I'm not broken, my feet is broken. I found some scotch tape, that's
not gonna work, it's okay. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. All right, brethren. Morning. Let's begin in our text, which
is Ephesians chapter 3, verses 1 through 8. Now, our Lord reveals to his
children, to his people, that the Lord Jesus Christ, he is
the sole giver of life. The children of God that have
life are given that life by the Lord Jesus Christ himself. He said over in John 5.26 that
as the father, hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to
have life in himself. And so Christ is the one who
gives life to his people. But our Lord does give pastors
and teachers and preachers to declare this truth, to declare
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to the people to proclaim
the glories of our Lord, to lift up our Lord, to proclaim Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. Because the Lord teaches us that
when we exalt the Lord, when we exalt Him and lift Him up
before the eyes of the people, that men shall be brought to
that hour, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of
God, and they that hear shall live. they're gonna live, they're
gonna hear because Christ, the life giver, speaks his voice
into their hearts, causing them to hear his voice, his word,
and makes them alive. Now, Paul in this epistle, he's
been declaring the accomplishments of the Lord Jesus Christ in the
salvation of his people. And he now brings out one more
glorious truth in our text that we Gentiles who are blessed in
the same way, or what he's declaring is that we Gentiles are blessed
in the same way as the Jews. We are now blessed with the accomplished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ in our hearts. In the same way
that God is saving the Jews, that's exactly how he's saving
the Gentiles. And What that means is, we don't
need to go under the yoke of the law. The Gentiles do not
need to be brought under the yoke of the law as the Jews had
been. Instead, we that hear Christ
are brought immediately into the presence of our God by His
grace and mercy poured out upon us in the Lord Jesus Christ. We receive this through faith. through the faith which he gives
to his children. So what Paul did by the grace
and power of our God, what Paul did was he made sure to preach
salvation by the Lord Jesus Christ alone. He preached faith in Christ. He preached what Christ accomplishes
for his people. And doing so, he actually spoke
against the law when he was exalting Christ. and righteousness by
Christ alone, he was speaking against the law, because he was
ensuring that the Gentiles and those that were hearing him had
nothing to do with the bondage of the law, that they understood
and understood very well that God says, by the Lord Jesus Christ,
it's all of grace. It's all of grace, all right?
So he was doing that to make sure that they were not led astray
and brought into bondage. Because the law does not give
life. The law does not give life. The law declares that all men
are sinners. And Christ and Christ alone gives
life to his people. Christ is the sole life giver. Now, because Paul was given this
ministry and because he was faithful to declare Christ and in doing
so preached against the law, he was hated and persecuted by
the Jews. They hated him and they persecuted
him. And so He was given much trouble
by them that despised this gospel, despised this word and this ministry
that the Lord gave to Paul for his people. So I've titled this
message, A Prisoner for Preaching Christ Only. A Prisoner for Preaching
Christ Only. Now I have just two divisions
and the first one is brief. We'll see what Christ accomplishes
by His Spirit in His people. The Spirit testifies to you and
me that this is salvation, that it's in Christ and this is exactly
what He's done for me. And then we'll look at the further
blessings that our Lord would have us to understand. to know
that we're all saved under the same grace in the same way as
he accomplishes in the Jews in these early Gentiles. Paul had just concluded what
Christ accomplishes by himself in working salvation. We don't
get ourselves saved. It's not things that we do that
God looks at and says, all right, they're good enough. I'll bless
them with salvation. We don't. We can't save ourselves. Christ alone is the one who accomplishes
that gift, that work of salvation in us. He makes us recipients
of his grace. He makes us to hear his voice
and to receive that grace by his power working in us. Now here's a taste of those accomplishments. And as we look at them, we'll
go through them briefly. They're from Ephesians chapter
two. Take note, does the spirit testify in your own heart that
Christ has given this to you? Has he revealed this in you? Has he accomplished this salvation
in your heart? We find back in the beginning
of Ephesians chapter 2 verse 1 that we are quickened, meaning
we are given life. We are raised from the dead,
the deadness of our trespasses and sins, whereby we had no life
with God. It's Christ that gave us this
life. It's Christ that delivered us
from the bondage of sin. Our Lord by His Spirit reveals
His love toward us in this work. By delivering us from death and
giving us life in Him He's revealing to us His great love and mercy
toward us. He raises us up to behold our
Lord seated on the throne in heavenly places so that we know
He's ruling and reigning over all things. He's implementing
the will of God in the earth. He's implementing the will of
God in our hearts. And we know that any trouble,
whatever suffering, whatever it is that we're going through,
our Lord is in perfect control. Nothing's out of His control
and all things are working exactly as He purposes to work it. He also gives us to experience
the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness. to see the kindness
of our God toward us through Christ Jesus. And this being
received in us is done so by his grace through faith, which
is the gift of God. And we come to know and understand
that the workmanship, these fruits of righteousness, which are born
in us, which are worked in us, that that which is manifest in
our walk, is the workmanship of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
not the workmanship of my labors in religion and trying to be
as good as I can in my religion. The graces, the fruits that are
brought forth in me are a manifest work of the Lord Jesus Christ,
doing that work in me by his grace. So these are the spiritual
blessings of salvation which are worked in all the saints
of God. All God's children are saved
one way, in this way, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the way, the
truth, and the life, and no man cometh unto the Father but by
Him. He's the giver of life, okay?
Now, We're going to move on and see this further blessings that
our Lord has us to understand, what he gives us to understand.
Look there at Ephesians 3, verse 1. Ephesians 3, 1. For this cause,
alright, Paul had been Declaring how that our Lord has brought
in the Gentiles into this salvation that he's made them one in his
body with the Jews and He says I Paul the prisoner of Jesus
Christ for you Gentiles The Lord is saying he would have us take
note that for the ministry that God gave to him for the people
for his labors He was made a prisoner of Jesus Christ. By declaring
these truths, by exalting Christ, he was made a prisoner of Jesus
Christ. That is, Paul is right now, as
he's writing this letter to them, sitting in a prison house in
Rome, and that's where he wrote this epistle to send to the Ephesians. Now why is Paul in prison? Because he was teaching the Gentiles.
He's in prison for teaching the Gentiles, for declaring to them
the good news of Jesus Christ. for declaring to them the glories
and the mercies of God, making known to them what God had given
them freely by His grace through the Lord Jesus Christ." So he's
guilty of preaching the free grace of God in his son, Jesus
Christ. That's what he's guilty of doing,
and that's why he's now in prison. And what we understand is that
in the process of declaring that good news, he was tearing down
the false ideas, the false refuges of religion. He was tearing them
down by exalting Christ and declaring, that's our righteousness, look
to him, trust him, believe him. All the other false vain refuges
that man runs to in religion and tries to find comfort, they
were all being brought down in the preaching of the Lord Jesus
Christ by Paul. He was speaking against circumcision. He was speaking against circumcision
and the Jews and all their religion boasted in their circumcision. It's what set them apart from
all other nations. They trusted in their circumcision. It was their righteousness, their
self-righteousness. They gloried in their cutting
of the flesh. They gloried in what they did
in their flesh. Paul, by preaching Christ, was
disregarding the ceremonies of the law. He gave them no weight. He didn't allow the ceremonies
of the law to have any impact on our life in the Lord. He made
sure not to lay that yoke of the law on the shoulders, on
the necks of the Gentiles. He was preaching against it.
He was tearing down man's religion. He declared that Christ is the
end of the law for righteousness. meaning we do not look to the
law, we don't gain from the law any righteousness with God. It's in the Lord Jesus Christ
alone. He is the righteousness of all
his people. He's the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believe it. Because that's what God does
for his people. He reveals faith in them. And that angered the
Jews. And it caused them to move against Paul in violence. To
take him by force and throw him in prison. To kill him. To destroy
him. Because he was tearing down their
religion. Alright, Ephesians 3. 2-4 If
ye have heard of the dispensation, the administration of the grace
of God which is given me to you Gentiles, 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. God specially chose out Paul. God separated Paul to be a witness
unto all men, to make known unto all men what God revealed to
him as an apostle and sent him, appointing him to go and preach. All right, that's what Paul was
sent to do. Now, back then, especially back
then, people who heard Paul People who were involved or sat under
some part of the ministry that Paul had, they wrestled. They wrestled with whether Paul
was a true apostle or not. We don't have, there's not many
who doubt whether Paul is an apostle, whether Paul has the
authority to say the things that he says in his epistles. But back then, they wrestled
against it. There were people that doubted whether Paul was
an apostle. Of those doubters, there was
Judaizers. There was Judaizers, ones who
were Jews and confessed Christ, believing that he is the Messiah
that God promised in his word. But they also looked to the law. They thought it was the law plus
Christ that was their righteousness. They thought Christ just gave
a little more understanding and a little more light on the law,
but that they were supposed to keep the law for their righteousness. Christ was not all their righteousness. When Paul exalted Christ and
him only, it was tearing down the false refuge that those Judaizers
were trusting in, and many hated him for it. Then there were also
Gentile Christians, believers that were Gentiles, but they
became infected by the leaven of the doubters from the Judaizers.
They heard what the Judaizers were saying and thought, you
know, there's a little bit of truth, sounds like, to what you're
saying. And so they became infected with
that leaven, and it got harder and harder and more difficult
for them to hear the gospel of Christ, till their head was so
full with leaven that they could not hear what Paul preached. They could not hear the gospel
that Paul preached. But you know who doesn't have
a problem with whether or not Paul is an apostle and whether
or not what he's declaring, that this witness that we have in
this word is true of the Lord or not? Either then or now, you
know who doesn't have a problem with that? Those to whom the
Spirit testifies the truth of Christ to us, that he is our
life giver, that we have no hope of righteousness apart from him. He only is our salvation. And he's what he declares in
his word is accomplished in his people. That's exactly what he's
accomplished to us in us. That's exactly what he gives
to us and testifies to us because that's what he's worked in our
hearts. That's what he's worked in our hearts. So the spirit
testifying to us that yes, I was dead. in trespasses and sins. Yes, I was a religious person
and I did religious things and thought they were good and that
God was pleased with me, but now I see that's all hogwash. It's worthless. God wasn't pleased
with me for that. If God's pleased with me, it's
in Christ. It's in the Lord Jesus Christ
alone. He gave that to me. He's the
one that revealed that to me. And that, he reveals that, holy
God loves me. How do I know that? He sent his
own darling son. to take upon him flesh what I
am and he came and fulfilled all the law of God perfectly
for me. He bore the suffering, the shame,
the beating of his own creation against himself and endured it
gladly for you that now believe, for you whom he's revealed faith
in, to know I didn't save myself, he did. I have no hope of standing
before God excepted by him, except that Christ came and gave his
life for mine, that my Lord, my God, my creator, that he came
and laid down himself, humbled himself, under the mighty hand
of God to make a sacrifice of himself that my sins would be
atoned, would be put away by his work. That's love that God
did for us. That's love, what he did in his
son. And we see now the Lord ruling
and reigning, and we are blessed with understanding as he gives
it. As he moves me, impresses me
to cry out to him, Lord, help me. sinking down under the weight
of my fears, my worries, my own sin. Lord have mercy upon me."
But he gives us to know, don't you fear, the Lord is ruling
and reigning over all things. He's not going to let you be
swallowed up by your fears and worries and doubts. He's greater
than all these things. He is God. And we are given to
know that these, what you see, that faith and hope and love
which He reveals in me and works in me, it's all His work. It's His grace. It's what He
has done in me. I have nothing, nothing to glory
in. And so we praise and glorify
Him. We're not boasting of ourselves.
We praise and glorify our Savior. And we glory in Him because we
know that the natural man does not glory in Christ. The natural
man is still running to and looking to some shelter, some comfort,
in religious things and good works and thinking that this
is what God wants of me so that they can continue doing the filthy
rag works religion that they always do and all the other things
that they're fleshless for with some feeling that God is at peace
with them. That's what man's trying to do.
So Paul now says regarding what he's testifying to that as Christ's
apostle, he's coming to the Gentiles. He says in verse five that in
other ages, it was not made known unto the sons of men as it's
now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the spirit. There were men in the old in
the Old Testament, under the old dispensation there, under
the law, that declared and spoke of the Messiah. God's people,
his true saints, did look to the Lord Jesus Christ. They were
expecting that when he came, he and he alone would be the
one to save Israel. The true saints in the Old Testament
looked to the Messiah. We have examples of that at Christ's
birth. There was Anna the prophetess
who dwelled in the temple, and she spake glorious things to
all those who looked for salvation in Israel. All those who were
children of God, they're the Jews, that were looking for God's
salvation, she spoke, she looked for that salvation. That's what
she declared and believed. and Christ had just been born.
God the Spirit revealed that in her heart because that's how
all of God's saints are saved. None under the old dispensation
were saved by the law. They too were saved looking to
the Messiah, even Simeon. did the same thing he was looking
for the salvation of God for his people the coming Messiah
and so all Old Testament Saints are saved the same way we are
looking to Christ believing him believing him all right now Paul
says it is more fully understood by us now through the revelation
of Christ to his people. He reveals it by his person. It's his voice that we are made
to hear. It's given to us by the Spirit,
regenerating us, giving us life, making us born again. Turn over
to Luke 24, and we'll see this. Luke 24, and go to verse 44. Luke 24, verse 44, And Christ said unto them, he's
speaking to his disciples after his resurrection, before he's
taken up before them into heaven. He said unto them, these are
the words which I spake unto you. See that the Lord is the
one who speaks to his people. I spake these unto you while
I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which
were written in the law of Moses and in the prophets and in the
Psalms concerning me. Now having said that and spoke
to them all these things when he was with them on the earth,
it says in verse 45, then opened he their understanding that they
might understand the scriptures. He did it for them, he does it
for us. It must be done for us today. We must also be given understanding
of the scriptures to know him. And Christ said unto them, Thus
it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer and to rise
from the dead the third day. Your Lord is saying to those
disciples with open understanding, He is revealing to them that
He is the salvation of His people, making known to them, this is
what you are to say to the people, so that they understand salvation
is not in our religious ceremonies. The people were trusting in their
religion as Jews, and he's saying that's not where salvation is. No one's going to find salvation
under that refuge. It's a vain, false refuge. Salvation is not in the works
of man. Rather, salvation is in the Lord
Jesus Christ only. Only. Look to Him who suffered. Look to Him who bore the shame
for you, His people. Look to Him who alone has the
authority to give life. You and me do not have authority
to give ourselves life. We don't have that ability. Our
Lord and He only gives life to whom He will. We preach Him,
trusting that in the hour of His choosing, you will hear His
voice, and you that hear shall live. You shall live. And then he says in verse 47
that repentance, preach this repentance, turn the people from
their dead works that they've been trusting in, turn them from
that, and declare remission or forgiveness of sins. This is
what's to be preached in Christ's name, in the name of Christ alone,
among all nations beginning at Jerusalem This is what you are
witnesses of. I'm making you witnesses of these
things. Stop preaching dead letter religion
of man. Stop preaching just to do these
things in religion and God will be pleased with you. Preach Christ. Preach the Lord Jesus Christ
and him alone because he is the one who opens our understanding
and gives us life. He's the life giver. It's his
gift to give. Now the spirit reveals in his
people who hear Christ, he gives them a living spiritual life
in the Lord Jesus Christ. He gives us hope in him. We stop hoping in those dead
works. We're delivered from that and
made to look to the Lord Jesus Christ. All other religious things
that man naturally looks to and thinks are good, they become
worthless to the child of God in whom Christ is revealed, in
whom Christ gives life. Things like good works. I think
I just need to do some good works and God will smile upon me and
he'll warm me with his smile if I just start doing more good
things. Some people think it's in attending
church regularly. I've been having a rough go of
things. Maybe I should start attending church a little more
regularly. Maybe I should open up my Bible each day or night.
Maybe I need to start praying more regularly and God will hear
me and be good to me. They're trusting in religious
works. That's not what Christ revealed to his saints, to the
apostles, and to us. He reveals life is in him only.
in him only. What about a religious experience?
People teach that you need a powerful religious experience first, and
after that, then continue in religious exercises. That's what
God wants for you. That's your life. No, it isn't.
No, it isn't. The revelation of Christ is our
life. When Christ is made precious
to you, that when Christ is made known to you that he alone is
your life and acceptance with God, that's all the religious
experience you need. That's all that the Spirit reveals.
He reveals Christ to you. Some people hear that we are
to make disciples. We're to make disciples of men,
and they get excited about that. Oh, wow, it's so exciting. I'm
learning how to be a disciple of Christ. And then they get
busy and active in the community and think, that's what God wants
from me. No, it's not. He wants Christ
in his people. He wants truth in the inward
part. He reveals salvation in us by
his spirit in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the vain, filthy
works of man, which he calls his righteousness, his religion,
his hope, it takes on many forms, but it's all made dumb unto the
child of God." It's made dumb. to the child of God. When you
have Christ, everything else becomes worthless, vain, dead
religion. So believers, they are stripped
of these things by the Holy Spirit. All that confidence that we had
in our religion is removed from us by the Holy Spirit and through
the preaching and teaching of His Word. We are comforted, aided,
edified, taught, blessed by his spirit in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul made sure that his Gentile
hearers understood this, that this is what God does for his
children. Philippians 3.3, he said, we
are the circumcision. God, his spirit is the one who
circumcises us in the heart, making us to worship God in the
spirit and to rejoice, not in the joys that come with doing
a good religious work. That's not what we rejoice in. Some people think, I was kind
to somebody today. And they get excited that God
is pleased with that. That's worthless. That's not
salvation. Should you be kind? Absolutely. But that isn't our joy. Our joy
is looking, is given to us in Christ himself. And just as he
says, we rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the
flesh. The spirit who reveals life in
you by the Lord Jesus Christ strips us of vain religion. That happens at the beginning
and it continues to happen as we go through this life and pick
up things and pick up ideas and foolishness and pick up idols. Even knowing the Lord, the spirit
of God will reveal it to you and remove it from your hand. He'll remove it. He'll keep you
looking to Christ. He, once He is your life, He's
always your life. You don't go back. You don't
go back. He delivers us from going back.
We in the flesh may try, but our God is faithful to keep us
looking to him. Now, one particular truth that
was not well understood by men was the bringing in of the Gentiles
to make them one in the same body of salvation with the Jews. Ephesians 3.6. that the Gentiles
should be fellow heirs and of the same body and partakers of
his promise in Christ by the gospel. So that when Paul preached
the gospel and any of us preaching the gospel, we don't lead people
through the law. We don't show them Christ and
they say, that sounds wonderful. I need that salvation. Hold up. Hold up. Here's this yoke of
the law first. Let's practice some religion
first to make sure that you really understand how painful it is
without Christ. We don't do that. We just preach
Christ and they that have faith revealed in their hearts looking
to him We welcome them and we rejoice in our God for giving
them that same salvation of life. The Jews under the Old Testament,
they labored under the law, but it was till Christ came. They
labored under the law until Christ came. We are told that the scripture
concluded all under sin. We don't need to bring the Gentiles
under the law because it's already a conclusion. All, every man
is a sinner and cannot please God by his own righteousness.
The Jews couldn't keep the law, the Gentiles aren't going to
do any better. There's no point in trying to
test them out under the law. All are sinners. But before faith
came, he says, we, we Jews, were kept under the law and shut up
unto the faith. We were blinded to what God was
revealing by his holy prophets, but now is making home to his
apostles and prophets by his spirit. We were blinded to it,
which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster. Us Jews, it was our schoolmaster
to bring us unto, or until Christ. The law was given until Christ. Until Christ came that we might
be justified by faith. So now that Christ has come,
what do we need the law for? We're justified by faith. For
the just shall live by his faith that God has given. That's how
we live. So no one, no Jew or Gentile,
is under the law at all. under the law at all, ever. If
they're Christ, they're not under the law. For after that faith
has come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster, for ye are all
the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. That's true
of believing Jews, and it's true of believing Gentiles. Both are
in the same body. Both are delivered by God's grace. So that's what Paul was sent
to preach, to make excruciatingly clear, perfectly clear, excruciating
to the Judaizers, but beautiful and clear to us Gentiles. That's
exactly what he was sent to do. And we're thankful for it. Our
Lord said in Acts 9.15 that Paul is a chosen vessel unto me to
bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of
Israel. And so your Lord, he sends his
ministers into the field that he has put them to bear Christ's
name before the people there. That's exactly what our Lord
does. He sends his ministers into the
field to bear witness of Christ. Ephesians 3, 7, whereof he says,
I was made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God
given unto me by the effectual working of his power. Your God is the giver of gifts
unto men, even as he is the giver of life. Only God can do it. Only God gives life, only Christ
gives life, and only he gives gifts to whom he will. And so your Lord gives gifts
and graces to the pastors that he sends to his flock to minister
this gospel in local assemblies. And they'll be given grace for
that labor. They will be given grace for
that labor. 3A, unto me who am less than
the least of all saints is this grace given. It's given in grace
that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches
of Christ. If a man be sent of God, he's
going to preach Christ. He's going to exalt Christ before
the people because that's our salvation. That's our hope. He
alone is the life giver. And so to Christ we say, be all
the glory. We praise him, amen. I pray the
Lord bless that word to your hearts forever. Let's close in
prayer. Our gracious Lord, we thank you,
Father, for your mercy, for your power, your glory revealed in
your son. Lord, you alone are the life
giver. Reveal Yourself in the hearts
of Your people. Manifest Your life in us. Lord, we see that all other works
of men, all other religious works of men, are vain, dead, worthless
things. Christ alone is life, and He
is made precious to us. Thank you for revealing him in
us and these gifts and fruits which are given by your spirit
through the life of your son Jesus Christ. Lord, make these
things known to us. Give us these things to believe.
It's in Christ's name we pray and give thanks. Amen.