In Ephesians chapter 3 verse
14 Paul has this prayer upon his heart. For this cause I bow
my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ of whom the
whole family in heaven and earth is named that he would grant
you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened
with might by the Spirit in the inner man that Christ may dwell
in your hearts by faith that ye, being rooted and grounded
in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth
and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ,
which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the
fullness of God. That Christ may dwell in your
hearts by faith, that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth
and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ
with its passive knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the
fullness of God. What a prayer. What a desire. And what a thing to know. If like Paul, you know something
of the love of Christ, something of its breadth, its length, its
depth and height, that love of Christ with its passive knowledge
that's beyond comprehension, that he should love a people,
sinners by nature, but a people for whom he gave himself, for
whom he shed his blood, that he should love them such that
he suffered and died in their place. He gave himself for them. What love this is. In this epistle
to the Ephesians, Paul sets forth this love of Christ for his church. The epistle is a picture of Christ's
bride, the church. and his love for her, his grace
in saving her. It sets forth in chapters 1 and
2 his electing purpose, the purpose of God, the predestined purpose
of God in calling out her people out of darkness, in setting his
love upon them. in delivering them from their
sins. Those who were dead in trespasses
and sins, those who walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit
that now worketh in the children of disobedience, like whom we
all were, it set forth His grace in delivering such a people from
their sin, from the darkness of their sin. the darkness of
their rebellion, the blindness of their own hearts, the blindness
of their own religion. It sets forth its grace in delivering
them through the offering up of Jesus Christ in their place. But now in Christ Jesus ye who
sometimes were afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
For he is our peace, who hath made both one and hath broken
down the middle wall of partition between us, having abolished
in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained
in ordinances, for to make in himself of twain one new man. so make in peace and that he
might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross having
slain the enmity thereby and he came and preached peace to
you which were afar off and to them which were nigh for through
him we both jews and gentiles Those who were nigh and those
who were afar off, both Jews and Gentiles, we both have access
by one Spirit unto the Father. Now, therefore, ye are no more
strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints
and of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the
chief cornerstone, in whom all the building fitly framed together
groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord, in whom ye also are
builted together for the habitation of God through the Spirit. He sets forth God's grace, His
love unto a people chosen from Jew and Gentile, chosen from
every age and generation, every nation, every place upon the
earth. Out of all people, He's chosen
a people in Christ for whom Christ died. who were gathered in as
his people, his church, his bride. And throughout the book, we see
Paul exhibiting, setting forth Christ's love for his own. In chapter 5 and verse 2 we read,
and walk in love as Christ also have loved us and have given
himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling
savour. He loved us and gave himself
for us as an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour. later in chapter 5 from verse
25 we read the exhortation husbands love your wives even as Christ
also loved the church and gave himself for it. Why? that he might sanctify and cleanse
it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present
it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or
any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives
as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth
himself. For no man ever yet hated his
own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord
the church. For we are members of his body,
of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave
his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and
they too shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery, but
I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless, let
every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself,
and the wife see that she reverence her husband. So he sets forth
the love of the husband to the wife because it's a picture of
the love that Christ has for his bride, the church. And here in the midst of this
epistle as we've read, we read of this love of Christ which
passeth knowledge. And Paul's prayer that all God's
people, the Ephesians to whom he wrote, and everyone like them
in Christ, that they should all know the breadth, the length,
the depth, and the height, that they should know the love of
Christ, which passeth knowledge. Oh what depths there are here.
Oh how great this love is that it cannot be measured. How wide it is, how high it is,
how deep it is. It cannot be fathomed. This is
a love that extends from heaven to the depths of the earth. From
God unto man. unto sinners lost in sin, lost
in the darkness. God looked down upon his people
in Christ, and Christ entered this world. He came unto a world
that received him, not a world that rejected him, a world that
hated him, a world that crucified him, because he looked down from
heaven to the depths of this earth. in love unto his own. This is a love which extends
to the four corners of the earth. Its breadth, its length, its
depth and its height knows no bounds. It goes to the four corners
of the earth. Christ suffered and died for
a people called out from every nation, every tribe, every kindred,
every age, every generation. He did not come for the Jews
alone, but for the Gentiles. Those who were afar off. Those
who were strangers and foreigners to the Scriptures and to the
knowledge of God. He came for them all. He came
for a people out of every kindred, every tribe. He came for Gentiles
like you and I. who have no natural links, no
natural birthline unto the Jews as such, those who are afar off,
but unto whom God came in Christ, in the gospel, to bring a message
of salvation. This is a love which took Christ
from heaven's glory to the cross. to be hung in the place of sinners,
to bear their sins, to drink the cup of God's wrath, to suffer
under the condemnation that their sins had earned. It is a love that took him. to
drink that cup of God's wrath to the dregs, that every last
one of those sins, for every child of God for whom he suffered,
from the beginning of time and to the end, that every sin should
be washed away, that every sin should be blotted out, that his
blood should wash away every spot and every blemish of his
bride the church, every sin should be taken away. As far as the
east is from the west he will remember them no more. This is
a love whose breadth, length, depth and height we cannot measure,
it is infinite in its scope. Oh, how Christ's heart burns
in love for his bride, his people. People like you and I, sinners
by nature, lost in the darkness, but those whom he set his love
upon. that he was willing to give himself
for them, that they in him should live. But where does this love
begin? Where did it begin with Paul? It begins with the grace of God. which brings salvation. Paul
writes, For this cause I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ
for you Gentiles, if ye have heard of the dispensation of
the grace of God which is given me to you, how that by revelation
he made known unto me the mystery, as I wrote afore in few words,
whereby when ye read ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of
Christ. which in other ages was not made known unto the sons
of men, as it is now revealed under his holy apostles and prophets
by the Spirit, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of
the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the
gospel, whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the
grace of God, given unto me by the effectual working of his
power. Paul was sent to preach this
gospel, this love of Christ. This message of Christ's love
was made known unto him by the grace of God. How did he know
it? By grace. by the revelation of
God. How that by revelation He made
known unto me the mystery, which in other ages was not made known
unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto the holy apostles
and prophets by the Spirit. God made known His gospel unto
His saints of old, unto David, unto Abraham. But the way in
which it was made known unto Paul and the apostles was in
such an extent, such a greater extent, he knew Christ in a way
that they only glimpsed. He knew Christ's purpose in his
church in a way that was merely pictured by types and figures
in the Old Testament age. These things were once hid that
now they were manifested in all their fullness. And Paul, who
was once utterly blind to them, though he had the Scriptures,
though he had the Old Testament, though he knew what David knew
from the Scriptures, though he read David's Psalms, though he
read the Law and the Prophets, though he knew all that Moses
wrote down, Though he lived in the religion of the Jews, though
he followed in the oracles of God, though he served God as
a Pharisee of the Pharisees, a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin,
though he knew these things outwardly, he was utterly blind. inwardly
to who Jesus Christ is. He knew nothing personally of
the grace of God. He knew nothing personally of
the love of God. Until that day when Christ himself
met with him and revealed himself under him by grace. Yes, it's grace that made these
things known unto him. It's that which called him, that
which saved him, that which washed him clean from his sins, that
which justified him in righteousness. It's the grace of God that separated
him unto Christ and unto the gospel. It's that which prepared
him and sent him forth as a minister of that gospel. It's that which
made known Christ unto Paul by revelation. It's that which revealed
the mystery of God in Jesus Christ unto him. The mystery of Christ. It's that which made Paul a partaker
of the promise of God in Christ by the gospel. This grace is
that which made him a minister. a minister of righteousness,
a minister of reconciliation, a minister of the gospel, a minister
of the grace and the love and the mercy of God, a minister
of Jesus Christ. It's that which made him a minister
by the effectual working of God's power. Grace, nothing but grace. It is grace that Paul knew, grace
that Paul preached, grace that declared the love of Christ. And we will know nothing of this
love, nothing of this salvation. We will know nothing of Christ
himself, except God come unto us like he came unto Paul with
the very same grace. and the very same revelation
of the mystery. We may have heard the gospel
many times. We may have read the scriptures. We may have attended meetings. We may have been very zealous
for the things of God. and still know nothing of Christ,
His grace, and His love. Is that where you are? You sit
and you hear this message this day. You hear these words. Many may be familiar, but they
don't touch you. They don't enter your heart,
because they're just words. Perhaps you think that before
God you're fine. There's no great ill in you.
You don't see yourself as a sinner. And the words wash over you.
Paul felt that way once. He was not irreligious. He thought
before God that he stood. that God would honor him for
his works, his own righteousness. He thought he kept the law, he
was blameless. He was zealous for God and yet
he hated Christ and the gospel. He persecuted the church, he
knew not Christ. And he was heading for destruction.
And yet when God's grace came unto him, it broke him. It revealed unto him just what
he was inside. It revealed unto him just how
wicked his religious works, his self-righteousness was before
a holy God. All that he thought was gain,
he discovered was loss. All that he thought was to his
credit, he discovered condemned him. far from making him closer
to God it set him further away. Oh that God would show us this. What a danger religion can be,
what a danger works and our desire to live right can be. We think
we're serving God when in fact we're just multiplying our own
pride. We're just building up our own
self-righteousness. We are increasing our own wickedness
and condemnation. These things separate us from
God, they don't draw us under him. Except God is known unto
us, except God opens our eyes, except God by his Spirit causes
us to walk in righteousness. All is vanity, all is vain, all
is the work of man. all increases our pride and condemnation. By these things, by his works
and zeal in outward religion, Paul hated the people of God. He hated Christ and he persecuted
the church. Far from it bringing forth love
in his heart, it caused him to hate. And if your religion whatever
you may claim, whatever you may think, whatever you may say,
if your understanding, whether it's religion or irreligion,
if your wisdom causes you to hate, to hate Christ, to hate
his truth, to hate his ministers, to hate his gospel, if your wisdom
sets you against them, to separate from them, to condemn, rather
than to be reconciled, to be one in Christ, then you know
not God. The gospel that Paul knew, that
he preached here, was one that brought peace. Peace between
sinners and God. and peace between each and every
one of God's people one with another. Though some may be Jews
and some may be Gentiles, though once the Jews considered the
Gentiles to be dogs, though once in the flesh they were set one
against another, this gospel brought those who hated one another
by nature to embrace and love one another as they were in Jesus
Christ. It transformed Paul's understanding. It transformed the Ephesians
understanding. And if you come to know it, it
will transform your understanding. It will make us love Christ and
love one another. Forgiving one another as we ourselves
have been forgiven. It will make us recognize the
love of God, the grace of God in our brethren. Because we will
consider ourselves and know ourselves to be nothing. Who was Paul? In spite of the great heights
to which he had reached in the Jews' religion, in spite of being
called a Pharisee, in spite of being held in high regard by
his countrymen. He came to see that he was the
least of all saints, the chief of sinners. He was wicked. Oh, the good that I would, I
cannot do, and the evil that I would not, that I do. Who shall
deliver me from this body of sin? Who shall deliver me? Oh, wretched man that I am! How to perform that which is
good I find not, For the good that I would I do not, But the
evil which I would not, that I do. I find then a law when
I would do good evil is present with me for I delight in the
law of God after the inward man but I see another law in my members
warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity
to the law of sin which is in my members. Oh wretched man that
I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death. I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. So then with the mind I myself
served the law of God but with the flesh the law of sin. He
saw himself as wretched despite all that he was outwardly. He knew inwardly he had a sinful
heart which needed to be cleansed. He had a multitude of sins which
needed to be forgiven. He needed a new heart. He needed
his sins to be blotted out and taken away. He needed the righteousness
of God. And in Christ, he found the answer. In Christ, he discovered that
in him there is therefore now no condemnation. In Christ, he
found his all in all. Who was Paul? Who was Saul? A wretched sinner, just like
you and just like me. He writes, Unto me, who am the
least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach
among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make
all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the
beginning of the world have been hidden God, who created all things
by Jesus Christ, to the intent that now unto the principalities
and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church
the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which
he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness
and access with confidence by the faith of him, Wherefore I
desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is
your glory. Who was Paul? He was the least
of all saints, to whom this grace was given. He was wretched, and
yet God chose him and called him and sent him forth to the
Gentiles, to you and I, to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ. To preach the breadth, the length,
the depth and the height of the love of Christ which passeth
knowledge. To preach the revelation of the
mystery of Jesus Christ. To preach the grace of God which
brings salvation. to preach Christ in all his fullness,
the least of all saints. Why? Because his wisdom, his
religion, his so-called righteousness had left him in darkness. So much so that in zeal for God,
thinking he did right, thinking he served God, thinking this
was the right thing to do, the scriptural thing, the godly thing,
the holy thing, thinking he did the right thing for God, he persecuted
the church. He sanctioned the putting to
death of those who believed in Jesus Christ. He hated Christ
and his gospel and his people. Is that where you are by nature?
Oh, you might not confess to that outwardly, but does your
heart desire that you should not hear? That these things should
be taken away from you? You have no time for them. They're
a burden to you. They hold you back. They're a
hindrance. You want this world and all that
it can give you. You want pleasure and fame and
riches and knowledge. You want to do your own thing
and these things are a hindrance to you. Or perhaps you have your own
idea of what is true and who God is and how he served and
you'll go your own way. You know what you think of the
scriptures. You know what you think of God
and you'll go that way. And when you hear of Christ and
His grace, when you hear that we are nothing by nature, when
you hear of the depravity of man, that there is nothing in
self in which we can glory, that our will and our work set us
against God, when you hear that it's God that saves, your heart
stirred up against Him. Is that where you are? It's where
Saul was. This is why he says, I'm the
least of all saints. I don't deserve to be among you.
I don't deserve to have been forgiven. What I did to my brethren,
what I did to believers of Christ, what I did to Christ and his
church is unforgivable. And yet God forgave me. Such
was Christ's love for me, he forgave what I did. Yes, in his darkness he persecuted
the church and yet Christ loved him, Christ saved him, Christ
gave himself for him, Christ called him and Christ sent him
forth to preach this message. Not only did Christ forgive this
man who was so hateful towards him, but he sent him forth to
preach this gospel. It is Christ and the faith of
Christ which gave Paul, who was the least of all saints, the
boldness to preach this gospel. He could not have done it in
his own strength. But God sent him forth in power. And his message,
his preaching, his experience is made known throughout all
the ages, in all generations, even to you and I today. This is why Paul writes, knowing
that God will work effectively by his power, not just in his
age, But in the ages to come, today, to you and I perhaps,
God will work in power to make known Christ, his grace and his
love towards sinners. For this cause, Paul says, I
bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of
whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would
grant you according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened
with might by his Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell
in your hearts by faith. that ye, being rooted and grounded
in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth
and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ
which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the
fullness of God. This prayer he had for the Ephesians
is a prayer he has to Christ's people in this day and age, for
sinners like you and I, that we might know this love, that
we might know this grace, that we, wherever we are, no matter
how blind, no matter how far off we may be, no matter how
rebellious we may be, no matter how disinterested by nature we
may be, that we by God's power might know this love. Oh, how Paul burned in his heart,
how he desired that the Ephesians, the Gentiles, the whole church
should with him know the love of Christ. Not just to know of
it, but to know it, to feel it, to experience it that their love
which passeth knowledge might be known that we might know the
breadth, the length, the depth and the height of it that the
church might know Christ's love for her in order that the church,
that the people of God that sinners like you and I might be filled
with the fullness of God, filled with Christ, filled with His
love, filled with His grace and His mercy. Oh, what a prayer
this is. Oh to think that Paul prayed
this, that Paul, that effectual minister of Christ prayed this
for the Ephesians at that time and his prayer was answered.
And that his prayer for them is a prayer he has for our day
and generation. And that God today takes that
same love and sheds it abroad in the hearts of his people. What love is this? To that love
which Christ manifested for his people in coming here in the
darkness of this world for them. That love which caused him to
come into a world that rejected him, that reviled him, He came
for them. In being crucified for them,
He manifested this love. In being made sin for them, that
they in Him should be made the righteousness of God. As this love brought Him into
the depths, the depths of the sin and the darkness of this
world. It brought him into the midst
of his enemies. Those who hated him, despised
him, rejected him, reviled him. Those like you and I that stood
around him like ravenous wolves, like bulls of Bashan. Those that
would put him to death, we mocked him, we scorned him, we despised
him. We said, away with this man,
crucify him, we will not have him to reign over us. We hated
him, we spat upon him. It brought him into the midst
of us. And we took him. And together
we crucified him upon a tree. And our sins nailed him to that
tree. and our sins took a spear and
pierced him through. He was made sin who knew no sin
that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. This love which Christ made known
unto Paul is that love which caused Christ to be crucified
in Paul's place. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians
5, For the love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge that
if one died for all, then we're all dead. and that he died for
all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves
but unto him which died for them and rose again. Wherefore henceforth
know we no man after the flesh. Yea, though we have known Christ
after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. Therefore
if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. all things are
passed away behold all things have become new and all things
are of God who have reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ
and have given unto us the ministry of reconciliation to wit that
God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing
their trespasses unto them and have committed unto us the word
of reconciliation Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as
though God did beseech you by us. We pray you in Christ's stead,
be ye reconciled to God, for he hath made him to be sin for
us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. Be ye reconciled to God. because God came in Christ and
gave himself for sinners. He was made sin for his own that
they might be made the righteousness of God in him. So God showed
forth his love and in love Paul was constrained to preach of
Christ's grace and love to him and to his people. Oh, what love
is this? It's a love that caused Christ
to take all the sins of all his people in all ages, in all places,
in all time, to take the sin of his bride and to suffer and
die under God's wrath against it in order that she should be
made the righteousness of God in him that she should be washed
in his blood that she should be reconciled unto God that she
should be perfect without spot and without blemish that the
church his bride should be perfect It's a love that caused him to
take all her transgressions and own them as his, that she should
be one in him forevermore. Such was his love for her. Beyond comprehension, beyond
understanding, do you know the love of Christ, its breadth,
its length, its depth, and its height? It's a love that caused
him to give himself for sinners like you and I. And it is a love
from which, in Christ, we can never, ever be separated. If this love is made known unto
us like it was made known unto Paul, we will know that we can
never be condemned, we can never be separated from it. God in
Christ has justified us, he's blotted our sins out, he's taken
them away, absolutely entirely. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's let? It is God that justifieth. Who
is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather
that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also make of intercession for us. Who shall separate us from
the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword. As it is written, for thy sake
we are killed all the day long, we are accounted as sheep for
the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are
more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded
that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. We can never be separated from
it. We can never be separated from
it. No height can separate us from this love whose height is
greater. No depth can separate us from
this love whose depth is greater. No power, no principality. Nothing past, nothing to come
can separate us from that which is everlasting and eternal, which
God purposed before the foundation of the earth. He set his love
upon his own and nothing will take it away. This love has wed
us unto Christ. It makes his people one with
him. As the wife is one with her husband,
Christ and she is one. They're one. Oh what a love this
is. It is truly that which passeth
knowledge. How can we measure it? How can
we measure its breadth, its length, its depth, its height, its infinite,
its eternal, without beginning, without end, everlasting, unquenchable,
abundant love? It exceeds in abundance. As Paul writes to conclude his
prayer in chapter three, now unto him that is able to do exceeding
abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the
power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church by
Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end, amen. He does
exceeding abundantly because his love for his own is everlasting. What power there is in Christ's
gospel that he can take rebellious wretches like you and I, like
Saul, like Paul, rebellious wretches, those who hate him, those who
despise him, those who in their hearts nailed him to the tree. That God in Christ can take wretches
like you and I, and by grace, through love, totally transform
us. He takes the unwilling and makes
them willing. He takes the unbelieving and
gives them faith to believe. He takes the utterly unrighteous
and clothes them in righteousness. He takes those who are blind
and makes them see. He takes the deaf and makes them
hear. He takes the lame and makes them
walk. He takes the dead and makes them
live. O that we, like Paul, might know
the breadth, the length, the depth, the height, the love of
Christ, which passeth knowledge. That we, like he, might be filled
with all the fullness of God in Jesus Christ. Amen.