Well, let us turn to God's Word
and turning to Ephesians chapter 3 and the portion of Scripture
we were considering in the morning hour, Ephesians 3. And I'll read again the text,
verse 17 through 19, that Christ may dwell in your
hearts by faith, the G 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." Here then in Ephesians 3 17 through 19 we have a part
of a prayer As we said this morning, we find
the Apostle at the end of this chapter turning from his address
to the believers there in the church at Ephesus as he prays
for them. 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 His Spirit in the inner man and then the words
that I just read verses 17 through 19 the words that we were considering
as our text and I took up that theme trying to say something
with regards to the dimensions of divine love the dimensions
of divine love and what an impossible subject it is The Apostle expresses
his desire that they may be able to comprehend and to comprehend
that which passes knowledge as he says in verse 19. It's incomprehensible
really. It's beyond the ken of men to
understand the wonders of that love of God which is in the Lord
Jesus Christ. But we said something with regards
to the dimensions that are spoken of in particular here in verse
18. It's length. It's length. Why? It's as long as God Himself. And God is the Eternal One. Even from everlasting to everlasting. Thou art God, says Moses in his
prayer there in Psalm 90, from everlasting to everlasting, they
are what God's. And what God is, is what love
is, because God is love. So God's love is an eternal love. And He said that love upon His
people from before ever there was any creation. We know that
from what we're told in the opening chapter. Now He has made choice
of His people, chosen in Him that is in Christ before the
foundation of the world. Oh, it's a love that reaches
back into eternity and it is a love that stretches forth into
eternity. When Christ saves them, He gives
them eternal life and they shall never perish. and though he loves
them, and he loves them unto the end, he loves them always.
So we thought a little of what we might say is the length of
the divine love. We also spoke of the breadth
of that love, and though we are very much reminded of it of course
in the context of this chapter, because in the previous part
he is speaking of that great mystery that has now been revealed
with the coming of Christ and the gospel, that there is salvation
for sinners of the Gentiles. He speaks there in verse 4 of
his knowledge in the mystery of Christ which in other ages
was not made known unto the sons of men as it is now revealed
unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit that the Gentiles
should be fellow heirs. Oh, he was made a minister according
to that gift of the grace of God that I should preach among
the Gentiles, he says, the unsearchable riches of Christ. There is a
breadth that was not there, of course, under the Old Testament
because God's grace was very much bound up with one family,
one nation upon the earth. you only have I known of all
the families of the earth he says and we had set his love
upon them as we're told in Deuteronomy 7 and not because of anything
in themselves they were the least of all the nations but God set
his love upon those who were the physical descendants of Abraham
and of Isaac and of Jacob but now there is to be the calling
of the Gentiles and how both Jew and Gentile can enjoy the
blessing of access into God's presence as he says there in
verse 18 of chapter 2 through him, that is through Christ we
both, that is Jew and Gentile have access by one's spirit unto
the Father, how in the Gospel God has revealed Himself in all
the fullness of His glorious being. He is Father, He is Son,
He is Holy Spirit. And we discover something of
the wonder of that God when we come to commune with Him, when
we come to speak with Him in our prayers. We speak to the
Father, we meet with the Father, but it's by the mediation of
the Son and it's through that gracious ministry of the Spirit
of God. Oh, there is salvation then for
those of the Gentiles, those at the ends of the earth. that
such is the breadth, I said this morning, that we must also think
of those words in a spiritual sense. There are times when God's
people feel themselves to be far off. Sin comes, in separance,
between us and God, and we feel the distance. But those who are
truly at a great distance, they know nothing of those feelings.
Or when it seems that God is not at hand out trying how difficult
it is for the child of God. We yearn for him to draw near
to us. Well, we can rest assured that
there's a breadth to the love of God. It's not only long, it's
not only from eternity to eternity, but even in this mortal life
here upon the earth. Oh, there's a wondrous breadth
to the love of God. And then there's the depth of
it. The depth of it. when we're in deep places. And
there are times when God's people are in deep places. We're not
always up on the mountaintops. There are valleys, also deep
valleys. And what does the psalmist say?
He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, and out of the
miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. all the depths of it. And the
Lord Jesus, what depths Christ Himself knew. Why we refer to
those words at the beginning of the 69th Psalm, that Messianic
Psalm, and there we see Christ. Well we know He knew what it
was to do business in deep waters. How He descended. And He descended
that He might raise up His people, because as there are depths,
so there are heights. so there are heights and we think
when we consider the heights of that love of God we think
in terms of the language that we have previously here in the
second chapter verse 4 following that God who is rich in mercy
for his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were
dead in sins hath quickened us together with Christ by grace
ye are saved and hath raised us up together and made us sit
together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Oh, to know what
it is to be in those heavenly places. What is heaven? Heaven is that place where Christ
unveils His lovely face. Oh, the Lamb is all the glory.
In Emmanuel's land, says Samuel Rutherford, how true it is, but
to know something of heaven and earth as we contemplate, as we
think upon the Lord Jesus Christ Himself all the heights to be
raised up and to think of Him, His person, His work all that
is revealed for us here in Holy Scripture, how good God is He's
not just given us one gospel or two gospels or three gospels
He's given us a fourfold gospel that we might learn and read,
and it's not just a fourfold gospel, He's given us all the
Scriptures, the totality of the New Testament Scriptures, the
Epistles, and all the Old Testament, and all the prophecies. And Christ
has searched the Scriptures, and they all testify of Him.
Oh, that we might have our eyes and our hearts and hear in the
Word of God. and desire that as we come to
God's word we might behold the Lord Jesus Christ. Thinking then
of those dimensions of divine love, tonight I want to try to
say something with regards to the experience of it. The experience
of that divine love. In a sense, to think of the experience
again in terms of the doctrine of God. The experience of it really is
a revelation to us of the Trinity. Considering then three aspects,
three points as we think of the experience of divine love. First
of all, its expression. How is this love expressed? Well, it's all expressed in Christ. It's all expressed in the Son
of God. What do we read here in verse
19? It is the love of Christ. This is Paul's prayer that they
might know the love of Christ. You see, God is infinite. God is infinite. He's past our comprehension. He's past our knowing really.
We often refer to those words in Job 11 how true they are. Canst thou by searching find
out God is the question. Canst thou find out the Almighty
unto perfection. it is high as heaven what can
say no deeper than hell so the questions keep on coming there
is it really possible to know God? Luther in his table talks
states the fact that we cannot know an absolute God it is not
possible for us to know God God is the creator we are the creatures
God is the eternal one And we are mortal. We are men and women
of the day and we experience all the limitations of our mortal
life. How can we know a God who is
altogether so much greater than anything we could ever begin
to consider? We can never comprehend the wonder
of it. No man has seen God at any time. But how does that verse continue?
The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father,
He hath declared Him. Where is God's love expressed? It is expressed in the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is the image of the invisible
God. He is the brightness of His glory.
as we read there in Hebrews chapter 1, the brightness of His glory,
the express image of His person. Oh, He is God's. And when God
bringeth the first begotten into the world, He says, let all the
angels of God worship Him. This one who is born in such
lowly circumstances, there in Bethlehem and laid in a manger,
All the angels of God worship Him. They worship Him there,
of course, in the Incarnation. There are the shepherds watching
over their flocks by night, and suddenly a host of angelic beings
worshipping, praising God. Let all the angels of God worship
Him. or the mystery of the Godhead,
it is known only in the Lord Jesus Christ. We can know nothing
at all about God apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. We were looking
only the other Thursday at those words in Colossians chapter 2. Paul again expresses his desire
that their hearts might be comforted, he says, being knit together
in love and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding
to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God and of the Father
and of Christ in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden there
in the Lord Jesus Christ, in Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead body." He is that one then who comes between God and man.
He's the mediator. He's the mediator. One God, one
mediator between God and man. The man, Christ, Jesus. In whom? We have boldness and
access with confidence by the faith of Him we read here in
verse 12 of this third chapter. In the Lord Jesus Christ we have
boldness, access, or we can come with confidence before God when
we come by the faith of Jesus Christ. He is our mediator. the one by and through whom we
can come to God, and there is no other way of coming. But also,
of course, he is the mediator between God and man. It's not
just between man and God, but between God and man. And isn't that how it's put there
in 1 Timothy? One mediator between God and
men, it says. Not one mediator between men
and God, but first of all, one mediator between God and men. It's the downward mediation. Well, we know that God, as He
is eternal, so also He is holy. And he is surrounded by the seraphim,
and the seraphim are the burning ones. They are such holy creatures,
those angels, who wait about the throne of God. And yet such
is the sight that they veil their faces. Though themselves burning
in their purity and holiness, they cannot bear the sight of
God, and they cry, Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of hosts. the holiness of God. He is a
consuming fire. He is a God of purer eyes than
to behold iniquity. He cannot look upon sin. And
yet, when we think of that way in which God reveals himself,
the expression of God's love as we have it in the Lord Jesus
Christ is coming into this world. and the great work that he has
accomplished in Christ we see that God is just and at the same time he's the
justifier of him that believeth in Jesus oh what an expression
of the love of God it is what an expression of God's love that
God there in the work of Christ and especially when we think
of The culmination of that work is obedience unto death, even
the death of the cross. We see that God is a just God.
And yet God is a justifier of sinners. Mercy and truth are
met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. All the attributes of God, they
harmonize. in the work of the Lord Jesus,
we see the wonder of the great love that God has towards sinners. Jesus, the gift of gifts, appears
to show that God is love. Why we sang those words this
morning, George Berger's words there in the 750th hymn. What do we see with the coming
of Christ, the gift of gifts? and we discover that God is love. That expression then of the love
of God is to be seen in the person of the Lord Jesus and the work
that the Father had given Him to do here in His love. Not that
we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the
propitiation for our sins. John declares it so plainly there
This is the love of God that he sends his son to be the propitiation. That's technical, that theological
word. It's speaking of the death of
the Lord Jesus and what's accomplished by it. It's that Godward aspect,
isn't it? It's the wrath of God satisfied. God angry. Angry with the wicked
every day. And in the Lord Jesus we see
that God's justice is altogether satisfied. Oh, it's the love
of Christ which passeth knowledge as we read here in verse 19.
Oh, why, dear Saviour, tell me why thou thus would suffer, bleed,
and die? What mighty motive could they
move? The motives play. It was all
for love. Oh, it was all for love. The
love of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. We know the grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ. So He was rich, yet for your
sakes became He poor, that ye through His poverty might be
made rich. These are the great truths that
are continually being declared to us here in the Scriptures.
This is the Gospel. Having loved his own, he loves
them unto the end. What does his love here upon
the earth terminate in? His love terminates in the cross.
There's the greatness of his love. God commended his love
toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for
us. You see, God's love is one of
pity towards sinners. You think about it, what is there
in the object that God loves? What is there in us that is attractive
in any sense to God when we're nothing but sin? And yet He loves
sinners. and He loves them so much that He gives His only begotten
Son. He has made Him to be sin for
us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. All the expression then of this
love, we see it in Christ, the gift of Christ, the coming of
Christ, the work of Christ, His life, His death, all that He
is, all that He has done. This is the love of Christ, to
know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that ye might
be filled with all the fullness of God. But what of the experience,
what of the experience of this remarkable love in all the vast
extent of its dimensions. Well, it is experienced by God,
the Holy Spirit. How does He pray? How does He
pray at 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. It's His Spirit in the inner
man. But what does that mean? Well
he goes on, doesn't he, in verse 17, that Christ may dwell in
your hearts by faith. His spirit in the inner man is
equivalent to Christ dwelling in your heart by faith. That's the remarkable thing when
the sinner is brought to faith, to trust in Christ for all his
salvation. That's the blessed work of the
Holy Spirit of God. It's that that is really passing
knowledge. How can we begin to comprehend
these things? Here is the Apostle's Prayer
that you may be able to comprehend. With all saints, as we said this
morning, here is the mark of sainthood. Here is the mark of
election. You have to give diligence to
make your calling and election sure. How can I know that I'm
of the election of grace? Examine yourselves. Prove yourselves. Know you're not your own selves,
know that Jesus Christ is in you. Except you be reprobate. Is Jesus Christ in you? Is Jesus
Christ in me? How is it possible? How can we
really comprehend these things? But this is what the saints do.
This is a prayer of Paul for the saints, that they may be
able, all of them, that you may be able to comprehend
with all saints the breadth, the length, the depth, the height,
and to know that love of Christ. How can it be? It's only by and
through the Holy Ghost. Our religion must be a Holy Spirit
religion, or we have no religion at all. We can't teach ourselves. We can't make ourselves Christians
by dint of application, studying the Word of God. It's good and
it's profitable to read the Word of God. Of course it is. It's
good to study the Word of God. It's good to be familiar with
the Word of God in every sense. But it's nothing of ourselves.
It's a blessed work of the Spirit. It must be revealed. What is
Paul doing here? He's praying. He's praying, he's
asking God to do something. in the lives of these people
there in Ephesus. And ultimately he's praying for
this, that they might be favored with such a revelation of this
love of God that it might be revealed to
them. Again, if we go back to what he says there in the opening
chapter and again it's another prayer
as we said this morning we read that portion at the end of chapter
1 from verse 15 following and there in verse 17 what does
he say 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 Well, we need the Holy Ghost
as that spirit of wisdom and revelation in, or as the margin
says, for the knowledge of Him. It's a spiritual revelation.
And you know, it's the very thing, of course, that Paul himself,
who is the human author of this epistle. It was Paul's experience,
wasn't it? He says as much there in Galatians
chapter 1. He pleased God, he says, when
he pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and
called me by His grace to reveal His Son in earth that I might
preach Him among the heathen. Immediately I conferred not with
flesh and blood. It was nothing of flesh and blood.
it's the revelation of the Spirit of God it's that revelation that
comes into the soul of a man just as he came into the soul
of the Apostle Paul that was Paul's experience and how sovereign
it is how individual it is as it is written Jacob have I loved
he sort of I hated it's so personal comes to an
individual and it's a demonstration of the absolute sovereignty of
God it comes to one and not to another and we have to bow before
these things but all to know what it is for that love of Christ
to be shed abroad in our hearts to have that love of Christ shed
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. And it's not, there's
nothing stagnant here. It's like a flowing river. He that believeth on me, as the
scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water. This spake he of the Holy Ghost. The Spirit was not yet given.
Jesus was not yet glorified, we read there in John chapter
7. But Christ goes on to speak,
doesn't he, of the Spirits, and that glorious coming of the Spirit.
We were considering it the last couple of Lord's Days, there
in what's recorded concerning the auspicious day of Pentecost
in Acts chapter 2. when the spirit comes Christ
says he shall not speak of himself he shall glorify me for he shall
take of mine and shall show it unto you all that faith you see out of
that person's belly there is the flowing of rivers of water not stagnant the flowing river
how is it expressed It's to be seen. It's to be seen. And it's
seen, it's expressed in that love that there is for the brethren.
Oh, where there is that love of God's in Christ, in the heart
of the sinner, what love there is for the brethren. There's
the mark of grace. In this the children of God are
manifested and the children of the devil. whosoever doeth not
righteousness is not of God neither he that loveth not his brother
for this is the message that ye heard from the beginning that
we should love one another we know that we have passed from
death unto life because we love the brethren he that loveth not
his brother abideth in death whosoever hateth his brother
is a murderer And ye know that no murderer hath eternal life
abiding in him. Ye abide perceived with the love
of God, because he laid down his life for us, and we ought
to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this
world's goods, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth
up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of
God in him? My little children, let us not
love in word, neither in tongue, But indeed, and in truth, you
see, it's a river of water that comes into the soul of the
sinner, when the Spirit grants that revelation of the love of
the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, in that man's heart. Beloved, if God so loved us,
we ought also to love one another, says John. Oh, there's the expression
of it. Or rather, there's the experience
of it. The expression, we see it revealed in the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's where we see the love
of God. To know the love of Christ which
passeth knowledge How is it experienced? It comes
by and through that blessed work of the Spirit to be strengthened
with might by His Spirit in the inner man that Christ may dwell
in your hearts by faith. And what is the end? The end is there in verse 19
that you might be filled with all the fullness of God. The
end is really God the Father. and the glory of God's in him. The wonder of that. We read there
in 1 Corinthians 15. I did wonder what portion to
read tonight. I thought well maybe we should
read those verses I've just quoted in the first general epistle
of John. We could have read there in chapter
3, chapter 4 John has so much to say doesn't he about love
of the brethren and so forth but I was so drawn to that passage
in 1st Corinthians 15 because in many ways it is a strange
portion of scripture well I find it strange and not easy in some
ways to understand but then I thought of this as the key what is the
end of all the works of God it is the glory of himself there in verse 23 of that portion
every man in his own order Christ the firstfruits afterward they
that are Christ that is coming then cometh the end when he shall
have delivered up the kingdom to God even the Father when he
shall have put down all rule and all authority and power for
he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. That
is the blessed reign of grace. That is the accomplishment of
the covenant of grace. That covenant that was entered
into by the three persons in the Godhead, the covenant of
redemption we call it. Wherein God the Son who is equal
to the Father becomes the servant of God in the outworking of the
covenant. the Father sends the Son in the
fullness of the time and then having accomplished his work
the Son gives the gift of the Holy Spirit there on the day of Pentecost
the great outpouring of the Spirit within that day the dispensation
of the Holy Ghost but what is the end of it all? then come
at the end when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God
even the Father. Verse 27, For he hath put all
things under his feet. But when he saith, All things
are put under him, it is manifest that he is accepted which did
put all things under him. And when all things shall be
subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject
unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all
in all. As the mediator of course, though
he is the eternal son of God, in his covenanted position, the
mediator of the covenant, he is subject unto the Father. But
at the end, in the blessed consummation of all things, It is to this
that God may be all in all. And that's what we have here
really at the end of verse 19. That, more literally, in order
that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. filled with all the fullness
of God ought to know that God is love. What are Christians?
They are those who are partakers of the divine nature. That's what Peter says, we are
partakers of the divine nature by that new birth. There's a
new nature, there's the the restoration of the image of God in that person
who is truly saved and how is God known, how is God enjoyed?
well it's by faith that Christ might dwell in your heart by
faith we're told here verse 17 the G being rooted and grounded
in love God is known, God is enjoyed by faith but it is faith
that worketh by law." Oh, this is His commandment that we should
believe on the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another,
and love one another. When is it Christians all agree
and let distinctions fall? When nothing's in themselves,
they see that Christ is all in all. Here is the blessed end. The chief end of man, think of
the question that we have there at the beginning of the catechism.
What is the chief end of man? Man's chief end is to glorify
God and enjoy Him forever. Well, that's the end of it all.
This love of God that shed abroad in the heart, we see it expressed
in the gift the work, the accomplishments of the Lord Jesus Christ, we
experience it by the blessed ministry of God the Holy Ghost.
What is the end, or the end of it all, that we might be filled
with all the fullness of God, that Christ may dwell in your
hearts by faith, that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth
and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ,
which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the
fullness of God. Let us sing our final praise
to him, 633, The tune is Remington 395, the
love of Christ. He's rich and free, fixed on
his own eternally, nor earth nor hell can it remove, long
as he lives. His own he'll love, his loving
heart engaged to be. Their everlasting surety, it
was love that took their cause in hand. And love maintains it
to the end. 633, Tune 395.