I want to begin reading in verse
7 of Ephesians chapter 3. Ephesians chapter 3 and verse
7. I want to read down through verse
11, but our text this morning is one verse. Chapter 3 and verse
8. Verse 7. Wherefore, whereof I
was made a minister. I'm a minister, a preacher, an
apostle. I was made a minister according
to the gift of the grace of God, 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, 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 now unto the principalities
and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church
the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which
he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord Our subject this morning,
I think, will entitle it, The Unsearchable Riches of Christ.
The Unsearchable Riches of Christ. And Paul tells us here in verse
7 that he was made a minister, that he was called to it. He
was made an apostle. He was sent of God to be an apostle,
to preach the gospel. And he says there in verse 7,
I received this ministry as a gift. It's a gift of God's grace. He
didn't give it to me because He saw I was qualified. He didn't
give it to me because He said that I had prepared for it. There was no preparation on my
part. That's not why He called me and
gave me this gift to preach. It wasn't because I was worthy
of it. It wasn't because I merited this. But He says here, it's
a gift of His grace. He called me to it. He qualified
me to do it. He made me able to do it. This
way, He said, this is the way I'm qualified. This is the way
I fulfill my ministry. By the working of His power that
works in me effectually. So you see, God doesn't just
call a man to preach. He has to preach him. He doesn't
just call a man and say, you're on your own, now I'm going to
see how you do. No, he opens his heart through study of the
Word, through meditation of the Word. And then he goes out to
preach to others. And the Lord enables him. He
gives him utterance. He helps him. Gives him a measure
of his power and grace. And then we come here to my text
and we see the attitude of such a man. What should a man's attitude
be that has received such a gift, that has received such grace
to be an apostle, or to be a preacher, or to be a teacher? Well, he
says here in verse 8, And to me who am less than the least
of all saints is this grace given. That's his attitude towards himself. Those who are lifted up in pride
because of their gifts and because of their graces, they don't understand
the gifts are the graces, as they should. Gifts are given
to serve other people with. Gifts are given to edify others
and to help others. He that's chief among you, He
that's chief in gifts, and abilities. Let Him be your servant, not
your Lord to rule over you, but one to serve you with His gifts. Grace is not given to make us
proud. Grace is not given for us to
exalt ourselves or to promote ourselves. God resists us to
be proud. But he gives grace unto the humble. He puts down the mighty from
their seats, Mary said, but he fills the hungry with good things. The bowels of the mighty are
broken, but they that stumble, they stumble out of weakness,
out of felt weakness. Those, he said, are the ones
that he girts with his strength. Gifts and graces and abilities
are given us to humbly serve one another in the kingdom of
our Lord and Savior. They are not given us to promote
ourselves and to exalt ourselves. I love the way the Apostle says
this, I am less than the least of all saints. Less than the
least. Only this great man could speak
like that. Less. Find the most despised. Find the new convert. Find the
man that's weak in knowledge and weak in faith. And I'm less
than he is in my own eyes. Another place he made this statement.
He said, I'm less. I am the least of the apostles. I am the least of the apostles. This man had a low opinion of
himself, didn't he? All the saints he no doubt ran
into, and he no doubt knew. Yet he had to be the most faithful. He had to be the most loving,
and the most giving, and the most caring. But yet he says
of himself here, I am less than the least of all saints. And you know what's the amazing
thing about this? He believed it. This wasn't a
false humility. This wasn't a statement that
he made because he had failed and was despondent. No, he said
this is the truth. This is the way that he feels
about himself. And you know something? He instructed
us to feel the same way about ourselves. Let nothing be done
through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind, Let
this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus. What kind of
a mind did our Master have? He said, I am meek and lowly
in my heart. Let this mind be in you which
was in Christ. Let each esteem other better
than themselves. Humble yourselves under the mighty
hand of God. And as you do that, submit yourself
one to another in the fear of the Lord. There was something
this great apostle understood, and he lived this out in his
daily life, and it was this. There was something that happened
to this man that he never got over, and this is one of the
things that he always kept in view in his heart, and it enabled
him to have this attitude about himself. He said, this is a faithful
saying, and worthy of all acceptation. Jesus Christ came into this world
to save sinners, and He said, I'm the chief among them. If
you come to be a sinner, He said, I'm the chief. If you come to
be a saint, He said, I'm the least. Oh God, give us grace,
brothers and sisters. In a time when people are so
self-centered, in a time when self-esteem has absolutely run
amok, In a time where many preachers, I'm sorry to say, are promoting
themselves, may God help us to look at ourselves, whatever gifts
we have, whatever abilities God has given us, and may we say,
as this great apostle said, of all God's little children, I
truly am the least. Less than the least. The second thing he says is this,
and look at it in verse 8. I am less than the least of all
saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the
Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. That I should preach. I tell you, one of the most noble
occupations. One of the most awesome occupations. that any man has ever been called
to is to preach, to preach. Our Lord Jesus, two of His first
public statements was made. He was 12 years old and we read
the first public statement that He ever made. Here the Son of
God came into this world. And we see him talking to these
doctors of the law in the temple. And his family came to him and
found him and said, we're worried sick about you. Where have you
been? And he made this statement, I
must be about my father's business. And the second public statement
we hear this dear man make was 18 years later. And he tells
us by this second statement what the business of his father was.
He was preaching in the temple, and he opened up the book of
Isaiah. And he said, the Spirit of my
God is upon me, because He sent me, He's anointed me to preach
the Gospel. What an occupation that must
be! What an honorable occupation
that must be! What an important occupation
it must be, that when the Son of God came into this world,
He said, I'm a preacher. I came to preach. Brother Bob read that passage
of Scripture to us this morning. The preaching of the cross is
to them that perish foolishness. They don't like it. They're bored
with it. It doesn't profit them. But Paul said, though it's foolishness
unto those who are lost, but unto you which are being saved
by it. It's the power of God. Not just
the cross, he said, but the preaching of that cross is the power of
God. Oh, there's something about preaching,
isn't there? God chose it by the foolishness
of doing it. to save them that believe. You felt it in your heart, the
power of the preaching of this cross. It has saved you, and
it's yet saving you. How many times in your Christian
life has the preaching of the cross saved you? Oh, it's come to you and warned
you. It's made you afraid. It has made you sit up and listen
and take heed. The preaching of the cross has
enlightened you and comforted you and established you. It has
helped you to escape the tempter's snare. It has kept you from evil. Your soul has been lifted up
into these heavenly places. To you who are being saved, Paul
said, the preaching of the gospel is one of the most important
things in your life. It's the power of God. Haven't
you felt that to be so? Don't despise it, my friend. Get yourself under it. Get your
family under it. Get your children, get your friends,
get your neighbors under the preaching of the gospel. For
the preaching of the cross is the power of God. Oh, that I should preach. That
I should preach. What a wonderful statement. What
could this great man have accomplished? Oh, you talk about a statesman.
Wouldn't he have made a wise statesman? Wouldn't you have
loved to have sat under this man and him being the president
of your country? Wouldn't you have loved for your
children to go to school where he was the principal? Oh, he could have took a community.
He could have took a nation. This man could. And how profitable
he would have been. Whatever this man set his hand
to. Oh, what a great man he would
have been. But what did God send him to
do? I'm sent to preach. And notice
the third thing about this verse is this, and this is an amazing
thing when you consider this man, this great Jew, this legalistic,
self-righteous Jew, that not only hated many of his own countrymen,
but he sure despised the Gentiles. And here he says that I should
preach. Paul, who are you going to preach
to? The Lord gives you this gift. He is working in you to preach.
Well, He says, I am going to preach among the Gentiles. Who are the Gentiles? Well, there
are some names attached to them that are not very complimentary.
Our Master Himself called them dogs. It is not meant to take
the children's bread and cast it to you dogs. Yes, Lord, I
am a dog. But I'm your dog. I'm a dog. The Scripture calls them the
heathens. In chapter 2 of this book that
you and I are studying, they're called aliens. I don't want to
be called an alien. Nobody wants to be called an
alien. That carries a certain degree in our day of something
less than to be desirable, doesn't it? That man's an alien. He's an illegal alien. Paul said,
you're strangers. You were far off. You were without
Christ, without hope, without God. Who are you? You're Gentiles. You're Gentiles. And old Paul
says here, I come among you to preach to you. This word among
means to mix or mingle with, like tires among the wheat, or
sheep among the goats. Our Lord mixed and mingled with
some strange characters, didn't He? Not to partake with them
of their sins. Never. But I tell you, He mixed
and mingled with them to preach to them. Preaching to the Gentiles. The Scripture says, "...then
drew near unto Him publicans and sinners for to hear Him."
He wasn't repulsed by them. And they weren't repulsed by
him. A friend of publicans and sinners. And he proved his friendship
to these people by preaching to them. He preached to some
strange characters. He preached to a woman one day
that had just been taken out of bed. From which she lay in
adultery. Another woman's husband. I can
almost see her trying to wrap up her shame and get her clothes
on. And here the Master is preaching
to her. Neither do I condemn you. Go
and sin no more. He preached to a woman who had
five husbands and was living with one then that wasn't her
own. He preached to another woman
who was such a notorious sinner in the town that everybody knew
about her. He preached to another woman
who had seven devils. But oh, it wasn't just the women.
There was a man he preached to that had a legion of devils.
Two thousand devils. And you know what he had on when
the Master preached to him? Nothing. He was naked. He stank to high heaven. And
here stood the Son of God preaching to Him. Ain't that amazing? I came to preach. Well, who are
you going to preach to? Those dead dog Gentiles. I'm
going in and out among them. And I'm going to preach to them.
Our Lord Jesus preached to a man one day in his dying hour. Had
one foot in hell, so to speak. And knew he deserved to go there.
And the Lord Jesus said this day, I'm telling you, I'm preaching
to you, you're going to be with me in paradise. Oh, brothers
and sisters, there's no need for you and I to go looking for
people whose hearts we think are prepared and who are tender
and ready to receive us. Preach to whoever you're among.
Go among the less desirable or the most desirable. The self-righteous
and those who know themselves to be sinners. Preach to everybody
that God will give you opportunity to preach to. Paul said, I preach
among you Gentiles. We've got something to preach
anyway. We've got a light for this dark world. We've got a
message to cheer the heart of everyone who will believe it.
Paul went down to Corinth, and I tell you, he found an awful
mess down there. Most of us probably would have
thrown up our hands and said, boy, these people aren't ready
to hear the Gospel. He went down there to Corinth,
and the city was full of fornicators. It was full of drunks and liars
and homosexuals. And Paul said, I preached to
you. And you heard me. And you believed me. And you
were washed. And you were justified and sanctified
in the name of Jesus Christ. He went to Thessalonica and there
was people there bowing down to silly stumps and rocks and
worshiped them. Disworshiped them. Why, there's
no hope for this people. I ain't going among the people
like that. But He did. And He said, when I began to
preach to you, the Gospel came in so much power and the Holy
Ghost. And the Lord saved you. And you
left that silly lifestyle. Oh, I came among you. Preaching
among you. Preaching the gospel. We have a message of life for
dead sinners. We have a message that will justify
those who are condemned. We have a message that will clear
the guilty. Will forgive sins. We're looking for bad people.
Sinners. Go among them. Go among them. We were sitting there at Brother
Bob's the other night. All kinds of people there. Did you notice
that? Just all kinds of people there. And probably some less than desirables.
But I just loved it. Didn't you? And I thought, wouldn't
this be a good time if we had an opportunity to preach to all
these people? I really thought that. Wasn't
the time, I guess. But brothers and sisters, go
among everybody. If you're among them, ask God
to give you opportunity to preach, to preach. That I should preach among the
Gentiles what? The unsearchable riches of Christ. The unsearchable riches of Christ. That's what we preach. And we
get up and we try to preach it. And we sit there all discouraged
because we just can't bring it out. We're not supposed to bring
it out. We're supposed to just scratch
around the surface. If you're in a mine and you run
into a huge vein of gold, would it bother you because you can't
mine it all out? Oh, just chip away at it. Get
a little nugget here and a little nugget there. Don't be discouraged
because we can't preach Christ out. Who can? This man couldn't. No, he said they're unsearchable
riches. We trace it up to the heart of
Jesus Christ. Oh, but when we get there, he
said, it's immense. It's like trying to dip the ocean
dry with a teaspoon. You just can't do it. It's too
immense. It's untraceable, unsearchable. You and I have seen in this book
that the Lord has an eternal purpose. We saw it again there
in verse 11. I read it to you. We haven't
got to it in our study yet. But he said there in verse 11
of chapter 3 that God has this eternal purpose which He purposed
in Christ Jesus the Lord. And from reading the first chapter
of this book, we know what that purpose is. It's a redeeming
purpose. God has purpose to redeem a great
host of humanity. He's done chosen those He's going
to redeem. He's going to redeem them soul
and body from the curse of His law and from sin. He's going
to make a new heaven and a new earth. That's His eternal purpose. Things aren't like they should
be now. God has put His hand to fulfill
His purpose. And oh, when it's finished, when
it's finished, when He's accomplished it, it will be wonderful. And this is a rich purpose of
redemption. And this redemption is rich because
it's full and it's eternal. The riches of God's redeeming
purpose. And all of these riches of this
redeeming purpose are in Christ Jesus, the Mediator. God gave
them to him. Listen to these passages of Scripture. He says there in chapter 1, in
whom we have redemption, even the forgiveness of sin. He entered
in once into the holy place, into God's presence, having obtained
eternal redemption. He says in chapter 2, through
him We have access unto the Father. I am the way. It's in Him and
through Him and by Him that God is bringing this redemptive purpose
to pass. It's all in Him. And the Scriptures, here's how
the Scriptures puts it when it speaks of what God has given
to him. Listen to John chapter 3 and
verse 35. The Father loves the Son, and He hath given all things
into His hands. He's rich in everything. Everything that has to do with
this redeeming purpose, God's given into His hands. Hebrews
chapter 1 and verse 2 and 3, In these last days God has spoken
to us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things. Everything visible and invisible,
things present or things to come, belongs to Jesus Christ. He is the Head, He is the Possessor
of everything. God gives it all into His hands. The Man, Jesus, the Son of Mary,
how rich that He is. When we talk about the grace
that redeems a sinner, it is said to be the riches of His
grace. When we talk about mercy coming
to a dead sinner and giving him life, it is talked about the
riches of His mercy. He is rich in mercy. When we read of the inheritance
of the saints, we read of it like this, that it's His glorious
riches of the inheritance of the saints. It's His inheritance. The Father has given it to Him. Who does heaven belong to? Jesus. Who does this earth belong to?
Jesus. Who possesses everything and
everybody in it? Jesus. The universe is His. Time is His. Eternity is His. All grace and all mercy and all
love, everything is His, brothers and sisters. All the unsearchable
riches of Christ. And verse 8 here tells us this
redeeming, these redeeming riches of Christ are so vast that they
cannot be searched out. They can't be traced out in their
fullness and in their depths. When you and I consider the number
of people that Christ hath redeemed, how many has He redeemed? How
many is in His family? A number that cannot be numbered.
When you and I consider the great depths from which He redeemed
them, when we consider the height that He is going to take them
to, When you and I consider the daily supplies out of the riches
of His goodness and glory, when we consider these things, we
begin to see again. I tell you, He is so rich. Those
riches cannot be searched out. The unsearchable riches of Christ. And you know, after redeeming
those He has redeemed, and getting them through this world, and
taking them all the way to heaven, He's not diminished in His riches.
That's how rich He is. He never diminishes in anything. Consider these three things right
quickly in closing. Here are some riches of Christ.
Let me tell you about them this way. Paul considered these things
to be the riches of Christ. He says that I obtained mercy.
that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering
for a pattern to them that should believe on Him." The longsuffering
of Christ. Paul said in Romans 2.4, he calls
these longsufferings the riches of God. Despises thou the riches
of His goodness and forbearance and longsuffering? Riches? Now, how do we see riches in
His long-suffering? Well, remember when you were
in sin? Remember when you were in your
state of nature, in your rebellion? Remember the times He came to
your conscience and warned you, and you just sinned on and sinned
on and sinned on? Remember that? Why aren't you
in hell this morning? You deserve to be there. Why
did He just burrow along with you? Why did He refuse to leave
you alone? Why didn't He let you have your
way? Long-suffering. Isn't He rich
in it? And I tell you, to our own shame,
we've not stopped sinning yet, have we? God help us. As Brother Larry said this day,
God help us. But try as you may, you'll never
completely quit sinning. Not in this lifetime. You'll
war against it, you'll groan over it, but yet you'll sin.
And there's that long-suffering. Patience. Goodness. Leading you back to repentance.
Forgiving you. Long-suffering. Don't you see
the riches in that? Oh, the riches of his long-suffering.
Paul said something else about the riches of Christ. He mentions
it in Colossians 1 and verse 27. And here's the way he says
it. He talks about the riches of the glory of this mystery. Here's another one of those mysteries.
And he says it's so rich. And here's what it is. Which
Christ in you, the hope of God. Oh, what a rich mystery that
is. Christ in you. God has sent forth
the Spirit of His Son into your heart. Christ in you. He dwells in your heart by faith. Everywhere you go, there He is. Late at night, just you and Him,
laying there, and you're not so lonely because He's there
with you. I won't leave you orphans, He
said. I'll come unto you, and I'll sup with you, and you'll
sup with Me. You have My Word, and you keep
it. My Father will love you, and I'll love you, and we'll
come into you, and we'll make our abode with you. We'll live
with you." Haven't you experienced that? Spurgeon used to say sometimes,
late at night, his prayer would be, Lord, don't let me get sleepy.
He had this wonderful verse that he was meditating on. And the
Lord's presence was so real, he didn't want to go to sleep.
How sweet, he said, the meditations of His name is. Haven't you had
His presence with you? Doesn't it cheer you along? A
prison would palaces prove if Jesus would dwell with me there.
Well, He does. And how rich that communion is.
Christ in you, the hope of glory. And lastly, we're told in chapter
1 and verse 18 of this book, the glorious riches of His inheritance
in the saints. He has all these riches. And
the saints are going to inherit it. Because they're heirs of
God and joint heirs with Christ. God has given it to His Son,
and His Son says, I'm going to share it with Him. And He's rich
in it. I think we've all read books
or seen movies about where the poor girl, the girl that's in
poverty, the young lady that's in poverty, and she meets the
prince. Or she meets this wealthy man, and she doesn't know who
he is. She doesn't know his worth, but
he begins to woo her and court her, and she falls in love with
him. Then comes to find out he's filthy
rich, or he's the prince of the nation. And she's rich too, because now
she's married to the prince. And the prince loves her, and
she loves the prince. That's the way this inheritance
is, brothers and sisters. There is going to be a new heaven.
There is going to be a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.
Everything is going to be beautiful and glorious. It will be just
right. No pain, no sickness, no tears,
no sorrows. Nothing but that which is righteous
and good and wholesome and holy. Eternal life. And it all belongs
to our Husband. And he has it prepared for a
new race of people, a new humanity that he's making up right now.
And he calls that new humanity his bride, his wife. And he says, by virtue of you
being married to me, I'm going to share everything I have with
you. And these are said to be riches, unsearchable riches of
Christ. What's this world, brothers and
sisters? What's the riches of this world?
It's corruptible. It's fading compared to the riches
of Christ. Let it go. Hold it with a loose
hand. Your husband is filthy rich. And you being married to him,
you're rich too. The unsearchable riches of Christ. Study it out for yourself. Meditate
upon it yourself. Let your heart be filled with
amazement and wonder that you're part of it. That you're part
of it. Let's pray.