Now, our God is going to teach
us the gospel of our salvation in
His Son through His Word. And then our God is going to
give us a trial to teach us that this gospel is not just a doctrine,
but it's a person. Paul had preached the Gospel
to the elders at Ephesians, to the brethren at Ephesus. He had
set an example before them. And in everything that he's reminding
them of in his Gospel and his example here in Acts 20, he's
declaring to them that humility of mind is knowing. God, trusting His Son, and believing
that God really does save. He really does make this word
effectual. He makes it real in our hearts
to know that our salvation, our care, our everlasting comfort
and assurance and consolation is in Christ Jesus our Lord,
His Son. And that's what he says here
in Acts 20, 32 when he says, Now brethren, I commend you to
God and to the word of His grace which is able to build you up
and to give you an inheritance. Mark that word inheritance. We're
going to see that here in a moment. To give you an inheritance among
all them which are sanctified. Now in Acts 20, verse 36, it
says, And when he had thus spoken, he kneeled down and prayed with
them all." Would you like to hear Paul's prayer? Would you
like to know what Paul prayed that day with them? We don't
know the exact words that he prayed at that time, but in two
places in his letters to the Ephesians, Paul tells us what
his prayer was for them continually. Turn over to Ephesians chapter
1. This is where we'll stay for the remainder And we're going to look at this
prayer that Paul said he prayed for them. Ephesians 1 verse 15,
Wherefore, he's spoken to them up to this point in this chapter
about the wisdom and the power of God. And now he says, Wherefore,
I also After I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus." These
are believers he is saying this about. I heard of your faith
in the Lord Jesus at Ephesus. And love unto all the saints.
He says, I cease not to give thanks for you, making mention
of you in my prayers. Now this was his prayer. He said
from the first hour he heard of their faith and their love
until now. And this is his prayer. that
he prayed when he was with them there at Ephesus that day. He
says here in verse 17, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom
and revelation in the knowledge of Him. Now they knew the Lord
Jesus Christ and they believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. But
Paul says, I pray that God will give you more wisdom and more
revelation in the knowledge of Him. He's praying for two things
specifically here. He's going to begin here praying
that God will give them wisdom. That He would make known unto
them His wisdom. And he's going to end here by
saying that he prays that God would make known unto them His
power. His wisdom and His power. This is a prayer for wisdom and
power. Now here's the first thing that
he prays for. Growth in the spirit of wisdom.
Now God, the Father of glory, is going to give this revelation.
It's a divine revelation, this spirit of wisdom. In verse 17
there he says, I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of glory, may give unto you this spirit of wisdom
and revelation. It's going to come from God the
Father. And then this wisdom and revelation that God the Father
gives is given in spirit by the Holy Spirit. He says here in
verse 17, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father
of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation. The spirit of wisdom and revelation. That the eyes of your understanding,
the word is your heart, the eyes of your heart might be enlightened. God hath revealed the hidden
things unto us by His Spirit, Paul said in Corinthians. He
said He's revealed them unto us by His Spirit, for the Spirit
searcheth the deep things of God. No man knows what another
man is thinking but the Spirit that's in that man. And he said
even so, the things of God, no man knows but the Spirit of God. And now we've received not the
Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that
we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. So first it's going to be by
God the Father of glory that's going to give this. And then
it's going to be by the Holy Spirit in spirit that this knowledge,
this divine revelation is given of the wisdom of God. And then
the third thing is, It's going to be knowledge in the Lord Jesus
Christ, His Son. You're going to see the wisdom
and power in the Lord Jesus Christ, His Son. He says that God of
our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the
spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. Paul
said, God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness has
shined in our hearts. That's what he's talking about.
Your understanding of your heart being enlightened. To give the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God. Of the glory of
God, the Father of glory. If you're going to behold the
glory of God, the Father of glory, it's going to be in the face
of Jesus Christ. We're going to grow in wisdom,
we're going to grow in knowledge of God the Father by growing
in wisdom and knowledge of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, because
it pleased the Father that it be so. If we're going to know
the wisdom and power of God, we've got to be made to know
Christ, the wisdom and power of God. Now, the reason Paul
prays for this increase in wisdom and revelation and the knowledge
of Christ is that they might rest in hope. Look at verse 18. The second part there, verse
18. He says that you may know what is the hope of His calling. The hope of His calling. Faith
and hope go hand in hand. Listen to Galatians 5.5. We,
through the Spirit, through the Holy Spirit, wait for the hope
of righteousness. That's what our hope is, the
hope of righteousness. And we wait for the hope of righteousness
by faith. Faith and hope go hand in hand.
Now here's our hope. Our hope is that one day we're
going to awake in perfect righteousness, conform to Christ, awake in His
likeness with nothing, no sin, nothing to interfere with perfect
communion with our God, our Savior. It's called the hope of righteousness. Now here's what John said in
1 John 3, 2. He said, Beloved, now are we
the sons of God. We've been born of God. You're
the son of God now. You're the child of God now that's
been born of Him. And he says, And it doesn't appear
what we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear, when
Christ returns, we shall be like Him. For we shall see Him as
He is." This is our hope. That's the hope of righteousness.
We're going to see Him as He is, have no interruption between
us and Him. And now this hope is created
in the believer. This hope is created in us when
Christ takes up residence in the soul. That's why Paul is
praying for this increase of this divine revelation of the
knowledge of the wisdom of God in the face of Christ for them.
It's because this is how it begins, this is how it's grown, this
is how it's continued, this is how we're kept, stayed, trusting
Christ. Listen to Colossians 1.27. He
says, To whom God would make known what is the riches of the
glory of this mystery among the Gentiles. And here it is. Christ
in you, the hope of glory. That's how this hope starts.
That's how it begins. That's how it's continued. That's
how it's grown. Christ in you. And as God grows us in the knowledge
of Christ, and as He grows us in faith and in hope, He increases
us in these things. This is how the believer is made
willing to be separated, desires to be separated from everything
that defiles, from false religion, from false works of dead works,
from sin and rebellion that doesn't adorn the doctrine of our Savior.
This is how we grow to desire to be separated from everything
that would hinder our communion with our God, is by this hope
growing in us. That's what John concludes here.
He says, when we have this hope that we're going to awaken His
likeness, and as this hope is grown, as this hope increases,
by faith in Him, He says, every man that hath this hope in him
purifieth himself, even as he is pure. Separated. Now, the Pharisees, you remember
when the Lord came, the Pharisees were commanding men to be separated
from sin and from all the things that the law of God said. Do
these things. Be separated from sin and all
that. But they didn't preach Christ. They didn't believe Christ.
They didn't preach Christ. And the Lord said, you took away
the key of knowledge. This is the key. This is how
we're going to be brought into this understanding, into this
faith, into this hope, how it's going to be grown and increased
and how we're going to be separated unto Him more and more. Just
putting away the old man, putting away the sins of the flesh, desiring
not to have anything to do with those things anymore. This is
how we're going to be grown in that way is through Christ. And
he said, you've taken away the key, which is Christ, and you
stand in front of the door. and you're condemning men by
trying to take the seat of Christ, and you don't go in the door
yourself, which is Christ, and you prohibit them that would
enter the door. But the gates of hell won't prevail to keep
God's saints from entering in the door. That's what he's calling
those Pharisees. You're gatekeepers for hell keeping
men out because you won't preach Christ to them. This is how disobedience
is affected. It's by the gospel of Christ.
Paul prays. He preached this gospel to them.
He walked in this gospel. He set this example before them
in taking away every hindrance so that the gospel wouldn't be
hindered. We saw that last time. And now he prays to God and says,
Only you can make this effectual in their hearts. Only you can
do this work in their hearts by making Christ their all, by
making Christ's wisdom to them. Now, here's the next thing. Faith and hope are grown the
more the believer is made to see that we, the believer, are
his inheritance. We're his inheritance. Now, he
says here in verse 18, He says that you may know what is the
hope of His calling and what the riches of the glory of His
inheritance in the saints. These two go hand in hand. To
know about this inheritance. Now, Christ Jesus is our portion. He's our inheritance. Lamentations
says, the Lord is my portion, saith my soul, therefore will
I hope in Him. He's my portion and that's why
I hope in Him. He's my portion. But I'm going
to tell you where our assurance comes from. Our assurance of
hope is first and foremost that in Christ the Lord has made us
His inheritance. Look at the wording again. It's
called His inheritance in the same. Look down at verse 23,
which is His body, the fullness of Him. The union of Christ with
the church, every individual, chosen, redeemed child of God,
the union of Christ and His people is so real that the body the body made up of each redeemed
saint must be where he is in order for Christ to be complete.
Now that's some assurance. I get some assurance. I get some
hope knowing that he's my inheritance, that I'm going to inherit him.
I look forward to that. But when I'm cold and indifferent
and weak and stumbling and falling and the trials of this earth
have turned me to myself and I'm... Brethren, My hope of assurance
is that I'm His inheritance. I'm in His inheritance. Now the
Lord typified this in Israel, in Jacob. Back when he brought
them into the land of Canaan, the Lord typified this. He typified
everything that Paul has said in Ephesians chapter 1 up to
where he says, this is my prayer for you that you might understand
this more and more. He typified what Paul just said
here back in Deuteronomy 32. Let me get you to turn there
and I'm going to show this and hold your place in Deuteronomy
32. We'll come back to it. Deuteronomy 32. I'm going to
show you, I'm going to read this how he typified it and then I'm
going to go back and we're going to talk about Ephesians chapter
1 just a moment. This is how the Lord made His
people His inheritance and what He did because of that. Now look
at chapter 32 verse 8. It says, when the Most High divided to
the nations their inheritance. That's how nations got what they
got, where they are, their boundaries are set. When He separated the
sons of Adam, when God did that, He set the bounds of the people. And He set their bounds according
to this, according to the number of the children of Israel. He set the bounds of all the
sons of Adam, everybody's bounds, with this preeminent thought
in mind. His children. The children of Israel. Why did He give them, set the
bounds of the people and all the people, why did He set their
bounds and do this according to the number of the children
of Israel? Look at verse 9. For the Lord's portion is His
people. Jacob is the lot of His inheritance. Now, go back to Ephesians. Hold
your place in Deuteronomy 32. We're going to come back here.
Go back to Ephesians 1. When did God do this? When did
He set the bounds of men's habitation? And when did He make His people
His inheritance? Here's the wisdom of God. Here's
the power of God. Here's what Paul's praying that
they might understand more and more in their heart by the grace
of God revealing this in them. Here's when God set the bounds
in verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. When He gave His people
to Christ, He gave us an inheritance, which is Christ, before we ever
knew anything about it, by choosing us in Christ before the foundation
of the world. And when He did that, He made
His people His inheritance. And He set the bounds then. The
bounds were set then. The wisdom of God the Father
is that in Christ our surety. He did all this, verse 4. He
chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. Look at this wisdom.
That we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. God's
wisdom. God's wisdom in Christ. In Christ
our wisdom is when Christ entered into surety engagement with God
the Father. To be the surety for this people
given to Him because this people is His inheritance. From then
on, brethren, if you can say it that way, this is eternity
we're talking about, but from then on, God's people were holy
and without blame before Him in His Son. That's why when we
fell in Adam, God who changes not said, I'm God, I change not,
and therefore you sons of Jacob aren't consumed because I've
made you my inheritance and my son. You are as my son is before
me. That's wisdom. That's this wisdom
that we behold when Christ has made wisdom to us. And then here's
the wisdom of God the Father. Look down at verse 5. He predestinated
us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according
to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of
His grace, wherein He made us accepted in the Beloved. He predetermined
everything from eternity. He set the bounds of the sons
of Adam according to the number of Israel. He predestinated everything. the sparrow that falls to the
ground, the hairs of the head of His people, protecting them
completely, predestinating all things that they would be conformed
to the image of His Son, that they would be called by the Spirit
of His grace and be brought into the adoption. And He did all
this. This is the wisdom of God the Father. And He did all this
in Christ who is our wisdom. The wisdom that He entrusted
this work to. He abounds towards us in this
wisdom. It says in verse 7, in whom we
have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sin according
to the riches of His grace. He abounded towards us in all
wisdom and prudence by not trusting this work to a man. Not trusting
this work to a son of Adam, but by trusting this work to His
Son, the Only Begotten of the Father. and He sent Him forth,
and He came forth and perfectly fulfilled, honored the law of
God, perfectly fulfilled everything that was written of Him, went
to the cross, was made sin for His people, and He by Himself
purged the sin of His people, bought His people with His own
blood. And in Him we have redemption. We've been bought by His blood.
And in Him we have forgiveness of sins. And He abounded towards
us in this, and this was wisdom. And then He made this wisdom
known to us by making us know Christ. Look at verse 9. Now,
we're still just talking about God the Father, the wisdom of
God the Father, and what He did in Christ our wisdom. Now He's
going to make it known to us. Watch, verse 9. Having made known
unto us the mystery of His will. according to His good pleasure
which He purposed in Himself. And here it is, that in the dispensation
of the fullness of times, He might gather together in one,
in Christ, all things. That's why He did this. Now it
says, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even
in Him, in His Son. Now watch. All that is how we
became His inheritance. Everything we've looked at up
to this point is how we became His inheritance. It's how He
set the bounds of the people according to the number of Israel.
Because the Lord's portion is His inheritance. Jacob is His
inheritance. His people is His inheritance. Now watch. When
He made His known to us, this is what we discovered. In Him. In whom. Verse 11. Also, we've
obtained an inheritance. You get that? He made us his
inheritance by giving us to his son. And then when he made his
son known to us, he made us realize we have an inheritance and it's
his son. Now look, look at this. being
predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all
things after the counsel of His own will. And why did He do all
this? That we should be to the praise
of His glory. Whose glory? The Father of glory,
who Paul starts talking about. The glory of God the Father,
who is wisdom, so that we're the praise of His glory. He's
the one who first trusted in Christ the wisdom of God. He's the one who, in His wisdom,
He's the first one who trusted all the glory of His name and
the glory of His portion, His inheritance, His people, to Christ
Jesus, His Son. He entrusted them to Him. And
now look, by Him revealing Christ to us, it says here, verse 13,
in whom ye also trusted after you heard the word of truth.
God the Father trusts Him first, and then God the Father, by revealing
Christ in you, and making you to see that His wisdom is all
in Christ our wisdom, you trusted Him too. After you heard the gospel of
truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom? In Christ. Also, after
that you believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,
and that Holy Spirit of promise is the earnest, it's the foretaste
of our inheritance. until the redemption of the purchased
possession unto the praise of His glory." Do you see wisdom?
What wisdom? He made us His portion when He
put us in Christ, blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in Him, put us under His surety headship so that we were holy
without blame before Him in love, predestinated all things that
we would be adopted to Him. He came and redeemed us. He came
and worked forgiveness of sins for us, and then God made it
known to us and we realized that now we have an inheritance in
Him. And just as God the Father first
trusted Him, now after we heard this Gospel, we trusted Him too.
And Paul says, he goes right from there and he says, Wherefore
brethren, after I heard your faith, now I pray that the Lord
will make this more and more known to you that Christ is the
wisdom of the glory of the Father. He's the wisdom. Alright, here's
the second thing. That's the first thing Paul prayed
for, that you might grow in understanding that the wisdom of God in Christ
Jesus, that Christ might be made wisdom to you. Do you see this?
It's not dependent upon you. It's not dependent upon me. This
is God's work for His glory and the glory of His name in His
Son. Now here's the second thing.
Paul prays that they might know the power of God in Christ. It
helps me to know that I'm His inheritance, and I delight to
know He's my inheritance. I delight in seeing God's wisdom
in all of this. But now, I also want to know
something about His power to bring all this to pass, don't
you? I'm going to have some hope if I know that He is the power
as well as the wisdom. Alright, verse 19. Paul says,
And I pray that you might know what is the exceeding greatness
of His power to usward who believe. Now, Paul is speaking here of
the greatness of God's power that He works in the believer
when through the Holy Spirit you're born again. Look down
at Ephesians 2. And you hath he quickened who
were dead in trespasses and in sins." The chapter divisions
are put in here, but this is what Paul is praying for them,
that they might know the power that God exercised in them when
He gave them life in Christ, birthed them again, made them
new creatures in Christ. As He increases our understanding
of what great power this takes to do this, it's going to increase
our faith and our hope that He's going to teach us and keep us
and deliver us to Himself. The more we grow in this knowledge
of His power. The comparison Paul makes here
is Christ's resurrection and our regeneration. Watch verse
19. He says, I pray that you would
know the exceeding greatness of His power to us who believe
according to the working of His mighty power which He wrought
in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and set Him at
His own right hand in heavenly places. Christ's body was lifeless in
the grave. You, every sinner that He regenerates,
was dead in trespasses and in sins. Just as Christ's body was
lifeless in that grave. Christ's resurrection was solely
the work of God. God the Father, God the Son raised
His body. through the Spirit. And so is
a sinner's regeneration. You've got to be born of the
Holy Spirit, of God, of the Spirit of Christ. You've got to be born
of God. And in power, God set Christ at His own right hand
when He raised Him from the dead. He set Him at His own right hand
in heavenly places. And that's exactly what Christ
has done for those who are born of God. That's where they're
seated. Look over to Ephesians 2.4. But God who is rich in His mercy,
for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ." In
other words, when He raised Christ up from the grave, He raised
you up from the grave. By grace you're saved. "...and
hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus." Now this is the wisdom and the power
of God. And there's something else here
too that's even more glorious or as glorious as this power
in the mere power, His sovereign effectual power in birthing His
children again to newness of life is this power of God's glory,
His holiness, His character, His name, His faithfulness to
His own word. In the everlasting covenant,
when we talk about what the Lord did when He made us His inheritance,
when He gave His people to Christ, in the everlasting covenant,
God the Son when He entered into suretyship for His people, He
agreed to honor God's law, to fulfill it, to put away the sin
of His people, that God might be just and the justifier of
all who believe. And God the Father promised to
glorify the Son by raising Him and giving Him the crown rights,
the rights of the firstborn. We read about this, you're very
familiar with the passage in Isaiah 53 11. Listen to this. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and shall be satisfied by his knowledge, by his wisdom,
my righteous servant, the Son of God, the Son of Man, Christ
Jesus, my righteous servant. He's going to justify many for
he shall bear their iniquities. The next verse says, therefore,
therefore, will I divide him a portion and inheritance with
the great. I'm going to give him his inheritance. And he is going to divide the
spoil, the inheritance, with those he's redeemed, with the
strong. Because he poured out his soul unto death. He was numbered
with the transgressors. He bare the sin of many and made
intercession for the transgressors. God the Father said, that's why
I'm going to do it. So, this power, the same glory, the same
exact glory of God's holiness that demanded justice be poured
out on Christ Jesus when the Father made Him sin for us, is
the very glory that also demanded He be raised from the dead. The
very power of glory demanded He be raised from the dead. The
grave couldn't hold Christ Jesus, the Lord, because He fulfilled
the will of God perfectly. And the same glory that demanded
He be raised is the exceeding greatness of power that demands
that Christ be given His inheritance. That is, everyone for whom He
died must be given eternal life in Him. They must be born of
the Spirit of God. This is the exceeding greatness
of the power. It's both in His sovereign power
to effectually bring His children to life through the Spirit, through
the incorruptible Word, and it's His power of His glory which
demands that they must be born of His Spirit, even as His son.
Now that's power. That's power. And if you know
this wisdom and this power, this authority that He's given to
His son, It's to glorify Him. It's the gift of God the Father
to Christ Jesus, the Son of God, the Son of Man, His righteous
servant. You know how the Lord summed all this up in His prayer
to God the Father in John 17? Father, the hour has come. Glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son
may glorify Thee. That's it. This wisdom of God
to bring honor and glory to His name was entrusted to Christ
the wisdom, the Son of God. And the power that demanded that
He be glorified and raised anew because of what He accomplished
in finishing this work is the power that must be exercised
in His people, bringing them and keeping them and teaching
them and bringing them to Him in final glory. Can He do it? Verse 21. Ephesians 121, God
the Father has set Christ Jesus his Son. Look at these words.
Far above. Far above all principality. Far above all power. Far above all might. Far above
all dominion. Far above every name that is
named. Not only in this world, but also
in that which is to come. And this is not only His gift
to His Son, it's a gift to us, brethren. Because He hath put
all things under His feet and gave Him to be the head over
all things to the church. Which is His body, the fullness
of Him that filleth all in all. Now go back over there to Deuteronomy
32. The first part of that we saw was the wisdom of God and
dividing everything when He chose us in Christ, made us His portion.
Now look at this power. He manifests all this in type
with Jacob, with Israel, with the nation of Israel. Now look
what He did for them. And this is what He has the power
and the wisdom to do for everyone He put in Christ. You watch verse
10. He found him in a desert land
in the waste howling wilderness. You know what he's got the wisdom
and power to do? To find every child that he renamed
as his inheritance in this waste howling wilderness. What else
he got power and wisdom to do? He led him about, he instructed
him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. Art. Cheryl, whatever. He's divided
the inheritance, made you the portion of his inheritance. He's
found you in the wasteland wilderness. He's going to lead you, he's
going to teach you, he's going to instruct you, and he's going
to keep you as the apple of his eye. Now look verse, As an eagle
stirreth up her nest, and fluttereth over her young, and spreadeth
abroad her wings, taketh them, and bareth them on her wings.
So the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange God
with him. He made him ride on the high places of the earth,
that he might eat the increase of the fields. He made him to
suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock. This
is all Christ. This is all Christ. Butter of
kind and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs and rams of the
breed of Bashan, and goats with the fat of kidneys of wheat.
Thou didst drink the pure blood of the grave. That's what he's going to do.
And Paul's prayer to God the Father is that through the Holy
Spirit, he make these Ephesian brethren to grow more and more,
that he would grow them more and more to know that Christ
Jesus truly is the power and the wisdom of God. And when you
find this out, it will make you stop warring with flesh, with
men over Touch not, taste not, handle not. It'll make you stop
warring with men over what you're gonna eat, what you're gonna
be clothed with, what you're gonna put on, where you're gonna sleep,
all those things. It'll make you rest knowing,
I don't know how he's gonna work it out. I don't know what he's
gonna do or how he's gonna make it all work out for my good,
but I know he's going to. I know he's going to. This is
the love of Christ that constrains us. It's everlasting love. Now, I said to you, turn to Ephesians
3. I said to you in the beginning
that we see two places here that Paul told us exactly what his
prayer is. I'm just going to read this to
you. This is everything that Paul just said he prayed about. Everything we just went over
in detail. This is it in summation right here. Ephesians 3.14. For this cause, I bow my knees
unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family
in heaven and earth is named. His name is on you. If He's given you His name, He's
going to provide. Watch this. 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. We're talking about
His love. We're talking about His love.
To know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge. that you might
be filled with all the fullness of God. Now, unto him that is
able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or even
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.