Calling
A Written compostion of the Heavenly Calling Network Study Group
Chapter
16
Walking in to chapter 3 of the book of
Ephesians we find that it is very much linked to chapter 2 because it
begins with, for this cause
.... When we start reading God's word and your given an expression like
that, well don't read on when he has referred you back. You say, well
what cause? Get the link, in other words. You see, sometimes our
chapter breaks, which have been made by our translators that are not in
the inspired manuscripts at all. They are simply broken up to make it
simpler for us in reading. Some times those chapter breaks are good,
and some times they are very bad. Like everything else that is human.
Their not perfect. And here is a case where the chapter break is not
good. It means to say that we have to cast our minds back to the last
chapter, which has already been done in this book. You will agree, if
you try and remember that when you get to the end of chapter 2 you've
got to one of the great climaxes of scriptures. It may be the greatest
climax in regards to God's own people. Because as we have already seen
in the last chapter that God has been literally seeking a home. And the
homes in which He has had up to this point are only anticipatory. They
have only been temporary.
In
the last chapter you were referred to Isaiah's prophecy where God
said that He made the creation for a dwelling place. But that wasn't
His permanent home. And then when He redeemed Israel from Egypt and
brought them forth out of Egypt to cross the Red Sea into the
wilderness and led them on. He said, make me a tabernacle so I may
dwell among them. That tabernacle is just the word tent. And it would
be very good if it was kept uniformly through scriptures. Remembering
that in the pilgrim pathway there was nothing settled in a way of a
dwelling. Strangers and sojourners going home. That is where you are,
dispensationally. You are not home yet. You are going through our
wilderness and we have the presence of the Lord with us. Just like He
was with His people. And though God said, my settled dwelling hasn't
come yet, I am going to have a tent. You can set it up, and you can
take it down. And He was the one who decided by day on it would be a
pillar of a cloud, on it by night was a pillar of fire. A symbol of His
presence with them. And when that moved, they moved. And when it didn't
move, they didn't move. In other words, God regulated their moves
entirely according to His will. So watching that is they had to do.
They just had to watch the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire. And
they knew they were with Him all the time.
When
you come to the New Testament, isn't that a very good maxim for
orders. The same one is still with us. If we do what the epistle to the
Hebrews says, look away unto Jesus. Well we are looking away unto a
pillar of cloud. And to the pillar of fire. They were only symbols of
the presence of Him, who changes not. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday,
and today, and forever. If our minds are turned away to Him we will
have the assurance of His leading. You see, God's leading is a real
thing. It isn't by guess work. Or just hoping for the best. Oh no, this
is just as much a reality today as it was for God's earthly people,
Israel. And is not till you come to this glorious revelation, given
through this man in his Roman prison that will be told to you in this
very chapter now, that at last God says, Now here is the permanent
home. He is going to take the stones that are going to make this
permanent dwelling, such as you, sinners, saved by His grace, made
beautiful, shaped by the Holy Spirit, fitly framed together. You
remember the word in chapter 2. Every stone fitting exactly. No one put
in to the wrong place. And when that building is complete and the last
stone, member whom He has died for and redeemed, is gathered in then He
is going to occupy that.
In
the last chapter we saw the type in the Old Testament, Solomon's
Temple. That, likewise, was built without the sound of axe or hammer.
Silently, put up gradually, and was built and built and built till the
whole thing was complete. And then we are told that God filled it with
His glory. Filled it! Not partially filled it. Not partially occupied
it. But filled it with His glory. And this church, that is one of its
very titles, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all. What is this
temple going to be when it is completed? It will be no earthly temple
of course. This is going to be a temple in the highest glory. It is
called the Holiest of all. The most Holy place of the temple of the
tabernacle was only the earthly copy of this reality that God is now
building. And that is going to be His permanent dwelling place. To be a
habitation of God in the Spirit, which is the last verse of chapter 2.
Ephesians
3:1 For this cause ... Because of this overwhelming truth.
Then he says something else. Can you feel this, when you read verse 1
of chapter 3, that he was going to say something then stops. Well, you
understand that, don't you. How often have you made a statement,
starting something, then you go off into a tangent, because you had to
explain something else before you could go on to your original thought.
You see, he uses the same words again later on in the chapter and picks
up what he was going to say. Ephesians 3:14 For this cause I bow my
knees unto the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ ... That is what he was
going to say in verse 1. But you see he called himself the prisoner of
Jesus Christ for you gentiles. And then the intervening verses explain
what that is for. What it means. Why did he call himself the prisoner
of Jesus Christ for us Gentiles? Well there is a parenthesis that tells
you that. Then he comes back to his subject again. In other words, what
he was going to say in verse i is this. When I contemplate, says the
Apostle, the fact that God is doing this wonderful thing. He is finally
going to build up this glorious temple for Himself. And I, by His
grace, am just going to be put there as a living stone, and you
Ephesians saints, your going to be there to. Oh did it drive me to my
knees. Well, that is what it ought to do.
Surely
every scripture study. Every time we come to the Lord through
His word. We hear Him speaking to us. Well, what are we to do? Just run
out into the world and just forget all about it. No. We ought to get on
our knees really. Or at least have a prayerful mind. And start to pray
and praise. Surely that is what we can do. If we don't understand it
Lord, then we say this is wonderful, and get in on the praise and the
glory for it. And this should help us in our prayers. Prayer will never
be artificial like that. It will rise spontaneously from our hearts and
minds when the overwhelming grace, when the overwhelming glory of God
revealed here, takes possession of us. You can't help it. You just
adore and magnify Him. This is just to wonderful. But just make me
worthy of it. Help me to, what chapter 4 of Ephesians is going to tell
us, be worthy of such a calling. The vocation where with you are
called. As Paul says, because of all this I bow my knees to the Father.
But
he gives himself a title, and that is what we have got to look at.
... the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles ... Now of course,
actually, he was taken prisoner by Rome. He was taken prisoner by Nero.
Had he written, I am Nero's prisoner, he would have been stating the
truth. Because he was. He was apprehended the second time. He'd been in
prison. He'd been released. He was going to have three or four years of
liberty and then was going to be taken a prisoner the second time in
which he writes his last letter, which 2Timothy. You see the marvelous
way this man rises above his circumstances by God's grace. In stead of
moaning and groaning and saying look at what my Christian beliefs have
led me to. Look at what it has gotten me. In a Roman dungeon. Chained
to a Roman soldier day and night. Think of it. No humanitarian
privileges in those days. Chained to a Roman soldier day and night. No
privacy of any sort. And yet this man could say, I am the Lord's
prisoner. If He hadn't willed it I would never had been here. So if I
am here, then there must be a purpose for it. And he calls himself
wonderfully the prisoner of Jesus Christ. What an example for you,
isn't it. If we could see God's hand in all His dealings with us, even
those difficult times that we can't understand. Even if we go through
the valley of the shadow. And we just don't understand the
circumstances that surround us. Can we rise above it and say, well, the
Lord must have lead me here. He must want me here. That is to say, if
we are quite sure it isn't through our sins or our foolishness that we
got there. That is quite another matter. If we have a well enough good
conscience before Him, then we say, well enough then, He has lead me
here. I'm His prisoner.
That
will take all the sting out of it and it must have done so when he
called himself the prisoner of Jesus Christ. But he didn't stop there.
Paul said, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles. It is not
exaggeration to say that most of scriptures has been directly sent to
the people of Israel. That doesn't mean to say that the Gentiles were
not in mind. The divine plan shows that the Gentiles were in mind all
the time. Because, at the very beginning that when God picked out a
Gentile, that was what Abraham was, and it is said by some that Abraham
was the first Jew. But he was nothing of the kind. Abraham was never a
Jew. He was a Gentile idolater in Ur of the Chaldees. Never was a Jew
at all. Though he was the father of the Jewish race which started
through his grandson, Jacob. The twelve tribes. But there he wise, a
Gentile, and from that moment that God said, through thy seed shall all
families of the earth be blessed, well that is Gentiles isn't it. So in
God's plan, Gentile blessing was on His mind all the time. But He is
going to work through a channel. He is going to work through this
chosen seed to reach all nations of the earth. That is why the Jew
takes such a large place in God's word.
If
we find that the Jew hasn't come up to the expectations or hasn't
completely full filled God's will, well, shall we throw any stones at
them? Are we any better than they? By no means. Well, that is one of
the questions that the epistle of Romans throws at out. Are we better
than they? Oh, no. If we were in the same position as the Israelites of
Old we shall have fallen in just the same fix. And we would have
departed from the same measurement from the Lord. Because the human
heart hasn't changed over the course of centuries. Untouched by God's
redeeming grace, is the human heart any better that what it was in
Israel's day? No. God's estimate of the human heart apart from His
redeeming love is desperately wicked. The human nature hasn't changed.
Oh thank God His redeeming love hasn't changed either.
But
here is a part of God's word that Israel as a nation has no place
in. He has not sent this to His chosen seed of Israel. He has sent it
to outcasts. That is us. Chapter 2 has described us as being Ephesians
2:11 Why remember, that you being in time past Gentiles in the flesh,
who are called Uncircumcision ... Circumcision put that nation into
Covenant relationship did it? And those who wouldn't obey, they were
cut off. You were just like those ones, cut off from the relationship
with God. Without the Covenant relationship made you at that time
without a Messiah. Which is the word Christ, the Anointed One. Only
Israel could look forward to the Messiah coming. No Gentile nation had
a promise of God that He would send them a Messiah. Israel is the one
that has that. Ephesians 2:12 ... being aliens from the commonwealth of
Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope,
and without God in the world: ... All that God gave them, aliens from
that. Strangers from the covenants of promise because they had all the
covenants as Romans chapter 9 told us. And the world we are told, lies
in the evil one. We find that we are in a hopeless condition. Paul is
deliberately piling it on. But he is not exaggerating truth. He is
simply saying, I am going to tell you exactly just where you were as
Gentiles. You were outcasts. You about as far away from Christ and God
as you could be.
Now
then, in this calling, you who were so far off God has brought you
near through the precious blood and He has so united you with His Son,
so identified you with Him, that where He is, you are. And you are far
nearer than Israel ever was or ever could be. That is the wonder of it.
This isn't something that is just second best to Israel. It is
something that Israel never knew. With all their glory under Solomon's
day they never knew anything like that. They were going to be
associated as a dwelling place, a permanent home for God, in the
highest glory far above angels and principalities and powers and all
the heavenly being where ever they may be. God never said that to
Israel. He is taking some of the worst and given them the best. That is
what grace has done. That is what 1Corinthians chapter 1 tells us. God
hasn't chosen the best, He has chosen the worst. Not many mighty. Not
many noble. But God has chosen the poor and the despised. And the week
things and the far off things. The aliens and the strangers. Yes, that
is you. Again, this is all done apart from you. And not in any sense
had God given you any loop hole to pat yourself on the back and
congratulate yourselves and say, well there must have been something
good seen in me for God to have done all this. No, nothing at all. Just
love that can not be fully comprehended. That is what this second
prayer says. That you may know the love of Christ that passeths
comprehension. And as long as we walk this earthly pathway it will be
like this. We will never know the love that produces so much for us.
We, who by nature, were so far away are now being brought so near.
Now,
Paul says, I have gone to this Roman prison because as a prisoner
there God has given me a revelation concerning this aspect of His work
which He has kept secret up till now. It has been a mystery. Now I am
going to make it known. He has commissioned me to make it known.
Ephesians 3:2 If you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God
which is given me to ... or for ... you-ward: ... So Paul is just the
recipient. He is the channel. How did he get it? Verse 3 tells you ...
How that by revelation ... By Revelation. A special revelation. We have
to be careful over this. Are there differences how the Apostle uses the
term? Most certainly.
There
is a word or two that we need to take care of as well, and that
word is inspiration. It occurs in the English bible concerning the way
God gave His word. All scripture is given by inspiration of God ... Now
you will hear a lot of people say, oh yes I believe that. I believe the
bible is divine. It was inspired. But then they say, a lot of people
have been inspired to. All the great poets are inspired. Shakespeare
was inspired. And the great artist and magicians are inspired. You have
to say to yourself, where does this get us? Have all cleaver people got
this inspiration? Is this not a unique thing, those who actually wrote
God's word? Most certainly it is. What ever you do, don't confuse
anything that poets, or musicians, or sculptures have done and try and
say that it is parallel to those beings that has written God's words.
Because it isn't. The pity of it is that we never had the word
inspiration put in because the Greek never uses it. It says God
breathed, literally. All that which is written has been God breathed,
which is the characteristic that is through His work in Genesis to
Revelation. It just gives people the opportunity to say, oh well you
see, its just like the poets, or someone like that. It isn't. It is
something entirely different.
So
with this word revelation, when God reveals Himself to us, when He
sheds light upon His word, that is not quite the same thing that Paul
means here. Because God gave this man something which wasn't contained
in His word at all. Because he tells us, that it was never made known
before in other ages or other generations. They never knew it. It was
hidden in God. And Unless God has revealed it even Paul himself could
have never known it. The ascended Christ did reveal it. So look at
these verses and then we will take time to go over them.
Ephesians
3:3 How that by revelation he made known to me the mystery;
... Now you find a bracket in your bible don't you. It is a parenthesis
slipped in. ... (as I wrote before in few words, 4 Whereby, when you
read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) ... It
has to be a wonder to you why our English translators put the bracket
there when it goes on, Which in other ages? It looks as though they
have the brackets in the wrong place doesn't it? Because Paul hasn't
finished telling you about the mystery of Christ yet. This should have
been after verse 5 and not verse 4. This mystery of Christ ...5 Which
in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it is now
revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; 6 That the
Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of
his promise in Christ by the gospel: 7 Whereof I was made a minister,
according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effectual
working of his power. ...
Now
when we come to the epistle to the Colossians, again he will refer
to this ministry connected to the mystery. Paul talks about his
sufferings in Colossians 1:24. In verse 23 Paul talks about the hope of
the gospel ... Colossians 1:24 Who now rejoice in my sufferings for
you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in
my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church: 25 Whereof I am made
a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me
... Here is the exact phraseology of Ephesians 3 ... given to me for
you, to fulfill ... to complete, to fill up, literally ... the word of
God; 26 Even the mystery which has been hid from ages and from
generations, but now ... It is no longer, but now it ... is made
manifest to his saints: 27 To whom God would make known what is the
riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ
in you, the hope of glory: ...
If
you have a margin to your bible will you note a reading in
connection with those two words, in you, in verse 27. The margin says,
or among you. Among you, you already had it among the Gentiles. It is
hard to understand why the translators put it as among you in one
phrase and in you in another. They are exactly the same in the Greek.
If it is among in one case, then it must be among in the other. So we
read it, this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ among you ,
the hope of glory: ... You say, isn't there a belief of an indwelling
Christ? Oh yes, there certainly is, but that is not what is being
taught there. We are going to learn about the indwelling of Christ all
right, but that is in chapter 3 of Ephesians. But this Mystery has to
do with Christ being among Gentiles who by nature are outside the
common wealth of Israel and what ever Israel stood for, and now Christ
is with them. As long as you have got Israel in Covenant relationship
with God the Gentiles walk at a distance. Israel have got all the
blessing, you have I only know out of all the families of the earth,
like God said to them through the prophecy of Amos. And He let the
Gentile nations walk in their darkness. But when Israel goes off the
scene in blindness then the Gentiles come near.
And
it is in this age that Israel, the nation, is blinded still,
unusable by God. Still today, Christ rejecting. And that God has seen
fit to reveal a part of His purpose which He kept hidden. Not made
known in other ages or to other generations. Colossians 1:26 Even the
mystery which has been hid from ages and from generations, ... Note
those two words. Because one refers to time and the other refers to
people. Which are another ages, past time. Generations, past people.
Neither have known. Now the need to believe exactly what God says is so
important. And understanding the consequences of it, is also so very
important. Because, it is found, over and over again, that this verse
is literally rejected by believers. And as to why they do it, who
knows, but they do. And that is just a plain fact. They say that they
can open the Old Testament and they can find that this church is there.
If you can do that then your going to have to give the scriptures up as
being true. Because here it says you can't. He kept it hidden in past
ages and generations. Paul said, He first made it know to me by
revelation now. Which is it, faith or unbelief that says that you can
find the thing before God says He revealed it? Surely you don't believe
that. We can save ourselves so much wrong conceptions of truth if we
would only note exactly what God says. You have to come to that
conclusion. You can search and search and you will never find a reason
scripturally to deviate from it. That here in this calling is something
entirely new and fresh. Something which God, as He calls it, a new
creation. As chapter 2 puts it, created a New Man. Something entirely
fresh. And its something which He kept hidden before. There is no
conception then that you can find it in any previous book because you
can't.
This
word mystery, what are we going to do with that? Today, because
language is always in a state of flux. Language is a living thing.
Language isn't something that is dead. Not while it is still being
used. We talk about Latin being a dead language because no body uses
it. But language is being molded and you can remember in your life time
looking back to see certain words come in that you have never used
before. That is how language is. All the time it is absorbing. Certain
words are coming in. Certain words are dropping out. Certain words are
just outright being to changed as to its meaning. Well, this word
mystery in Shakespeare's day did not mean what it is today. We use it
as something puzzling. We says something mysterious. Something that you
can not understand, That is not the meaning of the word at all. In
Shakespeare's day it was just the word secret. And certainly the Greek,
that is all it means. The Greek word is just the word secret. Something
that has been kept hidden. And you can't understand it till the secret
is told. Every time you have the word mystery in the New Testament,
whether in the gospels or in the epistles, you can substitute and
always improve with our modern word secret. And you will find very
often other modern versions do.
The
secret. In Matthew, you have the mysteries of the kingdom. That is
in our authorized version. Secrets of the kingdom. Some of God's
secrets God tells. Wonder if we are keen enough to have opened ears and
to listen when God explains some of His secrets. When we younger we
thought it great to be told a secret. And we shouldn't lose that
wonder. God said, I've kept something secret and I am going to let you
in to something. I am going to tell you. And in this epistle we are
going to have one the greatest secrets made known to us by God. And the
wonder of it is He wants to make known, going back to those verse in
Colossians because of something that we can easily miss. It is a fact
that in our modern English we use it slightly differently. Colossians
1:26 Even the mystery ... secret ... which has been hid from ages and
from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: ... Now its
not a secret because God has told us. 27 To whom God would make known
... It is that common word would. And in the Greek it means to wish, or
to will, or to want. Now in English we have to be careful with that
word would. If you just read that you can pass it by. But you read it
like this. To who God wishes to make known what is the riches of the
glory of this secret ... God wants to make it known. He wants to tell
you the riches of this secret. When you read that, wow, isn't that
marvelous. Not only does He want to tell you a marvelous secret, He
wants to make it known to you. We ought to be all ears then. Speak Lord
for thy servant heareth.
Do
tell me, make it clear. Do understand that this is not something
puzzling. Don't says, its a mystery, I can never understand it. My
brain is not sufficient to understand diviness. That is not the meaning
at all. When God hides, who can find, it is a secret. It is unbelief to
say you can find something when God says He has hid it. And note that
Ephesians tells us that He hid it in Himself. He has not just hid it in
the Old Testament. Or in the scriptures. Or in the stars. He has hid it
in Himself. Ephesians 3:9 And to make all men see what is the
fellowship of the mystery ... secret ... which from the beginning of
the world has been hid ... Where? In the Old Testament? No. ... in God,
... God hides it in Himself and that being so, then you can't find it.
But here, He has hidden it no longer.
Now
we are in the next part to try to see what this secret is then.
What God has kept in Himself up to this point which He has made known
by revelation to Paul. Now Paul says, my aim is to make all see what it
is. Oh how there should be more on this in modern ministry. There were
two great aims of the Apostle Paul. He said, it worry's me if I preach
not the gospel. I must make it known. God has given to me as a burden.
I must make it known. That was one thing. Then Two, he said, my great
aim is to make all you see what is the riches of this secret is. Two
great burdens upon the heart of this man. Well, thank God, today, even
the day of darkness, we can still here the gospel of His grace. But how
often have we heard this aspect? You never hear it do you? Why not?
Don't know. But if we don't hear it we are going to miss and have a
tremendous loss. Because if we go right to the very climax of
Revelation, there is something that God has kept hidden that was
attached to it which is wanting to make known to His children. And they
don't want to hear of it. To busy to gone on with it. Well they are
going to lose.
Back
to Ephesians 3:2 If you have heard of the dispensation of the
grace of God which is given me to you-ward: ... The word if in this
verse, is not the if of doubt. It is literally since. There is no doubt
that they heard it. Since you have heard of the dispensation ... Here
is another word that is also important. Many things in scripture go in
threes. And there are three separate dispensations mentioned in the
epistle to the Ephesians. Ephesians 1:9 Having made known to us the
mystery of his will, ... The secret of His will. Not the puzzling of
His will. ... according to his good pleasure which he has purposed ...
Or planned ... in himself: 10 That in the dispensation of the fullness
of times ... And literally in the Greek, He might head up, that is the
word gather together in one. The Greek word being anakephalaiomai
an-ak-ef-al-ah'-ee-om-ahee. Which is ana, which means up and kephalaioo
which means strike on the head which comes from the word kephale which
literally means head. Even though gather together in one fits, its just
not there. he might head up all things in Christ, both which are in
heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: ... When Christ gathered
up the headship of all in creation, everything in heaven and earth,
that will be the dispensation of the fullness of times. It has been
already been pointed out that the church is already the fullness of
Him. But there is a great time that is called the dispensation of the
fullness. And the epistle to Colossians, which is the parallel one to
Ephesians, is the great epistle of filling. Or fullness. When it says,
you are complete in Him, the Greek says your filled right up full in
Christ. Filled with the knowledge of His will.
Here
then is something that God kept hid, which He didn't put in
scriptures, He hid it in Himself. And He is now in this dispensation,
called the dispensation of grace. Then the third occurrence, which is
missed in our Authorized version but is picked up in the revised, and
is in Ephesians 3:9 and to (1) make all men see what is the
dispensation (1) Some ancient authorities read bring to light what is )
... Not merely fellowship. If you say, well I just can't understand how
you can have fellowship and dispensation, because they don't sound
right do they? Well, they are don't in English. But they do in Greek.
One letter makes the difference in reading of dispensation of
fellowship. And there is not the slightest doubt that the revised
version is correct. That with the knowledge that we now have of the
original manuscripts, that these translators never had in 1611, the
word dispensation is the right reading.
So
you've got your three dispensations. A glorious one which God is
working to. The dispensation of the fullness of times. And the present
time that we are now living, the dispensation of Grace. And it is the
dispensation of this secret. The Holy Spirit gives it those two
covering terms. Grace. Oh what could we say about grace. There are two
things which don't go together one in the same time in God's purpose.
And that is grace and judgement.
Now
which is God doing today? Which throne is He sitting on. Is He
sitting on the throne of judgement? Or is He sitting on the throne of
Grace? You know the answer don't you. He is not sitting on a throne of
judgement. If God was judging every day for sins. oh my what might
happen. He did do that in a past dispensation. He will yet do it in a
future dispensation. When this kingdom comes on the earth, oh evil is
not going to be aloud to fester then. There is going to be a summary
judgement everyday. But in the present age, No, God isn't judging. Why?
Because He is the throne of grace. He is long suffering, not willing
that any should parish. But all should come to repentance. That is the
mystery. The mystery of the silent heaven. Through out this whole time
of the age of grace God has been audibly, God hasn't been audible. He
has been silent hasn't He? You have had people shake their fist in the
face of God and blaspheme and do all sorts of things. And they seem to
get away with it. Nothing happens. And the Agnostic and the Atheist
say, well there you are, there is no such thing as a god. Your just
making it up in your own mind. Ignorant of the fact that He is only
quiet because He has spoken His last will in grace through His beloved
Son. That's why. And what has He been doing for two thousand years?
Waiting! In His long suffering. That all should come to repentance.
Isn't
that a wonderful thing! Fancy God waiting all this time. The only
thing that is holding judgement back is the fact that He is the God of
grace and long suffering. And this is the dispensation of Grace and
long suffering. And when we see that, there is always an urgency about
it. If we only could convey, but we can't, and would if we could, to
men and women's minds the urgency. Because God is not going to be on
the throne of grace forever. There is coming a time when it will be to
late. Grace will have finished. Judgment will have begun. And how long
God is still going to sit on the throne of Grace, nobody can knows.
When we preach the gospel, we have to preach with urgency. That is what
we have to tell people. They can't trifle with God's grace. They can't
say, like one said in Acts 24:25 And as he reasoned of righteousness,
temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy
way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for
thee. ... I don't want it now. When they get a bit older. There is a
tendency with use to say, I won't be to serious now. I'll have a good
time. When I get a bit older I think about it. And that is terribly
dangerous for they may not be any time.
The
great thing to realize is all the wonder it is living in an age of
God's favor. Of God's grace. He has been saving us by His grace. He
calls us in to this company by His grace. There still grace there.
Riches of grace as Ephesians 1 tells it. And exceeding riches of His
grace, in chapter 2, which He is going to show us in the ages to come.
You just can't get away from grace can you. A dispensation, an
administration is what the word means, of Grace. Paul says, He first of
all gave me to pass it on to you. So Paul calls himself the Apostle,
the sent one, to the Gentiles. It is to Paul we go to get Christ's mind
for us.
Here
is another point, that is in so much need of making clear. Some
one is always saying, Oh you see, you can't compare the words of Paul
with the words of Jesus. When you put it like that you say, oh well no
you can't put Paul up against Jesus. But you see that is false. That is
utterly untrue. We are not putting up Paul against Christ. Or Peter
against Christ. You might just as well say, oh well, I'd rather have
Matthew than Paul. After all is said in done, when you read the gospel
record, and the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, your reading it
according to Matthew. Or Mark. Or Luke. Or John. Christ never wrote
anything. So if your going to bring men's name into it at all then
you'd rather believe Matthew then Paul. That is what it really comes
to. Both are wrong of course. What we have got to see is that the one
who spoke on earth, as Hebrews says, Hebrews 12:25 See that ye refuse
not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that
spake on earth, much more [shall not] we [escape], if we turn away from
him that [speaketh] from heaven: ... And when this man speaks, and
Christ takes a hold of him and sends him to the Gentiles he speaks with
all the authority of Christ.
In
fact, that is why he throw out as a challenge to the Corinthian
church, he said, since you seek a proof of Christ speaking in me,
examine your selves. And the things that I wrote are the commandments
of the Lord. What about that. The things I write, the written word, the
epistles are the commandments of the Lord. By revelation, He, Christ,
made known to me, you see I am not giving you my opinion. This is what
He has passed on to me to give to you. All right then, when you are
reading the epistle to the Ephesians, your are reading the words of
Christ. Your not reading of Jesus in the flesh, you are reading the
ascended Christ in glory.
So
how false it is to set up the teaching of Paul as though it is
something lessor to the words of Jesus which He spoke on the earth. The
same Christ that walked this earth and spoke and gave His revelation to
His earthly people, because He says, I am only sent to the lost sheep
of the house of Israel. His ministry was linked to the Jew. And that
same Christ, with no limitation, is speaking in all His fullness, this
time through and earthly vessel, which he calls himself the less than
the least of all saints. There he is, I am nobody. I am only a channel
that God's grace has laid hold off to speak through me to you Gentiles.
I am the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles. Have you got that
clear? You need to get that clear. Because if you don't get it clear
you will miss so much.
When
you read these letters say to yourself, this is the word of my
Saviour speaking to me. It is His word, not Paul's. And then you say,
that Peter, he got it the same way. Peter's words weren't his own
words. Christ sent that man to Israel. He is the Apostle to the
circumcision. The same risen Christ said to Paul, you, Paul, go to the
Gentiles. That is where I send you. He said to Peter, you go to Israel.
That is where I send you. And these men don't argue with the Lord. They
have gotten no responsibility for where they are sent. God is sovereign
in to where He sends His children. These are obedient children. You
don't find Peter grumbling, or contradicting Paul. Or Paul
contradicting Peter. Not a bit. They knew exactly God's will for them.
And they went where God had sent them. And once you have seen that. Oh
it saves you from so much bondage.
When
God has taken the trouble to get a hold of a man and says, now
your going to the Gentile. Right. This is the message From Me to him
through you. We all would be silly if we turned our heads away and say,
I am not going to take any notice to that. I've got another part of the
bible that appeals to me. And that is infect is what so many believers
are doing. And they are missing this secret that God wants to tell
them. You won't find it else where. Do you realize that the Apostle
Peter can give his ministry faithfully to Israel and never use the word
mystery once? Never uses it once. Peter was inspired by the Holy
Spirit, the same Holy Spirit, but there was no secret teaching in what
Peter was given to Israel. But here is something that had to be held
back while Israel was being dealt with by God. Not till they go off the
scene can God make known something that He kept hidden all the time.
And
this time, a new company, a new dimension, a blessing that just
leaves absolutely dazzled and overwhelmed. But when you try to mix them
up to some other calling, or some other hope, or some other dimension,
then of course the whole things is spoiled. Both things are spoiled.
Because your not keeping asunder that God is keeping asunder. You
mixing things, of course, that He has kept apart.
Here
is this dispensation, this grace, this special revelation which He
had made known to me this secret. What does he mean when he wrote,
Ephesians 3:3 ... as I wrote before in few words, ...? Is he referring
to another letter? Paul has come to the middle of the epistle when he
wrote that of course. He didn't write chapter 2 and at the end of verse
22 write chapter 3. That is all caused by our English translators.
Paul's has got to the middle of his letter. And the most natural way is
to say, well, he is referring back to the beginning of his letter. Did
he, in the opening of his letter in chapters one and two, make know
anything of this mystery, this secret, concerning Christ. Certainly he
has.
Now
you also need to note two things. In verse 3 he talks using the
phrase, the mystery ... And in verse 4 he says, the mystery of Christ
... Those two things are not exactly the same. Oh you say, hair
splitting. But you see, this revelation, given in Ephesians, has to do
with the head, the Lord Jesus, and His body which is the church. Isn't
it. That is what chapter 1 says, the church which is His body , He is
the head. There is a secret connected with both that is revealed in
this letter. One, Paul connects them with the Lord Jesus. And the other
in connection with His body that He is building. One was know in some
degrees in other ages, he says so, but not to the same degree it is
now. The other was never known at all. It was hid in God. Can you get
those two things clear.
If
you don't get them clear you will have a contradiction. For how can
you have one known in other ages to some degree, that is what he says
didn't he. Ephesians 3:5 Which in other ages was not made known to the
sons of men, as it is now revealed ... The implication is that is was
revealed to some degree but to much as it is now. This is something
that you can find in the Old testament then to some degree. But not as
much as it is now revealed to the Apostle.
But
this other one he said, is hid in God. Past ages. Past generations
knew nothing about it all. From that stand point alone we must make a
difference, other wise we are making God's word contradict. And that is
a very serious thing. We must all be careful in our exposition of God's
word that we don't do that. Saving up one part against another. Making
one verse contradict something else. That is because of the way we are
handling it. There is no contradiction really at all if we handle it
properly.
This
secret concerning the head, the Lord Jesus Christ, what Paul is
saying, literally, is this, through this ministry, that the ascended
Christ has given me, I am able to reveal the exhortation of Him more
than has ever been known before. In other ages it was known to some
degree. But, oh, when you come to what I have written at the beginning
of chapters one and two, you'll find such a degree of revelation which
you won't find to that degree anywhere else. And that is perfectly
true. This purpose concerning the Lord Jesus, which is the theme of the
whole scriptures because He is the one that is the seal of it all, is
likened to a stream. Now a stream starts with a very small source. And
it shall trickle. It gradually widens. And it gradually broadens. And
then you find at its mouth that it is a great wide river.
So
at the very beginning you have got this question of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and the position that He is going to occupy in His exaltation,
a very small stream in Eden. The first revelation that was given about
the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head. And gradually,
step by step, book by book, through prophets, and through the Psalms
this one grows and grows. Read Psalm 8 for it is a very good
illustration. Then read Ephesians 1. Psalm 8 gives you an incite to
this exaltation of Christ. Psalm 8:4 What is man, that you are mindful
of him? and the son of man, that you visit him? 5 For you have made him
a little lower than the angels, and have crowned him with glory and
honor. ... He is looking over to first Adam, then he is looking over to
last Adam. Well you ask, how do you know that? Well, Hebrews 2 tells me
that. Hebrews 2 quotes Psalm 8. And says, 8 ... But now we see not yet
all things put under him. 9 But we see Jesus, ... He is the last Adam.
Adam was only a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. A figure of Him that
is to come. If you look at what God said concerning Adam, let him have
dominion over the fish, over the birds, over the animals, well isn't
that a revelation of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, isn't it. When
He has dominion.
So
you've got something of the mystery of Christ being unfolded and it
is getting bigger and bigger. And He is going to have dominion over the
earth just like Adam had before he sinned. But that is only part of it.
When you've go to Ephesians, it is not only dominion over the fishes,
birds, and animals. It is dominion over every thing. Principality,
power, might, and dominion,every name that is named. Oh that is the one
who Paul revealed in chapter 1. Ephesians 1:19 And what is the
exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to
the working of his mighty power, 20 Which he worked in Christ, when he
raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand ... Well,
on the earth? No. Something Higher than David ever knew. ... in the
heavenly places, 21 Far above all principality, and power, and might,
and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but
also in that which is to come: 22 And has put all things under his
feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, ...
Every thing that human mind can conceive, He will be the head over, but
is over now to the church. ... 23 Which is his body, the fullness of
him that fills all in all. ...
Can't
you see then, this secret concerning Christ is growing bigger and
bigger and bigger. So when you've come to Ephesians it is a mighty
river. It is not made known in past ages like it is made known now.
That is what Paul is actually meaning.
Ephesians
3:3 How that by revelation he made known to me the secret;
(as I wrote before in few words, 4 Whereby, when you read, you may
understand my knowledge in the secret of Christ) 5 Which in other ages
was not made known to the sons of men, as it is now revealed to his
holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; ... Not to the degree as it
is now. Now Paul is going back to this first secret. Instead of putting
the bracket where it is, for they were right in starting a bracket when
they were starting the mystery of Christ. But they should have put it
at the end of verse 4. Now he is coming back to church. 6 That the
Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of
his promise in Christ by the gospel: 7 Whereof I was made a minister,
...
What
we have got to see is that uniqueness of this church and its
members is expressed by a threefold word that is almost impossible to
bring out in to English. Our Authorized version hasn't done it. The
Revised version gets about as near as you can get to it. And it puts it
this way. That the Gentiles shall be joint-heirs, and a joint body, and
joint partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel, 7 whereof I was
made a minister, according to the gift of that grace of God which was
given me according to the working of his power. ... A three fold word
that needs definitely an explanation so that you can see the uniqueness
of this calling and this mystery to us who are Gentiles. For the first
time, in the whole of scriptures, you've got a calling where Jews and
Gentiles are on a perfect equality. Joint. That is about the meaning of
the word. Before then, Israel has always been first. And the Gentiles
has always been subservient. In this calling God has obliterated all of
that. He has put Jew and Gentile, whom He has called and saved, in
perfect equality. There are some Jewish members in this body. But of
course, they are not in it because they are Jews. Because they are the
chosen race. They are in it because God's saving grace has saved them.
God is treating them now just like Gentiles. Just like us as regard to
salvation. Because Israel, with their covenants are temporarily out of
favor with God.