I often ask you to pray for me. I suppose I do so just about every
time we meet. I rarely ever write a letter
that I don't ask the one to whom it's written unless I know it's
an unbeliever to pray for me. As I endeavor to lead you in
the cause of Christ, as I study and seek God's message for you
and preach to you, I constantly ask you to pray for me. As you
send me from place to place to preach the gospel, I ask you
to pray for me. As I write, publishing the gospel
by whatever means God has given me the ability to do so far and
near, I ask you to pray for me. as God graciously opens doors
of utterance for the gospel. Oh, that God might be pleased
to bless our efforts together in this regard for Christ's glory,
for the salvation of his elect, for the edifying of his saints.
I am more keenly aware today than I have ever been. that my most ardent studies,
my most diligent labor in every aspect of the gospel ministry
is less than meaningless and vanity except God the Holy Ghost
be pleased to bless it to immortal souls. So I ask you constantly
pray for me. And I assure you that I do not
cease to pray for you. That's what I want to talk to
you about in this message. If you'll turn to the third chapter
of the epistle of Paul to the Ephesians, Ephesians chapter
three, I want to read to you and then talk to you as plainly
as I can about my prayer for you. I take Paul's words for
my own. And I do so with no hesitancy
of appearing to be insincere or appearing to say what I don't
mean. This is my prayer for you, for
you. Oh, may God be pleased to grant
it for Christ's sake. Ephesians 3 verse 13. Wherefore, I desire that you
think not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory. 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, 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. The Apostle Paul was deeply affected
by a heartfelt closeness and union with God's elect, his family,
the Church of God. He lived, preached, and suffered
for the sake of his family, God's Church. The prayer contained
in this third chapter of Ephesians is a remarkable example of the
love faithful pastors have for God's people. A remarkable example
of the love faithful pastors have for God's people. Faithful
men called and sent of God to preach the gospel. Love the people
to whom they are sent. I can tell you a great deal about
any man's ministry. I can tell you a great deal about
any preacher. As I listen to him talk about
the people he's supposed to be serving. Faithful pastors love the people
they're sent of God to serve. In the previous verses, the apostle
had described to the church at Ephesus his attitude toward the
gospel ministry. To this man, to this man. to this man, preaching, serving
the souls of men, giving himself to the work of the ministry was
not an irksome task. It was not something he wished
to avoid or something that he would never wish on another man.
Oh, no, no, no, no. It's not something that he was
just required to perform but didn't really want to perform.
It was his great joy, his great joy. Now, understand this, understand
this. As he writes these words, Paul
is a prisoner at Rome awaiting execution. And he speaks of this blessed
work, which he is now in prison for. as being the gift of God's
grace to him and his exceeding great joy. It was his delight
to preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.
Therefore, he was content to preach Christ even if it meant
that he must endure hardships, many hardships, even from those
for whom he labored. As I said, Paul was now a prisoner
at Rome. Imprisoned for preaching the
gospel. Imprisoned for the very people
to whom he preached. Imprisoned by the very people
to whom he preached. But his concern as he writes
this epistle is not for himself. It's not for his physical welfare,
but rather he writes and expresses concern for the spiritual benefit
of God's people. He wrote to the church at Ephesus
with the heart of a pastor. The kind of a pastor I pray God
will make me to be. The kind of pastor God has promised
to give his people. A pastor after his own heart.
who feeds the people of God with knowledge and with understanding. Wherefore, he says in verse 13,
I desire that you think not at my tribulations for you, which
is your glory. My suffering, my hardship, my
difficulty, the things I endure, this is your glory. That is to
say, this is done for your sake. for your glory, that you may
be benefited by the things of God. As I said, this servant
of God endured many hardships. He was reproached as an evildoer,
misunderstood and misrepresented. He was stoned. He was beaten. He was imprisoned. And eventually,
he was put to death. All of these things He endured
gladly. Now, I wrote that out and I thought,
you can't really say that. Nobody will understand. Understand
it or not, all these things, he endured gladly. Counted it his joy to do these
things. Why? By the exercise of human
wisdom, with expedience, if he had wanted to, he could have
avoided them. We're told in the Book of Acts
that the Roman judge said he didn't have to go to Rome if
he hadn't said I'm a Roman citizen. He didn't have to go to Rome,
but he went to Rome, and he's imprisoned at Rome. Though he
could have avoided this imprisonment, he did it for the elect's sake,
for the sake of Christ's body, the church. He did all this for
the redeemed of the Lord. He did this for you and me. He didn't know us. No, but He
did it for Christ's body's sake, for the church of God, for the
people of God, those yet unknown to Him. with whom he was already
in union from eternity in Christ Jesus the Lord. It was for the
sake of preaching the gospel among the Gentiles and confirming
the gospel among them, confirming them in the faith and confirming
their faith in the gospel that Paul suffered. He was fearful
that these Ephesian saints might be ashamed of him, the prisoner
of the Lord. Therefore he made this prayer
for his family the Church of God that it might grow and be
strengthened in the love of Christ. I Try to picture Paul here. There
can hardly be a more magnificent impressive picture than the Apostle
Paul in a Roman prison on his knees Praying not for himself Not for himself, but for God's
people. The only picture that exceeds
this is our Lord in Gethsemane on His knees or our Lord at Calvary
hanging upon the tree. There in supplication and prayer,
the stocks and chains fell from Him and He's free. though he's
just as bound as ever. His spirit soars. Paul is triumphant
and writes as a prisoner in jail before he's executed. In the
second letter to his son in the ministry, Timothy, he speaks
of his imprisonment this way. He says, but the word of God
is not bound. Here I am in these chains, in
these bonds, about to be executed, but the word of God is not bound. It could never be bound, never
imprisoned. The word of God is free. And
the spirit of God's servant is free. So long as he recognizes,
understands, and bows to that which he endures as the will
of God for the glory of Christ. His chains are just bracelets.
His prison is just a house in which to dwell. The hard floor
on which he must sleep is a comfortable bed for him, for he is there
as God's servant. When he kneels to pray, God's
servant is free. And in this prayer, his spirit
soars, his heart engulfs the whole family of God. This man
is about to die. reaches out with his heart to
the whole household of faith. What a marvelous example he sets
before us. May God give us grace that our
hearts may emulate his, so that our care in all things is not
for ourselves, but for others. I can't tell you how many times
I have read this prayer to myself, to my God today. Lord, help me
to live from day to day in such a self-forgetful way that through
the day and when I pray, my life may be for others. Help me in
everything I do. to ever faithful be and true,
and know that if I would serve you, I must be serving others. Let self be crucified and slain,
buried, and never rise again. Oh, God. Let self be crucified
and slain, buried, and never rise again. In union with your
darling son, use me, my God, for others. I'll tell you, every problem
you have with other people. Are you listening? I'll tell
you, every problem you have with other people is you. Every problem is you. You have
a problem with your wife, the problem's yours. And it's your
fault. You have a problem with your
husband, the problem's yours. It's your fault. You have a problem
with your neighbor, the problem is yours. It's your fault. If
self didn't stand out so proud, you wouldn't have any problem
with other people. None at all. Read the book of Proverbs. Pride
in self is the cause of all. If those who preach the gospel
could learn this lesson, if we who are gods in this world could
learn this lesson, God just might be pleased to use us. We must
learn not to seek great things for ourselves, but things for
others. Preachers must learn not to seek
things for themselves, but the everlasting good of the people
they serve. God's servants labor not for
fame or fortune, but for the glory of Christ and the good
of immortal souls. How happy, how blessed the church
of God would be if we could learn to live for others, if each esteemed
other better than himself, if we spend our lives for one another. In all things, let us seek to
spend ourselves and be spent of God for the benefit of His
people, for the glory of His Son. There is no serving Christ,
but serving His people. There is no living for Christ,
but living for His people. There is no doing for Christ,
but doing for his people. God's people love and serve one
another. Let me call your attention to
three things in this text about my prayer for you. First, the
purpose. Purpose. When our prayers lack
purpose, they're nothing but vain repetitions and they're
an offense to God. We need to order our words, order
our calls before God as he directs us to do so by his spirit. Look
at this prayer. The apostle Paul asked for specific
things. I seek specific things for you
have a purpose in mind. Wherefore, that is for your glory. I desire that you think not at
my tribulations for you, which is your glory. For this cause,
I bow my knees under the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of
whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. For this
cause. For this cause. For your glory. Not temporary
glory. Not earthly glory. not carnal
glory. For your everlasting glory in
union with Christ, I endure all things gladly. For your everlasting
glory in union with Christ, I bow before God, my Father, that you
who are the objects of my labor and the objects of my prayer
May enjoy the blessed knowledge of Jesus Christ with increasing
faith, with increasing experience until at last you received up
into glory. It's my constant prayer for you.
When I call your names before the throne of grace, that the
God of all grace will strengthen you and keep you from fainting
in the way. How I pray he'll prevent you
from abandoning Christ, abandoning the worship of God, abandoning
the people of God. That he will graciously preserve
you for Christ's sake. Only God can do it. Only God
can do it. I just learned yesterday of a
friend to whom I've been preaching for a long time in another assembly.
And he got peeved because somebody didn't pay him enough attention
and left. And Shepherd said, what are you
going to do? I said, I'm going to do nothing. I'm going to do nothing. I'll
continue to preach. But do you think you ought to
call him? No. I already called him. Don't need to call him again.
Go visit him? No. Not going to go visit him.
No. That's not right. Only God can keep you. If you hang around for my sake,
if you hang around to please me or to please somebody else,
that's not going to be of any benefit to your soul. Only God
can keep you. Only God can keep me. We are
preserved in grace only because God perseveres in grace. Only because God preserves us
in grace. And he's promised that he'll
do that. He says concerning his elect, I will give them one heart
and one way and I will not allow them to turn from me and I won't
turn away from them for good. He says, I give my sheep eternal
life and they shall never perish. I'm confident of this one thing.
If God has begun a good work of grace in you, he will perform
it until the day of Jesus Christ. Still, we must never forget that
God will be sought for his promises. He says, ask of me and I will
give thee. Like Paul, it is my prayer that
God will make you see the wondrous mystery of your fellowship in
Christ. We who are gods are one family
in Christ. one family in Christ. One with
Christ means we are one with God and one with one another. One family as a local church. One family with all God's saints
that we know. One family with all God's saints
we've never met and may never meet on this earth. One family
with all God's saints in heaven and in earth, all named one in
Christ. It's my prayer. It's my heart's
desire to God for you, for you all. that you might be made partakers
of all the promises of God by the gospel. Oh, may God be pleased. As I do whatever I can by whatever
means God allows me and enables me to communicate the gospel
to you, whether by hymns or bulletin articles or a note or a telephone
call or preaching here in the public assembly, Oh, that God
will be pleased to bless those labors for your soul's good,
for your everlasting good, that you may be made by the gospel,
partakers of God's promises, promises of eternal life. promises
of the covenant, promises of comfort and peace, promises of
joy and strength, promises of faith and assurance, promises
of peace that passes understanding. Frequently, I'm asked, how should
I pray? Paul says, pray like this, for
this cause I bow my knees. When we pray, We must always
pray on bended knees. Now let me say as plainly as
I can say what that doesn't mean. I recall years ago, I was just
a young preacher. One of the older fellows came
back to look out and was preaching and led the congregation in prayer. I called on her to do it once,
just once. And he knelt down beside the
pulpit and lifted his hands up in prayer, and everybody's so
impressed, such humility. Everybody but me and God. I wanted
to kick him in the butt and shove him off the platform. That's
not what he's talking about. That's not what he's talking
about. I see folks making gestures in prayer, praying, making a
spectacle of themselves, either with their voice or with their
bodies. Paul is not talking about any
physical posture. Physical posture doesn't matter.
I read once years ago, Spurgeon was talking to some fellow who
had come into his office fussing with him about his doctrine.
And he said to Spurgeon, he said, I've read the Bible through 100
times on my knees and I just don't see what you're teaching
about predestination and election and atonement. And Spurgeon said,
well, brother, could I suggest that you read it in a more comfortable
position? Then maybe you could see what
it says. Posture has nothing to do with it. What it's talking
about is a bended heart. A bowing heart. Children of God,
let us seek grace from God to bow to Him. Bow to His providence. Bow to His will. Bow to His doing. Bow to His purpose. But it's
so hard. I know it's hard. That's what
flesh is. It causes trouble all the time.
Whatever God does, God teach me to bow. Teach me to bow. Shelby and I are at the age that
most of you are. Neither one of us relishes the
prospect of being left here alone. I mean by that alone without
one another. Neither of us relishes that.
If God takes me before my next breath, I urge you, my dear sister,
bow to Him and go on with life, serving Him just as you do now
with me. Bow to Him. Pastor, you can't
do that. You can by God's grace and you
can't by your own. And if God should take her before
my next breath, oh, God, give me grace to bow to him, to bow
to his will. That's what faith does, Lindsay.
It bows. We come to God on bended knee
with faith, with reverence, with humility, with submission. For
this cause, I bow my knees unto the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ. There's no true prayer except
the prayer of faith to the triune God. He is the living God who
is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the
God of the sacred trinity revealed in Holy Scripture. This one who
is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, after whom
all the family in heaven and earth is named, is our Father
and our God. That doesn't mean we shouldn't
pray to the Lord Jesus or pray to God the Holy Spirit. Commonly,
one of the best classes I took when I was in college was a class
on prayer. And thankfully, it was a class
on prayer. It wasn't a class dealing with theory. It was a class on prayer. The
men who taught it did a very good job. But commonly, you're
taught that there's a formula for prayer. We're to pray to
the Father through the Son by the Spirit. But I find no such
formula in scripture. Each of the persons in the Godhead
is God. And it's altogether proper to
pray to the Father, to pray to Christ our Mediator, to pray
to God the Holy Spirit, always, always by faith in Christ the
Lord, trusting his blood and his righteousness. Having mentioned
the name of Christ, Paul can't continue without a word of praise,
of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. Now, second,
look at verses 16 through 19, and you'll see some specific
petitions of my prayer for you. It is my prayer that he would
grant you according to the riches of his glory. What a word. According to the riches of his
glory. Oh, God, bless this people. not according to the very limited
resources by which I may serve them, but according to the riches
of your glory, that he may grant you, according to the riches
of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his spirit in the
inner man, in that new 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. When we pray, we ought to ask
God for specific things. Specific things, not just according
to our carnal lust. And I can't tell you how much
I struggle with this. I, more than anybody in this
room, struggle with this because we commonly just ask God for
our carnal lust. That we may consume it upon ourselves,
that we may be satisfied with it. Rather, we ought to ask God
to burden our hearts with His will, with His purpose, and inspire
our hearts with prayer for specific things, plainly according to
His will. Bill Raleigh, I know if you're
God's, this is what God has for you. I know it. And I ask it
with confident, confident faith. Fully assured, he will answer
the prayer. Spiritual blessings are the best
blessings. These are the things we should
most earnestly seek, both for ourselves and for one another.
It's my prayer that God will make you strong, that he would
grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened
with might by his spirit in the inner man. Oh, God make you strong,
strong. Strong in faith, strong in Christ,
strong in the Lord. Oh, he's a strong believer. Folks
brag on that. That ain't what I'm talking about.
That ain't what I'm talking about. No, no. I'll tell you about that
strong fella who thinks he's strong. That strong woman who
thinks she's strong. That strong person who walks
around struts and flex their muscles and make you look at
him like, boy, he's something else. They don't know God from
a gourd. To be made strong by God is to
be made weak before God. The weaker, the stronger. So
that you're compelled by the Spirit of God to look to Christ
alone for everything. Compelled to look to Him for
wisdom, for grace, for direction. To look to Him to order your
steps and guide your way. To look to Him to show you God's
will and teach you to pray. Look to Him for everything. You
have a marvelous example of it. Set before us just a few pages
back in 2 Corinthians chapter 12. The apostle prayed and prayed
and prayed. Three times he prayed. Three
times he prayed the very same prayer. Three times. Just like
our Lord, three times in Gethsemane, prayed the very same prayer.
He said, I've got this thorn in the flesh. Satan beats me
and beats me and beats me. He beats me down all the time
and I beg God to take it. And the Lord said, Paul, live
with it. My grace is sufficient for you.
And he said, I finally learned something. I learned to glory
in my infirmities. That doesn't mean to brag about
how weak I am, how sinful I am, how corrupt I am. That means
I learned to glory in the Lord in the midst of my infirmities. For when I'm weak, then I'm strong. And His strength is made perfect
in my weakness. That doesn't mean, Bobby, that
His strength is made perfect in you doing something. His strength
is perfected in you, in the experience of His grace, when you know you're
nothing. Strength or to be strengthened
by his spirit in the inner man Is to be made nothing before
him so that you trust Christ for everything God the Holy Spirit
makes us strong only by making us weak and thereby he graciously
teaches us to trust the fullness of Christ and find strength in
him listen to the scriptures and God is my strength and my
power, and he maketh my way perfect. Be not thou far from me, O Lord,
O my strength, haste thee to help me. The Lord is my strength
and my shield. My heart trusted in him, and
I am helped. Therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth,
and with my song will I praise him. Unto thee, oh, my strength
will I sing, for God is my defense and the God of my mercy. The
Lord is my strength and song and has become my salvation.
Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid,
for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song. He also has become
my salvation. Oh, how I pray that God might
constantly confirm you in and cause you to walk in the assurance
of the love of Christ. Look at verse 17, that Christ
may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye being rooted and grounded
in love, that Christ himself may inhabit your hearts manifestly. Christ dwells in our hearts by
faith. That is, as we depend on Him,
His presence in us is experienced by us. He dwells in the hearts
of His people and dwells in us permanently. What we need and
desire is to be confirmed in His love. Confirmed in his love
now without question we need to have our love to him confirmed
But that's not the way to settle things That's not the way to
settle soul trouble We need assurance in our hearts that we're the
objects of his love that perfect love that cast out all fear That's
the gift of his grace That's a matter of faith It's not a
matter of how I feel, what evidences I have. It's a matter of faith.
It's a matter of believing God. It's my prayer for you, my brother,
my sister, that God may enable you to comprehend the infinite
boundless nature of our Savior's love. Verse 18, that you may
be able to comprehend, to get your arms around, to comprehend
with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height. I try in everything I write and
everything I preach to convey the wonders of our Savior's love.
I want you to know the love of Christ that passes knowledge.
I want you to know all that mortals on this earth can know of the
Savior's love. That's enough to keep you moving.
That's enough to keep your hearts drawn to God. That's enough to
keep you thirsting after Him. That's enough to keep you panting
after Him. The love of Christ is as great as God Himself. It
is as high as heaven. What canst thou do? Deeper than
hell, what canst thou know? The measure thereof is longer
than the earth and broader than the sea. And yet we've been made
to comprehend that his love is without boundary. It is in its
breadth. It reaches to all nations, all
ages, and all conditions of men on this earth. In its length,
it is from everlasting to everlasting. Having loved his old which were
in the world, he loved them to the end. I have loved thee with
an everlasting love. Therefore, with lovingkindness
have I drawn thee, and the love of Christ knows no end. And in its depth, it reaches
to the lowest of humanity. Lifts us from the downhill and
sits us among princes. Oh, my soul, study the love of
Christ. Dwell much in this deep, deep
sea. It'll fill your heart with wonder
and amazement. It'll satisfy your soul and create
in you a thirst that can never be quenched in this world. It's
my prayer, look at verse 19. That as you are made by the grace
of God to know the love of Christ, that you'll be filled with all
the fullness of God, that you may know the love of Christ,
which passeth knowledge, that you might be filled with all
the fullness of God. All the fullness of God. Can there be fullness to the
infinite God? Can there be fullness to God
who is spirit? All the fullness of the Godhead
bodily dwells in that man, Christ Jesus. Oh, I want you to know
the love of God that's in Christ. That you may be filled with all
that God is, and all that God possesses, and all that God gives,
through Jesus Christ the Lord. That fullness is yours by faith
in Christ the Lord. Oh, God give us then faith in
His Son. Now, look briefly at verses 20
and 21. Let me show you the praise that comes from this prayer for
you. When I think about things we've been Looking at tonight
when I think about these rich boons of grace That I seek for
your soul. My heart is filled with praise
to God our Savior Oh Spirit of God, let us go to our homes this
hour with hearts Overflowing with praise and lips Speaking
forth the praises of our God now unto him Our God, the triune Jehovah,
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, that is able to do exceeding
abundantly above all that we ask or think. Now, Larry Brown, the things
I've been talking to you about tonight, all the time I've worked
on his message, I thought this is This is too much. This is too much to even think
about God doing for sinners on this earth. And then you get
to this text. He who is our God is able to
do for you and for me. exceeding abundantly above all
that has ever entered into our minds, our hearts, all that we
could think or imagine or ask of Him. According to the power
that worketh in us, the power of His Spirit, the power of His
grace, the power of immortal life, And to Him be glory in
the church, in this house of worship by Christ Jesus. All the glory of God is in Christ. All the glory of God is revealed
by Christ. All the glory God receives is
through Christ. That to Him be glory in the church
by Christ Jesus. throughout all ages, world without
end. Amen. Amen. That's my prayer for you. God grant it for Christ's sake.
Amen.