Ephesians chapter 1 and I want
to read like the last four verses beginning in verse 20 I Know this is starting in the
middle of a sentence, but with Paul's sentences sometimes you
can't help but start in the middle of a sentence This sentence is
go on about 810 verses sometimes Ephesians chapter 1 and verse
20 Which he wrought in Christ? when he raised him from the dead
and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
far above all principality and power and might and dominion
and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also
in that which is to come and have 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. I want to speak today concerning
Christ, the head of his body. Now Paul has joined this subject
with the exceeding greatness of his power to us were who believe
experts ninety paul goes further and letting us know that we believe
only only only according to the working of his mighty Now you may hear in many places,
I know a lot of people pay what we call lip service to it, that
God is all powerful. Well he is. That's a fact. What most people don't realize
is how powerful is he. They don't even come close. Oh
sure, God can bring a storm, God can destroy crops maybe,
you know, he can do all, but when it comes to people, Well,
God's a gentleman, Walter. God's a gentleman. He wouldn't
make you go against your will. He better. He better or you're
lost. He better or you're damned. Paul
is not even the least bit concerned with that point of view. We believe
according to the working of his, and I'll Remember a few weeks
ago I preached his forceful force. That's the meaning of that. It's
his mighty power that makes us believe. This is where we are to start,
always. God first, man later. That's the way Paul starts his
book of Ephesians. He starts with God, then he talks about
man, but now he's coming back around to Christ and to the works
of God. We believers are chosen in Him,
in Christ, before the foundation of the world. Most people don't
usually like that part either. Then Paul tells us how we are
actually brought to Christ, how we are actually placed in Christ,
in time. It's by the working of His mighty
power. Now we come to the culmination
of everything Paul has said so far in this first chapter of
Ephesians. There's more to come, but for
this chapter, this is the culmination. That mighty power which worked
in us, which brought us into Christ, which brought us to Christ,
who had reconciled us to God, is the same power which he brought
in Christ when he raised him from the dead. and set him at
his own right hand in the heavenly places. It's the same power. It's the power of God. God wrought
our believing in Christ according to and because of his mighty
power. And this power was wrought, worked
in Christ. When he raised him from the dead,
The salvation of God's people takes the resurrection power
of God. The dead have to be brought to
life first. Life comes first from our perspective. We may
not recognize what it is at first, Mason. Sometimes all you recognize
when you look at it later is that you were miserable. You
were condemned. Or thought you were. You were
worried because you knew, somehow, you came to know you had fallen
short of the glory of God. The flippant easy believism that
we're surrounded by on every hand makes light of this exceeding
greatness, of His power, which He effectively worked. That's
the other thing that word wrought me. effectively work effectively
wrought in Christ The father totally accepted the son his
life his work his death burial and he showed it in his resurrection
Christ was totally accepted of the father and by his resurrection
we live The Father has worked a work
in us, in Christ. We who were dead right now live
in Christ Jesus. We live because of His mighty
power. We believe because of His mighty
power, which was wrought, which was worked effectively in Christ
when He raised Him from the dead. He was the surety, the guarantee
of our resurrection. of our given life from the dead.
And it says the Father set the Son at His own right hand. The
place of acceptance. Perfect acceptance. We don't
get to sit at His right hand. Christ does. And Christ is seated
at the right hand of the Father. This is the place of acceptance.
This is the place of authority. And this is the place of power. He has power over all flesh. To give eternal life to as many
as the Father has given Him. He has that power. And His place
is right beside the Father. At His right hand. Why? Because
the Father totally approves of His eternal only begotten, well-beloved
Son. He's there right now. And it
says in the heavenlies. He's seated in the heavenlies.
His redemptive work is done. He has reconciled us to God. That's the whole point of this
plan. God was in Christ reconciling us unto himself. His bringing in his sheep is
still going on. I mean, he's reconciled us. He's
redeemed us, whether we know it or not. But
he's not idle now. He's seated, but he's not idle.
When Stephen died, Stephen said he saw him standing. when one
of his sheep was coming home. He's seated, but he's not idle.
He's bringing in his sheep. It's being worked out now. How? According to his mighty
power. He is seated in the heavenlies
at the right hand of the Father, expecting till his enemies be
made his footstool. Till. Until. It's going to happen. God's put
all things under his feet. But there's going to come a time
when all things will be under his feet. He's expecting it. And if he's expecting it, bless
God, it's going to happen. No doubt whatsoever. And then
he goes on, far above principality and power and might and dominion
in every name that is named, not only in this world, but also
in that which is to come. He's far above. Not just above,
far above all. Not just above a little bit,
far above. He's so far above, we can't tell
you how far above he is. He's so high, we don't know.
He's high and lifted up, seated on a throne, but we don't know
how high. Paul didn't either, but he said
he's far above. And then he gives you a list
of what is far above. Principalities, power, might,
dominion, and every name. Now, does that leave anything
out? Not a thing. And I will tell you this, because
it's nice sometimes when you're studying and you find something
amusing. There are commentators. who like to discuss or argue,
whether he's talking about good angels or bad angels here when
he's talking about principality. I'm sorry. I mean, that's stupid. That's just all it is. You can't
fix stupid. If that's what you see when you
look at this, he's far above all. Good angels, bad angels. Yes.
Yes. What does it matter? He's far
above all. If you're a principality, he's
above you. If you're a power, he's above you. If you're a dominion,
he's above you. If you've got a name, he's above you, far above
you. I don't understand these debates,
because there ain't no debate about that. I mean, that's just
ignorant. But it did amuse me. You know, there's a saying in
political circles, never underestimate the stupidity of the electorate. Well, I can come up with a new
saying. Sometimes you can never underestimate
the stupidity of commentators. It's the way it is. We're stupid. We're ignorant unless God has
taught us. He's far above everything. Anything
that can be named he's above it far above it, and there's
no discussion about it Why cuz the father put him there? And
no man seen the father at any time The only begotten of the
father's revealed him. That's the only if you seen him
you seen the father And if you seen him, you know he is high
and lifted up You know he is above all Far above all. See this list that Paul gives
us? Christ is above all. And that's the point. The Father
put him there. He's there. It doesn't even matter
if Paul has left something out. He said he's far above all. I
don't think he did. The only one that Christ is not
above is the Father. He's seated right beside Him.
They're on the same level. Father, the Son, the Spirit. These three are one. He's at
the Father's right hand. He's right there. Now in this world, and in the
world which is to come. Christ is above everyone and
everything. And what about what's coming?
What about it? Don't worry about many antichrists. They're out there. Worry about
recognizing them and staying away from them. But don't worry
about many antichrists. Don't worry about the antichrist.
Don't worry about the beast, the false prophet, or the tribulation. Jesus Christ is far above all. That which is, that which was,
that which is, and that which is to come. He is the sovereign. He is the
one in charge. He is the one whose purpose is
coming to fruition. Every day, in every way. People like to rhyme. Every day,
in every way, God's working His will. Jesus Christ is working
out the purpose and work of the Father. All that the Father giveth
me to do, I've done. I'm doing and I shall do. He's the same yesterday, today,
and forever. He is doing the work that the
Father gave Him to do. And He's above it all. In this
world and the world which is to come, Guess what? By Him, the universe was created.
It now consists. It now exists. And guess what? It continues by Him. What about what which is to come?
Well, ditto. That which is to come is by Him
and for Him and by Him and for Him. And it will exist by Him. You're not going to surprise
Jesus Christ. You're not going to surprise
God. No one ever has. There might be some who want
to try. But then again, there's a lot
of people who don't know God. He is far above all. now and
to come. And hath put all things under
his feet and gave him to be the head over all things to the church. Now this statement has about
three words added in and I took them out. There's nothing wrong
with them being in there. But I like the way it reads better
with the words out that they added in. It says, and hath put
all under his feet and gave him the head over all to the church. I like the way that reads. God hath put all under his feet. What did Paul say? He's far above
all. Everything's under his feet.
He's so far above, I can't tell you how far. What do you mean by all? Well,
Paul already gave us the list in the last verse. Dominions,
Principalities, Powers, and every name. Everything is under the feet
of Christ. Everything is under Christ. He is Lord of Lords, King of
Kings. He is the Lord over all. Then it says God gave Him. And gave Him. Christ has been given by the
Father to His people. James 1 and verse 17, I quote
it a lot, I say it a lot, I believe it a lot. Every good gift and
every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father
of lights with whom is no variableness, neither shadow or turning. The Father sent the Son. The
Father gave the Son. This is more than the Father
just acknowledging His work. He gave His only Son. He came with the express purpose
according to the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God to redeem His people from their sins. That was the announcement
of the angels. That was the announcement. Call
His name Jesus, what they told Joseph. Call His name Jesus. Why? For He shall save His people
from their sins. The Father gave us the Son. And now, according to the working
of His mighty power, He has given us the Son again. in our selves. I don't know how
else to say it. We have indwelling in us the
Holy Spirit of God. The life of Christ is all I have
now. Before, all I had was death. But we live in Him. In Him we live, we move, and
we have our being. We have been given to the Son.
We were chosen in the Son before the foundation of the world.
And yes, we are brought into the Son by the working of His
mighty power, but He has been given to us. What a blessing! How great is
this salvation that God gives that we have in us right now
the life of Christ as we walk upon this world. We have His Holy Spirit in us
as we walk in this world. We were given to Him, but yes,
the Son was given to the church by the Father. He is our Lord. He is our Redeemer. He is our
sanctification. He is our justification. He is
our salvation. He is all to us. Now the next
part, He is head over all to the church, which is His body. I kind of tried to separate that
out, but I couldn't do it. Because I like to take these
things as the scriptures read. That's the way I like to go,
just as it reads. But I can't separate the head from the body.
I tried, I couldn't do it. It's all one organism. That's what it is. This illustration,
and that's what it is that Paul uses, Christ is the head and
the church is his body. This is a physical, organic illustration. It's an illustration of life. Now what do I mean by that? I
mean the head and the body make up an organism, not an organization. There's lots of churches around
that are organizations. It's not what Paul's talking
about. It's not what Paul's writing about. He's talking about the
living church, which is his body, which is Christ's body. We are
members of the Church of Christ. I don't want to take this illustration
too far, but this much is plain. The brain is in the head. That's where the brain is. That's
where the thinking is done. That's where the purposing is
done. That's where the will is formed. It ain't in us. None of that has been left up
to us. That's a good thing. That's a very, very good thing. I agree with Mason. If it was
up to me, I'd save my friends and damn my enemies. I got a
lot of enemies. I got a lot of people who aren't
my friends either, you know. Well, you know, you only have
a few in this life. The brain controls the body. Thereby, the head controls the
body. That's not stretching this illustration
in the least. That's the illustration Paul's
given. There's two things. There's a head and a body. The
brain is the controlling organ of the body. Everything comes
from the head and returns to the head. commands to move my
fingers. It comes from up here. Commands
to wave, commands to sit down, stand up, commands to talk. It
all comes from the brain. It all comes, the impulses go
out on the nerves and then you get the return. When you touch
something, that all goes back. It goes to muscles to move. Sometimes I wish it would tell
me to shut up at times. The tongue is an unruly member. But the brain is the controlling
organ of the body. Complete, utter, total control. There are different diseases,
and you'll hear about them, different things, different problems people
have. I don't know how to put it. Maybe
not a disease, but an injury. To where they spasm. They have
no control. Why? Because there's a problem
here. With Christ as the head, there ain't no problems. There
never will be a problem, and there's never ever been a problem. Everything comes to and comes
from the head. Nerves, synapses, everything.
And without a head, there is no control. Witness the world. Turn on your TV, turn on your
radio. Go to work. Without the head, there is no
control. Without the head, I'll tell you something, there is
no life. And you hear about it now because
we can do wonderful things with machines. But there is a thing
called being brain dead, from brain injuries, from disease,
from whatever. And they can keep people alive
by sticking a feeding tube down their throat, have a ventilator
do their breathing for them, and sometimes they hook up something
to help their heart pump. But without those machines, without the head, the body cannot
function. And again, I don't think I'm
stretching the illustration by this. This is the head and this
is the body. He's the head, we're the body.
Forget the physical, if you want. Christ said, apart from me, ye
can do nothing. That's what he said. And guess
what? That's what he meant. Apart from
him, we can do nothing. The head controls the body. Period. No debate. No qualifications
and no exceptions. It is God that works in you. Both. to will and to do of His
good pleasure. What's that mean? That means
the head's in control. That means the head controls
the body. And the body's going to do what the head says. There's
a saying out there. I don't know if it came from
this reference or not. But as the head goes, the body
follows. That's what it says. And that's
true in life. But I'm telling you, it's perfectly
true in our Lord Jesus Christ. We follow Him. Not perfectly. We stumble, we
fall. But if you continue not, if you
continue not, you're not my disciple. If you don't follow, you're not
His disciple. by grace, through faith. And that not of yourselves, it's
the gift of God. But he doesn't stop there. We
are his workmanship. We're his work, according to
his mighty power. Unto good works, that he is before, we should
walk in them. We follow. The body follows the
head, or it's not the body. And that's what I see all around
us. There's lots of organizations, but they ain't following the
head. They're not speaking the head's message. They're not preaching
the head. The Christ of the Bible. Excuse me. Is there any question
who is his body? Paul tells us it's the church. That word is the ekklesia. Now it's a Greek lesson time.
Walter's done it. The assembly, but not just the
assembly. It's the specific called out
assembly of the head of Christ. In ancient Greek times, they
used to go out and you'd try to advertise. Say, hey, we're
having an assembly over here. If you showed up, you was part
of the ecclesia. You were part of who assembled. Well, when
Christ called you, he's assembled you. And that's the assembly
he's talking about. That's his body. This assembly called by the Father,
the Son, and the Spirit, the church is his body, and his body
is his people. those that have been called out.
If you've not been called out, if you don't believe him, if
you don't know him, and if you don't follow him, you've got
no right or reason to think you're a member of the church. This
is talking about those called out. That's who Paul's writing
to, the saints in Ephesus, those who already believe. Now there
are those in Christ who have not believed yet that he's working
on, but that's not who he's writing to right now because it wouldn't
do him any good. It would be like me speaking Greek to him.
But those who know him, follow him. Why? Because he's the head and you're
the body. And more important than that,
you're his body. He, Christ, is the head over
all to the church. He is the single source of life for all of the church. There
is no life outside of Him. However, in Him is nothing but
life. Now, I'm not going to go into
the members thing. Paul covers that quite adequately in 1 Corinthians
12. I do want to read one verse because
I believe it is just wonderful. 1 Corinthians 12 and verse 13,
for by one spirit are we all baptized into one body. Whose body? His body. Whether we be Jews or Gentiles,
whether it be be whether we be bond or free and have all that
have been all all made to drink into one spirit he makes his body they are members in particular
and members are all different but tell you this he is the single
source of life And His life is in every single member of His
body. I have the life of Christ. You
have the life of Christ. You have the life of Christ.
You know Christ. You have His life. And outside of Him is no life. God gave Him head over all to
the church. to His called-out assembly. Now, there is a point to be made
here. I don't want to say that Jesus
Christ needs anything. He doesn't. He is complete in
Himself, totally self-sufficient, completely holy and perfect,
all by Himself. But in this illustration, a head
by itself is really not all that great. You need the body. If
there's a head, there's a body. You don't have heads floating
around anywhere, no matter what science fiction says. If there's
a head, there's a body. That's the illustration. The
head has a body. Here's some more. The bridegroom
as a bride. The vine has branches. The olive tree has branches,
regular and wild. And the good shepherd has his
sheep. There's a completeness in these
illustrations. That completeness is in him.
It's in him It's been given to us. And these illustrations are to
be recognized, learned, loved, and taught by the body. We are all baptized by one spirit
into one body. And the body is one in Christ,
even though it is many members. There's only one head and one
body. There's a unity in Christ. There's
a unity in Christ. Greek, Jew, Gentile, bond-free,
anything you want to, rich, poor, anything. There's one body. It's His body. His body will
be complete. There will be no missing parts.
There are no detachable parts. Okay? This is talking about a
human body, not a lizard. If you lose your tail, you grow
it back. There's no detachable parts. There's no missing parts. There's no holes. It's a complete body. Exactly
as purposed and planned and provided for. by the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ the head loves his body.
And he cares for his body. And he keeps his body intact. Complete. Christ doesn't do anything
half way. Three quarters or ninety-nine
percent. And no man's gonna thwart his purpose, his plan, or his
actions. And that's whether you're in
the body or you're out of the body. It doesn't matter. Nobody's
going to stop the will of God, the purpose of God, the plan
of God for the head and the body. It's not going to happen. Why? Because he's far above all. The head is the source and the
center of the life of the church. His body. He's everything. The conclusion. The fullness
of Him that filleth all in all. The fullness of Him. The body,
His body, was, is, and shall be part of the plan. Purpose
of God from before the foundation of the world the body was known
We were chosen in him before the foundation of the world.
That's what he says in the beginning of Ephesians 1 Paul personalizes
this here. This was one reason why I wanted
to do this verse is not one of the others is Because he calls
it his body He uses the personal pronoun before the word body
This is his body It's not your body, it's not my body, it's
his body. Christ owns us. He's owned us. Not only did he
purchase us, not only did he provide for us, but he owns us
as his own, as a part of him. It's one organism, head and the
body, but he says it's his body. I mean, it says the body of Christ
in other places, and that's the same thing. But I just like how
that read out. It's his body. It ain't your
body. It ain't nobody. It's his body. And this shall come to pass,
the completion. Why? Because he's the head of
the body. And he is the head of a complete body. Once brought in, Christ's members
stay. There you go. Christ's members
stay. One thing, they ain't got nowhere
else to go, and they know it. They know it. I know it. I had nowhere else to go when
I didn't know where to go. But now, I know I've got nowhere
else to go. I didn't know it before, but
I know it now. And he's going to see to it that
I never forget it. We are kept by the power of God through faith. Now if you think you can thwart
the power of God, you go right ahead. Some people think they have by
leaving here. That's the way it is. They thought
we were lying about God. All I'm doing is reading what
the scripture says. Talking a little bit about it. That's all we do. Thus saith
the Lord. It's His body. Now you think
you can mess with His body. You just go right ahead. You
go right ahead. I got nothing for you. And really,
you know, I just assume you do leave. Nothing personal. But
I just assume you do leave if that's the way you feel. If that's
the way you feel about it. Hey, they went out from us. Why? That it might be made manifest. It's just being made manifest.
It's not causing it. It's being made manifest. That
they weren't of us. And if you come back, please
do. If you understand that he's the
head and we're the body. If you understand that he's the
Lord and we're not. I mean, make no mistake about
it, don't even try to glean the littlest bout of credit for so
great a salvation. Because we can never, we should
never forget the fundamental principle of Ephesians 1. All
of this, all of this is the result of the working of His mighty
power. We are His workmanship, His creation,
His work. I said it, created in Christ
Jesus under good works. We are brought into Him, by Him,
and for Him. Because He is everything to the
church, His body. And He fills us with His fullness. He is life and peace and love
and holiness and righteousness and goodness. And we, we, and
by that I mean His body, are complete in Him. We're complete
in Him. Our Heavenly Father, thank You
for this time and this place. But most of all, thank you for
your son, our Lord, who is everything, all in all, to his body, the
church. Thank you for controlling, for
planning, for purposing, for providing, and for working all
things in your son, our Lord, Jesus Christ. In whose name we
pray, Amen.