 reading at verse 14 and just start at verse 14 and give an introduction as I normally do and then move on into the study. We'll be looking today at as mentioned verses 14 through 21 and I chose to simply entitle this installment of our study to know the love of Christ. And so beginning at verse 14 in reading verse 14 Paul writes, for this reason I bow my knees to the father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now when we began our study I mentioned to you that the book of Ephesians can actually be divided into three sections and each section can have one word that gives you insight into the content of that section and the words that I mentioned to you, these three words were sit, walk, and stand. Now we're looking at and have been looking at chapter 1 and I'll give you some information related to that in my introduction in just a moment. But as we've been going through chapters one, two, and into chapter three we see the first portion of that being seated. When we pick up at chapter four verse one we begin to move into the second section which is our walk and you'll see that in verse one. I'll read that to you where he says in chapter four verse one, therefore I, therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called. And so sit, the word sit is appropriate for the first three chapters. In chapter four is when we begin to see the second section which we'll pick up in our next study where he begins to speak of the walk of the believer and then when we get into chapter six verse 11 he gives us a third aspect which is stand and that is put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Sit, walk, stand. And so we're looking at the fact that we are seated in the Lord Jesus Christ. As mentioned in the first three chapters Paul shared about what we have and who we are in Jesus Christ. In chapter one verse three he had said that we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing noticed in the heavenly places in Christ. And so we are blessed with every spiritual blessing he says in his introduction in the heavenly places. In chapter one verse 20 he went on to say that God had raised Jesus from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places and then he moved on and finally said in chapter two verse six that God had raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. We are seated in the heavenlies in him. Sit, we are seated in Christ. And as I mentioned when we're going through those verses by in God's mind we are presently raised up and presently seated with Christ in heavenly places. From this vantage point the Lord has given to us insight that we are to understand where we are and then to live our lives as his followers and by God's grace through faith we've been saved and therefore by his grace we are able to perform what would be called good works. Now as we've been going through this I pointed out as Paul was writing to us it doesn't matter if we're Jewish or Gentile because in Christ we have been made one in him. As Gentiles we were without Jesus we were aliens from Israel strangers he said from the covenants. But now because of Jesus we have access by one spirit he says to the Father and that means that we are now fellow citizens members of the household of God. We are heirs of the same body we are partakers of his promising Christ through the gospel. And that's an incredibly wonderful revelation because it's intended to strengthen our faith in him. The blessings that he has been speaking about are immense and these blessings are not to be kept to ourselves they're to be communicated to fellow believers. And that's what Bible teachers are to consistently be sharing with their people. You see the purpose of Bible studies is to divide God's word rightly to edify Christians. In Acts 20 verse 32 Paul had said it like this he said I commend you to God and the word of his grace which is able to build you up and give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. That's why Bible teachers are to remain teaching the Bible so that you may know what you have in Jesus Christ because in the midst of what we go through you can take your eyes off him like the Apostle Peter and begin to sink beneath the waves. But when you know who you are and where you're seated and what's awaiting you that gives you hope and it gives you endurance it gives you strength to be able to continue. And that's why pastors are commanded to to to give God's word the word which is able to build us up. Now there are those who think the Bible is outdated and out of step with the times but I've discovered that wisdom has no expiration date. In Romans 15 verse 4 Paul said whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope if there's anything that this nation needs right now it's hope if there's anything that this world needs right now we all know this it's hope the world at this moment is hopeless well the enemy of our souls would keep us blind would keep us in spiritual confusion and in darkness so believers we need to know who we are in Jesus Christ and it's important for us to live like we know who we are you see when a Christian's life changes it is evidence that we understand what the word of God is teaching us and true biblical understanding will always be revealed by a life that is changing. I like to say it like this information should lead to assimilation which produces transformation. Information by itself is just that it's just information but when information is assimilated when it's taken in and it really has been taken in it's always going to produce transformation. The Jewish understanding of knowledge is simply this is an information that changes behavior that's why Jesus would tell us if you know these things blessed are you if you do them so the Jew knew that true knowledge was not just accumulating information true knowledge isn't just filling up my notebook with with notes true knowledge is when it is assimilated it's when it comes into my life and becomes part of who I am and as a result of that it changes the way that I live and so it begins here in Ephesians in the first three chapters with Paul telling us this is who you are this is what you have in Christ this is the information that you need to know but that information has to be assimilated so you might be transformed because true biblical knowledge is revealed by a life that changes in James 1.22 James said it like this he said be doers of the word not heroes only deceiving yourselves so in this passage Paul is praying and he's praying that believers respond to what they have in Christ not only is praying that but he's also praying that God may provoke them to respond to what is being taught now this is the second prayer that we see in the book of Ephesians and in chapter 1 we saw a prayer that was recorded in verses 17 through 23 and there he had prayed that they would know the blessings that God bestowed on them. I'll read chapter 1 verses 17 through 19 he prayed that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of glory may give 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 and there he prayed that we would know the blessings God bestowed on us here he prays that believers will use the power that God has given us to live for him now the heart of Paul's petition can be found here in verse 19 when he simply says to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God that's the heart of his prayer for the believer that they may know the love of Christ which passes knowledge to know the love of Christ that word no in the original language means to know absolutely it means to perceive to be sure of to fully understand that you may not just have a concept of it a lot of people can talk about love and they can talk about the kinds of love that there are in the world and and there are Christians who can speak about the various kinds of love that are that are mentioned in scripture you know the the friendship kind of love or the sexual kind of love the agape love and all of that and we can know these things and we can know the the words we can know the word meaning we can be able to discuss them with friends and all and and speak concerning the differences of eras and filial and agape we can do that that's not hard to do it takes just a little study and then you know an opportunity to share but to be able to communicate that is one thing to be able to perceive that is something else to be able to understand that fully in a personal way is what paul is praying for not that we should be able to go out and speak about the things of god we should be able to do that but that we might experience those things ourselves that we might have a knowledge of these things in a personal level i've known people who can preach a message they'll never live themselves they can talk about things that that are deep and even true but they don't necessarily do those things and this is what he's saying that you may know god's love that you may know the love of christ that you may know absolutely that you may perceive it deeply that you may be sure of it and understand it now why would he pray that they know the love of god i want you to note that it's it's not love for christ that he's praying for he's not praying that you may have a love for christ of course we ought to but what he's praying for is that we may know the love of christ that we had an experience with that love ourselves you see when we know that god loves us yet from the inside is going to provoke us it's going to impel us it's going to urge us to do something it's going to urge us to serve him when you know the love of christ in your heart and the depths of your soul and the depth of your spirit that love of christ that love that christ has for you provokes a response of gratitude a response of thankfulness it's that woman who who wept as she washed the feet of jesus and simon that Pharisee was watching that and think of it in himself that this man knew who and what manner of woman this is who's touching him she's a sinner and that's why jesus spoke to him in the way that he did i have something to ask you will say on simon said to jesus he said there's somebody who had been owed by two different men and one man owed him a great sum the other man owed him a lesser but he completely forgave both of them simon i want to ask you who is going to love him more well i suppose the one that he forgave more this you were correct see the one who has been forgiven much loves much loves much this woman had washed jesus' feet with her tears and it brings to mind the many times that we've had the opportunity and the blessing of being in israel when you go into the souvenir shops that they have in so many sites you can actually buy tear vials they will sell you tear vials it's a little bottle that you can buy and it goes all the way back to the psalms where the psalm is said to the lord do you not have my tears in your bottle and they're called tears of remembrance or tear vials and what would happen is somebody was broken hearted and they would weep and they would catch their own tears in the vial and they would close it it was a remembrance before god of the pain that i've suffered you can buy those to this day you can buy tear vials seeing that i never cry i don't need one but there are this woman had a large vial see sometimes when we see that story we think there was only the tear splashing off of her chin indeed the her tears were coming off of her she was weeping but she also had that tear vial more than likely and she would have taken that vial and poured the tears of her broken heart on the feet of the one who gave her peace and hope that's what she was doing washing her feet with the tears that she had asked god to remember she had cried who's going to love him most who's going to love him most the one who has been forgiven most so before we get self-righteous and think we're better than somebody else perhaps we had a self-evaluate and ask ourselves how much did he forgive us he forgave us everything not only the sins of our past the sins that i'm going to commit tomorrow he forgave them all at the same time and that knowledge of god's love that amazing love of god ought to be the thing that captivates us and motivates us it's what presses us second carinthians 514 christ's love compels us because we are convinced that one died for all and therefore all died we were dead in sin but jesus died for us and that compels me that knowledge of his love for me not my love for him but his love for me has compelled me from the inside to love him in return so the heart of living for god begins with perceiving how much jesus loves you and that's why paul praised in this manner for the Ephesians you see god must reveal his love for us for us to come to realize that he is a god of love simply living and gaining life experiences will not reveal his love to us in a revelation way in fact sometimes our life experiences might lead us to the opposite conclusion sometimes life seems unfair it seems harsh and it's hurtful it's disappointing and in many ways it can be unjust and because of this we can even come to think that he hates us and he's angry with us it reminds me of psalm 13 verse 1 where the psalm has said how long old lord will you forget me forever how long will you hide your face from me jubb 13 24 why do you hide your face and consider me as your enemy life sometimes is so unfair and harsh we might think that god hates us and god is really angry at us no on one hand before we came to faith in in him god had a justifiable anger towards us psalm 7 verse 11 says it like this god is a just judge and god is angry with the wicked every day john 3 36 whoever believes in the sun has eternal life whoever rejects the sun will not see life god's wrath remains on them but to reveal his love for us he does the unthinkable to save us from suffering wrath his wrath filled judgment jesus was sent to rescue us romans 5 8 god demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were still sinners christ died for us why because god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son and so he demonstrated his love in first john 3 16 this is how we know what love is jesus christ laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters so to serve god with sincerity begins by knowing that he loves us deeply that's what we're going to be looking at here in this passage let's begin at verse 14 that was your introduction for this reason for this reason i bow my knees to the father of our lord jesus christ for this reason i bow my knees verse 14 picks up from actually where he began in verse one of the same chapter when he had begun in chapter three verse one for this reason so verse 14 actually picks up where he had introduced this thought in verse one and so for this reason he says i bow my knees to the father of our lord jesus christ when he says for this reason that speaks of god providing power for us to live for him for this reason because god has given to us power to live for him for this reason i bow my knee before him you see we are as he has said we are and and this i hope we we can all just walk out tonight remembering and knowing we are the dwelling place of god in Ephesians 2 21 he wrote that we're growing into a holy temple in the lord in Ephesians 2 22 he said you are being built together for a dwelling place of god in the spirit god is the lord who created all things he had said what manner of house can you build for me seeing that i've built all things what can you do for me what house can you build for me that is glorious enough for me in your own effort your own strength in your own ability do you really think he would say to the nation of Israel that you can build me a house that is majestic enough to actually contain all that i am you can't there's not a building on the face of the earth it is glorious enough to do something like that so because man could not build a temple for god god built his own temple and we are the temple of the spirit of god and the spirit of god dwells in us we have become the dwelling place of the lord and paul made that clear and this response to the blessing would be worship and submission that's why i said i bow my knees in psalm 956 the psalmist said oh come let us worship and bow down let us kneel before the lord our maker we are the dwelling place of god and paul prays that we might walk in the power of god and the thought that god and his power might dwell in frail and broken vessels is amazing and because of this paul prays that believers might come to realize this notice what he says in verse 15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named let me say this quickly this is not teaching the fatherhood of god and the brotherhood of man that's not a teaching found in scripture you know when i was a hippie ancient history for a moment here we would call each other brother you know hey sister we would say that to each other why because in our mind you know those friends of mine who were also of that hippie persuasion we were brothers and sisters and we would use that word but at the same time we'd rip each other off at every opportunity we had man i love your brother but i'm gonna steal your dope i mean that was how we were and some of you have read about that some of you did that some of you don't admit doing that but god knows you did that but we call each other brother so there was a fatherhood of god there was a brotherhood of man but that teaching isn't found in the bible god isn't the father of those who reject him you might find that interesting in the new testament people are spoken of as either god's children or satan's children in uh first john 3 10 it says by this the children of god and the children of the devil are obvious anyone who doesn't practice righteousness is not of god nor the one who does not love his brother he actually divides you into a child of god or a child of the devil that's what scripture teaches we're not born god's children as a matter of fact we're born god's enemies and romans 5 8 through 10 god demonstrates his own love for us in this while we were still sinners christ died for us since we have now been justified by his blood how much more shall we be saved from god's wrath through him for if we if if while we were god's enemies we were reconciled to him through the death of his son how much more having been reconciled shall we be saved through his life we were god's enemies he said we were still sinners in Colossians 1 21 paul said you once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works so to become his children requires repentance it requires a trust in him it requires an acquisition or a willingness to receive of his grace and and we do so by faith and we already saw that in Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8 and 9 and at that time we become what is called adopted children in his family according to Ephesians 2 19 so he says in verse 15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named now when he speaks of the whole family in heaven and earth he's speaking of the saints of every age from those in heaven to those who are still alive on earth so he's speaking of that in this way and he goes on to say in verse 16 that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might through his spirit in the inner man that he would grant you reveals paul's understanding of prayer why is that well the Christian understanding of prayer is very simple it speaks of other dependence on god when you pray it's a way of saying i am totally depending on you it's like john 15 5 where jesus said i'm the vine you are the branches you bides in me and i in him the same brings forth much fruit he says for without me you can do nothing so the christian understands that it's all of him and none of me the christian understands it's all about him that's why we bow our knee and worship him because without him we were lost without him we were children of the enemy we were enemies of god we're still sinners paul says but because of him through jesus christ our sins have been forgiven we have a relationship with him our names are written in the lambs book of life heaven is our home we're presently seated with christian heavenly places and we ought to be bowing our knees before him because of what he's done his prayer is that he would grant us according to the riches of his glory now i want you to see this notice how he says he would grant you according to the riches of his glory and i mentioned before that there's a difference in giving out of or in accordance to one's riches to give out of one's riches is to take something out of that and to give it away here we go i'll i'll give an example that all of us will understand elon musk poor guy's going broke his his personal worth now has gone down a bit it's only two hundred and forty three billion dollars guys almost a popper two hundred and forty three billion dollars now say say he gives uh we'll say a hundred million dollars that's a a figure i can't i can't wrap my mind around but say he gives away a hundred million dollars to a charity think about that for a minute and we say to ourselves if if i'm saying this properly and you're following with me in the illustration a hundred million dollars that's an incredible sum of money a hundred million dollars who understands that none of us a hundred million dollars and he gives it away hopefully to me so he gives it away that's amazing but that leaves him 242.9 billion dollars so he gave out of his riches that's what he did he gave out of it he's he's a multi-billionaire and so he's given a great sum out of his incredible riches but if he gave 10 billion dollars to his favorite charity at that point he's giving according to his riches in other words he's giving in proportion to the ability that he has to give that's what that's talking about a hundred million dollars using that material um illustration is incredible but he's left with so much when you start giving much more 10 billion will say you're now giving according to riches and paul's prayers that god would give according to his now this is what blows my mind as i was looking at this paul's prayer is that god would give according to his divine resources according to his divine resources so for him to do so would be incredible because his resources are inexhaustible he's already spoken of the resources of god that have been made available to us in chapter 1 verse 19 that verse speaks of the exceeding greatness of his power toward us chapter 2 verse 4 reveals the riches of his mercy greatness of his love for us chapter 2 verse 7 speaks of the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us chapter 3 verse 10 reveals his manifold wisdom that that might be made known by the church these are all things he's made available to us and what it is is he wants us to live in spiritual richness not in spiritual poverty his desires for christians receive spiritual blessings that have been lavishly provided by our father but how can that be possible well he's praying he's praying specifically for the aphesian believers and by application for believers including us so that's what he's saying verse 16 that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened may god's holy spirit strengthen you in the deepest portion of your inner being we possess what has been called an outer man and we have what is scripture refers to as the inner man the outer man is our physical bodies which are slowly deteriorating some of you would say amen to that others can't open your mouth because it's already deteriorated some of you know our bodies are wasting away we know that i mean in when you're 20 some of you may not even be 20 yet but when you were 20 in alarm rings you may not want to get up but you spring out of bed why because you can now when you're older the alarm rings and you want to throw the clock across the room and and and you kind of roll out of bed a little bit out of time until you hit the ground and somebody picks you up it's an entirely different thing in 2nd Corinthians 5 verse 4 it says we that are in this tabernacle do grown being burdened we're slowly dying that's not good news it's just true but though we are slowly dying our inner person actually grows stronger 2nd Corinthians 4 16 though our outward man perishes yet the inward man is renewed day by day you may be growing older on the outside but you're growing stronger on the inside because of jesus christ think about that if you came to know the lord when you were a younger person i was 20 you know over these years that that i've served the lord though my body may be growing older and it is and thank god for every day that he gives me to live i'm very grateful for those days and though my body doesn't obey the commands of my mind anymore the way it used to or the way i like to pretend it once did what is happening now is though i may be growing older and i am but inside i'm growing deeper that's what paul's prayer is that you would mature in the things of god though your outer man is perishing your inner man may god strengthen you from the inside may your your your physical strength and and mental strength though it may be diminishing in terms of the physicality of it may you be growing in the things of the lord because though you are growing weaker in some ways you can spiritually be growing and that's why proverbs 4 23 says it like this keep your heart with all diligence for out of it springs the issues of life so growth comes through the working of the spirit in the innermost part of our being he says in verse 17 he prays that christ may dwell in your hearts through faith the word dwell let me share with you about that for a moment dwell to dwell is a word that is speaking of taking up residence it's a place that that is an actual home you're taking up residence there you're dwelling in your house you're taking up residence and so he's saying may jesus grow more at home in you may jesus grow more at home in your heart and there's there's a book that was written a long time ago about our our heart being jesus's home and and in this book the the author speaks of our minds and he says your mind is like a library so your minds is the library your mind is the library of the home and so the question is asked what do you have stored there what are you reading what is in your mind because it should be filled with the word of god because when filled with the word of god god's word will replace the trash that we've collected over the years the things that we've seen the things that we've read the things that we've hunted on the internet those things should be replaced with the things of god so our hearts are his home our minds we'll say are the library the dining room the dining room is where our appetites are satisfied so what's on the menu pride fleshly desires materialism well then you replace these things would you replace these things with humility and kindness with goodness and patience with peace so you have a dining room it's where your appetite is satisfied walk in the spirit and have this fruit of the spirit the living room the living room is where we entertain guests the living room is the place of fellowship so the author asks the question what kind of friends with the world do we entertain what kind of friends do we have now in james chapter four verse four james said it like this this is a strong word but this is his words he says this he says you people aren't faithful to god don't you know if you love the world you are god's enemies and if you decide to be a friend of the world you make yourself an enemy of god that's a pretty strong word but again we have a living room we'll say in this home that is christ's what kind of friends do we entertain so instead of cultivating relationship with the world we develop christian friendship and second timothy 222 flee the evil desires of youth pursue righteousness faith love and peace along with those who call on the lord out of a pure heart why is that while first Corinthians 1533 do not be misled bad company corrupts good character you become like the ones you hang with your best friend is the one who's most like you the more like you he is or she is this the deeper your friendship goes cultivate friendships that provoke you to love the lord because there's been many a person who's developed relationships within idea of being a missionary and in fact they're the ones who are changed by the friend the friend who brought them into certain things i've experienced that so have you now here's one last thing the author points out every home has a closet so what do you store in the closet what do you store in the closet that you wouldn't want him to see in my in my when i grew up at our house it wasn't necessarily the closet we had what we called the junk drawer some of you may have something like everybody has a drawer somewhere in the house where you won't put that here we'll see it later on and after a while it's just filled while we had the junk drawer but there are closets that people will throw their stuff in the friends coming over oh i don't have time to clean everything let's just throw it in and and hope that nobody opens it up and you close that what do you have in your closet the author would say what is it that you don't want jesus to see and so he's saying we need to cleanse the closets how do you how do you clean out a closet while you confess them for sake what you have hidden there why because our hearts are to be submitted to the spirit as we by faith grow in jesus christ the lord should have access to every room of the home that he's dwelling don't you think the lord should have access to every room in his home every room not one room belongs to us every room belongs to him every and that's why our hearts are to be given over to the things of the lord that's why so that we might have a heart that is that is is completely his there to be submitted to the spirit of god and by faith we're going to grow in the lord and and and what happens is we progressively begin to have a deepening of fellowship as we're cleansing the things that would keep it from happening in verse 17 he continues by saying that christ may dwell in your hearts through faith that you being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width length depth and height and to know the love of christ which passes knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of god and so when jesus is at home in our hearts we're yielded to the spirit and he settles in he speaks of being rooted and grounded the result of yielding is going to be god's love filling our lives and his love is going to be evident to all who know us and it isn't just that we are loved by him it's that we love others because of him what is the mark of a believer i've shared this so many times you all know it who've been here for a while what is the birthmark of the believer jesus told us in john 1334 he said to us a new commandment i give to you that you love one another as i have loved you that you also love one another by this you all men know that you are my disciples if you have loved one for another how is the world going to know that god has changed us by the love that god gave to us that's how when you're a young man will say you want to be known as fierce maybe you want to be known as a hero maybe you want to be known as a warrior maybe you want to be known as a strong athlete you want to be known for certain things not very many young boys grow up saying i want to be known as someone who loves other people be honest with you that's not on the agenda for most boys i don't remember as a little boy saying you know what i want to do when i grow up i want to love people i i never thought i never thought that i can still remember dreams i had where i was always the hero i would fly around cities and defeat monsters and bad people i was always the hero because little boys are always the hero of their own dream sometimes they grow up become pastors and they're heroes of their own stories that's a different story i'll talk to you about that later on if jesus is at home in us we grow deep in his love there's a book that is written and i gave a series on this a while back called the calvary chapel distinctives let me say something very briefly about that calvary chapel distinctives one of the distinctives that is to be an identifying mark of a calvary ministry is the love of god that's what is supposed to permeate the church should be known by the love of god within the church not that not that we are fierce about this and hungry for that that the world should be able to walk into the church and be ambushed by something that they don't experience out there somebody in the world should walk into a group like this and they should say there's something different here that's what happened to me i won't give you a long testimony just remind some of you and tell others that's what happened to me when i was 20 years old and i walked into calvary chapel costa mesa for the first time and as i've shared with you before i smoked some pot because that was my that was my recreational drug of choice i loved marijuana and second i love drinking so i smoked some pot and i drank beer i was a hippie had no shoes walked in expecting to be kicked out sat down amongst all of these young people and i remember i to this day i never want to forget i remember walking in thinking i'd be rejected i remember walking in and there were so many people in this this small building that there were no there were no seats the whole aisles were filled people were up spilling onto the front that's how many young people were in this church and i still remember sitting there thinking to myself this is weird this is different i've never experienced something like this and i did not know what i was feeling there was a sense that i had as a as a as a pagan i i'm sitting there saying there's something here that's different and i did not know what it was i honestly didn't i didn't know i'd gone to church off and on more than once i'd never felt that it wasn't the long-haired preacher the guy who was preaching's name was Lonnie Frisbee what a name huh Lonnie Frisbee hippie long hair long beard flowing hippie garb i mean this guy was a class one hippie and all of these people were hippie kids it wasn't Chuck Smith who was teaching i saw Chuck Smith as that old man because he was 43 but Lonnie was my age he was 20 and i i sat there and there were so many people we actually people were putting there there is sitting down with their knees up allowing people to use their knees as a chair and that's the way it went all the way from the front all the way to the back and so i was actually leaning on somebody's knees well my knees were up and people were leaning on me that's how many people were inside this auditorium and i was there saying there's something different here and i don't know what it is and i didn't know when i walked out they gave an invitation to come to faith in christ because i'd been raised as a and my my history was as a catholic i believed i was a christian just wasn't practicing it took a couple months later i went again this time to a different event same kind of thing this time there were four thousand kids sitting on a carpet hippies didn't use chairs we sat on a carpet and i heard the message and i saw the difference and that's how i got saved and i brought that into my christian faith and and i've said this before but i want to say it this way because it's a prayer paul when i first got saved the one thing i did not know how to do and perhaps some of you understand this some won't i did not know how to love somebody i didn't know how to do that i did not know how to do that love was something you say to somebody when you want something from them love isn't dying to yourself and giving of yourself to them that's weakness and so i knew where my heart was and i said god and i've been praying this for over 50 years 51 years now god teach me to love teach me to have a vulnerability and openness a heart that welcomes people teach me to care because i don't know how to do that but with your help i'll learn it paul is praying that for all of us that the love of christ might be in you that people may see you and no this one's different not because they're weird and they have weird haircuts and and they carry placards and screaming people that they don't like but because they love people because they love each other behold how they love one another the pagans said that about the early church behold how they love one another that's why jesus said by this shall all men know you are my disciples if you have love one for another you see love in the biblical sense is the attitude of selflessness and true love motivates action and action that is demonstrated by sacrifice in first john 4 9 and 10 and this was manifested the love of god toward us because that god sent his only begotten son into the world that we might live through him here in his love not that we loved god but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins so paul is speaking of love and the love he's speaking of here is called agape agape is not feeling it's not emotion it's a decision it's a decision of the will and that's what provoked god to send christ and that's why jesus gave his life in sacrifice he voluntarily made a decision to give up his life for us and it was an emotion that drove him to the cross it was the decision in john 10 17 and 18 the reason my father loves me is that i laid down my life only to take it up again no one takes it from me i lay it down of my own accord i have authority to lay it down authority to take it up again this command i received from my father so when jesus dwells in our heart we actually begin to desire to love and we desire to serve others and that's because we've been given a new nature and a desire to please him and it's always going to be possible to be unloving but that's the result of quenching the holy spirit if i failed to love my girl my wife or to care for someone else it isn't because i can't help myself that's not true at all oh i just couldn't help myself the guy seducing the girl and he says you know what all systems were go i couldn't stop myself i had to end up in bed with her i had to really you had to end up because yes because all systems were go you're a man you know what i'm talking about really yeah you had no decision you could make no it was all systems go and if she said to you just before you fulfill that desire of your heart if she said to you i have infectious aids what would you have done all systems would have gone off in other words you have a choice it's just that you don't want to right you had a choice you were choosing to do something you never walk into a bedroom trip on the on on on something and fall into bed because they do i fell oh stop it i'm too old for you to like to like that what it is is the result of refusing to yield my will to god and to do the right thing and you don't fall into agape love by the way and fall out of agape love it's the decision you make to either die to self or to re retain a desire to resist the spirit someone once said the absence of love has nothing to do with what is happening to us but everything to do with what is happening in us so the fruit of being rooted and grounded in christ is love and what happens verse 18 and we're almost at the end i just lied may may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height and to know the love of christ which passes knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of god comprehending god's love results from receiving it on a personal level to understand is the result of being completely immersed in his love so when we're saved and we come into a relationship with god he begins to pour his love into us roman's five verse five says hope does not put us to shame because god's love has been poured out into our hearts through the holy spirit who has been given to us and this love is available to every christian because christ is in every christian and it's so great this love that no one can fully appropriate it alone which is why we need other believers and that's what makes the church body attractive to those who aren't yet saved it's when the love of god fills us and it becomes attractive to those who don't have that love he says in verse 19 to know the love of christ which passes knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of god when he says to know that word no speaks of again personally knowing this christianity isn't built on moral commands christianity is built on a person and that person loves us as we fellowship together we see how god works in us more than works in more than just us he speaks of width and length he speaks of depth and height and that represents the vastness of god how complete god's love is and one of the things that i'll say this as i'm about to conclude one of the things that i've discovered is this is that love within the confines of a relationship in the church or in marriage friendship whatever the love that you have for one another has a tendency of transforming the person that is loved have you noticed that when i got married and and on my wife marina i say this openly not because of any other reason then it's it comes to mind as i share this and i believe this with all of my heart is that had i married a different woman i'd be a different man right now i would be a different man because i have a tendency as a human being to adjust to the person i'm with so i've i didn't have a lot of girlfriends but i would adjust to the girl so that we could have some compatibility if i'd have married a different woman i'd be a different man because i'd have made different adjustments over all of these years which would have led to me making different decisions which would lead me to be a different person god was gracious to me because he gave me my wife who's the most loving person i know and she was the one that god gave to me to teach me what love is it was my wife she showed me because she loved me in spite of who i am and that showed me the love that god has for me which made me want to be the kind of man that she could love and it changed me and love in a church is the same kind of way is we learn to love god and love one another and as we have community and relationship and we learn to die to ourselves and be more of a servant for others the church because what christ wants it to be that's what paul is telling us we should be we should be known by our love to comprehend it to do it with all the saints so that we together might grow in the things of god he says in verse 19 that we may be filled with all the fullness of god that god's spirit might be so at working you that his fruit is produced in you and when people see you they see god working in you and then he finally says in verses 20 and 21 to him who was able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us to him be glory in the church by christ jesus to all generations forever and ever amen he can do this work because he desires you to have all that he has it's up to us to simply receive it i read the story of a young man who had gotten off at the pennsylvania depot he was in a train and he had gotten off at the pennsylvania depot and after doing so for years he was begging in the streets for a living and one day he touched a man on the shoulder and he said to a mister can you give me a dollar as soon as he saw the man's face he was shocked to see that it was his father father do you know me throwing his arms around his son with tears in his eyes his father said my son i found you i found you you want a dollar everything i have is yours and the young man later was heard to say think of it i i stood begging my own father for a dollar when for 18 years he'd been looking for me to give him to give me all that he has god wants to give you more than you have he wants to give me more i'm sometimes i just i guess i'm just not willing to receive that which he hasn't so paul says no may god give you these things may you have a heart hoping so that when his holy spirit drenches you and his love pours into you that you will be so mightily transformed that people will know something is different about this person may it be so incredible that they might even approach you and ask you what is it about you that's so different because i've noticed that there's something about you that i don't have and that's again how i got saved when i looked around a room and i saw people who had something i didn't have that's when the holy spirit said to me in that way that he speaks at least within me when he said you're uncomfortable and i said i am and he said what is making you uncomfortable and i said i'm not like these people and he said in return and what is making you different and i said i am not a christian for the first time in my life i thought it was speaking to myself it was the conviction of the holy spirit was having a simple conversation with me you aren't a christian you think you're a christian but seeing real ones has made you realize you're not one of them and the question was asked do you want to be one of them i said yes i want a real family i want a real community i want real love i'm so tired of what i have as a counterfeit i want the real deal and that's what paul is praying that we would understand that god loves us and he is more for us if we only open our hearts to him father i asked that you would work