We are going to be in the book of Ephesians chapter three this morning, if you would like to turn. Ephesians chapter three. Today, our subject is a simple subject. And like everything else that pertains to the gospel, though, it's impossible to learn with the natural mind, it's impossible to understand with ears of flesh and eyes of flesh. It's impossible to come to a knowledge of based upon what we do, reading the Bible, coming to church, all those things. But it's a simple topic. The topic is the revelation of Jesus Christ. That's our title, the revelation of Jesus Christ. And I have four questions for us. What is the revelation of Jesus Christ? How is it manifested? Who is this revelation revealed to? And who gets all the glory? And my prayer this morning is the same prayer we pray every time we gather together. If there be one who the Lord has not revealed himself to, that's in this building, that today would be the day. That's our hope. That's our hope.

So let's read our text here. Hebrews, I'm sorry, Ephesians. I say Hebrews, I said Ephesians, isn't it? Ephesians chapter three. One through four. For this cause I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, if I have heard of the dispensation of grace of God which is given me to you, 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.

The second hour, we're gonna be looking at the mystery. the mystery of the gospel. This hour is the revelation of Jesus Christ. As he said, the verse three, how that by revelation, he made known unto me the mystery.

Well, what is the revelation of Jesus Christ? That may seem like a simple question, but a lot of answers that come from that question are very off base and far, far away from the truth. They're manmade. If you ask one person what the revelation of Jesus Christ is, they might tell you one thing. You ask somebody else what it means, they might tell you another thing.

But I want to answer that question, what is the revelation of Jesus Christ? It's not a physical vision. People talk oftentimes about, I don't know if you've ever heard somebody, but they say, I actually had a vision. I've actually saw this, or I've actually saw that. And to that, I would say that that's contrary to scripture regarding God. regarding his angels, regarding spiritual entities.

The Lord does not reveal himself or manifest himself in the flesh where we see him with these eyes anymore. That was during the apostolic age. And to be an apostle, the apostolic age, there were apostles. Paul was the last apostle. He said, last he was seen of me. To be an apostle, you had to physically see the Lord Jesus Christ in the flesh 2000 years ago when he walked upon the earth over 2000 years ago. None of us can say that. Nobody alive can say that.

So there's no apostles in that regard. They don't have the gifts of the apostles. The apostles are able to heal people. And you have people going around, they're saying, I have the gift of healing. No, they don't. That ended with the apostles. You have the people saying, I can give sight to the blind. No, you can't. That ended with the apostles. All these things were gifts to the apostles.

Why am I making this an issue? Because the revelation of Jesus Christ is not something that manifests itself in the flesh where you see it, with these eyes. The revelation of Jesus Christ is something that manifests itself by faith alone. And it's by grace alone. Faith doesn't come from me. It comes from the Lord. He must bestow it. And the grace of God is why or the cause and how he bestows it.

The Lord does not manifest himself for our natural eyes, ascended with the apostles. And the only reason that they could do what they did was to prove who they were as apostles. We've been sent of God, okay, prove it. And they did in that sense of their works. But that's all gone now.

Another truth is the revelation of Jesus Christ is not just an emotional experience. A lot of people say, I know that I've had the revelation of Jesus Christ because I felt this, I experienced this, I did this and this happened. Now, whenever the Lord reveals himself to you, or the Lord reveals himself to me, there may be some emotion involved. Whenever you find that the sin that you are has been taken and nailed to the cross, that God no longer views you as a sinner, but the righteousness of God in Christ, there's gonna be some emotion involved in that. There's a peace that overtakes you if you're his that you can't describe. Scripture calls it the peace that surpasses all understanding.

But it's not about emotion. Emotion is the byproduct It's not the cause. And a lot of men believe that if they do something, if they pray a certain prayer and they experience this emotion, they call repentance as in contrition. They call repentance as in remorse unto contrition, rather than it being a changed mind. And they have a little several things backwards there. But you and I know the truth. Repentance is the gift of God. We have a changed mind about who he is and about what we are. And faith is how we believe the Lord Jesus Christ as God.

And so the revelation of Christ is all, well, it's just that. It's the revelation of Jesus Christ. It reveals who he is and what he has done in the salvation of his people. It reveals he is sovereign in all things. It reveals that he's not only Jesus that people talk about. We're coming up on Christmas time and everybody's Got nativity scenes out and you go to the stores and all these things, the graven images, whatever else. And they're all talking about baby Jesus and they celebrate the birth of Jesus. I've even seen a sign already in somebody's yard that says, happy birthday, Jesus. I'm like, that's so carnal.

And so, uh, first of all, we don't know when the Lord was born. Cause if we did guess what we would do, we would worship the day, wouldn't we? And that's exactly what men are doing. Uh, and I'm not preaching on Christmas this morning. And so we see him and we repent. God gives us repentance. It completely changed our mind about who He is, who we are, and then He gives faith to believe Him. And we'll be like Isaiah, we'll say, Lord, I'm the man of unclean lips, woe is me, I'm undone. We'll be like Job, we'll say, Lord, I'm vile, I'm vile, I'm the wretch, I'm a sinner. And the Lord draws the confession, what we are, and then draws the mercy of Jesus Christ to us.

So, what is the revelation of Jesus Christ? Well, Paul sessions 1-11 through a certain witch which to man there was a talk of Christ. Men push acts to search this. We will. They keep coming, but we're going to stop loving. I mean, I can't do anything to change that. Give me the four. I'm saying, tell me that. That's what we want to hear. And that. Entree, you can't see that, but you can see it in the right mind by the confession that they have. That's why we talk about how important it is because it comes to the brethren before the Lord. And we continue to confess that even after baptism or the Lord's table, we confess it to one another in our conversations.

Brethren, the revelation of Jesus Christ is not the revelation of man, nor is it by the will of man, but by God. It is the revelation of Jesus Christ by Jesus Christ. If you go to Revelation chapter one, and so many have read that book, and even today it's talked about often in churches, they'll have different programs, different studies and whatever. But it literally starts out by saying the revelation of Jesus Christ that John saw. The revelation of Jesus Christ. Revelation's all about Christ. It's about his sovereignty, his work, his triumph over sin, his victory unto salvation. It's all about him. And that's what this whole book is about.

He said, search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life, but they are they which speak of me. The revelation of Jesus Christ reveals that Christ is all. Christ is all in salvation. Christ is all in this book. There's not a place in here that is not glorifying him, pointing to him, revealing him to his people by his spirit, according to his will. Revelation of Jesus Christ is the revelation of who Christ is and what he accomplished in the salvation of his people.

Romans 16.25 says, now to him that is of power establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret since the world began. The Lord has to be the one to reveal it. The word, the word reveal actually comes from a Latin word and you guys know I don't talk about long words very often just because I'm not trying to look smart. I'm just trying to tell you as simple and plain as I can, but I thought this was fascinating. The word revelation comes from the Latin word, and I'm gonna butcher this. I don't know how to speak Latin, so forgive me, but revelatio, revelatio. You know what that means? Disclosure or unveiling, unveiling.

Now I'm reminded that in the temple, there was a veil that separated the holiest from the holiest of holies, and you and I could get nowhere near that. If we did, the Lord would strike us dead. I'm also reminded that on the cross of Calvary, when the Lord died, the scripture says the veil was written in twain from top to bottom, signifying we can come boldly now to the throne of grace by grace alone, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in the time of need. What is my point? This was the unveiling. It all revolves around the revelation of Christ. He unveils something. What does he unveil? He reveals his truth about how he saved his people from their sin. It's not revealing truth about how he's gonna try to do something. It's not revealing truth about an attempt or a hope or a maybe or a what if. It's a revelation of the successful redemption of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. He unveils it. Do you know what that means? We can't see it. You and I can't see it. It's a, called it a mystery. We'll talk about that next hour. He called it a mystery. Now it's veiled. How are we gonna unveil the face of God in this book? How could we do that? We can't do that. Lord, teach us. Teach me, oh Lord, the way of thy statutes. That's what David said in Psalm 119, verse 33. Revelation of Jesus Christ is the revelation that Christ is God. By him, all things were made, John chapter one. And without him, there was nothing made that was made.

It's a revelation that he isn't just part of salvation as so many men preach it. He's a key focal point. He's a key object in salvation. The blood's a key point, but there's also this and this. He is salvation. Lord Jesus Christ is God's salvation. Plus nothing, minus nothing. He is. I've got to have him, and I have to have his revelation.

It's God revealing that he's sovereign in election, that he's sovereign in redemption, he's sovereign in sanctification and justification and righteousness and in holiness and everything that he accomplished on the cross of Calvary for his people. It's the revelation that God is successful as God in doing exactly what God chose to do. He chose to save his people and he did. That's what the revelation reveals.

It also is a revelation that if he doesn't do all the saving, and you know, this is, this is true. I mean, you know, this is true. If he doesn't do all the saving, I won't be saved. I can't be. There's nothing I can do to deserve it. There's nothing I can do to merit it or earn it. There's nothing I can do to gain favor with God. He's got to do all the saving. I can't save myself.

And that's the good news of the gospel, that it also reveals that he did save his people from their sin, according to his own will, by his precious blood, all by his sacrifice, all freely by his grace. He is now seated as prophet, priest, and king.

No wonder Peter declared this in 1 Peter 1 13, wherefore gird up thy loins, the loins of your mind, be sober and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. The hope. of the grace that's brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

So what happens when the Lord reveals himself? The Lord Jesus Christ reveals himself. He gives us hope in his grace unto salvation. Hope for the end. We have reason to hope at the end of our life. That may be today. We don't know. We have hope in the grace of God, in the mercy of God, because of the revelation of Jesus Christ. Because we've seen him as high and lifted up. We've seen him as righteous and holy and just. And we see him as the perfect substitute surety of his people. And we bow to that. And we say, Lord, if you didn't die for me, I have no hope. You have to be the one to save me. I can't save myself. And he said, call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sin. He did just that, didn't he? He did just that.

Secondly, how is the revelation of Jesus Christ manifest or how is God chosen to reveal his truth? How is it manifest or how has God chosen to reveal his truth? I think I've said enough already that we don't choose. for the manifestation of the revelation. We don't choose for the revelation of Jesus Christ, meaning I can't choose to cause Jesus Christ to appear. That's what I'm saying. It doesn't work that way.

Paul said this, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. How does the Lord make manifest his revelation? How does he reveal Christ? through the preaching of the gospel. Scripture calls it foolishness. It's foolishness to those that are educated, and it's a stumbling block to those who are religious. But to us, it's life, eternal life. It's our only hope. He saves us by the foolishness of preaching by his grace. And I quote this verse often, but for by grace are you saved through faith, in that not of yourself, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.

It's not up to me, and it's not up to you for the Lord to reveal himself. That is his choice, his will, his power, his authority. I can't make him do anything, and I can't prevent him from doing anything. If he doesn't reveal himself, I'm gonna remain lost and doomed. Thank God he chose to give his people the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 1.17, well, I'll say this first. The Lord reveals the Lord Jesus Christ, sends his spirit and power, calls us a dead soul to live, gives us repentance and faith. And it enables us to see the Lord Jesus Christ. And we see him not only just as Lord and Savior, but we see him as all wisdom, all our righteousness, all our sanctification, all our redemption. Paul said in Ephesians 1, 17, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of glory may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him.

So when we see him, we see everything God requires in salvation wrapped up in one entity, the Lord Jesus Christ. And we say, I've got to have him. I've got to have him. Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And they kept hushing blind Bartimaeus, didn't they? But he, he desired to see the Lord. He desired to see the Lord. He knew the Lord was the only one that could let him see. And he did just that.

This revelation is the gift of God into salvation revealing I'm a dead dog sinner. I need a savior. But it also, and I love the fact that God just doesn't leave us. I want to say it this way. When the Lord reveals our sin, truly reveals our sin, shows us what we are, not what we do. People always think, well, I've sinned today because I did this or I've sinned today because I did that. No, we sin because we are human beings that are sinners by nature. That's our nature to sin.

When the Lord shows us that, and we look at ourself, and we begin to loathe ourself, we're thinking, man, in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. The Lord doesn't let us stay in that state of agony, if you want to put it that way, and constant sorrow, and I'm undone, I'm broken. There's nothing I can do to fix it. Yeah, that's true. But He doesn't leave us there. If He puts you there, He's going to give you the revelation of Jesus Christ. You're going to see Christ as the Savior and you're going to run to Him with the legs that He gave you to do so. That's exactly how He does it.

He reveals our sin and He reveals the Savior at the same time. So it's almost like we're taken and we see we're dangled over hail, if you want to put it that way. This is what you deserve, but this is what you're getting. And He gives us Christ instead. Isn't that glorious? That's a mystery. That's a mystery. This is what you deserve, but because of what he did, you don't deserve that anymore. He took your punishment.

This revelation is manifest by God's choice, by God's purpose, by God's power, and by God's will. Not by my choice, my purpose, my power. I have no power. It's not by my will. It's all by him. It's all by his grace. Galatians 115 says, but when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by His grace to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the heathen. Immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood." Why? Because he was made to seek Christ alone. He was made to seek Christ. He didn't go up to somebody and confer with a man. That brings us to our next point. To whom is this revelation revealed to? It's the Lord's people, isn't it? This Lord didn't reveal. Some people think it's revealed to everybody. But when the Lord revealed Himself to Paul, Paul, He didn't confer with flesh and blood. It can't be revealed by a man. That was the whole point there. It had to be revealed by God. So if it's revealed by God, who's it revealed to? It's revealed unto the Lord's chosen people.

We have a scripture of how the Lord chose to save some people and to the others he left them, left them to themselves. And somebody says, well, that doesn't seem fair. Actually, if you Lord enables you to see your sin, truly, you would see that it kind of feels unfair that he would save you and save me, that he would execute his son on the cross of Calvary in order to do so. That seems In the common sense, if I could say humanitarian sense, it seems unfair because I don't deserve that. And yet it's not based upon me. And it's not based upon you. It's based upon the Lord Jesus Christ. So it was just because the Lord did it. It was just because the Lord hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all. And so fairness has nothing to do with it. It's about God being sovereign and holy and God extending his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

It's his choice to save. He could have just made the world and not saved anybody. That would have been, I mean, he would've got the glory for that too. He didn't have to, nobody, I couldn't have made him do anything else. None of us could have, but he chose to save some people. That's glorious. This is what the revelation of Christ reveals is that he's sovereign in salvation, that whom he died for, they're saved. They might not know it yet, but the Lord's going to let them know in time. He reveals himself in time. It's interesting because the verse I just read to you talks about that. Galatians 1, but when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace to reveal his son in me. He's like, he's saying, okay, I was already his, but he revealed this. I didn't know it. He had that shroud. He had that hidden. He had that veiled and he had to take it away and show me it's Christ in you, the hope of glory. That's it. That's what he's talking about there. He called me by his grace and revealed Christ into me.

Some say that God reveals Jesus Christ to everyone, then you must choose him or reject him. And I could say that that's not true. Scripture says you must be born again. Being born again is not a decision. We didn't have any part to do with our first birth and everyone here, I mean, there's things you can do, I guess, to schedule having a child, but You can't pick the exact moment. A lot of things can happen, but the child definitely didn't have anything to do with it, choice-wise, nothing. It didn't contribute anything but pain. Is that not right? Discomfort, it was joy when it came out, but it was painful, it was sorrow. That's what the scripture talks about in Genesis 3 when the curse was given to Eve. But we didn't choose to be born. We didn't choose to be born. And in salvation, we can't choose to be born spiritually either, because we're spiritually dead. It's not possible. It's not possible. It's not a choice, but a divine work of God. Everyone he has chosen to reveal himself to in his appointed time, he reveals his son. He reveals that salvation is a choice. Yes, it's God's choice alone. It's God's choice. And he chose to have mercy on whom he will have mercy. And he says, whom I will, I'll harden. And what can we say unto the Lord? Is there unjustice with God? God forbid, he's just, he's right. And that's what the revelation of Christ reveals also is that he's right and I'm wrong. Everything I thought about God, everything I thought about me is wrong.

I'm born thinking I'm my own God. I'm born thinking that I deserve and I'm entitled. I'm born thinking this. I'm born thinking, Lord says, no, you deserve hell. That's what you deserve. And we say, truth, Lord, truth, Lord, have mercy on me, the sinner. And you know what he says? He that cometh to me, I'll in no wise cast out. You come to Christ begging him for mercy, he never casts away, never turned away one mercy beggar, not one.

The revelation of Christ reveals that he only reveals this truth of those who he saved on the cross of Calvary and those whom he calls to eternal life. We use that term saved now also. We don't use the term got saved. When did you get saved on the cross? We're going to use that terminology. That's where it's got to be. But in time, the Lord reveals himself. And in that revelation, that is the calling of the Lord. That is the salvation revealed of the Lord. And we use the term saved and that's perfectly fine. But really salvation, was finished on the cross for all the Lord's people. We're not waiting to be saved. The Lord's people's already been saved. That's glorious. That means I can't mess it up no matter what I do.

That doesn't encourage me to live frivolously. That just makes me wanna run to him even more. I don't have to fear death. I don't have to fear separation from God and judgment for my sin. If there's one sin that is in me, hell will be my eternal home. That's the scariest part. Lord, you're gonna have to do the work. I can't get rid of sin. How am I gonna get rid of sin? And then the Lord reveals, if I try everything I do, it's called iniquity. So I'm just doubling the load, making it worse. Can't fix it. So what's the hope that we have? The revelation of Jesus Christ, that he said it is finished. Salvation accomplished. He was successful. He was successful. He saved His people from their sin. That's a hope for me.

A gospel that tells me that it's up to chance and that I have to do this and I have to do this. Have I done enough at that point? Have I satisfied God's requirements at that point? I can't rest in that. But for the Lord Jesus Christ to stand before the judge of the earth as the sinner's substitute, as our surety, and He poured out His blood before God in making an offering for sin, the atonement for our sin. His soul being made an offering and the Lord said, satisfied. when the sword of justice had pierced the heart of the Lamb of God, whenever it all happened, and the Lord hung his, or bowed his head and said, it is finished, and gave up the ghost, and everyone that he died for was redeemed that very moment. I can rest in that. That means I don't have a choice in the matter, I say so, I get to give my opinion. And I think we all agree, we sit here, we say, why oh why would the Lord ever come to me. Why? Because of grace and mercy. Nothing in you and nothing in me. That's what we're doing whenever we start asking that question, why would the Lord come to me? It's because of grace alone and because of mercy alone.

And brings us to our last point, who gets all the glory? It's for his glory alone. It's for his glory alone. If I have nothing to do with it, if it's not based upon my will, If it's not based upon my works, if it's not based upon my choice, if it's not based upon my doing, my desire, my anything, who gets the glory for it? He does, because it was by his will that his people were made alive. It was by his choice that they were elected. It was by his purpose that they were saved. By his power, he wrought it. You and I didn't have any of these things. It's all by him, and he gets all the glory.

That's why Paul said in Galatians 6, but God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is what Christ accomplished on the cross. What did he accomplish? God forbid that I should glory in anything, but the successful redemption Christ wrought on the cross of Calvary.

Now in closing, I wanna read our text again, then we'll recap. Verse one, for this cause, Ephesians 3.1, For this cause I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, if you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you, how that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery.

Now notice he says that it's by revelation he made known. That reiterates everything we've said. He's the one that gives the revelation. As I wrote afore in a few words, whereby when you read you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. The revelation of Jesus Christ is just that. He reveals himself, who he is, what we are, and what he has accomplished in salvation for his people. This revelation is only manifest by his spirit. Nothing that we can do can make it happen. The Lord chooses to manifest it whenever he, according to his determinate counsel, whenever he purposed it in himself before the world ever began. It's only given to His chosen people, according to His will, all by grace, all by grace.

And lastly, He gets all the glory in it. He gets all the glory. If each uses to reveal Christ, you and I agree, He gets all the glory, because we didn't do anything to make the Lord manifest Himself.

But think about this, and I hope we can enter into this. We say things and we just kind of overlook them because we hear them and we become desensitized.