What is the Resurrection Power Available to You?

Hello, and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick, an Oklahoma rancher and farmer. Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for over 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. OK, good to have everybody back, and I trust that those of you out in television realize that after each one of these half -hour programs, we give them a coffee break. And so that's what I mean when we get them back. It's not always that easy. But anyway, we've even got a couple here from Minnesota today, and I forgot to mention that the first couple times. And my, we've had visitors out at the ranch from Indiana and where else, Iowa. Every day lately, we've had somebody stop by. And so we enjoy that. So those of you out in television, if you're ever coming through the tremendous metropolis of Kenta, Oklahoma, you look us up, and you might as well do like everybody else does. They go to the post office, and they ask our postmaster where we are, and he directs them, and they all find us. So anyway, those of you out there, we appreciate you so much. We appreciate your financial help, your prayers, and your letters. My, how we live for those letters. And it's taking a little bigger chunk out of our day all the time, but we still can read every letter, and open every one, and we do appreciate that so much, more than words can tell. And of course, remember all our programs are available on the print, and the video, and the audio. And if you're ever interested in those, a lot of folks are using them for home Bible studies, and that thrills us, because I don't care how good a pastor is, I don't care how good a Sunday school, you just can't get enough in just one or two hours a week. You have to have some study at home, and it's just part and parcel of the Christian experience to share it with others, and so we have folks all over the country using our videotapes for a home Bible study, and I always give them the option if you run up against a question that you can't answer, we got the 800 number, you call, and hopefully I can help you over some of those homes. Okay, now for those of you here in the studio, as well as those of you out in television, let's look at the next verse in Ephesians chapter 1, verse 15. Now here the Apostle Paul is going to utter a prayer on behalf of the believer. He is praying for them, and as he does so, he is praying for us today, and I think it's also a lesson in how we can pray for ourselves as well as for others. And now as we think of the Lord's Prayer back in Matthew, which the Lord Jesus gave as an example to the twelve, so this prayer is an example for us, and it is so appropriate. Verse 15. Ephesians 1. Wherefore... Now what have I told you over the years? Whenever Paul says, Wherefore, what's he reflecting on? Well what he's just said, and here he has just proven that here we are positioned in Christ indwelt by the Holy Spirit, who will lead us, and reprove us, and all the things that we need, and we're waiting for the day of redemption when this old body will disappear and we'll have a new body. Okay, but in the interim, until that day of redemption, wherefore, he says, I also have to have heard of your faith. Now I want to make people aware constantly whenever you read Paul's letters, how he is always referring to believing and faith. That's the core, not what we can do, but that we trust in what God has already done, and then on that basis we can move into what he's now asking for on our behalf. Now he says, Ephesians 1. After I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and your love unto all the saints. Now that reminds me of a verse, let's go back to 1 John chapter 3, and let's just start at verse 11. Ephesians 1. For this is the message, that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore did he kill him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous. Now that's plain language isn't it? And it's never changed. The unbelieving world hates the believer, or he may not always show it, but he would if he had a chance. And so Cain of course had his chance, and he showed it. Now verse 13. Ephesians 1. Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. Now don't be surprised, I think a lot of us get the idea that since Christianity is such a tremendous experience, it�s such a tremendous lifestyle. Hey listen, there isn�t another lifestyle on earth that can come close to it. You look at a good Bible based Christian home, hey you couldn�t ask for anything better. But see the world can�t see it that way. The world thinks we�re a bunch of kooks, and we�ve got our head in the sand, and all these other things. So don�t be amazed if they don�t like your lifestyle. So he says, Marvel not at that. Now verse 14 is the verse I was thinking of. Ephesians 1. We know that we have passed from death unto life, in other words from an unsaved state to a saved state, because we love what people? The brethren, fellow believers. The world won�t necessarily, but we have that affinity to other believers that no matter where we go, we can have a love for them. And it�s immediate. You know I�ve shared this on the program before, wherever we travel, wherever we spend the night with believers, you�re not strangers five minutes. Why? Because there�s that affinity. You can�t see it, you can�t put your finger on it, but it�s there. And the moment we sit down at their kitchen table, instead of ours, you know I�m getting people to write now, and say, Boy I wish I could sit down at your kitchen table. Well so do I, but the minute we get into a home and go in and have a cup of coffee and sit at their table, hey you don�t talk about sports, or the weather or politics, what do we talk about? The Book. Immediately. That�s all people can talk about. Well that�s as it should be, because we know we have passed from death unto life, when we have that affinity, that common ground with fellow believers. Coming back then to Ephesians, so he says that he has heard of their love for the fellow believers. Ephesians 1. Now then verse 16. prayers. Now here�s his real prayer. Ephesians 1. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Glory, may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and knowledge in the revelation of him. Now what�s the purpose? Well you see the more we love Him, the more capable we are of serving Him. And it�s the same way in a marriage relationship, the more that husband and wife love each other, the better influence they�re going to have on family and relatives and everybody else. It�s spread. Now the same way here, Paul prays that we might have such a God given wisdom and knowledge. Now I�ve learned from my class people here in Oklahoma, they�ve shared it with me more than once, that they were always afraid to share the Gospel with people because they just didn�t have enough knowledge of the Scripture to be able to answer questions or confront rebuke and so forth. But after they�ve been in our class for a while, and get skilled in the Scriptures, they love to witness, they love to talk about the Scriptures. Well this is part and parcel of it, that as we grow in grace and knowledge, it becomes easier to share. In fact maybe I put it on the program before, I don�t know. But you talk to a person in any kind of an occupation, I always like to use the example of an auto mechanic. You talk to an auto mechanic about engines and cars and so forth, is he bashful? Is he shy? Is he going to put his head down and act as though he doesn�t want to talk? Oh heavens no, you�re in his bailiwick now, and he�s ready to tell you everything he knows. Well you talk to an M.D., and you start talking about medical things, does he back off as if to say, �Well I don�t want to talk to you about that.� No, he loves to share his knowledge, that�s as it should be. Now this is what we have to be with the Book. We have to be so skilled in our knowledge of it, that we don�t have to back away when someone comes up with a question or a rebuke. We can say, �But look this is what the Book says,� and that�s my best argument. This is what the Book says, then what I think, then what my denomination says, it�s what does the Word of God say. This is what Paul is praying, even for these early believers that their wisdom and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ might be so great, that the eyes of your understanding might be enlightened. Now listen, that takes time, I mean the moment we�re saved we don�t have a full knowledge of all these things, it�s a growth process. In fact that�s the whole idea of the early chapters of Romans, and we call it those three chapters on sanctification. Now you want to remember that at salvation, yes we�re sanctified and set apart, but in our experience every day is a process of sanctification. It�s a continuous growth in our Christian experience, and in our knowledge of the Scriptures, and that comes of course with some effort on our part. We have to put something into it. Now that doesn�t add to our salvation, that�s complete, but if we want to really gain the knowledge and the wisdom of God, now we�ve got to put some feet to it, and we�ve got to put some time into the Word. You know this is another thing that just thrills us. Letter after letter comes in, that for the first time in their life, although they�ve been Christians for 50 years, they�re studying their Bibles. Well listen, nothing could thrill us more, because this is what we want people to do. Not listen to what I say, but get into the Word, and once you understand this graphic difference between Law and Grace, between Peter�s preaching and Paul�s preaching, and you can separate those two. My, it just gets so exciting, it all fits. There�s no more contradiction, there�s no more gobbledy gook to it. It�s not confusion, it�s all laid out so perfectly, but you have to learn to discern these things. So that�s all part of what Paul talks about, that your eyes, your understanding being enlightened or opened up, and that you may know. You don�t go through this life groping and wondering and hoping, no. You�re knowing what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance. Now again, I dare say we could ask the average believer, what�s in store for you after this life? Well I�m going to go to Heaven when I die. Well that�s great, that�s nice to know. Is that all you can tell me? Well for most of them, is there more? Yes, there�s more. It�s not enough to know that we�re going to go to Heaven when we die, that�s all well and good, but listen, God wants us to get at least as much as He has revealed of what�s out there. I mean it�s just not an empty darkness, God is getting something fantastic ready for us, and there�s a lot it doesn�t tell us. But on the other hand we�ve already looked at some of the prospects, we�re going to have a glorified body like Christ�s resurrected body, never again an ache and a pain, never again an injury or an illness or disease, never again. We�re going to have power to go from one place to another in that split second of time as He did. We�re going to be able to go through the walls like He did, and we�re going to be able to go from one place to another as He did. And so all the Scripture tells us, I�m just trying to think where it is, I think it�s in II Corinthians chapter 12. I�m looking for the verse where it says, II Corinthians 12. What does that tell you? There is nothing in any of our earthly experiences come close to that which God is preparing for us. And again I know I�ve had men who just love to fish, and they just think that�s the epitome of living. And they�ll say, �Well what greater thing can there be than fishing?� And I say, �Now look, when you get to eternity, I don�t know what it�s going to be, but God has something in store for you that�s going to make your fishing experience pale in significance. In the same way with anything else that we may think is great in this life, once we get into the realm of glory, what God has prepared for us is going to be so much greater, that it�s beyond human comprehension. And this is what we have to get excited about. We�re not just going to die and go to heaven, and what will be, will be. No, God wants us to get a glimpse of glory. He wants us to get a glimpse of what it�s going to be like to be in His presence forever and ever. Coming back to Ephesians chapter 1, and dropping in to verse 19. Ephesians 1, and as he continues his prayer, not only does he want us to understand the inheritance that�s waiting for us, but we�re to understand what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us who have done all these things that denominations are demanding. Now it has to be genuine, not just a mental ascent, but over and over, and I could show you how many verses that it�s all based on our believing the Gospel, plus nothing. You know we�ve got buttons, some of you are still wearing them, and I had quite an experience with them when we were in Israel. It just happened that a lady from Tennessee sent us a package of them, and Iris just stuck them in her purse, and when we got to Israel come to find out we had the same number of buttons that we had people in our tour group. So she handed one out to everybody, and they all wore them, and I�ll never forget my own experience. We were coming out of Jordan, and we were going through the passport clearance, and of course lines lined up, and a gentleman in another line probably 15-20 feet over was looking and looking, and finally he couldn�t take it anymore, and he walked over and looked at my button, and he said, �Faith plus nothing.� Now he was a Middle Easterner I�m sure, but he talked perfect English. He said, �Faith plus nothing, that�s salvation?� I said, �That�s right.� He thought for a minute, and in other words he said, �It�s not all of this work, work, work that my religion teaches?� I said, �No.� And he went back and got in line. Well you know we had that experience all over Israel, and somebody would see one of our people and come up and say, �Faith plus nothing equals salvation?� Well it�s a good conversation opener anyway, but that�s where it�s at. Faith plus nothing. But it has to be in the right thing, it has to be in that finished work of the cross. You can�t put your faith in Paul, you don�t put your faith in Peter, you put your faith in that work of the cross. When Christ said, �It is finished.� How in the world can people then say, �But you have to do this, and you have to do that.� Then he lied. If he said it was finished, and it wasn�t, he lied. But he did not lie, he did finish it. And that�s all he�s asking us to do, is to believe it with all our heart, and then let these other things follow. That�s all well and good, but don�t try to tie it to salvation. Well anyway, the working of his mighty power to us who believe. Then verse 20. Ephesians 1.2-3 much about resurrection power, but that�s where it�s at. Had Christ not been raised from the dead, we�d be as lost as dogs. I mean we wouldn�t have any hope at all, but He was raised from the dead. In fact let�s go back to Romans chapter 1. I don�t want to jump on that one verse, but let�s go back up to Romans 1. We�ve got time enough. Romans 1.1-2 Paul, as servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, which gospel he had promised before by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God, with what power according to the Spirit of holiness, by what event? The resurrection from the dead. Had he not been resurrected, there would have been no power. Had he not been resurrected, we would yet be in our sin. Satan would yet be in total control, and death would still be an absolute. But since he did resurrect, since he was raised from the dead, now we know Satan is defeated, we know death is defeated, and we know that we have an eternity where he is alive forevermore, all because of the power that was manifested in his resurrection. Now what does Paul also teach? That as Christ was resurrected from his earthly tomb, we have been resurrected from our deadness in trespasses and sins, and we�re going to come to that in chapter 2. And what has happened? Well let�s just look at it here in chapter 2, and you still talking to believers, and you he has quickened or what? Made alive. You he has made alive who were dead, in trespasses and sins. Well what kind of power did it take to make us alive from being dead? Resurrection power. The same power that raised Christ from the dead. Romans 8. This is Bible study, we�re not here to preach at you, we�re just here to show you what the Bible says. And if Christ be in you, that is in the person of the Holy Spirit as we saw in our last program, the body is dead because of sin. In other words we were born in sin, and we�re sons of Adam. But the Spirit is life because of righteousness. Now verse 11. But if the Spirit of Him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, see how in dwelling you, then he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Holy Spirit that dwelleth in you. Is it all ringing true? Oh I hope so. The indwelling Holy Spirit is the mark, it�s the ownership of God, it�s also that power that raised us out of our lost condition, and gave us life. It�s that same power that�s literally going to propel us on up until we meet the Lord in the air, and it�s that power of the Holy Spirit that guides us and directs us every moment of our existence. That�s why I don�t have to have, Thou shalt not, and Thou shalt. I�ve never run across a true believer who says, �Oh I can go ahead and steal from my neighbor, it doesn�t bother me a bit.� Can you imagine a believer saying something like that? No, because if he would I�d have to say, �I don�t think you�re a believer.� Because the Holy Spirit would never give you that kind of freedom. The Holy Spirit absolutely forbids those kind of activities. The Holy Spirit forbids adultery, the Holy Spirit forbids coveting, the Holy Spirit forbids bad mouthing people, and when we�re under His control, it�s going to affect us. Ephesians 1.20-21a All this power was wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead. Now I have to stop a minute again. In order for God to raise Christ from the dead, what powers did he have to overcome? Satanic didn�t he? He had to defeat Satan on his own ground, and all the powers of Satan and hell itself had to be overcome in order for Christ to be raised from the dead, because that�s the last thing Satan wanted. If Satan could have kept Christ in the grave, he would have finally gotten what he wanted, and that is to be God. But Satan couldn�t hold a candle to him, because all the power of heaven was released when God raised him from the dead. And he didn�t just raise him from the dead to go on from there, but then what did he do? He set him at his own right hand in the right hand of the Father, to become the head of the body, which is you and I, the Church here on earth. And so I�ve said it over and over again, he�s not the King of the Church, he�s the Head of the Body. And we have that union that Israel knew nothing of, we have a union that no one in antiquity knew anything of, but it is unique to the church age believer that as we live and move on this planet, we are connected to our Head who is