Dress For Action

LaRue Baptist Church, OH

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The Old Testament reading will be 1 Chronicles chapter 29, starting in verse 10, it's on page 357 in the pew

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Bibles. Therefore, David blessed the Lord in the presence of all the assembly.

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And David said, Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of Israel, our Father, forever and ever.

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Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours.

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Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from you and you rule over all.

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In your hands are the power and the might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all.

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And we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name. New Testament reading is

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Colossians chapter 1. And so from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding.

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So as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.

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May you be strengthened with all power according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the

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Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved

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Son, in whom we have redemption for the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible

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God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities.

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All things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

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And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.

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For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

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And you who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you as holy and blameless and above reproach before him.

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If indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which

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I, Paul, became a minister." Good morning.

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I'm going to read from chapter 3, verse 20, and I'll go to,

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I'll read to verse 3 of chapter 4, but I'll be happy if we make it through verse 1, to be honest with you.

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So, but we'll read through the whole thing. So, Ephesians 3, chapter 20, or Ephesians 3, verse 20.

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Now, to him, you know what, it makes sense, let's go back to verse 14, verse 14 of chapter 3.

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For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory, he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth, the length, the height, the depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

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Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or even think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever, amen.

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So I, therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace.

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Let us pray. Oh, God in heaven, here's your word opened up to us, God, and we know,

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Lord, just how much we need your word. We know, Lord, how much we need to reject the lies of the world and reject the lies of Satan and our flesh each day and rather go to the one who has spoken truth to us.

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And not only that, but he's made that word, that truth, effectual in our hearts and minds by his work on the cross and resurrection to empower us to enjoy the fullness of who you are today.

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God in heaven, this is not a curse that you would tell us how to live rightly, but rather it's a gift driven by grace in Christ.

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And so let us be thankful. Let us look to your word now and see the instruction, see the correction, see the encouragement, see the strength, see everything laid up for us for those who have believed upon Jesus.

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Oh, God in heaven, may we believe upon Jesus now and how we hear and how we respond to your word.

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Oh, God, would you strengthen me as well to proclaim of something of value to your people before me.

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God in heaven, I am in fear and awe of who you are. And I know,

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Lord, that you have promised to strengthen your servants for the task at hand. And so I rely upon you.

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May the people before me rely upon you so that together we would truly enjoy the fullness you have to offer for us today in Christ Jesus, our risen

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Lord. We thank you. In Jesus name, amen. Well, here we are.

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We're at that great border between Ephesians 3 and Ephesians 4. And it reminds us of that great border line of Romans 11 and Romans 12, right?

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This great demarcation, this great separation of the imperatives or of the indicatives of what has gone prior and the imperatives that lie before us, the land of the imperatives.

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And before I even continue, if you don't know those words and you have a pencil, write them down because we're going to say this a few times.

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Or write it down in your mind, the tablet of your heart. The indicative is something that God has done for you.

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Indicative is something that God has done for you. And imperative is something that you now must do for God.

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Okay, so get that in your brain now and write it down if you have to so when you hear me say it, you can quickly go to it and see.

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Indicative is something that God has done for you. Imperatives is something that you must do now for God.

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And so we are leaving the land, the realm of the indicative, and we are now approaching the land of the imperative.

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And that is a scary departure, that's a scary voyage, it's a scary land to go forth to.

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Because we're leaving a land in which we're told everything God has done for us.

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It's not anything that we must do, but simply have this trust that he has done this work for us.

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You see how comfortable it is to be there? That we just focus on what God has done and just say this is all

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God's work, all God's action, I'm just going to stay here and just relax. But the scriptures don't allow that for us.

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The faith doesn't allow that. Christ doesn't allow that for his people. Because as you remember, the end of this chapter,

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Paul prays that in light of everything God has done, in light of the indicatives, that you would enjoy the fullness of God today.

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That you would enjoy God today in light of everything he's done for us. And that requires that you depart from what's comfortable and say what have you for me to do, what have you commanded me to do,

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I shall do it. It's a scary thing to go from what has God done to what now what must

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I do. The action then goes upon you in light of what God has done.

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And so here we are. We're in this kind of in -between area here at the end of Paul's prayer in which he says in light of everything he's done, oh may you be filled with the fullness of God today.

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And that fullness of God enjoyment today is found in doing the imperatives of the following chapters.

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You get that. The fullness of God that he wants for you today, that we need today in our lives, is found in doing the imperatives of the following chapters.

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And it's very essential that we understand where the power comes forth from to do those imperatives that will give us the fullness of God.

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Because if we're not grounded and founded on what God has done for us and then we go forward into this land of the imperatives, we will just see a list of do this, do this, do this.

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Do, do, do, do. That's all we'll see. And if you're not grounded and founded on what

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God has done for you as you go forth into this land, you'll just see do this, do this, do this.

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It'll be dry commandments and we will not be able to actually do for the fullness of God.

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One way to think of it is, think about someone who's doing the vertical jump or the horizontal jump, right, where you stand in place and you try to jump as high as you can, right, the vertical.

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Or the horizontal, you stand in place and you try to jump as far as you can horizontally, right?

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What do they do? What do you see them do? They don't just kind of let, you know, kind of go on the side of their feet and then they jump.

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They get grounded. They get centered. They get ready. They make sure that they're planted well so that they can do the action that comes forth and do it as well as they can.

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Or again, going with how I kind of opened up the sermon, think of a, of a, of a, of a voyage, right, of, of leaving.

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You think of the people, the way that this country was founded, of people coming over from England and starting a colony here.

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They left a land that they were familiar with, comfortable with in some cases, right, in order to start a new life here, a new colony here for a promise here.

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And so the scariness that you are leaving something behind and you are pursuing something better.

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It is a scary endeavor to leave the familiar of the indicatives of what God has done, but he calls on us to go to the land of the imperatives of what you must do.

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And this is where we find ourselves now. Now, we, we, we left off a couple of verses shy of chapter three.

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And if we see, and we, we left off in verse 20 and 21, and really it makes for a very good departure verse.

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In fact, if you look at verses 20 and 21, it's a doxology to God. It's, it's a poem or a song of praise and worship and light of what he has done for us.

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That's what a doxology is. That's why we sing it at the end of our worship. We just heard of the word of God.

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We just heard of what he's done. And now let us sing a worship song in light of it, right? That's what a doxology is.

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And this is what he's doing here at the end of this letter. He just got done with this prayer, all the fullness of God.

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He just got done with that. And now he is in this doxology. And in this doxology, we can plant our feet and then go forth into the imperatives in order to have that fullness of life.

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We must plant our feet here in verses 20 and 21 in order to enjoy the imperatives that set up before us for the fullness of God.

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If we do not plant our feet here, if we do not dress for action here, then the imperatives will simply just be lifeless duty.

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But if we plant our feet here and we dress for action here, the imperatives that come forth will be life, will be fullness.

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Because one of the ways, again, that we can deal with the imperatives is simply most of you won't just leave the faith.

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Most of us, now some people do. They get tired of having to do and they're not driven and planted in these truths.

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And so they just leave. But one thing, most of us won't do that. But one thing that all of us will be tempted to do is when we look at the different imperatives, we won't think, this is my life.

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I've been strengthened to do this. I can do this to the fullness in Christ. I love your husband.

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Right? We won't think, how can I do this better? How can I do this greater? We'll just think, well,

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I'm not as bad as the other person, so I can just keep on moving in the imperative. Or to speak truth in life, to speak in love and not in bitterness.

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We'll say, well, I'm all right at that. Let's just move on. But beloved, the life and the imperative is to say, oh Lord, how can

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I do this better? And so if you're planted in this doxology, if you're planted in this truth each day as you go forth in what

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Christ has commanded you to do, it will enable you to grab hold of these imperatives and truly enjoy the fullness of God.

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So, with that said, what does this doxology say for us?

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And how does this help us as we go on this voyage, prepare to go on this voyage into the imperatives?

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Well, verse 20 is the power for the voyage, and verse 21 is the direction for the voyage.

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That's how we're going to look at that today. Verse 20 is the power for the voyage, and verse 21 is the direction for the voyage into the imperatives, or what

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God has commanded for you to do in light of Christ. So look at verse 20, the power for the voyage.

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Paul says, now to him who is able, now to him who is able.

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Oh, may that just simple phrase be sweet to your heart, sweet to your spirit, as you consider how you are not able, as you consider the voyage that's set before you, the imperatives that you must do, the scariness of it.

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May your heart be worn by the fact that in this doxology, Paul starts with, to him who is able.

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In the testimony of all creation, all around us and within us, the scripture even says before us that God who exists, who is above us and around us, he is omnipotent, he is able.

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His ableness, his power is revealed in everything we see. From the ant carrying 50 times its own weight as you look upon your sidewalk and you see his power revealed, that is the power of God that he is able.

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Or to the moon that we're going to see next month slide across the sun for a total eclipse, right?

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That is going to reveal the power of God in his creation that he is able. Do you know how remarkable it is that we're going to be like right in the middle of that?

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That is going to be wonderful. And so, consider that. As the moon slides in front of the sun for a total eclipse, this is a testimony of the

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God who is able, his strong arm at work. If you have a heart to receive it,

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God displays his unmatched ability, his power everywhere around you. And the testimony of scripture is likewise there as well.

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Again, reading through family worship, we've been reading in the beginning of Exodus and God is always displaying his power or the one who is able in scripture.

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Exodus 5 .22 to 6 .1, you remember what happens? He says,

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Moses, go and get my people out. So, Moses goes and he says, hey, Pharaoh, let the people out.

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And Pharaoh says, okay, go ahead. No, he says, you know, actually, I'm not going to and I'm going to make it harder for you.

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So, you can imagine Moses doesn't want to do this to begin with. He goes to Pharaoh and he says, yeah, I'm not going to do that.

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I'm going to make it harder for you. And we read about that was to display the ability and the power of God.

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That's why God allowed that to happen. In Exodus 5 .22, then Moses turned to the Lord and said, oh,

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Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why have you made it harder for them? Why did you ever send me to these people?

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For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people. It's gotten worse.

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And you have not delivered your people at all. But the Lord said to Moses, now, you shall see what

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I will do to Pharaoh. For with a strong hand, he will send them out.

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And with a strong hand, he will drive them out of the land. So, it's like God is like, I made it worse so that you could see my power more revealed, that I am able.

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When we think of Numbers 11 .23, right, when Moses cried out, the people want meat, they want meat, they're tired of the manna.

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In Numbers 11 .23, the Lord said to Moses, is the Lord's hand shortened? Now, you shall see whether my word will come true for you or not.

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The testimony of Scripture everywhere is that God is able, that he is strong, that he is powerful.

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We see in Job 42 .2, I know that you can do all things, Job says, by the end of his time, his trials, his hardships.

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Job has a conviction, you can do all things. In fact, no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

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And perhaps the greatest display of God's ability in Scripture is the fact that day one, in day one of his creation, we have in verse two of Genesis 1, the earth was without form and void and darkness was over the face of the deep.

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Chaos. What can you do with that? But yet, at the end of the week, Adam is naming all these creatures in a beautiful garden that God has created.

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The Scriptures, the testimony of all creation is that our God is able, he is powerful, perfectly powerful.

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He's not just a being that has power, that's powerful. He is power itself.

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He is able. God is able. But Paul's point here in this doxology as he encourages us to use this as a platform to go forth into the imperatives, it's not just simply to say that God is able, but Paul's point is to go beyond human conception of his ability.

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Look at what he says again in verse 20. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think.

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And we can ask for a lot of things, but we can think or imagine even more.

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If I were to tell my children, ask my children, what do you want for Christmas? They would do well to ask of things that they think that I could potentially do.

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They wouldn't get too carried away if they know, if they're wise. They would ask for things that they think that they could actually get, right?

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But if I ask them, no, no, no, no, no, what can you imagine? Just only in your imaginations, in your thoughts, what you would like me to get you.

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You would see the ponies coming out, the horses, all sorts of things, right? The rocket ships that could go to Mars and come back, right?

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In fact, here, you know, Paul says it's even beyond our imagination. It's not simply just what we can ask for, but God can do even what we only can imagine.

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In fact, even more than that, William Hendrickson says God is able to do all we ask him to do.

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He is even able to do all that we dare not ask but merely only imagine. He can do more than this.

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Oh, far more, very far more. This is a ground that you must station yourself on as you go upon the imperatives.

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Your weakness, oh Lord, how can I do what you've commanded me to do? Remember in your brain, God is able and he's able to do far more than you can even imagine or think.

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God reveals himself to be the one who can do far more. I think this is part of the reasons why the angels screamed out glory at the end of creation.

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That you have this creation that he has done and the angels praised him and worshipped. I can imagine that they would even imagine that God would be able to do the creation that he's done before us.

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Now we take it for granted. We were born in it. Every day we see it. But imagine it wasn't always around.

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And the angels see the power of God on display and they just worship him because he revealed that he can do far more than anyone can imagine.

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But notice, this is a particular display of his power, right? This is a particular display of his power that's not really talking about physical creation at all.

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In Ephesians 3 .20, look, he says, Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, but notice it's a particular display of his power revealed and that is according to the power at work within us.

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You see, this is a particular manifestation of the power of God that is beyond our imagination that he works within you if you're a believer upon Christ.

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And remember what that means, that within you is the inner man working. Remember we talked about this a couple weeks ago.

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It is that Ephesians 3, look at 16 and 17, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his spirit in your inner being, within you, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

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So what is Paul talking about? The particular manifestation of God's power to work righteousness in you.

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Remember the imperatives. You need to do this. In our sin, we can say, I can't do it.

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And so the point is to get ready to utilize the power base below you that God is at work within you to do those imperatives.

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He is the one, the power at work within us. He is the one that strengthens you for this task at hand.

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Inner being strength is being able to walk in righteousness and enjoy the fullness of God that's found in the imperatives.

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And God is at work within you, a power that you can't even imagine to do this work.

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The power at work in creation should remind you of the power at work in you to overcome sin.

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Now think about that. As you marvel, oh Christian, as you should be each day, marveling at the power of God at work around you in creation.

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And I use an example of an ant carrying something 50 times its weight. It is revealed everywhere.

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And that's one of the exercises. And I say this often, try to exercise your brain. Where is God displaying his power in creation right now?

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And just marvel at it because it is everywhere. And then think that that same power right there that's being displayed in the sunrise or in the total eclipse or whatever it may be, that's the same power at work in me to end my sin.

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As you are marveling at the weakness of yourself to do the imperatives Christ has given you for good, for your fullness, marvel at the power of God displayed in creation that's at work in you.

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Let that strengthen you. And we see this in Colossians 1.

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We've read it. Samuel read that for us. But let's look at that again because I think this is what

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Paul is doing for us in Colossians. He has that beautiful, sovereign

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Christ, the powerful one, on display in creation. And then he nestles that very closely with the power he has for salvation.

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And we are to bring those two together that if he's this powerful, oh, he's this powerful to work in me.

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Look at Colossians 1 verse 15, we'll read it again. He is the image of the invisible

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God, that is Christ, the firstborn of all creation, for by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him.

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That needs to make you marvel that the maker of heaven and earth is

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Jesus Christ. He has made it all. To go from nothing to chaos to everything is awesome.

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This should make you marvel. He is before all things and in him all things hold together and he is the head of the body, the church.

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So notice he goes from creation to sustaining, because it's one thing to make something, to be able to sustain that power.

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That's what Christ does in his hand. And then notice he goes from that power revealed in creation that should make us marvel to the power at work in his church for salvation.

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And he is the head, verse 18, of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.

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For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

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So that power displayed in creation then reveals itself and this power to redeem a people from their sins.

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And then it goes further, and you were once alienated and hostile, but he has now through his power reconciled in his body a flesh by his death in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in faith in Jesus.

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Why would you need to continue in faith in Jesus? Because he's the power source, he's the ability, he's everything.

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I think Paul, as your mind should work as you walk in this creation, you should marvel at the power of Christ at work to create and maintain all things around you, within you physically, but let that then end itself in the fact that this is the same power at work in you.

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As you see the eclipse, as you see the beauties of God's power displayed sliding the moon in front of the sun, let it remind you that that same work is at work in you to end the sin that is besetting you, that is plaguing you.

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It is not your power, it is his power. This is what Christ does. So as you feel the weight of your weakness in the land of the imperatives, because if you don't feel that, you're looking at the imperatives wrong.

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First chapters four through six, if you don't feel the weakness there, as Paul's saying, do this, do this, do this, do this, do this, do this.

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If you don't feel your weakness, Oh, I don't love my wife nearly as much as Christ loves the church.

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I let bitterness come out of my mouth far too often. Let that weakness that you feel then go into the strength that Christ provides.

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It's a reminder that I must get my feet settled on this doxolity of truth as I go forth into the imperatives that where I am weak, far more weaker than I can imagine, the strength found in Christ goes beyond it and he is able.

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Do you see why this doxology is vital for you to set your feet on before you enter this land of imperatives?

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The echo of do this, don't do this, do this, don't do this, needs to be for I am powerfully at work within you for your fullness.

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As you feel the weight of your weakness in the land of the imperatives, perhaps weaker than you can even imagine, remember that God can do far more than you can imagine by his strength working in you.

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And it's important to see the other side of this too, because God is at work in us. If you're a believer upon Jesus, that means

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Jesus is at work in you to work powerfully. But that does not give us an excuse to be lazy.

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The land of imperatives is still there. We still must enter the you need to do this. We cannot just simply say, well,

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God's at work powerfully within me, I can sit back and relax. No, the call is to enter into that scary land of the imperatives.

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And again, this is what Paul talks about in Colossians. Listen to me. Colossians 1 .29, for this

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I toil, right? I work, I obey, right?

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For this I toil, struggling with all whose energy? My energy that's within me? With all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

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So notice this should make your brain hurt. Is it my power? Is it my toil?

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Or is it God's toil? Which one is it? And God says, yes, it is both things happening in you that I get to enter into this land of imperatives driven by the power at work within me.

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There needs to be those two twin truths that's hard for us completely reconcile, but do it just enough to encourage you to leap forward into it based off the power that Christ provides.

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He says in 1 Corinthians 15 .10, But by the grace of God, Paul says, I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain.

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On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them. Though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.

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That needs to be the way you look at your life of living in the imperatives. This is God at work within me.

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Not I, but his power, but I work hard for the sake of Christ. This is the power for the voyage into the land of the imperative.

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It is the power at work within you to do these things he has called us to do.

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Paul has just got done praying that you would be filled with the fullness of God before the voyage into that fullness in the land of imperatives.

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And now before the ship leaves the harbor, he praises God for the powerful work he does in his children.

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That is the power of the voyage, for the voyage. And now let's look at the direction for this voyage in verse 21.

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The direction for this voyage. Now it's very important. Imagine getting on the ship to go and establish a colony for the fullness of God.

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That's a work to be done. Not easy work, but by the strength below you, it can happen.

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But imagine half the people on the ship are thinking, we're going to go on a cruise to the Mediterranean and enjoy the beaches.

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The direction of the power below us, this great big ship that's going to bring us to the destination of the new world, is half the people are thinking, no, no, no, actually we're going to go on a cruise in the

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Mediterranean. Despite all that power beneath them, if the will is to go to a cruise in the Mediterranean, there's going to be a problem.

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Or imagine getting ready to do the vertical jump or the horizontal jump. Ready? You're getting your power situated.

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You're going to settle in the truths, right? But you're supposed to be doing the vertical jump, but instead you do the horizontal jump.

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No one's going to be impressed. You just went the wrong way. You need to have the power ready to go the right direction.

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And this is exactly what verse 21 points us to. The power used needs to be directed in the proper direction.

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And Paul says what the direction is here. He says in verse 21, To Him be glory. The power at work in 20.

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Praise be to His name for that power at work within you. And then the direction of that power is directed at what?

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To glorify God. To Him be glory. The whole purpose God has for revealing

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His power is to be glorified, always. If God is at work in you, in the land of the imperatives, it's so that all the direction would be glorify

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His name. That's why we talk about that often. That's why if you're at a church that doesn't talk about that often, there is a problem.

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Because all the power at work that God is doing in His church is for the direction, for the purpose that He would be glorified.

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The whole purpose God has for revealing His power is for that. And it's only natural within humanity for us to want to glorify something.

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You think about at the end of a football game, where do they go to? Where do they go to to interview?

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Where do they go to to have the cameras on? They don't go to the losers. Well, they will eventually. But first they're going to go to the winning team.

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They don't go to the losing coach first. They go to the winning side. Because all the honor, all the glory, all the pomp is on them.

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Or they don't go to the player that warmed the bench the whole time, that even forgot how to play the game because he never plays.

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They don't go to the third string quarterback. They go to the star quarterback. And it's only natural within us that when we see power displayed, when we see goodness just happen, we're gravitated to it.

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We want to honor it. We want to focus on it. If I were to, if Taylor Swift were to have a concert, right, and Marian and I were to have one right next to her, no one would go to mine anyways.

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But especially no one would go to mine if it's at the same time. Why? Because I guess she's a good singer. She has the glory.

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She has the honor. She has the power to sing. And apparently we watch her watch football too.

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But that's a whole different thing. The point is that there's something in us that when someone displays power, ability, we have a desire.

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We're drawn to it. We want to glorify it. We want to honor it. And the purpose of God displaying his power is to be glorified.

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This is why he's done it. This is the direction of his power is that he would be magnified, honored, attention would be to him.

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We would look to him in all. This is the whole purpose of it. And there is a culmination to his power revealed.

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And what I mean by that is that certainly everyone marvels at God and his creative power, as I've been referring to.

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But the culmination of that is not simply just, look what I can do. I can create all things.

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But the culmination of it is what he's doing in us. Look at what he says in verse 21.

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To him be glory where? In the church in Christ Jesus. What does he mean?

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To him be glory. And the apex of that glory is revealed in the church through Christ Jesus.

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That is, in all the ways that God can be glorified, the apex of it, the greatest height of it, is in the church, his redeeming work.

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The world laughs. The world mocks. But the objective reality is this. Look what

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God has done to forgive sinners of their sin and work powerfully in them to walk righteously in the land of the imperatives.

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In other words, the power needed to survive in the land of the imperatives is to remind ourselves that God will be glorified, the apex is in the church, the apex in what

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I must do in the land of the imperatives. God's not going to let his glory be robbed.

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He's not going to fail. He's not going to drop that and say, oopsies. As you are in the land of imperatives, as you hear the do this, do this, don't do this, you must encourage yourself, it is

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God's work in me to glorify himself, and he won't fail that. As I'm relying upon him, trusting upon him, he will be glorified.

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That is the direction of all this. And that strengthens you to go forth in the land of imperatives.

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To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus. In the realm of the salvific activity, he is most glorified.

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So that is your day -to -day walk with Christ. This is how he delights to be glorified the most and in my life today as I obey the imperatives.

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This is what he delights in. He surely will not fail. He surely will be successful, for he will be glorified.

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As much as he loves to display his power, he loves to display an I will be glorified. And that strengthens you to do the work of salvation.

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Now again, when I say that, you're already found righteous in Christ, but now you get to walk like it.

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And so that salvation is revealed, and he's glorified in it. All of this, all of creation, what's the meaning of this?

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What's the meaning of life? Why are we here? It all has a purpose, that God would reveal his glory and power to save a wretched sinner and enable them to walk in righteousness.

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That is the reason. This is all for you, brothers and sisters. This is all for you. Everything is yours in Christ Jesus.

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This is all for you, so that you can display his glory in the realm of salvation. What an exciting reason to live.

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It shouldn't be any surprise to us that when people deny that, they have no reason for existence.

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Because the apex of the way he's glorified is in you walking righteously before him, by his power, not your own.

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So how vital is this to remember? As you wander through the land of imperatives, as we go through these chapters, we need to remind ourselves each day that this is a power working in you to glorify his name.

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This is the only ability that you have to successfully go through the land of imperatives, the land of do this.

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And notice to end verse 21, it is throughout all generations, forever and ever, amen.

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God has promised to do this all the way into eternity. Even if the generation you are in is a generation of great wickedness, even the people around you in school are a people of wicked people, you know that God is determined to reveal his righteous glory in you as you have your faith in Jesus.

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And that will never go away despite the wickedness around you. Again, encouragement, strength to have the proper power to go forth into the imperatives.

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I want to then go into the imperatives, the land, in verse one of chapter four, but I think we can just wait until,

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Lord willing, next week. But let's stop with this thought. The truth is, everyone is traveling, is traversing through the realm of imperatives.

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Everyone is. Everyone, whether you are in Christ or outside of Christ, never even heard of Christ, everyone is walking in the realm of the imperatives.

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Everyone understands, and they're living with an understanding that there is a standard above them, a standard demanded of them.

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You must do this. Without Christ, you will be enslaved to the law.

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You'll be enslaved to a standard that you know is there. It's somewhere in your heart, and you'll be enslaved to it with no ability to do it in any way.

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No ability to please the standard at all. You'll be enslaved to it, and that is a wretched existence.

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I remember being without Christ in heaven. I know that there's a standard, that I know I'm not there.

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And the guilt and the shame that weighs down on you is awful. Everyone, every one of you, whether you're in Christ or out, you have the realization that there is a land of imperatives that you are to walk in.

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But there is a blessed way that the land of imperatives would go from just guilt and shame,

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I cannot do it, to this is your fullness in God. Remember what Jesus says, come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

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Are you weary of doing the law of your own work, knowing that there's a standard?

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Or have you simply just said, forget it, I'll just live my own life, I'm done with it. This is where you are, to come to Jesus who gives rest.

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He gives you forgiveness. He gives you blessed righteousness to stand holy before God.

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And then with that power, he works in you to then walk like it. So that the imperatives no longer is a burden, a guilty thing, a shame of, oh my goodness, do, do, do.

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The imperatives become, this is my fullness to enjoy God forever through the Lord Jesus Christ.

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That rest is power working in you to enjoy the fullness of God revealed in the imperatives.

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God will be glorified and he'll be glorified in his church. And his arm is not too short to reveal that salvation even to you.

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So perhaps you are in Christ, but perhaps the imperatives has lost its luster. You see, as a husband, you are to love your wife as Christ loves the church and you're just so tired of it because you know how bad you fail.

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You see the imperatives found in Ephesians to put away all falsehood, to speak truth to your neighbor, to not be angry, to be patient, to love, and you're just like,

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I'm done with it, I can't do it. You need to remind yourself where the power comes forth from. It is from a

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God who's done all things for you, believer in Christ. And the imperatives is your life.

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He enables you to do so. Where you fail, he bandages your wounds. He comforts you when you fall down and he brings you back up and he says, this is your delight, brother or sister.

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He is our elder brother. He loves us. He cares for you. He does not just kick you when you're down.

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He brings you up. He might kick you a little bit to make you hurt a little bit if you need to, but he'll bandage your wounds.

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He loves you. He cares for you. He wants you to find fullness in the imperatives, not guilt and shame, not just sadness, not just I am the worst, but rather Christ is the best.

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So let this land of the imperatives, as you go on the voyage, may you be strengthened by Christ and know that this is for my good and his glory.

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He will not fail. He will accomplish. He will work mightily in me so that I can truly enjoy his fullness now and forever.

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Let us pray. Oh God in heaven, I thank you once more for Jesus Christ.

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I thank you that you've given us his law, that not only do you save us, not only do you draw us out of the kingdom of darkness and establish us in righteousness so that we can stand right before you, but you then say in this life you have left to live, it'll be for my fullness.

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It'll be for your good. And it'll be that my power would be displayed in your righteous living so that I would be glorified.

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Lord, I am overcome with my weakness. I'm overcome with what you've called the higher calling of this righteous standard.

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I know even with Christ, I fall well short, but I'm also aware that you are working this work in me each day, day by day.

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So you remind me to look to you in my weakness. And Lord, I'm so thankful for the church even before me here.

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It's an arena of your display of your glory that there are countless people even before me that have been saved by you and have been growing in their righteousness in Christ as you continue to draw them through this land of the imperatives.

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And so that I'm reminded that you are a God who grows us. You are a God who doesn't abandon us.

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How many times we were worthy of you to say, okay, enough is enough. You're done. Instead, you grab hold of us and you love us and you bring us forward into greater obedience by your power and strength working in us.

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Would you encourage the saints before me, Lord? Would you cause them to see that they are to look at the imperatives and say, how can

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I do this to the best, to the greatest strength I can put into it knowing I'm working through Christ?

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Would you cause them to not be distracted or discouraged to say, oh, just forget it. I just want to be done. Would you cause them to see that this life is beautiful and good because you have strengthened us to obey you in it?

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And for those who have not bowed the knee to Christ, for the liars, for those who are deceived, who perhaps have said a prayer at one point, but they know that they're living well outside the bounds of his kingdom, may you provide them a repentance, a belief upon Jesus that is true and lively that says, oh, let me throw all my sin to him and may

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I walk in newness of life by his work. Would you do that for those people even now as they're sitting before me and cause them to walk in the imperatives, not by their own strength, but by the strength

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Christ provides? Oh, Lord, I pray that this might be your work today. Thank you that we can rely upon you in all things, that yours is the power, yours is the glory, forever and ever.