Broad Overview of the Entire Book

Introduction to Ephesians: A Unique Letter

0:04 Most of the letters of the New Testament, as I'm sure many of you are aware of, were drawn forth and provoked, elicited by specific problems which arose in the given churches to which the letters were sent. Many times there were moral or doctrinal problems, or in most occasions a combination of both, since theology and practice, since doctrine and morals are so vitally joined together. But the book of Ephesians is one of the letters that is an exception to that general principle and rule. Apparently the Apostle Paul just longed that these people in Ephesus and the surrounding area,

0:50 be further grounded in the truth of the gospel, particularly as that truth was unfolded to him with reference to Christ's sovereign purposes being realized in and through the church. Some seven years or so had passed since he had ministered to this body of God's people, and he then writes this letter, which along with the book of Romans is one of the two letters which we might call a systematic unfolding, of the doctrine of the gospel. Thus far in our study we have looked in some detail at the birth of the church at Ephesus and the churches in that immediate area,

1:32 and then have looked in detail at the introductory paragraph in the letter, verses 1 and 2 of chapter 1. The three main units of thought there are very obviously the author of the letter, Paul, an apostle of Jesus, Christ through the will of God, the recipients of the letter to the saints and believers in Ephesus that are in Christ Jesus, and then the formal greetings, grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Now what I wish to do this morning is to give a broad overview of the entire book of Ephesians,

2:14 so that when we come to study the particulars in great detail, and we will be doing that, we might be able to relate each particular in its detail to the larger context of the whole. For the Spirit of God has chosen to speak to us in this letter within the framework of a very clearly structured argument and development of thought, and it is not right to simply wrench out verse after verse, phrase after phrase, and seek to understand what it says in isolation. Rather, we must seek to understand what it says in connection with the organic whole of the entire book.

Sermon Structure and Justification for a Bible Class Approach

3:00 Now in order to help us to do this, I've given some thought and time to this matter of seeking to give a broad overview in our study today. Now the first thing I wish to do is to say a few things about the letter as a whole, and that will take in the top three rectangles. I have them. I've listed here as number one.

3:23 And then the second thing we'll do is look at the particular expansion of chapters one to three, which is this series of seven rectangles, and then we'll spend a few minutes introducing this larger rectangle, which is an expansion of the first of these seven units of thought, which relate to the first half of the book, and then I may just say a word about the enlargement of the first triangle here, so that what you have before you visually, is the first few verses of the body of the letter, down here at the bottom, the relationship of this eulogy to the Father, in its relationship to the entire eulogy and doxology,

4:04 and then you see the doxology in relationship to the other six units of thought, and their relationship to the first three chapters, and the first three chapters in relationship to the last three, which gives us this comprehensive view of the whole. I trust that's clear to you and will become increasingly clear as we study this morning. Now, just one other introductory word is to some who might think, well, isn't this rather a somewhat prostituting of a morning worship service, to conduct it along the lines of a Bible class? Well, I don't believe it is.

4:42 If I did, I could not do it with good conscience. I do not believe that an understanding of content, is, is in any way contrary to the spirit of worship. For one of the highest acts of worship performed by the creature of God, is the subjecting of one's mind to the thoughts of God's mind. And those thoughts have come to us not only in the words of Scripture, but in the paragraphs and in the connected thoughts of Holy Scripture.

5:14 And so I'm convinced this is not in any way a digression from or prostitution of, the true worship involved in listening to the truth of God, but rather it's a necessary part of it if our worship is to be not only in spirit, but also in truth. All right then, just this word concerning the letter as a whole.

The Basic Structure of Ephesians: Explanation and Exhortation

5:41 After the introductory statement, which we have studied in detail, we move immediately in chapter 1 and verse 3, all the way through to the 21st verse, or the last verse, verse of chapter 3 to what we may rightly call, an explanation of the doctrine of salvation, particularly as it relates to the glory of the church as the society, which involves or embodies the history of God's eternal purposes revealed in Christ. Generally, the first three chapters are called the doctrinal. I don't like that because there is much doctrine in chapters, four to six.

6:24 Rather, the first three chapters are an explanation or an exposition of this grand sweeping concept of God's saving purpose, particularly as that purpose relates to His church, His body, His temple, His bride. Now, apart from one command to the Ephesians to remember, which occurs in chapter 2 and verse 11, wherefore remember, there is no exhortation in the first three chapters. There are no commands to do this or to be that. Rather, you have an opening up, a setting forth,

7:07 of the magnitude and grandeur of God's saving purposes, which come to light through the church. So then it is right to conceive of the first three chapters as an explanation, or an exposition of God's great salvation in the Lord Jesus. Then, when we come to chapter four, we notice this marked division, beginning with the words, I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you to walk worthily. And so we have an exhortation coming at the very first part of this section, and we have many exhortations as we move through.

7:51 Notice verse 17. This I say therefore and testify in the Lord, that ye no longer walk as the Gentiles. And then he goes on to describe the walk which should characterize them as the people of God. Chapter five, verse one.

8:06 Be ye therefore imitators. Here's exhortation to how they should walk, to what they should be. And then we start in verse 22 with some very specific areas as to what they should do in various human relationships. Wives, be subject to your husbands.

8:25 Chapter six, verse one. Children, obey your parents. Chapter six, verse five. Servants, be obedient.

8:32 Now, I don't need to be tedious in going over this ground, but it's obvious then that the whole focus of chapters four to six is exhortation. Now, there's much doctrine. In chapters four to six, you have the great doctrine of the relationship of the ascended Christ, to the gifts which he gives to his church. In chapter four, you have the great doctrine of the concept of the body of Christ and its corporate life and development.

9:01 In chapter five, you have the great doctrine of Christ's relationship to the church as the heavenly bridegroom to the bride. You have much doctrine in chapters four to six, so it's not right to say the first three chapters are doctrinal, the last three are practical. No, no, there's much doctrine. But, now here's the marked difference.

9:20 The doctrine is always introduced as a support to an exhortation to practical Christian conduct. Always. Unlike the first three chapters where Paul says, I'm going to deal with doctrine pure and simple with no exhortation. In chapters four through six, chapters one through three, I'm sorry, I think I got my numbers mixed up.

9:45 My mind was running ahead of me. In chapters four through six, the doctrine is never introduced, as an end in itself. It is always introduced on the heels of an exhortation. Chapter four begins with the exhortation, walk worthily of the Lord, particularly, he says, by walking in unity.

10:04 And it's as he seeks to support that exhortation to walk in unity, that he launches into this great doctrinal section regarding the church and Christ and His headship and the diversity of gifts. In chapter five, he starts the exhortation, wives, be subject to your husband, to your husbands. And then he brings in the whole doctrine of the relationship of Christ to the church in redemptive reality as a support to the exhortation to domestic pattern and order. And so we cannot say there is no doctrine, but there is this marked difference that the doctrine is introduced only insofar as was necessary to support the exhortation with Christian principles.

10:49 So much then, So much then, for the basic structure of the book of Ephesians. And I trust that even the four-year-olds here this morning, when you go home today, and daddy and mummy ask you at the table, how is the book of Ephesians structured, you'd be able to say chapters one to three, explanation, chapters four to six, exhortation. And if you can't, your daddy ought to take you in the other room and give you a spanking for not listening. All right? Fair enough?

Significance of the Structure: Doctrine as Foundation for Practice

11:15 Okay. And perhaps I'll be the first one to start it. And then we'll check to see how others did. Now having mentioned the basic structure of the book, I want to spend a few minutes answering the question, what is the significance of this structure?

11:34 Is there any significance to the fact that the book of Ephesians comes to us, first of all, with explanation as foundational and then exhortation based upon it? Yes, there is significance both to the order in which we find this structure. both to the order in which we find this structure. both to the order in which we find this structure.

11:50 though I think objects from Ephesians are slightly worse than others. than I think objects from Ephesians are slightly worse than others. this structure and secondly both as to the fusion of these two things. First of all then there is significance in the order of the structure of the book of Ephesians. The pattern of this structure

12:05 eloquently proclaims the uniqueness of the Christian faith and the whole pattern of God's dealings with men and simply stated it is this. Right knowledge is foundational to right experience. To state it another way, doctrine what I know of and believe concerning God is foundational to practice. To state it another way, the knowledge of what I am in Christ is that

12:44 which creates the desire for me to be what I ought to be for Christ. To state it another way, it is only the fuse of Christian truth that will drive the wheels of Christian living. Or, to state it another way, a Christian does not work for life and privilege, but he works from life and privilege. And that's the significance of the order that we see, explanation first of all, exhortation secondly,

13:24 and based upon it. Now, to get it down to the very practical, let me state it this way. If you are having basic problems in walking according to the directives of Ephesians 4 to 6, problems in maintaining unity with your brethren, problems in being submissive to your husband as a wife, problems as a husband in loving your wife as Christ loved the church, as children being submissive to your parents, employees being rightly related to employers

14:02 and vice versa. If you're having problems in the outworking of the standards of chapters 4 to 6, it is in probably 99% of the cases due to an ignorance of or a lack of appreciation of the truths of chapters 1 to 3. And the way you correct defects, defects and deficiencies in living contrary to the standards of 4 to 6 is to go back to chapters 1 and 3 until your mind and spirit are permeated with that truth. And it's only as you

14:45 live in the climate of the thinking of chapters 1 to 3 that your life will embody the standards of conduct reflected in chapters 4 to 6. Now you say, how does that work? Well, do you remember what our Lord said on one occasion when there was a woman whose love for him prompted her to do something that seemed very strange to those around her? And Jesus made this comment. He said, this woman has done this because she loves me,

15:17 and she loves me much. And it's the intensity of her love which has produced the uniqueness of this act of devotion. And he said these words, to whom much is given, to whom much is forgiven, the same love which has produced the uniqueness of this act of devotion. And he said these words, to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth much. To whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.

15:35 Now the principle is this. The measure of my obedience will be in direct proportion to the measure of my love. She loved much, therefore she has done this much. Now follow closely. The measure

15:51 of my obedience in direct proportion to the measure of my love. The measure of my love will be in direct proportion to the measure of my appreciation of God's saving mercy. She has been forgiven much. She appreciates much the privilege she has, therefore she loves much, and because she loves much, she does much. So if there's weakness in the doing,

16:20 it's reflective of weakness in love, and if there's weakness in love, it's reflective of deficiency in an appreciation of our redemptive privileges. So how do we deal with problems out here in terms of weakness in love? We have to deal with problems out here in terms of weakness in love. We have to deal with problems out here in terms of obedience. You don't do it by simply cracking

16:40 the whip over people's heads and saying, obey, obey, obey, obey. It's legalism, even though you may be quoting from Ephesians 4 to 6. What you must do is, under God, seek to enlarge the mind and then to expand the heart with an appreciation of all that is theirs in Christ, and as they spiritually assimilate the height of God's love, and as they spiritually assimilate the height of God's love, of their privilege, their love will deepen and expand, and deepened and expanded love will give

17:16 birth to more diligent obedience. That's the uniqueness of the way God deals with us in His grace. Romans 12, 1 and 2 state this so clearly. Having laid out from the legal standpoint primarily the concept of salvation pivoting on the doctrine of justification, Paul says, I beseech you therefore by the mercies of God to present.

17:47 In other words, he's saying, in the full display of all your privilege, this should be the commensurate response of your obedience. So, my dear friends, if you would see something happen in the realm of your own practical obedience, you must start thinking hard and long about the content of chapters 1 to 3. And if you are here a stranger to God's grace, there is no grounds for me to urge upon you an ethical and a moral life, apart from first of all urging you to flee to

Significance of the Fusion: Avoiding Barren Intellectualism and Moralism

18:29 Jesus Christ in repentance and faith, and having found in Him the gracious gift of life, then you will work from life out of a motivation of love. Well, then there is significance in the order of this structure, and then secondly, there is significance in the fusion of these two things. The book of Ephesians is not just explanation, chapters 1 to 3, nor is it just exhortation, chapters 4 to 6, but it comprises six chapters fusing together in almost equal proportions both explanation and exhortation.

19:13 If all we had was chapters 1 to 3, this would lead to a barren intellectualism. That is, people would assume that because I know the nature of God's salvation, that automatically means all must be well with me. No, no. Paul takes us into those tremendous peaks, or up to those tremendous peaks of divine revelation, laying out, perhaps as he does, in no other book, something of the magnitude of God's salvation, and having done that, he says, I beseech you, therefore, walk worthily of this calling, and he gets down to the most practical

19:58 areas of the nitty-gritty, so that we're not long from gazing upon those mountain peaks of glorious concepts, before in the realm of fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, servants, masters, God, the devil, sin. In all of these realities where we live, there's a fusion of these two things. And if we can profess to appreciate chapters 1 to 3, and then find ourselves cool to chapters 4 through 6, this is a bad symptom that we have some, at least some initial symptoms of this kind of barren intellectualism. And it's interesting that many of the commentators suffer from this.

20:44 I've performed an interesting experiment sometimes. I look at the book of Ephesians, and as I see the number of verses in each chapter, and if you were to count the words, you see that pretty well divides itself into 50-50, so that if you were to write just one letter on every page, so that you ended up with a nice book about so big that comprised the book of Ephesians, you could pretty well split it right in the middle and find chapter 3. But when you go to the commentators, it's interesting to note that if you take out their introduction, which is only fair, let's not load the case against them. The introduction, where they're giving background material, but you start where they actually expound books like Ephesians, Colossians, divided neatly into the two sections, the book of Romans.

21:24 So often, you find just a wee little bit at the end expounding the exhortation, showing that this danger, this tendency to a barren intellectualism is very real. For just as we must come with carefulness to grasp all that seek to grasp all that seek to grasp all that seek to grasp all that the apostle is saying when he uses such lofty concepts as chosen in him before the foundation of the world, so we must grapple with those words which say, husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church. Wives, be subject to your husbands in everything. And by God's

22:06 grace, we shall give as careful attention to both the explanation and the exhortation, lest we be led on the one hand into a barren intellectualism. Lest we be led on the one hand into a barren intellectualism by an overly, an over-preoccupation with chapters one to three. However, chapters four to six, without chapters one to three, would be a non-Christian moralism. You see, conduct that attempts to be moral and ethical in its nature, without having its roots in redemptive truth, is empty moralism. That's

22:45 why you get done with it. Doctrine in chapters four to six, because the only way the apostle knew how to urge upon Christians specific ethical standards was to buttress his exhortation with Christian doctrine. Again and again he does this. Husbands and wives, here's how you're to conduct yourselves.

23:05 Why? Because this alone reflects the relationship of Christ and his church. Masters, you're to treat your servants a certain way. Why? Because you have a master in him. You have

23:16 a master in heaven. Servants, you're to treat your masters a certain way. Why? Because you have a master. You see, he cannot give mere moralistic teaching. And may I say for

23:25 some of you who may be in climates, theologically, I'm thinking particularly of some of you students, that look down upon detailed ethical and moral instruction as being mere moralism. It is not mere moralism unless you divorce it from distinctly Christian motivation. And redemptive roots. Paul was not being moralistic when he said, children, obey your parents.

23:53 He was not being moralistic when he said to servants, do this, do that. He was not being moralistic when he said, let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth. He was not being moralistic when he said, forgiving one another as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you. He was not being moralistic when he said, be angry and sin not. He was giving detailed,

24:13 specific instruction about Christian ethics, but constantly suffused with peculiar redemptive motivations. You see? Now, if we just have ethical instruction in detail, divorced from that, that's moralism. But if you have so-called Christian teaching on ethics that simply says to people, just look at your redemptive privileges and trust the Holy Spirit to work out the details, you have something that's sub-Christian. The Apostle Paul did not have this perspective. He gives us great detail

24:46 in chapters 4 to 6 with relationship to our conduct. And so there is significance, not only in the order, explanation foundational to exhortation, but there is a fusion of these two things, indicating that the exhortation to life can only exist when it rests upon redemptive privileges, and redemptive privileges must give birth to a transformed life. If it's to be something more than mere notion in the head. Now, that's the significance of this structure. I've given you, in essence, what the structure is. Now, just a word briefly about that

Overview of Ephesians 1-3: Seven Paragraphs of Thought

25:30 second line of rectangles. The first main division of the book, in other words, how Paul's explanation is broken down, and it is divided into seven paragraphs of thought. Those of you who have an American, you know that's a lot of thought. You know that's a lot of thought. You know that's a lot of

25:50 thought. You know that's a lot of thought. You know that's a lot of thought. You know that's a lot of We'll notice that it is divided into those seven paragraphs. And at the top of each rectangle, I have given the verse boundaries of those paragraphs. And I've tried to take in the capital letters the key thought in each of those paragraphs, and then beneath it, a key phrase or key words from the paragraph itself. And I'm going to urge upon you during the coming week and weeks ahead,

26:20 to read through chapters one to three, attempting to do it at least once a week, between the expositions, and then seek to master those divisions, the verse divisions, the key thought and the key word in each of those paragraphs. For remember, the Holy Spirit is speaking to us, not only in the individual words, but in their connection one to another, and in their connection to the whole. And so you have, very briefly, in the first three chapters, what we could call doxology. Paul begins with that statement, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

27:03 And he launches into this very complex sentence, one sentence, which is a hymn ascribing praise to God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then in chapter 1 in verse 15, he speaks of his concern that gives birth to prayer. Having heard of their continued faith and love, he says, for this cause I pray for you. And his prayer is, notice that they might have illumination.

27:34 Now it's interesting that he does not pray that God would do something directly for their feelings or directly for their living. He says that God may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation that you may know. His burden is that the spirit may operate essentially as the spirit of illumination. That the mind and the spirit of these people would lay hold of certain facets of truth.

28:01 Then in chapter 2, verses 1 to 10, he gives a description of what happened when this salvation came to them experimentally. And he tells them how they were dead and God quickened them. And he summarizes this in the little phrase, in the little statement, by grace, ye have been saved. Then in chapter 2, verse 11, he says, when you were in that unconverted state, before you were quickened, he said, remember what you were?

28:29 You were not only in bad shape as a sinner, common with all mankind, but you were in double bad shape in that you were a Gentile sinner. And he says, remember that you Gentiles in time past, you were cut off from the sphere of special redemptive privilege. That privilege which was given to Israel as a nation. So he reminds them, and says, now you who were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

28:56 This distinction is broken down, which launches him then into chapter 3, verses 1 to 13, where he enlarges upon this theme, that now in the church of Christ there is no distinction of Jew and Gentile, but Jews and Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members, fellow partakers of the promises of the gospel. This then leads him, to chapter 3, in verse 14, where he now prays, in the light of all this privilege, that God by the Spirit would make them strong to lay hold of something of the magnitude of this love that has provided all this privilege, that grasping this,

29:38 they may be filled unto all the fullness of God. And then he concludes with this word of praise, unto him who is able to do, exceeding abundantly above all we can ask, or think unto him be glory in the church. And he closes then this section where he began. He begins with doxology and he ends with praise.

30:02 And I trust as we meditate upon this section of the book, as we pour over it in our own devotional exercises, as we come these Lord's Day mornings prepared to think hard and long, that God will be pleased as we grasp the content to cause us to share in Paul's great doxology and to end the section with our hearts filled with the praise that he knew as he contemplated such marvelous mysteries. Then this brings us in the third place to a consideration of the basic structure of the first section, which, Lord willing, we will begin to study in detail next week. You'll notice how we've dropped an arrow

Detailed Look at the Opening Doxology (Ephesians 1:3-14): Christocentric, Trinitarian Theism

30:46 from the first rectangle down to this one. Then we'll go to the second rectangle down to this one. Then we'll go to the third rectangle down to this one. Then we'll go to the third rectangle down to this one.

30:50 Then we'll go to the third rectangle down to this one. And this is an enlargement of that. And we have then this doxology in chapters 1, verses 3 to 14. Blessed be God.

31:00 And first of all, He brings praise to the Father. But notice the arrows that drop down from the Father into the Son. All of the blessings which the Father purposes, He purposes with reference to the Son. That's why we've made the rectangle in which we've placed the word God and the words the Son larger than the other two.

31:23 For Christ is central in this Trinitarian doxology. It's not a Jesus-only doxology. He doesn't say, Blessed be Jesus. He chose us.

31:34 He saved us. He redeemed us. Blessed be Jesus. No, no.

31:37 Blessed be the God and Father. It's Trinitarian. It starts with the Father as the fountainhead of all blessing. But all that the Father does for us, He does for us with reference to whom?

31:50 To Christ. The Father chose us, but He chose us in Christ. And so the Father's dealings with us in grace have reference to the Son. And then the Apostle goes on to talk about what the Son has done.

32:05 In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our sins. It's in the Son that redemption is secured in the shedding of His own precious blood. And then He enlarges, dilates upon this aspect of our Trinitarian salvation. And then He closes with those words concerning the Spirit, in whom ye were sealed.

32:29 But notice that even the Spirit's sealing has reference to our union with the Son. So that the ministry of the Spirit is not separated from the Son, and no one will know the ministry of the Spirit to any measure beyond that which He is acquainted with, the person and ministry, and benefits of the Son. So as the Father's blessings have reference to Christ, so the blessings of the Spirit have reference to Christ. And this doxology, Trinitarian, in its mood and in its climate, is Christ-centered.

33:10 So may I use a term that's a little bit technical, but it won't hurt to know what it is and what it means. Here you have a Christocentric, Trinitarian theism. Christ-centered,

33:25 Trinitarian doctrine of God. And that's the mood and the climate of our salvation. For remember, this is not a man who's being paid to come up with big tomes on theology. This is an apostle writing to some people whom he loves in Christ, his children in the faith.

33:47 And he could have written to them and said, now I want you to understand something more about your salvation. First of all, I want you to know the work of the Father in your salvation. He elected us. He predestinated us unto adoption of sons.

34:02 He did this. Now I want you to understand something about the Son. He could have done this. It would have been perfectly proper.

34:08 And it would have been true. But what happened is, as he contemplates that which he longs to convey to the Ephesians, of the magnitude of this salvation wrought by the triune God, focusing upon the person and work of the Son,

34:28 his theologizing turns into eulogizing. And his theology becomes doxology. So as his mind is thinking carefully and closely,

34:42 the fuel of what his mind grasps so inflamed his heart that instead of coming up with a theological treatise, he comes up with a doxology. But wonder of wonders, when his heart is inflamed unto doxology, his mind is still clear in its theology. So that you have before you in this first paragraph one of the most beautiful models of what John the Baptist was. Our Lord says he was a burning and a shining light.

Application: Balancing Heat and Light in Theology

35:17 There was heat and there was light. Now let me say by way of application, most of us have problems because by...

35:26 by nature and by temperament and cast of mind, we want to be all heat or all light as Christians. And we get into problems. Some people would just wish that Paul had dealt with this concept of salvation coming from the triune God the way he deals with the doctrine of divine sovereignty in Romans 9. That's much to your liking.

35:48 You like Romans 9. Because there in Romans 9, Paul makes a statement that's jagged and has got right angles and then he anticipates and objects and says, will thou say then? And then he shoots him down. And by nature and temperament, that type of thing fits you well.

36:04 You like that. Ah, but my friend, listen, if you're that type of person, you have a very practical danger. And that danger is that your theology will never break out into eulogy and to doxology.

36:20 If so, I trust you'll live and breathe in Ephesians 1, 3 to 14 over the next weeks and months. Until you can live and breathe in Ephesians 1, 3 to 14, you cannot contemplate election, predestination, adoption, redemption. You cannot contemplate those things without wanting to burst out into doxology.

36:45 Conversely, there are some of you who by nature and temperament and religious background and training, you're dead set against systematic theology, against making fine distinctions. Look, I love the Lord and I know the Lord loves me and saved me. Now I just want to pray myself into a state where my heart burns. And you have very little use for theology.

37:09 My friend, you'll be out of place in this chapter. He just doesn't break out and say, blessed be God, blessed be God, blessed be Jesus, blessed be God and just parrot some kind of religious sounding language. No, no. Blessed be God, doxology, burning heart.

37:26 Oh, when you start to see what He's blessing God for and you see the order and the system, and the interrelatedness, you realize that not once did Paul's clear head ever get clouded by the fire that burned in his heart. It was a smokeless fire. It wasn't all smoked up with wild enthusiasm. Doxology, yes, but bursting forth in vigorous theology.

37:56 And so for some of you who don't like to think hard about theology, my friend, let me say it lovingly but bluntly. You better pray. You better pack up and go somewhere else for the next few months because you're going to be miserable here. You're going to be miserable because you're going to have to think.

38:11 You're going to have to think. Just trying in preparation to sort out the lines of thought in here. And one staggers before them. Staggers before them.

38:22 He piles one concept upon another, each of which is a Mount Everest in itself. And when you get a whole park full of Mount Everest, the best mountain climber in the world feels lost in a little bit staggered. And so I would lovingly exhort you, pray that God will help you to stir up every faculty of the mind and give yourself to hard and careful thought to state it scripturally. As we come to this first paragraph, we ought to have two verses of Scripture before us constantly.

Prerequisites for Grasping Truth: Prayer and Diligent Thought

38:56 One of them, Psalm 119 and verse 18. That's the verse in which the psalmist says, Open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. A prayer acknowledging that unless God illuminates the mind, we won't grasp it. Oh, may God help us to pray that prayer.

39:26 Just the thought of preaching through this paragraph has made me pray it and feel the reality of it more than perhaps I have in having to deal with it. I've had to deal with some other truths. But then there must be a second verse of Scripture before us, 2 Timothy 2.7, in which the apostle Paul says, Think on these things and the Lord give the understanding in all things.

39:51 And the word think is a word which cannot be divorced from the concept of diligent, focused mental activity. Paul has given to Timothy some words of direction and now he says, Timothy, consider what I say. Literally, think hard upon what I've said and the Lord will give you understanding. Well, wait a minute.

40:12 If the Lord gives the understanding, why do I have to think? Well, if you've been listening Sunday nights, you know, it's the whole fusion again of the interaction of the divine activity and conscious, deliberate human effort. He works in me to will and to do. He alone can open up the Word.

40:31 That's why I pray, open thou mine eyes. But He never does it in such a way as to put a premium upon mental laziness. Think on these things and the Lord give the understanding. So we must be prepared for hard thought as well as earnest prayer, for careful thinking as well as sensitive walking before God.

Prerequisites for Grasping Truth: Ethical Living and Discernment

40:57 And then I would close with this last word of exhortation. And I would encourage you, as I do, to turn to the passage from which I will be quoting Hebrews 4. It's not enough to pray that the Spirit will open up this portion of truth. It's not enough to think hard upon it.

41:22 But to grasp something of the magnitude of Ephesians 1-3 is to submit ourselves to some very practical and ethical demands of Scripture. I read now from Hebrews 5, verse 11. Having spoken of Melchizedek as a type of Christ, the author of Hebrews says, of whom, that is, of Melchizedek, we have many things to say and hard of interpretation, seeing ye are become dull of hearing. He said, I have many things I'd love to say, but I can't.

41:58 Not because I don't know them. Not because they aren't true, but because, he said, you can't hear them. Now, why couldn't they hear? Was the problem an intellectual one?

42:08 For when by reason of the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need again that someone teach you the rudiments of the faithfulness and the first principles of the oracles of God, and are become such as have need of milk and not of solid food. For everyone that partaketh of milk is without experience in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food is for full-grown men, even those who by reason of their advanced education have their senses exercised to discern lofty intellectual concepts. No, no.

42:45 No, no. It has nothing to do with one's IQ. Solid food is for full-grown men, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern good and evil. You see what he's saying?

43:04 He says the problems in your head with regard to the truths I want to teach you have their roots in the problems of your heart and of your life. And he said as long as you go on living in the shoddy manner, that you're living, you can't grasp the truth of God.

43:23 That's a humbling but very, very real truth of Scripture.

43:28 If we're to lay hold of the explanation of God's salvation in chapters 1 to 3, there are ethical and moral demands made upon us. If we are not exercising our senses to discern good and evil, that is, seeking to walk before God in a conscience void of offense to God and to man, then we're not going to lay hold of His truth. The Scripture says the secret of the Lord is within that fear Him.

43:58 Now may I get even more down to the nitty-gritty? If you live carelessly Monday through Saturday, you're going to sit dopily here Sunday morning saying, I don't get all that. That just jiggles way over my head. Yes, it will.

44:16 But my friend, it isn't because the preacher hasn't prepared and isn't clear. Because there'll be others sitting here having their hearts burning within them.

44:27 The problem will be that you become dull of hearing through the carelessness of your walk. That's the problem.

44:39 Not that I must not labor to be more clear, seek to be more simple, and if necessary, hand you a sheet of paper every week. I'm willing to do that. I'm willing to give myself to every discipline that will help make the content clear and simple so you can see it. But my friend, that's not the ultimate.

44:58 If you come here dull of hearing, you won't grasp it. So may God help us together to pray that we may have our senses exercised to discern good and evil. That we may walk before God in sensitivity. That we might come and absorb this great portion of God's holy truth.

Conclusion: The Goal of Clear Heads and Burning Hearts

45:21 Now, God willing, we'll look next week at the first rectangle in the doxology, the first rectangle in the doxology, the first rectangle Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And as you see in the last large rectangle, reason, He has blessed us with all spiritual blessings. The source of these blessings in Christ. The specific blessings attributed to Him.

45:46 The cause of these blessings. The goal of these blessings. Here are the concepts which the Apostle Paul lays before us with a burning heart and with a clear head. And may God be pleased to so lead us into an appreciation of them that we too shall have clear heads and burning hearts.

46:09 May I say in closing to those of you who may have come into our midst this morning, strangers to God's grace. The last thing in the world you'd ever think of doing is bursting out in a doxology of praise to God. My friend, you never will until you know the God whom Paul knew and know Him the way He knew Him. The only way anyone can know Him as He's revealed in Jesus Christ.

46:36 For He Christ Himself said, I am the way, the truth, the life, no man cometh unto the Father but by me. The same Apostle said, God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God where? In the face of Jesus Christ. If you would know God as Paul knew Him that you might have Paul's doxology of praise ascribed to Him, you'll know Him not by going out and just saying, now what would I like to think about God and then worshipping the God you've made in your own image.

47:16 But you start earnestly searching the Scriptures and praying that the God who's revealed Himself there would show Himself to you in the face of Christ who is revealed to us in the Holy Scriptures. May God grant that some of you who have no doxology may come to the knowledge of Christ by whom alone you can come to the knowledge of this God and then you too will praise Him and say, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us pray.