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.