Go back now to Ephesians 3 with
me. The Lord has given us such a
blessed book, His Word. That we could not live, literally
live, and spiritually live without it, could we? My, my. Such a
blessing. And a particular blessing is
the book of Ephesians. I know those of you who know
it well love it especially well. And this prayer has always been
a real blessing to me. Paul's prayer. It's God's Word,
but in the form of a prayer by the Apostle Paul. It's one that
I need for myself, what he prays for, and one that I pray for
and wish for you. And he says in verse 14, for
this cause I bow my knees. I'm praying under the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ for this cause. Verse 1, he said
that also, for this cause. He goes on to say, God made me
a minister, in verse 7, a minister of the gospel, a preacher of
the gospel. Verse 8, unto me who am less
than the least of all saints. In other words, he's saying of
all people. He made me. a preacher, to preach the unsearchable
riches of Christ, to attempt to declare what you can't really
declare, look into unsearchable things. And to make men know,
he said, the fellowship of the mystery that's been hidden. And verse 10, the manifold wisdom
of God. the wisdom of God, the unsearchable
riches of Christ, and to make the mystery known. So this is
why he said, for this cause, I'm praying. I'm begging the
Lord, calling on the Lord, pleading with the Lord under the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who is sufficient for these things?
Paul said. We preach in part. We know in
part. And so for this cause, he says,
I'm praying. It was Spurgeon who said, The
Lord, through the apostles, told young preachers to give themselves
to prayer and study. And Spurgeon said prayer is a
greater part of study, because you can study all you will. But
unless the Holy Spirit blesses the Word, not only to your heart,
but to the hearts of the hearer. It's not by might, it's not by
power, it's not by the preacher's ability, but it's by his Spirit,
both preaching and hearing. So he says, for this cause, for
this reason I bow my knee unto the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, verse 15, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth
is mine. God's family. It's going to be the text, the
only verse I was going to deal with tonight, but it won't be. We're going to look at the whole
prayer. But he's talking about God's family, of whom the people
in heaven and those on earth are named. They're called the
sons of God. As John said, behold what manner
of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called
the sons of God. of whom the family in heaven
and earth is named after his son, Christian. Christian, as
we said Sunday. It's a shame that men have so
abused that blessed name, isn't it? But it's still a blessed
name that we should not be ashamed to take. Christian. Well, how
do you know if you're a son of God? How can you know? Can you know if you're a Christian? Well, he talks about the family
in heaven and in earth and what makes them family. God's family
are several things. Like a family on this earth has
many things in common, so does God's family. They have one Father. Look at chapter 4, verse 4 through
6. He says there is one body, that
is one church, one body of Christ, one Holy Spirit, who through
or even as you are called, in one hope of your calling, one
Lord, one faith. There are not many faiths. All
of God's people believe the same God. They believe the same truth. They believe the same gospel.
They have faith in one Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is
their faith. And one baptism, there's no extra
baptism of the Holy Spirit like Pentecostals talk about. No.
That baptism we've looked at many times is when he puts Christ
in you and you in Christ. Verse 6, one God and Father of
all. Not all human beings. God is
not the Father of all mankind. Romans 9 clearly tells us that. But He's the Father of His people
who are the sons of God. One Father. They all have one
Father. That's what God's family has
in common. And they're all born of God.
They're all born by His Word. born by His Spirit, adopted by
God who has given them the spirit of adoption. They all have one
person that they love supremely. This is how you know the sons
of God, because God has shed abroad in their heart the love
of God which is for His blessed Son. Remember how our Lord said
it from heaven? God said from heaven, this is
my beloved Son. Well, God says it from heaven,
and so do His people in heaven, and so do His people on earth.
The Lord Jesus Christ is their supreme love. They are the bride
of Christ, and they love Him supremely. They love Him more
than themselves. They love Him more than life
itself. That's how you know a person
is God's child, because they love God's Son like God loves
His Son. You know the scripture where
our Lord said, if any man hate not his father and mother, husband
and wife, son or daughter, he cannot be my disciple. You know
that scripture? Well, here's a good illustration
of that. We know the Lord is not telling
us to hate our family. But here's a good illustration
of that. John Bunyan, who was not a great preacher in the Church
of England, but was a tinkerer. That is, he made tin cups and
things like that. And he preached in a little town
of Bedford, faithfully, to a small congregation for years. But he
was sentenced to prison for preaching the truth back when there was
an act of uniformity in England where if you did not sign this
paper saying you agreed with everything about the Church of
England, that you could not preach anymore. Well, he refused and
so did how many men? 2,000. 2,000 preachers refused
to sign it. And they put John Bunyan in prison
because he refused to quit preaching. And so they put him in prison,
you know, that's where he wrote Pilgrim's Progress. And the magistrates
said that he could go free, they would let him go free if he promised
not to preach, but he refused to promise not to preach. He
declared that he would remain in prison until moss grew on
his eyelids rather than fail to do what God told him to do.
And they said to him this, they said, do you not love your wife
and children then? Because he wouldn't see them. And he was in there for 12 years.
He had a blind daughter that would come to see him. And he
could go out. He could walk out free if he
just would agree not to preach the gospel anymore. He couldn't
do it. And they said, Do you not love
your wife and children then? He said, Indeed I do. Very dearly. But in comparison with Jesus
Christ, I do not love them at all. That's what that meant. That's
what our Lord meant when He said that. Love Him supremely. Just as God the Father does.
They have one whom they love supremely. One Father. They love
His Son supremely. They have one likeness. They
all bear the image of God's Son. He predestinated them to be conformed
to the image of His Son. They have one language. Like
people in the same family talk alike, depending on where you
are from, Alabama or Virginia or Kentucky. You say things the
same way, don't you? All of God's people do, too.
That's how you know them. Their language, like they said
about the apostles, their speech betrayeth you. They say this. They say things
like this. Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and
honor and power and might be unto our God forever. Power,
honor, glory and strength unto Him that loved us and washed
us from our sin in His own blood. Worthy is the Lamb. Every creature
in heaven, blessing and honor and glory and power be unto Him.
Their language is of Him, to Him, through Him, by Him, for
Him, to the Lamb be all the glory. That's their language. The language
of sovereign mercy, the language of electing love, the language
of electing grace, the language of truth is on their lips. They
all have one rule. God's family, they all have one
rule. They have God's Word. God's Word. They believe God's
Word and they believe every man is a liar. And they want to do
God's will. They have one desire. Though
the saints in heaven have already realized that desire, they all
desire one thing, to dwell in the house of the Lord all the
days of their life. While on earth, now the saints
are in heaven, But while they were on earth, they all had common
doubts and fears and troubles and tears. They all go through
much tribulation. They must in order to enter into
eternal life. Saints in heaven are at rest.
Their warfare is over. They've finished their course.
They've carried their cross. Now they've laid it down. They've
passed through this sea of trouble. They have reached fair Canaan's
shore. They are no longer troubled by sin and temptation. They are
as holy and complete as Christ Himself. No more sickness, no
more sorrow, no more pain, no more tears, no more fears, no
more worries. Only rest and joy unspeakable
as they dwell with Christ Himself forever happy right now. But
the saints on earth are scattered apart They're in this wicked,
this present evil world, running a race, warring a warfare, carrying
a cross, striving against sin. But know this, all of God's people,
whether in heaven or on earth, are equally loved by the Father,
they're equally provided for by the Father, and they're equally
safe where they're already on that shore or waiting to go there. And so he says, I pray to God,
who's the father of the whole family in heaven and earth, whom
they're named for. And here's what he prays for.
Look at verse 16. Here's the prayer. He says, I
pray, and he asks for three things, three requests. He says, I pray
that he would grant you, it's up to him now, as everything
is. By grace we are what we are and
have what we have. He must grant it. He doesn't
owe it to us, right? Anything. That he would grant
you according to the riches of his glory. The things he prays for here
are glorious riches. The world thinks that health
and wealth and fame are riches, but they're not, because those
are things that we lose. We all lose all of those things.
These are riches that cannot be lost, glorious riches. And
he says that he would grant you according to the riches of his
glory. First of all, to be strengthened
with might by His Spirit, His Holy Spirit, in the inner man. That you might be strengthened
with might. Now our adversary, you read it
in Psalm 38, our enemy is lively and strong. Our adversary is
strong. Temptations are strong. The pull
of this world is very strong. The old man that's in us still
seems very strong, doesn't it? Seems to have the upper hand.
So he prays, first of all, that we might, the people of God that
is, might be strengthened with might in this inner man. Now how? How are we strengthened? Go over to Ephesians 6. This
is how he ends this glorious epistle in Ephesians 6, telling
us how to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
You know these verses, don't you? He says in verse 10, Finally,
brethren, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power
of His might. Read on. Put on the whole armor
of God. That's the whole counsel of God.
That's the gospel. that you may be able to stand
against the wiles, the tricks, the snares of the devil. For
we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
powers, rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual
wickedness in high places, an adversary we are no match for.
Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God, that you
may be able to withstand in the evil day." And these days are
evil. Right now is the greatest onslaught
of the adversary ever. We're in the very last day, perilous
time. And go on. He says, "...and having
done all to stand." Stand, therefore, and here it is, here's the army,
"...having your loins girt about with the truth." If error can
enter into our being, We're a goner. A little leaven leaveneth the
whole crumb. But girt with the truth, it won't pierce us. Having on the breastplate of
righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of
the gospel of peace, thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose
mind is stayed on that. Walking this walk of faith with
your feet shod with the gospel, above all, Taking the shield
of faith, that is, trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, look into
Him, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts
of the wicked, and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of
the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Praying always with all
prayer. or concerning all things, and
supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance,
and supplication, and praying for the saints, and for me, the
preacher, that utterance may be given unto me." So, not much
to look at, but basically what he's telling us is three things
that strengthen us, that the Holy Spirit uses to strengthen
us. Number one, prayer. Prayer. Ask, he said. Seek, he said. Knock. How much
more will God give the Holy Spirit to them that ask for Him? So
we need this Spirit of God to strengthen us. We need to feed
the new man and starve the old man. And we feed the new man
with the Word of God. Grow in grace the knowledge of
Christ. Desire the sincere milk of the
Word that you may grow thereby. Faith cometh by hearing, hearing
the Word of God. So we need to feed the new man
and starve the old man. The things that he loves, take
away from him by the Spirit of God and the new man feed him. And then this faith, what is
faith? But looking to the Lord Jesus
Christ. See, in a nutshell, faith is looking to the Lord Jesus
Christ. And he said to Paul, the apostle,
he said, my strength is made perfect in your weakness. So
we need to realize all the time how weak we are. Never look to
yourself. Never look to yourself for anything. Encouragement. Never look to
yourself for any assurance. Never look to yourself for any
answers whatsoever. Any evidence. Don't look for
evidence. Look to the Lord Jesus Christ. Because only when you're weak
is He your strength. The next thing that he says in
our text in chapter 3, verse 17, that Christ may dwell in
your hearts by faith. That led into this, that Christ
may dwell in your hearts. Did he not say in the Colossians
that Christ in you is your hope of glory? What does that mean, Christ in
you? Christ dwelling in your hearts by faith? that you may
really and truly trust and look to and believe and depend upon
the Lord Jesus Christ and nothing and no one else. With the heart
man believeth unto righteousness. Believeth what? Believeth that
Christ is your righteousness. Trust in Christ. It's confidence
in Christ. Christ dwelling in you is a love
for Christ. If you see in Him all that you
need, then that's Christ in you. If you have a need, a hunger
and a thirst for Christ like food, then that's Christ in you.
That's the life of Christ in you. Do you remember Sunday's
bulletin, that article? I think it was Sunday, maybe
the one before. How that the believer desires three things
basically. Every believer can say that.
That they desire three basic things. Number one. Total commitment
to the Lord Jesus Christ. To be married to Him. Totally committed to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Number two, total communion with
the Lord Jesus Christ. Fellowship with the Lord Jesus
Christ. Unbroken fellowship. We can't
have that here, but we will some day. But we desire it nonetheless.
And then thirdly, total conformity to the Lord Jesus Christ. If
you can say from the heart that there's no one you admire more,
really, you don't admire anyone but Him. Paul said to the Thessalonians,
when He shall come to be admired of all the saints. And they admire
Him and they want to be just like Him. If that's your heart's
desire, then Christ dwells in you. Look at this. This is good.
John chapter 6. This is what our Lord Himself
said about Christ in you. John chapter 6. This is wonderful. John chapter 6. Our
Lord said in verse 54. Do you have it? Verse 53. Christ said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, except you eat the flesh of the Son
of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Christ is
life, the way, the truth, and the life. What does he mean by
that? They didn't understand then, and most people don't understand
that now. What do you mean? How can this
man give us his flesh to eat, they said. Well, he went on. He said, Whoso eateth my flesh,
and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life, and I will raise him up
at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed,
and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and
drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him." This is what
it means. What does that mean? To eat his
flesh and drink his blood. It means to live on the gospel
of Christ. That's what it means. It means
you can't live without it. Like a hungry man must have food,
you must have the Word of God, the gospel of Christ. Blessed are they that hunger
and thirst after Christ, our righteousness. Those are the
sons of God. They will be filled. That's what
it means. To eat. Do you love food? Well, sure you do. Look at you.
Do you love drink? Sure you do. If you're alive,
you do. Do you love to hear Christ speak? Everybody does it. Those who
do, Christ does it. That's what that means. Eating
His flesh, His work, His person is meat indeed and drink indeed. I know. And feasting on the gospel
of Christ will make you strong in the faith. All right, go back
to the text. It will make you strong in the
faith and in character. I love that verse in 2 Corinthians. It says, we behold as in a glass,
here it is, we all with open face beholding as in a glass,
that is a mirror, the glory of the Lord. As you behold the glory
of the Lord in the gospel, hear it preached or read it, you behold
the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, the gospel, you're changed into
the same image from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord.
That means you start to take on His likeness. And I see it. And you see it in others, don't
you? You don't see it in yourself,
but you see it in others. So, as you feed on Him and look
to Him, you begin to bear His image. Alright? We live by faith
and we must overcome the world by faith. How? This is He that
overcometh the world, He that believeth. That Jesus is the
Christ. Go on back to the text. That
Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. That you, verse 17,
may be rooted, being rooted and grounded. The root of the matter
was in Job. Is it in you? What is it? Well,
he said, I know my Redeemer living. That's the root of the matter.
Christ in you, being rooted and grounded, that is settled, like
Peter said, that you may be grounded and settled, unmoved from the
hope of the gospel. I'm not going anywhere. Like,
by the grace of God, I can stay with Martin Luther. Here I stand. I can do no other. I can go no
other place. This is the word of life. This
is the gospel. There is no other. What I'm hearing
today out there is not the gospel, it's a perversion. And this is
the gospel. The gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ, His person and work. That you may be grounded in love
and love to Him and that gospel. Verse 18, that you may be able
to comprehend with all the saints. Now here's the third thing. The
first thing is strengthen with might in the inner man. Secondly,
that Christ may dwell in your heart by faith. And thirdly,
that you may be able to comprehend, have some idea, some comprehension
with all the saints. All the saints do know something
of the breadth, the length, the depth, and the height. to know
the love of Christ, which really passeth knowledge, that you might
be filled, to have this comprehension, to know something of the love,
the breadth, the length, the depth and height of the love
of God in Christ that really passes head knowledge, that you
might be filled, that you might be filled with the fullness of
God, the fullness of God. What's the fullness of God? Peace,
joy, comfort, glory. As our Lord Himself, who was
in perfect peace and rest, nothing moved and harmed Him while He
trusted in His God, the fullness of God. So, in believing and
comprehending, knowing something of this love of God that's in
Christ will give us something of this fullness of God. Alright?
What is this? See if we can comprehend a little
bit of the breadth, the length, the depth, and the height of
the love of God. The breadth of His love. That
means how wide His love is. How wide is it? How many times
have we said to our children or our grandchildren, how much
do you love me? Or do you know how much I love
you? You do that. Do you know how much I love you?
I love you, and you spread your arms as wide as you can, don't
you? I love you this much." Maybe a poor illustration. Where do God's arms stop? What little love we have, we've
got it from Him. God is love. How much does He love His people? How much? The width? How wide? How encompassing is His love? He has a people out of every
tribe, kindred, nation, and tongue under heaven. And as many people
as the sands of the sea and the stars of the sky. Why not you? We think, oh, why
would He love me? Well, why not? His love is wide. The breadth of His love. How
much He loves and how many He loves. Can a mother love three
children the same? This lady nodded her head. Can
a mother love four children the same? Or more? When you have that first one,
you think, I could never love another one
like this. Well, you do, don't you? Don't you, Matt? Margaret? You do, don't you? How many does
God have? And He loves them all the same.
Yeah, He does. How can He do that? Because He's
God. That's how. Can you comprehend
that? The length. Comprehend something
of the length of His love. You know, love will go to great
lengths for the one that it loves. It's long-suffering. Love goes
to great lengths for the one that it loves. Well, here's what
great lengths that our God went. Greater love hath no end in Him. He spared not His own son. God
commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died." Hearing his love, not that we loved God, but that
he loved us and sent his Son to be a bloody sacrifice for
our sin. Beloved, if God so loves us. We ought not to have any trouble
loving one another. Sure. Great lengths. And it means also to comprehend
the length of God's love is how long it lasts. This is why God
doesn't love everyone. Because those in hell, God doesn't
love those in hell. God's love is everlasting. Jeremiah
31 says, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. That's how
long God's love lasts. Having loved His own, He loved
them to the end, and never quits loving them. God cannot love,
never fail Him. God's perfect love casts without
fear. Perfect love won't cast you out.
So God loves His people, and once He sets His love upon them,
He loves them forever, eternally. That's how long it lasts, the
length of His love. what great lengths He went for
those He loved, and how long it lasted. Eternity. And then
the depth of His love. We may be able to comprehend
with all the saints something of the depth of His love. You
know, heart love is deep love. True love is deep love. I've
often thought that true love hurts. Someone you love, you love them
so much, it hurts down inside, doesn't it? Especially the thought
of losing them. And this love of God, the love
of Christ for His people, it's no shallow, superficial, fickle
love, but it's deep. It runs deep. And God used great
depth of thought and planning and purposing this gospel to
save His people. David said this in Psalm 139,
How precious are thy thoughts toward me. And the depth that
Christ went, the depth that Christ stooped, the depth of which Christ condescended
to find His lost ones. I was going to read to you, and
I don't have time, a dream that Charles Spurgeon had The golden
one going down into the depths to bring out a broken one and
carrying it all the way to glory. And upon bringing it into glory,
the heavens erupted saying, He's brought another one. He's brought
another one. And He went back for another
one. He left the nine in time. The depths for each and every
one. And the height. That we might
be able to comprehend something of the height, or that is how
high His love. See, I'm from Kentucky. How high,
how high, high His love will take us. High above the world
and sin. High above. Most fairy tales,
fairy tales or love stories are rags to riches stories, aren't
they? It's no coincidence that all the old ones have fable of
some poor beggar maid and a handsome prince comes along and spares
her from a dragon and things like that? Or brings her on her
knees all the way to the palace? Where do they come up with things
like that? Well, the truth is much more beautiful. This is
no cunningly devised fable, as Peter said. No cunningly devised
fable. Here's what Hannah said in her
prayer. Listen to this. How high will
He take us? He says, He raiseth up the poor
out of the dust. We came from the dust. He lifteth
up the beggar. from the dunghill. How high will
he take that beggar to set him among princes? How high? To make them inherit the throne
of glory. From dust and ashes to the throne
of glory. Oh, that we might be able to
comprehend something of the breadth, the length, the depth and height
To know the love of Christ that passes knowledge, that is, head
knowledge. Certainly like the peace of God
that passes understanding. It's something, when he talks
about knowing the love, he talks about experiencing it. That's
what he's talking about. Experience it yourself. God must
show it to you. I pray that he does. That you
might be filled with the fullness of God, fullness of joy, fullness
of peace, fullness of comfort, fullness of rest. Now, he closes, verse 20. It's
all to Him, and to Him that is able. He's able to do exceedingly
abundantly above all that we ask or think. You know, if we
pray anything according to His will in the name of Christ, That's
what He said. Everything He prayed for here
is according to His will. God will grant this to every
person that asks for it. He won't grant us everything
we ask for, but He will grant us according to His will. And
this is according to His will. You have it right here in writing.
And He's able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we
ask or think according to the power that worketh in us. That's
the Spirit of God. That's the faith He's given us.
The Word of God. Unto Him. big glory in the church
by Jesus Christ throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. Okay. Stand with me.