 1, 2, and 3. Second only to Romans and Hebrews and others, but I'm telling you, Paul has given them a gift. And if they were to truly know God and truly know that God gave them salvation, they'd be at peace. If they truly knew that God is the one who was providing a way for them to be sanctified and to yield to that, they could be at peace. If they truly knew God is over this false god Diana in their city, then they can be at peace. And so can we. So theology is truly inwardly solidifying. And so if you're coming apart at the seams from the inside, theology is the answer. God is the answer. Jesus is truly the answer. It's not a cheap response. That is a theologically sound, true response to those who are coming apart on the inside and they feel like their life is too. And so theology is inwardly solidifying, which can keep you stable. So good job to those who are studying theology. And if you're not, I encourage you to study theology.

Point number two is to enjoy life in Christ. This is here for you — to have union with Christ. It's here for you to enjoy who Christ is. He's tremendous. The chief purpose of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. And so we enjoy peace. And when the world has no peace, we enjoy God's love. When the world chases what they think will fulfill them but can never truly obtain it, we enjoy God's grace and His provisions and His protection and His securities because God has given these things to us.

And so the Bible says in closing of Ephesians: "Peace be to the brothers and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an incorruptible love." And as you respond with the love that God has given you, you are responding with an incorruptible love.

Now listen to me. I have just spoken to believers because this is qualified. Peace to the brothers. You're a brother or a sister in the faith if you have been saved by Christ. In John chapter 12 and verse 36 it says this: "While you have the light, believe in the light." The light of Christ is shining through the preaching and the proclamation of His Word. Truly the Word of God is the Word of God. John 1:1 says, "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God." And so preaching is illuminating who Christ is. It's light. It's like turning the light on so that you can see Christ. And while you have light, while you have the preaching, while you have your own Bible in front of you, while you have breath, while you have light, believe in the light so that you may be sons of light. If you're a son, then you're in a family and you're a brother. If you're a daughter in the faith, then you're in a family. Your invitation here is so that you would be in the family. Acts chapter 16 and verse 31 says, "Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved — you and your household." And so belief in Christ equals salvation.

How do you get there? It is through confessing that you are a filthy wretched sinner. That you know that you have fallen short of the glory of God. You know that you don't deserve heaven. That's not your home. It's pure. If you were to go there, you'd pollute the place. You know that you have sinned. But thank the Lord for the fact that He sent His one and only Son to die on the cross in our place as a substitute for our punishment. We deservedly are punished for our sin, but Christ died for you. And so those who not only confess Him as Lord but repent of their sin — repentance is turning from your sin, from sin to God. Turning from your sin, having no inner willingness to keep doing that foolishness. To turn away from the wretchedness. To turn away from sin's grip on your life and your heart. To turn away from that and turn towards Christ and believe in the cross. Turn towards this life and believe in the light. John chapter 10 and verse 9 says, "I am the door, and if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved." This door is for you to enter through. And Jesus said, "Come unto Me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." True peace and true rest are for the converted, for the saved — they're for Christians. It's a wonderful life.

Friend, if you're not saved today, repent and believe the gospel. Come to Christ and place your faith and trust in Him. The whole Bible is one big document to present redemption, to present salvation, and to bring you closer into life in Christ, which is superbly enjoyable. You can enjoy Christ in this lifetime now. In fact, if you haven't known Christ, I encourage you to repent and believe the gospel. Let's pray together.

Lord, I thank You for this wonderful, wonderful book of Ephesians and what it has done for us. And I pray, Lord, for all the saints here, the ones who are saved — that if they have not been living in this inner peace, that they would grab onto You and grab onto Your Word and displace all the things in this world that are causing them anxiety and fretfulness and worry, and to be inwardly put at peace and to enjoy You, to worship You in truth and in Spirit, to have a melody upon their heart through the day, to rehearse the verses that they have memorized, to truly share Your gospel and make disciples, to thrive in these ways. God, I pray, oh, I pray that You would help us to enjoy this peace that surpasses all understanding as believers. And if anyone be here that has not been saved, would You save their soul? Would You go before them? Would You go inside of them and draw their soul low into sorrowfulness so that they truly comprehend that their sin is filthy and wretched and it's against You and You alone? Help them to comprehend that. And that the glorious part about the gospel is that You took on their filthiness and You give us Your righteousness in that transaction of salvation. You give us a new heart with new desires. I pray, dear Jesus, that they would confess that they believe in Your death and burial and resurrection on that old rugged cross and be saved. May they confess You as Lord and Savior. God, we do love You and we thank You for extending Yourself to us even while we were yet sinners. God, we love You, and it's in Christ's name that we pray. Amen.