Well let us turn again to God's
Word and turn into the chapter that we read in Ephesians chapter
3 and I want to direct you for a while to the last two verses
of the chapter Ephesians 3 and verses 20 and 21. Now unto him
that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we
ask or 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. And the theme that I want
to take up really is that of God's exceeding power and that
power as we see it in prayer because what we have here of
course is the conclusion of a prayer. We see how the Apostle is wont,
as he addresses these churches. Here he's addressing the church
at Ephesus, he addresses the church. But as I say, he's wont
to turn from speaking to the people and to address God on
their account. We see it in the first chapter.
At the end of chapter 1, he says at verse 16, how he ceases not
to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my 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 Himself. The eyes of your understanding
being enlightened." He's not so much instructing them, he's
praying for them, that God will do these very things and grant
them that spirit of wisdom, that revelation, the eyes of their
understandings being opened and so here at the end of chapter
3 he does something very similar he speaks of the whole family
in heaven and in earth there at verse 15 and we see his great
concern to pray for that family made up of Jews and Gentiles
At the end of chapter 2 where we commenced our reading he speaks
of how the Gentiles are those who are now being added to the
Church of Jesus Christ. In time past he says they were
Gentiles in the flesh called on circumcision by that which
is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands. They were different to the Jews,
of course. They were without Christ, aliens from the Commonwealth
of Israel, strangers to the covenants of promise. But those who were
afar off are now made nigh by the blood of Christ. And so he
goes on to the end of that second chapter, even here into chapter
3, speaking of that great mystery of God in the calling of Gentile
sinners. God has a purpose now to save
sinners amongst the Gentiles as well as amongst the Jews. And He prays then for this whole
family in heaven and in earth. At verse 14, for this cause,
He says, 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 with might by your spirit in the inner man
he's praying for them and he prays right through I say and
then we come to the word that I've announced as our text and
there we come to the end of his prayer and trivia it's a doxology
it's an anthem of praise to God He is following, of course, that
pattern that the Lord Jesus Christ himself gave when his disciples
asked the Lord to teach them how to pray, the pattern prayer,
the Lord's Prayer. And it's made up, of course,
of petitions, a number of petitions, and we come to the end of that
prayer in Matthew 6.13, and that doxology, For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. And so Paul also at the end of
his prayer here in this third chapter says, Now unto him that
is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or 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. Well, I want us to consider
something of the power that is being spoken of here. The power
that worketh in us. And that power in relation to
prayer. Now, in the prayer we see how
he speaks of the divine love. In verse 19, the love of Christ. This is his prayer for them.
He wants them to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge
he says it's something beyond their understanding
and yet he is praying that they might comprehend it that they
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
this is his prayer for them or there is something so infinite
about the love of God because God himself of course is the
infinite God and we cannot really begin to comprehend all that
God is Martin Luther says we cannot
know an absolute God we cannot know an absolute God but what
has God done? He has made himself known. No
man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son which is
in the bosom of the Father. He hath declared Him. He is that One who is the image
of the invisible God. In Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. We can only know God in and through
the Lord Jesus Christ. And in Him He says here at verse
12, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence by
the faith of Him. Through Jesus Christ the Mediator
we can come and we can pray to God, we can commune with God. Well, this is the wonder of what
Paul is writing of here. That divine love and the experience
of that love. This is what he desires them
to know. He passes knowledge Yet it is something that can
be known and enjoyed. In chapter 1 and verse 17 he
says 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. Oh God is pleased to reveal Himself. Paul had known that of course
in his own experience. as he tells the Galatians there
in the opening chapter of that epistle. He pleads God, he says,
to reveal his Son in Mary. And here is Paul praying for
these believers at Ephesus. And what does he want? He wants
that they should be filled with all the fullness of God there
at the end of verse 19. That she might be filled with
all the fullness of God, such a knowledge of God and the love
of God. And then we come, as I said,
to the words that we're going to consider for a little while,
verses 20 and 21. And I want to deal with just
two points. First of all, to say that God's
power is clearly abundant. Oh, it's an abundant power that
belongs unto God. And that's what works in the souls of us,
he says, in the souls of these believers at Ephesus, but he
includes himself. Now unto him that is able to
do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according
to the power that worketh in us. Thinking then of the abundance
of God's power And the expression that he uses here, he speaks
of that that is exceeding abundantly above all. Back in chapter 1 and verse 19
he speaks of the exceeding greatness of his power, the exceeding greatness
of God's power. We cannot begin to to understand
the power, the glory that belongs unto God. He is so very far above
us. And though God will continually
be reminding the children of Israel in the Old Testament how
they time and again want to be like the nations round about
them. They envy the heathen with their multitude of gods. They
want gods like their gods. They long after those idol gods
which are no gods at all but only the works of men's hands.
Now we see the Lord God through His servant the prophet Isaiah
many times rebuking the children of Israel, Isaiah chapter 14
Isaiah chapter 46, read those chapters through where God through
the prophet speaks of the folly of idols For example, there in
chapter 40 of Isaiah's book, verses 25 and 26, God says to
the people, To whom then will ye liken me? or shall I be equal,
saith the Holy One? Lift up your eyes on high, and
behold, who hath created these things, that bringeth out their
host by number? He calleth them all by names,
by the greatness of his might. For that he is strong in power,
not one faileth. Instead of looking at the nations
around them and their idols, look into the heavens. Look into
the vastness of the starry heavens, the universe, the host of those
heavenly bodies. who hath created these things,
who bringeth out their host by number, who calleth them by name. Aye, it's the only living and
true God. Now God rebukes and we need to
remember that God is a great God. And the great God that we
worship is that One who is all-powerful, is omnipotent. And now we need
to remember God's greatness when we come to pray to Him. And here
we have the context of prayer. All remember God's greatness.
We are so often guilty of limiting God because of our unbelief.
We are so shut up in ourselves and in our doubts and our fears. Remember what John Newton says
in the hymn. thou art coming to a king large
petitions with thee bring for his grace and power as such none
can ever ask too much there's an abundance of power there's
an abundance of goodness in the God that we come to in our prayers
and you know the language here in verse 20 it's so full and
it's so pregnant in meaning. It's typical Pauline language. Of course, it's not just the
words of Paul. They are the words of Paul. They're
not the words of John or Peter. These men obviously have their
own particular way of expressing themselves, their own styles,
but all of these men are those who are the servants of the Lord
God and they are men who are inspired by the Spirit of God. They are men who are writing
the words of God. But look at the language that
we have here in this 20th verse. And as I said, it's so full and
pregnant. He says God is able to do all
that we ask. Whatever we ask, God is able
to do it. We have the words of the Lord
Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. Ask and it shall be given you. Seek and you shall find. Knock
and it shall be opened unto you. Everyone that asketh receiveth.
He that seeketh findeth. Him that knocketh it shall be
opened. We're told quite plainly then
that God is able to do what we ask Him to do. He is not limited
in any way at all. With God nothing shall be impossible. We read there in Luke 1.37. With God nothing shall be impossible. Remember the context there because
it's to do with the great mystery of the Incarnation, isn't it?
It's the words of the the angel to the virgin Mary. He tells
her how the Holy Ghost will come upon thee, the power of the highest
shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy thing
that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. She's
a virgin. And surely it is impossible that a virgin should be with
child. But with God nothing shall be impossible. God can do all
things. He can do whatever we ask Him
to do. But Paul says something more
than that. He's not only able to do what we ask Him, He can
do even what we think or dream of. That's what it says. He can do
above all that we ask, or think. I'm sure we think, we have our
dreams, we imagine things, if only. And we should have a vision. Where there's no vision the people
perish. We should have such large views of God and all that God
is able to do. We're not to limit God, we do
limit God. And why do we limit God? Because of our unbelief.
But what is Paul saying here? He can do even more than our
minds, our poor finite minds, could ever think of. He is able
to do above all, it says. He can do above all that we ask
or think, because our minds are so finite. And He is the Great
God, the Infinite God, the All-Powerful God. And He can do above anything
that we could ever imagine. and the word that we have here
above has that idea of over on top of so much more than what
we could ever really begin to imagine but not only that he
can do far more than that abundantly it says unto him that he's able
to do abundantly above all that we ask or think but again it's
even far more than that It's exceeding, exceeding abundantly
above all that we ask or think. This is just typical Pauline
language. Writing under the inspiration
of the Spirit, he sets before us something of the glories of
the God that we pray to. That's what he's doing. That's
what he's doing. He's piling the words one on
top of the other. to remind us that our God has
unlimited powers. The words of the Psalm is Psalm
147 verse 5, Great is the Lord and of great power. His understanding
is infinite. Or do we really believe that?
Do we really believe that great is the Lord our God? That He
is of great power? and that his understanding is
infinite and we are so cramped and so constricted in ourselves
because of that sin which so easily besets us because of our
unbelief all God's power then is an abundant power that's what
we see here but that power of God It's abundant,
but it's not abstract. We're not dealing in abstracts
here. It's something tangible, the power of God. There's something
to be known. There's something to be felt.
It's a power that works in us, says Paul. It works in us. True religions, more than notions,
something must be known and felt. We're familiar with that little
couplet of Joseph Hart's, aren't we? we trot it off the end of
our tongues maybe sometimes but how true it is something there
to be known and felt God's love as I said in verse 19 God's love
is something that passeth knowledge it says and yet that love can
be known and that's his prayer that they know the love of Christ
which passeth knowledge. It's a paradox. If it's past
knowing, how can you begin to know it? He wants them to be
filled with all the fullness of this God. Well, likewise with
God's power. Great, infinite as it is, it
is a power that God demonstrates. He reveals it, He makes it known.
And where does He do that? It's in the church. It's in the
church. The end of verse 20 through to
verse 21. According to the power that worketh
in us, unto Him be glory in the church. Oh, this is where God
works, in the church. And what does God do in the church?
He does such a wonderful work that it's something that even
the angels in heaven who are there in the very presence of
God and they're about the throne of God but he's doing something
in this world and he's doing it in the church and it's something
that the angels want to behold. Look at what he said previously
at verse 10. "...to the intent that now unto
the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known
by the church, the manifold wisdom of God. The principalities and
powers in heavenly places, there are angels, there are elect angels,
those are the principalities and powers. Remember, later in
the same epistle he goes on to speak of that armour that the
believer has been provided with. And why so? For we wrestle not
against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against
powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against
spiritual wickedness in high places. There are fallen angels,
sinful angels, principalities, powers, the rulers of the darkness
of this world. But there are also elect angels. And here in this third chapter
of verse 10 he's speaking of those angels who are still in
the very presence of God, who do His bidding day and night.
Think of Isaiah 6 and the Seraphim, the burning ones, the pure angels
about the throne of God. And they have six wings and with
two they cover their feet and with two they cover their faces
and with two they fly. or they fly at his command. He
speaks and they do his bidding. And they're the ones who see
the wonders of God, the manifold wisdom of God, where? By the
church. It's what God does here in the church, it is so glorious
a work. It's such a wonderful revelation
of God, the salvation of sinners of mankind. You know, Peter says
much the same, doesn't he, in the opening chapter of his first
epistle concerning salvation which things the angels desire
to look into. All the angels, they want to
look into these things. There's joy in the presence of
the angels of God over one sinner that repented. It's a great work
that God does. that the Paul is praying about
in his prayer at the end of this chapter and you know that word
of Peter there in 1 Peter 1.12 which things the angels desire
to look into it reminds us doesn't it of what we have in the Old
Testament we have it there in type of course and we have the
anti-type in the New Testament and the type is what we are told
concerning the the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat. There's the
Ark of the Covenant containing the Ten Commandments, God's covenant
with Israel, God's law, that law that brings such a knowledge
of sin, and atop the ark of the covenant is the mercy seat and
on each end of the mercy seat there's the cherubim and their
wings are out spread and they're looking one to another looking
towards the mercy seat and the significance of the mercy seat
because it's there on the great day of atonement in Leviticus
16 that the high priest goes into the holy of holies with
the blood of sacrifice and he sprinkles blood upon the mercy
seat and before the mercy seat and he makes atonement for the
sins of Israel. It's a type, it is not a type
of the Lord Jesus Christ and that great work that the Lord
Jesus Christ did. The angels, angels here may gaze
and wonder what the God of love could do when he rent that heart
asunder never once defiled by sin. All the angels look into
these things. They see the works of God in
the salvation of sinners. And where is it that God saves
sinners? And where does God put the sinners He saves? He puts
them in the church. And so we have it here. According
to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory in the
church. All the church is the place.
The angels take an interest in these things. And here Paul speaks,
doesn't he, of his own ministry. His preaching of that Gospel
of the grace of God. Verse 7, Whereof I was made a
minister according to the gift of the grace of God given unto
me by the effectual working of his power. Unto me who am less
than the least of all saints is this grace given that I should
preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. and to make all men see what
is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the
world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ,
to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in
heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom
of God. Oh, they behold these things.
The angels are present, aren't they? when we gather together
for worship, when God's Word is open and read and preached.
The angels are beholding these things. Paul makes that point
in 1 Corinthians 11 with regards to the whole matter of headship
and the woman's head covering. The angels beholding all that
takes place, wondering at the gracious works of God, not just
the preaching of the Gospel, but the power of the Holy Spirit
is there making that words, that preach word and effectual word
Paul reminds these Ephesians there in verse 5 of chapter 2
even when we were dead in sins hath quickened us together with
Christ by grace are you saved there's quickening They were
dead in sins, you hath it quickened. And what is that quickening?
Why? It's the work of the Spirit they have brought to life. It's
new birth, it's regeneration. It's the great work of the Spirit
in the soul of the sinner. It's the accomplishment of all
that God had purposed. If we go back to the opening
chapter, he speaks of that purpose of God. verse 5, "...having predestinated
us unto 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 hath made us accepted in the Beloved."
All God's purpose. And God's purpose being accomplished
by the preaching of the Gospel and the effectual call of the
Grace of God, the efficacious work of the Spirit, the new birth,
the angels, beholding all of these things. All God's power,
you see. It's not some abstract thing.
It's tangible. It's what's to be seen. He demonstrates it. And He does
it in the Church. Unto Him be glory in the Church.
And it says, By Christ Jesus. It's by Christ Jesus. O the Lord Jesus, made a little
lower than the angels for the sufferings of death. He takes not on Him the nature
of angels, He takes upon Him the seed of Abraham. And for
as much as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He partakes
of the same. And the angels, behold, that
great work of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, why is it so? Because God in His eternal purpose
decreed it. We know there is an eternal union
between the sinner and Christ, elect sinners. Aren't they chosen
in Christ? We are told quite explicitly
back in that opening chapter. Verse 3. Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as
he hath chosen us in him, before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself according to the good pleasure of his will that is
an eternal union but then he goes on doesn't he there to speak
about those who were dead in trespasses and sins there must
be a work accomplished whereby that sinner is reconciled to
God whereby salvation is made a blessed reality, and it's the
work of Christ. Verse 7 there, in whom we have
redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according
to the riches of His grace. All what God has purposed from
eternity, it's accomplished in the fullness of the time, when
God sends forth His Son. who's made of a woman and made
under the law, that one who is now lower than the angel. But then what was purposed in
eternity and accomplished in time must become a reality in
the sinner's soul. There must be the great work
of application. There must be an experimental
union. And that's what he's praying
about here, verse 16, 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 heart
by faith. All that spiritual union, you
see. There's a work of the Spirit,
a mighty work, an all-powerful work of the Spirit, in order
that Christ may dwell in the sinner's heart by faith that
faith that comes only by the operation of God and remember
I said at the beginning that this man Paul is so wont to turn
from addressing the churches to praying for them and he doesn't
just do it here in chapter 3 we see the same in the opening chapter
at the end of the first chapter there at verse 16 he says he
ceases not to give thanks for you making mention of you in
my prayers and then he goes on to pray and what is the prayer
what is the prayer that the eyes of their understanding 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 and
then he speaks of the power doesn't he we mention it many a time
before He prays concerning that exceeding greatness of His power
to usward who believe, or that power that comes into the soul
of the sinner. It's 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 the
heavenly places. According to the working of his mighty
power which he wrought in Christ it's the same according to the working of his
mighty power in the same fashion after the same manner as that
mighty power that was in Christ's resurrection all thy dead men
shall live together with my dead body shall they arise it's all
in the Lord Jesus Christ unto him be glory in the church by
Christ Jesus throughout all ages. What is it that Paul is speaking
of here? As I said at the beginning, it
all has to do with prayer, but it's that power that's in prayer
really. It's that power that is in prayer. It's a great encouragement to
us to pray. and to come and pray with that
spirit of expectation and to anticipate that God will
answer our prayers that's the blessed hope, we do not pray
to the air, we have the ear of God, God hears prayers, God answers
prayers and we should be those then who
are looking and watching and waiting for the return of our
prayers Or do we do that? Can we not
learn from what the Apostle is saying here as he comes to the
end of this particular chapter? Of course, there's no divisions
into verses and chapter when Paul first wrote that epistle,
but how useful the divisions are to us on occasions, very
useful. And here we come to the end of
a section. And there's a section in which he is very much praying.
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."
And then we come to his petitions. Now he wants that they should
have such an experience of that divine love. The love of Christ,
which passeth knowledge, he says, that they may be able to comprehend
with all science what is the breadth and length and depth
and heighten to know or to know that love that they might be
filled with all that fullness of God and the God that he is
praying to or this God is that one who has an abundance of grace
and abundance of power now unto him that is able to
do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or 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. This is the God you see who saves.
We sang before the sermon that hymn 388 and I thought of that
last verse as we sang it just now It's often omitted, isn't
it? It's not always there in the
hymn if you find it in other books. You know the hymn, the
opening verse, Approach my soul, the mercy seat, Where Jesus answers
prayer, There humbly fall before his feet, For none can perish
there. But how reassuring, how comforting
that last verse, so often omitted. Poor tempest-tossed soul, be
still. my promised grace receive, I'll
work in Thee, both power and will, Thou shalt in me believe. All for God to come and to say
such words to us, individually, personally, Thou shalt in me
believe. May the Lord be pleased to bless
His word to us. We're going to singer concluding
praise the hymn is number three the two numbers Lee 385 God is my everlasting King God
is my strength and I will sing his power upholds my feeble frame
and I am victorious through his name hymn number three tune 385