Oscar, bless us together this
morning, I will speak to you from the prayer that the Apostle
Paul makes for the Ephesians, and indeed for the Church of
God. And that prayer commences in verse 15, and it runs right
down to the end of the chapter, which is verse 23. In fact it
is just one continuous sentence. It's a very long sentence. Well,
we read it together just now, so I won't go through it and
read it again. But it commences in verse 15, where the apostle
says, Wherefore I also ask that I heard of your faith in the
Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, cease not to give
thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. Well, it's a wonderful example
we have. in the life of the Apostle Paul,
who, as I'm sure we appreciate, had a very busy life. Travelling into many places and
preaching the Word of God very often. And yet he always found
time to pray. You may remember that he uses
that expression when he wrote to the church at Thessalonica
He said to pray without ceasing. Quite clearly the Apostle Paul
was a man of prayer. And how we need to take that
statement on board for us today. How needful it is for us today
to be individuals and people of prayer. Real prayer, true
prayer, prevailing prayer. and seeking for those things
which shall be for the honour and glory of God. Well, the Apostle
tells us here, he says, wherefore I also ask that I heard of your
faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto all the saints. Now this
is a statement which is really so true, because if we do has
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, then there will be that love
to the saints, love to the Church of God, love to the people of
God. Because they will be our best
friends. They will be our brothers and
sisters in Christ. And it is then really an expression
of the evidence of the life of God in our souls if we do have
that love one to another to the saints of God. And evidence it
is that we possess the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And
the apostle is really stating that to say that we have faith
in the Lord Jesus and not have love to the saints does not prove
that we have true faith in the Lord Jesus. And he's able, therefore,
to give this testimony of the Church of God at Ephesus. And
remember, he addresses them as the saints which are at Ephesus
and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. He doesn't limit it just
to the Church at Ephesus. He expands it to the faithful
in Christ Jesus. And we are thankful today to
believe therefore that incorporates the whole Church of God down
to the ages and indeed incorporates us here today. So as the Apostle
speaks like this, I wonder if we are able to confirm in our
own heart before God that we also do love God's people, love
his children. Now, God's people go across the
full situation. There are those who are poor,
there are those who are rich, there are those who are awkward,
there are those who are pleasant. And yes, to observe God's grace,
God's favour in their lives, we see there something which
attracts us to them. And it is a very positive evidence
that we are amongst the children of God to realise this favour. And so I wonder today, if as
we look into our heart, we can find there that yes, I do love
the children of God, I do love the saints, and I am thankful
therefore that I do have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now he is addressing these people,
and in the previous two verses he speaks like this, in whom
ye also trusted. And who is that? The previous
verse tells us that we should be to the praise of his glory
who first trusted in Christ, in whom ye also trusted, after
ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in
whom also, after ye believed, You were sealed with that Holy
Spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance until
the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of
His glory. So the Apostle here is laying
down a statement, he's laying down a line and he's speaking
to us and questioning really our faith if we are amongst those
who are trusting in the Word of Truth. That means we're trusting
in the Word of God. We're trusting in the things
that the Lord speaks, those great and glorious truths, that we
are believing those truths, and we are hoping those truths do
indeed have an application to our hearts, that ye heard the
Word of Truth, the Gospel, of your salvation. We really come
here, don't we, to the centre of religion, which is the saving
of the soul. The saving of our soul from eternal
punishment to eternal bliss with the Lord in glory. The gospel
of your salvation. The good news, which is the death
and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, that He came into
this world to die for sinners, to die for those that we read
of in this earlier verse, according as He has chosen us in Him before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before Him in love. That's an amazing statement,
isn't it? the Apostle makes, chosen us in Him before the world
was created, before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love. And it is then the
blessing of God that we may receive the Gospel of our salvation. To believe that the Lord Jesus
Christ did come into this world to save our souls, to deliver
us from the wrath to come, in whom also after you believed. Well what a blessing it is if
you and I have been blessed with that faith to believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour. There is none other The Lord
Jesus Christ is the only saviour of sinners and have we the evidence
in our hearts today that we are amongst those who by God's grace
have believed and were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. That means the truth of God's
word spoken into our hearts because every word of God is true and
there are so many glorious and faithful promises in the word
of God and if the Lord by His Spirit applies the word to our
heart so those promises are true to us and have an effect upon
us to produce a change in our lives So that we are able to
know that whereas we were blind, spiritually blind, now by God's
grace we see, we have spiritual eyes, that God has blessed us
with spiritual sight. After that he believed he was
filled with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest
of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession,
unto the praise of his glory. Just very briefly, of course,
this inheritance is the inheritance of the Church of God, the inheritance
of those who have believed, the inheritance of those who have
heard the truth and it's entered into their heart, the inheritance
of those who love the saints. And this inheritance is eternal
life in glory in heaven with the Lord Jesus Christ. which
is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased
possession. And the Lord Jesus Christ, He
purchased His church. He redeemed His church. And the cost of that purchase,
the cost of that redemption was His life. It was the shedding
of His most precious blood. in order to redeem his people. Remember the words of the Apostle
Peter when he said, You were not redeemed with corruptible
things, as silver and gold from your vain conversation, received
by tradition from your father's butt, with the precious blood
of Christ. This is how the Church of God
is redeemed. This is how you and I are redeemed,
is through the precious blood of Christ, and this redemption
of the purchased possession will be revealed to us in our lives
that we will have the evidence of it that Jesus has died for
us that we do have a hope in his death that that death was
sufficient to take away all our sins to redeem our soul it was
a most glorious death it was a most wonderful occasion that
the Lord Jesus Christ should indeed condescend to take our
sins upon himself and to suffer and to bleed in our place. And
so he says, unto the praise of his glory. And it is indeed a
glorious thing to think that almighty God, the Lord Jesus
Christ, the only begotten Son of the Father, willingly submitted
himself to his Father's will, and because of his love toward
us, lost and ruined sinners. He came into this world to deliver
us and to save us. And that's why the Apostle comes
and says, wherefore I also. He's referring to those statements
that are before. And so he comes and says, he
ceases not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in
his prayers. There was a cause to give thanks
for the Church of God. What a blessing for us today
if we are also able to give thanks to the Lord for the work of grace
which we observe in one and another and as we observe that to make
mention of them in our prayers. 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. So the apostles prayer
was that there might be this spiritual enlightenment, this
spiritual understanding, this spiritual growth, this spiritual
knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. necessary this is, how important
it is, how essential it is, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of Glory, our Father, our Father who is in Heaven,
may give unto us the Spirit of Wisdom, the Spirit of Wisdom. Now the Spirit of Wisdom, is
not the wisdom of this world. The Bible tells us what this
wisdom is. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And so as we think of that, has
God given us the fear of the Lord? That means to fear Him
in a right way. That means the fear to offend
God. Fair to do that which is wrong
in the sight of God. Indeed, the fear of the Lord
is a wonderful blessing. It is the beginning of His heavenly
wisdom. So desire then to do that which
is right. That which is God honouring.
The spirit of wisdom. The Apostle prayed this for the
Ephesians and the faithful in Christ Jesus. or that you and
I might pray this for one another, and that this may be shown forth
in our lives, that we do possess the fear of the Lord. Now, this
fear of the Lord will have a big effect in our lives. It will
direct us in many ways. It will instruct us and we will
fear to do that which is wrong. We will want to do that which
is right in our lives. And this is the wisdom that the
Apostle is speaking about here. And it means turning away from
all the things of this vain world, all the so-called pleasures,
all the evil things of this world, and to turn us to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Turn us to seek His face, turn
us to seek His blessing, His favour, His guidance, His direction,
and to lead us on safely and at last bring us to glory. This is indeed the gracious work
of the Spirit. And so here we have this statement,
the Father of Glory may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom. how necessary it is in our lives
today to know that we possess this wisdom which is the fear
of the Lord to do that which is right and not follow our own
ways. The word of God tells us that there is a way that seems
right to a man, but the ways thereof are the ways of death. We don't want to go that way,
do we? We want to go that way which is right. Now, the Lord
has set before us in his word very clearly The right way. The right way. And James tells
us, if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God. You may perhaps
sometimes wonder about the right way. Well, we can come to God. And God it is who gives wisdom.
Gives wisdom to direct our ways. Gives wisdom to lead us to himself,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the apostle says here, may
give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge
of him. That means the knowledge of our
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. And perhaps we feel sometimes,
we seem to lack so much knowledge about the Lord Jesus Christ. Because there is a great depth
in the Lord Jesus Christ in all that he has done and all that
he is doing and all that he will do to have a knowledge of him. Remember the Lord Jesus was the
creator of all things. He tells us so. He created all
things. He was always almighty God. He was with his father. He was
The beginning and the end. The Lord is the same yesterday
and today and forever. Now the knowledge of Him is so
vast and so great that really it's beyond what you and I can
really think. Our minds cannot comprehend the
greatness of an eternal God. It is impossible for our minds
Because we are time creatures, we are born in time. To visualise
an eternal situation is beyond our comprehension. We can perhaps
get some idea of it, but eternity is a tremendous sound. And the
Lord was in eternity past. Now to give us the understanding
of him, that also then he planned all things, with his father and
with the Holy Spirit all things that would occur on this earth
as we have already said he has chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world and the Lord Jesus then was that one who was to
do his father's will and that was to be worked out in fulfilling
that will in dying that death to save his people because we
have all sinned That sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden
has come upon all men. For all have sinned, the Bible
tells us, and come short of the glory of God. We are all sinners
and we all need salvation. So what a blessing it is to realise
that the Lord Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost.
Now this is the knowledge of Him. And then to observe what
He did in His life on this earth. One thing is so very, very clear.
He pleased not himself. And one thing is very clear in
our lives. We often please ourselves rather than having that single
mind to please God. Not to please ourselves. The
Lord Jesus, he pleased not himself. He went about doing good. He
healed. He preached. He laboured. He never ceased. to desire to
do that which is right. What an example we have. Now
here the word says, and revelation in the knowledge of him. Because
we do need God to reveal these things to our understanding and
to recognize that the Lord Jesus Christ, he took our sin, he took
it upon himself and in exchange he gave us his righteousness.
This is the knowledge of him. And it says, blessed thing when
this is revealed to our hearts. So it's not just a theoretical
understanding, but it's that which God shows to us in our
hearts and we really then rejoice in it. And we bless God for this
great work and this knowledge of Him. Knowledge of Him. The apostle goes on, the eyes
of your understanding being enlightened. That clearly gives us a picture
that there is a time when we do not have a right understanding.
We do not, we are not enlightened. And when is that? Again the Bible
tells us when we are spiritually dead in trespasses and in sins. You see a dead person doesn't
have light, a dead person doesn't have sight rather. And it's a
great blessing when God comes in and gives us that new life,
that new birth, that new nature, and at that time we possess spiritual
sight, which we had not had before. And so we have this statement,
and he's praying for it, and indeed when we pray there may
be a wonderful outpouring of the Holy Spirit of God to grant
many the eyes of your understanding being enlightened. enlightened,
that means the light shines, to be enlightened, that ye may
know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches
of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. Now, the hope
of his calling, again, the apostle speaks of it with regards to
his own life, when he says, when the Lord called him by his grace,
that means He received from God that heavenly voice speaking
into his heart, which wasn't anything he deserved. It's a
free, unmerited gift of God, the grace of God is. And the
calling is when God comes and calls us. He calls us. He called Paul, of course, on
that Damascus road when he was travelling along. And there was
Paul. walking along and he thought
he was doing the will of God. In actual fact he wasn't, he
was doing his own will. But God called him. He knew it
was God's voice. And then another example which
we like to quote is the complete opposite. Lydia, the Lord opened
her heart to receive the things that the apostle was speaking.
What was it? God was calling her to receive
the word that the apostle was speaking. And what a blessing
it is if you and I, or one world or another, have heard God's
call. That's what the Apostle was concerned
about here, that the eyes of your understanding being enlightened,
that ye may know what is the hope of His calling. It wasn't
again just a theoretical knowledge in the mind, it was the Apostle's
prayer that there might be that knowledge. that you may know
what is the hope, and it's a good hope, it's a hope that God gives
us to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ that he has called us,
and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. There is an inheritance which
God gives to his church. It is an inheritance which is
eternal. It is the riches of glory where
the Lord is, where God is, where all his saints will be, around
that throne of God in heaven forever and ever, the riches
of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. And then he says,
what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us, Lord, who
believe according to the working of his mighty power. Now, you
can just imagine or hope That if there was a dead body, it
would need immortal power to raise that body to life. You
and I couldn't do it, could we? If someone was dead, and we'd
perhaps seen dead people, and then absolutely no life at all. And there would be no possibility
of you and me raising that person or giving that person life. Now
that is exactly how we are by nature. We are spiritually dead. There is no life within us. We
are spiritually dead. And therefore nobody can actually
physically give us life. But we are thankful to know that
God does give life. And that life is by his power. It's not your power or my power.
It's by the power of God. And so we have this statement
here. And what is the exceeding greatness
of his power to us what who believe. If God has given us grace to
believe, it's because he's given us that power to believe. And
it's because he shines his light into our hearts. So that we are
no longer dead, but we are spiritually alive. And what is the exceeding
greatness? It is a great thing, isn't it?
To raise somebody physically, make them alive is a great thing.
My friends, it's a greater thing to make you and me spiritually
alive. Because if we are blessed with spiritual life, that means
we have a life which will never die. We have a life which will
suspend in heaven with God in glory. And it is a wonderful
blessing. to know this, according to the
working of his mighty power. Well this morning, may you and
I be able to look into our hearts, to find whether that mighty power
of God has entered into our hearts, so that we are able to say, one
thing I know, whereas I was blind, now I see, the light has shone,
my eyes have been opened, I now see my need of salvation. I see my need of a Saviour. I also see what a blessing it
is to be amongst the saints of God, amongst the children of
God, because eternal glory is mine. And it's all because of
what Christ has done. Which He wrought in Christ, when
He raised Him from the dead, You see, here we have Almighty
God raising the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. That's the power. That's the same power that gives
you and me life today in our souls. It's the Almighty power
which raised Christ from the dead. The Lord Jesus Christ did
die. He had to die. He had to give his life so that
we might live. He had to suffer. He had to bleed. He had to die. which he wrought
in Christ when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right
hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and
power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named,
not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. What
do we view here? We view the risen Saviour. What
do we see Him as? We see Him as the great and glorious
High Priest. Go back to Old Testament times.
It was only the high priest that could go into the holy of holies
in the tabernacle and in the temple. And that was not without blood,
showing the death had occurred of that animal. It was a picture
of Christ dying. And the high priest went in,
not without blood, to confess the sins of the people. And there,
in that holy place, the Lord came and met with the high priest. My friends, today, we don't have
a temple, we don't have a tabernacle, but we do have a high priest.
And the high priest is the Lord Jesus Christ. And He is risen,
and He is ascending into glory, and He does sit at His Father's
right hand, and He does intercede for your prayers and my prayers,
He interceded for the apostles' prayers. As He writes here, and
what a blessing it is to think that we have such a Saviour today.
A risen Saviour, seated at the Father's right hand. One who
has suffered for us, and there He is today. So as we come to
praise a God, how do we come? For Jesus Christ's sake. Our
prayers are received by the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ. And through what He has done.
Which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead.
And set Him in His own right hand in the heavenly places.
Far above all principality and power and might and dominion
and every name that is named. not only in this world but also
in that which is to come and has put all things under his
feet and gave him to be the head over all things to the church
my friends to save the Lord Jesus Christ is the head of the church
yes the church's one foundation is Jesus Christ to me the head
of the church well is he your head and my head today. Does the Lord Jesus Christ rule
in your heart and my heart? Is He truly your God and my God? Do we bow down before this ever-blessed
God and acknowledge Him to be our Lord and Master, our Saviour,
our Redeemer? That One who is dying on Calvary's
cross to redeem us from all our sins, head over all things to the church,
which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all. There is a fullness in Christ
to answer our need. There's a fullness there, my
friends. Everything there is in Christ. Everything that you
and I need. Everything. Nothing lacking. Oh, is Christ Does he mean something
to you and me today? Or the Apostle Paul was so concerned
that the churches of God might know the Lord Jesus Christ in
a personal way. They might know his calling.
They might know his great salvation. They might know his redemption.
They might know his intercession. And surely what the Apostle Paul
desired when he wrote this epistle, the same need we have today.
I know that every one of us today might know in a personal way
the Lord Jesus Christ as our all sufficient Saviour and rejoice
that there is a fullness in Christ to answer our need. Amen.