Now, verse one of Ephesians two, verse one says, And you, and you. And you. And you. Have need. Quicken. And you. Have need. Quicken. Who were dead. Who were dead. In trespasses
and sins. I know we can all quote that.
And I want us to stop and really consider what we were, where we were,
and what God in Christ did for us. Now, let me just say this very
briefly. This is all I'm going to say
about today's religion. It's a waste of time and words
to talk too much about what goes on today. It's really a shame. And not enough time to devote
to the truth. But let me say this. In today's
religion, salvation amounts to nothing more than agreeing to
some facts. Deciding to do something. Accept Jesus and join a so-called church. That's what
salvation is today. But now, true salvation. God's salvation. It's no easy thing. It's no shallow
thing. Salvation that's of the Lord.
Salvation that's of the Lord is spoken of in terms like the
exceeding greatness of His power. The working of His mighty power. It tells about a salvation that
went to breadth, lengths, depths, heights. It's called so great a salvation. It is likened to, and we sung
the song, having your eyes open. One that's born blind, absolutely
seeing for the first time. I mean stone blind, and one who's
deaf, having their ears open for the first time, to hear for
the first time. That's what this says. But even
more than that, it's called being raised from the dead. And you have to eat. Quicken, that means
made alive, given life to who were dead in trespasses and sin. Now let's look at that. Who's
the you? And you? And you? Well, you've got to go back to
chapter 1. In verse 1 of chapter 1, it calls them saints, faithful,
those who have faith in Christ, who have received, verse 2, grace
and peace from God. Verse 3, those who have been
blessed by God in Christ. Verse 4, those who have been
chosen by God in Christ. Verse 5, those who have been
predestined, predestinated by God to be like Christ. Verse
6, those who have been accepted by God in Christ. Verse 7, those
who have been redeemed by Christ. Verse 9, those who have had the
mystery, the gospel of Christ made known unto them, having
heard the gospel. Verse 13, the gospel of Christ
in whom he trusted, those who trust in Christ, those who are
sealed by his Spirit with faith. And who? who you are and you have a quick
and. And so salvation, you see why
I said something about modern religion, it's so shallow, it's
so easy, but the salvation of the Lord is something supernatural,
it's a miracle, it's something that took place, it started how
long ago? Before the world began. Something
done by God, by Christ, by the Holy Spirit, not with us, but
to us and for us. Salvation. It's being raised
from the dead. That's what it is. Now, that's
the doctrine of it. That's the doctrine of it. But can you tell me the experience
of it? Now that's the truth of it, that's
the doctrine of it, and you, and he, and who? Those who have
been chosen by God, redeemed by Christ, that's the doctrine
of it, that's the truth of it, that's the fact of the matter,
isn't it? Can you tell me how you've experienced
this? No? And you, hath he quickened? It's not you have believed in
the doctrine of quickening, is it? No, and you, hath he quickened? You were dead. Now, you hadn't
been quickened unless you'd been dead. Could Lazarus tell us something
about his experience? Huh? I was dead. Could Mary Magdalene
tell us about the experience of salvation? Huh? Oh, she'd
tell us the doctrine of it, the truth of it. Yeah, Christ is
our only... Oh, but from her heart, she'd
tell the experience of it. Hey, I was dead. I was... I'm ashamed to mention what I
was, but God... See the difference? And you hath
he quickened. Could Peter, gruff, gruff, that
foul-mouthed fisherman, sitting on a boat, cursing the
day as his fishing was bad, and along comes some preacher and
calls him by his grace. Could Peter tell him how, what,
I was on a boat. What about Paul? Religious though
he was, he was dead. He was dead. What about Ezekiel? Did he tell his story? Here's
one. The thief on the cross. One minute,
he's cussing Christ. And then, another minute, he's
begging for mercy. Huh? That's the experience of
it. Huh? What is it to be dead in trespassing
sin? Now listen, only the dead are
right. Only the dead are right. And you. Happy Quicken. There you go. Have we forgotten? Verse 11 says, remember now,
look at that, verse 11, remember now, time passed, what you were. Verse 12, where you were, you
were without Christ, alien, no hope, without God. Have we forgotten so soon where
we were and what we were? Well, to be dead, now we're talking
about being spiritually dead. To be physically dead, let me
just describe it this way. To be physically dead is to not
have the senses, physical senses, they're all dead. You know what
the five senses are? Sight, hearing, I've got to look
at my notes, sight, hearing, smelling, feeling, tasting. All right? A dead person can't
see, hear, that is physically, smell, feel, taste. All right? To be spiritually dead. To be
spiritually dead, to be dead to God and not see anything as having anything to do with
God. The world is full of dead people who wake up every morning
And God brings this big ball of fire rising. Actually, it's not rising. It's
staying right where it's at. But the world is turning to meet
it. Isn't that significant? The world is turning to face
the sun. This big ball of fire in the
sky. Man, look up. Do I have to get
up? Don't see anything. Rain, water,
falls from the sky. The heavens declare His glory.
Firmament showeth His handiwork. All these things that God's hand
made, they're without excuse. Water falls from the sky, we
didn't know. If it doesn't come, they curse
Him. When it does, they don't like Him. Dead. Don't see God's
hand. Were you ever that way? Huh? Hearing. Don't hear. Now, I'm
preaching. We're reading this Word tonight.
This is the Word of God. It's quick. It's life. It's quick. It's life. It's God's voice.
This is God. It's not printed. It's not words
on paper. This is what God has spoken. All right? It's life. Some in here will sit and not
hear. It's just another sermon. And others will hear God's voice. You can't smell. Spiritually
speaking, you can't smell when the gospel is preached. No smell,
no sweet smell in the Savior of Christ. Somebody, someone
is going, That's wonderful, a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valley.
Isn't that wonderful? While someone else, I don't smell
anything. My grandmother was in a car wreck, severe car wreck,
when she was just a young lady. She was a beautiful woman. And
when she was just in her, I think, late 20s, early 30s in a car
wreck, ran up under a truck or trailer and just totally disfigured
her face. And she had no sense of smell
or taste from that day forward. And we all would sit. Oh, that
smells so good. She couldn't smell it. She put
perfume on it. She couldn't smell it. No smell. And then the people
can't smell their old rotten self. Can't smell their rotten
self. Well, if people can't feel, they
have no spiritual feelings, no sorrow over sin. How about you? And you? Was there ever a time
when you had no remorse whatsoever, no guilt whatsoever over sin?
As a matter of fact, you pursued it. That's what we're going to
look at in a minute. No guilt? Didn't bother you? Can't taste anything sweet in
the gospel. Dead and trespassers in sin.
What about trespassers? Look at this. It says, you hath
he quickened who were dead and trespassers. What do you think
when you think of trespassers? When you think of someone being
a trespasser, what do you think? Do you have any signs up anywhere?
No trespassing. Well, that's a good way to look
at it. Trespassing is someone who is
walking on your property, using it without your permission. One day, Hannah hollered at me
and said, Dad, there's two men walking on the back of our property. And you know, being a man that
I am, human, they're on my property. Anyway, they were just down at
the river. I got out and my three kids said, Mike, no. I didn't get out of anything. But I did go out. I walked out
there, just wanted to see what they were doing. They were trespassing.
Well, I went down to the river and lo and behold, now we We
had some inner tubes down there that I had gone to the tire store
and filled up for the kids to use and float down. Those fellas
got those inner tubes and were sitting in those inner tubes on my property, in my part of
the river. They were trespassing. And I said, They were both bigger than these
fish, but they were trespassing. But here's the point. This is
God's planet. It belongs to God. He made it. It's made by Him and made for
Him. And all who walk in it and who
use it, All who do not call upon God, acknowledge God, that it is God's,
and He'll let you use it. But you've got to ask Him. And all who do not speak His
will or let His permission are trespassers. You understand? And all who do
not thank him for the privilege of using it. Those fellows did
say to me, I said, no, as nice as I could be, I said, hey, I
did want them to shake just for a minute. Put those back when you get through
using them. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. We will. We will. Sorry
about that. We just didn't know. And men this world over, men
and women, are using God's planet without giving God a thought,
without giving God any thanks, without calling on God and asking
for permission, and abusing it, walking all over it. Let me ask
you now, how long did you live on God's
planet? before you thought that this
God's planet. How long did you use this word
without giving God a word of thanks? How long? That's what it means to be dead
in trespass. It's like a whole bunch of partners.
Steve, what if you went out one day and there was a whole bunch
of people that pitched a tent, squatters, And they were just
reveling and partying and carrying on and throwing trash all over
your property and all that, just carrying on. You'd think these
people are crazy. Don't they see what they're doing?
This is my property. And this world, God has them
in His crosshairs. I don't see it. Trespassing. No sense of being a trespasser. No sense that this is God's plan.
Don't care. Well, dead in sins, it said.
Dead in trespasses and sins. Scripture tells of all manner
of sin. Sins. Sins. Sin, now, is the nature,
is the principle that we're born with. Sin. Sins are the fruits
of it. You understand? Sins are what
we do because sin is what we are. Do you understand that? That's the doctrine of it. Do
you know experience of it? In my flesh, Paul said, dwelleth
in no good thing. And what I don't want to do,
that's what I do. Had you ever expect that? Romans 1 talks about being filled
with all unrighteousness. Wrath, malice, wickedness, and
all of that sort of thing. Verse 3 says this in our text. Verse 3 says, fulfilling the desires of the
flesh and of the mind. Fulfilling. Getting your fill
up. Seeking to be filled with. Fulfilling. Whatever. Desire
it. Whatever. Fill it up. Go after it. Let's do it. Anybody? Anybody have that experience? Huh? Dead end spins. No sense
of anything wrong with that. Let's go for it. Huh? Fulfilling the life of lust,
it said. Lust means desire, wills, will,
passion. Don't just think of that as sexual
or unclean, but just desires after anything and everything
but God. Anybody? Children of wrath, it
calls. Them, us. Verse 3, children of
wrath, even as others. Verse 2, children of disobedience. Children of disobedience. Now,
listen to this. Some would have us to believe
that all are God's children. Well, God said this now, Malachi.
He said this, If I be a father, where's my honor? Huh? Where's my fear? The fact
is, most are out there positive and dead. And there's no promise
that we are not one of those children of this one. Verse 2 talks about the prince
of the power of the air. He's called here the prince of
the power of the air, who dictates the course of this world. Verse
2, in time past you walked, those who were dead, walked in the
course of this world. Now, if you're still walking
in the course of this world, you're dead. If you don't know
that you're walking in the course, that's what it means to be dead.
The course of this world. The course of this world. We
talked about it a little bit Sunday morning. The course of
this world. The immoral world. The immoral
world. It's too vile to talk about. Paul says it's a shame to speak
of those things that are done by them. And of course, the way
this world is headed, we thought, as we've said before, that the
60s and 70s were bad. Well, could it be that in the
near future we may think the 90s were tame? The course of
this world. What? This world. Scripture calls
it the untoward generation. Opposite everything is God. The course of this world. The
way this world is headed. The way this world's thoughts
are headed. Huh? No right or wrong. None. As a matter of fact, Dan,
Scripture says that this is going to happen. It's called good,
evil, and evil, good. That's the course of this world.
Are you in it? Do you want to go that way? Well,
were you in it? Were you in it? immoral world,
the moral world. Now, talking about the immoral
world, the moral world, Roy, is worse. The religious world. I said I wasn't going to say
anything about it, but I've got to. The course of religion, the
course of the religious world is taking. People, you can turn your TV
on and leave the sound off. Do this sometime. Leave the sound
off. Turn your TV on. Leave the sound
off. And flick between MTV and PTL
and not know the difference. I'm serious. They're all doing the same thing.
The course of this religious world is taking. This vow is
abominable, is what it is. Turn to Psalm 14 with me. Psalm 14. You heard me talk about
walking downtown Roanoke the other night. And you know, looking
at all the street people, what they've done to themselves
and so forth, that really is not as abominable As right across
the street is a huge edifice that took millions of dollars
to build. Called a church. Gargoyles. That's what they are. Gargoyles
all over it. Statues and little monsters. Look at them sometimes. Look
at the carvings on some of these things. It's absolutely unbelievable. And that's just a little town
in Virginia. Just a little town in Virginia.
I told you about one time visiting Detroit City, and Hannah was
just eight months old. And we went in, I don't know
why we did that. I was too young to know what
it was. We went in this so-called Catholic
cathedral. St. Peter's or whatever. We went in there and I'm telling
you, have you ever been in one? You ever been in a haunted house?
That's what it's like, literally. Hannah, she latched onto me with
fear. Monsters all over the walls.
Low candlelight. Chanting. Caves, dark places. People acting strange. Religion. Death. The sins of religion. Look at Psalm 14. It says this
in verse 2 and 3. The Lord looked down from heaven
upon the children of men, moral and immoral. See, if there were
any that that did understand anything, that speak God. He said, here's what he concluded,
they're all, they're all gone aside. They're all together. All of them put together have
become filthy. What's the word filthy say in
your margin? Filthy. What's it say? Stinking. What stinks? Dead things. There's none that
do us good. No, not one. And you. We're right in the middle of
it. One way or another, if you were in one place or the other,
you were dead on the barstool or dead in the church pew. Full
alcohol or full of religion, self-righteousness. And I'm here
to tell you, I believe the latter is worse. Because they don't make their
sinners. Well, here's salvation. Back to the text. Here's salvation
in two words. This is what salvation is in
two words. And you. First of all, but this is my story. Two words don't. But. And you were dead. How about you? How about you?
Where were you? What were you? A dead self-righteous
religious or a dead gutters, not. Are you and you? But God, who is rich in mercy. It goes on. Who is rich in mercy. That means full of. Has a lot
of it. He has to. It took a lot for
me. It took a lot of mercy to save
one, let alone as many as the stars in the sky. An abundance
of it. Mercy. Who is rich in mercy. Now this is what salvation is
all about, John. God being merciful to dead sinners. You know that? It's God being merciful to a
God-hating sinner. To a God-forgetting sinner. God
sparing a good-for-nothing sinner. That's what salvation's all about.
God being merciful to a good-for-nothing sinner. Why? Look at verse 4
in the text here. Why? For His great love, for
which He loved us, Well, I want to do it again.
The world just demands and expects and
presumes upon the love of God, don't they? They act like it's
man's right, but believers can't believe it. Believers, that's a good way
to put it, just can't believe it. That thou should love a soul
like me, how can it be? For his great love wherewith
he loved us even when we were dead in sin. Believers can hardly believe
it. Can't understand it. Even when
we were dead in sin. Look at Romans 5 very quickly.
Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5, and I'll hurry. Romans 5. It says He's quickened
us together with Christ. Even when we were dead in sin,
He loved us. That's quickened us all by grace
in sin. I love me. It's beyond me. Is that the way you feel? Huh?
That's what those who are dead have been quickened to feel. You're dead, dead, been quickened
to understand something that God doesn't make. Now, I know this. I know this.
I know God had to set his love on me. They're saying that. The sinner, he'll tell you. God had to set his love on him,
knowing what he would be. center. I mean, a no good center.
God had to set his love on him. God had to decide to love him.
Because there's nothing in us You see, our love, we love those
that love us. We love those that do for us.
We love those that something lovely about them. Right? Our
love is not unconditional. Our love is for those who have
something to do with us, something to give to us, some part of us,
our family. And those that do things for
us or whatever, that we love, are somebody that has a lovely
nature or whatever we think. And we love them, but not God. You ever heard the old saying
that, well, if you'd have looked at Brother Don Bell. Brother Don Bell, when he was
raised, he came up in the 60s and 70s. He had, and then he
got religion. And he, Pentecostal religion,
a pew-hopping, you know, aisle-roving, chandelier-swinging, literally.
And he has this album. this LP of his preaching. He even started preaching, you
know, just so that he got saved. Now he has this album with a
picture of before and after. You've got to see that. You've
got to see it to believe it. A picture of Don Mays before
and after. But The old saying is, if you'd
have looked at that picture above the dome, you'd say, now there's
a face that only a mother could love. You ever heard that saying? Now God looks on the heart. If you ever got a whiff or a
sight of your own heart, you'd think there's nothing in me,
nothing in me. Newton said, when I look within,
all is vain and dark and wild, but God. Now that's one that
only God could love. But he had set his love on it.
He had to decide to do it, because there's nothing in me worth loving. I was a child of disobedience,
a child of wrath, even as others. No better, just the same, but
God, for His great love, wherewith He loved us, even when we were
dead in sin. Look at it here in Romans chapter
5. Look at it here, it says, verse 6, When we were yet without
strength in due time, Christ died with uncapitalism. Now,
scarcely for a righteous man would one die. And for a bencher, maybe for
a good man, some just might think about dying. But God. commended his love toward us
in that while we were yet sinners in all manner of sin. Are you
a Roman 7 sinner? Are you a Psalm 38 sinner? Are
you a 1 Corinthians 6 sinner? And such were some of you, but
God. Even while we were yet sinners,
and here it is, Christ died for us. Now, greater love hath no
man in thee. This is how he showed his love. God had to set his love on us,
and this is how he showed his love. Christ died for us. Read on. Christ died for us. Oh, my. If we were enemies, we were reconciled
to God by the death of His Son. Now, I know that God... And if
we can get a hold of this, I know that God viewed me in Christ,
but I know that's a doctrine of it. Stan, Stan, I know that's
a doctrine of it. God viewed me in Christ before
the world began, and when I was born, and we're a rebel, dead
in sin, He saw me in Christ, but it says He loved me. Me. Us. He loved us. How long would
you love? Would you love? Ungrateful. These children, have
you ever seen a child of wrath? Have you had one? Children of
wrath, that no matter what you do for them, it's not good enough. You ever seen one? That no matter
how much mom or dad gives them, they're not grateful. Never thankful. No matter what mom or dad says,
it's for their own good. Everything they say to them is
out of love and for their good. I don't like that. Do their best
to help. I'm leaving. Child of the wrath. Now that's someone only a father
can love, a mother can love. It says that. And it says he quickened us.
He quickened us, back in the text here, he quickened us together
with Christ. Quickened us. What does it mean to quicken
us? What does it mean to be quickened? And you have to be quickened.
Well, it means just what we're talking about. And you have to
be quickened, who were dead. It means to find and have your eyes open, not only to see that there is
a God, but to sin against Him, to trespass
against Him. I've lived all this time without
giving God a thought. To have mercy on God is to have
the mouth open. Call on God, have mercy. And
that's the first thing out of the mouth of a live, quickened,
life-giving, like a baby coming out of the womb, the first thing,
wah. My God, have mercy upon me. And the ears open to hear
the gospel. Say unto them, They call, my
God have mercy on them. Say unto them, I will abundantly
pardon you. Christ died. To have the heart open. Feel. Feel this Word. Break it. Feel sin. It didn't happen before. a need, a thirst, a hunger, a
heart to receive the Word, and it's giving faith, a mind to
understand. If I don't have Christ, I'm a
goner. A mind to understand who God
is and what Christ has done. And Paul said that in chapter
one, he prayed. We just read it. He said, I'm
praying that the eyes of your understanding might be opened.
And that's my prayer for you. God might quicken every one of
you. Well, and you, some of you. Such
were some of you, dead and trespassing and sinning. But God quickened
us together. God is rich in mercy. All right,
let's stand. Our Heavenly Father, thank you. We don't fully realize, eyes
haven't seen, ears haven't heard fully, neither have entered into
our hearts fully, or else we would be full of thanksgiving
and praise as never before, full of remorse, full of regret,
full of sorrow as never before. Full of great gratitude and thanksgiving. Joy and peace as never before.
Oh, Lord, quicken us. We need quickening. David, who
was quickened, asked for this quickening. Quicken thou me according
to your word. My soul cleaveth under the dust,
he said. Quicken me. This word is your
power. It's quick. Use it, Lord, mightily. So the seed, the life-giving
seed, the incorruptible seed, we pray, and someone tonight
might bring forth life at some point in your good time and pleasure. We pray for your glory. All of
this is to the praise of the glory of your grace. And to that end, we have met
and pray this prayer. Amen. You're dismissed.