The sermon continues an exposition of Ephesians, turning to chapter 3:10-13 on the eve of Good Friday and Easter. Paul writes that God's intent is that "through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms" — a phrase the preacher identifies not merely as human governments but as the demonic powers that hold humanity captive under sin. The sermon opens with an extended illustration from C.S. Lewis's Narnia: Aslan, bound and mocked by the White Witch, is killed on the Stone Table, and Susan and Lucy weep through the night believing all is lost — until morning reveals the table cracked, the chains broken, and Aslan alive. The White Witch, Lewis writes, "did not know that when a willing victim, who had committed no treachery, was killed in a traitor's stead, the table would crack, and death itself would start working backwards." The preacher applies this directly to Christ: an innocent, willing substitute dying in the place of the guilty causes death itself to be undone and reversed.

This, the sermon argues, is the folly of the cross that Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 1:25 — Jews demanding signs, Greeks seeking wisdom, but God's foolishness proving wiser than human wisdom. Christ claims to defeat sin and Satan precisely through his own defeat; victory achieved through apparent loss, salvation achieved through death. Onlookers at the crucifixion mock him — "if you would save others, save yourself, come down from the cross" — yet the sermon insists that it is precisely because Christ did not come down that salvation became possible; had he saved himself, he could not have saved us. His death is the death that puts death itself to death. The sermon evokes a scene from The Passion of the Christ in which a demonic figure carrying an infant circles Christ during the scourging, taunting him to abandon his sonship — yet at the moment of Christ's death, the film shows the demon's mask torn away in terror, because in that very death sin's power is broken and Satan's apparent triumph becomes his undoing. What looked like Satan's greatest victory — using Judas's betrayal, the unjust trial of the religious leaders, and Pilate's cowardice to have the Son of God crucified — becomes his catastrophic defeat, confirmed by the resurrection that the church now anticipates celebrating at Easter.

The astonishing turn, per Ephesians 2:18-19 (quoted in the sermon), is that both Jews and Gentiles — people who deserved only wrath, who were once "strangers and aliens" — now have access to the Father through Christ and are made "fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God." This is the manifold wisdom now displayed through the church itself: sinners deserving judgment instead adopted as God's children, not through works but through faith alone. The sermon stresses this repeatedly: no fasting, almsgiving, or moral effort can qualify a sinner before a holy God, since even our righteous deeds are, per Jeremiah, "like a polluted garment" — the root problem is the sinner, not merely sinful acts. Faith is the sole instrument, exemplified by the tax collector who could only cry, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner." Faith in Christ, the sermon explains through Galatians 2:20, unites the believer with Christ's crucifixion and resurrection — "I have been crucified with Christ... it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me" — so that God no longer sees us in ourselves but "in Christ."

Turning to the temple veil, the sermon recalls that the roughly 30-ton curtain separating the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place — which only the high priest could pass, once a year, bearing sacrificial blood — was torn top to bottom at Christ's death. Christ, the true and great High Priest, entered the Most Holy Place not with the blood of goats or bulls but with his own blood, permanently opening access to God (echoing Hebrews 4:15-16, read together in the service: "let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace"). This access means both boldness to approach a holy God and boldness to face suffering, since (per Romans 8) nothing can separate believers from the love of God in Christ.

The sermon closes on Ephesians 3:13, where Paul asks the Ephesians not to lose heart over his imprisonment "for you, which is your glory" — summarizing his argument from verses 2-12 that his suffering in proclaiming "the unsearchable riches of Christ" to the Gentiles is itself grace, and, per Romans 8:17-18, present sufferings are not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed to those who suffer with Christ so as to be glorified with him.

Bible Verses Used

• Ephesians 3:10-13: The sermon's central text — God's manifold wisdom displayed to the heavenly rulers through the church, and Paul's charge not to lose heart over his suffering.

• 1 Corinthians 1:25: Used to frame the cross as apparent "foolishness" that is in fact greater wisdom and strength than human wisdom.

• Ephesians 2:18-19: Cited to show both Jews and Gentiles now have access to the Father and are fellow members of God's household.

• Galatians 2:20: Explains how faith unites the believer with Christ's crucifixion, so that "Christ lives in me."

• Hebrews 4:14-16: Read aloud in the service to show believers may approach the throne of grace with confidence because of the great high priest.

• Romans 8:17-18: Closes the sermon, contrasting present suffering with the incomparable glory to be revealed to those who suffer with Christ.