Welcome to the Reign of Grace
radio broadcast. My name is Bill Parker. I'm the
pastor of the 13th Street Baptist Church in Ashland, Kentucky.
This program is sponsored by the members of Eager Avenue Grace
Church in Albany, Georgia, located at 1102 Eager Drive, Albany,
Georgia. I'll be bringing you a gospel
message of the sovereign grace and glory of God in the Lord
Jesus Christ from God's Holy Word. And now, the message. Preach through the book of Ephesians
chapter 2. Last week I began in verse 1
and got to verse 3 on the subject of why man needs mercy. And today I'm going to continue
on that, the same topic, the same title, Why Man Needs Mercy. And it's important, it's vital
that we understand what mercy is, what grace is, and why we
need it. And the Apostle Paul started
off here, let me re-read some scriptures that I dealt with
last week. Beginning at verse 1, he speaks, and you hath he
quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins, the hath he quickened
there refers to the new birth, you must be born again, Why? Because by nature we are born
in Adam in spiritual death. We're born spiritually dead.
And that's evidenced in two ways, trespasses and sins. Trespass
means that we've crossed the line. That describes the utter
rebelliousness of man. By nature we are rebels against
God. Now it's easy to look at certain
people who are criminals or who are out and out immoral, perverted,
and see how they are rebels. But we need to understand that
all of us, by nature, as born into this world, even the best
of us, even the most religious, are rebels at heart against God. Because anyone who does not know
and believe and rest in Christ for all of salvation, follow
him, is a rebel against God. And I'll show you that in just
a moment. And then he says trespasses and sins. Sin is missing the
mark. What is the mark? Righteousness,
holiness, perfection. And man at his best, even his
most religious, cannot reach that mark. That's why we need
mercy, and mercy can only be found in Christ. So as trespasses
describes man as a rebel, Sin describes man as one who misses
the mark. A failure, you might say. We're
rebels and failures by nature. That's spiritual death. Well,
in verse 2, he says, wherein in time past you walked according
to the course of this world, according to the prince of the
power of the air, that's Satan, the spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience. Now, the children of disobedience
refers to unregenerate. They're not born again. They're
unbelievers. They may be religious. They may
be outwardly moral. They may outwardly, like the
Pharisees, appear righteous unto men. But they're still children
of disobedience because they don't believe in and worship
and serve and rest in Christ. And so Paul goes on, he says,
among whom also we all had our conversation, our walk, our character,
our conduct in times past in the lust of the flesh. Now when
you speak of lust of the flesh, You've got to go farther than
just sexual lust. That is a lust of the flesh.
But my friend, lust is any unlawful desire. And let me tell you something. The worst, the most unlawful
desire that a sinner can have is to desire salvation apart
from Christ. A person who desires salvation
by his own works, that's a lust of the flesh. And I want to show
you that in just a moment. But he says, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind, that is the will of the flesh
and the mind. That's what man wants by nature. And we're by
nature the children of wrath even as others. Now let me show
you what it means to follow Satan. In the book of 2nd Corinthians
chapter 4, the Apostle Paul shows it very clearly. The Holy Spirit
using the Apostle Paul shows this very clearly. And listen
to what he says in verse 3 of 2nd Corinthians chapter 4. He
says, but if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost.
Now what is the gospel? The gospel is the good news of
how God saves sinners in mercy and in grace and in free unmerited
love. The gospel is the gospel of Christ. It concerns a person. Who is
Jesus Christ? He is God and man in one person. He's the only Redeemer, the only
Savior. He's the King of kings, the Lord
of lords. He's the Lamb of God. He's the
only surety. There's no other way of salvation
but in this person. And the gospel concerns His finished
work. What did Christ do? What did
He accomplish? Well, the Bible teaches He was
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. He was made
sin, Christ who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. He was made a curse for us. The Bible says, in the fullness
of the time, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under
the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might
receive the blessing of Abraham, the adoption of sons, and all
of that. Christ came to this earth to save his people from
their sins. How did he do it? He substituted
himself under the law and he kept the law perfectly. You see,
he did not miss the mark. We're sinners by nature. We miss
the mark. Christ did not cross the line.
He was not a trespasser. You see, He fulfilled the will
of His Father. Even in His death, it was not
for sins that He committed. It was not for sin that was infused
or contaminated Him. It was for sin laid upon Him,
the sin of His sheep. He was a substitute, a sin offering,
a sin bearer. And in His death on the cross,
He shed His blood as payment for the sins of His people. He
drank damnation dry, he paid the dead in full, and he brought
forth righteousness whereby God could be just and justify the
ungodly. So the gospel is the good news
of how God saves sinners by his mercy and grace in and by the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now a false gospel would be a
notion that God saves sinners based on anything else or anyone
else. A sinner may say, well, I'm going
to do the best I can and that's got to count for something. That's
a false gospel. The best you can do is not good
enough. You're a trespasser. You're crossing the line there.
You're a sinner. You're missing the mark. A child
of disobedience, an unbeliever. If you reject Christ, if you
reject His blood and righteousness, that's a lust of the flesh, that's
walking according to Satan. Look at verse 4. He says, "...in
whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which
believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ,
who is the image of God, should shine unto them." Think about
this. Satan's greatest goal is to have
you in a false refuge, rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
his greatest goal. And that's what Paul is describing
over here in Ephesians chapter 2, when he says, You were born
in sin, born dead in trespasses and sin. That's what spiritual
death is all about. A person who does not know Christ,
who does not believe in and rest in Him and submit to His blood
and righteousness as that which alone entitles them to heaven,
that person is spiritually dead. And every move he makes to try
to save himself and try to please God in that state, is crossing
the line and missing the mark. But now verse 4 gives us the
good news of the gospel. Now he said, Paul said, you hath
he quickened who were dead. That's talking to the born again.
That's talking to those who've been born again by the Spirit.
But what made the difference? Last week I brought this out
and I want to reemphasize this. When you look at a person who
is born again by the Spirit of God and one who is still in their
sins, not born again, a child of disobedience, what makes the
difference? Well, some religions say it's
their free will. This one exercised his free will
and this one didn't. Well, that makes this one a better
sinner than this one and salvation is not by mercy then. Someone
says, well, this one believed and this one didn't. Well, that's
true. But if that's what made the difference, then again, you're
going to say this one was a better sinner than this one. You see,
God doesn't save one sinner over another because one sinner is
better than another. We're all spiritually there.
We're all equally unrighteous and not good in God's sight.
Some go to other things. But what does the Bible say makes
the difference? Between saved and lost. Between
heaven and hell. Between unregenerate and regenerate. Here's what it is in verse 4.
Now listen to this. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for his great love wherewith he loved us. That's what makes
the difference. But God. That phrase, but God,
is a blessed, glorious phrase. Because it teaches us that it
is God who makes the difference. It's not man who makes the difference,
it's God who makes us to differ. Paul asked that question, who
maketh thee to differ? I know he's talking about spiritual
gifts, but that's in the realm of all the salvation. Who makes
you to differ? Among men there is no difference
in this area. But who makes us to differ? God
does. But God. Now who is God then?
Well, He's the Creator. He's the Sovereign of the Universe.
He's the governor of this world, but more, more importantly as
we see this in Christ and in the gospel, He's the God of mercy. The God of grace. What does that
mercy mean? That means compassion. Now where
is that compassion and mercy going to be found? Only in Christ. But God who is rich in mercy.
Not only is God merciful, but He's abundant. He's rich in mercy. It is God's nature to show mercy. And it says, for His great love
wherewith He loved us. His great love. Now this love
is not human love here. It's not earthly or worldly love.
It's an alien love. It's a divine love. It's the
love of a holy God for His people. And it's a love that is so far
above the natural man that we don't even know it until we experience
it in the new birth. That love was shown when God
sent His Son into the world to die for the sins of His people.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting
life. That's not talking about God's
love for every individual, that's talking about Christ and what
He accomplished for His people. And then the Bible tells us that
Christ loved His own until the end. He loved His own sheep. to the finishing of the work
that God gave him to do. So that when you put these together
and read a passage of scripture like 1st John chapter 4 and verse
10, it reads this way, Herein is love, not that we love God,
but that he loved us and gave his Son to be the propitiation
for our sins. What does that tell us? God's
love is holy. God's love is not reactionary. In other words, God's love has
no consideration for the objects of the love, whether or not they
earned it or deserve it. In fact, we did not earn it and
we don't deserve it. God's love provided in Christ
what His holy law and justice demanded. You see, God cannot
be merciful or show love where His law and justice and His holiness
are not honored and fulfilled. And look here in verse 4 again.
I'll read it again. who is rich in mercy. What is
mercy? Someone said that mercy is God
not giving us what we do deserve and grace is God giving us what
we don't deserve. And that's okay. It's mercy. Anything we have in salvation,
if you're saved now, it's a matter of mercy. It's not what you've
earned. It's not what you deserve. But
it's mercy. But Solomon said over and over
again, for His mercy endureth forever. In the book of Lamentations
it said it's of the Lord's mercy that we're not consumed. And
then he says, for His great love wherewith He loved us, verse
5, even when we were dead in sins. You see, there's nothing
that a spiritually dead person can do to earn or deserve God's
mercy or God's favor. So when God showed His mercy,
His rich mercy, and His great love, it's towards those who
are the least deserving of it. It's to those who don't deserve
any of it. And it's even when we were dead in sins. Now, if
you're dead in sins, now listen to me, I said this last week,
then your salvation cannot be a matter based upon your free
will. If you're dead in sins, then
salvation cannot be a matter based upon your believing. A
spiritually dead person does not have a free will, he has
a dead will. A spiritually dead person does
not have faith, he's in unbelief. So God's mercy and love was exercised
towards his people even when they were dead in sins. But then
he goes on, he says, have quickened us together with Christ. By grace
you're saved. or by grace have you been saved.
Now what's he saying? Now I want you to keep this in
mind and don't get confused by this. But here in verse 5 he
says he hath quickened us together with Christ. Now when was Christ
quickened? Well that's obviously referring
to his resurrection. Christ who is God and man in
one person came and substituted himself for his people and died
on the cross and he was buried and he arose again the third
day. Back over here in Ephesians chapter 1 he speaks of the great
power that God uses to resurrect his people from the dead in the
new birth when he quickens us. And he says, and that's what
he's talking about in verse 1, and you hath he quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sin. My friend, if you're a believer
today, then you know you were quickened by God, the Holy Spirit.
You were made alive. You were given spiritual life.
And it's not, it wasn't the result of your free will decision. It
wasn't the result of your faith. Sinners are not born again because
they believe. Sinners believe because they're
born again. That's what the Bible teaches. But over here in Ephesians
1, he says that the very same power that raised Christ from
the dead is the very same power that quickens the dead sinner.
Isn't that amazing? So he says, you hath he quickened.
That's the work of the Holy Spirit in us. And then he goes back
to say, now this was a matter of mercy, God's rich mercy. didn't have anything to do with
what you do or what I do or what we've earned or what we deserve
it was totally of God's rich mercy and his great free sovereign
unconditional love and he says even when we were dead in sins
we didn't earn it, we didn't deserve it all of that you see
and then he says have quickened us together with Christ what
is he talking about? well he's talking about that
that lie which we experience in the new birth comes from Christ
who died, was buried, and rose again the third day. And when
Christ died, he died as the representative of his people. He did not die
for himself. He did not have to redeem himself. He died for his people to redeem
his people. And he was buried and rose again
the third day. He died as a representative.
He died as a substitute. So that when he died, They died
in Him. All who are in Him were legally
and really and justly in Him so that He died for their sin.
And when He was buried, they were buried. And when He arose
again, they arose again. They were quickened together
with Him legally in Christ. Now, as a result, in time, in
each successive generation, the Holy Spirit comes and gives them
spiritual life from Christ. And that's why he says here,
by grace have you been saved. By whose grace you have been
saved? By God's grace. It's grace. It's mercy. This is why men need
mercy. Because we're spiritually dead.
We're dead in trespasses and sin. And God must do the work,
salvations of the Lord. It's by grace. And it says in
verse 6, and hath raised us up together and made us sit together
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. When Christ was resurrected
from the dead, He then walked the earth for several days, and
then He ascended unto the Father. He was raised up unto the Father. Now, we were raised up with Him
in the resurrection, but we were also raised up with Him as He
ascended unto the Father, and that's what He's saying here,
and has made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus. Right now, Christ is at the right hand of the Father,
seated at the right hand of the Father, as the advocate of His
people, Jesus Christ the Righteous, 1 John 2, 1, and He's ever living
to make intercession for His people. In other words, He is
the eternal High Priest, substitute, advocate, and representative
of His people. So that we who know Him and rest
in Him and who believe in Him and follow Him, we are right
now in Christ, at the right hand of the Father. Not in our own
selves personally, but in Him. and one day we'll be with Him
in glory. The Bible says in 1 John 4 and
verse 17, as He is, so are we in this world. Now what does
that mean? That means Christ is our representative, Christ
is our substitute, Christ is our surety, and we are there
in Him. And it is so sure and certain
that we will be with Him in glory because He's there. We could
no more lose our salvation than Christ could be dethroned and
taken off that seat. That's impossible. People that
talk about losing their salvation are people that believe salvation
by works, not mercy and grace. And I'm telling you, this is
why men need mercy. This is why we need grace. He
goes on in verse 7. He says that in the ages to come,
he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness
toward us through Christ Jesus. The whole purpose of salvation
is to glorify God as the God of mercy and the God of grace
in Christ Jesus. There is no salvation outside
of Christ. There is no salvation without
mercy. But now God's mercy and God's
grace and God's love are all holy and just and right. God is a merciful God. God is
a gracious God. God is a loving God, but He will
not show His mercy and grace and love at the expense of His
holy law and justice. He must be glorified in every
attribute of His nature. You see, people talk about a
God of love, but He's also a God of justice. God must do right. God must punish sin. God must
act in justice. God must hate sin. but he is
a loving God he must be both and any message or any way of
salvation that pits one attribute against the other is a false
gospel God is merciful but God is also true he must judge according
to truth and he's going to show mercy but not without truth God
is loving and gracious but he's also holy now how can God be
both? How can he be both a loving God
and a holy God? How can he be both a merciful
God and a true God? How can he be a gracious God
and a righteous judge? How can he be both a righteous
judge and a loving father? Now that's the issue. Well, there's
only one way and that is through salvation by his grace in Christ. You see, mercy, grace, and love
are in Christ. Now, how does that glorify God?
Well, Christ, as the substitute of His people, He fulfilled the
whole law. He paid the debt to God's justice. He enables God to be both loving
and holy, to be both merciful and true, to be gracious and
to be just. The sins of His people were judged
and paid for in Christ. And that is to show forth the
exceeding riches of His grace, His mercy, and His glory. That's
why the scripture says that God has chosen this way of salvation
in Christ for sinners, that no flesh should glory in His presence,
1 Corinthians 129. And it says in verse 30, but
of Him, but of God the Father, are ye, that is believers, born-again
people, in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Christ is the
wisdom of God, for no other wisdom could have devised this plan.
Christ is our righteousness before God, for our righteousness is
our filthy rags. Christ is our sanctification,
for we're set apart in Him. Christ is our redemption. He's
our redemption at Calvary because He paid the redemption price
in full and He will be our redemption in glory, for we will be changed
and made like Him. And then it says in verse 31,
that according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord. Now that's the issue here in
Ephesians chapter 2. But God, verse 4, who is rich
in mercy, the Bible says where sin abounded, grace did much
more abound. We could say the same thing of
mercy. Christ is the mercy seat. Back in the old covenant, in
the ark of the covenant, in the holiest of all, in the tabernacle,
in the temple, you had the mercy seat that covered the broken
law. Christ is our mercy seat. Christ
is our propitiation. He's our sin bearer, our sacrifice,
who shed his blood unto death to pay for the sins of his people
and satisfy law and justice. but God who is rich in mercy
for his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were
dead in sins. You know when we look at the
Word of God, the book of James says this in James chapter 1,
it's like a glass, a mirror that shows us ourselves and sinners
will either deal with it in one of two ways. They will either
walk away from it and ignore it or they'll believe it and
submit to it. When you look into, and that's
what James meant by be a doer of the word and not just a hearer
only. When you look at a passage like this Ephesians 2 and verse,
these first verses, you hath he quickened who were dead in
trespasses and sins, wherein in time past you walked according
to the course of this world, according to the prince of the
power of the air, and the spirit that now worketh in the children
of disobedience. All of this, do you see yourself?
Do you see what you are by nature? Well, my friend, if you do, then
you're a person, you're a sinner who needs mercy. Mercy. You don't need, somebody said,
I just want what I deserve. Oh, my soul, you need mercy.
Be like that publican. You remember the parable of the
Pharisee and the publican? The Pharisee stood out there
and he pleaded before God what he thought God had enabled him
to do. But that old publican, beat on his breast and said God
be merciful to me the sinner that's what this is all about
right here but God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith
he loved us there's no other way but the way of mercy and
the way of mercy is the way of Christ in him crucified it's
the way of the cross Paul wrote God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. And he said later
on, those who walk by this rule, peace be on them and mercy from
God. I pray that you'll believe God's
word. We're glad you could join us
for today's message. If you would like to receive
a copy of this message, or if you would like more information
about Eager Avenue Grace Church, remember we are located at 1102
Eager Drive in Albany, Georgia. You can call us at 229-422-4222. 432-6969, or visit our Reign
of Grace website at www.rofgrace.com. Thank you, and may the Lord be
with you.