I invite you to turn in your
Bibles, if you will, to the third chapter of the book of Ephesians.
Now, if you have your Bibles open, let me read beginning here
with verse 1, and read down through verse 6. For this cause I, Paul,
the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, if you have
heard of the dispensation, or the administration, or the assignment
or the ministry of the grace of God which is given me to youward,
how that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery, as
I wrote afore in few words, whereby when you read you may understand
my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which in other ages was
not made known unto the sons of men as it is now revealed
unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. Let us look to
the Lord. We take note in the first verse
of this third chapter of the book of Ephesians that Paul said,
I Paul the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles. Paul said that he was a prisoner
of Jesus Christ. Now, Paul had preached to these
folks at Ephesus for three years, and he left them on his way as
God would direct. And when he wrote this epistle,
he was a prisoner in Rome. Paul had preached to these people.
He had many friends and brothers and sisters in Christ in this
church, and he loved them a great deal. Testimony of that can be
found in the book of Acts. And now he writes to them under
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God from prison. And in verse
1 of this chapter 3, he tells us that he is the prisoner of
Jesus Christ for the Gentiles. Now if you look over at chapter
4 and notice in verse 1, he says again, I therefore the prisoner
of the Lord beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation
wherewith you are called. So Paul tells us again here that
he is the prisoner of the Lord. And here Paul sits in jail for
preaching the gospel that he has outlined in the book of Ephesians. And we're acquainted with chapter
1, we're acquainted with chapter 2, and then with this third chapter
here of Ephesians and so he's sitting in prison because of
his preaching of the gospel to these Gentiles. Paul stirred
up great fuss every place he went and he turned the world
upside down and the testimony you remember of the apostles
was that they that have turned the world upside down has come
hither also. Well every place Paul went there
was quite a fuss, and he generally ended up being persecuted or
being put into prison. And so he says here that he's
in jail for preaching the gospel. The Jews, you know, had risen
up against him, and they taught the Romans into putting him into
prison. Yet he doesn't call himself the
prisoner of the Jews, or the prisoner of the Romans, or the
prisoner of Nero the emperor. He doesn't say, I'm the prisoner
of the Romans or the Jews. No, he calls himself the prisoner
of the Lord. The prisoner of the Lord. Now,
if you would look at 2 Timothy, hold your finger here, turn to
2 Timothy chapter 1, And I want to read verse 8 to you and listen
to what he says again. He says in this chapter and this
verse, this is 2 Timothy 1 and 8, Be not thou therefore ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner, but
be thou a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the
power of God." Me, his prisoner. I'm a prisoner of the Lord, Paul
would say. And now he never, and I think
this is most unusual, and there's a message in it. I hope I can
bring it out to you. This is most unusual. He never
calls himself, as we said, the prisoners of the Romans, though
they had imprisoned him. Now Paul had learned something
that all of us need to learn. There were some things that he
had learned by spirits. There were some things that God
had taught him. There were some things that had
been made known to him in his heart, in his soul. and he understood
these things and therefore he had a different look on life,
a different outlook on life than what many, many people maybe
in his same circumstances might have had. So he had learned some
things and I hope I can point them out. Now those prisons were
not like some of these white collar prisons that we hear about. Now the prisons in which Paul
was placed, he was in a dungeon. He was in a black, dark dungeon. And so you might wonder how in
the world he could ever say, I'm a prisoner of the Lord in
this place, in this dungeon. Yet he was a man who was content. A man who was content. Now you
may wonder how in the world could a man be content if he's in prison
in a dungeon. But I want you to turn, hold
your finger here again and turn over to the book of Philippians,
the very next book. in your Bible, to the fourth
chapter of Philippians, and let's notice here a couple of verses,
verses 11, maybe I'll read verses 11 through 13. Now listen to
what Paul says, not that I speak in respect of want, speaking
to the church at Philippi, they had sent him offerings, and he
was writing a letter to them, and he said, I'm not speaking
in respect of want, and here's what he tells us. He says, for
I have learned. I have learned this. Didn't come
by it by nature. It wasn't just that I've got
a good disposition. It's not that I'm so much different
than other people. He said, I have learned in whatever
state I am therewith to be content. I've learned it. He said, I know
how to be abased. I know how to be brought low.
I know how to be in a state of want. For He says this, I know
how to abound also. I know what it is to have plenty.
I know what it is to have enough. I know what it is to get by and
be very well blessed. Everywhere He says and in all
things, everywhere. He says, everywhere I've learned
to be content. Now, beloved, the Bible says
that godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought
nothing into this world, it's certain we can take nothing out.
Therefore, with food and raiment, let us therewith be content.
So Paul had learned this great lesson. He says, I'm instructed. I'm instructed wherever I am
and in all things. I'm instructed both to be full
and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. Now Paul
knew that his being assigned this ministry of preaching the
gospel to the Gentiles, that it would bring great persecution
upon him. He knew that. God had told him
from the very beginning, showed him what great things that he
must suffer for the namesake of Jesus Christ. And so, he began
to put together in his own mind and heart and soul, in his experiences,
he began to put together the ability to be content in all
of these situations. And then he says, and sums it
all up in verse 13, he said, I can do all things through Christ,
which strengthens me. And so here I am in this prison,
and I've got this particular view of my situation, and he
says, I am a prisoner of the Lord. I've learned to be content,
whether in prison or in a palace. It wouldn't make any difference.
Or in poverty or plenty, it doesn't make any difference. So he calls
himself the Lord's prisoner. Now John Newton, I think, understood
something about this. when he wrote these words. Listen to these words. Some of
you are familiar with them. But content with beholding his
face, my all to his pleasure resigned. No changes of seasons
or place would make any change in my mind. While I am blessed
with a sense of His love, a palace, a toy, would appear. And prisons
would palaces prove if Jesus would dwell with me there. Well,
beloved, what has Paul learned? First of all, he's learned to
be content. He's learned to be content wherever
he is, and all that we could learn that lesson. There's a
great need to learn that. Now you and I are not sitting
in a dungeon someplace this morning, but I tell you that some of us
may be in our hearts this morning very discontent. Very discontent. You may have come in here this
morning, and you had a good breakfast, and you've been blessed with
fairly good health, but you come in here this morning, and you're
discontented. Discontented. You're not at all
happy inside. And you need to learn these lessons,
and I pray God that He might reveal them. Well, what else
has Paul learned? Well, he's out of his pulpit,
and he's away from his friends, those that he loves, in the gospel,
and he's in prison. Yet he doesn't say, they put
me here wrongfully. They put me here wrongfully.
He says, my Lord put me here. My Lord put me here. I am His
prisoner. I'm His prisoner. The Lord put
me here. Well, here is what he had learned.
He learned he was God's child. Number one, and he was God's
servant by God's choice. He had learned this. Now, beloved,
it's a whole lot to know that you're a child of God. The Bible
says, beloved, now are we the sons of God. Now, those that
are redeemed and have been redeemed and those who have learned the
gospel by the revelation of the Spirit of God in their hearts,
they are indeed in Christ and they know themselves to be the
children of God. The love of God's been shed abroad
in their hearts and the Bible says we know we've passed from
death into life because we love the brethren and we have evidence
that we're children of God. That ought to mean a whole lot.
It meant a whole lot to the Apostle Paul that he was no longer a
stranger alienated from the life that was in God through Jesus
Christ, that he was a child of God now by faith. And he was
God's servant, and I said that he was God's servant by God's
choice. Now this is very important that
we see this. Now if a man knows that he is
indeed God's servant, God's bond slave, and that God has indeed
borne his ear through with the all to the door, and he's forever
ever a slave to his master as long as he lives in this world,
it makes a whole lot of difference the way you look on life and
those things that happen in everyday life. And so the Apostle Paul,
he knew that God had chosen him. Now believe me, there's a lot
of people that run, a lot of men that run and are not sent. There's a lot of men that get
into the ministry and they get into the ministry and God has
not given them a ministry. He has not given them a dispensation. He has not given them this ministry
of preaching the Word of God. They hadn't been sent by the
Lord. And therefore they have a tremendous amount of difficulty
making it in the world, trying to maintain a ministry because
of the fact they never were sent. and they have trouble. When they
have great trouble, then they want to jump out right quick.
When it doesn't seem like things are going just like they want
them to, or if they have problems and they don't have enough support,
then first thing you know, they're looking for a way out of the
ministry. And this is very important for
us to learn this lesson that God is not necessarily looking
for volunteers to be His slaves or His servants or His prisoners. He's not necessarily looking
for volunteers. God will give that man that He
has chosen to be His servant He will give him the ministry.
Now we take note of that in verse 2. If you've heard, Paul said,
of the dispensation of the grace of God, which is given me, given
me. God's given me an assignment.
And that assignment is that I am to preach to the Gentiles. And so Paul said, anything that
comes with that, then I must expect it. And I must expect
that God is ruling and overruling in the situation on the behalf
of His servant and to the furtherance of the gospel to the Gentiles.
So wherever He was, that is where the Lord intended for Him to
be, even if it was in prison. God put Him in prison. So wherever he was, I am his,
he would say to himself, I am his blood-bought child, I am
his chosen servant, so where I am must be where he wants me
to be. Now beloved, you can see in all
of this, that Paul was a man of faith. He believed God. He believed that God had delivered
him on the road to the mountain. He knew God did that. He knew
it. He knew that he was a child of
God by the work of divine grace. He knew it was sovereign grace
that arrested him and brought him into the knowledge of the
gospel. He knew that. There wasn't any
question in his mind and he believed it with all of his heart. And
he knew the Lord had blessed him in the ministry and in the
proclamation of the gospel. So he writes to his friends at
Ephesus and says, has me down here in prison. The Lord had
no discouraged attitude, nothing about being discouraged. No,
the Lord has me down here in prison. The Lord put me here.
Now can you see how that could enable a fellow to sing? How
it could enable him to go on and rejoice in the Lord? And
lift up his voice in praise and singing unto the Lord? Because
he said, the Lord put me here in prison. And so, beloved, if
we can have this kind of faith, if we have this kind of vision
and view of what God has called us to do and what He's laid hold
of us for, then we need not fret or worry about the outcome of
the particulars that we experience in our daily lives, even if we're
summoned to court and put into prison. Now, there's another
thing that Paul learned, and not only learned just to be content,
and not only learning that he was a child of God and a servant
of the Lord Jesus Christ, a chosen servant, but he also learned
that what he had is what God was pleased to give him. All
through his ministry, The Lord was pleased to supply what he
had need of. God was pleased to bless him
with his need supplied. God blessed him. He said, now
I know how to abound and I know how to be abased. I know how
to have and I know how to have not. I've been on both sides
of the fence, he would say. But what God has been pleased
to give me and sent my way He said, I know it came from God
and God has sustained me. Now this is very important to
see because we have a number of people at least back over
the 50 some years that I've been trying to preach the gospel.
I've run across people, men, who started out in the ministry. I have two particular fellows
who I still, you know, believe to be my friend, but they started
out, they were sovereign grace preachers, and back in the late
60s, they were having a difficult time in their churches. They
just could, they just barely, barely could get by. And these
individuals did not, well, they just weren't happy in that situation. So one day, they said, we could
do a whole lot better if we just quit preaching. And just give
up this ministry business. Oh, they said we could preach
once in a while, here, there, and yon, but we're not making
enough money. And we need to make more money.
We need more money. Our families are growing and
we need more money. And so they decided they would
go in to the insurance business, which they did, and they made,
oh, they made fistfuls of money. They were greatly prospered in
the insurance business. But, they left the ministry. They left the ministry of the
Word of God, and they did preach a little bit, just for a few
years, and then they were done with it completely. The more
money they got, the less they felt they needed to preach. And
so one time I was on a program with these fellas after they
had done quite well in the world, you know, and in the insurance
business. And so as I noticed when I met
them that they were dressed, oh my soul, they were dressed
like lawyers from New York City somewhere. And one of their shoes
cost more than my whole outfit, including my tie and the fillings
in my teeth. I mean, they were decked out. They were really spruced up. And I noticed that, of course.
But anyway, I began, and through the years, once in a while I
get to talk to J.D. and Frank Sweeney And as I talk
with these fellows, they're arguing all the time about whether or
not it can be proved that God ever called anybody to the ministry. In other words, they're trying
to salve their conscience. One of them had a heart attack
when he was 48 years old. His health was completely shot
and gone. And the other one, he had terrible
problems in his life, and he just lived a miserable life.
But nevertheless, he gave up the ministry. He was not pleased,
and they were not satisfied with what God sent their way. Now,
beloved, if you are owned of God, if God owns you, I'm not
saying God owns you. I'm saying if you are owned of
God, God will make a way. He will make a way for you. He
will make a way whereby you can remain faithful to Him. It won't
be necessary to pare off the sharp edges of the gospel, or
to change your doctrine, or in any way, shape, or form try to
adjust yourself where you fit in with more people. You just
be faithful to God. He will provide for you. The Lord will meet your needs.
If God owns you and if you are the chosen servant of God, He
will undertake for you. But now I'm saying that your
needs will be met. I'm not saying all your wants
will be met. I'm not saying that you won't get yourself maybe
sometimes into some predicaments that you can't get out of and
you have trouble getting out of. I'm not saying that. I'm
just saying that your needs God will provide. And the Apostle
Paul learned that. Where I am, God put me. What
I have is what God, who knows my need, has sent my way, and
the Lord has provided. Well, there's another thing that
I believe he learned, and that is that no one, and listen to
this now, no one could touch him. You know, he's God's child. God's servant, no one could touch
him, no one could imprison him or harm him unless the Lord ordained
it. Unless the Lord ordained it.
Now beloved, if you really believe that, then of course you can
see that you can rest. and go ahead on and open your
mouth freely and proclaim the gospel and you can testify the
grace of God and the sovereign mercies of our God. You can plainly
speak the word of God and you don't have to worry about anything
because the Lord said He said, I'll not leave you no forsaken,
so that you may boldly say, the Lord is my helper, and I will
not fear what man shall do unto me. I won't be afraid of what
men can do unto me. Now, I think a great sin is fearing
man. Fearing man, being afraid of
man. My friend, somebody well said a long time ago that if
you fear God, you need not fear man. If you fear God, if you
rest in the Lord, if you trust God, you need not worry about
your situation. Because as the poet said, not
a single shaft can hit until the God of love sees fit. And so you can trust and rest
yourself in your God. Well, these are things I believe
that Paul learned. And so he knew that whatever
happened to him would happen to him to further this ministry,
this ministry, this assignment that God had given him. Now there's
a couple of words here and I can't spend very long on them. There's
a couple of words in verse 3 that are very important. Ephesians
3 verse 3, How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery
as I wrote afore in few words. The Apostle Paul had been given
the assignment, as we mentioned throughout this message, of preaching
to the Gentiles, and God gave him an understanding of the mystery
of the Gospel. Now this mystery of the Gospel,
Paul says in verse 6 that the Gentiles should be fell heirs
unto the same body partakers of his promise in Christ by the
Gospel. He says in verse 5, which in
other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is
now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. Now,
we understand that the Old Testament saints, they didn't know the
gospel like we know it. They didn't have the understanding
of the gospel that men in this day and time have of the gospel. Abraham, I believe, knew the
gospel, but I don't think he had the understanding of all
the details of the gospel as men do today. Now, I want you
to note this word mystery because the Bible teaches that this mystery, all through the
Bible it refers to the gospel as being a mystery. Now, somebody
brought back about the simple gospel. And the gospel, I guess
you could say, is simple if you understand it. If you understand
it. For an example, let me illustrate
this. I believe that God reveals the gospel to men. I believe
He does. And makes it known unto men. He did to Paul so that Paul
could preach this gospel to the Gentiles. But Jesus Christ being
born of a virgin, do you understand that? Can you explain that? Can
you explain Jesus Christ being 100% God and 100% man? Can you
explain that? That's a mystery. That's a mystery. Can you explain
how it is that God in Christ, that He could have all the sins
of His people laid on Him, and bear those sins to Calvary, and
pay the debt of their sin, and satisfy God Almighty on their
behalf? You understand the ins and outs
of that? That's a mystery. The Bible says great is the mystery
of godliness. Jesus Christ, God was manifest
in the flesh. Can you explain that? Now if
you know these gospel truths and you know them in your heart,
in your soul, in your mind, then they're no longer a mystery to
you. It's just like the computer. There's some of you here that,
oh my, you're very good on the computer and you have knowledge
of how the thing works and you're very much up-to-date on the computer. But you take an old man like
myself that never got involved with them and really think that
it would short-circuit my brain if I were to. My friend, to me
it's a mystery. It's a mystery. The computer
is a mystery. But to you that know it, it's not. And so Paul
said, when I read, or when you read about my understanding and
the knowledge of the mystery of Christ, you understand, I
got it by revelation. God showed it to me. He revealed
it to me. And anybody else in this gospel
age that knows the gospel, it was revealed to them. It was
made known unto them. And this is what Paul says. Now,
beloved, the point I'm arriving at here, and I'm going to relinquish
the rest of my time here to Mike. Mike has some things he wants
to say. But I would like to say that we have been given an assignment
here. We have been given a ministry.
We have been assigned a dispensation. We have a dispensation. And that
is to preach the gospel of the sovereign free grace of God to
this city and to anyone who we can preach it to. And we need
to be willing to suffer whatever persecution, whatever would be
the situations that this ministry would bring us into and would
involve us in, we must be willing to go there. We must be willing
to. knowing that we belong to Christ,
and that He's chosen us to be His servants, raise this church
up to be a mouthpiece for Him in this city, and we're to speak
faithfully the gospel of Jesus Christ, knowing that as we go
out and spread this revelation of God in Christ, that God will
be pleased to reveal this gospel to his elect and draw them unto
himself. We need to be faithful unto God
in doing that and never turn about because situations, circumstances,
poverty, or whatever comes our way, We never allow anything
to divert us from this dispensation, from this ministry, this assignment.
May God be pleased to own these few scattered remarks and Mike
is going to come and say a few things here in the rest of our
time. So Mike, you come and speak what's
on your heart. I'd like to hear more of that.
I asked yesterday if there was time I would take part of the
service, and I felt like the Lord had given me something to
say, and I believe He did. And so I will try by the grace
of God to proclaim what He put on my heart. Let's turn to John
chapter 14. John chapter 14 is an excellent
chapter, and I want to read just a few verses here. I was going
to read 1-14, but I think what I'll do is just read 1-14.