WEBVTT 00:00:07.040 --> 00:00:12.800 This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota. 00:00:18.640 --> 00:00:19.679 My name is Jeremy. 00:00:19.760 --> 00:00:21.440 I'm the uh student family pastor. 00:00:21.519 --> 00:00:28.800 It is good to have you here worshiping with us on this last Sunday of 2020. 00:00:28.960 --> 00:00:31.600 And all God's people said, Amen. 00:00:31.839 --> 00:00:33.200 Yes, 2020. 00:00:33.439 --> 00:00:36.719 It's been an incredibly difficult year. 00:00:37.520 --> 00:00:41.119 And in typical fashion, as I normally do, things are smooth. 00:00:43.439 --> 00:00:53.119 As I reflected on 2020 this morning, I was thinking how difficult it's been, but it's been incredibly wonderful in its own unique way. 00:00:53.359 --> 00:00:56.560 God has been incredibly good to us, hasn't he? 00:00:57.359 --> 00:01:02.880 Lots that we could complain about, but we really don't have reason to. 00:01:03.119 --> 00:01:18.239 If you uh will join me in uh the book of Ephesians here this morning, I get the privilege of closing our Christmas service or our Christmas uh sermon series. 00:01:18.879 --> 00:01:24.480 We're gonna be in Ephesians chapter 3, verses 14 through 19. 00:01:24.640 --> 00:01:30.079 If you're new with us and you don't have a Bible, there should be a black one uh in the seat in front of you. 00:01:30.239 --> 00:01:36.079 If you want to grab that and open up to page 977, uh that's where we will be. 00:01:44.959 --> 00:01:47.840 While I hear the pages wrestling, okay, I just want to make a side note. 00:01:47.920 --> 00:01:49.359 This today is a unique day. 00:01:49.439 --> 00:01:53.680 Normally we have uh children's ministry going during the service. 00:01:53.760 --> 00:01:57.200 We have children's church for uh children up to age five. 00:01:57.359 --> 00:02:04.159 Today we only have our nursery available, so we have kids in the service with us and we love it, okay? 00:02:04.319 --> 00:02:08.240 So, parents, we hear your children and we love it, okay? 00:02:08.479 --> 00:02:10.000 Your children are welcome. 00:02:10.159 --> 00:02:12.080 We love having them in here with us. 00:02:12.240 --> 00:02:19.439 I love it when little kids get to watch mom and dad worship with the rest of the church. 00:02:19.599 --> 00:02:26.960 I love it when little kids get to watch mom and dad open up the Bible to hear what is being preached and studied. 00:02:27.120 --> 00:02:29.039 And so uh we want to welcome parents. 00:02:29.120 --> 00:02:44.560 If you get a little uh antsy about your your children uh fidgeting and things like that, we do have um little tool kits really, uh, their bags just outside in the foyers that you could grab, and it has all sorts of stuff to keep them keep them busy if you uh if you would like to use those. 00:02:44.639 --> 00:02:47.840 We would love for you to uh to take advantage of that. 00:02:48.159 --> 00:02:51.919 Ephesians chapter 3, verse 14. 00:02:54.240 --> 00:03:33.599 The apostle Paul writes, For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have the strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 00:03:33.759 --> 00:03:34.719 Will you pray with me? 00:03:34.879 --> 00:03:51.360 Father God, we thank you for ordaining this morning that we would gather together as your people to open your word so that you would speak to us this morning. 00:03:52.560 --> 00:03:58.319 I pray that our our hearts and our minds would be attentive to your word. 00:03:59.759 --> 00:04:10.240 That we would not only hear these words, but I pray it would convict us deeply in a way that changes us. 00:04:10.479 --> 00:04:13.919 Spirit, we we know that we cannot do this on our own. 00:04:14.080 --> 00:04:17.759 We know that the natural mind has no ability to comprehend your word. 00:04:17.920 --> 00:04:23.920 So, Holy Spirit, we pray that you would transcend our hearts and minds. 00:04:24.560 --> 00:04:28.639 We would know the scriptures, understand them, and live them out. 00:04:29.759 --> 00:04:34.800 Lord Jesus, I pray that we would make much of you and your gospel this morning. 00:04:35.600 --> 00:04:40.399 On behalf of your people and those who have not yet been counted. 00:04:41.199 --> 00:04:43.120 We pray this in your name. 00:04:43.439 --> 00:04:44.079 Amen. 00:04:46.319 --> 00:04:53.040 Well, welcome uh again to the last Sunday of Christmas, Feliz Navidad, as we say in my house. 00:04:53.199 --> 00:05:03.759 Uh it's Merry Christmas, and uh, like I said, I'm closing up our Christmas series, and many of you over the past few days have been snacking a lot, haven't you? 00:05:04.079 --> 00:05:06.959 Snacking is a wonderful, wonderful activity. 00:05:07.120 --> 00:05:18.879 It's it's something that we do when we're not quite hungry, and we're kind of bored, we're not quite sure what to do with ourselves, and many of you have had time off from work, and so you're sitting around the house, kids are playing, you're like, what do you do? 00:05:19.040 --> 00:05:20.639 I don't know, let's snack, right? 00:05:20.720 --> 00:05:22.879 Let's get out some stuff and snack on it. 00:05:23.040 --> 00:05:30.160 One of my favorite snacks is this beautiful invention called candy pop popcorn. 00:05:30.399 --> 00:05:32.319 Candy pop popcorn is so wonderful. 00:05:32.399 --> 00:05:35.279 I made sure to give it out in our student ministry at our Christmas party. 00:05:35.360 --> 00:05:36.160 It's wonderful. 00:05:36.319 --> 00:05:48.000 If you're not sure what candy pop popcorn is, it is the holy invention of a love affair between popcorn and candy. 00:05:48.160 --> 00:06:00.399 Uh it's it's popcorn meets MMs and Snickers and all bundled up and so it it's it's popcorn, so it feels like a snack, but there's some candy on it, which makes it feel kind of like a dessert, right? 00:06:00.560 --> 00:06:01.360 It's wonderful. 00:06:01.519 --> 00:06:06.959 But one thing I don't like about candy popcorn, and maybe you can maybe you can relate to this if you had some. 00:06:07.120 --> 00:06:11.439 You pick it up at the store, and the thing just feels crammed full, right? 00:06:11.519 --> 00:06:14.319 Like if you press it in at any moment, it's just going pop. 00:06:14.639 --> 00:06:15.040 Alright? 00:06:15.120 --> 00:06:22.480 But then you get home, you open it, ready to dive in, and you realize that your candy popcorn bag is only half full. 00:06:22.879 --> 00:06:24.480 It's incredibly frustrating. 00:06:24.959 --> 00:06:30.480 It gave the illusion of fullness, but when you opened it up, it was only half full. 00:06:30.639 --> 00:06:35.439 Some of you optimists are saying, well, or some of you pessimists are saying it's half empty, right? 00:06:35.839 --> 00:06:39.600 Half empty, half full, whatever it is, it's not full. 00:06:39.759 --> 00:06:41.519 It's not complete. 00:06:41.839 --> 00:06:47.120 It lets me down every time I open it up, even though I'm grateful to have it. 00:06:47.279 --> 00:06:57.439 I thought that was a fitting way to think of all the things in the world, all the things in life that promise fullness. 00:06:58.160 --> 00:07:06.560 And yet the more we pursue fullness in this world and in this life, we realize that this world and this life is lacking. 00:07:07.519 --> 00:07:08.959 Time is lacking, right? 00:07:09.120 --> 00:07:12.800 We find ourselves running out of time or running late. 00:07:13.279 --> 00:07:17.120 Relationships sometimes seem empty or lacking. 00:07:17.680 --> 00:07:23.360 Your spouse or your friends don't quite understand you, and so there's something lacking there. 00:07:24.480 --> 00:07:32.560 Your job isn't fulfilling, and so you you feel an emptiness inside you that you're not being fulfilled, and on and on we can go. 00:07:32.720 --> 00:07:38.319 And this series that we've been preaching on has been on the fullness of God. 00:07:38.639 --> 00:07:48.319 That in the fullness of time, not a minute sooner, not a minute later, the fullness of God came in the person of Jesus Christ. 00:07:48.480 --> 00:07:56.800 And he offered fullness of redemption, not partial redemption, fullness of redemption for you and I. 00:07:57.120 --> 00:08:04.879 And I end it here this morning with the fullness of God in Ephesians 3. 00:08:05.120 --> 00:08:25.759 I have three segments I want to unpack for us this morning as we drive towards the point that Paul is making here with the fullness of God, because it's not just merely this big idea of God's fullness, it's not merely this idea of something that happened in the past completely, but it affects us presently, here and now. 00:08:25.920 --> 00:08:33.279 And what I want to unpack here this morning is one, what prompts Paul to pray, because this here is a prayer of Paul. 00:08:33.519 --> 00:08:34.720 What prompts him to pray? 00:08:34.799 --> 00:08:36.480 What does Paul pray for? 00:08:36.720 --> 00:08:39.360 And the culmination of that prayer. 00:08:40.080 --> 00:08:46.480 So again, this is one of two prayers in the book of Ephesians from the Apostle Paul. 00:08:46.799 --> 00:08:52.720 In chapter one, Paul unpacks all the blessings that those in Christ possess. 00:08:52.960 --> 00:08:55.919 Blessings that are untouchable that you and I possess. 00:08:56.000 --> 00:08:59.279 There are blessings that are in the heavenly places, right? 00:08:59.519 --> 00:09:07.279 Blessings that happened in eternity past that affect you here, now, in the present, and will come to fulfillment in eternity future. 00:09:07.679 --> 00:09:11.840 You and I have tremendous amounts of blessings in Christ. 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:18.080 And that prompts Paul to his first prayer, which is a thanksgiving for the Ephesians for their faith. 00:09:18.240 --> 00:09:21.440 They own these blessings that he's speaking of in chapter one. 00:09:21.679 --> 00:09:27.600 And then in chapter two, he ends that prayer talking about God's power, and then chapter two. 00:09:28.320 --> 00:09:33.360 Paul continuing this thought about his power, right? 00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:57.759 God, Paul goes on and says, You were dead in this, in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the discourse of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that has now worked in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of the flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 00:09:58.000 --> 00:10:10.720 But God, who is rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. 00:10:11.840 --> 00:10:19.360 This power that God demonstrates in making dead people live, prompts Paul to talk about how we were brought together. 00:10:19.600 --> 00:10:23.759 Those who were considered the farthest away from God have now been brought near. 00:10:23.840 --> 00:10:24.159 Why? 00:10:24.240 --> 00:10:27.360 Because God is in the business of making dead people alive. 00:10:27.600 --> 00:10:33.919 Whether it's Jew or Gentile, it doesn't matter who you are, God makes dead people live. 00:10:34.159 --> 00:10:42.159 And he brought Paul into this mission to spread this news in chapter 3. 00:10:42.879 --> 00:10:46.559 And thinking about all of this prompts Paul to pray. 00:10:48.159 --> 00:10:53.440 God is saving people who were believed to be too far for salvation. 00:10:54.960 --> 00:10:58.320 People were considered dead in their sins. 00:10:58.639 --> 00:11:01.600 Every single person on the planet is dead in their sins. 00:11:01.679 --> 00:11:05.919 If you think of the nature of a dead person, they are completely incapable of functioning. 00:11:06.159 --> 00:11:15.679 A dying man outside of a hospital can still walk himself inside and seek treatment, but a dead man outside of a hospital has no capability of doing so. 00:11:16.879 --> 00:11:23.840 What prompts Paul to pray is the fact that God is making dead people live. 00:11:24.080 --> 00:11:26.080 Again, verse 4 in chapter 2. 00:11:26.320 --> 00:11:36.559 God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. 00:11:36.879 --> 00:11:39.120 By grace you have been saved. 00:11:39.360 --> 00:11:52.000 And raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. 00:11:52.159 --> 00:11:56.639 My friends, you and I have a spiritual condition. 00:11:57.519 --> 00:12:02.159 That condition is not that you are a good person but happen to do bad things. 00:12:02.320 --> 00:12:04.639 It's not that you are spiritually sick. 00:12:04.879 --> 00:12:10.159 You and I are dead in our trespasses, dead in our sins. 00:12:10.480 --> 00:12:18.080 If you're here this morning and you're not a Christian, your problem, your ultimate problem, is not what is going wrong in your life. 00:12:18.240 --> 00:12:24.320 Your ultimate problem is that you are spiritually dead and separated from the God who made you. 00:12:48.559 --> 00:12:55.120 And if you are dead in your sins, you need an external power outside of you to make you alive. 00:12:55.360 --> 00:12:56.879 You have no ability to do it. 00:12:56.960 --> 00:12:57.200 Why? 00:12:57.360 --> 00:12:58.720 Because you're dead. 00:12:59.120 --> 00:13:01.279 You need God to make you alive. 00:13:01.600 --> 00:13:04.399 And I pray he would do that here this morning. 00:13:04.960 --> 00:13:07.600 Because God makes dead people live. 00:13:07.840 --> 00:13:15.519 And God has brought Paul in on that mission of spreading the gospel of God making dead people live. 00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:19.519 That's what prompts Paul to pray in verse 14. 00:13:20.320 --> 00:13:23.840 So now the question is what does Paul pray for? 00:13:24.720 --> 00:13:26.240 What does Paul pray for? 00:13:26.399 --> 00:13:30.799 Well, Paul's prayer focuses on the new life we've been given. 00:13:31.360 --> 00:13:36.240 This prayer precedes the admonition Paul gives us in chapter 4, verse 1. 00:13:36.320 --> 00:13:44.159 If you look to chapter 4, verse 1, he says, I therefore a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. 00:13:44.320 --> 00:13:53.279 Again, God makes you alive, and now the strength and power in which you must live does not come from you. 00:13:53.519 --> 00:13:59.840 So Paul prays for God's people to be strengthened with power through his spirit. 00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:03.039 That's what he says in verse 16. 00:14:03.600 --> 00:14:09.360 According to the riches of his glory, he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his spirit. 00:14:10.159 --> 00:14:15.360 God does not save you and expect you and I to do the rest on our own. 00:14:15.679 --> 00:14:19.200 He doesn't say, I'll come this far, you go the rest. 00:14:19.600 --> 00:14:27.440 God is going to completely, totally strengthen you for the life, this new life that He has given you. 00:14:27.519 --> 00:14:29.919 And that's what Paul is praying for. 00:14:30.639 --> 00:14:35.360 The only power you and I possess is the power to sin. 00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:41.440 Romans 3 23 says this for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 00:14:41.679 --> 00:14:50.639 Earlier on in that chapter in Romans 3, Paul talks about all sinning, all no one does good, no one seeks after God. 00:14:50.799 --> 00:14:52.480 Our throats are open graves. 00:14:52.639 --> 00:14:56.000 The only power you and I have to have is to sin. 00:14:56.159 --> 00:14:59.360 And that sin in Romans 6 leads to death. 00:14:59.519 --> 00:15:01.360 The wages of sin is death. 00:15:01.519 --> 00:15:07.840 If this is the power you and I have, it's going to end up in the exact same spot that we were. 00:15:08.480 --> 00:15:10.559 Dead in our trespasses. 00:15:10.960 --> 00:15:18.960 God makes us alive, but then also gives us the power and strength to continue living. 00:15:21.039 --> 00:15:31.200 Friends, I want to tell you that some of you have been made alive by God, but you're trying to live life on your own strength. 00:15:31.759 --> 00:15:40.320 You find yourself weary and tired and exhausted because you've been trying to go it alone on your own. 00:15:41.120 --> 00:15:42.799 That's not the Christian life. 00:15:42.879 --> 00:15:44.720 That's not God's intention for you. 00:15:44.879 --> 00:15:49.919 God's intention is not to save you, give you a pat on the bottom and say, go get him, tiger. 00:15:50.960 --> 00:15:57.840 God's intention is to save you and strengthen you so that you would live on his power and not yours. 00:15:59.200 --> 00:16:05.759 It is incredibly exhausting to try and do what God wants, to obey Christ on the strength of our own. 00:16:06.720 --> 00:16:09.279 And God doesn't want that. 00:16:09.440 --> 00:16:10.720 Paul doesn't want that. 00:16:10.799 --> 00:16:11.360 Why? 00:16:11.519 --> 00:16:17.919 That's why Paul prays for them to be strengthened with power. 00:16:18.639 --> 00:16:21.759 But this power is locative. 00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:25.039 And what I mean is it's in a specific place. 00:16:25.360 --> 00:16:28.000 He prays for power, not just general power. 00:16:28.159 --> 00:16:33.759 He doesn't pray that you would have physical strength or merely just generally spiritual strength. 00:16:33.840 --> 00:16:38.559 He prays that you would be strengthened in your inner being. 00:16:39.600 --> 00:16:48.720 Your inner being is the part of you that consists of those immeasurable qualities such as your conscience, your reasoning, your emotions, and your soul. 00:16:49.840 --> 00:16:52.399 It's the immaterial part of you. 00:16:56.559 --> 00:17:02.240 It's the part of you that cannot be seen, and it is what is in view here when Paul refers to your inner being. 00:17:02.320 --> 00:17:06.799 It is from your inner being that all of your life flows out of. 00:17:08.559 --> 00:17:19.680 It is the part of you that determines who or what you love, who or what you hate, what you believe, why you believe it. 00:17:20.319 --> 00:17:25.359 It is the part that determines what fills your thought life and who or what you will worship. 00:17:25.519 --> 00:17:30.720 This is the part of you that pray that Paul prays will be strengthened by God's Spirit. 00:17:32.400 --> 00:17:41.519 Your greatest need this morning, and in this life, is the strength to live this new life in accordance to the will of God. 00:17:43.599 --> 00:17:49.359 Your chief prayer request should not merely be for material things that will eventually fade. 00:17:49.440 --> 00:17:55.839 It should not merely be for healing and health, which eventually will deteriorate. 00:17:57.279 --> 00:18:07.039 The power you need is the strength to endure that when all else fails, you can continue walking in step with the will of God. 00:18:07.920 --> 00:18:12.240 Your greatest need in life is the strength to live life in accordance with the will of God. 00:18:12.400 --> 00:18:18.720 The greatest need for God's people here this morning is soul strength. 00:18:19.200 --> 00:18:21.519 You need strength in your soul. 00:18:21.759 --> 00:18:34.000 Because there are times where you're just saying, Lord, I don't have anymore, I can't do anymore, I don't know what else to do, I need help, and God provides the power for you. 00:18:34.400 --> 00:18:43.680 Paul prays for this power to strengthen your soul so that you would be able to live this new life. 00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:57.119 Now, in light of everything I just said, you might conclude that you know the, you understand why Paul's praying for this strength, right, in our soul, and so we can continue on living, but he has specific things in mind. 00:18:57.279 --> 00:19:05.519 In fact, he has three specific purposes that culminate in one ultimate purpose for why he's praying for strength in God's people. 00:19:06.720 --> 00:19:15.039 The first purpose of this prayer for strength and our inner being is this that Christ would dwell in our hearts through faith. 00:19:15.839 --> 00:19:20.160 We often associate our hearts with emotions, right? 00:19:20.880 --> 00:19:26.640 We have these uh these sayings and phrases, my heart is broken, right? 00:19:26.720 --> 00:19:29.279 That's communicating emotional distress. 00:19:29.440 --> 00:19:34.240 I I often tell my wife and children, I love you with all of my heart. 00:19:34.640 --> 00:19:40.480 We often associate following your heart, it doesn't really have anything to do except for that which makes you happy. 00:19:40.640 --> 00:19:42.480 Follow what makes you happy, right? 00:19:42.640 --> 00:19:47.920 It's it's incredibly uh connected to emotion in our modern understanding. 00:19:48.079 --> 00:19:55.839 But in biblical times, and what the biblical writers understood the heart to be is completely different than what you and I understand it to be. 00:19:56.640 --> 00:20:02.079 The heart in the ancient world was the seat of the will. 00:20:03.440 --> 00:20:15.440 It was the connection between your emotions and your mind, so that you're not just blindly following whatever makes you feel good, but rather you are informed. 00:20:17.200 --> 00:20:25.200 It's the connection between what we treasure and what we what we worship, very closely connected to that inner being that Paul refers to. 00:20:25.759 --> 00:20:35.279 Matthew 6, 21, when Jesus is teaching us on what we ought to treasure, he says this for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 00:20:35.920 --> 00:20:40.480 What you desire, what you want, is where your heart is going to be. 00:20:40.559 --> 00:20:45.920 And that's not merely an emotion, that is also connected to logic and reasoning. 00:20:46.079 --> 00:20:47.680 What you think about. 00:20:49.359 --> 00:21:16.160 Paul's prayers that God's people would be strengthened by God's Spirit, so that our hearts would have the strength not just to make room for Christ in our hearts, not just for Christ to visit our hearts, but for Christ to dwell permanently in our hearts, so that our minds would be filled with Christ and that our emotions would be set on him, so that Psalm 37.4 would be fulfilled in Christ dwelling in our hearts. 00:21:16.400 --> 00:21:22.079 Psalm 37.4 says this delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. 00:21:22.319 --> 00:21:35.759 If Christ is seated on the throne of your heart, then you will be, you will be directed to delight yourself in the Lord. 00:21:35.920 --> 00:21:38.720 And what God will give you in return is Himself. 00:21:38.880 --> 00:21:42.160 He will give you the desires of what your heart wants. 00:21:44.559 --> 00:21:47.519 Does Christ dwell in your heart this morning? 00:21:48.319 --> 00:21:54.160 Does Christ dwell in your heart this morning, or are you seated on the throne of your heart? 00:21:54.640 --> 00:22:04.000 Are your wants, your needs, your pleasures, your Or is it Christ? 00:22:05.200 --> 00:22:07.759 Does Christ dwell in your heart? 00:22:08.720 --> 00:22:12.240 If not, your heart needs strength. 00:22:12.480 --> 00:22:14.400 It needs God's strength. 00:22:14.559 --> 00:22:20.480 It needs strength by God's Spirit to make your heart the abode in which Christ dwells in. 00:22:20.559 --> 00:22:26.240 Otherwise, your heart will be weak and susceptible to the vain temptations of this world. 00:22:26.480 --> 00:22:35.039 Our hearts are constantly deceived into believing that they will be satisfied by all kinds of pleasure, only to be left wanting. 00:22:35.920 --> 00:22:45.839 When your heart is strengthened by God's Spirit, Christ dwells in it and drives it towards delight in God, and God always fulfills. 00:22:46.000 --> 00:22:48.799 He will never leave you wanting. 00:22:50.880 --> 00:23:05.680 Paul's prayer is that we would be strengthened first, so that Christ would dwell in our hearts, but also second, that God's people would have the strength to comprehend with God's people the magnitude of God's love. 00:23:14.240 --> 00:23:19.599 He prays that we would be strengthened so that we would be able to comprehend with all the saints. 00:23:19.839 --> 00:23:26.480 In verse 18, what is the breadth and length and height and depth of God's love? 00:23:26.640 --> 00:23:35.200 And before we discuss what it means to comprehend God's love, I want you to notice that this strength is communal. 00:23:35.279 --> 00:23:36.880 Look again in verse 18. 00:23:38.160 --> 00:23:46.240 That you may have the strength to comprehend with all the saints. 00:23:46.720 --> 00:23:47.920 I'm going to say that again. 00:23:48.079 --> 00:23:52.880 That you would have the strength to comprehend with all the saints. 00:23:53.039 --> 00:23:55.359 This is not an individual prayer. 00:23:55.440 --> 00:24:02.960 It's not prayer for you to be strengthened merely as an individual, but rather to be strengthened together as God's people. 00:24:05.119 --> 00:24:13.759 Paul's prayer is that God would strengthen us, that God would grant strength within the community of the church. 00:24:14.559 --> 00:24:24.319 You might think this is a bit of a stretch, but actually in chapter 4, Paul prays for this very thing that we'd be strengthened by the gift of the local church. 00:24:24.559 --> 00:24:34.400 Ephesians 4, 11 through 16, he says this: that he, that is God, gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers. 00:24:34.559 --> 00:24:34.960 What? 00:24:35.200 --> 00:25:01.279 To equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes. 00:25:01.519 --> 00:25:24.720 Rather, speaking the truth in love, together as God's people, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. 00:25:25.839 --> 00:25:35.599 Paul's prayer here is with the body of Christ in mind, that you would be strengthened together. 00:25:35.680 --> 00:25:42.480 And I gotta say, many people who feel weak in their faith are often disconnected from the local church. 00:25:42.640 --> 00:25:48.000 Not always, but there are a lot of people you end up talking to who say, I don't feel very strong in my faith. 00:25:48.160 --> 00:25:49.680 I feel like I'm faltering. 00:25:49.839 --> 00:25:52.720 But my question is, are you connected to the people of God? 00:25:52.799 --> 00:25:54.559 And the answer is often no. 00:25:55.440 --> 00:26:03.920 And can I just say that coming to church on Sunday is great, but that does not in and of itself connect you to the body of Christ. 00:26:04.799 --> 00:26:12.720 You are missing out on a wealth of strength by not getting plugged in. 00:26:14.160 --> 00:26:18.319 You're coming to the to the lobby of the gym, so to speak. 00:26:18.720 --> 00:26:26.640 You're just sitting there waving as everybody else who's going in to strengthen their bodies, you're waving at them as they go in. 00:26:26.880 --> 00:26:32.640 You're there, you see them, but you're not doing it with them. 00:26:32.880 --> 00:26:36.400 You're doing nothing to strengthen yourself. 00:26:38.000 --> 00:26:48.240 It is with God's people that Paul prays that we would be strengthened to comprehend what is the breadth and length and height and depth of the love of Christ. 00:26:49.680 --> 00:26:54.559 If you're having a hard time thinking about the dimensions of the love of Christ, that's okay. 00:26:56.160 --> 00:26:57.279 It's infinite. 00:26:57.599 --> 00:26:59.920 The love of Christ has no boundaries. 00:27:00.240 --> 00:27:08.720 This is a tool that Paul is using kind of to kind of exaggerate a point, to get you to think in terms of dimensions. 00:27:09.119 --> 00:27:13.680 If you want to think of it this way, look at Psalm 103, 11 through 12. 00:27:14.960 --> 00:27:24.319 The psalmist says this: for as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him. 00:27:25.680 --> 00:27:31.759 If you can't imagine the heavens above the earth, that's a long ways away. 00:27:32.240 --> 00:27:33.680 It's infinite. 00:27:34.960 --> 00:27:40.480 As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. 00:27:40.880 --> 00:27:47.920 If you want to imagine the east and the west going in a straight line, they will never ever meet. 00:27:48.079 --> 00:27:50.079 They will continue going. 00:27:52.319 --> 00:27:59.119 And that is the breadth, the height, the depth, the dimension of God's love for you. 00:27:59.599 --> 00:28:02.720 It is boundless, it cannot be contained. 00:28:03.920 --> 00:28:10.079 And it is this that Paul prays that we would have the strength as God's people together to comprehend. 00:28:10.240 --> 00:28:16.480 Now, I want to ask you: have you ever communicated important information to another person that they just couldn't comprehend? 00:28:16.799 --> 00:28:17.440 Parents? 00:28:19.359 --> 00:28:27.839 You ever ever communicate something that, not to name names, but someone in your house may not have comprehended fully? 00:28:28.960 --> 00:28:32.559 You understand whether or not they comprehend what you're saying, all right? 00:28:32.640 --> 00:28:39.200 They may hear you, but they demonstrate whether or not they comprehend by actually living it out, right? 00:28:39.279 --> 00:28:41.920 Actually doing what it is you tell them to do. 00:28:42.640 --> 00:28:51.839 And the failure of their ability to fulfill whatever task they're needing reveals a lack of comprehension. 00:29:39.839 --> 00:29:45.519 It is the love that not only offers forgiveness, but also adoption into God's family. 00:29:45.680 --> 00:29:52.400 It is the love that promises one day Jesus Christ will return for his own to be with him in eternity. 00:29:52.880 --> 00:29:58.160 This is the love that Paul prays you would comprehend. 00:30:00.400 --> 00:30:17.599 Paul prays that God's people, having been made alive by God's grace, would be strengthened by God's Spirit so that Christ would dwell in their hearts through faith, that we would comprehend with all the saints the love of Christ. 00:30:18.319 --> 00:30:21.440 And that they would know the love of Christ. 00:30:21.599 --> 00:30:22.720 Verse 19. 00:30:24.319 --> 00:30:27.440 The love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. 00:30:27.920 --> 00:30:32.400 You might be asking yourself, what is the difference between comprehending and knowing? 00:30:32.640 --> 00:30:34.319 Aren't they synonymous? 00:30:34.480 --> 00:30:37.759 I just want to uh take you back to Genesis. 00:30:38.160 --> 00:30:41.119 Genesis chapter 4, verse 1. 00:30:41.200 --> 00:30:51.440 This is this is after Adam and Eve have sinned, God pronounces a curse on their sin, and thus the entire creation is a curse. 00:30:52.240 --> 00:30:56.319 The story moves on in chapter 4, verse 1. 00:30:56.880 --> 00:31:12.559 Now Adam Eve and his wife knowledge you have in mind. 00:31:47.839 --> 00:31:52.160 It should be the central focus of every Christian's life, is the word of God. 00:31:52.319 --> 00:31:59.680 But if that word only leads to the minimization of fact, you are missing knowledge of God's love. 00:31:59.920 --> 00:32:04.880 You do not know it in an intimate way, and you're not experiencing it in an intimate way. 00:32:06.640 --> 00:32:13.599 Recently I uh I listened to a podcast of two radically different men. 00:32:14.880 --> 00:32:25.920 Both were considered scholars in biblical studies, both had expertise in the gospel accounts, both taught the Bible at universities. 00:32:27.519 --> 00:32:29.839 Only one of them was a Christian. 00:32:30.559 --> 00:32:36.000 One of these men simply studied and knew the Bible so as to try and understand the ancient world. 00:32:36.079 --> 00:32:44.240 He had this fascination with biblical times, and the Bible being one of the most accurate and detailed history books. 00:32:44.880 --> 00:32:50.559 He goes there to study, to study, to know what was it like during the time of Jesus. 00:32:50.720 --> 00:32:54.960 Oh, yes, there was a Jesus, but he wasn't the Son of God, he'll say. 00:32:56.640 --> 00:33:05.279 The other man didn't just know what the Bible says, didn't just have facts about the Bible memorized. 00:33:05.839 --> 00:33:12.079 He experienced what the Bible says about the love of God in a very real way. 00:33:12.559 --> 00:33:20.960 And as Scripture informed him of the God who rescues and saves people from the damnation of their sins, he began to experience the love of Christ. 00:33:22.319 --> 00:33:26.640 Charles Spurgeon has this quote. 00:33:27.680 --> 00:33:33.680 I hope helps to give you the idea of the knowledge of God's love, of Christ's love. 00:33:33.839 --> 00:33:35.519 He says, I know many people. 00:33:35.839 --> 00:33:39.519 That is to say, I've seen them in the streets and they tip their hats to me. 00:33:39.599 --> 00:33:42.319 Because, you know, back in England, back in the day, that's what they would do. 00:33:42.400 --> 00:33:44.480 They would all wear hats, they tip their hats, right? 00:33:44.559 --> 00:33:49.519 In the bygone days, they tip their hats to him, and I do the same to them. 00:33:49.759 --> 00:33:51.359 And thus I know them. 00:33:51.839 --> 00:33:57.200 There's this mutual recognition and acknowledgement of each other's existence. 00:33:57.680 --> 00:34:05.279 This is a slender form of knowledge, he says, yet I fear it is the kind of knowledge most people have of Christ. 00:34:06.240 --> 00:34:11.199 Even such a knowledge as comes by trembling faith is a knowledge that saves. 00:34:11.280 --> 00:34:13.599 But I will tell you the people I know best. 00:34:13.760 --> 00:34:16.000 They live with me in my own house. 00:34:16.320 --> 00:34:18.480 I see them every day. 00:34:18.800 --> 00:34:29.360 I am on the most familiar terms with them, and this is the knowledge here intended when it comes to the knowledge of the love of Christ. 00:34:30.239 --> 00:34:35.760 Do you experience it in a real, lasting way? 00:34:38.079 --> 00:34:42.239 My friends, do you recognize what it means to know the love of Christ? 00:34:43.119 --> 00:34:49.760 You might have been told all your life that Jesus loves you, but it's never made an impact in your life. 00:34:50.159 --> 00:34:54.320 I want to try and demonstrate this through what we know of God's word. 00:34:54.480 --> 00:35:01.679 And I just have six examples here of knowing God's love in a way that transforms us. 00:35:02.400 --> 00:35:07.679 God wants you to know his faithful love so that we can trust him when things are difficult. 00:35:07.920 --> 00:35:15.119 Psalm 13, 5 says, But I have trusted in your steadfast love, my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. 00:35:15.280 --> 00:35:20.239 That's in contrast to bad things happening in the psalmist life. 00:35:20.960 --> 00:35:23.840 God wants you to know his love so that you can flourish. 00:35:24.079 --> 00:35:35.679 Psalm 52, 7 and 8 says, See the man who would not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and therefore he sought refuge in his own destruction. 00:35:36.000 --> 00:35:40.079 But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God. 00:35:40.400 --> 00:35:45.119 I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever. 00:35:46.159 --> 00:35:49.440 God wants you to know his love so that you aren't lost in life. 00:35:49.599 --> 00:35:51.119 Psalm 143, 8. 00:35:51.280 --> 00:35:55.760 Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. 00:35:56.000 --> 00:36:00.960 Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul. 00:36:01.280 --> 00:36:04.960 God wants you to know his love, even though you were dead in your sins. 00:36:05.039 --> 00:36:07.760 Back to Ephesians 2, verses 4 and 5. 00:36:07.840 --> 00:36:18.079 But God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. 00:36:18.239 --> 00:36:20.400 By grace you have been saved. 00:36:20.960 --> 00:36:25.039 God wants you to know his love because it cannot be taken from you. 00:36:25.519 --> 00:36:31.840 They gotta say, assurance is the bed is one of the bedrocks of God's love. 00:36:32.000 --> 00:36:41.199 When you have messed things up royally, or life just seems stacked against you, knowing nothing can take God's love from you, is the wind in your sails. 00:36:41.440 --> 00:36:43.280 Romans 8, 35 through 39. 00:36:43.440 --> 00:36:46.159 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? 00:36:47.679 --> 00:36:58.079 Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword, as it is written, for your sake we are being killed all the day long. 00:36:58.239 --> 00:37:01.039 We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. 00:37:01.440 --> 00:37:01.760 No. 00:37:03.039 --> 00:37:03.360 No. 00:37:04.079 --> 00:37:09.199 In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 00:37:09.440 --> 00:37:25.760 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 00:37:26.880 --> 00:37:31.519 God wants you to know his love because you are his child. 00:37:32.000 --> 00:37:39.039 1 John 3, 1, see what kind of love the Father has given to us that we should be called children of God. 00:37:39.760 --> 00:37:41.039 And so we are. 00:39:25.039 --> 00:39:26.639 Trust him with your life. 00:39:26.960 --> 00:39:30.719 And this love that he promises for you will never disappoint. 00:39:30.880 --> 00:39:33.039 It will always satisfy. 00:39:33.280 --> 00:39:36.159 For every failure, his love will meet you with grace. 00:39:36.239 --> 00:39:39.039 For every challenge, his love will equip you with wisdom. 00:39:39.199 --> 00:39:42.320 For every need, his love will provide. 00:39:43.199 --> 00:39:48.639 For everything that lacks, God will provide his fullness. 00:39:49.280 --> 00:39:52.880 That brings me to our conclusion this morning. 00:39:53.840 --> 00:40:12.079 Paul prays that God's people would be strengthened in their inner beings so that Christ would dwell in their hearts, that they would have the strength to comprehend the magnitude of Christ's love, and that they would know it in an intimate, experiential way. 00:40:13.440 --> 00:40:18.880 All leading to the culmination of Paul's prayer here in verse 19. 00:40:20.559 --> 00:40:28.880 Paul prays that God's Spirit would strengthen them in all these ways, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 00:40:31.760 --> 00:40:33.679 Are you seeing what I'm seeing here? 00:40:34.960 --> 00:40:36.400 Look at it again. 00:40:37.280 --> 00:40:45.280 That you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 00:40:47.119 --> 00:40:48.719 Let's say that again. 00:40:48.960 --> 00:40:51.199 That you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 00:40:51.280 --> 00:40:58.639 If that just doesn't blow you away, I don't know what Bible you're reading, because when I read that, I'm just, I'm completely paralyzed in thought. 00:40:58.960 --> 00:41:21.039 The fullness of God to dwell in me, the infinite, eternal God who existed before time began and will exist eternally after it's over, that the God who just has the power to speak worlds into existence, this God who cannot be contained, the fullness of this God within me? 00:41:23.599 --> 00:41:27.440 My friends, this is unthinkable. 00:41:28.960 --> 00:41:34.239 The fullness, the infinite God filling the emptiness of finite people. 00:41:35.920 --> 00:41:38.320 Can I ask, do you need anything more? 00:41:39.519 --> 00:41:50.800 Is there anything more that you could ever want or need or hope for than have the eternal infinite God filling every fiber of your being? 00:41:51.679 --> 00:42:01.360 As Christ sits on the throne of your heart and strengthens you to comprehend his love and know it in an experiential, intimate way. 00:42:02.559 --> 00:42:04.800 Is there anything else you need? 00:42:05.039 --> 00:42:09.679 No, because God has provided his fullness in such a way. 00:42:12.320 --> 00:42:14.880 Would you be filled by him today? 00:42:16.159 --> 00:42:18.960 Will you ask God for strength? 00:42:20.079 --> 00:42:22.559 That Christ may dwell in your heart. 00:42:23.440 --> 00:42:26.400 That you would comprehend the magnitude of his love. 00:42:27.599 --> 00:42:30.639 That you would know the love of Christ deeply. 00:42:32.000 --> 00:42:35.119 So that you would be filled with all the fullness of God. 00:42:36.239 --> 00:42:39.119 My prayer here this morning is Paul's prayer. 00:42:40.239 --> 00:42:43.679 I hope your prayer this morning is Paul's prayer. 00:42:45.119 --> 00:42:55.119 That Christ would strengthen you so that you would be filled with all the fullness that God has to offer. 00:42:55.599 --> 00:42:56.639 Let's pray. 00:43:12.719 --> 00:43:14.559 God in heaven, I confess. 00:43:17.840 --> 00:43:20.000 More times than I can count. 00:43:20.800 --> 00:43:24.079 I depend on my own strength. 00:43:26.159 --> 00:43:31.360 And my own strength cannot accomplish what Paul writes here in this text. 00:43:32.800 --> 00:43:37.199 My own strength leaves me lacking and wanting. 00:43:38.000 --> 00:43:42.719 My own strength has no ability to fill me in any significant way. 00:43:45.360 --> 00:43:51.920 Lord, I pray that we would be strengthened by the power of your spirit. 00:43:53.519 --> 00:43:58.559 And I pray that that power would knock the idols that we have placed in our hearts. 00:43:58.639 --> 00:44:06.480 I pray it would knock it off those thrones and place Christ as the rightful Lord over our lives, that He would guide us and direct us. 00:44:06.639 --> 00:44:12.559 He would be the Lord of our heart, that He would fill our desires, that He would be all that we think about. 00:44:14.000 --> 00:44:22.079 I pray that we would be strengthened, Lord, to comprehend this unimaginable love. 00:44:23.039 --> 00:44:29.199 This love that is infinite, that is greater than anything we could ever think of. 00:44:31.280 --> 00:44:36.880 I pray that we would be strengthened to know the love of Christ. 00:44:37.920 --> 00:44:48.159 The love that would send your only son to be born in a manger and live a perfect life. 00:44:48.480 --> 00:44:55.440 So that one day he would die as the sacrifice and payment for rebellious sinners. 00:44:57.039 --> 00:45:05.440 I pray we would we would be strengthened to have these things, Lord, so that we would be filled with your fullness. 00:45:06.880 --> 00:45:08.159 Lacking nothing. 00:45:09.360 --> 00:45:11.280 I pray this in Christ's name. 00:45:11.599 --> 00:45:12.239 Amen. 00:45:13.440 --> 00:45:17.199 That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church. 00:45:17.440 --> 00:45:24.320 Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus. 00:45:24.559 --> 00:45:28.639 You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.