A Prayer for the Saints Pt 2
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Transcript
Organized into readable paragraphs from the preserved Whisper transcript. Non-speech markers are removed.
Good morning. Would y'all stand? I want to welcome you to Calvary Chapel this morning. Those who are live with us and those who are joining us online, welcome. Would you join me in prayer? Father, we thank you for this opportunity this morning to come and worship in song and to study your word. Would you move by your Holy Spirit? Fill us afresh this morning as we worship
and as we study. We know, Lord, you are with us. We can trust you. You're working in us both to will and do if you're a good pleasure. We know that even though it seems chaotic behind the scenes, you are a God who is in control, and you are a God of order. We thank you for that.
We all have various things going on, and you're bigger than that, which builds character when it's all said and done, which just encourages, which encourages us in the hope, may be seated, of sin. As Lord, we miss the mark. We also transgress. We will thank you, Lord, for what you did on that cross. We want to sidestep looking to you sometimes. Pride sets in, Lord. You allow certain things to take place to help us see,
and we say no, Lord. We pray spiritually without your goodness. You're sovereign. You're our sovereign God. The rule is always best. We don't like to thank anybody. Lord, you created us. There used to be a TV show where the guy said, told the kid, I brought you to this world. I dig you out. You brought us into this world, and we'll go when you're ready, and you're ultimately in control. If you're feeling
lonely and sad this morning, if you're facing a rough time right now, our God is there for you.
If you're feeling distraught, we thank you so much. I'm going to do that chorus one more time with this typical ending. Praise the Father. You're our service, Lord, as we fellowship, as we are worshiping in song, as we're looking to you, Lord, as we daily serve you, worship you, Lord. We know that brings about service, because we serve you, because we love you, and there's something different about
serving because we think we just got to, but as we look to you, Lord, and as we worship you, as we worship you, we worship you, Lord. We worship you, Lord. We worship you, Lord. We worship you, Lord. We worship you, Lord. We worship you, Lord. We worship you, Lord. We worship you, Lord. We honor you. It brings about a heart of wanting to serve you because you love us. Because you first
loved us, we love you. Oh, Father, now as we continue in this service, as Pastor Ryan comes up,
speak to our hearts by your holy name. Anoint him by the power of your Holy Spirit to bring forth your word. And so would you do your work this morning? Would you move in each of our hearts?
Let's have some fellowship. Good morning. If you could begin to locate your seats, grab a bulletin. We'll get ready to go over some announcements. Welcome to Calvary Chapel. I'm glad that you joined us this morning. Over on the left-hand side of your bulletin are the things that are going on throughout the week, different studies to get plugged into, so please take note of that.
Over in the middle section of your bulletin, some things to remember is that today is the baptism, and I'm just going to believe that it's not going to rain, although we're going to be in a pool anyway, so it's okay, as long as there's no lightning. But baptisms from five to eight, bring a dish to share. We're going to be in a pool anyway, so it's okay, as long as there's no lightning. We'll eat inside. The place where we're going does have an air-conditioned place
where we'll eat inside. It's going to be amazing, right? And then we'll go up to the pool and baptize after that, and then be able to hang out and swim for a while after that. And then fellas, men's breakfast coming up this Saturday at eight o'clock in the Agape room. And then just a reminder that our Grief Share group is kicking off at the end of this month, and so if you want
to get involved in that, the info to sign up is right there in your bulletin. One other thing, if it is not in your bulletin, is that we are in need of some help in the two- and three-year-old classroom. Some of our kids have gone off to school, and so if you have been around for a little while, and you think, hey, I'm really good with tiny kids, please talk to my wife afterwards. I think she's in the nursery today, but talk to her afterwards and get on a rotation to help out with them. So those are the things that are going on. If you would make sure that
your mobile device is silenced, and for our responsive reading, this morning we're going to be in Psalm 13. Looking at the New American Standard for this part so we sound the same, and then you can go back to using a different Bible if that's what you brought. Psalm 13. As you are turning to Psalm 13, if you would stand in the honor of the reading of God's Word, if you are able. And if you need a copy of the New American Standard, it should be
one in a row around you. Psalm 13. I will read the odd verses if you will follow along with Pastor Allen and the even verses. For the choir director, a Psalm of David.
And Father, we do praise you that you consider, and you answer, and you deal bountifully with us. And Father, as we take time to look at a prayer in Scripture this morning, I just ask that you would just move in our hearts by the power of your Holy Spirit. Father, would you speak to us? Give us ears to hear what your Spirit has to say this morning. And Lord, give us hearts that can
understand. In Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. And if you would open up in your Bibles to the book of Ephesians chapter 3. Ephesians chapter 3. We really come to the end of the first major, to the end of the division in the book of Ephesians. The first half of Ephesians deals with who we are in Christ. The second half deals with living in light of Christ. The second half deals with living in
light of who we are in Christ. But as we come to the end of chapter 3, Paul once again, for the second time, prays for the Ephesian believers. And so the title of this morning's message is simply a prayer for the saints part 2. Because you may remember at the end of chapter 1, he prayed for them that they would be able to understand all of the riches. This will be a prayer for strength
to access all of those riches that we have in Christ. And so chapter 3 verse 14 says this, for this reason, I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that he would grant to 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 rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height, and the length and length and length of the earth. And depth, to know the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up
to the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. Now before Paul actually gets into the prayer, before he actually begins making requests, there is what I call, first of all, an introduction. And his introduction is really
an acknowledging of who God is, an acknowledging of the power and the access that we have to God. He starts off like this. He says, for this reason, I bow my knees. Now, anytime you see the phrase for this reason in scripture, you should always ask yourself the question that begs to be asked, for what reason? Well, if you remember, Paul started off chapter three, this exact same way.
He started off chapter three by saying, for this reason, I, Paul, a prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, and then went on and talked about his ministry to the Gentiles. But he picks up the thought again here in verse 14. And so the reason why he wants to pray for them has everything to do with what he talked about in chapter two. You may remember that in chapter two, there were two great subjects that he brought up. He brought up the fact that you
were dead in your trespasses and sins, and you've been made alive in Christ. And that as Gentiles, we were free from sin. And he brought up the fact that you were dead in your trespasses and sins, and you were far off and have been brought near through Jesus Christ. And so for this reason, because we were dead, now we're alive because we were far off and we've been brought near for this reason, he's going to pray for them. Now, the first thing he says in this prayer is he says,
for this reason, I bow my knees. Paul creates for us the idea that a typical posture for him in prayer is actually to get down on his knees and pray to the Lord. Now, it's an interesting thought because that's a very humble position for an individual to be in, to be on your knees before someone else. It would indicate that the person that you're speaking to is not only of higher stature, but it also indicates that they are greater than you.
Therefore, you are humbling yourself before them. Now, it's interesting to look throughout scripture because the posture of prayer throughout scripture is given to us in lots of different ways. Sometimes in scripture, people are standing. Sometimes in scripture, people are kneeling. Sometimes in scripture, people have their hands raised. And one time in scripture,
the shortest prayer ever, Peter was sinking in the water and cried out, Lord help. So even in the water, you can pray, right? So, so the physical posture that we take, I think is less important than the spiritual position of our hearts. You see what Paul is taking on and telling us now about his physical posture has everything to do with the position of his heart, because whether or not he had actually bowed his knee to the Lord and was down on his knees, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. It
doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. The most important thing is that he had humbled himself before the Lord. And in order for us to come to God in prayer, the first thing that we have to do is we have to humble ourselves
because we must realize that in every aspect of our life, I am completely and totally dependent upon the Lord. As a matter of fact, I would venture to say that your level of dependence, your heart of dependence upon the Lord is somewhat equal to your prayer life. Because if you don't think you need God, you're probably not going to pray that much. But if you live with God, if you live with the distinct understanding that you are constantly in need of the work of God in your life, then you're probably on your knees before the Lord quite a bit and humble reverence before him. He says, for this reason, I bow my knees. And I want you to notice who he bows his
knees before, the Father. Now, it's interesting to pay attention to the fact that he is going directly to the Father. You and I don't think about that too much because we probably grew up in a church where everybody prayed to the Father in Jesus's name. But for the Gentile and even Jewish mindset at this point in time, it was a big deal for them to think that you can go directly to the Father. As a matter of fact,
I'm going to take you on a short little scriptural journey to tell you why this is so important. There's a couple of references I just want you to write down. You don't have to turn to. And then there will be one that I have you turn to in just a moment. Because this idea of access to the Father, direct access to God was somewhat earth shattering as far as Jewish people were
concerned. So if you were to go back to Leviticus chapter 16, verse two, and you just write that down either in the margin of your Bible, in your notes, whatever, take note of it. Leviticus chapter 16, verse two, there's something interesting that takes place because Leviticus chapter 16, verse two begins to tell us about what's called the day of atonement, an incredibly important ritual day for the Jewish people. But the verse says this, Moses is to tell Aaron and his sons, the priests, that they cannot come in to the most holy place anytime they want to. They can only come in once a year,
with the prescribed sacrifice. Now, the most holy place had a curtain that separated it from everything else. And inside the most holy place was called the Ark of the Covenant, which is the visible representation of God amongst the Jewish people. Therefore, the picture that's painted for us is this. You cannot come directly to God unless you're the high priest, and then only once a year,
and then only with the correct sort of blood sacrifice. You know why? Because our sin, our sins have separated us from God. Now, if you go all the way back down through history, you come to Matthew chapter 27, verse 51. Matthew chapter 27, verse 51, something really significant happens. You see, right before that verse, Jesus had been crucified, and he had declared from the cross to Telestai, it is finished, paid in full. And then in Matthew 27,
51, there's this amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing, statement. It says, and the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. Two amazing things happened after Jesus gave up the ghost, after he declared it is finished. Number one, there was an earthquake, an earthquake that shook Jerusalem, an earthquake that split the temple.
The second thing that took place is that the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. You say, Ryan, I don't care that the veil of the temple was torn in two. Yes, you do. Because what was the thing that kept everybody out of the holy place? The veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. You say, Ryan, I don't care that the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. You say,
Ryan, I don't care that the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. You say, the most holy place, the most holy place where the presence of God was, unless you were the high priest, unless it was the right day of the year, and unless you had a blood sacrifice, it was a veil. That veil represented our separation from God. And the only thing that could heal the separation that we had from God was the blood of Jesus Christ. And so when Jesus declared from the cross,
it is finished, paid in full, he indicated that he had now made a way of direct, access to the Father. Therefore, we come to Hebrews, and I want you to turn here, Hebrews chapter 10, verse 19. Whoops, I hit Revelation. I went too far. And that's exactly what I would tell you. If you hit Revelation, you've gone too far. Hebrews chapter 10, verse 19. Starting in verse 19, it says this,
Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he inaugurated for us through the veil, that is his flesh. And since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith. All of that was building to this point. We now have a way directly to the Father. We can go directly into the presence of God and not have to go through
a high priest, not have to go through any sort of a priest, but direct access to God because of Jesus and what he did for us on the cross, because now there is one mediator between God and man, and that is Jesus Christ. Therefore, brothers and sisters, what you get to do is you get to go directly into the throne room of the creator of the heavens and the earth, and you can ask him anything you want. And you can take him any problem that you have. You can take it directly to God.
I believe that the reason why we take prayer for granted is because we do not realize what it is, that we do not realize that it is our direct access to the creator of the heavens and the earth, the one before whom we can make every petition that we need. Paul says, for this reason, I bow my knees before the father. And he describes the father this way. Go back to Ephesians chapter three.
He describes the father this way, and it's kind of interesting. In verse 15, he says, Now, I'm going to be real honest with you. I've kind of struggled with this verse this week, because there is out there the idea of universal salvation, that after all, we are all God's kids, right? How can you say that your religion is right and mine is wrong? Aren't we all God's kids?
No, we're not all God's kids, okay? But we have to understand something. There's a general sense that we are all God's kids. There's a general sense that we are all God's kids. There's a general sense that we are all God's kids. There's a general sense in which you can use that phrase, and a specific sense in which you can use that phrase. In the general sense, we all have been created by God.
Therefore, in a general sense, we are all God's children, because we have been created by him. He is both the creator and sustainer of life. That is the power of God. It's just that some of his kids have gone rogue and have refused to come back home and have refused to become born again. Because in a specific sense, only believers in Jesus Christ are born again.
Only believers in Jesus Christ are God's kids, because we have been saved by him. For the believer in Jesus Christ, he is both the author and the finisher of our faith. In a general sense, he is our creator and sustainer. In a specific sense for believers, he is the author and the finisher of our faith. But what those things mean is this. We are all fully dependent upon the Father.
And we can depend upon the Father. And so Paul ignores, he acknowledges who God is. He says, Notice what it says. Verse 16.
Now that's the way he's going to start off. There's going to be four things specifically that he asks God would grant them. But I want you to pay attention to the source from which Paul realizes he is drawing from when he prays for these Ephesian believers. He says that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory. That word according means in accordance with
or in proportion to the riches of God's glory. Now I want you to understand what that means. That means that when Paul begins to pray for us and when you pray for us, when you begin to pray for other people, or when you are praying for the needs that you have in your own life, you are drawing from an unlimited amount of power. You are drawing from an unlimited amount of wealth.
You are drawing from an unlimited source to give you everything that you need. It's kind of interesting because this prayer is going to begin with the unlimited riches of Christ. And it's going to close with the fact that he can do exceedingly abundantly above all others. all that we can ever ask or think, why does Paul do this? Because he knows we need to know that we
serve a really big God who is able to do really difficult things. I have to be really, really honest with you. Sometimes people come to me with things and I'm going, there's only one person that can solve this. And that's God, because that is an insurmountable thing. Actually, one of the most challenging things I think as a pastor is for people to come to me with the things that they
have going on in their life and sit there with the realization that I literally can offer them nothing because I'm just a man. And in that process, I have to remember that I can now pray for them in accordance, according to, in proportion to the riches of God's glory. Because while I have nothing to solve the problem, God has an unlimited ability to solve whatever it is that concerns you today. And so as he says this, now four things that he prays for these Ephesian believers, four things that he prays for them.
Number one, that they would be strengthened in the inner man, that they would be strengthened in the inner man. Notice what it says in verse 16, that he would grant to you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his spirit in the inner man. So there's a lot of little phrases in there, and I want to point out these phrases to you and what they mean. The first one is the word strengthen.
The word strengthen means to be energized or to grow strong, to be energized or to grow strong. His desire is that God would give them everything that they need in this particular area. The word inner man means your inmost being or your personality, your inmost being or your personality. And of course the word power means strength or ability. He prays that God would give
them all of the energy that they need in the. Very core of who they are to have all of the power of the Holy Spirit. Why do we need that kind of power in our lives? Why do we usually think we need that kind of power in our lives? Because I want to point out what it's not before I point out what it is. Sometimes I want a great deal of power in my life so that I can do really awesome things, right? When I was a
kid, we had this group of people come through town. They were an evangelistic crew and they were really cool. Some of them rode skateboards and bicycles. Some of them like tour phone books and broke through ice and stuff like that. And they were awesome. And I remember watching these guys and, and they would, they would be praying, Lord, fill them with, with the power of your
might to do this. And he go, Oh, he teared this phone book in half. And we were like, that's amazing. Right? And sometimes I think, well, that's the kind of power that I want, right? I want the power to tear phone books. I want the power to do awesome things. That's not the kind of the power that's being talked about here. You know, they're kind of power. Sometimes we want, we want the power to do miraculous things, right?
You know, don't get me wrong. God's absolutely still in the business of miracles, but that's not the kind of power that's being talked about here, because why do we usually want the power for the miraculous? Well, A, because it's cool. Like, let's not say that's not true, right? Like we want to do miraculous things because we want to be like, Oh dude, right? Because that was amazing.
And also because we have this misplaced idea that if people see miracles, they'll automatically get saved. Listen, I've seen a lot of miracles happen. And you know, it has not happened to a lot of those people. They've not gotten saved. Why? Because miracles don't save people. What saves people? The power of the gospel. Where's the power of the gospel come through? Come through
the Holy Spirit. So if it's not the power to tear phone books and it's not the power to do miracles, what kind of power is he talking about? Well, I read this commentary by William McDonald. It's called the Believer's Bible Commentary. And he had a quote in there that I thought was really awesome. He said the power that he speaks of is the ability to be mature,
stable, and intelligent Christians. Listen, it doesn't sound as sexy as being able to tear a phone book, but it's absolutely what our world needs right now. And it's absolutely what we need in our own lives. You know what God's greatest desires for you is? Is that you may become complete. You know what the word complete means? The word complete means mature. That's
why he gave us his word. That's why he gives us his spirit because he wants to see us become believers in Jesus Christ, stable believers in Jesus Christ that are not swayed by every new little wind of doctrine that comes along, that aren't swayed by the newest book that just hit the Christian bookstores, that aren't swayed by the newest idea in that book that just hit the Christian bookstores, that aren't swayed by the next mega church movement, that aren't swayed by the next miraculous movement, that aren't swayed by all of these things, that aren't swayed by the storms that happen in life, that aren't swayed by the things that happen in life, but somebody who can just stand firm.
God desires for us because ultimately that's one of our greatest needs in life is just to be able to stand firm no matter what's going on around me. But you know what else? Our world is in such desperate need of mature, stable Christians. Our world needs husbands that are mature and stable in their faith that will show the world what it looks like to truly be a man of God. Our world
needs stable and mature wives who know what it looks like to be a woman of God. Our world needs stable and mature fathers and mothers that will show the world what it looks like to raise kids with values, morals, and parameters. They will show the world what it looks like to raise godly kids. Our world needs mature pastors, sorry, to stand up and say what's right. Our world needs
mature people who are founded in their faith to stand on what's real, to stand on what's right, no matter what's going on around them. I don't know how much you all, follow the news, but I think half of Maui has been burned down now. It has been truly one of the most tragic things I've watched. It's been heartbreaking to see what's taken place on that island. I don't know how many of you have
seen the before and after pictures. It just, all you can do is just sit back and it just takes your breath away. There's a guy that I know on that island who pastors a church. His name's Sean Hausman. He pastors Calvary Chapel of Central Maui. He was the assistant dean of men when I was at the Bible College. Sean Hausman, not only pastors a church, but he's also a chaplain for the police and fire
departments on that island. I tried to message Sean the other day. I said, hey, bro, what can we do for you, man? What can a Calvary in Kansas do for our friends in Hawaii? It took him a long time to get back with me. He said, I'm sorry it took me so long to get back with you. The need here is so great. I am so busy right now. I said, what do you need? He goes, I don't even know yet.
I really don't know what we need yet. I don't know how to tell you that. He said, there's still sifting through rubble to find out who's alive and who's dead. Today, the greatest need we had was ice. I took 5,000 bags of ice all around the island to families that needed them. He said, as soon as I know anything more, I'll tell you, and I'll let you know what we need.
I got to thinking as I was studying about this, God bless him because he is a stable, mature believer. And in the midst of everything falling apart, literally all around him, he's out giving out bags of ice. Why? Because he has been strengthened by the power of the Holy Spirit in the inner man. Not so that he can do amazing, miraculous things, but so that he could be a force on an island
that has lost everything. So that he can stand up and say, everything may have burned down, but God's still in control. Let me bring you a bag of ice. That's what it means when it says to be strengthened by the power of the Holy Spirit in the inner man. And listen, the only way that that can happen is if we are praying, Lord, I need that kind of strength in my life. Because if it's not the Holy Spirit giving me that, if I am not on my knees before
God praying, Lord, give me that kind of strength, then I will be like the man that Jesus talked about. You see, Jesus described the mature and the immature Christians. You remember that at the end of the Sermon on the Mount? He said, he who hears these words of mine and obeys them, I will liken him unto a man who has built his house on a rock. The winds came, the storm blew,
it beat against the house, but it stood firm because it was built upon a rock. But every man who hears these words of mine and doesn't do them, I will liken him unto a man who has built his house upon a sand. Same storm came, same wind blew, only that time the house fell. Why? Because it did not have a good foundation. It was not stable. We need to be praying for each other. You need to be praying for the believers in Maui right now.
You need to be praying for yourselves that you would be strengthened by the power of the Holy Spirit in the inner man. Number two, that Christ would dwell in your heart through faith. That Christ would dwell in your heart through faith. Now we must understand something. The moment that you, if you're a believer, you're thinking, well, I'm a believer. I'm not a believer.
you're a born again believer here this morning, the moment that you invited Jesus to come into your heart, to make his home inside of you, he did. He moved in, right? Actually, you saw somebody try to debate this on some form of social media recently. They were like, whoever said that Jesus makes his home inside of us, that's so false. I'm like, well, Jesus said it. That's why I believe
it. Because he comes in and lives inside of us. But there's a difference between living somewhere and making your home somewhere. And that word dwell means to finally settle down and make yourself at home. To finally settle down and make yourself at home. There's a difference between living somewhere and making it your home. We've moved into several different places now, and my wife
is really, really good at making a place her home. So fellas, you know how it goes. You get ready to move into a house. What's the difference? You get ready to move into a house. What's the difference? The first thing that your wife says, that wallpaper's got to go, right? Actually, is wallpaper coming back in now? I feel like it's coming back in now. That hurts my heart. I have removed so
much wallpaper in my life to think that that would ever come back in. I'm like, please, Jesus, don't let it be. Okay, take the wallpaper down, and then we got to paint these walls. And you know what? That carpet's got to come up, or that carpet's got to get cleaned, or we're going to like that wall there. We got to move that wall there. Or let's rearrange the furniture this way. And your
wife comes in, and she tells you all these things that need done. Of course, men, you always ask the same question. What do you want to do? What do you want to do? What do you want to do? What do you want to do? You want me to do, right? Because you don't care how it looks when all is said and done. You just want to know what's your job in this whole thing. Because she's making it her home. And when she's
done, you sit back and you go, hey, this place really feels like home. Because you've made it your home. That's what Christ wants to do in our hearts. You see, he moved in the day that you got saved, but you need to pray that he can actually be at home in your heart. Because what he wants to do is he wants to come into your heart, and he wants to say, we got to paint these walls. We got to get rid of that wallpaper. We got to take those posters
down, because nobody needs to look at that, especially me. We got to deal with this carpet. It needs cleaned. And I want access to every room in the house, because I want to make it all what it looks like, what I want it to look like. And so he prays, Lord, I pray that you would dwell in their heart through faith. Why? Because as the Holy Spirit strengthens us, what does he strengthen
us to do? He strengthens us to surrender. You know what the hardest thing to do is? Is to surrender all of those rooms of your home, all of those rooms of your heart. I bet there's certain parts of your heart that the minute that you got saved, you were like, yes, Jesus, take it all away, right? But there's other rooms in your heart that have been locked the whole time Jesus has been in
there. And he doesn't feel at home yet, because he needs access to all those rooms. See, he needs access to all those rooms. He needs access to all those rooms. He needs access to all those rooms. He needs access to all those rooms that are full of anger. He needs access to all those rooms that are full of gossip. He needs access to all of those rooms that are full of materialism. He needs access
to all of those rooms that are full of pornographic things. He needs access to those rooms that are still filled with substance that you still try to numb the pain with instead of Jesus. He wants access to the rooms that are filled with racist thoughts. That's right. I said that we all have it, right? He wants access to those rooms that don't like people just because of the way they're
they look. He wants access to those rooms that are filled with unforgiveness. He wants access to those rooms that are filled with bitterness. He wants access to all of those. But the only way he can do that is if I believe that he knows what he's doing. Therefore, he can only dwell in my heart through faith. Because if you really, really want to know Jesus, you have to eventually say,
Lord, take it all. Take it all. And I promise in the process of him doing that, of him making himself at home in your heart, you're going to occasionally go, do you know what you're doing? Because it hurts. It hurts when we give Jesus access to all those things. But listen, the temporary pain is worth the eternal weight of glory. He says that Christ would dwell in your
hearts through faith. He wants to be at home in your heart, but you have to believe and you have to have the power of the Holy Spirit. And you have to have the power of the Holy Spirit. And you have to have the power of the Holy Spirit. And you have to have the power of the Holy Spirit. And you have to have the power of the Holy Spirit to give him that access. He prays, first of all,
that we would be strengthened in the inner man. Second of all, that Christ would dwell in our hearts through faith. Number three, that you would know the love of Christ, that you would know the love of Christ. Start in verse 17. It says, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and
depth, to know the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. We're going to camp on this subject for just a few minutes, shall we? Because Paul spends a few minutes talking about this. He starts off by saying that you, being rooted and grounded in love. Now, those two words are really interesting. They're really interesting.
Because one is agricultural. One is more construction-based, right? The word rooted means securely settled. And it literally speaks of roots going down deep. The word grounded means to be deeply founded. It speaks of a really strong foundation. And as the Holy Spirit strengthens us in the inner man, this is a building prayer, by the way, as the Holy Spirit strengthens us in
the inner man, and as Christ begins to dwell in our hearts through faith, we not only are strengthened, we not only are rooted and grounded in love, but he continues the process of rooting us and grounding us in love. And as we are rooted and grounded in love, he prays, first of all, that we would be able to comprehend. The word comprehend is more of an intellectual term, and this is what it means. It means to apprehend, to lay hold of, to understand, or to grasp the full implications. To apprehend, to understand,
or to grasp the full implications. And what does he want us to grasp the full implications of? The height, and the width, and the depth, and the length of God's love. Why does he pray that we would be able to understand? Why does he pray that we would be able to comprehend it, to apprehend it, to gain the full understanding of God's love? Because brothers and sisters, we don't understand love. We really
don't. Listen, God is love, but when we sinned, what were we separated from? We were separated from God. What is sin at its core? Have you ever thought about that? Sin at its core is selfishness. I want what I want. Love at its core is the very opposite of selfishness. Therefore, at the very core of who we are through our sin nature is selfishness. We can't understand God's love because it's so foreign to who we are.
It is so foreign to our understanding, which is why many of you in here find yourself saying, I don't know how God could love me. You don't understand what I've done. You don't understand what I deal with. You don't understand what I've been through. You don't understand what someone's done to me. I don't understand how God can love me. It makes sense why you would understand that because you
are so far separated from your understanding of God that we're so far separated from our understanding of love. Therefore, we need God's Holy Spirit to help us to comprehend, to really lay hold of, to really fully grasp the love of God. And do you notice how he describes this love? I don't think there's anything magical about the words. He just wanted to do everything
he can to tell us how bad it is. He just wanted to do everything he can to tell us how bad it is. He just wanted to do everything he can to tell us how big it is, the height and the depth and the width and the length of God's love. It reminds me of a kid's song. Remember the song we used to sing when we were little kids, Deep and Wide? Deep and wide, deep and wide. Sidebar. And I did this
first service too. You ever wonder why we took words out of that song? You ever wonder at some point in time why we're like, hmm and wide, hmm and wide. And by the time we were done, we're like, hmm and hmm, hmm and hmm. I have a theory on this, okay? This and 395 will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks, okay? Here's my theory. Some Sunday school teacher was in the middle of
children's church and the pastor went long that day. I'm still good. Don't worry. No one's making up new songs. And they were like, what do we do? Let's sing deep and wide. Only he still wasn't done. So she was like, let's start taking words out. Hmm and wide. And it went for like 10 minutes and finally the pastor was done and everything was good. Anyway, that doesn't have anything to
do with why I brought up the song. I brought up the song because that song teaches us that God's deep and wide. And why? Because there's a fountain that flows deep and wide. And what's that fountain? It's the fountain of God's love. And he prays that we would be able to comprehend that, to really lay hold, to grasp the full implications of God's love. Then the second
thing along those lines that he prays is that we might know. Notice what he says, that you may be able to comprehend, verse 18, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, to know the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge. So he said the word comprehend carried with it an intellectual idea because it means to apprehend or to mentally lay hold of. The word know carries with it a different idea, the word knowledge there, because the word knowledge in the Greek is the word ginoskos, which means to know experientially. In other words, I don't just
know it because somebody told me. I don't just know it because I read it in a book. I don't just know it because I studied it. I know it because I've experienced it in my own life. Brothers and sisters, there are certain things I know in my life that I don't have to tell you how I found it out because I found it out through experience. I've got a handful of sermons that
I've preached that I didn't preach because I studied so well. I preached it because I lived it. I told first service this as well. I said, if you put me up here and said, you have to teach Psalm 23, I could do it right now. And it's not because of how good I am. It's because I know I am. And it's not because of how well I can memorize things. It's because that Psalm and
the truth of that Psalm is so indelibly printed on the fabric of my heart that it never goes away because the truth of who Jesus is as my good shepherd is so much a part of me because I know it experientially because I didn't learn it in a book. I didn't learn it by looking up the Hebrew words. I learned it by living it. And brothers and sisters, what he prays is that you don't have to just know up here in your head about the love of Jesus Christ, but that you will know in your heart that it will go the 18 inches from your head to your heart. And it will become so much a part of
who you are that nobody has to ask how you learned because your life reveals it because you know it so well, because you know it so experientially because that's what the love of Christ is. It's the greatest experience you'll ever have in your life. And the beautiful thing is when you see God's love played out and then you see it in your heart and you say, it's got to be true. It's got to be true because of what he's done in my life. It's got to be true because of what he's
done in me. And he prays that our knowledge of that love of God would go from our head to our heart, that we would know it experientially. I think one of my greatest fears is that I would spend my life teaching you what God's word has to say. And that in the end, you would only know it. You would only be able to regurgitate the things that I told you. The thing that would bring more joy to my life than anything else in the world
is to know that I had spent my life teaching you what this says. And you don't know it in your head, but you know it in your heart because you've experienced it for yourself. And brothers and sisters, I want to tell you right now, you can put God to the test with these things. You can say, Lord, show me how great your love is. I want to know it experientially. And I promise he will continue to show you over and over and over again, how great
his love is because you can't ever plumb the depths of his love. That's why it says that you might know the love of Christ, verse 19, which surpasses knowledge, that you might know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. Ryan, how can I know something that surpasses knowledge? I know, right? That's the cool thing about the Bible. Cool thing about Jesus. The word knowledge there is a little bit different than the word to know
it's gnosis. And it carries with it more the idea of an understanding of an intellectual knowledge that you would experientially know the love of Christ that surpasses any knowledge that surpasses anything that you could ever learn in a book, anything that you could ever learn in life, unless it's an experience that you've had with Christ. And may I say, one of the greatest things that God loves to do is to give us that understanding. His understanding of his love that goes beyond anything that anyone else can ever know.
I told this story at first service too, because I thought it was pretty good. Quite a few years back now, I read an article in Calvary Chapel Magazine, and the article was about Chuck Smith actually doing baptisms at the Jordan River in Israel. It was one of the last trips he took to Israel. And while he was there, this guy happened to be there as well. That was a famous guy that
had come to faith in Jesus Christ. When I was in high school, there was this band called Korn. And I think that they had a band called Korn. And I think that they had a band called Korn. They maybe are like touring again or something like that. But the bass player, his name was Brian Head Welch. And if you really want to read a cool book about a testimony, look up, he's got
two different books out, and they're pretty amazing. But Brian Head Welch happened to be in Israel at the same time because he got saved. And he came to know the love of Jesus Christ in an experiential way in his own life. And a little part of this article shows Chuck Smith with Brian Head Welch was just amazing. It's like the roots of Calvary Chapel, there they are again. It's not
a hippie. It's, you know, formerly stoned out, tatted up guy with dreadlocks, standing there with Chuck Smith, right? It's amazing. And it says, he asked Chuck a question. He said, so far, this has been the greatest experience I've ever had in my life. Knowing the love of Jesus Christ has been the greatest experience I've ever had. But here's what I want to know. Does the high go away?
Does this end at some point in time? And Chuck Smith looked at him and said, Oh, no, it just gets better. And I love it because that article pictures exactly what that verse just said, because here you have a young man who is brand new in his faith within six months, talking about the experience that he now understands about the love of Jesus Christ. And a man that's walked with God for probably 50 to 60 years, who says it just keeps getting better. That is the love of Christ that surpasses
all knowledge, because you can never plumb the depths of it. You can never reach the end of it. When you think I've learned everything that there is to know about God's love, he says, let me show you this too. And I can tell you stories in my own life of how God has shown me over and over again, just how much he loves me. As a matter of fact, when I first started walking with Jesus,
a long time ago, when I first started walking with Jesus, it was 1998. I can't do math. The thing that brought me to Jesus was the knowledge that he still loved me, even though I was such a person. I was such a person. I was such a person. I was such a person. I was such a person. And I started reading in the book of Romans, and I didn't understand anything in the book of Romans,
because that's a pretty theological book, until I came to Romans chapter 8. When I came to Romans chapter 8, it said, nothing can separate you from the love of God. Neither height, nor depth, nor things present, nor things to come, nor principalities, nor power, nor things above, nor things below. There is nothing that can separate you from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus.
And I went, oh, I think I understand what that means. And now 20, I did the math in my head while I was talking. And now 25 years later, now 25 years later, I say, I don't even think I fully understood at that point in time, the love of Jesus Christ. And I'm sure that another 25 years, I'll say, man, I understand a little bit more about the love of Jesus Christ, because it surpasses all knowledge, and you can never plug the depths of it. And the only way that we can really,
grasp it is if we pray, Lord, help me to comprehend and to know the love that you have for me. Number four, that we would be filled up to all the fullness of God. That we would be filled up to all the fullness of God. It means filled up to the measure, filled with every bit of God that we can possibly be filled with. And the best way I know to tell you what this verse means, what this last thing means,
is to read it to you out of the Amplified Bible, because I can't say it better than this. That you may have the richest experience of God's presence in your lives, completely filled and flooded with God himself. I'll read it again. That you may have the richest experience of God's presence in your lives, completely filled and flooded with God himself. That's what he prayed for.
That they would be strengthened in the inner man, that Christ would dwell in their hearts through faith, that they would know the love of Christ, and they would be filled with every bit of God that they possibly could be. And now the last two verses are the doxology. And I called it the doxology because every commentator I read called it the doxology. Verse 20, now to him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond his ability to do far more abundantly, beyond his ability to do far more abundantly, beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.
Now to him who is able. Somebody needs to hear this morning. Somebody needs to hear this, that God is able. I don't know what it is that you're questioning about that right now. I don't know what it is that you're feeling. I don't know what it is that you're feeling like God is not able to do right now. But I want you to know if that's you this morning and you've been questioning whether,
been questioning in your heart and your mind whether or not God is able to handle whatever it is you're dealing with right now. I just want you to know it says right there, now to him who is able. There's nothing that's too hard for him. There's no one that's beyond him. There's nothing that is beyond him because he is able. Only this verse just keeps building.
Notice what it says. Now to him who is able to do far more. He's not just able, he's able to do far more. Far more than what? Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond. He's able to do far more abundantly beyond. Are you getting the idea that your idea of what God can do is continuing to grow here? Now to him who is able. Now to him who is able to do far more.
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond. Far more abundantly beyond what? Anything we could ever ask or think. Now I want you to think about something for a minute. This does not mean that you're going to go out tomorrow and win the lottery, right? Anybody win the mega millions yet? I heard it was up to like $2 billion or some such thing like that.
That's not what that means. It doesn't mean that tomorrow, Lord, I've been thinking that you could give me a brand new car. Listen, Joel Osteen called. He wants his theology back, right? Okay, that's not what that means. That's not what he's talking about here. I'm sorry. I should. Lord, I just want to lift up Joel Osteen to you, right? I'm being serious. Lord, I will lift up Joel Osteen to you right now because he needs to come to a true knowledge of you.
So Lord, do that work in his heart and his life and just bring him to the truth. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. That is not what that means. It's talking about what God wants to do in you in a spiritual way. Because God wants to. He wants to do more in you than you could ever wrap your mind around. He wants to do more in you than you are even thinking about asking God to do right now.
I don't know about you, but sometimes my God's too small. Sometimes I make God smaller than he is. And I say, well, that one's probably going to be pretty hard for God to do. I have a hard and an easy category as far as God's concerned. And a lot of things I put in the hard category. Only, you know, it's funny. Like God doesn't have a hard and easy category.
He just has an easy category, right? Because there's nothing that's too hard for God. There's nothing that's impossible for God. And he can do far more exceedingly abundantly beyond anything that you can ever ask or think. But let me tell you a little story that goes along with this. So one day, Jonathan, who was Saul's son. I'm taking you all the way back to the New Testament, right?
First Samuel. Jonathan, Saul's son, who was best friends with David. They were at war with the Philistines, right? So Jonathan gets up one morning and he's with his armor bearer. He looks at his armor bearer and he says, you know, I've been thinking about something. I think that God could deliver with two as well as he could deliver with an army. So let's see what God wants to do today.
Okay. So here's what we're going to do. We're going to holler at the Philistines and talk a little trash to them. And after we talk a little trash to them, if they say, we're going to come down and get you, then we know God doesn't want to deliver with just two of us. But if they look at us and say, why don't you go and get you some, then we know that that,
listen, I'm paraphrasing just a little bit here. Okay. Come get you something. Then we know that God is calling us and he's going to do an amazing thing. And so that's what they did. They went out and talked a little trash to the Philistines and the Philistines were like, come on, get you some, right? And they did. And God won a great victory that day because Jonathan said, I think God can do more than
I think he can do. I think it doesn't matter if there's two people or an army. God doesn't need anything to do his work. He doesn't need anything to do his work. Maybe he wants to do it through me. Brothers and sisters, how big is your God? Because he wants to do exceedingly abundantly above anything that you can ask or think. But we have to understand when God does his work, it's for one purpose.
Notice what it says next. Verse 21, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. Right? You see, when God does his work and it's more than we can ever ask or imagine, you know, who always gets the glory? He does. Because that's why he does what he does. So that his name can be glorified. And in our prayers, in our lives, hopefully in our church, we want to see God glorified.
Amen. Would y'all stand with me?
And if you'd bow. Father, we come to you now. Amen. And Lord, we thank you. That you are the God we can be fully dependent upon. Lord, that we have that direct access to you because of the blood of Jesus Christ. And Father, as we come to you, I just want to pray this prayer over everyone that's here, over everyone that's watching online. Father, I pray for every true believer in you here this morning, that they would be strengthened
with power through your spirit in the inner man. Father, that your Holy Spirit would make them mature, strong believers, that you would grow them in you, strengthen them in you. Mature them in you and help them to be stable so that when the storms of life come, they can stand, not in their own power, but in that power of the Holy Spirit. And Lord, I pray that you would dwell in their hearts through faith.
Father, that you would settle in and make yourself at home. Clear out the rooms that need cleared out. Paint the walls that need painted. Tear down the things that need torn down. But that you would dwell in their hearts through faith. And Lord, that we all may be able to comprehend with all the saints. The height, the depth, the width, the length of your love, so that we can truly experientially
know the love of Jesus Christ that surpasses all knowledge. And Lord, may you fill us to overflowing with all the fullness of you. And Lord, I thank you that your word promises that you'll do exceedingly abundantly above all we could ever ask or think. And we just praise you, Lord, in Jesus name. Amen. Be blessed. Be strengthened with your might. Lord, to live for you, to be that which you'd have us be.
We thank you for your loving kindness and your patience as you forgive us and as you work in our hearts and draw us closer to you. And we experience, Lord, that.
Now go before and bless, Lord. Encourage us each in our walking with you. For you're strengthened with your might. In Jesus name. Amen. Have a great week. Lord bless.