chapter 3 if you'll turn with me. My message title this morning is, That They Might Taste and See. We're going to start in verse 14 and read through verse 19. This is the second of the Apostle's prayers that have been in this particular letter. And he's praying for the people that they might taste and see. They might experience the treasures of Christ, the wonderful, unfathomable riches of our Lord Jesus Christ experientially. The gospel's not just something that is to bounce around inside our heads. The gospel is actually to motivate our lives, that we're to build our lives upon the bedrock of the teachings of Jesus Christ. And that whenever those tempests begin to blow, and they do, some of you folks that have lived a little while know that hard times come. And whenever those rains begin to beat against the house, the house will stand. Because it's been founded upon the rock. Those that hear the words of Jesus and obey them. those that are doers of the Word of God. Listen, I like what my pastor Jeff Noblitt says. He says all theology is local church theology and that it's got to get into our shoe leather. We've got to actually begin to walk out and to work out what God's teaching us through the exposition of Holy Scripture. So this morning the apostle is going to be praying for this church that he loves. Obviously he's praying from a prison in Rome. His mind is upon the beloved people of God. His heart is filled with the treasury of the riches of Jesus Christ. And he doesn't see that his ministry is over. Even though he's there locked up, he doesn't look at ministry as a failure. In fact, he steps into one of the most glorious ministries that there is, and it's the ministry of intercession. and he's praying for the beloved church. And we see the content of his prayer starting in verse 14. We'll read through verse 19. For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that he would give you according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner man. so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith and that you being firmly rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge so that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. This is the Word of God. Pray for me as I'll pray for you. Lord, would you open up our minds to receive the scriptures today? And Lord, may we begin to understand at least as much as a redeemed sinner can the depths of the love of Christ. the height, the breadth, the width of the love of Christ. And Lord, that we might, as your redeemed people, taste and see the unfathomable riches of Christ. Lord, may we begin to pray biblically as we have these glorious patterns in scripture, but Lord, may we also, Lord, live out of the realities of what's been done, that which has been won, for the glory of your great name and the well-being of your precious church. Anoint me to preach, but Lord, anoint us to hear. Speak to us. Your servant listens, and we ask it in Christ, amen. A godly pastor is foremost concerned about the glory of God. That is what he is foremost, because he's sent from God. He's sent as an ambassador of God, and so he's concerned with the things that are of God. That's the foremost passion of a true pastor's heart. But also a godly pastor is concerned about the spiritual health of his flock. But I'm going to argue just quickly that these two cannot be separated because God in His wisdom has wound together His own glory with His people's highest good. Those two truths are inseparable. That God is glorified when His people are filled with His fullness. The pulpit is critical to the health of a local church, but it's also not solely responsible for that vitality. There must be faithful intercessory prayer. And that's another thing I was going to mention. I forgot this Wednesday night we're going to have our monthly prayer meeting communion. That's a couple of days from now, and so we want you to come. You're invited to come, and we're going to, some of our men will be leading us in biblical praying, but we want you to come and to pray alongside of us and to pray what we're seeing the apostle praying right here, but also to come to the Lord's table together. So that's this coming Wednesday. So I'm arguing that Paul's praying here that the Ephesian church would taste and see the glory of the unfathomable riches that are in Jesus Christ. We see that in verse 8. And so this is all kind of one pericope. He gives this short parenthesis in verse 2 through verse 13, and then he says, For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father." For what reason? Well, because of the glorious truths, the wondrous riches that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ, the apostle now is praying that we would begin to taste and see the wonderful, the extravagant riches that are in our Lord Jesus Christ. He wants the knowledge of Christ to make its way into the hearts of God's people. He wants Ephesus to walk out their theology. He wants them to put on the Lord Jesus Christ. He wants their minds renewed. He wants them to be filled with all the fullness of God. In fact, he wants them to experience God and to know that dynamic power that comes forth from only God. He wants the love of God to be deeply rooted in their hearts. These are all pastoral concerns. and he's praying that the church might be the true church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace Life, listen, a pastor's concern should be for the flock's increase in growth, growing in maturity, but also that we would be a people of prayer. That we would be a people that live our lives understanding our native weakness and that God's power is available to us, but we must come boldly to the throne of grace to receive grace to help us in times of need. That we need to be a people of prayer and a healthy church is the object of much prayer. Paul will argue this morning in our text that a healthy church is the direct work of the Holy Spirit through the truth of the Scriptures, but the fact of the matter is Jesus does the building of the church. preaching and teaching our instruments that the Lord uses, but it's the Lord himself using the two-edged sword of his word. He himself is the master builder of his church. And we must pray and seek God to do this work. Lord, build your church and that the gates of hell will not prevail. And Paul understood this wonderful balance. He understood the importance of preaching, preach the word, but he also understood the power of intercessory prayer. Here in our text, Paul takes advantage of the confident access that's been granted him through the Lord Jesus Christ, and he goes to God and to the throne of grace and prayer, exploiting the opportunity that he might make his requests known unto God. And I just want to make just quickly this statement, and let this soak in, that the ministry of prayer is not secondary to pastoral ministry. It's not on the second rung of the shelf. We don't have the books first and then prayer. We don't have preaching ministry and then prayer. True pastoral ministry is foremost a ministry of prayer. It's primary to my ministry that I be a man of prayer. In fact, the outcome of my pulpit ministry will be proportionate to my ministry of prayer. This pericope this morning that I just read, starting in verse 14, is one of the great prayers of the Bible. They're there for instruction, but also to be patterns for us, to help us understand how you and me might pray for the Lord's church. Listen, we do indeed want to be biblical in everything that we say and do, but that includes a vibrant biblical prayer life. We cannot, as a church, be faithful and biblical apart from a life of prayer. And again, I reiterate, Paul wants Ephesus to experience or to taste and see the glorious and unfathomable riches of Christ. It's not enough for Paul for them to understand truth intellectually, he wants them to understand experientially. He wants them to actually taste and experience, as it says in verse 19, the fullness of God. You might ask the question, how can I best pray for the church? Well, we have the answer right here before us this morning. Starting in verse 14, I want you to note my first point, that Paul prays for Ephesus to be strengthened by the Holy Spirit. Do you see it? Verse 14 through 16, look at it with me. For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that he would give you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner man. Paul begins this short prayer here with the statement, for this reason. And you have to ask the question, what reason is he talking about? And as I was studying this out through the week, I found that there are a lot of different interpretations. There are some scholars that think that he's talking about, he's picking up from what he stated in verse one, and then he's praying for that reason. He's in chains on behalf of the Gentiles for this reason. then there are others that argue that it ties all the way back to chapter 2 whenever Paul's talking about how there are two peoples have become one new man in Christ, that we've become one body for that reason. There are others that think that the reason is for the previous parentheses that Paul has argued starting in verse 2 and through verse 13. And I think that it finds its climactic moment in verse 8 where he talks about how he has been gifted of God and called and set apart to make known to the Gentiles, the euangelion, the good news of the unfathomable riches of Christ. And I believe it's for that reason. that he's praying that these riches might be tasted and experienced. And I believe that that is the context, and I believe that that's what the apostle Paul is making reference to. Paul has made a powerful point of his ministry to the Gentiles to proclaim the riches of Christ. And now he's praying that they might know them. I mentioned In the first prayer in chapter one of Paul's letter to Ephesus, he's praying that they might know in an intellectual sense. This prayer is greatly different in that he's praying that they might experience. that they might experience the Lord. Whereas in the first prayer, that they might have the right data, but now that that data might be tasted, that it might be experienced. But now we see Paul is going to the throne of grace with great boldness. He's got confidence because of the finished work of Jesus Christ. He's had access made by the son's sacrificial death. He's bowing his knee. He's making his petition before God with humility. He mentions here the position of bowing his knee, he gives a snapshot of Paul's heart, that he's approaching the father as a father that's invited him, but he's also mindful that this father is a king and that he's transcendent. that he's powerful, all-powerful, and he's glorious, and that he knows that his boldness is not on the basis of presumption or arrogance or a sense of entitlement, but on the finished work of Jesus Christ. He has the seal of the blood of those of you that were here last week. He has the seal of the blood of Christ that strengthens him in his resolve to come to God in prayer. and he's coming on his knees interceding on the behalf of others that he loves, those that belong to God, but the point of the text is not his posture. although that is there, although Paul mentions it, he's praying to a benevolent, loving father, a father of the beloved of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he calls him a father of the families of heaven and the families of earth. Now, I want to just clarify that this is not inclusive terms here. The term family in this context is not used to speak of unbelievers in the context of Scripture. He's talking about the family of heaven, the family of God, the family on earth, that is the family which is the church of Jesus Christ. It's not talking about that all people are members under the universal fatherhood of God as some try to make it. That's not what we have here. He's bowing his knee to the glorious kind Father who is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have access that has populated the kingdom of God and by the blood of the cross has populated heaven with godly people. Amen. Now, Paul wants, in request of God, to grant power by the riches of his glory. And what does that even mean? That God would strengthen these people, that God would grant them ability by the riches of the glory of God. Well, you have to ask the question, what is the glory of God? Well, I will say, and we talked about this in our theology class with the men this last Saturday, it's the collective attributes of God put on display. The glory of God is the full array of God's divine character, the full array of His virtue made known. So, in other words, Paul is describing the source of this divine power that is needed for the Christian life to be For God's glory is the shining forth of His mighty power towards us that we might be strengthened in the inner man to live our life in a way that honors and glorifies God. It's very interesting here. Back to our text, if you'll look at it with me, that God, verse 16, it says that He would give you according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man. Now, I'll go back to the first part of verse 16. It says, according to the riches of His glory. The Greek word kata is here, and I think it should be interpreted better as down from. That literally, that this strength by the Spirit of God that will occur in the inner man that God gives it down from the riches of His glory. That's what kata literally means. Let me give you another example of this Greek term kata. James 117 will be one that you will remember. that all good gifts come down from the Father of lights in whom there's no variableness nor shadow of turning." Again, the Greek term kata means down, and for in this context of James 1.17, that all good and perfect gifts come down from the Father of lights, it's coming down or walking or going, coming down and going forth, literally. So here we have that the strength that Paul's praying for, that is coming down from the glory of God, that he's praying that it might take up residence and strengthen you and me in the inner man. that he's praying for power and strength to come from the glorious character of God, coming down from the nature of God to his own dear children. He's talking about power and strength to reside and rule inside of you and I, how this comes down to us from the glories of God, coming down to us by way of the Holy Spirit of God. You say, Pastor, so what? Here's what. Life in first century Ephesus was not easy. We've talked about this in times gone by that it was greatly difficult and dangerous to be a Christian in the first century in the church of Ephesus. Ephesus was not Mayberry at all. It looked more like San Francisco times a million. It was the home of the a melting pot of pagan religions. It was the devil's backyard. The pagan temples Diana and Artemis were there. The entirety of the economic system was premised upon the sale of religious, pagan religious artifacts or articles. And for the church to flourish in that kind of environment, they would need the Spirit's power. That power was needed personally, internally, that they would be strengthened with the power of the Holy Spirit as it comes down from the glories of God to his people. That's what Paul's praying for for these believers. Listen, they don't have the tensile strength to get it done on their own. They need power that comes down from God. And that power and that strength that's needed in the inner man is mediated by the Holy Spirit of God. that the Holy Spirit transfers these riches from Christ to us, fortifying us in our weakness, shoring up our feebleness, empowering us for our mission, conforming us to the likeness of Jesus Christ. There's not one part of the Christian life that can be lived in native strength. We can't even get the first base. We don't have the power that we need. So victorious Christianity is the result of the strength of the Holy Spirit's power at work in our lives. Paul says that they might be strengthened in their inner man with the strength that's supplied by the Holy Spirit that comes down to us from the glory of God, by the very virtue of his character, by the enablement of God. The Christian life is supernatural. The Christian life cannot be lived by human ability. We are dependent upon the Holy Spirit's power every step of the way. Philippians 2.12 and 13 says that even our sanctification is by the Spirit. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who is at work within you, both the will and the work of His good pleasure. God is the one at work in our sanctification. Our obedience is by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 8.13 tells us, The deeds of the flesh by the Spirit. Our witnessing is by the power of the Holy Spirit. Acts 1.8, you shall receive power to be witnesses of me to Jerusalem and Judea and all of Samaria and then to the uttermost parts of the earth. We don't have the power to even witness without the Holy Spirit. Our loving, our ability to love is by the Holy Spirit. Romans 5, 5 says that God sheds abroad his love into our hearts by the Spirit. Our repentance is by this power of the Spirit. We can't even repent without the Holy Spirit. The Bible tells us that it's the kindness of the Lord that leads us to repentance. What about our praying? Our praying is by the power of the Spirit because we don't know how to pray as we ought to. The Bible says in Ephesians 6, 18, praying with all kinds of prayers and supplications, listen to this, in the Spirit. And by the way, that's not talking in tongues. That's praying in power by the truth of God as the Holy Spirit is revealing to our own hearts that we're praying by the power of the Holy Spirit of God. So this is all a matter of prayer to the Apostle Paul, and it must become a matter of prayer to us at Grace Life Churches for it to be a biblical church. And in fact, beloved, this is what it means to be Spirit-filled. This is what the Spirit-filled Christian life is, that we live our lives by the power being dependent upon the Holy Spirit of God who is strengthening us in our inner man. Think about this with me. How is this little tiny church, Ephesus. Probably just a fraction of what we have there this morning. How are they to be a light in this dark dungeon of death? How are they to be faithful witnesses of Jesus Christ when they're so numerically inferior? And again, these are not the Ivy League kids. These are normal men and women that go to work and raise families that face problems and perils and difficulties. How are they to live their day-to-day life, to push back darkness, to shine the light, and that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church just by the power of the Holy Spirit of God? It's by the power of the Holy Spirit of God. This little church planted at the back door of the devil, right at the threshold of hell, surrounded by hostiles, mindful that they are not superhuman or superhero Christians. Not social elites, just weak men and women that have joined the church there in Ephesus under the headship of Christ, covenanting together to live holy lives consistent with the truth. They've committed to God to evangelize both near and far, and how are they gonna do it whenever all odds are stacked against them? It's gonna be by the power of the Holy Spirit. It's gonna be as God strengthens their inner man. And Paul's praying that this come to fruition. He's praying that they might have this might of the Holy Spirit of God that's come down, this power, this dynamis, this strength, this energia that comes down from God to make them able, to make them strong, that God through them will carry out the mission and they might be faithful even against all odds. And that's how the apostle prays. Listen, a mighty church is not mighty because of human strength. A mighty church is not mighty because of financial stability. A mighty church is not mighty because of the influential members of the church. A church is not mighty because they have a large campus or because they have a large membership or because they have a large budget. Listen, a church is mighty because they have hold of a large God. A mighty power that is given in the inner man by the Holy Spirit of God that God's people do great exploits because they have been strengthened in the inner man because they've been praying and asking God to do it. Secondly, Paul prayed for Ephesus to have Christ dwelling in their hearts. Look at verse 17a. So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. He's praying that Christ might dwell in their hearts through faith. You may be saying, Pastor, of course Christ dwells in our hearts through faith. He dwells in every Christian's heart by faith. So why would I pray for what's already true of me? That's a really good question. I'm glad you asked it. Christ does reside within every Christian, doesn't he? We are the temple of God. He is the head of the church, he indwells us, but the issue here is not whether or not Jesus dwells within us. The issue here is whether Jesus is at home within us. The word dwell here comes from a compound Greek word And it's defined as a place to reside or a home, a place to settle down. And by the way, Paul only uses this word three times in the entirety of his writings. And by the way, Paul wrote a lot. This is a very unique word. The more common word to describe the word Dwell is from a different word, parakeo, and that literally means to visit or to be a stranger, to live as a stranger in a land. It's the same word to describe Abraham and how he was a pilgrim passing through. The idea of the normative word has the idea of just passing through temporarily. But here, this particular word that we're looking at today, that underwrites this translated word dwell, is talking about whether or not Jesus is at home within us. He's praying that the Lord, that these people's hearts would be a haven for the Lord to rest in them or to be pleased, as it says in Colossians 119. The Bible uses the same Greek term here in Colossians when it speaks about Jesus Christ, that all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell in him. There are other instances in the New Testament where this word is used to describe a permanent home, a place where people love to dwell, and that's the sense here in our text. That Christ would be pleased to dwell in our hearts through faith. It's not talking about conversion where Christ comes to live within us. It's talking about our hearts being a home where Christ is pleased to dwell in us. That our hearts are a delightful place for him to dwell. That there's nothing on the inside of us that makes him uncomfortable, in other words. no sin that is hidden in the dark places of our lives that grieve him, no little foxes of sin that are spoiling his delight as he dwells in us. And so there is a great purpose here of Paul using this term, that Christ would settle down and be at home on the inside of you, that you would live in such a way that Christ delights in living in you. In Ephesians chapter 4, just turn the page, in verse 30, the Apostle Paul gives us kind of the contrary here, the other side of the coin. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. The word grieve there in the original tongue means to cause distress or to cause sadness or remorse or to cause or inflict pain. But the word dwell that we find in verse 17, the first part of it, that Christ may dwell in your heart is the very opposite of grieve. It literally means to be at home or to make home. John MacArthur writes, Jesus enters the house of our hearts the moment He saves us, but He cannot live there in comfort and satisfaction until it is cleansed of sin and filled with His will through continuing faith that trusts Him to exercise His Lordship over every aspect of our lives. Dr. D.A. Carson writes, make no mistake, when Christ first moves into our lives, He finds us in very bad repair. It takes a great deal of power to change us. And that is why Paul prays for power. He asks that God may so strengthen us by his power in the inner being that Christ may genuinely take up residency within us, transforming us into a house that pervasively reflects his own character. A place that he can settle down and be at home within us. So it's not talking about the certainty of His indwelling us, but the contentment in which He indwells us. Are there rooms in your mind that have pictures hanging there that grieve Him? Are there desires in your heart that still yet oppose Him? Are there ambitions that need to yield to him because those ambitions are for your own glory. And here the apostle prays for the church that Christ would dwell or make his home by faith in their hearts and that he would be comfortable there. That every part and parcel of the lives of the Ephesians would be pleasing to Christ, that he might be pleased to indwell them. You see this? I think it's a very important point because sometimes people have different things going on in here than they have going on in here. that we might not be doing, but we might be thinking, that we might have the illicit in our minds, that we might have false motives in our minds and in our hearts. And here are the apostles praying that Christ would be pleased to make His home, His permanent dwelling inside these people, that the lives of God's people might be consistent with His character, that He might be pleased and settle down, because what's there has all been hung there by the power of the Holy Spirit. that every image is holy, that every desire has been transformed, and that's why Paul says, I'm praying that the power of the Holy Spirit will do this work in them. That Christ might be pleased to dwell in his people. Third, Paul prays for the church of Ephesus. And by the way, these are points of prayer for us, aren't they? You ought to be writing these down and say, man, I'm going to be praying these for my church. I'm gonna be praying this for my family of faith, that this might be characteristic of Grace Life Church. The third feature's in the second part of verse 17. Paul prays for the Ephesians to be rooted and grounded in love. Look at it with me. It says, being firmly rooted and grounded in love. Firmly rooted is one word in the Greek language. It's risu. and it means to be strengthened in love. The idea, by the way, of a root is something that grows down underneath the soil to give two features, strength and sustenance. Strength and sustenance. A tree root grows down deep into the soil that it might grow up very tall and be able to withstand gale force winds, but it also, that root goes down, draws up moisture, it draws up nutrients from the soil, gives strength and vitality to the tree. Here's that we might be firmly rooted in love, that we might have roots in love. Listen, love is the evidence of saving faith. It is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit, Paul says, is love. And the greatest of these is love. It's the evidence that we've become a Christian, that you have passed from death to life because you love the brethren, 1 John 3, 14. It's also essential to our Christian witness. Jesus told his disciples in John 13, 35, that they will know or the world will know that you are my disciples because you have loved one for another. Love is characteristic of discipleship. Love. And this is talking about the purest form of love. This is not phileo. This is agapeo, or this is agape love, the love that sacrifices. Christ loved the church and gave his life up for her. It's a love of preference that we prefer others to ourself. It's a love that gives. God so loved agape that he gave his only begotten son. Listen, the true Christian life ought to be characterized by love. Love. It ought to be our foremost attribute. It ought to be what defines a church as beautiful, authentic, useful, and attractive. And then the Word of God goes on to say not only are we rooted, but we're also grounded in love. That has the idea of a foundation. It literally means to be established. It means the basis of our practice. that love should be the overarching testimony of Grace Life Church. I want Grace Life Church to be known by its love. I can hear my Calvinistic reform friends reeling in disapproval. Why, Pastor Derek, the overarching testimony of a church is doctrinal fidelity. Pastor Derrick, it is doctrine that is more important, not love. To which I would say doctrinal fidelity is greatly important, but it's not more important than love. That's why there are so many mean-spirited Calvinistic Christians. Paul wrote to Corinth and says, if I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries, if I possess all knowledge, If I have all faith so as to move mountains and I do not have love, he says, I am nothing. You know what nothing means in the Greek? It means nothing. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13, 13, that the greatest of all the gifts is love. And all truth ought to be preached in love. All preaching ought to be preached with love. And listen, the sharp edge of truth without the healing balm of love can hurt people. People armed with truth and bereft of love are counterproductive because faith works by love. Galatians 5, 6. Paul's not telling us to lay down our doctrinal distinctives. He's not asking us to tone down our theological convictions. He's not promoting Quaker theology. This is the same apostle that gave us the magnum opus of Romans. Romans 8, 32, Romans 9. Paul had such high theology, the apostle Peter's head was reeling. He says, Paul, his theology is hard to understand. but it was always softened by love. I want you to listen to my heart just for a moment. I want people to leave grace life prior having experienced love. I want them to learn sound doctrine, don't misquote me. So while we teach theology classes, that's why we do exegetical preaching. But I want their minds to be renewed with the word of truth in a profoundly loving environment. The word of God takes its deepest root in the soil of a heart that's tempered with love. Our theology is not worth two cents if we are not a loving people. I love good solid theology. Go in my office and look at it all there. I sit in there and I'm like, man, I'm like a big old mouse in the middle of a wheat field. My chompers are just going. But here are the apostles praying that the church and the people will understand love. And he's praying that they'll be loving because it's not the power of their theology as much as it is the glory of their love. that gets the missions accomplished. We're not excluding theology. I'm not saying that we need to get rid of our doctrinal convictions. I'm not saying take down the 1689 off the website. I say, let's put it up there and let's hold to it. I believe it's one of the best Baptist reformed confessions of faith that's available. I love it. I'm glad it's there, but beloved, let us not just be lopsided. Let's be balanced. Let's be a people of love. And I think that's why some of y'all come from a long distance. You love preaching, you love theology, but your heart's crying out for love, right? We need to be loved. Cole, you've really helped us with this. I heard you amen over there. You've been coming here for 10, 12 years. Back when your hair wasn't quite as gray. And you've been loving on people. You've been showing the church how to love one another. that you engage the little children, you talk with the little ones, you talk with their parents, and all these sisters look to you as a big brother, and all of us younger men look to you as a big brother, but we're learning, not only from Scripture, but by example, and I want every person in this church to be tempered with love, that we learn how to love people. To love God foremost, but to love His people. Listen, I think that sometimes, you know, with reform doctrine, it can be very difficult for people to receive this great high view of God in the midst where we've been inundated with this high view of man. It's very offensive for someone that's not been taught that. But listen, if we temper the truth with love, we're going to see that light start coming on with people. What they're saying is right. It's right there. And they were so loving and patient to help me see it, to help me believe, to help me embrace what does God say about His purposes and grace. Right? Cold, calloused hearts produce death no matter how correct the information might be in their heads. Write that down. Cold, calloused hearts produce death no matter how correct the information might be in their heads. Paul says, I pray that these people be rooted and grounded in love. Paul would write to Corinth, the love of Christ controls us. Now listen, I'm going to just say something, just in passing, real short. I added this in this morning, very early here. Ephesus did not continue in love. Ephesians 2, I'm sorry, Revelation 2-4 says that the Lord took away their lampstand because they lost their first love. Love for Christ and love for one another. Let this be a warning for us. Grace Life Church will only be used in proportion to the love that we show to each other. The fourth feature is that we might have or to know the love of Christ. That's what he's praying for in verse 18 and 19. Look at it with me. That you might be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth and know the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge. And by the way, it's impossible for us to be rooted and grounded in love apart from comprehending the love of Christ for us, right? That our ability to love is fueled by the perfect and eternal love of Christ for us. And that the deeper that awareness is of his love for you and I, the deeper that we will be able to show love to each other. 1 John 4, 19 says, for we love because Christ first loved us. That our ability to love is coming out of Christ's love for us. And then Paul unpacks the vast degree of his love for us. He talks about the breadth and the length and the height and the depth, meaning that it's a broad love, it is a high love, a deep love, a love that surpasses knowledge, a mysterious love. And this is not love given to lovely people, it's love that was given to enemies. And we have to ask the question, what was it that moved Jesus to love sinners who hated him? And the answer is more simple than you might think. He loved us because he loved us. That's the only biblical answer. Deuteronomy 7, 7 and 8, when he's speaking of Israel who he loved, that he did not choose you because you were more numerous. He didn't choose you. The only reason he chose you is because he loved you. That's the answer. I want you to think soberly about this. Paul prays fervently. He asked for the help of the Holy Spirit for the church to comprehend with all the saints the transcendence of Jesus' love. And we have to ask the question, why? Why pray that Christians comprehend the height ceiling, the depth bottom, the parameters of width and length? We must pray, listen, because it's so critically important. to understand and to have a depth cultivated in our hearts of the transcendent love of Christ for us. These are truths that are spiritually appraised. Praying for the riches of the glory of His grace that we might understand the love of Christ. And here's why, because we struggle with that. We begin to question the limits of the love of God. We look at ourselves and we see our sin-stained garments. We remember moments where temptation has won the day. We remember the weight of sin crushing us. And we recall every moment of the day the crushing grief-stricken moments where we've sinned against God. And we feel so ashamed of ourselves. And we hear the accusers say, God can't love someone like you. Then we hang our heads in disgust and nod that he's right. We will not nor can we fathom that God could love repeat offenders. Satan tells us that not only can he not, he will not love us. And then Christian people start living their lives out of that lie, out of defeat, out of darkness. And we have to reel back. the truth before our mind's eye and think of what God says, that he demonstrates his own love towards us, even that while we were sinners, Christ died for us. When Jesus went to the cross, he knew every sin you've ever committed and ever will commit, and he laid his life down anyway. I like what one of the Puritans said, that there's more mercy in Christ than there is sin in you. It's in my office, Cassie. You gave that to me in a little picture to remind me. Paul here is saying that the love of Christ is not limited by the clouds that reaches into heaven itself. It's not limited by the depths that thrust down to the lowest of hell and rescues us. It's not limited to outward spheres such as our nationality, an ethnic group, a specific nation, or a color of skin. It's long and it's wide enough to encompass all kinds of nations and tribes and people groups. John Stott once wrote, the love of Christ is broad enough to encompass all of mankind, long enough to last for eternity, deep enough to reach the most degraded sinner, and high enough to exalt him to heaven. To which I say, amen. And Paul wants them to know the love of Christ. Genosco. It's not just academic knowledge. It's intimacy. This is tender experiential knowledge. Paul's praying that every Christian will taste and see the love of Christ, the glorious riches of Christ, the riches of his love, that they might taste this love and be strengthened with might in their inner man to know this love. I wrote down in my manuscript here, it's not always just taught, sometimes it's caught. that the Holy Spirit just enlivens us to comprehend the magnanimous love of Christ, the transcendent love of Christ, the costly love of Jesus. And by the way, while we're talking about the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, pneumatology, the mission and ministry of the Holy Spirit is to take that which belongs to Christ, listen, and to make it plain to you. You cannot fathom the love of Christ for you without the Holy Spirit revealing it to your heart. It says in the scriptures in John 16, 13, Jesus says, the Holy Spirit will glorify me for he will take of mine and disclose it to you. Pastor Derek, what's the Holy Spirit doing on earth today? He's disclosing Jesus Christ. He's glorifying Jesus Christ. You know, reformed Christians love to talk about the justice of God. The wrath of God, the holiness of God, and these are truly the attributes of God that are revealed to us in the Holy Scriptures, and I love to talk about them, too. But listen, beloved, we've got to be more balanced than that. God is not simply wrath. He's not simply justice. 1 John 4, 8 says God is love, and it's almost like we blush to say it. And I get that our contemporary pagan religious culture loves to exploit the idea of the love of God, but it doesn't mean we should be silent about the true love of God. Paul's praying that these Christians that are a yard from hell in this city of darkness would know the transcendent love of Christ for them. That the Holy Spirit would take that truth and shove it in the inner man. shot them to life, caused them to be electric because of the love of Christ. He wants the boundaries of our comprehension of how much Jesus loves us both pushed up and pushed out and pushed down that we might comprehend the fullness and to taste the love of Christ. Some people probably are afraid that if you talk too much about the love of Jesus, it might lead us to antinomianism. They say, Pastor, what in the world is an antinomian? It's a person that is lawless. Or maybe put it this way to help us in our understanding, that if I talk too much about the love of Christ, that it might cause people to become sloppy and to live a sinful life. But that's not what the Scripture says. The Scripture says the more that we know He loves us, the more that we will love, and that love will cause us to keep the commandments of God. It says in John 14, 21, we obey Him because we love Him, and we love Him in proportion to that which we know that we've been loved of God. And I'm telling you, this is a problem in Reformed churches. We hear a lot of sermons on the blazing holiness of God, the fierce wrath of God, the wonderful justice of God, and I love those sermons too, but brothers and sisters, we need messages on the love of God. Paul prays that these Ephesians, who he taught, by the way, who are the elect, that they might know the love of Christ for them, that they might know it. And we need to know it too. Because if we don't know it, we can't show it. Lastly, he prays for them. This is where we end. I think some of y'all stayed up way too late last night. That you may be filled up with all the fullness of God. Paul here is praying that the Spirit of God would strengthen the inner man. grant them power to be filled with the fullness of God." The idea here is that they might be conformed to Christ. Christ, Colossians 119 says, is the fullness of God. And by this, He's praying that we might be filled up in ever-increasing measures to become more and more like Him. That we might grow, that we might mature, that a faithful church, as we're praying, that we ought to be praying one for another that we grow up to the fullness of God. Becoming more and more like our Lord. Turn the page to chapter 4, verse 15. Look at it with me. Chapter 4, verse 15. Speaking the truth in love, Paul says, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, that is Christ. Look back up at verse 13, until we all attain the unity of the faith and the full knowledge of the Son of God to a mature man to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. This is God's work, isn't it? Isn't He the one that conforms us to His Son? Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who is at work within you, both to will and to work of His good pleasure. It is God that is at work within you, that we might grow to the fullness, the fullness of Him growing up in every aspect. It says in chapter four, this is not sinless perfection or perfect sanctification as Wesley taught it. This is progressive sanctification as Jesus teaches it. Be filled up, that's in increments. from one glory to the next. Like Paul says to Corinth, but we all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, we're being transformed in the same image from glory to glory just as from the Lord the Spirit. Just as from who? The Spirit, being transformed. This is a very biblical way to pray for the church. This is a biblical way to pray for me. It's a biblical way for, and by the way, I prayed this for you this morning. Write out my prayer in my journal. Down here this morning before daylight, I prayed each one of these points just for you. I prayed that you would mature and grow and be filled with the fullness of God. And I want us to pray that way for each other. This is what a biblical church looks like. This is what a faithful prayer warrior prays for. The Spirit's power working in our inner man that we might be filled up with Christ, filled with the fullness of God, being effectual in the world. This is the kind of a church that gets the gospel to the ends of the earth and obeys in the Great Commission, loving the lost, being the hands and feet of Jesus in a world that is sin sick. And Paul realizes here this need of the church and sets his heart to praying. We'll look at this next week and open it up and unpack it some, but let me just read it to you. Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we can ask or understand according to the power that works within us. To Him be the glory in the church. Who's going to accomplish it? That we grow up into Christ and that we mature that we are filled up with the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we can ask or understand according to the power that works within us, to God be the glory in his church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. It's God that does it. What a powerful prayer. I want Jesus to dwell in my heart through faith. Not just that I want him in there, I want him in there happily. I want him to abide in me with a smile, joyfully, happily, living on the inside of me that there's nothing in there that's grieving him and making him uncomfortable. I don't want him living on the inside of me saying, I don't want to look at that wall. I don't want to look down that hallway. I don't want to open that door. I want his character to be formed in me. In every room, in every hall, on every wall, under every bed, I want him to have complete access to where he is at home. and pleased to dwell in me. And I know you do too, right? Let's pray. Lord, what a wonderful text we've had this morning. What a wonderful Lord that's given it to us. I pray that the power of the Holy Spirit will take and do what I could never do by just preaching. Cause us to love this truth. Cause us to delight that we might become a people that begin praying this bold, biblical prayer. Lord, we ask that you be with us this coming Wednesday as we come to our monthly prayer meeting. I pray that every person here today will come out of a burning desire to pray with the saints and to come to the table to commune with the Lord alongside brothers and sisters in Christ. Lord, help us to be the kind of church that Jesus died for us to be. And Lord, help us to repent where we missed the mark and do wrong. And Lord, help us get back on track that we can accomplish your mission, your way for your glory. Be with those that have been sick and those that are still sick, those that are battling illness. Lord, I pray that you'd be with help those that are battling spiritual illness to where they don't just don't want to come. Lord, that's worse than the flu, that we don't want to be in the presence of God's people with the Lord Jesus Christ. So Lord, do heart work in us. Strengthen us physically, strengthen us spiritually. May the Holy Spirit strengthen us with might in the inner man for the glory and renown of Jesus, the Savior of sinners, the head of the church. And we ask all this in Jesus' saving name and the church said.