Turn with me, if you would, to
Ephesians chapter 6. Ephesians 6. The Lord willing,
this will finish our study of the book of Ephesians. We've been going through this
book mainly in our Bible study on Sunday morning, but we've
been in it all day today. And it's always a little bit
sad to me when we finish a book. I see it coming up and I just
can't help it. I love going through these books
verse by verse and you can read ahead and see what's coming and
think about it and look forward to it. It's always sad to finish
one, but Ephesians is one that we'll come back to a lot. And
I told myself that earlier. Don't worry about it. We'll be
back there a lot. So let's read the last four verses
in Ephesians 6, beginning in verse 21. But that ye also may know my
affairs, and how I do, Tychicus, a beloved brother and faithful
minister in the Lord, shall make known to you all things, whom
I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that you may know
our affairs, and that he might comfort your hearts. Peace be
to the brethren and love with faith from God the Father and
the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all them that love
our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen. Now there are some specific and
important things that I want us to see in this. He said that
he was sending a beloved brother and a faithful minister to make
known all things for the purpose of making known the affairs of
where this brother came from, that he might comfort your hearts. Now, do we not see the work of
the Father, Son, and Spirit in that? Verse 21, it says, but that you
also may know my affairs and how I do Tychicus, a beloved
brother and faithful minister in the Lord, shall make known
to you all things whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose,
that you might know our affairs and that he might comfort your
hearts. At first glance, those two verses
look like filler verses. When you just first read them,
They look like closing remarks. He has to end his letter somehow,
just closing remarks. But not one word in God's book
is filler. Not one word. Every word in this
book points us to what God the Father, God the Son, and God
the Spirit has done for us. Every word in the book. God the
Father said, I am sending My Servant to you. Behold My Servant,
Christ My Son. He said, He is your beloved brother. My only begotten Son, My Servant,
gave Himself for you. as a payment for your adoption.
He's your brother and he earned your adoption. He joined himself
to you and he died for you so he could be raised with you.
He did this for you. And because he is my faithful
minister, Because He is faithful. There are very few things that
comfort my heart as much as that. He is faithful. I'm not, He is. And the Father
says, because He is faithful, He was faithful to me, He was
faithful to you, He was faithful to the work that I sent Him to
accomplish. Because He is faithful, in Him,
You are a joint heir with him. And with my son comes his spirit
who will reveal all these things to you. He will tell you, he
will teach you, he will instruct you of all of our affairs, all
the affairs that we have done. that he might comfort your hearts. This word is glorious to me. Every word in this book is so
glorious to me. It is all a picture of Christ. It's all a picture of Christ.
And that's a word from God. Well, let's look at who he is
saying that to. That's a word from God. And He's
speaking that to particular people. Who is He saying that to? The
middle of verse 23 says that this glorious news, this word
of comfort is from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, but
who is the word to? Verse 23 says, Peace be to the
brethren. Peace be to the brethren. That's
who all of the promises. There are so many promises in
this word, glorious promises. That's who all the promises are
to. They're all to the brethren. All of the good news is to the
brethren. Now brethren is a very specific
thing. It is not a general thing at
all. That is not a loose thing. People being brothers and sisters
is pretty specific. When you really are brethren,
brothers and sisters. In my family, I have three sisters. Three. There's no doubt what
that number is. It's a particular number. Three. Never have I walked up
to a stranger on the street and said, hey, you're my sister.
I have four sisters. It's three. I have three. Three particular people. But with that being said, me
and my sisters, or my sisters and I, however you're supposed
to say that, We are a part of a larger family of brethren. As time has gone on, more and
more people have been made to be a part of our family of brethren. How does that happen? How does a person become a part
of a family? Well, there are three ways that
I know of, three ways. You can be born into it, you can be adopted into it, and
you can marry into it. Now, do we not see the work of
the Father, Son, and Spirit in that? The Father married us to
His Son. He betrothed us to His Son. He chose a particular bride. I have a particular bride. And He chose a particular bride
and gave that bride to His Son. As soon as the last chosen soul,
this bride is made up of a particular number of people, all of these
chosen souls, and as soon as the last one enters the gates
of glory, all of us are going to be seated at our own wedding
reception feast, celebrating our union with the bridegroom.
Turn with me over to Revelation 19. Revelation 19 verse 1, it says,
and after these things, I heard a great voice of much people
in heaven saying, Alleluia, salvation and glory and honor and power
unto the Lord our God, for true and righteous are his judgments,
for he hath judged the great whore which did corrupt the earth
with her fornication and hath avenged the blood of his servants
at her hand. And again they said, Alleluia.
And her smoke rose up for ever and ever. And the four and twenty
elders and four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on
the throne, saying, Amen, Alleluia. And a voice came out of the throne,
saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear
him, both small and great. And I heard, as it were, the
voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters,
and as the voice of mighty thundering, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord
God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice and
give honor to him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his
wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she
should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, For the fine
linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me,
Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage
supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are
the true sayings of God." That's glorious, isn't it? Look with
me at Revelation 21, verse 1. And I saw a new heaven and a
new earth. For the first heaven and the
first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea. And
I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God,
out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And
I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle
of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall
be His people, and God Himself shall be with them and be their
God. And God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, Neither sorrow
nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former
things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne
said, behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, write,
for these words are true and faithful. Right there in the
same chapter, verse 9, it says, And there came unto me one of
the seven angels, which had the seven vials full of the seven
last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will
show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. And he carried me away
in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me
that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from
God, having the glory of God. And her light was like unto a
stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal."
She looked just like Him. That's what He looks like, a
jasper stone, clear as crystal. So the Father married us to the
Son. The Son adopted us into the family. Go with me over to Ephesians
1. Ephesians 1, the end of verse
3 says, That's where all the blessings
are found, in Christ. Verse 4, "...according as He
hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ,
to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will, to the
praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted
in the Beloved. So the Father married us to the
Son. The Son adopted us into the family
by the payment of Himself. And the Spirit, all of those
who the Spirit comes to, are born of God. They're all born
of God. Look with me at John chapter
3. John 3 verse 5. Jesus answered,
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water
and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born
of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee,
Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth,
and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it
cometh and whither it goeth, so is every one that is born
of the Spirit." Those who have been made to be brethren in the
family of God, have been made to be a part of His family in
every way that you can be made a part of a family. I mean we
are a part of the family. Every elected soul is married
in, adopted in, and born in. Every way you can be made a part
of the family, every one of God's people are made a part. Now, am I a part of the family? We're married in, adopted in,
and born in. Here's what I want to know. Am
I in? Have I been made to be one of
the family members of God? Am I one of Christ and His people's
brethren? Go with me back to Ephesians
6. Verse 23 says, Peace be to the
brethren, and love be to the brethren, with faith to the brethren. And it's from God the Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ. All of these things are given
from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And all of it can
be summarized by this one word, verse 24, grace. Grace means gift. All of these
things are given. And grace means freely bestowed
gift, freely bestowed favor, free kindness, unearned favor. God's grace is to the brethren. It's to the brethren. And this
is how you can know who the brethren are. Verse 24, grace be with
all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. All of the brethren, every soul
that has been made to be a part of the brethren, all of them
love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. This is so true. This is so true. I love the doctrine. But there's
a difference in doctrine and Christ. There's a difference. There's a difference. They love
Christ. Now, what does that mean? What
is sincere love for Christ? It is vital that we find out. Because if you'll look with me
at 1 Corinthians 16. 1 Corinthians 16 verse 22, it says, If any man love not
the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema maranatha. That means cursed when he comes
back. If any man loves not the Lord
Jesus Christ, let him be cursed when he returns. I want to love
the Lord in sincerity. I do. I want to love the Lord
in sincerity. How do we do that? Has God put
that kind of love for Christ in my heart? Has God given me
that? Has that grace How can I know
if it has come to me? The definition of the word sincerity
is without corruption. It means without an underlying
motive. It means purely, honestly, truthfully. Sincere love is loving something
because it truly is lovely to you. That's sincere love. You find what it is to be lovely. You don't love it because you
have to love it. You don't love it because it's
in your best interest to love it. You love it because you love
it. That's sincere love. All of the brethren love Christ. All the brethren. They just do.
They just do. All who have been redeemed from
the curse, all who are not cursed, love Christ. They have a deep
love for Him in sincerity. They love Him truthfully. They
love Him honestly. They all admit, they love Him
very sincerely, very honestly. They all admit that had He not
loved them first, they wouldn't love Him at all. And it's true. Had He not loved me first, this
old, hard, cold, dead, stony heart wouldn't love Him at all.
If He didn't do a work of grace in me, All of his people know where
their love comes from. They give credit where it's due. They all do. They in all sincerity
grieve over the fact that they don't love as they ought to and
they can't love as they want to. But in all the ability that
they have been given, with all the grace that has been given
to them, they love every single thing that they see about Christ. They love all of it. They love Him exactly the way
that He has revealed Himself to be in His Word. They don't
want to change one thing about Him. Couldn't. But even if they
could, they wouldn't because they're so in love, sick with
love. They love Him for who He is. They love Him. They don't just
believe Him for who He is, they love Him for who He is. They
love what He has done. They don't just believe in or
believe on what He has done. They love what He has done. They
love where He is now. God's people love Him being sovereign. They don't just bow to where
He is now. They love where He is now. They
say, I would love for that man to reign over me. I would absolutely
love nothing more than for that man to reign over me. That is a sincere love for Christ. It's a true love for the truth
concerning Him. The absolute truth concerning
Him. If we love Him, you know people
love to put out their nativity scenes and things like that.
If we love Him because He's a helpless little innocent baby in a manger,
Or if we love him because we see him to be a kind and gentle,
weak man who needs our help. You know, if we love him because
he tried, he tried to save us and he almost did. We just have
to help him out a little bit at the end. We love the fact
that he never gave up all the way to the bitter end until he
died for his cause, you know. If we love Him because we see
Him to be the one who knows who God is and can show us the way
to God and can put in a good word for us, if that's the case,
we don't love Him in sincerity. To love Him in sincerity is to
love Him as the mighty God that He is, even when He was in the
body of that infant. is to love Him for being God
manifest in the flesh. There is one throne and Jesus
Christ is sitting on it. We love Him because He is the
only man who never failed. In this flesh I'm a failure and
so are all of us. He is the only man who never,
you've never seen a man like this man. It's to love him for
finishing the work that his father sent him to do. Don't you love
a man who's able to get the job done? I love the fact that our
message is not, it's real close, it's real close, it's almost
there, you just have to. One man said, I believe it was
Spurgeon, he said, if I had my foot on the threshold of heaven
and the last step was left up to me, I'd never make it in.
I mean He finished. It's secure. It is done. It's to love Him for the fact
that we could not do anything to save ourselves and He did
it all. It's to love Him for the fact
that His death on the cross was no defeat. No defeat. It was the ultimate victory over
sin, death, hell. is to love him not because he
knows the way, but because he is the way he's all that is the
evidence. That's the evidence of a center
who has been made to be one of the brethren. He or she will
truly love Christ in all sincerity. Now, after seeing what God has
written concerning Christ, if we can say there will be one
of two reactions to that, we read it in the word, we see who
he is, how he is, what he is, and there's gonna be one of two
reactions. If inside this heart we can honestly say, I love what
I see, I love what I see. Then this is a direct word from
God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ to us. Go back with me
to Ephesians 6. Verse 23 it says, Peace be to
the brethren. Peace be unto you. In Christ
you have peace. You have peace with God. The
warfare is over. It's accomplished. In Christ
you have peace with each other. Peace be unto you. Peace, peace. Verse 23 says, Peace be to the
brethren and love. The love of God be to you. With faith. Our Father, the gift
from the Father and the Son is here, have this faith, trust
me with it. Here's some faith for you to
have a little comfort and a little rest. Peace, love, faith, and
verse 24 says grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus
Christ in sincerity. Amen. I just want to read this
to you. I'll close with this. I thought this was appropriate
for this moment. I believe this is the heart prayer
of every member of the brethren. John Newton wrote this poem,
and it says, "'Tis a point I long to know. "'Oft it causes anxious
thought. "'Do I love the Lord or no? "'Am I His or am I not? "'If I love, why am I thus? "'Why this dull and lifeless
frame? Hardly sure can they be worse
who have never heard His name. Could my heart so hard remain? Prayer a task and burden prove. Every trifle give me pain if
I knew a Savior's love. When I turn my eyes within, all
is dark and vain and wild, filled with unbelief and sin. Can I
deem myself a child? If I pray or hear or read, sin
is mixed with all I do. You who love the Lord indeed,
tell me, is it thus with you? Yet I mourn my stubborn will,
find my sin a grief and thrall. Should I grieve at what I feel
if I did not love at all? Could I joy his saints to meet? Choose the ways I once abhorred? Find at times the promise sweet,
if I did not love the Lord. Lord, decide this doubtful case,
thou who art the people's son. Since upon thy work of grace,
if indeed it be begun, let me love thee more and more. If I
love it all, I pray. If I have not been loved before,
help me to begin today. Help me to start loving you right
now. That's our prayer, isn't it?
Let's all stand together.