I'm always interested in learning
as much as I can about men that I admire, men who have been such
a blessing to my life, especially the men of the past. I'd like
to know how God dealt with them as much as I can. And it's always
intriguing to me. John Gill heard a sermon by his
pastor when he was just a young man. Adam, where art thou? And God came seeking John Gill,
gave him life and faith in our Redeemer. Robert Hawker was an
Anglican preacher, Anglican priest in Plymouth, England, an Arminian,
just terribly Arminian. And I just found out last night,
I was reading very late, actually very early this morning, reading
William Romaine's biography, that Romaine came to Plymouth
on one occasion preaching the gospel of God's grace, And Hawker
was offended. He preached Christ way too high
and man way too low. And he went and had an interview
with the preacher. And he came away with a different
opinion and realized that you can't preach Christ too high
and you can't preach man too low. May God be pleased tonight
to give me grace to do just that. Open your Bibles to Ephesians
chapter 3. And as God will enable me, I
want to speak to you about the manifold wisdom of God in redemption. The manifold wisdom of God in
redemption. Now our text will be verse 10,
but let's begin by reading Ephesians chapter 3 and the whole chapter
together. Ephesians chapter 3. First one, for this cause, the
apostle writes, for this cause, I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus
Christ, for you Gentiles, he says now, for the cause of the
gospel, for which I was made a minister, I'm the prisoner
of Christ for you Gentiles. If ye have heard of the dispensation
of the grace of God, which is given me to you, have it by revelation. He made known unto me the mystery. as I wrote afore in a few words,
that is, as I wrote to you already in these first chapters of this
epistle, these few words in which he gives us the summary of the
whole work of our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. Read on. I've
written afore in a few words, whereby when you read them, you
may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. which
in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is
now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, that
the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body and
partakers of the promise in Christ by the gospel. This is the mystery.
Nobody could get figured out. It was always God's purpose.
that God's elect, Jew and Gentile, should be one in Jesus Christ,
saved by Christ, redeemed by Christ. Read on, verse seven. whereof I was made a minister
according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by
the effectual working of his power. God made me a preacher. He did this by the gift of his
grace. He did this by the effectual
working of his power unto me who am less than the least of
all saints. is this grace given, that I,
of all people, 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. to the intent that unto the principalities
and powers in heaven, that is to the angels of God, might be
made 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, with access, boldness and access
with confidence. We have freedom of speech and
confident access by the faith of him, by Christ obedient faith
as our substitute, by our faith in him, by the gift of faith
he works in us. We have access to God and confidence
with boldness to come to him. Wherefore, I desire that you
think not at my tribulations for you. which is your glory. For this cause, I bow my knees
unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family
in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, according
to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by
his Spirit in the inner man. I'm astounded that Paul uses
the kind of language he does because it just intrigues me.
He said, I beseech you that the Lord Jesus would, that he would
cause you to hear and believe and that he would grant you according
to the riches of his glory. He's telling us, I'm asking God
to do for you. what God is able to do for you
because He is God our Savior by His bounty, riches, and glory. Read on now. That He might grant
you the strength of His Spirit and might in the inner man, that
Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that you, being rooted
and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints
What is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height? And to
know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge. I want you
to be filled with all the fullness of God. I want you to know the
length, and breadth, and depth, and height of the love of God.
I want you to know the love of Christ that passes knowledge. Now watch this. Now unto him. I'm sorry, verse 19. Know the
love of Christ which passes knowledge that you might be filled with
all the fullness of God. Now all of this, in these three
chapters, Paul had been describing for us God's grace, the redemption
work of our Lord Jesus Christ, the deliverance of our souls,
from sin and death and corruption, from the curse of the law, into
the blessed, glorious liberty of the sons of God in complete
salvation. This is Paul's subject in these
three chapters. Redemption by Christ is much
more than just his death. It is our complete, full salvation
because of His blood atonement, the efficacy of His blood, and
the power of His grace, so that Christ Himself is made of God
unto us redemption. Oh, the fullness of our Redeemer. Oh, the fullness of this redemption. Now look at verse 10. Paul tells
us that it is God's purpose in this redemption, in making known
to us the mystery of Christ, to the intent that now under
principalities and powers in heavenly places, to the angels of God, to the
angels of God, might be known by the church, manifold wisdom
of God, so that the angels of God learn from us, from our experience
of redemption and grace, and learn from our proclamation of
the gospel God has taught us by his grace and we've experienced.
They learn the manifold wisdom of God in redemption. The angels of God look to you
and me in our experience of grace to behold and observe and learn
the wisdom of God in saving centers such as we are. Imagine that. I have before me a picture. I
have before me the picture of the Ark of the Covenant in the
Holy of Holies and the seraphim the cherubs on both ends of the
mercy seat, facing one another, their wings touching, but looking
down upon the mercy seat. as if to describe exactly what
Paul is here stating. The angels of God looking steadily
upon the sacrifice of Christ, seeking to know the mystery and
the wisdom and the glory of God in redemption. Those cherubs
representing, of course, gospel preachers constantly looking
into this mystery. I'm asking God to give me grace
in my maturity, I hope, maybe maturity, to give me grace in
what should be mature years and mature knowledge and mature understanding,
to focus my mind and my heart upon the redemptive work of Jesus
Christ. That's enough to occupy our thoughts. Enough to motivate our hearts. Enough to inspire our souls. Enough to reprove our sin, our
unbelief, and our indifference. Enough to inspire songs of relentless
praise and thanksgiving to Him. This wonder of redemption is
the display of God's manifold wisdom. Now the apostle speaks
here and says this was hidden in ages past. That does not mean
that it was not known. It was not made known as it is
now made known. In the Old Testament, God's purpose
of grace for his elect, scattered through all the earth, was hidden
in types and shadows and commandments of the law. so that it was hidden
there from the world, but was made manifest by those very types
and shadows to folks who believed God. So that when men who believed
God came to God with a sacrifice, they came to God with a Passover
lamb, they came looking for Christ the Passover, trusting Christ,
our Passover, who sacrificed for us. Have you noticed as you
read through the Old Testament scriptures, Every believing woman
in the Old Testament wanted one thing from God. Every believing
woman in all the Old Testament wanted one thing from God above
everything else. Every one of them wanted a man
child. Every one of them wanted a man child because they who
believed God understood God's promise in Genesis 3 15. There's one coming who himself
will be God in human flesh, who is the seed of woman. I'd like to be his mother. I'd
like to be his mother." Every one of them seeking a man-child
from the Lord. Remember when Eve begat Seth,
she thought she'd gotten a man from the Lord. She'd gotten this
man-child from the Lord. When she had Cain, she thought,
this is the one. This is the one God promised
me. She was mistaken, but she was hoping for that one who would
come, the woman seed, to crush the serpent's head. So those
things were hidden under types and shadows of the law from the
world. They were hidden from the world at large. God hid these
things from the whole Gentile world. There were just a few
here and there to whom he sent a messenger who heard the gospel
and believed the gospel. The rest of the Gentile world
worships rocks, and gold, and silver, and wood, and stumps,
and the moon, and stars, and creeping things of the earth.
Those are the things our wise forefathers worshiped, because
God hid these things. He would not make them known
to the Gentile world. Our Lord Jesus said, I thank
thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast
hid these things from the wise and prudent and has revealed
them unto babes. And the gospel of God's grace,
this mystery of redemption, is still hidden from men who will
not believe. Hidden from men because of sin,
depravity, darkness, and death. How often have you said to yourself,
or to others. Shelby and I were just talking
in this regard yesterday, last night. How can people believe
that? How can people believe that?
How can anybody believe that? The fact is, unless God gives
light, you can't see. And you will fall for anything
unless God prevents it. Me too. You understand that?
These things are hid from the wise and prudent. And they are
hidden by God from men who refuse to believe. And they're hidden
by God in reprobation from men who have brought upon themselves
God's everlasting damnation and judgment because of their unbelief.
but they're revealed now by the gospel, revealed plainly in the
word of God, so that there's no excuse for unbelief. He said,
Pastor, you just told us men can't believe unless God gives
them faith. Men can't see unless God gives
them light. That's exactly right. But they're so plainly written
out in the book of God that unbelief is inexcusable. Men who will
not believe, believe not because they will not believe. Our Lord Jesus speaks of that
as the very crux of Holy Ghost conviction. He will convince
you of sin. because you believe not on me. This is the crux of the matter.
Men will not believe, but believing on the Lord Jesus, trusting Christ,
now we see. We see the manifold wisdom of
God in giving us such a Savior as Christ is. And let me show
it to you in five or six ways. First, what marvelous wisdom
there is. in the Lord God choosing his
son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to be our redeemer, our substitute,
our savior. When we read the scriptures and
read about God's covenant and his mercy in the scriptures,
God Almighty, before the world was, ordered a covenant. I'm getting over my head when
I start talking about this. It's far beyond my comprehension,
but it's revealed in this fashion in Scripture. The Lord God, Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost entered into covenant agreement for the salvation
of His people, for the glory of His name, to display His glory. God created the world. God chose
to save sinners. chose the sinners He would save,
and chose His Son to be our Savior for the praise of the glory of
His name. Oh, what greatness there is in
God. What majesty there must be in
God that we haven't yet begun to grasp. As I sat here thinking
about making this statement to you, The blasphemy ran through
my mind that runs through the minds of men immediately. What
egotism there must be in God to make everything just for his
glory. It would be egotism for any of
us. God's greatness, God's majesty,
God's infinite goodness is such that it is His glory to show
you His glory. It is His own honor to show you
His honor. It is His own goodness to make
us know His goodness. No, no, no egotism with God,
but rather mercy and grace. God, before the world was, Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost, set Himself on us in affection and love and
chose a people whom He would redeem and save by His grace
for the glory of His name. And the Lord Jesus stood forth
as our surety. Paul has described this for us
in the opening verses of the first chapter of this epistle.
He says, I've told you this mystery in a few words. And believe me,
it's a few words. You go back and read Jeremiah
31, and Paul just gave us in three verses what Jeremiah gave
us in the whole chapter. He gives us the whole thing revealed
of God's covenant mercy, I've been blessed with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, God accepting his
son as our mediator, redeemer, substitute, and sacrifice before
the world was. He accepted us in his son before
the world was and blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in his son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness
of sins. And then the apostle says he
did all this that we should be to the praise of his glory who
first trusted in Christ, who first trusted in Christ. The Lord God accepted his son
as our substitute and our surety, and trusted to his son, the God-man
mediator, as the man of redemption, He trusted his son with his glory,
his purpose, and our souls. In whom you also trusted after
that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.
Oh, what wisdom that God should contrive a scheme of redemption
involving the gift of his own son and the sacrifice of his
own darling son in our stead. This is a scheme no mortal would
ever conceive. This is a plan no human being
would ever imagine, that God should become one of us and God
should sacrifice the son of his love for the saving of his people.
But there was no other way for God to be just and yet justify
the ungodly. The only way it could be done
was by one who is himself God and one who is fully man. One who is God and could never
die becomes man and dies in our stead to satisfy the justice
of God for us. Oh, what blessedness. Lord God
accepted his son and says concerning his elect, deliver him from going
down to the pit. I have found a ransom. And that ransom is Jesus Christ
the Lord. I just read Daniel chapter six
just a few minutes ago before I came out here. And Nebuchadnezzar,
you remember, was enticed by some of his servants. They said,
King, not Nebuchadnezzar Darius, was enticed by servants. He said,
you make a decree. You make a decree that for the
next 30 days, anybody who prays to any god other than you, or
asks anything of anybody except you, be thrown into the lion's
den. Man, Darius thought that's a good thing to do. But these
fellows were after Daniel. And Daniel was caught praying. Daniel was fully aware of it,
and he could have hidden himself, but Daniel threw open his windows
and prayed like he always did, worshiping God like he always
did, publicly identifying with God, though God was despised
by the people and by the king. And when Darius found out what
had happened, the scripture tells us that Darius diligently sought
to the going down of the sun a way to deliver Daniel. And
all night long, he was troubled, studying, trying to find a way
to deliver Daniel. And he couldn't find a way. And
the time came and somehow Darius said, Daniel, your God is able
to deliver you. I can't do it. I can't do it.
How he knew that, I don't know. Whether he knew that or not,
I don't know, but that's what he said. Your God is able to
deliver you. How can that be? Only if God
takes your place and steps into the fiery furnace in your place. And they threw Daniel in the
furnace of fire. I'm sorry, not the furnace of
fire, in the lion's den. Threw Daniel in the lion's den. And
the Lord God stopped the mouths of the lions. Darius elevated
Daniel and worshipped God because God found a way to deliver him
from the lion's den. The Lord God Almighty has found
a way to fully satisfy his justice, to magnify his law and make it
honorable. and still forgive us of our sins. And that's in the person of his
darling son. That wisdom of God is manifest
in the substitutionary sacrifice of God's dear son. Our Lord Jesus
came into this world in our nature. God became a man. He who is immortal
became mortal. He who is infinite became an
infant. He who is the bread of life hungered
for bread. He who is the water of life thirsted
for water. This one who is the everlasting
I am sat on a whale's side and was weary with his journey. He
really became one of us, bone of our bone and flesh of our
flesh. And while He walked on this earth, He endured everything
you and I endure in this world. All the trials and temptations
and woes and pains that affect us and break our hearts, our
Savior endured. while he walked on this earth.
Imagine that. Imagine that. You and I have
some difficulties. We have some struggles. Each
of us with certain difficulties and certain struggles as prescribed
by our heavenly father to make us useful to others. And he makes those struggles
and difficulties and trials beneficial to ourselves so that we might
be a blessing to others. But none of us endures them all. None of us. God has graciously allowed me
some experiences of pain so that I can help folks who go through
the same thing. God has allowed you some difficulties,
some painful experiences that I don't know anything about so
that you can help folks who go through the same thing. God's
darling son, our savior, by the infinite wisdom of God, lived
in this world a real man and suffered everything human beings
suffer. Every temptation, every emotion
of the heart, every pain without sin. Why did he do that? because it was necessary if he
would be a merciful and faithful high priest that he'd be made
like unto his brethren. And since he's endured all this,
now he is touched with the feeling of our infirmity and able to
succor them that believe. He's able to help with compassion. our needy souls, whatever the
need is, and He graciously condescends to do so. Our Lord Jesus, this
suffering one, tempted at all points like as we are, yet without
sin, in all His life was our substitute. And while He walked
on this earth, He fulfilled God's law in every detail, living by
faith. bringing in everlasting righteousness. Mr. Spurgeon put it this way,
all the days of his earthly sojourn, he was weaving a spotless garment
of perfect righteousness. And when he came to the end of
his life on this earth, he said, Father, I have finished the work
thou gavest me to do. seeming to make a distinction
between his life of obedience actively and his life of obedience
in the sacrifice of himself. Because in John 19 30, just the
next evening, he says it is finished when he had put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself. So that our Lord Jesus, while
he walked on this earth, all the while was weaving a garment
of righteousness, perfect righteousness. perfect righteousness such as
God requires, perfect righteousness such as God alone can give, Jesus
Christ is that righteousness. He is Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord
our righteousness. We remember when the prodigal
came home, the father took the fatted calf and slaughtered it,
and he commanded that they bring a ring and put it on his son's
hand, and shoes and put them on his feet, and bring the best
robe and put it on his back. That's what Christ is. He is
our robe of righteousness, the perfect robe of righteousness,
and just the right fit. I'm an odd-shaped fellow. I've
never been able in my life to go to the store and buy something
off the rack that fit me except underwear. Nothing else. None
of the coats, none of the shirts, none of the pants, nothing fits
me. I've got bulges where the folks don't have them and bumps
where the folks don't have them, I reckon, but all of them have
to be altered. Everything has to be altered
to fit me except this one garment. Jesus Christ is the perfect fit
for this sinner, the perfect fit. His righteousness was made
just for me, just for you who believe, and he puts it on us
by his grace. But our Lord Jesus was also our
substitute when he hung upon the curse tree. Oh, what wisdom. what marvelous wisdom God Almighty
took his son and gave him a sacrifice for sin. And he alone was able
to bear our sin in his body on the tree, all our sin. This man who is God. This man
who is God, able to bear our sin in his body on the tree,
all our sin, and bear the weight of divine
judgment, justly do our sin. All the fury of God's holy wrath. All the fury of hell. all the judgment of God, all
the justice of God's holy law, he's able to bear all the penalty
for this man is God. This man is God. And when he
who knew no sin and did no sin and could not sin was made sin,
the Lord God unleashed all his fury on his son, poured out all his wrath on his
son. And the Lord Jesus voluntarily
took the cup. And like a thirsty man drinking
cold water, because of his infinite love for his elect, because of
his infinite love for sinners, because of his infinite love
for me, because of his infinite love for you, my sister, my brother. With one tremendous draft of
love, he did what he alone could do. He drank damnation dry. No angel could have dreamed of
such a thing. The angels stand in wonder. I
can almost imagine their silence when first they heard that for
which God had created the world. I can almost imagine their shouts
of praise. when the Lord Jesus had finished
that for which he came into this world in human flesh. And to
this day, I can hardly imagine this, the
angels of God, all the host of heavenly angels,
gather with us Merle with indescribably more
interest than we have. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that
amazing? With indescribably more interest
than we have, they look into the redemption of our souls by
Christ. Oh, God, give me grace that I
might compete with the angels to know my redeemer. that I might
compete with the angels to know your goodness to me, etc. And that being made the recipient
of grace, I might learn to trust you and adore you. This is the
manifold wisdom of God by which God displays all his attributes,
all his glory, all his majesty, all the wonder of his being in
one thing, the salvation of sinners by the doing and dying of Jesus
Christ. Now, one last thing. You can
look at it later, Philippians chapter three. God's great wisdom
is marvelously manifested in this blessed redemption by Christ
in having exalted his son and seated him at his own right hand
in heavenly places and having given him power over all flesh
to give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. Like you, I follow some of the
political stuff going on around us with concern. I fret about it far more than
I ought to. If I fret about it at all, I fret about it more
than I ought to, far more than I ought to. Because none of us,
none of us, and none of the folks that I know running for political
office, none of them are fit to do it. None of them are fit
to handle the job. Not one of them. Not one of them.
Oh, God Almighty, blessed be His name, put the universe in
the hands of one who's fit to rule it and rule it right. And He does. He rules the universe
for the praise of His glory. That one who is trusted of God
to do it. In whom you also trust Him. Do you? Do I? Oh, God give us grace to trust
Him. In whom you also trust Him. After that, you heard the word
of the truth, the gospel of your salvation. This is the wisdom
of God. Jesus Christ is of God, made
unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Made of God unto us redemption,
complete deliverance. Whatever's involved in the fall, Whatever's involved in sin, whatever's
involved in the curse of God's holy law and justice, whatever's
involved in God's requirements of righteousness and satisfaction,
Whatever's involved in the new birth and the gift of life by
God's grace, whatever's involved in resurrection of the body and
everlasting glory, that's what Christ is made of God unto us. Complete deliverance. by the purchase of his blood,
by the power of his grace, and by the purpose of his goodness. God make it yours for Christ's
sake. Amen.