Let us turn to God's Word, the
portion we've been considering here at the end of Ephesians
chapter 1, the prayer of the Apostle. I'll read the portion again from
verse 15 as we come now to consider the closing part of the prayer,
but reading in Ephesians chapter 1, and from verse 15 through
to the end, Paul writes, Wherefore I also, after I heard of your
faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto all the saints, cease not
to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my 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, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened,
that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what
the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints and
what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us who do believe
according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought
in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at
his own right hand in the heavenly places far above all principality
and power and might and dominion And every name that is named,
not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. And
hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the
head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness
of him that filleth all in all. We come then to consider these
closing two verses, 22 and 23. earlier today we were considering
what Paul says previous to this there in verse 20 how he speaks
of Christ risen from the dead how God raised him from the dead
and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places far
above all principality and power and might and dominion and every
name that is named not only in this world but also in that which
is to come. And so we thought of Christ in
his ascension and his exaltation in heaven. He's in that place
of privilege and honor. We remarked how when Solomon
becomes king, he sets his mother Bathsheba at his right hand there
in 1 Kings 2, a place of honor. upon thy right hand did stand
the queen in gold of Ophir, we read in the psalm. The right
hand, the principal place of favour and privilege. And no
wonder then that the mother of James and John comes to the master
and requests that in his kingdom he would set one son on the right
hand and the other on the left. Well, the Lord Jesus Christ is
in that preeminent place where he is to be recognized and honored. The right hand of the majesty
on high. But I said it's not only a place
of privilege, it's also a place of power. It indicates some authority. And we are told that concerning
the Lord Jesus there in Hebrews 1.3, who being the brightness
of His glory, He is that one who is the image of the invisible
gods, the brightness of His glory, the express image of His person
upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by
Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the
Majesty on high. Oh, how God has highly exalted
him and given him that name above every name, that at the name
of Jesus every knee is to bow and every tongue confess that
he is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Sit on my right hand,
says the Father in the prophetic language of the 110th Psalm,
sit on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. and now he has entered into his
kingdom his kingdom has begun all power all authority is given
unto me in heaven and in earth he says well we were considering
somewhat of these things his ascension and his exaltation
as Paul is praying for these believers at Ephesus and now
I want us to move on and having said something of the ascension
of Christ. Now to consider the headship,
the headship of the Lord Jesus Christ as it's spoken of here
in verses 22 and 23. God hath put all things under
his feet and gave him to be the head over all things to the church
which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. He is the head then over all
things, it says, to the church, but the preposition could equally
as well have been rendered for the church. He's the head over
all things to the church and he's also the head over all things
for the church. And I want us to look at this
headship of the Lord Jesus Christ in that double sense tonight.
First of all, to think of Christ's headship for the church, or we
might say on behalf, on behalf of his people, on behalf of the
church. And two things, we are to recognize
then that his session is now in heaven. He's in heaven, he's
at the right hand of God, he's there in heaven, that's his session
and yet he is exercising his sovereignty here in this world. First of all that session God
has set him at his own right hand and as we said this morning
it is that position where he has authority, where he exercises
power He rules, He reigns and He reigns over angels. He reigns over all the angels,
fallen angels, the demons. He reigns over them but He reigns
also over elect angels. He is far above all principality
and power and might and dominion and every nine that is nine not
only in this world but also in that which is to come we said
this morning the language there where we have it as principality,
power, might, dominion It all has to do with the devil, that
one with whom the believer is in a fearful conflict. Remember, and we read the chapter
tonight, didn't we? The final chapter. We made some
allusion to it this morning, but the reason why God has made
such a provision as the whole armour, the whole armour of God, In order to stand against all
the wiles of the devil, we wrestle not against flesh and blood,
but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of
the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high
places. The Lord Jesus Christ is over
all these fallen angels. And when the Lord appears here
upon the earth, His first coming, though He comes in great humiliation,
and he humbles himself as a man and then when we see him beginning
to exercise that ministry that he had from the father that commission
that was his in the eternal covenant and he is ministering to poor
sinners he is healing them he is casting out the demons but
the demons know him and they cry out let us alone what have
we to do with thee thou Jesus of Nazareth I know thee thou
art the holy one of God all the demons they know him they recognize
him as we said this morning they are not independent they are
creatures they are fallen creatures there is a mystery of course
with regards to the origin of sin we certainly know with regards
to to this world in which we're living the origin of sin of course
comes through the temptation of Eve there in the garden of
Eden tempted by the serpent, the instrument of Satan and so
we know how sin has entered this world but there was previously
or at that time there must have been a fall amongst those noble
creatures, the angel They were elect angels but there were those
other angels who fell, who sinned against God, who usurped the
authority of heaven. There's a mystery with regards
to these things but there's no doubting that God's sovereignty
extends over all those fallen angels. And we see it so evidently
in the language that we have in the opening two chapters of
the book of Job where the devil comes to appear amongst the sons
of God he cannot do anything he cannot touch Job in any way
at all except he has to leave from God and yet God is not the
author of sin Christ is over all those fallen angels but as
I said he is over all the angels he is sovereign over elect angels
also And the glory of Christ in relation to those angels is
set before us so clearly in the words that we find in the first
chapter of Hebrews. We've referred already to those
words in verse 3 where he's spoken of as the brightness of the Father's
glory and the express image of his person. the one who is now
set down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. And how
does Paul continue, being made so much better than the angels,
as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they? For unto which of the angels
said he at any time, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten
thee, and again I will be to him a father, and he shall be
to me a son, and again when he bringeth in the first begotten
into the world, he saith, and let all the angels of God worship
him. He clearly is one who is altogether
above the angels, far more glorious than the angels. The angels worship
him. The angels worship him. And as we see him there as that
one who is sovereign over the angels so those angels are to
serve him or they minister to him the angels minister to him at
the beginning of his public ministry when we see him in the wilderness and he's tempted 40 days and
40 nights and he resists all the assaults of the great adversary
Satan himself the fallen angel and then the devil leaves him
for a season and we're told angels came and ministered unto him
or they minister unto him and not only at the beginning of
his ministry but again when we come to the the end of that ministry
the closing scenes of that ministry we see him in the garden of Gethsemane
in all the agony of his soul as he contemplates that Tremendous
work that is yet before him, he must still make the great
sin-atoning sacrifice. Father, if it be possible, let
this cup pass from me, he cries. But how submissive to that will
of God. Nevertheless, not my will, he
says, but thine be done. And oh, he's praying in agony. And his sweat is like drops of
blood falling to the ground. And we're told how an angel appears
from heaven. and ministers to him. Oh, what
an angel was that, ministering to the suffering Saviour. No
salvation for angels. Of course, that angel was elected,
he didn't need salvation. But no provision was ever made
for those fellow creatures of that angel that ministered to
Christ. And yet, oh, the angel comes
to him and strengthens him. was John Duncan, that great Scots
divine, great minister in the Free Church of Scotland back
in the 19th century. Remarkable man in so many ways,
a brilliant Hebraist, he had a great love for God's ancient
people, the Jews. At one time he worked as a missionary
in Budapest. He was also a professor at the
Free Church College there in Edinburgh. But dear old John
Duncan used to say of that angel in the garden, it was his favourite
angel. Of all the angels, how he loved that angel. The one
who came to minister to the Lord Jesus Christ. And yet, as I said, nothing for
the angels in the way of salvation. As God, Man, Christ is only over
all things for the church, for men. He's the mediator of that
new covenant. Verily He took not on Him the
nature of angels, Paul tells us here in Hebrews 2, He took
upon Him the seed of Abraham. That elect seed, those who were
chosen in Christ. The true seed of Father Abraham. It takes their nature. For as
much then as the children were partakers of flesh and blood,
we are told, he likewise took part of the same. Oh, he was
made a little lower than the angels for the sufferings of
death. He comes to die for sinful men. And how the church is altogether
exalted in him, those that he comes to redeem. What does he go on to say there
in the second chapter of verse 6? How God has raised us up together
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That we even here upon the earth
that we have an entrance into heaven itself when we come before
God in our prayers. We're raised up to those heavenly
places. We can come to the very throne
of God. It's a throne of grace. It's
a mercy seat. It's that place where we obtain
mercy, where we find grace to help. We're sitting then in the
heavenly places, but it's all in the Lord Jesus Christ. And
those angels, are they not sent forth to be ministering spirits?
They minister unto them who are the heirs of salvation. Christ's sovereignty then. He is set there in heaven. He
is set down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. And He
rules and reigns in all that spiritual world. The Christ sovereignty is demonstrated
in this world. It's demonstrated in this world. God has put all things under His feet. All power is
given unto Him in heaven and in earth. His authority is an
absolute authority. And so we see how Christ exercises
that sovereignty. And He exercises authority over
the angels for the church in this present world. Remember what the Lord says there
at his crucifixion when the Jews are mocking him and scoffing
him. The accusation laid against him was that of blasphemy. He
made himself the son of God. And what do they say to him?
if thou be the Son of God if thou be the Son of God come down
from the cross and we'll believe how they cast these things continually
in his teeth and what does the Lord say to them thinkest thou
that I cannot now pray to my father and he shall presently
give me more than twelve legions of angels Oh, He can summon angels if He
will. Of course, He doesn't do that
because He knew what work He had to accomplish in the covenant.
He must do all the will of the Father. He must execute that
great work. He must die that cruel death
in order to the salvation of His people. But those angels
and ministering spirits And they are sent forth to minister to
him, yes, but they are sent forth also to minister to all them
who are the heirs, the heirs of salvation. The Lord speaks, doesn't he,
about the angels in heaven. Behold the face of his children.
Take heed, he says, that ye despise not one of these, the least of
my children. O there, angels, behold the face
of my Father which is in heaven, says the Lord. The angels, you
see, they see something of the glory of God in the salvation
of the church. Those angels are before the throne
of God, we read of the Seraphim, back in Isaiah chapter 6, And
they're about the throne, aren't they? They're burning ones, they're
pure creatures, seraphim. And there are cherubim, there
are principalities, there are powers, there are dominions.
There's a whole variety of different types of angels, it seems. But
of those seraphim, we know that they're there in heaven before
God's throne and they're serving Him day and night in His temple.
and they have six wings, and with two of their wings they
cover their feet, and with two wings they cover their faces.
So they're such pure, holy, sinless creatures, yet they cannot stand
in the presence of God, they cannot behold the wonder of God.
But they have another two wings with which they fly. Or they
fly at His command, they do His bidding. They're His servants,
they're in heaven. And the wonderful thing is that
though that's the abode of the angels before the throne of God,
yet they see something more of the glory of God in what the
Lord God does here in this world. That's the wonder of it. And
Paul says it in this epistle, doesn't he? In the third chapter. And verse 10, he speaks of how
God created all things by Jesus Christ to the intent that now
unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known
by the church the manifold wisdom of God according to the eternal
purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. What God
has purposed in Christ is to give such a wondrous display
of his glory And even those sinless creatures who never stand in
need of any salvation, they behold in the church that remarkable
manifold wisdom of God, the whole plan, the whole purpose of salvation. All God's sovereignty over the
angels, what a wondrous thing it is. And that is what the Lord
Jesus Christ exercises. as he reigns now in his mediatorial
kingdom. He is sovereign over all the
angels for the church, all is for the church, for the good
of the church, for the glory of the church. But he is also
that one, he is sovereign over all men, not just over the angels but
also over all men, and that also for the church. is the head over
all things for the church if we take the preposition to have
that particular meaning on behalf of the church it's interesting isn't it what
Paul says when he writes to Timothy concerning salvation remember those words in 1 Timothy
4.10 he is the saviour of all men he says He's the Savior of
all men, especially of those that believe. That's a strange statement, He's
the Savior of all men, but He is especially the Savior of believers,
as you can well imagine how the Arminian seizes on such a statement
as that. There is salvation for all men,
but it's only realized for those who come to believe in Christ.
In other words the Arminian says the redemptive work of Christ
is for every man, is available for every man. His atonement
is universal but he's especially the savior
of those that believe. But is that the right dividing
of the Word of God? We know from other scriptures
that That work of Christ is not universal because Christ in dying
didn't just make salvation something possible. The death of the Lord Jesus Christ
actually accomplished the salvation of sinners. He made the full
payment for all the sins of his people. And if that payment was
universal for every man, how could God ever condemn any man? If you're going to believe that
the atonement is universal, you have to believe in a universal
redemption, a universal salvation. No one will go to hell. Payment
God cannot twice demand. first at my bleeding surety's
hand and then again at mine says top lady in the hymn and how
right, how right is that all divine it would be most unjust
for God to punish any man if that punishment had already been
meted upon the Lord Jesus Christ but what then are we to make
of that statement in 1 Timothy 4.10 he is the saviour of all
men especially of those that believe Well, there is some sense,
surely, in which all men partake of the benefits that God bestows. He maketh His
Son to rise on the evil and on the good. He sends rain on the
just and on the unjust. He is kind unto the unthankful. and to the evil we read in Luke
6.35 and Paul in his preaching at
Athens in Acts chapter 17 tells them how God giveth all life
and breath and all things all men receive great benefits the
benevolence of God the goodness of God It's not a full salvation,
of course it's not, but men are preserved, men are provided for.
In him we live and move and have our being, says the apostle. But when we read of those that
specially believe, surely these are they who experience the true
salvation, the great salvation. the full salvation that is in
the Lord Jesus Christ but God is preserving all things and
preserving all things for the good of his church. He preserves
the whole order of society in this world for the ultimate salvation
of those who are the election of grace. Now kept as the apple of his
eye and he so orders things throughout the world that all things work
together for their good all Paul says we know it we know that
all things work together for good to them that love God to
them who are the called according to his purpose how is it that
all things work together for good because God is in control
of all men and he preserves all men for that end His eye is ever
upon His people. He's working out His purpose
for them in this world. The Lord Jesus Christ's headship
then is for the church. God has put all things under
His feet and gave Him to be the head over all things for the
church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth
all in all. There's such a union to the Lord
Jesus Christ that that when his people suffer, he suffers. In
all their afflictions, he is afflicted. When Saul of Tarsus is persecuting
those early Christian believers, and the Lord meets with him and
arrests him and addresses him there at Damascus, what does
the Lord say? Why persecutest thou me? or the
Lord Jesus has entered into his glory, his sufferings were at
an end. How is he persecuting the Lord
Jesus Christ? He's persecuting Christ in his
body. That is the blessing of the union
between Christ and his church. Christ then is that one who is
the head over all things, on behalf of his people for the
church but of course as the word stands here in the text our translators have used the
word to he is head over all things to the church in everything he is over the
church yet have i set my king upon my
holy hill of zion says the lord god in the second psalm christ
is king in zion and i'm sure you're probably aware of the
great cry of the scottish covenanters in the time of cruel persecutions
when the state wanted to interfere in the affairs of the church
of Jesus Christ. What was the cry of those noble
men and martyrs? They would cry out for the crown
rights of King Jesus. Jesus is King. He's King of Kings,
He's Lord of Lords, He's over all things for His church. But
He is surely that One who exercises all His crown rights amongst
His people in the church. or the Crown Rites of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And how does the Lord Jesus Christ
rule His Church? He rules His Church by His Word. He rules His Church by His Word.
And so when we come to consider the Gospel, we discover that
yes, the Gospel is full of promise. In many ways, that's how we define
the Gospel. It's the great promise of God.
But there are also precepts in the Gospel. Christ says, if you
love me, keep my commandments. There are commandments to be
kept. We believe, don't we, in gospel precepts. And we're not
to be partial in the word of God. If this is the way in which
Christ is exercising his headship in the church, giving us his
words, Well, we're not just to embrace all those exceeding great
and precious promises and then ignore all those holy precepts
of the gospel. That's partiality. We're not
to be partial in any sense in the Word of God. That would be
a great sin. We are to love the precept as
we love the promise. and the precept of that holy
living which is the commandment of our Lord Jesus Christ. But think about it, in one sense
Christ is very much seen to exercise his headship. Is he not in the
matter of the worship of his people? He says the true worshippers
shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth God is a spirit
and the true worshippers worship him in spirit and in truth interesting the words worship
there worship him we're told that the word literally means
make a bisence do reverence due reverence. I like the remark,
the comment of George Butcherson, one of the old Scots commentators,
writing there on those words in John 4. He says of the word,
it's a similitude taken from dogs casting themselves down
at their master's feet. We can learn much from dogs,
can't we? how they obey their Master's voice, how they will
come to their Master's feet. Well, says a good Scots minister,
that's the similitude that we have there, that's our worship.
Our worship is one of complete obeisance, submission. What was John's reaction when
he is there on the Lord's Day in exile on the Isle of Patmos
and he sees a remarkable sight, he sees a vision of the Lord
Jesus Christ and he says, when I saw him I fell at his feet
as dead. Is that our worship? Do we fall
at his feet as dead? We would desire only to obey
him and want to do all his goodwill and pleasure. You see, if we
come with that spirit, there's no place for that will-worship
of which Paul speaks in Colossians 2.23. It's condemned. What is
will-worship? Well, it's the invention of men.
Men want to dream up the ways wherein they're going to worship
God. And I'm sure you don't need me
to tell you in these days what is that so-called worship. So
often, well you've got to make it something that is going to
be pleasing to the people of this world. So you follow the
fashions of the world. And really it becomes nothing
more than carnal worship. It's not worship at all. All
that worship that is the true worship of God must be, in that
sense, regulated by the Word of God, the commandment of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And I know I've referred previously
to those words that we have in the book of the Revelation, the
language of Revelation chapter 11 and verse 1, where we read
of the temple and the worshippers in the temple. John says, "...there
was given me a reed like unto a rod, And the angel stood saying,
rise and measure the temple of God's and the altar and them
that worship therein. Now what is the imagery here?
Well the reed like unto a rod is that that measures the temple,
the altar, and all the worship. Our worship is to be measured
by the word of God. The true worshipers worship the
Father in spirits. It's spiritual worship, of course
it is. God is a spirit. We can only worship God by the
gracious ministry of the Holy Spirit. John was in the Spirit
on the Lord's Day. This is our concern as we come
together, Lord's Day by Lord's Day. We want to be in the Spirit. But true worship is in spirit
and truth. And what is the truth? It's the
truth of God's Word. God's word must regulate all
our worship if it's going to be acceptable we would submit to Christ we
would fall at his feet and we would only desire to do those
things that he himself has declared to us and made known to us in
his holy words You see the church draws everything from the Lord
Jesus Christ. It's interesting though, several
times throughout the epistle, you may have observed as we've
read it through, Paul refers to that headship of the Lord
Jesus, he does so in chapter 4. And there at verses 15 and 16
he says, speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in
all things which is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole
body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every
joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the
measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the
edifying of itself in love." There's a mutual ministry in the body of the Lord
Jesus Christ, which is the church, and he is the head over it. And
the whole body is so fitly joined and compacted, the Lord does
apportion various gifts throughout his body, the church. Of course, Paul deals with this,
doesn't he, when he's writing there in 1 Corinthians. He reminds us of our natural
body and some members more honourable than others but we're not to
despise any part of our natural body because every part is necessary
and he says so too in the church but thinking especially of what
he writes here in Ephesians in the portion we read this morning
there in chapter 5 where he's dealing with the matter
of relationships, husbands and wives And he says, verse 23, The husband
is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the
church, and He is the Saviour of the body. Oh Christ, He's
not only the head, Christ is the Saviour. Christ is the Saviour
of the church. He's that one surely to whom
we should do all homing. If we just pass out of Ephesians
and finally look at one verse in Colossians. I like this one. Colossians 1.18 He is the head
of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence.
Oh, the Lord Jesus Christ surely is that one who is to have the
preeminence. Isn't that the mark of his body,
the mark of his church? He's the head and we're the members. The language that we have here
at the end of this prayer, the words that we've considered tonight
concerning him, his headship, for the church is headship to the church how God has put all things under
his feet and gave him to be the head over all things to the church
which is his body the fullness of him that filleth all in all
oh God grant that we might be those then who would willingly
submit to that headship that sovereignty of our Lord Jesus
Christ and delight as much in his precepts as we would delight
in his promises. The Lord bless his word to us.
Amen.