Well, we're turning once again
to Ephesians chapter 1. Let's begin by reading verse
15. Wherefore I also, after I heard,
I heard of your faith, faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto
all the saints. love to all the saints. Faith
and love. Now, the title of the message
this evening is taken from verse 16. And the title I've given
to this message is, We Cease Not to Give Thanks. We cease
not to give thanks. The believer's heart has a heart
He has a heart of rejoicing in Christ Jesus, having no confidence
in the flesh. The believer's heart is a heart
not only of rejoicing, but a heart of thanksgiving. We give thanks
unto God. He says, we cease not to give
thanks unto our Lord. And then we pray for one another. Now, remember, when the apostle
is giving given to him these words, inspired words, God-given
words. Remember the Apostle Paul is
in Rome when he pens these words. He's in Rome in jail because
of the Gospel, or for the Gospel's sake. But you know, he never
considered himself a prisoner of Rome, but rather he called
himself often a prisoner of the Lord Jesus. If you'll turn just
a page there and find Ephesians chapter 3 verse 1, Ephesians
3, verse 1. He never called himself a prisoner
of Caesar, but always a prisoner of Christ. Notice chapter 3,
verse 1. For this cause I, Paul, the prisoner,
the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, the prisoner
of Jesus Christ. And then again in chapter 4,
he says it again, verse 1, I therefore the prisoner of the Lord. beseech
you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called,
with all lowliness, meekness, longsuffering, forbearing one
another in love." A prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want
to be His prisoner, don't you? I want to be a captive of His
love. I want to be a captive of His
grace. I want to be a servant to the
Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what Paul calls himself
here. a servant and a prisoner of the
Lord Jesus. Now, when he wrote to Timothy
in his last letter, II Timothy, he says this, Be not thou therefore
ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, that's the gospel, nor
of me, his prisoner, but be a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel
according to the power of God, because it's God who saved us
and called us, with a holy colleague, not according to our work, but
according to God's own purpose and grace. Wherefore I also,
after I heard of your faith." Heard of your faith. Now, when
Paul preached the gospel to these pagan Gentiles in Ephesus, when
he first came there, the whole city was taken up with idolatry. They were worshipers of an idol
named Diana, you remember? In Acts chapter 19, he came to
this pagan city, to these pagan people, preaching the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he personally witnessed the conversion
of many. He saw the transforming work
of God in their heart, how they turned on their idol to the living
and true God. He witnessed that first hand. He preached the gospel. And God
took that word by the power of His Spirit, and He penetrated
their heart that was saturated with idolatry, and He gave them
a new heart. A new heart. But evidently, evidently,
After Paul left there, he spent at least two years there preaching
the gospel, and evidently, God raised up those elders there
at Ephesus, and they continued preaching the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ, and God continued to bless their preaching and
their ministry, and there were many more converted, truly converted. and made new creatures in Christ
Jesus. So when he's sitting here in
prison, he's saying, I heard about your faith. Now he witnessed
firsthand those first converts, and then later on, this is three
or four years later, he's also hearing of God's adding to the
church daily as such, as should be saved. And he rejoices in
heart. He rejoices in the good news
of God's mercy, His continued mercy to sinners. Now, notice
two things, if you will, in verse 15. Two things that are distinct,
a distinct characteristic of true believers who have turned
to the true and living God. You see those two things in verse
15? Faith and love. Faith and Love. Two prominent things stand out
here which are inseparable in the experience of our salvation. Faith and love. These two things
always go together. It's like faith and repentance. Where you find repentance, you
find faith. Where you find faith, you find
repentance. Same thing with faith and love.
Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now let me show you a couple
of scriptures where we see this It's over and over again, but
if you'll find I Thessalonians chapter 5. I Thessalonians chapter
5. Look at verse 8. I Thessalonians chapter 5 verse
8. He said, But let us who are of
the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of
faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation, for God
hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our
Lord Jesus Christ." There's faith, hope, and love, these three.
Now, if you'll find II Thessalonians now, II Thessalonians chapter
1, right across the page, he mentions this again. You see,
verse 3, We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren,
as it is meet, as it is right, because that your faith groweth
exceedingly, faith does grow, and love, you see that word there,
charity, and love of everyone, and the love, faith groweth exceedingly,
and the charity of every one of you all toward each other,
it abounds, it grows, faith and love. Faith and love in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, I want you to find another
scripture. Find I Timothy. I Timothy chapter 1, verse 14. Paul said in the previous, preceding
verse rather, in I Timothy chapter 1, who was before a blasphemer,
a persecutor, one who caused injury, but I obtained mercy,
Because, or although I did it, ignorantly and unbelief, and
the grace of our Lord Jesus was exceeding abundant with faith
and love, which is in the Lord Jesus Christ." Faith and love,
faith and love, you can't get away from those two things. Now
find II Timothy, II Timothy chapter 1, II Timothy chapter 1, look
at verse 13, II Timothy 1, 13, "...hold fast the form of sound
words, which thou hast heard of me in faith and love, which
is in the Lord Jesus Christ." You see, faith and love. If you
are a true believer, you have God-given faith in the Lord Jesus,
in the Lord Jesus Christ, and this love. Now, let's look at
those two things for just a moment. Where do these folks get true
saving faith? Now it doesn't bloom in this
dead heart naturally. If you're a believer looking
to Christ and God has given you that precious gift of faith,
it's because God in His purpose and His will gave you faith by
His power and His grace. Notice Ephesians 2, Ephesians
2 verse 8, you have been saved, or by grace
are you saved through faith and that not of yourself. It's the
gift of God. Faith is the gift of God. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only true object of saving faith. Saving faith doesn't look in
here. Saving faith doesn't look inwardly. Saving faith, we often say, is
objective. Objective. We look to Christ. We look out of ourselves. It's
looking unto the Lord Jesus Christ who is the author and finisher
of our faith. And notice it's faith. It doesn't
say faith in Jesus. I like what Barnard said way
back when he came to Ashland in 1950. He said, Jesus can't
save a flea. And the folks about died. All
those good Southern Baptist folks, they about died. They about rolled
off their chair. And Pastor Mahan, he'd never
heard anything like that either. But Barnard came preaching the
Lordship of Christ. He said, it's the Lord Jesus
Christ that saves. And that's what it says, their
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of Jesus shall be saved. I left something out, didn't
I? Whosoever shall call upon the Lord Jesus Christ shall be
saved. You see, saving faith looks to
the Lord, who is the almighty, wise God, our Savior, who cannot
fail. This grace of faith is a gift
of God that looks to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's seeing Him
It's seeing Him who is altogether lovely. It's beholding the glory
of His person. It's beholding the fullness of
His grace. It's a going to Him, a looking
to Him. And it's not a physical move. It's not a physical move. It's
looking to Him with the eyes of God-given faith. It's looking
to Him. In the fullness of His grace,
it's a going to Him. It's a venturing or trusting
Him. It's a laying hold upon Him.
It's an embracing Him. It's a committing everything
unto Him. It's leaning upon Him. It's depending
upon Him. It's living upon Him. It's walking
in Him. We've read this many times in
Scripture. It's recorded four times. The
just shall live by faith. or the justified live by Christ. We can say it that way. No wonder
that Peter calls faith precious, precious. Turn, if you would,
to 2 Peter 1 and notice this. This precious, oh, I tell you,
faith is a precious, precious gift of God. Oh, I want to believe
Him. I want to look to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Receive him by God-given faith
2nd Peter 1 1 2nd Peter 1 1 Simon Peter a servant and an apostle
of Jesus Christ to them that have obtained like precious faith
with a through The righteousness of God. What is that? That's
the gospel the righteousness of God God our Savior The Lord
Jesus Christ you see it's a gift of God. It's precious. It's the
precious gift of God True faith, now get a hold of this, find
Titus 1.1. True faith, true faith acknowledges
the faith of God's elect, acknowledges and loves the truth. Titus, Titus,
book of Titus, right before Hebrews, right after II Timothy. Titus
1.1, Paul a servant of God, an apostle of Jesus Christ according
to the faith of God's elect and the acknowledging of a truth
which glorifies God. You see that? You know it's the
same thing, turn back just one page, 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse
25. You know the same thing is true
of repentance, true godly faith and repentance both acknowledge
the truth. This is 2nd Timothy, chapter
2, verse 25, "...in meekness instructing those that oppose
themselves, if God perventure will give them repentance to
the acknowledging of the truth." Repentance does not put away
sin, but true godly repentance acknowledges and loves and believes
that the Lord Jesus Christ is everything in putting our sin
away. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, how precious that is, to
believe Him. And then the second thing he
mentions is this love. This love unto all the saints. Not some of them. All the saints. All believers. You see, all believers
in Christ Jesus, they are saints. This is not something they will
be someday. This is something they are right
now. They're sanctified. in Christ Jesus. They're set
apart, regarded by God as holy in Christ Jesus. And believers,
they love one another. They love one another. Our Lord
said, by this shall all men know that you're my disciples, that
you love one another. You know what he said? He said,
this is my commandment, that you love one another, that you
love. one another. We know this love
here, this love of God that shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy
Spirit, this love here is the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit
of the Spirit is what? Love, joy, peace, long-suffering,
meekness, temperance, these things. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
and love, love. Those old Jews that were converted
by God's grace, before conversion, what did they think of the Gentiles?
dogs. I tell you what, after God worked
on that old Jew and taught him he was nothing but a dog, nothing
but dust and nothing but a sinner, when God poured in life and love,
you know what he thought of that brother believer who was a Gentile? He's my brother. He's my brother. I tell you this love of God that
shed abroad in our heart, It's an amazing thing. It's an amazing
thing. It causes us to love things that
we had no idea. We had no inclination to love. He causes us to love the gospel
and to love one another. To love one another. Those who
love not, John said, those who love not, know not God. For God is love. God is love. Turn just a couple pages over
to Ephesians chapter 4 verse 32. Faith and love. Faith and love. Look at verse
32. Ephesians 4. Be ye kind one toward another,
tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's
sake hath forgiven you. Now look at verse 5. Be ye therefore
followers of God as dear children, and walk in, walk in love. You see that? walk in love as
Christ as Christ also had loved us and had given himself for
us as an offering and sacrifice to God for sweet smelling sabre
walk in love walk in love now back to the
text Paul said I heard some things about you I heard that God gave
you faith in Him, in the Lord Jesus Christ, and that was evidenced
by your love and your commitment to the gospel of God's grace
in Christ Jesus. Now look at verse 16, Therefore
we cease not, we cease not to give thanks, we cease not to
give thanks unto God for you, brethren, making mention of you
in my in my prayers to God." Here's another Scripture about
that if you'll find I Thessalonians chapter 1. I Thessalonians chapter
1. Look at verse 2. He said, We give thanks to God
always for you all. You got it? I Thessalonians 1-2,
We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of
you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of
faith, your labor of love and patience of hope." There's faith,
love, and hope again. In our Lord Jesus Christ, in
the sight of God our Father, we give thanks always to God
for you all and we pray for you. We pray for you. Your belief
in sovereign grace doesn't diminish the believer's zeal to pray for
one another, does it? No, it causes him to pray more. for one another, that God who
is on the throne, who has all power would intercede and save
sinners according to His purpose and grace. Now look at verse
16. He says, We cease not to give
thanks for you making mention of you in our prayers. We give
thanks to God. Salvation is a total gift of
God. It's not of human merit, not
of righteousness, but rather all of God's grace. call of God's
grace. And then he says, we continue
to pray for you. We pray for one another. Before
salvation and after salvation, we pray for one another. The
hymn writer Scriban, Joseph Scriban wrote, What a privilege to carry
everything to God in prayer. Prayer is a distinct privilege
that God gives to His people. Pray for one another. Pray for
one another. And this is what he does in verse 17, 18, and
19. He mentions five things here
that he prays for. That the God of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father
of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the
knowledge of Him. Now notice the things that he
prays for are spiritual things. He doesn't pray that they'd have
a better job. He doesn't pray they'd have a bigger house. He
doesn't pray that God would give them certain health issues or
all these different things. The things that he prays for
and gives thanks unto God for are spiritual blessings, spiritual
things. You see, the things of this earth
are passing away. What we need by God's grace is
to bless us continually with spiritual blessings that are
Eternal blessings, not temporary things. These are eternal blessings. Now, notice the first one he
says here. He mentions five of these. "...that God may give
unto us the spirit of wisdom and the revelation of Him." The
spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. Notice
the center reference there, "...or in the acknowledgement of Him."
Now these people already knew and believed the gospel, but
yet Paul prays for them that God would give them more wisdom
and more revelation, that God would cause them to grow in grace
and in the knowledge of Christ Jesus. You remember back in chapter
1 verse 8 and 9, he says, "...wherein he hath abounded toward us in
all wisdom and prudence, understanding, having made note unto us the
mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he
purposed in himself." But yet he continues to give thanks unto
God and continues to pray for them that God would give them
more wisdom, more understanding, and a greater revelation in the
knowledge of Him or to the acknowledgement of Him. This is a prayer that
they would continue to grow in faith, to grow in grace and in
the knowledge of Him. You know, I often find myself
asking the Lord, ìLord, give me wisdom. Give me wisdom.î I
know Heís made unto me wisdom, but James the apostle said, ìIf
any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God that gives all that
will ask him Generously. Generously. You see, this wisdom
that we need, you know what it's all about? Find Colossians chapter
2. Colossians chapter 2. And I want to make this prayer
of Paul our prayer. Our prayer for one another. That
God would give us a spirit of wisdom in the revelation of Him
and the acknowledgement of Him. Notice in Colossians chapter
2, Verse 2, "...that their hearts might be comforted, being knit
together in love unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding,
to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father
and of Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge." I want to know more about him. I pray that God would
give us wisdom to see more of His beauty, more of His glory,
more of His power, more of the need of God's saving mercy in
Christ Jesus. So it's a prayer that we might
grow in wisdom. Peter said this, and he wrote
these words in 1 Peter 2. As newborn babe, desire the sincere
milk of the word that we might grow thereby. If so be ye tasted
that the Lord is gracious. Desire that milk that we might
grow, that we might grow. I remember when we had our first
daughter back in 1974. And you know back in those days,
It was a real push to get all the new mamas to nurse their
babies, to breastfeed their babies. It was a real big thing. They
were trying to get everybody away from the bottle and that
formula and all that, and they're really pushing people to nurse
their babies and give them that milk that God provides through
mama. You know, we were really concerned
as young parents. I was just in my early 20s. We
were really concerned that our daughter couldn't figure out.
We were almost a point to being afraid that she wouldn't know
how to eat. Well, we found out that all you
got to do is put that little infant anywhere close to mama's
breast and, boy, I tell you, eating comes pretty naturally.
You know why? Hunger. Hunger. They find mama's
milk pretty quick and they nourish themselves that they might grow. They get hungry. They get hungry. Grow in grace, Peter wrote, II
Peter. Grow in grace and in the knowledge
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That which is living
and alive in Christ Jesus grows. We grow in Him. We mature in
Him. We grow up in Him. And this is
my prayer for myself, for my family, and for you. that God
may be pleased to give us this spirit of wisdom that we might
know Him and know more of Him, to have a clearer revelation
of Him, and to boldly acknowledge Him as everything in salvation. That's wisdom. That's wisdom
to stand toe-to-toe with the opposer of the gospel and continue
to declare it and believe it. That's wisdom of God. I pray
that God would help us to grow that way. Secondly, he mentions
this, verse 18, that the eyes of your understanding, the eyes
of your understanding would be enlightened. The eyes of your
understanding or the eyes of your heart may be flooded with
light. and spiritual understanding. Wisdom and spiritual understanding. Wouldn't that be a blessing to
grow in those areas of wisdom and spiritual understanding?
To see more of the exceeding sinfulness of our own sin? To
see the insufficiency of our own righteousness? To see the
beauty and glory of His righteousness, of His redemption, to see the
necessity of the gospel, the necessity of the Lord Jesus Christ
and being found in Him. Our Lord said, without Me, you
can do almost... No, He said, without Me, you
can do nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Oh, that God
may teach us, open our eyes, illuminate our heart, to see
the necessity, the need of being one with Christ, the eyes of
your understanding, oh, that it would be enlightened, that
God would command the light to shine in our heart, that we might
see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Thirdly, he
says this, that you may know what is the hope, you see it
there in verse 18, that you might know, that you might know what
is the hope of His calling, the hope of His calling. Now, believers
have been called. They've been called by the invincible,
irresistible power of God the Holy Spirit, but they've been
called with the word of truth. They've been called with the
gospel of Christ that gives us a good hope in Christ that you
may know what is the hope. What is the hope of his calling?
What is the hope of his calling? It's a person. It's all get back
and it's all relative to the Lord Jesus, is it not? This is
the hope we have in Christ. And there's just one hope. Find
Ephesians chapter 4. Look at verse 4. Ephesians 4,
4. He says, "...there is one body,
one Spirit, even as you're called in one hope, of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
one God, the Father of all, who is above all and through you
all, through all and in you all. There's the doctrine of oneness.
There's one hope of His calling. The hope believers have is in
a person, and it is a good hope through grace. It's a good hope
through grace. If you ever notice this Scripture,
find I Timothy chapter 1. If you ever notice this Scripture,
I believe I've got the right one here, I Timothy 1.1, that
you may know the hope of His calling. It's a good hope through
grace. It's a calling of His grace,
and it's a calling of this hope we have in Christ. Notice 1 Timothy
1.1, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of
God our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. Now those next two words,
just skip those. They're added. God our Savior
and Lord Jesus Christ, our hope. Our hope. You see that? He's
our hope. Our hope. I think of another
scripture over here in Turn over to Colossians chapter
3. Colossians chapter 3. Look at verse 1. If you then
be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where
Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection, your
mind, your heart on things above, not on the things of this earth,
For you are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. Now
here it is, verse 4. When Christ, our life. Notice those two words again.
Who is? When Christ, our life, shall
appear, then shall we appear with him in glory. Now, Colossians
chapter 1, look at verse 27. Colossians 1, 27. To whom God would make known
what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles,
which is Christ in you. That's our hope. Christ in you. The hope of glory. Now back to
the text. The eyes of your understanding
being enlightened that you may know what is the hope of His
calling. Called out of darkness into His
marvelous light. Called out of death. into salvation
in Christ Jesus. And then he prays this way. He
prays this way. Here's the fourth thing. The
fourth thing. The last part of verse 18. And
what, what, the language here is a little bit awkward. What
the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. Or
rather, that you may know the riches of the glory of His inheritance
in the saints. Now this is the third time in
this first chapter that he has mentioned this inheritance, this
inheritance that we have, that you may know the richness of
it, the riches of His glory in this inheritance that the believers
possess, that you may know more of Him and this inheritance. Notice in chapter 1, verse 11,
he mentions this inheritance, "...in whom also you have obtained
an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him
who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will.
And then he mentions it again in verse 14, which is the earnest
of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession
unto the praise of His glory. And then in verse 18, he mentions
it again. The riches of the glory of this
inheritance we have in the saints. You know, What makes us fit to
be a partaker of this incorruptible, eternal inheritance that we have
in Christ? Turn to Colossians chapter 1
and look at this verse. Colossians chapter 1, verse 12,
giving thanks unto the Father who hath made us meet, and the
word there is fit. Who has made us fit? We give
thanks to the Father who has made us fit to be partakers of
the inheritance of the saints in Christ who had delivered us
from the power of darkness and had translated us in the kingdom
of God's dear Son in whom we have redemption through His blood,
even the forgiveness of sins. We have an eternal inheritance
in Christ Jesus. The old writers, especially John
Gill, always used to talk about all grace now and all glory hereafter. We have a glorious eternal inheritance
in the Lord Jesus Christ. That you may know what the riches
of the glory of that inheritance really is. Being made heirs of
God and joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. You see it
all gets back to Him, doesn't it? It all points back to Him. The riches of this inheritance
we have in Christ according to the riches of His grace. The fifth thing he mentions is
this in verse 19. And I think we're going to come
back and look at this verse a little more closely next week. What
is the exceeding greatness of His power? Now it just doesn't
say that you may know something of His power. It doesn't say
that you might know something of His exceeding power. But look
what it says there. The exceeding greatness of His
power to everybody. God's trying to save everybody.
That's not what it says. It's like that verse over in
II Peter 3.9, God is longsuffering to us. You know, everybody quotes
half of that verse, don't they, Jerry? That God is not willing
that any should perish. When you start talking about
sovereign mercy, sovereign grace, they say, they always quote half
of that verse. God is not willing that any should
perish, that all should come to repentance. And they leave
out the first part. God is longsuffering to usward, His elect, His children,
not willing that any of them should perish, and they won't.
What is His exceeding greatness of His power to us word, toward
us. Who believe? Who believe? How do we believe? It tells us
there. According to the working. As I told you earlier, go home
and look that word up. It's energy. It's where we get
our English word energy. We believe according to the energy
of His mighty power. That's how we believe. We believe. Oh, I tell you, I want to pray
that God would give us this faith in Him. Pray for you. What is the exceeding greatness
of His power? Oh, to know more of it. To know
more of the... And Peter uses this phrase too
in 2 Peter, doesn't he? About the exceeding great and
precious promises. Same phraseology here, isn't
it? The exceeding greatness of His power. to usward who believe
according to the working of His mighty power. The more we know
and understand of the exceeding greatness of His power to us
and saving us, the more we ascribe the whole of our salvation unto
Him. Is that not so? The more we know,
the more we know and understand of the exceeding greatness of
His power, the more we ascribe the whole of it He is the Alpha
and the Omega. He's the A to Z in salvation
and He's everything in between. And it takes, what does it take
to save a sinner? Power. Power. What does it take
to raise a dead man? Power. Power. It takes power. Aren't you glad that he prayed,
Father, you've given me all power over all flesh that I should
give eternal life to as many as you have given me. You see,
it takes power, the power of God, to remove the stony heart
and to give a new heart. It takes the power of God to
remove the enmity, that old nature, and to give us that love for
Christ and for one another. It takes the power of God to
remove the stubborn will. Man does have a will, but it's
a fallen will. It's in bondage, as Luther said,
to his nature. To remove that stubborn will
and cause us to set our affection on things above, as we read in
Colossians 3.1. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of His power. His power. It takes the power
of God to purge our conscience from dead works. to serve the
living God. It takes power. It takes the
power of God. It takes the power of God to
raise a dead man to life. You hath e'quickened. It says
that in verse 1 of chapter 2. You hath e'quickened who were
dead in trespasses and in sin. It takes power. Not the power
of the preacher. Not the power of the church.
Power of God. Power of God. Can the Ethiopian
change his skin? No. Can the leper change his
spots? Neither can you do good who are
accustomed to doing evil. You'll never repent and believe
God apart from the power of God. All that you may know, the exceeding
greatness of His power to us were to believe. Who believe? Oh, we do believe. But we believe according to the
working of His mighty power. It's the gift of God. You see,
the gospel of the Lord Jesus is called the power of God and
the salvation. You remember Romans 1 16? The
apostle said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for
it is a power of God and the salvation to everyone that believeth. To the Jew and also to the Greek,
therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith as it is written, the just shall live by faith. It takes
power, the power of God, the power of God. Turn to a couple
more scriptures. Find 2 Peter 1.3. I'll be through
in just a minute. 2 Peter 1.3, I want you to see
this. Talking about power, power. 2
Peter 1.3, this time, according as His divine power, you see
it again? According as His divine power,
2 Peter 1.3, hath given unto us all things that pertain to
life and godliness through the knowledge of Him that hath called
us to glory and virtue, whereby are given to us exceeding great
and precious promises, that by these ye might be partakers of
the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the
world, through lust. Power, it's the power of God. I can preach and preach and preach,
find 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, and by God's grace, I pray
that I can continue to declare the gospel, but I can preach
and preach and preach, but God must give life by His power. God must speak in power. 1 Thessalonians
chapter 1. 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, verse
4, knowing brethren, beloved, your election of God, for our
gospel came not unto you in word only, but what did it come? In power. But also in power,
in the Holy Spirit, in much assurance. It's the power of God. The kingdom
of God, it says in 1 Corinthians chapter 4, don't turn, For the
kingdom of God is not in word, but in power, in power. What
is exceeding greatness of His power, His power to us who believe.