at this time. Good morning. I just want to thank Pastor Brian for this opportunity to be able to preach. I'm looking forward to it this morning. Just want to give a quick update before I start on seminary, as some of you may or may not be interested. But I'm about a quarter of the way through. I feel like about a quarter of the way through. I feel like I've taken a lot more classes than what I've actually taken. But I just finished a class probably a couple weeks ago. And once summer camps are finished here in a couple weeks, I plan on starting a class in Genesis through Deuteronomy. So if you see a huge stack of books on my desk, that's what that's for, is for that class. And so I'm very much looking forward to it. So my wife and I have been blessed with two little boys. The best way of remembering them is one of them has crazy hair and the other one has a crazy personality. But my five-year-old son, Jackson, the woman with the crazy personality, he loves anything with wheels. If it has wheels, he loves it. And especially fire trucks. Some of you, your kids go to the preschool, if you heard his long list of things that he wanted to do when he grew up, a fireman is on that list. It's very high up on the list, along with like four or five other things. But this is one of his passions. He loves anything that moves. At our house, we have dump trucks and fire trucks and little cars and motorcycles and anything that moves, he loves. His birthday was about a month ago, and on his list, I think everything on the list had wheels, whether it was a bicycle or rollerblades or a skateboard, and he rides them in the house. Even if it's too hot outside, he's still gonna find a way. And so you'll hear him going up and down the halls, slamming into the wall on his rollerblades and his roller skates. He loves anything that moves. He even, whenever he was two, he got this little dump truck, those metal dump trucks, you guys probably know what I'm talking about, and he will scooter around in the house. He'll put one knee on one side and push himself around the house. He just loves anything that moves. Anytime that we're driving down the road, just yesterday, we were headed to the store, and sure enough, there comes a fire truck, and he's pointing it out, and he's all excited, and you just see this smile on his face. There was even one point last year where for some reason the fire alarm was going off here at the church. It was, there was no fire. It was just kind of a false alarm, but the fire department came and they saw that the preschool was here and they used it as an opportunity, kind of as a learning opportunity or teaching opportunity to be able to show the kids the fire truck. And so I was talking to one of the lead firemen that was here and we were kind of chatting and he said, well, would your son, I told him, I said, my son wants to be a fireman whenever he grows up. He goes, well, would he like to sit in the truck? And so Jackson's face just like lit up. It was just like the greatest moment that he got to sit inside. And so these are the things that he delights in. These are the things that he finds great joy in. and each of us in here that we all have our own passions and our own things that we find delight in. Whether it's our family, our friends, our jobs, our hobbies, whatever it may be, that we find delight and joy in these things. And so what we're gonna be looking at this morning, and Adam could not pick any better songs than what he did for worship service, is what it means to find delight and joy in the Lord. See, when studying a passage of scripture, often it's very important to kind of get a perspective, not only on what it means for us today, but what it meant for the original person or original people that were in the story, but also for the initial hearers of the story. And so when we look at this this morning, the meaning of this passage, right, the significance of this passage, what it's gonna point to us today is the same for the Ephesians as it is for us. Paul is writing this for the Ephesians and he's writing this for us. And so Paul is gonna show the Ephesians and us how the truths of the gospel lead to the delights of God's grace and how this moves us to a greater devotion to Christ. Often when we look at Paul's letters, this is kind of fascinating, but when we look at Paul's letters, that often he starts the letter and he just dumps all this information on whoever he's writing to. He just backs up and just jumps all this weighty truth about the gospel, about the sovereignty of God, he just drops it all on their lap. And then often what he does after that is that he prays. And I think the main reason why he prays right after dropping all this information is that the only way that we can comprehend this or the only way that we can understand this is through God working in us. And so Paul understands that. So Paul prays for the Ephesians and ultimately he prays for us. So let's, if you have your Bibles, you can go and turn to Ephesians chapter one, and we're gonna read verses 15 through 23. And it says this, for this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love towards 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 and the knowledge of him. Having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is in the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might, that 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. See, Paul here is pastoring and discipling the Ephesians. That's why he's writing to them. The Ephesians is very much of a different situation maybe than the Galatians or the Philippians or so forth. This is why he's praying for them. It's a matter that he's pastoring and he's leading these people. He is leading this church. And so he starts his letter by encouraging them by pointing out the gospel at the work in the midst of their lives. That's how he starts here at the very beginning in this passage is that he sees that they are living out John 13. John 13, just to kind of sum up, it says that you love one another just as I have loved you. You also are to love one another. So we see here that the Ephesians are living this out. Right? This is not just some generic love, right? They are living their lives for Christ and sharing and living out the love of Christ. This isn't just love for love's sake. This is that they are living out the love of Christ. And this is apparent. Paul sees it. This is the first thing that Paul is addressing about the Ephesians is that he sees of their love. He commends them of their faith and of their love. And so what we see here is that gospel faith is both what we believe and who we trust. And the Ephesians have their trust in the Lord. Their faith is in the Lord. It's not a matter of in other situations where we see where Paul is addressing the Galatians and there's a false gospel that's being preached. No, they are living out for the Lord. And so what the Ephesians were learning about, learning about Jesus and experiencing their walks with Christ, that it pushed them to have this love for all of the saints. By their faith that they have this love for all the saints, that their faith expressed itself in love and their love was a validation of the faith that they professed. See, their love is what showed them or showed Paul of their faith in Christ. And so Paul prays for the Ephesians. So if Ephesians know of Christ and they know who he is and they see why is Paul praying? And so Paul is praying here to them, knowing of the spiritual warfare that they were experienced. That even as Christians, that Satan will seek to distort or divert or destroy the work of the gospel in us. to the point that maybe we will become allergic to the grace of the gospel, to something that we no longer want. We know of it, but it might not be something that we desire or something that we seek. That we'll lose sight of the truth of the gospel, of the hope and the peace that is only found in Christ. And so Paul prays the gospel deeper into the hearts of the Ephesians, and ultimately by us reading it and studying it here today, that he's praying ultimately the gospel deeper into our hearts, that we'll see our need of Christ. And so what we see here is that Paul is praying that they would have knowledge of two things. The first thing that we see is that we would have a better knowledge of Christ, that we would have a better knowledge of Christ, that knowing Christ is a way of describing our faith. This is something that we will use in conversation. Do they know Christ? I know Christ. It's a matter of describing our relationship with Christ and our profession of faith, that we're believers, that we're Christians. It's a matter of knowing Christ. and that those that know Christ have eternal lives, but those that don't know him do not. And what we see is that this is of utmost importance. There is nothing that is of more importance than this right here, of either you know Christ or you don't know Christ. There is no middle ground. And so what does it mean to know Christ? To know Christ is not just academic. It's not a matter of that I can sit here and recite the whole Bible. I had a friend one time and their father was an atheist. And one of the things that was shocking to me was how well he knew the Bible. But yet he did not know Christ. This summer, some of you may or may not know, but this summer is the Olympics. And I love the Olympics. I love every part of the Olympics. I love the Winter Olympics, the Summer Olympics. I watch it all. Maybe not synchronized swimming, but everything else I watch, whether it's swimming or gymnastics or track and field is probably my favorite. We were even watching the Olympic trials. And so I love the Olympics and it's coming up soon. And so because of my love for the Olympics, I know a lot about Michael Phelps. A lot of you guys know who Michael Phelps is. He's won 28 Olympic medals, 23 of those being gold. Eight of those gold medals, he won in one Olympics in 2008. He has set 39 world records in swimming. which is the record for that, which is kind of funny that he has the record for records. And he still holds a lot of records. If you go back and look, and this is fascinating, I don't know, I'm not a swimmer, I mean, I can swim, but I'm not a swimmer, but it's fascinating how often records are broken in swimming. It's like, I mean, this coming up Olympics, multiple will be broken. And he still holds records. while training for the 2008 Olympics, he would consume 12,000 calories a day, right? 12,000 calories a day. It was like unreal. I remember they were comparing it to how many Subway sandwiches he would have to eat. It was just like unreal. He's married, he has kids. So we have Michael Phelps. But then also in another situation, years ago, years and years ago, Alyssa and I had first gotten married, we were in Charleston and we were eating at a restaurant that's now closed, Justine's, and we're sitting there and we were eating lunch. And all of a sudden we look over and there's Owen Wilson, just sitting there in the restaurant, right? And we're like, you know, like, oh, look, there's Owen Wilson. And so there he was. But either way, right, with Michael Phelps or Owen Wilson, I don't know them. I don't know Michael Phelps purely for the amount of things that I know about him, nor do I know Owen Wilson because we happen to eat in the same place on the same day, right? I don't know either one of them. And so I may know this, but Michael Phelps doesn't know me. I don't know him. And these facts can be helpful, but they're not enough. See, knowing Christ involves more than just a passing acquaintance or knowing the facts. It's not about knowing the facts or passing acquaintance, that knowing him and knowing about him are quite different. You know, are we in him? Is he in us? See, when we look here at the Ephesians, the Ephesians knew Christ. But Paul is praying that they might know him better. This is not a matter of lack of teaching or a lack of understanding, right? Paul is not calling somebody out here. Like you haven't been taught well enough. Paul is the one that taught them about Christ. He is the one that shared with them about Christ. But it's a matter of a growing intimate relationship between us, the broken and doubting believer, in between the never-changing, forever faithful, and covenant-keeping God. It's about this intimate relationship. A relationship that leads to an adoration and a devotion to Christ. Years ago, years and years ago, I think I was in college, one winter, I would say around the time of Christmas, I would make a statement that my family would never let me forget. I would regret making this statement. Because this is what families do, right? You say something, right? As stupid as it may be, or as bold as it may be, they don't let you live it down. And so we're sitting around, it's around Christmas time, and we're sitting around the table, we're eating desserts and snacks and playing games, When I said, I'm never too full for fudge. I'm never too full for fudge. I would soon regret this after being somewhat forced into eating way too much chocolate, way too much chocolate. And actually, it still continues on. If there is chocolate or fudge around Christmas time, I'm still like, hey, like, no, I can't anymore. No, you're never too full for fudge. Never too full for fudge. And maybe some small and silly way, actually, when I was studying this passage, this, for some reason, just kept coming back to me, right? This, I'm never too full for fudge, which is kind of silly when you're studying the book of Ephesians. That's what's coming to you. but this is what's in my mind, that maybe in some silly connection, some silly way, that this is what Paul is praying to the Ephesians here, right? That my desire to eat too much chocolate is insignificant, but the desire for us to go deeper and deeper in our knowledge of Christ is of most significance. That this would be the desire of the Christian to grow in a deeper and fuller and better knowledge of Christ. That should be our prayer, that we never become too full for the gospel, that we never become, the gospel never becomes dull. It never grows dull or becomes something that we no longer want, that we have joy, that true faith in Christ will express itself in joy and hope and peace. that we should have hope, right? That we should have joy because of we know who we are in Christ. And so to me, this is also one of the purposes of the church. This past semester, we were studying the book of Ephesians. And this is one thing that I talked with the youth was, this is one purpose of the youth group is that we would grow together in our faith. That we would grow together in our understanding of Christ. that we would have a better vision, a clearer understanding, and a stronger desire for the hope that we have in Christ. And so Paul here prays that we might know God precisely because it is God who has first set his love upon us and is elected to know us savingly. So Paul is praying this to them. The second is that we have a better knowledge of our salvation. So first is that we have a better knowledge of Christ. The second is that we have a better knowledge of our salvation. And we see this in three ways, right? Paul is gonna make three requests. The first is that we might know the hope to which he has called us. Our hope is what roots, it has its roots and is what grounds us in our election. It's rooted in our election. That God has called us to something and for something. We see this, if you want to turn, in Romans chapter 8 verses 16 through 17. It says this, it says, Paul is praying that we take hold of this hope, right? That the worth of the believer is not determined by his or her background. For we are all sinners saved by grace, but the worth of the believer, right? The worth of the Christian is determined by where we are going and to whom we belong. That's where the worth of the believer is determined. That's where our hope is found. Our hope is not found in who we are and what we've done, but our hope is solely found in who Christ is and what Christ has done. And so when we see here that hope is the opposite of despair, and that our hope in Christ gives us this breath of optimism and confidence because we belong to him. This past semester, I wrote an article or a paper on Richard Sibbes. And Richard Sibbes lived in the 17th century in England and he was a preacher. And one of the things that often he focused on in his sermons was the assurance of salvation. And the reason why he spent so much focus is he said that this is the only way that a believer can find comfort and peace is in the insurance of their salvation. And that God has chosen them and brought them to him. This is huge, right? There's this assurance that we are God's children. We see this in this Romans passage, that we are heirs. That our hope and comfort is only found in the assurance of our salvation, not in anything else. That my hope is built on nothing less than Christ's blood and righteousness. So first we see of this hope, The second is that we see that we might know the riches of His glorious inheritance. It's one that we would understand the scope of the blessings that He has for us. Here on earth, you know, things like taking the sacraments, Bible studies, meaningful work, fellowship with other believers, family, things here on this earth that we have been blessed with, but also of heavenly things. And then also that we would understand that we are God's riches, that He owns all of the heavens and the whole universe, and yet we are His treasures, that we should be in all of this truth. And I think that's why Paul is addressing it here, is that they would seek this, that they would understand of the blessings that they have in Christ. And then the last one is that we might know of his great power for us who believe. That we would grow in our understanding and experience of how the Spirit is for us, in us, and works through us. He is for us in the fact that there are no unexpected occurrences with God. That God does not ask for permission to do his work. And so the better we understand the gospel, and the reason why Paul was praying this, that we better understand the gospel, the more we can rest in the relief that God simply doesn't try to do things. You know, it's not like the horrible country song, Jesus take the wheel, right? Because this gives us way too much credit, way too much credit. way too much credit and strength, that I can handle things most of the time, but God just step in when I can't. That's not what Paul was saying here, right? That God is not our co-pilot. That he is the pilot, he is the plane, he is the sky, and he's the destination. That we need Christ. I can't do it on my own. And thank goodness for that, because that's where I find my rest, in knowing of who Christ is and what Christ has done, that I need the truth of the gospel to saturate my life, that I might live a life that solely brings Him glory. We see God's power at work in us, reminding us of the Father's love, growing fruit in us, that we grow in our faith, comforting us in the midst of trials. and also that God's power works through us, freeing us to find rest in Christ, that he gifts us for ministry and to further his kingdom and to share the gospel and to reach out to others. But yet what we see time and time again throughout scripture is that God does his best work through our brokenness and through our weakness. And so we're reminded of this throughout scripture. We see in Hebrews 11, especially towards the tail end, it says this, it says, Those that have suffered, it says, women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept those that might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with a sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats and destitute and afflicted and mistreated of all whom the world was not worthy. Wandering about in deserts and mountains and dens and caves of the earth. And all these, though commended their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided them something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect." That even when God's people were not faithful, that God is faithful. And so what does this mean for us? When we look at this passage, what does this mean for us? That the more that we grow in our knowledge of Christ, in our salvation, the more we will be drawn to him. The more we will grow in our sanctification. The more we will truly delight in the gospel. The more that we will never grow dull or that the gospel never grows dull or become too full of the gospel. The more that we will grow in our delight of God's grace in a greater devotion to the Lord. And so at the very beginning, I told you of Jackson and his passion and his love for things that move, for vehicles. And so we look here is that our lives should radiate that, that people should see our love for Christ, that we should have joy, right, and hope and peace in knowing who Christ is. And that people should know that and should see that. Not because we're just loving for love's sake, but that people will see the love of Christ. That we need to have our eyes opened. That we need to pray for the spirit of wisdom and revelation that we might see Christ more and more and more. And I think one of the biggest ways of doing this is spending time before the Lord. This is the secret. It can become very easy to get wrapped up and it can be exciting whenever we're reading God's Word and we're excited about different things that we're learning, but that we should have joy and who Christ is and what Christ has done, we should never lose sight on that. We should never lose our joy. That it's not a matter of intelligence or instruction or knowing the facts, but it's a matter of spending time with God, to sit at his feet, to spend time in prayer, that God will open our hearts to see him more and more. And so our prayers would sound very much like the last song we just sang. I need thee, oh, I need thee. Every hour I need thee. Oh, bless me now, my Savior, I come to thee. Let me pray for us. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we just thank you for this passage in Ephesians and this opportunity to be able to study your word and to see of the hope and the riches and the power that you have shown us. Lord, I pray that you just allow us to stay focused on you. Lord, I pray that we just find rest in what you've done, not of who we are, but who you are and what you've done for us. That our hope is not found in our things and who we are, but of whom and who we belong. Lord, I pray that you just allow us to see that, allow that to infiltrate our lives, that people will see of the love of Christ In us. In our prayer. Amen.