In this episode of Expository Truths, Dr. John Kyle delves into the profound prayer of Paul in Ephesians 1:17-19. Join us as we explore the unmatched glory of God and the remarkable hope and calling that we have in Christ. Discover the riches of God’s inheritance and understand your immeasurable worth in His eyes. As we dissect Paul’s empowering prayer, we’ll see how this truth is applicable in our daily walk with God, bringing clarity to our purpose and instilling the motivation to live out these spiritual truths.
Welcome to Expository Truths, where we exalt Christ by bringing clarity of truth through the scriptures with Dr. John Kyle, pastor of Faith Community Church in Vacaville. As Christians, we’re called to know the truth and be able to proclaim it. We can know truth when we know the Word of God, which is precise, without error, powerful and effective for both salvation and spiritual growth. Enjoy digging deeply with Dr. Kyle as he takes us verse by verse through the powerful book of Ephesians, giving us a marvelous summary of the good news of Christ and its implications for our daily lives.
SPEAKER 02 :
Please turn in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 1, verses 17 through 19. Ephesians 1, 17 through 19a. The letter of Ephesians was written by the Apostle Paul to the faithful saints living in the city of Ephesus. Paul wrote this while he was under house arrest in Rome in about 8062, and he wrote it to lay a proper doctrinal foundation for these believers so that they could then live out those doctrines for the glory of God. We’re now in the doctrinal section of this book that’s found in chapters 1 through 3. And it’s very interesting because this doctrinal section begins with one single sentence in the original language, the Greek. A sentence that consists of 202 words and a sentence that’s 12 verses long, verses 3 through 14. In that one sentence, Paul praised God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit for the many amazing blessings that we have in Christ. And it’s truly remarkable, all those incredible blessings. And then after that 12-verse sentence of praise, Paul immediately began another long sentence that’s found in verses 15 through 23. Last week we looked at Paul’s words as he led up to his prayer for these believers. And today we begin to look at that prayer. So let’s look at the first part of that prayer, verse 17. Paul prays this. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation and 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. Now that prayer continues on, and we’re going to focus a bit more on power next week, but that prayer continues on, but we’re going to stop here for today, and we’re going to look at the rest of that prayer next week. So first, as we look at this, note how God is described by Paul. Look, Paul… calls God first, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ. How else is God, our God, described? As a Father of glory. That means that our God is not only a glorious Father, which He is, but He is a Father to whom all glory belongs. It’s an interesting phrase. Father implies intimacy, love, and acceptance, but glory implies that He is transcendent and unapproachable in His awesomeness and His total and complete brilliance. See, God’s glory refers to His brightness, His majesty, and the awesome splendor of His presence, which is something that no one else has. No, it’s reserved for God and for God alone. Whenever anyone in the Bible got a glimpse of God’s glory, the response was always fear and trembling. So this God that Paul prays to… For the Ephesians and the God that we love and the God that we get to pray to is indeed a beloved and good father to us and don’t we know it? But please don’t take that to mean that we can then treat him flippantly or take him for granted. No, because he’s also the glorious one to whom all glory and all splendor belongs. And we do well to remember both of these truths when we approach him in prayer and when we live out our faith. He is the Father of glory. Think about that. All glory, splendor, honor, adoration, majesty, and greatness. Look, all things have been created to glorify him, him alone, and we do well to remember that. It’s all about him, the glorious one. So cast yourself aside and glorify him with your fading life. That’s your true purpose, and that’s what brings joy to life. All else is meaningless, but knowing him as Lord and Savior by grace through faith in Christ, and then glorifying him with the few days that you have left, That not only has eternal value, but it also brings you the greatest joy in life that there is. Glorifying the Father of glory is what life is truly all about. Is that what you’re about? This is the God to whom Paul prays. And this is the God that we, too, get to pray to. The God who saved us. The God who loved us. The God who has blessed us in so many undeserving ways. Our God. So Paul prays to this one true God, and he prays five things for the Ephesians, and note that his prayer for them is not only something that we should constantly be praying for ourselves and for one another, but it’s something that we should all be earnestly pursuing in our own lives. Five things. First, Paul prays that God may give them the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. Second, Paul prays that the eyes of their understanding or heart will be enlightened. Third, Paul prays that they may know the hope of His calling, verse 18. Look, Christians are those who are filled with hope. What is hope? Biblical hope is a desire of some good with the expectation of obtaining it. Hope in the Bible is the absolute certainty of future good and the strong confidence that God is going to follow through with His promises that He’s given to us. That the future is very bright for us as believers, right? Because God said it and God cannot lie. So hope is a confident expectation in God and in what He said to us. Here Paul prays that they may know the hope of His calling. So what is… His calling. Well, in verse 7, Paul says that we have redemption in Him. And redemption means that God bought us back. That He paid the ransom of our souls as believers. Christ’s blood. Christ’s death in our place on the cross. But look, while that’s as good as done, and while we are experiencing that in part, it certainly isn’t fully realized for us yet. No. The best certainly is yet to come for us in Christ. We’re… we will not only be made perfect and we will not only go to heaven and we’ll not only be with other believers, but we will also see him, our beloved one, and be in his perfect presence forever. Oh, what hope we have. The hope of his calling to us in him. And here in this prayer, Paul wants these believers to be fixed on that hope, that future hope, and to never lose sight of it. Why? Because we often lose sight of it. Right? Anyone? Anyone? Life has a way of doing this. Hardship, trial, sin, trouble, stress. We’re prone to mediocrity. It’s easy to settle in and coast. So many things can cause us to take our eyes off of what truly matters and of pursuing that that truly matters. But that’s why Paul praises prayer. And so this is something that we should be earnestly praying for ourselves and for one another. And it’s also a great reminder for us today. Stay focused on what’s ahead. Stay focused on what’s ahead. Look, as Christians, we face numerous types of spiritual storms that threaten to rob us of the hope of our calling. There are storms of false doctrine that can blow us off course. But we must weather them by holding firmly to the promise of salvation in Christ alone, by grace alone, through faith alone. There will be storms of doubt, but we can weather those storms by coming back to the truth of the resurrection of Jesus, which is a bedrock of our faith. He’s alive, right? Amen? He’s alive and our future salvation is certain and our hope can rest confidently in Him. There will be storms of difficult trials where we wonder why God is allowing those trials and we question whether He loves us. We weather those storms by remembering that God, who did not spare His own Son but delivered Him up for all of us, has promised to bring us through every conceivable difficulty to ultimate glorification. There also may be storms of defeat where we fall into sin and dishonor the Lord our Savior. We can weather even those storms if we realize that Jesus, our great high priest, is right now praying for us that our faith may not fail and that by His grace we can be restored. See, we in Christ have an anchor. Our hope in Christ and in His calling for us. And look, the hope of His calling is sure, and it’s solid, and it’s certain. And when our anchor is cast in heaven and in what lay ahead, then we’ll be able to truly redeem the time for the glory of God as life tries to sidetrack us and dim our spiritual sights. So this is a great prayer. And it’s something to be reminded of and pursuing as the lovers of God. The best is yet to come. So focus on that. I love the illustration. You’ve heard this before. I had to use it again. It just fits. The best is yet to come. It reminded me of the woman who’d been diagnosed with a terminal illness and had been given just three months left to live. As she was getting her things in order, she contacted her pastor and had him come to her house and discuss certain aspects of her final wishes. She told him what songs she wanted sung at the service, what scriptures she would like read, and even what outfits she wanted to be buried in. The woman also requested to be buried with her favorite Bible. Everything was in order. And the pastor was preparing to leave when the woman suddenly remembered something very important to her. There’s one more thing, she said excitedly. What’s that, came the pastor’s reply. This is very important, the woman said. I want to be buried with a fork in my right hand. Why is that, replied the confused pastor. The woman explained, in all my years of attending church socials and potluck dinners, I always remember that when the dishes of the main course were being cleared, someone would inevitably lean over and say, keep your fork. It was my favorite part because I knew that something better was coming. Like, this is my addition, velvety chocolate cake. or deep dish apple pie. Something wonderful and with substance. So I just want people to see me there in the casket with a fork in my hand, and I want them to wonder, what’s with the fork? Then I want you to tell them, keep your fork, the best is yet to come. How true is that for us in Christ? How true is that? It’s all good for us in Christ. The best really is yet to come for us in Christ. So remember that confident hope. Remember what He has called us to. Remember what’s waiting for us. And live like you believe it, even as life throws you some curveballs. Fourth, Paul prays that they may know the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. It’s very interesting. Before I was able to really study this, I thought I knew what it meant. I thought it was clear that this is talking about the inheritance that we have in Christ. Guess what? That’s not what this is talking about here. Instead, it seems very clear that the saints are God’s inheritance. That He considers to be a treasure of incomparable worth. Wow, that’s mind-blowing when you think about that. That as Christians, we are God’s inheritance. We are His treasure. We are His prize. And that indicates how precious us, the people of God are to God, how precious you are to God, His child. Preacher S. Lewis Johnson says that God thinks of us as his inheritance. In the Old Testament, that’s what Israel was called, the Lord’s portion, the Lord’s inheritance, and that’s what we are. We have an inheritance in him, and he has an inheritance in us. God glories in his saints. Wow. Reminds me of Zephaniah 3.17, which says this, The Mighty One will save. He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will quiet you in His love. He will rejoice over you with singing. That’s amazing, and it speaks tenderly of God’s love for us as people. See, this expresses the deepest inner joy and satisfaction of God Himself in His love for us, the people of God. As one said, That the Holy One should experience delight over the sinner is incomprehensible, but He still does it. The general sense of this part of this verse is plain. God’s delight in those whom He has redeemed, and this applies directly to all of us in Christ today. And while these words were primarily addressed to the daughters of Zion, to believing Israel in the future, they again have direct application to all of God’s people. I mean, this is true for all those that He died for to save. So look, The people of God are to rejoice in God because God rejoices in them. We are to shout for joy and sing because God’s joy too has a voice and breaks out into singing. As one said, for every throb of joy in man’s heart, there’s a wave of gladness in God’s. The notes of our praise are at once the echoes and the occasions of His. We are to be glad because He is glad. And He is glad because we are so. We sing for joy and He joys over us with singing because we do. That’s incredible. Look at the flow of that verse in Zephaniah. God rejoices. He quiets. He bursts out into song over us. The picture here is of God and his people mutually rejoicing in their love for one another. Look, he rejoices over you with gladness. That seems pretty straightforward. It’s mind-blowing, but it seems pretty straightforward. But the next line is a bit harder to comprehend. He will quiet you with his love. What does that mean? It seems to mean this, that he will be quiet over you. Because He loves you so much. Think about that. I mean, to consider Almighty God sinking in contemplations of love over a once wretched human being can hardly be absorbed by the human mind. Almighty God, quiet in His love. God, the mighty Savior, quietly contemplating, contented in His love for you. Excessive? Excessive? No, not when we remember who our God truly is. He is indeed, is the direct source of all true love, and our God is not only capable of achieving every depth of love, but he, by his very nature, excels every human emotion of true love. Even so, we ask. How could the sovereign creator concentrate his whole being in the love of a temporal creature like me, a creature of the dust? How could the holy one satisfy himself contentedly in loving contemplation of the unholy us? How? But he does. He loves you that much. Note how personal this is over you. Yes, again, in context over believing Israel later on. And oh yes, over all his saved children. But yes, also over you, his child. See, in his contemplation of you, he shall sink into quietness. Not every human, but in his own children, the elect of God, those who are saved, who are the object of such all-consuming love. Why? Why does he do this? Because… It’s definitely not in us in which a reason for this immense love is to be found. No, it’s all in Him. And so, the prophet describes the love of God exceeding all human imaginations. Do we not see this love on full display on the cross? Right? So, He did not open His mouth. Why not? Love. Because Christ’s silence and trial and crucifixion was rooted in no other soil than the fertile depths of the love of God for sinners. As one said, Jesus’ silence lent him the opportunity to contemplate the specific object of his sacrificing love. That’s truly amazing. The thought of this is like a child on the seashore who is digging a trench in the sand to the ocean, trying to gather the ocean’s depths into her shallow pool. God’s love is that ocean. As a poet has expressed it, the love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell. It goes beyond the highest star and reaches to the lowest hell, even to sinners like us. Finally, look what it says. He will rejoice over you with singing. God singing? Over us? Yeah. Rejoice means to be joyful, to celebrate, to be jubilant, and to make glad. Sing means to sing. Some versions say that God will rejoice over you with shouts of joy, but the normal usage of the word means singing. Think hard about that. Does this remind you of anything in the New Testament? Parable of the prodigal son, maybe? Maybe? The father in that parable who represents God sees his prodigal son returning home and what does he do? He runs to him, he embraces him, and he kisses him. That wasn’t something a dignified elderly Jewish man did at the time, but that’s something that the father did. See, our God is not just some distant deist God who cares nothing for us. No, He runs. He sings. And it’s a picture of profound and deep personal love. the kind of love that would sacrifice all for our sake, the kind of love that did sacrifice all for our sake. And so the point is clear that God delights in you, his child. Did you hear me? God delights in you. That’s amazing. That’s amazing. It’s inexplicable. It makes no sense. I mean, the greatest reason for us to offer praise is found here. We are to rejoice in Him because He, our gracious King and Savior, rejoices in us. The fact that God would delight, take pleasure in, and rejoice over you should cause you and me to bow down low in wonder and adoration. And it should motivate us to give ourselves fully as living sacrifices to such a gracious, loving Father who expresses such kind emotions toward us who are so undeserving of it. And it’s that same thought that Paul wants the Ephesians to understand. And so he prays that they would understand this better, that we are his inheritance. And he loves us more than we could ever think or imagine. This shows us that we as believers are valuable to God because he purchased us in order to inherit us. And that inheritance will be fully realized in the future until then. live up to who you are more and more and more. Not only pray that you grow in your own understanding of this deep thought, but also pray it for others and then that it will impact how you live today because it should impact how you live. God loves you that much. Love him back. Commentator Strauss noted, here Paul prays that we might have a full appreciation of our worth to God. God has an inheritance. His inheritance is in His saints. The gold and the silver and all the universe are His. He has riches untold. But His riches are not in the universes that He possesses, nor in the substance of the earth that is His, but in the saints that He purchased at infinite cost, namely, the precious blood of His only begotten Son. Beloved Christian, think not of what you can get from God, but rather, think of what you mean to God. The church is precious to God. Amen. He purchased it and paid for it with the blood of His Son. So Paul would have us appreciate our dignity. I can’t understand how this can be, but I know that God has an inheritance even in me. And that should blow our minds. What a thought. So may we see this more and more and may this motivate us today to walk worthy of our calling to which we have been called in Christ. Fifth. Paul prays that they may know the exceeding greatness of His power, and we’re going to talk more about that next week. But think about this, verse 19. That you may know what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe. Question, is God powerful? Right? Right? Think of the power that God Almighty has. He created all the universe with just a few words. He holds all this in the palm of His hands. He knows all things all the time, and He can even hear every individual prayer to Him personally as if that person was the only person alive. He’s so big that he can have an intimate and personal relationship with a billion people all at the same time and still have an intimate and personal relationship with us as children. Hey, his power is beyond description and understanding. And look, he lives in you. See the point? He lives in you. You may be weak, but he is strong. And he loves you and he is for you and he can do way more than you can ever think or imagine. And so many of us don’t realize that fact. That’s why Paul praises for the Ephesians and that’s why we need to pray it for ourselves and for each other and trust this truth in our own lives. And look, just as Christ powerfully rose from the dead and powerfully rules over all and powerfully has all things under His feet as a victorious Lord of all, look, His power toward us, His children, is exceedingly great. Power to save us, power to keep us, power to help us, power to overcome, power to grow, power to battle well, power to be useful for Him, power to do great and mighty things in us and through even people like us. Lord, help us to believe that truth. Lord, help us to embrace that truth. Unbelief hinders that power from working fully through us, and our call is to trust God and to move forward in faith, knowledge, and power, and love for this amazing God who saved undeserving sinners like us. And again, we’re going to talk more about that power in us next week. But think about it. Paul prayed a great prayer for these Ephesians, and the call is to pray this for ourselves. The call is to pray this for each other, and the call is for us to be growing in these areas ourselves as we pray for it, and as we pray about it for the glory of God. May we be encouraged today. Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, so much for your wonderful word of truth. Thank you for saving us. Thank you for delivering us, for rescuing us, for giving us hope, peace, joy, life, life, eternal life. Thank you for loving us so very much. It’s incomprehensible. Help us to grasp a bit more of that and to recognize what that means. Help us to live up to that, Lord, to respond to who you are and what you’ve done with obedience, loving, passionate love. Obedience. And may we pray these things for each other and for ourselves as we pursue them in our own lives. Bless us now. We love you and thank you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
SPEAKER 01 :
Thanks for joining us for today’s exposition from the book of Ephesians on expository truths with Dr. John Kyle. Continue on with us next week at this same time. And to find this sermon in its entirety as well as other sermons, visit vacavillefaith.org. Faith Community Church seeks to exalt Christ by bringing clarity of truth through the scriptures with a commitment to glorifying God through the pure, deep, and reaching message of the gospel through faithful exposition. Pastor John is the preaching pastor at Faith Community Church of Vacaville, a seminary professor and a trainer of preaching pastors overseas. Join Faith Community Church for worship Sundays at 9 and 1045 a.m., located at 192 Bella Vista Road, Suite A in Vacaville. To learn more, visit vacavillefaith.org or call 707-451-2026. That’s vacavillefaith.org.
