Alright, Psalm 115, I'm going
to read three verses of scripture here. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto
us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, for thy truth's
sake. Wherefore should the heathen
say, Where is now their God? But our God is in the heavens,
He hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. I wish all of you a good morning.
And I just want to say thank you. For Claudia and I, it's
been good. You've been so gracious, taking
such great care of us. Hotel room, just wonderful. Only had one defect. There's
a mirror on the wall, and it makes me look like I've gained
about 50 pounds. Only thing, it bothered me about
the whole thing. But maybe they'll get a new mirror
before next time. But it's been good. Appreciate
so much this church over the years. And Brother Donnie, you
and Shirley, appreciate y'all so much. I tell you, they were
such a blessing to our congregation, and they send their regards. I heard from some of them this
morning. Just be sure and tell you hello. Nick said, Donny, he said, be
sure and tell Donny hello for me. So anyway, I go out to the
prisons. And it's not speaking ill of
the others that have gone out there. But they remember Brother
Bale. How's Brother Bale doing? There's
only one left. They didn't get out of prison. They just move
them around a lot, keep problems to them. But there's one left
out there. And he always asked me about Brother Bell. He would
have been excited to know that I was coming up here, but I didn't
see him last week before I left. But it's been a blessing. It's been a blessing to central
Louisiana. And I know he's been a blessing here. But he asked
me to sing this hymn for you. I like it. I mentioned it last night.
You always wonder when you're going to just quit singing, attempting
to sing. You know, I won't know it. You're
going to have to tell me, you know, like they do at the prison,
you know, just holler yard recall and I'll quit. I remember Doris
Mahan, one time they were at the church there and Kitchen's
Creek. And I said, Doris, do you still
sing specials? And she said, heavens no. She
said, there was no lady in our church when I was a young lady. And she'd get up and she'd try. And she said she'd get done.
And everybody said, well, bless her heart. She said, I don't
want anybody saying to me, well, bless her heart. So that's another way. Just keep
it on your mind. But I'm glad to be here. Claudia
and I have enjoyed it. Ephesians chapter 3. Ephesians chapter 3. Now I want to talk to you about
something this morning I know very little about. About something
we attempt Every time we meet together like this, something
is called worship, adoration, to adore the Lord our God in
that first hymn that we sing. Now, if we had time, I'd begin
at verse 1 and just keep right on reading this whole letter
to this congregation in Ephesus. But what I want to say to us
is going to come from verse 20 and 21. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding
abundantly all that we ask or think according to the power
that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church by Christ
Jesus throughout all ages, were or without end. Amen. You know, you read, you go back
and read this letter, the way Paul begins, he tells us what
the Lord's done for us. Beginning there about verse 14,
Paul prays for this congregation. I heard Brother Paul Mahan preach
a message years ago. He preached on Ephesians 1, beginning
there, verse 14, on Paul's prayer for this church. I still have
my notes on it. I enjoy going back and reading
those notes that I took of that message. It was a joy in my heart.
Chapter 2 tells what the Lord's done for us. This chapter, 3,
it's dealing with worship. Worship. Now there's a great
message here in this chapter. where Paul speaks of that unveiling
of that hidden mystery, that the Gentiles, that's us, that's
us, are made partakers of the promise in Christ by the gospel. Great message. It also has a
great prayer in it. Verse 14, he said, for this cause
I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And in these two verses, 20 and
21, a hymn of incomparable praise. You know this, so this short
chapter has to do with everything that we do here this morning.
Everything we do, no matter when we meet together. A reading of the Word, of praying,
singing hymns of praise, and proclaiming the good news. That's
all we do. Like Brother Donnie said last
night, we all do it in a different order, and we might do it in
a different order from one time to the next, but that's what
we do. You know it's what we're going to do with the emphasis put on the
proclaiming of the Word. Proclaiming of the good news.
Used to, you know, in Mexico, had trouble with people getting
there on time. We always started at dark 15. Nobody had watches,
but dark 15, we'd start service. And some of them would invariably
be late. I don't know how. You know, Clayton and I talk,
you know, just, you'd just think half the time they'd be on time,
or early, you know. You know, a lot of times I'd
just start preaching. I'd preach my message first.
And they'd get there and would sing a hymn and go home. And
they'd say, aren't we going to have preaching? We've already
had it. Where were you? You know, you'd do it hoping
it'd stir some of them up just to be a little bit more considerate. People don't like to wait on
anybody, do they? Want the whole world to wait
on them. If you don't believe it, just get out here on these interstates
and drive a little bit. I tell you, we're still going
to do the same thing. We're going to meet together,
we're going to pray together, we're going to read the Scripture
together, we're going to sing together, and we're going to preach together.
I go out to that prison complex five times a week and we do the
same thing. We meet together, we pray together,
we read the Scripture together, we sing songs of praise together
and not preach the Gospel, no matter where we are. Now this
hymn in which Paul closes this chapter, These last two verses,
this hymn grows out of this chapter. It's just the natural outcome,
the natural finish of everything that he said here. It's like
putting a crown up on the whole thing. I think it was Spurgeon
that said, it's like that temple sitting on top of Mount Zion.
Mount Zion was beautiful. And he said, But His crowning
glory was that temple sitting right up on top of it. Well,
that's what these last two verses are. That's the crown sitting
up on top of this whole thing. And Paul presents the gospel.
And he talks about the different ways it came, different ways
it affected, different ones, how it was presented to different
people. And it's all distinguished by
this word, unto. Look at verse 5 with me. He says,
which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as
is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the
Spirit. It wasn't revealed to them in
the past as clearly as it's revealed now. unto the holy apostles and prophets
by the Spirit. And we today live in even a clearer
light. Oh, and how grateful we ought
to be that we don't have to look at those shadows and those types. We can, but my, we see the fulfillment
of them. The pictures, all these pictures. We have the reality You know,
inmates, excuse me for making reference to them, but they're
such a picture of us. And you know, they get lonely
to see their families. I've talked to some of them.
They haven't seen their families in 20, 25 years. Their children
have grown up, adults, their grandparents. They've never seen
any of them. They have pictures. And they'll bring me pictures.
Brother Milton, I want you to see this picture. This is my
new grandbaby. And I think, and I use it for
an illustration with them so often, you're going to get out
of here one of these days, I hope most of them won't, but anyway,
you're going to get out of here one of these days. And you won't,
when you get out of here and you get home, you're not going
to sit around and hug on those pictures. Oh, you're going to
hug the reality. We don't get carried away with
the shadows and the types and the pictures, as beautiful as
they are. but reality unto the end. Look at what he says in
verse eight. He speaks of the relation of
this gospel to himself. He said, unto me, who am less than the least of all saints,
unto me is this grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles
the unsearchable riches of Christ. I tell you, what the gospel may
do to others, it's of great importance to us. But that doesn't do me a whole
lot of good. I can sit around and watch you eat and eat and
eat and starve to death. Take a while, but I would. Unless
we can testify what it's done for me, for each one of us personally. You know, can you say this morning
unto me, Is this grace given unto me? Then in verse 10, he
speaks of this gospel being made known to the angels. He said,
to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in
heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom
of God. Unto the principalities and powers
in heavenly places. And this gospel has a relationship
with these angels. They've always had something
to do with it. They've always desired to look
into it. They've always desired to see
what we see. It's written of our Lord that
He was seen of angels. And they rejoice over sinners
that are saved. So they've always had a relationship
with this gospel unto them. In Luke 15, He said, I say unto
you, there's joy in the presence of the angels of God. Over one. One sinner. Can you imagine that? Over one sinner that repenteth.
In verse 16, he speaks of the relation of this gospel to these
Ephesians. He says that he would grant you
according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with
might by His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in
your hearts by faith, that ye, being rooted and grounded in
love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the
breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love
of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with
all the fullness of God. Oh, that He might give it to
you, grant to you. He prayed that the people would
be strengthened with the power of God's Spirit in the inner
man, that Christ would dwell in their hearts, that they would
have an understanding of what it is to be loved by the Lord
Jesus Christ, that they might be filled with the fullness of
God. Now, did you notice as we were
reading this, it all has to do with inside? In the heart? He says, you know,
that we might be strengthened with the might of His Spirit
in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts, and
that you may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth,
length, depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ with
patches of knowledge that may be filled inside. Religion has to do with the outside.
It's what you can hang on it, paint on it, nail on it, That's
religion. That's religion. Gospel has to
do with the heart. I've never known a believer that
was religious. I've never known a religious
person that was a believer. Now you just think about that.
Don't come up with any exceptions and ask me about them. Just think
about it. We'll talk about it next year, some other time. But
you see how it's all, it's all in the heart, all in the heart.
And then here in these verses 20 and 21, he speaks of all this
in relation to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord God of heaven. Now unto Him, unto Him, is able
to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according
to the power that worketh in us. Unto Him be glory in the
church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end.
Amen. no longer under principalities
and powers, no longer unto me, no longer unto the holy apostles
and prophets, but his theme now is all unto him. All unto him. I pray that every one of us who've
tasted that the Lord is gracious, that he's good, will look wholly
unto the Lord. Bill, we might spend what little
time we have here this morning just in reverent adoration of
Him from whom all grace comes and to Him all glory be given. For of Him and through Him and
to Him are all things. So if unto Him there should be
glory in the church throughout all ages, then to Him There should
be glory in the church now and forever. In our text we have
adoration. Adoration. I wish I had the words
to describe that word. It's a result of praise and worship. One said praise is the river
flowing in one direction contained within its banks toward an object. We came across that Mississippi
River Thursday, my, whatever it was, my, what a river. What
a river. But it was all contained within
those levees. Vidalia, Louisiana was high and
dry. It wasn't. It was low. It's low
and dry because of the levees. Natchez, Mississippi, on the
other side of the river, it was high. Those bluffs. Boy, I'd
hate to see that river get up that high. But you know, there
were parts of it that flooded just here a few weeks ago. That
river is flowing, though, contained within those banks toward an
object. Adoration. is that same river
overflowing all of its banks, covering everything. Now we start
off with our praise, and it's all within those banks. Our prayers,
it'll overflow those banks. We might truly come to worship
and adore the Lord our God. Adoration is the fullness, the
height, the depth, the length, the breadth, the praise. It's
the object of our praise, the end of our praise. You know,
adoration seems to be as the heavens always declaring the
glory of God. And there's no speech nor language
where their voice is not heard. You know, it's that Adoration,
it comes down to that eloquent silence of the soul. You can't talk about it. There's
no way you won't talk about it. It's the silence of the soul,
a soul that's so full. It's too overwhelmed to even
speak. to sink into the dust of humility,
for us to sink into nothingness in ourselves, yet filled with
all the fullness of God, to lose our self in Him. David and I were talking on the
phone the other day. Now, David, I can't remember what you told
me, but it had something about just getting in God's presence.
It was talking about prayer, just trying to get into God's
presence. You don't do it with words. You don't do it by just standing
on your knees until your knees look like camel's knees and you
get proud of that. My, we get proud of everything,
don't we? It's just somehow or another just to come into God's
presence. Oh, the depth of the riches,
both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God. How unsearchable are
His judgments and His ways past finding out. If we could just
turn away from everything else this morning and look to Him.
And when you do, just think of His glorious character. You know,
Paul declares here that the divine ability declares that divine
ability to bless us. And this soul encouraged me,
I hope it will be an encouragement to you, to bless us above what
we ask. He said in verse 20, Now unto
him that is able to do exceeding, abundantly, above all. Here is that word again, A-L-L,
all. Not that kind of all you put
in the engine. No, this is all, A-L-L all. All that we ask or
think. And we've asked for some great
things, haven't we? You ask the Lord to save you.
You ask the Lord to forgive you. Ask the Lord to reveal Himself
to you. Boy, that's asking a lot, isn't it? Oh, oh my. What a great thing to ask for,
yet he did that and so much more. More than we could ever ask or
think. Many times we've cried for great deliverances and he
delivered us. But how many times did he deliver
us when we didn't ask for it? We didn't even know we were in
danger, still don't know it. But he's just above what we can
even ask or think. Have you ever prayed and thought,
well that's just too much to ask for? I tell you, it's never
too much to ask for if you're one of his, if you're one of
his children. But of all which we've asked,
we've never reached the bottom of divine ability. He's able
to do more than we've ever asked or we have ever even thought.
Our prayer at its best is only limited by our sense of our need.
You think about that. And we don't have a clue what
we need. Aren't you glad that you don't
have what you thought you needed? Many, many things you thought
you needed. I remember one time, years ago,
with Gary Williams. I know you're back in the back
somewhere. But anyway, wherever you are. There you are. You know,
that man has a heart of gold. Been a friend a long time. He
sent me some money. I wrote him back and I said,
I don't know why you're seeing it. Right now I don't have a
need one. But I said, you know, but what
do I know? What do I know? Well, you know,
it wasn't too long before I had a need. And it was covered. We don't know what we have need
of. Not even at this very moment. That's what I said, it's just
limited by how we understand. We have no idea of the depth
of our necessities. Sin's ruined our spiritual appetite.
So we hold back. But blessed be God, he's not
limited by our sense of need, our understanding of our need.
He does more than we ask or think. We only cried for forgiveness,
didn't we? What'd he do? He made us his children. Heirs, heirs of God, join us
with the Lord Jesus Christ. He's never put one of his children
on a diet of bread and water. We're always like Mephibosheth,
we just eat at the king's table. It's a banquet, a banquet. You ever wonder why you thirst
again so soon? Might be because you've taken
too small a bucket to the well. bring a bigger bucket, because
He's able to do more than we ever ask or think, exceeding
abundantly, more than we can ever ask or think. For as the
heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your
ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. Can you understand
this ability? I tell you, we can't We can't
praise what we don't understand. And Paul says in verse 20, according
to the power that worketh in us, we know that God can give
us more than we ask or think because he's given us more than
we've ever asked for or thought about. Our regeneration came to us before
we ever prayed. Did you know that? My! We prayed because we were regenerated. Not in order to, but because
of. Prayer is the first sign of the
new birth that's already been given. To pray for life is not
something the dead can do. They need life before they can
even pray for life. Regeneration puts us into the
living desire and the spiritual longing. And the first principle
of life imparted to us, it makes us long for life. Now don't ask
me to explain all that. I just know it's so. And He provided
us with a substitute before we ever even knew we needed a substitute. And who would have dared to ask
the Lord to give His Son as that substitute that we so needed
to bleed and die for us? Never would have thought about
that. Never would have thought about that. And in providing
for us a substitute from before the foundation of the world,
the Lord's He's already gone way beyond our thoughts, our
request. We didn't ask him to choose us,
did we? There's something else he did
for us before the foundation of the world was ever laid. And
I'm not going to go back, but later on, as Brother Scott always
said, do it on your own time. But go back and read these first
nine verses of Ephesians, what he did for us, what he did for
us. Well, what shall I render unto
the Lord for all of his benefits toward me? That's what the psalmist,
that was a question. What a question. Psalm 116. What
shall I render unto the Lord for all of his benefits toward
me? Praise. That's where it starts.
Worship. Adoration. The psalmist answers
his own question. He said, bless the Lord. Oh, my soul, and all that's within
me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, oh, my soul,
and forget not all of His benefits. You know, when God blesses us,
He does something for us. When we bless God, we just brag
on Him. We can't do a thing for Him. He doesn't need us. He doesn't
need anything we could give Him. We just brag on Him. That's praise. Unto Him be glory in the church
by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. Oh, I tell you, may His exceeding
goodness shine upon my soul, and may I glorify Him by manifesting
to this whole wide world what great things the Lord hath done
for me and hath had compassion on me. And may this praise, this worship,
this adoration be not only in my soul, my soul, but I tell
you, may it be in the whole church, calling on all the people of
God to praise Him. And if all this world suddenly
goes, becomes deaf-mutes, goes silent, May the church always
proclaim the glory of God. We stand all by ourselves doing
it. Not ourselves as a congregation,
by myself, by yourself. We're still going to praise Him.
The psalmist said, Oh, give thanks unto the Lord for He's good.
For His mercy endureth forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord
say so, whom He hath redeemed out of the hand of the enemy.
And we can only do this by Christ Jesus. By proclaiming Him here. By proclaiming Him to this world. It's all we have to say. And
may we do it throughout all ages. World without end. Generation
after generation. And what can we say to all this?
What Paul said, Amen. Boy, don't add to that. Don't
take away from it. Unto Him. be glory in the church
by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Thank you. May the Lord bless
you. Thank you, Brother Donnie.