I heard a story about a man once that was praying, and while he was praying, he looked up to the Father and he said, Father, to you, how long is a million years? And he heard God say to him, to me, a million years is just like a second. And he went, wow. And then he looked up and he said, well, Father, to you, how much is a million dollars? And the Lord said to him, to me, it's just like a penny. And then this man looked up at the Lord, he says, well, Father, could I have a penny? And the Lord said, just a second. You see, most of what our heavenly Father is trying to do is to raise our perspective. to have the true mind of Christ and to understand what he's about. We are so earthly in our thinking, we're so limited in our logic, and we seek to put God so often in our own box, or make him jump through our hoop, or the way we've always thought he would be. Well, Paul prayed for people that he knew that were saints, that their great freedom would be in knowing God beyond the sacred page. Praise God for the word but beyond the page the sacred page I seek thee Lord break thou the bread of life Dear Lord to me beyond the sacred page. My heart is seeking you now happy is the man who finds wisdom and the man that gets understanding and Wisdom is God opening us up to who He is and putting that into our life. Now, I want to read you just a few scriptures about wisdom. Just listen to them. No need to jot them down. You can just eat them as I read them. Proverbs 16, 16, how much better it is to get wisdom than gold. And to have understanding is better than choice silver. Proverbs 8 11. Wisdom is better than rubies and all the things that can be desired are not to be compared with wisdom. Whoever finds wisdom finds life and shall obtain favor of the Lord. Proverbs Psalm 51, verse six. Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts in the hidden part of man. You will make me to know wisdom. Job 30, Job 28, verse 12, Job cries out. Where shall wisdom be found? Where is the place of understanding? Colossians answers it. Colossians 2, 3, Christ in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and in knowledge. Now, in James chapter 3 verse 17, we see that there's a wisdom from above that comes down. Liberally, God will give to us if we seek that wisdom with all of our heart. And that's what man needs. He doesn't just need knowledge. You see, knowledge is understanding how things happen. Wisdom is knowing why. Now, I think that man is always seeking why, how man were made. How was man made? That's the question today. And evolution and all that's the big question. But you see, we've forgotten the question, why? I heard another man say that if you take a frog and if a woman kisses a frog and it turns into a prince, we call that a fairy tale, right? Well, if you take a frog instead of a woman kissing it and just take a million years, we call that evolution. It's an amazing thing. We need to know why we're here, not just how. And so many people get to the end of their life and find out it's too late to go back and relive their life. And they've missed it. How many of you in here have ever felt insecure? Only one? I think everybody. How many have felt insignificant? How many have felt inadequate. Well, as a Christian, we can also feel these things. And so Paul's words to us today are the answer for insecurity, they're the answer for insignificance, and they're the answer for inadequacy. And in Ephesians chapter 1, if you'll turn there, I want to look at the great prayer of the Apostle Paul. Now, there are two prayers in the book of Ephesians. The first prayer is in chapter one, and the second prayer is in chapter three. The first prayer is for enlightenment, God to open up their understanding. In chapter three, his prayer is for enablement. That means the ability to act on what they've been shown. The first three chapters of Ephesians, classically, most people would tell you they show our heavenly riches in Christ, in him. The last three chapters show the earthly responsibilities of the Christian in the light of our heavenly resources in him. Now, in Ephesians chapter one, we'll begin in verse 15. Wherefore, I also, after I heard of your faith, in the Lord Jesus and love toward all the saints. I cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. Now, let me stop there for one moment and say that. The first part of that chapter has shown how that we are fully blessed by the Father. Before the foundation of the world, we were chosen in Christ. So the Father has set his love on us. Christ has carried that out. And then we'll see the Spirit has sealed us in time. And we're rich above all riches. And then Paul is saying, I'm praying that God will lift you to be able to understand this. You may know it, but now you need wisdom that it will become real. Knowledge is the ability to take things apart. Wisdom is the ability to put things together. That's good. Knowledge can take things apart. Wisdom puts it together and helps you understand how to live it out. Truth known in reality. So here's what Paul is praying in these verses following. Verse 17, I'm praying. that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding, and the word means heart, the eyes of your heart being enlightened, that you may know three things. What is the hope of His calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe. Three what's that you might know what is the hope of his calling and that you might know what is the riches of his inheritance in the saints. And what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who are the believing ones, according to that working of his mighty power, which he demonstrated or wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in heavenly places, super above all, far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that's named. not only in this age, but in that which is to come. Now let's pray. Father, would you open this word to us? And may it be the answer to us for inadequacy, the answer for insignificance, and the answer for inability. May we see what Paul is praying and what your spirit is longing for us to see. We pray it in Jesus' name, amen. This is Paul's prayer for the most spiritual church that he ever wrote to. It's not for carnal people, it's for spiritual people. And he's praying not for riches and not for freedom from hardship and not for outward results of ministry, but the deepest and best thing that any Christian could ever have, he's praying for enlightenment. That God would open their eyes and that they would see something and have illumination. To be a knowing Christian will be a growing Christian. Only growing Christians are knowing Christians. You've got to know something before you can grow. And this is his prayer, to be an intelligently enlightened Christian, not just a sentimental one. There are a lot of sentimental Christians that get goosebumps when we sing the hymns, and that's wonderful in a certain sense, but God is praying for the power of revelation to come. Now, notice in verse 17, he's praying for the spirit of wisdom. Wisdom. Let me say that this is the wisdom he wrote it to the Corinthians about. Not the wisdom of this world, but the wisdom which was before the foundation of the world that our eyes would be opened and we might understand. Remember Solomon? God said, you can have anything you want, Solomon. And he says, I'm praying for wisdom. Do you know what the Hebrew word means? A listening heart. a listening heart, that God would be able to speak to me and proverbs would be fulfilled. The hearing ear and the seeing eye, God gives it to me. So Paul is praying for wisdom. This is something from above, the spirit of wisdom and revelation. Revelation. This means the unveiling. It's intimate awareness. It's that experience that he had. Remember how he spoke in the first chapter of Galatians? He talked about how he could preach so wonderfully. He says in Galatians 1 11. I certify to you, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me didn't come from man. I didn't receive it from man, but it was brought to me by the revelation of Jesus Christ when God knocked him off his high horse on Damascus and etched eternity in his eyeballs. He saw Jesus and he knew him. Now, this is the same experience they had at Emmaus. They'd been with him for three years, but the resurrected Lord met them and they didn't know him. And it says he opened their eyes that they might know him. It says he opened the scriptures that they might realized who he was in scripture and he disentangled their minds. And then it says their heart burned within them as they realized who he was in the way. So he opened the scriptures. That's what Paul is praying for. Verse 17, the spirit of wisdom, the spirit of revelation in the knowledge of him. Now that Greek word for knowledge means full knowledge. It means that there's a word for knowledge called kenosis. But this is epagnosis. It's the upon knowledge. It's the knowledge that comes from above. It rests on the human ability to know. It's greater than anything slide rules or apologetics could ever show. Apologetics can show you the empty tomb, but apologetics can never show you the risen Lord. It takes a revelation to the heart and God reveals truth to those who fear him and whose hearts are right. and want to know him as he is. Now, this message then will not have a one, two, three, do this, like last night. But that's not always necessary. Someone might say, well, how do you apply that word? Revelation applies itself. If, while I am preaching today, the heavens were to open up behind me, suppose you're sitting there and all of a sudden the things of earth grew strangely dim and you saw the Lamb on the throne and angels round about the throne. You could see it and feel that in your inner man. And it was awesome. Well, do you think that would change your life? Do you? You don't think it would? Of course it would, brother. If you had a vision of Jesus on the throne and you saw him there and it burned into your mind, it would change your life. Everything you looked at would be different. But you could say, well, how would you apply it? You wouldn't have to because it would change you at the core of your being. You'd be changed by beholding. And so what he's praying for here is that we might know Jesus Christ in the deepest way. And those three what's are going to be the deepest understanding we can get. Three what's and they're all concerning Christ outside time, outside physical. You'll never get this understanding without God showing you. You can't figure this out. It's a revelation from God and it's got to come from the sweet Holy Spirit. Now, we often interpret these scriptures from man's viewpoint. Stick with me, this is very important. How many times when we hear this preached, in fact, I have never heard this preached publicly the way that I'm going to open it up here. I've always heard people say that we might know what is the hope of his calling. And when people describe that, they say, we want to know what we're called to do. It's always preached on in the hope of us and our calling and what we're called to do for Jesus. But that is not what Paul is praying for them here. He is praying that we might have an enlightened heart to see what the hope of his calling is. His calling. And I would say then, let's call this first point, Paul is praying that we would see the grace of his person. The grace of his person. And this then is what Christ is doing for us. Christ is doing for us. Now, let me ask you then, what is his calling? Not on earth, but in heaven, what's his calling? Well, it tells us, Specifically in Hebrews chapter 5 verse 10. Listen to this Hebrews chapter 5 verse 10 It tells us what the calling of Jesus Christ is God's calling to him. He is called of God and high priest after the order of Melchizedek That's what the calling of Jesus Christ is today. That's what he's been doing since the resurrection. He's called a high priest in heaven. He is forever seated at the right hand of the father called a high priest after Melchizedek. And he is the mediator between God and man. You see, you'll never know that unless the Holy Spirit shows you. Hebrews is the most neglected book perhaps in the New Testament But it is the only book that shows us what Jesus Christ has been doing since the resurrection in detail It shows him as priest of the throne room of which the tabernacle was just a picture on this earth everything they did on the tabernacle in the Old Testament was acting out in pictures of New Testament doctrine. So that on the day of atonement, when you saw the high priest, Aaron, it was actually a picture of what Jesus Christ would do in the spiritual realm hundreds and thousands of years later when he took his own blood into the throne room of God. Moses was told, make the earthly one just like the heavenly original. Don't vary one detail. And so on the day of atonement, Yom Kippur, when they would have the high priest come, they would then take two goats. One they would cast lots over and it would become the Lord's lot. And they would then lay their hands on the head of that goat and it would be called a sin offering. They would take the blood of that goat inside the very Holy of Holies, the picture of the heavenly Holy of Holies, But before they did that, the other lot that fell on the scapegoat would tie a red ribbon around its horn, take it out to the wilderness, and throw it over a cliff. A young man would take it out there, probably about the age of 33, I would imagine. And they would push it over a cliff to be saying, it's given over to the destroyer. The high priest would then take the blood of the second goat into the Holy of Holies. He would go into the holy place, take off his garments of glory and beauty, and with nothing but a plate of gold on his forehead that said, Holiness to the Lord, and white linen, would he walk into the very presence of God once a year. And there he would say that sacred name and he would sprinkle blood right there on the very throne of God one time and seven times on the floor. And then after that, he would exit out, come out to the people, hold his hands up like this and say, it is finished. And then he would say, thy sins be forgiven thee, O Israel. Now, all of that is a picture of what Jesus Christ did in figure. You see, Jesus Christ took his own blood that was offered on the cross right through the heavens. It's amazing that when Mary saw him outside the tomb, he says, Don't touch me. I have not yet ascended to my father and your father, my God and your God. Don't touch me. And something mysterious happened between that morning and that evening when the disciples were huddled in fear. And he came into the room and he said, Peace, first thing. How could he say peace to them? Only one way through the blood of the cross. In that moment, he had ascended, it says in Hebrews, through the heavens, Hebrews 4. It's one thing when you shoot a rocket into the heavens, but if you shoot a rocket through the heavens, you're going to get my attention. He went through the heavens, right through them, right into the throne room and there, it says in Hebrews 9, he took his own blood and he went right into the Holy of Holies and he sprinkled his own incorruptible and precious blood right on the holy throne of God. And it became a throne of grace. And then he sat down expecting for his enemies to be made his footstool. And now when we come, we are sprinkled with the blood as we've been sprinkled at Calvary. His own body. He was our high priest. He lives there and he's seated in the heavenly, he's praying for Bruce, he's praying for Kevin, he's praying for every person that's trusted the cross. He's saying what it says in Ephesians chapter one, that he, Lord, Father, accept that failing saint in me. Lay their weakness on my account. Now, Hebrews 7 says, verse 22, that he is the surety of the new covenant. The surety. Now, what's a surety? A surety is what Reuben was for Joseph, excuse me, for when he took Benjamin to meet Joseph in Egypt. When they went back and said, Joseph, the second man demands that we bring Benjamin. And Reuben said, I'll be a surety. If anything happens to him, kill me. Assurity is if I wanted to come to Australia and I didn't have any credit and I wanted to buy a car. You shouldn't buy a car on credit, I don't think. But let's suppose I wanted to buy a car and I went into Westpac and they said, who are you? And I said, they said, you're a bad risk. You can't pay for this and we'll never give you money. So I say, well, I don't know what I'll do. I'll call Bruce Townsend. When he walks in the bank, they go, yes, sir. And so he comes in and he does what the scriptures say not to do. Let's just example. He signs his name for me as a surety. He guarantees my loan. He's my surety. So he leaves and forgets about it in a sense. And I go about my business trying to pay for my car while I'm working a job and I can't do it. And so I get a second job and I still can't pay. I have to go without sleep. I leave off meals and I'm trying to pay my own way and I can't do it. And after several months of agony, I come into Westpac just bent over and tired and red bloodshot eyes and bags under my eyes. And I say, you're right. I'm a bad risk. I'm bankrupt. And they say, well, we'll call your surety. And they call up Bruce and he comes in. He sees me standing there and he says, you look terrible. And he's reaching for his back pocket immediately. He says, why didn't you call me sooner? Well, why didn't I call him sooner? What's the reason? Pride. I didn't want to let old Bruce down. I didn't want the bank to think that I couldn't do it. But once I declare bankruptcy, once I declare poverty of spirit, they call in my surety and he makes it good. And that's what it says Jesus is. He is the surety of the new covenant. And he's saying, Father, that one that's sealed in my blood, all their inabilities, lay it on my account. All their inabilities, all their inadequacies, excuse me, insecurities, you put that on my account. And what it means is this, that if Father God fails to take me to glory, he has to put Jesus Christ back in the ground. You ever seen that? That's what it means to be a surety, that if he fails to deliver me and make it good, then Jesus has to pay for my sins again. And let me tell you, he's already paid once. He is our mediator. He's not just by a cross death 2000 years ago, but by an everlasting life right now. And I'm going to tell you, when you see this, it'll change your life as a Christian, that it's not just a historical Christ dying on the cross for you from which you receive salvation. But today it's a living Christ on the throne victorious from which you receive victory. Victory is a gift, not a growth. You will never grow into victory. Victory is received in the Christian life, not won. You'll never win the victory. It's taken from the hands of the victorious Christ. Victory is always total. It's never partial. It's his victory and not mine. Victory is always now and never future in the Christian life. It's available. This is the victory now, even my faith. So he is then a sympathetic high priest. Oh, to see the grace of his person. I'll tell you, this should bring hope to my heart. And this is the answer. This is the answer for anything in my life that would be in the sense of insecurity. Christ for me. When I feel insecure, Christ for me. How could I feel insecure with Christ living at the right hand of God for me? If God is for me, Who can be against me? How could I ever feel insecure if I see it with the revelation of God? But see, that's just one of these three glorious revelations that Paul is praying for. The second thing he prays is that they would see, secondly, in that verse 18, what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. This is the glory of his plan. The first thing then is the grace of his person. But have you seen the glory of His plan? His plan, not yours, His plan. Christ in us. You see, the first one is the answer for insecurity. It's Christ in us. for me in heaven, the grace of his person. But this second one is the glory of his plan. And this is Christ in me. And this is the riches of his inheritance. God wants us to see glory in his plan. And it's Christ in you, the hope of glory. in you, not just for you, in you today. Now, notice that it says that you might see what the glory of his inheritance is. Now, sometimes we get that confused because, you see, we have an inheritance, too. In Peter, it talks about we have been born again, begotten to a living inheritance. You see, our inheritance is in heaven, an incorruptible hope that's waiting for me. Now, but you see, this is not the same thing here. My inheritance is in heaven. Now, for me to get an inheritance in heaven, somebody had to die. Who was it? Because an inheritance comes after people are dead, right? Okay, well, for me to get an inheritance in heaven, who had to die? Who? The Lord Jesus. Well, that's an easy answer. Well, for him to get his inheritance in me, somebody has to die. Who is it? It's me. You see, for us to be in Christ makes us fit for heaven, but for Christ to be in us makes us fit for earth. And that's what he's after here. He's saying, I'm praying that you will see how rich you are, that Christ is living in you. And just as a death must take place for us to inherit what belongs to him, heaven. So must a death take place for him to inherit what used to belong to us, in a sense, us, our life, all that we are. So it's our body. And this is how we love him back. Let me say we understand the love of God because Christ left heaven and laid down who he was for me. That's God loving me, right? He loved me so much he gave himself for me. So how now do I love him back? Because we love him because he first loved us, we learn what love is. The only way I can love him back, not just emotionally, but is now for me to lay down who I am for his highest glory and blessing on earth, Christ in me today. living. I am crucified with Christ. That is fact. If I'm a Christian, I am not my own. I have died with the Lord Jesus. But you see, there has to be a love choice, an agreement with this as a Christian to experience the glory of his plan. Otherwise, I'm blocking. It says in the Gospels, more than anything else that Jesus said, he said, whoever seeks to preserve or hold on to his own life, will lose it. It means the real life from heaven. But whoso will lose his life for my sake and the gospels, God's person and his purpose, he'll find it. That means, like Paul, that I come to the cross and say, not only did you die for me, but you died as me, and I reckon my own life over. From now on, you have purchased me, and now the life I live in the flesh, I live by your life in me. You see, being a Christian is not me living for Jesus. That's frustration. Being a Christian is Christ himself really and truly living his life in me. It's not attaining something. No, no. That's Pharisee. It's containing someone. That's blessing, that's rest, that's no longer I, that's Romans 6. So listen, if God's plan is to dwell in my body, this mortal body, to have treasure in earthen vessels, how can I feel insignificant? The answer for inadequacy, excuse me, for insecurity is Christ lives for me at the right hand of God and he will carry it out or he'll get back in the grave. How secure can you get? The answer for my insignificance is that God loved me so much, He died for me and now He wants to live through me. And that's pretty significant. That's pretty significant. God's presence in me, He works in me and that work He began, He will finish. I heard a story about a Chinese philosopher that was studying all the great religions of the earth. And he was looking at their books and he was examining them from a just a practical, logical, true standpoint, just which one was the most sensible and right. And he was going to he was going to trust in that book. I mean, he got all of them. He got the the Buddhist book and the Koran and the Zoroastrianism, all those books. And he read them and studied them. And this this Christian newsman heard about it from the English speaking countries. And he went over there to interview this man. And he took his tape recorder to get the story. And he says to this old man, he says, tell me, you've read all these books, these books of religions. He says, oh, yes, I have read all these books. He says, which book do you find to be the most amazing book? He says, oh, this Bible. It is so amazing. It is so amazing. And this whole thing of Christian, so amazing. It tell history before happen. And then he says to the reporter, he says, oh, well, that's the book I believe. And the Chinese man looked at this reporter and said, are you Christian? And the man said, well, yeah, I'm a Christian. You very special man. What do you mean? I'm a Christian, I believe the Bible. He says, oh no, your book different. Your book say Christian very special because you habitation of God. Habitation, habitation of God. Think of that. You're special. In none of the other does God come to inhabit. a life. How significant can I get that Christ could be in me? But you see, to experience the power of that, I've got to reckon myself dead indeed. Otherwise, Hebrews 9 says, this covenant will not be in working power as long as I'm living. But the second that I come, like Romans says, and once and for all yield myself to God and keep on reckoning myself dead indeed to sin, but alive to God, then, Lord, here's your body, have a nice day. Take me where you want, say what you want, look at what you want. Nobody can use my hands but you. It's glorious. What a glorious plan. Christ in me, the hope of glory. That's the answer for insignificance and what a glorious plan it is. The third thing is that Paul prays we would see that you might have a knowledge from God, a revelation of the exceeding greatness of His power. The word is dunamis, that you might know what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who are the believing ones. See there again, there's a hook. You've got to believe God. You've got to walk by faith or you won't experience this power. God has power, great power, exceeding abundantly above power toward the ones who believe according to the working of his mighty power, this resurrection power. Now, so this then is the greatness of his power. We've seen the grace of his person, Christ, the high priest, living for us at the right hand of God. We've seen the glory of His plan, Christ in us. And what an answer that is for any feelings of insignificance I would ever have. And God inhabiting my humanity. But now we see the greatness of His power to carry it all out. And this is the answer for insufficiency. Paul would say, I can do all things through Christ. And that's what this third area shows. The first area showed Christ for us, living at the right hand of God. The second one shows Christ in us, in my humanity. This one shows Christ through us, expressing himself out to the world, working according to his mighty resurrection life coming forth. But you know something? Resurrection power is for dead men only. People say, oh Jesus Christ, undertake for me. Let me tell you, he will not be the undertaker except for a dead man. Who goes to an undertaker? A dead man. He can't help anybody else look better. But you see, once I take my death in Christ, I can receive my life through Him by faith. And so it's resurrection power. If you can't cope and you can't overcome, then go all the way down. Take the death of the cross and say, I'm finished. But now, Lord, I'm trusting in Him who has delivered and who does deliver and I promise yet will deliver. I have the sentence of death in myself. His power is his life. His power is his indwelling life. May I say this when it comes to service? The law of all fruit-bearing as a Christian is intimate relationship. That's worth riding on a great big rock and putting it outside your breakfast window so that every morning you see that. The law of all fruit-bearing is intimate relationship. You know, nature tells us that. The vine must be intimately attached and relating to the branch. or there'll be no fruit. Apart from the vine, the branch can do nothing. It's the same thing in human relationships. Let's suppose that my wife and I got married. And the preacher said, I pronounce you, man and wife, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. Now, am I married? Legally, am I? Of course I'm married. Do I feel married? Not yet. but I'm just as married as I'll be 50 years from then. But let's suppose after that wedding, I go out to a limousine and go to the airport and go to China as a missionary. And my wife goes out to another limousine and goes to South Africa as a missionary. After 10 years of service on our respective mission fields, are we still married? Are we legally? How many children do we have? You know why? No intimate relationship. And I would submit to you that a lot of people are justified by faith and they're related to God in a born-again sense. They're legally married to the risen Lord, but there's no fruit because there's a lack of intimacy. in their relationship to Christ. Philippians 1.11 says, bringing forth the fruits of righteousness which are by Christ Jesus to the glory of God. Romans 7 talks about we yield ourselves to our heavenly husband like a wife and we bring forth fruit unto holiness as we relate to him in the inner person. And so God offers grace to the undone and to the weak and to the bankrupt. And Paul knew it was only as he took his place in death that he could experience or expect to experience the life of Christ. Everybody wants to experience the resurrection power of God. But I'll tell you something, you got to own your death with Christ first, and then will come power. In Ephesians 3.20, it talks about according to the power that worketh in us. You see, that now unto him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, that's God's person. According to the power that works in us, that's his indwelling might. You've got to let him have all that you are. So we've got to lose our life in order to find it. I want to ask you a question and I want you to answer it. Can God do all he's promised? Can he? Well, why isn't he? Why isn't he in your life and mine? Because you see, we're not appropriating these truths that God has shown us. We are not, like Paul, reckoning ourselves dead indeed to sin, but alive to God. We're trying to overcome sin in our flesh instead of dying to it. The Bible doesn't say we overcome sin. It says we overcome the world. We overcome the world because Jesus has overcome us. I'll never forget when I was struggling with an attitude of sin and I was plagued by it so much and it was just beating me up and I was miserable. And finally, I was sensing a temptation again in that area and God said to me, are you tired of trying to overcome sin? And I said, I am so tired. It's been a long battle. He says, good, because you can't overcome sin. I'm the only one that's ever overcome sin. Your problem is, Al, that you just need to let me overcome you. Wow. Next time temptation came to my door and knocked, I sent the Lord Jesus to answer. And you know what? No one was there. He ran away. And that's what it is. It's power through the person, Christ in me. It's the grace of His person in heaven, sitting there praying for me, how could I be insecure? It's the glory of His plan, not me doing it for Him, but Him doing it Himself in me, moment by moment. And it's the expression of His power daily through my life, as I keep saying, I must decrease. No more I. He must increase. What's the middle letter of sin? Aha, what's the middle letter of pride? Only when the I, only when you cross out the I in sin and it becomes a zero. Aha, then you have the son, S-O-N. And only when you take live, L-I-V-E, live it up, and make it a zero by crossing it out, do you have love. and God can live in that fashion through us, I must decrease that He might increase. You see, the reason we feel insecure is because we are when we're walking in the flesh. The reason we feel insignificant is because we are apart from God. The reason we feel absolutely unable is because that's true. But in Him, are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Paul says, I'm praying that God will open your eyes to see how rich you are, how secure you are, how able you are. Now, I just want to run several scriptures and then I'm finished with you. As you face the future, I want to exhort you, quit evaluating your future by your own abilities. or by your lack of abilities. Refuse to face what's coming toward you with your own abilities or the lack of them, but rather let God open your eyes to see how secure you are, how able you are, and how significant you are. Let me tell you, there's a whole lot of significance to your insignificance. God is keeping us in a place where we have to trust Him. There's more to my insignificance than meets the eye. God has chosen the foolish things and the weak things to confound the mighty. You see, it's not my ability that matters. It's my response to His ability. That's what matters. Now, listen to this, and write these references down. It talks about Him being able. Don't you ever evaluate by your own self. God is able, listen to this, Ephesians 3.20. God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think. And we can ask or think a lot, can't we? He can do exceedingly more than you could ever imagine yourself in being godly or holy. He'll do more. as you reckon and risk and rest. That's the order. You got to reckon, you got to risk it, and then you rest, and then you receive, and then you rejoice. That's always the order. We want to get to the rejoicing, but you can't get there without reckoning and risking. There is a risk of trusting the invisible. Vance Havner once said, Al, you got to walk by faith. Al, faith sees the invisible. It chooses the imperishable, and then it does the impossible. That's what it does. You've got to walk by faith, and that's in this realm we're talking about beyond man, period, beyond man. God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above, but 2 Corinthians 9, 8 says another thing He's able. He is able to make all grace abound toward you. You should count the superlatives in those verses there in 2 Corinthians 9. I'm just going to read it. Listen to this. This is amazing. I mean, you can't get any better than this. 2 Corinthians 9, starting in verse 8. Listen to this. And there's a parenthesis in there that picks up the superlatives after that. It says in verse eight, God is able to make all grace abound toward you so that you always have all sufficiency in all things may abound to every good work. Parenthesis down through verse 10, then verse 11 picks it back up. Being enriched in everything to all bountifulness, which causes through us thanksgiving to God, of course. I mean, that's seven glorious superlatives that God says, the very top, I'll give you. Well, Philippians 3.21 says, hallelujah, this is great. He is able to subdue all things to himself. Wow, that means my pride, this thing I've been struggling with, God will appear and give me a glorious body like unto His glorious body. But you know what? He is able to subdue all things to Himself until that time. There's not a thing in my life as a Christian that if I deal honestly with Him, He cannot subdue that we pointed out last night. If you get honest with God, He'll subdue it. He's able. He's able. You're not able, but He's able. Well, 2 Timothy 1, verse 12 says, that he is able to keep what I have committed to him against that day. Sometimes when you go into a hotel, they have a sign, management not responsible for valuables not checked in at desk. If I choose to keep my own valuables in my own safekeeping in my room, I may lose it. But what we put in the safety deposit box, they're responsible for. And God is saying here, I'm responsible for what you've committed to me. What you keep for yourself is your responsibility. You'll commit to Him. Oh, He is able to keep what I commit to Him against that day. Hebrews 2.18 says, He is able to succor. The word is for nurse, like a breast. He is able to succor or come to the aid of, it's also a medical term, brother, to mean to run to the aid of with a doctor's bag. He is able to come to your call, all of those that are tempted, call on Him. And then Hebrews 7.25 says, he is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God by him. I like to say from the gutter most to the uttermost. He'll lift you up and put you in a new place, seated together with Christ in the heavenlies. And there's a lot more of them, but I'll give you one more. Jude 24, he is able to keep you from falling. and to present you without a spot before your Father. He is able. And you know what? His ability is the only thing that matters. His glorious ability. This power, this ability that He showed in Jesus Christ when He raised Him from the dead is to those who believe Him, not to those who hope. There's a difference between faith and hope. Hope is future. Abraham, against what he was hoping for, believed in hope and he brought it to now, and God said, you can see. Do you see that? Some people are hoping and praying. Let me tell you, hope is not faith. Hope is always saying, someday I hope it'll get better. Now faith is, hope is wonderful. It means assurance. But hope is not faith. Hope is future. Hope is not seen. But faith is evidence. It's now, faith is. And it's taking the things of tomorrow and the future and saying, I have them now through Christ. Faith is now. Victory is now. Thank you, Lord, that I'm victorious and risen now in Christ and I can do all things through Christ's power who strengthens me. And that is the answer for inability. I am seated in the heavenlies with Christ. That's the answer for insecurity. And I am full of faith by the power of God in me. That's the answer for insignificance. Boy, you have a purpose. You have a reason. Boy, it's just a source of rejoicing in everything. And so let me just review and we're finished. The grace of His person, He's a high priest. He's living for you today, right now, right this second. A high priest alive, available, and adequate at the right hand of God. This is hope for the hopeless. He is secure for you. God is for me. So there's no reason to be insecure. Secondly, God has a glorious plan, Christ in me himself. This is the very nature of God in me. Partakers of God's nature. Peter said, we have received already everything for living in godliness. Second Peter 1.3. And so, riches for the bankrupt. That's what he's promised. But you have to be bankrupt. Blessed are the bankrupt, for theirs is the kingdom of God. Blessed are they who mourn, because God will comfort them. Poverty and mourning are the first rung on Jacob's ladder. It comes right down to where you are. It's not purity, it's poverty God is looking for. Bankruptcy, declare bankruptcy. Well, why didn't you do it sooner? You're trying to not let God down. I'd hate to let God down. Hey, you're never holding Him up. He's holding you up. Fall at His feet powerless and realize the glory of His plan, no longer I but Christ and you become significant. And lastly, the greatness of His power. Resurrection life on the other side of the cross. That's where it is, not on this side. It's on the other side of the cross. All power is given to me in heaven and earth. And it's given to you too. but you got to take up your cross and follow me. This is ability for the washout. This is life for the dead. And this is victory indeed. I wonder, you can hear these things and believe them and never see them. There's a difference between hearing and seeing. Job said, up till now, I've heard of you by the hearing of the ear. That's faith. It made him the best man on earth, God said. But now, I see thee, and God, I see you, and I hate myself. I repent in dust and ashes." See, once God opens this up, it puts you in a whole new ballpark, changes everything. A wise man, Job became a wise man by revelation of God. Why don't you ask God, to answer Paul's prayer and fulfill his will in your heart and say, Lord, show me my living high priest. Show me how great he is and how able he is to save me to the uttermost. Lord, show me what it really means to have Christ living in me and not me. And show me how you can address the impossibilities. And I don't have to do it. It's no longer I but Christ. And that'll be the brand new beginning, brand new. I make all things new through Christ. All things passed away, behold, all things become new. That's the gospel. This is not for the missionary. This is for the average Christian, the normal Christian life. Well, I want to pray with you. Let's just pray. Father, you have told us if we lack wisdom, ask. What we need is wisdom and revelation of Christ. We need to know you because this is life eternal, to know you, to be a knowing Christian, deep on the inside to have intimate knowledge and truth of a living person. Open our eyes that we might see. Open our hearts that we might listen. a supernatural work of the Spirit of God. Oh, that you might open the eyes of our heart, that we might have that knowledge and wisdom from heaven in the full understanding of the wisdom of Christ, the revelation of Him, and see that He's living today. And we have a living assurance because He, the hope of His calling is He will not lose anything that's given to Him. and an absolute reason for remaining on earth as Christ sends us and walks in us as He was sent for the glory of the Father. and the power to carry it out as you send forth your resurrection life through us who've died with Christ. Oh, open our eyes to this and may we say the yes, that verdict of the human soul that puts us in the victory that's given. In Him are every promise and every truth of God. Yes and amen. How do we apply this, Lord? We say, yes. We say, yes, Lord. I want this. Give me this revelation. We trust you for it in Jesus' name, amen.