If you'll turn back with me now
to Ephesians chapter 3, I'm going to speak to you for a little
bit about this thing Paul talked about, comprehending with the
saints. Comprehending with the saints. The saints have a comprehension.
given to them of God, a great mystery, made known to them through
the preaching of the gospel. And through that revelation,
through that church, through that demonstration of God's Holy
Spirit in them, He makes known the manifold wisdom of God even
to the angels in glory. It's made known unto them by
the church. The intention of Paul in this
third chapter of Ephesians is to magnify the mercy and grace
of God in the effectual calling and salvation of sinners through
the preaching of the person and work of Jesus Christ. He says
in verse 2, if you have heard of the dispensation of the grace
of God which is given me to you, Now, the word dispensation, you
can look it up in the New International Version or some of the other
versions. That word dispensation is not
talking about a little portion in time. That word dispensation
means administration or stewardship. So that what Paul is telling
them, you have heard of the stewardship of the grace of God which is
given me to you." Paul was an apostle and a missionary
to the Gentiles and not all of the Gentiles. Try to imagine
this morning a world where Christ had just
been crucified. Now this thing It was reported
and spoken of and known by some of the Gentiles, but not very
many. It was mostly contained right there around Jerusalem
and with those Jews that interacted in His crucifixion. And now God
will have this Gospel taken out into all the world. But the world,
they don't know this. They don't know what's going
on. And this man Paul is a missionary. to go out to these Gentile nations
and preach the gospel to them. Well, they didn't know anything
about preaching. What's preaching? What's that about? A man standing
up and declaring this and declaring that. What's this all about? What's this preaching all about?
Why are you here? We have churches. We've got churches
on this corner and that corner just like we do today. You go
over here to Taylor, there's four or five churches. The town
only has 600 people. There are churches everywhere,
people everywhere. What's it all about? What's this
thing all about, this preaching of Jesus Christ? What's this
all about? Paul said, if you've heard, if
you've heard of the dispensation of the grace of God that's given
to me for you, for you, He was an apostle and a missionary
to the Gentiles, and not all of them knew what had taken place
concerning Jesus Christ, nor the pouring out of God's Spirit
upon the church at Pentecost, nor this gospel age wherein God's
elect shall be called unto life eternal through the preaching
of the gospel. And I'm going to tell you something,
this world is just as ignorant right now as they was then. What's going on? What's going
on? What God has designed, what God
has done, what God is doing is a great mystery to fallen men. Now, there's no lack of imagination
on man's part. There's no shortage of men pretending
to know what's going on. There's no lack of activity among
those who are deceived. This world is full of religion.
Full of it. Full of religion. Full of churches. Full of priests and rabbis and
reverends and preachers. But the truth is, the truth is,
eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the
heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that
love him. They don't know a thing about
it. Not a thing about it. Natural men are said to be ever
learning. These are those who pretend to
know. Who pretend to know. Who pretend
to preach. Who pretend to understand the
counsels of God. They are said to be ever learning,
but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Of fallen
men, it is said, there is none that understandeth. You can read
that in Romans chapter 3. None that understandeth the way
of peace have they not known. You search the Scriptures, our
Lord said to the Jews, very religious people, for in them you think
you have eternal life. And they are they which testify
of Me. But you won't come to Me that
you might have life." They don't know what's going on. What's going on? Well, I'm a
priest. You mean as a priest I have to
listen to a preacher? That's how the Jews felt about
it. We have a structure. We know God. We have fathers
who have served God for thousands of years, and now you're going
to come along and tell us how to seek God? What's going on? What's going on? That's the first
thing God has shut you up and tell you what's going on. The only way any son of Adam
can ever hope to have any understanding about what's going on in this
world is for God to give him what he cannot know on his own. Paul said, I'm writing these
things to you that you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of
Christ. That's why I've written this
book. That's why I wrote these things. That's why the Holy Spirit
moved on me to send you these things. that you might understand
where it comes from, how I received it, and to what end it was given. He said, I want you to understand
these things, at least in your head. At least in your head. I tell you, when I was just a
kid going to church, I thought preaching was a vocation. I thought it was a vocation like
being a plumber, a carpenter, a businessman. I thought it was
something you could take classes in and be trained and do for
a living. And then later on, by the grace
of God, I learned different. I learned that God separates
men unto the gospel. Paul said, He separated me unto
the gospel. God calls them, equips them,
and sends them. And God has purposed the preaching
of the Gospel to save them that believe. Listen to this here
in Ephesians 3. Paul said, whereof I was made
a minister. I was made a minister according
to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual
working of His power. And that's the only way you can
ever become a preacher. God must separate a man to the
gospel ministry. God must equip him. God must
open his providence to him. God must anoint him. God must
draw men and gather men to him. Think about old John the Baptist.
Boy, he wasn't much to look at. I'm telling you, dressed up in
those old skins and furs and lived like a hermit out there,
but God caused all Judea and Jerusalem to go out and hear
Him, didn't He? Huh? Sure He did. This is so of every God-called
preacher. We are all not apostles and prophets,
we are all not writers of the Scripture, and we are all not
accompanied by supernatural miracles. But we all have been given the
gift of revelation in the mysteries of God. Listen to this in 1 Corinthians
2, verse 12. Same apostle speaking here to
a different church. He said, Now we have 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 watch this, "...which things also we speak, not in
words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth,
comparing spiritual things with spiritual, but the natural man."
That's the world. That's who I'm talking about.
Whether it's my generation or the generation before, or by
the grace of God, the generation yet to come, the natural man,
the unconquered man, the unrepenting man, proud, unregenerate man,
he receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for there's
foolishness unto it. Neither can he know them, because
they're spiritually discerned. No natural man will allow himself
to be shut up to the Word of God. You couldn't shut him up
to the Word of God with a logging chain. He's not going to have
it. You quote scripture to him, he'll
give opinions to you. You quote scriptures to him,
he'll give you his interpretations. You can't shut him up to the
Word of God. The Word of God is not that complicated, brethren.
It's written in very small words. There are very few big words
in the Scriptures. No natural man will allow himself
to be shut up to the Word of God. The Scripture said to be
carnally minded is death because the carnal or sinful mind of
man is enmity against God. It's not subject to the law or
written Word of God. Neither indeed can it be. No
natural man will submit himself to the Word of God and no natural
man will submit himself to God's preacher. I'm telling you the
truth. He's not going to do it. He's
not going to do it. He'll come and listen, but he'll
do what he wants to do. He'll come and listen, but he'll
go read something else, believe something else. He's not going
to submit to God's preachers. He's not going to do it. Even though God's gifted him,
God called him, God sent him, God anointed him, God works His
providence around him, God brought him here to hear him, He still
won't bow to Him. Not to natural man. To them who
are perishing, the preaching of the cross is foolishness. It's not the fact of the cross.
It's not the image of the cross. It's the preaching of the cross
that appears foolishness to them. And no natural man, thirdly,
will allow himself to be shut up. to the revelation of Christ
in the gospel. The revelation of Christ in gospel
preaching is the way God saves sinners. That's the way God calls
men out of darkness, deceit, and spiritual death. And my generation
is totally oblivious to what took place in the manger, at
the cross, at the empty tomb on the hillside outside of Jerusalem
and on the day of Pentecost. Totally oblivious to it. Had
no idea what took place. Had no idea who that baby was
that was born and put in that manger. Had no idea that the Old Testament
Scriptures foretold his birth. This is God Himself come into
the flesh. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. Satan is so filled to airways
with his lies and confusion that only a handful in comparison
knows what's going on. They talk about making decisions,
and walking down aisles, and signing pledge cards, and sprinkling
babies, and catechisms, and accepting Jesus as your personal Savior.
You can't find any of them things in the Word of God. They're not
in there. They're not in there. And not
one of them, not one in the whole bunch can tell you who Christ
is, or why He came, or what He did, or where He is now. But I'm saved! I'm saved! Eternal life, are you listening,
is the revelation of God in Christ. That's what it is. That's eternal
life. It's the revelation of God in
Christ. And to be called of God necessitates
being delivered from the power of darkness. Paul speaks of it
like this. Now, he talks about that deliverance
in Colossians 1.13. But in Ephesians 1.18, he puts
it this way. It's the eyes of your understanding
being enlightened. That's what he prayed for. That's
what he prayed for. He didn't pray that they'd walk
on a higher plane. He knew they'd walk on a higher
plane if God would just reveal Christ to them. The eyes, he said, of your understanding
being enlightened. It's to be given power to become
sons of God and to believe on His name through a new birth.
John 1, verses 12 and 13. And all of these things God does
through preaching. through preaching. Listen to
these scriptures. 1 Corinthians 1.21. Now what have I told you here
this morning? What have I told you in this
opening introduction to you? What have I told you? I told
you that this world is in darkness. They are oblivious to what is
taking place in this world. They understand nothing about
the necessity of preaching. They understand nothing at all
about the means which God has ordained or His Son and His accomplished
redemption. They are totally ignorant of
these things, oblivious to these things. Now listen to what he
says here in verse 21. 1 Corinthians 1.21. For after that, in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." Now, isn't
that what I just told you? That's exactly what I just told
you. Well, what about this? And what
about that? I don't know. I don't know about those things.
I've got no information. I've got no light on those things.
But here's the light right here. This is the light. There's no
reason to go out in the woods or go out on the lake. Go where
the gospel is being preached and listen. Maybe God will give
you ears to hear. That's how He saves sinners.
That's why Paul wrote these folks. He said, if so be you heard.
If you understand what's going on, if you understand this stewardship
that's been given to me for you, this gift of God's grace that's
been given to me for you. Listen to this, 2 Thessalonians
2, verse 13. hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth, whereunto He called you by our gospel to the obtaining
of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. And here's one you won't
even have to look up. Go ye into all the world and
preach the Gospel to every creature. And he that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be
damned. And then here in 2 Corinthians
5, verse 18, listen to this, And all things are of God, who
hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ. But that ain't
the end of it, is it? What's the rest of that verse?
"...and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation." Jesus Christ, having accomplished
His work of redemption, ascended into glory where He now sits
at the right hand of God as the guarantor of all His sheep. And having sent into this world
the Holy Ghost, He now arranges His providence, sends His preachers,
and draws His elect to Christ. Those Jews murmured, and our
Lord said, murmur not. Murmur not among yourselves.
No man can come unto Me except My Father draw him. Draw him. These are the means
which are accompanied by the Holy Spirit of God. These are
the means that are true to the Word of God, and these are the
means that glorify their Giver. Paul said here in those verses
that I read to you earlier, that this gift of preaching was given
to him, listen to this, 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 in Jesus Christ,
to the intent that now, even unto the angels in heaven, these
principalities and powers in heavenly places, might be known
through the church this manifold wisdom of God, according to the
eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Well, Pritchard, what are you
saying? I'm saying, oh, what a blessed privilege it is to
sit under the gospel of Christ. I want you to get hold of that.
Paul told these people, this is how you're going to be strengthened.
This is how you're going to be grounded. This is how men are
called. These are the means that God
will bless. To sit and to hear in your own
language, in simplicity and plainness of speech, how God saves sinners
for the glory of His great name. To be told what's going on, not
to be left in confusion. To them, he said, he gave confusion
of faces. Just confusion. Just confusion.
Unanswerable questions. Learning but never knowing. Always
changing, always going about, being blown about by every wind
and doctrine. To be told what's going on, not
to be left in confusion, to be informed as to God's design in
creation, providence and salvation. to be told what salvation is. Most men don't know what it is
to be saved. Saved from what? Well, I don't
want to go to hell. I don't either. I don't know
anybody who wants to go to hell, do you? But that's not salvation. That's not salvation. Salvation
is to be saved from your sin. Saved from what you are. It is to be told what salvation
is, and where it can be found, and how it can be received, to
be given light in the darkness where you are. As a preacher of the Gospel,
our Lord began His ministry, and it said He went into the
land of Nephilim, to Galilee of the Gentiles. And the people,
listen now, which sat in darkness saw great light. Huh? Where were they sitting? In darkness. Well, some of them was in the
synagogue. Yeah, the synagogue of Satan sitting in darkness. Sitting in darkness. And they
saw great light. And to them which sat in the
region and shadow of death, light sprung up. I don't know what else to do. I can't find anything else in
the Scriptures to do for my generation. Nothing whatsoever. I know by
experience where this world sits. And I know by experience that
they'll sit in that darkness until God sends them light. And
so I study and prepare and ask God to give me an open door which
is required to preach His Gospel and to do for them what He did
for me. And tell me the truth. Tell me
the truth. The Apostle Paul suffered extreme
persecution and extreme punishments. Beaten within a single lash of
the whip on three different occasions to one stroke of death. Imprisonment,
he said often. Hated by his kinsmen. Blackballed
from the religion of his youth. lied on in his reputation marred
everywhere he went. And he did it willingly. Why? Because he knew that this is
the only way God saves sinners. That's why he did it. The preaching
of the gospel, he wrote, is how and where the righteousness of
God is revealed from faith to faith. And he said, I'm not ashamed
of it, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believes. And he says here in Ephesians
3.18, I preach so that you may be able to comprehend with all
the saints. Nobody else is going to comprehend. Except those sanctified. I read
it to you a while ago. Sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Isn't that what this is? That's how you get to be a saint.
Saints are sanctified men. And he said, I preach so that
you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the
breadth and length and depth and height. What in the world
is he talking about? What's he talking about? Well, its length
is from eternity to eternity. That's right. This gospel of
the glory of God in Jesus Christ is from eternity to eternity.
Preacher, why do you always have to be talking about before the
foundation of the world? Because that's when it began,
in eternity past. When will it be finished? In
eternity future. He said, I'm Alpha and Omega.
I'm the beginning and the end. It's length is from eternity
to eternity. It's breadth is to every nation,
tribe, kindred, tongue, and people under heaven. It's depth is to
the lowest center. The chief of center. That's what
Paul said. To me who am less than the least of all the saints
is this grace given. It goes to the lowest center.
And it's height is into heaven's glory. Itself was seated with
Him in heavenly places. In verse 19, he said, And to
know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge. That is, it
excelleth. It goes beyond knowledge. The love of God is the fountainhead
of all His blessings to men. In Ephesians chapter 1, verse
3, it said, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings and heavenly
places in Christ, according as He hath chosen us in Him before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before Him in love." What in the world is that talking
about? Sitting before Him loved. That's what he's talking about.
Sitting before Him holy. Sitting before Him without blame. Sitting before Him loved. Jacob have I loved. Esau have I hated. Another one of the versions reads
like this. Even as in His love, He chose us as His own in Christ
before the creation of the world that we might be holy and without
blemish before Him. And the gist of it is that we
were chosen and blessed in Christ to be loved forever. To be loved
forever. God cannot love any man, any
woman, any boy, or any girl outside of Christ. And so He declares
these three things, holy, without blame, and before Him in love. And in this was manifested the
love of God toward us because that God sent His only begotten
Son into the world that we might live through Him. The love of God is in the person
of Jesus Christ. When you learn of Him, you'll
learn about love. You'll learn about love. And
that's where you'll receive it. And that's where it's matured.
And that's where it flows. And the heart of that love is
that He gave Himself for us. Listen to this. Husbands. I've known husbands.
I've been a husband. And that Scripture where He talks
about husbands love your wives, That's a mystery in him. What
in the world is he talking about? Is he just talking about earthly
affection? Is he talking about infatuation?
What in the world is he talking about? Well, listen to what he
says. He said, Husbands, love your
wives even as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it. That's what love is. Love is
the giving of oneself. And it is in the giving of himself
that Christ manifested the love of God. Husbands do not give
themselves to any woman who decides she wants them. Ain't that what
free will religion says? Huh? Sure it is. I will. I will. Husbands do not give themselves
to any woman that's willing to have him. And again, I say, is that not
what religion is teaching? Husbands give themselves to their
bride. To their bride. And this whole
concept of universal love is a sick, perverted heresy. That's what it is. Just compare
the two right here in this one verse of Scripture here in Ephesians.
Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church. He gave Himself for His bride,
His church, His elect, His sheep. His love is particular. And love,
true saving love, always manifests itself in union. When a man loves his wife, he
won't be parted from her. He won't be parted from her.
Love is so obsessed with his union with the bride that he
breaks all family ties and he leaves his father and mother
and cleaves unto his wife, and they too become one flesh. A man in love is so motivated
that he suffers all things, conquers all things, Provides for his
wife and succeeds where others fall short. Why? Because he loves her. Failure
is not an option to a man in love. Not an option. Listen to this. He said, love
never faileth. Never, never. Never. Love's bond can never be broken. Love's heart can never be satisfied
with another. And love had rather die a thousand
deaths than to be parted with its object. I'm going to give
you a type in the scripture here to illustrate what I'm talking
about. Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve. Adam had rather
die the death, knowing the consequences, he'd rather die the death than
be parted from his bride. And then one more thing about
this love. Those who are loved, love in return. They love in return. 1 John 4,
verse 10. He said, Herein is love, not
that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to
be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, if He did, We all also love one another. He so loved us as to choose us
in Christ and make provision for us in Christ. So loved us
as to enter in everlasting union with our bodies. So loved us
as to suffer our shame and bear our guilt and stand before God's
holy justice in our stead. So loved us that while we were
yet sinners, He died for us. So loved us that even as we breathed
out our enmity against Him, He called us to Himself and took
us into holy union by faith and gave us His name. Clothed us
in His righteousness and prepares us or prepares for us a place
in glory at His side forever. He preserves us and watches over
us as a shepherd over his own sheep. And He'll never be separated
from us. And I think I can say this no
matter what. No matter what. If God so loved
us, we ought also to love one another. And then if you go back
to our text in Ephesians 3 and look at the last line in verse
19, I'll close. He says here that you might be
filled, this comprehension of the saints, this preaching of
the gospel. He said it's done to enlighten
you, to give you knowledge, to give you light out of darkness,
to bring to you the truth among all the deceptions in life. And
it's to strengthen you, and it's to ground you in the love of
Christ. And now listen to this, that
you might be filled with all the fullness of God. That's not talking about His
divine nature making us equal with Him, nor even of the fullness
of His grace which God purposed to give us in Christ. But he's
talking here about the fullness of all His blessings given to
us in Christ. To comprehend as much as we can
of God's mercy and grace and love and strength. To comprehend
His justice that now pleads for us and pleads on our behalf. To comprehend His righteousness
that now qualifies us for fellowship. To comprehend His love that is
the wellspring of all His blessing, to comprehend His sovereignty
that now protects us, His unchangeableness that now secures us, His mercy
that forgives us, and His grace by which we receive all these
blessings. Brethren, I don't preach for
a living. I can build houses. I can mow yards. I can dig ditches.
I can run machinery. I can do things for a living.
I don't preach for a living. I don't preach to make a name
for myself. And I don't preach to win God's
approval. I preach in expectation that
God will cause another sinner like me to comprehend His glory. And when He does, He'll come
out. of this world. He'll come out
of that darkness, and he'll rejoice in Christ.
He'll lay hold of Christ, and you won't be able to separate
him from Christ. He'll cling to Christ. His hope
will be in Christ. He'll follow Christ. He'll want
to hear Christ. One lady told Scott Richardson,
she said, all you ever preach is Christ, Christ, Christ. He
said, well, you write that on my tombstone. Just put, that'd
be a good marker. Just put that on my tombstone.
He never preached anything but Christ. Wouldn't that be something?