the exceeding riches of His grace
and His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. Now let's go back
to verse 4 and read these words again. Ephesians 2 verse 4 says,
But God, but God. Now look down in verse 5. But
God hath quickened us together with Christ. Now look at verse
6. and hath raised us up together
with Christ, and has made us sit together in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus. Now this message is for us. That's
who this message is for. This message is for us. It's
for us who God has given life. Spiritual and eternal life. It's
for us who God has given faith For us who believe, who cast
all our care on Christ, who totally, completely rely entirely upon
the Lord Jesus Christ. This is for us. First thing I
want you to see here, I'm going to go through these first two
points rather quickly. I want to get to this third thing.
First of all, note what God's done for us. Note what He's done
for us. Three things it says here. He's
quickened us, He's raised us, and He's made us to sit. He's
quickened us, He's raised us, and He's made us to sit. All
we were were dead. That's it. Look at verse 1. You
hath He quickened. You hath He quickened who were
dead in trespasses and in sin. I love the simplicity, I love
the plainness of the Apostle Paul. There is no way on this
earth you can misunderstand dead. You can't make dead mean something
else other than dead. That's what we were was dead.
Now this is one of those things that the dead man hates about
our gospel. This is one of the things that
the dead man hates about sovereign grace, about irresistible grace,
about invincible grace. This is what the dead man hates.
When we read about Nicodemus and it says he laughed and scoffed
at Christ and he said, what, can I enter again into my mother's
womb? That's recorded there to tell
us that's what's in the heart of natural man. That's what natural
man thinks about the fact that we're dead and we have to be
quickened of God. That's what man thinks about
it. It's foolishness to him. It's foolishness to him. Now
who did the quickening? God did. Who did the regenerating? God did. Who gave the life? God
did. But God hath quickened us. God
hath quickened us. We couldn't help Him. We were
dead. We couldn't help our first parents.
We couldn't help our first birth. We had nothing whatsoever to
do with our first generation and our first birth. We have
nothing whatsoever to do with this one either. Nothing whatsoever.
Alright, look at what else God did for us. Ephesians 2 verse
6. He raised us. He quickened us,
made us alive, and He raised us. God didn't make us alive
to leave us in the grave. He didn't make us alive and leave
us in the tomb. He didn't make us alive and leave
us in that dark dungeon of despair. He made us alive and He raised
us. He raised us. It's not God's
purpose for His people to walk around this earth all gloomy
and sad and cast down like we're living in a tomb. Like we've
been quickened from death and we've been raised from the grave.
So we ought to walk around happy, rejoicing. You reckon Lazarus
came out of that grave after Christ said, come forth? And
he came forth. And he'd been dead four days.
You reckon he came forth out of that grave all gloomy and
despondent and sad? You reckon he sat there at the
table with the Savior in those days when the Savior had raised
him? You reckon he sat there and he
was all frowning and down in the mouth about something? That
man had been raised from the dead. That's what we have. We've
been raised from the dead. And here's the best part. Look
here, verse 6. God's made us to sit. He's made
us to sit. All the work of atonement is
finished by the Lord Jesus Christ. It's all done. The work of making
us righteous, it's done. It's done. Ah, the work of redeeming us
from the curse of the law and from the bondage of our sin and
our corruption. It's finished. It's finished.
The work of reconciling us to God, making us the friend of
God, making us to be sons of God. That work's finished. It's
done. That work of making us accepted
by thrice holy God. It's finished. It's completely
done. And now God's quickened us and
He's raised us and He's made us to rest. He's made us to sit
down. He's made us to sit down in Christ.
Now nothing about any of this, nothing about any of this we
just read did the sinner play a part in. Nothing. We sinned
and we died. That's it. We sinned and we died. That's it. God did everything. God the Father God the Son and
God the Holy Spirit. He did everything here. Alright, why? Why did He do it?
Why did He do that? Why did He do this for us? Look
at verse 4. But God who is rich in mercy. That's why. He came to us who
were bankrupt. He came to us who were poor.
He came to us who had nothing whatsoever to pay. He came to
us rich in mercy. He withheld from us everything
that we deserve simply because He would. He said unto Moses,
I'll have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I'll have compassion
on whom I'll have compassion. And then here's why He did it.
Verse 4 says, For His great love wherewith He loved us. John said,
not that we love God. We didn't love Him. His great
love wherewith He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation
for our sins. Does His love save? Does it? He sent His Son, didn't He? Does
His Son save? Sure He does. He accomplished
our redemption. He accomplished propitiation
for His people. saves. His love saves. His love
is everlasting. God doesn't love today and then
stop loving His child tomorrow. He doesn't love His child today
and then tomorrow throw His child in hell because of something
they did. That's what Will Works' religion teaches. You have to
do something to keep God loving you. That's a lie. That's a lie. That's not true. That's not true. Quite frankly, Eric, there was
nothing in you to love. Same with me. Same with me. Nothing in us to love. But God,
for His great love, wherewith He loved us. He told Israel,
I didn't turn my affection and set my love upon you because
you were some mighty nation. You were least. You were smaller
than any of these nations. I did it because I loved you.
Because I'd have mercy to you. So because I'd be gracious to
you. And then there's verse 5. This is another thing. This is
why he did it. In parentheses there. By grace are you saved. By grace. He said to Moses, I'll
be gracious to whom I'll be gracious. That means we know it can't be
by merit because grace is not merited. And we know it can't
be by merit because there was nothing in us to merit this.
It's by grace that you are saved. That's past tense, brethren.
I know we're not yet there and I know we're not yet there physically,
spiritually. But brethren, you are saved. You are saved. Grace has saved
you. Grace has saved you. Ah, we're
saved now. Look here, here's another reason
He did it. Verse 7. That in the ages to come, He
might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness
toward us through Christ Jesus. He did it because He wants to
show His child everything that He's done for His child. His
wisdom. Oh, the depths of the wisdom
and knowledge of God, Paul said. Oh, His ways are past finding
out. But you know what? One day we're
going to find out. Because in the ages to come,
He's going to show up. He said, I've done this to show
you the exceeding riches of my grace. The exceeding kindness
that I've shown towards you through Jesus Christ. All is of grace. O to grace how great a debtor
daily I'm constrained to be. Does grace constrain you? Doesn't
grace constrain you? The love of God constrains you? Doesn't it make us see that all
that we owe is to God for grace, what He's done to us. I pray
He'll take that grace and He'll bind us to Him, that He'll bind
us to Him. That's what we need. We need
to be constrained by His grace. Alright, here's the second point.
Note our togetherness. Look at our togetherness here.
Verse 5. It says He's quickened us together
with Christ. Verse 6 says He's raised us up
together with Christ. And then it says, and He's made
us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. You know, before
God quickens you, For He regenerated you, for He regenerated me, for
He gave us faith and taught us what He's done for us. Before
He did any of that, we weren't together. We weren't together. I was dead in sin way down in
South Arkansas. Have you ever looked at the map
and seen how far South Arkansas is from New Jersey? It's a long
ways if you just go a straight line from South Arkansas to New
Jersey. I'm talking about right down
there on the four miles from the Louisiana line. I'm talking
about right down there in nowhere. It's a long ways if you just
draw a straight line from there to New Jersey. It's a lot further
when you go the winding path that I went to get here. The winding path God took me
on to get here. Most of you were dead right here
in New Jersey. Some of you were dead in South
America. We weren't together. We were
not together. And yet, when we didn't even
know it, while we were dead in our sins, God, before the foundation
of the world, had put us together in Christ Jesus. He chose us. He elected a people unto salvation
in Christ. And then, right then, He put
us eternally, inseparably, forever together right there in Christ.
When Christ came to this earth, and He walked this earth, and
He obeyed the law, and He satisfied God, and He took our sins, and
He put away the justice, satisfied the justice of God, we were together
in Christ when He did that. When He went in that grave and
He buried our body of sins that it might be destroyed, that it
might henceforth not come forth from the dust, but be forever
forgotten of God along with all our sin. We were together with
Christ right there. And then when He came out of
that grave and went into glory with God and sat down, we were
together with Christ. And then, in His mercy and His
grace, while we were... Oh, we were going all in the
same direction. We were going with the course
and the flow of this world, but we were all... we weren't together.
We weren't together. It's like this world. Everybody
in this world is going in the same direction, but they're not
of the same mind. They're not of the same mind.
They don't like each other. And we didn't. That was how we
were. But God came to us, crossed our
path with this good news, and He began to work a grace in our
heart. And when He did that and quickened
us, He began to bring this one together with this one. He had
you marked out Art and Cheryl marked out to meet together. To bring you together so that
you're together with Scott and together with Christine. And
then he brought Ravi together with Debbie. And he brought you
together with Brother Inderjeet and Sister Inderjeet. He brought
y'all together. Eric, He brought you together
to meet them. And He brought me here. He brought us all together. He
just kept working until He's got us now right here together. Together. And then look at this. Look at this right here. And
He's quickened us together with Christ. And He's raised us up
together with Christ. And He's made us sit together
in Christ. Oh, I love the fact that you
and I are together. I love that fact. Oh, but I rejoice
without ceasing in the fact we're together in Christ. That's where
we're together. In Christ. We were without Christ. We were aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel. We were strangers from the covenants
of promise. We had no hope. We were without
God in the world. But now! But God, but now. but God, but now. In Christ Jesus,
you who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of
Christ, near by the blood of Christ. Now here's the third
thing. This is what I want to get to.
This is what caught my attention. Look at this now. Note where
we are together. Verse 6 says, God has raised
us up together and He's made us sit together in heavenly places. in Christ Jesus. Now there's
going to be a literal, true resurrection. We're going to end up being there
in our totality of our being, in body, soul, and spirit. We're
going to be there in heaven with Him, in that new heaven and that
new earth. It's not some mystical place. It's not some magical thing up
in the clouds. It is a new heaven and a new
earth, where everything is righteous, that God's made righteous in
Christ Jesus. It's an earth just like this
one's going to be. It's a new heaven and a new earth. He made
this one, didn't He? Huh? He made this one. He'd make
a new one through the blood of Christ. It's going to be like
this. It's not going to be some magical, mystical, coco puff
floating around, it's a real place. But now look here, he
says right now, he says right now, right here, right now, you
who he's quickened, you who he's made alive, you who he's given
faith in Christ, who he's robed in the righteousness of Christ,
he says right now, we are seated together in heaven in the Lord
Jesus Christ. You're dead. God says, I don't
know who you are. Who? You're dead. I don't even recognize who your
old man was. You're dead. And your life is
hid with Christ in God. It's hid there because we can't
see it with these eyes. It's hid because this world can't
see it. But it's not hid to faith. We
see it by faith. Our life is hid with Christ in
God. He's raised us up together. He's made us sit together in
heavenly places in Christ. Now God says that His children
have been born of incorruptible seed, of the living Word that
lives and abides forever. That means within us that new
man is a new, living, eternally incorruptible new man. Brand new. Brand new. Now our
corruption is in our old nature. That's all it is. But that corruption
can't touch our new man. And the new man is the true man.
Now listen, Christ being raised from the dead doth no more. Does
he die? Is he going to die again? Christ
being raised from the dead doth no more. Death has no more dominion
over him. The only reason death had dominion
over him the first time is because he laid down his life, because
he gave himself to die under the penalty of our sin. But death
has no more dominion over him now. He's conquered death. He
has the dominion over death. For in that he died, he died
under sin once. one time. He died unto sin. That's
all the law requires, is to die unto sin once. That's it. And
he died unto sin once. But in that he liveth, he liveth
unto God. He lives to God. Likewise, reckon,
count it to be so, impute it to be so, mark it down to be
so. You also yourselves dead indeed
unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
That's what He said. Christ said, I am the resurrection. I am the resurrection and I am
the life. Does Christ dwell in you? If
He does, the resurrection dwells in you and the life dwells in
you. I am the resurrection and the life. I got an email from
Brother Don last night about a pastor down in Mississippi
that I didn't know him. My grandfather knew him well
and several other pastors I know knew him well. His wife walked
away from the house. He said he had been feeling good
all week. She went to the store to come back. He was gone. I
don't mean gone from the house bodily. I mean his body was there,
but he was gone. He was gone. He went to be with
the Lord. He had the resurrection and the
life in him. And he left. He went home. He
went to his long home. He that believeth in me, God
said, though he were dead, yet shall he live. Yet shall he live. Now believer, I want you to do
something with me. Let's leave this place right
now. Alright? Put everything out of your mind.
Let's fix and leave this place behind. Alright? In your heart. In your heart of faith now. I
want you to look with me. Lift your eye of faith up. Lift
it way up. I want you to look beyond the
clouds and look beyond the sun and the planets and all of those
things. Look far above all principality
and power and dominion and every name that's named not only in
this world but in the world to come. Look far above all of that. Go to that throne room. Go into
the holiest of holies. Now let's see what we see. What
do we see there? First thing we see there, there's
God Himself. There's God. There's Holy God. Oh, we better not draw too near
now. That's Holy God we're talking about. Should we draw near and
look on Him? Of course we should. Of course
we should. We just read, now in Jesus Christ
you who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of
Christ. Of course we should draw near
to Him. Near, so very near to God, nearer
I cannot be. For in the person of His Son
I am as near as He. So dear, so very dear to God,
more dear I cannot be. The love wherewith He loves the
Son, That's the love He loves me. The God who chose you by
grace, the God who sent His Son by grace, the God who saved us
by grace, He calls on us and says, now, you draw near to me. Listen to this. Having a high
priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true
heart and full assurance of faith. because by His grace our hearts
have been sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies have
been washed with pure water. Oh, if you were in your natural
state, if you were dead in your sins, like many that sit here
today in front of us, I wouldn't say draw near to Him. He's above
two pure eyes to behold iniquity. Oh no, you can't draw near to
Him. But child of God, you can draw near to Him. Do you see
Him there? God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit, your Creator, your Holder, your Sustainer,
your Giver of life, of everything you possess, there He is. Draw
so near to Him, come so near to Him, until you say this, until
you delight thyself also in the Lord. He shall give thee the
desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord.
Trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. And He shall
bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment
as the noonday. Delight yourself in Him, in God. In fact, draw so near until your
heart overflows with this assurance, until you say, Whom have I in
heaven but thee? and there's none upon earth that
I desire but Thee. My flesh and my heart faileth,
but God, but God is the strength of my heart and He's my portion
forever. Now do you see Him there? Now
imagine this, brethren, what amazing, amazing love What amazing
grace God has bestowed upon us that we should be called the
sons of the living God. Oh, do you see Him? Do you see Him? Now, see Him
who the Father adores. Now look upon Him whom all eyes
there have their eyes upon. All the angels and all the spirits
of just men made perfect, they are all looking with the Father
at this one. There He is. Can you see Him?
Try to see Him. He is sitting there and He is
a lamb as it has been slain. But He is a lamb in the throne. A lamb in the throne. Oh! He seated. Why seated? Because when He had
by Himself purged our sins, He sat down at the right hand of
the Majesty on high. Believer, enter into His rest. Enter into His rest. Labor in
your heart. Labor in your mind. What happens
when we start doing this is that old man of flesh keeps trying
to come in. He keeps trying to interfere
with our thoughts and our meditation and he comes in and he wants
to say, don't look, don't look, don't look. Put him off. Put him off. And labor to put
him off. Wrestle to put him off. And enter
in. Enter into that throne room.
And enter into that rest. Christ is seated. He's seated
there. That lamb with those pierced
hands and those pierced feet. He's seated there in a throne. In a throne. Look away from your
flesh. Look away from your everything
that plagues you. And look to Him in whom you are
complete, He said. Complete. As He is. So are we in this world. As He is, so are we in this world. He's seated. He's resting. He's resting. Oh, why as though
your life is in this world? Why as though living in this
world are you subject to ordinances? Why do you let men and why do
you let that old man, why do you let your flesh keep on saying,
oh touch not, taste not, handle not, oh deprive yourself of that,
bring yourself under bondage, oh bring yourself back under
the law. Why as though living in the world do you do that?
That's no wisdom at all, that's will worship. That's all it is. It's punishing the body is what
it is. But it don't satisfy the flesh.
Oh no. Labor to enter in. He says, God says this is so,
whether we understand it, whether we can enter into it or not,
God says you're seated there with Him. The work's done. Alright, look here. Notice, He's
seated on a throne. He's seated on a throne. That's
because He's triumphed over all your enemies, child of God. He's
seated on a throne. That's because God has set Him
there. He's the King. That's the place
of favor. That's the place of honor. That's
the place of dignity. All things are under His feet.
All things are under His feet. All power in heaven and earth
belongs under Him. That's right. This is who we're
talking about. Now what is it that you're worried about? Huh? All that little pissing of a
man that keeps on nagging you and won't let you rest at night
because you're worried about he's going to take your job from
you or put more on you or going to do this and that and pass
this law and that law and he's going to do this and that to
you. This is our Redeemer. seated there on a throne with
all dominion, turning the king's heart whithersoever he will.
Take all that worry and all that fretfulness and all that care
and take it right now. Walk into the throne room. Walk
in there, you're welcome. I've never once gone to my father's
house and knocked on the door, never. I just walk in, he's my
father. Walk in, walk in there now and
come up to the king, your king. And just lay all that down at
His feet. And leave it all there. Leave
it all there. He's head over all things to
the church. And believer, you're a member of that body. That's
the fullness of His body. You're a member of that body.
The fullness of Him that filleth all in all. He says, bring all
that worry to Me, set it here. I of Him and through Him and
to Him are all things to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. He says, don't you worry
your pretty little head about it. I'm going to take care of
it. And then notice this. He's at
the right hand of God. Oh, that's that place of love. That's the highest seat of love,
the highest seat of honor, the highest seat of praise, the highest
seat that anybody can attain unto. He's at the right hand
of God. God the Father put Him there.
He said, I set my King on my holy hill of Zion. Oh, being
so much better than the angels as He has obtained and by inheritance
obtained a more excellent name than they. For unto which of
the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have
I begotten thee? And again, I'll be to him a father,
and he shall be to me a son. He said to Christ, Let all the
angels of God worship him. He said to the Son, Thy throne,
O God. God said this to Christ. Yes,
He did. Hebrews 1 verse 8, God said,
Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever a scepter of righteousness,
is the scepter of Thy kingdom. Now believer, you remember this,
that one in whom the Father delights, that one whom the Father has
set there at His right hand, He is your advocate with the
Father. He's your intercessor with the
Father. He ever lives to make intercession
for you. He's sitting there right now,
right this minute, He's sitting there. You know what He's saying?
Father, I want Art D'Armiento with me. I want him to behold
my glory. He's saying, I want Christine
Keller here with me. I want her to behold The glory
I had with you before the foundation of the world, Father. He says
she's troubled. He's troubled. They're troubled.
Oh, they got Satan puffing at them. They got the world puffing
at them. But I've got them hedged about,
Father. I've redeemed them. I've paid for all their sins.
I've robed them in my snow white garment of righteousness. They're
as holy as I am holy. They're as righteous as I am
righteous. The glory Thou has given unto me I've given unto
them that they may be one even as we are one. Father, I will
that they be with us where we are right now. And the Spirit of God goes forth
at His command and He speaks of Him. He speaks what He's heard. And He enters into our hearts
and He lifts up the head of our new man and we behold Him seated
there. And He makes us to know, you're
seated here with me, child. Just a few more days at most. Just a few more hours at most. Just a little while longer, child,
you're going to be sitting here with me. Oh, there's a lot of other things
we can see there. There's an innumerable company
of angels. We can see the spirit of just men made perfect, knowing
that God doesn't lose one. But this is what I want you to
look real hard. Now, there's one more thing I want you to
look at and see there. One more thing. Look there. Now, look. Look right there.
Look there. There's one more thing that you must see there. You. You are there. Did you see it? That's what he
said. He said, I've quickened you together
with Christ. I've raised you up together with
Christ. And I've made you sit down together
with Christ. Now, look over with me at Colossians
chapter 3. I've been trying to lead us this
morning, brethren, just like the Apostle Paul led the brethren
at Colossae, when he said this, I Corinthians 2.20, Wherefore,
if you be dead with Christ from the rudiments of this world,
why, as though living in the world, are you subject to ordinances?
Touch not, taste not, handle not, which all are to perish
with the using. which are after the commandments
and doctrines of men. He said those things are just
a show in will worship. Look at the margin there, neglecting.
They're just a punishing of the body. That's all that he is.
Don't punish your body. Don't punish your body. Belongs
to the Lord. Now look here, if you're dead
with Christ, Don't live as if you really live in this world.
Don't let the cares of this world trouble you. Look at Colossians
3.1. If you then be risen with Christ,
seek those things which are above. Doesn't that take some effort? Seek those things which are above.
Really do, like we've been doing here this morning. Seek those
things which are above. where Christ sitteth on the right
hand of God. Set your affection on things
above. You see that? Seeking and setting. These things take some diligence. Entering into your closet and
set your affection on Him. Look at this. Not on things on
the earth. That means we're going to have
to tune out this world. That means we're going to have
to turn away from this world. and set our affection on things
above. Look, for you are dead, and your life is hid with Christ
in God. And when Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall you also appear with Him in glory.
Did you behold Christ just a little bit this morning? Did you behold
Him just a little bit in this hour when we've been talking
about these things? Then do these things more often. Seek Him. Set your affection on Him. Draw
near and talk with your Savior. There's no distance between you
and Him. No distance. That's right. No distance. He's
in your heart and in your tongue. Call on Him. He's near. He's
near. Go there and sit down at His
feet. That's right. Go there. Sit down at His feet
and ask Him for strength. to mortify the longings of your
fleshly man. It requires some setting. It
requires some seeking. But then do this too. See. See. See that no matter
how you feel, no matter how you think and what your feelings
are, the truth of the matter is you are seated there with
Him. That's right, we are together
there with Him, brethren. There's no greater security,
there's no greater power, there's no greater peace. Seated together
in Christ our all and in all. Amen.