The Riches of Christ (Ephesians 3:8-9)
March 24, 2019 Preacher: Bob DeWaay Series: Ephesians
Scripture: Ephesians 3:8-9
Paul describes himself as the "least of the saints" and we give evidence that he meant that literally. "Saints" here refers to all Christians and Paul considered his previous hatred of the gospel and failure to heed Stephen's preaching to show how great God's mercy was to save him. Paul's great honor as an undeserving sinner was to preach Christ.
The term "unfathomable" denotes that which could never be comprehended by human investigation. This was revealed by God at God's time and by God's will. He chose to do so through a previous enemy of the gospel.
What God provides in Christ is true wealth. We discuss the term in the Greek for "enlighten" and show how Christ brought true light into the world. Those who believe in Christ are transferred from darkness to light. Paul's responsibility was to "administrate" the now revealed mystery which has come to light. Paul was a manager of the gospel whose stewardship was profound and consequential. One emphasis in this sermon is about God as Creator and the need to know what He has revealed about His essential attributes. Christians need to be well taught about God's transcendence so that they are not led astray by the pagan nature religions that are so popular in our culture. We use the example of Moses as recounted in Hebrews 11 to compare the true value of the riches of Christ with everything the world offers. We need to follow Moses' example and believe God's promises and choose true riches.
Sermon slides and handout can be found under the Downloads tab
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