Ephesians chapter 3. We'll finish up chapter 3 and then after chapter 3 the book moves. It changes in what he's talking about. He's changing in the things. It's all been preparatory up until that point. So chapter 4, 5, and 6 is where the rubber meets the road. It's where it becomes action. It's like, oh, I think it's, I can't remember the author now, but he had the famous book, How Now Shall We Live. It's that, how now shall we live? How are we to be now that we are born again, now that we are saved, now that we know the things that we know in Christ? That's what chapter four, five, and six are about. It gets really practical for us as Christians. And so, he's been going over so far through chapter one, chapter two, and now in chapter three, who we are now. And in that, he talks about who we've been. It's a very important part of it. It took a lot of time to kind of remind us who you were, to tell you who you are now. And so that, knowing that that's erased, that's done, that's why it's called born again, that's why it's called new life in Christ, because that old man is dead, new man's alive. He tells us about our standing in Christ right now, who we are, and that God sees us as one of His. Our position is in the heavenlies, you know, that we're going to be with Him. We have access to heaven like never before. He's torn down that wall of separation, that partition. We can now boldly go before the throne of grace. You don't need to run and get to a priest. You, as the priesthood of the believer, you can go directly to the throne of God. We have access to God. We have access to God. You have access to power. The most powerful creature there is. Not even creature, creator. He's the creator. We're the creature. And Paul is trying to get us to realize what that can mean for us. It's one thing to know it and you have a head knowledge. It's another thing to know it, to depend on it, live it, to have it be in you and through you. And I think that's Christian walk, right? As we learn and we attain to things, and now how do we implement that into our life, and how do I tap into that, and how do I use that for his good, and for his glory? And that's kind of the secret, and that's kind of the wrestle, and he's kind of giving us that here, that we are trying to take the access of what we know in our head, and then act it out and implement it in our life through our flesh. And so in our weakness, God is strong, and he wants us to know that's good. The more you know you can't do it, and the more you know He can do it, the more you'll call upon Him and depend upon Him in everything. He's the one who holds the future. He's the one who's strong. He's the one in power. That's why we plead to his name. That's why we intercede on behalf of others, knowing that God is the one who can change the course of a world. He can do it all. He can harden a pharaoh's heart or he can soften a pharaoh's heart. He can do those things. And so we're to lean upon him. We're to depend upon him. He's not to be our co-pilot. He's to be our pilot. We're to be the passenger. We're to let him steer us and guide us and direct us in that way. We are in the heavenlies now, the Bible says. We need to realize that if you are saved, that you are already, you have a position, you have a spot, you have something that is reserved and as if you are already there even though we are here and we've never been there. We need to realize it as that. That's secure. And not have this little bit, I hope so, or maybe, and possibly, you are his. Know it. And quit being tossed about any wind of doctrine, and quit being nervous and unsheltered. Start living like it, acting like it, and then you'll understand and you'll have that confidence that who I am and his, that we would have then a boldness in him. Because we're no longer worried about who am I, what am I doing because of my behavior. You know, that we're trying to bring all this in a line where it's a usable tool for him. So we are secure. We are saved. We are safe. If you know that, what should we fear? What should we fear? That was the answer to many who've faced death sentences and gone before firing squads and been put in torture chambers and been hidden in gulags and everything else. You're thrown into a coliseum. What can you do to me? We have the same voice as Paul, to live is Christ, to die is gain. I'll be right in front of Him. The worst you can do is send me to my Savior? How do you fight that? You can't. And that's what drives the lost world nuts. But that's how we're to live. Not worried and fearful about the world or the devil or what man can do, but knowing that we answer to God and God alone, the audience of one. We are heirs, the Bible tells us. We have an inheritance in Him. We are part of the Holy Temple. Ephesians has been telling us that we're all like little bricks that build up this temple where the Holy Spirit dwells, and now here we are in this church. We're gathered together where the Holy Spirit dwells among us because we're all here. We're one of those stones, a lively stone fitly put together. And Paul teaches us a little bit about all that at the end of the chapter here. And at the end, he also kind of puts it like a little test. It's kind of like embedded in here a little bit. It's like, have you really gotten the things I've been laying down the last three chapters? Are you picking up the things I've been laying down? You know, someone might say. So, have you been getting it? And so he's gonna have a little test for us here in the text. And I hope we pass it. I hope I pass it. And I hope I can at least pass on to you so that you have eyes to see and we can glean the truths of it. And so, he gives us a subtle review of these things that we've covered in chapters one, two, and three. We're ready for Ephesians 3 verse 14. maybe a little bit of cover from last week, but context where we're going since it ends with a comma. Ephesians 3, 14 says, For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father, our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our Father. He's Christ's Father and He's our Father. He's our Heavenly Father. That's why we are one family in Christ. And the family of God is not just this church family. We are a church family. We're our local unit. But that's why we have brothers and sisters in other churches around the world and throughout time that we see them as that way. We have a kinship to them. We have a heritage. It would be cool to look back and say, man, my grandpa was George Washington and have that kind of, we have better. We stand along with Paul and Peter and those guys, you know, the disciples that they're in our lineage, how it is as the family of God, the family and the church. And so, I think, you know, because of that, that's where the churches, that's what we might say, Brother Carl, or Brother Dave, or Sister Kim, or something like, you know, we go through it and we kind of give that association. We don't so much here, we're not quite as formal here. We're a little, we're blue jeans and shorts kind of a church, you know, versus more formal that way, but that's what we're meaning, we're family. We say that we're brothers and sisters in Christ, we are His. In Revelation 3 verse 13 is where he has one of the rewards for the overcomers. As he talks about, he says, I'm going to write my name on you. People are going to know you are mine. and the best regulation I'd have for us to wrap our mind around it. It comes from a comic book, I know, it's shocking. But it'd be Superman, the S on his chest was like a family crest, it stood for the house of L. That's what it stood for, there's Jor-El, there's Kal-El, and all the other Ls. But it's pretty darn close to what we are to be. because Superman was created by Jews, so that's why it has a lot of Bible parallels. It's like, oh, Moses, they took a lot from Moses. Moses, they put him in a little ark and they sent him into the water to rescue him. They put Superman in a little ship and they sent him out to be rescued to Earth. So you have all these parallels that's not just a parallel, let alone the L, the whole L thing, because L's the name of God and that's what we are. We are the family of God. We are the house of L. El Shaddai is who we have. We have El Elyon. We have Elohim, Elorai. We have all these. There's like, I think, if we count them all, I think there's over 40 some different titles, not all of them are El. We have 40 different names for God in that way that tells a new little thing about Him that puts it all. But we're to have that upon us. They're to look upon us and see that we are one of God's children. We're of the house of El. Elohim, El shall die, they're to know that on us. And we might not have an S on our chest, but we're to wear it in that way. But apparently in Revelation 3, 12, he says, I'll write my name upon you, and everyone will know that you are mine. You will have that kind of a crest. And with that comes power and position in that way. You'll have a little bit of esteem through it, clout, You'll carry some power as you go out and about. Where are we going out and about? I don't know, but I like to dream about those things. What might we be doing? What might be going on? Kind of like Roman citizens had that. If you were a citizen of Rome, you had certain things. Certain laws didn't apply to you. Certain punishments didn't come to you. You had special treatment here and there because you're one of Rome's citizens. Paul enjoys that. He had a kind of a dual citizenship. He had a Jewish citizenship and a Roman citizenship. That's why he's able to appeal for Rome. end up killing him. But he was able to appeal to this because he had the clout of a Roman. America used to have that, used to if you traveled around the world and you were American you had a little bit of respect and esteem and they knew the power, the backing of the country behind you when you were out. But we've lost that over the last few years. But They cannot take away from us who our God is, who our Father is, who our family is, what our coat of arms is. It is Him and we're to wear it and bow it and bear it proudly. That's what we're supposed to do. They should look and see, oh, you are His. and know that they are messing with him. Think of the children of Israel. When they're in Egypt, it's more like these are my children and I am teaching them and I am showing you, Pharaoh, the power that I have to protect and to guard and to rescue them and to finish what I've started and does. God's family does have this crest, basically. It's emblazoned on our chest and we are like the house of El. He also says he'll write upon us in Revelation 3.12 that the city that we are from, we are from the New Jerusalem. With that comes a little bit of respect as well, like, ooh, you live within the city. Not everybody's promised that. Eternity's not exactly the same for us all. Kind of this point and part of what Paul's really been teaching and what he teaches in his letters is that we are in a uniquely privileged position to be in the church. and we have a closeness and a fellowship that others won't have. I'm not saying it's gonna be bad for them, but we live there as a bride of Christ, the closeness, kinship, and the familial relationship, that that will be without all eternity. I don't think that we truly appreciate it and won't until then, and even then we still won't. And that's how come our praise and glory of Him will continue to grow throughout all the ages. And so, let's look at the verse. 15, it says, of whom the whole family in heaven of earth is named. So we're talking about we're named after him. We have that crest. Verse 16, that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with the might of his spirit in the inner man. God grants us strength by his spirit for our inner man. That's where most of our battles as Christians are always going to rage. the internal battles, our will versus God's will. The old man's dead, but we sure like feeding him and keeping him alive, right? If we'd only starve him, if we'd only starve him out. That's where most of our battle, most of your hard battles will be with yourself, with your mind, with renewing it to be like him. And so we have to then, fight with our intellect. We have to then change our wants. We have to ask God to help us with our desires. We have to help Him to help us renew our mind, to think like Him, to see things like Him. We wrestle with our thoughts. We're supposed to. If you're not, we need to. You know, wrestle with your thoughts and bring every thought captive, the Bible tells us. Because our thoughts are what bring forth actions. You know, we don't do anything unless we've not thought about it first. And so, how we think, the patterns that we have, the courses of the wrong, the things we take in to feed our mind, It's going to determine how we're going to live and how we're going to behave and how we're going to act. That's why we're to be in the Word daily. We're supposed to be around Him and fellowshipping with Him. And we need to tap into God's strength to help us with that. It's not just our mind over matter and our mind control. It is God wants to help us with that inner man to win that battle. Look what's available to us. Verse 16, let's read it again. It says that He would grant you according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened with the might of His Spirit in the inner man. He grants you according to the riches of His glory. We need to appreciate that a little bit and it's a little hard. But what if Elon Musk said he was going to give you some cash amount out of his riches? You're like, well, that'd be pretty cool. Elon Musk wants to give me something. If he's gonna give it to me out of his riches, what might it be? Well, it could be $5, it could be $10. He's got a lot of money, but he can give you, right now I think he's giving away a million dollars a week or a day or something like that to different people just to kind of get things going. But no, he's got, you can give away a million dollars a day, you got a lot. So he's giving it out of his riches, that's pretty cool. But what if I told you that Elon Musk was gonna give you something according to his riches? You might slide forward a little bit. Your ear might be perked up. How do I get in on this deal? Because according to his riches means it's gonna be equivalent to the massive amount of money that he has. It's gonna be something out of it. It's gonna be something related to the quantity that he has that he's given you. That's what God's telling us here. He is saying, I'm not just giving you out of my riches. That won't mean anything to God, really. He goes, I'm giving it to you according to my riches. That tells you something. This is the power of the universe behind him. and he's going to give you this. That would be something miraculous. He's richer than any man on earth and he is making that available to us. That's what Paul's trying to tell us. We have access and he's going to give it to us according to his riches that he wants to help us with this battle. If you had that, man, that'd be something. Like I say, he's richer than He owns the cattle on 1,000 hills. He's going to grant us that. What strength could we possibly have if He was going to give it to us out of that? If we tapped into that according to God's riches, how strong would we be? Stronger than Samson, I know that. And Samson just had a little taste. He was able to tear the gates off a door and carry it up a mountain. He was able to fight whole armies by himself and slay them with what? was his tool? A jawbone of a donkey? He's able to do it. He's able to outrace foxes and catch them and put them down. He was able to push over a building with his strength. And that's just the physical strength. He is here saying, well Proverbs tells us that it's stronger for a man to control himself than a man who could take a city. God says, I know this biggest battle. The battle's with you. And he was the strongest man as one who can control himself versus a guy who could go in and take out a city. And God says, I am giving you the resource to tap into the strength to win that battle, to give you the strength to overcome the inner man, to be that one who's a rock, who's stable in this, stronger than Samson even on your internal parts, that war within. We just call on God to help. He will help you renew your mind. Because it is a formidable enemy. and He can help you overcome it and change it for His sake and to His glory. Paul's trying to give us that kind of access here, let us know it. Verse 17, he says, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye being rooted and grounded in love. How do we have available to this strength? And all these things He's making available to us is through Jesus Christ, the author and the finisher of our faith. He dwells in our hearts. The key here is that we are rooted. Allow Him to be rooted. Let Him into every part of your heart and to your life. Let His roots go deep and to tap in to have that security because the tree with the strongest roots does not blow over. It'll stand firm and it'll be strong. So we ought to be grounded in this. And as He is tapping in, we are grounded in His love. And it's one of those things, On our day in Asia, we'll see love signs out and about here and there. I don't know if you know about me, I'm usually like, oh, okay. It's kind of lost its power because everyone's tried to claim it and use it a little bit different way and altered it a bit. Paul's going to try to claim it back here a little bit. Give us a little appreciation for the love of God. And not just say it as a Sunday school answer. You know, who's the answer? Jesus. What else? God's love. No, this is deeper. This is not just a pan answer. This is the key for Christianity. His love for us. His love for you. That he would do this. And he's going to get into it here. And so, this is where we get to the review. So, verse 18. He may be able, he's wanting us to be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height. This could go a lot of different ways. But he's talking about here, we're gonna stay focused on this point. About the love of Christ for us. The power and the strength and the confidence that we can have in him. Not the world's love, Jesus' love for us. And he's given us like these four dimensions, you know, that we can have it. And on Friday night, we talked about how the Jews, they would take the lulav, yeah, that's it. That's official Jewish pronunciation. I left it in my office, but it's my thing of sticks, and it has lemons on it, and they would shake it to the six directions. They shook it to the east, and to the south, and to the north, and to the west, over the shore, to up and to down, that God was in charge of everywhere, from all ways, all unified in Him, and they would shake this during the Feast of Booths, and we did it Friday night, and I didn't lose a lemon, and I didn't do anything. My hood stood up. If you haven't seen it, it's out there. It's still standing. I'm leaving it up. I'm just kind of doing a victory lap. But it stood up. But God's in charge and he's in control of all dimensions. Up, down, north, south, east, and west. What's the breadth of Christ's love? I would say the world, right? John 3, 16, for God so loved the world. The world, past, present, future. The world, that he gave his only begotten son for us, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. What would be the length of God's love? It'd be forever, right? It'd be forever. Look at 1 Corinthians real quick. 1 Corinthians 13. Let's just be real fast. 1 Corinthians 13 and verse eight. It says charity or love never faileth. And then he goes on to talk about prophecies. They shall fail, and whether it be tongues, they shall cease. Whether it be knowledge, it shall vanish away. But God's love is forever. It's forever. What about the depth of Christ's love? How deep would God go? How far would he dive? Oh, would he become a man? Enter into creation? The creator becoming one of his creations? Would he die on the most cruel, By the most cruel way ever invented by mankind, the most excruciating, the most painful way, the most painful form of punishment ever invented? Yeah. Philippians 2.8 says, He humbled himself and he was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. What height is God love? Heaven, right? He'll take us to the highest heaven. In 1 John 3, verse 1, he says, what manner of love is bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God. That's what he calls the angels. We'll be called the sons of God. What shall we be? We shall be like him. It goes on, it says, we'll be made into his image. We're not gonna be gods, we're not gonna be that, but we're gonna be made like him and the things that he can do, he gives us a little, you're gonna be that. He's taking us that high, higher than we can imagine. That's pretty cool. And you can use a little, what do they call that, a mnemonic to help remember it. Just think of the cross, height, breadth, depth, and width. You know, how it kind of goes up and down. It's kind of how it's been used through the ages to point to this and this. He's offering all this, as wide as the world and big as the eternity. But Paul's also been teaching us about the church. He's telling us who we are as the church and about the grace that's been offered unto us. And I think he's sandwiched that in here about love, but to kind of tell us about that too. I'd like to flip to these, but we're going to have to hit it here. So, the breadth, the breadth would be the depth of God's grace. And I think this is where the review comes in. Look at Ephesians 1, so we're not going to have to turn far. Look at Ephesians 1, verse 11, and we're talking about the breadth of the grace that God has offered to us. No, sorry, Ephesians 2, verse 11. It says, wherefore, remember that ye being in time past, Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh. At the time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants and promises, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you who were sometimes were far off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ. Remember where we were? That's how the breadth, he took us from where we were, way back over here. Strangers, pilgrims, and now he's made us fellow citizens. He's brought us in. That's how wide. What's the length of God's grace for us? Look at chapter one, verse four. According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him. We were predestined before the foundation of the world, Christ has chosen you. Now look at Ephesians two, verse seven. that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus. He has saved us from this length, from eternity past before ever the world was created, to eternity future, ages to come, to use us as a display of his grace to people in the future or something, them in the future, who knows what, how, what, I don't know, to display his grace manifested in us from ages past to ages in the future. That's how long he's done it. What depth? The depth of God's grace. He pulled us out of the pit. He pulled us out of our predicament. Ephesians 2 verse 1, how He hath quickened us who were dead in our trespasses and sin. We were in the grave, dead and rotten. The dead man destined for hell. He dove in and pulled us out. He has rescued us from that and drawn us near unto Him. That's how the depth that He would go to. That He become one of us and to rescue us. What kind of height would God promise to raise us to and attain to Him through the grace of God's riches at Christ's expense that He would give to us something that we do not merit? Well, that'd be heavenly places. Look at Ephesians 1 verse 11. And whom also we have an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His will. Now look at Ephesians 2 verse 19. For now, therefore, you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints of the household of God, and being built upon the foundations of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the cornerstone. We are fellow citizens with saints, with apostles, and we are with prophets in the heavenlies. That's how big and how wide not only his love is, but his grace is towards us, and Paul's giving it to us in a little clever review here. I've covered this. Do you remember? Let's recall it in that way. Hmm. He says, remember this, this is what you have access to. This is who you are. This is how long he's had you, how long he's gonna keep you, how far he's gone for you, and how high he's gonna lift you. That should put some winds in your sails, folks, that God has done this. We have something behind us. We have the God of the universe behind us, and he's given us a mission. Chapter two tells us, verse 10, that he has a work that is before ordained for you. Look at chapter 3, verse 18. Just as a brief review, we may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God. What? That we might be filled with all the fullness of God? That's full. That is full. How cool could that be? God is unsearchable. His ways are our past finding out. He has all knowledge, he has all that, and we are able to go and dip in that well all the time, but we will not become God. and we were not lessening him. I've heard it said and compared to this, like if you took a thimble and you went down to the ocean, you dipped it out, that thimble is full. But how big of a difference did you make to that ocean? You didn't do nothing, right? You didn't do nothing. That is us dipping into the well of God who has a vastness shore of an ocean. And we'll be going there all the time, getting more access and more power and knowledge. But it begins now, don't wait till then. Paul wants us to be active duty. And members are here and now in this, that we have access to be full of the fullness of God. That's mind-blowing. You think on that one this week. Verse 20, now unto him, listen, this is for you personally. Verse 20, now unto him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh within us. He says God is the one who can do this. God is the one that we have access to. God is the one who wants to do this for you, who wants you to give you the strength to be the most on fire, most powerful Christian that there could be. How available is this strength, this power, this confidence that you and I can have? Verse 20 says, God is able to do it. That's pretty cool. God is able to do it. He will do that in you. He's able to do all that you ask in your life. To strengthen you, to have access unto wisdom and prudence. He has that. God is able to do that. All that we ask or think. What do we ask? What do we think? Do we ask? Do we think about what God could do through us? Have we pondered those thoughts? Do we think about that when we're taking a shower? When we're driving and listening to a song? Do we think about the potential that God has for you? That He says, I want to use you. I want to give you power. I have all this power and access and ability. I want to give you. It's there for your asking. I will be able to do all. I'll do all that you're able to ask or think. Maybe we need to start thinking. Maybe we need to start asking, right? Because that's not really what it says at all. He says here, it's according to his power, just like we talked about all of his riches, it's according to his power. How much power does God have? All power, right? He's omnipotent. It's according to that. He goes, I wanna give it to you. And that's cool, but that's actually not what it says. It doesn't say that at all. It says he's able to do all that is above that you would ask. He'll go even above all the things that you would ask. But that's not even what he says. He says he's able to do abundantly above all that you would ask or think. That's not what it says either, is it? No, he says it is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that you would ask or think. How ready is God to say, ask me? Ask me, I will take it and run with it. I mean, it's just like Paul built it up there, right? To build it all up exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we would ask or think. Man, we need to start thinking. We need to start asking. We need to quit being doubters and having no confidence and be believers and saying, God, you have made this available here. It is in black and white for centuries, been written down for us. Why is there no strength and no power in the church? Because we're not asking and thinking. Because we're losing the battle in the inner man. And yet God is saying, I am the winning stroke in that fight. Call on me. It's a tag team. If you're interested, it's a tag team. I'll come in. Oh, we'll do it. We'll get going. He'll do it. He wants to do this. Let's quit doubting and let's start thinking about spiritual things, about godly things, about evangelistic things, about how God can use us as a witness. Lord, use me as a tool. Use me as an example. Use me as a voice. Use me as whatever. Lord, to share the good news of the gospel. Fill me. Help me win the battle in the inner man. Help me to be that for you, God. I'm before you. What could God do with a room full of Christians like that? I don't know, it's thrilling to think about, because now we can't say we didn't know. You can be mad at me later, or you can thank me later. Hold me accountable, help me to hold you accountable, that we should be doing this. Because if we do it right, glory goes to God. That's what verse 20 is, he closes, he says, unto him be glory. in the church. That's how he wants to work. He works through the church. That's us. By Christ Jesus, he's the only one who does it. It's His strength, it's who He is, it's what He's done by Christ Jesus throughout all ages. World without end, amen. Paul, man, the way you put these things, man, you give me, world without end, this is going on for eternity. He's gonna be using us, doing His work. Let's not wait till there and then. Let's get busy here and now doing things for the Lord's sake. Worlds without end. Man, that's a long time. He's gonna keep doing this, using us for that function throughout all this time. Wow. Now Paul's just giving us the basis for all of that. We'll do a brief review next week, because now he's gonna tell you, okay soldier, start suiting up. And he ends with suiting us up in Ephesians. That's where we get the armor of God. But see, he's not left us like, what do I do now? If only, Lord, if I knew. He's told us, he's spelled it out, it's here for us. We now understand the access that we can have to God, the strength and the power and the ability that's there. It's not us, it's him. But we would just be a conduit through it. Spirit, fill me, use me to your glory, oh Lord. And we would die to ourselves that we would not be like, well, I don't know what they're gonna think. Who cares? We hear what he thinks. He's the audience of one, right? We're gonna serve unto him. He can transform the world, our community, right? We could be that light in the shining world. We could be that light that's set on a hill that shines forth to him. Let's do it.