I'm sort of anxious a little
bit to share this with you. I tried to preach on this a few
weeks ago, but I want to look at it again over in Ephesians
chapter two, a very familiar passage of scripture. Probably
all of us could quote this without reading it, without coming to
God's word. But I want you to turn your Bibles
to Ephesians chapter two and read these three verses with
me. Chapter 2 in verse 8, 9, and
10 of Ephesians chapter 2. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast For we are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. By grace are you saved. And I have two things, two wonderful
things about grace, being saved by grace. And what does it mean? What does
the Bible say about salvation? What does it mean to be saved?
We know the Bible teaches that, and we know that there's no other
kind of salvation. There's no other salvation than
apart from that which is revealed in the Word of God. If I'm saved,
if I profess this morning to be saved, am I saved according
to the Bible? What does it mean to be saved?
The whole realm of salvation from its beginning to its consummation. What is it to be saved? Well,
I want us to look at that just for a minute and just look at
these verses as the Apostle gives them to us. And he tells us in
chapter 1, and I want you to go back to chapter 1 and look
at this with me. In chapter 1, the Apostle Paul
tells us what it is to be saved. And it's a wonderful thing. It's
a glorious thing to be saved. And what he calls being saved,
in chapter 2, by grace, oh you're saved, he calls heavenly blessings
in chapter 1. What is to be saved? It's to
be a recipient of heavenly blessings. That's what he tells us. Now
look at it with me. In chapter 1, and he, look what
he tells them in verses 3 and verse 4. Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us. What is it to be saved? You're
blessed. God has blessed you with what? All spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus. And look at verse 4. You want
to know where salvation had its rise? Where these blessings have
their beginning? according as he hath chosen you
in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him in love. What you see in
chapter 1 is God has purposed the whole scheme of salvation. It's done settled, it has been
settled from eternity, from start to finish, Salvation has been
purposed of God, how He would save, who He would save, when
He would save them, He would save them from what to what,
it's all been fixed of God. Salvation is fixed. And then the joyous, glorious
thing that He tells us here is that He's already chosen those
that He was going to save. Before time, before you had a
being, in eternity past, He chose those who were going to be the
recipients of salvation. Now isn't that a wonderful thing?
God had all eternity to think about who He was going to save.
And He said, I'm going to save this one and I'm going to save
that one. And the wonderful thing about it, it was so fixed, He
said, I'm going to write all their names down in this book. in this Lamb's Book of Life.
Now, you can't climb up to heaven to see your name there. But if
you have some evidence in your heart this morning that your
name is in the Lamb's Book of Life, it's been there for all
I know for all eternity. The Lord sent His disciples out
to preach and to heal the sick and they came back and they said,
When we see somebody that has devils, we just speak to them
and say, come out of them in the name of Jesus and Lazarus,
and the devils are subject to us through your name. And he
said, don't rejoice in this. Don't rejoice that these devils
are subject to you. All of these are gifts that I've
given to you, but these things are coming to an end. Rejoice
in this, that your names are written in heaven. Oh, what a blessing that is.
Isn't that a blessing? You know there's no new names
written down in heaven. There's not a name that's written
down in that book since before time began. And there's no old
names that's being scrubbed out. What a blessing this is. This
is what it means to be saved. What does it mean to be saved?
It means God. Chose me to this salvation before
the world began What a blessing this is And then he goes on to
tell us in verse 5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself God has adopted them He's adopted
them. He's made them his child. Adoption. That's part of salvation, isn't
it? That's part of what it means to be saved. I'm adopted. But
the amazing thing about this is that he predestinated them
unto the adoption of children. In other words, he had a long
time to think about it. It wasn't that Sometime in their
lifetime he began to notice them and he said, well I think I'll
make that person my child. It wasn't that way at all. Long
before they had a being. He predestinated them. He set
them aside. He chose them as his children. People talk about, well, this
man is destined to greatness. Don't we hear that word a lot?
He's destined to this. He's destined to that. Well,
we know one better than that. They're predestined. They're
predestinated to be conformed to the image of God's Son. That's
what it is to be saved. By grace are you saved. Then
in verse 6 he goes on to tell us something about the motive
of God's purpose to do this for them. He said, To the praise
of the glory of His grace wherein He hath favoured us, because
of His dear Son. Because of His beloved Son. For
the sake of His dear Son. He's going to give His dear Son
a great name. So he's put all these blessings
in his son. You know Paul can't write a sentence.
He just can't write a sentence. Except he runs to the Lord Jesus
Christ. I counted the times, one time,
the name of Christ and pronouns about him. I forgot how many
I counted. In this one verse, in this one chapter, his heart
is full of Jesus Christ. And because his heart is so full
of Christ, his lips are full of Christ. And his pen is full
of Christ. If you wrote a letter in chapter
one about yourself, and you mentioned your name as often as the name
of Jesus our Savior and Lord is mentioned, it would make no
sense. They say, what an arrogant man that is, that Paul just uses
his name and mentions his name over and over. Why does he do
that? Because that's where all these blessings are. It's in
him. It's in him. And then he goes
on in verse 7, in whom we have redemption through his blood,
the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. We have redemption. What is salvation? What is it to be saved? It means
you've been redeemed. There's no salvation apart from
redemption. We must be redeemed. Redemption
from the curse of the law. Redemption from sin. Redemption
from the wrath to come. Redeemed from self. Redemption. At a great cost to the Son of
God. What? His blood. His blood poured
out on Calvary's tree. He has redeemed you. He has redeemed
you. What was the price? Oh, it was
a price that you and I couldn't afford. It was a great price
and the only one that could pay it was the Son of God on Calvary's
tree with His blood being poured out. You're redeemed not with
corruptible things as silver and gold, but with the precious
blood of Jesus Christ. Redemption. What is it to be
saved? You've been redeemed. You've
been redeemed. By precious blood. And notice
what he went on to say, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches
of his grace. Forgiveness of sins. You read it brother Chris. Having
forgiven you all trespasses. Did you hear what Jesus said
to me? They're all taken away. All taken
away. Yes, your sins are pardoned and
now you're free. Her sins, which are many, are
forgiven her. What would it mean for you this
morning to leave this building and you could say within your
heart and have God to bear witness to it, all your sins are forgiven? Oh, what would that mean as you
face this uncertain life? All of them? All forgiven? All's forgiven. You'll not answer
to them in this life or in the life to come. They're all purged. They're all forgiven. They're
washed away. All of them, gone. What does
it mean to be saved? It means you're forgiven. Oh,
by grace are you saved. By grace are you forgiven. Could
I ask you a personal question this morning? Are you saved? Are you saved from sin? Are you
saved from the guilt of it? Are you saved from the power
of it? Are you saved from its dominion? Are you saved from
the love of it? Do you live in the hope of being
saved from the very presence of it? Where sin and sense are
less no more, are you saved? Oh, what a blessing to be saved!
By grace are you saved. And look what else he goes on
in verse 11 to say. In whom also, in whom also, we
have obtained that inheritance. Being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who works all things after the counsel
of his own will. We're predestined to that inheritance. And he doesn't say what that
is here, does he? He just reminds them that they've been predestined. In other words, that inheritance
is waiting for you. Peter tells us about it, doesn't
he? That it's an inheritance that's incorruptible? We know
nothing about that. Everything you see is corrupted.
Even this Bible, the Word of God, it's corruptible. You can
burn it, it'll rot. Everything I'm looking at is
corruptible. It's fading away. But that inheritance
that they've been predestinated to is incorruptible. You can't
corrupt it. It's not capable of corrupting. And it's in heaven, undefiled. Fadeth not away, and it's reserved
in heaven. for you. Can you imagine, can
you just in your wildest dreams picture yourself on the last
day of the history of this world when all nations, every man and
woman and boy and girl that's ever lived stands in the presence
of the King of Glory gathered there at his throne, bowing before
his feet, and he says to you, Come, you blessed of my Father."
You blessed of the Father? Yes, blessed with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places. You were chosen to that, to these
blessings, and now on the last day of the history of this world,
the Lord himself reminds you that you're blessed of my Father. Come now, and inherit the kingdom
prepared for you. Oh, what will that mean? What
will that mean? Here, from old eternity to new
eternity, salvation. What is it to be saved? It's
to be chosen to it. It's to be redeemed. It's to
be called. It's to be forgiven. It's to
go through this life and have an eternal inheritance waiting
for you. Anything less than that is not
scriptural salvation. Somebody said, well I'm not saved
that way. Then could we not argue this that maybe you're not saved? I had a friend of mine He said
he went up to another friend before the Lord saved him and
he finally realized. He said, I can't find my salvation
in the scriptures. I can't find what I believe in
the scriptures. He said, did you ever think maybe it's not
there? There's no other salvation in
the scriptures. There's no other way to be saved
but this. How could they know? Then, how
could they know this? How could they know that they
were chosen? How could they know they were forgiven? How could
they know this eternal inheritance was waiting for them? How could they know that they
were blessed of God? Because they had experienced
another blessing. It's found here in verse 13,
look at this. And whom you also trusted. You
trusted Christ. You put all the trust of your
heart in Him. After that, you heard the word
of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and whom also, after
that you believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. How could they know they were
saved? Well, this Holy Spirit The third
person of the Sacred Trinity had been sent into their hearts. They had heard the gospel. They
had believed the gospel. And the Holy Spirit had come
to their heart. He had revealed Christ to them.
He had borne witness to them that they were indeed children
of God. And He was crying, Father, Father,
in their hearts. He had joined with with their
own spirits, and he was crying, and their spirits were crying,
and what were they crying? Father, Father. And Paul said,
you know, you know, because the spirit of promise, the spirit
that was promised, That when Christ came, and when Christ
suffered, and when Christ arose and ascended back to heaven,
He would pray the Father, and He would give us another Comforter.
And now He's come to you, and He's comforted you. About what? Well, you're saved. He saved
you. He saved you. And He says here,
the Spirit has sealed you. What does it mean to be sealed? When I was growing up, we had
to live out of the garden. If we didn't live out of the
garden, I tell you, we wound up thinking we was going to be
eating tree bark or something when the snow started to fly.
And we had a huge garden. And when it come time to put up the beans and the tomatoes,
my mom would cook everything up and put it in these jugs,
half-gallon jugs, and she'd put a seal on. She'd seal it until
the date that she was pleased to open it. That's what it means
to be sealed. You've been sealed by the Holy
Spirit. When the government don't want
us to see their documents for a certain amount of years, what
do they do? They seal them. These are sealed
documents. No public eye should see these
documents, so they seal them away somewhere. That's what it
means to be sealed. You're hidden away. You're sealed
until the day of redemption. Sometimes if you've got valuables,
some of you ladies with your earrings and your rings and your
necklaces, And they're worth tens of thousands of dollars?
What are you doing? Do any of you have a safe that
you keep them in? You keep your jewelry locked
up in because it's so precious? My wife throws hers around everywhere.
I don't have the money to buy her stuff like that. I know right
where her jewelry is. It's on the kitchen table. It's
on the bed. It's made out of tin, you know.
She don't care anything about that. She's not sealing it away. I tell you where my wallet lays
when I come in the house. I throw it up in the window sill.
There's nothing in there that I can't replace. But you know
something? You're sealed. And you know why
you're sealed? Because you're precious. You
know why you're precious? You've been chosen. You've been
given to the Son of God. You're a gift of the Father to
the Son. You've been redeemed at a great price. You're precious. So what does the Father do? He
sends His Spirit to your heart and He says, seal that man until
the day of redemption. And what does He tell us in the
very next verse, verse 14? He said, this is the earnest.
of our inheritance. This is the earnest. One man
gave the definition of the earnest of our inheritance and he said
it's a pledge. It's a part of the purchase money
or property given in advance as security for the rest. The Holy Spirit in your heart
is earnest. He's given as a security He's
redeemed your soul, but He's the earnest saying this, there's
more there that's mine. The body is mine. The body has
been redeemed. And someday the body's gonna
be raised, and it's gonna be shaped and fashioned in a moment
of time, like unto the glorious body of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And listen, He would have never sent the earnest in giving you
this earnest unless he truly intended to redeem your body. Some of you may have given earnest
money. You thought, boy, that property is mine. I'll put down
some earnest money. Then you couldn't get the rest
of the money and you lost the property in an earnest too, didn't
you? That'll never happen here, brothers and sisters. That'll
never happen with God. If you have the spirit of adoption
sitting in your heart this morning, If you enter the closet of your
heart and you pray, Father, Father, I'm telling you that's a guarantee
that someday you're going to look just like Jesus Christ the
Lord, body as well as soul. Now, unless these Ephesians begin
to imagine that they could ever earn, or merit, or deserve such
a salvation as this, Paul goes on in chapter 2 to remind them
of their most deplorable condition before the Lord come and give
them life. He tells them in verse 1 of chapter
2 that they were dead in trespasses and sin. you who were dead in
trespasses and sin. And then verse two, he says,
in time past you walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, Satan himself,
the spirit that now works, not in the children of God, but in
the children of disobedience. And he said, among whom we all
had our conversation in time past, in the lust of our flesh. fulfilling the desires of the
flesh and of the mind. Oh, he said, you may escape the
open and propane sins of the flesh, but you're walking after
the sinful lust of your mind. And look at your very nature,
he said. Do you remember what your nature was like? It was
enmity against God. You hated God. You were children
of wrath. You were wrathful children. That's
where you were. Boy, the world hates this, don't
they? Don't the world? I was listening to the radio
one time and a man said he was going to preach on the depravity
of man. I thought, boy, I've never heard you preach on the
depravity of man. I've got to hear this. And he started on
it. Read this passage and started
on it. He chickened out. I think what happened, he started
looking at people's faces. And he chickened out. There was
a young man, a young boy, 18 or 19 years old, to take my daughter
to the prom, and I'd never met him before, and he came in, and
my daughter, she was finishing getting ready, and I got to talk
to him. I knew he was a religious fella. And I said, I said, have
you ever hated God? He said, well, no, I've never
hated God. I said, you're a religious fella, aren't you? I said, you
believe it? Yes, I believe. I said, you ever hated God? You've
never hated God? Oh, he said, that would scare
me to death. If I thought I ever hated God, The world cannot believe the
condition they're in. The most deplorable condition
they're in. Everybody you meet now loves
God. I heard Andy Griffin tell us
not long ago how much he loved God. Oh, he said, I love God
a lot. I think he was on his fourth
or fifth wife at that time, but he, I love God a lot. The world
doesn't want to hear this, does it? Christians don't mind hearing
this. It's a humbling thing, isn't
it? But they don't mind hearing this. Such description of our
nature is a humbling thing. Why would this apostle go into
such detail but to teach us this? That God has blessed us with
His salvation, and this salvation must be by grace. freely by grace, without any
consideration of human merit at all. Because we are all absolutely
void of that. When He says you are in our text,
by grace you are saved, He means to teach us that the grace we
are saved by is uncaused in us. What would cause God to be gracious?
The cause is not found in the recipient, the cause is found
in the giver. You can't get God to be gracious
to you. You say, well, I'll pray and
I'll pray and I'll pray. Well, you should pray. The cause of salvation from the
beginning to the end is found in God alone. What is election
about? One thing it's certainly about
is to teach us, is to teach this world that salvation is of the
Lord. He purposed it and He chose who
He was going to save. Boy, that's a stripping thing
to flesh, isn't it? It's a stripping thing to know.
If He has a purpose to save me, I won't be saved. I can't compel
Him to save me. I'm not the cause of Him saving
me. The cause is found in Him. Oh, if I'll just make a decision,
if I'll just decide for Christ, that's what this world has been
taught, hasn't it? Oh, but this salvation that you
and I are looking at this morning, The cause of it is found in God
alone. That free grace that's in the
Lord Jesus Christ. By grace are you saved. By grace. You're saved and we
saw the salvation. And it's by grace. You notice the times here in
chapter 1, he made these statements like this, according to the good
pleasure of his will, in verse 5. Verse 6, to the praise of
the glory of His grace. And verse 7, according to the
riches of His grace. Verse 9, according to His good
pleasure which He purposed in Himself. Verse 11, according
to the purpose of Him who works all things after the counsel
of His own will. Verse 14, and to the praise of
His glory. It sounds to me like that salvation
is of the Lord. And it's for His glory. And that's
first. You say, well, it's for my good.
No, not first and foremost. Of course it's for your good.
It's salvation. But it's not first and foremost
for your good. First and foremost, it's for
the glory of Jesus Christ, who is God. This grace is uncaused. This
grace is truly unconditional. Not only does it not have any
debts to pay, but it don't have to wait for any certain conditions
to be fulfilled on our part before grace can act. Grace is not waiting
upon us. to see something in us or some
condition that God demands to be fulfilled before grace can
act. Did you notice my text when I
read it in verse 5? Look at it again in chapter 2.
Look at this in verse 5. Even when we were dead in sin,
He hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace are you
saved. Oh, Grace didn't have to wait. No. He came to us right where
He found us. Where were we? Dead in sin. And
what did He do? He saved us. He saved us right
where He found us. He saved us. You may be here
this morning, dear soul, and you may be dead in sins. I mean, your soul may be as rotten
within you as a body out in the cemetery that's decaying and
stinking. But you know something, if God
is purposed to save you by His grace in Jesus Christ, He's not
waiting, neither is He looking for some conditions to be met
on your part. He comes to you right where He
finds you this morning, and He saves you. Unconditional grace is what we
call it. And not only is grace uncalled,
uncaused in its reciprocance, not only is it unconditional,
it comes to us right where it finds us and saves us, but grace
saves us by itself without our help. It refuses our help. The nature of grace is to do
all for us. And if it cannot do all, it does
nothing. By grace, O ye say, through faith,
not of yourselves, and that not of yourselves. If man can repent on his own,
he don't need grace. If a man can believe except through
grace, he don't need grace. If a man just needs a little
help, if a man just needs a little assistance, he don't need grace. If a man has a spark that just
needs to be flamed, he don't need grace. Grace is not here
to help. Grace is here to save us. And
that's what grace does. It saves us. I heard Billy Graham
praying one time, saying to the people he wanted to come down
front and make a decision. He said, just come down here
and pray, God help me. We need more than help. Help
me. Help me do what? Help me save
myself? Help me decide? Help me to do this? No, Lord,
come and save me. I have no merit, I have no ability. Come and save me. Lord, save
me. Save me right where I am. I can't
do any better. And me trying, I just dig a deeper
hole. Me trying just adds to my debt. Lord, save me freely. Save me by your grace. This is
why he can come to a thief on the cross in his dying hours
with one foot as it were in hell and save him and take him to
heaven. This is why he can find a maniac
full of demons running wild in the cemetery naked and save him. This is why he can come to a
self-righteous Pharisee killing Christians and save him. This
is why he can come to you and he can come to me where we are
and save us because he saves us by his grace. Always did a
wonderful thing to be saved. Oh, what a wonderful, can I just
keep going this morning a little bit? I haven't been that long,
but I'm preaching for myself. I don't know why I'm preaching
for myself, Todd. But I guess that means, well, you can take
more time. If you need to get up and go to the restroom, go
ahead, I won't bother me, but let me keep going a little bit,
okay? Aren't you glad you're saved when you consider these
things? When you consider what salvation
is and when you consider it's by grace and not of yourself. Oh, what a blessing. What a blessing. Notice something else about our
text here, and this is such a wonderful thing. What a comforting and
reassuring thing. The way the Holy Spirit says
this in verse 8, by grace you are saved. By grace are you saved. That's present tenses. They read
it back then, and they said, well, that's present. I'm saved
right now by grace. And you and I are reading it
right now, almost 2,000 years later. By grace you are saved. By grace you are saved. Isn't
that competent? Isn't it reassuring to you to
know that tomorrow You're going to be saved the same way that
you were saved yesterday. By grace. You were saved 20 years
ago, 50 years ago by grace. How are you saved right now?
By grace. How will you be saved tomorrow? How will it be saved
when you come down to your deathbed? By grace. By grace you are saved. There's no point in the Christian
life where it ceases to be something the other way than by grace.
Well, I've advanced, you know. And I'm just not quite like other
people, you know. I'm really a father in the faith.
How are you saved? The apostle said we shall be
saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Aren't you glad
that he didn't say by feelings are you saved? Ninety-five percent of the time
we'd be lost, wouldn't we? by your circumstances you're
saved well sometimes that may seem rather good but most of
the time that's going to be bad aren't you glad he said by grace
you are saved what comfort that gives you if he was able to save
you right where he found you do you want salvation any other
way than by grace was grace that taught my heart to fear, and
grace my fears relieved. How precious is that grace that
has led me safe this far, and will take me on home. Grace! By grace you are saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God. Someone
said, Bruce, don't we have to believe? Well sure we believe,
but faith is a gift of God. By grace are you saved through
faith, not of yourself, it's a gift of God. Faith is a gift
of God. Paul said, this only would I
learn of you Galatians. Did you receive the Spirit by
the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? How did the
Lord save you? By hearing The Spirit didn't
come to you as a spirit of adoption because of something you did.
You heard. Hear and your soul shall live. How can we hear? Through faith. Through faith. There's some things
that's synonymous in the scripture. Hearing and your soul shall live.
Look and live. And believe and live. Looking,
hearing, Believe it, all of those are a gift of God. The hearing
ear and the seeing eye, the Lord's made both of them. And if you've
been able to look to Jesus Christ this morning, that's a gift of
God. It's a gift of God. By grace
are you saved through faith, not of yourself. One more thing
I want to deal with right quickly. There's two things that's glorious
about grace. It saves us. It saves us. It does something else for us
in this salvation, there's something else. And he mentions it here
in verse 10. We are His, my Bible says, creation. We are His workmanship, His creation,
created in Christ Jesus unto good works. You know what the
Lord does in saving us? He makes us new. He takes an old evil man and
makes a good man out of him. He takes an old drunk and makes
a sober man out of him. He takes an old stingy gut and
makes a generous man out of him. He takes a man that's unfaithful
and makes him faithful. He takes a man that has no integrity
and makes an honest person out of him. And how does he do it?
He don't remodel him. He don't begin just to mold what
he finds there. He creates him anew. He makes him new. And the most wonderful thing
that I can think about this is this. He makes us new so that we'll
be good and do good. Isn't that wonderful? I've never dreamed that I could
be sitting here and listening to the gospel, let alone preaching
it. The two hours of my misery during the week is when my dad
made me go up to the Little Freeway Baptist Church. I'd be miserable
there this morning, I'm sure that too, the Little Freeway
Baptist Church. But reading the scriptures, I hated that. Didn't
want to hear them read. Don't want to be around God's
people. Isn't it wonderful that he's completely changed you?
And how did he do it? by creating you anew. If any man be in Christ, he is
a new creation. I was reading a commentary on
that the other day and the commentator said the change is so drastic
that it appears in our eyes to be a new creation. No, it is
a new creation. It doesn't just appear to be.
When he saves us, he makes us a new creature that never existed
before. You have to watch these commentators.
Brother, I watch his name down in Taylor, Arkansas. I keep thinking
of his name. Who is it down in Taylor, Arkansas?
I keep thinking of his name. Darwin Pruitt. Darwin Pruitt.
I think he had a good name for some of these commentators. He
calls them common taters. He said watch these common taters. No brothers and sisters. God
says I desire fruit and he's not naive enough to think that
these old wretched natures that you and I have is going to bear
fruit. If he's going to Make us to bear
good fruit. What's he going to do? He's going
to make a good tree, isn't he? He makes the tree good. He plants
a new tree. You're the planet of the Lord. He makes you good so you can
do good. You're created for good works. Look over here in the fourth
chapter, he tells us something about this. In the fourth chapter,
and he's talking about Christ teaching them, and he's talking
about this very same thing. In the fourth chapter, look in
verse 22. He said, this is what Christ
has taught you, that you put off concerning the farmer conversation,
the old man, which is corrupt. We read about that in chapter
2 and verse 2 and 3, didn't we? He is corrupt. He's serving his
lust. He's corrupt. What do we do with
that man? Well, we put him off. We just
put him off. But you know the Lord never tells
us to put off something without giving us something to put on,
does He? Look what He says in verse 24, "...and that ye put
on the new man which after God is created." Now somebody said,
this is talking about Christ. Well, I guess that would be alright
if you believe that Christ is created. In another place we talked about
putting on the Lord Jesus Christ, but this is not talking about
the Lord Jesus here. This is talking about this new
creature. Put on this new man which after God is created in
righteousness and true holiness. He makes us new. And he said,
now you put off the old man, and you put on the new man. You
put off the old man. How do we put him off? Well,
we just put him off. I tell a marketer, they call
my house just like they do your house. My wife answers the phone,
and I say, who is it, sweetheart? She said, it's that same telemarketer
that's called us for weeks. You know what I tell her? Put
him off. Don't answer it. How do we put off the old man?
Just don't answer him. You need to think about this.
No. Put him off. You need to say this. Put him
off. You need to do this. You need to omit that. Put him
off. Just put him off. Put off the old man. And listen. Put on the new man. Put on the
new man. Isn't it wonderful? Isn't it
wonderful to have a new man? Created in righteousness and
true holiness. Could you ever believe you could have loved
God? You can, and you do, because He's created you anew. Could
you ever believe that you didn't have to walk and had no desire
to walk any longer after the old man? I mean, Bob's out talking this morning,
and Bob's talking about, boy, I wish I could get rid of this
old fella. How much longer do we have to bear with him? Isn't
that a good sign, though, that you have a new man? That you
want to put off the old man? You're saved from yourself? You're
saved from the old man and you've been given a new man? Ain't that
wonderful? That's what salvation is about.
One of the worst things that I experienced in my own life
is this old me. This old me. Oh, wretched man
that I am, who shall deliver me? I still pray that, don't
you? Salvation from me is one of the
greatest blessings. Salvation from myself. There's
a song that Roy Clark used to sing yesterday when I was young,
and there's one verse in there, I'm not sure if I can think of
it, he talked about every conversation. that I can now recall is concerning
me and nothing else at all. Remember that. Isn't it a wonderful
thing to be saved from me? And to have a new me? A new me with new desires, new
lives, new motives. Oh, He's created us. Why? For
good works. The only way to be saved, brothers
and sisters, from this egotism that is within every one of us,
is to be wholly occupied with somebody outside ourselves. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And you know when the Lord saves
us, He gives us new motives. He gives this new man has new
motives. You don't dare send a gracious man to Mount Sinai
to teach him how to live. He's got all of these motives
in the Bible, in these epistles. Let me give you just one, look
here in verse 25 of chapter 4. I'm talking about putting on
a new man. Wherefore put in away lying, speak every man truth
with his neighbor. Why? Because you're members one
of another. Liars go to hell, you know. Be
careful about lying. God hates the lying tongue, you
know, of that soul. But you're the better motive
for God's children. You're members of the same body. Don't dare
lie. Don't deceive one another, brothers
and sisters. you're all in the same body,
you have the body of Jesus Christ. With my hand, what would I think
if my hand stuck a pen in my eye? Or if my leg stuck my foot
in the fire, or my foot stuck my toe in a grinder? That would
be contrary to nature. Oh, you're members of Jesus Christ. Therefore, don't do anything
to hurt one another. And you know if you continue
to read Through this epistle, he gives all kinds of wonderful
motives for the believer to live. Be you followers of God as dear
children and walk in love. What's the motive for doing that?
Even as Christ loved us. Be you kind and tender hearted,
forgiving one another. Can I do that? Think of this
motive. Even as God, for Christ's sake,
hath forgiven us. Wives, be subject to your husbands. even as unto the Lord. Husbands,
love your wives even as Christ loved the church. See what I'm
saying? He makes you a new creature and He gives you all these wonderful
motives just to live for His glory. And I'm not saying that
any of us do it perfectly. I'm not saying we're not bothered
by this grievous old man that still keeps hanging around. But
I'm saying this, brothers and sisters, through grace, you can
live for the glory of God in this world. You can please Him. And isn't that wonderful? Isn't that a wonderful thing
about grace? Grace, grace. Thank you, Brother Chris. I hope
you haven't changed your opinion about me.