It's an honor to be filling this
pulpit for the first time before the general population. I've
taught several times to the men, but the ladies haven't really
heard me teach yet. Today we're going to be looking
at an introduction to one of Paul's letters. So I think it's fitting that
I use this as sort of an introduction to myself as a teacher for you
all. Paul wrote several letters to
several different churches. These letters are essentially
divided into two groups, letters of instruction, encouragement,
and then on the other hand, you have letters of correction and
rebuke. And you'll find elements of both
of these things in all of Paul's letters, but there are some letters
that are more generally themed with one of these ideas and some
with this other idea. For example, what we've been
studying usually on Wednesday nights, Romans, is a letter of
instruction. It's full of deeply theological
ideas and arguments, and it was meant as an encouragement to
the people of Rome. And then on the other side of
the coin, you've got Paul's letters to the Corinthians. If you've
read 1 and 2 Corinthians, the story sort of goes that there
was lots of things wrong in Corinth. And so Paul writes a letter,
and then someone from the church writes a letter back to Paul
saying, here's some more stuff that was wrong with Corinth.
And so Paul writes another letter. There were several grievous sins
that were rampant in the Corinthian church. Corinth was known for
being one of the most debaucherous cities in the ancient world. Think Las Vegas meets San Francisco
or something like that. So as a result, Paul spends a
lot of time in these two letters correcting these sinful behaviors
that he sees within the Corinthian church. So we're going to look
today at the introduction to Paul's letter to the Ephesians. Ephesians is not like the letters
to Corinth. It is much like the letter to
the Romans. It's richly theological and is
boldly encouraging. And I pray that it will be an
encouragement to you this evening. So we're going to read this little
section, then we'll pray, and then we'll dive right in. Ephesians
1, verse 1. Turn in your copy of the Scriptures
with me. Paul declares, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by
the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful
in Christ Jesus, grace to you and peace from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Father God, we thank
you for this day that you have given us. We thank you that we
woke up this morning breathing again and that we can see your
glory in the sunlight. God, we as a church family have
been shaken by the loss of a loved one of one of our dear brothers,
Jesse. God, we continue to pray together
as one body for peace and comfort for their family. Now, God, I pray that you would
keep falsehood away from me. I've reflected on what your Apostle
James wrote to us in chapter 3 of his epistle, and it is concerning
to me. God, I understand that teaching
your word is a solemn and grave task, and I pray that you would
protect my lips as I teach my brothers and sisters. God, open
their ears so that they may hear your word and hear your gospel
and that they would be saved and that their faith would be
strengthened. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. So Paul begins this letter to
the Ephesians in almost the exact same way as he begins most of
his other letters. I can flip over a couple pages
to Philippians. He says, Paul and Timothy, servants
of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi
with the overseers and deacons, grace to you and peace from God
our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. So these introductions
are sort of parallel. We see similar format, similar
structure in all of these things. And for this reason, it seems
to be that Little attention is ever given by expositors to the
introductions to Paul's letters. And sure, the introduction is
simple. There's really not much here. And the reason for that is that
the introduction is not meant to be teaching. It's not didactic. It's meant to greet you, say,
hello, this is Paul. I'm an apostle by the will of
God. It's a greeting. All scripture is breathed out
by God and profitable. And so these words of this introduction
are profitable for teaching us something. So there is much here
that God would have us learn through Paul's simple greeting. So what we're going to do tonight
is we're going to use scripture elsewhere to interpret scripture
here. Our confession says that the
infallible rule for the interpretation of scripture is scripture itself.
And so that's sort of our goal tonight. As I was working on
this message, I was reminded of my first few Sundays here
at Grace Truth. Back in August 2016, early September
2016, we were finishing up First Thessalonians. In the first two
or three Sundays, James preached on the very last sentence, very
last verse of First Thessalonians. And he made the same point that
I just did, that there's not enough attention given to these
greetings and to these closings. When he preached that sermon,
it was deeply encouraging to me because I saw it as a great
emphasis on the importance of everything that Scripture has
to teach us. Right? Because in 2 Timothy 3.16,
which we just mentioned, all Scripture is breathed out by
God and profitable. And so this particular Scripture
is breathed out by God and profitable. And so, Paul first introduces
himself. He says, Paul, an apostle of
Christ Jesus. So we're first going to look
at this particular statement. Paul identifies himself several
times. in his letters as an apostle
of Christ. So to understand the significance
of apostleship, we must follow the teaching of scripture through
several other places before we finally arrive at Paul, the last
apostle. So in order to establish the
authority of Paul's apostleship, we first must review the nature
of God's revelation, to the church in a post-resurrection world. And so for this, we're going
to turn to Hebrews chapter 1. In Hebrews 1.1, the author writes,
long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers
by the prophets. But in these last days, He has
spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed the heir of all
things, through whom also He created the world. He is the
radiance of the glory of God, the exact imprint of His nature,
and He upholds the universe by the word of His power. After
making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand
of the Majesty on high." So what we're going to do first is we're
going to outline a distinction between God's revelation in the
Old Testament, that is before the incarnation of Christ, and
God's revelation in the New Testament after the resurrection of Christ. So if you are familiar with the
Old Testament, you know there is an entire section where all
the books are just the names of prophets. Throughout the Old
Testament, we see God speaking to His people through specifically
appointed men called prophets. Names like Elijah, Jeremiah,
Isaiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, even Moses and David. They come to
mind as some of these great prophets of ancient Israel and so we see
that in the Old Testament God is always speaking to his people
by only Speaking to special people these prophets So I think of With Moses he spoke
to God and God spoke to him out of a burning bush, right and
He approaches this bush that is on fire and is not consumed,
and the bush says, take off your sandals, this is holy ground.
And the bush speaks to Moses. That doesn't really happen in
the New Testament much, does it? No. We also see with Moses,
he goes up on the mountain, and he sees the backside of the glory
of God. And out of that glory, he hears
the voice of God. This doesn't happen much in the
New Testament. I say much because it does happen.
We see in Matthew 17 at Transfiguration, Jesus' face shines like the sun,
and Peter starts babbling about being able to make tents, and
the voice of the Father comes down from heaven and said, listen
to my son. Those are really some of the
only times we actually see the audible voice of God coming down
to men. Other times we see the prophets
receive visions from heaven. But this is no longer the case.
We see here in Hebrews 1 that the author declares that God
no longer speaks to individuals as prophets. He has now spoken
to us through His Son, Jesus Christ, whom He appointed heir
of all things, through whom He also created the world. So God no longer speaks to individuals
in the same way that He spoke to the prophets. He now speaks
to us through His Son, Jesus Christ. So now we have to explain
what that means. because we haven't really established
Paul's position in relationship to this new way of revelation
that God has given us. And so the author of Hebrews
asserts that God created the world through his Son, and that
his Son speaks. He goes on to say, he is the
radiance of the glory of God, and the exact imprint of his
nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. So I want you all to think through
this with me. This is sort of a quiz. See if
you've been paying attention on Sunday morning. When we talk about the glory
of God, when we talk about Jesus being the one through whom the
world was created, when we talk about Jesus being the nature
of God, what does that make you think of? We just read it from
Hebrews 1. But what have we been studying
on Sunday morning? John. This passage in Hebrews
1 is paralleled very closely in John 1. So when I read Hebrews
1, I immediately have to go back to John 1. And so the apostle
John is going to give us a little bit more understanding for this.
He writes, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with
God. All things were made through him, and without him was not
anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life
was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness has not overcome it. So here we see in John 1
3, all things were made through Christ. And more importantly,
we see that John presents us with this idea of the word, the
logos in the Greek, the word of God. He tells us in verse
14 who the Word is. And the Word became flesh and
dwelt among us. And we have seen His glory, glory
as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. And so this Word is Jesus Christ. And we have seen His glory, glory
as of the only Son from the Father. And even further, we have seen
the exact imprint of the Father's nature. So this is the Word,
the Son, the Christ. He is the one through whom God
now speaks to us. So we are almost to Paul. We're getting to Paul right now.
We've identified who God speaks through, that is, Christ. And
now we must see how God speaks to us through Christ. So returning
to Ephesians 1, Paul writes that he is an apostle by the will
of God. And this is a direct reference
to Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus in Acts chapter 9.
Turn there with me. In Acts chapter 9, we see, but
Saul, which was just another name for Paul, But Saul, still
breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the
Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to
the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging
to the way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he went on his way, he
approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around
him. Falling to the ground, he heard
a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting
me? And he said, who are you, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom
you are persecuting. But rise into the city, and you
will be told what you are to do. The men who were traveling
with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. Saul rose from the ground, and
although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him
by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And for three days
he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank. Now there was
a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him
in a vision, Ananias. And he said, here I am, Lord.
And the Lord said to him, rise and go to the street called Straight. And at the house of Judas, look
for a man of Tarsus named Saul. For behold, he is praying, and
he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias. Come in and lay
his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight. But Ananias
answered, Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how
much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. And here
he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call
on your name. But the Lord said to him, go,
for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before
the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will
show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name. So obviously
that was kind of a long passage. There's a lot going on here.
So first we see Paul, also called Saul, is breathing threats and
murder against the disciples of the Lord. Paul was a murderer. He murdered God's people. He even had letters from the
priests permitting him to arrest and bring to Damascus any Christians
he found while he was on his way there. The priests gave him
documentation so that he could legally detain, handcuff, and
drag along with him anyone who professed Christ. Paul hated Christ, and he murdered
Christ's sheep. But while he was on his way to
Damascus, a light comes down from heaven and shines around
him, and he falls to the ground. Many people falsely understand
that Paul was on a horse and that when this light shone, he
got knocked off of a horse. There's a famous painting of
Paul falling off of a horse. It didn't actually happen. As
far as we can tell, he was walking and then he fell to the ground.
And this voice cries out from the light, Saul, Saul, why are
you persecuting me? I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. And then Paul was blinded, and
the men who were with him led him into Damascus. He didn't
eat or drink for three days. And then Jesus sends this man
named Ananias, one of the disciples of Christ, not in the specific
sense, just in the general sense. He declares to him, he is a chosen
instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and
kings and the children of Israel. So here we see Jesus, identifies
the murderer Paul as his chosen instrument to carry the name
of Christ to the world. What do instruments do? They
make noise, right? And when someone who knows what
they're doing plays the instrument, the noise makes a sweet sound,
right? That's what's going on here with
Paul. There's one more piece in establishing Paul's authority
as an apostle. Let's review what we've seen
so far. First, we see that God no longer speaks through individual
prophets. He now speaks through his son, Jesus Christ. Then we
saw that Christ is the living word, the radiance of the glory
of God become flesh. And then we saw this Christ proclaim
Paul as his instrument for bringing the word to the world. And finally,
From Paul's own pen to a man named Timothy, we get the final
piece of this puzzle, and we've already seen it. 2 Timothy 3.16,
Paul writes, all scripture is breathed out by God. So Paul not only writes as one
appointed by God, his words are truly from God. Paul's words
here in Ephesians are breathed out by God. And so they have
the same authority as if they had been spoken directly to us
from heaven, because God has spoken them through his son,
the Christ, and Christ's instrument, Paul the apostle. So we mentioned
earlier that we were going to outline this distinction between
revelation before and after Christ. So we explained the difference,
right? We had prophets in the Old Testament, and we had apostles
in the New Testament. And sort of on the surface, that
seems like not that big of a difference, right? So we might could object
to this idea by saying, well, there's really no difference.
Prophets, special people appointed by God to speak to God's people.
Apostles, special people appointed by God to speak to God's people. And so the distinction might
not be apparent at first. And so we said in the Old Testament
God spoke through specifically appointed men, and then explained
how Paul was specifically appointed to speak for God. Clearly in
Hebrews 1 the author is drawing a sharp contrast between the
instruments of God's revelation in the former days and the instruments
of God's revelation in these last days. And we might object by saying
that In both cases, the pure words of God are delivered to
us through the pens of sinful men. Indeed, every author of scripture
is sinful, even as you and I are. And while we have drawn this
connection between the revelation of Christ described in Hebrews
and the written word of God given us by Paul, it will serve us
to understand the difference between this and prophets. despite
the apparent symmetry. And so I think it should be plain
that the difference here is Christ, right? When we read the Old Testament,
Christ isn't quite as apparent as he is when we read the New
Testament. And there's a reason for that.
And it's explained in Hebrews 10. Turn there, if you will. Hebrews 10, it says, For since
the law has but a shadow of the good things to come, instead
of the true form of these realities, It can never, by the same sacrifices
that are continually offered year by year, make perfect those
who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have
ceased to be offered since the worshippers, having once been
cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins. But
in these sacrifices, there is a reminder for sin every year.
For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take
away sins. Consequently, when Christ came
into the world, he said, sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,
but a body have you prepared for me in burnt offerings and
sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, behold,
I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me
in the book of the scroll. When he said above, you have
neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and
burnt offerings and sin offerings, those offered according to the
law, then he added, behold, I have come to do your will. He does
away with the first in order to establish the second. And
by that will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once and for all. So we see that the difference
between the Old and New Testaments is simply the full, clear revelation
and fulfillment of the prophecies and shadows that are fulfilled
completely in Jesus Christ. And then we see in Matthew 27,
as Jesus breathes his last breath on the cross, that the curtain
of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth
shook and the rocks were split. There are no more shadows. The
full radiance of the glory of God is revealed perfectly in
Jesus Christ as he has given us in his word. And so Christ is the difference. So we've properly established
the full authority of Paul as an apostle. Now, the next phrase
we see in Ephesians 1, Paul says he's an apostle by the will of
God. Specifically by the will of God.
And so you have likely heard the phrase, Lord willing. You have likely used it many
times. And surely you've heard the phrase
from the Lord's prayer, thy kingdom come, thy will be done. And so
this idea of God's will gets mentioned very much and thought
about very little, it seems. When I shared a shorter version
of this message at the nursing home, one of the residents pointed
out, he said, I hear a lot of people say, Lord willing, and
the creek don't rise, as if the creek rising had anything to
do with God's power. So we need to think about this
idea of God's will for a moment. God's will is not something that
might happen. There is no uncertainty with
God's will. Have you ever heard someone pray
as if God is fighting this battle? He's the big hero in the battle
and we're the little soldiers in the battle and we're all fighting
this battle and we're losing and it looks like it could go
either way. And so we pray like that. People
pray as if there's a chance that God is not going to have his
way. How little is there God? God himself has declared in Isaiah
46, remember this and stand firm. Recall it to mind, you transgressors. Remember the former things of
old, for I am God, and there is no other. I am God, and there
is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from
ancient times things not yet done, saying, my counsel shall
stand, and I will accomplish all my purposes. calling a bird
of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country.
I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass. I have purposed,
and I will do it." So we need to understand Paul's
conversion through this lens. This is not simply something
that God said, I hope it works out for Paul. We need to put
Paul into the context of God's almighty, sovereign power in
accomplishing all he desires to. So when Paul says, by the
will of God, he is removing himself completely from the equation.
Paul is declaring that he had nothing to do with it. Paul had
nothing to do with his own apostleship, or even his own conversion. Remember what happened in Acts
9. He's on his way to murder Christians. He's collecting people
as he goes along, putting them in chains and taking them to
Jerusalem to be executed. And so Paul was a murderer in
every sense of the word. By his own hand, God's people
were dying. And so Paul goes on to describe
himself perfectly in Romans chapter 3. Turn there. Romans 3, starting in verse 10,
Paul writes about himself. None is righteous. No, not one. No one understands. No one seeks for God. All have
turned aside. Together they have become worthless. No one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave.
They use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their
lips. Their mouth is full of curses
and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed
blood. In their paths are ruin and misery,
and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of
God before their eyes." Sounds like Paul. Paul says their
mouth is full of curses and bitterness. And in Acts 9, Paul is identified
as breathing threats and murder against God's people. Paul says
their feet are swift to shed blood, and Paul is identified
in Acts 9 as capturing Christians to take them to Jerusalem to
be executed. And Paul says, and their paths
are ruin and misery. And Paul is identified in Acts
9 as intending to bring ruin and misery to any Christian he
finds on the path to Damascus. Paul is an evil, hate-filled
murderer who hates God and all of his people. And God called
him. God chose him. God took Paul
and made him a great instrument for the proclamation of the gospel.
God used the most wicked, God-hating man in the world to do it. And we often see Paul described
as one of these great champions of the faith. And rightly so. People often say they strive
to be like Paul, right? In his mission, in his ministry,
in his writing, And I've even heard it said that even by pastors,
I could never be like the Apostle Paul. But when we put Paul into
the context of where he came from, we might even be tempted
to think that we are better than Paul. I mean, I've never murdered
anyone with my hands like Paul had. Have I? It's not that I could never be
like Paul. The truth of the matter is this. I can only be like Paul. Paul isn't describing just himself
there in Romans 3. He's describing everyone. He's describing every Jew, Gentile,
American, young, old, man, woman, child, Republican, Democrat,
Libertarian, whatever you want. Paul's describing everyone. None
is righteous. All have turned aside. No one
does good, not even one. This isn't just Paul. This is
me, and this is you. And you might say, but I haven't
murdered anyone. Have you not? 1 John 3.15 says
that anyone who hates a brother or sister is guilty of murder.
Well, you might say, I've never hated anyone. Jesus says in Matthew
5, you have heard that it was said of those of old, you shall
not murder, and whoever murders will be liable to judgment. But
I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will
be liable to judgment. Whoever insults his brother will
be liable to the council, and whoever says you fool will be
liable to the hell of fire. If you have ever been wrongfully
angry with someone or insulted them, you are guilty of hatred,
You are guilty of murder, and all of us stand before God guilty
of murder. We are all murderers. So it is not that you could never
be like Paul. It is that you and Paul could
never be like Christ the righteous. What could murderers possibly
have to offer a holy God? Paul had nothing to offer God
but misery and pain for God's people and God saved him. Much
in the same way, when we have nothing to offer God but sin
and misery and murder, God saves us. And as it is with Paul, so
it is with all who are saved. It is by the will of God. And this salvation was secured
by Christ the righteous on the cross of Calvary, where he drank
the full cup of the wrath of God, taking upon himself the
fullness of God's righteous anger against the sins of all of his
elect people from every nation, tribe, and tongue, redeemed by
the blood of Christ poured out onto the earth, whereby they
are declared not guilty, And the justice of Almighty God is
completely satisfied against them. And finally, Christ breathed
his last, declaring, it is finished. And he surrendered his spirit
into the depths of the earth. He was then buried in the tomb
of a rich man. And for three days, his weak faith disciples
contemplated returning to their fishing nets as if they had never
walked with God. And behold, on the third day,
he rose again in his human body by the power of the Holy Spirit.
and ascended into heaven, where He is now seated at the right
hand of the Father, awaiting the day that is fast approaching
when He will return on the clouds to judge the nations with a rod
of iron, trampling the wicked in the winepress of the fury
of the wrath of God. And we all, whose salvation He
secured on His cross, are resurrected and glorified by the same Spirit
that resurrected and glorified the Christ. Wherefore, we will
rejoice as one body, the bride, being finally united with our
true love, the bridegroom, Jesus Christ the righteous, to enjoy
eternal intimacy with him. This salvation is all of Christ. Paul writes to the saints who
are in Ephesus and are faithful in Jesus Christ, grace to you. Grace. Jesus Christ is the first
and final cause of our salvation, and grace is given for our faith
as the instrument thereof. Indeed, Paul declares in Ephesians
2, you were dead in the trespasses and the sins in which you once
walked. Following the course of this
world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit
that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we
all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the
desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of
wrath like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy
because of the great love with which He loved us even when we
were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.
By grace, you have been saved. and raised us up with him and
seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that
in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his
grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace
you have been saved through faith, and this is not of your own doing.
It is the gift of God, not a result of works so that no man may boast. Finally, in Ephesians 1, Paul
entreats us with peace. Peace from God our Father and
the Lord Jesus Christ. This peace is immaterial and
eternal. This peace cannot be found in
any material possession or anything temporal. There is no peace in
securing your finances. There is no peace in having a
good marriage. There's no peace in your job. There is no peace
in this church. There's no peace in any of these
things except we give them up for the sake of Christ. I know
people who have all of these things right. Secure bank accounts,
secure jobs, healthy marriages, thriving churches,
And they have no peace because they have no Christ. While I was working on this message,
I was reminded of a popular contemporary Christian worship song. And it's
a good song as long as we understand where it came from. That seems
to be the case with a lot of contemporary Christian songs.
If you know where they came from, you understand what they're really
saying. In the context of scripture, you've got a good song. But if
you rip them from their context, you get whitewashed garbage. The song says, blessed be the
name of the Lord. You give and take away. My heart
will choose to say, blessed be your name. I'm sure you all know
this song. And it's a good song as long
as we understand where it came from. The problem is, the song
is sung every Lord's Day by people who have not Christ, because
their faith is in the material things that God has provisionally
given to them. And if God took any of those
things away from them, they would immediately curse Him. So I'm going to close by reflecting
on where these words came from. In Job chapter 1, Job declares,
naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave and the Lord has
taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. The song is a quote from Job.
It's very easy to sing this song if we ignore where it came from.
When you sing this song, your spirit should be broken in humility
for the things that you have trusted in that are not Christ.
Job spoke these words lying in the rubble of his destroyed home,
surrounded by the broken bodies of his family who were crushed
by the destroyed home. And the smell of thousands of
rotting and burning animal carcasses was fresh on the breeze. And
Job said, blessed be the name of the Lord. Do not trust in these material
things that God has provisionally granted to you, because He may
take them away at any moment. Trust only in the Lord, for He
alone is good. The only peace is found in Christ. The only grace is found in Christ. There is only Christ. Let's pray. God, I thank you that your word
is good and that your word is pure and that your word is powerful. God, I thank you for your church
who are faithful in hearing the teaching of your word. God, I
pray that by your Holy Spirit this word would go forth