Yeah. I'm going to start it up. I'm going to go live here. I'm going to start. Pardon? I'm going to start. I'm
doing two services today. Oh, that's right. Sorry. So used
to the one. I'm going to take my phone back
here. Thank you, Eric. Good morning. We're going to begin our service
in Ephesians. Let's go to Ephesians chapter
4. Ephesians chapter 4 verses 8
through 16 is where I want to make it to today. I may go a
little over time. Now, this passage is it's revealing
to us the ministration of the gospel. It's the means, one of
the gifts that our gracious Lord has given to us for the support
and edification of his body, the church. That's what the Lord
is revealing here. It's to encourage us to strengthen
the weak hands because we have loved ones. We have people that
we care for in our families, our friends, neighbors. We care for them and we want
them to hear the gospel of our gracious, sovereign Lord who
in mercy came to us in peace and gave us eternal life and
revealed this faith in us. And we've heard it, and we know
that if they're gonna hear it, if they're gonna be delivered
from death, they've got to hear this word as well. Paul, over
in Romans 1, verses 16 and 17 said, I'm not ashamed of the
gospel of Christ. For it is the power of God unto
salvation to every one that believeth to the Jew first, and also to
the Greek. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the
just shall live by faith. And so, we don't want to be ashamed
of this word because this is the word of our salvation. And
those whom we love and desire to hear and believe this same
truth, they've got to hear it as well. And they've got to hear
it by the power and glory of our God just as it was brought
to our hearts as well. So, this passage here, it declares
the blessings that we have in our Lord Jesus Christ which He
gives to His body, the Church. It's in the ministration of the
Gospel, it's in the giving of the Holy Spirit, making it effectual
in our hearts. It's important for us to remember
when we're thinking of our loved ones and those that we care about
and would that they hear this word. It's important for us. to not be anxious about it and
to get ourselves worked up about it, but to be reminded that our
Lord knows. He knows them that are His. He
has a people and He's working things according to His purpose. And where we are in the weakness
of the flesh, it doesn't naturally align with His will. but he teaches
us and he would have us to know that he'll lose none for whom
he gave his life. He'll lose none of his sheep. He says in John chapter 10 verses
16 and 17, which are not of this fold, them
also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall
be one fold and one shepherd. Therefore doth my Father love
me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again."
And that's what we have here in Ephesians 4, the taking up
again of his life. and it declares his ascension
unto the Father, to the right hand of the throne of God, so
that all things that Christ was sent here to do are accomplished
fully in him. It's not gonna fail. Nothing
that he's been sent to do is going to fail. And so when we
think of his ascension, understand we're talking about our high
priest, We're talking about Him who was given unto us as our
Mediator, as our High Priest, who has ascended into the holiest
of holies, the holiest of all for His sheep. This He did. He ascended up to the Father
after He first descended, after He first came down to the earth
and accomplished the will of God for us. in our redemption. Now, he's ascended to the throne
of God, onto the right hand of the throne of God, to fulfill,
to continue the fulfillment of everything that's written of
him by the prophets in the scriptures that he came to do when he accomplished
our eternal redemption, and then works out this salvation in his
people. Look at Ephesians 4, verses 12
and 13. So that now as our ascended high
priest, he's giving his church the gifts that he has wrought
for them and obtained for them and is giving to them through
these gifts of the Spirit and the gift of the Holy Spirit.
It says Ephesians 4, 12, for the perfecting of the saints,
for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body
of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the faith and of
the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the
measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." I've titled
this message, For Our Perfecting. For Our Perfecting. And we'll
first look at the fulfillment of our Lord, what he accomplished
for us. Then we'll briefly look at these
offices, which he gave as gifts to establish the church, to establish
this ministry of the gospel. And then we'll look at the word
minister, which is for our perfecting as the body of Christ. So let's
first read verse eight, Ephesians 4.8. Wherefore he saith. When he ascended
up on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. Now Paul here is quoting from
Psalm 68 verse 11, which adds to that, that this is done for
the rebellious also, which is good news to sinners, for the
rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them. This is all accomplishing the
purpose and will of God to dwell among his people, to establish
peace and reconciliation with us by bringing us near through
the blood of Christ. And these passages are declaring
to us first, Christ our high priest, Christ our high priest. And quoting from Hebrews 7, verse
27, We read of him, our high priest, that he needeth not daily
as those high priests to offer up sacrifice, first for his own
sins and then for the people's, for this Christ our Lord did
once when he offered up himself. And so our high priest, when
he came, when he descended to the earth, He was accomplishing
our redemption. He was accomplishing our purchase
by His own blood to make us His people. This He did by the sacrifice
of Himself, by the offering up of Himself to the Father to make
atonement for our sins, to put away our sins, and to purchase
us so that we are now His people. And having accomplished that
redemption, our Lord, being pleased with His work, raised Him from
the dead, and then before His disciples, After he was raised
from the dead, Christ was here 40 more days, appearing to the
disciples, speaking to the disciples, declaring them more things that
they needed to hear that they couldn't hear before them, but
confirming these things to them. And then we come to Acts chapter
one, verse eight and nine, where he's speaking to his disciples,
and he's declaring to them what blessings, what gifts he has
obtained for them, and is going to give to them for the edification
of His body, the Church. And He tells them that ye shall
receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.
And having said those words, them having heard those words,
it says that while they beheld, as he's speaking to them and
they're looking at him, while they beheld, he was taken up
and a cloud received him out of their sight. All right? That's his ascension. That's
the ascension, Christ returning to the Father in that physical
body with which he was raised again. and is now in session
at the right hand of the throne of God. Now, before we look at
that further, let's read verses 9 and 10, Ephesians 4, 9 and
10. Now that he ascended, what is
it? But that he also descended first
into the lower parts of the earth. He that descended is the same
also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill
all things. Now I don't want to spend a lot
of time here, but I would like to add some clarifying remarks
about what he means when he says he also descended first into
the lower parts of the earth. So this descending first into
the lower parts of the earth The best thing that we can do
here is understand that this is referring to the whole of
our Savior's humiliation. And when we call it His humiliation,
we're speaking of when the Lord of Glory, who was eternally in
the bosom of the Father, in that glory, in that fellowship, in
that union with Him, He took upon Him flesh. He was incarnate,
he became flesh. and came down to this earth,
the lower parts of the earth, and it's the whole of his suffering,
the whole of his humiliation, the whole of his obedience unto
the will and purpose of his God, of his Father, to accomplish
our redemption, and to be raised again as our high priest, and
to accomplish this salvation in us. in his people to work
everything necessary for our salvation from beginning to end
as the author and finisher of our faith. As the beginning and
the end, the first and the last, our Lord did this work for us. Now, if you turn over to Psalm
139, because I want to look at this lower parts of the earth
and how it's used in the scriptures, because I think it'll be a help
Because when we see the lower parts of the earth, we have a
certain thought in our mind of what that means, of what that
might mean, or could mean, or should mean. And what we find
here in Psalm 139, verses 13 through 15, we see that he's
speaking of his being formed, made flesh, and being formed
in the womb of a virgin. All right, verse 13 there. for thou has possessed my reins. Thou has covered me in my mother's
womb. I will praise thee, for I am
fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are thy works, and
that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from
thee when I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the
lowest parts of the earth. so that by His descending down
to earth first, by coming down in the flesh, this is where our
Lord worked and accomplished our redemption. He obtained eternal
redemption for us through His suffering, through His laying
down of His life, through fulfilling all the works and will of the
Father that was given to Him to do. by going to the cross,
by being our sacrifice, bearing our sins in His own body, suffering
under the wrath of God, dying in our stead, taking our place,
and accomplishing our righteousness and redemption, our forgiveness
with our God, to make us one with Him through His precious
blood. Our Lord, I don't believe what
it's saying here is that he descended down to hell. I know there are
some churches that may teach that. Catholics actually teach
that he went to some other place, but no, he said to that thief
that was on the cross, who believed on Christ, where faith was wrought
in him, he said, today thou shalt be with me in paradise. He went immediately to the Lord
in spirit, not his body. He bore the wrath of God on the
cross. Yes, he did. He did bear the
wrath of God for his people. Did he descend into the grave?
Yes, his body descended into the grave, but the lowest parts
of the earth refers to his humiliation. refers to His coming in the flesh,
being made flesh to accomplish our salvation and our redemption. I think it helps if you look
at John 3, John 3, verse 13. We see there how John words it
very simply for us. He words this wording that Paul
uses from Psalm 68. He says it very simply in John
3, 13, and no man hath ascended up to heaven. No
man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven,
even the Son of Man which is in heaven." So our Lord, He descended
from heaven, he came down to the earth, he accomplished the
redemption of all his sheep, and to fulfill that will and
purpose of our God in all our salvation, our Lord then ascended
back up to the Father, where he's ruling and reigning, seated
at the right hand of the throne of God, so that as our high priest,
he's interceding for the life of his children. He's given His
Holy Spirit, just as He promised that He would do. He gives gifts
unto men and women for the edification and the service of the Church. He's bearing fruits of righteousness
in us. He's given us His Spirit. He's
given us the hope of eternal life in Him. He's revealed the
light and glory of His knowledge and understanding to us and made
us to stand in the truth of the Gospel of our Lord and Savior. In addition to that work as our
High Priest, He is the King. He's the King of Saints. And
He's sending forth His Word in power conquering the hearts and
minds of his people, bringing us into subjection to himself. So, what's the main emphasis
here? What's the encouragement to us
as brethren when we read this passage? It's to tell us that
our Lord cannot, shall not, and cannot fail to accomplish his
will and work in the hearts of his people. His dissension accomplished our redemption and His ascension
works that salvation in us because He cannot be denied by the Father
who loves Him and is pleased with Him and knows He did everything
exactly as the Father purposed Him to do. And so many When you
see, when you're declaring that word, this gospel word, this
blessing that God has brought home to your heart and many hear
it and get offended rather than rejoicing in it, don't be discouraged. Think of the apostles. Think
of Paul and Barnabas who were sent to the Lord and they preached
this word and they labored among the Jews and they heard it and
refuse it. They didn't. They weren't rejoicing
in it. And Paul finally said to them,
seeing ye put it off, seeing ye put it from you, that is the
gospel, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life,
lo, we turn to the Gentiles. Don't be discouraged. as you're
able, as you have opportunity, preach and declare the gospel
in love, in kindness, in patience, because none of us, you could
say the best way possible, but if there's no grace to receive
that word, they're not gonna hear it. They heard Christ speak
and refused his words. And if they refused him, they
can easily refuse us as well. But if the Lord comes with power
by his spirit, it'll be made effectual, even the weakest of
our words and the weakest of our arguments, he's able to do
it. And it says that they turn to others who would hear. They
continued on preaching that word, knowing that God is able to recover
his sheep. And it says in Acts 13, 48, when
the Gentiles When they heard Paul say that,
that we're turning to the Gentiles, that they weren't just gonna
close up shop and take it away so that by the Jews refusing
it, they wouldn't hear it either. But they heard, oh, we'll just
preach it to the Gentiles. And they were glad and glorified
the word of the Lord. And as many as were ordained
unto eternal life believed. All those whom the Father chose
in eternity. and put in the care of his son,
they shall hear and shall believe." And that's a comfort to us. Even
for our own salvation, knowing that he which hath begun a good
work in you shall complete it unto the end. Faithful is he
that has worked this faith in you that shall also do it. He's
gonna do all according to his word. Now, this brings us briefly
to the offices which our Lord established in the Church to
begin this work which turned the world upside down. We read
in verse 11 that He gave some apostles, and some prophets,
and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. This was
given especially these offices mightily in the early Church,
in the early establishment of it, for it's being founded and
settled and established to continue this ministry of the Gospel Word. Some were made Apostles, that
is, men not born as Apostles, but given gifts which qualified
them to be Apostles. having seen the Lord Jesus Christ
with their own eyes, having witnessed what he accomplished and being
sent of him by him with these gifts and power to declare this
word, to bear witness of this word, to preach that word in
such power, to work miracles among the people, and in demonstration
of the Holy Spirit, they went about establishing churches,
and they were able to bestow gifts on others that they could
manifest the works of the Holy Spirit. But that office is no
longer with us now, but they did accomplish what Christ sent
them to do. So that this gospel has continued
now these 2,000 years since Christ was raised up back to the Father,
since he ascended. And some prophets, Those men
gifted to interpret those Old Testament scriptures, to behold
Christ in it, and even to speak and foretell of events that were
yet to come. And you could read of that in
Acts 11 with Agabus. He's an example of a prophet
who could tell of events that were yet to come. And some evangelists,
which many believe are those men that aided and helped the
apostles, We see them also as traveling missionaries who go
about declaring the word in different churches, maybe establishing
churches, but some believe that Timothy and Titus were examples
of those who labored with the apostles and were gifted in such
a way to declare that gospel and feed the sheep there. And
some pastors and teachers, which may be two roles in one sometimes,
but we also know that the Lord gives some men to help teach
the word and to be an assistant to the pastor in that capacity
and help feed the church. So pastors and teachers. Now, this brings us back to our
King and our High Priest. Why did he do this? Why did he
do all this work? Why did he descend and ascend,
and what's he doing now? What is he accomplishing in us
now through the ministry of this Word? He tells us in verse 12
that it's for the perfecting of the saints. It's for the perfecting
of the saints. So that we use these gifts, we
preach this word for the church's perfecting, for our edification,
for our learning, for our teaching. And it comes to those who were
chosen by the Father in eternity, committed to His care, and have
been redeemed by the blood of Christ. And what we know that
Christ accomplished our redemption, but we see that it pleases our
God to bring us to a knowledge of what he has accomplished for
us. He sends his gospel out. He draws his people together
to hear that word. and He blesses them by tending
it with His Spirit and with power, so that we hear it, having faith
revealed in our hearts to hear Christ, to hear His voice, to
hear Him speak, to believe and receive His Word, to trust Him
and know that this is His work. Now, those who are called in
the salvation, our faith is sincere. Our faith is sincere. We want
to do that which is right. We want to do that which is honoring
to our God and pleasing to Him. And we're perfect in Christ.
We're as fit today to die and be forever with the Lord as we'll
ever be. We are perfect in Christ. But we know that here in this
flesh, we struggle. We're weak. We stumble, we fall
in sin, we don't always do things the way we know that we should.
We look back and examine things and feel ashamed, feel that we
could have done so much better with things. And the Lord, he
gives us this word to comfort us, to remind us what he's done
for us, that it is all finished. Don't beat yourself up. Don't
keep replaying your sins and your failings over and over in
your head. You can't fix it. And God purposed
it. It's done. And yeah, we're humbled
and we're brought low under the mighty hand of God. But He gives
us this Word, ministers this Gospel Word to establish in our
hearts again peace. And we might know what He's done
for us. that He forgives us and loves us and isn't angry, isn't
going to pour out wrath and punishment on us. That's all been poured
out on your Savior and your Lord. You can't do anything with the
guilt and the shame. Let it go. Lay it at the feet
of Christ. Believe Him, confessing your
sin and trusting that it's all been put away by the blood of
your Savior. We need that encouragement. We
need to hear this word. We need to be reminded again
and again that the works are finished, that our God loves
us, and he's given us a hope in the gospel that we shall be
saved unto the end. Everything necessary is accomplished
for us and is being worked out in the salvation by our Lord
who continues to bless us, ministering this gospel. He hasn't taken
it away, but he's given it to you to feed his sheep, to bless
you, to comfort you. and to give you peace. Sometimes
he matures us and grows us through tribulation. He said in Romans
5 verses 3 through 5 where Paul says we glory in tribulations
knowing that tribulation worketh patience and patience experience
and experience hope and we have this hope for the love of God
is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. Sometimes He teaches us through
tribulation. But we also see, if you look
over in 2 Peter 1, 2 Peter 1, we know that he's given
to us, worked these fruits of righteousness in us by divine
power. That's how we receive everything
from the Lord, through divine power. And he says in verse four,
2 Peter 1.4, He says, whereby are given unto us exceeding great
and precious promises. That's the gospel, brethren.
He's ministering the gospel. He's established the church and
gathered you together and given you pastors and teachers to preach
the gospel that we should hear these exceeding great and precious
promises that we might be made partakers of the divine nature
and that he would deliver us by his power through the ministering
of his gospel, delivering us from these lusts that are, this
corruption that is in the world through lust, and the lust of
this flesh. And he speaks of giving us faith
through this word. And to our faith, he adds virtue,
that goodness, that desire for the Lord. And to virtue, knowledge,
and to knowledge, temperance. to temperance, patience, and
to patience, godliness, and to godliness, that we would show
brotherly kindness to one another, and in brotherly kindness, that
we would show brotherly love, that we would have that in our
hearts. He works that in us through the ministration of the Gospel
Word, so that He uses His Gospel as a means of our growth, as
a means of our maturity, as a means of our settling. When Adam fell, and we in Adam
fell and rebelled against the Lord, the body was disjointed,
it was broken up, and we were scattered throughout the world.
All the Lord's sheep were scattered. But what he does through the
ministration of the gospel is recovers that which was lost. He recovers the lost sheep of
the house of Israel. He recovers the lost sheep of
Christ, and through the preaching of the gospel, joins us back
together again, fits us in the body of Christ so that we preach
the word for the perfecting of the saints, back in Ephesians
4, 12, and 13, for the perfecting of the saints for the work of
the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we
all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of
the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the
stature of the fullness of Christ. We are called to continue to
preach this gospel till all of Christ's sheep are brought in
and the brethren see eye to eye in Christ. that we're all unified
in Him, rejoicing in Him, because that overcomes all our differences. Any offenses we give, we know
it's Christ, and we're all in agreement on Christ and what
He accomplished and what He did for us. in salvation, and is
doing in us, by his Spirit, through his power and glory and might
in our hearts. And then through the proper ministration
of the word, this body grows and is edified in Christ. that
we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried
about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning
craftiness whereby they lie and wait to deceive. So he gives
us this gospel to settle and mature us so that we're not moved
and put out by the words of men who sometimes think they're doing
good, sometimes know they're doing evil, whatever it is, but
he settles his sheep and keeps them so that we're not easily
moved. We're not driven away by offenses
and put off so easily by every contrary wind. How desperate
we are for the grace of our God to keep us because we see how
People that we believe to be brethren can be easily offended
and moved by these things, and we would too. But we need the
grace of God, and he keeps us and establishes us in the truth,
where we preach that word, continue to do what we only know to do. All we can do is continue to
preach and The Lord, because it's through the preaching of
the word, 2 Corinthians 10.5 says that we cast down imaginations
and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge
of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience
of Christ. When we get to speaking in the
flesh, it causes uncertainty, It causes fickleness in us and
in others and doubts and worries and fears and things that we
can't control and have no control over. But the Lord is able. We're so subject to change so
easily and we see that. The best antidote for it, the
best antidote for falsehood, lies, against things that weaken
our hands and weaken our knees, is to preach the gospel. As Paul
says in verse 15, speaking the truth in love may grow up into
him in all things, which is the head, even in Christ. Brethren, keep your hand on the
plow. continue in the work which the
Lord has put you in and brought you to, praying that the Lord's
word be established here, first in our hearts, and then in the
community and the city, because we believe that the Lord has
a people here. And so we preach this word, we
preach the gospel of truth preaching Christ, who is the word of truth,
in love, knowing that the Lord is the one who makes us effectual
in our hearts, and we grow in him, and by this, through the
preaching of the word, the body's edified and grown in Christ,
look at verse 16, from whom the whole body fitly joined together,
and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to
the effectual working and the measure of every part, or every
member, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself
in love. That's what we're called to do.
The Lord has blessed us to have his gospel, to have his word
of promise to us in Christ. Our Savior descended, accomplishing
our redemption, and he's ascended to work this salvation in us
and to keep us and to bless us and grow us and edify his body
in love. So I pray the Lord bless your
hearts and strengthen you with his word. and that we rejoice
in Him. Let's close in prayer. Our gracious
Lord, we thank you, Father, for your grace and power. Lord, there's nothing in us,
nothing of us, but it's all of you. And Lord, we look to you. Thankful for what you've done,
giving thanks in all things, knowing that this is the will
of God for us. And Lord, that you would be pleased
to continue to bless us with your word and to see your hand
and your work accomplished here in this part of Missouri and
that there would be a place for your sheep. Lord, we trust you
and know that you're able because it's all according to your will
and work. And Lord, we just ask that you
would bless your people here and that you would gather your
sheep together It's in Christ's name we pray and give thanks,
amen.