The Unfathomable Riches of Jesus Christ

Transcript

GR 147
08/31/1975
The Unfathomable Riches of Jesus Christ
Ephesians 3:8-13
Gil Rugh

Paul lays emphasis on the fact there were no sinners more sinful than I. Why did God save me? In order that, that would be an evidence that if God would save the Apostle Paul, he could save anyone. Again you back up and you say well, that is interesting but you think that is a little bit overboard. I think not, because I think what we have here is what ought to be true for each one, and those who see this as perhaps are probably have yet to grow in grace and maturity as Paul had because the more I know and understand God the more I realize and understand my own unworthiness. My own vileness before him as I enter into more understanding of his holiness, his perfection, then I realize what a sinner I’m, how unworthy I’m even of his attention and that is what Paul was.

So if you are really growing in maturity and that is a humbling process. Because the more mature I grow the more insight and understanding I have in the person and work of God and of Jesus Christ and the more insight and the understanding I have to my own vileness and unworthiness. That is how Paul is expressing himself and he mentions it here briefly so that people understand. I recognize I’m nothing, I’m no one, and I don’t deserve anything from God, and above all I don’t deserve to be the recipient of his grace. But, having said that, Paul goes on to talk about the responsibility that was entrusted to him. And again you see the balance that the Apostle Paul had.

He doesn’t belabor the fact of his unworthiness that is obvious to anyone who knows the word. The Apostle Paul was unworthy just as you are unworthy, just as I’m unworthy and undeserving but he doesn’t belabor that. He goes on now to talk about the responsibility entrusted to him as an Apostle as one who would reveal truth concerning God and his plan of salvation. It is often a balance that we miss. Some of us get so hung up on how unworthy we are; we fail to lose sight of the fact that God in his grace has gifted us and chosen to use us. You see a Christian walking around bemoaning his unworthiness and piously presenting how incapable and how unable he is in his lack of abilities and on and on and on all you have is a very immature Christian. You don’t have to come and tell us how unable and incapable you are. It is very obvious, and my inabilities and incapability’s are obvious to you. I don’t need to stand up Sunday after Sunday and bemoan the fact that I’m not a capable preacher or I can’t do this or I’m not able to do that. That is obvious to anyone who knows me well but I have to have the proper balance and recognize in spite of my unworthiness, in spite of my being unfit, God in his grace has taken me, has sanctified me, set me apart for himself and chosen to use me. I need to have a proper picture of myself but I need to move on to that now.

I realize I’m nothing, now I can look and see what God is going to do with me and through me and that is where Paul is in the last part of verse 8 of Ephesians 3, “To me the very least of all saints; this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery.” So even though I’m unworthy, even though I’m the least of all the saints, this grace was given and what was the content of this grace, this unmerited and undeserved favor that God bestowed upon Paul? It was the privilege of proclaiming to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Jesus Christ.

Paul was the Apostle to the Gentiles, now he preached the Jews and Jews were converted under his ministry but the focus of his message was to Gentile. He was the one appointed by God to spread the message of salvation in Christ beyond the nation Israel to the nations of the world and so he was preaching to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ. The word unfathomable basically means not able to be tracked, something that is untraceable or untrackable and the idea is it goes beyond human understanding. It is not possible for finite human being to sit down and logically follow through the riches of God in Jesus Christ. They are untrackable, they go beyond what our minds could grasp, they are untraceable, we have them revealed in the word, but even there they go beyond what our minds can comprehend and grasp, the unfathomable, untrackable riches of Christ, an interesting here.

What are these riches, these riches are identified as none other Jesus Christ himself. The unfathomable riches of Christ Jesus, He is the riches, He Himself so we are not just talking about plumbing the depths of will or omnipotence or omnipresence or any of these things, we are talking about plumbing the depths of a person, the person of Jesus Christ. He is the subject that Paul proclaims; I proclaim the unfathomable riches of Jesus Christ. In other words the subject of Paul’s proclamation was none other than a person Jesus Christ.

I wonder why we have such poor bankrupt preaching today. People no longer preach Jesus Christ and that here we have the untrackable, unfathomable riches of God at our disposal proclamation and people today are talking about economy. Preachers today are standing up talking about social conditions, who cares when I have the unfathomable riches of Jesus Christ as the subject of my message. Paul says I preach a person and the riches of that person go beyond understanding or the ability of a man to grasp a person of Jesus Christ. Secondly in verse 9 not only was he called to proclaim, he is also called to enlighten and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery, to bring to light, A.T Robertson who translates this; to turn the light on. In other words here is an area where there had been no light before because that had been a mystery, people had not seen it before, did not know anything about it and now Paul’s responsibility was to turn the light on, so that people could see and what are they to see, the administration of the mystery.

The administration of the mystery and we have already said what the mystery is in verse 6; that Jew and Gentile are being brought together in one body Chapter 2 verse 16. So it is the same thing that God might reconcile them both Jew and Gentile in one body to God through the cross. That God is making Jews and Gentiles one in Jesus Christ, not making Gentiles Jews nor making Jews Gentiles but making Jews and Gentiles part of the body of Christ. Paul’s responsibility was to shed light; in effect on how God was administering his plan of salvation particularly as it affects the Gentiles. Here it becomes very important than in verse 9.

Paul says my purpose is to give you light on how God is administering his plan of salvation, so if you want to know about salvation, personal forgiveness of sins, a personal relationship with God then you must come to the light and find out what God is doing. You cannot; apart from the light, apart from God telling you. But once God tells us; we can know with assurance and Paul’s responsibility was to enable us to know about God’s program of salvation which for the ages had been hidden in God. Now this program even though it is just being revealed now is not something new. It is not well I have tried with the nation Israel, I have tried some other things before the nation Israel and none of those have worked; I’m going to do something new.

Now this has been part of God’s plan from the very beginning. It has been hidden in God so we haven’t known about it because God hasn’t chosen to make it known but it doesn’t change reality that this plan has been hidden in God from the ages or eternity from the eternity past, who created all things. I take it the emphasis on God as the creator here ties to his plan and this plan has its source and origin in him and he chose to keep it his secret until this point in time when he put his hand on the Apostle Paul and said now through the Apostle Paul I’m going to make known to the world what this part of my program involves and thus Paul is speaking and making it known.

Okay, why did God do it this way, his reason; picked up in verse 10 in order that and this will tell all the way back that grace was given to Paul in verse 8 and this grace involved preaching Christ and shedding light on God’s program of salvation. Grace was given to do these things in verse 10 in order that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and authority in the heavenly places. Why did God chose to do it this way, now these kind of questions usually come up; why did God do this way, why is that, why is God bringing both together in the one body now, why didn’t he do that in the Old Testament, why did he have the nation Israel as his chosen people, why did he not reveal the program of the church to Abraham, to Daniel or one of the other great men of the Old Testament.

Well God has done it this way and now making his grace known through the Apostle Paul in verse 10 so that his wisdom might now be made known. So God is working his plan according to his purpose revealing it in his time so that his wisdom might be known and revealed and it is called the manifold wisdom. Particular word for manifold is only used here in the Bible, it means a multifaceted, it will be multicolored or something of that effect in other words the many variations of the wisdom of God, when we are studying God and coming to know him better; that is not a dour mundane subject.

He talks about the wisdom of God, that must have been flat and uninteresting because it is multifaceted, many variations and now God is choosing that his manifold wisdom might be made known. Now important that we understand that this is God’s wisdom but it is not a wisdom appreciated by human beings. Men today do not appreciate the manifold wisdom of God, they don’t see it is anything exciting or interesting at all. Look over in First Corinthians Chapter 1, First Corinthians and First Chapter; Paul talking about again his ministry of preaching Jesus Christ; crucified, buried and resurrected, in verse 18 he says for the word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness but to those who are being saved it is the power of God.

Paul says another words; that when I preach of the grace of God, that Jesus Christ through his death and resurrection has made possible forgiveness of sins and the bringing together of Jews and Gentiles into one body, the unbelievers says that is moronic, that is foolishness while the believer looks at it and says; fantastic the power of God. But humanly speaking man is uninterested; I don’t believe, it doesn’t make sense to me. I think it is silliness or foolishness and so in verse21 of First Corinthians 1 we are told that since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God. God was well pleased through this foolishness of the message preached to save those who believed.

And it is interesting, man says it is foolishness, that doesn’t change the fact that God is pleased to save those who have responded to his foolishness because his foolishness is true wisdom since he is the standard himself. Verse 30 of Chapter 1; why you are there but by his doing you are in Christ Jesus who became to us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. All right back to Ephesians Chapter 3 then, note now we go beyond what we normally think, God is making his manifold wisdom known through the church, through the church and that automatically elevates you and I as believers to an exalted position because we have become the vehicle through which God is going to make known now this manifold wisdom of his.

He says it is fantastic that God was making known through Paul, now Paul is an Apostle and he is up here and we are down here. But Paul says that God is making his manifold wisdom known how; through the church, the church is now the vehicle through which his manifold wisdom is made known and not just to other people but known, known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenlies. We are talking here not about human rulers and human authorities but we are talking about angelic being I take it. That the rulers and authorities in the heavenlies are none other than angelic beings and what Paul is saying here almost goes beyond what you and I can grasp, that God is now choosing to make his fantastic wisdom known to angelic creatures through the church itself. So for the angels to grasp something of the multiplied wisdom of God they have to be spectators of the church of what God is doing in the lives of people, who believe in Jesus Christ because that is the great demonstration of the unbelievable wisdom of God.

I think this is what is touched on in the First Peter Chapter 1, First Peter and the First Chapter, First Peter Chapter 1 and verse 12, we pick up the verse 10 for the context First Peter 1 verse 10; as to this salvation the Prophets who prophesied the grace that would come to you made careful search and inquiry. Now talking about the grace that would come to you; seeking to know what person or time the spirit of Christ within that was indicated as he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.

The Old Testament says who the Messiah would die, who the Messiah would reign, they didn’t understand how it all fit together. Verse 12 that was revealed to them; that they were not serving themselves but you in these things which have now been announced to you through those who preach the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Note; things under which angels long to look, I take it that is the same thing that Paul is talking about in Ephesians 3. And wonders of salvation are known by the angels only as they see us. Even the angels of heaven understands something of God’s wisdom, look at us and see the salvation that God provided in his Son and that enables them to know something of the wisdom of God.

You see the exalted position that we have even those who serve in the very presence of God are looking at the church as their teacher as their illustration as their demonstration of God’s supernatural multifaceted wisdom. All right back to Ephesians 3; again it is set down that this is not a new thing as far as God is concerned, again this is sometime understood, we have talked about dispensations and we are in the dispensation of grace, we talked about this with the first 7 verses, you can get it on tape if you missed it but we are in the dispensation of grace, some say or see that is making God shortsighted, that pretty soon he has to do something else then he has to do something else, that is not what we are saying.

We are saying that in God’s perfect plan complete from beginning to end; he has revealed in stages to man or progressive revelation and we are at the point of fullest revelation where he has revealed his purposes of providing salvation through the death and resurrection of his Son, so in verse 11 of the Ephesians 3 we read; this was according to the eternal purpose which he carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord. So this salvation that is provided that brings Jew and Gentile together in one, this making of the church and you see that is what the church is, everyone who is a believer in Jesus Christ and experienced forgiveness of sins as a result of faith in him is one of the member of the body of Christ the church and now God in his eternal purpose he is making it known to men. Look over in Chapter 1 verse 3 of Ephesians, verse 4 really, verse 3; he has blessed us with every spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ, verse 4; just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world.

Again God didn’t reveal that the church was going to be in existence but in his plan it was already accomplished because we were chosen to follow the foundation of the world but in God’s sovereignty he chose to make that known beginning with the Apostle Paul and down to our day as we share in the scriptures. In verse 11 he says this was in accordance with the eternal purpose which he carried out in Christ Jesus; our Lord. Paul is saying; here is the purpose that was his purpose from eternity, was accomplished in Jesus Christ and this Jesus Christ is none other than one who is our Lord.

So the plan and purposes of God center in and are accomplished in Jesus Christ, is it any wonder that the basic ingredient of the church; Jesus Christ is removed from the liberal unbelievable settings of today, because when you take Jesus Christ out of the picture the eternal purpose of God is gone because it all centers in him and apart from him there is no purpose. So this eternal purpose was carried out or accomplished in Jesus Christ our Lord. And we will just read you a portion in Acts Chapter 2 and we have to turn there unless you can get there quickly where we talk about the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ in verse 23, Peter is speaking and says this man referring to Christ; delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to the cross by the hands of godless men and put in to death.

Note; delivered up by the predetermined plan of God because it was God’s eternal plan from the ages of the past, eternity past as we call it, it was God’s plan that Jesus Christ would die to provide salvation for sinful men, and this has very direct personal application for you and I even today because within this Jesus Christ was our Lord that we have boldness and confident access through faith in him. He had boldness and access in confidence in other words my very position enabling me to come into the presence of God is tied directly to Jesus Christ and his work. And I come up with boldness, I have access into God’s presence with confidence, why because I’m in him and you note that last statement; it is through faith in him.

So we will begin verse 12; in whom referring to Christ we have boldness and confident access through faith in him. Well how do you get in Him, you believe, you place your faith in Jesus Christ and the moment you do that you become part of the body of Christ and in your new position you have boldness and access with confidence into the very presence of God. And I take it until that happens there is no such thing as a poorer life for the unbeliever because there is no basis for access into the presence of God. But if you are a believer then you have to have a vital relationship with God, you have to be talking with him all the time with the very God of heaven, the very God of glory says to me Gill just come in with confidence and boldness anytime, I want you to come, don’t be afraid, come with confidence, come with boldness, tell me what you want and I sit in my study mourning and groping and mumbling and complaining because I don’t have some answers, or I don’t have this, or I can’t do that, all I have got to do is to pray.

Here I am. Remember you told me to come and here is my list, 192 things. Trouble is you know what? We are too lazy to even go and talk to him, he says come, come with boldness, but how much time do you spend talking with him through the week. Most of us spend more time in front of the television to use that example again, when we go into His presence communing and talking with Him enjoying Him, He says come with boldness, come with confidence and we got time for other mundane things. He thinks we would be consumed by spending our time in His presence since we have this privilege.

Faith in Christ is the foundation and the key, Paul closes here with a request in verse 13 before he picks up with the idea he left off in verse 1. Therefore, I ask you not to lose heart in my tribulations on your behalf for they are your glory, gives some idea of maybe why Paul digress here but perhaps Paul’s situation was beginning to weigh upon the Ephesians. He says that they are not to lose heart what that means; to become faint, we become weary, to lose your courage. Paul says to the Ephesians; don’t lose your courage, don’t give up because of my tribulations on your behalf. Apostle Paul is imprisoned as he writes the letter to the Ephesians and his confinement probably gone on some five years now. That could be a depressing thing and you know how often it is; the sufferings of someone else weigh more upon others than they do upon the person going through it.

The person going through it has that added strength and grace from God to endure but those who are looking at him are becoming defeated and discouraged, if God really loves us why does he let this happen to Paul. I mean is there any victory in Christ when Paul sits there in prison confined week after week, month after month and year after year. And the Ephesians evidently were in danger of becoming discouraged and losing their courage so Paul has reminded them something of what God is doing. In other words what he says as he says at the end of verse 13; they are for your glory, my tribulations are for your glory, so you ought to be rejoicing not necessarily rejoicing because Paul is in prison but rejoicing in light of the purposes of God that put Paul in prison because they are for the accomplishment of their own glory.

So Paul says, in other words, see my difficulties in light of God’s grace, see my difficulties in light of God’s eternal plan. Don’t be looking at the difficulties but be looking at the glory that is being manifested in you and accruing to you because of what God has chosen to do through me. You should be complaining because I’m imprisoned for preaching Jesus Christ. Where would you be if I did not preach Jesus Christ, what would the Ephesians have if Paul had not preached Christ? They would still be in their sins. They are not to be mourning the fact that Paul is imprisoned, they are to be praising God for his grace, that provided the Apostle Paul to make known the revelation that God had to give.

You note here Paul doesn’t develop the sympathy line, he doesn’t go on that you know; don’t lose heart of my tribulations even though I’m suffering greatly, even though I wasted away here for almost five years, even though I don’t have any friends, any food, hardly enough clothing to keep me warm, don’t worry about me, I will get along the way, you know you and I often piously want people to think that we are really godly and so we want them to think we are doing our tribulations but we want them to really know how much we are suffering and to pray to God to put an end to it. Paul who doesn’t develop for sympathy at all, just simply tells them to see it in the proper perspective and you and I need to do the same thing.

Discouragements will come not only in your own life but if the lives of those who are around you and it particularly hurts when they are close to you and the only thing you can do is rest in the grace of God and see them in light of God’s eternal purpose and plan, you don’t understand it now that hardly matters. You know the dead is part of God’s eternal plan and purpose and he is accomplishing it for our glory, to exalt his own grace. A couple of things as you go, think back over this section particularly beginning with verse 8, ask you a couple of questions; first what is your attitude to yourself, this is the problem we continually confront at Indian Hills and I continually mention it is the problem of pride in light of our understanding and grasp of the scriptures.

Well proud of the fact that we know more about the word than someone else but if we have true maturity that is a humbling process. If we are truly mature in Christ or growing in maturity then humility will characterize our life, not the impatience with others who don’t know as much as us, not the impatience with those who don’t do it our way but a humility to realize the grace of God that has enabled us to come to know him and enabled us to grasp and understand the truth of the word and we come to appreciate the wisdom and grace of God as revealed in the Church.

To recognize the fact that you indeed are part of that vehicle that God is using to demonstrate his manifold witness through the angels, there is no such thing as an insignificant believer. I’m his child and he is using me as an evidence of his manifold witness. He is taking up -- advantage of the opportunity to come with boldness and confidence to him. How many times this week have you walked into his presence with boldness and confidence to talk to him and you will have to sit down for the next hour and just talk with him, how long would you talk before you run on another things, I’m thinking about the bargain that is going to start this afternoon. You need to be taking advantage of the privileged position you have, confidence and boldness to come into his presence as his children. And lastly do you see your difficulties in light of his grace, the difficulties in light of those who are close to you, believers you don’t understand why is it happening like that, you back up and say that I have a sovereign God who is accomplishing his eternal purpose in the life of each one of his children.

I can praise him for his grace that is manifested even in the difficulties, you will not be here none of this pertains to you because you haven’t come to that point where you come to God through faith in Christ and if you have not yet seen yourself as a sinner, if you have not yet realized that Jesus Christ is the savior of God for you and on that basis placed your faith in him then none of this applies to you. You have no access, you have no right to come before God with boldness and he won’t accept you, you have no hope for the joys, it is just that simple. The work that God is doing right now is providing salvation for men, Jews or Gentiles it doesn’t matter, all mankind God has made his salvation available to anyone who will believe in his Son Jesus Christ. If you do that this morning right where you are sitting then he will forgive your sins to make you part of the body of Jesus Christ and you will able to walk into his presence with boldness and confidence.

Father we thank you for your word, the fact that you have revealed yourself to us and for the privilege of considering it together this morning, Father, we thank you for the wonderful savior we have, work for his willingness to die for us, work for the revelation that you have made concerning the person and work of our savior, work for the privilege of trust in him for forgiveness of sins so that each one of us might be reveling in the fact that we know you through him, rejoicing in the privileged position we have replace the priorities of our life might indicate that we love you and that we are interested in becoming more and more the person that you intended for us to be. Pray for any who are have who have not yet placed their faith in Jesus Christ as their savior. Father, pray that even right now they might be willing to submit themselves to You, to see that Jesus Christ indeed died for them and place their faith in Him alone as their savior. We praise you for it in Jesus’ name, Amen.