Let us turn once more to the
Word of God and turning to the portion that we've been considering
at the end of Ephesians chapter 1. Remember out of here from
verse 15 to the end we really have a prayer of the Apostle. He addresses the church at Ephesus
but He not only addresses them, he
also prays for them. And we started to consider the
content of this prayer that's found here at the end of chapter
1, as I say, from verse 15 right through to the end. And this morning we were considering
the words that we have at verse 18. We'll read now from verse
18 through 19 and 20. He reports petitions in, he asks
the Lord God, 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 us, Lord, who
believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he
wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him
at his own right hand in the heavenly places. As I said, we
were earlier considering in particular those words at verse 18, having
last Lord's Day looked at verses 15, 16 and 17. And so this morning
we took up the subject matter, the theme really of spiritual
enlightenment, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened
and the consequence where there is such spiritual enlightenment
and we saw it in terms of the hope of effectual calling but
also the hope and glory of an eternal
inheritance And so the enlightened are those who know what it is
to experience that efficacious grace of God in their souls,
not just a general call that comes in the reading and the
preaching of the Word, but that gracious work of the Holy Spirit
in applying the Word, bringing the Word home, that ye may know
what is the hope of His calling. But not only that, for here and
now for time, but also that that reaches forth into eternity. Another consequence of that spiritual
enlightenment then is the realization of those riches of the glory
of the believer's inheritance, the glory of his inheritance
in the saints. These are the things we were
considering somewhat in the morning. And I want us now to turn to
the following verses 19 and 20 and say something with regards
to God's power in saving faith. God's power in saving faith. Paul says, And what is the exceeding
greatness of his power to what would you believe? According
to the working of his mighty power, which he wrote in Christ
when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right
hand in the heavenly places. Great power is necessary in order
for any sinner to be brought to salvation. It is a mighty
work of God that is accomplished in the sinner's soul. He is a
new creation. in the Lord Jesus Christ. And
that faith that the believer exercises is spoken of in Colossians
2.12 as faith of the operation of God. It's God's mighty working
that results in that exercise of faith. We might feel sometimes
our faith to be very weak, very small, even the Lord himself
speaks of faith as a grain of mustard seed and the mustard
seed the least the smallest of all seeds and just a grain of
the mustard seeds and faith that size and yet all what gracious
power is necessary for that to be really in the soul of the
sinner God's power then in saving faith and I want to divide what
I say into two parts first of all to observe here the pattern
of saving faith and then secondly to look at the power of saving
faith first of all we have a pattern set before us and we see it in
this expression at the end of verse 19 according to according to, or we could render
it, after the same manner, in like fashion. He speaks of the
exceeding greatness of his power to us who do believe, and he
says it's according to. It's in like fashion, it's after
the same manner of his mighty power. which he wrought
in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at
his own right hand in the heavenly places. Oh, what a comparison
is being made here then! The resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ is the standard and the measure of the work of
regeneration, the work of the new birth in the soul of the
sinner. In fact, we can say that the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is the sure pledge. It's the meritorious cause of
that work of grace, that new birth in the soul of the sinner. The language of the prophet Isaiah,
speaking all those many years, 700 years before Christ, but
speaking as it were the mouth of God, the voice of Christ.
Thy dead men shall live, he says. together with my dead body shall
they arise." All the union between Christ and His Church. The Lord
Jesus, of course, in the course of His own ministry in the Gospel
says, because I live, ye shall live also. The believer's life
is in Christ. Christ is the very life of the
believer. That's what the Apostle is saying. And again, it's not just the
language that we find in the epistles of Paul, we find it
in all parts of the New Testament. Peter. What does Peter say there
in 1 Peter 1 and verse 3? Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly placings according as He has chosen us
in Him, that is in Christ. and not only chosen us but also
regenerated us by that very same power. Look at the language that
the Apostle actually uses to get the wording exact as it is
before us on the page of Scripture. He says, Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant
mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead. There's a connection between
the new birth of the sinner begotten again, there's a connection between
that and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is
the comparison that is being made then in the verse that we're
considering this evening, this 19th verse. It's the same power that was
there when the Father raised the Son to life again that comes
into the soul of that sinner who is born again. What is the
condition of the sinner by nature? Well, remember how the Apostle
goes on to speak of that state, that condition, in the opening
verses of chapter 2. He says, "...you hath he quickened
who were dead, in trespasses and sins wherein in time past
ye walked according to the course of this world according to the
prince of the power of the air the spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience among whom also we all had our
conversation our manner of living it means in times past in the
lust of our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and
of the mind and were by nature the children of wrath even as
others. That's the natural condition
of every person that's born into this world, dead in trespasses
and sins. And so the Lord Jesus says you
must be born again. And this is that that is being
spoken of here in the text. And that new birth, I say again,
is connected to Christ himself being raised again from the dead
on the third day. It's interesting, some of these
comparisons that we have in Scripture. If we turn to 2 Corinthians chapter
4 and verse 6, we see there as the what we might term the enshining
of the Gospel, is compared to God's work in creation. The enshining. We were thinking this morning,
weren't we, of that spiritual enlightenment, or that spiritual
enshining. And what does Paul say there
in 2 Corinthians 4.6? Well, he speaks of God who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness. He refers to God's work in creation. God who commanded the light to
shine out of darkness, to shine in our hearts, to give the light
of the knowledge of His glory in the face or in the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ. In shining of that gospel light
coming into the soul of the sinner is compared to what God did in
creation. And what do we read there in
the account that we have in the opening chapter of Genesis? God
said, let there be light. And there was light. That is
the first part of God's work of creation. He is the creator
of light. He is the originator of light.
He is the one who created the sun to shine by day and the moon
to shine by night. We know what power there was
in God's work of creation because time and again there in Genesis
1 we have that expression God said God says. God says. This is how God creates. He simply
speaks the word. The divine theatre as it's called.
By the word of the Lord were the heavens made and all the
host of them by the breath of His mouth. The psalmist says
He spoke and it was done. He commanded and it stood fast. All the work of creation then
is a remarkable display of God's great power. Because in creation
He makes all things out of nothing. That's what God does. There's
nothing, and then God creates everything. Now of course the
evolutionist has a problem because he has got to explain where matter
has come from. Does he really believe that matter
is eternal, that it always was there? No, there's an eternal
God who not only created the universe, but created that time
in which we're living our lives. He is the Eternal One. He dwells
in the third heavens. He dwells beyond this universe
that is all about us. And all the power of God Remember
the language of Hebrews 11 and verse 3 through 5? We understand
that the worlds were framed by the Word of God so that things
that are seen were not made of things which do appear. It's
God who creates everything and it's that same power that is
put forth when light comes into the soul of the sinner. God says,
let there be light. And now the gospel light now
shines in the soul of that favoured sinner. The God who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts. To
what end? To give the knowledge of His
glory in the face, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. But
what we actually have in this verse, this verse 19 before us
tonight, is how the implanting of faith in the soul of that
sinner is being compared more especially with the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is another great work
of God. And that's why the comparison
is made here. You see, the resurrection of
the Lord Jesus Christ is like no other resurrection that we
read of anywhere in Holy Scripture. I'm sure you're aware that we
do have the record of remarkable miracles that were performed
by the Lord Jesus during the course of His earthly ministry. He gave sight to the blind, He
gave legs to the lame, Here's to the death he could perform
remarkable miracles. Why? Because he is God, manifest
in the flesh. And we read of those whom he
raised from the dead. In Luke 17 we have the widow
of Nain's son, raised again to life. In chapter 8 of Luke we read
of Jairus' daughter being raised again from the dead. And we're
all familiar, I'm sure, with the account in John 11 of Lazarus. And he had lain four days in
the tomb and all they said, Behold he stinketh, the body beginning
to decay, they would say. But the Lord raises Lazarus to
life. I suppose we can go back to the
Old Testament. We have the miracle that was
performed by Elijah concerning the widow's Arafat's son in 1st
Kings 17. And we're told, aren't we, in
Hebrews 11 of those of faith in the Old Testament Scriptures,
how women received their dead, raised to life again, it seems. There have been those miracles
that are recorded here in the Scriptures where Those who were
dead were raised to life again. But there is something so special
about the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, something
so unique. In that resurrection that's spoken
of here in our text, which God wrought in Christ,
that mighty power which God wrought in Christ when He raised Him
from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly
places. Now, the significant thing with
the Lord Jesus Christ in His resurrection, of course, is that
there we have a display, not so much of the power of the hand
of God, but we see more the power of the grace of God. It's the
power of the grace of God that we have in the Lord Jesus. Christ's
death was different. It was a judicial death. It was
no ordinary death. He is executed really, as a criminal. And so, there's a trial. It's a mockery of a trial, true,
but there's a trial. And we read of it, don't we,
there in John 18, verse 28, they led, it says, then led they
Jesus from Caiaphas, that was the high priest, unto the hall
of judgment. You see what the Jews, that they
arrested him, as it were, in the garden of Gethsemane. Of course, they could not lay
a finger upon him because of who he is. He's the Great I Am. And they fall before him when
they come to arrest him, but he gives himself over to them.
And they take him then before the high priest and they question
him. But they have no authority. to
execute a man. And so we're told, Then led they
Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment. And it was
early. And they themselves went not
into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled, but that
they might eat the Passover. So they're very cautious about
themselves. They don't want to be tainted
in any way. But they've delivered him over
now to the to the authority, the Roman authority. And three
times we're told, aren't we, how that Pilate declares to them,
he's innocent, this man is innocent. I find no fault in him, he says. There in verse 38 of that 18th
chapter, and then again in chapter 19 at verses 4 and 6. He is an innocent man. That's
what the judge says of him. And yet this innocent man is
executed. He is the innocent one and he
is executed. He dies as a substitute. There
is no sin attached to him. He is the holy, harmless, sinless
son of God. holy, harmless, undefiled, separate
from sinners in the language of scripture. There is an exchange in a sense
because Barabbas who was a wicked man and a murderer is freed but
the innocent man is crucified. And so what is the death of the
Lord Jesus Christ? It is an accursed death. It's an accursed death he is being punished as if he's
a criminal he's being crucified as the one who is reckoned to
be the sinner Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law
being made a curse for us because it is written cursed is everyone
that hangeth on a tree or the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ
the accursed death that he must endure a substitute as many as are of
the works of the Lord are under the curse for it is written cursed
is everyone that continueth not in all things written in the
book of the Lord to do them he had continued in all things written
in the book of the Lord to do them he had honoured the Lord,
he had magnified the Lord And yet the accursed death is visited
upon him. Paul says, doesn't he, Christ
died for our sins according to the Scriptures. Not his sin,
no sins in him, no, says Paul, writing to that church at Corinth,
he says, Christ died for our sins, the sins of his people. Again, the language of Paul in
Romans chapter 5, Christ died for the ungodly, he says, for
scarcely for a righteous man would one die, yet peradventure
for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth
his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. As he writes to the church there
at Rome, Christ died for his people, he died for sinners.
He appeared to put away sin. At the end of time, by the sacrifice
of himself, he makes the sacrifice. No man can take his life from
him. He has power, he has authority
to lay that life down and he has authority to take that life
again. That was the commandment that
he received of the Father. And so, his death is such a significant
death. What then of his resurrection?
And his ascension? That's what we read of here.
It's the power of God. in raising this man again, having
visited such an awful death upon him. The exceeding greatness
of his power to us, would you believe, is according to the
working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he
raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand
in the heavenly places. Why Christ is is not only risen,
but he has entered heaven itself, now to appear in the presence
of God for us, says the Apostle. He was delivered for our offences. He was raised again for our justification. The importance of the justification
of the sinner is in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Even our justification is there,
tied up, bound up with his rising again from the dead. And what
a text is that that we have at the beginning of Romans, where
Paul is defining the Gospel that he's separated to preach. And
he defines it, doesn't he, in terms of the person of the Lord
Jesus, really. And how he speaks of his resurrection,
how he is in the resurrection declared to be the Son of God
with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection
from the dead. In the resurrection He is marked out. That's what the
word declared means there in Romans 1.4. It's a very strong
word. He is one who is marked out. God is owning him and acknowledging
him as his only begotten son declared to be the son of God
with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection
from the dead and there's a wonderful union of course between the Lord
Jesus Christ and his people as I said this morning At the
end of the prayer, Paul makes mention of that union. All things
are put under his feet and he is the head over all things to
the church. And what is the church? It's
his body. It's the fullness of him that filleth all in all. And there's a union between Christ
and his people in his dying, in his resurrection, in his ascension.
the language that follows there in chapter 2 at verse 4 God who
is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us even
when we were dead in sins hath quickened us together with Christ
by grace ye are saved and raised us up together and made us sit
together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus even in this world
in the life of faith there's a a real union with Christ. Remember that event in the account
that John Bunyan gives of his own life, grace abounding to
the chief of sinners. And how Bunyan so exercised about
righteousness and his justification. He was a great lover of Martin
Luther, was was John Bunyan. He reckoned Luther's commentary
on the Galatians was the best book he ever read apart from
the Bible. That's how highly valued that book was to dear
John Bunyan. And of course, Luther, the great
champion of justification by faith. And we have the account
of Bunyan and his troubled about righteousness. He knows he's
a sinner. Or his book, you see, Grace of Bunyan, the chief of
sinners. He's the chief of sinners. And he speaks of one day, he
goes out, he walks into the field and he's, what of his righteousness? Does he have a righteousness?
And he looks up into the heavens and he realized that was his
righteousness. All his righteousness was there.
His righteousness was in Christ. And Christ had died and Christ
rose again and Christ ascended to heaven and Christ was in heaven
and His righteousness was there before the very face of God before
the throne of God He had a righteousness and isn't that what the Apostle
is saying here in this second chapter how the believer you
see is raised up together and sits together in the heavenly
places in the Lord Jesus Christ all the wonder of that union
between Christ and his people. They're united to him. At all
times, united to him in the eternal covenant. He's the mediator of
that covenant. He's the head of the body, the
church. Here is the pattern then. What
is Paul saying in the text? Well, What God does in the soul of
the sinner when he brings him to saving faith, justifying faith,
God puts forth the same power in the soul of that man, that
woman, as was there when Christ was raised from the dead and
Christ ascended to heaven. Well, having tried to say something
with regards to the pattern and the significance of this expression,
according to in the same manner, after the like fashion, having
considered the comparison, the pattern, I want now to say something
before we close with regards to the power. You see, there
is an eternal union, isn't there, between Christ and his people. We know that in the earlier part
of the chapter the Apostle has certainly spoken of that. God has blessed his people with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, he says. And
then verse 4, according as he hath chosen us in him before
the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without
blame before him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good
pleasure of his will. He is speaking of eternal things
and He is speaking of an eternal election. God's great predestinarian
purpose concerning His people. But that eternal union must be
experienced. It's no good seeing it simply
on the page of Holy Scripture. It's got to come somewhere or
other into our experience. if it's going to do us any good.
It must be an experimental union. And look at the language that
he used here to describe how it becomes that. It's the exceeding
greatness of his power to us wards who believe. And then it's according to the
working of that mighty power which was in Christ. With all the language, the language,
power. But not just power, but great
power. But not just great power, but
exceeding great power. How Paul is wont to do this,
isn't he? He just piles the words one on
top of the other. under the inspiration of the
Holy Spirit, what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us
who do believe. Now, Bishop Pearson, the author
of that famous work on the Apostles Creed, Bishop in the Church of
England, John Pearson, Bishop of Chester, remarks here Concerning
the language that we have at the beginning of this 19th verse,
the good Bishop says, I doubt our language can reach it. I doubt our language, the English
language, can reach it. Because what is being said, and
he was a great scholar, was Bishop Pearson. He wrote a famous commentary
on the Creed, as I said, What he's saying is it's scarcely
possible to bring out the force that's there in the original.
I doubt our language can reach it. The words that he's using,
you see, we have the word power twice in this 19th verse. We
have it in the first part and then at the end. The exceeding
greatness of his power, and then at the end the working of his
mighty power, but really those are two different words. The
first one, at the beginning of verse 19, dunamis, literally
means dynamic power. Dynamic power. A mighty force
is being spoken of. But then, the word at the end
is a different word and it really has the idea more of strength
than of power. That that power, that strength
that is so inherent in God that nothing is impossible with God.
He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we could ever
ask or think, isn't it? It's all that God is, the might,
the majesty of God that's being spoken of at the end of the verse,
whereas The power at the beginning of the verse, as I said, has
that idea of mighty force and dynamic power. It's power in
action in a sense, because then we also have another word, working. The working of his mighty power,
or the working of his great strength. And the word there, working,
is the word Energia. It's the word from which we derive
the English word energy. It's all that active energy that's
in God. When we think of God, you see,
and all that God is, He creates by divine fear. He simply says
a word and it's there. This is the great God. There's
a sense, you see, that language begins to fail us when we try
to explain how God comes to save the sinner. I think it's Joseph
Hart who says, only he who made the world can make a Christian.
A Christian is a miracle, a mighty miracle of the grace of God. And all this great work is necessary,
of course, because of what we are in our natural state. What
is our natural condition? What are we? as we're born into
this world. Well, we've already referred
to those words at the beginning of the next chapter. We're dead. We're dead in trespasses and
sins. All our life is according to
the course of this world that lies in wickedness, lies in the
wicked one. It's all under the prince of
the power of the air, that's Satan. That's the spirit that
now works in the children of disobedience. Satan's a mighty
angel. Of course, he's not as mighty
as God, but he's a great angel. He's a very strong creature.
And he's a great rebel against God, and he's a great enemy of
the people of God. And the whole world lies in that
wicked one. All that is in the world. The
lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life.
It's not of the Father, but of the world. And we are creatures
of this fallen world. Our condition, then, by nature.
It's that awful doctrine, isn't it, of the sinner's total depravity.
It's total depravity. It's absolute helplessness with
regards to anything that is good. Spiritually impotent. What can
we do? Now, it's God who has to make
his people begin to feel what they are. And we see it, don't
we, in Scripture, when God deals with a man. Haman, in Psalm 88,
cries out, I am shut up, and I cannot come forth. And God
begins with us. We shut up, we shut up to all
our our natural condition, what we are as sinners before a holy
God. It's God who makes us feel that.
The language of Job chapter 12 and verse 14, He shutteth up
a man and there can be no opening. All shut in. to feel our inability
to help ourselves, to save ourselves, and yet we cry out, what must
I do to be saved? We're so wedded to the idea of
surely there's something for me to do, what can I do? How
can I find this great salvation? But God shuts the man up, you
see, to the impossibility of him doing anything. Thou turnest
man to destruction, and sayest, Return, ye children of men."
The language of Psalm 9, God turns us to destruction, the
end of self. Before faith came, Paul says
to the Galatians, before faith came, we were kept under the
law, shut up to the faith that would afterward be revealed.
We were shut up And then we see, oh, what is it that God does
to save the sinner? He works that saving faith, that
faith of the operation of God, that faith that is the gift of
God. But when God shuts us up under
the law and we see that we can find no salvation there, if a
man keeps the whole law, James tells us, a man keeps all the
law of God, and then he commits one sin, and maybe not an actual
deed, but a thought, one sinful thought, and he's guilty of all,
because God requires full, complete, perfect obedience, a flawless
righteousness, or there's no hope in the law. And we're shut up to what we
are by nature. We're unbelievers by nature.
We're the descendants of Adam and Eve. And what was their sin
there in the garden? It was unbelief. It was sooner
embrace the lie of Satan and reject the truth of God. Don't
believe the truth of God's Word, but rather believe the lies of
the devil. That's where we are. Dead. in sin, dead in unbelief
dear old Ralph Erskine, one of those great Scots ministers back
in the 18th century said we have to believe in our own unbelief it's not a contradiction, we
have to believe it we have to believe in our own unbelief,
we're unbelievers but there is a place where we can obtain faith
and it's in the Lord Jesus Christ looking on to Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith. He's the author of faith. That's
where it has its origin. He completes it all. And again,
the language of Isaiah, Thou hast wrought all our works in
us, he says. Thou hast wrought all our works
in us. O Lord our God, other lords beside
Thee have had dominion over us, but by Thee only, by Thee only
will we make mention of Thy Name." Oh, that's the wonder, isn't
it, of that salvation that's in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's all of God. It's all of
the grace of God. 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 us would you believe, according
to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ,
when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right
hand in the heavenly places. All the great work then of God
in bringing that faith into the
soul of a sinner. What a wondrous gift is that,
the gift of faith. And then, after that gift of
faith, what comes next? Well, there's the right, there's
the authority to sonship. Remember what we are told back
in John 1 and verse 12, as many as received him, that is, as
many as received the Lord Jesus Christ, to them gave he power. It's another word, a different
word to the two words that we have here in verse 19, it's the
word exousia there, and it means authority. To them gave he authority. As
many as received Him, to them gave He power or authority to
be called the sons of God, even to them that believed on His
name. All we believe on His name, if
we do but believe on that name, the only name unto heaven given
amongst men, whereby we must be saved, their sonship. and we come and we address God
as our God and our Father in Heaven and this is how Paul of
course can address the Lord God Himself we saw it when we began
to consider the prayer how does he open the prayer there in verse
17 that the Gods of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Glory
may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the
knowledge of him or that we might know these truths the knowledge
of him the Lord Jesus himself prays doesn't eat his life eternal
to know there the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast
sent or God grant then that we might know the blessings that
are being spoken of here God's power in that saving faith that
must come into the soul of the sinner in order to his eternal
standing before God. The Lord be pleased to bless
then his word to us. We're going to sing our concluding
praise. It's the hymn 236 to the tune
Dennis number 26. Faith a convincing proof, a substance
sound and sure, that keeps the soul secured enough, but makes
it not secure. We omit the second verse, singing
the hymn 236, the tune number 26.