Let us turn again to Ephesians
chapter 6. This will be my last message
from Ephesians on Wednesday evening at this time. But I want to read
the entire passage once again, beginning with verse 10. Finally,
my brethren, Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his
might. Put on the whole armor of God
that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world,
against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore, take
unto you the whole armor of God. that you may be able to withstand
in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore,
having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the
breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation
of the gospel of peace. Above all, taking the shield
of faith, wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery
darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation,
and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, praying
always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, and watching thereunto
with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. And for me, that
utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly
to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an
ambassador in bonds, that therein I may speak boldly as I ought
to speak. But that you also may know my
affairs and how I do, Tychus, 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. 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. Tonight, I want us to consider
the final words of the Apostle Paul in this letter, verses 21
through 24. A message has two parts. a messenger and his mission,
and then second, the apostles' benediction. First, a messenger
and his mission. A messenger whose name was Tychus,
which means fortunate. The name Tychus means fortunate. Could not help but think as I
saw that how fortunate, how blessed he was. to be a companion of
the Apostle Paul. Now here are four things that
we know about Tychus from five scriptures in which he is named.
In our Bibles, there are five scriptures in which Tychus is
mentioned. This is one of them. And then
there are two places where he is named that have been added. They are not part of the scripture.
As you see at the very end of this letter, if you have a Bible
like I do, at the very last it says written from Rome unto the
Ephesians by Tychus. The same thing is found in the
letter of Colossians. So there's five scriptures which
speak of Tychus and then these two places that have been added
by the translators. First, we know, here's the first
thing that we see from another verse of scripture. First, we
know from Acts chapter 20 and verse four, where he was named
along with six other companions of the apostle Paul, and we are
told there that he was of Asia. Now, of those seven men that
are mentioned there, it seems like all of them, for the most
part, maybe not all of them, but the writer Luke of the Book
of Acts, he tells us the names of these that traveled with Paul
and where they came from, where they originated. And he tells
us concerning Tychus, that he was of Asia. He along with Trophimus,
those two men are both named there, they were from Asia. Since Ephesus was the capital
of Asia, then many of the commentators suppose or surmise that in all
probability Tychus was from the city of Ephesus. That's the first
thing. The second thing we know from
this text and from the text in Colossians 4 and verse 7, that
he is the one who carried these letters, the letters of Paul
from Rome, both to the church at Ephesus and the church at
Colossae. And third, we know from 2 Timothy
4 and verse 12, that he carried that letter, that second letter
to Timothy that Paul wrote. Titus, he's the one who carried
the letter to Timothy. And four, we know from Titus
chapter 3 and verse 12 that Paul planned to send him or Artemis
to Crete. That's where Titus was, remember,
on the island of Crete. That's where Paul had left him,
that he might set things in order there in the churches that had
been raised up through their ministry. And Paul planned to
either send him, Tychus, or Artemis to Crete to replace Titus. But let's look tonight at the
two truths the two truths that the Apostle Paul states about
him in verse 21. The first truth is he was a beloved
brother, a beloved brother. All of God's elect, all of God's
children are beloved of God and chosen in Christ to salvation. Notice, if you will, back in
chapter one, the apostle declares this at the very beginning of
this letter. All of God's elect, all of his
children are beloved of God and chosen in Christ to salvation. Here in Ephesians one in verse
three, we read, blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ. You know, we sometimes say, the
Lord bless you. And we mean it, don't we, when
we say that. But we know in our hearts, he's
already blessed us. If we're one of his children,
he blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ before the
world began. We've already been blessed. All
of God's children have been blessed with all spiritual blessing,
nothing missing, nothing lacking. God's children have all been
blessed in Christ Jesus, as the scripture here says, with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as
he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world.
Not because we were holy. No, no. That we might, that we
should be holy. Not that we were without blame.
Oh, no. We were sinful. No, he chose
us. before the foundation of the
world that we should be holy and without blame before him. In love, in love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according
to the good pleasure of his will. All of God's children are beloved
of God, chosen in Christ to salvation. Paul says about Tychus, he was
a beloved brother. At the Lord's baptism, we know
that God the Father spoke from heaven and said, this is my beloved
son in whom I am well pleased. He is God's beloved son and all
who trust in him, excuse me, all who trust in him as their
Lord and Savior, are also beloved of the Father and of the Son. God's family, a beloved brother,
God's family love each other. That's just so. All of those
who are part of God's family are loved of God, chosen of God,
and born of God, and we love one another. The Apostle John
said, Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God,
and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. The term Beloved, I looked it
up in the Song of Solomon. I looked it up to see who is
called the Beloved in the Song of Solomon, and I found that
It's used many times in the song, and each time it refers to the
Lord Jesus Christ. Each time the term beloved is
there in the Song of Solomon, it has reference to the bridegroom,
to Christ our Lord. He is the church's beloved, and
in that book, He speaks of his bride as his love, his love. He is the Father's beloved, he
is our beloved, and we are his love, his spouse, his bride. All of the household of God are
beloved and love one another, and yet in God's providence,
I speak for myself and I know I speak for all of us here tonight.
In God's providence, there have been some brothers and sisters
in Christ, we love all of them, but there have been some, for
one reason or another, that we have come to especially love. I can just imagine that this
was the case with Tychus and the Apostle Paul. They had labored
together in the ministry. They had preached together. They
had prayed together. They had suffered together. And
they loved one another. My beloved brother, that's the
first thing we see here about Tychus. And the churches to whom
the apostle Paul sent him, the church at Ephesus and the church
at Colossae, they loved him also. and he loved them. The second
thing we are told about him, first he was a beloved brother. What higher commendation could
any of us have or aspire to in the family of God? A beloved
brother, a beloved sister. Nothing greater, nothing higher
than that, is there? A beloved brother, an apostle
referring to us, the Lord himself referring to us as his love. The second thing that we are
told about him, he was a faithful minister in the Lord. I spoke with a pastor friend
recently, about two weeks ago. And in our conversation, he said
something to this effect, I cannot remember exactly the word he
used, but he said this, that the gauge, the gauge of every
minister and the gauge of every minister's
ministry is not the size of his congregation. It's not the length
of time of his ministry or anything like that. The one gauge, I believe
he said the one gauge is, when I say I believe, he said the
one gauge of success. He used the word success in the
ministry. The one gauge of success in the
ministry is God enabled him to be faithful. God enables him
to be faithful to his calling. You know, in one of our Lord's
parables, I think it's found in Matthew, I believe 25, but
in Matthew, he told about a king or a man who was going on a journey
and he gave talents to some of his servants. Now he didn't give
the same number of talents to each one. To one man he gave
five, one man he gave three, one man he gave one. And that's
the way the Lord works with those that he calls and puts into the
ministry. Not every man has the same talent. Not every man has the same gift. But every man is to use that
talent, whatever it is, or those talents that God gives him to
be faithful in serving the Lord. And you know when the Lord in
that parable came back He found that the man that had received
five talents and the man who had received three talents, the
Lord commended him, commended them. And what a commendation
was it. Well done, well done, thou good
and faithful servant. But the one man who was lawful
and lazy, did not use his talent. In fact, he said he hid it in
a napkin and covered it up. What did the Lord say about him?
He said that he was a wicked and a slothful servant. Tychus
was a faithful servant, a faithful servant of the Lord. In 1 Corinthians 4, the apostle
Paul said it like this, moreover, it is required in stewards. And he's talking about men who've
been made stewards of the grace of God, stewards of the gospel.
He's committed to our trust, the gospel message. And he said,
this is the one thing that is required of every steward to
whom God commits the gospel. And that is, he be faithful,
that he be faithful. What is a faithful minister?
What does it mean to be a faithful minister? Tychus was one, according
to what Paul says, a beloved brother and faithful minister
in the Lord. What makes a faithful minister? What does it mean to be a faithful
minister? Well, a faithful minister in
the Lord is one who, first of all, is faithful to his Lord.
He's faithful to his Lord, to be where God sends him, where
God puts him, and to labor there faithfully. He's to be faithful
to his Lord. And second, a faithful minister
is one who's faithful to the Lord's gospel. He doesn't change
the gospel. He doesn't take off the rough
edges. You know, to try to make the
gospel more acceptable and more palatable to those who listen,
he doesn't take off the rough edges. And usually the rough
edges are actually the horns that make the gospel the power
of God and the salvation. When men think they can improve
upon God's gospel and make it more acceptable, what we're doing
or what they're doing. If he's not a faithful minister
of the gospel, he's trimming off the very things that God
would use in calling his people. People say, why do you have to
talk about election? Because God did. Why do you have
to talk about total depravity? Because the Lord did. Someone
told me he was witnessing, and he was witnessing to someone
who professed to be a Christian, and he asked this person, he
said, are you evil? Oh no, no, I'm not evil. Well, when the Lord Jesus Christ
said, if you then being evil, know how to give good gifts unto
your children, how much more your heavenly Father shall give
good things to them that ask him. If you then being evil,
All men are evil. All men are fallen. All men are
depraved. All men are sinful. Why do you
have to say that? Why do you have to emphasize
that? Why can't you talk about how all men have a spark of goodness
buried down there somewhere in their heart? There's a cord,
there's a string down there somewhere. If we can just, just touch it,
that spark is going to bring forth and end in being a Christian. There is no spark. There's no
life. How dead is dead? How blind is blind, how deaf
is deaf. That's our condition by nature.
A faithful minister is one who is faithful to the gospel message
that Christ died for his people. We don't preach a death, a redemption
that made salvation possible. What hope does that give a person?
No, we know that Christ died for His people. He redeemed His
people. His blood saves His people, justifies
His people. It's not His blood plus, His
death plus, oh no, it's His death only upon the cross. He was a
faithful minister, Paul said. He's faithful to his Lord. He's
faithful to the gospel. And third, he was faithful to
the Lord's people. That's what makes a faithful
minister of the gospel. He's faithful to the Lord's people,
to prepare and study and preach the gospel to them. A faithful
minister in the Lord is one who is faithful to his Lord, to the
Lord's gospel, and to the Lord's people. Now notice here's the
second thing that Paul says about this man. his mission. Paul sends him to
Ephesus carrying this letter, but he sends him on a mission.
He wants to report Paul's affairs. Notice that in verse 22, whom
I have sent unto you for the same purpose that you might know
our affairs and that he might comfort your hearts. You see,
there's two things there, right? you might know Paul's affairs
and that he might comfort God's people. They would be interested. They were sure to be interested.
What is the Apostle Paul doing? Where is he? What's going on
in his life? Well, Dacus, he was the man who
was going to answer that. He was going to make them aware
of Paul's affairs. I'm sure if you look in Acts
chapter 28 with me, just a moment, no doubt this is one of the things
that he reported concerning Paul. In Acts chapter 28, in the last
two verses here, Luke tells us that Paul dwelt
two whole years in his own hired house. What's he doing? He's
in a house. He's living in a rented house. He's living in a rented
house and he receives all that come unto him. I mentioned that
last Sunday, or last Wednesday. He didn't have the freedom he
had before, freedom to go, but he had freedom to receive men
who came to him and he witnessed to them the gospel. Preaching
the kingdom of God and teaching those things which concern the
Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence and no man forbidding him. And not only was he to make them
aware of Paul's affairs, but you notice it says he was to
comfort, that he might comfort your hearts. That's one of the requirements
for God's preachers. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith your God. Speak comfortably to Jerusalem. Crying to her, her warfare is
accomplished. Her iniquity is pardoned. That's
how God's people are comforted, isn't it? The message which proclaims
to us that salvation has been accomplished. The Lord Jesus
Christ has finished the work which the Father gave him to
do. And our iniquity, It's pardoned. It's put away. Why? Because of
his sacrifice in our stead. Now, the second thing, and I'll
be more brief with this, the apostles' benediction in verses
23 and 24. First, peace. Peace to the brethren. This was a very common way of
greeting among the Jews. And the term peace carried the
meaning of prosperity. Prosperity, be prosperous, both
outward and inward prosperity. This is what we read in 3 John
verse 2 that John wrote. Let me read this verse quickly. Beloved, I wish or I pray above
all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health even as thy
soul prospereth. Peace, peace to the brethren. Prosper in the affairs of life,
and as John Gill commented, that the success of this sort depends
upon the blessing of God. Prosperity in this life depends
upon the blessing of God. It is God who giveth the power
to get wealth. You know, God is in control of
these things, isn't He? And His providence rules in the
lives of His children, actually in the lives of all people. Yes. Look with me, if you will, to
2 Corinthians. These are Paul's last words to
the church, to the believers in the church at Corinth in 2
Corinthians chapter 13. And verse 11, he said, finally, brethren,
farewell, be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live
in peace, and the God of love and peace shall be with you. peace among the brethren. Second, love with faith. As members
of the family of God, every person who is a brother or sister in
Christ has these two graces, faith and love. No one is saved
who doesn't have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who doesn't
have love for Christ. These two graces are in every
child of God, but these graces may grow. They may increase.
Both graces may be increased. And like everything that, if
you want to build up your muscles, what do you have to do? You have
to use those muscles. If we want to grow in these graces,
what must we do? We must use our faith. We need
for the body, the physical body to grow and increase. We need a good diet. Spiritually,
we need a good diet, the word of God. We need a good environment. Here we are, right, with the
believers, with the children of God. And we need to exercise. Those are three things if we
want to grow physically and mature and increased physically, our
diet, our environment, and the use of these things. The same
thing is true in these spiritual graces of faith and love. We
must exercise them. And this faith, Paul says in
Galatians, is a faith that worketh by love. Both of these graces,
they come from God the Father and God the Son, and they are
also increased. by God the Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ. Love and faith. And then the
last thing, grace. Grace be with all them that love
our Lord Jesus Christ. Now in 2 Thessalonians chapter
three, verses 17 and 18, he said that this was the token of every
epistle that he wrote. And you can go through all of
these epistles, beginning in Romans, 1st, 2nd, Corinthians,
come all the way through to the last one, and you will see at
the very end, maybe not exactly at the end, but close to the
end, this token you're going to find. The grace, he's going
to mention the grace of the Lord be with you all. Grace is a favorite theme of
all true believers, because it is by grace that we are saved
through faith, and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of
God. We read that passage in Romans
chapter five at the beginning of the service, and there the
apostle pictures grace as a reigning monarch, as a reigning monarch
who reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ
our Lord. Grace be with all them that love
our Lord Jesus Christ. I have a book in my, in my, among
my books. You know, I have a few books
that I've read more than once. And I have some books that I
could write in them like Spurgeon said, in case of fire, throw
this one in. But I have some books that I've
read more than once. And one of those books is entitled
The Reign of Grace by Abraham Booth. I'd encourage anyone to
get that book and read it. The Reign of Grace. Grace, God's
unmerited favor. It reigns in our election. We were chosen, how? By grace. Grace. God didn't look down and see
something about you that was worthy of Him choosing you. Oh
no, it was grace, unmerited favor. Election reigns in effectual
calling. Why did He call you? You and someone that you know,
someone maybe in your family, you both heard the same gospel,
sat in the same seats, heard the same preacher, and yet God
called you and didn't call the other person. What is that? That's
grace, the reign of grace. Grace reigns in our election,
in our calling, in our adoption, in our justification, in our
sanctification, and in our full pardon. It's all grace, grace,
grace, unmerited favor. Grace be with all them that love
our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen. I trust the Lord would
bless these words and thoughts to all of us here this evening.
We'll sing a hymn and we'll be dismissed in prayer.