Ephesians chapter 4. As Brother Bob just read there
in John 14, he said, Christ is going somewhere. We don't know
where He's going. They didn't know the way, did
they? They do know the way. They didn't know where He's going.
Where was Christ going? He was ascending on high. Where He came
from. That's where He was going. What's
the way to get there? in Him. That's it. Could you imagine if the way
to heaven was all you have to do is ascend. You just kick your
shoes off, put your arms out right, get your mind right and
just levitate to a place not seen. That's all you have to
do. That's impossible with me in it. I said I'm the way, where He's
going. That's where we shall be He's
prepared a place for us, and He's prepared the way. He's prepared
Himself. I hope we can see that some this
morning. The Bible message is descending and ascending. There's
a man that I watch sometimes he teaches a class and he is
a master at teaching that class. He knows the subject matter.
His delivery is just fabulous. All his jokes, he's done this
for 30 years, all his jokes are well timed and are just as funny
every time you hear them, same ones. But he's got it down pat.
And all throughout that instruction, he's telling you what to do.
He keeps putting you back to them foundations. This is how
you apply this foundation principle to that. This is how you apply
that foundation principle to that. That's mastery. That's
good. You learn stuff you don't even
know. But you understand the why and the how of that function.
Whatever it is, whatever you're teaching. Paul here wrote this
letter to the church at Ephesus. He was the hand that held the
pen. That's it. God the Holy Spirit
went into that man and moved his hand to write these words
to the church of Ephesus and to us today. To us. God the Holy Spirit does the
same thing. Do you know that? Teaching us stuff. Giving us
admonitions, giving us exhortations. And the whole time pointing us
right back to that foundation. Right back to understanding the
how and why behind it. We're reminded of Christ once
more in this chapter. We're about to see these gifts,
the offices of some saints that the Lord gives. And right before
we go to that, He reminds us again of Christ. That's the same
thing that's happening in tandem where we hit Romans 12 too on
Wednesday nights, isn't it? The Holy Spirit just scatters
that text with Christ. We receive an exhortation concerning
love. We need to love one another.
But we see Christ's love for His Father and Christ's love
for His people first, don't we? We get an exhortation about preaching. And then we see Christ is the
one that we preach. He's the message. We get an exhortation
concerning giving. Give with simplicity. That means
consistently, generously, and simply. We give, but we get that
in the light of the remembrance of our Savior who gave the whole
of Himself for us in thought, word, and deed. Now we understand
something. Now we can enter into giving.
We have to see Him and what He gave. Today we're going to look
at this amazing statement in our text. And we'll get to them
offices that some saints are called to next week, Lord willing.
But some of them get caught up in those titles and offices,
don't they? Elders, evangelists, pastors, preachers, apostles. Ooh, that's an apostle. Ooh,
he's an evangelist. That's an elder. They get caught
up in these things. But before that's even addressed,
before we get there, we're plainly showed that Christ has fulfilled
all things. That sets our attitude right
when we get to learn about that. Look here in verse 7, Ephesians
4 verse 7. But unto every one of us And
to every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the
gift of Christ. To every one of God's people,
to every one of his children, every one of us, grace is given
to each one of us according to the measure of the gift of Christ. What a thought! What a thought. We've been looking at this letter
for a while and we've seen this US, who that US is talking about.
That's the ones that chapter 1 is so plain. That's the ones
the Father purposed before time. He purposed to save us, His people,
those people. Mankind cannot stand to hear
that. Why would God only pick some people? The problem they
have with that, the anger they have stirring up in them is that
old flesh that refuses to believe God had to save some people.
We ain't nothing but sin. We deserve wrath. That us is
those that the Father purposed to save and that the Son purchased
in His blood. He saved them on purpose. And
what a price He paid to purchase us. Given His life, His death,
His ascension, everything for His people. That's the payment
He paid for us undeserving riches. And that us were purchased by
the Son, the full measure, the fullness in Christ. As Paul said
there in chapter 3 of Ephesians, the breadth, the length, the
depth, and the height of the person and the work of Christ
Jesus our Lord, the volume of that love of payment that He
paid. According to that, According
to that, that is the grace measured to those chosen, put in Christ
by the Father before time. That's how much grace each child
of His is given, every one of them. Our portion, our measured
out portion for you, measured out portion for you, for each
one of His children, what He measures out and gives to us
is all of Christ, what we get every bit of Him. So it was looking
there at Hosea. He said, you're going to be my
bride and I'm going to be your husband. I'm going to be the
same to you, to every one of his children. And the us is those
that the Holy Ghost proclaims this to us in our hearts. He
comes and convicts us of sin. We start saying, you know what?
God, you're right. I was wrong. I'm a sinner. He
convicts us of righteousness. God, your Word's right. I have
no righteousness. The only hope a man has of being
righteous and being presentable before God is Christ our righteousness. He's the only source of it. And
we're convicted of judgment that it's all been satisfied. What
He set out to do, what He descended from the heavens onto this earth
to accomplish, and then He ascended to heaven, He's fulfilled everything. That's our proof. I'm convinced
of it. They satisfied the Father. Now here in verse 8, here's what
Christ did for the us. The us that the Father purposed,
the Son purchased, and the Holy Spirit proclaims this salvation
to. It says in verse 8, Wherefore He saith, When He ascendeth up
on high, He led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. The
reason Christ ascended on high is because He accomplished something.
Now we'll notice there in verse 9 and 10, these two verses are
in parentheses and that's giving us a better explanation of verse
8. So let's look at that more in
detail and then later at the end we'll come back and read verse
8 again. It says there in verse 9, Now that he ascended, what
is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of
the earth? Now that Christ has ascended to the throne above,
what does his descending matter? Do we just forget about that?
Does that matter? Look here in verse 10. He that
descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens
that he might fill all things. This accomplished work of Christ,
his ascension, is the same person and work of his descension. It's
the same man, same work. Paul is being used to write this
letter, and God the Holy Spirit is saying to us, the descension
of Christ is just as important as the ascension of Christ. They
both go hand in hand. You can't have one without the
other. He couldn't ascend if he didn't descend. And you know
what? That's something that applies
to us. We won't ascend unless we're made to descend. Unless
we're brought low, we won't be lifted up in Him. He's got to
bring us down. Now it's right for us to declare
and rejoice that Christ is sitting on His throne. That's where He
is now. We need to declare that because we're declaring He's
successful. He successfully saved His people. He finished the work
that was put in His hand. But we can't truly enter into
that glory reserved for the Lamb slain unless we know that that
Lamb was slain. Each believer will ascend into
glory. Those of us, those that follow
the purpose in Christ, we will ascend to glory. Because Christ
was the only one that ever ascended. And we ascend in Him. He climbed. That's what the word ascend means.
He climbed. He earned. He was worthy to be
raised to glory. And just as unique as that is,
just as singular as that is, He's the only one that did it.
He was the only man that ever walked the earth that descended.
Did you know that? Oh, He descended to earth. That's
so easy to say. He descended. Not a one of us
have descended. Adam was created of the earth. He was made from dirt. I was
created of Adam. I was born. I began. He didn't
begin. He was. He descended. Christ was, He is, and He forever
shall be. He left that glory to come here
to descend. Turn over to John chapter 3. Christ was the only one that
ever come from perfection to earth in perfection. There's a bunch of angels that
fell. One third of the angels fell
and they left that place of perfection, that presence of the Lord, but
they were cast out in imperfection. They were sinful. They were fallen.
Look here in John 3 verse 13. And no man hath ascended up to
heaven, but he that came down from heaven, the Son of Man which
is in heaven. It's what sometimes our sin nature
thinks. No man or woman can ever earn
a righteousness that will allow them to ascend to heaven. There's
no work we can perform that just makes us good enough that we
can go up to heaven, makes us worthy. It's not possible. The
only man that hath ascended is the very one that descended,
and that's not any of us. That's cross the God man. I didn't
write this down, but that's all past tense. He says, no man hath
ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven. He's
talking like that's already happened. And he said, the Son of Man which
is in heaven, he's on this earth speaking that. How can he speak
that way? That's as sure as it can be. When he entered that covenant
before time with the Father, it was done right then. Dad said,
you can take that to the bank. He says he's going to do it.
He will perform it, won't he? He was going to ascend. Look
here in John chapter 6. For a man or woman to ascend
into heaven, the only way we're going to ascend is we must be
in Christ. We must be raised with Him. John
chapter 6 verse 38. For I came down from heaven,
not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me. And this is the Father's will
which hath sent me." Here's the will of God. "...that all which
He hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it
up again at the last day." Only those who do the will of the
Father can ascend into glory, be worthy of ascending, and Christ
was the only one that could or ever did the will of the Father.
He performed the Father's will, and here's the Father's will,
that Christ should lose none given to Him, and that He should
raise them up at the last day. We do not raise ourselves up.
We do not send ourselves up. We are resurrected. He raises
us. It says there in verse 40, and
this is the will of Him that sent me, that everyone which
seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life
and I will raise him up at the last day." Who's going to see
Christ? Who's going to have Christ revealed to them? Revealed in
them? And who is going to believe on
Him? Those given to Him by the Father. Those that cannot be
lost. Well, they might backslide and
fall away. They cannot be lost. Is Christ a liar? We charge God
with lying all the time, don't we? Those that the Father gave
me, the us, shall not be lost, and those that shall be raised
again. That's our hope. Verse 41, the Jews then murmured
at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from
heaven. And they said, is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph,
whose father and mother we know? How is it then that he saith,
I come down from heaven? We know him. This is Joseph's
boy. How is he blaspheming and saying
he came from God, that he descended to this earth? We know him. We
watched him grow up. It's just the carpenter's son.
And that's just what our nature thinks, isn't it? I heard a man say one time, let
me tell you about a dude named Jesus. That's the Almighty God. came
to this earth, descended. And in case that wasn't clear
enough for those sitting there listening, what he's already
told them, look here in verse 51, John 6, 51. I am the living
bread which came down from heaven. It's plain, isn't it? If any
man eat of this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread that
I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the
world. See, salvation is possible for everybody. Who's he talking
to? The Jews. He's saying, I'll give
my body, I'll give my blood for Jews and Gentiles. If they weren't
upset before, they probably got steam coming out of their ears
now, don't they? Look here in verse 58. This is that bread
which came down from heaven, not as your fathers did eat manna
and are dead. They ate physical bread. They
died. Every one of them did. He that eateth of this bread
shall live forever. These things he said in the synagogue
as he taught in Capernaum. Many therefore of his disciples,
when they heard this, they said, this is a hard saying. Who can
hear it? When Jesus knew in Himself that
His disciples murmured at it, He said unto them, Doth this
offend you? Are you offended by this? What
and if you're offended by this? What and if you shall see the
Son of Man ascend up where He was before? What if you see Him
ascend up where He descended from? To His disciples, our Master
is asking them, You don't think I came down from heaven? What
if you watch me when I ascend to glory? Where I came from,
where I was before. Did Christ ascend to glory? Did
they see Him ascend to glory? We've got time at the end. We're
going to look at Acts 1 beginning in verse 9. They watched Him
ascend. They watched Him ascend. And
back in our text there in Ephesians 4 verse 9. Ephesians 4.9, now that he ascended,
what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of
the earth? Paul writes now after the, this
is, when Paul's writing this, this is after the Lord's ascension,
after he'd risen. He says, now that he's ascended,
do we need to be concerned about his descension? The Lord's purpose
in descending from his throne and glory to be made just like
us. That's a great mystery, isn't
it? Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh.
Can you think of a king throughout time or in our day that would
descend to the lowest in the kingdom just to manifest and
to proclaim and accomplish his own glory? You just got to go
down and clean toilets. It'll be the lowest one in the
kingdom. We had that show, Undercover Boss. It was on TV. I saw it
once or twice. And these people own these big
companies. They go and act like they're an employee. And a child
could point them out. Them work clothes don't fit in
the same, does it? They stick out. But that's just pretend. That's
just for a moment. And that's just for as if. That's
pretending. The greatest of heaven made himself
the lowest in the kingdom. Most people only consider Christ
a good man. They say, well, he was born like
us, he grew up like us, and then he just became a man and he's
just a good example. The Lord of heaven and earth
did not just visit earth. He came to the lowest parts of
the earth. He came as a man. for man and
came all the way down to man's very beginnings, came to our
conception. There's no part of the life of
a believer that Christ did not live for us. I wish I could get
that. I was conceived in sin. I'm a
descendant of Adam. It was imputed to me, it was
imparted to me, and I acted on it when I came here. I was conceived
in the mother's womb, I was a sinner. That's what that means. Well,
that means not just from the time I cried when I came into
this earth, I needed a Savior that lived for me until the day
I die. That means from the time of my conception. While you were
in your mother's womb, you had to have a representative. That's
what he did. Turn over to Psalm 139. Psalm
139. There's a couple of religions
out there, Catholics in particular, and others. They believe that
people go to purgatory after this earth, and that Christ goes
there to preach to them. They read 1 Peter 3, and they
say, oh, well, Christ goes down there and tries talking them
into doing a good thing. That's people being wise in their
own conceit. That's not what 1 Peter is writing about. That's
both wrong, and that's not the lowest part of the earth. We
would think that'd be something under, wouldn't it? What's the
lowest part of the earth? The lowest part of this earth,
this creation, is the conception of humans, the conception of
man, the womb. That's the lowest part of the
earth. When we were made embryos, when an egg was fertilized, that's
the lowest part of the earth. That's our most vulnerable stage,
isn't it? We see a little baby, a day old baby. That's the most
helpless, defenseless thing on this earth, isn't it? But it
breathes for itself. What's an unborn child do? It
don't even breathe for itself. It doesn't even eat. Completely
helpless, completely defenseless and conceived in sin. That's
the lowest parts of the earth. Look here in Psalm 139 verse
13. For thou has possessed my reigns. There's not a believer that's
ever lived that their reigns weren't possessed by God from
conception to the grave. 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 will. From a first understanding, Christ
said, I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Was he a real handsome
guy with perfect hair, tall, good looking, smooth skin? No,
he was uncomely, wasn't he? There's nothing appealing about
him. Most people probably shy away from him, physically. And
you know what he said? I am fearfully and wonderfully
made. You know, I'm required to do
that. Is there anybody that's ever been unhappy with their
body? With their hair? With their eye color? Anything?
The Lord made us exactly the way we are. Praise Him. Oh, Lord, look. My hand hurts. Thank you, Lord. Oh, I'm glad
I got arthritis in that hand. Thank you. That's what Christ
did for us. I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Oh, look at
this uncomely body you gave me. Thank you. It says in verse 15,
My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret
in the womb and curiously brought out in the lowest parts of the
earth. Where was He made in secret?
Where did all this happen? Where was He made fearfully and
wonderfully? When He covered in His mother's
womb. That's the lowest parts of the
earth. What happened in that lowest parts? Look here in verse
16. Thine eyes did see My substance. Yet being imperfect, how could
Christ be imperfect? Because His sheep, He was His
sheep substitute in the womb. All the sin that we are, that's
where He began carrying it for us. And in thy book, all my members
were written. The whole family of God, the
whole body of believers. Which in continuance were fashioned,
when as yet there was none of them. In the book of life, every
name was written. Our continuance was fashioned
even when we weren't even created yet. At that point, Christ was
our surety. Sin's not what we do. We don't
commit sin and that makes us sinners. That's what we are.
We sin because we are sinners. And being conceived in sin, being
born of my father Adam, that first Adam, I'm completely sin
in this flesh. And therefore, I need a complete
Savior. Every jot and every tittle, every punctuation, he has to
be my substitute. Start to finish. That's not from
the cradle to the grave. That's from conception to the
grave. A believer's life is the life
of Christ who died for us. Nothing else is required and
nothing else is needed. The life that I have in the eyes
of God the Father, that I possess, is His life. We don't get that, do we? It has to happen. That's what
Paul said in Galatians 2, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless
I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which
I now live, in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God
who loved me and He gave Himself for me." Him saying, I'm fearfully and
wonderfully made. He gave that to His people. You've
said that. And it goes on, and we can't
add anything to that. Isn't that awful? Christ gave Himself for
His people. Salvation to the Lord. That's
what He gave us. The Lord. He saved us in Him. And this
foolish, unwise, ignorant flesh that I live in thinks I need
to add something to it. I need to do something. I need
to stop doing something. Paul went on in Galatians 2 and
said, I do not frustrate the grace of God. This grace given
to us, all of Christ. I do not frustrate Christ. For
if righteousness come by the law, if there's something we
got to do or don't do, then Christ is dead in vain. That life He
lived for me, from conception to ascension, I've added something
to it. It was all in vain. Righteousness
doesn't come by the law, does it? It comes by the God of our
righteousness. Christ ascended to the very conception
of life for each of His children. And as our substitute, He was
obedient to the law, and to the Father from conception to resurrection
in perfect holiness. That's what's given to those
given to Him in that covenant of grace before time. He gives
Himself. Turn over to Matthew chapter
1. Everything in that perfect life
He lived was just exactly according to the Scriptures. Matthew 1. I'll begin in verse 18. Now,
the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise. When his mother
Mary was a spouse to Joseph before they came together, she was found
with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph, her husband, being
a just man and not willing to make her a public example, was
minded to put her away privately. He didn't want to embarrass her.
He was just going to get rid of her. But while he thought on these things,
behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream,
saying, Thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy
wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name
Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins." Now
all this was done that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken
of by the Lord by the prophets, saying, Behold, a virgin shall
be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call
his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us."
The conception of Christ was according to the Scriptures.
Look here in chapter 2, Matthew chapter 2, verse 14.
And when he arose, he took the young child and his mother by
night, and departed to Egypt. and was there until the death
of Herod, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord
by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son, in
his earliest toddler years." Fulfilling the Scriptures. Look
at verse 17. Then it was fulfilled that which
was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet. Verse 23. And when he came and
dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled, that
which was spoken of by the prophets, he shall be called a Nazarene." Turn to chapter 5, Matthew chapter
5. It wasn't just these things fulfilled
in the scriptures. It wasn't just who he was. But it was what he accomplished.
Matthew 5 verse 17. Think not that I am come to destroy
the law of the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but
to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, till
heaven and earth pass, not one jot nor one tittle shall in no
wise pass from the law till it all be fulfilled. It will in
no wise pass. Ain't nothing going to happen
until he accomplishes this and that that law is fulfilled. The
accomplishment of the descension of Christ was complete when He
fulfilled that law. When He came, He fulfilled every
scripture that declared who He would be. He fulfilled every
requirement given to us in God's holy law, and He fulfilled everything
for the salvation of His elect. That's what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians
15. For I have delivered unto you
first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died
for our sins according to the scriptures. and that he was buried
and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.
His ascension was according to the Scriptures. We see that in
Hosea 6, it's all throughout Scripture isn't it? The only
man that could descend and accomplish everything concerning himself,
and he accomplishes everything according to the law of God,
according to the Scriptures, and he accomplishes everything
for the redemption of his people. The only man that could do that,
he did it. It's finished. It's done. Go back in our text
to Ephesians 4. Look at verse 8. Ephesians 4,
8. Wherefore, he saith, when he
ascended up on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. The one that descended was the
very one that ascended. And whenever he spoke to those
disciples, he said, if you see me ascending up on high, you're
going to know that I accomplished everything I set out to do. And
what did he do? He accomplished leading captivity
captive. What are those in captivity?
There's two fold to that. First off, we're the captives,
the us. The cross came to take us back
and that is exactly what He did. He redeemed His people while
in the form of a man. He led captivity, His people,
captive while He was captive. But that's also all of our enemies,
the things that make us captives, sin, death, grave, Satan. He conquered all four. Forever
led those things away from us. I got this from Brother Henry.
It's so good I got to share it. Christ conquered sin by being
made sin for us. Christ conquered death by dying
for us. He conquered the grave by rising
from it. He conquered the serpent You know how Christ conquered
the serpent? He was haughty and he was real prideful and powerful
and showed... No it wasn't. Satan would have loved those
things. He'd have gobbled it up, wouldn't he? How did he defeat
Satan? In all meekness and loathiness. We ain't got time but I'll read
Acts chapter 1 to you. This is great news. This is the
gospel. How much fear we would have if there was one jot of
that law or one tittle of that law or something required of
us we had to do. I'd just quiver. You understood
what God required and I had to have a hand in doing it. That's
terrifying. There's no peace in that. The good news doesn't stop there
that Christ performed it all. That he descended to earth on
our behalf. He lived Perfect life from conception
to ascension on our behalf. And He is seated at the right
hand of glory, and we're seated there with Him now. He's coming
again. It says in Acts 1, 9, And when
they had spoken these things, while they beheld, and those
disciples looked at Him, He was taken up, and a cloud received
Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly
toward heaven, He went up. Behold, two men stood by them
in white apparel. which also said, ye men of Galilee,
why stand ye gazing up into heaven? That same Jesus, the same Jesus
which was taken up from you into heaven shall come in the like
manner as ye have seen him go to heaven. The same Jesus, this
same Jesus that descended for us. This same Jesus that ascended
for us is this same Jesus that's coming again. He is the same
yesterday, today, and forever, the same one. In power, in fulfillment,
in grace, the same way that Christ ascended to glory is the same
way He shall return. He descended the first time in
the lowest parts of the earth into the womb, womb of a virgin. But in His return, He's coming
as the King of kings and the Lord of lords, the one that led
captivity captive. Paul was quoting David in Psalm
68. We'll look at this next time. David said in Psalm 68, Thou
hast ascended on high, Thou hast led captivity captive, Thou hast
received gifts for men. Paul said gifts unto men. David
said gifts for men. Yea, for the rebellious also. Oh, that's us. That the Lord
might dwell among them. What gifts did He give to His
people? Righteousness, sanctification, Wisdom. He redeemed us, didn't
He? Blessed be the Lord who daily
loatheth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Wouldn't
it be something if He had loathed us today? He loathed us today
with the knowledge of Christ. He came here for me, for His
people, for sinners, publicans. Lived a perfect life. He ascended. He's seated at the right hand
of the Father, and He's coming again. He hasn't called home
His last child yet. Son came up this morning. He'll
come today. That last one will be brought
to know Him. He's coming. What a day it'll
be. I pray He loads us till then with His blessings. Amen.