Let's open our Bibles now to
Ephesians, chapter 3. This is a special book, epistle
to the church at Ephesus. This church was special to the
apostle. Paul preached to this church for two years, and also it was to the elders
of Ephesus. that he preached his great farewell
message before he went to Rome, told them they'd never see his
face again. They wept much and fell upon
his neck. That's the message in Acts 20
when he talked about, I've kept back nothing profitable from
you. I've ceased not to warn you day and night with tears.
I'm not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. I've
coveted no man's silver or gold, and now I leave and I commend
you to God and to his word." Acts 20. You could almost turn
over there and go with that farewell message. It's so touching and
so outstanding. It was to the elders at Ephesus. Paul, a prisoner in Rome, never
again to preach to these people, writes them a letter. The Holy
Spirit dictated the epistle. Paul wrote it and sent it to
them. And he talks to them here in
chapter 3 about the preaching of the gospel of Christ. Preaching
of the gospel of Christ. The preaching, the preachers,
the pastors, those who are responsible for this awesome, wonderful task,
preaching the gospel. And there's some words in these
verses that just especially stand out, and when we find out the
meaning of those words, they're so revealing concerning this
subject. Let's look at the first verse.
Paul says in chapter 3, verse 1, I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus
Christ for you Gentiles, the prisoner of Jesus Christ. Now, servant of Jesus Christ,
yes. Sheep of Jesus Christ, yes. Believer in Jesus Christ, yes. Ambassador of Christ, called
himself, yes. But prisoner? prisoner of Jesus Christ, prisoner
of Jesus Christ. And he knew what he was saying
and it was a strong personal belief because he says it five
times in his epistles. Here, the prisoner of Jesus Christ. Across the page in verse 1 of
chapter 4, look. I therefore the prisoner of the
Lord. He knows what he's saying because he keeps repeating it.
And then over in 2 Timothy, let's look at it. Over in 2 Timothy,
chapter 1, verse 8, 2 Timothy 1.8, Be not thou therefore
ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner. And then in the book of Philemon,
he uses this phrase twice in this one little book of Philemon. He uses it first in verse 1,
Philemon verse 1, you have it, Paul a prisoner of Jesus Christ. And in verse 9, yet for love's
sake I would rather beseech you being such a one as Paul the
aged, I'm an old man, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ. Well, I'll tell you this. Here's
what he's saying. Being a servant and a son and
a believer and an ambassador of an almighty, sovereign father,
Paul was therefore where the father, not Nero or Caesar or
the Jewish leaders, but where his father intended him to be.
That's what he's saying. But I'm not a prisoner of the
Jews. They may think so. I'm not a
prisoner of Nero. He put me here, and he may think
so. But no matter where I am, it's where I'm supposed to be
at that time according to the will of my Father. Or I wouldn't
be there. That's what he said. Last Sunday night, I believe
it was, that Brother Todd Nybert preached here. And he talked
about what Pilate said to our Lord. Was that Brother Todd said,
don't you know I have the power to crucify you or let you go?
And our Lord replied. And in a sense, Pilate did have
that power, but who gave it to him? Pilate did have that option. He could, his voice could say
kill him and somebody would run him through right there. But
our Lord answered and said, You could have no authority over
me at all, except it were given you from my Father. That's what
he's saying here. And is this not true of all of
God's children? Well, if it's true of Paul, it's
true of me and of you. I've learned in whatsoever state
I am, Paul said, to be content, whether free or prisoner, because
That's where he would have me to be at that time, to accomplish
his purpose and will. And then he says here in this
verse, for this cause I call the prisoner of Jesus Christ,
for you Gentiles, it's a purpose being served. For your sake,
that's why I'm here. For your sake. For telling you
the truth. That's why I'm in prison. For
telling you the truth, that salvation is not in Christ, not in the
law, it's in Christ. That salvation is not in the
ceremonies and circumcision and Jewish tradition, salvation is
in Christ. That's what I've been telling
you and that's why I'm here. That message, that gospel landed
him in prison. For you Gentiles, telling you
the truth about the gospel. Now look at verse 2. Now if you've
heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given
me to you, for you, for your sake. You've heard of the dispensation. That word, the word dispensation
means a stewardship. A great man with a great amount
of property, land and treasures and cattle and horses and sheep
and oil and gas and He has certain men he puts over certain portions
of his holdings and of his empire. And that's called a steward,
a stewardship. That man is responsible for that
particular assignment. That's what dispensation means.
It's a stewardship. It's an assignment. It's a ministry.
And the Apostle Paul was an appointed servant in the Lord's house of
many servants. many vessels, many servants.
Paul was one of these servants, and he was appointed to be a
steward of a certain ministry. Turn to Acts 9, verse 15, and
here you see exactly what that ministry is. Our Lord was talking to Ananias,
a believer whom he sent to preach to Paul when Paul was arrested
on the road to Damascus when the Lord stopped him and revealed
himself to him, Paul went down to Damascus and the Lord sent
Ananias. And this is what Ananias said
to Paul. He said to the Lord here, the
Lord in verse 13. Then Ananias answered, Lord,
I have heard by many of this man, Saul of Tarsus, how much
evil he hath done to your saints at Jerusalem. And here, in Damascus,
he has authority from the chief priest to bind all that call
on your name. But the Lord said to him, go
your way. He, Paul, is a chosen vessel
unto me. To do what? To bear my name before
the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel. He has
a God-given assignment. A God-given assignment. which
he called a dispensation, a stewardship, a ministry. And he was determined
to be faithful to that ministry, to fulfill that ministry. Turn
to 2 Timothy with me for a moment, chapter 4, verse 5. And here
he was writing just before, just not too long before he was to
be martyred, and he knew this time was at hand. He talks about
this stewardship, this ministry, this assignment that the Lord
God gave him. He says here in 2 Timothy 4,
verse 6, For I am now ready to be offered. The time of my departure,
my death, is at hand. I fought a good fight. I have
finished my assignment. I have finished my course. I
have finished my ministry. I have fulfilled my ministry.
I've kept the faith. What's the primary requirement
of one of God's stewards? One way, faithful. It's required
of a steward that he be faithful. Committed to that ministry, and
you cannot overemphasize that word. In fact, our Lord said
to the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2, to the message to the church,
he said, Be thou faithful unto death, and I'll give you a crown
of life. Paul said, verse 2, you've heard
of the assignment, the stewardship, the ministry God gave me. unto which he call me." You've
heard of it. It's to you, which is given to
me to you Gentiles, to you. And I fulfilled it. I fulfilled it. For you Gentiles
to you, I fulfilled that ministry. I've been faithful. I believe
every one of God's true servants has been given a stewardship. The Lord hadn't particularly
called him, went all over his kingdom, straightened everybody
and everything out. He was giving him a ministry. Paul's ministry
was to the Gentiles, to Eward. And he said, I've been faithful.
I've been faithful. And to any minister, a potential
minister, a minister whom God would call, is listening to my
voice, I would say to him, God has for you an assignment. and a dispensation, be faithful. Regardless of how trying the
circumstances might be, nobody was tried or ran into more difficult
situations wherever he preached to the Gentiles than Paul. Stoned,
shipwrecked, put in prison, scourged, name it. Chased from city to
city, but still, my dispensation, my assignment, I'm going to fulfill
it. Verse 3, this preaching, how
that by revolution 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. Mystery. The scripture often uses this
word in reference to the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ,
a mystery. It also uses the word simplicity.
the simplicity of Christ. But I tell you, if you have eyes,
and God has revealed who he is and what he did, and you have
ears to hear his voice, it's simple. But if you have not eyes,
it's a mystery. If you have not ears to hear
or heart to understand, it will remain a mystery. He uses this
word frequently. Let's turn to some of the places,
a mystery. How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery,
the mystery of Christ. Turn to Ephesians 6, verse 19. 6, 19, mystery. He said pray for me, supplication,
prayers for all the saints, but especially for me. Pray for me,
verse 19, Ephesians 6. That utterance may be given unto
me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the the
gospel. Pray for me. As I stand here
to preach, as I go yonder to preach, Paul said, pray for me,
that God will give me utterance, unction, wisdom, power to preach,
that my word may go forth in the power of the Spirit, that
I may boldly make known, as God opens ears and eyes, the mystery. People are in darkness. We have
the light. Look at Ephesians 5, back one
page to Ephesians 5, verse 30. Listen, we are members of his
body, of his flesh, of his bones. We
are members of Christ, we are one with him. For this cause
shall a man leave his father and mother and be joined to his
wife, they too are one flesh. This is a great mystery. This
is a great mystery. But I speak concerning Christ
and his church. I'm talking about that mystery,
that mysterious living union between Christ and his church.
He prayed, I in them, thou in me, that they may be one in us. Christ and the church. Mystery.
1 Timothy 3, look over here. It's used frequently. 1 Timothy
3, verse 16. 1 Timothy 3.16. Without controversy, without
argument or debate, great is the mystery of godliness. Almighty,
eternal God was manifest in the flesh, justified, vindicated
in the spirit, seen of the angels, ministered to by angels, preached
to the Gentiles. believed on. Actually, there
are people, by God's grace, who believe on him. Received up into
glory. Mystery of mystery. And then
Colossians 1. Go back to Colossians 1. This
word is used so frequently. Colossians 1, verse 25. Colossians 1, verse 25. Paul
says, Well, I made a minister according to the dispensation
of God. Assignment. ministry which is
given to me for you to fully preach the word of God
to you. That's my assignment. Even the
mystery which has been hid from ages and generations now is made
manifest to whom? To his Saints. To whom God would
make known. God has to do it. We can use
all of the clever means and manners and methods we want to. But those
ears are going to stay closed and those eyes shut and that
heart hired till God reveals the mystery. It's like, you know,
you know the answer to a riddle. You have a friend, you give him
the riddle. He's just as smart as you are, maybe more so. But
you just love to see if he's got his head in And you just
look to him and say, I give up. I give up. Oh, it's so easy. Yeah, you know the answer. I
give up. But oh, he said to whom God would
make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery
among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you. That's the hope
of glory. Very simple to me now. Fair play. I see. The Son of God had come
and given me an understanding that I might know him, the truly
living God, and his Son, Jesus Christ. This is eternal life! This is the true God, and I know
the answer!" But he revealed it. Look back
at the text, Ephesians 3, verse 3, how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery.
Paul labored in religious darkness for 40 years. In fact, he was
a Bible authority, a teacher of
the form and ceremony of religion, but he didn't know Christ. And
it says in Galatians 1, listen, he tells about it here in Galatians
1 in verse 13. You heard, Galatians 1.30, you
heard of my conversation, my citizenship, my behavior in time
past in the Jewish religion. How that beyond measure I persecuted
the church of God, I wasted it, I profited in the Jewish religion
above many of my equals. I knew more than all those fellows. Being more exceedingly zealous
of the traditions of my father. Oh boy, but when it pleased God.
in due time, in the fullness of time, when he pleased God,
who separated me from my mother's womb. He knew me before I knew
him. He chose me before I chose him.
He saw me before I saw him. He separated me from my mother's
womb. He sanctified, the word separate means sanctify. He separated
me from my mother's womb. He called me by his grace, verse
16. And he revealed his Son, revelation,
he revealed his Son to me, yes sir, but in me. That's what you
read. I'll give you, I'll put in you
a new heart, a new nature. He revealed. When did Paul learn
the gospel? When was the mysteries of Christ's
incarnation and redemption and sacrifice, when did it become
clear to him when it pleased God? when God was pleased to reveal
Christ to him. That's when. I wanted to illustrate
that. You know, God said to Ananias,
now you go down and preach to Paul. Ananias said, I've heard
about that fellow. He said, now you go, he's a chosen
vessel to me. You go preach to him. He's going
to hear you. I looked over in Acts chapter 8. I want you to
turn over there a minute for the illustration. And when I
read this, I want you to find four vital things in the conversion
of this center, four vital things, four vital presence, the presence
of four people or four things, three people and a thing. And
that thing is a person, too. Let's say so, four persons. All
right, I'm going to read it, and you just in your mind, when
I come to those four persons, you underscore it. And he arose
and went, and behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority
under Candacy, queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her scriptures,
her treasures, had come to Jerusalem for the worship. That's one right
there. He was returning and sitting
in his chariot, reading Isaiah the prophet, the word of God.
Then the Spirit said to Philip, you go, join yourself to that
chariot. And Philip ran thither to him,
and heard him read the prophet Isaiah, and said, Understandeth
what thou readest? Who are the four? There were
four present when you were saved. There was the sinner. There was
the Word of God. A while ago I said a thing, that's
not, Christ is the Word. You can't separate the incarnate
and the written word. The Word of God, the Holy Spirit,
and the preacher. The man God sent with the message.
Isn't that right? And I know God's able. I don't
limit Almighty God. I know who's in charge. I know
who's on the throne. But according to his purpose
and his way, this is the way he saves sinners. He said he's
chosen by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. He said, Whoso shall call on
the name of the Lord shall be saved. But how shall they call
on him in whom they've not believed? And how are they going to believe
in him of whom they've not heard? And how are they going to hear without
a preacher? And that's what Paul says here in this text. He said,
God sent me to preach to you. And when the eunuch was saved,
there was the eunuch, the sinner, blind, lost, ignorant, wandering
in darkness. But there was a word of God in
his hands, the word of God. And the Holy Spirit empowered
the preacher and the sinner. The Holy Spirit gave wisdom and
the message to the preacher and understanding quickened the heart
of the hearer. And there you have the sinner
the way of God, the Holy Spirit, and the one God sends to preach
the gospel. That's it. Back to our text in
Ephesians 3. Ephesians 3, verse 5 now. Verse 3 says, "...by
revelation he made known unto me the mystery," and he does
the same thing for you and me. 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. This mystery of Christ, our Lord,
his incarnation, his righteous, obedient life, his sufferings,
his sorrow, he said, all ye that pass by any sorrow like myself,
his death, his cross, his shame, his burial, his resurrection,
These things were not made known to the Old Testament folks as
it is now revealed unto Paul, the apostles, and to you and
me. These things were hidden, in
a sense, in the pictures. They were there. Just like I
can preach the gospel of Christ clearly and plainly from Old
Testament pictures and types because Christ has come. But
they had the types and the pictures before Christ came. So this mystery wasn't made known
to them like it has been to us. Oh, thank God. As it's now revealed. And verse 6 says especially that
the Gentiles should be fellow heirs. That's you and me. Gentiles. What have we heathen doing in
this picture? That's a mystery. Look across the page, back to
Ephesians 2. Here we are, Ephesians 2, verse
11, "...wherefore remember that being in time past Gentiles in
the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision
in the flesh made by hands, at that time ye were without Christ,
being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the
covenants of promise, having no hope without God in this world."
And Paul says that's one of the great things that was hid from
those back yonder, those Jews, that the Gentiles should be fellow
heirs with them in Christ. The Apostle Peter had a time
with that. Lots of them did. That the Gentiles should be fellow
heirs, listen, of the same body. The Gentiles were permitted,
they had a Gentile porch, I believe, in the temple. They were allowed,
weren't they, Cecil, to come around and sort of look through
the slats, you know, at the Jews going through their worship and
rituals. But to be fellow heirs of the same body, partakers of
all the promises in Christ for the gospel, what a mystery. And that wasn't known back then
like it's known now. We take it for granted, too much
so. Well, verse 7, let me move quickly. Well, I was made a minister.
I was made a minister. How do you make a minister? I believe there's a sense in
which, let me get myself together, I believe there's a sense in
which Everybody who's saved is in the
ministry. Everyone who's saved, who knows
the Lord, is involved in the ministry of the Word of God.
The different gifts, you know, you've read that in the scriptures. But God has his pastors and preachers
and men who are put by God into this particular stewardship.
And it's God who does it. It's God who does it. I was made
a minister. Turn to 1 Timothy 1.12. See if
we can get some light here. 1 Timothy 1.12. And I thank God, thank Christ
Jesus our Lord, who has enabled me. He carried me faithful, putting
me in the ministry. He put me, put me in the ministry,
literally actually put me in this stewardship, this responsibility,
this place. Now back to Ephesians 4. And this is a special thing here. Now watch this. Ephesians 4. Verse 10 says in Ephesians 4,
He that descended It's the same also that ascended up, above
all heavens, that he might fulfill all things. That's Christ. And
he gave some, not all, some apostles. He gave some, not all, some prophets. He gave some, not all, some,
not all believers, but some evangelists. That's missionaries, traveling
evangelist missionaries. And he gave some, not all. the
office, the stewardship, the responsibility, the assignment
of pastors and teachers. That's the same person. He's
a pastor and a teacher. And God does that. God put me
in the ministry. That's what he said. I was made. I was shaped and formed and made
by God a ministry. Now, the ministry, like any other
believer, has natural abilities, he has a mind. Everybody here
has a mind. Sometimes a lot better mind than
the minister. A voice, there are people whose
voices are pleasant, easy to listen to. God gives them a voice
for other vocations, other responsibilities. But they can speak. But everybody
who can speak is not a minister. Everybody who has a mind is not
a minister. God gives natural abilities to read. We have some fellows here that
I just love to sit there and listen to them read. Heed the word of
God. It just thrills my soul to hear them read. Pray. Write. There are fellows that
can write articles. That doesn't make them a minister.
These are natural and spiritual gifts. But the gifts of the ministry,
this apostle prophecy. And don't let anybody ever talk
you out of this, what I'm teaching here. Some people in England
got the idea, we don't need to preach anymore, let's sit around
a table and discuss it. After all, everybody's a believer,
everybody's got his opinion, and everybody can have his input
and share, they call it. One man, one preacher, wrote
an article on preaching as obsolete. even referred to me when Mahan
had gone out of the picture and he referred to Bill Clark, preaching
will be obsolete. Don't you let anybody tell you
that. God's chosen by the foolishness of preaching to save them. My
Lord was a preacher. But I'm saying when God puts
a man in the ministry, he has to have natural ability, mind,
voice, ability to read, write. But these gifts of grace Number
one, to interpret scripture, to interpret scripture. Secondly, to present the gospel
of Christ in power, accompanied by the Spirit of God, not just
in doctrine, not just in form and fact, but power, to lead
the Church with wisdom and discernment, the ability to understand dangers
and the ability to see through hypocrisy and to discern evil
forces and opposition. It's like the captain of a ship,
like the king of a country who who has that knowledge and that
discernment and that ability to sense those things which are
detrimental and dangerous to the body, to discern the will
of God for the body, to discern the way of God, to whom God reveals. God doesn't reveal things to
committees. Go through the scripture now. God said to Moses, God said
to David, God said to Isaiah, God said to this one, God said
to that, but he didn't say it to a committee. The Israelites
appointed a committee of twelve and they stayed out of the promised
land. But that person, that man whom God puts in the ministry,
he has the ability to discern the will of God, the way of God,
in order to lead the Church and to take the oversight of the
Church. That's clear all the way over
which God has made you an overseer. And men are elected to that place,
they are appointed by God. God put me in the ministry of
Paul. He made me a minister. And fifthly,
to actually speak, Paul said, as an ambassador to Christ, as
though God did beseech you by us." That's more than natural talent,
which many have, which all of God's children have. That's more
than inward grace, which all of God's children have. That's
inward grace, but it's more than that. than the knowledge of the
doctrine, which every one of God's people have. They all know
Christ. They all know who he is, what
he did, why he did it, and where he is now. They can tell you
about it. But that doesn't make them a pastor or a preacher. God does. Is this still true
today, that he appoints pastors and teachers? Well, if it's not,
we're in trouble. If we're left to the hands of
what a committee thinks, or what a bunch of people around a table,
it's like King Arthur said of the round table. All the knights
were around the round table. He said, and gentlemen, you know
what this round table signifies? It signifies equality. But he
said, always remember, there's some of us more equal than the
others. But that's just true as a leader. Isn't that right? And God does it. I was made a
minister. Let's look over at Acts 13. Don't you remember when this
church was meeting together in Acts 13? And these illustrious
names that was in the church at Antioch, certain prophets
and teachers as Barnabas and Simeon and Lucius and all the rest of them, and
they ministered to the Lord, verse 2, Acts 13, verse 2, and
fasted, and the Holy Ghost said, Separate me, Barnabas and Saul,
for the work whereinto I called them." Special stewardship. Special. All right, let's look
at verse 8 now, and I'm going to let you go. You say, well,
this type of thing certainly would beget pride. Oh, never. Never. This begets humility more
than pride. Oh, when it's of God. A man takes
it on himself, he's in danger of pride. But when a man, when
God's pleased to reveal Christ to him, God reveals himself to
him. To who? And himself. to whom he's speaking. When Isaiah saw the Lord, he
saw himself. He said, woe is me. And Paul
says in verse 8, unto me, unto me, who am less than the least
of all the saints, but round up God's people everywhere of
every nation, tongue, tribe, and kindred, every one of them,
and find me. I'm less than the least of every
one of them. That's what this revelation will
do. It'll put you down in the dust, won't it? Who am I? Unto me is this grace given,
that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches,
that I should be singled out for this task, this search of
God's helpers. Isn't that something? I who am
the less than the least, I who am the chief of sinners, I who
am not worthy to be an apostle, I who persecuted the church of
God, that I should preach the unsearchable, unexplainable,
indefatigable riches of Christ Jesus. And listen, and to make all men
of all nations see? God is going to use me to help
them to see what is the fellowship of the mystery? which from the
beginning of the world has been hid in God, who created all things in Christ,
and to the intent that now, I'm part of this, that unto the principalities
and powers in heavenly places, might be known, made known, might
be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God. God's going to
reveal through us, listen, through the church, God is going to reveal through
the Church his power, his manifold wisdom, his grace, his riches
in Christ to the angels and to the principalities and
powers in the heavenly places. Paul said, isn't this something?
Let me read you a verse that will help you to understand what
I'm fixing to say. Chapter 1, this will help you
understand what I'm going to say in just a moment. 1 Peter
1, verse 11, verse 9, let's read verse 1. 1 Peter 1, 9. Receiving the end
of your faith, even the salvation of your souls, of which salvation
their prophets have inquired and searched diligently. See,
they didn't know it like it's been revealed to us. who prophesied
of the grace that should come to you. They searched what manner
of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify,
when he testified beforehand, before the cross, before Bethlehem,
the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow,
unto whom it was revealed to those prophets and Old Testament
saints, that not to themselves, but unto us they did minister
the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached
the gospel unto you, with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven,
which things the angels desire to look into. Back here at verse 10 of our
text, Ephesians 3. To the intent that now unto the
angels, the principalities, the powers in heavenly places might
be known through the Church, by the redemption of the Church,
by the testimony of the Church, the manifold wisdom of God. Isn't that something? God uses us, whom he had called and saved
and redeemed and lifted from the pit and washed in the blood
of Christ and seated with Christ, he uses us to show to the whole
universe his grace, his love, his mercy. to sinners. And you see that back here in
Ephesians 2, verse 4. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead in sin, hath quickened us together with Christ by gracious
aid, and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly
places in Christ, that in the ages to come he might show to
whom to the whole universe, to the principalities, to the powers,
to the angels, to the seraphims and cherubims, that he might
show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward
us through Christ Jesus. What an awesome task. And pride? Man lifted up. No way. No way. That's the total denial
of everything he's preaching. denial of the One whom he purchased,
the message that he purchased. And all of this, verse 11, according
to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus,
our Lord. It's awesome. I get more overwhelmed
all the time concerning the things of our Lord.