We are continuing our sermon series in Ephesians and today we'll be looking at verses three to six. The title of the message is called, The Mystery, The Divine Mystery Made Known. So let's give attention to the reading of God's word. We'll go ahead and actually begin for context in verse one and read to the end of verse six. This is the word of the Lord. For this reason, I Paul a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles. Assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. This is God's holy and inspired word. May he add his blessing to it. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, for this time. We thank you that we can get into your word. We pray for the illumination by your spirit so that we can understand and see what your word has to say to us. Help us to see Christ as well, and then put into practice what you instruct us today. Help us to see the riches of what you have done throughout all redemptive history to build your glorious church with whom you dwell with. Lord, we thank you that we are a part of that and help us to see that now as we learn from your word. We pray this in Christ's name, amen. Are you a one who loves a good mystery? Do you love mysteries? I love movies that I can go and I can kind of see little hints and little signs that might point to the end result. that might decide, okay, well, this person is the one who did it all along. And if you've ever gone with me in a movie, you probably know, Thomas knows, that I like to say things. I'm like, oh, well, he did it. And oftentimes he'll say, shh. But I like to figure things out. I like to see the things in which are leading to the end result, that are leading to the actual fulfillment of the plot of the movie. Little hints. Well, today in our passage, Paul will actually tell us about the grand mystery of God's story, the divine story of redemption. As it unfolds, there has been hints along the way, but it's all going to come to be revealed. And Paul brings that to us today in our text. Remind where we have been in Ephesians, Paul is writing to the Ephesian church, which is primarily Gentiles. He's gone to the Gentile area, he's proclaimed Christ to them. And as many have believed, the church has been formed. And as that has been happening, the Gentiles who believe have faced hostility from the pagans around them. And so Paul writes to them to encourage them, and he starts off in chapter one, as we have seen, by giving a list of blessings and praises to God for our salvation. In other words, he doesn't start off by saying, man, I'm really sorry you're dealing with this hardship, but instead he says, remember who you are in Christ. Remember the blessings you have in your salvation. This is all for a reason. He then goes into praying that they would better understand the power of Christ in their salvation. In chapter two, we also saw that how our salvation plays out in time and space. Individually, we saw we were dead in sin. We're enemies of God, but God made us alive. And in so doing, he made us for good works so that we would glorify Christ. Later on in the chapter, we then saw the corporate understanding of our salvation, that he didn't save us to be individual Christians, to just live outside of separate lives, but to actually be part of a body, to be part of a church. And in so doing, he's brought Jew and Gentile in to be one body, one new body, which is the church. And he really prayed, I pray that you would understand and understand these great blessings and benefits that you have as the people of God. And now in chapter three, he continues that thought. He talked about in chapter two that this body that God is building is built on the foundations of the prophets, with Christ the chief cornerstone, and then we are the individual stones he's building up into a holy temple. In chapter three, he says, you know, for this reason, in light of all that God is doing in building up this temple, I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ, on behalf of you Gentiles, and then as we saw last time, he digresses. He pauses there, there's no verb. And the verb is actually in verse 14, he says, for this reason, I bow my knees, right? He says, for this reason, I wanna pray for you, that you really get this. But before he does that, he wants to, He thinks about his role. He thinks about how God has used him uniquely for this grand building of the church, to bring Jew and Gentile together. And so we call this, as we said last week, a spiritual rabbit trail, an inspired rabbit trail. And in so doing, he's going to take us through this way in which God has used him to build the church, to preach the gospel to the Gentiles and to bring this one new man together. And so Paul, as he said, he was saved by grace to be a channel of God's grace. And so as we look at this, he's going to reveal these things to us. And the big idea is this, because God is working out his grand plan of redemption, as he was doing it, it was a mystery concealed to previous generations, but has now been made known with the work of Christ. We're going to see this in three ways today. First, the minister of the mystery. Second, the mystery concealed. And then third, the mystery revealed. Let's first be reminded of the minister of the mystery. Paul says, for this reason I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, on behalf of you Gentiles, assuming that you heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation as I've written briefly. When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ. So as we have seen, Paul has identified himself as a prisoner of Christ. He was a prisoner because he preached the gospel. He preached that Jew and Gentile are one in the church, and in such, that upset a lot of people. And so he's in a Roman prison, but Paul doesn't call himself a prisoner of Rome, nor a prisoner of Nero, but a prisoner of Christ. He recognizes the reason he's there is because Christ put him there. Christ put him there to actually serve him. And so this is a unique role where Paul is given an opportunity to write to the churches, to write the epistles. And Ephesians is a prison epistle that we have for that benefit. And he says, on account of this, this is why I was in prison, because I preached the gospel. And he says, on behalf of you Gentiles, it's for you. It's for you. And if you think about it, That's a complete 180 from what Paul was doing. Paul was persecuting the church. He actually was living as a zealous Jew according to the law. And as he was doing that, it taught him, you need to be separate from the Gentiles. And what that did is it causes hostility, it causes really hatred for the Gentiles. And Paul was a Pharisee of Pharisees. He knew his Bible, but he didn't comprehend the full picture of what God was doing. And so as a result, he persecuted the church. He persecuted Gentiles. And as a result, God showed up. Christ showed up and converted him. And Paul is saying, I used to persecute the church, but now I'm doing all this on behalf of you Gentiles. I'm serving you guys. What a change. It's a testament to God's revelation coming to him and changing his heart. And so while he thought he was serving God by persecuting the church, his eyes were closed to the plan of God. He couldn't see until God revealed it to him. So Paul now elaborates on this, the stewardship that God was given to him. And it involved this, the mystery. So he says in verse three, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation as I have written briefly. So what changed for Paul is Christ showed up and revealed to him, look, you're not following the true way. Why are you persecuting me? He says. Paul thinks he's serving God. But now Christ shows up. He was blinded to the work of Christ. He was blinded to see how the scriptures find their fulfillment in Christ. And Christ showed up and revealed to him this insight, revealed to him this revelation. And what this is, is it's a reference all the way back to the Damascus Road, where Paul's on his way to kill Christians, to persecute the church. And he thought he's serving God, and so Christ shows up in blazing glory and knocks him down, whether you believe he knocks him off a horse or not, he knocks him down nonetheless, and says, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Why does he say me? Well, because that's his body. It's the church, his body. And so now Paul's eyes are open because God revealed it to him. And not only did he reveal Christ, he revealed the mystery. When you hear the word mystery, what do you think of? So often in our modern day, we refer to mystery as something that's unknown. One of my favorite shows growing up was Unsolved Mysteries. And it's this show that involves a crime that took place that is unsolved. It remains a mystery to this day because no one knows who did it. So they're trying to figure it out, but it's a mystery. It's something unknowable. unless you have some kind of secret Gnostic knowledge, but that's not how mystery is used here. That's not how Paul's using mystery. In fact, the way Paul's using mystery here within scripture is something that was once hidden, that is now revealed. Something once hidden, now revealed. In other words, it's known by the one who initiated it, and the only way others can know it is if it's been revealed to them by that person. And so here Paul is saying, look, God is the one who initiated this mystery. He's the author of it. And it was unknown to me. I had blinders on until God showed up and revealed it to me. And as he revealed it to him, we see that previously there was hints. Previously there was, maybe we can say it was dimly visible through types and shadows throughout. And so Paul could have read his Old Testament and seen these types and shadows and come to the conclusion, well, Jesus is the Christ. Many people actually did. But it was only revealed to those whom God revealed it to. And Paul says, this mystery, God revealed to me. Turn to Romans 16 and we're gonna see this is how Paul actually uses this term mystery. Again, it's something that was once hidden that is now revealed. And so Romans 16, look at verse 25. He says, now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and to the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages, but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writing been made known to all the nations according to the command of the eternal God to bring about the obedience of faith." Again, notice, it's something that was once hidden, once concealed, once not known, but now has been made known through revelation. God is revealing this through His Spirit, through the prophets who are writing this down and it's becoming known. And Paul was one of those who was privileged to have that revelation. And Paul is saying, this is what God entrusted me with. This is my stewardship on behalf of you Gentiles to make this mystery known. Turn to Galatians 1. In Galatians 1, Paul is talking about this great glorious gospel and how it culminates ultimately in the Lord Jesus Christ. And how even in this sense, it was a mystery. Speaking of Christ in the gospel, verse 12 says, for I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. For you've heard of my former life of Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many my own age among my people, so extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. but he who had set me apart before I was born, who called me by his grace." He recognizes here, look, I thought I was serving God. I was living zealously. I was following the law to the best of my ability. I thought this sect of Christianity was just some kind of cult, and so I persecuted it, thinking I was serving God. But God showed up and he revealed to me, he revealed to me the mystery, the mystery of the good news of the gospel, the mystery of Christ. And so he's given this divine revelation and then commissioned to preach Christ to the Gentiles. In Acts 9, speaking of Paul, says, He's a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and to kings and to the children of Israel. So in Paul's unique role as an apostle, he was given this special revelation and able to have this stewardship that God entrusted to him to take the gospel to the Gentiles. And it's through that that God is building his church. God is building this grand theme of the church. And so he says, as I've written briefly, You might think, well, what is that in reference to? There's some speculation that might be some other letters, but I think he's just saying, look, I've already talked about this in the letter I wrote to you. Consider Ephesians 1, making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, verse 9, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth. He's saying the big theme here is God's uniting things together. That's part of the mystery. I'm giving you glimpses of it. I talked about it briefly here. He also talked about it a little bit more than briefly in chapter 2. Speaking of Jew and Gentile here, they're now one. by abolishing the law of commandments and expressed in ordinances that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace." He says, I've spoken of this. I wrote about it briefly, I gave you hints. And then verse 19, so you're no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens, saints, and members of the household of God. Jew and Gentile are now one in the church. He's saying this is the culmination of all God's plan. And he says, I've spoken about this briefly, but now, because I really want you to get it, I'm gonna elaborate on this. And so, he really wants us to get it because that's gonna impact how we live. Paul's gonna pray in verse 14. I bow my knees for this reason I bow my knees, to pray that you really understand and get this so you can live in light of it. And so he says, when you read this, verse four, when you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ. So this mystery is made known by revelation that God has uniquely given to him. And he says, when you read about what I talk about here, you'll get a perspective, you'll see as I connect the dots. you'll see my insight that God has revealed this to me. In other words, I'm not making this up. This isn't my gospel. This isn't something I came up with. God revealed it to me. So you might be asking, okay, what does he mean by when you read this? Does that mean they had their little iPads and they're scrolling and they see it or they all had their individual Bibles? Well, in that time, they didn't have the privilege of books like we do or the printing press. But he goes, when you hear this letter read among you, as it's read among you, when you hear it, I'm sending this letter to be publicly read to the church. And when you hear it, when you assemble together, you will understand that God revealed this to me. You'll perceive my insight. You'll start to see that the depths of these things and how this was the culmination all along. God has chosen that through Paul, he will be the instrument. He's stewarded with the mystery of Christ to make known to the church. Peter O'Brien said, it is the apostle himself who has received this insight into the mystery, but he earnestly desires that they too will grasp it by reflecting on what he said already to them. We must ask, what is the mystery of Christ? What is he referring to here? Ultimately, I think we can all trace it to this, the mystery that further discloses Christ. Christ is the source. He is the substance of this very mystery. And so in Colossians 4, 3, it says, pray for us also that God may open a door for the word to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison, that I may make it clear which I ought to speak. In this context, what is the mystery of Christ? It's the proclamation of the gospel of Christ. That has become more known. But there are several ways in which the mystery of Christ further plays out throughout scripture. And Paul uses it in several ways, but it all, we can say the sum and substance, the source of it all is Christ. It all culminates in him. So one of the mysteries that we see in scripture that Paul talks about, is that Christ, the mystery of Christ, is Christ is the unseen God more fully revealed. And such we see that John says that he, what, tabernacled among us, right? He dwelt among us. The fullness of God dwelt in him bodily. And that idea is tabernacle, God with us. So Christ makes God fully known, revealed. And that's a mystery that was not known until Christ came on the scene. Another thing is the gospel, the fullness of the gospel, that Christ saves not by law, but by grace through faith in him. And the implication is there's one gospel. One gospel that if you're gonna be brought into the church, it comes through believing this gospel. It's the same for Jew, it's the same for Gentile. And so the mystery of Christ is also the gospel revealed, and that's how Paul used it there in Colossians 4. But another mystery of Christ, an implication of Christ being the source and substance of the mystery is in the church, it's comprised of Jew and Gentile as fellow heirs and partakers of the promise. And this is how Paul's using it here. This is what he has in mind, and you can see that in verse six. This is what he's gonna bring us to. Now, Paul is a uniquely one who was commissioned as an apostle to the Gentiles. He really wants them to see this mystery that's now been revealed, that's been revealed to him. He wants them to get it, to have the spiritual insight so they can see these things. In other words, he's praying that their minds be illumined. that their minds understand these things to see God's overall plan is how it's meant to reveal Christ. And that's his desire for us as well, to see Christ, to see the great drama of redemption is not just 66 random books comprised together, but is one big story that's talking about the grand redemption that comes to us in Christ Jesus that culminates in Jew and Gentile as one people of God in the church. That's what he wants us to see. He prays that we also would have our minds illumined. He says, because if you see this was God's overall plan, and this is why Christ was sent, this is why he died for us, to unite these things, that's gonna impact how you live here and now. In fact, Paul's gonna go on for three more chapters to talk about this and the rest of Ephesians. In light of this truth, here's how you live. He says, you really need to understand this. You really need to get God's plan and what he's doing. One, it's gonna help you maintain unity. Colossians 1 verse 9, he says, and so from the day we heard, we've not ceased to pray for you, asking you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and insight, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit of every good work and increasing in the knowledge He says, the more you understand the spiritual insight of what God's doing in His grand theme of redemption, the more you're able to walk in a manner worthy of your calling. That's gonna enable you to live for Him, to proclaim Him to a lost and dying world. That has implication for us today. As you read your Bible, what's your objective? Are you just saying, you know what, I just wanna check mark off my list, I just wanna read it, just see how much I can read. When you hear the word preached, what is your purpose? Our desire should be to see Christ, to understand and comprehend these things, to see God's grand plan of redemption and what he's doing in building his church. And as we see these things, that motivates us on what we are to do. The more you understand what God is doing, the more you'll understand how you fit in that plan. to better strive for unity, to better seek to love one another, to better seek to shine as lights in the world, to better proclaim the gospel to a lost and dying world, knowing this is the only hope of salvation. And so Paul says, this mystery has been revealed to me, and I really want you to get it. Which brings us to the next point. He then talks about the mystery concealed. Verse five, this mystery was not made known to the sons of men in other generations, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. So what Paul is doing here in this verse is what we've just been talking about, the grand plan of redemption. This is what we call progressive revelation. So as revelation progresses, more is made known. In times of old, he says, in the old covenant, the mystery of Christ was not clearly seen. It had not been made known as it was in previous generations. We live in a position where we have the fullness of revelation, where we know how the story goes. We're in a very privileged position. First Peter would say, prophets and angels, they long to look in these things. Prophets sought to inquire who this Christ is gonna be. You know. You have the fullness. What a privileged position. But that wasn't always so. People didn't always have this understanding. And so put yourself maybe in the Israelites in the time of the wilderness when all they had is the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible. Things were not fully revealed to them like we have. Now, that doesn't mean they were absent of these things. There were truths such as the coming Messiah, truths about grace through faith in Christ, truths about the inclusion of the Gentiles, even within embedded in the Pentateuch, in the Old Testament. But he says the mystery was not made known to these previous generations. It wasn't in its fullness. Again, it doesn't mean it was absent, but that it wasn't fully known. These truths we can say were partially disclosed under the old covenant. I like to say they were dimly lit. One commentator likened it to going into a cave. You go into the cave and there are things you can maybe make out dimly, but what the New Testament is, is like the lantern that turns on and reveals everything that was there. And so there's dimly lit, maybe shadowy, or what the Bible calls types, typological things that point to these things. But as revelation progresses and grows, more is revealed. Think about it this way. The seed of the gospel was there in the very beginning, but it wasn't there in its fullness, was it? Such as the coming of Christ. And we see that in the first mention of the gospel, we see that where? Genesis 3.15, good. In Genesis 3.15, God gives the promise that there will be a seed who will crush the serpent's head. That's the seed of the gospel. And as revelation progresses and grows, we can say that seed starts to sprout, the seed starts to develop and grow. So by the time you get to the New Testament and you get to the Gospels, that seed has grown into a massive oak tree. It's really developed, it's really grown, more is known there. But it was there, it was dimly lit, it was there in shadowy form, it was still promised, and for them it was sufficient for what was revealed at that time. But we who have the benefit of hindsight can look back and say, oh, that's how it pointed to Christ. He did indeed crush the head of the serpent, and that was on the cross. Isaiah 7 gives us another seed kind of form about the coming of Christ. Isaiah 7, 14, we know this. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel. Hundreds of years before the Messiah would come, there was the seed of that promise. we can look back and say, oh yeah, that was fulfilled with Mary. Another truth that we see that the Old, the New Testament reveals fully for us, but is a bit more concealed is that salvation is by grace through faith. We see this in Genesis 15, six is in the Abrahamic covenant, Abraham believed the Lord and he counted it to him as righteousness. So there's not salvation isn't, you know, by works and law obedience in the Old Testament, and then by grace through faith in Christ in the new. No, it's always been by grace through faith. And Abraham was given, was proclaimed the promise of the gospel. He, one, had the promise of the seed who will crush the serpent's head, but he also said, God told him, by your seed, all the nations will be blessed. Abraham believed God. and it was credited to him as righteousness. Now he doesn't know the fullness that that will be Jesus Christ who's gonna die on a cross and be raised from the dead like we have, but progressive revelation reveals that. Another thing is inclusion of the Gentiles into the covenant. Part of the Abrahamic promise was all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Not merely only your family, Abraham, but all the families, including the Gentiles. It's for all the nations, in other words. Isaiah 11.10 says, in the day of the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal for the peoples. Of him shall the nations inquire and his resting place shall be glorious. Isaiah 60, another allusion to this. Gentiles were one day promised to be included into the covenant people of God. Inclusion of the Gentiles has always been part of God's plan. That's just become more fully known in the New Testament. It was contained and concealed in the old, but becomes more known in the new. And so he says, and has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets. So Paul now shifts from that which is concealed to that which is now fully revealed. In the grand scheme of redemption, as progressive revelation unfolds, God is gradually revealing more and more about these things. Things that were dimly lit, things that were only shadowy become more clear. As revelation progressively develops, things become more known. And what happens is revelation builds upon itself. And so the truths Paul is proclaiming throughout the New Testament were in seed form contained in the Old. Yet they were dimly lit. They were types. They were shadows. And he says, with the holy apostles and prophets, now it's been revealed. The holy apostles and prophets here is very similar to what we see in chapter two. They're New Testament prophets. They're the apostles, then it's been revealed to them, right? So that's why Paul can say in Ephesians two, that this foundation is built on the apostles and prophets. because God's revealed this to them. He's given them this New Testament revelation that fully reveal this mystery. How did it happen? By the Spirit. And so we see another example of this, which New Testament illumines the old. It makes us see things that were there that maybe we didn't see in fullness, such as, When we read Adam and we read that his testing period in the garden, that he was to obey and merit life, Romans 5 tells us that Adam was just a type. He was just a type of the one who was to come, namely Jesus, who comes as the true and greater Adam, the better representative. And what does he do? He perfectly obeys on behalf of his people so that he can earn life. He was a type, he was a pitcher. It was there in the old, but it wasn't fully known until later progressive revelation. And so the gospel was proclaimed in the Old Testament. It was just not as clear as it is now in the new. Galatians 3 can say this, the scriptures foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preach the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, and you shall all the nations be blessed. How did Abraham hear the gospel? Well, through the types and shadows and promises of that time as it was revealed, the gospel was preached to him. There will be a son, a seed who will bless the nations Abraham believed. God also gave that a further revelation, a picture to Abraham to see. Let me develop this a little bit more, he says. Go sacrifice your son. He gave him a picture. He says, okay, sacrifice your son, send him up there, your son, your only son, the one whom you love, as if he's pouring salt in the wounds. And what happens is we know the story, we know how it ends, we know it was just a test, but what happens is God provides a substitute. God provides a grand substitute, so Isaac, his son, the one whom the promise is gonna go through, doesn't have to die. And instead what happens, God provides a ram. And the scripture tells us this ram was just a type. It was a picture. Years later, John the Baptist would point to Jesus and say, behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Here's the substitute. Here's the one who's gonna come. Here's the son of God who is the one whom he loves, his only son. And there will be no substitute for him, for he's a substitute. As the fullness of revelation becomes more clearly known, these things become more perceived. And the New Testament is the final stage of God's revelation. It reveals that which was only dimly lit, that which was only shadowy in form, now it's clear. And this helps us as we start thinking about these things. The principle of interpretation is the New Testament makes the Old Testament clear. Augustine said this, the new is the old concealed, and the old is the new revealed. So from beginning to end, there's organic unity throughout all the scriptures. And as revelation progresses, more becomes known. And we want to allow scripture to interpret scripture, right? And that's what Paul's saying. I have the revelation that interprets the old and makes it clear. Practical application. Therefore, when you hear preachers say, we need to unhitch the Old Testament. Wrong. They go together. Nor do we give man-made constraints on the interpretation of scripture to say, you know what? We only want to interpret the Old in light of how it was given. Pretend like the Old New Testament never even existed. No, they're both Christian scriptures. We interpret them together. We treat them as Christian. This is what Jesus said. talking to experts of the law who claim to really understand the Old Testament. He talks to the Pharisees and the experts of the day. He says this, you search the scriptures because you think in them you have eternal life, but it's they that bear witness about me. Scriptures are about Christ and as revelation progresses, it reveals him. In Christ, we see the fullness of the scriptures. We see the things that were maybe previously concealed or hidden or in dimly lit form. Now the types and shadows have been fulfilled. They've been revealed. Everything they pointed to is here in Christ. So he is the source. He is a substance of all the scriptures. He is the mystery revealed. And it's been revealed by his holy apostles and prophets through the spirit, right? This wasn't their own interpretation. They weren't giving their own opinions. Peter can say this, knowing first of all, that no prophecy of scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. This is why we can say that scripture is breathed out by God. It's inspired. through these holy apostles and prophets. And Paul's saying, I'm one of them. I'm one whom God's revealed these things, who's made the mystery known. And I pray as you read these, you'll understand my insight. You'll start to see these things and treasure them and see the mystery of Christ. But now Paul explicitly states what that mystery is, which brings us to the last point, mystery revealed. Look at verse six. The mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. Some translations might add the phrase to be specific, right? Let me specifically state what I mean by the mystery of Christ here. It's Jew and Gentile as one in the church. Now, as we said, it was previewed that Gentiles would be grafted in. be part, but the Old Testament saw that God would bring in the Gentiles into Israel, but it also just showed that they would only be doing so as proselytes, as second-class citizens. But what was concealed, what is new, what is now revealed is that the Gentiles are not just proselytes. Right? For them to become a part of Israel, they had to go through circumcision and to be considered Jewish. But what's new, what's the mystery revealed is this, Jew and Gentile are equal status. Jew and Gentile are one. And for the Jew, this is absolutely revolutionary. This is unthinkable. They were the enemies. They were the unclean. And now Paul's going to talk about three ways in which this mystery is revealed about the Gentiles that was not previously known. And it's this, notice the text, fellow heirs, members of the body, and partakers of the promise. James Montgomery Boyce says this, it is true of course that God announced his intention of saving Gentiles as well as Jews from the beginning. But before the coming of Christ, it was understood that this would only happen as Gentiles became Jews through proselytizing. A Gentile could approach God of Israel only as a proselyte, Israelite. He had to become a member of the covenant people through the rite of circumcision. The new thing revealed to Paul is that this approach is no longer necessary. Christ has broken down the wall, making one new people out of the two previously divided people. So now both Jew and Gentile approach God equally on a new basis. Notice first, the mystery is that Gentiles are fellow heirs. Fellow heirs, when you think of that word heir, you think of one who's entitled to the inheritance. We talked about this briefly in chapter one where he says we've been adopted as sons. The importance of sonship is you have right to the inheritance. And so Abraham was given a promise that him and his offspring would be heirs of the kingdom. Romans 4.13, for the promise to Abraham and to his offspring would be that he would be heir of the world. It didn't come through the law, but through the righteousness through faith. And Paul's saying, look, now the Gentiles are adopted into the family. They're considered sons and they're heirs of the kingdom that was promised to Abraham. Romans 8, remember, Paul's given this unique revelation. He says this in Romans 8, for all who are led by the Spirit are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you've received the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit, we are children of God, and if children, what? Heirs. Heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may be glorified with him. He goes, the great secret is this, is now Gentiles are included in the church as fellow heirs of the gospel. Heirs of the inheritance. In Galatians 3.29, if you are in Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring heirs, according to the promise. What was revolutionary is that the Jews thought they were heirs of the covenant merely by their physical birth to Abraham, merely because of their blood lineage. And Paul says, no, actually it's by faith, by faith in Christ. And now the Jews are part of that. They're saved the same way, by grace through faith in Christ. And as a result, it's through Christ you're a fellow heir. Gentiles are co-heirs of salvation with the people of God. And they get the great inheritance of the world, of the new heavens and new earth. But there's another revolutionary thing about the mystery of God, which is this, members of the same body. Jew and Gentile are like our fellow members. They are equal standing of the one body, which is the church. For years, there was the dividing wall. They lived as two different people. Jews lived separate lives from the Gentiles. They saw them as unclean dogs. And they were despised by the Jews. But he goes, but now in Christ, the dividing wall's down. Christ is our peace. He's broken down that wall of hostility. He brought down the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that ceremonial law that stood as that division. He broke it down by fulfilling it. And now in Christ, there's one body. There's not two people. The distinction between Jew and Gentile has been forever abolished. There is neither slave nor free, male or female, Jew or Gentile, you're all one in Christ. There's no second-class Christian. If you're one in Christ, you belong to the body. If Christ is your head, you're part of the body. He says, therefore, we have unity. Therefore, whatever the hostility that existed between these two parties, Christ is broken down and there's unity and fellowship, despite the backgrounds, despite the differences. Right, and the same is true of us. We come from all different walks of life, differences, backgrounds, yet in Christ, we're made one. And Paul says, if you really get that, you'll strive for unity, you'll strive for peace. In 1 John 1.3, he says, that which we've seen and heard, we proclaim to you so that you may have fellowship with us, and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and the Son. We proclaim the gospel to you for the sake of unity. John Stott says, this shared privilege is both in Jesus Christ, because it is enjoyed equally by all believers, whether Jew or Gentile, provided that we are in union with Christ and through the gospel, because the gospel proclamation includes this unity, so it makes available to those who believe. To sum up, we may say that the mystery of Christ is the complete union of Jew and Gentile with each other through the union of both with Christ. We have a dual union. We're united to Christ, and we're united to one another in one body. Gentiles are fellow members of the body, and there's one body of Christ, and that's the church. Notice what else. And partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. As we said, Abraham was given great promises, promises of land, promises of people, promises of inheritance, and promises of rest. These were seen in the covenants of promise. These were covenants that were revealed in the Old Testament scriptures. And the only way for Gentile to be part, as we said, was to become a Jewish proselyte, to be circumcised and become Jewish. But they weren't truly Jewish in the Jews' eyes. They were still Gentiles. But the mystery of Christ is that the Gentiles are now full partakers of the covenant promises. In other words, that which was promised to Abraham is yours if you're in Christ. They're equally welcome to the table. Before, the Gentiles had to hope for the scraps from the dogs as dogs, scraps from the table. But now they're welcome to the table. Now they're part of it. And the one condition is faith in Christ. That's what unites them both. And Paul had already said, remember, you were separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ, you who were once far off have been what? Brought near. by the blood of Christ." In other words, now you are a partaker of the covenants of promise. That which would apply to Abraham, which was promised to him, is guaranteed to you. Genesis 3.14, so that in Christ Jesus, the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles. that we might receive the promised spirit through faith. And he goes, if you're in Christ, then you're Abraham's offsprings, heirs according to the promise. You're a partaker of the very things that were promised to Abraham. Even though you're not Jewish, even though you can't trace your bloodline back to Abraham, if you have faith in Christ, that's what unites you to Abraham. That's what makes you a child of Abraham, because you have faith like Father Abraham. We have a great inheritance that waits for us. It's an inheritance that Christ earned. It's an inheritance that is great. It's not a literal plot of land out there in the ancient Near East. It's a new heavens and new earth. It's far greater. And ultimately we know that's what Abraham was looking forward to. Hebrews 11 says, all these died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, having acknowledged that they were strangers and aliens on this earth. For people who speak through us make it clear they were seeking a homeland. But if they had been thinking of that land from which they've gone out, they'd have an opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country that is a heavenly one, Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. Beloved, if you're in Christ, you're an heir, you're a member of the body, you're a partaker of the promises, and that's where your citizenship lies as well. That heavenly city is gonna come down one day from the heavens, the new Jerusalem, and you'll be a partaker as well. But notice how that comes. Look at the text. through the gospel. To be an heir, to be a member, to be a partaker, is you must embrace Christ through the gospel. It's not by earning your way. It's not by seeing if your good outweighs your bad. It's not by comparing yourself to other people. It comes through the gospel. What is the gospel? The gospel is the announcement of the good news that God saves sinners through the perfect life, death, and resurrection of Christ, that though he died, he was raised again, and he ascended up into heaven. And if you believe in his perfect work, rather than resting in your own righteousness, you will be saved, you will be forgiven, and you'll be credited with his righteousness as well. It's through him you're a member, you're an heir, and a partaker. That's what brings you into the church. That's what makes you part of these blessings that Paul is speaking of. And this is what all of redemptive history has been leading to. God is at work in his people, and this is the focal point of all human history. Are you part of it? the outworking of the covenants, the accounts of progressive revelation, all that which culminates ultimately in the new covenant, which is new and better because it comes through the blood of Christ for the atonement of our sins. Redemptive history is leading us all to that, to embrace Christ, to be part of that one people of God. So again, are you part of that one people? Are you part of the body? Are you a partaker? Are you a member of that body? Are you an heir? If you're not, you are still a stranger to the promise. You have no inheritance. And what awaits for you isn't great glory, but condemnation. For the wages of sin is death. God demands absolute perfection. One sin is worthy of condemnation. Yet the standard to get into heaven is absolute perfection. You have to do this and live. Love God, love neighbor perfectly. And if you fail, one sins worthy of hell. The only hope, the only hope there is, is the good news of the gospel that Jesus came, bore humanity, put on humanity, obeyed the law perfectly in your place, earned the righteousness you need to get into heaven. And in so doing, he became your substitute. The substitute that was pictured as a lamb before, that ran before Abraham. who would go in his place. And the reason he did that is because the wages of sin is death. When we sin, death is required. But Christ went to the cross, he died a sinner's death on our behalf so that we can be forgiven, so that God can be just. He can't just sweep our sins under the carpet. He must punish sin and he did so fully in Christ for those who embrace him by faith. But he didn't just die, he rose again. He ascended, and He is coming again. And right now, He is being patient with you. If you do not believe in Him, He's being patient so that you will repent and embrace the gospel. But there will be a day when His patience runs out, when He does return, and by then it'll be too late. So turn to Christ. May today be the day of life and belief. But if you are an heir, if you are a member and partaker, part of the body of Christ, ask yourself this, do you treasure the privilege of being part of the church? Or do you just treat it like a little social club you come to once a week? If you're a member, if you're an heir, if you're a partaker of the promise, do you pursue unity? Do you pursue loving your neighbor? Do you pursue proclaiming the gospel to a lost and dying world? We have been entrusted as fellow heirs, like Paul is, we've been given a stewardship of gospel proclamation to proclaim the gospel to the unsaved, to bring people into that fold. And God does it through the gospel. And we bring them in and we disciple. And as we do that, Christ is building his church. As the gospel goes out, he's bringing in those stones and he's fitting and shaping them and molding them into that wall, which is the holy temple of God. He's done that for you. And maybe he's had to chip off some of those sharp edges to fit you in. That's part of sanctification. And we need the word, we need the body in order for us to grow and be conformed into the likeness of Christ. So do you treasure the church? I pray after this, Paul's prayer is, I pray that you really get this. I pray that you see the fullness of revelation at all pinnacles at this point. The mystery has been revealed. It's pinnacles in Christ. Jew and Gentile one, fellow heirs, members, and partakers of the promise. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, for this time and this great truth that has been revealed, that's been culminating all the way from Genesis all the way to this point, that you are building your church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Lord, we thank you for men like Paul, whom you have used as your instruments, who've been commissioned with the stewardship of revealing the mystery to us. Lord, help us not to take for granted the word that further reveals this mystery to us. Help us not to take for granted the great privilege it is to be part of the church. As imperfect as it is, It is the body of Christ. Lord, help us to love it, help us to grow in it, help us to be committed to it for the glory of Christ. In his name we pray, amen.