love the encouragement the Lord
gives us, men ought always to pray and not to faint, not to
lose heart. Now, what do I pray for? Well, in this passage of scripture,
we read Paul's prayer for the Ephesians. And I think we learned
something about what we ought to be praying for, for ourselves
and others, as we recognize what Paul prays for the Ephesians.
And I think this is so interesting. What is it that he's going to
beseech the Lord for them? What is he going to ask for them?
And you and I ought to be asking the same things for ourselves
and for others. Now this is, a glorious passage of scripture. And I'm going to look at the
whole prayer tonight, and then we're going to look at particulars
of it for the next few weeks ahead of that. But I want us
to look at the whole prayer tonight, Paul's prayer for the Ephesians. Now, one thing that I noticed,
there's no petitions for physical health or prosperity. Not a one. Now, does that mean I'm not to
pray to the Lord with regard to sickness? No, it doesn't mean
that. We're taught to do that. But still in this prayer, there's
no petition for health and there's no petition with regard to prosperity. And if you listen to a lot of
preachers, that's about all they talk about is how you need to
pray for health and prosperity. Now, somebody like that doesn't
know God. That's all you can say. They
don't know God. But let's look at what Paul says in this prayer,
he says in verse 14, for this cause, for this cause. Now he's talking about everything
that he'd said up to that point, beginning with blessed be the
God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings and heavenly places in Christ. And he went
on to Say all these glorious things that we read in this passage
of scripture about the grace of God and about the work of
Christ, how we're seated together in the heavenlies in Christ and
how by grace are you saved? And for this cause, because of
all these glorious things I've said. For this cause, I bow my
knees. The posture. of worship, the
posture of prayer. Did he literally bow his knees? I don't know. He may have. Maybe
he didn't. But this is the posture of worship.
You bow the knee to him whom you worship, don't you? You bow
the knee in your heart. And this is the posture of prayer. And that's what he's doing. He's
praying. For this cause, I bow my knees
unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the only way this
can be understood is in light of the Trinity, the Father of
the Lord Jesus Christ. God is one God in three distinct
persons. Do I understand that? No. Do I believe it with all my heart? God is one God, God, the father,
God, the son, and God, the Holy Spirit, one God in three distinct
persons. And he says he's bowing his knees
to the father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and
father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, Christ is equal to the father. He thought it not robbery to
be equal with God. He's equal with the father, but
he subordinates himself as the son to the father. And you know
what? God, the father of our Lord Jesus
Christ. He's the father of every believer.
Our father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. He's the father of every believer.
He's my father. The Lord said, I go to my father
and your father. I go to my God and your God.
He is the father of every believer, just as he's the father of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He's my father. We're children
of the same father. The Lord Jesus Christ is not
ashamed to call us brethren. Both he that sanctified and they
who are sanctified are all of one. for the which cause he's
not ashamed to call them brethren. He's not ashamed to own me. Every
believer as his brother, children of the same father. For this
cause I bow my knee unto the father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Look at verse 15. Of whom the whole family in heaven
and earth is named. Now we're talking about the family
of God. What a privilege it is to be a part of the family of
God. I'm a member of his family, the
whole family of God, the ones in heaven and the ones who have
not yet died and are still here on earth, the family of God. Now this represents every believer. This represents all the elect
of God, the whole family of God. None of them are left out. The
whole family of God. Those the father elected, those
the son died for, those the Holy Spirit has given life to, the
whole family of God. Let me tell you something about
heaven. There are not going to be any empty chairs there. There's
not going to be any angels or believers looking at empty chairs
and saying, this would be such a great place, but I know that
person didn't make it. There's going to be no empty
chairs there. The whole family is going to
be there. And what greater privilege can
you or I have than being a part of God's family? The whole family
of God, how special that is. And look what he says. of whom the whole family in heaven
and earth is named. Now here's the special privilege
of this family. What God has named us, Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord, our
righteousness. Now in the book of Ezekiel in
chapter 23, it says, this is the name wherewith he shall be
called. the Lord, our righteousness. And then in chapter 33, it says,
this is the name wherewith she shall be called the Lord, our
righteousness. Now this is the name of everybody
in the family of God, the Lord, our righteousness. That's my
name. That's my name. You know, I like that name better
than Todd and Iver. I like it a whole lot better. This is how every
believer is named by God himself. the Lord, our righteousness. Somebody says that seems presumptuous
for you to take that to yourself. Well, it says, this is a name
wherewith she shall be called the church, every believer, the
Lord, our righteousness, the whole family in heaven and earth
is named. And here's what he asked for
them. Verse 16, that he would grant you. And what's a grant? You didn't earn it. If you get
a grant, it's not something you work for. It's something that
was given to you. All of salvation is by the grant,
the grace, the free gift of God. And this is what he's praying
for the Ephesians for, that he would grant you according to
the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might by his
spirit in the inner man." Now, everything that we have is a
grant. That's the way the gospel works.
I want to say that reverently, but everything we have is a grant.
I think of Romans 8, verse 32, he that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all. How shall he not? What could
possibly prevent him from freely giving us all things? Now, that is why we're going
to have this glorious gift. He's giving it according to the
riches of his glory, and that's immeasurable. That's immeasurable. Whatever He gives you by way
of grace, it doesn't diminish His grace in the least. It's
like a checking account. No matter how big a check you
write, you haven't diminished this account at all. He grants,
freely gives according to the riches of His glory. Now, what
is it that He asks for the church at Ephesus? To be strengthened
with might, power by his spirit in the inner man. Now let me talk just a couple
of minutes about that inner man. The inner man. The new man, the
scripture calls it. The hidden man of the heart. This is the eye of the new nature. I live, yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me. Peter, do you love me? Lord,
you know all things, you know that I love you. This is the
eye of the new man. Every believer has two distinct
natures. The eye of the new man and the
old man. You know when Paul said, I know
that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing, who was
speaking? It was the eye of the new man.
And it's only this man that recognizes the sinfulness of the old man.
When people can't see their own depravity, it's because they
don't have an eye to see it. Every believer has two distinct
natures, the inner man, the inner man, the new man, the hidden
man of the heart, the new creature in Christ Jesus. Every believer
possesses this, and I don't really have to, this is what I think
is, I don't know what to use the word for, but I know if you
have two natures, I don't have to convince you of this. You
know it. You know what I'm saying is so.
You find it in your own experience. inner man, the new man of the
heart. Turn with me for a moment to
Genesis chapter 25. I think this illustrates it so
beautifully. Genesis 25, verse 20. And Isaac was 40 years old when
he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel, the Syrian
of Paddaniram, the sister to Laban the Syrian. And Isaac entreated
the Lord for his wife because she was barren. She had no life
within her. And the Lord was intrigued of
him. And Rebekah, his wife, conceived. She was given this. These children. Jacob and Esau. And the children struggled. Together. within her. There was a fight. There was
a struggle. And she didn't understand that
she had twins at this time. She had no understanding of this.
All she knew was before she had this life, she didn't have this
struggle. But now that she has life, she
has this horrible struggle that she's dealing with. And she said,
if it be so, Why am I thus? If I have life in me, why is
there struggle? Why is this fight? Why is this
warfare going on inside me? And she went to inquire of the
Lord, and the Lord said unto her, two nations are in thy womb,
and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels.
Two manner of people, two totally different people are in thy womb. Now you, somebody says, well,
that's just talking about the twins. Well, it is talking about the
twins. There were two totally different people, Jacob and Esau,
but it's what they represent, the flesh and the spirit. Two manner of men are in thy
bowels and the one people shall be stronger than the other people. And the elder shall serve the
younger. Now, the older man, the elder
is going to serve the younger. Esau is going to serve Jacob. The old nature is going to serve
the new nature. Now, what do you mean by that?
Here's exactly what I mean. My sinful, evil nature. drives me to Christ, to where
I have nowhere else to look. Am I making an excuse for my
sin? No. My sin at all times is all my
fault and there is no excuse. But I know this, It teaches me
that the only righteousness I have is the righteousness and merits
of Jesus Christ. I know that for sure. And in that sense, the old man
is a slave to the new man and serves the new man. And it's
the new man that owns the sins of the old man in the first place.
You know, if you don't have a new nature, This inner man, you don't
know anything about sin. You just think of things you
do, things you feel guilty of, things you know are wrong. You
don't really know anything about the exceeding sinfulness of sin. But if you have a new man, you
know, and that's who Paul is appealing to, the inner man,
the inner man. I could give so many scriptural
examples, the flesh lusts against the spirit, the spirit lusts
against the flesh. contrary one to the other so
that you cannot do the things you would. What about Romans
chapter seven? I mean, that is the struggle
between flesh and spirit. And I heard somebody just recently
say, can't you get out of Romans seven and into Romans eight?
Well, if you can, you ain't ever been in Romans seven in the first
place and you know nothing about Romans eight. You don't get out
of one and go to the other. That's foolishness. The inner
man, the hidden man of the heart, The quiet, meek, and quiet spirit,
which is not corruptible, not even subject to corruption. Now
this is the man he's appealing to, the inner man. Now let's
look what he asks. That he would grant you, according
to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by
his spirit in the inner man. Don't you want your faith increased? Don't you want to love Christ
more? It's the new man that does this. The old man never believes.
The old man has no love for Christ. The new man does. Don't you want
to grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ? Don't you want to be strengthened
to be more poor in spirit, to mourn more over your sin,
to be more meek before God. And you believe that whatever
he sends your way is right. And you demonstrate that. Don't
you want to hunger and thirst more after righteousness? Don't
you want to be more merciful? Don't you want to be more of
a peacemaker? I don't know how to say this, but don't you want
to be more pure in heart? You say, well, how do you get more
pure in heart? I don't know. If I could explain that, I would. But yeah, I do. I want to be
more persecuted for righteousness sake. I do. I want that. What about the fruit of the Spirit?
It's the fruit of the Spirit. It's not the works of the flesh. It's
the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.
Don't you want to grow in these things? This is the fruit of
the Spirit. I want to love Him more. I want
to love you more. I want to love men more. I want
to have more joy by rejoicing in Christ. Just the joy and peace
of believing. All the fruit of the Spirit.
More meekness, more faith, more temperance. That's what He's
asking. That your inner man might be strengthened with might by
the Spirit of God. the Spirit of God that can do
this. You know that, don't you? Now, look what happens when we're
strengthened with might by a Spirit in the inner man. Verse 17, that
Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. Now, here's what's
happened. Here's what happens when you're granted to be strengthened
with might by the Spirit in the inner man. Christ dwells in your
heart by faith. Now that heart is the new heart
he's given. I love that parable of the wine
and the wineskins. You don't take new wine and put
it into old wineskins or else it'll burst. It'll go through
the process of fermentation that's dried and cracked. It'll burst
and you'll lose everything. You put new wine into new wineskins. That's the new heart that he
gives, that Christ dwells in by his spirit, that Christ may
dwell in your hearts. by His Spirit. Christ is seated
at the right hand of the Father, I know that, that He's right
here in our presence. Because He said, when two or
three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them.
And He dwells in our hearts by faith. What's the evidence that
you have the Spirit of Christ? And notice the word, the evidence. I didn't say an evidence. I said
the evidence and the only evidence. The only evidence. If you can look in your heart
and find some reason because of some goodness in you or some
work in you that you must be saved. That's idolatry. That's anti Christ. That's against
Christ. The only evidence. Is faith in Christ. Now what
is faith in Christ? Faith in Christ, I say this a
lot, I'm gonna say it even more, faith in Christ doesn't have
anything to do with what you believe about yourself. Now do you hear that? I believe I'm saved. That's not
faith. Faith in Christ is wholly 100%
what you believe regarding him. Here's what or what hinders me
from being baptized. If you believe with all your
heart, you may. I believe that Jesus Christ is
the son of God. Do you believe that? Do you believe you're saved?
Well, I hope so. Do you believe he's the son of
God? I know so. I know so. Whoso believeth that
Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Now, the evidence that Christ
dwells in your heart is simply this faith in Christ. What do
you think concerning Christ? I'm not asking any other questions.
And if you Come up with the thought that I must be saved because
I'm this way or I'm that way. You've been deceived by the devil.
I want to use that strong language. You've been deceived by the devil.
You swallowed his hook. The only evidence of salvation
is faith in the son of God, believing that he is all you need to make
you perfect before God. Faith in Christ. That Christ
may dwell in your hearts by faith. Lord, would you strengthen me
with might by your spirit in the inner man? That Christ might
dwell in my heart by faith. That you, being rooted like a
tree and grounded It's the foundation. You're grounded on the foundation.
You think of a, of a tree making deep roots. And you think of
the foundation that the man built his house on the rock, the foundation
that you being rooted and grounded in love. Don't miss that in love. Now that's first talking about
His love to me. Now here's something that I just
can't get over. The Lord said to His disciples,
and He says this to every one of His children, as the Father
hath loved me, so have I loved you. Now that said to every believer. Now how does the father love
his son? Oh, the father loves his son. His son's so beautiful. I mean, everything about him
is lovely. He's altogether lovely. The father doesn't love his son
unconditionally. He sees his son as altogether
beautiful and lovely and perfect and holy and righteous. That's
how the father loves the son. As the father had loved me, so
have I loved you. You know what? We love him. We love him because he first
loved us. And we love the brethren. By
this, y'all may know you're my disciples. By your love, one
for another. rooted and grounded in love. Now, when Christ dwells in your
heart by faith, rooted and grounded in love, he wants this for us.
He's praying this for the Ephesians, that we may be able to comprehend. Now that word
comprehend means two things at once. It means to know and to
feel. Now, faith is not a feeling,
but I don't want to have anything to do with a religion that doesn't
have feeling. I don't want to have anything
to do with anything like that. And this comprehension means
to know and to feel. Peace is a feeling, isn't it?
Love in many respects is a feeling. It's identified by what you do,
I realize that, but it's a feeling. Joy is a feeling. Now he talks
about this comprehension. May be able to comprehend with
all sights what is the breadth and the length and the depth
and the height and to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge. that you might be filled with
all the fullness of God. Now this is what he's asking
for these people. I want you to know the breadth of the love
of Christ. The wideness of the love of Christ. You see, it's not narrowed out
by race or education or nationality or beauty or intellect. He's got a people. out of every
kindred, tongue, tribe, and nation. Oh, the breadth, the breadth
of the love of Christ. God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten son. And then Paul says, I want you
to know the length of the love of Christ. Well, how long is
it? Well, it stretches back to eternity.
Behold, I've loved you with an everlasting love. And it goes to eternity. It never
ends. Now, I love thinking about this.
How many times have a man and a woman fallen in love? And it
was real. They really were in love. They
really did love one another. But they don't anymore. They
don't anymore. I've heard people say, well,
if you quit loving, you never loved in the first place. I don't
believe that. I don't believe that. When people get married,
generally speaking, they love each other. And somebody stops
loving somebody. Not him. Not him. His love is immutable. It knows
no variations. It's not hotter one time and
colder another. It's eternal. It's measureless. Oh, the deep, deep love of Jesus,
the psalm says. I wish I could talk about his
love, the length of his love. But it it's infinite. You know,
I've heard people say, well, they talk about, say, Jacob,
I love these all. I hate it. And they say, well,
that what that means is God loved Esau less. God loved less. God
loved less. Christ loved less. His love is
infinite love. And then he speaks of the depth
of his love. Now, what's that all about? How
far down did Christ go? Out of love for you. You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that though he was rich. Yet for your sakes, he became
poor. Now there's no way that I can
comment on that. It ought to be commented on.
The depths, he experienced the full equivalent of an eternal
hell. Nobody else has ever experienced
that. That's why hell goes on forever. Nobody can satisfy.
But he experienced the full equivalent of eternal hell. Yes, in obedience
to his father. But the scripture also says,
looking unto Jesus, who for the joy that was set before him,
not only the joy of pleasing his father and doing his father's
will, but the joy of saving folks like me and you. Every one of
his elect is a bride. Do you know that heaven would
not be heaven to him if you're not there? Talk about significant. Somebody says, I need significance
in my life. What's more significant than that? to be loved of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And that's the hardest thing
I have to get a hold of. I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus
the Nazarene and wonder how he could love me, a sinner condemned
unclean. But he does. The depths of his
love and then the heights of his love. We are seated together
in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. That's high, isn't it? The very
throne of Christ with him, every believer is seated. Oh, the height
of his love. And I love what he says in verse
19. And to know the love of Christ,
which passeth knowledge. I find that comforting because
I'm waiting in things that I Don't know how to explain the love
of Christ, how he could love me the same way the father loves
him. Uh, but I love what Paul says. This passes knowledge.
It goes beyond comprehension that you, here's the last phrase
of this verse 19, that you might be filled. And that's passive. can't fill yourself. You can't
fill your own tank. This is something the Lord does.
That you might be filled with all the fullness of God. Colossians chapter two verses
nine and 10 says, in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily and you are complete. Now that word complete means
you are full. Nothing can be added to you.
Nothing can be done that would make you more perfect, more accepted,
more complete of His fullness. Have we all received? Every believer. We've received the very fullness
of Christ. All Christ is, every believer
possesses. Grace for grace. You don't think
grace for grace means grace because of grace. You know the reason
He gives you grace? Because of grace. Not because
of anything in you. Because of grace. God is gracious. And every believer possesses
the fullness of God in Christ Jesus. That's how God can have
communion with us. That's how God can embrace us.
Because we're in Christ. Him are you in Christ Jesus who
of God has made into us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption. That's what every believer possesses.
I can come boldly into the very presence of the Holy of Holies
because I'm in Christ. No other reason is needed. Verse
20, now unto him that is Able. Before I go on. Is anything too
hard for the Lord? Is anything too hard for the
Lord? Is there anything that's beyond the scope of his power
and ability to do? That's what the Lord said to
Sarah when she laughed in his presence, when he said, about
this time, you're gonna have a child. She laughed, how can
I have pleasure? And the Lord answered this question,
is anything too hard for the Lord? Can the Lord fill you with
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily? Yes, he can. You see, all of our faith rests in his ability. Abraham staggered not of the
promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving
glory to God, being fully persuaded that what he had promised, he
was able also to perform. Sarah sitting there with already
gone through menopause, already gone through menopause, to have
a baby was impossible. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? No. Sarah had a baby because of his
ability, not because of her faith. She started laughing and didn't
believe it when the Lord told her what he's going to do. He
said, why Sarah laughed? She said, I didn't laugh. Right
in the very presence of the Lord she lies to him. She didn't believe, but he gave her a child according
to his word. Now unto him that is able. to do exceeding abundantly above
all that we ask or even think. Listen, he's able to do way beyond
what we ask or even what passes through our mind, what we think.
Now unto him that's able to do exceeding abundantly above all
that we ask or think. according to the power that worketh
in us. Well, what power is that? Turn
back to Ephesians chapter one. And what, verse 19. And what
is the exceeding greatness of his power to us who believe according
to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ
when he raised him from the dead. Now that's the power that works
in you. You know the reason you believe? The same power operated
on you that operated on the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. That
is why you believe. That's the same power. Now unto
him that's able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we
ask or think according to the power that worketh in us, unto
him be glory. What else could you say? Unto Him be glory. I love the way the Lord does
everything for His own glory. If I did something for my glory,
it would be evil. It would be wrong. I deserve
no glory. But for Him to do what He does for His own glory, it's
only right. He's the Lord. Unto Him be glory. in the church. Oh, what a blessing
it is to be part of his church. By Christ Jesus. I love the way it says unto him,
be glory in the church throughout all ages. No, by Christ Jesus,
by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. Let's pray.