God's Mighty Power Demonstrated - Tim Conway

Ephesians 1.

Let's pick up in verse 16

through the end of the chapter.

"I do not cease to give thanks for you..."

the Apostle Paul speaking

to the Ephesian Christians.

The saints who are in Ephesus.

"I do not cease to give thanks for you..."

So Paul is actually speaking to them

about his own prayer life.

I don't cease to give thanks for you,

"remembering you in my prayers."

This is a window into the prayers of Paul.

And he's going to tell them

about certain petitions that he makes

on behalf of these Ephesian Christians.

"...Remembering you in my prayers

that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,

the Father of glory,

may give you..."

See, he wants and he prays for

these Ephesians that God would

give them something.

It's a petition.

May God give you "the spirit of wisdom

and revelation in the knowledge of Him."

He's praying for the spirit,
or a spirit your Bible may say

of wisdom and of revelation

in the knowledge of God.

"...Having the eyes of your
hearts enlightened."

And he's asking specifically

that their eyes would be open

to three realities.

One, "that you may know

what is the hope of your calling."

Or "the hope to which
you have been called,"

or "He has called you."

"What are the riches of His
glorious inheritance in the saints."

That's the second petition.

The third, "and what is the
immeasurable greatness

of God's power toward us who believe,

according to the working

of His great might that
He worked in Christ

when He raised Him from the dead

and seated Him at His right hand

in the heavenly places

far above all rule and authority

and power and dominion,

and above every name that is named,

not only in this age,

but also in the one to come.

And He put all things under His feet

and gave Him as head over all things

to the church which is His body,

the fullness of Him who fills all in all."

I want to draw your attention

to verses 20 and 21.

Let's go to the Lord.

Father, it's Your Word.

Thank You, Father,

that You've given us a Bible.

Oh Lord, You have given us a treasure.

I pray for these my brothers and sisters,

for myself,

that we might have the eyes of our hearts

enlightened and made aware

and kept freshly cognizant of the fact

that we possess the very words of God

in a book.

Father, I pray that this Word

would be preached in this place today.

That is the charge

that You have given to me,

and I pray that I would be able

to be faithful to preach this Word

as You intended it to be preached.

I pray that You'd give us that help.

Amen.

Verses 20 and 21.

Look at them.

"...That He worked in Christ

when He raised Him from the dead

and seated Him at His right hand

in the heavenly places

far above all rule and authority

and power and dominion

and above every name that is named,

not only in this age,

but also in the one to come."

Loaded.

Loaded with foundational doctrines

of our Christianity.

Think about the doctrines specified here.

One being that Christ was indeed dead.

You don't raise Him from the dead

unless He was dead.

Two: That He's been raised from the dead.

Three: Christ was raised from the dead

by God the Father;

by the power of God the Father.

A fourth truth here: Christ
has ascended up to glory;

is enthroned at the right hand
of the majesty on high;

the right hand of God the Father.

A fifth truth here:
Christ has been exalted

far above all rule and authority

and power and dominion.

He is Lord. He is King.

He is above all.

And sixth, Christ now reigns supreme,

not only through the end of this age,

but out into the eternal age to come.

Forevermore enthroned.

He is there.

This is the ultimate fulfillment

of Him being seated on the throne

of His father David

at the right hand of His Father

forever - this age and the age to come.

These two texts -

what a Christology is contained

just here in these truths!

Paul may go through them very quickly.

Brethren, this is the bedrock

of what we believe.

I mean these truths right here -

I'll tell you this,

these truths fly in the
face of Catholicism.

Do they not?

I mean, they want to exalt Mary.

Everything about this text is
the exaltation of Christ.

Flies in the face of Islam.

Does it not?

This is it.

Well, you know what Paul's talking about?

He's talking about
the power of Christianity.

And what I want to do is tie

verse 19 through verses 20 and 21.

You remember, we've been looking

at these three petitions.

They all start with the word "what."

The third of them:

What is the immeasurable

or the exceeding greatness

of this power of God.

He wants us to have the eyes -

how's he praying?

God, enable Your people to see this!

A power that is towards the believer.

We're talking about the might of God

that was worked in Christ.

It's according to that.

Not only that raised Him from the dead -

you don't want to stop there.

Many talk here that this is basically

the power of resurrection.

Brethren, it's beyond that.

It's the power of ascension.

It's the power of enthronement.

It's the power of the
ruling supreme Christ

over every rule and authority

and power and dominion.

And it's forever!

It's not just temporary.

It's not a temporary enthronement;

a temporary kingdom.

It is forever.

This age and the age to come.

This is taking Christ not
only out of the grave

and up into life,

but ascending up into supremacy.

This is the power that is
being put on the table.

And what he's saying is,

the power at work or towards you

that is directed at the believer

is in accord with this reality.

We're talking about the
power of Christianity.

Have you come to know this?

Have you come to know

of a Christianity

in which the power of
God Almighty is real?

That's the reality.

Is there some sort of power

that accords in your life

that is somehow or another

a reflection of Christ

being raised from the dead?

Make no mistake about it,

this is the Christianity of Scriptures.

We're not talking dead religion here.

This is the authentic thing.

This is the real thing.

We need to come to
grips with that reality.

I think we are.

I think we are largely.

But brethren, don't be satisfied

with powerless Christianity.

Not in others.

Not in yourself.

Not in this church.

Don't be satisfied.

I mean, do you see what God is inspiring

Paul to say to us?

Brethren, we have every reason to expect

that we - well, like I was praying before,

that God is going to make a difference

between us and Egypt.

God is going to make a difference.

Where this kind of power is unleashed,

it can't help but make a difference.

Where you have the power

of Almighty God being unleashed,

and you compare that to an environment

where His power is not being unleashed,

but people play at Christianity.

Would you expect there is
going to be a difference?

Brethren, I hope you
have that expectation.

I hope in the days ahead
you have an expectation

of a Christianity that resembles this.

This is the only Christianity

that offers any hope to this world.

This idea of going out

and just multiplying decisions,

you know full well,

regeneration is on the table, brethren.

We need power that brings life.

Power that brings exaltation.

Power that brings enthronement.

This is what he's talking about here.

This is what he wants them to grasp.

This is the real deal.

We should never be
satisfied with dead religion.

Never.

You see churches planted

or the Gospel going forth

in Nicaragua or in Mexico

or in Lebanon or in China

or in Indonesia.

Brethren, we should not be content

with anything but this.

This is it.

This is what we must have.

It is a religion of power.

We're talking about the God of power.

The God who acts in power.

Do you recognize that?

That's what Christianity is all about.

It's about the God who acts.

It's about the God who arises.

It's about the God who does something.

If God doesn't do anything,

we're dead in the water.

And what he's saying is,
do you recognize?

Ephesians, you're not dead in the water.

Do you recognize the kind of power

that is at work there?

True Christianity is always

the activity of God
powerfully breaking in.

Brethren, Christianity is not us waking up

and reaching out towards God.

It's God powerfully reaching down

into the depths of where we're at

and doing something;

initiating something.

Always that is the picture.

Any notion of Christianity

that's mainly the result

of something that we do -

you know what it is.

It's always fake. It's always false.

It's always fatal. You can be sure of it.

Always.

We are being faced by something here.

Brethren, I remember.

Now you talk about an unworthy view

of Christianity.

I had it.

I have an image in my mind

and thoughts that went on in my head.

I can't even hardly believe I'd say this,

but almost 30 years ago,

it was the summer after
I got out of college.

New job.

New car.

Sunday morning - not gloomy like this.

Sunny southwest Michigan.

Sunny summer Sunday morning.

And a buddy and I are
headed to Lake Michigan.

And I'm driving down that highway,

and I look over,

and I see a church building.

And it's just that time when people

are driving into the parking lot.

Families are walking across.

They're going into the building.

Brethren, I remember thinking to myself,

I'm going to need to
take care of that one day.

Basically, my mindset was this.

They got up.

They decided to go to church.

That's how you be a Christian.

I got up, decided to buy beer,

throw it in the trunk, grab my buddy,

head west to the beach.

And the day's going to come

when I need to get up

on a Sunday morning and I need to decide

to do that rather than this.

Pretty much, that was
my idea of Christianity.

I possessed the willpower.

I possessed the power to do

or not to do the Christian thing.

Christianity was a choice.

It was a choice I could make.

Those people chose church.

I chose the beach.

That's how it is.

And you know as well as I do,

all you've got to do is read this passage.

What is the power?

What is the exceeding greatness?

The immeasurable greatness

of the power - His power

towards you; us-ward.

Toward the believer.

What sort of power is this?

Ten thousand miles away

from what I was thinking that day.

Christianity is a matter of power.

It is a matter of God.

It always has been.

It always will be.

And you know,

I mean, let's go back there 30 years ago.

Let's supposed on a whim

my willpower had said,

"Hey, Shawn, we're going in here."

This will be fun before
we head to the beach.

We're going to sit in this service.

Maybe my conscience is bothering me.

We've got to do some work here.

And so on a whim, I pull in there.

And let's just suppose for a second

those really were God's people.

And they were really going in

to meet with a true church

and a true man of God
was going to take the pulpit

and really preach the Word of God.

And he was going to do so in power.

And I go in there in my willpower.

What would I have had
the capability of doing?

Reality - what would
that have looked like?

It basically would have been

a filthy pig walking in amongst doves

or lambs, and what?

What would I have done in my own power?

I could have played the hypocrite.

But I'll tell you how I was wired.

Not so much the religious hypocrite,

as much as I would have detested it.

I would have hated being there.

Everything in me would want to

grab my buddy and run to my car

and head west and get out of there.

It would have been absolutely distasteful.

And you know what the sad reality is.

The sad reality is this:

With our Lord telling us

many are going to say to
Him in that day, "Lord, Lord."

You know I just prayed these verses.

That many have a form of godliness

and they deny the power thereof.

You know what the very likelihood is?

Most of those people
or all of those people

attending that church
probably weren't saved either.

I mean, if you're just
basically taking it as a whole

and summing up what's said in Scripture.

How many good churches
are across the land?

You know what the very likelihood is?

They were playing the
religious hypocrites.

I would have gone in as a pagan.

But brethren, whether it's powerless

religious hypocrisy

or powerless paganism,

we all land in the same boat.

We are incapable of doing anything

unless God comes down;

unless God acts.

That's the way it always is.

I had no idea driving
down the road that day.

My ideas... oh, my ideas

were totally unworthy of Christianity.

Totally unworthy of what it was

to become a Christian.

Totally. I had no idea.

I had an idea once it really happened.

I had an idea once God
really broke into my life.

Brethren, this is how it always is

unless God shows up.

It's dead religion or it's dead paganism.

That's how it always is.

Some of you here know exactly that

because that's where you're at.

It's either dead religion

or dead paganism.

You've come in here,

and you've got a form of godliness,

but this kind of power we're talking about

is not a reality in your life.

Or you're just pagan.

You come in here but you know,

you're just like I would have
been if I'd have gone in there.

Everything in you is like
the pig wanting the mire.

You want it. You want it bad.

All you can think about
is getting out of here.

All you can think about is the world.

My willpower.

What a pathetic thing is that?

But that's basically what
this world is all about.

Self-righteousness, pride...

Men's will.

Men's willpower.

Oh, what do we have?

I had no idea in those days

about the truth of Ephesians 1:19,

that the Christian's
salvation only happens

when you have some sort
of massive demonstration

of the power of God in the sinner.

A Christian happens as a result

of something outside himself.

That's the reality.

It depends not on the human will

we're told in Scripture,

or human exertion, but
on God who has mercy.

You show me a genuine Christian;

you show me a genuine
Christian in this place,

and I will show you something

that God is responsible for.

God is responsible.

No boasting, brethren.

We just simply cannot boast here.

It's like Lord, why? Why me?

And you know what rings back
to our ears from Scripture is:

"I chose to have mercy on you."

That's the answer.

To bring one soul to true repentance

and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ

demands the immeasurable

exceeding greatness of the strength

of God's eternal might.

And brethren, we're dead
in the water without it.

We need God.

We need Him badly, brethren!

We need Him badly!

And I am so thankful

that prayer meetings continue to be full

because what that resonates

is I'm among a group of people

that feel that reality.

We need You, Father! We need You!

Is that not what these
verses scream at us?

We need Him.

Paul's petition is that we
would have eyes to see

the reality of this power.

Now, here's the thing.

Let's tie verse 19 together

with verses 20 and 21.

And really, the point of attachment,

it comes through a preposition

that is several words from the end

of verse 19.

Your Bibles say, "according to."

Or the NAS if any of you have that,

"in accordance with."

According to.

You all see that.

"That you may have the eyes

of your hearts enlightened

that you may know what is the immeasurable

greatness of His power

toward us who believe

according to the working

of His great might that
He worked in Christ

when He raised Him from the dead

and seated Him at His right
hand in the heavenly places."

Two English words:

either "in accordance"

or "according to"

all of your English Bibles say.

It's a preposition.

But what does it mean?

Here's the thing I wrestled with,

what does that mean?

What am I supposed to take away with that?

There's a lot of questions
I ask of Scripture

that I don't necessarily come away

with such a thorough answer for as I want.

But let's delve into this somewhat.

In accordance with.

Brethren, what does that mean?

According to...

It carries that meaning: "according to."

It can mean "equivalent to."

Equivalent almost carries the idea

of equal to.

Well, it does carry that meaning.

But the word doesn't always have to

carry that - it can mean:
"in proportion to."

It can mean "in agreement with."

It can mean "corresponding to."

Or, "in conformity with."

It's actually a preposition that has

extremely broad range of use,

but as it's used here,

these are the ways that we can

define the word.

It's basically this idea

that it indicates a standard.

A standard that there is agreement with.

Agreeable to.

The standard is Christ's resurrection.

What's happening in us

is agreeable to that standard.

That's really the idea here.

But even that - does that really help?

It's agreeable to.

What are we dealing with?

And here's the question that I'm asking.

Does this mean it's agreeable to

in the sense that there's a likeness?

You know, when we use allegories

or parables, we basically are describing

something that is like something else.

Is that what's happening here?

Is there a likeness between them?

Is there a similarity between them?

Is it that it's saying:

well, the power of God did this in Christ,

and proportionately, maybe less,

God's same power was at work in us?

Is it saying that basically

the magnititude of power - God's power

that was at work in Christ -

same magnitude is required

to raise us from the dead?

Is it the same power?

Not just equal, but did
the very same power

that raised Christ from the dead

pull us up with Him?

Now, I just want to delve into this

because look,

if you think about this
in the speed of reading,

as soon as Paul tells us

that he is praying about our eyes

being opened to grasp the power

that's towards us,

immediately, he takes our heads

and turns them to the resurrection

and ascension and enthronement of Christ.

Immediately.

I mean, in the speed of reading,

it's just bang!

He does not allow us to think,

as we think about the work

that's happening in ourselves,

he doesn't allow us to just sit

and kind of ponder.

There's no "selah" there.

It's immediately look to the death,

the resurrection, the ascension.

Why? What's the attachment?

How should we process this?

Just listen to this.

John Gill said,

"The resurrection of any person

is an instance of great power,

but Christ's resurrection from the dead

was an instance of peculiar
and special power."

So in John Gill's thinking -

this is an old Baptist -

he said yes, the work of God within us

is great,

but he has us look at Christ

because it's a greater power.

It's the standard by which everything else

is measured.

That's his idea.

Matthew Poole.

He was a Puritan commentator.

He says what's being talked about here,

the association, the connection,

"the power God exercises

toward believers is such as that was

whereby He raised up
Christ from the dead."

Don't you love that?

"...Is such as that was."

Such as.

He refrains from saying it's equal to.

Just: "it's such as..."

To me that feels like according to.

It's like give me some more meat there

to put my teeth in.

Such as?

Others.

Some have suggested

that the resurrection of Jesus

is merely an illustration or a specimen

of the power that should encourage us

about what God is able to do in us.

Some see the resurrection
as a sort of pledge.

There's that power there.

There's no real connection

between the power, other than

it is a promise

because that power happened,

and what's accomplished there,

now is a promise that in turn

that power's going to be
demonstrated upon us.

Someone has said that the power in us -

now this is someone
else in church history.

Someone has said that the power in us

is not less than that in Christ.

Don't you like that too?

It's not less than.

Think about that.

They say, well, here's the
power that raised Christ.

And what happens in us is not less than.

Do you see how they're
just not wanting to commit

to too much in what they say?

It's not less than.

Well, what are you saying?

Okay, tell me then. Is it equal to?

Or is it more than?

At least Chrysostom said

he believed that to heal a dead soul

is a far greater thing
than to raise the dead.

He believed that the power at work in us

is even greater than that

which took place in Christ.

Here's what I know.

I know this.

I know that Paul repeatedly;

I know that the New Testament -

the apostles, the apostle's doctrine -

I know they were stunned

by the resurrection of Christ.

In the book of Acts,

wherever they went they were

proclaiming His resurrection
from the dead.

And they attached extreme significance

to the power of that resurrection.

Just think with me here.

Acts 2:23 - don't turn there.

Peter.

He said, "This Jesus

was delivered up according
to the definite plan

and foreknowledge of God,

you crucified and killed

by the hands of lawless men."

Listen, "God raised Him up,

loosing the pangs of death..."

Even though the word "power"

isn't specifically used here,

he says this about death:

"Because it was not possible

for Him to be held by it."

No possibility. Why?

There is a power here

that is above and beyond death.

It's chains were ripped -

"Up from the grave He arose!"

We sing that song.

It could not contain Him.

It was not able. Why?

Something was at work

that was more powerful than death.

And it could not - it did not have

greater strength than that

which was being unleashed in Christ.

It was not able.

That's the kind of thing
the New Testament says.

How about this?

When you come over?

Romans 1 - that glorious epistle.

And at the very beginning

as we're being introduced

to these glories, right from the get-go,

the first four verses,

Paul hits these Romans

with this glorious reality of Christ

being resurrected from the dead.

And what does he say?

He's declared to be the
Son of God with power.

This is a declaration.

You see Christ.

He's declared to be the
Son of God with power.

He's declared to be the Messiah.

He's declared to be the sent one.

What declares that about Him?

His resurrection from the dead.

That's what we're told.

He said, "He's declared to be

the Son of God in power

according to the Spirit of holiness

by His resurrection from the dead,

Jesus Christ our Lord."

Or you think about what Paul said

in Philippians 3.

Many of you know this.

Paul - what was he crying out for?

What was he longing for?

"That I may know Him..." and what?

"The power of His resurrection."

I can tell you this.

I don't know if you feel this.

When I think of the resurrection,

yes, because I know those verses,

I would say there's an
attachment to power.

But do you think that way?

When you think of Christ
rising from the dead,

is that the natural
connection in your mind?

Do you think, "wow, that was powerful"?

Powerful.

Probably we could do a whole sermon

on the power of death.

Death is a powerful thing.

I was at the gym this week.

Some guy walked by -

you know those big hulking guys

that hang out at gyms.

But he walked by and he was huge.

But you know, thinking on this message,

I thought, "but, he's going to die."

He's strong - he's a lot stronger than me,

but you know what?

He cannot resist death.

You just can't fight it.

And it's on us.

You know it!

Your outer body is wasting away.

You cannot stop the wrinkles.

You cannot stop the baldness.

You can't stop the flab.

You can't stop the
degradation of the body.

You cannot stop the grey hair.

You can dye them, but
you roots will give you away.

You can't stop what's happening to you.

It is pulling you down.

Brethren, it's coming.

Every one of us, we recognize

death is coming.

You can't run fast enough,

far enough, jump high enough,

you cannot get away from it.

It is massively powerful.

And here is this thing that holds man

in its grips, in its fear.

He who has the power of death -

the devil himself is
involved in all of this,

and he has power and he has control.

And brethren, he comes along

and he constantly is defeating man,

damning men.

What does he have to use?

He's got the wrath of God.

He basically baits us into sin

which unleashes the wrath of God upon us.

The power of death.

The power of sin.

The power of the devil.

We think ridiculous thoughts
about the devil.

He is powerful

and he is like a roaring lion

and he has fangs and he kills.

He killed our first father.

The power of these things

is beyond our control.

Men may make light of them.

Men want to ignore death.

They make fun of the devil.

They make light of sin.

These things are so powerful.

And what happens is you find

that in the resurrection of Christ,

there is a defeating; there is a removal

of these obstacles that are in our way,

and Christ took them out.

You want to know something
about the resurrection?

Whatever it may speak to you,

it speaks power,

and it speaks the power to remove

the obstacles out of your life

and out of my life that keep us from God,

that keep us from glory,

that keep us from everlasting life.

Power.

Here's another thing.

When you study Ephesians,

you need to keep your eyes open

to what's happening in Colossians,

because even though in some ways

they're very different,

you can tell they were obviously written

around the same time,

and that Paul deals with many

of the same themes.

So, over here in Ephesians 1,

you get this language.

But you know what?

Over in Colossians 2,

you get some similar language.

Let's turn over there.

Colossians 2:11.

Notice this.

In Christ - "In Him also,

you were circumcised

with the circumcision made without hands

by putting off the body of the flesh,

by the circumcision of Christ,

having been buried with Him

in baptism..."

See, the thing is, here
where Paul talks this way,

there's much about union.

And look, you don't want to miss it -

if you think as we went through

those first 14 verses about how many times

we were taught about "in Christ."

Union - bringing all things together.

Uniting all things together in Christ.

This idea of union.

And in fact, before you get
to the end of the chapter,

he's going to talk about Christ

being the Head over all
things to the church

which is His body,

the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

Christ is the Head. We are the body.

There is unity.

Notice the unity here.

"Buried with Him in baptism

in which you were also raised with Him."

Now notice this:

"...Through faith."

And then we're going to get

some of the exact same wording

that we get from Ephesians 1:19.

Again, similar veins of thoughts run

through both of these Ephesian

and Colossian epistles.

And tying them together oftentimes

helps give a fuller picture.

We're raised with Christ.

You see what Paul has in mind?

The two happen at once:

raised with Him - one action;

one demonstration of power.

We both come up together.

But keep reading there.

"...Raised with Him through faith;

faith in the powerful working of God."

This is the "energia" that we saw

back in 1:19 of Ephesians.

This is the energy;

the operative power of God.

It's in motion.

It's moving.

"...Who raised Him from the dead."

But see what he says first?

We're "raised with Him,"

and there is this power

that raised Him from the dead.

"And you (v. 13) who were dead

in your trespasses

and the uncircumcision of your flesh..."

Now listen, if you go
back over to Ephesians

you recognize,

Paul has the same thought in mind.

When you get to Ephesians 2:1,

he is going to say the
exact same thing here

about us being dead in
trespasses and sins,

being raised together with Christ.

It's the same thing.

He just takes a little bit more time

in saying it all in Ephesians.

He develops it a bit more.

It's more compact here in Colossians 2.

"You who were dead in your trespasses

and uncircumcision of your flesh,

God made alive together with Him,

having forgiven us all our trespasses

by cancelling the record of debt

that stood against us
with its legal demands,

this he set aside
nailing it to the cross."

Brethren, look.

I would just say this.

Based on what Paul says right here,

however you want to interpret
the "according to,"

"what is the immeasurable greatness

of his power toward us who believe."

It is "according to the working

of His great might
that He worked in Christ

when He raised Him from the dead

and He seated Him at His right hand..."

According to.

Whatever you want to do with that,

one thing you cannot get away from -

especially when you compare it

to the Colossian passage

is that Paul sees the two united.

It's like a picture.

I imagine Christ.

Imagine this.

A man in a deep dark well.

And there's a strong man
at the top of that well.

And he's pulling the rope up.

This man who's down in this well

is being pulled up out of the darkness.

And you pull him up and you set him down.

And this man you come to find out

had two children in his arms.

You see, if you start talking about

the work, the force, the power

that pulled that man out of the well,

you don't separate it from the force

that pulled those two children out.

Brethren, I envision it like this.

Christ and all of His people,

and there is a chain from Him

to every one of us.

And when He's pulled up out of there,

that chain - it's the chain of His love;

it's the chain of His grace -

it's the lifeline of salvation.

And when He's pulled up out of there,

pulling a man up out
of that deep darkness,

that deep dark pit of death.

We're chained to Him.
We're one with Him.

And up we come.

Now the chain may lay there coiled up.

He comes out.

For some of us, the chain's longer.

For some, shorter.

What I mean by that is He's coming up,

that thing is unraveling,

and before it actually becomes taut,

it pulls us up too.

For some, it's longer.

For some, sooner than others.

Different times in history.

Different times in your life.

When that chain goes taut, up you go too.

But we're connected.

As God draws Him up,

that power that is unleashed

is the same power -

the power of resurrection.

However you want to join those together;

however you want to put
these together, brethren,

we're connected with Him.

We're one with Him.

Paul won't let us get away from that.

This power so absolutely guarantees

these realities in our lives.

Brethren, these obstacles

are moved out of the way.

Every bit of gravity,

every bit of resistance,

every bit of difficulty
that stood in our way,

and the obstacles and the enemies

were great - they were insurmountable.

They were absolutely
impossible enemies to us.

Totally daunting.

Totally overwhelming.

Totally.

And this power...

And there's a certainty in all of this.

Brethren, there's a certainty.

When he gets to chapter 3

and he talks about even our ability

to think - you can turn there.

Let's just end with this.

I want you to see this in Ephesians 3:20.

It's like here you have the same:

"according to."

"Now to Him who is able

to do far more abundantly than all

we ask or think, according to..."

Very same preposition.

Really the same thing is going on here.

God's ability "is according to the power

at work within us."

Do you know what's interesting here?

In 1:19-20, Christ's resurrection

seems to be the standard.

Here, the power at work within us

seems to be the standard.

It's like Paul has established

the greatness of this power toward us

and compared it to the resurrection;

united us with this resurrection power -

not just resurrection,

but to place Him on the throne.

You may remember last week.

Craig said something about us

being seated with Christ
in the heavenly places.

But I'll tell you,

those chains are so real

that Him being pulled up there -

not just out of the well -

but all the way up

and set on the mountain top.

Those chains hold tight.

And many of us,

the chains have pulled
us up out of the well,

but not to the mointaintop,

at least, not in reality.

Not in our position as
far as where we're at.

There may be a sense that
there's a veil right here.

We may be on the throne already

even in a real sense.

Because if we could pull back the veil -

think of times in Scripture

when the veil was pulled back -

Christ is right there.

Stephen - you just pull it back,

there He is. He's right there.

Probably right here all around us.

We are in the midst.

But there is such a connection

that we are presently seated

with Christ in the heavenly places.

The power at work in us,

when you get to 3:20,

becomes the standard by which

God's ability is measured.

Brethren, there are such things,

there are such demonstrations

of the power of God, as we said last time,

we don't feel this.

And we have to be reminded of its reality.

And I'll remind you again,

Paul is not praying for them

that they would come
to recognize their need

of more power and ask for it.

Now, look, it's not wrong
to recognize your need.

Paul's going to get there in chapter 3.

He's going to talk that way

about them receiving more power.

He is. That's not a wrong thing.

But right here, he is talking about

recognizing what is going on inside them.

Oh, brethren,

you take individuals like us,

and you throw them out into this darkness,

and you know what happens?

You shine and you're lights of the world.

You have a God-given ability

to resist the decay of the decadence.

You become the salt of the earth.

You're out there.

You are the lights of the world.

We can so often feel so defeated,

and Satan always is whispering in our ear

and telling us how worthless we are

and how we can't do this
and we can't accomplish that,

and we can't - no we
can't in our own power.

But brethren, we are not
a product of our own power.

We are not a product of our willpower.

If that's what you are,

yes, you're dead in the water,

but we as true Christians

are not dead in the water.

There is a power at work within us.

There is a power of victory,

a power of overcoming.

And we will overcome.

And we must overcome

because this power will
always create overcomers.

Brethren, do you recognize
this reality about yourself?

And you can look at the cross

and you can look at Christ seated there

and you can look at Him ruling

and reigning and above every power,

every rule, every authority,

every power, every dominion.

And not only in this age,
but in the age to come.

And He says to us,

"You will sit with Me on My throne."

That's what He says!

This is not just coming
from death to life.

This is the ultimate victory.

This is the ultimate.

There's no back little hut

in the alley somewhere

where some of the least of His people

are going to find themselves.

It's on the throne.

Every one of us.

Every one of us -

even the least of His children

have this kind of resurrection power,

and when in doubt,

obviously, Paul's saying:

Look at Christ!

There's your confidence!

Look at His resurrection!

Look at His ascension!

Look at the power!

You are one with that.

You are connected to that.

That is the standard,

but you're one with Him.

When He's torn up out
of the jaws of death,

you come with Him.

When He's set upon that throne,

you go with Him.

He is one with us.

He is the Head. We are the body.

You would never talk about

bringing a man up out of the well

and distinguish between
the head and the body,

and the power that raised the head

and the power that raised the body.

It's ridiculous.

They're one.

Paul wants us to see this as one.

You are the fullness of Him

who fills all in all.

Brethren, it's just a wake up call

for us to have eyes to recognize

what in the world is going on in us.

This is not willpower religion.

This is not dead religion.

This is biblical Christianity.

Father, we pray,

oh, the power of resurrection.

I pray it would be a reality

in the lives of my brothers and sisters,

that there would be a recognition

and a perception and a revelation,

and that we would have Your Spirit

open our eyes;

tear those scales away.

Lord, help us to see things

as we ought to see them.

I pray in Christ's name. Amen.