2020-01-30 | Ephesians 3:12-21 | Rooted & Grounded in Love
Alright well we’re there in Ephesians chapter number three. And of course on Wednesday night we’re going verse by verse, chapter by chapter through the book of Ephesians. And tonight we’re going to finish Ephesians chapter number three. And I’ll try to do it as quickly as I can. But the end of this chapter is actually the end of a section in this book. You may remember when we started Ephesians, I told you that when Paul writes letters, he generally does them in two sections. And the first part or section of those letters is usually heavy on theology. It’s a lot of doctrine and teaching and things like that. And then the second part is usually heavy on application. You’ll find that in Paul’s letters. If you read the book of Romans, you’ll find that the first part of Romans is a lot of theology. And then the end of Romans is very practical.
Ephesians is the same way. The first three chapters are pretty deep theology; just kind of teaching on doctrine. And then the last few chapters are very practical. He talks about marriage and parenting. He talks about spiritual warfare and things like that. At the end of chapter number three, we’re actually closing out a section of this book which is why it ends the way it does. If you notice there, verse number 21, the last verse in chapter 3, it says “21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.”. And then chapter 4 begins “I therefore, the prisoner”. And he kind of begins again. And what we’re really going to look at in the end of this chapter, because we went through verses 1 through 11 last time we were in Ephesians, today we’re going to go through verses 12 through 21. And the end of this chapter is really a benediction kind of ending of this section of Ephesians. And maybe you’re not familiar with that word but a benediction is an utterance or a bestowing of blessings especially at the end of a religious service, devout or formal invocation of blessedness. So basically a benediction is something you kind of do at the end where you are ending something and you’re kind of blessing the people as they go. That’s really what Paul is doing at the end of this chapter. He’s giving a benediction to kind of end this section. He’s going to start a new section that’s going to be very practical. And in that benediction, he lists several blessings that you and I have as a result of our salvation and as a result of being in Christ.
So what I want to do tonight is I want to give you three blessings found in this benediction that apply to you and I. And I encourage you to write these down if you’re able. Here’s point number one. The first blessing in this benediction that Paul gives us is that we have access to God. Because of our salvation, we have access to God. Notice what he says there in verse number 12. Ephesians 3:12 “12 In whom we have boldness” Notice these words “and access with confidence by the faith of him.”. He says we have access to God.
And again, this is something that is new for New Testament believers. In the Old Testament, not anyone just had access to God. You have to go to the temple. You have to go to the priest. You have to do certain things in order to be able to have access to God. But in the New Testament, you and I being in Christ, we have access by faith of him. And there’s something that he’s already kind of been talking about. If you notice in chapter 2, look at verse number 18. The Bible says this “18 For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.”. So one of the benefits that we get as a believer, one of the blessings that we have that Paul lists in this benediction is the fact that we have access to God by faith through the Lord Jesus Christ.
I want to give you some thoughts in regards to the access that we have to God and really the access that we have to God is through prayer. The access that we have to God is through prayer. And when it comes to prayer, I believe that most of us as Christians, including myself, fail. When it comes to prayer, we fail. When it comes to the privilege that we have to having access with God. And I want to point out to you that when you study these prayer passages in the New Testament, there are several things we could look at. We just went through a whole series on prayer. We probably will at some point on a Sunday night. But I want to point out to you just some failures in regards to prayer. And the first one is this. The biggest failure in prayer, the biggest failure when it comes to my personal failure in prayer and your failure if you are failing in prayer, the biggest failure in prayer is the failure to pray. The biggest failure we have in prayer is just the fact that we don’t do it. And this is a theme that we see in the New Testament regarding our access to God.
1 John 5:14 “14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: 15 And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.”. The Bible says that you and I have a confidence that we know that we have access to God, that if we can ask anything according to his will, we know that God hears us and we know that whatsoever we ask we know that we have the petitions that we have desired. So what is he saying? Here’s what he’s saying. We know that God hears us so when we fail at prayer, we fail at prayer because the biggest failure in prayer is actually the failure to pray.
Go to the book of James. James 4:2, the Bible says this “2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war,”. And here’s what he says “yet ye have not,” Why? “because ye ask not.”. The biggest failure in prayer is the failure to actually pray, to actually ask, to actually go to God in prayer. Matthew 7:7, Jesus said this “7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: 8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”. And here’s what the Bible teaches and here’s the point that I’m trying to make tonight. Paul would say that you and I have a blessing, we have a benefit that comes with our salvation. And you say well what is that blessing? Paul says we have access to God, Almighty God. And not only do you have access to him. He wants you to ask him. And we have a confidence John would say, that if we ask anything of him, we know that he hears us and we know that He desires to give us our petitions.
Now look, if you had a rich uncle and your rich uncle said “Hey, anything you need, as long as it’s not something that I’m totally against, as long as it’s according to my will. But if you ever need help, if you ever need anything, if you ever find yourself in a tight spot, just give me a call. I’m here to help.”. I mean how often would you call? Probably every 1st of the month, every time rent is due or mortgage is due. How often would you call if some millionaire somewhere just said “Hey, I’ve got resources, I’ve got power, I’ve got ability, anything you need.” But here’s the funny thing. You and I have a rich father. We’ve got God Almighty who says hey, you have not because you ask not. I’m here and you can ask. And the biggest failure that we have in prayer is actually just a failure to pray. Because he says look, you have not because you ask not.
Now there’s a second failure in prayer. Because some of you are thinking wait a minute, I prayed and I didn’t get the answer. There’s another failure in prayer and it’s this. That we asked for the wrong things. Are you there in James Chapter 4? Look at verse 3. “3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss,”. Now that word “amiss” means wrongly or inappropriately. He just got done telling us in verse 2 “ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.”. He says you don’t have because you don’t ask. Then he says when you do ask you don’t receive it because you ask amiss, you asked wrongly, you ask inappropriately. Why? “that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”. And here’s what he’s saying. You have to ask appropriately. You have to ask the right prayers. Go to 1st John.
Look at 1st John 5:14 “14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing”. Here’s the key words “according to his will, he heareth us:”. So look, you got to ask and you got to ask according to his will. So look, if you’re if you’re asking God “Help me win the lottery.”. You shouldn’t be gambling so he’s not going to answer that prayer. That’s not according to his will. But if you have a legitimate request from God and it’s according to his will, it’s something he desires for you, God says I want to answer your prayers, I want to be there for you. But the failure in prayer is oftentimes our failure to pray. And the next failure in prayer is that when we do pray, we ask a miss, we ask inappropriately, we ask that we might consume it upon our own lust.
Go back to Ephesians 3. I want you to notice another thing here in regards to our access to God. Not only do we have access to God the Father through Jesus Christ. But we’re also encouraged to come boldly and confidently and to ask for big things. Notice what he says in verse 12. “12 In whom we have boldness and access”. He says we have access but we also have boldness. “12 In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.”. We have boldness and we have confidence in our asking. We should be able to come to God and ask. Not only the fact that we have access to God but we should come boldly and with confidence. Notice verse 20. We’ll walk through this passage together but skip down to verse 20 because I want you to see this. This is one of my favorite verses in the entire Bible. It says this “20 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,”. God says look, Paul says this, I want to give you a benediction as we close out this section. I want to list off some blessings, some benefits, that you have in the Christian life.
And you would ask “Well what are those benefits?”. Paul would say that you have access to God, we have confidence that he hears us. And God wants you to ask big things. God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think. And the problem we have is this, that we don’t ask. We ask him and then we don’t ask big. I mean God says come to me asking something big. 2nd Kings 2:10. This is another great verse. This is of course Elijah getting ready to be taken up to heaven. And he asks Elisha or he tells Elisha to ask him for something. And Elisha of course asks for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit. Elijah was not just some normal believer. He did a lot of great miracles, the power of God was upon him, he did a lot of great things. He called fire down from heaven, he revived people from the dead, he did wonderful things for God. And Elijah says to Elisha after Elisha asks for a double portion. Because asking for just the same portion of your spirit would be enough. But he says I want a double portion of your spirit. And this is the response in 2nd Kings 2:10.
2 Kings 2:10 “10 And he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing: nevertheless,”. And I love that he says you’ve asked a hard thing Elisha. You’ve asked for a double portion of my spirit and that’s a difficult thing. But then he says “nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so.”. And here’s what God is saying to all of us; that we should go to him in prayer. And our prayers should make God say “You’ve asked a hard thing but I can do it. You’ve asked a hard thing, nevertheless.”. Because God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.
Don’t be discouraged with the hard cases. People always want to talk about the hard cases and say “Oh that guys never going to get saved. He’s a hard case.”. And look, we understand that we can’t force anybody to get saved and they have to come to that place. People talk about how “All my kids are never going to get right with God, my marriage is never going to get fixed, my finances are terrible”. Look, God says that we have access to him. And then he tells us just ask for something hard, ask for something difficult. Paul would say that God is exceedingly abundantly above, able to do above all that we ask or think. He says I can give you more than you can ask for. I can give you more than you’ve even thought about. He said I can do great things.
Look at Hebrews 4:16 “16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”. And again the idea is this, Paul is saying I’m giving you a list of blessings. And this is a benediction and I’m giving you some benefits to your Christian life. And it’s this, that you have access to God. In Hebrews we’re told “16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”. Keep your finger right there in Hebrews. We’re going to come back to it.
Go back to Ephesians chapter number three if you would. And Paul is giving us a list of these benefits. And I want to just point them out to you. The first one is this, that we have access to God through Jesus Christ. Here’s the second blessing in this benediction. And it is, that we have assistance from God. Not only do we have access to God but that access gives us assistance from God. And I want you to notice what Paul says here in verse number 13. Because in verse 12 he says, don’t you realize that you have access to God? And then in verse 13 he says “13 Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.”. And here’s what Paul is saying, he’s saying look, I’m going through a difficult time right now, but I don’t want you to faint. And I’ve always thought this was kind of interesting. Whenever I see this, I think people are just looking for an excuse to quit. It’s one thing when you’re going through tribulation and you quit because you’re going through tribulation. It’s another thing when someone else is going through tribulation and you quit because they’re going through tribulation. I mean it’s like okay, are you just looking for an excuse to quit on God?
And here Paul says in verse number thirteen “13 Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.”. Now you may ask what tribulation is Paul going through? Because he’s writing this letter of Ephesians and he’s talking about being blessed with all blessings in spiritual places and heavenly places. He’s talking about God doing all these wonderful things for us. What is Paul going through? Well notice verse 1 of chapter 3. I didn’t talk about this last week because I wanted to talk about it this week. But Ephesians chapter 3 in verse 1, notice what Paul says. He says “For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,”. Now what does that mean? Paul was in prison when he was writing to the church at Ephesus. And he was in prison as a result of preaching and bringing the gospel to the Gentiles. He says “I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,”. He’s in prison going through tribulation. And then in verse 13 he says “13 Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.”. So don’t blame yourself for this. And he’s in prison because he was preaching the gospel which is your glory.
Go to 2 Corinthians 7. I want you to understand that Paul was often going through troubles. And look, the Christian life is the life where we sometimes go through trials and tribulations. The prosperity gospel is a lie. The prosperity gospel is preached by false prophets like TD Jakes and Joel Osteen where they tell you that God’s going to make you rich and he’s going to make you healthy and he’s going to make you wealthy and you’re going to be great and nothing bad is ever going to happen to you. I don’t know what Bible they are reading but it’s not in God’s Bible. They say you’re never going to get sick and if you’re sick or if you’re broke it is because you’re not thinking right or because you don’t have enough faith. That gospel is a false gospel.
2 Corinthians 7:5 “5 For, when we were come into Macedonia,”. Notice what he says “our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side;”. And I want you to notice what he says. Because sometimes you and I can kind of empathize with this. We felt like this before. We were troubled on every side. He says “without were fightings, within were fears.”. I mean think about that. Paul is saying I’m actively fighting the battles of the spiritual warfare. Without our fightings but inside I was fearful. Inside I was scared. He said without were fightings, within were fears. He said we’re troubled on every side. Ad here’s what Paul is saying. Paul was saying look, in the Christian life sometimes it gets difficult, sometimes it’s hard, sometimes we go through troubles. But what he’s telling the Ephesians. He’s saying look, here’s a benefit that you have in the Christian life. And it’s not just that you have access to God but it is that you have assistance from God available to you.
Look at Ephesians 3:16. We’re going to come back to 2nd Corinthians 7. But look at Ephesians 3:16 “16 That he would grant you,”. Because remember, he just got done telling them I desire that you faint not at my tribulation for you. Then in verse 16 he says this, “16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit” Strengthen where Paul? “in the inner man;”. He says here’s a benefit you have. Here’s the benefit you have, that though there are fightings without and sometimes fears within. You can actually be
“to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;”. Look again at verse number 20. We already saw it for the prayer aspect. But look at it again in regards to this. “20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think,” Notice “according to the power that worketh in us,”. He’ saying Paul, you have a benefit in that you’ve got the Holy Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit of God can renew you. The Holy Spirit of God can strengthen you. The Holy Spirit of God can help you through times of difficulty, through trials, through tribulations, that those things are going to happen. But realize, you can be renewed in the inner man.
Go back to 2nd Corinthians. I want you to notice how he says this to the Corinthians. Notice what he says in 2 Corinthians 4:7. Now remember, we just got done reading Paul in Ephesians and the blessing in the benediction. He’s saying I want you to be strengthened with might by spirit in the inner man. He said I want you to be to be able to realize that God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. How? According to the power that worketh in us. 2nd Corinthians 4:7, notice what he says, “7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels,”. Now the earthen vessels there is a reference to your body. And he’s using this analogy. He says you know everybody wishes that they could find a plot of land out there, some earth there and that they could dig and maybe find some treasure, some gold hidden in that earth. But he says your body that’s made out of dirt and out of dust. He says there is a treasure in that body. He says “7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.”.
Notice the context in verse eight. “8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;”. You say Paul, how can you be troubled on every side and not be distressed? You know what that means? Paul said I’m troubled on every side, I’m not stressed out about it. If you’re so stressed out then you are bypassing a great blessing that you’ve got in you. The Holy Spirit of God can help you. You can be strengthened in the inner man. And he says look, we’re troubled on every side yet not distressed. He said we are perplexed. What does that mean? Paul says I’m not sure how this is going to work out. I’m not sure how this is all going to play out. I’m not really sure how everything is going to work out. He said we are perplexed but not in despair. Persecuted yes but not forsaken. Cast down yes but not destroyed. You say well Paul how can I have that?
Notice verse 16. “16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.”. And Paul would say this, you have a great blessing. He said let me give you a benediction. You have a great blessing. What are those blessings? Paul, you have access to God the Father through prayer. And the greatest failure in prayer is the failure to pray. And you can come to God asking for big things. And you can come to God asking for great things. And we have this confidence that God would hear our prayers. And then Paul would say this, you also not only have access to God but you have assistance from God. And he said you can be troubled on every side and not be distressed. You can be perplexed and not necessarily have to be in despair. You can be persecuted and you’re not forsaken. You can be cast down and not be destroyed. But it’s done through the inward man. Hebrews 4:16 “16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy,”. And here’s the key words “and find grace to help in time of need.”.
Paul would say these are benefits. These are benefits and sometimes I think you and I we kind of just discount these things. And we’re Christians and we believe in God and we called upon him in faith but you know does the prayer thing really work? And you never say that but we live like that. Because if we actually believed that God would answer our prayers, I think we’d take the time to pray. And then we say, oh yeah, I got the Holy Spirit of God living inside of me. But then you are always stressed out, you’re always in despair, you’re always thinking the sky is falling and everything is destroyed and nothing good is happening. And Paul says look, I can’t control the outside but the inside is under control by the Holy Spirit. So he says you have access to God. And then he says you have assistance from God. And then he says this, here’s a third blessing.
If you go back to Ephesians chapter 3 and verse 14. And let me give it to you. The third benefit in this benediction or the third blessing in this benediction is this, that we not only have access with God and we not only have assistance from God but we also have acceptance with God and that we have been accepted with God. And he brings up this idea of being accepted into the family of God. Notice verse 14. He says “14 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,”. And he brings up this idea that when you and I got saved, we were born again, born again into the family of God. God became our Father. But guess what, we got put into this new family, we have all these spiritual brothers and sisters in heaven and on earth. The whole family in heaven and earth is named. Notice, he mentioned this in chapter 1, look at verse 10.
Ephesians 1:10 “10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:”. And here’s what he’s saying. Here’s what Paul is saying. A benefit you have in Christianity is that you have acceptance from God, you’ve been accepted into his family. And now you have a family both in heaven and on earth. I remember my dad saying this to us when we were kids. I was born in Venezuela. My family, we moved to the US. They knew some people that had done missions work in Venezuela and they connected with them here. And everywhere we ever lived, we were able to find an Independent Fundamental Baptist Church and get plugged in and it was just family.
People you’ve never met, it’s just immediately family. I travel the country preaching in different places. I go preach at all sorts of places. I go to places I’ve never been before. I meet people that I’ve never met before. But instantly we’re family. And what is it that unites us? It’s Christ. And what we have in God is not only access and assistance but acceptance. We are in the family of God. Paul would say this in Romans, that now through the spirit of adoption we’re able to cry Abba Father. And that we’re able to go to God the Father. And I just go to him, not as some sort of high and holy God, though he is that. We don’t only have to go to him in that way but we can just use a term of endearment like ABBA. And just saying dad, daddy, and father.
In Chapter 1, this idea of being accepted by God. And you know in our lives, sometimes for many of us, you have suffered rejection at the hands of your family. Maybe it was your spouse who rejected you or left you or broke trust or hurt you in some way. For some of you it was your parents who’ve rejected you. Some of you have been rejected by your parents just recently, just because of Christianity. Some of you were rejected by your parents even as children. Maybe you don’t even know your dad or your mom or you barely know them and that hurt and that tension can be something that you’ll carry through life. But you know what’s interesting is that in the Bible, and I’m going to take time to go through it, but I’ll just give you these verses and you can jot them down and look at them later. When it comes to our family, we might be a reproach. But you know in Ephesians 1:3, you know what word God uses to describe you and I? Our family says we’re a reproach, God says you’re blessed.
Ephesians 1:4. With your family, your spouse, your husband, your wife, your mom, your dad, you might have been unwanted. But you know in God, you’re chosen. Ephesians 1:6. You might have been unloved but by God your beloved. Ephesians 1:11. Your parents might have thought of you as a mistake but God says you were predestinated. Ephesians 1:13. Your family and that relationship might have made you insecure but in Christ you are sealed. Ephesians 1:14. You might have felt like you were of no value but God says I’ve redeemed you, I purchased you, I bought you with a price. And here’s what I’m telling you, a benefit that you get as a Christian is that maybe your physical family rejected you, maybe your father rejected you, your mother rejected you, your spouse rejected you, but God says I’ve accepted you into the family. He said you do have value, you’re not a mistake. In fact, I predestinated you and you’re loved and you’re chosen and you’re blessed and your sealed. Paul would say this, you have benefits of acceptance with God. You’re accepted in the family.
Ephesians 3:16 “16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;”. And because you’re accepted in the family, notice what he says in verse 17 “17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,”. And that’s what you need, and that’s what I need to understand and to do our best to comprehend. The love of Christ, the love of God. To be rooted and grounded in that love. And then he says this in verse 18 “18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;”. And he’s talking about the love of God. He says look, he says that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. That ye being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height. He says that though you may know the love of Christ. He describes the love of Christ is something that is so encompassing and that is something that connects you to God and then surrounds you in God.
And I’d like you to go to the Book of Psalms. Let me just do this really quickly and try not to take too much time. While you go there, let me just read a few verses to you and give you an idea here. Ephesians 3:18 “18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.”. It’s interesting to me because he uses these words to describe this. He says breadth, length, depth, height. He says I want you to know the breadth. I want you to know the length. I want you to know the depth. I want you know the height. Let me just give you some verses. I’d like you to look at some of the Psalms and some of these you won’t look at them but you can jot them down. When we talk about the breadth of the love of God, what does that word mean? Breadth is an older word. But it means broad. The modern way that you and I would say it would be broad or we would use the word wide. It is a distance of measurement from side to side as something wide and range and Paul talks about the breadth of the love of God and the breadth of the love of Christ. You say well how wide is the love of Christ? Well John 3:16, the most famous verse in the Bible, says “16 For God so loved the world,”. You say how wide is the love of Christ? It’s wide enough to encompass the whole world. He’s the Saviour of the whole world, especially those who believe. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”.
Then he talks about the length of the love of God. What’s the word length mean. It’s the measurement or extent of something to the end of it. How long it is from the point of measurement to the end of it? And you say well how long is the length of God? How long will it last? For how long will it go? Well 1st John 2:25 says this “25 And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life.”. You say how long is the love of God? It’s long enough, it’s wide enough, it’s broad enough to encompass the entire world. You say well how long is it? It’s long enough to last eternity. It’s long enough to guarantee you eternal security. It’s long enough to guarantee you that the promise of God will never run out. It allows for all of eternity.
You say what about the depth of the love of God? Well the word depth means the distance from an object to the bottom. It’s how deep something goes. Well how deep does the love of God go? Psalm 86:13. Psalm 86:13 “13 For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell.”. You say how wide is the love of God? It’s wide enough to encompass the whole world. And by the way, that’s why we don’t believe that God only died for some people. Look, he chose everyone. How wide is his love? Enough to encompass the entire world. How long is his love? Enough to last for all eternity. How deep is his love? It goes down to the deepest part, it’ll deliver your soul from the lowest hell. Because look, before you were saved you were already under the wrath of God. You were already condemned. The love will sweep down to the lowest hell.
What about the height of the love of God? Well look at Psalm 139. Psalm 139:7, the Bible says this “7 Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?”. Notice what he says in verse 8 “8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. 9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; 10 Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.”. So how high is it? It goes all the way to heaven. If you ascend up to heaven, thou art there. And look, this is something that is extremely comforting. The fact that the love of God encompasses the whole world. It’ll encompass your life until the end. It can take you down from the lowest hell and will take you up to the highest heaven. And it can be comforting but sometimes it can also be something that we question.
And let me just help you with something. Because what I’ve found in the Christian life is that sometimes when we have those tribulations, right, Paul’s talking about we have those times of trials and troubles, we have trials all around us, without our fightings, within our fears. You know what we like to do? We like to be like Jonah and run. Let me tell you something about running from your problems. When you start running from your problems, you’ll never stop. Because the truth is this, you can run from God but you cannot outrun God. Jonah learned that lesson didn’t he? He ran from God but when he got in the middle of the sea, who was there? God. You can run from God but you cannot outrun God. It’s a blessing if you’re trying to be right with God. It’s not a blessing if you’re trying to run away from God. But realize this, whether you’re right with God or whether you’re running from God, you can run but you can’t hide. You can run but you can’t outrun. Because the love of God is wide enough to encompass the whole world. It’s long enough to last through eternity. It’s deep enough to snatch you from hell and it’s high enough to take you to heaven.
Go to Romans 8. And by the way, this is why we sing about the love of God. Right. It’s wonderful. You say I don’t feel loved. You’re loved by God. It’s all you need. The blessings we have, the benefits we have in God, what are they? We have access to God. We have assistance from God. We have acceptance in God. We sing about the love of God and how great it is. Oh the love that drew salvation’s plan, oh the grace that brought it down to man, oh the mighty hope that God did span at Calvary. It’s the love of God. Romans 8:38, notice what Paul says. He says “38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 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.”.
And this is a benefit. He says we’re getting ready to finish up this section on deep doctrine and let me give you a quick benediction and a quick blessing. You say what are the blessings Paul? Here are the blessings. You have access to God. You have assistance from God. And you have acceptance from God. And your whole life can be falling apart all around you and Paul would say you’re not alone, God is with you. You can be strengthened in the inner man. Notice what he says as he ends the chapter. Ephesians 3:19, he says this. And it’s really interesting because in verse 18 he says this and actually look at verse 17, “17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 19 And to know the love of Christ,”. And then he says this “which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.”.
And he said well you want us to know it Paul and then you tell us that it passes knowledge. And here’s what he’s saying, we can know the love of God, but we’ll never understand it. He says you can know that God loves you intellectually, you can know that God loves you as high as heaven and as low as hell, for all eternity, and encompassing the whole world, but honestly you’ll never really understand why God would love a sinner like you and me. And then notice what he says there in verse 21. “21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.”. And he gives us this benediction and he says look, there are some blessings, there are some benefits, that you’ve received in Christ. You have access to God and you have assistance from God and you have acceptance with God. And then Paul would end by saying this, because of that you and I need to give glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. He said we always have a reason to glorify God. We’ll always have a reason to praise God. We’ll always have a reason to be glad that we’re in the family of God. Because we have access and assistance and acceptance in and with God.
Let’s pray.