Good to be back. It's been a
while. We're going to go back to Ephesians
chapter 1, but on the way over there, stop and Acts chapter
20. You know, perhaps the occasion
of writing the book of Ephesians was a foresight on the part of
the Apostle Paul. And you see this here in Acts
20. verses 28-30, on his way to Rome he called the Ephesian
elders out and they met him. And after he had said that he
had not shunned to declare unto them all the counsel of God,
he said to take heed therefore unto yourselves, verse 28 in
Acts 20, and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath
made you overseers, to feed the church of God which he hath purchased
with his own blood. For I know this, I know this, after my departing shall many
grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock, and
also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse
things to draw away disciples after them. Therefore, watch
and remember that by the space of three years I cease not to
warn everyone night and day with fears." So when you read Ephesians,
Like we read a few minutes ago, the first few verses, you say,
my, what a great doctrinal book. In that opening statement, you
see the work of the Father putting all of God's elect in the Son.
Predestinating them. Electing them. The Son adopting
them. The work of the Son. His redemption. He obtained it. redemption been
purchased. The work of the Spirit coming
along and sealing believers. After that, they hear the word
of truth. They hear the gospel and the Spirit seals them into
the day of redemption. You think about all those things
that were said in those fourteen verses. The doctrine of the Trinity,
the doctrine of particular redemption, the doctrine of election, the
doctrine of predestination. The doctrine of the final perseverance
of the saints. All those things in 14 verses.
And today as we meet around the world, how few churches there
are that believe such things. Isn't that amazing? Paul knew. He knew. And over in our text, you
know, we could just preach about that. We could preach about that
all day long. But back in the text, I want
to deal with what Paul's prayer was. for the church there in
Ephesus, starting in verse 15. He says, Wherefore, I also, after
I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all
the saints, I cease not to give thanks for you, making mention
of you in my prayers. Paul said, I also. He knew that
these people had been the cause of a lot of thanksgiving. That
church had been. And he'd heard reports about
how they had embraced the Lord, had they laid hold on Him by
faith. They had committed everything
they had to Him. They were leaning on Him, depending
on Him. And how they loved all the saints. And he's thanking
God for them. They loved all the saints. Poor
saints, rich saints, educated saints. Stupid saints? You know
they're stupid saints. I won't point anybody out. But
they loved all of them. They loved all of them. High
and low. Jew and Gentile. And Paul said,
I cease not to give thanks for you. Why's that? He gives thanks
for this because that's God Almighty's doings. That's why. That's God
Almighty's doings. That ain't according to your
nature. You generally don't love everybody. You love yourself
and your family. And the reason you love them
is because they're an extension of you. He said, I give thanks for this
love. That's two inseparable graces
here. 1 John 4 says, He that loveth
not knoweth not God, for God is love. We are to love one another. Now, I know this, and I'm speaking
as a father. For you to say you love me and
for me to find out you don't like my kids ain't going to work.
You know what I'm saying? He that loves the Father loves
them that are begotten of him. That's plainly taught in the
Bible. We are love and this faith and this love is an evidence
that we've been justified by the grace of God. These things
always are found in a believer. And he says here, I cease not
to give thanks for you. I recognize this as being the
fruit of the work of God Almighty. And he goes on further to say
that he knows that if this continues, if this continues in the life
of anybody and increases, it's going to come to pass by exactly
the same power that it came to pass with to start with. That's
what he says here. I continue and I cease not to
make mention of you in my prayers. Make mention of you in my prayers.
We're to pray for one another. We heard that in Sunday school
today. I read something recently, Joe
Terrell said, you wouldn't think so much about what people thought
about you if you knew how seldom they do. I saw that on the news.
Believers, we've got to think about each other. We have to
pray for one another. We all need each other. We all need each other. And I'll tell you, if this continuation
of prayer and love towards each other continues, not going to
be attributed to our free will or our merit or our smartness
or our power or our resolve. God Almighty's got to do it.
He's got to do it. My brother quoted this this morning. I'll read it to you. 1 Samuel
12, 23. Listen to this. These people had sinned greatly.
Israel had sinned greatly. against the Lord. And Samuel
called to the Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day,
and all the people greatly feared the Lord. And all the people
said to Samuel, Pray for thy servant unto the Lord thy God,
that we die not, for we have added unto all our sins this
evil, to ask a king. And Samuel said to the people,
Fear not, you have done all this wickedness, yet turn not aside
from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your
heart, and turn ye not aside For then should you go after
vain things which cannot profit you, to deliver you their vain.
For the Lord will not forsake his people for this great namesake,
because it hath pleased the Lord to make you his people. Moreover,
as for me, God forbid that I should sin
against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you. I'll teach you
the good right way." God forbid. God forbid. So Paul here is praying
for these people, and we know where to do that also, because
all of us only stand by the power of God start to finish. That's
the only way you stand. If you live your entire life
and grow to be 120 years old, and on the day of your death,
if you've got to make the last step into glory by your own strength,
you're a calmer. You'll split hell wide open. Paul prays on their behalf. And
look at verse 17. That the God of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit
of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. Now, Paul knew
that these people knew God Almighty. He said that in verse 15. He
talked about their love and their devotion to God. He knew that
they knew the Lord. But he prays here that this knowledge
would be increased because the best knowledge anybody's got,
the best knowledge anybody's got is just a pittance. It's a pittance. Paul said we know in part and
we prophesy in part. Now that's something, when the
Apostle Paul says we know in part, then I don't know nothing. And our Lord says in 2 Peter
3.18 that we are to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ. We know Him. We know of Him. And yet we're to grow in knowledge
of Him. And Paul's praying for that. He's praying for that there.
You think about that. Paul in Philippians 3. Look over
here a couple pages. Philippians 3. I want you to
see this. Philippians 3, verse 7. Paul
says, But what things were gained to
me, I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, I count all things
but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do
count them but done, that I may win Christ and be found in him,
not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which
is of God by faith, that I may know him. That I may know him. and the power of his resurrection
and the fellowship of his suffering. That I may know him, the Apostle
Paul, here's a man that was stopped on the road to Damascus and was
converted like, it's just an amazing conversion, and this
man was caught up into the heavens, 2 Corinthians tells us, he was
caught up into the heavens. He was taught the gospel by the
Lord Jesus Christ himself, caught up into the heavens and heard
words that were not lawful to even be uttered. This man has
seen things and heard things that none of us. And this guy
says, oh, that I may know him. That I may know him. And I'm
telling you, this knowledge isn't just a matter of book learning. It says here, it's the spirit
Did you see that in the text? That the Lord Jesus Christ may
give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation of the knowledge
of Him. It's a spiritual thing. John
16. Look at John 16 for a moment.
Frank quoted this this morning. John 16, verse 13. John 16, 13. How be it when he, the spirit
of truth, is come? He'll guide you into all truth,
for he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear,
that shall he speak, and he'll show you things to come. He shall
glorify me, for he shall receive of mine and shall show it to
you." He'll show it to you. We have a spirit of wisdom and
truth, the spirit that teaches us and shows us all things. 1
Corinthians 2, you see this also. 1 Corinthians 2, look at that. Move a few Scriptures here today.
1 Corinthians 2, verse 9. When Paul describes what we've
received from Christ, listen to me. This is what I mean by
not just book learning. Look at verse 9. As it is written,
I have not seen, and ear hath not heard. Neither hath it entered
into the heart of man, a natural man, It's not even entered into
the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that
love him. That's not just talking about heaven, that's talking
about the gospel itself. And you see this, but God hath
revealed them unto us by his Spirit, for the Spirit searcheth
all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth
the things of a man, sayeth the Spirit of man which is in him,
even so the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God.
Now we have not received the Spirit of the world, but the
Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things which
are freely given to us of God." These things freely given to
us of God are taught to us by His Spirit. Through His Word,
through the Spirit, wisdom and revelation, we grow. We grow
in this knowledge. We grow. Look in here at verse
18. The eyes of your understanding,
and this is what he's praying for. The eyes of your understanding
be enlightened. be enlightened, that you may
know what is the hope of his calling. Now, I'm going to stop
there for a minute, because what's coming up here in the next few
verses are three what's. That's what Spurgeon called them.
You know, that man was quite wise. Three what's. And you're
going to see this. First off, in this verse, he's
talking about this is what he's praying for. That the eyes of
your understanding might be enlightened to do what? more illumination,
enlightened, that you might understand what is the hope of His calling."
I want to know more about that. Now, when we talk about hope,
there's a general thing called the grace of hope. We've also talked about the hope
of a believer being Christ Jesus Himself. He's our hope. And we can also talk about the
hope we have of eternal happiness now that lies ahead. All of these
things, all these things, all center around the Lord Jesus
Christ. They all do. In everything we have, all our
blessings, present and future, are tied up in Him. But what
is the hope of His calling? I just want to, for a few minutes,
think about this. When Abraham was called out of
Ur of the Chaldees, what was he hoping for? What was he hoping for? Well,
I guarantee you this, the forgiveness of sins. The forgiveness of sins. He was
hoping that God Almighty would put away all his transgressions
before his face. That he might be eternally accepted. and actually be among the ranks
of those who are the sons of God. And it doth not yet appear
what they shall be, but I'm telling you, they're going to be glorious. They're going to be glorious.
He was looking for forgiveness and acceptance and I assure you
that Abraham, when he left that land, was looking for divine
protection. You read it throughout the Old
Testament. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want. I'm not going to want anything
I need. Is that the hope of your calling? I'm telling you, that's
the hope of my calling. That I'm not going to want anything
that I need in this world. The things I really need, I'm
never going to lack them. And the things I'm going to need
for eternity itself, I'm never going to lack. Why? Because the
Lord's my shepherd. He's my keeper. We read that.
Is that the hope of my calling? That's the hope of my calling,
that He is my Keeper. I'm going to tell you something.
I need my eyes enlightened every day to see that more clearly. All things are working together
for the good of them that love God, who are Thee called according
to His purpose. You believe that? I do too. Do
you believe that every day? No, you don't. I need the eyes of my understanding
enlightened. When it's all coming down around
me, when it's all coming down around me. And I'm telling you,
it comes down. Have my eyes enlightened to understand
the hope of my calling that everything is working together for my good
just exactly as the Word of God says. I need that. I need it. I want to have this hope of my
calling, this hope of perfect justification, this hope of eternal
perfection before God, not guilty, not guilty, not only that, eternally
perfected body, soul, spirit. Save my soul, save my spirit,
raise this body. The hope of my calling is that
every single dust grain of dust of what is called Dan Culver
will one day stand in the presence of a holy God. accepted. Scripture says we have
borne the image of the earthly and we shall bear the image of
the heavenly. We shall bear this. We're going
to bear it. This is a whole salvation. A whole salvation. Standing at
the right hand of God with pleasures forevermore. Standing there dwelling
forever with the God-man. The God-man. In a privileged state that angels
do not possess. No angels ever going to have
the privilege of a child of God. And the second one here, he says,
this is another thing I want your eyes to be enlightened to.
Listen. And what is the riches of the glory of His inheritance
in the saints? My nose always runs. There's an inheritance ahead
for us, as we were just speaking of just a moment ago. Our Lord
said, I go to prepare a place for you that where I am, you'll
be with me. You're going to be with me. I
go to prepare a place. And I know that refers to the
cross, and I believe that also refers to making heaven itself
a place that we can walk into. And I know that there are mansions
there. I don't, whatever that means, there are dwelling places.
I know that. But in this verse here, I believe
he's not speaking about our inheritance. If you read that, it says, And
what is the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints? All that my eyes might see, the
glory of his inheritance in the saints. That's what we're talking
about here. His inheritance in the saints. Look at Deuteronomy 32. Down here around verse 7. You
see, we're going to have the hope of our calling. And I'm
going to tell you something, He's going to have us. Look at
verse 7. Remember the days of old. Consider
the years of many generations. Ask your fathers. He'll show
it to you. Thy elders, they'll tell thee. When the Most High
divided to the nations their inheritance, when He separated
the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the people according
to the number of children of Israel. Now listen to me, for
the Lord's portion is His people and Jacob is the lot of His inheritance.
The Lord's portion is His people. that your eyes might be enlightened
to understand what is the hope, what is the riches of the glory
of His inheritance in the saints here. You see this, he's talking
about this fact. We're not only going to have
the hope of our calling, but our God Almighty is going to
have us. He's going to have us. He's going
to have us. The riches of the glory of His
inheritance. We have been separated by distinguishing
grace, marked out. Remember when Jacob had a deal
with Laman that certain cattle, certain spots be his? We're them
cattle. I'm just telling you. Marked
men and he's going to have us for an everlasting inheritance
even as the land of Israel was Divide it up in portion. He counts
us. Now, this is amazing and this
really takes eyes and enlightenment to see. He counts us His riches. I'll show you that Malachi. The last book of the Bible in
the Old Testament. Malachi chapter 3. It should be easy to find
real quick. It's right before the book of
Matthew. Malachi 3 verse 16. Then they that feared the Lord
spake often one to another, and the Lord hearkened and heard
it. And a book of remembrance was written before him for them
that feared the Lord, that thought on his name. And they shall be
mine." This is his inheritance. Save
the Lord of hosts in the day that I make up my jewels, I'll
spare them. as a man spareth his own son
that serves him. What is it that makes his people
of such great value? Well, you know, my father was
a steel worker in Gary, Indiana, and he raised four children.
And I asked him one time, at what point in life do you ever
get to where you can afford anything? And he just said, I'd have to
ask somebody older than him. He said, four kids, you never
get ahead. But after we were gone, he got
real sick, eventually died of cancer, emphysema. But he worked
as long as he could, as hard as he could, and he managed to
put up $100,000 that he left for my mother. And that was quite
an achievement. Quite an achievement. And you
know, really, that inheritance that Mom got and is probably
going to be passed on, the greatness of it is not what set it apart. It's the work He did to get it. I'm telling you, when God Almighty
created the heavens and the earth, it did not cost Him a nickel. But when He created, His children. It cost Him the blood of His
Son. Pretty precious. And He's going to have these
people. Now you just get that in your head. Get that. That's
a glimpse you need to have in your mind. God Almighty is going
to have these people. They're His jewels. They're His
inheritance. They're His. Oh, that the eyes
of our understanding might be enlightened. enlightened to see
that. And this third thing he speaks
of, this third one here, look at this in verse 19. And what
is the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe
according to the working of His mighty power? See here, we talked
about the hope of His calling, what lies ahead for us. We also
talk about what lies ahead for the Lord Himself, taking His
jewels into His possession. But here we talk about something
else. How is this all going to come
to pass? How does this relate to me? Well, I'm going to tell
you how it's going to come to pass. It's not going to come to pass
as a result of my strength, my resolve, my free will. Nothing
like that. It's going to come to pass according
to His exceeding greatness. I love the words of the Bible.
Exceeding greatness. of His power. You know, when
you talk about, these are strong words here, stating greatness
of His power, the supernatural excellence, this triumphing power
of God working according to His mighty working, His mighty power,
to us-ward who believe. See, you didn't start, you did
not start your life as a believer. through any power of your own.
It doesn't happen. And you're not going to go any
further that way. You know, the gospel should be
simple to believe. Really, at times I look at it
and I think, this is so simple. It's so simple. But the fact
is, as simple as it is, Unless omnipotent power itself is involved,
you'll never do it. It really shows you how dark you
are by nature. So simple faith and maintaining
faith, these things are all a result of his exceeding power. You're a new creation, the Bible
says, and the Creator did that. You've been given a new heart.
You've been given a new spirit. You've been given a new man.
You ought to read that thing in your bulletin today if you
haven't read it. A new man. We are his workmanship
in Christ Jesus. He's done this. We're his workmanship,
Ephesians says. His workmanship. Our conversation, our preservation,
I'm going to tell you something. God exhibits the same power in
saving a sinner as he does in raising his son from the dead.
And that's what's said in the next few verses. Let's read this
here. Which he wrought in Christ Jesus, when he raised him from
the dead, and set him at his own right hand in heavenly places,
far above all principality and power and might, and dominion
and every name that's named, not only in this world, but also
in the world which is to come. And he's put all things under
his feet. Now, there's an analogy being
made here. There's an analogy that's being
made here. You follow me on this? Our Lord Jesus Christ was taken
from the very depths of the tomb and raised to heaven itself.
That's what he's making this analogy. He went from the tomb to preeminence. How
did it happen? By the power of the Father. That's how it happened. Our Lord Jesus Christ was dead.
Really dead. He was not just in a coma. He wasn't sleeping. The man,
Christ Jesus, was dead. His human nature was dead, completely
helpless, sealed in a tomb. He had no senses laying there. And I'm telling you, so were
we. You see that? We're dead in trespasses
and sin, the Scripture says. Helpless, hopeless. You don't
have the power, and I don't have the power, of our own free will
to do anything to move towards God Almighty. Unable to stir a muscle, unable
to perform anything, we're heart dead in all spiritual matters.
In Adam, what we got from our daddy Adam, we don't have a spiritual
pulse, much less a free will. There's only one thing in heaven
and earth with a free will, and it's God Almighty. And Christ was resurrected. I
love this. Attended by heavenly messengers.
Look at Matthew 28, 18. Look at this. Matthew 28, 18.
There's a real parallel here. Matthew 28, verse 2, excuse me. Matthew 28, verse 2. Mary's going
down to the sepulcher and listen, verse 2. Behold, there was a
great earthquake, and the angel of the Lord descended from heaven,
and came and rolled back the stone from the door that sat
upon it." Now, you'd think our Lord had to have an angel come
down and roll that stone away. He didn't have to, but it pleased
Him. God sent a messenger. God sent
a messenger. And when that messenger arrived,
there was a great earthquake. The stone was rolled back. And
all the keepers became his dead men. I'm telling you, God sends
a messenger to every one of his dead dog-sinner saints and puts
him right in front of them. And that man preaches the gospel
and the stones roll back. And I want you to know, nothing
hinders it. Nothing hinders it. And there's always a shaking
when that happens. I love that, how there was a great earthquake.
When I heard the gospel, there was a great earthquake. One old
guy said one time that he tore up all the toys in my playhouse. When I heard the gospel, it all
changed. I'm telling you now, a great
earthquake and God Almighty uses means. That's the point. That
angel didn't have the power to give life, but he was sent anyway. He was sent anyway. And what
was going on inside that tomb before that angel came was mysterious
life was taking place. The Son of God who had laid there
dead suddenly had life. And he sat up and he shook all
the herbs off of him and he took that garment and he unwrapped
it and he folded it all up neatly. He was not in a hurry. And I'm
telling you, nobody outside that tomb could stop him and What I'm trying to say is that
there was a secret work that took place, and my friends, that's
what happens in the heart of a man or woman when they hear
the gospel. Almighty power, and no guards,
no human means can ever hinder him from coming out of that tomb,
and nobody's ever going to stop one of God's elect from believing
the gospel and coming. All the way. All the way. Why
is that? Because of the exceeding greatness of His power towards
us who believe. That's why. And He arose and freedom was
absolutely gained. Never to die again. Divine power. Irresistible power. I like what it says when Peter
was preaching on the day of Pentecost on Acts 2. Listen to this. I'll
read this to you. You don't have to go there. I
like when Peter describes our Lord's resurrection. It says,
verse 24, whom God hath raised up, having loose the pains of
death. Why is that? Because it's not
possible that he should be holding of it. And I'm telling you, if
you're one of his, it's not possible that you should be holding of
it. It's not possible. Irresistible
power. Everlasting power. And our Lord
arose. Have you ever wondered why He
didn't just immediately go to heaven? He had an appointed time on this
earth. Forty days. Forty days He was
on this earth speaking to His disciples. Didn't have anything
else to do with the Pharisees and the unbelievers of this world.
Speaking to His disciples and showing with many infallible
proofs, it says in Acts 1, verse 3, that He was alive. Speaking
to them of things concerning the kingdom of heaven. And my
friends, I've been brought out of the grave. I've been raised
up and you've been raised up. You believe the gospel. This
mighty power brings you forth. And you're not just leaving the
day that happens. You've got an appointed time on this earth
just like the Lord. And tell you what, speak concerning
the things in His kingdom and His gospel. And eventually he went to the
Father. And eventually we're going to the Father. And I'm
going to tell you why. It's all according to the exceeding
greatness of His power. Give me eyes. You see, Paul's
praying this. Give me eyes to see this. Give
me eyes to see it. To see this grave-robbing power
that's come into my life, has taught me the truth, taken me
from the depths of sin, taken me from being a maggot and a
worm and is going to set me in the very heavens itself at the
hand of the Son of God. I tell you, if you ever get a
view of that, and I'm speaking to myself too, if I ever get
to where I understand that and clearly see it, I guess I won't
be half as despondent as I am. Now, these last two verses, and
I quit, he gives us a little of a why, the reason about this
power. First off, this power is for
his glory that he does this. But if we read these two verses,
and I'll be done, I want you to see primarily here what he
deals with is union. Verse 22, and he's put all things
under his feet and gave him to be the head over all things to
the church, which is the body, the fullness of him. that filleth
all in all. I talked about the same power
that raised Christ from the dead is the power that works in the
lives of his church. There's a reason. The same power,
the same energy, the same spirit found in the head shall be found
in the body. That's why Adam was put to sleep
and Eve was taken from his same power, the same energy, the same
source existed in his wife as was in him. Our Lord and his body are going
to be of the same nature. Years ago there was a crazy movie,
and I love it, I'm sorry, I love this movie, Mars Attacks. If you've never wasted a couple
hours, you might want to waste it and watch that. But in this
movie, the Martians attack and they take a head off a man or
a woman and put it on a chihuahua. And I want to tell you, any time
you see something like that, you're looking at a monstrosity.
You're not looking at something that God Almighty makes. God's
got a human head on a human body. And the body has the same energy
in it as the head. Do you see the point of this? Nebuchadnezzar, he built an image
of a man who had a golden head and silver here and brass here
and iron here and clay and iron mixed in the feet. Whenever you
see something like that, that's not the work of God. Our Lord, this glorious head,
will not be complete and will not be joined to anything that's
inferior to Him. He is going to be joined to a
church that's got the same spirit that He's got. that raised him
from the dead is going to be used to raise them from the dead.
Now listen to me. He'll never be joined to anything
inferior. So what does that mean to you
and me? Well, it means that a believer is a glorious thing. That's what
it means. A glorious thing. A glorious
thing. I pray that the eyes of our understanding
might be enlightened. We might see these things. I
hope that's a blessing.