In the sermon 'The Gospel Ministry pt2,' Carl Provost explores the profound nature and history of the Gospel, as discussed in Ephesians 3:7-13. He underlines that the Gospel is not about current events, political activism, or mere morality, but the unsearchable riches of Christ, offering a transformative message for all humanity. Provost emphasizes that history, often seen as purposeless by the secular world, is in fact 'His story,' orchestrated by God to fulfill His eternal purposes through the church. The sermon highlights the centrality of the church as God's intended plan from the beginning, not a 'Plan B,' and describes how the Gospel unites Jews and Gentiles into one new humanity. Paul’s transition from 'preaching' to 'enlightening' reflects the unveiling of the mystery of God’s plan through Christ, which was hidden even from angels. Provost also discusses the church as the manifold wisdom of God, akin to a multifaceted diamond, showcasing God's glory to heavenly beings. The sermon encourages believers to live boldly and victoriously, grounded in the power of the Gospel, recognizing their role in God’s unfolding drama and the ultimate victory secured by Christ.

Please turn with me in your copy of God's Word to Ephesians chapter 3. Starting in verse 7. Whereof I was made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of His power. Unto me, who am less than the least of all the saints, is this grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ, to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in the heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Him. Wherefore I desire that ye faint not in my tribulations for you, which is your glory." Let's go to the Lord in prayer.

Heavenly Father, we come before You. For we recognize in this word that You've given us, Father, that You have given us a beautiful gospel, a gospel message that is a mystery to the world, but that you have enlightened our hearts and that you have built us up and that you have opened our hearts through the open of the Holy Spirit's power of illuminating your word in our life, Father. And we pray that as we open this word today that your Holy Spirit would apply these words to our heart and sanctify us. We pray in your Son Christ Jesus name. Amen.

Well in the end of May I preached a sermon that looked at verses seven and eight, and it was the gospel ministry. And I realized then I needed to cut that sermon in half, and so I'm going to pick up with part two of that as we continue to look at the gospel ministry. Last time we looked at the servants of the gospel. We looked at the quality of those who had been set apart for the gospel ministry. We particularly looked at those who had been set apart to preach the gospel.

We then looked at the message of the gospel. We looked at what the gospel is not. It is not current events. It is not political activism. It is not morality or piety.

It is not religion or godliness. But that the gospel is the unsearchable riches of Christ, and that it is Christ and what He gives. That is the unsearchable riches of Christ in the gospel. And as we come to today's text, we look at the history of the Gospel and the power of the Gospel. So how does the secular mind look at history?

Henry Ford is known for saying that history is bunk. In fact, many in the world that study history see patterns, but all they see is the patterns of the rise and fall of nations. They don't see any purpose in history as they record names of great leaders, names of inventors, nations falling and rising, expanding of borders, but they see no purpose in history. See, when historians from a secular perspective look at history, they oftentimes miss the most important aspects of history. They miss those no-name people that God is using to transform the world.

Now don't get me wrong, God is also orchestrating the movements of those unbelievers as well. Those wicked nations to bring about His will. But the history that we're given in God's Word is the history of His people. And it has a purpose. See, as Christians, when we look at history, we should view history as His story.

For God is sovereign, And God orchestrates all of history. And He brings about His will in all of history. And that's exactly what we see when we read through the Bible. We see the history of God's people. And we see how He called up a people.

He made a nation of them. And we see nations come against them. And we see nations fall at their hands by the power of God as He gives these nations over to them. But it's the history of His people. A people whom He called and set apart for Himself.

And as we see the history of the world unfold before us, When you view history from this perspective, you will see that God is active in all of history. We are told that Christ came in the fullness of time. And When you look at that as a historian and you recognize there were circumstances that were very unique to the time that Christ came. Circumstances that involved many nations coming together at one time when they had what the world was able to accomplish. It was called Pax Romana, the Peace of Rome.

Where there wasn't any real peace there, it just meant that there was one nation that was in control and they had borders that allowed the Gospel to go forth into all of the known world. Especially Paul, who was a Roman citizen. And so we see very unique things take place. And we recognize in order for these kind of things to take place, there has to be a sovereign God who's orchestrating history, a God-ordained history. So what is the history of the Gospel?

Verses 9 through 11. It says, And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Christ Jesus, to the intent that now, unto the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord." Now we see a change in the word that Paul uses here from verse 8 to verse 9. Paul talks about how he was called as a minister of the gospel. And that he was to preach. In fact, the word that we have in verse 8 is eungeliso, to preach good news.

But in verse 9 he uses the word, photezo, to enlighten. We use the word, it's in many of our words, photo, photon. But it means to enlighten or to bring to light or to shed light upon. And I think the change here is he was bringing good news to the Gentiles. And he pointed out to them that they were brought into the family of God.

And that the good news of the Gospel, that the unsearchable riches of Christ, was that Christ Jesus died to save them, to free them from the wickedness of their hearts, to free them from the paganism that they were a part of. And He brought them into the family of God. But here he speaks of an enlightening, a bringing to light, to shed light upon what was already before them, what was already visible to them, but they were not able to see, they were blinded to it, it was a dark evening. And he also changes from speaking particularly to the Gentiles to speaking to all men, speaking to Jews and Gentiles together. For that is one thing that was the unsearchable riches of Christ, that he died not only for the Jew but also for the Gentile.

And that he brings them into one household. And there we see the mystery that was revealed in Christ Jesus. So the history of the Gospel. So what did Paul bring to light? The word we have here is the fellowship of the mystery, or it could be interpreted stewardship or administration of the mystery.

See, the secular world sees no purpose in history, but Paul is opening the eyes of men to see the purpose in God's history. So what is this mystery that Paul is speaking of here? See, God is making a new humanity in the church. A new people for Himself. See, Paul came preaching the good news of the unsearchable riches of Christ, but it wasn't to make a bunch of individuals for Christ.

It was to build the Church of Christ. And so what we see here is the mystery that is revealed here is the centrality of the church in God's plan. The centrality of a gathered people upon this earth that meet together, that call themselves Christian, from all nations. The Church of God, the Church of Christ Jesus. We are told that He came to make sure that all men see this mystery, and that the mystery was hid in God from the beginning.

And what we learn from this is that the church was not planned B for God. The church was His plan from the beginning. If you were to look at some of the different doctrines that we see out there, some of those have Israel denying Christ, and then God establishing the church as sort of a plan B. And then at some point in the future, he'll pick back up with Israel. But what we see here is that the church, the New Testament church, was His intent from the beginning.

It was hidden in Him, but it's being revealed through Christ Jesus. Think back of the story that we see in God's Word, and we'll hit a few of the hot points. Adam and Eve, created by God, walking with God in the garden. Satan comes and tempts them. They fall into sin.

God comes along and finds them. He calls out for them. They are hiding from Him. He asks them why they're hiding, and they say they're naked. They are ashamed.

We see that He clothed them in the skins of animals, recognizing that first atonement that was made for their sins. And He promises them that He will send a seed, a Redeemer, to save them. One that would crush the head of Satan. Then later on the world becomes exceedingly wicked. And God pronounces that He must destroy the world because of the wickedness that is in it.

But He saves Noah and his family. Eight in an ark. We're told in the New Testament that the ark is a type of Christ. That they were saved by being in that ark, just as we are saved by being in Christ. And we recognize that he had That family that He saved out of the wicked world for His own special possession.

When they came out of the ark, God made a covenant with them. He gave them a mandate to be fruitful and multiply and to cover the earth. And He made a covenant even with the earth that He would no longer destroy it again by a flood. But it's not far along in Scripture again before we see that the world becomes wicked and prideful. And they gather together and they attempt to build a tower to God.

And God divides the nations and scatters them, confusing them, giving them different languages, and spreads them out over the earth. Then we see that God looks down upon a man whom He calls Abraham. And He calls him to follow him to a land that He's sending him to. And Abraham believed God. And Abraham followed God.

And we see God make covenant with Abraham and make a promise to him that he will make him a great nation. Promises that Abraham would never see fulfilled in his lifetime, but promises that he had faith in and trusted in. See, God wasn't concerned about those physical, so much the physical descendants of Abraham as He was the spiritual descendants of Abraham. We see later, John the Baptist preaching and Jesus preaching that it was the spiritual descendants of Abraham that were truly God's people. For God was preserving a remnant, even in the midst of a physical nation, even in the midst of a physical people, he had his household.

We see Elijah crying out as he ran from Jezebel, feeling all alone, feeling like he was the only one who still believed in God. And God told him that he had preserved a remnant. We see this throughout God's Word, that God preserves His people. God calls Moses to lead the people out of Egypt to a new land that He has given them. He makes a covenant with His people.

And He promises them rest. And they go in and They defeat the nations and they take the land. But we don't ever see the rest fully consummated. For see, many things throughout God's Word are types and shadows that point forward to a spiritual reality. It's a reality of a rest that would come to God's people.

That spiritual rest that can only be found in Christ Jesus. That can only be found for God's household, for God's people, God's humanity. God places David on the throne and makes a covenant with him that his descendants would sit on the throne forever. The lineage of David is cut off until Christ comes. And there were those who were looking to Christ to fulfill that physical lineage of a king here upon the earth.

One who would cast out the Romans and establish his reign as king of Israel. But Christ did not come for that type of kingdom. For Christ came for the purpose of being a spiritual king. And He came for the purpose of redeeming a people, a spiritual people. And He redeemed His people.

And He went to the cross willingly, and He took all the sins of His people upon Himself. And He died, and He was raised again, and He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father for eternity. He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. A king has a dominion. A king has a reign.

A king has a people. And if Christ is currently reigning at the right hand of God the Father, what kingdom is He ruling over? See, Christ fulfilled the law perfectly. He defeated sin and death, and he established his kingdom here upon the earth. But it's not the kind of kingdom that Israel was looking for.

But these things are now being made clear. A mystery that was hidden in God is being made clear through Christ Jesus. See, we are told in this text also that all things are created by Christ. That Christ was there from the beginning. Why does Paul say that God created all things by Christ Jesus?

See, Paul wants to make sure that we fully understand that Christ has been there from the beginning. That the whole history of God's people is orchestrated by Christ. We also see, as we look at this text, the theater of God's display of glory. It says, Now this is an interesting text and you'll read commentaries and you'll see little disagreement in modern commentaries. There's actually quite a bit of disagreement in the older ones.

Some modern commentators make this Satan and his fallen angels, others rulers and princes in the government of this world. But historically most commentators view this as the angels who are in God's presence in heavenly places. See these are the same angels that Peter speaks of that are longing to see this mystery of the Gospel. Now, we can't make too many speculations here, but one thing we can learn from here is that the creation and the focal point of creation, the church of Christ, the church in Christ Jesus, was a mystery to the angels. And that God's plan of redeeming a people for Himself, a new humanity, was being played out before the angels, and they were looking on it with wonder and amazement.

For they saw a fallen people knowing that God being a holy God would somehow set apart a people for Himself and not fully understanding what was to take place. For God had hid His plans not only from humanity, but He had hid His plans from the angels. We see People try to capture this. In fact, C.S. Lewis tries to capture this idea when Aslan goes to the table in place of Peter.

And the witch kills him thinking that she has defeated him. But then he is raised again. Now unfortunately, C.S. Lewis uses the term of deep magic and deeper magic. But what he's trying to capture here is there's something going on that even the angels didn't understand?

And it's the hidden plan of God that's brought to fruition in Christ Jesus. The beauty of His creation, the magnum opus of His creation is His church. Those whom He loved so much that He sent His Son, His only begotten Son, to die for their sins, in order to claim them, to redeem them. See, the angels didn't foresee the incarnation. They didn't foresee the death of Christ.

They didn't foresee the resurrection. They did not foresee the new humanity in Christ Jesus. But as this is displayed before them, They marvel at the glory of God. For God uses this to display His glory, to display His love, to display His compassion for His people. The church is the manifold wisdom of God.

Now the word manifold there could be also interpreted multifaceted, church of God, the multifaceted wisdom. It's a wisdom that, kind of like a diamond, No matter how you turn it, it catches light in different ways. It's a wisdom that is manifold even above what angels can comprehend, even above what men can comprehend. It's a multifaceted wisdom of God. That God could create one new humanity from all nations and make them the household of God.

So as we look at the history of the Gospel, we see that the Gospel spreads throughout the world by the multifaceted wisdom of God, and it's displayed in the church. The church throughout history has been varied with Different people, different colors of skin, different ways of worshiping. But all the church of Christ. The church itself is multifaceted because of the wisdom of God. He brings together His people.

And we are one church because we are all in Christ Jesus. And we see also in this verse, verse 11, it says that this is all done according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. According to His eternal purpose in Christ Jesus, we learn of the centrality of the church in the plan of God. Some today have become critical of the church and its structures, and they have given up on the ecclesiastical institution. And it is true that in every age, the church is in need of reform and renewal.

But we need to remember that the church is the bride of Christ. The church is God's workmanship. And however displeased He might be with the modern church, He is still building it and shaping it. It is His bride. And if we know that God is the God of history, that He is sovereign, we can trust and know that He knows what He's doing with His church.

We see nations rise and fall, and we recognize God's handiwork. We need to recognize His handiwork in the church as well, for He knows what He's doing. And He calls us to repentance. He calls us to repentance as His people. But He is shaping His church, for His church is the broad of Christ.

God has not abandoned the church. So how can we? The purpose of God is to build a new humanity. A new humanity reconciled in union with Christ Jesus. This is the point of history.

This is the purpose that He has revealed to us. This is our mission statement. To go therefore and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all that Christ has commanded us. It's about the expansion of the gospel, about the expansion of His Kingdom here on the earth through the church. See, God changes the world through His people.

He doesn't change it through political structures or nations. Albeit, He's in control of them. But it's through His people, through His church. If you look at how this world has changed, when you see slavery end in a nation, and you see evils destroyed and righteousness prevailing, it's always through God's people. God uses His people as instruments of righteousness to bring the world under the authority of Christ Jesus.

When we sometimes wonder, what can we do as the people of God, how can us, a little church in Conroe, Texas, do anything against the evil in this world? We've got to remember who our God is. And that we are His instruments to use in any way that He chooses. For our God is a great God, and He has done great things with the small people, and He will continue to do great things with the small people. We are a covenant community.

We are His new society. We are the beginning of the new creation. See, the unsearchable riches of Christ is that He died for me, He died for you, to make us a part of this new humanity, a part of the household of God. So how should this community live? How should the community of Christ live when we recognize that God is the author of history, that God is the one who has orchestrated the church, that God is the one who saved each of us and placed us in this community?

We should live by the power of the Gospel. In verses 12 and 13 it says, In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Him. In whom we have boldness. See, if we understand the authority of the church with Christ Jesus as King, We recognize that we have boldness in how we live. This is the result of living in the church.

We should be those who live victorious, knowing that Christ has defeated sin and death. This was known by the church fathers as Christ is victor. They recognized that Christ had won the victory. Our enemies are defeated foes. And we should live like that.

But oftentimes we live as we are the ones who are defeated. But we should live by the power of the gospel. We know that God will bring about the transformation of nations through His people. And we should recognize the power of the gospel to transform lives, to transform hearts, to transform cities and states and nations. We can minister in boldness because we know the end of the story.

We know that God wins. And so when our enemies come against us, when persecutions come against us, we should be able to minister in boldness. See, the world has no hope because the world sees no meaning to the history. They have no meaning to their story. But see, we are the people of hope because we are part of God's history.

And God has a purpose for each of us. He's given us a purpose in His Word. He's given us a vision for ministry. And we are to be about building His Kingdom. The gospel also gives us confident access through our faith in Him.

See, not only are we a part of God's history, but we are part of His family. We are His household. We are joint heirs with Christ Jesus. We are sons and daughters of God. We have a Father who desires to hear our prayers.

We have a Father who answers our prayers. We have access to Him, and We should have confident access when we pray to God the Father and we see Him moving and overthrowing the evil in our world through the prayers of His people. If God is for us, who can be against us? We also see that it's by the power of the gospel that we endure tribulation for the glory of God. Paul tells us here in verse 13, Wherefore, I desire that ye faint not at my tribulation for you, which is your glory.

He doesn't want them to be concerned about his time in prison. In fact, this, by best it can be put together from bits of history in the Bible, is that this was during a stint in prison where Paul probably spent four years. Probably chained to a Roman guard. Now he was kept in Rome in an apartment and was allowed visitors, was allowed to write these letters to the churches, was able to minister for the advancement of the kingdom. In fact, Paul, describing his own imprisonment, said he was a prisoner for Christ.

He didn't say he was a prisoner of Rome. He was a prisoner for Christ. And he recognized that even in this tribulation of being a prisoner, that he was being used for the advancement of the Kingdom. We see this throughout the history of the martyrs. Men and women of God who were killed for their faith, but yet the church grew.

By the faith displayed in those who recognized that their hope was not in this world. Their hope was not destroyed by those who took their life, but that their hope was beyond this world. Men and women who stood before those who were slaughtering them and prayed for their enemies. We see lives transformed. Where it's been said that the blood of the martyrs was the seed of the church.

And what Paul is saying here is that when we have the right perspective of the church and the power of Christ Jesus, who is the head of the church, and the authority of His Kingdom here on the earth, that even in the midst of tribulation, that we recognize that He is still bringing about His will and His people. It is the power of the gospel that allows us to endure tribulation. We hear stories of those who are tortured for the gospel, but yet God gives them the strength to endure. When we are persecuted for righteousness sake, we should count it all joy that God will see us fit to suffer for the sake of Christ. We live in a nation now where we have lots of freedoms, but we also see those freedoms quickly being taken away.

But yet we look beyond our borders and we see places where people are still persecuted. People are still killed for their faith in Christ Jesus. Entire villages wiped out because they believe in Christ Jesus. But yet, we see a vibrant church in those places. As evil, wicked men attempt to stamp the church out, it grows.

See, the manifold wisdom of God is that He created the world, and Adam and Eve, knowing that Satan would one day seduce them, humanity would fall into a state of misery, but that God would send forth His Son to redeem humanity for Himself. And that He would display His glory to the host of heaven by the way He carries this plan out. And He would draw all His people to Himself through the cross. That new humanity. But we are told in the Gospel of John that none, No one can snatch us out of His hand.

That Christ Jesus came and He died for His people and all whom He died for will be saved. See, we are all players in God's drama. And the angels are watching. And the drama is not over. The church is still the instrument of righteousness used to bring about the rule of Christ's kingdom here upon this earth.

And we need to live in such a way that we recognize that our God and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has won the battle. He is victorious and that we have a hope beyond this world. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, we come before you and we thank you that you've given us this gospel of hope, that we are a part of this church, that we are of that manifold wisdom of God, and that you have called each of us here, and you've given us a purpose in life, and that we are to serve you and to serve one another for the advancement of the kingdom of Christ Jesus. We pray in your Son, Christ Jesus name.

Amen.