Ephesians, Summary
Ephesians · Roger Henderson · Sep 27, 2009
Ephesians (2009), No. 39
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492614431664

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

And we're going to look at an outline that J. Verne McGee produced, and actually it's in his five-volume set. So I looked at that, and I looked at some other outlines, and I said, well, I just want to choose one. And I thought this was a particularly good one because it looks at the book of Ephesians from the church perspective, the body of Christ. And I often look at Ephesians as a personal set of truths for me as a believer. But his outline is going to look at it as the collective body of Christ, which I think is a good way Both are valid, and I think this is a good way to look at it.

So we're going to start. The first major category is going to be the first three books. And that's doctrinal, and it's a heavenly calling of the church. And there are three aspects to that. The church as a body is chapter one. The church as a temple is chapter two. The Church is a Mystery is chapter 3. So that's the doctrinal section. And as I said, when I look at the first three chapters of Ephesians, I think, oh, here's all these wonderful truths, as my last chart shows.

I look in there and I look for these wonderful truths about who I am in Christ and what I have in Christ. But Dr. McGee is going to look at it from maybe a bigger perspective in terms of what do we have as a body of believers. We have the same truths are there. He's looking at it in a different way.

And then the practical section, or the conditional section, is the earthly conduct of the church. And that's in three sections. The church is a new man. The church will be a bride. Notice this is a future thing. And we're going to look at that. Right now, the church is not a bride. That's going to happen in a future day. But we're a spouse to Christ. And we're going to look at that. And then lastly, the church is a soldier. So actually, this is a nice, I mean, it flows, and actually, it's kind of easy to remember. The church is a body. Chapter 1, the church is a temple. The church is a mystery. The church is a new man. We will be a bride. And the church is a soldier.

And we spent the last... Tom, go ahead. It sounds so much like the way Genesis was introduced by Burns. You know, just remember those six key words. Body, temple, mystery, new man. Right. And that's what impressed me with this. I looked at other outlines and you can get very complicated. This to me was just simple.

So what we're going to do is we're going to break down. We're going to look at chapter one. We're going to look at churches of body and so on. Each of those down. And that's where we may not have time to finish all this. We'll give it a shot. And then if we read all the verses on top of that, it's going to really make it long. But let's get into this before I spend my time talking and not reading. The Church is a Body, Chapter 1. Okay, the introduction. Can I get someone to read the introduction in Chapter 1?

You can look on your handout or you can look in your Bible, whatever you like. All are an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God to the saints who are the advocates and who are faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace to you and peace from God our Father in the Lord Jesus Christ. And I think as we mentioned before, this is a very typical introduction by Paul. Grace and peace are mentioned.

So that's very consistent with his other books. Second point. So what we're going to see here is we're going to see the Trinity. And actually, I noticed in some outlines, they had the Trinity involved in Chapter 1. So Magee looks at it and he says, well, let's look at the verses that talk about God the Father planning the church.

And that's in verses three through six. And another volunteer, you've got to get your vocal cords going here. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places of Christ. He predestined us to adoption and sons through Jesus Christ Himself according to the kind intention of His will. Okay, and then actually verse 6 too. Oh, verse 6? Yes, thank you.

To the praise of the glory of His grace which He freely bestowed on us in the beloved wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved. And you notice on my handout, actually I put in, the King James really brings out verse 6, because it's literally, He's made us accepted in the Beloved. We're going to see that later on, that's one of the truths that Schaeffer pulls out of the book of Ephesians there. He's made us accepted, we're acceptable to God through the Lord Jesus Christ. So here, how would you see, you know, J. Ron McGee's title is here, God the Father planned the church. How do you see that in these verses? Can you pick a verse out that shows how he's planning the church here?

Predestined. Okay. Alright. Anything else? Chosen. Good. Okay. Excellent. all planned beforehand since the foundation of the world. It kind of struck me that the raw materials of God's planning for the church were people that were in need. They were fallen. They were sinners. And so he took those people and he blessed them. When they exercised faith in the Lord Jesus, he blessed them. And he gave them all this wonderful list in 3-6. So that's his planning stage. Okay. It's a body, right? Right. Right. Good.

And notice the us in verse 3, blessed us. Verse 4, chose us. Verse 5, predestined us. Verse 6, bestowed upon us or made us acceptable. So we're looking here at the body of Christ as a whole here. Even though these are truths for individual believers, McGee's taking the perspective of the whole, the church here. Okay, so point three is God the Son paid the price for the church. Okay, can I get someone to read seven through twelve? In Him we have the redemption through His blood, us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation and the wholeness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, in Him. In Him we also have attained inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trust in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. Great, thank you. So how do you see Christ, God the Son, Christ, paying the price for the church? What verses kind of express that thought? Right, exactly Noah.

We have, you know, we have as a body of believers, we have individually as believers, we have redemption through his blood. And it defines that, the forgiveness of our trespasses. And there are obviously a lot of other verses that talk about Christ paying. In Hebrews, it talks about through his own blood, we obtain eternal redemption. So we begin to see that here's God the Father planning. God the Son paid the price. And then the third part is God the Holy Spirit protects the church. And that's verses 13 and 14.

Another volunteer. In Him you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance with a view to the redemption of God's own possession in the praise of His glory. So here again, how do you see, or what parts of these verses do you see the idea that the Holy Spirit is protecting us? Or what words? He gave us a message of truth. He sealed, right? That's excellent. He sealed us. Is there another part of it? Ernest, right? We were there to listen when he gave us a message of truth. To put us to listen and move us. The Holy Spirit gave us the prompt. Also in verse 14 it says, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance. So here we see the Trinity. And like I said, some outlines of Ephesians will look at this part and say, I see the Trinity here. And certainly we see it right here.

And 5, verses 15 through 23 is a prayer for knowledge and power. Maybe in the interest of time, we're not going to make it as this. I'll just ask you, in those verses, where do you see the prayer and what's he praying for in those verses 15 through 23? We might have the spirit of wisdom and the revelation of the knowledge of it.

Good, good, excellent. You guys are your heartbeat in the moment. Right. And he always thanks God for them. Exactly, exactly. That's important. He loves those believers. He does. Well, I always like in the Gospel of John where he says, John 17, that we're a gift. I'm always thinking, I'm a gift from God the Father to God the Son. Wow. I don't feel like a gift. But he says I'm a gift, so I believe it.

So basically, 18 and 19 are just some of the key parts. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you will know what is the hope of your calling. and the riches of the glory of his inheritance, and then the surpassing greatness of his power toward us. So this is a wonderful prayer. Okay, so that's chapter one. Let's see, it's 9.15 now. Five to go. And this isn't a race. Okay, chapter two. Okay, chapter two.

And this starts off, and I want to give a little background here, because I was a little bit weak on the church being a temple. Or actually, if you look in a lot of the verses, it's actually where a sanctuary. And what struck me was that, I looked at vines a little bit, the sanctuary was the inner part of the temple, the Holy of Holies. And that actually is kind of really cool. So a temple seems like kind of a cold thing. But if I'm in the sanctuary, the Holy of Holies with God, That's even more wonderful. The building's nice, but I'm in there with the Lord.

That's even more wonderful. So OK. Let's look at 2 Corinthians. So if you have your Bibles, 2 Corinthians chapter 6. And this is just to kind of refresh our minds on the fact that the church is a temple, or that we are a temple too. OK. Chapter 6. And it's 2 Corinthians 6.16. I'll just go ahead and read that. It says, Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God, just as God said, I dwell in them, and walk among them. And I will be their God, and they will be my people.

And there's a couple other ones that I think are, let me just go ahead and read those too. In 1 Corinthians, we go back, I don't think Vern's gotten to these yet, maybe. 1 Corinthians chapter 3, actually he probably did this one already maybe. 3.16, chapter, 1 Corinthians 3.16.

Do you not know that you are a temple or literally a sanctuary of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? So I'm kind of just really zooming through these here. And then 1 Corinthians 6, 19 is, Or do you not know that your body is a temple or a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?

So those three verses, there probably are more, just kind of really delineate the fact that that the church and the individual members of the church are, are a temple or a sanctuary. So what Dr. Mee is going to do here is he's going to list, and let me just, I'll do all three, because he likes to do, you know, the typical thing where you have all starting with the same letter. So he has the materials for construction of the church, of the temple or sanctuary, the methods of construction, and the meaning of the construction. And he has it across those verses.

So let's see here. Maybe I'll use this approach again here. So in verses 1 through 10, what do you see in those verses that talk about What's the material for the construction of the temple or the sanctuary? Corpses. Right. Exactly. It's kind of cool.

We were dead. We were dead in our trespasses and sins. So we were in a condition where we were hopeless. So that's the raw material. It's kind of interesting. God starts with things that are just... No future. Exactly. And then in those verses it says, but he made us alive, down in verse 5. He made us alive together with Christ. So that's his raw material. Those who are dead in their trespasses and sins. So the method is in 11 through 18. What do you see in there as far as method? What was his methodology here? And actually this So what do you see as a methodology here, a method for the church, for the sanctuary, the temple?

Okay, okay, that's good. Well, I think actually, and it talks about, it enters into this thing we're going to see in the mystery a little bit. It talks about the two groups, and I thought that part of his method was that he wanted one body. of all, both Jew and Gentile. So that's kind of expressed down in verse 14. For he himself is our peace who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall. So part of his methodology was he wasn't going to have a church for the Gentiles and a church for the Jews. He wanted one body, one body in Christ. So that's part of his methodology. Okay, then the meaning of construction. in verses 9 through 22. Can you find a verse in there that talks about what's the meaning of this? I know this is kind of hard because there's a lot of verses. I've looked at them a lot, so go ahead. Do you want the access? Okay. Do you want the access? Okay. Do you want the access? Okay. Do you want the access? Okay. Do you want the access? Okay. Do you want the access?

Okay. Do you want the access? Okay. Do you want the access? Okay. Do you want the access? Okay. Do you want the access? Okay. Do you want the access? Okay. Do you want the access? Okay. Do you want the access? Okay. Do you want the access? Okay. Do you want the access? Okay. Do you want the access? Okay. Do you want the access? Okay. Do you want the access? Okay. Do you want the access? Okay. Do you want the access? Okay. Do you want the access? Okay. Do you want the access? Principle that tells us, say, from the number your point to you are concerned, you are united by this red dress. So I like it. OK. Separating. OK. OK. OK. Right.

I think he kind of, in verse 21, I've got a chance to say this a lot longer than you, so I have a distinct advantage. I've got to think about this for a while. So in verse 21 it says, being fitted together is growing into a holy temple or sanctuary in the Lord. So that's his meaning. This is growing into a holy temple or sanctuary in the Lord. Okay, so that's the church as a temple. Okay, the church as a mystery. Okay, that's chapter three.

And actually, in this case, can I get someone to read verses, actually, I'm sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself here. Okay, the first one, the explanation of the mystery. Can someone read verses one through four? For this reason, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus, for the sake of you Gentiles, If indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace, which was given to Bethany, that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in Greek. By referring to this, when you read, you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ. Okay, so he's explaining something about how he received the mystery.

And so what phrase in these passages talk about that? How he received it. Truth by revelation. Right, exactly. And I had the opportunity to look at the Amplified Bible and I thought it was kind of cool. It said, and how the mystery was made known to me, and I was allowed to comprehend it by direct revelation. So Paul, uniquely, you know, a unique situation. He, by revelation, was, again, what's a mystery? We ask this question all the time. What's a mystery?

Did you guys know this is Vern's favorite word? Nancy isn't here. It's too bad. This is Vern's favorite word, and I'll tell you. Say again? It's something that wasn't known in the past. It's now been revealed, right? That's a mystery. And the origin of that word, I think Tom's hit on it too, is mysterion. I think it's the Greek pronunciation. That's where Vern, I don't know how he got into the moose thing, but that's some connectivity between mysterion and moose got into that. So we got, you know, with the moose part. So that's, we got the moose and then we had a moose for, And we had mooses for I don't know how many years.

All right, so the next one, the definition of the mystery. Can somebody, without even looking, what's the definition of the mystery? Is it the mystery or a mystery? Well, I think in this case it's the mystery. something not revealed before? I was looking for, and you're absolutely right, that's what the mysterion means, but I'm looking for in the context of the church being a mystery, actually in a way we're kind of saying it. Okay, in verses 5 through 13, can you find a verse that tells me what the mystery is? In verse 6, this mystery is that the gospel of the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel and members together of one body and shares together the promises of Christ Jesus.

Right. Excellent. Excellent. Very good. So the Gentiles were fellow heirs and fellow members of the body and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. Because from the Jewish perspective, they were it. There was nobody else that was going to be not part of, you know, They were the exclusive organization that God had chosen.

So that's a mystery. And then we have another prayer in the last part of chapter three. And can you pick out some of the aspects of this prayer in 14 through 21? Apologize for we just really open through this so the a verses that that talk about the components of his prayer All is asking God to grant Us to get strengthened with power by his spirit That's good Tom excellent The Christ will dwell in our hearts right be rooted and grounded in love and be able to comprehend. Exactly. And I just love 19, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge. That's really great.

So we have two prayers, the end of chapter 1 and the end of chapter 2. I'm sorry, chapter 2 and chapter 3. I'm sorry, one in three. I'll be fine. So this is the doctrinal section through chapter three. So now we're going to move into the practical section, or the conditional section, if you will. So that's chapter four. And in this case, the church is a new man.

Actually, let me just go ahead and ask you a question here. Dr. McGee actually has it in three words. Exhibition, inhibition, and prohibition. I looked at that first, and I think in our culture, unfortunately, exhibition and inhibition can be a negative term. You know, and I thought, well that's actually, you know, so maybe we have, so what, I think, you know, what he's looking for here, you know, the word exhibition in a good sense is to, is to show forth or to reveal.

So he's asking for what is revealed about the new man in those verses. So with that kind of in mind, so in verses one through six, what's revealed about the new man in those verses one through six? in a manner worthy of the calling. Exactly, exactly, excellent. And then it talks about, in two, right? It kind of gives some of the details, in all humility and gentleness, patience, showing tolerance, being diligent to preserve the unity of the body, unity of the spirit, and the bond of peace. So that's it. Exhibition, in a good sense, showing forth, revealing.

OK, then he goes to, inhibition. Okay, I was thinking about this. This also could be a negative thing, but in this case it's something that we're holding back on. We don't want to do it because that would be contrary to who we are in Christ. That's kind of the idea, I think, here. Okay, so verses 7 and 7 through 16. If you look toward the bottom, verses 14-16, it talks about things that were not to be children.

We are no longer to be children. So we're restraining ourselves. We're not to be children. We act like adults. So that's a good inhibition, right? I have my kids. I want them to act like, when they grow up, I want them to act like adults, not like kids. They had a time for that. That was fine. Not only that. Paul was just saying, this is critical information. If you're not Uncle Remus, you need to take this in. Right, exactly.

And then he carries that idea on in verse 15. We are to grow up. And he's using these terms with children in mind, growing up into all aspects into him. And that's another wonderful admonition for us. We're to know our Savior. We're to know Him intimately.

So I think that expresses number two. And then number three seems to be a stronger. These are prohibitions. And so what do you see in 17 through 32 in chapter 4. What do you see as as prohibitions? Okay How about How about I think it starts off at 17. We're not we're first of all You're not to walk as the Gentiles You know they they're walking if you told you their mind you're not to walk that way.

I And then he lists, I'm sure when you guys went through this, if you told your mind being darkened in your understanding, excluded from the life of God, because the heart is of your heart, those are prohibitions. Minds, feelings, cursing, he hits the really practical. Exactly, absolutely. And this is a practical section, he goes through them all. He doesn't want you to be, he wants you to see the reality is that those are not part of who you are in Christ. You don't say that lying is part of being a Christ. It's a thought, and it never will be. Stealing and so on, all the rest of them.

You know, in that previous section you just covered, we would be freed through the power of the Holy Spirit to do those things. Exactly, exactly. He definitely covered that. And this is not asking you, as Verma said, to make your best effort. This is the Spirit of God in your life, and you're depending upon Him and trusting Him. And that's why he spent all that time in those first three verses there.

Right. To set the foundation. Because here's who you are, so now this is how you need to walk, because that's already who you are. Right. Verse 16. The whole body being fitted, held together by every joint. So we have the Exhibition, Inhibition, Prohibition. So that's Chapter 4. Chapter 5, The Church Will Be A Bride. And it's interesting how he labeled that. He didn't label it. And so actually, there are three sections to this. Once again, he starts them with the same letter.

Engagement, experience, and expectation. So when will the church be a bride? One second and a half. OK, good. And it talks about, and there's actually going to be a marriage, right? A marriage supper of the Lamb. We see that described in Revelation. Okay, so the first point here is the engagement. Actually, I thought it would be good, let's just look at a verse here.

Once again, to make sure we have what talks about the engagement or the betrothal of the church to Christ. So, 1 Corinthians chapter 11. And I'm going to read verses 1 and 2. 1 Corinthians chapter 11, verses 1 and 2. Actually, it might be 2 Corinthians.

Sorry about that, guys. That's terrible. I started reading, oh, I think that's right. Okay, yes, yes, yes, much better. Okay. I wish, starting in verse 1, 2 Corinthians chapter 11 verse 1, I wish that you would bear with me a little foolishness, but indeed you are bearing with me. For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. For I betrothed you to one husband, that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. So we're going to see as we go through here, being a pure virgin is the idea of holiness.

And we're going to see that as we look into these verses here. So now in verses 1 through 17 in chapter 5, and that's a lot of verses. Do you see something in here talking about the engagement? And some of these I found hard. So you see something in here that might focus on being espoused to Christ in here. Or actually maybe better, the consequences of being espoused to Christ might be a better way to look at it. Because maybe that verse talks about being a pure virgin, so we're looking for the fact that the church as a bride is no longer, and darkness are now in light. And so I think that's kind of what I picked up on. So there's some verses that kind of talk about that. Verse eight, of course. Okay, exactly. There's sometimes darkness, and now you're a light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. Exactly, yeah, that's what I thought too. The fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness.

I really could not find too many verses that talked about the engagement in this section. Go ahead, Brad. convenient for learning it in an overview. It's fantastic, but it has its limitations. Yeah, it does, and that's exactly what I found. I mean, in all respect, I like David. I listen to him a lot. God has used him wonderfully in my life and others. And Tom, you had something you wanted to say? Well, of course, when you're in the engagement mode, you're getting to know the Lord more and more. Our first tenet says, try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Okay, that's good. Excellent.

And actually, I did not read, I purposely did not read what he said because I was afraid that I would, you know, I wanted to take the outline and say, okay, I have an outline, can I find the stuff in there? I didn't want to read what he said, because if I did that, then I would, you know, it didn't seem fair. Anyway, so I'm sure if you want to read Dr. McGee on this, I think you should. He will do a much better job explaining his topic headings than I will do, but I think they're really good to use as a guide.

Okay, number two, the experience. The experience of the church. And this one actually I found a little bit easy, 18 through 24. So something that talks about what's the experience as a bride, or actually a bride means we're a believer. A bride cannot be anything else. A bride has to be a believer. So as a believer, what's the experience as a believer in the body of Christ?

Objection. Which one is that? I'm sorry. Okay. Okay, exactly. Exactly. All those things are because you're, you know, exactly, as a result. I thought the most interesting, not interesting one, but the one that just really stuck out to me is the one, be filled with the Spirit. That's a characteristic. A bride cannot be otherwise. You cannot be the bride of Christ unless you are a believer and you're filled with the Spirit. Lastly, the expectation of the church. So what's the expectation of this being espoused to Christ in verses 25 to 33?

Now in this case, here's where it just fit perfectly. I think that's Brad's point well taken. Some parts fit just dynamite, but then you struggle to get the other parts to fit. And so it is hard. It is hard. But there are just some dynamite parts and that's one of the...

Well, like 24, but as the church is subject to Christ. Exactly. Yeah, that's good. Thanks, Wayne. Thank you very much. I probably missed some of them. Actually, that's good. Thank you very much. That's really good. Okay. All right, so we'll just move on here. Okay, so chapter six. Chapter six, I found just really, I'll just do them all down here. I'll just do them all.

I found this really cool. He really nailed it here, I thought. Just outstanding. the soldier's relationships, the soldier's enemy, the soldier's protection, the soldier's example, and the soldier's benediction. Here it's just, you think, wow, look at this outline, it's so wonderful. So he goes through and in verses one through nine, talks about the relationship of the soldier. And a soldier, again, is a picture of the believer, right? We're a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, how does a believer act? What's his practical way?

He honors his father and mother. He slaves me to be your master. And so on. All these relationships are excellent topic heading. And then he goes on to the soldier's enemy in 10 through 12. Basically, it's the devil, the evil one. And he points out that it's not flesh and blood. It's rulers, powers, world forces.

So that fits really well. And then the soldier's protection. We spent time a couple weeks ago on his protection. The full armor of God. The sword of the spirit. All the different aspects of the armor of God. And then we come down to the soldier's example. So let's look at that one. The first three we covered, I thought really fit soldier's example in verses 19 through 22. What do you see as his example? What's the example that the soldier or the believer in the Lord Jesus is portraying here in these verses? What's he doing? He's opening his mouth, right? And what's he What's he opening his mouth about?

To make known the mystery of the gospel. Excellent, excellent. He's proclaiming it. So that's what the soldier, so this is beautiful. His relationships are in place, he knows his enemy, he has his protection, he's proclaiming the gospel. I mean, it's just wonderful. And then lastly, the benediction, as Bob covered last week, is grace and peace. A typical benediction that Paul does.

Okay, so that was the book of Ephesians, right? Wow. OK, I had an alternative look just at chapter one. This is what I think Randy and I will be doing this part. This is kind of maybe a preview of what we're going to do when we get to, we have a section called Defecation Truths.

Or actually, I think the riches of God's grace is also made a complementary. So in the first chapter of Ephesians, I thought this was just outstanding. I'm just going to go through in chapter one, And another look at this, every believer possesses every spiritual blessing in him.

In verse 4, we're in the eternal plan of God. And Schaeffer does this, he has several aspects of that eternal plan. Chosen is one of those aspects. We're children of God, and specifically we're sons of God, in verse 5. We're accepted to God by Jesus Christ. And this is where the King James really does an outstanding job, because it shows you that we were made accepted. We didn't make ourselves acceptable. We were made accepted in Him. And then in verse 7, we're redeemed. And then also forgiven all trespasses. And then in verse 11, They can't be redeemed unless you forgive.

Right. They go together. Absolutely. Right. Same time. Exactly. But actually, in his breaking out, he covers those separately. Because he expands what redemption is and what forgiving all trespasses is. But I agree with you. But if so, I think that's the wrong order. OK. You want to do it the other way around? It's all simultaneous, right? But if you have to separate and you have to be forgiven before you can be redeemed. At the same time, you can't have an order.

Well, in that verse, let's just read the verse. In verse 7, I think they have it. In verse 7, it says... It states the redemption first. It basically defines what redemption is, like you said. It says, We have redemption through his blood and it says, oh by the way, what that redemption means, after the comma, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace.

So they are, you're right, you can't separate them. Okay, in the eternal plan of God, in verse 11, predestined, blessed with the earnest or first fruits of the spirit, verse 14, his inheritance in verse 18, within the much more care of God, his power, And that's actually it.

I thought there was one more. All right. So that's a couple of looks at, that's only chapter one. And actually, as I mentioned, Schaeffer really, he's looking for the positional truths in his Riches of God's Grace. He's cataloging the Riches of God's Grace and their positional truths about the believer.

So I thought this is a neat way. You see it the other way. In fact, we had a whole class. We covered them all, kind of top to bottom. This way it puts them in and you just see how many truths are jam-packed into Ephesians. And we just have over half of the truths of the riches of God's grace as Schaeffer's cataloged them are in Ephesians. And a few of them actually are in the practical section, which I was kind of...

Well, questions or comments? Tom? If we're about to close on the class, I can't think of a better way to close it than by simply... chapter. If you don't want to hear it, I'll stop. You can do it, but we have a couple other questions. Let's do it at the very last. Hold on to that thought and we'll do it at the end. Brian has a comment here.

It just occurred to me as you were running through it. It really is amazing. Ephesians is like a handbook for the Christian life. I mean, more than any other book that I've studied, it starts off with what is true of you, how you're blessed. And then he prays, like, hey, you are pretty dumb, so I'm going to pray that you get it. And he does. And he's saying, so you may not even be able to get it of your own by yourself. Here's the amazing blessing you have, I pray that you get it. Here's the amazing unity that you have, I pray that you get it again. It's just, it's phenomenal that he gets to the practical section and says, oh by the way, you're going to walk this out. This doesn't just affect your spiritual walk with God when you're alone in your room.

This is everything that you walk in day in and day out, and oh by the way, that's God's power. And then your marriage, your family relationships. I mean, this is the book, and oh by the way, your relationship to the enemy. I mean, it's like the book that seems to define your relationship as a believer to everything, to everyone, to the church.

And the amazing constant throughout it, right, is that it's all his power, it's all his doing, it's all what he's done that leaves us something to celebrate in. I mean, if there's any kind of phenomenal final statement in six short chapters of this is how it is, this is how it is. That's great news for me anyway.

It is. I agree. It's mind-boggling. It's neat. This is only chapter two. I didn't do that. I want to save that for our future class. Tom, yes? Well, it's like this. It covers every base, all points in the outfield to either side of the field. You still have your song, you're still holding that song, right, Tom?

Okay, well, just hang on here, we're not... We want to close with your song, and we'll pray after that. But other last thoughts, and actually I wasn't here for, you know, except for the last little part, but it's been neat kind of ramping up here, so to speak, it's been wonderful. Wonderful gift from God. All scripture is. Does that mean I can go on? Wayne, did you have something?

It's neat because it kind of brings us back into focus of the church. We sometimes get so hung up in the church on the corner of Spruce and Newsom. Speaking of the body of Christ, it isn't addressing any particular building or whatever. area and whether they met in homes, they met with super church, right? No, I guess. I think sometimes they lose sight when you talk to somebody as well. What church do you go to? No, that's great. No, I agree with you.

Many times we, you know, I'm a little bit always leery to say what church I go to. I'd rather just say, I know the Lord Jesus and just leave, you know, and talk about that. The church can immediately, there may be some opinion about that church and I don't want that opinion to bother, you know, to come between. Well, Tom, you want to do your ask or imagine by His power that is at work within us.

Be glory forever. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Tom. Okay, well let's have a closing prayer. Tom's was a prayer actually in itself. We thank you, Father. We thank you for our time this day, Lord. Thank you for the wonderful truth in the book of Ephesians, Lord. We pray that this look at it, this short, brief going through this book and just as it's been mentioned that would really impact our lives and we might see the Savior and see that he's provided all aspects of that. We ask it in his name, amen.