The infinite God hears and answers
the prayers of his people. Now that is a glorious thing
to think about. The God of glory, when we pray,
he hears. and he answers according to his
will. Now in this passage of scripture,
Paul is praying for the Ephesians. What does he pray for them? If we can see what he's praying
for them, we can get a good idea of what we ought to be praying
for ourselves and for one another in this prayer for the Ephesians. Now, he had identified these
people as those who have been blessed with all spiritual blessings
and heavenly places in Christ. And the reason he knows they
have been blessed are for these two reasons. He heard of their
faith. in the Lord Jesus and their love
to all the saints. Now, let me remind you, this
is the evidence of salvation. If you can look at your life
and think, well, I must be saved because of the way I'm dealing
with sin, how I'm suppressing it and trying to become a better
person. If you can get assurance of your
salvation from that, it's a false assurance. It's not real. It's make believe. The only assurance
that God gives us is to believe the gospel. Do you believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son of God? Do you believe He's the Christ?
That's all the assurance you need. And you love those who
love Him. If somebody loves Christ, if
it's somebody that Christ loves, you love them. Really, truly,
that is the evidence of salvation. And he prays for them and he
begins by giving thanks to God for them. I cease not to give
thanks for you. Now, notice he didn't say, I
thank you. You ever hear a preacher get
up and tell the audience he's so thankful to see him there?
I thank you for being here. You know, that just doesn't sound
right, does it? It doesn't feel right. Now I'm
glad you're here. I'm glad I'm here, but I'm not
going to thank somebody for coming to worship God. It just doesn't
feel right. We don't thank people. Now that
doesn't mean we're indifferent about people. I'm glad you're
here. I'm glad I'm here. I love you. You love me. But
as far as thanking people, thanks be to God. Thanks be to God. I'm thankful to God for you.
You're his work. The faith you have is his gift. The love you have is his gift. I thank God for you. And I pray for you. And I think
it's interesting that in this prayer, he doesn't pray anything about
health. He doesn't pray anything about
wealth. He makes no mention of any of that. That's significant. Now, we pray for the Lord to
take care of our daily needs. We do. And when we're sick, we
say, Lord, if it's your will, let us get better. I do that. I'm not indifferent about something
like that. But when Paul, the apostle, is praying for these
people, look at what he prays for them. Now he says, I cease
not to give thanks for you. And he's thanking God, making
mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus
Christ. You know, I love the way that
sounds. The Lord Jesus Christ is God.
And God is the God of our Lord Jesus Christ. You know, that's
just powerful, just the way he speaks of the God of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the Father of glory. God's glory is the infinite beauty
of his manifold perfections and attributes. That's who he is.
And he prays that God will give them what the spirit of wisdom
and revelation in the knowledge of Him. The Spirit, God the Holy
Spirit. You know, I pray for God the
Holy Spirit. We're taught to pray for God the Holy Spirit.
Give me your Spirit. Enable me to believe. And when
we have the Holy Spirit, He is the Spirit of wisdom. Now this
is true wisdom. The fear of the Lord. It's the
beginning of wisdom. And you know what people do who
fear God? They're afraid to look anywhere but Christ. That's just
the bottom line. That's what the fear of God is.
It's being afraid. You know yourself enough to where
you're afraid to look anywhere but Christ alone. That's the
spirit of faith. That's what faith is, the spirit
of wisdom. causes you to look to Christ
only, and the spirit of revelation. Anything I know, God's unknowable.
I can't know him. I can't, by searching, find him
out. He's unknowable, and the only way I'm really gonna know
him is if he makes himself known. Lord, make yourself known to
me. Don't leave me to myself. Don't
leave me to my own understanding. Reveal. yourself to me. Oh, the spirit of wisdom and
the spirit of revelation. I love what the Lord said about
Peter after he made his confession. Whom say men that I am, they
say good things. Who say ye that I am? Thou art
the Christ, the son of the living God. Blessed art thou, Simon
Bar-Jonah. Flesh and blood didn't reveal
that to you. But my father, which is in heaven, do you believe
he's the Christ? Do you believe he's the son of
God? You know what that means? That
means God, the infinite God, has in fact revealed himself
to you. And this is what he's praying
for these people. The spirit of wisdom and revelation in the
knowledge of him. Now let's go on reading. Now
don't let me miss this, in the knowledge of him. I was looking at sermon titles
somewhere, and it said, theology builds a church. I thought, why
would somebody say something like that? Christ is the builder
of the church, for one thing. He said, upon this rock will
I build my church. And there's something even about
the word theology that is just too academic. You know, the study
of God. There's something too human about
that. There's something too academic. I want the knowledge of Him.
I want to know Him. And everything we believe is
going to be determined by who we believe. If we have the knowledge
of Him, where I know Him, I recognize Him. He knows me. I'm not name
dropping when I say I know God. It means I really know Him if
I have this knowledge of Him. And He knows me. Now this knowledge
of Him, it's a It's a recognition, it's an appreciation of Him.
And here's the scripture that came to my mind when I thought
the knowledge of Him. Here's the knowledge of Christ. I am
the way. I am the truth. I am the life. Now that's the knowledge of Him.
He's the way to God. The only way I can be brought
into God's presence is Him bringing me. He's the way, and here's
the glorious thing. When you're in the way, you're
already there. If He's there, you are. He is
the truth. He's the truth concerning who
God is. The only way I'm gonna find out
who I am is by knowledge of Him. He's the truth regarding salvation,
and He's the life. Literally, His life is my life
before God. When I stand before God in judgment,
if I'm justified, it'll be because His life is my life before God. I am the way. Now that's the
knowledge of Him. He's the way. He's the truth. He's the life. No man comes to the Father, but
by Him. Now look what he says next in
verse 18. This is what he's praying for.
that the eyes of your understanding being enlightened. Now, I need continually and you
need continually to be enlightened. I can't live off yesterday's
light. I need to be enlightened right now. Now, what is this
thing of being enlightened? Well, enlightened so you can
see. He names three things he wants them to be able to see.
But you think of this thing of being enlightened. There are
two things that are necessary to be able to see. Light and a living, seeing eye. If you have a living, seeing
eye and you're in a completely dark room, what do you see? Nothing. Nothing. If you're in a room
flooded with light and you're blind as a bat, what do you see?
Nothing. You have to be given a seeing
eye, and you have to be given light. I love the way he speaks
of being enlightened. And what I thought about there
in Revelation 21 and 22 when it says, the city had no need
of the moon or the sun, for the Lamb is the light thereof. That's
the light we have, the Lamb of God. The lamb in his sacrificial
character, I love it when he said to that woman, taking an
adultery in the very act, he said, woman, where are those
not accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? She
said, no man, Lord. He said, neither do I condemn
thee. Go and sin no more. I am the light of the world.
It's through the light of the Lord Jesus Christ as the sacrificial
lamb, the lamb of God. The lamb is the light thereof.
It's through the light of the lamb that I can see why God loves
me and accepts me. All in the lamb. Now, he prays
for enlightening to be able to see. To be able to see what?
Let's go on reading. The eyes of your understanding
being enlightened. I want you to be able to see
this. And then he gives three what's that he wants them to
be enlightened to see. The eyes of your understanding
being enlightened that you may know what is the hope of his
calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance
in the saints. 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 and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly
places. Now he gives three what that
he prays for God to give them light. And I want to have this
light for me. I want it right now because he
gives it to me and I want to see what it is he's saying and
praying for them to see. Now, the first thing he prays
for enlightening in is what is the hope of his calling? Now, let's don't get past calling.
You know, he doesn't call everybody. That's a very sobering thought.
He doesn't call everybody. I think of that passage of scriptures,
but the Jews require a sign, the Greeks seek after wisdom,
but we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews foolishness, unto
the Greeks a stumbling block, but unto them which are called. Has he called me? Christ, the
power of God. Do you see Jesus Christ as the
very omnipotence of God, the arm of his power? the way he
actually makes sins to be put away. The power of God. Christ, the wisdom of God. You
see God's glorious wisdom in making a way that he can honor
his self, honor his own justice and holiness, and yet save somebody
as undeserving and sinful as me. Now, that is the hope of
his calling. And let me tell you what, I'm
gonna give you the hope in just a minute, but let me tell you
what the call do. If you're called, here's what you're gonna do.
You're gonna call. You're gonna call on the name of the Lord.
Everybody that he calls, call. That's what the called do. They
call upon the name of the Lord. Now, notice the phrase that you
might know the hope of his calling. The hope of his calling. Now
remember, the scripture points this out, and this is very important.
Hope that is seen is not hope. For what a man seeth, why doth
he yet hope for it? If you can see something, you
don't have, it's not a hope. Now I have a hope. This is not
something that I can see. It's something I know by faith.
If you can see it, it's wrong. It's not real. You fooled yourself.
If you can see it, this is something you better not be able to see,
but you hope for it. I have a hope that God is for me. Now, can I look at my circumstances
and think, well, I can tell God for me? No. No. You know, the circumstances don't
say anything. Well, everything's good right
now. I mean, I've got plenty of money. I've got good health.
God must be for me, not necessarily. That might be his curse. We're
talking spiritual blessings, not temporal blessings, but I
have a hope. that God's for me. And I don't
see it by looking at my circumstances. I just don't see it. And you
don't either. And you don't see anybody else's
circumstances and say, well, God must be against them or God
must be for them. You can't tell. And you shouldn't,
and I shouldn't make a judgment like that. We can't tell by somebody's
circumstances. But I have hope that God's for
me in foreknowledge, he foreknew me. I have a hope that God's
for me in predestination. He predestinated me to be just
like Christ. I got a hope that he's for me
in justification. He justified me. He called me. He glorified me. I've got a hope
that God is for me right now. And now that I'm saved, I didn't
always know this, but now that I'm saved, I know he always has
been. Now, there was a time when I
didn't know this, but I know it now. He always has been. And I've got to hope that everything,
everything is working together for my good and His glory. Now, here's my problem. Most of the time, I don't think
about that. When something bad happens, when something I don't
like happens, No, that's for my good. It's just exactly what
I need. It's brought to me from my heavenly
father, who's too wise to err, too kind to be cruel, and whatever
he does is right. I've got a hope. Now, can I look
at my circumstances and say, yeah, I can see how that's working
for my good? No, I can't see any of that. But I believe it
is because it's what the word of God says. I have a hope that
I stand before God without guilt right now, that when God sees
me, Todd Nybert, even with some idea of how sinful I am, I have
a hope that God sees me as someone without sin. All I've ever done
is please God. That's what justification is.
Can I see that? No. Do I believe it? Yes, I do. I have a hope that
I'm holy, that I have the holiness that's going to bring me into
heaven, His holiness, His sanctification. I can't get any more holy than
I am. I can't become more holy. I have a hope that when I stand
before God on judgment, I'm gonna hear Him say to me, well done,
thou good and faithful servant. And I can't see that. Somebody
says, oh, how can you say something that about yourself? Well, because
Christ Jesus did well. He's good and he's faithful. And if he did well and is good
and faithful, I was in him and I did too. That is the hope of
every believer. The hope of his calling. And notice what he says next, what the riches, here's the second
what, that he wants us to have light to see, what the riches
of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. Now, let me point
this out. He's not talking about our inheritance.
He's talking about the Lord's inheritance. The Lord's portion
is his people. Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. Now, here's what's glorious.
Every believer is his inheritance. Now, I love to think of our inheritance.
You do too. Our inheritance in Christ, joy
and errors with Christ. That's all Paul's talking about
right now. He's talking about the fact that we are his inheritance. And once again, you can only
know that by faith, and you can only believe that as the Lord
enlightens you. But think about this. Heaven would not be heaven
without you. If you're His inheritance, He's
gonna have full inheritance. And we are His inheritance. I
know, me and you are sinners, but I also know that if we're
believers, we're saints of God, holy ones of God, His inheritance. And look what it says in verse
19. And what is, I want you to see this, I want you to have
light on this, what is the exceeding greatness of His power, His omnipotence
to usward who believe. And here's the power that is
involved in your faith. Now, don't miss that, us who
believe. Do you believe, let me ask you
a real simple question. Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ?
Do you believe he's God's prophet, the word of God? Do you believe
he's God's priest, that if he brings you into the presence
of God, you must be accepted? Do you believe that he's God's
king, the king of kings and Lord of lords? Do you believe that
Jesus Christ is the uncreated son of God? Do you really believe
that? I do. You know what this passage
of scripture tells us? The same power that was exerted
in raising Christ from the dead was exerted in causing me and
you to believe. Let's read verse 19. And what is the exceeding greatness
of his power to us who believe? According to the working of his
mighty power, his omnipotence, the might of his power, which
he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead. Now,
Christ really died. That's one of the great mysteries
of scripture. That's, you know, there's some things that I just
can't get a hold of. And here's one of them, how Jesus
Christ actually died. He's the God man. And he died. Well, how could that happen?
I don't know, but it did. And I know the reason he died. There's
only one reason for death. Sin. Sin. The sins of God's people. became his sin and he died in
their place because the wages of sin is death. And there he
lies in that tomb, dark, no light at all. But you know what? He
was raised from the dead. What omnipotence was used in
raising him from the dead? Almighty power. Why was he raised
from the dead? Because all those sins were paid
for. And because all those sins were put away. And all the sins
that you think about that are yours, if you're a believer,
they're gone. They're gone. They're separated
as far from you as the East is from the West. And that's a long
way. They are no more. and what power
God exerted in raising his blessed son from the dead. Now that same
power that was used in raising his son from the dead is the
same power that caused you to believe the gospel. What an amazing
work of grace every believer is. Verse 20, which he wrought in
Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him. I love
thinking about this. After he raised him from the
dead, what happened next? He ascended. He ascended. And I love thinking about this
ascension. You know, at this time, all the physical laws were
set aside. The laws of gravity, he just
starts rising. And I'd love to think of the
disciples watching him as he's rising up and taking it into
the clouds. And this was, you know, they're his law, so he
can suspend him when he wants to do it. The law of gravity
was suspended. There he raises up back into
the Father's presence. Where that is, I don't know if
it's outside of the universe. Who knows where heaven is? But
he went back to heaven and he sat down. He sat down. When he had by himself, purged
our sins. He sat down on the right hand
of the majesty on high from henceforth expecting till his enemies be
made his footstool. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down from henceforth expecting
by one offering he had perfected forever them that are sanctified.
I love this thing of sitting down. He sat down because his
work's finished. He sat down because it's complete.
He sat down because He doesn't have anything to do. The work
has been done. He sat down because He's not
worried. I love to think of the Son of God never worried. He
knows His will's gonna be done. Matt, you read that scripture
in Matthew 20. I hope you all noticed this. When the demons
wanted to leave, it says Jesus gave them leave. He gave them
permission. They couldn't make a move without
his permission. He sat down ruling and reigning, and look what it
says, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead
and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places far
above all principality and power and might and dominion and every
name that's named, not only in this world, but also into that
which is come. Far above, how far above? Infinitely. He's God. This is not something we can
measure, just far above. Far above principalities, rulers,
good angels, bad angels, Satan, the God of this world, he's far
above. Far above power, authority, decision-making
power. He has it all. He is the decision-maker. Everything that takes place is
because he willed it. He's far above. We make decisions,
we don't make any decisions at all. Whatever we do is His decision. He's far above all power, decision-making
power. He's far above all might. That's
talking about His omnipotence. People talk about powerful men.
There's no such thing. Power belongeth unto the Lord.
Whatsoever the Lord please, that did He. Oh, the power of Christ. He's omnipotent. Whatever He
wills, He causes to take place. Far above dominion, lordships. He's the Lord of lords. He's
the King of kings. That's who He is. And this is
where the Father has placed Him in His own right hand, far above
all principality and power and might and dominion and every
name that's named, not only in this world, but also into that
which is to come. Remember, at the name of Jesus. Every knee is going to bow. Things in heaven, things on the
earth, things under the earth, Satan and all of his demons,
that at the name of Jesus, every knee is going to bow. And every
tongue is gonna confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the
glory of God the Father. You see it, please the Father,
that in him should all fullness dwell, that in all things he
might have the preeminence. Christ is all. Now, does that
make you happy? Are you glad it's that way? Christ
is all. And my heart says, amen. Amen. Verse 22. Now he wants us to
see this. The eyes of our understanding
being enlightened. He wants us to see this. He hath
put all things under his feet. I want to be with Mary sitting
at his feet, don't you? She sat at his feet, heard his
word. He's put all things under his
feet and gave him to be the head. He's the head of all things. He's the head. And this is his
gift to the church. Now I want to close by spending
a few moments talking about the church. God has given him to
be head as a gift to the church. This is your gift. This is what
God has done for you, which is his body, the fullness
of him that filleth all in all. Now the church is known in two
ways, and both of these are taught in the Bible. There's a local
church, Todd's Road Grace Church. It's a local church. Local church
has one pastor. You remember when the Lord wrote,
he wrote to the angel, not the angels, the angel of the church
of Ephesus and the angel of the church at Laodicea. We read in
Revelation 1 of the golden candlesticks, the seven local churches, and
the Lord said, I walk in their midst, their local churches. And local churches have a mixture. You have those who believe and
those who don't, all assembled together in that local church. Well, why don't we get rid of
the people that don't believe and have a pure membership? Because
me and you don't have enough sense to do that. We just don't
have enough sense. And the Lord gave us that parable
of the wheat and the tares. He said, let them grow together.
Let them grow together. And in the end, it'll be seen. But up until now, well, you need
to get rid of that person. Does anybody have the wisdom
to do something like that? I've had people say, you need
to kick that person out. Everyone ought to think this,
if anybody ought to be kicked out of this church, it ought
to be me. That's the way everybody ought to feel. And if you don't
feel that way, you have too high an opinion of yourself, I'll
assure you. The local church, is a mixed group, some who believe,
some who don't, and you and I don't have enough sense to know what
to do as far as who's a wheat and who's a tare. I've had so many people ask me,
well, how do you handle church discipline? I'm going to remember next time
I've said this before, weed eaters right on the back of the legs.
That'll straighten everybody out. You know, it don't. But there's also the universal
church. The General Assembly and Church of the Firstborn,
whose names are written in heaven. The bride of Christ. The body
of Christ. the house of God, the fullness
of him that filleth all in all. I wouldn't say something like
that if the Bible didn't say it. The church is the fullness,
the completeness of him that filleth all in all. The church is the elect, those
Christ died for. those God the Holy Spirit gives
life to. Now, what an amazing thing a
Christian is. A part of the body of Jesus Christ. What an amazing thing. You know what that means? Jesus Christ would be incomplete
without me. That is true of every believer. Jesus Christ, the Lord, would
never be happy without his spotless bride. He will not accept anything
but his complete body. And with regard to every believer,
Christ would not be complete without you. You are the fullest. This is
said of every believer. Somebody says, how can you say
that? Because it's said right here. That's how I'm saying it.
It's said right here. And heaven would not be heaven
to Christ without you. You are the apple of his eye. holy, unblameable, and unapprovable
in his sight. That is what every believer is. Now, how secure are you? How secure are you? I can't even describe how secure
you are. You're part of his body. He takes
care of his body. And what a reason for amazement,
humility, and gratefulness. And the Lord intends for us to
know these things, to know them, to believe them, to rejoice in
them. This was his prayer for the Ephesians,
and it's his prayer for us. May the Lord enable us to in
some measure, in some measure, because I, you know, I think,
is this stuff really true? I mean, I do, I believe it is,
but it seems too good to be true, doesn't it? It seems too good
to be true that Christ, heaven wouldn't be heaven to him if
I'm not there. Well, it's true of everybody that he loves. What an amazing, amazing thing.
Let's pray together. Lord, how we thank you. We don't know how to thank you
properly. We ask that you would accept our thanksgiving through
thy son. But Lord, how we thank you that we do believe. That thy son is the Christ. The
son of the living God. And Lord, we believe that every
member of his body will most assuredly be in heaven. Lord, we believe this hope we
have in thy son. And Lord, we ask that you would
take this revelation of yourself that you give to us and cause
us to follow thy dear son. Let us be followers of Christ. Enable us to deny ourselves,
to take up our cross willingly. joyfully and follow thy blessed
son. Lord, we thank you for the salvation
that's in him. In his name we pray.