Let us have a further word of prayer.
Lord, what a joy that we can gather this morning and even sing these words: “Christ the Lord is risen today.” Today we have an exalted King, and we follow our exalted Head. O Lord Jesus, we do thank You for Your full triumph, Your complete victory, under which we stand.
It is all of Your grace; it is all of Your doing. All we do is stand in that, worship You together, and give You thanks. And now, Lord, as we turn to Your Word, we believe that You have a word to speak to us. So we want to say, “Lord, would You meet us this morning? Would You speak to our hearts?”
We pray that Your living Word may be speaking by You, Lord, that we may hear what the Spirit has to say. Enable us to speak according to Your will. Lead us by Your Holy Spirit, and keep us from going anywhere that is not for this morning. Lead this time for Your glory.
We thank You for this time and commit it into Your hands. We pray for a time full of Yourself, for Your glory. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Let us go again to the Epistle to the Ephesians.
He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him,
with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times,
that is, to sum up all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth.
And He put all things in subjection under His feet,
and gave Him as Head over all things to the church,
which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
God the Father put all things in subjection under the feet of the Son, our Lord Jesus, and gave Him as Head over all things to the church.
Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called.
But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the Head, even Christ,
from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies,
according to the proper working of each individual part,
causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord,
that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind.
He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church;
and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.”
From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem,
and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes,
and be killed, and be raised up on the third day.
Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.”
But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me;
for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me,
he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it;
but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”
I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened,
so that you may know what is the hope of His calling,
what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.
Well, we mentioned yesterday that Ephesians contains the greatest unveiling of the purpose of God in Scripture. As we read in Ephesians 1, you have an outline right there. You have the core of this purpose.
God has centered His purpose in a Person, in His Son, our Lord Jesus. It was God’s good intention to cause everything to be summed up, everything to be gathered up, in the Lord Jesus.
I heard once an explanation that perhaps the idea is that our Lord Jesus is to be the One who explains the whole universe. The whole universe does not make sense without Him. That is the purpose: you look at the universe and see Christ expressed, and Christ makes sense of it, so to speak.
But it is more than that. God has purposed that Christ would be the center of all things, expressed through a corporate vessel, even the church, His body.
Thus, we read at the end of Ephesians 1 that Christ is Head over all things. God has put all things under His feet and gave Him as Head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
There we have the corporate vessel through which God will express His beloved Son. That is the purpose in a nutshell.
The wonder we have been considering—and we heard our brother Dana speaking of it already in his session—is the grace behind it all. It is not just that we are called to something so wondrous, so indescribable, so wonderful that we are at a loss for words to describe it.
Beyond that, the very fact that God would take rebellious sinners—that is the start, in some way; that is the beginning of our history, as far as we are concerned—redeem us by the Lord Jesus, include us in this purpose, and cause us to become members of Christ, of the new man, the Head and the body.
Oh, what a purpose, brothers and sisters.
Then we get to Ephesians 4. Because of all of that, there is a tremendous “therefore.” Because of all this purpose into which we were included with such grace, because the purpose is so noble, so high—His eternal purpose—everything else will pass away.
As we sing sometimes, the things that the world reveres and wars to own will pass away; they will go. But that purpose is eternal, and you and I were, by His grace, included in that purpose.
Therefore, Paul says in Ephesians 4:1:
I implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called.
Such a purpose demands a response expressed practically. That is the part assigned to me for these sessions, and that is my burden for this time. There has to be a practical expression of that wondrous purpose into which we were called, expressed in our walk, expressed in our conduct.
It has a bearing in all sorts of dimensions of life. When we read the second half of Ephesians—chapters 4, 5, and 6—we learn that this purpose is to affect body life, the functioning in the local assembly, family life, and our relationships at work and in society.
In every one of those things, there has to be evidence that, yes, we were called into something so great, and we walk according to that.
By way of a quick recap, we saw that when Paul considers the functioning of the local assembly in Ephesians 4, he has already mentioned the body in Ephesians 1 as God’s purpose. But now there is a practical way in which we are related to the Head and function in the body.
We are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the Head, even Christ,
from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies,
according to the proper working of each individual part,
causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
A practical expression is members functioning in a local place, in a local assembly, in a local gathering. Through that, the body is growing into the Head in all things.
Then Paul stops. He makes a definite pause in verse 17. I gave you an alternative translation which, to me, expresses in a more forceful way how vital this whole matter is:
But this I say, and solemnly testify in the Lord.
There is something of utter importance here. Paul is considering how we are to function practically in the body and express the Head in a practical way, and he says:
That you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk in the futility of their mind.
Brothers and sisters, as we mentioned, the eternal purpose of God can only be carried out on the basis of a new creation, which by His wondrous grace we are in Christ.
However, there is a difference between being a new creation in position—as soon as you are saved, you are, thank the Lord—and living according to that new creation.
Therefore, the exhortation in Ephesians 4, the commandment, is that because of the finished work of the Lord Jesus, because of what He has already provided, we put off the old man.
We were in 1 Corinthians 15, and I did not mention one thing. Let me just add to that. In 1 Corinthians 15:45, our Lord Jesus is given the title, or is denominated, as the last Adam.
There is a thought in that. When you think of “last,” usually you think of something being concluded. In our Lord Jesus, all that belongs to the old creation was concluded, put to death on His cross.
That is part of that tremendous “It is finished” that our Lord cried on the cross. He is the last Adam, and in Him the old creation comes to an end.
But then, two verses ahead, our Lord Jesus is called the second Man. The implication is not of something coming to an end, but of succession. He becomes the Head of a new humanity.
On the one hand, as the last Adam, everything that belongs to the old creation was perfectly concluded and put to death in our Lord Jesus. But now a new creation begins in Him as the second Man.
And if any man is in Christ, there is a new creation. Brothers and sisters, this is your portion in the Lord. It is my portion by His grace.
Because of that, the commandment is: now walk according to that new creation in you. Put off, because the Lord already did it. It is simply our response to what He did.
If He had not done that, there would be no possibility for any putting off. This has to be clear. It is not that we are creating something here. No, He did it perfectly, objectively. We simply stand on what He did. We say, “Amen,” and respond to that.
There is a tremendous implication in Paul’s solemn testimony. The reason Paul makes this definite pause and testifies so solemnly is because there is something absolutely critical—a key in the practical expression of the purpose of God.
We cannot afford to overlook or simply ignore this. There is no way for a practical expression on any ground other than that of new creation.
This is not something found only in Ephesians. Actually, the whole of Scripture is full of this principle. Since this seems so vital, I would like to look briefly at the same principle from another familiar passage: Matthew 16.
Then, by the grace of the Lord, we will take a step further and consider another critical key in practically serving the purpose of God in our generation.
This is, I am sure, a very familiar passage for most of you: the so-called confession of Peter. I just want to make a couple of comments. If you are not familiar with the passage, you are definitely encouraged to read it and meditate on it very carefully before the Lord.
The story begins when the Lord asks who the people say that He is. There are all sorts of answers: John the Baptist, one of the prophets. Then the Lord asks the disciples, “How about you? Who do you say that I am?”
Peter receives a revelation. He speaks out of a revelation, as our Lord makes clear, and says:
You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.
In response, our Lord says:
Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church.
Brothers and sisters, do you see our Lord Jesus here stating God’s eternal purpose? What Ephesians develops in much more detail is here in seed form:
I will build My church.
The foundation and emphasis of this passage are clear. When Peter receives the revelation, “You are the Christ,” essentially he is saying, “You are the Anointed One. You are the Man of the Spirit. You are the Man according to God’s heart.”
The Lord Jesus says, “Upon this rock I will build My church.” But very significantly, our Lord adds, “I also tell you that you are Peter.”
Peter’s original name was Simon, as we know. The Lord had already told him that one day he would be called Peter. It is very significant that, on the basis of this revelation received from the Father concerning the Person of our Lord Jesus, the Lord not only reveals His purpose—that He will build His church, that there will be a vessel built upon Himself, the Rock—but also says, “You are Peter.”
Peter means a stone.
I am reminded of what the Lord declares to Adam in the fall:
You are dust, and to dust you will return.
This is what we are naturally, brothers and sisters—in nature, in the Adamic race: dust. What is the hope of dust? What do you do with dust? It is not very useful, is it? You try to get rid of it. You sweep it; you vacuum it.
What is the hope of dust? To dust you will return. But upon that confession of the Person of the Lord Jesus—He is the Christ—our Lord says, “And I tell you, you are a stone. You are Peter.”
The Lord is telling Peter, “Peter, you are one of the stones of that building that I am making: My church.” He, the Lord Jesus, the Christ, is the Rock.
It is very interesting and instructive that Peter, in his first epistle, seems to make an allusion to this passage. Turn to 1 Peter 2. There is something there that perhaps gives us the complete picture.
Peter is reflecting on that wonderful event, that revelation he received, and what the Lord declared to him.
And coming to Him as to a living stone,
which has been rejected by men,
but is choice and precious in the sight of God,
you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood.
Do you see who is the living Stone? Upon this Rock—Himself, our Lord Jesus—He will build His church.
Brothers and sisters, when Peter had that revelation that the Lord is the Christ, the Lord declared, “You are Peter. You are a stone.” But now Peter, reflecting back, says to Christians, to believers, “You have come to Him, to the Lord Jesus, as a living Stone, as a precious Stone. He is the Rock, and you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house.”
Peter’s experience is representative. His experience is the experience of every child of God. When we see that the Lord Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, what a wonderful thing: we who are dust in our nature are, by His grace, made stones in that spiritual building.
But now I want you to notice one more thing. Peter addresses the Lord Jesus as the Christ, the Anointed One, the Man of the Spirit. That is His predominant characteristic, if I may use that word.
As a Man, as the last Adam, He is a life-giving Spirit, the Man of the Spirit. But when Peter is made a stone, that spiritual constitution is imparted into him.
Peter understood that perfectly. In his first epistle, he says, “You also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house.” Do you see the emphasis? This building that is to express the Lord Jesus is a spiritual entity.
On that occasion, Peter was being constituted with a totally different constitution from what he was naturally. That is our story, brothers and sisters, when we are born of the Spirit of God, when we are born from above.
A spiritual constitution is imparted into us. Our spirit, which was dead in sins and trespasses, is quickened, regenerated, and the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us. Oh, what a wonderful portion.
When we continue the story in Matthew 16, you see that there is trouble soon after that. We do not know how much time elapsed, but the story gives the impression that it was right around the corner.
Right after Peter receives the tremendous revelation that the Lord is the Christ, and the Lord adds the revelation that He is going to fulfill God’s purpose and build His church upon the Rock of His Person, using Peter as a stone in that building on the basis of this new constitution given to him, there comes trouble.
Our Lord declares that He is going to Jerusalem and is going to die. Peter takes Him aside and rebukes Him. I can only imagine that Peter did so in the most educated possible way, saying, “Well, Lord, God forbid. That cannot happen to You. After all, You are the Christ. You are the Son of the living God.”
Brothers and sisters, we like to pick on Peter. I feel for our brother. We are so different, right?
But here is the thing, dear saints. We find in this passage what is probably one of the severest, most stern rebukes of the Lord that we see in Scripture.
The Lord says:
Get behind Me, Satan! You are to Me a stumbling block, because you are setting your mind not on the things of God, but on the things of man.
I see a most remarkable parallel between what is happening here in Caesarea Philippi and the Epistle to the Ephesians. On the one hand, the purpose of God is disclosed: “I will build My church.” Peter is included in that purpose: “You are a stone in that building.” What wonderful grace.
Peter is being constituted in a way that makes him qualified, so to speak. There is a spiritual constitution. But almost immediately there comes trouble: his natural mind.
Do you see anything sinful in what Peter is telling the Lord? I will tell you my answer: I do not see anything openly sinful, openly morally reprehensible, or anything like that.
Actually, when you think about it, here is a man who loves his Master, and with the best possible intentions he is trying to say, “No, I do not want You to die.” In itself, is there anything wrong with that? Well, not really.
However, there is something. The danger is the source of that good intention, of that thought Peter had. The source is his mind. The Lord makes that the crucial point: “You are setting your mind. You are thinking like man. You are living by your old constitution, Peter.”
“You are living by your soul life. You are letting that manage your life. But now you are a living stone. You are to live by that new constitution.” Therefore, you have this solemn, severe rebuke:
Get behind Me, Satan.
I always remember what our brother Lance told us time after time: in our Adamic nature, the poison of the enemy was injected into the life stream, into the bloodstream of our Adamic, natural beings.
There is something there. Even when it is not openly sinful—as I honestly cannot see open sin here—if the source is that Adamic nature, there is something fundamentally corrupted. There is something, as our brother used to say, deviant. It will go astray. Just give it time.
When I read this, it is as if the Lord is saying, “No, Peter, you have a new constitution now. There is a new nature. You ought to live by it.”
I find it very significant and eye-opening that those words we know so well are said exactly in this context. Did you realize that in Matthew 16:24, after rebuking Peter, the Lord says:
If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself.
Put off the old man. He is saying this to disciples. Notice this: He could never say this to unbelievers, because the underlying idea is that there is a new constitution according to Him.
He is the Rock; Peter is a stone of the same nature. Peter was hewn out of the quarry of His life. There is something that corresponds to Him by grace. Now you are to live by that in your life.
If you want to come after Me, you must deny yourself. Deny your old mentality. Brothers and sisters, this finds us all the time. If it does not find you, it finds me every single day.
There is something in us that just pops up and reacts. It is not necessarily sinful. It is not necessarily bad in itself. But it is independent from God.
A thought, an idea, an emotion, and a course of action follows—normally with good intentions. And the Lord is saying, “No, Peter. It has to be by My life.”
Even if it is a very good plan, a very good intention, with nothing sinful in it, that is not enough. If My church is going to be built, I am going to build it according to My nature, according to My life.
So if you want to come after Me, you must deny yourself. Say no to that old mentality. In a word, say no to your soul life. Take up your cross and follow.
When I read this and think of Ephesians, when I see “deny yourself and take up your cross,” it is as if I am reading, “Put off the old man,” because you already have a new constitution.
When I read, “Follow Me,” I see, “Put on the new man.” Live according to that new constitutional life, Peter.
In Matthew 16:25, it seems that our Lord goes to the core of the issue:
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it.
In Greek, the word translated “life” is psuchē: soul life. Whoever wishes to save his soul life—and this is exactly what Peter is doing—is still living by, still clinging to, his old ways.
His ideas may have nothing wrong with them in themselves, but the source is apart from the Lord. The source is out of himself.
Brothers and sisters, let me just say one thing: there seems to be nothing harder than to let go of ourselves. Nothing is harder than that.
When you really want something, it is funny because when you have children, you get to see that so clearly in them. I have an eleven-year-old. But in reality, it is just a mirror. That is exactly how we are.
There is nothing harder than to let go. Our tendency is to save, to preserve, the way we think, the things we want, the feelings we have. Such a tendency.
And they, brothers and sisters, are dust. That is, in essence, the old nature.
In the New Jerusalem, there is gold, pearl, and precious stones. There is no dust there. All the materials speak of Christ, of His nature, and of that which He has imparted to us in redemption by amazing grace.
If that purpose is going to be carried out—and it is; that is a completely rhetorical “if”—it is on the basis of that new life and nature that He has placed in us: His own life.
Because of that, do not save your soul. Do not save your old ways, what you want. Our Lord adds, at the end of Matthew 16:25:
But whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
If you are willing to deny yourself, if you are willing to let it go, just to let Him be expressed, you will find it.
Brothers and sisters, I really do not get it, I have to tell you. Oftentimes, we read these verses and feel that they are heavy: “I will deny myself, take up my cross, lose my life.” I do not get it.
We are so myopic. Think with me for a second: what are you losing when you lose your life? Is it something precious? Is it something wonderful?
Actually, when we lose our soul life, the way I picture it in my mind is that a bunch of rubbish goes out, and a treasure of the life of Christ can be expressed.
Is it really so heavy? Is it really such a terrible thing? Of course, it is the hardest thing, because by nature we cling to those things. Yet, when our eyes are opened, brothers and sisters, to what is being gained—oh!
Is that not the testimony of Paul in Philippians 3? “I lost all things because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” Oh, the treasure.
Paul had a number of things that, naturally speaking, you would say, “Wow, that is something.” But when he saw the treasure of Christ, he said, “I count them as refuse, as nothing, as garbage, in order to gain Christ.”
May the Lord readjust our mentality and give us that renewed mind. Renew us in the spirit of our minds, as we read in Ephesians 4, to see things from His point of view.
At the end of the day, dear saints, it is our privilege; it is our gain. If we have to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Christ, it is just for our gain.
You may be losing something now, but our Lord says that whoever loses his soul life for His sake will find it. Is that not true? When you let go, when you find the treasure inside, it is not that you become soulless; now you find your real soul under a new management.
That is the thing. The trouble with us is—do not criticize Peter; he is a mirror to us. Even his best intentions were under his own management. The Lord is saying, “No, you have to lose that and be under a new management: the life of Christ in you, the Holy Spirit who dwells in that new constitution.”
Oh, brothers and sisters, the key to the practical expression of the purpose of God—can you put these two things together? I feel this is vital. This is really important.
It is when the Lord declares, “I will build My church,” that you have all these things we are talking about. You have Peter doing something out of good intentions, but it is his soul life, and the Lord says, “No. Deny that. There is something more precious. Follow Me.”
I would like to add, now that our time is almost over, a second key in practically serving the purpose of God in our generation: a practical expression of the purpose of God.
I see it in both Matthew and Ephesians. Our Lord says, “I will build My church.” Nothing less than our Lord Jesus Himself, and the exceeding greatness of His power, will build it.
Our Lord makes it very clear: there will be tremendous conflicts. Hell itself is opposing this in all possible ways. But it will not prevail. It will not overpower it, because He says, “I will build My church.”
When I go back to Ephesians, it seems there are two things which, when Paul tries to describe them, leave him at a loss for words. I say that reverently, of course, because this is inspired by the Holy Spirit. But you get the sense that there is no human language that properly expresses these things.
One is the grace of God that He has lavished upon us. When Paul tries to describe that, he starts piling up the adjectives: the riches, the surpassing riches, of His goodness toward us.
But there is a second matter where the adjectives begin piling up because it is so tremendous: the power of God that was made available and provided for us in His finished work. That power is toward us who believe.
Let us read again from Ephesians 1:
I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened.
Oh, the need for that. Our brothers have been saying this time after time. This is, of course, a fundamental key.
Paul mentions three things that our eyes should be enlightened to see:
So that you will know what is the hope of His calling.
Your calling is to be a member of the Lord Jesus, a bride of the Lamb, to express Him, starting here and then throughout eternity. What hope, brothers and sisters.
We who are dust—what was our hope? “You will go back to dust.” That is what we are in ourselves. That is what Peter was. That is what you are in yourself. By His grace, we are made stones of His eternal building. What is the hope of your calling?
What are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints?
The Lord wants to inherit you and me. What kind of love is that? He wants to make you and me His special possession and express that.
Then we get to the part on which I really want to concentrate:
What is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe?
See the adjectives piling up: surpassing greatness; in some translations, immeasurable greatness; in others, exceeding greatness of His power.
There is a power, brothers and sisters, and nothing less than that power will do the work. For this eternal purpose to be accomplished, nothing less than that power can do it.
But did you realize what it says? That power is toward us who believe. It was made available to you and to me.
On the one hand, only the Lord can build His church. But on the other hand, He has included you and me. The marvel of marvels is that He has determined to use us.
It is not you and me doing our own thing. No, it is on the basis of His new life in us. At the end of the day, it is He doing it. He has provided a power that can complete the work through you.
Brothers and sisters, what a key: the power, the exceeding greatness of His power.
What we said yesterday, we have to say again. It is the same spiritual principle. In His finished work, our Lord Jesus has already provided for us.
Our old man has been crucified with Him. Thank the Lord. The last Adam concluded that. Not only that, but now in Him we are a new creation. A new life is given.
That is what He provided objectively, but now we are called to respond. We are called to walk in a way worthy of our calling. That is simply to stand by faith and say, “Amen, Lord. You did it. I take it.”
Because of that, on that basis, you put off the old man and put on the new one. You deny yourself, if you will. You follow the Lord.
When it comes to the exceeding greatness of His power toward us, the same principle applies. Our Lord Jesus has already provided that power.
If we were to assess things with the eyes of the flesh, there would be plenty of room for doubt, plenty of room to ask, “Is this eternal purpose ever going to be realized?”
When you look at things, oftentimes we do not see them expressing the Lord Jesus. I am talking about His people; I am talking about the church at large.
But, brothers and sisters, that exceeding greatness of His power will do it. It was given to you and to me for us to avail ourselves of it.
Through that power, all obstacles can be overcome. The greatest obstacle is me—is “I”—and it is your “I” as well. All of our selves.
The exceeding greatness of His power has made every provision to deal with all sorts of circumstances, problems, and obstacles in ourselves. Thank the Lord.
And think of the environment. What a world. What a generation. We are talking about serving the purpose of God in our generation.
There is nothing conducive, nothing that will give any kind of help. Quite the opposite: there seem to be obstacles and opposition in your face all the time.
Brothers and sisters, listen to our Lord again:
I will build My church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.
Thank the Lord for the exceeding greatness of His power. But we have to remember that power is for us to experience, for us to lay hold of by faith, and in that way to be vessels in His hands—the stones He will use in that building.
Let us read another verse at the end of Ephesians 3:
Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think,
according to the power that works within us.
Do you see the key? If you look at yourself, we are not able. Sometimes we may think we are, but we are deluded.
There is an ability in the power of our Lord that is indescribable: far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us.
Nothing less than that will finish the work, brothers and sisters. Yet that power is toward us who believe, made available by the grace of the Lord, that we may walk in a way worthy of our calling.
Part of practically serving the purpose of God in our generation has to do with taking that power. It is not you. Often it is the opposite, is it not?
Paul learned that secret. He learned that the power is so tremendous that, usually, if you are strong in yourself, it is as if you are saying, “Thank You, I do not need the power. I can do it.”
Paul understood that to such a degree that he would say, “I glory; I boast in my weakness.” This gives an opportunity for the power of Christ to be perfected in me.
Oh, the exceeding greatness of His power toward those who believe is for us, brothers and sisters, to experience.
I want to conclude with a final idea concerning this key of the power of the Lord. Turn to Ephesians 6. We read this at the beginning, but there is a very specific commandment here.
On the one hand, we are told that His power is toward us, that He is able to do everything—supreme, tremendous. But now listen to Ephesians 6:10:
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.
Objectively, yes, that power is toward us. But now we are commanded—again, the same principle—be strong in the Lord. Avail yourself of that power. By faith, take it.
That power of God is toward us, but it is not automatic that we will experience it. We are commanded, and we have a part in this. We have to be strong in the Lord, in that new constitution, in that new life. It is Him. We have to be strengthened in that.
This is very, very practical, brothers and sisters. It touches our daily lives. Do you have problems? I am sure everybody does; I qualify. Do you have difficulties, whether in the assembly, in your home, or in your personal life? We all have them.
There is a power able to do abundantly more—exceedingly more. All those adjectives. It is yours, but you have to be strong in the Lord. Strengthen yourself; avail yourself of what the Lord has provided.
I go back to Israel. The land is given; it is yours. But you have to put the plant of your foot on it and possess it.
Since we are considering practical aspects of serving the purpose of God, I want to end with this key. Let me suggest a couple of practical ways in which we can be strengthened in the Lord.
Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.
This is not strength for psychological reasons. It is not simply having a more positive disposition. No, no, that is not what Paul is talking about. We are to be strong in the Lord.
Yes, being strong in the Lord—being strong in that new constitution and new life—will overflow into all the other aspects of your life. There is something from which we benefit in terms of a right mindset, even physically, but it begins in our spirits.
Be strong in the Lord. Let me suggest from Scripture a couple of practical ways by which we can be strengthened in the Lord.
Turn to Matthew 4:4. This is from the temptation of our Lord Jesus.
You remember that when our Lord Jesus was baptized, there was that wonderful voice from heaven, that wonderful testimony under the open heaven:
This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
Now, when our Lord Jesus is led to be tempted, right after this, we read in Matthew 4:3 that after He had fasted forty days, the tempter came and said to Him:
If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.
Very interesting, right? The Father had just declared, “You are My beloved Son.” Then the enemy says, “If You are the Son of God.”
Is that not the basic strategy of the enemy? But our Lord Jesus answered:
It is written, “Man shall not live on bread alone,
but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.”
Brothers and sisters, we associate eating with energy. When you eat physically, you are strengthened physically. How are we to be strengthened spiritually?
Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.
It is more, brothers and sisters, than reading the Scriptures, though that is an absolute must; it goes without saying. But it is more than that. Do you realize? It is a matter of living by what the Lord says.
As our brother said so beautifully in his testimony, “I believe because God says so.” You live by the Word of God.
Be strong in the Lord. Strengthen that new constitution through the Word of God. It is absolutely essential.
Let us consider a second way. Go to Ephesians 6. After commanding us to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might, Paul goes ahead to describe the whole armor of God.
When we are clothed with Christ, when we abide in Him, yes, that is our strength, brothers and sisters. But I want to single out one matter at the end of that armor. It is prayer.
In Ephesians 6:18, Paul says:
With all prayer and petition, pray at all times in the Spirit.
Brothers and sisters, this is connected with being strong in the Lord. If we are to be strong in the Lord, we need to learn how to pray at all times.
It is wonderful that we have our devotions. But I have to confess to you that my trouble is often in the heat of the day, in the heat of work. A crisis comes, and somehow there is a disconnect.
There is prayer in the Spirit. There is something that, at times, is going to be like Nehemiah. Remember Nehemiah when he was before the king, and the king asked, “How come you are so sad?” It simply says, “And I prayed.”
What do you think he did? “Wait a second, king,” and then he went to a corner and knelt down? It seems there was something almost reflexive, something that spontaneously came out of him: to pray at all times in the Spirit.
Brothers and sisters, if that channel with the Lord—which is yours by that new constitution—is to be used, then we must use it. When we use it, we are strengthened in the Lord.
A final one, so that we can wrap up, is from the life of David. It is a wonderful episode and, I think, a wonderful lesson. Turn to 1 Samuel 23:16.
The context is that David is being persecuted by Saul. His life could end at any moment, naturally speaking. At some point, it is evident that he is cast down by the circumstance.
Then we read this lovely word:
And Jonathan, Saul’s son, arose and went to David at Horesh, and encouraged him in God.
Brothers and sisters, our fellowship together is a provision of God.
When we worship the Lord together, when we study His Word together, by virtue of that fellowship in Christ, an encouragement and strengthening of our spirits—of that new constitution—takes place.
Thank the Lord for such provision. By His grace, may we not despise it.
So, brothers and sisters, I leave you with these two keys. There are many others, for sure, but these are vital matters.
The calling with which we were called is going to be expressed by His grace. May the Lord find us among those who respond, who say, “Yes, Lord,” and walk in a way worthy of such a calling.
Let us pray.
Lord, we commit these words unto You. We pray that somehow, by Your Holy Spirit, You would open our eyes, that we may see these things and respond unto You.
We pray, Lord, amazed by such grace, by such provision. What a Lord we have. What a Savior.
We stand amazed, Lord, by the fact that You will build Your church. We pray that by Your grace we may enter into every single provision that You have made in new creation, and walk by it for the glory of God.
In the name of the Lord Jesus, we ask. Amen.