Ephesians 1. And let's begin
reading at verse 9. Paul had just mentioned that
God had abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence. He had
abounded toward us and given us wisdom, given us knowledge,
given us spiritual understanding, spiritual insight. And this is
what He's given us spiritual insight to. Having made known
unto us the mystery of his will, and here is why he did it, according
to his own 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, in whom also you have
obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the
purpose of him, who works all things after the counsel of His
own will. Now, mainly what I want to do
this evening is reiterate some of the things that we've been
looking at, and mainly this, that you and I have been looking
at these passages now for quite some time, and especially the
last couple of weeks or so, trying to figure out and trying to come
to a great understanding of what Paul has been telling us here
concerning God's will. That's mentioned several times
in chapter 1 and God's plan that we see there in verse 10. And
one of the things I think that you and I have to settle upon
is this. Concerning God's will, it's first
and foremost that we have to understand and believe that God
has a will. That's so important because the
world doesn't believe that. Now, I said that a few Sundays
ago, but that's so. The world does not believe that
God has a will. And if you and I aren't fixed
on that, then we haven't begun to enter into what the Apostle
Paul is teaching us. If God does not have a will,
why would the Lord Jesus instruct us to pray, be done. The first thing that we must
settle upon, however much of this will of God we can understand,
we must start from this, God has a will. And if we know anything
about God and what the Scripture teaches about God, that ought
to be very appealing to us, that the everlasting God has a will. If I know Him, I want to find
out what that will is. And that's what the Apostle Paul
is teaching us in this chapter. Now, this may sound very narrow
to some people, but those who deny that God has a will are
not Christians at all. They are absolutely not Christians.
A man may say, well, I don't know that God has a will. Well,
I could say plainly to him. And he may say that I'm too dogmatic
in saying this, but sir, you're not a Christian. And ma'am, you're
not a Christian if you deny God His will. Who is a Christian? A Christian is a person who knows
God. He's come to the knowledge of
the truth of who God is. This is life eternal that they
might know Thee, the true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast
sent. We know that He has come and
has given us an understanding that we may know Him. The fundamental
of the faith is this. When we first come to faith,
the apostle, the writer of Hebrews said this was faith. He that
comes to God must believe that He is. That He is what? That He is who He says He is.
How can we come to God except we believe that He is? And how
can we come to God and believe that He is and yet deny Him a
will? It's impossible. It's impossible. You and I don't understand every
aspect of God's will. We seek His will in our daily
lives. We pray. We read His Word. In our daily lives, mainly, we
look back and see that was God's will. Very few times we go out
and do this and do that, that we say, I believe this is God's
will, what I'm doing. We usually look back. But we've been made aware of
this, that God has a will. And that that will is sovereign,
and this will is in regards to redemption. That's what you and
I have been looking at in this first chapter. The will of God
in redemption. And what is God's will in redemption?
Well, we know these things beyond a shadow of a doubt. This is
what you and I have been studying about. That God has a people
that He chose before the world was, and that He predestinated
them unto the adoption of children. That's God's will. We know that.
He's made that known to us. Where did we learn that? Well,
we've been studying that from the Word of God. And secondly,
this is God's will, that He sent His Son to suffer for our sins,
and by His own blood, He accomplish redemption according to the will
of God. Now, we saw that there in verse
7 and in Galatians chapter 1 and verse 4. And it's God's will
to draw all the elect to Christ. He draws them to repentance.
Brother Clarence just read it. He draws us to believe in Christ,
to put all the trust of our hearts in Him. He ever lives to maintain
their cause. And He will keep them through
this world of sin and trials and tribulations and raise their
bodies at last and take them to heaven. Now, that's God's
will. That's God's will. Now, how do we know that? Well,
the Lord Jesus said, this is the will of Him that sent me,
that of all which the Father hath given me, I should lose
nothing but raise Him up at the last day. Now, I know that there
is more to God's will than this. But this is God's will in a nutshell. And everything else is evolved
around that. But we know God's will. God has
a will and we know that will. Now, are you aware of that? Are you here this evening and
you are aware that God has a will? Do you desire to know His will,
to understand His will in these matters? If we don't, folks,
we're not Christians. We're not Christians. Are we
aware then, secondly, that God has a plan? That's what we've
been studying on in verse 10. Are we interested in God's plan? Do we read about it? Do we long
to hear about it? Is it appealing to our faith?
When we hear that God has a plan and we hear what it is, do we
take assurance to know what it is? Is it appealing to us? Does it comfort us? I think we
all have to face these questions. We have to face these questions.
Do I realize that God has a plan? Am I interested in that plan?
When I read about that plan in the Scriptures, And when I hear
this plan explained, is it appealing to my faith? Does it comfort
me? Does it assure me when I look
to the future? A person cannot have the Spirit
of Christ within his heart without having some knowledge of and
interest in the will and the plan of God. We can't possess the true grace
of hope in our hearts without some knowledge and belief that
God has a plan concerning the resurrection of the dead and
the world to come. Listen to what John said. Beloved,
it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when
He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him
as He is. Every man that hath this hope
in him purifieth himself." What is our hope? It's our hope is
in God's plan, God's plan for the future. This is God's plan. Do we believe it? Do we rejoice
in it? This is the Christian hope, and
you'll not find it in any other religion. You'll not find hope
in any other religion. Only God's plan presents to us
such a hope. It's a gospel hope. And when
you and I hear it, we hear it one place, and that's in the
gospel. That's in the gospel. And when you and I come to understand
and believe the gospel, It works in us this hope. Look over here
in Colossians, just to your right, just a little bit in Colossians
chapter 1. Look in Colossians chapter 1. When you and I think
of the gospel and God's gospel plan, we often think of it in
terms of it meeting our present need. And thank God it does that. It does that. You and I are in
need of forgiveness now, and the gospel tells us of forgiveness.
Full and free forgiveness. We need to be justified. The
gospel presents us with this wonderful plan of God to justify
us right now. We need to be reconciled to God.
Well, the gospel tells us right now we have access into God's
presence. Christ has borne our sins and
put our sins away. It meets our present need, and
thank God for that. But the gospel does more than
that. It not only meets our present need, but it meets our ultimate
need. It meets our future need beyond
this life, beyond the world, in eternity. That's what the
gospel meets, is our need, our eternal need. Look at what Paul
says in Colossians 1. He tells us this very thing.
He says there in verse 3 that he gives thanks to God the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ for them, praying always for them,
since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love
which you have to all the saints, and look at this, for the hope
which is laid up for you in heaven were of ye heard before in the
word of the truth of the gospel. See that? The gospel not only
meets our present need, but it meets our ultimate need. It gives
us hope beyond this life, beyond death. It gives us hope when
we stand there at the judgment. Nothing else does that. But that's
the gospel. Now, somebody says, well, I believe
the gospel. Well, what do you think about death? Well, you
think about dying. When you hear of these things,
about the judgment in eternity, How do you feel about those?
Oh, those things scare me. I don't want to think about those
things. I can't face those things. Then we don't believe the gospel.
We don't understand the gospel. God's plan is not only for the
present, but it's for our ultimate future. What we face when we
leave this world. That's why I say, Only this hope
is presented in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this
is God's plan. We've been studying about this
plan back over here in chapter 1 and verse 10 of Ephesians.
God has a plan. That's what Paul tells us here
in verse 10. We explain this. I know I fail miserably in explaining
this to you, but when he says you're in the dispensation, that
simply means that God has a plan and He's working that plan out.
In the fullness of times, in His own times and own seasons,
God has a plan, and in His times and in His seasons, He is bringing
that plan to pass. There's a time for everything
under the earth. Isn't that what the preacher
told us? A season for everything. And God has a season and a time
that He's working out this wonderful plan. And then He said, in the
fullness of time, He's going to gather together in one Bring
together again this perfect harmony. When this life is over, there's
a new heaven and a new earth. Heaven and the earth is going
to be joined as one. And there's going to be this
wonderful harmony and peace. That's God's plan. And who's
He put this plan, whose hands has He put it in? Who's He made
responsible for this plan? Well, Paul tells us, in Christ. In Jesus Christ, His Son. It's all in Him and by Him. I've
often used this term, Christian, or Christianity, and some have
said we shouldn't even use that name anymore, that it's too broad,
it includes too many people, too many doctrines. But brothers
and sisters, I love that name. Christianity is a beautiful name
to me, and being a Christian is a beautiful name to me. Instead
of throwing it out, let's just define what it is. What is Christianity? Well, Christianity is this. Look
at it this way. Christianity is God's plan concerning
His Son, Jesus Christ. That's Christianity. Or say it
like this, Christianity is God's plan to do in Christ what He's
doing in Christ and through Christ. What God has planned to do in
Christ and through Christ and by Christ. That's Christianity. Look here in chapter 3 in Ephesians.
Look at this. There's no doubt when you and
I read the Scriptures that God has a plan. If you're a Christian,
you believe that. If you're a Christian, you believe
that God has a plan. You may not understand too much
about it, but you believe it. And as you read the Scriptures,
you realize it's this, that it's to honor and glorify the Lord
Jesus Christ. And something else you learn
as you read the Scriptures, that God has put it in the hands of
Jesus Christ to fulfill that plan. Now, look at what he said
in Ephesians 3. Look at this. Paul was told about
God calling him an apostle in verse 8. And to me, he says,
who am the less than the least of all saints is this grace given,
that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches
of Christ. That's God's plan. It's God's
plan to reveal, right now, the unsearchable riches of Christ.
And someday in heaven, He's going to reveal those full riches.
But Paul said, I can't explain it out. Paul said, here's the
trouble that I face. God called me to preach the riches
of Christ, but He said, my vocabulary, as wide as it is, cannot do it. So he winds up making statements
like this, the unsearchable riches of Christ. They're unsearchable,
he says. I can't explain them out and
you can't lay hold upon them. They're unsearchable. And that's
God's plan, to honor and glorify His Son. And he goes on in verse
9, and to make all men see what is the fellowship the plan of
the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in
God, who created all things by Christ Jesus. See that? This
plan just didn't start. It was hid in God from the foundation
of the world. To the intent now and to 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 the Lord. And then
Paul goes over in verse 19 and he talks about not only the unsearchable
riches of Christ, but look what he says about the love of Christ.
To know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge. And then he
goes on down in verse 20, unto him that is able to do abundantly,
exceedingly, abundantly above all that we ask or think." Now,
Paul says, I can't tell this out. He said, my vocabulary is
wide, but I can't find words to tell what God is planning
concerning His Son. It's unsearchable. The exceeding
riches and His power and ability, all I can tell you, Paul said,
that He's able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all we ask or
think. That's God's plan. And it's concerning
His Son. And here I am up here trying
to tell it. No wonder I felt about that high. Paul said I
can't tell it, and I can't even tell what Paul's trying to tell.
But the plan of God is to honor His Son, is to glorify His Son. What did I say that was? That's
Christianity. That's Christianity. To glorify
the person and the work of Jesus Christ. Biblical Christianity
never presents to us a Christ who came to this earth and died
and rose again, but now that's all He can do. He cannot affect
anything else, and He's just up there in heaven, hoping and
praying that somebody will exercise the power of their free will,
and will take advantage of what He's done, and eventually decide
for Him. Now, isn't that what we're hearing
today? Somebody will look around them, they're all frustrated
because they see all the sin, they see all the danger, All
the bad things that's happening in this world. And they get frustrated
and they go to the preacher. And they ask the preacher, why
doesn't God intervene? If there's a God, why don't He
do something? And what is the answer that the average preacher
gives? Well, God can't. God can't. Well, why not? Well,
man has free will, you know. And God has given man free will.
And God can't intervene because He'd be violating man's free
will. So that's the answer that they
give. In other words, they make void God's plan to honor and
glorify His Son because they say if God intervenes, then He'll
be a violator of man's free will. But that's the answer that we
have. That's not Christianity. That is not Christianity. That's
the deceptive power of men's hearts, fooling them into thinking
that men's will is sovereign. That's not Christianity, folks.
That's not what we've been reading about, is it? Biblical Christianity presents
to us A God who has indeed an eternal purpose, and that purpose
is concerning the honor and the glory of His Son, Jesus Christ
the Lord. And to fulfill that plan, God
has put it in the very hands of Christ Himself to carry that
plan out. And if Jesus Christ was weak,
If he was uncertain, then he could never fulfill this plan.
He would fail. But he's not weak, and he's not
uncertain. Paul knew what this world was
going to think about Christ, because he knew what he used
to think about Christ. He thought he was an imposter.
People didn't know him. This world don't know Christ.
Is that shocking to you when I make that statement? This world
does not know Christ. They have Him in a manger. They'll
have Him up on a tree. But He does nothing there. Some
will say He's on His throne in heaven, but He doesn't intervene.
He has no plan. He has no purpose. They use His
name, but they do not know Him. That should not surprise us.
This world does not know the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Paul knew that. Christ has
to be revealed. And the only way to know Him
is from the pages of God's Word by revelation of the Holy Spirit.
And until we come to know Him, we'll have low thoughts of Him.
We will not honor and esteem Him as God does. And Paul knew
that. So here's what he says about
the Lord Jesus Christ. He says this, in his times, He
will show who is the blessed and only potentate. That word means governor. It
means ruler, sovereign. In his times he'll show that.
You mean he's a governor? You mean he's a sovereign? That's
what Paul said. He is King of kings and Lord
of lords, who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light that no
man can approach unto, to whom be glory and honor for ever and
ever. Amen. That's what he says about
the Son of God. Look here what Paul says about
Him in chapter 1. Look what he says in verse 19. Let me read
you some passages. This is Christ of Christianity. Let's don't throw out Christianity.
Let's don't throw out that word. Let's just define what it is.
What is Christianity? Christianity is this in a nutshell,
that God has a plan and He's turned that plan over to the
Lord Jesus Christ to fulfill it. To complete it, and to do
that, Christ has been exalted and given all power in heaven
and in earth. He's not an uncertain Christ.
He's not a weak Christ. He's a reigning Christ. Now that's
Christianity. And anything below that is not
Christianity. Look here at what he says in
chapter 1, verse 19. Paul said, I am praying for you that you
may know what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us
who believe according to the working of His mighty power which
He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and
set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places. Look
at this. Far above all principality and power and might and dominion,
and every name that is named, not only in this world, but in
that which is to come, and have put all things under His feet,
and gave Him to be head over all things to the church." God
has a plan, and Christ is the administrator of that plan. And He will fulfill it. And God
has put Him in the position to fulfill it at His own right hand
in these heavenly places. Listen to what Paul said in 1
Corinthians 15, verse 20. Hold your Bible and let me read
that to you. Look what he says here. As in
Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. Every
man in his own order. Christ rose first, afterwards
they that are Christ's did His coming. Then cometh the end,
when He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the
Father, when He shall have put down all rule and all authority
and power, for he must reign till he hath put all enemies
under his feet, and the last enemy that shall be destroyed
is death." Christ is reigning. That's Christianity. Christ is
reigning. Let me read you some scriptures
now. Revelation 11-15. The seventh angel sounded. Now,
when you read about the seventh angel, that's the last angel.
That's the last sound this natural world is going to hear. When
the seventh angel sounded, there were great voices in heaven saying,
The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord
and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever. Listen
to Daniel chapter 2 and verse 44. The God of heaven shall set
up a kingdom. Now he's done it ain't he? That's
the kingdom of God, it's the kingdom of Christ, the kingdom
of God's dear Son. The God of heaven shall set up
a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom
shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces
and consume all other kingdoms, and it shall stand forever."
The kingdom of Christ, the kingdom over which He is the head, other
kingdoms are not going to be integrated into that kingdom.
He is not going to integrate His kingdom with devils or men. His kingdom is going to destroy
all of these kingdoms. And in the end, there will be
one kingdom, and that's the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
that kingdom will stand forever. Listen to Daniel chapter 7, verse
13. I saw in the night vision, and
behold, one likened to the Son of Man. That's Jesus. And there
was given to Him dominion and glory, and a kingdom, that all
people, and all nations, and all languages should serve Him. And His dominion is an everlasting
dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom is that
which shall not be destroyed." Now let me read you Isaiah chapter
9, verse 6 and 7. Unto us a child is born, unto
us a son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulders,
And of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end. He shall sit upon the throne
of David, and upon his kingdom, listen to order it, and to establish
it with justice from henceforth and forever. The zeal of the
Lord of hosts will perform this." See, Christ is not a weakling.
He doesn't live in heaven upon His throne in uncertainty. He
has a plan, and He's very enthusiastic about that. He will carry that
plan out. He will finish it as the Father
gave Him to do. The zeal of thy house has eaten
me up. Ain't that what He said? My meat
is to do the will of Him that sent me. He's zealous in this
plan. Listen to Luke 1, verse 31. Here
is what the angel Gabriel said to Mary concerning him. You shall
conceive in your womb, and bring forth a son, and thou shalt call
his name Jesus. He shall be great, he shall be
called the Son of the Highest. And the Lord God shall give unto
him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over
the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there shall
be no end." One kingdom, and it's going to be His. And He's
going to reign until He's put down everything else. And there
will be one Kingdom. He's going to join together heaven
and earth. And there's going to be perfect
harmony and peace under Him and in Him. Now, what is this? This
is Christianity. This is Christianity. Do you
run into very many people that believe this? We don't do it. We don't. I tell you, we're living
in a nation they call a Christian nation. We're living in a nation
that's ignorant of the gospel. They're ignorant of the nature
of God. They're ignorant of the nature of Christ. They're ignorant
of the nature of sin and self. They do not know it. And the
dangerous thing about that, they assume they know it. They presume
they know it. I was talking with a man the
other day. He just died not too long ago.
I was talking with him, but he stopped me right quickly and
let me know that he read the Bible more than I did. I read
the Bible more than you do. All right then, go on. Go on. When you and I follow the Lord
Jesus through his earthly life, one thing becomes evident, that
he never failed in his intentions. He never failed in his intentions.
He came here on purpose. He came here to fulfill God's
plan, and he never failed in those intentions. You say, Bruce,
didn't he come to be their king? Didn't they reject him as a king?
Didn't he want to be their king? That's not so. I know it sounds
good, doesn't it? They wanted him to be their king.
But that's what the world tells us, you see. Well, Christ failed. I had a man to say that. You
know, Christ came to set up His kingdom, and He wanted to, but
they rejected Him, and therefore, plan B was to go to the cross.
He had to go to the cross because plan A failed. They came to get
Him and take Him by force and make Him a king. And He hid Himself
from them. He didn't come to be a king over
a carnal nation, over a carnal kingdom. My kingdom is not of
this world. That's what He said. Bruce, didn't
they reject him as the Savior? Yes, they did. They surely did. And he suffered them to do that.
He said, how often I would have tucked you under my wings as
a chicken does her brood, and you would not. But you know something,
brothers and sisters, that was his plan all along. Didn't he
already say back in Isaiah 53, he was despised and rejected
of men? Didn't He tell His disciples all along, they're going to betray
Me into the hands of the Gentiles? They're going to reject Me? They
won't have Me as their Savior? Not on My terms? Yes, they rejected
Him, but that was His plan all along. He came to do His Father's
will, and He went about doing that, and never one time did
He fail in His earthly life upon this earth. Devils tried to stop
Him. And when he spoke to them, they
trembled. You come here to tarment us before the time? That's what
they said. Nature tried to stop him. The
wind and the sea tried to stop him. He just rebukes it and it
lays down at his feet as a little puppy. The Pharisees and the
scribes and the Herodians and the Sadducees tried to stop him.
Nobody could stop him. You never see him fail it in
his intentions when you come to this earth. That's not the
nature of Christ to do that. That's not Christianity. It does
not present to us a failing, defeated Christ. He finished
his ministry, and here's what he said, Father, I have finished
the work. Ever jot and ever tittle. Bruce,
what about the cross? What about the cross? The cross was God's plan all
along, wasn't it? Brother Larry, I was listening
to his message the other day and he quoted that scripture
in Acts chapter 2. Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God. That was God's plan all
along. It was God's plan. Sure it was
them did it. And sure they did it out of evil
motives and wicked hands. But that was his plan. That was
his plan. Think of it like this. Think
of it like this. You go back yonder in the Council
Halls of Eternity, and there you see God the Father, and you
see His Son. And the Father says to His Son,
My Son, I've got this great plan. And He lays it out before His
Son. Ever jod and ever tittle, He
lays this wonderful plan out in all of its details. Then He
looks up at His Son. And he says, son, do you think
you can accomplish this? If I give this plan to you, do
you think you can bring it to pass? And you know what the son
says? My father, if you'll put that
much trust in me, if you'll uphold me in it and you'll support me
in it, he'll be the greatest delight of my heart to go and
accomplish your plan. It'll be my meat and my drink
to do it. I'll live with all my heart.
I'll rejoice to do it. For the joy that's set before
me, I'll do it. And He comes and He does it. All of it. And that's what He's
doing today. That's what He's doing right
now. And He's going to be there and reign until He's accomplished
all the plan of God. Now, do you believe that? Are
you interested in this? The world is not interested in
this. They want a Jesus that they can use like a spare tire.
When they're in trouble, they can open up the trunk and take
it out and change it and throw the spare back in, and that's
it. They're not interested in this Christ that's fulfilling
God's plan. There Jesus in Nazareth hangs
on a cross in shame and blood and weakness, but in His weakness,
He accomplished what neither you and me and all the heavenly
hosts put together could accomplish. He accomplished redemption. Redemption. That's amazing because He done
it in His weakest hour. He accomplished redemption. He
accomplished it. He accomplished it. Paul said,
"...not by the blood of bulls and goats, but by His own blood
He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us." That's God's plan. That's God's plan. Redemption. Not only of us and
our bodies and our souls, but everything. He's going to bring
everything back into a perfect state of harmony. And that's
what the cross is all about. That's what God's plan is all
about. And when Paul comes to you in verse 7, he doesn't say
that you're trying to obtain redemption. He doesn't say you're
trying to redeem yourselves. He knows that Christ has already
accomplished redemption. So here's what he says. In whom
you have redemption. You have it. You possess it.
And he comes down here to verse 11, and he says, "...in whom
also we have obtained man inheritance." We've done have it. It's reserved
in heaven for us. Somebody asked Spurgeon one time,
they said, what did God intend by the death of Christ? And Spurgeon
said, what's He doing? What's He doing? Well, that's
a good answer. Whatever he's doing is what he
intended. And what's the intention of the death of Christ? Well,
what's he doing today and been doing for the last 2,000 years?
He's in heaven making intercessions for his people. He's still calling
his elect who are dead in trespasses and sins and giving them life,
bringing them to repentance. Bringing them to put all their
trust in Him. Saving them by a new birth. Pleading
and maintaining their cause. And they live to get old and
feeble, and they die, and another generation comes up, and it all
just starts over again. They're dead in sins. Christ
calls them. He gives them life. And He'll do that until He's
calling His last sheep. And then He'll come again, receive
His own unto Himself, make a new heaven and a new earth wherein
dwells righteousness, and there will be peace forevermore. That's
what God intended through the death of Christ. He's fulfilling
and working out His wonderful and glorious plan. I quit. I quit. Until next Sunday,
I quit. God bless you.