Some preachers will drag on the same verses because they are afraid of what they will preach after they finish a book or passage. I hope you can see I am not doing that; it is not that I don’t have other portions to preach. I have so much more to preach in the Bible. Remember, we started this ministry with the ambition to finish preaching through the entire Bible, but I don’t want to do it in a superficial way like so many do. Whatever we do for the Lord, we have to leave a unique legacy. When people read or hear our messages in coming generations, they should find such rare depth; the efforts behind each message should make them ashamed of superficial Christianity and encourage them to spend more time digging deeper into God’s word through study and research for its treasures.
If you read the most popular preachers today or commentaries on Ephesians 1:15 onwards, most finish the passage in two or three sermons. We are going slow because the spirit of revelation is teaching important things, and we don’t want to miss them. Especially in this passage, Paul doesn’t just want us to have head knowledge or to memorize; he wants us to have a deep experiential perception to know three things: the Hope of our calling, our Inheritance, and His Power—HIP. It is not just Paul’s concern; it is God’s great concern for His children that we know these three things. You know, amazingly, these are the same three things even the apostle Peter wants us to know in 1 Peter, which we studied years ago.
1 Peter 1:3-5: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”
Do you see the same three things? Living hope, inheritance, and the power of God. All three are closely connected. We should live knowing the hope of our calling; confident expectation on one side, fervent yearning and patient waiting on the other. That hope will keep us joyful and not discouraged, knowing 2 Corinthians 4:16: “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.”
Why, Paul, are we not discouraged or losing heart when the outward man is perishing? Because the inward man is being renewed day by day. Verse 17 says, “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” This hope will make us see our life in a new dimension; we see that every affliction, pain, and suffering is working toward an eternal weight of glory—doing it now. We must not only have hope but know the glory of the riches of the object of our hope. So, the second request is to know the riches of the glory of the inheritance. Now, third, he wants us to know the great power which is working in us to bring us to this inheritance.
These are three connected chains:
- The subjective hope burning in our hearts now.
- Knowing the object of that hope is the objective inheritance God is preparing.
- Realizing the power that is operating in us to bring us to possess and enjoy that inheritance.
They are not only connected; one encourages the other. Is my hope so worthy that I should eagerly wait? Yes, it is the riches of the glory of the inheritance. Oh, if it is so rich and so glorious, can I ever hope to reach it? Yes—know the great power working in you to fulfill that hope and bring you to that inheritance.
Standing Before the Mountain
We looked at the first two requests. At last, we move to the third one in verse 19. I thought we had climbed a big mountain so far, but as we turn and before we can catch another breath, I see the biggest mountain in all the New Testament from verse 19 to the end of the chapter. I don’t know how we are going to climb it; I am already feeling breathless. Let me first at least read the verses:
19 “and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. 22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.”
My daughter had a lesson on Mount Everest for her midterm exam. I learned more about how tall the mountain is by teaching her; it is the tallest mountain in the world. Imagine standing before that mountain without shoes and with no knowledge of how to climb, just looking at it with your jaw dropped. That is my feeling before this passage. How can one ever stand up and look at a high passage like this? I felt like prostrating before it. Oh Holy Spirit, instead of me handling this vast mountain, let it dominate me, saturate me, and fill my mind.
When Paul thinks of the power working in us, the man catches fire. He becomes a volcano; his language swells and peals. His words become exuberant. Notice: “the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power.” Such language can only come when someone tries to condense the infinite within the finite limits of human language—trying to speak the unspeakable. Someone once said these human words are just like high ocean tsunami waves, but the waves are just a small symbol, a glimpse of the infinite depth and vastness of the ocean. Man keeps piling up words until even the greatest Bible Greek scholars, who spend their lives studying deep words and meanings, try their best to explain and then sit back, scratch their heads, and say, “Paul has outdone us.” Paul sees something and uses poor human words to give us an idea, so he leaves it to the spirit of revelation to reveal the reality.
So, welcome to one of the “Mount Everest” passages of the New Testament in its height, purity, and grandness. With our dirty minds, defiled by sin and blinded by vanity and love of the world, we can forget about climbing to the top. But if the spirit of wisdom helps us, we can probably climb five or ten feet of this tall mountain. Today, let us try to scratch the surface of verse 19 under three headings:
- The Importance of the Power of God.
- The Characteristics of this Power.
- The Recipients of this Power.
ICR stands for Intelligent Character Recognition; that is what we will attempt: to intelligently recognize these characters and words.
1. Importance of the Power of God
The main subject is the power of God; all the rest of the words until the end of the chapter explain this. The power of God is a glorious attribute; it is the omnipotence of God. God revealed His power in creation; just the word of His mouth created the universe out of nothing. Scripture celebrates this again and again. See the power of the ocean and its tsunami waves—nothing can stand before them. Think of the power of thunder, an earthquake, a tornado, a hurricane, or a flood. Think of the power of big waterfalls smashing into the rocks below. The awesome power displayed in that force and collision has a tendency to awe us. When we stand before it, we are humbled and realize our weakness, smallness, and our own inability to ever compete, even in the tiniest way, with that tremendous power. Then, His frighteningly great power will be revealed when He summons the world to judgment on the last day, destroys the universe in a second, and recreates a new heaven and a new earth.
When Paul prays that we should know God’s power, he is not talking about creation power, judgment power, or destruction power. There is a revelation of God’s power beyond all that. It is the power of God working in His people to accomplish His goals of redemptive grace. We can call it redemptive power. The word used is Dunamis, from which the word “dynamite” comes. The power of God is going to be the focus for the remaining verses in Ephesians.
We can divide chapter 1 into two sections: verses 1–18 (the Grace of God) and verses 19–23 (the Power of God). Verses 1–18 are filled with the magnitude of the grace of God. God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings: He chose us, predestined us for adoption, redeemed us, gave us an inheritance, and sealed us with the Holy Spirit. Why? Verse 6 tells us: “for the praise of the glory of His grace.” Now, verses 19–23 are all about the power of God. Everything that God has planned and designed in His grace will certainly be accomplished by His power. If grace is not joined to power, it results in a big disappointment and exhaustion. If power is not controlled and directed by grace, it will destroy us. But when grace is linked to omnipotence, you have the glory of New Testament salvation.
An Example: Suppose you saw a man in a pathetic condition. He is in prison, has no proper food, and is sick with ten different diseases. He has no skills, no education, and is very ignorant. He has no one to help him and not one rupee in his pocket. Your heart is moved with pity and compassion. You want to be gracious to him; you cannot sleep until you express your grace to him. You can have grace as vast as an ocean, but if you are just an ordinary man, you don’t have the political power to bring him out of prison, the money power to pay for his medical treatment, or the power to educate him and get him a job. You see, no matter how much mercy, grace, or pity you may have, unless you have the power to perform the goals of your pity and mercy, all your grace will be nothing but frustration for you. Imagine if you told that man about all your pity and grace, and then said, “Sorry, I don’t have the power to help.” He would tell you to throw your grace in the dustbin. It is useless. Unless grace is joined to power, it cannot do anything but frustrate everyone.
Now, lift that example upward. God loved us, elected us in eternity, and predestined us. He saw our fall in Adam—slaves to sin, under condemnation and wrath, slated for judgment, and destitute. If God merely elected and predestined us, and revealed how much He loved us but had no power to do all He planned, the grace of God would be nothing as far as our condition of sin is concerned. It would be a frustration. But blessed be God, our God is not only the God of all grace, but He is the Almighty God. His grace is filled with power, and He is able to accomplish all that grace designs. So, we see the importance of the power of God.
2. Characteristics of this Power
There are two things to note: its excellency and its working efficacy. These are two things we always look for when we buy something. Imagine you decided to buy the biggest car. We always assess it by two things: its look and its operation—grand to look at and efficient in its operations. Consider the custom-built limousine called “The American Dream,” the Guinness World Record holder for the longest car at 100 feet. It has a small kitchen, a dining room, a bathroom, and even a swimming pool. I was thinking I could sell my house and buy it; you wouldn’t even need a house!
When you see such a car, you might stand back and admire the design, beauty, and color. But you wouldn’t buy it just for looks; you would want to test drive it. You go for a round and think, “Wow, how smoothly it runs! I can’t even feel a hump. How luxuriously it drives! How safe I feel inside; I could even sleep without any shaking.” So, you see, we assess anything by two things: excellency (the look) and operations.
That is what Paul does here. He wants us to stand back and behold the excellency of this great power of God—to be amazed and admire it for its inherent excellency, for what it is in itself. And then, he wants us to admire it for what it is in its operations—its working efficacy in our hearts and lives.
First, its excellency: To explain its excellency, he uses two words: “that you may know what is the exceeding greatness of His power.”
- Exceeding: What does it exceed? He does not tell us because he cannot. This exceeds everything. There is no comparison or limit to say “this exceeds that.” This is transcendent, immeasurable, and surpassing. Realize that the power that operates in believers to bring them to their inheritance exceeds all others. It goes beyond and above in measure. It is a power that outstrips even all other revelations of the divine power of God. It is exceeding.
- Greatness: He doesn’t stop there. He uses the word “greatness.” You see how useless human language is—we use the word “great” for everything. But the original word used here is found only in this place in the entire Bible, so there is no comparison. It refers to size or immensity—the “greatness” of His power. This refers back to the Father of Glory.
Put these two words together: exceeding (going beyond everything with no measure) and greatness (the immensity of His power). Who can know that? Job says the revelation of God’s power in creation is like an unconscious drop that fell from Him, which actually hides how powerful He is. Here, Paul talks about the power that works in believers. The trait of this power is exceeding greatness—an excess of greatness.
The God of the Bible is the Almighty God; everything He does reflects His attributes. He revealed His power in creation; Scripture celebrates His power when He brought the universe out of nothing by speaking. He reveals His power in providence by sovereignly using everything in the world to accomplish His purposes. But His power in redemption exceeds all other acts. His creation and providential power are like child’s play compared to His redemption power. That is why it is the “exceeding greatness of His power.” Our God is a great God who fills heaven and earth, and His power in redemption is the highest revelation of His greatness. In the work of redemption, God has decreed to glorify His attributes to the highest level. Everything that God is in and of Himself, and has been from eternity, finds its fullest and most brilliant expression in the saving of His people.
Second, its working efficacy: Notice the end of verse 19: “According to the working of His mighty power.” The word “working” is where we get our English word “energy.” Energia is the Greek word; the actual operating activity is the energia of God. This refers to superhuman power. “Working of the strength of His might” refers to power shown in action.
You can have a 56-inch chest and big biceps, and people look at you and say, “That man looks strong; he has great power.” But when he bends down and lifts a 200 kg weight easily, you see the strength of his might in action. It is might in operation. How does it work? It works “according to the working of the strength of His might.” Whose strength? The Father of Glory. Can you imagine the power that works according to the strength and might of the God of Glory?
So, when you add all the words together, the first thing it tells us is the glorious inherent excellency of this power—its look and beauty in itself. It is the exceeding greatness of power. Secondly, its working efficacy—power in action. The emphasis is on the fullness and the certainty of the power of God as it works on behalf of the people of God to secure their salvation and take them to their inheritance.
3. Recipients of this Power
The recipients are not everyone, but a distinct class described as those “who believe.” Why did he add “who believe”? Why does he emphasize faith here? Because faith is the only means through which this power works in people’s hearts. It is faith in Jesus Christ—full reliance and trust in the Lord Jesus—which attaches us to the source of this power. There could be massive power in the transformer on our street, but until there is a cable that connects that power to our house, we cannot have electricity. In the same way, the cable that connects us to the source of this power is faith.
He uses a present participle: this power doesn’t work only on those who “just believed” many years ago, as if faith were a past act. No, saving faith is not an act performed in the past; it is an ongoing act, an attitude which continues to exist in the present. The only proof that you have ever truly believed in the past is that you are believing in the present. This is how the word “faith” is used throughout the New Testament. In the most famous gospel verse, John 3:16, the word used is “believeth”—it is a present tense. “Whosoever is believing” (not just “whosoever has believed” or “made a decision”) shall not perish but have everlasting life. This power works only on such people: the believing ones.
Amazingly, Paul says this exceeding greatness of His power is “to us.” He includes himself and all believers in this great power. The great apostle—what power was displayed in his life, his salvation, and his ministry! He says that whatever power of God was operative to bring him to his inheritance, every single saint has that same thing. It is the power of God “to us.” I don’t have one thing more to land me safe in the inheritance than an ordinary believer has. It is inclusive of all believers. It includes all weak, struggling, shy, and stumbling believers. Thank God this power of God will not leave the weakest believer, but will work in such a mighty way to bring them to enjoy their glorious inheritance.
Applications
This is the first step in our climb up Mount Everest. Let us camp here for a week and keep meditating on this view. We have seen the importance, the characteristics, and the recipients of this power.
1. Pray Earnestly and Meditate HIP: Hope of calling, Inheritance, and Power are great spiritual realities. God wants us to know them; knowing them will bring great blessings to our lives. But even the great teacher of the church, the apostle Paul himself, felt helpless with all his teaching skills and words. He knew he could not make the Ephesians or us understand this without the Holy Spirit’s illumination. So, he writes and then constantly prays. What can I do? To get any living, growing, powerful awareness of these three things, we must completely depend on the Holy Spirit’s work. If you and I are grieving or quenching the Spirit in our lives through disobedience or continuing sin, you could hear a verse-by-verse sermon on Ephesians 1 for ten or twenty years, and it would not bring any transformation or illumination to your life.
If you want the Holy Spirit to reveal this, humble yourself, examine your heart, repent continuously of the ways you are grieving the Spirit, and learn to live realizing that the Spirit alone can enlighten you. We must be very careful not to quench the Spirit. Secondly, as we saw on Friday, such knowledge doesn’t come unless we deeply meditate on such passages again and again. You may intellectually understand what I taught, but it is the Holy Spirit who must teach the reality, and He does it for those who do not neglect the means of meditation. It is wrong to neglect meditation on what we have learned. When the Holy Spirit provides preachers who have spent hours of their time and strength to understand and explain these words, will you not take some time from your worldly life to meditate on these truths and expect the Spirit to illuminate you?
2. Grasping the Power of God I want to encourage you by showing you the blessings of grasping the power of God in your life. We cannot live a vigorous, happy Christian life without knowing it. Our lives will otherwise be marked by fear, negativism, pessimism, distrust, weakness, and cowardice. We say, “I cannot do that or this…” but when we feel this power, we will do extraordinary, superhuman things like the saints of old. We read of the mighty men of David and think their exploits were amazing, yet how pathetic are our exploits for God’s kingdom compared to theirs. Why do we do so little? It is because we do not know the power available to us. The reason we live such poor lives, afraid of failure, is that there is a deep sense of inadequacy and spiritual impotence. Nothing will deliver us from lukewarm, pessimistic Christianity more than the “exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe.” This fills us with bright hope and strength.
Nothing will bring us out of our refuge of weakness like this. We see the height of the mountain and our own weakness, find a small comfortable rock, sit down, and say, “We cannot climb; let us be content with this small rock.” But look! When we see a mighty hand reaching over, an arm stretched down, and a hand strong enough to grasp and lift us to the highest mountain, we only have to start the first five feet to catch it, and then we start climbing.
I am a poor, weak creature. Yes! I have many weaknesses and can easily fall into sins. Yes! I am ashamed of myself every day. Yes! But when we know the exceeding greatness of His power, we triumph in Him. Remember, the ultimate goal of this power is to bring us to our inheritance. List the things that would stand between the weakest, most fearful, struggling believer and his being brought safely to the riches of the glory of his inheritance. The power of indwelling sin, the subtle machinations of the devil and his demons, the plottings of this wicked world—bring ten thousand more hindrances! Let billions of devils hinder the way; this exceeding greatness of His power can overpower and subdue all that stands in the way and bring him safely to his inheritance. Oh, if the Holy Spirit would open our eyes to see the surpassing greatness of this power!
Knowing this will make us ashamed of lukewarm, low-effort Christianity. When we know such power is working in us and is available for us, and yet we see such poor results and fruit, it makes us intolerant of our present attainments. it will move us to do bigger things. It will teach us to be like William Carey, who said, “Attempt great things for God; expect great things from God.” This knowledge will widen our conceptions, enlarge our desires, and breathe a brave confidence into our hopes. It will stimulate vigorous effort. Learn to realize that the exceeding greatness of this power will clothe your weakness. Go out after this sermon, look at the sky and the universe, and behold His great power in creation. Then, realize that an even greater power—an exceeding greatness—is operating in you.
Final Considerations
Finally, remember the two conditions for knowing this power. I know most of us do not feel that power. It sounds like religious hype—vague and theoretical. It does not seem to correspond to our experience. Why?
First Reason: The most basic reason we don’t feel the magnitude of God’s power is that the eyes of our hearts are blind to spiritual reality. Notice that Paul is not praying that we may have the power operative, but that we may know the power that is already operative. That is a big difference. We are blind to the horrible, deadening power of sin that is now being conquered in our lives by God’s superior power. The more you know the horrible power of a disease, the more you will appreciate the power of the medicine that cures it. If you have any measure of victory over sin in your life, you will be amazed at the power of God only if you know the indescribable depth and power of sin. In the same way, we are blind to the realities of the demonic world and blind to the glory of what Christ did for us on the cross. You will be amazed at God’s power toward you now when the Holy Spirit opens your eyes to see spiritual realities. Power is currently working in your life, doing marvelous things. All your discouragement, weak mindset, inability to conquer sin, lack of joy in Christ, and failure to persevere through trials is because you do not know what a glorious power is already operative in your life.
Second Reason: “To usward who believe.” We come back to the most important truth which we should never forget. The one condition or means by which even the weakest among us can become mighty and strong with this exceeding power is simple, continuing trust in Him. It is continuing faith; not past faith or once-in-a-while faith.
I learned from my daughter’s book that the Indira Gandhi Canal system takes water deep into the Thar desert of Rajasthan through a 650 km pipeline. In Saudi Arabia, they bring water through a 14,000 km pipeline. Ocean or river water can flow anywhere if you have a channel. In the same way, this power can flow into any situation in our life only through the channel of faith. Also, the measure of this power we experience is directly related to the size of our “faith pipe.” The measure of your faith is the practical limit of God’s power you experience. There is a limitless ocean of power working in us; if we do not know experientially even a few drops to overcome sin, grow in holiness, and serve Christ, whose fault is that? The practical measure of the power is directly related to the measure of our belief and desire. If we ask the Lord, we shall get the old answer: “According to your faith be it unto you.”
How do we know a power is inside? By thrilling beneath its force—it comes surging and rejoicing into our aching emptiness and lifts us above our temptations and weakness. We may all know it by feeling it working upon ourselves. Know the power of God in a way that your spirits are immersed and saturated in that great ocean of God’s power. If it is exceeding power, shouldn’t we experience at least a drop of it?
Let me show a practical example of how this power works from 2 Corinthians 12:7-10:
“And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me… Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me… For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
If the Holy Spirit opens our eyes as He did for Paul, we will see that every time we are weak, if we believe, God will reveal His strength through that weakness.
Finally, if you are here as one who does believe, see the big distinction. The world is divided between believers and unbelievers. Once you become a believer—however weak or struggling—you are included in the family, and this power will work in you. It is inclusive of all believers, but it is also exclusive: it is only to us who believe.
There is a sober warning: if you are not a believer, the same power of God which takes believers to final salvation will make sure you face the wrath of Almighty God in the place of eternal burning forever. If, in the pride and stubbornness of your heart, you refuse to repent and cast yourself upon Christ, God will summon you from your grave by sheer power. By sheer power, He will join your disembodied spirit to a body that will live forever and call it before His judgment. By sheer power, God will utter the sentence, “Depart from me,” and by sheer power, confine you to hell forever.
Today, God invites you to come and believe in the work of Christ on the cross for sinners. He lovingly entreats you: “Why will you die? Turn you, turn you, why will you die?” The door of mercy stands open. When you come to Christ, the Scriptures say this message—which the world thinks is foolishness—is the power of God unto salvation to those who believe. If you believe, this “foolish” message can change your eternal destiny. Once you believe, immediately, like “Z-plus” security, the power of God will surround you and ensure that all that happens in life is for your good. Clinging to Christ, you come into the orbit of the operations of God’s greatest power, committed to your full and final salvation.
I plead with you: if you are an unbeliever today, repent and cling to Christ. And child of God, pray that in these coming weeks, God by His Spirit will help us all to understand, as never before, the exceeding greatness of His power.