Nowhere in the Bible is the truth,
the gospel, God's grace and salvation more clearly, more plainly set
forth in Ephesians 1 and 2. Nowhere, nowhere. It's clearly
set forth everywhere, but nowhere more so than here. Chapter 2
begins this way, very simply. If I had a title, it might be
this, and you, but God. This is man, this is salvation. And you, verse one says, you
hath he, and you hath he. This is the record that God hath
given to us, whoever the us is. And you, whoever they are, they
were dead. Dead. What does it mean to be
dead? Dead is dead, as the Barnabas
used to say. Graveyard dead. The story of Lazarus in the scripture
of John 11. The Lord stayed away for four
days, didn't he? He heard that he was sick. He
knew he was sick. He said to himself. But he purposely stayed
away for four days so that everybody would know Lazarus is dead. Even his sisters say, don't open
that tomb. He's stinking. He's dead. What does dead mean? Dead. In Adam, all die. Our Lord said to Adam and Eve,
in the day you eat thereof thou shalt surely die. What happened
to man in the garden? He died. Spiritually. Man, he was a dead man. Go to
the graveyard. Stand over one of those graves
and holler at the fellow. Holler. He's not going to hear
you. Why? He's dead. Compliment him. Cuss him. Show him something beautiful.
Look, look, isn't this beautiful? He's blind. He's dead. Bring
some beautiful savory meats out there. He can't smell it. He's
dead. Dead's dead. That's what this
means. And you. This is speaking to
God's people that he raised from the dead, quickened by his gospel,
by his word, from the dead. Dead means dead. Look at verse 12. Here's what
it means to be spiritually dead. Verse 12, At the time, chapter
2, you were without Christ, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel,
strangers from the covenant of promise, no hope without God
in this world. You would not come, you would
not hear, you did not believe. In fact, you rejected. That was you. I'm talking to
people that were dead. You know, the only people that
know about this death is those that were raised from it. Ask Lazarus what death is and
how he had life. Ask him. Look at verse 13. In Christ Jesus,
you who are sometimes afar off, far off. Verse 15, look at this. He abolished the enmity. Enmity. Romans 8, 7 says the carnal mind,
the natural man is enmity against God. The things of God he can't
know. Who is this to him? Who is this enmity? Look at verse
19, now you know what strangers and foreigners, strangers, foreigners, to the truth, the living and
true God, the true Christ, the gospel, foreign language. Brother
Kelly and I were talking about this before the service, that
the truth is a foreign language to most people. Quicken, that's
a Bible word, quicken. Nobody uses that word anymore.
We do. We hear it a lot. Words like
justification, brother John prayed, be our wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, Christ being made sin. These are foreign words
to the world, to religion, aren't they? Not to us, not to God's
people. The Son of God is coming, giving us life, and we know these
are words of life, aren't they? Obscure words that people don't
use, but God's people, they're part of our language. You say
things, say if you're from Kentucky, or Tennessee, or North Carolina,
you say it's right nice night, black. Would you, anybody understand
what I'm saying? If you're from, Ron did, he's from Kentucky.
Kelly did, he's from North Carolina or Tennessee. A bit of Virginia's
right there too. It's a different language. And the language of
God's Word, the language of God's people, is of mercy, grace, covenant
redemption, blood redemption, Christ, our righteousness, our
wisdom, our sanctification. Christ, he is our language, the
language of Scripture. The world's Look at this verse 1. It says,
You are dead in trespasses and sin. You know what trespassing
is, don't you? Everybody knows what trespassing
is. You're on somebody else's property without permission.
That's man. All of us. Psalm 24 says, The
earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof, the world and
they that dwell therein. The man thinks it's his. We'll do with it whatever we
want to. Man says, there ain't no God. He didn't create this
world. He doesn't own this world. It's
mine. No, we're a trespasser. We're a trespasser. You see,
God will give us permission. He'll loan the things of the
earth to the people that ask and seek and that knock and give
him thanks. Just give him thanks. But if not, you're a trespasser. What if somebody is dead and
trespassing sins? Sin is willful rebellion. Sin is acts of disobedience and
obstinate rebellion and rejection and evil and sin. Trespassers
and sin. What if a trespasser came on
your property? And said, this is mine, I swat it. This is mine,
I'm taking it. And all the while just wrecks
your place. Just trashes it. And cussing
your name. Cussing your name. Hey, somebody
said, this belongs to the fellow up there. You better ask him
now. You better call on him now. He's angry. Ah, bling. Cussing.
That's sins. All sins against God. Now, if somebody did that to
you, what would you do? Hmm? Obstinately. All right? Our Lord spoke this parable one
time. He sent the owner, the husband,
sent his servants down there. Said, listen now, you're trespassing. Give thanks. Call for mercy. He's angry? No, they killed them
all. Then he sent his son. Surely
they'll reverence my son, the God that sent his son to this
world. Trespassers. Sinners. What'd
they say? Go back and kill him. What should
God do? What would you do? What would
you do with these trespassers, these sinners? I know what I'd
do. And such were some of you." All
of us. That's what this is. All of us.
Look at it. Keep reading. In time past, verse
2, you walked according to the course of this world. What's
the course of this world? Where is this world headed? A downward spiral. It's not like
evolution says that man started low, going high. He started high,
he's going down. He's become a beast. Our Lord
said in Isaiah 1, the ox knows his owner, the ass knows his
master's crib, but my people, my creation, they don't know
and they don't consider it. God's not in any of their thoughts.
Romans 1, Romans 3. No. Haters of God. What should God do? And that was me. You won't, according to the course
of this work, headed down there. According to the Prince of the
Power of the Air and Spirit. Speaking of Satan, that now works
in the children of disobedience. Satan, God of this world. The
world scoffs and mocks at any mention of a devil, you know.
All the while, they're totally under his dominion. Religion
being the chief dominion of Satan. That's right. Revelation, over
and over again. That's his work. He came using
the Word of God in the garden. He's still doing it. And his
ministers have transformed themselves into angels of light, ministers
of righteousness, preachers. That's his chief work. Children of disobedience. They
haven't obeyed the truth. They haven't bowed to God the Son.
Psalm 2. Children of disobedience. Verse
3 says, Among whom also we all had our conversation in time
past. You either were a rebel, a trespasser,
and a sinner in the pit or in the pew. You're just as lost. People just
as lost in pews across America as they are on the barstools. Just as lost. Fulfilling, it says, the lusts
of our flesh. My, me, my, me, my. Lusts of our flesh. Fulfilling
the desires of the flesh. Now, all you thought about, and
of the mind, all you thought about, were by nature children
of wrath. Children of wrath, even as others. Children of wrath. Among whom
we all had our conversation. Go to 1 Peter 1 with me, over
there, real quickly. I'll try to be short, brief. I am short. I'll try to be brief.
1 Peter 1, look at how he begins, just like Ephesians begins. Peter, to the stranger scattered
throughout, elects. Verse 2, elects. According to
the foreknowledge of God, through sanctification set apart by the
Spirit of God, the belief of the truth, unto obedience to
obey the truth of the gospel, unto the sprinkling of the blood
of Jesus Christ, grace, unity." Sounds just like Ephesians 1,
doesn't it? It is. The gospel is the same. Oh, blessed
be the God and Father. That's Ephesians 1.3. Blessed
be the God and Father. Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
according to His abundant mercies, begotten us, given life, born
again, lively hoped by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and inherited."
It's the same, same message. Look at verse 8. He says, Whom
have ye not seen, ye love, and whom though now ye see him not,
ye believe, and rejoice with joy unspeakable, full of glory. I'm talking about people who
now have life. Verse 14, obedient children, not fashioning yourselves
according to the former lust and your ignorance. Verse 23,
born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible, the
word of God. Verse 25, the Word of the Lord,
this is the Word by the Gospel, is preached unto you. That's
how you were born again. Chapter 2, verse 2. Newborn babes,
you desire the sincere milk of the Word that you may grow thereby.
If so, be ye half-tasted. Verse 7, unto you therefore which
believe he is precious. There was a time when it was
not. Now it is appealed. Look at verse 9. It says, your
chosen generation. See that? Chosen. Royal priesthood. That is, sons of the most high
priest. A holy nation of peculiar people. Strange now. You were strangers
to the truth. Now you're becoming strange to
your own flesh. People in the world. Why? Verse
9, that you should show forth the praises of him who called
you out of darkness in his marvelous light, which in time past were
not a people, but now are the people of God. Why? Because you
obtained mercy. But God. Go back to our text, Ephesians
2. So it says, and you. Children of wrath, even as others.
Remember Psalm 2? We just look at that. Why the
heathen rage when people imagine the vain thing? They do. They
are raging, angry, wicked. The word, raging. Imagine vain
things, Romans 1. Vain imagination about God. All of this. That was all of
us, he said, in verse 3. All of us. We all had our conversations. Saul, Paul, was a religious man.
Moral, upright. Thought he knew God. Wasn't he?
That was you. And there's a thief on the cross.
He didn't have any religion. That was somebody else in here.
They're both lost, aren't they? Verse 4. But God. But God. That's salvation in two words,
isn't it? All through this book, whole
book, Ephesians, talks about being in Christ, in Christ, in
Christ, in Christ, accepted in Christ, chosen in Him, found
in Him, redeemed by Him, in Him, through Him, to Him, for Him,
to the praise of the glory of His grace. Here's His workmanship. He did this. In Him, in Him,
in Him. How do you get in of God? Are
you in control of people and put them in Christ? Like Noah,
everyone in the ark was chosen by God, brought to that ark and
put in there and sealed. That's what this is. I'm right
back where we started last Sunday. Well, this is the beginning of
our conference here. This is our hope. There was a time we
didn't care. There was a time I heard this,
but I didn't hear it. I had no desire for it. I had
no taste for it. Talk about being dead in five
senses, aren't you? sight, hearing, feeling, touch,
smell, and taste. Right? Five senses. That's the
five senses of life. Well, it's the same in spiritual
matters, okay? Spiritual matters. The Lord has
to give us ear. It starts with a hearing. This
life starts with a hearing. My sheep hear my voice. Then
what do they do? They see His glory. They see
God reigns, God rules. They see His hand in everything.
They see His blood in everything. They see their need of Christ.
They see themselves. They look in the mirror, they
see themselves. I'm filthy, I'm vile, I'm wretched, I'm a sinner,
I'm dumb. They see Christ, the face of
Christ. I need Him. He's my righteousness, He's my
hope. They see Him in every pain. God gives them eyes to see. They've
got life from the dead. There was a time a man could
stand up and preach. He didn't hear a thing. He didn't
see a thing. He didn't see your need of pride. He didn't see
yourself for what you are. He didn't see this world as a
perishing place, and it is. But God! Tell you what happened to me.
I sat and sat and sat and sat and heard and heard, and I didn't
hear a thing. One day, in the fullness of time, in God's time,
our times were in His hands. Like that child in the field
of Ezekiel 16, when God pleased God, Paul said, who separated
me from my mother's womb. One day, John, He called me by
His grace from the dead, just like Saul of Tarsus. Saul, Saul. Paul, Paul. I am your God from
this day forward. Quickened! What's quickened me? Made alive. Made alive. David said, Thou through Thy
Word hast quickened me. The Word of God is quick, Hebrews
4.12. Powerful, the living Word. My sheep hear my voice. We pray, Lord speak, Lord speak,
Lord speak. It's not preaching, it's not
a sermon, it's not reading the Word, it's when the Lord Jesus
Christ says, live, like that child in Ezekiel. My time was
just like that child. One day he came by, brother,
in the preaching of the gospel, and he does it every time through
the preaching of the gospel. He won't find an example in Scripture
apart from that. Not one. Paul says that over
and over through this. How can they hear without a preacher?
But he came by through the preaching. One day, that preacher that was
my dad ceased to be my dad. It was the voice of the Son of
God speaking. And he said, Ezekiel 16, He says, the time of love. Whose
love? I didn't love him. Oh, no. Herein is love. Not that we loved
him, but that he loved us. But God, who is rich in love.
How could you love a filthy, vile child in a field like that
one polluted in Ezekiel 16? Those of you who know that, I'll
sign myself in. That chapter, if you've never
heard it, you ask me, I'll preach for you. I'm doing it right now.
Ezekiel 16, a child was dead and stinking and filthy. It was
thrown out to the loathing of its person, but God. The Lord
came by and said, it's a time of love, it's a time for you
to know about my love, it's a time for you to live. He said, I said,
live. Put a robe on you, wash you,
cleanse you, put a ring on your finger, express my love to you. You became beautiful, and through
my countenance. Salvation is of the Lord and
you, but God. Does the word mercy
appeal to you? Anybody? Mercy? One preacher
years ago said, mercy is not getting what you
deserve. Like those trespassers, those
sinners. What should they deserve? What
should they do? I said, wipe them out. If I'm
merciful, I'll spare him. Grace is getting what you don't
deserve. Christ coming down here. Our
brother prayed it. 2 Corinthians 5.21 is the gospel
in one verse. Do you know it? Maybe that ought
to be tomorrow's memory day. 2 Corinthians 5.21. God hath
made him to be sin. Christ crucified. And Christ
came. How are we going to get to God?
Christ is going to have to bring us to God. The soul that sins will
surely die. God cannot, by no means, clear
the guilty. What's he going to do? He sent
his Son to be the propitiation, to be a substitute, to be a sinner,
to be a bloody sacrifice, to die that they might live, that
we might live. They don't deserve it. Nobody
deserves a chance to be saved. We deserve to be damned. But
God, rich in mercy, not giving what we deserve, giving what
we don't deserve. God gave Christ what we deserve,
gave us what He deserved. You understand? He earned salvation. He earned
heaven. He earned it. God was well pleased
for His righteousness sake, for what God did. Switched places. Gave us what He did. Who? His people, he's chosen. And gave him what we did, the
wages of sin, death. And he paid the wages, didn't he? Fully. Christ is the love
of God. Christ is the mercy of God. Mercy. For God is rich in
mercy, for his great love were what he loved us even when we
were dead in sin. Romans 5 says this, that it says,
Now you might, for a righteous man you might die, for a good
man you might dare to die, but God commended his love toward us,
and while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Who's that? Those that know they were dead,
those that know they were filthy, those that know they were stinking,
those that feel themselves to still be stinking. Only those really give him all
the joy and are thankful. Look at this. It says, Quickened
us together with Christ. This is a mystery. It's difficult
to understand, let alone preach. But when Christ was crucified,
I was crucified. When Christ was crucified, I
was crucified with pride. When God saw Christ laying on
that cross, he saw his people. And he punished his people in
that. Christ was buried. Why was he
buried? To put away sin. And he's like that fit man in
the wilderness, that scapegoat. Christ is that scapegoat. The
sins of all of God's people were laid on that scapegoat, and that
fit man took that goat into the wilderness as far as it could
go where it would never come back again. That's a picture,
that's a type, an emblem of Christ crucified and buried. He's that fit man who took our
sin and separated them from us as far as the east is from the
west. I see recognition in so many
places. He preached this to the world,
the religious world. Tell us moral stories, Preacher.
Tell us how we can love and tell us what we can do about this
political situation. Knock out the people. I need
to hear Christ. Well, where am I? Right here. Verse 4, For your
great love, or with your love, doth quicken us together. Here
it is, here's where I walk. When Christ was buried, like
He took our sins, like the scapegoat, the pit man, separated them far
from us, that the sins of God's people are absolutely put away
by Jesus Christ, and never be brought up. They're not there.
They're blotted out. That's what it says. Blotted
out. The law is fulfilled, sin, righteousness, judgment, all
by Christ. God's people have no sin. No
sin. Christ paid for it all. You say,
I don't understand. I don't fully understand it either,
but I believe it. And I rejoice. But if Christ
hadn't risen from the grave, he's just a man like you and
me. He's no Messiah. Everything he
said and did amounts to nothing. But he did. God raised him from
the dead to prove that he is the Son of God. He did what he
came to do, and everything he said is true. Yea and amen to
the glory of God by earth. All right, so we were quickened
together. Christ crucified, I was crucified
with Him. When Christ was buried, I was
buried with Him. That's what baptism is a picture
of. That doesn't put away anything. But it's our profession of faith
in Christ, that this is what I believe, that Christ is my
hope, my salvation, that when He was crucified, I was crucified
with Him. When He was buried, God put away
my sin. When He rose from the grave,
I rose with Him. Now look at this. In a little
parenthesis, by grace you say it. It's like Paul couldn't wait
to say this. Oh, it's by grace you say it.
You see? Verse 6 says, It raised us up
together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus. Brother, there was a time this
was not a heavenly place to live. When I was seventeen years old,
about to graduate from high school, I made plans, and I'm ashamed
of it now. I'm just telling you, because
this is what God did for me. But I had a plan. I'm leaving.
I'm out of here. Just as soon as the day I graduate, I'm gone.
I want out from these tyrannical parents. Oh, man. Nobody ever
had bad parents. I don't have to come to church
and hear that. It's my salvation, my mercy,
God's grace. I don't want that. I want to
be my own man. I don't know. I'm gone. This was not a heavenly place.
This was not something I needed. This is not what I wanted. I
wanted the world. You see why my salvation is in
two words? By God. And that's your son's
salvation, isn't it, brother? And that's your daughter's salvation,
isn't it, sister? That's my salvation. That's your salvation. That's
all of our salvation. It's our only hope. We keep calling
him, because it's by grace. He's going to give what we don't
deserve. He's not going to do what we do deserve in Christ. For Christ's sake. Oh, for Christ's
sake. Oh, heavenly Christ. Talk to
a brother, I'm going to quit. I talked to a brother on the
phone yesterday, last night, and I rejoiced. He was in music,
music business, big time. Gibson Guitar made a guitar with
his name on it. Big time musician. Played on
the Grand Ole Opry for years. The lead guitarist on the Grand
Ole Opry for years. Merle Haggard, you know everybody
he played with, big time. But God took him out of that. He heard the gospel. Like we talked about this morning,
1 John, he left. He left, got caught up, failed
marriage, this and that and the other. But God brought him back. He's sitting in Crossville, Tennessee. He said, my whole life God brought
me right here. He said, this is heaven on earth. For most people, they would aspire
to a front row seat at their Grand Ole Opry. He was playing
on us. No, not now. This is heaven on
earth. He thinks Donnie Bell is the
greatest man on earth. Now, who did that? Who made him to do it? That guy. What about you? What about you? Is that your
story? All right, let's sing a closing
hymn.