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[0:00] Let's turn to...

[0:13] Loud. Turn me down. Or I'll whisper too much.! Turn me down. Let me be at my own level. So let's turn to some of those ancient words.

[0:28] These aren't the most ancient words. Most ancient words are Moses' words. These are the words of Paul, written about 2,000 years ago, almost 2,000 years ago now, in the early 60s.

[0:45] Not the 1960s. The original 60s. He wrote to... We call this book Ephesians.

[0:58] The book of... To the Ephesians. But it was written to several churches, actually. It was a circular letter. The original documents that we have, the oldest Greek manuscripts we have, have no name for the church that it's written to the church at blank.

[1:15] So it was sent to the churches around Ephesus, Laodicea, Hierapolis, etc., Philippi. They would get the letter, they'd fill in their own name, make their own copy, right, send on.

[1:28] So that's how this letter wrote. But what that tells us is this letter is applicable to all churches at all times. It's not written to a specific situation.

[1:42] It's written to believers who all together have these same foundational beliefs and these same foundational practices. So Ephesians, Paul divides it into the first three chapters, which are about who we are, what God has done, and the second three chapters, four, five, and six, are application.

[2:04] What we do with that truth, how we live, right? So Paul gets extremely practical in chapter four, right? Therefore, right, walk in a manner worthy of the calling, the calling being the first three chapters.

[2:19] So we're in chapter two now, in Ephesians chapter two, where Paul is telling us about how God has saved us, and we've kind of slowed down here because what Paul has to say is very definitive.

[2:38] He has diagnosed the problem in the first three verses, what we were, what we all were before we were made alive in Christ.

[2:50] And now we're looking at verse six today, verse five and six, how God saves us, what is involved in that, what is the present experience, how does that change how we live?

[3:07] So this passage is very important to us to understand, right, not only where we've come, but where the lost are and what is the great miracle that is needed to open eyes, to make alive.

[3:23] And then what our salvation looks like. What does it really mean that we're made alive, that we're raised up together with Christ, that we're seated with Christ? What does that mean?

[3:34] That's what we're going to explore today. I think it's greatly significant. So let's read Ephesians chapter two. We'll read from verse one through seven.

[3:49] So if you're able, please stand. Ephesians chapter two. Paul writes, Paul writes, And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked, according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.

[4:18] Among them, we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

[4:36] But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, he made us alive together with Christ.

[4:56] By grace, you have been saved and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

[5:07] In order that in the ages to come, he might show the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

[5:18] So reads the word. Let us pray. Father, open our eyes that we might see, cause us to understand, cause us to grapple with these phrases today, raised up with Christ, seated with him.

[5:33] How that changes our lives today. We ask in Christ's name. Amen. Please be seated. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[5:48] Dr. Harry Ironside, not to be confused with Ironside, the television series, but Dr. Harry Ironside was the, isn't that what it was called?

[5:59] Yeah. Yeah. Sorry to, yeah. He was a pastor of Moody, the famous Moody Church in Chicago during the 30s and the 40s.

[6:11] last century. He talks about a man who gave a testimony in this church. The man told him how God sought him, how God found him, loved him, called him, saved him, delivered him, cleansed him, and healed him.

[6:28] A wonderful testimony to the glory of God. After the meeting, a brother who tended to be a little bit legalistic came up to him and said, appreciate all you said, but you didn't say what you did.

[6:45] Salvation is part us and part God. You should have said your part. To which he responded, oh, I apologize. I should have mentioned that.

[6:57] My part was running away. God's part was running after me. This is Paul's testimony in Ephesians 2.

[7:11] How God acts to save sinners. God loves sinners. God seeks the lost.

[7:23] To seek and save the lost. That's what Jesus said. That's why I was here. To seek and save the lost. Not the found, not the ones who have it all together, not the righteous, but the sinners, the ones who can't get it together.

[7:38] Which is really all of us. Paul began this chapter diagnosing, right, the grace that is needed, the remedy for sinful men.

[7:48] He shows our ruin, right, in four conditions. Verse 1, we're dead in our sins, which means we're unable. We have no spiritual life. We have no real response to God. We're dead.

[8:00] Verse 2, we're dominated by external evils, both the world, right, we're conformed to this world before Christ, and we are under the influence and flacked, enslaved, to Satan, who wants to disrupt this, doesn't he?

[8:26] We're enslaved to the evil one, right, even though we don't know that or acknowledge that we are. And then verse 3, we're enslaved to our own inner lust. So we're influenced by, dominated by things outside us and inside of us as well.

[8:41] Our own inner lusts that come from our flesh, natural desires and passions that go beyond what is good as well as desires of the mind, the passions of the mind, so what we think of, not just what we feel.

[9:01] And fourthly, we're deserving of God's wrath. So he's given us three verses, a very detailed list of what we're saved from, what was our condition, what was our diagnosis.

[9:14] So that's the before of what we're excited about is the good news. The good news, what God, what does it mean to be saved? How is grace applied?

[9:26] We see grace needed. What is grace applied? What's the meaning of salvation? How does it change? And this is what I want to focus on today. How does it change the way we live?

[9:37] Not just what does it mean, not just what is salvation, how we define it, but how does it change the way we live? Because that's the ultimate purpose.

[9:48] We're saved from, we're saved to. Not just saved from the fire, we're saved to. Back to God. To be alive to him.

[9:59] So Paul gives us three phrases. Notice in verse five, the first phrase, even when we're dead in our transgressions, he made us alive together with Christ.

[10:11] So made alive together with Christ. That's the first application. God saves us by making us alive together with Christ. So dead, alive. First remedy.

[10:22] Death to life. He made us alive together with Christ because of his rich mercy and his great love. Second application we see in verse six. The first part of verse six, and raised us up with him.

[10:35] Literally, what Paul wrote was, and raised us up together with Christ. Each of these, made alive together with Christ, raised together together with Christ, seated together with Christ.

[10:49] All together with Christ. It's about our union with Christ. All right, so these three things. He's made us alive together with Christ. The two we're going to look at today, the second application, is raised together with Christ.

[11:04] You're going to spend half a sermon just on that phrase. I'm not bragging, I'm just saying, saying it's very significant. I think we don't grasp how significant it is.

[11:15] And then the second part of verse six, seated together with Christ in the heavenlies. What is that? See, what do these things mean? They're not about future. He's not using future tense.

[11:27] He's not saying we will be raised. He's not saying we will be seated. He says, we have been already. He has already made us alive. He has already raised us up.

[11:38] He's already seated us with Christ. So what does that mean? How is that? That changes the way we live. That's what I'm trying to say. It changes the way we live.

[11:49] So let's look at the second one in verse two, verse six, the first, the second application. Last week, we looked at making us alive together. Today, let's look at this second one.

[12:02] He saved us by having raised us together with Christ. Not will raise us, has raised us. He's raised us together with Christ.

[12:15] What does that mean? So I think to understand this, we have to look back at the context to understand. Look at the end of chapter one. Remember, Paul is praying, right?

[12:26] He's praying that we will have some understanding. He's praying, right, that God may give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation. Verse 18, look at 118. He's praying that the eyes of our heart may be enlightened so that we may know what is the hope of his calling, what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and then verse 19.

[12:48] And he's praying that we would understand what is the surpassing greatness of his power toward us who believe. Remember, he's praying that we would understand and realize how much power is available to us.

[12:59] How much? He says, in verse 19, it's the kind of power 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.

[13:15] That's the power toward us. What I want us to recall is the wording he says in verse 20 when he raised Jesus from the dead and what?

[13:27] Seated him in the heavenlies. Same two phrases in chapter 2, verse 6 that he uses toward us. Just as Christ was raised from the dead, we are raised.

[13:39] Just as Christ is seated in the heavenlies, we are seated with Christ. Okay, so that's the context. God's power raised Christ from the dead, his victory over sin and death.

[13:53] So, again, look at chapter 2, verse 6. So he's made us alive and he raised us up together with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenlies.

[14:08] What I want you to grasp is that how it applies to us is the same terminology, raised and seated. What God did for Christ, he has done for us.

[14:21] What happens to Christ happens to us. Christ was made alive. Christ was raised up. Christ was seated.

[14:35] Same happens to us. We are made alive, we are raised up, and we are seated. The question is, what does that mean? Okay, we're raised up with Christ.

[14:47] So, first of all, it remedies our condition, right? Just like the first one. We were dead, then we were made alive. Okay, that remedies the first one. What's our second problem? Verse two, right?

[14:58] Go back to verse two. We formerly walked according to the course of this world and according to the prince of the power of the air. We were under the influence of this world, conformed to this world, and we're under the influence of the devil.

[15:11] That's what we were. So, how does that relate to us? So, we were not just dead to God, but our life and our choices were dominated by worldly and fleshly lusts within us.

[15:29] So, God saves us when he raises us up with Christ. This transforms how we live. What it means is, in verse two, we were enslaved, right?

[15:43] We're just following the course of this world. We're just following Satan, though we don't know it and never made a commitment to Satan. We're just following it because he's the ruler of this world.

[15:54] So, now that we're raised up, guess what? We're no longer under that influence. We're no longer dominated by that. Now, he can still deceive us.

[16:06] He can still trick us. He can still tempt us. But we're raised up from his power. He's not over us anymore. We've been raised up. It transforms how we live.

[16:18] We are no longer a slave. We are delivered from this world. We are delivered to a heavenly realm in a spiritual sense. So, listen to what Paul says in Colossians 3.

[16:32] If then you have been raised with Christ, okay, what do we do? Seek the things that are above where Christ is.

[16:43] Seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on the things that are above, not on the things that are on earth. for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ and God.

[16:53] What does all that mean? It means when you've been saved, it transforms not just your state, but how you live. So, before we were focused on the things of the earth.

[17:05] Now, we've been raised up, so set your minds on the things above. Set your mind on the things where Christ is. Set your mind on the things where your life, your real life, is hidden. because we have a life not just here.

[17:22] That was our before state. Now, we have a life that's above. Now, we're not above yet, but we are united with Christ. So, where Christ is is where we are.

[17:34] That's kind of, can that soak in? We're united with him. So, what does it do? It transforms our worldview, transforms our mindset.

[17:48] Now, we have a new mindset. We have a new citizenship. We have a Christian worldview. We have a heavenly view. We have a different citizenship. We have a different security.

[17:59] We have a different identity. So, I've said for a long time this phrase, right?

[18:10] My king is on his throne. And today when some folks ask how you doing, that was my response. My king is on his throne. What does that mean?

[18:21] Well, no matter how life goes, my king is on his throne. He reigns. That was our theme of worship today. He reigns. All hail the king.

[18:38] That's what we sing. that's what we believe. That affects how we live. So, no matter what, where's my focus?

[18:50] Does my focus go earthly or does my focus go heavenly? And it doesn't mean be so heavenly that you're no earthly good. Right? Right?

[19:01] But as we go through things in life, I remember, no, Christ is on his throne, and my life is hidden with him, as Paul says in Colossians 3. 3. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in heaven.

[19:16] My real life, my real identity, my real security. This world isn't my security. This world is not my identity. The pastor is not my identity. It's just something I do.

[19:30] Yeah, it's just something I do. Right? That's not who I really am. Who I am is Christ's child.

[19:40] Who I am is a servant of the king, an ambassador of the king. I remember the first time I used that phrase when I went into Wells Fargo to talk to a finance guy.

[19:57] He says, how are you doing? This was during COVID. How are you doing? Are you all right? I said, my king is on his throne. He's kind of like. He walks me back to his office and he shows me a plaque on the wall.

[20:09] It's a Moody Bible Institute. I said, oh, your king's on his throne. He says, yeah, my king's on his throne, too. So that means everything's okay. Everything's going to be okay.

[20:23] So what are the practical implications? So I want to just kind of help you see what does this look like? To live out, how does it change the way we live?

[20:36] The fact that we're raised up with Christ. Romans 6. Romans 6.4, Paul explains this idea, this truth as a practical experience.

[20:51] Not a future that we're raised up with him, but a practical experience now. Listen to Romans 6. He says, we were buried, therefore, with Christ by baptism into death.

[21:06] In order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, what? We too, we too might walk now, might walk in newness of life.

[21:19] It changes the way we live. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like this.

[21:31] Paul's using ration, logic. He's following the steps. If this, then this. If this, then this. If this is true, then this is true.

[21:46] Right? So if we have our salvation because he's died for us and we're united with him, we are in Christ, that means that death applies to us. His death is paid for our sins, right?

[21:59] But it doesn't stop there. He was also raised, so we are also with him raised. Changes our life. So watch. We know, we know some things. What do we know?

[22:10] Because of this death and resurrection, what do we know? We know that our old self, he's applying it to us, that our old self was crucified with Christ in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing.

[22:26] Do you believe that? Has your body of sin been brought to nothing? What do we believe?

[22:38] So that, it goes on, so not only was our old self crucified, our old body of death, body of sin was brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

[22:49] There it is. We are no longer enslaved to sin. Do you believe that? Do you know that? You are no longer.

[23:03] You were before. You're old. Before you were made alive, before you were raised up, you were enslaved, you are no longer. Four, one who has died has been set free from sin.

[23:18] You've been set free. If we have died with Christ, we believe we shall also live with him. We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again. Death no longer has dominion over him.

[23:29] For the death that he died, he died to sin once for all. He did that for us. He didn't die to sin in himself. He was not a sinner, but he died to sin for us.

[23:43] God's and if we are united with him, which means that we are believers in him, we walk with him, he's made us alive, then that is true of us as well. What happens to Christ happens to us if we're united with him.

[24:00] All of that is true for us. It's transforming. For the death that he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life that he lives, he lives to God.

[24:12] So you also, okay, here's your application. Here's your bottom line. So, you also, just like Christ, must consider yourselves dead to sin and life to God in Christ Jesus.

[24:29] That's your take home. That's your take home. That's your application. So, because all these things are true, if this, then this, if he's died, then he raised, same with you, so you must what?

[24:44] So how does this work in our life? You must what? Consider. And it's present imperative, so it means keep on doing it.

[24:56] Keep on it, because it's a daily battle. Keep on considering yourselves dead to sin and alive to God. In other words, keep reckoning, keep thinking this through, meditate deeply on it, pray through it, consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God.

[25:13] God, help me believe this, help me recognize this, help me follow Paul's logic, because his logic is impeccable. if you're united with Christ, then you died to sin.

[25:30] You're no longer a slave to sin. So in Romans 6, Paul's going to go on and he's going to talk about some of the ramifications of this. And he's basically going to say, when you have your life before, when temptation came, what did you do?

[25:52] You went with it, right? You just went with it. That was natural. That was normal. Now, now that you have the Holy Spirit in you, when temptation comes, now what do you do?

[26:06] Now you have a decision. You no longer have to do that. You are no longer a slave to that.

[26:18] Got it? You are no longer enslaved to it. You no longer have to do it. In other words, now that you have Christ, you can choose not to sin. Isn't that amazing?

[26:30] You can actually choose not to sin. Well, how? Well, I pull out my sword and say, you know, flee Satan. It is written, flee immorality.

[26:41] It is written, do not be anxious. It is written, whatever temptation is coming. You didn't see that. I do it that way.

[26:51] I do it by when the devil tempts you, what does Peter say? He says, resist him. I can just resist him. Yeah, you can resist him now. Before, he overpowered you.

[27:03] He dominated you. Now, you can just say, no, I don't think so. Well, I might not be so casual and flippant, because it might be really, really hard.

[27:15] So, you might have to take out that sword and make a few cuts. more for yourself than for the devil. It's not your word that will make him flee.

[27:28] It's God's word that will make him flee. Because he can. As Luther's great hymn said, one little word will fell him. One little statement from the scripture, as Jesus said, it is written, it is written, it is written.

[27:44] Do you have your it is written in your pocket, by the way? What are the temptations you deal with every day? Do you have your it is written ready to go?

[27:56] Is your sword ready? Do you deal with what, lust? It is written, flee immorality. That's a really nice and short easy one.

[28:07] Deal with anxiety? Philippians 4. Do you deal with coveting? Whatever. Gossiping? You with critical spirit? Look up the verses.

[28:17] Find the verse. Find a nice short one and just say, it is written, quote the verse. That's your sword. And by the way, you have to speak it out loud. I've told you that before, right?

[28:30] Satan doesn't read your thoughts, you have to speak it out loud. You don't speak it very loud, you just speak it out loud. So that the demon hears it, just goes, oops, wrong guy, wrong girl.

[28:44] All right. So if you're raised with Christ, you can walk in newness of life, you're alive to God, you no longer let sin reign, you have an intentional act of faith.

[28:58] So, okay, so second thing, or third thing actually, how are we saved? We're saved by God making us alive, so remedies are dead. We were dead, now we're alive.

[29:09] We were, right? Secondly, then he raised us up with Christ, so we were under the power of the world and Satan, and now that we've been raised up, we're now set free from that.

[29:24] We're raised up, we're above Satan spiritually. just like Christ puts his enemies under his feet, we do that too by Christ's power.

[29:36] So, a third one is now, just like Christ was raised up and then seated, now we're also seated. He has saved us by seating us together with Christ in heaven.

[29:46] Notice, these three phrases go together, verse 5 and 6. Made alive together, raised up together, seated together with Christ. All three go together and they all three together summarize what our salvation is.

[30:03] So, again, context. What does it mean, context? Well, Christ was seated, right? Back in chapter 1, verse 20, right? The power that God brought about in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in heavenly places.

[30:20] Now look down at chapter 2, verse 6. And seated us with him in the heavenly places. Same phrase. Same language.

[30:31] Not exactly the same. It doesn't say we're seated at the right hand. But he says we're seated together with Christ. So we don't have the ultimate power like Jesus.

[30:42] We're not ruling the world. But we are together with Christ. And somehow being seated there, we share that rule. So he seated at the right hand, tells us in chapter 1, verse 21, what does that mean?

[31:00] He is far above all rule and authority, which means that he is reigning over all other rule and authorities, all of the spiritual realm. He's ruling over Satan himself.

[31:11] He's ruling over Satan's minions. He's ruling over the various ranks of the spiritual army. he is ruling over all. So how is it true of us?

[31:23] 2-6, we're seated, we are raised up with Christ, and we are seated together with Christ. What does it mean for us? We're not, as I said, we're not seated at the right hand. We do not share ultimate authority, but we are raised up with Christ.

[31:38] So we share his victory over sin, death, and the enemy. So you already have victory over the enemy.

[31:51] Do you know that? That's why you can resist him. That's why. Right? That's why you can vanquish him. His only power, he has no power over you.

[32:05] He cannot control you. By the way, I've said this before, why can't he control you? Why are believers not demon-possessed?

[32:16] We have the Holy Spirit. If we have the Holy Spirit, how in the world is he getting in? Right? It ain't happening. 1 John, greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world.

[32:30] And in that context, John is talking about the devils, right? The demons. Right? But what can he do? He can tempt us.

[32:43] He can tempt us. He can deceive us. So if he can, like he did to Eve, right? He didn't have power over Eve, but if he can twist her thinking, if he can get her questioning God, if he can kind of lead her into something, that's what he does with us.

[32:58] That's what he did with David. That's what he does, right, with Peter. I will never deny you. Right? What did he do?

[33:09] He didn't use the Roman, if he used the Roman army, Peter wouldn't have followed him. He might have died, but he used a little servant girl, right?

[33:21] Didn't see that one coming. Okay? So he's tricky. All right, so our condition. So the remedies are old condition. We once walked according to the prince of the power of the air, right?

[33:34] The spirit that is working the son's disobedience. In other words, the devil. We used to walk according to the devil. Now he's been defeated. Now we're not under his authority. He cannot control us.

[33:49] The devil has no power over the Christian. That's why we're able to resist him. That's why we're able to stand against him. In Ephesians 6, when we get to the armor of God, what does it say?

[33:59] Put on all the armor of God in order that you might be able to stand firm against his schemes. His schemes is the only ticket he has for us.

[34:12] Not his power, not against his power, but against his schemes, his methods, his trickery. Right? So we've got all these different things of the armor.

[34:24] We've got the breastplate, right? We've got the belt, we've got the shoes, we've got the shield, we've got the helmet, and we've got the sword.

[34:36] All these different things for purposes. All right, so we share, so being seated with Christ, what does that mean?

[34:48] It means that because Christ has destroyed the works of the devil, we share in his victory. Right? At the cross, he destroyed the works of the devil.

[35:01] Right? When he raised, he showed that the victory was true. When he seated at the right hand over all the authorities, he has now vanquished them. He is now over them.

[35:12] He has not yet got rid of them, but as we see in Revelation 12, he's kicked the devil out of heaven, right? Right?

[35:23] When Jesus was raised, there was a war in heaven, right? And the devil and his, the dragon and his cohorts are thrown down. Changed everything when Jesus was ascended, when Jesus sat down.

[35:37] Remember, the devil used to have access. He used to have access. Now he doesn't have access. Now he's just mad. Now he's been limited to this earthly realm.

[35:49] He's the power of the air, right? Spiritually behind things going on in history, media, right? We learn in Revelation, man, he spins it. He's the spin doctor of media and all that kind of stuff.

[36:10] So in Acts 26, when God gave Paul a commission, he said, I've commissioned you to go to the Gentiles to open eyes, that you might open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God.

[36:26] God. When our eyes are open, God opens our eyes, we turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God.

[36:36] We are transformed out of the power of Satan, out of his authority. That's what seated with Christ means. So let's look at a cross-reference.

[36:47] Colossians 2, God saves us by seating us with Christ. He delivers us from the authority of darkness into the kingdom of Christ. Remember, we're transferred from the worldly kingdom of Satan, we're transferred to the kingdom of Christ.

[37:05] That's why Jesus talked about kingdom all the time. He's the king of the kingdom and he's bringing people into his kingdom, right? So Colossians 1, or excuse me, Colossians 2, 11, which will sound a lot like Ephesians 2.

[37:20] in him. You also were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ.

[37:32] He's speaking metaphorically, having been buried with him. So here we go. Having been buried with Christ in baptism in which you also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God who raised him from the dead and you who were dead, see this similar language again, you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him.

[37:59] Same words. God made alive together with him from death to life. Having, how did he make us alive together with him? Having forgiven us all our trespasses, all our trespasses.

[38:12] How did he do that? By canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. In other words, the Ten Commandments were our death, not our life.

[38:25] We broke them. Now we're under wrath. We broke them. You don't think you've broken the Ten Commandments? You have it read carefully enough.

[38:40] If the Old Testament followers of Moses thought they didn't break the Ten Commandments, they weren't listening carefully. I mean, they were so he forgave us all the trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us in legal demands.

[39:04] This, the law, in other words, the legal legality against us, he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

[39:19] Now how could God do that? How could he say the law is fulfilled? Because the same person hanging on that cross fulfilled the law.

[39:35] Jesus himself obeyed the law to every point. Tempted in every way, yet without sin. So that's how he's the lamb.

[39:49] That's how he's the spotless lamb. That's how he's the perfect lamb that can be our substitute. So he nailed it to the cross.

[40:01] Watch this next statement at the end of Colossians 2.15. Having done that, he disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in Christ.

[40:16] So when Jesus nailed all the law there, when he canceled our debt, what does he do to the rulers and authorities talking about Satan and his army?

[40:28] He disarms them. He disarms them. He renders them idle. He strips them of their power over the believer and he renders them idle.

[40:48] So when the enemy comes toward you, you have your sword of the spirit. What does he have? just a word. He has no sword.

[41:02] He has no spear. He has no machira. You have a machira. Should have brought it in. It's lethal looking. He's been disarmed.

[41:15] He disarmed them. He has no power over you. Do you get that? temptation. Now he can tempt. Temptations are powerful, are they not?

[41:27] But they're only powerful because we're enticed by them. Right? They're real for us. But he has no power to make us do those things.

[41:40] So just like when the devil faced Jesus in the desert, did he get Jesus to do anything? Right? Did he get him to do anything?

[41:53] Those were real temptations I believe for Jesus. And each one Jesus said, it is written. It is written. He didn't do it with his own words.

[42:03] He used the words from Deuteronomy. It is written. And that shut him up. That was it. He has no power over it. So this is how Paul explains salvation.

[42:17] These three acts. He's made us alive from death. Because we're forgiven. He's raised us up with Christ so that we can walk in newness of life. Because we're no longer slaves to sin.

[42:30] And this is what it means to be saved. It transforms us. It transforms the way that we live to walk in a new way.

[42:41] To be able to abide and to resist because the devil has been emptied of his power. God. So these saving acts, what happened to Christ happened to us.

[42:53] We are made alive. We are risen with Christ, no longer slaves, and we are able to stand against Satan because we're seated with Christ.

[43:06] This is what it means. So, application. Do you experience this? Do you live in this?

[43:20] You know, start living in this. Start considering yourself dead to sin, alive to God. Just remember that Satan doesn't have that kind of power. You hold on to the truth.

[43:33] Belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, Christ's righteousness protecting you, shield of faith. All right, I want to close with a hymn that's not in our hymnal.

[43:54] Not in our hymnal. This is a Trinity hymnal. It has about three times as many hymns as ours does. There's one that is called I Need Thee Precious Jesus.

[44:08] Sounds like the one in our hymnal, I Need Thee Every Hour. But this one is called I Need Thee Precious Jesus. It's written by Frederick Whitfield back in 1855.

[44:21] It says, I need the precious Jesus for I am full of sin. My soul is dark and guilty.

[44:32] My heart is dead within. I need the cleansing fountain where I can always flee. The blood of Christ most precious, the sinner's perfect plea.

[44:46] I need Thee precious Jesus for I am very poor, a stranger and a pilgrim. I have no earthly store. I need the love of Jesus to cheer me on my way, to guide my doubting footsteps, to be my strength and stay.

[45:05] I need Thee precious Jesus and hope to see Thee soon encircled with the rainbow and seated on Thy throne. There with Thy blood-bought children, my joy shall ever be to sing my Jesus' praises, to gaze, O Lord, on Thee.

[45:26]  My that be our prayer as well. My well.