Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1266
“Now unto Him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, unto Him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.” Ephesians 3:20,21.
This chapter has a whole service of worship within itself. It certainly contains a sermon, for Paul gives a very earnest address upon the unveiling of the hidden mystery so that the Gentiles are made partakers of the promise in Christ by the Gospel. It contains a prayer, for one of the verses begins, “For this cause I bow my knees.” And in the verses before us it closes with a hymn, a hymn of incomparable praise. Thus, in the compass of a short chapter, we have all those devout exercises with which our assemblies for worship are familiar, namely—instruction, supplication, and praise.
It was meet that the Apostle should close the chapter as he does, for the doxology here given grows out of the chapter. It is its natural outcome and crowns the whole, even as the flower of the lily is borne up by the stem, completes it and adorns it. The chapter would have been altogether incomplete without the ascription of praise—not perhaps in its sense, but certainly in its spiritual development.
Mount Zion doubtless possessed in itself both glory and beauty, but the temple on its summit constituted its most sacred charm. Even so to a noble chapter this doxology is a Divine climax, adding glory and sanctity to all the rest. If you look the chapter through, you will see that the Apostle has represented the Gospel in its various aspects to different persons and generally has set it forth with the word unto. In the fifth verse he speaks of it as manifested unto the sons of men. It was not revealed to them in the olden time so clearly as now, but now unto the holy Apostles and Prophets by the Spirit, the Gospel is revealed and we live in its clear light, for which we have reason for great thankfulness.
It were a good subject to dwell upon—the relation of the Gospel unto the sons of men. The Apostle, a little lower down, in the eighth verse, speaks of the relation of the Gospel unto himself, “Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this Grace given.” What the Gospel may do unto other men is of great importance for us to allow, but the knowledge will little avail us unless we can testify of what it has done unto each one of us personally. All the gold mines of California are of less worth to a man than the money in his own possession. Can you, beloved Hearers, speak, each one for himself and say of the Gospel—“unto me is this Grace given”?
Further on, the Apostle speaks of the angels, and in the 10th verse he says, “To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be made known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God.” The Gospel has a relation to angels—they have always had something to do with it, for of old they desired to look into it. And it is written of our Lord that He was “seen of angels.” We know, also, that they rejoice over penitent sinners and that they join in those ascriptions of Glory which the redeemed in Heaven present to the Lamb of God. Yet further, the Apostle, without exactly using the word, “unto,” dwells upon the relation of the Gospel to the people whom he addressed when he declares that he had prayed to the Lord that He would grant them, according to the richness of His Glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man.
Thus having mentioned how the Gospel bears upon mankind at large, upon Inspired men, upon himself, upon angels and then upon the saints to whom he was writing, he turns with a full heart to look at its bearings upon God Himself. And now it is no longer “unto principalities and powers.” It is no longer, even, “unto me,” or “unto the holy Apostles and Prophets.” But his theme is “unto HIM.” I pray God the Holy Spirit to fulfill my desire at this time that every one of us who have tasted that the Lord is gracious, may look wholly unto the Lord and spend the little time appointed for our discourse in reverent adoration of Him from whom all Grace comes and to whom all the Glory, ought, therefore, to return, “for of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things.” If unto Him there should be glory in the Church
throughout all ages, then, to Him should there be glory in this Church at this present moment. O Lord, help us to render it unto You!
In our text we have adoration, not prayer, the Apostle had done with that. Adoration—not even so much the act of praise as the full sense that praise is due and far more of it than we can render. I hardly know how to describe adoration. Praise is a river flowing on joyously in its own channel, banked up on either side that it may run towards its one object. But adoration is the same river overflowing all banks, flooding the soul and covering the entire nature with its great wa-ters—and these not so much moving and stirring as standing still in profound repose, mirroring the Glory which shines down upon it—like a summer’s sun upon a sea of glass!