In Ephesians 1, verse 8 and verse
9. Ephesians 1, verse 8 and verse
9. Speaking here of the Lord, really
of the Holy Spirit. Our God has abounded toward us. He has been telling us there
in verse 7 of redemption, and now he says, wherein he, the
Lord, the Holy Spirit, hath abounded toward us. in all wisdom and
prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according
to his good pleasure, which he purposed in himself. He hath
abounded toward us." You and I have been studying concerning
the purpose of God in redemption. We saw that there in these first
few verses, the mighty act of God. And if you read the book
of Psalms, you'll hear David talking about proclaiming the
mighty acts of God. And it wasn't just in creation,
but it's this very thing here that you and I have been studying
on now for the last few weeks. God's election. God choosing
those, and God purposing redemption. That's a mighty act of God, and
it's attributed to the Father. You and I have been studying
about that there in verse 4 and verse 5. And then we come to
the work of the Son there in verse 7. We looked at that. That
in whom we have redemption through his blood. And this is the Son
of God. The Father purposed redemption and here the Son in verse 7 has
accomplished that redemption. I'm often reminded of that verse
in Hebrews where the Apostle said that Christ has entered
the holy place. Not the one now that Moses made,
and the children of Israel made with hands, but the holiest of
all, heaven itself, with His own blood, having obtained eternal
redemption for us. He obtained that redemption.
So we've been studying here about the mighty acts of the Father
in election, and His planning redemption, and the Son here
accomplishing redemption. And I say this with all reverence.
We can't stop here. The Bible doesn't stop here.
We go on here now in verse 8 and 9 and we're told of this third
person of the Sacred Trinity. The Holy Spirit. The third person
of the Trinity. And we're also told there in
verse 13 and verse 14 where Paul said this. He was speaking here
about Them trusting in Christ, and then he said, in whom you
also, after that you heard the word of truth, we could read
it like this, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel
of your salvation, when you believed you were sealed with that Holy
Spirit of promise. The Holy Spirit, and that's what
he's speaking about here in our text in verse 8 and 9. He's speaking
of the work of the Holy Spirit. Now, one reason that our Master gives
for going to the cross, and we say this, and I want to emphasize
this to you this evening, that when we talk about salvation,
we talk about the salvation that is of a triune God, that is of
God the Father and God the Son, and that's what we've been studying,
and it's of God the Holy Spirit. When the Lord Jesus talked about
going to the cross, He went to the cross to accomplish what
the Father's will was in redemption. The Father had purposed redemption. So when the Son of God comes
to this earth, and He was ready to go to the cross, and He went
up before Pilate, and He said, I can get out of this. I could
get out of this. He said, I could call and pray
to my Father, and He would send legions of angels to deliver
me. But then He made this statement,
but how then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled? In other words,
He said, I could get out of it, but then He says, I can't get
out of it, because this is the Father's purpose for me. So He
comes to this earth, and He must die. He must redeem because that's
the Father's purpose. The Father had purposed that.
And then He says this, that His going away to the cross secured
the coming of the Holy Spirit. He comes to fulfill the Father's
purpose. And really and honestly, when
the Father purposed redemption, that secured the coming of Christ
and the death of Christ. Christ said it must be. I must
be lifted up. The purpose of God must be fulfilled.
And now He says, I'm going back and I have to go back. I have
to go to the cross. I have to go to the grave. I
have to send to my Father. Because He says, if I don't,
the Holy Spirit will not come. But if I depart, I'll send Him
unto you. Well, that's what you and I are
talking about here this evening. The work of the Holy Spirit.
Look over here to your left. Just a couple of chapters in
the book of Galatians. Look in the book of Galatians. When you and I are talking about
the Holy Spirit now, we're not talking about another God. It's
the same God. We get confused about the Trinity
in our heads sometimes, but when we see in the Scriptures concerning
election, that's attributed to God the Father. The Father chose
you. He gave you to Christ. When we
read in the Scriptures about redemption being accomplished,
that's attributed to the Son of God. But just as I said, we
can't stop there. There's this third person, this
glorious person, and he's God. He is God. He's not another God.
He's God. God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit. And here's why Christ had to
die. That this third person, now would come and do His work. Look here at what He says in
verse 13 and 14 of Galatians chapter 3. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it is written,
Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. And look at this.
For this reason, here's why He was cursed, that the blessing
promised to Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus
Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through
faith. See, Christ said, I must go away.
If I go not away, the Spirit will come. If I go away, I'll
pray the Father, and He will send the Spirit unto you. And so we're talking here then
in verse 8 and verse 9 about this work of the Spirit. We see
as we read the Scriptures and we know by experience, and I
say this with all reverence, I'm very careful when I say this,
that the Father's purpose in salvation, even though He chose
those He was going to save, Christ's accomplishing redemption, we
cannot stop there. We must go now to the work of
the Holy Spirit. And His work in the heart is
just as essential as the Son's work upon the cross and as the
Father's mighty act of purpose and salvation. He said the Son
of Man must be lifted up. It's necessary. And He said you
must be born of the Spirit. So when you and I speak of the
work of the Holy Spirit, we must say it's essential work. It's
essential. He must do His work. But it's
not another God. There is no jealousy in the Godhead.
It is the same God. God is the Spirit, and that is
the Spirit. And though Jesus Christ is in
heaven today physically, in His Spirit He is everywhere. The
Jesus Christ is among us this evening as you and I gather here
in the Spirit. He is among us. So what is the
work of the Holy Spirit, as the Apostle tells us here in verse
9? Well, he says it like this, having made known unto us. Having made known unto us. See, the Father planned it. He
purposed it. Christ accomplished it. And what
does the Spirit do now? He comes to make this known to
us. He comes to teach us. He comes
to enlighten our understanding and guide us, having made known. Brother Glenn quoted that verse
this morning in 1 John 5.20. The Son of God has come. He's
come in His Spirit and given us an understanding that we may
know Him. This is life eternal, to know
Him. And how do we know Him? The Spirit
makes Him known and His work known. Look over here on to your
left just a little bit further to this 1 Corinthians chapter
2, this very familiar passage of Scripture. Look in chapter 2 and begin here
in verse 4. You know if you took, and this
is how essential the work of the Spirit is, if you and I found
the most brilliant man in this world, I mean, he was so brilliant
that he knew all the sciences, the math, mathematics, he was
a genius. He knew all the things about
this earth and the things of outer space. He was just a genius. He could understand, he could
comprehend, he could retain all this natural information. And
you could give that guy a Bible, and you could give him the helps
that he needed to understand the Bible. But you know if the
Spirit of God did not enlighten his understanding and teach him,
he could not know God or the things of God. That shows how
essential the work of the Holy Spirit is. He must make the Lord
known. He must make the things of God
known to us. And Paul begins that here in
verse 4 of 1 Corinthians 2. Look what he says. And my speech
and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom,
but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith
should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Howbeit we do speak wisdom, we
speak it among those who are mature, perfect, yet not the
wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that
come to naught. But we speak the wisdom of God
in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God hath ordained
before the world unto our glory, which none of the princes of
this world knew. For had they known it, they would
not have crucified the Lord of glory. They didn't know it. They
didn't know what God had said in His Word in the Old Testament,
and when Christ came, they didn't know Him. Paul said that's why
they crucified Him. But as it is written, Eye hath
not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of
man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him,
but God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit. For the Spirit
searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what
man knoweth the things of a man, except the Spirit of man which
is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth
no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the
Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, for this
reason that we might know the things that are freely given
to us of God. which things we speak, not in
the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy
Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the
natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God,
for there are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them,
because they are spiritually discerned." As a matter of fact,
look over in chapter 1 there. It's not the natural man, no
matter how smart he is, that knows the things of God. As a
matter of fact, it's the smart men of this world that usually
pass by him. That's what Paul tells us. Look
in chapter 1, in verse 26. You see your calling, brethren,
how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble, are called. But God hath chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen
the weak things of the world to confound the things which
are mighty, and base things of the world to confound, and things
that are despised hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not
to bring to naught things that are. And He has done that for
this reason, that no flesh should glory in His presence. You and I glory in one thing,
and that's the Lord. And in all this business of redemption
and salvation, there's one thing you notice that God has been
careful to do. He's very careful not to leave us anything to glory
in but Himself. Back in election, we weren't
there. It wasn't us that chose. You've
not chosen me. I've chosen you. And you and
I weren't at the cross. That happened 2,000 years ago
when sin was punished and redemption was accomplished. Glenn, we weren't
even born. So if we're going to glory, we
must glory in the Lord. And even now, even now, you and
I have to confess our utter ignorance of spiritual things. And we say
with David, Lord, open our hearts. that we may understand. Open
our eyes that we may behold wondrous things from Thy love. We've got
one thing to glory in, and that's Him. That's Him. And He's electing
love and He's redemption accomplished and teaching us. All the glory
belongs to Him. And He's just done this in such
a glorious way that you and I cannot glory in anything but Him. The
Lord called this mighty apostle that is right in this epistle
here that you and I are studying about, one of the most brilliant
men of his age, talked in all these different languages, but
he did not understand the things of the Lord. And the Lord called
him and stripped him of all that natural wisdom and then revealed
Christ to him and taught him and made him wise. And Paul made
comment of that in Galatians chapter 1. He said, I was a persecutor
and injurious. I persecuted the church of God
and wasted it. But he said, God who separated
me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace revealed
His Son in me. He taught me of His Son. And
that's what he's talking about here. This truth here, verse
8 and verse 9. And what does this do? We talk
about Leaving us nothing to glory in but the Lord, that we must
be taught. Now, this doesn't discourage
lost people. This shouldn't discourage lost
people. People say, well, if I can't understand it, like I'm
reading a math book or a science book, if he has to teach me,
that discourages me. That shouldn't discourage you. You're on the same level as the
rest of us. It should encourage you. Listen to what the Scripture
says. I mean, the wisest man in this
world, the smartest man, the most intellectual man, should
humble himself before the Lord and become like a little child
and say, Lord, teach me, teach me. And the Lord has promised
to do that. And the dumbest man in this world,
a man who is a fool, does not have to despair. We all meet
on level ground, and the Lord teaches all of us. The wise and
the intellectuals, they come down. And those who are ignorant
and unlearned, they are brought all on the same level ground.
And we sit here and ask the Holy Spirit to open our hearts and
teach us. Listen to what He said. Let no
man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth
to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may
be wise. For the wisdom of this world
is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh
the wise in their own craftiness, and the Lord knoweth the thoughts
of the wise, that they are in vain. Then let the wise be humble
and become as little children. And here's what he says about
the fools, "'And to you, O man, I call, and my voice is unto
the sons of man, O ye simple, understand wisdom, and ye fools,
be ye of an understanding heart.'" So we're all on the same ground,
aren't we? Let the wise and the intellectuals humble themselves
as little children, and let the fools and the simple turn in
here and be wise. All of us on the same ground.
Sometimes you and I read our Bibles and it's like a closed
book to us. Did you ever pick up the Bible
and it's just almost like somebody had removed the words from the
pages? As far as you're concerned, you couldn't understand a thing
in it. Or you come here to the worship service and you don't
hear a thing that's said. Well, I've done that several,
several times. And you know one of the things
that the Lord teaches us? when we go through a situation
like that. Well, He's teaching us this one thing. Without me,
you can't know anything. Without me, you cannot understand.
There's no sense in bringing your intellectual abilities here. I'm the one that has to teach
you. And when you go to the worship service, if I don't speak to
you in that worship service, you can't hear. Without me, you
can do nothing. That's just what I wanted to
emphasize here to begin with. No more than we elected ourselves
or redeemed ourselves, we cannot teach ourselves. Somebody said,
well, I'm going to take the Bible and I'm going to show you. Well,
take the Bible and just read it and read it and read it and
read it and read it. And you won't know any more about the
Lord savingly than you did when you started if he don't teach
you. That's our experience, ain't it? Okay, notice this here in verse
8 then. Look back over in Ephesians chapter
1 in verse 8. And let me read this to you like
this. You look in verse 8 and let me paraphrase it and read
it like this to you. The Holy Spirit has superabounded
toward us. And that word means in excess.
He's superabounded. He's abounded. Superabounded.
In excess. in making us wise and giving
us spiritual insight and understanding. And by this, He's made known
to us the will of God. That's what that word prudence
means, spiritual understanding, insight, spiritual insight. You
and I don't feel too wise, do we? Do you feel like the Holy
Spirit's abounded towards you in wisdom? and made you so wise
in your understanding this. We complain more than anything
of our darkness, don't we? And of our ignorance. But he
says here in verse 8 that he has abounded towards us in these
things, in wisdom and spiritual understanding. Well, let's consider
this this way then. If he says that he has abounded
towards us, in wisdom and spiritual insight, then you can bet he
has. We judge of the case wrongly
sometimes because we see such darkness in us. And we say, I
just don't detect that he's abounded towards me and given me wisdom
and spiritual insight. Well, if he says he has, then
he has. So let's start looking at it
from that standpoint, and then first of all, let me ask you
this. Do you know the Lord? Do you
know the Lord? Has the Lord Jesus become real
to you? Now, you asked yourself that
question. This is life eternal, that they might know thee, the
true God and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. Do you know the
Lord? There was a time when you didn't know the Lord. You didn't
really know Him. But now He's precious to you. There was a time when you thought
little of Him or nothing of Him. But now He's precious to you.
Well, how was that made known to you? You've not always esteemed
Jesus Christ. You've not always loved Jesus
Christ. Well, why now? Well, the Holy
Spirit has abounded towards you in wisdom and insight. He has
opened your heart that you might know the Lord. Do you know Him?
Well, that is no small thing, is it? That is a tremendous thing
to know the Lord. To understand this more fully,
we have to remember this. Where did Paul say we were in
the second chapter? And he said, don't you forget
this. Remember this. And this is one of the reasons
he told us this. Remember that you in time past, first of all,
you were dead in trespasses and sins. You weren't a Jew. You was a dumb Gentile. You were
alien from the commonwealth of Israel. You were without Christ.
You were without God and without hope in the world. But now you're made nigh through
the blood of Christ. Now you know Him. and you love
Him and you esteem Him. Now He is your Lord and He is
your Savior. Listen to this in Hebrews chapter
8. This is the covenant that I will make with them after those
days saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their
heart and write my laws upon their minds and I will be to
them a God and they shall be to me a people. And they shall
not teach every man his neighbor, saying, Though the Lord for all
shall know me from the least to the greatest, for I'll be
merciful to their unrighteousness." How do we know the Lord? That's
a covenant blessing. Well, he says here, the Holy
Spirit hath abounded towards us in all wisdom, having made
known unto us. That's His work to do that. He
said in another place, "...not by works of righteousness which
we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us by the
washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost which He shed
on us abundantly." And listen to what he says in Isaiah chapter
44 and verse 3, "...I will pour water upon him that is thirsty,
and floods upon the dry ground, I will pour my spirit upon thy
seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring. I pour abundantly."
What? The Spirit. I know we look at
ourselves and we say, well, I just don't feel like He did that for
me. But has He opened your heart to know Jesus Christ? Well, brothers
and sisters, don't count that a small thing, to know the Lord. That's a covenant blessing. Well,
you say, I just don't know enough, but do you know Him? I don't
know very much about Him, but do you know Him? That's where
we start, isn't it? And no man can say that Jesus
Christ is Lord but by the Holy Ghost. So ask yourself this question
when you read this, that He's abounded towards you in all wisdom
and knowledge. Just ask yourself this question.
Has He made Christ real to you? You know, most people in this
world, to be honest, according to the Scriptures, don't know
the Lord Jesus Christ. And they never will know Him, apart from
revelation.