I've entitled this message, Divine
Grace. Ephesians 2. Paul, the apostle,
writing unto the Spirit of God, says in verse 1, And you. I stopped for a moment. He was speaking to someone in
particular. And you. Everyone, without exception,
wasn't speaking to the whole world, every man, every woman,
without any distinction whatsoever, and you. And I thought, who are these
you? Who are these to whom he's speaking? Well, going back in
chapter 1, And looking at the end of the first verse, Ephesians
1 at that last part, to the faithful in Christ Jesus, those that had
been given faith, kept by faith, those who believe Him, who by
faith, that precious gift that grace, faith, to the faithful
in Christ Jesus. Look in verse 3, about the middle
of that verse. Who are these that he is speaking
to? Those that have been blessed
with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. There is the key right there.
and you who have been blessed in the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse
4, the ones that had been chosen in Him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
Him in love. Who are these? Verse 5 says,
those that have been predestinated, He predestinated, He determined
our destination beforehand. Predestinated us unto the adoption
of children, how? By Jesus Christ, to Himself according
to the good pleasure of His will to the praise of the glory of
His grace wherein He hath made us accepted." How? In the Beloved. We never are separated from Him,
chosen in Him, called in Him. predestinated. Verse 7 says, In whom we have
redemption, how? Through His blood. The forgiveness
of sins according to the riches of His grace. And verse 9 says,
He has made known unto us the mystery of His will. according to his good pleasure
which he hath purposed in himself." That's who Paul's writing to.
In chapter 2 and verse 1, "...and you hath he quickened, who were
dead in trespasses and sins." Verse 12 of chapter 2 says that,
"...you were without Christ, Aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise having,
now listen to this, no hope. Man thinks he's got a hope. Man
thinks that he's got a hope in himself. You hear folks preach,
they'll stand up and they'll say, now all you have to do,
the Lord wants to save you if you let him. Isn't that the most
dishonorable thing that you've ever heard? You know who makes
that statement? You know who is the author of
salvation, really? If you believe that, you are. If you believe that, God wants
to save you if you let him. The Lord Jesus has cast a vote
and Satan has cast a vote against you and you have the deciding
vote. That's blasphemy. No hope. And without God in this
world and you, what has God done? He has quickened you, made you
spiritually alive, spoke life. And you hath he quickened who
were dead, not sort of, half, in between, you were dead, spiritually
dead. You hath he quickened. When Lazarus
was in that grave, he had been physically dead. long enough to stink. He had been dead. When the Lord
Jesus Christ spoke and said, Lazarus, come forth, he was alive. He spoke the word
and it was done. And you hath he spoken. By His power, by His great grace,
by His might, He spoke. When He came and spoke to Matthew,
as he was at that table taking money, collecting tribute, and
He said to him, follow Me. He got up and followed Him. longed after, walked after. One
day, when it pleased God, if you know Him, and you, and you,
beloved of the Lord, and you that God had purposed to save,
predestinated you unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
Himself, and you hath He made alive. You were dead, a spiritually
dead corpse, walking around thinking that you were alive. Why was there a need for him
to do that? Paul says that we were dead in
trespasses and sins, trespasses. I heard Brother Henry Make this
statement. One time he said, he said, What
are these trespasses and sins? He said, You know what trespasses
are. I looked that word up. It means
to deviate from uprightness. That's what it means. Trespasses. Linda and I were walking the
other morning and I walked past and there was a sign on the side
of the road. I don't know where we were. We
just walk. I just, I don't know where I'm
at. Just going. And I saw a sign on the side
of the road there and it said, no trespassing. You know what
that means? It means don't go there. Don't
go there. As long as I'm on this road,
I'm OK. But don't go there. No trespassing. Keep out. Don't come in here. If you come in here, you've broken
the law. No trespasses. What did the Lord
tell Adam? Of all of the fruits of this
garden you can eat, but in the day that you eat thereof, of
that fruit, of this tree, you're going to die. You know what he
said? No trespasses. Leave it alone. Don't eat it. in the day that you eat." And
what happened? Eve took of that fruit and gave
it to Adam. And what did he do? He trespassed
against God, dead. And you hath he quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sin, dead in Adam by one man's sin,
by one man's guilt. by one man's disobedience, death
passed upon all men. In Adam, from Adam, all of us
were born dead, incapable of knowing God, dead in law, because
we ourselves, we were dead by Adam's His sin, His imputed sin,
but we've also disobeyed. Is there anyone here? You say,
I don't, you know, Adam's sin. Well, not only were we dead in
Adam, we're dead by practice. Dead. Dead morally because of
our own transgression, separated from God the Father, the Son,
the Spirit. Spirit alienated from the life
of God. Dead in our understanding. No
man understands. Dead in our will. No man. No one will come. No man can
come. Just dead. Dead in our affection
to spiritual things. Dead in our ability to do anything
good. Incapable of helping ourselves. Just dead. You know what our
problem is? Man doesn't believe that. Doesn't believe that. A man,
by nature, is satisfied to rebel against God because he's dead. And left in that state, God Almighty
is going to justly put him in hell, dead. And you hath equipped
them who were dead." You think, how much do I know? If I'm dead
in trespasses and sins, how much do I know? What do I know about
the condemnation of God? What do I know about God's justice?
What do I know about His holiness? What do I know about what it's
going to take to satisfy Him? What do I know? I don't know
anything. I'm dead. I'm just dead. I don't care. That's the way
I am by nature. Man does not care. He doesn't
know he's dead. What a horrible, horrible state. Dead. Doesn't know it. Doesn't care. Doesn't love God. He's God's enemy. The carnal
mind. is enmity. That word means the
enemy of God. Dead. A servant of sin. Whosoever committed sin is a
servant of sin. And what were we doing? Well,
Paul says we're in, in verse 2, in time past, ye walked. Now there's the effect of being
spiritually dead. We 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." This is what we were doing, walking contrary
to him. Man, by nature, he really does
love the effects. of God's goodness to all. This
is what I mean. When it rains, doesn't it rain
on the just and the unjust? Sure it does. You know why God
sends the rain? For the elect. For their good. But I want to
tell you something. All men enjoy the effects of
God's goodness. and mercy and grace to His people. The sun comes up, everybody in
Fairmont enjoys the sun. Nice weather. Man by nature loves
the effects of God's goodness to all but not God's character
of holiness, His character of being just and faithful to His
eternal covenant, man by nature is dead to that. Transgression and sin is the
path or the road that all unconverted sinners tread. Love it. That was and is the desire of
that old heart, that old nature. wherein in time past Paul says
you walked according to the course of this world." Who? The you that he was talking to
and you that he could. In time past he said you did
it too. It's not like it's just we never
did that. Y'all did that. We never did
that. Oh no. We all did that. Verse 3, "...among whom also
we all had our conversation in times past in the lust of our
flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others." We
all did. Paul was a Jew writing to some
Ephesian Gentiles. And neither one of them had any
merit by nature before Almighty God, walking in the lust of our
old corrupt nature, that which is opposed to God.
The fleshly thing were our nature's object. We loved it. Our fleshly
appetites and fulfilling the desires of the flesh. It was
just exactly what we wanted to do. Isn't that what we all do? Completely fulfilling to the
brim the choices, the desires of our nature. And were by nature
children of wrath, look that word up, children of wrath, that
word means sons of We were, by nature, children of wrath, deserving,
deserving God's justice. Oh, thanks be to Him for His
infinite mercy and grace that He was made to be sin. He who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. We were children
of wrath. And also it means not only sons
of death, but also we were wrathful children. We were children of
wrath. Meaning this, we were angry against
God. People say, I was never angry
against God. God said we were. Yes, we were. Enemies of God. Enmity against
God. Oh, but listen, you who He's
quickened, you who were dead in trespasses
and sins, you who in time past walked according to the course
of this world, You who had all of our conversations in time
past fulfilling the lust of our flesh, the desires of the flesh
and of the mind, were by nature the children of wrath, even as
others but. But God, who would not leave His people
to themselves. Those that He has everlastingly
loved that He would not leave in sin and rebellion. Those that
He would not leave alone but God, who is rich in mercy for
His great love wherewith He loved us. I said this before, but there
are times by God's grace when just for a moment, and I say
this against my own frailty, read a statement like that, and
you have be quickened. I do not realize the immense
wealth of mercy and grace that I just read about and spoke
of. I talk about, I say something
about God's mercy to a sinner. I hear these words and I think
to myself, oh my, how thankful I should be, and
I am, but, oh, not as I ought to be, Scott. When I stop for a moment and
read these words and say, Lord, would you take that word and
teach me, teach me, and you, me, myself, and you
that know And you hath He quickened. You hath He made alive who were
dead in trespasses and sins. And I look, and I know, I know
this. I know that the vast majority,
and I find nothing to boast in here save the Lord Jesus Christ. I know that the vast majority
of the people that we're going to come in contact with, that
we came in contact with today and tomorrow, and Lord willing,
if he tarries tomorrow, next day, are going to die. And I know why they will, because
they refuse to come to Him. I know that. I know that. in His infinite mercy and grace,
why would He choose to show mercy to someone like me? Why would He, in His infinite
mercy, see fit to bestow the indescribable mercy of His upon
somebody like me?" You know what the answer is, Chuck? Because
he chose to do so. And I don't know. I don't know
how to be thankful enough for that which he's done for me.
But God, who is rich in mercy. You know, someone that needs
mercy, they want to deal with somebody
who's rich. in mercy. He's rich in it. If I want somebody to show mercy
to me, I'm not looking for somebody
that's going to just kind of be showing a pittance of mercy. I will have mercy on whom I'll
have mercy. And I will have compassion on
whom I'll have compassion." God who is rich in mercy. What a word of comfort! In spite
of that which we are, God who is wealthy beyond measure, free in mercy, liberal in mercy, merciful in that He loved us
while we were yet despisers of Him. Oh, consider something of the
mercy and love of Almighty God. His mercy. Jeremiah 31.3 says,
The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have
loved you, with an everlasting love, therefore with lovingkindness
have I drawn thee. But God who is rich in mercy. Romans 5 verse 8 says, But God
commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners
Christ died for us. Paul wrote to those that he said
in chapter 1 who were adopted, Behold, what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the
sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth us
not, because it knew him not. God's love for His own is a great
love. This God, the God who is rich
in mercy for His great love, wherewith He loved us, He's the
great God. He is the God. Infinite love, unchangeable,
sovereign love. Because He doesn't change, His
love doesn't change. You might disappoint me, and
I'm going to disappoint you. I can tell you that right now.
But with him, he changes not. You might look at me and say,
I never thought, I never thought that he'd disappoint me like
that, that he'd change. I didn't think he was like that.
Oh, listen, he changes not. Change and decay is all around. You and I are not consistent.
He's consistent. But God, who is rich in mercy
for His great love wherewith He loved us even when we were
dead in sins. You know, I like things that
are lovely. If it's lovely, I like it. If
it's putrefying, I like it. and repulsive. It's a stench. I don't like that. I'm not going to, you know. Oh, but that He would behold
me in Christ, who is the apple of His eye. His beloved Son, that He would
view me in Him. He has had mercy on me for Christ's
sake. Not for mine. He hath raised us up together,
made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Raised us, roused us. That's
what that word means. He's roused us like somebody
in their sleep. Wake up. I think about that when
Jonah was in the bottom of that ship. And the ship master came
to him. Here's a beautiful picture of
Almighty God by his spirit. He came to Jonah and he said,
Awake, O sleeper. Wake up. He hath raised us up
together. When Christ was raised from the
grave, we were raised from the grave, but he's also raised us
up in time. Come, follow me. You hath He
quickened, made alive who were dead. Oh, this great love wherewith He has loved us, not
based on our love for Him. You know that. He loved us while
we were yet in our sins, dead. He hath quickened us, restored
us together with Christ. Our life is Christ. That's what He said. I am the
way, I'm the truth, and I'm the life. You hath quickened, made
us alive together. Spiritual life. You know, there's
a great difference. In the human realm, we're born. Alive, physically alive, and
we die. Spiritually, we're born dead
and made alive. And you hath He quickened. You hath He made alive who were
dead in trespasses and sins. Alive. And you realize for the
first time the insufficiency of our own self-righteousness
and the all-sufficiency of the Lord Jesus Christ by His imputed
righteousness, charged those that believe. And we stand before
Almighty God uncondemned. He alone is our life. He is the author. He says, because
I live, you live. He's the matter of it, the fountain
of life. Truly, by grace we're saved. We hear this indescribable truth,
this indescribable truth proclaimed, raised up together, made to sit
together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, Can you imagine? Stop for a moment and try to,
and you won't do it, but to think in Him, seated together in the
heavenlies. One day we'll see Him as He is,
but know Him as we're known. One day we'll appreciate it. As I said this morning, We'll
cry forth and say in truth, Lord, You're worthy. You're worthy.
Raised up spiritually out of death and darkness of sin, raised
us up together, seated together, that in the ages to come, verse
7 says, He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness
toward us through Christ Jesus. And then in that last verse,
verse 8, the grand conclusion, for by grace, for by grace, not your choice,
not your will, not your decision, not your walking down the aisle,
not your baptism, for by grace are you saved through faith. That, not of yourself, it is
the gift of Almighty God. And you have equaled who were
dead. Dead. There are some folks here,
by God's grace, who look just like everybody else. Everybody here has got two eyes
and a nose and some ears to talk, to hear, to smell. But just like folks all over
the place, one grand difference, Almighty God has been pleased
to impart life to Christ, giving you a heart Made a brand new
creature. Created in Christ Jesus. You're His workmanship. Created. Born again. Brand new person. Something different. New man. New mind. New heart. One that
knows Him. One that loves Him. One that
seeks after Him. And one that does so willingly came to Him, like I said, against
your will, with your full consent, made willing in the day of His
power. By grace, you are saved through
faith. Knock yourself. It is the gift
of God. And there's some folks here that
I truthfully believe know it to be so. And I'm thankful for
it.