I have been enjoying this Study, learning different principles, and really getting into
the Word. So hopefully, Lord willing, you will benefit as much as I do, because every time
we glean from the field of God’s Word, we can’t help but bring in a little
wheat. And that’s what we want to do, bring in a lot of wheat. So, if you have your
Bibles with you tonight, turn to Ephesians Chapter 1, verse 18.
Last week, we finished up with verse 17 where it says: "17 That the God of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation
in the knowledge of him:…" " And then, God goes on to complete that thought
in verse 18… or part of it, anyway. The apostle Paul was known for writing extremely
large paragraphs. So here we see the end of verse 17: "and revelation in the
knowledge of him:…" (and the question is why?) "…18 The eyes of your
understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and
what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints," Now, when we look at
verse 18, we see the word "eyes." Of course, that word "eyes" comes
from the Greek word, "ophthalmos", and lo and behold, you get the word
"ophthalmologist" from it, or "optometrist." So a lot of the medical
doctors get their titles from the Greek language. Well, let’s take a look at the word
"eyes" for a minute. When we talk about "eyes," we talk about eyes
that are set upon something –fixed upon something. They always say, as the old saying
[goes], "The eyes are the windows of the soul." And in a way, what you see can
really have an impact upon you. They say that when somebody views pornography, they say
[that] an actual chemical reaction takes place in the brain, and that you can remember
those pictures for years and years. Unfortunately, you know, when your eyes are focused on
something like that, you’re focusing on evil and focusing upon sinful things.
But I want us to look at the type of eyes a Christian needs to have. Turn with me with
Matthew Chapter 6, verses 22 and 23. We read: "22 The light of the body is the eye:
if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. 23 But if thine
eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in
thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! " And of course, when we look at verse
22, we see that the light of the body is the eye. So the eye is the eye gate. And the eye
allows us to see, allows us to read, allows us to evaluate. And it goes on to say, if your
eye be single – now, if you have a single eye— that single eye is focused upon
the Lord Jesus Christ, thou shalt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed upon
thee. [Isaiah 26:3: "Thou wilt
keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in
thee."] So we can talk about the eye as almost as a synonym for the mind, because my
eye will focus on what my mind tells it to focus on. And in verse 23, it says: "23
But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light
that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!"
Now, when we talk about unbelievers --people who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as
their personal Savior-- their eyes are dark and they cannot see, because their light is
darkness. And if you’ve ever been in a cave, I remember when I was out in Arizona in
1976, and we went to these caves out there… I forget which ones they were… but
they took us down maybe around a hundred feet. And that hundred feet took us into a level
of cave, and there were a lot of electrical lights and everything down there to guide us
in our path. But our guide said to us, "Alright, everybody, just stop right where you
are in your paths and just stand still." And what they did was they turned off the
lights completely. And when they turned off the lights, some lady got so frightened, it
was so dark, [and] you could cut it with a knife. I guess that’s the kind of darkness
that was over Egypt. It was thick. And some lady even screamed, and so they turned the
light on right away. But it was a definite experience to see how dark and no light coming
in… not even a pinhole of light coming in. But this is what the Bible speaks about
concerning if your eyes are darkened --or the light in you is darkness—then, you, as
an unbeliever, you cannot see the light until the Lord Jesus Christ opens your heart and
mind and qualifies you --THEN you can see the light and then you can see the True Gospel.
Then he goes on to say back in Ephesians 1:18: "…The eyes of your
understanding being enlightened;.." This word, "understanding" means
"to know fully" –to have a full understanding. So the light that comes into
our eyes is so we may have a full understanding of it. That’s a full understanding of
the Gospel. And then he goes on to say: "…The eyes of your understanding being
enlightened;.." --that means "made evident" or "brought to
light"-- "…that ye may know what is the hope of his calling,…"
--and this is what the LORD wants us to know. He wants the eyes of our understanding to be
enlightened --to be opened-- to be opened to that light, [so] that we’ll know what
the hope of his calling is. And of course, that word "hope" means that
there’s an expectation. Any time you have an expectation, there’s hope. And any
time you have hope, there’s an expectation. Or else, what else is hope beside that?
Now, what does the believer hope for? Well, the believer hopes for the full revealing of
what God has for us.
Now, remember that we already saw already that we received the pledge. Last week, we
talked a little bit about it, that we received the down payment or the pledge, which is
the Holy Spirit. And He is the One that indwells us for all eternity, and right there, He
is our down payment. A matter of fact, God even says to Abram, ‘I am thy exceeding
great reward.’ I believe it’s in Genesis 15:1 where He gives that promise to
Abram. [Genesis 15:1 – "After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram
in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great
reward."] And as a result, we can begin to understand the Scriptures, we can see God
in the light, we can even appreciate His creation much more than those who do not know the
Lord Jesus Christ. What they see when they look at the stars and they say, "Oh,
it’s ten billion years old. It just started with the Big Bang." Oh, where did
the materials come from that created the Big Bang? So you know, a lot of questions go
unanswered, because if they have to answer them, their case would fall apart, especially
the evolutionists.
Then he goes on to say: "and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the
saints," Now, the word "riches" here, of course, obviously means
"wealth" or "abundance" of the glory of his inheritance. Now,
let’s take a look at that word "glory" for a moment. Turn with me to 2
Corinthians 4:17. And we got a passage here that’s linked with another passage that
speaks about the times on earth that we have as troublesome. It says here: "For our
light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory;" And it’s a fullness of glory. It’s a full weight.
You know, we are, in this world, under so much weight, so much pressures. And it’s
like a BIG weight coming down upon us, but God says a weight of His glory is going to
overshadow us. It’s going to be an eternal weight, but that’s going to be a
weight that we’re not going to feel –we’re going to enjoy. Remember when
Peter, James, and John were on the Mount of Transfiguration with the Lord Jesus? There was
that shekinah glory that came down and overshadowed the Lord Jesus Christ, and Peter
didn’t even know what to say, you know. Many times you read in the Scriptures and
Peter answered and said, but as Dr. Cook used to say, "Who asked him?"
But the eternal weight of glory is going to be glory that we cannot even understand
right now, because the full revealing of what God has for the believer will not be
unfolded until eternity, because there’s so much. Even the Lord has even chosen to
limit Himself on this earth with the different things that He’s doing. But in the
ages to come, as we saw, in Ephesians 2:7 when we referenced that verse last week,
He’s going to reveal all these things to us. Remember, we’re talking about God
who is absolutely infinite. He’s not bound by time, He’s not bound by
limitations, [and] He’s not bound by anything. --Not bound by anything that WE are
bound by. And we who are accustomed to time, it’s quite interesting because if you
ever sit down and try to understand eternity and the fact that God had no beginning…
we are used to having a beginning, but when we talk about having a beginning, and then
compare it to God having NO beginning, having always existed, we cannot even figure it
out, it boggles our minds. Our gray matter turns red trying to think about something like
that. But the full import of that statement of the glory of His inheritance will not be
comprehended until we are in glory.
Now, this verse seems also to be stating in Ephesians 1:18 that the inheritance of the
glorified saints will be God’s –God’s inheritance. And we find a verse in
Ephesians Chapter 5, verse 27. And when the church is finally presented to the Father by
the Lord Jesus Christ, in all its glory, the church will be God’s inheritance. So we
read in Ephesians 5, verse 27: "That he might present it to himself a glorious
church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and
without blemish." And of course, when the Lord Jesus Christ went to the Cross and
paid for every last sin of everyone of His elect on this earth, that is exactly how we are
presented before God: Having not spot or even a wrinkle… not even a wrinkle! I mean,
you have a nice, fully pressed suit and all of a sudden, there’s a tiny little
wrinkle in it. Well, you know something, our sins are gone. God has forgotten. He’s
forgiven. I believe it’s Isaiah 38:17 where He has said that He has cast all my sins
behind His back. [Isaiah 38:17 KJV: "Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but
thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast
all my sins behind thy back."]. [If] you can find the back of God, do you realize you
can find my sins? Well, I’ll tell you, you can’t find the back of God, because
the Bible always talks about God’s eyes. God’s eyes are on the believers, and He
sees them. And He’s NOT going to allow you to go fishing for those sins, because they
are gone. That’s one of the essences of the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So, let’s go back to Ephesians Chapter 1 and look at verse 19. And the Bible says
in Ephesians 1:19: "And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who
believe, according to the working of his mighty power," Okay, so we see some words
here that we have to define, because we have to understand [them] when we talk about the
greatness of God’s power. The first word is "exceeding," and that word
"exceeding," of course, means "above and beyond" what we can fathom.
We can’t even begin to --like I said before-- understand what God has for us.
It’s impossible for us to know. And it says EXCEEDING above and beyond what we can
understand.
Turn with me to Ephesians Chapter 3, verse 20. And we get a little inkling of what this
means: "Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or
think, according to the power that worketh in us," And Ephesians 1:19 talks about
that power that works in us. Isn’t that interesting? –The power that God has
given the believer? And what do we do with it? We do absolutely nothing. You know, God has
given us spiritual gifts and each of us have a responsibility to find a ministry that God
has given us. Now it’s alright to band together and send forth the Gospel. But
I’ll tell you something, if you’re sitting around writing checks to a ministry,
and that’s the ONLY thing you’re doing, your Christian life is going to be a
failure. You’re going to be frustrated, because you’re NOT doing what God has
empowered you to do.
So let’s go on. It says Ephesians 3:20: "Now unto him that is able to do
exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think,…" --Now, when we go to the
LORD, we ASK. And we ask according to our finite minds. But you know something? He does
ABOVE and beyond our finite minds, according to the power that worketh in us. And then He
says [Ephesians 3:21]: "Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout
all ages, world without end." Now, the world is going to come to an end, right? The
Bible even says that. Well, this phrase, "world without end" only appears twice
in the Bible. And of course, this means the continuing eternal life of the believer. And
that’s what he’s talking about here. But he’s saying God can do above
exceeding what we can even think of.
Okay, back to Ephesians Chapter 1, verse 19. Then the second word…–not only
exceeding-- not only above and beyond what we can think or fathom or pray… you know
how our puny prayers are when we contrast them with the greatness of God? You know, in
Genesis 1:16, there’s a phrase that I love to look at when times get rough, or when I
think that things have hit bottom. Five words: "…he made the stars also." I
mean, could you imagine if you made the stars… I mean, you would be, "Look at
this creation! Look at the stars! LOOK at that vast universe!" And the Bible looks at
and just says, "…he made the stars also." – Greatness! Above and
beyond what we can think! You see, we look at the universe through binoculars, or
telescopes, and we say it’s absolutely an UNFATHOMABLE thing! And it’s true. We
can’t figure out the universe. If there’s an end to the universe, then
what’s on the other side of that end? You see, you can’t have an end without a
beginning. That’s a principle. You can’t have an end without a beginning. But it
says here, and what is the exceeding greatness… immeasurable greatness of divine
power. And this is what this is: IMMEASURABLE! --when we look at "…he made the
stars also." It’s almost just like five words in Genesis 1:16 that we look at,
and we just marvel at it. You know, to us the universe is great. To God, it’s just
something that He just threw together because of His vast power. Could you imagine what
the new heavens and the new earth [are] going to look like?
Now he goes on to say [Ephesians 1:19]: "And what is the exceeding greatness of his
power…" --that’s His might or ability. You know, I remember in the movie,
The Ten Commandments, when the first time Charlton Heston playing Moses went to Pharaoh,
and he cast the staff before Pharaoh, and it turned into a snake, and Jambres and Jannes
–the two High Priests (of course, that’s written in Jude where they say they
opposed Moses)—threw theirs down, and turned into a snake, but Moses’ snake ate
theirs. And then Yul Brynner as Pharaoh gets up and says, "Bear your staff before
your idle people and have them make bricks without straw." And then they said,
"How can we make bricks without straw? Let his staff provide them." And Moses
went back to the people, and they found out, and they were ready to stone him as a false
prophet. And then all of a sudden, Moses says, "I’ve made a mockery of
God’s power" –because he was thinking in human terms. You see, you CANNOT
think in human terms when you think about the LORD. He’s above us, He’s beyond
us, His abilities are immeasurable!
Now, there are many times we ask for something, we say, "LORD, can I have this one
little thing? Can I do this? Can you bring this into my life?" –or something
like that. Unfortunately, you know, our prayers are very puny compared to the greatness of
our God. It was that… oh, who was that fellow in England that used to pray? …and
he never used to tell anybody his prayers. He ran the orphanage. His name escapes me now.
And what he did was he would pray and the food would show up in front of the house. Now,
[there’s] no such thing as coincidence in the kingdom of God. It’s a
God-incident. It’s a God-incident in the kingdom. But you see, [it’s] God’s
might or ability. I may think of his name, or maybe one of you can think of his name and
put it up here. He prayed for fifty years for one of his friends to become saved. And the
guy got saved at his funeral. George Muller, that’s the one. George Muller. He prayed
FIFTY years for one of his friends to become saved, and as a result, he got saved at
George Muller’s funeral.
Okay, so let’s go on in Ephesians 1:19. Let’s continue on in this verse. We
see how this verse opens up. This is one of those most potent verses in Ephesians Chapter
1: "And what is the exceeding greatness of his power (or his might or ability) to
us-ward who believe, according to the working…" --And that word
"working" there is the energy of the working of divine power, and his divine
power is EXTREMELY filled with energy! You can tell because this world is still alive.
This earth is still living. Volcanoes, tornadoes, everything, the energy, we see all of
this. These things just don’t happen. God has EVERYTHING under control. God plans the
path of the tornado, as well as the path of the hurricane. Nothing on this earth is ever
outside of God’s divine planning.
But the energy of working of the divine power is not necessarily just tornadoes and
hurricanes. [Instead], that power is the indwelling Holy Spirit --the power that works in
us. And then he tells us… he goes on: "...the working… (the energy of the
divine power --in verse 19) ...of his mighty power." That word is "kratos"
--that’s sort of like a bulldozer-type. It’s a strength, or it’s a
dominion, or it’s an authoritative might. And God can just speak. He spoke the world
into existence. He spoke the Red Sea to part. All of this He spoke into existence. Could
you imagine if He moved His Hand to do something? Our God is a great God. He’s beyond
what we can ever think. But you know, there’s one thing we can count on. ALL the
power of God is directed AT and FOR the believer. You see, there’s a principle here.
Verse 19 doesn’t exist just to show us that God has power, but He shows us in one
little word. You see the word "power"? –and then it goes on to say
"…to us-ward who believe…" You see, the power of God is directed to,
at, and for the believer. And He EMPOWERS the believer for the task that He assigns to
each one. Every believer, as I said before, has spiritual gifts. And spiritual gifts are
to be used. You might have one [who] might have the gift of mercy. One may have the gift
of organization. One may have the gift of teaching. But whatever gift God has given, He
backs it up with all the strength and power above and beyond what we can even think!
Who would even think years ago –just ten years ago—that something like PalTalk
would take place? Or the internet? It was just word of mouth almost ten years ago. You had
just radio and shortwave, and that was it. And satellites came in, and then satellites
have just dominated the world completely. And now we’ve got satellites for
everything. And now there’s NO place on earth, which can’t find the Gospel.
There’s no place on earth hidden from the Gospel anymore. But we, as individual
believers –He may set a desire in our hearts to go to the mission field, and
He’ll empower the believer. The last church I was tossed out of some missionaries
came, and one of their children was nine years old, and they went to the Ivory Coast. And
I said to the girl, "Well, you know, what kind of foods do they have at the Ivory
Coast?" She said, "Oh, you know what one of my favorite foods is?" I said,
"What is it?" Here I’m expecting, you know, steak or something like that.
"It’s turtle heart!" I said, "Excuse me? Turtle heart?" {Uhhh.}
Missionaries are especially called people. I tell you one thing, I would have trouble
going to eat turtle heart. I don’t even eat turtle soup, I couldn’t even eat a
rabbit. But anyway, God will empower the believer for every task that He assigns. Now,
some people might say, "You know, I don’t have any spiritual gifts." Oh,
not so, my friend. The key is you just haven’t uncovered it yet. Once you uncover
your spiritual gifts, then you will know at what parameters that God would have you to
work in. Then you’ll know. And you won’t have to worry of being frustrated that
you’re not doing your part in sending forth the Gospel.
Okay, let’s go on to Ephesians Chapter 1, verse 20, where he says: "Which he
wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in
the heavenly places," Now, when we look at this word here –the word
"wrought" means either "work" or "accomplish," okay.
Here’s another verse that tells us that He worked –God worked, God accomplished
in Christ. And we are in Christ. And as a result of being IN Christ, WE are recipients or
[an] inheritance. As a matter of fact, the name of this room is the Scion of Zion Internet
Classroom. A "scion" means one who inherits, like a descendent. And of course,
"Zion" is a biblical term for the body of believers. So we are an inheritors in
the body of the believers.,. and have an inheritance in the kingdom of God. So we see that
the mighty power that God worked is wrought in Christ. And the power is always IN Christ.
This is why religion will always remain shallow and dead, because you cannot please God by
doing rituals, sacrifices, candles, singing certain hymns, or singing in the choir,
serving on the board… you know, all of this stuff is all religion. It’s shallow
and dead. And this is why when the Lord Jesus Christ first came on the scene in the time
around 29 A.D., when He first made His appearance, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and
the Herodians, all hated his GUTS, because He was preaching with authority.
And if you go into a church and you preach the Bible with authority, you might not get
asked back. But I’ll tell you this, there are some people in the church who will be
glad to hear. I remember once back in 1995, I had preached a message on giving –that
it’s one of the most dynamic Christian ministries. And I’m talking about simply
giving money to fund missions or whatever. And when I got done speaking, a lady got up and
she said, "Praise God, Amen! We needed to hear that." You see? She was hearing
things on a spiritual level. Giving… something as simple as giving. And she was happy
to hear a sermon on that, because it was spoken from the Scriptures and spoken with
authority. Now maybe the other people who were sitting there, did not want to hear it,
because they’re probably sitting on their wallets, you know. And some people sit on
their wallets, and they’re TALLER when they sit down. I had a friend once who I used
to bunk at a place called America’s Keswick many years ago. Whenever they pass the
collection plate around, I used to watch him thumb through his wallet. He would always
come up with two one-dollar bills. You know he didn’t have the gift of giving and he
wasn’t giving according to the wealth that God gave him.
But when we speak with the authority of the Scriptures, and when we give a message
–a sermon. Now, the word "sermon" –this comes from a word, which means
"to communicate." It doesn’t mean you stand in a pulpit. When you give
somebody a little counsel, you could be preaching them a sermon. Preaching just means
"proclaiming" –"proclamation." Proclaim or preach the Word.
Doesn’t mean you have to stand behind an official pulpit. But we speak in the
strength and the power of the LORD that works in us, as we saw in verse 19.
Now, back to [Ephesians 1] verse 20. I threw all that in for free. In verse 20:
"Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead,…" Now, the
resurrection of Christ was the greatest use of God’s power. And I say this for one
reason, because it overcame the greatest enemy of physical man… that was death. Okay
now, through the resurrection came the proof of eternal life. Through the resurrection
came the proof of eternal life. That doesn’t mean we’re going to live here in
the flesh. And that resurrection has an extremely spiritual meaning for us. And that
spiritual meaning is very simple. God also raises the unbeliever from the dead to become
the living elect. You and I were once spiritually dead. We were dead. We didn’t know
anything about God. We didn’t want to know anything about God. We walked away from
Him, we were too busy being out there in the world, we were enjoying ourselves. We
didn’t want anything to do with God. And now this idea that God is a gentlemen that
we hear in free-will churches, that He won’t go where He’s not wanted? Let me
tell you something. That’s a lie. God will always go where He isn’t wanted. If
all of you who are listening to my voice right now are saved, before you were saved, you
didn’t want Him. And He went into your life and He went where He wasn’t wanted.
But you know something? Now we don’t want Him to leave. We want Him to stay right
where He is --indwelling us, indwelling our hearts, indwelling us with the power, the Holy
Spirit.
Then he goes on to say [in] the second part of that verse, it says: "…when he
raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,"
Now, keep in mind that this verse does not speak of Christ as God being set in heavenly
places, because Christ never ceased to be God. Even when He was here on earth, He always
was God. Now this speaks of Him in a different tone. And it speaks of Him completing the
task, which He came to earth to finish… namely, the completion of God’s
salvation plan on behalf of the elect. That’s why He was set at His own right hand in
the heavenly places. And Christ, right now, holds the exalted position at the right hand
of God.
Now, turn with me to Matthew Chapter 26, verse 64. It’s also something interesting
too when you think about Christ being at the right hand of God. Do you remember --I think
it was James or John--their mother came to Jesus and said, ‘I have a request.’
And he said, ‘What would you like me to do for you?’ He said, ‘When you
come into your kingdom (and of course, Christ’s kingdom is heaven, it’s a
spiritual kingdom) – will you put one of my sons on your left and one on your right.
In other words, she was trying to get them into a good position. But isn’t it
interesting? If one of them would’ve been on the LORD’s left hand, that means,
one of them would’ve been at the right hand of God. And so therefore, that right hand
of God belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. That right hand of power belongs to the Lord
Jesus Christ.
So in Matthew 26:64, we read this: "Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said:
nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right
hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven." So when he talks about setting
Him at His own right hand, He’s talking about the Lord Jesus Christ completing the
task and sitting on the right hand of power –the right hand of God the Father
Himself. This is also evident in Philippians Chapter 2, verse 9. And when we read this
verse, we read not only that He is exalted at the right hand of power. Not only has He
completed the task of salvation, but Philippians 2:9 says: "Wherefore God also hath
highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:" Not above some
names, not above a few names, [but] above EVERY single name on earth. And these people
that try to equate Him with Buddha, with Sun Myung Moon, with Confucius –especially
with the New Age Movement when they begin to start saying that Christ is on the Seventh
Plane along with the others, and they’re up there ascended spiritual masters. No, the
Bible says in Philippians 2:9 that He has a name which is above every name. Not only is
His name exalted, but look at some of the names that He does have: Saviour. Just look at
that one name: Saviour. What other religion in this world, whether contemporary or past,
has ever had anyone that has died intentionally for their cause? Now I can’t think of
any. No one dared… none of these so-called religious leaders would ever come down
from their ivory tower and be willing to be willing to be scourged, willing to go through
torture and to die for their cause. None of them.
So when we talk about the name of Christ, [we talk about] the name Saviour, which is
above every name. You see, you have names like ‘teacher,’ "leader’
–but when it comes to the Lord Jesus Christ, the name is God, Eternal Father. What
does it say in Isaiah Chapter 9, verse 6 and in some of those particular names? In Isaiah
9:6, what prophecy do we read? -- "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is
given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder:…" --the government, the
government of the world, the government of the universe, the eternal government shall be
upon His shoulder-- "…and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The
mighty God,…" --what religious leader is ever called ‘The mighty God’?
Not one.-- "…The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." Of course, it
was in 1990 when some of the so-called Christian leaders wanted to crown the Pope
‘prince of peace.’ There’s a society in California called ‘The Prince
of Peace Society,’ and this was right before the Gulf War broke out. And these people
--guys like Billy Graham wanted to be there (of course, you know, he’s another vassal
of Rome), Harold Breddisen, Jack van Impe-- they all wanted get on the bandwagon and
declare the Pope the ‘prince of peace.’ I shudder. I won’t give a nickel to
these ministries, because they’re in bed with everybody else. They’re
ecumenical, they’re devious, they’re evil, because their leaders are playing
games. You know, this is just personal, but I really don’t like the fact that when
the news media --or even on the Christian radio-- when they say these are our Christian
leaders. These aren’t Christian leaders… These are Christian bootlickers! --who
have chosen to lick Satan’s sandals to get ahead in this world! They’re not
leaders… They’re followers! They’re anti-Christs! And that’s just
something personal with me, but that’s the way I see these people.
Now, let’s go on to Ephesians, Chapter 1, verse 21. And we’ll end up the study
there tonight. And the Bible says in Ephesians 1:21: "Far above all principality, and
power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but
also in that which is to come:" Far above all principality. The word
"principality" there is the word "arche" in the Greek. And it means
"chief" or "rule" or "authority." So as I’ve said
before, He’s above every rule, and above every authority. And some people live by
their creeds and confessions --He’s above that authority. Some people have their
church dogmas-- He’s above that authority. He’s above every rule that is made
up. He’s above every chief. And it says every "power." And that word
"power" means "authority." He’s above every authority and might.
He’s over everything that has ability… every one that has any abilities. You see
some silver-tongued preachers, they know how to get their audiences going. Just look at
some of these charismatic preachers on TV. They know how to get their audiences going. But
He’s FAR above them, far above those abilities.
And then He says, "and dominion," and that means "lordship" or
"master." In other words, what we’re talking about here –and you can
take this to the eternal bank— the absolute, authoritative rule of God, there is no
one higher in the universe or in heaven than Christ Himself, because He is God. And ALL
the chief princes of hell are still under God’s authority. When He walked the dusty
roads of Palestine, the demons looked at Him and said, ‘I know WHO you are!’ and
He said, ‘Hush. Quiet.’ And you know why He told those demons to be quiet? He
will not have His testimony coming from hell. The testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ [is]
going to come from His people alone. And it’s going to come from heaven, NOT from
hell. And that’s why He commanded the demons to be quiet and not to speak, because He
wasn’t going to be adulated by evil… because that would look like He would be
involved with it. But He’s going to judge that evil on the last day, and it shall be
cast away. So all the chief princes –everybody— is under God’s authority.
The chief princes of hell and us. There’s NO ONE higher in the universe than heaven
and Christ Himself, because He IS God!
I tell you, these people that walk around work using the name of Christ in vain, every
second word. I work with people like that. Every second word, they don’t understand
Who they’re playing with. And you tell them, they still don’t care. Hey, but you
know, there by the grace of God go I, because I had a filthy mouth on me too, before I
became a Christian. So anyway, we’ll end it there tonight. Not on my dirty
mouth… on Ephesians 1:21.
And LORD willing, we’ll start in
Ephesians Chapter 1, verses 22 and 23, [which] continues talking about this fantastic
above and beyond testimony of who the Lord Jesus Christ is. And you know, when you look at
all of this stuff, and you begin to assess this, and the fact that you are IN Christ
–Oh! I feel so bad for people who sit in churches day after day, after Sunday, after
Sunday, after Sunday… and listen to preachers-- just talking about hell, just talking
about gloom and doom! And it’s a pity, because there’s so much in Christianity
for the believer: What God has done FOR us, what God does THROUGH us, what He does FOR us,
what He does TO us. It’s beyond our comprehension. Absolutely beyond our
comprehension! And this is the type of God we serve. And when somebody turns around and
cannot understand when they should dissect these verses to see EXACTLY what God has done
for us, they wouldn’t be walking around with the long faces they are, because what is
the exceeding greatness of His power? –It’s to us. To US who believe. And of
course, we believe because God caused us to believe. He went where He wasn’t wanted.
And now we thank Him that He goes where He’s not wanted… to pray to bring the
other elect, until the last one is saved. And then comes the end.
Our Father, we thank You this evening that
we’re able to gain some insight and understanding of the testimony of the
unfathomable power of the Lord Jesus Christ: Who He really is, the greatness that
He’s exalted, and the energy, the might, the exceeding, the immeasurable greatness of
His divine power! Father, we just thank You so much for giving us the Scriptures that we
can go THROUGH the Scriptures and come to a greater understanding of Who the Lord Jesus
Christ is. And Father, we just thank You, we love You, and we praise You, in Jesus’
most precious Name, Amen.