Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter
1. We started this precious book
here a few weeks ago and just want to try to go through it
verse by verse as we do. I'd like to deal tonight with
verses 8 and 9. Ephesians 1 verses 8 and 9. The scripture sets forth wherein
he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having
made known unto us the mystery of his will according to his
good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself. Let's pray together. Our Father, this evening we call
upon your holy and blessed name, thanking you for this glorious
privilege to meet together in the hearing of your gospel. Lord,
teach us this evening. Forgive us wherein we failed
you. Help us to worship for Christ's
sake. Amen. Over the last few weeks, we considered
the grace of God the Father toward His sheep in electing and adopting and
accepting grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then we've also considered
the truth of God the Son in His redeeming grace, the laying down
of His life for His sheep. We beheld that the actual cause
of our reconciliation to God the Father is the substitutionary
death of Christ. That's the basis, that's the
heart, that's the reason that Almighty God accepts us. Our debt has been put away. The law has been honored. Christ
has finished the work accepted in the beloved. Now that's the
truth concerning these spiritual blessings, verse 3, in heavenly
places in Christ, in these heavenly things in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this evening I'd like for
us to consider how the Lord has been pleased to not only teach us what he's
done but how he's been pleased to reveal it to us that he's
actually done something is set forth in verse 8, the scripture
says, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence. That he has super abounded, that
word abounded, yes, super abounded in quantity and quality is what
he's saying. He has done something for us
in absolute perfection and endless bound. He's done it in all wisdom
and prudence. He's done it with perfect insight,
wisdom. And he's done it with perfect
action, prudence. He has abounded toward us in
superabounding quality and quantity and he's done it with perfect
wisdom, perfect insight and action. Now, for just a minute I want
us to consider that glorious wisdom of Almighty God and the
prudence by which he's exercised that wisdom toward us, what he's
done, that he's actually super abounded toward his elect in
the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's that, listen,
here's the point that I want us to consider. How that God
can be just and justify a sinner. Now you think about this. Almighty God is going to deal
with sin. No mere man can deal with sin. God is going to have to deal
with sin. Almighty God is going to have
to be just in dealing with sin. This is justice right here. The
soul that sinneth going to die. The soul that sinneth
is going to die. Sin is going to be punished. Now you think about this insight.
Think about this wisdom. Think about this prudence, the
exercise of it. That God himself, now here's
wisdom. No man could think of this. How
is God going to deal with sin? Almighty God must become a man. Now man sinned against God, and
God's going to deal with man. And the Lord Jesus Christ, the
surety, undertook According to God's everlasting covenant of
grace, He undertook, He agreed to the call of, as the servant
of Jehovah, the Son of God, was made flesh. Now that's wisdom. How is God going to be just and
justify a sinner? Christ is going to have to come
into this world. Consider this wisdom. Consider
this insight. That Christ himself, now again,
I've told you before, I need to hear it again too. When we
say Christ, what we're saying is the anointed. That means God,
man. When you say Christ, You're saying
and setting forth the two natures of our mediator, of the Messiah,
the deity and the humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ
himself has agreed and has acted upon
in being made flesh to be the mediator between God Almighty,
and men. There's one mediator between
God and men, and it's the man, Christ Jesus. Now here's wisdom. God Almighty is going to deal
with a priest. He's going to deal with a priest.
And the only priest that he's going to deal with is the priest of His providing.
There's going to have to be one that can touch both parties,
being both parties, God and man. And the Christ Himself, now here's
the wisdom of God, that Christ Himself, the Mediator, would
be able, because of who he is, he could die under the judgment
of God for his elect. He could die being a man. God
cannot die, but a man can die. And here's the wisdom of God.
God must alone atone for sin. Cover it. Only God can put away
sin. And now here in the wisdom of
God, God Himself would put away the sin of His
elect. God would put away the sin of
His elect, but He's got to die to do it. And in the wisdom of God, the
Lord Jesus Christ made flesh, came into this world, the one
who alone could satisfy God, God, the one who alone could
die under the judgment of Almighty God and pay the debt of all that
the Father had chosen in Him, that by one sacrifice for sin,
one sacrifice for sin, This one Mediator, this one Messiah, this
one Anointed One could pay the debt for the entirety of God's
elect because He Himself bore all of their guilt. That Almighty God would make
Him sin of all that the Father had chosen
to save. That's wisdom and prudence to
be able to do it, that God Almighty will make him sin. And his prudence and wisdom that
Almighty God could do this actually putting away the guilt of His
people and pouring out His wrath upon
His Son and thereby in no wise injuring His justice. That God
could show mercy to sinners that He chose to show
mercy to. That's what He said. He said,
I will have mercy on whom I'll have mercy. I'll have compassion
on him who I'll have compassion. So then it's not him, the Apostle
Paul says in Romans 9. It's not him that willeth. Not him that runneth. It's God that shows mercy. Now
here's wisdom. how God Almighty could put away
the guilt of His people in absolute justice. In pouring out His wrath
on His Son, poured out His wrath on His Son, and then show mercy
to a sinner. Listen to this wisdom. That Almighty
God Give His people a heart to believe. Give them a new heart. Call them out of darkness with
the preaching of the gospel. Give them a heart to believe.
And then robe them in the righteousness of His Son. I'm going to tell you something.
This is higher. This is higher than we are. It's
deeper than we can perceive. He has abounded toward us in
all wisdom and prudence. To absolutely pardon their iniquities
because the law had been honored and sin had been put away, then absolutely show them mercy
in saving them. That's what he's done. That's
what he's done. Wherein he hath abounded toward
us in all wisdom and prudence, and he did all of this according
to his everlasting covenant of grace before you and I were ever
born. But then he does something by
grace and mercy that's gonna take him alone to do it. And it's this, he would tell
us about it. And he would tell us about it.
Verse nine says, having made known unto us the mystery of
his will, according to his good pleasure, which he hath purposed
in himself." When we fell in Adam, we all, all mankind, that came
forth from the loins of Adam, all mankind lost all ability
to know God. And unless Almighty God gives
a man a new heart. Now this heart that we're born
with, it's a carnal heart. It's a spiritually dead heart. And the carnal mind, the carnal
heart butts heads with God. It's enmity against God. And unless Almighty God gives
a man, gives a woman a new heart, a new mind, a new will, a new
spirit, a new love, nothing changes. Nothing's different. Unless Almighty
God does something for a man or woman that they cannot do
for themselves, nothing changes. All spiritual perception left
when Adam sinned against God. You know the first thing he knew?
That he was naked. He knew that. I don't have a covering before
God. And man born without a spiritual
covering before God. But here's the sad thing. Man
is born and doesn't know it. Man doesn't know that. Man is born and he thinks, you
know, well, I may, you know, maybe sometimes, maybe I might
do something every once in a while. Man has no idea that from the
crown of his head to the sole of his foot, He is nothing but
putrefying sores. That there's no good in him. There's none. There's none good. No, not one, scripture says. We were all born children of
wrath against God, even as others. But the scripture says in Ephesians
2, 4, but God who is rich in mercy for his great love, wherewith
he loved us. Who are the us? That the Apostle
Paul is speaking of in Ephesians 2.4. Does that mean that God
loves everybody? Well, before you answer, Remember
this. He said, Jacob, have I loved?
And Esau, have I hated? And you look it up. And it means hated, Freddie.
That's what it means. And we try to sidestep and talk
around that and say, well, it meant this. It means exactly
what God says it means. God is angry with the wicked.
Scripture says every day. Every day. And I tell you this
has a right to be. Has a right to be. Why? Because
we're born rebels against God. Rebels. Paul is saying Almighty God is
rich in mercy for His great love wherewith He loved us. Who is
He talking to? Well, we can go right back to
verse 1 of Ephesians 1. Those that He chose in Christ.
Those that Christ redeemed. Those that the Spirit of God
is surely going to call out of darkness. He has loved us. And he loved us, Jeremiah says,
before the foundation of the world. He loved us, he knew us,
chose us, saw us. That's what he told Jeremiah.
Remember he said, look, before I formed you in the belly, before
I put you in your mama's womb, I knew you and ordained you a
prophet. Jeremiah wasn't going to be anything
other than a prophet. You know why? Because God ordained
it. And the counsel of the Lord meant
he's going to stand. He's going to stand. He hath
abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence. And then he'd been
pleased to teach us that. To tell us that. And we needed
it. 1 Corinthians 1.21 says, For
after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not
God. We know God. All we know of God
that we make up in our mind, He's little g God that we can
dictate to what we do, what we're going to do. But John 1.10 says, He was in
the world and the world was made by Him and the world knew Him
not. They didn't know Him. First Corinthians 2.14 says,
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God, for they are foolishness unto him. And listen to this,
neither can, the word of ability or inability, neither can he
know them because they're spiritually discerned. They've got to be
taught. They've got to be revealed. The
Lord has been pleased to not leave everybody in spiritual
darkness. That's just, that's exactly what
the scriptures say. Wherein he hath abounded toward
us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the
mystery of his will. Let me ask you this. How does God make known unto
us the mystery of his will? This glorious mystery of redemption that eternally was his purpose
and will to bestow. Has God been pleased? Here we
go right back, having abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence.
Here's another. It's just a continuation of this. How has God been pleased to reveal
it? Man's born not knowing it. Man's
born ignorant. He's born spiritually blind and
deaf. Man cannot know. But some do. Some are taught,
some do know. How has He been pleased to make
known to poor, helpless creatures of the day this glorious mystery? That mystery that is solely bound
up in His own will. How? One way. One way. And there's no other way. There
is no other way. Romans 1, 15-17. We've read this
many times, but we're going to look at it one time more. And
if the Lord wills, one time more. One way, this is how God makes
known the mystery of His will. Romans 1, 15 to 17, Paul says,
so as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to
you that are at Rome also. For I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein,
for therein, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed
from faith to faith as it is written, the just shall live
by faith. There's one way that Almighty
God teaches His people, His elect, what He has superabounded toward
them and doing for them in all wisdom and prudence is through
the preaching of the gospel. The first thing that He does
according to that glorious gospel that Paul said, I'm not ashamed
of. I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Therein is righteousness
of God revealed. through the preaching of the
cross, the preaching of the gospel. And when we preach the gospel,
as I've said before, we talk about the five points of Calvinism. John Calvin did not come up with
this. John Calvin just wrote down these
things that the Lord was pleased to show John Calvin. This is
the gospel of Christ. When we preach the gospel, the
first thing that the Spirit of God is pleased to do is He's
pleased to teach a man who He is. That He's a rebel against
God. That He's a helpless sinner. A helpless rebel born dead and
trespasses in sin. That's the first thing. When
life is bestowed, that's what a man knows. I can't save myself. I am totally depraved. There
is nothing about me that is able to respond to God and myself.
When the gospel is preached, man is taught who he is. Secondly,
when the gospel is preached, we are taught who God is, that
He is sovereign, that He does as He will in the army of heaven
among the inhabitants of the earth and nobody stays His hand. Nobody stops Him. Nobody has
a right to question Him. He has set forth in this glorious
book that we're looking at right now, Ephesians 1, 4. Here's who
God is. He's chosen us in Christ before
the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without
blame before Him in love. That's who God is, the Father.
That's who God is. He's not trying to do anything.
He's God. He's God. And we know something when the
gospel is preached about who the Lord Jesus Christ is. I'll
tell you who He is. He is the one that has absolutely
satisfied God the Father on the behalf of His people. He came
into this world, made sin for them, lived for them, died for
them, laid down His life. John 10, 15, laid down His life
for the sheep. We find out who the mediator
is. When the gospel is preached,
we find out that God Almighty is pleased by His Holy Spirit
to irresistibly call them, gives them a new heart, calls them
by power through the preaching of the gospel. The gospel is preached, we're
thought that we're kept by the power of God through faith. Irresistible. Irresistible, preserving grace. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel. I'm not ashamed of that gospel. I love the gospel
of God's free grace. I love the sovereignty of God. I love that God Almighty is God. So when Almighty God is pleased
to teach one of His own something, the first thing He does is He
regenerates them. That's what He does. He does
it through the preaching of the gospel. John chapter 3 and verse 3, John
3, 3, the Lord is talking to a man named Nicodemus. Nicodemus,
who was a Pharisee that didn't know anything. John 3, 3, Jesus answered and
said unto him, Verily, verily, truly, truly, I say unto thee,
except a man be born again, he cannot see, he cannot perceive. The kingdom of God. You can't
see it. What comes first? What comes
first? Life or faith? Life. Life. Life. If you say faith comes first,
then that means that life was a result of your faith. Except
a man be born again. It's what the Lord said, you
can't believe. What comes first? Life and a
little baby or breathing? Life's got to be there. A dead child can't breathe. Almighty God, through the preaching
of the gospel, regenerates His people. gives them a new heart
by power, takes that the preaching of the truth and imparts life
to them. And the same gospel by which
he calls them out of darkness, he teaches them that which he
has super abounded toward them in all wisdom and prudence. You
want to know how we know what God's done for us? It's through
the same message, Mitch, that God called you out of darkness
with. 1 Corinthians 1.18, For the preaching
of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. Man by nature says, I hear this
thing of sovereign grace. I hear that election and That's foolishness. That's what
they say. The preaching of the cross, of
what God Almighty did at Calvary, is to them that perish foolishness. But unto us which are saved,
and the actual literal of that is, but unto us which are being
saved. And that's what we're doing.
We're being saved right now. It is the power of God. So through the gospel, by which
Almighty God was pleased to call us out of darkness, through that
truth, the scripture says not only does He teach us, I mean
call us out, but He also teaches a second Timothy. Chapter 3 verse
16, the scripture says, for all scripture given by inspiration
of God's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction,
for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be perfect,
throughly furnished unto all good works. Blessed be his holy
name. He's done something for us that
we couldn't do for ourselves, buddy. I tell you what, you and
I are not going to come up with a righteousness that will stand
before God, but God did. You and I can't put away sin,
but He did. You and I can't satisfy God,
but He did. He is super abounded. And listen
to this, He's been pleased to allow some folks to meet together
tonight and teach them something about it. He's been pleased to
tell them one more time how he's put away their guilt, satisfied
himself, honored his law, how he was just and justified a sinner. Well, in closing, back in Ephesians
chapter 1, having made known unto us the
mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he
hath purposed in himself. But He did not look down through
time and see any good in us. I've said before, you go back
and read Psalm 14, 2 and 3 and tell me what God said He saw
when He looked. He said He saw that, no, I'm
not going to quote it. I'm going to read it. Psalm 14,
2 and 3. This is what God saw. I've heard men say, well, He
looked down in time and saw who would choose Him, so He chose
them. God Almighty never said that. Somebody made that up. That's not true. Psalm 14, 2 and 3 and 4. The Lord looked down from heaven
upon the children of men. How many of them? All of them.
The children of men. To see if there were any that
did understand and seek God. And here was the conclusion that
God reveals. They're all gone aside. They're
all together become filthy. They're stinking. There's none
that doeth good. No, not one. Have all the workers
of iniquity no knowledge who eat up my people as they eat
bread? And call not upon the Lord." What did God say? He saw that there was none good,
that none sought. But Almighty God has been pleased
to make known unto us the mystery of His will according to His
good pleasure which he has purposed in himself. He chose to teach us what he
has eternally done for his people. Just as back in verse 5, just
as He predestinated us into the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ to himself. Listen to this. What was the
reason for predestination? Why did God choose to show mercy
to Pat McGinnis? And predestinate you. Why? To be an adopted son. Why? His only reason. because it was his good pleasure
to do so. That's the only reason. There's
any difference in one lump and another lump? Not an ounce of
difference. The only difference between me
and Hitler is the grace of God. That's the only difference. There's
not an ounce of good in me, in my flesh. for the same reason
that Almighty God was pleased to predestinate a people unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ Himself, the same reason
for that was the same reason that He was pleased to teach
them having made known unto us the
mystery of His will according to His good pleasure which He
hath purposed in Himself." It pleased Him to elect us. It pleased Him to
have Christ redeem us. It pleased Him to call us out
of darkness. It pleased Him to super abound
toward us in all wisdom and prudence, and it pleased Him to teach us
that. And according to His good pleasure,
one of these days, He's going to call us to Himself, and we're
going to see Him as He is. And we're going to know Him as
we're known, and be like Him. Boy, I tell you what, that just,
here again, excuse me, that's deeper than I can grasp. But by faith, I believe that.
Lord, bless these words to our heart for Christ's sake, amen.