Ephesians chapter 3. Ephesians chapter 3. I want to bring you a message
this evening from verse 14 down through verse 21. And what these
verses deal with is Paul crying out and laying out his heart
before God Almighty at the throne of grace in a way of prayer for
these people whom he loved. These people to whom he actually
was imprisoned for preaching the gospel to them. He was in
love with them. He not only preached to them,
but while he was in prison there in Rome, he prayed for them. They were on his heart. Notice verse 13, wherefore he
said, I desire that you faint not, don't faint, don't quit,
because of my trouble because of my imprisonment, because of
the tribulations that God has sent my way. It has been for
you. Bait not up my tribulation for
you, which is your glory." It's been for your good and certainly
for God's glory. Now these verses are oozing and
overflowing with the goodness of God's love, mercy, and grace
unto His people. In this prayer for God's people,
we learn something of the importance of prayer. Our Lord said in Luke
18, men ought always to pray. I believe it's a very life breath
of the believer, crying unto God. We see something of the
importance of prayer. Men ought always to pray. We
see something of the privilege of prayer. Oh, what a privilege
God has given to His people to call upon Him in our time of
need. It's a privilege. And we see
something of the object of prayer. We cry unto the Father. He said,
I bow my knees unto the Father, the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ. We see something of the importance
of prayer, the privilege of prayer, the object of prayer. And, you
know, Praying unto God is really one of the ways in which we thank
God and praise God. We see something of the thanksgiving
of prayer. We bless God, as the Apostle
says in chapter 1, we bless God who had blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. And we say with
David in Psalm 103, bless the Lord. O my soul and all that
is within me, bless His holy name. As he breaks out in this
doxology in Ephesians 3, verse 20, now unto him that is able
to do, exceeding abundantly, exceeding abundantly above all
we ask or think according to His mighty power, that He is
yet working, working, working in us, working in us. Paul reminds them that the sufferings
and tribulation and hardship he endures for the gospel's sake
is for their good, for the fervent of the gospel. Let me show you
that over here just in Philippians chapter 1, if you'd like to turn
over there. He said, You understand, this is Philippians
1 verse 12, but I would, you should understand, brethren,
that the things which happen unto me hath fallen out rather
to the furtherance of the gospel, so that my bonds in Christ are
manifest in all the palace and in all other places." Whatever
happened to Paul happened to the furtherance of the gospel.
In 2 Timothy, these words are recorded here. Let me read them
to you. He said, wherein I suffer trouble. Remember that second
epistle there in Timothy is also a prison letter. Paul was in
Rome in prison for the gospel. And he writes back to young Timothy,
his preacher brother, my son in the faith he calls him, wherein
he said, I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even under bonds. But he says the Word of God's
not bound. I'm in jail, but you can't put God's Word in jail.
The Word of God's not bound. He said, Therefore I endure all
things for the elect's sake, that they also may obtain the
salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. God help us to have that mindset,
that frame of mind. to endure all things for God's
elect, God's gospel unto the salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ
unto eternal glory. And then he says in our text,
Ephesians 3 verse 14, for this cause, for this cause or for
this purpose, for this purpose, I bow, I bow to God's will. I bow to God's purpose. You remember
over in the first verse of this same chapter, he says, for this
cause, for this cause, I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ,
for this cause, I bow, I submit unto the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Submission for this cause. for
the cause of God in truth, for the cause of His glory, the cause
of the furtherance of the gospel, and according to God's eternal
purpose and will. For this cause I submit unto
God's purpose, God's will." As he says in Ephesians 3 verse
11, according to the eternal purpose of God in Christ Jesus. For this cause I bow, I submit,
I bend the knee unto God's will, God's purpose, and I pray for
you. I pray for you. That's what he's talking about
here. Now, a lot of people, I guess, when they talk about prayer,
or praying and prayer, a lot of times they have the idea,
well, I must bow the knee, physically bow the knee, or bow the head,
or lay prostrate on the floor. Prayer is much more than the
attitude of the body. Now you can have a bended knee
and a bowed head, but yet have a heart full of rebellion. Prayer
is much more than an attitude of the body. It's the attitude
of the heart before the throne of God. In 1 Samuel 16, you remember
the story there when Samuel went down to the house of Jesse to
anoint a king and he looked on all of David's brothers. They
looked tall, big, handsome, and Samuel thought, well, maybe that
firstborn son, God said, No, that's not mine anointed. He
said, Sam, you're looking on the outward countenance. I'm
looking on the heart. God looks on the heart. That
ought to tell us something about worship. That ought to tell us
something about prayer. God looks on our heart. He knows
our heart. He knows our mind. He knows our
thoughts afar off. I'm thinking of another scripture
over in 1 Samuel chapter 12, verse 23, Samuel said this, God forbid
that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you.
Samuel was God's prophet to Israel and he had a burden of prayer
and he said, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord
in ceasing to pray for God's people. That'll tell us something
about the importance of prayer, the privilege of prayer. Ministers
of God and servants of God have two weapons to use in ministering
to God's people. Number one, we make God's name
known to you through the preaching and proclamation of the gospel.
Paul said, we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord and
ourselves, your servant, for his sake. We make God's name
known through the preaching of the gospel. And I understand
and I know that it takes the revelating work and the revelation
of God the Holy Spirit, but yet we still preach the gospel. We
still declare the Word of God, and God has promised to bless
His Word. He said, it will not return unto me void. The second
thing, that God's ministers and the servants of God, not only
do we make God's name known to you through the preaching of
the gospel and proclaiming the truth, but secondly, we make
your name known before God. We pray for those to whom we
preach. I tell you, there's something
special in the heart of God's servant when he's called to pastor
a group of people. There's that burden and concern
that he has in his heart in wanting the best for those folks, wanting
them to know the gospel, wanting them to love the Lord Jesus Christ,
wanting them to grow in grace and in the knowledge of Him.
And we not only preach to them, but we pray for them. We pray
for them. We pray for one another. I pray
and I hope and trust that you, in turn, pray for me. I'm just
a creature. I'm just a man, just like you,
just like you, in every way, every way, a sinner saved by
God's grace, a sinner saved by God's grace. Now, notice, if
you will, before we look at five things that the apostle prays
for, He says, of whom, this whole family. This is family prayer. The whole family, the family
that's already in glory, the elect of God that He has called,
we pray and we bow the knee before God Almighty and we pray for
the whole family, mindful of those that have been called home,
rejoicing in their salvation. We also pray for those in earth."
The whole family in heaven and earth, they wear His name. You see, they're named. They're
His people. His people. We pray for the whole
family. We pray for God's people. As
it says there in Ephesians 2, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19,
19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19 We pray for those fellow citizens.
We pray for those of the household of God. As he says in chapter
3, verse 6, he says, we pray for those who are fellow heirs,
partakers of the promise of the gospel in Christ Jesus. Here we see something of selective
prayer. Selective prayer. Our Lord practiced
that, didn't he? John 17, 9, he said, I pray for
them, I pray not for the world. But for them which thou hast
given me, for thine they are, and you've given them to me."
We pray for those who are married to Christ. We pray for the whole
family. We pray for those covenant people
who wear His name. You see, the church of the Lord
Jesus Christ is His bride. When a man takes a woman and
they become, and the two, our Lord said, become one, she bears
His name. And this is true of Christ and
the church. We bear His name. We're one with
Him in that vital union married to Christ. We bear His name. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
head of the family, His body. As such, He is the generous provider
for them. He is the head. We are the body.
He gives us all shelter. He is our refuge in a time of
storm. I like this scripture in Isaiah 32. I've preached from
it many times. It talks about the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's our hiding place from the
wind, a covert from the tempest, as rivers of water in a dry place,
as shadows of a great rock in a weary land. He is our hiding
place. He provides all shelter for us as our covenant head. as our
mediator. All shelter, all food. Our Lord
said, I'm the bread of life. I'm the bread of life. He that
cometh to me shall never hunger. He that believeth on me shall
never thirst. He provides us all shelter. He
provides us all righteousness. He provides all things for us. He's the bread from heaven and
He provides all clothing for us. All of our clothing come from
His open hand. Am I talking about material clothing?
No, I'm talking about that blessed robe of righteousness that He
purchased with His blood that He freely gives to us. Isaiah
61.10 tells us about it. He says, I will greatly rejoice
in the Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my
God, for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation. He
hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom
decketh himself with ornaments, as a bride adorneth herself with
jewels. We wear His robe of righteousness,
not one that we have woven by our own deeds, but the one that
He freely imputeth to us. in the gospel. Now, in verse
16, down through verse 19, Paul prays for us. You say, well,
Paul's praying for them. He's praying for the church.
He's praying for believers. He's praying for us. Look what
he says, that God Almighty, the Lord God Almighty, that He would
grant you, grant you according to the riches of His glory, to
be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man. Now, here's the first thing.
Paul prays for us that Almighty God would grant and give according
to His richness, the fullness of His grace in Christ Jesus. My God shall supply all your
need according to His riches in glory through Christ Jesus.
Why is it singular? Why is it just need? I just have
one need, Him. That's my need. Him. Christ. He's all I need. We used to sing
a song, Jesus Christ is made to me. Remember? All I need. All I need. He's my wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification. He is all I need. And that's it. He's my need.
Now look what he prays for here. First thing he says, that God
would grant you according to His rich, glorious grace, to
be strengthened by His might, be strengthened with might by
His Spirit, by God the Holy Spirit, in the power of the Holy Spirit,
in that inner man, in that inner man. Now, talking about the new
nature given in the new birth, I fear, oftentimes, We only pray
and are only mindful of the healing and strengthening of this natural
body, the flesh. I feel oftentimes that that's
all we, when someone gets sick, we pray for them. Certainly we
do, but oftentimes I think that's all we think about is the aspect
of the physical thing, the natural thing and not our spiritual strength. Paul doesn't even mention that
here. He's talking about that strength of that inner man, that
new man given in the new birth. Our real need is the growth and
strength of this new man created in Christ Jesus that he talks
about in chapter 4 of Ephesians. Look over here, if you will,
in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 20. He said, you've not so learned
Christ But if so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught
by him, as the truth is in him, that ye put off concerning the
former conversation of the old man, which is corrupt, according
to deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, that
ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness,
and created in true Holiness, true holiness. The Apostle wrote
this in 2 Corinthians 4. He says, "...for which cause
we faint not, but though the outward man perish." You know
something about that, don't you? We all do. This outward man,
you young people think, well, I'm strong and healthy. I tell
you, as the years pass on, even young people have frailties in
the flesh and sicknesses in the flesh. For this cause we faint
not, though the outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed
day by day." We grow stronger in grace. This old house is falling
down, but that new man created in Christ Jesus is getting stronger
and stronger as we grow in grace and in the knowledge of Him.
The believer in Christ Jesus is in need of daily grace, refreshing
grace, fresh supplies of His love to us each day, to live
for His glory, to combat the lust of the old nature, to endure
the trials that come our way, and that we might serve the Lord
out of love and gratitude. These daily provisions come by
the means and the power of God the Holy Spirit, as it says in
that text, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit, where? In that new nature given and
granted in the new birth. We read in Galatians 5, the fruit
of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness,
meekness, temperance, faith, these things, gift of God, that
He would grant you that he would grant you, a grant is a gift,
gift, oh that God would be pleased to cause us to grow and mature
in the faith, in grace. The second thing he prays for
in verse 17, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith,
by faith, by faith, that you being rooted and grounded in
love, rooted and grounded in love. So the second thing he
prays for, that they would be strong in faith. Strong in faith. I'm thinking of the scripture
over there in Romans 4. Abraham was fully persuaded. Abraham was strong in faith,
giving God the glory and being fully persuaded of all that God
promised he is able to perform. Strong in faith. Strong faith
glorifies God. Strong faith is fixed on Christ. Strong in faith. Strong in faith. Look what he says there, that
Christ may dwell in your hearts. That Christ may dwell in your
hearts by faith. Now this word here, dwell, means
to reside. It means to inhabit. It means
to house permanently. That Christ may dwell in your
heart permanently. And He does. He does. But oh,
to really believe that. Lay hold upon that the Lord Jesus
Christ does reside in the hearts of his people Christ in you the
hope of glory Oh that we might be more aware of this how by
feeling no, sir By believing God by believing God Our Lord
said this Here's what he said. He said I'll never leave you.
I'll never forsake you He said, ìLo, Iím with you always, even
to the end of the world.î You say, ìWell, now, wait a minute.
I donít feel His presence.î He didnít ask you to feel His presence.
He said, ìBelieve My Word. Iím with you always.î You may feel rotten and sinful. Thatís the way I do most of the
time. But I tell you what, I believe His Word. Heíll never leave me.
Heíll never forsake me. He's with us always, even to
the end of the world. Lord, help us to fully believe
that. I want to believe that. I do
believe that. Who is it that said in Scripture,
Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. Help my unbelief. He dwells, listen to this. He
dwells in His people as the sovereign king. He dwells in His people
as the sovereign king in His palace. to rule his people, to
protect his people. Therefore, we can say, as is
recorded in Isaiah, fear not, he said, I am with you always. He dwells in his people as a
sovereign king in his palace to rule and protect them. Therefore,
fear not. Fear not. Fear not. Secondly,
he dwells in his people as a loving shepherd to lead them and to
provide for them. We can say with the psalmist,
the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. I shall not
want. Why? The Lord is my shepherd.
I shall not want. He is my shepherd who leads me
into green pastures, who provides all things for me abundantly
and freely and eternally. He dwells in his people as a
generous father to graciously watch over them, to love them,
and care for them and to protect them. Oh, look what he says there,
that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. The just shall
live by faith. That, thirdly, that being rooted
and grounded in love. Rooted and grounded in love.
Now here's the third thing he prays for, to be strong in faith
and to be strong in love. Strong in love. Rooted and grounded
in love. You see, faith and love go together. Faith and love go together. Where
you find one, you find the other. Faith and love go together. Rooted
in love. When you think of that word rooted,
what do you think of? I think of a deep-rooted oak
tree. Rooted in love. Like he says
in Psalm 1, like a tree planted by the rivers of living water,
rooted in that love, His love for us and our love for Him,
rooted in that love. And then secondly, He mentioned
grounded in that love, grounded in it, like a house resting on
a solid foundation, and that foundation is the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's not sinking sand, it's a
solid foundation. Remember over in chapter 2, verse
20, He said you're built upon the foundation of the apostles
and prophets. What is that foundation? Jesus
Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone. He knits the building
together in love and we rest on that foundation that God hath
laid in Zion. Isaiah 28, 16. Rooted in love,
grounded in love. Now listen to me. This love of
God in Christ is shed abroad in our hearts by the Spirit of
God. And Paul said in Romans 8, nothing
can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. As a matter of fact, he said,
we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. And to Him who loved us and washed
us from our sin in His own blood, to Him be all the glory both
now and forever. Now look at verse 18 in our text.
Here's the fourth thing. Not only to be strong in love,
but also to have a greater understanding of His love, that you may be
able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth of
His love, the length of His love, the depth of His love, and the
height of this love of God in Christ Jesus." A greater understanding
of His love, to be able by His grace to comprehend or apprehend
this great love of God in Christ Jesus. Do you remember that scripture
on 1 John 4 when he talks about the love of God? He said, Herein
is love. Here it is. Not that we love
God, but that He loved us. And He sent His Son to be the
sacrifice, the propitiation, the mercy seat for our sin. Oh, to have a larger, more comprehensive
view of this love of God. This word comprehend, you know
what it means? It means to eagerly seize upon. It means to possess this love.
It means to lay hold of it effectively. That you may be able to seize
this love, to lay hold on this love. You remember what we read
in 1 Corinthians 13? This love never fails. Never fails. And then he mentioned
in that text there in 1 Corinthians 13, verse 7 and 8, the four sides
of love. Love beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth
all things, endureth all things. This love of God never fails. He cannot fail. Someone called this verse where
he talks here about the breadth, the length, the depth, the height
of God's love. One of the old writers said,
This is the geometry of God's great love. The geometry. I never
was very good in math, but I know something about the geometry
of God's grace and God's love. The geometry of His great love
or the rectangle of His love. The breadth, the length, the
depth, the height, the four dimensions of God's love to us. Do you know
something of it? Certainly we do. I want to know
more about it, don't you? Turn to Romans chapter 5. Look
what he says here. Romans 5. The four dimensions of God's
love. The breadth of it. The length of it. Oh, we'll talk
about those four things in just a minute. Let's read Romans chapter
5. Look at verse 5. Hope maketh
not ashamed. Romans 5.5. Because the love
of God is shed abroad in our hearts. by the Holy Ghost which
is given unto us. For when we were yet without
strength in due time, according to the time, Christ died for
the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous
man will one die, yet for adventure for a good man some would even
dare to die. Look at verse 8, God commendeth
His love toward us. This is God commended love. God
commended His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. Much more than being now justified
by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For when
we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son.
Much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. Oh, to know something more of
His love. We know something about it, but
oh, to know more of it, to comprehend more of it, to have this comprehensive
view of this love of God. Now, he mentioned these four
things. Let's work on this for just a minute. He mentions the
breadth of this love or the scope of this love or the reach of
this love to all of God's elect in all ages, in all places, of
in all nations unto His elect." He said, in John 13, having loved
His own, He loved them to the end. The breadth of it. You see
what He's saying here? The scope of it. The reach of
the love of God. To all of God's elect. And then
He talks about the length of this love. The length of His
love. What would you say? The eternality
of His love. The length of it. Jeremiah 31
said, God said, I've loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness,
I'll draw you to myself. The length of it, oh, from everlasting
to everlasting. It's love of God. Wouldn't you
like to know more about that? Oh, I would. I would. I desire
to know more of His love. How about the depth of His love? How about the depth of His love? His love to the lowest, to the
lowest, to the guiltiest, to the vilest sinner. God commended
His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners. The death
of His love to the lowest. You know what it says in Romans
4 verse 5? He justified the ungodly. He died for sinners. This is
a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. The Lord
Jesus Christ came to save sinners. He didn't come to call the righteous.
He came to call sinners unto repentance. You see the depth
of His love to the lowest. There's the breadth of it, the
length of it, the depth of it. How about the height of it? Oh,
the height of it. Wow. Go over to Ephesians 2.
You remember this? Ephesians 2 verse 4. But God,
who is rich in mercy for His great love wherewith He loved
us, even when we were dead in sin, there's the depth of it, dead in sin, hath quickened us
together with Christ. By grace are you saved. Here's
the height of it now, watch. Raised us up together. made us
sit together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus, that in the
ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace
in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus." You see the depth
of it. You see the height of it, don't
you? Oh, I tell you, to know more of this love of God in Christ
Jesus. Look what he says, fifthly, in
verse 19, "...and to know the love of Christ, To know this
love of Christ which passeth knowledge. It's beyond our total
comprehending right now. We see through a glass darkly.
We know in part. We preach in part. To know the
love of Christ which passeth knowledge that ye might be filled
with all the fullness of God. To know more of His special.
This is a special. This is a peculiar. This is a
sovereign love of God, this sovereign love of Christ to His own, His
own people, His own church. It says over here in Ephesians
5, verse 20, 25, Ephesians 5, 25, Husband, love your wives,
even as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for him,
that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water
by the Word. the gospel, that he might present
it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or
any such thing, but it should be holy, it should be holy and
without blemish." That's his sovereign love. Hell's
sovereign love that first began a scheme to rescue fallen man. Hell matchless for eternal grace. Gave my soul a hiding place. His love to his own is durable. He said, I'm the Lord, I change
not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob are not consumed. His love is
durable. His love is unchangeable. His
love is matchless. His love is unparalleled. His
love is wonderful, strong. His love to us is surprising. He loved even me, even me. To us who are not worthy, as
Jacob said, Lord, I'm not worthy of the least of your mercies
and of your truth. We see in the Lord's love to
us revealed. We see something of His love
toward us. We see the Lord's love to us
revealed in His taking our humanity unto Himself. God Almighty manifests
in the flesh. Oh, I tell you, a real man, a
real man, body, soul, and spirit. And yet, totally 100% God. We see the love of God toward
His own in His taking our humanity to Himself. He took upon Him
the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of flesh. And being found in habit, in
fashion as a man, He became obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross. We see His love toward us in
the Lord Jesus Christ taking our sin to Himself. Our Lord
said, no man takes my life from me. I lay it down on myself. I have power to lay it down.
I have power to take it again. This commandment, if I received
my Father, God made Him sin for us. who
knew no sin, that we might be made to righteousness of God
in Him." Don't you see the love of God in that? Oh, I do, I do. We see the love of God manifesting
in the Lord giving us His perfect righteousness. Romans 4 verse
6 talks about, "...Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth,
imputeth, imputeth righteousness without work." You know that
word, there's three words in Romans chapter 4 that repeat
it over and over again. They all say the same thing,
imputed, reckoned, and counted. You ever notice that? About eight
or nine times, maybe more than that. Blessed is the man to whom
the Lord imputeth righteousness without work. Blessed is the
man to whom the Lord will not charge sin. That's a blessed
man. Blessed is that man whose sins
are covered in Christ Jesus. Don't you see something of God's
love in that, in giving to us? that righteousness before God's
holy law, based upon His obedience in precept and in penalty, honoring
God's law? We see God's love manifested
toward us in this. He ever lived to intercede for
us. He ever lived to intercede for us. There is one God and
one mediator between God and, watch it, God and men. God and men. Not mankind, God
and men. He's a mediator for His covenant
people. One God and one mediator between
God and sinners. His covenant people. We see this
love of God manifested in His constant supply of grace and
mercy unto us. Unto us. This is beyond our ability
to fully know now. We know something of it, but
not completely. But the more we know of it, the
more we are filled with His love, the more we are flooded with
the fullness of His person, His love, His redeeming work for
us. In Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and in Christ Jesus believers stand
complete. of His fullness have we all received
grace for grace." There in Scripture is a definition and a reason
for grace. You know what it is? Grace. Of
His fullness have we all received grace for grace. Grace because of grace in Christ
Jesus. His redeeming work. Now, after
having prayed for those five glorious things, Paul breaks
out in the doxology of praise in verse 20. Now unto him that
is able to do above all we ask or think. Look what it says. Now unto him that is able to
do exceeding above all we ask or think. Oh, it goes higher
than that. Now unto him that is able to
do exceeding abundantly. Above all we ask or think. Above
all that we ask or can even imagine according to the power that worketh
in us. It's much like Peter says about
those precious promises exceeding great and precious promises. That's a pretty good description
of the gospel. God's grace in Christ. Now unto him that is
able. Oh, I tell you, God is able. Make no mistake, our God
is not a peanut God. Our God is God. He rules and
reigns in heaven and in earth, and He does according to His
will in the army of heaven, among the heavens of this earth, and
none can stay His hand, and none can say unto Him, Lord God Almighty,
what doest Thou? Make no mistake, our great God
is able to do above all we ask or all we think. exceeding abundantly
above." Now, have you ever taken that word able, A-B-L-E, and
looked it up in the Scripture and see what our great God is
able to do? Let me give you just a few of
them. Hebrews 7, 25, God is able to save to the uttermost all
that come to God by Him. Our God is able to save to the
uttermost. Our God is able In Romans 4,
verse 20, I think I quoted this earlier in the message, speaking
of Abraham, was fully persuaded that God was able to perform
all that He promised. Anything too hard for God? Oh,
no. Oh, no. Nothing too hard for
our God. He's able to perform all that
He has promised. How about in Jude 1? Jude chapter
1, just one chapter, verse 24. God is able to keep us from falling
and to present us faultless before the presence of His glory with
exceeding joy through the only wise God our Savior, be all the
honor, glory and dominion both now and forever. Our God is able. Listen to this. In 2 Corinthians
9.8, God is able to make His grace toward us to abound. He's
able to make His grace toward us to abound, super abound. Listen to this scripture, 2 Corinthians
9.8, God is able to make all grace abound toward you that
you always having all sufficiency in all things may abound to every
good work. God which worketh in you both
the will and do of His good pleasure, His good pleasure. And the last
one is this, let's turn over here to Acts chapter 20, and
let's read this together. Acts chapter 20. When Paul was
on his way to Jerusalem, where he was arrested and sent later
to Rome, when he called for the elders from Ephesus, the same
ones that he's praying for now, the same ones he's writing to
in Acts chapter 20. He called for those elders from
Ephesus, And His word to them, His last parting word to them
was this, in Acts 20 verse 32, Now brethren, I commend you to
God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up
and to give you an inheritance among all them that are sanctified. His word is able His word is
able, able, able. Now watch this. Back to the text.
According, according as we let him. According as we merit. No, uh-uh. According to the power
that worketh, worketh, worketh in us. Present tense. worketh in us. We believe according
to the working of His mighty power, Ephesians 119. God who
hath begun a good work in you, He might finish it. No, no, that's
not what it says. God who hath begun a good work
in you, He will complete it. He will finish it in the day
of His power. Now, in closing, verse 20. 1. Unto him be glory in the church
by Jesus Christ throughout all ages, world without end. Unto him be all the honor and
glory now and forever. The song of the redeemed in glory
is unto him that loved us and washed us from our sin in his
own blood and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his
Father. To him be glory and dominion
forever and ever. What does it say right there? Amen. Amen. Amen. So be it. So be it. Amen. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain
to receive all honor, power, glory, blessing both now and
forever.