Let's continue to remember Roberta
in prayer also. Let's pray again. Our Heavenly Father, we come before you tonight Once again, we come in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And while we say much the same
thing every time, yet it is always our desire,
and we desire it to be so, that we come here to worship. We need you to speak to us through
your word, which is everything. Your word is all the power of
God to human beings. Quick, powerful, sharper than
a two-edged sword. You likened it to a fire, a hammer. And how we need your word to
work in us and on us. How we need your word to be instilled
in us, to be planted, to be hid in our hearts. That we might not sin against
thee. We need you to speak powerfully,
you who created all things by the word of your power and who
upholds all things by the word of your power. We need you to
regenerate, recreate by the same word, by speaking. We need you
to shine in a dark heart. We need you to open deaf ears,
open blind eyes. We need you to change the walk and the talk and give new life
where there is none. Lord, your word is your power. And you promised that it would
not return void. ever, that your word always accomplishes what you send it
to do. And the apostles of old were
confident that you always caused them to triumph in Christ Jesus
and make manifest the savor of his knowledge in every And we ask for the same thing
for ourselves tonight. This, we hope, is for your glory,
for our good. We pray that you might glorify
yourself in the salvation and sanctification of a people. And that for those of your people
who know you, that you might conform them to the blessed image
of your son. In a world that's increasingly farther from the truth and more
and more fearless. No fear of God before their eyes.
More and more contemptible. More and more irreverent. Uncaring
of your words, your truths. Turn away their ears from the
truth. Oh Lord. Turn our ears to the truth. prick our hearts and open our
ears to the truth at every opportunity. May we redeem this time. The
days are short. The time is short and it's high
time. You said in your words, it's
high time that we awake and put on righteousness and
walk circumspectly. Lord, we ask that you would help
us to worship tonight. Speak through your word. We pray
for our brother and sister, Henry and Roberta. Ask your special
care upon them at this time. We continue to pray, Lord, that
it might, that if it is your will, that you would raise her
up, heal her, restore her to perfect health for your glory. But most of all for her spiritual
good, we pray that this time might be to increase her faith,
her dependence upon thee, and this church united, cause us
to rally around her and each other. Give us unity of the Spirit. Lord, the perilous days are here
upon us. The world, keep us from it. While we're in the world, Lord,
we pray as you pray, keep us from it. We pray for the meeting which
is coming up, if you are pleased to make it so. We pray that you
might make it a special blessing for this congregation. We pray that it might be your
will to bring someone new in to hear this gospel. If not,
we pray that it might be your will to have someone in our midst
hear and be blessed by this gospel. Amen. Bless the men who come. Prepare their hearts even now.
Give them a word from you, for us, a word in season, just what
we need. We ask your forgiveness of our
sins, if they're ever before us. Pray that you might conform
us. I ask that every person in here
may join with me in asking right now that you would conform us
to the holy and righteous image of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the beauties of holiness. and that we might be committed
to him all the days of our life, that Christ might indeed be our
life, and that be manifested to all around us. Lord, uphold this church by that
same word. Uphold it in your power and your word through the
gospel. Uphold it by your love. And as we've already asked, we
ask again that you would unite us to one another inseparably
for the remainder of our days here and forever in your kingdom. In all these things we pray in
Christ's blessed name. Amen. All right, Ephesians chapter
1, turn over there. often say when we look at a passage
of scripture, this is my favorite passage. And, you know, every
portion of scripture that the believer looks at is their favorite
at that particular time, if the Lord blesses it. The book of
Ephesians, I love, love it dearly, all of it. And I love this first
chapter, look at it here, where he talks about In verse 3, how
he blesses God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
or things in Christ, how that God hath blessed us immeasurably. And all of these blessings are
because of Jesus Christ. because of who He is and what
He did and that He did it for His elect people. It's all because
of Christ. The mercies, the grace of God,
the love of God are for Christ's sake. Nothing in us. Nothing
in us. All in Christ. Verse 4, He tells
us that it is as according as he chose us in Christ before
the foundation of the world. That's eternal election. That's God electing a people
before the world began. And I love that. That fact, that
blessed doctrine gives me hope and peace. And as one of the
dear preachers said, if he elected one, just one, why not me? And since he elected many, then
I can be in that number. And that election assures me
a place, and I have no quarrel with that, but only praise for
it. God's elected great. That we should be, and this is
the end of that, that we should be holy and without blame before
God in love, holy like Christ. Blameless, unreprovable in God's
sight, in love. Love to Him, in His love, and
love to one another. Verse 5. He has predestinated
us, His people, unto the adoption of children. God has decided
to have children, and decided that all of them will be just
like Jesus Christ. predestinated us under the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ to himself. And as I said before,
why not me? That's what I want, and I want
to be like Christ. And he did all of this according
to the good pleasure of his will. I'm glad he was willing. Scripture
said in Exodus, God will have mercy. I'm glad. And this is
why he does it. It's to the praise, verse 6,
the praise of the glory of His grace. God is going to glorify
His sovereign electing grace. And that's what we're going to
be singing about throughout all eternity. Verse 12 says that,
that we should be to the praise of His glory. Verse 14, under
the praise of His glory. That's the reason God saves some
people, for His glory. and they glorify him in being
like his son. All right? Verse 6, how I love
this, this is my favorite verse. To the praise of his glory wherein
he hath made us accepted in the beloved. We are accepted in the
beloved. We are received by God in Christ. Totally accepted in the beloved. There's nothing Everything about
me by nature is unacceptable. But because Jesus Christ lived
and died, I'm set in the blood. And we have, verse 7, I love
this, no this is my favorite verse, in whom we have redemption. Not might have, not hope to have,
we have. It's a sure thing because we
have a sure redemption. How? Through his blood. the forgiveness
of sin. It's all, see this, according
to the riches of His grace. And oh, how He has abounded toward
us in all wisdom and truth. Hasn't He? How He has made known
unto us, verse nine, the mystery of His will. How shallow religion
is, isn't it? So very shallow. But yet He has
abounded toward us in wisdom. The very wisdom of God, the wisdom,
the mystery of the universe made known unto us, the mystery of
His will because He was pleased to do so according to this purpose
that He made in Himself to make it known unto us. And verse ten,
I love this, that in the dispensation of the fullness of time, or that
is when God wraps this whole thing up, he's going to gather
everything together in one. All things, all people in Christ,
all believers in Christ, both which are right now in heaven
and those that are right now on earth. They're going to be
gathered together in Christ. And we could read every verse,
couldn't we? Read on down, look at verse 22.
I love these verses that exalt our Lord. Verse 21 says that
Christ is far above all principality and power and might and dominion
and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also
in that which is to come. Oh, but the Jesus men worship
today is not above anybody. He's equal and he's just like
a man. And he's no greater than Satan
himself. But our God, our Rock's not like
their Rock. Our Christ is better than their
Christ. He's far above all principality and power and might and dominion.
In verse 22, And God has put all things under his feet, hath
put, not shall, but hath. They're right now under his feet. And gave him to the church. Now
chapter 2. Now this is this. This is my
favorite chapter 2. Now we love Ephesians 2, don't
you? This is your story. Isn't this
your story? If you know God's saving grace,
if God has revealed the gospel to you, this is your story. This
is your biography, your spiritual biography. Verse 1. And you,
hath he quickly made alive Given you spiritual eyes to see God. Eyes to see yourself. Eyes to
see Christ. Ears to hear his voice. A heart
to receive his word. A broken heart over your own
sin. Who were dead in trespasses and
sin. One time you weren't. Didn't
have your eyes open. Didn't have your ears open. Your
heart was hard as a rock. Verse 2 says that. Where in time
past you walked. according to the course of this
world, just like everybody else. According to the prince of the
power of the air, that is, under his dominion, under his influence,
manipulated by him, the spirit that now works within the children
of disobedience. Verse 3, we all had our conversation in time
past, lived our lives in the lust of our flesh. That's what
we live for. Every day fulfilling the desires
of the mind, that was on our mind, and that's what we went
after from the moment we woke up. And we're by nature children
of wrath, even as others. Hating religion, hating God,
but God, merciful, but God who is rich in mercy. Superabounding
mercy for His great love, wherewith He loved us, even when we were
like that. And how could God love somebody
like that? Because of Ephesians 1, 4. Because
they were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.
Because of Ephesians 1, 6. Because they were accepted in
Christ. Because Christ was a lamb slain before the foundation of
the world. Because they were considered unblameable in God's
sight and in Christ, they were dead then. Their life was hid
with God in Christ's hand. That's how he could love them.
Even when we were dead and trespassed into sin, he had quickened us
together with Christ. Oh, verse 5, this is our motto,
isn't it? By grace, you say. By grace we
are saved. Sovereign, free, final, effectual,
eternal, saving grace. That's how we're saved. By grace
we are saved. Verse 8. You love this verse? Is this your favorite verse?
Most everyone could quote this. This is, this is our motto. For
by grace are you saved through faith. was saved by the sovereign
electing grace of God. And through faith, in time, God
reveals the gospel to every one of his elect. They must repent. They must repent. God calls men
everywhere, commands them everywhere to repent. And in time they must
repent. Well, this is the gift of God.
It's the goodness of God that leads us to repentance. They
must believe the Lord Jesus Christ. They must call on Him. They must
seek Him with all heart or He'll not be found, right? Well, this
too is the gift of God. And nobody would seek Him. Nobody
would call. Nobody would believe if it were
not the gift of God. You see that in verse 8? It's
not of yourself. Nobody gets up and decides this.
It's the gift of God. Not of works, verse 9, lest any
man should boast and say, I... And that's what people do today.
They say, I made my decision. I did this, I did that, I went
down the line. No, no. It's not of works, lest
any man should boast. There's no room for boasting.
No, sir. We are his workmanship, verse
10. We are his workmanship. Salvation is of the Lord. It's
his work. And here's why he did this. Again, they're created in Christ
Jesus, new creatures in Christ unto good work, which God hath
before ordained, I'm reading verse 10, which God hath before
ordained that we should walk in them. That's why God made
a people to make them like his son, to make them holy, to save
them from their sin. He finds them in sin, but he
saves them from it and removes them from it, and it from them. All right? And then look at verse
12. He says, oh, I love this, at
one time you were without Christ, aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel. Strangers from the covenants
of promise, this gospel, the truth was such a strange thing
to you, to me, having no hope without God in the world, having
no hope, and without God, and not carrying it. Here's another
but. But now. But God. But now. In Christ Jesus, because
of Christ Jesus, through Christ Jesus, you who sometime were
far off are made mine. are brought near by the blood
of Christ. God, who could not have anything
to do with us otherwise, covered us in blood and brings us near
now, like old Jacob, covered with Esau's garments. You know,
he said, Come on near. Come on up here. Come near. And
it says he's our peace, verse fourteen. Christ is our peace. We have peace with God by the
blood of his cross. And verse seventeen, we had this
Gospel of God's peace preached to us. He came through his spirit
and preached peace to you, which were far off. Those of you of
us who did not know we needed peace didn't know God was angry.
He came and preached this peace to us, to them that were far
off. Now, verse 19, there are no more
strangers and foreigners. The gospel's not strange. Neither
are his people, but we're fellow citizens of the same. You know,
the household of God. Love chapter 2. Don't you? My favorite chapter in all of
it. Chapter 3 now. Oh, I love chapter 3. Don't you?
Chapter 3, Paul talks about the ministry that God has given him
to preach the gospel, the mystery of the gospel. Verse 8, the unsearchable. There
it is, Joe. That's where the song comes from.
the unsearchable riches of Christ. I'm so thankful God sent the
apostle Paul, wrote these letters, because he's our apostle, sent
us Gentiles. Verse 9, not just for Jews, but
for Gentiles. Make all see what is the fellowship
of the mystery. Oh, and I'm in this fellowship,
and I thank God for it. Verse 12, In whom in Christ we
have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Him,
we can come boldly. He said in one place, we're not
coming to Mount Sinai where it burns and with fire and smoke
and trembles and you can't get near it, but we've come to Mount
Zion, the church of the living God, where we can come boldly.
We've come to the throne of grace. It's not a throne of judgment.
It's a throne of grace. We come to confidence. Why? Through Christ. Through Christ.
Oh my, I love that. And then this blessed prayer
of Paul, beginning with verse 15. This, I believe, was the
first text I preached from when I came to Rocky Mountain. The
family of God. Verse 15, he says the whole family
in heaven and earth is named after Christ. He prays that God
would grant us according to the riches of His glory, be strengthened
with might by His Holy Spirit in the inner man, that Christ
may dwell in our hearts by faith, rooted, grounded, comprehending,
knowing the love of Christ, filled with the fulness of God, God's able to do exceeding abundantly
above all that we ask of Him. That's my prayer for you and
for me too. Then chapter 4. Don't you love
chapter 4? Oh, I do. Chapter 4 in verse
4, it says it's one body, one church. Oh, they're not denominated. That means divided? No, sir.
They're one body, one family. That's what he said back there.
One spirit. They're united by this one spirit. Verse 3 says that. The unity
of the Holy Spirit. How does he unite the church? What does the Spirit unite them
in? Faith in Christ. Knowledge of
Christ. Love to one another. Love to
one another. In one spirit, even as you're
called, in one hope when you're called, and what's this one hope? What's this one calling? It's
the gospel. The gospel of Christ, and all
of God's people hear it. It's the gospel which says, verse
5, there's one Lord. One Lord. Always has been, always
will be, and He is indeed Lord. Lord, sovereign, reigning, ruling,
controlling, killing, making alive, raising up, casting down,
one Lord, one faith, one faith, one baptism, and so on and so
forth. And verse 8, he talks about Christ
ascending up on high and leaving captivity captive. Oh, I'm glad
about that. I'm so glad that those thinking
desires to sift me like wheat, my Lord has them on a chain.
He who once held me captive, Paul said, captive at his will
over in 1 Timothy, he said, now he's led captive to captive.
He's got him on a chain. And he can deal with me no further
than God allows him to. I'm so grateful for that. Aren't
you? And though I feel assaulted by him at times, he's under Christ's
heel. Verse 11, And he gave some apostles
and prophets and evangelists and pastors and teachers. I'm
so thankful God sent me a pastor. I'm so thankful he placed me
in a true church where the gospel is preached, where a man who
is taught by God himself Preach the gospel. Wasn't in the entertainment
business. Wasn't in the soul winning business.
Was just in the God glorifying business. In the gospel preaching
business. Just in the gospel declaring,
the word declaring business. And leaving the rest up to God.
And not trying to do the work of the Holy Spirit. I'm so glad
He sent a man like that. Verse 13. That we all, that we
might come into the unity of the faith. Come to know and love
the Lord Jesus Christ, the knowledge of the Son of God, under a perfect
or mature believer, under the measure of the stature of the
fullness of Christ. Verse 14, that we henceforth
be no more children, tossed to the front, carried about with
every wind of doctrine. That describes 99 out of 100
so-called Christians today. Go in after every new found thing
that comes along. Because evidently what saved
them or what they have is not enough. The Christ I first heard
was enough then and He's still enough. He's still enough. He's still all mine desire. All
mine desire. And now down to verse 17. So,
we just looked at all those verses which talked about salvation
being the work of the Lord. That's what, at the sum it all
up, from Ephesians 1, all the way up to this point, he's declaring
that this work of salvation is God's work. 100%. It's God's work. And we
give Him all the praise and the glory for it. And like you said
back in chapter two, that we're created for his workmanship. It says we're created in Christ
Jesus unto good work or for the purpose of good works or bearing
fruit, which Christ himself said, herein is my father's glory.
That you bear much fruit. God hath before ordained, just
as surely as He ordained that I would be in Christ before the
foundation of the world, He ordained that I look like Him, act like
Him, and walk like Him. And if I don't, then I haven't
been ordained. That's just right. That's what
He said. Just as surely as God predestinated me to be His child,
To save me, He predestinated me to look and act and walk and
talk and think like Jesus Christ. And if I don't, I'm not His.
This is what Paul is going to go on to say from here on in
strong language. Verse 17. This I say, therefore,
and testify unto the Lord, that ye henceforth, if God has indeed
done all this for you, if this is indeed The love
of your heart, the desire of your heart, the pen of your will. He says, now, I testify unto
the Lord that you henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk
in the vanity of their mind, for that is in their ignorance.
Verse eighteen, having an understanding darkened. We understand this
thing, or we ought to. They don't, he said, in understanding
darkened, alienated from the life of God through ignorance
that's in them because of the blindness or the hardness of
their heart. Verse 19, they're being past
feeling. They're past feeling, have given
themselves over unto certain things. No, God gives a new heart,
and right there's the root of it. A man either has a new heart,
a woman either has a new heart, or they don't. Out of the heart
are issues of life. This is what he said, they've
given themselves over to past feeling. conscience here. God's people have a softened
heart, easily entreated, broken by the word, molded and shaped
and formed by it. A walk according to it. Verse
20. He said, You have not so learned Christ. You have not
so learned Christ. Verse 21. If so, then, if it
is indeed that happened to you, that you have heard That you've
heard him calling. The voice that called Lazarus
out of the tomb. The dead, stinking Lazarus. And gave him a sweet fragrance
of new life. If you've heard him, then you
walk in that newness of life. That's what the scriptures ask.
If so be that you have heard him, and have been taught by
him as the truth is in Jesus Christ, Look, read on, verse
22. So put off, he said, that you
put off concerning the former conversation or lifestyle, the
old man, put him off. And other places he talks about
mortifying the members, which is corrupt, according to the
deceitful led. Be renewed in the spirit of your
mind, a new way of thinking, a new way of acting. Verse 24,
you put on the new man, and how you do that is by emulating Christ. You study him, you look at his
word, and you do what he says. You put him on. You act like
him. Which after God, verse 24, is
created in righteousness and true holiness. Then he goes on
down to To warn and to admonish and rebuke about several things.
Put away lying. Verse 26, be angry and sin not. Everybody gets angry every now
and then, but he says, let not the sun go down on your wrath.
Put it away. Forgive and forget. Be done with
it. It's got to be done with it.
Need to give place to the devil. Verse 27, the place of the devil
is the root of bitterness that springs up and trouble, whereby
many of the five, and it goes on to say like Esau, who sought
repentance carefully with tears and couldn't find it. It was
too late. Don't give place to the devil.
You're angry? Put it away. Cut it out. Stop
it. Let the sun, not the sun, go
down upon your wrath. Verse 28, let him that stole
steal no more. Whatever it may be. Don't do
it. Don't waste time. Work hard.
Labor with your hand. That thing which is good, that
you might give. Verse 29, let no corrupt communication
proceed out of your mind. Cursing and bitterness. Can that
come out of a good heart? Our Lord said it couldn't. Occasionally? Every now and then,
could it? Possibly? Maybe. Peter did. Consistently? No, sir. No, sir. Every now and then, after a hard
rain or something, you turn on the spigot, you might get a muddy
glass of water. But if you get one every day,
you've got a bad spring. You've got a bad well. Read on. Grieve not the Holy
Spirit, verse 30, whereby you're sealed under the day of redemption.
Grieve him not for the bad food, and so on. Verse 31, let all
bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speak to
you. Put it away. Strong language,
like a father talking to his child. Cut it out. Stop it with
all malice. Verse 32, be kind one to another. Tenderhearted. I remind you,
2 Samuel 22, where he said, with a merciful, he'll show himself
merciful. I have a woman who does show
mercy. Not going to find any mercy.
The Gospel of Scripture says he'll show himself, listen to
this, he said he'll show himself unsavory. Ugly. A man acts ugly, God's going
to get real ugly with him. Christ said, Blessed are the
merciful, they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the peacemakers,
they are the children of God. The fruits of righteousness are
sown in peace by them that make peace. Be kind one to another, tender-hearted,
forgiving one another. Why should I? Look at the next
line. Even as God, for Christ's sake,
hath forgiven you. Verse 1 of chapter 5. Be ye therefore followers of
God as dear children. If so thee are, then be like
him. Be like him. Verse 2. Walk in
love as Christ also hath loved us. How did he love us? Even while we were enemies. How
did he love us? In spite of everything about
us, and nothing loved him. Nothing worth loving him. And we're all equals here, should
it of something. We can find the love in one another.
He'd given up himself for a sacrifice. And offering a sacrifice to God
for a sweet smelling sake. Luke verse 3, fornication and
all uncleanness. I'm preaching the whole book
of Ephesians if you didn't know. Fornication and all uncleanness. Read on. Covetousness. Let it
not be once named among you. Or that is, don't let anybody
out in the community or anybody say of you, that's the way he
is or that's the way she is. Yeah, when your name is brought
up, it better not be your reputation. Yeah, he's a this way or she's
a that way. Hold on. Let it not be named
one. Verse four, neither filthiness
nor foolish talking. This is a filthy society we live
in. And just think why every other
program is a comedy. And buddy, this life is a no
laughing matter. which are not convenient, or
that's not helpful, but rather giving of thanks. Look at verse
5. This you know, no whoremonger,
nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath
any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ his God. What will a believer, a true
believer, do? Or sin go? Just about anything. Once. Would a believer go into a harlot
like this says here? Unthinkable. It's unpermitted. It's highly condemned by God. Samson did. But he wasn't a whoremonger. That wasn't his life. Would a believer commit adultery?
David did. But he didn't keep on doing it. And
God judged him from that day forward forward. Killed his baby,
and removed the kingdom from him, and he lived like a hunted
man for the rest of his life. He didn't live any longer, did
he? What would a believer do? Almost anything. You can look
it up in the scripture. But they won't live in it. You
notice the tense there? idolater. You see that? Abuser. Over in Galatians, 1
Corinthians 6, talks about these things. Paul mentions this in
one of his epistles. Let me read from 1 Corinthians
6. He says, Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit
the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither fornicators,
A young unmarried person who lives their life in the pursuit
of sex will not enter the kingdom of God. Nor idolaters, a person who lives
their life in pursuit of this world and maintains covetousness
is idolatry. A person whose life consists
of nothing more than want, want, want, want is not going to enter
the kingdom of God. Do we all covet? Yeah, we're
all human, but we better not be hepatitis. You understand? Nor adulterers. It happens. Shamefully. Tragically. And they're never
usually recovered from it. It happens. But if it's your
continual pain, they're not a child of God. drunkards. He goes on the side. Can a child of God get drunk?
Noah got off the boat. And in his defense, he hadn't
drunk wine for quite some time. And he drank a little too much.
He was glad to be off the boat. And he got drunk, which is a
sin. But he didn't spend his time getting drunk. Or he wouldn't
be a child of God. It's just so. Strong language,
isn't it? This is scripture. Now look again
here at Ephesians 5. Let no man deceive you, verse
6. Let no man deceive you with vain words. Because of these
things, because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon
the children of disobedience. Don't do what they do. Verse 8, Paul, you were, you
see the past tense, you were sometimes darkness. You may have been one of those
saints at one time. And that's what Paul said back
there in 1 Corinthians where I was reading. He said, and such
were some of you, but now you're washed. Does Christ indeed remove these
saints from the man? Yes, sir. Or he ain't very powerful
at all, is he? You're looking at a man immersed
in this stuff at one time. Not anymore, buddy. By the grace
of God. By the grace of God. Oh, he says, the fruit of the
Spirit, verse 9, is in all goodness and righteousness and truth,
proving what is acceptable under the Lord. What is acceptable
under the Lord. So, verse 15, see then that you
walk circumspectly, rightly, with wisdom, not as fools, but
as wise, redeeming the time. I always spend so much time doing
needless things, don't I? I spend more time about the things
of God. I spend more time with our families. I spend more time nurturing these
relationships. Paul said, when I became a man,
I threw away childish things. Quit acting like a baby and pursue
them all, all of them, selfish, get out of gold. My, my, my,
my, my, like a baby, unthoughtful of everybody else. So he said, look at it. I want
every eye to look at it. Verse 13, he said, All things
are approved or made manifest by the light. Verse 14, Wherefore
he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and
Christ shall give thee life. Verse 17, Be not unwise, but
understanding what the will of the Lord is. And over in 1 Thessalonians,
he said the will of the Lord is our sanctification. What's
sanctification mean? The will of the Lord is our sanctification.
Set apart for holy use, not for ourselves. And we could go on
and on, couldn't we? Should we go into chapter 5?
Wives, submit yourselves. under your husband. Husband,
verse 25, love your wives. How? As Christ loved the church
selflessly, sacrificially, constantly, consistently, gave himself for
it. Verse 28, all men ought to love
their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth
himself. A man doesn't love his wife,
he doesn't know God. A woman doesn't love her husband,
she doesn't either. Two believers don't profess to
be believers and don't live in love. There's something wrong
with one or both of them. Verse 29, No man ever yet hated
his own flesh, but nourished and cherished it. John said,
He that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he
love God whom he hath not seen? He that loveth not his brother.
The same thing holds true with your mate. Right? Piece of paper. There's no way
with God. Hmm. Oh, my. It's a mystery, verse 32 of these,
concerning Christ and the church. Chapter 6, verse 1, children,
obey your parents. Not popular, is it? Out of vogue, isn't it? But it's right. The Lord says
so. Whatever they say. They're smarter
than me. A whole lot smarter. They always
will be smarter than me. They've got 30 or 40 years jump
on you. Always will have. I was thinking today, I wish
I was 70 years old like my dad. He said, honor your father and
your mother. Obey your parents. That may be well with you. Just
like he said about these things, if we adults knew what he said,
we'd be werewolves. If we don't, we're in a heap
of trouble under the wrath of God, the judgment of God. The
same thing with children. Servants, be good employees.
Masters, be good employers. Put on the whole armor of God.
I wish we had time to deal with all this. Oh, put on the whole
armor of God. I'm reading verse 11. Chapter
6, put on the whole armor of God, you may be able to stand
against the wiles of devil. We're not wrestling with flesh
and blood principalities against powers, against the rulers of
the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high
places which would like nothing more than for this church to
shut down and you to bring reproach upon it. For you to split with
your husband or your wife or whatever. Bring great reproach
on the truth. He'd like nothing more than that.
And he said, we have an armor, put it on. And they quenched
the darts, the fiery darts of the wicked one. Verse 18, here's
a key. Praying always. You better be
praying. You better be praying. Praying
for who? How many times have you heard
me say this? Pray for one another. And you
can't get mad at somebody you're praying for. And God usually
softens your heart. Pray for one another. Intercessory
prayer. God loves it. That's what Christ did. God blessed
him for it. Amen. Pray for the gospel. Pray for me, he said, verse 19.
An utterance may be given me, but I may open my mouth boldly
to make known the mystery of the gospel. Say, why are you
preaching like this tonight, preacher? I'm just preaching
Ephesians 1 through Ephesians 6. The whole counsel. I just
preached the whole counsel of God. The whole counsel of God is this. If God had let you and put you
in Christ, you're going to be like Him. You're going to be
like Him. You're going to act like Him.
You're going to treat people like He treats you. You're going
to love as He loves. You're not one of His children.
So what should be our prayer? Kill me, Lord. Kill myself. Kill
self. Mortify my members. Put off the
old man. Put off the sinner. created an
image of Christ. Oh, Lord, don't let me be reprobate. Don't let me be politicized.
Don't let me bring reproach on you. I love you, Lord. I love the gospel. I love my
family in hell. Can you pray that for me? Peace be to the brethren, and
love with faith, verse 23, from God in the Father. be with all
them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity."