If you'll take your Bibles now
and turn with me to the book of Ephesians. The book of Ephesians. We're going to begin a new study
today. And I want to take our time as
we go through this. This is going to be a little
different study than our book of John, although I'll be dealing
with these things of redemption as we come to them and these
things of salvation and regeneration and all the things that he talks
about in this epistle. But I also want to deal with
the practical side of the church, of the structure of the church
and of the importance And a lot of times when I'm talking to
you about things, I don't have time in 45 minutes to just single
something out like an apostle and tell you what an apostle
is. Or like we're going to do this morning, look at the Apostle
Paul and why did he start this thing out with his name Paul?
He was, why not Reverend? Why not some significant title. Why is it just Paul? And we're
going to look at these things and consider these things as
we go through the story here or go through this epistle of
Ephesians. Now I want you to just try to
picture in your mind a map. Some of you have maps in your
Bible, some of you don't. But if you can just imagine looking
at a map in front of you and you've got this body of land
on the left coming down and you've got the Aegean Sea right in the
middle. And then over here on this side
you've got Asia and then this little section down here called
Asia Minor at the lower part of Asia. This is the areas that
we're talking about. And on the left side and all
the way up to the top was Macedonia. And up there's the Church of
Thessalonica and the Church of Philippi way up at the top of
this Kind of looks like a horseshoe. This land goes up and then it
has this little narrow like isthmus coming over here and then Asia.
And then this G and C comes right down the middle. So up there,
that's Macedonia. And just a little bit down from
this and on the left-hand side is Berea. You read in the book
of Acts about the Bereans. And then you come on down below
that and you have Greece. And Greece is kind of a funny-shaped
country. You've got this thing of land
over here, and then you've got this little isthmus, what they
call an isthmus, just a little narrow strip of ground like a
land bridge that goes from the main body over to where Athens
was on this side. And on the main body side of
Greece is where Corinth was, right where this isthmus begins.
That was Corinth. And these were places of travel.
Everybody had to funnel right through Corinth to get to Athens
from the other side of Greece. And then if you was to get on
a ship and just go right straight across the Aegean Sea from Athens,
if you just went to Athens and went over to the port there and
got on a vessel and just sailed Straight across the Aegean Sea,
you'd be at Ephesus. That's where Ephesus is. Over
here in Asia Minor. And it was considered in its
day to be the gateway into Asia Minor. This was the port of call
that everybody come to. And it was, I guess, as far back
as the historians can go, its origination was from the Greeks.
The Greeks sailed across established this port, settled there. And
this was the place where the big Temple of Diana, any of you
all that are historians and have studied anything at all about
these nations and countries, this is where the Temple of Diana
was and this big statue that stood out there in front of it.
And all those that worshiped that type of thing, which pretty
much included everybody in Greece and everybody that they had influence
on, all loved to come to Ephesus. And Ephesus was this place of
fruitfulness and a very mild climate. It was just like going
to Florida, to Disney World, where they went to the Temple
of Diana in Ephesus. And that's where everybody went,
you know, this place of Ephesus. And I think this is important
for you to know. I'm not trying to give you a
history lesson this morning. I just want you to know what
these people were about. I want you to know how why they
were so steeped in idolatry and why they were so steeped in this
temple worship of Diana and how they got these things that Paul
begins to deal with in this letter. And so it is with all his epistles,
wherever they are, he's dealing with these things. And if you
go through the book of Acts when it makes mention of these places,
you get a little bit more detail on what he was dealing with when
he wrote to these people. But this is Ephesus. And this letter to the Ephesians
is very clear and a very precise statement of the apostle's doctrine. I don't think you'll find anywhere
in the scripture anything to rival with this first chapter
of Ephesians as far as a statement of doctrine. And you ought to
be aware of that by now, because anytime I'm talking about election,
I go to Ephesians chapter 1. Anytime I'm talking about predestination,
I go to Ephesians chapter 1. Anytime I'm talking about God's
eternal election of a people, their predestination to the adoption,
and so on, I go to Ephesians chapter 1. You won't find an
epistle anywhere in the scriptures as clear. Let me tell you a little
story. Brother Mayhem was converted
under the ministry of Ralph Barnard, but he still pastored this big
Southern Baptist church up in Ashland, Kentucky. And what he
was trying to preach to them, he didn't want to blow the thing
up. He wanted them to see what he saw. He was so excited about
it, so convinced of it, rejoiced in it, that he wanted
them to see. He wanted them to have what he
had and see what he saw. And so he began to teach these
things. And boy, they didn't like it. They didn't like it.
And trouble. Just trouble. Every time he tried
to teach it, no matter how he tried to teach it, they didn't
want it. They weren't going to receive
it. And he said he taught the men's Bible class there. And
it got to the place in the men's Bible class where he just couldn't
say anything anymore. And so that Sunday morning he
decided, he said, I'm just going to read. I'm not going to teach
anything. I'm just going to read the book of Ephesians. We're
going to read the whole book. Well, he got down right here
in verse 4. According as he had chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world. And this big old
Burleigh Deacon stood up and he said, hold it right there. He said, I know what you're trying
to do. Henry said, I'm not trying to
do anything. Oh, yes you are. You're trying to teach an election.
Henry said, I'm not trying to do anything. I'm just reading
to you the book of Ephesians. He said, his election, what you
got out of that, that's what I got out of it too, because
that's what it says. I'm telling you there's not a
clear epistle as far as laying a foundation for these doctrines
that we teach than Ephesians. You can't go through here. You
might go over here somewhere else and talk about election
being applied to the Jews and election having to do with somebody
during the millennium or something, but you're not going to go to
Ephesians 1 and do that because it's clear as a bell. Nor are
you going to be able to deny predestination as a Bible doctrine,
because here it is. So clear, so clear. Unrivaled
in its clarity. And it's clearly not intended
to be universally applied, but all of these doctrines are clearly
set forth. Look up here in this first verse.
He said, I'm writing to the saints, which are at Ephesus, and to
the faithful in Christ Jesus." Now that's who these things are
written to. You can't run down here and try to take all these
blessings of redemption and all these blessings of justification
and all these blessings of regeneration and revelation and all this and
apply it universally. You can't do it. Because he's
not writing to the world. He's writing to believers. And
he makes that clear, so clear right at the beginning of this
book. This book is just unrivaled in its clarity, in its bold declarations
of God's eternal purpose of grace, where these blessings originate.
You don't have any doubt where the blessings of regeneration,
the blessings of justification, the blessings of election and
predestination and sonship and adoption and everything else
that has to do with The salvation of a sinner originates in God. And you're not going to have
any doubt about it after we get through this first chapter, unless
you just reject the Word of God. So in short, here's what I'm
saying. This epistle is the revelation of God in Christ, reconciling
His chosen people to Himself according to the good pleasure
of His will. And He says that. He says that. This is not a summation of what
I think it says. This is what He says. What He
says. Now in this first chapter, Paul
sets forth Christ as the fountainhead of all spiritual blessings. There
are no blessings outside of Christ. Just forget it. Forget it. They're all in Christ. All of
them's in Christ. And He's the only means whereby
any man can have hope before the living God. This is where
your hope begins. Your hope originates in God. But it's through Christ. Through
Christ. And that's what Paul begins to
set forth. And he sets these things forth in the book of Ephesians,
and right here in this first chapter, in two distinct ways. Two ways he's going to set this
thing forth to you. This gospel that he prays, he'll
set it forth in two ways. He's going to set him forth as
the God of and the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. As the God of the Lord Jesus
Christ, He reveals His character and attributes, the very character
and attributes of God. And as the Father, see, keep
in mind now, Christ is the representative. We've chosen and put in Him,
so He's representing God's chosen people. And as a representative,
he reveals in this relationship of father and son, our relationship
to God. The only relationship there is,
this intimate relationship of our representation before
God. And so in that representation,
our own relationship in Him. Now, I've read both books, the
book of Ephesians and the book of Colossians. I recommend that
you do the same. But Ephesians tells us what we
are in Christ. Colossians tells us what Christ
is in us. You remember reading in Colossians,
he said, Christ in you, the hope of glory. This is Christ. Don't,
as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, stay right there. Don't
go anywhere. This is where all the blessings
are. and begins to tell us what Christ is in us. Now this was
the gateway. This was the, everybody's coming
through here from every kind of faith, every kind of religion,
known to man. They're coming through this port
and they want to see this big statue and they want to see this
temple. They want to, they want to come see what all the hoopla
is about. And right in the middle of all this mess is a church
at Ephesus. And it was the, the home of that
great temple of Diana and that big statue. And just like in all these other
places where Paul preached and God raised up churches, they
were just steeped in these superstitious idolatry. And as the church began
to grow and become established, Paul appointed pastors to this
church. He ordained deacons in this church. He set up the structure of the
church. He gave commandments to the church. He brought into light the things
that concerns these churches and an order to this assembly
to be taught. I'm telling you all this because
I want you to realize that this study is going to be a little
different than what we've been doing. By the grace of God, I
hope to get into all these activities and order and structure and and
offices of the church. Now, having said all that, let's
begin here in verse 1 and just take our time. I'm just going
to, I'll be honest with you, I'm just going to look at three
words in the first verse this morning. That's all we're going
to do. I think that'll fill up the whole time. And I hope you'll
apply yourself to these studies and if you can't be here, get
the CDs. Go home where it's quiet and
nobody's bothering you and there is no distraction. Sit down and
listen to these things and look at them in the Word of God and
see if what I'm not telling you is the truth. But here in verse
1, Paul begins this epistle with his name, Paul. That's not Saint
Paul, though he was a saint. He tells them in Romans he was
called to be a saint. He is a saint. But he doesn't
call himself Saint Paul. He doesn't call himself Pope
Paul. He's not Pope Paul. He's not Reverend Paul. He's
not Father Paul. And he's not Saul. That was his
old name. That was his old unregenerated
name. A name that associated him with
all his former occupation as a Pharisee and his reputation
of persecution of the church. But he just starts this epistle
off, Paul. Paul. You know, a lot of times
in the past I've been preaching and they won't say it to me usually. Sometimes they do. But most of
the time they don't. They'll go to somebody else and
say, who's he think he is? Darwin. That's who I think I
am. Just me. I'm not Reverend, Saint,
Doctor. None of those things. Just me.
And these religious titles are strictly forbidden. That's what
I want you to see. There's an evil associated with
it in the scriptures. These titles are strictly forbidden
when that title conveys some personal honor to the man they
give it to. Strictly forbidden. Now, listen
to this. Over in Matthew chapter 23, the Lord was exposing the foolish
habits and the evil ways of the Pharisees and the scribes And
he told them that the scribes and Pharisees, here's the first
thing he told them, they sit in Moses' seat. Boy, that's a
pretty high honor, isn't it? They sit in Moses' seat. Moses
was somebody. Scott was introducing Henry one
time. He come up to preach up in West
Virginia, and he was up somewhere around Beckley, West Virginia.
And he told the folks there, he said, now these men didn't
ride into town in the back of no pickup truck. He said, these
guys are somebody. They're somebody. And that's
what the Lord's telling them. These guys are somebody. They're
somebody. They sit in Moses' seat. Now
watch this. Matthew 23, 3. All therefore
whatsoever they bid you, observe and do. They tell you to meet
on the Sabbath, meet on the Sabbath. They tell you to turn to Isaiah
chapter 2, you turn to Isaiah chapter 2. They tell you it's
time to pray, it's time to pray. All that they tell you to do,
you do. They tell you to bring a lamb for sacrifice, bring it.
They sit in Moses' seat. They sit in that place of instruction.
So you pray or read or assemble on certain days or fast or feast
or whatever it is that they instruct you to do, you go do. Now watch
this. But do not ye after their works,
for they say and do not." They say, but they do not. They bind heavy burdens, verse
4, and grievous to be born, and lay them on men's shoulders.
But they themselves will not move them with one of their little
fingers. They'll say to you, you do this, you move that, you
do that. They wouldn't take their little
finger and help you. They do not. But all their works
they do to be seen of men. Their dress, they make broad
their phylacteries. I looked that up to see what
that was, both in my Strong's Concordance and just in a dictionary. I just pulled a dictionary down
and opened it up. It's got a picture there of a young Jewish man.
And you see in a lot of those movies back then, you see these
big old leather things that went around the wrist. Like that,
like a wristband, but it was long. Well, these things had
scriptures embossed in the leather. Went around there. And they put
them on the forearms, and then they had this little box made
out of leather with a leather strap, and they tied it right
around their forehead. And that little box sat out here
in the front, and they put that little hat on. And they had this
box sitting out here, and this box had scriptures. Well, they
made broad derphalactories. They made them big where everybody
could see them. They wore big boxes. Their wristbands went
all the way up. And then listen to this. They
made broad derphalactories. And then they made the hems on their garments. They enlarged them. In other
words, what he's saying here is they put on a special dress. They're up here representing
God. They're up here sitting in Moses' seat. They're up here
in a place of instruction and honor and so on. But they're
not honoring the God who put them up there, and they're not
ministering to the people. What they're doing is up there
glorifying themselves. And they're making broad phylacteries,
and they're wearing special dress to make them seem a little bit
holier than you are. Made broader phylacteries, enlarge
the border of the garment. Made them robes like a distinguishing
gown. You see these guys come out on
TV, got these robes on and special collars and special suits and
all this type thing. There's no mistaking them. They
don't even look anywhere near like anybody else that's sitting
in there. They love, verse 6, the uppermost
rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and
greetings in the markets, and to be called of men Rabbi, Rabbi,
Master, Master. Now listen to this, verse 8,
But be not ye called Rabbi, for one is your Master, even Christ,
and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon
the earth, For one is your father, which is in heaven. Now, it's
not talking about your dad. It's talking about religious
titles. Don't you call that man father. Don't you do it. You've got one father. He's in
heaven. This thing of a father is a relationship. All of these relationships, husbands
and wives, Fathers and children and husbands and wives, all these
relationships represent God and His people. Now you don't want
to take that and put that title on a preacher, on a pastor, on
a teacher. You don't want to do it. He's
not your father. This is your father up here.
He's not your master. Your master is me, Christ said. I'm your master. You just got
one master. Call no man your father upon
earth, for one is your father which is in heaven." And then
this thing of reverend, listen to this, David said he sent redemption
unto his people and he commanded his covenant forever, holy and
reverend is his name. Boy, I don't want to take his
name and put it on me. Do you? One of the fellows helping up
there in Maryland with my son's wedding asked me, concerning
the article they were going to put in the newspaper, he said,
how do you like to be called? And I said, well, I don't like
to be called anything. But if you're going to give me,
I understand what you're doing. If you're going to do that, just
use the term pastor. That would be fine. Pastor. Pastor
bishop or pastor. is acceptable because it's an
office, not a title. It's not a title. And being called
a pastor is no different than being called a carpenter. Well,
you know, I'm a carpenter. I'm an electrician. I'm a plumber.
I'm a pastor. And sometimes it's necessary
to associate a person with what they do. But reverend and master
and father goes too far. That's what Christ is telling
us here. It goes too far. You take on yourself too much.
And you're robbing God of his glory. And so he says, he opens
this address to him, knowing that a believer's going to understand
this. He said, Paul. James, he just said James. Jude
said Jude. None of these guys, no reverend
or saints or fathers or any of that, you won't find that in
scripture. He just called and he said, I'm an apostle. Now,
I'm not going anywhere near get through all this, but I believe
this is important. What is an apostle? What's that
mean? What significance does this have
to these letters? Now, these guys always identified
themselves in one of two ways. And sometimes both ways at the
same time. In Romans, if I'm not mistaken,
Paul uses both terms to identify himself, but they'll either identify
themselves as the servant of God, and you look that word up,
it means bond slave, or apostle, one or the other. Well, why is
that so important? What's so significant about that?
Well, there were only 12 apostles appointed of Christ, and when
this office of apostleship served its purpose, They were taken
out of the way. We don't have any apostles today.
There's no such thing as an apostle today. The purpose of the apostles
was to usher in a new age, the gospel age. Now, I want you to
listen to me. This is very important. I know
this is going to be offensive. I'm trying my best not to be
offensive. I want you to see what's behind
this. I want you to see why sometimes
I say the things that I say and why these things are so ridiculous
to me when I see them out there. The purpose of the apostles was
to usher in a new age. This old Jewish church-state
structure was done. In Hebrews chapter 1, he said
it's like an old garment. It's rotted and the seams is
gone and it's ready to be... and he just folded it up and
took it out of the way. In Hebrews chapter 9, he said
this old priesthood and all these old figures and type, they were
just given in that time until the time of reformation. Now
in the age of the apostles is that time of reformation. They
are going to usher in a gospel age. And this whole concept of
this Jewish church state and this one family, you know they
used to call that church We went down there, when I first went
down there to pastor it down in Ball, they called it the Robertson
Church. Well, they called, it was the Jewish Church. They all
had the same name. They all had the same grandpa.
They was all related. And the whole idea of that, the
whole concept of that is going to be revealed as fulfilled in
Christ and this new age is going to be ushered in. And this day
of priesthood and priests and sacrifices and all these things.
They're going by the wayside. Well, now, after how many generations
of Jews and this whole concept of this Jewish religion, you
think it's going to disappear overnight? No way. No way. They're going to come back in
and they're going to say, well, who's he think he is? Who do
you think you are coming along? That's what they ask Christ.
Who do you think you are coming along changing all these things?
And especially John the Baptist. He started baptism. There wasn't
anybody being baptized before John. They said, where'd you
get your authority? Up here. God gave me my authority. I'm the forerunner of Christ.
And the New Testament church is revealed and established in
in local assemblies of believers and not under the rule of a single
man. That's important. This whole
idea, here's what I hope you'll come to see, this whole idea
of denominationalism, whether it's Catholic or Protestant or
Mormons or whatever it is, I don't care what it is, if it's organized
and denominationalized, they're in the wrong. Well, where'd they
ever get that idea? It's a carryover from the Old
Testament. It's a carryover from this old
Jewish church structure, and these Judaizers came into all
these churches, into Galatia and into the Ephesian church
and all these churches, and they just tried to carry over anything
and everything that they could from the Old Testament, where
it was circumcision, Whatever it was, whether it was the way
they wore their hair and their clothes or the priesthood or
anything, something, let me have something from this old... And
they brought it over and tried to mix it in. Well, somebody
has to have the authority to establish this. And how on earth
are we going to know if these guys actually had that authority?
Well, you can read about it over in Ephesians chapter 2. Not Ephesians,
I'm sorry, Hebrews chapter 2. He said, This thing first began
to be preached unto us by the Lord, and then by those that
heard him. God also, the same as he did
with his son, God also confirming their ministry by miracles and
wonders and signs which they did by you right in your midst.
That's how you know that these were apostles. And next week,
maybe we'll go into this a little deeper. I'm all out of time.
But I want you to have this in mind and give this a look in
the scriptures and see if what I'm telling you is not so. There's
no carryover from that Old Testament, none. But these Judaizers, if
it had let grandma, they're going to bring this stuff over into
the New Testament. And God sent these 12 men out,
and these 12 men established this beyond all doubt. that this
is the new age, this is the gospel age, and we're not coming back
under that old law.