SERMON II. THE UNSEARCHABLE RICHES OF CHRIST.
EPH. iii 8. _The unsearchable riches of Christ_.
THERE is no passage, in the whole range of Scripture, in which the benefits and blessings of the gospel are more strikingly and fully represented, than by these few words: it is elsewhere described as the “pearl of great price,” as “the treasure that fadeth not away,” as “the true riches;” but here, as if in addition to the former descriptions, it is called, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, “the unsearchable riches of Christ:” impossible for men, impossible for angels to search out and discover its full excellency and value. The more it is examined, and the more it is experimentally known, the more is the believer convinced of the propriety and truth of this description; without a deep enquiry indeed, without a vital experience of its blessedness, it is not for any one to understand even the nature of its transcendent riches; to the world at large they are known only by name: but the sincere Christian, who makes them his own, is brought to admire their inexhaustible fulness; and to perceive, how utterly they extend beyond his comprehension, how highly they are removed above his loftiest thoughts and his most ardent imagination: “eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” { 21} They lie entirely out of the reach of the natural man; and even the spiritual man does but imperfectly understand them.
These unsearchable riches it was the province of St. Paul especially to declare unto the gentile world, that is, unto the world at large, when the offer of them had been rejected by the Jewish nation: in consequence of which blessed communication to the gentiles, the knowledge of them was conveyed, in process of time, to our favoured land.
Many learned persons have believed, that St. Paul himself preached in this island; of this, however, there is no certain evidence; it is enough for us to know, that we are partakers of the benefit of his preaching, that the sound of the gospel, which he sent “forth into all lands,” has long ago reached us; and that we are now in the full enjoyment of this inestimable privilege. He declares, in the chapter, before us, that Jesus Christ, by express revelation, made known to him the great mystery, the unfathomable purpose of His mercy; “which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto the holy Apostles and Prophets by the Spirit: that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel.” Unto me, he says, “who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which, from the beginning of the world, hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ.” { 23}