Ephesians 3:18-21

Well, if you can believe it, today we're

making it to the end of Ephesians 3.

I don't know how many Sundays we've been in

Ephesians 3. It's been a few.

We had John in between. It's been a few, but

we've come to this last text,

and Roger Dale just read it, but I want to

read it again, and I want to remind you

that verses 14 to 21 is a prayer of Paul, not

only for the church at Ephesus,

for the church of all human history. So let's

read again. We'll start

today, and actually today our text will be 18

to 21 that I will do an exposition of,

but let's read again starting in verse number

14. Paul prays.

"For this reason I bow my knees before the

Father from whom every family in heaven and on

earth

derives its name, that he would grant you

according to the riches of his glory

to be strengthened with power through his

spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may

dwell

in your hearts through faith, and that you,

being rooted and grounded in love,

may be able to comprehend with all the saints

what is the breadth and length,

height, depth, and to know the love of Christ,

which surpasses knowledge that you may be

filled up

to all the fullness of God. Now to him who is

able to do far more abundant

beyond all that we ask or think according to

the power that works within us to him be the

glory

in the church and in Christ Jesus to all

generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Now the magnitude of this prayer simply cannot

be overstated. I want you to consider

how much deep truth we have learned just in

these verses of 14 to 21, not to mention

the first three chapters of Ephesians. This

has been in these verses such a balance

of encouragement for all Christians and at the

same time conviction for Christians.

And it's so obvious that the Holy Spirit, as

is true of all of Scripture,

inspired Paul to write this prayer, not only

as I said earlier for the original

audience there at Ephesus, but for all the

saints of all time throughout all of history.

And let me start with an encouragement for you

Christian. Psalm 119,

verses 98 through 100 is something that is

true for every believer. And the deeper

any believer studies God's Word, the more

definitional these verses are for them.

Look starting in verse 98, "Your commandments,

synonymous with your Word,

make me wiser than my enemies, for they are

ever mine. I have more insight than all my

teachers

for your testimonies. Your Word are my

meditation. I understand more than the aged

because I have observed your precepts." So

again, commandments, testimonies, precepts,

all synonymous with your words. As Christians,

we are the most informed people in the world.

We have the truth. It is only us who

understand true reality in the universe, as it

really is.

We know and understand who we are. We know why

we're here. We know where we're going

after we take our last breath. We know exactly

why God made the world and the universe and

the

stars and the planets. And we know what the

purpose of life is. And we know exactly how

everything is going to wind up when this world

comes to an end. Now, sure, there are many

people

out there that have higher IQs than we do.

Lots higher IQ than I have. There are people

out there

who are much more gifted than us in an uncount

able number of ways. But if they have not come

to

saving faith in Christ alone by grace alone,

Psalm 119 says we are wiser. We have more

insight.

And we understand more than all unbelievers,

no matter how gifted, no matter how much IQ

they have,

not only because we have been saved, but

because we have the Word of God in our hands

and because of the illumination of the Holy

Spirit, we understand the Word of God.

And we can lose sight of that because the

world, especially the elite and the academics,

they look at us with our Bibles as simple-

minded superstitious hillbillies

who need to be pitied and nowadays most often

loathed and hated with our high view

of the authority of Scripture. That's how the

world looks at us, especially in those circles

.

Thomas Edison once said, "We don't know one

millionth of one percent about anything."

Mark Twain said this, "But the trouble with

the world is not that people know so little,

but the things they do know ain't so."

And really, big picture, that's how it is to

live in this world apart from the revelation

of God.

People outside of God's family, adopted by

grace, think that they are wise.

They think they are informed and they may be

about a lot of earthly things, but on the

things that

matter the most, really it's totally the

opposite. On the most significant and

important things that

human beings must know, we rise above the

ignorance as Christians. We rise above all the

misinformation

and disinformation as you've heard a lot about

in the current political campaign

with the word of God for our understanding.

Psalm 119 is exactly right. We are wiser than

our enemies.

But only because we have been granted the

saving, sovereign grace of God, which enables

us again to

understand and believe deeply in the treasure

of the word of God. So we don't look at

ourselves as

something special. We don't look down our nos

es as those who are outside of the family of

God as

we are so important because we would still be

in that same situation if God had not moved

into our

lives and saved us. Make sure you understand

with this great privilege of the knowledge

that we have,

of the word, of the living God, the Creator of

all things seen and unseen always comes great

responsibility. It's not enough to come here

and get your steroid shot of Bible once a week

, Christian.

Now you need to be here because Hebrews doesn

't give us a suggestion. It gives us a command,

Christian, when it says forsake not the

assembling of yourselves together. That's a

command for all

believers. But the preaching of the word of

God is ordained, Christian, not only for our

worship

but for our discipleship. So yes, you need to

be here to sit under the preaching of the word

of

God, but you also need to be digging into that

Bible on your own. Understanding what a

treasure

you hold in your hand with this Bible should

motivate you to be digging in it regularly,

daily. Let me remind you of Ephesians chapter

1 verse 8 and 9. Speaking of the riches of God

's

grace, verse 8, which he lavished on us. Look

next, look at these words. "In all wisdom and

insight

he made known to us the mystery of his will."

That's incredible. The will of the living God

has been revealed to us in his word, which

Jesus said he reveals to babes and he hides

from the

whys of this world. Remember another of Paul's

prayers in Ephesians chapter 1 verses 17

through

19. He prays that the God of our Lord Jesus

Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a

spirit.

Look at these words of wisdom and revelation

in the knowledge of him. Verse 18, "I pray

that the

eyes of your heart may be enlightened and that

you will know what is the hope of his calling,

what are the riches of the glory of his

inheritance in the saints and what is the

surpassing greatness

of his power toward us who believe." What a

prayer for Christians. You have to understand

the tremendous knowledge that we have access

to in our hands with this book

every single day of our life. And Paul is

praying that we would take advantage of this

inexhaustible treasure that we have. In Ephes

ians chapter 3, he says this was in accordance,

look at this phrase, with the eternal purpose

which he carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Don't fly by that. Christian, you know the

creator of the universe's eternal purpose.

Think of that.

That book that you hold in your hand, the

literal word of God, is the greatest, most

incredible gift

that God could ever give a person, save King

Jesus himself. But it's up to you to drink it

in,

to absorb it, to get it into your bloodstream,

to make it a regular part of your life and a

regular

part of your thinking. Jeremiah said this in

Jeremiah 15, 16, "Your words were found and I

ate

them and your words became for me a joy and

the delight of my heart for I have been called

by

your name, O Lord God of Hosts." Job said in

Job 23, 12, "I have not departed from the

command of

his lips. I have treasured the words of his

mouth more than my necessary food." Psalm 1,

2 describes the righteous man this way, "But

his delight is in the law of the Lord." That's

the

word of the Lord. In his law, he meditates day

and night. And you know, there are many more

verses like that, all throughout the Old

Testament. They all are trying to get us to

understand

this tremendous resource and rich treasure

that we have, having the actual Word of God in

our hands.

Now, I want you to remember the car

illustration that we've been using through

three chapters.

If you ever caught any part of that, go back

online, all our stuff's online, go back and

listen,

go back and listen to the whole three chapters

. The first three chapters of Ephesians are the

engine.

The theological foundation Paul lays of who

Christ is and remember who we are in Christ.

And then

chapters 4 to 6 are the roadmap of the

Christian life. But in between, those two

things is this

prayer here in verses 14 to 21. And remember,

I told you, this prayer is like the ignition

switch

to get the engine cranked up to get us on the

road in the Christian life.

And we've come to the last set of verses here

in the ignition switch of Ephesians 3.

Remember

the purpose clauses that we've looked at in

this section. "One truth builds upon another.

Do this in order that this may happen. Do this

in order that that may happen. Building one

truth

upon another." And remember that if we are

really going to actualize all this great truth

that Paul

has been teaching us, we are going to have to

be strengthened with power through the Spirit

of God

in the inner man. That's what he prays in this

text. Verse 16. Remember what we said,

we have to be yielded to the Spirit of God in

the war, the daily war that we have with our

flesh

in order for that to happen. And then when

problems come our way, we don't have to rely

on human wisdom.

We don't have to rely on pop psychology and

life coaches or any of those things, a man-

centered

things that helps people get through life

because we have the Word of God and the Spirit

of God

strengthening our inner man day by day and

enabling us to deal with the trials and the

tribulations of life in ways that nobody else

can. And remember from last time,

that leads to the truth of the indwelling

Christ. Look at verse 17. So that, there's the

purpose

clause, Christ may dwell in your hearts

through faith. Remember that word dwell? What

did I say?

It means to settle down, to be at home. And

again, I won't go over all that again. I don't

have time

today. Go back and listen. But that's what we

want, Christian. We want our life to be such

that Christ

is settled down and at home in our hearts

instead of having to constantly clean up the

place by

chasing on us all the time. That can only

happen after we've gone through those prior

steps that

we've learned. And then we also started into

last time, the third purpose, middle of the

verse,

verse 17, and that you being rooted and

grounded in love. When you're rooted and

grounded in love,

godly love, biblical love, not the world's

idea of love of emotion,

only then can you be content in your life. Do

you want to be content in your life? Let me

tell you

something. Hate in your heart will rip your

life to shreds on a regular basis. But when

Christ is

settled down and at home in our hearts, it is

then that we are rooted and grounded in love.

Man, that's the key. That's the foundation.

That's the bottom line in how to get through

this hard life that God has ordained for us,

rooted and grounded in love. Not easy to get

to.

Not easy to keep up. I'm not teaching you some

kind of Cliff Notes formula and presto you've

got it.

OK, that's not what these verses are. What I'm

teaching you is the gold standard of how to

live the Christian life, but it requires you

to be disciplined and diligent in being yield

ed

in the spirit by the spirit. And you can only

do that by being in the Word of God on a

constant

basis and only reading it. But remember,

listening to good sound sermons and all that

that we went

through. But when we were saying, now I want

to make this point clear, Romans five, five,

middle

of the verse. Your Christian says this, the

love of God has been poured out within our

hearts

through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Now, Christian, listen to me. The love is

there

in you. If you're a believer, it poured out

within our hearts. I love the King James,

shed a broad in our hearts. It's there. It's

the most normal thing in the world for

Christians

to love other people, most normal. But if you

're having problems in that area today,

it's not because the love isn't there. It's

because you are not allowing it to function.

You're walking in the flesh. Let me ask you a

question. What is easier

to breathe or to hold your breath? I mean, you

've been breathing all day, and I bet you've

not

thought about breathing at one time in this

day, have you? Isn't it interesting when you

think

about that? You become conscious of the fact

that you're breathing. I am breathing. I'm

doing that

all day and now I'm conscious of it. I can't

stop thinking about the fact that I have to

breathe in

and out every moment of every day to stay

alive. You have to breathe or you're going to

die.

And you don't even have to think about it, but

it's very difficult for you to hold your

breath.

I mean, you can only do it for a few minutes

at the most because when you're holding your

breath,

you're fighting against the natural thing that

God has designed to keep you alive. Isn't that

a wonderment that God designed that? You don't

even think about it, but you have to do it.

Now, when you are regenerated and you come to

faith in Christ on His terms of repentance and

faith,

and you are made spiritually alive and the

Holy Spirit has come to indwell you,

the most natural thing in the world is this.

Love of God will shed a brawn in your heart.

It should permeate you. It should touch

everybody around you.

But sometimes, Christian, in the battle with

our flesh, you know what we do?

We hold our breath. Your own self-will does

that.

We resist the love of God that has been shed

abroad in our hearts. That's a guarantee

with selfish pride. That's what it comes down

to. You have to let that go.

You have to get back to the function of

natural Christian breathing,

natural foundation of love that God has

promised will shed abroad in your hearts when

He saved you.

Now, there's a second element to it. Next,

that you, verse 18, may be able to comprehend

this love.

The word for "comprehend" in the original

Greek means this, to seize or to grasp for

your own,

to make it your own as a way of living. And

you want that as a Christian.

It's the most desired thing. As a Christian,

it should be something that you want to seize.

It should be something that you want to grasp

and hold on to. And if you profess to be a

Christian,

but you do not have love as the root and the

ground of your life, you don't comprehend it

and experience it. The problem, again, is not

the people around you giving you trouble.

They ain't the problem. The problem started

clear back in verse 16. "You have never yield

ed real

control of your life to the Holy Spirit." I

don't care how they act. They got nothing to

do with it.

Because, remember, what's the very first fruit

of the Spirit? Love.

Example, between a Christian husband and wife.

If that is not a relationship of love,

it isn't because of some kind of personality

conflict that you can't get along.

The Bible commands us as Christians to love

every believer equally. And if you can't even

love your wife or your husband, incompat

ibility is not the problem, Christian. Sin is

the problem.

The number one sin in marriage, many other

areas. I told this to John and Nicole Friday.

Selfishness. Number one, selfishness is the

number one problem. If you're in a Christian

marriage and

you say, "I just don't love him anymore. I

just don't love her anymore."

I hate to have B1 tell you. You say that, you

're just in straight up disobedience as a

Christian,

period. If you love each other, Christians

couples with agape love. If you love each

other

with the way God loves you as a believer, self

less, sacrificial, real, genuine, biblical love

,

then I promise you, you'll get lo-fi. You will

. It's not rocket science. Oaks. When you boil

it all

down, though it can come in many forms and

many ways, again, I want to say it, selfish

ness is the

number one root problem in all dysfunctional

marriages, Christian or not Christian.

Wherever

there is the absence of genuine love, there

will always be the presence of sin. The

absence

of love means you're not walking in the spirit

. One or the other are both in the relationship

.

Well, Brother Philip, I hear you. I've been

loving a long time. Look at how I've been

treated.

Well, so has God been loving you a long time.

And look at how he's been treated.

Has it affected his love for you?

Toward you? Now, keep your wits about you. I'm

not talking about perfection.

I'm not saying that you love each other the

right way with agape love. You're never

getting an

argument and you'll never have a disagreement

and you'll just live in love utopia all the

time.

You don't get to that until after you're dead.

Just come over to me and Christie's

house for a weekend, okay? But in general,

Christians have the capacity to and are

commended to love one another and the place

that has to start and be most important folks

is in

the home. If you can't get it done there with

your spouse, with your kids, how are you going

to

get it done anywhere outside of them? And what

Paul is also teaching us here is in order to

get there,

in order to get there, you have to have the

spirit and control of your life, which means

you have to be yielded to the spirit and all

the things that we talked about in the verses

prior

to this. It's not walking in the spirit, but

walking in the flesh that produces selfishness

in the life of a Christian every time. Really,

everything that's in the Bible that God wants

of us can be, I can sum it up in one shot.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart,

soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor

as yourself.

I didn't come up with that. Only Jesus can say

those kind of things in an economy of words

that covers the whole law. I mean, think about

it. If you love your neighbor, you're not

going to kill

your neighbor, right? I mean, if you love your

neighbor, you're not going to cover their

stuff.

I mean, if you're not going to lie and bear

false witness against them, if you love them,

you're not going to steal from them. If you

love them, if you love God, you're not going

to make a

graven image and bow down to it and worship it

and dishonor him. If you love God, you're not

going to dishonor him and take his name in

vain, go down the list of the Ten Commandments

.

All the Ten Commandments are a statement of

principles that give us a definition of love

for God and for others. That's why they are a

pattern for us to follow in order to live a

life

that's pleasing to God. We're going to learn

later in Ephesians 5 verse 2 from Paul. Look

at this.

And walk in what? Love just as Christ also

loved you and what gave himself up for us. You

see,

it's always sacrificial love. That's biblical

love. Christ gave himself. And trust me,

if you walk in love, if you're rooted and

grounded in love, you're just going to be a

much happier

person. Let me tell you something. It doesn't

do you any good to walk around being angry,

bitter and hateful and resentful, walk around

all the time whining and complaining. It even

affect your physical health if you live like

that. If this is convicting you and you're

struggling

with this, what I'm telling you? Back up to

the beginning. Get back in the Word of God. Go

back

through Ephesians. Yield to the Spirit and

start today. Ask God to forgive you and start

today.

The resources are already there, Christian.

The ability is already there. All you got to

do is

turn the ignition switch on. That's all you

got to do. Now, go back to verse 18.

Well, let's look at 18 and 19. You may be able

to comprehend with all the saints what is the

breadth and length and height and depth and to

know the love of Christ which surpasses

knowledge

that you may be able to be filled up to all

the fullness of God. I want you to notice

that there's not love for Christ. Look at that

phrase. It's to know the love of Christ,

the very same love that Christ had. I mean,

that is an amazing statement.

Now, it's sad, but Christians fight a lot.

Baptists are really good at it, right? Not

here,

but we've all been to churches, business

meetings where fist fights almost break out.

Worried about the money or the color of the

carpet or whatever the world it is. It's silly

.

I get on Twitter. I watch these guys even in

the same basic theological reform camp. Man,

they just go at it on Twitter and we say, "Man

, I can't stand that person, but I love them in

the

Lord." Somebody say that. That old flesh makes

it hard for us and we get to having this kind

of

quasi-spiritual love. It's partly worldly and

emotional, but you look at that verse, "Jesus

wants us to love people the same way he loved

us." That's the gold standard, selflessly,

sacrificially. Not worried about your needs,

meeting their needs first, but again,

I'm going to keep harping on it. That only

happens when you are controlled by and walking

in the

spirit. The world love says, "I'll love you

until you offend me." And we live in the most

offended

society in the history of planet earth.

Everybody's so easily offended about

everything.

God's love says, "I'm going to love you in

spite of the fact that you never stop off

ending me."

That's the kind of love that we can bring to

any human relationship. That's the kind of

love that

those outside of the family of God, they don't

know anything about. We didn't know anything

about it either before we came to cry. The

world loves for what it can get. We love for

what we

can give. That's the kind of love in verse 19

that says, here in verse 19, surpasses

knowledge.

It's kind of like exactly the same as when

everything is falling apart in our life around

us

and circumstances are a dark hurricane swirl

ing around us. We've got a peace. We have the

ability

to have a peace that surpasses all

understanding. It's there. You just have to

access it.

You only get that if you have it and you sure

can't explain that to somebody who doesn't

have it,

right? Paul tries to describe this genuine

love in verse 18. Look, what is the breath,

length, and height, and depth, verse 19, and

to know the love of Christ which surpasses

knowledge. I mean, he's trying to explain it

to you how great it is, breath, and length,

height, and depth. I mean, he's just trying to

just use language to do it. But it's pretty

interesting.

Just here in Ephesians, we have some examples

of those words. What is the breath of God's

love?

Well, we learned it earlier. It's broad enough

to take in Jews and Gentiles from every part

of this

globe. Every tribe, kindred, tongue, and

nation. What is the length of God's love? Well

, we learned

it earlier in Ephesians 1. It started when he

chose us and him before the foundation of the

world.

So it stretches from eternity past. How long

is God's love? Well, we learned that in Ephes

ians 2,

that in the ages to come, he will show the

exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness

stored us through Christ Jesus. So it's from

eternity past to eternity future. How deep is

his love, Ephesians 2, deep enough to reach us

when we were dead in our trespasses and sins,

walking according to the course of this world?

How high is the love of God? Ephesians 1,

high enough to take us and to bless us with

every spiritual blessing in the heavenly

places in

Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2, to raise us up

together and make us sit together in the

heavenlies in Christ Jesus. It's that high.

That is what Paul is praying for us to grasp

here,

that we will have a deep experiential

knowledge of the love of Christ. And that

leads us to a fourth

thing at the end of verse 19, that you may be

filled up to all the fullness of God. And I

mean,

you can read commentaries, you can read your

MacArthur Stubby Bible.

I really don't even know what to say about

that. I really don't, filled up to all the

fullness of

God. I mean, that's beyond human comprehension

. The only thing I do know is that if you

follow

the sequence that Paul has been laying out for

us in these verses, you can be filled up,

filled up to all the fullness of God. You can

be, that's what he's praying for here. This is

really

incredible. There's no way to measure this.

That God, who fills all in all, could fill me.

Wow, just the thought of this should encourage

you so much about being a Christian. It should

motivate you to want to follow this sequence

that Paul is giving in these verses in this

prayer.

Let me give you a few comparison verses just

real quick.

To let you know that, that God never designed

or intended for Christians to function halfway

.

Look at Ephesians 1.23, speaking of the church

, which is his body, look at that word,

the fullness of him who fills all in all. Eph

esians 4.13, until we attain to the unity of

the faith

and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a

mature man, to the measure of the stature,

which belongs to the fullness of Christ. And

then the end of Ephesians 5.18, but be filled

with the Spirit. So God is looking for total

fullness when we are filled with the Spirit.

That's when self is out of the picture. That's

what we have to struggle with every day.

Right? That's our fight. What a great life,

the Christian life. There is no better way to

live

on this earth than as a Christian. Nothing,

nothing comes close. I don't care how much

money you got,

how much fame you have. Nothing is better than

being a Christian. Circumstances are never the

issue, either. You having a bad day? Just

track the apostle Paul's life through the

Bible after

his encounter on the Damascus road. Not one

human in here has ever had one bad day

compared to any

of Paul's bad days. All right, let's get to

the conclusion. And let me tell you, there's

some

nitroglycerin in this conclusion right here.

Let's go back through the steps. Inner

strength

leads to indwelling Christ, which leads to

incomprehensible love, which leads to infinite

fullness. And the sum of it all, we're fixing

to see number five, internal power.

This is where the ignition sparks. This is

where the spark plug fires. And the engine

turns on.

And in verse 20, Paul starts into this great

doxology and benediction. And after he's laid

it

all out, going back to verse 14 where the

prayer started, he says in verse 20,

"Now to him who is able to do far more abund

antly beyond all that we ask or think according

to the

power that works within us." He's saying that

he is able to make all that happen in our life

that

we just study. He is able. He is able to do

what we ask or think. He is able to do far

more abundantly

beyond all that we ask or think. Don't ever

say this, Lord, I don't know if you can use me

in

that situation. Don't ever say that. He can.

According to his power that works within us,

he says right here, his power. When the local

church gathers right here on Hooper Road,

we gather with the Holy Spirit and the power

of King Jesus. And when we go back out of here

,

back into our Monday to Saturday lives, we go

out there knowing that God is able to do far

more abundantly beyond all that we can ask or

think if, if we are laying out and living the

pattern that I've given to you in these verses

and that Paul has written. The power's there.

The resource is there. There is no limit to

what God can do. I'm telling you,

this didn't pie in the sky that I'm giving you

. This is truth. But in order for this to take

place,

I'm going to tell you one more time, you have

to be yielded to the Spirit of God in your

life.

You have to be strengthened in the inner man

and when it's all said and done.

Just to make sure, Christian, that nobody goes

to getting proud of themselves for how good

they

did. That nobody gets to think, "Well, look at

how I did. Look how I lived," verse 21,

closes it out, "to him be the glory in the

church and in Christ Jesus to all generations

forever

and ever. Amen." As always, he gets all the

glory all the time because that is what is

right.

That is what is fitting. And if you're a

Christian, you don't want it any other way.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you today for the

tremendous prayer that you and your Spirit

inspired your apostle Paul to pin

and how you put it all together, the New

Testament. Everything is so,

it's just so amazing. And it's for all of us.

It's for all of the church at all times. So I

have two prayers. Number one, for every

Christian in here, we have all, including

myself in the

past week leading up to this message, we have

all been discipled and learned. So I pray by

way of

application for spiritual growth in our life

from what we have learned here today. And

number two,

if anyone is here who is not bowed in need to

the Lordship of Christ and saving faith,

Lord, take the power of your Spirit and the

word preached together to draw that person to

yourself

and bring them into the family of God by grace

. And we praise you today for this beautiful

Sunday.

We never want to take for granted this

beautiful building that you let us meet in

every Sunday.

And we pray that everything we have done this

day that been done in such a way as to bring

you

maximum glory. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.