Let us turn to God's Word. I said this morning we'd return
this evening to the words that we were considering here in Ephesians
chapter 1 and verse 17. I'll read that particular verse
again, Ephesians 1, 17. That the God of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit
of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him." Here then
in Ephesians 1, 17, the beginning part really of Paul's prayer
on behalf of these Ephesians, he cannot cease to give thanks
for them. He makes mention of them in all
his prayers that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father
of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation
in the knowledge of Him." And we were considering in particular
the first part, where we have the object of his prayer, the
one whom he is addressing, whom he speaks of here, as the God
of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory. It's a striking form of address
when we think of God. We think of God, of course, rightly
in terms of the doctrine of the Trinity, the great mystery of
the Godhead, three divine persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And as they are eternal, co-eternal,
so they are all co-equal, no superiority, no inferiority,
but equal. But then, as we said this morning,
the apostle is here praying in terms of the covenant, the covenant
of grace. And in that covenant, the Son
is the one who has become the servant of God, the servant of
the Father. And so, as a man, He lives that
life of faith and he looks to God as his God and his Father
in Heaven. And so here in the opening part
of the verse, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is that
One also spoken of as the Father of Glory. How the Lord Jesus
Christ has humbled Himself there. The Eternal Son, equal to the
Father, equal to the Spirit. But then in the fullness of the
time, he comes made of a woman, made under the law. Being in the form of God, he
thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself
of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and
was made in the likeness of man. Christ is that one then who comes,
He's the mediator, the mediator of that covenant. And as I said
this morning, we can only see God through the Lord Jesus. In His last days God has spoken
unto us by His Son, as we're told there in that amazing opening
chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews. In time past He has
spoken unto the fathers by the prophets, but in these last days
by his son, the brightness of his glory, the express image
of his person, says the apostle. So we were thinking of the one
who is addressed this morning, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of glory. And I want us now to concentrate
more especially on the second part of the verse, which is really
the first petition that we have in his prayer. He wants his gods
to give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the
knowledge of him. Paul's petition then here is
that there be a revelation of wisdom and of knowledge. A revelation of wisdom and of
knowledge. And I want to divide the subject
into these two points to consider two headings this evening for
a while. First of all to say something
with regards to the gift of wisdom and knowledge and then secondly
the spirit of wisdom and knowledge. First of all, the gift. Immediately when we read here
of wisdom and knowledge we might go back to the Old Testament
and think of the wisdom literature. those writings of King Solomon
one of the wisest men probably the wisest man in the world as
ever known other than of course the Lord Jesus Christ himself
and Solomon a remarkable type of the Lord Jesus Christ but
how when he first becomes the king he desires wisdom and God
favors him with a remarkable degree of wisdom and we have
then that wisdom literature in the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes
and the Song of Solomon and there we see much of wisdom,
of revelation, of knowledge think of the language that we have
in chapter 4 of Proverbs and there at verse five, wisdom is
the principal thing therefore get wisdom and with all thy getting
get understanding, exalt her and she shall promote them she
shall bring thee honour when thou dost embrace her she shall
give to thine head an ornament of grace a crown of glory shall
she deliver to them hear my son and receive my saying and so
on. Now wisdom speaks in there in
the book of Proverbs it's the writing of King Solomon yes but
it's the word of God it's the wisdom of God that's really being
spoken of and revealed to us in that remarkable book again
in chapter 8 and verse 11 for wisdom is better than rubies
and all things that may be desired are not to be compared with her
nothing can be compared with the wisdom of which the scripture
is speaking and that wisdom that is spoken of here in our text
this evening the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge
of him now We observe that in our authorised version the word
spirit appears with the lowercase s. So what can we understand
by that statement, spirit of wisdom? We can understand it
in a certain sense as referring to our own spirits. To have a
spirit of wisdom surely is to have a meek and a mild spirit. It's to have a teachable spirit
if we're in possession of such a thing. It's to be favored with that
simplicity of mind, godly simplicity. We sometimes sing those lines
of John Berry, Jesus cast a look on me, give me sweet simplicity. What a blessing if we have such
a wise spirit as that. And those who are blessed with
such a spirit of simplicity, a childlike meekness of spirit,
they often feel themselves to be such fools. They feel themselves
to be such slow learners, such dull scholars. They can't really understand
themselves. They feel to be so ignorant. And yet, God takes account of
these people. They're the wayfarers, aren't
they? They're those who are walking
in that narrow way that leads to life. We read of such in Isaiah
35, where the Prophet speaks of the highway of holiness. Isn't that the narrow way that
leads to life? And their mention is made of
the wayfaring men though fools. It says the wayfaring men though
fools shall not hear their end. They have no wisdom of their
own. Or they decry all their own wisdom. They look to the
Lord to give them that heavenly wisdom. And it is God who does
give the wisdom. What do we have here? we have
a prayer and in the prayer isn't the Apostle making a request
he's not asking that God would grant to these believers in the
church at Ephesus to be blessed with such a spirit that the God
of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of glory may give unto
you that He may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation
in the knowledge of Him." And as God gives, as God gives,
what are we to do? Well, we're to ask. Is it giving
God? And we're fools then if we don't
come and ask of such a God as this. The Lord Jesus says, Ask,
and it shall be given you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock,
and it shall be opened unto you. For he that asketh, receiveth.
And he that seeketh, findeth. And to him that knocketh, it
shall be opened. What words are those spoken by the Lord Himself
in the course of His earthly ministry? That one in whom all
the promises of God are yea and Amen. we have but to ask and
if we ask the Lord will give again there in Proverbs 2 and
verse 6 we are told the Lord giveth wisdom the Lord giveth
wisdom and so we are to ask suppose really we think then
of the language of the James in his epistle remember the words
that we have there in the opening chapter at verse 5 if any of
you lack wisdom says James if any of you lack wisdom are we
those tonight who as we gather together here for worship feel
that we really do need to be made wise we have no real wisdom
of ourselves certainly with regards to the things of God that's how
we are to reckon ourselves but if we're lacking wisdom James
says, ask of God who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth
not. What a giver God is. He gives
liberally. And He doesn't upbraid those
who come and ask Him. He doesn't grow weary of hearing
people asking. He upbraideth not. He gives liberally. But we're to ask in faith, says
James. nothing wavering for he that
wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven of the wind and tossed
let not that man think he shall receive anything of the Lord
or we're to ask in faith and yet so often well I can only
speak personally of course we ask but we we ask and we receive
not because we ask amiss we don't ask in faith we're to ask and
God gives and what is the wisdom that God gives Well the wisdom
that God gives comes from above and the wisdom from above is
first pure and then peaceable and gentle and easy to be entreated
and full of mercy and good fruits and without partiality and without
hypocrisy. I'm sure you're familiar with
those words at the end of James chapter 3. And how striking it
is, that heavenly wisdom. What is it first and foremost?
It's pure. It's first pure and then it's
peaceable. and it's gentle and it's easy
to be entreated it's all of those things but first of all it is
pure because he comes from him who is all pureness he comes
from the Lord God himself but we can be more specific what
is this wisdom? what is this wisdom that God
gives? it's the Lord Jesus Christ surely
it is surely it is Christ of him are ye in Christ Jesus who
of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption that as it is written he that glorieth let
him glory in the Lord all these things are in the Lord Jesus
Christ that that hymn that we just sang 181 really it's an
exposition isn't it of that text there in first Corinthians chapter
1 and verse 31 that wisdom from above it's the Lord Jesus Christ He is made unto us wisdom that
the gods of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of glory may give
unto you wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. Not just wisdom, but also knowledge.
Oh, but what a knowledge is this. It's the knowledge of Him that
comes where there's this wisdom. There's a knowledge that goes
with it. And it's the knowledge of God. And it's the knowledge
of that great salvation that is in the Lord God Himself. Salvation
is of the Lord. and there is no salvation apart
from the Lord. Salvation is altogether God's
gift. As we observed this morning in
the former part of the whole chapter, he speaks so clearly,
does the apostle, of God's great purpose. He makes mention of
his making choice of a people in Christ before the foundation
of the world and God predestinating them onto the adoption of children. It's what God has purposed. It's
in the decree of God. And then how is it executed? It's in the Lord Jesus Christ
in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sins according to the riches of his grace. Having spoken of
that great predestination of the Father, there in verses 3
through 6 he then speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ who has come
and procured that great salvation by his obedience, his obedience
unto death, even the death of the cross. And there now the
Spirit is the one spoken of in verses 13 and 14 who seals these
things in the souls of sinners. Oh, He is the one who comes to
apply that great salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. And we can only know salvation
as we know the Lord. We can't separate God from salvation. It is life eternal, says the
Lord Jesus in His great prayer, that high priestly prayer, as
He addresses His Father in heaven. It is life eternal to know Thee
the only true God and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. As I said
this morning, the form of address here in the prayer is one in
which we see God as that God revealing Himself in covenant
through Him who is the mediator of that covenant. Christ is the
messenger, isn't He? He's the one spoken of there
in Malachi 3, in the opening verse, the messenger of the covenant. Or the Lord Jesus. He is the
Christ, the Son of the living God. And this is the one who
brings to us the knowledge of God and the knowledge of salvation. We see Him speaking there, do
we not, in the In the language of Proverbs, we know all Scripture
is full of Christ. What he says there in John 5
is so true. Search the Scriptures. These
are they that testify of me. That's what he says to the Jews.
Search the Scriptures. In them you think that you have
eternal life. But these are they that testify
of me. We can't separate Christ, the
Word, and the Word of God incarnate. We can't separate that from what
we have in the Scriptures. We never do justice to any part
of God's Word unless we're searching for Christ in all the Scriptures,
and he's there clearly in that language of the book of Proverbs.
He is wisdom. And what does wisdom say? He
speaks of himself. When there were no depths, he
says, I was brought forth. when there were no fountains
abounding with water, before the mountains were settled, before
the hills was I brought forth, He's brought forth. He's that
One who is eternally brought forth. He's the Eternal Son of
the Eternal Father. He goes on, doesn't He? Then
I was by Him as one brought up with Him. I was daily His delight,
rejoicing always before Him. and he says, My delights were
with the sons of men. All delights in the sons of men. He's that one who comes then,
he comes to make God know and in him we
have that wisdom and that knowledge which is salvation which is all
together in the Lord in God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But let us, in the second place,
turn to what I call the Spirit of Wisdom and Knowledge. The Spirit of Wisdom and Knowledge.
There's a gift. It is certainly the gift of God.
And so we have to ask. And that's what the Apostle is
doing. He's a pattern to us here. We're to ask as he asks. for
these Ephesian believers, we as Christian believers, if that's
what we are, we should be asking that we also might be favoured
with the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of
Him. Now, I know I just remarked on
the fact that the word spirit in our authorised version does
have that lowercase s but I think I remarked this morning I I would say that really we should
use the capital letter here, because the verse is a Trinitarian
verse. In this verse we see the three
persons. We see the Father, we see the
Son, and we see the Holy Spirit. And that's the context. That's
the context, as I've already said, from what we have previously.
those various sentences from verse 3 through 6 speaking of
the Father and His purpose and then what we have at verse 7
through 12 speaking very much of the work, the great work of
the Son, that work of redemption and then what we have in verses
13 and 14 just previous to the prayer of the Apostle in verse 13 he
says, in whom you also trusted that's the Lord Jesus Christ
in whom you also trusted after that you heard the word of truth
the gospel of your salvation in whom also after that you believed
you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise or we might
rendering it that they were sealed in believing, believing
ye were sealed in whom believing ye were sealed it's true that
the sealing follows the believing in a sense but you can't separate
the two every true believer must be sealed with the Spirit of
God because that faith that he exercises it's the gift of God,
it's the It's the operation of God in his soul. He can only
believe by the Spirit. Sealed with that Holy Spirit
of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance until the
redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory. And so, when we come to verse
17, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,
may give unto you the Spirit If we understand spirit there
to refer to God, the Holy Ghost, we have the three persons. And
I say that it is a... It's a Trinitarian verse. It's
a Trinitarian verse. We see it time and time again
in the epistles of Paul. You get these statements and
they're clearly Trinitarian in their very nature. Remember what he says later concerning
prayer in verse 18 of chapter 2. He's spoken of the Lord Jesus
Christ as the one who came and preached peace to you Gentiles
which were afar off and to them the Jews who were nigh. That
was so historically wasn't it? In the Old Testament God only
knew the children of Israel amongst all the families of the earth
they were his special people but now that that middle wall
of partition has gone, been broken down as he has said and the gospel
is for Gentiles as well as Jews and then he says verse 18 through
him through Christ we both have access by one spirit unto the
Father, that's a Trinitarian verse because we have Christ,
we have God the Son, the one through whom we have the access,
and that access is by the Spirit, the one who helps our infirmities
in prayers, and it's on to the Father. I say Paul is, time and
again, wants to use these sort of expressions in his writings.
He speaks in terms of the doctrine of God, the doctrine of the Trinity,
and I would say that that's what we have here in this text this
evening. The spirit here then is the Holy
Spirit Himself. And don't we need the Spirit?
Oh, we need the Spirit. And what are we to do? We are
to pray, we are to ask for the Spirit. If we have nothing of the Spirit,
we have no religion at all. Christianity is a spiritual religion. And we're living in the dispensation
of the Holy Spirit. What happened on the day of Pentecost,
I think it was dear old Dr. John Duncan, that great Scots
divine back in the 19th century, who says, what happened on that
day is a perpetuity. I like that word. What happened
on the day of Pentecost, it's a perpetuity. We're living in
the dispensation of the Holy Spirit, that one who fell upon
the disciples when the day of Pentecost was fully come. How
we need the Spirit if we're going to know anything of reality in
our souls. And what are we to do? We're
to pray. And the Lord Jesus tells us that. If ye being evil know
how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall
your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask
Him. Even there you see in the language
of Christ we have the three persons it's Christ speaking and He speaks
of the gift of the Father and He speaks of the Spirit as that
gift of the Father and how do we obtain that gift? We ask.
Ask and it shall be given you. Now what is the method of the
Spirits here in the words of our text? the Spirit of wisdom
and revelation in the knowledge of Him." Well, surely we see
that the Spirit is that One who grants this wisdom and this knowledge
by revelation. It's a revelation in the knowledge
of Him, in the knowledge of God, in the knowledge of Christ. It's
all a revelation. Now, we're not to misunderstand
what is meant by a revelation. It's not that that is natural
to the eye. It's not what the natural eye
can apprehend. It's not what the outward ear
can comprehend. When we think of this revelation,
we're not to think in terms of visions and voices. As if that's the way the Spirit
comes and grants us this wisdom and this knowledge that we see
something with our natural eye or we hear something with our
natural ear. That's not the revelation. We
walk by faith and not by sight. There's not things to be physically
seen. We look not at the things which
are seen, says Paul, but at the things which are not seen. The
things which are seen are temporal. The unseen things are the eternal
things. What is it that the Holy Spirit
reveals? The Holy Spirit reveals spiritual
things. we're not going to think of a
revelation some like to think of revelations in terms of visions
and voices nothing of that nothing of that the spirit comes to reveal
spiritual things and it's an inward work of the spirit what man knoweth the things of
a man save the spirit of man which is in him Even so, the
things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. All these
things can only be known by that gracious ministry of the Spirit.
And it's not the things of men. Not the things of men. The natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. They're
foolishness to him. neither can he know them because
they are spiritually discerned who is it that we have to look
to then? we have to look to the Lord Jesus
Christ remember what Christ says in the course of his ministry
there in Matthew's gospel in the 11th chapter and there at
verse 25 the Lord says at that time well
this is Matthew's account of what the Lord says at that time
Jesus answered and said I thank thee O Father Lord of heaven
and earth because thou hast hid these things from the wise and
prudent and hast revealed them unto babes even so father for
so it seemed good in thy sight All things are delivered unto
me of my Father. And no man knoweth the Son, but
the Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father,
save the Son. And he to whomsoever the Son
will reveal him. Oh, we have to look to the Lord
Jesus Christ as He looks to the Father. He says, I thank you,
O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, who have these things
been revealed to, to babes, O God, you see, poor scorn on
the wise men of this world. Even so, Father, so it seemed
good in thy sight. And then he says, How all things
are delivered unto me. No man knoweth the Father save
the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him the sovereignty
of the Son. That one who reveals these things
He's the great mediator of the covenants. And how does he work?
He works in and through and by God, the Holy Spirit. Because the Spirit comes as the
Spirit of Christ. Or Christ must depart in order
that the Spirit comes. He says as much in those chapters
there in John 14, 15, 16. Is it expedient for you that
I go away? If I go not away, the Comforter
will not come. But if I depart, He says, I will
send Him unto you. And this is the work of the Spirit
then, to reveal these things. But what is the revelation? What
is the revelation? Well, the word that we have here
literally means to unveil. That's a revelation, it's an
unveiling. It's lying something bare. It's something that was
covered and now it's been exposed. You think of that, where does
the Holy Ghost begin? He first lies bare our own hearts. That's how the Spirit begins.
This is the method of the Spirit that we're considering, how He
works. He lies bare the sinner's heart. and in doing that of course
he shows us ourselves and what a sight, what a sight, the heart
deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know
it? I the Lord serve the heart I
try the reins to give to every man according to his ways and
according to the fruit of his doings oh they're such a ministry,
is there not? and have we never prayed to God
Lord show me myself or if we would know himself we must know
ourselves that little child who was taught
to pray that prayer she didn't know how to pray and she wanted
to pray and she was told wisely that she should say Lord show
me myself and then to say Lord show me thyself Christ comes for sinners. He's
the friend of sinners. Sinners are high in His esteem.
Sinners highly value Him. Oh, it is the Lord, you see,
who must show us ourselves, that heart deceitful above all things,
desperately wicked. I, the Lord, search the heart
and try the reins to give to every man according to his ways,
according to the fruit, of his doings. There is a ministry,
a ministry of the law. It's a ministry that brings condemnation. More than that, it's a ministry
that brings death upon the soul of man. Or whatsoever things
the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every
mouth may be stopped, and all the world become guilty before
God. That's the law. It stops the
mouths of men. All their wisdom is gone. God
makes the wisdom of this world foolishness. Therefore by the deeds of the
law shall no flesh be justified in His sight. By the law is the
knowledge of sin. This is the method of the Spirit
then as He works. There's an unveiling. there is
a showing us ourselves but what is the main point of the Spirit's
work? that's not the main point of
His work surely not here we have the the main point
of the Spirit's work in the language of our text that God would give
unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge
of Him. It's in the knowledge of Him. Of whom? Well, it's the revelation
of God in Christ. And remember the opening words
of that last book of Scripture, of course, the revelation of
Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him. we said before, remarking
on those words, it's not just a revelation that belongs to
the Lord Jesus Christ, it is that. It's what God gave him
to show unto his servant John Things which must shortly come
to pass. But Christ himself is the revelation
really. You know the word that's rendered
Revelation is the Greek word Apokalypsis and of course our
English word transliterated Apocalypse we speak of the book of the revelation
as apocalyptic scripture it's revelation, it's revealing of
things the uncovering of things But it's the Spirit who reveals
to us Christ and the wonder, or the wonder of the person of
Christ. The great mystery of godliness,
the mystery of real religion. That's what godliness means there. And it's God manifest in the
flesh. It's God justified in the Spirit. It's God seen of
angels. It's God preached unto the Gentiles. It's God revealed up into glory. It's all about the Lord Jesus
Christ, the wonder, the wonder of him, his person, his work,
what he has accomplished here upon the earth by the life that
he's lived and the ministry that he's exercised, the death that
he's died, he's rising again from the dead, he's ascending
to heaven. the wonder of the work as well as the person. It's
life eternal. Life eternal to know Thee, the
only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. Oh, this
man, Paul, remember his great desire. What does he say there
in Philippians 3, that I may know him? He wanted to know,
he wanted that knowledge, that I may know Him, He wanted to
be made wiser and wiser unto that salvation that is in Christ,
that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship
of His sufferings be made conformable unto His death. His whole life
is taken up with Christ. And it's the Spirit who must
reveal all these things to us. He shall not speak of Himself,
says Christ, He shall glorify Me, for He shall receive of Mine,
and shall show it unto you. Oh, that's the work of the Spirit.
What a blessed work it is. And the promise of God. He has
given us His promise. I will pour upon the house of
David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace
and of supplications. And they shall look upon Me whom
they have picked. and shall mourn for him as one
mourner for an only son, and shall be in bitterness for him
as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. There's the
consequence of the outpouring. They shall look upon those whom
they have pierced, and all want mournings, mourning over our
sins, mourning over the sufferings and the death of the Lord Jesus
Christ. but mornings that are full of comforts also, the glorious
consolations of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. What a
prayer is this then. All Paul cannot cease to give
thanks for this people. He's continually praying for
them, making mention of you in my prayers, that the gods of
our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you O
that God may give unto us that spirit of wisdom and revelation
in the knowledge of Him. Amen.