You may be seated. Don't you wish the Lord would
keep you near the cross? Those two verses, man, those
were so precious. Jesus, keep me near the cross.
There's a precious fountain right there. Free to all, a healing
stream flows from Calvary's mountain. Near the cross, a trembling soul. Love and mercy found me. There
the bright and morning star, who's that? That's Christ, sheds
his beams around me. Just keep me right there at the
foot of the cross. And don't let me leave. Man,
don't let me leave. Turn back with me to Ephesians
1. Ephesians chapter 1. This word, if it does not become
real, if it does not become alive and personal, if we don't enter into it personally,
it doesn't do us any good. It just doesn't do us any good.
It's just words on paper. It doesn't profit us. Romans
15 verse 4 says, Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written
for our learning today, that we, through patience and comfort
of the Scriptures, might have hope. These things, they were
written thousands of years ago. written by men and two men and
women we've never met. Not yet. But every bit of this
was written for us. This is all for us. And verse 4 told us who the us
are. According as he hath chosen us
in him. Tonight, we read this text just
a minute ago. Tonight, I want to read this
as though these are my own words. As though I wrote them, penned
them myself. This is my heart's desire for
you. I was able to tell you some of that in the Bible study this
morning. What we read and what we're about
to read is my heart's desire for you and I want to include
myself in you. The title, this message is called
My Prayer for Us. That's the message. My Prayer
for Us. May this be a very personal message
for us. Verse 15. Ephesians 1 verse 15 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. Eight years ago, I heard about
a little group who was meeting in Kingsport, Tennessee, and
they seem to have a heart for the gospel. Every time you hear
about one of them, the most recent one that we have heard of is
in Sarasota, Florida. And you hear about a group, and
a small group, and they've come out of religion, and they have
called a man who's coming over, seemed to have a heart for the
truth, seemed to have a heart for the gospel. A dear brother
was coming here every Sunday to preach and you wanted him
to come back. That's the key to the gossip
that started. It's amazing that Brother Tom
came here two hours each way every Sunday for six years. That's amazing. But do you know
what's more amazing than that? It's that you wanted him to come
back. It's more amazing than that he
would come. It's amazing when a sinner hears
the gospel and wants to hear it again. That's amazing. That
is absolutely amazing. Well, that little group in Kingsport
decided to have a Bible conference. We came, and it was a blessing. I mean, it was a real blessing.
And I came a few more times, and you called me. And right
when you called me, I mean, immediately, I got a call from a man who said
he lived in Dungannon, Virginia. And he had some questions about
free grace. And the following Sunday, he
and his precious wife came, and then they came again. That's
amazing. You know that? That is amazing. And then I heard about a man,
and I met a young man who was a pastor of a church. Wife, three
kids. One day we were sitting in that
study right there and he told me, I don't have a choice. I
have to step down and just come sit in a pew and hear the gospel
preached. And that's amazing. That is amazing. You think about
that. And then there's a dear lady
that I know, she started dating a guy from work. And she brought
him one Sunday morning, and I remember the very first Sunday morning. And I really actually thought,
I feel sorry for her, he'll never come back. But he came back,
and he kept coming back, and he kept coming back to the point
that he told me last Sunday, I can't wait any
longer, I have to confess the Lord in believers baptism. And
that's amazing. That's amazing. And then I got a call one day
and heard about a dear man and his precious wife from a town
called Irwin, Tennessee. And the man who called me said,
I believe they really have a heart for the truth. They love the
true gospel of God. And all along the way, I heard
of dear believers in other places. When a saint confesses Christ,
word spreads. Did you hear? So and so confessed
the Lord. And God started bringing believers
from other places, and now here we all are. And it's amazing. It is absolutely amazing. Your well-being, your physical and your spiritual
well-being is always in the front of my mind. Always. And here's what I want to tell
each one of you tonight. Verse 15, After I heard of your
faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, I cease
not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers."
Those are my words. I'm telling you those are my
own words. God has burdened my heart for you. And I know he's
burdened all of our hearts for each other because we love each
other. That's why we absolutely love each other. Verse 15, after
I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto all
the saints. I heard of your love for Christ
and I heard of your love for His people. The love of those
two things cannot be separated. They cannot be separated. It's the same love. And the reason
is because Christ dwells in His people. You cannot love Christ and not
love one of His people. You cannot do it. Go with me to 1 John chapter
2. 1 John chapter 2, look at verse
9. He that saith he is in the light,
and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth
in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.
But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in
darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness
has blinded his eyes. Look at chapter 4, 1 John chapter
4, verse 7. Beloved, let us love one another,
for love is of God. And every one that loveth is
born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not
God, for God is love. Verse 20 says, If a man say,
I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar. For he that loveth
not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom
he hath not seen? A person cannot love Christ and not love His people. I'm
telling you, I am as honest and sincere as I can be. I love you.
Man, I love you. I truly love you and it's because
of Christ. John 13, the Gospel of John 13. John 13 verse 35 says, By this shall all men know that
you are my disciples, if you have love one to another. as we hear of God creating faith
in a sinner. Faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. True faith for Christ. May that cause our heart to love
that sinner. May that cause our love to grow
as a sign of life. Lord, create love in me. Create
love for Christ. Create love for His people. Go
with me back over to Ephesians 1. Verse 15, after I heard of your
faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto all the saints, I ceased
not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. Now this is my prayer for us. I want to encourage all of us. I want to encourage all of us. It has become very clear and
very fresh and burdened to me to encourage all of us to give
thanks for each other to God by making mention of each other
in our prayers. to give thanks and make mention
of each other in our prayers. We need to do that for each other. We need to do that for our own
selves. We need to do that for our own
good, okay? Now, I have a couple more places
to turn. I recognize that we turn a lot,
but some of these things, they have to be seen. This is one
of them. Go over to 1 Samuel 12. 1 Samuel 12 and look at verse 23. It says, Moreover, as for me, God
forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for
you. But I will teach you the good
and the right way. Only fear the Lord, and serve
him in truth with all your heart, for consider how great things
he hath done for you." May God keep me from that sin.
May God lay it on my heart to pray for you and give thanks
for you. One man said this, this is so
good, he said, we need to pray continually for one another as
much after we're saved as before. Man, that's so true. Somebody
we know, they have no heart for Christ, no heart for this gospel,
no heart for anything and we're begging God for them and we're
praying for them and they're always on our mind. May the Lord
allow that to never go away. We need to pray for each other
as much after as before. Back over in Ephesians 1, Verse 15, 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. My prayer for us is that the
God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, would give
unto us the Spirit. That's my prayer, the Spirit.
I want to encourage us all. I mean really encourage us all
to beg God for His Holy Spirit every day. Every day. Especially on the days that we
worship. It is so easy to forget to do
that. It is just so easy. Beg Him for
His Spirit. Beg Him for His blessing before
you get to the house of worship, and I'm lumping me into the us. Beg Him as soon as you sit down
for worship, and beg Him during your worship. I want to encourage
us right now. It takes two seconds. Call on
the Lord and ask Him to bless your heart with His Holy Spirit.
Lord, bless us right now. If I have not called on you before
now, Lord, I'm calling now. Bless me. We need His Spirit. Verse 17 says that the God of
our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the
spirit of wisdom." Now wisdom is Christ. The mind of Christ,
the will of Christ, the heart of Christ. I want to encourage
all of us to beg God for as much wisdom as he will allow up to
what he gave Solomon. He will not give us more than
what He gave Solomon. He said you're going to be wiser
than any man ever has been or will be. But I encourage us to
start begging God specifically for as much wisdom as He is willing
to give us up to what He gave Solomon. We need the heart of
Christ and the mind of Christ and the will of Christ and the
demeanor of Christ and the patience of Christ. We need wisdom with
each other. We need wisdom with unbelievers.
We need wisdom with friends and family. We need wisdom. We need wisdom with our children.
We need wisdom. We need discernment from the
Scriptures and it comes from the Word of God. A question comes
up, what's the answer? What does the Word say? What
we need is wisdom. And we need to beg God that He
would give us as much as He's willing to give us up to what
He gave Solomon. This is what the proverb says,
with all thy getting, get wisdom. Get wisdom. This is my prayer
for us. Verse 17, 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. I want to encourage all
of us to beg God for a greater knowledge of Christ and His Word. That's what I need. That is what
I need. I need a greater... Paul said,
oh, that I might know Him. I don't want to just know of
Him. I want to know Him. I want to know Him. I want to talk with Him. I want
Him to talk with me. I want to know Him. Whatever we set our heart to,
it is true, you know, you can do whatever you put your mind
to. We really can. We can accomplish a lot. Whatever
we set our heart to, we will grow in it. And we'll prosper
in it. Well, look with me at 2 Peter
3. 2 Peter 3 verse 18 says, but grow
in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. Grow in grace and in the knowledge
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. How do we grow in grace? in the knowledge of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ. Verse 17 says, Ye therefore,
beloved, seeing you know these things before, Beware, lest ye
also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from
your own steadfastness. But grow in grace and in the
knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. To Him be glory,
both now and forever. Amen. That is my prayer for us. That's my honest prayer for us.
Back in Ephesians 1, verse 17 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, the eyes of
your understanding being enlightened. I want to encourage us all to
beg God that the eyes of understanding, the eyes that He has given us,
He has given us eyes to see, I encourage us to beg God that
the eyes that he has given us might become more and more enlightened,
not more and more dim. Now as we're under this gospel
longer and longer and longer and longer and longer, if the
Lord tarries and we hear the gospel and we hear the gospel
and we hear the gospel and we say things like the gospel is
two words, it can be summed up in two words, substitution and
satisfaction. What do we preach over there?
Christ and Him crucified. What are the three R's? Rune by the
fall, redeemed by the run. What are the five points? Let's
start begging God that the eyes that He has given us might become
more and more enlightened instead of more and more dim. We've got to beg God for that.
If God does not help us, that's exactly what will happen. This
flesh is so, so weak. I pray that God would cause us
to see our own sin like we've never seen it before. I pray
that God would cause us to continually have in view our own wickedness
and our own sinfulness because I don't want to be tried to have
to see it. I don't want trials. I don't
want them. Now, when they come, they're
a blessing and they will come. But Lord, just keep that in my
view. Let me just see my sin. Let me
just stay low. Don't let me have to be chastened
to it. If God would cause me to see
my own sin, and if He would cause that to be in the forefront of
my mind, then He would cause me to know what verse 18 says,
the middle of it says, what is the hope of His calling and what
is the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. What is the hope of His calling?
It's Christ. Christ is our hope. His blood
is our hope. I pray that God would keep me
at the foot of that cross, cherishing the blood, that flowing river. His righteousness is our hope.
Eternal glory with Him is our hope. Do you realize that if
we did not have glory in view, we would have fainted? I would
have fainted. Right? If we didn't realize that there
is a better country, there's a city that has foundations,
what would this life be? It is disappointment after disappointment
after disappointment after disappointment and you finally catch a good
day And then where did that thing go? The only thing that brings us
real happiness is seeing eternity with Him. I pray that God might
enlighten us to know what is the hope of our calling. I pray
He might enlighten us to the hope of our calling. What is
the riches of the glory of the inheritance to the saints? I want to be enlightened to that.
My prayer is that we might be enlightened to the life that's
coming. There is a life that's coming
that we can't imagine yet. We can try, but we cannot imagine
yet. We're not going to be bogged
down by sin anymore. And I don't know what that, I
can't even know how to describe it. This is what our Lord said, and
I don't know what this means. All right? I have no idea what
this means. But this is what the Lord said. In my Father's
house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
What does that mean? I don't know, but it's good.
I'm telling you, it's good. Paul said, I was caught up into
paradise." And he said words could never describe it. Could
never be described. He said, nor ear heard, neither have entered
into the heart of man." Now, as I'm telling you this, every
person in this room has got some idea of what it's like. You think
paradise where there's palm trees, some sand, a beach, I don't know, many mansions,
there's probably a city block or, you know, some big buildings
like the disciples were saying, Lord, look at these. And he said,
there's not going to be one stone left on another. All right, listen
to this. Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,
meaning everything that's being imagined in our mind is something
our eye has seen. Eye hath not seen, neither ear heard, neither
have entered into the heart of man. No man has ever thought
an imagination that could even come close. to describing the
things which God hath prepared for them that love Him." I want
to be enlightened to that. Don't you? Oh, that's my prayer
for us, that we might be enlightened to that. Verse 19 says, "...and
what is the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe,
according to the working of His mighty power." My prayer for
us is that we might enter into what God has done for us. Truly enter into the working
of His mighty power. Verse 20 says, Which He wrought
in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at
His own right hand in the heavenly places. Everything that God wrought
in Christ is everything that God has brought in us. Everything. For three days, our Lord's precious
body was dead. He died. And so were we. We were dead.
His human body could not raise itself, and neither could ours. His resurrection was the pure
work of God alone. And so was ours. In His resurrection, He was exalted
all the way up to be seated on the right hand of the Majesty
on high. All right, now look at chapter
2, verse 6. And hath raised us up together
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Every single thing He wrought
in Christ, He has wrought in us. Every single thing. My prayer for us is that we might
get a hold of that. What God has done for us in Christ,
He has raised us up, not only from the dead, but He has raised
us up. Look at verse 21. 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 hath put all things under
his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the
church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth
all in all." I'm going to say this, and it's,
you know, we're still not going to get a hold of it, but as he
is, so are we. as He is, so are we. His name is the Lord our righteousness. Her name is the Lord our righteousness. He has raised us up to sit together
with Him as His bride, as His body, as His body. What a comfort we have knowing
that our adversary and the armies of our adversary are no match
for him." You know what comfort that is? No match whatsoever. If this word said that there
was at all a chance that he was a contender, we would be scared
to death for the rest of our life. Absolutely scared to death. But do you know what it says?
He is Lord of all. I mean, He's Lord of all. Don't worry. Rest. Every single
thing, every power, every principality, all dominion in this world and
every world has been put right under His feet. Rest. Just rest. He is Lord of all, and He's the
head over all. Thank God He's the head over
us. He is the head over us. The end
of verse 22 says, the church. Verse 23, which is His body. What does that mean? I don't
fully know, but it's good. I can tell you it's good. It's good. Which is His body,
the fullness of Him that filleth all in all. Man, what blessings
we have in Christ. My prayer for us is that we might
enter into that. Get a hold of that. Become alive
to that. May that be a personal thing
to me. I have blessings in Christ. Not
just there are blessings in Christ. Those blessings are my blessings. That's good news. All right,
let's stand together.