Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians
4. You know how that I dislike calling
this Bible study. Although, that's what we do. We should study God's Word carefully. Look into it. Compare Scripture
with Scripture. Look into it very carefully,
diligently. Study. Paul told young Timothy
to study. Show yourself approved, but we
hope and pray the Lord will make it more than just an intellectual
pursuit. That he'll not just teach our
heads, but speak to our hearts. We want this to be a worship
service as well, don't we? And I have two messages today. This is a message. And I love
it when I don't know which hour to bring which message. It should
matter. The Lord enables us to worship
now, next hour. Wednesday night, to me, is no
different than this day. I treat it exactly the same. You notice the title, The Condescension,
Conquest, and Descent of Our Lord. It's not an attempt at
being clever or excellency of speech, Paul said. But this is
what this says. He descended. He con-descended. He not only came down, but he
was high, lifted up, so he became low, meek and low. And his conquests,
he conquered our foe. And then he ascended back on
high, where he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on
high. I just told you the gospel. But as said, not a clever title,
not an attempt at excellency of speech, or you'd be impressed
with my whatever. But God's gospel deserves the
best preaching we can do, and deserves the best hearing you
can do. Love so amazing, so divine, deserves my soul's best song. You know, there are fairy tales
and fables that we've read and heard all our lives that are
full of stories of great men and heroes that saved someone
from bondage. And you read these stories, you
hear these stories as a child, like the prince slaying the dragon
to rescue the woman in distress. Where do they come up with stories
like that? Cinderella, a woman poor and
down and out, and a handsome prince coming to find her and
marrying her and taking her off. Where do they come up with stories
like that? Anything of value, anything that
has any wisdom, anything like that comes from God's Word, the
truth. And men have taken and used it
for secular means. Peter said this is no fable.
This is no cunningly devised fable. This is no fairy tale. This is the truth. Someone did
come, the Prince of Peace. came down to this earth to rescue,
to ransom, to save from bondage his poor people. The truth is
much greater than fables. It came, and in our text, Ephesians
4 verse 8 through 10, as I said, this deserves a message
by itself. He saith in Psalm 68, when he
ascended up on high, and the whole psalm is about our Lord,
when he ascended up on high, Christ, he led captivity captive,
gave gifts unto men when he left. Now, in parenthesis, God's parenthesis,
God's parenthetical phrases, does that impress you? English
was my best subject. I about failed everything else.
Because I didn't try. But I loved English. And I wonder why the Lord let
me love reading and things like that. I never knew that this
would be my life. That words would be my life. But the Lord's parenthesis, He
can say so much. Divine truth. The Gospel. In
a parenthesis. Here it is, verse 9. He that
ascended, Christ, what does it mean? What is it? But first,
he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth.
Yea, into hell itself. He that descended is the same
also that ascended up far above all heavens that he might fill
or fulfill all things. He that sitteth at the right
hand of the majesty on high, and he also sitteth on the circle
of the earth. That's our Lord. That's our God.
Great condescension, great ascension. And we shall see him right side. So his condescension, he descended. first he came down he who was
high came low and john's gospel says in the beginning was the
word the word was with god the word was god the same was in
the beginning with god all things were made by him without him
was not anything made that was made in him was life he's the
god in whom we live and have our and have our being our breath
is In Him was life. The life was the light of men.
The light shineth in darkness. He came into this dark world.
And the darkness comprehended Him not. He came unto His own,
His own creatures. But His own received Him not. But His men is received Him.
Why did they receive Him? Because they are born of God.
Because He came and revealed Himself to them. That's Ephesians
1. He descended. First thing, John
the Evangelist, John the Baptist said this of Christ. He said
in John 3, He that cometh from above is above all. He that cometh from heaven is
above all. He came from heaven. God sent
him, it says. He speaks the words of God. And our Lord said that about
Himself in John chapter 6, what made the Pharisees angry. He
said in John 6 verse 33, He said, The bread of God is He which
cometh down from heaven. Down from heaven. Verse 38, the
Lord said, I came down from heaven. Well, Pharisees murmured because
he said, I came down from heaven. We know who you are. You're Joseph's
son, the carpenter's boy. That's all you are is Jesus of
Nazareth, Mary's son, illegitimate son. No, he's not. He's the son of
God. Well, he said these things and
I came down. And many of his disciples that
heard this said, this is a hard saying. We can't hear this anymore.
And he said, listen to this. What and if, what are you going
to do when you see the Son of Man ascend up? When you see Him ascend up where
He was before, what are you going to do when you stand before His
throne and see Him? What are you going to do then? And here's salvation. know who
he is and right now before it's too late because every knee will
see him they will bow and every eye shall see him as he is the
one who was on high who came low and ascended back on high
and every tongue will confess before he's my god he's my lord
i didn't know pay him no mind His disciples, Simon Peter spoke
up on his behalf, on our behalf, and the Lord said, will you go
away? He said, no. You're our life. You came to
give us life. That's what he said. I am come
that they might have life. They're in bondage. They're in
captivity. I've come to ransom them, give
His soul a ransom from Him. Why did He come? He condescended. that ascended, first he came
down to this earth. Why did he do that? David wrote that in Psalm 8.
Don't you love that? What is man, that thou art mindful
of him, or the son of man? Why would he visit this place? Why would he? Why? You know, Most of you have heard
the story of me buying those worms. I purchased a bunch of
worms. I actually paid money for a bunch
of worms, a ball of worms. I paid $29.95 for 2,000 worms,
a ball of worms. If you want to know what this
world looks like, buy you a ball of worms. They were just writhing
all over one another. They're dirt. Worms come from
dirt. And to dirt, they will return.
He led them out in the sun. They don't like the sun. They
don't like the light. They like darkness. They eat dead things. They don't eat live things. They
live on dead things. They live on dirt. And they go
back to the dirt. And I bought these worms, and
I made them a house, and I checked on them. I actually woke up at
night thinking about it. You say, you're a fool. Why would
God come down here? You know, he called Jacob a worm,
didn't he? He's just a worm. He's from the
dirt. He's going to go back to the dirt. But God changed that
worm into a butterfly, didn't He? His body went back to the
dirt, but Jacob went to the right hand of the Majesty of Heaven. Worms. You know, our Lord said
in Psalm 22 of Himself, He said, I'm a worm. He came down. He condescended to men of the
lowest state. And I use the term men lightly. Worms. That's what he did. That's what he did. Condescended.
Who is he? Who was this that came down?
Well, I'll show you a sign, the Lord said. A virgin shall conceive
and bear a child, and you'll call his name Emmanuel. God with us. Great is the mystery
of God. What does it say? What does it
say? God was manifest in the flesh. Is that what it said? Is that
what it meant? God became a man. How can that
be? It can't be. The world says that
can't be. Oh, it is. He did. He came. He condescended
to become a man. For God to become a man is like
us to become a worm. You wouldn't do that. You don't
need worms. None of us do. But if you set
your love on worms, like I did, you would condescend. It's the
only way they could understand you. Isn't it? It's the only
way they could understand you. So he did. Came down, Isaiah
9. Who is this? This child that's
born? We may look at that next week. Because that's when men look
at that. It's wonderful to look at. It's
condescension to be a child, be born. Child is born. What
child is this? I love that song. I really do.
What child is this? That's what the angels, this
holy thing. See, we have the same message
every week. He condescended to become a babe. What child is this? Oh, it's
the Son that was given. The Eternal Son that was with
the Father in the beginning who condescended to become a babe. Like us. Weakness. He came down. Well, call His
name Jesus. What? Joshua, Savior. Call His
name Wonderful. Call His name Counselor. Proverbs
8. Call His name the Mighty God. Call His name the Everlasting
Father. The Prince of Peace. He's going
to come. He did come and rescue His people. I'm Sender Kellogg. That's who
I am, from the ashes. Why did He do this? Look at Isaiah
45. Isaiah 45, verse 13. The Bible stated, oh, that this
might fill us with wonder and amazement and thanksgiving that
God became a man. Isaiah 45, look at this. 13. The Lord says of Christ, well,
verse 12, I want to start back in verse
1. We don't have time. Verse 12, I made the earth, created
man upon it. We just read John 1. I just read
it to you. My hands are stretched out to
heavens. All their hosts have I commanded. Well, I've raised
someone up in righteousness. I'll direct all his way. He shall
build my city. He shall let go my captives." He's going to lead captivity. Captive. Not for price. Not for reward. But for his glory. For his glory. All right, look
at our text again. It says that we're in captivity.
Verse 8 in our text, Ephesians 4, when he ascended up on high,
he led captivity captive. This is no fairytale. You know
that most so-called Christians, certainly all these so-called
seminary professors and all these theologians and all that, believe
that Adam and Eve was just an allegory. Cross the board, I'm
telling you. There was a survey done years
ago, and they asked if there was a real man or woman named
Adam and Eve, and most of them said, no, there was not. It's
an allegory. You destroy the gospel. You destroy
the word of God. If you don't know what happened
in the beginning in the garden, you don't know anything thereafter. Three great questions. What happened
in the garden? If you don't understand these
questions, the answer to these questions, you don't know anything. What happened in the garden explains
this whole world why it's like it is. It explains why Christ
had to come and do what he did for man. What happened in the
garden? What happened on the cross? Who is that? What did he do? Who did he do
it for? Did he do it? Everything depends on that. Don't
holler. If this would get a hold of you,
you'd holler too. And what happens to a sinner
when God saves him? But if God saves him, he's saved. Aren't you glad? Aren't you glad? We're captives. Happened in the
garden. Adam and Eve became willing captives
to Satan. Right? Only man, woman who had
a free will. What did they do? What did they
will to do and choose to do? Sin. We will. Satan said, I will ascend to
the throne. God said, you will not. You will
descend into hell. Adam said, Abe said, we will. God said, you will not. You're
going to plunge yourself and this whole race into destruction. I made you from the dirt and
this is where you're going back. And you'll never ascend up to
God unless I send someone to descend to bring you up out of
the pit, off the dung heap, and set you with me. You're not coming
here unless He does this for you. I'm sending the woman's
seed. It all happened right there in
the first three chapters. 2 Timothy 2 says the preacher
of the gospel sent to recover them out of the snare of the
devil that are taken captive by him at his will. That's what
the scripture says. There's no fairytale, no allegory.
Ephesians 2. Why do you love Ephesians so
much? Because it's your story. It's His story. It's the Gospel,
chapter 1. It's what He did. And then it
gets to us. Chapter 2 starts with us. And
you, what? Dead. Dead. Well, what happened? He
quickened. He came down. Isn't that what
the whole story of Exodus, how it started? Where does it start?
Chapter 3. Chapter 3, God said, I am come
down to bring you out, to bring you up, to bring you in. That's the gospel, isn't it? Don't you love how
the translators say, what chapter are we going to make this? Genesis 22 is Abraham and Isaac
going up on the Mount, Mount Moriah, the Gospel. They wrote
the psalm. Where are we going to put this
psalm of Christ on the cross? Chapter 22. Where it all started, Genesis
3. Amazing. We're captives. Satan. Men don't
know it, they laugh, they scoff when they do his bidding. They
scoff at the notion that there is a devil, and all the while
they're totally... The devil laughs at men. These religionists that say,
I tell the devil what to do, where to go. The devil laughs. You silly fool, I've got control
of you. And he's more a fool than they
are, because God has control of him. I say that carefully, fearfully.
God protect me from him. We're captives to sin, Romans
7. Romans chapter 7. We're captives
to sin. Listen to it. Still in a measure,
we're still in a measure captive because we have this flesh, we
have this old man in us. Thank God Christ said, Christ
said, sin shall not have dominion over you. Why did he say that?
Because he said it. Because he did something. Because they're
led of the Spirit. But, look at Romans 7, verse
23. Paul says, I see a law in my
members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing
me into captivity. See that? Verse 25, it was in
mind, I've served the law of God, but oh my flesh, all it
wants to do is sin. My flesh can't do anything but
sin. Captivity. And we're never going
to get out of this captivity to the flesh until He lays it
in a grave. Boy, then we're going to say,
in reality, free at last. We're captives to the world.
Ephesians 2, this is you and you. Look at Ephesians 2 again.
You, this is you, dead. No thoughts of God. Very much
alive in the world. Pursuing the world. After the
world. In time past, verse 2, you walked
the course of this world. You were in the world and you
know what? You were of the world. Yes, sir. Just like it. according
to the prince of the power of the air. See that? Spirit that
now works in the children of disobedience, unbelievers, among
whom you had your conversation in time past. What we have to
lust to the flesh, to lust to the eyes, the pride of life,
by nature children of wrath, even as others. You're just like
everybody else. In the world, of the world, pursuing
the world, dead in darkness, even as others. Go ahead. Everybody. What did he do? He came down. God came down. Isaiah 25 says,
this is our God. We've waited on him. This is
our God. He'll save us. One time, that man who was on
the bed, couldn't walk, and they brought him in so desperate for
him to see and hear the Lord Jesus cry that they carried him
up on the roof. Some people won't walk through
the door. They don't need Christ. Well,
their friend did. And they brought him and uncovered
the roof and put him down right in front of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the only one that could help him, save him, give him life,
forgive him. And they laid him down in front
of the Lord. And the Lord, first thing, he
said, son, be of good cheer. Your sins are forgiven. He didn't need to walk. You're
going to walk all into glory now because Christ said so. Well,
they said, who can forgive sins but God? That's right. No truer words
have ever been said. Instead of that woman caught
in the act of adultery, your sins have forgiven you. But if
you're a sinner like that, this is the best new you'll ever hear.
and you at the Quicken who were dead. Oh, it's by grace you're
saved. Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable
gift, the gift of His Son condescending to come to this place, the lowest
parts of the earth. That's where He had to go to
get you and me, the lowest parts. Oh, I was going to turn to so
many places, to Deuteronomy, Isaiah 52, he said, you sold
yourselves for nothing. You sold yourselves for nothing. He said, but you're going to
be redeemed, not by money, not by price. How are we redeemed? Somebody say one word. Blood. The precious blood of the Lamb. The amazing thing is we have
no redeeming qualities. Why would he pay such a price
for worms? Why? There's only one answer.
Because that's who he is. He said, I didn't do this for
your sake. Nobody deserves it. False religion said everyone
deserves a chance to be saved. No, what everyone deserves is
to be damned, starting with me. But God, rich in mercy, rich
in great love, sovereign death. Even when we were dead and trespassing,
quickening. What a word. He condescended.
He condescended. He came to conquer our foe. Sin, he had to pay for. He had to be made sin. And it's
a mystery. Men argue about it. Men try to
explain it. And nobody understands it. It's
enough to know that Christ became sin, that God laid on Him the
iniquity of all of His people, a burnt offering, a sacrifice
for sin. He paid the price, all of it,
for all of God's people, forever, and they're free from sin. He's
gone, because He's laid on Him. He's the fit man that took away
the sin, the scapegoat. He came. He came to conquer sin,
hell, and death. He went through hell. And don't you ever say that.
And if anybody else says it, you correct them real quickly.
You're not going through hell. You don't know what hell is.
Christ is the only living person who does. On the Calvary's tree. Hell is where God is not. God
who is love, God who is peace, God who is joy, God who is goodness,
God who is all His holiness, God who restrains and constrains
and withholds and does all things. You take God away, all hell will
break loose. Christ went through hell on the
cross. God left Him. He sweat blood
just thinking about it. He went through hell. Why? Because
that's where we deserve to go. And that's where He went for
us. He endured the equivalent of an eternity in hell for our
sins, which they deserve. And now, because He did, there's
no condemnation to them that are in Christ. There's no hell. There's no judgment. Because
Christ was judged. Because Christ went to hell.
You understand that, don't you? What a wonderful, wonderful story. He came to defeat our foe. This is no fairy tale, but John
Bunyan wrote a book. To me, it is as good or better
than Pilgrim Problem. The Lord put him in jail to do
it. He put him in prison for 12 years to write these books.
And oh, it was so worth it. The Lord used it greatly. Holy
war. Here's the story, very quickly. The town of Mansoul belonged
to El Shaddai, God. Belonged to Him. But Diabolus,
the devil, came to this town. It had a castle, walled. It had an ear gate, an eye gate,
these gates. Inside the castle was a pallet,
that's the heart. Diabolus came to the ear gate,
let me in. It was smooth words and fair
speeches. They opened again, like Adam
and Eve. Went to the eye gate, look. Blessed
the eyes, blessed the face, the pride of the light. They opened
the eye gate, opened the ear gate. Diabolus the devil went
in to the castle and went straight to, he silenced Mr. Recorder,
the conscience. He silenced the conscience. Went
straight into that town, into the palace and set up his reign
right there where he does in the hearts of men. And he said,
close the gates. Close the ear gate, close the
eye gate, because there's somebody that's going to come to deceive
you and try to get in. This Emmanuel, this Son of God
is going to come. He's going to tell you a thing.
It all lies. No, He's the liar. So somebody sent word to El Shaddai,
the King, send us help. We're captives. This is an allegory. This is
a fable, but it's taken from the truth. So El Shaddai, the
king, sent his son, Emmanuel, prince, to the palace, to the
castle, to take back his man-soul, his town that belonged to him.
Why did he do it? They rebelled against him. Why
did he do it? For his glory. So he came. came to the ear gate,
let me in, wouldn't do it. They wouldn't do it. Eye gate,
they wouldn't open it. They didn't see his glory. They
didn't see who it was. They didn't see it themselves.
Wouldn't open the ear gate. No, we won't hear it. Turn away
their ears from the truth and they listened to lies. Did God
lead this man to write that or what? So what did Emmanuel do? Get
the ramparts. Bring forth my power. He busted
down the ear gates. He busted down the eye gates.
They wouldn't open. He opened the ear. He opened
the eye. He came in, went straight to
the palace, to the heart, and took captivity. Captive. And led him down the streets
in chains. And all the people were cheering.
Immanuel has freed us from bondage that they are captive. And then he himself ascended
back to that palace in the midst of that castle and stood on the
throne and all the people bowed to and adored Immanuel for saving
them from captivity. And I love this part. It says
he ascended back After he saved him, he went walking down through
the streets of Mansoul. And all these people whom the
Son of God had saved from captivity, they got behind him and followed
him. And they loved him so much. And
they were so thankful. And they admired him so much.
They loved his words. They loved his speech. They loved
his person. They loved his faith. They loved his great salvation.
And they all would walk. They loved his footsteps. And
they all put their feet in his path. They wanted to walk just
like him. They wanted to follow him. They're
captives that are captivated and led captive. by the Lord
their One, the One who brought them out of bondage. Is that
you? Captivated. Isn't this, isn't
Christ captivating? Isn't the Gospel wonderful? It's no fable. It's truth. Blessed be His name. Amen.