may it please Almighty God to
bless His word to our souls as we meditate upon it this morning
let us turn to the epistle of Paul to the Ephesians chapter
2 and we'll read verses 4 to 7 the epistle of Paul to the
Ephesians chapter 2 and reading from verse 4 to 7 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, and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. that in the ages to come,
He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness
toward us through Christ Jesus. I'm sure as you are aware, the
Word of God, when it was written originally, there were no chapters
and there were no verses. the whole letter as this is just
flowed through from beginning to end and sometimes that's helpful
to us to understand how the apostle by the grace of God wrote such
an epistle and this epistle was not only written to the Ephesians
it was written to the Ephesians but as we read in the first verse
Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God to the saints
which are Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus and
that really means it's written to the whole church of God so
we should never think well the apostle has written just this
letter to the Ephesians and of course it doesn't apply to me
well it will apply to us and a blessing if it does apply to
us if And this is the great truth. If we are amongst those who are
the faithful in Christ Jesus, when the Holy Spirit gives us spiritual eyes, we then
read the Bible in a very different way. It ceases to become just
and historical account, which it is. But it is then something
far greater and more important. And what it is, is this. It's
the Word of God. It's God's Word speaking to our
hearts and having a gracious and good effect upon us. And therefore, as we read the
Bible, we need to understand our position and condition before
Almighty God. And as we mentioned in prayer,
the 18th verse tells us this, the eyes of your understanding
being enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of His
calling. That means calling us out of
darkness to light and from death to life. the hope of his calling,
and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe. And that's a great statement
because those who are blessed with this faith, the faithful
in Christ Jesus, have received the riches of his glory. It is the power of God, the power
to us all who believe. It's not something which is wishy-washy. It's not something of no value. It is the power of God. And the power of God must make
and does make a change in our lives. It's not just mere words. It's not just a mere history. it becomes and is the very Word
of God to our souls. Well, bless God today if you
and I can find the evidence that God's work is found in our hearts. And we are amongst those who've
been convinced of our sin and realise we're a lost and ruined
sinner. And by His grace, we've fled
to that refuge for sinners. The gospel makes known is found
in the merits of Jesus alone. That's a great blessing. That's
an essential blessing. Let us not think that you and
I can just wander on aimlessly through life and then somehow
get into heaven. As we read here in these verses,
by grace she are saved. The free unmerited favour is
that which sets us apart, that which separates us. And what
a great blessing it is when we are the recipients of this grace
of God. And so, as we've read this, who
according to greatness of His power to us who believe. And it is the power of God that
enables us to believe. It's not a theory. It is a reality. It is the blessed power of God
that enables us to believe. And as we possess that power
of God in our hearts, to believe the glorious Gospel, you see
what a great blessing it is. And so here we are told, according
to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ
when He raised Him from the dead. He raised the Saviour from the
dead spiritually. And my friends, He raises the
whole Church of God from the dead spiritually. We're born
in sin. We're shaped in iniquity. We're
spiritually dead. And what a blessing then when
we possess the life of God in our souls. And so to remember
this great truth, he says, in heavenly places, far above all
principality and power, and might, and dominion, and every name
that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which
is to come, and hath put all things under his feet, and gave
him to be the head over all things of the church, which is his body,
the fullness of him that filleth all in all. That's the end of
what we term the first chapter. And it leads on very beautifully
then to this second chapter, which commences with these glorious
words, and you hath he quickened, and you hath he made spiritually
alive, who were dead, in trespasses and sins. Well, this morning,
what a great mercy it'll be if this word is true of every one
of us. And only you can answer this
question. I cannot. The person next to
you cannot. It's only you who knows whether
this is true, whether this does speak of your personal experience
in the things of God. The Lord has come and made you
spiritually alive from that time that you were dead in trespasses
and in sins. Well, it's a great and important
question to be answered. And don't duck out of it and
don't think, well, I don't think I need worry about it. We all
need to worry about it. We all need to be concerned that
we do possess the great, wonderful blessing of spiritual life. The Word of God again and again
directs us to the absolute necessity of possessing spiritual life
in our souls. We all are here today naturally
alive, But only God and you know whether we are spiritually alive
or whether we are still spiritually dead, as he said, dead in trespasses
and in sins. And it's no good pretending to
be spiritually alive. It's no good trying to impress
people that you are spiritually alive if, in fact, you are still
spiritually dead. You and I stand before God. It's
to God we have to answer, not our fellow beings, not our families. It's to God that you and I have
to answer to. And so as the apostle goes on,
and he says, wherein in times 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. You see, what he's saying here
is to these Ephesians and to all those who are faithful in
Christ Jesus, there's been a wonderful change. There's been that miracle
of grace in the life of a true believer. And so this morning,
I hope as we ponder these words, you and I can come to a good
and right and positive conclusion by realising that what the Apostle
has written here is written by the grace of God and it speaks
to us individually. We all need this personal revelation
to know that in time past, in our life, The days pass, it may
have been yesterday, it may have been years ago, but bless God
if there's been a time past, a time past, and that means there's
been a change. A time past wherein we walked
according to the course of this world. This world was our life. This world was what we wanted
to be in. This world is what we followed.
This world was all that we wanted. To think then, that's how we
were. Or perhaps, that's how we are. According to the prince of the
power of the air, that's the devil of course, the spirit now
worketh in the children of disobedience. We've listened to the devil.
We did listen to the devil. Bless God, our feet have been
turned to listen to the truth of God's word. Because the apostle
goes on, among whom also we all, every person, every person in
this world, 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. Well, does that describe you
this morning? Does that describe you this morning?
As you answer to God, has it been, is it a time past, when
you were like that? And has there been a change? Well, if there's been a change,
you can come and bless God. If there's been a change, then
you can understand what these following verses, which we read
as a text, refer to. And then you can bless God for
such a word as this, but God, that's God no one else but God
who is rich in mercy well this morning do we know the mercy
of God the mercy of God which has come
to us the mercy of God which has revealed to us What we were
like. The mercy of God who has blessed
us to this wonderful position of being spiritually alive. No one else but God who is rich
in mercy. And this you know is a glorious
theme. The mercy of God. is something
that those faithful in Christ Jesus really rejoice in, really
bless God for, really praise God for. Well, this morning,
do you bless God for His mercy towards you, that He's not cut
you off as the Bible describes it, a cumber of the ground, something
of no value. He hasn't cut you off, but he's
looked upon you. And as we read in Leviticus,
as he passed by and saw you in your blood, I've spoken that
great word, live. Spiritual life, live. And if he has, bless God, you
are therefore a living soul. Not one who remains still dead
in trespasses and in sins, but God, who is rich in mercy. And it's a glorious expression,
isn't it? Rich in mercy. We know what to
be rich is, that naturally it means to possess many things
in our life, perhaps to be wealthy and plenty of money, and that
means to be rich. But this is something to recognise
that God, toward us as unworthy sinners, that God who is so rich
in mercy, What do we say? Wretched mercy for his great
love, wherewith he loved us. We speak about love a lot. There's a lot about love in the
Word of God. But the great, wonderful favour
is to know, and it is important, and it is essential, to know
that God has loved us. As John says, not that we love
God, but that God loved us. He loved us first, and then we
love God. What a mercy today. If you and
I can find in our spiritual experience, in our spiritual life, that God
has looked upon us because He has loved us and if that is so
it will have been a wonderful and an amazing experience to
think that the Almighty God, the Creator of all things has
looked upon us sinful beings on the earth insignificant sinful
beings in the world and why should such a God have loved us? because of something good in
us? not at all it's because of His mercy it's because of His
sovereign grace that He has loved us And yet what a blessing it
is if this morning we can enter in to a spiritual understanding. And again, we have some wonderful
descriptive words here. Rich in mercy, rich in mercy
and for his great love. It is great love, isn't it? To
love such, we might describe ourselves as a rebel. against God, turned our back
upon God perhaps. And we may have said, I will
not have this man to reign over me. I am going to live my life. I am going to please myself.
I am going to do what I want to do. Perhaps God has said, thus far
and no further. Now is the day of redemption. Now is the day of grace for your
soul. Now I will show my wonderful
love towards such a rebellious, sinful individual. Well, when you and I, by the
grace of God, experience these amazing blessings, We will then
understand a little of God's great love, wherewith he loved
us, and to think that that love was upon us from when we were
born. In fact, he loved us before we
were born. He knew we would be born, and
he loved us, and he watched over us, and he bore with us. in all the opposite way that
we walked before God. And you look back in your life, trace your life out, and to see
the mercy and the love of God toward you. If God had left you,
we wouldn't be here. rich in mercy, for his great
love, wherewith he loved us. Well, this morning, it's a good
exercise to look in our hearts. As I said, no one else can look
into your heart, no one else can look into my heart, but you
can and I can. And can we see there, then, this
wonderful blessing of mercy and of love. Because these are the great evidences
of the life of God in our soul. And therefore, we can then be
thankful today There's such a word as this, having described our
ungodly position and condition, and then we come to these words,
but God. Well, has there then been, in our lives,
a but God? A but God. There we were, but
God. Show to us His mercy. And again, it's very
humbling. I hope it is very humbling to
have a right appreciation and understanding that the Almighty
God has looked upon you and me as a little individual. When we think of the billions
of people in this world, to think that God, the all-powerful God,
the ruler of the universe, sat in glory, looks upon us and indeed
has come to us and has shown us his mercy and his love. it is surely a most amazing consideration and when the Holy Spirit does
reveal this to us we do stand amazed that God should have been
so kind so gracious towards such an unworthy person And we will
never think, we will never say, well, I was worthy of notice. We will say the opposite. I was
unworthy of any notice. But God, wonderful, isn't it? But God, who is rich in mercy
for his great love, Don't lose sight of these two words, rich
and great. It puts it into some amazing
context for our realisation. To think that Almighty God has
so rich in mercy, and so great in His love, wherewith He loved
us. And again, then the Apostle just
really reiterates what we already said. Even when we were dead
in sins, You know, sometimes God comes and calls us, perhaps,
when we're so far off from God, doing the things that are totally
opposite to what the Word of God tells us we should do. And then you see, what does it
do? Well, surely it makes the promises of God more precious And indeed, more real. Because here we find ourselves
with nothing. Because he says, even when we
were dead in sins. And as I've often said, it's
like a dead person has no understanding, has no knowledge. A dead person
knows nothing. And it's just the same in our
spiritual life. We know nothing until the Holy Spirit comes and makes
us spiritually alive. And then the amazing thing is
that we stand amazed that we didn't understand, we didn't
appreciate, we didn't realise the great blessings that we now
have. And the result must be, surely,
from our heart to praise and thank our God that He's looked
upon us, such unworthy sinners. Even then, when we were dead
in sins, we couldn't do anything. We couldn't do anything. We couldn't
believe. We couldn't turn our hearts.
We couldn't do anything. What is it? Clearly set before
us here, all of grace, the free, unmerited favour of our God to
such unworthy sinners. You may say, well, these are
familiar things. I hope they are familiar things.
They're very real things. They're essential things. And
bless God then, if we can enter into the reality of this, even
when we were dead, in sins, in sins, born in sins, shaped in
iniquity, spiritually dead, that's where we were. And so to think
this great truth here, even when, even when, we were dead, God
didn't leave us there. Well, are we left there? Are we still dead? As I've said,
I don't know, you know. You're the only one who knows.
Are you still dead? What a blessing if the Lord opened
your eyes to realise that by nature you are dead and your
hope is fixed. on who the Lord Jesus Christ,
for his mercy and for his love to be displayed upon you, reveals
to you, so that you then enter in to that experience you know
you passed from death to life. death to life, from darkness
to light, the glorious work of the Spirit of God. And it is
therefore wonderful to think the Spirit of God conveys these
great truths to our soul, so that we can indeed bless our
God and praise our God for these things. And so here we read these
words, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together
with Christ." Together with Christ. It means this, that you and I
are united to Christ and there will be no separation. Once in Him, in Him forever. What does it mean? It means by
the grace of God you and I are eternally safe and eternally safe. What a great
blessing this is. What a wonderful, wonderful truth
it is to a poor, ignorant, unworthy sinner to think that the grace
of God has come to us. He saw me ruined
in the fall. Yet love me, notwithstanding
all. Well, it's a glorious gospel.
It's a great privilege for all of us to hear the gospel. There are billions in the world
who do not hear the gospel. And we are wonderfully, wonderfully
privileged. And yet, you know, there is also
a very solemn consideration But if we hear the gospel, and it
never enters into our heart, and it never produces an effect,
and we're never changed, and we remain spiritually dead, we
shall pass out of time into eternal hell. Terrible, terrible thought. And I'm sure it'll be far worse for such in
hell. who hear the Gospel, and it's
never touched their hearts, and they never believed, and through
eternity, they were plagued with such a realization. But my friends, may it not be
like that. May we know, therefore, the grace of God, which has come
and blessed us with spiritual life, Now, what's the effect? The effect
surely is this, that we are led to none other than the Saviour,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And we then enter in to that
spiritual experience of understanding a little of the cost of our salvation,
to realise the price that the Lord Jesus Christ paid in order
to redeem our souls. Because our sins had to be paid
for. They didn't just vanish. They
had to be paid for. So that we might be freed from
them. And the Lord Jesus Christ came. And he paid to have our sins
taken away. He paid the price to redeem our
sins. And that price was the greatest
price that could ever be paid. He gave his sinless life when
he died that sin-atoning death upon that cross at Calvary. His
life was that sacrifice for our sin. Well, this morning, may
we have some little understanding of the great blessing, therefore,
that the death of Christ was. and therefore to never weary
and never be tired of hearing about the Saviour. Indeed, understand
the wonderful truth of the hymn, how sweet the name of Jesus sounds
in a believer's ear. And I believe, again, that's
a very good test of the reality of the blessing of God to our
soul. Then when we hear the name of
Jesus, do our ears prick up? Because it's a wonderful name. It's a name we love to hear.
Do you love to hear it? If you're still spiritually dead,
I'll tell you what you'll do. You'll turn away. You won't want
to hear about it. Because you'll know it'll be
a condemning word. But bless God. If you do know
the wonderful truth of those words, how sweet the name of
Jesus sounds in a believer's ear, you can then indeed bless
God for it. Bless God for the Saviour's death
and the price he paid. And the evidence of his death
was, of course, the shedding of his most precious blood. And without shedding of blood,
there is no forgiveness, there's no remission. He had to shed
his blood, and he did shed his blood. He didn't turn away. He knew the cost. He willingly
paid it. to redeem our souls. What a great, wonderful truth
it is to therefore rejoice. Indeed, we read together the
13th verse. But now, in Christ Jesus, ye
who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. The shed blood of Christ is that
which redeems our soul. The value of it is without price,
because the value of our soul is without price. And therefore,
to think of that, but now in Christ Jesus, Ye who sometimes
were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ, brought
to Christ, to be with Christ. Even when we were dead in sins,
hath quickened us together with Christ by grace are ye saved,
and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus. united to Christ, joined to Christ. He as our elder brother, he who
is our friend, the friend indeed who sticketh closer than a natural
brother. What a Saviour we have. What do we think of the Lord
Jesus Christ today? Again, the hymn writer says,
what think ye of Christ is the test. And it is. What do we think of Christ today?
All of us, young and old, young people, old people, all in between.
What do we think of Christ Jesus today? Indeed, the Bride of Christ
in the Song of Solomon describes what she thought. And what did
she say? He is the chiefest among ten thousand
and the altogether lovely. Everything she thought of Christ
was lovely and beautiful. And what a good thing it is for
us today, if we have a right view of the Saviour, to think
what He is to us, the cheapest among ten thousand and the altogether
lovely. And then the Apostle goes on
to say, the seventh verse, that in the ages to come, He might
show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward
us through Christ Jesus. He's gone to prepare a place
for us. And if He's gone to prepare a
place for us, He will come again to receive us under Himself,
that where He is, there we shall be also. Here's again exceeding
riches and his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. It's a wonderful prospect to
the Church of God. When we have done, when the poor
things of this world, these things of this world, as Solomon said,
all it is vanity of vanity and vexation of spirit. But one day
by the grace of God, we shall be freed from all these burdens
all the things which burden us day by day, we shall be free
and we shall enjoy the eternal blessings of God to be with Christ,
which is far better, far better than all the things of this life. We perhaps think the things in
this life are great and very important. Just realise the things
of Christ in glory are far better. Really, the difference is beyond
natural comparison. Far better. So here we have a
statement like this. That in the ages to come, He
might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness
toward us through Christ Jesus. Well, it's a wonderful prospect,
isn't it? Think that we are possessors
of this wonderful grace, and there is a glory to come, a glory
for all his saints, for all those who are the faithful in Christ
Jesus, and to have that good hope that we indeed are amongst
those who are saved by grace and therefore through his mercy
and love we shall one day be found with him eternally in that
place of glory where there will be no separation but eternal
happiness forever and ever. Amen.