Be Eternally Purposed

Take your Bibles if you would please and turn to the book of Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 3, verses 3 through 13, is where we're at today, and as we work through these verses I'd like to speak to you on the subject of being eternally purposed. And if you would be purposed with the things of eternity, then today's verses are really going to ring true for your life and your mind. To be eternally purposed is just simply to be a Christian, to live out loud. To be of God is to be one who is in Christ, and obviously as an eternal being we would be focused more on Christ and who He is and His purposes than our own.

As we look at this, I want to first of all read Ephesians 3, verses 8 to 13, to you and then discuss it on some deeper levels. In Ephesians chapter 3, starting in verse 8, the Bible says, "To me, the very least of all of the saints." Now, we looked last week at the fact that this is a superlative statement, and this is making it very well known that Paul does not consider himself to be a great saint, to be one who is above anybody else. And so he is most certainly — perhaps in a crowd — he would think of himself as just an average guy who's doing his best to be faithful to Christ. And so for yourself, do you also, when you are in the midst of others, think of yourself better than others? Well, that's a high-minded thought, and to be a Christian would be to be humble like Christ. He demonstrated humility on the cross, and so it is very important for us to know how humble Paul really was.

Hold your place in Ephesians and turn to 1 Corinthians 15:9. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 9 gives us a really good glimpse as to why Paul felt about himself the way he does. In 1 Corinthians 15:9 it says, "For I am the least of the apostles." Okay, so not only does Paul view himself as the least of all kinds of people, but also the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle. And so he doesn't even think that he deserves the title of apostle, and this is the reason why. It says in 1 Corinthians 15:9, "Because I persecuted the church of God." And so Paul perhaps viewed his guilt as one who used to persecute Christians as what would deem him unworthy.

This view of self-debasement is an example for us as well, as ones who realize that we truly are nothing apart from Christ. In fact, if you take Christ away from us, we can really mess everything up. We're really not capable of a whole lot of anything good. There's nothing really good inside of us. In fact, that's the lie from the pit of hell — to think that you actually are good apart from Christ. There's nothing good about us. It's only Christ in us. It's the hope of glory. And so Paul recognized that not only was he not a good person to begin with, but he actually persecuted the church. And perhaps this was his thorn in the flesh. Perhaps this guilt and shame that he carried with him — that he approved of the stoning of Stephen, a good, righteous man of God, a deacon, a man who could preach the Word of God — and yet he approved of that death, and many more. According to 2 Corinthians 12:7, he was one who carried this guilt. Perhaps that was the thorn. I don't know. Perhaps maybe you have some similar things in your past, that as you look back and remember who you once were you utilize that as motivation to push you forward to spread the gospel and make disciples.

And so to keep the same mindset — to be the very least among the saints — is very important. You don't want to find yourself belittling, belittling other people and talking down about other people. We want to be lifting up Christ and loving on others, and that mindset is very important. So Paul says, "To me, the very least of all the saints, this grace was given." This grace is the power of God to preach the gospel, the gift that God had given him. This was a grace gift. This is something that Paul didn't deserve. And as you read the verses leading up to this, it is talking about the power of God that's on him to preach the gospel. Paul didn't deserve it, and it was a gift that was given to him. He didn't ask for it. It was actually infused in him. It was put inside of him. This grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ.

Now the Bible says that in regards to preaching, Jesus came to preach, and in Mark chapter 1, verse 38, it says, "Let us go somewhere else" — Jesus speaking — "to a nearby town, so that I may preach there, for this is why I came." So the reason why He came was to seek and to save the lost, according to Luke 19:10, but here as well in Mark chapter 1, verse 38, He says He came to preach — to preach to the people — to tell them the way, the truth, and the life, which was Him. John 14:6, Jesus speaking: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except by Me." And so the way to get to heaven, to see God, to see eternal life in heaven, is through Jesus, through believing in His death and burial and resurrection as a payment for your sin.

Because the Bible says we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and since we all have sinned, we know that sin equals death. From Genesis we know that God said to Adam and Eve, "Don't eat of that tree — you'll be enlightened, and if you eat of it you'll die." And then Satan twisted God's words and said, "Now you won't surely die," and then they believed the lie, and then they ate of the fruit. And sin does in fact equal death. And so that's the reason why Christ had to die on the cross. He had to die in your place because you can't die for your sin and pay for those things. You can't make it right between you and God. Your sin equals death. It's a death punishment, for the wages of sin is death — the payment for your sin — okay, whether you have lusted or adultery or lied or cheated or stolen, whatever the Ten Commandments are. So we can know that we in fact have sinned. You know you've sinned. Your conscience verifies that.

And so now that God has told you that you have sinned, we need someone therefore to die in our place. And Jesus is the only one who has the merit and worth to be able to die in your place, to pay for the sins of those who would repent and believe. And so the gospel then is for you to repent of your sin, to turn away from your sin, to acknowledge that your sin was against a holy God, and only by God's plan of salvation — to send His Son to die in your place — can you be saved. And so if you have not been saved, I beg you to repent and believe the gospel. God will give you a new heart. He'll change your life and give you eternal life in heaven. You can have confidence before God that you'll spend eternity in heaven, if you repent — which is simply to say, "Lord, I am sorry. I believe I'm a sinner. I know I have erred. Your righteous standard is way outside of my ability. I've been a sinner since I was a baby. I've been lying and cheating and stealing since I was young." It doesn't matter whether it's a little or a lot — sin equals death. And repent of that and say, "God, I believe the gospel. I believe that You sent Your Son down to the cross for those who would repent and believe. I want to repent and believe the gospel." You can be saved.

But if you don't — if you don't believe the gospel, if you don't repent — then you're simply saying, "Christ died needlessly. He didn't have to die because I'm good enough. I can earn my way to heaven. In fact, I'm so good I deserve heaven." That's what you're saying by default. And so nobody really truly believes that. The only way to heaven then is through Christ, through Jesus. And this is to be preached. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 9:16, "Woe to me if I do not preach." And so Paul is a preacher of the gospel, knows that he was saved by the grace of God, and now he is preaching the gospel. And he says, "Woe to me if I keep this good news to myself. Woe to me." I cannot withhold from the lost, from the Gentiles, from the world, from my neighbors, from my friends, from my fellow Jews, from all the Gentiles — I cannot withhold how to get to heaven. In fact, I'm going to give the rest of my life, no matter what the cost, to spreading the life-saving gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

He's going to tell every soul, he's going to go everywhere he can go, he's going to by all means possible spread the gospel — sparing no dollars, sparing no energies, sparing no punishments. Even if he would be flogged or shipwrecked or punished or whatever the case, he doesn't need Nero's approval. He doesn't need the government's approval. He is on a mission. He is eternally purposed. Do you get what I'm trying to say? Today's message is: Be Eternally Purposed. And the purpose that Paul was all about was spreading the gospel and glorifying God — we'll see that in the text today. So preach the word by all means necessary, especially to the Gentiles, to the heathens, to the pagans, to those who worship themselves, to those who would take a baby and put it on the altar and burn it to Moloch. Go after and love the unlovable. Give life to the ones who are dead. Go to the pits of hell and share Christ. Go to the worst places in this world and tell them about the life-changing gospel.

And the question that we're left with today: do you believe that the gospel will change someone's life? Well, by default, I'm going to say to you — you don't believe it if you're not going. Hear my broken heart in this. You don't really believe the gospel will save unless you are sharing the gospel. Unless you truly go and tell someone how to be saved, your feet don't match what you think. If I did not live out my love for my wife and children, do they really think that I love them? And the same thing is for those who are true Christians. True Christians obey the Word of God. They obey the Great Commission — "teaching all that has been commanded to obey." That obedience, teaching obedience, it's not only the gospel and baptism, but it's teaching all that He has commanded. If you are to be a Great Commission Christian, you're teaching all that has been commanded and you're laying it at people's feet — the truth — so that they can have the opportunity to repent and believe in Christ.

To be eternally purposed is to not worry about the shallow, simple things of this world. Take care of business. Do what you've got to do to be responsible, and then go and be eternally on a mission — a co-mission with Christ — to go and to seek and to save the lost, to preach the gospel, to teach all that you can. What are you teaching? What are you telling people?

In the text here in verse 8, you are to tell them about the unfathomable riches of Christ. Gentiles are to understand — the unfathomable — it is incomprehensible to understand the riches of Christ. Back in chapter 1, in verse 7, "In Him" — the riches are in Christ, because Christ is the one who has true wealth — "in Him we have redemption through His blood." Okay, you could be saved by the blood of Christ. "In Him you have redemption through His blood and the forgiveness of your trespasses according to the" — what? — "to the riches of His grace." God's grace is so wealthy. God's grace is so rich you can't put a number on it. You can't comprehend how deep and wide and wonderful the grace of God is. It's far more than what's needed to save a heathen. It's far greater. God is so rich that He could pay for all of the sins of the whole world with just one act — one act — and it's done. Past, present, future — redemption done in Christ. And to comprehend Christ, the unfathomable riches — look with me in chapter 1, verse 18: "I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened" — verse 18 — "so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, and what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints." You're like, "Whoa, we have an inheritance?" Yeah. I really had no earthly inheritance, but I do have a spiritual inheritance — an inheritance that's unfathomable.

And to be eternally purposed, to set your gaze on things above and not on things of the world, to be eternally purposed is to be about the things of Christ, which will be about the things in this world that need to be done. Like, as if you're going to work Monday, or tomorrow, to work as unto the Lord and not unto men. All of the purposes of God will be accomplished as you're eternally purposed. But what is this inheritance? In verse 19, chapter 1 — verse 19 — it starts to explain: "And what is the surpassing greatness of His power towards us?" God's power toward us — that is an inheritance that you can cash in now. You can experience that now. You can walk with the Lord. You can be joyful. You can be in Christ — not just saved, but walking with Him. "And in His power towards us who believe, these are in accordance with the working of the strength of His power." His power in us motivates us, strengthens us, prods us. There's an inner compulsion in Christians that keeps them moving.

All the ladies at ladies' conference — from the inner compulsion to want to spread God's word and the truth to other ladies — have served their hearts out. They have poured themselves out like an offering. Do you think Christ is going to leave them empty? No. Christ is going to fill them right back up. They're going to be so motivated and rejuvenated from being able to serve with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. Watch out, because they're going to come back and they're going to continue to serve and continue to spread the life-changing and sustaining gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It's so important for us to comprehend that, from Paul's perspective, he is communicating the riches of Christ, and yet he is the least of these. And so when we apprehend Christ and understand these riches, we don't get high-minded. We actually think less of ourselves. We think more of God and less of ourselves — more of God and less of ourselves — and we utilize the time to the best of our ability to spread the glory of God, rather than any type of accomplishments that we may be able to. And so humility is a necessity for ministry.

In verse 9, it says, "And to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things." In Ephesians chapter 3, verse 9, as we continue through our text today, we are to be ones who bring to light — illuminate — the truth of God. There are blinders on. It takes prayer and the gospel to get past the blinders. The word of God can penetrate the heart and get to the mind, but it's Christ that gets there. So "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God," and so we have to bring the word of God. We have to bring it to light. We have to illuminate the text. It's the reason why we teach the text in our Bible studies. We don't teach about ourselves and tell fancy stories about what we accomplished, or how big a thing, or anything like that. We'll have other time to talk about ourselves. But when it's teaching time, we teach the text.

The Word of God is truly enough for life and godliness. We lean upon the sufficiency of the Word of God. It is enough for life and godliness. Your life, your eternal life, your salvation — the Word of God is enough to convert the soul and is enough to sanctify the life in Christ. It is enough to guide you. We bring these things to light. Paul's purpose was to preach the gospel and to glorify God.

Look in verse 9: "To bring to light what is the administration" — or the dispensation — "of the mystery, of which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things." Now in Old Testament times, God had not yet sent His Son incarnate — or in the flesh — and so they looked forward through prophecies, through preaching, through proclamations of the Messiah to come, for Yeshua to come. And so they looked forward to a Savior, and they believed by faith, and it was accredited to them as righteousness, the same way as Abraham was saved, the same way every Old Testament saint was saved — which is, by the way, the same way we're saved. We just look in the other direction. We look back at the cross. We look back at the Gospels. We look at the cross and we see that He actually did come. Jesus is actually God. He performed seven miracles that were recorded in the Gospel of John. He healed the blind. He healed the sick. He turned water into wine. He died on the cross and was resurrected. It's Jesus. Jesus is God. He paid for the sins of the whole world. Now that we are illuminating Christ, we are a part of the church who is spreading the gospel.

In verse 10, it says, "So that the manifold wisdom of God might be now made known through the church." Now this is an amazing thing. The church — like, right here — are you at church? Everybody, is it yes? Are you part of the church? Yes. Okay. At about two o'clock, when nobody's in here, is the church still here? It depends, if you're talking about the building. If you're talking about the building — yes, we ascribe the word "church" to these buildings on campus. You're "at church." Spiritually speaking, I'm not talking about the building. I'm talking about the body of Christ — the church universal — those who have repented and placed their faith in Jesus Christ, and Christ alone. By the way, there is no Hinduistic way to heaven. There's not many ways to get to the cross — it's just Christ. Well, there are many ways to get to the cross, but only one way to get to heaven, right. I'm telling you, we are those who illuminate the truth.

It's interesting here — back in verse 9 — there is this statement that I believe that we should capitalize on as we share the gospel these days. It says, "God who created all things." God who created all things — turn to Acts chapter 17, and I want to read verses 24 and following to you.

God created all things. Most of you know Genesis 1:1: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." We agree that God — Elohim in the original — created all that you can see. The heavens — that's invisible — and the atmosphere, the planets, all kinds, the third heavens, the galaxy, everything — the cosmos. We believe that God created everything. But between here and there He also created the earth and everything in between, visible and invisible. He created the angels. He created thoughts. He created love and beauty and appreciation. Now, that stuff can't come from evolution. Can matter bumping into some other type of matter create something like love, and joy, and peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control? No, those are all fruits of the Holy Spirit. Those are all from God.

But not only do we know that God created everything — Paul says that Jesus created everything. In Colossians chapter 1, verse 16: "He created all things." And so — ah, another point where Jesus is God. It's important for us to kind of hammer down on this today in our day, I would say, because of how prominent evolutionary thought has been in changing American society.

In Acts chapter 17, look at verse 24 — oh, another proclamation of God creating all things. Acts chapter 17, verse 24: "The God who made the world" — wait a minute. Now we're getting specific. It is the God who created all things that we're talking about. We've got to nail this down. It's not any old god. It's not the god that you think may be. It's the God of the Bible. It's the God who created. "The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord" — Lord means Master — "He's Lord of heaven and earth." I love that. "He does not dwell in temples made with hands." Ha! If you share the gospel, you can say: now, the idols that were made in the Old Testament — God doesn't dwell in them. That's not a man-made idol. Look, it is an invisible, eternal God that we're talking about, the one who created all things. "He is Lord of heaven and earth. He does not dwell in temples made with hands, nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things. And He made from one man every nation." Isn't that good? From one man, all peoples have been created — Adam and Eve, our first parents. All of the nationalities, from two people. We are all equal before God in that sense. "And so He made from one man every nation of mankind" — which, by the way, that one statement totally refutes critical race theory, just so you know. "He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation." Okay, it's okay to have nations, by the way. We don't want the United Nations to wipe away the nations. We don't want one world government — that's antichrist stuff.

"And verse 27: that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. For in Him we live and move and exist." Hold your finger in verse 28, and just follow my train of thought here. I am trying to help us to live with an eternal purpose. It's not just day to day scratching out a living. I want you to have life more abundant and free, because you are engrossed in Christ. You're in love with Christ. You are living on purpose. You're living with purpose. You're driven from within. You're living beyond what you can see. You're living for eternity. You're living for things of eternity.

"In Christ, in God, in Him is where we live, in Him is where we move and exist. As even some of your own poets have said, for we also are His children." Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the divine nature is like gold or silver or stone — an image formed by the art and the thought of man. "Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance" — the Old Testament era — "God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent." This is living on purpose for God, living eternally purposed — to be able to know that now is the time to declare that all people everywhere should repent and believe the gospel. We never know when our last day is, and so the person that you are in front of may be your last opportunity to give to them the life-changing gospel.

And so to give them this — Hebrews 9:27 says, "It is appointed unto man once to die, and then the judgment." It's over when you die. You're either saved and in Christ, or not in Christ. And when you view people as either saved or not saved, you're eternally purposed in your mind to be able to talk about the things that matter. For the recluses in here, for those who don't like conversation, who would rather just keep to themselves — when you have this in your soul, it pushes you to talk and love and care for someone. Now, for you outward-living eager beavers who have ten thousand plus words a day, living eternally purposed will cause you to taper your words to the things that should be said and talk about the things that need to be at the moment, rather than rattling on forever about everything that doesn't add up to anything.

Now we are eternally purposed, and we're pushing Christ on others. We are indoctrinating — guilty as charged — especially when it comes to education. Don't fall for the lie and say, "I'm just going to let my children decide." Nope. You as parents have a biblical admonition, an instruction, a commandment to indoctrinate your children, to teach them about Christ, to lead them to Christ, to disciple them in Christ. And so, "All people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead."

This is very important for us to be able to realize. We are in Christ. We're in Him. It's how we live. The eternality of God — theologically speaking — is the aseity of God. The aseity of God means that He exists of and from Himself without being dependent upon anything. God is completely holy. He's completely satisfied and He needs nothing. There is no need at all that God has. We see that God is absolutely complete, absolutely self-existent. We're not like that. He's the creator and we're the created, and so we have needs. We need Him.

And so knowing then that God exists in eternity — which is not limited by time, by the way. God exists outside of time. In the beginning, He created time. "In the beginning" — Genesis 1:1 — so the creator of time, if you look at time on earth, exists outside of time in eternity — no time at all. This is where God exists. I want to take you there. I want you to live timelessly. I want you to believe and think eternally. I want you to think outside of the bounds of time. I want you to think eternally, because that's what really matters.

We don't know when we're going to be in eternity — God set that date, but you don't know. We've got a man in here who has one kidney. He doesn't know if he's got another day, but he's living for Jesus. Amen. His life is no different than your life. You don't know. You just don't know. God has set that day. And so live with eternity in mind and with the eternal purposes in mind — of heaven and hell as a reality. It changes the way you live.

Inside of time, as created, needful beings — what an honor for us to have had the God of time come and save us. What an honor to have an eternal being, so holy and so pure, willing to come in and to pay for a wretch like me. What an honor to have had God who was so wonderful, so beautiful, so rich in and of Himself and all of His worth and all of His attributes, to allow me to come into His presence. And the Bible says to "taste and see that the Lord is good." That invitation is an open door for you and everyone else to come and to taste and see — Psalm 34:8 — that the Lord is good. Sample eternity. Sample in your mind and in your heart and in your soul the things that matter the most, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim. The thought pattern is to "set your mind on things above and not on things of the earth" — Colossians chapter 3, verse 2. And so taste and see that the Lord is good. Nothing compares.

And when you get a taste of Christ — metaphorically speaking — Jesus says, "Eat of My flesh and drink of My blood." It's like, "Take My life inside of you. I'm giving you an open door to live and breathe in Christ, in God." And when you get these ideas, these spiritual drawing points to come to Jesus, to come to Christ — and He says, "Come to Me, all you who are weary and heavy laden" — right, weighed down by the things of the world — well, when you come to Jesus and you are thinking eternally and you're living in Him, the things of the world then rest upon the shoulders of God, who is all-powerful, living outside of time in eternity, who created everything, who is sovereign, who is in control. And you then, by default, just say, "What a privilege it is to be in the family of God, to be a chosen vessel, to be saved." And now I will serve Him. And just do my part. I'll do my part. I'll be faithful. I'll work with the energy that He gives me. I'll work within the open doors that He opens for me. When you get into this realm, then all of a sudden being eternally purposed changes everything — changes why you do what you do, how you do what you do, the conversations that you have.

To be eternally purposed is to be driven by the gospel, is to be driven by reaching people for Christ, to be driven by preaching and teaching and communicating Christ. By the way, it comes at a price. It comes through suffering. We'll get there. Let's continue to look through this text.

In Ephesians chapter 3, verse 10, again it says, "So that" — so this purpose — "so that" indicates purpose. It's the why behind the what. "So that the manifold wisdom of God" — I'm trying to communicate to you this manifold wisdom of God, the wonders of Christ, everything that was within the Word of God that describes God. These manifold wisdoms — they're right here for us to study and to enjoy. What do we do with those once we find them? "The manifold wisdom of God might be made known." So again — to make them known, or to illuminate them, or to teach and preach Christ. Guess what? It's made known through the church. Who else is going to teach Christ correctly? Who else is going to inform? Who else is going to educate? Who else is going to hold to a standard? Who else is going to set before someone who is dying eternally the life-saving gospel? It's through the church. "To the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places." And so this — "to the rulers, to the authorities" — could also be interpreted as "before the rulers and before the authorities." And so as you are proclaiming the gospel and teaching the truth and teaching the wisdom of God, you're before these invisible rulers and authorities that — by the way — Christ has created. All the fallen angels, all of the righteous angels — they've been created. And you are operating before all of these individuals.

And as ones who are being faithful to the gospel, you are then, by way of application, to distribute the wisdom of God — not only to those whom you see but to those who are in authority. And so who else is going to inform the authorities in our world as to what the wisdom of God really is? I think of the why behind government. Most government officials do not realize that Romans chapter 13 sets the parameters for why they exist and what they are to do. Who's going to tell them? Well, they're not going to obey God's wisdom unless we share with them what God's wisdom is, unless we share with them what the gospel is, and they get saved, and they actually want to abide by God's wisdom — wiser wisdom than their own worldly wisdom. And so we inform civil authorities. We inform them. The church — it's our duty to pray and to participate civilly and governmentally, not just in our churches. But we do this before God, before the invisible rulers and authorities, and by way of application before all of whom are alive in front of us.

"And so through the church, to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places — verse 11 — this was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord." Hence the thrust of today's message. This was in accordance with God's will — that is an eternal purpose. This eternal purpose is first of all mentioned in the book of Ephesians, in chapter 1, verse 4: "Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world." Let's just hold here for a minute. Wait a minute — He chose us before the foundation of the world. And so that is a clear indication that before the foundations of the world were created, He chose us. He chose a bride. He chose whom He would save. In Him He chose us before time was created, before the world was created. He had a plan. He already designed this whole thing. And so coming into His story — or history, if you want to look at history as His story, "history" being a play on the spelling there — then you would view that God is in control. He's got an eternal plan, a plan that has been founded before the foundations of the world.

Ephesians 1:4–5 says, "Just as He chose us in Him" — the salvation — He's chosen who He's going to save before the foundation of the world — "that we would be holy and blameless before Him in love." The women's conference was on holy living in an unholy world. Holy living in an unholy world — they have repentance as a regular part of their life. They do not exist in sin forever and ever. They don't enjoy sin forever. They don't live in disobedience to God and His Word. True believers have been, according to verse 4 here, not only chosen and saved, but they've been saved "that they would be holy and blameless before Him." The life of a believer is lived before God. You live in the presence of God. You live and you think and you breathe and you speak and you serve with the thought of, "I am living in the presence of God." And so we don't, as Christians, crawl over and act like non-Christians, and we don't, in the corners of our minds, go places in a rebellious way and think about things that are against God's holiness. We don't dwell on the things of this world.

Did you know that you are not supposed to think about whatever you're thinking about? You can't just think about whatever comes to mind. You're actually supposed to discipline the mind and train your thoughts to think about the things that are true and right and holy and pure and lovely — Philippians 4:8. We're to think and to pursue these things and to find ways that we can push these things and spread these wonderful things, to change lives, to change family patterns, to change societies and communities, to impart the life-changing gospel. This is living on purpose — an eternal purpose.

Now, last week we talked about two of Paul's heroes in the Old Testament. You have these prophets called Isaiah and Jeremiah, and both of these flaming prophets — these guys lived out loud. Boy, did they really suffer for the causes of Christ. And the way that they continued to live eternally, to live with an eternal purpose, is they set their face like flint. They set their gaze on the goals of sharing the gospel, of making disciples and glorifying God. "I'm not going to get off of my purpose. I'm going to stay on this path of seeking God." And the straighter you can keep a righteous life, the better you'll be. And so they set their face like flint — not only is that to be disciplined in your thoughts and disciplined in your life and in your tongue and in your walk, with your feet and your hands, but it is also setting your face like flint so that you can take a blow and not flinch. You can take an arrow from the evil one, but you've got your breastplate of righteousness on — think, it bounces off. And you understand that those are going to come, because we are likened as Christian soldiers. Soldiers take hits. They take blows. But they keep marching forward. They've set their face like flint. They don't flinch in difficulty. They keep on being faithful to Christ.

You don't have to understand everything to be faithful, by the way. Just because something happens that you don't understand — does it mean you throw off everything that you're supposed to do? Prayer and Bible study, worship, church attendance, reading the Bible, being good to people, spreading the gospel, making disciples — just because something happens to you in your life, no matter how bad? Think of Job. Wow. Think of the story of Job, and how righteously he lived. He had to get corrected a couple times, but that's okay. Set your gaze — you're going to be faithful, to stay eternally purposed.

Now, in this section, you see that Paul is on a mission to spread the passion that he has to the Ephesian church, so that they — living in a pagan day in the city of Ephesus, with its world temple of Diana — can live in a worldly atmosphere in a godly way. Paul is imparting to the Ephesian church his passion for the gospel, so that they have the ability to march through this world without being taken away from God, or going into worldliness, or backsliding in their faith. He's imparting to them this passion, this eternal pursuit, so that all of the idol worshipers and all of the pagans and all of the mysticism and all of the stuff that goes on in the world — so that they can stay faithful to Christ. And the way to do that is to be eternally purposed, to be focused on the invisible, life-changing gospel, to know that you should not get caught up in the ways of the world. "Do not love the world or anything in the world," the Bible says in 1 John 2:15.

And so he is driven with this eternal purpose. As we continue in the text, I want you to make note of this. In verse 9 — wait, I'm in the wrong chapter. How many of you knew I was reading the wrong chapter? Yes! That is great. It was good, though — do you want me to finish it? Back to the text. In Ephesians chapter 3 — not chapter 1.

Verse 11: "This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and confident access through Him in faith. Therefore I ask you not to lose heart." Here's the point I want to get to next. "In my tribulations on your behalf, for they are your glory." How do you view hardships? Do you view them as glory?

Now the very essence of being God is glory. It's the shining of Himself. It is the illumination of His attributes. It is glory. It's illuminating who He is. And when we are spreading the gospel and telling people about Christ and helping them to understand the pathway to heaven, we are glorifying God. We are bringing glory to God. We are illuminating. We are participating in God's plan of salvation. And that comes with afflictions. It comes with pain. "Therefore I ask you not to lose heart at my tribulations." The legacy translation says "afflictions." In chapter 4, verse 1, it gives us that indication of what kind of affliction he's living underneath: "Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called."

You were called, and you've been saved — for those of you who have repented and believed the gospel. Now walk worthy of that calling. Walk worthy of Christ. And as you walk worthy and as you illuminate Christ, it comes with opposition. It's easy to understand this concept, because God exists and so does the evil one. The evil one opposes the things of God. And so if you would be about God, be about the things of God — then Satan's going to find out, and he's going to oppose those things. But "greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world." In fact, God is so powerful and so eternal and so wonderful that He uses Satan and his tactics to spread His glory, to further the gospel. It's actually to help you, not to harm you.

Have you gone through some type of affliction? I know — a lot of the women, the testimonies just kept rolling in — the unfair satanic attacks upon our dear ladies in all kinds of strange ways. Which, by the way, I'll probably utilize some of those illustrations when we get to Ephesians chapter 6, when it's talking about spiritual warfare. Because I'll be honest with you, I don't have all the answers. This is really a complex realm when it comes to spiritual attacks and thoughts and how things actually happen and line up. It's mind-boggling. All I know — and what you know — is there is an evil one, and it hurts.

The tribulations and the afflictions seem to come in the most meaningful areas. That which matters most about your life — that's what Satan is going to pound. That's what the evil one is going to afflict. That's what he is going to try and destroy. The evil one seeks to destroy. He's not just going to pick on you and pester you. His end game is destruction. He wants to wipe you out. He's going to hold his cards until he feels like he's got all of the ammunition aimed in your life in such a way to destroy your life. No wonder we need to be building one another up and not tearing one another down. Do not utter a negative word about another. Seriously, it's not only my advice — it's a command in Scripture. Don't utter a negative word about another. Build the brethren up. Encourage the sisters in Christ. Encourage the preachers and the deacons and the elders. Encourage one another in Christ. Lift them up, because there's just so much evil going on in the world. You'd never know when you're going to step on a land mine and your whole life is going to be different. You'd never know when your life is going to change. You just never know. Satan is powerful — God has given him ability — but I like to think of it like this: Satan is like a dog on a leash with some nasty teeth.

So you'd better walk in the areas that God wants you to be in, and not go where you're not supposed to be. Don't go into Satan's realm mentally. Don't go there emotionally. Don't go there physically with your feet. Don't go there. Don't go into Satan's realm. Combat it by prayer. Go through these things in this world the way you're supposed to go. Work these things out before the Lord. This is something that we need to know, because when it comes to serving Christ, most people would have just a little bit of difficulty and think, "Oh, it's not God's will. It's just not working out for me. It's not God's will. It's no longer comfortable. This is uncomfortable. I don't like it anymore." And so they go back into their comfortable, reclusive life. Most seriously have an American worldview that is laid on top of the gospel, which makes no sense at all.

An American worldview: white picket fence, two-story house, warm water, AC inside, big retirement. "I don't have to do anything. I can retire. In fact, I don't have to work anymore." Whatever your American worldview is, I challenge you today to throw it away. Read the New Testament and see that that doesn't exist. Be about Christ. That's where true life really is. That's where eternal purpose kicks in, and you don't mind the battle, because you are in Christ and you know it. You don't mind the battle, because you're on the winning team and you know that God's leading you through this valley of death. You don't mind this, because you are having fellowship with Christ. And in Philippians chapter 3, verse 10, Paul has another purpose statement: "To know Him and the fellowship of His" — what? — "suffering." You don't mind the battle because it is truly fellowship with Christ. You're suffering along with Him.

And so if you are a Christian and you have been about the purposes of God and you have experienced some slander and you've experienced some afflictions — if you're serving Christ and you're a Christian, if you're a Bible teacher, if you're a servant in this dear church, if you're sharing the gospel and making disciples in any way, shape, or form, and you've experienced some of these things — just liken yourself unto the same road that Christ has gone through. Liken yourself as having fellowship with Christ. Isaiah 53:3 says, "He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." Christ was a man of sorrows, and He was very well acquainted with this deep and unsettling grief that comes.

But did you know that those who are happiest in Christ often have the worst of things going on in their life? Sometimes you would think, "I never knew so-and-so was going through such deep, dark struggles." God's ways are certainly not our ways, and we trust Him in these ways. We trust Him in life. We trust Him. It causes us to pray more. It causes us to worship Him more. Nobody wants pain. Nobody wants afflictions. Nobody wants tribulations. Nobody wants that — if you're in your right mind, nobody wants these things. But it is God's method. That, by the way, is the way of the cross — the way of sufferings, the way of afflictions — that even salvation has been made possible. And especially when it comes to spreading the gospel.

"And so if Christ was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and like one from whom men hid their face, and He was despised and He was not esteemed — surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried, and yet we ourselves esteemed Him as stricken, smitten with grief. And He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastening of our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, and each of us has turned his own way, but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all" — that inner iniquity, that inner hostility, the inner sin that we have — "to fall on Him on the cross. He bore our sins on the cross." And now, as we are saved ones, we are Christians. We are little Christs. We are Christians. We're in Christ. We are lights for Him. He gave a life as an example for us. Would we think that we would live a life different from the one that He experienced and demonstrated for us? No. Take up your cross.

Take up your afflictions. Bear your cross. It's God's lot for your life. Do you believe that God is in control of these things? According to James chapter 1, these trials of your faith are to help you, not to harm you. They're to help you. They're to mature you in your faith. And all of this is in God's grand plan. It's God's ways, not our ways. And so the church — it's not ours. How we do church on Sunday mornings is not up for sale. We as the church have already been bought. We're not for sale. We cannot do with our life what we want. We can only execute what Christ's will is for our life. And you know that, because you're pursuing God and you're pleasing Him, and it brings peace in your heart — even in battles.

This eternally purposedness that you have in your life is wonderful. And now I want to leave you with just a few take-home truths, so that we can apply these things to our life.

Take-home truth number one — if you're taking notes: I think the very starting point for us as Christians is to express the deepest self-abasement. Express self-abasement. Paul was not silent about his past. He actually said, "I'm a no-good persecutor." So be transparent with people and say, "Yep, before Christ I have done bad things. I'm going to be transparent with you. I'm going to be honest with you. I'm so happy that Christ saved me. I'm not worthy of it." Okay, so lower your view of yourself, and heighten your opinion of God. Bring glory to God. Say, "It's none of me — it's all of Jesus." Anything good that you see of me — especially putting one word in front of another word and making something that's comprehensible — that's of the Lord. And I know me. I can't even put two words together. I can mess up anything. I need Christ just even to breathe. I need Christ.

You know, today you have the public school system working against godly ideologies. The public school system is going to indoctrinate children with self-esteem. They're going to lift up their opinion of themselves and they're going to tell them that they're good enough and worthy enough. It's just backwards. You have false teachers today that call themselves Christians who are on television, who are on YouTube, who teach self-improvement — as if God exists to improve your life. Talk about a subversion of the gospel. You've been bought with a price. "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me." So your life is purposed in Christ. God doesn't exist to improve your life, but an American worldview will teach you otherwise. And it is very popular to teach that God exists to bless your life — The Blessed Life — Robert Morris's — and I'm telling you, it's popular, but it's a perversion of the true gospel.

John the Baptist said it this way in John 3:30: "I must decrease and He must increase." And when you are happy in Christ, when you are purposed in Him, it doesn't matter how much money you have, what kind of home you have. As long as you are right with Christ, you are right. Because the most important things — like peace, love, joy, happiness — all that stuff exists in Christ, because He created those invisible things, and He imparts those things to those who are obedient. The ones who are not saved, who pretend to have these things — it's so shallow, it's so temporal.

Romans 7:24 says, "Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from this body of death?" I think we ought to be like Paul, who proclaimed to everyone, "I'm a wretch." Be like James, who said in James chapter 4, verse 10, "Humble yourselves underneath the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you at the proper time." And when you humble yourself before God and fully embrace what He has, then when He exalts you — as the text says, because you came to Him humbly — when He exalts you, then it's true exaltation. It's true happiness. It's sustainment — He sustains it. It is amazing. It's wonderful. And so express self-abasement. Paul said he was the very least.

Take-home truth number two: we are part of God's eternal plan. Isn't that good? And you think, "Wow, I'm me — who am I? I've been chosen by God to be part of His eternal plan." Well, this is just absolutely wonderful. This means that I don't have my own plans. My plans are to be according to God's will for my life. And that's where true wisdom really is. Especially when it comes to the church — the whole church, not just you as an individual, but the church. The church is part of God's plan. I like to say it like this: the local church is God's number one plan to reach the world, train the saints, and worship God. Where we are to be built up in Christ, and our lights are to shine really bright, so we go out into the world and share the gospel and make disciples. This wisdom comes through the church. Verse 10 says, in chapter 3, "And so this comes to the world now as the church." This is part of God's plan, and He has pre-planned how church is to be.

On Sundays there's the preaching and the teaching of the Word of God. Many of you are here because the prior churches that you were at did not preach and teach the Word of God. 2 Timothy 4:2 says, "Preach the word" — very simple. It comes with a lot of clear charges. Weighty it is to preach the word. So you say what the word is saying and you get the essence of the text and you communicate that urgency. You communicate that essence. You preach the word, and you worship God. Many of you have been in churches — as I have, unfortunately, at conferences and such all around this nation — where you think, "Wait a minute. Am I worshiping God, or" — you know — "the drummer on the screen? Am I worshiping the Lord? Is it the guitarist on the screen that I'm supposed to be idolizing? Am I worshiping God here, or is it the show? Am I being enamored and emptied, or am I being filled by worshiping God?"

We have a worship that is due God, and so it is not for sale. The church is not for sale. You cannot subvert the purposes. The plan is already in the book. It's pre-planned. And so preaching and worship and prayer and ordinances and giving and serving, equipping the saints and fellowshiping and training in righteousness and education — this is the church. It's not for sale. We are part of God's eternal plan. We do these things with excellence. We do these things in the local church. It takes more than one hour a week, by the way. It takes more than between 11 and 12 on Sunday. It takes all we have, all we can be. We come here — I mean, there's always saints on this campus serving. There's a lot going on here. And your gift that God's given you, being exercised and served and utilized — that serving enables you to be happiest in Christ. And so when you participate in all these things as a church — but as an individual — the church, you, personally on your own time, when you're not part of God's prescribed way of worshiping Him and preaching and such — what are you? What's God's eternal plan, and what is your part in it? It's personal evangelism. It's personal discipleship. Personal worship — do all that you do to the glory of God, work as unto the Lord and not unto men. Worship God. It's personal training of the saints. Parents, train your children. It's personal work in everything you do. Do you get it? God is everything. It's like the big picture here. Being eternally purposed nullifies any personal pursuits.

Take-home truth number three: we labor for eternal purposes. This is according to verse 11 — "in accordance with His eternal purpose." We labor to do these things, laboring in Christ to be able to fulfill His Great Commission. Paul made this very clear to the Colossian church when he wrote to them and he said, "Christ in you, the hope of glory — we proclaim Him, admonishing" — or warning — "every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man mature and complete in Christ. For this purpose" — you see, this eternal purpose that he's all about — "for this purpose I labor." And this word "labor" means to toil. It means to work to exhaustion. It means to give all you have emotionally and physically and mentally away — work to the point of exhaustion. Paul exhausted every part of his body. He had nothing left when he went to glory. He had given it all away. He had given all of his might, and he worked, and he toiled. "For this purpose I labor, striving according to His power which mightily works within me." This is true joy. At the end of the day, your soul is completely satisfied when you are laboring for Jesus. Your heart and your mind are completely at peace with God. You can't wait for another day. You consider it a pure joy to go to heaven one day, having given all you had, and even having battle scars. When you go to heaven — I don't know about you — but I don't want to be beside the saints who have gone before me who have been stoned, who have been shipwrecked, who have been crucified, been martyred. I don't want to see them in heaven and be beside them and have no battle wounds. I want to live out loud — so clearly that it causes what He is talking about in the text, to live through afflictions and tribulations.

Does Satan know who you are? Well, if you're living out loud, he would.

So now, as I turn to the invitation, I would say to you: to be saved from this perverse generation. Acts 2:40: "Be saved from this perverse generation." Acts 17:30 says God commands all men everywhere to repent and believe in the life-saving, eternal gospel of Christ, who was sent by His Father to die on the cross in your place. You don't have to pay for your sins in eternity and hell. Everything that's there at judgment will be paid for, for those who repent and turn from those things and confess Christ as Lord. The Bible says in Romans chapter 10, verse 9, that if you confess — "if you confess, 'Yes, Lord, I believe that You died on the cross and rose again for my sins'" — if you confess, if from the abundance of your heart the mouth would speak and say, "I confess, Lord, I know I'm a sinner. I'm sorry. It's my sin on the cross that You paid for. You took the punishment for me. I confess and believe that You not only died in my place and were resurrected, I believe — I confess You as Lord and Savior" — if you would do that, be saved today.

Let's pray. Father, thank You so much for Your word. It's life-changing. It's encouraging. It's convicting. And I pray, Father, that by the power of Your Holy Spirit, You would lead Your saints now. If anyone here is lost, I pray, Lord, that You would lead them to a godly sorrowfulness for the sin that they have done in their life, and may You extinguish that guilt. May You save their soul. Dear Jesus, for everything that we've ever done wrong, Lord, You can wipe all of that away and give them a fresh start. For those who would be saved, Lord, if they would depend upon You for salvation, You would extinguish all of their guilt. You would remove all of the consequences for their trespasses against You. God, You can remove all of that, and we could look back on a life pre-Christ, before salvation, and say, "Wow, I was on the wrong road, but thank God I'm on the right road now." God, I pray that You would distribute Your grace to the unsaved. May many souls be saved, dear Jesus.

I pray, Father, that as we spread Your glorious word, that not only would souls be saved, but they would follow You in believer's baptism to demonstrate publicly that they too have died and been resurrected by You, dear Jesus. You have saved their soul. I pray, Father, not only that they'd be saved and baptized, but that they would come and join the local church and belong here, so that their faith can be nurtured, so that they can grow in their faith through Bible study and fellowship and prayer and taking the ordinances, Lord, and remembering what You did. I pray as well, Lord, they would know how to study the Bible and rightly divide Your word, so that they can apply it to their life and know how to be pleasing unto You and to stay out of unnecessary satanic traps. Pray, Lord, give us discernment and help us to stay away from the evil one, Lord. For those whom You are calling inwardly to fight against satanic schemes of this world — I pray that You would not only keep them emboldened, Lord; strengthen them and give them wisdom on how to navigate in this world with wisdom. Keep them safe, dear Jesus.

I pray, Lord, for the dear congregation that You have cultivated here, that You would continue to bring saints who are serious about You, that they're looking to capitalize on You, Lord, and not on the things of this world. Help their hope to be of eternal value. Help them to think of the things of eternity. Help them to speak the things of eternity. Help us, dear Jesus, to be eternally purposed. We ask this in Christ's name. Amen.