Anytime we face a significant trial, we find ourselves asking God to deliver us.
When the Apostle Paul was in prison, he didn't ask fellow believers to pray for his safety or his peace of mind. Today on Truth for Life, Alistair Begg teaches us about the striking request Paul made instead. In his final words to the Ephesians. Well, I invite you to turn once again to Ephesians chapter 6. I don't think we have any reason to believe that Paul was a natural speaker. I don't think there is anything about Paul that suggests to us that it was second nature to him, that he would have been, if you like, part of the debating society in school.
In fact, it would seem that Apollos was the one who was peculiarly gifted in that way, and that when Paul identifies the fact, in writing to the Corinthians, that there was something of diffidence about his delivery, that there was something fearful, if you like, about his approach, that that was not on Paul's part a sense of undue self-deprecation, but it was an acknowledgment of the fact that when he said, I want you to pray that words may be given me, that I may have that sense of God enabling me so that my language will flow, so that I have freedom, so that I have unctions, so that I am able to do beyond my own natural ability to do, that it was the genuine cry of his heart, and it was a sincere and honest request. So we considered the first part of that, specifically, that words may be given me, in order that I might open my mouth boldly. Now, that's the second part of his specific request—first of all, for utterance, and then for boldness.
It doesn't come across here in the ESV, and I don't suppose that it matters a great deal, but it's worth pointing out, because some of you follow up on these things, I know, because you tell me. But although it is an adverb here in the ESV—in other words, it's boldly, both in 19 and 20—in actual fact, in the text, it is a noun in verse 19, and it is a verb in verse 20. That I might have boldness is his request in 19, thereby identifying the noun, and that I might then speak with boldness, that my speech may be marked by this same thing. Now, you will notice that his great concern, as we said again this morning, was not his liberation but rather the proclamation of the mystery of the gospel. That ought to make you turn immediately back to chapter 3 and verse 7, where he is speaking of the gospel, and he says, Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me by the working of his power. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. And he has already, in chapter 2, made much of the fact that both Jew and Gentile have been caught up as a result of the good news of the gospel—the amazing news that both the Jew and the Gentile alike can and must be saved through faith in the crucified Christ. No matter to whom he spoke, whether to his own people in his background of Judaism or whether into a pagan environment amongst the Greeks and the Romans, those who had no context whatsoever for the gospel, he was saying the same thing, because he was absolutely convinced, as one of the other apostles post-Pentecost, that there is no other name under heaven given amongst men, whereby we must be saved. And it was that deep-seated conviction that then fueled, if you like, his sense of boldness. In fact, just mentioning Pentecost, it makes me want to turn backwards—I'm going to—to Acts chapter 4 and just point out to us the importance of boldness and where this boldness emerges.
This is… Remember, there's been the healing of the man at the gate beautiful. That has caused great consternation amongst some of the religious folks. They are now holding the apostles in a form of custody, because they don't like what's going on, and they want them to essentially stop this kind of stuff. And so, Peter and John are before the council, and so this is what they say, Let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel—that's a pretty good start, isn't it?—that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified—that was quite bold—whom God raised from the dead, by him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And here's my verse. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
And then Luke immediately says what? Now, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished, and they recognized that they had been with Jesus. Boldness. Now, you see, in the face of external pressure—or, for that matter, within the church, internal pressure and opposition—boldness is necessary. You remember that God says to his prophet of old, he says, Now do not be afraid of their faces. What is number one fear in life is the fear of death? Number two is speaking in front of a large group of people. By all accounts.
You ought to try it. It is fearful. But boldness… To speak boldly does not mean to speak unkindly. Now, we make a major mistake if we think that boldness then somehow or another allows us to just about qualify everything else and then determines the tone of our delivery.
Well, he was very bold, and therefore he can get away with murder. No, Paul has already said, actually, in chapter 4, that it is absolutely essential that we would be speaking the truth in love. So in other words, what we're looking for then, and what Paul is praying for, if you like, is a sweet boldness—that he's not partisan, he's not a fanatic, he's not sectarian. But he is bold, and it is a boldness that is tied directly to the message that he proclaims. You see, one of the reasons that the church gives such an uncertain sound in our day and seems to be prepared to equivocate on so many different things—in other words, is absent a sense of boldness—is because of a loss of conviction about the gospel itself. Why would you be so bold enough to say to the whole world, There is only one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, unless you believe there is?
Why would you go to your Jewish friends and say to them, When you read the law of Moses, there is a veil over your heart, and only in Jesus is the veil taken away? How unkind is that, unless, of course, it's true. I put in my files an article that just caught my eye, and I hadn't really made much of it. It was written in the Daily Telegraph on the 20th September, and the heading is what caught my eye. And this is what it says. Western Christianity isn't dying out from natural causes.
It's dying of suicide. Now, this article, I think, is written by a Roman Catholic man. It comes from a fairly objective point of view, and I'm not going to read it all to you, but his thesis is worth considering. What he says here is this—that the church, at least speaking of the British Isles, that the church has now for decades been chasing after cultural acceptance by trying somehow or another to offer itself to a world that is disinterested in it in such a way that it will excite them. So, for example, at the weekend he said there was a discussion in the newspaper about whether or not God has a gender. "'I don't want young girls or young boys to hear us constantly refer to God as he,' said the right Reverend Rachel Trevick, the Bishop of Gloucester, because that might alienate people." He goes on to say, she doesn't need to worry, because no one is listening.
We blame our falling numbers on everything except ourselves. The truth is that Western Christianity isn't dying out from natural causes. It's committing suicide. And he just articulates the fact that when the church of Jesus Christ ceases to pray, as Paul prays here, that we might be enabled to have utterance so that when our mouths are open, we speak the Word of God with boldness. When it ceases to do that, it deserves, actually, to fizzle out and to die.
One final quote from this. It says that these people are interested in seeing the church prosper, but they are smothering it. They have transformed a faith that only extended as far as it did through preaching and martyrdom into something anxious and introspective, excessively concerned with gender pronouns and saving the redwood tree. Make no mistake, this isn't a debate about left and right in church politics. No, it's about whether the church talks chiefly about man or about God. It is about whether Christians have a distinct message at all. Now, loved ones, this is why, you see, it is so foundationally important that in every generation we learn again to pray.
The last thing that I said this morning I would mention is that to which we come now. Number one, that Paul was not a superhero. He was marked by vulnerability and unaccompanied humility. That when he requested prayer from those to whom he wrote, he was specific in his request—that I may have the words, that I may have freedom in delivery, that I may be able to speak the Word of God boldly. And then he identifies himself as an ambassador in chains. An ambassador in chains. We quoted extensively this morning from the end of Acts, and in that same closing chapter, Luke says, And when we came into Rome… That is, he was accompanying Paul. When we came into Rome, Paul was allowed to stay by himself with a soldier that guarded him. And when he was addressing some who had come to listen to him talk, he said, It is because of the hope of Israel that I am wearing this chain. It was on account of his faithfulness that he had lost his freedom.
He had told the Corinthians when he wrote to them, We are ambassadors for Christ, and God makes his appeal through us. And there is something of an irony in this. There is a paradox in the way this comes across. By and large, ambassadors today, as best we understand it, justifiably enjoy the privileges of access and of freedom. They enjoy, if you like, a measure of diplomatic immunity.
It goes with the territory. They are representative of a government from another place. And therefore, they're able to speak on behalf of that government, and they're able to speak on the authority of it as they represent it. If, then, those ambassadors were to come in their finery, then in Paul's day, it may well be that the chains that they wore were chains of adornment. And people would have looked at him and said, Now, this is a very important man, and he represents a very important authority. And that's why he's marked in this way. Well, Paul says, I have chains too. By these chains I'm not wearing round my neck.
But they are an insignia of the one I represent. Because Paul was aware of the fact that he represented a higher throne than all this world had known. That he had been set apart, as we saw at the beginning, as the ambassador of the King of Kings and of the Lord of Lords.
And the insignia that God had chosen for him that was to mark him at this juncture in his life was one that identified him in all of his need, in all of his vulnerability, in all of his apparent weakness, before the might of the empire which held him in its grip. I remember years ago—and Mickey may remember this—because we went to mainland China together. And one evening we were taken to an apartment somewhere in China, and we were there in the company of some of the leaders of the house church.
It was a very difficult evening, because we didn't speak any Chinese, and they didn't actually speak hardly a word of English. And they had the stereo up very, very loud, because they were convinced that people were intruding on them and listening in, especially if they had foreigners come to meet when they were gathering. And at one point, somebody asked these Chinese brothers about the established church in China and about someone who had come from America—a very high-profile person from America—who had come and then had been lauded by the Chinese government, had spoken in these large gatherings that were sanctioned by the atheistic Chinese government. And what he said was, when Paul came, he came in chains. When this man comes, he comes and is lauded.
He said, translated, I think it is in chains that we represent the king and we stand against the might and the power of those who oppose us. Now, why does Paul point this out? He's not currying their sympathy. He's not telling them this so that they'll feel sorry for him. Nor is he actually including a PS which says, And by the way, please pray for my freedom so that I might get out of here.
No. He wants freedom, but he wants the freedom for the gospel itself. And he wants them to pray so that he can deliver it boldly, so that whether it is in entreaty, where he says, Be reconciled to God, or whether it is in warning, where he says, God has set a day when he will judge the world.
He does this. And in doing this, he not only affirms his place as an apostle in the founding of the church, but he, if you like, blazes a trail for other frail, weak souls who are set apart to gospel ministry, who are asked to stand, often fearfully, consistently, unrelentingly, before a group of people, Sunday after Sunday after Sunday, and who desperately need to know the prayers of those to whom they preach, that words may be given and that boldness may be the accompanying dimension. I haven't read Lloyd-Jones in a couple of weeks, although he has helped me through Ephesians. But just tonight, as I came into the building, I thought, I wonder what Lloyd-Jones has to say about this closing section.
And the one thing that stood out to me was this. He's talking about the need for boldness. And he says, And this is most important at the present time. And then he says to his congregation, Do you pray for the preachers of the gospel? Do you realize what happens every time a man enters a pulpit, frail, fallible, weak, and yet called of God to be his representative and an exponent of his glorious truth? Do you pray for preachers of the gospel?
And do you pray in particular that they may speak boldly? And he was talking about it being of great importance quite a long time ago in the British Isles. Surely, if he were to come back and see this place, he would reiterate his sentiment many times over. This is a critical moment. It always is.
And therefore, our great concern should be as it is. Is there any indication that what he asked for happened? I think there is. I wouldn't want to go to the stake for it, but he, at the end of 2 Timothy—and it's one of the other reasons I read from it—he's able to say, and I hope you pick this up, At my first defense no one came to stand by me. They deserted me, may it not be charged against them.
And here we go. But the LORD stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed, and all the Gentiles might hear it. Well, we thank God for those who have gone before us. It's Reformation Sunday, and I've had Luther with me.
He stays with me in my room, and every so often I bring him out for a trip. And as I picked him up tonight, I thought about how he was one man among many. I thought about how much he valued the ministry of Jan Hus, the Czech Roman Catholic who became a Christian, who was greatly influenced by the writings of Wycliffe, who was subtly and outrageously encouraged to attend to the Council of Constance in November of 1414.
It was a trick. They imprisoned him, and they put him in chains. And they gave him, over a period of about ten months, every opportunity to recant. And then, on the sixth of July, 1415, they dressed him all up in the finest robes of a priest. And then, deliberately and brutally, they removed his garments one piece at a time. And then they tied him to the stake, and they set fire to him. And as he died, he said, Lord Jesus, it is for thee that I patiently endure this cruel death. I pray thee to have mercy on my enemies.
And he recited the sons as the flames engulfed him. What could a man like that possibly make of the equivocation that is represented in contemporary Christianity? Surely, the call to pray is a most necessary call to us as a church. May God help us to heed this call and not miss this moment.
And who knows but that God may choose to open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing upon us, such as there would not be room enough to contain it. What a powerful example of one man's willingness to boldly declare the gospel, regardless of the circumstances. You're listening to Truth for Life with Alistair Begg. Today's message marks the end of our study through the book of Ephesians, titled Strength for the Battle. But you can continue learning from Alistair's teaching in the book of Ephesians. In fact, you can own the complete series titled Grace and Peace, which comprises all six chapters of Ephesians, available on a USB drive.
You'll find it when you search Grace and Peace online at truthforlife.org. And let me remind you, we still have a few days left for you to request the book titled Our Ancient Foe, Satan's History, Activity, and Ultimate Demise. This is really an eye-opening book. It will alert you to the real threat that Satan poses. You'll discover how Satan uses lying, deception, temptation, and accusation to undermine our faith. This book will help you recognize Satan's tactics and resist him by drawing on the power of Christ. Request your copy of Our Ancient Foe today when you donate to support the Bible teaching on this program.
You'll find the book on our mobile app online at truthforlife.org slash donate, or call us to request your copy, 888-588-7884. And Bob Lapine, thanks for starting this week off with us. We hope you can join us again tomorrow as we begin a new series titled Preaching the Gospel. We know that the Bible is a book about Jesus, but how does that affect the way we interpret Old Testament books, like the book of Ruth, for example? We'll discover the answer Tuesday. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life, where the Learning is for Living.
Whisper: medium.en / 2023-09-23 04:35:09 / 2023-09-23 04:43:23 / 8