Ephesians 1. Let's pick up in verse 16 through the end of the chapter. "I do not cease to give thanks for you..." the Apostle Paul speaking to the Ephesian Christians. The saints who are in Ephesus. "I do not cease to give thanks for you..." So Paul is actually speaking to them about his own prayer life. I don't cease to give thanks for you, "remembering you in my prayers." This is a window into the prayers of Paul. And he's going to tell them about certain petitions that he makes on behalf of these Ephesian Christians. "...Remembering you in my prayers that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you..." See, he wants and he prays for these Ephesians that God would give them something. It's a petition. May God give you "the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him." He's praying for the spirit, or a spirit your Bible may say of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of God. "...Having the eyes of your hearts enlightened." And he's asking specifically that their eyes would be open to three realities. One, "that you may know what is the hope of your calling." Or "the hope to which you have been called," or "He has called you." "What are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints." That's the second petition. The third, "and what is the immeasurable greatness of God's power toward us who believe, according to the working of His great might that He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. And He put all things under His feet and gave Him as head over all things to the church which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all." I want to draw your attention to verses 20 and 21. Let's go to the Lord. Father, it's Your Word. Thank You, Father, that You've given us a Bible. Oh Lord, You have given us a treasure. I pray for these my brothers and sisters, for myself, that we might have the eyes of our hearts enlightened and made aware and kept freshly cognizant of the fact that we possess the very words of God in a book. Father, I pray that this Word would be preached in this place today. That is the charge that You have given to me, and I pray that I would be able to be faithful to preach this Word as You intended it to be preached. I pray that You'd give us that help. Amen. Verses 20 and 21. Look at them. "...That He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come." Loaded. Loaded with foundational doctrines of our Christianity. Think about the doctrines specified here. One being that Christ was indeed dead. You don't raise Him from the dead unless He was dead. Two: That He's been raised from the dead. Three: Christ was raised from the dead by God the Father; by the power of God the Father. A fourth truth here: Christ has ascended up to glory; is enthroned at the right hand of the majesty on high; the right hand of God the Father. A fifth truth here: Christ has been exalted far above all rule and authority and power and dominion. He is Lord. He is King. He is above all. And sixth, Christ now reigns supreme, not only through the end of this age, but out into the eternal age to come. Forevermore enthroned. He is there. This is the ultimate fulfillment of Him being seated on the throne of His father David at the right hand of His Father forever - this age and the age to come. These two texts - what a Christology is contained just here in these truths! Paul may go through them very quickly. Brethren, this is the bedrock of what we believe. I mean these truths right here - I'll tell you this, these truths fly in the face of Catholicism. Do they not? I mean, they want to exalt Mary. Everything about this text is the exaltation of Christ. Flies in the face of Islam. Does it not? This is it. Well, you know what Paul's talking about? He's talking about the power of Christianity. And what I want to do is tie verse 19 through verses 20 and 21. You remember, we've been looking at these three petitions. They all start with the word "what." The third of them: What is the immeasurable or the exceeding greatness of this power of God. He wants us to have the eyes - how's he praying? God, enable Your people to see this! A power that is towards the believer. We're talking about the might of God that was worked in Christ. It's according to that. Not only that raised Him from the dead - you don't want to stop there. Many talk here that this is basically the power of resurrection. Brethren, it's beyond that. It's the power of ascension. It's the power of enthronement. It's the power of the ruling supreme Christ over every rule and authority and power and dominion. And it's forever! It's not just temporary. It's not a temporary enthronement; a temporary kingdom. It is forever. This age and the age to come. This is taking Christ not only out of the grave and up into life, but ascending up into supremacy. This is the power that is being put on the table. And what he's saying is, the power at work or towards you that is directed at the believer is in accord with this reality. We're talking about the power of Christianity. Have you come to know this? Have you come to know of a Christianity in which the power of God Almighty is real? That's the reality. Is there some sort of power that accords in your life that is somehow or another a reflection of Christ being raised from the dead? Make no mistake about it, this is the Christianity of Scriptures. We're not talking dead religion here. This is the authentic thing. This is the real thing. We need to come to grips with that reality. I think we are. I think we are largely. But brethren, don't be satisfied with powerless Christianity. Not in others. Not in yourself. Not in this church. Don't be satisfied. I mean, do you see what God is inspiring Paul to say to us? Brethren, we have every reason to expect that we - well, like I was praying before, that God is going to make a difference between us and Egypt. God is going to make a difference. Where this kind of power is unleashed, it can't help but make a difference. Where you have the power of Almighty God being unleashed, and you compare that to an environment where His power is not being unleashed, but people play at Christianity. Would you expect there is going to be a difference? Brethren, I hope you have that expectation. I hope in the days ahead you have an expectation of a Christianity that resembles this. This is the only Christianity that offers any hope to this world. This idea of going out and just multiplying decisions, you know full well, regeneration is on the table, brethren. We need power that brings life. Power that brings exaltation. Power that brings enthronement. This is what he's talking about here. This is what he wants them to grasp. This is the real deal. We should never be satisfied with dead religion. Never. You see churches planted or the Gospel going forth in Nicaragua or in Mexico or in Lebanon or in China or in Indonesia. Brethren, we should not be content with anything but this. This is it. This is what we must have. It is a religion of power. We're talking about the God of power. The God who acts in power. Do you recognize that? That's what Christianity is all about. It's about the God who acts. It's about the God who arises. It's about the God who does something. If God doesn't do anything, we're dead in the water. And what he's saying is, do you recognize? Ephesians, you're not dead in the water. Do you recognize the kind of power that is at work there? True Christianity is always the activity of God powerfully breaking in. Brethren, Christianity is not us waking up and reaching out towards God. It's God powerfully reaching down into the depths of where we're at and doing something; initiating something. Always that is the picture. Any notion of Christianity that's mainly the result of something that we do - you know what it is. It's always fake. It's always false. It's always fatal. You can be sure of it. Always. We are being faced by something here. Brethren, I remember. Now you talk about an unworthy view of Christianity. I had it. I have an image in my mind and thoughts that went on in my head. I can't even hardly believe I'd say this, but almost 30 years ago, it was the summer after I got out of college. New job. New car. Sunday morning - not gloomy like this. Sunny southwest Michigan. Sunny summer Sunday morning. And a buddy and I are headed to Lake Michigan. And I'm driving down that highway, and I look over, and I see a church building. And it's just that time when people are driving into the parking lot. Families are walking across. They're going into the building. Brethren, I remember thinking to myself, I'm going to need to take care of that one day. Basically, my mindset was this. They got up. They decided to go to church. That's how you be a Christian. I got up, decided to buy beer, throw it in the trunk, grab my buddy, head west to the beach. And the day's going to come when I need to get up on a Sunday morning and I need to decide to do that rather than this. Pretty much, that was my idea of Christianity. I possessed the willpower. I possessed the power to do or not to do the Christian thing. Christianity was a choice. It was a choice I could make. Those people chose church. I chose the beach. That's how it is. And you know as well as I do, all you've got to do is read this passage. What is the power? What is the exceeding greatness? The immeasurable greatness of the power - His power towards you; us-ward. Toward the believer. What sort of power is this? Ten thousand miles away from what I was thinking that day. Christianity is a matter of power. It is a matter of God. It always has been. It always will be. And you know, I mean, let's go back there 30 years ago. Let's supposed on a whim my willpower had said, "Hey, Shawn, we're going in here." This will be fun before we head to the beach. We're going to sit in this service. Maybe my conscience is bothering me. We've got to do some work here. And so on a whim, I pull in there. And let's just suppose for a second those really were God's people. And they were really going in to meet with a true church and a true man of God was going to take the pulpit and really preach the Word of God. And he was going to do so in power. And I go in there in my willpower. What would I have had the capability of doing? Reality - what would that have looked like? It basically would have been a filthy pig walking in amongst doves or lambs, and what? What would I have done in my own power? I could have played the hypocrite. But I'll tell you how I was wired. Not so much the religious hypocrite, as much as I would have detested it. I would have hated being there. Everything in me would want to grab my buddy and run to my car and head west and get out of there. It would have been absolutely distasteful. And you know what the sad reality is. The sad reality is this: With our Lord telling us many are going to say to Him in that day, "Lord, Lord." You know I just prayed these verses. That many have a form of godliness and they deny the power thereof. You know what the very likelihood is? Most of those people or all of those people attending that church probably weren't saved either. I mean, if you're just basically taking it as a whole and summing up what's said in Scripture. How many good churches are across the land? You know what the very likelihood is? They were playing the religious hypocrites. I would have gone in as a pagan. But brethren, whether it's powerless religious hypocrisy or powerless paganism, we all land in the same boat. We are incapable of doing anything unless God comes down; unless God acts. That's the way it always is. I had no idea driving down the road that day. My ideas... oh, my ideas were totally unworthy of Christianity. Totally unworthy of what it was to become a Christian. Totally. I had no idea. I had an idea once it really happened. I had an idea once God really broke into my life. Brethren, this is how it always is unless God shows up. It's dead religion or it's dead paganism. That's how it always is. Some of you here know exactly that because that's where you're at. It's either dead religion or dead paganism. You've come in here, and you've got a form of godliness, but this kind of power we're talking about is not a reality in your life. Or you're just pagan. You come in here but you know, you're just like I would have been if I'd have gone in there. Everything in you is like the pig wanting the mire. You want it. You want it bad. All you can think about is getting out of here. All you can think about is the world. My willpower. What a pathetic thing is that? But that's basically what this world is all about. Self-righteousness, pride... Men's will. Men's willpower. Oh, what do we have? I had no idea in those days about the truth of Ephesians 1:19, that the Christian's salvation only happens when you have some sort of massive demonstration of the power of God in the sinner. A Christian happens as a result of something outside himself. That's the reality. It depends not on the human will we're told in Scripture, or human exertion, but on God who has mercy. You show me a genuine Christian; you show me a genuine Christian in this place, and I will show you something that God is responsible for. God is responsible. No boasting, brethren. We just simply cannot boast here. It's like Lord, why? Why me? And you know what rings back to our ears from Scripture is: "I chose to have mercy on you." That's the answer. To bring one soul to true repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ demands the immeasurable exceeding greatness of the strength of God's eternal might. And brethren, we're dead in the water without it. We need God. We need Him badly, brethren! We need Him badly! And I am so thankful that prayer meetings continue to be full because what that resonates is I'm among a group of people that feel that reality. We need You, Father! We need You! Is that not what these verses scream at us? We need Him. Paul's petition is that we would have eyes to see the reality of this power. Now, here's the thing. Let's tie verse 19 together with verses 20 and 21. And really, the point of attachment, it comes through a preposition that is several words from the end of verse 19. Your Bibles say, "according to." Or the NAS if any of you have that, "in accordance with." According to. You all see that. "That you may have the eyes of your hearts enlightened that you may know what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe according to the working of His great might that He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places." Two English words: either "in accordance" or "according to" all of your English Bibles say. It's a preposition. But what does it mean? Here's the thing I wrestled with, what does that mean? What am I supposed to take away with that? There's a lot of questions I ask of Scripture that I don't necessarily come away with such a thorough answer for as I want. But let's delve into this somewhat. In accordance with. Brethren, what does that mean? According to... It carries that meaning: "according to." It can mean "equivalent to." Equivalent almost carries the idea of equal to. Well, it does carry that meaning. But the word doesn't always have to carry that - it can mean: "in proportion to." It can mean "in agreement with." It can mean "corresponding to." Or, "in conformity with." It's actually a preposition that has extremely broad range of use, but as it's used here, these are the ways that we can define the word. It's basically this idea that it indicates a standard. A standard that there is agreement with. Agreeable to. The standard is Christ's resurrection. What's happening in us is agreeable to that standard. That's really the idea here. But even that - does that really help? It's agreeable to. What are we dealing with? And here's the question that I'm asking. Does this mean it's agreeable to in the sense that there's a likeness? You know, when we use allegories or parables, we basically are describing something that is like something else. Is that what's happening here? Is there a likeness between them? Is there a similarity between them? Is it that it's saying: well, the power of God did this in Christ, and proportionately, maybe less, God's same power was at work in us? Is it saying that basically the magnititude of power - God's power that was at work in Christ - same magnitude is required to raise us from the dead? Is it the same power? Not just equal, but did the very same power that raised Christ from the dead pull us up with Him? Now, I just want to delve into this because look, if you think about this in the speed of reading, as soon as Paul tells us that he is praying about our eyes being opened to grasp the power that's towards us, immediately, he takes our heads and turns them to the resurrection and ascension and enthronement of Christ. Immediately. I mean, in the speed of reading, it's just bang! He does not allow us to think, as we think about the work that's happening in ourselves, he doesn't allow us to just sit and kind of ponder. There's no "selah" there. It's immediately look to the death, the resurrection, the ascension. Why? What's the attachment? How should we process this? Just listen to this. John Gill said, "The resurrection of any person is an instance of great power, but Christ's resurrection from the dead was an instance of peculiar and special power." So in John Gill's thinking - this is an old Baptist - he said yes, the work of God within us is great, but he has us look at Christ because it's a greater power. It's the standard by which everything else is measured. That's his idea. Matthew Poole. He was a Puritan commentator. He says what's being talked about here, the association, the connection, "the power God exercises toward believers is such as that was whereby He raised up Christ from the dead." Don't you love that? "...Is such as that was." Such as. He refrains from saying it's equal to. Just: "it's such as..." To me that feels like according to. It's like give me some more meat there to put my teeth in. Such as? Others. Some have suggested that the resurrection of Jesus is merely an illustration or a specimen of the power that should encourage us about what God is able to do in us. Some see the resurrection as a sort of pledge. There's that power there. There's no real connection between the power, other than it is a promise because that power happened, and what's accomplished there, now is a promise that in turn that power's going to be demonstrated upon us. Someone has said that the power in us - now this is someone else in church history. Someone has said that the power in us is not less than that in Christ. Don't you like that too? It's not less than. Think about that. They say, well, here's the power that raised Christ. And what happens in us is not less than. Do you see how they're just not wanting to commit to too much in what they say? It's not less than. Well, what are you saying? Okay, tell me then. Is it equal to? Or is it more than? At least Chrysostom said he believed that to heal a dead soul is a far greater thing than to raise the dead. He believed that the power at work in us is even greater than that which took place in Christ. Here's what I know. I know this. I know that Paul repeatedly; I know that the New Testament - the apostles, the apostle's doctrine - I know they were stunned by the resurrection of Christ. In the book of Acts, wherever they went they were proclaiming His resurrection from the dead. And they attached extreme significance to the power of that resurrection. Just think with me here. Acts 2:23 - don't turn there. Peter. He said, "This Jesus was delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men." Listen, "God raised Him up, loosing the pangs of death..." Even though the word "power" isn't specifically used here, he says this about death: "Because it was not possible for Him to be held by it." No possibility. Why? There is a power here that is above and beyond death. It's chains were ripped - "Up from the grave He arose!" We sing that song. It could not contain Him. It was not able. Why? Something was at work that was more powerful than death. And it could not - it did not have greater strength than that which was being unleashed in Christ. It was not able. That's the kind of thing the New Testament says. How about this? When you come over? Romans 1 - that glorious epistle. And at the very beginning as we're being introduced to these glories, right from the get-go, the first four verses, Paul hits these Romans with this glorious reality of Christ being resurrected from the dead. And what does he say? He's declared to be the Son of God with power. This is a declaration. You see Christ. He's declared to be the Son of God with power. He's declared to be the Messiah. He's declared to be the sent one. What declares that about Him? His resurrection from the dead. That's what we're told. He said, "He's declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by His resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord." Or you think about what Paul said in Philippians 3. Many of you know this. Paul - what was he crying out for? What was he longing for? "That I may know Him..." and what? "The power of His resurrection." I can tell you this. I don't know if you feel this. When I think of the resurrection, yes, because I know those verses, I would say there's an attachment to power. But do you think that way? When you think of Christ rising from the dead, is that the natural connection in your mind? Do you think, "wow, that was powerful"? Powerful. Probably we could do a whole sermon on the power of death. Death is a powerful thing. I was at the gym this week. Some guy walked by - you know those big hulking guys that hang out at gyms. But he walked by and he was huge. But you know, thinking on this message, I thought, "but, he's going to die." He's strong - he's a lot stronger than me, but you know what? He cannot resist death. You just can't fight it. And it's on us. You know it! Your outer body is wasting away. You cannot stop the wrinkles. You cannot stop the baldness. You can't stop the flab. You can't stop the degradation of the body. You cannot stop the grey hair. You can dye them, but you roots will give you away. You can't stop what's happening to you. It is pulling you down. Brethren, it's coming. Every one of us, we recognize death is coming. You can't run fast enough, far enough, jump high enough, you cannot get away from it. It is massively powerful. And here is this thing that holds man in its grips, in its fear. He who has the power of death - the devil himself is involved in all of this, and he has power and he has control. And brethren, he comes along and he constantly is defeating man, damning men. What does he have to use? He's got the wrath of God. He basically baits us into sin which unleashes the wrath of God upon us. The power of death. The power of sin. The power of the devil. We think ridiculous thoughts about the devil. He is powerful and he is like a roaring lion and he has fangs and he kills. He killed our first father. The power of these things is beyond our control. Men may make light of them. Men want to ignore death. They make fun of the devil. They make light of sin. These things are so powerful. And what happens is you find that in the resurrection of Christ, there is a defeating; there is a removal of these obstacles that are in our way, and Christ took them out. You want to know something about the resurrection? Whatever it may speak to you, it speaks power, and it speaks the power to remove the obstacles out of your life and out of my life that keep us from God, that keep us from glory, that keep us from everlasting life. Power. Here's another thing. When you study Ephesians, you need to keep your eyes open to what's happening in Colossians, because even though in some ways they're very different, you can tell they were obviously written around the same time, and that Paul deals with many of the same themes. So, over here in Ephesians 1, you get this language. But you know what? Over in Colossians 2, you get some similar language. Let's turn over there. Colossians 2:11. Notice this. In Christ - "In Him also, you were circumcised with the circumcision made without hands by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with Him in baptism..." See, the thing is, here where Paul talks this way, there's much about union. And look, you don't want to miss it - if you think as we went through those first 14 verses about how many times we were taught about "in Christ." Union - bringing all things together. Uniting all things together in Christ. This idea of union. And in fact, before you get to the end of the chapter, he's going to talk about Christ being the Head over all things to the church which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. Christ is the Head. We are the body. There is unity. Notice the unity here. "Buried with Him in baptism in which you were also raised with Him." Now notice this: "...Through faith." And then we're going to get some of the exact same wording that we get from Ephesians 1:19. Again, similar veins of thoughts run through both of these Ephesian and Colossian epistles. And tying them together oftentimes helps give a fuller picture. We're raised with Christ. You see what Paul has in mind? The two happen at once: raised with Him - one action; one demonstration of power. We both come up together. But keep reading there. "...Raised with Him through faith; faith in the powerful working of God." This is the "energia" that we saw back in 1:19 of Ephesians. This is the energy; the operative power of God. It's in motion. It's moving. "...Who raised Him from the dead." But see what he says first? We're "raised with Him," and there is this power that raised Him from the dead. "And you (v. 13) who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh..." Now listen, if you go back over to Ephesians you recognize, Paul has the same thought in mind. When you get to Ephesians 2:1, he is going to say the exact same thing here about us being dead in trespasses and sins, being raised together with Christ. It's the same thing. He just takes a little bit more time in saying it all in Ephesians. He develops it a bit more. It's more compact here in Colossians 2. "You who were dead in your trespasses and uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses by cancelling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands, this he set aside nailing it to the cross." Brethren, look. I would just say this. Based on what Paul says right here, however you want to interpret the "according to," "what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe." It is "according to the working of His great might that He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and He seated Him at His right hand..." According to. Whatever you want to do with that, one thing you cannot get away from - especially when you compare it to the Colossian passage is that Paul sees the two united. It's like a picture. I imagine Christ. Imagine this. A man in a deep dark well. And there's a strong man at the top of that well. And he's pulling the rope up. This man who's down in this well is being pulled up out of the darkness. And you pull him up and you set him down. And this man you come to find out had two children in his arms. You see, if you start talking about the work, the force, the power that pulled that man out of the well, you don't separate it from the force that pulled those two children out. Brethren, I envision it like this. Christ and all of His people, and there is a chain from Him to every one of us. And when He's pulled up out of there, that chain - it's the chain of His love; it's the chain of His grace - it's the lifeline of salvation. And when He's pulled up out of there, pulling a man up out of that deep darkness, that deep dark pit of death. We're chained to Him. We're one with Him. And up we come. Now the chain may lay there coiled up. He comes out. For some of us, the chain's longer. For some, shorter. What I mean by that is He's coming up, that thing is unraveling, and before it actually becomes taut, it pulls us up too. For some, it's longer. For some, sooner than others. Different times in history. Different times in your life. When that chain goes taut, up you go too. But we're connected. As God draws Him up, that power that is unleashed is the same power - the power of resurrection. However you want to join those together; however you want to put these together, brethren, we're connected with Him. We're one with Him. Paul won't let us get away from that. This power so absolutely guarantees these realities in our lives. Brethren, these obstacles are moved out of the way. Every bit of gravity, every bit of resistance, every bit of difficulty that stood in our way, and the obstacles and the enemies were great - they were insurmountable. They were absolutely impossible enemies to us. Totally daunting. Totally overwhelming. Totally. And this power... And there's a certainty in all of this. Brethren, there's a certainty. When he gets to chapter 3 and he talks about even our ability to think - you can turn there. Let's just end with this. I want you to see this in Ephesians 3:20. It's like here you have the same: "according to." "Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, according to..." Very same preposition. Really the same thing is going on here. God's ability "is according to the power at work within us." Do you know what's interesting here? In 1:19-20, Christ's resurrection seems to be the standard. Here, the power at work within us seems to be the standard. It's like Paul has established the greatness of this power toward us and compared it to the resurrection; united us with this resurrection power - not just resurrection, but to place Him on the throne. You may remember last week. Craig said something about us being seated with Christ in the heavenly places. But I'll tell you, those chains are so real that Him being pulled up there - not just out of the well - but all the way up and set on the mountain top. Those chains hold tight. And many of us, the chains have pulled us up out of the well, but not to the mointaintop, at least, not in reality. Not in our position as far as where we're at. There may be a sense that there's a veil right here. We may be on the throne already even in a real sense. Because if we could pull back the veil - think of times in Scripture when the veil was pulled back - Christ is right there. Stephen - you just pull it back, there He is. He's right there. Probably right here all around us. We are in the midst. But there is such a connection that we are presently seated with Christ in the heavenly places. The power at work in us, when you get to 3:20, becomes the standard by which God's ability is measured. Brethren, there are such things, there are such demonstrations of the power of God, as we said last time, we don't feel this. And we have to be reminded of its reality. And I'll remind you again, Paul is not praying for them that they would come to recognize their need of more power and ask for it. Now, look, it's not wrong to recognize your need. Paul's going to get there in chapter 3. He's going to talk that way about them receiving more power. He is. That's not a wrong thing. But right here, he is talking about recognizing what is going on inside them. Oh, brethren, you take individuals like us, and you throw them out into this darkness, and you know what happens? You shine and you're lights of the world. You have a God-given ability to resist the decay of the decadence. You become the salt of the earth. You're out there. You are the lights of the world. We can so often feel so defeated, and Satan always is whispering in our ear and telling us how worthless we are and how we can't do this and we can't accomplish that, and we can't - no we can't in our own power. But brethren, we are not a product of our own power. We are not a product of our willpower. If that's what you are, yes, you're dead in the water, but we as true Christians are not dead in the water. There is a power at work within us. There is a power of victory, a power of overcoming. And we will overcome. And we must overcome because this power will always create overcomers. Brethren, do you recognize this reality about yourself? And you can look at the cross and you can look at Christ seated there and you can look at Him ruling and reigning and above every power, every rule, every authority, every power, every dominion. And not only in this age, but in the age to come. And He says to us, "You will sit with Me on My throne." That's what He says! This is not just coming from death to life. This is the ultimate victory. This is the ultimate. There's no back little hut in the alley somewhere where some of the least of His people are going to find themselves. It's on the throne. Every one of us. Every one of us - even the least of His children have this kind of resurrection power, and when in doubt, obviously, Paul's saying: Look at Christ! There's your confidence! Look at His resurrection! Look at His ascension! Look at the power! You are one with that. You are connected to that. That is the standard, but you're one with Him. When He's torn up out of the jaws of death, you come with Him. When He's set upon that throne, you go with Him. He is one with us. He is the Head. We are the body. You would never talk about bringing a man up out of the well and distinguish between the head and the body, and the power that raised the head and the power that raised the body. It's ridiculous. They're one. Paul wants us to see this as one. You are the fullness of Him who fills all in all. Brethren, it's just a wake up call for us to have eyes to recognize what in the world is going on in us. This is not willpower religion. This is not dead religion. This is biblical Christianity. Father, we pray, oh, the power of resurrection. I pray it would be a reality in the lives of my brothers and sisters, that there would be a recognition and a perception and a revelation, and that we would have Your Spirit open our eyes; tear those scales away. Lord, help us to see things as we ought to see them. I pray in Christ's name. Amen.
