Paul's Prayer for the Elect

By Lin Brown Bible Text: Preached on: Ephesians 3:16-21 Sunday, July 29, 2012

Grace Particular Baptist Church 5725 Imperial Lakes Blvd Mulberry, FL 33860 Website: Online Sermons: www.graceparticularbaptist.org www.sermonaudio.com/graceparticular

...prevail and always desire for the people of God that they may have revelation. And I am saying of the people of God. I am not talking about for this reprobate world. I am not talking about of the sinner who is lost in his trespasses and sin and utter rebellion against God, but that the people of God would have the revelation of his glory. How needful it is for the children of God to see his glory revealed, because naturally they wont see it. On the physical plain they wont be able to see it. Churches have tried to recreate it. They have had great masterpieces of art and great paintings and great statuary and great colors and today in the modern church they hand banners up and down the aisle so people can envision the gospel and whatever else they want them to envision. But without revelation we see nothing. We understand nothing. Indeed, when we come to this book, this glorious book called the holy Bible protected and defended by the faith all down through the generations, if we dont have revelation we dont know what in the world it is saying. We dont know what importance it is. We must have revelation. It must be given and it must come from the great God that we report to worship. For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, That he would grant you...1 We are not deserving. We cant go to God and say, You know, we deserve you to show us what we want. We cant do that. We are of the utmost poverty stricken things that ever walked this earth to approach unto God. Indeed, as Philpot has been quoted once this day, I would quote him also. He said that we have no approach unto God except through Jesus Christ. And if our mind is not there in Christ, if it is not there in thinking of our own unworthiness to approach unto him, we cant do so. If in lowliness of heart we regard the Savior as our all in all then we can have boldness to approach unto the throne of grace. Otherwise we come by some crass, human presumption that we should be heard and we should be heeded. That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man.2
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Ephesians 3:14-16. Ephesians 3:16. Page 1 of 8

So many of us arent in touch with our inner man. We are living on the plain of emotion. We are living on the plain of doubt. We are living on the plain of fear. We are living on the plain of trying to do the best we can. We need to get in touch with our inner man, because it is there that God speaks to us. It is there that God strengthens us and empowers us to live in this present world, in this present time, in the time that God has set us in. You know, I talk to people from time to time and I hear them say, You know, if we just lived in another time we could be more spiritual. If we just lived back then we would be more spiritual. Indeed, we thought if we lived back then probably Christ would never have been crucified because we would have been so spiritual. He wouldnt have had to. But God did not set us in a time before. He didn't set us in the first century to see Christ crucified on the cross. He puts him up in front of us every day for us to see and behold that event. He didnt put us in that time. He didnt put us in the time of the 1800s or the 1700s or the 1600s and all the saints of God that passed through those times were particularly suited for those times. But he did put us in this generation. And he did equip us with this generation. And that equipping is in the inner man. It doesn't come from the outside. They are not going to teach you that in the institutions of man, be they high they are. But it comes through the revelation of God in the inner man. And that is what we pray for the people of God is that they be strengthened with might. And these are powerful words. Paul didnt pray that you might have a wimpy little faith that cowered at everything, but that you would be strengthened with might by his Spirit, by the power of the Holy Spirit in the inner man. That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith...3 That your hearts might not be consumed on the things of the world, that your hearts might not be empowered by the philosophies of the world, but Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. The human heart will fail you. It will get weak. It will have cataclysmic events. But the heart that is spoken here that is indwelt by Christ by faith will never fail. That is why Paul prayed: That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.4 That Christ may dwell in the center of your desires, that he may dwell in the center of your emotions, that he may dwell in the center of your feelings. That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love...5
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Ephesians 3:17. Ibid. 5 Ibid. Page 2 of 8

In the love that God has for his people. And that is an important thing for us to comprehend. And in saying that, lets turn back over to Romans chapter eight a minute where we find face to face, come face to face with that great love. In Romans chapter eight we read: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?6 Can any of those things separate us from Christ, from the love of Christ? Can it ever cause Christ to stop loving us? Shall tribulation do that? Shall it ever cause Christ to stop loving us? Shall distress? Shall persecution? Shall famine or nakedness or peril or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.7 That is what Paul is praying that we will be conquerors through the love that Christ has for us, being rooted and grounded in that love, being established in that love, not being shaken in that love, rooted and grounded, never succumbing to the fact that we might think God doesnt love us. Our prayers would be that you understand that God loves you at all times in all ways in all situations, that the love of Christ can never be separated from his elect. Paul said: For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life...8 And what does he start out with? The thing that we fear the most, the thing that troubles us the most, death. And what is the thing we cherish the most? Life. And he said that neither one of these things and that he was persuaded, can separate us from covenant love in Christ Jesus. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels...9 And these we would take and understand as being the angelic, demonic angelic hosts. ....nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come...10 Whatever it is cannot separate us. And Paul says:

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Romans 8:35. Romans 8:36-37. 8 Romans 8:38. 9 Ibid. 10 Ibid. Page 3 of 8

Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.11 And this is what he is praying for over in Ephesians that you might be able to comprehend that love, that deep, grounded, entrenched love that God has for his people. Now many times I know because I have these understandings and these feelings also, how unworthy I am of that love. He doesn't love us because we are worthy. He doesn't love us because we have earned it. Many times we think, oh, I have done something that surely God will regard. Surely God will look on me and say what a good boy I am, what a good girl I am, what a good mother I am, what a good father I am, what a good son I am, what a good daughter I am, what a good friend I am. And God will be pleased with me. When the truth of the matter is God is not pleased with anything that is outside of Christ. And I dont mean physically outside of him. I mean that he is not empowered within us. May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height...12 That is what he just said over in Romans, isnt it? Neither height, nor depth, nor any other thing created shall be able to separate us from the love that is in Christ Jesus. If we could but entertain and understand this love, I dont think we would have a faithless moment if we could really get a hold of it, because we would understand that in all times in all ways and every situation we are loved. I think because we have such a light view of love on the human scale we dont have the comprehension of divine love on the spiritual scale. Many times the trials and tribulations of this life teach us and instruct us in the love that we formerly should entertain, but often take for granted and live haphazardly and carelessly. We ... Paul would have those who are of the Church, the elect Church to understand the breadth and the length and the depth and height of love in Christ Jesus. Let us go with those things separately. The breadth, the wideness of it, the wideness of the love that is in Christ Jesus, embracing the unlovely. You know, you and I pick who we will love. We think we can pick who God loves. But the breadth of his love is a lot wider in our narrow scope of it. The length of his love is everlasting. It is from eternity to eternity. It is the eternal love of God in Christ Jesus. And the depth. How deep can we go in our despair? How deep can we go, yes, even in our sin? How deep can we go in ourselves and the love of Christ not be upon us, be in us, be toward us? And the height. How high can we go? How high can we think thoughts and meditate upon the glories of God that the love of Christ isnt controlling even in those situations? Paul says in verse 19:
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Romans 8:39. Ephesians 3:18. Page 4 of 8

And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge.13 Paul wants us to know something that we cant know. And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge.14 I can sit up here and preach to you about the love of Christ. You can read in the Bible about the love of Christ, but until it is revealed to you in whatever situation that comes about, until it is ministered to you by the Holy Spirit it is going to pass your knowledge. It is going to pass your comprehension. It is going to elicit the statement, I dont understand. Have you ever said that? I just dont understand how God could do that. I don't understand how God could be so merciful to me. Yeah. You know why you say that? Because it does pass your understanding, unless God shows it to you. And by showing it to you I dont mean just showing you the words of this book, I mean reveals it to you in the trials and the tribulations of this life, in the fears and the doubts and the agonies of situations that we get in. We will see that this love of Christ passes knowledge when we have it revealed to us. ...that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.15 Pauls prayer for the people of God is that they might be filled with all the fullness of God. That is fullness to the utmost. That is fuller than you can comprehend, to be filled with the fullness of God, the fullness of God. Not here does he say the fullness of the Holy Spirit. He does in other places, to be filled with the Holy Spirit. But here he is talking about being full of the fullness of the godhead. You say, I dont understand. I cant even comprehend that. But Pauls prayer was for the people of God that they be that, that the understanding of God in all things at all times in all ways would be their portion. And what a blessedness it is when that is the case and God fills us up with himself {?} you dont have concerns for this or that and we dont have fears about this person or that person. We just see nothing in his glory. Remember Isaiah? He said: In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up.16

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Ephesians 3:19. Ibid. 15 Ibid. 16 Isaiah 6:1. Page 5 of 8

Uzziah died. Uzziah wasnt a bad man. Uzziah wasnt somebody who was not beneficial to the people of God, but Uzziah died. Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up and his train filled all the temple. And Isaiah knew that he was a sinful man among those who were sinful people. And he said, Woe is me. And a coal was sent off out of the altar and touched his lips and said that he was clean, cleansed his lips that he might praise the Lord. And yet Paul here prays that we be filled with all the fullness of God. Now in verse 20 and 21, as I said before, is a doxology. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think...17 What have you asked God for lately? We do have as the children of God the right to ask God for things. And what have you thought that God should do? The Bible tells us here that he is able to do exceedingly abundant all that we ask, all that we think. All of our desires that God would do something he is able to do above that. All of our desires that we would ask and many times we dont ask and many times we ask a miss. But the things that we do ask he is exceedingly able to do above and beyond what we ask, simply because God is not us. He is not a man like we are. His thoughts are high above our thoughts. His plans for us are high above our plans. ...according to the power that worketh in us...18 Now notice what he says here. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us...19 The people of God have a power that worketh within us. You have a power that worketh within you. To do, to lift your thoughts above your own thoughts, to lift your asking above your own asking and to see the answers given far above all that you might desire and all that you might think and all that you might plan and all that you might purpose. He is able to do that. Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages.20 And, of course, that certainly is the case, isnt it, that we would desire the Church to glorify Christ in all the ages.

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Ephesians 3:20. Ibid. 19 Ibid. 20 Ephesians 3:21. Page 6 of 8

We talked early in the day about the fact that most churches don't glorify God. And because so we have great judgment upon our land today. In fact, we pass church after church that has some humanistic message on the sign outside. That glorifies man. Even so-called redeemed man. That glorifies what people can do for other people. Paul said: Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus.21 It is the place of the Church to glorify God, the true Church to glorify God, to exalt God, to glory in God. Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages.22 The Church cannot glorify God. The people of God cannot glorify God, but yet through Christ Jesus. And we would pray that it be so now and that it would go on throughout all ages world without end, amen. Strange closing to this, isnt it? Paul speaks of the eternities rolling on and on and the glories of God being sung through the praises of his people. And then he says amen, let it be finished. Let it be done. Let it be accomplished. All of this lays a intermediary setting between chapters one and two and four, five and six. In four, five and six we move to a more practical side of things in the Christian life. But practical Christianity is never baseless. It never manifests itself through the manufacturing of its own efforts. It always is based in the work of God. Practical Christianity doesnt come about through the efforts of the human flesh, be they ever so sanctified and set apart to the purpose of God. It doesn't come through the human flesh. It comes through the actions of God. It comes through the power of God. And so Paul prays in chapter three bringing all of this together that has gone before and will come after. In tying them forever together in the strength and power of the inner man, revealed to you by the Spirit of God and showing you... And I want to say just a few closing words about this inner man. One of the great revelations of the New Testament is that the Spirit will be in you, not just in the world, not just out there working on you, but he will be in you. And we recall the words of the Lord Jesus. And when the Spirit comes he will teach you all things. He will take of mine and speak of mine and speak of me. And you will know it, not because you fall on the floor and babble in tongues and bounce around like somebody who is high on pills, but because you glorify Christ. You love Christ. You desire Christ. That is when you know the Spirit is in you. Not because you go about doing all the benevolent things you can for man, but because you glorify Christ. You rely on Christ. You depend on Christ. He will take of mine and show you what belongs to me. He will speak of me. He wont speak of himself. Yet we have churches built on the fact that the Holy Spirit is glorifying himself, never does, never will and never has. He always glorifies the Son. And when you see the Son
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Ibid. ibid. Page 7 of 8

glorified you know the Holy Spirit has done it. I cant glorify the Son and you cant glorify the Son. We collectively cant glorify the Son unless the Spirit glorifies him. And that is what he sent him here for him to do so and to teach you all things in that way. We would be pretty ignorant and we would be definitely in the dark if the Holy Spirit did not live with inside of us to teach us all things, to lead us and direct us, to empower us, to strengthen us in the inner man. Gracious Lord and heavenly Father, we do give thee thanks and glory and praise for the indwelling presence of thy Spirit who will always testify of thy Son and his work, his finished work and his living work in us. We thank thee, Father, for thy glory and praise within the camp of the Church, within the people of God. For it comes not of this, of us or of any of them, but it comes from the power of thy Spirit speaking, preaching, singing, praying, revealing Christ in all things. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

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