For this cause, I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. For this cause, you have to know
what was written before and after to understand that phrase, for
this cause. For this cause, because of the
calling wherewith I was called, He spoke of that earlier because
of the great grace that God bestowed upon me. In other words, I bow because
God bowed me. You know what happened to Saul
of Tarsus. And now he can say I bow. Jeremiah wrote in Lamentations
521 turn us unto thee O Lord and we shall be turned We could
say in that same spirit Lord bow us and we'll be bowed And that what happened to Saul
the Lord bowed him Saul is saying here God put me
on my knees and And so now I voluntarily by his grace go there. If you're ever gonna say I bow,
God's gonna have to do it. And then because he's saying
for this cause, the things following, because these things are so needful. They're so needful, the following
verses. But let's look at these two words for a minute. This
is the title of the message this morning. I bow. I bow. We've seen all through the scripture
now. Some of you have been following. We've been going through the
word of God, verse by verse, for many years. This is the issue
everywhere, isn't it? I bow. It was the issue in the
garden. Always has been. And it's going
to be the end, too. All to the end. Everybody's going
to bow sooner or later, aren't they? I bow. Everyone soon will bow when will
you bow? Paul said right now I bow I bow Instead of saying I will May
God give us grace to say I bow Paul said of the Jews you remember
this in Romans chapter He said, they have a zeal of God, but
not according to knowledge. And here's how I know that. They're
ignorant of the righteousness of God, and they're going about
to establish their own righteousness. In other words, he said, they
have not bowed. They haven't bowed. They have
not submitted to the righteousness of God in Christ. That's the
problem. That's the issue. God says you cannot be justified
by the deeds of the law and they have not bowed to that They have
not submitted to the righteousness of God in Christ God has declared
from the beginning that Christ is the sinner's only righteousness
and they have not bowed to him And he said my heart's desire
and prayer to God is that he'd save them Because this is salvation
I bow I bow. Now I know that our text is simply
the apostle Paul praying for the saints at Ephesus and he's
just telling them what he's doing. I bow. But the Lord arranged
this the way that he did on purpose. I bow. That's how we receive the blessing
of God. That's how, that is the means
by which the Lord bestows all of the things that we're gonna
see, and not all the day. This is gonna take a while, this
passage. This is a wonderful, very rich
passage. We're gonna look at one of the
things, I pray, Lord willing, this morning that he bowed his
knees for. But we'll see those things, but the way they come
to us, you know how they come? I bow. I submit to God's righteousness
for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believes. If we miss the fact here and
just kind of go past that and get on to the stuff that he's
praying about, if we miss the fact that the proudest, most
vehement, Enemy of the Lord Jesus Christ in the world at that time
Who made it his business to persecute and imprison and murder God's
people is now here on his knees before God praying for those
same people That God would bless them and provide for them Then
we've missed everything if we just pass over that we've missed
everything. Do you see what God did here? Who this is that says
I bow? I? And what that means, the work
of God, the power of God that it took for Saul to say now as Paul,
I bow. I want us to see and understand
these two words now, particularly in our text. If we don't see
anything else, I bow. I bow because I'm nothing. Because
I'm less than the least and you're great, I bow. I bow because my need is great. I bow because the only one that
can grant me what I need is you. I bow because it is my rightful
place before the King of Glory. And by His grace I know that.
I bow because thou art worthy to be worshipped. I bow because
you've sent me to these people and I'm not sufficient for these
things. I bow because they need you and you've caused me to love
them and to desire your blessing for them. I bow. Unto the Father, And we know we've talked about
that this morning. Who do we pray to? The Lord said, when
you pray, pray this way, our Father. I bow my knees unto the
Father, but listen, to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, I bow
to the one who's so loved that he sent his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. Paul didn't have to say
it that way. He could have said, I bow to
the Father. He could have said, I bow to God. I bow to the Sovereign
God. I bow before His throne. All
of that would have been true. But do you see what he's saying?
I bow to the Father who sent His Son. I bow to the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who gave us His Son. We call Him
our Lord Jesus Christ because the Father gave. His Son, that
whosoever believeth should not perish. And these are written
that you might believe and not perish. But have everlasting life. May
we never forget that we bow unto the Father, not a stranger, not
an austere and forbidding deity, our Father. He is the father of our Lord
Jesus Christ You think about what that says He's the father of our Savior
his son and How then if he spared not his own son for us and that's
what that means. I He's the father of our Lord
Jesus, for he shall save his people. If he spared not his
own son for us, how shall he not with him also freely give
us all things? I bow unto him. What a privilege it is to bow
to him. We bow to him because he's God But we count ourselves supremely
blessed to call him father Verse 20 Of this text Speaks of what God is able to
do And we won't look at that particularly today But look at
verse 20 now unto him that is able this is who we bowing to
now Unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above
all that we ask Whatever you ask for he's able
to do better than that You've never gotten you've never
prayed for Especially, much less beyond
what he's able to do. You've never even gotten close
to what he's able to do. For you. And for me. Or even think. According to the
power that worketh in us. In other words, by his Holy Spirit.
According to the power of his Spirit. The same power that works
in us to do what we do. The one that works in us to do
what we do that's worth doing, everything but sin, accorded
by that power, he can do anything. That's why Paul said, I can do
all things through Christ, because he can do anything. Okay, let
me continue my thought though. Verse 20 speaks of what God is
able to do, and I look forward to talking particularly about
that for a while soon, I pray. But will he do anything for us?
He's able to do anything. Will he do anything for you?
He can. But will he? Here's our answer. We bow on
our knees to our father. You don't have to ask if I would
do anything for my children. You already know. Because I'm
their father. This is the answer to that question.
No good thing will he withhold from his children. Do you know
what it means to be a father? Even you ladies now and your
children. Have you ever seen a father? Do you not have any
idea what it is to be a father? Will he do what we ask? I bow my knees to the Father. Of whom, verse 15, the whole
family in heaven and earth is named. He's not just my Father. The whole family It's called
by His name. All who are His in heaven and
earth are one family. His family. And just like my
family bears my name, we bear His. And that means a lot more
than just what we sign on the dotted line. When my children
sign something, they sign Cunningham, but that's not the extent of
what it means to bear my name. It means we're one. It means
I'm responsible for them. It means they are precious to
me. It means they are mine and I am theirs. Solomon wrote in
the Lord Jesus Christ, I am his and he's mine. That's what it
means to bear his name. Verse 16, that he would grant
you. Here's what I'm praying for,
I'm bowing my knees, Paul said. I'm not just gonna, you know, I have a thought fly through
my head of prayer for somebody on my way to do something else.
I'm going to bow my knees. I'm going to stop. I'm going
to ask God. I'm going to ask our Father if He would do this for us. That He would grant you according
to the riches of His glory. To be strengthened with might
by His Spirit in the inner man. We have no idea how badly we
need this. Do you know how weak we are? Get up here sometime and try
to preach and you'll find out how weak, how weak you are. Lord, strengthen us, give us
strength. We have a great job to do, great
work. Paul said, as I already mentioned, who is sufficient
for these things? Now we know who does this, by
the Holy Spirit, by His Spirit, we're strengthened
in the inner man. By God the Holy Spirit, the one
who quickened us, the one who, the wind blows where it lifts
us, the Savior said to Nicodemus, You don't know where it came
from or where it'll go. You hear the sound thereof. So
it is with everyone that's born of the Spirit. He goes where
He will and He gives life. He breathes life into the soul,
into the spirit of man. By the preaching of Christ, by
the power of Christ, by the blood of Christ. And this is a grant
from God that He would grant you. Reminds me of faith and repentance,
doesn't it, you? Paul wrote to Timothy specifically
this, didn't he? He preached faithfully to those
that will hear you now, and then when you preach, God might just
give repentance to those that hear you. You remember that?
In Paul's letter to Timothy? May God grant us repentance and
faith. It's the gift of God, not of
flogs, lest any man should boast. Here's another gift from God,
like those. May He grant us strength. May He strengthen our inner man
according to the riches of His glory. This is why we bow our
knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, because He alone
can grant us what we need. We need a gift, we need a grant,
we need him to bestow this upon us. And we don't bow our knees
grudgingly or as a last resort. When we find ourselves unable
to do it on our own, you know, as a last resort, well we're
going to try everything we know. No, this is a first resort. We know that everything we try
is vain without his blessing. Before we ever try it, we know
that, don't we? Let's don't try to work it out ourselves, and
then when we fail, then go to the Lord. Let's just go to Him
from the start, from the get-go. Have we learned that yet? We
might as well just go right to Him from the start. Because without Him, we can do
nothing. We come to Him utterly needy
and helpless and consider it a great privilege to do so. Right
off the bat, let's go to Him for that which we need. And we
need strength. God, we're so weak where we ought
to be strong and strong where we ought to be weak. And we don't
know the difference. We don't even flat know the difference.
Do you realize that? Let me give you an example of
that. When somebody in this world is proud and You know, with regard to the
woman in the scripture, you know, the scripture calls her a boisterous
woman. You know what the scripture's
talking about when we're talking about that? Just somebody obnoxious and proud
and just ugly in it. You know what I'm saying? You
know what the world calls that? A strong-willed woman. That's
just the opposite of the truth. It's easy to be a witch. Did
you know that? That's the easiest thing. That
just comes naturally to us. Or a man. I'm talking about men
and women who are that way. A wife who will not submit to
her husband as the Lord has clearly taught now. Or a husband who's
just a domineering ass. You know what I'm talking about?
The scripture calls us that. A wild ass's coat. That's the
easiest thing in the world to be. That's not strong willed.
That's weak. We don't even know the difference.
We call strong weak and weak strong. If you're that way, you're
weak and pathetic and not in a good way. It's easy to be a
jerk, isn't it? That's the easiest. That just
comes perfectly naturally. You know what strength is? Strength
is this. You know what strength is? That's going to take some strength
right there. I bow. God says submit. I bow. Oh, I can't. I'm just strong-willed.
That's just a lie right out of hell. You're weak and pathetic
and you're a failure and God's got to do something with you.
I pray he will. I don't care who you are or what
relationship we're talking about now. Only God can give this kind
of strength. I bow. So we pray, Lord give us strength
to submit. Strength to submit to your will
in all things. We sometimes, we have a problem
here. We know and believe from the word of God The truth, we know this truth,
that we are unable meritoriously to obey God. We cannot obey God. I know that, you know that, as
a believer. By the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified. He said without me you can do
nothing. Christ is our righteousness, all of our righteousness, our
only righteousness. No doubt about that. But that
does not mean that we abandon all effort or desire to obey
God. For crying out loud, our Lord
Jesus Christ looked his disciples in the eye and he said, if you
love me, keep my commandments. What do we think that means?
It's not to gain favor with God. It's not for our righteousness
before God. Christ is our righteousness. But do you love him? He didn't say if you want to
be saved, keep my commandments. He said if you love me. He didn't
say if you want to go to heaven when you die, keep my commandments.
If you love me. And we've been talking about
submission to his will. You know what love does? It vaulteth
not itself. It's not puffed up. Love does
not behave itself unseemly. So when you're like that, don't
say, well, I can't help it. I'm just strong-willed. Know
this. You are a wretch before God now. And you need for him to shed
abroad his love in your heart. Because love doesn't act like
that. If you love me, keep my commandments. What's our response to that?
Oh, Lord, according to your riches in glory, strengthen us by thy
Holy Spirit with might in the inner man. Our text is our answer
to that. Do you love me? Keep my commandments,
O Lord, according to your riches in glory. By your Holy Spirit,
give us strength. Endeavor, endeavor, endeavor
to keep the unity of the Spirit. Lord, strengthen us with thy
might. by the Holy Spirit. Walk worthy of the calling wherewith
you're called. Lord, strengthen us. The spirit is willing, but the
flesh is weak. Lord, strengthen us. Preach the
word. Be instant, in season, out of
season. Lord, strengthen us. Give us strength. I am nothing. I have nothing,
I can do nothing. The Lord has taught us that,
hasn't he? You can't unknow that. If he's taught you that, you
just know that. If we abide not in the vine, he said, you're
just worthy to be cut off and gathered up and burned. Our life,
our source of all strength and life and blessing and every grace
is Christ. But if we abide in the vine,
by His grace, we shall bear fruit. The Lord keep us, the Lord strengthen
us. How does the Holy Spirit strengthen us? Turn to John 16. John chapter 16, verse 5. The Lord said, as he prepared
to leave this world, he said, None of you asked me where I'm
going, but because I've said these things unto you, sorrow
hath filled your heart. He said, you haven't even asked
me where I'm going. You haven't even asked me, what are you going
to do when you get there? Why are you going? They couldn't even They
didn't even want to get to the bottom of it. They just said,
Lord, don't go. Don't go. I can understand that. But think
about it. He's saying, you don't even ask
me where I'm going. You know if he said I'd go, there's a
good reason for me. There's a good reason for me.
I believe there's a lesson for us in there somewhere. Sorrow
has filled your heart. Has that ever happened to you?
There's not even room to see the glory of Him going back to
His Father and the purpose of it and why He needs to, why it's
necessary and what that means for us. Sorrow has filled our
heart and there's no room for any joy or thanksgiving or trust. Nevertheless, I'll tell you the
truth. You may not ask, but I'm going
to tell you anyway. You see His grace there. You
hadn't had it. I'm going to tell you anyway.
It's expedient for you that I go away. It's expedient for you
that if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you. But if
I depart, I'm going to send him to you. And he has, hasn't he? He has. And when he has come,
he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and
of judgment. In other words, he's going to
carry out the same work that the Lord himself has been doing.
The Lord's leaving in body, but that's the only way Of sin because they believe not
on me that's that's seen in people talking about with smoking and
drinking and cussing, you know Sin is not believing in Christ
Your unbelief Your hatred of God and your refusal You will
not come to me that you might have life. That's what sin is.
I All other sin just springs from that, doesn't it? Unbelief.
Of righteousness, because I go to my father and you see me no
more. Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.
I have yet many things to say unto you, but you can't bear
them now. They couldn't even bear him saying, I go to my father.
Much less the other things he had to say. How be it when he,
the spirit of truth, is come. Oh, in spite of you now. You're
worried about it, but oh, it's going to be good. It's going
to be good. He's going to guide you into all truth. And He's
not going to speak of Himself. It's not going to be Holy Ghost
revival and Holy Ghost this and Holy Ghost that. You know what
it's going to be? Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Whatsoever He shall hear, that
shall He speak, and He will show you things to come. He shall glorify me. Would that strengthen you? When
the Holy Spirit takes the things of Christ through the preaching
of the gospel and shows Christ to you, does that give you strength?
There is no other source of strength. For he shall receive of mine,
and shall He shall show it unto you. All
things that the Father hath are mine. Therefore said I, that
he shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you. That's strength
right there. That's how the Holy Spirit strengthens His people.
By revealing Christ to us and in us, and by His power, we carry
on. Are you strengthened by the law?
Will that motivate you? Will that give you the strength
you need, the encouragement you need to do? If I preach to you
do's and don'ts, will that inspire you? Motivate you to obey God? What I'm saying is that this
strength, in verse 16 of our text, let's go back to our text
Ephesians chapter 3. Look at verse 16 Ephesians 3 And he would grant you, according
to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened. And he will
grant you to be strengthened with his might by his spirit
in the inner man. Now what I'm saying here, this
is the message this morning. Very simple, very brief, we're
done. But this is what it says here.
That strength right there in verse 16 has everything to do
with the person in verse 17. Look at verse 17. That Christ,
this is just another way of saying it. That Christ may dwell in
your hearts. How does he do that? By faith.
How does that happen? The Holy Spirit shows you His
Son and you rejoice in Him. He's your motivation. He's your
encouragement. He's your will, your will to
do anything. You take Christ away from me
and I'm done. I'm done in this world. I've
got no desire, no will, no purpose. My strength in every sense is
Christ. Isn't that just true? He is the vine, and we are the
branches. I love how our Lord taught so
simple, didn't he? What good is a branch without
a vine? Nothing, nothing. No life, no beauty, no fruit,
no anything. People gather them up and burn
them. Oh, but if we abide in Christ, By his grace, he said,
you'll be beautiful through my comeliness. You know why the
branch is beautiful? It has beautiful green leaves
on it, and fruit, light, beautiful fruit, because of the vibe. Without me, he said, in that
same context, you can do nothing. But I want you to turn to Philippians.
You know what comes next after that. Philippians 4. Verse 10. Just a few pages over
here. And verse 10. And I want to read some of the
context here because I want us to see what he's talking about.
But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at the last your care
of me had flourished again wherein you were also careful, but you
lacked opportunity, not that I speak in respect of want. For
I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content."
Now people take this verse out of context. They say, I can do
all things through Christ which strengthens me. We can build
these great buildings. We can create a religious empire,
you know, and conquer the world for Jesus. I can do all these
things through Christ, which strengthens. That's not what
Paul's talking about. You know what he's talking about?
Submission. Same thing we've been talking
about all morning. I bow. I'm gonna take what he gives
me, and I'm gonna be happy. We have everything. We have everything and we still
want the stuff that we want. You know what it is? Nothing.
We have everything in Him and we want a bunch of nothing. I
have learned by God's grace, by His strength now, whatsoever
state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased
and I know how to abound. If the Lord blesses me and He
has, hasn't He? We've got a lot to be content
with, don't we? That's a strange way of saying
it. We've got a lot to be content with, but we know how to abound
by His grace. Let's use the things of this
world as gifts from Him, not abusing them, not holding on
too tightly, not living for these things. I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things
I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound
and to suffer need. I can do all things. Either way,
I'm gonna be fine. You know why? Because Christ
is my strength. That's what our text is talking
about. That's what Paul's praying for. I wish that were true of
all of us. Maybe more so. Don't you? Oh. Daniel 11 32 says this such as
do wickedly against the covenant Shall he corrupt my flatteries,
but the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits
I Hope that's us. Don't you I want to do something
while we're in this world for him by his grace and power Something
worth doing don't you? Whatever that, I don't care if
the world thinks a whole lot of it or not. If we don't do anything but bow.
You talk about strength now, Lord give us the strength to
bow. We are strengthened as we come
to know Him. As we have Christ revealed to
us in the Gospel and by the Holy Spirit in power. as He reveals
Christ to us and in us. In other words, just simply,
as all things, Christ is our strength. He's our strength. Oh God, strengthen us. Let's
pray.