Well, as we continue our meditation
in the epistle of Paul to the Ephesians in the first chapter,
this evening we'll speak, God willing, on the two verses, verses
18 and 19. That's the first chapter in Paul's
epistle to the Ephesians, verses 18 and 19. The eyes of your understanding
being enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of his
calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance
in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power
to usward who believe according to the working of his mighty
power. The apostle continues with his
desire for the church at the Ephesians to wonderfully blessed
and he tells us that he ceased not to give thanks for them and
to make mention of them in his prayers that the God of our Lord
Jesus Christ the Father of glory may give unto you the spirit
of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him and then in
the 18th verse we commence with the eyes of your understanding
being enlightened well how essential that was and how essential it
is for us today to have our spiritual eyes blessed with a spiritual
understanding. And that comes about when we
are enlightened. That comes about when the light
from God shines into our heart. And it is then that the Holy
Spirit gives us an understanding of the great truths contained
in the Word of God. Because although we perhaps are
familiar with much of the Bible, it may just be in a way that
our minds absorb the words, but we do not really appreciate and
understand, as we are told, the deep that coucheth beneath. And
that is when the Holy Spirit directs us to the truth contained
in the Word of God and the glory of it. That must then centre
our attention and our understanding upon the Lord Jesus Christ and
his finished work and what he has done in order to redeem his
people. This really is the wonderful
blessing of giving us this understanding. that our eyes might understand
the great truths contained in the Word of God. And really,
that does not occur until the following occurs, that ye may
know what is the hope of his calling. There is a spiritual
calling. It is a calling from God to our
very souls, And what a blessing if we have heard that call. You see many hear it with an
outward ear. What a blessing when the Holy
Spirit applies that calling so that it comes and touches our
heart. So then it is that we understand
what it really means that we have a hope and a good hope that
Almighty God has graciously, wonderfully condescended to come
to us where we are and call us. Call us from darkness to light. Produce that wonderful change
which only the Holy Spirit of God does, that we come from darkness
to light. And perhaps many think they are
walking in the light, but when this calling comes, And when
the light does shine, there is a wonderful and blessed change,
which we only appreciate and only understand when it occurs. And it is a very blessed and
a very divine favour to realise that we are amongst those who
have received this call. We can understand in a little
how the Apostle Paul was concerned that these Ephesians might know
this great truth and how needful it is today that we know this
great truth and indeed those who do hear the word of God may
hear this great truth and may not just carry on in this vain
world satisfied with just an outward performance of religion,
their eyes not being opened, their eyes not being enlightened,
they don't possess the glorious blessing of this spiritual understanding. And so, as the Apostle tells
us, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened that you may
know it is something that is known and is known by the whole
Church of God, let us not think it's not. Every true believer
knows the blessed experience of this work in their hearts
and to realise that you may know what is the hope of his calling
and what is the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the
saints. Surely this directs us to that
which is referred to many times in the Word of God, the inheritance
which is reserved for those who truly believe. what a blessing
it is if you and I have a good hope of that inheritance. That inheritance which we have
never worked for and we've never deserved and yet that inheritance
which is given to all those who are blessed with this true belief
in the Lord Jesus Christ. to believe in his great work
of salvation, to believe that he died upon Calvary's cross,
that he shed his precious blood in order to redeem our souls,
to save our souls from our just desert. That just desert, because
of our sin, meant that we deserve to be ever alienated from almighty
God. But what a wonderful blessing,
therefore, if we understand something of the inheritance which God
gives to all the saints. And let's remember, every child
of God amazingly is a saint. It won't be in our own eyes.
We won't view ourselves like that. But a good thing is to
believe that in the eyes of Almighty God, unworthy as we are, we are
saints. And so this is the inheritance
of eternal glory. To be found one day with Christ,
which is far better, whether that day is near or far off,
we know not. But our great concern should
be to know, as the Apostle Peter said, to that inheritance which
is incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away, reserved
in heaven, for you are kept by the power of God, through grace,
unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. It is an amazing
privilege, a wonderful blessing. And so we can understand perhaps
here, when the Apostle says, what the riches of this glory
is, because it's something which is far more valuable than anything
this world can bring to us. There is no comparison with the
riches of the glory of this inheritance in the saints. Well may we have
a good hope and a solid hope that it is well with our soul
that we're not traveling on aimlessly through this world but we're
traveling to our eternal home. this is not our resting place. There is a rest that remains
to the people of God. And then the Apostle goes on
and exclaims in these wonderful words, and what is the exceeding
greatness of his power. It's difficult really to think
of a greater adjective to produce a bigger vision than we have
here. The exceeding greatness of his
power, and to think that it is to us warred. That is wonderful,
isn't it? To think that this God, the exceeding
power, the exceeding greatness of our God, was such that he
spoke the world into being. It cannot be, can there? A greater
power than that. And yet you see, the power of
God was also exerted in bringing us out of that state of death
into that state of spiritual life. The resurrection power
of God. Oh, what a blessing it is. May
we thank God tonight if we have the evidence of it and can say
with the Apostle, and what is the exceeding greatness of his
power to us, Ward? And it's qualified to who it
is. usward who believe according to the working of his mighty
power. It really confirms that which
speaks in the previous verse about this enlightening. It is
the mighty power of God. Let us never underestimate that
in our lives and let us thank God for it and truly praise him
if you and I have the evidence of this wonderful blessing. And
it is indeed, according to the working of His mighty power,
to think that the mighty power of God was exerted on our behalf
to call us out of the darkness of nature into the glorious light
of the Gospel, centred in our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, I'm sure these are two
very blessed verses, glorious verses, And may we be taken up
with them. And may we meditate upon them.
So I'm sure as we are able to, it will produce a comfort to
our souls if you and I have the evidence that we're amongst those
that the Apostle describes in this way. And should it not be
so, then may we be very concerned that it will be so. that we will
be able to praise and glorify our God for the wonderful enlightenment
that he has and does give to us. And so, let's read these
verses again. The eyes of your understanding
being enlightened that ye may know what is the hope of his
calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance
in the saints and what is the exceeding greatness of his power
to usward who believe according to the working of his mighty
power. Amen.