Over, Through, and In All

The following message by Alister Beg is made available by Truth for Life. For more information, visit us online at truthforlife.org. Well, our verse for the day is the sixth verse of Ephesians 4, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

So, Father, here we are in our weakness. We fall before you and ask for your help as we come to the end of this day, that your word might dwell in us richly, that we might speak to one another in psalms and in hymns and in spiritual songs, that we might not be drunk with wine wherein is excess, but that we might be filled with the Holy Spirit, in order that once again Jesus may become all the more precious to us and that our hearts might be knit together as those who in humility and gentleness and forbearance declare ourselves to be eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace.

Uh to this end we come and ask for your help in Christ's name. Amen. Well, some of you, I guess, will not have been here for any or all of these studies. So, let me just read the whole um six verses of Ephesians 4 if your Bible is open. "I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord," writes Paul, "urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

There is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all." Well, we have tried to make sure that we're clear in the opening part of this verse, the phrase that goes up to the comma, one God and Father of all, that Paul is addressing here not humanity at large, but rather uh the sons of the faith, as it were, those who are united to God as are all by way of creation, but uniquely by way of redemption.

And we sought in our earlier study to make sure that we were clear concerning that, arguing it simply out of the context of Paul's letter here itself, and not least of all the verses which precede six and follow six. Uh grace was given to each one of us, verse seven is going to begin, and uh Paul is unable to say that of any other than those who are in Christ.

So, I I hope that we are clear of that, clear about that. Also, that we simply dipped into the vastness of the subject of the Trinity, the tri-personal nature of God, affirming with uh those who have preceded us and have written the creeds that the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God, and yet, as Athanasius says, there are not three gods, but one.

We didn't say this morning, I want to take just a moment to say it this evening, that um uh one of the great dangers that presents itself in congregations that would be regarded as orthodox and who would use Trinitarian language and even in our hymnody as well, the danger is the danger of what is known as modalism, modalism.

It is a is a heretical view of the Trinity, and the the title itself gives hint to uh the idea. Uh from this perspective, the Trinity, the tri-personal nature of God, is viewed simply as three different ways or three different modes in which God presents himself to us.

And so, uh it's as if he puts on a temporary mask or an impermanent mask, and at one point he appears as Father, and then he wears a different mask and reveals himself as Son, and then another one when he reveals himself as the Spirit. It is, as I say, a heretical perspective and falls foul of the scriptures themselves.

Uh for example, uh classically in the baptism of Jesus, you will remember that all three members of the Trinity are represented there, that the Son is in the water being uh the Spirit alights as a dove upon him, and the word of the Father comes from heaven declaring, "This is my son."

But it is important to recognize that this is out there, and you will bump into it. Hopefully, you will never contribute contribute to it, because from that modalistic perspective, then the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are not regarded as three persons eternal and eternally distinct from one another.

You you run into the confusion uh that is um quite embarrassing in this when you may catch yourself in prayer or you may catch somebody else praying, and when you listen to them praying, you say, "But But it wasn't the Father who went to the cross. Why did that person say in prayer, 'Father, we thank you for dying for us'?"

Well, it wasn't the Father who died for us, it was the Son who died for us. I'm not suggesting that when we when we trip up in our terminology like that, that we're guilty of modalism, but we are guilty of a confused way of expressing ourselves. And that's why we're supposed to be thoughtful and purposeful and taught by the Bible in the way in which we approach God.

We come largely to the Father in the Holy Spirit through the Son. And uh we we learn as we go to become uh effective in the way in which we approach God, biblical in the way in which we approach him, and then we teach those who come behind us how to pray as well.

The biggest issue is actually not uh the potential embarrassment, but it is that this kind of confused thinking and praying and use of language opens up the door to dangerous compromise potential with uh particularly Mormonism. And when you listen to people talk with uh uh one another, you find that they're often hard-pressed to uh distinguish uh genuine basic biblical orthodox Christianity from the wrongful um unbiblical, I have to say ultimately heretical teaching of Mormonism.

And part of the problem is that they have never come to a a a safe understanding of what we're saying when we express God in his tri-personal form. We cannot dispense with the Trinity as God has revealed himself to be without actually losing uh the Christian faith as the scriptures teach.

So, I want to say to you again that if you've been thinking about this, if you want to follow through on it, our bookstore is well served in this regard, and you can reward your yourself by uh careful study, and uh you can come and tell me all the things that you've learned.

And uh even this morning um Alan who plays the cello said that uh serendipitously in his class with the young people this morning, he was actually teaching them on the doctrine of the Trinity. Oh, I said, "Well, how did you do that?" He said, "Well," he said, "I played a G on uh on one of the strings, and then I had a tuning fork that was another note, and um I don't know what it was, and then uh and then I had them sing a D."

And it was probably a G, a B, and a D or something like that. But anyway, he said, "Now, here we have three distinct notes, but they make one chord." And they are distinct from one another, and they're they're unified in the making of the chord. I said, "Well, goodness gracious, you should have been here doing the talk this morning."

And and and I hear a hearty amen. Yes, indeed, yes. That was a lot. We could have got through that in two or three minutes if you had only given him a chance. Well, uh credit where credit is due. I have explained to you how I benefited from his instruction, and I'm passing it I'm passing it on to you.

Now, with all that said, here we are at this final phrase. Uh who would have thought for a moment that we would go through this in such a way that one would be left with the challenge and responsibility of uh speaking on who is over all and through all and in all.

I should be an assignment for some of my young colleagues. Uh give to us a sermon on over all, through all, and in all. Um It's largely This is actually passed over in large measure by the commentators. So, you can go in the commentaries and look, "Well, I wonder what the they have to say about this?"

Pretty well, nothing. And uh they move almost almost directly uh to verse seven. But here we are. We made a promise that we would consider it, so consider it we shall. We'll take them each in turn. First of all, over all. This God and Father of all is over all.

I I I wanted to I try to help myself through this by thinking first of all in terms of place and then in terms of power and then in terms of presence. So, when we think of God the Father as overall, perhaps we can think in terms of his place.

Sometimes we will say to someone, "And what is your place in all of this?" And the answer that the Bible gives concerning the God and Father of all is that his place is the place of supremacy. He is overall. A good cross-reference for Ephesians 4:6, and one that helps us, is Romans and chapter 11 and verse 36, which reads very similarly.

I wondered didn't Paul have one or the other in mind as he penned these. For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. From him, through him, to him. In other words, and very simply, but importantly, we notice that when we turn to our Bibles and when we're introduced to the Christian faith, the Christian faith starts with God.

It actually doesn't start with us. Not only does it start with God, but it continues with God and it ends with God. And the challenge that that represents to us, if it does represent a challenge, is because in our thinking we can unwittingly, perhaps even purposefully, become very, very man-centered.

So, our whole approach to the Bible, to the things of faith, tends to have its beginning and its end with us. Every so often we come across a song that is a pretty good song until it goes south. And I don't want to mention the one that's in my mind, but I I have one in particular.

I thought this was a terrific song. I was going along with it as I first listened to it, and then off off it came came right off the tracks for me when I realized that the focus, the whole notion was that the preoccupation of God from all eternity was with us.

And that all that he was doing was about us and how how we were doing and so on. When in point of fact, Paul has made it very, very clear that the ultimate plan of God, the ultimate purpose of God, a purpose which begins in all of eternity, his ultimate end, both by creation and by redemption, his ultimate end is actually not our happiness, but his glory.

Not our happiness. Not humanity's well-being, but his own glory. You say, "Well, are you sure?" Yeah, I'm not just sure, I'm positive. Ephesians, we don't need to go right of Ephesians and we get at least hints of it. Verse five, which we read this morning from chapter one, he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will.

Here we go, to the praise of his glorious grace. That's the end, to the praise of his glorious grace. If you go down to verse 12, still in chapter one, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.

Verse 14, who is the guarantee of our inheritance, that's the Holy Spirit, until we acquire possession of it in all of its fullness, and once again to the praise of his glory. I I want just a quote to you briefly from Berkhof's Systematic Theology in this regard because he had a wonderful sentence or two that I made a note of.

Berkhof writes, "The supreme end of God in creation, the manifestation of his glory, includes, as subordinate ends, the happiness and salvation of his creatures and the reception of praise from grateful and adoring hearts." So, God's grace towards us is included in his ultimate objective so that all things might be to the praise of his glory.

So, we worship God, the Father of all, as he who is overall, speaking of his supremacy, of his authority, of his majesty. The confession, that's the Westminster Confession, in in chapter 21, section one, which introduces us to the nature of Christian worship, begins to by telling us that this God who has revealed himself to us ought to be feared, loved, praised, prayed to, trusted in, and served with all the heart, all the soul, and all the might.

And when you think of it, even though the Son, second person of the Trinity, and the Holy Spirit, even though Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are co-eternal and co-equal, yet when we read our Bibles, we discover that the Son subordinated himself to the plan and purpose of the Father, as did the Holy Spirit, speaking in terms of their relationship with one another, in terms of God's being overall and according to his grand design, which in verse nine and 10 of chapter one is recorded as making known to us the mystery of his will according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

Now, when you think about that and then you come back to what Paul is saying here, say urging the people to be eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, and he says, "You know, the the unity that God looks for is the very unity that exists within the Trinity itself so that the relationship between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in in their their bonds of love for one another provides both the basis and the objective of our love for each other and the maintaining of a spirit of genuine care."

That is uh what we might say concerning overall. We might think of it in terms of place. And then, through all, uh we can think of this, I tried to, in terms of providence, or if you like, in terms of power. I just was looking for three Ps.

And um I've as I say, I find this quite helpful. What does it mean that he is through all? Through 
[snorts]
 all. Well, in the mix of everything. Every so often I used to watch my mother baking and putting putting things into that flour. And and it was clear that the whole objective was that it would be worked into the essence of what was being created.

And when Paul writes in this way, he's essentially reminding us that the Father is working through all things. That he is upholding of the church that he has created. That he is sustaining it by his power. And that throughout all of history, this one God who is Father of all, who is overall, is actually in and through it all.

It it's it's wonderful. Again, I I always retreat to a hymn when I when I don't really know how to get my head around it. God is working his purpose out as year succeeds to year. God is working his purpose out and the time is drawing near. And nearer and nearer draws the time, the time that will surely be when the earth will be filled with the glory of God as the waters cover the sea.

Well, you say it doesn't seem like that. I've read the history of the United States of America and this this kind of evening service was commonplace years ago. The churches were open, the lights were on, the doors were there, the people were spilling out into the evening of the start of a new day.

But now, by and large, they're dark. There are no lights on. There's no one spilling anywhere. So, it wouldn't seem as if God is actually through it all. Well, the Ephesians might have felt the same way when they looked out on the world in which they lived, when they were aware of the fact that there would arise among them fierce wolves that would drive people away after them, that they were confronted by the possibility of their own moral and spiritual declension.

So, it's no surprise that Paul, when he prays for them, and you will remember this in chapter one again, he prays for them that the eyes, 18 of chapter one, that the eyes of your hearts may be enlightened, that you might know the hope, what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe according to the working of his great might.

Paul says, "You Ephesians need to have your eyes of your your hearts enlightened because if you don't if you don't have them enlightened in this way, you'll be tempted to think wrongly about everything, and you may actually miss the point." And we may miss the point, too. Again, we can think in very atomized terms.

We can think in very individualistic terms, in very Western terms, in in terms of the northern hemisphere rather than the southern hemisphere. But if we think about it for just a moment, if we could stand back far enough from it, if we could see just a glimpse from the perspective of God's heavenly throne, as it were, we would realize that it is absolutely true.

He is overall. And he is at work through it all. That's why one of the reasons that we've been given the book of Revelation, not so that we can preach speculative sermons about it, but in order that we might understand that this is really true. That God the Father is in the position of authority.

And if we had time, I would read out loud for you chapter 4 and chapter 5 of Revelation. But I'm not going to. But I'm I'm going to read a couple of verses just to give us the flavor of it. John in in Revelation gives us a little bit of a glimpse of these things.

And he pulls the curtain back, as it were, and he describes well through chapter 4 the four living creatures with wings and eyes all around and within. And day and night they never cease to say "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come."

This tri-personal God. And what happens then? Well, he tells us whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the 24 elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne. And they worship him who lives forever and ever.

And they cast their crowns before the throne saying, "Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created." In the chapter 5, verse 11, then I looked and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice.

Same story. "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing." And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea and all that is in them saying, "He's overall.

He's overall." "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever." And the four living creatures said, "Amen." And the elders fell down and worshipped. What a picture. See, you say is there You say, "But it's Monday tomorrow.

Of course it is. I've got to go back in that place again." Of course you have. We all have to one degree or another. Or there is something that is that is uncertain to me or or bedeviling to me, whatever it might be. Tell me what I'm supposed to do, pastor.

I don't know what you're supposed to do. But I know what you're supposed to know. That the one God and Father of all is overall and he is at work through all. And finally, he is in all. If his overall speaks to his place and if through all speaks to his providence or his power, then in all speaks to his presence.

Paul has already moved in this direction in his letter in verse 22 or at the end of chapter 2, he has described the church there. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. He is the foundation. He is the cornerstone.

The apostles have given to us the scriptures under the direction of the Spirit. The whole structure is being put together. He's putting a temple together. Verse 19 of chapter 3, he says, "And my prayer for you is that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."

You remember how Jesus prayed to this end in his high priestly prayer, John 17, verse 21 or 20, we start there. I don't ask, says Jesus to the Father, "I don't ask for these only," that's his immediate friends, "but also for those who will believe in me through their word."

That includes you and me. "That they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me." Do you get that? That "just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you, so may they also be in us."

Previously, he has informed his disciples that he is going away. He's going away and they're disturbed by this. And he says to them, "Well, don't let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God." That's it. "You believe in the Father, believe also in me." And then he goes on to tell them that he is preparing for them and so on.

Well, John, of course, had actually begun his gospel in his prologue with that very thought in mind. You remember we read it at Christmas time and at other times, too. John 1:14, "And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory." Quite literally, what he says there is that the word that the word pitched his tent among us.

And what he's doing is he's purposefully picking up a picture that many of the readers of the gospel would immediately identify with, namely that God back in the Old Testament in Exodus 25 had given instruction to his servants that they would make a sanctuary for him. That he says, "Let them make a sanctuary for me that I may dwell in their midst.

That I may dwell with them, among them, in them." Right? So, the tabernacle is created. The tabernacle is placed in the ark of the covenant. The ark of the covenant moves as the people of God move. And there you have the symbolic presence of God. This is where God identifies himself in his presence amongst his people.

And it is that very picture that is then picked up and fulfilled in Jesus. No longer in a tabernacle. No longer in a tent. No longer in a temple. Incidentally, I had this conversation with somebody just in the last 10 days. I can't remember where I was. I probably shouldn't have said anything.

Oh, I know where I was. I can tell you where I was. I was at the Ligonier conference. And the person said to me, said, "Now, we're going to go through into the sanctuary." Oh, I said, "I don't know about that." I said that there's no such thing as a sanctuary.

Oh, they said, "Well, yes, there is. It's I said, "No, that's not a sanctuary." They said, "Well, then what do you want to call it?" I said, "Well, I'm not going to call it that." They said, "Well, would you like to call it the worship center?" I said, "No, I wouldn't like to call it the worship center, either." "Well, why not?" "Well, because it sounds like you have a center for worship and worship only happens in the center when in actual fact what happens in that room is supposed to be the overspill of what's happening routinely 7:24 in the life of the genuine believer.

Well, they didn't know what to do with me. They said, "Forget it. Okay. Whatever whatever you think about that bag, we're going in this room, whatever you want whatever you want to call it." And the people look at me and say, "Well, where do you get this from?"

Well, I said, "I get it from the Bible." "Let them make a sanctuary for me." But now there is no need for a sanctuary. Christ is the sanctuary. Christ is the sanctuary. So, we don't have sanctuaries. You know, we don't have places that are sanctified places. His temple, which he is building, his people in 1 Corinthians 3, the individual in 1 Corinthians 6, is the dwelling place of God.

That's where God is met. So, we don't look to meet him in a temple in Jerusalem or in a tabernacle in the wilderness, but in the person of his only beloved Son. And quite wonderfully, in that passage to which I have referred in John chapter 14, Jesus 
[snorts]
 says to his disciples, "If you love me, you'll keep my commandments and I will ask the Father and he will give you another helper to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him.

You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you." And then he says to them, "I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.

In that day you will know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you." That's close. "That I am in my Father and you are in me and I am in you." That's presence. "Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me.

And he who loves me will be loved by my Father and I will love him and manifest myself to him." Judas, not Iscariot, said to "Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us and not to the world?" Jesus answered him, "If anyone loves me, he will keep my keep my word, and my father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him."

That's presence. That's the promise of Christ. That the life of genuine believing faith is a life that is gathered up in the God and Father who is over all, who is working through all, and who is in all. So, cast your mind around the room. Cast your mind around the world.

Think about all the people you know and the people that you've never met that you know are in Christ tonight. And here is the amazing, radical dimension of it all. That's why Jesus says it's better for you that I go away, because when I am here physically present, I can only be in one place at one time.

But, when I go, I will send to you another helper. You know him. He's with you. He's going to be in you. And if a man loves me, he'll keep my word. And here is this amazing promise. I have friends who Well, I have one or two friends.

I I have I have friends who don't like a lot of my songs that I quote. And um one of the songs they don't think I ever should quote is um cuz they said it's schmaltzy and it's sentimental. Well, that's their opinion, but I still like it. I come to the garden alone while the dew is still on the roses.

And the sound I hear falling on my ear uh the Son of God discloses. And he walks with me. And he talks with me. And he tells me that I am his own. The What What's wrong with this? Isn't this the promise? Some of us live alone. Some of us are sad.

Some of us are disappointed. Some of us, as we said this morning, have only bad memories of an earthly father. Now, we have a heavenly Father who knows our name, who knows each tear that falls, who hears us when we call, and he doesn't just listen from a distance.

He has promised to be in and with us. St. Patrick's Day was last week. I listened to some stuff on the BBC. They were over here making fun of a lot of things as the cynics from the BBC love to do. But, fascinatingly, in all the people that they interviewed, nobody actually had a word to say about the nature of St.

Patrick himself, or what it was he actually believed, and how horribly disappointed he would be to see some of these ridiculous parades. Let me give to you as I close a famous prayer of St. Patrick that comes actually out of this notion of in you. You remember this?

Patrick would pray, "Christ be with me. Christ before me. Christ behind me. Christ in me. Christ beneath me. Christ above me. Christ on my right. Christ on my left. Christ where I lie. Christ when I arise. Salvation is of the Lord. May thy salvation, oh Lord, be ever with us."

You see what a radical, wonderful thing that is? So, that Christ is present when I lie down in my bed, when I rise up in the morning, present to my left and to my right, present, present. And what Paul has been able to say to the Ephesians comes through to us.

That throughout the world, the church that God has created, he sustains, and he pervades. And the one who does so is over all, and through all, and in all. Father, thank you. Thank you, God, for sending Jesus. Thank you, Jesus, that you came. Holy Spirit, won't you tell us more about his lovely name?

Open our eyes, Lord. Enlighten us in order that we might see the hope to which you've called us, that we might be made aware of the mighty working whereby you work. As we think about all of the proud boasts of civilizations throughout history, as we think about the movements of governments and thrones and kingdoms, as we think about the uprising of those who defy your truth, who uh are disinterested in uh your your word.

Lord, we pray that you will help us uh humbly and uh purposefully to bow down under the instruction of your word, and to be helped again this day and in this week that lies ahead by reminding ourselves that there is one God and Father of all, who is over all, through all, and in all.

And in Christ's name we pray. Amen. This message was brought to you from Truth For Life, where the learning is for living. To learn more about Truth For Life with Alistair Begg, visit us online at truthforlife.org.