Ephesians 1:15-23

There are three Submissions of questions and I'll just go over them one at a time. The first one is why did not the Lord Jesus say to Mary Our God and our Father? That's a reference to John chapter 20 where the Lord Jesus says verse 17 Touch me not for I am not yet ascended to my father But go unto my brethren and say unto them I ascend also my father and your father and to my God and your God The Lord Jesus clearly distinguishes himself from us We have been brought into acceptance in God's presence To the same degree that he is accepted But we are not and will never be sharers of his being so he is Uniquely the only begotten son We are sons of God He uniquely had a relationship of a perfect man We are brought into a relationship with him that we might have that same relationship But in our own measure, so he is always to be distinguished from us. Although we have been made one with him That does not mean anything less as far as oneness, but it of course In his unique position Second question is what is the difference of being in Christ versus in the Lord? We've dealt quite a bit this morning with being in Christ.

Our blessings are in Christ We are in Christ that has to do with our position at the moment We were saying we were as much in Christ as we will ever be We possess as many blessings and inheritance at that point that could not be changed or increased Those are our positional blessings. They are what God has made us through the redemption of Christ in Position that God sees us and God deals with us. That is our position for example in In chapter 4 Prisoner of the Lord or actually in the Lord and he speaks about in chapter 4 likewise We're 17 that he testifies in the Lord.

That is his own personal response Response to the Lordship of Christ. So we are in Christ what God has made us In the Lord is our response to the great truth of Lordship One is our condition That is in the Lord One is our position that is in So Clearly distinguished and one place for that obvious is that all says the first thing except for seven about getting permission to marry only in Now if you marry in Christ In the Lord Well, if it's your life and relative to that person's life and response on the behalf of the Lord Another question has to do I listen inevitable that there would be questions further about Ephesians 1 4 and 5 particularly according as it chosen us in him before the foundation of the Lord Can Ephesians 1 4 and 5 be linked to the parable of the Great Supper? Which is in Matthew our Luke's Gospel chapter 14 and the parable of the wedding to both of those are invited did not come others were invited and it did die and Insofar as you have a statement many are called but few are chosen. You can make a connection between that But I Think that those the connections between those two invited suffer On the one hand it does present the responsibility But there were others that were invited and intended to be there.

They made a choice didn't come and When we come to the truth of being chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world We have got to allow in our understanding of it. That's sovereignty from God There is a choice. I Repeat that my faith in Christ is not dependent on God's choice Nor is God's choice dependent on my faith in Christ to run side-by-side so When we try to when you want to preach the gospel preach the gospel all their call and it's true.

It is true Does not will that all men be saved come with knowledge of the truth not willing that any perish The sacrifice of Christ is a ransom sufficient to be a substitute for all So we can preach a whosoever gospel without any sense of hesitation or sleight of hand That figure is available The opposite of the other side of that truth is equally there is a God who is sovereign and He has sovereignly chosen Individuals in his purpose for Christ before the foundation of the world be brought into a position of holiness So In the New there would be those who would come and it's not going to be built and to that degree The parable gives us help on the subject however He intended for others to come and when they didn't come we thought well We'll have to do something else a new plan to reach other dollars That is a little short of the truth Never know All the things The spirit of wisdom The eyes of your understanding Being enlightened That you may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints and What is the exceeding greatness of his power? He wants for it to be According to the working of his mighty power which is brought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and Settling at his own right hand in the heavenly places or in the heavens far of a ball principality and power at night and And everything that's made not only in this world but also in that which is to come and It put all things under his feet And gave him to be the head over all things To the church, which is his body the fullness of him that worketh all The old thing off Now God will bless what we read we know and I first will Get help for a little time as he did this morning There's one thing I would like to say and that It has been suggested to me to say That we brethren who are So I say in the inner circle here and hold back a little bit and allow time for some others to come in There are brethren here that we would like to hear their comments and Don't be surprised if I would ask you a question I'm liable to do that so Feel free to come in and we're going to make room for that in this ahead of us Now if I remember rightly it was a be Meyer that said that this epistle Is a letter that's a blow with heaven's altar lady a Globe with heaven's altar lady In other words Paul has in his mind as he writes to these Ephesians Who have been saved as we are reminded out of an idolatrous system They have a new attraction The heart that's been won to Christ and we'll see that he talks about the understanding the heart being open and so What Paul is reminding them of is God's claims on them in response To these deep things that he's been dealing with in the early part of the chapter for instance, as we thought of the speech of election and sonship and Redemption and Revelation and we as well in Holy Spirit After dealing with these subjects now Paul is appealing to them and it begins where we began to read say since I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love of all things Cease not to give thanks for you making mention of you in my prayers Now this is the first prayer of the epistle. We'll see in chapter three that All the spring again and in that chapter he says I draw my knees onto the father Now here is Remembering these three words. I was thinking that oftentimes we pray for someone or something And then when the prayer is answered We fail to continue to pray Well Paul says That since he heard of their faith He didn't cease to give thanks and to make mention of them in his prayers And here's what he's praying for in this verse he's praying for spiritual enlightenment In that prayer chapter 3 he's praying more for the strength that's available the source the supply as we'll see that power that has been supplied for us to draw from He's praying for spiritual Enlightenment, you notice that that the spirit of wisdom and you'll notice it's a lower case s but I would suggest that Wisdom and Revelation and the knowledge of him comes through the spirit of God so that's the attitude that enables us as the people of God to know something of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him and that idea of knowledge is to come to a full understanding knowledge that gained by experience Different from the word to know this is a full knowledge a full understanding and you notice this comes from the spirit and He says it comes to the heart of the believer That's the reading of verse 18 having your heart Enlightened now, you know, the heart is mentioned in the word of God as the whole being our emotions our will our thoughts What speaks about the heart? That's the whole person And that's that's what Paul's dealing with here Having the eyes of your heart Illuminated and then he prays for three things for these believers That they may know the hope of his calling We'll see in chapter 2 that they had no hope Brother Dan will tell us about that, but now everything has changed now they have hope hope in him and the riches of The glory of his inheritance God's riches And I take this to be God's inheritance.

I don't know what my brethren think but while we have an inheritance Peter says imperceptible Undefiled will never fade away Paul says this inheritance is God's He has revealed us for himself Then he prays further that they may know something of the power of God And Paul is building word upon word when he speaks about power he talks about a Potential the capacity in verse 19 the exceeding greatness of his power and then he talks about energy a According to the working That's the energy the inward actions of that power then he talks about might or Muscular body strength. That's another word that he uses is the strength of his mighty power and now he's talking about Physical strength that enables the believer to resist The workings of the enemy. I have noticed in the epistle You allow me just to refer to it He mentions for instance in chapter 1 and verse 19 the working of his mighty power That's in salvation as we will see The same power that raised these believers from the dead in chapter 2 he says is what quickened us that raised Christ from the dead and Quickened us give us life Then he says in chapter 3 in verse 7 the in working of his power And here's in the preaching the word of God.

That's a factual In salvation Then he says again in verse 20 of chapter 3 according to the power that worketh in us and That's our prayer life and in chapter 6 he talks about the power of His might and that's in Christian experience the power that enables us to stand against the wiles of the devil Now I'm not going to say much more just to point out that at the end of the chapter in verse 20 We'll notice he talks about Resurrection he raised them from the dead then he talks about his exaltation He's in the heavenly places seated at God's right hand the place of power and honor and supremacy Then he talks about his supremacy over all Principalities and powers and might and dominion and then he talks about Him being over all creation So that he's the one That has been given To be head over all things for the church which is his body now, that's all I'm going to say and Come in and I'm going to try and I go verse by verse through the chapter Now you'll be able to get me with the young man as you did with David this morning I Was thinking This Important part of the chapter When he's saying that would be invited In a practical way we can hear the minister. You can enjoy what we heard this morning We maybe recite a lot of this and still need to be in line And this is what Paul is saying that the truth would really grip him that he would grip the truth and the truth would grip them so when he says Eyes of your understanding are partly unlikely that you may know He's already told him that but he wants him to enter in and then the riches of his inheritance Already been mentioning that and then the power seems to be on what follows in death That's right It's interesting where I build it. This is things that can be made known In the first six verses are the things that were not known to the electing grace of God And then verse 7 to verse 14 It's things that were made known nine So things that were unknown the things that have been revealed now we may be on paths of life but the emotional things that may be made known So now this should be our attitude shouldn't it? I've often thought the principle is good even in the preaching of the gospel The spirit of God must work, it's not that we do the best we can and preach as simply similar as we can, but the spirit of God must work.

It's the same in the lesson to any ministry Because repeating and living the truth hasn't been the purpose There's a quality about this prayer and the one that comes in chapter 3 that reminds us of this Paul is behaving as a priestly man As he's dealing with these tremendously rich truths, he seems to be all the more conscious of the presence of God. So you have two different kinds of prayers, two different apprehensions of the character of God that are involved in these prayers There's a great deal of intelligence in the way in which it is referenced to God This one seems to be linked with the humanity of the Lord Jesus He talks about the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of the Lord As busy as a man he often was, he still has his saints in his heart Because he's heard their faith before, so he doesn't cease to pray for them Which is an example It's an example for us And here it's been said A prayer for enlightenment In chapter 3 it's a prayer for enlightenment Then there's another one in chapter 6 A prayer for enablement So the Apostle Paul If he used the prayers of the Lord's people too, they would be able to unfold that mystery and so on The prayers of the Apostle in his Epistles or Enrichments study The saints were always on his mind But I've proven that time and again As he finishes he says And for me, don't forget to pray for me Paul realized he needed the prayers of the Lord's people And we all do I knew a brother who's in heaven now And he prayed regularly For every member in his stout assembly Mainly Now I've never Made him go to see Paul's assembly I've prayed for him generally But here's the example of the Apostle Giving thanks for you And without fail Making mention of that In his prayers I think we can learn from that Could I just take you back a little bit and ask Why does he begin this paragraph and about his prayers With his awareness of their faith and love Well because he's been telling them what they've been brought into Wasn't it? So that he wanted them to Really ask of him You've been redeemed You're now an adult son In the family of God There's a heritage laid out for you There's a sense of encouragement that he's giving them too This is not against the background of You poor failing mortals You have made progress and I want further progress So often when we pray for believers When I pray for believers I hear what the priest has said I think of a lack, I think of a problem And so I pray for the problem How often when I hear of progress do I say That often incurs me to pray for them more Because they've made great progress He said there's more to come and I long for you To be brought into the fullness of all that God has for you And the first love of Revelation 2 Really is a love that goes first to God But it reaches to all fellow believers And we're all ready for reading now And that love is its primacy And that love is its arm's length And of course you know that When we start struggling with our brethren It's because we're not loving the Lord Jesus like we should You may not like that But that's the facts That love for fellow believers Inevitably springs out of love for Christ And they were living that precious life But this knowledge is of fullness And understanding A complete knowledge That's learned by experience Verse 16 says in verse 18 That she may know what it's supposed to be called That's the idea of knowing something original Because God said it Isn't that what Baxter said? I'm just going from memory In a row You're an interlinger I was going to say that Here we're dealing with the law And it appears that there's not a primal issue When you come to Christ's cemetery We have a baptism And the exhortation is of a primal one Which follows And the end of the commandment is And faith and faith Now Robert just mentioned Revelation 2 But come to Ephesus The tragedy is They've dealt with the doctrinal issues By one thing or another Love You've failed And rather than The commandment of the Lord Jesus Is in John 13 As I have loved you So have you loved one another And we can teach the saints all the doctrines of the scriptures That's vital So we'll have to practice Love One thing or another If we don't have love Something crosses The key for Christianity Is a four letter word It's love When Paul met with these elders In chapter 28 of the Acts He told them What would take place After his departure Previous rules enter in In Oxfordian flock And now he's telling them They're seated in heavenlies A positional truth for them to enjoy And yet as Brother Duncan told us When John writes to the Ephesians He says I have someone against me Not much left But I can trust They haven't lost it But they've left it So it is possible For an individual or an assembly Who can reach a very high claim To fall from that That's written for a warning We were reminded this morning Of giving the Lord Jesus a title Lord Jesus Christ There's something here in this prayer That I would aspire to We all, I mean I would start my prayer as God and Father I pretty much wrote My mind is not complete Until I've done a sentence or two And that's not good Because what he is talking about here is This prayer is directed to the God Of our Lord Jesus Christ Now you mentioned The humanity of Christ Involved in that I think he's expressing to us The dependence of Christ On a man On God And that now will unfold in this For those of us That are able to learn The quality of dependence There is almighty power Available to us There was a man Who lived in this world Who never did anything By his own power All that he did He did in the power Given to him By the spirit of God And he had all the power To do whatever he goes to do But he did it Dependently of the man That sets, to me That sets the tone Of the prayer The more we apprehend Of the character of God And base our praying On the character of God I think that means The more effective We will be in prayer That's good Now let me get About it Joel, let me get About it I think this Could be with what John says In his first Fourth chapter Of the first epistle It's evident that Genuine faith Is going to be Marked by Comfortable love So that faith Is for God Primarily And love Is going to be Expressed as an Output from it John says How can you say You love God If you don't Love God So the two Have to be joined together One is a Thoughtful aspect One is a value And faith is not Some kind of Theoretical doctrine That's a Theorical entity But it's something That has Practical value Anyone now Have anything To say on the Subject of The prayer Of the apostle Just a word Of encouragement Is this That you Have been Praying One for another I've been Having the same Problem One of the Brethren in the Assembly Asked me If I Prayed for him I said Of course I pray for Everybody No one Seems to Pray for me Sister In our Assembly She was Unable to Get up Every day She prayed For every believer In the Assembly And those Who visited Updated her On the Condition Of the Assembly And the New saints In Africa She prayed For everyone Brothers and Sisters There's no need To like A nine Degree You can Meditate On the Scriptures And you can Pray for the Saints And that's The problem I'm glad You said That about Your sister Because That's the Work they can Do You remember About the Widow She has an Elevated position Now She can Pray where Before she Couldn't do That And our Sisters Perhaps Can teach Us How to Pray Oftentimes We'd rather Adopt Phraseology But I think Sisters Can bring A poem A spiritual Poem Into our Gatherings We don't Hear them I often wish We could But we Don't But God Hears I appreciate The God Of our Lord Jesus Christ And how that He was Defined Totally As a Man We've Got to Say the Father Of Glory So That was The Lord Looking Beyond the Sufferings And the Endurers His Glory Had to Be He was Dependent On God The whole Way Through And that's The One Who Raised Us Up Together And Made Us Sit Together In His Presence Presence In Presence In His Presence In Presence In His Presence In His Presence In His Presence In Presence In His Presence In His In His Presence In His Presence In His Presence In His Presence In His Presence In His Presence Presence In His Presence In Presence In His Presence In His Presence In His Presence In His Presence In His Presence In His Presence In His Presence In His Presence In His Presence In In His Presence In His Presence In His Presence In His Presence In 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In His Presence In Now, any other Berlin-wide lender who's on that box, going back, is this imperative primarily of love for the enjoyer, of protecting the money, or withdrawing the money out? Well, it has to go beyond that. If I'm going to make everyone like that, I was wondering.

But, brother, do you think we have to even put it off that far? Does he not have riches that he's enjoying presently on the internet? So, it's what grace has made us, that the light is his heart, both now and shall forever. He's never going to get tired of this thought. He's going to make himself the angel.

But this will be seen in the millennium, won't it? And that's what it is. But I'm not going to leave it to the policy of capitalism. We will be put in, as Adam and Eve were together, over there.

Then it's all going to be taught in Revelation, because so long as I've got the aid of God, you can't sit down and take the rest of the millennium. So, we have to conjecture the relationship in a quicker way, which we don't believe will ever change. But, the great blessing that we're displaying, and Christ is looking forward to, is millennial glory.

So, if I leave you in this time, can I ask you a final question? Are we going to be on earth in the millennium, or in heaven? That's probably it. I've been working on that with Daniel. And that'll tell us, in chapter 2, about this day, when the agents of God will show the exceeding virtues of His grace, and His patience for us.

There are always going to be agents of God. I heard Mr. McKelvey say years ago, when I was with him in Ireland, I thought he was an old man, and he told me he was still preaching the gospel. And I heard him say in a believers meeting, God is never going to come out, lending His hand, saying there's no more to unfold for His people.

There'll always be more, and more. Read Romans chapter 5. More, and more, and more. He started to tell us, and it opened our minds to a spirit of wisdom.

And we jumped it. Would you like to? We have time. Go ahead.

I know, I know, I'm just leaving it to you. You're with me. The spirit of wisdom.

It's spiritual understanding. It's wisdom that comes from God. But the question is, then, I'll carry on.

Missing liberty is a capital S. Yet I think that what they authorize in itself is a small S. And sometimes believers are told, well, small S is their own Sphere. Large S is the Holy Sphere. You have to be careful, because that's a translation.

And be very careful within the context. And I think as our brother said, in his opening remarks, that spirit of wisdom cannot come off the porch. No.

It cannot come off us. And it cannot come except through the Spirit of God. So it's difficult for me, the Spirit of God, isn't it? The Spirit of Wisdom must be associated with the Spirit of God.

And it's in keeping with what you have in Isaiah 11, where you're speaking of the Lord Jesus and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him. The Spirit, even though we're authorized by the Lord Jesus. The Spirit of God.

The Spirit of Wisdom. Understanding the Spirit of God. So I think this is a reference back to that.

That's Old Testament truth, and it's relative to the Kingdom. But here is now that same Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation. Isaiah 51.

John 14. And then Paul says the same in 1 Corinthians. I think it's about chapter 2. He talks about the Spirit of Wisdom.

So it's the Holy Spirit of God that gives this enlightenment. And I'm going to ask, I'm going to ask one or two questions. When are the eyes of my heart enlightened? Is this something that happens one time when I hear this teaching and now I know it? Or is this a progressive thing that goes on through my life as I progressively learn the glory of what Christ has done? What would you recommend that we just say? Okay, I think so.

Yeah. It's a progression. It's a full understanding, and we'll never come to the fullness of it until we have our glorified Father.

Doesn't that follow on from the word knowledge? I think the idea of giving the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation, it's giving the supply of that Spirit to be enjoyed, to bring us into this experience. Okay, now brethren, I'm looking around to see brethren that could contribute. Brother Wright, you're sitting back there.

What do you think of this revelation of the knowledge of faith? Can you help us? Anyone that has anything they'd like to say about it, speak now, forever hold your peace. I think we have a deficit. Everything we're going to learn, it's going to be related again.

I'd appreciate it if you can language, interpretation, all of it again. Yes, yes. That I may know Him, Paul wrote to the Philippians.

Didn't Paul know Christ? Certainly. But he wanted to know it better. That I might know Him.

And that has stopped. Some people want to get involved in obvious studies. That's right.

That's what's important. In 1 Corinthians 4, when the light shined into our hearts, and I take a knowledge of faith, that in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, and we'll mention this this morning, we are taught by the Spirit of God. We're not taught by Him.

Now we ourselves, as a brother here, I can just listen to him if you want, and it helps. I know, because of my knowledge, that it's the Spirit of God that gives us understanding. He who is the Spirit of God, knows the deep things of God, has an understanding of the things of God.

And it's a continual progress. We start off with light in our heart, we get light in our heart, we get light in our home, and light in our center. We get the light in that.

It doesn't matter. Light from divine persons is the only way to get to know Christ. And there are a lot of different classes on it.

And as a young man, I went and did a course study. As I get older, I find that Look at some of you older brethren with me here. I find meditation is more of my life than study.

Is that right? And you have to put in meditation on the suppression of Christ. You wake up in the middle of the night and, you know, what are you thinking of? Suppression of Christ. If your mind becomes in tune with the suppression of Christ, you tell the Lord, cultivate meditation on the suppression of Christ.

But let's just be very, very clear to our young believers here. The law of maturity. So the meditation of Christ is found in the Word of God.

And nothing that has been said up until this point is disparaging the careful study of the Word of God. Christ is revealed not in some gnostic dreaming. It's discovered in the propositional statements of Holy Scripture that were inspired by the Holy Spirit.

And so we're not arguing here that our dreams are superior to the Word. No, our consideration of Christ springs from and is based on the Word. You can't meditate on what comes right.

And we, really, on the spiritual ground. So you have the sealing of the Spirit, sealed with the Spirit, the Holy Spirit. And then you have the Holy Spirit as the earnest of our purpose.

But we're also anointed by the Spirit. And that's what I would see here. We have a capacity.

Not that we know everything in the world. We're never going to know everything. But we have a capacity.

The Old Testament states that it has it. It used to boast about other things, but it couldn't boast of this and that. It shouldn't really say we boast, but in some ways we are.

That's not spiritual. But the power behind all of this, and I think you need to come to that, because that's really crucial. So I would come against the enjoyment of meditation.

And not only the enjoyment of meditation, but practically the power. Power. It's a tremendous word.

Power. Bill? No, it wasn't me. When it comes to, I think, the first and foremost is to know Him.

I've already mentioned that. That's the scriptures. To progress in knowledge, first of all, is to know Him.

To know Him is to love Him. You really can't love someone unless you know them. To know Him is to love Him.

To love Him is to trust Him. Trust Him with your hand. This word, power, it's wonderful the way that the Holy Spirit handles language.

I marvel at it. He piles words upon words to just dazzle our minds immeasurably. If He had really said the power of God, it would have assumed all of it.

But He just stacks adjectives upon adjectives to just make it sound wonderful. That was working. It's a thought of energy.

That's literally one of the problems of the energy. There are four words used for power in Ephesians. They're all four right here in the set.

And they're distinguishable, although they might be blurred a bit down the line. But the first one is the dynamic power. The dynamite, the exceeding greatness of His dynamic power restoratively, according to the energy, which is the word that's used now for working for power here, of His, the might of His power.

So we've got four words that are used here, different words that are all expressive of any power at work, progressing, and expressing a very characteristic power. There are words about exceeding, the exceeding greatness of His power. We use it again in chapter three when He talks about the exceeding riches that are ours.

Then He says the same when He writes to the Corinthians about the exceeding glory that's ours, and in chapter nine, second epistle, the exceeding liberality of the saints, for those that were of need. He uses that word to add to the word power. It's the enormity of exceeding greatness.

The word is actually thrown beyond studies. You can say in all those cases, there's something beyond it. Paul wrote something like this in Philippians.

I can do all things through Christ which giveth me strength. If I look at Philippians, an amazing statement in Philippians. I can do all five.

It says, I can rejoice in my weakness, for God's strength is made perfect. Be aware that it is life, like Nebuchadnezzar himself. One of the great words to describe God is the fact that God is transcendent.

God is not just man writ large. In other words, this is not just all of our power multiplied to a certain degree, and then you have the power of God. His exceeding power is that it is transcending beyond, that's what Brother David had in mind, it's beyond, and it's multiplication of human power, the power of God.

And that's a wonderful truth. All of God's activities are transcendent. Our God is a God beyond.

How wonderful that he came here. So God has spread his creatorial power in the material universe around us. The size of his energy has to be greater than the sum of all energy that's found in the universe.

But that's in creation. This is speaking about his power at working against you, which is greater still. Thus, the standard of God's power in the Old Testament was that it was redeemed from intermediate, the mighty power of God assigned to the wondrous and so on.

But the standard of God's power in the New Testament is what we have here. I think we'll move on a little. Now as he goes to that same power that was effectual in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus from the dead.

Now, the New Testament usually describes that as the work of the Father. The Acts, for instance, God raised him from the dead. But here it says it's the working of his power which he brought into Christ when he raised him from the dead.

So the power of God is what brought Christ out from the grave, his mighty power. Thus, we get now to the agnostic that if he hadn't been raised again there'd be no salvation. A woman's hand or even a man's heart is brought up to raise him from the dead.

That's what he says. He's also speaking of his confidantial. We talk about the work of Christ when we forget about the resurrection.

That's proof to the world that God was satisfied. Paul uses the word know in verse 18 which indicates a perception. Whether we perceive something we comprehend that in relation to the whole.

And even the riches of the glory. But how does he use that in relation to knowing the riches of his power? You'd almost think that's the experiential way of knowing by experience. But here is more the idea of knowing by perception and the nature of conveying and because of recognizing the power of his argument he doesn't follow that himself.

And it flows up from this perspective. I think it flows from the daughter of our Lord Jesus Christ and the father of the Lord. How capable is he of bringing the Lord? How capable is he of bringing the glory of those who depend on him? The God of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The father of the Lord. Here's that great power that goes from the very bottom run of the ladder to the very highest conceivable run of the ladder. It's not just resurrection.

It's all the way that's going to come. St. Paul says power in relation to the believer in chapter 2. You'll be informed that going to chapter 2 gives the dark background of the goodness. It's going to be the same kind of power that must operate because of what has already operated in Christ.

And because of our lack of that. So Christ is the first to physically raise from the dead and send glory. Since we've been raised from the dead, we await the glory.

But this is not so much resurrection are they? This is bringing the Lord. It's first resurrection. That's necessity.

And then the glory is so deep. It's bringing into the apprehension of that door even now, I think. And a length of correspondence for that future.

I would have thought that this is the power available to us to live in response to the hope of the covenant and the seed of riches of the greatness of the Holy Spirit. The hope of the covenant, I know you said something about that. I know it would include the conformity of Christ in the glory of the Lord.

That's the end result. Because it's operating in me now. And that's why the risen Christ is not described in the temple.

But in the heavenlies, I think because that's where we're supposed to be. So it's not that he's remote from us. It's accessible in the heavenlies where we're supposed to be.

I think that's it. I think this Philippians chapter 2, verse 13 is this apocryphal saying for his God that's working for you both to will and to do you a good pleasure. To will is enlightenment up from his will to be.

And as we understand the power that is available we can work out that will in our lives practically if we look at this. And that's something separate. Okay.

Philippians is more the salvation of the assembly. Work out your own salvation. Is that what it is? Salvation of the assembly.

It's written down. I think that Paul was absent when he was with them. But now it's absent.

Work out your own salvation. We've only got 15 minutes. There's about five interesting subjects here.

We're on resurrection. Then there's exaltation. Then there's the supremacy.

Then there's dominion. And then the fullness, the completion of him. So anyone have anything else to say about the resurrection? Apart from the resurrection this were a very practical thought.

Someone who was lost a child was saved. And then what hope the resurrection gives to them to know that they'll see that love coming back. Because they're nothing.

And this is a value here just to go by way of contrast. Remember the Lord Jesus said in the story of the temple in 2 days, I will raise it up again. I lay down my life.

I'm not taking my life from when I lay down myself. I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it up again. But that's not what's here.

It's not his taking his life up again. This is what God did by God's mighty power. And so you're looking at a man who put himself into the hand of his God and his God raised him with mighty power out of the grave.

And he didn't stop there. The Lord Jesus ascended up on high in chapter 4. He ascended. Here, he is the one who's lifted up and caused to sit down at the right hand.

I think you're referring to Acts 2, David, where he says that God has raised him up from the pains of death. It's not possible that he should be born again. So God brings him from the dead.

At the end of the gospel of Luke, he's taken up a perfect man. That's what we have here, a perfect man, raised up and ascended. And as far as his ascension is concerned, Colossians tells us that all these things in his list, the rule of authority, power, and dominion, those are the things he created.

And so now he's taking this creatorial place of supremacy over the thing that is created can never hold the creator. And so the creator now will be seen once again in a rightful place higher than all that we've heard. Paul wanted to know something of his father in Philippians 3, that I may know them in the power of their resurrection, the delicate of their sufferings, that they may conform the body of the dead, that by any means they may attain unto their resurrection after when they're dead.

He wanted to know something of God in his own personal life. What a man, what a desire to receive what the Lord Jesus in three positions. First of all, relative of death, he's seen as the victim, the one that's listed in the holy book.

Then the relation to God is given the place of honor. See, it was over a hand. And given the relation to angels in all principalities is pureness.

It's preeminent over all things. So the Lord has a position of absolute preeminence that's incomparable. Just that little word far above, it's worth emphasizing.

It's not just placed there so you know it. But he's, again, he's beyond them all. He's far above all of that.

The highest of created beings, the highest of created power, the highest of created administration, he is far above all of that. There could be one of all the ranks and divisions in the created sphere, but he's known than the uncreated spheres are. That's a tremendous thing.

I've looked it up from seven years ago where I can submit to it. He said that when the Lord Jesus was in heaven, he was at the right hand of the Father. If he had to move at all, he had to move downwards.

But now here he has gone back to heaven and he's higher than the highest above all created intelligence of everything, dominion, not only what's made in this world, but also the messengers to come. And we don't know who that is, but he knows over all intelligences, he will reign in sovereign control. That's a different position of Christ shown in the Scriptures in the Resurrection of Adam.

He's seated on the throne of unfinished work. Here, he is set to death. The work is finished.

It's completed. But in Revelation we see him walking amidst the churches. And that's his position today in relation to the hopes of God.

But Stephen in Acts chapter 7, he sees Jesus standing, but the work is not yet finished, in relation to Adam. That's good. Just note this as well, I think, that we're not looking at the fact that the Lord Jesus went back to what he was before.

He actually carries glory back with him that he never had when he was on the throne. He is a man here, who comes up from death. And there is now a man who is at the right hand.

And there is a man who is far above all that has been created. And he has a glory now that he never had before. I don't know how to explain that.

But it is acquired glory that's brought before us here. He is God, he is man, and one in each person. But he carries manhood to a height beyond all conception, to the very height of Godhead.

It's not that we don't know what he is, but I go to prepare a place for him. There's a man in heaven, even though he never was before. And to cross the Lord Jesus, there is a man.

That's for sure. And again, because we are one with him, that he's there and has prepared for us. And what he has acquired is by virtue of his death on the cross, isn't it? Redemption and redemption.

And the defeat of Satan as well. I think there's practical good here for Christian living, because he has put all things under his feet. The defeat of Satan is not yet fully evident in this world.

But it will be evident, because even now, because it's doubtful, all things are under his feet. And so, Satan is, in some ways, for the believer at least, a hollow character. We don't have to obey him.

He has been trampled beneath the feet of Christ. The sad news is that sometimes we do obey him. That's to our shame, but all things are under his feet.

And not only that, now at the end, he comes to the church. He is over all things to the church. God gave him.

But I think this is God's gift to the church. Right. Thank you very much.

But that's not the way the authorizer reads it. But I think that it is. I was asking about that in the beginning of the paper.

It gave him, actually, he is not a supply worker. It gave him, head of the church, the bride, a chameleon. That is one of the most amazing statements of Scripture.

You're going right up to the very pinnacle of glory and exaltation. And then he says, this one who has everything that he can speak, who is the head over all things, God says, not that he gave the church to him, he gave him to the church. And the reason is because the church is not complete without him.

And he is not complete without her. And that is to me, she is the fullness of him. He fills all in all.

And yet, in God's purpose, not essentially, he is complete in himself, full in himself, has been eternal. But in God's purpose, he is not complete without him. And that means something else.

Beyond that, the fullness of him that fills all in all. So he completely fills the universe. Not geographically, but in terms of purpose.

So you have Adam and Eve here working as the Old Testament Scripture. Adam is not complete without Eve. You want to live together.

And yet, in Adam and Eve, Eve was given to Adam. Here is the astounding statement. I think that Christ was given to the church in the rich grace of God.

I'm not taking anything away from the headship of Christ or the headship of man in error. But here is a wonderful statement of God's grace on adulting you and me, that this one here, that the pinnacle of God, he gave to the church. So Paul, hearing the Colossians for so long, the one who said over all things to the church, now he's saying he gave him to the church.

That he's the head of the church there. And here now you have the wonderful head which is the complement, the fulfillment. A body is not complete without a head, isn't that right? Anybody else have a comment? We're going to wind it up.

His dominion is in the not only in this age, it's not the world. It's unfortunate that the word for age has been translated worldly so much. It does cause a little bit of confusion because the world is this order of things in this age of the world.

That's the age. And in all the ages to come, each of us will have dominion. Satan will try to set up a place for worship for dominion.

He shall have dominion. In a millenial scene, he shall have dominion. In all the ages to come, he is the one who is supreme.

He shall have dominion. I want to take away from the pinnacle of the chapter, but just to go back, I think you were hinting at this too. Not every, about every name that is named.

You do have the thought of that in Philippians 2, where the word for God also hath he called him, and given him the name which is above every name. But it's expanded here. It's not just God's pleasure in one who obeys him even to the extent of death.

It's answered by his having the highest place. It's here God's power. God's power that will give him the place above every name and every claim to fame in this world, and there will never be anyone who will eclipse him.

Never. He has the very pinnacle never to be exceeded itself. Isn't that why he talks about the fullness? He says here, the fullness of him.

He says that again in chapter 4, when he speaks about the fullness of the measure of the fullness of Christ. Then again, down that chapter, the fullness of Christ. Three times I think he mentioned again in verse 16, the effectual working of the measure increasing of the body down to the building up of itself.

He's talking about the completion, the fullness that will be in a coming day. Now, did I just suggest a little something here? On the subject of headship, okay? This is one of the great passages on headship. And we're looking at the fact that here, enunciated, that he is the one who has responsibility, head, responsibility to bring all to its full measure in the purpose of God.

Headship has to do with the responsibility for, and here he has the responsibility for all things. Not one thing, but he is the one who will bring it all to its fullness, and it will come. And that's why I said, there's no one like that.

You see, the one that involves this person, the son of God, who loved me, he gave himself for me. This majestic, wondrous one who loved me and gave himself for me. You can all say that.

You can call him, worship, worship. Thank you for your help.