In the sermon 'The Strengthening Presence of Our Lord Jesus Christ,' Jason Dohm expounds on Ephesians 3:8-19, emphasizing the indwelling presence of Christ in believers' hearts, which empowers them to be mighty in their inner being. Paul prays for the Ephesians to be strengthened through the Spirit, highlighting the significance of a posture of worship and submission. The sermon explores the concept of 'boldness and access with confidence' in approaching God, underscoring the transformative effect of Christ's love, which is beyond human comprehension. Dohm stresses the importance of prayer in experiencing spiritual growth and strength, as the Holy Spirit continuously draws from God's inexhaustible glory to renew believers inwardly. The sermon concludes with a call to seek the fullness of God through prayer, ensuring that believers are rooted and grounded in the boundless love of Christ.

I'll be reading Ephesians 3, verses 8-19. To me, whom less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God, who created all things through Jesus Christ, to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the Church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him. Therefore, I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulations for you, which is your glory. 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, and that you being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width, the length, the depth, and the height, to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Amen. You may be seated. The title of the sermon this morning is the strengthening presence of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul teaches that Christ dwells among his people, not just among his people, but in the hearts of his people. And that this ongoing presence of Christ in the hearts of his people makes them mighty in the inner man.

There's a lot to praise God for in this text. Can't wait to try to unravel it. In last week's text, in verse 12, Paul says that we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Jesus. And Now he dives right in to make the most of that access and to practice what he preaches. He preached that believers have access, that have boldness and access with confidence.

And now he's practicing what he's preaching. He's going into the presence of God with boldness to pray that God would bless the Ephesians. There's a sense in which he's teaching them what to do with this access have boldness and access with confidence into the presence of an Almighty and perfectly holy God, because of this reconciling work of the cross. And I thank you, O God, for praying men and women of God who have prayed for me, and who have prayed for each one of us that you would help us and that you've answered those prayers in such a faithful way in our lives. I pray that you would use this text to make us praying men and women for ourselves and our brethren that we might know something of spiritual might, strength in the inner man.

I pray in Jesus' name, Amen. We have six verses here. I'm going to break them up into three sections. So our first subsection will be Ephesians 3 verses 14 and 15. So hopefully you're still there in Ephesians chapter 3.

Follow along as I reread verses 14 and 15 where Paul writes, 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. In these verses, Paul assumes a posture of worship and submission to pray. So if you're taking notes on the handout by filling in blanks, posture fills in the blank. Paul assumes a posture of worship and submission to pray, in order to pray. The verse, this section begins with the words, For this reason, Paul bows his knees.

Paul tells you why he's bowing his knees. Why is he? Well, we can reach all the way back to the start of chapter 2 and those precious words. But God who is rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us. Paul teaches in chapter 2 that Gentiles are fellow citizens with the saints.

The middle wall of separation between Jew and Gentile has been broken down forever, never to be reconstructed. All are on common footing at the foot of the cross, all desperate for the mercy of God, and the mercy of God freely offered to Jew and Gentile alike. Faith in Jesus Christ becomes the footing for salvation to anyone in any corner of the earth. Paul says because of this pile of spiritual riches which he's been piling up for us in chapters 1, 2, and now in 3. Because of this pile of spiritual riches, Paul assumes this posture of worship and submission.

That's what it means to bow your knees, to assume a posture of worship and submission. Listen to Romans 14, 11. Romans 14, 11. For it is written, As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue confess to God. Philippians 2, 9 and 10.

Therefore God has also exalted him, he is talking about God exalting Jesus, and given him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow to those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth." And he goes on in the next verse to say, "...and every tongue confess the Lord Jesus to the glory of the Father." So this Bowing the knee is talk of a physical position, but it really just represents worship and submission. Acknowledging the greatness of and acknowledging the kingship of God. So yes, bowing the knee is a physical position for prayer, but it is that because we come to God in a disposition of worship and submission. That's why you would bow to pray. That's why sometimes you do bow your knee to pray.

Because you're assuming this disposition towards God that He is worthy of praise and that He is King and you submit to His Lordship. We might say when We pray something like, Lord we bow in our hearts before you. What does that mean? It's that we're, even though we might not be changing our physical position, we're bowing in our hearts. We're assuming a heart disposition of worship, acknowledging that he's worthy of all of our worship and that we submit to him as king.

Sometimes we have so many of us in a room we couldn't possibly alter our physical position but we still when we approach the Lord want to bow in our hearts before him to worship him and to acknowledge his kingship. Now that brings us to an important point. The boldness and the access with confidence that Paul spoke of in verse 12 does not stand in opposition to reverence. He just said in verse 12 that in Christ we have a boldness with God, an access with confidence with God, but that does not stand in opposition to worship of God, to submission to God as King. He is still God.

God is not my buddy. He is my friend, but he is my friend and king. He is still worthy of all of my worship and it's wrong for me to withhold any of it. He is still worthy to be a king and Lord and for me to be at his command, though he is my friend. Though it's right for me to have boldness and access to him with confidence, it is not right for me to think of him as my buddy.

He is my friend and King. Now, who is Paul bowing his knees to? The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is God the Father who has made all believers alive together with Christ. It is God the Father who has sent His Son so that in Christ those who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

So Paul bows his knees in worship and submission to the Father who has accomplished such glorious things through His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. All the riches He's been piling up in Ephesians 1, 2, and now in chapter 3, have been acquired for us by the sending of God the Father of Jesus Christ, God the Son. And then Paul says this, from whom the whole family in heaven and Earth is named Let me try to ask and answer two questions about this phrase from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named Who is it pointed at and what does it mean? Who is it pointed at? When Paul says from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, Who is he speaking of?

The options are these. It can be the Father, it can be our Lord Jesus Christ, or it can be both. First, let me say, Because the Father and Son are one God together with the Holy Spirit, it doesn't matter much. If I get it wrong, you won't be too harmed by it, because the Father and Son are one, together with the Holy Spirit being one God. But because the Greek word for Father, Pater, and the Greek word used in translated family here, patria, are variants of the same Greek root.

You'd never know that in English, but it is so in Greek. Paul is using a play on words, so it seems clear to me that the whole family in heaven and earth gets its name from the Father? Well, listen to chapter 1 verse 10. Flip back to Ephesians chapter 1 verse 10 and consider what Paul said in the first chapter. Chapter 1 verse 10.

That in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ both which are in heaven and which are on earth in him. In chapter 1, in chapter 1 verse 10 what I just read, Paul is talking about what God is up to. What's God up to? He is gathering together in Him, in Christ, all things into one, the things that are in heaven and on earth. He is reconciling all things together in Christ.

I think That's what Paul is speaking of in our text. Our name comes from Him and what He's been doing by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, in the world. The point is we are His. Our identity comes completely from God our Father. If God has become your Father through faith in His Son the Lord Jesus Christ, then you belong to Him and you have no identity outside of your identity in him.

You bear the family name." I think that's what Paul is getting at here. He has a family in heaven that transcends heaven and earth that includes the family that is in heaven and the family that is in earth and that we all bear the family name. So that is who Paul prays to, the head of the family. Paul is asking for specific blessings for these believers from the head of the family. Now, verse 16.

Verse 16. Follow along as I reread it. If I can find it. 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's a mouthful all in one verse. Let me re-read it.

"...that He would grant you, that the Father would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man. In verse 16, we're given Paul's request. What is Paul praying for? That God would give them strength in the inner man. So we're taking notes on the handout, filling in blanks, strength fills in the blank.

That God would give these Ephesian believers strength in the inner man. Paul has assumed this posture of worship and submission in order to pray. I bow that he would grant you. Oh Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, please grant these petitions that I'm asking for these Ephesian believers. And what is Paul's request?

That God the Father would deploy God the Holy Spirit to take from the inexhaustible riches of His glory in order to strengthen the Ephesian believers with might in the inner man. So Paul is praying like this, There are the riches of your glory, oh Father. There they are. The inexhaustible riches of your glory. They are infinite.

They are inexhaustible. Please set your spirit to taking from those infinite riches to strengthen these who bear your name with might in the inner man. God, please set your spirit to drawing out of the inexhaustible resources of your glory to strengthen these Ephesian believers in their inner man, in their inmost parts, in their spirits. In the economic trinity, oh boy what's the economic trinity, it's just the who does what of the Trinity. So theologians use this term to notice in Scripture that especially in the New Testament you have roles that the father normally plays in the history of saving sinners and roles that the son usually plays in the history of saving sinners.

And same with the Spirit. It's dangerous to be too rigid with these because they are one God and they have one will. They don't have competing wills. They share a will. You can sometimes find the Son doing things that normally you see the Father doing.

So don't be too rigid about the who does what in the Trinity. But you can discern as you study the New Testament more and more, these patterns of things that the Father does, things that the Son does, things that the Spirit does, in the saving of sinners. That is the economic trinity. In the economic trinity, it is the function of the Holy Spirit to take of the riches of the glory of God, which He could never exhaust because they are infinite, to strengthen the children of God. He keeps the Holy Spirit.

It's His function in the economic trinity, in the who does what of the trinity. To dip into the inexhaustible glory of God to give strength, to pour out strength into the hearts of believers. It's really glorious if you think of it. And He keeps dipping out of these infinite resources of the glory of God and keeps giving strength to Christians all through their lives and then another generation of Christians and then another generation of Christians. As he dips into these resources to give them strength, these resources are never diminished, and they're never less after a hundred generations of strengthening believers through their lifetime, he never has less to work with than he started with.

Wonderful. And he, the Holy Spirit, does this in differing degrees. This has to be the implication of what Paul is saying. As he dips into the inexhaustible resources of the glory of God in order to dispense strength into the hearts of believers, He does it in differing degrees. So that we should pray for it.

If that's not true, why pray for it? If it doesn't matter what you do, you are only going to get a fixed amount of strength in the inner man from the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Why ask God it must be that The Holy Spirit does it in differing degrees, so that we should pray for it for ourselves and for our brethren using Paul as the model. He is praying for it for his brethren. Listen to 2 Corinthians 4 verse 16.

There, Paul writes, Therefore we do not lose heart, Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. Think about that. Even though our outward man is perishing. I will celebrate being 51 years old this coming week, and my body is telling me I'm not 20 anymore. My outer man is perishing little by little.

My strength is being diminished little by little. And at the end it will be all but gone. Yet, Paul says, the inward man of the believer is being renewed day by day. The outward man, diminished, diminished, diminished, diminished, but God's purpose for the inward man of the believer is increasing, increasing, increasing, strengthened, becoming mightier and mightier, not because we're mighty, but because the Holy Spirit is dipping into the inexhaustible riches of the glory of God to give us might in the spiritual man. And you get more in time as you look to the Lord for it and as the Holy Spirit faithfully dispenses it.

This is the Christian life. If God would give you decades in the Lord, if you are a believer, if You trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Your outward man will discern it's perishing. But your inward man is being renewed day by day. Friends, this is called growth.

When you're born again, you're born a baby. That's how birth works. And then you grow, and it's meant for Christians to grow. Remember chapter 1 verse 15. Just look back at chapter 1 verse 15.

Here's what Paul has said of the Ephesians. Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, they are a people that already have faith. They already have love for all the saints. Paul has already commended them, but they need to grow. They are not done just because they have saving faith.

They are not done because they already have a measure of love for the saints. They need to grow. They can grow. God's intent is for them to grow. Believers, brethren, how would you like to be strengthened with might in the inner man?

Yes please, exactly. How does that sound to you? To be strengthened with might in the inner man. Yes please, exactly. How does that sound to you?

To be strengthened with might in the inner man. How would you like your brothers and sisters in Christ to be strengthened with might in the inner man. How would you like a front row seat to watch God do that in them and for them? I want that. And Paul says, you can have that, pray for that.

Grasp that through prayer. It is the function of the Holy Spirit to do that, and He does it by differing degrees. So pray! God, do it in a greater degree. Holy Spirit, do it in a greater degree in me, in my brethren.

Pray for it. Hyper-Calvinist be gone! What's a hyper-Calvinist? A hyper-Calvinist is one who takes the truth about the sovereignty of God. God is king over everything he determines.

He determines it all and draws the conclusion from that that nothing matters then. It's fatalism. Calvin wasn't that. It's not all the way Calvin. It's way beyond Calvin.

Calvin didn't believe that it didn't matter what we do, that God just determined it all and so we're robots so who cares? Don't evangelize, don't pray because there's no point to it. Calvin prayed, Calvin evangelized, Calvin sent Calvin evangelized, Calvin sent missionaries all over Europe. And so Paul banished his inner hyper-Calvinist. I know I'm speaking in the wrong order there.

You know what I mean. I have an inner hyper-Calvinist that says, God's going to do what God's going to do. It doesn't matter. We can't change these things. No!

That's not what Scripture teaches. Scripture teaches that we can prevail upon God to give us more of His Spirit that strengthens us with might in the inner man. Listen to Luke 11. You can turn to Luke 11 if you'd like. It's a few verses, so it's probably worthwhile turning to Luke 11.

I'll be reading Luke 11 verses 9 through 13. Jesus says to his disciples. So I say to you, ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you.

For everyone who asks receives and he who seeks finds and to him who knocks it will be opened. If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, Will He give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if He asks for an egg, will He offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.

It Seems to me that what Jesus is saying Paul is praying these are very similar things Back to our text and the final three verses. Ephesians 3, follow along as I reread verses 17 through 19. 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.

In these verses I believe we are given the source, the source of this strengthening with might in the inner man. We are given the source which is the transforming presence of Christ and His love. So if you're taking notes by filling in blanks, transforming fills in the blank. The source of this inner might, the transforming presence of Christ and His love. I want to very strongly argue that Paul is not introducing a new thought here, but that he is further developing the thought he already began.

In other words, In other words, it isn't that the Holy Spirit strengthens with might in the inner man, and Christ dwells in the heart by faith and knowing His love. But it's that the Holy Spirit strengthens with might in the inner man by Christ dwelling in the heart and revealing his love. It is the source of being strengthened with might in the inner man. Let me make three points. Point number one, it is wrong, unhelpful, and even dangerous to take this phrase in isolation, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

So we have this phrase in our text, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. Paul is praying this for the Ephesians and I'm saying that it's wrong and unhelpful and even dangerous to just look at that and disconnect it from the things that Paul says afterwards. Why do I say that? Listen to 2 Corinthians 13 verse 5. Paul writes, examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith.

Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you unless indeed you are disqualified? Paul there is writing to the Corinthians that they should examine themselves to see whether they are in the faith. And then he says, do you not know yourselves that Christ is in you unless indeed you are disqualified? So if you are a believer, then that matter is settled.

That matter is forever settled. If you have saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, then He is in you. Period. Amen. So Paul isn't praying that Christ may dwell in the hearts of the Ephesian believers period, end of story.

He's putting this in a progression, in a flow of thought, in a line of argumentation to talk about what flows from the indwelling presence of Christ. Not are they indwelled by Christ. That matter has already been settled in the hearts of these Ephesian believers. The term dwell indicates a persistent presence, not a coming and going. Christ dwells.

He has an ongoing presence in the heart of the believer. Point number two, therefore this is a unified thought so that Paul is praying that the indwelling of Christ would produce the effect Paul is praying for. So I'm saying, don't strip out that phrase and disconnect it as if he's praying for the indwelling of Christ in these believers. They're already indwelt by Christ. You can't isolate it.

He's praying that this persistent ongoing presence of Christ in their hearts would produce the effect that He's praying for. We are united to Jesus by faith, and then he dwells in our hearts that we would be rooted and grounded in love. That we would be rooted and grounded in His love as you continue to follow the flow of thought in the line of argumentation. Paul is praying that Our roots, I'm going to substitute us in for the Ephesian believers, it's not just the Ephesian believers, it's believers. Paul is praying that our roots would go down deep into the love of Christ towards believers.

All of our lives would be built upon His love, that nothing about us would be disconnected from a sense that Jesus loves me. Listen to what the Expositors Bible commentary says. He desires that their roots go deeply into God's love. That their lives become built on the foundation of God's love. Paul longs for God's love to be the hallmark of Christ's presence among and within them.

And so it's repetition and then he goes off and lists a bunch of verses that are coming in Ephesians. In other words, Paul is going to return to it, and return to it, and return to it. We're going to be talking about the love of Christ for believers to the end of the book in a bunch of different places, and especially in chapter 5. Chapter 5 is awash in Paul talking about the love of Christ towards his people. And so he's going to keep talking about it, but what he's praying for here is that the roots of believers would go down deep into the love of Christ.

Everything about them would be influenced about a sense that Christ loves me. Jesus loves me. Point number three, Paul is describing how the Holy Spirit takes the riches of God's glory to produce might in the inner man of the believer. The Holy Spirit produces this effect of the indwelling of Christ. The indwelling of Christ is a reality in the heart of the believer.

And the Holy Spirit takes this reality and gives the believer a sense of it. I guess it would be great if Christ dwelled in your heart, and that was a reality, but you were unconscious of it. I guess that would be good. But Paul is arguing and praying that we would know the transforming effect of having a sense of it. It's not only true in an abstract way that doesn't affect us, but it's true in a way that can be known.

And knowing that, Christ loves me transforms the believer. That's what he's praying for. A transformation that comes from the Holy Spirit giving me a sense that Christ is living in me and loves me. Paul says this explicitly in Romans 5 verse 5. Listen to Romans 5 verse 5.

I think it hits the nail right on the head. Paul writes, Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us." Let me read it again because I think it's the whole point. Now, hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Again, this is the function of the Holy Spirit in the economic trinity, in the who does what among Father, Son and Spirit. The Spirit is given to us to pour out the love of God in our hearts.

And verses eighteen and nineteen I believe simply further explains all this. Again, it's not the introduction of new content, he's just continuing a flow of thought. He's continuing a line of argumentation. Paul wants all the saints, every single saint, every single believer without exception to have the ability to comprehend the volume of Jesus' love for his people, of Jesus' love for you, all the saints, Every saint individually having the ability, or even if you look at that Greek word, it can even be the strength. Have the strength to comprehend Jesus' love for you.

To look in every direction to see if you can discern an end to your Savior's love. Look to the width. Can you see an end? I don't think he's suggesting that there are limitations. He's inviting you to try to find a limitation.

So I look for the end of the width of Christ's love for me, but I don't see one. So I look for an end point of the length of Jesus' love for me, but I can't find one. And I look for an end of the depth of Jesus' love for me, but I can't find one. And I look to the height of Jesus' love for me, but I can't find one. Now look to the cross.

Look to the cross. Who is hanging there? The eternally glorious, perfectly righteous God is hanging there. He left His eternal glory rightfully His, relinquished it, to live a life of obedience to his Father on this earth, and offered himself up voluntarily to purchase a people with his own blood. Oh, where is the end of the love of this Savior?

Discern the limits of it if you can. Friends, it passes knowledge. That's why Paul prays that we would be able to comprehend it. You need a supernatural ability to comprehend the vastness of the love of Jesus Christ for His people. It is a vast love that would send him from heaven to be treated shamefully, to die a shameful death of a criminal, though he was the eternal, glorious, perfectly righteous God.

I submit that as the Holy Spirit roots us and grounds us in this infinitely vast love, through the indwelling presence of Jesus, we become mighty in the inner man. That brings us to our final phrase, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God, that you, a believer, who were nothing before God and His mercy because of His great love with which He loved us and made us alive. You were nothing before then. That you, a believer, may be filled with all the fullness of God. Paul has already said something similar to this and I couldn't explain that either.

So, as I looked at this phrase, Matthew Henry looks at this phrase that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. And Matthew Henry says, if it wasn't in scripture, you wouldn't dare even say it. You wouldn't even dare utter the words. It would seem irreverent to utter the words if it wasn't in scripture. Matthew Henry essentially says he wouldn't touch that phrase with a ten foot pole unless he could quote it directly from Scripture.

How can an individual believer say in any way that he's filled with all the fullness of God? Well, Paul has said something similar at the end of chapter 1. Look at Ephesians 1 verses 22 and 23 where Paul said, And he put all things under his feet, under Jesus' feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all." So Paul has already introduced this thought that God fills his people with his fullness. That's true of us corporately, it's true of us individually in a way that I don't dare try to spend much time explaining. It is wonderful but mysterious too.

Lloyd-Jones said something In one of his twelve chapters on our text, no I did not read all twelve chapters on our text. I read the last page of every chapter in hopes of getting the gist. But I mined some gold out of those last pages and here's a little of that gold. In one of those twelve chapters on our text, Lloyd-Jones quoted Edward Payson. Yeah, I don't know him either.

I had to look him up. Here's who he is. He's an American Congregationalist minister who pastored a church in Portland, Maine in the early 1800s. Here's what Edward Payson said, to mention my own case, God has been depriving me of one blessing after another. He was on his deathbed when he wrote this.

But as Each one was removed, he has come in and filled its place. And now, when I am a cripple and not able to move, I am happier than ever I was in my life before or ever expected to be. And if I had believed this twenty years ago, I might have been spared much anxiety. Just think of this, This man who pastored a church in Portland, Maine in the early 1800s. He's on his deathbed.

And it's just like we saw in what was the 2 Corinthians earlier. The outer man is perishing, But the inward man is being renewed day by day. It's sort of playing itself out in the quote of this man. He's on his deathbed. His outer man is all but done.

He's a cripple in his bed. One blessing after another blessing after another blessing after another blessing that he had enjoyed his whole life, had been taken away, and yet he finds that Christ has come in and replaced a blessing. As a blessing was removed, Christ would come in and fill the spot. And another blessing is removed, and Christ comes in and fills the spot. And another and another and he finds himself saying that, I'm happier now than I've ever been in my whole life or I ever expected to be.

And had I only known that Christ filling the place of these blessings would make me so happy, I never would have worried. I think this gives us a taste of what it means to be filled with all the fullness of God. Maybe even your blessings being stripped away, but Christ coming in and filling that spot and making you happier than the blessing ever did. Lloyd-Jones says immediately after that quote, You and I are to apprehend and to know with all the saints this love of Christ. This is not an idle fancy.

It is a glorious possibility. Is that true? Is that true? Could it be that maybe one day our personal history would find us on our deathbeds? All the blessings that we'd enjoyed, all our life long, stripped away, but Christ having come in and filled the blessing, as each one was removed, Christ coming in to fill that place and us to find like I'm happier than when I had the blessing because now it's been stripped away and I have Christ in his place and I never thought I could be this happy in this life.

Lloyd-Jones is saying this is not an idle fancy it is a glorious possibility if that's true we should pray for it so that means that That brings us to our application. I'll just give you one, and it will take me about ten seconds to give it to you. Seek it by prayer. Seek it by prayer. To know Jesus' love.

To have the ability to comprehend it. So, he's already said, It passes knowledge. Good luck trying to reach it with brain cells, with grey matter. It passes knowledge. So you need a supernatural ability to comprehend it.

You need a supernatural strength to comprehend this love of Christ, to have such a deep sense of it that you begin to get a sense of its vast dimensions. And when the Holy Spirit begins to dip into the inexhaustible resources of the glory of God and deposit this in your heart, you find yourself mighty in the inner man. So you should pray for that. You should want that. This will take you through every storm in life, like it did Edward Pason.

It will take you through every storm in life. Not surviving the storm by the tips of your fingernails hanging on, but thriving even in the storms of life. Be filled with all the fullness of God. Just one unified thought. It's a really long sentence.

The New King James actually does the same as what it is in Greek. It's one sentence in Greek, verses 14-19, and it's one sentence in English in our translation here. But it's one thought. It's about the Holy Spirit's function of giving you that sense of Christ's love and that changing everything for you. Paul prays for that.

We should pray that for ourselves and we should pray that God would give us the privilege of sitting on the front row to watch Him do it in the lives of our brethren. Let's pray. God, this is a glorious thought. That your Holy Spirit has the function of dipping into the inexhaustible resources of your glory to give us might in the inner man by giving us a sense of Jesus' love for us. I pray that it would be so.

I pray for it for myself. I pray that you would give me the privilege of being on the front row to watch you do it in the lives of my brethren to fill their hearts with a sense that Jesus loves them, that they would be transformed by this love, rooted and grounded in it. Oh God, give us this precious gift we pray in Jesus name, Amen.