Open your Bibles with me tonight
to Ephesians chapter three. Ephesians chapter three. The
title of my message is, For This Cause I Bow My Knees. Ephesians chapter three. The Apostle Paul was an exemplary
man in so many ways in his experience as a believer, in his experience
as a preacher, He's experienced as the servant of our God. He
was made to be, by God's arrangement, a pattern to those who would
believe the gospel of God's grace, and made to be a pattern of what
preachers ought to be. This man devoted himself to the
cause of Christ, gave his life every day to the preaching of
the gospel of God's free grace until God took him out of this
world. He labored and travailed as a
woman giving birth to a child until Christ was formed in the
hearts of chosen sinners. But he wasn't content to just
see them born again, great as that is. He labored to see them
mature in the faith of Christ. He labored in the Word that they
might be strengthened by the Spirit of God in the inner man,
that they might grow in grace, in faith, in the knowledge of
Christ the Redeemer. And tenderly, like a father,
he cared for those souls who had been blessed of God under
his ministry, converted by God's grace, and brought to life and
faith in the Redeemer. He labored to feed them. and
labored to nurture them, to protect them, to guide them in the way
of life and faith. Now here in the third chapter
of Ephesians, let's read and listen very carefully to what
we read as this wise, tenderhearted, faithful pastor tells his children
in the faith how he prayed for them. For this call, 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. Now just pause a minute and put
yourself in the position of one of these Ephesian believers.
It is a great delight to me to hear anyone say to me, I am praying
for you, I pray for you, I have been praying for you. I can't
tell you what it does for me to have someone come to me and
say I am praying and specifically name that which he or she is
seeking on my behalf. I don't think I will ever forget
one day Brother Darrell McClung, many of you knew him before the
Lord took him. He had Cleft Palate, lived up
in Richwood, West Virginia. He came to all of our conferences
as long as he could, he and his wife Betty. and she still gets
our video tapes and audio, our video disc and audio disc and
worships with us in the rest home where she's living now.
But Daryl and Betty stopped by the house. This has been now
close to 40 years ago. And he knew some of the struggles
we were facing at lookout. And he said to me before he left,
he said, I've been praying. that God would give you a people
who would love and appreciate you as their pastor and give
you a steady, appreciated, useful ministry. And I can't tell you
what that meant to me. He knew what I was going through
at the time. On his first visit to Danville after we were established
here, he came down for our first conference, and then he and Betty
came back just a few weeks later. He said to me, he said, you remember
what I told you I was praying for? He said, I believe God's
done it. When you read this prayer, when you read this prayer, put
yourself in the position of these Ephesians. Imagine what it would
mean to you to hear this man, say to you, or to receive a letter
from this man when he says to you, 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 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. My, what a prayer. What a prayer. What ambition. What request. What desires. Inspired by God
the Holy Ghost, the Apostle Paul knew that it is needful to the
very highest degree for God's saints on this earth Constantly
struggling with their own corruption, sin, and unbelief. Constantly
struggling with the world, the flesh, and the devil. Constantly
struggling with the ordinary struggles of life and spiritual
struggles of life. He knew that it was needful to
the highest degree for these who are gods to know that they
are the objects of God's everlasting love. his free favor, his rich
grace in Christ Jesus the Lord. And he would have us to be well
acquainted with the sublime qualities and perfections of that love
that's given to us and shed abroad in our hearts in Christ Jesus.
He says, for this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ. God's servant bowed his knee
to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ as the Father
of the whole family of Christ in heaven and in earth. God the
father is in every way the father of all the church of God, the
father of all the family of God, because he is the father of our
Lord Jesus Christ who gave his church to his son. Our Lord Jesus
rejoiced in that gift when he prayed and we ought to rejoice
in it. Happy and blessed are those who are taught and given
grace by God the Holy Ghost to bow the knee to Him. Oh, Spirit of God, bow the knee
of my heart to my God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Bow the knee of my heart. It's easy enough to bow on a
knee physically, but oh, that He would bow the knee of my heart
to the one true and living God, the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that he would grant you according to the riches of
his glory. Now, I've been looking at that
phrase for some time. Paul asked great grace from the
great God of all grace for the chosen objects of his mercy,
love, and grace, and he did so with confidence. He asked this
not just for the Ephesians. Remember now, he's writing by
inspiration. He asked this of God for you
who are gods living on this earth in the midst of great difficulty.
He asked in confidence. I've read this prayer and read
this prayer and read this prayer and read this prayer and wondered How on earth could
he ask this in confidence? In confident faith, because he
is inspired of God to ask, and he believed the record God gave
of his son and of his grace. He asked with great confidence.
Knowing that according to the infinite fullness of His grace
in Christ, it is the glory of God to give grace without measure
to poor sinners on the earth like you and me. It is the glory of God to give
grace without measure to poor sinners on this earth like you
and me. So well might he pray. Well might I pray. Well might you pray that he would
grant this request according to the riches of his glory, that
Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. His prayer is short, but utterly
comprehensive. He comprehended all that our
souls can need in this world, that He would grant you, look
at verse 16, 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. What did He seek for us? What
did He seek for these Ephesians? What should we seek for ourselves? What should we seek for one another?
What may we confidently ask for all God's people in this world? What should we seek for those
whose souls concern us, who are dear to us, those for whom we
seek the best? All that the apostle sought for
the soul so very dear to him was Christ. That's all. That's all. That's all. Just Christ. Nothing else. All he prayed for
himself. All he asked for the church was
Christ. Christ in his fullness. Christ
in his all-sufficiency. Christ in his grace. He prayed
that Christ might dwell in our hearts by faith. God teach me this, all I need
is Christ. All you need is Christ. I have one darling child, all
she needs is Christ. I don't mean that we shouldn't
pray for one another's health, one another's strength, one another's
help in times of difficulty. Please don't misunderstand me.
But neither I nor my daughter need good health. Neither do
you. Neither I nor my family need
any earthly possessions. Neither do you. Neither I nor
my dearest companions need anything but Christ. Neither do you. Christ comprehends everything. All things are yours, the apostle
says, for ye are Christ's and Christ is God's. Now, I cannot
and must not pass up the opportunity before me in this passage to
call your attention again to the fact that the word of God
constantly speaks to us of our great God in the Trinity of his
sacred persons. The doctrine of the Trinity is
never argued for in scripture. You'll look in vain to find any
kind of presentation that seeks to prove the doctrine to be so.
It is never explained, not even once. It is never defended in
Holy Scripture, but it is stated as a matter of fact, known and
believed and rejoiced in by all who know God. And it's stated
throughout the Scriptures that way. Hear, O Israel, the Lord
our God is one Lord. God said, let us make man in
our image and after our likeness. God has spoken up from the very
beginning to the very end of Holy Scripture as the triune
God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. If you never read anything Paul
wrote except this epistle, you would have to be convinced that
this man who penned this epistle believed that fact revealed in
scripture concerning the Holy Trinity. Throughout the book,
he speaks of the persons, plural, of the one triune God, Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost. in the very opening of the book
in the first chapter. He tells us that God the Father
chose us, God the Son redeemed us, and God the Holy Spirit called
us. You can almost hear Paul as if
he were about to speak the very words of the Apostle John. There
are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word,
and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. Now I stress that
to you. because sadly there are many
today, many today, who seem not to understand, nor to embrace,
nor to care for this fact clearly revealed in Scripture. Our hearts
ought to be overwhelmed when we're made to realize that each
person, each infinite person of the one triune God is constantly,
actively, everlastingly involved in the saving of our souls. We
are loved by God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. We are saved
by God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. And our eternal destiny
will have its fullness in God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. And this great God is known and
revealed in the person of the God-man, our Savior, Jesus Christ,
our Lord. Now let's look at verses 16 through
19. And see the great things this
faithful pastor, this faithful man, was inspired of God to seek
for our souls. God give us grace to seek these
very things for ourselves, for one another and for God's elect
everywhere. Being the children of God, we
should seek and strive to know experimentally and confidently
the love of Christ that passes knowledge so that we might be
filled with all the fullness of God. All right, let me show
you three things. I'll spend the bulk of my time
on the first. First, we need the strength of God the Holy
Ghost, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his
glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner
man. What's the best way to achieve
that? How are we most likely to achieve
that? when God graciously makes us
to know what utterly weak creatures we are. When God graciously forces us
and we will never know except He graciously force us to know
and acknowledge what utter weakness we are. Then we're strengthened
by might, by His Spirit in the inner man. Our Savior said, without
me, ye can do nothing. Without Him, without Him, without
His grace, Without Him giving us His Spirit, without Him working
in us and for us, we cannot see the kingdom of God. We cannot
enter the kingdom of God. We can't pray. Can't pray. I tried to pray. But oh, how I struggled to pray. Is it so with you? I spend time
in prayer, but it's just time spent in prayer most of the time.
I pray for you, but sadly most of the time it's
just words repeated. God forgive me, that's the way
it is. That's the way it is. I pray for my own as I pray for
you. But sadly, most of the time,
it's just words repeated. Sometimes, sometimes God lets
me pray. Just sometimes. And except he
teach us to pray and form prayer in our hearts. Prayer's an impossibility. It's impossible without Him for
us to believe, to trust Him. How you try to trust Him. You get upset with yourself when
something comes your way and it slaps you in the face and
all of a sudden you're just in a tizzy. And then you get upset
with yourself for it because you want to trust the Savior.
but we can't trust Him except He worked faith in us moment
by moment. Just that simple. Without Him,
we can't understand this Word. You read and study and you get
concordances out and you get commentaries out and you listen
to sermons and you read and you study and you get your head filled
with facts and doctrine and you open the Word and don't understand
a thing. And then one day you read, God
speaks by his word and he causes you to see and to understand. We understand only by his grace. We hear him only as he speaks
and causes us to hear. We know the way only as he shows
us the way and puts us in the way. We walk in the way only
as he takes us by the hand and guides us in the way. It's impossible
for us to help one another in the way except he give us grace
to do so. Without me, ye can do nothing. That's what our Lord Jesus declares.
And that's what honesty compels me and I hope compels you to
acknowledge. Yet, we tend to think and constantly
act as though we're completely self-sufficient. I remember years
ago, we were visiting with David and Teresa and we were playing
rook. And I'd been playing Rook for a good while, fellas, and
I, oh, I'm gonna get in trouble with that. Folks don't think
a preacher ought to play cards, but we were playing Rook. And David
did something I never heard tell of anybody doing before. He and
I were partners. He said, I'm gonna go it alone.
I said, do what? I'd never heard tell of that.
That meant I don't need your help, I've got control of this. That was perfectly all right
playing rook. But that's not the way to walk with God. You can't go it alone in anything. I can't go it alone in anything. Blessed is that man, blessed
is that woman who is made to know his weakness. that he may
be made to seek, to be strengthened with might by God's Spirit in
the inner man. That's what the Apostle Paul
taught us in 2 Corinthians chapter 12 when he tells us about his
own experience. He said, I knew a man, whether
he's in the body or out of the body, I don't know, He was called
up to the third heaven and they saw things and heard things nobody
had ever seen or heard. Things that no human tongue can
speak and no human ear can understand. Things not lawful to be uttered.
And he said, after that happened, I had a
messenger of Satan. A messenger, Satan. A thorn in the flesh. who every
time I thought about it, smacked me in the face, beat me down,
lest I be exalted above measure. And I sought the Lord and asked
Him three times, take this from me. And the Lord said, no, live
with it. And learn this, every day and
every minute and every hour you live with it, My grace is sufficient
for thee. And Paul said, now I'll rejoice
in my infirmities. For when I'm weak, then am I
strong. For his grace is made perfect. His strength is made perfect
through my weakness. or that he would grant you according
to the riches of his glory. Pause, oh my soul, and remember
that all God does for us is according to the riches of his glory. Not
because we've earned it, not because we deserve it, not because
we have such strong faith. No, no, no, no, no, no. We read
about those great heroes of faith, as they're called in Hebrews
chapter 11, many women who believed God, who staggered not at the
promise of God, but if you read their life history and their
exercise of faith, in the general tenor of things, you don't see
much that appears to be strong and worthy of reward, do you?
Moses fled from Egypt and Exodus chapter 3 tells us he was afraid.
Or chapter 2 rather. Hebrews chapter 11 tells us he
believed God. How can that be? Because that's
exactly how we live. That's just the reality of things.
You see, in the child of God, our faith doesn't merit anything
or oblige God to anything. Our faith is wrought in us by
God and God sustains it and God blesses it, but it doesn't merit
anything. And certainly not our obedience,
which is in reality nothing but disobedience. All God's goodness
flows to us from the riches of His glory. We desire nothing
and we need nothing but what comes to us according to the
riches of his glory. God is glorious in all his holy
being, in all his attributes, God's glorious. His power is
infinite. His love is immeasurable, His
mercy is boundless, His grace is indescribable, His wisdom
is vast beyond imagination, His holiness is unapproachable, His
justice is incomparable, His truth is matchless, His immutability
higher than the heavens, and His faithfulness relentless.
These are the riches of His glory, all of God's holy being. Please get this. Oh, God help
you to get this. Maybe I better say God help us
to have this get us. All of God's holy being is a
storehouse of riches to our souls. All that God is is a storehouse
of riches to his people. It's not His power to the exclusion
of His mercy, or His mercy to the exclusion of His power, nor
His justice to the exclusion of His grace, nor His grace to
the exclusion of His mercy, or His justice, but it's everything
in God. Everything about God that renders
Him glorious, and that's the object to both our adoration
and our hope. Now watch this. What does that
mean? What does all that mean? It means
this. God has joined his glory to our
everlasting good. God has united his glory to our
good. God has married his glory to
our good. Paul prayed that God would deal
with his people. according to the abundance of
his grace and power, which constitutes his glory and makes him the source
of all good. His glorious riches comprehend
everything in him that is. All that makes him what he is
is what makes him glory. Oh, that we might be strengthened
with might by his spirit in the inner man. Strengthened because we have
no strength. Strengthened from him because
he alone can give us strength and he alone is our strength.
God, give us grace to strengthen us, to perform our day by day
labors, to oppose the lust of our flesh. To resist Satan's
fiery darts, his malicious assaults and his crafty temptations. Strength
and grace to endure affliction and adversity and to persevere
in faith. To have this strengthening with
might by his spirit in the inner man. I repeat, God must make
me weak and keep me weak. John said, He must increase and
I must decrease. Merle Hart, the only way you'll
ever have his strength is to have none of your own. And the
only way he increases in our eyes, in our vision, in our estimation,
is as he causes us to decrease in our own eyes and vision and
estimation. That's what we learn from Paul's
experience. He strengthens us. The Spirit
of God strengthens us by leading us to Christ and the fullness
of grace in him. He strengthens us by shedding
abroad the love of God in our hearts, the love of Christ in
us. Oh, what strength sustains our souls when convinced of his
love for me? What strength sustains our souls
when he sheds abroad his love in our hearts? He strengthens
us. by causing us sweetly to look
to Christ, forcing us sweetly to look to our Redeemer. Though
our outward men perish, looking to Christ, the inward man, he's
renewed day by day. Now second, look at verse 17. While we make our pilgrimage
through this world, we need presence of Christ our Savior. God has
determined that in all things Christ had the preeminence. So
it is with the believer. If we have Christ we have all
and Paul knew that. So he prays that Christ may dwell
in your hearts by faith. You may or may not remember the
last service we had at the KU building before moving permanently
into this building. I preached to you from Exodus
chapter three, where the Lord said, my presence shall go with
thee and I will give thee rest. And then in verse 15, Moses taking
God at his word made this petition. If thy presence Go not with me. Carry us not up hence. If thy presence go not with me. Put an end to this thing now.
Carry us not up hence. But our God throughout this book
sustains and comforts his people with this repeated assurance,
my presence shall go with thee. Look at verse 17, 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. the promise of his presence. Oh, what a consolation it is
to our souls. All who are born of God are partakers
of the divine nature. Christ is formed in us. Christ
liveth in me. Christ liveth in me. The Apostle Paul says, I was
crucified with Christ. I died when he died, nevertheless
I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life that
I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God
who loved me and gave himself for me. Christ doesn't just visit
his people. He comes and abides with us. He takes up residence in the
heart of a man. He takes up residence in the
heart of a woman. He takes up residence in the
heart of a sinner, like a king in his palace, like a man in
his house. And there he abides in our hearts. Not just in our heads full of
doctrine, not just on our lips with songs in our hearts, in
our hearts. He dwells in the hearts of his
own by his spirit. Sometimes he hides his face,
but he hides his face behind the lattices, he's still there.
Sometimes he appears to forsake us, but forsake us he never does.
Sometimes he will not allow us to see himself, but he does that
to draw us out after him. Our Lord Jesus never abandons,
never forsakes, never leaves off caring for his own. He dwells
in the hearts of saved sinners. He never resides where he's not
wanted. He only comes and dwells in our
hearts by faith. But that needs some clarification. The Lord Jesus must be a welcome
guest in your heart and in mine, or he will not dwell there. He comes uninvited. He comes
in unwanted. Undesired. Unexpected. That's how he comes in. He doesn't
come in because you ask him in or let him in. He comes in uninvited,
unwanted, undesired, unexpected, unasked for. But when he comes
in, he brings his welcome with him. And causes you, as soon as he
comes in, to want him. and to embrace it and to take
it and receive him and rejoice in it by faith. Christ does not
and cannot dwell in the heart of the unregenerate. When Christ
comes in, God by his spirit gives testimony in the heart, the seal
of the covenant and says, you are mine and I'm yours. You are
loved of God, chosen of God, redeemed of God, called of God,
saved by God, and that's God's testimony in you. And where Christ
dwells in the heart by faith, all other blessings are bestowed. We are rooted and grounded in
Christ, one with him. Grounded in his love, we feel
the sweet influences of it. And though the love of Christ
is unsearchable, past finding out yet, we can and do in some
measure get a hold of it. Comprehend that it reaches from
Him from everlasting to everlasting. Its dimensions are infinite in
breadth and length and depth and height. And it is love which
passeth knowledge, and yet we know it to be a special, peculiar,
free, precious love that runs through all time unto all eternity
for our souls. Oh, the love of Christ which
passeth knowledge. May God shed that abroad in our
hearts. When Christ dwells in the heart
by faith, he assures us of this love. We are rooted and grounded
in love. Paul uses a metaphor that speaks
of unshakable firmness. He says he's like a huge stately
oak tree with deep roots wrapped around a solid rock. You're rooted
in love, grounded, built upon this sure foundation. How blessed,
how indescribably blessed it is to be rooted and grounded
in the love of Christ. whatever direction you look,
everything we receive from God in Christ is that which flows
to us from and finds its source in this infinite, indescribable
love that passes knowledge. To know the love of Christ is
acquaintance with the greatest wisdom. Let me read something
to you I got from John Calvin today. I think it's just outstanding. He said, almost all men are infected
with the disease of desiring useless knowledge. Therefore,
this admonition is very useful. What is necessary for us to know
and what the Lord desires us to contemplate above and below,
on the right hand and on the left, before and behind, The
love of Christ is held out to us to meditate on day and night
and to be wholly immersed in. He who holds to this alone has
enough. He who holds to this alone has
enough. Beyond it, there's nothing solid,
nothing useful, nothing in short that's right or sound. go abroad
in heaven and earth and sea, you'll never go beyond this without
overstepping the lawful bounds of wisdom. Oh, to know the love
of Christ. Oh, to know the love of Christ. Oh, that we might know the breadth
of our Savior's love. It extends to all ranks and races
of men. It encompasses the whole body
of God's elect. It reaches even to me. Oh, the breadth of His love. This love of Christ displayed
to our souls is love the length of which we can never know. It's
without beginning. It's without end. It's without
measure. It's without change. It's without
variation. It's the love of God, our Savior.
Oh, my soul to dive into the depth of this love. What depth? You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, how that though he was rich, yet for our sakes,
he became poor, that we through his poverty might be made rich. He dove into our humanity. He took on himself our sorrows. He plunged himself under our
curse. He plunged himself into our guilt
and we made sin for us. He died our death. He suffered
our hell. Why? Here in his love. Oh, how he loved us. And he stoops. to the depths of our depravity
to save such things as we are. Oh, that you might know, oh,
how I want to know the height of my Savior's love. He, in his
infinite, indescribable love, takes sinners from the pit, the slime pit,
the manure pit of the depths of humanity's depravity. And lifts us up and sets us among
princes as the sons of God. Behold what manner of love the
Father has bestowed upon us. One more thing, I'll wrap this
up. And I don't need to say much
about it, because I can't say much about it. I can't say much
about it, because I don't know much about it. I want to be. And Mark Henson, I want you to
be. My brothers, my sisters, I want to be and I want you to
be. filled with the fullness of God. What an expression. That's too
much. That's too much. No, it's not. It's written here in the book,
written by divine inspiration. What can this possibly mean?
Filled with the fullness of God. To be filled with the fullness
of God is to be filled with Him who is the fullness of God. Full
of Christ. Full of Christ. Filled with the
fullness of God. What does that mean? If you should take a bucket and
go to a pond or a lake or a river and
dip up a bucket full of water. You've got a bucket that's might
near full of water, but it ain't plumb full. It ain't plumb full.
But if you should take that same bucket and stoop down and shove
that bucket down into the depths of the water until the water
engulfs the bucket, Now the bucket is full of water. The water's
in the bucket and the bucket's in the water. This is what it
is to be filled with the fullness of God. So full of Christ that there's no room for anything
else. Oh God, you who inspired the
prayer, by that inspiration give us confidence
that we shall indeed at last be filled with all the fullness
of God. Will you make it so today? flood our souls with our Savior
and all the fullness of God in Him. Amen.