Ephesians chapter 2. I hope we can remember this morning
that holiness is perfection. We don't really understand what
that means, but holiness The Lord being holy is His character. That's His nature. And by that
nature, sin cannot be near Him. It can't be in His presence.
And I hope we can remember that grace is easily defined. I always tell our children, it's
getting something we don't deserve. And mercy is not getting something
we do deserve. We'll see here in Ephesians 2,
we started working through Ephesians on Sunday mornings, and I would
give anything to be able to preach to a sinner. That would give me pleasure.
I thought about that. If I had the opportunity to debate
and to preach to these religious leaders throughout the world,
strange names and large congregations and I would rather find a sinner. The Lord bring me somebody just
homeless and helpless and hopeless and truly knew that they were
in trouble, that they had sin. The Lord said, He goes, I didn't
come to heal the righteous. That great physician came to
heal sick people. He came for sinners, didn't he? Ephesians
2.1, 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, 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 time 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. 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 are you saved. It's
the title of my message this morning, Saved by Two Words. People write volumes of books
about how to get saved. We're saved by, if someone's
truly saved, if they're one of God's children, they're saved
by two words, but God. That's how we're saved. Salvation
to the Lord. Now who are the you? The you's
that Paul's speaking of. It says there in Ephesians 2.1,
and you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins.
Who's he speaking about? We remember there in chapter
one. This letter to the Church of Ephesus, it's who it's from,
who it's to, and what it's about. Paul begins there in chapter
1, verse 1, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of
God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, those sanctified,
those set apart, those anointed by the Lord, and to the faithful
in Christ Jesus, those that have all their faith in Christ, those
that are full of faith. That's the you that Paul's speaking
of. And then he goes on in the beginning of this letter, and
he tells us about the salvation of God. He says, those that are
chosen and a father before time was. That's in verse 4. He goes
on to tell us that the Lord purposed our salvation, the Father did,
and the Son purchased our salvation. Christ purchased us in His precious
blood, there in verse 7. And then all those that the Father
purposed, that the Son bought, He purchased, the Holy Spirit
comes to them and He informs us of it. He tells us about it.
Ends up there in verse 13. Then in the second half of chapter
1, Paul says these saints, the Lord set apart, those that are
full of faith in Christ, Saved by the Father through the blood
Son, the Holy Spirit comes to them, moves on them, convinces
them of Christ's righteousness. He prays for them. He prays that
they're given the spirit of wisdom in Christ and that He would reveal
Himself to us. That's our prayer for one another,
isn't it? That our eyes may be enlightened to the Lord's exceeding
power, His power in saving His people. Paul prays for that. And after all that wonderful,
excellent news, that's good news. Especially if you're a sinner.
That's wonderful news. Here's how the Lord saves His
people. He reminds our brothers and sisters at Ephesus. He reminds
those that are full of faith in Christ. He reminds us today
that look to Christ alone what we are saved from. In chapter
2. what we are saved from. There's
a good article there in the bulletin this morning about what we're
saved from. Any person in their right mind
wants to be saved from hell. If I just walked up to somebody
and said, do you want me to stab you in the leg? I hope they say no. Do you want
to go to hell? No. That's a bad place. I don't
want to do that. We're saved from our sin. That's
what we need saved from. Hell is just a place and that's
a product of sin. That's the result of what sin
necessitates. We need to be saved from our
sin, from what we are. So Paul reminds us of that. He
says there, Verse 1, chapter 2, verse 1, and you, now Hathi
Quickens italicized, that was added by the translators, and
that's a good addition. It puts in perspective of us,
but we can read it without that. Ephesians 2, 1, and you who were
dead in trespasses and sins. What is it to be dead? To be
spiritually dead is to be without Christ. left to ourselves to
be removed from the Lord. That's death. Look there just
over on the other side of the page in 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 death. Not having Christ. Having no
hope because you're without God and you're left in this world.
Like everybody else. It says we're dead. I've told
you this several times before. We have a great hindrance in
understanding spiritual death because I go, I'm alive. I'm breathing. I ain't dead.
I ain't dead on the inside. I'm doing good things. Couldn't
be spiritually dead. I'm physically alive. Must be
spiritually alive too. I can give to charities. Our
Master put the good will and the good works this world considers
to be great things into clear perspective for us. He told us
in Matthew 7, Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall
enter into the kingdom of heaven, but him that doeth the will of
my Father which is in heaven. We looked at that thoroughly
in 1 John. What's doing righteousness, doing the will of the Father,
that's believing on Christ and loving of brethren. If you believe
Christ, you will love the brethren. That's who he's in. And he says,
many will say unto me that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
in thy name? The Lord spoke to me, and I know
who's going to be president next month. People sell books on that
stuff, don't they? That seems like a good discussion.
They're right. Maybe the Lord did talk to them. That sounds
like God knows something. He said, have we not cast out
devils in thy name? Somebody's perplexed with demon
or somebody has a bone with a disability and they go out and High-five
their forehead and they can walk that really happens that man
Maybe that guy knows the Lord and have we not done many other
wonderful works in their name. It's all what they've done Haven't
I haven't I I did this And I will profess unto them. I never knew
you depart from me ye that work iniquity. It's all sin How could
that be since sounds like good stuff, but it's without Christ.
They did Christ didn't do it They're dead. I'm dead. How did
we first get that way? We're dead in Adam. If you miss
the fall, you miss it all. Old preachers used to say, if
you get it wrong on that, nothing else is going to make sense.
We died in Adam in the garden. It says, and you hath he quickened
who were dead in trespasses and sins. How do we die in Adam?
The fall in the garden is what gave us our nature. That's our
instincts. It's a word we use so commonly
nowadays. And the end of verse 3 there in Ephesians 2, it says,
and we're by nature the children of wrath, even as others. Let's turn over to Genesis chapter
3. Genesis chapter 3. We remember the fruit that Adam
wasn't supposed to eat. Most even young children know
that. And he said, the Lord spoke to Adam and said, but of the
tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, for
in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. The Lord
said, the day you eat that fruit, you're going to die. Adam didn't die that day, did
he? Physically. He died inside. We'll see that.
Then came the serpent. The Lord said, don't eat of that
tree. And the serpent came telling Eve, God really wouldn't punish
sin. The Lord said, you eat of that
tree, you're going to die. And he said, you ain't going
to die. Satan told Eve that God's just
a jolly old grandpa that's easy to get along with. That's what
he lied to her. He won't really punish sin. And
he said that he's afraid that you'll know good and evil like
he does. contingent on man. That God's waiting on man to
do something or bends to the will of man. What a heresy. What a lie. Both of them. The Lord's holy. He must punish
sin. It will be dealt with. He's just.
That's his character. That's who he is. If he was wishy-washy
like I am, he'd be like me. But he ain't like a man, is he?
That's what this world thinks in our nature. We think that
God really won't punish sin because it hadn't happened yet. I'm still
breathing. Breathing in and out. That couldn't
be real. And that God bends to our will.
If He bends to our will, He's not God. Those are lies. Eve ate of that fruit, and then
she gave it to Adam and Eve. And we see here in verse 7, Genesis
3, 7. And the eyes of them both were
opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sowed fig
leaves together, and they made themselves aphrons. They saw
their nakedness. They saw their weakness and their
unpresentable state. Jude said, he's able to present
you false. We're not able to be presented.
We know that and we try to cover ourselves. They knew good, but
now they knew evil. They knew their own sin against
God. Adam didn't know sin before that.
And now he knew of evil. He knew it was him. But they
made something to go between them and the God they offended. They made fig leaf aprons to
cover their nakedness. Something must be between man
and God since we've failed, since we've offended Him. There must
be some type of mediation. You don't go to a court of law
without a lawyer. It ain't going to work out good
for you. You don't speak their language. You bring an attorney,
don't you? A mediator, a representative. But when we make our own covering,
we have no true rest and we have no true confidence in what our
hands have done. If we're working to get to God,
if it's something I'm representing myself or lies I'm telling myself,
anything I put between me and the Lord that I think is going
to make it okay, Our heart knows it's not, that's why there's
no peace. And so we hide. Look here in verse 8. And they
heard the voice of the Lord, God walking in the garden in
the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from
the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.
They ran to the woods in their little aprons. They feared the
Lord, but not fearing Him and honoring Him. Not a fear of respect. They physically feared Him. He's
going to kill us. He said so. Then the Lord moved
on them and He spoke to them. And their sin revived once again. Their blame shifted. Their hearts
blamed God for their sin. What a thought. Look here in
Genesis 3.12. And the man said, the Lord asked
him, why did you do this? The man said, the woman that
thou gavest to me, She gave me of the tree and I did eat. You
gave her to me. It's your fault. You gave her
me. And the Lord said unto the woman,
what is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, the serpent
beguiled me. Who made the serpent? The Lord
did. It ain't my fault. It's somebody else's. Let's not look too low on Adam
and Eve just yet. We'll get there. But Adam and
Eve, they were dead in trespasses. and they were dead in sin. Spiritually dead. They have no
spiritual life in them to beg God for mercy. Right then, they
should have hit their faces. Lord, I'm wrong. I repent. I turn from everything
I did. I didn't obey. Lord, forgive me. Have mercy.
Don't give me what I deserve. When we died spiritually in Adam,
every person born on the face of this earth of Adam being our
father, we were conceived in sin and we come forth speaking
lies. Every one of us. We were given
that nature. I always tell everybody, if two
zebras have a baby, it's a zebra. If two sinners have a baby, it's
a sinner. That's what we are. That's our
nature. When we put our works and our excuses between us and
the Word of the Lord. Have you ever read something
in the scripture that's just plain and true? And you say,
well, but... When I didn't, I don't really
do that. On little things, we read the
word of the Lord, and we come up with excuses. When I think,
Grandma told me, I heard the Lord said. That's His word. We put something between us,
and it's, we died an atom. That's our nature. Paul told
us in Romans 5, Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the
world, and death by sin, so death passed upon all men, for they
all have sinned. If we sin, we're going to die
physically in time. If we're spiritually dead, this
physical body is going to die. We have hospitals and graveyards,
don't we? Us trying to make ourselves better ain't working. And funeral
homes would be out of business. But many say, well, that's Adam's
fault. That ain't mine. Aren't we saying
the exact same words as our great-great-grandfather Adam? Lord, that's his fault. I didn't do that. I'm good on
the inside. That's all Adam's fault. It's someone else's fault.
We're putting on our own aprons and it's not in us to save ourselves. We're not equipped and anything
we do will be unacceptable in ourselves. Just like Adam's fig
leaf, that apron, it's going to wilt. All of our works will
wilt and they'll turn to dust and powder away. How are we going
to be reconciled to God? are going to be returned back
to His presence, being able to be in His presence. God must
save His people, but God. He must provide the mediation,
that blood sacrifice, that propitiation, and the covering. He must provide
the covering. Remember, Abraham and Isaac was
going up that mountain for a sacrifice, and Isaac was big enough to know
what was going on. And he said, Daddy, we got the
wood, and I got the knife, and we got everything. Where's the
lamb? He said, Son, the Lord will provide
Himself a lamb. He will provide Himself a lamb.
Now look there, that's exactly what He did for Adam and Eve.
No different from then to the last saint that's going to be
saved. God provides Himself a lamb to cover us. Look here in Genesis
3 verse 21. Unto Adam also and to his wife
did the Lord God make coats of skin and clothed them. That's the first thing that ever
died on this globe. The lamb. The Lord went out and
slew a lamb, cured the covering so it wouldn't hurt us, and it
lasts forever. He tanned the hives, and he put
it on Adam and Eve. He covered them. He removed that
old apron that they had made, and he put a covering on them. They were dead. They were unable
to please God, and the Lord saved them in spite of themselves. Now back to our text there in
Ephesians chapter 1. Dead in Adam, but we're also
dead in ourselves, in our actions. We were dead by imputation in
Adam, and we're dead by acts of commission on our own selves. It says in Ephesians 2, 2, where
in times 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. What does this
world do in Paul's day? What does the world do now? And
it says, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.
It works according to the prince of the power of the air. What
did Satan do to Eve? He lied to her about God, didn't
he? He twisted the word of God, spoke heresies. Nothing has changed. My dad told me from a child,
Satan ain't sitting on a barstool, he's standing in the pulpit.
Is that what Paul said? For such are the false apostles,
deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles
of Christ. Cast not demons. We're doing
many wonderful good works. And no marvel, for Satan himself
is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore, there's
no great thing if his ministers be transformed as ministers of
righteousness, whose ends shall be according to their works."
You've got to do something. They've got a suit on, and they've
got a piece of wood in front of them, and people think they're
telling the truth. They look like an angel of light. You've
got to do something to get to heaven. That's a lie. That's
according to their works. False. Verse 3. Among whom also
we had our conversation in time past with the lust of our flesh,
fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were
by natures the children of wrath, even as others. Every person
in this world, every person in this room, every person in my
house, every person inside his head, we are even as others. We're the same as the world.
We're chasing the lust of our flesh. Now in our minds, in our
day and age, the lust of the flesh normally goes to one or
two things. What is that? That's our desires. What's our
true desires? I want to be looked up to. I
want to be right. I want people to know that what
I say is good. I have some respect for it. And
anything, whether that's how I sweep my driveway or How I
wash my car doesn't make a difference. That's a lust of the flesh. Trying
to rob God of His honor in all things. That's us. We put on
our handmade aprons and we hide in the woods of religion against
the true God. The Lord is going to punish sin. There must be blood. The soul
that sinneth, it must die. And we plug our ears, like we
read the other day, and cover our eyes, and we go find something
else, because we don't want to bow to Christ, because then he'd
get all the glory, wouldn't he? For saving his people. Find something
else to go to. But it says, even as others.
Now, I thought Paul might have been taking a jab at that Pharisee
in a temple. And some of the old commentators,
they speculate just in thinking out loud, Paul might have been
that rich, young ruler, and Paul might have been that Pharisee
standing in the temple. But here's what he said in Luke 18. The
Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee
that I am not as other men. Lord, thank you for not making
me even as others, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as
this old dirty publican. I fast twice a week. I give tithes
of all that I possess. That's dressed up as a minister
of light, looking to their works. This is what I did. I ain't like
other people. We're all the same, even as others. Let's look at one more picture
of how the Lord saves us, what our condition is, and then we'll
look at why He's able to save us, how He can still remain just
and justify us. Turn over to Ezekiel 16. If you
find Psalms, Proverbs, it's a few books over. You've got Isaiah,
Jeremiah, Lamentations, and Ezekiel. And if you get to Daniel, you
went too far. But Ezekiel 16, Paul opened that
letter to Ephesus with such good tidings. And if those saints he were writing
to, if they were saved, those people at Ephesus, and he's writing
to us, me and you here today, if we're hearing this and we're
saved, we're a child of God, why did Paul remind them after
all those good things about their sin? about what our nature is. Why am I telling you today? If
you've heard this gospel and you've leaned on Christ for 50
years, why am I telling you again you're dead in Adam? Why would
I do that? Ezekiel 16, verse 1. Again the word of the Lord came
unto me, saying, Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations. Isaiah prophesied for John the
Baptist. Go cry to all flesh as grass.
over and over. We need to be reminded what we
were saved from. That we were saved not just from
hell and damnation, a bad place. We are saved from what we are.
We're saved from sin. That's what I am. The Lord saved
me from myself. From what I am. Look at verse 3. And saith, Thus
saith the Lord God unto Jerusalem, thy birth and thy nativity is
of the land of Canaan, and thy father Amorite, and thy mother
Ahitite. Your birth is out of that old
land of Canaan of idolaters. That's who your lineage is, an
undesirable father and an undesirable mother. That's our birth, just
like an atom. And as for thy nativity in the
day that thou was born, thy navel was not cut. You weren't set
apart properly. You weren't sanctified properly
in your natural birth. Neither was thou washed with
water to supple thee. You weren't made righteous. Your
sins weren't took off of you. Thou was not salted at all. You weren't preserved, nor swaddled at all. And out
of that, you had no comfort. None I pitied thee to do any
of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee, but thou was cast
into the open field to the loathing of thy person in the day that
thou was born." Those are just words on a page that we read. If the Lord gives us an imagery
of what happened, back in the day they'd have an undesirable
baby and grab it by the feet and softball throw that thing
off a cliff. We walk by a field, go up behind
one of these Planned Parenthoods or something, you find a dumpster
full of babies, and one of them happens to be barely alive. We
would hide our eyes, wouldn't know what to do. Run, gives me
goosebumps thinking about it. That's me. When the Lord moved
upon me, I thought, that baby doesn't know it's any different
than any other baby laying next to it, does it? Thinks it's fine, don't know
no different. I didn't know any different.
That's a condition I was in when the Lord found me and come to
me. And He must move on me and He must speak life into me. It
has to be but God. It can't be of me. Look at verse
6. And when I passed by thee, I
saw thee polluted in thy own blood, and I said unto thee,
When thou wast in thy blood, live. Yea, I said unto thee,
when thou wast in thy bud live, he came upon us, moved upon us,
and spoke to us. I have caused thee to multiply
as the bud of the field. Thou hast increased and waxen
great, and thou art come to excellent ornaments. Thy breasts are fashioned,
and thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare." You
were just like Adam and Eve. He was naked, but God. He came to us. He adorned us.
Now when I have 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." People say,
well, I accepted Jesus. Not if He was a little tiny dying
baby. And He spoke to you, He swore to you, and He entered
into a covenant with you, and then you became His. Don't sound
like we had any part in that, does it? If we see the blessings
of that, we wouldn't fight against it. That's not fair. What ain't fair about it? Jeff
Bezos come down here and said, you're mine. You'd say, okay.
God Almighty came to sinful dying people and He said, you're going
to be mine. I'm going to give you my son's
righteousness. You'll be made just like him.
Why would we? Praise the Lord. Give all thanksgiving
to Him. Verse 9, Then I washed thee with
water. I made you righteous. Yea, I thoroughly washed away
thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil. From thy wounded
side which flowed, be of sin the double cure. Save from wrath
and make me pure. He washed us and He anointed
us. He took away our sin and He gave us a holy nature that
can't sin. Well, He just wiped the slate.
Now it's up to me to be good. No, I can't. He gave me a new
nature, a holy nature. I clothe thee also with broidered
work, and shod thee with badger skin, and girded thee about with
fine linen, and I covered thee with silk. I deck 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
thy 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 and embroidery work, that thou didst eat fine flour
and honey and oil, and thou wast exceedingly beautiful, and didst
prosper into a kingdom. We ate milk and honey, adorned
like a bride for her bridegroom. He gave us all this, and thy
renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty, for it was perfect
You did such a good job. It was perfect through my comeliness,
which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God. All spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ. That's what Ephesians 1 tells
us about. That's what he's describing here. Things we don't understand.
Everything's given to you. And he said, it's through my
comeliness, which I had put on thee. He covers, same as he covered
Adam and Eve, same as he covered this one, his poor babies, same
as he covers sinners nowadays, and same as he'll cover a sinner
in the future. To us, world's done. Those that are truly saved. Now people think they're saved.
Those children of God, that's His. This is their story and
they're not ashamed to tell it. If they admit it, I was nothing. I was dead in trespasses and
sins. I was unable to do anything but
die and be punished for what I was. But God, He came into
that field. He covered my nakedness. But
God. Eternal death and punishment for sin was deserved. But God. That's the two words that saved
me. Now back in our text. Now I've got to hurry. But God. Paul reminds believers
of what the Lord saved us from. Ourselves. Sin what we are in
verse 4 Ephesians 2 for but God who is rich in mercy For his
great love wherewith he loved us remember now mercies not getting
what we do deserve That fallen Adam and my fall every day since
I've been born and from my conception. I deserve eternal damnation I
deserve death Because I'm sin. Sin must die. But the Lord is rich in mercy,
not giving us what we deserve. What's rich mean? How rich is
he? He's rich enough for all his people, more than the sands
of the sea and still have left over. Is there mercy reserved
for me? He's rich in mercy. for, because. He's merciful because
His great love wherewith He loved us. We love God because He first
loved us. That's what John told us, wasn't
it? His great love wherewith He loved us. It's great because
of His quality and His quantity. It's a saving love. It's effectual. It's not love we know. We only
know part love, sin-filled love, a hint of love. God's love is
true love. It's a saving love, and it's
eternal. It's from everlasting to everlasting,
known as from eternity, and it's a holy love. It's pure and perfect. When it needs to be a restraining
love, it restrains. When it's a chastening love,
it chastens, and when it's a comforting love, it comforts. It's perfect,
because it's His love. But God is holy. Remember, holiness can't have
sin around it. Sin can't be in His presence,
and He will in no wise clear the guilty. Blood must be shed for the remission
of sins. He must be just. How can He show
us mercy then? Now he's turning back into this
old grandpa that's just jolly and easy to get along with, isn't
he? Santa Claus. How can he be just, still be
holy, still be God, and still be merciful to just a wretch
like me? Look at verse 5 again. Even when
we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. God is just and He is the justifier
because we were made one with Christ. He made us alive. That's
what the word quicken means. He quickened us together with
Christ. He made us alive with Christ. Now let's look back in verse
12 we read earlier. We were dead. Ephesians 2.12, that at that
time you were without Christ being aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel. from His holy people, and strangers
from the covenant of promise, having no hope and without God
in the world, but now in Christ Jesus, ye who are sometimes far
off or made nigh by the blood of Christ. He made us nigh to
Him because of Christ, because of Christ our substitute. God
united us with the blood of His Son. In the death of Christ on
Calvary's cross, we were made one with Christ. And because
we were made one with Him, He had to die. He became me. And through that, because He
was made sin, we were made His righteousness. I was made Him. He is righteousness. The Lord
our righteousness. I was given His righteousness
because He was made me and He had to die. And in that act of
Christ becoming us, we became Him. We were robed in His righteousness. Covered. That's our covering. Covered our nakedness. We were
adorned in His garments of holiness. giving His crown, giving His
name. And the Lord looked onto us in that act of Christ becoming
us, and He said, I'm well pleased. That dying little baby in a field,
that foolish hat and running to the woods, blaming everybody
but himself, because of what Christ did, the Lord looked upon
it and said, perfect, righteous, holy. Verse 14, for He is our
peace, who hath made us both one and hath broken down the
middle wall partitioned between us, having abolished in His flesh,
on the cross, the enmity, the war, even the law of commandments
contained in the ordinances. For to make in Himself of twain
one new man, so making peace, and that He might be reconciled
both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity
thereby. In the death of the Lord Jesus
for His people, our sin is punished. We are made dead to all of the
law. You've got to keep working. Remember?
We saw that by the works of their flesh. He's abolished the law
for us. And we are made one with the
Savior. Justice and mercy have met in harmony in Christ's person
and His work because of who He is and what He did. God the Father
is honored. His justice is not tainted. And
He has mercy for thousands because of Christ. It says in Ephesians
2.5, Even when we were dead in sins, hath He quickened us together
with Christ? By grace are you saved. The Lord
saving His people, that is grace. We did not deserve it. We fell
on Adam. We fell on ourselves. We fall
every day. We didn't deserve it. Salvation is gracious. And
He not only saw us, moved on us, spoke to us, clothed us,
but we were anointed with oil and preserved. He salted us,
kept us forever. And it says there, by grace,
we are saved. We are saved. Those that look
to Him, those that He speaks to, gives a new heart to. It's
not that we might be saved. Well, you could be saved if you
are saved. Paul told us in Romans, there
is therefore now, right now, no condemnation to them that
are in Christ. By grace, His grace, you are saved. If God's
been pleased to show us our sins, show us Christ's holiness, and
that He has done the work that's been accomplished, we are saved. And that's a gift. Nothing in
us did it. If we have the faith of Christ,
that's a gift. Look in verse 8. For by grace
are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God. I pray a poor, needy sinner would
hear this. Somebody say, I ain't good enough,
go church. God wouldn't have nothing to do with me. If he's
made you see, you're wretched. See that salvation is of the
Lord and Him alone, but God, who is rich in mercy. And I hope
they have peace knowing that Christ accomplished the work.
It's plum finished. It's done. He said on the cross,
it is finished. It's completed. And then we can
rest in Him. What a rest that'd be, huh? Rest
from your work. Stop working. Look to Him. Amen. I hope that's a blessing to you.
Let's pray together.