The End of Theology

I'd imagine that if you grew up in Sunday school, it's probably

a song that most of this room is familiar with.

If not, today's the day you get to learn.

So very, very simple. In fact, there's only a couple

of words that I want you to remember.

The words deep and wide, OK, Where it's deep and wide.

And So what we're going to do, and I'm going to do this

nervously, but I'm going to sing the beginning of this song.

When I point to you, I need you to sing the words back to me.

OK. It goes deep and wide.

Deep and wide. There's a fountain flowing.

Beautiful. Doctor Hansford.

I don't know why your choir is not bigger.

You guys sound like angels. Now, here's what's interesting

about that song, at least to my knowledge.

That's it. That's all that was written.

Deep and wide. Deep and wide.

That's the whole song. There's a fountain flowing deep

and why to to my knowledge, there's not another verse, not

another lyric. That's all they wrote.

We sing about a about a fountain, though A a fountain of

what? A a fountain of God's love?

Is it a fountain of God's power? I I honestly, truly don't know

the answer. The theology of the song, the

lyrics of the song is not that specific yet regardless, for

years, my mom, my grandma, my great grandma all all sang that

song over me. It's a song my my family has

taught to elementary age students from all over the

globe. It's a song that sort of still

echoes in the chambers of my memory.

It's a song that really teaches US one thing though.

There's a fountain. But in days of trial, you can

draw on that fountain. And that fountain is God.

It's a song that teaches that he, God, possesses more than

enough resource, more than enough love, more than enough

power to sustain me in seasons of difficulty.

It acts as a reminder to me personally on those difficult

days. And so as you open your Bibles

to Ephesians 3 this morning, it's where it's where we will

be. Ephesians chapter 3, I'd like

Ephesians 3 · chapter mention

for you to maintain this image of a deep fountain, a fountain

of perfect love, a fountain of perfect resource, a fountain of

perfect sustenance, whatever it is.

Because you see, this passage that we are about to read

together is incredibly deep. It speaks to the realities that

get down into the very depth of your human soul.

Now this passage is also incredibly wide.

It as the scope of Paul's words and the things that he's talking

about extend infinitely outward outside the bounds of eternity.

This passage is deep and it is wide and it is meant to be a

source of deep spiritual strength.

Because if I could remind you very quickly of where Aaron left

us off last week in chapter 3, verse 13, he says so that I, so

I ask you not to lose heart. Paul's desire for the Ephesian

church in this passage is that they do not lose heart.

And our passage today is the deep fountain of spiritual

inspiration meant to sustain the Ephesian church so that they do

not lose heart. This passage is a deep fountain

of spiritual resource. It is a wide fountain of

spiritual sustenance. And so open your Bibles.

Ephesians chapter 3, beginning in verse 14 this morning.

Ephesians 3 · chapter mention

That's the last little chunk of Ephesians 3 that we have in

front of us in this passage. It breaks down into four

different sections, a three-part prayer and a doxology.

The three parts to that prayer are that we would be

strengthened with power, would be have the strength to

comprehend, and that we would be filled with the fullness of God.

And then of course concluding with a doxology.

And that is the passage that Paul the apostle lays before us

today. And as we read this together, I

would like to ask for you to keep an eye out for those three

prayers to be strengthened with power, strength to comprehend,

filled with the fullness of God. Look for those three prayers.

And then of course, the doxology at the end.

If you are willing and able, I would like to ask you to stand

with me as we read God's Word this morning.

Ephesians chapter 3, beginning in verse 14.

Ephesians 3 · chapter mention

It says, For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from

whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that

according to the riches of His glory He may grant you to be

strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being.

That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

That you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have

strength to comprehend with all the Saints what is the breadth

and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ

that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the

fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do far

more abundantly than all that we ask or think according to the

power at work within us, to Him be the glory in the Church and

in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.

Amen. Father, you, you promise that

your word will not return empty or void, and we ask you this

morning to hold true to your promises.

May it be that Your Word does not return empty or void, where

we ask that You sanctify us in the truth and we know that Your

Word is truth. Amen.

You may be seated as we begin to put this prayer in its proper

framework. Consider this passage the the

mountain summit of the whole book.

Everything in the book before this leads to this point.

Pretty much everything after the book flows away from it.

How do we know that? Well, Paul, he gives you really

3 clues in these first couple of verses.

There. There are three elements of the

and details in these first couple of verses that dovetail

wonderfully into the preceding portion of this book.

First clue in verse 14, he says for this reason, if you've paid

close attention to the movements of Paul throughout the book of

Ephesians, this is the third time that phrase is mentioned in

Ephesians 115. He says for this reason, I do

not cease giving thanks to you. That's his first prayer.

And shortly thereafter he delves into one of the mountaintop

passages at all of the Bible about grace in chapter 3, verse

1. He says for this reason, I,

Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles, for

this reason. And then he rattles off of 14

verses about the mystery of the gospel and almost that serves

almost like a parenthetical phrase like, Oh yeah, by the

way, this as well, only to return here in verse 14 where he

says for this reason, this is the reason.

This is the reason he has been leading to.

The second theme has to do with the universal power of God.

He is God over all people everywhere, always.

Verse 15 describes God from whom every family in heaven and on

earth is named. And again, for those who have

paid attention, Paul has been describing his ministry to the

Gentiles. Most of chapter 3, as I just

described, was dedicated to describing the mystery of the

gospel. What is the mystery of the

gospel? Well, Ephesians 36 is very

clear. This mystery is that the

Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and

partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

Saving grace and Jesus Christ's redeeming blood is not just for

the Jews is what He says, it is also for the Gentiles.

This is why he emphasizes in verse 15, every family in heaven

and on earth is named. He is the God of all families,

Jews and Gentiles, not just the Ephesian church, not just their

families. He wants to remind us that He is

the God of every family. The third theme you see in verse

16 He said where he says according to the riches of his

glory. Now the the the riches of God

are a wonderful theme, wonderful motif that that flows throughout

the book of Ephesians. Here some of these words in

Ephesians 17. It says in Him we have

redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our

trespasses according to the riches of His grace.

Listen to verse 18, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened,

Chapter one, verse 18. That is, having the eyes of your

heart enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which

He has called you, what are the riches of His glorious

inheritance and the Saints? Ephesians 27 So that in the

coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his

grace. Ephesians 3/8 To me, though I'm

the least of the of all the Saints, this grace was given to

preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.

And again here in 316 Paul. Paul says that according to the

riches of his glory, he may grant you to be strengthened

with power. The riches of Christ, a

beautiful theme that that that this book speaks to.

And it's only after that he establishes these three ideas

that he says, I, I grant you to be strengthened with power.

You see, these opening lines of this prayer prove to be the

culmination of everything Paul has talked about in the book of

Ephesians. The undercurrent of this whole

book has been flowing to this moment, this prayer where he

says be strengthened with power. However, he particularly

highlights, and I would like to particularly highlight that you

be strengthened with power through the riches of his glory.

Again read 16 with me that according to the riches of his

glory, he may grant you to be strengthened with power through

his spirit in your inner being. What are the riches of God?

What what does that mean? How how rich is God?

Consider as a mental exercise, all the world's net worth

combined into one the The financial experts that Google

led me toward estimate that there is about 450 to $500

trillion of total net worth around the world.

If all 8 billion people liquidated all their assets and

compiled their net worth into one giant pot, it would be worth

somewhere between 450 to $500 trillion.

And so naturally I asked ChatGPT what I could buy with that kind

of money. They gave me 5 frivolous things

I could I could spend $450 trillion on 1st. 28.3 million

private islands 2nd. 5.7 trillion Gulfstream G700 private

jets. Third, 13.7 trillion nights and

seven star luxury hotels around the world. 4th, 77.6 billion

Bugatti Divos or if you prefer manual American manufacturing in

F1 fifties. That's like 4 tanks of gas.

But 5th and probably best, you could buy 248 trillion lbs of

premium Italian white truffle chocolate.

I don't even know what that means, but it's sounds

wonderful. All of the globe's wealth could

be condensed into those things. All of it.

And yet God is not impressed in the slightest with that kind of

wealth. He created all of it.

In fact, His riches extend beyond human conception.

He's wealthier far more than you and I could ever comprehend.

He owns everything. Abraham Kuiper, in one of my

favorite quotes, says there's not a square inch in the whole

domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is

sovereign over all, does not cry Mine.

Yes, God's. God owns all.

God is over all. And yet God is not rich like we

are, because the Bible records that instead of trillions of

dollars, God is rich in grace. God is rich in mercy, He is rich

in glory. And our passage today in verse

16 tells us that it is according to these riches that we are

strengthened with power. That's Paul's first prayer, that

they would be given a strength anchored upon me, the

inexhaustible resources of God. Yet the beauty of this passage

still is not found in the the glorious riches of Christ.

It is found in the connection that God's infinite resource

holds with your soul. Read 16 and 17 again with me,

that according to the riches of his glory, He may grant you to

be strengthened with power through His Spirit and your

inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your heart through

faith. God's eternal riches connect

with your inner being. God's infinite wealth becomes

intimate. That which is cosmic in scale

becomes personal. And herein lies the power of

God. And the beauty of the gospel is

that God Himself has by His decree, taken the riches of his

own glory and placed them in your heart.

God has taken His most prized possession, Jesus Christ, and

placed him in your inner being by His Spirit.

So now, friend, you are the rich one.

If you have Christ in you, you are worth far more than $450

trillion. In our Isaiah series, we often

said that God has two addresses. First, his address is on high

and in heaven. Second, his address is wherever

you are, Christ lives in you. The riches of God's perfection

have been imputed to you, dear Christian, and Christ himself

lives in your heart through faith.

The first movement of Paul's prayer is that the Ephesian

church would be strengthened with power, the power of his

riches. There's no strengthening power

greater than the riches of Christ dwelling in you.

For the Christian, he is the greatest source of spiritual

sustenance, especially for those who have lost heart.

So I ask you just very gently, have you lost heart?

Know that it is the power and riches of God that are

sufficient to sustain you? Consider, take stock of your own

life. Is your marriage in shambles

today? You feel like you've lost all

opportunity for reconciliation. Do you made me feel like you've

lost any chance or with of at hope or intimacy with your

spouse? Are you simply looking for joy

in your marriage again? First of all, praise the Lord

that He is kind enough to to show you those things.

Second of all, my exhortation to you is to be strengthened with

power to the riches of Jesus Christ.

What more could you ask for? What further fuel do you require

for endurance? Dear brother and sister, Christ

dwells in your heart through faith.

He's the Prince of Peace, He's the King of heaven, the Lord of

all, and He has been given to you, to you.

You have power in you. Endure work hard at your

marriage with the power of God at at your side with the power

of God inside of you, with Jesus Christ himself inside of you.

Young men, college students, do you find yourself struggling

with laziness when you have time that's meant to be dedicated to

to hard work and doing at at your school or your job?

Do you get distracted by worthless things?

First, again, praise the Lord that He shows you those things.

Second, may you be strengthened by the power of God, which

compels you to get up and work hard as unto the Lord.

What more again could you ask for?

What further fuel do you require for your endurance?

Heritage Church here, this message.

The power of Christ in you touches every area of your life.

It affects your marriage, your work, your family, your money,

your joy, all impacted by the power of Christ in you.

And may you be strengthened by it as well.

As we continue to move through this text, I'd like to remind

you that Paul's prayer for the Ephesians has a few different

anchor points. Again, as we've just talked

about #1 is that you would be strengthened with power.

The second is that you would have the strength to comprehend.

Highlight just the very beginning of verse 18 May have

strength to comprehend. That's the section we are

beginning now. Paul prays that they would have

the strength to comprehend. Comprehend what?

Comprehend What is it that requires such strength to

comprehend? I'll answer that question for

you very quickly. Love, love read with me the

beginning in the second-half of verse 17.

It says that you being rooted and grounded in love may have

strength to comprehend with all the Saints what is the breadth

and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ

that surpasses knowledge and see very quickly with me how love

brackets this section of the prayer.

And at the end of verse 17. He says that you being rooted

and grounded in love. The beginning of verse 19 he

says and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.

Love is what Paul desires us to know and to be extremely

obvious, our culture is misguided to as to what love

really is. For our purposes this morning,

suffice it to say that love is not transactional.

It is not dependent on what you want or feel entitled to

receive. Love, according to this passage

and according to the Bible, is far beyond that.

In fact, this idea itself is a little mind bending.

Paul himself even says in the middle of 18 that you would have

the strength to comprehend in the middle, at the beginning of

19 that surpasses knowledge. There's a there's a degree to

which this love is unknowable. What a curious phrase, though,

because this is something that we cannot know.

Paul's prayer is that we would come to know something that by

its own definition cannot be known.

Can can you know what can't be known?

And I mean, for centuries there have been things that we have

said could not be known. There's a time in our world

where we could not know what it was, look what it was like to

look on the ground from the skies because flight was

impossible. We could not know what was on

the other side of the universe because it was too far away.

We could not know what was at the bottom of the Mariana Trench

because it was too far down on the ocean floor.

But I I beg you to consider that our lack of knowledge and

ability to understand. Came from an insufficient

technology. Because you build me an airplane

and now I can see the world from up above.

You build me the Hubble telescope and I can see light

years away. You build me a nice submarine

and I could touch the ocean floor, not be crushed by the

pressure of the ocean. No.

Paul indicates that ours is an issue of insufficient capacity.

This surpasses knowledge. This is something that cannot be

understood. It is beyond human category.

It is completely and wholly alien to anything that you or I

understand or know or feel. Even the world that God has

given us. He has given us some pictures of

love that are close, maybe, but they're insufficient.

Marriage is close, but it's not the same.

Parents and their relationship with their children is is close.

It's not the same. We cannot know this love.

And yet the irony of all ironies is that Paul prays that you

would know it, that you would know God's love.

May he prays that may you understand this thing that

cannot be understood. May you know this thing that

cannot be known. How then go back to our previous

question. How is it that I can know that

which can't be known? How is it that I can know love

that surpasses knowledge? The answer is only through

Christ, only by Christ in you, only by His, only by reveling in

His work, lingering in His person, saturating yourself with

His character. Only then can you know this

love. Consider John 1512 through 13

with me It says, this is my commandment, that you love one

another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than

this, that someone laid down his life for his friends.

Christ said that perfect love is displayed through sacrifice, and

sacrifice himself He did by going to the cross, atoning for

our sins, praise the Lord. Yet still this love that you

experience from Christ is just a a shadow of ultimate love

because you see, Jesus Christ himself is a part of the

greatest love story that the universe has ever known.

And here's what I mean. The love that exists between

each member of the Trinity far surpasses human understanding.

The passage that we study today, it actually uses some

Trinitarian language, and I think that's on purpose.

Verse 14 refers to the Father. Verse 16 asked that we would be

strengthened by the Spirit. Verses 17 and 919 mentions

Christ the Son. All three of them play a role

together in this prayer and scholars and theologians point

out that where these three are present you refer to, you can

speak of the Divine glory dance. The Divine glory dance.

This is a simple term used to describe the eternally perfect

and loving relationship between Father, Son, and Spirit.

What that means is that in eternity past, each member of

the Trinity loved the other with such deep love, glorified the

other with such deep reverence in this cycle of love and glory

had perpetuated itself for an eternity prior to Genesis 1.

And that love, it overflowed, it spilled out onto the canvas of

creation. And you, church, when you have

Christ in you, you are brought right into the middle of that

glory dance between the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.

This eternally increasing perfection.

You get to taste it through Christ, you have access to it.

Church, the greatest love story the universe has ever known is

the perfect love that exists within the Trinity that that

cannot be comprehended by you or me.

This is why Paul says in verse 18 that you may have strength to

comprehend with all the Saints what is the breadth and length

and height and depth. It is a never ending, eternally

significant, always in motion, forever growing kind of love.

It is God's perfect love that washes over us.

It spurs us on. It's the kind of love that knows

no boundaries. It stretches across the

universe. It touches the corners of

galaxies. It extends to the deepest parts

of the ocean. It climbs over the highest

mountains. Oh, to understand the breadth

and the length and the height of God's love.

What man could know? Who could understand?

In my house growing up, one of my dad's favorite hymns was

called The Love of God. I'm sure many of you probably

know it by Frederick Lehman. Allow me to read you some of the

lyrics. Verse one begins, 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.

The guilty pair bowed down with care.

God gave his Son to win his erring child.

He reconciled and pardoned from his sin.

Verse 3 is probably my favorite. Could we with ink the oceans

fill, and where the skies of parchment made, Where every

stalk on earth a quill, and every man ascribed by trade to

write the love of God above, would drain the ocean dry.

Nor could the scroll contain the whole, though it stretched from

sky to sky. The chorus is simple.

Oh, the love of God, how rich and pure, how measureless and

strong it shall forevermore endure.

The Saints and angels song. It is that love, this love that

we speak of, that you get to be a part of if Christ is in you,

You swim in an ocean of love that that that truly knows no

boundaries. It's the kind of love that

tastes sweeter than honey. It's the kind of love that stuns

your eyes more than a million starry nights ever could.

It's the kind of love that brings feelings of comfort, like

the warmth of a roaring fireplace.

Church. This is the great paradox of the

Christian life. You get to know the love of God

that cannot be known. It's one of the deepest

pleasures of being a Christian to know the love of God that

cannot be known deep in your inner being.

Commenting on this verse here, the words of Martyn Lloyd Jones.

There is no more staggering statement in the whole range of

Scripture than this. We are here face to face with

the ultimate experience, with the highest doctrine of all.

We must approach it with a sense of awe and total inadequacy, and

yet with a sense of keen anticipation.

Church, this is my prayer for you that you would know the love

of God that surpasses knowledge. It's my prayer for my Wednesday

night small group. It's my prayer for my basketball

players that follow me around everywhere They that they would

have the strength to comprehend and to know the love of Christ

that surpasses knowledge. This idea leads directly into

this final prayer of Paul at the end of verse 19.

He says that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

We've talked about being strengthened with power in

knowing Christ. We've talked about comprehending

this vast ocean of God's love. And at the culmination of this

passage is here being filled with the fullness of God, the

fullness of God found in his unending riches, and His perfect

incomprehensible love. The theology of this passage of

this portion is really quite simple.

At the cross section of his power and His love.

And when you are filled with those things, you are filled

with His fullness. 1 commentator on this passage says that Christ

is both power and love, and when we are filled with those things,

we belong to Him. This whole passage has built to

this moment. This phrase that you might be

filled with the fullness of God is the beating heart of this

prayer. It is the powerhouse of this

prayer. Paul's prayer is truly and

ultimately that the church in Ephesus will be filled with the

fullness of God. Friends, I hope you hear this

today. That this, the fullness of God,

is the purpose and end of all theology.

If you zoom out, consider this book from a macro perspective.

The the first 3 chapters are all a kind of theological

instruction. We studied the doctrine of

election in chapter 1, the doctrine of depravity and

salvation and grace in chapter 2.

We studied the mystery of the gospel in chapter 3.

This is the impetus of theology. The purpose behind all this

labored, detailed, faithful instruction is that you may be

filled with all the fullness of God.

Now, may this serve as a warning to some, but theology itself

does not exist in a vacuum. Theology itself does not exist

for the sake of moral ascent or mental high grounds.

In my studies this semester, I I, I've learned about the

circumstances surrounding surrounding the, the, the

cannons of Dort. And so so that we all understand

the cannons of Dort are are are where Calvinist doctrines and

ideas were codified in ways that are in ways that we recognize

them today. The these cannons came as a

response to the five Remonstrant articles which were put forward

to promote a more Armenian theology of free will of

salvation understanding. And in the middle of this

debate, there were Calvinists who held political power and

because of their positions through some of the Armenian

adherents and jail because of their beliefs.

And as I sit here today and study these men and the war over

their theology, I shake my head in disappointment because they

missed it. Their theology is not a tool to

be wielded. This theology is meant to be a

vehicle of worship. It is meant to help you be

filled with the fullness of God. Your your theology is meant to

be a fountain to draw from so that you never lose heart.

It is never meant to be a bludgeon.

Those of you in the room with theological inclinations, may it

be that you are first and always filled with the fullness of God.

But what does it look like to be filled with the fullness of God?

How do we take this theology and live as though we're filled with

the whole fullness of God? To borrow time from Aaron's

sermon next week, very quickly look at chapter 4, verse one.

It says, I therefore a prisoner of the for the Lord, urge you to

walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been

called. This introduces the next three

chapters of Ephesians, which are ethical exhortations answering

the question, How do I live? What does the fullness of God

look like in the church? What does the fullness of God

look like in your speech? What does the fullness of God

look like in your marriage? What does the fullness of God

look like in your home? What does the fullness of God

look like in the middle of spiritual warfare?

Ephesians 4 through 6 speaks to all those things.

So if you want to know what it looks like to be filled with the

fullness of God, come back, please.

In fact, the rest of the book, the rest of the book of

Ephesians, serves almost as a commentary on this phrase.

May you be filled with the fullness of God.

They show us what it means to be filled with God's fullness

always. Church, may you, all of you

always be filled with the fullness of God.

As Lloyd Jones said earlier, there is no more staggering

statement in the whole range of Scripture than this.

Paul concludes this section where we will conclude here

momentarily. He ends with a short doxology.

Read verses 20 through 21 with me.

It says now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than

all that we ask or think according to the power at work

within us to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus

throughout all generations forever and ever.

Two brief observations I would like to make about this short

section. First, Paul maintains A literary

pattern that we need to pay attention to as good faithful

Bible readers throughout our entire text today, not just in

this section, but the whole the whole text this morning.

Paul has had a tendency to multiply words.

Now, often if, if you know, if you're familiar with Paul's

writings, he is succinct, systematic in his approach to

theology, especially in these theological instruction portions

of the Bible, especially when you compare him to other New

Testament authors. That's not the case here.

That is not what he does. He multiplies words by repeating

information. Look at verse 20.

He says far more abundantly. It's a little redundant than all

that we ask or think. Verse 21 to him be the glory

throughout all generations, forever and ever.

Again, consider verse 18 as well.

You have the strength to comprehend what is the breadth

and length and height and depth. He uses some of this redundant

language to expand worship and praise.

He multiplies words in a way that is typically foreign to him

because that's what God is doing in his heart.

The beauty and wonder of God expands into eternity in a way

that just simply cannot be contained.

Christ has so stirred his affections that he doesn't have

enough words to describe his joy.

Paul was so moved by Christ that language itself is insufficient

to express his emotions. That's the first observation.

The second observation. Paul's worship highlights God's

glory coming from two places. Read 21 with me to him be glory

in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all

generations, forever and ever. Daryl Bach says that you and I

are God's faithful representatives here on this

world. Here on this world.

God's glory comes through the church.

You and I, the church, are God's representatives here on this

world, here in this world. We as a collective church is one

of the many ways in which God expresses himself here in this

realm. Do you want to know God come to

church? Second, God's glory comes in

Christ Jesus. All of Christ's actions, all of

Christ's words, all of Christ's thoughts, everything Jesus does

is meant to bring glory to God. The first question of the

Westminster Catechism is really simple.

You've, I'm sure many, most of you have heard it.

What is the chief end of man? To glorify God and enjoy him

forever. Did you know that is also the

chief end of the church? That is also the chief end of

Christ Jesus to glorify God on high in heaven forever.

Jesus Christ is glorified in you when you are filled with the

fullness of God. Jesus Christ is glorified in

what you do Jesus Christ is glorified in everything that he

does. In fact, Jesus Christ is the

hero of this passage. This morning we've talked about

Paul's prayers. First, he prayed that you would

be strengthened with power so that Christ would dwell in your

heart through faith. Second, he prayed that you would

have the strength to comprehend the love of Christ.

Third, he prayed that you would be filled with the fullness of

God. The fullness of God is Jesus

Christ. Jesus Christ and his infinite

power is the foundation of this passage.

Jesus Christ and his unending love is the joy of this passage.

And being filled with the fullness of God.

That's the great promise of this passage.

The glory of God through Christ Jesus is the ultimate end of all

theology. I mentioned this at the onset of

our time together that Paul was riding so that the Ephesian

church would not lose heart in reference to 3/13.

He prayed that you would be strengthened because there's no

greater strength than that which comes from the power and the

love of Jesus Christ. The power and love of Jesus

Christ is a fountain that flows. It is forever deep.

It is forever wide. We sang at the beginning, deep

and wide, deep and wide. There's a fountain that flows

deep and wide. Church, my prayer for you today

is that you would know this love.

In fact, this love is made available for you today.

My prayer is that everybody in this room, whether you are a

Christian or not, you would draw upon this fountain today, for

its resource is never ending. It will never run dry.

It's breadth and length and height and depth will never be

known by mortal man because as Frederick Lehman, the hymn

writer said, it goes beyond the highest star and reaches to the

lowest hell. And he did.

Jesus Christ came from high beyond the highest star, yet

reached into the lowest hell to redeem your life for the glory

of God. Amen and Amen.

Do you pray with me? Lord, again we plead Your

promise. Do not let Your word return

empty or void. I pray for my brothers and

sisters in this room right now that they would be strengthened.

Lord, I pray that they would draw upon this fountain that is

infinitely deep and infinitely wide.

I want to pray for my friends in this room who do not know you.

I pray that they also would come to this fountain that is

infinitely deep and infinitely wide and that they would trust

their life to you. Today.

Holy Spirit, do a mighty work in this room.

We are grateful that you've gathered us here this morning.

Amen. Thanks for listening.

To learn more about Heritage Church or if you'd like to

respond to this sermon, visit our website at

www.heritageshawnee.org.