My subject tonight is the mystery
of his will. Our text is Ephesians chapter
1, verses 9 and 10. The mystery of his will. The apostle is here writing by
inspiration, describing for us the marvelous works of God's
grace heaped upon us through the blood redemption of our Lord
Jesus Christ. having made known unto us the
mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he
hath purposed in himself, that in the dispensation, that is,
in the administration, in the economy, in the working out of
the fullness of times, he might gather together in one all things
in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth,
even in him. Now here the Apostle Paul tells
us that there are some people in this world to whom God the
Holy Ghost has made known the mystery of his will. He did this
according to his good pleasure which he had purposed in himself. If God has not yet done that
for you and in you, I pray that he will do so this hour. Oh,
may God make known to you the mystery of His will. Canst thou by searching find
out God? The answer is never. God makes
Himself known in creation and in providence. He makes Himself
known in His power and His wisdom so that there are certain things
about God all men know by creation and by conscience, God stamping
his image upon man and God writing his law upon the conscience of
man. But when all is said and done,
you can learn everything there is to learn about creation and
about the power of God in creation and never find or know God. God makes himself known in his
law and shadows and figures and types and commandments But the
law is only administration of death unless God makes known
to you the mystery of His will by supernatural revelation. God reveals Himself in His Word. And I urge you, read the Word
of God. Search out the Scriptures. But
the fact is, you can read and read and read and read. and finally memorize the Bible
from cover to cover and never find God. How come? Because the knowledge of God,
God's salvation, God's grace does not come by your wisdom
and your power and your ability. The only way any sinner can ever
know God is by special divine revelation. Christ must be revealed
in you. He who is the Word of God and
he alone makes God known to men in the blessed experience of
his grace. The Apostle Paul writes here
concerning those of us whose eyes the Lord has opened and
he's telling us what God's done for us. Oh, may we now behold
wondrous things out of his word, as we look again at the mystery
of his will. We read these two verses, having
made known unto us the mystery of his will. Our Lord Jesus,
by his spirit, by his grace, in whom we have redemption through
his blood, has made known to us by the sweet revelation of
His grace, by Christ revealed in us the mystery of His will,
according to His good pleasure, which He hath purposed in Himself,
that in the dispensation of the fullness of times He might gather
together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven
and which are on earth, even in Him. I will spend the bulk
of my time this evening deliberately with verse 9, and we'll come
back to verse 10 another day. But let's look at these two verses
together tonight, and let me try to answer these three questions.
What is the mystery of His will? Second, what is the fullness
of times spoken of in verse 10? And third, what is the gathering
together of all things in Christ? All right, let's look at verse
9 first. What is the mystery of His will? Whatever the mystery
of His will is, it is something that has been and is being revealed
to us. It is that secret of God that
God makes known to sinners in His saving grace. Our Savior
said, I call you not servants but friends. And I do that because
a friend knows what his master's doing, not the servant. And the
Lord Jesus comes to those who are made the friends of God,
as Abraham was, and makes known to us the secret of God. Deuteronomy tells us the secret
things belong to God. But those things that are revealed
to us and to our children, those secret things, those things that
God has not revealed to us, we dare not pry into. But there
are some things He has revealed and some things that He's distinctly
revealed to every sinner who is born again by His grace. What
is the mystery of His will? It is that which God has purposed
and accomplished for us in Christ. It's something that at one time
was secret. hidden, but it's now revealed
in Christ and revealed in the gospel. Paul is telling us that
the gospel of our salvation is the unveiling of the divine secret. Now turn to Romans 16. Let's
look at what the Scriptures say the mystery of His will is. Romans
16, verse 25. This word mystery is found 22
times in the New Testament. Every time It has to do with
the unveiling of God's redemptive purpose. Every time you find
the word mystery used in the New Testament, it has to do with
the opening up of God's secret redemptive purpose in Christ
Jesus. Here in Romans 16, the mystery
of His will is identified as the gospel of Christ itself.
that which is being revealed to all nations by preaching.
Romans 16 25. Now to him that is a power to
establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus
Christ according to the revelation of the mystery which was kept
secret since the world began. but now is made manifest by the
scriptures of the prophets according to the commandment of the everlasting
God made known to all nations for the obedience of faith. The preaching of the gospel is
the unveiling of God's secret. The opening up to men of that
which is the secret of God. His purpose of grace in saving
sinners by Jesus Christ according to the good pleasure of His will.
It is God speaking by His Word, speaking by His servant to make
known to you that which He had done from eternity. Look in 1
Corinthians 2. 1 Corinthians 2. 1 Corinthians
2 verse 1. God the Holy Ghost here tells
us that the Gospel of Christ, the mystery of His will, reaches
to the unveiling not only of what God purposed and what God
accomplished in Christ in the redemption of our souls, but
also to that which God has prepared for those numbered among His
elect. Let's begin at verse 1. I, brethren, when I came to you,
came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring to you
the testimony of God. For I determined not to know
anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified." Brother
Rex just read back in the office the last chapter of Acts, Paul's
last two years. He called together Jews and Gentiles
alike and reasoned with them from the prophets, convincing
men of Jesus Christ crucified. He opened up the message of the
prophets. Now this is what we're told here.
I determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and
him crucified. Opening up the testimony of God
by the prophets and the apostles. And I was with you in weakness
and in fear and in much trembling. I was with you with a full awareness
of my inability to be of any service to your soul. and weakness. The full awareness of my inability
to be of any service to your souls. I can't speak to your
heart. I can't speak life to you. I can't communicate the things
of God to you. But God speaking by me does just
that. I was with you in weakness, not
just in weakness. But in fear, fear the awesome
responsibility that's mine. With reverence for God and trembling. Trembling with the awareness
that I'm handling eternal things for eternity bound men and women
in the name of the eternal God. Not weakness and fear and trembling
before men. No, no. Oh, no. Not weakness
and fear and trembling for what men might say or do in response
to my preaching. No, no. Weakness, fear, and trembling
before God. No, you don't. And my speech
and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom. That is, I didn't preach to you
with pretty words so that you'd be pleased what I had to say.
But in demonstration of the Spirit and power, my preaching was the
preaching of God's Word as God's Word as from God himself in the
power of God's Spirit. That your faith should not stand
in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. True faith stands not in the
wisdom of men, but in the power of God. And if God gives you
faith in Jesus Christ by the power of His Spirit, by the preaching
of the gospel, that faith is God-given faith. You know it
and you have it and nobody's going to talk you out of it.
If the faith you have is faith that's the result of what your
mama, daddy taught you, what I taught you, your Sunday school
teacher taught you, or you got kneeling at the front of the
church saying something somebody told you to say, that's not faith. Somebody, one of the Mormons
or Jehovah's Witnesses can come along on Saturday morning and
talk you out of it. No, no. Your faith stands not in the
wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Verse six, albeit we
speak the wisdom, wisdom among them that are perfect, yet not
the wisdom of this world, nor the princes of this world that
come to naught. Oh, no. We speak the wisdom of
God. Christ is the wisdom of God and
the power of God. We speak the wisdom of God in
a mystery, a secret, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained
before the world unto our glory. Now watch this, which none of
the princes of this world knew. For had they known it, they would
not have crucified the Lord of glory. Had they known it, they
would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written,
I have not seen nor ear heard Neither have entered into the
heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that
love Him. But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all
things, yea, the deep things of God. God by His Spirit opens
the Word and reveals to us That which he has prepared for us
from me for eternity from eternity For what man knoweth the things
of a man? Save the spirit of man which
is in him There's no way for you to know What's going on in
me? I know you think well, I know
what you're thinking. No, you don't No, you don't you
just think you know what I'm thinking unless I tell you what
I'm thinking You can't know what's in a man unless he tells you
what's in him. And you can't know what's in
the mind and heart of God except God reveal it to you. Even so
the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God. All
right, turn to Ephesians 3. The mystery of his will is the
revelation of redemption by Christ, salvation by Christ. The mystery
of His will is the revelation of that which God has prepared
for us from eternity and for eternity. Look at Ephesians 3. Here the Spirit of God declares
to us that the mystery of Christ refers to the fact that Jew and
Gentile are one in Him. That all who trust the Son of
God are one in Him and with Him. Heirs of God and joint heirs
with Christ. I've said this to you many times
in recent years. I can't think of anything that
has more gripped my heart and is more beyond the reach of my
abilities to comprehend it than this revelation of our real,
our real, our real union with Christ. The union of all God's
elect with one another being one in Jesus Christ. Really and
truly one with our Savior. Look at Ephesians 3 verse 1.
For this calls I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,
If you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God, that is,
the administration, the economy, the outworking 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,
whereby when you read, you may understand my knowledge of the
mystery of Christ. He made known to me the mystery.
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." He's not saying this is something that men didn't
know anything about in the Old Testament. Abraham rejoiced to see the Savior's
day. Adam walked with Christ and Christ
with Adam in the Garden of Eden. But they didn't have the full
revelation of God's mystery until God's given us His Holy Word
in its completion. Read on now. Verse 6, here it
is, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same
body and partakers of His promise in Christ by the Gospel. That
is God from eternity purposed to save a people as one people,
not just Jews, but Jews and Gentiles. Again, Brother Mark last week
made this reference to this a couple of times in his preaching, the
word world. Remember when it's used in the
New Testament era, those Jewish minds would think God loves Jews,
God deals with Jews, God's in favor of Jews, the Jews are God's
special people, Gentiles are dogs, and Christ comes and says,
oh no, God loves sinners scattered everywhere among all nations.
And it's been his purpose from eternity to make his Israel out
of every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue. Read on. Whereof
I was made a minister according to the gift of the grace given
unto me by the effectual working of his power. Unto me who am
less than the least of all saints is this grace given, that I should
preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.
God gave me a leader of the Jews. seed of Israel, of the tribe
of Benjamin. God gave me, God gave me a man
who rejoiced to rid the world of the name of Jesus Christ.
God gave me this privilege to carry the unsearchable riches
of Christ to the Gentile world, telling sinners everywhere, having
God save sinners in Christ His Son. Read on. To make all men
see, verse 9, what is the fellowship of the secret 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 now under principalities and powers in heavenly places
might be made known by the church the manifold wisdom of God the
nation of Israel was typically Now somehow in your thinking,
if you're taking notes, you need to underscore this. The nation
of Israel was typically, typically God's covenant people. That physical
seed of Abraham, they were typically God's covenant people. Never
was it God's intention, never was it God's purpose to limit
his grace, his blessings, and his salvations to the Jewish
people, physically Jewish people. They only typically represented
another people, the whole of God's elect, called the Israel
of God. The whole Church of God, which
is the New Jerusalem, the mother of us all. God's holy nation. God's royal priesthood. That's
what you and I are in Christ Jesus. And all God's elect, Jew
and Gentile, black and white, bond and free, rich and poor,
are one. We are one because we are one
with Christ. We are one in Christ. really and truly one. Heirs of
God and joint heirs with Christ. Now God made this known to Abraham
when he first revealed himself to him. He said I'm going to
bless you and I'm going to make you a blessing and in you and
in your son all the nations of the world shall be blessed. You
remember what Paul told the Galatian Gentiles? The Galatian believers,
he said, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law.
Being made a curse for us, for it is written, cursed is everyone
that hangeth on a tree. And he did this that the blessing
of Abraham might come on the Gentiles. That God's blessing,
this blessing of salvation, redemption, grace, forgiveness might come
on the Gentiles. What is that? That he, we, His
elect among the Gentiles might receive the promise of the Spirit,
God the Holy Spirit coming and speaking peace to our souls,
sprinkling us with the blood of Christ. Look at Ephesians
5. In this same line, we see the mystery of the gospel, which
is now revealed to us in the assurance of God's eternal purpose
of grace concerning His church. Jesus Christ satisfied our brother
saying and Jesus Christ shall see of the travail of his soul
and shall be satisfied it is the purpose of God to save all
his people perfectly it is the purpose of the triune Jehovah
from eternity this is what God Forgive me for using terms that
are just so inconsistent. This is what God started out
to do when we read in the beginning. God started out to save his people
with perfect salvation from out of every nation, kindred, tribe,
and tongue. Now, read Ephesians chapter 5
and verse 25, and you'll see the certainty of God's purpose.
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church.
and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse
it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present
it, his church, to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle
or any such thing, no spot of sin, no wrinkle of infirmity,
nothing like that, but that it should be holy and without blemish. Back in chapter one, God chose
us that we should be holy and without blame. Holy and without
blame before him. He said, I'm going to present
my church holy. Not having spot or wrinkle or
any such thing, but holy and without blemish. Now you men,
this is how y'all love your wives. What a standard. So all men to
love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife
loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his
own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it. Even so the Lord
the Church. Members of his body, of his flesh,
of his bones. Now read on. For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave
his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and
they too shall be one flesh. But we're not talking about men
and women and husbands and wives. No, that's just the picture.
That's just the illustration. This is a great mystery, but
I'm talking about Christ and the Church. Oh, I pray for you and for myself,
as Paul did for these Ephesians, that God might grant us grace
to see the wonders of His grace and love in the redemption of
our souls by Christ Jesus. That we, while we walk on this
earth, oh God, that I might be filled with all the fullness
of that you might be filled with all the fullness of God, that
we might be able to comprehend with all saints the length and
breadth and depth and height and to know the love of Christ
that passes knowledge. All these things revealed in
Holy Scripture are proclaimed in the Gospel. They're mysteries
hidden from men in whom the God of this world have blinded the
minds of them which believe not. God sends them a strong delusion
and they believe a lie. God sends them a strong delusion
and they believe a lie. How many times have you talked
with family, friend and neighbor, talked with other religious people about the things they believe?
and you shake your head, say, I don't see how anybody can believe
that. If you've ever, if you've ever
even read a little bit, just a little bit about the Mormon
church, so you ought not to talk against other religions, that's
time you did. If you ever read just a little
bit about, if you can picture a fellow the size of Joseph Smith
picking up 600 pounds of gold plates and running through the
woods with them, you think, Who can believe that foolishness?
Who can believe that nonsense? Who can believe the stuff the
papists have promoted through the years? Who can believe that
stuff? What fool does it take to base
his religion and his religious practices on old men dressed
in drag that look expensive? What fool does it take? Anybody
whose minds God has blinded. You and me too. You and me too. How is it that we then know light
from darkness, truth from error, grace from works, salvation from
damnation? Because God commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, shining in our dark, dark hearts, giving
us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. Now we've received not the spirit
of the world, but the spirit which is of God, that we might
know the things that are freely given to us of God. Now, let's go back to Ephesians
1. The mystery spoken of in verse
9, which God the Holy Ghost makes known in the revelation of grace,
is God's eternal purpose of grace in Christ. The gospel reveals
the mystery of God and of Christ. The doctrine of the gospel is
set before us as the mysteries of the kingdom of God. The mystery
of his will is revealed to God's elect in the experience of grace
and salvation. It's revealed to and apprehended
by faith in Christ. What is this? Believing on the
Son of God, we know our election of God, our union with Christ, our eternal
election, our predestination, our names being written in the
book of life. How do you know you're one of God's elect? I
believe on the Son of God. It's just that simple. It's just
that simple. I've never flown up into heaven
and seen the Lamb's Book of Life, but I know my name's written
there as well as I know my name is on my driver's license. How
do you know that? I believe on the Son of God. Faith is the substance of things
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. We understand, we know,
by the revelation of God's grace in us, by the revelation of this
mystery in us, by the gift of faith in Christ Jesus, that we
are redeemed by Jesus Christ, the incarnate God. Oh, great
is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in the spirit, scene of angels preached to the Gentiles
received up into glory and there he sets the God-man my Redeemer
my name is written on his heart and he's my high priest making
intercession for me and we know our effectual calling by God
the Holy Ghost by which we are assured of our everlasting salvation
and our ultimate resurrection glory with Christ. Are you there
in Ephesians 1, look at verse 13. In whom ye also trusted,
after that ye heard the word of truth, after you heard the
word of the truth, the truth, the truth, the gospel, of your
salvation, the good news that God saved you by His grace, in
whom also after that you believed. Having believed, that is, believing
God, trusting His Son, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit
of promise. God stamped His seal on you. God sealed you with circumcision
made without hands by that circumcision saying all covenant blessings
are yours in Christ Jesus. Which is the earnest, the down
payment, the pledge of our inheritance until the redemption, the final
deliverance of the purchased possession under the praise of
his glory. The mystery of God's will. is manifestly revealed to his
saints in the mystery of the new creation. Made new creatures
in Christ. God forming Christ in you. Giving you life and faith in
Christ. Now, look at verse 10 for just
a minute. That in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he
might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which
are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him. What is this
dispensation of the fullness of times? Let me just give you
a brief declaration. Turn to Romans chapter 8. Romans
chapter 8. The word dispensation means administration,
economy, stewardship. Paul's talking about the outworking
of God's grace in time. He refers to the management of
a household. God is managing his household
according to this purpose. The dispensation of the fullness
of times is the execution of God's purpose in time. Accomplishing in time what he
purposed in eternity. There is a very real sense in
which Shakespeare was right, and I don't know much about Shakespeare,
don't pretend to, but he said, the world is a stage. And all
men are just actors upon the stage. There's a very real sense
in which that's exactly so. This world, time, is the stage
upon which God is unfolding and working out before the eyes of
men the marvelous drama of redemption. Redemption by the power of His
grace and by the precious blood of His darling Son. This is that
which God has purposed. That's what he's doing, and this
is how it shall end. In that day called the times
of the restitution of all things, in that great day our Lord Jesus
Christ shall at last redeem and completely deliver all of God's
creation from the curse and evil consequences
of sin. Everything. Look at Romans 8,
18. I reckon, I reckon that the sufferings
of this present time are not worthy to be compared. They're
not worthy to be put into balances with the glory which shall be
revealed in us. Oh God, teach me to bite my tongue
and shut my mouth and quit murmuring and griping. for the earnest
expectation of the creature. That's me. That's you. The earnest
anticipation of the creature. What a word. The earnest anticipation. I anticipate a day soon to come. I anticipate a day soon to come
when God shall bring everything to bow at the feet of his darling
Son and glorify himself publicly, universally in all things and
by all things. Read on. The expectation of the
creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. It doth not
yet appear what we shall be. You ain't seen nothing yet. You ain't seen nothing yet. You
think redemption's something? You think justification's something?
You think regeneration's something? Wait till you see glorification. Oh, in the creation of all things
new. Read on. For the creature was made subject
to vanity. Vanity of vanities, all this
vanity. made subject to all the bubbles of this world. Not willingly,
but by reason of him that subjected the same in hope, because the
creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of
corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. heavy ice is on the trees or
the heavy snow on the trees. I love to open a window or get
outside or stand in the garage or just drive through the woods
and listen as the trees pop and crack and pop and crack or wind
blows and you see the trees bending with the wind. God's creation
growing. God's creation growing. waiting
for the glorious liberty of the sons of God. Read on. And not
only so, but ourselves also, which had the firstfruits of
the Spirit, love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness,
meekness, faith, temperance, had the firstfruits of the Spirit,
even we ourselves grow within ourselves. It's going to get
better than this. It's going to get better than
this. Soon the warfare is over. Soon glory shall be ours. Waiting
for the adoption. That is the redemption, the resurrection
of our bodies. Turn over to 1 Peter. 2 Peter.
2 Peter chapter 3. Verse 11. Now in the light of this, Seeing then, verse 11, that all
these things shall be dissolved. Everything. Everything you can
see. Everything you can touch. Everything
you can buy. Every relationship you can enjoy
in this world. Everything. Everything you can
feel. Everything. All that's here shall
be dissolved. What manner of persons ought
you to be? in all holy conversation and godliness. Oh, how we ought
to live for God. How we ought to live for eternity,
looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God,
wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and
the elements shall melt with a fervent heat. Nevertheless,
we, according to his promise, stand on the tiptoe of faith
and look for a new heaven and a new earth. wherein dwelleth
righteousness. One more thing. Ephesians 1 10
again. What is the gathering together
of all things in Christ? What's that talking about? What's
that talking about? Certainly it is talking about
the ultimate consummate salvation of all God's elect. Everybody
God purposed to save is going to be saved. Everybody God chose
is going to be called. Everybody Christ redeemed is
going to be at last with Him in glory. No question about that.
But it's talking about all things, all things in heaven and in earth
and under the earth. Soon you and I shall see and
understand and every creature shall see and understand that
everything has been performed exactly according to God's purpose,
shall redound to God's glory and to the everlasting joy and
benefit of God's elect. That's a secret, a secret known
only to God and to those to whom God makes known His secrets. Amen.