WEBVTT 00:00:02.640 --> 00:00:08.720 So we're in this wonderful series, uh Paul's letter to the Ephesians, and we're calling the series in Christ. 00:00:08.720 --> 00:00:15.759 And as you if you've been here, you know, uh we've been looking at Paul's great prayer in uh Ephesians chapter 1. 00:00:15.759 --> 00:00:24.800 It's in verse 15 through 23, that our eyes, our spiritual eyes, might be enlightened, enlightened, and by the Holy Spirit. 00:00:24.800 --> 00:00:42.799 That the Holy Spirit does that, and what we want uh is uh what he wants is to have us know the implications of that so that we uh will understand what he said in his prayer, that we would understand and know his call, the wealth we have in him, and then the power that's available to us in Christ. 00:00:42.799 --> 00:00:45.359 And so we're gonna talk about the latter of these today. 00:00:45.359 --> 00:00:52.240 The words of chapter two uh are really directly connected to this Paul to Paul's prayer request in chapter one. 00:00:52.240 --> 00:00:55.280 So I want us to kind of connect the dots there. 00:00:55.280 --> 00:01:03.039 And uh, what Paul wants to show us in uh we're gonna look at chapter two, verses one through nine if you want to get your scriptures ready there. 00:01:03.039 --> 00:01:15.840 Paul wants us to pay attention to how he paints this vivid portrait, this vivid contrast between what we were, what we were by nature, and what we are now by grace. 00:01:15.840 --> 00:01:20.079 And it's such an important thing, and it's really foundational for the rest of the letter. 00:01:20.079 --> 00:01:25.359 You have to get this before you can really get what he's talking about in chapters four through six. 00:01:25.359 --> 00:01:30.959 So let's uh let's begin and look at chapter two, verses one through nine, and let's read it together this morning. 00:01:30.959 --> 00:02:02.319 It says there, and you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. 00:02:02.319 --> 00:02:12.719 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead and our trespasses made us alive together with Christ. 00:02:12.719 --> 00:02:30.639 By grace you have been saved, and raised up with him, raised us up with him, and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 00:02:30.639 --> 00:02:34.080 For by grace you have been saved through faith. 00:02:34.080 --> 00:02:42.240 And this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 00:02:42.240 --> 00:02:47.039 Father, we're grateful that you are already at work here today. 00:02:47.039 --> 00:02:55.039 And we just pray that today, as your word is spoken and given out, we pray that it's clear and unmistakable what you want it to achieve. 00:02:55.039 --> 00:02:57.680 We pray that the purpose will achieve that, Lord. 00:02:57.680 --> 00:02:59.680 We hope and pray, Lord. 00:02:59.680 --> 00:03:07.919 We ask, Holy Spirit, that you would break down barriers, uh, open eyes, and give us clarity to what you want us to say. 00:03:07.919 --> 00:03:09.520 Lord, move in this place today. 00:03:09.520 --> 00:03:11.840 We ask it in the name of Jesus. 00:03:11.840 --> 00:03:12.800 Amen. 00:03:12.800 --> 00:03:18.400 So the the theme of chapter two is really this one word, it's power. 00:03:18.400 --> 00:03:19.439 It's power. 00:03:19.439 --> 00:03:26.719 So I want you to listen and kind of give you a little bit of context before we get into this, uh, to this part of Paul's prayer, which comes out of chapter one. 00:03:26.719 --> 00:03:31.759 He says there in chapter one, he says, I pray that you may comprehend. 00:03:31.759 --> 00:03:35.840 It's kind of this conscious, have this conscious awareness of this. 00:03:35.840 --> 00:03:36.879 And what is it? 00:03:36.879 --> 00:03:42.000 What is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe? 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:44.960 His immeasurable power toward us who believe. 00:03:44.960 --> 00:03:58.319 You know, last week I was driving down Kingston Pike, and uh I was kind of in the right lane, and there was a guy uh that was moved over and he got into the fast lane and he piled up all the cars behind him. 00:03:58.319 --> 00:04:03.199 And uh so he was driving really, really slowly, and I thought, okay, what's going on? 00:04:03.199 --> 00:04:14.000 And it looks like he was driving an Italian sports car, and he was like 20 miles below the speed limit, and uh looked a little bit closer and it said on the back the brand of the car at Maserati. 00:04:14.000 --> 00:04:16.240 And I thought, wow. 00:04:16.240 --> 00:04:21.199 And I wanted to pull up beside him and go with kind of say, friend, do you know what you're driving? 00:04:21.199 --> 00:04:27.040 You know, it's like there's a lot of power there that if you you just like could use if you would. 00:04:27.040 --> 00:04:32.720 And I just thought, you know, for us as believers, that's a lot of times the way we are as believers. 00:04:32.720 --> 00:04:39.439 We have little to no um, I guess, comprehension, comprehension of what's under the hood for us. 00:04:39.439 --> 00:04:42.959 Uh for and I'm talking spiritually, you know. 00:04:42.959 --> 00:04:58.399 Um Paul tells us that this power he's talking about in chapter one is the same power that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places. 00:04:58.399 --> 00:05:04.959 So this this power is about the power in chapter one that that God worked in Christ. 00:05:04.959 --> 00:05:11.199 And now he's in chapter two, and he's talking about the power that he's working in us. 00:05:11.199 --> 00:05:13.519 And he says it's the same, same power. 00:05:13.519 --> 00:05:14.879 Isn't that extraordinary? 00:05:14.879 --> 00:05:20.800 If we could comprehend this and capture this, we would see differences in our Christian life. 00:05:20.800 --> 00:05:27.120 Paul knew this himself, and uh the reality of this power was it was something for him. 00:05:27.120 --> 00:05:28.480 He he let me give you a few verses. 00:05:28.480 --> 00:05:38.079 Romans 15, 18 and 90, 19, he says, I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me. 00:05:38.079 --> 00:05:45.360 By word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God. 00:05:45.360 --> 00:05:47.519 This was Paul's experience. 00:05:47.519 --> 00:05:49.360 1 Thessalonians 1:5. 00:05:49.360 --> 00:05:59.519 He says, Our gospel came to you, Thessalonians, not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. 00:05:59.519 --> 00:06:08.639 And so what we want as a church is not just to be a word church, we want to be a spirit church with the power of God evident in our midst and in our personal lives. 00:06:08.639 --> 00:06:09.759 Let me give you one more. 00:06:09.759 --> 00:06:20.720 In Philippians 3, verse 10, he affirms this his continuing desire, Paul does, to, he says, know Christ and the power of his resurrection. 00:06:20.720 --> 00:06:30.000 He says, I press on to make it, this full knowledge of Jesus Christ, to make it my own. 00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:31.600 Is that the way you think? 00:06:31.600 --> 00:06:35.279 To make what God has made available to you your own? 00:06:35.279 --> 00:06:39.439 Because Christ, he says, Christ Jesus has made me his own. 00:06:39.439 --> 00:06:46.319 See, Christ gave the power, and it's our the thing that we have to do is receive it. 00:06:46.319 --> 00:06:49.360 And uh it wasn't Paul's power, it's not our power. 00:06:49.360 --> 00:06:52.639 This is the power of Jesus Christ that's made available to us. 00:06:52.639 --> 00:06:59.279 And the question is then, how can we walk in the full reality of what is ours in Christ? 00:06:59.279 --> 00:07:00.480 Specifically this. 00:07:00.480 --> 00:07:12.800 And what Paul does to show us this in chapter two is he wants to see this um contrast, as I said, between what we were by nature and what we are now by grace. 00:07:12.800 --> 00:07:14.319 Such a powerful passage. 00:07:14.319 --> 00:07:20.399 And Paul highlights really how bad it was for us and how good it is through God. 00:07:20.399 --> 00:07:21.839 Let's look at it. 00:07:21.839 --> 00:07:28.879 And I just will say this this is so important because we have to know where we're where we were in order to know where we're going. 00:07:28.879 --> 00:07:32.800 We have to know where we came from to know where he wants us to be. 00:07:32.800 --> 00:07:38.800 And so, Paul in these verses intends to show us how bad things really were for us. 00:07:38.800 --> 00:07:47.360 So when we hear somebody say, Well, I got saved, um, sometimes we don't know how deeply we were lost. 00:07:47.360 --> 00:07:49.839 And uh we need to understand that. 00:07:49.839 --> 00:07:54.000 And, you know, I don't know that all of us know that at the time. 00:07:54.000 --> 00:07:59.839 And God shows us by and by how sinful we are and how much he needs to work on us. 00:07:59.839 --> 00:08:03.040 And uh that's something he wants to do in us. 00:08:03.040 --> 00:08:04.959 And this is really an important note. 00:08:04.959 --> 00:08:06.639 This is everybody outside. 00:08:06.639 --> 00:08:10.399 This first thing I want to share is is everyone outside of Christ. 00:08:10.399 --> 00:08:17.600 And this is both for the readers, this is talking, he's talking to Christians here, but also the whole of humanity. 00:08:17.600 --> 00:08:19.600 Everybody, all of us. 00:08:19.600 --> 00:08:23.600 These are people without God and without hope in the world. 00:08:23.600 --> 00:08:37.279 So this is uh, as John Stott said, this is not a description of some particular decadent tribe or degraded segment of society or even of the extremely corrupt paganism of his day. 00:08:37.279 --> 00:08:43.360 This is the biblical diagnosis of fallen man in fallen society everywhere. 00:08:43.360 --> 00:08:45.200 So keep this in mind. 00:08:45.200 --> 00:08:47.919 And he describes this horrific condition in three ways. 00:08:47.919 --> 00:08:49.440 Let me just kind of give these to you. 00:08:49.440 --> 00:08:51.360 First, he says, we were dead. 00:08:51.360 --> 00:08:52.240 We were dead. 00:08:52.240 --> 00:08:57.360 He says, You were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked. 00:08:57.360 --> 00:08:59.600 And of course, he means spiritually dead. 00:08:59.600 --> 00:09:04.480 We know what it is to be physically dead, but do you know what it is to be spiritually dead? 00:09:04.480 --> 00:09:10.000 Before Christ, we exist in a state that has no connection whatsoever with God at all. 00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:11.200 There's a disconnect. 00:09:11.200 --> 00:09:18.240 And the Bible says, alienated from God in chapter 4, without God and as a result, without hope in the world. 00:09:18.240 --> 00:09:20.639 And the cause is, he tells us, is what? 00:09:20.639 --> 00:09:22.960 Trespasses and sins. 00:09:22.960 --> 00:09:32.799 And uh at one time we thought nothing of doing anything we want to, wanted to, doing what was what we felt right in our own eyes. 00:09:32.799 --> 00:09:38.639 And uh this is our lifestyle, and I would say maybe not our lifestyle, but our death style. 00:09:38.639 --> 00:09:40.399 This is the way we walked. 00:09:40.399 --> 00:09:41.919 And this is what Paul says. 00:09:41.919 --> 00:09:45.919 We were not only uh we were dead, but we were not only spiritually dead. 00:09:45.919 --> 00:09:47.039 He tells us something else. 00:09:47.039 --> 00:09:48.960 He says, we were enslaved. 00:09:48.960 --> 00:09:51.120 We were dead, and then we were enslaved. 00:09:51.120 --> 00:09:55.759 You know what we were before you knew Christ, you thought you had freedom. 00:09:55.759 --> 00:10:02.080 People think they have freedom when they are living their own life without Christ, and they say, Well, I'm I don't need Christ. 00:10:02.080 --> 00:10:02.960 I'm free. 00:10:02.960 --> 00:10:04.639 It's a false freedom. 00:10:04.639 --> 00:10:05.919 It's not a real freedom. 00:10:05.919 --> 00:10:10.639 Instead, there was only bondage to these forces that were outside of their control. 00:10:10.639 --> 00:10:18.399 And he mentions these three controlling influences that kept them in bondage, kept us in bondage, and they're familiar to us. 00:10:18.399 --> 00:10:21.279 They're the things that we say, the world, the flesh, the devil. 00:10:21.279 --> 00:10:22.879 He goes through these right here. 00:10:22.879 --> 00:10:23.919 Let's look at these. 00:10:23.919 --> 00:10:32.720 He says, We were enslaved, first of all, following the world system, following the course of this world, verse 2. 00:10:32.720 --> 00:10:36.159 That word course is uh is literally age. 00:10:36.159 --> 00:10:38.000 I own age. 00:10:38.000 --> 00:10:45.360 We might say following the uh the world order or really the spirit of the age. 00:10:45.360 --> 00:10:52.799 And you know, this this world has a way that it thinks, a way that it operates, and it's all anti-God, it's all contrary to God. 00:10:52.799 --> 00:10:54.879 He said, This is the way you thought too. 00:10:54.879 --> 00:10:56.559 This is the way you acted too. 00:10:56.559 --> 00:11:05.600 And then it's not only was a term of just the the attitude of the world, but it was also a term used for a personal deity in that day. 00:11:05.600 --> 00:11:13.919 People knew when they said, heard the word I own, they were talking about a spiritual force, a deity that was behind the world system. 00:11:13.919 --> 00:11:16.639 And uh this is kind of what Paul is getting at. 00:11:16.639 --> 00:11:20.879 Behind the world system are these unseen spiritual forces. 00:11:20.879 --> 00:11:26.879 And you may not know it, you certainly don't see it, and you may not even believe it, but Paul is talking about this. 00:11:26.879 --> 00:11:28.080 Is a reality. 00:11:28.080 --> 00:11:34.559 There is evil in the world, and behind the evil is a force that we don't see at work. 00:11:34.559 --> 00:11:44.799 And either way, at one time we were all swept up in the world's what we call his lies, the philosophies that are going on in the world. 00:11:44.799 --> 00:11:51.840 Uh think of uh the attitudes that the world has, the habits that it approves of, and the preferences. 00:11:51.840 --> 00:11:57.360 And he says, you all at one time gravitated to these things and were caught up in them. 00:11:57.360 --> 00:12:02.000 Uh this is the whole social value system which is anti-God in his ways. 00:12:02.000 --> 00:12:06.240 And you can see it right now, I think more clearly than ever. 00:12:06.240 --> 00:12:16.879 And what it does, it permeates, it dominates society and Christian, Christian, uh, non-Christian culture, and basically uh keeps people in bondage. 00:12:16.879 --> 00:12:18.480 And they don't even know it. 00:12:18.480 --> 00:12:20.960 He says, that's where you were at one time. 00:12:20.960 --> 00:12:28.159 And and listen, if you want a front seat to what I'm talking about, all you have to do is watch watch the uh meetings of Congress. 00:12:28.159 --> 00:12:40.639 I've never seen what it I've seen I'm seeing these days, and just the the the difference in the perspective is like, okay, well, that's some of that's dark stuff. 00:12:40.639 --> 00:12:51.759 Uh you you can watch and see the rote the riots and the protests that are going on around in our major cities across our nation, and what's often posted on social media. 00:12:51.759 --> 00:12:55.279 I mean, this is like a new day. 00:12:55.279 --> 00:13:06.240 And um but here's the thing, if you know the word of God and and you you really have it inside you, you will immediately see the world's false value system for what it is. 00:13:06.240 --> 00:13:09.279 You just need to be in the word of God. 00:13:09.279 --> 00:13:18.639 So those outside of Christ are not only enslaved to the world's system, they are, secondly, he says, captive to the devil. 00:13:18.639 --> 00:13:26.320 Verse 2, he says, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. 00:13:26.320 --> 00:13:27.759 That's an amazing statement. 00:13:27.759 --> 00:13:36.639 Those outside of Christ are motivated and and um energized by personal evil forces. 00:13:36.639 --> 00:13:40.480 Say, well, that's just kind of an attitude out there. 00:13:40.480 --> 00:13:42.960 No, these are these are spiritual forces, according to Paul. 00:13:42.960 --> 00:13:44.159 He calls it right here. 00:13:44.159 --> 00:13:45.440 He says the prince. 00:13:45.440 --> 00:13:57.600 And the prince here is clearly Satan, who's a real and powerful supernatural being who is ruler over a host of other evil forces, other spirit beings. 00:13:57.600 --> 00:14:00.159 And uh here we see this word, the spirit. 00:14:00.159 --> 00:14:05.120 It could refer to Satan, but the way this is written in Greek is it doesn't support that. 00:14:05.120 --> 00:14:12.639 It really speaks about that Satan is the ruling prince over all the other evil spirits. 00:14:12.639 --> 00:14:15.600 He's the ruler over that spirit. 00:14:15.600 --> 00:14:16.879 What is going on? 00:14:16.879 --> 00:14:19.600 What's so shocking, though, is what he says next. 00:14:19.600 --> 00:14:28.320 He says he clearly tells us that this spirit is working in, energizing the sons of disobedience. 00:14:28.320 --> 00:14:31.600 These are people characterized by disobedience. 00:14:31.600 --> 00:14:37.120 And we can just look out over the world and see and wonder what's motivating this person. 00:14:37.120 --> 00:14:48.960 I'm not saying every in every case, but there is all possibility that everything that you see is uh is potentially something God that the enemy is doing against God. 00:14:48.960 --> 00:15:04.480 So this this might be a personal evil spirit, or it could even be the attitude that's going on in the world today, an attitude or a worldview that is um planted by Satan and he's put it into the minds and hearts of people. 00:15:04.480 --> 00:15:06.559 And we see this in principle. 00:15:06.559 --> 00:15:07.840 I think this can't happen. 00:15:07.840 --> 00:15:20.720 2 Timothy 2, verse 26, where Paul says that he hopes such people might come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil after being captured by him to do his will. 00:15:20.720 --> 00:15:23.519 So you wonder why there's evil in the world sometimes? 00:15:23.519 --> 00:15:32.960 It's because the enemy is motivating and capturing the minds of people and actually pushing them to do the things and say the things that they do. 00:15:32.960 --> 00:15:34.879 It's astounding, really. 00:15:34.879 --> 00:15:45.440 And let me just add this to the to that that uh he can sometimes even capture or affect the minds of believers. 00:15:45.440 --> 00:15:52.080 He can plant thoughts in your head, but he can't know your thoughts. 00:15:52.080 --> 00:15:55.919 He can plant thoughts in your head, but he cannot know your thoughts. 00:15:55.919 --> 00:15:59.279 And for sure, we're not held captive to his will. 00:15:59.279 --> 00:16:05.519 We have a dis a choice, we have a power now that's different than we were before we knew Christ. 00:16:05.519 --> 00:16:13.679 He mentions this third controlling influence that we were all a slave to, and it's, he says, driven by the flesh. 00:16:13.679 --> 00:16:15.360 Driven by the flesh. 00:16:15.360 --> 00:16:20.000 And he's not talking about the uh, we when we think of the word flesh, we think of skin. 00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:23.360 He's not talking about the skin that covers your bones and muscles. 00:16:23.360 --> 00:16:26.960 No, he's talking about our fallen nature here. 00:16:26.960 --> 00:16:35.360 He says, Among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind. 00:16:35.360 --> 00:16:45.200 Now, what's amazing to me, when you look at Romans chapter 1, it talks about in the things that are going on in that passage in Romans the decline of civilization. 00:16:45.200 --> 00:16:51.120 One of the things he says, having lost all sense of reason. 00:16:51.120 --> 00:16:58.159 And if you listen close enough, some of the things that are being said just don't make any sense. 00:16:58.159 --> 00:16:59.919 In fact, they're illogical. 00:16:59.919 --> 00:17:01.519 So, where does this come from? 00:17:01.519 --> 00:17:05.839 How could anyone be so um crazy? 00:17:05.839 --> 00:17:08.799 But this is what sin does. 00:17:08.799 --> 00:17:22.480 Sin makes us not think correctly, it makes us not able to uh think clearly and logically about reality, and it pushes away, it suppresses the knowledge of God. 00:17:22.480 --> 00:17:24.240 That's what Romans 1 tells us. 00:17:24.240 --> 00:17:32.640 So I want you to give you that, give this so you'll remember what Paul says we once were and what we see around us right now, it's a reality. 00:17:32.640 --> 00:17:38.160 So Paul says, remember, remember how bad it was for all of us outside Christ. 00:17:38.160 --> 00:17:44.799 We were dead, we were enslaved, but worst of all, and he brings us to this last one, we were condemned. 00:17:44.799 --> 00:17:45.680 We were condemned. 00:17:45.680 --> 00:17:51.759 And he says, by nature, children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 00:17:51.759 --> 00:17:53.519 You know, I got to think about this. 00:17:53.519 --> 00:17:56.240 There's not a lot of people who like to hear that. 00:17:56.240 --> 00:18:01.279 People don't want to hear, they want to hear that God's a God of love. 00:18:01.279 --> 00:18:04.000 I don't want to hear that he's a God of wrath. 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:08.720 And so we have people who want a God of their own making. 00:18:08.720 --> 00:18:12.319 See, God's wrath, though, is not like ours. 00:18:12.319 --> 00:18:16.079 God, he's not a God who has a sudden outburst of anger. 00:18:16.079 --> 00:18:24.720 He's not a God who holds holds grudges, he's not uh vindictive, he doesn't fly off the handle, and he doesn't hold a grudge. 00:18:24.720 --> 00:18:27.119 No, here's what God's wrath is. 00:18:27.119 --> 00:18:28.240 So understand this. 00:18:28.240 --> 00:18:35.279 God's wrath is his constant and abiding anger and opposition to evil and sin. 00:18:35.279 --> 00:18:37.119 It's his nature. 00:18:37.119 --> 00:18:44.480 And so, because we're all born with a sin nature, and sin is an offense to holy God, guess what? 00:18:44.480 --> 00:18:48.640 God, in order to be just must punish sin. 00:18:48.640 --> 00:18:51.839 Else he wouldn't be just, right? 00:18:51.839 --> 00:18:57.039 His wrath is both a current and a future reality. 00:18:57.039 --> 00:19:11.839 Again, Romans 1 says that God's wrath is be it's being revealed against all ungodliness, but the Bible also says there is also coming a future wrath that will fall on all who don't put their trust in Christ. 00:19:11.839 --> 00:19:23.200 So this idea of God's wrath is something we should embrace as a as a counterpart to God's love, and it balances out the nature of God, and it's the kind of God that we want to serve. 00:19:23.200 --> 00:19:29.440 So outside of Christ, everyone is under this penalty of death, right? 00:19:29.440 --> 00:19:30.960 Because why? 00:19:30.960 --> 00:19:31.680 Why? 00:19:31.680 --> 00:19:40.240 Because the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. 00:19:40.240 --> 00:19:41.599 It's Romans 6. 00:19:41.599 --> 00:19:46.000 So you and I, you and I are debtors because of sin, but guess what? 00:19:46.000 --> 00:19:49.920 Jesus paid our fine, he paid our way. 00:19:49.920 --> 00:19:52.319 And we have to remember that. 00:19:52.319 --> 00:19:53.839 Where do we come from? 00:19:53.839 --> 00:20:03.920 It makes all the difference about where He He is bringing us to remember that we were in a terrible place, a horrible place, a miserable existence. 00:20:03.920 --> 00:20:09.440 You know, if you're like me, I I was saved when I was a really I was eight years old. 00:20:09.440 --> 00:20:11.920 So I don't have a whole lot of history. 00:20:11.920 --> 00:20:17.759 I used to think that that was not a good thing, but that's the grace of God. 00:20:17.759 --> 00:20:25.279 Um but if you have a history, that's okay too, because if God has saved you, He's He has freed you from that, all of that. 00:20:25.279 --> 00:20:28.720 And we don't have to go back there and re-relive it over and over again. 00:20:28.720 --> 00:20:30.400 We're free in Christ. 00:20:30.400 --> 00:20:36.079 So he says in verse 4, but God. 00:20:36.079 --> 00:20:38.000 But God. 00:20:38.000 --> 00:20:44.720 You see, God, I was thinking, God doesn't, he couldn't and he wouldn't stay out of this. 00:20:44.720 --> 00:20:48.559 He looked at us and he wouldn't and couldn't stay out of it. 00:20:48.559 --> 00:20:50.160 Our horrible condition. 00:20:50.160 --> 00:21:00.480 He intervened and he sent his son Jesus, his own son, to come and die on a cross to take our penalty and our sin. 00:21:00.480 --> 00:21:06.400 And he brought all of us, his followers who follow him into a new reality. 00:21:06.400 --> 00:21:09.599 A new reality. 00:21:09.599 --> 00:21:10.960 Listen to these verses. 00:21:10.960 --> 00:21:25.519 He says in first, in Colossians 1, 13, he says, He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins. 00:21:25.519 --> 00:21:27.839 Ephesians 5. 00:21:27.839 --> 00:21:33.599 At one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. 00:21:33.599 --> 00:21:38.240 Boy, what a what a grand place to be when you've been living in darkness. 00:21:38.240 --> 00:21:51.279 You and he's talking about it in a sense of you lived in this realm that was controlled by the enemy, the world, and your own flesh, and you have been moved and transferred into the kingdom of God's beloved Son. 00:21:51.279 --> 00:21:53.039 It's a whole new place. 00:21:53.039 --> 00:21:59.119 And so we see what we are by nature, but now he let's look at what we can become by grace. 00:21:59.119 --> 00:22:01.200 Because it's grand, it's great. 00:22:01.200 --> 00:22:07.200 And this is his point here human beings by grace or the divine compassion. 00:22:07.200 --> 00:22:11.599 And notice, first of all, he says, what God has done. 00:22:11.599 --> 00:22:13.440 By grace you have been saved. 00:22:13.440 --> 00:22:15.279 He repeats that phrase twice. 00:22:15.279 --> 00:22:20.480 That word saved is in a verse, a verb tense that means it happened. 00:22:20.480 --> 00:22:24.799 You were saved, and the idea is that the results are continuing. 00:22:24.799 --> 00:22:30.079 So I'm going to just say, if you're afraid of losing your salvation, this tells you you cannot. 00:22:30.079 --> 00:22:39.599 If God has truly saved you, you are held in his hand and you're being brought to the end of your salvation when you come to meet Jesus. 00:22:39.599 --> 00:22:41.519 He's got you in his hand. 00:22:41.519 --> 00:22:46.319 He's saved you, he's rescued us, he has restored us. 00:22:46.319 --> 00:22:50.000 So as we prayed this morning, he's cured us and he has delivered us. 00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:52.960 All that's rolled into this idea of being saved. 00:22:52.960 --> 00:22:56.400 We were saved from the penalty of sin. 00:22:56.400 --> 00:22:59.039 That's our justification. 00:22:59.039 --> 00:23:01.359 We're saved from the power of sin. 00:23:01.359 --> 00:23:05.519 He's sanctifying us, he's making us now like Jesus. 00:23:05.519 --> 00:23:10.000 And one day, thank the Lord, we'll be saved from the very presence of sin. 00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:10.960 Glorified. 00:23:10.960 --> 00:23:12.240 Glorification. 00:23:12.240 --> 00:23:14.240 Isn't that right? 00:23:14.240 --> 00:23:15.599 Yeah, come on. 00:23:15.599 --> 00:23:20.559 So I want you to get this. 00:23:20.559 --> 00:23:24.319 He's telling us you can live in this reality. 00:23:24.319 --> 00:23:28.319 This is not just a mental idea that we hold in our heads. 00:23:28.319 --> 00:23:34.880 It's not some belief system that we go, yeah, I believe that, and then just go about our daily walk. 00:23:34.880 --> 00:23:37.200 He says, You can live in this. 00:23:37.200 --> 00:23:42.799 Again, connecting the dots from Paul's prayer. 00:23:42.799 --> 00:23:47.680 Jesus was dead, but God raised him and exalted him. 00:23:47.680 --> 00:23:50.160 You also were dead. 00:23:50.160 --> 00:23:54.319 But God raised and exalted you in Christ too. 00:23:54.319 --> 00:23:56.640 So, what are the implications of that? 00:23:56.640 --> 00:23:59.599 Three powerful realities that I want you to see this morning. 00:23:59.599 --> 00:24:01.920 This is where it gets, I want to make this practical. 00:24:01.920 --> 00:24:05.119 God, first of all, made us alive with Christ. 00:24:05.119 --> 00:24:07.119 He says this in verse 5. 00:24:07.119 --> 00:24:13.119 Even when we were dead and our trespasses made us alive together, together with Christ. 00:24:13.119 --> 00:24:16.079 This is not by yourself, this is with Christ. 00:24:16.079 --> 00:24:20.319 This speaks, first of all, of Jesus' resurrection, right? 00:24:20.319 --> 00:24:25.680 And uh, you know, there's a tendency to think, well, this is just mysticism. 00:24:25.680 --> 00:24:28.960 I don't really get this too touchy-feely, this I can't grab hold of this. 00:24:28.960 --> 00:24:29.839 Is mysticism. 00:24:29.839 --> 00:24:38.799 Well, this was not only for true true for Jesus, this is a spiritual reality for all of us who were in Christ, and we can know it by experience. 00:24:38.799 --> 00:24:44.160 To be made alive in Christ is to be made new. 00:24:44.160 --> 00:24:49.440 He says, we were we were created, we're new, new creations in Christ. 00:24:49.440 --> 00:24:54.000 So when you were made alive in Christ, you were given what? 00:24:54.000 --> 00:25:03.200 You were given new motives, new experiences, new abilities, new desires, uh, probably new friends. 00:25:03.200 --> 00:25:07.279 Um you all these you didn't have before. 00:25:07.279 --> 00:25:10.000 And you and you were given the Holy Spirit. 00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:14.240 In fact, you were even in your own, your own spirit was made new. 00:25:14.240 --> 00:25:17.039 Your human spirit was made brand new. 00:25:17.039 --> 00:25:22.640 Uh unfortunately, you know, we didn't we didn't get a new body, did we, yet? 00:25:22.640 --> 00:25:35.359 That would have been nice, but practically all this means that you is that you and I who are in Christ are alive to God. 00:25:35.359 --> 00:25:39.440 We're alive to God and the things of God. 00:25:39.440 --> 00:25:40.880 And so as a result, what do we have? 00:25:40.880 --> 00:25:42.400 We have new affections. 00:25:42.400 --> 00:25:49.920 You know, I don't know how it works, but when I became a Christian, I just had a love for other Christians. 00:25:49.920 --> 00:25:57.599 When you come in here, I have an I don't I don't I didn't explain it for all the differences that we have and all the backgrounds that we that we come from. 00:25:57.599 --> 00:26:02.640 Boy, I have a affection for you, and I hope you have that as well. 00:26:02.640 --> 00:26:07.759 But this is what God does, He changes us from the inside out. 00:26:07.759 --> 00:26:21.039 New affections for one another, new affections for the Word of God, new affections to pray and to have fellowship with one another, and new affections for holiness, and on and on and on. 00:26:21.039 --> 00:26:24.319 There's change going on. 00:26:24.319 --> 00:26:25.359 That's the idea. 00:26:25.359 --> 00:26:30.240 God is changing you, he has changed you, and he will continue to change you. 00:26:30.240 --> 00:26:32.400 New affections. 00:26:32.400 --> 00:26:35.680 And even more, we are united with Christ. 00:26:35.680 --> 00:26:37.200 That is, we're connected with him. 00:26:37.200 --> 00:26:41.519 It says we're with him, we share in the power of his life. 00:26:41.519 --> 00:26:44.400 You say this may be the most difficult, right? 00:26:44.400 --> 00:26:46.640 We share in the power of his life. 00:26:46.640 --> 00:26:47.599 This is what Paul says. 00:26:47.599 --> 00:26:49.920 He says, I've been crucified with Christ. 00:26:49.920 --> 00:26:53.839 It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. 00:26:53.839 --> 00:26:56.559 Can you say that? 00:26:56.559 --> 00:27:02.480 And so this power is a tangible asset for us as believers. 00:27:02.480 --> 00:27:18.559 Whenever we're in places of difficulty and weakness, you know, I don't know of any place where Paul entered into a time of ministry where he found himself in trouble that he was experiencing hardship, that he didn't sense this power. 00:27:18.559 --> 00:27:25.759 So it might be a clue that where we get our power is in places of weakness and difficulty. 00:27:25.759 --> 00:27:31.279 In Paul's desire to bring the Colossian church into maturity in Christ, he said this. 00:27:31.279 --> 00:27:38.960 He said, For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me. 00:27:38.960 --> 00:27:40.880 So this is tangible. 00:27:40.880 --> 00:27:51.839 And I want you to understand through faith in Christ, we can link our life with a source of strength that enables us to rise above our natural limitations. 00:27:51.839 --> 00:27:54.160 You say, How can that be? 00:27:54.160 --> 00:27:56.079 I don't know. 00:27:56.079 --> 00:27:57.839 I'm not doing it. 00:27:57.839 --> 00:28:06.079 But when we entered into things, we enter into the things that God has called us to do, we step out in faith, things happen. 00:28:06.079 --> 00:28:14.400 And we can sit and not experience this power, or we can move in faith and watch him work. 00:28:14.400 --> 00:28:18.720 Whatever that means to you, whatever he's called you to do. 00:28:18.720 --> 00:28:27.920 So he says in in 2 Corinthians is my grace is all you need, my power works best in weakness. 00:28:27.920 --> 00:28:30.640 Anybody weak here today? 00:28:30.640 --> 00:28:34.559 Anybody God's power, then congratulations. 00:28:34.559 --> 00:28:37.279 You're in a good place for God's power to work. 00:28:37.279 --> 00:28:48.640 And so I believe this energizing power can not only be felt in places of difficulty and hardship and trial, it also can occur in things that we love to do. 00:28:48.640 --> 00:28:54.480 This is especially true when we operate in our gifts and our passions. 00:28:54.480 --> 00:29:02.319 And I was thinking about this, and what came to my mind, and maybe the name will kind of ring a bell for you guys, Eric Little. 00:29:02.319 --> 00:29:07.440 Eric Little was a Scottish sprinter and missionary, a runner. 00:29:07.440 --> 00:29:12.480 And uh maybe you've seen the story, which is kind of captured in the film Chariots of Fire. 00:29:12.480 --> 00:29:23.519 And uh his story goes at the 1924 Olympics, Summer Olympics in Paris, Little refused to run the Heats for his favored 100 meters because they were held on a Sunday. 00:29:23.519 --> 00:29:25.440 He said, I'm not gonna do it. 00:29:25.440 --> 00:29:35.440 And so he opted out of that, and he ended up running on a weekday, a different race, a 400-meter race on a weekday, and he won. 00:29:35.440 --> 00:29:48.079 And uh he was he was made famous by that, and it reminded me of this reality that we're talking about here that we are alive to God, even in the passions and and joys of the things we love to do. 00:29:48.079 --> 00:29:50.559 He said, God made me fast. 00:29:50.559 --> 00:29:55.119 And when I run, I feel his pleasure. 00:29:55.119 --> 00:29:57.279 I feel his pleasure. 00:29:57.279 --> 00:29:59.680 Second powerful reality God really. 00:29:59.680 --> 00:30:01.759 Raised us up with Christ. 00:30:01.759 --> 00:30:04.240 Verse 6, he raised us up with him. 00:30:04.240 --> 00:30:07.839 And this speaks not of just his resurrection, but his ascension. 00:30:07.839 --> 00:30:09.039 Say, is that different? 00:30:09.039 --> 00:30:09.920 I think so. 00:30:09.920 --> 00:30:15.920 In a practical sense, we may know, I think, the rising power of spiritual growth. 00:30:15.920 --> 00:30:19.119 In him, we grow day by day, increasing in what? 00:30:19.119 --> 00:30:27.279 In our knowledge and our understanding of who he is, and gaining wisdom and discernment about life and about how to live this life. 00:30:27.279 --> 00:30:32.240 And the word tells us, for example, that Jesus is the wisdom of God. 00:30:32.240 --> 00:30:36.240 And by our union with him, we can access that. 00:30:36.240 --> 00:30:39.359 By the Spirit, this same wisdom. 00:30:39.359 --> 00:30:41.759 Let me give you some more verses. 00:30:41.759 --> 00:30:47.759 God, he says in 1 Corinthians, has united you with Christ Jesus for our benefit. 00:30:47.759 --> 00:30:50.319 God made him to be wisdom itself. 00:30:50.319 --> 00:30:53.440 For our benefit, we have Jesus. 00:30:53.440 --> 00:31:01.440 In him, he says in Colossians, lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 00:31:01.440 --> 00:31:03.680 Are you accessing that? 00:31:03.680 --> 00:31:05.599 Where does it come from? 00:31:05.599 --> 00:31:09.279 Well, you got to get alone with God and fellowship with him. 00:31:09.279 --> 00:31:11.599 Be alone in prayer with him. 00:31:11.599 --> 00:31:26.640 He says in 1 Corinthians 2, verses 12 through 14, listen, now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given by God. 00:31:26.640 --> 00:31:32.960 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the Spirit. 00:31:32.960 --> 00:31:36.960 Interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. 00:31:36.960 --> 00:31:47.680 The natural person, that is the person that's not saved, that's outside of Christ, the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. 00:31:47.680 --> 00:31:52.319 And he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 00:31:52.319 --> 00:31:53.759 Do you see what we have? 00:31:53.759 --> 00:31:55.200 This is amazing. 00:31:55.200 --> 00:32:03.519 That we have we have access by God's Spirit to things that most other people in the world, the world doesn't know. 00:32:03.519 --> 00:32:10.319 Made alive with Christ, then raised with Christ, and then he tells us a third reality. 00:32:10.319 --> 00:32:13.359 God seated us with Christ. 00:32:13.359 --> 00:32:15.279 And this is the greatest thing. 00:32:15.279 --> 00:32:19.440 He says he seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. 00:32:19.440 --> 00:32:21.440 Tyler talked about that last week. 00:32:21.440 --> 00:32:28.079 But this speaks not of just his resurrection and his ascension, but also of his authority. 00:32:28.079 --> 00:32:30.480 He set down at God's right hand. 00:32:30.480 --> 00:32:36.319 And because we are with Christ, we have authority as well as believers. 00:32:36.319 --> 00:32:44.319 And I'm not sure, I really don't know if we really believe this or not, that we have authority in Christ. 00:32:44.319 --> 00:32:48.079 But this too, this is a tangible reality. 00:32:48.079 --> 00:32:56.000 We're talking about walking into things that maybe as Christians we've never even really thought about, but they're available to us. 00:32:56.000 --> 00:33:14.960 Romans 5, 17 says, For if because of one man's trespasses death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. 00:33:14.960 --> 00:33:18.559 He says that we reign, we sit with Christ in the heavenly. 00:33:18.559 --> 00:33:19.440 He said, We can reign. 00:33:19.440 --> 00:33:21.519 He said, What in the world does that mean? 00:33:21.519 --> 00:33:24.960 Well, I know this, it's a contrast to what we once were. 00:33:24.960 --> 00:33:30.400 Because we weren't reigning, we weren't doing very well, we didn't have authority really. 00:33:30.400 --> 00:33:39.599 The idea here is that grace overpower powers the consequences of sin and darkness in your life and in the lives of people around you. 00:33:39.599 --> 00:33:42.240 You're no longer a victim, you are a victor. 00:33:42.240 --> 00:33:43.680 That's the idea. 00:33:43.680 --> 00:33:53.519 Once we come to Christ, we have power to say no to the things that once captured us and caused us difficulties. 00:33:53.519 --> 00:33:55.440