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What Is Christ Doing Now . . . and Why?, Part 2

Insight for Living / Chuck Swindoll
The Truth Network Radio
September 30, 2020 7:05 am

What Is Christ Doing Now . . . and Why?, Part 2

Insight for Living / Chuck Swindoll

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September 30, 2020 7:05 am

Becoming a People of Grace: An Exposition of Ephesians

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What is Christ doing at this very moment?

Chuck Swindoll. When God gave Christ as head over the church, when God seated him and exalted him, God gave him a position of ultimate, overall authority so that he would ultimately be the judge. Christ will be the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords.

That day is coming. The enemy will bow when faced with the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. Have you ever paused to ask yourself, what is Jesus doing right now at this very moment?

Most of us have mental images of him seated at the right hand of the Father, but what does his throne look like and what activities consume his time? Today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll gives us a glimpse as we open our Bibles to Ephesians 1. In this passage, Paul establishes that those who recognize the kingship of Jesus will have unconstrained access to his power. Chuck titled today's message, What is Christ Doing Now and Why? There is a presence and there is a plan and there is a power available to every child of God, but if we're not careful, we'll live our lives as though we had never met Christ and didn't need his power. You say, well, I'd like to have some examples of that sort of power before I think I can tap into it.

Good. There are four of them. Verses 20 through 23 provide them for us. The first example of God demonstrating this power was at the resurrection. Look at verse 20, which he brought about in Christ when he raised him from the dead. Christians today have become so familiar with the resurrection, it is easy to play down the power that it took to break the jaws of death. Remember, when Christ was taken from the cross, his body was limp. Five wounds had yielded blood and there was no blood left. He died, leaving the scars in his hands, his feet, and his side as visible reminders that death was his. He was wrapped in a mummy-like fashion, placed in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend. The tomb was sealed as he was left to be forgotten by the Romans and the Jewish officials alike. What a surprise they had.

A few hours later, with the stone rolled away, the tomb was empty. That kind of power that broke the jaws of death, that moved Christ from death back to life, and gave him that whole sense of an eternal existence on this earth in bodily form, that kind of power is available to you. If that isn't enough, look at the next statement. It was the kind of power when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenlies. We have Ephesians to thank for the doctrine of session. Few other truths in the scriptures are set forth in a more limited fashion than the seating of Christ at the Father's right hand. Ephesians speaks of it not here only, but elsewhere as well. When Christ was on this earth after his resurrection, forty days passed in which he ministered, not only to his immediate twelve, but to at times five hundred at once, and others who came to know him. He then came to the place of appointment and was lifted up into the clouds and was returned in his ascension.

Where did he go? Ephesians tells us the Father welcomed him into heaven and seated him at his own right hand. Did you know that? Did you know that he sat down at the place of authority? Now, observe what he did when he sat him at his right hand. He gave him a place far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. He put all things in subjection under his feet. That's the third evidence of the surpassing power of God.

Not only when he sat him at his right hand, but he said to the Son, in effect, all the things that you have been a part of on the earth you are now an authority over. All things. All things in heaven and earth and under the earth. All things visible and invisible. All things present and all things future.

Observe all things. I have it circled in my Bible. Verse 22, he put all things in subjection under his feet. That means Jesus Christ bows to no one. All things bow to him.

And if that isn't enough, look at the last one. He gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. That's the fourth evidence of surpassing power. He raised him from the dead, he seated him at his right hand, he gave him authority over all things, and then he placed him as head over all things in the church. The all things that he has authority over become the all things in the church over which he is head and they become for you in Christ in submission as well. Now, it's the third one that interests me and I want to focus on because that is in the realm where many of us encounter difficulty. Far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named not only in this age, but also in the one to come, he has put all things in subjection under his feet.

Don't race too quickly past those words. I think at the heart of them is the whole idea of the demonic forces. Turn to chapter 6 when we talk about being above all dominions and rulers and authorities and powers. I want to show you something here. Look at verse 10.

10 through 12 of chapter 6. We'll come back to this in our study of Ephesians, but I want to jump ahead and show you something here. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.

Here it is again. If you're disconnected, you'll become dysfunctional. You'll become defeated. If you're connected in the strength of his might, you can be strong in the Lord.

Now, why? Verse 11. So that you can put on the full armor of God and be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For, he explains, our struggle is not against flesh and blood, it is against, notice the definite articles. There are four of them identifying the ranks of the demonic forces, the rulers, the powers, the world forces of darkness, the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Study that list.

In fact, now that I have your attention, let me make several observations. First, there is a struggle going on. Verse 12, we struggle not against blood and flesh. This word means wrestling. We wrestle not. I've never seen wrestlers fight at a distance. You grab, you hold, you push, you use leverage. In the ancient days, the Greeks, when they would win the wrestling match, would gouge out the eyes of the loser.

So it was a pretty rugged word picture the apostle uses. This is not some distant theoretical struggle that seminaries study about and a few theologians talk about and write about. This is the struggle of your life and mine. This is hand-to-hand combat with an enemy that is not only insidious in nature, he is invisible.

You don't know where he's coming from next. First, remember there's a struggle. Notice secondly that the contest is human versus supernatural. We don't struggle against blood and flesh. We, mere mortals, struggle against the supernatural forces that we cannot see, against the strength that is beyond ours. Don't flirt with it and don't play with it is my warning here. Don't get around it knowing that you're messing in the demonic realm.

Don't go there. Our struggle is not with other flesh and blood creatures. We are struggling against supernaturally strong, insidious, invisible, who think themselves to be invincible powers, and they are not invincible. He is above all things, far above all things in power. The Father subjected all things to the Son when he seated him at his right hand. Let me say thirdly, there is a strategy going on. See the end of verse 11? Stand firm against the schemes of the devil.

The word translated schemes is methodia. We get our word, obviously, method from it. The enemy has a method. He's been using it for centuries. He's been studying Christians like us down through the ages. He knows the chinks in our armor. He knows the weaknesses. He knows the areas when we are quickly overwhelmed and overcome, and he points attention to those.

Like a boxer who sees blood on the opponent's face, that's where he punches and keeps punching and keeps punching until the bruise becomes an open wound. The enemy also knows the church. He knows how to get to the church.

He knows the way into the workings of a church, and he knows how to disrupt a church. It is a method that has been perfected through the centuries. Hear me on this. It is going on. It has been going on for centuries.

It will continue to go on, but the good news, it is not above the power of Jesus Christ. That is the power we need. If we are disconnected from the power, then the enemy will get his way. The adversary will win the day.

He will win the wrestling match. Let me put this fourth observation in another set of words. We are coming against a supernatural mafia. It's the best way I know to describe it.

Harold Honer at Dallas Seminary suggested that idea in a writing he did on Ephesians, and I borrow from it here. It's a mafia. It's probably true that most of you have never encountered the mafia. I've only encountered it indirectly on a couple of occasions, and it was both ugly and it was intimidating. It captures those under its spell. It's insidious.

It is invisible. It has an organization that is deeper than the police force of any city, and it goes on consistently and continually, and usually those who are victims find themselves helpless to fight, and so they pay up or they suffer the consequences. The enemy's mafia is described as, look at verse 12, rulers, powers, forces of darkness, and spiritual hosts of wickedness.

Study the list. They all operate out of their habitat, which is called the heavenly places. Look at the last three words of verse 12, the heavenly places.

The word places is an italics because the editor of our Bibles, the editors have added that to clarify. I like the word heavenlies, heavenly realm. Ephesians 2, 2 refers to the prince of the power of the air, just the air. There's a lower heaven below the third heaven where God dwells, and I understand, please, these are all terms that we use to describe the unfathomable. God dwells in an unapproachable glory of holiness in his third heaven. That's where the Savior is seated. Even the heaven is above the authorities of the lower heavens. This lower heaven is above the stellar spaces.

It is out there. Within that realm are the rank and file of the enemy forces who amass their attention and efforts against God's plan and God's people. Believe me. Believe the scriptures.

I am not some conspiracy freak looking for something to make interesting in a sermon. This is truth. You are under the attack of the forces whether you know it or not.

How's that to keep you awake tonight? But you have nothing to fear because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world if you are connected. Disconnected, you will become dysfunctional, and you will become, in fact, a victim of the wrestling match. Your power will be taken from you.

Your hope will be removed, and your reason for existence will dissolve. Frankly, that's the way most people live without Christ. Frank, I'll probably surprise you when I say I'm amazed there aren't more suicides. I'm amazed that any marriage outside of Christ will last. I'm amazed that the divorce rate is just about 50 percent or so.

I'm surprised it isn't 90, 95 percent. It's remarkable. The forces against a godly marriage are unspeakable, and they're undeniable. Just this morning in our first morning service, I had a brokenhearted mother tell me, a grandmother tell me, that her daughter and son-in-law, after 13 years of marriage, three precious children, one just born, the husband said, I've got another woman, and he splits. He's gone. Another marriage. Christian, quote unquote, marriage.

How? Is it all from the Satan realm? No, it's not all from there, but more there than we would give it credit. John MacArthur, a good friend of mine, writes some interesting things about this passage that I think is worth quoting.

Listen to his words. Rulers, powers, world forces of this darkness, spiritual forces of wickedness. Describe the different strata and rankings of those demons and the evil supernatural empire in which they operate.

Human beings who promote paganism, the occult, and various other ungodly and immoral movements and programs are but dupes of Satan and his demons. Trapped by sin into unwittingly helping to fulfill his schemes. He continues, Satan's forces of darkness are highly organized and structured for the most destructive warfare possible. The demonic categories are not explained, but rulers, notice in the text, rulers no doubt reflects a high order of demons.

Powers are another rank, mentioned in 1 Peter 3.22. The world forces of this darkness perhaps refers to demons who have infiltrated various political systems of the world, attempting to pattern them after Satan's realm of darkness. We have no way of absolutely identifying the networking of the various schemes of Satan and should be wary of those who claim to do so. We can be certain that he is active behind the scenes of Christless human endeavors.

Listen to this. Both the overt, obviously evil, works of men as well as the many covert and seemingly innocent and good works of humanistic endeavors. The spiritual forces of wickedness, the last category listed here, are possibly those demons who are involved in the most wretched and vile immoralities, such as extremely perverse sexual practices, the occult, Satan worship, and the like.

Paul's purpose is not to explain the details of the demonic hierarchy, but to give us some idea of its sophistication and power. We are pitted against an incredibly evil and potent enemy. But our need is not to specifically recognize every feature of our adversary, but to turn to God, our powerful and trustworthy source of protection and victory.

I couldn't agree more with you, John. We have a formidable foe. Because he is invisible, we don't know where to turn to find him. Because he is insidious and deceptive in nature, we are not able to expect the next surprise attack.

Some of you don't even realize that you are under such an attack at this time. You have been so disconnected from the source of power within you. Some of you have turned sin into a habit, and you have now called it by other names, thinking that there is no way you can find a hope or a way of getting past this long-standing addiction. If that's true, then the Scriptures don't mean far above all things. But the Scriptures state more than once all things. Back to Ephesians 1. When God gave Christ as head over the church, when God decided not to keep Christ to himself as we would have done, when God seated him and exalted him, God gave him a position of ultimate, overall authority so that he would ultimately be the judge of the rest that lay before us in the future. Christ will be the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords.

That day is coming. He operates now in the invisible realm, fighting on our behalf, serving the cause of the Father, fulfilling the Father's desire. His power pervades. The enemy will bow when faced with the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ.

What does this mean? I begin my day not as a strong person, but a weak one. I say to the Lord, I don't know what today holds, but I know this.

There are tests in front of me. I know there are trials I'm going to face. I know there's a sense of heaviness and pressure on me right now, and Lord, I'm not able even to rid myself of such pressure.

And the shadow of my past is haunting me, and I remember sins that I've committed, and I know you've forgiven. I ask you, take away the things that would plague me and drain my energy and give me the kind of motivating force and authority and power that can come only through your Son, Jesus Christ. May the Holy Spirit fill me in such a way that he lives out his victorious conquering skills through me. Use my voice, use my hands, use my mind, use my will today as tools of yours. Deliver me from the trap of thinking I'm a victim living in a world that is intimidating and overwhelming, and remind me that greater is he who lives in me than he who lives in the world. The power is there. He's been given as head over all things to the church, and that means we're in that group. We're among the all things, and we are a part of his body, so he becomes for us the fullness who fills all in all, and I plead with you not to approach the day as though you were strong, but approach it knowing that you were weak and saying so. And quit acting to the contrary. Now, does this mean we all shove our hands in our pockets and kick our toes in the dirt and learn to say, aw shucks, all through the day, is that what God's plan is?

Of course not. I never saw Christ doing that, and he was the most humble who ever lived. Look at his life, by the way. And he showed his strength and his humility in his dependence on the Father, and he modeled for us what this Christian life is about. He stayed connected, connected.

That's the term. Disconnections lead to dysfunctions. Connections lead to victory. Now let me apply all of that as though I haven't been doing so.

Let me say a couple of things. The greatest evidence of power is change. If you want to know whether you are connected or not, look back. Any major changes, any major victories, any major alterations have happened in your past, some of you would say, you know, I look back, I don't believe I could name a half dozen my entire Christian life.

You're not connected. It's just as simple as that. The greatest evidence of power is change. Some in our family were watching a Discovery Channel not long ago, and they were showing how they built Hoover Dam. I don't know if you watched it, but it's rather amazing.

I like stuff like that. And I watched them pouring these hundreds of thousands of tons of concrete, and I watched as they put the concrete plants right there by this dam. I watched as they built this labyrinth of pipes and valves and measuring devices and rooms, and there's a whole series of tunnels so that they could harness the power of the water that would be built up behind this dam and would pour through it at given times so that the power could be put to use in the homes and the structures around that would draw their electricity from the dam. And I think if we were to visit the dam today, we would stand down at the bottom of it and look up and say, Wow, look at that power! That's not power. That's not the best evidence of the power of the dam.

You want to know the best evidence? Get in your car, drive to the home that derives its electricity from that dam. Late at night, walk inside to the darkened room, turn on the light, and the light that envelops the darkness of the room is the greatest evidence of the power of Hoover Dam, changing darkness to light. Those who belong to God's family have access to this power, turning darkness into light. You're listening to Insight for Living and the Bible teaching of pastor and author Chuck Swindoll. To learn more about this ministry, visit us online at insightworld.org. On this program and again on the next message, Chuck is answering the question, What is Christ doing now and why? It's part of Chuck's comprehensive study through the book of Ephesians called Becoming a People of Grace. In addition to the daily study notes for each message posted on our website, you'll be glad to hear that Chuck wrote a commentary on Ephesians. In fact, this particular volume in the collection of Swindoll's Living Insights is paired with Galatians as well. When digging deeper into God's Word, any student of the Bible can benefit from a trustworthy commentary, and the format Chuck developed is filled with helpful cultural context, cross-references, suggested prayers, and of course plenty of opportunity to apply what you've learned. To purchase Swindoll's Living Insights commentary on Galatians and Ephesians, call us if you're listening in the United States.

The number is 1-800-772-8888, or go online to insight.org slash store. In closing, let me say a word of thanks to our monthly companions and all those who give generously. You're accomplishing far more than you'll ever know because your gift not only allows us to provide these daily visits with Chuck, a small portion is multiplied overseas in our ongoing pursuit of Vision 195. Vision 195 is our stated mission to reach all 195 countries of the world in order to make disciples of Jesus Christ just as He commanded and to spread the word about God's amazing grace. To give a one-time donation today, call us if you're listening in the U.S. at 1-800-772-8888, or step up your level of support by becoming a monthly companion. Call 1-800-772-8888, or go online to insight.org slash monthly companion. Tomorrow, Chuck Swindoll continues his enlightening message titled, What is Christ Doing Now and Why?

Join us Thursday to hear Insight for Living. Every right of material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.
Whisper: medium.en / 2024-02-25 21:26:21 / 2024-02-25 21:35:48 / 9

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