In this illuminating episode, Dr. John Kyle takes us on a profound journey through the book of Ephesians, unraveling Apostle Paul’s intricate teachings to early Christians. As we delve into chapters 3:10-13, we uncover the marvelous mystery of salvation uniting Jews and Gentiles under one church. Through each verse, the manifold wisdom of God is laid bare, showcasing the church’s vital role in God’s eternal purpose. Discover how these early teachings transcend time, essential for spiritual growth and salvation today.
Welcome to Expository Truths, where we exalt Christ by bringing clarity of truth through the scriptures with Dr. John Kyle, pastor of Faith Community Church in Vacaville. As Christians, we’re called to know the truth and be able to proclaim it. We can know truth when we know the Word of God, which is precise, without error, and powerful and effective for both salvation and spiritual growth. Enjoy digging deeply with Dr. Kyle as he takes us verse by verse through the powerful book of Ephesians, giving us a marvelous summary of the good news of Christ and its implications for our daily lives.
SPEAKER 02 :
Please turn in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 3, verses 10 through 13. Ephesians 3, 10 through 13. The letter of Ephesians was written by the Apostle Paul to the Christians living in the city of Ephesus. And Paul wrote this while he was under house arrest in Rome, and he wrote it to lay a proper doctrinal foundation for these believers, chapters 1 through 3, so they could then live out those doctrines for the glory of God, chapters 4 through 6. If you remember, Paul began by giving great praise to God. He then gave a wonderful prayer for the Ephesians. And then he went on and reminded the readers more than once of what they once were before Christ rescued them, so they would then be captivated by Christ and by what He has done for them in saving them from the eternal wages of their sin. The call is to now respond accordingly. How? By loving God and by loving one another. by doing good and godly works that glorify His name, and by being good stones in the temple that God is building. As he began chapter 3, Paul wanted to give another wonderful prayer for these Ephesian Christians, but before he got to that prayer, Paul got sidetracked for 13 verses. What sidetracked him? This, the amazing mystery that’s now been revealed. What? That both Jewish believers and Gentile believers, people who once hated one another, that they would be the ones who would now make up the church, the people of God. See, it doesn’t matter your race. It doesn’t matter your background or how bad a person you’ve been or anything else. No. Everyone who believes in Christ as Lord and Savior is saved. And they are a part of the eternal family of God. How good is that? Everyone. That’s good news for us all. And Paul was astounded at that fact, that he wasn’t just an apostle, but he was astounded at the fact that he was called to go and to preach the good news of Christ to the Gentiles, the non-Jews, and it was his honor. It was his privilege to do that. See, in Christ our Creator, look, we who believe find unsearchable and eternal riches that we not only experience in part right now, but that we will also experience in full in the near future. And we can’t begin to fathom how incredible it’s going to be for all of us who believe. Look what Paul says next, verse 10. To the intent, or so that… Now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him. Therefore, I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.” Now here in this passage, we can observe four facts that conclude what Paul has been saying about the mystery. And the first fact is this, that the church makes known the manifold wisdom of God. Look, that the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church. So it’s the church that’s called to do this. Okay, so then what is the church? Well, the word church comes from the Greek word ekklesia, and it literally means called out ones. Called out by who? Called out of the world by God to Himself. So the church is the people of God. The church is made up of all believers in Christ since the day of Pentecost when the church began. That means that the church is not a building, right? It’s not a building, no. The church is the people. The people of God. Back in Ephesians 1.23, Paul said that Christ is the head of the church and the church is the body of Christ. The word body refers to an organized whole made up of parts and members. This term describes the relationship of Christians to Christ the head, the head being the vital organic center of the whole body. Now, biblically, we can regard the church in two ways, as the universal church and then as the local church. The universal church consists of everyone, everywhere, who has a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. See, all true believers in Christ comprise the universal church. But look, the local church consists of smaller family units of the universal church. Question. Can you be part of the universal church but not be a part of a local church? Maybe. Maybe, but you’d be sinning, and it’s not recommended in any way. Paul already said in chapter 2 that God is building a holy temple with Christ being the chief cornerstone and look, each Christian is a living stone in that temple and so we need each other. In chapter 4, Paul likens the church to a body with Christ as the head and with each person in the church being a vital and essential body part and you can’t really do that by yourself. And while I know that many of us, if not all of us, have been burned by the church, hurt by the church, look, the church is still the bride of Christ. And you are already a part of the universal church. And you’re still commanded to be a part of a local church. And even though each church and every church is filled with sinners, it’s still the means that God uses to display His glory to this world. And to neglect the gathering of God’s people is to disobey God and to hurt yourself. And why would you do that? Why would you do that? Look what Paul says the church does. It makes known the manifold wisdom of God. That’s quite a statement. Manifold means diverse, multicolored, multifaceted, and abounding in variety. It means manifesting itself in great varieties and forms. What? Manifesting what? The wisdom of God. What is the wisdom of God? The wisdom of God speaks of true knowledge and insight into the truth of God as revealed to us in the Word of God by the Spirit of God. This kind of godly wisdom emphasizes the understanding of real ultimate things, true things, such as life and death, God and man, righteousness and sin, heaven and hell, eternity and time. I don’t care how bad you’ve been, Jesus can forgive you. I don’t care what color your skin is or what nationality you are, Jesus can forgive you. I don’t care how much money you make or where you live, Jesus can forgive you. And God wants the church to preach His Word, His truth to everyone, and to make His wisdom, His truth known to all. And so Paul wants to elevate our understanding of the importance of the church and God’s eternal plan so that we will give its proper… at its proper priority in our own lives. He wants us to understand what a great privilege it is that God has chosen us to be the agents of carrying out His eternal purpose through the church. That means that the church isn’t just a nice place to drop by on Sundays if you’re not doing anything more interesting. No. The church is God’s vehicle for making known His manifold wisdom, not only on the earth, but guess what? also before the heavenly principalities and powers. So look, second, the wisdom of God is displayed before the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, the end of verse 10. Huh? Say what? Who are these heavenly principalities and powers? Well, clearly this is talking about holy angels and some believe that this also includes fallen angels, which could be the case since Ephesians 6.12 says that there’s a spiritual battle going on between angels and demons in the heavenly places. So again, Paul is telling us that there’s an invisible audience of chief angels and also probably of fallen angels who are watching the church and who are learning some amazing things. So God is educating the angels by means of the church. That’s an incredible thought. Think about that. They knew God’s wisdom in creation, but the truth of salvation of Jew and Gentile into one body was a mystery that was hidden from them, and as they see what’s going on, they’re amazed. But that’s not all that amazes them. Look what Peter says in 1 Peter 1.12. To them it was revealed that not to themselves, but to us… They were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Look. Things which angels desire to look into. Isn’t that interesting? Question. Have you ever wondered what it would like to be an angel? Well, angels are wondering what it’s like to be us. The saved. They’re saying, I wonder what it’s like to be redeemed. I wonder what it’s like to receive grace. I wonder what it’s like to be forgiven of sin. See, they don’t understand this. And so they want to have a deeper understanding of salvation and everything that goes along with it. The word for desire speaks of a strong desire, an overpowering impulse. There’s passion in this. There’s a strong impulse in these angels that’s not fulfilled yet. And look, the angels have this unsatisfied desire to look into the things that we are experiencing, to look into the things of salvation. That word look literally means to stretch forward your head and to bend down. And what we find is that the angels want to stoop down and look into this thing called salvation. Why? Because they’ll never experience it in the manner that we do and in the manner that we have. See, the holy angels never need to be saved and the fallen angels can’t be saved. And they’re just utterly amazed about God’s grace and His forgiveness and His mercy and what it means to be truly saved from eternal wrath, something that we’re all graciously rescued from as Christians. And the angels really can’t understand this amazing reality the way we do. I mean, we’ve experienced it. We know. Right? As people who were heading for hell and… who have now been saved by God’s grace through faith in Christ, who died for us in our place. So even God’s holy angels, and probably also Satan and the fallen angels, they’re observing with great interest the unfolding of God’s great plan of salvation. And if that amazes them, guess what? It should also amaze you. And it should also amaze me. Try to wrap your brain around this deep thought. I mean, the angels have an exalted position, right? They look with undimmed eye upon the Lord God Almighty, creator of heaven and earth. In awe, in reverence, in wonder, they veil their faces crying, holy, holy, holy before God. One said they stand in the very sun, in the presence of deity itself. And yet it’s nowhere ever said that they learn the manifold wisdom of God by the virtue of their exalted position. Think about it. The angels were present at the creation of the world. When God formed the Milky Way and all the galaxies with the Word, Job 38.7 says that all the morning stars sang together and the sons of God shouted for joy. That’s the angels. They beheld in amazed wonder all the works of God’s hands, and yet nowhere does it say that the angels learned the manifold, various, multi-formed, multi-faceted wisdom of God. They were present when God formed Adam and Eve. And yet, think about this. As the angels looked upon the highest creation by the mind and heart and hands of God, man created in God’s very image, at no place does it say that the angels learned the manifold wisdom of God. And think about the centuries that have come and gone before the church was instituted in Acts chapter 2. That the angels have witnessed days, years, decades, centuries, the fall, the flood, kingdoms rising and falling, Sodom and Gomorrah, world history, Moses, David, Solomon, so many people come and gone, and yet nowhere in the Bible does it say that the angels learned the manifold wisdom of God. It’s like a theater. What’s the theater? The theater is human history. What’s the stage? The stage is the world. Who are the actors? The actors are the members of the body of Christ. Us. Who’s the author of the play, the director of the play, and the producer of the play? God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. Who’s the audience? The audience is the angels, holy and unholy. And what are they learning? They’re learning the manifold wisdom of God. Like what? Like God’s grace and His forgiveness of sinners, His mercy, His way of saving the lost. Think about it. I mean, if there was a meeting with all the angels and the question had been posed to them, how can God be just and how can God be the justifier of the ungodly? I don’t think there would have ever been an angel who would be able to come up with an answer. God is just and right in all that He does, and He must punish sin. He has to punish sin, every sin, all sin, as a holy and righteous God. Right? I mean, right? He must. Every sin in all of history will and must be punished by God, and the wages of every sin is death, eternal separation from God, and hell. Why? Because sin against an infinite God is worthy of infinite wages. It’s very serious, and we’re all sinners. So how, oh how, is God going to save undeserving sinners who deserve punishment and wrath for all their sin? How’s He going to do it? Well, a substitute who will pay that hellish wrath in their place. Okay, who? Who’s willing and who is worthy and who is able. God alone. That’s it. Specifically, Jesus, God the Son. So here’s a preordained plan before the foundation of the world within the Godhead. God will kill God to save all who believe from God. Never would have thought of that. That’s the plan. that God the Father sent Jesus God the Son to come here, take on human flesh, live a perfect life, die on a cross in the believer’s place as their substitute for sin, and then rise up from the dead. And look, it was on the cross that the sins of every believer in history was placed onto Jesus, and it was on the cross that God the Father poured out all His deadly and fiery wrath against all that sin onto Jesus, and it was there that Jesus paid the full wages of sin, death, a billion times over for us who believe, so we could be forgiven. redeemed rescued and given heaven instead of hell which is what we all deserve so god the father crushed put to grief killed jesus god the son in our place as believers he died so we who believe could live he faced god’s wrath against our sin and paid all its wretched wages so we who believe could be saved and the angels are like what that’s the plan think about that jesus who they had worshipped for centuries in glory as their Creator, did this for these people? They’re amazed at what they’re seeing. I can only imagine how the angels look at such mercy and love and goodness and stand astonished and amazed. Oh, just look at the incredible grace of God that reaches down to sinful men and women. Incredible. Incredible. How else is God’s manifold wisdom revealed to the angels through the church? Through the fact that now the church is made up of believing Jews and believing Gentiles, which is a new thing. A multicultural, multiracial, third race of humanity. The church. The family of God. The angels are like, what’s this? Those people hated each other. How did this happen? Enemies not only becoming friends, but family? Family? Forgiveness freely given. Love that’s seen and that’s clear. Mercy extended between once despised enemies. This is incredible. And the mystery of the church keeps the angels watching. As one said, the church thus becomes the university for angels and each saint a professor. So, here’s a question. What do they learn when they look at us? What do they learn when they look at you? What do they learn when they look at Faith Community Church? I pray they learn… Great things about the grace of God and the mercy of God and the love of God and the forgiveness of God and how God breaks down the walls of hostility and how Jesus changes everything. And look, He can even make friends and family out of once despised enemies. That all shows us how important the church is, right? We are the bride of Christ. He fulfills His purpose in and through us. Think about this. Paul was willing to pay any price to see the church go forward because he knew how important it was to God and to his plan and to us who make it up. Therefore, the church isn’t an option for believers. God loves his church. And so should we. And the more we commit to and not forsake the gathering together of the people of God, the more we’re going to be able to glorify the God whom we love. And also, the more we will amaze the angels who are watching. And also, I hope, the more we will frustrate any demons who might be watching too. How great is that? Third, look. The eternal purpose of God is accomplished in Christ. Verse 11. According to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. What? It was the eternal purpose of God for Christ to die on the cross. Answer? Yes. This was the plan. This was the way for God to be just and right and for sinners like us to be forgiven and redeemed. This was the plan. See, God is sovereign and God has an eternal purpose for all things. Our God is a wise God. Therefore, His eternal purpose is a wise one. Our God is a powerful God. Therefore, He’s able to accomplish whatever He purposes. Our God is a loving God. Therefore, what He purposes will manifest His love. Our God is an unchanging God. Therefore, His purpose is unchanging. And look, God’s purpose has been accomplished in Christ. And that is the basis of the formation of the church, the mystery made known to all mankind and also to the angelic hosts. And look, this plan has been worked out in the incarnation, God becoming man, death, resurrection, ascension, and glorification of Christ. The whole plan, it all centered in Christ and it’s all been realized through Christ. One said, history is His story. And The old, it all looks to Christ. The new reflects and looks back on Christ, and Christ is the center. And the church is what reveals Christ to this world. See, our call is to lift Him high, Him the center, Him the cornerstone, Him the only way for lost souls to be saved. Lift Him alone high. And now, our call is to exalt Christ and to lift Him high and to say, yes, He can save even you. Won’t you surrender to Christ and repent in faith and be saved from the wrath to come? Christ, Christ. It’s all about Christ. And our lives are all about glorifying Christ, our beloved. Fourth, Christ gives us boldness and access with confidence through faith. Verse 12. So look, it’s through faith in Christ and His person and work that sinners like us can have boldness and access with confidence to God. What is faith? Faith is confident trust that not only believes in the head, but that also responds to that trust with action. See, biblical faith is seen. Biblical faith in Christ as Lord and Savior means that you believe what the Bible says about Jesus, that you understand who He is and what He did on that cross, and that you entrust your soul into His care to rescue you, to save you, and to deliver you from your eternal bondage. And the result of that true faith is a life that loves Him and a life that wants to glorify Him. See, faith alone in Christ saves. But true saving faith always grips your life so that you can’t be the same person that you were before. No, you must respond in love to God and to others as a result of that saving faith. And look, because of God’s grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, look, we have boldness and access with confidence to God. So how is that possible for unclean sinners like us? Anybody know the answer? Christ, right? And again, it’s because of what He did for all who believe on the cross that He gains us access to the God of the universe. And it’s filled with love and acceptance and passion for us as children. Romans 8.16 You did not receive a spirit of bondage again to fear. You received a spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba, Father. How good is that? that as Christians, because of Christ, by grace through faith, we’ve been adopted by God into God’s eternal family. And this adoption isn’t a cold act by God when He does this. No, this is a family idea that’s filled with love and care and affection and relationship. And so, through faith in Christ, because of what He did in the believer’s place on the cross, look, access. Access. Now, before you were a Christian, you had no access. Access. No, you were separated from God and you were doomed for wrath. You were in bondage. Bondage to sin. Bondage to Satan. Bondage to judgment. But now because of Christ, access. See, I’m no longer condemned because of Christ. God is my Father now because of Christ. I’m near to Him now because of Christ. My eternal fate is sealed and I stand forgiven of all my sin because of Christ. Jesus paid the penalty for all my sin on the cross. God loves me. And nothing can now separate me from the love of God. And then look, we can now cry out to Him as Christians, Abba, Father. How good is that? That’s why we can be bold. That’s why we can be confident. Once we were trembling sinners living in fear, and now we are sons and daughters in the beloved care of our good Father. Once we were strangers, now we are family. Once we were shut out, now we are intimate. And now we can go into the presence of the Holy God of the universe, and we can say, Papa, and He will say, I’m here for you, my beloved child, because of Christ. How good is that? And so Paul is reminding them that the church of which every believer is a part is the plan. And God is working. Even when the tribulations come. Especially when the tribulations come. And the angels are amazed by it all. And so should you be. So don’t be discouraged. But look beyond and be greatly encouraged. God knows what He’s doing. Continue on. You trust Him. You be faithful to Him. Be a good living stone in the temple that God is building. Be a good body part. Honor the God who created you where He has you. And when you do that… You’re going to astound angels. You’re going to astound some demons. Let’s get to it for the glory of God by lifting Him high in our own lives and in this church and in this world that desperately needs Him. Let’s astound some principalities in Christ.
SPEAKER 01 :
Thanks for joining us for today’s exposition from the book of Ephesians on expository truths with Dr. John Kyle. Continue on with us next week at this same time. And to find this sermon in its entirety as well as other sermons, visit vacavillefaith.org. Faith Community Church seeks to exalt Christ by bringing clarity of truth through the scriptures with a commitment to glorifying God through the pure, deep, and reaching message of the gospel through faithful exposition. Pastor John is the preaching pastor at Faith Community Church of Vacaville, a seminary professor and a trainer of preaching pastors overseas. Join Faith Community Church for worship Sundays at 9 and 1045 a.m. Located at 192 Bella Vista Road, Suite A in Vacaville. To learn more, visit vacavillefaith.org or call 707-451-2026. That’s vacavillefaith.org.
