Good morning. If you will, turn with me in
your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2. I've got to load my electronic device,
that might get me in trouble. You know, it's good to have some
notes to be easy to follow and don't just run off on tangents,
but most important thing is that we know our message in our heart,
that God has laid his word on our hearts and I trust he has
and pray he would enable us to worship him this hour. Ephesians
chapter 2, let's look here at verse 1. Ephesians 2 verse 1 says, and
you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. I feel like this is a very familiar
passage among God's people. We say it often, we were dead
in trespasses and sins, and we all were. But notice that Paul
wrote here, he said, you hath he quickened. We're all dead,
but God has quickened somebody. And if you will, just flip back
a page and look at Ephesians 1 verse 1. I want to be sure
we know who he's talking to here. You hath he quickened. Because
some men will tell you, God loves you, when the fact is, who are
they to say that? How do they know? How do we know
whom God loves? Let's look in his word. Ephesians
1 verse 1 says, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will
of God, I mean, he was an apostle by the will of God. He didn't
put himself in the ministry. So we can trust what he's writing.
And we know that the scripture is inspired by God. We need to
believe what he wrote here. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ
by the will of God. to the saints, which are at Ephesus. He wrote this especially to the
saints at Ephesus. He wrote this epistle to those
saints in particular. But it also says, and to the
faithful in Christ Jesus. If you're a saint, you are faithful.
You're one of the faithful in Christ Jesus. And this applies
to us. We are the saints gathered at
Spring Lake, North Carolina. The faithful in Christ Jesus
at Spring Lake, North Carolina. So this is written to God's people,
God's saints, wherever they are. His saints scattered all over
the world, but not to everybody. It's sitting for everybody. Not
everybody's been quickened, but I pray this message would be
for everybody. If you're here today dead in
your trespasses and sins, I pray God would quicken you by His
grace. Now I must note, if you are a saint, if you are one of
the faithful in Christ Jesus, you're sitting here today believing
on Christ, you have been quickened. But that means that you were
dead. Here we see it. You hath be quickened who were
dead. If we've been quickened, we were dead. Now, when I think
about that, you think about being dead. Well, what does that mean?
We're going to look at that in just a minute, what exactly that
means. But simply, it means we were dead, completely dead. And
we'll turn there in just a second, but we've been brought from death
to life. To be quickened, you're brought
from death to life. Well, you say, well, we're not dead. We're
all sitting here, aren't we? I'm not dead. Well, the fact
is we're all born into this world dead in our trespasses and sins.
I mentioned that in the first message about one man's disobedience. We were all sinners. We're all
born in this world, sinners in Adam, and we sin, come forth
from our mother's womb, speak in lies. We're dead in our trespasses
and sins. And for us to be quickened, God
must quicken us. We cannot quicken ourselves.
I mean, I'm sure you hear it from men who preach here all
the time, your decision means absolutely nothing. Your decision
of mine was crucify him, crucify him. We put the Son of God to
death, truly we did, in our hearts. That's what it is to be dead.
Now I ask you, have you been quickened? Have you been quickened?
You either have or you haven't. And I also mention this in the
first message, if you haven't, If you've not yet called upon
the name of the Lord for salvation, you're not yet looking to Christ,
seeking Him. As long as you're alive, there's still hope. Call
upon Him while He is near. He may be found. You seek Him,
you'll find Him. Have you been quickened? There's just one qualification. You know, some will say, do you
want to be saved? Well, of course. No one wants to go to hell, but
a lot of us, we would all choose hell. And that may sound strange,
but, and we'll see this again as I get further along here,
One qualification of being quickened is we must be dead. You hath
he quickened who were dead. I said it already, we're all
born into this world dead in trespasses and sins. Wherefore,
as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin,
so death pass upon all men, for that all have sinned. With all
sin it comes short of the glory of God. Now, what is it to be
dead? What is it to be dead in trespasses
and sins? Before I get into that, I want
us to look at John chapter 11. You're probably familiar with
Lazarus. I've always thought of this when I consider that
we truly are dead in our sins. We can compare that to being
physically dead, because people will say, yeah, well, we're dead,
but we can make a decision. I've never seen a dead man decide
to get up and, you know, you ever been to a funeral and he
just got up out of the casket and started walking around shaking
your hand saying, why are you here? No. but to be spiritually dead,
you know, it's the same thing. We're dead. Look here in John
chapter 11. Martha came to the Lord. She said, Lord, he whom
thou lovest is sick. She told him he's been dead four
days. Lord, he stinketh. But look down
here. Look down here at verse 21. John 11, 21 says, Then said Martha
unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not
died. But I know that even now, whatsoever
thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee. Jesus saith unto
her, Thy brother shall rise again. Martha saith unto him, I know
that he shall rise again in the resurrection. At the last day,
Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, though he were dead. We're dead in our trespasses
and sins. Though he were dead, yet shall
he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Believest thou this? And I love
her response. She saith unto him, Yea, Lord,
I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which shall come
into the world. And look down in verse 43. Verse 43 says, and when he, the
Lord Jesus, thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus,
come forth. Oh, and the next verse makes
me rejoice. Verse 44, and he that was dead came forth. You hath he quickened who were
dead in trespasses and sins. The Lord says, come forth. You're
going to come forth. God speaks life into our dead
souls. He says, come forth, we come
forth. If God quickens us, we are going to be quickened. Now
I want us to consider briefly, what exactly does it mean to
be dead in trespasses and sins? Our text here gives us an explanation
of what it means. Look with me, Ephesians 2 verse
1, 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." We all come into this world and
we seek the world. The more we're here, we love
the world. When we're young, I remember I was young and I
had all these plans. I wanted to get married and build the
biggest house in the world and have a pool and a basketball
court, everything in my house. I wanted to have all the money
in the world and a great job and go to and love it. We naturally
pursue the world. We pursue the things of this
world. And here it says, to be dead in trespass and sins is
to walk according to the course of this world. I want to show
you a couple of verses over in 1 John 2. I'm here to warn you,
do not love the world. Do not love the world. There's
a verse that says, God has set the world in their heart. And
all that means is God is leaving us alone. He's leaving us to
our desires, because that is our desire. Let me show you this,
1 John chapter 2, verse 15. It says, love not the world. Love
not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any
man love the world, Be sure you get this, if any man love the
world, the love of the Father, the love of God the Father, is
not in him. It's not in him. For all that is in the world,
the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of
life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world
passeth away, and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of
God abideth forever. We're commanded to not love this world. And I'll
tell you this, we cannot love the world and love God. There's
a verse that says, well let me, I'm always afraid I'll misquote
these verses. It's in Hebrews, I'm sorry, I think it's in James
chapter four. The Lord talks about being the
friend of the world. The friendship of the world is
enmity with God. Is that what it says? Ye adulterers
and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world
is enmity with God? Well, I don't want to love the
world then. If I love the world, that means I'm the enemy of God.
It says, whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world
is the enemy of God. We ought not to love this world,
but until God quickens us by his grace, we do love the world.
We walk according to the world. There was a verse that says,
the Lord told his disciples, he said, you are not of the world,
but I've chosen you out of the world. That gives me hope. I
know that God, we're all dead in trespasses and sins. God quickens
somebody. God sets Christ in somebody's
heart. He takes the world out of our
hearts. You are not of the world. That makes me rejoice greatly.
I pray that I would be one of those people to whom God said,
you're not of the world. I've chosen you out of the world. When God quickens us, we don't
walk according to the world anymore. We don't, we don't seek the things
of this life. We don't seek the things of this
world because we know they all perish. I urge you, if you still
walk according to the course of this world, when you sit here
and you think about the things you want, the things you long
for in this life, if it's money, if it's fame, popularity, a good,
easy life, I mean, these are things we naturally want. But
if that's all you've got, if that's all you're hoping for,
it's all you can wait for, I pray that God would quicken you. I
pray that God would quicken you. Naturally, we walk after the
flesh. not after the Spirit. But when God quickens us, we
walk after the Spirit, not after the flesh. It means we live by
faith, not by sight. What is it to be dead and trespassed? In Psalms, look at verse 2 again,
wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this
world, according to the prince of the power of the air, as Satan,
the devil, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. What he's saying is, to be dead
in trespasses and sins is truly to worship Satan himself. And that may sound ridiculous,
but I know that's true. Because in John chapter 8, there
were some Jews who confronted the Lord, and they said, Abraham's
our father. They were seeking to kill the
Lord. He said, Abraham's not your father. You don't do the
works of Abraham. He said, you are of your father,
the devil. Now, mind you. These are people
who profess to know Christ. These are people, the same ones
the Lord was referring to in Matthew chapter 7, when he said,
Many shall say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, we've done many
wonderful works in thy name. We prophesied, we preached in
your name, we cast out devils in your name. There are many
people, sadly, in church this morning, using the name of Jesus,
who worship Satan and they don't know it. If that doesn't just strike your
heart with sadness and fear, I don't know what will. You know,
we talk about devils and we think of just the drunks on the street
and people committing the most heinous crimes. But the worst
sin of all takes place right here in churches. And sadly,
it's promoted from from pulpits and just many who are outwardly
religious. You know, they go on mission
trips and they seek to do good. They say, I don't sin anymore.
Stop cussing, stop drinking and smoking and living right. And
yet they worship Satan and have no clue. God has sent them strong
delusion that they should believe a lie. You know, it breaks my heart
to think about that. But when I remind you and remind
myself, people who do that are dead. That was us. Before God
quickened us by His grace, we worshipped Satan and didn't know
it. We ought to be thankful for the grace of God, His quickening
power. Because if it were not for that,
if it were not for our almighty God who saves his people, we'd
be right there, lost, no clue. I'm as sure of heaven as if I'm
already there, only to hear the Lord say to us in that day, I
never knew you. I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that
work iniquity. You know, if you want to know,
how can you say that? How can you say people worship
Satan and they don't know it? Ask them what they think about God.
Say, well, what do you believe? Tell me about your God. Oh, well,
he loves me. He tells me to do good. He's
always with me. I'm living for him. I'm living
for Jesus. You know, ask them what they think about themselves.
Well, I'm a good person. I'm a good Christian boy. She's
a good Christian woman. You know, that's obvious to us
who know God. That, you know, someone talks
like that, unfortunately, they're of their father, the devil. But
they're not out of God's, out of the reach of God's grace.
His arm is not shortened that it cannot save. No, sir. No,
sir. What is it to be dead in trespasses
and sins? Look at verse two again. 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." To be dead
in trespasses and sins is to be disobedient to God. And that's
us. That's all of us. You know, even
after God has quickened us by his grace, You know, would we
be honest if we say that we're obedient to God? I mean, by His
grace, we're His workmanship. He works in us to will and to
do of His good pleasure. But especially by nature, we're
disobedient to God. We disobey all God's commands.
Everything we think about God is wrong. I just mentioned it.
You know, we think God loves everyone. We think if God loves
anyone, it's me. Of course, Christ died for everyone,
otherwise that wouldn't be fair. You know, that's the way we think
by nature. But let me read you what the
Lord says. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are
your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are
higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways,
and my thoughts than your thoughts. You know, we, the carnal mind
is enmity against God. We're completely contrary to
God. We're sinners. God's holy. Every way of a man is right in
his own eyes. We seek out, after many inventions, we think we
got it all, we think we know it all, we think we're, I've
got it now. Every way of a man is right in
his own eyes, but the Lord pondereth the hearts. The Lord pondereth
the hearts. I want to show you a verse in
Jeremiah chapter 3. This matter of being disobedient
to God, we see it right here. Jeremiah chapter 3, verse 25. Jeremiah 3.25 says, we lie down in our shame. and our confusion covereth us.
For we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers,
from our youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed the
voice of the Lord our God. We're dead in our trespasses
and sins, walking according to the course of this world, worshiping
Satan and not knowing it, being disobedient to God. God says,
live by faith, we live by sight. Everything God commands, we just,
it's like it doesn't matter, because we make ourselves God.
That's something a dead person will do, and that's what we all
do by nature. Look back at our text, Ephesians chapter two.
What is it to be dead in trespasses and sins? Look at verse three. Among whom we also, we all had
our conversation or our living, our behavior in times past, and
the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and
of the mind. I just read you those verses
from 1st John chapter 2 about loving the world, and it says,
you love the world. That's not of the Father. That's
not of the Father. And it said, what is in the world?
The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of
life. Here it says, to be dead in trespasses and sins is to
walk according to the lust of our flesh. And again, that's
us. That's us. That's every single
person in this room. And I want to read you a couple
of verses. If you will, turn with me to James chapter 4. I
just quoted a verse from there a minute ago, but I want you
to see this. James chapter 4. Look with me in verse 1, if you
will. James chapter 4, verse 1. From whence come wars and fighting
among you? Come they not, hence, even of
your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not. Ye kill, and desire to have.
and cannot obtain. Ye fight and war, yet ye have
not, because ye ask not. Ye ask and receive not, because
ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lust." You know, people will say, you
pray for something, you ask for it, in Christ's name, God will
give it to you. And the scriptures say that,
but what it's talking about, you ask God for what God's promised
to give. You ask God for faith. You seek
his mercy, you'll find it. You knock, it'll be opened unto
you. You ask, it shall be given. But how often in prayer we ask. We ask for things, even things
we think are good. Ye ask and receive not. Why? Because ye ask amiss that ye
may consume it upon your lust. We ask, we ask God for things
for ourselves. I don't know if it's possible
for us to pray without being selfish. I really don't. There's
a passage that talks about not knowing how to pray as we ought.
I mean, every time we find ourselves trying to pray, it's, Lord, I
pray you would do this. I pray you would do that. And
as hard as we try to convince ourselves, well, this would be
a good thing, this would be for God's honor and glory, God knows
what's best for His honor and glory. We have no idea. We have
no idea. We walk according to the lusts
of our flesh. We pray greedily, seeking that we may consume upon
our lusts. I pray God would help us from
that. I pray God would keep us from that evil. And lastly, what
is it to be dead in trespasses and sins? Back at our text, Ephesians
2. Look at verse 3 again. The end
of verse 3 says, We were by nature the children of wrath, even as
others. You know what a child of wrath
is? It goes back to being the child of disobedience. Children of wrath. It makes me
think some children are just wild and unruly. Their parents
have not taught them well. They've not disciplined them.
That's us. That's every single one of us.
We're here in God's creation, God's beautiful creation, and
we're his creatures. We don't acknowledge him. We
have no idea who he is. We think we're in control somehow,
and I think this puts it best. Children of wrath, all our desires
and all our passions are contrary to God. None of us, you know,
people can put on a show and be religious, but that's abominable
in the sight of God. God said concerning the Pharisees,
He said, well did Isaiah prophesy of you saying, they honor me
with their, I don't even know how to say it, but they honor
me with their mouth, their lips, but their heart's far from me.
They're religious and they can fool you, but they can't fool
God. We can put on a show of religion, but God knows the hearts.
I read it earlier, God pondereth the hearts. God looketh on the
heart. To be a child of wrath is to be a God-hater, truly a
God-hater, even though we may think we love Him. We hate God.
We walk according to the lust of our flesh, we follow this
world, we chase the things God hates, and we love ourselves.
Self-idolaters. Put ourselves in the place of
God. You know, we worship ourselves. There's a verse in Isaiah 45
that says, praying to a God that cannot save, you know what that
is? Praying to yourself. You know, put ourselves in God's
place. Truly, we're praying to ourself. But these people of
whom I'm speaking, God has quickened. I have good news. If any of that
which I described pertains to you, if I just describe you,
I've got some great news. I've got the best news you're
ever going to hear. Look at our text, verse four. God-haters, children
of wrath even as others, dead in trespasses and sins, but God. Oh, what marvelous words, 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 and his kindness toward
us through Christ Jesus. But God, who is rich in mercy,
You ever wondered what this really means? How rich in mercy is our
God? In the previous message, we talked
about things to recall to mind. It's of the Lord's mercies we're
not consumed. It's of the Lord's mercy that we have any hope.
But think about this. There's a verse that says, you
know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich,
rich in mercy, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes,
Who are you? We read a verse from Job earlier.
What is man that thou should magnify him? What is man that
thou art mindful of him? Though he was rich, yet for your
sakes he became poor. Why? That you through his poverty
might be rich. Oh, our God is so rich in mercy,
brethren. He is so rich in mercy. He is a God who delights to show
mercy. He has mercy after mercy, abounding
in mercy. God could show mercy to everybody
in this whole state, and He'd be full of mercy to show. We're
just saying, depth of mercy. Can there be mercy still reserved
for me? Oh, God, make it so, have mercy on us. Now I want
to give a few examples of what we were. We whom God has quickened,
what we were before God has quickened us by His grace. First, we were
dead, truly dead in trespasses and in sins, doomed for hell. But God has quickened us together
with Christ. Just said it, it's of His mercies
that we're not consumed already. It's of God's mercy that we're
not in hell right now, because that would be our just reward.
That's what we all deserve. We were dead, but God. Isn't that wonderful? Dead in
trespasses and sins, doomed for hell, but God. But God purposed to save somebody
from eternity. I don't know what could be better
than that. What could be better than that? But God, we were dead,
but God has showed us that we were dead, and God has quickened
us together with Christ. By grace we are saved. Second,
We're sinners. We're sinners. Sin is all we
are. We sin because we're sinners.
We're not sinners because we're sinners because we sin. That's
what we are. That is all we are. Without hope. There's a verse,
let me find it here, it's in Ephesians 2. It says, At that
time you were without Christ, being aliens, this is verse 12,
being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the
covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the
world. But God. Look at it, verse 13. But now, in Christ Jesus, ye
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. Sinners without hope,
without Christ, without God in this world, but God. But God. You know, I hear some people
say, God hates the sin, but not the sinner. Well, that's just
not true. If you're a sinner, if you're
found in your sin before God, God isn't going to cast your
sin into hell. He's going to cast you into hell. The soul
that sinneth, it must die. It shall surely die. Oh, it shall
surely die. But I've got great news. If you
know yourself to be a sinner, know this, the Lord said, or
they said, call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people
from their sins. Well, who might that be? 1 Timothy
1.15. This is a faithful saying worthy
of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners. Are you a sinner? Well, you believe
that Christ only came to die for the elect. How do I know
if I'm elect? Are you a sinner? Are you a sinner? In Matthew chapter 9, the Lord
was dwelling with some publicans and he was eating with them.
Why is he eating with publicans and sinners? You know what the
Lord said? He said, they that behold have
no need of a physician, but they that are sick. I came not to
call the righteous. I came not, if you're good, if
there's any goodness in you, I didn't come for you. came not
to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." Sinners. I ask
you again, are you a sinner? If God ever reveals to you, you
know, what I heard that guy say one time, dead and trespassing
sins, he was right. I thought I was good. I thought
I had some ability to choose God, to live for God. But I don't. I can't. I'm dead. I'm a sinner. If God ever convinces you of
sin, that that is all you are and that's all you'll ever be
apart from His grace. I've got good news for you. Christ came
to save sinners. If He ever shows you you're a
sinner, He'll show you the Savior. Oh, I pray God would reveal to
us that we are sinners. We like sheep had gone astray,
but our great shepherd has found us. I want to show you this passage
in Luke chapter 15. Luke chapter 15. This was right
before the prodigal son. And it was all one parable, the
Lord talking about being lost and him finding us. Luke chapter
15, we'll start reading in verse four. The Lord said, what man of you,
having a hundred sheep, if he lose one, if he lose just one
of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness and
go after that which is lost, that's the key word, until he
find it. And when he hath found it, if
that sheep is lost, you can mark it down, he's gonna find it.
And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth
together his friends and neighbors, saying unto them, Rejoice with
me, I have found my sheep, which was lost. Are you lost? Are you lost? If you are a lost
sheep, God will find you. We're not going to find God.
We're not going to figure God out. Scriptures say man by searching
cannot find out God. His ways are beyond finding out. The unsearchable riches of Christ
is what I'm interested in. And that's something we only
learn by divine revelation. I like this verse. I'll go ahead
and read verse 7 of that passage. I say unto you that likewise
joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than
over ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance. This used to confuse me. Who's
the Lord going to leave in the wilderness? Is he going to leave his sheep
in the wilderness? Absolutely not. He wills that his people
be with him wheresoever he is. The ninety and nine just persons
who need no repentance, that's the Pharisees. That's us, if
God leaves us to ourselves. We don't need repentance. We
don't need God to save us. We don't rejoice to read, but
God who is rich in mercy, because we don't need God. But if we're
sinners, if we're lost sheep, oh, we can rejoice to know that
God finds all his sheep. Fourth, we were blind. We were blind, blind to ourselves,
blind to God, blind to all things spiritual, but God in mercy gave
us sight of Christ and his glory. There was a man we would refer
to as blind Bartimaeus. Blind Bartimaeus, and that's
a beautiful passage of Scripture. This man was blind. He was sitting
by the highway side begging, and he heard that Jesus of Nazareth
was coming by. So what did he do? Oh, well,
I'm just going to sit here. I hope He'll come to me. You
know, God will save whom He's purposed to save, but that doesn't
excuse us from being responsible. Scriptures talk about seeking
the Lord, seek Him. You seek him, you'll find him.
Knock, it shall be opened unto you. Ask, and you will receive.
We're responsible. Bartimaeus didn't just sit there.
He stood up and he cried, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy
on me. And they told him to hold his
peace. They said, shut up. And he cried all the more. Jesus,
thou son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood still. Oh, you want to get God's attention,
you cry for mercy. And that will stop God dead in
his tracks. God has purposed to have mercy on his people.
And when he puts that cry of mercy in your heart, he will
give you mercy. He'll show you mercy. Bartimaeus
was blind. He was blind. And the Lord came
to him. He said, what will you, Bartimaeus,
that I should do unto you? He said, Lord, that I might receive
my sight. And the Lord gave him sight.
Immediately he received his sight. And not only that, it says he
followed Jesus in the way. God ever gives you sight, I talk
about praying and seeking things that we may consume upon our
lusts. You seek what God has promised to give, you seek to
receive your sight, you seek mercy, you will find it. Just
like that poor publican cried, the Pharisee saying, oh I thank
you Lord that I'm not like other men, that I'm not like that publican.
I fast twice in the week, I get tithes of all that I possess.
Me, me, me. That man didn't go home justified.
No, sir. The Lord gave him just what he
wanted. He let him boast. He let him have his glory in
this life. That publican who stood there off in the corner,
he cried, he beat upon his breast, God be merciful to me, the sinner. And we read that that man went
home justified rather than the other. For everyone that exalted
himself shall be abased, and he that humbled himself shall
be exalted. We were blind, but God has given us sight. Praise
God. Praise God. Fifth, we went about
to establish our own righteousness, but God has robed us with the
righteousness of Christ. Turn over with me to Romans chapter
10. Let me show you this. There is just one righteousness
that God will accept. We read in Isaiah that all our
righteousnesses are as filthy rags. I think Isaiah said, woe
is me, I'm undone. I'm a man of unclean lips and
I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. But God, look
here in Romans chapter 10 verse 1. Paul said, brethren, my heart's
desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be
saved. For I bear them record that they
have a zeal of God. They are religious. but not according
to knowledge. Look here, verse three, for they
being ignorant of God's righteousness. What's that? Christ. They being
ignorant of Christ and going about to establish their own
righteousness. That's what we all do. We try
to do these works by which we may be accepted of God. People
say, how can I be saved? Well, repeat this prayer and
you're saved. Don't let anybody tell you otherwise.
And then they'll say, it doesn't matter how you live. They'll
try to encourage you to come to church. give half your paycheck
to the offering, of course, but there's no salvation in that.
What does it say here? They, being ignorant of God's
righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness,
have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
We've not submitted ourselves to Christ, for Christ is the
end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. That's
what the Scriptures say. That's what the Scriptures say,
and I'll give you an example. Adam and Eve, when they ate of the
forbidden fruit and it was revealed, their eyes were opened. They
realized they were naked. Before it didn't matter. They
didn't know. It was right. but sin. By sin, they knew they
were naked. So what do they do? The first
thing they do, oh, we got to go find something to cover ourselves.
Let's go get some fig leaves and sew them together. That's
exactly what we all do. That's exactly what we do. But
like I just said, filthy rags, filthy rags. God, God killed
a lamb and he covered them with sheepskin. That's exactly what
God has done. When Abraham took his son Isaac
up to Mount Moriah, the Lord said, Abraham, you sacrifice
your only son. This is the one in whom God said,
thy seed shall be called, and Isaac's shall thy seed be called.
He told Abraham, he said, you kill your son. He took the knife,
and Isaac said, Father, I see the altar, I see the wood and
the fire, where's the lamb? This is the gospel right here.
He said, Son, God will provide himself a lamb. God provided
the lamb, and truly God provided himself. The lamb of God is Christ,
is God. Though we walk in this world
going about to make ourselves righteous before God, But God,
God stops His people, will not let us do that, and He robes
us just like that father robed his son with that precious robe,
just like Jacob robed Joseph in that coat of many colors.
God robes His people in the righteousness of Christ. Oh, praise our God. Sixth, we had turned, every one
of us, to our own way. I said we sought out, after many
inventions, every way of a man right in his own eyes, we've
turned unto our own way But God put us in Christ the way. Christ
is the only way to God. Christ is the only way to God.
Thank God He did not leave us to ourselves. Thank God He put
us in Christ. Seventh, we hated God without
a cause. Talked about being children of
wrath, disobedient, hating God. We hated God without a cause.
God is particularly good to his people, but he's good to all.
Everybody, I said it earlier, everyone's at the mercy of God.
We all experience some sort of his goodness. We're on his earth.
We didn't make the earth, we're on his earth. The things he gives
us in this life, what do we have that we haven't received? It
all comes from him. But yet we hated him. We hated him without
a cause. But you know what? He loved us
without a cause. The cause being mercy. God loved
us simply because he purposed to love his people. He purposed
to love a people and give his son all the glory from eternity.
We hated God without a cause. He loved us without a cause.
Jeremiah 31.3 says, The Lord hath loved us with an everlasting
love. Oh, isn't that wonderful, sinner?
Loved us with an everlasting love. Therefore, with love and
kindness, he draws us to himself. Oh, praise God for his mercy. Praise God for his love in Christ.
Eighth, we sought riches on earth. We're born in this world. We
seek the world. We just seek everything that we can gain.
I think one thing Brother Don, my pastor for all these years,
he said, Let's see, we get all we, we can all we get, we get
all we can, and then we sit on the can. You know, we just, we
seek everything this world can give us, no idea that it will
all perish. We brought nothing into this
world, it's certain we can carry nothing out. Though we sought riches
on earth, which will soon fade away. God has blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in Christ. We just read that in our text.
God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ. And lastly,
though we sought life on earth, I remember in, I think it was
sixth grade, we had to read a book. I don't have any idea what it
was called, but it was about these people who found this spring,
and it had some water, and they didn't know, but if you drank
it, you would live forever. And you know, I just remember thinking,
well, how great would that be? How great would that be if you
told me that in this glass of water, I'll drink that and never
die? The reason is because we all
naturally fear death. We don't want to die because
until you die, how are you supposed to know what to expect? Being
lost in our sins, we just don't know. But we seek life on Earth. We would live here forever if
we could. until God quickens us by His grace, and He shows
us that He's given us life in Christ. Christ, the living water. He came to that Samaritan woman.
He was thirsty, wearied from his journey. He said, give me
some water. And they started talking, and He said, if you
knew the gift of God, and who it was that saith unto you, give
me to drink, you would have asked of Him. You would have asked
of Him, and He would have given you living water. What's that?
Christ. Christ is the river that never
shall run dry. Have you tasted of him? Oh, sinner. I pray that God would give us
life and faith in Christ if he has not yet. Now, third, I told
you we're dead and trespassing sins, but God, who is rich in
mercy, saved his people by his grace. Lastly, I must say, well,
why would he do that? Why would God do that for me?
Why would God do that for anybody? Look back at Ephesians chapter
1. I want to read you verses 3-6. Ephesians 1 verse 3 says, Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ,
according as He hath chosen us in Him, in Christ, before the
foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before Him in love, in love, having predestinated us
unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according
to the good pleasure of his will." Now here it is, to the praise
of the glory of his grace. Why did God choose us? Why did
God bless us from eternity? Why did He predestinate us? He
said, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of
the glory of His grace. That's what it's all about, that
we should be to the praise of His glory, wherein He hath made
us accepted In the Beloved. Rupert would always sing that
song, In the Beloved. I would request you sing it now,
but you probably won't. But man, you know, that's our
only hope, is it not? That God has chosen us, not because
of us, not because He foreknew, He saw that we'd believe on Him.
by His grace, He was determined to save us, put us in Christ,
and that we would be accepted in the Beloved, that we should
be to the praise of the glory of His grace. That is the end of all things.
Why does God, why is this world even here? Because God has a
people that are going to walk this earth, whom He's going to
save by His grace, and when He's called out His last child, His
last heir according to the promise, this world is no more. You know,
we look at things in this world, and I'm a big sports guy. I follow
sports, and I see all these athletes breaking records, and I think
it's great and whatnot, but none of that matters. That'll all
be a thing of the past, and there won't even be a past. It's just
eternity. It's no eternity past, eternity future. It's just eternity.
It's like it will have never even existed. But the purpose
of all things, God's grace, God's glory. And let me tell you this.
If we've been saved by the grace of God, we are trophies of His
grace. You know, I wrote that down,
and I started thinking about trophies. Many years, I played
baseball many years ago, and I got some trophies. And, you
know, you get a trophy, you do something right. I mean, you
don't get a trophy for losing, you know. You win, you get a
trophy. We're trophies of God's grace.
And do you know what a trophy, can a trophy boast in and of
itself? Does the trophy say, man, I did a good job? Look at
me. Look at, I'm a beautiful trophy. No. Look at our text
again, Ephesians 2, let's read verses 8 through 10. The trophy
has nothing to boast of, and I'm telling you, if we've been
saved by God's grace, we're trophies. Look at this. Ephesians 2 verse
8 says, For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of
yourselves. It is the gift of God. We can't
even boast about our faith. Look at verse 9, Not of works,
lest any man should boast. What do we have to boast of?
Verse 10 says we are His workmanship. That means God has made us. We're
His workmanship. Created in Christ Jesus unto
good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk
in them. We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in
Christ alone. Everything, all of that, grace,
faith in Christ, that's all God's working. Salvation from start
to finish is of God. Salvation is of the Lord completely.
We are His workmanship. He is the potter, we are the
clay. In Romans chapter 9, he talked about vessels of honor
and vessels unto dishonor. I'm almost done. I really want
to show you this. It's in Romans chapter 9, verse 21. If you will,
please turn there with me. Romans chapter 9 verse 21. Romans 9 21 says, Hath not the
potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel
unto honor, a trophy of grace, and another unto dishonor? What
if God, willing to show his wrath and to make his power known,
endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to
destruction, and that he might make known the riches of his
glory on the vessels of mercy which he had afore prepared unto
glory. It should be obvious that these
vessels of mercy, these vessels unto honor, that's God sovereignly
choosing worthless, vile sinners to make them trophies of His
grace, to proclaim God's grace. We read in our text, to make
known the exceeding riches of His grace. We will be to the
praise of God's glory. Even the wrath of man shall praise
Thee. That's what the book says. I guess I'll close with this,
unless you're confused, in verse 10 of our text, it talks about
which God in the good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. How are you going to explain
that one? We got you now. No? These works. God doesn't save you and a change
takes place. You're not the same. I've talked
about being dead and trespassing sins, walking according to the
course of the world, disobedient to God, children of wrath, worshiping
Satan and we don't know it. There's a great change that takes
place. I'm going to give you three things. We just read it. Faith, the gift of God. Not of
works, lest any man should boast. God gives us faith. He causes
us to live our lives by faith. Causes us to walk by faith. To
wake up and just know, this day, this is a day the Lord hath made.
God gave me this day. rest our head at night knowing
our God, our sovereign God, maintains his universal throne. Our God
is in control. We have faith to look to Christ,
faith to get through this life as troublesome as it may be,
faith to rest in our Savior. God gives us faith. He gives
us love. He gives us love. We read in
1 John 4, 19, we love Him because He first loved us. We read about
if a man loved not his brother, well, he don't love God. He's not born of God. If you
don't have love, if you don't have a heart of love, you don't
know God. You haven't experienced God's
love. God makes us loving. First of all, He makes us love
Him. Gives us a love for Christ. Gives us a love for our brethren,
because we're members of one body. We're one in Christ. How
can we not love one another? How can we claim to love Christ
but hate our brother? We can't. He gives us a heart of love.
A heart of love for Him, most of all. And He gives us patience.
That's mainly what the first message was about. Recall these
things to mind. You hope and quietly wait for
the salvation of the Lord. He sends trials our way to teach
us patience, to trust him, patience, to wait on the Lord, to wait
on the Lord. And that's what we must do. I
mentioned that Christ will come again. That's what we're waiting
on. We may be waiting to hear back.
I'm waiting to hear back on a job. Some of you may be doing the
same or you may be waiting to hear back on a house or a loan
you're trying to get. But we're waiting on God. We're
waiting on God. These are the good works which
God hath before ordained that we should walk in faith. love
and patience, and there are more, but I think that'll suffice.
So in closing, I just want to say, praise God. Praise God for his free, sovereign
grace in Jesus Christ. If you are here today, and you've
yet to experience the grace of God in Christ, I pray that today
might be the day. You know, we don't look back
to a particular day and say, that's when the Lord saved me.
You may remember, well that's the first message I actually
remember hearing and rejoicing in, and that's fine. But we don't
look back to yesterday. We look to Christ now. We don't
trust in the past, we trust in Christ now. I pray today would
be the day. If you believe yesterday, I pray
God would give you faith to believe today. Believe right now. I've
said it a couple times already, but knock and it shall be opened
unto you. Seek, and you shall find. Ask,
and it shall be given. You desire salvation in Christ?
You ask. Well, I don't understand it.
It doesn't matter. You ask. God, be merciful to me, the sinner.
Ask. It shall be given unto you. Oh,
God, be merciful to us sinners. Make us trophies of your grace
for Christ's sake. Amen. Let us pray. Oh God, our
great Heavenly Father, I thank you for this day, knowing that
you are our God, you are on your throne, sovereignly ruling and
reigning over all things, working all things together for the good
of your people and the glory of your name. Father, I pray
that you would be with each and every soul here today, that you
would cause us all to rejoice in Jesus Christ. Pray that you
would lay it to our hearts what we were before your grace and
that by the grace of God we are what we are, sinners saved by
grace. Oh, how I thank you for salvation
in Christ. There is no hope in any other,
no other name given whereby we must be saved. Pray that you
would turn our hearts to Christ, that we might see him by faith. Lord, give us the grace to look
to you, to trust in you, to rest in you, whatever a day may bring. Lord, give us faith, increase
our faith, and make us faithful in the cause of Christ. Give
us a heart of love for you and a heart of love for one another.
Be with us this day. Comfort our hearts in Christ,
I pray, for his name, his glory's sake. Amen.