I invite you to turn with me tonight to Ephesians chapter 1, as we read together this chapter. Ephesians 1, focusing in particular on verses 19 through 23, the last verses of the chapter, in connection with our confession that our Lord Jesus Christ sitteth at the right hand of God the Father. You have found Ephesians chapter 1, if you would turn to page 26 in the back of the Psalter hymnal, So, to Lord's Day 19, we will consider together the first two of the three questions and answers. Questions 50 and 51. Page 26 in the back of the Psalter hymnal. If you would look there first with me as we express what we believe concerning these things. Question 50 asks, Why the next words and sitteth at the right hand of God? Christ ascended to heaven there to show that He is head of His church and that the Father rules all things through Him. How does this glory of Christ our head benefit us? First, through His Holy Spirit, He pours out His gifts from heaven upon us, His members. Second, by His power, He defends us and keeps us safe from all enemies. Ephesians chapter 1. So we hear now the word of our God. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus, grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ in accordance with His pleasure and will, to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the one He loves. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God's grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And He made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Christ to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. In Him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will in order that we who were the first to hope in christ might be for the praise of his glory and you also were included in christ when you heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation having believed you were marked in him with a seal the promised holy spirit who is who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are god's possession to the praise of his glory for this reason ever since i heard about your faith in 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 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, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and 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 to be head over everything for the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills everything in every way. May God add His blessing to the reading and the preaching of His Word. Well, beloved, in Christ the Lord, who's really in charge? Maybe as you look around at the world right now and you consider life as we know it right now, you might wonder that, even a little bit. You might consider that question to yourself. Who's really in charge? We do confess, don't we? We did earlier in song. We confess that Jesus Christ, the King of the church, is at the right hand of God, ruling over all things. We firmly believe that. But yet we see the state of the world today. We see hatred among the nations. We see the desire for nuclear weapons, you know, just in case. We recognize the state of our nation, especially the godlessness of homosexuality and gay marriage and abortion and greed and animals being given more rights than human beings. And the doomsday talk of the economy and global warming. All of this, you see, is being thrust upon us. It seems like there is chaos out there. Not to mention the fact that we know that there is persecution for believers in certain parts of the world. Believers are indeed suffering even to the point of death for their faith. We can't fathom that here. But there are some who are facing life or death because of their faith. And while we sit here in church on Sundays, we have a certain amount of confidence, don't we? Because we're surrounded by fellow believers, those who are like-minded with us, those who wouldn't oppose us on any of these things. We're confident as we sit here. But when we're out there, you see, we are attacked by news reports and newspapers and attitudes and opinions of others. And all of this, you see, comes pressing down upon us and therefore we may wonder once in a while who's really in charge down here. And what is Jesus doing up there? Does He know? What's going on down here? Does He care? Now, of course, to ask those questions we know is to answer them. But we also need to understand and remember that this chaos, as I've called it, that's going on all around us is not peculiar to our age. In every age, the wicked have risen up against the church and tried to take advantage of and even to destroy the church. Paul speaks in chapter 6 of that spiritual battle. Peter talks about Satan, that roaring lion prowling around seeking whom he may destroy. In every age, people and even God's people have been tempted to say, well, where was God when? But therefore, too, our world has always put too much confidence in earthly rulers. Even now, in the midst of our election season, we have candidates trying to convince us that they are the right one to deliver us from this mess. But even the early church dealt with the very same stuff, the very same difficulties. as there was emperor worship to deal with. But the early church, the early believers, the believers in Ephesus, for example, they would say, no, we have no king but Jesus. But the world would laugh and say, look around. Look what's happening. And maybe even the believers were tempted to look around and wonder themselves at times, because yes, as Paul says, they were born again. They were saved by the blood of Jesus Christ, but yet it wasn't an easy life. The Ephesian believers, for example, were surrounded by idolatry and the cult of the goddess Diana, and their economy depended largely upon the production and the sale of worship trinkets, things that benefited the cult, and therefore, in a sense, Christianity was the cause of much unemployment, because if you were a Christian, you probably couldn't keep your job or get a job. If you had a business, you probably didn't stay open very long because you wouldn't have any customers. So they too might be tempted to look around at times and wonder, well, who is really in charge? You see, Paul begins this powerful letter talking about salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ, that this salvation was planned from before the creation of the world, that this salvation was accomplished in time, and that this salvation is effective forever. But then it's also as if he anticipates this very question, who is in charge, he gives a powerful reminder that until this inheritance is fully ours, he reminds God's people that God does not take a hands-off approach. He didn't back off, but He is busy and He is active through His Christ. As Paul reminds them where Jesus Christ is and what He is doing. And really, what a reminder here that faith is indeed being sure of what is hoped for. Faith is being certain of that which we do not see because what we see down here does not always, if ever, seem to match what Jesus Christ is doing up there for you and me down here. And that's why Paul prays. We read that Paul prays for the Ephesian believers and really for all believers, that more and more they would be given a spirit of wisdom and revelation. Why? To know and see by faith what's really going on. And that means knowing the reign of Christ. Because you cannot know what's really going on if you don't know the reigning Christ. And that was Paul's prayer for the Ephesian believers, that they might know the reigning Christ, who first of all is the power of God. He is God himself, we know. He is the power of God. He is the one whose power then is a matchless power. There's nothing like it. There's nothing that can compare with it. It is a power that will finish the work that he has begun. I said our text is verses 19 through 23, and really verses 20 through 23 are somewhat, it's kind of an awkward text, But verses 20-23 is a bit of an example, an illustration, if you will, that Paul gives to help them understand what he had just said, especially in verses 18-19 where he says, I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know, and then he lists three things, 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. Now, Paul is talking to believers here. They already knew this stuff, okay? But he is talking here now about the power of the one, a matchless power that will finish the work that has begun. And therefore, Paul's prayer here is that they will understand that they must know this hope, first of all, to which He has called you. And what he is saying there, that they might constantly know more and more, that they might grow in this knowledge and grow in this hope, grow in the assurance of such a great salvation. A great salvation that will be fully realized. That more and more, their assurance would be anchored firm in Jesus Christ in the midst of a world whose goal it is to raise doubts. But there's something else. They must also know the riches of His glorious inheritance. It's that to which the hope points. That which they have an assurance of. The first one we might say is somewhat subjective. The hope and these riches are objective. But all the blessings of salvation, you see, are a gift of God's grace. And once one has received them by faith, they will never be taken away. And how do we know? because of that third thing. And this, in a sense, is the anchor of all three. You must know the power of God. Verse 19 says, And His incomparably great power for us who believe. This power of God that is for us who believe. It is this power, Paul is saying, that guarantees the fulfillment of our hope. It is this power that guarantees the giving of the riches of that inheritance. It is this power alone that will finish the work that God has begun. It is a matchless power that also then will not be overpowered. This power is incomparably great, or as other translations say, immeasurably great, or exceedingly great. It is beyond all other power. And Paul tries to help us, you see. He tries to help give our finite minds even a glimpse into the infinite power of God as he packs together in this verse, in one phrase to be exact, he packs together three terms that are very similar in meaning that all have the idea of power or strength or might. When he talks about, he says, and his incomparably great power for us who believe, that power is like the working of His mighty strength. And as one commentator tries to explain it, he says he's talking about that energy, the energy of God, that power in action that comes from a force that is irresistible, that overcomes all resistance, which is from the ocean of God's might. Very simply, Paul is talking about the power of God that is unlimited, it is unfailing, it cannot be defeated. Nothing is more powerful than it. And this power of God is to give us confidence because it is also a demonstrated power. Verse 20, going back to verse 19, 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. see paul talks about this power that's for the believer he says in essence you want to know what it's like it's been demonstrated for you in christ's resurrection paul says in philippians 3 he speaks of the power of his resurrection the resurrection is a is a display of power you see that gives hope because when we think about the resurrection of jesus christ and maybe we don't think about it this way enough, but when we think about all the forces of evil and hell which are great, all the forces of evil and hell and death and the grave trying to hold Him down, He burst forth as He was raised by the mighty power of God. And Paul says that power is for us who believe. And therefore, beloved, that is proof beyond all proof of the fact that every obstacle, every hindrance, every enemy in our path will be overcome. Even that last enemy death which He has already conquered, He has already defeated because Jesus Christ Himself is life victorious. But that power was demonstrated not only in His resurrection, but in Christ's enthronement and seated at the right hand in the heavenlies. The right hand of the Father. Our Lord was given the throne of the universe, not just the throne of the globe called earth, but the throne of the entire universe. The place of honor and authority over all other positions of honor and authority. And the Bible is clear that this is His reward for His saving work. Paul says, therefore, God highly exalted Him. And if you read the first few chapters of Acts, Peter's sermons that we find there when he tells the story of Jesus Christ and all that he has done, he includes there, therefore, in essence, God raised him up and seated him at his right hand. And because our Lord has been given the place at the right hand of God, this power is also an appointed power. He's been appointed with power. As God, we know that he always has had this power, But as the God-man, as the Redeemer, as the victor, He has been exalted in His glorified human nature to the highest place. And given the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow. And to make sure that there is no mistake on our part, Paul says, of those in heaven, of those on earth, and of those under the earth. He's been exalted to the highest place, beloved. He's been exalted to a permanent place. Paul says, sitting. Now, Stephen says when the heavens opened, he saw Christ standing. The point is not whether Christ is physically standing or sitting, but when Paul says sitting, I believe he's basically telling us that he is never to be dethroned. He is never to be replaced. It's a highest place, it's a permanent place, it's a saving place. In 1 Corinthians 1, Paul says we preach Christ crucified, the power of God, and the wisdom of God. And he says there also that God has chosen through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. And similarly, in Romans 1, he says, I am not ashamed of the Gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. Jesus Christ is the power of God and it is His power to save. His is matchless power. It is unconquerable power to save. Even then, as He is the one in the second place who rules over all. And beloved, His rule over all, we can talk about in two ways, I believe, in scope and in extent. First of all, He rules over all in scope. Verse 21 says, Far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age, but also in the one to come. And His rule in scope includes that He rules over all creatures, even the mighty angels. And we know the angels are powerful. But in Revelation 19, we read that John fell down at the angels' feet to worship Him, and the angels said to John, Do not do it. I am a fellow servant with you. Worship God. Now, it might not be surprising that He's over the angels, but He's also over the demons. In James 2, we read that even the demons believe that there is one God, and they shudder. And we know, according to the biblical testimony, that when Jesus walked this earth, When He came face to face, as it were, with demons, evil spirits, they pleaded with Him. They recognized His authority and power. And they pleaded with Him. But He's not only over the angels and over the demons. He's over mankind. All of mankind. As Paul points to the fact that no matter what title or name you or I could be given, no matter what degree we might be able to earn, No matter what place of authority one might be given, even if one was given the task of being over the whole earth, the globe, all are under Christ. All will answer to Him. All are subject to Him and must either yield in sincere obedience or fall under the weight of His scepter and receive their doom from Him. But not only is his rule over all creatures, but over all creation. He demonstrated his power over the wind and the waves. He's his power over the material world. He demonstrated that, you remember, with the loaves and the fish, boys and girls. His power is over sickness and infirmity. It's over history. It's over the affairs of men. There is nothing outside of his power. But also he rules over all things in extent. Paul says, both now and forever. And we might not have so much trouble with the forever part, but the now part might be a little bit difficult sometimes because we see demonstrated all around us in the wicked world, we see it demonstrated that the world, for the most part, does not believe this. The world does not recognize Jesus as King. But then we too need to be reminded, beloved, that even though much of the world does not believe and does not recognize Jesus as king, that does not erase this truth. That does not nullify or wipe out this truth. He is the power of God. He does rule over all. And he is, in the third place, the one who is at work. And he is at work in his church. Paul says, verses 22 and 23, And God placed all things under his feet and appointed Him to be head over everything for the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills everything in every way. He is at work in His church as a gift. God the Father gave His Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. And He is the greatest gift. We say that, but do we know that? He is the greatest gift that has been given to do for us that which was impossible for us to do for ourselves. He gave that perfect obedience that was required. He made that payment for sin that needed to be done. And beloved, there is nothing, absolutely nothing, that is more needful for us than Jesus Christ and His work. Nothing is more needful for us. We don't need to have our 401k value returned. We don't need to have our sickness removed. We don't need to have our troubles turned around more than this. Nothing is more needful than Jesus Christ and His work. What a blessed gift. The power of God in Jesus Christ. God's gift for His church for you and me. even as He is at work in His church as the head of His body. He is the head of His body, the church who empowers the body. He gives life to the body. He directs and leads His body. He fills His church by His Holy Spirit. And the church and true believers by faith have a vital connection with Him like the branch with the vine drawing that life-giving nourishment. He is that one and only source of life. He sustains and directs His church by His power. His church is subject to Him. His church is the instrument by which He works. The Catechism says that through the Holy Spirit, He pours out His gifts from heaven upon His members. His gifts, boys and girls, not just like a birthday present, but His spiritual gifts. All that we need, indeed for body and for soul, all that we need to do His work here in this world. He is the head of His body, and this points to His work in the church also as the giver. He is the gift. He is the head. But He is also the giver. You see, His supreme power over all, beloved, gives life. He gives new life. Again, Paul says in verse 19 that this power is for us who believe. And the idea there is for us who believe. Why? On account of His power. In virtue of His power. In Ephesians 2, Paul says, When we were dead in transgressions, He made us alive with Christ. It required nothing less than the power of God. That very same power that raised Him from the dead. That unconquerable, matchless power is what it takes to give new life. Nothing less. Because of the destruction of the fall. What did the fall do? What kind of damage? Well, the mind was darkened, blind to the truth. Man wouldn't recognize it if it slapped him in the face. The heart of mankind was hardened, no longer receiving and giving, but deceitful and desperately wicked, the Bible says. Instead, it delights in sin. It rejoices in sin. It writes about sin. It jokes about sin. It makes movies about sin. It talks about sin. It likes to watch sin in action. but also a heart that hates God. You see, sometimes we talk about, I need the strength of God to stand firm in my Christian faith. Yes, but even before that, we need the power of God to even become Christians. And to bring the soul of man to believe in God, to bring the soul of man to trust in Jesus Christ alone takes the incomparably great power of God. Nothing less will do. Without this, one is utterly and completely helpless. Paul knew that. That's why he says in 1 Corinthians 15.10, But by the grace of God, I am what I am. No one can become a Christian apart from the power of the reigning Christ. And it is by his power that the reigning Christ continues to build his church. And therefore, when we see all this chaos going all around us, we are to rejoice when we see one come to faith. We are to rejoice when we see one of our children born and raised in the covenant in the church of Jesus Christ come and make public profession of faith. Say, I believe. Because then our God is placing before our very eyes, He is placing the reign and the rule of Christ right there for us to see with our eyes. But as the giver, He also sustains life because the very same power that it takes to enable us to believe, to become Christians, it takes to help us continue in the Christian life. Paul says in chapter 3, verse 20, Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us. The catechism says He preserves us. Peter, in 1 Peter 1, beginning of verse 3, he says, In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade, kept in heaven for you. You who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. It is God's power that keeps us in Him. And we can be confident in that because, as John says, greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. And beloved, this is necessary because of the power of the forces of evil that are against us and because of the sin that remains in us against our renewed will that we like to flirt with once in a while. It's necessary, you see, the world promotes the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, but only the power of God enables you and me to heed the command of God do not be conformed any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And Satan himself is powerful. Did you hear that? Satan is powerful. How often don't we treat him as if he's not? Boys and girls, young people, you need to know. He's not all powerful. but he's powerful he's more powerful than you by yourself or me by myself the world treats him as a cartoon character dressed in red with horns and a pitchfork but we need to remember that even Adam that perfect man in the garden of Eden was defeated and brought down by him in a manner of speaking but it is only the power of God beloved that helps us to resist the devil, as James says, and he will flee from you. And this power, Paul says again, is for us who believe. This power is at work in us by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God. This power leads us in obedience to God. It draws us back when we drift away. It gives us the assurance of God's forgiving grace again and again. It gives us greater love for God above all and our neighbor as ourself. And once again, as we see the church of Jesus Christ, as we see ourselves and our fellow believers fighting to resist the devil and stand firm, we see the reign of our Lord Jesus Christ. We see His power at work. And make no mistake about it, beloved, this power is ours because of our head, the reigning Christ, who is also at work not only in His church, but He's at work for His church. The Catechism says He defends us. It says He is keeping us safe from all of our enemies. He is at work for His church in the midst of a wicked world, in the midst of a sin-affected world, which, believe it or not, is also under His rule. Here again is where we might have a little bit more difficulty because of what we see, because of the hatred we see out there, because of the ungodliness that we feel the pressure of, even in this day, being forced upon us. Some of you saw the email that talked about five- and six-year-olds in San Francisco. Their teacher got married to the teacher's homosexual partner, and the five- and six-year-olds were brought to the courthouse to watch the mayor perform this wedding. It's being forced down our throats, and therefore at times it may be hard to understand that down here, over these things, Christ is ruling. We see Satan. We see the prince of this dark world seem to have his way. We see false religions by which many are being led straight to hell. We see nations becoming more and more godless. We witness tragedies not only in our own lifetimes, but history with Nero, with the Holocaust, with the 9-11. Natural disasters that torment many people. And we are tempted to ask, where was God then? This wicked world and the sin-affected world affects the church. And at times it looks like the church and the kingdom of Christ is headed toward defeat. God's people suffer. God's people face trials and temptations. God's people get hurt. God's people suffer loss. God's people sin. And we cannot help but wonder if Christ is reigning with power over all, why does He allow wickedness? Why does He allow us to suffer? Why doesn't He put a stop to it? Why, why, why? Well, we need to understand, beloved, that as our Lord Jesus Christ is working for His church, all of this chaos is a part of His preparation. It's a part of His preparation of the wicked. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, Then the end will come when He hands over the kingdom of God to the Father after He has destroyed all dominion, power, and authority, for He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. That's what Christ is doing. At this time, He is in the process of putting His enemies under His feet. Even now, as evil seems to get worse, Jesus Christ is preparing for the eternal destruction of all that opposes Him as the wicked are filling the cup of God's wrath. Yet our comfort is that it is still the day of God's mercy. While it is still today, it is still the day of God's grace. And for those who have not yet looked to Him in faith, if you are here tonight and you have not yet humbled yourself in the sight of the Lord and trusted in Jesus Christ alone for salvation, praise God, it's not too late. His call is going out to you to turn to Him in faith, in trust. Because in Him there is salvation, guaranteed. In Him alone, you will not be overthrown. The chaos will not drag you down. It's still the day of God's mercy, and beloved, that's why, as the army of God, we are to continue to march with the cross of Jesus going before us. And we are called to love the souls of mankind so deeply that we would not desire their defeat by King Jesus. But instead we would desire that many be brought into the army of God. But even as this is part of Christ's preparation of the wicked, at the same time it's His preparation of His church. As the Word of God says, all things work together for our good. All things. The trials and the difficulties and believe it or not, even the pressures that you and I are facing today in our state, in our country, whatever we might face, it's all a part of our sanctification. He could prevent it. He could remove it. He could remove it quicker than he does sometimes. But so often, maybe you've had this experience, after God's people deal with some sort of trial or difficulty of life, and God brings them through it, they look back and they thank Him for it because of what He taught them, what He did for them through it. That's what Peter says in verses 6 and 7 of that same chapter. In this, in that inheritance that is kept safe, for which we are kept, in this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief and all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith of greater worth than gold, which perishes, even though refined by fire, may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory, honor when jesus christ is revealed jesus is proving our faith genuine and you see all the while the world is as scaffolding boys and girls if you see a building project a house or a big building and maybe you see as it's being built on the outside you see that metal structure looks like a series of ladders it's scaffolding by which the workers they climb up they work higher and higher on the house or the building but once that building is done what happens that scaffolding It's torn down. It serves no more purpose. The world serves the church in that way. The world is as scaffolding as Jesus Christ is building His church. And once the last brick is laid, once the last elect child of God has been brought to faith in Jesus Christ, that scaffolding of the world is going to be torn down and put away forever. But until that time, our Lord uses His matchless power through the situations and the events of this life to prepare us for glory, making His bride holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the Word, and to present her to Himself as a radiant church without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. Beloved, Christ's power is seen, especially in the power of faith, in bringing us to Himself never to be let go. And what a blessing that is because what we see with our eyes does not always make sense to us. And we don't know why. We don't know why He allows the kingdom to look defeated down here. And I guess we don't need to know why. Maybe it's in order to teach us greater dependence on Him. Or to teach us more about His power and ability. To remind us that indeed every knee will bow before Him. Maybe it's to remind us that He knows our needs. He knows our spiritual needs, our emotional needs, our physical needs, our financial needs. He knows it all. And maybe it's to call upon us to ask ourselves, where is my confidence? In whom do I trust for my daily bread? He calls us to trust in Him with all of our heart and to lean not on our own understanding. By faith, we know that power. We know that power that raised him from the dead, that seated him at the right hand of God. We know that that power is positively his guarantee as he says that nothing shall be able to snatch us from his hand. As Paul says, nothing will separate us from his love. We know that his power is positively his guarantee, that he is victorious, that the way things are down here is not the way they will be in eternity because as we read in Revelation 21, Nothing impure will ever enter it, the glory of heaven, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life. Beloved, though the world may look grim and uncertain at times, yet we can be sure, we are to be sure, that all things are going according to God's plan. We can be sure that Jesus Christ is reigning. We can be sure that He will put all of His enemies away forever and that those who are found in Him by faith, according to God's grace, will reign with Him forever and ever because indeed He is in charge. Amen.