The Mystery of the Mystery (Ephesians 1:9) - Tim Conway

Ephesians 1:7

"In Him..."

Or, "In Whom..." as the original says

speaking about the Beloved from v. 6.

God the Father has
"blessed us in the Beloved."

"In Him, we have redemption

through His blood,

the forgiveness of our trespasses,

according to the riches of His grace."

The riches of God's grace.

The redemption through Christ's blood

that brings about this forgiveness

of our trespasses

is "according to the
riches of God's grace."

Now, verse 8.

Every translation except
the King James Version

including the New King James,

they all start verse 8 with a "which."

It's generally agreed the KJV

could be clearer in verse 8.

KJV says, "Wherein He hath

abounded toward us

in all wisdom and prudence."

It might better read the way

the New King James, the NAS, the ESV,

and you can see the meaning here.

It's very clear.

"Which He lavished..." - the "which."

What he's referring to

are the "riches of His grace."

It is "according to the
riches of His grace

that we have redemption through His blood,

the forgiveness of our trespasses,"

and these riches are those

"which He lavished upon us."

Now brethren, these verses -

all the translations are
pretty straight on v. 7.

Verses 8, 9, and 10 -

the different translations
are all over the place.

And I recognize that when I preach here,

not everybody has the same translation,

and so I often want to make

some of these comments.

Some are good in some places,

and some not so good in some places

as far as the translations go.

What I will say is this,

even though every translation

is going to be different
in these 3 verses -

8, 9, and 10 -

the heart of the issue is not missed

in any of them.

I mean, we don't have to be in perplexity

about what is being spoken about here.

In every one of your translations,

you have in verse 9 the idea

of the mystery of God's will.

That is there.

In verse 10, you all have

some idea about something happening

in the fullness of time

that unites or brings together

or brings unity,

brings some commonality

among all things in Christ,

things in Heaven and things on earth.

Now, we're going to, Lord willing,

look at verse 10 next week.

But the idea here is that God -

remember the context, brethren -

verse 3, Paul is blessing God

because of the spiritual blessings

in the heavenly places

that those who are saved

are blessed with in Christ.

That's what we're talking about.

He's enumerating.

He presents and expands upon

to some degree these blessings,

spiritual blessings,

spiritual blessings in
the heavenly places.

These are the things that excite Paul

about our salvation.

So what you have is

"the riches of His grace

He lavished upon us."

Some of the translations

put a period right here.

You look at the scholars.

Some think that the wisdom,

the prudence, the wisdom, the insight -

some think that has to do with our wisdom,

that basically the
mystery is revealed to us

and it results in our
wisdom and our insight.

They take the wisdom and the insight

or the wisdom and the prudence

and they kick it over to verse 9.

Most of our translations leave it in 8.

Some put a comma after "us."

Some put a period there.

Some start a new sentence:

"in all wisdom and insight,

He made known to us
the mystery of His will."

The scholars go back and forth.

Is this God's wisdom?

Is this our wisdom as a result of

the mystery of His will?

I'll let you guys fight through that.

Obviously what God is doing here

is an express manifestation of His wisdom.

And if we look at the mystery,

we see very clearly in
the references to that -

especially I'm thinking
about 1 Corinthians 1 and 2

that it is a wisdom that
is imparted to us as well.

And so, if you want to say
it's God's wisdom? Amen.

If you want to say it results
in our wisdom? Amen.

Both are true. Both are realities.

But whether this wisdom and insight

or wisdom and prudence -

whether it's God's or ours,

the obvious implications here

is that in the riches of God's grace

which He lavishes upon us,

something happens.

Something is made known to us.

It doesn't matter what
translation you have,

you can see it in verse 9.

There is a making known to us

the mystery of God's will.

ESV: "Making known to us
the mystery of His will."

NAS: "He made known to
us the mystery of His will."

The New King James:
"Having made known to us

the mystery of His will."

The KJV: "Having made known unto us

the mystery of His will."

It's there. You see it.

This is what I want you to recognize.

Think with me here.

Paul - he wants to take us up into glory

and show us the most glorious aspects

of our salvation.

That's where he starts Ephesians.

He says let me start by telling you this.

I'm going to take you to eternity past.

God chose us in Christ.

He elaborates.

We were chosen to stand before Him

holy and blameless.

What else?

Predestined for adoption as sons

through Jesus Christ.

What else?

Redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ.

What else?

You know what's interesting to me?

Is making something known.

Making the mystery known.

God doing something in your mind

is in the top four of the most profound

aspects of our salvation

as Paul enumerates and enlarges on them

in this Ephesian letter.

Notice this:

"God makes known..."

Brethren, you find this kind of language

in various places.

You can be reading through Galatians 4

and you can come across
something like this:

"Formerly, when you did not know God."

You remember how David
found it there in 1 Peter?

"Your former ignorance."

Do you know that the people out there

that are not Christians walk around

in staggering ignorance?

You go door to door,

you go to the campus,

you go to the nursing home this afternoon,

you go out among this world -

there is massive ignorance.

People don't know.

There's a darkness that shrouds the mind.

And you know what Paul is saying?

To the Galatians, he says,

"Formerly, when you did not know God

you were enslaved by those
that by nature are not gods,

but now that you have come to know God..."

In other words,

what Paul is hitting on

is that there is a mystery
that's made known.

There is something that we didn't know

we were ignorant to

and one of the chiefest of
the four manifestations

of the aspects of salvation
that God imparts to humanity.

You want to number them?

In the top four,

Paul puts one of the most
marvelous expressions

of God lavishing the riches
of His grace upon you,

the spiritual blessings in heavenly places

is what He does to the mind.

Brethren, this is key.

Because you know what?

We're told to examine ourselves.

We're in a situation where Paul

says to the church: examine.

(incomplete thought)

Here's the thing.

Think with me here.

How do you know if God chose you

to stand before Him?

How do you know if He
chose you in Christ?

You weren't there.

Election is not emblazoned

on anybody's forehead.

Predestined.

Predestination - again,
it's in eternity past.

You weren't there.

How do you know if you've been

predestined to adoption?

Again, there's no tattoo
on you that says that.

Christ redeeming, shedding His blood.

Well, how do we know
who that's for ultimately?

How do we know who that's
going to be effective for?

We don't really know.

Forgiveness of sins.

How can you tell if
somebody's sins are forgiven?

It's a legal thing.

How do I know legally
if that's taken place?

But you know what?

Now we come to something

that is very experiential, very manifest.

What's that?

Listen, when God saves somebody,

without question, without exception -

nobody can say:

"well, that's typically how He does it.

He didn't do that to me."

Do what?

Reveal. Make known.

What's another word for that?

To make known?

It's revelation.

This is what happens when
God saves somebody.

There is a revelation of what?

The mystery.

You see that there.

The mystery of His will.

I've called this message:

"The Mystery of the Mystery."

I mean, we can understand the mystery,

but there's a mystery about the mystery.

What is the mystery?

The mystery is mysterious.

What is it?

Revelation is one of the
great spiritual blessings.

What God does is He opens our minds,

our perception,

to comprehend mysteries,

secrets, hidden things that we would never

see and understand if God
did not specifically single us out

and cause us to see them.

We need to recognize that.

That brethren, that is a hallmark

of true Christianity,

that something happened
to your perception.

Something has happened to your mind.

Something suddenly came upon

your spiritual senses

that you never were enabled

to see or perceive before.

So why does Paul use the term "mystery"?

"Making known to us
the mystery of His will

according to His purpose

which He set forth in Christ."

Or, "According to God's good pleasure

which He purposed in Him."

The ESV stuck "in Christ" there

at the end of verse 9.

Let me tell you that
is not in the original.

It says "in Him," and
it could be "in Himself."

This could be God simply expressing to us

that according to God's good pleasure,

He purposed in Himself

this mystery.

It could be "in Christ."

It's hard to tell in the original.

The translators will take it both ways.

But brethren, revelation

is one of the great spiritual blessings.

I'm not talking about the
book of Revelation.

I am talking about your own mind

being turned on to behold

what you could never behold before.

That's what we're getting here.

So, why the term "mystery"?

Brethren, what do you typically think of

when you think about mystery?

The unknown.

I mean, I don't know why it
keeps coming to my mind,

but when I was a kid,

"Hardy Boys" and "Nancy Drew" -

I think mystery was
even in the title of it.

Or my mom read Agatha Christie.

I never did, but my mom did.

What's a mystery in that sense?

I mean it's basically a story

that somebody murdered somebody

with something over there.

And the plot thickens.

So what happens is
you're trying to figure out

"who dunnit" right?

And you don't know who did it.

And so it's a mystery.

Because at a certain point in the story,

you don't know the information.

You don't know the facts.

It involves a crime or some other event,

and what happens?

It's unexplained.

It's not fully explained
until you get to the end.

Oftentimes, that's what
we think of as a mystery.

Or, like you say, how did you say it?

Something that is unknown.

It's a mystery.

The Lochness monster or something.

I remember going to Andreas'

down in Mexico,

and there's a place about halfway

to Quatamac

where they see these lights

off in the distance,

and they don't know what they are.

Don Johnson was telling me a story

about somewhere - he's
over there in Arkansas,

and there's some place out in the woods

where they see lights

and actually after a prayer
meeting one time,

he and some of the guys
went out in the woods

to look for these lights.

Mysteries.

Things that are unexplained.

Sometimes we start
thinking about paranormal

or something extra-earthly.

People see things in the sky or something.

We need to ask the question:

How is the term used by Paul?

How's it used in Scripture?

And a good place to start here

is our Lord's teaching.

If I'm not mistaken,

the Lord uses this term
in His teaching just once.

Now it shows up three times

because each of the synoptic Gospels

gives you its version of it,

but it's basically - you
may remember this -

when the parables are being given,

and you remember that after
the Parable of the Soils is given,

Jesus talks about the
mysteries of the Kingdom

and how some people get it
and some people don't get it.

Let's look at Matthew's account of that.

Matthew 13.

Brethren, what I want is
I want us to develop

a theology of what the
mystery is all about.

Because Paul thinks this is a really

integral part of our Christianity.

So let's just spend today

and dig this out.

This is the question we're asking -

it's the mystery of mystery -

we want to unravel this.

We want to develop a theology

of the mystery of God.

It may be used quite a
bit more in our Bibles

than what you recognize.

But Matthew 13:10.

"Then the disciples came and said to Him,

'Why do You speak to them in parables?'

And He answered them..."

Brethren, this is what
Paul is excited about.

What?

Right here.

"To you it has been given..."

That's the spiritual blessing
that Paul recognizes

that is so fantastic about
becoming a Christian.

It's that where you had
this former ignorance,

God fills your mind with light.

"To you it has been given."

Something has been given to you

that hasn't been given to others.

Just like it's been given
to you to be chosen;

just like it's been given to you
to be predestinated to adoption;

just like it's been given
to you to have Christ

shed His blood for you

and for you to have forgiveness of sins -

it has been given to you to be made known

to your brains, to your perception

what is not made known.

Brethren, you have to recognize,

having the ability to open up this book

and look into it and perceive its teaching

is a blessing that most
of the people in this world

do not have.

Don't take it for granted

when you are able to behold

wondrous things from His Word.

That is not given to everybody.

And Paul is excited about this!

Now listen, can you imagine
you're sitting there

and you're hearing from
Jesus Christ Himself,

God come to earth, and He tells you,

boys, you have been chosen out

from among all the people in this world -

you and some others like you -

to know what the rest of mankind

has not been given to know.

"To you it has been given
to know the secrets..."

That is our term: mysteries.

The ESV says "secrets."

Most other translations
say the "mysteries."

The mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven.

"But to them..." notice this.

Some people have this idea.

Listen, this is what's so prevalent

in Arminian thinking,

that God basically has done the same thing

for all mankind.

You see, sometimes people
like to look in Scripture,

and say Scripture says
that God is impartial.

But you have to be very careful

that you don't take God's impartiality

to an erroneous position.

When it says God isn't partial,

it doesn't mean that God doesn't

bestow grace and favor on some

and withhold it from others.

We don't need to get into all that

and develop that right now,

but you don't want to take

the doctrine of impartiality

and make it what it's not.

Jesus is very clearly saying:

To you it's given. To them it's not given.

Does God give certain things to
some people and not to others? Yes.

Can God be faulted for that? No.

Because what all of us deserve

is what our sins deserve.

And if God makes exception to any,

it's an expression of
God's mercy and grace

for which we don't deserve

and He's right to do it

because He can justify us and yet be just

because of exactly what He has

produced for us

through the sending of His Son

so that justice can totally be upheld.

But look at this.

"To them it has not been given.

For to the one who has,

more will be given."

What a principle that is!

Hold on to that.

Listen, my brothers and sisters,

see, sometimes we take this

and wrench it out of context

and use it to mean all sorts of things.

But if you take it in context,

oh brethren, what an encouragement.

What it means is if you have
had your eyes opened

to your own sinfulness,

to your own sickness,

your eyes opened to Christ

being your own hope,

and you've looked to Him in faith,

what He is saying here is:

To you who have been given a revelation,

there's more revelation coming.

Keep going back to the Word.

This is a promise that
He's going to give you more.

As you live your life

and study Scripture,

you will come to recognize

greater riches, greater secrets,

and greater treasures that we are told

are hidden in Jesus Christ.

And it's very interesting,

Paul says that to the Colossians -

even to those who are already Christians -

and he talks about what is

seemingly yet hidden in Christ

and waiting there for us to unearth it,

to dig it up.

There is still more revelation to be had.

If once God has opened your eyes

and said, "Let there be light,"

and you have beheld the glory

of God in the face of Jesus Christ,

let me tell you, there is more glory.

Don't stop looking.

Don't be content.

Don't feel like I've already arrived.

I've already seen.

No, no, you haven't seen.

You've seen, but you have not seen.

There's more.

He will have an abundance.

Listen to what is being talked about.

This is revelation on the table.

Abundance of revelation.

That's the issue.

"From the one who has not,

even what he has will be taken away."

I mean, that's kind of a scary picture.

Even in the parable He just gave,

He gives us pictures of birds who come

and what has been given is taken away.

Those birds are demons.

What has been given is the Word of God

and it's taken away.

"This is why I speak to them in parables

because seeing they do not see,

hearing they do not hear

nor do they understand."

"The mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven."

It's a mystery.

It's given to some.
It's withheld from others.

Brethren, shortly after I was saved -

and I've told this story before,

probably some of you don't remember,

and many of you never heard
it the first time around.

Shortly after I was saved,

it was just in the first few years,

it was before I moved down here to Texas,

I was looking for opportunity.

I so badly wanted my father to be saved.

He was one of the most
wicked men that I knew.

I wanted God to save him.

I don't remember where we were going,

but he asked me to drive.

I was driving his truck.

He had a cassette deck.

And I think before jumping in the truck

and going wherever we went,

I ran out to my car

and I got in there

and I would carry around

this sermon by John MacArthur

based on Matthew 7:12-13 or 13-14

called "Which Way to Heaven."

It was one of the most
clear Gospel presentations

that I had on tape.

So I ran and grabbed it.

And I'm driving my dad's truck.

I said, "Dad..." this is my opportunity,

one on one, we're in a truck,

he can't go anywhere.

I said, "Dad, please,

I want you to listen to this."

I popped that thing in.

I am sitting there

and just glorying in the truth!

I'm thinking praise the Lord!

My dad is hearing one of the clearest

presentations of the Gospel

that he could ever hear.

It seems like in my memory 20 years ago,

he might have 10 minutes in,

he reaches over and he ejects it.

And he looks at me and he said,

"I cannot understand a single word

that man is saying."

And it's true.

I'm sitting there thinking

this is the clearest Gospel message

he could be hearing.

He's hearing the same words I'm hearing.

Brethren, when Jesus spoke,

imagine the crowd.

Peter, James, John, the rest.

The Pharisees.

They're hearing the same words.

"To you it's given.
To you it's not given."

It's not enough to have the words

audibly presented, on the page.

It's not enough.

It has to be given to you.

(incomplete thought)

Brethren, we know, as I was just saying,

what happens?

The birds come and they pluck it up.

Or we have the truth of the Apostle Paul

there in the 2 Corinthian letter

that our Gospel is veiled to some people.

Why?

Well, it's veiled because
they're perishing.

And in their case,

the god of this world has blinded them.

Do you recognize that
when it comes to the Gospel,

the god of this world
(incomplete thought)

you have to recognize the scope of this.

Think about the billions of people

on the face of this earth,

and there is a massive conspiracy
at work everywhere -

all throughout our city.

Can you imagine the demonic activity

that is going on just in our city?

Just in these neighborhoods?

If you could see into the spiritual realm,

do you know what was
happening in that truck

when my dad was listening to that tape?

We're told. We're given glimpses.

Birds. Demons come

and pluck the seed up.

Those who are perishing,

the god of this world

has blinded their eyes.

That's what we see.

To keep them from seeing what?

Seeing light -

the light of the Gospel of Christ.

They're prevented. They're kept.

Charles Leiter told me just this week.

I was telling him about some things

that are going on.

Charles' book on the Law of Christ

creates no little stir.

And he was telling me

he can go in and he can preach

and repeat and emphasize

and show Scripture.

He says he will get done preaching

and somebody will walk up to him

and say, "Now are you
saying such and such?"

And he looks at them and says,

"I was teaching the exact
opposite of that."

I mean, how does that happen?

Somebody was sitting there

hearing exactly what he was saying,

being encouraged,

being helped in living the Christian life.

Somebody else comes up and says,

"Now are you saying..."

and their perception is that Charles

just preached the exact opposite.

Brethren, there are mysteries.

And one of Paul's four
primary demonstrations

of the spiritual blessings
in heavenly places -

one of the four great manifestations

of the salvation of God

is this very thing:

your mind.

We get this from 2 Corinthians 4 as well.

It takes God, the same God -

you know Paul is saying

the same God who said,
"Let there be light."

It takes that.

It takes something on the scope of that

for anybody to see.

Just a side note here.

I was thinking about this

just in light of agnostics.

Many of you know, an agnostic

is basically somebody that what?

Believes that God and the truths of God

and the truths of
salvation are unknowable.

Not like the athiest who just basically

denies the existance.

The agnostic says

it's not possible to know.

And you know, I was thinking about that

and I thought

there is truth in what they say.

The agnostic says

it's not possible to know.

And you know what?

He makes it a universal rule

that it's not possible
for anybody to know.

That's where he goes wrong.

But if he simply said it's not possible

for me to know with my unaided mind,

he'd be right spot on.

Did you hear me?

Me with my unaided mind.

If he makes it a universal rule,

he's dead wrong because there are people

who see what he can't see.

There are people that know
what he doesn't know.

But he is right in this,

he comes along and says

I don't think anybody can know that.

Well, in the state he's in, he's dead on.

He can't know.

Why? It's hidden.

Okay, Jesus - you know this.

Jesus Christ is healing people,

feeding 5,000,

He walks on water -

not that the whole crowd saw that,

but the crowd saw Him heal palsied people,

restore sight to blind,

turn water into wine.

And you know what?

The vast majority of His miracles

were done in just a handful of cities.

And you see that in Matthew 11.

And He rebukes them

for not repenting upon seeing

all of this that He does.

But you know in the end,

He looks to His Father,

and He says these words:

"I thank You, Father,

Lord of Heaven and earth,

that You have hidden these things

from the wise and understanding

and revealed them to little children.

Yes, Father, for such was
Your gracious will."

Look, if you have any doubts about this,

the proof and the evidence

for what I'm teaching you is everywhere.

It's not just God sent
His Son to the cross

and has now made it possible
for everybody to be saved.

And basically, man has a free will

and man has the capacity

to believe the Gospel

and God just kind of
like the deists teach,

He just stands over there
kind of hands off,

He's set everything in motion

and now He's given us all
the opportunity to believe,

and if we're smart enough

or if our wills are just right

or if we're not so evil
as to keep rejecting it,

we can come to the light.

But let me tell you,

that is not what Scripture teaches.

What Scripture teaches

is that unless God gives it to you

to see these realities,

you will never see them.

You can fight that reality,

but I'm telling you, this is so.

Let's keep going.

Romans 16.

Look at Romans 16.

Romans 16:25.

Again, this concept of
the mystery comes up.

Romans 16:25,

"Now to Him who is able to strengthen you

according to my Gospel,

and the preaching of Jesus Christ

according (here it is)

to the revelation of the mystery."

That's what we've been talking about.

When we talk about the mystery,

we're talking about
that which God reveals.

Revelation.

Not the book.

We're talking about your spiritual eyes.

Poof!

You're flooded with a perception

of what you could never see before

concerning the salvation of your soul.

And notice,

"according to the
revelation of the mystery

that was kept secret for long ages."

Now, in this respect,

God's mystery is like
the mystery thriller.

Where you don't know who did it

until the end.

It's kept shrouded in
mystery till the end.

You see that's what he's saying here.

He's saying for long ages

this wasn't made known.

Notice.

It was "kept secret for long ages,

but has now been..."

Now remember, Paul, 2,000 years ago,

he's writing to the Romans.

That's what he's saying.

Now it's been disclosed. When?

When Christ came

and now He's resurrected and ascended

and the apostles are writing - then.

He's saying now. Now. Now. Now.

At that time, Christ came into the world.

Christ left His apostles to bear testimony

and to write the New Testament.

That is the now.

Paul is writing. That's the now.

It has "now been disclosed."

What He's saying is

that prior to Christ's coming,

prior to the New Testament,

it was not known.

Again, it's like our mystery thriller.

You know how they go along.

It's not like you don't get any facts

until the very end.

You get these facts along the way

that give you a little bit of light,

but still there's so much perplexity

and uncertainty and indistinguishable...

Brethren, in the Old Testament,

they didn't know what to make of it.

They're looking at Scripture

and they're saying, well, it looks like

He's going to be victorious.

It looks like He's going
to sit on a throne.

But then we've got this
Man of Sorrows over here

and what's this all about?

There's so much where they were perplexed

that some even taught that
there were two Messiah's.

(incomplete thought)

What are they making out here?

Who is this guy?

I mean, even as they're
watching it unravel,

Peter's like: No, You're
not going to the cross.

"Get behind Me, Satan."

They're all like: come down from the cross

if you be the Messiah. They don't get it.

They don't get that He has to die.

They don't get that He's going
to rise from the dead.

This is all shrouded.

Christ, Jesus Christ -

they knew a son of David was coming.

They knew a son of Abraham was coming.

They knew a son of the woman was coming.

They knew this.

They had an idea.

They were putting pieces together.

But it was so much a mystery

that when He came, they were all baffled

including His own disciples.

They could not figure this out.

They were getting pieces of the puzzle.

That's the idea.

But I'll tell you, brethren,

once Christ has come

and the apostles are
writing these accounts,

they're giving us light

like we have never had before.

(incomplete thought)

Listen.

Especially I think of dispensational,

brethren, you end up
with religious systems

that are wrong when you say

that the New Testament
basically stands alone

and you try to interpret

the New Testament by the Old.

That's not the teaching of Scripture.

What Scripture says is now the mystery

has been made known.

Don't go back to the mysterious things

and start there.

Go to this revelation

and go back there

and pull what you know from the New

and figure out what all the
mysteries in the Old were about.

That's the teaching here.

What he says is now.

When was the now?

When he's writing to Rome.

And what does he say happened in the now?

Notice.

"It has now been disclosed

through the prophetic writings."

What prophetic writings?

His.

Now.

He's talking about now. Right there. Now.

His and the other apostles.

That's the prophetic writings.

He's not talking about the Old Testament.

He's saying now it's been disclosed.

Not back then.

"For long ages it's been hidden."

"It's now been made
known to all the nations..."

again, you have those words:

"made known."

Revelation.

"According to the
command of the eternal God

to bring about the obedience of faith."

I just think about this:

Can you imagine?

You're in the crowd of the Pharisees.

For long ages, this has been hidden,

and here's Christ Himself
and He's teaching it.

You know what it's like?

It's like I got to the end of
the Agatha Christie novel

on the page you're supposed
to find out who did it,

and they look at it and it's
like it's in another language.

It's like all the words are
scrambled and upside down.

They actually got to the time frame

when it's being revealed,

and now they morally are
not capable of even hearing.

Go to 1 Corinthians 2.

1 Corinthians 2.

Notice this.

Verse 6,

1 Corinthians 2:6,

"Yet among the mature,

we do impart wisdom,

although it's not a wisdom of this age

or of the rulers of this age

who are doomed to pass away."

Doomed.

You know if you can't see

what is given to some to see,

you're doomed.

But remember what I just said,

our blindness is a moral blindness.

Men don't want to see.

But notice this:

"We impart a secret and
hidden wisdom of God."

That's the ESV.

"We speak the wisdom of God in mystery."

That's the Greek rendering here

in many of the translations.

"We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery."

Notice, "Which God decreed

before the ages for our glory."

It was in God's mind

before the ages began.

That's what Paul's been
telling us in Ephesians 1.

Now notice this, verse 8,

"None of the rulers of
this age understood this."

They couldn't see.

They didn't know the mystery.

Now, don't despise the simplicity
of this next statement.

"If they had, they would not
have crucified the Lord of Glory."

Brethren, there's real simplicity
there, but think about it.

Pilate does not have a guy crucified

if he really looks at him and says:

This is the Lord of Glory. I'm
going to have to stand before Him.

He's going to judge me in
righteousness on the last day.

You see, if you see that, or you recognize

the wrath of God is upon me,

I'm a sinner, and this is my only hope.

This One right here is my only hope.

You don't send Him to the cross.

Herod doesn't do what he did.

They don't mock Him.

The soldiers, the Sanhedrin,

the chief priests, the Pharisees.

These are the rulers.

You see, you don't do what they did

if it's been revealed to your mind

what Peter, John, and James
had revealed to their mind.

What many of you have
had revealed to your mind.

If Christ came here today,
you wouldn't crucify Him.

But you know what?

If Christ came here today,

the vast majority of this
world would crucify Him

just like they did back then.

Why? Because they can't see what you see.

Because you're only going to
see what James and John see

if it's been given to you to see it.

So, now, turn to Ephesians.

We're building a theology of mystery

and I know time is almost gone,

but just bear with me
for a few more minutes.

This is where it gets really good.

Ephesians 3.

We're talking about the mystery of God.

"For this reason, I Paul,

a prisoner for Christ Jesus

on behalf of you Gentiles

assuming that you have heard

of the stewardship of God's grace

that was given to me for you..."

notice verse 3,

"how the mystery was made
known to me by revelation."

Again, when you find mystery,

you find - if you understand it -

it's by revelation.

The word "reveal" or "revelation"

consistently associated
with this idea of mystery.

He says, "As I have written briefly,

when you read this,

you can perceive my insight

into the mystery of Christ."

Again, "Which was not made known."

Remember?

It was basically kept secret.

It was "hidden for long ages."

That's what he says right here.

"It was not made known to the
sons of men in other generations

as it has now been revealed

to His holy apostles and
prophets by the Spirit."

They didn't have it in the Old Testament.

They got glimpses.

They got shadows. They got types.

They got figures, but they didn't have it.

Now notice verse 6,

the ESV adds this mystery - it's implied.

This mystery "is that the Gentiles

are fellow heirs,

members of the same body and partakers

of the promise in Christ
Jesus through the Gospel."

One of the huge components of this mystery

is that you and I, many of us here,

are included.

Again, you have glimpses of this

all over the Old Testament,

but isn't it amazing?

They didn't get it.

They didn't grasp it.

God's mystery.

Like I was saying, in a certain fashion

is like a murder mystery

where you get to the end

and it's who dunnit.

Through the long ages,

God kept us in the dark.

There's been some light to be sure,

as a murder mystery - it unravels.

There's clues along the
way in God's mystery.

God's mystery is not a murder mystery.

This mystery is about life.

But you get to the end

and He reveals it.

The mystery.

The mystery has to do with the Gentiles.

The mystery is the Gospel we're told.

The mystery has to do with
the Kingdom of Heaven.

The mystery of Christ.

Son of God and Son of David.

God and man.

There's still great mysteries there.

There's mystery.

How is He going to be victorious

when it seems like He's been defeated?

He dies on the cross.

They're expecting that He's
going to be victorious.

He'd come down from that cross

and would conquer Rome.

How can this be?

It's all about life.

It's all about how Christ
gains salvation for His people.

But here's the thing,

the mystery is not something
permanently secret -

for long ages, but then it's revealed.

But the thing about it that
we need to recognize is this:

It will always remain incomprehensible

to the unaided mind.

Just the carnal mind can't grasp it,

can't perceive it, can't go there,

doesn't recognize in the end

even when it's revealed to us

what it's all about.

The Gospel we are confronted with

is a mystery that no human mind

will ever grasp unless and until

God breaks into the man's darkness

and reveals Himself.

You remember how it was.

"Peter, who do you say that I am?"

"You're the Christ, the
Son of the living God."

"Flesh and blood did
not reveal that to you."

And if you know it, flesh and blood

did not reveal it to you.

And the only way you're going to know it

is if the Father has revealed this to you.

The mystery is not absolute

incomprehensibility to
the human intellect.

But to the unaided mind,

there is a satanic haze.

There is a satanic blindness.

Look, how does man overcome

an angelic blindness?

He's stronger than us.

The only hope you have

is if God intervenes.

That's the only hope.

Brethren, what we're going
to see in the weeks ahead

is this is really a main
theme of Ephesians.

Now you don't have to turn to it,

but just listen to these.

"I do not cease to give thanks for you,

remembering you in my prayers,

that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,

the Father of glory..." listen to this.

This is his prayer for these Ephesians.

"...May give you the spirit of wisdom

and of revelation in the knowledge of Him,

having the eyes of
your hearts enlightened."

These people are already Christians.

And Paul thinks it's appropriate

to pray for them

that they would yet be given

a spirit of knowledge, of wisdom,

and of revelation in the knowledge of Him

that they might have the eyes
of their hearts enlightened

so that they may know what?

They may know about the hope,

know about the riches,

know about this incomprehensible power

that is at work within them.

He even goes on in chapter 3 to say

this love of Christ -

you guys actually need some help

outside of yourself to really grasp this.

You need strength to comprehend

what is the breadth and
length and height and depth.

You need God-given ability

to recognize this.

This is part of what this
whole letter is all about.

That He's going to take us into places

where our minds are going to be opened up.

And remember what Christ said?

You know what's going to
happen in the weeks ahead?

If you've already been
given the ability to see,

more is going to be given.

I have that promise from Him.

I know there are some of you in this room

that as we move through this,

more is going to be given to you

because you've already
been given something.

Some of you have had the Word given

and it's going to be taken away

because you're going to go out

and guess what's going to happen?

The birds are going to come

and they're going to take it up.

And you're left with this
incomprehensibility.

You're going to be left in the darkness.

And you say, yeah, but you're telling me

that this is what God does.

You're telling me that Christ

was thanking His Father

that He had made known to some

and withheld it, He'd hidden these things

from the wise and from the understanding.

Okay, well, that's true.

So what's the remedy?

Don't be wise and understanding.

In other words, what you're called to do

is to be a fool.

I mean, can you see it?

You know what Paul
said to the Corinthians?

He said God didn't call many wise.

There's a reason for that.

You can take encouragement.

You don't have to be smart.

You don't have to have an IQ.

God is in the business of picking people

actually that don't always
have the highest IQ.

In fact, only a few do.

The vast majority don't.

And he's saying consider
your calling, brethren.

This is the reality.

You don't have to be incredibly smart

by this world's standards

for you to perceive (incomplete thought).

Do you ever look at Richard Dawkins?

This guy - where's his IQ?

There's guys like this,
but they don't get it.

They can't see it.

And they look at us like

we're ignoramuses.

And you know what?

In many ways, we are.

We don't understand many
of the things they understand.

But the most important
thing to understand,

we do understand.

And they don't.

Secrets.

God has chosen you to know them.

Consider your calling, brethren.

"Not many of you were wise

according to worldly standards."

God chose what is foolish in this world.

You know what we're told in Scripture?

"If any man seems to
be wise in this world,

let him become a fool

that he may become wise."

So you say I don't like all this.

Well, I would say this,

stop being wise.

I don't mean really wise,

I mean stop being wise in your own eyes.

The way forward for all of us

is a path of humility.

Lord, I don't understand.

Open my eyes, Lord,

that I may behold wondrous
things from Your Word.

Lord, teach me as only You can teach me.

Teach me like You showed Peter.

Lord, please, I know
there are mysteries here.

I know there are mysteries in Christ.

I know there are mysteries in the Gospel.

There are mysteries that pertain
to the Kingdom of Heaven.

Lord, open my eyes.

As Paul prayed for these Ephesians

that they would be given this spirit

of wisdom and revelation
in the knowledge of Him,

having the eyes of their
hearts enlightened.

Lord, give me that. Give me that.

Lord, give me strength to comprehend.

Don't you want that?

To comprehend the love of Christ

that passes understanding?

How can he be praying on the one hand

that I be given this power to comprehend

when he turns right around and says

it's incomprehensible?

Because that's what we're dealing with.

We're dealing with
incomprehensible things.

And if you've been given some light,

you've been savingly
given the light of Christ

and the beauty in Christ

and how He's your only hope,

oh brethren, the very prayers
of Jesus Christ Himself

assure you:

to whom much is given...

Brethren, to whom something is given,

more is going to be given.

But the promise is that much
is going to be given to you.

The prayer here in Ephesians is:

that they would be given this ability,

the revelation in the knowledge of Him.

Brethren, this is crucial

to living our Christian lives.

Why?

Because as your mind is
expanded and stretched,

as you're able to
comprehend with the saints

what is the breadth and
length and height and depth -

brethren, I'll tell you this,

when your mind is stretched

and you're able to behold

manifestations of the
love of Christ towards you

in ways you have never tasted before

and you experience the
assurance and the joy of that,

you do not easily go out here

and look at pornography on the Internet.

This is the heart and soul

of living the Christian life.

It is fought in the mind.

And we saw it.

"Gird up the loins of your mind."

How are you going to do it?

Well, it's something God has to do.

Pray for one another

the way Paul prays here.

Pray that for each other.

Pray that for the pastors

so that when they step up here

and open up the Word,

God has given them the ability to see

what otherwise can't be seen.

Brethren, we need that.

And then to impart to you
(incomplete thought).

And in your own study,

we need to be praying
for one another for that.

Comprehension.

Given power to comprehend.

Oh, if God gives that to this church,

we'll be a healthy church.

Why? Because our minds will be transformed

and that is at the heart
of living the Christian life.

Your battle of faith is fought here.

Your battle of resisting
sin is fought here.

So may God give us grace.

Mind of man at its best

by itself unaided

is never adequate to
comprehend these things.

And you saw it in 1 Corinthians 1.

You know what the
Lord's aim is in all this?

That in the end, we would glory

only in the Lord.

Father, we pray,

Lord, I would pray for this church.

Give us the power,

give us the grace in these weeks ahead

to comprehend - every one of us -

to comprehend at levels

we have not yet comprehended.

I pray in Christ's name.

You're dismissed.