R334 A Solid Beginning

God has an encouraging word for you and me today through the Bible-based preaching of Dr. Don Wilton, and a message called, A Solid Beginning. During this teaching today, we're connecting on our website right now at www.tewonline.org, and this phone number, 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673. We'd love to connect with you.

And now, Dr. Don Wilton. Would you take your Bibles and turn with me to Paul's letter to the Ephesians chapter 1. We begin today a series of messages through this incredible prison epistle. Ephesians chapter 1. I'm sure that within weeks, our Bibles are going to fall open to Ephesians without us even trying to get them to do so. But I want you to turn with me to Ephesians chapter 1, and I'm going to read just the first two verses this morning. It's wonderful to hear all those Bible pages being turned in our congregation, and I trust that you have God's Word with you today. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, to the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus, grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. May the Lord write His Word upon our hearts this morning.

A solid beginning. People have said a lot of wonderful things about Paul's letter to the Ephesians. One person said that this letter is the most sublime, most profound, most advanced and final utterance of all Scripture.

W. O. Carver put it like this. He said this is the greatest piece of writing in all of history. Samuel Taylor Coleridge had something to say about it. He said the divinest composition of man is the focus of Paul's letter to the Ephesians. What we can say about Paul's letter to the Ephesians is that it has remarkable relevancy, and this relevancy lies primarily in two areas. Number one, it deals with the breaking down of the barriers that divide mankind.

Now you can travel all over the world. You're going to find that what is true in America is true everywhere. People are divided.

People are divided by culture, by race, by ethnic division, by language, by preference. You can go on and on down the line. But the second area of relevancy of this great epistle is the fact that it deals with a reigning God whose purpose for the world must ultimately prevail. God is upon his throne. You know Revelation?

The Book of Revelation can be summed up in one statement that God was, that he is, and that he always will be totally victorious. I believe that the Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is focusing our attention on the fact that God who reigns and who is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords is ultimately going to prevail. And so it is that we can say today with a great deal of confidence that throughout the centuries, if Ephesians, the letter to the Ephesians has nurtured the faith of God's people. It has such a nurturing quality about it. It builds up the body of Christ. It does so to me individually and it does so to each one of us corporately as people who come together to worship the Lord Jesus Christ in spirit and in truth.

It's had relevancy and nurturing over the centuries. We're told that John Calvin made it very clear that Ephesians was his favourite epistle. In fact, John Calvin preached more sermons out of the letter to the Ephesians than any other book in the Bible. John Knox, that great Scottish reformer who said, give me Scotland or I die, word tells us that on his deathbed, he requested that those who were standing with him and ministering to him would read to him some of Calvin's sermons on the letter to the Ephesians. John Bunyan, who wrote Pilgrim's Progress, that has inspired so many people, received a major portion of his inspiration from Ephesians. Brother Steve, you can get a hymn book today and you can go through a hymn book and you're going to find that in many of our hymns today, much of the inspiration for the hymnologists came from the letter to the Ephesians. But this great epistle has character. What is its character?

Let me share a couple of thoughts with you today by way of introduction. First of all, it is a prison letter. We'll talk about that in chapter three and verse one, chapter four and verse one, we're told historians agree. Those who discovered the original documents agree.

Geographical distribution agrees. The original text agrees. This is a prison epistle. That makes it very special.

Why? Because the apostle Paul was in all likelihood in dire circumstances. He was in captivity the same as he was when he wrote the letter to the Philippians.

He was in a situation and a circumstance that was rather untoward to say the least. And yet we're going to find an unbelievable outpouring of praise and thanksgiving to God on the part of a man who wrote this in prison. But not only that, it's a comprehensive letter. If you take a wider look at the entire letter, you're going to find the word ALL repeated over 50 times.

It is a comprehensive letter. When Paul writes under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, he includes everybody. This is part of the essence of what the gospel is and who the Lord Jesus Christ is. But I want to tell you in the third place, it is a doctrinal letter.

Now I like that. I'm so grateful for that. It has so much meat in it that it is unbelievable. And even yesterday as we talked a little bit about Ephesians, we talked about the doctrinal content. You see, my friends, Paul's letter to the Ephesians is marked by the profundity of thought.

It has so much meat in it. It reveals the mystery of God's redemption and the divine intention that God has for the human race. It is action packed, filled with the themes that are relevant for you and for me.

What are some of these themes? The grace of God, reconciliation, predestination, the fullness of God, the union we have in Christ Jesus, the church as the body of Christ. It is the final conception and the meaningful aim of Christian revelation.

It's all found here in these pages. Paul's letter to the Ephesians. But I want to say to you in the fourth place, its character. It is also a practical letter.

Now I'm grateful for that. I wish I could be more practical than what I am. You see, practice means that we are able to apply the truth of God to the relevancy of our daily lives. I consider, for example, our young people and our children. One of the prayers that we have for our young people and our children is that they are able to take the truth of God's word and then apply it to the practical reality of their daily lives. That would be the prayer that I have for my own family, for my church family, for my wife, for myself, for each one of us, that we would be able to apply God's truth. We discover here in Paul's letter to Ephesus, my friends, that he comes to grips with the moral, spiritual and domestic problems of his day and age. And we know that the old, old story is ever new. Jesus Christ the same yesterday and Jesus Christ the same today and Jesus Christ the same forever. He gives clear, unequivocal answers. He addresses ethical principles that have abiding intrinsic value in our own lives. We're going to find this right throughout Paul's letter to the church at Ephesus. But there's a fifth character of this letter. It's a devotional letter.

I love that part of it as well. Historians seem to agree that in all probability, although none of us would really know, but if you look at the content and you understand the pathos and the feeling and the ethos and everything else that is contained within the pages of God's word at this juncture, you're going to come to the conclusion that in all likelihood, the apostle Paul penned this epistle while upon his knees. This is a devotional book. Paul wrote this under the inspiration of God's Spirit upon his knees. Oh, beloved friends, my prayer for our church is that we are going to be a devotional people.

We are going to be found upon our knees. We are going to be a people who have submitted and subjected our lives and our wherewithal, our coming and our going to the grace of God. Paul set such an example for us. And so here in these first two verses, he deals with a solid beginning. What constitutes a solid beginning? Paul here in Ephesians chapter one, he's talking about a solid beginning. We all have an opportunity to begin.

We might say to ourselves today, well, that's impossible. I'm already 43 years of age. I'm already 60 years of age. You can begin. You can start again. You can have a solid beginning. That is the gospel of grace. Well, what constitutes a solid beginning?

Let's look at it together here very briefly. First of all, there must be a definite name. If you're going to have a solid beginning according to what Paul is teaching us, there must be a definite name. Isn't it ironic that he begins with his own name? How pretentious of him. Don't you think that perhaps the Apostle Paul was stretching things a little bit? No, we do know that in those days they did everything backwards.

He probably drove on the wrong side of the road. They began their letters with what we end our letter. If I was going to write a letter to Bob, I'd say, Dear Bob, it was good to have lunch together, and I agree with everything we've said.

Your friend with much love or whatever, Don. Now in those days, they flip-flopped it. They began, Don with much love to Bob.

That's right. Then they went ahead and told all about it, and then right at the end, they gave a kind of a benediction, and that's what we discover here, something strangely significant about Paul beginning with his name. You see what he was doing? He was focusing a theological perspective on the call, the conversion and the commission of a man who stands helpless before the sovereign grace of God. Paul, we know that Saul was his Jewish name. We know that Paul was his Roman name. We know that increasingly he used Paul as he moved among the Greeks, but there was something about his name.

Think about names this morning. I think of Jonathan Edwards, 1727 North Hampton, Massachusetts, that great revival that swept across those people. I think of the name of George Whitfield, a great orator and open air preacher who poured out his spirit before the throne of grace. I think of Charles Wesley, the founder of Methodist churches.

Methodism, the methodical way with which he and his brother went about the exercise of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. I think of William Carey who went to Sarampore, India, and after seven years, seven years, they had their first convert having gone through the burning down of their press and all the other things that happened to them. I think of James McGrady and Schubel Stearns and Daniel Marshall and all the great campfire meetings and revivals that swept across South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia and into Kentucky when thousands of people came to know Jesus.

I think of a name like D.O. Moody, came to know Jesus because his Sunday school teacher cared enough to share Jesus Christ with him. I think of people like Billy Sunday, acrobatic preachers. I tell you the historians tell us that Billy Sunday was such an acrobatic preacher, he would do somersaults and cartwheels in the pulpit.

If I did somersaults and cartwheels in the pulpit, we'd be in trouble. He had sawdust and his favorite saying at the invitation was hit the sawdust trail. He didn't necessarily say come to Jesus.

He said Jesus is calling you, now hit the sawdust trail. That was Billy Sunday. I think of Mordecai Ham who had so much influence and was instrumental in Billy Graham coming to know Jesus Christ.

I think of Vance Havner for his wit and his humor that has lasted for a legacy and will continue to do so. There must be a distinctive name. Who are you today? What is God doing with you if you were to stand before him?

If you were to stand up where you are right now, where would you be as a person? But I want to say in the second place, there must be a distinctive position. You see Paul called himself the apostle. It's right there in verse one. He called him, he said listen, I want you to know that I am somebody. Now friends we must agree that his apostleship marked him out as a very special person but I'm going to say to you that according to the apostle Paul, all of us who are in Christ Jesus have been given a distinctive position as far as God is concerned. Why was he an apostle?

The highest office that the church had? Well the apostle had a badge, a mark that carried around with him. First of all, he received his commission directly from the living Lord Jesus Christ. That's why he was an apostle.

Secondly, he had seen the savior after the savior's resurrection. That's why he was an apostle. Third, he was an apostle because he exercised spiritual, special inspiration. He wrote and he expounded scripture. Fourth, he was an apostle because he exercised supreme authority. Fifth, he was an apostle because the badge of his authority was the ability to perform miracles according to God's word in Mark 6, 13 and in the book of Acts but that is no longer relevant for today. And then finally but not conclusively, he was an apostle because he was given a direct commission to found churches according to 2 Corinthians 11 and verse 28. But friends, listen to me, the apostles more than anything else were men of God who were entrusted with the revelation of God's eternal mysteries. No longer relevant for today. There can no longer be apostles and prophets today.

Why? Because God's revelation is complete through his word because of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what the letter to the Hebrews is all about. You say to me, well, pastor, what are you? I'm a pastor, preacher, teacher. My responsibility, my friend, is not to make no new revelation because there is no new revelation. My responsibility is to break open the revelation that God has given to us through his son in the word of God. Such was the position of the apostles in the New Testament and Paul, of course, led this very much. But there's a third basis for a solid beginning. There must be designated permission.

If you're gonna have a solid beginning, you must have designated permission. You see, friends, Paul says right here, he says, I am an apostle. Look at it with me, verse one. I am an apostle of Jesus Christ, how?

By the will of God. What was Paul saying? Paul rested his apostle, his apostleship, and all that he did on God's will rather than on any personal ambition, on any dictates from the church or from any organization or from any business. He tells us about it in Galatians 1. He tells us about it in 1 Timothy. Paul rested his apostleship and everything that he did, not on his personal ambition, but upon the will of God.

That's what designated permission is all about. You see, what is Ephesians, in essence, all about? It's all about the body of Christ, of which Christ is the head. The body can do nothing without the head.

The head directs the body. And the apostle Paul is saying that everything that those who are in Christ need to be about ought to be directed by the head, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. What kind of significance does this have? It has major significance.

If we're gonna talk about designated permission, it has major significance. It did for the apostle Paul. It emphasized the divine origin of Paul's apostleship. It meant, my beloved friends, that his induction was an act of sovereign grace. It meant that Paul was able to stand and say, I am what I am by what?

By the grace of God. It means that I live and move and have my being in God. Outside of God, I have nothing. Outside of God, our church has nothing. Outside of God, our nation has nothing.

Outside of God, the world has nothing. That is why John put it like this. He said, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. It is designated permission by the utterance of Almighty God that you and I have anything that we are and anything that we have. But there's a second relevancy as far as his designated permission was concerned. His apostleship was a part of God's master plan for bringing the world and the message of redemption to the world to a lost people.

Paul saw himself as part of that plan. I want to ask a question this morning. Do you see yourself as part of God's plan for the redemption of the world? Forgive the interruption, but Dr. Wilton wants me to remind you, we're here to connect with you and pray for you at 866-899-WORD.

That's 866-899-9673. 24 hours a day, we'd love to pray with you and connect with great resources. If you'd like to order the free little booklet called The Daily Encouraging Word Bible Guide, it's available both online at www.tewonline.org or if you call and ask for it at 866-899-9673.

Now back to today's great teaching with Dr. Don Wilton. Do you see this church as part of God's plan for the redemption of the world? Mom and Dad, do you see yourselves as part of God's plan for the redemption of your children? How many of you today, don't raise your hands, how many of you today would be able to say unequivocally by God's grace, God gave me that designated permission. My children today are living for Jesus Christ because I follow the will of God. What a powerful statement.

Not because of anything that I am, but because of what God is. But then there is a fourth basis for a solid beginning. There must be a directed mission.

There must be a directed mission. Note here in verse one that the apostle says to the saints in Ephesus and to the faithful in Jesus Christ. Now that word saint is very interesting. It comes from the Greek word hagios which means to be holy or to be separated. You, if you are in Christ, you're a saint. That's right.

Now you might look at the person next to you and say uh-uh. But I'm going to say to you on the authority of God's word that if you are in Christ, you are a saint. What does it mean to be holy and separated? It means to be set aside for the sole use of God.

It means that which belongs to God. Now here's what the Bible tells us. The Bible says there are two categories of people in the world. Saints and ancients. And he's not talking about the New Orleans saints.

Now I want to tell you by the time the saints get to the Super Bowl in the year 2050, people are going to stop going to watch the saints with paper bags on their heads. And they write ancients written across them and there's a lot of validity to what they do. It's not what the apostle Paul is talking about. He is talking about the fact that in Christ, you are a holy one separated unto the use of God.

Because of you, because of me, no sir. Consider the pots that were in the temple. The pots that were in the temple were holy pots.

Why? Because they were wonderful, they were made out of gold or bronze, no sir. Historians tell us that the pots in the temple had holes in them, they were broken up, they were old.

They were holy because they had been set apart for the exclusive use of God. Now listen, beloved friend, watch me. Today you may say to me, Pastor, I have failed, I have messed up, I have a broken life, how can I ever be a saint? You can never be a saint outside of Jesus Christ. But when you give your life to Jesus Christ and he forgives you for your sin, listen to what happens. Even that old pot becomes holy and separated unto God.

Isn't that wonderful? Isn't it great to know that God by his grace reaches out and does for us what he does, but he says that he's in Christ. Did you note that little preposition in? Probably the most theologically significant preposition in all of scripture, why? Because salvation means to be in Christ.

Look at it there with me, to the faithful brethren in Christ Jesus. You see all other names only talk about the aspects of salvation. Think about it, reconciliation, redemption, atonement, justification, propitiation.

All these things talk about aspects of salvation. But what does it mean to be saved? It means to be in Christ. It means to be irrevocably and organically joined to Christ by the baptism of the Holy Spirit. That's what it means to be in Christ. And being in Christ is the greatest accomplishment of salvation. That's what the word of God teaches us. You see my friends, the believer is in Christ and Christ is in the believer. We are joined to him as the head is joined to the body and the body is joined to the head. What an unbelievable truth.

What an unbelievable thought. What an unbelievable basis for hope and for joy that the apostle Paul tells us when he says if you wanna have a solid beginning, there must be a directed mission to the saints, the faithful brethren in Ephesus who are in Christ Jesus. But you know there's something final about a solid beginning? You see there will be dynamic results.

There will be dynamic results. And here the apostle Paul puts them out in verse two, grace and peace. What a statement. Note that they priests, they follow one another in theologically significant order. Grace precedes peace. Peace cannot precede grace.

What comes first? God's grace. You cannot have peace until you've received the sovereign grace of God.

That's right. You only receive peace because you have received the grace of God. You see my friend, grace is that which is given and peace is that which is received.

Isn't that wonderful? Paul said the peace of God will keep your heart and your mind through Christ Jesus. It's been powerful teaching from Dr. Wilton, but before we move on from the teaching, Dr. Wilton has a challenge for each of us next. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why don't you pray this prayer with me right now? Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner and I know that Jesus died for me on the cross. Today I repent of my sin and by faith I receive you into my heart. In Jesus' name. My friend, I welcome you today into the family of God.

This is exciting news. We just gave your life to Christ. We want to pray with you.

Put some free resources in your hands that Dr. Wilton wants you to have. The number is 866-899-WORD. Why don't you call and let us know what God's done in your life.

866-899-9673 or online at TEWonline.org. And before we get away, a closing thought from Dr. Todd. You know, I'm so glad that we've been able to share together by means of radio today.

You just mean so much to me and how thankful we are for the Word of God together. You can call right now and connect with me at 866-899-9673. Did you get that? 866-899-9673. Call and connect with me right now. Our time's gone for today, but don't forget to drop by our website at TEWonline.org.

That's T-E-W online dot O-R-G. Be sure and sign up for the free e-mail from Dr. Don. It will challenge and bless you. And thank you so much for your participation. This program is sponsored by The Encouraging Word and your generous prayer and financial support. The Encouraging Word