You, and you notice the words,
hath He quickened, are in italics. You know what that means. They
were not in the original Greek text. And you, who were dead
in trespasses and sin, wherein in time past you walked according
to the course of this world, according to the prince of the
power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children
of disobedience. among whom also we all had our
conversation or manner of life in time past in the lusts of
the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and were by nature the children of wrath even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy
for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace
you are saved, and has raised us up together, made us sit together
in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might
show the exceeding riches of His grace in kindness towards
us through Christ Jesus." For by grace are ye saved through
faith, and that not of yourself. It is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus on two good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them." Now, our subject again is dead
in sin, and quickened by the grace of God. I remind you in
the very beginning, this is another place in the Scripture, and there
are many, where a new chapter does not mean a change or a new
subject. Chapters and verses, you know,
or divisions are for the convenience that we might easily and quickly
find a particular passage of Scripture. Ephesians is an epistle
that sets forth the greatness of salvation. Great in that it
even begins with it in eternity past. That the great salvation
that we have was purpose in Christ before the foundation of the
world, and brought to pass after the Son was incarnated and died
upon the cross. Ephesians is a place where salvation
is presented from or upon two great aspects. Number one, what
God has done before the foundation of the world. What God has done
toward our salvation in eternity. And the second is what God has
done in time through the Lord Jesus Christ by means of His
incarnation and His death upon the tree. In 1, 7 and following,
how salvation is applied unto us, the apostles speak. We learn
in Ephesians that some were elected, elected in Christ, elected before
the world, elected unto salvation and sons here. We learn also
that in the death of Christ they have been redeemed. They have
been given an inheritance. They have been sealed up by the
Holy Spirit, for they are called by irresistible grace. Having been quickened, they are
co-raised with the Lord Jesus Christ. And then to look at this
passage of Scripture and see Oh, the attributes of God that
are engaged in the salvation of the elect. I shall mention
them quickly. There is grace that seems to
lead the herd or the pack. Verse 6, verse 7 of chapter 1. Then again in the second chapter,
verse 7 and verse 8. And then He speaks of His rich
mercy and great love in chapter 2 and verse 4 of this grand epistle. He also speaks of the kindness
of God in chapter 2 and verse 7, and the greatness of His power
that brought us to faith in chapter 1, verse 19, and verse 20. But in working our way to our
present text and the subject of the morning, we have to deal
again, with one of those long and expanded and flowing sentences
for which Paul is famous in his epistle. Wherein he speaks of
one thing to emphasize something that should follow, but before
he makes the connection, he expands upon the previous subject even
further. And that makes his sentences
to flow with commas and semicolons and such like. Now the Puritan
Goodwin, Thomas Goodwin, called it, meaning no respect at all
to the scripture, quote, a disjointed order of speech wherein one thing
thrusts back to another that should come next, unquote, but
which he does not by which he does not say at the time, but
he comes to it by and by, and the connection is justly made
between the two things. Now, in order to set the tone
for the divine quickening from our deadness in trespasses and
in sin, I think we need to drop back into chapter 1 of this great
epistle, where the apostle tells them that He is praying for them. He lets them know that He prays
for them in chapter 1 and verse 16. And then He mentions some
things which He supplicates for in their behavior. Such as, chapter
1 now, verse 17 and verse 18, He prays that they realize and
they comprehend the blessings of their salvation and their
union to Jesus Christ. He prayed that they may have
a full understanding and appreciation of that. Secondly, in verse 18
and the last part, the character of the coming state. The riches
of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. That they might
have a full understanding and hope of that. Thirdly, he prayed,
They may understand the power of God that has been exerted
upon them in their behalf to bring them to faith and make
them believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's in verse 19.
So now, let's read from chapter 1, verse 18 and verse 19. A part of the prayer of the apostles
for the Ephesian church and believers, the eyes of your understanding
being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His
calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance
in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power
to us who believe according to the working of His mighty power. Now, methinks that those commentators
are right who see Paul here in chapter 1 and chapter 2 as making
a parallel or a comparison between what was done in Christ and what
is done in the elect. That there are parallel exertions
of God's power in Christ and also in the elect, that there
are parallel exertions of the power of God in bringing Christ
out of the grave again and in bringing the elect out of their
graves or their deadness in sin for their conversion. First of
all, in verse 19, and I'm speaking again of chapter 1, notice the
two expressions exceeding greatness of His power, according to the
working of His mighty power. And then in verse 20, that is,
which power, which exceeding greatness, the operation of His
might, which operated in raising Christ again out of the grave
or from the dead. Now, the same power The same
power has produced not one, but two results that Paul wants them
to notice. Number one, it has made them
believers. It has wrought saving faith in
them. It has elevated their dead faculties
up out of that dead that they might believe in the Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ. That it has worked, this great
power, towards us believing. And this involves regeneration,
as we shall see by and by in our study. Secondly, Paul says,
that very same great exceeding power of His might raised up
Christ from the dead. It brought again from the dead
the Lord Jesus Christ. that great shepherd of the sheep. Hebrews 13 and 20. Whom God raised
up, loosing the pains or the chains or the cords of death.
Acts chapter 2 and verse 24. Now from the first of these we
learn in chapter 1 verse 19, that faith is not a human thing. That faith is not an easy human
thing. Faith is not something that a
person is able to generate and to exercise on their own. Faith is not a possibility from
the natural man in his natural estate. Men and women do not
believe in their own energy, by their own will, or by their
own ability. Faith, no matter what many say,
is not the sinner's part. There was a book, God's Part
and Ours, J. Sidlow Baxter. Faith is not our
part, as some have always claimed, nor is it native to the natural
man. Faith is not something that resides
in us that simply needs to be brought alive or wakened up. If you believe it because God's
power has performed a quickening in our soul that we might believe
upon Him. Paul tells them in chapter 1
verse 19 and 20 that they have experienced the same power in
being made believers as was exercised in the resurrection of their
great prototype The Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Our model
is the Lord and Savior. He was dead. God raised Him up
again. How so? Well, the Apostle is
making that very connection. Christ was dead. The power of
God brought Him out of the grave again. And God did not raise
Christ from the dead. only to give Him a continued
earthly life, but to set Him at His own right hand in the
heavenlies forevermore. The point is, God has by an irresistible
grace the power that raised our Lord, He has raised by an irresistible
power that could not be... Death could not resist it. The
grave could not hold Him. God has freed Him by His power. And what does Paul say? And God
has quickened you. He has raised up the Savior from
the dead and He has quickened you. Not only that, He has elevated
the Savior to celestial glory yonder at His right hand. And
in Ephesians 2, verse 6, He has raised us up together that we
might sit together with Christ in the heavenlies or in heavenly
places in Christ. But before He connects the second
one with the first, in Ephesians 1, verse 21-23, Paul expands greatly upon the
glory that has been bestowed upon the resurrected Christ. What glory is it? Far above all
rule and all power, lordship, and a name given Him which is
above every name. He has made Him to be Lord over
all. He has made Him head over the
church in all things. He has elevated the Lord to a
great headship. And just as Paul is ready to
tie the knot, God has raised up Christ and He has quickened
you. Christ was dead and raised up.
Forgive me for repeating it over and over. Christ was dead and
was raised up. You were dead and you hath He
quickened. But instead of going, directly
to God has raised Christ and has quickened you, he throws
in some wonderful things in the interim. You see the translators
in verse 1 anticipating where Paul is going. In the first verse,
chapter 2, they anticipate where he is going, and they even inserted
the words in verse 1 in italic, the words, hath he quickened? And you who were dead in trespass
and in sin. These three words are not in
the Greek text. Having mentioned dead in trespass
and in sin, the apostle does not yet declare their quickening. Instead, notice in verse 2 and
following, He interrupts his train of thought in order that
he might expand upon the nature and the depth of that depth in
sin and depravity. That depth of sin out of which
we have been raised by the grace of God. And the picture that
he paints in verse 2 and 3 is extremely grim and is hopeless
for us apart from the grace of God and the death of the Lord
Jesus Christ." And this is very important for us to see the actual
state and condition of the sinner, and what is meant by dead in
trespassing and in sin. Notice the first thing, verses
2 and 3, that Paul mentions is the state and the condition. dead in trespasses and in the
sins of you." There is a companion passage to this in Colossians
2 and verse 13, but it has it a little different. And you being
dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh,
speaking to the Gentiles. Except in Colossians 2 and verse
13, the passage, the apostle likely refers to their Gentile
extraction by using their uncircumcision as being a reference to their
spiritually uncircumcised hearts before they knew the Lord and
Christ. The death is a death in trespasses
and in sin. The death here is not a physical
death. It is not a death of the body. when He says, "...and you who
were dead." It's not the body or the grave, but in trespasses
and in sin. Because men and women prior to
regeneration are spiritually dead. They are held under the
power of that dead. Being the elect, it is not possible
that they should be holden of it forever and forever. They cannot quicken themselves,
they cannot put spiritual life in themselves, nor can another. The Armenians often are heard
to argue that the soul is not completely and wholly and absolutely
dead. Because, they say, the person
retains such things in them as affections and conscience and
will and understanding. And that if the soul, they argue,
were completely and absolutely dead, all of these functions,
they say, would cease completely. This, of course, is not the case. For as Paul shows in the following
verses in Ephesians 2, the one dead or the ones dead in trespasses
and in sin is very, very active. in the realm of sin, in that
they are, or we, when dead in trespasses and in sin, listen,
did order our behavior according to the age of this present evil
world, walking under the influence of the evil one, having our manner
of life in fulfilling the lusts of the flesh and the desires
of the mind. That's how we walked when we
were dead in trespasses and in sin. Now, many would argue from
the same thing. See, this proves that men and
women are not completely dead and that they only need to channel
their energies and their thoughts in another way. But as Goodwin
pointed out, The death of the soul is not the same as the death
of the body. One is a physical death, the
other is a spiritual or a moral death. And when the body dies,
when the flesh dies, all motion and all activity of it cease
then and there. Not so with a spiritually dead
soul. so that the soul is active and
alive as it is a soul. I emphasize those words. In fact,
it is active in sinful endeavor. They live in sin. They participate in and commit
sins and they perform acts and deeds of sin while they are dead
unto God. Its deadness is of a spiritual
nature. It is dead to God and to spiritual
life. It is dead to the knowledge of
God and the knowledge of Christ and the proper worship of God.
Thus, while the soul is alive unto sin, it is dead unto God
and devoid of spiritual life. And the truth is, their being
dead in sin is the cause of their living in sin. Because they are
dead in sin, that is the realm in which they live. And they
will live in sin so long as they are dead in trespasses and in
sin and dead unto God. So then the question becomes,
can a soul, once it has morally died, wants a soul that has become
dead in trespasses and in sin. Can that soul live again? Can that soul be made alive by
any power whatsoever? Is there a remedy? Can it live
unto God having been dead in trespasses and in sin? I think of the question that
Job asks in chapter 14 and verse 14, If a man die, shall he live
again? Even so, can the soul dead in
trespasses and sin be reinvigorated and given new spiritual life? Can God restore it again to life? Or is it dead in sin forever? and without any remedy whatsoever. The situation we know is very
dire. Men's deadness and corruption
are extensive and they are powerful. But then in our text or chapter,
beginning in verse 4, as the Scotsman Calvinist John Eadie
wrote, the Apostle resumes the thought started in verse 1. and which he interrupted in verse
2 and verse 3 to detail the power and the behavior of being dead,
in trespass, and in sin. But now, at last, the apostle
is ready to proclaim the remedy and the work of God. And he does
this in verse 4 through verse 10 of the second chapter of Ephesians. Notice verse 4. But God, in all
that He had said, dead in trespasses and sin, walking according to
the course of this world, feeding the desires of the flesh and
of the mind. But God, and phallus are three
of the most important attributes which God puts forth in the bringing
of the elect, who are dead in trespasses and sin, to life to
be quickened, to be regenerated. And those three great graces
that he mentions here are mercy and love and grace. For these are the springs of
God to bring forth the great salvation that is in Jesus Christ. Let's notice the first of the
words there in verse 4. But God. Now, this epistle takes
a happy turn here at this place, for as the apostle might have
set forth the righteousness of God in the damnation and destruction
of those described in verses 1, 2, and 3. Instead, he speaks
of the kind, gracious, loving design of God to remedy their
deadness in sin. God. You dead, and then quicken. But God, who is rich in His mercy. Notice here, if you will, Paul
uses the word rich and riches here in this section of Ephesians. Ephesians 2 and 4, God who is
rich in mercy. Ephesians 1 and 7, the riches
of His grace. Ephesians 1 and 18, the riches
of the glory of His inheritance. Ephesians 2 and verse 7, the
exceeding riches of His grace. And again, in chapter 3 and verse
8, chapter 3 and verse 16. Now, the word rich and riches
means to be rich, of course, or to be wealthy. It means to
have an overabundance to possess plenty, to have more than enough,
to possess fullness, to be filled His riches and the richness of
His grace and mercy. God has an inexhaustible supply
of such attributes, mercy, love, and grace, like the widow's cruise
of oil ever flowing out ever being drawn and dispensed, but
never diminished or depleted was her cruise of oil, nor God's
grace and mercy and love. All of the mercy and grace that
God has shed upon sinners down through time, He has as much
now as when the fountain first was opened afloat. Each continues
to exist. in an undiminished capacity in
our great God and Savior. And in conjunction with the riches
of His mercy, there is a special manifestation of His great love,
or His much love, as we might say it. And this love is not
new when the ill act are quickened, nor even when they come into
being For God's only love is everlasting, Jeremiah 31 and
3, and was shed before the world began. And though I will not
make it to be an issue here now to consume any of our time, I
find agreement with Thomas Goodwin that this love was first bestowed
upon the elect in the unfallen mass before the foundation of
the world. And the fall allowed, therefore,
the manifestation of this unmerited, uninfluenced, eternal, sovereign
love of the Almighty God. Now, as an act of God's mercy
and an evidence of His great love with which He has loved
us, when we were dead in trespasses and in sin. We being, even being
dead in trespasses and in sin. Even so, when it was true with
us, God hath quickened us. He has brought us to life. He
has caused us to live. He has brought our wicked, dead
souls up from the deadness of sin. For the word quicken here
in these texts means literally to make alive. It means to vitalize
or revitalize. It means to reanimate so that
they live again. Now the answers to these three
names are titles. Quickening, Regeneration, and
the New Birth. The old dead soul is raised up
out of its deadness in trespassing and in sin. All life is naturally
accompanied with the habits and the principles of that life. Stephen Charnock wrote in his
book, The Doctrine of Regeneration, page 131, quote, this principle
of the new creation is naturally active, unquote. And again, quote,
it is natural to this new habit to produce new actions." What
he is saying is the principle of new life is put in and that
it will burst forth in actions and such like. But we're getting
ahead of ourselves somewhat. And Paul in this place does not
speak of the instrument of quickening. That is, by exactly what means
it is that God quickens, accomplishes our quickening from deadness
in sin. How is it done? How are we made
alive? Yes, by the exceeding power of
God. How are we made alive? Basically,
in Christendom, there are and have been three predominant views
over the history of Christianity. Number one, there are those Armenians,
we must call them, who say that the will of man, that man's free
will, that one can decide to be born again. This is the doctrine
of Arminianism. This is called synergism, however,
in theology. That means that the will of man
works in cooperation with the grace, will, and the power of
God in bringing the new birth or regeneration. Secondly, there
is what may be called gospel regeneration, which is that which
is the most popular among many in our day who answer to the
name Calvinist or sovereign grace, that the preached gospel is that
which quickens the soul unto life. But there are other Calvinists
who believe in monergism, that the grace of God The Spirit of
the Lord is the only actor in bringing a sinner to life through
Jesus Christ. That the Spirit works directly,
works immediately on the dead in sin soul. As Jesus said in
John 6.63, it is the Spirit that quickeneth the flesh, profits
nothing. While the gospel is a means of
calling the new life into existence and effecting the conversion
of it, the regenerate soul. Yet it is not the instrument
of regeneration. At least that is my stand. Regeneration in soteriology is
the first stone laid. Yes, the very foundation of all
that follows. in applying salvation unto the
sinner. God has purposed salvation through
Christ. Christ has died in order that
it might be effected. And the Holy Spirit applies to
the one elected and those that Christ redeemed the benefit of
His death and raises them up out of their deadness in sin. I think that its application
can be distinguished under two headings, and I think that we
need to keep these distinct and separate in our mind. Number
one, regeneration, and number two, conversion, and not make
them one and the same thing. But they stand related to each
other as cause and effect. Regeneration is the forerunner
of conversion. One will never be converted unless
they are regenerate. In regeneration, the elect are
completely passive, like a dead man lying in his grave. The dead soul contributes absolutely
nothing to this great new life, nor has it any part in the work,
either to help or to hinder this great work. He can neither set
it in motion, He cannot prevent it, and He cannot stop the process
by any of His own will. It is a sovereign work of God,
and it is the most important work which God performs in us
in the saving of our soul. Regeneration is not the arousing
of a gracious principle that lies asleep somewhere dormant
in the center, nor is it a fanning of flames and coals that have
grown warm or cold. It is not the renovation of the
fallen nature, nor is it the creation of any new faculty,
but it is new life put in, brought up out of deadness and in sin. And as the old man had in all
of it the seeds of depravity, so the new man has in all of
it the inclination and the actions toward obedience and the worship
of our God. All the graces that can ever
be are put in and take their rise from regeneration. All the virtues that the Christian
ever had are rising up out of regeneration. They're drawn forth
into exercise as the occasion, therefore, comes before them
by God's providence. I agree with the author who said,
the first graces which appear in the quickened soul are repentance
and faith. The first buds that spring up
are repentance and faith. The new life shoots out its buds. These are the first buds or the
first blooms or the first flowers upon this spiritual tree of life. that regeneration has made, and
others follow as God draws them forth. Now again, we ought to
keep in mind the distinction between regeneration and conversion. Regeneration puts new life in
the ill act, and conversion draws it forth into new life. Regeneration
is effected by a sovereign work of the Spirit of God Conversion
is affected by the Holy Spirit applying the truth of Christ
and of the gospel. That awakened soul spies out
Christ, therefore, in the preaching of the gospel as it never could
do before. Faith does not lead to regeneration
as it is the result of regeneration. Faith espouses Christ The soul
is converted as saving faith in the person and the work of
Christ always follows regeneration. The work never ends at the work
of regeneration. The purpose of regeneration is
to greatly advance the soul that is regenerated. What can only
be accomplished by a power greater A power greater than sin or death. That it might bring it to a newness
of life. That it might worship God and
receive final glory. And along the way, it might grow
in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 56,
Paul adds, not only in verse 5, in the last part, I'm sorry.
God adds, not only has God quickened us, but He has quickened us together
with Christ. Quickened us together with Christ,
even though He was resurrected bodily and we are regenerated. He uses a word that means to
reanimate conjointly. He has quickened us together
with Christ. To quicken together means they
quickened us together with Christ. You have the same thing in Colossians
2 and verse 13. Our regeneration have a connection
to the resurrection of Christ. Christ was dead, though dead
for our sin. God raised Him up again. We were
dead in sin. God quickened us, raised us up
out of our deadness and trespasses in sin. And like Him, to a great
glory that is to follow. And you have it. in chapter 2,
verse 7, and along in there. We were dead in trespasses and
in sin, and God quickened us, rich in mercy and rich in grace,
for His great love wherewith He loved us hath quickened us
when we were dead in trespasses and in sin. Alright, let's stand
for a word of prayer, please. Peace.