If you have your Bibles, you can open to Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1, we've made it to verse 19. We'll be looking this morning at verse 19 through the end of the chapter, verse 23. So we'll be here this evening, and then for the next two weeks, Sean Reese will be preaching two sermons on the love of God. So we'll take a break from Ephesians after this evening for a couple of weeks. I'll go ahead and read Ephesians chapter one. I'll read the whole chapter. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are at Ephesus, and to our faithful in Christ Jesus, Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before him in love. He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the kind intention of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely bestowed on us in the beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight he made known to us the mystery of his will, according to the kind intention which he purposed in him, with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In him, also, we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to his purpose, who works all things after the counsel of his will, to the end that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, would be to the praise of his glory. In him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed, you were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who was given as a pledge of our inheritance with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of his glory. For this reason, I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, which exists among you, and your love for all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation and the knowledge of him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you will know what is the hope of his calling, what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of his power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of his might, which he brought about 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 every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. And he put all things in subjection 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 don't think this is news to anybody, but Christians are weak people. Christians are weak people. In fact, of all the people in all the world, Christians should know their weakness more than anybody else. Christians are weak people. And as I say that, I'm sure to some degree it resonates with you if you're paying attention. Weakness is something I think that we would all say we experience, we feel it, we know it about ourselves to some degree, that we're weak. We often feel it, we often talk about it, and we even sing about it. We've sung about it already today, if you think of some of the words that we've sung up to this point. If you were here for the prayer meeting, we said, I hear the Savior say, thy strength indeed is small. Child of weakness, watch and pray. Find in me thine all in all. We sing about our weakness. We'll end the service today singing, He Will Hold Me Fast. And in that song, we sing, I could never keep my hold through life's fearful path, for my love is often cold. He must hold me fast. We know our weakness, we talk about our weakness, we sing about our weakness, and that's a good thing. It is good to know our weakness. In the words of the Apostle Paul, he says, when I am weak, then what? Then I am strong. It's when I am weak that I'm strong. Because in despairing of my own strength, in the realization of my own utter weakness, I am compelled to go to the source of strength. So weakness and feeling our weakness is a good thing. It's why we sing about it. It's why the Bible speaks about it. But unfortunately, a sense of our weakness can also often lead us to the wrong sorts of conclusions and the wrong sorts of responses. So it is good to know your weakness. It is not good to stay there. and to remain only thinking about your weakness. So our weakness, it can lead us to all sorts of wrong types of responses, like fatalism. I have tried to overcome this sin time and time again, and I have seen my weakness. Therefore, I am convinced that I will never change. This is who I am. I am a weak man, and I cannot overcome this particular temptation. or our weakness can lead us to despair, similar to fatalism, but perhaps from a different angle, we feel like no Christian should feel the way that I feel. No Christian should struggle with the things that I struggle with. And if I struggle with these things, there is no way that the Lord of glory is pleased with me. or our weakness can lead us to grumbling, complaining, or even grumbling and complaining against God himself. Why did God make me this way? Why do I struggle with the things that I struggle with when it seems like nobody else struggles this way? All sorts of wrong ways to respond to our weaknesses, and I think the Apostle Paul, as the apostle, but also the pastor, at least pastoral heart that he had, for God's people, I think he understood that we need a proper response to weakness. We need guidance. How do we respond to our weakness? What do we do in the light of our utter lack of strength and power? Well, these verses in Ephesians, verse 19 to verse 23, are in a sense Paul's way of telling you how to deal with your weakness. He is essentially saying, get your eyes off of yourself. Lift your gaze off of yourself. Look long enough to see your weakness, but then lift your gaze off of yourself and set your eyes on the source of a surpassingly great power. found in God himself. He wants us to see and be convinced of and live according to the surpassing greatness of God's power that is toward us who believe. It's true, Christians are to be the weakest individuals in the sense that we ought to know, more than anybody else on the planet, our inherent lack of strength outside of Christ. In fact, if you're not a Christian here this evening, it's probably because you have never really come to see yourself as helplessly lost as you really are. It is probably that you have not yet despaired of all hope in everything other than Jesus. You still have hope that there's some bit of strength in you, or at least some hope that you can find in something around you, and you've not yet despaired entirely of your own strength and your own ability to find life. It is the sense of our weakness that compels us to go to Christ. Christians are, on the one hand, the weakest of all people, but at the same time, we are objectively and unchangeably the most power-filled individuals on all the planet because of the power of God that is at work in us. I didn't say powerful. because it would be wrong to say you are powerful, but it is right to say that you are power-filled by the power of God if you are in Christ. So the passage we're looking at this evening in Ephesians is intended to convince us of that. It is intended to convince you, to cause you to know in the depths of your soul that you are, if you are in Christ, a constant recipient of the unmatched and unrivaled and incomparable power of the living God. So last week we looked at the beginning of Paul's prayer, or at least the explanation of his prayer that begins in verse 15. And that's right on the back end of the first 14 verses where Paul is explaining the riches of our salvation in Christ. He's proclaiming to us the fact that we have been chosen, predestined, adopted, forgiven, made heirs together with Christ, given the Holy Spirit of promise, we have received an immeasurably great salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the first 14 verses. Then in verse 15, he starts to explain his prayer for the Ephesians. For this reason, because I know that you, Ephesians, have become partakers of this kind of grace. He says, I haven't stopped praying for you and giving thanks for you. Verses 15 and 16. And then verse 17, he begins to describe the specific prayer that he has for them. And if you were here last week, then hopefully you'll remember that the essence of Paul's prayer for the Ephesians is that they would be given a Spirit-given knowledge of God, that they would be given the ministry of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation, that he might enlighten the eyes of their hearts, that they might grow in a real personal, tangible, life-transforming knowledge of the living God. That's Paul's prayer, a Spirit-given knowledge of God. And then we looked briefly at the end of the sermon last week at two of the three things that Paul says will happen when we have this knowledge of God. As the Holy Spirit enlightens our hearts, gives us understanding, and clears our vision so that we're able to see the beauty and the glory of Jesus Christ on the pages of the scriptures, as the Holy Spirit does that, giving us a true knowledge of God, Paul says three things happen. In verse 18, He says that when we know God through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, we come to know what is the hope of His calling. And the second thing is, we come to know what is the riches, or what are the riches, of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. Those are two of the three things that he mentions. Those are there in verse 18. And then in verse 19, and this is where we are this evening, and for the rest of this chapter, Paul spends the most time describing this third result of the Spirit's ministry in our souls, bringing us to a true knowledge of God. And the third result is that we come to know what is the surpassing greatness of God's power toward us who believe. So that's where we find ourselves. Paul is praying that the Ephesians would be given the Holy Spirit, that the Holy Spirit would cause them to know God, and that when they know God, they would come to know at the same time the greatness of his power. That's at work in us who believe. Now, before we start looking at the passage. I want to point out one thing that's going to be important as we work our way through and then we consider some of the practical applications of this passage for us. Let me ask you a question and encourage you to look down at your Bibles to answer it. In verse 19, is Paul praying that God would give them his surpassing power? Is he praying that God would give them his surpassing power? No, he's not. That would be completely right for him to do. We are called to cry out to God for his power. But what's important about this passage is that Paul here is not praying that God would give them power. What he's praying is that they would know the power that has already been given to them. And that's an important distinction. And I believe we'll come to see that, I hope, as we work through some of the practical applications of the passage. But there is a world of difference between praying that God would give you power, which is right, and knowing that God's power is at work in you. There is a world of difference in thinking, I have to put to death the dominion of sin over me, And on the other hand, this is just another example, on the other hand, knowing that the dominion of sin over me was put to death when I was joined to Christ. If I believe that the bonds of sin have been broken and that I am no longer a slave of sin, then when I'm confronted with temptation, isn't my approach to that sin gonna be much different? If I'm looking at the sin, the temptation that's in front of me, and I know that God has broken the bonds of slavery to that sin, that I am no longer, if I'm in Christ, obligated to sin, and the previous obligation was not against our will, it was according to our will, but if I know that I've been set free from bondage to sin, then doesn't it radically affect the way that we confront temptation? Well, what about the same way? If I know that God's power is already at work in me by virtue of my union with Christ. If I know that all of the resources of God's power are available to me in Christ, then doesn't it radically affect the way that we live? That he is objectively, currently, incessantly applying his divine power to your soul in Christ. And that's important because we often don't feel that. And so this objective nature of it, the fact that it never ceases, is very important, because it pulls us, again, the goal is to pull us out of our self-absorption, to lift our gaze to the goodness and the power of God, and to be reminded, He is at work in my soul, even when I don't feel it. His power is applied to me, even when I feel powerless. I hope we'll come to see some of the practical implications of that as we work our way through the passage. But Paul is not praying, then, that God would give power. That's the right thing to pray. Don't want anyone leaving here today thinking that you should not pray for God's power. You absolutely should. You should cry out to God for greater strength, greater manifestations of his power. But on a more foundational level, there is this deep resting assurance in the heart of the believer that if you have been joined to Jesus, then there is a power being applied to your soul that will keep you, preserve you, and bring you safely to glory. because it depends exclusively on the power of the God who does it. All right, so we're gonna be looking then, verses 19 to 20, at this surpassing greatness of God's power toward us who believe. Paul refers to it, as I've just mentioned, as the surpassing greatness of his power. Another way to say that would be the immeasurable greatness of his power, the incomparable greatness. So if you were here during the prayer meeting, Sean Reese, he spoke on the omnipotence of God, the greatness of God's power, his all-powerfulness, if you want to put it that way. God is all-powerful. In fact, God is the only one who is powerful. Sean mentioned that all the power that his creatures experience is derived. It's derivative power. It's derived from him. It is borrowed. It is loaned. The only one who possesses power in his own being is God. He's the omnipotent one. That's the kind of power that Paul is speaking about here, this infinitely surpassing, this infinitely immeasurable greatness of the power of the omnipotent God. But not just, Paul is not just here emphasizing God's power in general, it's specifically the power of God as it has been applied and is being applied and will be applied to the souls and the lives of his people. Toward us who believe. So if you are believing in Jesus Christ today, if you have fixed your hope on the living Jesus, the living King, the Savior of the world. And what Paul is saying is this is true of you. You have put your hope in Jesus. And then Paul, through these verses, 19 to 23, really verse 20 to 23, he lays out three demonstrations or examples of this power. or essentially what he's doing is he's saying, look, God has marvelously worked his power in you. There is a great power that is given to you as believers. And this power that is at work in you as believers is this kind of power. Let me give you three examples or three demonstrations of the greatness of this power. And those three things, he says, this power that's at work in you, first, in verse 20, first part of verse 20, This power is the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. It's the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. That's the beginning of verse 20. And then the second thing he'll show is that it's the same power that exalted Jesus to the right hand of his father. That's the second half of verse 20 and into verse 21. And then third, this power that is at work in you who believe is the same power that gave Jesus as head over all things to the church. It's the power that gave Jesus as head to the church. And that's in verses 22 and 23. So we'll walk through those three, and then we will consider some of the specific ways, so that's a statement of the nature of the power, those three things are statements of the nature of the power, and then we'll consider four different ways that we personally experience that power as believers. So we'll walk through the three different ways that we see the power of God demonstrated, the same power that's at work in us. So first, verse 20, the beginning of the verse, it's the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. So he says, which he brought about in Christ when he raised him from the dead. Paul could have looked back at any number of God's activities, God's actions in history and said, that same power that created the universe, that's the power of God that's at work in you. That would have been an accurate statement. Or he could have looked back and said, the same power that flooded the earth, that's the power that is at work in you as a believer. And that would have been accurate as well. Or Paul mentioned, Paul mentioned, Sean mentioned, that it was the power of God even on the cross, that the power of the Son of God that was holding together the molecules that the cross consisted of. So we could have caught our attention to the fact that God in his power, he sustains all things moment by moment, everything in his universe sustained by his own power. But he doesn't. Paul goes to one specific event to begin with, and he says, the power that's at work in you, this great display of power is seen in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, when he raised Jesus from the dead, which raises the question, what is so powerful about the resurrection of Jesus from the dead? Well, most obviously, it is a demonstration of the power of God over death. Hebrews chapter two, it tells us that from the moment we are born, all of us are slaves to the fear of death. Death is the inescapable enemy of our souls. It is opening its mouth this day and swallowing nearly 200,000 people in the world. Death, from the day of Adam's sin, has consumed humanity. And yet when Jesus rose from the dead, it was a demonstration that there is a power that far exceeds even the power of death. This thing that has held mankind in its grip, in its jaws, that will not let us go. Jesus has opened the jaws and he has freed himself by the power of God from its grip. In the words of the Apostle Peter in Acts, he says, God raised him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for him, for Christ, to be held in death's power. It was impossible for Christ to be held in death's power. So the resurrection of Christ, then, it is a demonstration that something as powerful as death, I think, is it? The Song of Solomon that speaks about a jealousy that is as strong as death and demanding as the grave. You want to think about strength. What is something that is relentless, that will not let us go, that is cruel? It's death. And yet when Jesus rose from the dead, he showed that death could not restrain him. He has power over death. But his power over death at his resurrection is ultimately a power over sin. It's a demonstration of his power over sin. Where does death derive its power? Why is it that death has held mankind in its grip from the early days of our existence, from the days of Adam's sin? The Apostle Paul, he says, the sting of death, in 1 Corinthians, he says, the sting of death is sin. In other words, the venom of death, what gives death its power, is sin. In Romans 5, verse 12, Paul, speaking about Adam's sin, he says, through one man, sin entered into the world, and death through sin. And so death spread to all men, because all sinned. Adam sinned, and through his sin, death entered into the world, and because we are in Adam by nature, we are under the power of sin, and therefore under the power of death. So if sin is the cause for which death now consumes humanity, then what does it take for death to be overcome? But obviously it takes sin being overcome. If the wages of sin is death, then what wages need to be paid? The wages of sin. What is it that Jesus accomplished on the cross for us? He paid the wages of sin. He canceled the record of debt that stood against each of us with its demands upon us because of our sin. He overcame death by overcoming sin. Death has been overpowered because death's sting, the venom of death, which is sin, has been canceled, has been overpowered through the death of Christ. We sang just a little bit ago in the power of the cross, if you have your song sheets, In one of the verses, can't find it now. Death is crushed to death. There it is, verse four. Oh, to see my name written in the wounds, bore through your suffering, I am free. Death is crushed to death. Life is mine to live. How was death crushed to death? Through the death of Christ. The death of death and the death of Christ, I think is how John Owen put it. Sin was overcome, therefore death has been overcome. And that's why Paul in 1 Corinthians 15, he can joyfully shout, he can proclaim, death is swallowed up in victory. Oh death, where is your victory? Oh death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law, but thanks be to God who gives the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Death has lost its sting for those who are in Christ. It's not as though death is no longer an unnatural and painful and sorrow-filled experience for us, but it has lost its final say. When Jesus rose from the grave, death lost all authority, all of its power over all who are in Christ Jesus. And it's a display of his power, not just in his overcoming death, not just in his overcoming sin, but when God raised Jesus from the dead, it was display of his power in the sense that he began an entirely new creation. He began a new realm of existence of life in Christ. There is a new age inaugurated in the resurrection of Jesus. And if you are in Christ, you have been raised up spiritually out of that age of death. out of the old creation, out of the dominion of darkness, and you have been joined to the living Son of God, and you belong to a new kingdom, a resurrected kingdom of life, a new creation. His resurrection is a demonstration of God's power to overcome death, because he overcame sin, and having overcome death and sin, he inaugurated a new existence, which will one day be consummated, in which we will live eternally We've been given eternal life now because we are spiritually united to the one who has overcome death. So it is the same power then that raised Jesus from the dead that is at work in you as a believer. And then second, it's the power that exalted Jesus to the right hand of the Father. Second half of verse 20 to 21. He raised him, but then he went on and he seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. The picture of being seated, what does that communicate? What is the idea here of Jesus being seated in the heavenlies? Well, this language of being seated is the language of royalty, of a king taking his seat on his throne. The Lord sat as king in the flood. Or, for example, another example, in the book of 1 Kings, there's the occasion in which Solomon is about to be made king, and there's a rival of Solomon's who wants to become king. And this rival, he gets word that David has made Solomon king. And this is what the messenger says to this rival man who wants to be king. He gets word and he hears these. This is what we read in 1 Kings. Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed Solomon king in Gion and they have come up from there rejoicing so that the city is in an uproar. This is the noise which you have heard. And then listen to this. Besides, Solomon has even taken his seat on the throne of his kingdom. So the messengers, they come and they report and they say, Solomon has been declared king. Not only has he been declared, but he's been anointed. But there is finality, there is decisiveness in the last words of what I read. Besides, Solomon has even taken his seat on the throne of the kingdom. It's one thing for people to say that Solomon is king. It is another thing for him to actually take his seat on the throne. And what Paul is communicating here about our Lord, Jesus Christ, is that when he was raised, he was exalted, he ascended to the right hand of his father, and he took his seat there as king. And then not only did he take his seat there as king, but the place at which he took his seat is identified as the right hand, the right hand of the father. And when we see this phrase, the right hand of God in the scriptures, it's a demonstration, it's a declaration of God's power over all of his enemies. It's a position of power, victory. We read in Exodus chapter 15, your right hand, O Lord, is majestic in power. Your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy. Majestic in power, shatters the enemy. Where is Christ? He is at the right hand. of the majesty on high. He has taken his seat as king. He is in the position of all power, all authority. That's where Paul goes on and he explains that Jesus has taken his seat far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. So what Paul is doing here, imagine he says, Jesus has taken his seat at the right hand in the heavenlies, and then someone asks the question, what does it mean for Jesus to take his seat at the right hand of the Father? And then the answer would be, it means that he is far above. It means that he is far above all rule. means that he is far above all authority, all power, all dominion. It means that he is far above every name that is named, not only now, not only in this age, but also in the age to come. And I don't think that Paul intends us to try to divide up each of these designations, rule, authority, power, dominion, every name that is named, and try to figure out the hierarchy of how those things fit together. I think what Paul is doing is simply joining all of these terms together, essentially to say, whatever power you can think of, whatever dominion, whatever king, whatever prince, whatever dominion that comes to mind, whether real or imaginative or imaginary, Whatever you can conjure up in your mind in terms of power and authority and rule and reign, Christ is infinitely above it. He reigns transcendently, incomparably above all rule, all power, all authority, all dominion, and every name that is named. He is infinitely exalted in power and authority over the most exalted beings. And he's exalted there now, currently, presently. The Lord Jesus, he ascended bodily, In Acts, he sits in the presence of his father. He will return bodily in the same way that he was ascended, and he is currently seated as the God-man in the heavens, ruling and reigning over all things. Now there's a sense, of course, in which the Son of God has eternally held that position of power. Jesus, at least the eternal son of God in his divine nature, he is God himself. He has existed always throughout all eternity. He is equal in power, equal in authority, dominion, glory with his father. And so as the eternal son of God, the second person of the Trinity, he has always been reigning as king. But only after his incarnation, Only after he took on human flesh, only after he suffered and died, only after he was raised from the dead as a man, only after he ascended into heaven as a man, fully God and yet fully man, and took his seat there, only then is he seated there as our mediator in the flesh. And so God's power is displayed in the fact that he took Christ in his humble state as a man. The humility of the cross, the humility of the grave, And then he lifted him to the position of supreme power and authority and rule over all things. Or to paraphrase Paul in his letter to the Philippians, because this eternal Son of God took on human flesh, because he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross, for this reason, God has now highly exalted him. and he has given him, he has bestowed on him the name which is above every name. It is because Christ was willing out of love for his Father, out of love for his people to become obedient to the point of death that God has now demonstrated his great power by raising Jesus from the dead and then raising him even further, exalting him and seating him at the right hand of his majesty on high. So the power that works in us, it's the power that raised Jesus from the dead It's the power that exalted Jesus to the right hand of the Father. And then third, it is the power that gave Jesus as head to the church, in verses 22 to 23. It's the power that gave Jesus as head to the church. And he put all things in subjection 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. So once again, Paul makes a statement about the absolute authority of Jesus. He has put in subjection to him all things. Under his feet, all things have been subjected. And that's a quote, what's that a quote from? If you were in the book studies that we did a couple months ago, where did we read that all things were subjected to his feet? Psalm 2, kind of. There we read about the king, the Messiah. This specific phrase, that he put all things in subjection under his feet, it comes from Psalm 8. Psalm 8. And Psalm 8 is about the dominion of mankind in general. How God created man as his image to exercise dominion over his creation. And the psalmist is overwhelmed that God would be mindful of us in our smallness. But what the apostle Paul does here with Psalm 8 is he shows that Jesus is the ideal man. Adam failed, obviously, and man's dominion over creation was radically marred and we hardly recognize it now, but in the words of the writer of Hebrews, though we don't see all things in subjection to mankind right now, we do see him, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is exalted, and according to Paul, under whose feet all things have been subjected. And the imagery here is Jesus as the ideal man, the one under whose feet all things have been subjected, is that he exercises complete and perfect dominion. over all of his enemies. The imagery is something, so imagine a king on his throne, and there's been a great battle, and the armies have gone out, and they fought, and they conquered, and in their conquering, they took captive the rival king, and they tie him up, they bind him, and they bring him into the presence of the true king, and as they bring him into his presence, They have him lie down on his face before the king. And as a demonstration of absolute subjection, the king would take his feet and put it upon the neck of his enemy. And that's what we find in the book of Joshua. There's an occasion there where five kings are overcome as they take the land of Canaan. And these five kings are brought to Joshua, and Joshua has some of his mighty men. As these five kings lie on the ground, he has his mighty men step on the necks of the kings. Why would he do that? As a demonstration of absolute dominion, of absolute power, of complete subjection. There is nothing that those kings could do to rival the power of the king that had overcome. That's the idea here. Jesus has been exalted. He has been exalted to the position of all power. He has put his foot on the necks of his enemy. Of course, we don't see that in its fulfillment yet. We're waiting for what Paul describes earlier in Ephesians, for all things to be summed up in him in the fullness of the times. We long for that day. We look forward to the day when not only objectively is Christ king, right now he could come and he could conquer at his will, but he's waiting. He's waiting for all things to be subjected under his feet in the sense that they will one day visibly, physically, factually, tangibly be brought under subjection. He doesn't lack the authority now to do that. But in the parable of the wheat and the tares, he allows things to grow side by side for a time before he comes in power. Perhaps a better image would be, imagine that a king has, a king of an army of millions of soldiers, 10 million soldiers in this king's army, and this king has decisively won, has won a decisive battle And he's conquered the capital city, and all that's really left are some small villages scattered throughout the territory. But he has conquered the city, he and his army of millions, and he has taken his seat on the throne in the capital. And there is no doubt that at any moment he could willingly, at his whim, send out the millions of his soldiers and overcome the remaining villages. But there's a time of waiting. He allows those villages to continue for a while. In one sense, Jesus has taken his seat in the capital. He has conquered. And there is coming a day when he will send forth his armies. He could do that now. There's nothing lacking in his power. But we wait for that day. But in our waiting, it would be wrong for us to think that there is anything lacking in the absolute dominion of Jesus Christ. or in the words of Abraham Kuyper, there is not one square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not cry, mine. Not one square inch in all the domain of our human existence over which Christ, the sovereign of all, does not cry, mine. But in verses 22 and 23, what stands out is not so much the fact that all things have been subjected under his feet. What stands out is the fact that this one, under whose feet all things have been subjected, this one who is the head over all, who has authority over all things, has been given to the church. You know, you think in John's gospel, John, he says it a number of times, but Jesus in John 17, he speaks of his desire that all whom the Father has given him would be with him. So in other words, the Father has a gift for the Son. We read about this in the book that we read on the upper room discourse a couple semesters ago. And there's a sense in which God the Father's gift to the Son is His people. The Father has given a gift of people to His Son. And that's amazing to think that you are a gift of the Father to the Son. That gives us a dignity and an honor that we could never hope to deserve. And that's amazing. I think what's even more amazing, or perhaps equally amazing, is the fact that in one sense, God the Father has gifted his Son to his people. He has given us the gift of his Son. We're given to the Son as a gift from the Father, but in another sense, the Son is given to us, the church, as a gift from the Father. He's given to the church in such a way that the church is called his body. His body. We hear that often, but don't let the beauty of this escape your minds. We are the body of this one who is currently seated and exalted in the heavens. This one who is exercising absolute, unrivaled, infinite power and authority, who is seated at the right hand of the majesty of God on high. and I'm his body? This group of misfits in this room is his body? It's amazing. And then it's even more amazing when we think of what Paul says later in Ephesians with regard to how it is that one treats his own body. He encourages husbands to love their own wives as their own bodies in chapter five. And he says, he who loves his own wife, loves himself, For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of his body. The infinitely exalted King Jesus nourishes, cherishes, loves, protects, cares for, defends, guides, shepherds his body. He doesn't hate his body. Do you ever think that Jesus is so deeply displeased with you and your sin that he hates you? He doesn't despise his body, according to Ephesians. He doesn't neglect his body. He doesn't forget about his body. He's not too distracted to care about his body. He nourishes it. He cherishes it. He cares for it. as one would care for his own body. The infinitely exalted king has us as his body. But then Paul goes on and he says, the body, which is the church, the fullness of him who fills all in all. A couple ways to understand this. I'm gonna take the safer route, but I think there may be some legitimacy in what others have said. So let me say the one that I think has biblical support but perhaps would require some caution. And then I'll say what I think this is saying. So the fullness of him who fills all in all. What does it mean that the church is the fullness of him? Well, we can take it both ways, one of two ways. It can either be that we as the church fill up Christ. We are his fullness. And surprisingly, just so y'all don't call me a heretic, people like John Calvin, Matthew Henry, they've held to this view. There's no authority in men. I'm not saying there's any sense in which we ought to take their word to be the final say, but if someone like John Calvin or Matthew Henry who understands the Bible as well as they do say, there is a sense in which we fill up Christ, we make him, this is how John Calvin says it, we make him complete. as his body. Now you have to understand, that is, Jesus as the mediator, the one who has taken on human flesh, of his own accord, he has joined himself to his body in such a way that to be separated from his body would be taking away from himself. His body is so much a part of himself, not in the sense that we become divine, we don't become divine, but in the sense that he has so united us to himself, that of his own accord, of his own willingness, He has so determined that we would, in one sense, complete him as the mediator, as the groom. In one sense, a husband is incomplete without his bride. In one sense, I'm complete without my bride, because I am full in the fullness of God. But in another sense, because I have so determined to join myself to her through the covenant of marriage, there's a sense in which I'm incomplete apart from my bride. That's one way to take it, that the body is the fullness of Christ in the sense that we are completing him of his own will, of his own desire, his own accord. I think the safer route here with Paul is to understand it to mean that he fills us. He fills his body. He fills his body with his spirit. He fills his body with his presence. He fills his body with his power. He fills his body with his love. He fills his body with his grace. He is the head, and he nourishes his body with all that it needs. Primarily, he nourishes the body with himself. He gives himself to his bride. We are his body, the fullness of Christ himself. What a powerful gift. from God the Father, to give the head over all things to the church. So we've seen three things then that Paul says demonstrate his power toward us in Christ for all who believe. The power that raised Jesus from the dead, the power that exalted Jesus to the right hand of the Father, and the power that gave Jesus as head over all things to the church. I've run out of most of the time, so I will walk quickly through four specific ways that we experience this power. I don't believe any of them will be a surprise to you, but it's good to be reminded of the four ways, at least four ways, these are certainly not exhaustive, but four ways that we experience the power of God in our lives. The first, perhaps most obviously, is what Paul will go on to say in chapter two, at our conversion. We experience the surpassing greatness of God's power when we are converted. Chapter 2 will explain how we are dead in our sins. What does it take to bring a spiritually dead person to life? It takes the power of God, the very power of God that raised Jesus from the dead. If you believe today, if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, Why is it that you believe? Why is it that you have spiritual life? It's because God has applied his power to your soul, and he has brought you to life again. It was amazing when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead after four days, but as one pastor said, many of us have been dead for decades. We were dead, some of us in this room, some of you perhaps who are older than me, were dead for the better part of 50 years, 60 years, 70 years, dead in your sins. And God demonstrated his power toward you by raising you out of that spiritual death that you'd lived in for so long and giving you life in Christ. So we experience God's power at conversion. We experience God's power, secondly, as he enables us to walk in godliness. Second Peter chapter one, seeing that his divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness. His divine power has granted us everything pertaining to life and godliness. When we fail to walk in godliness in this life, it's not because we lack the resources. When we fail to love or to obey or when we succumb to temptation, the problem is not that we lack the needed power, that we don't have access to the needed power. The problem is that we fail to believe and live according to and rest reliant upon the power that has been given to us in Christ. No temptation has overtaken you, but such as is common to man, and God is faithful. who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation, he will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it. He may not take the affliction and temptation away, the trial, but he will give you the needed power to endure it. He sustains, thirdly, his power is at work in us by sustaining our faith to the end. Simon, Simon, Jesus said, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. Or in the words of Peter, interestingly enough, having heard those words from Jesus, he says in his first epistle, we are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Why is it that your faith will not fail? What keeps you from giving up? Haven't you ever felt like you could? Certainly you have, I have. Haven't you ever wondered, do I really have what it takes to make it to the end? I am so overwhelmed at times by doubts and fears and anxious thoughts and trials and temptations. Is there really enough power in me to make it to the end? And the answer is no, of course there's not enough power in you. But there is power in the one who sustains your faith, and he is faithful to keep you to the end. He will not let your faith fail. Greater is he who is in you than the one who is in the world. He will sustain you, protect you, preserve you by protecting and preserving your faith to the end. And then lastly, we experience God's power at glorification. Philippians 3 talks about, at the coming of Christ, he will transform or conform the body of our humble estate into conformity with the body of his glory, and this is what Paul says, by the exertion of the power that he has even to subject all things to himself. He will conform your body in a moment, into conformity with the body of his glory. We don't know what that means yet, John says, because we won't know until we see him. But when we see him, we'll be made like him. And Paul says the reason that will happen is because Jesus will exert upon you and upon your body the same power that he has even to subject all things to himself. That's our hope. Our frail, sinful, weak bodies will be conformed to the image of his glory by the exertion of his own power. So from beginning to end, God's power defines, upholds, characterizes our Christian walk. It's his power at conversion. It is his power that gives us the ability to overcome temptation, to walk in godliness. It is his power that sustains our faith to the end, and it is his power that will glorify us together with his son at the day of Christ's return. If you're believing in Christ today, you do not lack anything that you need. There's one thing you take home today, let it be that. As a believer in Christ, you do not lack anything that you need to rejoice in the Lord God and to obey him and to walk in uprightness and joy and in holiness throughout the days of your pilgrimage on the earth. We need to know this. That's why Paul is praying that the Spirit would be given, that he would convince us of the surpassing greatness of the power of God toward us who believe. May the Lord convince us of that and would he enable us this week to walk in the fullness of the power that works in us who believe. Let's pray together. Our Father, we give you thanks that your word is a firm foundation for us even when it often seems so contrary to our own experience. We thank you, Father, that even though we often feel our weakness, we have the assurance of your Word that tells us that you are powerfully at work in the lives of your people. We thank you, Father, that you work powerfully in us in these moments, in the moments to come, in the days to come, to equip us, to enable us, to endure every trial, every temptation, every obstacle that we face. We pray, Lord, that you would convince us, help us to believe that we have in Christ all that we need because of his great power to walk in a way that pleases you. Strengthen our confidence, strengthen our faith, strengthen our boldness, strengthen our courage, strengthen our hope. We pray, help us as well, Father, to remind one another of these truths. we would encourage one another to walk in the full awareness of all that is ours in Christ Jesus, our King, who sits on his throne today. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.