Grace to You Weekend

Guest (Male): During the Depression, I read one time where banks were only allowing people in some cases to withdraw 10% of what they had in the bank at one time. But God's bank doesn't work like that. You can draw out all you want, all the time, and never diminish your account. But you don't know that unless you understand the principles in the book of Ephesians. So you want to get the book of Ephesians and get it down good.

Phil Johnson: Welcome to Grace to You Weekend, the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur. I'm your host, Phil Johnson. Think of the old furniture, paintings, tools, the stuff that hasn't left your garage or attic in years. What if someone told you one of those items was worth millions? Would you leave it in storage, let it keep gathering dust?

Obviously, you wouldn't. Well, if you're a Christian, it's possible you're essentially doing the same thing, neglecting the greatest treasure you have. What exactly is that treasure and why is it so valuable? And more important, how do you use it? Get answers today as John MacArthur begins a study from Ephesians chapter 1 called Richer Than You Think. Now, that title may have caught you off guard, but it really shouldn't be a surprise that a study from the book of Ephesians would have that word rich in the title. Here's what John had to say about that.

John MacArthur: No, because the Apostle Paul says we have the riches of His grace. I love how he starts when he talks about that in Ephesians. We have all blessings, all heavenly blessings in Christ. That's where he starts: that God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ. All spiritual blessings? Wow, that's comprehensive and that is the very intention of the Lord.

So we are richer than we think, and I've thought this through my whole life and you know this because we've talked about it, but people don't begin to understand the spiritual resources they have. You hear people saying, "God give me more of this and give me more of that and I need more of this and the other thing." You don't need more of anything; it's all available. It's all resident in the Spirit. It's all resident in the truth of scripture.

As you walk in the Spirit and as you read the word of God, there's this continual outpouring of grace upon grace upon grace, which is the dispensing of heaven's riches into the life of the believer. So you have everything that you need. The infinite blessings of heaven are available to you. Jesus even said, "Ask anything in my name and I'll give it to you." What a blank check that is.

"I'm going away but it's going to be better for you when I go away," he said that night in the upper room. Because when I go away the Holy Spirit's going to come and when the Holy Spirit comes, he's going to teach you all things and lead you into all things and bring you all blessings. So I don't think Christians understand that it isn't that they need something they don't have, it's that they need to know how to access what is already theirs in Christ and we want to help with that by taking you through this study.

Phil Johnson: That's right, friend. If you're a Christian, you have access to treasure far more valuable than anything this world offers. Learn how to take hold of it as John begins his study titled Richer Than You Think. And here's John with today's lesson.

John MacArthur: We come for our Bible study to a book that is indeed a treasure of mine and of every believer: the book of Ephesians. Now, just as an introduction, look at the first two verses of the first chapter, and we're going to talk around that thought. "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints who are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." And thus does Paul, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, introduce to us this marvelous book.

There was a lady in American history known as Hetty Green. Hetty Green was called America's greatest miser. When she died in 1916, she left an estate valued at $100 million. It's a lot of money in 1916. But Hetty Green was so miserly that she said she ate cold oatmeal because it was too expensive to heat the water to warm it. Her son had a severe leg injury, and it was so severe that she was delaying trying to find a free clinic where it could be treated and she delayed so long it had to be amputated.

That's a strange lady, folks. Die with $100 million in your estate and your son loses his leg. That's really not understanding how to use your resources. Now, the book of Ephesians is written to Christians like that. You say, well, what do you mean? What kind of Christian is like that? The kind of Christian who doesn't understand the riches that he has in Christ. The kind of Christian who doesn't know how to tap his resources, maybe because he doesn't know what they are, and so he never really finds out how rich he is.

If you get a handle on the book of Ephesians, some people have called it the bank of the believer. This is your spiritual checkbook, and every time you write a check out of this bank, your funds are non-diminished. In other words, you can write checks on all the riches of God as often as you want, for as much as you want, and never diminish the account. Isn't that nice? That's the book of Ephesians. It will teach you who you are, how rich you are, and how you are to use those riches for God's glory.

Now, I want you to see that the book is based on this idea of riches and fullness and inheritance, by just a couple of illustrations. For example, Chapter 1, verse 7 talks about the riches of His grace at the end of the verse. Chapter 3, verse 8 talks about the unsearchable riches of Christ. Chapter 3, verse 16, the riches of His glory. So you have the riches of His grace, the riches of His glory, and the riches of His Son. In other words, God is unloading all of His riches in the book of Ephesians.

The word "grace" is used 12 times, and the word "grace" means God's unmerited, undeserved kindness and favor. Grace is behind all of this lavishness that God pours out. So the word "grace" is used 12 times. The word "glory" is used 8 times. The word "inheritance" is used 4 times. The word "riches" is used 5 times. The words "fullness" and "filled" are used 7 times, and the key to everything is because we are in Christ, that all the fullness of the riches of the inheritance of the glory of His grace is ours.

Because we are one with Christ in His church, because we are redeemed, this incredible fullness is ours. Maybe the sum of it all is in Chapter 3: "that you might be filled with all the fullness of God." This is an incredible thought, that literally the believer can be filled with all the fullness of God Himself. That we would know the unsearchable riches of Christ, that we would be able to do exceeding abundantly above all we could ask or think according to the power that works in us.

It's all such magnanimous, grandiose concepts: fullness, riches, inheritance, wealth, resources, all in the book of Ephesians. Now, it's all in Christ. It's all because we're in Christ. And if you're not in Christ, you're poor, you're destitute, you're a pauper, you're a beggar. If you're in Christ, you're rich beyond all wild imagination. It's all based on Him. It's not anything we did, not anything we earned. It's all His.

For example, in Ephesians, all of our riches are based on these things: His will, Chapter 1, verse 5; His grace, Chapter 1, verses 6 and 7; His glory, Chapter 1, verses 12 and 14; His power, 1:19; His love, 2:4; His good pleasure, 1:9; His purpose, 1:11; His calling, 1:18; His inheritance, again 1:18; and His workmanship, 2:10. It's all because of Him. It's all that we are in Christ, and thus these things become ours.

So this is your bankbook. This is the treasure house. This is where you check out your resources. And in the first three chapters, he tells you what they are, and in the last three, he tells you how to use them. You've got to get it all. You can't spend them if you don't know what they are, and if you know what they are, you've got to know how to spend them. So the first three chapters: the theology of the rich believer. The practice in Chapters 4 to 6. And there are other things that are involved, but that's just the main thing.

Now, let me go a step further and turn the corner a little bit in your thinking. Just kind of file that category of riches related to Ephesians, and I want to talk about another dimension. It not only talks about our riches, but it talks about the whole idea that all this is ours because we're in the church. It's all ours because we're in the church. Now, by that I don't mean that we're Baptist, Presbyterian, Methodist, or we've been catechized or anything else.

What I mean is simply that we are in the body of Christ, that we are saved people. We are in Christ. That is the key phrase; in fact, you saw it as we started to read the book in the very first verse. It ends "in Christ Jesus." But because we are in Christ and in His church, all these things accrue to us. That's a key. Now, the book then discusses the church. It discusses what the church is, how the church functions, how we function in the church, and it discusses the riches of the church.

But the key truth that I want you to get in the book of Ephesians is that the church is presented as a body—Ephesians 3:6—a body. What a metaphor. A metaphor is a way of saying something that gives you a better understanding of it. Now, the metaphor is of a body. The church is like a body. It is this interlinking organism. The church is not an organization, it's not something you just join, it's not a building. It is an organism. We are all one in Christ, and through us pulses the blood of the life of God.

We're one, inextricably united. And if one believer in the body doesn't do what he's supposed to do, the body malfunctions at that place. And when it malfunctions, then somebody else has to pick up the slack, and the body limps. That's why the world thinks Christ is a cripple. The body must be whole and complete, and that's why in Ephesians 4, it says, "till we all come to the fullness of the stature of Christ."

Christ should stand up in full functioning form in His body, the church, just as He did in His human body in His incarnation. I like to call the church body two. Body one was incarnate Jesus. Body two is Christ incarnate in His church. And we should be just as whole and just as full-statured as He was when He came in one body. The church is a body.

Let's go back to look at the introduction, first two verses. First of all, a double source of authority, verse 1: "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God." It would be enough to say Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ. Not if you're writing Ephesians. You've got to say "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ," number one, and number two, "by the will of God." He brings in the fullness of God and Christ. That's the nature of Ephesians. It's a book about fullness.

What can you say about Paul? It starts out, the first word, "Paul." We could go on and on and on for months. We won't do it. What can we say about him? He was of the tribe of Benjamin, and I'm sure his dear mother wanted to pick out a godly name for this little fellow, picked the one that was the most well-known Benjamite who ever lived, the first king of Israel: Saul. And she named her little guy Saul.

He went out to become a great rabbi. He was well-trained in the school of Gamaliel. He was a world man. He knew the societies, he knew the philosophies, he knew the scriptures of the Old Testament. He became a very well-known rabbi, a leader, a teacher, a member of the Sanhedrin. He became the most devout anti-Christian leader in the Jewish community. He hated Christians and he went after them tooth and nail.

He was on his way to get some in Damascus when the Lord stopped him in his tracks, converted him, and made him a preacher of the gospel. From there, he went to pastor a church in Antioch. After a few years in the Arabian desert, he went to pastor a church in Antioch. He pastored there with four other fellows for a while, and one day the Holy Spirit came in Acts 13, said, "Separate unto me Paul and Barnabas for the work to which I've called them."

The Lord said to him, "Get out of here now. You're going to get fulfilled what I told you on the Damascus road: you're going to take the gospel to the Gentile world." He started on what has to be considered the greatest missionary enterprise in the history of the church. He founded churches in the Gentile world, and the gospel became more than a small Jewish sect; it became a worldwide message.

By the way, the words "at Ephesus" in verse 1 do not appear in all the manuscripts. In some manuscripts, there is a blank. And there's a reason for that. There is no local mention of any person in this entire letter. There is no mention of any city in this letter. There is no statement about any individuals at any congregation. There is nothing personal or local or geographical in the whole thing, because this is a letter about fullness, and this is a letter about the whole body of Christ.

This is not a localized thing. And so even in that, he talks to the whole church about the identity of the whole church. And the reason there are blanks, most scholars feel, is that this was a circular letter sent to the churches of Asia Minor, one of which was Ephesus, and every church stuck its own name in the blank. And so we know that Paul even mentioned a letter to the Laodiceans and well may have had in mind this one. It could have gone to Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Ephesus, all the way around the cycle of churches, and each would have written their own name in the little line where here you have "at Ephesus."

Perhaps to the Ephesians first, and then from there. This is Paul's message to the church about the church's identity, and being local isn't part of his issue here. Now, notice he calls himself an apostle. He's not just another guy with another opinion. He speaks for God. He is the mouthpiece of Jesus Christ. Do you realize there are only 14 men in history that could call themselves apostles with a capital A? 14.

The first 12, Judas dropped out, the 13th was added, Matthias, and later on, the 14th was Paul. Only 14 men could be said to be an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, that is a mouthpiece for Jesus Christ, specially credentialed. And that was all the credentials he needed. Those men were chosen for a special era. Ephesians 2:20 calls them foundation people. They passed away with the passing of that era.

They were the scripture writers. They were the ones who laid down the apostle's doctrine. They were the ones who spoke for Christ. They were the ones who spoke divine revelation in those early years. And Paul, that's all he needs for credentials. He doesn't say, "Paul, A.A., B.A., M.A., PhD, D.D., L.L.D., blah, blah, blah." He says, "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God." What else do you need?

God said, "This is my will." Christ called me and sent me, and thus I speak, and that's enough credentials to make everybody sit down and listen. There's no vanity in his heart, there's no self-glory, there's no personal merit. He said, "I am what I am by the grace of God." And to Timothy, he said, "I was a blasphemer, I was a persecutor, I'm the chief of sinners, I'm not worthy of this, but God somehow counted me worthy to make me an apostle."

He speaks for God. He had a unique call. Jesus stopped him in his tracks on the Damascus road, blinded him with the vision of His glory, and then He said, "You're my man to go to the Gentiles." He had a unique relation to Christ. He was a bondslave, and he said, "For to me to live is Christ." That's all I live for. That's the only thing he knew to do in all of life. He had an incredible commission. He was dispatched. *Apostolos* means a sent one, to carry the gospel.

He had delegated power, the power of Jesus Christ. He always recites this fact. In every letter that he writes in the very beginning, he says he's an apostle. The only exceptions are when he begins a letter by using his name and somebody else's, like if he says, "Paul and Silvanus unto the church at so and so." If he includes anybody else who's not an apostle, he can't use that term. But every case where he just mentions himself, he calls himself an apostle.

Because people questioned it. They said, "He wasn't one of the original 12. How do we know he's for real?" etc. So he always reinforced it. In 1 Corinthians 9:1, he said, "Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord?" which was the basic qualification: you had to personally see the risen Christ. "Are not you my work in the Lord? Aren't you proof of it?" So it is that God took this man who was a Christian persecutor, persecuting the faithful, turned him around, made him an apostle, and he was double-barreled in his authority. It came from Jesus Christ and the will of God.

And those two are always in agreement. And so he states a double authority: the fullness of his authority from God and Christ. Second, we see not only a double-barreled authority, but we see a double designation of believers, and this is very simple, quickly mention it to you. It says at the end of verse 1: "the saints who are at Ephesus and to the faithful." He calls Christians by two terms: "the saints" and "the faithful."

And that covers both sides. From God's side, He's made us holy. From our side, we exercise faith. We are the saints—divine definition—the faithful—human definition. And it is by virtue of being full of faith that we have been made saints. You say, now when you say we're saints, do you mean those little plaster things? No, a saint is not a plastered Christian. A saint is not a canonized Catholic. A saint is not a sanctimonious individual.

A saint is anybody who's a Christian. Every one of us has been made *hagioi*, holy. Every one of us has been set apart unto God in Christ. Every one of us has been made righteous in the righteousness of Christ. We are all saints. From God's side, we're saints. We acted in faith toward Christ. So, a double designation of believers: we are the saints, we are the faithful. We have believed in Christ, and He has made us holy.

Boy, isn't that a great beginning? So, double authority, double designation of believers, and then a double blessing in verse 2. You knew that would happen, didn't you? "Grace to you and peace." There's the double blessing. That incidentally was the typical greeting. Grace is the New Testament word, *charis*. It means kindness of God toward undeserving people. And when they met, they said, "Grace to you."

You say, well why did the Christians always say that? Well, it was a lovely term. It was like saying, "I wish to be gracious to you." But more than that, it had a theological meaning. It meant something to them in their faith. It was a reminder that they were what they were by grace. And then there's another one: the double-barreled greeting. The Old Testament word was *Shalom*, the New Testament word is *eirene*, and it means peace.

Grace is the fountain and peace is the stream. Because I have grace from God, I have peace with God, right? And so that's the other side. It is because of His grace that we have His peace. There would be no peace without His grace. So, double authority, double designation of believers, double blessing, and finally a double source for all the grace and peace. It comes from "God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."

You see all this fullness, double stuff in the first two verses. And you get the idea that you're going to get some tremendous riches coming your way out of Ephesians. It's all from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul's message throughout the book of Ephesians is this: that you might understand God's grace, that you might possess His peace, because you are a part of His church and you have at your disposal His infinite riches. This is going to be a fantastic study. I hope you'll get your heart and mind attuned to what God has to say. Let's pray.

Father, as we look at the mystery age and we see the tremendous joy that is ours because of all the riches you've deposited in our account, we are reminded to say thank you. We're reminded to express our love and praise. Thank you for the grace that gives the peace. Thank you for making us one body with you as the head and putting at our disposal the riches of all divine resource. Teach us to know who we are, how rich we are, and how to use the riches we possess for your glory. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.

Phil Johnson: You're listening to Grace to You Weekend, the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur. Today John launched a study from the book of Ephesians titled Richer Than You Think. Keep in mind, you can own this whole study free of charge. It's available to download from our website, gty.org. Listen to these messages again at your own pace and make sure you're taking advantage of the amazing riches that are yours if you're a Christian.

So go online today and download John's study called Richer Than You Think. Our web address again: gty.org. And remember, besides the messages for Richer Than You Think, you can download more than 3,600 other sermons by John, all of them free of charge in MP3 and transcript format. Dive in today when you visit gty.org. And just a quick reminder that we want to hear how studies like Richer Than You Think or any of John's recent series are helping you grow in your Christian walk.

It's always a joy to hear that friends like you are benefiting from these broadcasts, and it's helpful for us as we plan our radio schedule because it lets us know if what we're doing is hitting the mark. Long or short, your letters mean a lot to us. So when you have a moment, write a note and email it to letters@gty.org or if you prefer regular mail, write to Grace to You, Box 4000, Panorama City, California, 91412.

Now for our entire staff, I'm Phil Johnson. Join us again next week as John MacArthur continues showing you how to tap into the vast riches that are yours in Christ. It's another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth, one verse at a time, on Grace to You Weekend.