Why Was Paul Willing to Suffer for the Gospel?

Dear hardship, and even death — in the case of Paul — for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Something of massive consequences happened in history, in the history of the world, that has changed everything. The writer of Hebrews, in the ninth chapter of Hebrews, says it is the most significant and most crucial event of all the ages. And that event, of course, is the coming of the Son of God into the world.

Before His coming there was a secret, a mystery that was kept secret from all the ages. God was keeping it secret in Himself — a part of His purpose and plan that He had not unveiled or made clear to the world, even through His prophets and the Old Testament. And Paul mentions that here in Ephesians chapter 3. Let's read beginning in verse 4 of Ephesians 3.

"And by referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit — to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel, of which I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given to me according to the working of His power. To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ 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 order that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. And 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 faith in Him."

This truth that was not fully and clearly revealed before the coming of Jesus Christ is called the mystery of Christ — the truth that God is calling out people from all of the nations to come alongside and be full partners with the people of God in the body of Christ. It is called the mystery of Christ because it is brought about, it's coming about, through the gospel — that is, the gospel of Jesus Christ. This mystery of Christ, which is the mystery that God was going to draw from all of the nations men to Himself and give them the inheritance of Abraham, is a mystery that was held secret by God until the crucial time in which He unveiled it. And it is happening through the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ as it is proclaimed throughout the world.

Now Paul so values his stewardship of this mystery — the fact that God used him to unveil this mystery, and his role as a preacher of this mystery and this gospel — that he's willing to suffer for it. He's willing to suffer for the gospel because he is driven by the joy that he has in serving Christ as a steward of the mystery and as a preacher of the riches of Christ.

There are two things — if you notice in verse 8, there are two things about his call to preach this gospel that is absolutely amazing to him. And I think every preacher of the gospel ought to be amazed at this. The first is, he says — well, he says this — "To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given." So he's first of all amazed at the fact that God would choose him for this task. Him — that he calls himself the very least of all the saints.

This may sound like false humility. If you know anything about Paul, he's one of the greatest thinkers who's ever lived — even non-Christians admit that. But this wasn't false humility; it wasn't a poor self-image. He knew what his abilities were. He understood what his strengths were. But his encounter with Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus absolutely, totally revolutionized his concept of everything. And he saw himself for what he really was in light of who Jesus Christ really is.

In fact, throughout the Bible there are these encounters that men have with the living Christ, and in every single case those who come in contact — physical contact — with a glorified Christ are humbled and brought down and recognize who they are in light of who this living Christ is.

In fact, Paul is very vivid about this. If you look over in Philippians — a couple books over, in chapter three, beginning in verse four — he writes to the Philippians: "Although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh." In other words, as a human being, as my status among men, he said, I could be proud. "If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more. I was circumcised the eighth day" — that is, I was born under the law, and my parents followed the law — "I was of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church. I was so zealous for the will of God that I even persecuted the church. As to the righteousness which is in the law, I was found blameless." If any man looked at me, he would say, Paul keeps the law. But then notice what he says: "But whatever things were gained to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ."

See, the reason that Paul could call himself the least of all the saints is he began to see himself as he really was in the light of who Jesus Christ really is. And he never got over the fact that of all the saints that God could have chosen for this task, He chose him.

In fact, he coins a word here when he says he's the least of all the saints. Quite literally in English it would be — he's the "leaster" of all. He uses a very unusual word. In fact, he makes up the word to describe the fact that he is the lowest of all the saints.

This isn't the only time he said this. Back in chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians he said that he was the least of all the apostles, and yet God gave him this wonderful privilege of proclaiming the resurrection of Christ. And in 1 Timothy 1 — one of the last letters that he wrote before he went to heaven — he said he was the foremost of all sinners, that God wanted to save sinners and he was the foremost of all.

So he saw himself as he really was, and he was absolutely flabbergasted that God would choose him for this task of proclaiming for the first time, and in the fullness that he did, this mystery of Christ.

But he was also amazed at the gift itself that God gave him. God gave him this grace gift — this grace, he says. And that grace gift was to preach the unfathomable riches of Christ and to bring to light the administration of the mystery. That's what this passage here is all about in verses 8 through 12. It's about this gift that God gave to the Apostle Paul. The gift was a task, and that task was to preach and to enlighten.

And let's look at this a little closer. When he says that he was given the task to preach, the word that he uses for preach means to proclaim good news. It's the Greek equivalent of our word evangelize — euangelizō — to preach good news, to proclaim with authority good news to people.

But I want you to notice what the good news is. Notice how he describes the good news. He describes the good news as the unfathomable riches of Christ. The unfathomable riches of Christ.

I'd like to say something that I think is crucially important for all of you — and especially those of you who want to preach. I know we have some young men in this church who want to preach, want to give their lives to preaching. I want you to notice something, and I think the implication is clear not only here but throughout the New Testament, and that is that all Christian preaching without exception must be Christocentric. All Christian preaching must be preaching Christ — whatever the text, whatever the topic is, Christ must be the centerpiece. Not the hidden foundation that nobody can see, but the very center of our message must be the Lord Jesus Christ. He must be the subject of every single sermon that we preach.

When we preach about family, Christ has to be at the center, and that's exactly what Paul does in Ephesians chapter 5: "Husbands, love your wives." How? As Christ loved the church. Every single practical implication, every principle in Scripture for our lives flows out of the fact of who Jesus Christ is.

And I think one of the major reasons that people try to follow principles from Scripture and they fail so miserably is they detach Christ from the principles. There's an organization in this country that goes around teaching biblical things, and their whole approach is to principleize the Scripture — to take principles from Scripture and build this whole system of telling people how to live. But the problem with that approach is it removes those principles from Christ. All of the principles for living that you have in the New Testament flow out of the fact of who Jesus Christ is and what Jesus Christ has done.

Now if you look back — look at 1 Corinthians, at what Paul himself said about this very issue when he refers to his own preaching — in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, he says to the Corinthians, as he is writing to them, verse 22 of 1 Corinthians chapter 1: "For indeed Jews ask for signs." They want to see something supernatural. They want proof from God above. "And Greeks search for wisdom." They want to hear something that causes them to be in awe of the wisdom of it. "But notice this — but we preach Christ crucified. To Jews a stumbling block, to Gentiles foolishness. But to those who are called — those who are the called of God, both Jews and Greeks — Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God." The wisdom of God means God's treasures in Christ applied to life. The wisdom of God. "Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men."

In chapter 2, verse 1: "When I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom proclaiming to you the testimony of God, for I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified." That's what Paul preached. That's what Christian preaching is. Christian preaching is not simply preaching principles for living apart from Christ.

Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 4. The same group of people — he writes back in chapter 4 of 2 Corinthians, and he says to them in verse 5: "For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond servants for Jesus' sake — for God, who said 'Light shall shine out of darkness,' is the one who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ." If we don't hold up Christ in our preaching, then it is not Christian preaching.

In fact, I'll tell you what it is — it's called moralizing. Moralizing is simply teaching principles for living from the Bible, teaching principles for living, but separating them from the person of Christ — not seeing them and presenting them as implications of who Christ is and what Christ has done. That's moralizing.

You need to ask yourself every time you hear a sermon from me or anybody else: could I have heard that same sermon down at the Mormon stake house? If a sermon simply tells you how to treat your wife, how to treat your children, how to do this, how to do that, but it does not flow out of the implications of the person of Jesus Christ and His work, then you could hear it down the street. But it's not Christian preaching. You may even hear it at a unity meeting, but it's not Christian preaching. It's moralizing. God has called us to preach Christ. We must preach Christ.

I think this is a key to everything that we teach. I have to think through the implications of this. Am I simply teaching some rules, some principles of life? And I can't figure out how they flow out of the person and work of Jesus Christ? I've got a big problem. And I don't suggest you go back and listen to my tapes and find those ones that are moralizing, because you will find them. But we've been called to preach Christ.

Now the thing is, we may ask: will there be enough to say? If we have to preach Christ, if Christ has to be the centerpiece of every sermon, if all of our preaching has to center on Christ — could we possibly have enough to say? I mean, aren't we going to run out of things to say? Well, look at what he says. He says we are to preach the unfathomable riches of Christ. The word "unfathomable" is a picture of a reservoir that is so deep that soundings cannot reach the bottom.

I have heard it said — and I don't know if it's true, but I've heard it said — that Lake Tahoe, there are sections of Lake Tahoe that they have never found the bottom to. It's so deep. I don't know if that's true. But I can tell you this: no one has exhausted the treasures, the riches of grace in Christ Jesus. No one. No one has begun to scratch the surface of the treasures of Jesus Christ. It would be foolish for us to think that we could spend our time preaching anything other than Jesus Christ.

Before Charles Haddon Spurgeon was 20 years old, he had preached 600 sermons that were recorded. You can buy a set of the books — five volumes, I believe it is — Park Street Pulpit, 600 sermons before he was 20. But then he has this massive set — I don't know how many volumes, must be 50 volumes — it costs 650 bucks if you're ever looking for something to buy me for Christmas. $650 for this 50-some volume set of books this thick, the sermons of Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

Let me tell you this about Charles Haddon Spurgeon: he preached Christ. His philosophy of preaching was, you get to the text and you make a beeline for Jesus. You preach Christ because every text, the implications of that text, brings us to Christ. Jesus told us that in Luke, the last chapter of Luke — anywhere you go in the Bible, if you understand it in its context, it leads you to Christ. And so the content of our preaching must be Christ.

A lifetime of preaching — even a man like Charles Haddon Spurgeon, that I suspect was probably the greatest preacher of modern times. No one has ever — I've never read a man who preached like Charles Haddon Spurgeon. But you know what? All he did was simply turn over a few pebbles on this Mount Everest of the treasure of the riches of Jesus Christ.

You can spend your life — some of you young guys still have all your life ahead of you, and you believe that God's called you to preach and proclaim His Word. I want to tell you, do your best, do everything you can, be as exacting as you can — but you're never going to begin to scratch the surface of the treasures of Christ. The unfathomable riches of Christ.

Back in chapter 2 — in fact, you're right there, look one page back, in verse 7 — he says that He has seated us in verse 6 in Christ in the heavenly places. Why? In order that — in the ages to come — what that means is, that little expression, it's kind of like if you go to the ocean and you see the waves coming in, just one after another, they never end today, just one after another. That word — the word that the Greeks would use to describe waves coming in at the ocean — is the word that he uses here. As the ages roll in over us, "He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus."

Now the implications are this: it's going to take God eternity to unveil to us the riches of His kindness in Christ Jesus.

We teach a class at the School of Theology called Christology. It's going on right now because there's a couple of people in the church that are taking it from [John Fernandes?], who's teaching it this year. For 12 weeks — for almost three hours a night, for those 12 weeks you meet once a week — and they have to read and study and do papers and all those things, and they attempt to understand this grand picture that the Bible gives of the Lord Jesus Christ. But when you're done, and when you've written all your papers, when you've done all your study and when you've heard all those things, it's just a little glimpse — an attempt to whet your appetite for a lifetime of pursuing the study of who Christ is. Of coming to know Him in the riches of who He really is.

In fact, in Philippians 4:19 it says that when you have needs in your life, guess where God gets the supply to meet your needs — He meets your needs out of His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Everything that you have received from God comes to you through Christ Jesus our Lord. There's not one thing in your life that you have received from God that has not come through Christ Jesus our Lord. Do you know that? Not one thing.

And so Paul says he's been given this great privilege of preaching the unfathomable riches of Christ. When he wrote to the Colossians — the letter he wrote at the same time as he did Ephesians — he says this to them, in Colossians 1:27: "To whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles" — that's us — "which is Christ among you, the hope of glory." Christ is among us. Christ has been made available to us.

And so when Paul said, "I go and preach Christ to the world, God has given me this privilege, this freedom, and this assignment to go into all the world and say, I offer you Christ — the riches of Christ, the riches of salvation in Christ."

Now some of us sit here and say, what's so great about that? Hasn't that always been true? Absolutely not. Until Christ came, that offer was not made. The Gentiles were in spiritual darkness, away from God. And this one little speck of a nation in Palestine — where God dwelt, where the presence of God was — that one little people of God had access to God, and the rest of the world was alienated and apart and in darkness away from God. But Paul has been given this assignment to go into the world and proclaim this mystery.

Now notice the second thing. Not only to preach the unfathomable riches of Christ, but secondly, to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery, which for ages he says has been hidden in God who created all things. Through the preaching of these unfathomable riches of Christ, the administration of the mystery is brought into the light.

What does he mean by that? He means that as the gospel goes out and it is proclaimed and preached, and God's people come to faith in Christ, receive Christ, drink from Christ — God begins to make visible through conversions, through the formation of the church, through the application of this mystery, through the effectuating of it really in people's lives, of people coming to experience the riches of Christ — salvation in Him. He brings to light this mystery.

I think it's an interesting thing. I may have mentioned this last week — I don't know, I've mentioned it in a couple different contexts, I don't really remember if I said it here — but God has given us a little picture of that in the book of Acts. Because here He has told Paul, and He told the other apostles, that they're going to all the world, and He gives Paul the special stewardship of unveiling this mystery of Christ to the Gentiles.

And in the book of Acts — in the Old Testament, when the Bible talks about the nations, it always flows from the three sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. In other words, the nations, if you look at the Bible, all the nations come under those three categories. And so what God does at the beginning of the church, He gives us three accounts of Him saving three individuals — chapters 8, 9, and 10 of Acts — one from Ham, one from Shem, and one from Japheth. He saves Saul, a Jew; He saves the Ethiopian eunuch out of Ham; and He saves Cornelius out of Japheth. One from each of the three major segments of the nations. Something brand new is happening. It's breaking out in the book of Acts, and you can see as you read how the apostles are responding to this — they don't know what to think. What is God doing? God is bringing people into the church and giving them equal footing with His own people. This is the mystery that is being unveiled, and it is brought to light through the proclamation of the gospel as men come to faith in Jesus Christ.

That tells us there is no segment of people on the face of this earth in which Christ is not among them to be received by faith. There's no people group on the face of this earth that the gospel doesn't fit their situation. And when they receive Christ, they are ushered into this place of blessing and begin to receive the inheritance of Abraham. That was what was kept secret. That was what was veiled in the past — but now it's been unveiled, this plan of His.

And then notice He describes the purpose of God giving him this gift in verse 10: it is to display the manifold wisdom of God. This is why He gave him this gift — to preach and to enlighten. It was in order that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and authorities in the heavenlies. Rulers and authorities are Paul's terms for describing angelic beings — angels. That angels are being exposed to the manifold wisdom of God in the church.

He's telling us why God raised him up for this work. Why did God raise Paul up to proclaim this mystery, so the gospel would go out to all the nations? He raised this least worthy of all the saints up to preach the gospel, to bring to light the outworking of this mystery, so that heaven itself, the angels in heaven themselves, might see the manifold wisdom of God as He does His work in the church.

God is much more impressed with the church than anybody in this room is. The angels are more impressed with the church than anybody in this room is. They stand in absolute awe at what God is doing in the church today — bringing people into the family of God and giving them this inheritance. We are teaching angels.

It's not that they sit here and listen to these sermons and say, "Wow, that was a great sermon. I really learned something today." But what they are doing is they are watching the effects of the work of God in the lives of people. As the gospel goes out, as people come to faith in Christ, the angels look on and they learn. In fact, in 1 Peter 1:12, it says that as the gospel is proclaimed and unveiled and explained, the angels are bending over, looking into it in wonder and awe at what God is doing in the world — saving people, bringing them into the riches of Christ, saving the most unlikely people all over this globe. God is doing that today.

John Calvin said of this verse: "Paul's meaning is the church, composed of both Jews and Gentiles, is a mirror in which the angels behold the astonishing wisdom of God displayed in a manner unknown to them before. They see a work which is new to them because before it was hid in God. But now God has unveiled it."

If you look back at chapter 1 of Ephesians — we looked at the end of chapter 1 when he's praying for these people — in praying for them, in praying for their understanding, one of the things that he prays that they would come to understand is this truth about Christ and His power that's made available to us. And he talks about His resurrection in verse 20, and then notice in verse 21 — describing His ascension — that God raised Him up and caused Him to be ascended above all. Notice verse 21: "Above all rule and authority and power and dominion" — that is, above every realm of authority in this universe — "and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things" — that means everything in the universe — "in subjection under the feet of Jesus Christ and gave Him as head over all things for the benefit of the church." Christ is where He is, ruling over the universe for the benefit of the church of Jesus Christ. And notice He describes the church "which is His body, the fullness of Christ who fills all things in all ways."

The one place that angels can look at today to see what it's like for people to live under the Lordship of Christ is in the church. They are seeing a foretaste of what it's going to be like when Christ brings His kingdom in fullness to this earth, by looking at the church. So we are a school, we are a showplace of the glory of God. The angels look at the church and they learn about the multifaceted wisdom of God — a theater of the glory of God.

And a lot of times you wonder, how in the world could they learn anything by looking at us and the quality of our lives? But the fact is God is up to something big in the church.

And then notice the significance of this in verses 11 and 12. He says, "This was in accordance with." That means this was to this standard. God's doing this. Why did He do this? Why did He give Paul this great gift? And why has He brought it about at this particular time? It 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 faith in Him."

In other words, the work of God through Christ today and the proclamation of the gospel is according to the standard of God's eternal purpose and plan. Things are going exactly as God has planned. A massive change has taken place at the coming of Jesus Christ. Before this, this mystery was hidden in God — unveiled to no one. But now it's been unveiled. Why? So that the glory and the honor of uniting people from every tongue and nation and people and group is given to Christ and Christ alone. In other words, it wasn't until the coming of Jesus Christ that the message of Christ could go out to all the nations.

God gave to His own Son the great, awesome privilege of calling people out from every nation to bring them into the family of God. So there is a profound doctrinal, theological reason why the gospel didn't go out to the nations until Jesus Christ came to the world. You see, if the gospel would have gone out to the nations before the coming of Christ, it wouldn't have been clear to this world — who hears the gospel — that they were being gathered for the glory of Christ. Do you know why you got saved? For the glory of Jesus Christ. God saved you for the glory of Christ. He saved you to be a worshiper of Jesus Christ. That's why you exist. That's why He has saved you. And you wouldn't have known that if the gospel went out before the coming of Jesus.

God means for His Son to be the very centerpiece of worship among all the nations. That is God's decision. It is God's purpose in this world that Christ be at the center of the worship of the nations. And so the preaching of Christ is the means that God has appointed to bring men to Himself, so that when they come to God, they are coming to Christ. When they come to be worshipers, they are worshiping Christ.

Let me show you a couple of verses. Turn to Romans 16 for a moment. In Romans 16, the last chapter of the book of Romans — notice in these closing words of this epistle that Paul is writing, verse 25: "According to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past." So here's the exact same thing that we are seeing in Ephesians chapter 3 — that all salvation and growth comes through the proclamation of Jesus Christ. You want to grow? Learn about Christ. You want to become established in the Christian life? Learn about Jesus Christ. You want to solve those nagging problems in your life? It comes through knowing Christ. You want to know how to raise your children? Get close to Jesus Christ. You want to know how to get along with your husband or your wife? You need to get close to Jesus Christ. You need to know who He is and what He has done and what the implications of that are for your marriage. You want to get rid of anxiety? You need to come to find out some things about Jesus Christ.

I have never in my entire life — of over 50 years — I have never met a person who knows Christ deeply, Jesus Christ, who is satisfied with Him, whose marriages are torn up because they don't know how to live at peace with their spouse. Never met a person like that. Coming to know Christ, the glory of this person, will solve our problems.

And Paul says here in Romans 16 — you want establishment? Firmness in life comes through the preaching of Jesus Christ. But then notice this: he said this was kept secret for long ages past. You can go from the time of Christ all the way back to the beginning of creation — that secret was hidden. But notice in verse 26: "But now." But now! At this time, since the coming of Christ, "now is manifested, and by the scriptures of the prophets" — that is, the Old Testament scriptures; now that Christ has come, we look back at those Old Testament scriptures and we understand things we couldn't understand before — "according to the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations leading to obedience of faith."

The fullness of time in God's program of redeeming His people came when Christ was put at the center stage of this world — the center stage of the worship of God. When Christ was placed there, something happened. A change occurred.

Look back — look at Acts chapter 14, verse 16. Acts 14, one book back, Acts 14, verse 16. Listen to what Paul says here in verse 16: "And in the generations gone by, He permitted all the nations to go their own ways." Before the mystery was revealed, before Christ came, before the great commission to take the gospel into all the world, God permitted all the nations to go their own way.

Look at chapter 17, verse 30. The midst of one of the greatest sermons preached in the New Testament, when Paul is preaching on Mars Hill — the gospel to these pagans. He tells them in verse 23 that they are worshiping this inscription they have to the unknown God; they are in ignorance worshiping the true God, and that ignorant worship will not save them, he says. But notice what he says in verse 30: "Therefore, having overlooked" — what he said back in chapter 14 — "having overlooked the times of ignorance" — that is, in overlooking, he means He gave men over to their own ways. And they never found God; they never worshiped the true and living God. "But having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now" — there's that word again — "God is now."

Now what? Now since the coming of Jesus Christ, now since the coming of the Son of God into the world, now since the cross, now since the resurrection, now since the ascension of Christ, now since Christ reigns upon a throne of glory — "now He declares to men that all everywhere should repent. Why? 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."

When He says He overlooked their ignorance, He doesn't mean that He wasn't judging sin — because Romans 2:12 says that those who sinned without the law, who never heard the word of God, are going to be judged for their sins. But He is saying it was God's sovereign decision to postpone an all-out pursuit and assault of repentance in this world. But the time has come. Christ has come. The messengers have gone out into all the world, and the message is: repent, because the day of judgment is coming. And there is salvation in no other name except the name of Jesus Christ.

That's where we stand in the flow of history. We stand after the cross. We stand now after Jesus has come, and God is declaring that all men everywhere should repent, because there is a day of judgment coming. Now they stopped him in verse 32. They wouldn't hear anymore, because it says that when he says that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead — but this same message was preached to Cornelius.

Let's just look at one more place. Back in chapter 10, verse 38, and notice how the message goes on. Verse 43 — after telling them that God has established a day and He's appointed a judge and there's a judgment day coming, and you're going to have to stand before that judge and be judged for your sin and rebellion against God — he says this, verse 43: "About the judge Himself, of whom all the prophets bear witness, that through His name — everyone, everyone without exception — everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sin." That's the full gospel.

The full gospel is not a pinnacle message about tongues and baptism and the Holy Spirit. The full gospel is: there's a day of judgment coming, the judge has been appointed, the day has been set. Christ is coming back to judge this world in righteousness, and there is forgiveness in no other name except in the name of Jesus Christ — the one who died for sinners and was raised again, and will save every person who believes in His name. That's the full gospel. And that's what men need to hear today.

Calvin said the reason why men wandered from the truth for so long before the coming of Christ — how the world was away from God and did not seek after God — he says the reason this happened is that God did not stretch forth His hand from heaven to lead them back to the way. Ignorance was in the world as long as it pleased God to take no notice of it. But now things have changed. Now God's not leaving the nations in their spiritual darkness and ignorance. He has sent messengers out to the whole world to take the gospel of Jesus Christ — the light of salvation through Christ alone. That commission has been given, and we have a responsibility to go.

This is the wisdom of God. In the purpose and plan of God, it is His plan that these are the days in which the gospel goes out to the whole world. In Romans chapter 11, Paul is extolling the wisdom of God. He said there was a period of time in which God was saving the nation of Israel and He was passing over the Gentiles. But now we live in a day when temporarily He's passing over the Jews and He is saving Gentiles. The gospel is going out to all the nations, and men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation are coming to faith in Christ and are entering into life through Jesus Christ.

First Corinthians — let me take you one other place. This is also in the New Testament. First Corinthians chapter 1, verse 21. We looked here a second ago, but notice in verse 21: Paul says, "For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom" — that is, its religious pursuits, its highest wisdom in pursuing a right relationship with God — "did not come to know God, God was well pleased through the foolishness of the message preached" — the foolishness of the gospel — "to save those who believe." We are preaching a foolish message — the message that there is salvation in Christ and Christ alone. The message that Christ was crucified and died on a cross as a common criminal and suffered the pain of the penalty of sin for His people. And if you will believe on Him, you will receive forgiveness of sin.

Now this was not known before, and it's been here for so long — almost 2,000 years — that we don't realize we're living in this short span of history. Jesus has come, the message has gone out, and we live in these times of the Gentiles where the message goes out. And therefore our role as the people of God is to see to it that we're involved in the propagation of the gospel to the nations.

Notice again in Ephesians chapter 3, verse 12: "In whom we have boldness" — that is, in Christ we have boldness — "and confident access through faith in Him." This boldness that he speaks about here means a joyful, cheerful boldness. It's the kind of feeling that you have — this joyful mood of those who have been reconciled to God — that there's no sin, no guilt clinging to you, you don't have fear, not wracked by fear or shame, but you come joyfully into the very presence of God. Why can you do that? Because your trust is in Jesus Christ, who died for sinners like you. And when you enter through Him, you can have boldness.

But then he goes on — not only boldness, but we have freedom of access, confident access. We have cheerful boldness and confident access to God. How? Well, notice in the verse — and this is the practical outflow of what he has just said about the gospel. Notice the basis of it. It is "in whom." That means in Him. The basis of our boldness and access to God — he's talking about our salvation, that we have come to have this relationship to God where we've not only been forgiven and set free, but we have been brought into this intimacy with the living God. We have free access to Him. Boldness — joyful boldness — to come into His presence without smoke and mirrors, without a priest intervening, except the one High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. How did that happen? It is in Him. In other words, He's the basis of our approach to God.

And notice the means of it — the very last words of that sentence: "through faith." Through faith in Him.

If you're here today and you don't know God — you know in your heart that you don't know God — you have no intimate personal relationship with Him, and maybe you're not even aware of how far away you are. Maybe you don't realize that a day of judgment has been set. And as long as you're in your own sins — that you've never been forgiven of your rebellion and sins against God — you're headed for a day of judgment. And maybe you don't realize that you are millions of miles away from the living God spiritually. Well, I want you to know there's a way to enter into His presence with boldness and free access. It is in Christ, through faith in Him.

The gospel message to you today, if you don't know Christ, is this: you can receive forgiveness of sins in the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ by believing upon Him — by repenting of sins and turning to Christ in faith alone to save you from your sins and to cause you to pass out of judgment. To not go into judgment, because the judgment that was put upon Christ for sinners has taken care of your sin. If you embrace Christ by faith, then you'll have the same access. You will have a cheerful boldness and confident access to God. Today, before you leave this room — if you'll rest your faith in Him and in Him alone.

That's the confidence we have because we've embraced Him by faith. This is what God's doing in the world. As the message of the gospel goes out to all the nations — Africa, Asia, Europe, everywhere on this globe — as the gospel goes out to Muslims and Hindus, people of every stripe, as the gospel goes, as it penetrates hearts, as people bow at the feet of Jesus Christ and receive forgiveness of sins, they are brought into this kind of relationship with the living God through Christ — access and boldness before Him.

And then notice in verse 13. He says, "I want you not to lose heart." Don't lose heart over my sufferings. Why would they lose heart? Well, they would lose heart because here's the one who led them to Christ and he's locked up in jail for preaching the gospel. He's suffering. This Christ that they've come to believe in has not delivered him from prison.

Paul tells them: don't lose heart. Recognize that my suffering is just a part of this grand plan of the living God to publish the gospel throughout the world and draw them into Himself. God is saving people today. At this moment — think of it — at this moment in time, there are men and women and boys and girls who are entering into the kingdom of God for all eternity by a simple act of faith in Jesus Christ. The body is growing all the time. The church is growing. More and more people are being ushered into the kingdom through the proclamation of this gospel.

And so if you have to suffer, if I have to suffer, if we have others suffering for the cause of the gospel, we can glory in that — because it simply means it's a part of God's grand, glorious plan of taking the gospel to all the world and bringing them into Himself in faith. Just a part of that process. Everything you suffer for God, for the gospel — everything I suffer for the gospel — which we could pile it all up of those in this room and that wouldn't pile very high. But there are men and women suffering in the world today for the gospel. There will be more. But it's a part of this grand plan of God to bring men and women to Himself through Jesus Christ.

This is the work He called Paul to. It's also the work He called you to — to propagate this gospel, to be involved in the publishing and proclamation and enlightening of the nations through the truth of the mystery that is in Christ Jesus. There is salvation to be received in Him. Let's be a part of that. Think about that this week as you live your life. You're living your life as a part of the fabric of the grandest plan of the universe, and you've experienced the riches, the unfathomable riches of Christ through faith — and others will too. This week, maybe through you. Let's stand together and pray.