So Ephesians 3 is where we're going. And the subject is what the Apostle is aiming at. For the Ephesians, and I would judge for all Christians, the end of verse 19, that she be filled with all the fullness of God. That's what Paul wants for the Ephesian believers. that they would be filled with all the fullness of God. And we started to describe this as, Paul is describing it as if there were three steps that were ascending up and leading to this exalted, privileged place where God's people would be filled with all the fullness of God. And I think you have to admit, If we're going to be filled with all the fullness of God, we would lack nothing. No complaint would come out of our lips. There would be utter and total satisfaction and joy, unspeakable and full of glory. So all of our hopes and dreams amount to and will be achieved when we are filled with all the fullness of God. You can't want for more than that because we're talking about the fullness of God. So Paul has these three steps and I said we can use another metaphor and we can look at it as a large building. We can look at it as the very temple. to simplify the temple in one sense, and you have the court of the Gentiles, I said. And you're Gentiles, you're part of the court of the Gentiles, you're not really in where God's people are, you're on the outside where the Gentiles are. And remember, they have the sorog wall that separates the court of the Gentiles from the court of Israel. And the Gentiles could not go past the Saurig Wall, and they had etched in stone warnings saying that if they went past that wall, they would die. And Paul's saying, we want to get to the Holy of Holies, in our metaphor. I know the Holy of Holies literally, it was the dwelling place of God in that old covenant temple. But in our metaphor, allow poetic use of a metaphor, even a biblical one. In our metaphor, the holy of holies would be, well, what he says at the end of verse nine, being filled with all the fullness of God. If you were in the presence of God, you'd probably be filled with all the fullness of God. So we're using the holy of holies as the fullness of God. That works, see? But we have to go through these other rooms to reach that pinnacle of spiritual ecstasy and satisfaction. And the first room we go into is the court of the Gentiles. I mean, the court of Israel. We leave the court of the Gentiles. We go through the doorway into the court of Israel and we don't die. You know why? Christ has redeemed us by his blood. We've been grafted into the commonwealth of Israel. That first entrance, is only proof of what Paul is saying in Ephesians 2 and Ephesians 3 about the mystery of Christ, that we would become a part of Israel, that all the nations would be blessed. It's not a mystery, but that all the nations would be blessed by becoming a part of Israel through faith in Israel's Messiah. There's the mystery right there. And so when you enter into, as a Gentile, look both ways, come, and you go past the surrogate wall and you step in. And brethren are there with open arms. And you look behind you. That's not my court no more. That's not my court anymore. I've become a fellow citizen in the house of Israel. And that is the first step to the Holy of Holies. And in verse 16, we have the description of that first step, that He would grant unto you according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man. We're going to talk about that one tonight. We've talked about it already, but this is going to be very devotional. I don't want to just technically get the doctrine of this. I want to go where the The soul and the marrows are divided by God's Spirit, the joints in the marrow. That's step one, or in our analogy, that's to enter into the court of Israel, the indwelling and empowering of the Holy Spirit. That, but this indwelling and empowering of the Holy Spirit, if done, Paul says, verse 17, that, that shows 16 leads to 17, because when 16 becomes true, then this becomes true. What is described in verse 16 has a certain end to it. What is the end? That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. So we go from the court of the Gentiles into the court of Israel. When we enter into the court of Israel, the Spirit of God has indwelled us and empowers us. And then we go from the court of Israel into the court of the men. It's a smaller court. It doesn't have to be as big as the court of Israel. In the court of Israel, it's so massive and it's meant to hold all of Israel. And they leave the court of the Gentiles and they can see all the edifice of the temple and the great columns and it's a wonder. And you were in the court of the Gentiles before. You couldn't go, and there's a sorority wall with a threat on your life and that's all you've ever known. Now you're going into, this is so spectacular and different and that's the problem with Christianity. As soon as they get there, oh, well, there's no need to leave here. Let's build three booths. And we'll just worship the Lord right here. We're going to freeze at John 3, 16. Because they figure there's nothing better than this. Because to that point in their life, that's the biggest transition they've ever had. So it's understandable to say, we've reached the pinnacle. We don't need to know anymore. So they say, don't give me doctrine. Just give me Jesus in John 3, 16 and the court of Israel. Well, I understand the emotion of it. But there's a lack of knowledge there, because God didn't call us to leave the court of the Gentiles just so we can enter into the court of Israel. So we leave the court of Israel when Christ dwells in our hearts, and then we go into the court of the men. It's a smaller chamber, not as elaborate as the court of Israel. You say, well then it's not so fantastic. Well, yeah, but We're now closer to the Holy of Holies, which is where we want to go. And that requires the third room. We leave verse 17, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. He says, that ye being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge. There's that last room that we're going to pass from the court of the men into the court of the priests. It's even a smaller chamber made for even fewer people get to that room. When you're in the court of the priests, you're now looking at the outside, but you're looking at the Holy of Holies. You can see it. But you haven't gone in there. And when we enter into the court of the priest, we learn experientially of the love of Christ which passeth knowledge. And once we have done that and we've learned of the love of Christ that passeth knowledge, now we can enter into that last chamber in our metaphor, the Holy of Holies, which is where we are filled with all the fullness of God. And the strange thing is the Holy of Holies is the smallest place in the temple. You would think, you know, the place for God would be like the Wizard of Oz. Oh, great Oz! You know, a big long corner and a big hall, and this is where the mighty Oz dwells. Well, that's, you know, Hollywood. The Lord had it, just a little, a little place. What made it so fearful? Not the high ceilings, the echoing voices, the thundering commands. It was the presence of God. and few would enter in. Biblically, right, it was just the high priest. The smallest, but the most important room. And in a sense, metaphorically, this is what Paul is describing. Paul's goal is that we be filled with the fullness of God. But first of all, the Spirit. Now we go back to verse 16, that's what we're going to be talking about. My sermon goes beyond that, but I know that I'm just going to get to verse 16. So Paul says, and let's just back up a little bit to get the context here again. Verse 13, wherefore I desire that ye faint not of my tribulations for you. Oh, Paul was in tribulation. Hmm, interesting. Which is your glory. For this cause, I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. For what cause? Verse one of chapter three, for this cause, the mystery of Christ, the gospel, the Israel of God. that we have been made a part of the Commonwealth of Israel, the mystery hidden in ages past. For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul was saying, we talked about this last time, Paul was so enamored with this doctrine of the Israel of God and our being a part of Israel that he got down on his knees. And I said that the emphasis there is Paul saying, I prayed fervently. I prayed diligently. I bow my knees under the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Why? For this cause. The cause he's been talking about. This mystery of the gospel. This fullness of God revealed. and what he gave his son to do and what his son accomplished. That's the fullness of God and it's all fulfilled in Christ. And Paul got down on his knees and I said to you, do you, do I, do we get down on our knees as individual Christians and pray fervently for the blessing of that message, a message that Clavel was teaching when I got here under Pastor Cugini. Now, in one sense, we've taken it a little bit further, but that same basic structure, the Israel of God, we've been grafted in. He taught that. You're hard-pressed to find that nowadays. So the question is, do you get down on your knees and pray for the blessing of this ministry that teaches a truth that Paul was so enamored with, he described it as the fullness of God and he got down on his knees to pray for that cause. We need to take it seriously, brethren, because the Christian community is not. So we go through these three rooms to get to the Holy of Holies, to receive the fullness of God, Or we go up these three ascending steps that we might reach the pinnacle and the height of being filled with the fullness of God. And these stages, the first leads to the second, the second leads to the third. Now, when I say that, understandably, some will say, wait a minute, no, I object to that. Really? They say, are we not filled? Because verse 16 says that he would, Paul's prayer for the Ephesians is that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might by his spirit in the inner man. And some would say, but are we not filled with this fullness of God in our conversion? I mean, the Holy Spirit is God. True. We don't teach like the Pentecostals do, do we? That many Pentecostals. Well, it's almost they wouldn't quite put it this way, but it's like, well, you get a little little bit of the Holy Spirit, but There's more to come. You've got to get the second blessing. You've got to get the fullness of the Spirit, which you don't get until you speak with tongues. So you sort of get a half-measure dose of the Holy Spirit in conversion, and then you need the fullness of the Spirit. So they cry at the altars for weeks on end until they finally give up and pretend like everyone else. No, brethren. The fullness of God's Spirit is given to us the moment that we enter into the kingdom. You say, well, then how can verse 16 lead to verse 17? That's the question. I'll talk about that a little bit more later. But yes, we are filled with the fullness of God. Well, I should say this, we're filled with the Holy Spirit at conversion. But are we filled with the fullness of God at conversion? And the answer is no. Someone says, well, that don't sound right. Really? Well, Paul's teaching the mystery of the gospel. He's teaching the mystery of Christ. They didn't understand it. Did they have the fullness of God without the understanding and embracing and the knowledge of that truth? No, they were lacking something. Were they saved? Yeah, they were saved. But there was more, see? And Paul's job was to reveal that. We are filled with the Spirit at conversion, yes. We are probably filled to our capacity at conversion with God's spirit. However, as brand new Christians, our capacity is limited. So we may be filled, but the wineskins need to expand so that they can hold more. That's God's plan. He's looking for the fullness of his inheritance to be given to each and every one of his sons and daughters. This idea in modern Christian circles that, oh, as long as we know Jesus, it's all OK. The rest is just window dressing. No, it is not. But in conversion, we know so little about God. We know so little about the Bible. We don't have capacity to take more. So I believe we are filled with the knowledge of God, but we're small vessels. Our capacity is very limited, as I said, and we cannot receive all that fullness. If you go to 1 Corinthians 3, I told you this would be a little devotional for going through Ephesians here, but the text lends itself to it. 1 Corinthians 3, when you're a brand new Christian, you can't handle the fullness of God. You can't do that. In 1 Corinthians 3, in verse 1, Paul writes, And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat, for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. You do realize Paul is chastening them with that. He's not happy with that. He goes, I have to give you milk. I should be giving you meat by now. You can't handle the meat. The Corinthians had become very, very carnal. They were very backslidden. And this is all Paul could do. Now, babes can only handle milk. That's true. And that's not an insult to babes. There's no detraction from babies because all they can handle is milk. They're babies. But if you saw a 40-year-old man getting his milk from his mother's breast, you almost want to go knock the guy upside the head, right? Well, not almost. I think you'd want to, but you probably wouldn't. It'd be embarrassing. They come from an age where you're supposed to grow up. You're supposed to eat meat. And Paul's saying, you can't eat meat. I have to give you milk. And unfortunately, that's very common. in our day and it's an embarrassment to the Christian community. Someone can ask, well how do you teach a class or how do you teach an assembly that has babes in it over here and then over here it has ancient and wise sages? And then you got everything in between in there as well. So you've got babes, you've got those that are more mature, but then you've got those that have been in the faith for many years and not just been a Christian for a long time, that doesn't make you mature. But people who have been serving the Lord faithfully and following his word and being Bereans and studying the scriptures and they've done this for many years and they have depth and insight and how do you minister to all these different groups? You know, it's a really good question. And the only answer that I can come up with is, well, You have to give a little bit of something for everyone. The current megachurch thinking is catered to the babes. In fact, catered to the carnal world really is more what it is. But the mature can just choke and die. They're all fogies and they don't do church right anyway. They don't really care. That's the modern way they do church. But no, you have to feed the flock of God, the whole council of God as well. And I've told you how many times when I was growing up in an evangelical church and I didn't understand everything the minister was saying, but when the minister was speaking, I paid extra attention because he was the minister. And I listened when my Sunday school teacher taught, but that wasn't the same as sitting upstairs with the adults, with the pastor of the assembly. And that pastor could say stuff, and I'm only understanding 10% of it. But that 10% was more than enough. And that's how God works. And that's how church should work too. So we're talking about three steps towards, Paul's talking about three steps towards spiritual maturity. Being filled with the fullness of God, which is the end goal of growing in grace. So verse 16 is that first step, that we need to be strengthened with might, that's power, in the sense of strength and force, not authority power, that we would be strengthened with might by His Spirit. Well, how are we strengthened in might by God's Spirit? Well, that starts with being indwelled by the Holy Spirit, which takes place at conversion. So that begins to happen right away at conversion. But we also have to continue in our Christian walk to not resist the Spirit and to not quench the Spirit. And when we don't resist the Spirit and we don't quench the Spirit, and instead we yield to the Spirit of God, it causes us to grow in might. Yielding to the Spirit of God causes us to receive what Paul is desirous that the Ephesian Christians would receive and that all believers would receive, and that is the power of God. And there is a power of obedience. There is a power in obedience to God's precepts. And the Holy Spirit opens us up to that truth and plants a desire. All this is part of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit doesn't say, oh, okay, you're saved from hell, don't worry about it, you can forget about me now. That's not how it works. Now someone can say, wait a minute, the power of obedience? What's that got to do with the Spirit? Everything. If you follow precepts that are wise and logical and prudent, you will be better off for it, no matter what we're talking about. It doesn't have to be spiritual things. If you follow precepts that are wise and prudent and logical, and you implement those precepts, you're going to be in a better position. You're going to be better off. Because you will gain advantages because you've done this. Those advantages represent to you power because you're in a better spot. It has given you more power. Knowledge is power, they say. That's true. Let me give you a couple examples. For instance, a person, say, might need more physical power. He needs more physical strength. Maybe he's a defensive lineman on a professional football team. He's got lots of power, or else he wouldn't have got the job. But he's run into some real bruises out there, and he's playing with the big boys now. And he realizes, I got to, you know, there's some guys that can kind of knock me around here. I'm really good. but I need more power. I'm operating at a different level now, so that guy is looking for power. He's not looking for what the tight end's looking for, but he's got his own needs. He needs physical strength and power, so he has to exercise. There are certain principles he has to implement to gain that power, to gain that advantage. He's gotta walk, he's gotta run, he's gotta bike, but that's more, let the tight end do that. What this guy needs is explosive power, right? He needs explosive, he needs like pow power like that, not marathon power, Not endurance so much, but explosive power. And so that guy, you know, he can start with some calisthenics, but he's going to go into lifting weights, and these guys are all going to be lifting weights. They're running with big guys, you know. And when he goes into that, there are certain principles he has to abide by, and it's hard work. It's hard work, it's relentless, it takes time, and sometimes it may be tedious, you're not in the mood, but there is a payoff, and if you want that power, you've got to abide by the principles that explain how to get that power. Or to use another example, let's say you just want to be a more well-rounded person. for whatever reason, and you're thinking to yourself, well, if I could just gain more knowledge. Let's say you're becoming a CEO of a multinational corporation, and you're gonna have people doing all different things underneath you, exercising themselves in different disciplines. Some of them are management, some of them are financing, some of them might be technical. What, you're supposed to know everything? Well, you can't know everything, but you know, a guy like that needs to know a little bit more. And so he needs more power up here. He needs to be a more well-versed person. He needs to know more about different things to effectively manage a situation. He needs to become a Renaissance man, right? He needs to know a little bit of this and a little bit of that. And so there's only one thing he can do to get that power. He's got to study multiple disciplines. He might not become proficient technically in any of them, but he needs to understand them basically, and he has to go and study and learn and read and do, because doing is fundamental oftentimes to acquiring that power and really understanding it. You see, the additional power you'll gain from having a multi-layered knowledge by learning all these different disciplines, that power that that guy will get is only going to be gained by applying the principles that demand themselves of you if you want that knowledge. You've got to read. You've got to read. You've got to study. You've got to watch. You've got to do. And if you go back to the example of the man looking for more physical power, the football player, he's got rules he's going to follow. You want more power? Well, you know, you're not going to go, I'm just going to stretch and reach for the sun and then touch my toes. No, it's going to get heavy, and it's going to get hard. It's also going to get scary. The heavier it gets, they'll tell you that it becomes a mental discipline. And you're doing things that could break your bones if you do it the wrong way. But you gear up for it, and it's relentless, and it's hard, and it's physical, and you've got to obey the laws of physiology. And there are kinetics involved. You've got to force against another object, which is pretty much what that kind of exercising is, and you've got to obey those principles. You've got to break down so that when you repair, You're stronger than before. You don't gain that strength by doing the exercises. You harm yourself. It's like you're tearing muscles. And then when your body heals, you get a callus that makes it tougher than it was before. And when you're exercising, that's what's happening. And this guy has to go into that brutal trench and just do it and do it. But if he does it, he's going to gain power. Paul's saying we need to have that power from God's Spirit. and God's Spirit will give it to us. To become spiritually mature and strong, we have to follow certain spiritual principles and certain spiritual laws given in God's Word that are intended to enhance our strength in Christ. It's not our strength. We have to exercise our faith to strengthen our power in Christ. It's all about faith. And there are things that we have to do. If we don't abide by those spiritual principles, we won't grow in power either, just like these other examples that we find in the world. The Holy Spirit will convict us of our obligation and our need for these spiritual principles. First of all, the Holy Spirit will open up His Word. He will point to it, and we'll realize it's important. God says, we must do this, and here's why you do it. And then your conscience strikes you and say, I need to do that. The Lord wants me to do that. And the Spirit of God gives you the desire to have it. And because He gave you the desire to have it and pointed you to it, now it's what you want, and you go and seek it. And when that all happens, you're gaining power by God's Spirit. through the knowledge of the truth, because he opens the eyes, your eyes to the Bible, he opens the scriptures so that you would see the truth, and he gives you a new heart so that you would want it. There's a whole bunch of people who walk around with one and not the other, or maybe neither, and they say they're just backslidden Christians. The Holy Spirit fails? I don't think so. that a Christian can backslide, yes. But they live their lives that way? See, I have a problem with that. That's to deny the new birth. Only some people really become new creatures in Christ. Others are saved, but they don't really become new creatures in Christ. I'm not a believer in that kind of weak-minded conversion that comes from the power of God. It's not what I see in the scripture at all. But it covers a lot of people in churches, so It's a popular thing to teach. And then once we have that knowledge and the Spirit of God opens it up to us and he gives us the desire and the drive to seek it out, we're gonna grow because we see the knowledge, we learn it, and then we apply it. When we apply it, we see the blessings of God, we experience it, we have an experiential relationship with Christ that's drawn us closer to him, but there's a battle going on because we have the flesh. It's the spirit versus the flesh, Romans 7. So we're in a war. Now Jesus said, Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. So you talk about spiritual principles that will enable us to receive the power that the apostle is talking about in Ephesians. That we would be filled with his spirit and be given that power that Paul wants us to have. Well, how do we get it, right? And I'm saying that Jesus said, Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. So Garbage in, garbage out, right? Taking garbage, that's usually what comes out. If garbage goes in the front end, it comes out the back end. Reminded me, this is stupid. I don't know, the way your brain works sometimes. I remember we were roofing, right? We had lunch. And my brother Fudd was driving the truck. So everybody, you know, three of us in the front, and like six or seven guys jump in the back. We're going down the street to Cumberland Farms. A big gulp or whatever. And something to drink, it's hot. So everybody piles in, and the last guy that gets in, he goes, he wants to grab the tailgate, step on the bumper, and jump up. He goes to grab it, and Fudd hits the gas. Boom! Like, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. He goes to grab it. Boom! Ha, ha, ha, ha. And Fudd pulls, like, 10 feet away. Will you knock it off? OK, no, I'm not going to go. And so then instead of lurching, just before he got to it, he started going slow, faster. And then he's running. Now this kid's running full lick. We're going down the middle of the road, you know, on a tar road in Cranston. And this kid's running full lick. Hey, you guys, stop pulling around. And he grabs the tailgate. And we're doing as fast as that kid could run. And then Fudd hits the gas. He's holding on to the tailgate. And the next thing, I'm looking over, and Fudd's looking at the road. I'm looking over, and I see him grabbing, and Fudd lurches. I just see his head disappear in his hands. I don't see anything. The next thing I saw were his heels coming up this way. completely flipping over like a roll head over heels. I see his feet go and then disappear. You don't see him. I said, fine, stop. He took a dump. And it just made me think, garbage in, garbage out. He tried to jump in. The garbage was out. You know, rough roofing days. You know, they just had to learn to live that way. But what we sow, we reap. And if you do take in garbage, you don't have much to offer but garbage. If you fail to feed the body, be it physically or spiritually, the body grows weak. It loses strength, it grows weak, eventually begins to break down, becomes sick, and now is vulnerable to even greater illness and maybe even one's demise. If you don't learn and grow by reading the scriptures and doing what God has exhorted you to do, then there's no one to blame for spiritual deadness but yourself. You're just not going to grow when you don't hear what you need to hear, you don't read what you need to read, you don't pray what you need to pray, you don't do what you need to do. There's no growth. The lineman, he's going to get down there and do his squats. He's going to get down there and do deadlifts. All the boring, low repetition, massive weight. It's not showing. You know, the guy isn't going to get like muscles. You're not going to become an Arnold Schwarzenegger looking guy where he knocks Arnold Schwarzenegger, you know, a quarter mile down the street. But this guy is doing it because he's got a job. He needs to have this. But there's work involved. Don't do it, you don't get it. Look, it's true spiritually. Jesus said, Whatsoever we sow, that's what we reap. Whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap. If we don't avail ourselves of the spiritual nutrients and callings that God puts on us in Scripture, we will not grow. We will get weaker. We will get sick. We won't be healthy. It will be to our harm. This is why the Apostle Paul said, forsake not the assembling of yourself together as is the manner of some. Because when we're saved, we're called into the ecclesia. And if Clavel doesn't know it, that word means assembly. We're supposed to assemble, and there's a reason for that. We assemble to be strengthened so that when we go from the body, into the world, we're ready to fight. We're ready to use our spiritual armaments for the glory of Christ. We will have discernment and judgment and power and victory. If we don't seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, then all these things will not be added unto us, things that we need. things that God wants us to have. And in the immediate context, the Lord was talking about the supply of basic physical necessities, but it's true for spiritual things as well, too, brethren. There is a value to everything the Lord commands us to. When it comes to the teaching ministry of the Word in the body of Christ, when it comes to prayer and bereanship and obedience, and love and forgiveness in all of our duties as Christians to both our brethren and to the world at large, and even sometimes to our enemy. When we're not engaged with all that, then we're going to be weak. There's a value in gaining the knowledge of the word of God. Those are our instructions. Turn to John chapter five. I told you this would be very devotional in nature, but that's okay. Good to have that sometimes. John 5 and verse 38 and 39, Jesus says, and ye have not his word abiding in you. Now, that must not have made those people feel too good. You don't have God's word abiding in you. Oh, we don't? And ye have not his word abiding in you, for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not. So here Jesus is saying to the Jews, you don't have the word of God abiding in you, because the one that God sent, and he's speaking of himself, you won't believe. So how can God's word abide in you when you won't believe the one that he sent? In verse 39 he says, search the scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life. Okay, true enough, but then Jesus says, and they are they which testify of me. But you won't believe me. Don't boast about you have the word in you. You don't. The reason these Jews to whom Jesus was speaking did not believe on Jesus and recognize him as the Christ of God, the reason that was true is the word of God did not abide in them. If the word of God was truly abiding in them, they would have recognized him. and they would have believed on him. See, I'm turning it the other way around, but the reason they didn't believe on him is because God's word did not dwell in them. If I may make a quick application here, one reason I think lots of Christians might reject the doctrine of a first century parishia is that the word of God wasn't dwelling in them. Oh, how can you say that? Were the words of Isaiah dwelling in you? Oh, that's not part of God's word? Were the words of Daniel dwelling in you? You didn't even recognize the language. And when you point it out to you, you still don't want to hear it. Why don't you believe? Because his word wasn't dwelling in you. You say, well, you say the Old Testament interprets the new. No, no. Still the opposite. The new interprets the old. But if you don't know the old, they're not interpreting anything. So it's just some talk about brand new things. No, that's not what it is. One reason Christians reject these kind of truths is because they get the same scriptures over and over and they haven't been weaned. Most of Christianity today has been weaned on the idea that the Old Testament was for the Jews, that's all come to an end, now we're in the New Testament, a brand new thing started at Pentecost, and the church was not foreseen by the Old Testament prophets. The prophets don't have anything to offer us about our age and day, which you know full well by now, that's completely not true. but see how it promotes a willful ignorance of the prophets. In verse 39, Jesus said, Scripture gives a person the keys to eternal life, and they reveal unto its readers The true Jesus. Those scriptures speak of me. See, the subject here, the sub-subject here I'm in, is what is the value of Bible study? And I'm saying, well, the value of Bible study is we get to know who Jesus is by studying the scriptures and having the Word of God dwell in us. And then when it comes, we say, well, yeah, and we react to it. We maybe didn't know before, but we should be able to receive it because the Word of God dwells in us. And ultimately, it's the revelation of Jesus Christ. There's a second text, what is the value of Bible study? What's the value of coming to the assembly and hearing teaching? What's the value of doing and fulfilling the principles God has commanded you in your life and going out by faith and serving him? Is there a benefit to all this? Is there a benefit to gaining this knowledge? Absolutely, 2 Timothy chapter three, 2 Timothy three and verse 16 and 17. Second Timothy. Second Timothy three. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine. for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, truly furnished unto all good works." So what is the benefit of studying the Bible and going into doctrine and learning all these things beyond John 3.16 even? Well, because all scripture, not just John 3.16, all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine. It is profitable for reproof. We need doctrine to understand God. We need the proof so that we can be corrected, as he mentions next. And the study of scripture gives us instruction in righteousness. It helps us to understand what God expects of us and what is right and what is wrong. And all this is given to us, we're told in verse 17, that the man of God may be complete, perfect, truly furnished unto all good works. So Bible study is meant to prepare us for ministry and service to Christ. I would judge we all need as much of it as we can get, unless pride tells us otherwise. But experience should tell us better. Turn to Psalm 19, the importance of studying God's Word. Psalm 19, verses 7 through 11. Psalm 19, verse 7. The law of the Lord is perfect. Converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. Okay, so we know we're talking about the law of the Lord. and his testimonies, but that's nothing other, if we generalize it, that's the word of God. The law of the Lord, the testimonies of the Lord, is the word of God. So we can update this for new covenant understanding in its basic principle. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise and simple. The study of God's word and the intake of doctrine brings salvation and gives one wisdom. That's pretty important. In verse eight, we read, the statutes of the Lord are right. Rejoicing the heart, the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. So the word of God, when it is studied and understood, instructs us as to what is right and true. It brings us joy as God's people and enlightens our eyes. In other words, it gives understanding. So wait a minute, so we're given salvation, wisdom, the knowledge of what is right and true, joy, and greater understanding. Well, this seems like a profitable venture, you see. If you go to verse 10, more to be desired, Are they than gold? Well, let me read 9 too. That the fear of the Lord is clean, the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether, which is a repeat of what he said before. They're true and they are good. But verse 10, more to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. So we're learning that God's word is profitable. It's also as sweet as honey and tastes good to the mouth. But there's a great value to it. And then in verse 11, moreover by them, that is God's word, is thy servant warned. And in keeping of them, there is great reward. So there we learn that through God's word, the knowledge of God's word, he warns us. Sometimes we need warning. We may learn a lot, but you know, you're going along in life and you get distracted and you're not thinking and we're just busy, we're not thinking so clearly, maybe we're tired and you come to the scripture and the scripture warns you. It warns you ahead of time of some of the pitfalls that may lie ahead that you should have known already, but you know, we're human beings, we're frail, right? So the word of God stands as a warning to us. to give us a heads up of the dangers that lie ahead. And there are benefits to be had. by learning it and then obeying it. So by the study of God's word, we receive salvation. We are given wisdom. We are instructed as to what is right and true. It brings joy to our lives and enlightens our eyes, increases our knowledge. It is profitable to us. It offers to us warnings of the pitfalls and dangers that lie ahead and there are rewards for following it. It all seems pretty profitable to me, yeah. and eminently practical. So we go back to Ephesians 3.16, and Paul says, Paul's prayer for the Ephesians, that he would grant, that God would grant to them, according to the riches of His glory, that they would be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man. That's the first step to being filled with the fullness of God, to be strengthened with might and power by his spirit. Well, how does the Holy Spirit strengthen us with power? I've already said to you, by opening up to us the truth. One of the functions of the Holy Spirit is to enable us to recognize truth, to endorse. When we read the scriptures, someone says, well, this, that, this, oh, who knows what the Bible means? But the spirit of God is meant to help us to recognize what he himself inspired. If the spirit that inspired those words dwells in us, it's to help us to open our understanding to the scripture. But not only does the Holy Spirit do that, he renews and changes our hearts and gives us our drive and motive to desire to know it. It's a priority and we're willing to work to get it. If you got to go to the gym, you go to the gym. If you got to read the books to become the Renaissance man, then you read the books because you're motivated to. And if you're a Christian and you desire to serve the Lord, you're going to do what you got to do to serve the Lord. And to you, it's worth it. To everybody else around you, they don't think it's worth it. What's he wasting all his time for? What's he do that for? Besides, why would anyone drive out the clay bowl? We're in foster. The Spirit of God gives us the desire, the love, and the insight to embrace and understand and practice God's Word. That's where the power comes from. The power comes from obedience. That obedience comes from the indwelling of the Spirit of God. If you obey the laws of, the physical laws of the body and the kinetics, you're going to do the right thing. You're going to gain strength. If you want to learn a discipline or multiple disciplines, you've got to study the disciplines. And then you have it. You receive that knowledge. If you want to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, you do these things that the Spirit of God is telling you to do. And then you gain power. You say, that's natural power. It is not natural power, because it's not our natural desire to want it. It's not our natural ability to see it. The Spirit of God provides the motivation, and he opens the eyes. So there's your power. and thus victory in the life of the Christian. Until you begin to walk that road, until you begin to walk this road we're talking about, of learning God's word, and then applying God's word, obeying God's word, all done by the pressing of God's spirit within you. Until you do that, you're never gonna grow in grace, and you will never attain to the experiencing of the fullness of God. you remain a spiritual pygmy, unable to receive, unable to grow. And this is why I said it's sad. when Christianity has been sold a bill of goods by many in our day, and it's pathetic to say, well, you know, all this deep stuff, you don't need it, and doctrine divides, and just give me Jesus, and we just need to know John 3, 16, what's more important than people being saved, and all this kind of thing, and it's a weak version of Christianity, and it's one that ultimately is an insult to the crucifixion, death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. Because when Christ died on the cross and rose again from the dead, they say, well, he did that so we can have forgiveness of sins and eternal life. As I said to you last week, and if I can just expand on that for a moment here and my time's up, that was indeed one goal Christ had when he went to the cross. You say one goal, that was the total goal. No, it wasn't. That was one of his goals, a very important one to us to purchase the forgiveness of our sins. and thereby we would have eternal life. Yes, the Lord was looking for that to happen when he went to the cross, specifically to die for his elect. That was his intent, but that wasn't his end goal. My goal is that they would go beyond the sorog wall into the court of Israel. But I don't really care if they go into the court of the men or the court of the priests or ever make it to the Holy of Holies. It's really just about, you know, getting saved. It's just about not having to go to hell. Now there's a more, there's a loftier end that the Lord had in mind for every single one of his people. You can't reach that lofty end without receiving the forgiveness of sins and becoming a child of God and being granted eternal life. So that's first step, it's foundational. But what God wants for all his people is for the glory of God to be made manifest in their changed lives. We exist as God's people for the glory of God. we've turned his sacrifice into just about what we can get from it. I don't have to be judged my sin, so I don't care to know anymore, but I want you to glorify my son. I'm not interested, I'm safe now. That doesn't even sound like conversion, brethren. To see God, I'll put it to you this way, to see God bring the world into existence from nothing, to bring into existence life, not from death, that's an amazing thing to see him bring life from death, but to see him bring life from nothing. Man wasn't there when God created the world, but if we could see him bring things to be from nothing, we would be seeing the glory of God to be sure, but no man has seen that. The law of entropy would say there has to be a first cause. We would be seeing the power of God to create. Yeah, that would be to the glory of God, but I gotta tell you something, brethren. How much more, how much more is it true that for man, who did not see God create, how much more is it true that for man, the greatest exhibition of the power and glory of God can be seen in God's ability to transform a sinner into one of his children, to change him utterly from the inside out. Because you don't see that. To see reform come from without, you can join Alcoholics Anonymous and you can reform yourself. There's outside influences. There's peer pressure. There's a little shame involved. Maybe you can overcome it and that's great. That was an outside influence that caused you to change. But when you see men change from within, almost like out of the blue. Oh, I had an accident, so I'm going to change my life because I now appreciate my life. Even that's from without. It's from some external circumstance. But for a man who's going along in his business, doing his own thing, and all of a sudden, he changes from top to bottom. That's the miracle of God. And I'll close with this. I got a quote here. Yeah, here it is. This one man put it this way, talking about the greatest miracle you can see. You want to see the glory of God? Then see a sinner change from death unto life. And you see, God wants us to be that change that other men would see it. We weren't just saved so we can get something really great for ourselves. It is to the glory of God. Christ died for that end. It ought to be our business to be serious in our Christian walk with him. So this is what one man had to say. And I like how he said it. He said, that heaven, the region of calm completeness, of law unbroken, right? That's how it is in heaven. Calm completeness, no law breaking. And therefore of power undiminished affords a lesser and dimmer manifestation of his strength than the work that is done in the hell of a human heart." He's saying if you go to heaven and see the perfections of heaven where no law is broken and there is perfect beauty, you would see less of the glory of God than to see a miserable cynic who is corrupt and lost in his sin change utterly and totally. He says, heaven affords a lesser and dimmer manifestation of his strength, God's strength, than the work that is done in the hell of a human heart that has wandered and is brought back, that is stricken with the weakness of the fever of sin and is healed into the strength of obedience and the omnipotence of dependence. It is much to say For that he is strong in might, not one of these faileth. It is more to say, he giveth power to them that have failed. And to them that have no might, he increases strength. The gospel is the gift of pardon for holiness. And its inmost and most characteristic bestowment is the bestowment of a new power for obedience and service. Now see, he's saying what I've been saying to you. The end that Christ had in mind when he went to the cross was to call us to be his disciples and follow him. And when we do that, we'll magnify the glory of the Lord and the power of the Lord to all the world. I love John 3.16. It's the beginning. You've got to walk through that portal. We're not supposed to stop there and make three booths. That's not what we're supposed to do. We're supposed to continue to follow him. Well, how far do we have to follow him? Well, Jesus said, take up your cross and follow me. The truth is, all these things are meant for our spiritual strengthening and betterment, and it's all meant to lead to the second part of verse 19, that the Ephesian believers would be filled with all the fullness of God. The end of the story is not our salvation, it's the beginning. It's just the beginning. It's a big deal. I can't say just, but it is just the beginning. You know what matters more than my salvation? The glory of God. You know what's more important than me being forgiven of my miserable sins? You know what's more important than that? That I would honor God in what I say and do. And what a great privilege it is to do that. God forgive me and all of us for when we fail.