Ephesians chapter 3 and verses
14 and verse 15. 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. I bow my knees unto the Father."
Up to this point, from chapter 1 down through verse 13 of that
chapter, the Apostle Paul has been digressing. Chapter 3 and
verse 1, he said, for this cause, I Paul, the prisoner of the Lord. And then he gets sidetracked
on another thought. He begins to digress. That's
what you and I have been studying now for several weeks, where
Paul was digressing. In verse 1, he was about to say
what finally he says in verse 14. I, Paul, for this cause,
bow my knees unto the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
to find out the cause for which he was bowing his knee before
the Father, we have to go back to chapter 2. And we need to
see this because this is the very reason that the Apostle
was bowing before the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look
back just quickly and remember what the Apostle Paul had been
talking about in chapter 2. In chapter 2 and verses 12 through
verse 13, it was concerning the salvation of these Gentiles. Look at it in verse 12 and verse
13. That at that time, you were without
Christ, you were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers
from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God
in the world, But now in Christ Jesus, you Gentiles, who were
sometimes afar off, are made nigh to God by the blood of Christ."
And he says, for this cause, I'm bowing my knee to the Father. And then he goes on in verses
14 through verse 18, and he says, because all the obstacles have been removed between you
believe in Gentiles and you believe in Jews. You have been reconciled
and there is peace between you both. Look how he says it in
verse 14. Christ is our peace who hath
made both one. Believe in Jew and believe in
Gentile. They are one. He hath broken
down that middle wall of division, petition that was between us,
that law, the ceremony. Having abolished in His flesh
the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for
to make in Himself of two one new man, so make in peace. And that He might reconcile both
unto God in one body by the cross. having slain the enmity thereby. And He came and preached peace
to you Gentiles, which were afar off, and to you Jews, which were
near. For through Him we both have
access by one Spirit unto the Father." And now you're in verse
19. He tells these Gentiles that
there are no more aliens. Now they have a country. Now
they have a city. Now they are members of this
heavenly kingdom, the kingdom of God. Now they are in the family
of God. Look here what he says, Now therefore
you are no more strangers, you are no more foreigners, but you
are fellow citizens with all the saints and of the household
of God. And here in verses, the remaining
verses, In verses 20, he first tells them that they have this
infallible foundation. They're built upon the same foundations
that the Jewish believers are built upon. That is the doctrine,
the truth that these apostles and these prophets preached.
You have the same foundation. And Jesus Christ Himself is the
cornerstone that binds this foundation together. How firm a foundation,
ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in His excellent
Word. See what He tells them in verse
20? And you are built upon the foundation of the apostles and
prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone.
And then he goes on in verses 21 through verse 22, and he tells
them that in Christ they are all one building. That God is
fitly framing them together as a wise carpenter frames his building. And it's not a building made
with hands. It's a building that God is framing.
God is building. And he says it's a holy temple.
And you are that temple. One temple. Jews and Gentiles. One church. And as this holy
temple, your habitation of God through the Spirit. And then
he goes on in verse 14 of the third chapter, and that's why
he makes this statement, For this cause I am bowing my knees
unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. bowing in prayer to God,
bowing in admiration, bowing in thanksgiving, bowing in gratitude
for what God has done for these Gentile believers. He is filled
with wonder and amazement and He begins to make His request
for them and thanksgiving for them. I am bowing my knee unto
the Father. What's the meaning of this verse?
I am bowing my knees. Is the Apostle Paul speaking
here literally? Or is he speaking symbolically
or figuratively? I don't really know. And I doubt
if anybody else knows for sure. As far as I know, the Scripture
never teaches us How we should position our bodies are the gestures
we should make in prayer. As you and I read the Bible,
we find some men kneeling in prayer on their knees. Sometimes
they spread out their hands towards heaven and pray. And sometimes
we find men standing in prayer. But the Scripture never gives
us a specific way to pray in the position of our bodies are
the gestures of our members. I think, as I read the Scripture,
one of the most inspiring, awe-inspiring, and some of the most touching
scenes is where great men have got on their knees before God
in prayer. You remember the great King Solomon. He had built that magnificent
temple one of the greatest kings that Israel ever had. And they
had finished it, and he had made a scaffold out in the court of
that temple. The congregation of Israel was
all around him. And he made a scaffold four foot
high or so. And he was standing before that
magnificent temple, speaking with the Lord's people. And the
Scripture says Solomon got down on his knees. Can you imagine
that? This great King, he bows on his
knee, he spreads out his hand, and he makes this statement,
O Lord God of Israel, thou art God in heaven and in earth, and
there is no God like thee. And there he stands upon his
knees making his request to the Lord for these people with thanksgiving. What a sight that must have been.
A king on his knees before the Lord. And you come to the New
Testament. One of the most touching scenes,
I think, in all the New Testament is where the Apostle Paul and
his group was coming back to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast. And they stopped at Tyre. You
remember Tyre? We looked at that last week,
didn't we? The Gospel was not taken to Tyre. The Lord Jesus never went there.
But He sent the Gospel there after His resurrection. And the
Apostle Paul and his group, his missionaries, was coming back
to Jerusalem. And they stopped there to visit
the disciples at Tyre. And when they were ready to leave,
all the men And all their wives and all their little children
came out on the seacoast to say goodbye to the apostles. And
the Scripture says they all knelt down upon the seacoast and prayed
together. What a scene! What a touching
scene that was! A crowd of apostles and teachers
and preachers and husbands and fathers and mothers and children
all on their knees. before the Lord, literally bowing
their knees. Our Lord Jesus often knelt down
upon His knees to pray. You remember the garden where
He went a stone's cast from Him and knelt on His knees and He
prayed to His Father in heaven. Other scriptures tell us that
men prayed and they stood. They never knelt at all. Remember
the publican and the Pharisee going up to the temple to pray?
And the Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself? And somebody
may say, yes, that was the Pharisee. If his prayer would have been
a true prayer, he would have been on his knees. But you know,
the Scriptures went on to say, the publican standing afar off. The publican was standing too,
smiting up on his chest. God be merciful to me a sinner.
Could a man stand and have his prayer heard? God heard his prayer. And he went down to his house
justified. The Lord Jesus said, when you
stand praying, forgive if you have ought against your brethren. And as you read 1 Corinthians
chapter 14, it seems evident to me That is, you and I come
to the congregation in public worship as we are this morning.
It seems that that chapter teaches to me that one man is to stand
before the congregation and lead that congregation in prayer. If we all bowed down this morning,
if we all got up to pray at one time, what confusion that would
be. The Lord can understand it. Sure He can. But Paul said, everything
you do in the congregation and worship, do it all for the edification
of the church. I could get on my knees this
morning up here before you and pray. I would see nothing wrong
with that. That would be fine. If you could
hear what I was saying. If you understood what I was
saying. And when I finished praying, you could say amen to that. It's not the position of our
bodies. It's not the gesture of our members
that reaches the heart of God. What is it? It's the heart. It's
our heart that reaches Him. When you seek Me with all your
heart, when you seek Me, you'll find Me. When you seek Me with
your heart, with all your heart. Trust in Him at all times, you
people, and pour out your hearts before Him. Pour out our hearts
as one would pour out liquid from a vessel, emptying our hearts
before Him. And He's a refuge for us. I will
pray with the Spirit. I will pray with the understanding. Whatsoever you ask in prayer,
Your heart believe in it. Prayer is a matter of the heart. Whatever position our bodies
may be in, whatever gesture we use with our hand, prayer is
the humbling of our hearts before our Father in Heaven. Rent your
heart and not your garment. So in the long run, it doesn't
matter here. If the Apostle Paul is saying,
I literally, I physically bow my knees unto the Father, or
if he's using this figuratively to be sure, he's teaching us
this, that prayer is a humbling of ourselves before God in heaven. It's a bowing of the heart. Bow down before Him, all you
people. It's a heart reverence. Bowing
means we reverence the One that we are bowing before. It's a
heart humility. It's a stooping before Him. It's a heart submissiveness.
You give yourself up to Him. You bow before Him. It's a heart
recognition of who we are praying to. The Living God. The Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ. If I regard iniquity in my heart,
the Lord will not hear me. It's a bowing in honesty and
sincerity and reverence before the Father. Whether we're standing,
whether we're kneeling, whether we're walking, whether we're
driving down the road in our cars, whether we're working,
it's the bowing of the heart before the living God. Man looks
on the outward, you see. Man sees what's going on with
the body and with the members. God looks on the heart. He looks
on the heart. What does this tell us as we
consider this prayer of the Apostle Paul? One thing it reminds us
of this, that no one And no circumstances and no law can keep us from praying. We hear a lot today about prayer
in our public schools, don't we? Some are for it and some
are against it. I'll give you my sincere opinion
on the subject. I wish our schools, our public
schools, would concentrate on giving our children a safe environment
to learn in. I don't see why we should turn
our schools into places of public prayer. Who's going to lead the
children in prayer? Will it be the superintendent?
Will it be the principal? Will it be the teacher? Will
it be the state? If your child comes home from
school and says, Mom, I want to pray over the evening meal,
what if your child begins, Holy Mary, the Mother of God, pray
for us children? Would you stop her? Would you
say, where in the world did you learn such a prayer from my teacher? Who's going to lead our children?
You say, Bruce, are you against prayer? No, I'm not against prayer
at all. And nobody can keep our children
from praying. No matter what circumstances
you find yourself in, no one can keep you from praying. Because
praying is not the position of the body. It's not in gestures. It's the heart pouring itself
out before the Lord. Why do I say Saul? Paul here
is a perfect example of this. Well, I'll remind you again and
look at what he says himself in verse 1 of chapter 3. For
this calls, I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ. And he says
it again in chapter 4. I, therefore, the prisoner of
the Lord. In chapter 6, in verse 20, he
says it again. I'm an ambassador in bonds. He was a prisoner. And yet he
says, I bow my knees unto the Father. No law can keep you from
praying. The schools cannot keep you from
praying. Circumstances cannot keep us
from praying. We may not have the freedom that
we would like. To be honest with you, when I
pray, I've got to get along. There are times, like the songwriter
says, it's good to still away in some portion of the day. just
to be with Christ all along. My dear wife, bless her heart,
if she's home and I'm home, I can't find a safe place to pray. She's
all over the house. She's found me in my closet and
threw shoes on me before. I've got to hide out. I've got
to get to Loan and pour my heart out before the Lord. But you know you may be in circumstances.
You may be in a position where you work that you need the Lord. You need His help. You have a
felt need of His presence. And so what do you do? Right
where you are in your heart, you pour out your heart before
Him. You bow the knees of your heart
before Him. Nobody can keep you from praying.
No circumstances or situation can keep you from praying. Abraham's
servant said this, before he was finished praying in his heart."
That's prayer. Heart. Heart. Something else about this statement
that the Apostle Paul makes here that's very amazing. And it reminds
us of this. How thoroughly God can change
a man. How thoroughly God can change
a man's heart. His whole attitude, his whole
outlook changed his whole thinking towards God and himself and towards
others. Saul of Tarsus, Paul the Apostle,
what a self-righteous, legalistic person he was. He hated almost
everybody. He hated Christ. He hated the
people of Christ. He hated God. He hated most of
his Jewish brethren. He fit very well into George
Strait's song, I hate everything. I hate everybody and I hate everything.
He was writing to Titus and he said, Titus, you remember what
we were. We were so hateful. We hated
everybody. Hating one another. And now he bows before the Father
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what's he doing? Oh, He's
given thanks. For who? Why, these sorry Gentiles
that before He despised them, called them dogs, not just in
name but sincerely believed that that's what they were, without
even souls. And now He lifts His voice to
the Father and says, I thank God for you. I thank Him that
He's chosen you to salvation. I thank the Lord Jesus that He's
reconciled you to God, that He's made you one with us. Oh, I praise
God for you, He said. Here's a man whose heart had
been so thoroughly changed from hatred to love and gratitude
and thanksgiving. Oh, but it's not only love that
fills Paul's heart, But notice something else. It was light. It was light. Love and light. And you know something? When
the Lord thoroughly changes a man, one of the places that it will
be evident is in his prayers. Those he used to hate, those
who believe in Jews that he used to hate and attempt to slaughter,
now he prays for. Those Gentiles that He called
dogs, now He's been so thoroughly changed that His heart pours
out these words of request and thanksgiving to the Father in
Heaven. But oh, it's not love. Not love only, but light. One
of the reasons the Apostle Paul hated the Lord Jesus Christ was
the claims that the Lord Jesus had made about Himself. I am
the Son of God, he said. I am the eternal Son of God."
And Paul and his fellow Pharisees said, well, you're a blasphemer.
You're not the Son of God. You're making yourself God. And
Paul may well have been there when they took up stones to stone
him for blaspheming. But he was speaking the truth,
wasn't he? He was the Son of God. And now the Lord has so
thoroughly changed this man, he comes here and he says this,
I bow my knees unto the Father of whom? Our Lord Jesus Christ. Love and light. And he prays
that way. He prays that way. I'll tell
you how you'll know that God has changed a person. Listen
to him pray. I tell you how you'll know what
they believe and who they believe. Listen to them pray. It's prayer
that comes from the heart through the lips. Paul remembered when
he used to pray, God, I thank you that I'm not like other men
are. Oh, he's ashamed of that now. Now he feels such shame
in his heart. His heart was full of pride.
His heart was full of ignorance. God can't be worshipped that
way, brothers and sisters. God cannot be worshipped with
a heart full of pride, with a heart full of self, with a heart full
of ignorance, ignorance of our utter need of a Saviour to save
us. Ignorant of a way that has been
opened through the side of Jesus to bring us into the Father's
presence? Worshipping Him in pride and
self-will? If I regard such iniquity in
my heart, He will not hear me. What does the Lord thy God require
of thee, but that thou should walk humbly before thee? God has so thoroughly changed
this man. There is love in his heart for
all the Lord's people. And here he acknowledges Jesus
Christ is truly the Son of the Living God. He's the Son of the
Living God. And he goes on making petitions
and requests to the Lord for his people. Love and light. Love and light. When the Lord
changes a man, that's the principle that He puts in him. Love and
light. Love and light. Notice carefully here in verse
14 how the Apostle puts this. I'm amazed sometimes at how the
Holy Spirit moved upon these men to write. One little word
carries so much weight with it. He doesn't just say here in verse
14, the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's true. And that's
said in a host of other places. But He says here, I bow my knees
unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul says He's not only
the Son of God. He's mine. And He's not only
mine, He's yours. Listen to this. The Lord Jesus
Christ belongs to heaven because God is His Father. He is the Son of the Father. He was with the Father before
all time. Therefore, heaven could never
deny Him. He is truly the Lord, the Son
of the Father. Heaven rejected the Lord Jesus
Christ in His divinity. It slew Him in His humanity. But heaven has accepted Him both
in His divinity and in His humanity. In His divinity because the Father
said, Son, sit on My right hand. And in His humanity, because
the Father put between us and Himself, Jesus Christ the Mediator. And who is He? The Man, Christ
Jesus. Oh, earth may have rejected Him. Earth may have killed Him. But
heaven has received Him. My Son sat at my right hand. and let me behold the Prince
in your hands and the whole in your side." Jesus Christ is accepted
of heaven. The Lord Jesus in turn will not
deny us because He truly belongs to us because He was born in
our world. He is ours by birth of the virgin
Mary. She brought forth her firstborn
son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger. He belongs to Mary. He is Mary's
son. And the angels themselves said,
unto you is born in the city of David a Savior which is Christ
the Lord. He wasn't born in heaven. He
was born in this world. He wasn't born of an angel. He
was born of a human being. And since Jesus will not deny
us, heaven cannot deny us without denying Him. He belongs to heaven. Yes, He's the Son of the Father,
but He belongs to us because this world is His nativity. Oh,
don't you praise God for that. He's the Son of God, but He's
mine, and He's yours if you lay hold upon Him by faith. The Father
could behold Him as He walked upon this earth, and the Father
could say, I send Him down from heaven. He's my Son. And we poor
believing sinners can behold Him as He sits there in heaven,
and we can say He's ours because He's born in this world. Humanity shut its doors against
Him. There was no room for Him in
the end. He came and He was despised,
and He was rejected of men, a man of sorrow. But because of Him,
And in Him, heaven has opened its doors to humanity. Oh, bless
His holy name. How wonderful. He's the Son of
the living God. And He's ours. He's mine. Is He yours? Is this glorious
being yours? Is the Savior yours? In the Lord
Jesus Christ, heaven and earth are reconciled. They are made
one. God is truly His Father, and
Jesus Christ is truly ours. And He is as much ours as He
is the Father's. And we can no more deny Him,
and He can no more deny us than the Father can deny Him, or He
can deny the Father. Heaven and earth join together
in this one glorious person. I bow my knees. unto the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And in verse 15, quickly, he
says this, Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is
named. My name is Bruce Crabtree, and
I'm the son of Luther Crabtree. Naturally speaking, I derive
my being from him. My name comes from him. And it's
the same with you. You have one biological father. You have one biological family. The Jews said Abraham is our
father. We derive our being from him. Our name comes from him. And
as children of God, we have one father. One father. We derive our spiritual
being from Him. He begot us with the Word of
Truth. We have one elder brother. He's
not ashamed to be called our brother. I will declare your
name unto my brethren. Who is my brother? And who is
my sister? He said, you are. You who believe
on me. You that do the will of my Father. There is one family. Oh, there
is a family in heaven. The glorified saints. The church
in heaven. The old Puritans called it the
church triumphant. And there is a family upon this
earth that is still in the battle. This is a local family. But when
you put us all together, what are we? Just one family. The
whole family. in heaven and in earth. Bless this holy night. What a
wonderful text. Let's pray.