Once Hidden Now Revealed

Turn back to Ephesians Chapter 3. Ephesians Chapter 3. The title of this message, Once Hidden Now Revealed. Once Hidden Now Revealed. When God created the heavens and the earth, He did so on purpose. and for a purpose. There is an eternal purpose which God purposed in Christ in His Son before the creation of the world. God who is infinite in wisdom, knowledge, understanding, and power did not create the world, this WITHOUT DETERMINING THE END FROM THE BEGINNING.

He says over in Isaiah, I HAVE DETERMINED THE END FROM THE BEGINNING. THEREFORE, IN ALL THAT WE SEE THERE IS AN ETERNAL PURPOSE FOR ALL OF IT. He says, I don't understand what's going on, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. God has an eternal purpose for everything that we see and for everything that's going on.

And it's directly connected, related to the glory of God's Son, Jesus Christ. That's why all of this exists. All things created by Him and for Him. God Almighty is going to have a people. out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation under heaven, Jew and Gentile, and they will be united as one people in Christ." In Christ. Listen how Peter describes these people.

First Peter 2.9, But ye are a chosen generation this covers all of God's people he are a chosen generation a royal priesthood a holy nation a peculiar people a purchased people that you should show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light that's the reason we exist THAT WE WOULD SHOW FORTH HIS PRAISES, WHO HAS SAVED US FROM OUR SINS, WHO HAS CALLED US OUT OF DARKNESS OF IGNORANCE AND DEATH INTO HIS MARVELOUS LIGHT.

When I was going over this this morning, I was thinking, LORD, THANK YOU, I SEE, I SEE, I UNDERSTAND, I UNDERSTAND THE GOSPEL, I UNDERSTAND REDEMPTION, I UNDERSTAND. I can't understand all that God has done, but I understand why God created the heavens and the earth. I understand why all this exists. I understand. I see. I see. The Lord has given me an understanding.

He's given some of you an understanding. You see that all of this, including yourself, is for the glory of Jesus Christ. That'll help you to get over yourself real quick. when you understand that when Christ becomes all and in all to you all and in all now Paul says here in verse 1 he says for this cause for this reason I Paul the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles Paul warned the Ephesians the Ephesian believers to understand why he was in prison he wrote this in prison He wrote some epistles while he was in prison, and you'd never know he was in prison. He never wrote and complained. You won't hear him complaining. Not at all.

And it may seem strange that an apostle of Christ, a servant of God, would suffer imprisonment. This is God's servant. But he suffered imprisonment for the gospel he preached. that included us Gentiles. God was going to save us some Gentiles as well as some Jews.

Paul understood that he was in Rome, he was in a Roman prison, not because of something evil he did, but because he's the Lord's servant. He's the Lord's He's not a prisoner of Rome. He didn't say that, did he? He does not say, I am a prisoner of Rome. He says, I'm a prisoner of Jesus Christ. I'm a captive of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has put me here and he's put me here. He's telling the Ephesians, he's put me here for your sakes. and that gave him comfort, that gave him peace. When you do realize, when you realize in your heart that all things are of God, you can have some real peace. You don't have to ask, what's going on? I don't understand. All things are of God. This is of God.

Eli said, it's the Lord. Let him do as he pleases. When God killed his two sons, Top 9 Finneas, God killed both his sons. And he said, when he heard of it, he said, it's the Lord, let him do as he please. It's the Lord. When God took all 10 of Job's children at the same time, 10 caskets, he said, the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.

Blessed be the name of the Lord. all things are of God they are so Paul was in prison but he was in prison for the Gentiles not because of them but for them for their sakes God's purpose in saving the Gentiles included Paul's imprisonment You know it says in the scripture that it was revealed to Paul that bonds and afflictions and imprisonments awaited him in every city. He was warned of God, this is what's awaiting you in every city. But it's through his imprisonments that God gave us Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Philemon. When you read those, you really wouldn't know he was in prison, would you?

They're so powerful, so honoring to Christ, so God-honoring. You know, afflictions, afflictions, I tell you, they don't drive God's children away, they drive them to Him. They bring them to Him. Now Paul attributes his stewardship to the grace of God. They're in verse 2. If you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God, which is given me to you, the word dispensation, it means stewardship or administration. If you heard of it, you've heard of the stewardship that God's given me for you. He's an apostle to the Gentiles. and you've heard of it and he knew they'd heard of it.

God entrusted Paul with a special ministry to the Gentiles. He was not acting on his own authority. God Himself commissioned Paul to preach Christ to the nations, and that gospel spread throughout the nations all the way to Spring Lake 2,000 years later. Here it is. us gentiles, us heathens, that's what they called us. That's what the Jews called us, a bunch of heathens? Well, we were. You can call me a heathen, I don't care. I probably called it when I was a grown-up anyway. I acted like one.

But listen here in Acts 19, 15, 16. THE LORD SAID UNTO HIM, GO THY WAY, FOR HE IS A CHOSEN VESSEL TO ME, PAUL IS A CHOSEN VESSEL TO 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 took this Pharisee who despised Jesus Christ. He was an absolute terror to the church. He said, I wasted it. He's the one stood there at Stephen, when they stoned Stephen, he held their coach while they stoned him. He gave approval to it. And then God brought him down on the road to Damascus and saved him and made him an apostle, a preacher to us, us Gentiles. Now there's two words that stand out in this text, these scriptures. The first word is REVELATION and the second word is MYSTERY.

In verse 3 it says, How that by REVELATION He made known unto me the MYSTERY, the GOSPEL. The GOSPEL is a MYSTERY until God reveals it to you, until God opens your heart it's a MYSTERY. To the Greek it's foolishness, to the Jew it's a stumbling block, it's a MYSTERY. UNTIL GOD OPENS YOUR EYES AND THEN YOU SEE AND FALL IN LOVE WITH CHRIST. HOW THAT BY REVELATION HE MADE KNOWN TO ME THE MYSTERY.

PAUL EMPHASIZES THAT HIS MESSAGE WAS REVEALED TO HIM BY THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. REMEMBER HE SPENT THREE YEARS IN THE DESERT. with the Lord. He said, I didn't receive my message, my gospel by men, by the other apostles. I received it just like they did, by the Lord Himself.

That's why it says in Galatians 1.12, For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. He made Himself known to me, and everything I'm telling you, He revealed to me. I didn't figure it out. He just revealed it to me. I'm giving to you what He gave to me. That's what Paul said. Paul didn't invent the gospel. He did not discover it through education. He didn't put this clue and this clue and this clue.

I was watching a movie one time. It was a treasure hunt and they left a clue. And then that clue led to another clue, and that clue led to another clue, and they was putting all those clues together before they could find the treasure. We're not putting clues together, it's a revelation.

Paul didn't discover this through education, he didn't receive it from men. The Lord Jesus Christ gave him what he's given us. He got it directly from the Lord. THE GOSPEL IS A REVELATION OF A PERSON, IT'S NOT A REVELATION OF FACTS. WE'RE NOT SAVED BY BELIEVING FACTS.

Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. He didn't believe there is a God, was a God, or he believed the God that is. He believed God. And that's when a person is saved is when they come to believe God PERSONALLY. THEY BELIEVE GOD. Listen to Job 11 7.

Canst thou by searching find out God, God who is infinite, God who is glory, God who is higher than the heavens? Can you find Him out by searching? You can know some things about Him through creation, but God must reveal Himself for you to know God as a person. TO KNOW HIM AND HIS ATTRIBUTES. TO KNOW HIM.

HE SAID ETERNAL LIFE. OUR LORD SAID IN JOHN 17, ETERNAL LIFE IS TO KNOW GOD AND JESUS CHRIST WHOM HE HAS SENT. THAT'S A RELATIONSHIP. HE'S SPEAKING OF A RELATIONSHIP. THAT'S WHAT IT IS TO KNOW GOD. IT IS TO HAVE A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD. IT'S NOT TO HAVE A RELATIONSHIP WITH DOCTRINE.

I believe, you know, the doctrines of grace, what we call the doctrines of grace. Christ is not without His doctrines, but it's Christ that we believe, it's Christ that saves, and we believe His teachings, that's what doctrine is, we believe His teachings. Listen to these scriptures.

In Isaiah 53 verse 1, To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? Revealed. In Matthew 11, 25, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes. Remember our Lord said, Who do men say that I am? Some say you're a prophet, some say you're Elijah. Who do you say I am? Peter said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God. He said, flesh and blood didn't reveal this to you, Peter. My Father which is in heaven has revealed this to you. That's why you believe, that's why you know who I am. My Father which is in heaven and your Father which is in heaven has revealed this to you. We are not left to figure out salvation on our own. If so, we'll get it wrong every time. We will get it wrong every time.

God reveals Himself through the preaching of the gospel. And then we have the word mystery. In Scripture, a mystery is not something mysterious like we would think of that word today as it's used today, but a truth once hidden that God has now revealed. What is this mystery? It's the gospel. It's the gospel of Christ. And it has to do, not only with the Jews, whom the Lord has saved some of them, and He will save some, but it also has to do with Gentiles, whom the Lord is going to save some, and that's going to make up the body of Christ. We'll see this as we go along. You see, listen, before Christ came, the full truth concerning the Gentiles being fellow-heirs of Christ was HIDDEN.

The Jews thought they were IT. We were DOGS. That's literally what they called us, DOGS. That's what the Lord said to that Syrophoenician woman, it's not right to give the children's bread to DOGS. That's what they called us. They thought that the Gentile world, as far as the Gentiles go, were just goners. But no, you know, here's what they didn't realize. They had the same father we have, Adam. We all came from Adam, Jew and Gentile.

It's just that God made a choice, He made a difference. He chose Abraham, and Abraham and Isaac, and then Isaac Jacob, then He had the 12 patriarchs, and then it came on down to He gave them the types, the pictures, His Word, He gave that to Israel. HE CALLED JACOB, HE CHANGED HIS NAME TO ISRAEL, AND THEN THEY BECAME KNOWN AS ISRAELITES, AND HE GAVE THEM, YOU KNOW, IN THE WILDERNESS, AS WE'VE LOOKED AT EXODUS, HE GAVE THEM THE LAW, HIS WORD, THE TYPES, THE PICTURES, THE CEREMONIES, AND THE CIRCUMCISION, THAT'S WHAT MADE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THEM AND GENTILES.

BUT ISRAEL IN THE WILDERNESS IS THE TYPE OF THE CHURCH. THERE WERE BELIEVERS among the Israelites and they were unbelievers. In the church there are believers and there's terrors. There will always be terrors among the wheat just like there was then. But listen here in verse 5. The Gentiles he's telling us here is a part of this mystery of the gospel.

WHICH IN OTHER AGES WAS NOT MADE KNOWN UNTO THE SONS OF MEN." For 4,000 years, for the most part, the Gentile world was left in darkness. They were left in total darkness. The Word of God, the Law, the Sacrifice was all given to Israel. It was all given to them. for the most part to the sons of men the world in general did not know this mystery of the gospel of God's eternal purpose in Christ concerning Jew and Gentiles becoming one in Christ. that the Gentiles in verse 6 should be fellow heirs and of the same body and partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel.

This ought to make us excited because we are those Gentiles that He has saved. Do you believe the gospel? You're part of the Gentiles that the Lord came to save. He saved some Jews and he saved some Gentiles and there's one people there's one body there's one holy nation That the Lord Jesus Christ has saved and it's for his glory See this is the revealed mystery Gentiles are heirs with the Jews they would have never believed that Paul is telling the Ephesians here you're not second-class citizens I was at a service years ago, years ago, and this preacher, so-called, he was standing there in the pulpit preaching, and he was talking about being a Baptist. He said being a Baptist is like flying first class, and everything else is coach. like flying coach and this is what paul was telling them the jews whom the lord saved has no more advantage over you you're not second-class citizens you're not inferior to them whom the lord has saved you're one you are one in christ you're one they are fellow heirs MEMBERS OF THE SAME BODY AND PARTAKERS OF GOD'S PROMISES IN CHRIST.

THOSE PROMISES ARE GIVEN BACK TO ABRAHAM. THEY BELONG TO US, US WHO BELIEVE, THEY BELONG TO US. THE OLD TESTAMENT PROPHETS HAD A GLIMPSE OF THIS TRUTH. DO YOU REMEMBER BACK THERE HE SAID GOD SAID TO ABRAHAM THROUGH YOUR SEED WHICH IS CHRIST, HE SAID ALL NATIONS OF THE EARTH WOULD BE BLESSED. WHAT'S THE PROMISE? It's the promise of eternal life, the life of God, spiritual life. It's a promise of forgiveness, the forgiveness of sins.

Nobody wants that until God saves them. And then the number one thing you want is to have your sins forgiven because that's the one thing that separates you from God. LORD FORGIVE ME, PUT AWAY MY SINS." Because if He puts away my sins, there's no barrier between me and God. There's acceptance with God.

It says over in Ephesians 1, He has made us accepted in the Beloved. Not acceptable, accepted, received. God has received us in Christ way before we even knew Him. Before we ever brought to faith. HE MADE US ACCEPTED. MY FAITH DOES NOT MAKE ME ACCEPTED IN CHRIST. GOD MADE ME ACCEPTED.

FAITH IS THE EVIDENCE OF SALVATION. IT'S NOT THE CAUSE OF IT. REPENTANCE IS THE EVIDENCE, NOT THE CAUSE. THEY GET THAT TURNED AROUND BACKWARDS IN ARMENIANISM. THEY HAVE YOUR FAITH. IF YOU'LL BELIEVE GOD, THEN YOU'LL MAKE WHAT HE DID EFFECTIVE TO YOU. Who He is makes what He did effectual to me. Who He is.

And then every spiritual blessing is ours in Christ. There's no advantage of a Jew being saved over a Gentile being saved. There's no advantage. All the promises of God are fulfilled in Christ to every believer. To every believer. I have the same promises that were given to Abraham. I have all those promises. Then Paul shows his humility here. He speaks of this gift of grace that was given to him of God for us Gentiles. He attributes everything to the grace of God. His salvation is by grace. Is all your salvation by grace? If you're saved it is. If you're saved it is. You know you didn't have anything to do with it. You didn't have anything to do with it.

Paul knows that his ministry was all of grace, it was given to him, his GIFTS to PREACH I had someone tell me not too long ago, he said, I don't know how much, how do you know so much about the gospel? It's a gift! Just like, do you know anything? You know the gospel, it's a gift! It's a gift. I can't boast about it. Paul said, what do you have that you didn't receive? And if you received it, then why boast about it as if you didn't receive it? Like you came up with it.

Education has not enabled me to do this, God has, God has. And His power to preach is by the grace of God and your power to believe is by the grace of God. These things were not gained by our through human ability or education but by the effectual working of God's power in you.

Just sit down sometime by yourself, get off to yourself, and just sit there and think, the Lord has saved me, I believe, I believe. Lord, I believe, help my unbelief, but I do believe, I know I believe. I might be the village idiot tomorrow, but I know today I believe. I do. Lord, you know my heart. You know, Peter said, you know I love you. And that other one said, Lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief. Help me to love you and help me to believe. And then he says here that it is by the grace of God, here in verse eight, he says, unto me, who am last and the least of all saints.

You know, he never forgot Stephen. He never forgot standing there and bashing his head in with stones. That's a horrible death. That's a horrible death to watch someone take stones and bash someone's head in. And you're giving consent to it. That's an execution. That's what they did. That was an execution. He remembered that. He remembered how he put people in prison. He remembered how he busted up families. and haul them off to prison.

And he said, I'm less than the least of saints. None of you have done to the church what I've done. None of you have done to Christ what I've done. Unto me who am less than the least of the saints is this grace given. It's grace, grace upon grace. That I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. Paul speaks with humility here. He considered himself less than the least of the saints, but he says, God gave me grace to preach Christ among the Gentiles. He said, I'm glad to do it. There was a time he would have died and went to hell before he had said anything to a Gentile about God's mercy and grace.

Like Jonah. Remember Jonah? He did not want to go to Nineveh. You know why he didn't want to go to Nineveh? You know why? HE DIDN'T WANT GOD TO HAVE MERCY ON HIM. HE SAID, I KNEW YOU WAS A MERCIFUL GOD. I KNEW YOU'D DO THIS. I KNEW YOU'D SHOW MERCY. JONAH WANTED TO SEE FIRE FALL DOWN FROM HEAVEN ON THOSE PEOPLE. THAT'S WHAT HE WANTED TO SEE. BUT GOD MADE HIM SEE HIS MERCY AND HIS GRACE. What did Paul preach? He said, The unsearchable riches of Christ.

Is all you all do is preach Christ? That's the same message. I was like, All you do? There was a man said to me one time, he came a few times to 13th Street, and he said to me one time, Oh, he never preaches his election. Well, you know what, it took me some years later to learn something. That man came a few times, and evidently he had a problem with election. And every time he came, God had Henry preaching election, or at least bringing out part of it in the message.

And I realize now that was his problem. I tell you this, when God saves a sinner, He's going to meet that sinner at his point of rebellion. Whatever your point of rebellion is, that's where God will meet you. Whatever it is, that's where He'll meet the sinner, is at their point of rebellion. Because that's where He's going to break him. That's where He's going to break him. That's where God's going to be God, or you're going to perish. But he said he preached the unsearchable riches of Christ. His unsearchable riches of His grace, we can't exhaust that. His mercy, His righteousness, His redemption, His peace, eternal life, can we exhaust that?

I haven't even began to scratch the surface. And if you die before I do, you're going to realize, John, you didn't even scratch the surface. You're going to realize, oh my, the half has never yet been told. Never yet. That has to be some of the first things realized in glory. Oh, the half was never yet told.

And then verses 9 through 11, we see the eternal purpose of God revealed. He says in verse 9, He says God, and I'm going to paraphrase this, God would have all kinds of people, the Jews thought it was just them, have nothing to do with us, but God would have all sorts of men, all sorts of men and women, all kinds of people to see His glorious mystery of redemption that was hidden in Himself. in uniting and believing Jews and Gentiles in one body, in Christ, living in such harmony.

You know, there's so much prejudice in this world. Good nights are so much prejudiced. All that's gone in glory, all of it. All of it's gone in glory. We all love each other, no matter what nationality, What nationality? Every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. You know, the scriptures doesn't call us races like they do in this country. There's only one race, it's the human race. He is made of one blood, all nations. And He's going to save out of all, out of this world, He's going to save out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation.

That's going to be in glory. And they're going to love each other. They're going to rejoice with each other. And they're going to be brothers and sisters in Christ. They're going to be brothers and sisters in the Lord. And there won't be any of this stuff that sin has caused. There won't be any of that no more.

Here's the wisdom of God on display. to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God even the elect angels and this is it's not like they it's only God knows the end from the beginning the elect angels learn about God's wisdom IN REDEMPTION THROUGH HIS DEALINGS WITH THE CHURCH BY WATCHING US AS TIME HAS GONE BY. THEY HAVE LEARNED THIS MYSTERY OF REDEMPTION BY WATCHING THE CHURCH. THE CHURCH IS A TESTIMONY TO THE WISDOM, GRACE, AND POWER OF GOD EVEN TO THE ELECT ANGELS.

Now here's just a thought I had this morning, this thought struck me. They're not fallen. God chose them to keep their first estate. They don't know what sin is, like you and I know. We sing, you know, O how merciful, worthy is the lamb that was slain. But I do know, I think this, by observing God becoming a man, GOD KEEPING HIS OWN LAW. GOD ALMIGHTY IN HUMAN FLESH GOING TO THE CROSS. GOD TORMENTING GOD THAT WE MIGHT BE JUSTIFIED FROM OUR SINS. HE WAS DELIVERED FOR OUR OFFENSES, RAISED AGAIN FOR OUR JUSTIFICATION.

THEY HAD TO LEARN! THEY HAVE HAD TO HAVE LEARNED! My, what we have been saved from, even though we've not fallen, but they've seen what WE'VE BEEN SAVED FROM! THEY SEE THAT! THEY HAVE LEARNED THE WISDOM OF GOD! THE GRACE OF GOD BY WATCHING US! THAT'S WHAT HE'S SAYING RIGHT HERE! THE ELECT ANGELS HAVE LEARNED ABOUT GOD'S WISDOM THROUGH HIS DEALINGS WITH THE CHURCH!

And they've learned this, here's what they've learned, that the ETERNAL PURPOSE OF GOD HAS EVERYTHING TO DO WITH HIS SON JESUS CHRIST. Everything. They didn't know that from the beginning. They've learned this. And we've learned this, haven't we? according in verse 11 according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in christ jesus our lord this was not an afterthought with god the salvation of jews and gentiles together in christ was eternally purposed in god before the world began he just chose the jews and made them an example for us to learn from these are our for our examples and that what the scripture says they were i mean there's many old testament saints i mean saved believers saved but they were all this was for our learning it's for our learning we know listen we know by the word of god we have the complete word of god we know way more than they knew and they know a lot but we know a lot more because we have the complete mystery right here given to us revealed now because of his death In Christ we have WE, who's he talking about? WE, Jew and Gentile.

Stop the separation. Stop this class distinction. There's not any. There is no class distinction in Christ. We are one in Christ, ONE, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Him. Because of our union to Christ, we have access to God. That right there ought to just astound us. We may come boldly to the throne of grace, we may approach God with confidence and not this slavish fear like it's going to kill us. Our confidence is not in this flesh, it's in Christ.

The Jews had it in the flesh. We'd be Abraham's seed. We are the circumcision. We listen to what Paul says in Philippians 3. For we are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. We are the circumcision, we are the true Israel of God. We are, all who believe, Jew and Gentile.

HE SAID, DON'T LET MY TRIBULATION CAUSE YOU TO FAINT, VERSE 13, WHEREFORE I DESIRE THAT YOU FAINT NOT AT MY TRIBULATION FOR YOU. DON'T FEEL SORRY FOR ME. You know, if I was in prison, I'd probably be boo-hooing. That's me anyway. Paul says, DON'T YOU WEEP FOR ME. DON'T YOU FEEL SORRY FOR ME. THIS IS FOR YOUR GLORY. GOD PUT ME HERE FOR YOU. for you. Don't you lose heart because of my suffering.

My imprisonment serves God's purpose and the spiritual benefit of His Church. Now, Ephesians 3 reveals the GLORIOUS EQUALITY OF ALL BELIEVERS IN CHRIST, JEW AND GENTILES ALIKE ARE ONE IN CHRIST. THEY ARE SAVED BY GRACE, JOINED INTO ONE BODY, PARTAKERS OF THE SAME PROMISE, ACCEPTED IN CHRIST. THIS MYSTERY, ONCE HIDDEN, HAS NOW BEEN REVEALED THROUGH THE PREACHING OF THE GOSPEL. And through the Church, God continues to display His eternal wisdom, grace, and glory. We are one in Christ. We are one in Christ. We are not second-class citizens. We are one. And Christ is all in all.

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