I'm not out of breath. Amen. I guess you can be what you want nowadays, right? Well, I'll tell you right now, I confess, I'm 59 years old. And next year, I will hit the big 6-0. But Sarah had a baby at 90, so we're good. It's good to have my friend Simeon here from the great state of California and University of California, Irvine. He's starting his doctoral classes on engineering, electrical engineering. Whatever he said, some kind of engineering. Anyway, we're so thankful. You'll be praying for him as he's going to be in a very, very weird university that he doesn't come out weird. We're thankful for Simeon. I've known Simeon since he was a teenage boy. And so thankful for him and his friendship and his family as well. Also, it's wonderful to have some visitors here from the country of Mexico. And they work with Nick. And so you brothers from Mexico, welcome. Welcome to Grace Life. And we're thrilled that you men are here. And thank God for you and your love for Christ and the scriptures. Thank you for all the birthday wishes. And this morning I walked into my class and was serenaded the kids and some very sweet, in fact after church you're going to see some neat gifts. Isabella sewed me a wonderful cross and so thankful for that, so sweet. And the Goodman girls and Gideon came in this morning and brought some sweet stuff to me, so thankful. Each of them wrote me little letters and notes and that stuff is just so precious to me. And Elizabeth and her sisters Noel and Presley brought me a wonderful picture of Grace Life Church. I mean you ought to see it it's just absolutely incredible I can't wait to have it framed and hang it in my study. But it's in my office I'd love for you all to see this stuff so after church the office is unlocked you can go in and take a gander of it it's on my desk. Anyway all the gifts and all the messages and kindness is wonderful. And Wednesday night, we're coming here to worship Jesus. Wednesday night, we're coming here to hear the word preached. And so that will be the glory of Wednesday night. And so if you want to come have a piece of cake, amen. We're all putting our pounds together for the glory of God. But the highlight of the night is certainly not that. The highlight of the night is the singing of Gospel songs and the preaching of the truth of the Word of God. And we're back in the Psalms and Lord willing we'll be in Psalm 78. It is a magnificent Psalm. It is almost as long winded as the 119th. And so come and join us to worship Christ. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter 1 if you will this morning. We're back in our study of this Epistle. What that means is that the Apostle Paul is writing this letter while he is in prison for the sake of the Gospel. He's not there because he did anything wrong, he was there because he did all things right. And he's being persecuted in the wake of his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He's a godly man. Has been as some had said about him that these ignorant and unlearned men are turning the world upside down. And so they were having a hard time contending with the force with which God was saving and turning lives of wicked men around. And the impact of the gospel across the land was tremendous. And I prayed this morning. I always come early just to spend some hours in prayer. And one of my prayers is consistently on early Sunday mornings is that the Lord would be gracious and send us a sovereign revival. that we would see a great awakening again to where masses would be swept up into the Kingdom of God. And the God that we serve is mighty to save. He is able. And so let's be praying and crying out because great moves of God have always been preceded by great times of spirit led intercession to where the Spirit of God grants to us a burdened soul to pray and intercede. And God's great kindness He comes in power and revives. We're going to continue in this great exposition these verses starting at verse 15 to the end of the chapter. We started talking about this two weeks ago. We had to take a short pause in the ordination service of Brother Bradford last week. but we're back on task this morning and talking about the non-negotiables of a healthy church. We're talking foremost about the praise that Paul gives to the church for their faith and for their love. This was a church that that loved God and loved one another. This was a church that believed God and persevered. And so we see that he praises the church, but secondarily, he prays for the church. And I believe those are two non-negotiables for every church seeking to be true, that there needs to be times of encouragement for the true faith that the Lord has brought about in our own hearts by his own sovereign grace, but also for the love that we have for each other. And I believe that times of fellowship, like at our fellowship meals, the Reformation Day that we love so much that I do anyway, I'm sure you do too. I love to come and to be out there for three or four hours, just sitting and talking to the family of faith. Sometimes it's very difficult to do that on a Sunday morning with all the singing and the praying and the preaching and all that's going on. And by the time I'm so long winded, whenever I get done, you're hungry. And so everybody rushes out and makes a mad dash to go grab a bite to eat. And I don't blame you because I do the same. But those times of fellowship are critical. We're gonna start in verse 15, and we're gonna be talking this morning, and it's gonna be my second point, and it's gonna be talking about Paul's prayer that, first of all, was his praise for the church. Now it's prayer for the church, and there's so much here that it's gonna take us some time to unpack this. So let's start in verse 15, and we're gonna read to the end of the chapter, and then we'll say a word of prayer, and then we'll dig into this. For this reason, I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus, which exists among you and your love for all the saints, Do not cease to give thanks for you while making mention of you in my prayers. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation and the full knowledge of him, so that you, the eyes of your heart having been enlightened, will know what is the hope of his calling, what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance and the saints, And what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe according to the working of the might of His strength which He worked in Christ by raising Him from the dead and seating Him in His right hand in the heavenly places far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet and gave Him as head over all things to the church which is His body the fullness of him who fills all in all. Let's pray. Lord, we ask that you would open up our hearts to receive the scriptures. Lord, open up our minds. Lord, grant us alertness in this time to be alert, to be hungry and thirsty for righteousness, for truth, that we might listen and learn and by that grow and mature and be sanctified. We ask, Lord, that you would help us, Lord, as we need help in our understanding. We know that the Holy Spirit is the spirit of truth, so Lord, help us. Lord, I have done work in the study to prepare and done work in prayer, but Lord, we ask that you now would do work in our hearts, Lord, to form Christ in us. And Lord, we do ask this in Jesus' name, amen. By the way, my wife's not sitting with me this morning, not because she's angry with me, but my son-in-law and my daughter are on a short trip, and so she's taking care of the ones back there. And so she may have to give a few spankings or something in the middle of my sermon. Oh, she does it all the time at home with me, so it's nothing new for her. You know, prayers are mentioned in the scripture for a reason, for a purpose. Number one, there's great theological richness to them, but there's such a pattern for us, an example to show us how we're supposed to pray. And by the way, these are God-breathed prayers. They are inspired by the Holy Spirit because all of Scripture is inspired by God. They're recorded, as I mentioned, for our instruction to teach us how to pray. They're examples. It also shows us that spirit-filled men and women are to be a people of prayer, right? That the Spirit will drive us to prayer. That the giants in Scripture were all praying men. You look at Abram, you look at the Apostle Paul, you look at the Apostle Peter, you look at David, they were men of prayer. The Apostle Paul was a great man of prayer. You take any of his epistles and throw them open and begin to read and what you'll find is that the Apostle Paul is always expressing himself to God in prayer for the people. In fact, his ministry was marked out by diligence in prayer, the Apostle Paul. that his letters, his epistles, mark and record his constant praying for believers and for the churches that he was writing to. In fact, the man that says, pray without ceasing in 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 7, is a man that prays without tiring. Grace to life, all effective ministry is the effect of diligence and prayer. Let me say that again. All effective ministry is the effect of being diligent in prayer. You know, you think about the Apostle Paul, not long after his conversion, we find that he begins to pray. In Acts chapter 9, we see in verse 11, the Lord said to Saul of Tarsus, rise up and go to the street called Straight and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He says, behold, he is praying. that his conversion is marked by prayer, his ministry is marked by prayer. A.W. Pink, the great author, Reformed Baptist brother says, it is as though it struck a keynote in his subsequent life that he would to a special degree be marked as a man of prayer. This is the same man that will teach us in chapter 6 of spiritual warfare, but then he puts an end cap on that and says, but be praying on all occasions, but always be praying. Grace love, I'm convinced that the weakness of the modern church is largely due to its lack of prayer. I really am. That the impotence, the weakness, the wanderings of the modern church is because it's been a prayerless church. We've depended upon our own ability. We've depended upon our knowledge of the Bible. We've depended upon our programs. We've depended upon whatever fleshly words you want to put in there. We've depended on ourselves and not on God, and that is shown by our lack of prayer. And I want Grace Life Church to be different. And I think that those of you that have been here a while know that to be true, that I want to see God work in our hearts that Grace Life Church is characterized by men and women and teenagers that have been converted by the grace of God and children to be a people of prayer, not perfectly in prayer, but committed men and women of prayer. And then, I believe, and only then will the heavens open and we'll see the cause of our Lord Jesus Christ advance. This prayer that we've just read in Ephesians 1 is powerful. I want you to note some of the characteristics about Paul's praying. He's not praying for their finances of the people there in Ephesus, although I'm sure that they were struggling financially. He doesn't pray for their health, albeit I'm sure that there were many in the church that were struggling with health issues, he's not praying for their jobs, he's not praying for bigger and better homes, he's not praying that they would get that promotion on the job, nor was he praying for any other request, even for any personal request for himself. Not that those things are wrong. But Paul is praying that the church of Ephesus would know Christ in all of his fullness. His prayer is that their hearts would be enlightened. He wants every believer to know the riches, literally in the Greek, the abundant possessions of the glory of the inheritance that's in Christ. And to this end, we see the man of God prays. I think it's worth noting that the theological, the tremendous theological truth that he gives, starting in verse 13 and running through verse 14, is driven on to the heart by Paul's prayers that are dialogued or catalogued in verses 15 to 23. So he gives us this tremendous theology in the section verse 3 through 14, and then he goes straight to God in prayer and prays that it would go, that this truth that he's given them would be deeply rooted in their heart, that they would come to the full knowledge of our God in Christ. It goes to show that prayer is a critical part of preaching and teaching. I want to be an example for you in prayer. I don't want to just get up here and preach. I want to intercede and pray and seek God and to be known as a man of prayer. Listen, God is the one that answers the prayers of His own people that are lifted up in faith that the seed of the Word of God being preached would be effectual. We see this in 1 Corinthians 3, verse 6, where he says, I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. There's a seed time, and there's a time to be praying for the seed that's been planted, and then that God will give the increase. Paul's life was that of a constant breath of prayer. He's now praying that the Ephesians, that they would mature, that they would grow the truth, that they would come to the full knowledge of God. And I want you to note, it's striking to me that Paul in his life of prayer was primarily for other people, primarily for the church, primarily for those that Christ had purchased with his own blood. And also he gives thanks to God for them and then intercedes on their behalf. Several features here. First of all, Paul's prayer in verse 17 and 18 is for knowledge. He wants them to have knowledge. I want you to listen, this is critically important for each one of us because in some circles, true spirituality in their estimation is garnered by means that bypass the mind. What I mean by that, they think that you become spiritual or spiritually apprehended by some mystical experience. We see this in Colossians chapter two, that the Colossians were facing heresies that were coming in, that they were being taught by Gnostics, that you needed an experience, but the apostles were saying that you need truth. That you need truth. Also, they're being apprehended by human philosophy. And Paul says, you don't need the mind of man, you need the mind of Christ. You need divine truth, you need knowledge. We see in verse 18 of Colossians 2 that they were going on to detail in details about the visions that they had seen. And Paul says, and they're being puffed up in their fleshly minds. And he says, you do not need visions. You need truth. You need knowledge, the knowledge of God, the knowledge of His ways. Reminds me of the charismatic church that I was in as a young man. They thought that the route to true spirituality was to bypass the intellect, to bypass the mind, and then to depend upon and submit yourself to some sort of a mystical experience. Paul says, never. That you need your mind informed with the Word of God. You need to put on, you need the mind of Christ, and that comes from the knowledge of God revealed to us in scripture. We hear today in some of these circles sayings like this from preachers, you just need an experience with God. You just need some sort of an experience. And that's exactly the opposite of what the Apostle Paul says here. He says, I am praying that you would have, verse 17, the full knowledge of God, knowledge that you would know He wants the Ephesians to have the full knowledge of what he's taught in verses 3 through 14. He wants this truth driven down into their marrow. He wants it to be in their DNA. He wants them to realize what they've been given in the Lord Jesus Christ. I was told as a young man, yeah, now that you've come to know Christ in a saving way, you need a second blessing. I said, what is a second blessing? Well, you need us to lay hands on you and you need to speak in other tongues. You need something else. Jesus isn't enough. You need this other experience. I've been taught as a young man that I needed more of Jesus Christ. I need more and more of God. But here the Apostle Paul's not saying anything of the sort. You need to realize what you have already in Jesus Christ because He didn't come to you in miniature. He didn't come to you in fragments. He didn't come to you in a small giblet that when you receive the Lord Jesus Christ, you receive the fullness of Him. And now I want you to be aware. I want you to know the riches of what you possess now. You don't need some other experience. You need the knowledge of what you have received in the new birth. So many do pray that way, oh, I need more of Christ. I want more, I need more of God. Then they hear bad theology that promises a second blessing, but beloved, listen, it's all hocus pocus. Hocus pocus. Paul doesn't pray for any of that. He prays for the church of Ephesus to realize what they already have in Christ that they need to realize and to know the fullness of Christ. First of all, we see that Paul prays for the Ephesians to be enlightened, to receive the knowledge, the full knowledge of God. Look at verse 16 with me. He says, I do not cease to give thanks for you while making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom of revelation and the full knowledge of him. Paul is Trinitarian. Just in those two verses, we see Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We saw that previously in the first pericope, verse 3 through 14. Listen, beloved, he wants them to have the full knowledge of God, and that's what he's praying for, that they would come to realize what they have possessed when they have put their faith in Christ. Paul knows and realizes that he is the exact image of God. Hebrews 1.3 tells us that He's God in bodily form, as He wrote in Colossians 2.9, and that salvation is the possession of Jesus Christ. John wrote in John 1.16 that it's of His fullness that we have all received grace upon grace. Of His fullness, we have all received fullness. And just like us, the Ephesians didn't understand the glory, they didn't understand the magnificence of what they had received in the new birth. That the fullness of Christ was given to them. So now here Paul prays for the spirit of wisdom. He prays for the spirit of revelation for them. That is this, that their spirits would be moved upon by the Holy Spirit of God to receive wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him. He's not praying for them to receive more of Christ. He's not praying for them to receive more of His power. He's not praying for the church to receive any other addendum or addition. He's praying for them to understand what they already possess in Christ. That in Christ they have endless resources. that in Christ they have the fullness of who He is and that they need to know that. They need to understand what they now possess in Christ. And it's to this end, the apostle Paul prays for the Holy Spirit of God to give their spirits wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him. We think about revelation, what is it? Well, it's that which declares a thing and makes it known. What is wisdom other than the rightful use of that knowledge? So Paul prays for both. I want you to think about what the Apostle Paul's previously written. He's declared in verses 4 and 5 that God has chosen and predestined a people according to the purpose of God. He's predestined them unto salvation. They've been chosen from eternity past. They've been given as a love gift from the Father to the Son, we see in John 17 too. He's declared in verse 7 and 8 the redeeming work of God through His Son, Jesus Christ. And then in verse 13 and 14, the sealing of the Holy Spirit. Paul describes these truths in verse 9 as the mystery, the mysterion, the mystery of the will of God. These are not elementary truths, are they? They're deep truths, they're mysterious. And now Paul prays that God would enlighten the hearts of these Ephesian believers that they might know him in his fullness. Not just to know about him, but to know him and to come to an awareness and the understanding of the fullness that they already have received in the new birth when they've been made Christians. This knowledge is not something that is merely academic. This is the work of the Holy Spirit of truth. It's His power that enlightens. It is God, the Holy Spirit, that enables us to comprehend what is incomprehensible in the realm of nature or the natural mind. In fact, Paul would say to Corinth in 1 Corinthians 2, but a natural man, that is the person outside of grace, outside of Christ, the natural man does not accept the depths of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually examined. But he who is spiritual, or he who is born again, the one that is indwelled by the Holy Spirit, examines all things, yet he himself is examined by no one who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will direct him. But we have the mind of Christ." Paul there is saying that the truths of the gospel, the truths of God, are revealed by the Holy Spirit and they are on a different level that the natural man can comprehend. His elevator doesn't reach that floor. God reveals them to us by the Holy Spirit of God, those that belong to Him. What is the ministry of the Holy Spirit on earth today? Well, most certainly it's not to make people fall back and go into convulsions. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is to magnify and to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. That means that He reveals Christ and all of His glory to His saints. He reveals to us by opening our eyes to see what is given to us in the Scriptures in the person of Jesus Christ. Now, verse 17, take a look at it with me, talks about, it says, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation and the full knowledge of Him. And the reason I am accentuating this is because the academians disagree over what spirit is being mentioned. That is, is this the Holy Spirit or is this the human spirit? And I will just go on to say good and godly brothers don't see eye to eye on this issue, but it seems to me it is right that this is translated the Holy Spirit. In fact, my translation, the Legacy Standard Bible, has Has it capitalized? Referencing deity. That he may give to you the Holy Spirit of wisdom, in other words, in verse 17. Now listen, the wisdom and the revelation of the full knowledge of Christ is not within our grasp independently of the Holy Spirit. And as Paul would write to Corinth, it's simply foolishness to us. It's a language that we have no ability to interpret. But the Holy Spirit reveals Jesus and all of the glory of Jesus Christ. He unlocks our understanding. He grants revelation. He grants wisdom. And this is all of Him. We see a couple of examples in Acts chapter 16, verse 14. Brother Harold was hitting on this verse. this last midweek when he was preaching powerfully upon evangelism. And this is the story of Lydia. This woman was religious but unconverted. And the scriptures teach us in verse 14 that the Holy Spirit opened up her mind that she might understand what Paul was teaching and saying. It is the Spirit of God revealing the truth about Jesus Christ. That's his ministry. Another example is given in Luke 24, you're all familiar with this. The disciples that were on the road to Emmaus walking along with Jesus were, he was opening up the scriptures and he was exegeting them, he was interpreting them, he was explaining to them these wonderful truths throughout the Old Testament, how they all pointed to him. And then it tells in the scripture that he opened their eyes in verse 31. enlightened their understanding. That is metaphoric language. It's not that they were physically blind, that He healed them. That's not what it's teaching, that the eyes of their heart, cardia there, their understanding, their minds, their intellect was jaded by sin, clouded by sin, and that the Holy Spirit gave them a clarity that helped them to see and helped them to understand that Jesus that was with them is indeed the Messiah, the Son of the living God. John chapter 16 verse 14, the Lord Jesus teaches about the ministry of the Holy Spirit. It says that he will glorify me for he will take of mine and disclose it to you. That is the ministry of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit takes that which is of Christ and he discloses it to who he wills. He discloses it to those that belong to the Father. He opens up our minds. He opens up our hearts to the truths, the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen, we're dead in the water without the Holy Spirit. We are dead in the water without the Holy Spirit. Say this with me, I need the Holy Spirit. You think about the great preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon. There he is in the Metropolitan Tabernacle in the mid-1800s preaching to 6,000 people. He was called the Prince of Preachers, the great man of God in England. Every Sunday when he would go up that flight of stairs to his pulpit, with every step he would say, I believe in the Holy Spirit. I believe in the Holy Spirit. I believe in the Holy Spirit. He realized that he was dead in the water, that there was nothing miraculous being accomplished without God the Holy Spirit at work. Taking the word of God and driving it to the heart of the people of God the Holy Spirit is the one that we need that he takes the things of Christ and Discloses them to us now. Listen, I'm going to say something It's not in my notes, but it needs to be said the the Reformed Church needs the Holy Spirit We've saw we've seen so much Misappropriation we've seen so much Goofy idiocy that's been labeled the Holy Spirit that we are scared to death of Him. Jesus says that He takes what glorifies Me and reveals it to you. That He opens up your eyes, that He enlightens your understanding, that He helps you with truth, that He is the Spirit of truth and we need not fear the Holy Spirit of God. We need the Holy Spirit of God in the church. Listen, I am helpless without Him. There's nothing efficacious about anything that is done without the Holy Spirit. It's all a wash. We need Him. Listen, without Him, our minds remain darkened, our understandings hazy, our knowledge about the Lord Jesus Christ will be carnal and confused. So we need the Holy Spirit's ministry. We need His help. And that is our greatest need. That is my greatest need as a believer. You know, I come to a text like this. I mean, you start treading some deep water in Ephesians 1. I mean, I was reading John Calvin last night at bedtime. I have his sermons on Ephesians. And I was reading his text, his sermon on John, or excuse me, Ephesians 1, 19 to 23. And like, it's just, there is so much there. But the Holy Spirit must unlock that to my understanding. He must reveal that to my ability to understand before I can have grace to teach it to you. And then you must have the Holy Spirit's power and enlightening of your own heart that you might understand what's being taught when I teach it, or listen, or we're all in trouble. You know, this is text like this just way above my head. natural sense, listen Bluft, I can't unlock the glory of this text unless the Holy Spirit helps me. I can't plumb the depths of this. I can't even enjoy the sweetness of what's here in the content unless the Holy Spirit gives me wisdom and revelation that God the Holy Spirit must open up my eyes to see the glories of God in His Word. And listen if you're coming to the Bible You teenagers, look at Pastor. If you're going to the Bible and you're daily reading and you're not understanding it, it's because the Holy Spirit's not opening it up to your understanding and you ask him in prayer for that. You ask the Holy Spirit of God, who is God, you ask him to open your eyes and your understanding and you read it and you pray and you read it until you get it. It's critical. It does you no good to read the Bible unless you understand it. But He will give you eyes to see. He will give your heart the eyes to be able to discern what the Word of God is saying because He is the Spirit of revelation. Listen, Christianity is a supernatural religion. We don't join like we join a golf team or a horse riding team. We become Christians by the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit of God that He raises us to new life. He imparts a principle of life into us. It's something that God does really spiritually in us. This is not just human ideas or philosophy. This is the truth of God and that Christianity is supernatural from beginning to end. We're completely dependent upon the Holy Spirit to enliven us, to teach and instruct us, and that's the heart of Paul's prayer. He's pleading with the Lord to enlighten the hearts of the Ephesians. I want to explain something here. A heart Our word cardiac comes from that. In the Greek, it's kardia, it's K-A-R-D-I-A. And it literally means it's the very center of man, but it has an emphasis upon the intellect and the mind. In scripture, whenever emotions are being referred to, it's the belly, it's the intestines, it's the kidneys, especially in the Hebrew language. It's where you feel something in your gut, right? Man, the first time I met Stacey, man, we went to a rodeo. It was awesome. And I just felt something down in here, right? But when it comes to kardia, when it comes to this Greek term, it has something to do with knowledge. It has something to do with the intellect. It has something to do with thinking. It has to do something with the center of our being. And here Paul's praying that the Ephesians would have this knowledge in their hearts, this knowing of their hearts, this enlightening of the fullness or the true knowledge of God in their hearts. It's not feeling, it's the knowledge of God. I want you to note that in our text here, verse 17, talks about revelation in the full what? Knowledge. Verse 18, he prays that their hearts, having been enlightened, that they would know. that they would have knowledge of the hope of the calling of God. And listen, in so many Christian circles, this is looked down upon, but knowledge does not run contrary to spiritual experience. The one is premised upon the other. We need to know the truth of the Word of God. We need to have these truths revealed by the Holy Spirit, glorious truths about Christ made known to us. the true knowledge of God, or the fullness of God as we see. The second thing that Paul prays is that the Ephesians would be enlightened to the hope of his calling. Verse 18, look at it with me. So that you, the eyes of your heart, so what is the heart? Has to do with the mind, has to do with knowledge, has to do with information. And I know that secondarily, there can have a sense of emotions, but it's on down the pike when it comes to the rightful use of that term. But it has to do with knowing that the eyes of your heart having been enlightened, Paul says that you will know what is the hope of his calling. Hope in biblical literature, my friend, is quite different than the way we use hope today in our culture. Today we say, I hope I can lose some weight. But there's a mixture of uncertainty about that, isn't there? We add to that, I hope that those brownies aren't laying on the counter after dinner tonight. And we may or may not lose weight because the brownies may or may not be laying on the counter after dinner tonight. And that's the way we use hope, right? I hope my ride picks me up for work this morning. Well, he might not. But biblical hope's not that way. It's not premised upon a sense of uncertainty. The biblical hope is always premised upon a sense of certainty. For example, Hebrews 619, this hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and confirmed, one which has entered within the veil. Right? It's not grasping for straws. Well, I hope that Jesus is an anchor for the soul. No, he is a certain anchor for the soul. And he says, this is the hope that we have. It's certain. It is locked, stock and barrel, going to happen. That Jesus is indeed, that Jesus is the sure and the confident hope for our souls. The one that has gone in behind the veil for us, meaning the one that has gone to the cross, the one that has mitigated the wrath of God, the one that has become sin on our behalf. So Jesus is our hope, and this is the non-failing hope. He's the anchor of the soul. It is a sure and confirmed hope, and that's hope in the Bible. That's biblical hope, not grasping for straws, but certainty of expectation. And now Paul prays that the church will know what is the hope, the certainty of hope, of what his calling is, or the glorious certainty of the privilege of God's call. Call, the call of God. This is not talking about the gospel call that goes out to all men and all peoples. Listen to me, this is important. This is not talking about the universal call of the gospel that can be received or neglected and rejected. This is talking about the inward call of the Holy Spirit when the Holy Spirit summons a man or a woman or a child or a teenager to faith. It's the inward work of God that efficaciously and irreversibly calls men out of darkness and death. I was telling the kids this morning that when my mom's best friend Vera would come up and witness to me the gospel as a teenage boy, I would reject the gospel and make her cry. But 1987, when I was in my truck and the Holy Spirit convicted my heart for being a wicked tyrant against God's kind, gracious purpose, I ran to Christ lock, stock, and barrel. What was the difference? One was an outward call and the other was an inward call. One was the call of the gospel, the other was the call of the Holy Spirit. Paul wants the church to know the hope and the call of the Holy Spirit with which we've been arrested by God and brought to faith in Jesus Christ. That's the call, it's irresistible, as it says in the TULIP acronym for those who embrace the doctrines of grace, which I do. I believe that whenever God the Holy Spirit arrested my soul in 1987, that it was an invincible call. I believe that the Holy Spirit gave me a heart of flesh in that moment and that I came along willfully in the day of his power. I believe that in that moment, the heart of stone was extricated, the heart of flesh was granted. I believe in that moment that I began to desire the very things that I resisted all of my life. What's the difference between it? One was of God and the other was of man. Now we need the gospel call. We need to present the gospel to every living creature. But listen, until the Holy Spirit of God does that work in the heart, dead in the water. Dead in the water. We used to say in police work, D-R-T, dead right there. Well, how did you find him when you arrived, Officer DRT? Can you explain that to the court? Well, Your Honor, it means dead right there. He said, okay, I get it now. He was dead on arrival. Praise the Lord. Peter wrote about this in 1 Peter 2, 9. You're very familiar. It says, but you're a chosen family, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who Kaleo called you out, summons you out of darkness into his marvelous light. It's a work of God. He's telling you that you've been called by God out of darkness, that there is this irresistible, mighty, glorious, magnanimous force of God that called you out. He called you by name and you came forth. And he says, I want you to know, to have the knowledge of the hope that is in that efficacious call, that God is the one that raised you up. He says, I want the church to know the hope of this divine subpoena. This judge that's enthroned, this all powerful issued this summons, it's irrevocable, it's irresistible, and it's the result, listen, this call is the result of God's predestination. It's wonderful to preach this in a favorable crowd. Listen to Romans 8.30, "...and those whom He predestined, He also called. And those whom He called, He also justified. And those whom He justified, He also glorified." Predestination results in the inward call of the Holy Spirit. He calls those that have been chosen from eternity past. He, in time, will call them with an efficacious, powerful, spirit-wrought, inward call to where He seizes your heart and you begin to respond. You begin to have a pulse, spiritually speaking. You begin to have a heartbeat in the old cardia. And you begin to live and move and have your being. And you take your first baby steps. You give your first oral goo-goo ga-ga. When you begin to cry out and pray to God and say, Lord, I am needful. I need you to save me. And the Holy Spirit of God says, I have given you a heart to desire the things of God. That's the call of God. And Paul says, I want the church to know the hope of that call. It's beautiful, powerful, glorious, God wrought, and wonderful, and we need to know it. Why? Because whenever life is hard, we need to be tethered to this hope to know that the God that called us will also never let us go. The call to salvation, listen, this is the hope. The call to salvation is the surety of the promise of glorification. It's the knowledge of this call that gives you and me strength in moments of weakness. It's the knowledge of this call and the promises of God to endure that helps me in the midst of a world that's scattered and tattered with danger, toils and snares. And I want you to note in Romans 8.30, the unconditional verbs, those who he predestined, he also called. Those whom he called, he also justified. Those who he justified, he also glorified. God says it's all of me, Jonah 2.9. Brother Mark Roberts, salvation is of the Lord. It's a work of God. It's the result of the undefeatable purpose of God, which Paul's already expounded, by the way. Every Christian is to know this hope. Listen, neither man nor circumstance can undo what God's done. He never leaves nor forsakes us, Hebrews 13, 5. And this is the knowledge we need. Leona, this is the knowledge that you and I need. Carolyn, we need this. This is the hope and the knowledge that we need. We've been called to be the possession of God. We've been called into the family, adopted as children of God, that behind this is divine power, behind this is divine purpose, and this anchors us to a living hope in the midst of a decaying world. Third, Paul prays for the Ephesians, not only that they would have the hope of this calling, but also that they would be enlightened to the riches of his inheritance. Look at verse 18. The hope of his calling, that you will know what is the hope of his calling and what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. So this joins the hope of what is the call of God to what we are to obtain. We've been promised an inheritance that's in wait for us. Go back to Romans chapter 8. To those that God foreknew did he also predestine. Those that he predestined he called and those that he called he justified and those that he justified he also glorified, right? Glorified. Perfected. Eternally. Peter would write upon this in 1 Peter 1, verse 3-5, "...but to be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us..." Look at that language. "...He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and unfading, having been kept in heaven for you who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. That's just so rich. Paul wants these believers not only edified but expectant. He prays that the eyes of their hearts, that is the enlightening of their understanding, be opened unto what God has prepared for them, what God has preserved and has reserved for them in heaven. And I want you to know that life as a Christian in ancient Ephesus would not have been plush Christianity, it would have been hard plowing, it would have been difficult and dangerous, costly. But he here tells them and prays that they would understand the future glories that are in wait for every Christian. Why? Because it strengthens you when you're in battle in this life to have the prize revealed to you, the reward in front of you. says of the great stalwarts of the faith in Hebrews 11, if they would have looked back, they would have had cause to go back, but they don't. They have a heavenly city that's in wait, and they have their eyes on that. that God had set the glorious in front of them and revealed and unpacked it by the Holy Spirit, at least in some measure, to the Old Testament saints. And through the eye of faith, they saw the promise of God and that which is in wait, and they didn't call this life their home. They had a heavenly city in wait for them, and it was so transcendent to what this life is. And that fosters strength in the midst of battles. They hear what Paul prays for is that God would open up the eyes of their heart, that they would understand what's in wait. And why does he pray that? Because you don't get that in the natural sense. You can't fathom that by the natural faculties. The human mind is incapable of comprehending something of such transcendent value that the natural mind, my friend, does not even have an elevator that goes to that floor. God has to, by His Spirit, enable us to comprehend that. God's going to open our eyes. God must communicate this glorious reality by His Spirit. Listen to 1 Corinthians 2 verse 9 and 10, but just as it is written, things which the eye has not seen and ear has not heard, which has not entered into the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love him. Listen to this, that God has revealed them to us by His Spirit. That God unlocks our understanding. That God by His Holy Spirit helps us to know. That he wants the church to be overwhelmed. He wants the people of God overjoyed with the realities of the future glories and wait for them. He wants them to know, to fathom, to understand the wondrous riches that have been deposited into their account by the vicarious sufferings and death of Jesus. What he's conquered, what he's won, what he has in wait. The future rewards He wants them to know we're the result of the victory of Christ. He wants them to know what Jesus said in the 12th chapter of Matthew and the 29th verse that He disarmed the strong man and He has won the spoils and He lavishes the spoils upon His children. These are the true riches that Paul speaks about in Ephesians. The riches that enrich our soul both now and forevermore, but he says they're found in Christ and then only in Christ. We see that clearly in Colossians 3, 3 and 4, that the Holy Spirit has been given to us. Verse 14 of chapter one, you can see it in your text, as the pledge of our inheritance, guaranteeing that we will receive all that Jesus has won and promised us. Listen, you need to understand something. This world is never gonna be the utopia that man wants it to be. Where's Tommy? And they do it every day. The harder that men try to make this world utopian, the worse it becomes. But listen, God, by His Spirit and through the power of God, He's going to someday rehabilitate it. He's going to purge it with fire. There's a promise of a new heavens. There's a promise of a new earth. And listen, the Bible tells us that we're to hasten this day, that it will appear, but until that day, we are on a mission to make Christ known, and we want all to know Christ and the taste of his goodness. The next feature is Paul prays for them to experience God's power, to know God's power. In verse 19 to 23, He has to ask the question, you know, in light of the context, will God culminate, will the call of God culminate in the inheritance that God's promised? In other words, you can look at that from the negative. Will Christianity be somehow unraveled by the philosophers? Will it be conquered by the sword of tyrants? Will Kamala Harris destroy us? Will Christianity be overtaken by paganism that's so rampant in Ephesus in the ancient world? Listen, the reason we have to ask questions like this is because we're facing a lot of evils today. We've got to be thinking in terms of humanism and how it's completely poisoned our world and it's crept even into the evangelical church. So we have to ask, will Christianity somehow be poisoned and ruined by humanism? Will the church somehow adapt the practices of the the professed and loved sexual revolution that became prevalent starting in the 60s and then marched onward and it's getting more perverse as it goes. Will pure Christianity be completely rewritten? Will it be ruined by cultural fads and trends? Will political powers that be, will they be able to remove the gospel and the promise of God from the faithful? Will the treasure and weight, will it be able to be cast into the inferno because of what's going on in the world today? Now, Paul prays now for these Christians and Ephesus to receive knowledge, but he also prays for them to know the power of God. He wants them to have a God-sized view of God. And that hope and trust are fueled by a right view of God. No one has hope and no one latches on with trust to a weenie-sized God. We need a God of biblical proportions to fuel our trust and hope. Listen, what good is the reward at the finish line if we're never capable of getting there? What good are the promises of God if God is unable because He's weak to make good on them? So Paul now prays for the people of God to have their eyes opened by the mighty power of God that they would understand the omnipotence of His power. And more than that, he wants them to understand the power of God that is active towards believers. There's a very powerful use of language here that's overlooked easily. In verse 19, Paul uses four rapid-fire words to describe God's power. It's almost like Isaiah 6, holy, holier, holiest. Here we have power, power, wonder-working power. There's an old song we used to sing. He uses the word power, working, might, and strength, and he does it in one sentence. And what he's doing here is purposely drawing attention to the unparalleled power of God. The first word, power, is very ubiquitous. It's translated from the Greek word, dynamis. It's a word that we derive the word dynamite from in our English language. But the idea behind it is the ability to perform an activity. It has the idea of might, force, and strength. I mean, when you think of dynamite, you think of power. I mean, every time I drive out past New and Schwanderland out there at Osage, I look to the right and there is a mountain that's been completely demolished where I drive through it. But you look and there's rock on this side and there's rock on that side. And the reason that we drive through that is because dynamite got stuck in there and it blew the mountain away. The New and Schwanders own that hill out there, by the way. It's New and Schwanderland. I thought they were going to put a toll road there. The second idea, the second word working is from the word Energia. Guess what word we have in English? Energy, right? It has to do with God's force. It has to do with the operative power of God. It's God's power in action. Hence the word energy, right? The third one is the English word strength is kratos. It literally means manifested strength, manifested power. It can be interpreted sovereignty. It could be interpreted dominion. In fact, some of the older translations in the English language of the Bible will use the word sovereignty or dominion. But it's the ability to exhibit strength or to demonstrate sovereignty, kratos. The fourth word, might, is translated iskus, and it's a word that means capacity, capable, and personal potential. And what's interesting here is that Paul's not praying for the Ephesians to receive power, is he? He's praying that they would know, have knowledge of the power that's already theirs. You don't need to pray for more power. I went to the Brownsville Revival. I was a young guy. We stood in line for 12 hours to get in. Mr. Dannette was there. Phillip, you went, didn't you? I'm in there praying for Christians to receive power, power, power. Not intentionally evil, just didn't know, but the Bible clearly here says that God in Christ has already given us all things that we need for life and God in us, that we've already received the power, we just don't understand what we've got. We don't understand what we've been given. Paul here is now praying that the Ephesians would understand. I don't need somebody to bash me in the forehead and to say power or fuego. Fire. I need from my understanding to be enlightened to what I already have received because I've not received a miniature Savior. I want you to know the fullness of Him, Paul says, and to know the power of God, the power, power, power, power that is mine in Christ, that's been given to me by faith in His name. Listen, I don't need more power to carry out what has been entrusted to me. I need to be aware of what I have in Jesus Christ. We've received this. What I need has already been given to me in the new birth. I don't need a second blessing. I have the first blessing. And the first blessing is comprehensive. What I was given in Christ, comprehensive and I need to come to know that I need to understand 2nd Peter 1 3 that all I need in life and for godliness has already been given to me in Jesus Christ now Paul drives at home with some examples of God's power and this is where we'll end but we're gonna have to end really quickly we got to go from 30,000 feet to landing in six minutes He demonstrates his power in his resurrection in verse 19 and 20. Look at that with me. I mean, he's doing this. He wants you to get power, power, power, power. And he says, now let me show you power. My son was dead and in the grave. And the power of God raised him up on the third day. He says, this is the power. God and this is what I have given believers This is the sustaining power of God. This what is what stands behind the promise of God? This is the promise that you will make it across the finish line and that you will receive the promise of that which I've revealed by my spirit that which is in weight and this is what stands behind it and It's on the inside of you What is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe according to the working of His, the might of His strength, which He worked in Christ by raising Him from the dead? Look at it with me again. You might just underscore these words. And what is the surpassing greatness of His power, power toward us who believe according to the working of the might of His strength, which He worked in Christ by raising Him from the dead? A healthy church, beloved, listen, we're talking about a healthy church realizes God's power is unlimited, unfettered. And a healthy church prays that God's power will perform for us in the accomplishment of our commission task, all that he's asked of us. A healthy church realizes the power of God is toward us. Healthy church realizes that God's not changed. We love to sing the song, Facing a Task Unfinished, but then we start thinking about the enormity of the mission. We start thinking about the opposition that we face, even in an Islamic world, and we begin to wonder if it's even possible, right? We wonder if a church can even be healthy in a sin-sick world like ours. We see compromise on every corner of the city. We see failed ministries. We see compromise. And we ask questions. Can a church truly, like ours, be healthy and accomplish our mission? And Paul says, I'm praying that you would realize the power that you've been given. And then he showcases the power of God in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus was literally dead, buried, His bloodied body lay there in that cold stone tomb. There he was, lifeless and pale, conquered by death. But listen, God raised him up. God called him to life again. He came to life after three days. God demonstrated his power in the resurrection of Jesus. So he's able to build his church. The gates of hell will not prevail. He's able to sustain. He's able to help us in our moments of crises and need. So the resurrection is a case in point of the power of God and that power is toward us. Amen. That's where you stop and say, I like it. I like it. Second, note his powers demonstrated in his exaltation. In verse 21, he seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the age to come. But I want to say in this age too. He's not going to be king, he is king. He is Lord. He is enthroned. But note the resurrection was followed by the exaltation. He ascended on high. He's presently exercising dominion. He's presently exercising power, and he does this from his heavenly throne, but the power of God is toward us. Psalm 110, verse 1, Yahweh says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I put your enemies as a footstool for your feet. Yahweh will stretch your strong scepter from Zion, saying, have dominion in the midst of your enemies. So Jesus rules absolute power and authority. He does so now. His power is towards His church. I love what Hendrickson says. He rules the entire universe in the interest of His church. along quite quickly. His power is demonstrated in His dominion, verse 22a, and He put all things into objection under His feet. Listen Christ isn't going to be champion, He is champion. He is the victor of Heaven. He is seated in all power and authority. Earth is His footstool. Both nations and rulers and tyrants and potentates they are all under His feet that Jesus has universal dominion and authority. Jesus said to His disciples, all authority has been given to me in Heaven and on Earth. Also his headship, his powers demonstrated in his headship. And this is where we end, verse 22b and 23, and he gave him his head over all things. to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all." Clearly, he's telling us here that Jesus is the head of the church, tenderly nurturing the church, lovingly redeeming her, filling her with the spirit. And the language here, by the way, is very difficult language. Christ is the head of this church. Listen, and because of this, look at me, the church is invincible. Our mission is not out of reach. Our trials, our difficulties are not beyond the power of God. And just as the redeeming mission of Christ was invincible, the mission of His body, His church will be invincible because we are underneath the headship of Jesus Christ. We are filled with His fullness and our mission is within reach. Listen, look at me. I want to stop here, but I want to end on this note. We cannot afford to think that the cause of Christ is too great and that we can't accomplish it. We can't afford to think that we as the church lose down here. He is invincible. We are his body. The mission is within grasp. He says this power is toward us. And I believe largely that some of the problems that we have today with young people not wanting to be missionaries anymore is because we've lost the ability to believe that the mission of God is even within reach of our ability to comprehend and accomplish. Listen, the mission of the church is an invincible mission. We will not fail at our mission because God will not fail. Man, there's so much there, isn't there? So because of that, God willing, we'll come back next week and we'll talk more about that. I just don't feel that we've got enough thread through the eyelet there. I wanna tighten this up. I wanna spend some more time on this last, starting at verse 19 to verse 23 next week. And so I'm gonna marinate on this and see what the Lord can do. I want our hearts and our, of the Kingdom of God and the King on the throne and the mission as invincible, right? Because we have a lot to get done and God's called us to be an army for Him. Lord, we're so thankful for this opportunity. Lord, there's so much packed there. I have just been overwhelmed, Lord, with the shortness of time and the breadth and depth of the revelation you've given to us. But Lord, I pray that you take my feeble attempts to proclaim these truths and use the power of God and the Holy Spirit to drive them to our hearts that we might have our understanding enlightened that we might know, that we might know. that you would save those who are lost. I know there are teenage boys and girls and children here that have not put their faith in Christ. And Lord I also know that there are those here that are adults that think they are right and they are not right. I pray that the Holy Spirit of God will reveal to them that they need Christ. That there will be a trusting, a trusting in Christ this moment. A putting their faith and trust in Christ. Enliven them, give them much grace to believe the Gospel and to save them from the wrath that is to come. Now, Lord, as we go, be with us. Lord, encourage our hearts. Help us, Lord, to remember to encourage one another. We are a family. We are under the headship of Christ, but we are a family. Help our faith and our loved one for another, our faith toward God and our loved one for the other to be bolstered and strengthened and put us to mission this week. Lord, throw somebody in our path that we can share Jesus with. Lord, be with those that are going through the fires of trials right now. Help them to understand that the power to get through what they're facing is not outside of them, but it's already given them in Christ. And Lord, lead them as a gentle shepherd through it. And we ask it in Christ. Amen. Let's all stand, and we will sing our way out.