Lord God Almighty, our Father who is in heaven, Lord, we are thankful for the opportunity to come together this evening, O God. We are thankful for all of thy mercies toward us this week, O God, for thy providences, for thy government, and for thy care of us, thy people, O Lord. thy blood-bought children, O God. Lord, we praise thee and we exalt thee, O Lord. We know that we stand in thy presence, O God, before the presence of the Almighty, but who has now been made Father to us through thy Son, Jesus Christ, who is our Lord, O God. We thank thee for this building. We thank Thee for these people who are gathered here together. We also thank Thee for all the rest of our church, Lord local, who are at home and were unable to come this evening, O Lord, and we do ask for a blessing upon them, God. Lord, we are thankful that we can approach Thy throne, the throne of grace, boldly through the blood of Jesus Christ, our Lord and our Savior. Lord, we do thank Thee and lift up to Thee this local body, O God, R-O-P-C. Lord, we ask, O God, that all of those who are hurting, who are struggling, who are sick, who are recovering from various illnesses, from medical procedures, who are getting ready to undergo medical procedures, O God. We pray for them and ask, O God, as their Father and our Father, that Thy hand would touch them, O God. Thou wouldst bless them, Thou wouldst strengthen them, Thou wouldst grant them faith and healing, O God. Give the doctors wisdom as they work on them, O Lord. and they work with them, O God. Please restore their bodies and their minds and their spirits, O God, that they would serve Thee in righteousness and in truth. They would be strengthened to do so, O God. We thank Thee for our pastor, for our elders, for our deacons, O Lord. Please bless these men. Please grant to them strength, grant to them wisdom, grant to them discernment, grant to them boldness, O God, as they serve, lead, guide Thy people, O God, through them. Lord, we thank Thee for our denomination, the OPC, O God. We thank Thee for our presbytery, O Lord. Please bless the OPC, O God. Help her to remain faithful in the midst of chaos that is in this world, O Lord, knowing that she stands strong upon the rock, upon Christ, who is her Lord. Please raise up ministers in our denomination. Please raise up godly elders and deacons and bring in families, O Lord. Please bless the work of mission churches in our denomination. But, O God, we do also pray for the Church Catholic throughout the world. Thy people, wherever she is gathered, O God. Lord, where she is in error, please correct her. Where she is compromised, please purge her, O God. where she is being persecuted, please rise up and defend her, Lord. Please destroy her enemies either in the cross of Jesus Christ through faith and repentance or by removing them from her midst, O Lord, that she would not be assaulted any longer. Please strengthen her where she is being persecuted and grant her faith, O Lord. Lord, please give increase to the labor of her hands, O Lord. Plant churches, raise up ministers, and call in all of thy elect. Lord, we pray for our state and for our nation, for the magistrates and the rulers who have been appointed and placed above us by Thy hand, O God. We do pray for them. Please grant to them repentance. Please grant to them faith. Please grant to them a true heart to serve Thee. Lord, to serve this people in the fear of thee. Lord, help them to make just laws, laws which are in accordance with thy word, which are in accordance with thy character, O God. Please restore this nation, restore in this nation a sense of the presence of Christ through the Holy Spirit, O God. And O Lord, please do away, abolish abortion from this land. Remove that scourge from us. and restore to our people sanity and biblical norms of sexuality and gender, O God. Lord, we pray now, Lord, asking for illumination as we open Thy Word, asking, O God, that we would be strengthened, we would be edified, we would be taught out of Thy Word by Thy Spirit, the same Spirit which did inspire it would also open our minds and our hearts to understand it, to comprehend it, and to receive it. And ultimately, Lord, to put it into practice, oh God, that we might not be mere hearers of the word, but also doers of the word by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, we pray all of these things in Christ's holy name. Amen. You may be seated. We will again be in Ephesians chapter one. It was my goal last week to get through verse 14, but we only made it through verse six, so I'm going to attempt, by God's grace, to get us all the way through 14 this evening. But to keep it in context, we'll be reading verses three through 14. Hear now the word of the Lord, Ephesians chapter one, verses three through 14. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, by which he made us accepted in the beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace, which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence. having made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure which he purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth in him. In him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of his glory. In him you also trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of his glory. Thus far, the reading of God's word, may he bless it. As we saw last week, looking specifically at verses three through six, we discussed the great work of Christ towards his church and God gathering a people unto himself in the person of Jesus Christ, that we have been predestined to be holy, to be blameless before him in love, that we are made to be to the praise of his glory and of his grace, that we are to be, as it were, monuments of the love of God extended to us in the Lord Jesus Christ. So now we will jump right into verse seven, where we come across a very important A phrase, redemption through his blood. How did this so great a salvation, as we read about in Hebrews 2.3, how did so great a salvation, everything we just read about in verses three through six, every blessing in Christ come to be made ours. How does that happen? How are we made, how are we graced, how are we accepted in Christ, in the beloved? Well, Paul tells us in verse seven. In him, the beloved one, Christ, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. So though, as we said last week, we have not yet received the fullness of our adoption, the redemption of our bodies, we have been purchased from what some commentators say is the slave market of sin. Though we do not yet have it fullness, yet we have been purchased from the slave market of sin. We have been redeemed. Now whenever we hear this word redemption, our ears should prick up and we should listen carefully. Redemption is one of the most important words in the Bible. And when we hear it, when we read it, we should immediately think of its Old Testament usage. We should hear it in light of the rest of Scripture and not only in the New Testament sense. The great act of redemption in the Hebrew Bible, as we all know, was God's redemption of Israel out of bondage, out of bondage and slavery in Egypt. God had redeemed the children of Israel, as Exodus 6-6 tells us, from under the burden of the Egyptians. With an outstretched arm and with great judgments, God redeemed his people out of Egypt. He led them in the Exodus out of Egypt into where? Into the promised land. His great judgments fell upon their enemies, and with great effort, that's what that word arm means here, He redeemed them. He redeemed them from their enemies. The judgment that they deserved as sinners, no doubt, fell upon their enemies, and they were brought by God Himself, by Yahweh, out of that bondage into the promised land. The Israelites were commanded, as we remember, to put blood from the Passover lamb upon their doorposts. God, in his judgment, would then pass over their homes. and his judgment would fall only on their enemies, and their enemies did not have the Lamb's blood upon their door. So it would pass over them with the Lamb's blood on their door, and it would fall upon their enemies who did not have the Lamb's blood. The Lamb was sacrificed in their stead. The Lamb was sacrificed in their place. Its blood was shed to deliver them from God's judgment, that his judgment might pass over them. When Jesus was on the Mount of Transfiguration, he was speaking with Moses and Elijah about his decease, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. We read this in Luke 9, 31. The word translated deceased is literally his exodus. He's speaking to them about his exodus that he's about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Jesus went to Jerusalem to become the true Passover lamb sacrificed for us, as Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians 5-7. Paul says that Christians have redemption through his, that's Christ's, blood. They have the forgiveness of sins through the blood of the Lamb. Christ leads his people out of bondage in a new, a true, a greater exodus. Now, we were not in bondage to Pharaoh, but rather to Satan, sin, and to death. In Christ, the church has been purchased back to God by the price of Christ's own blood. I think it was Jonathan Edwards who talked about, if you ever doubt the love of God for you, Look to the blood of Christ. That's the price. That's what you and I, as believers in Christ, that's what the church was worth, the very blood of Jesus Christ himself. Sinclair Ferguson does a wonderful job, I think, summating this connection. He says, quote, he has dealt with our guilt to bring us pardon. He has overcome the cosmic forces of darkness which bound us. He has died to the reign of sin that mastered us and risen in triumph over all his and our enemies. Now, by his spirit, he leads us into the promised land of freedom in life, fellowship with God, and communion with his people." End quote. That's the exodus out of Egypt was typifying, was picturing for us this greater, this true exodus that we have in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ went to Jerusalem in order to complete his exodus. He had an exodus to do in Jerusalem the cross and the resurrection and bringing his people out of captivity to sin and Satan into the promised land, a fellowship with himself in the body of Christ. In Jeremiah, we recall this when Pastor Joel was teaching through Jeremiah on Wednesday nights, God told Judah in chapter 16 that his redemption out of captivity, his redemption of them out of captivity in Babylon would be so great, would be so monumental, so earth-shattering, that people would stop talking about God's bringing them out of exile in Egypt. They wouldn't even talk about it anymore. Their exile, being brought out of exile in Babylon would go past All the glory that they used to recall being brought out of Egypt into the promised land. That's an amazing thing. Well, the New Testament gives us no prescription to celebrate either God's redemption of his people out of Egypt or his returning his people out of captivity in Babylon into land. The New Testament doesn't tell us to celebrate either one of those things. But we are given, as the church, as the people of God, as Christ's body, we are given a holy day, on the first day of every week, which commemorates our redemption in Christ. You and I might not think of the exodus out of Egypt every day. We probably should think of it more, especially in our Bible reading, we see all the connections all throughout Scripture. We might not think of the exodus out of Egypt every day, but as Christians, we are to live in light of the reality of our exodus in Christ every day. We are to live out of that exodus in Christ that we have every single day. Being a forgiven sinner doesn't just mean that we won't go to hell. No, Paul says here it means redemption. redemption through His blood. It means receiving the riches of God's grace in Christ, in all their fullness. The way many professing Christians live, though, you'd think that God was a pauper, that he had no riches to give. There's little to no difference between them and a pagan, them and an unbeliever, them and someone who doesn't profess faith in Christ. There's no holiness. There's no blamelessness. There's no love. There's no sense of living quorum deo, of living before the face of God. Once, while Spurgeon was walking to church in London, he was walking to the Metropolitan Tabernacle, he saw a drunkard laying there on the sidewalk. This man was there every day, and he'd been drunk, and he's drunk right then, and he sees Spurgeon, the great preacher, walking towards him, and he said, sir, he jumped up and ran over to Spurgeon, he said, sir, I am one of your converts. Well, Spurgeon looked at him and responded, that must be true, sir, because you're clearly not one of God's converts. God chose us for holiness, didn't he? He chose us for holiness. He predestined us for adoption. He redeemed us for the forgiveness of our sins. That doesn't look like living in ungodliness. It doesn't look like living in rebellion. It doesn't look like living in the practice of sin. It looks like living as those who are redeemed from sin. For liberty, the Son has set us free from slavery to sin, Satan, and death. To be a forgiven sinner. means knowing that God is not against you, but rather for you in the person of Jesus Christ. In Christ, God has blotted out all of our sins, we read in Acts 3.19, and he's removed them from himself as far as the east is from the west, we read in Psalm 103, verse 12. Our redemption, in other words, is a settled fact, a settled fact. It's never to be altered. Christ atoned for our sin and rebellion with the price of his own precious blood. Not to leave us as we were, not to leave his people in Egypt, not to leave his people in bondage to sin and Satan and death, but to make us free to live unto God as forgiven, adopted sons, as we saw in the text. last week. Redemption means that we are not our own, in other words. Being redeemed doesn't just mean you're forgiven, it does mean that, but it also means that you are not your own. It means we belong to our Lord Jesus Christ. It means we've been bought with a price, and therefore we are to glorify God, not just with our mind, but also in our body and in our spirit, which are God's, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6, 20. This is a precious, precious truth indeed. But as Dr. Hamilton says, quote, it is one thing to confess the truth of the blood redemption of Christ, and another thing to live as a blood-redeemed, forgiven sinner, glorifying God concretely in and with our bodies, end quote. This, again, this truth, this doctrine that Paul is laying out in the book of Ephesians is earthy, it's practical, its effect is felt, its effect is seen, its effect is experienced in every aspect of our lives, or at least it's intended to be. How we engage with others in the church. how we view our roles and our duties and our obligations and our privileges in marriage, how we raise our children, how we view our vocation and employment, society, civics, art, and spiritual warfare should all be seen in light of this great truth and lived in light of this great truth. Being the blood-bought children of God, in other words, is holistic. It's far greater than just having a vague hope for when we die. It's far greater than that. It affects how we live now. Redemption through the blood of Christ is not just some fundamental of the faith. It's not just a fundamental of the faith. Listen to how Calvin explains Paul's large views of divine grace. The apostle feels himself unable to celebrate, in a proper manner, the goodness of God, and desires that the contemplation of it would occupy the minds of men till they are entirely lost in admiration. How desirable is it, then, that men were deeply impressed with the riches of that grace which is here, Does that sound like just a mere fundamental, something we must make sure that a church checks off, we believe in the atonement, the forgiveness of sins through the blood of Jesus Christ? Is that all it is? It is that, it's an important fundamental of the faith. But if we boil it down to it only being that, and it doesn't affect our lives, we want to make sure we fight that churches are preaching this, and teaching it, and believing it, and have a statement of faith on it, but we don't care how it affects our lives, it doesn't affect the way that we operate in the kitchen, or at work, or while we're driving, then it's of no value. We've decreased it down to the level of just something on a checkbox, and we check it off. No. It should affect everything. It should cause us to have boldness when we approach God, that we've been redeemed. We are his special, peculiar people. We've been redeemed and purchased with a price. We are not our own. We belong to God and Christ, not as slaves, but as adopted sons. The blood of God's only begotten son was the price for our ransom. His blood not only cleanses us, but it empowers us to live as we've been predestined to be, his people. Now let's look at verse eight, which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence. What is being referred to here? What is the reference of which? It is no doubt the riches of God's grace. God made the riches of his grace to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence. Okay, well, what does it mean for God to make his riches abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence? Well, there's two main ways that most commentators understand this. First, God, in the exercise of His wisdom and prudence, has abounded toward us, in all wisdom, or in His exercise of His wisdom and prudence, He has abounded in grace toward us. That's the first way of reading it. Second way is, in the giving of His grace, God also causes us to abound in wisdom and prudence. Now, both are, in a sense, true. Paul, as he often does, is speaking with fullness. I'm gonna have to try to limit him down, I don't think. However, it's best to understand this phrase, bounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, with what the Apostle says in verse 9, which we'll get to in a minute, having made known to us the mystery of his will. In other words, in the gospel, in our redemption through Christ's blood, God has revealed to us what was previously hidden. He's let us in on his wisdom and on his insight and his prudence. The Greek word underlying this word prudence which some translations will render as insight, others as prudence. is an important one, and it pertains not only to the intellect, but also to the affections and to the actions, not just the mind, but also how we feel and how we live. Charles Hodge said this in his commentary about this word, he says, quote, it includes all that is meant by spiritual discernment. It is the apprehension of the spiritual excellence of the things of God, and the answering affection toward them in the subject who receives it, end quote. In other words, in the gospel, by redemption through Christ's blood, God reveals the riches of his grace to us, both in wisdom, that's objective revelation, and in prudence, or as the ESV renders it, insight. Understanding, that's the subjective apprehension of that grace that has been revealed to us and shown to us in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Gospel revelation, revelation that comes to us through the gospel of Jesus Christ, is not ineffectual, in other words. It's not impotent. It does something. It's transformational. When the revelation of the riches of God's grace in Christ abound toward us, when they're caused to abound toward us, it is transformational of who we are, how we think, and how we feel and act. It's not like general revelation and creation, which everyone sees. Everyone walking down the street, whether they call themselves an atheist or not, sees the stars, they see the mountains, they see the trees, and they know that God exists. They know that he is Lord, that he is powerful. And though they are left without excuse, as Romans 1.20 tells us, people still reject, they still suppress, and they still ignore the God who reveals himself in the created order and in providence. No, that's not what gospel revelation is like at all, where it's revealed to subjects and they can take it or leave it. Those, rather, upon whom the riches of God's grace abound towards are also made capable of understanding and responding to it in Christ. It abounds toward them in all wisdom and prudence. We can also understand the phrase and the other sense that we mentioned earlier. The abounding of the riches of God's grace toward us in Christ was also a display of his wisdom and prudence. That's also true. Doug Wilson reminds us, quote, God blesses, but with wisdom. He gives, but with understanding. His grace is consistent with all wisdom and knowledge. What are we to understand by that? What are we to understand by what Paul is doing here? I think that this is a good takeaway. Redemption through the blood of Christ was not plan B. God redeeming His people, causing His grace to abound towards His people through the redemption which is in Christ and through His blood was not plan B, as some of our brothers in Christ and sisters in Christ believe and teach. that the plan A was the Mosaic system, the Mosaic economy, it was the sacrifices and some form of works righteousness that they read into the Old Testament. But that didn't work out, so God came up with plan B and he's going to do this side thing with the church, with those he's going to redeem through the blood of Christ and his Son. No, the redemption through the blood of Christ was not plan B. The riches of God's grace in and through Christ was not some afterthought on God's part. It was his plan all along, in other words. The redemption of God's people in Christ is consonant with his wisdom and prudence. It's a display of his wisdom and prudence if we read the text this way. It's not contrary or additional to God's wisdom and prudence. As we would say, being a Reformed church, it's part of God's decree. God decreed to save a people this way. Redemption through his blood, as we know, is not a new doctrine. Rather, it was prophesied. It was typified. It was signified from the very beginning that God would save his people through the blood of his son. Genesis 315, God tells the serpent, and I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise your head, and he shall bruise your heel. Paul builds up the authority of the gospel with these words, wisdom and prudence. He wants Christians to rest upon it with what Calvin said, unshakable confidence. We want to know, he wants the believers to know this was not plan B, this was not a new idea of God's. This is part of God's decree. God is not stingy in giving his grace. He lavishes it upon us in all wisdom and prudence, making it abound toward us. But God, nor does God lavish grace upon us flippantly. He gives it according to his wisdom and his prudence, enlightening our minds and vivifying our hearts, bringing us to life thereby. It's effectual. Okay, well what does he enlighten our minds to? What is the wisdom and prudence that Christians are made to know and to delight in? Verse 9 says, having made known to us the mystery of his will. As you can imagine, with a word like mystery, this phrase has given commentators no small trouble and certainly given them much to write about and argue about. What is meant then by mystery? Well, if we go back to the Greek, you know what the word is in Greek? Mystery. So that doesn't help us too much, does it? We have to understand this word, the way we're gonna understand what is meant here by mystery is to understand this word in the way the Bible uses it, and more specifically, the way Paul uses it, even in this letter. He uses the word mystery six times in this letter. In verse nine, as we're reading, the mystery of his will, in chapter three, three, four, and nine, he says, by revelation, he made known to me the mystery. He refers to the mystery of Christ, to the fellowship of the mystery. In chapter five, he says, this is a great mystery, speaking about marriage, concerning Christ and the church. And finally, in chapter six, he says, he refers to the mystery of the gospel in verse 19 of chapter six. Well, some commentators have pointed out that at first glance, if you were to go through all of those different occurrences of the word mystery in the book of Ephesians, It seems kind of like Paul's referencing many different mysteries, but these are all simply facets, aspects of the one great mystery revealed in Christ, which Paul refers to in verse 10, which we will get to in a moment. In verse 10 we read, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times, he, God, might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth in him. So in the Bible, a mystery, when we see that word mystery, it's not something that cannot be known. It's not some kind of puzzle that's just sitting there waiting to be solved, waiting to be figured out. That's kind of how we use the word mystery in our English language. But that's not how the Bible uses the word mystery. It's not how Paul uses the word mystery. It does not refer to something that is unknowable. but to something that cannot be known apart from divine revelation. Hodge puts it this way, quote, mystery means something which being undiscoverable by us can be known only as it is revealed in the gospel, end quote. And this is how Paul uses the word mystery. He actually uses it 16 times throughout all of his writings in the epistles. We'll just look at two examples. In Romans 16, verses 25 to 27, we read this. Now to him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, kept secret since the world began, but now made manifest, and by the prophetic scriptures made known unto all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God for obedience to the faith, to God alone wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. So we see this connection there. He uses this word mystery, the revelation of the mystery. It's not something that can't be known. It has been made known for Paul. Paul is saying that it's been revealed. Well, where has it been revealed? It's been manifest by the prophetic scriptures unto all nations. It's a mystery that is revealed to us and teaches us how we are to live. It's revealed in the scriptures. It's prophesied of. One other place we can look at is 1 Timothy 3.16, where Paul says, and without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. So we see that a biblical mystery, quote-unquote, is not something that we can never know, but something that we do not have access to unless it is revealed to us. And this mystery that Paul refers to throughout his epistles, has been revealed in the coming of the God-Man in the Incarnation. We're coming up on Advent here pretty soon in the next few weeks. We're coming up on Christmas where we celebrate the Incarnation of the God-Man, our one and only Mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ. He has revealed this mystery in becoming flesh. He's revealed this mystery in being incarnate in the God-man Christ Jesus. This mystery has also been revealed in the prophetic scriptures and in the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ toward faith and obedience. God has been pleased to reveal this mystery to the household of faith. He has revealed it to his apostles and through them to us, to you and to I, to the church. The church is made up of those who have had this mystery revealed to them. Now, it's true, the mystery of the gospel is something far too great for us to ever fully comprehend. It's a mystery in that sense. But, according to his good pleasure, the text tells us, which he purposed in himself, God has been pleased to reveal it to us. So we shouldn't stand askance from it. We shouldn't stand back from it, going, well, I'll never know this mystery. This word mystery makes me feel uncomfortable, and so I stand away from it. I'm not ever going to be able to understand God, so I won't even try. No, according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in himself, God has revealed the content of that mystery to us. This should fill us with great humility, with great humility and great joy. Some people would stand back and go, well, it's too great for me to even look into. Rather, we should say, no, God was pleased to reveal this to us. It should be our delight to receive wisdom and prudence, to know the content of this mystery. God was manifest in the flesh, in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. This happens to all of us, no doubt, to differing degrees, but I think especially we are prone to it as Reformed Christians, where we make Christianity too complex. We get all of our doctrinal ducks in a row, and we really like doctrine, and we really like studying the Bible, and those are definitely good things. But as profound as Christianity is, it is also simple. Spurgeon described the Bible as a place where the elephant can swim and the lamb can wade. As profound as Christianity is, and you could spend a lifetime, 10,000, 10 million lifetimes, an eternity of lifetimes chasing down the glories of God and Scripture, and you'd never even get to the foothills of that Everest. Still, it's profoundly simple. Christ came for us. Christ, God has lavished upon us his grace and his mercy and his love to us in the person of Jesus Christ and has united us to him. Yes, we cannot climb up to God, but here's the simple part. God has been pleased to descend to us in the person of Jesus Christ. Not to leave us where we were, but to bring us up to himself. Calvin said this, quote, the Ephesians are thus led to consider that Christ has been made known, and the gospel preached to them, not because they deserved any such thing, but because it pleased God, end quote. We get so hung up on that. Well, I don't deserve to know these mysteries. Well, I don't deserve the grace. Well, yeah, that's not even up for discussion. Of course you don't. We have to move past that to maturity, right? We have to move on from there. to receiving what God has for us and what he has given us in Christ. The very thing which angels desire to look into has been revealed to us in the gospel, has been preached to us through Holy Spirit-inspired prophets and apostles. We should rejoice at that. We should rejoice at that. God has determined to accomplish something in Christ. based on nothing other than his own desire and good pleasure. Period. Full stop. Well, why did God do it this way? I don't deserve it. Yeah, but he did it. He wanted to. It was according to his good pleasure and his purpose, his decree. To what end? To reveal the mystery of Christ and the gospel to us. Amen. Let us rejoice in that. Verse 10, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth in him. That is in Christ. So what's the mystery of his will? It's this. This is the mystery of His will, which is revealed to us in the Gospel. This is the ultimate end of the Gospel. The Gospel is not just the salvation of certain individuals. That's not the extent of the Gospel. It includes that. but rather the salvation of the entire world, of the cosmos. John 3.17, Jesus says, for God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. In light of this, we have to see that history is not directionless, it's not random, it's not subject to change or open-ended. There's a divine purpose, there's a divine end, there's a divine telos for all creation, which finds its fulfillment in Christ. That's what the Gospel addresses. The word dispensation here can also be rendered economy, stewardship, or administration. In other words, history is planned. History is governed. History is regulated by God's good pleasure and purposes, by his decree for a reason, for an end. Just as God, as Paul says in Galatians 4, 4 and 5, just as God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, when the fullness of time had come to redeem those who were under the law, so too His Son's work will be brought to its eschatological fulfillment, its eschatological fullness, to its chief end in the dispensation of the fullness of time, as we read here in verse 10. This involves not only the salvation of the elect, but also the gathering together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth. This is the mystery that is now revealed to us in the gospel. In chapter three, verses four through six, which we'll no doubt get to someday, Paul speaks of, quote, the mystery of Christ. And then he goes on to explain that mystery of Christ. As it has now been revealed by the spirit of his holy apostles and prophets, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs of the same body and partakers of his promise in Christ through the gospel. Redemption in the Messiah, redemption in Christ, is not restricted just to the Jewish people. In Christ, the doors to God's household, to membership in God's family, is opened to all mankind, both Jew and and Gentile. And for many of us in this room who are not Jewish, that is a good thing, isn't it? The doors have been opened that we might be also part of the family of God. We might be brought into the household of God. This is one aspect of the gospel mystery. Namely, that all tribes, tongues, nations, and peoples are united in Christ through the gospel. That's one aspect of it. But the union of Gentiles and Jews in the person of Christ, that dividing wall being brought down in the person of Jesus Christ is, as Ian Hamilton said, quote, only a prelude and a foretaste to the cosmic unity that Paul is highlighting here in verse 10, end quote. the cosmic unity. There's more at play here. He's speaking to more than just individual salvation, or just the salvation of the Jewish people. He's speaking to the salvation of all people in Christ, but Paul is going further than this, too, and Ian Hamilton is pointing that out. In Christ, God not only reconciles Jew and Gentile, he also gathers together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth. It's cosmic. and scope, heaven and earth. The mystery of Christ, the fellowship of the mystery, is revealed as the manifold wisdom of God by the church. The church preaches this wisdom, the manifold wisdom of God, the revelation of the mystery in Christ, where? To the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, 310. That means that all of creation, all of creation, the whole cosmos, has been defaced by human sin, and now has the gospel preached to it. The family of God, consisting both of angels and of men, with Adam as its head, has been ruptured in the fall of Adam. And now, currently, living this side of the fall, all of creation, that is the whole cosmos, is in bondage to corruption, waiting to obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God, Paul tells us in Romans 8, 21. Adam's sin had cosmic consequences. Adam's sin was a cosmic tragedy. Sinclair Ferguson puts it this way, quote, Adam's sin plunged into disorder and confusion the whole creation over which he was appointed as God's steward king, end quote. God appointed Adam. over all of creation as his steward king. And so when he fell, he brought the whole created order, the whole cosmos into disarray. But what has been brought into disorder, Paul says, what has been brought into death and destruction by the first Adam, God will restore, revive, and reorder through the second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul uses a very vivid and important word here, anakephala osas the, which is rendered here in the King James and New King James to gather together in one. And if you ever compare multiple English translations, you'll know that there's something going on important in the underlying Greek or Hebrew text when you see multiple translations rendering the same thing multiple different ways or in slightly different nuances. And we see that here with this word, which cues us, this must be a really important theological term. So the New King James renders it to gather together in one. The ESV renders it as to unite all things in him. The NIV, to bring unity to all things. And the New American Standard Bible as the summing up of all things. It literally means to head up again. to head up again. And it was often used by ancient Greek rhetoricians in reference to the practice that many of them had where when they came to the concluding paragraph, the concluding point of their oration, of their sermon, of their homily, that they would, in that last part, they would then rehearse all of the points of their discourse again and then tie them all together in their concluding remarks. So oftentimes in ancient Greek literature, this word is used to refer to that very thing. But Paul, let's look at the Bible, how the Bible uses it. Paul uses the word only one other time in Romans 13 verse nine, where Paul says that all of God's commandments are summed up, so it's that same underlying word, summed up in this saying, namely, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. So, in other words, we see that this word has an important connotation of gathering together and bringing into a unity of heading up and summating all things. In the first Adam, all things, the whole cosmos, was brought to disorder. And in Christ, they are restored to order. Creation, as Paul will later tell us in verse 22, has a head. There's a head over creation. Jesus Christ. He is head over all things, he says in verse 22 of Ephesians 1. In Christ, God means to save his creation, to restore it and to transform it into the glory of its original intended destiny. That's what Sinclair Ferguson said. God's decree, his good pleasure, which he purposed in himself, was what? To bring all things in heaven and all things on earth, the whole cosmos, together under the headship of Christ. Before Adam's rebellion, he, as God's son, was the head of creation. Quote, this is from Ian Hamilton, God's triune lordship, I want to quote him on this, God's triune lordship over creation was mediated through the Son, lowercase s. God's ultimate purpose then is to reestablish the Son, capital S, as the, capital H, head of creation, end quote. This could only be done this recapitulation of all things, this summing up of all things, this reconciliation. of all things, could only be done by the work of a second man, by the work of a second Adam, who would undo what the first Adam did, who would accomplish all that the first Adam failed to do. Christ, this side of the cross and resurrection we know, already rules as head over all things. But as Pastor Joel's been taking us through on Sunday mornings, not yet in fullness. Already, but not yet. One day, when is that day to come, in the dispensation of the fullness of the times, all things will be united in Jesus in their fullness. This not yet will then become the already. The fact that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father will be acknowledged everywhere. In heaven, on earth, and under the earth, every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Now, we don't have time to develop or expand upon this idea much at all this evening, nor do I have the qualifications to do so. This is still a pretty new idea to me, but I did think it was interesting. Calvin asks a really important question in his commentary. He says, why are heavenly beings included in the number? Why are heavenly beings included here? Angels. The redemptive work of Christ unites angels and men in some real way. That's what Paul is saying. That's what Calvin takes it as. They're both reconciled and reunited and recapitulated under one head, the Lord Jesus Christ. I'll only give a brief quotation from Calvin to whet our appetite, my own included. He says this, quote, who then will deny that both angels and men have been brought back to a fixed order by the grace of Christ? This seems obvious to Calvin. Men had been lost, and angels were not beyond the reach of danger. By gathering both men and angels into his own body, Christ hath united them to God the Father, and established actual harmony between heaven and earth." End quote. That's amazing, I think. That deserves much further study. But the point I want to take away from it tonight is this, that God's purpose in salvation does not ultimately focus on us, does not ultimately focus on you and I, on saving individuals. But rather, God's purpose in salvation ultimately focuses on His Son, Jesus Christ. On uniting all things together in Him. On restoring the entire fallen cosmos in Christ. Stars, mountains, trees, angels, and men. How wonderful that God reveals this to us. In addition to the riches of grace and Christ's redemption, God gives us wisdom and insight. He lets us in on the secret, sharing with us like a father would share with his children what the long-term plan for the family is, namely a new creation, the restoration of all things. Verse 11, in him also we have obtained an inheritance, Paul says. What is this inheritance? It is the reception of salvation and all its benefits in Christ. That's the inheritance. And inheritance comes to effect only when the testator dies and Christ, our testator, Christ, our mediator, has died. He gave himself up on the cross. and bore the wrath of God on our behalf, to redeem us by his blood, that we might have the inheritance, his own inheritance being given to us. And Peter tells us that this inheritance of ours is what, incorruptible and undefiled, and does not fade away, reserved in heaven for us, those who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time, 1 Peter 1, 4 and 5. Paul tells us that in and through Christ we have obtained it. We have obtained the inheritance. We have it. Eternal life is our present possession now. We often think of eternal life as something that will happen. No, we have it now. We partake in it now as believers in Christ, as the Church. It came not of our own will, but by God's predestinating grace. As the last half of verse 11 says, according to the purpose of him who works all things, according to the counsel of his own will. So while we are already possessors of this inheritance, we are not yet in fullness. Like we said last time, we were talking about adoption. The fullness of our inheritance, the full enjoyment of our inheritance, comes on the days that our bodies are resurrected, according to Romans 8.23. But all things are under God's control. He is sovereign. He works all things according to the counsel of his own will, and thus, he's working all things towards that day. He's working all things towards the day of redemption. This is certain because it's God's plan. How do we know that we will have this inheritance? Because it's God's plan. And he works all things according to the counsel of his own will. It is certain because it occurs in Christ, and all the promises of God are yea and amen in Christ Jesus our Lord, according to 2 Corinthians 1.20. Okay, let's go look at verse 12. That we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of his glory. All of God's salvific work in Christ has its chief end in his own glory. That's why he saves, that he might glorify himself. So this too should be the chief end of all of our endeavors, the thing that we are aiming at, the very chief end of our existence. I think that we who first trusted in Christ refers, some people can take it one of two ways, that it refers either to believing Jews, of whom Paul is part of that group, in contrast to Gentile believers, or to all who came to faith before the Ephesians. So it's kind of just chronological, all who have believed before you, or it's referring ethnically. But I think it's best to see it as an ethnic reference. Christ and his gospel came first to the Jews, right? Some of whom believed. They trusted in Christ first, but the Gentile Ephesians, as verse 13a tells us, also trusted after they heard the word of truth, the gospel of their salvation. In other words, in Christ, both Jews and Gentiles have the same privileges. They have the same God, and they have the same salvation. They have the same inheritance. They have all of the same. They've been united and brought together in one body. Okay, let's look at the last part of verse 13 and verse 14. In whom Christ also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of his glory. Paul now comes to the work of the Holy Spirit. He's mentioned the Father and predestinating and electing He mentioned the work of the Son and redeeming us through His blood. Now he comes to the work of the Holy Spirit. If you don't see Trinitarian salvation here in the first chapter of Ephesians, then you don't need a theology textbook, you need an optometrist. Paul is now coming to the work of the Holy Spirit. He is himself the seal of this promise. That's an important point to note. He is himself the seal. The Holy Spirit is the seal of the promise. The Holy Spirit guarantees that the heritance we have received in part will be received in fullness. He's kind of like the engagement ring. on the finger. The Father has engaged us to His Son, Jesus Christ. And one day, we will come to the wedding of the Lamb, and we shall sup at the table, at the great wedding feast of the Lamb. This day is not yet, but this day is sure. How do we know it's sure? How can we get rid of any doubts that it might come to pass? Because the Holy Spirit confirms it to us. The Holy Spirit is Himself the seal and the guarantee thereof. The Holy Spirit seals us for the day of redemption. The Apostle Paul says in chapter 4 of Ephesians, verse 30, Yes, we've already been redeemed, verse seven, but that redemption will only be fully realized on the day of redemption, on the resurrection of our bodies, when Christ returns and consummates history and unites our redeemed souls with our resurrection bodies, as my professor Ian Hamilton put it. Christians have received, the church has received the spirit of adoption. The spirit of adoption, that's the Holy Spirit, who bears witness with our spirit, Paul says in Romans chapter eight, that we are the children of God. And if children, then heirs. Heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. The inheritance is ours because we are in Christ. How do we know we're in Christ? Because we have the Holy Spirit testifying with our spirit that we are in Christ. Now you might not always feel it. You might not always feel like that's true. You might not always live like that's true. Still, it's true. The Holy Spirit has been given to us as a seal, as a down payment, as a guarantee of the future glory we shall enter into through the Lord Jesus Christ. Calvin notes that, quote, nothing is more earnestly attempted by Satan than to lead us either to doubt or to despise the gospel, end quote. The Holy Spirit, the sealing, who seals the word of truth, referenced in verse 13, which we hear in the gospel, which we hear in the proclaimed word, which we taste and feel in the sacraments, is our defense against him. That's our defense against the temptations of the devil, is the Holy Spirit testifying with us, bearing witness with the word of truth in the preached word and the sacraments. We must attempt, therefore, to get our minds around this, this. In order to secure our salvation, God gives himself as the earnest payment. He gives himself as the down payment. God is so confident that he will bring us safely to the day of redemption that he has given us the Holy Spirit as a deposit. If a deal doesn't go through, if a deal falls through, if this one does, which is impossible, then the deposit is forfeited, right? The person who broke the deal, who made the deal go through, loses the deposit. But God cannot be divided asunder, can He? And He has given us His Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit cannot be lost. As surely as the Trinity cannot be fractured, so secure is our inheritance in the Son. It has already been purchased in Christ, verse 7. And until it is received in full, the Holy Spirit is given to us as the guarantee. What else could you and I need? What else could we need? How is it that we live in fear and in doubt? Well, it's because we're sinners. But the Holy Spirit bears witness with us. He is the seal. We must return to a robust theology of the Holy Spirit as Reformed believers. I think that's an important thing. It's sad that the Charismatics think that they have a corner on this. The Charismatics, with all their excesses, Right? They're the ones that are known for love for the Spirit. This is not to denigrate our charismatic brothers and sisters, it's not. But this is the Reformed tradition. This is what the Bible says. If we are Bible believers, forget the Reformed tradition, if we're Bible believers, this is what we should be about. We need to return to robust theology of the Holy Spirit. Is the Spirit of God in you? Then you are His. If he has been given to you, believe it, live like it. Calvin, who is known as the theologian of the Holy Spirit in previous generations, said this, quote, the true conviction which believers have of the word of God, of their own salvation, and of religion in general, does not spring from the judgment of the flesh, or from human and philosophical arguments, but from the sealing of the Holy Spirit, who imparts to their consciences such certainties as to remove all doubt." That's Calvin. He's far from a charismatic, but he was a great lover of the work of the Holy Spirit, of the person of the Holy Spirit. What place is left for doubt in our hearts and our lives? This is who we are as Christians. Remember, this is what the book of Ephesians teaches us. This is the theme of the book of Ephesians. Who the church of Jesus Christ is. We are those who are redeemed in Christ. We are sons of God in Christ. We are possessors of an inheritance, everlasting life, eternal life in Christ. We are those who have believed the word of truth, which testifies to us of Christ. We are those who have been given the very spirit of God as a down payment that we are Christ's, a guarantee of the inheritance of our salvation in Christ. Bring yourself, by the power of Christ's Spirit in you, into conformity with His description. You might say, well, that sounds like a description I can't always see myself. I'm sure, yes, we are sinners, we fall short. Bring yourself into conformity with that truth. This is the objective reality that is spoken over us. Therefore, by His power, by faith, by grace, we enter into it. We participate in it. We live like it. This will cause light. The light of this truth will cause darkness to flee in our hearts, in our minds, in our lives, in our churches, and in our nation.