Let's turn again to Ephesians chapter 1. May I ask the Lord's blessing again as we get started. Lord, what we need is You and to know You. In these very words that we take in hand to read, we depend upon You to make them known to our souls for trust, And I pray that you would grant it to us. I pray that someone here, all really, would be lifted and encouraged by the hope set before us in these very words. This we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. I'm going to read in just a minute the rest of Ephesians chapter 1 from verse 15 on through 23. But I think it's good as we return to contemplate the context of overwhelming stated blessing in which we will hear these next words. So let's return a little bit to what's been put before us. Blessing and blessing and blessing. Just to contemplate that from among the guilty, He has chosen us to grant that we, His redeemed, be received by him in his place, in his presence, received by him in immediate presence, blameless and holy in his sight." That's been told us already as we prepare to read what we will now read. You see what I'm saying? I want to rehearse what we've seen so far. But among the alienated, he has taken to himself persons in closest relationship. He has chosen to be Father. He has decided to be Father. To ones who had been alienated, He has promised inheritance of incomprehensible bounty. And it's like those words can go in and out too quickly. He has promised inheritance of incomprehensible bounty. from among rebels, from enemies, he has brought together loyal subjects under his king." I think that's the whole context of chapter 1 as you're getting to that place in verse 10 where it says he's bringing all things together. He's taken the disloyal, those belonging to another kingdom, and he's bringing them, he's bringing us together with all whom he's redeeming in the great plan of all things, which is the plan of His glory, which will endure for ages, and all ages, and forever, and ever, and ever. That's been set before us this very morning already. And He's given us of His own Spirit, His own Spirit for the blessing of belonging in that Kingdom, and the blessing of fellowship with Him, and knowing Him, and the blessing of Having reason for confidence for the coming inheritance. That's the sense of it at the end there. Guarantee a deposit showing what will be done. He has given us of his spirit. One of the other things that I didn't mention a lot yet this morning is just the way in which that whole scenario of blessing is presented to us to make known to you His bounty toward you. He has done this according to His own pleasure and will. He's not subject to any compulsion or obligation in this. Arising from who He is toward you, He has given all of these things. No external requirement or constraint upon that. All these things are described as having been done in love toward you. I'm putting the second person, you, in there. Because that's what these words are meant to communicate with the readers. His kindness has come unconstrained, it's been given freely, and it's been a rich, bountiful giving of mercy. It's not sort of a barely sufficient grace, it's a lavish grace. But the edges of grace, well, I got them in, but that was tough. I don't know. How are we going to talk about that? It's not a, I don't really love these people, but I'll be willing for a minimal kind of allowing of some good thing. It's not like that. It's not even like that. It's lavish and it's bountiful in all wisdom as well. That's mentioned in chapter 1. So it's freely given and full of bounty and deeply wise in giving the salvation by the means that he has. It takes care of all issues of the justice of it, the goodness of it, the pureness of the mercy, the completeness of the settling of the issue, all of that is there. It is lavish grace poured out. and he's able to do it. That whole kind of wording about times reaching fulfillment, the wording of plan. The plan concerns the saving. The plan concerns what he is accomplishing in Christ, what he has purposed, what he has willed in him to do. And it will come to pass. The times will reach their fulfillment. He's able, he's able, he's able. We're going to get a little more of that when we see it coming here. We're going to get a little more of that encouragement. So that's quite an opening for a letter. Then as we get to verse 15, There's another element of, just that I want to touch on and then go to the rest. But I notice in verse 15, as he begins and rehearses to them that I am praying about certain things, he does so with Thanksgiving, for this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I've not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. Paul has heard, and I realize I'm not going clear through yet, but he's heard of elements of their well-being and faith. It's not like there's no issues in Ephesus to deal with, but he's heard of trust. He's heard of folks who received the gospel and believed and received the Holy Spirit. He's heard of their love for one another, and there's someone to thank. God in doing this is, you know, if faith is present, if love is present in a congregation, there is someone to thank. There's a back history of his care for all of that. And I think in view of that, All of it is presented to us as originating from God in His bounty toward us, and in His power to do so. A love by which He can accomplish these things. Christ, through whom He has accomplished these things toward us, He is to be thanked. Now, The Apostle will rehearse something he asked God for. And I think the best understanding of what we see him ask God for is that whole scenario of blessing and all of that. He asks God for some things. Let me read from Ephesians 1 verses 15 to 23. For this reason, you see the connection? Given all of what's been said, for this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. having the eyes of your heart enlightened so that you may know what is the hope to which He's called you, what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His might which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places. far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all." Having just read that, Can you think what are the elements for which Paul prays? I think it's deeply valuable to reflect over and over again on the inspired prayers because it must be what we need. It must be what our souls need for faith. And so it's good. Have you come across at all D.A. Carson's book called Praying with Paul or the Sunday School video series? That's very good. Highly commend it to you in that regard. There are at least three things, and there are subdivisions of these things. But first of all, he prays that God would give them his spirit in the knowledge. The spirit of wisdom, of revelation in the knowing. That's worth considering. We're going to return to that. But I'm just trying to make a list at first. Ponder a minute what it means. The giving of his spirit in the knowledge. Giving the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. But he also prays that they might know the hope. and the worth of it. The discovery of faith, of just how bountiful this hope really is. The Apostle prays for that, for the Church. And then finally, that they might know the greatness of God's power. The power to effect What it is He's doing in the redeeming for His namesake and for His glory, their power. And that power, by the way, is related to a fairly magnificent explanation, which we'll get to in just a minute. But I want to stop and I want to ask, have you thought about it this sort of way? Have you thought, what my soul needs? for well-being in my knowledge of Christ will be the spirit unto the knowing, the knowledge of the hope and its bounty, and then understanding a knowledge of His power to bring it about. That's what your soul needs for well-being in Christ. And so that's certainly what I'm hoping to present in my prayer. Think about that first category, that God would give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. I mean, it's possible as we read that, what is He talking about? We may wonder, is He talking about giving us a right kind of attitude? Which is part of the picture, but I don't think it's the emphasis here. To receive from God a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, is to receive the work of His Spirit so that you may know Him. After all, what would an attitude of revelation be? It's not really attitude-based principally. I mean, attitude's certainly a part of the picture. And he's talking about the enlightening of hearts and all of that. But this is really a proper reference to the Holy Spirit. I pray that He'd give you His, and we are dependent creatures, we can't know God unless He makes Himself known. And the knowledge is a deep and a real and a personal and a relational and a believing kind of knowledge. He doesn't say, I pray that God would give you more information. You know, information we've got, but we need more, and this is about receiving more. Because there is an information awareness that is not the same as believing, that is not the same as trusting, that is not the same as knowing with this kind of knowledge. The knowing of which he speaks is the deep kind here. And it's like hope happening and all of that. That's what he's talking about. The spirit of wisdom and the revelation and the knowing of him. And of course we have all the human temptations to twist the information. We need the Holy Spirit of God so that we know him as he is, not just by information, but that we believe, that we trust, that we depend, that we cast ourselves on Him, that we look with hope, that we expect. All of those kinds of things are part of this picture. I was trying to think of how knowing can be described even by way of illustration with you. And this is just a try, or whatever. But our faith, our believing has to have truth to bite into, or our knowing isn't nurtured, nourished, or whatever. We need the truth of it, the facts of it. And without those, We won't have the right kind of knowing, but it has very much to do with trusting, and I want to give at least one illustration to try. Let's imagine that you had a risky surgery coming up, and you have very little knowledge about the nature of the thing. All you've heard is, this is transplant, or this is open heart valve fix, or something, and you come in not knowing. So where are you in the matter of fear? You might be way high on the fear factor, and part of that scenario is a not knowing. Maybe you just don't have the information. But let's imagine that because of the crisis, you begin to research like crazy to find out, and you say, well, this procedure that seems so life-threatening to me, oh, I'm glad to learn that it's been done for quite a number of years, and it's been done over and over and over. But then you also have to know, or let's say, confidence rises if you can think that the person performing is capable, that they have the skills, that they have the strength to do it, or whatever. And if you, in your situation, learn that the very person who is going to do yours has never failed ever in this surgery. A thousand, thousands upon thousands of surgeries like this, never a record of failure. Maybe one of the leaders in all the world receiving all the renown that way. And I'm just trying to make little parallels, they're kind of distant parallels. But the idea of how courage is lifted by knowing. To know not only the facts of it, but to begin to believe that the person who is the rescuer can rescue. And I think in chapter 1, if I go back to the word here and the issues of the word before us, to know God You have to have information. But the trust issue comes in. And to gain the confidence by His revealing Himself in the Word to us, the confidence that He can save, His nature of mercy, His willingness, all of those things are revealed. And the increasing of the knowing is a healthier thing that way. Still, we're dependent on the Holy Spirit for that. Isn't it true that folks can pick up the very same words? and read without being moved. And yet, by God's grace, he moves. That the reading becomes the relationship of believing that these things are true and that He is true, that He is capable, that He is merciful, all of those things. So that, I think, is why, in a sense, the Apostle prays for the knowing, and that the Spirit grant the enlightened soul-knowing that would allow for faith itself to His name's glory. Again, just to know the bounty of the inheritance. I believe that one of the issues of my faith is to lose sight of the promised things. Why would I ever flounder if I had in clear sight the promised things? Why would I flounder? Why would I be weak and fearful and disobedient and faithless if I had? And he prays that the The promised things, the nature of the inheritance, and I think it is a full, you have the word glorious inheritance, that takes in a lot in its description of a category of things. If the reality of what your salvation in His mercy is can by the Spirit be granted to be in front of your believing. That's what we need. That's what you need. That's what I need. And so he says, I pray that you may know the hope to which he's called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints and his incomparably great power for us who believe. I want to take you just briefly to Romans 15, 13. It's the kind of thing I would like to bless you with at the end of services like this. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. Let me read it again, I didn't do so well, okay? Because I want us to go to this, I want us to take this home. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope." The Holy Spirit of God is able to give you hope. Hope itself. And that glorifies Him. He is able to give you hope itself. Hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Put it on your refrigerator. Hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. And I think that's what Ephesians 1 is about in its request. This is a request that God would bring the hope to happen, the trust to be informed, but also to happen. That we may know him as he is, therefore trust him and hope in him and know the riches of what he's held out to us. And then the last part is his incomparably great power. Let me get back to the original translation I was using. Think, think about this. He is asking that we might know God's power, but listen to the whole context of that. That we might know, verse 19, what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe according to the working of His might that He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places. I have to stop there quickly so we don't lose a piece. What is the kind of power at work in the saving of us from the dead? It is according to the working that raised Jesus from the dead. It is the same kind of power. And that's the word of our encouragement. You may know that the power of God to rescue you from your death in sin is of the same kind as the power that brought Jesus from the grave. know that?" And I'm thinking, I don't know that well enough yet. You know, it's very shortly in Ephesians, right here in chapter 2, where he's going to say, you were dead. You were dead in transgressions and sins. But because of his great mercy, he made us alive. in Christ. The Lord wants you to know by words like these that the power is the kind of power, it is the very same power that he exerted to bring Jesus from the grave. He's at work to give you life and eternal life by that. Oh, and oh, there's so much to talk about. And you know I haven't gone on at length, because I don't. But just think of why would the author, the inspired author, go on with multiplying words to talk about the exaltedness of where Jesus sits now. That's important. Like this. I've got to get back to my original translation. So what's the power like? What's the power like to save you from death and sin? What's that power like? Verse 20, the might, his great, or 19 and 20, his great might which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and, here's where the words multiply, and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named, not only in this age but the one to come, is putting before you the hope that there will be no competing force or power of any kind of creature that can stop this. This is the kind of power that he works in salvation and it will come to be. I think in the life of Ephesus, these are recent converts from idolatry. Issues of power and might and authority and the spiritual forces are big issues for Ephesus. When it had one of the wonders of the world and the temple of Diana and all that kind of thing, they are being introduced to Christ's place so that they might be encouraged. Even when you might think, what about the other powers? What about those powers? Are we in danger of those overtaking and ruining things? He put all things under his feet. He gave him as head over all things. What's the last, I mean, in your head, what's the last part of 22? It's where he put him, right hand of God, throne of heaven, over every power, now and forever, to, toward, for the sake of, his church. We are the ones that receive the encouragement of that kind of wording. Christ sits on the throne for the sake of His church. I think to myself, I ought to be about the same business as that. I ought to care about the church. But also, it's just the encouragement of realizing that all of the power of the risen Lord over all is for the sake of the purpose of His redeeming. That's what it's about. He says his first church, he calls it the fullness of him who fills all things. That which describes the culmination of all his purposes, the fullness of, the one who fills all things, that's what he's doing in his body of Christ for his name's glory. I'm going to conclude with another illustration, if that's alright. Um... Again, illustrations are just seeking to get our minds to comprehend how hope happens, if you will, in this kind of context. How knowing the hope makes a difference. And I give you an illustration that was kind of an odd stumbling across something. I preached of these things back in January to Fresno congregation. The very week I was working on this, I stumbled across a story of one Harrison Okene. Back in the year 2013, you may be aware of this, it's all over the internet or whatever, but he was a crew member on a tugboat, a very, very large tugboat, the kind that pulls the greatest tankers size and all that kind of stuff, crew in a tugboat. But about, and what does it say, 20 miles off the coast of Nigeria, the tug went down. Twenty miles off, you think, how deep is that? It wasn't miles deep, it was a little over a hundred feet deep. Okay, the tug went down. But Harrison was caught in an air pocket down there for hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and a day. and two days, and parts of three days. 72 hours is the story. And the only reason I use this as an illustration is that in the end game, when you look back, Harrison was rescued from that situation after about three days down. He was 72 hours down. He was rescued from that situation, but there would have been a season of time, shall we say, for Harrison before which the rescue didn't look very possible. You know what I'm talking about, right? You're a hundred feet down in a pocket of air. What kind of light do you have? No, that goes away. That goes away. And in the dark, and in the cold, and trying to stay up out of the water, keep out of hypothermia, and looking for water that's fresh enough to drink, and in all that thing, there would have been a window of time during which hope didn't look very possible. Okay. Interesting thing about Harrison was he was a believer. That's so interesting. You hear his own description of all of this, being a believer. And he said over and over, he said, I know I'm going to die. As far as knowledge, now I know. I know I'm going to die. There was a season of time after which he said it's all over. And he had prayed at the beginning, Lord, rescue me. Rescue! I've been talking rescue to the top, okay, back to life and all of that. Rescue, rescue, rescue me. But he said, he testified, he said, there came a point after which I ceased to pray for rescue. Too much time, too much dark, too much silence, and if there are noises, those are frightening. Here is a quote from Harrison Okene. Let thy will be done as it is in heaven, because I've tried my best. I've called on you. You've never failed me. You will never fail me. If death comes, let it come." So there's a whole walk of faith and of understanding, but as far as the concept of being actually brought back to the top, that was done in his mind. The sense of hope was out of the picture until elements that brought hope back into the picture. Okay? The sound of an anchor. And interestingly, the divers, when they finally found out even where this thing is, after days, the divers weren't being sent to recover living persons. They were simply being sent because you really need to recover the body. So they've got, you know, ship plans and they're down there and it's very murky and And the guy's got a light here and a head camera and he's feeling around and you can hear the headset telling him, okay, you've got to go a little to the right because there's a compartment, you've got to open that. And then suddenly the head cam goes up and there's this human hand reaching forward and still alive, you know, at that time. And I think from Harrison's point of view, from Harrison's point of view, it was all silent, all dark, all of that, and then there is sound, and a little bit of this and that, and finally a ray of this guy's headlamp, and hope is rekindled. I give that illustration only because hope can be real and unperceived. It can be unacquainted, with the hope. It may be out of reach, it may be whatever, but it can be real and unperceived. And I think we're given the first chapter in Ephesians with its prayer. so that you may know that for your own soul, you may ask the Holy Spirit to give hope back, to give hope. The hope is real. It's always been there, but to rekindle it in accord with the truth, you can ask the Holy Spirit and you may ask it for one another. We in the church may ask this for one another. Paul does here for that church. With that, I bring these things to a close. Let's pray. Lord, is anyone in the room close to the edges of feeling as though there is no hope? We together join our hearts with this truth in view that you would rekindle hope on the ground of what's real about the hope, all that's been revealed in this first chapter. We pray that your spirit would give it. We pray that the persons, the persons who are having difficulty hoping, would receive from your spirit that which you are. You're making known to their souls that hope was always there, always there. And we pray That the very power of life from the dead would be granted by your Spirit to every listening person here. In Jesus' name, Amen.