I'd like for you to take your
Bibles and turn with me to Ephesians chapter 3. Just hold your place there and
let me make a few remarks. The Bible is an amazing book. It's unlike any other book in
the world. It's an amazing book. Amazing. It's unrivaled in its prophecies. From time to time, there will
appear on the History Channel things about Nostradamus and
all of these old men who claim to be prophets, who made very unclear predictions at best. But not one single prophecy to
date, not one. in all those thousands of years
was not fulfilled exactly as this book prophesied it to be
and exactly right to the day when it said it would be. Right
down to the words that Christ would say on the cross. And the
activities of Providence, the earthquakes, the blotting out
of the sun, all of those things that were predicted happened
to the hour exactly as they were prophesied. And these were not
vague and general predictions like Nostradamus and some of
them, but they were precise and detailed prophecies. Global catastrophes
predicted. Famines and floods and wars and
rising and falling of nations and world leaders, the coming
of Christ, the death of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, His
virgin birth, the places He lived, what the kings would do and all
of the outcome of that, His ministry, the pouring out of His Spirit
on the day of Pentecost, Peter said, this is what old Joel was
talking about. This is what that prophecy had
to do with, this pouring out of his spirit upon the church. The calling of the Gentiles,
the ministry of the gospel, all of these things prophesied thousands
of years before they ever came about. And the Bible has proved
itself just by these things alone a thousand times over, all of
its writers being confirmed of God by miracles and wonders and
signs. Undeniable thing. There's no
room to doubt that this is the Word of God. None whatsoever. This book alone gives us the
account. We're talking about this amazing
book. There's nothing like it. It's the only thing there is
on the top side of God's green earth that records the fall of
man. Is he in a bad shape? Is he in
a bad condition? You don't know. You weren't born
with any knowledge of those things. All you know is what you've been
told. But this book records it. And you can't find one reason
to doubt this book. Not one. Through faith, he said,
we understand. And listen to this. He gives
us the account of creation. Where are you going to find that
at? Not in that bunch of scientists scratching their head and talking
about some one-celled animal crawling up out of a sea. Where'd
the sea come from? Who made it? Well, it come here from another
planet. Who made them? This book alone gives us the
account of creation. Through faith, we understand
that the worlds were framed by the Word of God so that the things
which are seen were not made of things which do appear. And
this book alone records the fall of man and God's consequent judgment
upon him. And this book alone records the
promise of God of a coming Redeemer, of his appearance on this earth
as a man, of his life from birth to death, of his ministry and
miracles, of his death, burial, and resurrection, and of his
ascension into glory. And the apostles said this in
the book of Hebrews. Hebrews 2, verses 3 and 4. He
said, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation
which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed
unto us by them that heard Him, God also bearing witness both
with signs and wonders and diverse miracles and gifts of the Holy
Ghost according to His own? How are you going to escape?
How are you going to escape? Have you got some plan? Have you sat around and conjured
up some plan by which you're going to escape this thing? You
don't even know what this thing is apart from this book. You
don't know what you are by nature apart from God's witness in this
book. We don't know anything. We fumble
around and stand around and talk to men and women like we know
everything. We don't know nothing. We know what God told us. That's
all we know. How shall we escape if we neglect
so great salvation? My friend, saving faith begins
with a complete submission to the Word of God. You're going
to take God at His Word, or He's got nothing for you. You're going to do that. You're
going to do that. He'll shut you up to His Word,
or He'll give you over to a reprobate mind. And the preeminent, here's what
I'm saying, this is the Word of God. This book alone holds
the information that we need. I can't go on what men say. You
can't go on what I say. Go on what this book says. If
what I say is not according to this book, then don't have it.
Don't have it. And the preeminent theme of this
book, is the salvation of sinners by Jesus Christ to the glory
of God's sovereign grace. That's the thing. That's what
it tells you from one end to the other. After His resurrection,
the Lord spoke to His confused disciples. They knew some scripture. They knew quite a bit of scripture.
The Jews were schooled from their youth up in it. And he said,
these are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with
you that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law
of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning
me. That's what this book is about.
That's what these prophecies are all about. It's not about
seven-eyed monsters and spokes in a wheel and all these things
that men are talking about and Armageddon and the coming of
Antichrist and all of these things that men are looking for today.
That's not what this book is about. This book is about salvation
through the person of Jesus Christ to the glory of God's sovereign
grace. And then thirdly, the way God
saves sinners is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what
this book tells us. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. That's what the Word of God says. By grace, He said, are you saved
through faith, and that not of yourselves? It is the gift of
God. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not shall not
see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. And then the
means of faith, this is the fourth thing, the means of faith is
the preaching of the Gospel. It's just simply taking the Word
of God and showing to men and women how God saves sinners,
and why He saves them, and to what end their salvation is.
That's what we tell folks. And all of these things, here's
the fifth thing, all of these things come under the heading
of God's eternal purpose of grace. God has saved us, Paul said. He hath saved us and called us
with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began." All of these things that happen in
time, they happen as a result of God's eternal purpose of grace
in Christ. And here in Ephesians chapter
3 and verse 8, Paul said, unto me, who am less
than 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 hath been hid in God, who
created all things by Jesus Christ. To the intent. This is the intent
of creation. This is the intent of this eternal
purpose of grace. Here is the intent. To the intent
that now under principalities and powers and heavenly places
might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God. I want to know that, don't you?
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 faith or the faithfulness of
Him." Now, in these five verses lay the outline of everything
God has done, is doing, and yet shall do in this world. It's
what I told you here this morning. And everything in creation and
providence are working together to this end. Get hold of this
and you can find rest for a weary soul. This is what's going on. Get hold of it. Grasp it. Hold it tight. You'll find rest
for a weary soul. You'll find comfort in trials
and persecution. You'll find confidence in times
of doubt. And you'll find hope for everything
in the future that lies ahead. And then in verses 14 through
21, Paul makes this prayer to the God of eternal purpose and
glory. And he said, strengthen these
wands. Strengthen these wands which
you call by my ministry. And make effect shall these words.
and this ministry to them. That's what he prayed. Do this
in them. Do it in them. Now let's read
these verses together and see if we can benefit ourselves in
this wonderful prayer. Beginning with verse 14, Ephesians
chapter 3. 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, not out of those riches, but according
to those riches, 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 You may be able to comprehend
with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth
and height. And to know the love of Christ
which passeth knowledge, that you might be filled with all
the fullness of God." Now, this prayer is directed to God to
strengthen these believers by Spirit in the inner man. That's
the only way you're going to be strengthened, for God's Spirit
abide in you and to take those things of Christ and show them
unto you. And what I want us to do this
morning is to go through this gracious prayer and see what
our inner man needs and what the Sovereign Spirit uses to
make him strong. He said here to be strengthened.
There is a way that this inner man can be made strong. You don't
have to satisfy or be satisfied with weak faith. You don't have
to be satisfied with doubt and fears and constant annoyance. You don't have to be satisfied.
There is a way to be strengthened and settled and established in
the Lord. So let me give you several things
here. The first thing I see is that this work, this work of
strengthening, is a work performed by God Himself. Isn't that how
He prayed? He didn't pray to them to be
strengthened. He prayed to God to strengthen them. Strengthen
them in the inner man by His Spirit. The natural man, now
I want you to hear me. The natural man is full of what
he can do. You talk to him, he'll tell you
what he can do. You don't have to talk to him very long. I can
do this, I can do that. The believer is filled with things
that he can't do. He's just the opposite. He's
about what he can't do. I can't do that. I can't do that. The believer knows his own weaknesses. He's a sinner. He's carnal. He's
ignorant. He's a man of two natures. And
at times they're hard to distinguish one from the other. Sometimes
he can't tell what the old nature is and what the new nature is.
It's confusing to him. Paul wrote to the Philippians
and he said, here's my confidence. Here's my confidence in you.
He said, I'm confident of this very thing. He which hath begun
a good work in you. will perform it unto the day
of Jesus Christ. That's my confidence. It takes
God to do this work. And that's the first thing we
see. Salvation is a work of God. And it's a work of God not only
done for us, but it's also a work done in us. All for whom the
work was done shall be partakers of the work done within. All
those for whom Christ died are going to be called. All those
He loved from eternity are all going to be justified. They are
all predestinated. They are all going to be justified.
They are all going to be called. They are all going to be glorified.
All for whom the work was done shall be partakers of the work
done within. And all those in whom the Lord
begins a work within, they are going to discover that the Lord
finishes what He starts. He does not start and then quit.
He does not quit. You'll quit a hundred times,
but he don't quit. He don't quit. He's going to have you. He's
going to have you. But how does one know if the
work in him is of God or of his own effort? Is that a pretty
good question? I'm going to give you the answer.
Because the work of God is always effectual. He don't fail. It's always effectual. It yields peace to a troubled
conscience. Nothing else can. You can make
professions of faith from now to doomsday. It will never appease
that guilty conscience. There's only one thing that will
appease that guilty conscience. It's for the Spirit of God to
apply the blood of Christ and give you peace. It yields comfort
to an aching soul. It gives hope to hopeless sinners.
It gives rest to the weary pilgrim. You say, I have faith. Does your
faith do those things? Maybe you don't have faith. Maybe
you don't have faith. I'm saying the way you know the
work of God in you is because the work of God is always effectual. Paul gave the Thessalonians six
reasons for his confidence in their election of God. You read
about it in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. He comes down through there
and he said, I know your election of God. And then he gives them
six reasons why he knows that. First of all, he said the gospel
came to you in power. It didn't just come in word only.
Anybody can learn a bunch of words. You can train anybody
to be a Calvinist. Just buy him a book and give
it to him. He can learn them. There's five points. You can
learn them. It's easy to learn that. But
that ain't salvation. Salvation is in Christ. And salvation
is a work of God done in you with the Holy Spirit. And the
gospel, he said, I know your election of God because our gospel
came not in word only, but it came in power and much assurance. That is, it's not to say that
they didn't have any doubts about their salvation. That's not what
he's talking about here. But he's talking about that this
was the gospel. That this was the work of God.
And it came to them in the face of adversity. There was a bunch
of people saying, this is tummy rock. This ain't right. That
guy ain't of God. He ain't no Jew. The Jews have
true religion, not this man. They received this in the face
of adversity, and in the face of contradiction, and in the
face of resistance, and even persecution. They were sure of
what they believed and of whom, in whom they believed. They were
sure of it. That's how the gospel comes in
power. He convinces his own. He said, my sheep hear my voice.
I'll tell you why you're undecided. I'll tell you why you're over
here wringing your hands saying, tell us plainly if thou be the
Christ. He said, I'll tell you exactly why. She said, my sheep
hear my voice. And I'll tell you why you don't
believe. You're not of my sheep. His work in you is always effectual. Always effectual. And it's effectual
in the face of adversity. And then I'll tell you this,
here's the second thing he said, your faith brought with it a
godly submission. Boy, I'll tell you this, here's
the proof of faith to me is when a man submits. When he throws
his hands up. Just throws his hands up. Say,
I quit. I quit. I'm his. Do with me what you will. When
he submits, when he finds in himself nothing to hope for,
When he finds in his religion nothing to hope for, when he
finds in this world nothing to hope for, and he gives himself,
he lays himself at the feet of Christ, and he said, I'm yours.
I don't know anything. I don't have anything. Save me
lest I perish. And he submits. True believers
submit themselves to God, His Word, His means, and His man. And I'll be honest with you,
the last, to me, is the greatest proof of the ministry. And I
think that's why God purposed to call men through the preaching
of the gospel. He's going to manifest this submission,
this godly submission, by causing you to have to bow to a man and
submit yourself to a man. And then thirdly, he said they
become models of saving faith. They were examples right down
there. They were living examples of
the faith of God's elite. Now, I've had the privilege,
some of you haven't, but I've had the privilege of traveling
all over this country and into some foreign countries. And I
was way down in Yucatan Peninsula, way out where they don't have
any electric, they don't have anything, they're still living
in thatched huts, and was out there preaching to those Mayan
Indians out there. And I'll tell you, those that
believed were examples. They were exactly like you all.
Just exactly. And everywhere I've ever been,
it's that way. Everywhere I've ever been. That's why Paul said,
I know your election of God. Because you're a living example
of the grace of God manifested in the hearts of men. And then
fourthly, he said, your lives become centered around the gospel
ministry. From you, he said, sounded out
the gospel into all the world. You didn't just go home and say,
well, whatever will be, will be. Oh, no. Oh, no. No, God sent
you the gospel. He sent it to you through a preacher.
He sent it to you through a group of people. He sent it to you
by establishing a church on this earth and establishing under
them a pastor, and he preached, and they promoted that gospel,
and somehow that gospel got to you. And when you find that out,
you're ready for it to go to somebody else, ain't you? I don't
know anybody the Lord saved that just went home and sat down. Do you? He called one of his
disciples, first thing he did, went and got his brother. He said, I found the Lord. And then fifthly, it says they
turned to God from their idols. They quit their religion. They
came out of it. They pulled the plug. They saw
it for what it was, idolatry. And then sixthly, they found
the reason for their being here. And it says, they patiently waited
for the Lord. They waited for Him. They found
out why God's keeping them on this earth. We're fellow laborers
with Him in the kingdom of God. God's given us the highest privilege
on this earth to preach His gospel, call out His elect. This work is the work of God
and it's effectual. to the saving of the soul. And
then here's the second source of strength that Paul prays for,
is the indwelling of Christ by faith. The strength of faith
is its object, Christ. Listen to this, Ephesians 3,
verse 17, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. Christ
is everything to the believer. He's everything. Do you have
anything? He's everything. I have a family. I have grandchildren. I have
mothers, fathers, grandmothers, same as you do. But I'll tell
you, Christ is everything to me. He's everything. I have nothing
without Him. I have nothing without Him. He
that hath the Son, the Scripture said, hath life. He that hath
not the Son hath not life. You've got nothing. There's no
coming to the Father except by Christ. No man cometh unto the
Father but by Me. There's no knowing of God except
by Christ. No man knoweth the Father save
the Son, and He to whom the Son will reveal Him. There's no inward
working of the Spirit apart from Christ because He expressly tells
us here that the Spirit will only speak of Him and take of
His and show it unto us. He alone is our righteousness
before God. He alone has put away our sins.
by the sacrifice of Himself, He alone can save to the uttermost
those who come unto God by Him. I've got no claims on election
outside of Christ because all God's elect were chosen in Him. I have no right to adoption outside
of Christ because the Eternal God predestinated His elect unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself. I can have
no hope without Christ because it's Christ in you who is the
hope of glory. Christ is everything to the believer. And I'll never reach any maturity
of faith. I'll never reach any maturity
of faith because Christ does not dwell in my heart by faith.
That's what Paul's praying for here, to be strengthened in the
inner man. All right, here's the third thing.
Ephesians 3, verses 17 and 18, that you being rooted and grounded
in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the
breadth and length and depth and height. Now, you cannot comprehend
these things effectually and experientially without comprehending
them in the love of God for your worthless soul. That's what Paul's
saying here. Surely you're not so arrogant
as to assume there's something in you to merit the love of God. Boy, I know why God loved me.
Surely you're not that arrogant to say such a thing. Surely you
don't believe some decision you made or prayer you prayed or
how you walked warrants the love of God. Because it's the love
of God that caused His Son to die on the cross. It's quite the opposite. He said
God commended His love toward us in that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us. That's how we know the love of
God. We're dead in trespasses and sins, and we're by nature
the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich
in mercy and for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when
we were dead in sin, quickened us together with Christ. We comprehend it in the breadth
and length of our history. We comprehend it in the depth
of our depravity and in the heights to which He raised us and made
us sit in Him. Is there anything stronger than
love? Huh? Think about it. Is there
anything stronger than love? God is omnipotent. God is all-wise. God is all-knowing. God is everywhere
present. But He chooses none of these
things. In that golden chain of assurance
in Romans chapter 8, He chooses none of these things to show
us and to strengthen us in the inner man. But I'll tell you
what He does do in five consecutive verses. He tells us that we can't
be separated from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus
our Lord. There's assurance. That's assurance. It's the comprehension of this
love that makes us strong and motivates us to work and restrains
us from sin. This love, he tells us in Ephesians
3.19, passeth knowledge. I didn't look this word up, but
there are two things that came to me immediately as I looked
at this phrase. And one is the sense that this
word passeth means to convey. It means to convey. It conveys the knowledge of God. And then secondly, and I believe
this is the immediate meaning of the text, it surpasses or
goes beyond knowledge. Love surpasses knowledge. It
goes beyond knowledge. It surpasses knowledge in time. Love, if you trace this thing
back, I'm going to tell you something. Here's what you're going to find
at the beginning. Here's the wellspring, the love of God. It's the love of God. Love precedes all knowledge,
and indeed, the manifesting of this love is the reason for the
giving of knowledge. And then secondly, it supersedes
knowledge in its outcome or its effect. Knowledge can't restrain. Brethren, I've known some of
the wisest men. I'm telling you, they were just
wise men. You can pick a subject, they
can talk about it. They're wise men. But they weren't
restrained. Not by any means. They weren't
restrained. Knowledge cannot restrain. It
can't motivate. It can't endure. But love does.
Knowledge has no patience. It said, love suffereth long. Knowledge can't keep you from
envy. Love does. Love envieth not. Knowledge swells
men up and inflates their ego. Love vaunteth not itself, is
not fucked up. Knowledge does not necessarily
affect the behavior of a man. Love does not behave itself unseemly. And I'll tell you this, he tells
us in the Scripture, whether they be prophecies, they can
fail. Whether it be knowledge, it can
fail. But he said, love never faileth. Never. You talk about
strong. Strong. Love passeth knowledge,
and love supersedes knowledge in its manifestation. Love is
particular. It's particular in its object,
and it's relentless in the pursuit of it. He'll go, he'll leave
the nine in nine and go get the one. And when he finds it, he
picks it up in his arms. He don't, he don't take it, he
don't put his arm around and say, go down to that big tree
and turn left and give it directions back, he picks it up. If it knew
its way, it wouldn't be lost. He picks it up and he carries
it in his breast back to the fold. And it's particular in
its object and relentless in its pursuit. And then lastly,
Paul prays for us to be filled with all the fullness of God. Now he's not talking here about
you being filled with the fullness of the divine nature. That's
not what he's talking about here at all. Not talking here about
sinless perfection. But he's talking here about being
filled with a sense of the love and mercy and grace of God in
the whole of the work of the Triune Godhead. To be filled
with it. To survey our interest in his
purpose of grace and to take account of our interest in the
blood and righteousness of Christ and to manifest our interest
in His heavenly kingdom, to take note of our interest in His Spirit,
His gospel, and His people. Are you interested? Do you have
an interest in this thing? If you're a child of God, you're
an heir. If you're an heir, you have interest. I've got a personal interest
in this thing. I'm an heir. And I'm worried about the other
heirs, ain't you? We manifest our interest in these
things. Be strengthened with might by
His Spirit in the inner man. And then I'll close by reading
the last two verses. Ephesians chapter 3, verse 20. Now, having considered these
things, have them set before you unto Him that's able to do
exceeding abundantly above all that we ask. What a promise! Or think! We tend to put limitations on
God, don't we? But He said, this one we pray
to, He said, is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we
ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, that
is, by His sovereign Spirit. Unto Him be glory in the church
by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. And I think we can all say amen. Amen. May the Lord bless the
preaching of the Gospel to your heart.