Do You Have Expectation? - Tim Conway

Ephesians 3 will be
the portion of Scripture

we'll be looking at this morning.

You can look with me at chapter 3:14.

I might entitle this sermon,

"Expectation."

To those of you that are weary,

maybe heavy-laden,

to borrow a couple Scriptural terms;

Hebrews - you've got the imagery

of somebody's whose arms

are hanging down.

We ought to pray and not faint.

Maybe some feel faint.

Anyway, this message is to the weary,

the distracted.

I'm calling it "Expectation."

Let's look at the verses,

3:14, "For this reason

I bow my knees before the Father..."

Just a reminder,

Paul is telling the Ephesians

about how he prays for them.

"For this reason I bow my
knees before the Father."

That's prayer.

"...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,

so that Christ may dwell in
your hearts through faith."

Literally, "so that Christ may dwell

in your hearts through faith

in love being rooted and grounded,

that you 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."

So let's just think about this a second.

Notice, I want to
primarily dive into v. 18.

That's the primary text I want us

to be absorbed with.

I'll pull in the surrounding verses

as may be necessary.

But you notice,

breadth - that's got to do with the width.

Length, height, depth.

We've got dimensions
that are called out here.

Some would argue

about what breadth and length

and height and depth refers to.

And even before preparing
to preach on this,

I've come across that in the past.

Some suggest these words

do not refer to the love of Christ,

but to something else.

Because in their estimation, Paul doesn't

directly say that these words apply

to the love of Christ.

But my question would be,

well, what then do they refer to?

I mean, if you just look at the context,

what are the other options?

What's right before it?

"Being rooted and grounded in love."

And as I sought to make
the case last time,

certainly, our own love

doesn't make a good foundation.

The foundation we want to be planted on

is the love of Christ.

And then if you go after,

you go into the following verse 19,

"...and to know the love of Christ."

Now, I recognize that
the way Paul says this

is a little odd.

But, think about it,
what's he praying for?

He's praying that we would have strength

to comprehend something.

Well, just in the context,

what would we need strength to comprehend?

The love of Christ surpasses knowledge.

That's the thing being put on the table

that is so difficult

and takes a supernatural strengthening

to comprehend.

So, I think you're just left
with no other options

and I don't really know why anybody

would want to waste their time

arguing about that.

But now, you notice,

he wants us to comprehend and to know.

You can basically take that "and"

at the beginning of v. 19 -

you know, the height, the length,

or the breadth, the length,

the height, the depth -

that's kind of additional information.

Those are modifiers in there.

Basically what he's saying is this:

he's praying that we with all the saints

would have the strength to comprehend,

and then after that, just take that out.

Everything else in there is a modifier.

But it's to comprehend,

and - you have that "and" right there,

that conjuntion at the beginning of v. 19,

"and to know..."

It's to be strengthened to comprehend

and to know something

that he then immediately turns around

and says is incomprehensible

and unknowable.

Almost contractory.

What sort of talk is that?

I'll tell you this,

it's the sort of talk

that people who are going to live forever

want to hear.

You say, what do you mean?

Well, it means that our Christian life

all through eternity is never
going to reach stagnation.

That's a good thing!

That's a good thing for you to know.

If the love of Christ was something

that we might easily measure

and get our hands around

and get an adequate estimation of,

what?

Then we'd be done.

I mean, if I brought out my tape measure

and I measured it,

and it's 24 inches long,

well, that's it.

I mean, that's it. We sized it up.

There it is. There's no more. Now what?

I mean, you know, as
I was thinking about this,

just the ideas that are put in the mind.

This comes from the theology

taught by Bugs Bunny.

You know, as a kid,

you watch people die and they float up

and they sit on a cloud.

Yosemite Sam - he's still angry,

and he's up there and he's got the harp.

And you know, you
get that kind of imagery.

Well, that idea of heaven is like:

I don't want to go there!

That's like miserable.

This idea of just sitting on a cloud

and that's it. Is that heavenly?

In some people's minds I suppose.

But listen, we are people -

you know it -

we are born to worship.

We are born to admire.

We love that.

We love being impressed.

I was just talking to a brother yesterday,

and he was telling me in his lost days

how he was really
absorbed with horror movies.

Well, you know, that
ought not to shock us.

Many of us, when we were lost,

we were absorbed with that kind of thing.

And even though it's the kind of thing

where you didn't really want to sometimes

because it left horrible nightmares

and thoughts in your mind,

but there was something attractive.

Why? Because we like to feel emotions.

We like to feel.

We're created that way.

God created us to worship

and you know this very well.

If we're not worshiping God,

we are master idolaters

and we're going to find
all manner of things.

We love to be wowed.

We love that!

And listen, if you could bring
out the tape measure

and it's like: there it is!

That's it. That's done.

Can you imagine?

You size it up in this life.

That's all there is.

We've basically experienced
the fullness of it,

now we got to glory and what?

Same old thing?

No, that's not the way it is.

See, this thing can never be reached.

This thing has no limits to it.

It's way beyond our comprehension

every time - both now

and far out into eternity.

You think about that.

When you've been in glory

for 10 billion - not years -

10 billions ages,

the beauty is it's still beyond knowledge.

All knowledge!

Not God's knowledge, but
all of our knowledge.

All the knowledge of angels,

all the knowledge of men.

Even eternal knowledge.

There's always more to explore.

I mean, the very mountain
peak of this love -

who's tread there? Who lives there?

Not you. Not me. Not the angels.

We'll never get there.

That's the beauty!

It's like we're climbing this mountain

and Paul's praying:

Go up! Climb higher! Climb higher!

Even though he knows we
can never reach the top.

Why? Because going up it is glorious!

And you don't want it to have an end.

Because even if we said,

well, 10 billion ages out,

we're going to get there.

You plant the flag on top.

And here we are.

We made it to the moon

or we made it to the top of Everest.

And now what? You look around.

Man always wants to go higher.

And you know that.

Why? Because it's like the horror movies.

You know, you watch a certain one

and it's like terrifying,
but the next time,

you need it scarier.

We always are looking
for something bigger,

something beyond,
something more impressive.

The picture I had in my mind,

you know those little plastic rulers.

Home schoolers - yes, of course you do.

You know the little plastic rulers

that little kids have.

And the thing is,

we're like little children

with this little plastic ruler.

And we're trying to measure this thing.

And Paul's saying - he's praying

that we'd pull out the Hubble telescope.

But you know how it is
with the telescopes.

Every time the new and
latest version comes out

and man peers out into the universe,

he thinks, this is it.

Isn't it amazing?

Man always thinks whatever
measuring device he has,

that's the limit.

And now we see it.

The universe is this big.

But then they get the bigger telescope

and they look out there and
they say, okay, we were wrong.

Now it's this big.

Well, see, that's the thing.

The limit is with us.

And it's like Paul wants us

to put away our little ruler,

and he wants us to take
out the Hubble telescope

and start measuring this thing.

But even then, how far have we gone?

With the Hubble telescope,

how far do you think we've really seen?

Because you know this,

they're going to put up another one

this year or next year.

And then what we're going to see

is going to blow our minds all the more.

This is how this is.

Now, I really want to stop at this point.

And I want to press home a reality here.

Because I called this
message "Expectation."

We're talking about the love of Christ.

I'm talking about the
heart of Christianity.

I'm talking about the thing
that makes it worthwhile

to be a Christian.

You say, I thought the thing
that made it worthwhile

was the fact that we got to escape hell.

That's just the negative.

That's not the primary glory.

When Jesus summed up eternal life,

what did He say?

He didn't say it's to miss hell.

It's to know. And that's
what we have here.

To know the love of Christ

which surpasses knowledge.

It's to know the true and the living God

and the Christ Whom He has sent.

But I want to stop here

and just point something out.

Paul is not telling us
to do anything here.

Yes, I recognize

that when it comes to
the word "comprehend,"

"know," - we can deduce things

that we can be about

to increase our comprehension

and to increase our knowledge.

I recognize that.

I recognize that you can deduce

something we should do,

but you need to recognize

that Paul isn't telling us to do anything.

Paul is praying for us.

He's asking God the Father

to make something happen.

He's not just praying;

this is an inspired prayer.

God is being prayed to,

but it's God Himself Who
is moving upon Paul

to pray this way.

And I want you to feel this.

Now look, Friday,

my air conditioner was making

this horrendous noise.

All through the week,

the pounding in the attic

became more and more violent.

And walking by the air return,

such noises were coming through there

that I recognized, okay,

I better go deal with this.

And when I opened it up,

I found the blower motor was busted.

The squirrel cage fan was busted.

So I took them out and we haven't had

air conditioning since then.

I know this is a lowly illustration,

but I want to try to bring
something out here.

My air conditioner - it's broken.

I ran over to Grainger, OEM Motors,

I couldn't get it there.

So, David Luciano works for

John Wayne Air Conditioning.

And so, I looked into them.

I had them come out and give me a quote.

The main reason I had them come

give me a quote

is because David works there.

And he thought that perhaps

he could get a discount for me

because I'm his pastor.

Now, I want to use this example

and I want to focus in
on level of expectation.

Just think with me here

because I'm going somewhere with this.

If David didn't work there

and I still thought, okay,

I'm going to call John Wayne.

I'm going to get a quote from them.

What would my expectation level be

of getting a good deal?

Getting a discount?

Low. Very low.

But the thing is, to have somebody

that I know has an "in"

and is going to plead my case?

What happens to your expectation?

It goes up. And it is.

I'm like what can David do for me?

So, yes, it goes up.

But, if I heard that the
owner of the company

personally came to David

and he told David,

"David..." David communicated this to me

when I was asking about this.

If he would have said,

hey, you know what?

My boss - the guy that owns the company -

actually came to me six months ago

and he told me

that he has a real burden for pastors,

and he especially wants
to try to help pastors.

And he instructed David,

"Make sure if your pastor ever has a need,

I'm determined to help him."

Now, if I heard that,

what do you think would
happen to my expectation?

It'd go up.

But if even more than that,

the owner of John Wayne said,

"David, I want you to know this,

that if your pastor ever needs help,

I'm going to help him according

to the riches of the glory of my company

and my wealth.

And David, if you ever have to come to me

and ask me for help for your pastor,

I want you to ask me

and remind me of that very reality

that I told you,

I encouraged you to come ask me

that way - according to these riches."

And then, my expectation

is going to go even higher.

But if on top of all that, I found out

the guy that owns this thing

is a billionaire,

and the riches of his glory are untold,

unfathomable - what then?

See, you have to recognize this.

Paul isn't just praying this.

Paul's under inspiration.

God told him,

"Paul, pray this way,

and I want you to plead

the riches of My glory.

I want you to do that.

Paul, when you see that God's people

need to have their perception

and comprehension

of the love of My Son to them increased,

I want you to ask Me on their behalf.

Paul, I'm inspiring you

to come and plead based on

the riches of My glory.

Do not come and ask less than that."

You see what I'm driving at here?

Brethren, in the weeks ahead,

I want to explore the love of Christ.

But I know this, if we attempt to look

in these coming weeks -

we look and admire - we attempt to -

and delve into the love of Christ,

and you know what?

If six months from now it's like

you don't even remember
what I was preaching on

back in June,

you're left unaffected,

you're left dry,

you're left still feeling
like "I need revival,"

you're left distant, you're left cold,

you're left calloused,

you're left unmoved -

you know what?

That would be like a billionaire

promising the most astounding
air conditioning system

that money could buy -

something so magnificent

as to give expression to the glory

of his riches and the
glory of his kindness,

but in the end I'm left
feeling unimpressed.

I'm left with a unit out there

that's unimpressive and average.

You know what?

It's unimpressive and average

when we talk about the love of Christ

for people to yawn;

for people to think about

what they're doing in the afternoon.

It's unimpressive and average

for our church to look

at the love of Christ
over a number of weeks

and then determine that movies are better.

That's unimpressive.

What I'm saying here is,

look, if God Himself said,

"Paul, I want you to pray

according to the riches of My glory

for them to be strengthened to comprehend

the love of Christ,"

does that sound unimpressive and average?

And see, this is an appeal to God.

If I said, well, you know
what this is really about;

you know what Paul's teaching here.

Paul's teaching that we
really have to strive.

Now, I'm not saying that
we shouldn't really strive.

We do need to really strive,

but that's not the point of the text.

The point of the text

is that God is being appealed to

to give us according to
the riches of His glory.

And you know what?

If people are going to prefer sports,

or they're going to prefer the movie,

or they're going to prefer their hobby,

or they're going to
prefer some other thing,

the truth is that's normal.

That's man left to his own strength.

Is that an indication of the riches

of the glory of God to comprehend

much more the dimensions
of the love of Christ?

I mean, certainly, we would expect

something impressive and life-changing.

Listen!

If God answers this prayer,

what would you expect?

What are your expectations?

You say, "I don't really have any."

I'm saying look at this prayer

and have an expectation!

Listen! If God is telling Paul

to pray for you

and to pray not some meager little thing,

but to ask God and beseech Him,

"Father, according to the
riches of Your glory,

make this happen."

I would expect more

than four weeks down the road here,

we're all basically unaffected.

Well, we're just the same as we were

four weeks ago or six weeks ago.

Because then that's like,

"Father, why? Why did You put this here?"

We may say, well, we didn't pray it.

Well, I've been praying it.

And I'll continue to pray it.

And Paul prayed it.

I mean if we get down the
road and that happens,

Lord, why would You stir Paul to pray

this way and in inspired fashion,

unless You truly mean to give us

what's being talked about here?

This is a prayer for God to do something.

It's in the song.

We're praying, "God, revive us again."

This is the heart of revival.

This is where it is.

It always has been.

When revival comes, what is it

that happens to God's people?

There's an awareness of God.

There is an awareness

of His love for His people.

Will you be content, brethren,

to be unmoved?

To be untouched?

To not be strengthened?

I would say God forbid

that that should happen.

You know what? You know
what came to my mind?

I read in Scripture

that the heavens - the heavens -

we are told in Psalm 8,

it is the work of God's finger.

I asked myself this question:

Does that sound like it exhausted

the riches of God's glory

when it's the work of His finger?

Oh, it declares His handiwork.

It declares something of His glory.

But it's the work of His finger.

When I hear "according to
the riches of His glory,"

to me, that sounds bigger.

If I went in my backyard

and I did some work with my fingers,

does that reflect the riches

of the glory of who I am?

Paul wasn't asking that we be strengthened

according to the work of God's finger,

but asking to be strengthened

according to the entire
riches of God's glory.

That makes me think something greater

than the universe.

This really ought to
give us an expectation

that God will do something.

I have it.

Shall we be content to be confronted

with all of this?

Are you content to just remain unchanged?

Listen, you may be weary

and you may be heavy-laden,

you may be tired, exhausted,

your arms may be hanging down,

you may be discouraged,

depressed,

but is there an ache?

Are you just willing to
be content with that?

Or can you look at a promise

and does the Spirit of God
give you some hope?

Yes. Yes, there is a promise here.

What I want you to do

is I want you to have
your expectations raised.

Like, Lord, if You said this, You mean it.

And I'm going to hold You to it.

And I'm going to keep
reminding You of this

until I get this.

I mean, what do you think
God wants us to think

when the riches of His glory

are put on the table

as the ground of all this?

You think He wants you to be content?

You should ask yourself that question.

I would say no.

If we get a month down the road

and basically nothing happens -

we can't even remember
what was preached,

what shall we say?

I mean, yes, we can say

the problem is with us.

Yes, we can say that.

I mean, brethren, that is exactly

what Paul is praying about here.

We're weak.

And we need to be stregthened.

I recognize the probelm's with us.

I recognize the problem
lies in our weakness.

But you see, that's the very thing

Paul is praying

is that our weakness
would be strengthened.

Yes, our weakness is the issue.

But the expectation is that God

will do something to
overcome our weakness.

Are you feeling lethargic?

Yes, but that's why you need strength.

Or do you feel like you need revival? Yes.

Do you feel cold?

Listen, maybe some of you are

kind of riding a high spot
in your Christian life,

but listen, wherever you're at,

there's infinite depths to explore

beyond where you are.

You don't want to be content.

Not at all.

This is the prayer.

He will intervene and come

and strike power into our weakness

and give us comprehension at a level

that we would otherwise never have

if He doesn't come and deal with us

according to the riches of His glory.

That's the issue.

Yes, we're weak.

Yes, we're perhaps dull.

We're forgetful.

Oh, we are forgetful.

Because you know what?

I've had past seasons in my Christian life

that were wonderful, that were glorious,

and that were up there on the plateau.

But I know two things,

one, we're very forgetful -

we forget about how glorious it was -

but two, we don't live too well

on yesterday's manna.

We don't live well on yesterday's revival.

We need it today.
We need fresh things today.

Yes, we're slow.

Yes, we're far too content
to spend our time

in the lowlands

paddling around the edges of the ocean

when there's such things to be discovered

that we've never imagined.

The question is this:

I ask you, do you expect God

to help us?

To come and empower?

Do you embrace this with a determination

to have God do what He undoubtedly

is promising to do?

He wouldn't have put this prayer

in His Word if it wasn't His desire

to give us a hope that He intends to do

something with regards to it.

Now, look at verse 18.

Do you see the word "comprehend?"

"That you may have strength

to comprehend with all the saints

what is the breadth and length

and height and depth..."

The word "comprehend,"

like I said before,

in an off-handed way, he's praying

that the Spirit would strengthen us

so that we might comprehend.

Obviously, we are not left in a place

where we're just passive.

This implies something.

But he's praying that the Spirit of God

would so blow upon the people of God

that we would be strengthened
for this to happen.

Comprehend. What's the word?

It has a prefix: kata,

which brings intensity to it.

It's to grasp with force.

To comprehend.

To lay hold of.

The idea here is to seize,

to acquire with significant effort.

So let's try to grasp Christ's love

with an effort that at least

looks somewhat significant.

We know.

"Work out your salvation
with fear and trembling."

And on the other side of the coin,

"it's God Who works in us

both to will and to do
of His good pleasure."

We can trust God to do this,

but we need to be putting ourselves

in the place for this to happen.

(Iincomplete thought)

Charles Leiter -

this undoubtedly is in one of his books,

but I just remember him telling me

about how Mona visited

some of these Welsh folks

where Martyn Lloyd-Jones used to vacation.

And they lived in this farm.

They got their power from water

that flowed off the mountain

and turned a generator.

They got their power,

but sometimes their power would go out.

What would happen?

Well, limbs and garbage

would collect in there.

And right before the generator

was a screen,

and so this stuff would come down

pushed by the torrent of water

and it would collect
there on this grating.

And if it impeded the flow?

No power. No electricity.

No flow beyond that point.

And so they'd have to go
out and pull the stuff off.

Charles talks about that

as being a good illustration

of the Christian life -

keeping those channels open.

There's things that clog the screen.

Putting ourselves in an optimal position

to be visited by the Lord.

Perhaps there's things in your life

that you know they're impeding the flow;

they're grieving the Spirit;

they're quenching the Spirit.

James just this morning

was telling me about a covenant -

reminding me - he'd told me before,

that he made concerning

a certain thing in his life.

Brother Craig just the other day

was talking about earlier back in January

just making a determination
about something.

You know, some of us -

and I've been at those points -

where it's just like you get
aggravated with something

and you recognize it's impeded

your Christian life long enough.

And you say no more!

I don't want that anymore!

Lord, I'm done with it.

For good.

You want to be careful

when you begin to make
vows before the Lord.

Be careful.

But I know that.

I know that inner feeling

when you've had it with something

that has been a distraction
to you for too long.

What is it? What's impeding?

See, we want to put ourselves

in the place where God is

most likely to break through.

We don't want to be grieving Him.

We want to try to
comprehend the love of Christ.

Get the distractions out.

If you really want to climb this mountain,

because this is what
will fuel everything -

you're rooted and grounded in this love.

You're overcome by this.

I remember years ago
when I preached on this,

and I think I got this
actually from something

John Piper said.

But you know, when you're filled

with the fullness of God

and you're overwhelmed
by the love of Christ for you,

you don't easily go out

and have sex with your neighbor's wife.

That might be an
exaggerated way to put it,

but you get the reality.

You don't easily go have an argument

with your own wife.

You don't easily just go off into sin.

Because there is something
about the love of Christ

that is compelling and constraining.

It constrains us.

It's hard to be melted by the kind of love

we're going to look at in the weeks ahead

and then just to say,

you know, I think I'm
going to go get drunk.

Or, well, that's nice, but after all,

"Lord of the Rings" is better than that.

You don't do that.

This love of Christ has an influence.

Well, I'm going to give
you some examples here

just to kind of prime the pump.

But before I give you some of those,

the Song of Solomon -

this came up Friday night.

Somebody said - Zach said,

Song of Solomon - allegory?

Oh, I think so.

Listen to the Song.

"Let Him kiss me

with the kisses of His mouth,

for Your love is better than wine."

See, that's the thing.

His love is better.

Better than... you can fill in the blank.

But it's better.

It's not better if you
don't experience it.

If it's just theory,

if it's just dry doctrine,

there's a lot of things better than that.

If all we do is get into
dictionary definitions

of agape and phileo

and we start sorting through all that,

well, yeah, there's a lot of things

better than that study if all it is

is dry academics.

"Your love is better than wine."

People talk that way

when they're being
overwhelmed by that love.

Not just when it's a theory.

Not when you open the textbook

and it's like, okay, today we're going to

study agape love.

That's not what people mean

when they say,

oh, their love is better than wine.

And you just think about Jesus coming

and what in the world was He trying to say

to the world

when His first miracle

was actually to turn water into wine?

It speaks something of this Christ.

The question is this:

Can you say that to the Lord?

Your love is better than wine,

or whatever else you want
to fill in to the blank.

I mean the real question is

how much do we know of this?

Is this real to you?

Has it ever been real to you?

When's the last time you
felt your heart quickened?

Oh, I know, there's been seasons

longer and shorter.

I know what it is to be
studying the Word of God,

and I'll tell you this,

you want to put yourself
in the right position

to be overwhelmed?

You want to get the
garbage off the grating?

Then exchange a lot of things
that you do in your life

for getting into the Scriptures

more often and more deeply.

One of the things that we all
need to recognize is this:

Paul does not offer
this prayer in a vacuum.

Do you recognize that the people

that were listening to this

heard chapter 1 and chapter 2

just moments before this?

God's people typically

almost always,

they're overwhelmed by expressions

of the love of God

while meditating deeply in the Word.

And if you think about this,

chapter 1 and the beginning of chapter 2

is largely about the love of the Father.

It's really going through chapter 2 -

Ephesians 2, as you move

through this chapter,

it's really about verse 13

where the love of Christ comes in.

That doesn't mean that nothing's said

about Christ before this.

There's lots of references to Christ,

but it's mainly what the Father is doing.

It's here where we're brought near

by the blood of Christ.

He shed His blood.

He Himself - that's Christ - is our peace.

Christ has made us -
Jew and Gentiles - both one.

Christ has broken down in His flesh

the dividing wall of hostility.

Christ has abolished the
law of commandments

expressed in ordinances.

Christ creates in Himself

one new man in place of the two.

Christ makes peace.

Christ reconciles us both to God

in one body through the cross.

Christ kills the hostility.

Christ came and preached peace.

V. 18, through Christ

we have access in one Spirit

to the Father.

You see, this is what's been talked about.

What I find is this,

historically, when I find men and women

who have really, they're living

in a sense of the riches,

their minds are being strengthened.

These little rulers?

They're our brains.

If you're going to
exchange that little ruler

for the Hubble telescope,

that's your brain.

That's comprehension.

That's what's being talked about here.

Comprehension.

Paul prays this prayer

after he's been telling us

these expressions of the love of Christ.

It doesn't come in a vacuum.

It comes in Scripture.

If you are neglecting Scripture

and continue neglecting Scripture,

you're giving a great indication

that you really have no desire for this.

You can't say,

God, please, I bend my
knee before the Father

to ask You, please Father,

according to the riches of Your glory,

please strengthen this church.

And then if the church goes on

no more committed to Scripture,

then we're not really taking this serious.

Look, I'm not talking about in theory

knowing that Christ loves His people.

Or even in theory,
trying to convince yourself

Christ loves you.

That's not it.

I know this.

I know that some of the greatest

expressions of God

speaking to my own soul -

I'm pondering Scripture; medidating on it,

and I recognize, when you're preaching

week in and week out,

speaking Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday,

and in the Word all the time -

I recognize that if you're preaching,

you have an advantage
for being in the Word.

There was a time when I wasn't a preacher.

And I know that you can
stay in the Word regularly.

You can be in it a half hour,

45 minutes, or an hour every single day.

And you should be.

There's been times when I've been sitting

in my office and I'm looking,

and suddenly,

something happens.

I mean, I am overcome

by suddenly as the truth of something,

I'm beginning to realize it,

it's as though the Spirit of God

just pours the reality, the riches,

the joy, the love of it

to where I can hardly contain it,

I have to fall out of my chair.

But see, the point is,

it's in connection with the Word.

It's in connection with the truth.

It's in connection with studying

the expressions of love.

See, this is the thing: love.

Love.

It was Peter Marshall -

you guys know who that was?

Scottish preacher.

He was actually in the Congress

as a chaplain.

But I think it was Peter Marshall

who said this, that love is like

the fragrance from a flower.

Who can dissect that?

Lloyd-Jones said all you can do

is say certain things about it.

That's just as far as you can go.

And typically when we talk about love,

we look at what it does.

I mean, we can try to talk about agape,

and we can try to define love,

but typically what you're left with

is what it does.

That's what impresses us about love.

What bowls me over and causes
me to fall out of my seat

is not some dry theory

about the different nuances

of the four Greek words

that could be interpreted love.

That's not it.

It's what He's done for me

who does not deserve any of it.

It's that personal -

we're not just talking about

comprehending that Christ is loving.

We're talking about
comprehending His love for you.

That's the issue.

Listen to this.

Thomas Charles.

This guy - a Welsh non-conformist.

He studied under John Newton.

He says, "I had such a view of Christ

as our High Priest..."

Now, you probably need
to stop right there.

That ought to tell you something.

He was meditating on Christ

as a High Priest.

He said, "I had such a view of Christ

as our High Priest, of His love,

compassion, power, all-sufficiency,

as filled my soul with astonishment,

with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

My mind was overwhelmed

and overpowered with amazement.

The truths exhibited..."
See, that's the thing.

Truth.

We're talking about experiences

buried in the truth of Scripture.

"The truths exhibited to my view appeared

too wonderfully gracious to be believed."

Howell Harris.

Another famous Welsh preacher

of the First Great Awakening.

Contemporary with Whitefield.

Daniel Rowland.

William Williams.

He says this,

"Love fell in showers on my soul

so that I could scarcely contain myself.

I had no fear or any
doubt of my salvation.

I felt I was all love.

So full of it that I could
not ask for more."

William Grimshaw.

Seems like James spoke to us -

gave us a biographical sketch on Grimshaw.

He was another Methodist contemporary

of John Wesley.

He says, "I expect my stay on earth

will be but short."

I think there was a typhus epidemic.

And he died one year older

than I am right now.

"I expect my stay on
earth will be but short,

and I will endeavor to make the best

of a short life

and so devote my soul to God

as not to go creeping to heaven

at the last."

Don't you like that?

May God help none of
us to creep into heaven.

Kevin, don't creep into heaven.

And even if your life is cut short,

live while you have life.

No creeping.

Church, don't creep!

"His soul at various times

enjoyed very large manifestations

of God's love.

His cup ran over.

Higher degrees of spiritual delight

would have overpowered his mortal frame."

George Whitefield.

"I myself was so overpowered

with a sense of God's love

that it almost took away my life."

Sarah Edwards.

"It seemed to be all that
my feeble soul could sustain.

All that fullness of joy

which is felt by those who behold

the face of Christ and share His love

in the heavenly world."

Moody Stewart.

Christian from the 1800's.

I couldn't find out much on him.

"When we were on our knees,

I was so filled with a
sense of the love of God

that the joy was too much for me.

It was all that I was able to bear,

and it was with a struggle

that I did not sink under it.

It was a gracious outflowing

of the love of the Lord Jesus

making His servant sick of love."

You say, "sick of love?"

That's an expression from
the Song of Solomon.

Sick of love.

May God according to
the riches of His glory

teach you what that expression means.

John Owen.

"To give a poor, sinful soul

a comfortable persuasion

affecting it throughout

in all its faculties and affections

that God in Jesus Christ loves him,

delights in him,

is well pleased with him,

have thoughts of tenderness
and kindness towards him,

to give a soul an overflowing sense hereof

is an inexpressible mercy."

And it may be.

But inexpressible mercies in my estimation

are right in league with:

according to the riches of His glory.

D.L. Moody. Chicago.

Actually, on this day,
he was in New York City.

"Day and night he would walk the streets

desperate for the touch of
God's power in his life,

then suddenly, one day
in the city of New York,

oh, what a day!

I cannot describe it.

I seldom refer to it.

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."

You know what Lloyd-Jones
said about all this?

He said above all,

you have to experience it.

Because hearing these,

I don't know about you,

but if you all came in and said,

"God has taught us, brother.

God has taught us. God came.

There's a revival in the church.

What you asked for that
Sunday there in June,

that God would teach us what it means

to be sick of love,

He's taught me."

And if all of you said it,

and God passed me by...

I know Scripture says rejoice
with those who rejoice,

but I can tell you, I would weep.

And I would go out of here weeping.

Because the truth is

that love experienced by others

does not satisfy your soul.

And God doesn't intend it to.

What does it say in Jude
about the love of God?

"Keep yourself in the love of God."

That doesn't mean keep yourself saved.

Like Andy Hamilton says,

keeping yourself in a sensible sense

of God's love for you.

What foolish people we are

in light of these kinds of realities

to be content.

Our foolishness is found
in our contentment

with the things of this world.

You know what? It is really foolish

to be content to be an average Christian

when there's promises like this.

Now, I'll say this,

experiencing deeper and deeper

and deeper revelations
of the love of Christ

is being prayed for.

It ought to raise your expectation.

And listen, it's for all Christians.

Not all people - don't get me wrong there.

It's for all Christians.

Look at verse 18.
It couldn't be more clear.

"That you may have
strength to comprehend,"

with who?

"All the saints."

Not the particularly godly ones.

Not the early first century Christians.

Not the apostles.

That's not what it says.

It's all saints.

Look, of course, the man

who is not a Christian

can't experience these things.

Why?

Jesus Himself said His Father

was going to send another Comforter -

the Spirit of Truth -

Whom the world cannot receive.

You see, the world
can't receive the Spirit.

The Spirit is the One that Paul is praying

would strengthen us

that Christ may dwell in our hearts

by faith.

Strenthen us to comprehend.

They don't have that.

But if you're a saint,

you could be the least -

Jesus talked about those people, right?

The least of My brothers.

You can be the least,

but this is for you.

The least Christian can be brought in

and overwhelmed by a comprehension

of this love of Christ.

Brethren, is there an ache?

Is there a desire?

Is there anything in you that wants this?

Or are you just going to be content?

I'm praying, Lord, sick of love.

Teach us.

Men and women have walked before us.

They almost couldn't handle it.

Lord willing, in the weeks ahead,

I want to begin to look
into the depths of this

with whatever ability God gives to me.

We want to really start
thinking about His love.

Trying to grasp,

trying to get a feel,

trying to absorb the doctrine

and hopefully in the midst of that,

God is going to cause some expansion

in our comprehension

and in our knowledge

and in our experience.

I'm hoping for glory.

Father, please,

You've promised.

You've promised, Father,

and if we are six weeks, eight weeks

down the road and nothing happens

and it's just average

and it's unimpressive,

Father, You stirred Paul to pray

according to the riches of Your glory.

Father, will it not be a testimony

to the riches of Your glory

if nothing happens?

Father, by inspiring Paul to pray this way

have You not put Your
own name at stake here?

Are You going to leave us the same?

Lord, we recognize in this prayer

there's an acknowledgement
of our weakness.

Otherwise, we wouldn't
have to be strengthened.

It doesn't say we're already strong.

It said therefore we
should comprehend this

according to the strength that we have.

Paul's praying that we
would be strengthened

obviously because we
don't possess right now

what we should possess or need to possess,

must possess to be able
to grasp these things.

That means You have to give us something.

Lord, we know this, that even if we tried

and put forth our best effort

to not grieve the Spirit

and remove all the stuff on the grating,

to allow this power to flow,

Lord, if You don't come;
if You don't help;

if You don't enlarge;
if You don't speak;

if You don't give us comprehension;

if You don't stretch us,

then nothing will happen.

Lord, we need You.
We need You to help.

And we ask this in the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ

Whose love it is that we're taken up with.

Amen.