I want to get my subject there
from verse 4. Get my title of my message, if
you will. From verse 4. Two words. But God. But God. Paul was a man. God used him
mightily. Oh, how he used him. And he used
him to preach the gospel of God's redeeming grace in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Preaches love, preaches grace.
And one of the methods that the Holy Spirit used in his writings
was, is he'd paint a terribly dark picture. And then he would
take this word, but, and bring it into the light. He'd take
this awful word, this awful darkness he'd paint, and man's state by
nature, and then he'd take that word, but, and he'd just turn
over the page and it'd be light. Let me show you what I mean.
You keep Ephesians 2, and look with me in Romans 3. I'll show
you what I'm talking about. I preached a message from this
years ago, but now, but now, but everyone knows here the four
nuns, Romans 3.10, and he uses the scriptures, he
uses the Psalms to say this. God said there's none righteous,
no not one, none that understand us as none seeks after God. They're
all going out of the way. They're all together become unprofitable. There's none that doeth good,
no not one. And he goes down through here
and he paints this all, tells us everything that the human
being does. Every part of his body, his tongue, his ears, his
feet, his hands, everything he describes and how full of sin
it is. And then he comes to the conclusion
that no flesh is justified by the law and the sight of God.
But now look what he says down here in verse 21. He goes down there and he says
this, but now, paints this awful dark picture, but now, none righteous,
no not one, but now the righteousness of God. without the law is manifest. In who? In the Lord Jesus Christ. Paints an awful dark picture.
He does the same thing in Romans 6. Turn over there for a moment. He says in verse 20 When you were the servants of
sin, you were free from righteousness. You knew nothing about righteousness.
What fruit had you then in those things were of you now ashamed?
For the things that you were doing and the sin that you were
involved in, the end of those things is death. But now, being
made free from sin. Yeah, you have fruit, not under
death, but under holiness. And he does the same thing over
here. He was used, here he uses, but God as a transition back
in Ephesians 2. From the words he had been saying,
and I want us to consider, but God. And this little word, but,
this little word, but, it's a word of hope. But, it's a word of
hope. Now I tell you he reminds us
and it's our only hope. It's our only hope. He reminds
us and reminds them of what they were and what all men are by
nature. And look what he says. All men are dead by nature. You
who hath quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. And then
he goes on where in time past you walked. This was your past. You walked according to the course
of this world. What's the course of this world?
Buy and sell and get gained. Honor. Ambition. Preparing. Always preparing to
live but never preparing to die. Preparing to accumulate. of preparing
to make a name for yourself in this world. Making a place to
leave a mark in this world. That's the course of the world
and that's the course we walked in. And that's the course that
a lot of people are still doing. And he goes on now and says the
spirit, the prince of the power of the air, who is he? That's
the devil. That's the enemy out here in
the air. You can't see him. I can't see him. But the Satan's
always working. He's working. I tell you what,
one minute you're thinking about God, and one minute you've got
tears in your eyes about the things of God and the joy of
God. Next minute your mind goes... And you say, how did that go
through my brain? And that's what he's talking
about here. And I tell you, the Gospel always
starts with the disease and describing man's disease before it tells
of the remedy. And look among whom he goes on
to say this, among whom also we had our manner of life in
times past in the lust of our flesh. We lived according to
whatever this flesh desired to do. And then he goes on to say,
fulfilling the desires of our flesh and of our mind. And listen to this, we're by
nature, by nature, our fallen nature, the children of wrath,
either as others, but God, but God. You know this gospel that
we're talking about, when he says, if our gospel be hid, it's
hid to them that are lost, and who the God of this world hath
blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of
the glorious gospel of Christ should shine unto them. Now this
gospel that we're talking about, this word of hope, but, The only
hope we have. It's not for good men that the
gospel is for. It's not for men who claim to
be righteous. It's not men who claim to be
moral. It's for sinners. It's for children
of disobedience. It's for by people who are by
nature the children of wrath. Now when he says you're spiritually
dead, let me think about this. He said dead in trespasses and
sins. Now when a person's dead and
trespasses in sin, here's a situation for a dead man. Everybody here
that's dead and trespasses in sin, you understand words, but
you don't see the words. You don't understand the words.
You don't enjoy the words. Now men that are spiritually
dead, they don't hear, they don't see, they don't feel the tears,
and the prayers, and the anxieties that people have for their loved
ones. You can tell your wife, you can
tell your children, you can tell your grandchildren, and you can
plead with them, you can beg with them, and you can cry tears
over them, and they hear you pray for them. But it don't move them. They
don't move them. They don't hear the groans of
the dying Savior. They're unmoved when you preach
the Christ of the cross and the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And you preach hell. And this great gulf is fixed
between heaven and hell. And hell is a real place for
real people. It's a place where God, you don't
want God? You don't want nothing to do
with Him? You want to live without Him? God's got a place where
you'll never ever have to deal with Him ever again. And it's
called hell. But the pains of hell doesn't
frighten them. Then you preach heaven. Preach
all of its joys. Preach all of its glory. Preach
that we're going to be with Christ and behold His glorious face
one of these days. Enjoy His presence forever without
sin forever. But that don't entice them. That
don't entice them. They totally miss the meaning
of spiritual words. Spiritual knowledge a nicotine
you go through the Bible and you find so many people like
that Nicodemus did Our Lord said a man you must be born again.
The first thing he said, how can a man be born again? Can he enter into his mother's
womb and be born again? He missed all together what our
Lord was saying and And I tell you what our Lord said, if you
did, all you'd be is just like you are right now, flesh. Flesh
begets flesh. And except a man be born by the
water, the Word of God, and by the Spirit of God, he can't see
the Kingdom of God, he can't enter the Kingdom of God, and
he don't know nothing about the Kingdom of God. And that woman
of Samaria, when our Lord Jesus set out on the whale, She came
there and he said, if you would have known who it was, you would
have asked of him and he would have given you a drink of living
water. You know what the first thing
she said was? You ain't got nothing to draw with. How are you going
to get water out of this well? You got nothing to draw with. How are you going to get living
water? That's the first reaction she had. That's what I'm talking
about. Being dead is trespasses and
sins. They totally missed the meaning.
And spiritually unconscious of spiritual truth. Dead to it. And I'll tell you something about
dead men. You all know this as well as I do. You can take a man that's dead.
You can hit him. You can bruise him. But that
dead man won't cry out for pain. Lay burdens on him. Pile burdens
on him. Lay weight on him. He don't feel
it. He isn't weary from carrying
that burden that's laid on him. All that weight that's laid on
him. Close the lid and he's in total
darkness. He don't know it. He doesn't feel the gloom of
it. And the unconverted man is laden, burdened with the load
of his sin, but he's not weary of it. He's not weary of it. He is shut up in the prison of
God's justice. He don't care. But he doesn't
long for liberty. He's under God's curse, for God
said, Cursed is everyone that contendeth not in all things
written in the book of the law unto them. But you can tell him
about the curse and there's no commotion in his spirit because
he's dead. And that's the way we're talking
about, right? That's what he means. But is
there hope for somebody like that? Is there hope that maybe
one of these days they'll see? They'll hear? They'll fear? They'll understand the load they're
carrying? Was there any hope? Yes, there
is. But God. But God. The only hope for men
in this state, in this condition, is God. God. Now let me give
you another word this but means. A word of miracle, not only is
it a word of hope, it's a word of miracle. Of the supernatural
act of God. Now I tell you beloved, everything
God does when he works in this world, it's a supernatural act,
it's a miracle. The new birth is a miracle. It's
something that's supernatural, something a man cannot do for
himself. And how skeptical people are
of the supernatural, of miracles, when it comes to the things of
the gospel. When an angel came and told Mary, he said, you're
going to have a child. You know what the first thing
she said was? How can these things be, seeing I know not a man?
You know what he told her? He said, God's going to come.
God's gonna come and God's gonna put a child in your womb. God's
gonna do it. And he's gonna be called the
Son of the Highest. And oh, listen, there's an old,
old man named Simeon. God told him that he wouldn't
die till he saw the salvation of the Lord, till he saw the
Christ. He was in the temple one day and they had babies all
over the place. They dedicate the firstborn,
when they're 8 days old, they take them to the temple and dedicate
them to the Lord. Oh, listen, that old man walked
over and he seen Mary with a baby in her arms. 8 days old now. He looked at all them babies,
but boy, when he saw that, when his eyes lit up, his eyes lit
up for joy, he got happy, and he picked up that baby, and he
looked at that baby, and Mary's standing there, what in the world's
going on here? He says, Lord, now let thy servant
depart in peace, for my eyes have seen thy salvation. Now that's a miracle. That's
a miracle. Oh my goodness, beloved. I'll
tell you, how can a man be born when he's old? Can he enter?
Our Lord didn't say nothing about going back into your mother's
womb when he talked about the new birth. But oh, I tell you
what, when God works, when he moves in a man's heart, and the
scripture said the Holy Ghost revealed that unto Simeon. If
it isn't supernatural and it doesn't produce miracles in a
man's heart, in a man's mind, in a man's soul, in a man's life,
it's not the gospel. The gospel comes along and it
brings dead men to life. The gospel comes along and it
makes sinners who walked according to the course of this world,
the lust of their flesh and the desires of their mind. It takes
sinners and brings them from that sinful state and places
them over here as righteous men in the sight of God. That's a
miracle. That's supernatural. It takes
men who were in darkness. And it brings them out of that
darkness and translates them over here into the kingdom of
the Son of God's love. It takes rebels, rebels, and
makes them sons of God. That's a miracle. You know how
many miracles are in this building this morning? There's a lot of
them. And every one of us see it. sometimes
more than others, but we feel it. I never will forget one time
I was out running and I was way out in the middle of nowhere
and I was running and I was running along and I said, boy, I'm saved.
That word saved come across my mind. I'm saved. I'm saved. God saved me. How did He save me? By grace. That's a miracle. That God would
give grace to anybody. Especially to the worst, and
the lowest, and the weakest, and the simplest, and the most
rebellious. Save me from sin. That's the
first thing that happened. Oh, He takes away that sin and
the guilt. Oh my. And I'll tell you, here's
another word. Not only is it the word of hope.
Oh, the only hope for people that I describe this dead and
trespassing sin. It's a word that God has to do
a supernatural act of God. And then, but God, it's also
a word of surprise. Word of surprise. We were in
this awful condition that we read about here in Ephesians
2. We were in this awful condition. But God. What happened? God broke in on us. God broke
in on us. People say God won't make you
do anything. If God don't make you willing,
you won't be. If God don't break your heart,
you'll never be broke. If God don't make you know your
sin, you'll never know it. If God don't make you understand
the darkness, you'll never want the light. He kills and He makes
alive. He wounds and He heals. And oh
beloved, He broke in on us. And let me show you what I mean.
There's Saul and Tarsus. Look over here now in Acts. Keep
Ephesians. And look over in Acts chapter
8 for a moment. Look in Acts chapter 8. Let's
look together in Acts 8. And then we'll look at something
else here, too. In Acts chapter 8, look what
it says in verse 1. Here's a perfect illustration
of what I mean. Oh, we were in this awful condition.
There's Saul of Tarsus, who became the apostle Paul. And look what
it says. This is when Stephen was killed. And Saul was consenting unto
his death. Stephen's death and at that time
there was a great persecution against the church Which was
at Jerusalem and they were scattered abroad throughout all the regions
of Judea Samaria Except the apostles now look over in chapter 9 in
verse 1, now that's over there, he's consenting unto a servant's
death, Stephen's death, he consents to it, he's holding their clothes
while they kill this man, stone him to death, and look what it
says here in verse 1, chapter 9, and Saul, yet breathing out
threatenings everywhere he went, he is threatening the Lord's
people, threatening them, breathing them out, hating them, and look
what it says in slaughter, You know what it means to slaughter
somebody? To slaughter something? We slaughter cows, we slaughter
chickens, we slaughter hogs, and people slaughter people.
And that's what he said he did. He went around slaughtering people,
killing people. And he was against the disciples
of the Lord and went unto the high priest. And he was journeyed,
Zutah says down in verse 3. And as he was journeyed, he came
near to Damascus, and suddenly, but God broke him. That's the way it happens. Suddenly,
you're going along and you're minding your business and you
think you're alright, and then suddenly, about him from heaven. And look
what happens. He fell to the earth. God knocked
him down. You know, listen, God ain't playing
games with us. I tell you, He's got to knock
us all down. And He will. He's like old Scott
said, He'll put you in the dust. And if He ever put you there,
that's where you'll make your headquarters. And look what else he goes on
to say. And he heard a voice. Oh my. Have you ever heard that
voice? And that voice said unto him,
Saul, Saul, why in the world are you persecuting me? And he said, who are you, Lord?
And the Lord said, I'm Jesus, whom thou persecutest. It's hard
for you now, ain't it? I'm making it really hard on
you now. He was the most unlikely man
in the world for everybody that knew him, that this man would
ever become a believer. That this man would ever become
a Christian. In fact, when the Lord told Ananias
to go over there, and I've got to go over there to where Saul
of Tarsus is, I want to tell you something. I'm going to send
you there with a message. He said, oh no Lord, no, no,
no. I've heard nothing how evil this
man is. He said, oh yeah, but he ain't
that way now. He ain't that way now. Go over there and you'll
find him praying. You'll find him praying. I mean,
that's the first time he ever prayed in his life when the Lord
put him down. And oh my, he's the most unlikely
person to ever become a Christian. But when he saw that, heard that
voice, and he even saw the Lord Jesus, and he said, who are you? And I tell you, when he heard
that voice and he saw the Lord Jesus, he saw the face of love,
mercy. He said, oh listen, God was long-suffering
to me, being merciful who was before, persecutor, injurious,
but I obtained mercy. I obtained mercy. And oh, he
saw compassion. He saw pity. He saw longsuffering. But he also saw the only one
who could do anything for him. And I tell you what, look here
in Galatians 2.20. Look at this. Here's a surprise. You know how surprised he was?
He was on his way to put people and men and women and believers
in jail. Why does somebody come in here
this morning and start dragging us out and taking us to jail
for just being Christians? Well, that's what he was doing.
That's what he was doing. But look what he says here now.
He said, I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. I live. He said, I live. But then what
he goes on to say, yet not I. Is there two of him here he's
talking about? I live. I live. Yet it's not me that
lives. Is he talking about two different
people here? Is there two of me? I live. Saul of Tarsus. Yet it's not I that liveth. What
a surprise. It's Christ that lives in me. Oh, not only that, but look what
else he says. The Son of God who loved me. Oh, what a surprise that was
to him. He loved me. He loved me. And listen to this. Gave Himself for me. Gave Himself
for me. He never got over that. I ain't
got over it. You got over it? Oh my. Beloved, are you surprised? Let me ask you this. Are you
surprised that you're now a believer? That you're now a believer? That
you now trust the Lord Jesus Christ? Are you surprised that
you love God's Word? That you love it? It's not a
book that's a burden to read. It's a book that we love and
it tells us the things that only this book can do. Oh my. Are you surprised that you love
to come and hear preaching? I mean love to come and hear
preaching. Oh, listen, my grandson said
to me the other day, he said his dad said to him, wouldn't
your poppy be surprised if me and you and Hannah showed up
to church one day? Yes, I would. I would. But I tell you what I'm more
surprised at. Did God save me? I'm surprised that I love to
hear preaching. I've often said this before.
I'd rather hear good preaching as to eat when I'm hungry. And
the reason I say that is, you can eat anytime, but you can't
hear good preaching anytime. You can hear a lot of stuff,
but I mean good, sound, biblical preaching. You don't get to hear
that very often. And oh, listen, ain't you surprised
that you not only love the Word and love to hear preaching, but
that you love to pray? That you feel the need to pray? That you love to pray and you
love to call on the Lord and you look to the Lord for everything
in this world? You pray about the little things,
not just the great big... You don't wait until things get
plumb out of control before you start praying. You pray all the
time. You know, I see people in here
that I pray for. Because of the situation they're
in, their bodies they're in, and their troubles, and their
heartaches, and their sorrows, and the weakness that they have
to go through. Yeah, but beloved, love to pray. Who else is going to do anything
for us? But God, when we pray, And oh,
listen, aren't you surprised that you love to have fellowship
with God's people more than anybody else on the face of this earth? You'd rather be with the Lord's
people than anybody. Love to open your home to them.
Love to sit and have a meal with them. Love to sit and talk together. Oh, there's nothing like it. Oh, and I tell you what, we are
surprised to ourselves even though we're a contradiction to ourselves.
And there was a time, there was a time you were just the opposite
of this. Well, how did it happen then?
By God. That's how it happened, by God.
Aren't you surprised? that God would love you. Love you. Love you. As God commanded the light to
shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts. And what did He
shine in our hearts for? To let us see the face and the
glory of God in His blessed Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Ain't you surprised that He gave
Himself for you? You! It's got to be that personal. He loved you. Gave Himself for
you. Saved you. Quickened you. And can it be that I should gain
an interest in the Savior's blood? Died He for me who caused His
pain? For me who Him to death pursued? Amazing love! How can it be that
Thou, my God, shouldst die for me? Huh? And let me give you
this, but God, word of hope, the only hope a sinner has, And
it's for sinners now. And it's a word of miracles and
supernatural. But God does this. God breaks
in. And it's a word of surprise.
Can you imagine how surprised Paul was when God put him down
on the Damascus road? I am still amazed We sing Amazing
Grace. I'm still amazed, aren't you?
At the grace of God. I'm absolutely amazed at it.
I know that it's not a 24-hour day, but I'm telling you there
are times in it absolutely we stand amazed in the presence
of the Nazarene. Do you ever sit around and just
your mind goes to this? How in the world could God have
anything to do with me the way I am right now? The way I am
right this minute. And then you have to come to
this conclusion. But God. God, ain't you grateful he's
not like us? Oh, bless his name. Now let me
give you another thing. But God. the gospel the word
tells us here in Ephesians 2 that salvation is of God from beginning
to end look what it says there let's go down through these verses
for a few minutes he says but God I painted this awful picture
God is rich in mercy oh he is so wealthy in mercy and then
look at this for his great love Great love. What else could it
be but great love? It comes from God. He loved us. When did He love us? even when
we were dead in sins. That's what He loved us, when
we were dead in sins. But what did He do? When Christ
was dead, God quickened Him, raised Him from the dead, and
because of our relationship and God loving us in Christ before
the foundation of the world, He raised us up together. When
Christ was raised, we was raised with Him. You know why he puts
the emphasis on this? That shows you the salvation
is by grace. And then look what else he says. And hath raised
us up together, all of us who are loved by God, who God loved
us with this great love. And raised us up together, and
listen to this, and made us sit together. in the heavens in Christ
Jesus. We're sitting down with Christ
in glory as far as God's concerned. And all this what he says and
this is what's going to happen. And all this has been done that
in the ages to come when we go into eternity and age after age
after age goes by. He's going to show us the exceeding
riches, exceeding riches of His grace and His kindness toward
us through Christ Jesus. You see, God done all of them.
Now look what else he said. And you know what? Here you were
like this. God loved you with this great
love wherewith he loved you. Then he raised you up with Christ.
Then he says, for by grace are you saved through faith. That's
what happens to us in time. God breaks in. And that grace
and faith is not of yourselves. What is it then? It's God's gift. He gives it to you. Who did He
give it to? That great people that He loved
with a great love that were dead in trespasses and sin. The people
He chose in Christ. Then He goes on to say it couldn't
possibly be of works because if it was a man would have a
reason to brag and blow and boast. And then He says God did this
work in us. Started out but God and then
He ends up by saying we're His workmanship. Where did he work
on us at? In Christ Jesus. We created us
in Christ, made us new creatures in Christ. Oh my! That shows us this, but God shows
us the salvation to the Lord from beginning to end. Just in
those few verses right there. And then, oh my, this made me
cry this morning when I was looking over this. Brought tears to my
eyes. But God, But God, not only is
it the word, the gospel, shows us salvation through the Lord.
The only hope we have, supernatural act of God. Word of surprise,
the word of the gospel. But oh, what a word of encouragement. What a word of encouragement.
But God, who is rich in mercy, for the great love wherewith
he loved us, Even when we were dead as transgressors and sinners.
For you, what a word of encouragement, whose hearts are broken and hurts
over people that you loved. A son, a daughter, a husband,
a wife. And it appears hopeless. Absolutely
appears hopeless. I look at my children, it appears
hopeless. Look at my grandsons, it appears
hopeless. Appears hopeless. But God. But God. But God. We were hopeless one time too. But God. And he called it a great love.
How great is God's love? Well, I'll tell you something.
It reaches from pole to pole. So keep on praying, keep on seeking,
keep on loving, keep on hoping, keep on trusting. We may be gone
before our children ever know the Lord. When I'm gone, there's
still going to be fruit from the gospel. That's God's way
of doing things. He does things like that and
He gets all the glory. And then it's a word of encouragement
for us, for us, who are left in this world, left in this world
that's against God, that's against Christ. We're left in this world to carry
on. To carry on what? To carry on
the gospel. Carry on and keep the churches.
Pray for the churches, pray for the preachers. We're left in this world, so
carry on churches. Oh my, carry on. Preachers, keep
on preaching. And the faithful, just keep on
being faithful. Just keep on being faithful.
Don't be a burden, be faithful. Don't let nothing come between
you and Christ. Nothing. And carry on, faithful. Carry
on, preachers. Carry on, believers. Keep on. Don't stop. Don't worry. Don't
worry. God, but God. But God. You say, oh my, just a handful
of us doing things. But God. We're in a world against God,
against Christ. Antichrist is here in full force. And what is our hope? What is
our encouragement? But God. Who is rich in mercy. who has a great love, were with, He loved us. Thank God. Our Father in the precious, holy,
blessed name of the Lord Jesus Christ, We bow our hearts in
your presence in absolute wonder and awe. Wonder and awe. At you. And at your blessed Son. At the blessed Holy Ghost. Who
does all this work. And what He starts, He finishes.
He said it was a good work. Because you're good if you just
do good works. Lord, we bless you. that we could
talk about you today. We bless you that we could take
your name on our lips and speak rightly of you, speak
highly of you, and hopefully by your blessed grace honor you.
We thank you. Thank you for those who listened
attentively. And Lord, the gospel is in your
hands and I know you'll do what's You will do with it. It's your
word. You'll do what you will with
it. We trust and leave it there with you. In God's holy name.
Amen. What's the name of that song
that I was quoting? Amazing. Amazing. Let's sing that. Let's sing that.