Ephesians chapter 1 pick up in
verse 15 titled the message heavenly blessings prayed for part 2 part
1 was last week heavenly blessings but the subject of today's message
is a prayer for understanding comprehending deeply the heavenly
blessings we have in Jesus Christ. Now he had mentioned these heavenly
blessings, some of these heavenly blessings in the early part of
this chapter. He spoke of election, redemption,
being sealed with the Holy Spirit. These are past. God chose us in Christ, loved
us in Christ, Redeemed us in Christ and we are sealed with
the Holy Spirit if God has saved you you're sealed with the Holy
Spirit But now he's he's going to he's
going to pray what a prayer What a prayer you pray this for me.
I pray for you The best we can do for one another He prays for a deeper understanding
of the gospel. A greater, deeper understanding
and knowledge, now listen, of God. You can't exhaust that knowledge.
God is infinite. You know, we will never stop
learning of God. We'll always learn of Him. Now, when Paul heard of the faith
and love that the Ephesians had, the first thing he did was pray
for them. He prayed for them. You know,
it's written in 1 Samuel 12, 23, Samuel said, God forbid that
I should sin against the Lord and cease Him to pray for you.
It would be a sin against God for me to cease to pray for you
and for you to cease to pray for me and to pray for one another.
Samuel said, that's a sin against the Lord. So Paul prayed for them, and
he prayed for their spiritual growth in grace and in knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ, that we would, that they, and we,
this applies to us too, would come to know God in a more intimate
way in Christ, that we would grow in grace and knowledge of
him. And that we would know what is the hope of His calling. God
has called us and we have a hope in that calling. He's given us
a hope of some things in that calling. And that we might know
more and more of the riches, the unsearchable riches that
we have in Jesus Christ. He's setting their minds on things
above, not on things of this earth. Now here's what Paul did
when he heard of their faith and love unto all the saints.
He thanked God for them. He said, I thank God for you
because this is of God. He ceased not to thank God for
them. He prayed for them. Paul was in prison, but prison
did not keep him from the throne of grace. You know, they could
put me in a straitjacket. Put me in a prison, in a little
cubicle, and put me in a straitjacket, but they cannot keep me from
the throne of grace. I'm free. I'm free. My body might be strapped down,
but I'm free. And I can go to the throne of grace, and Paul
did. He did the greatest thing he could do for them, and that's
go before God Almighty. Hold them up before God. Intercede
for them. That's the greatest thing we
can do for one another. Our greatest help for one another is prayer.
That we would seek the good of one another in prayer. Don't
think light of that. You know, I've asked you often,
pray for me. Pray that the Lord will give me the message for
the hour. Pray that he'll lay it on my heart and give me a
heart to preach with. I want, you know, and I've asked
the Lord this many times, give me a heart to preach with. I
don't want to just get up here and go over an outline and give
you what's called Calvinism. I want a heart to preach with.
I want to preach from my heart to your heart. I want to communicate
the gospel to you. And this is what Paul did. He
held him up in prayer before God first, before he ever wrote
the letter to him. Then Paul knew by this hearing
of their faith and love, he knew that God was at work in Ephesus.
He knew that. He knew that the ministry he
had there, he was there, wasn't he there for three years? I believe
he was there for three, we just looked this in the video, he
was there for three years. And he knew that his ministry
there was being blessed of God, that it was not in vain, that
he had brothers and sisters there in Ephesus, brothers and sisters. You know, I have four sisters
and two brothers back in West Virginia. Well, they're all in
West Virginia. I was the only one in Kentucky. But I have more than that throughout
this world in Christ. You are literally, really, my
brothers and sisters. And we need to realize that.
We are one in Christ. And here's how Paul, now listen,
when Paul heard of, when he heard of their faith and love, this
is how he knew that the ministry was successful, is because the
faith that they had continued. And there was others, no doubt,
since he left, brought to faith. Faith is the work of God, it's
the gift of God. So if they have real genuine
faith, if you have real faith, God gave it to you. God worked
it in you. It's not something you and I
came up with. We can't come up with that, we're
dead. Dead people don't come up with anything but a stink.
That's all they come up with. Lazarus has been laid in the
grave four days and they said he's stinking by now. Faith is a gift of God as we
will see in chapter 2. It's the gift of God, it's the
work of God. It's by His grace. And this love to all the saints
is the fruit of the Spirit. One of the first fruits of the
Spirit is said love. Love, joy, peace, long-suffering. It's evident God has saved you
because you trust Him, you have continued in the faith, and you
love one another. You love the saints. He said
you love the saints. Not just one, but all of them.
They loved the Saints no matter where they were from. You see,
they quit being clannish. We're clannish by nature. All
you gotta do is have a dinner. And we all sit with our families.
It happens everywhere you go. You have a dinner, we're all
sitting with our families. We're clannish by nature. We're
a bunch of clans. Clannish by nature. But here
He says, you have love to all the saints. It doesn't matter
where they're from. They could be from Samaria, you
know how they were hated. It wouldn't matter. It wouldn't
matter what family, what race, whatever. You love to all the
saints. You see, the only thing that
overcomes barriers is the love of God shed abroad in the heart.
That will overcome every barrier Every prejudice that we'd ever
had, the love of God shed abroad in the heart overcomes that.
And that's why he says you have faith and love to all the saints.
And here's what he prayed for them. He prayed for their spiritual
growth in Christ. Paul, as I told you earlier in
the Bible lesson, Paul's heart ached for them to know more.
You see, Paul went to the third heaven. Paul saw things that
were unlawful for him to utter, that is, there was no vocabulary
for it. But he knew this, he knew this,
he knew that they could come to a greater understanding of
the gospel and what they have in Christ if the Holy Spirit
revealed it to them, made it known to them, given them an
understanding, enlightened them. They could come to really, really
understand and have a deeper walk with God, any walk with
God. And I tell you what, you have
to know more than facts to walk with God. There's got to be a
real living relationship to walk with God. Walk denotes life. Dead people don't walk. He didn't
walk with God because God had given him life and faith and
he exercised that faith in God and God was pleased with him
and it says that he was not, God took him. You walk right
into heaven. Isn't that the way you want to
die? You just one day you're walking with God, you're thanking
Him for Christ. The scriptures come to your mind
and then all of a sudden you just walk right on into glory. So Paul prayed for their spiritual
growth. We need this more than anything else. We need growth
in Christ to help us endure all trials. We need to grow up in
Christ because it helps us to endure all trials. It'll help
us to set our minds on things above and not on the things of
this earth. And listen, this growth that Paul's praying for
here will direct and correct our walk. It will direct and
correct our walk. You don't have to have church
discipline. You don't have to have a disciplinary
committee. You just preach the gospel and you grow in grace
and the knowledge of Christ, and that'll correct it. That
will correct it. I don't look at things and certain
things. There are certain things that
I see. There are certain things I see, but I know, I know through
the preaching of the gospel. Of course, I know this by experience
because I sat under Henry and it directed me and corrected
me. And as many times I thought, wow, I mean, it, you know, it
directed me and corrected me. And the gospel will do that if
you grow in grace and knowledge of Christ. That's why it's so
important. Now let's look at what Paul prayed
for here. And this is so important, and I would to God I could handle
this like it ought to be handled. In verse 17 and 18, that the
God of our Lord Jesus Christ, now he speaks here of God, Being
the God of the Lord Jesus Christ, He's speaking here of His manhood,
of Christ the man. That He's the God of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, whatever glory is, whatever it
is in all its glory, He's the Father of it. God's the Father
of it. There's no glory apart from Him.
That He may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation
in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being
enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his calling
and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. He prays that God would give
them more, more of the spirit of wisdom and revelation, knowledge,
understanding, enlightenment for this purpose, that you might
know, that you might know, that they would know and lay hold
of certain things that they have in Christ. The first thing he
prays for here is the spirit of wisdom and revelation. And
I believe he's speaking here of the Holy Spirit, first of
all, even though that's a small S. I understand through reading
that in Greek, all the words were capital. So they were trying
to determine which one was that, which one is the Holy Spirit,
which one's the spirit of man. But I believe he's speaking here
of the Holy Spirit because he's the spirit of wisdom. If you
have wisdom, you have the spirit of wisdom, you have the Holy
Spirit. He's given you wisdom. He's given you wisdom and understanding
that you have a measure of it in the new birth. You have it.
Brethren, that's scratching the surface. That's just scratching
the surface. He prays here that the Holy Spirit
would guide them into all truth. The Lord said he would. That
they would come to know Christ and their rich blessings in Christ.
Because it would guide all their affairs. They would guide all
their affairs. As they grow in grace and knowledge
of Him, they would have strong convictions of the truth, of
the gospel. If they would grow in grace and
knowledge of Christ, there's no end to spiritual growth. We
never graduate. We never graduate from this.
He says over in Ephesians 4.15 that you will grow up in Christ.
You would mature. And he says here, he says here
in verse, let me see what verse it is, verse 16. He said, he ceased not to give
thanks for you and make mention of you in his 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, in the knowledge of him. Think about knowing God. You
know, when I think and I say, I know God, first of all, that's
an astounding statement to make. We do have a knowledge of God.
If God has saved us, he's given us a knowledge. But brethren,
that's an ocean that you can't dive deep enough into, that you
might know It's you and the revelation and the knowledge, not just some
facts. We're not talking about facts
here. We're talking about an intimate knowing of God. That's
what he's talking about. It's knowing God in Christ and
growing in that knowledge more and more and more and more until
he takes you home. in the eyes of your understanding
being enlightened. He speaks here of the understanding
as having eyes, which here the word understanding means heart,
that your heart may see. You see, the heart is the seed,
not just of emotion, but it's the seed of knowing. It's the
seed of knowing. It's how we know God in the heart.
Is that not what we know God is in the heart? Son, give me
thy heart for out of it are the issues of life. The eyes of your understanding
being enlightened that you will know more and more. It's like
you get up early in the morning, just before sunrise. And you
go outside and you see it's starting to dawn, isn't it? It's just
starting to break daylight. And as time goes on, it gets
a little lighter and a little lighter. When you're born of
God, you're just at the dawn. You're at dawn. Light is dawn. You've been given light. You've
been illuminated. But that's just the dawn of the
morning. What Paul's praying for here
is that that light get brighter and brighter and brighter. And
you know, as that light gets brighter and brighter and brighter,
you see more and more and more out there, don't you? You see
more clearly. You see what's out there more clearly. And that's
what he's praying, that you would see and understand more clearly
what you have in Christ as who God is. That they would really understand
the gospel in their heart, have a real spiritual comprehension
of God. Of God, have a real understanding
of what sin is. You know, I, and everyone in
here whom the Lord saved, you've gone from knowing sin is something
you've done to what you are. But the more you and I understand
sin and the evilness of it, the more we'll understand the grace
of God and our need of Christ. That we will come to understand
with greater light who Jesus Christ is and our great need
of Him and all the hope that we have, the rich hope we have
in Him. Not just a knowledge of facts,
but a real understanding, enlightenment of truth to the point we will
live to die by it. Paul said, for me to live is
Christ. Can you really say that? Can
you and I, I ask myself, can you really say that for you to
live is Christ and to die is gain. Paul looked forward to
dying. He looked forward to the day
that he died in this world, left it. He said to depart from the body
is to be with the Lord. He said, I have a desire to depart.
Do you really? And I talked to myself. Do I
really have a desire to depart from this life and leave it?
Just leave this mess? Well, I can tell you it's a greater
desire now than it was 20 years ago. But for me to live is Christ. And Paul was praying that they
would come to this enlightenment and understanding and knowing
God to the point for them to live was Christ. It didn't matter
whether they lived where they were living or if they were uprooted
and had to go somewhere else, I can live for Christ there too.
Wherever I'm at, Christ is my life. You see what Paul said? Oh, this has been so rich for
me. And here's the purpose that he's
praying for this, that you may know. What is the hope of His
calling? Why He called you? You know,
God called you with a purpose. He called you on purpose and
with a purpose. He called you with an effectual
calling. He called you to Himself. It's
a holy calling. And He called you for a purpose that you may know. What is the
hope of His calling you to Christ? Listen to what John says in 1
John 5 verse 13. These things have I written unto
you that believe on the name of the Son of God that you may
know that you have eternal life. There is no virtue in doubting.
There is no virtue in doubting at all. There have been some, and there
still are, that say, you can't really know. Well, yes, you can. Paul said, make your calling
and election sure. You can know. That's what John
said, I write these things to you that believe on the name
of the Son of God, that you might know you have eternal life, that
you may believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may
know, that you may know what is the hope of his calling This
hope that he's talking about here is a confident expectation
that God will do as he promised. It's a hope of full salvation. I mean full salvation. It's a
hope of the resurrection from the dead. I'm going to die, you're
going to die. Now I'm not going to die That spiritual nature, that new
man created in Christ Jesus is not going to die. Christ said,
he that believes in me is not going to die. You're not going
to die, but the body is going to die. And that body is going to
be raised from the dead to a new body. We have a hope of that. We have a hope of being with
the Lord, don't we? We have a hope of being with
him forever. We have a hope of eternal life.
the life of God in Christ. We have a hope of that, a real
genuine hope of that. Paul says here, I pray that you
may know these things, that you may grow, that you may be enlightened,
that your understanding will be enlightened, that you might
know what you have in Christ. Not guess at it, not hope, hope,
hope. You will know it. That they may know, not wonder,
about these things, not wonder if he'll make it or not, but
know that, know that, that it is so in you, you know it. And it's not like I know it because
I accepted him as my personal savior. That's not the knowing
he's talking about. It's to know this because, you
know, Paul said this in Galatians chapter one, when it pleased
God to reveal his son in me, Not too many, even though he
does. But whenever a person is brought
to faith in Christ, it's evident that Christ has been revealed
in them, formed in them. Christ is in you, the hope of
glory. That's why you believe the gospel. That's why you believe. And then Paul wants them to know
that they have an inheritance in glory with the rest of God's
saints. You have an inheritance. He said of what the riches of
the glory of His inheritance in the saints. This is amazing.
You know that everyone whom God saves is His inheritance. You
are God's inheritance. And you have an inheritance. Who can define, who can define
the riches that are of God? God who is infinite in all things
is infinite in riches. We have an inheritance in Christ
and we are his inheritance. Charles Hodges wrote this. This
inheritance is not only divine as having God for its author,
But it is a glorious inheritance and not simply glorious, but
the glory of it is inconceivably great. But that you might know as much
as possible in this life, the inheritance that you have in
Christ and that you are God's inheritance. You're his portion. Jacob, he said, is my portion. And then this also to see and
understand the greatness of God's power in saving yourself. This is way underestimated. This
is way underestimated. Verses 19 through 23. And what
is the exceeding greatness, not just power, but the exceeding
greatness of His power to usward who believed, according to the
working, the efficacy 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, far above all principality
and power and might and dominion, in 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. that they and us would understand
that the same power, the exceeding greatness of God's power that
raised Jesus Christ from the dead is also the same power that
raises us from the dead. Same power. That we would have
an understanding that this great change that we have experienced
was not a moral reformation. It was not affected by anything
that we have done at all. But it's owing to the great exceeding
power of God that we were raised from. You raised from the dead. We were a bunch of dead people.
If you walked over that cemetery right now and all those dead
bodies came out of that grave, we would stand amazed, wouldn't
we? We'd stand amazed. We ought to
stand far more amazed than that He's raised us from the dead
spiritually. He's saying here that you have
undergone a great change by the power of God. that your change
was as great as that of Christ being raised from the dead to
die no more and ascending back to glory. John Calvin said it like this,
you were raised by the astonishing work of his power. Paul prays that the Ephesians
would understand that the conversion of their soul is no small matter. Has God saved you? That's no
small matter. It took the power of God, the
exceeding power of God to raise you from the dead. It is a resurrection due to the
greatness of God's power. God's infinite power raised you
from the dead. And listen, It's not only, God
did not only exercise His power, exceeding greatness of His power
in raising you from the dead, but it's also at work for you,
as well as in you. This just gets, I mean, it's
just, I wish I could preach this. This same power that raised Christ
from the dead, this exceeding power that raised Him from the
dead has raised you from the dead. That same power, that exceeding
power is also the same power that broke the shackles of Satan
loose from you and brought you out of the power of darkness
into His marvelous light. That's the power. It's the power
of God did that. That's not a power of a decision.
It's the power of God. This same power that raised Christ
from the dead, that is at work in you, is also working for you
in the reign of Jesus Christ. Verse 22, and hath put all things
under his feet. God the Father put all things
under the feet of this man, Jesus Christ. His son, God, yes, man,
yes. And gave him to be the head over
all things to the church Jesus Christ our head rules Now he
rules among the church. He's the head of the church But
he rules heaven and earth for the good of his elect That's
what he's saying He's over all things for our good unto salvation It says in John 17 to Christ
speaking to the father. He said, as thou has given him,
that is the son, that thou has given him power over all flesh
that he should give eternal life to as many as thou has given
him. He is given to be the head to the church, our guide, our
teacher, our instructor, our Lord, but he's also the head
over all things for our good, his body. That's what he says there in
verse 23. He says there in verse 22, and
he hath put all things under his feet, all power, all authority,
he says, given to me, and gave him to be the head over all things
to the church, which is his body. I've said this, everything God's
created has a spiritual reference to Christ. There's a spiritual
application if he just gives us eyes to see it. And I was reading this this morning,
I thought, every time I look in the mirror, I see a representation,
an example of Christ in his body. Here's a head, and here's a body. And he says here that the church,
which Christ is the head of, is his body. The fullness of
Him that filleth all in all. The body represents the head. And the first thought I had was
over here in Hebrews. Let me see if I can find it over
here in Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 1. And I believe I can make this application. Let me just start at verse one.
God, who at sundry times and in diverse manner spake in time
past to the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken
unto us by his Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things,
by whom also he made the world, who, being the brightness of
his glory and the expressed image of his person, he is the visible
of the invisible. Well, you know you are too. Christ
is invisible. Nobody can see him. He's in heaven.
He's at the right hand of the Father. But now his body, his
body's upon this earth. Christ walks upon this earth
in his body. Just like wherever I go, my body, my head, wherever
I command my body, where my head commands my body to go, I go.
And this just struck me this morning. The church, on earth
is the visible of the invisible Christ that they can't see. The
world can't see Christ, but they can see you. And you're the body
of Christ. And when the body and the head
work in harmony, guess who gets the glory? The Lord Jesus Christ. When the body is working in harmony,
Christ gets the glory. Just like, you know, if you take
a great athlete, Michael Jordan, You know, he's down there making
points. You know, so talented and everything.
And you talk about him. When you talk about him, you
know, his hands, the image of his hands doesn't come to your
mind. It's his face. It's the head. But that body
working in such harmony with the head, you're thinking, man,
what a basketball player Michael Jordan is. And when the body
of Christ is working in harmony with the head, the glory is all
given to the head. the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me read this to you and then
we'll close. Paul said, wherefore, in verse 15, 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. Now in the margin it
says the acknowledgement, but it's more than the acknowledgement.
It's more than that. It's knowing Him. Deeper, deeper,
deeper knowledge of God, knowing God. The eyes of your understanding
being enlightened, illuminated, and for this purpose, that you
may know what is the hope of His calling, that he's called
you in Christ. What the hope of that calling
is, is to be with the Lord. Enjoy his presence forever. And
what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us who believe.
It's the same power, it's according to that same power, to the working
of his mighty power which he wrought effectually in Christ
when he raised him from the dead. Set him at his own right hand
in the heavenly places. The right hand is not so much
a physical setting, but it's a place of power. The right hand
of God's place of power. He set him at the right hand
of power. And he's far above all principalities, power, and
might, and dominion, and every name that's named. Everything
that's conceivable is under the feet of this man, Jesus Christ,
not only in this world, but also in the world that is to come.
He's the King. He's never going to cease to
be King. He's never gonna cease to be over all this, that God's
put Him over. And He has put all things under
His feet, gave Him to be the head over all things to the church,
which is His body, the fullness of Him that fills all in all.
What a prayer! I pray that the Lord would fulfill
this in us. That He would fulfill this prayer
in this church in Spring Lake. that we would become so taken
up with Christ that we would grow in grace and knowledge of
Him that it would, for me to live is Christ, to die is gain. That's what I want to get to,
I want you to get to. To God be the glory. Loved He the world that He gave
us His Son, Who yielded His life and atoned for sin, And opened
the life-gate that all may go in. Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Let the earth
hear His voice. Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Let the people rejoice. O come to the Father, through
Jesus the Son, and give them the glory, great things He hath
done. O perfect redemption, the purchase
of God, to every believer the promise of God. The vile, the stupider, who truly
believes, That all men from Jesus a pardon receives. Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Let the earth hear His voice,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the people rejoice. O come to the Father, through
Jesus the Son, and give Him the glory, great things He hath done. Great things He hath taught us,
great things he hath done, and great are rejoicing through Jesus
the Son. But yonder and higher and greater
will be our wonder, our tremor, when Jesus we see. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
let the earth hear His voice. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
let the people rejoice. O come to the Father, through
Jesus the Son, and give Him the glory, you