Virtue: Love Letters - Lesson 7 (Cathe Laurie)

it's so good to see all of you i have missed you i hope you've missed each other right it has been a long break i mean when did we stop way back way back before thanksgiving and uh you know i understand that because so many of us are wives and moms and you know the holidays all of that falls on our shoulders doesn't it seems like all the decorating and the cooking and the shopping and the wrapping and the taking down of the decorations and all of that and it is a busy season but you know i hope you didn't take a break from god's word i hope you stayed in his word daily and uh but i'll tell you we need accountability and that is one of the most beautiful things about virtue isn't it is just being here with each other and you know you have to have that lesson done and because you have that accountability it forces you into his word and that is a good thing and that is important and that is why we're here but for those of you that are joining us how many of you might be coming to virtue for the first time or you weren't with us in in the fall but you're coming this this season well welcome that's wonderful thank you for coming and i i am so glad that even though we've kind of gone through a few of the letters of paul already we've gone through the book of galatians and we're halfway through the book of ephesians here it's never too late to join in and it's just been a wonderful journey hasn't it through these love letters thus far what have we learned oh so much and for those of you that are new and for those of us who have you know maybe our memories are a little faded about where we left off and what's going on here our lessons were wonderful in helping us sort of catch up to where we need to be but i thought maybe we would just take a quick fly over i want to just set the scene for you and remind you who these ephesians were before we dive into what i believe the lord has for us this morning and that is the last half of chapter three okay so you can turn in your bibles to ephesians 3 where we will eventually be but you know the historical background of ephesus is really pretty fascinating you know this this was a a very prosperous port city um it was a thriving city in the empire and uh its ephesus is in turkey actually it's in in that part of the region of the world right by the adriatic sea across the adriatic sea was greece and um this port ephesus was you know a very wealthy port the people that lived in ephesus had tremendous wealth and as a result there was a attraction for people from all over the empire to come and live in ephesus so it was a multi-racial multi-ethnic community there they had the great and beautiful temple to diana or artemis as she was called whether you were greek or roman same goddess and that was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world was this temple that they had built also in ephesus was a fascinating tremendous collection of books one of the largest libraries in the ancient world and people were really well educated there they were also pagans they brought with them their gods and when they got to ephesus they also became worshipers of this goddess diana and this was a very important part of their culture and into this very pagan multi-racial multi-ethnic wealthy community comes the gospel of jesus christ and it totally turned this this area of the world upside down first it came through apollos who was a believer but not completely fully equipped in every sense of understanding the entire gospel and alongside apollo apollos came on priscilla and aquila a ministry team a husband and wife team who knew the scriptures more fully and explained them to apollos and to the new believers that were being converted there in ephesus and shortly after that in came the great apostle paul on his second missionary journey and as he got to ephesus he asked them the question had they received the holy spirit since they had believed and they didn't even know about the holy spirit they had only been explained the baptism of john which is the baptism of repentance preparing their hearts for the messiah jesus christ but they didn't have the full picture and so paul explained to them this amazing gospel truth that not only were jews welcomed into the family of god but all races everyone was to be preached to this gospel and the gospel would transform their lives and they received it and paul laid his hands on them and they were filled with the holy spirit and they spoke with tongues and they prophesied and miracles were occurring and and the community that was there the small christian community began to impact that city in such a profound way that it began to actually overturn the economy can you imagine be as if the gospel went into that area in in la where all the pornography is produced and it so affected the porn industry that there was a riot and a riot occurred because the silversmith demetrius and his trade of selling these small idols was being affected and that was the kind of the core foundation and the beginnings of ephesus was just diana this this meteor that fell from heaven and they recognized that the entire city was you know birthed out of this and if paul's gospel would take effect it would rock their world and so they filled this amazing stadium there and over 25 000 people pagans filled this stadium and for two hours chanted great as diana of the ephesians and was into that kind of setting that this church in ephesus was born and paul continued on in his missionary journey and the last time actually he was with the ephesians remember he was there if you were with us as we study the book of acts that he came and the elders came out to him and and he was on his way to jerusalem he felt constrained by the holy spirit that that was where he was to go and he knew that bonds were awaiting him there and they all got on their knees together and they all said goodbye a tearful goodbye to the great apostle paul and he continued on and now paul after his arrest in jerusalem and his confinement there in caesarea he is in rome and he is in prison and he is writing and this is 10 years after he had last seen their faces and he writes to them this letter and he begins the letters we know those of you who have studied it with us in the fall he begins telling them about the wealth that they have in jesus christ you know this city of ephesus knew something about wealth and i visited the ruins of ephesus and it is one of the most impressive ancient cities i have ever seen you can see the the amazing buildings and structures that stand to this day though the city is abandoned there's nothing there the port silt filled the port and eventually the the city of ephesus was disbanded and there's no one that lives in ephesus now but you can see this amazing theater that was built the temple to artemis and the wealthy mansions and homes that are there still on the hillsides the frescoes in their banqueting rooms and the plumbing and the and the um the the beauty and the feat you know these rooms were so gorgeous in these homes some of them were built with indoor theaters you think of your entertainment rooms in our in our homes today they had the same thing then but paul knew what real wealth was and he is explaining that to them the wealth that they already possess and one of the most amazing things that we saw in um chapter three that i'm going to touch just lightly on is that this incredible gospel that came and brought this true wealth into these believers lives this this was a mysterious plan that was hid from the ages that it was always in the heart of god this was not just a religion just for the jews only but it was for the entire world and that one day he wanted this gospel to go out to all nations how many of us would be here today if it weren't for the fact that the gospel was preached to the gentiles the gospel is for everyone and even in this community where there were racial tensions the gospel went forth and this church was built and this beauty and this mystery was revealed to the world for the first time i mean it sounds you know it sounds sort of acceptable because we have the gospel has impacted our world and our perception of equality of men before the eyes of god but in this time it wasn't that way there were clans and there were groups and there were sex and there were races and they didn't mingle and they didn't mix and they had their own gods and one would conquer the other and enslave the other and that's how it worked for all of history and then the gospel comes in and this plan god would put his on display this beauty of the church in such a way that even the angels and the demons would see the glorious mystery of the gospel the grace of god through jesus christ the uniting of the of the different races of the world what happened at the tower of babel as they all separated and god was bringing them all back in he was bringing them back in and the beauty and the variety and the unity of the church you know when we get to the epistle to the ephesians we're going to read that you know the first converts when we get to the did i say ephesians i meant philippians um then we get to philippians we're going to see the first converts in philippi a woman a gentile jailer and another uh let's see it was a woman a gentile giant someone that the whole thing was just so combined and so diverse that was never known before we're gonna see that and that is what was on display before the whole world this great plan and paul says you are his workmanship and paul was his workmanship but paul was suffering for them wasn't he you know sometimes we think that you know god does have a wonderful plan for all of our lives but sometimes that plan is you or his unique creation and you or his workmanship whatever he has gifted and called you to be will just be a smooth road and it wasn't for paul he was putting this gospel on display and he was paying such a dear price for it and you as you are his workmanship i wonder what gifts he has given you that you're putting on display are you faithful to discover what those talents are what those giftings are maybe you know like these musicians up here they're playing their instruments they have this amazing gift of music and some of you are singers and some of you are musicians and some of you are writers and some of you are artists and some of you are designers and some of you are speakers and some of you are who knows what you are but what are those gifts that god has called you what is that unique poem that he is writing in your life and is he displaying his beauty through your life well he was doing that in paul's life but it was costing him and here he is in a roman jail and he is on his knees as we read in verse 14. let's read this together for this reason i kneel before the father from whom this whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name i pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his spirit in your inner being so that christ may dwell in your hearts through faith and i pray that you being rooted and established in love may have power together with all the saints to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of christ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of god now unto him who is able to do immeasurably more than we could ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within us to him be glory in the church and in jesus christ throughout all generations forever and ever amen would you bow your heads with me and pray lord these words are almost um they're beyond our comprehension but even as paul is praying that the holy spirit would give us power in our inner being that we might grasp the truths that are laid out here that we might know this love we ask that you by your holy spirit would speak into our hearts today a fresh word open our eyes of understanding and our ears to hear and apply the truths that are contained in these priceless treasure of these verses we ask it in jesus name amen you know paul is writing and he is saying for this reason i am kneeling before the father you know when you kneel it shows a certain degree of passion doesn't it you know paul actually fell to his knees that's what the greek word implies that you know that he is falling to his knees when he thinks of these ephesian believers and he wants them to grasp something he is praying a passionate prayer and we're right smack dab in the middle of ephesians and he's told him of the riches and he's told them of all the things that they have and possess and who they are in christ told him they are his workmanship and on the things that he has said to them but now he is saying listen there's more i want you to grasp these things i don't want you just to know them i want you to grasp them in your heart and he falls to his knees with great emotion and passion and he's saying i am moved to pray for you and what is he so deeply moved to pray for that he is on his knees in this roman prison praying this is what he is saying in verse 17 first that christ would dwell in their hearts by faith and verse 19 the first part he says that they would know the love of christ that passes knowledge in the last half of verse 19 that they would be filled to the measure of all the fullness of god you know i found as i was studying this i i was sort of intrigued by the things paul was praying for because i thought to myself don't they already know this you know in chapter 2 when paul said to them that he has made us alive with christ and seated we are seated with him in the heavenlies and yet he's saying i want you to know the love of christ didn't they already know the love of christ if they're seated and the heavenlies with him and then he says in chapter 2 verse 4 he says and god was rich in mercy for his great love with which he has loved us and yet paul is praying that they would know the love of christ which surpasses knowledge didn't they already know the love of christ these these are believers he's writing to how could you be a believer and not know of the sacrificial love of christ on the cross for for your sins and then he says it's just you know that they would be filled with the fullness of god but if you go back to chapter 1 verses 22 and 23 paul told them he says christ is the head of the body his church the fullness of him who fills all in all and yet he's saying that he's praying that they would be filled with the fullness of god in his love you know here's the question if in acts 19 paul already had prayed and laid hands on these ephesians and they were filled with the holy spirit and they are prophesying and they are speaking in tongues and there are miracles going on in ephesus why is he now praying that they would know the love of christ and that they would grasp it there's only one answer and that is that at one level they did have the love of christ they did understand who he was they knew that he had died on the cross for their sins and that he had risen from the dead and that he was seated in the heavenly places in christ jesus and that they were adopted as children and they were heirs and all of these things they knew these things he had already told him these things in the earlier part of the letter and he had probably instilled these things in him when he lived there for two years paul preached to the ephesians as this church was being established on a strong foundation at one level they knew these things and they had these things but on another level they didn't and that's what i want to talk to you today about it's one thing to know the love of christ and to do the christian thing right what do we do as christians i mean what is your life if we were to just observe your life you just say well you know you as christians we we go to church on sunday you know an outsider a non-believer would look at what distinguishes you as a christian go to church on sunday you pray you obey certain commandments and rules hopefully you live an honest and an upright life you value certain things you don't do certain things but is that all that it can that consists of our christian life and i think many of us are living at that level but that's it and that's all that we experience of jesus in our hearts we know these things we believe these things it's not that we aren't acquainted with this information and ladies i guarantee you've if you're here in bible study you want to know more you want to learn more you want to dig deep into his word and understand the doctrines and the theology but i don't think that's what paul is praying for here he falls to his knees because he's wanting them to grasp more than just head knowledge more than just the doctrine and the theology of this he wants it to move their hearts he wants them to experience and sense the size of the love of god you say but kathy isn't isn't the christian life walking by faith and not by feeling you know you're talking about sensing and experiencing and that's all wonderful it sounds very ethereal and you know it's all of that but truly isn't the christian life mainly just one of doing the right thing like nike just do it get out there and just do it is that all the christian life is paul is saying here no there's more to it than just that yes we walk by faith but at some level ladies at some point in your christian experience you have got to sense the love of god for you in such a way that it overwhelms you it is possible for us to live pretty disconnected spiritual lives disconnected in that we know we're wealthy in christ we could list the things alphabetically we are adopted we are blessed with all spiritual blessings we've been chosen in him before the foundation of the world we could go down the alphabet and list for every letter some great treasure that we have in christ but yet not on a daily basis or even on a yearly basis once a year once a month experience the overwhelming sense that you are so loved by god you just fall you fall back on doing things and fall back on feelings of failure when you don't get those things done you know i was raised in a church where i was taught the miracles that happened in the bible i was taught about those things i was taught about the virgin birth i was taught jesus came into this world and suffered and died on a cross for my sins and rose from the dead and is in heaven and one day if i'm good enough i believe the right things that i will go to be with him and i thought wait you know what about what about the miracles and the experiences of saints that i was taught about in history that that had a deeper experience with god what about them is that is that not available to me and basically my impression was no that's just for certain special people that god has chosen you know people who really walk deeply with god god somehow his special favor on them and they're welcomed into this intimacy with god but the rest of us you know we just go to church on sunday and say our prayers and try to do the right thing and you know what i am afraid that that's where some of us in this gospel preaching church live the vast majority of our christian lives but is that all there is is that all there is to expect we just kind of slug it through down here and one day we'll go to the kingdom and then we'll sit and see and our faith will be made sight is there is there nothing more to it than that ladies yes there is and paul says that not only is there something more but he is praying and it is something that we should pray about and seek ourselves dwight moody wrote this you know he he was a famous evangelist dl moody in another generation and a great preacher and he knew god's word and he loved god's word and he did many wonderful things and taught many wonderful things and led people to christ and yet he writes this in his journal he says one day in the city of new york oh what a day i cannot describe it and i seldom refer to it because it's almost too sacred an experience to name i can only say that god revealed himself to me and i had such an experience of his love that i had to ask him to stay his hand just like oh it was just the sense that god loved him so much that it just it was almost gonna crush him he had to say god don't no more i can't take any more i'm going to explode under the love that you're revealing to me have you have you ever had even a taste of that kind of love an experience even close to that ladies it is it is there it's available for us as well and paul is saying that's that's that's what our unclaimed inheritance really is it's not just knowing that you are rich in christ it's living there and tasting and experiencing it it may be legally yours but have you claimed it are you spending it are you lavishing in it you know there's all these stories and we've heard them before of unclaimed inheritance that is sitting in cities and places around the country where people who have passed away have left amazing untold stores of wealth that there are no errors to claim it i heard the story of a man who was a holocaust survivor and he and his wife his wife was was in the in the prison camps um the nazis had done horrible experiments on her and she was unable to have children and so this couple came to the new york city and they established a prosperous business and they amassed a fortune and when they passed away there was no one to claim it and they're they're searching the authorities are searching for anyone through dna records and genealogical records in europe to try to find if there's anyone out there that has a a bit of this couple's blood and heritage in them because they could claim 12 million dollars just sitting in a vault somewhere waiting for them and i think sometimes that's how we are as believers you know we we don't even know what's available to us we're not living there and you may have him living in your life you may accept that by faith and you have the holy spirit you can't be a christian without having been baptized into the body of christ by the holy spirit but you are not living a wealthy christian life you're living poor look at what paul prays for them and you know what is is so interesting i thought you know let me just think a little bit about what first century life was like for women you know 75 was the infant mortality rate 75 percent most women would have been betrothed and married by the time they were 15 years old and they would start having babies and their purpose in life was to give birth to a male heir because women had no rights no right to inherit property whatsoever they were really really minority citizens with very few privileges whatsoever their goal was to bring children into this world and specifically to bring a male into this world but 75 of those children spent their lives just being pregnant and giving birth and watching babies die the average age mortality age for women was 15 to 29 years old this is the this is these are the women paul was writing to and when he prays for them life was really hard and dangerous for them but when he prays what does he pray for he doesn't pray for health or for provision or for protection no you know those are not bad things to pray for paul is getting right to the very crux of what transforms and changes lives and impacts lives for eternity what strengthens your life to face what might be lying around the corner on the trail ahead of you that you can't see what's going to ground you and hold you and see you through is what paul is concerned with he doesn't ask god for anything that has to do with their circumstances do you know why because he knows if they have this if they have a sense and a knowledge and experience of the love of god that it's going to help them to handle anything anything what is his prayer that they would know for themselves the love of christ out of his glorious riches he would strengthen you with power in your inner being so that you can what grasp the love of god the fullness of that love you know that word grasp is really interesting it doesn't mean just to pick something up it means to seize to lay hold of it's like it's a greek word that is has a lot of force behind it it's been used to describe what happens when a city is sacked when someone is overtaken and thrown to the ground and succumbed to you know when they seize the woman caught in the act of adultery it's the same word how do you think they grabbed her and drug her to the feet of jesus paul is saying i want you to grasp and never let go of you're not going to let go of this you're going to hold on to this grasp the love of god you had a little baby back there that was so sweet anyway grasp that love get a hold of this love the word the greek word is katalambano to overtake you know you you could be a beggar and you could be walking into a banqueting room and you could look at a table set with every kind of nourishing delicious gourmet exotic food nourishing that would help you and strengthen you and you would be starving but do you know what just looking at it doesn't do you any good you have to taste it you have to pull a seed up at the table and you have to indulge yourself in what is there and that's what paul is asking them to do he's saying here's the riches here's the wealth you know it you believe it you can analyze it you can tell me what's on the table and everything else but are you tasting it are you putting it in your mouth is it able to assuage your hunger do you know that it's not just that you hear about the love of god ladies it's that you're experiencing the love of god in your life are you gripping it have you laid hold of it and there's two ways to know that honey is sweet one is that you would eat it another is just be told about it and that's why the psalmist says it doesn't say believe that the lord is good he says taste and see that the lord is good taste and see and that you would be rooted and grounded in this love you know the psalmist uses this aesthetic pleasure of tasting something that's so sweet so delicious so wonderful it's not that you just know about this honey it's not just that you can tell me how unusual honey is and how it's produced and where it comes from and what the taste of honey is know that you actually would put it in your mouth and enjoy it do you enjoy eating i love to eat i love i love to be with people who love to eat and when we eat when i'm with my girlfriends it's like i love to take my time when i'm eating because i put food in my mouth it's like you have to taste this here let me share some of mine with you and then they say here you taste some and we we're enjoying that's how we should be with the love of god with our experience with christ and you know if you have this you sense this you're not going to be as needy or as afraid or as selfish or as proud or as fearful or as bitter or as angry you can have the love that is so nourishing and so satisfying it transcends every other circumstance in your life and you can yearn for this ladies you can long for this you can ask for this when i was a little girl i would hear these stories and i and i thought that i'm not special in god's eyes i've never had an experience of his love for like that i didn't know it was available to me you have a lot of churches that put a lot of emphasis on correct teaching and on theology on doctrine on truth and they're afraid of experience as a matter of fact they're afraid of feelings they're afraid of even talking about feelings and they would say that it's too mystical and it's it's you're too easily misled by feelings so they completely avoid that subject altogether it's all about learning and then you have other churches that are all about feelings right it's it's all about how high you can jump it's all about how loud you can praise it's all about getting those tears out and every services of ringing out of emotions but there's so little truth that when you walk out those doors you don't have anything to grip and to hold on to you know it's not a choice of one or the other it's both and i thank god that in this church i want to tell you that you have a right to experience the joy and the love and the peace not just know about it not just be able to point it out not just to be able to memorize it or to teach it but to experience it because if we aren't we are living poor we are living poor but let's be practical what are what are some indicators that we need in our lives to know that we are praying this prayer and seeking in a right way first of all are you regular in seeking this are you sustained in your prayers to ask god to reveal his love to you in this way have you even prayed about this did you pray about it when you were studying it did it move you just like paul's praying he's like almost beyond words trying to describe the love of god and he's saying that you may grip it and that you may know it did you pray about that did you know that it it's there that it's available to you more than you've experienced you know it is dangerous to spend a lot of time talking about feelings but you know what hudson taylor was one of the great missionaries of our time used to pray this little prayer every day it was found in his journal he says oh jesus make yourself to me a living bright reality this was a man who knew faith who saw miracles who established orphanages and loved god but every day he prayed jesus would be real to him isn't that amazing did he not know that jesus was real of course he knew he knew but he wanted to know and that's what i want you to experience as well in your christian life i want you to know that you know that if everything in this world were suddenly taken from you that you would still be rich that you would still be secure that you would still be loved that god's love would be more than enough for you second of all there's there's an aspect of this that i think is really important you know we want feelings we want like dl moody to be able to say oh god i just can't take more of this this is so good this is so wonderful stay your hand but at the same time in our lives are we living compromised lives and this is a real a real problem in the in the church that you know we want come to church and we sing about the love of god and you know we are moved on a very superficial level emotionally by some of the songs we sing because when we walk out these doors we know the reality in our lives that we are doing things that god has told us not to do and it's not that you fall and stumble in sin because we all do and uh john in his epistle tells us if we say we have no sin that we deceive ourselves and the truth isn't in us and that we all stand we need to acknowledge that but are you habitual in your sin are you even struggling in areas or have you so totally compartmentalized your life you say god this is your spot right here but that closet that i have behind those closed doors that's all mine are you doing something are you holding on to something that you need to repent of and ask god to give you strength to resist and have victory in that area are you have you just laid down your arms and you're not even trying any longer jesus says if you love me and if you want to love me keep my commandments paul says i'm kneeling and kneeling is a form of prayer but kneeling is also a form of submission right you know when we we pray the lord's prayer we pray our father who art in heaven and i think in our our post-modern 21st century thinking fathers well we think of fathers and this is a right thought too but it's only one side of the coin that fathers should be loving and nurturing and cuddling and protecting and providing and warm and fuzzy and yes fathers should have that sweetness with their children but fathers also should have authority and if we are kneeling before our heavenly father and asking him we need to submit our entire lives to him i will obey you i will obey your word unconditionally i will do my best i will struggle against sin and if you know you're doing something that isn't right and your attitude is like that britney spears song whoops i did it again it's like whoops so i just did it again oh i did it again oh i shouldn't do that i really shouldn't do that but you know i did it again i'm really sorry god i did it again and you just have no conviction about it and you have no plans to really attack it and forsake it it's almost like you're trying to fill a bucket with water and you've punched holes in it how can you know the love of god it's like you're not going to be able to grip it you're not going to be able to grasp it's going to just flow right through your fingers like a sieve let's fill that bucket the right way let's plug up those holes let's repent of those sins and lastly let's do this together with all the saints let's do this in community as paul says that you would grasp with all the saints you can't do this on your own let's let iron sharpen iron in our small groups let's talk about the love of god let's share the things that he's showing us let's experience these things you know i love to exercise with someone who's stronger than i am you know i love to work out with someone who's just that little bit better than i am and it spurs me on and in the christian life in your small groups let's spur each other on to know god in a deeper and more profound way let's serve him more devotedly let's be more tenacious in our devotions and in our sharing of our faith let's let's spur each other on let's do this together let's be deeply involved with one another let's not just show up and leave so what do we do let's be practical how do we do this how do we grasp his love how do we lay hold of it better and we know we we need truth we need doctrine we need what the scriptures say but we need to pray about it right we need to make it a point of prayer do you want to know his love more fully are you just here for a you know an academic exercise are you here because you know you just want to learn more stuff or do you really want to know the love of christ in your life then not only read your bible and not only pray about this but meditate on this and i'd like to do that with you right now we're going to do something just a little bit differently i'm going to call the worship team back out here and i'm going to ask that they would dim the lights in the sanctuary and i'm going to ask you to set aside your pens and your notebooks and your lessons and i want you to forget that there is someone sitting next to you and i want you to be alone with the lord for just a moment because his love is a personal love it's an intimate love and i want to lead you through a meditation [Music] of what we've seen in these verses how wide how wide is the love of god how wide is his love for you not for the person sitting next to you not for this group as a whole for you specifically how wide is his love for you i want you to think of every sin every thought every word every deed you've ever done that was wrong in all your life in every phase of your life from the time that you were aware that there was such a thing as as sin i want you to think about this [Music] see that mountain of sin how wide is the love of god for you [Music] all the secret sins the things you think no one knows about as greg has often said secret sin on earth is open scandal in heaven i want you to go to those dark places those closets and those places you've never never allowed your conscious thought to go to but know that they're there deep within your conscience and god has convicted you when you have ignored the knocking of the holy spirit do you remember in shakespeare's play macbeth lady macbeth who had murdered her husband had had been having nightmares she was psychologically being damaged by guilt and she would sleep walk and she would rub her hands together because she saw what no one else could see and that was that she had blood on her hands and she would say out damned spot and she couldn't get it out do you know what isaiah 1 18 says though your sins that mountain of sin be as scarlet as blood on your hands he has made you white as snow that's how wide the love of god is for you even if you've killed somebody his love is so wide it's so amazing i don't care who you are what you've done think of the thief on the cross in those last moments remember me when you come into your kingdom he hadn't done one good thing to atone for all the things he had done and yet he was going to the kingdom he was accepted he was loved the woman caught in the act of adultery the prodigal child who'd run from his father's home and wasted his wealth and gifts on riotous living and and he's returning to his father and his father throws his coat around him and puts a ring on his finger how wide is the love of god for you in your life come to him how long is the love of god how long has he loved you it is his love has been infinitely long and when did his love start when you became a christian now when you were born no when you were knit together in your mother's womb no longer back than that he put his love on you in the eons of time before time ever was and he'll never take it off of you ever not only is it stretched back before you were born but it stretches forward into the billions and trillions and quadrillions and on and on and on into eternity his love stretches in an endless line [Music] psalm 25 says remember the lord's tender mercies they have been from old and that word old means from everlasting from everlasting from ancient time always and permanently his love has been forever psalm 139 says before you were born before you were formed in the body all your days were ordained and written in his book before one of them came to be and jesus because of his love has given you eternal life and he has said no one will pluck you out of his hand do you know that are you secure in that love or do you feel every time you sin and every time you stumble you have to somehow atone for your own sin you know his love has been so long for you there's nothing that you could do nothing you can think nothing you can say that he hasn't already forgiven philippians 1 6 says i am convinced that the one who began a good work in you will complete it and bring it to completion on the day of jesus christ not that he may bring it to completion no he will do you have that kind of security in the abiding never changing never wavering endless love of god oh how deep is his love now without jesus christ love is just an abstract concept god could have sent you 60 volumes of books and on every page written on those books i love you deeply i love you deeply i love you deeply and you would have said oh that's nice but what does that mean but when you look at jesus on the cross and you see him hanging there bleeding and dying and you hear him crying out my god my god why have you forsaken me how deep is the love of god he went to hell for you he was thrown into the deepest pit that there ever was and he went willingly and he went down and he went down and he went down and he went down for three hours of silence on that cross he suffered an eternity of hells he suffered hell for every one of us how deep is the love of god and how high is god's love god's love is so high it is so high in john 17 he says father praying for us he says i will that they be with me and that they may behold my glory which you have given me for you have loved me from the foundation of the world oh ladies your destiny your destination is so high it is so high eternal in the heavens his love for you john in first john 3 2 it says beloved now we are the children of god and it has not been revealed what we shall be but we know that when he is revealed that we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is do you remember jesus on the mount of transfiguration that his clothes were shining like lightning and his face was like the countenance of the sun and jesus is saying you're to behold my glory and you're going to become part of that glory how high is the love of god he's going to give you infallible joy that has filled his heart when he has thought of you from all eternity he's going to show us his glory and he's going to give us that glory the glory the father the son and the holy spirit enjoyed before the world was made can you think of anything higher than that are you are you at all moved as we've just taken these few brief moments by the love of god for you specifically i hope you are if you are that is the holy spirit of god strengthening you in your inner man allowing you to grip the love of christ for you that is his holy spirit [Music] and then paul writes now unto him who was able to do immeasurably more than i could ask or think or we could ask or imagine according to his power that is working in us to him be glory in the church and in jesus christ throughout all generations forever and ever amen our father we do sense your spirit moving in our midst here as we've been meditating upon your word and we've just spent these last few moments meditating on how the gospel of your love is infinitely long infinitely wide infinitely deep and infinitely high for us and as we think about that we sense your spirit's power changing changing our perspective on ourselves and on the world in which we live and on our circumstances we feel safer we feel more loved we want to live differently we want to be filled with your fullness and we pray the same prayer for ourselves that paul prayed for these ephesian believers and for all believers that we would glorify you and that we would grip this truth in our lives and experience it for ourselves and we ask it in jesus name amen

Channel: Harvest Virtue

Views: 134

Rating: 5 out of 5

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Id: ER4u3hwMbCk

Length: 48min 33sec (2913 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 26 2021