Paul’s Prayer For Enlightenment – Part 2
Ephesians - Live Like You Really Are
Chuck Sligh
June 10, 2012
POWERPOINT: There is a PowerPoint presentation for this sermon available by requesting it from me at chucksligh@hotmail.com.
TEXT: Ephesians 1:15-1:18 – Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, 16 Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; 17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: 18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.”
INTRODUCTION
I was saved when I was twelve years old, but in my teen years, between girls, cars and motorcycles, my relationship with the Lord was sometimes up, sometimes down. It was between my freshman and sophomore years in college that I totally surrendered to God in discipleship.
With that surrender came a renewed sense of guilt for sin. I found myself experiencing more doubts about my salvation than ever before. When I didn’t live up to God’s expectations; when I gave in to a besetting sin; when I failed to have the desire for spiritual things because of the weakness of the flesh, I kept asking myself: If I were really saved, would I do these things? And if I’m still struggling with them, then am I really saved? I prayed the “sinner’s prayer” a thousand times until I really understood what Paul prayed for the Ephesian believers to experience in verse 18.
Paul had listed all the blessings the believers had in Christ in verses 3-14. And yet he knew that they would never be able to truly enjoy them and harness them for godliness and good unless they were enlightened about some things. This prayer by Paul is a prayer for enlightenment, that they would understand these truths so that they would grow up in Christ and live up to their calling in Christ Jesus.
So he prayed for four things for them.
I. We saw that the first one was that the Ephesians would KNOW GOD MORE DEEPLY in verse 17 – That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him.”
Illus. – Em Griffin in the Mind Changers tells how a kindergarten teacher asked her class to draw something that was important to them. In the back of the room Johnny began to labor over his drawing. Everybody else finished and handed in their picture but he was still drawing. So the teacher asked, “Johnny, what are you drawing?”
He didn’t look up, but just kept on working feverishly at his picture.
“God,” he answered.
“But Johnny,” she said gently, “no one knows what God looks like.”
He answered, “They will when I’m through.”
The believers in Ephesus needed a more thorough knowledge of God and Christ, so He prayed that they would receive enlightenment about this knowledge. But not through their own intellect, but by “the spirit of wisdom and revelation,” which we saw meant understanding God more deeply through the revelation of God’s Word, the Bible, with the aid of the illumination of the Holy Spirit.
No need to preach that whole sermon again, so let’s go to the second part of Paul’s prayer.
II. THE SECOND THING HE PRAYED FOR WAS THAT THE EPHESIANS MIGHT KNOW THE HOPE OF GOD’S CALLING. – Verse 18a – “The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling…”
To understand this part of the prayer, we have to understand two words: hope and calling.
• In English, hope often means something you wish will happen, but you have no real assurance it ever will. A soldier might say, “I hope I make rank this time around”; or a child might say, “I hope I get a bike for Christmas”; or a student might say, “I hope I get an A on my final exam.”
In each of these examples, hope is used to express a desire for something that might or might not happen, based on different factors. Bible hope, though, carries with it the idea of absolute assurance for the future.
Hold that thought for a moment.…
• What is meant by God’s “calling” in this passage? God’s calling for believers is defined in 1 Peter 5:10 – “But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus…” In other words, believers are “called to eternal glory.”
The Bible teaches that God called a people—His people, the church—to save them; redeem them; give them all the rights of sonship; give them a glorious heavenly inheritance; to seal them with the Holy Spirit, and then to take them ALL THE WAY TO ETERNAL GLORY! Or as Ivor Powell put it in his commentary to the Ephesians, “The vocation or calling of Christ was to fulfill in time what had been planned for eternity. …Salvation would remain incomplete until the saints, clothed in the righteousness of the Lord stood forever in the presence of the Father.” [Ivor Powell, “The exciting Epistle to the Ephesians (Kregel Publications: Grand Rapids, 1989), 54.]
So why did Paul put these two words together in this prayer? He prayed that they would have a real assurance of their eventual destiny in glory according to God’s eternal plan.
Several other scriptures in the New Testament tie hope with God’s plan of redemption to save His people TO THE VERY END, all the way to eternal glory.
• Paul told Titus in Titus 3:7 – “That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” – Heirship in glory is tied to hope, that is, our assurance, of eternal life.
• Hebrews 6:17-19 talks of hope in strong, confident, assuring terms: “Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise [the heirs are believers and the promise is what awaits us in heaven] the immutability of his counsel [the Greek word here translated “counsel” here literally means “purpose” or “will,” so Paul’s saying that God’s purpose or will for His people is immutable; that is, it will never change!], confirmed it by an oath: 18 That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: 19 Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil.”
I know this passage is a little complicated, but he’s saying we can have absolute, rock-solid ASSURANCE that God will keep His promise to take us all the way to glory! This is not an “I hope so” type of hope, but an ASSURANCE that is “an anchor of the soul,” “sure,” and “steadfast.” God cannot lie and He keeps His promises and He never changes His mind about us. He will bring us ALL THE WAY to the shores of Jordan. That is our confidence; our assurance; our anchor; our HOPE.
• Peter says in 1 Peter 1:3-4, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you.” – Our hope here is the confidence that because of Jesus’s own resurrection, we too will be resurrected to our eternal destiny.
Hope is not only tied to the ultimate DESTINATION of believers, but also to the MEANS whereby God will bring us to our destination in eternal glory, that is, Christ’s rapture for believers in the Second Coming.
• Paul says in Titus 2:13 – “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ.”
• Turn with me to 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 where Paul contrasts the blessed hope of the believer with the despair of the lost.
He says in verse 13 – “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep [that is, believers who have died], that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.”
The person without Christ is without hope in death because he doesn’t know where his eternal destiny is. But Paul says that though believers experience sorrow over a brother or sister in Christ who dies, our sorrow is different from that of the lost. It’s laced with HOPE in the future resurrection!
Paul continues in verse 14: For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent [go before] them which are asleep [believers already dead]. 16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
THIS is Paul’s “blessed hope” of Titus 2:13: when Jesus will rapture those who are His and “so shall we ever be with the lord.” This is our “calling to eternal glory” as Peter put it.
Based on what Paul had just told the Corinthians about the blessed hope of the rapture of believers by Christ, Paul ends this passage with these words in verse 18 – “Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”
If you’re not saved this morning, these words should strike terror in your heart, for if you miss the rapture of Christ for believers, you’re doomed!
But if you’re a believer; these are comforting words because you have the blessed HOPE—the definite assurance and confidence—that Christ is coming for you to bring you to eternal glory.
1.
• There’s one more place where hope is tied to Christ’s rapture: 1 John 3:2-3 – “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
CONCLUSION
As always, we don’t want to use the Bible as a fact-book, but as a guidebook. What does God want you and me to learn from the truth of this verse?
• For the believer, I think Paul wants you to understand the “hope of God’s calling”?
Paul was praying that the Ephesians would experience the full assurance of their salvation.
Many people become believers in Christ and relish all the wonderful blessings in store for them—the things Paul talks about in the beginning of this chapter. There are remarkable changes in their lives and their hearts are changed, and they’re infused with a joy and a peace and a purpose they never knew before. But sooner or later, somewhere along the journey…they fail the Lord, or they sin, or they struggle with some sinful habit unsuccessfully. And before long, they start wrestling with the question, “Would a truly saved person do this or that sin I have done?” And that leads to the inevitable follow-up question: “Then am I really saved?”
You can know all about the blessings for the believer Paul talks about, but you’ll never really enjoy them as long as you’re anxious about whether or not you’re truly saved. You’ll find yourself “praying the sinner’s prayer” dozens of times, hoping one will finally stick, forgetting that a sinner’s prayer never saved anyone. You’ll find yourself going back to the starting line of the Christian race over and over again, instead of running the race to the finish.
Folks, you can never FINISH the race if you keep going back to the starting line!
Let me share with you an interesting insight: Did you know that there is not a SINGLE INSTANCE in ALL the New Testament of a believer who expresses the SLIGHTEST doubt he might not be saved at ANY point in his salvation experience. There is not one SINGLE case: Nada—Zilch—Zero examples. The Bible knows of no such thing as doubting one’s salvation.
Isn’t that strange?—So why do we doubt? There are several reasons, but mostly it’s because we’ve made a wrong assumption. We’ve made the assumption that our assurance is based on our performance. Therefore, when we’re close to God, when we’re manifesting a lot of spiritual fruit, when we’re not falling prey to sin…we have assurance.
But when we feel distant from God, which all believers will at times; when we don’t always have right priorities or producing fruit as we should; or when we fail God and give in to temptation…we lose our assurance. Our focus is INWARD, and thus our “hope” is inward; in ourselves; in what we do—not upward; not on Jesus, not in what HE did on the cross for us.
Although fruit and works can be a secondary, though less reliable and subjective indicator of one’s salvation, the only way to have FULL hope or assurance of your salvation is to get your eyes off yourself and trust in CHRIST and HIS promise. Paul didn’t pray that our spiritual eyes would become enlightened by the “hope of our FRUIT” or “the hope of our WORKS” but the hope of HIS CALLING. His calling is based on our response to God’s initial call to be saved.
In John 11:25-27, Jesus says to Martha at the tomb of her brother Lazarus: “…I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: 26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.”
Jesus makes the grounds of Martha’s assurance of her salvation HIMSELF and His promise to give her everlasting life on only ONE condition—that she believe [or trust] in Him.
So he asked her at the end of verse 26: “Believest thou this?” and in verse 27 we read, “She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.”
Now remember, Martha was already a follower of Jesus. I don’t see how His words to her were meant to SAVE her, but to reinforce her assurance of salvation. He was saying, “I am the ground of assurance; I am the resurrection and the life; believe in ME.” As the writer of Hebrews says, “Looking unto JESUS, the author and finisher of our faith.” (Hebrews 12:2)
Having doubts? Believe in JESUS.
Not sure you’re saved? Trust in JESUS.
Wondering if you’ve been righteous enough, or faithful enough or good enough or godly enough? Stop looking to yourself and rely on JESUS.
Believe in JESUS; Trust in JESUS; Rely in JESUS!
And that’s how I found assurance once and for all for my own salvation. Whenever I’m tempted to doubt my salvation, I don’t look at my works or my fruit or anything in myself in any way. I just rest in the promise of my Lord Jesus Christ who said, “he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” I just put my trust in Jesus and rest in His promise that I have eternal life. And I’ve gone almost 15 years without doubting my salvation. What a blessing to rest in my Jesus!
• Second, if you’re a seeker, not yet having crossed the threshold of giving your life to Christ, why don’t you answer God’s call to eternal glory?
Jesus calls to you in many places in Scripture:
In Matthew 11:28-30, He says, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” – Would you answer Christ’s call and come to Him to be saved?
In Revelation 22:17, Jesus calls you to Him: “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.”
Jesus died on the cross to save you, and He calls to you, so answer his call by coming to Him and trusting in Him alone to save you from your sin and give you eternal life.
