The Mystery Revealed

Please remain standing for the reading of the scripture from Ephesians chapter 3

Ephesians 3 this is God's holy and infallible word

For this reason I Paul the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you

Gentiles If indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you how by the revelation he made known to me the mystery as I have briefly written already by which when you read you may understand my knowledge and the mystery of Christ which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men as it has now been revealed by the spirit to his holy apostles and prophets that the

Gentiles should be fellow heirs of the same body in part takers of his promise in Christ through the gospel of which

I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of his power the

Lord be pleased with our study of his word please pray with me now Oh Lord we thank you thank you for the conclusion of this season we thank you for Jesus Christ who's come in the flesh we thank you that you have not left us in a state of sin and death and misery but you've redeemed us you know

Lord we thank you for the revelation of the mystery that people like us the

Gentiles formerly strangers of the covenants of promise have been brought near by the blood of Jesus Christ in his name that we pray amen please be seated this is

Epiphany Sunday and that's a very strange word Epiphany Sunday and it's the

Sunday that we consider the mystery being revealed the first thing

I'd like you to do if you're able it's distracting don't do it turn to Matthew chapter 2

I said directly but this is the time in the season where this is of some importance in prominence

Epiphany what is it Matthew chapter 2 now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king behold wise men from the east came to Jerusalem saying where is he who has been born king of the

Jews for we have seen his star in the east and have come to worship him now

I should pause here the revelation of the Messiah to Israel makes sense the whole of scripture has been waiting for this moment that Jesus Christ would come that the

Messiah would come that the king of the Jews would come but what are we to make of this

Gentile wise men of some means have come according to this supernatural event of the star some prompting of the

Lord himself they have come to worship Jesus verse 3 when

Herod the king heard this he was troubled in all Jerusalem with him and when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together he inquired of them where the

Christ was to be born so they said to him in Bethlehem of Judea for thus it is written by the prophet but you

Bethlehem in the land of Judah are not the least among the rulers of Judah for out of you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people

Israel when Herod then when he had secretly called the wise men determined from them what time the star appeared and he sent them to Bethlehem and said go and search carefully for the young child when you have found him bring him back word to me bring back word to me that I may come and worship him also and they heard the king they departed and behold the star which they had seen in the east went before them till it came and stood over where the young child was when they saw the star they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy when they had come into the house they saw the young child with Mary his mother and pay a close attention now and fell down and worshipped him it seems that the wise men of the east are the first to worship the

Lord Jesus Christ when they had opened their treasures they presented gifts to him gold frankincense and myrrh then being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod they departed for their own country another way those of you taking notes

I have a couple of points of outline that should be helpful for you to follow along first epiphany just write the word epiphany and show me your after to see if you spelled it right epiphany second the mystery now revealed basically the title of the message number two the mystery now revealed third the

Gentiles in Christ the Gentiles in Christ and for Thanksgiving for Christ's salvation epiphany is the manifestation of Christ to the world to the

Gentiles in the East today an Eastern tradition they are celebrating the baptism of the

Lord Jesus and the Gord father said this is my son in whom

I am well pleased but we must understand that this good news of the

Gentiles hearing receiving the message of Christ in his gospel is utterly startling to the people of God from the

Old Covenant the Gentiles are not part of the plan they thought the

Gentiles were those dogs on the outside epiphany the manifestation of Christ to the

Gentiles is the message of God and his grace and his gospel and the person of Christ and his salvation going to the ends of the earth not one tongue or tribe is excluded the

Magi represent the manifestation of the king of the Jews the

Savior of the world even to the Gentiles surprisingly they recognize him as God and bow down to worship his own disciples struggle with that idea here at this early stage no doubt prompted by the

Lord himself they recognized him to be God bowed down to worship the

Lord revealed to them the star and its significance that the one true God is the same

God of the Gentiles something that was hidden is now revealed epiphany well secondly we're going to spend most of our time really talking about the mystery that has been revealed look at verse 3 it says in Ephesians 3 how that by revelation he made known to me the mystery as I have briefly written already by which when you read you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men as it has now been revealed by the

Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets that the

Gentiles should be fellow heirs of the same body and partakers of his promise in Christ through the gospel children what is a mystery what you think about this for just a moment what is a mystery something hidden here in scripture it is a divine secret or truth that is hidden from human understanding but ultimately revealed by God through his spirit his plan of redeeming the

Gentiles once hidden now manifest this word mysterion is not an unknowable thing it's not something that can't be known but it's something that is only knowable when and how

God reveals it that's what we're celebrating today that's what we're focusing on that's what

Paul is preaching in Ephesians 3 the people who were afar off have been brought near by the blood of Christ you were far away from Christ many of you before your conversion to him you are outside the church you are living like a pagan and God rescued you and brought you in so this message of the inclusion of the

Gentiles should hit really close to home for us it should also energize our evangelism when we think about the people outside of the church who are in need of the gospel

God is in the business of saving people like that for you used to be one of those many of you yourselves

Christ has come to save the Gentiles amen hallelujah it's us

I don't know any of us are of Jewish lineage God has come to save the

Gentiles thousands of years the Gentiles died in their sins a very rare convert here and there to the

Lord but now the worldwide church is largely inhabited the majority of the people in the church today are

Gentiles what a mighty God we serve I like to explain how deep the mystery is for us we talk about it but in reality this is the greatest division

I've said it a few times in different occasions this is the greatest division that has ever existed between men more than the blacks and the whites and this group against that group there's never been a sharper more clear distinction and disagreement between the

Jews and the Greeks the Jews and the Gentiles like you to turn back to Galatians 2

I want to try to unfold and show you a little bit so let's go to Acts 10 first Acts chapter 10 and what's going to be striking about this is

Peter's the character in Galatians 2 which we're going to go to next and he's the person who gets this revelation

Acts chapter 10 there is a man named

Cornelius he's a centurion he's part of the Italian regiment he's a man of distinction a man of honor it's like a general he's a man who feared

God with all of his household he gave alms to the poor and prayed to God always and at about the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming and saying to him

Cornelius and he said what is it Lord he said your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God now send men to Joppa and sin for Simon whose surname is

Peter he is lodging with Simon a Tanner whose house is by the sea he will tell you what you must do skip down to verse 9 the next day as they went on their journey and drew near the city

Peter went up on the housetop to pray about the sixth hour then he became very hungry and wanted to eat but while he they made ready he fell into a trance and saw heaven opened and an object like a great sheet bound at the four corners descending on him to let and let down to the earth in it were all kinds of four -footed animals of the earth wild beasts creeping things and birds of the air and a voice came to him rise

Peter kill and eat Peter said not so Lord for I have never eaten anything common or unclean and a voice spoke to him again the second time what

God has cleansed you must not call common this was done three times and the object was taken up into heaven now this is not about eating primarily this is about the mystery this is about the

Gentiles coming into the family of God for 17 while Peter wandered within himself with this vision which he had seen meant behold the men who had been sent from Cornelius had made inquiry for Simon's house and stood before the gates they called and asked for Peter and while Peter there verse 19 thought about the vision the

Spirit said to him behold three men are seeking you arise therefore go down and go with them doubting nothing for I have sent them then

Peter went down to the men who had been sent to him from Cornelius and said yes I am he of whom you seek for what reason have you come and they say

Cornelius the centurion a just man one who fears God and has a good reputation among all the nation of the

Jews was divinely instructed by a holy angel to summon you to his house to hear words from you then he invited them in and lodged with them and the next day

Peter went away with them and some brethren from Joppa accompanied him now

Cornelius calls together some of his friends the story continues Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet in verse 27 it says as he talked with him he went in and found many who had come together and he said to them you know how unlawful it is for a

Jewish man to keep company with or go to one of another nation so deeply embedded is this idea and principle is come out from among them and be separate

Jews aren't mingling with the Gentiles they're not fellowshipping with them they're not eating at the same tables because they're unclean they don't love

God Peter says but God has shown me that I could not call should not call any man common or unclean verse 30

Cornelius said four days ago I was fasting until this hour and at the ninth hour

I prayed in my house and behold a man stood before me in bright clothing and said Cornelius your prayer has been heard your alms are remembered in the sight of God send therefore to Joppa and call

Simon here whose surname is Peter he is lodging in the house of Simon a Tanner by the sea skipping down now therefore we are all present before God to hear all the things commanded you by God and so Peter begins to preach he begins to speak of the children of Israel he preached pre peace through Jesus Christ that he is the

Lord of all verse 38 it says God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the

Holy Spirit and with power and went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil for God was with him and we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the

Jews and in Jerusalem whom they killed by hanging on a tree him

God raised up the third day and showed him openly not to all the people but to witnesses chosen before by God even to us who ate and drank with him after he arose from the dead he commanded us to preach the people and to testify that is he who was ordained by God to be the judge of the living and the dead to him all the prophets witnessed that through his name whoever believes in him will receive remission of sins while Peter was still speaking these words the

Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word and those of the circumcision who believe were astonished as many as came with Peter because the gift of the

Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also so Peter the apostle to the

Jews is the one who gets the message the

Gentiles are included let's turn over to Galatians 2

I appreciate your patience it's going to I think this is going to be helpful to us Galatians chapter 2 this is sometime later and I want you to pay attention to who the players are

Paul has to challenge Peter and withstand him to his face what it says when

Peter had come to Antioch I withstood him to his face because he was to be blamed for before certain men came from James James is a really

Jewish guy Jesus's brother really zealous for the Jewish tradition he would eat with the

Gentiles but when they came he withdrew and separated himself how deep are the roots of division

Peter's in a trance God gives him this grand revelation a man shows up on his doorstep who had also been given a revelation the

Spirit of God was poured out on the Gentiles Peter is the eyewitness he received the vision he received the message sometime later he couldn't be caught seen being caught eating with the

Gentiles when James friends showed up this is how deep these things are continue again in Galatians 2 he would not eat with the he would eat with the

Gentiles when they came he withdrew and separated himself fearing those who were of the circumcision and the rest of the

Jews also played the hypocrite with him so that even

Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy but when

I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel I said to Peter before them all if you being a

Jew live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews why do you compel

Gentiles to live as Jews we who are

Jews by nature and not sinners of the Gentiles knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but how by faith in Jesus Christ Paul says to Peter you know as well as I do that we are not saved through our law keeping we are only saved through our faith in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified so Peter Barnabas the rest of the

Jews they struggle with this idea of the Gentiles being included the mystery now has been revealed let's go to our text again

Ephesians chapter 3 Paul is suffering a lot of persecution and imprisonment and chief among the reasons is he's taking this

Jewish Messiah and he's proclaiming him to the Gentiles the Jews hated that he was the

Apostle to the Gentiles we can't forget that look again it says he made known to me the mystery verse 3 by which when you read you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men as it has now been revealed by the

Spirit to his holy Apostles and prophets that the

Gentiles should be fellow heirs the same body partakers of his promise in Christ through the gospel now wants to think about the

Gentiles in Christ this hits very close to home for us what is the language of verse 6 the

Gentiles should be joint heirs literally in the

Greek all of these words are essentially the same joint heirs a joint body joint partakers those who were very far off think about all those pagan nations that warred against Israel now those people are being brought into the kingdom of God the promise given to Abraham on him all the nations all the families of the earth would be blessed these things are coming to fruition the gospel of Jesus Christ will go to the ends of the earth and even so today for us we should never think that someone is too far gone to hear the preaching of Jesus Christ in him crucified in Ephesians 2 1 through 10 there is kind of a establishment of the doctrine says you were formerly dead and you've been made alive you used to walk according to the course of this world and it's true for you how many of you used to walk according to the course of this world you were dead in your trespasses but you have been made alive you used to walk according to the course of the world according to the prince of the power of the air the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lust of our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind were by nature children of wrath just as the others but God who is rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us his famous words even when we were dead in trespasses made us alive together with Christ we can say hallelujah by grace you have been saved and raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us in Christ for by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God not of works lest anyone should boast for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which

God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them do you know why

I love so much about the doctrine of election the doctrine of God's free grace you

I love it so much because I know if it weren't for that truth about who

God is that I would be on the way to hell there's nothing

I've brought to the table to deserve this the revelation of Jesus Christ to the

Gentiles is a testimony to his grace how great is the father's love your salvation is a testimony to the grace of God alone you bring nothing good to the table it's his grace it's his mercy

Paul preaching to the Ephesians and that it should be noted that they had a temple to Diana and Ephesus and temple prostitution was a huge business so their worship included that part of life and God in his mercy called people who would go to the the temple prostitutes he called them to faith in Christ he called the temple prostitutes to faith in Christ and so Paul says remember that you once Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision made in the flesh by hands that at that time you were without Christ being aliens from the

Commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise before the

Magi there really was having no hope and without God in the world do you realize that before the

Magi come to see Jesus the vast majority less than a fraction of 1 % of the

Gentiles would come and become God fearers and be integrated into the life of Israel but now at the arrival of Jesus Christ the floodgates of grace and mercy have come from heaven and Jesus has brought those who are far off and brought them near this is what he's done and coming in the flesh coming to be our mediator to be our

Savior and finally under this heading there used to be great divisions between the

Jews there's a court of the Gentiles in the temple to be a

Gentile proselyte you were kind of in but you're a little bit second -class part of this caste system but what has

Christ done Ephesians 2 14 for he himself is our peace who has made both one and he has broken down the middle wall of separation having abolished in his flesh the enmity that is the law of commandments contained in ordinances so as to create in himself one new man from the two thus making peace and that he might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross therefore thereby putting to death the enmity and he came and preached peace to you who are afar off into those who are near for through him we both have access by one spirit to the father

I said this a hundred times in many different applications if God can rescue the

Gentiles from their sin and make them alive and bring them into his covenant he can reconcile a marriage he can restore broken relationships he can take people who are on fire for God and who have back slid in a way and he can bring him back he can cause the apostate to repent again the excommunicated to be brought in how powerful is our

God we should have much greater hope and much greater optimism not only for the salvation of our neighbors but also the sanctification of our own lives the hindrances which would prevent us from making progress in the faith have been torn down in Christ well the time is starting to get away a little bit

I want us to focus one more second on the last point today cause for Thanksgiving the mysterion which

I hope we can get into the groove of a little bit and have a little appreciation for is that people who are far away from God have been brought near in Christ it's true for you it's true for me but now we learned some of the purpose behind the mystery there's a fellowship that has occurred it says this to the intent now that the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places according to the eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our

Lord in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in him do you have that sense of boldness and access with confidence through him you remember all the machinations of the

Jewish economy to approach God and you just cry out to him

Abba Father are you making regular use of those privileges do you only cry out to God to bail you out of the jam that you put yourself in or are you crying out to God because of this free access that you have to him now in Christ you should give

Thanksgiving for this salvation look at verse 14 and following Paul says for this reason

I bow my knees to the father of our Lord Jesus Christ from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named do you want some blessing today you want to grab hold of some of God's blessings that he would grant you

I know Lord I pray that this would be true for these your people that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory oh you might know someone who has a lot of money

Elon Musk has a lot of money he doesn't have riches like this the riches of glory that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might through his spirit in the inner man that Christ would dwell in your hearts through faith that you being rooted and grounded in love this is what one of our vocations and callings as Christians is

I want you to think about this we are to spend our lives doing this and in fact it seems

I would venture a guess that eternity is going to be the practice of this that we would be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and the length and depth and height okay

Mitch we're talking as it's x y and z what else is it it's all of those dimensions we are to investigate and search out and discover and be amazed by lay hold of apprehend the reality the width the length the depth and height to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge now pause there we've been shot off in a rocket ship to explore the galaxies of Christ and his riches and then he continues that you may be filled with all the fullness of God partaking of the divine nature by virtue of our union with Christ what a transformation strangers to the covenants of promise no circumcision worshiping the moon offering our babies to Moloch whatever the paganism was haters of God your ancestors many of them hated

God and now because of the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ you've been brought in you've been brought in that you may know the length and the breadth and the height and the width all of those dimensions all of those axes to know the love of Christ that you may be filled with all the fullness of God I think we need a little more zeal

I don't know what's going on today in this room there's almost a little quenching of the spirit today here something's suppressing it and we need to repent of sin there be any sin it's infecting us today it's come into the building today the people of God have the wealth of glory at their disposal how much love does

Christ have for you how much does the father love you how much does the holy spirit love you and and and bid you to walk in righteousness can you imagine to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God brethren the mystery has been revealed

Gentiles people like you are fellow heirs and partakers of his promise in Christ through the gospel and if it's true for us it's true for them out there let's take the message of this salvation this light

Christ the light to the Gentiles Christ the one who saves those who are far off let's take it and share it with the dark dying world that so desperately needs this message amen amen the mystery has been revealed hallelujah let's pray together lord we we ask your blessing upon us we know that the church is always under attack and assault we know that our families are under attack we thank you for the victory that is ours in Christ and I pray that you would enable us to walk in that victory that we would be rooted and grounded in love that Christ would dwell in our hearts richly and that we give more attention and diligence to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge that we might be filled with all the fullness of God oh lord we pray with your servant