In the 8-minute 28-second sermon excerpt of this post, the late Pastor Eric Alexander explained how the Gentiles became incorporated into the people of God, Israel.
(This sermon will have more meaning if part 7 is also heard, a sermon on the Body of Christ from Romans 12 and Ephesians 4.)
Pastor Alexander defined the ‘mystery’ that Paul discussed in Ephesians 3: the mystery is that God incorporated the Gentiles into ‘His people’ by uniting them to His Son.
This post uses scripture to disprove the claims of Dispensationalism that there are two peoples of God, Israel and the church.
(Below sermon highlight points, a brief excerpt from Ephesians 1 will remind readers that God chose HIS people before He created the world. That in itself, should indicate that there would be only ONE people of God.)
To hear any of Pastor Alexander’s sermons on Ephesians, use the link below the sermon excerpt. There is a bio of Pastor Alexander below the excerpt also.
Sermon text [I underscored parts that were emphasized by Pastor Alexander]:
Ephesians 3:3 how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. 4 When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ,
Ephesians 3:5 which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.
Ephesians 3:6 This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
Ephesians 3:7 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. 8 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,
Ephesians 3:9 and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things,
Sermon Excerpt Highlights:
- The term ‘mystery’ as used in the English language is not defined the same as the term is in the New Testament:
- Mystery in the NT refers to a thing that is concealed UNTIL it is revealed by God
- [Throughout scripture, God is said to blind people to this or that as He deems so; apparently that is what was true of this concept until He removed the blinders from Paul and some few others]
- The secret of the mystery is available to any who seek it in God
- What then, is the mystery of which Paul speaks?
- The mystery and the ministry of Paul are connected
- The full glory of this mystery is that through UNION with Christ, the Jews and Gentiles have become ONE people of God
- Formerly, the Gentiles were outside the fold of Israel, not members of the Old Testament people of God
- The Gentiles have now become one with the BODY and sharers in the promises of God
- [The “promises of God” is a reference to COVENANT promises – earlier parts of this series talked about the covenants, all of this series can be found in the CATEGORY, Covenant Theology]
- To us, the mystery above, might not seem too significant, but to the people of Paul’s day, it was astonishing:
- The Gentiles had been barred from fellowship with the people of God; kept outside the temple court; given the place of dogs
- Those things were no longer true after their UNION to Christ
- THE MYSTERY OF GOD’S GRACE IS THAT WE MAY BECOME HEIRS TO ALL OF GOD’S COVENANT PROMISES WHICH HE MADE TO THE BODY OF CHRIST AND BECOME SHARERS IN THE RICHES OF HIS GRACE
- The Old Testament revealed that God had a purpose for the Gentiles, but not until the New Testament did we know HOW God would incorporate the Gentiles into His people; by incorporating them into His Son
[Pastor Alexander did not refer to the following passage from Ephesians 1 in this sermon on Ephesians 3, but if you haven’t read Ephesians in a long while, consider the underscored portions in the following brief passage:
Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.]
The above excerpt is from a sermon at the YouTube site, Sermons With G; the following links and narrative accompanied the video:
Playlist on Ephesians: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcxx151mCfB6Ic0ZNique-pqqmLryFiRV
Video-page link: https://www.youtube.com/@sermonswithg/videos
Playlist-page link: https://www.youtube.com/@sermonswithg/playlists
Subscribe – https://shorturl.at/klzJU
About the Preacher– https://www.ericalexander.co.uk/biogr…
Eric J Alexander has been ordained as a minister in the Church of Scotland for over fifty years.
He studied at the University of Glasgow, graduating Master of Arts in 1954 and Bachelor of Divinity in 1958.
Thereafter he spent 4 years as an Assistant at St David’s Knightswood Church in the West end of Glasgow.
In 1961 he was married to Greta Connell and they have a daughter and a son.
It was in 1962 that he was called to the parish of Loudoun East Church, in the Covenanting district of Ayrshire, in the village of Newmilns. After 15 years there, in 1977, he was aware of God’s call to the city centre church of St George’s Tron, in Glasgow, where he served as senior minister for 20 years, until his retirement in 1997. During these 20 years, large congregations, of all ages, gathered, both morning and evening, to listen to expository sermons from both Old and New Testaments
Throughout his ministry, and in his retirement years, he has spoken regularly at conferences such as the Keswick Convention, the great Urbana convention arranged triennially in Illinois by InterVarsity, and the Philadelphia Conference in Reformed Theology. He has travelled in Europe, the Far East, South Africa, and widely in Canada and the United States. He has spoken to students at many seminaries and at the General Assemblies of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland and the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in America.