Wrought in Christ

Review: The Hope, Inheritance, and Power of God

0:03 Do you remember the drift of thought, I trust? The Apostle has indicated that he is praying specifically for the Ephesians, that the Father would give them the spirit of wisdom and revelation, to the end that they might know, that is, understand, with spiritual intuitiveness, with spiritual sensitivity and perception, these three great things so integrally tied together, the hope of his calling, the riches of the glory of his inheritance, and the exceeding greatness of his power. I shall read from verse 19 to the end. And what the exceeding greatness of his power to us were to believe, according to that working of the strength of his might which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead and made him to sit 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 world, but also in that which is to come. And he put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.

1:26 For the benefit of those who have not been with us for our previous studies, I would just underscore again briefly, that these three things concerning which Paul is so exercised are not chosen arbitrarily. There is a very vital relationship, the one to the other, and a very natural progression. He's praying that they might know what is the hope which derives from the calling of God. When they were effectually called out of darkness into light, there was implanted within their breasts this expectation, of the future blessings of salvation.

2:07 And Paul wants them to know what that hope is, the nature of that hope, the ground of that hope, the certainty of that hope. The hope has as its object the inheritance that yet awaits the saints of God. And it is so permeated with glory, that he says it is exceedingly rich with glory. And so he wants them to know the riches of the glory of that upon, which their hope focuses, namely, the inheritance, the full realization of all the blessings purchased by Jesus Christ.

2:43 But now we have a problem. Between my present state of hope, and the realization of the object of hope, the inheritance, there could be many a slip twixt the cup and the lip. What will secure the realization of the inheritance consistent with the hope? Why, the answer is, because it is the power of God.

3:05 And so he wants them to know the exceeding greatness of the power, which is towards them, to the end, that the inheritance may be realized, and the hope enjoyed. Now our focus is presently upon the third of these three things, that exceeding greatness of power towards the believers. Now what we did last week in our first study of verse 19 and following, is to give a broad overview of this entire passage. And I will just simply review what we covered and then pick up our thought this morning.

3:41 The subject of this particular knowledge that Paul wants them to have is the power of God. Exceeding greatness describes the power, which he wrought in Christ shows how the power is manifested, but the subject itself is the power of God. And we saw by contrasting the emphasis of the first verse, the first paragraph, verses 3 to 14, with this latter part of the second paragraph, that Paul is, as it were, zooming in upon two great pivots of God's dealings with his people. It is grace that plans such glorious things as described in the first paragraph, but it is power which will infallibly effect them, hence the emphasis in the latter part of this paragraph. When you have grace joined to power, you have true biblical salvation. Power without grace in God is a frightening thing. Grace without power in God is a frustrating thing.

4:47 But grace joined to power is a glorious thing, even the glory of our so great salvation. Then in the second place, we saw the character of this power. Paul describes the character of the power in itself. He calls it exceeding great.

5:05 Surpassingly immense would be another way of translating the original words. That's its character in itself. When you look at it in itself, it is exceeding great. But he's not content to describe it in itself or in its excellency.

5:21 He describes it in its working or in its efficacy. He calls it the working of the strength of his might. It is not dormant power, but it is efficient, working, active, accomplishing power. And then we considered in closing last week the recipients of this power.

5:41 Look at the text. To usward who believe, or better, to usward the believing ones. And the only recipients of this power are believers. And he uses a tense here that describes them as those who continually, continually believe.

6:03 The recipients of this power are not every Tom, Dick, and Harry who have made a decision and said, I believe on Christ. But it's every person who having been brought to initial faith is now in a state of faith. For saving faith is not an act performed, but the acquisition of an attitude. Not a deed done, but the deposit of a principle within the heart of the child of God.

6:30 And then we saw that the use of this term to usward is beautifully inclusive. Paul says I have no more of the power of God to bring me to the inheritance than the most humble, feeble, weak, sainted Ephesus. It's the exceeding greatness of his power to usward. Whatever power Paul says I may have as an apostle to work miracles, to write truth that will be the deposit of the church, whatever peculiar powers God may endow me with in those areas, I have no more power than the humblest saint in terms of being secured for the inheritance.

7:13 It's the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe. But then it's exclusive. If you do not believe the power of God to accomplish the purposes of grace is not to you, that power is filled and fixed as it were to consign you to the pit of eternal burnings unless you repent and believe the gospel. So much for our review.

The Exaltation of Christ: A Unit of Redemptive Activity

7:41 Now we move on from verse 19 to begin a consideration of verse 20 in our study today. What the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe, according to the working of the strength of his might, which he wrought in Christ and raised him from the dead, and then these powerfully descriptive words set him far above principalities, powers, might, dominion, every name that is named, etc. Now I would remind you as I did last week that all of these things are a unit of redemptive activity. Though there are distinct things mentioned, we're not to view them in isolation.

8:25 Let me illustrate. We're thinking a lot and talking a lot, and I hope lifting up our hearts in thanks to God a lot for the return of the prisoners of war. Now when you use the term the return of the prisoners of war, that term refers to a connected complex of distinct activities. First of all, the North Vietnamese, or the Viet Cong, must turn the prisoners over to the American authorities.

8:56 Having received them, they then take them to a central point where they are flown out to Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines. After being examined medically, etc., they are then flown to the West Coast, and from there they are flown and by bus or car get to the last destination. Now all of those things, the return by the captors to their own officials, their being ferried to Clark Air Force Base, to the West Coast and to their homes, are all distinct and very definitely described activities.

9:32 But all of them together comprise what we call the return of our prisoners of war. Now when you come to this passage, Paul is saying, I am praying that the Spirit will help you to understand the exceeding greatness of His power which He wrought in Christ, and then he gives us all these details which put together speak of that one central theme, the exaltation of Jesus Christ in might and in power. Therefore, as we come to a detailed study of each part, try desperately not to let it get into an isolated category in your mind, but relate it to the whole as the Apostle has done before us. Now how should we think our way through the passage? Well, let me suggest that we have first of all the one in whom the power was manifested and upon whom it was exercised. Look how Paul states it.

10:32 Verse 20, It is the power which He wrought in Christ. Therefore He is underscoring the one or the person in whom the power was manifested. Then in the second place, he describes the specific acts in which the power was exercised and manifested. He raised Him, He set Him, He put all things under Him, and He gave Him to the church.

11:01 So that's the basic division forced upon us by the text, not imposed upon it for the sake of homiletical structure. You have then this exceeding great power. Christ in His person and work is the measure of that power, and it's broken down in terms of the person in whom the power is manifested and the particular acts in which the power is exercised. And isn't it again so much like the Bible itself that when God would set before us His power towards His people, He brings us back to that lodestone, that magnet, that central focal point of all Christian revelation, the person and the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. And in that order. For the work means nothing apart from the dignity of the person. And the whole end for which He became what He became was that He might accomplish what He accomplished.

The Title 'The Christ' and the Necessity of Careful Study

12:04 And the person and work of Jesus Christ are the structural backbone of the whole Christian faith. And we confront that backbone again this morning. Alright, so much then for the way we're going to approach verses 20 to the end of the chapter. Now this morning we zero in just upon the person in whom the power of God was exercised and manifested.

12:32 And how should we think our way through the phrase? Two ways. Number one, the title by which he is identified and then secondly, the important significance of a clear understanding of that title and its application to the passage. Now, I make no apologies and I say this periodically that you're going to have to think this morning.

12:56 And I got so upset by some things I encountered down in Pennsylvania that I told my wife last night and told one of the elders and then told someone else that I found it difficult to bring myself back to this passage to preach on it. Because my mind was prepared to preach on the passage but my spirit was so agitated by some things that I saw and heard in discussion with some young Christians that I couldn't get my head to comply with my heart nor my heart with my head. And I wanted to just stand up here this morning and give an exhortation that would move those rafters if possible concerning the necessity of careful, prayerful, mental sweat in applying ourselves to the study of the Word of God. I was pained to the depths of my being with some wonderfully zealous young Christians who had been saved out of a life of profligacy and wickedness but running off in a thousand directions with a smattering of a knowledge of a verse here and a concept there and running off at the mouth in a hundred directions not knowing that they don't know. And my spirit was stirred again. Oh God, help me to be an instrument through which Your people are settled and grounded and in the words of Ephesians 4 not tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine.

14:26 And the only way that can be attained is as under the influence and enablement of the Spirit we apply ourselves to careful study of the Word of God. So think with me this morning dear believers for the price of mental laziness in the study of the Word of God is spiritual instability. And if you go down that path you go down it because you want to not because the help is not before you. Alright, think with me then the title by which the Lord Jesus is identified in the passage the exceeding greatness of His power which He wrought in the Christ.

Distinguishing Christ's Divine Essence from His Messianic Office

15:09 And the article is there in the original. The word the is in the original. Paul is concerned that we understand that the power of which he speaks is a power manifested not in general in the Lord Jesus Christ as a person but in particular as He functions in His role as Messiah. Now most of you I'm sure are aware that the word Christ comes from the Greek word to anoint and it's parallel to the Old Testament word for Messiah.

15:49 Since the coming of the Lord the deliverer of God's people would be everything that every prophet, priest and king who had been anointed for service had ever been and much more. The concept of the coming one began to be parallel with the concept of the coming of the anointed one. Hence the concept of Messiah has distinct reference to the function of the Lord Jesus Christ in His messianic office and in His messianic responsibilities. As we therefore contemplate the power of God to us-ward the power operative to secure our inheritance it is the peculiar manifestation of power in the Christ that one who is God's anointed and appointed deliverer of His people. So we're not dealing then with the power which He exercised in Himself as Creator John 1, all things made by Him nor the power which He exercises as sustainer of the universe Hebrews 1 and Colossians 1 but we're dealing with the power which is peculiarly manifested in Him as Messiah

17:14 as the anointed prophet, priest and king of the people whom He is. So we're dealing with the power which He exercised in Himself as the anointed prophet, priest and king of the people whom He came to save. So what? Having established the title by which He is identified the bulk of my concern this morning is our second point the important and practical significance of a clear understanding of this fact.

17:45 And there are two vital matters that flow out of this concept. Of great theological and of great practical importance. Failure to grasp them has brought on the one hand confusion and has opened the door to heresy and on the other hand it has left the people of God bereft of one of their strongest consolations. What then should I as a Christian understand when I come to a passage like this?

18:18 The power which He wrought in the Christ, in the anointed one, in the Messiah. A power that has to do with exaltation, with presentation, subjugation and His giving of Him to be head over the church. Well the first thing you should understand is this. It is in His official office and function as Messiah that humiliation, exaltation, subjugation, presentation those are the four things in the following verses are attributed to Christ.

18:55 It is in His office as Messiah that there is humbling, that there is resurrection, there is exaltation, there is session at the right hand of Father. He wrought in the Christ. You say, Pastor what are you driving at? Well stick with me.

19:11 As God, the Eternal Word, equal to the Father there can be no stepping down, no giving of authority to Him. As God He possesses all the attributes of the Godhead. As the Eternal Word He is with God in the words of the old creed equal to the Father as touching His Godhead. There can be no emptying, there can be no dying, there can be no giving authority to Him.

19:42 So this distinction between the inherent dignity of the person the second person of the Godhead and that which he takes by a voluntary assumption of an office are two distinct things and if you don't understand that distinction you won't understand your Bible. Let me illustrate. Here's a set of identical twins. Let's call them Mr. A and Mr. B.

20:11 They were born I wish we could have for the sake of illustration exactly the same time but one was born one minute before the other. They are identical twins for all intents and purposes exactly the same age born in the same hour. As they grow up and develop it becomes evident they have precisely the same IQ. Every IQ test they take they come right on the nose.

20:34 Equal. Right the same. As they grow up and develop they are the same height. Same weight.

20:40 Same muscular development. The only way you can tell one from the other is that one's got a little crimp in his left ear. And if you look at the left ear you know who's A and who's B. Apart from that they have the same looks same build same basic voice same basic personality and in all of their relationship this equality is manifested to everybody.

21:00 They're always seen together they've always got their arms around one another they have a beautiful peer relationship where they're eating at the table out playing tennis together whether they're going to church whatever they do it's evident that in every relationship they are equal. But now the day comes when they for the sake of making a living want to form a corporation. So as they form the corporation Mr. A in this pair of A-B he agrees and B is consenting to that concept that he will be designated president.

21:33 That he will sit in the place of highest administration in dispensing the affairs of the corporation. Twin B, he agrees that he will be production manager and head of sales. That he will take orders from his brother A. That he will listen to the directives that come down from the head office.

21:55 So here they are they live together sit at the same table opposite one another share the same bathroom share the same living room equals in every way but when they put on their suit and their tie and they catch the 803 and they go down to their place of business suddenly the relationship changes. It's twin A who goes into the head office which says president of the corporation. It's twin B who goes down the line a little bit a little smaller, less plush office which says production manager and head of sales. And then a messenger goes from office A to the B office and gives directions, etc.

22:31 And in the working out of that corporation there is an assigned responsibility to B and to A. And B voluntarily assumes a lesser place of authority in the functions of the corporation. But now it's 5 o'clock time to leave the office and they go back home and what happens? A doesn't wait for B to open the door for him.

22:58 On Monday he may open the door for A and on Tuesday B may open the door for A A for B when they go in the house he doesn't say now look I'm president of the corporation around here. No, no, no, no. In the house one cooks one week one cooks the other week. There is an absolute equality expressed in the circumstances where they are regarding one another with respect not in their official functions in the corporation but in their essential dignity and equality as human beings.

23:25 Now you see the distinction between the two? If you don't I'm going to fold up and quit and go home because my message goes boom. Do you see that distinction? Will you shake your head please if you see the distinction.

23:40 Very good. Very good. Alright. Very good.

23:46 Now what is the point that I'm driving at? Well the point is this. In his divine essence the Lord Jesus is equal to the Father. John 1 In the beginning was the Word the Word was with God and the Word was God.

24:06 Everything that is attributable to the Godhead is in the eternal Word. He lies upon the bosom of the Father. There is no subjugation. There is no assigned responsibility.

24:22 There is no assigned responsibility that means humiliation. Does the Father create? The Son creates. Does the Father uphold?

24:31 The Son upholds. Now what happened? In the economy of redemption someone had to assume humanity if the penalty of the law was to be meted out. Death.

24:48 If there is to be a righteousness someone must keep the law perfectly in human form in human flesh. Hence the Lord Jesus voluntarily agrees for the functions of Messiah to step down and to take the place of submission the place of obedience the place of humiliation so that while he was here in his official functions as Messiah he says I do always the things that please my Father. I can of myself do nothing. I do not even know independent of the Father's revelation the hour of my return. Listen. As Bible believing Christians we are not embarrassed by those statements when we understand this principle. Every one of them is spoken in the context of assumed responsibility as Messiah.

25:55 They have nothing to do with his essential dignity as God. When he is speaking about that he says I and my Father are what? One. Thomas falls at his feet and says My Lord and my God Hoseos mu the God of me my God.

26:21 What does Jesus do? He lovingly receives that worship for he knows that inherent in his person is essential and true Godhead. He makes claims that are blasphemous if he is not God. Supreme religious trust supreme religious affection.

26:40 But when he says I can of myself do nothing when we see him praying when we see him confessing dependence upon the Father what are we seeing? We are seeing the Christ. We are seeing him in his function. We are seeing him in his office not in his essence.

27:02 Oh when a man begins to feel the pangs of a wounded conscience the arrows of Holy Ghost conviction he begins to feel the power of sin with its many tentacled evidences in his own heart and he knows he is in bondage to the devil and the law. He wants a savior who is more than the mere man of the Unitarians the highest of men of the liberals or the exalted angel-like creature of the Gnostics or the little God of the Jehovah's Witnesses. He knew God who became flesh to rescue poor helpless sinners like himself. I say knowing and understanding that distinction is essential. But you say what practical importance does it have? Well let me trace out three lines of thought very quickly.

Practical Significance: Salvation, Worship, and Witness

28:12 I've suggested the first one. It's a matter of life and death salvation and damnation it's just that practical. Jesus said in John 8 if you believe not that I am you shall die in your sins. He took the title of eternal divinity I am that name of God that peculiar name the eternally existent one.

28:35 He says if you believe not that I am you'll die in your sins. You read John 5.18 through the heart of that fifth chapter of John he says that all men may honor the Son even as they honor the Father. Equal sign.

28:51 What kind of honor do we give to the Father? We give him the honor of his Godhead. Jesus said you must give the same to the Son. And if you don't he that does not honor the Son does not honor the Father.

29:04 Jesus said in John 17 3 this is life eternal that they may know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. Know him how? Know him for what he is. In his essence he is God.

29:19 In his office he is appointed Messiah. Saving faith has as its object the Lord Jesus Christ and part of the essential content of that faith is that he is God. Our high priest is after the order of Melchizedek having neither beginning of days nor end of days. The one who calls us and says follow me claims absolute love total surrender unrivaled devotion and homage and I say those things are idolatry if he's less than God.

29:55 It's a matter of life and death. Have you seen Jesus Christ to be God? If not you're not a Christian. Oh but you're not a Christian.

30:05 And you'll perish in your sin. Do you fall at the feet of Jesus as Thomas did and say my Lord and my God. I say making this distinction and understanding it between his essence as God and his office as Messiah is a matter of life and death. Secondly it's a matter of whether or not we can render true worship.

30:33 Though the process of humiliation and exaltation was worked out in his role as Messiah. It was the eternal word who became flesh. Hence in our worshipful response to the revelation God has made in Christ it is to be worshiped in spirit and in truth. And if the Messiah functioning in his office as prophet, priest and king is God incarnate we render him no true worship unless we worship him as God.

31:14 Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifested in flesh justified in the spirit scene of angels received up into glory. Every place this morning that claims to be worshiping God that denies the essential deity of Jesus Christ is simply plain church. It's plain church and every deluded person who sits there thinking they're honoring Yahweh or Jehovah or somebody else is merely disgusting God with lip service that he'll never receive. He must be worshiped in truth. And then thirdly it is a matter of giving a clear witness and defense of the faith. As opportunities come consistent with your own gifts and station in life you are to bear witness to Christ.

Defending the Faith Against Heresy (Jehovah's Witnesses Example)

32:17 Every Christian is called upon to defend the faith contend earnestly for the faith. Jude, how can you do it if you don't understand this distinction? Now let me get right down to the nitty gritty. What would you do if tomorrow the Jehovah's Witness came to your door and you got talking about the Trinity as you always will?

32:40 And with that look of triumph as though they had brought the coup de grace you know the shot in the head there was nothing after this but for you to just fold and die. They said ah but listen to what Jesus said. My father is greater than I. What would you do with that verse?

32:57 And then they said if that's not enough let me show you another verse. I can do nothing of myself. What's that mean? And then they show you the verse the son doesn't know the hour of the second coming.

33:10 They say now how can he be God? What would you do with those verses? Would you say well let's forget those and turn to these John? No, no don't forget them you shouldn't be embarrassed at any verse in the Bible.

33:21 And the minute you do your theology is wrong. The minute you get embarrassed with any verse in the Bible you're a little more fastidious than God is. I don't care what your theology is. What do you do with those verses?

33:36 Well you simply say to this poor deluded person my friend will you listen for a moment. Have you ever seen the distinction between the Bible's teaching concerning what Christ is in his essence and what he is in his office as Messiah? And I've never yet met a Jehovah's Witness who was able to say yes to that. They've never even considered it.

33:57 And the whole thing the whole structure of their argument against the deity of Christ crumbles when that distinction is seen and understood. And you say to them ah yes it's a wonderful facet of my Lord's pattern of existence that he did always the things that pleased the Father that he acknowledged the Father was greater than he but all of this is within this circle his function as Messiah in which he becomes the perfect man showing what we should have been obedient subjects of our God willing bondservants of his will lo I come to do thy will oh my God. Then you say to your Jehovah's Witness friend but ah my friend look when Jesus or the biblical writings are talking about what he is in his essence look at this verse and the word was God. And then the Jehovah's Witness has to actually pervert the understood laws of Greek grammar to get his concept the word was a God. And then you turn into a passage like John 20-21 where Thomas renders worship to Christ as God and Jesus pronounces blessing upon it and upon all who thus worship him and they turn that exclamation of faith and worship into a curse word. Exactly their exegesis of the passage they say he was so surprised that he said oh my God

35:25 that is exactly the exegesis of that passage by the Aryan heretics. He was surprised he said oh my God would Jesus say blessed are you for that cursing taking the name in vain no no he says blessed are you Thomas for you have seen and have believed believe what that in my essence I am God and in my office I am not but blessed are those rather who have never seen and yet will believe the same thing and cursed are those who will not believe it for if you believe not that I am he you will die in your sins. Now how important is this? Is this just some kind of theological stuff? My friends it is a matter of life and death it is a matter of true worship and it is a matter of giving a clear witness and defense of the faith.

Organic Union: What is Wrought in Christ is Wrought in His People

36:30 So we are not embarrassed with the passages that are in that ballpark voluntarily assumed humility in the office of Messiah and thank God we are lovingly at home with the passages that declare him to be God. Philippians 2 Hebrews 1 Colossians 1 Romans 9 5 all of which declare without equivocation he is God over all blessed forever Amen. But now the second point that I wish to make this morning he is designated Messiah so what? Answer number one is if you don't understand that distinction you will be hopelessly confused in the study of your Bible understanding it by the grace of God is life and salvation is the basis of true worship and is the framework of a clear witness and defense of the faith. But now there is a second great implication since it is in this office of Messiah that the power of God is manifested notice how he states it which he wrought in the Christ when he raised him from the dead set him who is the him the Christ the Christ the Messiah the anointed one since it is in this office that all these events have occurred

37:58 there is an organic relationship between what happened to Christ and what happens to his people. You see the Messiah never acts as a private person and that concept has got to get through to us Messiah never acts as a private person what was the first announcement given at his conception? It was an announcement that brings into sharp focus the inseparable relationship between Messiah as a person and Messiah and his people. Matthew 1.21 A troubled virgin is trying to figure out what the visitation of an angel means and the announcement that she is going to conceive without any human means of conception and the angel says thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins. You see what he is saying? Jesus his people and salvation is bound up for them in terms of what happens to him what happens when he goes out to be officially set apart for his work of Messiah

39:20 he does so in the context of a sinners sacrament baptism what was John preaching? Preaching the baptism of repentance unto remission of sins why should Jesus be baptized? In a few minutes the father is going to split the heavens with his voice saying this is my beloved son in whom I am delighted all through those years from the moment when his bottom was spanked and he breathed his first in that cow barn through all of the years of his infancy and into his teen years in all of his interaction with his brothers his sisters his mother and father in that poor home and in that place called Nazareth of checkered reputation in the midst of all of it he has never thought a thing never done a thing said a thing but what my smile was upon it this is my son my beloved in whom I am delighted but why in the world is he found in a sinners sacrament? because he is now being officially designated in his role as Messiah and the spirit of God is to come upon him to anoint him for the task of being prophet, priest and king and so the very physical context of that anointing declares what he has come to do he comes to do not as a private person

40:48 but as the representative of his people and he is driven from there into that terrible temptation in the wilderness why? because his people are a tempted people and the writer to Hebrews picks that up and says in that he himself has suffered being tempted he is able to succor those that are tempted why? because he is there on behalf of his people and you trace it right through to its glorious and yet baffling climax upon the cross and the awful cry goes up into the father's ears my God my God why have you abandoned me? why have you plunged me into the darkness of the abandonment of hell? and of course the answer is because the father was dealing with him as though he were his people and because their sins cry out for judgment and abandonment the father judges and abandons his son you say now what in the world does that have to do with Ephesians 1.20 well it has everything in the world to do with it look at the text he said I want you to know by the Spirit's help the exceeding greatness of his power to us word which he wrought in the Christ you see whatever he does

42:16 in the Christ is to us word and you must never look upon what is done to the Christ as though it were done to him as a private person but as the covenant head of his people who are bound to him in the living bonds of a spiritual union and he to them inseparable for all eternity want me to prove that to you right from the passage look and we are not going to expound it just going to underscore it look the passage says it's the power to us word which was wrought in Christ when he did what when he raised him and sat him at his right hand turn over to chapter 2 verse 5 even when we were dead through our trespasses were he made us alive get the next word together with how often we read it we were made alive on the basis of Christ's resurrection that's a truth but it doesn't rise to the level of this truth the ground of our spiritual resurrection is the fact that Jesus died and rose objectively in space and time yes but that doesn't rise to the level of what he says here he doesn't say even when we were dead we were made alive because Christ was raised up

43:44 that's what Peter says we have a living hope through the resurrection but this passage says we were raised up together with him but not only that what's verse 6 say and raised us up with him and made us sit with him oh beloved I don't know what that means but I sure have been scratching and clawing and praying and thinking that I might understand what it means you see the concept it's the power wrought in the Christ and whatever's wrought in the Christ the anointed one is that which is wrought in his people not just as the basis of what he does for them not only as the example or pattern as God raised him up we'll be raised up at the last day but in some sense identification of spiritual union we were chosen in him before the foundation of the world so that when the Lord Jesus went to the cross we went to the cross in him when he was buried we went there in him and with him when he rose we rose with him when he ascended we ascended with him the old Romans 6 passage Colossians 2 you see God as it were in this introductory study is bringing us to the borders to the hinterlands

45:10 of those tremendous concepts of the intimacy of our union with the Lord Jesus Christ oh may God make precious to us in the coming days what it means it's the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe which he wrought in the Christ some of you perhaps in the past and I don't know why they got rid of it it seems like they increasingly get rid of any television programs that are worth watching and I used to enjoy watching that half hour on Saturday at noon whenever I could that historical study called and you were there some of you perhaps remember it when significant events in the history of our own country or in the history of scientific discovery were reenacted as though you were actually watching the thing happen may I encourage you as you begin to read your Bible or not as you begin but as you continue your Bible reading begin to do this will you when you read of the Lord Jesus being driven out into the wilderness to be tempted say and I was there when you read of him being crucified if you're a believer say and I was there when he was raised and I was there and when he is seated and I was there that's the concept that is being pressed upon us because all that he does

46:38 as Messiah he does on behalf of and in the room instead of those people of whom he is covenant head and living organic head as we shall see later on in the passage where he is called the head of the church which is his body the fullness of him that's a mind blowing concept we are the fullness of Christ as Messiah I say it reverently he is incomplete without his people we constitute his fullness Hallelujah oh may God help us to see the glory of what it is to have the Lord Jesus as our Messiah becoming for us the humbled one emptying himself taking upon himself the form of a servant being found in fashion as a man humbling himself further becoming obedient unto death even the death of the cross so that his death becomes our death and we no longer fear the wrath of God his resurrection becomes ours and we walk in newness of life the fact that he sits at the right hand in glory and we are there with him it's only a matter of time before the body and the rest of me

Warning Against Spiritualization and a Call to Believe

48:02 joins where I really am the hope the inheritance the exceeding greatness of the power that will bring you there power manifested in the Christ as I close let me give one warning and then one entreaty the warning is this don't undermine the objective historical reality of these events in the life of Christ he was raised he was seated all things were put under him he was given to the church we must never never spiritualize them away or so see them in their identification with his people that they lose their objective historic reality apart from those things as historical facts there is no Christianity but oh my friend don't stop with the objective historical reality for they are objective historic realities to the end that we might be the benefactors and never stop until his resurrection is your resurrection that's the warning the entreaty on which I close is this all of this power Paul says is to us-ward

49:29 who believe I ask you this morning do you believe do you qualify as a recipient of that power do you believe believe what do you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ have you by the word and the spirit seen yourself destitute of all righteousness utterly destitute of anything to commend you to God have you seen through the gospel to some degree that Jesus Christ is the only one who qualifies to effect a righteousness that will stand the scrutiny of God's eye by his perfect life and by his death upon the cross he's wrought a righteousness for a number which no man can number out of every kindred tribe and tongue and nation and having died and been raised he's at the right hand of the Father and he says come repent and believe upon me and to believe is to rest upon him to cast yourself upon him to roll upon him the burden of your sin and abandon yourself to him to be saved by him to his ends and goals that is to live to his praise here and then join him in the world to come are you a believer that's what I mean by the term if not my dear friend

50:58 these sweet choice morsels that feed the hearts of God's people are not for you but they can be yours even here this morning if you believe on the Lord Jesus the subject of this part of the text is the power of God the description of the power exceeding great in itself effectual in its might the recipients are believers the measure is what was wrought in Christ let us continue to pray that God will open up to us something of the richness of this portion of his truth in the weeks ahead and that Christ himself shall become more precious to our hearts than he has ever been let us pray