might please the Lord to bless
our souls this evening as we consider his word let us turn
to the epistle of Paul to the Ephesians chapter 3 and we'll
read verses 17 18 and 19 the epistle of Paul to the Ephesians
chapter 3 reading verses 17 18 and 19 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, and to know the love of Christ
which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the
fullness of God. these words form part of the
Apostle Paul's prayer for the Ephesians. How concerned was
the Apostle for the healthy state of these Ephesians and how he
desired above all things that Christ might be greatly blessed
to them and they might have a right and true understanding. Now the
Apostle tells us, he says, wherefore I desire that ye faint not at
my tribulations for you, which is your glory. And of course
we should recollect that the Apostle had a very difficult
life. He had many oppositions and many
times he was arrested and beaten and put in a prison and many
things, shipwrecked, and he had much to endure. But the Apostle
says, wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulation
for you. His great concern was to preach
the gospel. That was the Paul's desire. Wherever
he went, whatever opportunity he had, was to preach the gospel. And he never He was never put
off by any opposition. His concern was to declare Christ. His declare was to know Christ. His desire was then to preach
Christ. And therefore, we can understand
why he comes to this position and says that you faint not at
my tribulations for you, which is your glory. And now he comes
and says 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, that he would grant you, according to the riches
of his glory, to be strengthened in might by his Spirit in the
inner man." And it's good to recognise here that the Apostle
indicates to us quite clearly his desire to bow down in prayer
to the Father, His Father, the Father in Heaven, and that He
prays that they might enjoy the blessing of the Holy Spirit,
and that that Holy Spirit might reveal unto them the Lord Jesus
Christ. And so we see here very clearly,
the evidence of the Trinity, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit
And it's good always to observe and to look for these things
in the Word of God and to rejoice in them. And so here we have
the Apostle with this desire. Praise the Father, desiring that
there might be a blessing, of whom the whole family in heaven
and earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches
of his glory, to be strengthened in might by his Spirit in the
inner man. He recognised that there was this need that we have
today, no difference, we need to be strengthened in our heart,
in our soul. We need to receive that strength
from the Holy Spirit to seek for these blessings, to seek
for spirituality, to seek for help to serve the Lord. And so
he desires this blessing that he would grant you according
to the riches of his glory and what riches there are in glory. There's no lack. God has so much
to give and so much he does give. He has boundless riches, spiritual
riches, which will strengthen our soul and will prepare us
for that great day when we shall leave this earth. to be strengthened
in might by a spirit in the inner man. Sometimes we may be weak
inside. Sometimes we may be fearful.
Sometimes we may appear to be faithless. And that's why the
Apostle desires there might be that strengthening within, that
we might be strong in the things of the Lord, because we contend
daily with that weakening influence of the devil, who comes again
and again and pretends, first of all, there is no God. Secondly,
we're not serving the Lord. And thirdly, we don't possess
any faith anyway. That's the real position of the
devil. And that's what he's doing to
us constantly. And therefore, we have this position
that the apostle brings before us that desire, that prayer that
we might be strengthened with the might of the Holy Spirit
of God against all the attacks of the devil. Remember that he
also advocates that we should take unto us the whole armour
of God, the whole armour of God, that we may be able to stand
an evil day. My friends, don't think there
aren't evil days, there are. There's many evil days. that
you and I have to contend with, and that's why the Blessed Lord
provides us with this armour, the whole armour of God. Well,
we won't go through that tonight, but it is a wonderful favour
to know there is an armour, and that we may take it on. And that
armour, you see, just very briefly, that armour, there's a breastplate,
there's nothing for our back. We are to face the devil. We're
not to turn away from him. We are to face the devil. It
is a battle. It is a warfare. And we're told
by the Apostle when he wrote to Timothy that we are to be
a good soldier of Jesus Christ. We are to endure hardness. There
is that. The Apostle knew what it was
to endure hardness. He was therefore encouraging
his son in the faith, Timothy, that he would have to endure
hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Let us not think
that today you and I somehow would escape this path. The path
of the Christian, without any doubt, is a path of opposition,
a path of tribulation, a path of continual opposition. Do not
think that you are given some secret path which avoids this
kind of thing. The Word of God is full of the
life of the Lord's people, indicating the oppositions and the battles
they had to fight. But, let us not forget the great
truth is this, that as we are blessed with faith in Christ,
we are more than conquerors through Him. That's the great secret
of our salvation. That's the secret of our strength. It's through Christ. That's where
our strength comes from. And so do we strengthen then
with this might by his spirit in the inner man. We come down
then to these three verses. That Christ, this was his concern,
that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. that Christ may dwell within
by faith. And that faith is that which
the apostle speaks of in the second chapter, for by grace
are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is
the gift of God. What a good thing it is, isn't
it? That we are given faith. We are not able to say, well,
I am a strong Christian. I am able to do this. The Apostle
tells us why. Not of works lest any man should
boast. Because we as sinners would claim
the glory ourselves. Our God is a jealous God. Our
God will have all the honour and all the glory. And that is
why he gives us that grace to be saved through faith. That
we are able to receive that faith and because we receive that faith
to believe the truth of God. And as we receive that faith
to believe, so then we understand perhaps something of the truth
of this word, that Christ may dwell in your hearts. Christ
dwells within us. Christ is with us. Christ walks
with us. We enjoy the fellowship of Christ,
the union with Christ, and the knowledge of Christ is more precious
than gold. Gold only purchases time things. The knowledge of Christ is of
eternal value. Let us have a right understanding
of the vast difference between time and eternity, between natural
things and spiritual things, and truly desire that such a
prayer may be answered on our behalf, that we may know the
indwelling of Christ. Because when Christ indwells,
There is a glorious difference from the situation without Christ. Because without Christ, we're
spiritually dead. Dead in trespass and in sins.
But oh, with Christ. With Christ within. There's a
line in the hymn which says, with Christ in the vessel, we
smile at the storm. And as the apostle writes to
the Philippians, I can do all things through Christ that strengthens
me. Oh, what a difference it makes.
What a blessing it is. And may you and I indeed, we're
told in the Corinthians, to covet earnestly the best gifts. And
this is the best gift that you and I can ever receive. To know
Christ dwelling within us. Well, the Apostle knew the value
of this. That's why he speaks in this
way, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his
glory, to be strengthened in might by his Spirit in the inner
man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. It is by faith. And because it's
by faith, God has the glory. And it is by his grace. We can
never claim any merit ourselves. and we would never want to claim
any merit, because as we are blessed with the Spirit of God,
we would desire that Christ is exalted, that Christ is lifted
up, that Christ is honoured and glorified. Perhaps the question
tonight is this, is that our desire? Do we desire that Christ
is honoured and glorified in our lives? that He is exalted
by our lips because of what He's done in redeeming our souls,
that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye, being
rooted and grounded in love, Well, it's a good statement,
isn't it? You know, there's no life in
a plant if there's no root. If there's no root, there's no
ability to draw any goodness from the soil. How necessary
it is to have a root. And we could say, well, that's
the beginning. You know, when a seed is put
into the ground, What happens first? The first thing that happens
is that the root begins to grow. The root goes down into the soil,
and that root absorbs food and energy into that seed. So then there is that springing
up, that shoot appearing then above the ground. And what does
that show? It shows life. Now there was
life, But it wasn't evident. There was that root, but when
that root then was sufficiently mature, there was then that springing
up and that shoot coming forth. So it is really in a spiritual
way, that as the Spirit of God, and remember, it's the work of
the Spirit of God in our hearts, as the work of the Spirit of
God moves us, and as the Apostle spoke in the beginning of that
second chapter, and you hath he quickened or made alive, and
that's just the situation, as we've been made alive, spiritually
there is then that root which then goes down into the earth. And before that, what was the
scene? Who were dead in trespasses and
in sins. There was no life, we were dead. But when the Lord comes and grants
life, there's that movement and there is that root. And so, here
the apostle speaks in this way, that Christ may dwell in your
hearts by faith, that ye be rooted and then grounded. And that means
to be established in the things of God. Established in the things
of God. A good foundation. You know,
a good root is a good foundation. I know it's perhaps a different
simile, but nevertheless a root is necessary to keep the plant
in a healthy and also an upright position. Otherwise, when the
storms and winds come, it would very easily blow over, wouldn't
it? Perhaps we've seen sometimes trees blown over, and we find
they have a very small root. But when they have strong roots,
then there's little chance of them actually being blown over,
however strong the wind is. And so here we have this picture
here of rooting and then being grounded. That means a good foundation. That means an establishment in
the truth of God. Now again, these things don't
suddenly happen. There is a gradual maturing. The same as there's a gradual
growth in a seed, when the root grows, there's a little root
to start with and that spreads and grows bigger. And so it is
in spiritual things, there is the beginning, and then there's
the spreading out, there's the stretching out into the soil
to gain a greater strength and to be able to absorb more food. And so it is in a spiritual way,
there's that growth, there's that spiritual growth as the
root goes down, and what is it? We find the foundation then.
The foundation to our faith. And we are then, as we might
think, established in the truth. We have a knowledge then of the
things of God. We have a knowledge then of the
great plan of salvation. And it's that which we rejoice
in. It's that which is a tremendous
strength to us. Because when there's that shoot
coming above the ground, You see, that's evident. People observe
it, people see it, and then there's those storms which come against
it, and there's that need for that establishment. And so what
a blessing it is when the Holy Spirit comes and gives us this
grounding in the things of God, so then when we do face the opposition,
when we do face trials and temptations, well, we've had that establishing
that grounding in the truth of God. Now the Apostle brings in
an important element. He says, being rooted and grounded
in love. You may say, why does the Apostle
make that point? Why does he say in love? Well, I believe it's like this.
I believe the Lord comes And we view that we've been blessed
with this light in our hearts, we've been blessed with this
beginning in the light of our soul, because of Christ's love
toward us. You see, there would be no root,
there would be no grounding, if there was no love. And therefore, it can only be,
therefore, in love. And that's a wonderful thought,
isn't it? To think of that, you and I, as what we might feel
to be, well, very insignificant and weak Christians, and yet
to know that we can perhaps hope and believe there is a little
root. And why is it there? Love. Love to our souls. The love of Christ. is rich and
free, fixed on his own eternally. It is love, being rooted and
grounded in love. Well, what a blessing it is,
if as that then, establishing in our spiritual life. Now understand,
I'm sure then, why the Apostle was so concerned for these Ephesians,
that they might be blessed like this. Surely the Church of God
is concerned that there might be many people who are blessed
like this, who are established in the truth, who know the Saviour,
who know the blessed Lord Jesus Christ, and are able to declare
that it is because of His love towards me. Oh, what a blessing
it is that Christ may dwell in your hearts, by faith that ye
be rooted and grounded in love." Then he says, may be able to
comprehend, understand with all saints. He wanted them to be
able to spiritually comprehend these things. It wasn't just
a natural knowledge of these things, he wanted them to understand
it in a spiritual way and the only way they were going to be
able to do this was if there was a rooting and if there was
a grounding and if that was done in love otherwise they would
not be able to understand and it was because of this the apostle
then says they may be able to comprehend with all the saints
a universal position with the Saints of God. It is a common
denominator with the Saints of God. It is an essential blessing
with the Saints of God to have this rooting and grounding and
then that they may be able to comprehend in a greater knowledge
and expound it like this. May be able to comprehend with
all the Saints what is And it gives us the breadth, and the
length, and the depth, and the height. You may say, well, why
have we got a depth and a height? Well, I believe it's because
of this, that there's a depth of understanding, which as you
might say, is below the surface, which the Lord gives to us, which
is an established position. And then there's a height, as
you might say, above the surface, above the ground, which is evident. And what a blessing it is that
we understand that in our own life and also we understand that
with regards to the great and glorious plan of salvation. We're told there is a deep which
couches beneath. There is a great depth to the
things of God and therefore the Apostle is concerned that we
might understand something of the depth of the grand and glorious
truth of salvation As well as those things which are more evident
to our natural understanding, more evident as we see the breadth
and length and depth and height, well what a wonderful thing it
is to be able to have a right appreciation of these great and
glorious things. And so the Apostle says, may
be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth
and length and depth and height. Well, perhaps we need indeed
the Spirit of God to reveal to us these truths, reveal to us
the great plan of salvation. We might be led back right to
the beginning of time and see how the Lord appeared to Adam
and Eve in the Garden of Eden, how he was merciful to them,
and how on that time there was that glorious prophecy And the
seed of the woman would bruise the serpent's head. Oh, what
a great view that was. What faith was needed. And we
need living faith today to still be able to Understand the glory
in that plan of salvation. And what we know is this, nothing
will fail. All God's plans come to pass. It was many years, wasn't it?
Before the fulfilment of that promise. And no doubt, ancient
Israel considered that promise again and again and were looking
for the Messiah. There was a great breadth and
length and depth which was to be revealed. But in due time,
it came to pass. Well, the Apostle is really saying
here that he desires the Church of God to comprehend the wonder
of these things. Does it not really enter into
this The wonder of redeeming love. How great that is, isn't
it? It's really too difficult for
us to understand the great plan of salvation that God the Father,
God the Son and God the Holy Spirit in eternity past formulated
this great and glorious plan of salvation. and that God the
Father should send his only begotten Son into this world, that whosoever
believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life. And the
Son was so willing to come into this world, to suffer and to
bleed and to die upon Calvary's cross, shedding his precious
blood that he might pay the redemption price for the salvation of our
soul and for the work of the Holy Spirit in conveying to our
hearts these great and glorious truths. The height, the breadth, the
length and depth of these things. Well as we may perhaps stagger
to understand this and then to realise that the Lord ordained,
there would be a people, a people who he would call, a people who
would come to call him blessed, a people who he would own and
the people who would own him as their Lord and their master. the truth, the great plan of
salvation. So he then moves on to say, and
to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge. There was of
course the love of God the Father, there was a love of the Holy
Spirit, but perhaps our attention is centred upon the love of Christ. and to know the love of Christ. So important, so vital, that
we are not deceived in our religion. It matters not how apparently
good we are, apparently how upright we are, how zealous we may appear
to be for the things of God. But the great truth is that all
of us need to know the love of Christ. Love of Christ, rich and free,
set on his own eternally. Well, maybe ask ourselves the
question, do I know anything of the love of Christ? I remember the accounts of Huntington
and Woolverton, I think it was, they met together and Woolverton
was very afraid of this man Huntington who had a great reputation and
a wonderful knowledge of the things of God that he wouldn't
be able to say anything or He would be put to confusion and
he came and met with Huntington. And Huntington asked him, I think
very early on in that conversation, what did he know of the love
of Christ? Well, John Warburton, old John
Warburton, he knew a lot about the love of Christ. And that
broke down all the barriers. He was able to speak of what
Christ meant to him. And there was that joining together. The fear disappeared. Well, what
a good thing it would be if we were asked the question, what
do we know of the love of Christ? What do we know of the love of
Christ? The love of Christ to us personally, not in the third
person, but in the first person, referring to ourselves. If we
had to stop tonight, And write down what we know of the love
of Christ. What would you write? What would
you say? Would you have a blank sheet
of paper? Would you say, well, I can't write anything. I can't write anything. Well, can you think of anything? that Christ has done for you. Perhaps you want to start at
the beginning. You know we were at one time
spiritually blind. We had no sight spiritually about
the things of God. As we look into our hearts this
evening, can we discern that we now have some sight. We can say, one thing I know,
you may not know very much, one thing I know, whereas I was blind,
but now I see. And if that's true, why is that
true? I'll tell you why it's true. It's because of the love
of Christ. So perhaps you didn't realise
that you do know something of the love of Christ. That you
have been shown something. Your eyes have been opened. And
now you do behold those things in a spiritual light concerning
yourself and concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. spiritual sight
is an amazing blessing, and it is only because of the love of
Christ towards you. Otherwise you would not have
that sight, you would not see. So tonight, ask that question,
to know the love of Christ. Can you therefore, perhaps not
very boldly, not very boldly, perhaps timidly, but yet can
you come and say, yes, I do have a hope in the mercy of God toward
me. And you know, if that's true,
what also is true is this, that your hope, that hope that Lord
has a mercy, must be built on a foundation, and that foundation
is this, the righteousness of the Saviour. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. And what does that mean? It means
that you have a hope that the Saviour has died upon the cross
at Calvary to atone for your sins. Now that's light from on
high. And that proves that the love
of Christ has been bestowed upon you. Well, the Apostle says here,
this was his concern, wasn't it? That we might know, be able
to comprehend and to know the love of Christ. He goes on to
say, which passes knowledge passeth knowledge. And this is a problem
today. We live in a day when it's good
that everybody is encouraged to think things out for themselves
and to be able to come to a right conclusion. To know the love of Christ which
passeth knowledge. The love of Christ is beyond
our natural comprehension. you will not be able to figure
out why Christ should love you. The only way you'll be able to
conclude the matter is to recognise that God has given you faith
to believe that Christ has loved you with everlasting love and
therefore with loving kindness. He's drawn you to himself and
you've been given that blessed faith to believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ as your Saviour, your Redeemer, the one who has
died on your behalf, the one who has given his life to take
away your sin. It is past his knowledge to think
that Almighty God, remember Christ of course is God, Almighty God
should have died for such a bad, wretched sinner as you. And that's what passes knowledge.
Just ponder that. And to know the love of Christ,
which passes knowledge. It's beyond our natural comprehension. Don't try and figure it out.
You won't succeed. It will be beyond your ability.
As a good job it is, that ye might be filled with
all the fullness of God. The Apostle doesn't leave things
in a very small position. He desires great blessings. Great blessings. And what a statement
this is. Be filled with all the fullness
of God. If you think of that line, a
fullness resides in Jesus our Head. Whichever abides to answer
our need. Friends, tonight, there's a glorious
fullness in Christ. And that fullness is never exhausted. You'll never exhaust it. I'll
never exhaust it. There's a fullness, a great and
glorious fullness. And we might be filled with all
the fullness of God. And I believe the fullness of
God shows to us something of His glory, something of His wonderful
plan for us, something which speaks to us of the future, the
time in glory, when we shall see Him as He is, without a veil
between, when we shall, by the grace of God, be in glory, around
that throne singing His praises, and the psalm will be worthy
as a lamb that was slain. Oh, may we have that song today
in our hearts. That exclamation, worthy is the
Lamb, worthy is the Son of God, who has died for me, to take
away my sins, that by his grace I am set free. And if the Son
shall set you free, you shall be free indeed. There's no condemnation
to those who are in Christ Jesus. That's the glory of the gospel. And that's the fullness of God.
Oh, this fullness might be revealed to our understanding. He goes
on to say, now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly
above all that we can ask or think according to the power
that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church by Christ
Jesus through all ages, world without end. Oh, the Apostle
desires great blessings, doesn't he? My friends, may we desire
great blessings in this world in which we live today. We have
a great God, a God who is able to do for us great things, indeed
exceeding abundantly above what we can ask or even think, and
that we may understand something of the great and glorious revelation
of Christ to our souls. To know Him. To know Him. That's the great desire. May it be the great concern.
It is the great need. Oh friends, tonight, may we be
able to confirm that we do have a little knowledge of the love
of Christ towards our soul. And let us not dispute the truth
of it. You know, the devil would endeavour
to say to you, no, you don't know anything. No, you're just
a hypocrite. No, there's no hope for you.
friend tonight, search your heart, trace it out, so that you may
be able to find them, the work of the Spirit, and be able to
turn to the devil and tell him he's a liar, because Christ has
died, yet rather has risen again, and is seated on the Father's
right hand, and is interceding for me. You know, one of the
blessings and the evidences of that is this, that you're able
to pray to God. You're able to come and pour
out your heart to God in prayer. My friends, if God has blessed
you with true prayer, it's because of the love of Christ to your
soul. If you've been able to come and truthfully pray, God
be merciful to me a sinner. The Lord Jesus said of that man,
I tell you, that man went down to his house justified rather
than the other. Why? Because Christ loved him. So may we be able to, tonight,
rejoice in the truth, amazing that it is, beyond our comprehension,
that Christ has loved me. everlasting love. Oh, what a
truth that is. As Jeremiah spoke those words,
words which are old-fashioned and never become out of date
to think of what they are. As he says, the Lord has appeared
of old unto me saying, yea, I have loved thee with everlasting love
and therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee." Now, we're
only drawn to Christ because of His love. Bless God then tonight,
if we know a little of that drawing and are able to confirm in our
hearts something of an understanding of what the Apostle desires here,
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 this is unifying my friends and to know the love of Christ
which passes knowledge that ye might be filled with all the
fullness of God. Amen.