That's something to say to our
Lord, isn't it? How merciful, just how merciful. I know that every family here,
every household here, has a particular meal, a particular dish, recipe,
supper, however you want to say it. I know every family here
has a particular meal that is a favorite meal, a standard in
the house. You know how it is. There are
some things that we just, we have it all the time. That's
what we have. Sometimes you establish, certain nights of the week for
certain things, like Taco Tuesday, or whatever it is that you want
to eat. We have these meals, we enjoy
these meals. We wouldn't want to go out without
these meals. But after a while, they become
a little common to us. You know, you get on a kick with
something. And after a while, it becomes a little common to
us, and we get to a place where we don't appreciate them quite
like we originally did, quite like we first did. It's just
not quite the same. Sometimes we even get to a place
where we say, isn't it about time for something new? Is this all that there is? Isn't there anything else? But if we were lost out in the
desert for about a week or so with no food, no food at all,
starving to the point of life or death, and that same meal
was set in front of us, the very same meal, how do you think we'd
feel about that meal? How much do you think we would
appreciate that meal and relish that meal and savor that meal? At that exact moment, how common
do you think that same meal would be to us? That same meal. I have a spiritual meal for us
tonight that is a favor among all of God's family. favorite
among all of God's family. I would say that this is a standard
in every spiritual house. This is a spiritual house. Every
spiritual house that God has raised up, I would say that this
is a standard. My sincere prayer is that the
Lord might let us feed on this and relish this and savor this
like it's the first time we've ever had it. Turn with me if
you would do Ephesians chapter two. Ask the Lord to let you hear
these words like they are the first time you've ever heard
them. Just think about this first verse.
See if the Lord will let you enter into the first verse. You talk about a verse that we sinfully in our flesh make common." You think about this first verse,
it says, and you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and
sins. Just think about that. What a
verse. And you hath he quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sins. Who did the quickening? He did. Who did he quicken? Those who
were dead. Why were they dead? What was
the cause of their death? What were they consumed of and
slain by? They're trespasses and sins. Trespasses, sins. Trespasses,
sins. Offenses against God. Rebellions
against God. Who is included in that? You are. I am. We are sinners. We are sinners. We're true sinners. You are,
I am. We are sinners. The moment that we forget that,
that's the moment that the spiritual bread of Christ becomes common. Honestly. The moment we forget the utter
wretched pit from which we were digged, the scripture says, not just sinners, but us. I mean us, from which we were
digged. The moment we forget that, that's
the moment that the sacrificed body and blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ becomes a little too common to us. Yeah, we have this often. It's irregular at our house.
Yeah, it's good. Yeah, we like it. You understand
what I'm saying? Just a little too common. Just
a little too common. The moment that we lose, you
know, we're just saying, oh, how merciful. The moment we forget
the pit from which we were digged, the moment we lose sight of the
utter wretchedness of our sin, we lose the glory of His mercy. We lose the glory of just how
merciful. Shamefully, I mean so shamefully.
Our flesh, we don't want to, we don't want to, but our flesh
does. It honestly says, yeah, I know
all that. Yeah, I know all that. Is there
anything else? Is that all there is? Lord, please don't let us forget
who we are by nature. and what we are by nature and
what you did for us in spite of the condition that we were
in, not just sinners, but me. Me, don't let me forget the pit
from which I was digged. Don't let me forget that. The
apostle Paul says right here to me, literally to me in verse
one, he says, and you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses
and sins. You put your name in there, Gabe
Stoniker. You were dead. You were dead
in your trespasses and sins, but he quickened you. He revived
you, made you alive. Verse two says, wherein in time
past, you 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. He said, you did the things and
desired the things that were right in step with the adversary. We think about Him, you know,
just evil, just everything that's against God, everything that
is the opposite of God. He said, you were right in step
with Him. The Prince of the power of the air. Right in step with the enemies
of God. You were the children of, that
means the offspring of. You were the followers of, you
were the images of. Disobedience. Everything that's
contrary to God. Wait a minute, who was? Verse
three says, all of us. You know, clearly some people
we can, we can tell that, yeah, they're contrary to God. You
know, we can tell by what we see in them. All you gotta do
is look at them. Yeah, they're contrary to God, just wicked. You know,
if you think about what God saw in me, and what God saw in you,
when God looked down upon the children of men, and what he
saw, the sin that he saw, we will never see what he saw. The transgression, just utter,
utter transgression, utter rebellion that he saw in me. The death that he saw in me. Verse three says, among whom
also we all had our conversation, in times past, in the lust of
our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others." Do
we really enter into what that's saying? We all had our conversation,
we all had our way of life in the lust of our flesh. fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of our minds, and we were by
nature, just by nature, the children of wrath, even as others. We think that we are better than
anybody. We are deceiving ourselves and
the truth is not in us. As we go and as we grow, if the
Lord is pleased to keep us in assembly, keep us a congregation
and give us a new building and things are, you know, let's not
forget who we are, what we are, where we came from. Let's not
forget that. Let's not leave that. Let's never
leave. We're no better than anybody
in my flesh. I'm no better than anybody. If
I ever get to the place where that's what I think about myself,
I'm deceiving myself. That Pharisee in the temple and
the publican, the Lord proved, proved to him. He said, well,
I'm not like that, man. Lord said, not justified. There's not a soul on this earth
that in his or her flesh deserves more wrath from God than I do
and you do. There's not a soul on this earth. I deserve it. You deserve it. We all deserve it. We all come
from the same lump, literally. We were all sitting on the same
dunghill, all infected with the same sin. Verse 4 says, but God, who is
rich in mercy, rich soul, rich in mercy. So rich in mercy. I've told you
that so many times the story of that man whose son was about
to go to prison. And just before they were going
to take him off and put him in jail, the man's father was in
the courtroom and asked the judge if he could speak to him. And
the judge said, yes. And he said, your honor, is there
any room for mercy? And the judge said, based on
what your son has done, he doesn't deserve mercy. And the man said,
that's true. But if he deserved it, it wouldn't
be mercy. Mercy is for the undeserving,
the undeserving, the ones who don't deserve it. And this makes
me fall in love with our God. Verse four says, but God who
is, what is God like? What is he? He is rich in mercy. for His great love wherewith
He loved us. Us, mercy on us. Who is mercy
for? The people in verses one through
three. If you wanna know who mercy's for, it's for the people
right here in verses one through three. It's not for those who
in their flesh think that they're right with God. Mercy is for
the people right here in verses one through three. That's who
God said his love on. Verse four says, but God who
is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us. Who are the us? Verse 1 says, it's you who were
dead and buried in sins, covered in sins. Sins upon sins upon
sins. Verse 4 says, but God was rich
in mercy because He chose to give His eternal love to sinners,
not the righteous. And when we hear that, don't
we say, thank God, not the righteous, but sinners. The longer we live, the more
we will come to know of our sin for two reasons. Number one,
we'll have more opportunity to sin and we'll have more time
to think about our sin. We're going to become more and
more acquainted with our sin. As I grow older, I would love
for that to get better, but it's not going to. It's not going to at all. and knowing that He chose to
put His love and put His mercy on sinners. That's the greatest
news we'll ever hear. Did He put a stipulation on His
love towards sinners? Was His love conditional on the
fact that we no longer be sinners before He would love us? No,
verse 5 right here says, even when we were dead in sins, He
quickened us together with Christ. By grace, you are saved. By grace, even while we were
dead in sin. Romans 5 says, when we were yet
without strength, in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous
man will one die. Yet peradventure for a good man,
some would even dare to die. But God commended his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Some people say and believe that
God's mercy is only for the little bitty sinners, just the small
sinners. That's not what God says. He
said that it's for the ungodly, his mercy. is for the ungodly. Do we believe that? Honestly, do we believe that? You know, you think about the depths of our depravity.
Do we believe that, that God would show mercy on the ungodly? We will if He ever reveals our
ungodliness to us. He said, you have, he quickened,
you have, he made alive. You have, he given eternal life
to how did he do that? How did he quicken his dead centers? Verse five says he quickened
us together with Christ. He gave us the free gift of Christ
by grace. You are saved. By grace, what
does that mean? When he says by grace you are
saved, what does that mean? Verse six, it means he hath raised
us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in
Christ Jesus. God the Father has joined us
to Christ. sealed us in Christ. He has raised us up together
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Verse 7 says that in the ages
to come, He might show the exceeding riches of His grace, the riches
of His gift, the riches of His favor, in His kindness toward us through
Christ Jesus. Verse 8 says, for by grace are
you saved. That means you did not earn it.
That means you did not do anything worthy of it. God did not see
any worthiness in you to receive it. He freely gave it to you
in spite of you. He freely gave it in spite of
you. In spite of what you had earned. You know, we earned something. but it wasn't His grace, wasn't
the gift of Christ. We were worthy of something,
but it wasn't Christ. But He gave Christ to us in spite
of what we had earned, in spite of what we were worthy of. Verse
eight says, for by grace are you saved through faith. That means through looking to
Christ, looking to Christ. Look to Christ, look to Christ,
cast it all on Christ. Verse eight says, and that faith,
that ability to look to Christ, that's not of yourselves. That's
the gift of God. You know, look to Christ. You
talk about taking something for granted. Not appreciating the ability.
That's not of ourselves. That ability is not of ourselves.
That's the gift of God to us. That's the present of God. This
sinful, wicked flesh wants to boast of everything it can. It'll boast of everything, every
chance it gets. Verse nine says, it's 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." There's no room for boasting. There's no room for boasting.
I have shown people the Word of God and said, do you see what
it says right there? And they can't see it. They can't
see it and they don't believe it because they can't believe
it. Now, I might have turned around and say, well, I understand
it. What's wrong with you? No way. There's no room for boasting. This is all by grace, through
faith. This is His work and He gets
the glory for it. Verse 11 says, Wherefore, remember,
let's not forget. Let's not forget. Let's not let these things become
common. And, you know, we've had a few
messages recently on asking and seeking and knocking, and we
have not because we ask not and such on and so forth. The only way these things are
not going to become common to us is if we beg the Lord, please
don't let them become common to us. Please don't let my flesh
enter your worship service saying, I've heard all that before. Prone
to do that, Lord, I feel it. Lord, please, if I'm gonna be
fed, if I'm gonna be nourished, It's going to have to come from
you. It's going to have to come from your hand. It's going to
have to be your gift to me. So Lord, I'm begging you, please
give that gift to me. Please don't let this become
common. Please don't let me be standing in this pulpit 40 years
from now, just going through the motions. Please. Wherefore remember, He said,
let's not forget. Let's not let these things become
common. Let's not become desensitized to the point that we can no longer
appreciate and relish and savor the things that God has done
for us in the person of our Savior. Verse 11 says, wherefore remember
that you being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called
uncircumcision." That means heathens, outcasts. Gentiles in the flesh who are
called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision
in the flesh made by hands. that at that time you were without
Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers
from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God
in the world. Aren't you so glad that's not
where you are? Aren't you so glad there are
so many people in this world who are without God with no hope,
so many people in this world. And except for these two words,
but God, that would be us. That would
be us. No hope without God in the world. Look at verse 13, it says, but
now in Christ Jesus. You who sometimes were far off
are made nigh by the blood of Christ. You who were so far have
been brought so close, so near. The hymn writer wrote by nature
and by practice far by nature. and by practice far, how very
far from God. Yet now by grace brought nigh
to Him through faith in Jesus' blood." By His grace brought
nigh to Him. And now near, so very near to
God, I cannot nearer be. For in the person of His Son,
I am as near as He. As near as He is, that's how
near I am. And dear, so very dear to God,
more dear I cannot be for the love wherewith He loves the Son,
such is His love for me. Why should I ever anxious be
since such a God is mine? He watches o'er me night and
day and tells me thou art mine. He said a mind at perfect peace
with God. Oh, what a word is this? A sinner reconciled through blood. This indeed is peace. A mind at perfect peace with
God. Perfect peace with God. He said,
don't ever forget what you were because it'll make you appreciate
what you've been made to be. Verse 11 says, wherefore remember
that you being in time past Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision
by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands, that
at that time you were without Christ being aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise,
having no hope and without God in the world, but now in Christ
Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the
blood of Christ, for he is our peace." Do you want peace? He is our peace. who hath made both one, and hath
broken down the middle wall of partition between us. He has joined Himself to us. Sinful, wicked, vile, outcast
us. Joined Himself to us. And He
is our peace. If you need peace, He is it. Go to Him, because He's it. Verse 14 says, He is our peace
who hath made both one and hath broken down the middle wall of
partition between us, having abolished in His flesh the enmity,
even the law of commandments contained in ordinances for to
make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace." He
brought the law down on our disobedience. We were the children of wrath
just like everybody else. We walked according to the course
of the prince of the power of the air. We were dead in sin. And he brought all the wrath
down for our disobedience on his own flesh. in His own flesh. He administered the judgment.
He administered the punishment for that long list of sins that
the law had against us. Could you imagine how long the
list would be if all of our sins were written down? They are.
They are. Everyone was accounted for. And
He administered all the judgment and all the punishment. He did
that to Himself in His own flesh when He hung there on the cross
of Calvary for us. Verse 15 says, Having abolished
in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained
in ordinances, for to make in Himself of twain one new man,
so making peace, and that he might reconcile both unto God
in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby." He
abolished the enmity, means we were enemies with God. And in
his death, the law and justice, everything cried, enemies no
more, no more enemies. And if your Bible's like mine,
that last word in verse 16, thereby says, in himself, that he might
reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain
the enmity in himself. Because of what he did for us,
we have the same access that He has. Verse 17 says, He came
and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that
were nigh, for through Him we both have access by one Spirit
unto the Father. The same access He has, we have. As welcome as He is, that's how
welcome we are. Verse 19 says, Now therefore
you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens
with the saints and of the household of God, I don't care how sinful
you feel. I don't care how sinful you don't
feel. Come to think of it, that's not in my notes, but we don't
feel nearly sinful enough. That's a great sin, I'll be honest
with you. The fact that we don't feel our
sin is a great sin. But if we do, if the Lord has
revealed that to us, it does not matter how sinful we feel.
It doesn't matter how much of an outcast we feel that we ought
to be and deserve to be. Martin Luther said, feelings
come and feelings go and feelings are deceiving. My warrant is
the word of God. Nothing else is worth believing.
Though all my heart should feel condemned for lack of some sweet
token, there is one greater than my heart whose word cannot be
broken. I'll trust in God's unchanging
Word till soul and body sever, for though all things shall pass
away, His Word shall stand forever." And this is His Word to every
sinner whose hope is totally in the Lord Jesus Christ. He
said, in Christ Jesus, verse 19, now therefore, you are no
more strangers and foreigners. but fellow citizens with the
saints and of the household of God and are built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the
chief cornerstone. You may feel like you're standing
on shaky sand and boy, do I feel that a lot. But feelings come, feelings go,
and feelings are deceiving. He said, you're standing on the
solid rock. That's what He said. Verse 20, Jesus Christ Himself
being the chief cornerstone. Verse 21 says, in whom all the
building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in
the Lord, in whom you also are builded together for inhabitation
of God through the Spirit. That means he said you are in
him and he is in you. Verse 21 says, in the Lord, in
whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy
temple in the Lord. Verse 22, in whom you also are
builded together for and habitation of God through the spirit. You live in him. He lives in
you. You cannot leave or forsake somebody
in that kind of union. You just can't do it. We live
in him. He lives in us. That is total
security with Christ. Total absolute security with
Christ. I pray that the Lord will help
us. I pray that the Lord will help
us. I pray that the Lord will cause us to know our frame. and
remember that we are dust just like he does. And I pray the
Lord will allow us to never ever lose our savor for Jesus Christ
and him crucified. Because we will, we have, and
we do. May the Lord bring it back to
us. Sometimes a week in the desert is not the worst thing in the
world. May the Lord help us. May the
Lord truly let us feed on that. I want, and I know you do too,
I want to relish that. I want to savor it. I want to grow by it. And I pray
the Lord will let us do it. I pray he'll let us feed on that.
I pray he'll let us come to the table every time hungry, like it's the first time we've
ever tasted it. I pray he will. All right, let's
all stand together.