If you want to take your Bibles
and turn with me to Ephesians chapter 3. Thank you, Brother
Don. Thank you for the church here,
Grace Baptist Church of Denver. It's a joy to be called your
brother, to be called your friend. Ephesians chapter 3, and I want
to begin reading in verse 16. This is a prayer that the Apostle
had prayed for this church. He had bowed his knees unto the
Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he makes these requests in
verse 16, 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
you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend
with all saints what is the breadth, the length, the depth, and the
height, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge,
that you might be filled with all the fullness of God. If I learn anything from dear
old Scott Richardson, It was to try my best to leave somebody
with one or two thoughts that they might remember. And that's
what I want to do tonight. I don't intend to try to cover
all of these verses, but I want to try to instill in our mind
this afternoon rooted and grounded in love. Rooted and grounded
in love. John often used this word love
in his epistles, probably more than anybody. But the Apostle
Paul has saturated this epistle with love. Let me read the places
that he has mentioned this to you. In chapter 1, verse 4, you
remember this, According as he hath chosen us in him before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before Him in love. That's the way He begins this
epistle. And then in verse 15 of that
chapter, He says, I've not ceased to give thanks for you since
we heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and love to
all the saints. And then in chapter 2 and verse
4, when He had been reminding them of their spiritual deadness,
And he makes this statement in verse 4. But God, who is rich
in mercy for His great love, wherewith He loved us, even when
we were dead in sin. Then in chapter 4 in verse 2,
teaching them and reminding them how they are to walk and honor
God, He said, With all lowliness and meekness and longsuffering
forbearing one another in love. Then in the 15th verse of that
chapter, He reminds them of how they are to speak. Speaking the
truth in love. And then in the 5th chapter in
verses 1 and 2, He addresses them and encourages them to be
followers of God as your children and walk in love. And then of course those verses
that all of us probably have memorized in chapter 5 verse
25 and 28, Husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved
the church and gave Himself for it. So are men to love their
wives as their own body. He that loves his wife loves
himself. Then in chapter 6 and verse 28,
Peace be to the brethren and faith with love. And then he
closes it this way, the very last verse in chapter 6. Grace
be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. So He begins this epistle with
love. The love of God in Christ to
His people. And then He ends this epistle
with the fruits of that love manifested in their hearts. They
love Him back. They love Him in sincerity and
in truth. We love Him because He first
loved us. And here in my text in verse
16, He weaves love all through these requests. I'll look at
that in a minute, but look back here in my text. He prays in
verse 16 that God would grant them to be strengthened with
might by His Spirit. Now look how He links these requests
together. I pray that the Father in heaven
would grant you to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in your
inner man. My what a request that is. Can
you imagine the mighty power of this sovereign God working
in you? Why? Why does He pray for this
request? Verse 17, that Christ may dwell
in your hearts by faith. If Christ is going to dwell in
us by faith, then you and I are going to have to have the power
of God working in us. Christ, when He comes to dwell
in us, never leaves us. Of course He dwells in us. But
that's not what the Apostle is speaking about. He wants Christ
to dwell in us. and for us to experience His
dwelling in us. When somebody comes to visit
you, you'll talk for a while, they'll go, and then it may be
a while before you see them again. But Paul wants Christ to be known. He wants us to have Him to come
and dwell in us every day. The last one that he said you're
to speak to is Christ. The first one you're to see in
the morning is Christ. You dine with Him. You take your
evening walks with Him. He dwells with you. He lives
with you in your heart. That's what He's speaking about.
Experimentally, Christ dwelling in you. And then He says here, and it
leads to this, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.
That you, see how he keeps saying that? That you, for this reason,
that you being rooted and grounded in love. And of course this would
go right ahead and links to verse 18 and verse 19. That you may be able to comprehend
with all saints what is the breadth, the length, the depth, and the
height, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge. And now he reaches the climax.
All of these requests continue to build one upon another. And
then he says in the latter part of verse 19, that you might be
filled with all the fullness of God. What a tremendous statement. Someone read, you read, God is
good. Is God good? Then be filled with
all goodness. Is God a God of knowledge, and
by Him actions are way? Then be filled with all knowledge. Is God a God of comfort? Then
be filled with all comfort. Is God a God of joy? Then be
filled with all joy. Is God a Spirit? Then be not
drunk with wine, but be ye filled with the Spirit. What is God? Who is God? He's a God of peace. He's a God of love. He's the
God of all grace. He's the God of comfort. Then
be filled with the fullness of God. What a statement. God communicates faith to us.
He gives us faith. So Stephen is said to be a man
full of faith. Does God give us hope? Does He
communicate hope to us? then be filled with a full assurance
of hope to the end. Does God create us into good
works? Then it is said of Dorcas, she
was a woman full of good works. And listen to this passage in
Philippians chapter 1 verse 11. Being filled with all the fruits
of righteousness which is by Jesus Christ. Being filled with
all the fruits of righteousness. They come by Christ. And they
come from Christ. And they come from Him dwelling
in our hearts. Being filled with all the fullness
of God. And who is the fullness of God?
Is Jesus Christ not the fullness of God? The Scripture teaches
that, doesn't it? Therefore, not only that Christ
dwell in our hearts by faith, but that Christ fill our hearts
with Himself. Fills our hearts till no room
is left for anybody but Himself. What is it to be filled with
all the fullness of God? It's to be filled with Christ,
who is the very fullness of God. It seems to me that the Apostle's
request, at least for the most part, is for us here to be rooted
and grounded in love. He begins with love, it's all
through the middle, and he ends with love. Not just rooted and
grounded, but rooted and grounded in love. Grounded and rooted
in love. Paul was concerned. He speaks
about this. Look here in the fourth chapter.
He was very concerned about them being stable. Look what he says in verse 13.
God's given the church these gifts of apostles and pastors
and teachers and so on. And he says in verse 13, Till
we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of
the Son of God unto a perfect man, to the measure of the statue
of the fullness of Christ for this reason, that we henceforth
be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with
every wind of doctrine by the sly of men and cunning craftiness
whereby they lie and wait to deceive. What will keep us from
being carried about with every wind of doctrine? What will keep
us from being deceived by the sly and cunning craftiness of
men? To be rooted and grounded in
love. Brothers and sisters, you take
away love. You take away the very soil in which the believer
is planted. Rooted in love. You take away the love, you take
away the very ground upon which He built His Christian life.
Grounded in love. Take away love, you take away
everything. You take away love, you take
away God. God is love. You take away love,
you take away the covenant of grace. All the love that drew
salvation's plan. You take away love, you take
away the book of life. who is in the book of life, but
His loved ones. Without love, there's no Savior.
Without love, there's no cross. Without love, there's no redemption.
Without love, there's no forgiveness. Love is at the bottom of all
of this. He loved us and washed us from
our sins in His own blood. Greater love hath no man than
this, that a man lay down his life for his friend. That little
infant that was polluted in his own blood, and the Lord passed
by it, and He said, I looked upon you, I saw you polluted
in your blood, and it was the time of love. And I spread my
skirt over you, and I thoroughly washed you from your blood. Take away love. You have no forgiveness. You have no cleansing. You don't
even have a Savior. You take away love, You don't
have a new birth. Whosoever is born of God, he
loves. God is love. And everyone that
loveth is born of God. And here is where you and I begin
to love. The very instant that we're born
of God. The man that's without this new
birth, he has no love. All he has is flesh. The instant
He's born again, He loves. Because He's born of God and
God is love. You cannot love until you're
born of God. But you cannot help but love
if you're born of Him. His nature is in you. And since
God is love, when He rebirths you, you love. You love Him. You love His Son. You love His
Gospel. You love His people. You love. Everyone that loveth is born. of God. Love is the very soil
from which everything we do springs that's pleasing and accepted
to God. If it doesn't spring from love,
it's not accepted. Simon, son of Jonah, lovest thou
me? There's the ground. Is that not
it? That's the ground. That's the
soil. That's where our hearts are rooted in love. Simon, do
you love me? Do you love me? That's a good
question, isn't it? That's a good question that ought
to be asked and contemplated to examine all our motives and
weigh our thoughts and our actions and our words first and foremost. Why do I do what I do? Why do
I say what I say? Bruce, do you love me? Do you
love me? Why is that so important? Well,
listen to the Apostle Paul. He said, if I speak with the
tongues of men and angels and I don't have love, I am become
a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. I may have the gift of
prophecy and understand all mysteries and have all knowledge and have
faith to remove mountains if I don't have this love. If I'm
not born of this love, it profits me nothing. And I may give all
my goods to feed the poor, and I may make the ultimate sacrifice,
give my body to be burned, but if I don't have love, it profits
me nothing. Love. Rooted and grounded in
love. Oh Bruce, I've preached the gospel
for years. Do you love Christ? I attend services regularly.
I'm very faithful. But do you love Christ? I believe
in the system that you guys call Calvinism. Do you believe in
Christ? I've been a faithful professor.
Nobody's ever doubted my profession. But do you love Christ? This
is at the very beginning. Here's where we begin. In this
new birth. We're born of God. We're born
of love. That's where it begins. Do you
love Me? Peter, do you love Me? Lord,
you know I love you. Then, then, feed My sheep. Do you love Me? Then, keep My
commandments. He that loveth Me, He keeps My
Word. Doesn't it come back to this,
brothers and sisters? Rooted and grounded in love. Paul begins with it. It's all
through the middle. And it's at the end. And it's
the same way in the Christian's life. You begin. You begin in the new birth to
love. It's all through your life you
love. And when you lay your pillar,
your head on your pillar, to give up the ghost, you'll love
His appearance. Love. Love. Think about these
two little words with me just for a few minutes and I won't
keep you long. Rooted. Rooted in love. Rooted in love. We had, when
I lived in Tennessee, I was raised on the Cumberland Plateau just
north of Crossville. And we had two huge oak trees
in our yard. And I was probably six or seven
years old when I first remembered those two big trees. And to this
very day, they haven't changed. My dad said he moved there as
a younger man, and he said those trees were just like that when
he moved there. We've had tornadoes to come on
that mountain and blow houses down, blow other trees down,
but it's never affected those two huge oak trees. They still
stand. Winter times, cold times, summer
times, heat. I remember one year we had a
drought. And what little corn we had, there was nothing in
the woods for the squirrel to eat. And they came out in the
fields and ate what corn we had. It was a terrible drought. Never
affected those two big old trees. They're still standing there.
And you know why? They've got this huge root system. They've got this huge tap root
that goes down deep into the ground. And they've got these
roots that goes out past the drip line of those trees. And
they suck up the moisture. They're nourished. And they're
established in that soil. They're grounded. They're grounded. And they're there today. Still
the same. You know our Bible? It tells
us about the blessedness of a man whom the Lord plants. It tells
us about the blessedness of the man who delights in the law of
God, in the gospel of God, in the Word of God. And the Scripture
says in that law does he meditate day and night, and listen to
this, David said he's like a tree planted by the rivers of water. And He brings forth His fruit
in His season, and His leaf shall not wither, and everything He
does shall prosper in His season." Why is that? Because He is grounded. He is planted in soil to be nourished. To be cherished. He sucks up
the salt and the strength and He brings forth fruit in His
season. Rooted. Rooted. Boy, He has His
wintertimes. That's the way a believer is.
But you've got your wintertimes, don't you? Huh? When there's no leaf left on
your tree? I mean, you're barren. You've been there? It's cold. Your bark is torn off around
the truck. You face the storms and sometimes
they've bent your limbs until they've been broken. You've been
there? Somebody comes along and nails
their spikes in your truck and hangs their heavy weights on
it. Or you have some miserable birds Landing in your limbs and
crapping on your leaves. Been there? And you look at that
tree and you think, man, it will never be revived. But just wait. You just wait. Spring is coming. You watch that tree and the sap
begins to come up. And the sun comes out and warms
the earth. The limbs begin to blossom. They bud. And then the fruit
begins to show itself. And then they begin to weigh
down with fruit. And that fall, what do you find?
You find a tree loaded with fruit. Why? Because it's rooted. It's rooted in love. Our Lord tells us about some
seeds that were planted. I've often thought about this.
This has been a source that's pricked my heart for years because
I've wondered if I'm what kind of professor I am. You ever wonder
that? How often the devil comes and
he snatches the Word out of our hearts. How often is the seed
sown and it's sown on a rock and it don't bring forth any
fruit. The Master told us about a man who went forth to sow.
And he said as he sowed, some of his seed fell on stony ground. Had not much earth. Luke tells
us it was a rock. Had nowhere. And it immediately
sprang up. But then it died. Because He
said it had no root in itself and it had no soil to get down
into. So when the sun was up, it scorched
the seed and it dried up. And the Lord interpreted that
for us. He said when a man hears the Gospel, he immediately receives
it with joy. Why does he receive it with joy?
He must have heard something and understood something that
gave him some joy. But the Lord said, when tribulations
and persecutions come because of the Word, because of the truth,
what happens to him? He's offended. He's plucked up. He's offended. And why is he
offended? Because he has no soil. He has
no love. Brothers and sisters, to receive
a knowledge of the truth without the love of the truth is a very
dangerous thing. Did you know that? Paul was telling
us about those men that would receive a strong delusion from
the Lord. And he said this was their whole
problem. This was their whole problem.
He said they received not the love of the truth that they might
be saved. We can't be saved without the
truth, can we? We can't be saved without the
knowledge of the truth. This is the way the Lord saves
us, by sending to our hearts the knowledge of the truth. But
Paul tells us there is such a thing as receiving the truth without
the love of it. And then in times of affliction,
then when trouble comes, when trials come, and you're confronted
with what you believe, And you're persecuted. You say, well, this
ain't worth this. And what happens? You're offended.
You leave. You go away. You cast the truth
under your feet. And here's the problem. You didn't
love the truth. Rooted in truth. That seed that was sown on good
ground. They heard the Word. Got in their hearts. Their hearts
were broken up. That seed went down in the good
soil. It was love. And it brought forth
fruit. Son 30, Son 60, and Son 100. J.C. Philpott said this about
the love of the truth. He said, there are those who
receive the knowledge of the truth. and they readily profess
it for time before the church and the world. Yet who after
time for one reason or another not only cast the truth to the
ground but openly trample it under their feet. And the whole
cause of them doing so is this, they never received the love
of the truth which they professed. But love not only receives the
truth, but once received, it secures the heart from leaving
the truth. That's why love is so important.
That's why the Apostle Paul said, Be rooted, but not just rooted,
but rooted in love. Rooted in the truth. Because
when you're rooted in love, that will secure you from leaving
the truth. Rooted. And grounded. Grounded in love. This word grounded means to lay
a base or to erect something upon. It's a foundation. Paul
talked about different foundations. Christ is the foundation. His
person. His glorious person, His work,
the writings of the apostles and prophets are a foundation.
Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone. And here He said this love, that's
the foundation, grounded in love. I don't know if you've ever seen
photographs of that skyscraper over in Dubai. If you get a chance
to get on the computer and look at, if you want to see a beautiful,
tall building, Look what a skyscraper they built there in Dubai. That's
a humongous building. I jotted down three or four things
about it. It's almost a half a mile high. That's tall, ain't
it? There's enough rebar, they say,
in that building, if it was laid end-to-end, it reaches over a
quarter distance around the world. Over 160 floors. Amazing skyscraper. The concern
they had, the chief concern they had when all the architects got
together and tried to lay up their plan, what kind of a foundation
is it going to take to hold this building up? They dug down 164
feet and they poured 59,000 cubic yards of concrete into it. That's how important it is to
be grounded. You can't build skyscrapers every
place. There's some place you can't even build a one-story
house. The ground's not made for it. I was often thinking of Don's
study back here behind us. You've read all those books. I'm ashamed of my little study
when I see Don's study. I was over at Brother Mahan's
when he was there at 13th Street and they showed me his tapes. I was astounded. The walls, around
the walls from the floor to the ceiling was full of messages
and videos. Charles Spurgeon, 63 volumes
I know of. I'm amazed at what you've done,
Don. All the messages, the volumes. I've got shelves full of Lloyd-Jones'
messages and his books. Can you imagine the weight if
all of this work of all of these men was all piled together? Can you imagine the weight of
that? The weight of that material,
the gospel that they've preached and the books that they've written.
They're building skyscrapers. Most of us are trying to finish
a one-story building, aren't we? But you know, here's the
thing. Here's the thing. What are you
building on? What are you grounding your work
upon? Is it love? Is it done? Have you dug down deep into the
rock of love? Everything that's built on this
ground of love, that's grounded in love, it'll stand. It'll stand when the world's
on fire, when everything's burning around it, when the floods come
and wash everything else away. If it's grounded in love, love
will hold its weight. Our Master told us another parable.
Remember this one? He told us about the dead judgment
and men standing before Him and saying, have we not prophesied
in your name? We've cast out devils. We've done all this wonderful
work. And they did all of that, but
it was all rejected. It sunk right before their faces. And He goes on to tell us why.
In Matthew chapter 7, He said you had two men. You had two
men. One of them dug down deep. He dug deep and he kept on digging
until he got down to the solid rock. And then he began to build
upon that solid rock. What was the advantage of that?
Well, the floods were coming. The wind was going to blow. The
rains was descending. And all of this happened. But you know something? That
house stood. And you know why that house stood?
It was grounded in love. Don't the Scriptures tell us
that love beareth all things? It beareth. Love never fails. Love is a foundation that won't
crack. It won't shift. It won't sink. Grounded in love. I had a neighbor. She was a Wesleyan
Methodist. I just lost her a week ago. Her and I were friends for probably
32 years. When I first met her, she didn't
know anything hardly. She'd just known what she'd been
taught. That's all she knew, what she'd
been taught. And she was so wrong. And we would meet and we'd talk
about Scripture. And I started telling her about
the grace of God. I asked her that question one
day, one of the first things I asked her. that Spurgeon asked
an old lady, has the Lord saved you? He saved you by accident
and on purpose. When did He purpose to do it?
I asked her. That just confused her to death. And that's just
what I wanted to do. And I began to talk to her about
being a poor sinner. A poor sinner. She didn't like
that at first. She's a Wesleyan Methodist. And
she first tried to argue that she believed All the old root
of sin had been blown out of her. She didn't have anything
to do with that anymore. And I began to read the Scripture
to her. She talked to me about the Scripture. And she started saying, you know,
I never heard this before. I never heard this before. Me and her put out a garden together
probably for 30 years. A few years ago, I was hoeing
my side and I knew something was wrong with her. I'd seen
her countless falls. And she came over and she said, can I
ask you a question? I said, yeah. She said, do you
ever just have to plead His blood? When I got over the shock of
it, I said, Fran, every day. Every day. Then I started asking her, Fran,
are you a poor sinner? And she started saying, yeah.
And I'd say, you know, a poor sinner has a rich Savior. And you know, she couldn't articulate.
Even when she died, she couldn't articulate. She couldn't stand
up here and articulate Calvinism. But you know what? I think she
was grounded in love. Just before she died, they knew
she was dying. I'd go every day I could to see
her. And I sat down there by her and she was looking up at
me. And I said, Fran, are you a poor sinner? And she said,
yes, I am. I said, a poor sinner has a rich
Savior. Oh, brethren, truth is critical. It's essential. But it must be
grounded in love. You may be able to articulate,
thank God for you. Thank God for those men who read
and they can bring these deep things out for us. But everybody
can't do that. You listen to them talk, and
oh, they just stutter and stammer. But if you listen at them long
enough, you begin to think, oh yes, yes, there's Christ, that's
Christ. and they're grounded in love. And you start talking with them
and here's what they'll say. If they can't say anything else,
they'll say this, I'm a poor sinner and nothing at all, but
Jesus Christ is my all in all. And you watch them. You may go
off and be doubtful for a while, but you watch them when the storms
come. You watch them when they're going
through afflictions and trials and tribulations. They're not
moved. They're not moved. All they know
is I'm a poor sinner, but you won't move them from that. All
they know is Christ is my all in all, but you'll not move them
from that. It's more than just knowledge.
It is knowledge. It's truth. But it's grounded
in love. And that's the thing, brothers
and sisters. Thank you, Pastor.