Subject –The Mystery of His (God’s) Will
Text - Ephesians 1:9 “Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:”
Text - Ephesians 1:9 “Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:”
What a blessed scripture this is that are God’s children, this
may be the most important scripture of this passage, or chapter or letter or
Testament or even the entire bible. Outside of salvation in Jesus Christ, is
the Sovereignty of God in His will. The entirety of the bible is about two
points, God’s Sovereignty and our salvation in Jesus Christ, and how God
accomplishes that salvation involving the Trinity (Father – Son – Holy Spirit).
What a true blessing to understand this, because if you understand this and
believe this fact, then you are a child of God in Jesus Christ by the choosing of
the Father and the power of the Holy Spirit. Salvation is a mystery of God and
only revealed to them whom God has saved, therefore, the lost, the sinful, the dying,
and the hell bound world does not understand it. You, who do understand,
understand because the Holy Spirit has showed it to you, and because of that
you are so blessed. Think about this if you are saved, what does a person have
to do to be saved? We see this question answered to Paul and Silas as they
witnessed to the Philippian Jailer in Acts 16:30 - 31 "And brought
them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house."
We also see another evidence of this witnessing by Jesus Christ Himself
as He personally witnessed to Nicodemus who was a ruler of the Jews. Notice
what Jesus told this very secular intelligent man in John chapter 3:3,17 -
19 "Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto
thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
(17) For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but
that the world through him might be saved. (18) He that believeth on him is not
condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not
believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (19) And this is the
condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather
than light, because their deeds were evil." Neither Paul or Silas or
Jesus Himself did anything except witness salvation in the man Jesus Christ. They
never suggested or commanded them to make a choice, decision, to pray a prayer,
or to perform any extra additional activity of their own. The simplicity of salvation
is the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as stated by Paul under the inspiration
of the Holy Spirt, 1 Corinthians 15:1 - 4 "Moreover, brethren, I
declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have
received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in
memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I
delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ
died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that
he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:" However, even
with all these scriptures and examples as proof, even using the very witness of
Jesus Christ Himself, people, even so-called Christians, Elders, Pastors, and other
very secular educated people and even those that are so called biblical scholars
cannot see the truth in these witnesses, WHY NOT? God has not “mystery of his will” in
salvation to these people, chances are they are not even saved themselves.
Think about this, every page of the bible in some way talks about the Sovereign
Grace of God’s will and pleasure, these people even teach about it in their sermons,
but deny it in very their thinking and sermons. I once had an article from
another writer that made the point, “you have never heard an Arminian person
pray that does not a Sovereign Grace prayer”. Why not, that is because in their
own thinking their doctrine fails. Why do they ask God to save sinners, to
control things, to prevent storms, and ETC, ETC, ETC. Then here comes the big
question, why don’t they understand, why is it that an under-educated, small
time, irrelevant to the world preacher who is Pastor of a small church understand
what a PhD cannot understand? It is called “the revelation or manifestation
of God’s will and His blessings as He has elected to distributed them. Paul
answers this question to the church at Corinth, “But God hath chosen the
foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak
things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of
the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things
which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should
glory in his presence." 1 Corinthians 1:27 - 29 " People Arminianism tell me that our salvation
is to simple, but God had to make it simple because there is no way we could
play any part of a “New Birth” as we played no part of their first birth. Jesus
spoke of the two births in John 3:6 “That which is born of the flesh is
flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” This means the Lord
Jesus Christ likened the two births as the same sort of births. One a natural
birth and the second a Spiritual birth. We also see Nicodemus view it as such, John
3:4 “Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old?
can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?” God in
His the entire Trinity spiritually “birthed you” as God’s child. A person
cannot birth themselves; this is why God called it a gift, over and over in the
scriptures God calls salvation or the new birth a gift, never an earned process.
So, this brings us to the revelation or manifestation of God’s will. Paul wrote that God, “Having made known unto us the mystery of his will…” The largest mystery of God’s will is Jesus Christ. Think about this, The Jews, the chosen Nation of God, whom God so graciously dealt with in the Old Testament, who was expecting the Messiah, taught about the coming of the Messiah, who knew every detail of His coming, missed the Messiah and crucified Him as a thief and a deceiver, even crucified Him between to thieves. John said, "He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not." John 1:10 – 11 Forget that the world did not know Him, The Jews, His very own Chosen Nation of whom He was born into rejected Him. Even Nicodemus who was “a ruler of the Jews” this means he was a first in rank or power: or a chief ruler in the Jewish ranks, had no idea who Jesus was, nor he did not humanly understand what Jesus was telling him in their conversation about the “New Birth”. But, why not, he was smart, high ranked in knowing the Old Testament scriptures, why did he not greet Jesus as the Messiah, instead He recognized Him as simply a teacher, “…Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.” John 3: 2b. He recognized the Messiah as I a Pastor would be recognized, as a simple teacher of God. Folks, I wrote all this to prove one simple fact, that Jesus Christ is a mystery of God just as Salvation is a mystery of God. Jesus Christ and Him as Saviour is a revelation from God, not a “figuring out” on mankind’s part. This is why God said, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.” John 6:44 – 45 The drawing is the manifestation of God; the hearing is the Holy Spirits giving the gift of hearing and seeing that manifestation of God thru the gospel message about Jesus Christ and salvation. And in ending of this thinking, let’s remember what God said about this manifestation, "For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God." 1 Corinthians 1:21 – 24 Please give that some serious thought and prayer.
So, this brings us to the revelation or manifestation of God’s will. Paul wrote that God, “Having made known unto us the mystery of his will…” The largest mystery of God’s will is Jesus Christ. Think about this, The Jews, the chosen Nation of God, whom God so graciously dealt with in the Old Testament, who was expecting the Messiah, taught about the coming of the Messiah, who knew every detail of His coming, missed the Messiah and crucified Him as a thief and a deceiver, even crucified Him between to thieves. John said, "He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not." John 1:10 – 11 Forget that the world did not know Him, The Jews, His very own Chosen Nation of whom He was born into rejected Him. Even Nicodemus who was “a ruler of the Jews” this means he was a first in rank or power: or a chief ruler in the Jewish ranks, had no idea who Jesus was, nor he did not humanly understand what Jesus was telling him in their conversation about the “New Birth”. But, why not, he was smart, high ranked in knowing the Old Testament scriptures, why did he not greet Jesus as the Messiah, instead He recognized Him as simply a teacher, “…Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.” John 3: 2b. He recognized the Messiah as I a Pastor would be recognized, as a simple teacher of God. Folks, I wrote all this to prove one simple fact, that Jesus Christ is a mystery of God just as Salvation is a mystery of God. Jesus Christ and Him as Saviour is a revelation from God, not a “figuring out” on mankind’s part. This is why God said, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.” John 6:44 – 45 The drawing is the manifestation of God; the hearing is the Holy Spirits giving the gift of hearing and seeing that manifestation of God thru the gospel message about Jesus Christ and salvation. And in ending of this thinking, let’s remember what God said about this manifestation, "For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God." 1 Corinthians 1:21 – 24 Please give that some serious thought and prayer.
Part 2 of this verse next week, sorry but I have used our entire newsletter selfishly on this one thought.
