Go with me if you would to Ephesians
6 again. Ephesians 6 and we will read
our text which is verse 10. Finally, my brethren, be strong
in the Lord, and in the power of His might." Finally, be strong
in the Lord. Do you remember, some of you
were here, do you remember when we were finishing up the book
of 2 Corinthians? And at the end of chapter 13,
we read the last few verses in that chapter as a believer's
send off to glory. You remember that? Finally, brethren, our time on
this earth and all of this sin and all of this sorrow is over. That's going to be a glorious
moment, isn't it? Glorious moment. Finally, brethren, our robe of
flesh is gone. And in that during that send off,
we've we've put on the reality of the robe of Christ's righteousness,
and we're ready to take our first step into glory. First step into an eternal, sinless,
spotless state of being as a saint of God. That send-off. I want to read that. Turn over
there to 2 Corinthians 13. And let's read these last few
verses in the thought of that send-off, alright? 2 Corinthians
13. Verse 11 says, finally brethren,
farewell. It's time. It's time. Leaving this earth.
Farewell. It says, be perfect. It's time to go be perfect. Everything about us is wrong.
Everything about us is sinful. Everything about us is full of
error. So far from perfect. Finally, brethren, go be perfect.
You've been waiting on it. Here it is. Verse 11 goes on
to say, be of good comfort. Go ahead. All of that sorrow. All that sorrow, all of that
sorrow, all of that sorrow. It's time to just go be of good
comfort. Be of one mind. Go ahead. Go with all the saints of God.
Have the one mind of Christ. No more division. No more differences. Everybody there has the exact
same mind. 11 goes on to say, live in peace. No more war. And the God of love and peace
shall be with you. He said, I'll be their God. They'll
be my people. I'll live with them in the same
city. In reality. Verse 12 says, greet one another
with a holy kiss. Just go greet all your brethren.
Eternity, I'm glad it's eternity. I'm glad there's not a time limit
on glory, because I cannot imagine how long it's going to take to
go greet all the brethren. You're going to know all of them
and love all of them. You're going to want to talk
to all of them. Just go ahead, go greet one another with a holy
kiss. Verse 13 says, all the saints salute you. They're just
waiting on you to walk right in. Verse 14 says, the grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the
Holy Ghost be with you all. Father, Son, and Spirit, the
entire Godhead will now dwell with you forever and ever. Amen. All right, now that's the
point of what we're getting to in our text. In Ephesians 6,
that's where we're headed with that one verse of Scripture.
Now go with me back to Ephesians 6. Verse 10 says, Finally, my brethren,
be strong in the Lord. It's time. Finally, my brethren,
be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Alright, it's time. Go ahead.
Go be strong. I want to backtrack from that
now. I want to backtrack and see what
it took to get sinners like us to that place. What did it take
to get weak, sinful people like us to that place? Here's where
we'll start. In our natural flesh, as I stand here and you sit there, As we were born into this world
and as we are right now in the world, there is nothing strong
about us. Nothing strong at all. Somebody
goes through something and we say, oh he'll be alright, he's
strong. No he's not. No he's not. People say about
themselves, or they say about others, boy, he's a strong Christian. No, he's not. Peter thought that about himself.
For a while, he thought that about himself. He thought he
was a strong Christian. He said, he told the Lord, he
said, they all may leave you. I won't. Not me. I'm a fine Christian. I'm a strong
Christian. I'm a strong believer. They may
deny you, but he said, I'm going to go to the grave with you.
I will march straight to the grave with you. Peter had to
find out the hard way that pride comes before a fall. Always, pride comes before a
fall. As we are in our flesh, there
is no strength or ability in us at all. The world wants to tell you,
you just muster up the strength that's inside you. You just dig
down deep and find it and you go be you. There's nothing there. There's nothing there. Nothing
to muster up. There is no strength. There is no ability at all. Turn
with me to John chapter 15. John 15 verse 1, our Lord said,
I am the true vine, and my father is the husbandman. Every branch
in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away, and every branch
that beareth fruit he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more
fruit. Now you are clean through the
word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me and I in you. Now watch this line right here.
As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself. He said every branch
that doesn't bear fruit, my father's gonna get rid of that branch.
And every branch that does bear fruit, he's gonna purge it so
it'll bear more fruit. But he said no branch can bear
fruit of itself. Verse 4, Abide in me, and I in
you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide
in the vine, no more can you except you abide in me. I am
the vine, you are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I
in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. and focus in on this
last line. Four, without me, you can do
nothing. Without me, you can do nothing. Concerning salvation, concerning good works, concerning
this law, concerning anything, Christ said, without me, you
can do nothing. The commandment of scripture
is, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
That's the commandment of scripture. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. But do you know that Ephesians
2 verse 8 says, without him we cannot believe. It says, by grace are you saved
through faith, believing. And that's not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God. The ability to believe is the
gift of God. So without him, we can't believe.
Just cannot do it. That's the commandment. Believe,
believe, believe. Can't, can't, can't, can't. Without him, we can't believe.
A lawyer came up to the Lord one time and asked him, what
is the greatest commandment in the law? And he said, love the
Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul. He said, that's
the first and the greatest. And he said, the second one is
just like it. Love your neighbor as yourself. Love, love God,
love your brethren. That's what God commands of us.
But do you know that without him, we cannot love? Cannot love. 1 John 4 verse 7
says, Love is of God. Love is of God. It comes from
God. It only comes from God. Because the next verse goes on
to say, God is love. And that doesn't just mean that
God has love inside Him. That means God is love. God is
what love is. It must come from Him. He is
the only source of love because He is love. If we have any true love, I mean
any true love, not the selfish love that the flesh knows. I
love things that make me happy. I love things that, you know,
better me. That's selfish love. The true
love of the true and living God, the God of Scripture, as He's
declared Himself to be. True love for His glory and not
mine. True love that cries, not unto
us, O Lord, not unto us, unto Thy name give glory. I mean true
love. If we possess any true love,
it's only because He sheds it abroad in our hearts. That's
what Romans 5 says. So without Him, we can do nothing.
Do we see our weakness? Our absolute weakness? We cannot
believe, we cannot love. John 17 verse 3 says, this is
life eternal that they might know Thee. But Matthew 11 verse
27 says, no man knoweth the Son, but the Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father,
save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him. Alright,
so what that means is without Christ, we cannot know Him. In order to have eternal life,
this is life eternal, that we might know that without Christ,
we cannot know Him. Solomon said, with all thy getting,
get wisdom. Wisdom and understanding, that's
what we need. Well, where does that come from?
How do we get it? James said, if any of you lack
wisdom, let him ask of God, and he will give it to you liberally.
Without him, there is no wisdom. He is made unto us wisdom. Without Christ, we cannot receive
mercy. You know what we need? Mercy. Mercy is not getting what we
deserve. There's something that I deserve
in my flesh according to the things that I've done in my life,
and it's not heaven. I don't deserve heaven. I don't
deserve God's favor. I deserve eternal wrath and punishment
because of my sin. Mercy is not getting what I deserve. I need mercy. And without Christ,
without Him taking what I deserve, taking it from me, taking it
for me, there is no mercy. Outside of Christ, there's no
mercy. Without Christ, we cannot receive any grace. Any grace
from God. Everybody talks about, oh the
grace of God. It's by the grace of God. God's grace. Let's all
sing amazing grace. Without Christ, there's no grace.
Grace means gift. Freely bestowed gift. Here's
a free gift. He is the gift. The scripture says, He giveth
more grace. So without Him, there's no grace.
Do we see how helpless our condition is? Salvation is not in our hands. It cannot be. We're completely
helpless. I mean weak, weak, weak. But turn with me over to 2 Corinthians
12 where our brother just read a moment ago. 2 Corinthians 12. The Apostle Paul was carried
up to the third heaven. He saw paradise. He saw glory. Could you imagine having to come
back and see this earth and live in this earth after seeing paradise?
You talk about a thorn in the flesh. But he heard things up
there that he said it's not possible for a man's mouth to utter. A
man's mouth won't move and make the sounds that it needs to make
to say what was said up there. I heard heavenly words. And then
after all of that, God sent him back to earth. And in verse 7,
he said, lest I should be exalted above measure, through the abundance
of the revelations, lest I should be lifted up with pride over
everything that God showed me in paradise. Here in the gospel
from the face and mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Verse
seven, lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance
of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh,
the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted
above measure. For this thing, I besought the
Lord thrice that it might depart from me. And he said unto me,
my grace is sufficient for thee." Four, my strength. He is made perfect in weakness. God said, My grace is all the
strength you need. And the strength of His grace
is never seen more clearly. It is never understood more fully,
more perfectly. than when it is seen and understood
in the light of our weakness. We never enter into it more than
when we see it in the light of our own weakness. The more clearly
we see our weakness, the more clearly we see the absolute
strength and the glory of His grace to us. I want to show you
an example of that. Hold your place right here. We're
going to come back and go with me to Luke 15. Luke 15. Verse 3, And he spake this parable
unto them, saying, What man of you, having an hundred sheep,
if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine
in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he
find it? Alright, now which one of these
two? reveals more clearly the glory
of His grace toward us. Which one reveals more clearly
the glory of His strength? The 99 who are in the sheepfold
like they're supposed to be? Or the one who goes astray and
becomes lost? Starving. Thirsty. Weak. Dying. And the shepherd goes looking
for that one sheep. Leaves a ninety and nine. And
he goes after that which is lost and dying. And he does not stop
looking for that one lost sheep until he finds it. Verse 5 says,
And when he hath found it, so famished, so weak, laying there
so near to the point of death, that sheep cannot walk back home.
So verse 5 says, The shepherd lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And he carries that sheep all
the way home. Verse six says, and when he cometh
home, he calleth together his friends and neighbors, saying
unto them, rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep, which
was lost. And as that sheep is riding on
his shoulders coming back into town, every time I read this,
I envision this poor, weak, famished, skinny lamb laying there sideways,
bouncing on his shoulders, bowing to everybody. My shepherd saved
me. I didn't get myself saved. I didn't do anything. He saved
me. He came to me. He found me. He
picked me up, laid me on His shoulders, and carried me all
the way home. Thank the God of heaven He saved
me. Which one more clearly, more
perfectly, reveals the glory and the strength of His kind
grace toward us. The one in weakness. The one
in weakness. Verse 7 says, I say unto you
that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth
more than over ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance. I'd love to see that. I would
love to see that. The angels desire to look into
these things. Every time one of those weak sheep gets picked
up, joy breaks out. That's what Paul
said back in 2 Corinthians 12. Go with me back over there. In the middle of verse 9, he said,
Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities that
the power of Christ may rest upon me." Is he saying that he
glories in his sin? And glories in the infirmities
that he sees in himself? Absolutely not. He's the one
who cried, God forbid. When I look right here, I'm so
wretched and so disgusting. God forbid. But he said, the
more that I enter into the reality of what I am, the more I see
my sin, The more I enter into my wretchedness, just how vile
and undeserving I am in my flesh, the more I enter into the glory
of His grace toward me. Verse 10, he said, therefore
I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities,
in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake, for when I
am weak, then am I strong. When I'm weak in myself, then
I'm strong in Him. The more that I see of my inability,
the more I see of His absolute strength. And this is the glory
of the Gospel. It's in what He did with His
strength. That's the glory of the gospel.
This right here is the power of God. This is the power of
His might. Paul told the Romans, I'm not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto
salvation. Only God could do this and only
God would do this. Turn over to Romans 8. Romans 8 verse 3 it says, For what the law could not do
in that it was weak, through this flesh right here, God sending His own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh, And for sin, condemned sin in the
flesh. I was weak, meaning I couldn't
save myself. I can't save myself. You can't
save yourself. The power is not in your hands.
The ability is not in your hands. If it's in your hands, there's
no hope for you. If it's in my hands, there's
no hope for me. The law was weak. We open this book and read these
laws. Oh, the law is good and holy.
The law says, if you do this, you'll live. And that's the truth.
I can't do it. This flesh can't do it. The law
is weak through this flesh. It cannot save me either. For
that reason, God sent His own Son, the absolute strength of
heaven, equal with the Father. The Lord, our strength, humbled
Himself. He took upon Himself the likeness
of sinful flesh. And it says, for sin, if you
have a sinner margin in your Bible, that says, by a sacrifice
for sin. By a sacrifice for sin. What
was the sacrifice? His own self. He gave Himself. He made Himself to be in the
likeness of man. What is the likeness of man?
Weak. Weak. He traded places with man. Acts chapter 8 says in His humiliation,
His judgment was taken away. This is the strength and the
power of God. Christ made Himself to be found in the fashion of
a man. And in the state of man's absolute weakness, He humbled
Himself. He took all of man's weakness
upon Himself and He became obedient unto death. And in that death, verse 3 says,
He condemned sin in the flesh. And do you know what the Father
did the very moment He condemned sin in the flesh? He highly exalted Him in strength. Highly exalted His strength. He gave Him a name which is stronger
than any name. Above every name. It's so strong,
at the hearing of His name, it's going to knock everyone to their
knees. He raised Him in strength and
He raised all those that He was made weak for. in strength. Not their own strength, but the
strength of their Lord and the power of His might. I'm almost finished here. I want
you to go one more time to 2 Corinthians 13. 2 Corinthians 13 verse 4
says, For though he was crucified through
weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are
weak in him." And the margin says, with him. But we shall
live with Him by the power of God toward you. When God raised
Him up in strength, He raised all of His people up in strength
with Him. So the exhortation is, be strong. Be strong. Finally, my brethren,
be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. And these
verses right here perfectly sum it up. I'll close with this,
alright? Go with me to Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2 verse 16 says,
For verily He took not on Him the nature of angels, but He
took on Him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore, in all things, it
behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might
be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to
God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in
that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able. to succor them that are tempted. He's able to comfort, and that's
our strength. Our strength is in the power of His might. He
is able. He is able. Let's be strong in
that. Now, forever. He is able.