Join us on today’s episode of Expository Truths as Dr. John Kyle delves into the Apostle Paul’s transformative message to the Ephesians. Explore the profound doctrinal foundations laid out by Paul while he was under house arrest in Rome, and discover how these powerful truths have the potential to shape our understanding of the gospel. Paul’s letter reveals the joyful mystery that underpins the unity of Jews and Gentiles, inviting believers to marvel at the unsearchable riches of Christ as the cornerstone of eternal life.
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 01 :
Please turn in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 3, verses 8 through 9. Ephesians 3, 8 through 9. The letter of Ephesians was written by the Apostle Paul to the Christians living in the city of Ephesus, whom he hadn’t seen for over five years. 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 a great amount of praise to God. He then gave a great 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 that they would then be captivated by Christ and by what He’s done for them in saving them from the eternal wages of their sin. The call now is to respond accordingly. How? By loving Him and others. By doing good and godly works that glorify His name. And by being good stones in the temple that God is building. Lately, Paul’s been stressing the amazing fact that both believing Jews and believing Gentiles now make up the church. And as Paul wanted to begin chapter 3 with another wonderful prayer for these Ephesian Christians, remember what happened? Paul got sidetracked for 13 verses before he finally got to that prayer. What sidetracked him? The amazing mystery that’s now been revealed. What? That both Jewish believers and Gentile believers, people who once hated each other, look… they would now be the ones who would make up the church, the people of God. See, praise the Lord, it doesn’t matter your race or your background or how bad you’ve been or anything else. No. Everyone who believes in Christ as Lord and Savior is saved and is part of the eternal family of God. How good is that? Right? Right? And while Paul had the general calling that every Christian has of glorifying God with his life, battling sin, pursuing Christ-likeness, obeying the Lord, and so on, look, Paul also had the specific calling of not only being an apostle and laying down the foundation of the church, but even more, Paul was called to give out the gospel to the Gentiles, to the non-Jews, people who had once been despised and cast out. But guess what? Not anymore. Clearly, that’s good news. Not anymore. Look what Paul says next in Ephesians 3, verses 8 and 9. To me, who am less than the least of all the saints… This grace was given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God, who created all things through Jesus Christ. Now here as we begin looking at these verses, we can note the two considerations by Paul. First look, Paul considered himself to be the least of all the saints. Second, Paul considered it all God’s grace that he should preach Christ to the Gentiles. He said, I am the leastest, but this grace was given that I should preach Christ among the Gentiles, and I’m absolutely blown away by that incredible privilege. Now remember, grace is God’s unmerited favor, and while Paul was saved by God’s grace alone and not by anything in himself, no, it was all grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Look, It was also all of God’s grace that God should call him to not only be the apostle and help lay down the foundation of the church, but to also be the apostle to the Gentiles, the non-Jewish people. Now think about that. that Paul, once a Gentile-hating Pharisee of Pharisees, that now because of the supernatural power of the gospel of God’s amazing grace, that Paul actually considers it a privilege to preach to the once despised and hated Gentiles. Think about that. And while Paul never forgot his own countrymen, the Jewish people, his main focus was on giving Christ to the Gentile people. And as God changed Paul’s life and his heart, Paul now has this passionate heart of love for the many lost Gentile souls around him, knowing that they’re lost and knowing that they’re miserable in their idle worshiping and empty ways, and that Christ is their only true answer. And guess what? Paul had what they needed, right? Christ. And so he gladly goes out to the needy ones, the needy souls, even at the cost of his own life. Note two truths that Paul preached. First, he preached the unsearchable riches of Christ, the end of verse 8. What a privilege. The unsearchable riches of Christ. What are the unsearchable riches of Christ? The word riches speaks of a plentiful and abundant supply, while the word unsearchable speaks of something that’s impossible to comprehend. So this phrase speaks of riches that can’t really be tracked. Words like inexplorable, untraceable, unfathomable, inexhaustible, inscrutable, incalculable, and infinite are used to describe the word unsearchable. And they tell us how incredibly good the riches of Christ are. But look, even those words can’t begin to describe how amazing the vast riches that are found in Christ truly are because those riches are beyond description. See, What we have in Christ is way better than anything that we could ever ever think or imagine. Yeah, what we have in Christ right now is oh so very good, right? Undeserved grace, forgiveness of all our sin, eternal love from the Lord God Almighty, hope, peace that passes understanding, joy even in hardship and so on. But what we have waiting is even better and it’s all beyond description. I mean, try as we might, but even then, we can never plumb the depths of Christ’s worth. Paul showed us some of those riches back in chapter 1, if you remember, when he passionately praised God. Remember? Redemption through His blood. The forgiveness of all our sin. The knowledge of the mystery of His will. The message of truth. The sealing of the Holy Spirit. God living in us, ensuring what is to come for us in Christ. The guarantor of our inheritance. But even more, there’s much more riches to come that are found in Christ. Think about that. One said, the riches of Christ include all that God is. Oh, is that all? Understatement. That’s a lot. This includes the glory of God, the truth of God, the wisdom of God, the life of God, and the love of God. Again, is that all? Come on. All those things extend way beyond what we can fathom or imagine. And we have all of them in Christ, talking about spiritual riches with eternal benefits that we can’t begin to comprehend, but that we will indeed experience in full. King Solomon was a man of great riches and wisdom, and his fame spread throughout the known world. Dignitaries from other countries came to hear of his wisdom and to see his lavish display of wealth, and it was lavish indeed. Scripture says that Solomon had no equal on the earth at that time, and yet for all that, Solomon’s riches weren’t unsearchable. No, those riches could be quantified and counted. Besides that, Solomon’s riches were only temporal and fading earthly riches. But good news, if you’re a Christian, the treasures of Christ are inexhaustible, they are unsearchable, and they are forever and ever and ever and ever and ever. And Paul got to preach the amazing good news to the lost souls around him, the lost Gentiles. And we today not only get to preach it to the lost around us, but we are experiencing it in part right now. And we will experience it in full in our own lives in the future. Anybody excited about that? What’s waiting? It should be. Because we can’t even begin to fathom how incredible it’s going to be. Look to that. Right? Just… Keep looking to that. Let that thought catapult you forward as you go through this life, through the pain and the trial and the tragedy and the hardship and the loss and even death. Christ’s unsearchable riches lie ahead. And again, while the good news is very good right now, it’s going to be even better, way, way better, indescribably better later on when we see Him in all His glory. Again, look to that. In Matthew 13, Jesus taught two short parables that emphasize the value of eternal life and the kingdom of God, and also what we have in Christ compared to everything else. He said, Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had, and he bought it. Hey! Christ and what he gives to us as children is that treasure. And he is that pearl. And it’s of incalculable worth. And everything else is like dung compared to him. I pray we all understand that fact a bit more today. So that we stop messing around with the dung and the garbage and the junk. of this fading world and get captivated with Christ and His unsearchable and eternal riches. See, stop wasting your life on garbage that’s everything apart from Christ and give yourself over to Him more and more. Glorifying Him. Obeying Him. Loving Him. Honoring Him till glory. For in that, you will find true riches. In Him alone. And it matters. And it gives great joy in return. Paul also preached the fellowship of the mystery, verse 9, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ and to make all see what is the fellowship or stewardship of the mystery. If you remember, Paul’s already told us what that mystery was. What? That Gentiles are heirs and partakers of the promises of Christ. Now remember, a Gentile was a non-Jew, which before Christ came was a very serious thing. Why? Because for 2,000 years from Abraham to Christ, God chose to work through the Jewish people, the people of Israel. And it was through them that God revealed Himself and His salvation to humanity. See, God gave His law to the Jewish people. And the only way that you could have a saving relationship with the one true God was by becoming a part of the people of Israel, a proselyte, and then by adhering to a system that God had set up in His law which pointed people to repentant faith in Him for salvation and life. And so to be a Gentile, a non-Jew, was to be a pagan unbeliever. And while Israel was called to be a bright light to the Gentiles, the opposite happened. And as opposed to being a bright light, Great opposition and hostility arose between Jews and Gentiles. The good news is that when Jesus came, lived, died on the cross in the believer’s place as their substitute and rose up from the dead, Jesus put an end to that system. And now it’s not about being a Jew or a Gentile anymore. No, it’s all about Christ. It’s all about Christ. And now look, if you were Jewish, the way to be saved is to put your repentant faith in Christ alone to save you. And when you truly do that, guess what? You’re saved. And also, if you were a Gentile, the way to be saved is to put your repentant faith in Christ alone to save you. And when you truly do that, guess what? You’re saved. It’s the same, see? And the Gentiles don’t have to become Jewish first in order to be saved. No, they simply have to put their faith in Christ alone to be saved from the deadly wages of their sin. And this was revolutionary. In fact, even after Christ came, it took many years for Christianity to go out from Jerusalem and then to spread to the Gentiles. But as we saw last time, In the right time, God revealed to Peter in a vision that the gospel is to now go out to everyone, Jew and Gentile alike, which is good news for all of us today. See, the good news of Christ isn’t just for a few select people. No, it goes out to all. And everyone who truly surrenders to Christ in repentant faith will indeed be saved. Amen? Right? Jew, Gentile, man, woman, old, young, addict, adulterer, liar, cheater, black, white, everyone. And that’s what Paul preached because it was his calling to do so, yes, to preach the fellowship of the mystery and he did it with fervor and he did it with great joy. So, go and tell the good news far and wide. Go and tell it far and wide. Christ can save you. Won’t you surrender to Him in repentant faith and be saved from the wrath to come? He can save the worst of us. Anybody? Amen. Note how Paul again says that this mystery was previously hidden. He says that it’s been from the beginning of the ages. It’s been hidden in God. He said this already. But he reiterates it again, showing us how incredible it is that believing Jew and believing Gentiles are now family in Christ. See, Christ brings us together. He truly unites us. He breaks down all the barriers. And our call is to focus on Him and to serve and honor Him in unity until He takes us home to glory. Let me remind you that a biblical mystery refers to a previously hidden purpose of God, which, when uncovered, is now understood by the Spirit-taught believer. A biblical mystery is a truth which, without special revelation, would have been previously unknown. One of the truths that was hidden, not completely, I mean, it was certainly alluded to in the Old Testament, but it wasn’t made clear to the people, was that the Gentiles would become heirs of the promises of God. See, those Old Testament believers didn’t really get it. They didn’t really comprehend that truth. And it wasn’t until the New Testament time that the Old Testament truths were really understood. Especially this truth about the Jews and Gentiles making up the church as believers, united together as family, a people who once hated each other. But again, Christ changes things, doesn’t He? Right? Anybody know that? He changes things. We once were filled with hate, but now we are filled with love. We once exalted in unforgiveness and retribution, but now we turn the other cheek for the glory of God. We once followed the devil, but now we follow the Lord who saves. We once worshipped idols who were worthless and empty. Now we love and follow the God who rescued us by His amazing grace. We once were filled with anger and rage, but now we are filled… with gentleness and Christ-likeness and grace. We were once worldly and we loved our sin, but now we seek the things above and we hate our sin and we battle our sin because we love our good God so very much. See, He changes things. And He can now make enemies, not just into friends, but into family. How cool is that? Note also that Paul says that God created all things through Christ, verse 9, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God, who created all things through Jesus Christ. Now, Paul’s going to go on from here and talk more about how this mystery has now been revealed, but this phrase about God creating all things through Christ is significant, even if it’s in the middle of a thought, and that’s where we’re going to end on this thought today, but not yet. Remember, verses 2 through 13 is one long sentence in the Greek, the original language, and it’s all about Christ. In verse 4, Paul mentions the mystery of Christ. In verse 6, he mentions the promise of Christ. In verse 8, he mentions the riches of Christ. In verse 9, he mentions how God created all things through Christ. And then in verse 11, Paul talks about how God the Father accomplishes His purpose through Christ, God the Son. So why does Paul mention that God created all things through Christ? It’s telling us that all three members of the Godhead were a part of creating the universe and everything in it. And here, Paul wants the readers to be sure that they understand who Jesus truly is, because he’s going to go on and say some very amazing things in the next few verses. So, just to be clear, Jesus is God, Jesus is the Creator, and that has serious implications for everything. John 1.3 says that all things were made through Him, Jesus, and without Him was not anything made that was made. Hebrews 1.2 says this, In these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He also made the universe. So let me look at that for just a second. It’s very telling. Because the word Son lacks a definite article, the, in the Greek, and the absence of the definite article fixes our attention upon the nature and not upon the personality of the Son. Who is He in His essence? We see that in what comes next, but let me make it clear that Jesus is in His very nature God, according to the Bible. We in Christ, see, we are unashamedly Trinitarians. We believe in one God who eternally exists in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Son is God, the Father is God, the Spirit is God, and they are one according to the Bible. A mystery to us with our sin-infected minds, but definitely not a mystery to God. So please don’t get caught up with that title, Son, and think that God the Father had a baby and produced a child like we do. No. Son is a title. And it shows us that the second person of the Godhead, Jesus, became a man, fully God and fully man at the same time, so He could die and save us, His people. The bottom line is that the terms Father and Son are titles that help us in part to understand the relationship between the first and the second persons of the Godhead. Both are God, but both have roles within the Trinity at the same time, along with God the Spirit. And the titles help us understand those roles just a little bit better. Look what the writer of Hebrews says about Jesus. First, the Son is the heir of all things. God has appointed him heir of all things. The word appointed is interesting, that the Lord Jesus, who is equal with God, has been appointed by God the Father. This simply points to the fact that the Father and the Son have agreed before the foundation of the world to do certain things for our salvation. And it’s a Son who came down here, took on human flesh, fully God and fully man at the same time, lived a perfect life, died on a cross for His people, and rose up from the dead. The Son specifically did that. And it’s a Son who was appointed to do this, who was sent to do this, who was also appointed to be the heir of all things. What’s an heir? An heir is an inheritor. This tells us of the great power and majesty and rule of God the Son. And while He became a man and took on human flesh, don’t forget who He truly is, the heir of all things. And this has always been the plan within the Godhead. This sea is a title of dignity, and it shows us that Christ has a supreme place in all the universe. And note that His exaltation to the highest place in heaven after His work on earth was done didn’t mark some new dignity, no, but it marked His re-entry into His rightful place, heir, inheritor, possessor, holder of all things. Note that all in the Greek means all. All things. Heaven, earth, under the earth, all creatures, all of God’s works, spiritual, temporal, past, present, or to come. All things in time and all things in eternity are His. See, this Son has the right to and possession of all things. He has free and full disposal of all things. They all belong to Him. And second, this is what I wanted to get to, the Son made all things, through whom He also made the worlds. That’s the same thing that Paul says in verse 9, God who created all things through Christ Jesus. Worlds, all things, same idea. Worlds is literally ages in the Greek, and it refers to the whole created universe in space and time. That means that Jesus is Lord over time, and He’s Lord over all that’s been created in time because He created all of it. Romans 11.36 says, For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen. What does that show us? That Jesus is the eternal God, one with the Father before time began. Now some people may look at this and say, No, Jesus isn’t the Creator, the Son, God. No, no, no. Why? Because Colossians 1.15 says that Jesus is the firstborn over all creation. And that proves that Jesus was a created being. The first created being. No. It doesn’t mean that. Clearly in context and then in line with the rest of Scripture. Firstborn isn’t a chronological term at all. Instead, it shows us that Christ occupies the rank and the preeminence of the firstborn over all things. In other words, He holds the most exalted rank in the universe. He’s the preeminent one over all things. He’s at the head of all things. So the title firstborn isn’t talking about time, but of rank. And the writer of Hebrews wants us to be clear. who the true Son is, as does Paul here in Ephesians 3.9. See, He’s the heir of all things and He made all things. And when you entrust your soul into His care and saving repentant faith, guess what? He will take you and save you and ensure your safe arrival in glory because He’s the God who created you and He is certainly able to save you. And good news, He never lies. See? Never. Never. And look, ask His beloved child that He chose for Himself and that He died for to save. Hey, He cares about the number of hairs on your head. That’s the kind of God you have. From the massive alps to the tiny flower, He created it to display His glory. And look, He loves you intimately, O child of God. This God who created you. This God who died for you. One said, dare we despair when we have such a creator? Can we live in hopelessness when the same creator also hung in our place on the cross for us? Answer, no way. And look, the same God who created you, hey, Christian, he became a man. He suffered for you brutally and he died to make you his own. Well, as a result, Christ absolutely amazed Paul. Christ captivated Paul. Paul was humbled before his Christ. And the more he grew in Christ, the more he lowered himself and lifted Christ high because he knew Christ alone is worthy. And look, Paul saw it as a great privilege to preach Christ to people who were once his enemies. And as Christ saved undeserving Paul, so too could Christ save other undeserving lost sinners as well. And how could we, the saved, not go out and tell the good news to the lost around us? The riches of Christ are unfathomable, so how could I hold this good news in and not give it out to others? God the Creator died to save me. Think about that. How could I, we, not give our lives passionately to Him? the greatest treasure in all the universe.
SPEAKER 02 :
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.
