Let us turn to that portion we
were reading in Ephesians and here in the third chapter I want
to direct you for a while this morning to the words that we
have in verse 12 Ephesians 3, 12 In whom we have boldness and
access with confidence by the faith of Him. Clearly the Apostle
is speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ in the context of course
addressing this church at Ephesus, principally a Gentile church.
He is reminding them of that great mystery that has now been
revealed in the calling of sinners of the Gentiles. And so at verse
11, the previous verse, he speaks of the eternal purpose which
God purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord in whom we have boldness
and access with confidence by the faith of Him. And then we see how the apostle
goes on really to pray for them. He's speaking of prayer, here
in verse 12, and all that entrance before God that we have by the
mediation of the Lord Jesus. But having spoken of prayer,
it seems that Paul cannot help himself from going on to pray
on their accounts. Verse 14 he 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
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 and so on as we read those closing verses of course
and he concludes with the Amen at the end of verse 21 unto him
be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages world
without end Amen. We've remarked previously how
the Apostle he won't In the various epistles that he addresses to
the different churches or individuals, he wants to not only address
them personally, but also to pray for them. He does it in
the opening chapter of this letter to the Ephesians. Verse 15, there
he says, Wherefore I also, after 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, 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, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened and so forth.
Again there in that first chapter we see him turning from addressing
them and beginning to address God for them. He prays, very
much a man given to pray for the churches of Jesus Christ. And it's really the subject of
prayer that I want to try to say something of this morning. How prayer is so profound a thing,
really, when we think about what it is. In prayer, we're those
who are favoured to have dealings with the Lord God Himself. We
think of the great mystery, the first, the greatest of all the
mysteries. of the doctrine of God, who God
is, the eternal God. And of course, as Christian believers,
we're Trinitarians. What a mystery is that doctrine
that God is one God, hero Israel. The Lord our God is one Lord.
There is none other but that One who is the Creator and Sustainer
of all things. And yet, God who is one is also
three persons. God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Ghost. Not three gods, but three persons
in one, undivided, one indivisible Godhead. And there's that sense
in which we come to know and to experience something of that
great mystery, that profound truth concerning God. We come
to discover something more of that mystery when we engage in
prayer. Think of the words that we have
there at the end of the second chapter. Again, how the Apostle
is speaking of the Lord Jesus, and he says at verse 18, through
him, Through the Lord Jesus Christ we both, that is the Jew and
the Gentile, the ancient division is now gone because the Gospel
is for Gentiles as well as for Jews. Through Him we both have
access by one Spirit onto the Father. We can come to know and
to discover something more of the wonder of God then in prayer.
As we address the Father, as we know we can only come by and
through the mediation of the Son, but there we need that gracious
ministry of the Holy Spirit helping us in all our infirmities. The wonder of prayer then, because
in it we discover God. And we can never find God out
by searching. Those words back in Job 11, Canst
thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty
unto perfection? It is high as heaven, what canst
thou do? Deeper than hell, what canst thou know? The measure
thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the seas, or
the immensity, all that God is, the wonder of the Eternal One. We can never find Him out, and
yet, we discover something of God in our praying. He comes and He communes with
us even as we commune with Him and we find that He is that One
who is indeed three persons. We approach the Father through
the mediation of the Son and by the ministry of the Holy Spirit. That must be so in all prayer,
that is real prayer. It is a profound thing And yet,
on the other hand, prayer is such a simple thing. Is it not,
in many ways, something that is quite childlike? What is praying? It's asking.
The Lord Jesus says, Ask, and it shall be given you. Seek,
and ye shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened
unto you. And children, children know how
to ask. Parents are aware of that. Children are very good
at asking for things. And of course, in those words
of Christ, there in the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 7, he
says, Ask, Seek and Knock. A-S-K. Prayer is asking. And it's so childlike. Christ
says, verily, except ye be converted and become as little children
ye cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven. How do we enter? We have to ask, we have to seek,
we have to knock. And the Lord Jesus assures us
that those who ask receive, and those who seek they find and
those who knock why the door is open to them. Well this morning
as we look at these words here in Ephesians 3.12 in particular
in whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the
faith of Him. Boldness and access with confidence. The theme I really want to address,
we might say, is the ABC. The ABC of prayer. Access, boldness, and confidence. Those three things as we come
to look at this particular verse, a short verse, and yet the verse
that contains so very much with regards to what our prayer should
be about. First of all, access. The heart of our text speaks
of that. It's access. Or entrance. It's with confidence. What is
real prayer? It's meeting with God. It's meeting with God. And we
have to keep that grand end, that blessed object in view,
otherwise we don't understand, we don't comprehend really what
the mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ and what the ministry
of the Holy Spirit is all about. Except we remember that in prayer
we are actually meeting with God. We see it there in that previous
chapter, in that 18th verse in chapter 2, for through Him we
have access by one's spirit onto the Father, or the mediation
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle writing there in
the epistle to the Hebrews reminds us of boldness, to enter into
the holiest, he says, by the blood of Jesus. There is a bold
entering then into the very presence of God. And how do we enjoy that
entrance? It's only through the mediation
of the Lord Jesus. He is that one who is the great
high priest, And his priestly work, we're aware is a two-fold
work. He comes to this world to accomplish
the first part of that priestly work when he makes the great
sin-atoning sacrifice. That was the work of the priest
in the Old Testament. They served at the brazen altar. They presented the burnt offerings,
and the sin offerings, and the trespass offerings on behalf
of the children of Israel. But they didn't just serve at
the brazen altar, they also were to serve at the golden altar,
the altar of incense within the vial, where they would offer
the incense, and there that incense, of course, would fill the holy
place. And it demonstrates really the prayers ascending before
God, coming before the throne of God. or there is to be that
entrance. And when the Spirit comes, He
comes, doesn't He, to guide us into all of that truth that we
see ultimately accomplished in the work of the Lord Jesus. He
has finished His priestly work here upon the earth, but rising
again from the dead, ascending on high, He has now entered into
that within the veil. And He tells us Himself that
there is no other way whereby we can come before God. I am
the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father,
says Christ, but by me. And the Spirit testifies to that.
When He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, Christ says He will
guide you into all truth. It is all that truth that centers
in Christ, who is, the way, the truth, and the life. That's a great verse, isn't it,
that we find right at the end of the first epistle of John,
that general epistle. In 1 John 5 verse 20, we know
that the Son of God is come and has given us an understanding
that we may know him, that he's true, And we are in Him that
is true, even in His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God
and eternal life. For no man hath seen God at any
time. The only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. And it is through Christ. Our
fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ
our Lord. There is to be then that entering
in. What is the promise that God
gives to Israel back in Exodus, there in chapter 25, as the Lord
is giving instruction to Moses concerning the worship of God,
the furnishings of the tabernacle, the services of the tabernacle,
and in chapter 25, as we know, he speaks of the Ark of the Covenant,
and atop the Ark, the Mercy Seat. And God says, there will I meet
with them. There will I meet with them. There is a meeting with God.
There is access to God. Sometimes, maybe, and we've all
done it, I dare say, we've tried to explain to children something
of what prayer is, and we might speak in terms of the telephone
as an illustration, and say, well, look, when you take up
the telephone, you can speak with someone at a distance, and
in prayer, although we're here upon the earth, we can speak
to God who is in heaven. Well, the illustration is good
as far as it goes, but prayer is more than that. Prayer is
that entrance into the very presence of God. It's access. It's talking with God, as it
were, face to face. And it's all through the Lord
Jesus Christ, who himself is the image of the invisible God.
And yet, the one who is our mediator is not only truly God, he's also
really man. And he's one who understands
us. We have not a high priest which
cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, we're told.
He was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without seeing. And what is the conclusion that
the apostle then makes, let us therefore come boldly, you see.
All because of Christ, because He is not only that One who is
God, but He's also that One who is truly a man. Let us therefore
come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy
and find grace to help in time of need. Oh, are we those then
who long for that entrance into the very presence of God? John
Newton says, Approach my soul, the mercy seat. where Jesus answers
prayer there, humbly fall before his feet, for none can perish
there. The wonder of it, that we of
ourselves are in that state of alienation, that's our natural
condition, we're far off from God, alienated by wicked works,
born dead in trespasses and sins. And yet, to be made nigh by the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's access with confidence by
the faith of Him. That is the important thing that
we have to remember. Principally, what is it to pray
to God? It is to come before Him. It's
to enter into His very presence. In Christ the forerunner has
gone there to prepare the way for us. And that's a blessing
that we enjoy. Of course, it was very different
in the Old Testament. With regards to the Holy of Holies,
it was only the high priest who could ever enter into that place.
And then he could only go on one day in the year, that great
day of atonement. And then he must go with the
blood of sacrifice and sprinkle the blood before the mercy seat
and upon the mercy seat. and the people were waiting without. Or would the High Priest be consumed
now in the presence of the Holy One of Israel? And of course,
around the hems of his garments there were those bells, they
could hear the bells. He was still living, he was still
attending to his duties there before the Mercy Seat. And then
he would come forth. And what a blessing now, all
these things you see up there, full accomplishment in the New
Testament, in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our Mediator. Through Him we have access, or
through Him we have entrance into the very presence of God. And so, the A of the ABC, it's
access. But what else do we read of in
this verse? There's boldness. Boldness. In whom we have boldness,
it says. That's the sort of access we
have. It's a bold access. And what is it that emboldens
sinners when they come before God? Well, is it not the gospel of the grace
of God. Is it not all those exceeding
great and precious promises that are in the Lord Jesus Christ? That is the wonder of it. It's
the gospel that emboldens us to come because of what God has
declared and revealed in the person and the work of his only
begotten Son. And all those promises of God,
we're told they're yea, and that are men in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not just a promise, it's
also the fact that God has given an oath, God has sworn by Himself, He's given us His Word, He's
magnified His Word above all His name, the Word of God in
the Gospel, is as dependable as God himself. That's what the
psalmist is saying when he utters that word. God has magnified
his words above his name. His name being what he is, who
he is. The revelation of himself and his words above his name. And those promises, not only
confirmed by the oath of God, but also sealed in the precious
blood of the Lord Jesus, the testator of the New Covenant.
He has come, He has died, for His testament, His covenant,
this New Covenant of grace, it stands. It's these things that
should embolden us in prayer. We have the Gospel of the grace
of God. And what are we to do as we come? We are to make our needs known. We are to speak freely. Those
are great words of the Lord Jesus, aren't they, in the Sermon on
the Mount? Ask and it shall be given you,
he says. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened
unto you. For everyone that asketh receiveth,
and he that seeketh findeth. And to him that knocketh it shall
be opened. It's the certainty, it's the
shalls, it's the wills of the New Covenant. God doesn't deal
in ifs and buts and maybes and probabilities and possibilities. For there is that ring of truth,
there's that certainty that we have. It's the Gospel, and what
do we have in the Gospel? We have the full and the final
revelation of God. It's in the Gospel that we see
the true character of God. And what of God? He gives. He's
a God who delights to give. He doesn't withhold His Son,
even His only begotten Son. God so loved the world, that
He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. All thanks be to God for
the unspeakable gift. What a favour that is! God delights
to give. He tells us Himself it is more
blessed to give than to receive. And again, think of the ministry
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Is He the gift of God? And will
He not speak of another? If ye then being evil, He says,
you being evil, you know how to give good gifts unto your
children. How much more shall your Heavenly Father give the
Holy Spirit to them that ask Him? Parents love to give gifts
to their children. It's a delightful thing. How
much more we're evil, we're sinners, selfish creatures really. And
yet we love to give to our loved ones. How much more shall your
Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him? Oh, what a blessing it is that
we can ask God that He would grant the Holy Spirit. And what
is all our religion if we know not the Spirit? Surely we recognize
that real religion is that that is wrought in the soul of a sinner
by the Holy Spirit. We can't give ourselves anything. We have to come as poor dependents. We have to cry to God that he
would favor us with that gracious ministry of the Spirit. That
the Spirit might come to illuminate our darkened mind, our ignorance. We feel it sometimes so great.
We read the Word of God and we seem unable to understand anything
of the Word of God. We want God to come and interpret
the Word, the Spirit gave the Word. And we need Him to interpret
the Word and to apply the Word. And not only with regards to
our understanding, we need Him to come and to open our hearts. We feel it so often, our hearts
are so hard. We have unbelieving hearts, that's
our natural condition. We need the Spirit to give us
that new heart that we might present to God,
that sacrifice so acceptable. The broken spirit, says the Psalm,
is the broken and the contrite heart. they will not despise. How the Spirit comes in sometimes
maybe as the hammer to break our hard hearts to pieces. Oh,
we need the Spirit of God to come to our minds, to our hearts,
to our wills, to make us willing. We're so willful in our sins.
How awful it is. It's so easy to sin. We want
to sin. We love sin. That's our old nature. And we need the Spirit to make
us those who are willing followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. We
need then that God should grant us these gifts. And God gives.
He gives the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him. And so we can come
with boldness, because we have the gospel of the grace of God,
and we have the fullness of the revelation of God in the person
and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we live in the dispensation
of the Holy Spirit, that best of all the donations of God has
been shared abroad. This is the gospel day, the acceptable
time. This is the day of salvation. And Christ says, Whatsoever ye
shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be
glorified in the Son. Oh, there's the promise. Whatsoever
ye shall ask in my name, I will do, says the Lord Jesus. His
concern is the glory of the Father. There are so many texts, aren't
there? Not just in the New Testament. There's gospel in the Old Testament.
as well as in the New Testament. What does God say back in Ezekiel
36? I will yet for this be inquired
of by the house of Israel, to do it for them. I will increase
them with men as a flock. And we see there how that prayers
are bound up in the purpose of God, He will do the thing. But
He has not only ordained the end but also the means. He will
do it, but how will He do it? Well, they'll come, they'll inquire
of Him. They'll inquire of Him. They'll pray to Him. They'll
call upon Him. Remember those words of Isaiah
45, 11. Thus saith the Lord, the Holy
One of Israel and His Maker. ask of me things to come concerning
my sons, and concerning the works of my hand, command ye me." Concerning
the works of my hand, command ye me, says God. Or before they
call, I will answer. And while they are yet speaking,
I will hear. God's promises God's words are
meant to be an encouragement to us, to embolden us in our
prayers as we come before Him. And yet, we have to remember
this, the other hand. On the other hand, God preserve
us from any presumption. God forbid that we should come
in any irreverent manner before Him. So much so-called prayer
in some circles today is just chumming, talking to God as if
we're equal with God. Boldness in no way suggests that
we're on equal terms with God. We always have to remember who
God is and who we are. We can have boldness in the Lord
Jesus Christ, but that's not... we're not to be presumptuous.
We're not to be presumptuous. It's an awful thing, isn't it,
to hear someone speak to God as if he's on the same level
as they are. We want to come in that spirit
of real reverence. We often think of those words
that we have in the fifth chapter of Ecclesiastes. Keep thy foot,
says the preacher, the wise man, keep thy foot when thou goest
to the house of God. and be more ready to hear than
to give the sacrifice of fools, for they consider not that they
do evil. Be not rash with thy mouth, and
let not thine heart be hasty towards anything before God,
for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth. Therefore let thy
words be few." Maybe sometimes we feel Our words are too few. And yet,
let us not despise short prayers. In many ways, short prayers are
the best prayers. Lord, help me. Lord, save me. From those are
best of all prayers, those prayers so short, so direct. But in all
things we are to come as those who would reverence God, who
would recognize who it is. He is the Holy One. He is that
One before whom the angels, our sinless angels, our elect angels,
the seraphim, the cherubim, they are at the throne of God, and
what do they do? They veil their faces, they veil
their feet, the ground is holy ground, and though they be holy,
sinless, burning, bright creatures, yet they cannot bear the sight
of God, the Holy One. And they cry before Him, Holy,
Holy, Holy, Holy Father, Holy Son, Holy Spirit, all the thrice
Holy God. And they worship Him. God preserve
us then from any undue boldness, any presumption in His presence.
And yet, what we have here is interesting. Boldness. In whom we have boldness. It's
the same words that we have there in Hebrews 4.16. And it's a compound word. We've said this before, it's
one of these words that's made up of two words. Two words, as
it were, welded together. And what are the two words? Well,
the one is the word all, and the other is the word speech.
We come with all speech. We come with all speech. How can we come with all speech?
What does it mean? Well, we come to plead all God's
promises. That's what we do when we pray,
we We pray over the Word of God and, as the old Puritan says,
we should be concerned then to be thickening our prayers with
God's words, with God's promises. And we have a book full of promises
to plead. We can come with all speech then,
we can fill our mouths with arguments from the Word of God. But we
don't only come to plead all His promises, we can also come
and tell Him all our troubles, holding nothing back, telling
Him everything. Not that He is ignorant of us.
He knows us better than we know ourselves, but how He delights
to hear us pouring out our hearts, casting our cares, casting all
our burdens upon Him. Those words in Hosea 14 to take
with you were says the prophets, and turn to the Lord and say,
take away all iniquity and receive us graciously. Lord, we're invited
to take with us words, our words are few, we have nothing that
we can say to commend ourselves. We have nothing to present to
Him other than our great needs. But we can speak much of Christ,
and we can plead all His worth and all His value, all which
are coming with boldness. It's access, it's entrance, it's
coming to the very presence of God. It's being that intimate
with God. And yet, though in the presence
of the Holy One of Israel we can be bold, And then the final
letter, of course, is C, the ABC of prayer, confidence. Confidence. Or we might say Christ. That's
our confidence. The Lord Jesus Christ. In whom,
it says. Well, let us mark these little
words, these prepositions, in whom it says. And then at the
end, by the faith of Him. It's in whom it's of Him. That's our bonus. Christ is the
beginning and Christ is the ending of it. He says, I am Alpha and
Omega, the first and the last, which was and which is, and which
is to come, the Almighty. Remember how He declares Himself
to John there as He reveals Himself on the Isle of Patmos, Revelation
1.11. He is the Alpha and the Omega. Oh, He's the Beginning
and the Ending. He's the First and He's the Last. And what do we do in prayer?
We remember all the purposes of God. That's what we come to
pray about, God's purposes. One of the petitions that the
Lord teaches us in that pattern, prayer in the Lord's prayer,
we are to pray, Thy will be done. Thy will be done in earth as
it is in heaven. And doesn't God's will center
very much in the Lord Jesus Christ. And we have it here in the context,
verse 11. It's according to the eternal
purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. God's
purpose, God's will, centers in Christ Jesus our Lord in whom
we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Him. Paul sent us in here. He is the
first elect. My servant in my abode, my elect
in whom my soul delighteth. And we see it there in the opening
chapter after his normal words of greeting to the saints at
Ephesus in verses 1 and 2 there. We come to verse 3 in chapter
1, and how does the epistle begin? 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, to the praise of the glory of
His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved."
It's all in Christ, isn't it? Chosen in Him. Well, he says
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places are in Christ, there in
verse 3. Verse 4, He has chosen us in
Him before the foundation of the world. He's predestinated us to the
adoption of children by Jesus Christ. He's made us accept it in the
Beloved. It all It all centers, of course,
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is our confidence. We
look to Him who stands at the very center of God's gracious
purpose of salvation. And all to the glory of God,
for of Him and through Him and to Him are all things to whom
be glory forever. But all this praying He's clearly
here to be in faith. That's what we see in the text.
All our access, our boldness, our confidence is by the faith
of Him. Without faith it's impossible
to please God. He that cometh to God must believe
that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek
Him. Faith is from Him, and faith
is to Him. It's the faith of Him. How would
you understand that expression, the faith of Him? Well, it certainly is from Him. He is the author, He is the finisher
of our faith, Paul says. And so we're to look to Him.
We're to take our eye off every other object. We're to look to
one object alone, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher
of our faith. As faith is from Him, we must
recognize our dependence upon Him for that gift of faith. It
must be faith of the operation of God. We can't give ourselves
faith. Think of that man who comes to the Lord in the Gospel,
and what does he say? Lord I believe, help thou mine
unbelief. Oh how we need the Lord Jesus
continually to help us, because of the unbelief that's so bound
up with our fallen nature. What is our fallen nature? It's
what we've inherited from Adam and Eve. It's the consequence
of their sin, their fall in the Garden of Eden. And what was
the sin of our first parents? It was unbelief. It's bound up
with our fallen nature, unbelief. And even when we have faith,
we feel that accursed sin, the sin which does so easily beset
us. Who are we to look to? Oh, we're
to look to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's there that all our confidence
is to center. And our faith might be very weak
at times, but isn't the Lord Jesus Christ that one who is
always a great Savior? Why? Salvation is of the Lord. And He is God. And He has accomplished
salvation. And it's only in and through
Him then that we can really know anything of what real praying
is about. Oh God grant that we might see
the simplicity of it, the ABC of it, as we have it set before
us here in the text this morning. The Lord write it, indelibly
in our hearts, in whom that is Christ Jesus our Lord, we have
boldness. and access with confidence by
the faith of Him. May the Lord be pleased to bless
this word to us. Amen. Let us conclude our worship
this morning as we sing the hymn 725 to the tune Trentum, number
73, The Sinner Born of God. to God will pour his prayer in
sighs, or groans, or words expressed, or in a falling tear. The form
of words may please the sinner dead in sin, but quickened sinners
want to pray, as prompted from within. 725, Tune 73. The sinner born of God, to God
will call his prayer. Inside the grounds of earth's
expanse, a riddle for him to hear. The feelings of his heart,
? The sin to the lost heart ? ? And will the Lord ? ? A world for
him ? ? His needs he will supply ? ? The form of God's light ? The sinner dead is seen, but
quickened sinners want to pray. as prompted from within. The Holy Ghost in us, only a
vital prayer. And prayer indicted by the Lord,
the Lord will surely hear. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ
and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you
all. Amen.