Let us turn to God's Word in
the portion of Holy Scripture that we were considering on the
last Lord's Day. Turning then to Ephesians chapter
1. Ephesians chapter 1 and I'll
read from verse 15 through 18. It's the first part of the Apostles
prayer at the end of this chapter. here in Ephesians 1 15 to 18. So the Apostle 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 we were considering then the
opening verses we were considering in particular what he says there
in the 17th verse concerning the one to whom his prayer is
being addressed, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father
of Glory. And we saw that his first petition
is that that concerns the ministry of the Spirit with regards to
that revelation of wisdom and of knowledge The source comes
from God, it comes by and through that gracious ministry of the
Spirit. And it continues really in the
same line in the words that I want us to consider today at verse
18. He now begins to speak of that
spiritual enlightenment that will come where the Spirit is
at work, granting that revelation that comes from God himself. Just to remind you a little more
with regards to what we were saying last time I said in the
evening now that we're certainly to understand the reference here
in verse 17 to the spirit of wisdom and revelation in terms
of the Holy Spirit we should really have the capital letter
at the beginning of that word spirit not so much our spirit
but that one who is God the Holy Spirit and how he comes as that
one who reveals the things of God reveals the things of salvation
revelation is what we read of and the word has that basic idea
of an unveiling, a lying bear. And now the Spirit does that,
of course, when He comes and shows us something of ourselves.
It's the Spirit who has inspired the Scriptures of truth. And
those men, those holy men of God, we're told in the Old Testament,
they spake as they were moved by the Spirit of God. And when
we come to God's Word, it is truly as a mirror, it's a glass
in which we see ourselves, as James makes so abundantly clear. We see something of what we should
be. When God created man, God made
him upright. They have sought out many inventions. And so when the Spirit comes
as that Spirit of of wisdom and revelation how it causes us to
know the sad state that we're in because of sin because of
the fall of our first parents and we can know nothing at all
of the things of God but by that ministry of the Spirit again
the language of Paul writing to the Corinthians what man knoweth
the things of a man save the spirit of a man which is in him
Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but by the Spirit of
God. And we see ourselves. We see
that the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. And it's
only God who knows the heart, who tries the reins of men, and
He does it by and through His Word in the hands of the Spirit.
But the revealing that we have there in verse 17 is to be understood principally,
surely, in terms of that main point of the Spirit's work, which
is the revealing of God in and through the person of the Lord
Jesus Christ. As we saw at the end of that
17th verse, it all ultimately must come to this, there will
be a knowledge of Him, that is the knowledge of God, and God
revealing Himself. in these last days in the person
of his only begotten Son. These are some of the things
we were seeking to set before you last Lord's Day but as I
said I want us now to move on to what he says further in verse
18 and here we have really the great truth of spiritual enlightenment. Where that miniature of the Spirit
comes there is an opening of the eyes of the understanding
the eyes of your understanding being enlightened that you may
know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of
the glory of his inheritance in the saints. And so it's this
particular verse that I want us to concentrate on as we think
this morning of this spiritual enlightenment and its results,
the consequence of the enlightening. And two things are spoken of
in the verse. The result of the spiritual enlightenment
will be the effectual calling of the sinner. But not only that,
it goes on also to speak of the sinner's eternal inheritance. And those are the two points
that I really want to take up for a while this morning, as
we think of the spiritual enlightenment and its results. First of all,
We see it in terms of the effectual call of the grace of God in the
gospel. The eyes of your understanding
being enlightened, he says, that ye may know what is the hope
of his calling. And that word, that, that opens a second clause in the
verse, literally means in order that. It is the point, the purpose
of the enlightening of the understanding. It's in order that he may know
the hope of his calling. There is a calling from God,
of course, in the Gospel, and usually that call is spoken of
in terms of a general call and an effectual call the Lord Jesus himself says many
are called many are called but few are chosen when God's word
is opened and read and preached isn't God's voice being heard
in and through the scriptures there is a call that comes to
men and therefore when they hear the word of God and reject the
word of God they in their unbelief are culpable they are guilty
because they are rejecting what God is saying we have those words
don't we in John chapter 3 at verse 18 he that believeth not
is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name
of the only begotten Son of God and this is the condemnation
that light is coming to the world and men love darkness rather
than light because their deeds are evil there's no enlightening
to these people and so the call is meaningless they're dead in
trespasses and sins they reject the Word of God But in their
rejection they are culpable before Him. Or they do not recognize,
they do not honor the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the Lord Himself
speaks of these things, the language that we have there in John 15,
and verses 22 and 23, as Christ is coming to the end of His ministry.
He says, if I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not
had sin. But now they have no cloak, or
Zemardgian says, no excuse for their sin. He that hateth me,
hateth my father also. How solemn it is to hear that
general call when God's Word is opened, when God's Word is
read, when God's Word is proclaimed when there's the preaching of
the gospel of the grace of God and men take no account of it.
Again, John writing in that first general epistle says, "...he
that believeth not God hath made him a liar, because he believeth
not the record that God gave of his son." There is in that
general call that comes, but what is being spoken of here
of course is something quite different and distinct from that.
This is the inward call. This is that effectual call. It's the efficacious workings
of the Spirit in association with the ministry of that Word
of God. The eyes of your understanding
being enlightened in order that ye may know what is the hope
of his calling. think of the words of the Lord
Jesus himself it is written in the prophets that they shall be all taught
of God every man therefore that hath heard and learned of the
Father cometh unto me or where the Father teaches there is that
coming there is that response but it's not just the the ministry
of the of the Father in teaching it's also the ministry of the
Holy Spirit and we might say in particular it's the ministry
of the Holy Spirit as Christ says when he comes he is not
going to speak of himself he shall glorify me says Christ
he shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you all this
effectual calling it is one of the blessed consequences of that
gracious work of the Spirit, the Spirit of wisdom and revelation,
the eyes of your understanding being enlightened. What a blessing when God is pleased
thus to grant such a ministry. We read later in chapter 5 and
verse 14, Awake thou that sleepest. arise from the dead and Christ
shall give thee light isn't the Lord Jesus that one who is spoken
of as the light of the world I am the light of the world amongst
all those various I am statements that we have throughout the gospel
according to Saint John we have those words he declares himself
clearly the great I am that I am he is the one who enlightens
It's the work of all the persons in the Godhead, Father, Son and
Holy Spirit. And now clearly Paul himself
had experienced something of that enlightening. We're told
back in Acts chapter 9 when the Lord confronts him and apprehends
him there at the very gate of Damascus. How there shined round
about him a light from heaven, it says. There shined round about
him such a light, and then he hears that voice, the words of
the Lord Jesus Christ himself. So, so, why persecutest thou
me? For it is hard for thee to kick
against the pricks. How he was being pricked and
goaded by his own conscience. The Spirit of God was at work
in him. and so when he writes theory
he's able to write out of the fullness of his own experience
these are things that he himself had known of the grace of God
that spirit of wisdom and revelation the eyes of his understanding
being enlightened and so he knew something of the hope of that
calling and there is hope where there is this calling the effectual
call is part of the beginning of the divine life in the soul
of the sinner. And what begins in time is to
be completed, and it will indeed be consummated in glory. And he goes on, doesn't he, to
speak of the riches of the glory of his inheritance? We can think
in terms of that golden chain that we find in the eighth chapter
of Romans, whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of his son. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called, and whom he justified, them he also glorified,
and whom he also justified, he also glorified. It reaches from
eternity to eternity. God knows his people. he has
set his sovereign love upon them and so whom he foreknows he calls
and whom he calls he justifies and whom he justifies ultimately
he will glorify it is the hope of his calling how important
it is that we are familiar with the truth of that effectual call
of the gospel because if we're troubled with
regards to the matter of the doctrine of election and many
are. They may wonder are they truly those who are of the election
of Christ? Are they those whom God in the
eternal covenant has foreknown from all eternity? Well those
secret things they belong unto the Lord our God. The things
that are revealed belong unto us and to our children we're
told. whereas election is something
that is eternal. The calling is something that
is experienced in time. And how significant it is, how
striking the way in which Peter addresses believers there in
2 Peter 1 and verse 10. He says, The rather brethren
give diligence to make your calling and election sure. It's interesting, isn't it, that
he puts it that way round. The election is really before
the calling. God has chosen a people and these
are the ones whom he will, in the appointed time, effectually
call to himself. But when he comes to examining
ourselves, we're to examine ourselves in terms of the call. Rather, brethren, give diligence
to make your calling and election. Sure, we can only know our election
if we've given attention to the matter of our calling. We've
heard the general call. But does that general call mean
anything to us? Has there been any effectual
work in our souls? The importance of a right beginning
Now we need that right beginning that the Lord should bring us,
to that place where He does reveal to us something of ourselves.
Remember the revelation, it's the unveiling. And as I said
last time, when the Spirit comes as that Spirit of wisdom and
revelation, He will show us ourselves. Although that's not His main
work. His main work is to reveal Christ, but How meaningful is
Christ to us? He's only meaningful to us if
we have any sense of our sinnership. He comes not to call the righteous
but sinners to repentance, he says. But how important it is that
we have that right beginning. If our beginning is wrong, in
any sense, every ensuing step is also wrong. if we set off
on a journey and from the outset we're going in the wrong direction,
we'll never arrive at our hoped destination. Oh, the first step
is so vital. We need to know that gracious
ministry of the Spirit. And what is that beginning, that
real beginning? It's something surely that is
false. a true beginning is a beginning
felt, it has been well observed by nature with those who are
dead in trespasses and in sins and so we can know nothing, we
can feel nothing all begins of course with that great blessing
of the new birth regeneration and where there is that communication
of spiritual life or then it is that we begin to understand
something of ourselves, something of our condition, something of
our need as sinners before God. When the light shines into all
the darkness and deadness of our souls, there is then this
blessed work of enlightening. I like the way in which Paul
speaks of it when he addresses the Corinthians there
in 2nd Corinthians 4.6 he speaks of God who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness shining in our hearts to give the light
of the knowledge of his glory in the person of the Lord Jesus
in the face of the Lord Jesus God shining into the darkness
just as at the beginning God says let there be light and there
is light so when it comes to the believers experience there
must be this enlightening of the eyes of the understanding
and the consequence that ye may know what is the hope of his
calling and then and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance
in the saints and so there's this twofold consequence there's
that that we have here and now, the grace of God, the salvation
of the soul, but there's also that blessed prospect, the riches
of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. And there's a
sense in which we can look at these statements as parallel
statements really. It's the same truth really that's
being declared in each of these clauses that ye may know what is the
hope of his calling ultimately the hope of his calling is heaven
itself and that blessed inheritance that is spoken of in the next
clause the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the signs We can understand all this then
in terms of the great hope of heaven. Heaven itself. What does he say previously in
verse 11 concerning the Lord Jesus Christ? "...in whom also
we have obtained an inheritance." The inheritance is in Christ.
The inheritance is Christ. being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will. The Lord Jesus Christ himself
is really the believer's inheritance. The Lamb is all the glory in
Emmanuel's land. Think of that lovely hymn of Mevian Cousins, isn't it? And it's based on the letters
of Samuel Rutherford, The Sands of Time are Sinking, The Dawn
of Heaven Breaks. I'm sure you're familiar with
the words of that hymn. I think there's about 18 verses
in the original. It was really written as a poem
more than as a hymn, but it has that refrain, doesn't it? The
Lamb is all the glory in Emmanuel's land. And how that gracious woman
has brought out the wonderful emphasis that is so much there
in the letters of Rutherford, if you ever read them, and I
would recommend them to you. There are 365 letters And I can remember years ago,
I've never done it as a second exercise, but one year I decided
I would read one letter every day for 365 days, and it was
like a daily portion book, reading the letters of Samuel Rutherford.
And it was a profitable exercise, but some of the letters are quite
long, and there's many Scottishisms in them, of course, but The poem
that was subsequently composed by that woman in the 19th century
brings out the essence really of what are in those letters. But it's the Lamb. The Lamb is
all the glory in Immanuel's land. This is the inheritance. The
riches of the glory of his inheritance. in the saints. It's all in the
Lord Jesus. Whom have I in heaven but Thee? And there is none upon
earth that I desire beside Thee, says the Psalmist. Oh, it's all
in the Lord Jesus Christ. What a salvation! And we have
it really in that opening hymn that we sang this morning. 1006 and it's based clearly on those
words that we have at the end of 1st Corinthians chapter 1
where Paul says concerning 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 again Paul says ye are complete
in him everything is there in the Lord Jesus Christ that is
the believer's real inheritance and it is by faith it's by faith
that the believer knows the Lord Jesus Christ and enjoys all the
blessings of salvation by grace are you saved through
faith and that not of yourselves he says it is the gift of God
Oh, we walk by faith and not by sight. And as believers, we're looking,
we're longing, we're yearning for the consummation of all that
glorious inheritance that is in the Lord Jesus. We look not
at the things for which are sinning, says Paul, but at the things
which are not seen. The things which are seen are
all around us, our temporal things. But the unseen things, these
are the eternal things. These are the eternal things,
the unsearchable riches in Christ Jesus. We have it there in the
reading, don't we, that we had this morning in chapter 3. where Paul is speaking of the
revelation of that great mystery that had been hidden from all
the ages from the beginning of time that there would be salvation
that would go out to the ends of the earth which would go out
to the sons of Adam not just confined now to the people of
Israel And this man who himself was such a proud Jew, a Hebrew
of the Hebrews, he says, a self-righteous Pharisee, and yet brought to
see all his salvation in the Lord Jesus. And he says there,
in that portion we were reading in chapter 3, Unto me you am
less than the least of all saints. Why, he was an arch-persecutor
of the believers. He sought only their destruction,
and yet, saved by the grace of God, unto me who am less than
the least of all saints is this grace given, that I should preach
among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ." Oh, they're
unsearchable. They're beyond telling. We cannot
begin to comprehend the wonder of them. You may have observed
as we read through that third chapter after Unfolding that
great mystery of the calling of the Gentiles, Paul then says
in verse 13, I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations
for you, which is your glory. He's writing to a Gentile church.
And then he goes on and he prays for them again. There's not only
this prayer at the end of chapter 1, we find him in prayer also
at the end of that third chapter. And again, it's a remarkable
prayer. His desire, his prayer, is that
Christ may dwell in their hearts by faith, that they might be
rooted and grounded in love. And then he says this, that they
may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth
and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ,
which passeth knowledge, that she might be filled with all
the fullness of God. The language of Paul is beyond
explaining, really. I mean, how can you comprehend
something that is incomprehensible? How can you comprehend that which
passes knowledge? This is what he prays, you see,
there's such a glorious fullness in the Lord Jesus Christ, unsearchable. the untelling. And this is the
believer's inheritance. And he can know something of
it, here and now, only by that grace of faith. And that faith, of course, strangely,
is part of that unsearchable riches that's in Christ Jesus.
Where do we obtain faith? We can only obtain that from
the Lord Jesus. He's looking unto Jesus, the
author and finisher of our faith. Who for the joy set before Him
endured the cross, despising the shame, and He sat down at
the right hand of the throne of God in heaven. We have to
look to Him. He has all the riches of grace,
and we're saved by grace through faith. that is His gift. Everything comes from the Lord
Jesus Christ. So, utterly remarkable. And it's not just the Apostle
Paul who can speak of these things, but we find Peter declaring the
selfsame truths there in the opening chapter of his first
epistle, his first general epistle. There at verse 3 Peter says,
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which
according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a
lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth
not away, reserved in heaven for you. This is how Peter is
describing that blessed inheritance, it's incorruptible, it's undefiled,
it's unfading. He's saying exactly the same
things as Paul is declaring here in the text. The eyes of your
understanding being enlightened that ye may know the riches of
the glory of his inheritance. Yes, effectual calling now whereby
we come to have some anticipation, some foretaste of these things,
but all that that is laid up in heaven for the believer. Christ, the believer's inheritance.
Whom have I in heaven but Thee? There's none upon earth that
I desire besides Thee. But the amazing thing is this,
isn't it, that As Christ is the believer's inheritance, so the
believer is Christ's inheritance. There's a certain mutuality here. The Lord's portion is his people. Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. Remarkable words there in Deuteronomy
32.9. The Lord's portion is people. Jacob, the lot of his inheritance. And who are those who are the
true children of Jacob? Who are those who are the real
Israel of God? It's Christian believers, of
course it is. Israel is his inheritance. Again,
that's the language of the Psalm, Psalm 78 and verse 71. and that's Israel of course they're
all together bound up in the Lord Jesus Christ Christ and his people are one doesn't he go on to say that
at the end of this particular prayer he is the head over all
things to the church which is his body the fullness of him
that filleth all in all Oh, there's a wonderful union. We have the
language, don't we, of the psalmist, that messianic psalm, Psalm 16. Speaking of Christ, Thou wilt
not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt Thou suffer Thine Holy One
to see corruption. It's speaking of the Lord Jesus.
He's speaking of His dying and His burial. And before His resurrection,
His body sees nothing of corruption. why that sinless humanity could
know nothing of corruption, nothing of any sickness. In a sense that sinless humanity
could never suffer death. It was an immortal humanity really. And yet he dies, he could only
die by a voluntary sacrifice. And you know those words of Psalm
16 are applied to the Lord Jesus quite clearly in the preaching
of the Apostles. Peter in his sermon on the day
of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2 and verses 25 through 28 refers
to Psalm 16 in reference to Christ. And we find Paul doing exactly
the same in his preaching in Acts 13 at verse 35 through 37. Peter, or rather Paul preaching
there at Antioch. in Pisidia so it's beyond all
doubt that those words they will not leave my soul in hell nor
suffer thine holy one to see corruption applies to the Lord
Jesus and yet isn't there a sense in which that's true also of
believers ultimately the believer is going to be glorified that's
where it all ends All the effectual call comes here in this world,
but what does it lead to? It leads to eternal glory, a delighting in the Lord Jesus
Christ through all the ages of eternity. Christ glorified in
his people, his people glorying in the Lord Jesus and yet even
now we can know some foretaste of it. Remember what the Apostle
goes on to say here in the second chapter at verse 4 following.
He says God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith
he loved us even when we were dead in sins hath quickened us
together with Christ. By grace ye are saved, and hath
raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus." Even now, believers are made to sit in those heavenly
places. Now isn't that in many ways the
purpose of the Lord's Day, the Christian Sabbath Day? Is it
not meant to be some anticipation of heaven? It should today be
heaven on earth to us. I think it's Isaac Watts, isn't
it, who speaks of heaven as that place where congregations ne'er
break up and Sabbaths have no end. It's that place of eternal
rest, that resting in the Lord Jesus Christ, that entering into
all the fullness, of what this gracious spiritual enlightening
is intended to lead to the subsequent of it the eyes of your understanding
being enlightened that you may know what is the hope of his
calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance
in the sense here is something to be known something to be known,
felt, experienced as we know the gracious ministry of the
Spirit of God, so enlightening our eyes that we experience not
just that general call of the Gospel, but know that efficacious
grace, that effectual call, the Word being applied with all power
and all authority, that entering into the riches of the glory,
of that inheritance which the Lord has in all his saints. Will the Lord be pleased and
to bless such truths to us and grant that we might in some measure
be enabled by the Blessed Spirit to enter into all that fullness,
all those unsearchable riches which we have in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Well, we'll go on later to continue
to look at the prayer that we have here at the end of this
chapter. The Lord bless his word. We're going to sing our concluding
praise this morning. It's the hymn 748. Light in God's light. In darkness born, I went astray
and wandered from the gospel way. And since the Saviour gave
me sight, I cannot see without His light. 748. The tune is Meryton
366.