Ephesians chapter 3. Sammy, if you will, how about assisting Bobby and Mark and David in the Lord's Supper tonight, passing out the bread and wine. Ephesians chapter 3. For this calls I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ, for you Gentiles. Paul speaks of himself here as the prisoner of Christ. He was a prisoner in Rome, but he was the prisoner of Christ. He understood that the things that befell him, befell him for the gospel sake, according to the will of God. He says, I'm a prisoner of Jesus Christ for you. I am doing these things for your sake, to whom the gospel is preached. Verse two, if you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God, which is given me to you, the service, the ministry of the grace of God, he says, God's given that to me for you. This is the attitude of every faithful man. called of God to the work of the gospel. That which he does, he does for the people of God, those he serves. He has the ministry God's given him for the benefit of those he serves by the ministry. Have it by revelation. God made known unto me the mystery. God opened this mystery to me, a mystery, something that was hidden and now is open. God opened this mystery to me, as I wrote afore in a few words, whereby when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. This mystery God made known to me, the mystery of Christ. which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. In days gone by, this is a mystery that was hidden from men, hidden in the secret councils of God, hidden in the types and shadows of the Old Testament, clearly spoken of there, but not fully revealed there. Hidden from men who in by nature are blind to the things of God But now it's made known to us by the Apostles and prophets by the Spirit that is God the Holy Spirit Revealing the Word of God the things of God to his Apostles and prophets They've written to us in the scriptures so that now in the book of God we have the mystery of Christ Unveiled opened up brought to light and here it is that the Gentiles the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body and partakers with Christ by the gospel. The Gentiles made to be fellow heirs with Jews, of the same body with Jews, partakers of his promises, the promises of God in Christ by the gospel. Paul says this was always God's purpose. His church, his kingdom, his people are not limited to one nation or one race or one category of men, but rather God has his elect scattered in all parts of the world, in all ages of time, among all ranks of human beings, where he will call them out, bring them into one body. into one body. The Church of Jesus Christ is one body made up of many members scattered through all the world and indeed through all the ages of time. Some already with Christ in glory, some still upon the earth, some not yet born, but they are all one body in Christ and they are all partakers alike of God's promises so that every promise of God is Every promise of God given in this book is God's promise to you who were his Every promise when you read a promise of God to Abraham they'll run us God's promise to you When you read God's promise to Noah, that's God's promise to you when you read God's promise to his son That's God's promise to you who are one with Christ understand that I recall years ago a reading about an old lady an old saint And a young pastor came to visit with her. She wasn't able to attend services much, and when he started to leave, he picked up her Bible and was looking for a passage to read to her and have some prayer with her. And he kept seeing something everywhere it turned in the Bible, just everywhere it went. T-P. T-P. T-P. And curiosity got the best of him. He finally said to his sister. I see all through your Bible here. You got these two letters marked by various verses TP I don't understand what what's the significance? She said well, honey, that's tried and proved Every promise try it prove it according to God's grace to you. It's given to you read on now these gifts of God come to us by the gospel verse 7 whereof I I was made a minister. Made a minister. Made a servant. God's servants serving you. Made a minister. Not by something I did. Not by my educational preparation. Not by my training. Not by my abilities. Not by my determination. It doesn't say I made myself a minister. I was made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God. Oh, what a word this is. This great grace God has given to me. This great grace. Not only did he save me by his grace. He made me a messenger to your souls with his word by his grace. God chose earthen vessels, broken, empty, meaningless, worthless, dirty clay pots, like the one talking to you, to carry to you the treasure of the gospel. I was made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power. Verse 8, unto me, the least in the group, unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given. I take it to be A great gift of grace that God entrusted me with the gospel that I should preach among the Gentiles, that I should preach to you the unsearchable riches of Christ. What a task, what a privilege, what a heavy burden, what a great honor. that I should preach, that I should declare, that I should show to you the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ. To the intent that is God created all things in Christ to the intent God's given me this ministry to proclaim to you the unsearchable riches of Christ to the intent for this purpose that now under the Principalities and powers you can write down in margin your Bible the angels in heaven under the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church as the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose, which he purposed in Christ Jesus, our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence by faith of him. Because of his faithful obedience, we now have confidence and boldness and access to God almighty sinners that we are. Verse 13. Wherefore I desire that you faint not at my tribulation for you Don't don't be over concerned about the things that I suffer as God's prisoner for you, which is your glory for this cause For this cause I bow my knees unto the father of our Lord Jesus Christ Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named That he would grant you He would grant you. I pray God will grant you this. That He would grant you according to the riches of His glory. Grant you according to the riches of His glory. To be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man. Strengthened in your souls. How is that? that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that you being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge. Oh, I want you to be rooted and grounded in his love. Knowing the length and breadth and depth and height of the love of Christ that passes knowledge that you Knowing these things might be filled with all the fullness of God That you might be filled with all the fullness of God being filled with the knowledge of Christ the unsearchable riches of Christ the length and breadth and depth and height of the love of Christ that filled with all the fullness of God. And this will be only by His work. Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly, above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Now I want you to go back to verse 10 where Paul speaks of the manifold wisdom of God. Beginning tonight and for the next several weeks on Sunday night, I want to preach to you from this passage on the manifold wisdom of God. The title of my message tonight is the manifold wisdom of God in redemption. In this message, I simply want to show you from the scriptures, the great wisdom of God. in devising and accomplishing the redemption of sinners by Christ Jesus. Ephesians 3.10, to the intent that now under the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God. The angels of God, the angels of God visit our assemblies, and hear our songs, our prayers, our conversations, the messages preached here, desiring to understand what the angels can never experientially know. They desire to see and know the wisdom of God in saving sinners by Christ Jesus. And we, the church of God, display to the angels of God, God's great wisdom in the salvation of sinners by Christ Jesus the Lord. This is the mystery revealed in the gospel. God's reason for revealing his secret counsels concerning the work of redemption by the gospel, according to our text, is that he might make known his wisdom, the manifold wisdom of God. God's wisdom is the display of his glory. You remember Moses asked the Lord, Lord, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. And it took him out and placed him in the cleft of the rock and said, all right, here's where you see my glory. And the Lord passed by and showed him his glory, declaring his name, showing his wisdom. There is only one place where sinners come to know God. Only one place where God reveals his glory, and that is in Jesus Christ crucified. Only one place where God shows his glory, and that is in the accomplishment of redemption by Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. We see various aspects of God's character, various glimpses of his wisdom and grace and power in many things, but God reveals the fullness of his glory the fullness of his glory only in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and the accomplishment of redemption by that crucifixion. When I was a boy, we used to drive from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, up to Spruce Pie, North Carolina. And we'd drive by a place called Grandfather Mountain. And I asked my dad many times, and we'd go up to see my grandmother and aunts and uncles and so forth on his side of the family, why do they call that Grandfather Mountain? And he said, well, if you look closely, you will see the shape of an old man and his beard on the mountain. And I looked and looked and looked and looked. And every time we drove by it, I'd look. But for the life of me, I couldn't see the old man or his beard. I couldn't see it. Until one time, we drove around the other side of the mountain. And we drove around the other side of the mountain, and I'm looking at Grandfather Mountain. And there it is. You see that old man's hair? and his forehead, and his brow, and his nose, and his long flowing beard laying right across the top of the mountain. I said, now I see it. Now I see it. You can only see it from a certain place on that side of the mountain. And you can only see the glory of God in the crucified Redeemer. Understand that the only place you can see the glory of God is in Jesus Christ crucified and the accomplishment of Redemption by his sacrifice and death on our behalf now tonight I want to show you something of the manifold wisdom of God in Redemption by Christ and I realize we're going to spend eternity Learning the wisdom of God So when I get done preaching tonight and I get done preaching this series of messages, there'll be plenty of room for more preaching on it. I can only touch the surface, but I pray God, the Holy Spirit will be our teacher. Let me show you six things tonight. Number one, God's choice of his darling son to be our redeemer is a display of infinite wisdom. God's choice of Christ to be the redeemer of his people is a display of his infinite wisdom. Now, I don't pretend to understand the deep, hidden, mysterious things concerning the covenant of God's grace and the proposals and agreements and oaths of that covenant. But I do know this. In this book, God reveals himself to us and makes himself known to us in human terms. so that we can get some idea of who he is and what he does. Let me give you some examples. God is a spirit. That's not right. God is spirit. God is spirit. A spirit doesn't have a body. Spirit is not physical. God is spirit, the infinite incomprehensible spirit. But God speaks to us and talks about the ear of the Lord, and the hand of the Lord, and the heart of the Lord, as though he had human parts like we do, so that we can get some idea about who God is and what he does. So it is with regard to God revealing us to us his purpose of grace in terms of a covenant If you read the book of Hebrews, you'll you can't help notice him I think it was brother Bob asked me about the words covenant and Testament a few weeks ago Paul uses the very same Greek word and it's changed now translated two different ways by our translators. I One place they translated covenant, another place they translated testament, another place they translated covenant, another place they translated testament. Why did they do that? Why not translate it the same all the way through? They had a very good reason. Because God's covenant is but the revelation of His sovereign disposition of grace. God's covenant is but the revelation of His purpose of grace in Christ Jesus. When the word covenant is used, I translate it very carefully, Mark. Every place where it's used. It's translated that way because there God is revealing himself as though he were Dealing with us in terms of an agreement made between one or between two or more persons that's what a covenant is a Testament on the other hand is something determined by one person By one person. A single man makes a testament. He declares his last will and testament. The testament is the very same word as the word covenant. And whenever the word is translated testament, it speaks of that which is God's sovereign disposition. That which is God's will, accomplished, brought to pass, absolutely certain. Same thing is true with the word word is translated eternal or everlasting Sometimes they translate eternal life. Sometimes it translated everlasting life. Why the difference? Every single place where the difference is found whenever the scripture speaks about eternal life is talking Frank about what God drops in your soul and He gives you eternal life. Every time it speaks of everlasting life, it's speaking about your experience of that life. That which we now have in which we live is everlasting life. All right, so in this portion of scripture, God's talking to us about his infinite wisdom in redemption. And that wisdom is displayed in the choice of our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, to be our representative and our surety in covenant grace. And God reveals this to us in terms of a covenant. It's displayed in Jeremiah chapter 31, a marvelous passage dealing with that covenant. He says, I'll be your God. You'll be my people. Their iniquities and transgressions and sins, I'm going to forgive them. I'm writing my laws on their hearts. I'll by no means remember their sins anymore forever. That's God's covenant. The covenant, however, is something that's made between at least two people. At least two people. This covenant of grace is made by the triune God with Christ our surety. The triune Jehovah with Christ our surety and made from everlasting. It is the first covenant, but it's revealed to us as the new covenant. It is that covenant made from eternity, but it is everlastingly new. If the old covenant, the old covenant of law was first revealed, but it was leading to the new covenant of grace fully revealed in the gospel. In that covenant, certain proposals were made, conditions upon which redemption could be accomplished. Redemption could not be accomplished except certain things be done. Justice must be satisfied. God's law must be honored. Righteousness must be brought in. And so God the Father proposed conditions upon which redemption could be accomplished. Only if one is found who will go into the world One capable of bearing all the fear of God's justice. One capable of fulfilling all the will of God and do it in the womb instead of my people. And the Son of God said, I'll do it. And he stood forth as our sheriff and voluntarily took on himself all responsibility for our souls. so that he becomes our surety. He stands forth from everlasting as our surety and struck hands with the Father as our surety. And when he did, when he did, hear me now, God from eternity, the triune God from eternity ceased to look to us for anything. Or, if you don't get anything else, get that. From eternity, when Christ stuck hands with the Thayum God as our surety, God ceased to look for righteousness or satisfaction in any way from us. The total responsibility of our souls became our sureties. Altogether His. And God the Spirit pledged himself to effectually apply the blessings of grace earned by Christ. Remember, I'm talking to you about things that took place in eternity. In eternity, God chose his son to be our Savior. Oh, what wisdom. When he chose his son, and looked on us in his son. He says concerning all his elect, as he sees his son, the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. No, as he beholds his son, the lamb slain from the foundation of the world, and says, deliver him from going down to the pit. I have found a ransom. I laid help upon one that is mighty. I've exalted one chosen out of the people. The Lord Jesus Christ was chosen of God to be our Redeemer because he is in every way fit to redeem. And he's the only one who is. He who is our Redeemer must himself be a divine person. None but God was equal to the work. He must be one who is infinitely holy. None could take away the infinite evil of sin by the satisfaction of justice, except one who's infinitely pure. He must be one of infinite ability. The work of redemption is a great and mighty work. It is no easy thing to put away sin. It is no easy thing to forgive sin. We talk about forgiveness, and we try to practice forgiveness. But the fact is, we can't forget. Did you ever try to forget something? Now, I can forget things I want to remember, but I can't forget things I want to forget. Just can't forget. We forgive in the sense that we hopefully don't deal with an offender on the basis of his offense and thus forgive them. But forget that doesn't lie within the realm of possibility, not with man. But he who is God, our savior, has so thoroughly put away our sins that God says, I will remember your iniquities no more. puts away our sin. He must be one who is infinitely dear to God. In order for God to place infinite value upon the Redeemer's work, the Redeemer himself must be infinitely dear to God, the beloved one of God, the apple of his eye, the darling of his affections. And so God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ, the darling of his heart, died for us here in his love. Not that we loved God, but he loved us and sent his son, his only darling, precious son, to be the propitiation for our sins. Our Redeemer must also be a person who has an absolute right to redeem, altogether free of debt on his own. One who owes nothing. Christ Jesus owed nothing to God's law. Christ Jesus owed nothing to God. Christ Jesus owed nothing on his own account. All that he did, all that he endured, he did and endured on our behalf. Though he freely became Jehovah's servant to do the redeeming work for us, he is himself altogether God, altogether equal with God, for he thought it not robbery to be equal with God. And our Redeemer had to be a person of infinite love and grace. Who but Christ could love us so? Who but Christ could love us so, as to take on himself the horrid load of our sin, and bear the wrath and judgment of God in our stead. Behold the wondrous wisdom of God. Once more, the one chosen to be our Redeemer must be a person of infinite truth and faithfulness. Immutably true, immutably faithful. Otherwise, he couldn't be trusted to carry out the work of redemption. This is Christ our Savior, whom the triune God trusted as our surety before the world began. He trusted him with his glory. He trusted him with his will. He trusted Him with His people, committing all to Him as the covenant surety. This is great wisdom. God found a Redeemer for sinners in the person of His Son. But that's not all. The only fit person to be our Redeemer is Christ. No mere man could do the work. No angel could do the work. He who is the Redeemer must be one who is himself God as well as man. Who but God, infinitely wise, could have thought to make Christ our Redeemer? You read histories of religion, if you care to do so. Study them. The religions of people throughout the ages, all over the world. You will never find anywhere anything like this. God who himself assumes the sin of his people and bears the wrath and fury of his own holy character for his people to save his people with nothing from them. This is that scheme of salvation devised only by the mind of the infinitely wise God. Second, God's wisdom is revealed in his determination to accomplish this redemption by substitution. Having chosen Christ to be our Redeemer, God contrived a way by which he would accomplish redemption. And that way he devised the only way by which God could save his people is substitution. Before the world began, God's own dear son, stood as our substitute. Our substitute. I don't know how to make that crystal clear in this day when the teaching, the word substitution is used with regard to redemption in Christ in such a way as to make him a substitute for everybody. He is not everybody's substitute. He never was everybody's substitute. He never intended to be everybody's substitute. A substitute is one who stands in the place of another. If Christ stands in my place before God, I cannot stand before God except in him my substitute. There's no room for me where he stands in my stead. Jesus Christ stood before God before the world was and was accepted of God as the lamb slain from the foundation of the world and we accepted in him as our substitute, accepted in the beloved. God determined that his son, Christ Jesus, must have the sins of his people made his own. That as our substitute, he must take our guilt unto himself. He must suffer the utter extremity of God's holy law to the full satisfaction of justice. Not only did God determine to make him our substitute, he everlastingly from eternity accepted him as our substitute. Number three. The incarnation of Christ certainly displays God's infinite wisdom. No mind but the infinite mind of the infinite God could conceive to accomplish such a thing as this. The great, eternal, incomprehensible God became one of us. He assumed our nature. The Word was made flesh. and dwelt among us. These three wonders are astonishing. That God should be merciful to sinners. That God should come into the world in our flesh to save sinners. That God should bear our sins in his own body on the tree and suffer and die for sinners. Here is a wondrous mystery. God became a man. He took on himself our nature. He identified himself with us so really and truly that he became one of us. God became a man. He who is the eternal Jehovah became Jehovah's servant. He who is the eternal spirit was born of a woman. The immortal God became mortal flesh. God, who is independent, self-sufficient, and all-sufficient, stood in need of food and clothing and shelter. God, who formed the milk in Mary's breast, became Mary's babe. needing his mother's milk to live as much as any babe who ever hung on a breast. He became a man. God, who is independent, who owns all things, became a man who owned nothing. He who upholds all things by the word of his power lived upon the charity of others. God, who knows all things, as a man, learned. He learned how to walk, just like you did. He learned how to talk, just like we did. He learned how to read and write, just like we did. God, who wrote the law and gave it to Moses at Mount Sinai, became subject to the law and performed obedience to the law as a man. The Holy Son of God came under obligation and sentence of the law as a guilty sinner. When Christ took our sins, he was made sin for us. When he bared our sin in his own body on the tree, he was dealt with as a guilty sinner because he stood before God, a guilty sinner. Our sins made his. He said, my guiltiness, you know, oh God, God, who is life was made to die. But God can't die. No, he can't. But the God-man did. And God redeemed the church with his own blood. God, who is infinitely, immutably, unchangeably happy, was made to suffer sorrow, pain, torment, and death. God, the object of his father's perfect love, became the object of his father's unmitigated fury and wrath. The infinite, omnipotent God became a finite, feeble man. The great sovereign of the universe said, behold, I am a worm and no man. The holy one was made sin. The innocent lamb of God made guilty. The darling of heaven made to be a cursed thing, for it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. No man can ever grasp the reality of the incarnation. much less understand it. But God, in infinite wisdom, purposed it before the world and brought it to pass in time. Number four, the life of Christ, our Savior, as he walked on this earth as a man, reveals the manifold wisdom of God. Turn to the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 2. If the gospel that I preached to you were the invention of a man or of any group of men, the savior would have been born in a palace, raised in royalty, trained with dignity, surrounded by riches, and presented with all the pageantry of one of the devil's popes. But he's not such a savior. This thing is not a man. This is God's work. When the son of God came into this world, he was born into poverty, born in a cow stable, laid in a manger in a cow stable. He lived in this world all his days in poverty, raised in obscurity. And when he came to announce his Messiahship, when he came to show himself the Christ of God, as Zachariah said he would, he came not in great pomp and pageantry, but in loneliness, riding on an ass's coat into Jerusalem. And there announced the inauguration of his kingdom. He died as a common male factor. And he was buried in a borrowed tomb. But what's the purpose and meaning of that? What's the significance of his earthly life? Our Lord Jesus lived in this world as such a man, experiencing all these things, that he might be a perfect savior. Hebrews 2, verse 10, for it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things. He's God. It became him in bringing many sons to glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. Well, Christ was perfect before he came into this world. What's this talking about? He was made perfect as our Savior, made complete as our Savior, as the captain of our salvation by the things he suffered. He could not have been our Savior had he not suffered these things. For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one. They are all one, one with Christ. For which calls he's not ashamed to call them brethren. Verse 17. Wherefore in all things it behooved him. What a strong word. In all things he was laid under this obligation. In all things it was necessary for him this commandment he received from his father to be made like unto his brethren for this purpose That he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to god to make reconciliation for the sins of the people Jesus Christ could not have put away our sins except by the sacrifice of himself. God in justice could not put away sin except by the sacrifice of his son. Not only that, in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he's able to succor them that are tempted. Our Savior lived in this world. He lived by faith in God and lived in submission to his Father's will Our representative our covenant surety so that as it's written in Romans 5 19 Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for all the sin Paul skips down to verse 19. He says as by one man's transgression one man's disobedience Many were made sin Many made sinners. So by the obedience of one, many are made righteous. We are made righteous only by the doing and dying of Jesus Christ, our Savior. He fulfilled the law for us. He magnified the law and made it honorable. He brought in everlasting righteousness. His name is Jehovah Shekinu, the Lord, our righteousness. And it is his righteousness that is imputed to us in everlasting salvation. because he has made us the righteousness of God in him. Now listen carefully, listen carefully. When Christ was made sin, Rex, it was right for him to die under the wrath of God. Sin was imputed to him. Sin was imputed. God did not impute sin where there is none. That would be a crime on my part or yours. To charge somebody with a crime they're not guilty of. God did not impute Christ with sin that wasn't his. He made him sin. And when he made him sin, law justly imputes sin to him and he is found guilty before God and slain as the sinner. He's crucified because he deserved to die when he was made sin. And God won't pretend to make you righteous. He will not impute righteousness to you unless he makes you righteous. He imputes the righteousness of Christ to us and rewards us with that righteousness because God has made us the righteousness of God in his son. in exactly the same way to exactly the same degree as he made his son sin for us. And now God in justice embraces us in his arms and finds no fault in his people because the righteousness of Christ is ours. All right, here's the fifth thing. Oh, what wisdom there is displayed, infinite manifold wisdom of God in the sin atoning death of our Lord Jesus. Look at Galatians chapter 3, chapter 1 rather, verse 3. Grace be to you and peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins, because of our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world according to the will of God and our Father, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever, infinitely and essentially happy, endured the greatest sorrow, suffering, and agony of the universe. The Supreme Lord of the universe, the judge of all things, was arrested, tried, and condemned by maggots of the earth. He who is the living God, the fountain of life, was put to death. The creator of the world was crucified by his own creatures. The God of glory, beaten, spit upon, and mocked by vile men. He who is infinite good died by indescribable cruelty. The King of heaven was buried in the earth. And this ignominious death, the death of the cross, was the means by which God's greatest honor and glory is displayed in the sacrifice of his son. For by his death at Calvary, Jesus Christ both glorified God and saved his people. Now be sure you understand this. That which happened at Calvary, be sure you understand it. The Lord Jesus Christ, dying by his own voluntary will, Fully satisfied all the justice of God and when he cried it is finished All the work of redemption was completely done with his own blood He entered in once into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us You ladies go to the grocery store and you take cash credit card or check And you go to the grocery store, you go in and you purchase your groceries. And you pay for your groceries. And you take them out because they're yours. And if one of those buzzers goes off because somebody didn't scan it properly, you're a little bit frustrated and angry because you're embarrassed. It looks like you stole something. You purchased them with your money and you carried them out. Redemption is a transaction of just that kind. It is a penal, legal, real transaction. Jesus Christ, with the merit of His blood, entered in once in the glory, and by the merit of His blood, He obtained eternal redemption for God's elect. Now, here's the last thing. The wisdom of God is most evident in the glorious exaltation of Christ. Because of all this, the apostle says, wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Because of Christ's exaltation, because of God putting the world in his hands, Because of the triune Jehovah putting in his hands the reigns of the universe, giving him to be the universal monarch over all things, having power over all flesh to give eternal life to as many as the father has given him. We are assured of the certain salvation of God's elect. We labor and preach the gospel, seeking the salvation of God's elect. That's the business of my life. That's the business of this congregation. And sometimes we're tempted and pressured by men, tempted and pressured by our own pride, tempted and pressured by circumstances to try to make things happen. And every time you try to make things happen, you compromise. What are we to do? Preach the gospel and wait. No tricks, no trickery, no cunning devices, no entertainment programs, no tricks to get folks to say they're Christians when they're not. No tricks to get folks talked into a profession of religion they know nothing about. No, no, what do you do? You preach, you pray, and you wait. With this certain knowledge, Bill Raleigh, every sinner chosen of God, has been redeemed by Christ and shall be saved. How do you know? Because Christ rules. Christ rules for the saving of his people. His rule gives us comfort in the knowledge of his wise and good providence. He who sits on the throne of the universe is God my Savior. He gave himself for me. He will do me no wrong. It gives us assurance of perpetual pardon and acceptance at the throne of God. If any man said we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ, the righteous, the perpetuation for our sins. And it promises us the certain exaltation and glory of every sinner who trusts the savior. This great redeemer and this great redemption has been accomplished for us to reveal the manifold wisdom of God. By means of this great redemption, the grace of God achieved the highest goal of God and the ambition of his own heart. And Christ has been given the preeminence in all things. God give you grace now to trust him. God, give us grace to adore him. God, give us grace to proclaim him. that in all things he might have the preeminence according to the manifold wisdom of God. Amen.