May God be pleased to bless us
together this evening as we meditate in his holy word. Let's turn
to the epistle of Paul to the Ephesians, chapter two, and we'll
read the first five verses in this chapter. So Ephesians chapter
two and the first five verses. And you, hath he quickened? who were dead in trespasses and
sins, wherein, in time past, ye 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 in times past, in
the lusts of our 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
ye are saved. Paul wrote this epistle, as he
tells us in the beginning of the first chapter, he says, Paul
an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God to the saints
which are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. So it's a comprehensive statement. It's broad in its outlook. And what a mercy, therefore,
if we recognise and realise such a statement is inclusive of us. And so as we gather here tonight,
we should be thankful indeed that we have such wonderful words.
This second chapter of this epistle contain and a wonderful statement
it begins with and you Hath he quickened? Well, that means of
course you have he made alive That means of course spiritually
alive and you have he made spiritually alive well, how wonderful it
is if you and I tonight and can recognise the relevance and the
truth of that and to have the evidence that it applies to you
and me because it is so essential that you and I possess the life
of God in our souls, that new life, that life which God gives
and therefore to rejoice then in what the Saviour has done. And as we go through these first
few verses, we'll see that there's qualifications to those who are
made spiritually alive. And it's good if you and I can
trace out in our life, our spiritual life, the evidence of these qualifications
to give us an assurance that we are amongst those who God
in his wonderful favour and wonderful grace has blessed us with this
quickening and you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and
sins. And what that means is that all
of us, all of us were spiritually dead and all of us if we are
true Christians, will have been made spiritually alive. And that means there's a great
change that occurred in our lives. We're not what we were. The light
of the glorious gospel has shone into our hearts. And whereas
we were dead, by the grace of God, we are now spiritually alive. What a wonderful blessing that
is. And he tells us who were dead
in trespasses and sins. We had no real understanding
that we were spiritually dead. But what a blessing it is when
the Holy Spirit of God comes and enlightens us and shows us
where we are and causes us to cry out to God for mercy, that
he will remember us with that favour he bears to his people
and visit our souls with his salvation, and reveal to us the
blessings of the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, to give us
that wonderful assurance that Jesus came into this world to
save sinners. And as the Apostle Paul says,
of whom I am chief, And I believe when the Holy Spirit works in
our hearts, we won't go around looking at everybody else and
criticising everybody else and thinking they're far worse than
we are. We'll really come into that position
like David was. Remember David sinned grievously
and yet you see Nathan was sent to him. Nathan the prophet to
place before him a parable which really copied what he had and
how he had sinned and when he finished speaking and David was
upset because of how that poor man had been treated then the
prophet said to David thou art the man He wasn't able to look around
and point his finger at other people. He was convicted in his
own heart, in his own soul. And that's why we thank God that
he's written the 51st Psalm, which describes the condition
of those indeed who were dead and have been made spiritually
alive. It's a wonderful psalm to have
a psalm like that which gives wonderful confession and it's
good because all of us need that situation, that confession and
the Word of God tells us if we confess our sins he is faithful
and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. All of us our sinners. All of
us need to be cleansed and what a blessing it is to have a God
who is kind and gracious and merciful. The 51st Psalm starts
off with this glorious statement, Have mercy upon me, O God, according
to thy lovingkindness, according unto the multitude of thy tender
mercies blot out my transgressions. You see David comes straight
to the point here. He pleads for mercy and every
born again soul will plead for mercy, will realise they need
mercy and to think that it's according to God's loving kindness. And he therefore goes on and
says, blot out my transgressions. He wanted them all to be taken
away. He was dead in trespasses and
sins, but God had mercy and he cries out, wash me throughly
from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge
my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. We can't just
get rid of these things. God brings them before us to
cause us to cry out God be merciful unto me a sinner. And then we
see the confession which David makes against thee. He stood
before God against thee. The only have I sinned and done
this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified when
thou speakest and be clear when thou judgest. Behold, I was shaped
in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." Well you
can read through that 51st Psalm, it's a very wonderful statement
and it's a great comfort to believers because all believers are sinners
and all believers need cleansing. and all believers need forgiveness. And so here we have in this first
verse, and you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and
sins. Now, what a mercy, therefore,
if you and I can look back in our lives and remember when there
was no spiritual life, we were dead spiritually. I wonder if you can look back
tonight in your little life and thank God that there was a time
when you were dead but now by his grace you've been made spiritually
alive and the result is that you and I can then praise and
bless God for it because those who are made spiritually alive
will spend eternity in glory with the Saviour. And those who
don't know anything about it will not be blessed like that. And so he goes on in his second
verse and he tells us, we're in, in time past. All of us have a time past, don't
we, in our lives. We moved on. Time has passed
in our lives. And so says Paul here, wherein
in time past ye 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. It's a great blessing if God
has opened our spiritual eyes to realise that describes us
in time past. I hope it doesn't describe us
today, at least not in the fullness of it. but I hope we have a time
past where there's been therefore a wonderful and glorious and
blessed change. And that change is the work of
the Holy Spirit. That's not something that you
and I can suddenly wake up and produce. We have no desire to
change our life. But what a blessing it is when
God comes and causes us to change. Where in time past, he walked
according to the course of this world. Well, everybody walks
according to the course of this world. But praise God, if God
has caused a change. if God has set our hearts and
our affections upon things above. If God has caused us to look
into our hearts, to examine ourselves, to see whether we are in the
faith or not. You know, it's the gift of God. By nature, we don't do that.
We carry on in this world. We're satisfied with this world. But oh, bless God. if he brings
into our heart a realization of our true condition that we've
offended a holy God, we've disobeyed a holy God, and that we deserve
eternal punishment. You know, a true believer stands
guilty before God. He won't stand and say, well,
I don't think I'm a very bad sinner. who'll understand what
the Apostle Paul said, who was wonderfully blessed, and he describes
himself as the chief of sinners. That's not a very comfortable
thing to have to do, is it? Not a very pleasant thing to
have to admit that I'm not a little sinner, I'm a great sinner. But the glory of the Gospel is
if God has had mercy on us, if God has blessed us, you see,
and taken away our sins, and we are cleansed, we're washed
in the precious blood of the Saviour. Deliverance, freedom,
happiness, What a wonderful relief that is. And so here the Apostle
says wherein in time past you walked according to the course
of this world. Well we've all had a time past.
I wonder if we realise it or if we're still there. If we're
still walking in accordance with this world. Whether this world
is our happiness or whether the things of God are our happiness. You know, we can't pretend to
be what we're not. The Lord looks at the heart.
You may convince people, but you can't convince God. As God
looks at our heart, he sees into the deep recesses, perhaps things
which are hidden there, perhaps things you haven't thought about,
some while and yet God you see brings them to our remembrance
and causes us to cry out then for his mercy. Well there was
a time past then when we walked according to the course of this
world according to the prince of the power of the air The prince
of the power of the air is of course the devil. Satan. That evil one. Who goes about
seeking whom he may devour. And the scriptures encourage
us to resist him. Resist the devil. And yet you
see our nature, our old nature, goes after the poor empty things
of this world. Which will never do us any true
good. will only take us farther away
from God. What a mercy then to realise
that and to bless God there is this prince of the power of the
air, the spirit now worketh in the children of disobedient. Well I wonder if you and I still
walk in that path still enemies to God, still disobeying God. Yes, it's very easy to carry
on and disobey God. And yet the Bible is full of
examples. You only have to look at the
case of the children of Israel who were encouraged by the prophets
again and again to turn from their evil ways, turn from disobeying
the law of God. But their ears were stopped up. They weren't willing to listen.
They weren't willing to hear. And although they were told they
would go down into captivity into Babylon for 70 years, they
ignored it. But it came to pass. And my friends,
that means that you and I must never trifle with God. We must never think that his
laws are not very important. We should never think that we
can get away with it. We can carry on in our own life,
pleasing ourself. We have the Word of God. We have
the commands of God. And we need to pray for grace
and a willing spirit to follow the wonderful example of the
Saviour. We read of the Lord Jesus Christ,
he pleased not himself. My friends, how important that
is for you and me, to please not ourselves, but to desire
to please the blessing, the blessed and most gracious and merciful
God. God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit. So remember here, we have this
statement, the Spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. Well, what a blessing if God
has come and touched our heart and given us a desire after spiritual
blessings You are the only one that can answer that question
as to whether that's true in your life. Other people can look
at you and may come to the wrong conclusion. But you stand before
God and you know how you stand before God. And what a blessing
if God has given you that spirit of repentance to turn away from
your sins and to follow that way which is right. And the Apostle
goes on and tells us among whom also we all had our conversation
in times past. You see again he tells us in
times past there will be a times past in our life when there's
been a change There's been a change. God has produced a change within
us. Among also we had our conversation
in times past. In the world, in the things of
the world, we talked the language of the world. We didn't speak
the language of Zion. We didn't speak the language
of the kingdom. No, we spoke the language of
the world. And we were perhaps happy to
speak the language of the world. We were happy to be considered
as one of the world. What a mercy, therefore, if God
has made a difference. And that difference will be evident
if this first clause is true. And you, and you hath he quickened,
made spiritually alive. The evidence is clearly before
us. that there was a time past when
we had our conversation in the world. If our conversation is
still in the world, if we still follow the world, then there's
no evidence that we have been made spiritually alive. We don't want to be left there,
do we? We don't want to stay there. We want to be those who
are indeed born again of the Spirit of God. Those who enjoy
the newness of life. Those who are blessed with the
light of the Gospel shining into our hearts. And we can bless
God for it. Among whom also we all had our
conversation in times past and then he elucidates that. in the
lusts of our flesh. By nature, our flesh is sinful. He tells us, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind. Well, how sinful we are in our
nature, our fallen nature. Remember, we have a fallen nature,
that nature which came upon all men, all mankind, when Adam and
Eve disobeyed God. in the garden of Eden, and that
sin passed upon all men. Oh, what a sad day that was.
What a terrible day it was. And yet what a blessing it is
that we have a glorious Saviour, who made a way of salvation,
and that God today, who is gracious and merciful, among whom also
we all had our conversation, in times past and it's an important
statement that is it is a test for our religion to see whether
we have a time past or not whether there's been a change in our
spiritual life or not and if there has been we can bless God
and praise him for it not because of any great blessing any great
ability ourselves But it's all of grace, we'll come on to that.
It's all of God's wonderful favour. And so, among whom also we all
had our conversation in times past, in the lusts of our flesh,
fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. Well, we can analyse our lives,
can't we? because it's a very comprehensive
statement that this is it tells us the lust of the flesh fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind this is not something
perhaps which is physical but it's that which we find operating
in our mind and therefore we stand guilty before God and I'm
sure if we're all honest here tonight we'd all have to confess
and we fall under that condemnation and what a great blessing it
is to know therefore that we are those who have been made
spiritually alive and the Apostle goes on and tells us therefore
because of that situation we were by nature the children of
wrath even as others now the fact is that you and I still
are the children of wrath or we are those who have been made
spiritually alive we've been quickened by his spirit there's
only the two situations we're either spiritually dead or we're
spiritually alive and as I've said you are the only one who
can answer that question before God what a blessing to have the
evidence that by God's grace we are spiritually alive because
by nature we were the children of wrath even as others we can't
look at other people and think well that person's worse than
me no you'll find that the Holy Spirit convinces us so that we
can't throw stones at other people And then the word of God comes
to glorious encouragement. We have a but God. There are
a number of but Gods in the word of God. I think the 17 if I remember
rightly, but God. And when it's a but God, there's
a change. Because God has come and caused
a change. And therefore it would be a great
blessing in our lives if there's been a but-God. A but-God. And so here we have
this great statement. But God who is rich in mercy. Think of that. God who is righteous,
sinless, the Lord of Lords, the King of Kings. is rich in mercy. He has mercy upon his people. He has mercy upon those who he's
loved because we're told for his great love wherewith he loved
us. Great love. it is great love
because again if you look into your heart I look into my heart
and if we analyze ourselves we're great sinners and why should
anybody love us? Why should God love us? Well
we have to go back we have to realize that it was in eternity
past, as we read in Ezekiel, or is it Jeremiah? Jeremiah.
Yea, he's loved us with an everlasting love. And because it's everlasting,
that means it began in eternity past. And that is a truth which
your mind and my mind cannot really comprehend because we
can only understand time. We really can't understand eternity. And yet to think that God loved
us everlastingly in time past. But God is rich in mercy for
his great love. Yes, it is great love. He's loved
his people. Great love. has loved you great
love that's loved me isn't it wonderful to think the God the
creator of all things the eternal God has loved us with an everlasting
love and with loving-kindness has drawn us drawn us to himself drawn us
to pray for mercy, drawn us to seek forgiveness, and drawn us
to desire to know that great love of God toward us. The apostle John tells us, not
that we loved God, but that he loved us. We love God because
he loved us, not the reverse. It's wonderful, isn't it? to
have such a God who loves such an unworthy sinner. Yes, he doesn't
depend on our situation because he loved us in eternity past. And so here we have this great
statement. But God, who is rich in mercy
for his great love, wherewith he loved us that's worth meditating
on isn't it that's worth thinking about great love wherewith he loved
us and the Apostle Paul goes on then and tells us even where
we were dead in sins Christ loved us you see not because We suddenly
turn the leaf, suddenly we become a good person. No. Even when
we were dead in sins, this love was upon us. It's very humbling,
isn't it? To think that Almighty God, with
all the billions of people in this world, all those billions
that have been in this world, yet God should set his love upon
us, even when we were dead in sins. And in that condition,
what does the Apostle say? Hath quickened us, quickened
us together with Christ. Union with Christ. Oh, that's
a very humbling thing, isn't it? to think is you and me unworthy
sinners who didn't deserve any notice and yet God came to us
and God caused us to hear his voice God caused us to seek unto
him in a time when he would be found rich in mercy and it's because
he's rich in mercy and his great love wherewith he loved us how
very very humbling this is even even when we were dead in sins
hath quicken us together with Christ Well, it surely has passed
our natural understanding to think that God, God the Father,
has brought us into union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Union
with that one who was willing to come into this sinful world
and to die that sin atoning death upon that cross at Calvary in
order that you and I might be set free. And we read, and if
the Son shall set you free, you shall be free indeed. We're told in Romans, there is
therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. Yes, you and I can't fall out
of that condition. No, what a great and glorious
Saviour we have. to think that tonight there's
no condemnation. To those who are in Christ Jesus,
to those who are quickened together with Christ, there's no condemnation. We're set free. Our sins are
being washed away in the precious blood of the Saviour. No doubt,
no wonder, is it, the Apostle Peter who denied his Lord and
Master realized the value of the blood and he said we are
not redeemed with corruptible things a silver and gold from
our vain conversation received by tradition from our father's
butt with a precious blood of Christ well we can ask the question
can't we what does the blood of Christ mean to you tonight
Is it invaluable blood to you? It is invaluable blood. Because without that shedding
of blood there's no remission, there's no forgiveness. And yet
to know that you and I are under the blood. And it's a lovely
picture I love to think about. Where we see the picture of being
under the blood, we go back to the Passover, don't we? When
that lamb typifying the Saviour, that lamb without any fault,
had to be slain. The blood shed, the blood put
upon the doorposts and the lintels. And there was no safety. For
all those Israelites, unless they'd gone under the blood,
where that blood was put on the doorposts and lintels, into their
dwelling. But if they'd gone under the
blood, there was safety. And the Evangelical angel who
came and saw the firstborn, passed over them. It's a beautiful picture
of us today, to realise. There is safety under the blood
of the Lamb. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanses us from all sin. All sin. What a wonderful blessing,
what a wonderful favour that is to realise how good and kind
and gracious our God is. even when we were dead in sins,
have quickened us together with Christ. And he says, by grace
ye are saved. What does that mean? It means
by the unmerited favour of God. God has looked upon us and favoured us, not because
we merited it, we never did, we never will. Grace is a wonderful theme. It's
a wonderful theme to meditate on. And here we have this great
statement, by grace ye are saved, saved from our sin, saved from
a deserved hell, and blessed with that good hope of heaven. a good hope of glory, a good
hope to be forever with the Lord. What a wonderful prospect that
is for the Church of God. And so
here we have, even when we were dead in sins, and as you know,
somebody who is dead can't do anything. A dead person is totally
inactive, cannot do anything. And that's a very simple picture
of what we were by nature in our spiritual state. We were
dead until Christ came and gave us spiritual life, quickened
us, made us alive, so that today we can rejoice in the glory of
that redemption. Well, my friends, as I said,
you and I must answer before God ourselves? Are we redeemed? Are we made spiritually alive?
Have we seen the heavenly light? Are we journeying home to God
in the way the Fathers trod? Oh, my friends, we need to examine
ourselves. We don't want to be fooled. The devil will tell us, you're
safe, you're okay. And in fact, we may not be. We
need the evidence, and the evidence is here before us in these verses,
to prove whether we are amongst those who have been made spiritually
alive or have not been. And we need to be able to come
to a right and blessed conclusion as we do read down these verses
and be able to understand what these truths mean. Even when
we were dead in sins, hath quickened, made us alive together with Christ. It's a blessed union with Christ
and we'll want to be united to Christ. That one who's given
his life that we might receive life and the cost of that life
was his death. And what a death it was. How
much he passed through in that agony in the Garden of Gethsemane.
We give a little glimpse when we're told, being in agony, he
sweat as it were great drops of blood. Yes, fall into the
ground. And he cried to his father, if
it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not
my will, but thine be done. And that's the great God that
we are able to worship. And may we worship, and may such
a great truth soften our hearts. May such a great truth enable
us to earnestly seek to have this great evidence that we are
quickened. We were dead, but we made spiritually
alive. Oh, it's a blessed day when the
Holy Spirit shows that to us. Because it's the evidence of
eternal life. It's when God gives life, that
life is never taken away. It's an eternal life. Once in
Him, in Him forever. And we can then look forward
to the wonderful anticipation of taking our place, that reserved
place in glory. That's very humbling, isn't it?
He said, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare
a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself,
that where I am, there ye may be also. Well, these are very
true words. They're very glorious words.
They're very important words. and we should not let them pass
by us I was going to say, well I will say, we should not go
to sleep tonight unless we have the evidence that we are spiritually
alive and if we are spiritually alive we have glorious inheritance
which is incorruptible and which is undefiled and which is reserved
in heaven for us who are kept by the power of God through grace
unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Amen.