May God bless his word. Now once
again let us turn to the epistle of Paul to the Ephesians in chapter
3 and this evening we'll read verses 17 and 18. The epistle
of Paul to the Ephesians chapter 3 and reading verses 17 and 18. That Christ may dwell in your
hearts by faith that ye being rooted and grounded in love may
be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and
length and depth and height. So we follow on from that statement
which we finished with last time. We meditated on these words in
the 16th verse that he would grant you according to the riches
of his glory, to be strengthened in might by his Spirit in the
inner man.' Then he flows on to these words, that Christ may
dwell in your hearts by faith. How necessary, how essential
this is, and yet how beyond our natural understanding, really,
to think that such a word like this is true. That Christ, the
second person in the Trinity, the almighty God, the ruler of
the universe, that one who is so great, so powerful, so majestic,
and yet so graciously condescends to dwell in our hearts. by faith. It is a really tremendous
thought, isn't it, to think that the ever-living God, the great
God, is so gracious and deigns to come and to dwell in our hearts,
not in our head, not just in a theory, but in a very real
way. very wonderful and spiritual
way to think that the Lord Jesus Christ and none other and himself
dwells in our hearts. And the Apostle then tells us
it is of course not something which is tangible that you and
I can just as it were pick up and grasp. It is by faith that
this is Granted and it is by living faith. And again, this
is something difficult for us to really Understand and to comprehend
but we do we walk by faith We walk out our Christian profession
by faith and that profession is to believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ as the creator of all things and as the great and glorious
Savior of sinners So what a wonderful thing it is to realise tonight
that this word is as true now as it was when it was written,
and it is a word which has always been true, that Christ may dwell
in your hearts by faith. We have to say, of course, that
if Christ does not dwell in our hearts by faith, then we do not
possess the life of God in our souls. That's a very searching
thought, really, because we are so, as it were, earthbound, and
to really be able to look beyond the things of this poor, sinful
world, to realise that there is such a God, such a great God,
and yet such a condescending God, who is so gloriously willing
to come and to dwell in our hearts. That means within us. It's an
amazing consideration, isn't it? It's beyond our natural ability,
but yet how true it is. And therefore, we do need faith
to believe it. Because without faith, it is
impossible to please God. And without faith, we could not
believe it. But with faith, and by faith,
we can believe it. that Christ may dwell in your
hearts by faith. And then he goes on to say that
ye being rooted and grounded in love. Rooted and grounded, that means
it's not something which is superficial. This means it is something which
is deeply grounded, deeply rooted. It's not something which will
just blow over. Because if Christ is in our hearts,
he will never leave us, nor forsake us. And therefore, we are rooted. He is our foundation. And he
is a firm foundation. And it's a foundation that will
never fail. And how necessary, therefore,
that you and I have the wonderful understanding, by faith, that
we are rooted, we are founded in Christ. Nothing less than
this will do. We can't just follow on with
a vain religion, vain thoughts. This is the vital necessity. This is the essential part of
true religion to be rooted and grounded in love. The love of Christ is rich and
free. It's amazing to think. the Lord Jesus Christ should
love such unworthy sinners. Surely it must make us very amazed as we
think that this great God has loved us so much and nothing
that you and I have done can produce that love toward us.
But there it is, from eternity past, And it is rooted and grounded
in love. We read in John's Gospel in the
fourth chapter and the 19th verse, we love him. Why? Because he first loved us. It wasn't something which was
generated from ourselves. It was generated from Almighty
God toward us. as unworthy sinners of the earth,
indeed to feel, as was already considered, less than the least
of all saints, like the Apostle, and yet this great and glorious
Saviour comes and dwells in our heart. And so here we have this
statement then, this love, that ye being rooted and grounded
in love may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth
and length and depth and height. Now this is a glorious statement
because it means that we will be able to comprehend, we will
be able to understand because God has blessed us with His love. And not that again that we loved
Him but that He loved us and in return therefore we do love
Him and we are unable to comprehend with all the saints. We all join
together on this common ground, and it is a wonderful ground
to be on and a wonderful ground to be united in, to think that
we cannot comprehend naturally. We can only comprehend it by
faith of the breadth and the length and depth and height of
God's love. What it really means is it is
immeasurable. We can't really measure it. It is so wonderful and it is
so great. And as we think of that, to realise
as the Apostle Paul wrote when he wrote to the Romans, he spoke
about separation. he's able to tell us, he comes
down to the end of that eighth chapter in Romans, comes to verse
35, he asks the question, who shall separate us from the love
of Christ? That love which dwells within
our heart. He lists a whole long number
of statements, shall tribulation or distress, or persecution,
or famine, or nakedness, or pair or sword, as it is written, for
thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are accounted as
sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are
more than conquerors through him that loved us. Then he concludes,
I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. You see, the Blessed Saviour
loved His Church so much that He came down in this sinful world
to die, to take away their sins, to suffer for our sakes, that
we might be blessed with the glorious gift of eternal life. We read together that 17th chapter
of John, a wonderful prayer from the Lord to His Father, And as
we come towards the end of that chapter, just reading the last
few verses, perhaps from verse 22, we read, and the glory which
thou gavest me, I have given them, that's to the Church of
God, that they may be one, even as we are one, united to Christ,
you see. I in them, and thou in me, that
they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that
thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me. Father, I will, that they also,
whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am. They may behold
my glory, which thou hast given me. For thou lovest me before
the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world
hath not known thee, but I have known thee, and these have known. that thou hast sent me, the blessed
privilege of the church of God, without doubt. And I have declared
unto them thy name, and will declare it, that the love wherewith
thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. What a conclusion, what a great
truth. And may we rejoice therefore
tonight in these great truths that are contained in the Word
of God, beyond our natural comprehension. But may God give us faith to
believe them, and faith to rejoice in them, and faith to enjoy the
glorious truth of God, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith,
that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend
with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height. Amen.