Well, good morning, everyone.
If you'd open your Bibles with me to Ephesians chapter four,
we continue our study in Ephesians chapter four this morning. Before
we begin, let's bow before our Lord and seek his blessing. Our Father, we've gathered together
this morning to worship your holy name. We've gathered together
this morning, great need to hear a word from thee. And Father,
I pray that you would, by your spirit, enable us this morning
to hear a word from your heart to ours. Father, without thee,
we can do nothing. Father, I beg of you that you
would enable me this morning to rightly divide the word of
truth and to preach your dear son in truth and with a heart
of love and compassion, love for thee and love for thy people,
love for sinners. And Father, be with us as we
hear. We can't hear unless you give us a hearing ear. We can't
believe unless you give us a heart that would believe, a heart of
faith. And Father, enable us to worship. How I beg of thee
that you deliver us from just going through the motions of
religion, marking time. But Father, that you enable us
to worship. Lord, we pray for ourselves. Father, we pray for
all of your people, wherever they gather together today to
worship Thee. Father, bless your people. Get
glory to your name, we pray. Father, for those who are hurting
and who are sick and in times of deep, deep trial, Father,
we pray for them. There are many, there are many
hard and difficult cases. Father, we hold them all up to
Thee, because we know You're able. You're able to heal, you're
able to comfort, you're able to deliver. And Father, we cry
out to thee, pray that you would do what's right and what's best
and that you'd comfort the hearts of your people. All these things
we ask and we give thanks, that name which is above every name,
the name of Christ our Savior, amen. I've titled our lesson this morning,
He Led Captivity, Captive. Last week we ended in verse six,
we're gonna skip verse seven for the time being. And Lord
willing, we'll come back to that next week and look at the gifts
that God, the Holy Spirit gives to his church. But before we
can look at the gifts that God gives, I want us to see who it
is that gives those gifts, why he gives them to his people.
Now believers, remember we're all one body. One body has one
purpose and one goal. This morning I want to look at
the head of the church. the one who gives these gifts
to men. Why it is he's qualified to be
the one to give these gifts to his people. And we'll pick up
in verse eight, Paul says, wherefore he saith, when he ascended up
on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. And
what Paul is referring to here is when the Savior ascended back
to heaven, is there on Mount Olivet, he ascended back to heaven,
the disciples watched him ascend up into the clouds. And Christ
ascended back to heaven. because he'd accomplished everything
the father sent him to earth to do. He'd done it all. He'd
accomplished the salvation of the people that the father gave
him to save, and he ascended back to heaven. He sat down on
the right hand of the throne of his father as the successful
savior. And this was the eternal purpose
of God being fulfilled. I want you to look back at Psalm
68. It's the eternal purpose of God that Christ the son Come to earth, successfully save
all of God's elect, and then return to heaven. This is God's
eternal purpose. There was never a doubt that
this is what the Savior would do. Psalm 68, verse 18. Thou hast ascended on high. Thou
hast led captivity captive. Thou hast received gifts for
men, yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might
dwell among them. Now David wrote this psalm hundreds,
maybe a thousand years before Christ ever came into flesh.
And he wrote it in the past tense. He wrote it, said, you have already
ascended on high. You have already led captivity
captive. And I can tell you why David
wrote that in the past tense. Because in the purpose of God,
the transaction was already done. Christ is the lamb slain from
the foundation of the world in the purpose of God. This thing
was already done. God already saw his people as
saved. He already saw them as righteous.
He already saw them as justified. And he saw them that way because
they were. They have already been justified. They were already
saved. Their sin debt had already been
paid because the purpose of God is just as sure as the past act
of God. And David knew exactly what he
was saying. because he's trusting the same savior that we trust
today. And when Christ returned to glory,
he fulfilled the type of the high priest who went behind the
veil once a year on the day of atonement to make intercession
for his leg. Christ has ascended back to glory.
We can't see him just like the children of Israel couldn't see
the high priest when he went behind the veil. But he's there
behind the veil making intercession for his people. He's there as
the great high priest pleading his blood for the forgiveness
of the sins of his people. He's making intercession as the
mighty conqueror, the one who's already defeated every enemy
of God's people. And now the mighty conqueror
is there, he's the king. Nothing can ever take away the
salvation that he earned for his people. And when Christ returned
to heaven, Paul said he led captivity captive. David said it first,
Paul's quoting him. He led a whole train of conquered
foes behind him. Those foes who had tried to take
God's elect captive and did take them captive, Christ came and
set his people free. He conquered all those who would
conquer his people. And what Paul's making reference
here to is those triumphant parades that they had at that time. A
king and his army would go out to battle. And when they were
victorious, They'd return home in this great military victory
parade. First would come the king, then
his generals and lieutenants behind him, then the soldiers,
and then behind them was the captive king, and the captive
general, the captive army that they had just defeated, following
behind them in chains, in shame, in defeat. Well, that's what
Christ did to every enemy of God's elect. He captured them
and led them captive. He made a show of them openly.
Christ has conquered every enemy who would ever try to capture,
take captive God's elect. He conquered every enemy that
would enslave his people and he made them slaves, slaves to
him and freed his people. I'll give you a few examples.
The first one is the nature of flesh that's in all of God's
people. God's elect are born just like
every other son of Adam. We're born rebels against God,
we refuse to believe Him, we refuse to bow to Him. And Christ
conquers His people. He conquers them and gives them
a new nature. A nature that's willing to bow
to Him. A nature that does believe Him, that can't believe on anything
but Him. And I'll tell you when that happens.
When does He conquer His people? When the mighty conqueror comes.
In the day of His power. and reveals himself to his people.
He makes them willing, doesn't he? Makes them willing, glad
to bow to Christ. And the Savior, David says, has
already taken those people to glory in him, in him. We're there right now. Every
believer right now is seated in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus, in Christ. A believer isn't as sure for
heaven as if we're already there. Brethren, we are already there.
Already seated there in Christ our representative, in Christ
our mighty conqueror. He conquered the nature of our
flesh. Our sinful, rebellious flesh
can never cause us to lose that salvation. Second, our Savior led the law
captive. Look over Colossians chapter
two. The law is against God's people
tried to condemn God's people. But Christ came and he led the
law captive. The law cannot condemn his people
anymore. Colossians 2 verse 13. For it's God which worketh in
you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Do all things
without murmurings and disputing that you may be, see I'm in the
wrong place. Well, take my word for it. He's led the law captive. He's
led the law captive. At the cross, here's how he did
it. Christ made an end of the law. He made an end of the law
for his people because he fulfilled everything the law requires.
The law demanded his death. It can never demand yours. Then
Christ our Savior led sin captive. Sin has kept us from being able
to believe on Christ. Now, sin should not have dominion
over you. Not anymore. Because in Christ,
you're not under the law. You're under grace. So sin can't
stop you from believing Christ anymore. He led that sin captive. Now look at 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy
chapter two. Here's the fourth thing. Christ led Satan captive. Well, hmm. I went through all these yesterday,
that's the wrong. Yeah, here it is, verse 26. That they may
recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken
captive by him at his will. Satan took people captive at
his will, and Christ set them free by his will. See, his will
is mightier. He crushed the serpent's head.
The sacrifice of Christ took away Satan's ability to accuse
God's elect. He can't, I mean, he'll accuse,
but he can't make any charge stick because the sacrifice of
Christ put away the sin of God's people and made them innocent,
made them righteous, made them not guilty. Christ, the mighty
conqueror leads Satan behind him in shame and defeat because
he can't accuse God's people anymore. And then fifth, Christ has led
death captive. So many of our brethren right
now are on their deathbeds. But there's no reason for the
believer to fear death. Our bodies will still die. But
Christ took the power of death away so that his people will
never die the second death. You know, we come here every
week, hear the gospel, hear the same gospel from a different
text every week. I hope that familiarity with
this blessing doesn't cause us to take it for
granted. Doesn't cause us to think that
we're just going through motions. We're not playing games here.
Brother, this is life and death. And when the day comes that I
get the call that one of you is on your deathbed, I don't ever want it on my conscience
that I didn't prepare you, that I didn't take God's word and
prepare you for that moment. The believer has no reason to
fear death. Christ took the power out of
the way. Christ our Savior conquered every enemy of his people all
by himself. He won the war alone. He alone
is the mighty conqueror. The captain of our salvation
won the war not by leading a big army. He did it by fighting alone,
by fighting alone. Now how did our Savior defeat
all of those enemies? It's by the son of God becoming
flesh. Look back in our text, Ephesians
four verse nine. Now he that ascended, what is
it? But then he also descended first
into the lower parts of the earth. As Christ is going to descend,
he had to descend first into the lower parts of the earth.
Now Paul's not saying there that Christ actually went to the place
that we called hell. That's not what he's talking
about at all on the cross. Christ did suffer the punishment
of hell that his people deserve. When the father turned his back
on him, took his gracious presence and loving presence from his
son, Christ did suffer the punishment of hell that his people deserve.
But he didn't go to the place that we call hell or that we
call Hades. I can show you that, look at
Psalm 139. Paul says he descended first
into the lower parts of the earth. What's the lower parts of the
earth? In Psalm 139, David tells us. Psalm 139, verse 13. For thou hast possessed my reins.
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 well. My substance was not hid
with thee when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought
in the lower parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance,
yet being unperfect, and in thy book all my members were written,
which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of
them. Now this is Christ our Savior speaking. The lowest parts
of the earth is his mother's womb. The lowest parts of the
earth is Mary's womb, when the ancient of days. became an embryo
in the womb of one of his creatures. Now, imagine that. The Prince of Glory. John said in Revelation that
when he saw heaven, he said that there's no need of sun there.
The Lamb's the light thereof. He's the one who lights glory. And he humbled himself to come
down so far he became a microscopic embryo in the womb of a virgin. And a poor, unknown, little girl
who was looked down on by all of society. That's the lowest
parts of the earth. And the son of God was made flesh
for this reason. So he could come and save his
people who are in the flesh. He had to come in the flesh to
be their representative. And now that the son of God is
made, now that he's taken on him flesh, now he can defeat
every enemy that his people have in the flesh. And this is what
I love about this. Not only do I love what God's
done, I love the way that he does it. He defeated every enemy
of his people. by using their own weapons against
them. He made every last one of them
fall into their own snare. And how Christ defeats those
enemies shows to us the nature and the need of the people that
he came to save. Number one, Christ conquered
the law for his people, and he used the law's own weapons against
it. Now, how'd he do that? How is it that Christ defeated
the law? It's by being made flesh made under the law and then obeying
the law perfectly so that the law cannot continue. See, the
law is against us. We can't do what the law commands
us to do. So Christ came and he obeyed
the law for his people. He obeyed the law as the representative
of his people. Now the law is done. The law
is done for every believer. God's people don't fear the law.
because Christ kept it for us. God's people don't fear that
the law is going to condemn us. The law already condemned our
substitute. He suffered that punishment for us. The law can't
condemn us. It already condemned our substitute.
God's people do not have to fear the law. How silly is it to fear
the law when the law is not even hunting you? The law isn't even
trying to condemn you. What are you fearing it for? Christ made an end of the law.
And he so fully made an end of the law, the believer has absolutely
no relationship with God's law whatsoever. None whatsoever. Don't fall into the trap of using
the law as your rule of life. Don't do it. Don't do it. All
you'll end up doing is feeling bad because the law is going
to condemn you because you can't do it good enough. Don't look
to the law. Look to Christ. Look to Christ. Follow Him. He's
our rule of life. If we look to the law, you know
what we're going to end up doing? The bare minimum. How can I get by
and just do the bare minimum of what the law says? Grace says
Christ did it all. You have all in Christ abundantly,
richly. Look to Christ. He made an end
of the law by using the law's weapon. The law's weapon is to
condemn us for our sin. He was condemned, so his people
can never be condemned. Second, Christ conquered sin
for his people. He conquered the sin that would
damage. Now, how did he do that? Is by
using sin's weapon against it. He, the spotless lame, the perfect
son of God, was made sin for his people. Since he had no sin
of his own, since he's the spotless lamb, his suffering and his death
and his blood can put that sin away forever. So that God who
sees everything says, I don't see it anymore. God who remembers
everything, who never forgets anything, says their sins and
iniquities will I remember no more. Now, how can he do that?
Because there's nothing to remember. The blood of Christ put away
the sin of God's people. He paid the sin debt of God's
people in full. There's no more debt. There's
no more debt. The blood of Christ washed His
people white as snow. So there's nothing left to condemn
the believer. Now that doesn't mean we'll say,
well, I'll sin that grace may abound. I'll sin because it doesn't
matter. No, no, no, no, no. Hate your sin. Hate your sin. Make it your determination to
never sin again. But when you do, remember, we
have an advocate. We have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. Hate your sin, but don't fear
it. Sin cannot condemn you if you're
under grace, not under the law. It can. Sin can't sting you again. It already stung Christ. He took
the stinger away when he was made sin and suffered what that
sin deserves. So sin can't have dominion over
you. It can't. It can't stop you from
believing Christ and it can't demand your condemnation because
Christ was condemned for us, for His people. Third, Christ conquered death
for His people. our father was suffering, or
when he was on his deathbed, mine and Becky's father, I'm
talking about, on his deathbed. Jonathan and I, they'd been on
vacation, and Becky, mom, dad flew home. Jonathan and I drove
their car home. And as we, Jonathan and I began our journey home,
you just don't realize how far it is from where we were kind
of Western Canada to here. I mean, we had a long, we had
a lot of time on our hands. And he reached behind him, blindly,
and plucked a CD out of a bucket of CDs Mom and Dad had there
and put it in. A message by Brother Henry. And it was such a blessing. I
was afraid we were going to wear that thing out before we got
home. And we got back home and we said, y'all have to listen
to this message. And mom just set that thing on
continuous play. Just it played constantly. In the very moment our dad took
his last breath, Henry's voice came out of that stereo saying
there's no reason for the believer to fear death. Christ has conquered death for
his people. There's no reason for you to
fear if you trust Christ. Now, how did he do that? By dying
in the place of his people. He suffered, he died, and he
rose again. And this is what he told his
disciples. Because I live, you live. You live, you live in me. Even
though our bodies will die. Now, unless Christ returns first,
our bodies are going to die But there's no reason for the believer
to fear death. It's process. It's process. But for the believer, death is
actually our freedom. It's graduation day. The day
that we get to leave this world and go be made just like Christ.
To see him face to face. That's not your enemy, that's
your friend. Believe Christ it is. And you know, people fear
death for two main reasons that I could think of. First, it's
the fear of the unknown. We all fear the unknown, we don't
know what's gonna happen. People, you see these books and
these charlatans on TV, you know, what happens when we die? What
happens when our bodies die is not an unknown to the believer.
It's not an unknown. We know, God told us, to be absent
from the body is to be present with the Lord. The very moment
we die, we're gonna be with Christ in paradise. Just like our brother
who died on one side of our Lord. The Lord promised him today,
shalt thou be with me in paradise. You will too, the very moment
your body dies. It's not an unknown, we know
exactly what happens. We're gonna be with the Lord.
And the second reason people fear death is the judgment. Boy, people, not even false preachers
use the judgment to try to scare people to death, don't they?
Try to keep people in line. It's appointed unto men once
to die, and after this, the judgment. but there's no judgment for the
believer to fear because there's no judgment for believers. Christ
was already judged for us. Innocent people, righteous people,
they don't fear judgment. Innocent people don't fear appearing
before the judge because the only verdict that can be pronounced
on them is not guilty, not guilty. Enter thou into the rest that
I prepared for you. Our Savior is going to say, when
I ascended on high, I went to prepare a place for you. Enter
into the place that I prepared for you. Now, there's no reason
to fear that. No, there's no reason to fear
death because Christ already died for us. Then thirdly, or
fourthly, excuse me, fourthly, Christ has conquered the grave
for his people. It's always, I don't know what
the right word is, significant to me, to after a funeral go to the graveside,
have a short ceremony, is that the word you
want? A short time there together, and then walk away. That's just significant, to put
that body in the ground And there it is, there it'll be till Christ
returns. But there's no reason for the
believer to fear the grave. No reason to dread it. When Christ
walked out of the tomb, out of the grave, his people did too. They walked out justified. The resurrection of Christ is
the proof, the evidence that his sacrifice took away the sin
of his people and justified them. Christ was made sin. He suffered
and died for that sin. They took a dead body down from
the tree, wrapped it in those linen and those spices. They
laid a dead body in that tomb, rolled the stone in front of
it. There, our Savior lay dead for three days. Now, I can't
explain that. I can't understand that. I just
know it's so because that's what scripture says. But here's what
else I know. The story doesn't end there.
Three days later, our savior arose under his own steam, rolled
that stone away, walked out. The grave could not hold him
any longer because there's no sin left on him. His blood put
it away. Now, our bodies are still going
to die, but that's not the end. When we walk away from that cemetery,
don't ever forget this. This is not the end. For the believer, all the grave
is, is a place for our bodies to rest until that day of a glorious
resurrection when our Savior returns. Do you trust Christ? If you do, One day, you're gonna
come out of the grave, body and soul, the same way our Savior
walked out of that tomb. Without sin, in glorified flesh,
to rise in the air and ever be with the Lord. All the grave
is, is a place to wait for our bodies to rest. And that's what
our Lord called it. He called it a sleep. He called
it a rest. All the grave is, is a place
for our bodies to rest until our Lord raises it. That's all
it is. You're coming out of it. It's
not the end. Because our Savior conquered the grave by going
into it and coming out of it. And here's the last thing. Christ,
our Savior, has conquered Satan. Satan, the accuser of the brethren. Satan, who would deceive God's
elect. Christ has conquered him. Now,
how'd he do that? By using Satan's own weapon against
him. Our Savior allowed Satan to put it into the hearts of
men to crucify the Lord Jesus. He put it into the heart of Judas
to betray him. He put it in the hearts of those
Jews and those Romans to get together and crucify him. He
allowed Satan to do exactly what he wanted to do. Christ willingly
went to the cross. He suffered and died, and that's
exactly what Satan wanted. He was trying to get rid of this
man once and for all. He knew he was the son of God.
He's trying to get rid of the son of God once and for all by
seeing him put to death. And by that sacrifice, by that
willing death for his people, the Savior fulfilled the prophecy
that God gave to Adam and Eve. He let Satan do exactly what
he wanted. And by doing what he wanted, Satan, in effect,
defeated himself. Satan bruised the heel of the
Savior at Calvary, didn't he? And Christ crushed his head.
Christ took away his power. He put him out of business. Now
the battle's over. The battle is over. There's no
reason for you to fear Satan. Don't go hunting. Don't go hunting. We won't fare against him any
better than Peter did. Don't go hunting. But now the battle's
over. Christ has put him out of business.
He cannot accuse God's people anymore. The war has been won
by Christ our Savior. Lord willing, next week we're
gonna look at the spoils of war. Here's just a little preview.
Christ won the war by himself, didn't he? And those gifts he
gives to men are the spoils of his victory that he freely gives
to his people. All right, hope I'll be a blessing
to you.