Well, this evening, as the Lord
may help us, we'll continue our meditation in this epistle of
Paul to the Ephesians in the third chapter, and we'll read
the first four verses. That's Ephesians chapter 3 in
the first four verses. For this cause I, Paul, the prisoner
of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, if you have heard of the dispensation
of the grace of God which is given me to you, Ward, how that
by revelation he made known unto me the mystery as I wrote afore
in few words, whereby when ye read ye may understand my knowledge
in the mystery of Christ." Well, the Apostle Paul here is
just telling the Ephesians his position, what it had been. And
he tells us for this cause, obviously that was the cause which we've
read about in the previous chapters of his knowledge and the preaching
of the gospel of Christ. And it was for that reason that
he was a prisoner, a prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles. He clearly explains to them that
he was a prisoner And he'd been a prisoner because of his concern
that the Ephesians, being Gentiles, might hear the great and glorious
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it is a wonderful thing to
think that here was the apostle, that man of God, yet so willing
to suffer in this way. the name of Christ. He tells
us in the Philippians, he says, but what things were gained to
me, those I counted loss for Christ. And how many things he
did have to endure. When he wrote to the Corinthians,
he told them of some of the difficulties and the problems that he had
to endure. And he'd had to face, in the
11th chapter of the 2nd Epistle, he gives us a little list of
some of the things that he was faced with and had to endure. And really it's quite amazing
when we consider all the opposition that he had. And yet you see,
he wasn't backward. He pursued the narrow way. He desired to preach Christ and
Him crucified. his great objective. This is
why he was indeed an ambassador for Christ. And so indeed we
have this list in the 11th chapter of the 2nd of Corinthians, but
just to confine ourselves perhaps just to the 23rd verse, where
he says, Are there ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool,
I am more. In labours more abundant, in
stripes above measure. In prisons, more frequent, in
deaths oft." So it wasn't a one-off experience that Paul had of being
imprisoned for the truth's sake. And of course, I'm sure we know
that prisons in those days were not the comfortable places they
are today. And therefore he commences this
chapter, and I know there weren't chapters in the original, but
nonetheless, for our benefit, it is a chapter. For this cause,
I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles. And then he goes on to explain
the blessing that he'd been able to be to this church at Ephesus. And he says, if you've heard
of the dispensation of the grace of God, which is given me to
you ward. That means what he'd been given
by the Lord to speak to the Ephesians and indeed to the church of God. It was the grace of God, which
had blessed him to be able to come to speak to the Ephesians. And what a mercy it is today
that we have these things recorded for our benefit, how we should
thank God that in the providence of Almighty God these things
are recorded to encourage us, the dispensation of the grace
of God. It was a day of grace, it was
a day of favour, it was a day of blessing which was given,
given by God to you all, given to the Ephesians, and may we
bless God tonight if that grace of God has come to us, unworthy,
undeserving as we are. And of course we are numbered
with those who were characterized as Gentiles. He goes on to say,
how that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery, the
mystery of godliness, the mystery of Christ, And as we perhaps
remember, he was caught up into the third heaven and saw things
that it wasn't lawful for him to utter. He was greatly blessed. And of course, after he had been
converted on Damascus Road, he went into the desert for those
three years, no doubt, to be instructed greatly by the Spirit
of God that came upon him. and show to him the great mystery
of the truth of the gospel, how that by revelation he made known
unto me the mystery. It was revelation to the apostle,
and it is revelation to us today. Because unless we receive the
true revelation of God, and that means that God speaks to our
very soul to show to us the glory of the gospel, we will not appreciate
it, It won't mean anything to us. It'll go over our head. It'll
just be words. What a blessing it is when the
Lord applies his word and gives us an understanding, a revelation
really, of the truth of the gospel, and it is a mystery. What a blessing
it is when that mystery is revealed to us. And the apostle says,
as I wrote afore, in few words, and we know that in these previous
chapters, and as we read through them and meditate upon them,
we know what glorious truths they were, and how the apostle
exhorts Christ as he went through the first two chapters. and how
he sets forth the wonder of the grace of God. It is truly a blessing
to have these words set before us, and they are really in relatively
few words. He's only referring to the previous
two chapters. there's a tremendous depth of
glorious doctrine which those two chapters contain and how
thankful we are especially as this letter is addressed to the
saints which are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. So what a mercy if we can come
within the compass of those words and to believe through God's
grace that we are amongst those who are the faithful in Christ
Jesus, to whom the mystery of these things have been revealed.
And of course the things of election, the things of predestination
are very clearly set before us. Redemption and regeneration and
the salvation by grace. It's all set forth in these verses
and therefore it was right that the Apostle should be able to
tell the Ephesians that these mysteries he has been able to
tell them about and explain to them as I wrote in few words. Well, there are only a few words.
May we rejoice in the few words and bless God for them. And he
says, whereby when you read, and that means what it says,
we are to read the word of God, we are to study the word of God,
The Ephesians were encouraged to read the letter that the Apostle
was writing to them. They were to read it. It wasn't
as though Paul expected them to just put it alongside and
away from them. He wanted them to read it, whereby,
when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of
Christ. And what a favour, therefore,
to read the glorious truth of the Gospel contained in the Word
of God. and to be given that blessed
understanding of this great knowledge in the mystery of Christ. I'm
sure if the Lord comes and blesses us and touches our heart, we
will rejoice in the same way that the Apostle did. He was
so thankful to be able to declare the unsearchable riches of Christ. And my friends, they are unsearchable,
beyond what our little minds can grasp. But let us stretch
out to realise the wonder of redeeming love, the wonder of
the grace of God, or the whole counsel of God, the wonderful
mystery it is, and to have it explained to us by the Holy Spirit
so that we understand it and can look forward to that day
when by the grace of God we shall be found in glory with the Saviour
and all the whole Church of God throughout eternity to praise
Him, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Well may we be thankful tonight
that the Apostle was a faithful minister, so faithful that he
was imprisoned. At the moment in our nation,
of course, we don't have to face that, although some street preachers
have been imprisoned unlawfully. But we think in the world scene,
there are many people, many preachers who are imprisoned because of
the testimony they speak of Christ. perhaps those days will come
when we will have to face such situations. Let us not think
that those days will pass us by. We know not. But let us have
our hope and our trust and our confidence in our God, like the
Apostle Paul did, for his honour and for his glory.