Ephesians 4, if anyone's trying to keep track as we're going through Ephesians, this is now the, fourth message that we're gonna start reading, Ephesians chapter four, verse one. Here in a couple hours, we're gonna have the fifth message. And I mentioned previously that verses one through 16 are a complicated, it's an intricate passage of scripture. We've basically dealt with the first six verses already. The goal today is gonna be to deal with verses seven through 16. The main idea is that the Lord has given spiritual gifts to his churches in order to facilitate healthy church growth. But this morning in this message, we're gonna dive into something that Paul says as he makes that argument in verses seven through 10. And this morning's message is gonna be a little different. Usually in the process of preaching, what you hear is, the end result of study condensed down into sort of synthesized into a message. You don't see that all that happens in the process of study, and that's good. You wouldn't want to see all that happens in the process of study. The way I explained it to the students in homiletics class when I taught class was people don't need to hear all the labor pains. They just want to see the baby. But this morning, I think it's helpful if you see at least some of the process of the studies. Because if I just say, that's not what this means, here's what it means, you shouldn't have confidence in it unless you can see why. And so I want to show you why. Let's read the text and then we'll talk about it. Starting at verse one again. I therefore, The prisoner of the Lord beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, even as you are called in one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all. But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things. And He gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive. But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things which is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplies, According to the effective working in the measure of every part makes increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. Now as I said, the overall theme of these verses is that the church is united. And Paul gives in verses 1-6 a lot of proofs of how the church is united. That is, supremely we are united in Christ through what Christ has done. And he goes on to say that Christ has given gifts to the church in order to facilitate healthy church growth. But this morning I want to draw your attention to Paul's thinking. One of the Old Testament references he makes and how that brings up this sort of frequently asked question. Did Jesus go to hell for the three days between his death and resurrection? I'm gonna tell you up front that I don't think that's what Paul is saying in verses seven through 10. But since this is one of the common texts that folks use to argue that Jesus went to hell for three days, I just wanna dive into that argument. It's a question that gets asked maybe more often than you think. And if that's not what Paul's saying here, then what is he saying? We'll need to focus specifically on verses seven through 10. But to every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore, he said, when he ascended upon high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts to men. Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended far above all heavens, that he might fill all things. There's three main passages of scripture that people use to argue that Jesus descended into hell after his physical death on earth. And one of them is our text here. Verse 9 specifically says that Jesus descended into the lower parts of the earth. That lower parts of the earth. Well, that has to be hell, right? We'll see. There's two other passages, and you can leave a bookmark here, but look at them with me so you see them. 1 Peter 3. See what the Apostle Peter has to say. 1 Peter 3. Verses 18 through 20. For Christ has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison, which sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a-preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water. Now, the word hell does not show up in Peter's passage either, but he says in verse 19 that Jesus went and preached unto the spirits in prison. So the common view is that these spirits were the Old Testament saints. You may have heard the explanation that Jesus went and gathered those people from their confinement because until He had made the sacrifice for their sins on the cross, they weren't suitable to be in the presence of God. So He went afterward and He gathered them and brought them to heaven. Although if that's the case, Do we believe that Old Testament saints were in hell? We're gonna answer that in a moment, but right now I'm just sort of giving the building blocks for this position. The third passage that gets used is Psalm 16, verse 10. This is gonna sound very familiar to you. David writes, for you will not leave my soul in hell, neither will you suffer your Holy One to see corruption. That promise is about Jesus. Both Peter and Paul use Psalm 1610 as an argument for the resurrection of Jesus. If you recall, Peter on the day of Pentecost quoted that passage and asked the crowd, do you think David was writing about himself? I mean, we can go check his tomb and see how he's looking if you want to. Clearly, it wasn't about David. It was about the Messiah who has died and has risen again after three days before seeing any corruption. And Psalm 1610 seems pretty definitive, right? I mean, if that's about Jesus and it says that God's not going to leave the Messiah in hell, then that means Jesus must have been in hell, right? Well, No, but we need to have a bit of a word study to really grasp this for a moment. What is hell in the Bible? Or maybe a good starting place would be, what do you think that hell is? Some people would say, well, hell, that's the place where Satan and his demons reside, but I assure you, it's not. Satan is powerful and he is roaming this earth like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. He is not in hell. Satan and his demons don't want to be in hell, but they will be. We'll see in Revelation 20, it describes the coming day when Satan and his demons, along with the unrighteous of the world, will be cast into the lake of fire. That is hell as we think of it. The word hell in the Old Testament, for example, in Psalm 1610, is not generally hell as we think of it. The Old Testament word in Hebrew is Sheol, and it means the grave or the place of the dead. By itself, it does not say whether this is the wicked dead suffering torment or the righteous dead experiencing blessings. For example, that Old Testament word Sheol is used by Jacob, who says that he expects to go into Sheol, right? Surely Jacob, the father of the nation of Israel, did not expect to go to hell as we think of it. It sometimes is used clearly as the place for the wicked dead. Psalm 9, 17 says, the wicked shall be turned into Sheol, and that clearly means hell there. So the Old Testament word is sort of generic. It is the grave or the place of the dead, without being specific about whether it's the wicked dead or the righteous dead. It's just all who die and pass into the afterlife. They go to the grave. They go to the place of the dead. For some, that's a place of everlasting torment, and for others, it's a place of blessing. That's the Old Testament idea. The New Testament wording is a little different. There's a New Testament word that's basically equivalent to Sheol, that word hell, and that is in the New Testament the word Hades. This is also the place of the dead, or the grave, or where all souls go when people die. While it's also inspecific in its definition, the usage of it is almost always of a place of torment. So, the rich man, in the story of the rich man and Lazarus, he opened up his eyes in Hades, being in torment. But in that same story, Lazarus, who also died, was described in a place of blessing, which Jesus called Abraham's bosom, or, you know, being at Abraham's side. So again, it's clear there are two destinations of souls after this life, a place of torment for the unrighteous and a place of comfort for the people of God. And Jesus spoke freely of both of those places. He told his disciples, I'm going to prepare a place for you in my father's house. More graphically for the unrighteous, he described when he wanted to describe the eternal fiery torment of hell, He used the word Gehenna, or it's a word for the Valley of Hinnom, which was just outside the city of Jerusalem. It was sort of a permanent trash heap for the city where the fire burning the trash never went out. And Jesus said, look, if you die without faith in Jesus, you are headed for Gehenna. You are going to God's eternal burning trash heap. But did Jesus himself have to go there? Well, not to collect Old Testament saints, he didn't. They're already at Abraham's side. They're already at a place of blessing. What did Jesus tell the thief on the cross? He didn't say, you know, see you in hell in a little while. He said, no, today you will be with me in paradise, not hell, certainly not in the sense of the word as we think of it. Peter in his passage is not telling us that Jesus went to the torments of hell to collect those people who were locked up there. Maybe if we ever preach through Peter's letters, we'll talk about it more, but I think that what he means there is that Jesus, by the Spirit, preached through Noah to the wicked people of Noah's day. David wasn't saying that the Messiah would be required to go to the torments of hell after the cross and that God wouldn't leave him there. He was simply saying the Messiah would die. He would enter that place of the dead. He would go to the grave, but only temporarily. Before his body would decay, the Lord would raise him up from the dead, right? You will not leave his soul in Sheol, the grave, or suffer your Holy One to see corruption. I said, I know some pastors who preach that Jesus was required to go to hell. After all, hell is the price for your sin, and Jesus had to pay that price. I get the logic. And for the record, I don't think those pastors are unrighteous heretics or anything. I just think they're wrong about this. The wrath of God is the price for our sins. The Bible is abundantly clear that Jesus suffered the wrath of God on the cross for his people. What was happening as the Romans tortured him and as the Jewish leaders mocked him was that Paul says he was made to be sin for us. More than all the physical suffering he was enduring, the agony of his soul was representing the wrath of God on his people. Peter says he bore our sins in his body on the tree, right, on the cross. Paul says back in chapter two, verse 16 of Ephesians, that Jesus reconciled us to God in one body on the cross. He writes in Colossians 1.20 that Jesus accomplished peace through the blood of his cross. More clearly, Jesus before he died said the words, it is finished. If he had to go to hell and suffer further under the wrath of God for our sins, he would not have said, it is finished. There would still have been more to do. So if that's not what Paul means in our text in Ephesians four, what does Paul mean? Much more comfortable talking about what something does mean than what it doesn't mean, okay? To understand what Paul means, and this is going to be very important for us, I think it's going to be helpful to do two things. First, we need to look at the context itself. Are there any clues in the words that Paul uses that explains this more clearly? And secondly, we need to see this Old Testament quote that he is using from the Psalms and take a look at how he's using it to teach about what Jesus has done. So first off, let's look at some word clues here. You'll note the King James translators in our text in Ephesians 4 have put verses 9 and 10 in parentheses. Because they see it correctly, I think, that Paul is explaining, in verses 9 and 10, something that he was saying in verse 8. In verse 8, he says, Jesus ascended up on high, leading captivity captive and gave gifts to men. And then to elaborate, he parenthetically says, in verses 9 and 10, Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended far above all heavens, that he might fill all things. So there's some words that'll help us here. What does it mean that Jesus descended? Paul's evidently saying that Jesus is descending was done so that the ascending could happen. In very simple terms, he's saying, look, he had to come down before he could go up. Where did he go up? Where did he ascend? Paul says it's far up, high above the heavens. So where did he descend? Paul says, well, it's down to the lower parts of the earth. It really is, As simple as it sounds, there forms the same Greek word anabas, to go up, and katabas, to come down. There's really no reason to think that Paul's talking about anything other than Jesus coming down to earth and then going up to heaven. This seems to be a reference to the birth and ministry of Jesus, his coming down to us, and the resurrection and ascension of Jesus, his returning up into heaven. So without any other clues, that's sort of the natural reading of the text, at least in regard to what it means that Jesus descended and ascended. He came down, he went up. But that really doesn't solve everything, right? I mean, what is it in verse 8 about leading captivity captive and giving gifts? Well, I think if we were part of the church at Ephesus, and we've learned, right, this church has both Gentile and Jewish believers in this church, worshiping together. When this was read out loud, I can really picture the Jewish part of the congregation would have been hopping up and down, raising their hand, ready to explain. Look, I know what it is he's saying there. Verse 8 is a quotation from the Old Testament Hebrew hymn book, the Psalms. So leave a bookmark here and go to Psalm 68 for a moment. Psalm 68 is this stunning and exciting song of praise, specifically for the victory of Yahweh, conquering the enemies of his people. You know, the city of Jerusalem was built on top of Mount Zion, right? And this psalm, David pictures God himself leaving the temple at the top of Mount Zion, going down and fighting a battle against Israel's enemies. And then Yahweh victoriously returns with the spoils of war. We won't read the whole psalm, but if you're at Psalm 68, look at verse 1. You see Yahweh going out to battle. Right? God fights the battle and the enemies scatter. Victory is secured. Then Yahweh is praised by all his people. Look at verse 4. Sing unto God, sing praises to his name. Extol him that rides upon the heavens by his name, Yah, and rejoice before him. This picture of God, quote, riding on the heavens, with people rejoicing before him, shouting out his name, Yah, right? Hallelu-Yah, praise Yahweh. It's not hard to picture this politically. He's returning from battle, riding up into the city with this victory parade. In fact, I think the victory parade is exactly what we're supposed to picture. Look at verse 17. The chariots of God are 20,000, even thousands of angels. The Lord is among them as in Sinai in the holy place, right? He's leading this victorious triumph processional. All right, so you get the picture here. Then verse 18 is gonna sound pretty familiar. You have ascended on high. You have led captivity captive. You have received gifts for men. Yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them. Blessed be the Lord, who daily loads us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. So in this victory parade, Yahweh is praised for having come down, conquered the enemy, victoriously he is leading captive prisoners, ascending up into Jerusalem with the spoils of war. The victory parade for Yahweh is what Paul is quoting in our text, in Ephesians 4. But he's applying it to the Lord Jesus. He talks about when he, Jesus, ascended on high. He led captivity captive and gave gifts to men. And that's how Paul's using it even though the verse he's quoting in Psalm 68 verse 18 says that Yahweh received gifts. Paul says this is about Jesus and Jesus gave gifts. So let's think through that for a moment. Is Paul misusing Psalm 68? We would never say that. I think the Apostle Paul has the authority and ability to interpret the Old Testament for us. Even in Psalm 68, as Yahweh receives gifts, the very next verse, verse 19, I read, it says, blessed is the Lord our God who daily loads us with benefits, right? The victorious, conquering God is a giving God. Now you can just imagine the Hebrew Christians of Ephesus turning to their Gentile Roman fellow church members and explaining to them, look, Paul's quoting Psalm 68 and it is this great psalm of victory, telling them the context of the psalm. It's one where Yahweh is praised for descending from Mount Zion and winning the victory for his people and then ascending back with the spoils of war. people shouting his name in this victorious parade as it goes by. And if that's what happened, I think the Gentile Romans of the church would probably have said something like, oh yeah, we know all about that kind of thing, because nobody throws a victory parade like the Romans do. When a Roman general won a great victory over Rome's enemies, if the victory was great enough, he was awarded a victory parade. It included bringing back the spoils of war that he brought back for Rome. Historians describe this. The people would go out and line the streets as the procession went by. The first to walk by in the procession would be magistrates and consuls of the Senate, and then trumpeters go by, and then wagons carrying the spoils of war like gold and silver and statues and artwork. The defeated enemies that had been captured, the captives that had been brought away into captivity would be marched along in the parade. And then in the chariot pulled by four white horses would finally come the general himself, the crowds all shouting his name in praise. And one of the most fascinating parts to me is that in those parades, there is a public slave who was set behind the general in the chariot with only one job, to just lean forward every once in a while and whisper into the general's ear, you are just a man. All this is going to pass. Romans even had a name for that parade. They called it a triumph. There's really no doubt that that's what Paul had in mind when he wrote to the Colossians, that our sins were nailed to the cross, and Jesus having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them. I think that's what he expects the readers to make a connection to here in Ephesians 4. The greatest difference is that Jesus in this victory is not only a man. By quoting Psalm 68 and applying it to Jesus, Paul's clearly saying, look, you have sung for centuries about the praises of Yahweh for winning the victory for his people. Just like you sing about God having come down from Mount Zion and winning the victory and then returning to shouts of praise in this victory parade, Jesus is God. He's God in the flesh. What could his descending from heaven mean except that he would win the victory and ascend into heaven again victoriously? Praising his name. The spoils of victory are his. The battle is his. And yet in the goodness and grace of Jesus, he has shared that victory with his people. He has handed out the spoils of war in the form of gifts for each of us. Isn't that what Jesus himself said? Right? The victory is his. Everything is his. It's his to give. Just before he ascended, he said to his church, all power is given to me in heaven and on earth. And what does he do with it? Giving it to you, right? You go and you teach all nations and you baptize them. You make disciples. You teach them everything that I've commanded you. Everything is His. He has the power and the ability to do as He wishes. This is what Paul means when he finishes verse 10 by saying, Jesus has done all this that He might fill all things. There is nothing that is not subject to Him. There is not a single molecule on earth or in the far reaches of space that are not there ultimately to give glory to the victorious Jesus. The fact that Jesus descended into this world and then ascended into heaven, that doesn't mean that we are without him. It means the universe is filled with him, Paul says. Now the giving of gifts is the context for everything he's saying there. Remember, he says in verse 7, unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ, right? All the spoils of his victory are his, and yet he gives gifts to his people. He gifts his people as he sees fit. He's the conquering king who won victory, and he can give people the rewards of that victory according to his own desire, according to his own wisdom. That is what Paul is telling the church at Ephesus. He's not trying to make an argument that Jesus, you know, what Jesus did in the three days between his death and his resurrection. What he's saying here is that the Lord Jesus descended in humility as God in the flesh. That the Lord Jesus has ascended in victory as the owner and ruler of all things. That the Lord Jesus in his kindness and in his wisdom has given gifts to each of his people. So keeping this in mind, later on we'll look at the rest of the passage and ask, will you be so indifferent about his victory that you won't use the gifts that he's given you to bring glory to him.