In the Knowledge of Him

The point: Be stirred up to pray with greater fervency for others when you hear reports of their continued faith and love.

Paul's love for the Ephesians moved him not merely to write theological concepts but to pray for them, illustrating the depth of his affection and the passion behind his prayer.

As we continue our studies in the second major paragraph in the first chapter, this tremendous prayer of the Apostle for the Ephesian believers whom he has not seen for some five years, and yet concerning whom he has an increased measure of love and affection, a love and affection which moved him, not merely to write some theological concepts on a piece of papyrus and send it to them, but to pray for them and to be able to record something of the great passion of his heart in that prayer. The prayer, of course, begins with verse 15. I shall read the first few verses, briefly review what we thu...

0:03 - 1:28 Read in full sermon

The point: Be stirred up to pray with greater fervency for others when you hear reports of their continued faith and love.

The report of Jim and Ruth's continued faith and love is used as a contemporary example of how God uses human factors (reports of others' faithfulness) to stir up renewed fervency in prayer for them.

For this cause, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus, which is among you, and the love which ye show to all the saints, it was the report of their continuing in grace that stirred up Paul to continue and also to increase in his prayers on their behalf. God uses these human factors in the spiritual disciplines of prayer and godly concern. I trust, as we've had an illustration of it this morning, that where perhaps we've grown a bit careless, in our prayers for Jim and Ruth, that Jim's report, having heard of their continued faith and love and zeal and service, we shall be stirred up to p...

1:28 - 2:42 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin meticulously breaks down the word 'in' using an analogy of an arrow penetrating a circle, explaining it signifies operating 'within the sphere' of something. He then…

A visual analogy of a metal arrow moving into a black circle on a white blackboard is used to explain the meaning of the word 'in' as entering and operating 'within the sphere' of something.

I want you to think this morning of a big circle up here on a blackboard. Big circle. Everything outside the circle is white. Everything inside the circle is black.

6:44 - 6:54 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin meticulously breaks down the word 'in' using an analogy of an arrow penetrating a circle, explaining it signifies operating 'within the sphere' of something. He then…

A mother calling children 'into the kitchen for warm muffins and jam' illustrates that a provision is available only 'within the sphere' of a specific location, clarifying the meaning of 'in' as a necessary condition for receiving the gift of the Spirit.

He prays that this gift of the Spirit as the Spirit of wisdom and revelation may be given within the sphere of the knowledge of God. Suppose your mother said to you kids tomorrow afternoon, she clapped her hands or rang a bell or banged on a dishpan or however she gets your attention or just plain bellered out as she may do. And she said, All right, everyone, come into the kitchen for warm muffins and jam. Now what she's saying is this, that warm muffins and jam are available.

7:37 - 8:10 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He clarifies that 'Him' refers to God the Father, based on grammatical antecedents and the New Testament's consistent attribution of effectual calling to the Father. Martin…

Martin expresses amazement at the poor grammar taught in public schools and heard from a radio announcer, using it to underscore the importance of basic grammatical analysis for understanding Scripture.

And I'm amazed how little grammar is being taught in our public schools. They do better in our Christian schools. But I'm utterly amazed that people, college students, who don't know the basic elements of grammar. I heard a radio announcement this morning with a beautiful voice and his grammar was poor.

11:19 - 11:36 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Every child, every adult, and anything in between here today who is unregenerate, who's never been born of the Spirit of God, with absolute certainty I can say you know not God.

Martin shares his initial thought that 'in the knowledge of Him' was a minor phrase, only to realize its profound depth and importance upon deeper study, illustrating how seemingly small phrases in Scripture can contain vast theological concepts.

What does it mean? And I told my wife yesterday, or it was Friday when I was working on the text, I said, I'm absolutely amazed how when I begin my preparation, thinking, oh well, that's just a little phrase, we'll get over that, and I really was anxious to get on this phrase, having the eyes of your heart enlightened. What a great theme. Showing the whole concept that by nature these Ephesians were in darkness, as he says in chapter 4, and what it means for the heart, the eyes of the heart to be enlightened, and I thought that in the knowledge of him would just be a little stepping stone to g...

17:32 - 18:06 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not be lazy in seeking God's truth; the Holy Spirit makes effectual and fruitful your sanctified efforts to know God as you search for His Word.

He describes a common misconception that the Holy Spirit's work negates effort, leading to passive reception of truth, contrasting it with the biblical call for diligent, sanctified effort in seeking God's Word.

and find what the knowledge of God to whom does the knowledge of God come it comes to that one who realizes if I'm to know God in a biblical sense I've got to take the words of God seriously seriously and not just in a passive sense come to church with a teachable spirit but I must come with an active spirit of inquiry a spirit of inquiry that cost me something so Paul's prayer for the Holy Spirit to be given was not that he might be given to put a premium on laziness and I've met so many people who have this idea well if only the Lord would send his spirit in increasing measures why when I'd ...

28:58 - 30:26 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin warns against two errors: bypassing the mind for direct emotional experience and focusing solely on intellectual rearrangement without heart and life transformation. He…

Martin shares his personal struggle and feeling overwhelmed while studying Ephesians 1, illustrating the intellectual labor required to grapple with profound biblical concepts.

and so they're all the time readjusting their mental furniture reshuffling the file draws of the mind and they move from being Arminians to being Calvinists to being hyper-Calvinists high Calvinists low Calvinists and then on into some other this and some other that in their whole lives are spent in what dabbling in ideas when the purpose of God dear ones is that his image the image of his son might be more and more worked in us and what's the means that he uses the knowledge of himself the mind comes into full play you can't study Ephesians 1 and leave your mind at home in the drawer you've g...

39:12 - 40:40 Read in full sermon

The point: Press on in the knowledge of God by thinking hard about what God has revealed, receiving, believing, loving, and obeying all that He says.

Martin recalls hearing the phrase 'that man knows God' as a young Christian and instinctively understanding its meaning, illustrating the intuitive recognition of true, holistic knowledge of God in another person's life.

embody the likeness of Christ in all the details of your living in the school in your social activities that's the whole end and oh that this phrase that has been lost by our generation might be resurrected because the reality is there that man knows God I shall never forget when I was an early Christian I heard that phrase used and someone said that man knows God and I knew instinctively what they meant I couldn't have analyzed it as I've done this morning but I knew what they meant that man's got some understanding about God that I don't have but not only understanding his life is warm and f...

40:40 - 42:09 Read in full sermon