What Provoked Paul's Prayer?

In this part of the sermon: Martin introduces Ephesians 1:15-23 as the second major paragraph of the letter, a lengthy and complex sentence expressing Paul's burden of prayer. He reads the entire passage…

Martin argues that if the Holy Spirit gave profound concepts to first-century churches of 'plain folks,' then spiritual indolence is the only reason for us not to engage with them, implying that these truths are accessible and profitable for all believers.

It's a statement growing out of the apostles' burden of prayer, which has again, like the first paragraph, some of the most lofty, some of the most profound, some of the most mind-stretching, concepts to be found anywhere in the Word of God. And naturally, I would be reluctant to go through, as we have done with the first paragraph, phrase by phrase, verse by verse, if it were not for this deep-seated conviction that if the Holy Ghost saw fit to give these profound and lofty concepts to that first-century church comprised of slaves and people of the artisan class, congregations made up of prim...

0:48 - 2:15 Read in full sermon

Driving home: His praise was not the mere pouring forth of a white hot heart. We saw week by week that His praise was a white hot heart funneled through a clear head.

This metaphor describes Paul's praise and prayer as intense spiritual desire (white hot heart) guided by clear doctrinal understanding (clear head), emphasizing that Christian devotion is not merely emotional but also intellectual.

His praise was not the mere pouring forth of a white hot heart. We saw week by week that His praise was a white hot heart funneled through a clear head. And the great concepts of election, and predestination, and redemption, and divine wisdom, and inheritance, and the sealing of the Spirit, profound doctrinal concepts were poured through the Apostle's head by the pressure of a warm heart as he engaged in praise to God. So likewise, when we come to this paragraph of prayer, we do not find the Apostle simply pouring out his heart any old way in prayer for the people of God. There is the intenses...

4:15 - 5:15 Read in full sermon

The point: Pray with understanding, with a clear head and a constrained heart, as a pattern for prayer pleasing to God.

Martin recounts a man who claimed to pray for hours in tongues without knowing what he was praying, believing the Holy Spirit was praying through him. Martin uses this as a negative example to contrast with Paul's 'praying with understanding,' arguing against prayer divorced from conscious thought.

This then, I submit, is the basic structure of the paragraph, indicating once more that though the apostle is caught up in the spirit of prayer, he is not only praying in the spirit, he is praying with the understanding. And may I say, by way of a little aside, when people come and try to tantalize you with the great benefit of praying in tongues and saying, well, if you only knew what it's like to pray in tongues. One man said to me, I used to labor in prayer, but now I can pray for hours and though I don't know what I'm praying, I know that the Holy Spirit is praying through me. May I sugges...

7:18 - 8:29 Read in full sermon

The point: If prayer is difficult, begin by praising God for past mercies to provide incentive for present and future prayers.

He compares slow prayer to 'wheels grinding slowly' and suggests that praising God for past mercies can provide the 'incentive' to pray for present and future mercies, illustrating how gratitude fuels intercession.

So much then, for the general relationship between the first and the second paragraph, praise at what God has already done provokes him to pray that God will do more. And every Christian knows that this is true. If you find the wheels of prayer grinding slowly, begin to praise God for what He has done. And the contemplation of past mercies will provide incentive to lay hold of God for present and for future mercies.

8:30 - 9:01 Read in full sermon

The point: Examine your life for the two indispensable characteristics of faith and love as evidence of grace, if you profess to be a Christian and to be growing in grace.

Martin describes Paul's continued solicitous concern for the Ephesian church, formed by his own labors and tears, even after five years of absence. This illustrates the enduring pastoral heart of a true servant of Christ.

Approximately five years had transpired from Paul's last visit to the Ephesian church. Here was a body of believers which was formed as the fruit of his own labors, his tears, as he says in Acts 20, his preaching, his faithful pronouncements of divine truth publicly and in private. He's invested three years of his life in the formation of that assembly and in preaching the gospel in that geographical area. And if a man is a true servant of Christ who has preached with tears, who has labored with compassion, he cannot simply cut people out of his heart because God cuts them out of his life geog...

9:40 - 11:07 Read in full sermon

The point: Examine your life for the two indispensable characteristics of faith and love as evidence of grace, if you profess to be a Christian and to be growing in grace.

Martin imagines Paul asking specific questions about individual members ('how's brother so-and-so doing?') after receiving the report, illustrating the personal nature of pastoral care and concern for the spiritual well-being of the flock.

And it's interesting that the two things which the apostle singles out of the report, for I'm sure much more was contained in the report, and Paul had all kinds of questions, how's brother so-and-so doing, and how's sister so-and-so doing, and how's so-and-so doing in this one, he says after the report was given, the two things that stood out supremely in his mind, which convinced him that the grace of God was still operative there in the body of believers, are faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and love to all the saints. And it was these two things which in the apostles' thinking were the indisp...

11:08 - 12:35 Read in full sermon

The point: Examine your life for the two indispensable characteristics of faith and love as evidence of grace, if you profess to be a Christian and to be growing in grace.

Martin uses the acrostic 'Forsaking All, I Trust Him' (F-O-A-I-T-H) as a helpful definition of faith, illustrating the essence of wholehearted reliance on Christ alone.

I have little sympathy for acrostics. An acrostic is a thing in which you take a word, I don't know if Mr. Gerglis used an acrostic last, he talked to me about the possibility of using one, but I like the little acrostic with regard to faith. I find it one of the most helpful definitions of faith.

18:02 - 18:19 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Focusing on verse 15, Martin identifies 'faith in the Lord Jesus' as the first indispensable evidence of grace. He explains that 'Lord Jesus' signifies the uniqueness of Christ's…

He references the Galatian church, where Judaizers encouraged believers to add circumcision and ceremonial law to their trust in Christ. This illustrates the danger of moving from the posture of faith alone and the principle of grace.

And the Apostle Paul who when he was amongst them preached not only repentance toward God, but faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And when he hears five years later that they are continuing to forsake all other ground of acceptance and continuing to cling to Christ as He is revealed in the Gospel, he rejoices because he knows that grace and grace alone can bring a man to that point and grace and grace alone can keep him at that point. For you remember the whole problem at Galatia? People had been brought to that point, but now we're moving in another direction.

18:39 - 19:23 Read in full sermon

The point: Confess that your only hope of divine favor rests squarely upon the obedience and sufferings of the Lord Jesus, without equivocation.

Martin quotes John Brown (unidentified source) on the two leading principles of the Gospel: salvation entirely by Christ's doings/sufferings, and partaking of benefits entirely by believing. This quotation provides a concise and authoritative summary of the core of the Gospel.

Now do you see why I say this phrase brings us to the heart of the Gospel? John Brown in his commentary on Galatians 3 says something again and again and apparently he's quoting someone else because he puts it in quotation marks but he never says who said it. So I can only pass it on by way of John Brown's commentary and unidentified quotation marks. And he says, the two leading principles of the Gospel of Christ are these.

20:18 - 20:44 Read in full sermon

The point: Confess that you are a partaker of Christ's benefits entirely by faith, not mixing in your own obedience or evidences.

He quotes the hymn line 'Nothing in my hands I bring, Simply to thy cross I cling' to illustrate the complete reliance on Christ alone, without mixing in one's own evidences or obedience.

My verse. Nothing in my hands.

24:04 - 24:09 Read in full sermon

The point: Confess that you are a partaker of Christ's benefits entirely by faith, not mixing in your own obedience or evidences.

Martin describes the Spirit's work as 'beating a man off from every refuge' (own resolutions, determination to be better) until he sees Christ as his only refuge, illustrating the Spirit's role in bringing a sinner to faith.

You see no man can make those two confessions without a supernatural work of the Spirit being wrought in his heart. For the last place a guilty sinner ever flees is to the doings and the sufferings of Christ. He'll flee to his own resolutions. He'll flee to his own resolutions.

24:21 - 24:41 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Love is that principled, divine affection which seeks the good of its object even at personal cost.

Martin refers to the 'stupid, inane song' to illustrate the world's perverted and misunderstood concept of love, contrasting it with the principled, divine affection he is defining.

All of us have heard whether we wanted to or not. We were sitting in a dentist office or on an airplane or something. We've heard, we've heard that stupid, inane song, what the world needs is love, sweet love. And you giggle because you've heard it.

29:47 - 30:01 Read in full sermon

The point: Evaluate your growth in grace by the extent to which you are increasingly driven to see Christ as your only refuge and by the deepening of your love for one another.

He compares the deepening love between a husband and wife who increasingly discover each other's best and worst to the love among church members. This illustrates that genuine love in the church bears with imperfections and grows richer through self-discovery, rather than being based on a romanticized view.

That's Paul in Philippians 3, about to die, and he says, I want one thing to be found in Christ. Growth in the awareness that my most noble deeds, my most sanctified moments are tainted with sin, and if I'm not in Christ, I've had it. And then, growth in that love to one another that though like a husband and wife who increasingly discover the best and the worst of one another, their love deepens, expands, and becomes richer in the midst of that self-discovery. So then, in this church of Jesus Christ, we don't just look at one another with rose-colored glasses. We see each other for what we ar...

48:36 - 49:44 Read in full sermon