In this sermon titled 'Public Praise to the God Who is Able,' Jason Dohm explores Ephesians chapter 3, focusing on verses 14 to 21, where Paul emphasizes the abundant spiritual riches granted to believers through Christ. Paul underscores God's immense capability to do exceedingly abundantly above all that believers ask or think, highlighting the limitless nature of God's power and resources. He articulates the spiritual blessings, such as being chosen, adopted, redeemed, and sealed by the Holy Spirit, that believers possess. The sermon illustrates how the church, united and transformed through Christ, glorifies God by existing as a testament to His mercy and love. Dohm encourages believers to have supreme confidence in God, urging them to expand their prayers and praises, trusting in God's ability to fulfill beyond human imagination. The sermon concludes with a call to glorify God in the church throughout all generations, emphasizing the eternal nature of God's glory.

Our sermon text this week is in Ephesians chapter 3 verses 14 to the end of the chapter. For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named 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 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 and length and depth and height to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is 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.

The title of the sermon this morning is Public Praise to the God Who is Able. For three chapters now, Paul has been piling up the believers' riches. God has sent ambassadors out into the world to declare the good news of Jesus. Chapter 1 verse 1. God's ambassador is to pronounce grace and peace to the saints.

His disposition towards us is the disposition of grace and peace. God has blessed believers with every spiritual blessing. God chose believers before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before Him. God pre-planned to adopt a people who don't deserve it because it was His good pleasure. 1 verse 5, God made believers accepted in the beloved.

Joined to Christ who was God's beloved, you are accepted as a believer. Chapter 1 verse 6. Jesus redeemed believers through His blood, giving them the forgiveness of sins. A blank slate. A clean slate.

Chapter 1 verse 7. Jesus obtained an inheritance for believers. And it's His inheritance. We become co-heirs with the Son of God, with God of everything. That's why there's no more for heaven now to give is because in giving Christ He gave everything.

It's not that heaven's out of things, it's that all things are ours already in Christ. Chapter 1 verse 11. Believers are sealed with the Holy Spirit who guarantees this inheritance. This inheritance can never be taken from the believer because the believer is sealed with the Holy Spirit. You have the guarantee of His power to see you through to the end.

Chapter 1 verses 13 and 14. God can and does enlighten the eyes of believers so that they know the hope of their calling and the riches of the glory of their inheritance and the resurrection power which God is exercising toward them. 1, verses 18-20. God gave believers to the Lord Jesus Christ to be their head. 1, verses 22-23.

God made believers alive when they were dead and walking according to the world and the devil, serving their lusts and were by nature children of wrath. 2, verses 1-3. God has been rich in mercy and great in love towards believers. Chapter 2 verse 4. God has raised up and seated them together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

He has raised up believers together. Seated them together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. God has a plan to show the exceeding riches of His grace to believers throughout the endless ages in his kindness toward them in Christ Jesus. Chapter 2, verse 7. God saved these undeserving people and gave them faith.

He made them believers. None of it was their works. Their works would have disqualified them. Their works made them undeserving, made it have to be grace. Chapter 2, verses 8 and 9.

God took Gentiles who were without hope and without God in the world, and brought them near by the blood of Christ." Chapter 2, verses 11 through 13. God broke down the middle wall of separation between Jews and Gentiles, and made one new man from the two, reconciling them through the cross. Chapter 2, verses 15 and 16. Jesus came and preached peace and gave believers access to the Father by the Spirit. Chapter 2, verses 17 and 18.

God took strangers and foreigners and made them fellow citizens and members of the household of God. Chapter 2 verse 19. Believers are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit on this great and all-sufficient cornerstone, the Lord Jesus. Chapter 2 verses 20 through 22. God has proven Himself willing and able to take the less than the least and to give Him or Her great privileges in His kingdom, chapter 3, verse 8.

God has given the most unlikely recipients the unsearchable riches of His Son. God is displaying His multicolored wisdom to the spiritual realm through this blood-bought people, His Church. Believers have boldness and access with confidence to God through faith in Christ. 3. God can and does strengthen believers with might in the inner man through His Spirit.

The Spirit takes from the riches of His glory and pours it out into the hearts of believers. God can and does do that by causing Christ to dwell in the hearts of believers through faith. And in doing so, he roots and grounds them in his love so that they have the ability to comprehend the width, length, depth, and height of Christ's love for them. Chapter 3, verse 18. God can and does fill believers with all His fullness.

Chapter 3, verse 19. No wonder Paul erupts in praise to God, who has determined to do all this, predetermined to do all this, pre-planned to do all this, and then has done it through his son Jesus Christ. Paul wants to be on record. Paul writes this letter and wants to be on record of praising God for these piles of riches that are the present possession of the believers. Brothers and sisters, these are astounding riches.

I hope that felt a little bit like a deluge of riches. I tried to just pound through them at a fast pace to give you the feel of just the rush of them upon you. The riches are rushing upon the believer. God ought to be praised for these things. And no one will restrain Paul from praising God for these riches that are the present possession of the believer.

So as we come to our text, let's ask the Lord to help us. God, I thank you for texts that in some sense preach themselves. I don't feel adequate to do it justice, but I think that it will do quite well for itself. I thank you for the beautiful words of praise, the declaration of praise. And let your praise be on our lips as we itemize the riches that are ours in our Savior.

May your praises be on our lips. May we be unrestrainable. May your praises erupt from us. It ought to be so. Make it so, God.

Help it to be so. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's look, we have two verses. Let's look at the first verse.

Hopefully you're still in Ephesians chapter 3. Follow along as I reread verse 20. Paul writes. Paul sings. I think he sings.

Now to him who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us." It's an odd, unnatural place to stop. Let's stop there. Consider that verse. To him who is able, this is known as a doxology. A doxology is simply a declaration of praise.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Paul has to stop to praise God. If there was any question in anyone's mind whether God could do what Paul was asking him to do in the prayer of 14-19, that was our text last week, you have your answer. You have your answer. Can he do the things that he was praying on behalf of the Ephesians for the Ephesians?

And this answers that question. If we can ask it, if we can even think it or imagine it, God can do it. In fact, Paul praises God for being able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we ask for a thing. So think of what Paul is saying. All that we ask.

So it's not just you or me, it's a group exercise now. We're all invited to bring everything that we've ever asked. Some of us might be more constrained about what we ask, But there's no constraints here. It's all of us together. It's the full breadth of all, everything that we, His people, all of us together have asked or will ask.

No matter how bold the request. So there's no carve-outs here. There are no exceptions. It's all that we've ever asked or will ask. God is able to do all that plus...

Plus what? Plus there might be things which we think, which we imagine, but we have never asked. Maybe we've been too bashful to ask it. Maybe it seemed too much like dreaming. Maybe it seemed unrealistic.

Maybe there are things that are so big that require such power that we thought, I don't dare. I don't dare. And Paul says, dare. Some of us have great imaginations, some of us even have wild imaginations. That's fine.

Add it all to the things that you've already asked or that you will ask. Add your fertile imagination, your wild imagination. Now we have all that we together ask or think. Paul says in effect, Yeah, God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all of that. Can you see that Paul is stretching the limits of language, trying to say what our God is able to do.

He's grasping. Human language wasn't designed to be able to describe what this God is able to do. Human language has a purpose and this is out of scope. Human language wasn't designed to collect up all of this. Human language was designed to be able to describe Only the things that we have some frame of reference for.

We have no frame of reference for this. That's why it has to go exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we can even dream up. Because there's things that we don't even know to dream up. God is able to do all of that and he would have to explain it to you. To get you to believe it.

The human language goes as far as our brains can go. This is what Paul is inviting us to do. Go as far as your brains can go, wherever that is, and God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above that. Beyond what human language is really equipped to describe. Then Paul adds this phrase, according to the power that works in us.

According to the power that works in his people. According to the power that works in believers. If I can be this bold, according to the power that works in me." I think Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones hits the nail on the head in his comments. Listen to what he says.

"...One may hear or read these marvelous descriptions of the power of God, and yet feel that it is all remote and far removed from the realm of our daily life and experience. Sounds too good to be true, something that cannot actually happen to us. It not only can happen, but does happen, says Paul, according to the power that works in us. Yes, that's what Paul is doing here. He's taking it out of the abstract.

God has indescribable power to do things out there. To create the worlds, the universe, All that we can see even with the most high powered telescopes. He can create all of that out of nothing. That's the abstract. Way out there.

Paul takes it out of the abstract and brings it in here, among us, in us, making it personal, making it something believers can expect to experience. That's a thought in itself. To think that Paul is indicating we can have a rightful expectation to experience this exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think power that we can have an expectation to experience it expectation to experience it according to the power that works in us. So when Paul prays that believers would be strengthened with might in the inner man, that was verse 16. He's praying that believers would be strengthened with might in the inner man.

Paul is training us for our knee-jerk reaction to be, that's easy for God. Wait, to strengthen all believers with might in the inner man, easy. That's nothing compared to what He is able to do. That won't strain God in the least. Paul is priming us to have that be our knee-jerk reaction.

The doctor taps the knee, he kicks. Inexplicably, it just responds that way. Paul is training us to respond that way, to even big prayers, that's nothing to God. That's easy for God. That won't strain God at all.

I'm convinced that Paul is both praising and teaching. He is really praising. I don't think he's faking it to make a point. And at one at the same time we are being taught to have supreme confidence in our God. If you believed this doxology you would have supreme confidence in God.

You wouldn't doubt him for a nanosecond. About anything if you thought he was able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we ask or think. You would have supreme confidence in our God to do anything. Paul does. Paul wants us to.

Before we move on from this verse, let me take you to two other passages that I think helps us understand what Paul is groping for here, as he stretches language to try to communicate. The first is Jesus in Matthew 19. Turn to Matthew 19. Matthew 19, the rich young ruler, comes to Jesus wanting to know how to be saved, and Jesus puts his finger on his idol and tells him to go sell all that he has and follow him. And he went away sorrowful because he was rich.

He didn't want to part with his possessions. That's where we pick it up. This is Matthew 19 picking up mid-story, mid-account in Matthew 19, 23. I'll read through 26. Then Jesus said to his disciples, Assuredly I say to you that it is hard, It is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.

And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God. When his disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished saying, Who then can be saved? They assumed that if you had riches, it was a sign that you would be the easiest to save. You would be the nearest to being saved. As being someone who's had in a measure your acts together, it would be easier to save you.

But Jesus says it's hard and then he describes something that's practically impossible. He says it's easier for this practically impossible thing to happen than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. So they think the person who's stationed nearest to being saved, if that's this nearly impossible thing, then who can be saved? Verse 26, this is the punch line. Jesus looked at them and said, with men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.

With God, all things are possible. With God, all things are possible. So there are things God doesn't do because of his goodness and wisdom, but there aren't things that God can't do. He holds back from doing some things because he's all good and all wise, but he could do them. Nothing is impossible.

All things are possible with God. Nothing is too hard for God. Now either Jesus is mistaken, I hope you find that jarring when I say that, Either Jesus is mistaken, that can't be. Or, we've been thinking little of miracles that have been happening. We've had multiple people in our midst be born again just in the last year.

Every instant was impossible with man, if Jesus is telling the truth. But they were possible with God. Either Jesus doesn't know what he's talking about, or God is so rich in mercy and so great in love that he does a miracle so frequently among us that we begin to think it's no big deal. He's so lavish in doing things that only he can do, and he does it so often in our midst that we begin to think it's no big deal, and that it is possible with man. That's food for thought.

He's been doing impossible things in our midst. The second text is 2 Corinthians 9. 2 Corinthians 9, I'll be reading 7 and 8. 2 Corinthians 9, Paul is talking about giving, and he invites the Corinthians to give cheerfully. And he gives them a basis for it.

He gives them a confidence in giving cheerfully. Listen to this in 2 Corinthians 9, verses 7 and 8. Paul writes, So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity. For God loves a cheerful giver. Now listen to this.

And God is able, here's our phrase, God is able, and God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. So Paul says you can give cheerfully, you can give freely, you can give without fear, because God is never resource constrained. When your provider is never ever resource constrained, then you don't have to cling on to it. If you've ever worked for a company that is right on the edge and they don't know whether they're going to be able to make payroll before. Raise your hand if you've ever worked for a company.

I'm raising my hand. Raise your hand if you've ever worked for a company who didn't know whether they were going to be able to make payroll or not. Payroll is Thursday. Are you going to get paid on Thursday or sometime unknown time after Thursday? I've worked for a company like that.

You don't spend freely when you're working for an employer that's on an edge, because you know that they're not providing out of an unconstrained position. God is not like that. God can always make payroll times a zillion. He supplies out of infinite resource. I just want to read this verse again.

It's just another place where Paul is just piling up the words to try to get you to understand that there are no constraints. Listen, and God is able to make all grace abound toward you. Always having all sufficiency in all things may have an abundance for every good work. So Paul's saying in ten different ways, I'm not hedging my bets, I'm not hedging my bets, I'm not hedging my bets, I don't want wiggle room. Because God is never constrained.

His resources are infinite. When your provider has infinite resources, you don't have to fear and worry. I think these things help us. There are things that God doesn't do because of his goodness and wisdom, but there aren't things that God can't do. Nothing is too hard for God.

And God is never resource constrained. He supplies out of infinite resources. Now to him who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us. Now to the second verse of our declaration of praise, verse 21. To Him, to that God, be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever.

Amen. To Him be glory. Of course there is only one fitting thing to do when there is a God like this, and it is to give Him glory. Nothing could be more fitting, and it is not fitting not to do it. Paul wants to see this God with mind-blowing ability be exalted and honored and praised in the church By Christ Jesus.

So let's take these two things in reverse. By Christ Jesus. Anything and everything the Church can be and say and do to bring glory to God is because of and only because of Jesus. Say it again. Anything and everything the church can be and say and do to bring glory to God, to give glory to God is because of Jesus and only because of Jesus.

He is our Savior and Head. He is the great Savior and Head of the Church. Jesus takes the unacceptable and makes us accepted. That's chapter 1 verse 6. Accepted in the beloved.

When you're joined to Jesus Christ by faith, you were not acceptable because God knew too much. God's too righteous and He knows too much to accept you. But joined with His Son, all of that has been made right and you are accepted in the beloved. He loves His Son and you are joined to His Son. Unbreakably joined to his Son.

Jesus gives us life for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. That's chapter 2 verse 10. Created in Christ Jesus for good works. Remember we memorized it. Created in Christ Jesus, given life in Christ for good works.

God prepared those good works beforehand that we should walk in them. Any honor that comes to God from us is because of the Lord Jesus Christ, by Christ Jesus. Now How does God receive glory in the church? First, we exist. And I think that's the big one.

I don't think that Paul is sneaking an exhortation into his declaration of praise. Saying, you guys need to straighten up and fly right so that God receives glory. There are ways in which our obedience gives glory to God, but we just have to be blood bought in order to give glory to God. Look back at Ephesians 3 verse 10. To the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places.

The beings in the spiritual realm look on and see God taking his former enemies and making them his sons because of the cleansing work of Jesus' blood, and God receives glory. He is known as rich in mercy and great in love. The existence of the church brings glory to God. That sinners by nature, children of wrath, could be made into a family that loves each other and that are clean because of Jesus' blood, brings glory to God. Then, we grow in conformity to Jesus.

We don't start that way, but we make progress over time. We grow in Christ-likeness. And As the people of God, by degrees, make progress, God is on display as a transforming God. He receives glory from being seen and known as a transforming God. People in this room have friends in their past that wouldn't believe their eyes now, because they knew you when.

And You're discouraged about your progress, and maybe you ought to be. Maybe it's slower than it ought to be. But if your friends could see you now, they would say, what has God done? And then we will be with the triune God forever and ever. Finally, we live an eternity of thankfulness and praise.

So we exist, that brings glory to God. We grow, that brings glory to God. He's known as a transforming God. I knew Him when. I knew her when.

And finally, we live in eternity of thankfulness and praise. We already sang the song. Is he worthy? He's worthy. Every tribe, tongue, people, and nation will be represented there.

You bought us with your blood. We'll be expressing our gratitude and praising him throughout eternity. Paul ends the doxology with these words, to all generations forever and ever, Amen. God receives glory in the church in time and in eternity. There are a succession of generations that will live unbroken to the end of this age when Jesus returns.

And not one generation will be skipped. He's got people in every generation to exist as His church, to be transformed, growing in Christ-likeness. Not one generation will be skipped. He'll receive glory in time, in all generations. And then forever and ever.

Literally, of the ages of the ages. If you just take those Greek words and just trans, there's nothing wrong with forever and ever. It's an okay translation. The meaning comes across just fine. But if you just literally, if you very rigidly literally render it, It's of the ages of the ages.

What's an age? I don't know. You don't know. A really, really long period of time is an age. But now we make that plural.

Ages. And now of the ages of the ages. Now we're talking in exponential terms. Talking eternity. He'll receive praise.

And then Paul punctuates his praise with a big exclamation mark, Amen! He amens himself. Truly, so be it. Applications. I'll give you two.

Number one. Nothing else is fitting except to have supreme confidence in God. Nothing else is fitting except to have supreme confidence in God. It is impossible to have too much confidence in God. It is very possible to have too much confidence in yourself.

Here is a corollary or an implication that flows from this, has to flow from this. When we pray, if it is for our good and God's glory, let it rip. When we pray, individually, privately, in our prayer closets, or together, if it's for our good and God's glory, let it rip! He's able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we ask or even imagine. We should expand the range of our asking.

You cannot come away from this text and not have that be an application. We should expand the range of our asking. Some of you have circumstances going on right now and you just got this sense, I don't dare ask. Don't dare ask. Dare.

Or, I asked for a long time and he didn't answer with what I was hoping for, so he must not want that. So you stopped asking a long time ago. Maybe you should ask again. Maybe you should dare again. Maybe you should be emboldened by this declaration of praise to pray again, to persevere in it.

Maybe you have a besetting sin And you've even stopped praying about it. Because it's too humiliating to ask again. Because your failure has been on top of failure, has been on top of failure, and you used to pray to be delivered from it, but you stopped because you know you loved that sin, you never should have loved it, and you've only done wrong, and God's been faithful and you're the problem. I want to say, dare. Dare to ask again to be delivered from that besetting sin.

Number two, God is worthy of all our praise in time and eternity. The Lord's Day is so inefficient, have you ever thought about that? Have you ever thought about how much more we could get done if we didn't take a day off to monkey around. We're not monkeying around. It's not a waste.

You could make a better argument to do this all seven days than you could for not doing it one. God is worthy of all our praise in time and eternity. Chapter 1 through 3 is a deluge of riches. I hope it did feel like that in the intro. Like I'm being assaulted by this never ending list.

Yeah, that's right. They're all to the benefit of the born again. And you should feel like it's wave after wave when we count our blessings one by one. We name them. God is worthy of all our praise and time and eternity.

And He's the one able, He doesn't need us to work non-stop seven days a week, 365 days a year. He doesn't need us at all. He gives us the privilege to co-labor with Him in things so that we can see Him at work. It's good to take a day for this. It's priming us for heaven.

Let's pray. God, you are able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we together have ever asked or will ever ask, or have ever thought or will ever think. Please receive glory in the church by Christ Jesus. Please be exalted among your church and among our little church. May our lives and our lips line up.

We give praise to you for all of the riches that you poured out on the undeserving. That's us. We see it, God. Thank you for your goodness, that you are rich in mercy and great in love. You showed it to us in a thousand ways.

We praise you in Jesus' name. Amen.