In Memory of our friend Owen Rowe

Open your Bibles with me to Ephesians chapter 1 again. Some of my favorite passages of Scripture and I think so many people find Ephesians such a remarkable book of the Bible and Paul speaks of the glories of God and the glories of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Ephesians chapter 3 he says, And for this cause, because of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, the glory of his eternal purpose that he purposed in Christ, the glories, in verse 12, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him, Wherefore, I desire that you faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory for this cause. For the cause of Christ and for the cause of Christ and his work in the hearts of his people, I bow my knees under the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. For this cause, if you go back to Ephesians chapter one, Paul has just given us this remarkable declaration of the biography of all of God's children.

Their biography before the world began, their union with the Lord Jesus Christ, his redemption of them. The fact that God says it's not good for man to be alone and he gave a bride into the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Lord Jesus Christ is yet perfectly and eternally and vitally united to them and he cannot lose them. And he came for them. It explains why the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world to the praise of the glory of God the Father.

This is just such a wonderful declaration, but I love the fact that there is a response to the hand of God. We love to think and contemplate the work of God. And we've looked at the reality of the grace of God, the reality of the gospel that's been declared before us. But there is something which is just profound in the lives of all of God's children. There's an experience of it. And Paul goes on to talk about that in this prayer.

But I just want to read you a couple of verses out of Acts chapter 11, and the church has been sent out, and there's all, as you know from our time in Acts, there's all the challenges that are sent out. in verse 21 of Acts 11 and it says, and the hand of the Lord was with them. Don't you love that? The hand of the Lord. This hand of the Lord isn't, his hand is not too short that he can't save. The hand of the Lord that was with them and a great number believed and turned unto the Lord.

Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem, and they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch. And listen to what happens. Who, when he came and saw the hand of the Lord at work in the lives of these people, when he came and had seen the grace of God, he was glad. He was glad and he exhorted them all that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord.

Isn't that wonderful? This may not be the last time Lyn is with us here in church, but for the time being it is. I thought it would just be lovely for us to go on in Ephesians chapter 1 in light of that, that the hand of the Lord is with God's people and God's people get to see the grace of God. We're going to celebrate The fact that Owen has lived a life by the grace of God in faithfulness to the end. That's a remarkable thing. That's the one great evidence of a saving work of God in the hearts of his people is how they die.

And what a remarkable gift of God that Owen's Christian life began with Henry Mayne coming all the way from America to preach the gospel to him. And Owen's life on this earth, in some sense, as a believer, was culminated by Donny Bell coming all the way. another disciple of Henry Mayne's coming all the way to preach the gospel to us and to remind him of the grace of God. And what a blessed thing, what a blessed thing, Lynne, it is for us to have had you in our fellowship and we just pray the Lord's mercies upon you. But let's read this prayer.

And Paul's praying because of the saints at Ephesus and the faithful in Christ Jesus who, by the power and the will and the wisdom and the work of God Almighty, have come to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And he says in verse 15, Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and love to 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. That the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know What is the hope of his calling and the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints? And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward? who believe, and here's another one of those accordings, according to the working of his mighty power, which he brought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in heavenly places, 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. Wherever there is saving faith, there is love to all the saints.

Listen to it in verse 13, he heard. He'd heard of your faith. Paul had spent some considerable time in Ephesus and obviously he'd been away. By the time he writes this, he's hearing the fact that these people are faithful.

If you read Acts chapter 20, you realise that the faithful ones have been faithful in spite of the fact that from within their own midst and even amongst the pastors, there were people who were raised up in opposition to the gospel. When Paul is speaking of these who are faithful in the Lord Jesus and love to all those who are the saints, he's talking about a remnant that's been preserved and kept by the grace of God, preserved from the false religion that was all about them, but it was in their own midst, Acts 20 says. from within their own midst.

How precious, how precious are these saints to them. No wonder he immediately comes to prayer. He's told them, he's given them a glorious declaration of the gospel. And then because he hears that, when he hears that people have been faithful, he ceased not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. How precious it is for God's people to pray for each other. Isn't it a remarkable thing that in the midst of the business and all the distractions of our lives, the Lord might stop us and we might be caused to pray for each other? He said, without me, you can do nothing. Be a good thing to learn, wouldn't it? We're doing things all the time without him, thinking that we're doing things. Without me, you can do nothing, nothing. With him, With him, all things are possible.

What a great God, what a great God. How precious it is to pray. How precious it is for us to be a praying people and we are praying in light of what we see God doing. They saw the grace of God, the hand of God was upon these people and they cleaved to the Lord as we read in Acts chapter 11.

And this is what his prayer is. His prayer is that God who has done this, he's kept these people faithful, he has given them the love to all the saints. And he's praying, 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. That was Paul's one desire.

You know those verses in Philippians 3, they're just so profoundly significant, aren't they? In Philippians chapter 3. He counts all of his religious activities done. I count all things but lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.

Philippians 3.8. for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and I do count them but done, that I may win Christ, and listen to his great desire, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God, God's in origin, God's in action, which is of God by faith. Listen to his great desire, that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death, if by any means, any means that God might use, I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.

Salvation is knowing Him. Anyone who disagrees with anything that we have read in these earlier verses in Ephesians chapter 1 Anyone who doesn't love what we have read in these verses in Ephesians just doesn't love him because they just don't know him. And they don't know him because he hasn't been revealed to them. And that's why Paul is praying that God has revealed himself to these people, but he prays that that revelation is an ongoing revelation in the lives of these people.

I want to know him again and again and again and again. I live in this body of flesh and I live in this world and I live with all the trials that all of you people have. I want to know him. It's a spiritual knowledge to give you the spirit of wisdom. This is the Holy Spirit's work in the hearts of his people.

He's the revealer of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the revealer. He takes the things of the Lord Jesus Christ, John 16, and he shows them, he reveals them to you. And listen to what he goes on to say, that the eyes of your understanding, they're far better than the eyes that we're actually seeing now, aren't they? We want to be able to understand what he's doing, who he is.

The eyes of your understanding being enlightened. That's an act of God entirely. That's another great description of the new birth, isn't it? Your understanding being enlightened. They were dead and light has come and life has come that you may know what is the hope of his calling. It's a sure hope.

When he calls, they come. Every time he calls, the sheep come. And how do they hear? They hear through the preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. They hear through the preaching of the gospel. The hope of his calling. And listen to it. And what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. The saints are his inheritance. God the Father gave them to him, forever to be united to them.

In Acts chapter 16, Lydia's heart was opened, wasn't it? Isn't that a lovely description of what God does? Lydia, Lydia's heart was opened and she attended unto the gospel preached. The Lord Jesus Christ in Luke, after the resurrection, he came back to those people and he says, He opened their eyes.

He opened their eyes that they might understand the scriptures. And he speaks peace to his people when he opens their eyes. And we'll talk about it more in a minute, but don't you love the fact that the glory of his inheritance in the saints. I'll read about, we'll talk about that more in a little minute.

And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe. And why do believers believe? Why have these believers stayed faithful in the midst of all of the trials that were happening in Ephesus? All of the trials that were happening in their lives and all of the trials that they had within the church, they believed. They kept believing the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe. And why do we believe?

According to the working 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 heavenly places. It's nothing short of the resurrection power of the Lord Jesus Christ to raise us from death to life in this life and to give us the faith to actually believe the Lord Jesus Christ. It requires the power of God. Who says it's in the hands of men to believe this? Why don't they believe? God hasn't given them that wisdom and understanding. God hasn't revealed himself to them as yet, and we pray that he might.

But it requires great power. God's people believe. Don't think lightly of faith. It's remarkable. This is the exercise of God's power. This is the hand of God seen. This is the grace of God seen in believers. It's mighty power, according to the working of his mighty power. And he said, in a far above, verse 21, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, he's ahead of all. He's above all, he's above all in this world. He is God Almighty.

Faith is not you doing something for God to save him the embarrassment of trying as best he possibly could and failing. Faith is God doing something for you. Understand? Faith is not you doing something for God. Faith is God doing something for you, Ephesians 2.10. It's the gift of God. It's the gift of God, but it's the working of God. It's the mighty, powerful working of God. He purposed it, and he does it all. the power, the power of his blood.

Don't you love how John begins the book of Revelation. It's just glorious isn't it how that book begins. It's a revelation, just one revelation of Jesus Christ. And listen to what he says in verse five, from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the first begotten from the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth, unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins. in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God. To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever." If you ever have any doubt about what the rest of the book of Revelations is, you go back and you read that verse and you'll have a pretty fair understanding of what's going on.

He's God. He's God. He doesn't try and fail. He doesn't want and have it unfulfilled. The power. He wants that power exercised and he wants that wisdom. The wisdom and revelation to know him. What a remarkable God we have. It's worth praying to a God like this, isn't it? Why would you want to pray to a God who tries and fails? What's the point? This is the real God, isn't it?

This is the God who is here bearing witness to himself and he's here bearing witness to what he raises up in the hearts, in the heart of his child, in the heart of his children. When they come, they come and they lay out their lives and they lay out their heart before the Lord. This is what comes out of the hearts of God's children. He raised him from the dead and set him in his own right hand in heavenly places, 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 listen to these last two verses. These are amazing, these passages of Scripture.

He has put all things under his feet. and has given him to be head over all things, listen to it, to the church. To the church. Can any harm befall any of the members of God's church in this world? Physical harm might befall them all the time. Can any spiritual harm be done to them? This is what he's doing, isn't it? has put all things under his feet and given him to be head over all things to the church.

It's a miracle of God that we're reading about here. I know we spend some time looking at Hebrews chapter 10, but I love to think what's under his feet. We don't see that, do we? But we see Jesus. We see Jesus. We don't see it through these earthly eyes. But listen to the will of God in Ephesians 10 verse 10. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Just one offering.

And all of God's children were completely perfected. And every priest and his daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, all of the churches purified, he sat down, he sat down. There was no chair in the temple anywhere. It's one piece of furniture that was missing all the time. They had candles and tables and basins and all sorts of other things. There wasn't a chair there because their work was never done.

The Lord Jesus Christ sat down, sat down. It's finished, it's sat down. But listen to what he's doing. He sat down on the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting until his enemies be made his footstool. For, By one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Don't you love that? Who were his enemies? We were. Only God's children know themselves to have been enemies of God. It's the gift of God's grace in wisdom and revelation to know that we're enemies and to know that while we're enemies, Romans 5, we were reconciled to God.

There is a great and glorious God. But as I finish and we say our goodbye, Lynn, hopefully just a short one. But we want the Lord Jesus Christ to be seen, to be high and lifted up. If you see him, you'll see everything under his feet. That's how Isaiah saw him. If you see the Lord Jesus Christ, if he has been revealed to you by the blessed Holy Spirit through the preaching of the gospel, in a new heart created in righteousness and true holiness, you'll see that everything is under his feet. He's sovereign.

He's God. He's God. And God's children love to see him high and looked up because then we can rest in the fact that he's got it all under control. I don't have to rule things, God does. Everything's on his feet, he must reign. And it's the fullness, listen to what he goes on to say, the church is his body. the fullness of him that filleth all in all."

What a remarkable statement from God Almighty. God's children love to think of the eternal union with the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the head, we are the body. He is the shepherd and we are the sheep. But listen to what he says here, the fullness of him, the body, the body of the church is the fullness of him that filleth all in all.

He's speaking about that eternal union of the Lord Jesus Christ and all of his body. They were one in eternity. When he was a lamb slain from the foundation of the world, he was slain for them. When they came into this world, they were one with him. When he came into this world, he was one with him. This is a vital living union. And it's a perfect body. It's the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's absolutely perfect. There's not going to be one tiny little bit spot. Not a single spot, not a single blemish. Everything perfect. And our head has gone into heaven. And that's why we're seated with him in heavenly places in Christ right now.

Owen's just gone home. Owen's just gone home. And when he gets there, when you get there, you realise that that's where you've always been. When you get there, you realise that this is my home. This is where I really belong. This is where our home is.

What a glorious, glorious prayer. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, and I'll close if you want to turn over there. This body of his. There is a resurrection coming. We spoke about it last week. We bury the bodies of the saints of God knowing that there's a resurrection coming. There's a resurrection, listen to verse 42 of 1 Corinthians 15. So also is the resurrection of the dead.

It is sown in corruption. It is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor. It is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness. It is raised in power. It is sown a natural body. It is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body. That body is all of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a fullness. It's a remarkable statement that he makes about his church. It's the fullness of him who fills all in all. Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep. No one's just asleep, according to God.

But we shall all be changed in a moment. in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin, the power of sin, is the law.

But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be you steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know, that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. It's his body, fills it all. a physical body in a physical creation. This is the fullness of him that filleth all in all. No wonder Peter said we speed the day of his coming. What a glorious day that'll be. What a glorious day that'll be.

Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for the declaration of the wonder of your gospel. We thank you, Heavenly Father, for that power, that resurrection power, that brought faith into the hearts of your people and must bring faith to the hearts of all of your children in this world, Heavenly Father. And we praise you that you bring that faith at your time of love into the hearts of your people. And we see Jesus. Heavenly Father, we see him, the resurrected, glorious, reigning, sovereign Lord of this universe. You have made this Jesus both Lord and Christ.

And Heavenly Father, we praise you for the faith of him and the faith that you give. that we might find ourselves at rest and at peace in the glorious grace that you have wrought in all of this creation for all of your children. The body of the Lord Jesus Christ, saved from eternity, saved at the cross, saved in time, and gloriously and wondrously saved into a newness of life for evermore.

Oh, our Father, we pray that as we contemplate these things, you would cause us just to live with gratefulness and thankfulness and praising the glory of your grace. Cause us to worship, Heavenly Father. Just cause us to worship and adore your dear and precious Son and live lives of thankfulness. We do pray for Lynn as she goes, Heavenly Father. Pray that you might bring into her life a fellowship up there and we pray Heavenly Father that you are able, you're able to do abundantly more than we can imagine or ask and we entrust her into your hands and into the word of your grace. Bless her and keep her Heavenly Father. We thank you for the precious blood that preserves us, sanctifies us, washes us clean. May we eat and drink with a simple childlike faith that rests and rejoices in your dear and precious son. For we pray in his glorious name. Amen.

In Memory of our friend Owen Rowe

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In Memory of our friend Owen Rowe

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