This morning we will be looking
at the second chapter of Ephesians, Ephesians chapter 2. Now, true
salvation, or the salvation which Scripture says is of the Lord,
true salvation, Bible salvation, is a supernatural miracle It
is something which God alone accomplishes, something which
God must do to a human being. It is not a cooperative effort
between God and man, not a joint decision and work between the
Savior and the sinner, but no, it is something performed by
God Himself upon everyone he saves. In the words of Scripture,
it takes the exceeding greatness of his power, the working of
his mighty power, Scripture said. In fact, it is likened unto raising
someone from the dead. That is what Scripture says of
us, of mankind. By nature, man is dead in trespasses
and sin. Look at Ephesians chapter 2,
beginning with verse 1. It reads, And you hath he quickened,
or that is, made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sin. And you hath he quickened, made
alive, who were dead in trespasses and sin. Now, first of all, who
is he speaking to? Well, you have to go back to
the beginning of this letter. This is a letter written by someone
to someone concerning something. Salvation is the subject, and
this is God's Word and is written to God's people. In verse 1,
it says to the saints, the faithful in Christ Jesus, or those who
believe Christ. Those in verse 2 who've received
grace and peace from God. Verse 3, blessed by God in Christ. Verse 4, according as God hath
chosen them in Christ, elected them in Christ before the foundation
of the world. Verse 5, predestinated by God
to be the children of God by Jesus Christ. Verse 6, who are
accepted in Christ Jesus, made righteous by Him. Verse 7, redeemed
by His blood, forgiven of their sins by Him. Verse 9, those who
have had the will of God made known unto them, or that is,
His purpose, His gospel, His mysterious gospel made known
or revealed to them. Verse 13, those who trust the
Christ of scriptures, those who heard the word of truth, the
gospel, and believed according to his mighty power in verse
19. Those who believe. And so he
says, and you, verse 1 of chapter 2, and you, to whom he was writing
there, hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. Now, to all who hear this, I
want you to examine yourself this morning whether you have
been quickened, made alive, raised from the dead. For you must be
dead to be quickened or made alive. And you hath he quickened. All whom God saves were dead,
and he quickens them. What does this mean? To be dead
in trespasses and sin, and what does it mean to be quicken? What
does it mean to be dead in trespasses and sin? Let's take the word
trespass. What do you think of when you
think of trespassing? While we think of someone walking
on our property without permission, someone using our property without
permission. Well, that's a good way to think
of it. Because this is God's planet. This was created by God, for
God, for His glory, that is. And all of mankind walks upon
His earth. They walk in it. They use it.
But for those who do not call upon God, those who do not acknowledge
God, that this is indeed His planet, His creation. Those who
do not seek His will, or that is, His permission to use these
things, and then thank Him for the privilege of using those
things. This planet, God's creation,
all who do not acknowledge Him, do not seek His will or permission,
are trespassers. Let me ask you, how long have
you used God's planet without giving God a thought? or acknowledging
God's mercy and grace and goodness to you and allowing you to use
his planet. And so, to be dead in trespasses
means to be unaware, unconcerned, without a thought toward God.
And sins, it says, dead in trespasses and sins. Romans chapter 1 says
that since man clearly sees the things of God, that is, His creation,
the creation of the world, things are clearly seen, His power and
Godhead, so that all are without excuse. Verse 21 I read, in Romans
1, says that when they knew God, or that is, they knew that God
is Creator, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful. They became vain in their imaginations. Professing themselves to be wise,
they became fools, since they did not acknowledge God. Therefore,
God gave them up, it says, to uncleanness. Down in verse 28
it says, they did not like to retain, or that is, acknowledge
God in their knowledge, in all their worldly wisdom, so God
gave them over to a reprobate mind. That is, a mind void of
judgment or without good sense. And they became filled, it says
in the next verse, filled with all unrighteousness. And then
it begins to list sins, all manner of sins and evil. And so sins
permeate mankind because, number one, man is a sinner. That is,
he does not acknowledge his God. Unbelief is sin. unbelief, and all sins come from
that. Dead. Man is dead in trespasses
and sins. Dead. Dead to God. Dead spiritually. That is, without a mind, without
a heart, without a will for God or toward God. Dead in trespasses
and sins. Let me see if I can illustrate
this. Spiritual deadness is similar to physical deadness. To be physically
dead means to be unsensible, or that is, without physical
senses, senses which give evidence that one is alive. The senses
are sight, hearing, smell, feeling, tasting. A dead person, physically
dead person, is without those senses. And so, in the same way,
to be dead in sins or spiritual death is to
be dead to God, or that is to be without these spiritual senses,
a spiritual eyesight. Romans one, I just read to you,
says that these things are clearly seeing his eternal power and
Godhead. Roman Psalm 19 says the heavens
declare his glory, the firmament showeth his handiwork. So God's
miraculous creation. the sun, this marvelous ball
of fire that just burns miraculously in the sky to maintain life on
this planet. And then that water, that moisture
that just miraculously, gloriously comes down from the heavens to
give us everything we have, food we eat to the clothes we wear,
and our bodies, this marvelous creation, which David said is
a fearful and wondrous thing. creation, our bodies. Man's eyesight
is blind to that, that God created the heavens and the earth and
ourselves. But no man believes evolution,
as if he were blind to this marvelous creation. Well, he is. Man is
without spiritual eyesight, is without eyes to see God, without
eyes to see himself. Man is dead or without spiritual
hearing. Scripture says God has spoken
once, yea, twice, but man perceiveth it not. Why? Because he's dead,
spiritually. Psalm 19 tells us of two books
which God has written. The book of creation, which man
cannot read, cannot hear, and the written word, or God's law.
Man cannot hear it. That marvelous, miraculous, glorious
book which God has written, the Word of God, man can't hear it,
won't hear it. He's dead. Why, someone must
give him ears to hear God's Word. And that is God Himself. And
man is without the spiritual sense of smell. Just as a dead
physical body begins to stink after it begins to corrupt, it
begins to stink. So the scripture says, literally
says, of man in his sin, in that same Psalm 14, in verse 3, it
says that he's altogether filthy, or the word is, stinking. Man
cannot smell his own sinfulness or corruption. Man is without
the sense or spiritual sense of feeling. Feeling. Man has no sorrow, does not feel
sorrow over his sin against God. No feelings of guilt. No, man's
conscience is seared, as it were, with a hot iron until God makes
him feel his sin. Man has no feeling of regret
for his ingratitude and abuse of God's mercy and goodness to
him. God must give him that sense
or that feeling. And man has no taste, no spiritual
sense of taste. God's Word, God's Gospel, Christ
Himself, in the words of Scripture, is called a sweet savor, or a
taste, a good taste. To those who have tasted the
grace of God, Scripture said, it is sweet indeed. But no, there
is nothing tasteful about these things to the average person.
Why? Because he is dead in trespasses and sins. Well, some, by God's
grace, it says here, are quickened or made alive. And you, it says,
hath he quickened who were dead. Just as Christ raised several
persons from physical death in the scripture, he himself raises
all of his people from spiritual death. Yes, he does it. And you hath he quickened, or
made alive, who were dead." How does he do that? Well, the same
way in which he raised Lazarus from the dead, by his Word. Scripture
says, by his Word, the Word of God, we are quickened or made
alive. The life-giving Word. That's
what Scripture is called. The Word of God is quick, Hebrews
4 says. Quick, or that is life. alive,
life-giving. Peter said more specifically,
this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.
You're born again, given life, raised from the dead by this
word, this powerful, life-giving word, words of life. And so God,
through a preacher, yes, through a preacher, by His Holy Spirit,
sends the word, the life-giving word, which first makes one sensible
of their sin, gives them eyes to see, ears to hear, nose, or
that is, a spiritual sense of their own selves, feeling, taste
of who God is, of what we are, and who Christ is. Well, how
about you? Have you been quickened? Has
the Word come and quickened you? I pray that it may be so. Well,
until next Sunday, may the Lord bless you and quicken you by
His Word. Amen. I'm going to go ahead and get
started. I'm going to start off with a
little bit of background. I'm going to start off with a
little bit of background.