I've said this several times
while preaching through the book of Ephesians that I believe the
book of Ephesians to be the most sublime of Paul's epistles. Now somebody says, what do you
mean by that? I don't know. I don't really know how to explain
it, but I do know that Paul says things in Ephesians that he doesn't
say anywhere else. in any of his epistles. And here
he gives us this panoramic scope of God's eternal purpose in Christ
Jesus. And what an amazing blessing
for him to make this known to us. Now, we won't understand
it apart from his spirit, but what a blessing to be able to
see what is said in this passage of scripture. Paul tells us of
an eternal purpose in Christ Jesus, our Lord, one that began
before the foundation of the world. As a matter of fact, it
never began. It's always been. And this eternal purpose is to
be executed in time with and before an angelic audience. And he's demonstrating to this
angelic audience, his manifold wisdom by showing them what he
does for the church. Now that's what's being said
in this passage of scripture. May the Lord enable you and I
to enter into this. Look in verse 11, according to
the eternal purpose, which he purposed. in Christ Jesus, our
Lord. And if you're a believer, you
have some part in that eternal purpose. Now you want to talk
about significance. If you're a believer, God has
made it to where you have some part in that eternal purpose. Now God is a God of purpose. If there is no God, Nihilism
is true. There is no purpose. There's
no meaning to life. We're just here randomly, somehow,
as some kind of sonic explosion, big bang, and we came out of
some primordial stew, and here we are. You know, it takes a
whole lot more blind faith to believe that than it does to
believe the gospel. There's no question about that.
But God is, and he is a God of purpose. How many times have you heard
in your life, half of Romans 8, 28 quoted, well, I think everything's
going to work out. I think everything's working
together for good. And you know, I've heard many people say that,
but they only give half the verse. And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are called
according to his purpose. God is a God of purpose. Isaiah 14, 24. God says, surely, as I thought,
so shall it come to pass, as I have purposed it, so shall
it stand. Now, you know what comfort there
is to me in that? That everything that happens
to me and everybody else, God has purposed. Isn't that wonderful? He said in Isaiah chapter 14
verse 27, for the Lord of hosts have purposed it, who shall disannul
it? Isaiah 46 verse 11, I have spoken
it, I will also do it. I have purposed it, I will also
bring it to pass. Now this is who God is, a God
of absolute purpose. And anything that is not this
God is not God at all. God is a God of purpose, and
he's purposed everything. There's nothing that falls outside
of that. And notice the eternal purpose
was purposed in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Now, if you listen
to most preaching, It begins with man and what God can do
for him. Isn't that so? Man and what God
can do for you to make your life better. You need God. He's going
to help you in all these different ways. Now, someone that preaches
like that, listen to me carefully. Somebody that preaches like that
doesn't even know who God is. You wouldn't begin there if you
knew the living God. In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth and everything begins with him. We begin with God. God has an
eternal purpose, which is purpose before creation and created the
world for the accomplishment of his purpose. I love to quote
Revelation 13, eight that Christ is a lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. Yes, he came in time to be slain,
but he's the lamb, literally, here's the language, having been
slain from the foundation of the world. And you know what
that tells me? My sins were put away before
time began in the purpose of God. And if God purposes it,
it is done. The universe was created for
the cross. The fall of man was created for
the cross. Everything in providence He's
created for the cross that the Lord might show forth His manifold
wisdom. Do you know that every attribute
of God is displayed in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ? That's
how glorious this is. You can't and I can't know God
apart from the cross. And the cross, He manifests every
attribute. He manifests His justice, His
sovereignty, His holiness, His love and grace, His power. Every
attribute that He's pleased to manifest is manifested in the
cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you have an appreciation
of that, oh, how God has blessed you. If you're happy, it's that
way. How God has blessed you. You
know, most people don't even care. They don't even care about
what glory there is in the cross. Now, listen to these scriptures.
2 Timothy 1, 9, he saved us and he called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to his own purpose
and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began. Ephesians 1.11, being predestinated
according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after
the counsel of his own will. Romans 9.11, for the children,
talking about Jacob and Esau, for the children being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil, what? That the purpose of God according
to election might stand. Not of works. It's got purpose. That salvation might not be of
works, but of him that calleth. Romans 8, 28, all things. Now what's that mean, brethren?
All things. All things. I don't care what
you're talking about. All things. Work together for good. To them that love God, to them
who are thee called according to his purpose. Child of God,
everything in your life, I don't care what it is, is working together
for your good and for his glory. God really is God. in absolute
sovereignty, exercising complete sovereign control over the free
and uncoerced actions of men. Somebody's thinking, well, I
don't know if I like that. Well, I do. I do. I love this. And notice in our
text, the last phrase of verse nine, God who created all things
by Jesus Christ. I love. In the beginning was the word.
And the word was with God, a distinct person, and the word was God. All things were made by him.
And without him was not anything made that was made. But go on reading in verse 10. All things were created by Jesus
Christ to the intent, for this purpose, for this reason. This was God's intention. To
the intent that now, under the principalities and powers in
heavenly places, This was God's purpose in creating
all things by Jesus Christ that unto the principalities and powers
in heavenly places might be known by or through the church. These principalities and powers
in heavenly places. Now that's what's that's angels.
That's angels. They're called principalities
and powers in heavenly places. Now, The world is the stage that
he's showing the angels, this angelic universe. They're the
stage where he's demonstrating to the angels through the church,
through what he does to the church by his son, the manifold wisdom
of God. Now, angels. Bible has a lot to say about
angels. They're created beings. Peter
tells us they're greater in power and might than we are. They're
created beings. And there are different orders
of angels. For instance, we read of the
seraphims who were sent to the garden after the fall to keep
Adam and Eve out. They had the flaming sword going
every way. There are angels who are fallen. That's speaking of Satan. He
was an angel. He's a creature of God. He fell,
the scripture seems to intimate that a third of the angels fell
with him when he talks about the dragon knocking a third of
the stars from heaven. That seems to be a reference
to the fall of Satan. And he is called in the scriptures
the God of this world and the prince of the power of the air.
And he has a lot of power, there's no doubt about that. He's a real
being. I don't even like talking about
him, but I've got to give what the scripture says. He's a real
being. And I think it's interesting
when the devil came to tempt him, you can remember that one
of those temptations was he showed him all the kingdoms of the world
in a moment of time. And he said, all this I'll give
to you for it's given to me to do this. You know what that means? That means every kingdom of the
world including the United States of America, is under his dominion
and control. People say, isn't this a Christian
nation? No, never has been. There's no such thing as a Christian
nation. The devil has always controlled everything. The Lord
has given him this. But remember this, he's God's
devil on God's chain, doing God's will, accomplishing God's purposes. He doesn't know it. That's not
his desire, but God is God. And he is in complete control
over all demons, Satan, Satan, God's devil doing God's will. I love thinking about that. I
love it. I love thinking about the fact
that when Christ died, the devil thought I defeated him and he
didn't know that his head had been crushed by what the Lord
Jesus Christ did. Now there's fallen angelic beings
that I've been talking about, but there's the ones who Paul
calls in 1 Timothy 5, the elect angels. Don't you like that name
for these angelic beings? They're the elect angels. The
only reason they haven't fallen is because God chose them not
to fall. That's the only reason. And they
know that. They know they would have been just like Satan had
not God prevented it from happening. And these angels show up in the
Old Testament. You can remember when they appeared
to Abraham before they came with the Lord, before the Lord was
going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. What about Gabriel? He appears
to announce to Mary and Joseph the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Angels were there at the resurrection. Remember they came and those
two shining men in the tomb? He's not here. He's risen. The
scripture says when the Lord comes back, he's going to come
back with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance
on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And when heaven is described
in Hebrews chapter 12, a part of that description in heaven
is an innumerable company of angels. They have a big place
in the scripture, and I have no doubt And I say this reverently,
I have no doubt there are angels here tonight. No doubt. Which things angels desire to
look into. And whenever two or three are
met together to hear the gospel, they are there because they desire
to look into these things. What about the great ministry
of Godliness? I Timothy 3.16, God was manifested in the flesh,
justified in the spirit, seen of angels. I love to think of
angels. When the Lord came into Mary's
womb, what? They were in awe. They knew who
He was or who He is, and they were awed by this. love God, not the way a believer
does. They don't understand what it
is to be forgiven. They don't understand what it
is to receive grace, but they were all everything about his
life. Don't you think they were, and
know that they were watching when he was a little boy. We're
told so little about the young life of the Lord Jesus Christ,
but you can bet legions of angels were watching. I think about
during his public ministry when he was mistreated, which was
the whole time, they were just waiting, give us a command, we'll
go take care of this. I mean, they wanted to blot out
his enemies. Oh, what do you think they thought
as they beheld the Lord on the cross? They were in awe. What's he doing?
They didn't understand when they saw him raised from the dead.
Oh, which things angels desire to look into. Greater in power
and might than we are. And like I said, wherever anybody
is worshiping Christ, wherever the gospel is preached, there
they are. I said this recently, I wonder
if any angels were watching the Super Bowl. I doubt it. I doubt it. I doubt it's anything
that much interest them. But they are interested in the
things of God, in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
God demonstrates to the angels his manifold wisdom. That's what
the church is being used for. And so here, the Third thing
I want us to consider is the church. It's the church that
God is going to make known his manifold wisdom to the angels. Now, this is what Paul says.
It's through the church. Now, what is the church? What
is the church? The church is the elect of God. The church is the people for
whom Christ died. The church is the ones God the
Holy Spirit gives life to. The church is every believer
of every age. The General Assembly and Church
of the Firstborn whose names are written in heaven. You know, somewhere my name is
recorded in heaven. in the Lamb's Book of Life. It has the name of every member
of the church. And this is what I love thinking
about this church. This church we're talking about,
they're local churches. And there's the church, Big C. There's the Little C churches,
like us. And you know, in this church,
over the years, we started in 1982. How many people have we
seen come and go? Come and go. In this church,
nobody goes, and it never grows. It's the
exact same number. All of God's elect, the bride
of Christ, the body of Christ, this is the church of the living
God through which he makes known his manifold wisdom. Now, don't think of man-made
religion as the church. It's not. It's not. You see all this stuff going
on under the name of the gospel, under the name of Christ, but
it's so. contrary to what the Bible teaches. That's not the church. It's man-made
religion. We shouldn't call these institutions
where the gospel is not preached a church because that's not what
they are. I don't know what you call them, but they're not churches.
The church is known by the gospel she preaches. The church is known
by the gospel she preaches. And the Lord makes himself known
through this church. And I love thinking about this. The church, the real church,
the true church. I believe by the grace of God,
this is a true church. It's made of wheat and tares. There's no
doubt about that. They're believers and unbelievers.
Every local church is an assembly of wheat and tares. The Lord
tells us that. When he gave that parable of
the tares, the enemy sowed tares and they said, you want us to
root them out? And the Lord said, no, because you'll end up rooting
out the wheat. You don't know the difference. And me, you don't
know the difference. I can't figure out who to root out. It's
pointless. We know the church is made up
of sinners, saved by the grace of God, some who have been saved,
some, the visible church, is some who have never bowed the
knee to Christ. They've never believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, this church, though it's
insignificant in man's eyes, man, you guys don't even count.
You don't have any influence. You don't have any power. You
don't have any numbers. I mean, there's churches with
thousands of members and look at you guys. You don't even count.
To God we do. The apple of his eye. That's every one of his churches. The apple of his eye. Now the
church is comprised of sinful men and women. Now, let me repeat that. The
church is comprised of sinful men and women. Well, there's
too much sin going on in that place. I think I'm going to leave.
You missed it. The church is comprised of sinful
men and women. Now, does that mean these men
and women think sin is okay? No. God in any way. I want to
never sin again. But the church is comprised of
sinful men and women so that God may make known his manifold
wisdom. Why is there sin in the first
place? Could God have prevented it? Of course he could have.
It's all a part of his purpose to make himself known. This is who God is. And this is God's purpose to
make known His own glory. Now, if my purpose is to make
known my glory, it's a bad thing, isn't it? It's an evil thing. It's self-promoting. But if His
purpose is to make known His own glory, it's a good thing. It's a glorious thing because
of who He is. He's altogether glorious and
what a glorious thing for him to make known his glory. He didn't have to create the
world. He wasn't lonely. The Trinity had perfect glory
and happiness in the three persons of the Trinity. But because of
his grace, he has been pleased to manifest his glory through
the church. Now, the first thing that comes
to my mind in this thing of him manifesting his glory through
the church is how in his wisdom, he's made a way to be just and
justify the ungodly. I hope that never just becomes
doctrine to anybody here. Well, yeah, that's what I believe.
That's what I agree with. This is the most glorious thing.
we could consider. God is so infinitely wise that
he has made a way to be just and justify the ungodly. Now, listen to this statement
real carefully. This is very important. God would
cease to be God if he let one sin go unpunished. I'm going to repeat that. God
would no longer be God. He'd no longer be just. He'd
no longer be righteous if he let one sin go unpunished. Somebody may think, well, why
couldn't he just forgive sin? Why couldn't he just forgive
it? Why go through all this, the cross? Why not just forgive
sin? I mean, couldn't God do that?
Not be God. He said, I will by no means clear
the guilty. I will by no means, under no
circumstances whatsoever, will I clear a guilty sinner. How does that make you feel?
You see, the church is comprised of guilty unjust, sinful people. Ask anybody that's a part of
the church, anybody that's a believer, is that you? No doubt about it. No doubt about it. Now, how can
God be just and punish all sin and yet justify and declare to
not be guilty those who are sinful and those who are guilty. Now,
man couldn't come up with an answer for that. No way. What if a judge said to a guilty
person, he said, well, I'm gonna make it to where you're not guilty
anymore. Couldn't be done, could it? No man could do something
like that. He couldn't come up with a way
for it to be done, and if he could come up with a way, he
couldn't execute it. This is something that only God
can do. He can take a guilty person,
a sinful person, a person who deserves to be cast off eternally,
and he can make it to where they had never sinned and that they
have nothing to feel guilty about because they're perfect. They're
going to hear God say to them, well done, thou good and faithful
servant. And that didn't pretend. He says
to every one of his people, you did well, you did perfect. you
never sinned. Enter thou into the joy of thy
Lord. That's what justification is. Now, how can you do that? God in his infinite wisdom gave
his perfect, holy, spotless, beloved son, to take the sins
of his people who were guilty. And he became guilty of the commission
of those sins. Now listen to the way I said
that. He became guilty of the commission of those sins. And on the cross, it was not
the innocent being punished. It was the guilty being punished. And he takes the personal righteousness
and law keeping of his spotless, glorious son and makes it the
personal righteousness of every single body that Christ died
for, that Christ represented. Now somebody says, How could
God do that? I don't know, but he does, and
he did. You see, with God, nothing shall
be impossible. And now God, in his infinite
wisdom, has made a way to actually justify men and make it to where
I have never sinned in the first place. You know, it kills me
that most people, I'd say 95, maybe 99% of preachers think
that there's going to be some kind of judgment for believers,
that they're going to have to give an account for their life.
Well, I am going to give an account for my life and it's all good.
There's no sin. Perfection. That's what every
believer possesses. Perfection in Christ. I never sin. I am perfect before
God's holy law. Now, he's made a way for my sins
to be punished and his law and justice honored and glorified. How glorified to God. You know, there's some people
who would never even consider how God can be just and justify the
ungodly. It's a dull subject to them.
But I tell you what, if you ever know anything about the character
of God, you can't find any satisfaction in just mere forgiveness. You
have to have justification. You have to know that you stand
perfect and righteous and without sin before a thrice holy God. Now, only God could do something
so glorious. And I pray that the Lord would
enable us to believe. Believe. Right now, I can say
to every believer, you don't have any sin. I don't care how
many sins you've committed today. They've been blotted out. They're
gone. You have no sin. He was manifested to take away
our sin. And in him is no sin. If I'm in him, I have no sin. Now, when the angels see this,
they're awed. They're amazed. You know what? We are too, aren't we? Aren't
you thankful for the glories of the gospel? And what a glorious
way to demonstrate his love. Now, God is love. Doesn't say
here's love and God fits that description. God is love. God is love. And what a glorious
way he demonstrates his love in the church. He loved the church as he loved
his son, or he loves the church as he loves his son. Now, I'd
be afraid to say that if the Bible didn't say it, but the
Lord said in John 17, 23, or verse 24, thou has loved them
as thou has loved me. I wouldn't dare think something
like that unless God said it, but there we have it. The same
love he has for his son, he has for every individual believer. You know what the Lord said?
He said, as the father hath loved me, so have I loved you. And what incredible glory that
God could love us as he loves his son. Herein is love. Not
that we love God. I love the way John says this.
You know what love is? Here it is. that we love God,
but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation
for our sins. You see, anything that would
prevent him from loving us has been removed. You know, when
people talk about God's unconditional love, remember, there's no such
thing. He loves you because you're all together lovely, that you're
just as lovely as His dear Son. That's why He loves you. If He
can unconditionally love you, He can unconditionally stop loving
you. There's no such thing as unconditional love. His love
is in His Son, and every believer, listen to this, deserves the
love of God because Christ deserves the love of God. And we say,
I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene and wonder
how he could love me, a sinner condemned unclean. Now, the angels
see this love. They look at his love to me,
to me. I'll tell you what, the hardest
thing that I had to get hold of is that he loves me. That's the
hardest thing. And angels look at the God of
glory, loving Todd Nybert, they're in awe. They're amazed at the
manifold wisdom of God that he has made a way where he can love
me and embrace me and find me worthy of his love and have fellowship
and communion with me." I'm fit for communion with God. Fit! Meet! To be a partaker of the
inheritance of saints in light. Now, the angels See how God has
made a way for his church, his bride, his body, his wife. I love the way the church is
called the Lamb's Wife. Don't you love that, the Lamb's
Wife? That's the church. He has made a way for the church
to be more secure than they ever could have been had Adam not
fallen. What wisdom. More secure, more
safe, more... I tell you what, if I had never
fallen, my standing right now would be precarious. I know myself
enough to know that I will end up falling. But he made a way
to where I cannot be separated from the love of God, which is
in Christ Jesus our Lord. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? God has justified them. Who is
he that can condemn? It's Christ that died. Rather,
it's risen who's even at the right hand of God, who also maketh
intercession for us. Now, let me tell you this. If
Christ can fall away, I can fall away. Can Jesus Christ fall away? No, can't be done. That's how
secure I am. However secure he is, every believer
is. And in this glorious wisdom,
he's made a way in salvation. And this is his purpose. He's
made a way in salvation that secures him getting how much
of the glory? All the glory. In your salvation, child of God,
does he get all the glory? your heart says, yes, not unto
us, not unto us, O Lord, but into thy name. Give glory for
thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. We know that in salvation,
he gets all the glory. No credit goes to us. There's
not going to be any horrible sound unto us and to
our free will and to our works. I mean, we get some of the credit,
we at least did some, no, nothing like that with a believer. No,
no. He has, I love the way he prayed
in John 17. He begins with these words, Father,
the hour has come. Glorify thy son that thy son
also might glorify thee. Thou hast given him power over
all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as Thou
hast given him. And this is eternal life, that
they might know Thee, the only true God in Jesus Christ, whom
Thou hast sent. I have glorified Thee on the
earth. I have finished the work Thou
gavest me to do. Now, when Hebrews 1.3 says he
by himself purged our sins, that means he did it by himself. That
means he gets all the glory. And we love it that way. Because
if any glory goes to us, that means part of salvation is dependent
upon us. I don't want, I don't have anything
to do with that. Nothing. And what complete rest we have
in what he did. It's called the joy and peace
of believing all that he requires of us. he looks to his son for. Now, it's real simple. It's real
simple. In this manifold wisdom of God,
it's real simple. Christ said, I am the way. We're not even given a choice.
We don't have to decide which way is the right way. I am the
way. I am the truth. Everything else is false. I am
the life. I'm so thankful he said that.
You know, his life is the life. His life is my life. That's why
This man talking to you right now is going to hear him say
to me on judgment day, well done, thou good and faithful servant,
because his life is my life before God. What joy, what confidence
there is in that. Aren't you thankful that he who
created all things was pleased to show the angels his wisdom
through me and you. The church of the living God. May the Lord enable us to rest,
rest, rest in him. Let's pray. Lord, we're so amazed that you would be pleased to
allow us to be a part of the demonstration of your manifold
wisdom and that we might be a part of that eternal purpose, which
you purposed in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Lord, take your word
and bless it and cause it to bear fruit according to your
will. We thank you for thy son. Accept our thanksgiving through
him. Lord, we know that our thanksgiving is no good apart from it being
mediated through his glorious merits and him presenting it
before your throne. Bless us for Christ's sake. In
his name we pray.