[0:00] Philippians, Colossians. You'll find it right after Galatians,! And then in verse 15 of chapter 1, Paul begins to write down what he prays for this church.
[0:39] And actually, this is not one church, but it's many churches. This is a circular letter. This is a letter that Paul wrote, kind of a generic letter that applies to every Christian at every time.
[0:51] And it would circulate it through the area from church to church. They would copy it, put their own name in there. So the church at Ephesus could be the church at Colossae or the church at Laodicea, the church at Hierapolis, on and on.
[1:08] But this is one that we have preserved from Ephesians. So here's his prayer in verses 15 through 21.
[1:19] And we've looked at it, what, one time, two times? We've already looked at it two times? Really?
[1:30] Okay. Two times, and now our third time. To understand how Paul prays. What we can do from this is really learn how to pray.
[1:42] I'm a copier. I copy prayers and pray the prayers of the Old Testament and the New Testament. I pray Paul's prayers.
[1:52] I just use his words. I can't come up with better ones. I use David's words. I use the psalmist's words when I pray because they articulate things better than I can articulate.
[2:06] And I feel like I'm praying biblically. Because I am. Okay, so we want to read the text. Then we'll pray and then we'll dig in.
[2:16] So if you're able, please stand as I read from Ephesians chapter 1, beginning of verse 15 through 21. Hear the word of the Lord.
[2:28] 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, I do not cease giving thanks for you while making mention of you in my prayers.
[2:47] Prayers that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the full knowledge of him.
[3:03] Having the eyes of your heart enlightened so that you may know what is, the hope of his calling, what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is, the surpassing greatness of his power toward us who believe in accordance with the working of the strength of his might which he brought about 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 every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.
[3:52] So it reads. Let's pray. Father, we pray that you too would hear Paul's prayer for us. Lord, that you would give to us a spirit of wisdom and revelation in knowing you, that we might know you more, that we might know you more deeply, that we might experience, Father, who you are, not just what you are, that we may know you, and Father, that you would cause the eyes of our heart to be enlightened, that you would turn on the light inside of us, Lord, so that we might understand the hope of our calling, that that is sure, that your calling of us is certain, and that we might understand what is the future inheritance that we have.
[4:42] Father, how glorious and how wonderful it will be. And Father, we pray today that you would begin to help us grasp the power that is already at work in us who are believing.
[5:03] Such great power. Father, help us to recognize that today, to be believers in your hope and in your inheritance and in, Father, this great power at work so that we might know you, so that we might walk with you, so that we might, Lord, live for you.
[5:22] We pray this in Christ's name. Amen. Please be seated. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[5:34] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Perhaps you know this song. A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing.
[5:54] Our helper he amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing.
[6:07] For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe.
[6:17] His craft and power are great, and armed with cruel hate.
[6:27] On earth is not his equal. True? Yes. Did we in our own strength confide?
[6:42] Our striving would be losing. Were not the right men on our side?
[6:57] The men of God's own choosing. Does ask who that may be?
[7:08] Christ Jesus, it is he. Lord, sabba, his name.
[7:19] From age to age the same. Then he must win the battle.
[7:30] And though this world with devils filled Should threaten to undo us.
[7:45] We will not fear, For God hath willed his spirit triumph through us.
[8:00] Wait, wait, wait. I'm sorry. I messed it up. We will not fear, For God hath willed his truth to triumph through us. Thank you. Okay. You guys got it right. Okay. Here we go. It's 26, by the name.
[8:11] Huh? It's 26. Yes, it is. The prince of darkness grim, We tremble not for him, His rage we can endure, For lo, his doom is sure, One little word shall fail again.
[8:45] We'll finish that later. Martin Luther's hymn speaks of a spiritual battle.
[8:59] Truth, the prince of darkness, A world of devils, And yet one who has conquered.
[9:13] And because he has conquered, We fear not. We tremble not. This is at the heart of what we look at today In Ephesians 1, 19.
[9:28] His power working in the believer. Why we do not tremble. Why we do not fear. Sometimes I'm asked, Why should we pray?
[9:44] If God is sovereign, He knows all. He will accomplish His will. Why would we need to pray? Even Jesus said, Right?
[9:56] He knows what we ask before we ask Him. So praying is not about giving God information. He already knows. So why pray?
[10:08] If He's already got it figured out, He already knows. Why do we pray? Well, number one, Relationship. The very fact that He knows before we ask Tells us, Okay.
[10:24] The purpose of prayer is He wants us to talk to Him. He wants us to confide in Him. He wants us to pour out our soul to Him. He wants us not just to tell Him our requests, But to lean upon Him.
[10:37] To look to Him. Right? As a song, We were talking today, This morning, Downstairs, About mourning. The word mourning means to get out. What's inside. Not suppress what's inside.
[10:48] But to get out. When you're mourning. When you're sad. When you're overwhelmed. When you're weak. Get it out before Him. David called it pouring out your soul. So that's one reason.
[11:02] Second, It's because He tells us to. So in other words, It's a means by which He accomplishes His will. He is absolutely sovereign.
[11:14] He has chosen and planned from the beginning. He will accomplish the ends that He intends. Yet, He tells us to pray.
[11:28] Because through prayer, He accomplishes those ends. Connect those dots. It's one of those mysteries.
[11:40] But there's no question God listens to our prayers. There's no question our prayers are effective. Right? We pray for things.
[11:51] We see things get answered. We see God working. He works through our prayers. And now I want to add a third reason.
[12:04] It's not just for a relationship. Not just a way that God accomplishes His will. But thirdly, it activates our faith. It activates our faith.
[12:15] It is how we walk by the Spirit. It is how Enoch walked with God.
[12:27] It is how Noah walked with God. It is how Abraham walked with God. It is how Moses walked with God. It is how David wrestled with God.
[12:47] Prayer is a means by which God gives us power. To walk. To overcome sin. To defeat the devil.
[13:00] Prayer activates our faith. Now, we've been looking at Paul's prayer. We saw in verses 15 that there's a reason he's praying. Because he's often thinking of them.
[13:12] He's heard of their faith and their love. He does not cease giving thanks for them. In verse 16, he's always praying and interceding for them when he thinks of them.
[13:23] And then he tells us what his prayers are. In fact, here in the book of Ephesians, we have two different prayers that Paul prays for the church. In Colossians, you'll find another one.
[13:34] In Philippians, you'll find another one. In 2 Thessalonians, you'll find another one. There's several different prayers Paul prays for the church. He doesn't just have one rote thing, but he has some that are bedrock for him.
[13:49] That he prays for these believers. And it teaches us how to pray not only for ourselves, but for one another. And for our children. And for those that the word goes out to.
[14:01] So we saw in verse 17, the main prayer is that God would give them a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him.
[14:13] He wants them to grow in their knowledge of God. Not theological, academic knowledge, but real knowledge, accurate knowledge, personal knowledge, experiential knowledge. He wants them to have a deeper knowledge of God.
[14:28] And a more personal experience of God. And then connected to that, verse 18, he says, literally the grammar is having been enlightened the eyes of your heart.
[14:44] That's the Greek order. Having been. In other words, the prayer to know God, to have a spirit of wisdom and revelation in knowing God, deeper knowledge of God.
[14:58] Before that happens, having been enlightened the eyes of your heart. In other words, his prayer is that undergirding that knowledge of God.
[15:09] And what feeds the knowledge of God is having the eyes of our heart enlightened. In three things. The hope of our calling. Or the hope of his calling, which we described last week as the assurance of our salvation.
[15:26] It's the hope of his calling. Not a hope of uncertainty, but a hope of certainty of his calling. To come to grips, to come to grasp that his calling of me is certain.
[15:39] How do I know that? How do I know that? Well, I see fruit in my life. That's how. Not fruit that I produce, but fruit that I bear. Right? Right?
[15:51] We bear fruit. We don't produce fruit. Right? With me? Right? Scripture always talks about bearing fruit. We're just the branch.
[16:02] He's the vine. Right? Okay? And then he talks about our inheritance. To be looking forward. That we would come to grips with what's before us in heaven.
[16:15] The new life and the eternal life. The walking with God on those celestial streets. To have that. And now he comes to a third one we see in verse 19.
[16:27] He talks about, verse 19, what is the surpassing greatness of his power toward us? So having been enlightened, the eyes of our heart, to know certain things.
[16:46] And today we focus on to know the power at work in believers. What is that power? What is that power that Luther knew about? So that he could write, we tremble not for him.
[17:01] His rage we can endure. One little word shall fail him. That Peter knew when Peter said, resist him.
[17:14] And what? He will flee from you. I got that kind of power? No, not inherently, no. But you've been given that kind of power because the Holy Spirit resides in you.
[17:31] Flee. We can take the sword out, right? Like Jesus did. When we're tempted, take the sword out.
[17:42] Do you use the sword? Do you speak it? Because it's a spoken word and the devil can't read your mind. So you speak it to him. Right?
[17:54] Flee. It is written. Speak what is written and he flees. So, what is this power?
[18:08] So, we're going to look at this, power at work in believers. We want to grasp two things here. First of all, verse 19, how the power works.
[18:19] Right? What he describes as that suppressing power toward us who believe. And then, the second thing we want to realize is in verse 20, 21 is what kind of power it is.
[18:33] So, he tells us about the power that we have in verse 19. And then he tells us in verse 20, 21, what kind of power we're talking about.
[18:45] How great the kind of power is what we're talking about. Okay? Not just, you know, a little bit. Just a little bit to get through. You know, when your battery's running low and you just hope that one more, that it'll crank far enough to start on that cold morning.
[19:03] Not that kind of power. The kind that, every time you turn the key, it's boom, it's right there. And it sounds like Roger's car. And you turn it on.
[19:14] Rich rumble. And the windows of the house shake. That kind of power. So, first of all, recognize, first of all, verse 19, that God's power is already at work in believers.
[19:29] He wants us to grasp that this power is not outside of us. This power is in us. This power is already at work in us. That's the first thing to recognize.
[19:42] That God's power is already at work in believers. So, notice, first of all, verse 19, how he describes this power. He says, what is the surpassing greatness of his power?
[19:54] The New American Standard has, well, that's what the New American Standard has. I'm sorry, reading from the New American. The ESV has, right, the immeasurable greatness, right?
[20:07] The immeasurable greatness. I mean, this word surpassing, immeasurable, exceeding. So, he's piling up these words, exceeding greatness.
[20:20] So, exceeding, and the word for greatness is mega. So, the exceeding mega. The mega exceeding. Okay. Immeasurable power.
[20:31] So, what we're talking about is no small power. And the word for power, of course, is dunamis. Dunamis. And dunamis sounds like dynamite.
[20:43] Or dynamic. That's where we get those words, a dynamic. From active power. Miracle kind of power. Dunamis, that's a word that often describes miracles that Jesus did.
[20:59] Inherent power. And then, in the rest of verse 19, he adds more power words. In accordance with the working of the strength of his might. So, it's a surpassing great power.
[21:12] And then, it's a power that's in accordance with the working of the strength of his might. According to the working of the strength. The overcoming, conquering kind of power.
[21:24] And might. The strength of his might. The might that is a force. So, he's piling up all these big power words. Mega. Surpassing. Strength.
[21:35] Might. Overcoming. Conquering. Kind of power. So, where is this power? Here's the startling thing. What does he write?
[21:47] What is the surpassing greatness of his power? Where? New America Standard has toward us, I believe. What's the ESV have?
[22:00] Toward us. Toward us as well. Not tortoise like a turtle. Toward us. Right? In us. So, the power is active.
[22:12] The power is not going out. The power is going in. Power is coming to us. To us who? To those who what? Believe.
[22:23] Believe. Or literally. To those who are believing. Present active. Tens. Not just believe. But who are believing.
[22:33] In other words. Are believing. The present active of our faith. Our faith that is active. Engages this power. Faith that is active.
[22:47] Faith that initiates. Faith that is active. So, this has kind of been one of my pet peeves. For a long time. And pet peeve toward myself is.
[23:02] People talk about how they believe. They believe. Okay. What do you believe? Well, I believe these set of truths. Okay. Great. So. What difference does that make? What do you do?
[23:13] Well, you know. I accepted Jesus. And I've just believed ever since. Okay. That's it. James would call that dead faith. See, there's a difference between.
[23:27] Faith that's dead or passive. And faith that's active and alive. And so, I think that there's a huge difference. Between passive and active faith.
[23:37] You can have passive faith. Where, yeah, yeah. I've always believed. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I just kind of take it for granted. My faith's in neutral. I'm good. Till a crisis comes. Active faith is constantly engaged.
[23:52] Constantly walking with the Lord. Right? It's active. Faith activates power at work in us. So, he talks about this further in chapter 3, verse 16.
[24:05] Where he says. This is the other prayer in 3.16. That God would grant you according to the riches of his glory. To be strengthened with power through his spirit in the inner man.
[24:15] So, in the next prayer, Paul's going to pray specifically. That you'd be strengthened with power through his spirit in the inner man. So, that's how that power works. It works internally. It works through the spirit.
[24:27] Which makes sense, doesn't it? It's not just some kind of power that's just kind of out there. It's the specific power works through the person of the Holy Spirit in us.
[24:41] And then, in chapter 3, verse 20, it talks about power that it's according to the power at work within us. Again, it's an internal kind of power. So, what difference does all this make?
[24:53] What's the point of the prayer? When we go back to the beginning of verse 18. And he's talking about having been enlightened.
[25:04] The eyes of your heart having been enlightened. So that you may know. Okay? Know three things, right? The eyes of your heart having been enlightened. So, in other words, God enlightened.
[25:15] If it's having been enlightened, that's passive. That happens to you. That's not something you do. It's something God does. He turns on the light. So, having been enlightened.
[25:26] To know. To understand. To come to grips with three things. That hope. The inheritance. And now, this power. So, the point is, he's praying that we will come to know.
[25:36] To grasp the significance of God's power already working in us. Do we get that? Do we believe that?
[25:48] Do we believe that? And it's the power toward us who are believing. Who are trusting. Who are having faith.
[26:00] So, it's God's power working in us. It's that almighty power. It's that abounding, overcoming force power.
[26:11] It's the surpassing power that is more adequate. Able to overcome sin and weakness. Enabling us to obey his will. It's that kind of power. It's power that overcomes my power.
[26:24] Overcomes my nature. Right? We recognize we have two natures in us. Right? We've got that old nature that we've always had. That this does what I want to do. It's natural. It's just what I do naturally.
[26:37] It's what I feel. How I act. What I think. Natural. And then, God comes into my life. And now, there's this other nature in me. That's battling with that nature.
[26:47] And this one over here has changed me. And it's given me new values. And it's given me new purpose. And now, I want to serve him.
[26:58] Instead of have to serve him. I love him. Instead of I hate him. It's, I want to walk with him.
[27:09] I want to know him more deeply. I want to be, hear those words, well done. Hallelujah. Right? Those aren't manufactured.
[27:20] Because he's come into me. Those are real and genuine desires. That fight these other old ones. Don't you get annoyed with the old ones?
[27:31] My gosh. And here's the thing about the act of faith. See, if my faith is not active, which nature takes over? This one.
[27:42] Yeah. Because it's natural. I don't have to work. I don't have to think about this one. This one just does it. But if my faith is active, can I put off the old, put on the new?
[27:58] Right? There's an intentionality. There's a deliberateness to faith. And it activates this power. So, Paul applies this to his own ministry in Colossians 1.
[28:11] He talks about how he labors. He's just sharing with the folks kind of what his goal and mission is. Colossians 1.28, he says, him, speaking of Jesus, him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone mature in Christ.
[28:29] So, that's his mission. That's his desire. That's his apostle. He wants to mature everyone and make everyone mature in Christ, teaching and warning with wisdom. And then he gives the reason.
[28:42] He says, for this I toil. I labor. I labor to a point of exhaustion is the word. I toil. Struggling. Ah, ministry struggle? Paul said, it is.
[28:56] He says, man, it's a wrestling match to do this. Get up in the morning. This one wants to take over, right? Maybe not for you, for me.
[29:09] You know, so that intentionality. Struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.
[29:20] There's that power. Paul says, here's an intentionality for him in his ministry that he's struggling with all his energy.
[29:36] Which mightily works, right? Which powerfully works within me. So, Paul says, I toil according to his power. Not according to his own ability, but according to God's energizing, operating work.
[29:49] How? How does he do it? By believing. That's how we do it. By believing. By active faith. By an intentional dependence. I'm reminded of another experience of Paul in 2 Corinthians 12.
[30:05] Where he talks about, remember the thorn in the flesh. Have you ever read that passage? Paul's thorn in the flesh. Remember, we don't know exactly what it was.
[30:15] Whether the thorn in the flesh was a physical issue that weakened him. Or it was a person that was attacking him. Or we don't know exactly what the thorn in the flesh.
[30:27] But it was a thorn given by God, but applied by the devil. Right? So, in other words, God sent the devil to put a thorn in Paul's flesh.
[30:42] And so, Paul prayed three times, right? Remove this. Remove this. Remove this. God didn't remove it. So, that means Paul didn't have enough faith, right?
[30:52] That's what some Christians say. Paul was wrong. He didn't have enough faith. He should have kept praying. He should have believed. Well, Paul didn't have to keep praying.
[31:04] Why? Because he got an answer. That's why. He didn't pray a fourth or fifth time because he got an answer. And the answer is, my power is perfected in weakness.
[31:19] And Paul, you need to be weak. My grace is sufficient for you. My grace is enough for you.
[31:31] For my power is made perfect in weakness. When Paul came to terms with that, he said, Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
[31:47] Here's the other light bulb. Is there this power that's already at work in us? This power that is activated by faith is particularly activated in times of weakness.
[32:00] Not when we're strong, but when we're weak. Not when we feel like we got it all together, but when it feels like things are falling apart.
[32:12] That's when his weak, that's when our faith activates his power. His power is perfected in my weakness.
[32:23] By faith, I look to him to energize that power in me, to overcome my weakness, to overcome my inadequacy, to deal with my failures, to deal with my unfitness.
[32:38] This is not autopilot Christianity. This is an act of faith Christianity. That's what it means. How's that work for you?
[32:55] Do you have an active thorn recently or presently? Maybe it's your health. Maybe it's a person.
[33:06] Maybe it's a situation that just seems insurmountable. Maybe it's a loved one. I don't know. There's something that you're wrestling with.
[33:18] Maybe it's a future unknown. Relevant for me. So it's in the midst of this.
[33:37] In the midst of this. We believe. That activates that power. It turns that key.
[33:48] I'm not saying some kind of, that we have a technique. I'm saying active faith, you know. Active faith pursues God, God trusts God, but it also waits on Him, right?
[34:01] It doesn't mean that power comes right away. I wish I could. I can't. Can you hear that? I can't hear it either. I can't do that. It doesn't come right away. Often God's prayers are answered in His time.
[34:18] But it's still power that will work through our believing, through our trusting, as we continue to trust and believe and seek Him. Second thing we need to recognize, He wants us to grasp not only that the power is already at work in believers, but secondly, that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead works in us.
[34:46] Sounds like a song, doesn't it? Yeah. Sounds like a song. If Dan were here, we'd close with that song, but Dan's not here. So we're going to sing Almighty Fortress, which is that's just as good or better.
[34:59] But same power, I don't know who wrote that. I don't remember. but put those words into a song. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead.
[35:11] Lives in us, lives in us. I changed it to works in us. It's the same power that He worked in Christ, He says in verse 20 now.
[35:23] Same power. These are, so back to verse 19, understand the flow here. What is the, He wants us to know, to recognize, what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who are believing in accordance, the same power that's in accordance with the working of the strength of His might, which He brought about in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places.
[35:49] That kind of power. It's the same kind of power that God worked in Christ. Energized, performed in Christ. Same power, He energizes and performs in the believer.
[36:07] When I say words like energized and performed, I'm using synonyms of the word working. that He has at the end of verse 19. It's the same word.
[36:22] It's the affecting of the power, the energizing of the, there's the power and then there's the energizing of the power. There's the power and there's the operation of the power that is applied. And He gives two examples how the power is working in Christ.
[36:34] One, raising Him from the dead and secondly, seating Him in the right hand of power. So we hear more about the raising from the dead, right? What kind of power would it take to raise Him from the dead?
[36:50] To conquer death? What kind of power is that? Well, pretty mighty power, Bill. I think that's kind of supernatural power, Bill.
[37:03] It's kind of power that none on earth have because no one else has done it. Well, aren't there others who've been raised from the dead?
[37:13] Yes, absolutely. Elijah raised a child from the dead. Jesus raised several, a son of the widow, right? Raised from the dead. Lazarus, the most well-known, four days dead.
[37:26] By now, Lord, he stinketh. That kind of dead, He raised him from the dead just by voice, just like it creates, just like Genesis 1. He spoke and it was.
[37:40] Lazarus, come forth. He came. Good thing He said Lazarus, otherwise, maybe everybody would have come. Lazarus, come forth. Then He came. Now, we can laugh about Lazarus, poor Lazarus.
[37:53] He probably had a lot of jokes, right? But, you know, who's been in his shoes? Sandals.
[38:05] But no, not like that. That's pretty powerful, but not like that. Because other people, besides Jesus, raised people from the dead. Elijah.
[38:18] I think, did Paul do that? Eutychus. Who? He raised Eutychus. So, so there were others, but remember, those people, what?
[38:31] They died again. It's a temporary resurrection. It's not the kind of resurrection like Jesus' resurrection. See, Jesus' resurrection is absolutely unique and absolutely stands apart.
[38:44] He's not just saved from death, but after death had taken effect three days and three nights. That's why it's Thursday, not Friday.
[38:55] Three days and three nights. That's what Jesus said. That's why it's Thursday, not Friday, because Jesus said three days and three nights. Not three days and two nights.
[39:08] Three days and three nights, just like Jonah. Jonah. And then he was raised up. Reanimated. New. Indestructible.
[39:19] Not resuscitated. Not revived. Not something temporary, but new. Raised with a new body that, remember, suddenly appears in rooms and disappears in rooms.
[39:31] Not like Lazarus. And then he adds, not only did he, was it the power that raised him from the dead, but it was also power that seated him at the right hand.
[39:46] Seated him at God's, the Father's right hand in the heavenly places. Far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named not only in this age, but also in the one to come.
[40:00] So in other words, far exalted above every other being at his right hand. The hand of power and authority.
[40:17] Jesus said, right, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything that I have taught you.
[40:29] Behold, I am with you. Always. Even to the end of the earth. Oh, he did not, did he not say?
[40:42] All authority has been given to me in heaven and earth. That's what I was trying to remember. Before he gave the commission, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.
[40:55] So even before he was exalted to the right hand, he already had the power. He already had all the authority. God the Father has deferred all the authority to Jesus Christ. Not only because of who he is, but because of what he did.
[41:10] That he would lay down his life. So the right hand, the right hand of honor and authority and victory, the closest examples we could come to would be like Joseph was exalted to the right hand of Pharaoh, right?
[41:28] And there was nothing, I mean, he had all the power, all the authority. He spoke for Pharaoh. Pharaoh didn't worry about anything because Joseph was there. Same thing happened with Daniel, right?
[41:39] Daniel was elevated and the king didn't worry about anything because Daniel was there. He had all the authority. So that's a poor example of what Jesus is because Joseph died and Daniel suffered some persecution, ended up in a lion's den, you know, I don't know.
[42:03] So what extent as this power, verse 21, as we said, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that's named, not only in this age but also in the one to come, far above all power and authority, all rule and dominion.
[42:19] Who's that? Well, we see them again in chapter 2, verse 2, right? That when our old life we were walking according to the prince of the power of the air, spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
[42:34] We were working under the power of the evil one. We were under that authority, under that power of Satan himself. And then in chapter 6, remember, chapter 6, 12 talks about our armor of God.
[42:48] We put on the armor of God, right? Why? Because our struggle is not against flesh and blood, not against humans, but our struggle is against the rulers, against the powers, the authorities, the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual kind of forces of wickedness in the heavenly places, not earthly power and authority but spiritual power and authority.
[43:10] That's what we battle with. That's what Luther wrote about. We tremble not for them. You recognize that in the spiritual realm there are ranks and authorities.
[43:23] There are rulers and authorities and there's an organization going on. You know that. Right? We see it in the world. There's highly organized spiritual darkness going on.
[43:37] Been going on a long time. He knows what he's doing. But we tremble not. And that's why we wear the armor because the armor protects us against all of that and the sword defeats that.
[43:51] So it's not like we have to go, okay, I got to learn new spiritual prayers. I got to learn formulas to cast out. No, I don't. No, I don't. Been down that road, done work.
[44:03] In fact, there's a much simpler road. Just trust and obey. Trust and obey. Trust and obey. Preach the word. Keep it simple like Peter kept it simple. Keep it simple like Paul kept it simple.
[44:15] Paul doesn't give us any formulas. He gives us spiritual armor. Tells us to take out the sword like Jesus did. That's as simple as... No formulas.
[44:25] No formulas, folks. I've heard the enemy speak. Scary, scary, scary. Drove me to conversion.
[44:47] So he is seated far above, far above, not just barely above the devil and his authorities, but far above all those rulers and authorities and demons and the prince of darkness himself.
[44:59] All hostile powers are inferior to him. That's why they tremble. When Jesus was on earth, that's why they trembled. What was it?
[45:12] Legion? How many demons there? They trembled. Overwhelming force, don't you think? They trembled in his presence.
[45:25] Please, cast us into the pigs. That'd be better. They were fearful that he would then cast them into the pit where they couldn't do anything.
[45:39] At least give us, throw us into the pigs so then it would just be a bad case of devil to ham. So, how does this resurrection power apply?
[45:52] Sorry, I apologize. Can't resist. It's not mine. That's my brother's joke. It's a good one though. It's a good one. Huh?
[46:02] Don't put this on me, uncles. Oh, good. Uncle Ron. So, how does this resurrection power apply to us? Okay, let's get down to this. How does it work?
[46:13] Where does it, where does the rubber meet the road? Where do we see this? So, listen to Paul in Romans 6. And remember in Romans 6, Paul is starting to talk about if we have died to sin, why do we still, why do we still live in sin?
[46:28] Why? If sin has been conquered, why are we still, why do we still sin? That's as basic as you can get, right? So, Paul is going to use his incredible brain and work through the rationality of this.
[46:45] Okay? Watch how he does this. He says, in Romans 6, I'll pick it up in 6 verse 4. We were buried, therefore, with Jesus by baptism into death. So, symbolically, we were buried with Christ.
[46:56] In order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. So, not only just symbolically in baptism, but in reality, we are, we are, we have been buried in baptism with him and raised to newness of life, right?
[47:17] We can walk in newness of life. For, if we have been united with Christ in a death like his, we shall be, certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
[47:31] In other words, that power that he had. We know, now, here's the things that we know. Here's what we know, what we can conclude by that. We know, one, that our old self was crucified with him in order that, two, the body of sin might be done, might be brought to nothing.
[47:51] Huh? So that, three, we would no longer be enslaved to sin. So, our old self is crucified, the body of sin is brought to nothing, we've experienced that death so that no longer enslaved to sin.
[48:11] Okay? For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. We know, here's again, we know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again.
[48:27] Right? His resurrection is unique. He will never die again. Death no longer has dominion over him. He will never taste death again. For the death that he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life that he lived, he lives to God.
[48:44] So you, here's the application, so you also must consider yourselves what? Dead to sin. It's a faith consideration.
[48:57] It's a faith calculation. It's a logic. It's not a feeling. It's a logical faith conclusion. Must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
[49:12] Therefore, let not sin reign in your mortal body to make you obey its passions. Do not present your bodies to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but intentionally present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.
[49:33] For sin will have no dominion over you since you are not under law. Since you are not under law. Since you are not under law, but under grace.
[49:51] Do you believe that? faith makes an active decision. Do you see that? I actively engage my faith that activates the power of God to consider myself dead to sin and alive to God and therefore I am not enslaved to sin.
[50:17] In other words, because I have been born again, I don't have to sin. Before, I had no choice. I always sinned before.
[50:30] Not grossly, maybe. But now I can say no. I can say no to temptation.
[50:42] I can say no to that. I can say no to that. So how does resurrection power work in us? It has freed us from sin.
[50:55] We're not under sin's dominion. I am not under sin's... Temptations may feel powerful, but I am not under the... I am not enslaved. I do not have to do that.
[51:07] I can say no. I can call out to God. I can engage my faith. It has made me alive to God and now by His Holy Spirit through faith, I can walk in newness of life.
[51:24] You experienced that? Have you experienced overcoming temptation? I know you have. I know you have. Have you experienced not overcoming temptation?
[51:35] I know you have. I know you have. Of course. It's a battle. It's a battle. And when we sing, a mighty fortress is our God.
[51:50] A mighty fortress is not Bill. A mighty fortress is not me. A mighty fortress is not you. A mighty fortress is our God.
[52:02] He's the bulwark. I'm not saying this whole thing is easy. It's a struggle of faith.
[52:13] It's a fight for faith. But it is an intentional dependence on Christ. It is a faith that is activated through prayer. I've been saying faith activated.
[52:26] Activating your faith. The way that you activate your faith is through prayer. I talk to the Father. I talk to the Son. I talk to the Holy Spirit who I walk with.
[52:37] I talk to the Father because Christ tells me to talk to the Father. I talk to Christ because I love Christ. I talk to the Holy Spirit because He's my helper.
[52:49] To walk in a manner worthy. To pull back from that strong urge to sin. Do you know that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead works in you?
[53:05] I mean you know it says it so I have to say yeah yeah but do you grasp it? You know pray that you grasp it more. Right if I grasp it as I face these temptations it kind of bolsters me.
[53:19] It puts another little muscle into my you know kind of right I've got to strengthen up when I fight right? I lost all the muscle but it used to again I was hand trucking the other day hand trucking stuff from the old office down and then later I felt like okay yeah okay shouldn't have done that.
[53:45] Don't have that right? Because I haven't activated those muscles. Taking that lawn that wheelbarrow John right? Those muscles aren't activated.
[53:57] Man springtime I'm using muscles I haven't used for a year. but we're talking about a different kind of muscle we're talking about the faith muscle. Activating that. Amen.
[54:14] If then you have been raised with Christ seek the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God set your minds on things that are above not on things that are on earth for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ and God.
[54:35] When Christ who is your life appears then you also will appear with him in glory. Therefore put to death what is earthly in you.
[54:49] put to death what is earthly in you sexual immorality impurity passion evil desire and covetousness which is idolatry.
[55:06] Let's pray. Father we ask that you would help us engage with Paul's words with his prayer. help us grasp.
[55:21] Lord turn on the light cause the eyes of our hearts to be enlightened so that having been enlightened will come to grips with our hope and our inheritance and this great power that is toward us who believe.
[55:39] This we ask in Christ's name. Amen.