Now let's stay there in Ephesians
chapter three. I'm sure you've figured out what
the theme of today's message is with our song and the title
of the message that's printed in your bulletin and then Robert's
reading here, especially verse eight, and that is the unsearchable
riches of Christ. I've often, and you've heard
me tell this, you know, preachers often repeat our stories, but
you've heard me tell you the story about the two West Virginia
farmers who grew up, their farms right beside each other, and
they knew each other well, and they got well up into their 70s.
And they got to talking and one of them said, you know, I've
always wanted to see the ocean. I've never been to the ocean.
I'd like to see it with my own eyes. And the other one said,
well, let's go. Let's just take a trip over there.
So they traveled from West Virginia. I think they went to Myrtle Beach,
South Carolina. And they got out there on the
shore and they looked out at the Atlantic Ocean. And the farmer
One of the farmers said, you know, I didn't realize how big
this thing is. And the other farmer said, and
yeah, and he said, but that's just the top of it. And I often use that when I come
to passages like this because that's the way it is when we
consider the wealth of blessings and benefits of the salvation
that God has freely and fully provided for us in and by the
Lord Jesus Christ. And here it's called the unsearchable
riches of Christ. The grace, the mercy of God,
the wealth, we've just seen the top of it. Paul said we see through
a glass darkly, but then we'll see all of it. I wonder if we
could get a glimpse of the whole treasure. How would we react? It overwhelmed us, wasn't it?
We need pure eyes. We need to be changed in the
twinkling of an eye. This corruptible's got to put
on incorruption. And that's what I want to talk
about. And here's the thing about it. The Apostle Paul, writing
of this, the unsearchable riches of Christ and the riches of His
grace, freely given, fully given, all things. Remember Ephesians
1-3, blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus. He states this by the power of
the Holy Spirit, by inspiration of the Spirit, in the context
of the fact that God has a people out of every tribe, kindred,
tongue, and nation, his elect, And it's made up both of Jew
and Gentile who are equally brought into the kingdom, equally blessed
in the kingdom by his grace through the blood and righteousness of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's cause for worship.
He says in verse one, for this cause. Well, what is the cause? Well, the first thing I think
of When I see words like that, I think of the cause of the glory
of God. And that's what I want to do
this morning. That's what I want to do every time I stand behind
a pulpit or every time I speak to an individual or a group of
people concerning the truth. I want to glorify God. I don't
want to get up here and brag about you or myself. I want to
brag on God. That's what glory in here means,
to boast. It's to boast in the cause of
Christ, not our own things. Paul said, God forbid that I
should glory save in the cross. That's the person and work of
Christ. He is why we are here. He is
the ultimate object of our thanksgiving. And this is the glory of God.
Let he that gloryeth, glory in the Lord. And the cause here
is the preaching of the gospel of God's glory to all whom God
will save, Jew and Gentile, saved by his grace through the righteousness
of Christ, freely imputed and received by God-given faith,
which is the gift of God. Why does God give us faith that
we might glorify him in coming to Christ as wretched sinners
that we are? deserving nothing but death and
hell. But in Christ, our sins are taken
away. Did you hear what Jesus said
to me? They're all taken away. My sins
were imputed to him. God does not charge me with the
debt of my sin. My debt's been fully paid. Think
about that. He is my Jubilee. He is my Sabbath. And this is also speaking of
the calls of preaching that both Jews and Gentiles who are saved
by the grace of God are joint heirs, equal partners in fellowship
with the Father and the Son, fellowship with one another.
And this cause brought much persecution to Paul from both unbelieving
Jews and Gentiles, even prison. And he mentions that here. And
why is that? Why do men and women naturally
hate this gospel so much? because it gives them no room
to boast. It leaves them with no hope in
themselves or by themselves. It takes all the works and efforts
of man to work his way into God's favor and counts them all but
lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my
Lord. It's that gospel light that when God shines it, it exposes
their deeds as being evil, our deeds as being evil. And that's
why they hate it. That's why Christ told his disciples
in John 15, marvel not if the world hates you. It hated me
before it hated you. And it was because of what he
preached. You know, here's something else too. Paul, he was in prison
various times throughout when he wrote to Timothy. Some say,
and I believe it's true, when he wrote this letter to the Ephesians,
do you know that Paul's imprisonment, he acknowledged this now. He
acknowledged that his imprisonment had a divinely ordained purpose. And let me show you that. You
need to read this. Look at the book of Philippians, chapter
one. In fact, in the little book of
Philemon, you know what Paul called himself? He was in prison
when he wrote to Philemon in Rome. He was in a house that
he couldn't leave. captured and he told Philemon
he was a prisoner, not of Rome, but a prisoner of Jesus Christ.
And look here in Philippians 1, look at verse 12, he says,
but I would, you should understand. And the context here is this,
the people of God who knew Paul, the church in Philippi, the churches
of Galatia, Timothy, all of these, They were discouraged when they
heard about Paul being captured and being put in chains. But
Paul wrote to them, and here's what he said, but I would, I
wish you should understand, brethren, that the things which happened
unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel. Paul said, God divinely ordained
this so that I could preach. so that my bonds in Christ are
manifest in all the palace and in all other places, in Rome,
in the palace. Many of the brethren in the Lord
waxing or growing confident by my bonds are much more bold to
speak the word without fear. Think about that. Now that's
a God-given attitude. That's not natural. If I got
thrown into prison, unless God gave me that attitude, I'd be
pretty mad, angry. That's my nature. That's sinful
human nature, isn't it? But God intervenes and gave Paul
this attitude. And look back at our text now,
Ephesians two, look at verse three, chapter three, verse two. He says, if you had heard of
the dispensation of the grace of God, which is given me to
you word. Now that word dispensation is
stewardship. What Paul is saying is that he
had been given a specific special gift from God. to reveal something
that God had kept hidden. Look at verse three, how that
by revelation, God made known unto me the mystery. You see,
it's a mystery until God reveals it. It's unknown until God reveals
it. And as I wrote a four in few
words, Paul had spoken of this before, whereby when you read,
you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. What
is this mystery? This is, the mystery is his stewardship,
Paul's specific special gift of grace in the specific new
covenant revelation concerning the gospel of God's grace going
out to God's elect among the Gentiles. And it was by revelation. Let me show you that revelation.
It's in Acts chapter nine. This is where, this is the account
of Paul's conversion. when the Lord overtook him on
the Damascus road, blinded him, and sent him to a man named Ananias.
And you remember in Acts chapter 9, he went to Ananias, and Ananias,
when he heard that Paul was coming, listen to what he said in verse
13. This is Acts 9 verse 13. He said, then Ananias answered,
Lord, this is the Lord giving Ananias a revelation that he's
sending him Paul. Paul of Tarsus. Could you imagine
what that name meant to people back then? He says, Lord, I've
heard by many this man how much evil he hath done to thy saints
in Jerusalem. Paul was a great persecutor of
God's people. And here he hath authority from
the chief priest to bind all that call on thy name. Paul had
the authority of the unbelieving Jews to arrest anybody who claimed
to be of Christ. But look at verse 15, but the
Lord said unto him, go thy way, for he is a chosen vessel unto
me to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children
of Israel, for I will show him how great things he must suffer
for my name's sake. God revealed that to him. Paul
was gonna preach not just to one group of people, one specific
group of people. One old unbeliever asked a preacher,
a gospel preacher one time, he said, well you believe in the
elect, why don't you just go preach to the elect? And he said,
well you go around and put a mark on them and I will. You know what happens when you
preach to people? God puts a mark on his chosen
people. It's the mark of the Holy Spirit
in regeneration and conversion, the new birth, whereby he brings
them to faith in Christ and repentance of dead works. He reveals unto
them the gospel message of the righteousness of God, how God
can be just to justify the ungodly based upon the righteousness
that Christ produced in his obedience unto death as the surety, the
substitute, the redeemer of his people. how he fulfilled all
the conditions that God requires in the place of his people so
as to secure the salvation of all for whom he died, was buried,
and arose again the third day. Not one missing. He said, all
that the Father giveth me shall what? Come to me. That's the elect. And him that
cometh to me, I will in no wise cast down. He said, this is the
will of him that sent me, that of all which he hath given me. And when did the father give
him to the son? Before the foundation of the
world. All that the father hath given me shall come to me. And
he said, this is the will of him that sent me, that of all
which he hath given me, I shall lose nothing, no one. but raise it up again at the
last day. You say, well, where does that leave me? That leaves
you and me as poor, wretched, rotten sinners who need the grace
of God in our salvation. Now you look to Christ. Paul told the Thessalonians,
he said, I know your election because the gospel came to you
not just in word, not just a man speaking and you hearing with
the physical ear, but in power. And what is that? How do you
know it comes to you in power? When God gives you faith to receive
Christ. For by grace are you saved, through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. So here in Ephesians 3, Paul
is rejoicing as part of the unsearchable riches of Christ, the fact that
he was given a gift to go preach to Gentiles, the uncircumcised. God has a people. We today, I'll
tell you what, today we really don't understand the seriousness
of that revelation to Paul in his day. That is so revolutionary. It really is. It brought strong
persecution from the unbelieving Jews and others. It was a subject
of much debate in the church. Read Acts chapter 15 sometime. We won't go there. It's too much. But that's where they had a conference
in Jerusalem and some of the Jews who profess faith in Christ
came down and said, now these Gentiles have to be circumcised
first. And Paul and James and I think Peter, all three stood
up and said, absolutely not. Salvation is by grace. Circumcision
of the flesh means absolutely nothing. That's what Paul said
in Galatians 6, when after he said, God forbid that I should
glory, he said, circumcision or uncircumcision means nothing.
The only thing that means anything is Christ crucified and circumcision
of the heart, which is the new birth. God gives us a new heart,
a new spirit. How do you know you have that?
You look to Christ. You rest in Christ. You plead
his righteousness. You repent of your dead works
and your false free will, gospel religion, because it's false.
Turning from there. And that's what brought strong
persecution to Paul and the other apostles. This is why there's
so much emphasis on the great truth that Christ is the Lamb
of God, which taketh or beareth away the sin of the world. Now
people look at that word world and they automatically assume,
well that means every individual without exception. Well let me
let you in on something. Read your Bible. And you know
if you read the Bible, if Christ bore your sins away, there's
no way you can perish. There's no way that you can live
life all the way through to your death and not come face to face
under the gospel and be brought to faith in Christ, if he bore
your sins away. Why did John the Baptist put
it that way? Because he wanted those Jews
to understand that God has a people, not just among the Jews, and
not because they are Jews, but he has people all over this world,
as the book of Revelation puts it, out of every tribe, kindred,
tongue, and nation. The Bible says that Christ, in
1 John 2-2, that Christ is the propitiation for our sins. Now
what does that mean? You know what the word propitiation
means? We don't use that word much today. It means the sins
are put away. It means justice is satisfied.
It means God's wrath is gone. So if He's the propitiation for
your sins, we're in good standing with God. How do I know if He's
the propitiation for my sins personally? When God brings me
to faith in Christ. Read your Bible. When He brings
me to faith in Christ, when He gives me life, He gives an old
dead sinner life, doesn't He? Aren't we born spiritually dead
in trespasses and sins? Haven't we all sinned and come
short of the glory of God? Well, in Christ, by His death
on the cross, the shedding of His blood, my sins were paid
for. They were imputed to Christ.
They were charged to His account, and He paid the account in full.
Jesus paid it all. He did. For by him, one offering,
by his one offering, he hath perfected forever them that are
sanctified, set apart by God. And so in 1 John 2.2, it says
he's the propitiation for our sins, and John is speaking to
believers, and he said, and not for ours only, but also for the
sins of the whole world. The whole world, you mean he's
the propitiation for everybody that has ever lived or ever will?
No. In fact, over in 1 John 5, I
think it's verse 20 or 21, he says, the whole world lieth in
the wicked one. No, he's talking about the world
of his elect. And when you read John 3, 16,
it's the same. For God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever, what? Believe
it. in Him, should not perish but have everlasting life. So
somebody says, well see there, it's only if you believe. Now
listen to me, you're right. It's only if you believe. But
the if there is not conditional on you. It's not a condition
you must meet in order to get Him to love you. The if there is evidential. This is how God, the ones whom
God's loved, they will believe. Read your Bible. It's not all without exception.
It's all of God's elect in the world without distinction. Here's
the song of the redeemed. Listen to this. This is Revelation
5, 9. They sung a new song. And it said this. Thou art worthy,
the Lamb. He's worthy to take the book,
to open the seals there. For thou was slain and has redeemed
us to God by the blood out of every Kindred, tongue, people,
and nation. God has a people all over this
world. And he's redeemed them by his
blood and he's gonna have them. God's not willing that any of
them should perish but that all should come to repentance. That's
it. Look at verse five of Ephesians
three. He says, he says, which in other
ages was not made known. That's this mystery. under the
sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets
by the Spirit, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs. Do you
realize what that's saying? If one of you all had a parent,
a father, a mother, who was rich, and they died and they called
you in to sit down and hear the reading, or they called the heirs
in, And let's say you're sitting there waiting for the lawyer
to read the will, and some stranger appears at the door and says,
wait a minute, I'm a fellow heir. What would you do? You'd say, well, let's see some
proof of that. We've never heard of you before.
We've never seen you before. Can you walk in here at my father's
death and claim an equal share in this inheritance? Come on
now. You wouldn't be happy, would
you? My point is this. Do you realize the implications,
the astounding truth of this fact to a believing
Jew back then? who have been taught all your
life under the old covenant that the Gentiles were just Gentile
dogs, that's what they called them, uncircumcised. Is there any hope for a Gentile
back then? Only if they first become a Jew, that's what they
would say, they gotta be circumcised, they gotta do this, they gotta
do that. So you understand the implications and how startling
that would be to an untaught, even an untaught believer. You
remember when Peter jumped up from the table in Galatia, or
Antioch rather, because he was sitting and eating with Gentiles
and he saw some come down from the church in Jerusalem and he
didn't want to be seen eating with those Gentiles and eating
that Gentile food. And you remember what Paul did?
He jumped up and he withstood Peter publicly to the face and
said, Peter, you're not acting right. You're not displaying
the grace and love of God to his people properly. you're leading
people astray, acting as if these Jews are better than these Gentiles,
that the Gentiles are not fellow heirs, fellow sharers. Well, listen, Paul said right
here, that the Gentiles, verse six, should be fellow heirs and
of the same body and partakers, fellowshipers of his promise
in Christ by the gospel whereof I was made a minister according
to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual
working of his power." This is God's work. This is God's way. There's no other way. Now, you
know, in the Old Testament, there were some prophecies of this
fact, even though the mystery had not really been uncovered
fully like it was in Paul's day. But there were some prophecies.
I'll tell you, one of the prophecies that comes to mind is God's promise
to Abraham. Listen to Genesis 12 in verse
three. This is God speaking to Abraham. He said, I will bless
them that bless thee, I will curse them that curse thee, and
in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. Do we realize that there's nothing
about us Nothing in us, nothing by our physical pedigree, nothing
by our economic situation, nothing about our racial situation, nothing
about what we've done, try to do that makes any difference
in God's salvation and a right relationship with God. It's all
what Christ is and has done. The glory of his person. You
see, my salvation isn't valid because of who I am or who you
are. It's valid because of who he
is. God manifests in the flesh. Think about that. I remember
there was an old false preacher back in the 70s who used to come
on the Phil Donahue Show. Do you all remember the Phil
Donahue Show? And this old false preacher, he was a good friend.
Phil didn't even claim to be a believer, but he liked this
guy because he was funny. He was one of those comedian
preachers that keeps people's attention. They liked to have
him in revivals because he makes people laugh. But he didn't preach
the gospel. But this preacher was famous
all over the country and he had a 10 most wanted list. And they
were famous celebrities that this man said, if I could get
these guys saved, I could change the world. I think he had Muhammad
Ali on there. He even had Phil Donahue. He
had to have Phil because he wouldn't get invited back. But he had
all these famous, my friend, that wouldn't change God's way
and will and plan and purpose and predestinating purpose. One
iota. No. It's not about who we are. It's not about what we do in
trying to make ourselves acceptable to God's side. We should be obedient. There's no argument there. We
should follow Christ in everything. Our thoughts, our doctrine, our
way of life, we should do that. But that's not what makes us
righteous before God. That's not what washes us clean
from our sin. Lorianne's gonna be baptized.
That water doesn't wash away your sins, Lorianne. You know
that, don't you? It's the blood of Christ that washes away my
sins. And he did that as much for the
thief on the cross as he did for Paul the apostle. Isn't that
amazing? Christ spoke of this salvation
of the Gentiles in his earthly ministry. Listen to John 10 and
verse 16. He says, other sheep I have which
are not of this foe, this Jewish foe, for them must I also bring
and they shall hear my voice and there shall be one foe and
one shepherd. Look at verse seven, or verse
eight, rather. This was revealed unto me, Paul
said, who am the least of all saints. You know, why did Paul
put himself down like that? He wasn't just putting on a false
mask of humility. Paul looked at himself. He said,
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am
chief. Think about what Paul had done before God brought him
to a saving knowledge of Christ, how he held the coats of those
who stoned that precious saint preacher named Stephen. He went
out to arrest Christians and bring them in and try them and
kill them. And that's the way he saw himself as the least of
all saints, but he still was a saint. And you know what? If you're in Christ Jesus, washed
in his blood, clothed in his righteousness, and brought to
faith in him, you're a saint too. I'm a saint. I've heard people say, well,
I'm a Christian, but I'm no saint. Well, you're not a Christian
then. Because all believers are saints, sanctified is what that
means, set apart for God in Christ. And he says, unto me who am the
least of the saints, all saints, is this grace given that I should
preach among the Gentiles, the unsearchable riches of Christ. Now notice, He didn't say that
I'm sent to preach to the Jews the unsearchable riches of Christ,
but then when I get out here to the Gentiles, I preach only
part of those riches. No, it's all for anyone who stands
before God in Christ. That's a blessing, folks. And
he says in verse nine, and to make all men see what is the
fellowship of this mystery, which from the beginning of the world
have been hidden in God. God didn't reveal this back in
the Old Testament like he did in the New Testament. Who created
all things by Jesus Christ to the intent that now unto the
principalities and powers and heavenly places might be known
by the church, the manifold wisdom of God. You know, the wisdom of God,
is so much higher than the wisdom of man that it makes the wisdom
of man naturally seem foolish. That's what 1 Corinthians chapter
one says. Because you think about it, in
our wisdom, even in false Christianity, there's always a hierarchy. There's
always those who are high up and those who are down low and
everybody in between. And you climb the hierarchy by
how good of a Christian you are in God's sight. My friend, that
is so ungodly. Now I know there are people who
have more gifts than others. I know people who are more obedient
than others. I know there are times when,
I had an old buddy up in West Virginia, he'd look at a person
who claimed to be a believer who was doing something he shouldn't
be doing, and he'd look at him, he'd say, he run a wheel off.
Well, I know there are times that even believers can run a
wheel off. But my friend, here's the point, and this is the riches,
the unsearchable riches of Christ. That still doesn't affect in
any degree, the righteousness that we have before God that
saves us. Now, it'll affect us. It'll affect
our relationship in the sense of our thinking, our growth,
even bring our assurance into question, which if we're looking
to Christ, we should always be assured of our faith. My friend,
this thing of having a right relationship with God, It's in
Christ. And he says, and that's the wisdom
of God. And verse 11, according to the eternal purpose which
he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord, there's the whole thing
right there. God's eternal purpose for me, he purposed in Christ. If you're a believer, God's eternal
purpose for you, he purposed in Christ. Verse 12, in whom
we have, now listen to this, don't let this get by you. in
whom we have boldness, liberty, confidence, and access with confidence
by the faith of Him. I believe that means the faithfulness
of Christ, but it would include our faith in Him because that's
God-given by which we look unto Jesus, the author and finisher
of our faith. Boldness. Confidence. I believe that thief on the cross,
who was hanging there on that cross under the justice of the
law, and as he himself said to the thief on the left, we deserve
what we're getting. I believe that thief on the cross,
once God showed him his sinfulness and brought him to Christ, to
look to Christ, I believe he had that boldness, that confidence,
And you know what it was? It was because of the faithfulness
of Christ, spoken in Christ's words. Today, you'll be with
me in paradise. Do you know he speaks those same
words to every sinner who's brought to look to him as the author
and finisher of their faith? Whatever day you die, you'll
be with Christ. And so Paul concludes it this
way. He says, wherefore, for this
reason I desire that you faint not. Don't give up at hearing
about my troubles, my tribulations for you, which is your glory. Think about that. Don't be discouraged. Don't take a defeated attitude
from the fact that you're going through troubles or a brother
or sister's going through troubles. Pray for them, help them. but considered as our glory.
Now, how do you do that? Well, nothing, well, let me put it
to you this way in close. First of all, who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justified, nobody.
Who can condemn us? It's Christ that died. yea rather
is risen again, seated at the right hand of the Father, ever
living to make intercession. If they put me in jail for preaching,
Christ is not going to cease to be my mediator and my advocate,
my intercessor. And nothing can separate us from
the love of God in Christ. Nothing at all. May the Lord
be glorified in his word. All right.