Good evening. I invite your attention to the
epistle of Paul to the church in Ephesus, Ephesians chapter
3, verse 8. Our dear friend Maurice Montgomery,
pastor in Madisonville, has been in failing health for quite some
time. For some months, been unable
to preach even from his own pulpit. So he has a substitute preacher
every Lord's Day down in Madisonville. And the preacher is introduced every
week in the bulletin. I am subscribed to the bulletin. I get it a day or two before
the Lord's Day, so I know who's going to be preaching. And I
noticed that Every preacher is introduced almost the same way.
My son goes down quite often, and so it reads in the bulletin,
Brother D. Parks will preach to us the unsearchable
riches of Christ. I have read in there that Brother
Bob Coffey will preach to us the unsearchable riches of Christ. I read about a young man named
Frank Hall. He will preach to us the unsearchable
riches of Christ. I've read in there that Brother
Luke Coffey will preach to us the unsearchable riches of Christ.
As you can see, there's a common thread running through all this. The preacher is different every
week, but the subject is the same, the unsearchable riches
of Christ. So I wanted to be clear on the facts
of the matter, so I telephoned my son. And I said, son, does
Maurice tell you that you must preach the unsearchable riches
of Christ? And he said, no, he doesn't tell me what to preach.
Well, do you telephone him and tell him what you're going to
be preaching? That you're going to be preaching the unsearchable
riches of Christ? And my son said, no, he doesn't.
So I assume it's probably the same for all those preachers,
the subject is not assigned and they do not let it be known beforehand
what they're going to be preaching. It's just in the bulletin that
the subject is going to be the unsearchable riches of Christ. And whatever the text and whatever
the subject, The real subject is the unsearchable riches of
Christ. Anywhere in scriptures the text
is taken, the subject is the unsearchable riches of Christ. So I'm going to make it easy
on myself and take the text itself. It's in Ephesians 3 verse 8. where Paul declares it to me,
who am less than the least of all the saints this grace was
given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable
riches of Christ. As I said, I'm going to make
it easy for me. I'm going to take the subject
itself and attempt tonight to preach to you on that very subject. My message is titled, The Unsearchable
Riches of Christ. We will not search them out.
We will not exhaust the subject, I assure you. Brother Maurice has been preaching
the gospel in Madisonville for many, many years, and he has
not exhausted it. He has all these preachers coming
in, and they've not exhausted it. You've not exhausted it. I've not exhausted. Your pastor
did not exhaust it. These unsearchable riches of
Christ. But before I get into my subject
tonight, I would like to just mention that Paul says some things
about himself here that identify him as typical of all God's preachers
in four regards. First, observe his personal humility. Paul, as much as says, I am less
than the least of all the Saints. Folks, this is Paul who wrote
that I am less than the least of all the Saints. Elsewhere,
he says, I'm the chief of centers. God's preachers willingly acknowledged
themselves as the greatest of sinners and the least of saints,
at least all that I've met would say so. And I would say to you,
beware of the preacher who considers himself the least of sinners
and among the greatest of saints. Beware. Second, observe Paul
in his divine enablement. He says this grace was given
whatever he's going to do. He's going to preach the unsearchable
riches of Christ, but only because this grace was given. God's preachers will freely acknowledge
themselves to have been by God graciously chosen, gifted, enabled
and directed. And I would say to you, beware
of the man who chose the ministry for career and directs himself or is directed by some religious
organization. Paul says, I was divinely enabled,
and I do not depend upon my own gifts, my own abilities. I have
none, but as God enables me, this I do. Third, Paul is typical
of all God's preachers in his ministerial calling. He said,
I should preach among the Gentiles. God's preachers preach because
that's what preachers do. He's not a preacher unless he
preaches. So Paul says, I should preach. Observe well that we do not minister
as priests at altars, enforcers of the law, dictators of morality,
propagators of ceremonies and rituals, enlargers of churches,
religious entertainers or anything else that ministries in religion
do. We preach. And we preach to Gentiles. In the widest sense of the term,
it means everyone estranged from God. We preach. We preach to
Gentiles. And Paul is typical in his preaching
content. the unsearchable riches of Christ. Now, what is meant by unsearchable? That which is unsearchable is
incalculable, unfathomable, incomprehensible, immeasurable, inexhaustible,
and every other term like that you can find. It's unsearchable, these riches of Christ. To say
they're riches of Christ is enough But Paul says, no, no, no, they're
unsearchable riches of Christ. Some riches are unsearchable
because they have never been discovered. Geologists tell us
that under the earth, there are oil fields that have never been
discovered. There are veins of gold and silver
and precious stones yet to be discovered. What are they worth? We have no idea because they've
not been discovered. You cannot measure what has not
been discovered. Well, I say to you that these
riches of Christ have been discovered because God has revealed them
and yet they still are unsearchable. Some riches are unsearchable
because they are lost. In the Caribbean where I live,
is said to be a graveyard for ships laden with treasures from
the New World going back to Europe, caught in storms and hurricanes
and the ships perished at sea. and took all their precious cargo
with them. They did not take inventory in
those days like they do today. And in some cases, the inventory
is lost. We do know that down in the graveyard
of the oceans, there are ships with great riches. What are they
worth? We do not know. The ships are
lost and you cannot measure what is lost. Christ's treasures are
never lost. His riches are never lost. He
reveals them and gives them, and yet they're still unsearchable.
Some riches or treasures are unsearchable because they are
off limits. There are men in this world who
have precious treasures and wealth, and even they do not know how
much they're worth. You may remember that The U.S. Marines made an attack on a certain
ruler a few years ago and he tried to make his escape and
it was discovered that he had tractor-trailer trucks full of
American currency, dollar bills, and they were not all ones. Now
what's the man worth? He doesn't even know. What he
had was under, it was off-limits, behind lock and key and under
security, and what is off limits cannot be searched, can it not?
Well, these riches of Christ are not off limits. Now come,
you can have every one of them, or at least as many as you can
take, as many as you can put your hands on. They're not off
limits. They've been discovered. God
has revealed them. None of them is lost. And when
they're used, there's still as much left as there was. So come,
these are unsearchable riches of Christ. What are they? That's a needless question. If
they're unsearchable, I cannot enumerate them, can I? If they
are unsearchable, I cannot fully explain even one of them. But
I tell you what I can do. I can introduce to you tonight
some of these unsearchable riches of Christ. I can introduce them.
My mind is incapable of fathoming them, and even if I could explain
them fully, your mind is incapable of understanding and comprehending
them. But we can introduce them, and I can tell you, if you'll
have them, they're yours. They're yours. First, the unsearchable
riches of Christ's deity. He is very God of very God. And Paul declares in Colossians
2 verse 9 that in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. Now explain that to me. That
God who cannot be contained, that God who is omnipresent,
everywhere present, every bit of the fullness of his deity
is in Christ in that body. Explain that to me. You can't
the subject is unsearchable. You cannot fathom it that the
entirety all the fullness of the Godhead. It's in him and
I can see every bit of him. But I cannot see all the fullness
of God's deity explain that it's unsearchable riches of the deity
of Jesus Christ. Deity cannot be comprehended
by mortals because it is eternal and infinite and perfect. And
there's no way we can comprehend anything that is eternal and
infinite and perfect. Most preachers deny Christ deity. We know this because they say
that he cannot save you unless you let him and he's powerless
to save you unless you help him. They just denied his sovereignty
and his omnipotence. And a God without omnipotence
and sovereignty is a vain idol of some man's vain imagination.
It's not the Christ. It's not the Christ. We declare
to you, when Jehovah sent his son into the world, he prophesied
of it in Isaiah chapter 4, verse 9. And he said, when I send my
son, I want my preachers to say, Behold your God. Behold your
God. That's the Christ I preach to
you. In Isaiah 25 verse 9, it's very remarkable. statement regarding
the incarnation of Christ. Behold, this is our God and we
have waited for Him. He will save us. This is Jehovah
and we have waited for Him. We will be glad and rejoice in
His salvation. Isaiah 25 verse 9. Comprehend
that, if you will, that this man walking around is God. Behold your God. This is our
God. Who is he? Thomas. Thomas will
tell you. My Lord Jehovah and my God. The unsearchable riches of his
deity. There are the unsearchable riches
of Christ's sovereignty. We hear false preachers say Christ
will save you if you let him. Well, they thereby admitted that
their Christ, their Messiah, does not have sovereignty. You
must let him do something or he cannot do it. It's not so
with the Christ I preach to you. He declares that all authority
has been given to me in heaven and on earth, all of it. The
Holy Spirit declares that he is the blessed and only potentate,
the King of kings and Lord of lords. He therefore does as he pleases,
when he pleases, how he pleases, and to whom he pleases. And if
he desires to save a sinner, you won't stop him. Hell itself
will not stop him. And I say to you that if you
call upon him to save you, nothing deters him from coming. Nothing
prevents him from coming. And when he arrives, he does
not need your help. the unsearchable riches of the
sovereignty of Christ. Third, the unsearchable riches
of Christ's power, because we hear false preachers say Christ
is powerless to save you unless you let him. Well, who in his
right mind wants a God like that anyway? He can't help me unless
I help myself. I'll tell you who wants a God
like that. Somebody who wants to be God of God. That's it. Wants to be God of God and says,
I got a God and he can't do something unless I let him and he's powerless
unless I enable him. He wanted to save me, but I had
to meet him halfway. Really? You want that God? You're welcome to it. You can
have every bit of it. Every bit of it. It's not the
God I preach to you. God I preach to you created all
this universe, the heavens. We do not even know what's out
there. We discover things in the heavens
we did not know was there. He made it and he knows what's
there. He's already counted all the stars. He knows them all
by name. those oceans, seas, he made it. This land upon which we walk,
he made it. He made every mountain, made
every boulder, made every stone, made every grain of dirt, and
made every grain of the finest silt you can find. He made it.
It's his. He did it. Got it right the first
time, and God was so well pleased, he said, son, you can rest. It's
over. He did it. And one night there he is out
on the Sea of Galilee. And the wind begins to blow and
the waves are billowing and the disciples are sure we're going
down. And the master is asleep. Well,
when you're in control, you can sleep. And they say, Master, we perish. We do. He stands up and he says,
wind, stop your blowing. Billows, be still. And the wind quit blowing and
the sea was still and the disciple said, what manner of man is this?
I'll tell you what manner of man it is. It's one with unsearchable
riches of sovereignty and power. That's who it is. He had the power to exorcise
demons, the power to heal the sick, the power to give sight
to the blind, the power to give hearing to the deaf, the power
to cause the mute to speak, the power to raise the dead. He did
it. Even in his weakest physical
state, in his weakest physical moment, when he's hanging on
a tree on Calvary, The blood has drained from his body. His strength has been sapped. He's confined to a tree. He's
going nowhere. He's about to give up the ghost.
And a thief says, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.
And Jesus Christ, in the weakest moment of his humanity, said,
it's done. I just saved you. I'll remember
you today. You're with me in paradise. Now
think about it. In his weakest moment, in his weakest moment,
I'm saying to you, if you call on him to save you, don't worry
about him having enough power. Don't worry. He's got more than
enough. He doesn't need you to meet him
halfway. He does not need for you to do your part. He's going
to do it all. Just call the unsearchable riches of his power. the unsearchable
riches of His grace. Paul speaks in chapter 2, verse
7 of the exceeding riches of God's grace in His kindness toward
us in Christ Jesus. Let me tell you about the unsearchable
riches of His grace. First of all, His grace is invincible
in many regards because no sinner is too big for Christ to save. Paul said he's already saved
the chief of sinners, did so when he saved me. So when he
saved the chief of sinners, he saved the biggest one. If he
saved the biggest one, he can save you. His grace is invincible. His
grace also is invincible because there is no sinner too bad for
him to save. You hear people say, I'm just
too bad for Christ to save. Are you? You're bad only in your
own eyes and you're not really all that bad after all. His grace
is invincible. Paul describes some folks who
will never inherit God's kingdom. Here's what he says. He gives
a catalog. People who will not enter God's
kingdom cannot inherit it are fornicators, idolaters, adulterers,
homosexuals, sodomites, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers,
and extortioners. None of them will inherit the
kingdom of God. Now, so guess what he then says
next. Let me tell you what he then
said next. He said, such were some of you. Everything you just described. He nailed me. And he says, that's the kind
of people I save. Nobody too bad for him to save.
The dregs of society. I don't care, folks. This grace
is invincible. There are riches of grace that
you will never fathom. He even saved that blasphemous
and insolent and murderous and Christ-hating chief of sinners
named Saul of Tarsus. This grace is invincible. No
sinner is too far away for Christ to save. I don't care where you
are. Sitting in a church pew, and that may be just about one
of the furthest places you can be from Christ in most churches. You may be sitting in a church
pew, lying in the deepest hell hole and languishing at the end
of the earth. But I tell you this, if you call
to Christ, he's coming because nobody's too far away. His grace
is invincible. Furthermore, his grace is eternal.
Everyone saved by Christ is eternally secure because he has that much
grace. The unsearchable riches of his
grace. No saint can be taken from him. He says, I give them eternal
life. What is eternal life? It's eternal life. Does eternal
life end? Can't. It's eternal. I give them
eternal life means they'll never die. They'll never perish. Neither
shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. I say to you that
if you're in Christ's hands, hell and the devil and all his
minions and all the world itself cannot pry back one knuckle to
take you out. Never. because of the unsearchable
riches of his grace. Furthermore, no saint can be
cast from Christ. He says that the one who comes
to me, I will by no means cast out. Notice by no means cast
out. You will know what that means.
That means by no means. as anyone in Christ ever cast
out. Look at that man. He is drunk and naked and lying there in
a stupor in one of the most deplorable conditions a man ever was. You
want to know who that is? That man just built an ark and
saved his family when God destroyed the world with the flood, got
out of the ark and made a sacrifice to God, and then got drunk. Well, he'd get cast out from
most people, but Christ said, no, I'm not casting you out. Does that condone what he did?
Absolutely not. I'm just telling you, Christ
did not cast him away. Here's Moses. Oh, you talk about
a man of patience. These people complained and murmured
every step of the way, never satisfied. And they blamed Moses
for everything. They came to him one day and
said, we don't have water, Moses. What'd you do? Bring us out here
to kill us? We don't have water. Moses fell
prostrate before the Lord with Aaron and the Lord said, Moses,
go out there and there's a rock and I want you to speak to the
rock. Take your rod and speak to the
rock and they'll have water. Moses, he's having a tizzy. I mean, this has been going on
now for so long. He walks out of God's presence,
takes his rod in his hand, he says, must I always give you
water? And hit that rock. And when he
did, he hit Christ. Christ was that rock that followed
him. Christ is the rock that gives
the water of life. He smoked Christ. And the Lord
said, you're not going to Canaan But I'm not casting you out of
my hand. By no means will he be cast out. Does that condone
what Moses did? Absolutely not. I'm glad the
Lord doesn't cast me out every time I have a tizzy or a fit. Here's another man. He's walking
along. the wall of this castle. He should
be out at battle, because that's where his army is. The king's
supposed to lead the army, but he's taking it easy, walking
around, cool of the evening. What is that? That woman is beautiful. Go get
her. Bring her to me. He's the king. She's brought. The king commits
adultery with her. then murders her husband. Well,
that'll get him cast out of most people's society. But Christ
said, no, by no means will he be cast out. Is that justified,
condoned? Absolutely not. Read Psalm 51. No. But all I'm saying to you
is, he wasn't cast out. Here's Peter, stalwart, brave
fisherman. Lord says, you disciples are
going to deny me. They may, but I never will. Peter,
before the cock crows thrice, you will. You'll deny me thrice
before the cock crows. Not me, not me. So they come
for the Lord and the Lord's disciples flee. It appears that maybe John
stayed by our Lord. Peter stayed off in the distance
and was warming his hands at the devil's fire while his Lord's
on trial in there. Somebody says, aren't you one
of his? One of his? Nope, not me. You walk with Jesus? No, not
me, not me. I know you walk with Jesus. You're
one of his. Uh-uh, not me, not me. and the
rooster crows, and Jesus turned around and looked
at him. What a look that must have been.
Looked at him. Peter, I know what you just did,
but I'm not casting you out. Now, do you see the point I'm
making? You better hope, oh sinner, oh
believing saint, you better hope there's enough grace to keep
you. I hope there's enough to keep me. I'm convinced there
is because you see the kind of grace that has been exercised
of the Lord's people. I will never cast you out, never. Oh, the unsearchable riches of
that grace. This grace is inexhaustible. This grace has been given to
sinners from the dawn of creation. These unsearchable riches of
Christ have been preached from the dawn of creation ever since
God Himself preached them in the Garden of Eden in Genesis
chapter 3. God preached the unsearchable
riches of Christ opened the subject up and we've been developing
it ever since and have not exhausted it yet. And Christ has been dispensing
His grace from the dawn of creation. He already has saved a multitude
that no man can number. And yet I tell you there's still
grace left for you if you need it. If you need it. It's not exhausted. This grace
is unsearchable in its riches. And I tell you, you come to Christ
and you'll find enough grace sober abounding for your sin. Hurriedly now, fifth, the unsearchable
riches of Christ blood. His blood saved, redeemed, ransomed,
justified, sanctified, healed, and reconciled to God every sinner
for whom it was shed. And absolutely no one for whom
this blood was shed will ever perish. Why? The unsearchable
riches of his blood. There are the unsearchable riches
of Christ's righteousness. And His righteousness is the
only righteousness that perfectly and completely satisfies God's
law. And He has imputed that righteousness
to every believer from the dawn of creation. And He still has
righteousness left for you, if you'll have it. The unsearchable riches of His
holiness His holiness is the only holiness that is accepted
in God's presence, and he has imparted his holiness. He has imparted his divine nature
to believers from the dawn of creation, and there's still enough
for you. If you'll have it, O sinner,
there's still enough for you. Unsearchable riches. No one who ever received Christ's
righteousness ever became unrighteous. No one who ever received his
holiness ever became unholy because of the unsearchable riches of
Christ. And I could go on and on and
on. As I said, I cannot comprehend
this subject. I cannot fully give it to you.
I cannot enumerate all these riches because they are unsearchable. I cannot fully explain even one
of them because they are unsearchable. But I'll tell you this. You want a God who can save?
This one I preach is unsearchable in his deity. You want a God who's strong enough
and has the ability to save? This one is unsearchable in his
sovereignty and omnipotence. You want a God, a Christ, whose
grace is invincible, can save the worst? Here he is, the unsearchable
riches of Christ. I will preach this subject, if
God be my help, until the day I die. And then, when I get to
glory, maybe I'll understand it. Maybe he will reveal these
unsearchable riches of Christ, when I know as I am known. But
till then, Oh, my friend, come to Christ or call him. He'll come to you and doubt not
because of these unsearchable riches of Christ. Come to him.