 It's a it's a blessing to be here today, and I was really honored when Dave called and asked if I would come and share so and I'm excited about The text the book of Ephesians a great book So we're gonna look at the first chapter here this morning. Let's have just a quick prayer Lord, thank you for the opportunity to gather today, and I thank you Lord for each one of these men that are here Thank you for what you want to do here today in our lives Lord here. We are We pray that you would truly open the eyes of our heart Lord. We pray that you would do a Deep work in us. We thank you Lord that That your word is living and powerful We thank you Lord that we can come here today expecting That that living and powerful word is going to pierce to the division of soul and spirit Or that you're going to work in us that we're going to leave this place today Changed we're going to be different men to some degree than we were when we walked in so that's what we're Praying for that's what we're asking that you would do today Make us more into the image of Jesus make us more into the men that you've called us to be that Our families need us to be that the world Needs to see at this time So work now by your spirit. We pray we pray this in the name of Jesus So Paul opens this epistle to the Ephesians By giving a long list of Spiritual blessings He starts there in the third Verse blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every Spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ and then he just goes on to enumerate those blessings or or a number of those blessings Bless us with every spiritual blessing chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame Before him in love. He predestined us to adoption of sons to Jesus Christ by himself He did all of this according to the good pleasure of his will He's accepted us in the beloved and and initially he touches on The the things that the Father has done In our salvation and then he transitions from the work of the Father into the Son in whom we have redemption through his blood the Forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace and then through him. We have also obtained an inheritance and and then finally he comes to the ministry of the Holy Spirit so in Verses 3 through 14 of chapter 1 here Paul is emphasizing The work of the triune God on our behalf and actually in the first three chapters of Ephesians Paul is his primary focus in the first three chapters of the epistle is to develop for us The work of God's grace To get us to see the magnificence of our salvation You see the way the the Bible lays it out is it always presents what God has done and then after that that clear presentation of what God has done then there's the There's the call to a response on our part and and Ephesians is beautifully laid out in that fashion We'll see that today as as we go through the book and So specifically here in the first chapter. That's what he's doing. He's just he's highlighting The the work of the triune God the work of the father the work of the son the work of the Spirit being sealed by the Spirit and having done that Paul realizes that He's presented to his readers things that are Just so above and beyond their own natural ability to to fully grasp And so having done that he then Pauses to pray To pray for them To pray for us who would read this epistle Centuries later and it's the prayer of Paul that I want to direct your attention to this morning And so look with me at verse 15 of Chapter one therefore I also After I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints Do not cease to give thanks for you Making mention of you in my prayers and Here's the prayer that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ The father of glory may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him The eyes of your understanding being enlightened That you may know what is the hope of his calling What are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints and what is the Exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe According to the working of his mighty power Which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places so That's the prayer Paul is praying for them he realizes that that there is this necessity that the spirit would come and And illuminate us when it comes to these things and we would be given the spirit of wisdom and revelation In the knowledge of God, you know, it never ceases to amaze me that God desires To know us Isn't that amazing think about it the true in the living God the infinite Almighty Creator of of Everything You know, sometimes I find myself Just you know pondering things like The finer points of creation You know, I like to read apologetics books like to read things that talk about the Intercases of the the the cell for example, or you know the eye the human body or Those kinds of things and you know, sometimes when I'm reading these things and you're you're realizing the the complexity of Of a cell or the immensity of the universe or something like that, you know, sometimes my It's almost like my my brain just goes on overload Because I'm thinking how how could this even be how could there be a being? who created all of this stuff and Who presently sustains it all and who knows every? Detail of every one of these things, you know when you start to think about the the Magnificence of God the greatness of who God really is it is it is completely mind-blowing and Then couple with that the idea that this God Who is all Sufficient in himself this God who needs absolutely nothing who there there's no need in God where He he has to have us giving him some sort of response to fulfill some lack in him. There's nothing like that But just simply out of his sheer love for us. He desires that we know him He invites us into a relationship with him that to me is astounding and it never ceases to amaze me and That's what Paul is talking about here that we might Know God in the way that God desires that we know him many many passages in the scripture remind us of God's desire that we know him I think of John 17 2 and 3 where Jesus is praying that great high priestly prayer there Remember he says you have given me authority over all flesh he's speaking to the Father that I should give eternal life to as many as you have given Me and this is eternal life. What is eternal life that they might know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent That's eternal life to know God That's the desire of God that we know him. He has made this this experiential knowledge of himself available to us amazing Absolutely amazing Now the other thing that I want to point out before we jump right into the prayer is What I like about this prayer and the many other prayers especially the ones of Paul in the New Testament and I like to remember That these prayers are inspired prayers They're inspired prayers. They're part of holy scripture So these are not just simply The things that Paul thought were good to pray for the Ephesians or in the case of the Philippians or the Colossians Or wherever else we have the prayers of Paul recorded these were prayers that were inspired by the apostle and I love that because You know, sometimes we don't know how to pray. I don't know how to pray for people at certain times I don't even know how to pray for myself at certain times But what I find is that when I'm at a loss on how to pray I can go to prayers like this one here or the one that we find in the third chapter or Like the one we find in Philippians chapter one or Colossians chapter one And I can pray those prayers for myself or I can pray those prayers for others and I can have absolute Confidence that I am praying according to the will of God And we know that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us and we have the petitions that we desired from him. I love that and these prayers always remind me that That is the case and so Paul begins the prayer by asking For the spirit of wisdom and revelation The spirit of wisdom and revelation that the eyes of your understanding may be enlightened The eyes of your understanding or the word understanding could be translated heart, you know the song that we Used to sing open the eyes of my heart Lord that those lyrics were actually taken from this passage right here But the spirit of wisdom and revelation Do you feel sometimes that you you need that I I know I do I Need You know, I've read the text. I I've heard somebody preach on it And that's all good, but Lord I need I need something more I need the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of you I need the Holy Spirit to come and to bring me a Deeper understanding or or bring me a clearer application of What is said in the passage and as Paul has touched on those amazing blessings of Having been chosen and having been adopted and having been accepted and having been Redeemed and having been given an inheritance and having been sealed He realizes oh Lord you need to bring these things home to the hearts of your people Give them the spirit of wisdom and revelation You know, we can pray that for each other we can pray that for ourselves And I think we should do that as often as we can But then he goes on and there are three specific things That Paul is requesting here and Notice what they are They are that you may know number one. What is the hope of his calling? Number two, what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints and number three? What is the exceeding? greatness of his power So let's look at each one of those real quickly that you may know. What is the hope of his calling? You know men, I think honestly if we really If we could just for even a brief moment if we could Just get some kind of a glimpse into what God has what he intends for us ultimately If if we could just in in some way lay hold of that this would completely change everything for us That's what Paul is praying for they might know what what is the hope of your calling What is the hope of our calling? Where where is all of this? Leading to well, we know ultimately it's leading to Heaven we know ultimately it's leading us into the presence of God Permanently, but but the calling that we have is is not merely something that is going to Show itself at a future date. We've already entered into the calling and Just looking at the more general picture of scripture Let me give you just a few things that The Bible says we've been called into First of all we've been called To be the sons of God Been called to be the sons of God. We are God's sons We are his children And I love that picture of God as our father that is such a dear picture to me And I have to say that it became even more Special and more precious when I Began to have my own children and to raise my own children and Even now as my children are grown up and we're now being blessed with grandchildren I'm finding that my my understanding of God as my father continues to deepen and increase as I have my own experiences with my own kids and grandkids But it's such a beautiful picture to be the sons of God We're God's children He cares about us as a as a father pities his children. So the Lord pities those who fear him He knows our frame. He remembers that we are dust. I love that from the hundred and third song So we've been called to be God's sons We are the children of God. We have this relationship with him. He has imparted to us his very nature He's put himself within us That's that's what the scripture says we've become partakers of the divine nature You know sometimes there's a little bit of confusion because the Bible speaks about our having been adopted and we have been adopted But that that's referring more to our position. We have actually been born of God We we become a participant in the nature of God. God has put his very nature within us the hope of His calling he's called us to be his sons. He's called us saints We're saints. We're set apart. We're we're his people now and think of this in in Contrast to where we previously were We were sinners and many of us were great sinners But we have become saints You know, I know a few guys that came from the gang lifestyle and You know, we get together and we're actually a few of us are working on a movie project About their lives and as we sit down and talk about a possible script and so forth You know listening to the stories and the things that they were involved in and you know, I I was a You know, I was a pretty good sinner myself, but these guys definitely had me beat, you know when I listen to these stories and You know, this is coming to my mind freshly because one of them got saved in this church on a Sunday morning and just recently when we were together again, he was reminding me of the story of his conversion and But you know, I'm sitting there with these guys and listening to their stories about the gangs and about the wars and about the gun battles And the drug deals and about the prison life and all of this stuff and and then at the same time I'm seeing the grace of God in their lives and I'm seeing the radical transformation that's taking place I'm seeing them break down and weep for joy of what God has done And I think wow the contrast is just unbelievable God has called us to be saints. He's taken us from the lowest possible position He's taken us from the pit and he's placed us There at the pinnacle and in the second chapter I'm sure David's gonna touch on that, but but we're saints You know, we say sometimes well, hey, you know like I'm no saint. Oh, yes, you are if you believe in Jesus You might not behave like one all the time, but you are He's called us and literally it's not he's called us to be saints. He's called us saints We are saints. This is part of the calling. We're sons. We're saints. We're servants He's called us into This relationship with him were where we are his sons But but he's given us the privilege of being his servants. What a wonderful thing, isn't it? Amazing to be the servant of the Lord To serve God to be invited by God. I always marvel at this that that I have been invited by God to Be part of the work that he's doing in the world That I've been actually given a task to accomplish by the creator himself by the Redeemer himself that I get to play a Role in this this is astounding to me It's amazing He's called us to be his servants now in the world's eyes being a servant isn't Anything that that most people are really aspiring to We want to be The opposite of servants. We want to be the masters. We want to be the lords. We want to be the rulers But all the privilege of being a servant of God think of the Apostles themselves, you know, it's interesting Jesus said to them at one point remember in John chapter 15 he says I no longer call you servants for a servant doesn't know what his master is doing, but I call you friends For All that the father has made known to me. I've made known to you I no longer call you servants, but I call you friends the thing that I find quite interesting is that Each and every one of the Apostles when they would write later. They never wrote like this Paul a friend of Jesus Peter a friend of Jesus James a friend of Jesus What did they say Paul a bond servant? Peter a bond servant They saw the amazing privilege of being the servants of God And so we have been called to be the servants of the Most High God. We are the servants of the living God sons saints Servants and then it gets even more radical as we as we think about the future Kings and priests to our God and we shall reign with him forever and ever. This is where we're headed a kingdom of priests Some translations read or kings and priests. We're going to we're going to rule and reign with Christ Now that that hasn't happened yet. That's the future But you see Paul is praying Lord open the eyes of their heart Give them the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of yourself Let them know what is the hope of their calling and here's my point If we would just for a moment get a real grip on what we have been called to how How that would impact us? I Think sometimes it's just simply we're not realizing The privileges that we've been given. We're not realizing the position. We're not realizing the blessing. We need to stop and think wait I'm a son of God. I'm a saint. I've been called to be God's servant I have a destiny being part of a kingdom of priests ruling and reigning with Christ What am I doing screwing around? What am I doing? Thinking the way I'm thinking. What am I doing behaving the way I'm behaving? This is completely inconsistent with who I am And sometimes we just need that that kind of a realization The spirit of wisdom and revelation to come upon us So that's the first thing the second thing is that you may know what is the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints Now this is interesting because What it seems like it should be saying is That we might know The riches of the glory of what we've inherited as Saints and we can we can understand that oh The inheritance that we have as saints is it's so Amazing it's it's beyond our ability to even put it into words how amazing it is But that's not what the text says the text is referring to the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints You see what the text is telling us is that we are the pearl of great price to him We are that great treasure You realize that men You are a treasure to God We are a treasure to God the riches of the glory of his inheritance. God considers you and me He considers us to be his inheritance You know when you think about an inheritance you think about the possibility of some wealthy relative maybe leaving you an inheritance Well, that's Fantastic. Oh Yes, I am the heir of this fortune But when you think of being an heir you generally think of it in the sense of this is something that's going to be Tremendously beneficial to me and bless me and and so forth and and it's true, but this is how God sees us That's the difficult thing. I Think God got the short end of the stick in this deal, but he doesn't seem to mind It back in the Old Testament God referred to Israel as his inheritance and man those guys were messed up, weren't they? But they were still as inheritance and as messed up as we might be sometimes we are we are still in his inheritance That we might know what is the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints that we might realize how valuable we are to him You know men This isn't the stuff that we talk about so much as men, but you know God loves you He loves you deeply He loves you with the greatest Possible love of a father We always have the issue of Not everybody's had a good father as a good model But don't let that stumble you don't let that blur your vision of of God as our father because that's who he is and the best earthly father the best ever Pails in comparison to the love of our Heavenly Father. God loves us He loves you He loves me and We need to know what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. We need to remember this We are we're God's inheritance. We are his prized possession Because if if I know This this is a fact of life Isn't it knowing your love is a tremendously liberating thing knowing your love is a knowing your loved is a tremendously securing thing Man my wife she thrives on love All I got my life is real simple You know, you've heard the saying Happy wife happy life. Well, it's true And I want to tell you right now the secret to a happy wife and a happy life. Love your wife Love her because what happens when you love her? She is free to just blossom and be everything that God created her to be She's secure This this is how my wife is but you know the same is true for us When we know how much God loves us it gives us that kind of security to just be so free To be free To be free from all the funky things that we can get hung up on that make us weird and cause us to do weird things Got act proud tough and all of that kind of junk No, that that's all blown away when you just realize man. I have a father That loves me. I'm secure I'm I'm a treasure to him. We are we are his treasure and then thirdly That they might know the exceeding greatness of his power Toward us according to the working of his mighty power which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead That they might know the exceeding greatness of his power. This is the one that really Really kind of blows my mind because I think wow the exceeding greatness of his power and notice the Notice the example that that Paul ties to this that they might know the exceeding greatness of his power according to the working of his mighty power Which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead now The thing that I find interesting here is it seems that what Paul is implying here is that the power that God exerted in raising Jesus from the dead is the greatest demonstration of God's power ever now Okay, think about think about this When we think of great demonstrations of God's power one of the first things that would come to my mind would be creation What kind of power did it take for God to speak the universe into existence? What kind of power does it take for God to sustain everything? Just as it is that that's inconceivable power But Paul seems to be implying that the power that raised Christ from the dead was even a greater power than that But then what he's saying is that that same power is working in us That same power is working in us and listen that same power is intended to give us victory over Sin over Satan and ultimately over death So guys, here's what I want to say that you might know the exceeding greatness of his power. God has power He demonstrated that power When he raised Christ from the dead he demonstrated a similar power when he raised you from the dead because that's what happened to you when you Met Christ when you received Christ and you were born again. You were raised from the dead you were brought back from the dead but That's not where the power stops the power wasn't there to simply resurrect you the power is now there to Bring you into the fullness of all that God has for you And so the power is there to give us Victory over the things that would keep us back from that over the sin that So easily besets us There's power there Do you know that there's there's exceeding great power available to you to have victory over sin? If you're in bondage to sin, it's not because God doesn't have power to free you there's some other issue there and the Issue is with you The issue is not with God the power is there. God is willing. He's ready. He's anxious. He's desirous You just need to avail yourself of it And you know quite often what I find is is the root of of a person not being able to really experience that power It's the unwillingness to admit That there really is an issue here that I need God to help me with It's a denial of a of a of a fact that I'm compromised in certain areas or or I'm making excuses instead of taking full responsibility for my action You know the quickest way to victory over sin is to admit that I'm in sin and I'm completely responsible for being in sin As long as you try to put the responsibility off on somebody else or something else or well It's because of this or she did that and well my parents did that and I was brought up this way You know what? You're never going to get anywhere You want to get freed from sin the power of sin just take full responsibility for your sin and come to God and say God Free me from this sin that I am in that I am responsible for I cry out for your mercy And guess what the power that raised Christ from the dead the power that brought you to life initially spiritually It's going to be right there available to give you victory over that And so there's victory through Christ power Over sin over Satan the devil's real he is real and He's going about it's a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour devour But remember that good word there resist him steadfast in the faith That's what we do we resist him steadfast in the faith through the power of the Spirit of God Enabling us to do that and then ultimately that that power that raised Christ from the dead it we've been raised from the dead Spiritually we've been given a new life, but you know in the future We're going to be raised from the dead and given an endless life to rule and reign with Christ So these truths That Paul has laid out for them in the first part of the first chapter These are things that will become more a reality to us as We pray them in pray them in Pray them in for yourself pray them in for others pray them in for Your friends your your family your wife your children your brothers your sisters in the Lord This is a beautiful prayer, and it's a model for us It shows us what God wants to do for us, and it's a model of how we might pray for one another