Ephesians chapter 3. I took the title of this message
from verse 10, to the intent that now unto the principalities
and powers and heavenly places might be known by the church
the manifold wisdom of God. The title of the message is The
Manifold Wisdom of God Almighty. Now Paul says here in verse 1,
for this cause, for this cause of what? What's he talking about?
Well, I just read to you in chapter 2, this bringing in the Gentiles,
this making them a part of the building in which God is going
to dwell forever. God is going to dwell in His
people forever. And Paul says, for this cause, I am the prisoner of Jesus Christ
for you Gentiles. God chose Paul not only to be
His child, but to be our apostle. He's our apostle. And he did
this so that we would hear the gospel, understand the gospel,
and be brought into the fold and be a part of that building. Although Paul was in prison for
preaching the gospel, this is one of his prison epistles, he
doesn't say he's a prisoner of Rome, but he's a prisoner of
Jesus Christ, and it's for this cause, it's for me and you. It's
for me and you. Here we are, 2021, and we are
reading the same thing, the same message that Paul wrote over
2,000 years ago. We're reading the same message,
because He's still our Apostle. We still read Him in His message. Now, if you've heard of the dispensation
or the stewardship of the grace of God. Paul says, God has entrusted
me with the gospel to give to you for your benefit, for your
salvation. God has entrusted me with the
gospel. If you've heard of the stewardship of the grace of God
which is given to me for you, for your benefit. And he didn't
complain about it. Paul was a willing prisoner.
And he was a willing prisoner of Jesus Christ for us. Glad to do it. Glad to do it. You know, I mean, I didn't, and
I'll never suffer what Paul suffered, but I'll tell you this, I was
glad to come down here. I was glad to sell my house and
leave where I was at and the family and come down here. Why? Because I believe this is God's
will. I believe it's God's will and I'm down here for you. That's
why I'm here. Hopefully, and I do pray that
I'm down here for your benefit, that you would grow and I would
grow together in grace and in knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm down here for you, your benefit. And it's a benefit to me too. All these things that Paul gave
up, he suffered the loss of all things, all these things that
he endured, he endured for the elect's sake. And that means
all of them. All of them. All of them since
God called him, he endured it for our sakes. And these things that I write,
that I have written, in other words, these things that I have
written unto you, I have written unto you, and I have received
them, listen, by revelation. God has given me an understanding
of the gospel. You know, Peter said that Paul
wrote of things that was hard to understand. But it wasn't
hard for Paul to understand. God gave him a revelation. He
was taught by Jesus Christ Himself. And He was given these things
for us. He was given these things for
us. That's why he says here in verse 3, how that by revelation
he made known unto me the mystery, as I wrote, of four and few words. In other words, as I wrote earlier
of in this epistle. What did he write of earlier?
Of our election. God has chosen you in Christ
before the foundation of the world. He has blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in Christ before the foundation of the
world. He says that He has given us all these spiritual blessings.
He tells us about God choosing us and making us sons of adoption.
He's adopted us as His sons. He's forgiven us of our sins
through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are sealed by
the Holy Spirit. God made these things known to
Him and He's given them to us. And you and I know these things.
We know what Paul knows because he's revealed them to us. I can't tell you how many times
over the years that I said it to Henry and I've had it said
to me when people were leaving after preaching, I never saw
that before. Well, that's why God sent me.
That's why I sit in that study. There are things I haven't seen
before, but then I see them, and I bring them out here, and
I give them to you." And this is what Paul... Paul is a prisoner
of Jesus Christ. God revealed the gospel to him. He revealed these truths, and
he in turn revealed them to us. He made them known to us. And
God uses preaching. Preaching is never obsolete.
Some years ago, someone told Henry that preaching had become
obsolete. No, it hasn't. No, it hasn't. You know, we didn't come here
to share the gospel together. I came here to preach to you
the gospel. God honors preaching. He saves
through the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. And
he says here, listen, in verse 4, "...whereby when you read,
you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ." Do
you understand what Paul is talking about as we go through this? There
are some of you in here, you know exactly what Paul's talking
about. You know it, you understand it.
As I go through this, you see it, and that's because God's
made it known to you. He's revealed it to you, that
you may understand my knowledge in the mystery. The secret things
of God have been revealed and made known, which in other ages
was not made known to the sons of men. They were not made known
to the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto His holy apostles
and prophets by His Spirit." I'm glad I was not born in 3050. I'm glad I was born in 1955. Because before Christ died... Now listen, we'll see this, and
I read it to you here in chapter 2. The Gentile world was left
in darkness. For the most part, that's what
Paul says in chapter 2. Listen here, in verse 12, that
at that time you were without Christ. You didn't know anything
about Jesus Christ. You had nothing that even represented
Him, as far as types and pictures. You were aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel. You were strangers from the covenant
of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. That
explains the Gentile world before the cross. Before Christ was
crucified, it was pretty well centered on this little country
called Israel. They had all the types and the
pictures. The rest of the world was in darkness. It was in darkness. I'm glad I wasn't born back in
those days. I thank God I was born the day
I was born. And one day I heard the gospel of Christ and Him
crucified. which in other ages was not made
known to the sons of men, as it's now revealed to his apostles
and holy prophets." For about 4,000 years, God left the Gentile
world alone. Remember, you go over and read
Romans 1. Go over and read Romans 1. When they knew God, they glorified
Him not what? As God. You know what it says?
And what does it say after that? A few scriptures down. He turned
them over to a reprobate mind. And that's what, in a Gentile
world, went out and they just worshipped other gods, the moon,
the sun, the stars, and they just, it was given to all kind
of perversion. They were turned over to reprobate
mind, but that little, little nation called Israel, God kept
them. God chose them. He kept them
as his people. And he says, and this is what
Paul's pointing out here. He's pointing this out. But now,
God had purposed in Christ to save a multitude of sinners out
of every nation, tribe, and tongue under heaven. He's going to gather out of this
world all sorts of sinners from every part of it. Israel didn't
see that for the most part. Now those who believed, Abraham,
David, they saw that. David spoke of it in the Psalms.
God spoke to Abraham about through his seed all nations would be
blessed. But Israel as a whole, they didn't see that. They thought
it was just them. They thought it was just exclusively
that little nation. That we were excluded. We would
never be included in God's kingdom. And Paul is making it evident
here to the Ephesians and to us, we are included in the God's
kingdom through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He says here in verse 6, that
the Gentiles, here it is, well let me go back to verse 5, which
in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is
now revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, that
the Gentiles, us, He's speaking of us, should be fellow heirs,
and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the
gospel. This was a mystery that had been
hid They didn't see it. But this mystery has been cleared
up. God has included us, sinners from among the Gentiles, as well
as the Jews. That's what He's saying. That
we should be fellow heirs along with them. God included
us. He included us. The promise of
life, the promise of complete salvation belongs to us as well
as them who believe. Who believe. Through that eternal
covenant and purpose of God. God purposed this before creation. And this has been a mystery to
the world. It was a secret. They couldn't
comprehend it. But you do. You do. You see it. He says, "...wherefore I was
made a minister." Because of this, I was made a minister.
That's why God called me. He called me as His Son to save
me, but He made me a minister. We all have a ministry, so to
speak. We all have gifts and talents
that God gives and God uses for the body of Christ. And Paul
was made an apostle. It's just like I'm made a preacher
and a pastor here. I was made a minister according
to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effectual
working of His power." God calls and God equips and
God makes His ministers. And it's a supernatural work
of God. God's not using my natural talent. A.D. Mews said one time, he said,
God has to kill your natural talent in order to use you. How many times have you heard
somebody say, and I've heard this, somebody can speak well,
you know, they handle themselves well, boy, he'd make a good preacher.
You know, it's just like when Samuel went down to anoint the
king, which was King David, the first one he looked at was that
tall, dark, handsome man. He said, ooh, this is it. This
is it. He's the man, surely God's going
to make a preacher out of him. And he went through all the sons
of Jesse. No, no, no, no. Well, there's got to be one.
God sent me here. Well, there's one out there keeping the sheep.
What a picture. Out there keeping the sheep.
That's my man. That's my man. God usually calls
and sends people you don't think that He would call and send. And he says here, and he shows
his humility here in verse 8, "...unto me." He said, I was
made a minister of the grace of God. My preaching, listen,
my preaching is the effectual work of God. It's not me. It's
not my skills and my oratory or my educational level. That has nothing to do with it.
It's a supernatural work of God. And unto me, who am less than
the least of all the saints, is this grace given?" Paul felt that he was less than
the least of the saints because he persecuted the church and
wasted it. And I think he felt the most ignorant because he
studied these things daily and he missed it. He said, how could
I have been so ignorant? You feel the most stupid when
you're supposed to be the teacher and you missed the whole lesson.
That was Paul. He said, I completely missed
the whole lesson. And his mission, his stewardship,
it was this, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable,
the unsearchable riches of Jesus Christ. How can you exhaust something
that's unsearchable? Huh? How can we ever get tired
of preaching Christ Jesus who cannot be exhausted? He's the
wisdom of God. If there's anything about God
you want to study, you have to study it in Jesus Christ. You
have to see it in Him. You have to. He's unsearchable. He's unsearchable. And this is a great responsibility
for me to do this and for Paul, and yet it's a great privilege.
I got to get up this morning. I was thinking about this. I
was going over this lesson last night before going to bed. And
I went to bed last night with such peace and such comfort. I know the responsibility I have,
but what a privilege that I have. I got to get up this morning
and come over here and brag on my Lord. I get to do this two
times a week. I get to brag. I get to stand
here and brag on Jesus Christ. Boast of Him. Glory in Him. Tell you about Him. Remind you
about Him. Get you to focus on Him. I thought,
my, my, my, how blessed, how blessed. I mean, I know what it's like
to get up in the morning and have to go to work in a place
where the last name you're going to hear is his unless it's taken
in vain. It's just a rat race. I mean, it's a literal rat race
out there. And then we get to come in here,
and we get to hear of the Lord Jesus Christ. For a little while, we get to
focus on Him. And these unsearchable riches
that we have in Christ, they are really ours. Now, it's like
the tip of the iceberg. All we see is a little surface.
I feel like I'm just surface preaching all the time. Because
the best is yet to come. I mean, what you and I are about
to experience and what we are about to see can't be put into
words. Paul went to the third heaven,
came back, he said, there's no words, there is no words in the
human language to articulate what I saw. He said, I can't
even put it into words. And that's what we're about to
experience in a little while, in a little while. And Paul says
here in verse 9, "...and to make all men see what is the fellowship
of the mystery." What this fellowship is, of the mystery which from
the beginning of the world had been hidden, God purposed this
all along. You know, you and I really, we
just kind of... We just kind of operate almost
by the seat of our pants, so to speak. We have to react and
act and change, don't we? We make plans and it goes all
to pieces. But that's not the way God is. God has purposed all things.
God is a God of knowledge and wisdom. The scripture says He knows the
end from the beginning. Because he purposed it from the
beginning. That's how he knows the end.
They've been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ. Paul says that it's his business
to preach the gospel, and that the Gentiles will be brought
into communion with God. And all these things that were
hidden in God are now made manifest, and you know them. You know them. To the intent, in verse 10. To
the intent, that is the aim, the goal, the purpose. Here's
the purpose. that the principalities and powers, the angels, the angels
that are in power like Michael and Gabriel, these angels that
empowers in heavenly places might be known by the church to manifold
wisdom of God. And here's what he's saying.
The angels themselves, listen, they were not privy to the counsel
of God. Michael, Gabriel were not seated
there in the counsel of God going over this. They actually are
learning this and they have learned this through the church. They've
learned this through us. They've learned this day by day,
year by year, century by century, millennium by millennium. They
are learning this. You know, Scripture speaks of
even the angels' desire to look into this, this mystery. Can you imagine when this man,
Jesus Christ, and they are told to worship Him, and then they
see Him being crucified, and they see Him being slain and
hated? He said, I could call twelve
legions of angels, and right now they would come at my beckoning. Don't you think they didn't want
to? But they had to wait, and they had to watch. You know, angels are not robots.
Know this, I've never thought about this till I was going over
this. They're not robots. They're spirits, like, you know,
we're body, soul, and spirit. They're intelligent, highly intelligent,
more intelligent than we are. Powerful, powerful. Don't you think that the angels
that were kept by God's power, He did not let them fall, they
kept their first estate, don't you think they can't see and
understand something of the fall of those angels that fell? And
the destruction they're going to receive? Can you not imagine
when they look at us, sinners who hate God? We hate Him, despise
Him. By nature we do, we hate Him,
despise Him, and yet God turns around and saves us and makes
us sons. Can you imagine? They're like, wow. Wow. They have to be. They have to
be just standing in awe of God's grace and mercy to a bunch of
God-hating rebels. And especially when they see
God become a man. And when they see the God-man,
God in human flesh, suffer at the hands of His own justice,
hang on a cross, be buried and rise again, they're like, they
didn't see this, they're watching it happen. That's what He's saying. They learn this as it goes. The manifold wisdom of God. Now,
let me say a few things about the manifold wisdom of God. Because
this is just astounding to me. It's astounding. The first thing
I want to point out is this. God only is wise. That's what
it says in 1 Timothy. God only is wise. He's the fountain
of all wisdom. James said, if any man lacks
wisdom, let him go to college. Man, a college on this earth
is going to give you wisdom. It ain't going to give you wisdom. James said, if any lack wisdom,
let him ask of God. God is perfectly wise. There's
no flaw in His wisdom. All His ways are said to be in
judgment. They're wise. God does not act
out of mere will as we do. His wisdom searches out the act
and all its effects and then guides His power in the performance
of that act. God's wisdom is the rule of all
His actions. God can no more do an unwise
act any more than He can do an unholy act. God never gets any
wiser, nor does time affect His wisdom. You know, as we get older,
our judgments sometimes become impaired. It becomes impaired. I finally taught my father into
putting my sister on his mom's checking account, because he
was starting to write out... You know, if he owed $1,700 on something,
he'd write out $1,700. He did that once, and I told
my sister, I said, you gotta, you gotta, you know, we gotta
force this one. I said, because he's gonna, him
and mom are gonna be taken for everything. And I can sit and
talk to him, and I can see that the judgment, and I've told,
I've told him this. I said, I said, trust my judgment. Just trust my judgment. I know
what I'm talking about. And I was like pulling teeth.
I still haven't got him to do a medical power of attorney.
I said, Dad, I promise you I won't unplug it. I'll give you two
minutes. I said, I'll give you two minutes. I did. He said, you're rotten. He laughed. I said, don't worry. We're not
going to hurry up and unplug it. I said, but you need to give
somebody the power of attorney, medical attorney. You need to
do that. Well, he still hasn't done it
yet. But God's wisdom, he never diminishes
in his wisdom. We can trust his wisdom. Trust
his wisdom. What's going on today? I don't
know. What's going on with you, me, out here, the world, this
nation? I don't know. But I can trust
God's wisdom. I can trust His wisdom in it.
That's where I have to come back to to keep from going nuts. Then
His judgments, listen, His judgments are unsearchable in His ways
past finding out what it says in the Scriptures. Canst thou
by searching find out God, Job said? No, God has to reveal Himself. You and I can't get on that level.
Whatever God does, He does sovereignly, and listen, He does wisely. He
does wisely. Although we may not see the act,
yet we cannot comprehend. Although we may see the act,
we can't comprehend the infinite wisdom behind the act. We can't
comprehend that. That's God level. That's God
level. Therefore, that being so, be
still and know that I'm God. You say, well, I don't understand.
Well, shut up and be still and know that God is God. Sometimes
it's not rude to just say, shut up. You know, Peter said, what
about John? They didn't want to know what
was going to happen to John. You know, the Lord told them what was going to happen to them.
He said, that's none of your business. It's just none of your
business. What I do with John is my business.
And what I do with you is my business. And you all just do
what I told you to do. And then God, listen, God is
infallibly wise. Man's wisdom fails, or it can
only go as far as man's experience. Can it? My wisdom can only go
as far as what I've experienced. God's wisdom is eternal, it's
infinite. It can't be measured. It can't
be measured. God's wisdom never fails. Known
unto God are all His works from the beginning. Known unto Him. He said, my counsel shall stand
and I'll do all my pleasure. His knowledge is perfect and
His wisdom to use that knowledge is perfect. You know, I've got
some knowledge, you've got some knowledge, but not very often
do we have the wisdom on how to use it. Well, God is infinite
in knowledge and He's infinite in wisdom in using that knowledge.
Trust Him. Trust Him. He's a fountain of
all wisdom to His creatures. Look at nature. Job said this,
does the hawk fly by thy wisdom? Who gave the hawk the wisdom
to fly? Go to the anthill, he says, O sluggard. She has no
king, she has no leader, but she gathers her food in the summer. Who gave her that wisdom? God
did. God did. Psalm 104, 24. O Lord, how manifold are thy
works! In wisdom hast thou made them
all. God laid the foundation of the
earth and it cannot be removed. He set the sun, the stars, the
moon in their place, and every one of them have their desired
effect on this earth. Every one of them, the ones you
can't even, and I can't even see, still have their desired
effect on this earth. They have effect on this one,
has an effect on this one, this one, this one, and it all comes
back around to this earth. It all does. God made the oceans
as big as they are to water the earth. Who could have figured
that out? The earth is two-thirds water,
isn't it? Isn't it two-thirds water? It
took that much water to water this earth and keep life on it.
That's the wisdom of God. And then he turns around and
makes a way for the watercourse for it to go back to the ocean,
go up in the vapors, turn into clouds, and a jet stream carries
it across the world, and like a showering system, it waters
the earth. And the earth brings forth, and
you and I eat. Most people eat, and they don't even give a thought
to God. And yet, the rain falls on the
just and the unjust. He wisely makes everything to
serve His eternal purpose. There's nothing in creation that
is unprofitable." Unprofitable. Nothing. Nothing. You say, I hate snakes. I hate
waspers, spiders. They're profitable. They're profitable. You know, I watched the Discovery
Channel and these animal programs, and they about decimated the
wolves at Yellowstone. Well, the herds there in Yellowstone,
the elk and all those other herds, they started becoming too many.
They introduced the wolf, and you know what they did? They
reset the balance. God knows how to keep what we
call nature, His creation, in check. It balances itself. Creation
literally balances itself by the wisdom of God. It does so
by the wisdom of God. And listen, the laws that God
gave to man, think about that. Think about the laws that God
gave. They are for the happiness of
man. Love your neighbor as yourself.
If you and I really did that, we would not need another law.
You wouldn't even need a traffic law. Because you wouldn't drive
a speed limit because you wouldn't want to ram into your neighbor.
You wouldn't want to run over him. Love overcomes all things. Love
thy neighbor as thyself. It's for our happiness. And then
we see God's wisdom in the government of men so that they destroy not
His work. He keeps them in check. If God
left men alone, they'd destroy this world, this earth. Scripture says, "...He makes
even the wrath of man to serve Him, and the rest He restrains." That's the wisdom of God. But
the manifold wisdom of God is seen in our redemption. It's
called the wisdom of God in a mystery over in 1 Corinthians 2.7. We
see the wisdom of God in election. If God hadn't chose us, none
of us would be saved. When you read the gospel, do
you ever hear of a demon that he's casting out to ask God to
save him? You ever hear of a demon saying, Lord, save me? When he
went to the pool of Bethesda, and he healed that lame man that
he couldn't get down to the pool because he didn't have anybody
to help him. Do you hear or read of any other
of those lame? It's full of lame people. It's
full of sick people. Not one of them said, Lord, save me too.
Not one of them asked to be healed. If he didn't heal us, if he didn't
save us, if he didn't choose us, we'd all go to hell. Willingly. We see His wisdom in whom He
chose, not many wise, not many noble, not many mighty, that
no flesh had glory in His presence. Of course, it would be wrong
for me to glory in His presence in myself because I've done nothing
but sin. That's the truth. And everyone
whom God chose, He chose wisely. Don't you think so? He didn't
just go, I'll take this one. I can't tell you why. He chose
whom He chose. I know this, everyone He chose
was a rotten, filthy, God-hating sinner. Every one of them. None
of them good. God never chose a good person.
Not one. Except Jesus Christ. He's the
only one. Then we see God's wisdom in the
person of Christ, who's made unto us wisdom. Who could satisfy
justice and at the same time magnify God's law and make it
honorable? Who can do that? Who can do this except God in
the flesh? I'm going to point some things
out here of God's wisdom in Christ that you and I need to see. We
have in Christ two natures that we need. One that's equal with
the Father and one that's bone of our bone and flesh of our
flesh. One that can satisfy and one that can suffer. One that
can work out a righteousness and also suffer the penalty of
God's broken law. One who delights in the law of
God and also kept it in my place as my substitute. One who can
offer up the atonement as our high priest and at the same time
be the atonement. That's the wisdom of God. One
who is able and appointed to offer the sacrifice and also
be the sacrifice. He offers the sacrifice and He
is the sacrifice. One who knows the mind of God
and also intercedes for us. He knows our needs. He can represent
both. One who has the power to forgive
sins and also the means to put it away. That's the wisdom of
God. One who can present me faultless
before His throne and also identify with me in my infirmities. The wisdom of God. We see the
wisdom of God at the cross. God displays His hatred of sin
without destroying the sinner. Isn't that amazing? Condemns sin in the flesh while
at the same time saving the sinner that He condemned in the flesh.
He displays His hatred of sin while at the same time His love
toward the sinner. That's amazing. While we were
yet sinners, Christ died for us. While we were yet without
strength, while we were sinners, Christ died for us. We see God's
wisdom in the way He destroyed Satan. This is interesting. The
seed of the woman that He deceived will be His own destruction. It will be His own destruction.
The same nature that fell will be the same nature that gives
Him His death blow. Listen, the death that He introduced
will be used against Him and turn to be God's glory. God in His wisdom allowing the
act of one man's disobedience to make many sinners, so by the
act of another man He makes many righteous. Who would have thought
of that? God. God Almighty. Satan thought he wiped us out,
but God in infinite wisdom reconciled us in one person to Himself.
Now look how many there are. Listen here. By God's wisdom,
by one man came death, by one man came the resurrection of
the dead. A fiery serpent bites us, a brazen serpent saves us.
Through death, He destroyed him that had the power of death.
That's the only the wisdom of God can do that. Satan ruined his own kingdom.
Now listen here. He ruined his own kingdom by
the very means he thought to run God's kingdom. He ruined
his own. And I'm going to close here with
a couple of statements. I want you to notice the wisdom of God
here. He takes the seed of the woman, born to a poor virgin,
despised and rejected of men, suffered a horrible death, and
by this he tears down the gates of hell, destroys the kingdom
of Satan, and becomes the author of life." That's the wisdom of God. In verse 11, in all this, listen,
All this is according to His eternal purpose, which He purposed
in Christ Jesus our Lord. He's not flying by the seat of
His pants. This is according to the eternal purpose of God. All that's happening. You say,
I don't understand. It don't matter if you understand.
What matters is this, that you understand who He is. Who He
is. All this is according to His
eternal purpose in Christ. All this was purposed by God,
executed by His divine power and will, and guided by His wisdom. Now, verse 12, "...in whom we
have boldness and access, with confidence by faith of Him."
We have boldness and access now to the very presence of God.
Yes, even you Gentiles. I tell you what, I've gone over
that several times. I've read this and read this
and read this. And it has just been so uplifting to me because
once again, it takes my mind off of these things and it makes
me lift my mind upon God who is all wise. And I say, Lord,
I trust your wisdom. Just like I said to my dad, trust
my judgments. Just trust my judgment. If there's
anyone on this earth that won't do you wrong by the grace of
God, it'll be me and my brothers and sisters. I said, they're
going to do everything for your all's good. Trust God's wisdom. Trust it.
All right.