Paul's Closing Remarks | Ephesians 6:21-25

Well, take your Bibles, if you will, and turn to the letter of Ephesians, and we are concluding Ephesians today.

We've been in the book for several months, and now we're wrapping this up with Paul's closing remarks in this letter.

And it has been a and it is a rich letter.

Amen.

We are looking this morning at the last things that Paul is going to say in this letter as he writes to those Ephesians.

And really, in just a few verses, he's summarizing all that he stated in chapters 1, 2, and 3, where he lays out this rich doctrinal truth of God calling us, making peace with God for us, us peace with God, that we have been sealed in the Holy Spirit, that we now have God's grace.

We're to walk out in love.

And he's going to circle back around in these closing remarks as he reminds these believers and he reminds us of this richness we have in Christ.

So I'm going to ask you to stand with me one more time.

I love to honor the Word of God as we read it.

And I'm going to read verses 21 to 24 of chapter 6, and you can follow along with me.

Paul says, so that you also may know that I am and what I am, know how I am and what I am doing.

Ticacus, the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will tell you everything.

I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts.

Peace be to you, brothers, and the love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Grace be with you all who love our Lord Christ with love incorruptible.

Let's pray.

Father, we ask you to open our hearts once again this morning, God, to the incredible richness, God, of your love and your grace and the faith that you've given us to trust in Christ, Lord.

Lord, we pray that we would not only be hearers of the word this morning, God, but as we are hearing the explanation of these verses, God, we'd be asking the question, God, how do you need to how do you want to apply this in my life so that we may walk out in it?

We ask this in Christ's name, for it's in his sake.

Amen.

You can be seated.

We find in these first two verses we're looking at this morning, verses 21 and 22, what I would call a faithful servant, that is Ticchus.

And Ticus is only mentioned a few times in the New Testament, but when he's mentioned, we see how invaluable he is, not only to the ministry of the Apostle Paul, as he is planting churches throughout the whole region, but he's a faithful servant, and he's there with Paul, and he's very important to the church as well as he serves the Lord Jesus Christ.

And in verse 31, again, he says, the reason that Paul is sending him, he says, so that you also may know how and what I am doing.

Now you remember Paul's in prison at this time, and and the church in Ephesus and Colos and in Philippi, they they all know that Paul is there in his first imprisonment.

And so it may have been to them that they were a little nervous.

Here they uh have have come to faith in Christ, and now Paul's the apostle that planted those churches, and all of a sudden Paul is in prison, and they're facing persecution and they're facing criticism from within their community for placing their faith in Christ, and maybe their hearts are shattered that now Paul has been placed in prison.

So Paul sees the necessity of writing back to them and sending Tychicus so he might encourage their hearts to know how that Paul is doing.

These are very important letters that are being delivered by Ticasus.

We believe that he was delivering the letters of the letter of Ephesians to Ephesus, the letter of Colossians to those in Colos, and also he was delivering the letter to Philemon, who was the slave owner of Anesimus, who had stolen from Philemon, and now Paul is writing a letter to him to say, hey, there needs to be reconciliation now that you two both are in Christ.

And so it was a very important letter that he was delivering.

In a parallel passage in the book of Colossians, Paul refers to Ticicus as a fellow servant in the Lord.

Says that he was going to be one that would encourage them.

I have sent to you, Colossians 4.8.

I have sent him, that is Ticacus, to you for this very purpose that you may know how we are doing and that he may encourage your heart.

So he's writing to that church the same thing.

And when you think of the importance of the matters of Paul having delivered to the church what I believe Paul knew at the time was an inspired revelation from God for God's word in Ephesians and Colossians, it was very important to send somebody with those letters that Paul could trust absolutely to know that he would be faithful to not only deliver the letter, but to encourage them in what Paul had written in these letters to them and how valuable they are to us today.

Amen.

Not only were they letters written to those churches, but now some 2,000 years later, we see that there is absolute relevance to us in our lives as Christ's followers as to the truth that are contained in these letters.

Amen?

And so it was vitally important that Paul would have somebody that was grounded himself in the doctrines of God, because I can only imagine that as he was there and they would read these letters from Paul, which are some very deep theological things that are contained in them, that Ticasus might have been able to expound more on what Paul was writing to them.

We find and know that according to the book of Colossians, chapter 4, verse 9, that with Ticicus was Onesimus.

Colossians 4:9

And if you remember the story, Onesimus had stolen from his owner Philemon.

And it's probably a fact that when Philemon was there in Rome, he he may have met Paul while Paul was under house arrest.

And Paul had the opportunity to lead Onesimus to faith in Christ.

And he was a slave of Philemon.

Well, he had stolen from Philemon and he had fled.

But now that he's become a Christ follower, he's been born again, and he's a part of the same family of God that Philemon is, Paul's writing to say, listen, there must be reconciliation now between the two of you because now both of you are in Christ.

Let me ask you a question.

Have you ever been estranged from another brother or Christ, of brother or sister in Christ?

Let me see your hands.

Probably all over the room.

We've had some estrangement, but we're part of the same family, and reconciliation between two brothers or two sisters or brother in Christ is at the center of God's heart when it comes to the body of Christ, that we have relationship not only with him, but we have relationship with one another.

And the Bible says that we have become part of one another.

And so when there is a tearing away of that relationship, just as God has reconciled us to himself through Christ, he calls us as believers that we be reconciled to one another.

And so we continue reading this in Colossians 4.8.

I've sent him to you for this very part, excuse me, Colossians 4.9.

And with him, Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you, they will tell you of everything that has taken place here.

Along with the letter, with him was the letter to Philemon.

And so we find that they are going there.

Now I thought about this for a moment.

I thought if I was going to send a former slave back to their owner, and that slave had stolen from the owner, it would probably be a very sensitive circumstance when I was sending him back, right?

Especially as I'm calling Philemon to be reconciled to this guy that has stolen from him.

Has anybody stolen anything from you?

That's a hard thing to get over, amen.

And so it goes to show the character, I think, of Ticussus that Paul would depend on Ticassus to intervene, to mediate between a very tense situation that may have been there to encourage one brother to forgive another one and to be reconciled to them.

And so all of this kind of speaks to the character of Ticicus.

We know that Ticussus also accompanied Paul on his third missionary journey.

We find this in Acts chapter 20, verse 4.

Acts 20:4

So far, the Berean son of Pharis accompanied him, that is Ticusus, and the Thessalonicans, etc.

He was there with him on that third missionary journey.

We know that Ticussus was probably a Gentile.

And because he was from that area there in Ephesus, and a demonstration that now the dividing wall that had been there between Jew and Gentile was demonstrated through Ticassus's life, and Paul included him in the ministry there as he would have gone on his journey.

Ticasus most likely was one who had received the offering from the church in Corinth and had taken it back to those who were in Jerusalem who were suffering famine, they were suffering starvation there, and they were in great need.

And so we see in that that Ticasus was probably a very trusted companion of Paul.

So Ticasus wasn't a guy that Paul just had draw straws to see who was going to go on the journey.

But it says here that Paul had observed Ticasus in many different ways, and he had tried him, and he had proven himself to be faithful.

Just a sidebar here that it is wise, not only in a local church, but in ministry, that there be time to test an individual and observe them to see whether or not they are the real deal.

Amen.

Throughout my years of ministry, I've had people come to me and they're eager to serve, and I love that, and they want to be involved and they want to get connected and they want to have roles of leadership.

But I've learned over the years to be very hesitant to that, to observe them, to see whether or not they are tested and proven genuine and right before you take the risk, if you will, of placing them in an area of care within the body of Christ.

Would you agree with that?

And so that's one of the responsibilities that Paul fulfilled there.

So let me encourage you in this.

If you feel like you're sitting on the sidelines and just waiting to get involved and eager, I would say serve where you are, serve in the opportunities that God gives you and allow God to raise you up within that context to serve fully within the gifts that God has given to you.

Does that make sense?

Eagerness is great, but we can do great damage when we put somebody in a role too early where they've not been tested before they can be employed in that.

If you will, we need to test them.

He refers to Ticasus here as a beloved brother.

Now, we may throw around the term beloved and not really get a full comprehension of what this term meant in that day.

It was a term that was only used for those who were not only in relationship with Christ, but they were in deep relationship with the other.

We have friends and we have acquaintances, but to say that someone was a beloved brother, there was that sharing of unity that they had, that bearing of witness with not only Christ, but with the other believer.

Here's an example.

Have you ever been somewhere and you engaged in conversation with a stranger?

And some of you may not engage in conversations with strangers.

I talk to a fence post if it'll talk back to me.

But when you're talking to them, there's something that tells you, you know, they are a Christ follower also.

It wasn't too long ago that I was speaking to a lady, probably in her 80s, at Publix.

That's where I do my shopping.

I see most of y'all, Sandy, knows when I go to Publix, I may be there two hours because I'm talking in the midst of picking up three items.

And there was just something that bore witness with my spirit.

And I just came out and and I didn't I didn't slide into the conversation.

I just, you know, the older you get, the more you just you have no control over your tongue.

Does anybody understand that?

We've earned the right.

Amen.

And I said, are you a Christ follower?

Oh my goodness.

We had church right there in Publix because she was.

And there's that bearing witness that we have with one another.

This last week, Sandy and I had the opportunity to reunite with some friends that go back over 40 years in our lives.

And we had not seen them since 2018.

But but they're a dear couple, they walk with the Lord, they love the Lord, they've encouraged us through the years.

And when we sat to eat, it was like we hadn't, it was like we had just been together yesterday because the conversation was so sweet because it was around our relationship that we have with Christ, and because of that, we have that bond with one another.

Do you know what I'm talking about?

There's that spirit that we have, the Holy Spirit that resides in us, that resides in the other believers, and it's through that that we have that kind of union.

Well, that gives a picture of what this word beloved means when he speaks of us being a beloved brother.

He describes him as one who is faithful.

This word faithful just simply means that he's trustworthy.

There's fidelity in his life, and he has a continued loyalty and support, but not only to Paul, but there was a loyalty first that he had to Christ.

And Paul knew that and recognized that he was faithful.

My question for myself and for you are we faithful?

Would somebody describe us as being faithful?

Then he calls him a fellow servant.

This is not new to you.

You've heard and you know that this servant, this word that's translated servant here, is also the same word that would be translated as slave or a bond slave.

And it has the idea that they had freely submitted themselves to bond servitude, to slavery, literally volunteered for that.

I volunteered for the Navy once and I said, never again volunteer yourself.

But there was that voluntary willingness, obedience, and devotion not only to the individual Paul and to the churches, but first there was a devotion to Christ.

I was thinking about this this last week when I was in a memorial service on Tuesday.

And it's common that at every memorial service or funeral that we go to, there is a eulogy given about that individual who has passed on from this life to the next.

Sometimes it's a eulogy that's read that speaks of their family and the kids I left behind, and and sometimes it speaks to their character and who they are.

And as people would remember them, and the thought hit me, how will I be eulogized at my funeral?

You know, we're all gonna have that one day, right?

I mean, every single one of us in this room is gonna pass from this life to the next, right?

And the question is, as a Christ follower, how will we be eulogized?

And not some made-up flowery thing, but how would people genuinely eulogize you and I as a Christ follower?

Well, I've got some things that I hope people would say.

I'm not gonna get any recognition for it because I'm gonna be gone to glory, right?

But what kind of legacy, what kind of eulogy are we living our lives so that we might leave a legacy that would glorify Christ and edify the body of Christ?

It's something I want every one of us to think about today, to ask today, how would I be eulogized?

Could I be referred to as beloved?

Could I be referred to as faithful?

Could I be referred to as a servant, a bondservant that not only served Christ, but served others?

There's a purpose that Paul writes this letter.

He says in verse 22, or purpose that he sends Ticacus, he says, I have sent him to you for this very purpose.

There was a purpose in him sending him, not only to deliver the letters, but they may know how we are.

I've spoken of that.

So Tychicus is going to let them know that Paul's condition, he's gonna let them know that Paul is doing well in spirit, he's gonna let them know that Paul is having opportunities every day as people come to see him and house arrest, and he continues to proclamate the gospel of Christ there.

But then, secondly, Paul wanted them to have the encouragement of their hearts.

This word encouragement and the gift of encouragement is so, so very important to the body of Christ.

The Greek term, not to try to impress you, but the Greek term is pericleo.

The same root word that is used to speak of the Holy Spirit, the paraclete.

And it means that one is a comforter or one is one who exhorts, one who aids, and and one who helps, and and that's what an encourager is.

Paul speaks in Romans about the specific, some of the specific bodies that are that are given to the body of Christ by the Holy Spirit, as the Holy Spirit wills for us to have these gifts.

And we know that gifts that are given by the Holy Spirit in the body are given so that the body of Christ might be built up.

And so you and I, we all have gifts, but God has given those to us not for our own self-edification, but so that the body of Christ might be built up.

And if you don't know your gift, I'd encourage you to come to Connect class where we do a spiritual gifts assessment and you can find out what gifts you may have so that they might be used within the body of Christ.

How many of you know it takes all of us in the body of Christ?

Every single one of us have a gift that God wants to employ and to use so that the body of Christ might be built up.

I'm under the oppression.

This is my opinion.

You can take it, leave it, chunk it, or flush it.

But the gift of encouragement is one of the most beneficial gifts that God puts within the body of Christ.

Paul, when he's speaking in Romans chapter 12, beginning in verse 6, he says that we all have gifts that differ according to the grace given us.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

In other words, the gifts that we have, God has determined by his grace, which gifts he has employed to us to give us so that we might use those gifts.

And then he says, Let us use them.

If service, then serve.

The one who teaches, then in his teaching.

And then in verse 8, he says, the one who exhorts in his exhortation, that same word, exhort, is encouraging.

So if God has given you the gift of encouragement, use that gift of encouragement within the body of Christ.

Encouragement, sometimes we have the idea that it's just simply a pat on the back that says, good job.

We all like to get that good job, right?

And that can be employed in encouragement.

Most of the time, the gift is there and is given so that we might encourage one another to continue on, continuing on.

Sometimes the Christian life gets challenging.

Sometimes we want to just drop out.

Sometimes we want to just slack up.

Sometimes we just want to ride out those golden years to the sweet by and by.

But the gift of encouragement says, keep on going till you can't go anymore.

It's for his glory.

And let's go.

I think one of the greatest examples in Scripture that's given of this gift of encouragement is the character Barnabas.

You'll remember Barnabas.

Actually, his name is Joseph, and the apostle called, the apostles called him Barnabas, and you know the definition of the name Barnabas?

It's son of encouragement.

We see Barnabas throughout the book of Acts and other places when he's coming alongside first of Paul, who had been a persecutor of the church.

And Barnabas takes in Paul and he begins to teach him the ways in Christ and encouraged and encouraged a skeptical church who knew that Paul was the one who was killing other Christians.

He encouraged that church to accept him and listen to what God has done in his life.

We see also in that same instance of Barnabas.

We see that Barnabas encouraged believers to continue in the grace of God in Acts 15, 36 to 41.

And so that gift of encouragement came to a body of believers, and he encouraged them to continue in the grace of God.

That was the church and coloss, who had gone back to living the Christian life by the law, and now he's encouraging them.

Live by grace, not by law.

This is one I love.

Barnabas chooses John Mark as a ministry partner.

Sometimes I laugh.

My only recognition of Scripture is a guy that deserted Paul.

When Paul and Barnabas had this clash over John Mark continuing with them because John Mark had bailed out on a previous journey, Barnabas is the one that encouraged John Mark to come along with him.

And in other words, as an encourager, he gave John Mark a second chance.

How many of you have been given a second chance?

Thank God for that.

So the one with the gift of encouragement sees the one who's dropped the ball.

Sees the one who's messed up or has messed up and comes along and says, hey man, get back on the horse.

You fell once, but in the grace of God and with God's help, let's get back on and let's get back going.

We see the gift of encouragement a lot of times used in counseling.

We see the gift of encouragement used in discipling when we're walking with another to teach them to grow in the faith.

I don't know that I've ever discipled somebody that hadn't messed up along the way.

We've all messed up.

Amen.

Some of you are sitting here guilty because you messed up this morning or you messed up last night.

And this is not to excuse our messing up, but that's why the grace of God is there and the blood was spilled so that we might have eternal relationship with Him so that when we fail, He says, Hey man, I've got you covered by my blood.

Let's go on, let's pick up where we were and let's keep going.

Isn't that good stuff?

Paul's ministry was so vital there in the early church.

The benediction that Paul gives here in verses 23 and 24 is really where he kind of wraps up some of the things that he said previously in the letter.

Verse 23 says this peace be to the brothers and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible.

Now, really, Paul kind of closes with it with a twofold prayer.

As he's expressing this in verse 23 and 24, it's really a prayer.

He's praying this for them.

The first prayer that he prays is that they might have peace, they might have love, and they might have faith.

I'd put it a second way, that they might know peace, that they might know love, and they might grow in their faith.

This first area of peace, Paul has already spoken of earlier in Ephesians in chapter 2, verses 13 and 14, where he speaks of this peace that we now have with God.

You see, there's the peace of God and there's peace from God, but you'll never experience the peace from or the peace of God until you experience peace with God.

See, because our being born in a sin nature and our sins that we've committed against God, that we've broken his commands, now we're at enmity, the Bible says, with God.

And it's not that God has made us his enemy, according to Paul, but it's that we have made ourselves an enemy of God by saying, God, I don't want you.

I want to live my life the way that I want, and God, you can just take it.

But when there's peace with God, it changes everything.

Paul had said in chapter 2, verses 13 to 14, but now in Christ Jesus, in Christ Jesus, turn to that passage.

It's only a couple of pages to your left.

Or scroll up up your phone.

I like it when you turn to pages.

I like hearing pages rustle in church.

Amen.

He says this in verses 13 and 14.

He says, but now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off.

Circle that word once.

You were once far off.

You have now been brought near by the blood of Christ.

The only reason we have been brought near to God is because the blood of Jesus Christ.

Oh, the blood of Jesus.

You know it?

Oh, the blood of Jesus.

Oh, the blood of Jesus.

It washes white as snow.

I'm thankful for the blood of Jesus.

Sing it out.

I'm thankful for the blood of Jesus.

I'm thankful for the blood of Jesus.

It washes white as snow.

Only by his blood.

And it's an eternal flowing of his blood.

It's not dependent on you and I.

We didn't come near to God because we joined a church.

We didn't come near to God because we gave to a church.

We didn't come near to God because we've done good things.

And there's a general good that's in so many people.

It's the goodness that God allows.

But the only reason that we can come to God is through the blood of Jesus and trusting his payment for our sins.

What a beautiful thing that is.

Verse 14.

For he himself is our peace.

My peace I give to you, Jesus said, not as the world can give, but my peace I give to you.

The world's looking for peace, especially now.

But there'll be no peace.

There'll be no peace until Jesus returns and establishes his throne in Jerusalem.

Amen.

For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh or in his body the dividing wall of hostility again, for he himself is our peace.

We're encouraged in that passage on spiritual armor that we're to put on the gospel of peace.

Verse 15 of chapter 6, and as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.

And you see, this gospel that we speak of is not only effective in the means to bring peace between us and God, but the gospel restores broken fellowship, broken relationships to bring peace among one another.

And in this particular instance, Paul is speaking of the dividing wall.

Now it's Christ who our peace is our peace who has brought together now Jew and Gentile.

He says, this peace through Christ now has brought together those who are free and those who are slaves.

This peace through Christ brings together people from every socioeconomic group within the world and brings together ethnicities that the world can never bring together by its methods.

You want reconciliation with others, it's in Christ.

You want reconciliation in nations of groups of people, it's in Christ.

You want reconciliation between ethnicities, it's through Christ.

And in the body of Christ, there is now no dividing wall.

And we need to seek that and walk in that and embrace that because Christ has made that possible for us.

Amen.

And then he says, in love, Ephesians 3, 14 to 19, for this reason, he's already spoken of it when he says that prayer for them.

He says, For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory, that he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and the length and the height and the depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness.

The main focus for Paul here is that they may understand and know the love of God through Jesus Christ.

I don't know about y'all, but sometimes I feel very unlovable.

Anyone else?

God, how could you love me?

He says, I love you because it's not based on your performance.

It's based on my grace towards you.

So if you're here this morning and you need to be reminded that God loves you, that he loves you in a four-dimensional way.

Height, depth, breadth, and width, that he loves you eternally.

We're called to love each other, also, right?

Love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength.

And love your neighbor as yourself.

Can I propose to you that this love that we're called to extend to others can only be extended by the measure that we've been touched and received the love of God.

So embrace his love.

Then he calls for faith.

He's spoken of faith in Ephesians 1.13.

Previously, he says, in him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him.

Same word translated, faith.

And believed in him, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.

Without faith, it is impossible to please God.

And we're not talking about some kind of faith that we try to gen up within ourselves that we have faith in our faith, but it's the faith that's been gifted to us by God.

We cannot have faith in Christ.

We cannot have faith in God unless God enables us first to have faith in him.

And so he calls on us not only to know this faith, but to grow in this faith.

You see, faith is essential in the believer's life.

To trust God and continue to trust him, not with empty, vain declarations, but to trust him, to trust his word, to know that he is a faithful God.

He's a faithful father.

I've never seen the righteous begging for bread, knowing that God is faithful and we can depend on him.

Faith is a part of the two gifts, two of the gifts that are given there in Ephesians 5.22.

He says, But the fruit of the Spirit is love and peace.

Patience, kindness, goodness, and faithfulness.

1 Corinthians 13, 13.

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three.

But the greatest of these is love.

It's used to indicate to us whether or not there is an authentic conversion to Christ.

This faith is.

Don't you love that?

Grace be with you who love Jesus Christ.

Do you love him?

Don't you love him?

Does nobody else like him?

Nobody else ever has been, nobody else ever will be.

To those who love Jesus Christ, Paul praised grace.

He says, with love that's incorruptible.

Now he's already spoken of this grace in Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 and 9, where he says, By grace you've been saved through faith, and this is not of your own doing.

Ephesians 2:8

It is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

But where Paul is speaking of grace here, he's not speaking of the salvation grace, that God without merit saves us.

That's God's grace.

But here he's speaking of a grace that brings us joy, a grace that brings us pleasure, a grace that brings us favor, a grace that brings us acceptance.

It's that grace that we all need every single day in every instance of life.

You see, grace does not stop at salvation.

But as the word is used here, he's talking about that grace that that's just poured out on us every single day.

Grace stands in direct antithesis of works.

You see, all of life, the Christian life, is by God's grace.

And then lastly, he says that's incorruptible.

And I asked the question, why did he place this here?

Why did he say that the love of Christ with love incorruptible?

That word incorruptible sometimes can be translated immortal.

And immortal has that idea of being eternal, right?

And the older we get, the more we realize that we are immortal.

But now he has given us a love by his grace that's incorruptible, that's that's immortal.

It's gonna go on forever.

It speaks of this future incorruptible body that we are going to receive by God's grace at the resurrection of Christ.

That grace is not just for here and now, but grace is for eternity.

God's love is not just here for here and now, but his love will be displayed and we'll experience it for eternity.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, 52 and 53, he says, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable.

There's that word, and we shall be changed, for this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.

We're gonna receive a new body.

I've got a description for him of how I want mine to be.

Peter speaks of this, 1 Peter 1, 3 and 4.

He says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to his great mercy.

He has caused us to be born again.

It's his cause to a living hope, speaking of that resurrection through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, same word, immortal, incorruptible.

It's imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.

Peter repeats similarly in verse 23, that same chapter.

He says, Since you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable through the living and abiding word of God.

So we see in verse 24 grace be with you.

All who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible, grace and love, incorruptible, grace and love, immortal, grace and love, everlasting.

Grace and love that will not perish.

You see, we as believers, as Christ followers, and this is the hope that we have, we're raised from the dead and we're given a new body.

And in that new heaven and new earth, when we reign with him for all of eternity, we're in his presence for all of eternity.

That his grace and his love will be very present in that time.

But I've got to point out, it's not so for the unbeliever.

You see, the unbeliever will spend eternity with the marks remaining on this mortal body?

With the marks of the wrath of a holy God?

Let me ask you this question.

Which body will you have in eternity?

Will it be a new body?

Incorruptible?

Living out his grace and his love for all of eternity, or will it be an eternity separated from God?

With the marks of his wrath, judgment.

You see, the wrath is coming.

People ask the question, what are we saved from?

We're saved from the wrath of the holy God.

So the closing question this morning is How's your eternity going to be?

Father, we pray that this last closing sobering thought is one that we would ponder and really consider carefully.

Lord, we pray that if there are those who do not know Christ, Lord, have never experienced peace with God, who never experienced his love, who've never experienced what it is to live a life trusting you by faith, God, that today they would come to know that.

And God, for the believer this morning, I pray that this word was an encouragement to our hearts.

God, of your incredible grace, your incredible love for us.

Father, we would go out this week, Lord, knowing that we have been sent by you into every area of our lives, God, as ambassadors and as bearers of the good news of the gospel.

Lord, that we as believers would have a recognition and a realization and a wake-up call that the wrath of God is coming.

We don't know when, but God, we know that it's coming.

It's appointed once for man to be born and then once for judgment.

God, it's our desire that we would be used by you to help many come into that eternal life through you.

Father, we ask that you would bless our week coming and God encourage the body.

We ask this in Jesus' name.

Amen.