Christ Descended and Ascended

I wanna concentrate now on verse number 18. This verse number 11 to verse number 18 is kind of like a It’s kind of like in the context of a battle or war. It mentions chariots, kings of armies fleeing, even verse number 11, which we often use to refer to the gospel, you know, being published and that’s fine and good, good application. But I think in in its proper context is referring to the the publishing of the of the the war cry, basically.

And so the Lord is pictured here as a captain, as a general, as a victorious general. And so we get down to verse 17, the Bible says, the chariots of God are 20,000, even thousands of angels, the Lord is among them. That’s blessing. Whenever there’s a battle, you can you can rest assured that when the armor of when you have the armor of God on, you can rest assured that God is with you in the battle. Like David was supposed to be, you know, when the he was supposed to go fight when he was getting in trouble with Bathsheba, he was supposed to be in the battle. The point is, he’s in the battle. He’s not calling out radio calls saying, hey, you do this, do that. He’s in the battle.

As our Lord is with us, he’s among them as in Sinai in the holy place. The verse I wanna concentrate on is verse number 18, because this is spoken to God. You have to remember that, thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive. Now the reason I said that this is a, in the context of war, war language is because of that, and that’s important here, because it says, thou hast led captivity captive, thou hast received gifts for men, Yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them. So, this is kind of a, in fact, this whole Psalm is just kind of hard. It’s kind of difficult. There’s a lot of pronouns that you don’t really know what the antecedents are, you don’t really know exactly what it’s talking about. As an example, verse number 14.

When the almighty scattered kings in it, in what? Like you read the Psalm and there’s no obvious answer to these questions. So this is one example, this Psalm is just a kind of a hard Psalm. And so we can use all the help we can get and thankfully, verse number 18 has a companion verse that helps us, okay? So we’re gonna go there and look at it, which is in Ephesians chapter four. So go there if you would.

Ephesians chapter four. But remember, as we look at Ephesians, and the the context of Ephesians is different than the context of the Psalm, but the the the thing that we’re gonna look at, we we have to remember the context of the Psalm is war. It’s war. It’s a battle. It’s the triumph of God against his enemies. Ephesians four verse number, look down at verse number seven. The context of verse number, of chapter four, this section is about spiritual gifts.

Verse number seven says this, but unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Notice that, the measure of the gift of Christ.

Wherefore he saith, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. Now, you notice that verse, that’s 18 of Psalm 68, right? That’s a that’s a quotation. It’s actually not a direct quotation, but and sometimes if you read sometimes the quotations in the Old Testament and the New, and you see that the words are a little bit different, that can kinda, you know, kinda bother you, kinda, well, why is it why is it different? We gotta remember that for and this is this is an important point to remember when you study the Bible more generally.

And as I was looking at some commentaries just to kinda get some background information on this verse, one of them just really was bothered by the fact that this in in other words, he was bothered in the fact that he could not understand how Paul could use this verse from Psalm 68 as he does in in Ephesians. It bothered him the way Paul was using. He was he was scratching his head, you know, in in the in the commentary like, it’s, you know, with with more eloquent language than this but basically, it’s unknown why Paul, how Paul came to this conclusion. Well, I’ll tell you how Paul came to this conclusion.

Because Paul was influenced directly by the spirit of God, just like the writer of the Psalm was. And so that’s what you have to remember. Sometimes we look at the the Bible in a in a way that’s a little too secular, and although we like to do that sometimes, you gotta remember that the New Testament is inspired just as the old. And the other thing you gotta remember is, especially with the the 12 disciples, that they heard personally the Lord Jesus who is the author, expound everything in the scripture related to himself. So if something doesn’t make sense, they got it from Jesus, like directly.

And so that helps us, so we can use, we’re supposed to use them together. They’re not supposed to be used separately. They’re supposed to be used together, which is what we’re gonna do tonight. So, verse number eight quotes Psalm 68 verse 18, and he says, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. Verse nine, now that he ascended, this is talking about Jesus now, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?

That’s interesting. So, before we can get the Psalm 6eight 18 talks about the ascension of the Lord. But you can’t ascend, remember where God’s where where God where does it what is his starting place? His starting place is the highest heaven. There’s no one higher, there’s no place higher, right? This is god’s starting place. So, if Psalm 6,818 is talking about god ascending, that means first and this is what Paul is saying, he first had to descend.

That’s what he’s saying in in that verse. Verse number nine, verse number nine in Ephesians four. So, what we see is the Lord Jesus and we know he descended. He descended when he came down from heaven. He said, I came down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of my father, right? The the father which hath sent me. So, we know the Lord Jesus descended, but we know that in his life, he he did not just descend to earth as a man. That’s part of it. But there was a further descent of the Lord Jesus. There was a further descent.

Matthew twelve forty. Matthew twelve forty says, as Jonas was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so the son of man, I’m I’m I’m just quoting from memory here, so the son of man would be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. The heart of the earth three days and three nights. And so we know that Jesus died and he descended even further into the heart of the earth.

Scriptures refer to that as the lower parts of the earth. And if you would look at look at Ezekiel 32, we’re gonna come back to Ephesians in a minute, but look at Ezekiel 32.

Actually, let’s look at 31 to begin, verse 14. Thirty one fourteen. The Bible says this, Ezekiel 3one 14, To the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves for their height, neither shoot up their top among the thick boughs, neither their trees stand up in their height, all the all that drink water. For they are all delivered unto death. Note, now I want you to note all the death words.

Sorry to be a Debbie Downer, but that’s kind of where we are in this passage. To the nether parts of the earth. What are the nether parts? What does the word nether mean? That’s not a word we use very often. The netherworld, it means lower. It means lower. To the nether, lower parts of the earth, into the midst of the children of men with them that go down to the pit.

Notice the mention of pit, so we got death, we got nether parts of the earth, the pit. Verse 15, thus saith the Lord God in the day when he went down to the grave, I caused a mourning. There’s a word grave. I covered the deep for him, and I restrained the floods thereof, and and the great waters were stayed, and I caused Lebanon to mourn for him, and all the trees of the field fainted for him. I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall when I cast him down to hell with them that descend into the pit. Note note all these words. And all the trees of Eden, the choice and the best of Lebanon, all that drink water shall be comforted in the nether parts of the earth. They also went down into hell with them that that be slain with the sword, and they that were were his arm that dwelt under the shadow in the midst of the heathen. Look at chapter 32.

Look at chapter 32 verse number 18. I won’t read this whole section because it’s quite long. But notice verse 18, he says, son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt and cast them down even her and the daughters of the famous nations unto the nether parts of the earth with them that go down into the pit. Whom dost thou pass in beauty? Go down and be laid with the uncircumcised.

They shall fall in the midst of them that are slain by the sword. She is delivered to the sword, draw her and all her multitudes. Look at verse number 22, Asher is there and all her company, her graves are about him. All of them slain, fallen by the sword, whose graves are set in the sides of the pit and her company round about her grave. All of them slain, fallen by the sword which calls terror in the land of the living. You see it in verse 24, you see it in verse 26, you see it in verse 29.

All the Verse number 31, you see it again. Here’s the Lord’s describing the death of all of the enemies of God, All of these nations that did not know God. But notice how he describes them. He describes them going down, here are the words that are used, the grave, the pit, to hell, to the midst of the slain, to death, to the heart of the earth, to the to the nether parts of the earth, to the lower parts of the earth. These are all being used together.

Now, and and the Bible says in Matthew twelve forty that Jesus when he died went to the the lower parts of the earth. Now that’s the automatic question is this, when Jesus died did he go and burn in hell? No. No. But the Bible does say that he descended into the lower parts of the earth. That’s what Matthew twelve forty is saying. So when we talk about when we talk about the, and this is the point, His descent, we’re not talking about when He became a man, because He went lower than that.

He went lower than that, He died. And when Jesus died, He descended into the lower parts of the earth. Now you might wonder why these terms like grave and pit, because we think of a grave as a hole in the ground. We think of a pit as a hole in the ground. We think of, we don’t, we think we separate that from hell, right? We don’t think of them as the same. But in the Old Testament, they’re viewed kind of, they’re used together often. Well, it makes sense too, why? Because people that go to hell also go to the grave, right? In other words, the grave is a visual representation of what’s happening to their soul.

When they their physical body dies and goes down into the into the earth And so their physical their spiritual man, their soul descends into the pit, into the the into hell. That that’s why when you read the Old Testament, sometimes it can sound a little confusing. It’s because in the If you wanna say in the Hebrew mind, they’re kind of together, they’re thought of together and that’s why they appear together. It shouldn’t bother you, you shouldn’t be concerned that a Jehovah’s Witness says, well that’s just talking about the grave. As you’ve heard if you’ve ever talked to him, There’s no hell, that’s just talking about the grave. Actually, you know, it’s both, it’s both.

And so the Bible very clearly says in Ephesians four, and you can go back there if you want because we’re gonna be returning there in just a minute. And this is what Paul is picking up on from the Psalm. It says this, Ephesians four verse number nine, Now that He ascended, what is it but that He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? Matthew twelve forty says that. So here’s the point.

Jesus descended when He died. He descended to the place where the dead go. And that raises a question. What question do you have? What was he doing? That’s my question. Now, I can’t, in a number of the things that we’ll look at here, I can’t tell you why. Like I wish I knew, I wish I could scratch that itch and I could say, why Jesus did this or why Jesus did that. We don’t all Lord doesn’t always give us the why, but he does tell us the what. And the what is Jesus not only descended from heaven to become a man, but Jesus as a man died for sinners and descended into the place of the dead.

So what was he doing down there? What was he doing down there? I’m gonna tell you in his, we’re still talking about his descent. The Bible is very skimpy when it comes to this. So if you would look at first Peter chapter three, don’t lose Ephesians, we’re coming right back in just a second. First Peter.

There’s only basically one or two verses that tell us anything about what was going on with Jesus while was in the tomb, that is his spirit, if you will.

First Peter chapter three verse 18. For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. Being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the spirit. By which, that is by the spirit also, he went and preached unto the spirits in prison. And then it goes on to describe those spirits who were in this context referring to those in the days of Noah. Why? I have no idea. I haven’t the slightest clue.

But we do have one clue about what he was doing. He was preaching to the spirits in prison. And this prison is not the prison of Paul, this is a prison of, you know, the prison of those who are departed. This is the same prison that the devil will be bound in during the millennium, when he’s bound in prison. Revelation 20 verse seven tells us that. And so this is one thing that we know that Jesus was doing during the time that he was, his body was in the tomb. Now again, why he was doing that? We do not know. The scripture does not tell you. But the reason I felt like I should tell you is because this is this is the sum total of what the Bible says. There’s one other verse we’re gonna look at in just a minute that tells us one other thing that he was doing.

But go back to Ephesians chapter four. Verse nine again says, now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? Now here it is, he that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens that he might fill all things. So the ascension is what we’re looking at, but the ascension implies a descent. So that’s what we saw already.

So we looked at Christ descent, and we looked at the scriptures that touch on that, but we know that he did not stay there. In his resurrection, he rose from the dead and then after that, in Acts chapter one, he ascended and notice he did not just ascend to heaven because you know in heaven there are other beings. You know, there’s Seraphim, there’s Cherubim, there’s angels, there’s people who have, you know, who have died and gone to heaven. There’s all all of these different, you know, there’s the revelation describes the four beasts and all these different figures and things in heaven. Jesus did not just go to heaven.

The lord Jesus Christ ascended above everything. There is no one greater than he. There is no one more exalted than He. He is the focal point of the entire universe, if you will. He is the focal point of everything. I mean, just think about how that applies to us.

When we say like something is simple, we summarize that truth to something like Christ is all. Right, that is a fact. The world veils that truth so that we see through a glass darkly sort of, right? It’s hard to see, we don’t see Christ exalted everywhere, but just we should know, and this is what this truth reminds us of, he that descended is also he that ushend far above all heavens. Christ is all, he is exalted above all. So if that is true, and it is, what place ought the Lord Jesus have in our life here, now?

Should he not, if he is, he is above all power, he is he is exalted to the highest degree, should he not occupy that same spot in our life? He should. That’s what the ascension and exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ reminds us of. That’s the place He owns or should own in our life now. He is all in all.

And so, this is the place he should occupy in our life. Look, since we’re in Ephesians, look at chapter one just to remind, be reminded of this truth, verse 20.

We talked about this a little bit in Sunday school in verse number 19, but look at verse 20. Talking about the power working in us. It says, verse 20, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places. Far notice 21, far above all principality and power and might and dominion. And every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church.

You see that? You see the all, all, all? This is Christ’s place. This is where he is now. He is exalted above all. He rules over all. Now back in chapter four, notice what it says.

Verse 10. Or verse number eight rather. Paul doesn’t really address verse number eight, it says this, wherefore he saith when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive. He led captivity captive. Couple of verses I’d like you to look up, Judges chapter five and also Amos chapter one, look back at those if you would. Because that’s a curious way to put this, led captivity captive. Look at Judges chapter five.

Someone asked me what we’re gonna be studying after we get done with Matthew I feel guilty that we haven’t spent very much time in the Old Testament. So, I’m trying to convince the Lord we need to go back to the Old Testament.

He’s not impressed. Judges five verse number 12. Awake, awake Deborah, awake, awake utter a song, arise Barak and lead thy captivity captive, thou son of Ahinoam. Now this is Deborah, and of course she was the one who instigated this judge Barak, Barak, however you wanna pronounce it. He was the one who went out and fought the battle and the idea is this is a song of praise and she’s saying, rise up, lead your captivity captive. That I the the idea is you have won. You have won. Now, lead your captivity captive. Look at one more verse. Look at Amos.

Give me a minute. I’ll get there in a second just like you. Amos chapter one. Look if you would at verse number six. Amos one verse six, Thus saith the Lord, for three transgressions of Gaza and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof because they carried away captive the whole captivity to deliver them to Edom.

So, does it mean to lead captivity captive? Okay, just put it like this. When you say captivity, what you’re referring to are the captives, the people who are in captivity. So to lead captivity captive means you take the captives and you lead them away. And in the context, remember in Psalm 68 is war. It’s war. So the idea is when a a when a general, when a captain wins a battle, the spoils are his.

The spoils are his. And what He does is He goes and He takes captive all of those, His enemies, and then leads them captive. That is parades them through as a trophy of His power and of His victory. And so those that at one point held others captive now become the ones who are held captive. That’s the spoils of the victory. And so the idea is when you lead them captive, you lead them away and in the former time, what they would do in those kinds of battles is they would lead those people chained or tied, lead them through the city while people cheered the victory.

And that’s exactly what’s happening, that’s what we read in Ephesians four. Is Jesus, remember Psalm 68 is war. Although Ephesians four is not talking about war, but yet that phrase is talking about war. And what does that tell us? That tells us that Jesus, whenever the Lord Jesus went and he descended into the lower parts of the earth, the heart of the earth, and then he ascended, he led captivity captive, that is he spoiled those who had held us captive and triumphed over them and this is not just my, this is not just my opinion. Colossians actually says this very plainly, don’t tell me I did not write down the Colossians verse.

Oh, I’m gonna find this one. I looked it up, but I didn’t write it down. Let’s see if I can find it. You can go ahead and go to Colossians because it’s in here and I’m gonna show it to you if you want to.

Colossians chapter two verse 14. Colossians two verse 14. Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. And having spoiled principalities and powers, here it is, he spoiled them. That’s a that’s a that’s a statement of victory. Principalities and powers, satanic forces spoiled them, defeated them, took all their goods and power.

He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Now I can’t tell you exactly how this was done. I can’t tell you exactly how. I just know you have the lead captivity captive, and you have verses like this, and it tells us that Jesus not only spoiled those powers, but then he displayed their defeat for everybody to see. But here’s the thing you need to remember, is that those things that he spoiled at one point held you and me captive.

That’s the part you need to remember. We were once held captive by those things and we’re not free to leave. We were under the power of sin, under the power and by by that, by means of sin, we’re under the power of the devil who is controlling the world, dictating what we do and don’t do, and we were in prison. We were captives as in a war.

Like when David’s family was captured and he had to take his army out and and rescue them. We were under that captivity. And when Jesus Christ rose from the dead and ascended, he freed us and those who had taken us captive, he paraded out in victory and spoiled them. So what does that tell us? That tells us that we are no longer captive to those things that once held us captive.

I’ve been trying to say this in Sunday school. Those of you that have been been in Sunday school, we’ve been talking about the power that works in us. Everything in our life that held us to sin and to the service of Satan is broken.

We do not have to serve Satan as a born again believer. His power is spoiled. It’s like, You know, it’s like you go somewhere and somebody that doesn’t have a badge, it’s not a police officer, wants to tell you where you can go and can’t go, you know. Has no authority behind what they say, but they wanna nose into your business and tell you the way it’s gonna be and you shouldn’t do this, you shouldn’t do that. And you just, if a police officer tells you need to do something and it’s a lawful order, you have to do it, right? But when somebody who wants to act like a police officer barks orders to you, you can just stand there and ignore them Because they have no power, they have no authority, and that’s exactly what the Lord did. When he ascended, he spoiled that power. And I know that that might seem theoretical to us or doctrinal, but it is real to us as a believer.

It is real to us as a believer. Not only that, look with me at Luke 23. Luke 23. There was one other thing Jesus was doing when he descended.

Luke 23 verse number 42 is the thief on the cross. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise. So alright, think think this is some biblical logic, okay? Where did Jesus go when he died? Well, he went to the lower parts of the earth. We just read that, right, in Ephesians four.

Here, he’s telling the the thief that he’s going to paradise, and the thief’s gonna be with him. So, paradise is the lower parts of the earth, right? And then, you look at second Corinthians chapter 12, go ahead and turn there, you you you we won’t be able to get it unless we turn there and look, second Corinthians chapter 12. So we know that Jesus was That’s one other thing Jesus was doing, preaching the spirits in prison, whatever that involves, and he was with the the thief on the cross who believed at the at the eleventh hour, and he was with him in paradise. Now look at second Corinthians chapter two, chapter 12 rather, and verse number two.

He says, I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, whether in the body, I cannot tell, or whether out of the body, I cannot tell, God knoweth. Such in one caught up to the third heaven, and I knew such a man, whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell, God knoweth. How that he was caught up into where? Paradise. And heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. Now in this case, Paul says paradise and the third heaven, which is where God dwells, are the same. So something has changed.

And the point and I know does this does this really matter at all? I don’t really know, to be honest with you. But what we do know is when Jesus died, he went to the lower parts of the earth, which is called paradise with that that thief on the cross. But sometime between then and his ascension, that place went up to where God is in the third heaven.

So that’s that’s and this is the reason why when a believer dies, a believer goes to be with Christ. Not to the lower parts of the earth. We die, our body goes into the ground, and isn’t isn’t it funny that the New Testament doesn’t use that language is like like we saw in the old, because the the body goes in the pit, the body goes in the grave, but the soul is with Christ in heaven.

In fact, Matthew 27, we’ll get there, we’re there in our study, right? Here’s what it says, And the graves, this is at the death of Christ, and the graves were opened, and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city and appeared unto many. So may I ask you a question? These are people that rose from the dead when Jesus rose from the dead.

Or they rose from the dead when he died and then I guess they came out of the graves after his resurrection. My question is this, did they like die again like Lazarus? I mean, you you it raises a lot a lot of questions. If we assume that these are people who had died previously, which they were in the graves, so I assume that that’s true. And if we assume they rose in the manner that Christ arose, then that means they did not die.

That means they went, they ascended with Christ in heaven. And so, this is another what was Jesus doing? Well, know when he led captivity captive and he spoiled these powers, there was a bunch of people who were once in the lower parts of the earth that went to go be in the presence of God in paradise in the third heaven. That much I think we can settle with scripture, but there’s one other thing. Look at Ephesians four again.

Ephesians four verse number eight. Wherefore he saith, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. Now, when that general, when that captain wins that battle and he spoils those people who had once held that city captive, and he captures them and leads them, parades them out in victory, now the captors have become the captives.

One other thing he does, and this would also be common, is to take those spoils. All that gold and silver, all those things that he takes that were taken from, in his victory, the spoils, and distributes those things. That’s what Psalm 68 is talking about. And it’s applied to Christ here, which is the basis for verse 11. And he gave some, these are the gifts, apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers. And we know there are many more gifts, actual gifts, but here’s the point.

In the same manner that a triumphant king would parade his enemies after taking them captive, and then distribute the spoils to his servants, so the Lord Jesus distributes the spoils of his victory to his people. He distributes gifts to them. And that’s not just these gifts, these spiritual gifts we see here, but all these gifts that come as a result of Christ’s resurrection and ascension. Because these gifts that he gives us are the tokens and the marks of his exaltation and triumph. They are proof that Jesus won and that he is exalted above all.

And those gifts are given to you and to me. Now, do you know what the do you know what the topmost gift is? No. Salvation’s already gone. The Holy Spirit.

Look at look at Acts chapter two. Look at Acts chapter two. You remember in John 14, John 16, Jesus said, it’s expedient for you if I go away. If I go not away, the comforter will not come unto you. But if I go away, I’ll send him to you. You remember that? Remember he says that? I’ll not leave you comfortless. The comforter of course is the Holy Spirit. So he says, hey, I have to go away. If I go away, I’m gonna send you a gift.

I have to ascend and give gifts to men, and that the first and most important gift he gave us is the presence of his Holy Spirit in us. Now look at Acts chapter two, Peter knew this, because notice what he says here. Starting in verse number 23. Let me get there myself. Acts two verse 23, the Bible says this, Peter’s preaching here, Him, talking about Jesus being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain whom God hath raised up having loosed the pains of death because it was not possible that he should beholden of it. For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand that I should not be moved. Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad, moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope. Let’s drop down to verse number 29. Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.

Therefore being a prophet and knowing that God has sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne. He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up whereof we are all witnesses.

Therefore, now note the words carefully. Therefore, being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise, here’s the gift, of the Holy Ghost, He hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. So the gift is because Jesus ascended in triumph. When he ascended, he gave gifts and every Here listen, every other gift that we have, what we call the spiritual gifts, whether it be the ability to teach, or faith, or giving, or prayer, or whatever.

Whatever gifts, spiritual gifts that exist, they are there because we have the Spirit of God. He gave them to us. He gave us those gifts by means of the Spirit of God in us.

So think about the gifts of the Spirit, the Spirit Himself, as well as the gifts of the Spirit that you have are the evidence and proof that Christ is exalted. Now that tells us something.

The church of God is supposed to operate on the power of the Spirit of God. Right? The Spirit of God is the energizing factor that animates the church of God. And I suspect that probably one reason why so many churches are impotent and they’re chasing the next thing to artificially produce something is because there is no spirit of God.

And one of the reasons why we’re so defeated, people professing Christians are so defeated in sin and it rules them and it reigns over them is they do not have the spirit of God. Because the Spirit of God, He is the power of the Christian. He is what does everything in us. And so when we see an impotent form of Christianity, is foreign to the Bible, that mark it down, that is a form of Christianity that is spiritless.

Those of you that know what it means to have the spirit of God in you, to have God Himself leading you, correcting you, teaching you, stirring you, all of those things, that’s the reason you do what you do as a believer. That’s the whole reason, The spirit of God in us. He is the driving force.

Everybody looks at us and they think, well, they became a Christian and they started trying to do nice things and live by the golden rule. No. The moment we believe, we receive as a gift of the exalted Christ, the triumphant Christ, his very presence with us. That is the power.

That is the power. And what a mighty power He is in us. Let’s pray together.