Title of my message tonight is
Angelic Lessons, Angelic Lessons. Our text will be Ephesians chapter
3 and verse 10. Angelic Lessons, Ephesians 3
verse 10. Let's begin reading at verse
8, Ephesians 3 and verse 8. Unto me who am less than the
least of all saints is this grace given. What a grace that God
would give to me that I should preach the gospel, that I should
preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. And to make all men see. What
is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the
world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ? For this purpose, to the intent,
that now unto principalities and powers in heavenly places,
it might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God. According to the eternal purpose
which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord in whom we have boldness
and access with confidence by the faith of him And let's look
at this 10th verse for a few minutes the Apostle Paul writing
by divine inspiration tells us that the principalities and powers
in heavenly places are Now, that's not talking about civil magistrates.
That's not talking about governments. That's talking about angels,
the angels of God in heavenly places. These principalities
and powers who reside with God in heaven, they attend the worship
of God with his saints. They gather with God's saints
in his house. They attend meetings such as
this, listening intently to the faithful preaching of the gospel.
Imagine that. Angels who will never have anything
to do with redemption and grace as we experience it. Angels who
had no part in the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus. They
stood from everlasting in perfect holiness for they kept their
first estate when Satan led the revolt in heaven and one third
of the heavenly angels denied our God and rebelled against
him. But angels who are holy and need no redemption and need
no grace and need no mercy attend this meeting right now, this
hour. They listen intently to the preaching
of the gospel. They listen to the prayers, the
praises, the songs of God's people. And they do so seeking that they
might learn from us the manifold wisdom of God. That they might
learn from us the wisdom of God in the grace we experience. That
they might learn from us the wisdom of God in the redemption
that's ours in Christ Jesus. That they might learn from us
the manifold wisdom of God in sacrificing his darling son,
the Lord Jesus Christ, in our room and in our stead. Now, try
to get some understanding of the wonder of this fact, considering
who the angels are. Remember compared to us, the
angels are elder born creatures of God. They've been with the
triune Jehovah since before the material universe was created
by him. These heavenly angels have never
displeased him. They've never sinned against
him. They've never rebelled against his will. And yet we're never
told that these angels These angels who sang when Christ was
born. These angels who brought the
good news down from heaven to earth and sang of the Redeemer's
birth. Yet these angels were never told
that they learned the manifold wisdom of God by any means other
than this. They never learned the manifold
wisdom of God by any means other than gather with God's saints
in his house. Peter tells us that they pry
into, they desire to look into the wonders of redemption and
therefore they gather with God's people when we gather in his
name. I find that astonishing. I just,
I've been thinking about this for weeks now and I find this
utterly astonishing. The apostle gives us a picture.
He speaks of the cherubs overshadowing the mercy seat in Hebrews 5,
9. You remember the tabernacle in the temple when the Lord God
commanded that the mercy seat be made of pure gold and the
cherubs formed with it. overlooking, overshadowing the
mercy seat, looking down continually upon the mercy seat, the place
of sacrifice, the place of the revelation of the divine glory,
the place where God meets with men in his Son. That's a picture
of what the Apostle is talking about here. The angels of God,
these holy creatures, were with God when he made the heavens. In the beginning, the angels
beheld those strange shapes, those mysterious things we now
dig up in fossil form in the earth. And that day when the
earth became without form and void, the angels knew the hidden
treasures of the earth. When God said, let there be light,
and the first ray of light shot across the heavens like the finger
of God and lit up the universe, the angels of God were there.
The morning stars sang together, and the sons of God shouted for
joy. And yet, though they were with the great creator during
the seven days of creation, Though they saw all the cattle after
their kind, and all the fowls of the air after their kind,
and all the fish of the sea, and every plant of the ground
formed by God after its own kind, the angels of God never saw in
any of those things the manifold wisdom of God. Even when man,
the creator's last and greatest creature, walked through Eden
with his fair bride by his side. When Adam and Eve stood together
to praise their creator, though they were fearfully and wonderfully
made, and though their minds and bodies give a display of
wisdom unrivaled by anything else in creation, still, as the
angels of God beheld man made in the image and likeness of
the creator, wondrously made, they didn't know anything of
the manifold wisdom of God. Lift your eyes to the worlds
above. When the stars were kindled like glowing flames by Him who
is light, the angels of God, those celestial creatures, still
saw not the manifold wisdom of God, even in all the dispensations
of providence, in all the events that took place prior to the
coming of our Lord Jesus and the accomplishment of redemption
by Him. The angels of God beheld nothing of the manifold wisdom
of God. These creatures who veil their
faces before his throne and cry, holy, holy, holy Lord God of
Sabaoth, continually dwelling in his presence, come together
with us in this place that they might, by the church, learn the
manifold wisdom of God. These angels. Learn from save
centers the great, marvelous, many-faceted wisdom of God. When we speak of the church,
we're speaking obviously of the church universal. It includes
all God's elect from Adam to the very last one saved in the
last day of creation. It includes all God's elect. We are all one in Christ. God's church is universal in
that sense. But it speaks here specifically
of the angels of God visiting the house of God with the people
of God when we gather as a local church to worship him. More of
the wisdom of God is displayed in the saving of our souls than
in all creation. More of the wisdom of God is
displayed in our redemption by Christ than in all things in
heaven above, in the earth beneath, or in all deep places beneath
the earth. When I was a boy, every now and
then I'd pick up a toy. It's common in our day. I haven't
seen one in years. I'm sure they're still around,
called a kaleidoscope. Pick it up and turn it. And every
time you turn it, you'd see another facet of some kind of a beautiful
thing. Every time you turn it, just
another facet. So is the manifold wisdom of God described here
as that which is seen in our redemption by the Lord Jesus. The word manifested is used as
if to compare God's salvation, redemption, grace, eternal life,
forgiveness, all of God's salvation, comparing it to a precious treasure
wrapped up in folds. And you unfold this, and then
this, and then this, and then this, and then this. And so the
angels of God continually meet with God's saints wherever God's
people gather in the name of Christ. And they gather to watch,
and learn, and listen from the word of God, and from the gospel
of God, and from the people of God, the manifold wisdom of God
we experience. As I studied and prepared for
this message, I kept praying, God, give me something of their
intense interest in your manifold wisdom in saving my soul. How much more interested I ought
to be than they? How much more interested you
ought to be than they? Oh God, give us a little of the
interest of the heavenly creatures who never knew redeeming love. Give us something of their interest
this hour. Let me call your attention to
five things by which the wisdom of God is made known to angelic
beings as we worship him and proclaim the gospel of his grace. I remind you that the manifold
wisdom of God is made known to the angels by God's purpose for
the church. I have no doubt that the great
object the angels desire to look into is God's purpose, his plan
to save his church by Christ. Those holy heavenly creatures,
to them this is something that they just consider with admiration
and wonder. If the triune God had taken counsel
with all the creatures of heaven and earth, and he had charged
all his creatures with the responsibility of coming up with a scheme, a
plan, a purpose, some method by which he could show his creation,
who he is in all the majesty of his infinite being, in all
his glory, None could have come up with such a plan. None would
have devised such a scheme. None would have made such a blessed
purpose of grace as the Lord God has given and revealed in
his son, the Lord Jesus. I'm sure it's the great question
with angels as it is with men. How can a man be justified with
God? How can he be clean that's born
of woman? Men, I know in this place the
answer is commonplace to you, to you men and women here. I
understand that. You've been well instructed and
you understand well that God must be just if God would justify
that he is a just God and a savior. But if you just listen a little
bit, Just listen a little bit to the conversations men have
about religion and righteousness and redemption. If you listen
just a little bit, just to the ordinary everyday statements
made by people in ordinary conversation, in public discourse, just listen
a little bit, you'll find out men have no idea how a man can
be just with God. Men have no idea how one who
is unclean can be clean before God. Behold, even the moon, and
it shineth not, and the stars are not pure in his sight. How
much less man that is a worm, and the son of man which is a
worm. Job said, if I justified myself, my own mouth would condemn
me. How can a man be just with God?
Without question, the heavenly angels consider with delight
the fact that God's way of saving his church displays all his attributes
marvelously. God's attributes, many are displayed
in this thing in creation and that thing in creation. We see
God's omnipotence. We see God's omnipotence and
omniscience in things in this world. But nowhere do you see
all the character of God displayed like you do in the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ. The angels saw Lucifer when God
cast him out of his habitation because of sin. And they saw
him fall like lightning from heaven, but that was nothing. They saw God sacrifice his darling
son upon Calvary's tree, the just for the unjust that he might
bring us to God. And they see in our salvation
the great wonder of justice and peace embracing each other. God
as sternly just as if there were no mercy in his being, smiting
his son for the sins of his people with all the fury of his indignant
wrath and justice. And yet God is as merciful as
if he were not just, embracing his people as though we had never
sinned. Loving us with a love that could
never have been greater if we had never transgressed him. Yes,
the angels behold with wonder that God so hates sin that he
slew his only dear son when sin was found upon his son. And yet, in the same time, the
sacrifice of Christ displays God so loved the world. Oh, what anger! What wrath! God visited on his darling son
when he was made sin. What marvelous, infinite love! God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should
not perish but have everlasting life. All the infinite attributes
of God at once shine forth in all their combined beauty and
splendor around the cross. In the cross of Christ, we see
God's anger and his love, his power and his tenderness, his
greatness and his goodness, his immutability and his wisdom. But there's more. when the angels
see that by this great scheme of grace, all the ruin that sin
brought upon mankind is removed. They must wonder at the wisdom
of God. Our Lord Jesus said, then I restored
that which I took not away. Now consider how the restoration
was made. Did we lose Eden in Adam? God drove the fallen pear out
of the garden and set a flaming sword that no man find his way
to the tree of life. Christ has given us paradise
forever. Did we lose the dignity of manhood
by the fall? Man created in the image and
likeness of God. Did you ever try to consider
What brilliance must have possessed Adam's mind. What a brilliant
man he must have been. What a brilliant man. God created
the man perfect. Perfect. Perfect. So that the Lord God brought
to Adam, and this is the only illustration I can think of,
the only one I think that's given in Scripture of Adam's brilliance.
He brought to Adam every Animal he had created and said Adam,
what do you want to call that? And Adam named them all He named
them all Everyone of what a brilliant mind he must have had and how
dull ours are How dull ours are even with much discipline training
and education but in Christ We've been raised to a higher dignity
than Adam ever possessed in the garden. We have been raised to
the dignity of the sons of God and made perfect in Jesus Christ
the Lord so that the angels themselves are made subject to the sons
of God. Did we lose our spotless purity
by the sin of our father Adam? In Christ, we have gained much
better than Adam had in the garden. For in Christ, we have redemption,
and righteousness, and sanctification, and justification, and forgiveness,
and perfection, and completion, all by Christ the Lord. Did we
lose communion with God when Adam transgressed? In Christ,
we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand. We sing, oh, for a closer walk
with God, and that's proper. I would to God I might walk consciously
closer with him. But we're never nearer and farther
away from God. We're never nearer or farther
away from God. We are always standing in Christ
Jesus with God, one with God, accepted of God. Did we lose
heaven in Adam? In Christ, the last Adam, we've
gained an eternal inheritance. God in infinite wisdom made this
mischief of sin. to destroy itself. The dragon
of hell is stung with his own sting to death. Goliath is slain
with his own sword. Death is slain by the death of
the God-man Christ Jesus. Sin is put away by the great
sin offering who bore our sins in his own body on the tree.
Sin was slain by sin. when Christ was made sin for
us. We rise by man as by man we fell. As in Adam all die, so in Christ
shall all be made alive. More than that, this great plan
and purpose of grace and salvation by Christ's atonement gives us a greater display of
God's glory than there could possibly have been had there
been no fall. Now I'm not looking for something
to say, I want that to sink in. The angels of God behold what
few men ever get any grasp of at all. God's manifold wisdom
is more greatly displayed in our redemption by Christ than
it could ever have been had there been no fall from which to be
redeemed. Surely the wrath of man shall
praise thee, and the remainder of wrath wilt thou restrain.
The fact is, God could have made a race that would never have
sinned, but he chose not to do so. He ordained that his chosen
go astray for a season, because he would have us attached to
him by the bonds of love, mercy, grace, and gratitude we could
know only by redemption. Suppose for a moment Adam hadn't
fallen Suppose for a moment we hadn't fallen in Adam. I don't
hesitate to say Oh Blessed fall. Oh Blessed fall We could never
have sung the songs of redeeming grace and dying love had we not
fallen We could never have been made one with Christ had we not
fallen in Adam. Listen to the scriptures. Our
Lord Jesus, when he came into this world, took not on him the
nature of angels. The angels were unfallen, but
he took on him the seed of Abraham. He took not on him the nature
of angels, but he laid hold on the seed of Abraham and took
on himself our nature that he might redeem and save us. We
could never have loved him as we now love him had we not fallen
in Adam. You mean pastor? Somehow there's got to be an
experience of forgiveness, indebtedness, and gratitude for love to be
real. Yeah. Yeah. Somehow there's got to be a sense
of indebtedness, forgiveness, and gratitude. or we could never
love the Redeemer as we do. We might have even had reason
to boast if we had not fallen in our father Adam, for we stood
fast and stood firm in our debt. And we could never have known
God as we know him in the free forgiveness of sin by the sacrifice
of his darling son. Thus, in God's purpose and plan
for the church, the angels of God behold with wonder the manifold
wisdom of God. Second, understand that the angels
of God behold his wisdom in God's purchase of the church. The Lord
Jesus, contrary to the opinion of many, did not purchase his
church out of the hands of Satan. Satan never owned it. Satan never
held it. We were held by Satan and under
his influence and power, but never as his property. God, our
Savior, purchased us not from the hands of Satan, but from
the hands of justice, from the bondage, the curse, and the condemnation
of his holy law. He purchased his church described
in the parable as a treasure hidden in the field. But I thought
that was talking about Christ. Christ and his church are one.
And the parable cannot be properly understood except to be understood
both with regard to the church of Christ in his attitude toward
it and with regard to Christ himself and our attitude toward
him. The church is to our Redeemer
the pearl of great price for which he sacrificed all that
he had and all that he is, that he might have us. The manifold
wisdom of God is seen by the angels in this great fact that
Christ was made the covenant head and representative of his
church, that he might purchase it with his own blood We're one
with him in God's eternal purpose The Lord God purposed to redeem
his church by the substitutionary sacrifice of his darling son
and Accepted us in his son as our substitute in surety from
eternity Accepted us. What does all this mean? It means
if Christ is our Redeemer, then we're redeemed If Christ is our
surety, then we're safe. If Christ is our representative,
then we are accepted in him. Look again and see the manifold
wisdom of God observed by the angels in God's power in the
church. What power? What power? The power
of omnipotent mercy. The power of irresistible grace. The greatest display of infinite
power and wisdom in the earth is the conversion of chosen redeemed
sinners. The greatest miracle that can
ever be imagined is the salvation of a sinner. Remember what you were and where
you were when God saved you by his grace. Remember what you
are, don't ever forget it. This is what your flesh is, adultery,
fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness. idolatry, witchcraft, hatred,
variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and everything like
that. That's what Jonathan is and that's
what Don is. And from that, the Lord God saved
us by His grace. Turn to 1 Corinthians 6. Read
it with me one more time. Verse 9. Remember what you were and where
you were and what you are by nature, but don't ever, ever
forget, ever hold in precious and thankful memory what God's
done for you in Christ and made you to be in Christ. First Corinthians
6, 9. Know ye not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither
the kind of folks I just read to you about. fornicators, nor
idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves
with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor
revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God and
such were some of you. But you're washed, you're sanctified,
you're justified in the name of the Lord Jesus
and by the spirit of our God. A few weeks ago, I had a call
from a friend of mine in California, in San Francisco Bay Area. He was struggling with this matter
of what we are by nature, sin and unbelief and ungodliness. And I said to him, Sanford, don't
ever forget that. Don't ever try to put that fact
out of your mind. But whenever you think of yourself,
always remember, God told you to reckon like he reckons. Likewise, reckon ye yourselves
also to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God. Reckon yourselves
washed, just, and sanctified. We were on the telephone. He
laughed so loud. If I'd have had my phone up in my ears listening
on the car, I would have turned it down somehow or another. He
was just tickled to death. All that helped me. Don't ever
forget, but ever hold in thankful memory what God has done for
you and made you to be in Christ. Because he that glorieth is to
glory in the Lord. The angels of God. Behold the
manifold wisdom of God, by which the church, by the power and
grace of God the Holy Spirit, is brought to faith in Christ. He comes by the power of the
Spirit, by the preaching of the gospel, and works conviction
in a sinner. We can make folks feel guilty. Pretty good at that. We can make
folks feel bad. We're pretty good at that. We
can make folks feel lower than the snake's belly. We're pretty
good at that. But conviction's another story. Conviction is
the work of God the Holy Spirit. Nobody but God the Holy Spirit
will convict you of your sin. Nobody but God the Holy Spirit
will convict you of righteousness finished, fully accomplished
by Jesus Christ the Lord. Nobody but God the Holy Spirit
will absolutely convict you that judgment is over because Christ
died. Only God does that. This is the
work of the Spirit of God. God's Manifold wisdom is displayed
to the angels in his gracious preservation of his church as
well. Through all the ages of time, in every dispensation of
time and providence, in every circumstance, God has graciously
preserved his church. Read again the 12th chapter of
Revelation, the dragon. Fights against the woman and
the man child. Fights against Christ and his
church. Seeking to destroy Christ and his church. But as the dragon
breathes out fire to destroy and uses the earth, uses the
world to persecute and oppose all the time. Now listen to me,
all the time, By God's providence, in the wondrous mystery providence,
the earth opens up herself to help the woman and the child. Only to help. Only to help. The intent of the world is to
destroy. The intent of hell is to destroy. The intent of the ungodly is
to destroy. But by the manifold wisdom of
God, in the sovereign manipulation of providence, in the absolute
manipulation of all the affairs of men, absolutely manipulating
how men think and how they speak and how they act, the Lord God
causes all the wickedness of man only to help his church. So that with all the persecutions,
No injury has been done to God's church. With all the heresies
that have sprung up, no injury has ever been done to God's church.
From Adam and Eve, the Lord God commonly called only one man
or a family here and there in the beginning. He called Adam
and Eve, called their son Abel. And then we read of a man named
Enoch the Lord called, and a man named Noah. A man named Abraham
God called. Just here and there He called
one, gathering in His elect, scattered through the fall. And
then He called the twelve tribes, and then the nation of Israel.
And He preserved Israel in Egypt. Do you remember what you had
in the very first chapter of Exodus when you started studying
Exodus on Sunday mornings? The Egyptians afflicted Israel. The Egyptians afflicted Israel
for 400 years. And the children of Abraham just
increased. They just kept increasing. No
harm done. No harm done. God preserved His
church. in the wilderness for 40 years.
And God revealed more of his wisdom little by little under
the mosaic types and dispensations of the law until finally the
son of righteousness arose with healing in his wings. And still
the angels have seen God's wisdom, preserving his church through
her persecutions and heresies by which Satan seeks to destroy
her. And she stands firmer. and stronger
than ever before in this day. The earth always opens up to
help the woman, even when it appears she's devouring the woman. This is what I'm telling you.
According to God's word and God's promise, the gates of hell have
never prevailed against God's church. They are not now prevailing against
God's church. They shall not tomorrow prevail
against God's church. They shall never prevail against
God's church, but always fall. That's what the whole book of
Revelation is all about. The final triumph of Christ and
his church by the gospel. The angels of God, Behold the
manifold wisdom of God preserving his church and all the trials
and experiences we have in this world and what trials and difficulties
we do experience here. How wisely God keeps you from
temptation when you're weak and likely to succumb to it. He keeps
you from the evil. How wisely God strengthens you
and upholds you, how he arranges things in his providence to keep
you from doing what you would. How God in his great wisdom brings
us in the valley that we may learn to call upon him and how
in wisdom at just the right time, he gives us mountaintop joys
that we may rejoice in him. In wisdom, he strips us of all
earthly comfort that we may learn the more to trust him. In wisdom,
he makes our most darling relations and takes them from us that we
may learn to love him. In wisdom, God works all things
together for our good and in his great faithfulness preserves
us. One last thing, very briefly.
How the angels of God await anxiously the manifold
wisdom of God to be displayed in God's perfection of his church. Our God will have a people out
of every kindred, nation, tribe, and tongue. out of every culture,
every rank, and every class in society. And they shall all be
one. We shall sit down in the kingdom
of God with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." So Merle and I were talking
Sunday evening after services a little bit. Certainly, our concern is that
we see Christ and be with Christ, It can be pretty good to have
a good reunion. And proper that we anticipate seeing again our
brethren and our sisters who've gone before us. As the children
of God are told we shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob in the kingdom of our Father. It is that we may anticipate
the day when God in His great wisdom will bring us into such
perfect oneness with Christ that we shall spend eternity in perfect
oneness with each other. How's that? Because Christ and
we are one. And much as I seek to understand the mystery
I can't begin to understand it yet. As much as I want to enter
into the mystery, I can't begin to enter into it yet. But Christ
and we are one. That means that you and I, if
we're in Christ, doesn't matter whether you're a man or a woman,
whether you're rich or poor, whether you're learned or unlearned,
whether you're black or white, whether you have a real pleasant
way about you or kind of sour about yourself. Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter. We're one. We're
one. We ought to esteem each other
as Christ himself. And we ought to let nothing even
cause a hard feeling, let alone division. But God forgive us, that just
isn't going to happen while we're here. But soon, soon, the Lord
Jesus will present His church to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or
any such thing. No spot of sin. No wrinkle of
infirmity, but holy, unblameable, and unreprovable before God. Our Father, thank you for the
prospect, for the blessed hope of your grace. Thank you for
your darling son, and thank you for making him precious to our
soul. Let the wonders of your grace
utterly consume our hearts and our lives for your glory and
our good and for the good of your people. Amen.