A Full Knowledge of Christ

Take your Bibles, if you would please, and turn to the book of Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 17 and following is where we'll be in just a moment. And we're going to capitalize on a phrase in Ephesians 1:19. We'll read from verse 17 to verse 19 here in just a moment. But I'd like to say to you that I really appreciate our family discipleship services and seeing how to worship Christ our King alongside their parents. It makes a difference, especially as you see one being baptized today by the influence of their parents. Our children are coming to Christ. Praise God. Please give Melissa another round of applause. It's so good to see young people being saved and sanctified. It makes a big difference as we worship together.

Today we're going to be talking about prayer and one of the aspects that I want you to hear is not only wisdom, which we talked about last week, but also a full knowledge of Christ. And so if you'd like to take notes, today's title is a full knowledge of Christ. A full knowledge of Christ is something that the Apostle Paul was praying for the Ephesian church to obtain. And so if you would take your Bibles and turn to Ephesians chapter 1, we will start and let's go back just a little bit in verse 15 if you don't mind and then work our way forward. Ephesians 1:15, "For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you while making mention of you in my prayers." Okay, so he states to the Ephesian church that he prays for them. Now in verse 17, there is an overflow into prayer and he actually starts praying. In verse 17 it says, "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory may give to you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the full knowledge of Him."

And we'll just pause right there because there's a whole lot in this wonderful verse. Last week we talked about the wisdom and we're going to talk about that just a little bit more today. But this particular starting point for prayer is Paul's prayer for them to increase in knowledge. And so one of the points that you can take home today is the fact that we should be praying for an increase of not only wisdom but knowledge as well. And that means that you're going to see Christ more clearly. It means you're going to obtain a larger measure of the Spirit, the spirit of wisdom, the spirit of knowledge. Hosea chapter 4 and verse 6 states it clearly, "For lack of knowledge my people are destroyed." And so a lack of knowledge of Jesus Christ — the true Jesus, not the deluded Jesus — the Christ who is, the Christ who has been disclosed in His Word: that is the Christ that we're following. And the Scriptures are never wrong. Oftentimes our flesh will be in opposition to what the Word of God says, but we must do the wise thing and yield to the Word of God every time.

So in your pursuit of developing a dynamic prayer life, I want you to do what Paul has done and to continue to keep Christ as central in your prayer lives. The centrality of Christ is superbly important. It's not all about you. We need to petition God and ask God and ask Him to help us in areas that we are weak and to help us in every way, and our family members as well. But you're going to see a Christocentric prayer here that always brings Christ back as the center of all things. And in this passage it is wonderful because it acknowledges Christ's preeminence here in the passage. We have some modifiers that help us to see that Christ is central. And so let's read it again: "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, in this being the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the full knowledge of Him."

Now speaking of prayers and praying, the Apostle Paul is most worthy of emulating. And if you were to take and outline his prayers and model your prayer life after the Apostle Paul, you'll find yourself diversifying what you are praying. You won't be praying the same old things over and over, and over again, and you won't have a dry prayer life and you won't have a short prayer life. Your prayers will actually start praying about things that you have never perhaps prayed about before. And there are two prayers in the book of Ephesians and we're going to look at those systematically as we go through the book, so the next prayer is still to come. But for this one, it's very interesting and the things that he prays for.

But before we get there, I want you to turn with me to Acts chapter 9 and see that Paul's ministry started with prayer when he got saved by the Lord Jesus Christ after decades and decades of following a false religious system. He then bows down in prayer and prays to the Lord Jesus Christ and now he finds himself still praying. In Acts chapter 9 verses 1 through 11, you see Paul's conversion. In verse 8 it says, "And Saul" — before Paul was Paul, he was Saul — "and Saul got up from the ground and though his eyes were opened, he could see nothing and leading him by the hand they brought him into Damascus." Acts 9:9, "And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank." And now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. "And the Lord said to him in a vision, Ananias, and he said, Here I am, Lord. And the Lord said to him, Rise up and go to the street called Straight and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus" — that being Saul, now Paul — "named Saul, for behold, he is praying." And so Paul started his ministry with prayer and he'd been praying for days.

And I want to say to you that great men of God are men of prayer. They spend time in prayer and their prayer is not on the street corners like the Pharisees. Their prayers are not such that they want credit for. D.L. Moody said, "He who stands the strongest kneels the longest." And if we are to stand in this secular world, we will be people who are praying secretly. It has also been said that he who kneels before God can stand before anyone. And if you would kneel before God, then you can stand before even a Nebuchadnezzar like Daniel did in Daniel chapter 6 and verse 10.

The Bible says, "Now when Daniel knew that the written document was signed, and he entered his house, now in the roof chamber had windows and he opened them towards Jerusalem and he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God as he had done so previously. Then these men came by agreement and found Daniel seeking to make a petition and making supplication before God. Then they came near and they said before the king concerning the king's injunction, 'Did you not sign an injunction that any man who seeks to make a petition to any god or man besides you, O king, for 30 days is to be cast into the lion's den?'" And so this citywide, nationwide agreement to worship Nebuchadnezzar instead of any other god was signed and now Daniel continued to pray, regardless.

And so we must — though there will be such who discourage our prayer life or discourage our walk with Christ, like the tattletales here in Daniel chapter 6 who ran right away and told the king, "Hey, Daniel's praying to his God and not to you, throw him in the lion's den" — even though there will be repercussions for your secretly praying, and then when you get with God and get a full knowledge of Him and what it is to truly adjust and conform your life to Christ and endeavor to live it out, there will be repercussions. There always is. God allows this to sanctify us. It's amazing.

Now, it's interesting to know that Daniel in the Hebrew is a tremendous name. His name in Hebrew, "Daniel," means "God my judge." And so he lived out this thought of thinking, "Whatever you want to do is fine, but God is my judge. And at the end of the day, I'm going to pray. Whether I'm going to be thrown into the lion's den or whatever the case might be, you will not stop me from honoring my God because God is my judge." Daniel had a name that had rich meaning and he lived up to it. And even though governmental authorities told him that he couldn't pray, he prayed anyway. And so his prayer life, even though it was against what the civil authorities wanted him to do, demonstrated his alliance with God and meant defiance towards the civil authorities.

I hope it never comes to that in our country, but I say that to us by way of preparation: if by chance it is illegal to be a Christian because Christianity becomes hate speech, what will you do? And so it's wise to think through those things now and be encouraged by Daniel — "God my judge" in the Hebrew. The Apostle Paul started his ministry with prayer and he's still praying. Daniel had an extraordinary spirit on him. The Apostle Paul had an extraordinary conversion. These men are men of God whom God used mightily and they were men of prayer. Do you find that a coincidence? I don't. And so prayer is common between those whom God uses mightily.

So point number one I'd like to say for our message today: pray regularly, pray regularly. This needs to be something that you're devoted to. Colossians chapter 4 and verse 2 says, "Devote yourselves to prayer." This is something that should be like eating, like breathing, like brushing your teeth. It is so normal. It is so regular that like the disciples who said that Jesus was in His certain place — they knew where He was — in Luke chapter 11 verse 1, Jesus was praying in a certain place. Do you have a certain place, a certain time? Are you committed to prayer? Do you really truly believe that prayer is the most effective tool that the Christian has? If you really truly believe that, then you'll use it. But I find that most Christians, instead of perhaps mowing the grass with a big old zero turn and 30 horsepower, they're out there chomping at life with scissors. And rather than praying and using the most powerful tools that we have available to us, they're content for some reason with struggling. But if you would pray, I promise you your steps will be more efficient. If you would pray, I promise you will be conformed to Christ. I'm not saying it's going to be easy, but I'm saying this is the best way. Deny yourself, take up the cross and follow Him.

It's been said that everybody believes that Hitler existed. Everybody believes that Stalin existed. They believe. Now look around here: if I asked you the question, do you believe that these men existed? You would say yes. And then I ask you again, do you then believe that you are a Stalinite, or are you of Hitler? Do you believe in what Hitler did? And you say no. I say, what's the difference? Do you believe in Christ? You say yes. You believe in Hitler, you believe in Stalin, you believe in Christ — what's the difference?

When Jesus said in Matthew chapter 4 and verse 19, "Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men" — you don't follow Hitler. You don't follow Stalin, but you follow Jesus. You're a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so now we who truly follow Him listen to Him and conform our life to Him and mimic Him. The disciples saw that Jesus' prayer life was the source of His power. And they said, "Jesus, teach us how to pray," in Luke chapter 11. It's wonderful. And then Jesus gives this illustration of someone coming in the middle of the night, banging on the door and saying, open up, I have visitors coming and they're hungry, open up, I need some bread. And the person who was living on the inside with the bread said, no, go away. He kept on knocking at the door in the middle of the night and said, listen, I need some bread, I have a guest that's come in town, please give me some bread. And the guy said, go away, my family is in bed, go somewhere else.

Jesus gives the illustration and because of his — the King James says — importunity, or his persistence in prayer, the guy's going to get up out of his comfortable bed and go down and get some bread and give it to the guy who's knocking at the door in the middle of the night. And so you too, if you would seek, you will find, the door will be opened to you. These things Jesus gives loud and clear to us in our prayer life, that we should be seeking and knocking and asking persistently in prayer, and He's going to help us. And so no wonder these men spent so much time in prayer, pursuing Christ and conforming, because they knew that they needed to seek Christ and to ask for the right things and to yield to Him in prayer.

It's very interesting that in the Lord's model prayer for us He ends it with this subject of temptation. I want to bring it up because it has to do with revelation in our text today. The Lord's model prayer in Luke chapter 11 is: "Father, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come and give us each day our daily bread and forgive us of our sins, as we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us, and lead us not into temptation."

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. It's amazing that Jesus modeled this for His disciples and He ends with this emphasis: lead me not into temptation. This is our prayer that we need to be praying regularly. No matter how old you are, how mature you are in your faith, you're still susceptible to temptation. Everyone is susceptible to temptation and Satan is so slick. He's just going to keep poking and keep prodding until he finds your weaknesses and then he will manipulate your weaknesses. And all of a sudden you're following him instead of following Christ — so easily. It's so easy to happen. It happens all the time.

But Jesus gave us the how-to on resisting temptation in Matthew chapter 4. It's with the Scriptures. It's by quoting Scriptures, by sticking to the Word of God. When you are confused, stick to the Scriptures. The Scriptures are never wrong. And so temptation is brought up there in Luke chapter 11 and also in Matthew chapter 6. And I would encourage us to pray, "Lord, lead us not into temptation." In the Holy Spirit He will lead you away, far away from temptation. He will lead you in the light, not in darkness. He will lead you where it's bright and safe and clean and holy and pure, not confusing. He will lead you in a way that is peaceable and lovely and kind. He will lead you in paths of righteousness. And if you are given to temptation, you have to do like the Apostle Paul encouraged Timothy to do, to flee from your youthful lusts. 2 Timothy 2:22. You have to flee. You have to run. And you have to do as well what's mentioned in James chapter 4 verse 7: "Resist the devil and he will flee from you." So you have got to resist, turn and run. You've got to get there. So important for us to be praying.

When we're praying, these things are made so clear as we are prayed up and ready for a day, as we're prayed up and ready to go to battle, as we're prayed up and ready to be in this world but not of the world. And so back to Ephesians: in regards to the subject of temptation and prayer, there is a spirit of wisdom. I want you to recognize this — Ephesians 1:17, "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory may give to you a spirit of wisdom." And so this spirit of wisdom is mentioned here in verse 17. But I also want you to take note of chapter 2 verses 1 and 2, because there's a spirit of deception and temptation. It says in chapter 2 verse 1, "And you were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the ruler and the power of the air, the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience." This worldly spirit, the spirit of disobedience — it's real. And it does not manifest itself in all-black attire and horns. It is a spirit of deception, a spirit of disobedience. It creeps into our lives like little tentacles and causes little compromises and little confusions all over the place.

How do you get around this? How do you fight back against this spirit of disobedience, this spirit, this angel of light disguising himself, trying to get you — the littlest ones in here, the most innocent ones in here? Satan wants to pervert. He wants to cause compromise. He wants to cause doubt. He wants to separate you from your parents, separate you from your pastoral authority. He wants to separate you from obeying the law to the best that you possibly can. He wants to make you compromise little by little, by little in all areas of your life. And so point number two is to pray for and pursue wisdom. This subject of wisdom — God has the lockdown on it. He created wisdom and you are incapable of understanding this kind of wisdom unless the spirit of wisdom grants it to you, gives it to you. The spirit of wisdom is a gift. Look in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 17 — it's a gift. So you have got to pray for it, ask for it.

Perhaps someone like the Apostle Paul would pray that it would be given to you and you get it and you receive it. The spirit of wisdom is so important. And now this spirit of wisdom is something that begins in your life with the fear and reverence of God. Proverbs 1:7 says wisdom begins as you fear and you reverence God. And so I would encourage you to remember that you have a creator, you have one who is in authority, you have one who is guiding all things. The creator of the heavens and the earth — the structure that you look out and you see and how organized all these planetary systems are. We serve a God of order that is sustaining all of these things. And this God of order has not only created the cosmos, but He's also created the structure in our nations through civil authorities, in our churches. We have structure within the churches and you have structure within families. There is order and you honor God by honoring the order. You stay in line, you do your part and we're submissive to Him and His purposes. You are brought into a more clear knowledge of how you can be Christlike when you submit. And when you're submissive, a submissive spirit to the Lord Jesus Christ is essential. You really, really ascertain that when you're in prayer. You are made to know how big God is and how little you are. And you're like, oh, I'm going to seek God all the more. And then as you seek wisdom, you will realize that God gives you this wisdom. Wisdom is from God. It must be imparted from God to you. We're dull, we're unlearned, but God gives us this wisdom.

In Daniel chapter 2 and verse 21 it is so clear — God claims it. Daniel 2:21: "And he changes the times and the seasons." Okay, so God is in control of the weather, not Kenneth Copeland. God is in control of sustaining all the planets. He changes the times and the seasons. It storms when God says for it to storm. And then it also says He removes kings and establishes kings. I'm not worried about November coming in our country, are you? I'm not worried at all. He removes kings and establishes kings. His will is so far beyond our comprehension, we can't even comprehend it. And so just remember that. Christianity spread the farthest underneath Nero in the New Testament. We don't have to have a Christian nation for Christianity to thrive. I want a Christian nation. I want one that honors God, that stays under God like our money says — In God we trust. I want a nation that allows missionaries to thrive and go and be sent. I want a church that allows churches to thrive. I don't want to have to go underground. But He removes kings and He establishes kings and I'm okay with whatever God does. I'm committed to Him no matter how comfortable or how uncomfortable I am.

In Philippians chapter 4 and verse 11, Paul said, "I've learned to be content in whatever conditions I'm in, whether I'm well-fed or whether I'm hungry, whether abased or abounding." He's learned that skill. And I'll continue to set before you to learn that skill of contentment in Christ no matter what your circumstances are. In Daniel chapter 2 verse 21, the third phrase says, "He gives wisdom to wise men." He gives wisdom — but not only wisdom, He gives knowledge and knowledge to men of understanding. And so when you get that — that you don't have wisdom unless God gives you the wisdom He wants to give you — when you get that, you will start praying for it. "God, give me wisdom." People like James chapter 1 verse 5: "Any man who asks for wisdom, He'll give it to you." You have got to be one who prays and asks for wisdom. "God, impart this to me, make me to understand, whatever you have to do, God, whatever circumstances in my life you have to arrange for me to get it — I want to get it. I want to learn Your lessons." And I say it like this all the time, the kids know this, especially my own kids. Are you ready? You can learn God's lessons through your ears or through your tears. Oftentimes, if you are a person of prayer, you will save a lot of tears because you don't have to learn it the hard way. You are yielding to the Lord. Isn't that wonderful? Instead of learning it the hard way. All right? So God gives wisdom to wise men and knowledge to men of understanding. In Proverbs chapter 2 verse 6, God gives wisdom. James chapter 1 verse 5, ask for wisdom.

And so back to Ephesians chapter 1 — this whole prayer that we're learning from is contrasted then with the spirit that feeds the flesh in Ephesians 2:1–5: the spirit of disobedience, the spirit of lust, the spirit of being aligned with the world. Listen to Ephesians 2:1–5 again: "And you are dead in your transgressions and sins in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the ruler and the power of the air, the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all also formerly conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh." You know what lust is? It is trying to fulfill a God-ordained blessing in a God-forbidden way. You can't redefine lust. You can't say, "Oh, I love you," when it's not your spouse. That's sin.

And so anything that's according to the flesh is what is outside of holiness. There is a spirit of deception. Verse goes on to say, "Doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest." Children of God, you can enter into becoming punished by God as if you were still unregenerate. If you sin, God will punish you. Part of knowing that you are a child of God is because He chastises or punishes the ones whom He is trying to correct unto repentance. Verse 4: "But God, being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved."

Folks, it is so unwise — and it's good exposition to look not only at what the truth is being taught but also at the antithesis. Take the truth that's being unraveled and now look at it in reverse. It is wise to follow Christ. It's unwise to follow Satan. Real easy. It's wise to submit to Christ and His Word. It's unwise, according to this text here, to follow the flesh, to be disobedient, to follow your lust, and to be in alignment with the world. We should, rather than being in alignment with the world, be in alignment with the spirit of wisdom. And so the opposite of wisdom in chapter 1 verse 17 is the spirit of the world in chapter 2 verse 2. In James chapter 4 verse 4, the Bible says, "You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world sets himself as an enemy of God." And God makes a very clear dividing line when it comes to being holy as a friend of Him or crossing that line and being a friend of the world, becoming then an enemy of God.

And so when the evil spirit of this world tempts you, here are some best solutions: Scripture, prayer, self-denial, resisting, fasting, seeking wise counsel, and submitting. And so not only should we pray for and pursue wisdom — point number three — ask Christ to fully reveal His knowledge. In this text we see a full knowledge of Christ. "In the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the full knowledge of Him" — this spirit of wisdom will lead you through a revelation, revealing God's Word. In times of old, prophets would get a revelation from God because there wasn't any written word. But now we have the written word — Hebrews chapter 1 verse 1 talks about how now God is speaking through His Word. So we don't get these special revelations as it happened in times past. Now we all have access to God's revelation, His Word. But it still takes the Spirit to enlighten you so that you can understand this wisdom. You have to submit to Him and ask Him and sit at His feet and pay attention to God's revelation in this text.

The word "revelation" in the Greek is apokalypsis — simply means unveiling, unveiling. God unveils the truth. He pulls the blinders back — not only for salvation like with Lazarus, but He pulls even these layers, these layers of blindness, so that you are able to comprehend sound doctrine, so that you're able to comprehend Christ more, so to comprehend sin clearly, so to comprehend all the areas where you can more fully follow Him. And this has been known as a mystery in times past. In Ephesians chapter 3 verses 3 to 6, look with me if you would. At how the Old Testament times referred to this as a mystery. Now, as Paul is saying, this mystery, the secret wisdom, is now being revealed to us. Ephesians 3:3, "That by revelation there was made known to me the mystery as I wrote before in brief, about which when you read, you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ." Okay, so Paul's writings — authoritative Scripture — the Scripture here helps reveal to you this mystery of Christ. Verse 5, "Which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men as it was now revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit." So it's in the Spirit that this is revealed — in the Spirit, in the Spirit.

So in regards to revelation, it denotes the active voice — which means to shine. Revelation is revealing, it is shining, it is helping you to understand. Inside you are comprehending Christ more fully and more clearly, to get a full knowledge of who Christ is. Christ is so complex that it would take you literally eons of time to comprehend the majesties of Him. I was talking with our worship leader Jimmy on the way out this morning after we had some prayer time with our men, and how complex the human eye is — it takes a specific doctor just for the eyes. And our nasal passages are so complex it takes a sinus doctor just for that. Our ears are so complex it takes a special doctor just for the ears, and for the throat, and for the brain — that's just from the head up. How complex we are, but we're like a grain of sand in comparison to Christ. You're going to spend eons of time — no wonder — going to worship Christ forever and ever, and ever in eternity. This is amazing.

I can't wait to get a glorified body and mind, a fuller comprehension of Christ. This is amazing. And so as He enlightens you as to who He is, think of yourself as chosen, as elected, to have this special knowledge, this wisdom. You have a door that has been cracked open to you — and now don't overlook this point of privilege. This is amazing. You have the ability to continue to open and walk through this. Ask for more knowledge, ask for more wisdom, ask and you will receive. Persist in this, persist in the Scriptures. Love the Lord your God with all of your heart and soul and mind and strength. Deny yourself, take up the cross, spend time in the Word of God. Get all you can. God gives wisdom to those who ask. And if you are asking and pursuing and seeking and finding, your life will reflect the choices that are supported in Scripture.

Now this is interesting — there is always a flip side to things. This enlightenment, this fuller knowledge of Christ who is God, is holy. And as you seek Christ you will see Him in a light that is so pure and so holy it will cause you to fall down on your knees and you will worship Him, you'll be in awe of Him because of His holiness. And the flip side of getting closer to Christ is recognizing your sin more and more, and more. And you don't want your sin to bring shame upon the church, so you confess your sins as you do them, because God says in 1 John 1:9, "If you confess your sin He's faithful and just to forgive you of your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness." And so you should confess your sins as you do them and don't allow them to bunch up in your life. Numbers 32:23 says, "Be sure your sin will find you out." There's a promise here that your sin will be rooted out. If you're a Christian I'm telling you God will not allow pride to remain in your heart. He's going to root that out in whatever way necessary. I recommend praying and repenting right away. I don't want that stuff to be exposed and me to have to be dragged through the light. I would rather be humble.

So listen, we must pursue Christ fully and not be given to hidden sins. "He who covers his sin will not prosper" — I'm telling you. And this fuller knowledge of Christ, as you are praying like the Apostle Paul is demonstrating as he's praying for the Ephesian church, you will gain not only wisdom for living from the Scriptures but you will gain through revelation a fuller knowledge of Christ who is holy. And your sin will be exposed, so confess it. Sin will be seen if you don't confess it. And so no wonder the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, because He has the ability to expose that which has been hidden.

And in our text, this idea of revelation — God revealing Himself to you — think of it this way. In Luke chapter 2 Simeon said his eyes had seen the salvation, in verse 30. And then he goes on to say, in all caps, which means it's a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, "A light for revelation to the Gentiles." Simeon, in Luke chapter 2 verses 25 and following, talks about how he has had revelation and actually seen Jesus. You remember that he was told he would not die until he saw Jesus. So he obtained revelation. Think of revelation as well as glorifying Christ — obtaining revelation moves you to glorifying Christ. Like Paul, who ends the book of Romans glorifying Jesus for the revelation of the glorious gospel given to him, the revelation of the glorious gospel given to him — he glorifies God for it. The same way as you say to the Lord, "Thank You for my salvation, thank You for saving me, dear God, I worship You, I glorify You." It's the same way Paul ends this amazing doctrinal treatise called the book of Romans with glorifying and thanking God for this revelation of the gospel given to him.

And then as well, think of revelation as something that you can reject. You can reject it. You can be aloof from the truth. You can say, "I don't want to read my Bible, I'm not going to listen to good preaching, I'm not going to worship." And I'm not going to pay attention to the things of the world — I'm going to be distracted — which is equated to disobedience in the Old Testament. I think that you can reject the revelation that is right in front of you by having dusty Bibles. I think that you can reject revelation by not studying and digging into it. Rejecting the revelation will get you then reprimanded. Paul reprimands the backsliding Galatians for so easily following those proclaiming a different gospel. And he reminds them that he neither received this gospel from man nor was he taught it, but he received it by revelation of Jesus Christ. And so this authentic gospel that was revealed to him — he says you should follow it. And even if an angel, some other preacher or pastor, distorts this gospel or presents to you a different gospel, don't follow them. Don't be distracted. Don't allow the gospel to be diluted in your lives.

Has not this whole COVID season drawn a line in the sand between the authentic, clear gospel and those who would add to the gospel — perhaps social justice or whatever the case might be? Hasn't there been a line drawn in the sand? Churches have had to decide, will they be woke or not. This is an amazing day when it comes to the clarity of the Lord Jesus Christ. There are plenty of churches that are a mile wide and an inch deep that will allow just about anything, but it's a diluted, different gospel. And Paul is reprimanding them because they have rejected the revelation of the true gospel and have slid back. Don't do that. The Galatians were fools, Paul said, and they were bewitched, Paul said in chapter 3 verse 1 of Galatians, for following this distorted gospel. And so revelation can be rejected.

But revelation is for further learning. In our text here in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 17, revelation leads to a fuller knowledge of God, a fuller knowledge. And so not only does it lead to a fuller knowledge but it leads to blessings as well. Do you remember there in Revelation chapter 1 that if you just read the book of Revelation you'll be blessed, and you'll be doubly blessed if you read and keep what the Bible says? And so revelation can lead to blessings. Don't reject revelation — accept it and keep it. You'll be blessed. And so think of revelation as something that can be obtained, something that causes you to glorify God. You don't want to reject it but further learn from it, and to get blessings from it. And then as well to pray, "Lord, thank You for revealing Yourself to me and saving me. I glorify You. Help me never to reject You. Help me to learn more of You and bless me, O Lord, I pray, with wisdom."

And so like J.I. Packer said in his famous book Knowing God, it is the highest privilege that we have is to know God, and that comes through this revelation. So God — He created, and He owns and has the patent on wisdom and knowledge. And this wisdom and knowledge is Him. John 1:1, "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God." So the wisdom that is contained in Him is disclosed to whom God chooses. And if you are a recipient of this gift — by prayer, by acceptance — you can fully know Christ and it becomes more and more evident to you as the time goes on.

In Jeremiah chapter 9, I encourage you to turn there if you would. Jeremiah chapter 9 says if you're going to boast about anything, boast about this — if you're going to brag about knowing anything, about knowing God, if you have anything to boast about, boast about understanding Christ. "I understand Christ because He made Himself known to me. He revealed Himself to me. He saved me." In Jeremiah chapter 9 and verse 23 it's amazing how we are to actually boast about this assertion of wisdom and knowledge of knowing Him. Jeremiah 9:23: "Thus says Yahweh, let not a wise man boast in his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me." Isn't that great?

So if you find yourself talking about your money, don't do that — talk about how God has revealed Himself to you. And if you find yourself talking about your strength, "I won that game, I did that" — don't do that, talk about Christ and how He has enabled you to know Him. It is rich and wonderful. If you find yourself talking about how wise you are, how mighty you are, how rich you are, you're encouraged to boast not in those things but boast in Christ — that you know God. "He has been so amazing that He allowed me to have a part in His kingdom." This is amazing. And so Paul's intercessory prayer for the Ephesian church is an appeal for the Ephesian congregation to have this highest honor of knowing God fully. Now boast in that. The Ephesian church had something to brag about — not the Ephesian trade route wealth, not Diana's temple that was a world wonder that caused people from around the known world to travel to Ephesus to see the columns, to see the marble, not that you lived in Ephesus, not about the wisdom that was found in a library. None of these things — boast not in those things, but boast in the fact that you have a full knowledge of Christ.

And so Jesus's intercessory prayer for the disciples was that they might know God, the one true God. So God's promise — and then I have one point to conclude with — is that if you pursue Christ fully, and if you pray for this dear church as well to pursue Christ fully and to have a revelation of the full knowledge of Christ, will you do that? Will you pray for this church like Paul prayed for the Ephesian church? And by the way, most scholars say that the book of Ephesians was a circulatory letter. It wasn't intended to stay in Ephesus. It was intended to be passed around to Philippi and to Colossae, to Thessalonica, all of Galatia and more and more, farther than you can imagine — that's what that letter was for. And if you would pray like Paul prayed for the Ephesian church to have revelation of Christ, a full knowledge of Him, I believe that you'll be a good prayer and that it would yield fruit and have results, and we would see over time more and more people coming to Christ and being baptized and joining the church.

We've had just an amazing run this year and I praise God for His blessings upon us. More people have joined and been baptized this year than ever in my entire ministry. It's been wonderful to be a part of what God is doing here. So let's continue to pray for wisdom and to pray for a full knowledge. This is coming, in my opinion — a spirit of wisdom by prayer. It was wise for us to implement eldership. It was wise for us to get a biblical constitution and bylaws. It was wise — all of these steps that we have taken have been wise. I believe the spirit of wisdom that is talked about in this passage is upon us. I believe with all of my heart, soul, mind and strength, and not shrinking back, I'm going full forward with Christ. It's beautiful. I believe that the same Spirit that rests upon Jesus in Isaiah chapter 11 and verse 2 is the same Spirit that rests upon us. Isaiah 11:2: "The Spirit of Yahweh will rest on Him" — speaking of Christ — "the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Yahweh." These two sides of the same coin — fearing God and wisdom — are in the same boat. So we'll yield to the Lord through His wisdom that's imparted to us. I praise God for this wonderful church that has, I believe, the spirit of wisdom upon it.

And I give you one take-home truth today — aren't you happy, just one? One take-home truth: knowledge without wisely applying it is useless. This knowledge that was revealed by prayer to the Ephesian church had to be applied to their life, lest it just be knowledge that puffs up. And you can use knowledge to your own advantage, you can manipulate God's knowledge to your own advantage — but He knows. You can use knowledge for your own benefit, out of God's will, to shame yourself, you can rebel against the Scriptures — it's a shame — or you can understand this knowledge and be submissive, be humble, and yield to Him. Beautiful. Walking with Christ is a humble blessing more than we could ever comprehend, and to be content is to be godly, and to yield to Him is wonderful.

And so I say to you again, knowledge without wisely applying it is useless. F.F. Bruce, a scholar, said this — wisdom is using knowledge. Paul speaks not of a knowledge of facts — facts like, I know facts, statistics, I know a fact — he's not talking about how you can answer the question on a test. He's talking about knowledge of Christ, knowledge of Him. This knowledge of Christ is from God, whom He pleases to give. Knowing about God — perhaps theology — is possible, but useless if you just know about God. That knowledge is completely, utterly useless. But to know God — it's not about knowing about Him, but to know God — that is true theology, and that is by divine revelation. And so we need to pray like Paul is praying for the church, for one another, for a spirit of wisdom, for revelation of full knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I encourage you to do that for your children regularly.

Let's pray together. Father, thank You for today. Thank You for the opportunity it is to come and to worship You. And I pray, Lord, as we simply do our best to expose the truth of the text in our Bible study groups and in the preaching hour, that You would continue to refine our lives. Help us, Lord, to submit to Your Word. Help us to walk humbly before You, not in our own wisdom but in Your wisdom. Help us to deny ourselves and take up the cross and follow You. Thank You, dear Jesus, for all the wonderful friendships, all the deep fellowship that You have created here at Beulah Baptist Church. And God, I pray for those who are considering membership, that You would continue to show them that this would be a wonderful place to set down their anchor and to hang out with us, it would be a wonderful place to call their church home. And I pray, Lord, as well for those who perhaps are here who have never been saved, that today perhaps would be the day for their salvation, that You would grant them repentance, that they would confess they are a sinner, they would actualize that repentance that You grant them, that they would proclaim that You are Savior, You are the One who died on the cross and rose again for our sins, and by our faith in that substitutionary act You have placed atonement upon us, You have saved us. I pray, God, that if anyone's not saved, that You would bring them underneath a good, godly sorrow, a good, godly conviction, that they would see their sin clearly, and that they would see clearly that it has to be paid for, and that they can't pay for it — only You can, by the blood that was shed on the cross for our sins. And I pray that You would save souls, continue to save souls here at Beulah Baptist Church. See them through to being biblically baptized and that they would join this dear congregation and become faithful members, and that they too would continue to learn how to study the Bible and rightly divide Your Word and to gain a full knowledge of You, and that then they would move forward to become Great Commission Christians, to be able to share with everyone that they can, while they can, all of these wonderful truths that You are teaching them. God, I pray for our congregation a spirit of wisdom and of understanding, and it's in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen.

Would you stand and join us as we sing?