Ephesians 1, verse 15, through the end of the chapter. For this reason since I heard about your faith and the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know Him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you. The riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints and His incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like His working of His mighty strength which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion in every title that can be given, not only in the present age, but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under His feet and appointed Him, that is Jesus, to be head over everything for the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills everything in every way. Amen. We've been sideline for a number of weeks cause of the mission's emphasis month and that's not a bad thing, that was actually a good thing. The last time that we looked in Ephesians here in the sanctuary, Tom may actually preached on Ephesians 1, 15 through 19 and today is kind of a continuation of what Tom was talking about. That sermon was Paul's prayer that the Ephesus believers would know the hope of God's calling, the riches of His glory's inheritance and His incomparably great power for those who believe. Today is kind of continuation of that because we're gonna talk about more of the power of the gospel for people who believe. But before we do that, I wanna bring up something important because Ephesians 1, if you remember, stresses the sovereignty of God in salvation. We've talked about words like election, predestination and the mention of that is scary for some people. Even though the Bible speaks plainly about it, it's scary for some people and it seems fatalistic and people say, you know, if God already knows if He's chosen people then why pray? But I want you to notice something, the Apostle Paul, immediately after teaching the sovereignty of God, Paul now mentions his prayer. Paul doesn't see a conflict between the two at all. Some people say if God's to create something, isn't gonna happen anyway, why do I need to pray? Paul understands that the sovereignty of God properly understood leads people to pray. If the sovereignty of God keeps you from praying, then you don't understand the biblical emphasis. God is so sovereign that He even uses our feeble prayers. Yours in mind, sinners though we are, to accomplish His will. God is that sovereign, He's that holy, He's that great. Now, notice today, Paul prays that we would know God.
What does that mean? It's very common, though unfortunate, to equate knowing about God to knowing Him. It's very common to just think about knowing God as knowing about Him. Let me illustrate the difference. Suppose I tell you this morning, I know Donald Trump. I know the Donald. Oh, I know him well. He was born Jude 14th in 1946. He was a fourth of five kids born in his family, born in Queens, New York. Son of a real estate developer. He was educated at the University of Pennsylvania. And his most famous quote is, you're fired. I know the Donald. You believe me? Somebody would say, what's his phone number? Good calling. Get him on the phone, talk to him. There's a difference, isn't there? There's a difference between knowing about Donald Trump. And knowing really Donald Trump and being on a first-name basis with him and talking to him. Let me ask you this. Do you know about God or do you know Him? Do you know about Jesus or do you know Him? If you know Jesus Christ, Paul says that you have experienced the working of his mighty strength. You're aware of how he works in you to change you and to make you more like Jesus. I had a friend in seminary whose first child is a daughter. And some time ago, she worked in one of the upscale Atlanta hotels, front desk and so forth, learning the hotel business. And in her work at this upscale hotel, and I'm not sure which one it was, she waited on two nationally known pastors who were guests in the hotel. I mean, nationally known guys, the mention of their name, everybody, oh yeah, yeah, he's on TV and so forth. And do you know how she described these two nationally known pastors, she described them as, quote, abrupt, non-appreciative, and just not nice.
This is absolutely true. During her time there at the hotel, she also met some famous people. She met a nationally known famous rap group. She also met the musicians who are known as Fleetwood Mac. You know how she described them? She described them as very appreciative and nice. The direct opposite of what you'd expect from the nationally known pastors and from these musicians, let me ask you, what does it mean to know God? What does it mean to know Jesus? What does it mean to be a Christian? It is not a matter of information in your brain. It's a matter of how God's grace changes your heart on the inside. It's not up here, it's here. My first point today is very simply the gospel is God's mighty strength. The gospel, the news about who Jesus is and what he did, the gospel is God's mighty strength. When you hear the gospel, when you hear about Jesus dying on the cross, it's very common to respond with, I'm a sinner, I need to change. I need to shape up because the gospel tells us we're not very good, we are totally depraved, we are sinful. And so it's common to respond with, I need to be better, I need to improve. And we frequently take credit for changes. We say we speak in terms of I've turned over a new leaf. I'm a new person, I'm better now. But the gospel is God's mighty strength. When we say that, we're saying that the crucifixion of Jesus for us and in our place, this is what changes me, this is what humbles me, this is what brings me to my knees. Now today is communion Sunday. I wanna ask you, are you gonna be affected by it? Are you going to be changed by it? Partaking of the Lord's Supper helps us to grow. It takes information from our head and takes it to our heart. It reminds us of who we are. We acknowledge that we still fall short of God's glory. We still need mercy, we still need grace. This is Paul's prayer for you this morning. Have you ever read through the book of Leviticus? If you have, you've probably at some point kind of gotten bogged down because in the book of Leviticus, the theme of the book of Leviticus is, without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. That's the overall theme of the book of Leviticus and you can't read through Leviticus without hearing a lot of emphasis upon blood and sacrifice and there to do it this time and there to do it again and there to do it over and over. And the one who was sacrificing a bull, for instance, in the book of Leviticus was first to take out the bull's heart and then he was to take out his kidneys and then he was to take out the bull's intros and he was to offer them up as a sacrificial offering, separately and so forth. And to do that, if you think about the size of a bull and it's hard and it's kidneys and it's intros to do that, you literally had to crawl half inside the animal. This is true. You don't think about that when you read the book, but to actually do that, you have to literally half crawl inside of the animal and in doing so, you got that animal's sticky, warm blood all over you. Now, I think of yourself as one offering that kind of sacrifice in the Old Testament. Could you go home after offering that bull's heart and kidneys and intros, could you go home unmoved, unchanged?
You would have just participated in the death of an innocent substitute. His blood, its blood would be all over you and you couldn't forget it. Now, I want you to understand in coming to the Lord's Table to get today. If you're a Christian, it means you have participated in the death of an innocent substitute. And when you come confessing and believing just as that person had to half crawl inside the carcass of the bull, when you come to the Lord's Table, table, you are said to be in Jesus Christ. And not only is his blood on you as we drink the cup, we take his blood inside of us. We receive his body inside of us. And we're humbled by the fact that this innocent substitute, whose body and blood are represented by the bread and the juice, this innocent substitute died in my place. And you can't help but be humbled by that. If you're not humbled by that, as you go home, if you're not humbled and renewed and grateful and changed, then you're probably not a Christian at all. The gospel is God's mighty strength. Second, the God is God's incomparably great power. That's what Paul says here. He says, I pray that you may know the riches of his glorious inheritance and saints and his incomparably great power for us, who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms. The gospel is not just God's mighty strength. It's his incomparably great power. How great you say? The gospel is God's power to change what you right now think can't be changed about you. I want to repeat that. The gospel is God's power to change what you think can't be changed about you, to change what you've had difficulty with. I'm speaking about your temper. I'm talking about your lust. I'm talking about your drinking. I'm talking about your cursing. I'm talking about your gossip. I'm talking about your impatience. I'm talking about your resentment. I'm talking about your idolatry. The gospel that the bread and juice represent are God's power to change what you think can't be changed about you. Paul makes sure that you get this. And as he makes sure, he uses several Greek words. He uses the word dunamis. It's the Greek word for power. It's the word from which we get the English word dynamite. Paul saying that the gospel is God's dynamite. It is his power. We can't even express or explain. He describes it as God's energy. That means we get the word energy from that. That's God's working. He uses the word cratos. I saw Saturday morning cartoon about a month ago. There was one of the characters in this cartoon was named cratos. I didn't even understand it at the time. That's the Greek word for mighty. He uses the word iscus, which means power. Think of it. He talks about power. The working of God's energy. God's might. God's power. That's what Paul's saying about the gospel. It is divine. It is dynamic. It is God's eternal energy. How many of you have ever had an animal with a car? Squirrel, dog, cat, rabbit, so forth? It's not fun. You may have heard the story about the man who hit a rabbit. Ran it over, smushed it flat, felt terrible, stopped, went back with his friend, saw the dead animal. He was really, really smushed. He said, just a minute, he turns to his friend. He opened the trunk of his car. He gets out a can of hairspray. He goes, and he sprays it on this bunny rabbit. The bunny rabbit sits up. Jakes himself off. Jakes his head, gets up, hops down the road. It's about to pass out of sight. The rabbit stops, looks back, does like this. And his friend is just amazed. He said, how is that possible? He says right here on the can, this hairspray brings dead hair to life and leaves a permanent wave. Suppose I had a bunny rabbit or a squirrel. And you're with me, and I stop and get out of the car. And I walk back and I don't have a can of hairspray. I just, I touched the animal in his race from the dead. It'd be pretty impressive, wouldn't it? You and I are as dead as that animal on our own,
apart from Jesus Christ. But what Paul is saying here, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is that one touch from Jesus Christ brings incredible resurrection power. You remember last Sunday? We celebrated the resurrection. Is it just a one, once a year deal? Is it just something we just kind of commemorate? Oh, he had to nice that Jesus was raised from the dead? No, it's more than that. Paul is saying that one touch from Jesus brings incredible resurrection power. Remember when Jesus healed the paralytic? My son, your sins are forgiven. And then, in order that you might know that I have the authority to do this, I say to you, rise, take up your bed and go home. He had no ability to get up. He was paralyzed. And yet Jesus says, take up your bed and go home. He couldn't do that. Remember when Jesus stood at Lazarus' tomb? Lazarus had been dead for three days? Or four days? I'm not sure. Now, Lazarus, come out. Could Lazarus do that on his own? No, he could not. The power was all Jesus. And it's the same way with your sins. It's the same way with whatever is paralyzed you that you can't do. It's the same for whatever in your life you just feel dead. You cannot accomplish it. The power of Jesus Christ of the gospel comes to us in that condition. When we're paralyzed, when we're dead. Paul speaks of Jesus' resurrection power. And then he goes on to say, not only does Jesus have that resurrection power, he's ascended to the right hand of his father. The place of power and authority. Now, I bet I know what some of you're thinking. Well, that may be true, but I'm still discouraged because I still struggle with the same things. Will I ever be any different? Is there anything that can really change me? Is there anything that really conquers my sins? Is there anything that can give me resurrection power? I've tried, it just isn't in me. And that's right. It's just isn't in you, it's in Jesus Christ.
Someone says, well, Pastor, you don't think highly enough about my sins and how bad they are. No, I'm saying you don't think highly enough about the power of Jesus Christ. Now, how does that translate to you? What sin comes to mind? What thing then, you're quite sure God wants you to do or not do comes to mind, you can't do it. You're right, the power is not in you. Paul says the power is in Jesus. And Paul is praying here that your attitude will change, that your attitude will change about the gospel and the power of God because the power that raised Jesus is greater than anything, anything. 150 years ago, a man named Ben Wangford died.
Died in England, his last request we were told was that he was asked to be buried with a fig in his hand. Over time, that fig evidently decomposed along with his body, but the power of life in that fig seed grew into a tree that eventually split the top of his sarcophagus and pushed out the side walls with the trunk. Did you put a picture of that up on the screen? So black and white picture was taken in 1950. This has been Wangford's tomb, it really happened. The tree no longer exists. There was a very cold winter of 1962 or three and the tree died was cut down. This is a picture taken in 1950 of Ben Wangford's tomb and this is the fig tree that grew out of it. What a picture of the gospel. God's incomparable power. Remember that fig in his hand? Listen, when you take hold of Jesus by faith, when you receive him, you are receiving the gospel seed. Your body has no life in it. The power is not in you. The power is in Christ. Now, of all this is true. How should we come to the Lord's table today? How should we take communion? You should come like this. You should come expecting to meet Jesus. You should come expecting to meet Jesus. You should come asking that your connection to what these elements represent would be strengthened that your faith in repentance would be deepened during World War II in Atasca, Texas. There was a school fire that killed 263 people, 263 children from the same town. Think of that. The tornado this week killed somewhere in the neighborhood of 340, 350, 360. 263 people, children adults from the same town in Atasca, Texas all died in this terrible school fire. Every family in town was affected in some way, either by a child or a parent or a cousin or a niece or nephew or a grandchild. Every family was affected. And so after World War II ended, they built a new school and they spared no expense. When they built the new school, they installed in it the finest sprinkler system in the world. They had been so deeply grieved by that loss. They couldn't do anything else. They built the school and after it was completed, civic pride ran high and honor students, guided the members of the community in Atasca, Texas on a tour of the new school and facility to show the best sprinkler system that money could buy. They would never have to face a tragedy like that again. And the town grew and new students came. And seven years later, they had to expand and enlarge that school that had been built. And when they expanded it, they discovered to their horror that that sprinkler system that they had been so proud of had never been connected to a water source. All that expense, all that effort, all that pride, all that technology, to no avail. And isn't it the same thing for us today? So many professing Christians are not hooked in to the power of God, to the power of the gospel, to the power of Jesus. I wanna ask you this morning, are you hooked in? Seriously, are you hooked in to Jesus mighty power?
Are you hooked in? Are you connected to the resurrection power of the gospel of God's grace? Do you know what does that? Do you know how to get hooked in? Do you know how to be connected? Repenance, sorrowing over your sins. Over your powerlessness. And looking in faith to Jesus and his mighty power. Do you believe it? Do you believe it? Do you believe it? Are you repenting? Are you powerless? Then come and let's pray. Father in heaven, we acknowledge that there's no power in us. Naturally, there's no life in us by nature we are. Angry and rebellious and prideful and lustful and idolatrous and there is no life in us. But we thank you, Father, for the power of the gospel seed that as we reach out to take it by faith grows. And defies the power of the grave. Lord, may we be connected to and experience that resurrection power of Jesus today. And may we receive this bread and this juice from your hand Jesus because we ask it in your name, Amen.