April
7, 2002
Ephesians 3:1-13
v. 2 – “the
dispensation of the grace of God” (ch. 2:8-10) – in vs.
5-6 --Paul says this
dispensation
“in other ages was not made known unto men (that
is, the
church age – the last 2000 years)….that the Gentiles should be fellow
heirs, and
of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by
the gospel”
vs. 3 & 5 – That
it was “by revelation He made known unto me the
mystery…..revealed
unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit”
How that, by
revelation, was made known unto me the mystery.
The mystery, as is explained afterwards (ver. 6), was not the
gospel itself, but its destination to the Gentiles as much
as to the Jews;
although, as appears afterwards, this fullness of blessing
is really the great
glory of the gospel. Mystery, that which is known only to
the initiated,
does not denote here a thing obscure in its own nature, but
only something
that had been concealed from view. It was only the initiated
that now knew
that God designed the gospel for Gentile and Jew alike. Paul
had been
initiated “by revelation” — not by his own reflecting power,
not by his
study of Scripture, not by communication from ether men, but
by a special
communication from God (Galatians 1:12).
"Excerpted
text Copyright AGES Library, LLC. All rights reserved.
Materials are reproduced by
permission." (here
and following)
v. 6 – That the
Gentiles would be included in the Plan of Salvation.
The promise to
Abraham – “in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of
the earth be blessed” – Genesis 12:3 – this
blessing does not come by being
a Jew or through the Jews but directly to
Gentiles from Christ, the Son of God!
v. 7 – “Of which I
became a minister; according to the gift of the grace of God” –
the power
of my ministry comes from God, not me, says Paul.
v. 8 - “Unto me, who am less than the least
of all saints”
Not only of apostles and prophets, but even of all
believers — a profound
expression of humility, founded not only on his persecuting
career, but on his
consciousness of sin, of inborn rebellion against God’s Law,
of fountains of
unlawful desire in his flesh (Romans 7:18; 1 Timothy
1:13-15),
making him feel himself to be, in heart and essence, the
chief of sinners.
The sense
of sin is not usually in proportion to the acts of outward
transgression, but to the insight into the springs of evil
in one’s heart, and
the true nature of sin as direct antagonism to the holy God.
“was
this grace given” – the third time in this chapter that he speaks of his
office as a fruit
of grace!
“to
preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of
Christ”
Acts 26:16-18 –
Paul’s testimony before Herod Agrippa
(Illustration of my
grandson, Parker, nearly two years old and when visiting
looked in a room in
our house and said in a coarse voice “Its dark in there”)
I say that the world,
without Christ, is much darker than that room!
Matthew 6:23 – Jesus
said “if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be
full
of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be
darkness,
how great is that
darkness!”
e]qnov, — eth’-nos; probably from (e]qw);
a race (as of the
same habit), i.e. a tribe; specially a foreign
(non-Jewish) one
(usually by implication pagan): — Gentile,
heathen, nation,
people.
“ethnos” – heathen – an offensive name – yet with which the
apostle associates
highest blessings of God.
Two attractive
words – riches and unsearchable – conveying the idea
of the
things that are most
precious, being infinitely abundant. Usually, precious
things are rare; their
rarity increases their price but here that which is most
precious is also
boundless – riches of compassion and love, of
merit, of
sanctifying, comforting and
transforming power and without limit – capable
of satisfying every
want, craving, and yearning of the heart, now and forever!
Much more
abundant but on the same principle as air, sunshine and water!
The thought of having
such riches to offer made Paul consider that his office
was regarded as glorious, although apparently, the world would despise both
it and the message?
Paul is thankful to
God for having conferred this honor on him.
v. 9 – “And to make
all men see” – Why the ignorance? Why the rebellion
that rejects it?
The answer is in II Corinthians 4:4-7
This connects us back to the last thing I was saying two
weeks ago where
we pick up with the lesson on March 10 starting with the
connection between
the heart and the intellect.
The brown below is in reference to Ephesians 1:18 –
“the eyes of your understanding
being enlightened”
V. 18 - The connection between heart & intellect
Matt.
13:13-15
The Bible speaks of:
“applying our hearts unto wisdom”
Ps.
90:12
It has been said “the head is the dupe of the heart” -
dupe - one that is easily fooled, stupid bird,
easily tricked.
Those that stand for nothing will fall for anything.
The Scripture is very emphatic in making the
connection
between knowledge & holiness.
“having the understanding
darkened”
"The entrance of thy words giveth
light" - Ps. 119:130
* Purity of heart gives insight.
* Purity of heart rather than accuracy of thought is
the
order of the kingdom.
This is why so many pseudo- intellectuals & spin
doctors
of the day are out in left field.
I am amazed at the brazenness & defiance spewed
out by such
in open defiance of the revelation
of God.
They cannot think purely, therefore they think not
clearly!
Romans 1:16-32
Matt. 18:5-6
Bibles in the public school library are under lock & key but
Easter displays of bunnies & plastic eggs
are out in the open
for a candid world
to see?
Take an athletic man, the most perfect specimen of
athletic
training, bone, flesh & sinew, if
that is all, he is but 1/3 of a
man and useless to society. Send him to the schools & cram
his mind full, he is but 2/3 of a
man, and dangerous as well
as useless. Put Christ in his heart, to control &
urge his
purpose & you have an ideal man, 3/3
or a total man.
Psalm 2:1- 4 of Jesus
John 7:17a,b
How often do we find in human life that interest,
vanity, fear,
and party spirit determine the
conclusions of the intellect. Our
opinions often depend upon our lives
quite as much as
our lives depend upon our opinions.
It is God who gives insight! I John 5:20
Unless a man is born again, he cannot see the
It is God who giveth the
light of the knowledge of the
glory of God in the face of Christ
Jesus - II Cor. 4:6
Our highest knowledge is a Divine gift - Luke 8:10
Every Christian, yea, every man’s prayer should be
“open thou mine eyes, that I
may see wondrous things
out of thy law” - Ps. 119:18
back to ch.3: 9 – “what is the dispensation of the mystery
which from the beginning
of the ages hath been hid in God” – (before the foundation of
the world)
“who created all things”
This is no trifling matter; it connects itself with GOD’S
GRANDEST OPERATIONS -
it might be supposed to have relations with only one race or
one period of time, but it
has relations with “ALL THINGS”
“by Jesus Christ”
v. 10 – “To the intent that now unto the principalities and
powers in
heavenly places might be known by the church the MANIFOLD
WISDOM OF
GOD”
A lesson for the unfallen angels – their interest in the scheme of man’s
redemption is mentioned in I Peter 1:12
As if to imply that
the work of redemption represents the highest order
of intelligence – thus
the disappointment to miss the mark in the end –
and the self-reproach for eternity in Hell.
Even the highest powers of heaven have yet much to learn
respecting
God, yet vain man curses
Him and uses His Precious name in vain every
day – the Lord has warned that that man will not be
guiltless – Exodus 20:7.
The dispensation of God’s grace to man is one of the
angels’ lesson books!
I would like to recommend Clarence Larkin’s book on Dispensational Truth.
It is in our church library.
I recommend checking out www.larkinbooks.com.
So dread a sacrifice as the life of God’s Son could not
have been made just for one
poor planet, in its indirect bearings we do not know what
orders of beings have
derived most vital lessons from this MANFESTATION OF
THE ATTRIBUTES
OF GOD!
However men may scorn the salvation of Christ and all that
belongs to it, the
highest intelligences regard it with PROFOUND
INTEREST!
Yet: How the disinterest today? Why the disinterest today? Why the neglect of
the soul? The attitude
of man is often portrayed by Satan when, before God, he
accuses Job by saying “skin for skin, yea, all that
a man hath will he give for his
life”
– Job 2:4
Why the stupidity? Why
the ignorance?
What shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Mark 8:37
My apologies to Bro. Laster
(filled in last week for me) in whom I have
utmost
confidence in his handling of chapter 2 but I must refer to that
passage when I studied Ephesians from Feb. 3, to
March 16, 1976, and
I made a note to connect a reference on p. 61 in my
commentary to this
passage. The
following in red is to what I refer:
Ch. 2:1 refers to the condition of being dead in
trespasses and sins.
Here the killing effect of sin is indicated. Sins of sensuality kill truthfulness,
industry, integrity and all virtue, so sin generally
affecting as it does our whole
nature,
kills or does not suffer to live, the affections and movements of the
spiritual life.
(
For reference: Take
the sarcastic attack on public knowledge of the Ten
Commandments by a judge for Caldwell, Lyon, Trigg and Livingston counties
– 56th district circuit judge – a huge article
in The
April 6, 2002
The conversation with Bob McCord coming back from a golf
outing at Russellville
last
Friday – what his generation was taught – comparing it to endangered species’
loss of habitat and getting below a certain number (in this
instance people that fear
the Lord) Ten righteous men in
(Genesis 18:23-33)
Side effects of this condition are: a state of insensibility, utter powerlessness
and
helplessness to do anything about it from a human
standpoint.
2:2 – “Wherein in time past ye walked according to the
course of this world” – a life
of walking but not normal life, a sort of galvanized corpse
or of walking in
one’s sleep.
“the world” – the present system
of things, only things that are seen and temporal
with no regard to God or the future life. Where there is spiritual death there is
insensibility to these things.
“according to the prince of the
power of the air” – denotes evil spirits influencing
by temptations to draw people in worldly directions contrary
to the will of God.
“the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience”
Unfortunately, persons of disobedience, bred by
disobedience, having disobedience
in
their very nature.
“The carnal mind is enmity against God” – Romans 8:7
2:3 – “fulfilling the desires of the flesh and mind” - a
life of indulgence marked by
the absence of any controlling regard to the will of God.
Psalm 2:2-4
As if, life is to be spent in the lusts and desires of our
flesh, living for no noble ends,
as if there were nothing higher than to please the carnal
nature?
“To be spiritually minded is life and peace but to be
carnally minded is death” – Romans 8:6
Jeremiah 5:23 - “But this people hath a revolting
and a rebellious heart;
they are
revolted and gone”
SATAN INFLAMES MAN’S INHERENT DISLIKE TO GOD’S WILL AND
ENCOURAGES OUOTBREAKS OF IT!
Now back to chapter 3.
v. 11 – “According to the eternal purpose which He purposed
in Christ Jesus our
Lord”
The apostle is anxious that we connect these operations of
God with the profundity,
deliberation and awfulness of the eternal decree – the
whole element in which the
whole scheme of grace had its beginning, its progress and its
end!
v. 12 – “In whom we have boldness and access”
Contrast with Adam hiding himself among the trees of the
garden (Genesis 3:8)
and with the lost in Revelation calling on mountains to fall
on them and rocks to
cover them (Revelation 6:12-17).
“In confidence through the faith of Him” – confidence of
being welcomed and
accepted when we go through Christ, our Propitiation,
our Peace and our
Reconciler to God.
He is not a means of deliverance out of the hands of God
but casting ourselves
into the hands of God, He is the very best Friend we have in
the universe!
Remember the influence of the old hymn What a Friend We Have in Jesus