Go with me if you would back
to Ephesians chapter 2. I have a message tonight for
anybody who is just like me. A real true sinner. Sometimes after my mind processes
that and agrees with it, sometimes after that happens,
I'm able to drop down into my heart and enter in for just a
second how true that is. You ever do that? Your brain
goes, yep, I'm a sinner. And then just for one second,
you drop down into your heart and you realize, oh man, I am
a sinner. I'm a real sinner. God's good
news is for sinners. Not people who used to be sinners.
Sinners. That's who His peculiar people
are. Sinners. Now, in Ephesians 2 verse 1,
you'll notice that the three words, Hath He quickened? Those are in italics and that
means they were added by the translators and that is one good
addition. That's a wonderful addition.
Let's read it though without those three words like it was
originally written. It says, and you who were dead
in trespasses and sins. That's who he is writing to.
Sinners who were dead in trespasses and sins. What does dead in trespasses
and sins mean? It means totally, physically,
spiritually separated from God who is life. totally separated from the One
who is life. Look at verse 12. 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. That's what spiritually
dead is. Not welcome in his presence. Not welcome. A trespasser. A stranger. One that he will
not know. He said, I never knew you. He
will not know. It's a soul who has no hope because
of his or her own sin. No hope. It's a soul who's going to be
left in the world without God when He sends down His fiery
destruction. Left in the world without God.
That's who He's talking to. That's who He's saying all of
this to. Verse 1 says, And you who were dead in trespasses in
sins, wherein in time past, that means all of your life, all of
my life, we walked according to the course of this world,
dead to God, dead to everything that was good and right and pure
and honest, but alive to sin. We walked in it. We walked in
it, alive to everything that's evil and wicked and wretched.
alive to the control of the adversary. Verse 2 says, wherein in time
past you walked according to the course of this world, according
to the prince of the power of the air. That's the adversary.
He said, I'm talking to those who were thrilled to be in his
captivity. Not just in his captivity, thrilled
to be in it, thrilled to be his servants. lived and thrived on
every evil way, loved it, loved evil, soaked it up like a sponge,
preferred it, verse 2 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 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." That means this describes
every person in this room without exception. Every person here
has spent an entire lifetime fulfilling the lusts and desires
of his or her own flesh and is naturally a child of wrath against
the God who made us. We wish it wasn't so, don't we?
We wish it was not so. We cannot help it though. The
end of verse 3 says, it's our nature by nature. It's what we
are. It's what we are. I can stop
doing what I'm doing. If I'm doing something I shouldn't
be doing, I can stop doing that. But I cannot stop being what
I am. I cannot stop. And religion's trying
to tell people, you better stop doing what you're doing. And
they can do that. They can do it all day long. But a sinner cannot stop being
what he is. The problem for sinners is not
what they've done. That's not the problem. The problem
is what they are. What they are. Look with me at
Isaiah 64. Isaiah 64 verse 6, But we are all as an unclean
thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, and we all
do fade as a leaf And our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us
away." He said, that's what we are. Just like a leper, one who
was eaten up with leprosy, had to cry, unclean, unclean. All these wounds and bruises
and putrefying sores, rotting flesh, that's all we are. Everything
we think we're doing right is wrong in God's eyes. Everything
this flesh thinks it's doing right is wrong in God's eyes. Not just wrong, it's a filthy
rag to Him. And we're dying. He said we're
fading as a leaf. And our sin has cast us out,
taken us away. And there's nothing we can do
about it. Nothing we can do about it. It's
what we are. All of us. There's no room for
pride in any of us. There's none righteous, no not
one. Man at his best state is altogether
vanity, empty, worthless, and there's nothing we can do about
it. Jeremiah 13 says, Can the Ethiopian change his skin? Or can the leopard, that big
cat in his fur, Can the leopard change his spots? No. They cannot change what they
are and neither can we. Cannot change what we are. In
our flesh, we are a hopeless condition. Alright, now go back
to Ephesians 2. Verse 4 says, But God. Get your concordance out sometime. Whoever has a concordance, get
it out and look at the two words, but God. Look at all the scriptures
that say, but God. There's a lot of them. It's a
blessing. But God. But God. Salvation in two words. But God. Verse 4 says, who is rich in
mercy. There is one thing that I need
and there is one thing that you need and it's mercy. I told you about that man who
his son was standing in a courtroom being sentenced to prison and The man, the father, asked
if he could speak to the judge, ask if he could say something
to the judge, and he said, Your Honor, is there any room for
mercy? And the judge said, Your son
doesn't deserve mercy. And he said, I know. But if he
deserved it, it wouldn't be mercy. That judge did not give it to
him. He went to prison. Verse 4 says,
but God who is rich in mercy. Rich in mercy. You know what
rich means? You know what rich means? It
means plenty. Plenty of mercy. Abounding in,
overflowing with mercy. Your honor, is there any room
for mercy? The judge of the earth is the
greatest judge that has ever lived. The kindest judge. Holy
and reverend is his name. Does he abide by the law? Absolutely
he does. But there is no judge like this
judge. Is there any room for mercy,
your honor? He has infinitely more mercy
than we have sin. All of us put together. All of
his people throughout every generation of the world. He has infinitely
more mercy than we have sin. Verse four says, but God who
is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us. Rich
in mercy. Rich in love. He said it is great
love. This is great love. There's love
and then there's great love. It's great because it was eternal
love. Eternal love. Before the foundation
of the world, love. He said before I ever formed
you in the belly, I loved you. I knew you. from eternity to eternity. It's
great because it's sovereign love. Hail sovereign love that
first began the scheme to rescue fallen man. He gives it to whom
he will. And here's the glory of that.
Alright? Sovereign, right? He gives it
to whom he will. And here's the glory of that.
In spite of them, He gives it to whom He will in
spite of them. In spite of them. Neither Esau
nor Jacob deserved His mercy. Neither one of them. But in spite
of Jacob, God said, I'm going to give it to him anyway. He
was the worst one. God said, I'm giving it to him
anyway. Turn with me over to Ezekiel 16. Ezekiel 16 verse 1 says, Again
the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, cause
Jerusalem to know her abominations. You remind her, remind my people
of their sin against me. And say, Thus saith the Lord
God unto Jerusalem, Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land
of Canaan. Thy father was an Amorite, and
thy mother a Hittite. And as for thy nativity, in the
day thou was born, thy navel was not cut, neither was thou
washed in water to supple thee. Thou wast not salted at all,
nor swaddled at all. None I pitied thee to do any
of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee. But thou was cast
out into the open field to the loathing of thy person in the
day that thou was born. You were just left there to die
in your sin. Verse 8 says, Now when I passed by thee and looked
upon thee, behold, Thy time was a time of love, and I spread
my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness. Yea, I swear unto
thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God,
and thou becamest mine. Then washed I thee with water. Yea, I throughly washed away
thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil. I clothed thee
also with broidered work, and shod thee with badger skin, and
I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with
silk. I decked thee also with ornaments,
and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck,
and I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and
a beautiful crown upon thy head. Thus was thou decked with gold
and silver, and thy raiment was of fine linen and silk embroidered
work. Thou didst eat fine flour and
honey and oil, and thou was exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper
into a kingdom. And thy renown went forth among
the heathen for thy beauty, for it was perfect through my comeliness,
which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God." That's the story
of every saved sinner. harlots, murderers, thieves,
every saved sinner says, but God who is rich in mercy for
his great love wherewith he loved me. That's my story. That's the testimony of a child
of God. Not my love for him, his love
for me. His love for me, great love.
I'll tell you something else that makes his love great. It's
unchangeable. It is unchangeable. He said,
I am the Lord, I change not. My love that I chose to put on
you before you were ever even born, that will not change. That's why you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. Never change. He loved us in
our worst. He loved us while we were at
the bottom, even when we were dead in sins. How can a holy, righteous, just
God do that? How can a holy and righteous
and just judge and God do that? absolute God who hates sin. How can God hate sin and love
us when that's all that we are? How? Go with me back to Ephesians
2. Ephesians 2 verse 4, But God,
who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved
us, even when we were dead in sins, he quickened us together
with Christ. He made us and his own Son to
be one. One. Look again at verse 12, 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. He united us with the blood of
His Son. He united us with the blood that
was spilled on the cross of Calvary. And that blood was spilled on
the cross of Calvary because He united us to Him. He united
us whenever He died. And He died because God united
us to Him. God the Father took the actual
sin that we committed on January the 24th, 2018. And a word that I want to really
stress is actual. God the Father took the actual
sin that we committed on today and laid it on His Son. He didn't
take the theory of the sin we committed today. He didn't take
the idea of just a general, let's just lump everything into a general.
He took what we did today and laid it on his own son. And he
hated it. He hated what he saw. He loathed
it. He was angry with it. And he
poured out his punishment and wrath on what we did today, even though it was on his own
son. Even though he poured out all
his wrath, even though it was on his own son. He killed us
in Him. Not just the sin, He killed the
sinner. He gave us exactly what we deserved. And verse 13 says, Now in Christ
Jesus, you who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the
blood of Christ. For 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." When Christ
took our sin, he gave us all of his righteousness. God the
Father took the actual righteousness that Christ committed every day
that He walked this earth. We walked in sin. He walked in
righteousness. And God took His actual righteousness
and laid it on us. And He loved it. When He saw
it, He loved it. He adored it. He was pleased
with it. And He poured out all the blessings
of heaven on it. Even though it was on us. Even
though it was on us. Now the end of verse 5, if you
look back at verse 5, it says, By grace you are saved. By that transaction of grace,
You are saved. I love how that's worded. By grace, you are saved. We can't do anything about that. We can't do anything about it.
We can't change it. In Christ, we are what we are. Can't do anything about it. We
are what we are by the grace of God. The gospel is a notification
to poor, helpless, needy sinners that know if I don't have the
mercy of God, I'm going to die in my sins. If I don't have that,
I'm going to die in my wretched sins. When God sends the gospel
to a sinner like that, the gospel tells that sinner, by grace,
you are saved. You are saved. Not, you can be
saved. Aren't you so glad the gospel
does not tell sinners that? You can be saved. I don't want
to hear that. The gospel does not say, you
are almost saved. I don't want to hear that. The
gospel comes, and this is what's so amazing to me about the gospel.
I count it such a privilege to get to do this, to get to tell
this. It is such a joyous privilege
to tell sinners who are needy and hurting, you believe on Christ
totally. And you get rid of all your own
works. And you loathe what you see in yourself. And you trust
everything He did that it's accomplished and finished and paid and done. And you rest right there and
you are saved. You are saved. And verse 6 says,
Seated with Him. He's raised us up together and
made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. You know
what that seat is called? The Mercy Seat. We're seated right there side
by side with Him on the Mercy Seat. He said, that's where I'll
meet with you. I'll meet with you on the Mercy Seat. If God has given us faith, if
He has truly given us faith to believe His Word. Verse 8 says,
that's not of ourselves, that's the gift of God. the grace of
God, it's the evidence that we are saved. If He's given us that
faith to believe what this Word says, believe on Christ, we are
saved. We are. And if we are, if He's
our Savior, if He's received us to Himself, let's run to Him.
Let's run to Him. Cast our all on the Savior. Cast our all on His mercy. Cast
it all on His grace. He said, every sinner who does
that, I will in no wise cast him out. I will not do it. I will not do it. That is glorious
news of mercy and grace. I love how in Hebrews 4, it says
we can approach his throne with boldness that we may find mercy
and grace to help in time of need. You know, a lot of times
I don't even realize how much I need the mercy and the grace
until I hear about it and then go, I didn't have any idea how
much I needed to hear about it one more time. I forgot how much
I needed to hear about it. Abundant mercy and grace. Thank
God for it. Let's all stand together.