Well, good morning. Good to see
you all this morning. If you would open your Bibles
with me to Ephesians chapter one. Ephesians chapter one. Before we begin, let's bow before
our Lord together in prayer. Our Father, which art in heaven,
holy and reverent is your matchless name. And Father, we bow before
you in awe. and reverence, we come before
your thrice holy presence carefully, reverently, daring only coming
before you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, pleading his
obedience as our only righteousness, pleading his blood as the only
way that our sin could be forgiven and washed away. And Lord, we
also come thankfully, how thankful we are to, because of your mercy
and your grace, be able to come before your throne in our Lord
Jesus Christ and be accepted in Him. And Father, we beg of
you this morning that you would give us the spirit of worship,
that you not let us just go through the habit and motion of religion,
but Father, give us the heart of worship, a spirit of worship
that give us a heart that hungers and thirsts after Christ our
righteousness, pants after Him, seeks Him, And Father, we pray
that you'd reveal yourself to us. Reveal the glory, the redemptive
glory of your son to us this morning. Enable us to look into
your word and see the sufficiency, to see that Christ is all that
we need and cause us to run to him, rest in him, and hide in
him. Father, we're thankful for this
opportunity to worship and pray that it would not just slip through
our fingers, but that you enable us this morning to truly worship,
to be able to, by thy spirit, to hear a word from thee. And
what we pray for ourselves, we pray for our children's classes
as they're going on right now. Father, we pray you'd bless our
children, bless our teachers. Use this time, Father, to plant
the seeds of faith in their heart. Be merciful to them, we pray.
Father, for those who you brought into the time of trouble and
trial, We pray for them. We pray you'd heal, that you'd
deliver as soon as it could be thy will. Father, all these things
we ask in that name, which is above every name, the name of
Christ, our savior. Amen. And we're going to be looking
at the last verses of Ephesians chapter one this morning. I want
to read to you at the beginning what John Gill wrote of these
verses. He said, there are many articles
of faith contained in this passage, and he's right. There are many
articles of faith contained in this passage, and the reason
for that is the verses we're going to look at this morning
spend all of their time describing Christ our Savior. You know,
we talk about our articles of faith. Our articles of faith
are not a list of statements written down upon a piece of
paper. You know, I knew a man one time, he was a pastor, and
he was trying to spend his time revising the church's articles
of faith so that he could preach something different. And I told
him that's a waste of time. Just preach the scriptures. Just
preach Christ. Our faith is in person. Our faith
is not in a list of religious statements that we took the time
to write down on a piece of paper. Our articles of faith are descriptions
of Christ the Savior because all of our faith is in him, he's
the object of our faith. And in our text, the Apostle
Paul describes our Savior as the head of the church. And that's
why I've titled the lesson this morning, The Head of the Church.
Christ is the head, and his elect people are called his body. You
know, a head has to have a body, doesn't it? Well, Christ is our
head. And in these verses this morning,
there are three blessings that I see that come to God's people
since Christ is our head. And the first one is this, since
Christ is our head, he's our life. In verse 19 of Ephesians
chapter one, Paul is talking about the things that he prayed
for. He wants these Ephesian believers to know. In verse 19
he says, I want you to know what is the exceeding greatness of
his power. To us were to 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. Now, our Lord Jesus Christ died
for the sin of his people. He was crucified, he suffered,
he gave up the ghost and he died. And we know his sacrifice was
successful. The sacrifice of Christ put away
all the sin of his people, washed away all of their sin, made them
white as snow. His sacrifice put away all of
the sin of his people that had been charged to him. And we know
that's up. We know the sin of God's elect
is gone because after he lay in the tomb dead for three days,
the father raised him from the dead. And the only reason he
would have raised him from the dead is because the sin of God's
people had been put away by the sacrifice of Christ. Where there
is no sin, there can't be death. Christ put away the sin that
had been charged to him. The father raised him from the
dead as the proof positive. His sacrifice justified all of
his people. Now we talk often, probably every
time we meet together, we talk about the death, burial, and
resurrection of Christ. In some way, we talk about that,
because that's the very foundation of the gospel, isn't it? We hear
that often, but I want you to think about this for a minute.
The body of our Lord Jesus lay in that tomb, wrapped in those
burial wrappings, completely lifeless for three days. His body never moved. His heart
never beat. His lungs never drew a breath.
He was dead. His body was dead. Because that's
what God's justice demands for sin. There must be death. The
body of our Savior was dead for three days. And then he arose
from the grave. Now you think of the power that
it took for that lifeless body to live. You think of that power
to bring Him back to life. And that's what God did by His
power. He took a body that had been dead for three days and
raised Him from the dead. And sin is gone. Our Lord Jesus
Christ rose from the dead never to die again. Sin can never touch
Him ever again. Death can't touch Him ever again.
And death can never harm His people. He rose from the dead.
Now that's the power of God. Only God has that kind of power
to take a dead body and make it live again. And that's power. I mean, we can kind of think
about it, but we just can't imagine and understand the true depth
of that power because we've never seen anything like it. I mean,
the power that it took for God to the father to raise his son
from the dead. Now that's good doctrine. That
would, that would, we write that down in article of faith, wouldn't
we? But here's the blessing for God's people in that power. You
and I were born spiritually dead. And that's true of every son
of Adam. Believer and unbeliever alike, all of God's elect were
born dead in sin. God's elect born dead in sin
just like every other son of Adam. Now spiritually we're dead. We're alive physically, but spiritually
we're dead. We can't move. And since we can't
move, we can't move to do anything good, can we? Our minds are dead
so that we can't understand any spiritual truth. Our hearts are
dead so we can't love any spiritual truth. We can memorize it and
spit it back out, but we can't love it because our heart's dead.
Our eyes are blind. We can't see Christ. We can't
see our need of Christ. We can't see ourselves as we
are. We can't see ourselves in our sin. And we can't see that
Christ is all we need. There's no breath of spiritual
life in us. We're dead, dead, dead in trespasses
and sins. We'll get into that in chapter
two of Ephesians next week. But if the father chose you before
time began, he chose you to salvation, you can't stay in that dead spiritual
condition, can you? If Christ came and died for you,
you cannot stay in that dead spiritual condition. You must
be given life. You must be given spiritual,
eternal life. Now you imagine, and those of
you who believe, you remember when you were dead, you remember
when the gospel didn't mean anything to you. You remember when you
heard the gospel and didn't love it? And now you do. You know
something happened. Think of the power that it takes
to give a dead sinner life, to make a dead sinner hear the gospel
and love it. Think of the power that it takes
to take a dead sinner and give him life so he needs Christ. So now he can move, and what's
the first thing he does? Flees to Christ. Runs to Christ,
begging him for mercy. You think of the power that it
takes to do that. Well, the power that God the
Holy Spirit used to give life to the dead body of our Savior
is the very same power that he uses to give his people spiritual
life. And that's a power that only
God has. I can preach to you. I can declare Christ to you.
I can tell you run to Christ. I can tell you look to Christ.
And I'm going to keep doing it until the cows come home. But
you'll never do it as long as you're dead. But the Spirit gives
you life. Oh, now you'll come to Christ. Now you see, don't you? You're
going to spend lots of time saying, I just don't get it. I just don't
get it. I'm sitting here, somebody's
sitting in a row in front of me, and they're just loving it.
I can tell they love it. I can tell the gospel means so
much to them. I can tell hearing of Christ just encourages their
heart so much. I don't get it. You're going
to spend a lot of time thinking, I don't get it. But I'll tell
you when you're going to get it. When the Holy Spirit gives you life.
Only God can do it. And it's power. 2 Corinthians
4 says that the power that Almighty God used to speak the world into
existence I mean you think of the power that it took to speak
in this world to appear out of nothing. God uses that very same
level of power to speak and give spiritual life in the hearts
of his people. It's the creative power of God. Now sometimes the
scripture calls that spiritual resurrection. Sometimes the scripture
refers to it as the new birth or regeneration. But whatever
term you want to put to it, I'll tell you when that happens or
why it happens. It happens because the Lord Jesus
Christ rose from the dead. Him being raised from the dead,
the resurrection of Christ is the begatting of life for his
people. When he arose, all of his people
arose in him. And that life in Christ, if Christ
is our life now, that life can never be lost. Scripture calls
God's elect believers, calls us the body of Christ. Well,
this is what I know about the body. I'm no medical genius by
any stretch of the imagination, but I do know this. The body
will live as long as the head lives. If the head dies, the
brain dies, the body's gonna die. But the body cannot die
as long as the head's living. Christ is our head. He'll never
die. He can never die again. then
his people can never die either. He is our life. Second, Christ is our king and
our mediator. Verse 20 says, talking about
his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him
from the dead. After he raised him from the dead, he set him
at his own right hand in the heavenly places. Now, when the
Savior rose from the dead, he didn't wander around aimlessly
because he didn't have anything to do. He'd already come, he'd
done what the father gave him to do, and now there's nothing
left for him to do. Now he had come and accomplished
the salvation of his people. He had come and he did everything
the father gave him to do, but there's still more for him to
do. Scripture says he must reign. Now that he's risen from the
dead, he must reign. So the father exalted his son,
brought him back to heaven, brought him back to glory, and gave him
the seed. on the throne at the father's
right hand. Now the work of redemption is
finished. The transaction is done. The price has been paid.
And now our savior sits on the throne ruling over everything
for this purpose to ensure the salvation and the glorification
of his people. That's why he's ordering everything
to happen the way that it happens so that his people will ultimately
be glorified together with him. Now that's a comforting thought
for God's children. You think of the savior. He proved
his love for his people. Here in his love, not that we
love God, but he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation
for our sin. The savior proved his love for
his people by suffering and dying in their place, by taking their
sin and his own body and putting it away by his suffering unto
death. That one who loves you like that, is the king of all
creation. The one who's in control of everything
is the savior who proved his love for me. You see, he decides,
this one who loves me, he's in control. He decides how long
I'm gonna live and what I'm gonna do in his service while I'm here.
The sovereign king who loves me, he controls everything. He
controls what can and can't touch me. Now, you know, I'm gonna
wash my hands and do things smart to avoid germs. But now listen,
he's the one that controls what can and can't touch me. The sovereign,
the one who loves me now, he controls what trials come my
way, how deep the valley will be, and how long it will last.
He's in control of that. And the sovereign who loves me,
he's not going to leave me alone. He's going to lead me. and guide
me every step of the way. I may not see the ditch, but
he does. He's not gonna let me fall away. And I'm telling you
now, his power, you don't have to worry, well, is he got enough
power? Am I sure he's really able to
do this? His power is absolute. Look at verse 21. Far above all
principality and power and might and dominion and every name that's
named, not only in this world but also in that which is to
come and hath put all things under his feet. Our savior is
far above all principality and that word principality, you know,
I've read this so many times. I think, well, Paul's just kind
of using different words to say the same thing. Talk about the
power of our savior, but he's really not. I looked these words
up and this is the first time I've ever done that. This word
principality, It means the power of choice. And it means the liberty
to do as one pleases. Now this is the problem with
man's free will religion. You and I don't have the power
of choice. What we would choose is determined
by our sin nature. We don't have the power to choose
anything but sin. We don't have the power to choose
anything but death. We don't have the power to choose
anything but our own rags of self-righteousness. We don't
have the liberty to do as one pleases. We don't have the liberty
to decide whether or not I'm going to accept or reject Jesus.
But our savior has all power. He has the power of choice and
he chose the people that he would save. And he has the power to
save them, because he has the power, the liberty to do as he
pleases. And you know what's pleased him
to do? One of the things that's pleased him to do is make you
who believe his people. He has the liberty to do. It's
pleased him to make you his people. He's not going to let you go.
He has all power. Nothing can take you out of his
hand. Nothing. Nothing can ever take his people
away from him. And then our Savior has all might. And that word
means strength and inherent power. See, our Savior has a will. He
has the ability, the power to decide what he's gonna do, and
he has the might to make it happen. He is determined to save a people
from their sins, and nobody has the power to take them out of
his hand. And then Paul says our Savior
is far above all dominion. That word means lordship and
government. Our savior is the king of the
kings of this earth. And he's the Lord over the lords
of this earth. And that's talking about all
authority in this world. If it's political rulers, if
it's authority in the home, authority in the school, authority on the
streets, wherever it is, everybody who rules, you know, from the
dog catcher to the policeman, to the mayor, to the president,
they all borrow their power from our king for a time. And they're
serving. Whether you like them or not,
whether you agree with them or not, they're there by God's authority,
by God's appointment. God's put them there. That's
exactly right. And they serve the Lord by serving
society, doing for society what our Lord pleases, not what they
please, not what they please, what God pleases. That's what
they're doing. And when God's done with them, they're going
to die and be no more. Somebody else take their place, but nobody's
ever going to take the place of our King. He reigns forever
and ever. He's far above all dominion.
And then our Savior is far above every name that's named. And
I'll tell you what that means. Our Savior is above everything
and everyone. He's over, He's the ruler over everyone, everywhere. Believer and unbeliever, everywhere.
They're all under His rule. They're all being directed by
His hands. See, each of us can only do what
the sovereign allows us to do, what he has for us to do. Christ
is the sovereign king with all power. He's ruling for the good
of his people. Get a hold of this now. This
sovereign king, king over all, is also our mediator. The mediator
is sitting at the right hand of the father. And the right
hand means the place of acceptance. The father's brought our savior
back and put him on his right hand to show. I accept him. I accept everything he's done.
I accept him. I accept his people. He's right
beside the father in the place of acceptance and he's always
heard always. Now, since he has all power to
do as he pleases, since he's already pleased the father, Since
he's already been accepted of the father, I can promise you
this, he'll receive everything he asked of his father. Everything. Because everything he pleads
for with his father is all based on his merit. It's all based
on his blood, on his sacrifice, on his death for his people.
Now you think about this, when he prays for you and says, father,
forgive him. Father, forgive him. The father
always forgives. Always. Our Lord told Peter,
Peter, Satan's desire to have you, that he might sift his wheat.
I prayed for you. He didn't pray that Satan not
be able to touch him, did he? He said, Peter, I pray for you
that your faith fail not. And Peter was sifted, but his
faith didn't fail, did he? I think about our Savior on the
cross. One of the most amazing statements
Him suffering as no human being has ever suffered. Pray, Father,
forgive them. They know not what they do. Now, Dan, I don't know exactly
personally who he was praying for, but I know this. Whoever
he prayed for, they're forgiven. They're forgiven. Some of those
men there the day of Pentecost, from what Peter said, sounds
to me like some of those men he was preaching to were at the
cross. They were in the Pilate's judgment hall. They were in Caiaphas'
house. Sounds to me like the Lord saved
him by the preaching of Christ. Whoever it was he prayed for,
now I'm telling you, they're forgiven. Aren't you thankful? Our Savior
sits on the throne. He's king over all. Our Savior's
the king. He's the potentate over every
human being. But here's the third thing. Christ
is the head of his people. Verse 23 says, and hath put all
things under his feet and gave him to be the head over all things
to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth
all in all. That word head means the supreme
or the chief. Christ our savior is the chief,
the supreme over all men. But now he's the king, the head
of his people, in a very different way that he's king over the unbeliever. The king will condemn the unbeliever
in judgment, but he'll never condemn his people. See, he loves
his people. He has saved his people by his
grace because of his love for them. He paid the debt for them
so they can never be condemned. But more than that, the savior
has a special intimate relationship with his people. because he's
joined to them in the same way the head is joined to the body. Our savior is not a king who
never sees his people and doesn't know what's going on with them.
And what's more, doesn't care what's going on with him. No,
he sees, he sees, and he knows because everything's happening
to us. He sent to us and he cares. He cares. I read a story somewhere
about a queen. I don't know if it's a true story
or not, but it makes a good story. She's in her castle, you know, and
everything's good for her. She wanted to see how her subjects
out in the country lived. She'd been there in the town,
you know, around the castle, but she wanted to see how the
people lived out in the country. Her advisors all told her, don't
do that. Don't go out there. It's dangerous
for you. That tipped her off. Why is it
dangerous for me to go out and see my subjects? I mean, I care
about them. So she insisted. And she went
out into the country to see how people lived out in the country.
And boy, she got a shock. She got a shock to see the poverty
and the hunger and the struggle that her subjects were. It horrified
her. Somebody under her dominion was
suffering like this. She was shocked. And I tell you
why she was so surprised. She'd never seen him before.
She'd never seen this before. She just, she didn't know anything
about the lives of these people. Not so with our King. Our King
sees his people because he's always right with them. Always. He's joined to his people. The
subjects of Christ the King are united to our King. And this
union is very important. This union with Christ, the old
timers called it a vital union. And they called it a vital union
because it's so vital. It's so important. There's no
salvation without this union to Christ being joined to him. Christ is our head, and this
is what God's people have since Christ is our head. You're humanly
speaking the head. It's the seat of power. Isn't
it? The seat of understanding. It's
what controls the whole body. Well, you know, if we're the
body of Christ, He's our power. He's our wisdom. He's our understanding. He's the one with the reasoning
ability to reason what's best for us. He's our power. He's our understanding. The head
controls the movement of the body. You know, if I'm thirsty,
I can reach out and take that glass Get a drink of water. That thought
that's in my head was able to control my hand and take that
and do it. Well, if something's wrong with the head, the body
can't move, can it? Well, our head's perfect. And
he controls all the movement of his body, moving them around
in his surface. And since we're joined to Christ,
God's people are identified as Christ. And the body is identified by
the head, isn't it? Well, there sits Abby. I don't
say, well, there's Abby's foot, and there's Abby's leg, and there's
Abby's shoulder. And I say, I look at her face,
well, that's Abby. I look at her face and know that. This is almost too wonderful
to be able to say. The body of Christ is identified
as Christ himself, because he's our head. Our personality, our
identification all comes from Him. Since we're joined to Christ,
this is our first point, we have the life of Christ. The body
lives as long as the head lives. And since we're joined to Christ,
God's people have the nature of Christ. The body has the nature,
the personality of the head. Verse 23 says, which is his body,
the fullness of him that filleth all and in all Christ fills his
people. So we have his personality. We
have his righteousness been made partakers of the divine nature.
And since Christ is the head of the body, he loves every member
of his body. Every member of his body is important
Now, we think, oh, you know, there's people we know in the
congregation, they don't do very much, and this one's quiet, or
this one, you know, just scurries out and leaves right after the
service is over, and, you know, they're not very important. Oh,
yes, they are now. Oh, yes, they are. We're just
sinners, and you think of your body. What happens when your
little toenail starts hurting? Huh? The whole body is affected. Little mysterious plumbing issue
yesterday underneath the sink. It started leaking. And I finally
got it to work. Boy, I busted my knuckle in the
back of that wall. You know, just a teeny tiny scrape. I tell you, it hurts. I've been grabbing that thing
and putting stuff on it. I mean, just the littlest thing.
Boy, it's important to me. If you trust the Lord Jesus Christ,
think of this now. I mean, get a hold of your seat.
You're important to Him. He saved a number no man can
number. His body is a number of people
we can't count. And not one of them is unimportant
to Him. Not one. Because He's the head who takes
care of the body. If one part of the body's hurting,
the other parts all go to help it, don't they? That's what we're
to do for one another. And you know who directs us to
do that for each other? The head. The head. See, he showed us by
example what to do for one another, didn't he? Love one another self-sacrificially,
as he sacrificed himself for us. That's what we're to do for
one another, because Christ is our head. Brother Gill was right,
wasn't he? There's a lot of articles of
faith here when you consider Christ our head. And aren't you
thankful he's our head? All right, I hope the Lord will
bless that to you.