Good morning. I cannot express to you how grateful
we are for you and for the opportunity to be here. visit has been short for us. It's gone by quickly. And you
all will be going home with us in our hearts. And we have a
bulletin board on our wall in the hallway in our church. And
I'm sure that your pictures will be posted there next week when
we get home. So we'll be remembering you often. We love you and we're thankful
for you. I was thinking about that passage
where you were talking about a friend. greater love hath no man than
this, that he lay down his life for his friends." What a friend
we have in Jesus. And then John said, if we walk
in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one
with another, and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ cleanses
us of all of our sins. I heard a brother one time define
fellowship as a bunch of fellows in the same ship. And I thought
that's a good illustration because that's what the church is likened
to in the scriptures. It's likened often to a ship
on the sea. And the Lord said, the way of
the Lord is through the seas. And one day this ship's going
to land in a safe harbor. storms of life will be over. Lisa, I want to thank you from
the bottom of my heart. Lisa has been such a wonderful
hostess to us and taking care of us. We're very, very grateful. Thank you. Let's open our Bibles together
to Ephesians chapter one, Ephesians chapter one. I've been preaching through Isaiah
for several months, maybe a year, year and a half. I don't know
how long it's been. It's been a while. And several, we're in the last
chapter now and everybody keeps asking me, where are you going
next? And so I've been thinking about the book of Ephesians and
I may introduce this book when we get home. But I want to just
speak to you for a few moments on the man and the message. The man and the message. Paul says to the church that
his life and his conversion is a pattern for all believers. and we can identify our own experience
with the Apostle Paul. From the very beginning, Paul
was riding on his high horse from Jerusalem down to Damascus
when the Lord arrested him and spoke to him and knocked him
down into the dirt and changed his name. Now the name Paul means
desired. It means desired. And I'm sorry,
the name Saul, the name Saul, which is what Paul's name was,
means desired. And you remember that Paul refers
to his life as a Pharisee. as one who excelled among his
peers. And he took great pride in the
fact that he was of the tribe of Benjamin. He was a Hebrew
of Hebrews, circumcised the eighth day. Concerning the law, he says,
I was blameless. He was as Saul was in the Old
Testament. You remember the first king of
Israel? The scripture describes him as being head and shoulders
among all other men. And so was the Apostle Paul before
he met the Lord Jesus Christ. He was head and shoulders among
everyone else. He was looked upon and desired
by his peers and he was proud. He thought that the things that
were gained to him, and he thought they were gained to him. And
when he met the Lord Jesus Christ, he said, I came to realize that
those things which I thought were gain were actually to my
detriment. I was trusting in my accomplishments. I was trusting in my work. I
was trusting in my zeal for the hope of my salvation. And the
Lord had to arrest me. He had to stop me in my tracks. He had to knock me off my high
horse. And he changed my name from Saul,
desired, to Paul, little. What a contrast. Now he introduces
himself, not as Apostle Paul, not as Pastor Paul, not as Elder
Paul. You know, those terms are never
used as a title in the scriptures. You know, men today use them
as titles, don't they? And men love titles. They love
to sit in Moses' seat. They love the praise of other
men. But Paul just refers to himself
as Paul. Here I am, a little man, made
small by the grace of God, dependent completely on the Lord Jesus
Christ for all the hope of my salvation. In the book of Revelation,
when the Lord is rebuking the churches of Asia Minor two times,
the Lord says that he hates the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. Now, That's the only place in
all the Word of God where the word Nicolaitan is used, and
the Lord doesn't define it. But believing that the Bible
defines itself, we are forced to look at the word Nicolaitan
and understand what it means by the meaning of the word. If
your name is Nicholas, which is what the word Nicolaitan is
taken from, then your name translated means master over the people. And the Lord Jesus Christ, when
he speaks to these churches, he finds that in one church they
exposed the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, and he said, which I hate also.
And then in another place, they practiced the doctrine of the
Nicolaitans, and the Lord said, I hate it. What can we conclude
from what God says he hates? The doctrine of the Nicolaitans
is clergy laity. That's what it is. And it's practiced
in every religion. And everybody's comfortable with
it. The clergy love it because it gives them power. And the
man in the pew loves it because it relieves him of his responsibility
for his own soul. And so everybody loves clergy
laity. And here we're looking at the
man, Paul. He just addresses himself as
little. That's what I am. I'm little. I'm no different than anybody
else. And I'm completely dependent
upon the Lord Jesus Christ for all the hope of my salvation.
He is a pattern. He is an example. He is what
every believer is, standing in the presence of a holy God. We're not Saul's. We're not hitting
shoulders among other men. We don't promote ourselves. We
say, my name is Paul. I'm just little. I'm just little. I'm just dependent upon him for
everything. What are we talking about? We're
talking about humility, aren't we? We're talking about humility. And the Lord says, I will give
grace to the humble and I will resist the proud. And the work of grace in the
heart of a sinner is a humbling work, isn't it? It causes us
to realize that we're but a worm. Everybody sings that hymn, Amazing
Grace, but they don't know what wretch means, do they? But that's
what believers see themselves as. They see themselves humble,
humbled in the sight of God. Now, false humility. False humility
takes pride. in believing that it's humble.
Heard a story about a man that was awarded a badge for being
most humble in his church, but they had to take it away from
him when he wore it. You know, that's false humility. False
humility takes pride in believing that it's humble. True humility,
true humility believes itself to be proud. We don't look at ourselves and
think, well I'm humble. Oh no, it's the work of grace that we would
see ourselves for what we are. Proud and self-righteous. The righteous, all the righteous
believe themselves to be unrighteous. And all the unrighteous believe
themselves to be righteous. The Lord reveals the false humble,
the self-righteous in the book of Isaiah, and he says this about
them. He says, you believe yourself,
you say to others, I am holier than thou. And God says, you
are a stench in my nostrils. And then the Apostle Paul refers
to himself, how, as the chief of all sinners. You know, every
single person in this world either believes themselves to be holier
than thou or the chief of all sinners, one or the other. God's
people believe themselves to be the chief of all sinners.
God's people have been knocked off their high horse. God's people
have been made humble. And in being made humble, they
see the pride of their heart and they hate it. They hate it. The sinner, the true, the sinner
believes himself to be holy. And they which are holy believe
themselves to be sinners. That's just, that's the upside
down of the gospel, isn't it? Here the Apostle Paul, greatest
man God ever used to preach the gospel, and he just refers to
himself as Paul. The fool believes himself to
be wise, and they which are truly wise believe themselves to be
fools. The blind man thinks he can see,
but they which can see believe themselves apart from the grace
of God to be blind. The unfaithful believes himself
to be faithful and the faithful believes himself
to be unfaithful. Now that's what it is to be made
small. Saul had to have his name changed
to Paul. The man who was desired by everyone
else and desired his own position of authority had to be made nothing. And then what's the Lord do?
The Lord takes him to Arabia, pulls him aside, just like he
took that man who was deaf, he took him aside and he taught
him the gospel. Blessed is the man that makes
the Lord his trust and respects not the proud. In Proverbs chapter six, the
Lord says six things I hate. Yay, seven are an abomination
to me. Now the Lord defines seven things
that he hates. You remember what the first one
is? The first one, a proud look, a proud look. A sinner cannot
stand in the presence of a holy God and be proud. When the Lord is pleased, who
art thou? Isn't that what Paul said? Saul
of Tarsus, when he was knocked off his high horse, and he heard
the voice of God, and he saw the light, and the light blinded
him, and he said, who art thou, Lord? I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. What would you have me to do?"
Oh, he was humbled, wasn't he? They had to take him by the hand
and lead him into Damascus. And Ananias came and laid his
hands on him. Here's the man. Here's the man
who is a pattern of all those whom God saves. He's been made
to be humble. In 1 Timothy chapter 6 verse
3, Paul said, if any man teach otherwise. If any man teach any
other truth than the gospel of God's grace that I have taught,
and consent not to holy words, even the words of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and the doctrine which is according to godliness, if
he doesn't consent to these things, it is because he is proud, knowing
nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, wherefore
cometh envy, and strife, and railing, and evil surmising,
Supposing that gain is godliness. The proud believe that the things
that they have gained by their works and by their efforts and
by their decision makes them godly. The humble know That here is
the mystery of godliness, that God was manifested in the flesh. There's our godliness, isn't
it? There's our godliness. We have no godliness outside
of the Lord Jesus Christ. But oh, what perfect godliness
we have in him. So that as he is, so are we. Right now, in this world. The man was a man, and man at
his very best state is altogether vanity. And that's what we are,
isn't it? We know that we've heard something
of the gospel when God strips us of our righteousness and causes
us to say with David, I will speak of thy righteousness, even
of thine only. Lord, I have nothing to bring
you. I have no works that would recommend me to God. If the work
of the Lord Jesus Christ is not sufficient for me, then I have
no hope of standing in the presence of a holy God. What do we say? Look to Christ for everything
that you require of me. And that's the gospel that Paul
preached. He calls himself an apostle. You see that here in
Ephesians chapter 1 verse 1, Paul, an apostle. Now an apostle is one sent with
a message. Is one sent with a message. And
in the strictest sense of the word, there were but 12 apostles.
Anybody that calls themselves an apostle today is a false prophet. But in the broader sense of the
word, we are carrying on the work of the apostle when we preach
the same gospel that he preached. When we take the words that the
Lord taught him and we're faithful to repeat them, then we are a
man sent with a message. Not only your pastor, but each
one of God's people are men sent into this world with a message,
one message. Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter
2, for I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself
is the message. He's the gospel. Who He is and
what He accomplished is the message that we need to hear, isn't it? in First Corinthians chapter
one. The Apostle rebukes the church at Corinth because there
were contentions among them. You remember? Some of them said,
well, I'm of Apollos and I'm of Cephas and I'm of Paul. And
then the real spiritual ones said, well, I'm of Christ. And
they were debating with one another over who was the best preacher. And what did Paul say? What did
the Lord say through the Apostle Paul to the church? He asked
a very simple question, a rhetorical question. He said, is Christ
divided? The answer, no. No, the Lord Jesus Christ is
not divided any more than the members of our bodies are divided
from one another. They all function together, don't
they? And every member of our body is connected to our head. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
the head of the church. And we are the body of Christ.
And we're all work in union with his command. And so, no, the
Lord Christ is not divided. The divisions that we see today
in religion are not of God. They're not of God. Now we came
here last week, and we met you all for the first time, and our
hearts immediately, immediately were in agreement with your hearts,
weren't they? The Lord said in the book of Isaiah, they shall
all see eye to eye. God's people, you go anywhere
in the world, and I've been to lots of places, God's people
all believe the same thing. They all rejoice in the same
message. Some of us have been in religion where a man speaks
and then you spend the next week debating over what he says. And
I preach to folks who sit there like this. Alright preacher,
just see if you can teach me something. I already know it
all. And it's clear that their name
hasn't been changed from Saul to Paul. It's clear that they
still believe themselves to be head and shoulders above everybody
else. It's clear that they don't have the message. They debate
religion and what did I just read it? They are proud knowing
nothing. God's people just rejoice in
the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't sit around and try to
convince one another that we're holier than thou. We don't compete
with one another. Believers are not pretentious. They're not trying to prove to
one another who knows more and who's holier than the other.
Among God's people, every child of God believes themselves to
be the chief of all sinners. They really do. I've asked our
folks this question, I'll ask it to you. Who do you know? Who do you know that's been given
more light? The scripture says, to whom much
is given, much is desired. Who do you know that's been given
more light, more grace, more privileges, more opportunities,
more truth, than you and remain as unfaithful
as you are. You see, we don't look out into
the world and we don't say, well, you know, I'm not doing that
and I'm not doing the other and point our finger at people that
are in self-destructive behavior and say, well, I'm holier than
that. No, we say, oh Lord, You've been
so gracious to me. You've been so merciful to me.
And I remain so full of unbelief and so full of fleshly thoughts
and desires and worldliness in my heart. I just, I'm in need
of grace more than anybody else. And every child of God believes
themselves to be that way. And that's why there's such unity
among us, isn't there? We're all esteeming one another
more highly than ourselves. We look up to one another. We
don't look down at each other. Let the potsherds of the earth
contend with the potsherds of the earth. Let the men of religion,
you know, pride themselves in that sort of behavior, in that
sort of religious self-righteousness. It doesn't exist among God's
people. And it's so freeing, isn't it? It's so refreshing,
it's so, what a blessing. God's got to
do that, doesn't he? The Lord has to humble us. And
that's exactly what he did for Saul of Tarsus. He changed his name from Saul
to Paul, and he called him out and gave him a message, a message. the message of the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. So many churches are involved
in so many things that don't have anything to do with the
Lord Jesus Christ. I mean, you can hear a false
prophet preach and never mention the Lord Jesus Christ, never
mention his redemptive work. I don't know, Lisa, you would
know this being a school teacher, but in America we have a saying,
we say that the basics of education is the three R's. You do that
here too? Okay. Reading, writing, and arithmetic. Now I know that those don't all
start with R's, but you all know the meaning of that phrase. Well,
the basis of the gospel. is the three R's. And they all
do start with R. Ruined by the fall, redeemed
by the blood, and regenerated by the Holy Spirit. And that's
the message. That's the message that the Apostle
Paul was given. He said, I'm a man sent with
a message, and I'm here to declare to all men that you've been ruined
by the fall. that you were actually in your
father Adam. Adam wasn't just our federal
head, Adam was our seminal head. We were physically, literally
in the loins of Adam when he died, when he fell. And when
he fell, we fell with him. And we're born into this world
spiritually dead, unable to do anything for ourselves. The Lord
Jesus Christ was not born after the flesh. Mary was conceived
by the Holy Ghost. That was necessary in order for
the Lord Jesus Christ to be born, not of our father Adam, but of
his father. He came into this world without
the corruption of sin, and he lived a perfect sinless life.
What did he do it for? In order that he might present
himself, the Lamb without spot and without wrinkle, on Calvary's
cross and shed his precious blood for the redemption of his people. And he actually accomplished
our redemption, didn't he? He wasn't making an offer to
man to be accepted or rejected by us. He was making an offering
to the Father. And the Father saw the travail
of His soul and the Father was satisfied. We were actually redeemed. And we weren't just redeemed
on Calvary's cross. We were redeemed by the blood
that was shed before the foundation of the world, weren't we? The
Lord Jesus Christ is the lamb that was slain before the foundation
of the world. So in the covenant of grace, you see, once God purposes
something, it must be. It must be. I love thinking about
the fact that our God's never had a new thought. He's never
changed his mind. He's never learned anything. He purposed
to save a people in a covenant promise that he made with his
Son and with the Holy Spirit. before time ever began. And he
accomplished that purpose when the Lord Jesus Christ bowed his
mighty head on Calvary's cross and declared, it is finished. It's done. Everything that God
requires of us was accomplished in the Lord Jesus Christ. And
then The Lord said to the disciples, it's expedient for you that I
go away, for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come.
But when he comes, when he comes, he's going to convict the world
of sin, of righteousness and of judgment, of sin, because
they believe not on me. There's our problem. Our sin
problem is rooted in our unbelief. And that's why we're so grieved
by the unbelief that remains in our flesh. We say with that
mad Lord, I do believe, help thou my unbelief. My old man
is not capable of believing God. If I could believe God. Well, that's what distinguishes
the Lord Jesus Christ from us, isn't it? He believed his father
perfectly all the time. But here we are. Here we are,
ruined by the fall, redeemed, purchased by the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And God says, I'm going to send
my spirit. I'm going to convict them of
their unbelief. I'm going to show them what the problem really
is. And I'm going to make them willing
in the day of my power. I'm going to cause them to come
and to trust me for all their righteousness. And when they're
not faithful, I remain faithful, for I cannot deny myself. I'm
going to bring them, every single one of them. I'm going to fetch
them and bring them to myself. And I'm going to make it so that
my call on them is irresistible. Irresistible. They're not going
to have... You see, coming to Christ is
never a choice. It's never a decision. I know
I shared this last weekend, but if you or I have a choice between
coming to Christ or doing something, we'll always choose something
else. God has to shut us up to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
why the Lord said to the disciples, aren't you going to go with them?
Will you leave me also? What did Peter say? Well, we've
got no place else to go. You've shot a... You see, if
you only have one choice, then it's not a choice. It's not a
choice. And that's what the Spirit of
God does in the miracle of the new birth. When the Lord said
to Nicodemus, Nicodemus, you can't see the kingdom of God
unless you're born of the Spirit. You've got to be born from above.
And the Spirit's like the wind, he listeth with us whoever he
wills. And the Lord said, if you being evil know how to give
good gifts unto your children, we do love our children, don't
we? And we would do anything for our children. But here's
what the Lord says, if you being evil know how to give good gifts
unto your children, how much more will your heavenly Father
give the Holy Spirit to them who ask Him? Lord, I'm so dependent
upon your spirit. If you lead me to myself, I'll
be spiritually dead. I need you to open the eyes of
my understanding. I need you to teach me about
Christ. I need you to bring me to Him. I need you to make me.
Make me. That's why the prophet said,
Cause me to be turned, and I'll be turned. But Lord, you've got
to cause me. You've got to make me come. That's
the message. So here we have a little man
with a big message. The only message of salvation.
The man and the message. And the man is symbolic of every
one of us. Symbolic of your pastor has been
charged by God. You know, pastor and elder and
bishop, are used interchangeably in the New Testament to describe
the same office. And pastor, by translation, means
shepherd. What does a shepherd do? Shepherd
feeds the sheep. What does he feed them with?
He feeds them with the bread of life. He tells them about Christ. An elder is translated a man
with wisdom. And the only wisdom we have is
the wisdom that God gives us in Christ. God has made Him to
be for us our wisdom. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
personification of wisdom. All wisdom is to be found in
Him. And so your pastor has a responsibility to feed the sheep and to tell
them about the wisdom of God in Christ. And then Bishop, Bishop
is an overseer. He's the one that's responsible.
Responsible for the flock, to feed them, and to keep out the
wolves, and to protect the sheep, and to identify the false prophets,
and to lift up the Lord Jesus Christ. So those are the Those are the responsibilities
that your pastor has, and what a blessing it is to have a faithful
man that will serve you as your shepherd, and as your elder,
and as your bishop. And yet he would not take those
titles to himself. He understands that that's his
responsibility. That's his privilege. So Paul calls himself an apostle,
and the apostles now are seen as a man with a message. And
each one of us, in a broader sense of the word, are men with
a message. One message. One message that
answers every question. In 2 Samuel chapter 18, and I'll
conclude with this, in 2 Samuel chapter 18, Absalom is killed. And Joab speaks to a man by the
name of Cushi and tells him to go and report to David that the
battle is over and that the resistance has been broken and that Absalom
is dead. And Cushi begins to run. And
Zadok, who was the priest, had a son who prided himself in his
ability to run. And he was. He was a fast runner. Matter of fact, Cushi had already
left, and Zadok's son goes to Joab and says, I want to run.
I want to run. I want to go tell David. And
Joab says to Zadok's son, he said, you cannot run today. You don't have a message. You
don't have a message. And Zadok's son continues to
insist that he be able to run. And so Joab says, go, go. And Zadok's son outruns Cushi,
who had left long before him, and gets to David before Cushi. And Zadok's son stands before
the king. And he says, we've got the victory. And the King David asked Zadok's
son one question. He said, what about the young
man Absalom? And Zadok's son says, well, you
know, there was a tumult over there, but I don't know exactly
what happened, because I wasn't there. See, he didn't have a
message. He didn't have a message. And David says to Zadok's son,
when he sees Cushi coming, he says, step aside. I want to know
about the young man Absalom. And when Cushi shows up, he asked
him, he said, what about the young man Absalom? And here's
what Cushi says. He says, might all the enemies
of the king be like that young man? Now what's the significance of
that? There's a whole lot of preachers that don't have a message.
They outrun everybody else. They've got bigger congregations. They've got more beautiful buildings.
They've got more money. They've got more influence in
the community. But they're running without a message. And the king
only has one question. What about my son? What about
my son? He's the only one I'm interested
in. What do you know about him? And all they can say, well, you
know, there's a tumult here and they get, they give you a little
bit of information about this, a little bit of information about
that. And they, and they use the Bible as a rule book for
Christian living. And they, and they speak with
an impediment of speech, but they cannot tell you about the
King's son. He's only interested in one thing. Now you know the word Abba means
father, and the word Shalom means peace. And Absalom's name translated
means, my father is peace. And this whole book is about
Christ. And though Absalom was an enemy of his father, Absalom
in another sense represents the Lord Jesus Christ. He represents the Lord Jesus
Christ. Think about it. Well, the scripture says this
about Absalom, 2 Samuel 14, 25. In all of Israel, there was none
to be so much praise for all his beauty. From the sole of
his feet, even to the crown of his head, there was no blemish
in him. Oh, what a man Absalom was. But he represents Christ. And
then Absalom came and he stole the hearts of the people, didn't
he? And that's what the Lord Jesus Christ does. He steals
our hearts. He draws us to himself. And he
gets all the preeminence. And then how did Absalom die?
What did the Bible say about Absalom's hair? You know what
hair represents in the scriptures. Hair represents glory. The Lord
Jesus Christ is seen with a head full of white hair, representing
His crown of glory. And Absalom had a picture of
the glory of Christ in his hair. And then how did Absalom die?
He's riding on a horse. And what happens? He gets his
hair caught in a branch. And he dies hanging in a tree
by his hair. How did the Lord Jesus Christ
die? He died hanging on a tree by His glory. Saving his people
getting all the glory for their salvation And then what happened
ten men ten men Surrounded Absalom as he was hanging there in the
tree and they pierced him through and Who was it that put the Lord
Jesus Christ to death on the cross? What was it that put the
Lord Jesus Christ on the cross? It pleased the Father to bruise
Him. It was God that put Him to death, but it was the law. It was the law that saw sin on
Christ and had no choice. For in the day in which you sin,
you shall surely die. And those 10 men that killed
Absalom is a picture of the 10 commandments that put the Lord
Jesus Christ to death because of our violation of the law of
God. And then they took the body of Absalom down and the scripture
says they put him in a pit and covered it over with a large
stone. What a picture of Christ Absalom
is. And what did Cushi say? Let all the enemies of the king,
you and I come into this world at enmity with God. Let all the
enemies of the king be like that young man, put to death. And that's exactly what happened.
When Christ died, I died. Paul said, I am crucified with
Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. The life that I now live in the
flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me
and died for me. There's a lot of fast runners
out there who don't have a message. But God gives to his little man,
his little man, a message of salvation, a message of hope
for the salvation of his people. What a message it is. A little
man with a big message.