Classic Christianity Radio (02-27-19) – The Mystery of God Part 3
Bob George continues sharing from Ephesians a mystery that has now been revealed to the Gentiles. In this mystery is the gospel message of God’s grace, applicable to all men, Jew and Gentile, that in Christ all will be made holy and blameless before God. The wall of hostility between Jew and Gentiles has been set aside.
Romans 3:9-12
9 What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. 10 As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; 11 there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”
Romans 3:21-23
21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
In God’s wisdom, He sent His Son Jesus to take away sin, once and for all, forever, for all people and for all time. Otherwise, you would be dealing with sin all your life. You are a redeemed and a forgiven person in Christ. This is the mystery that God is going to save the Gentile just as he saved the Jew. That time has already come. Jesus died, was buried, and rose again. The message of God’s grace in Jesus Christ is the message Paul preached to the Ephesians, and to the Gentile world. He received this message of revelation from no other person than Jesus Christ. So in Christ, to those who put their faith in him, we are made holy and blameless before God.
We are continually looking at films and movies about this unbelievable distinction between Jew and Gentile. During World War II, Jews were persecuted and almost annihilated. Men during the reformation were totally anti-Semitic.
When that curtain was torn in two, from top to bottom, at that moment Jesus took away the sins of the entire world. Jew and Gentile can both call God their Father. No more prejudice between Jew and Gentile any longer when they are now members of one new body in Christ. For a born again Jew or a born again Gentile, there is no prejudice. That dividing wall hostility is taken down. Who cares if you are Jew or Gentile, born in Turkey or Greece. You have a new identity as a child of God. This is a message of unity in the Spirit, being members of one body.
Jews and Gentiles are One in Christ Jesus
Luke 23:44-46
44 It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, 45 for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.
Hebrews 10:20
20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body,
Ephesians 2:15
By setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace.
Bob then reads from Ephesians 1, the main lesson he is teaching from.
Ephesians 1:13-14
13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
Having believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the end of the age.
Are you sealed in Christ? Who sealed you? Did you seal yourself? Who sealed you? God did. If God tightened the seal, will man be able to untighten it? No! Who can unseal it? No one can. How secure are you in Christ Jesus? Forever secure! As secure as the one who sealed you in Christ. People say you can walk away from Jesus. No, you cannot. If you walk away, He goes with you.
John 10:29
My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.
Hebrews 13:5
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
People say that you can sin so bad that God will leave you. How bad are you going to have to sin before it is too late? How many sins? 100, 200, 300? How many sins do you have to commit before God says “that’s it”? Who is going to judge that? How are you going to know? Realize Jesus took away the sins of the world for a wonderful reason, to remember your sins no more!
Isaiah 43:25
“I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.
Hebrews 1:16-18
“This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” 17 Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” 18 And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.
So you and I came to Christ and accepted his death for us and his life in us in His resurrection, and at that moment of faith, God sealed His Holy Spirit in us forever. That enables us to live on this earth without fear of dying. I have no fear of death because I have no fear of life.
1 Corinthians 15:54
When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
1 Thessalonians 4:14
For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.
Life given to me is eternal. So when I die, I will just go to sleep and wake up in the arms of Jesus. That is exactly what Christ has done for us.
Ephesians 1:15-22
15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.
Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians, those who put their trust in Christ, that God would give them a Spirit of wisdom and revelation.
So what is this Spirit? The spirit of wisdom and revelation.
Can you know the meaning of God’s word unless God reveals the meaning to you?
Truth, the meaning of God’s word, must be revealed by the Spirit. We do not learn what scripture means through the study of Greek or Hebrew. If that is all it took, how come so many Greeks and Hebrews have not understood? Unless the Holy Spirit reveals truth to you, you cannot know truth. Educated or non-educated makes no difference. God can reveal to the least educated and keep it hidden from the educated. Knowledge puffs up but love builds (1 Corinthians 8:1).
Matthew 11:25
At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.
1 Corinthians 2:10
These are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.
1 Corinthians 2:14
The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.
As Paul closed in prayer, Bob George closed in prayer with his radio listeners. As you pray, think about Paul’s prayer recorded down for us. Take the time to pray for fellow believers in Christ, that God may enlighten truth into their being, of the hope to which He called you, of the glorious riches in Christ, and His great power to know His love that surpasses understanding.
Ephesians 1:18-23
18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.
To those who are not yet in Christ, take the time to ask yourself some questions. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal Himself to you, to reveal truth to you in regards to faith and holiness and new life in Christ. Where are you in the process of life and salvation? Do you believe in Jesus? Has that belief led to a personal faith in Jesus Christ? Do you understand what Jesus accomplished for you and that you can know Him personally? Let the Holy Spirit reveal this truth to you.
