Ephesians chapter two, And you
hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein
time past you walked, according to the course of this world,
according to the prints of the power of the hour, the spirit
that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also
we all had our conversation." That word conversation means
manner of life, manner of life, the way that you live. We had
our manner of life in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich
in mercy, for His great love were with the lovest, even when
we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace
ye are saved. and hath raised us up together,
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that
in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of
his grace and his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For
by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should
boast, for we are his workmanship, Created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, which God hath before ordained, that we should walk
in them. Wherefore remember that ye being in time past Gentiles
in the flesh, in our old fallen nature, who are called uncircumcision,
unclean by that which is called the circumcision, the clean,
the Jew and the Gentile, in the flesh made by hands, that at
that time you were without Christ, being alien from the commonwealth
of Israel. strangers from the covenants
of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. But
now," you see, we've had two great blusters. It paints an
awful dark picture. But in verse four, but God, and
now he says, what we were without, but now, in Christ Jesus, ye
who sometimes were afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. Act in Ephesians with me. You
know, The Bible and the Gospel is made up of words, and words
have meaning. You can define them. And the
Gospel can be defined according to the Scriptures. And there's
words here in this particular chapter that tell us about God's
eternal purpose towards His elect. And he's carrying out that purpose
towards his elect and for his elect in this world, and his
Ephesians especially tells us about that. And words are just
such a blessing if you know the meaning of them. Now, like there
in chapter 2 and verse 1, it talks about you who were dead
in trespassings and sins. Now, when you understand what
it means to be dead in trespassings, what that word means, You understand
right now that you are totally unable to do, and dead man can
do nothing for his own salvation. You understand that word? God's
taught you that word. And then the next time it says
there, you had be quickened. So if you were dead, that word
quickened means brought to life. So if you're quickened and you're
brought to life, you couldn't give yourself life, but that
means somebody else had to give you the life, right? And then
this word together. Look down there in verse 5, I believe it is. Even when we
were dead in sins hath quickened us together. So
we were dead, but we got life. How did we get life? Given life
together with Christ. Quickened together. We know this
together, our union with Christ. Everything that God did, He did
it for us in Christ and gathered us as one in Christ. So everything
that God did for us, He brought us all together, saved us together,
quickened us together, raised us together. We're in Christ,
in the gospel. And then look at this blessing
word. Oh, my. This is a word that very few
people know anything about. There in verse 4, God. But God. God. How long has it been, when
you talk to people, when they talk about God, what do they
say about God? Is He sovereign? Is He omnipotent? Is He omniscient? Is He all-powerful,
all-glorious? Is He the one that's working
His will and according to His own counsel in this world, or
is He waiting at the whim and beck at men, and they can't do
anything unless men let Him? But we know what God means in
the Bible. When we read the word God, we
know God, that's just God. He's not a pretender. He's not
someone who is weak and infallible. He's got power. He's got grace. He's got mercy. He's got love. And He's able to do what He promised
to do. And He has a purpose. And then
look down here in verse Oh my, listen to this. His words,
you know, that in the ages to come, He might show the exceeding
riches, riches of His grace. We know something about that
word riches, the riches of His grace. It's in us, towards us
in Christ. That word riches means wealth.
But how much wealth do you think our Lord Jesus Christ has? And
then He's going to show that wealth to us. towards us through
Christ Jesus in all the ages to come. Not only is it here,
but it's going to take all eternity for us to see the wealth of the
grace of God that's given us in the Lord Jesus Christ in the
ages to come. And when we look for a reason,
and everybody wants to know a reason for why God does anything for
us and in us, we've got to go to scriptures to find the answer.
Look back over in Ephesians 1.5. This is another word that I absolutely
love, and you know the meaning of it. Having predestinated us
unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ, here's the reason
why God does anything. According to the good pleasure
of His will. And look down at verse 9. And
you know why we know the mystery of His will? The mystery of His
will is what He did for us in Christ before the foundation
of the world. It was given to us before. Now we know God's
purpose. Now we know where it's manifested
at. Now we know something about grace. Now we know something
about God's eternal predestination and electing love and grace given
us in Christ. He made known this to us, and
how did, why did He do it? According to His good pleasure,
which He has purposed in His saints. That's why He did it.
That's the only reason he did it. He was pleased he had this
good purpose in himself. That's why he says, but God who
is rich in mercy. And I want us to look at several
words here in this, in verse eight with me. I want us to look
at several words here in verse eight. And oh my, what a, how
much meaning is in these words. Three wonderful, gracious, blessed
words. And look what they are in Ephesians
4, excuse me, 2 and verse 8. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves. A lot of people, these words,
by overuse, they've lost their meaning. They've lost their meaning,
if they ever had any meaning at all. You hear this word saved
all the time. I got saved. We had three saved
last Sunday. We had three saved. You know
how many of them, you know, they asked, we went by, we was in
Nashville here a few days ago, and we went by the Southern Baptist
Convention headquarters. And the fellas driving decided,
I said, there's the Southern Baptist Convention headquarters.
I said, they're the ones who put out all the information,
tell everybody what they're supposed to believe, what they're supposed
to do, and what books they're supposed to read. And you know, so words lose their
meaning because other people tell you what they mean. But
when they talked about, I got saved, we had this many saved
and that. But when we talk about this word
saved, for by grace are you saved. When you ask folks, why did you
get saved? You say you got saved. What did
you get saved from? Why did you get saved? And who
saved you? Who saved you? You say you got
saved, but who did it? Why did he do it? What were you
saved from? When you talk about being saved,
that means automatically that you're in trouble. You only ask to be saved from
some kind of trouble. Yet when you say, Lord save me
from this or Lord save me from that, that means that you're
in trouble, that you're in danger, that you're in pain or something.
Before somebody is ever saved, they got to be in danger, they
got to be in trouble, they got to be needing rescue. And that's
the only reason why anybody had ever been saved. When you asked
God to save you, was you in trouble? Was you in danger? Would you
need somebody to save you, to rescue you? Well, let me tell
you the danger that people's under. They're under the danger
of God's justice. They're in danger of God's justice.
God said, the soul that sinneth, it must die. And God being a
just God, He's going to give every man exactly his due. If
you say, I want God to be just with me, I don't want Him to
be. You know, I want Him to be just
with me only in Christ. But God's justice will come after
every man. We don't know what justice means
in this world. That fellow that killed all those
children and all those people, he cannot get justice in this
world. If he had lived, he could have
never got justice from the core system for what he did. But he'll
get justice from God. And you that are without Christ,
when you face God, you'll face God, first of all, as a just
God who knows every thought and intent and motive that ever went
in your heart and through your mind. And so I want to be saved
from the danger of God's justice. And then not only that, when
we talk about being in trouble, we're in trouble with God's law.
With God's law. If you have the Ten Commandments
in your house, let me tell you this right now. If you have them,
every time you look at them, they contend you and tell you
that you're guilty. So if I was you, I'd get rid
of them. And say, God, write them on my
heart. Love God. Have no other gods before me.
Love God with all your heart. Love your neighbor as yourself.
Honor your father and your mother. Thou shalt not bear false witness.
Thou shalt not covet. And oh, beloved, I'm telling
you, in God's law, when it comes to you and you face it, all you're
facing is thunder and judgment and guilt and condemnation. Because I'm telling you, why,
beloved, there's no way in the world that a man, if you ever
offend in one point of the law, just one point, that you say,
well, I've committed murder. But have you ever lied? That one lie, if all you ever
told in your life was one lie, that one lie is an offense against
God and worthy. If you offend in one point, you
know what the scripture says? You're guilty of all of it. And I'll tell you another thing
you're in trouble over. Sin. Dead-end trespasses and sins. Do you know what sin is? People
know what sins are, but do you know what sin is? Sins are things that you do because
you are a sinner. But you do the things you do
because you've got sin in you. It's in your nature. It's in
your heart. It's in how it's as a principle
born with you. You know, you don't become a
thief when you steal. You steal because you're a thief.
You've got it in your heart to do it. And that's why sin is
a principle in your heart. And it's something you can't
get rid of. It's something, beloved, that'll stay with you. David
said, my sins are always before me. And I'll tell you trouble over
your sin. Next time you fly off the handle, next time you get
angry, next time you use filthy language, the next time your
mind goes to hurting somebody and gets malicious and vindictive,
and want to get even with somebody, and want to mistreat somebody,
the next time you tell a lie, the next time you mistreat your
mother, the next time you mistreat your wife, I'm telling you this,
it's S-I-N that caused you to do it. And I'll tell you what, when
you're here we are, God's justice, God's law, our sin, and then
it says that back here it says you were dead! Now what in the
world can a mad, dead man do? That's why it says, saved. Saved. Bless his holy name. I've been
saved from God's justice. And we'll get back in a minute.
I've been saved from God's law, been saved from sin. And I've
been quick in giving life. That's what it means to be saved.
Saved from these things. Saved from danger. Saved from trouble. It's like,
look over here, you keep Ephesians, and look over in 2 Corinthians
chapter 1. 2 Corinthians chapter 1. There's three tenses of being
saved. And this is where folks really, really need to understand
this. 2 Corinthians chapter 1 in verse
8. People need to understand this.
You see, there's three tenses of being saved. We know what
tenses are. There's the present tense, past
tense, future tense. And all these tenses. Here we
go. Look what it says in verse eight
of 2 Corinthians 2, verse eight. For we would not, brethren, have
you ignorant of our trouble. See, he's talking about trouble.
which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure.
We did not know how to save her, above strength, in so much that
we, the disparate of life, we was in so much trouble that we
said, well, this is it. This is it. We can't go no further.
Our life is gone. We are not going to be able to
make it through this. So what we did, we put the sentence of
death in ourselves. The whole life we died. that
we should not trust in ourselves to save ourselves from our trouble,
save ourselves by our strength, but we should not trust in ourselves
but God which raises the dead. Now listen to it. Who delivered
us, that word delivered is the word salvation, the word being
saved, who has delivered us from so great a death and does deliver
us right now, save us, and in whom we trust that he will yet
deliver us. He has He says, who delivered
us from so great a debt. He did save us. Who did save
us. And then doth save us. Doth deliver. Right now. Save us right now.
And whom we trust that He will yet deliver us, yet save us.
Now, beloved, I have been saved. I am being saved. And bless His
holy name, for these days I shall be saved. Paul said, our salvation
is nearer than when we believe. We are not of them who believe
to the drawing back unto perdition. Cause the just shall live by
faith, and if any man draw back to perdition, we have no pleasure
in it. But we are them who believe to
the saving of our soul. You know when I'll be plumb saved?
When I take my last breath. Huh? And I'm being saved today. And I want to be saved today. Do you want to be saved? I want
to be saved. I have so much trouble. That's
why Paul says we have the sins of death in ourselves, that we
should not trust ourselves. What have we got to trust when
we trust ourselves? Get you a broken rig, lean on
it and see how it'll hold you. Get you a rotten stick and lean
on it and see how it'll hold you up. We do not trust ourselves. Valvation is what God does for
us, not what we do for Him. It's like a man, you know, a
ship goes down. He's floating around in the water.
The boat comes up and pulls him out of that water. Puts him in
that boat. He's rescued and he's put in
that boat. He's in trouble out there. He's
in the shipwreck. He's in that water. They reach
and get him and drag him into the lifeboat. He's rescued. He's
saved. But he's not been plumb-saved
yet. He's in that boat. He still has
fears. He has doubts. He's so grateful
that he's in that boat. And he may not even feel safe.
But you know why he may not feel safe? Because he ain't been took
all the way to the shore and put on the bank yet. And we've
been pulled out of the water of God's wrath and justice through
our Lord Jesus Christ, and we in the lifeboat, we may have
fears and doubts and ups and downs, and may not sometimes
feel safe, but I guarantee you that we don't get put on that
land one of these days. Jonah, when that whale spit him
out, he didn't spit him out and say, now, a hundred yards from
shore, now you swim the rest of the way. When Jonah spit him
out, he spit him out on dry land. And you know what Jonah said?
Salvations of the Lord have been saved. Can you say, I have been
saved? Do you believe in the gospel? Do you believe the truth when
you hear it? Do you know the meaning of these
words, have been? Are you mean? you mean?" And
you believe he shall be. Now we're back over in our text.
Let me give you another one. Oh, words. Grace. For by grace are you saved. Grace. Saved. Grace. Grace, just a charming
sound, one of the old hymn writers said. The Bible, the Scriptures
is full of this Word. 115 times in the New Testament
alone. 38 times in the Old Testament. And almost 100 times by the Apostle
Paul himself. He knew this Word. He loved this
Word. He cherished this Word. And he
used this Word all the time. We use this Word all the time. That's the Word that we use.
We call, what do we call our churches? Grace churches. What
do we call the preachers? Grace preachers. What do we call
ourselves? Grace believers. That says it
all, doesn't it? I mean, you know, to put icing
on the cake, it's free grace. We're free grace believers. Sovereign
grace believers. But we're grace believers. When
we say we're grace believers, that means that we're saved by
grace from Alpha to Omega, that we absolutely have nothing to
contribute to this business of salvation. I didn't contribute
nothing at the beginning, I will not contribute nothing in the
middle, and I won't contribute nothing at the end. Ain't that
right? Grace. Grace. Now, what is grace? And I know you know this meaning,
but I'll tell you, let me tell you. Grace is God's undeserved
favor. His unmerited love. Now, let
me tell you. What it means is, and that's
why they said in the Old Testament, if I have found grace in thine
eyes, that means you're superior to me. And I have no claim to
anything from you. I don't deserve any favorable
treatment from you. But will you show me grace? Will
you be gracious to me? You see, now that's what I'm
talking about. If someone doesn't receive grace, What can you say? No one deserves it anyway. Is
that not right? It's like Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth,
he's a fellow that was an enemy of David's, but he was the son
of David's best friend, the man that David loved, Jonathan. And
he was a young lad, and he dwelt in a place called Lodibach. No
bread over there. And he was lame on his feet,
through which nurse running with him and fell, and he couldn't
walk. And David asked this. David's the king. Our Lord Jesus
Christ, the son of David. And he said, is there yet left
any of the house of Saul, Saul was his enemy, that I may show
favor to? He said, well, there's a fellow
Over in Mephibosheth and over in Lodomar, David said, go fetch
him! And that's what grace has to
do. First of all, it knows where you're at. And you're in the
land of no bread. And the king's got to say, go
get him. And they went and brought him. See, he couldn't bring himself.
He couldn't walk. So they had to go fetch him.
And when they brought him there, Mephibosheth walked in there
and said, oh boy. David's going to treat me good.
David's going to take the best care of me. David just loves
me. No, no. First thing he did, he went in
there and got down before David and said, O thou king, O thou
king, why, who am I? Who am I but a dead dog that
I should find favor in thy sight? And, oh, Davidson, oh, don't
you be afraid. I'm going to give you everything
your father lost and then all of that, but I'm going to set
you at my table. I'm going to feed you at my table the rest of your
life. That's grace. That's grace. That's that Canaanite
woman who came to the Lord Jesus and said, My daughter is fearlessly
vexed with the devil. The Lord Jesus ignored her. He
should have kept all. He said, Lord, send her away.
She just kept on and kept on. And finally he said, it's not
right that I should take the children's bread and cast it
to dogs. She said, yes, Lord, I am a dog. Yes, everything you
said, that be so. But even the dog is a crumb.
You know what our Lord says? Oh, your faith is great. And
be it unto you as you asked. She went to the house and her
daughter's labeled. Saul of Tarsus hated God with
a passion. And then he said, when God smote
him down on the Damascus road, he said, when it pleased God,
who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. I want to take another minute
on this. Keep Ephesians and look over in Luke chapter 1 with me.
Luke chapter 1. Luke chapter 1. I want you to
see verse 30. Luke chapter 1 verse 30. Look what it says here. Now this
is, this is, you know, people worship Mary and call on Mary
and call her the mother of God and all that. But look what it
says here. Look what the angel said to her
now. You know that. Verse 28. Luke 1. And the angel came in to her
and said, Hail, thou that are highly favored. The margin says,
graciously accepted, or much graced. Much graced. And down in verse 30. And the
angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor
with God. You have found grace in the sight
of God. She had to have grace and be
saved by grace, and grace manifested to her as much as any other sinner
that's ever been born on the topside of God's earth. Ain't
that right? And, O beloved grace, Moses said,
if I have found grace in thy sight, show me your glory, show
me your glory. If I found grace, if I have found
grace, you say you told me to take these people up there, and
you say you know me by name, but if I have found grace in
your sight, please let me see you. I want to see you. I want to know you. I want to
know more about you. I want to see your glory. And the Lord said, O Moses, I'll
tell you what to do. You can't see me like I am. You can't see me in all my glory.
You can't see me in my glory. You can't see me in my magic.
He said, but there's a rock right over here. There's a rock over
here. I'm going to put you in the clutches
of that rock. And then I'm going to put my hand over you. And
then I'm going to just slip right by you and let you see the backside
of me. You couldn't look me face to face in the eye. And oh, he
said, you know, this is what my glory is, Moses. I will have
mercy. upon whom I will have mercy.
I will have compassion upon whom I will have compassion. And he
said, And I will cause all my goodness to pass before you,
and declare the name of the Lord. And, beloved, it is the goodness
of God in Christ where he was hid that God shows mercy and
God shows compassion. And I tell you this much, and
you never hear anything else that this preacher ever says
to you. God does not owe anybody mercy, compassion, or grace,
because if He did, it would cease to be mercy, cease to be grace,
cease to be compassion. If you think He owes it to you,
you've missed it by a country mile. We're in His hands to do with
us that seemeth good. He's not in our hands for us
to do with Him what we seemeth good. And oh, if a man ever learns
that right now, If a man ever finds out, you know what the
first thing he'll do? He'll say, Lord, would you have mercy on
me? I'm like old Maurice Montgomery. If there's a line for mercy someplace,
I'm going to get in it. I'm going to get in it. That's
why Paul said, God who saved us and called us with the Holy
Spirit. God according to our works, but
according to His own purpose, purpose and grace. which was
given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. And then look
back over here in Ephesians 2. For by grace are you saved. Grace. Look what else about this grace.
And down in the last part of that verse, it says it is the
gift of God. It's a gift. God gives it to
you. Salvation's a gift. Faith's a gift. Grace is a gift. And that means that it's free.
It's free. Grace is not, God's not obligated
to give it. I'll show mercy to whom I will.
Grace is entirely dependent on God's will. It's never, ever
deserved. You hear people say all the time,
well, he didn't deserve this, he didn't, and I don't know how
many people, I heard ask these folks at this, in this thing
that happened up in Connecticut, all those children, they'd ask
them, said, are you mad at God? Do you think God done you wrong? What they want to do, what they're
asking of me is that, you know, you deserve better than this.
And I'm not, oh, it's awful, absolutely horrendous. Absolutely horrendous. But if
God does anything for a man, it depends, absolutely depends
on Him. If you get grace, it depends
on God. And it's never deserved. And if you get mad at God for
anything He does to you, for you, or against you, that's like
biting a hand that feeds you. Grace is entirely dependent on... Let me show you in Romans chapter
11. Look with me in Romans chapter 11. And I'll tell you, men in
the Bible, Romans chapter 11 verse 5, men in the Bible, men
in God's Word, were overwhelmed by the grace of God. That's why
Paul said, for by grace you were dead in trespasses and sins,
for by grace are you saved. You didn't deserve to be saved. You didn't deserve faith. You
were dead in trespasses and sins. You walked according to the course
of this world. You walked according to the lust
of your flesh. You lived according to the lust
of your mind. You fulfilled the desires of
your flesh. You lived to satisfy you in your
sinful nature. And he says, But God, who is
rich in mercy, for the great love wherewith he loved us, hath
quickened us together with Christ. For by grace are you saved. And
that's not of yourselves. And that's why they were overwhelmed
by grace. Overwhelmed by it. Oh, amazing
John Newton. Slave trader. Slave trader, dealt
in trading black men and slaves by the boatloads and carrying
them and selling them to other people to do with them what they
want to. Selling one human being to another human being. And then he said, Amazing Grace,
how sweet the sound that saved a real nice fella like me. Fellas doing the best they can,
didn't mean to do all that stuff. No, he said, Amazing Grace, how
sweet the sound that saved a wretch, wretch, wretch like me. That's why Paul talked about
being a wretched man. And, oh, beloved, they were overwhelmed
by grace. Grace came. How did it come?
It came through Jesus Christ. Look in Romans 11, verse 5. Even so, at this present time,
also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. How many is there left that's
been saved by grace? A remnant. Look what it goes
on to say now. And if by grace, if this election's
of grace, this remnant's saved by grace, then it don't have
any works to no more. It can't possibly be of works.
No more works then. Because if it was works, grace
would not be grace. No more grace. But if it be of
works, then it's not grace. Otherwise, work is no more work.
He said, either you're going to be saved by works or grace.
No middle ground. And if the election's by grace,
can't be of works. Oh, my. And grace is God's love,
unconditional, undivert, unevoked, undeserved. Come, thou fount
of every blessing, tune my heart to sing thy grace. Then look
what it says back over in our text here in Ephesians 2. It
said it's the gift of God. Grace is God's gift. Grace is
God's love. Grace is amazing. And once it
comes, I'll tell you something else. I know this much about
believers. That once they understand and believe the grace of God,
they never get over it. They never get over it. I'm as
much enamored and overwhelmed by the grace of God now as the
first day I believe. I am. I really, truly am. And then look what else it says
here now. This grace and this salvation in verse 9 is not of
worse. It's the gift of God. Not of
worse. Because if a fellow earns it,
then you know what the first thing he'd do? He'd start boasting.
You know that I got saved, and you know what I've done for Jesus.
Well, I'll tell you this much. I know what the Lord Jesus has
done for me. And I can't say I've ever done
anything for Him, but I can certainly tell you a whole world full of
things He's done for me. And then let me hurry. Let me
hurry. That's getting hot in here. I know it is, and I'm sorry
for you. But look what else it says here. Verse 8, chapter 2
of Ephesians. For by grace are ye saved. Now
listen, faith, through faith. And that faith is not of yourselves.
That faith is not of yourselves. Oh, my. Everybody likes to talk
about their faith. Got a word of faith. Heard a
fellow talking this morning. He trusted God to provide him
a debt-free coffee table. Then he trusted him to get him
a debt-free car. He said, can you trust God to
get you a debt-free car? Idiot, idiot, idiot. An idiot. He's worried about God giving
him coffee tables he don't own nothing on, and cars he don't
own nothing on. I tell you why he don't own no cars, because
he's got somebody else paying for them, because he's robbing
people. Oh, witness, like the Pharisees. But faith here, grace gives faith. You weren't born with faith.
Faith is not natural to a human being, but faith is just an instrument. What it is, is an empty hand.
And an empty hand has to be filled up. It don't reach and get. It
just holds itself out there and God fills it up. That's what
happens. It takes freely from God. Grace
brought faith to us. Grace brought faith to us that
we would trust Him, look to Him. Faith never looks to itself.
What would I be doing looking at my faith? What would I be
doing looking at... Can I see it? Where would I see it at? If I
looked at my faith, I would say, just like I said in this sermon,
my mind was always a million miles away. God, please help
me focus my mind. Did I have faith then? Did I look to my faith then and
say, boy, my faith brought God to me? No, no. God brought faith
to me. Faith is as good as its object. And what's faith's object? Faith
has to look outside of itself. Our salvation is completely object.
My salvation was accomplished 2,000 years ago. So that's my
faith is outside me. I have to look outside me. My sin was put away outside me.
Christ died on the cross before I ever was, so my salvation is
outside of me. It's looking to somebody else
but other than me. It looks to Christ. And an object is no good. An
object is self. It's no good. Works is no good.
If your object is self, by your free will that you exercise,
by a decision you make, by an old experience that you've had,
If faith has anything but Christ to bring to God, if faith has
anything but His person who died on the cross, if faith has anything
but His blood who cleanses us from sin, if faith has anything
but His righteousness imputed to us, if faith has anything
but His love and His faithfulness looking to Him and Him alone,
if that's not the faith you have, you ain't got a faith worth having.
I mean, we go outside ourselves. And there's preachers that would
tell you, if you had enough faith, you could be healed from this.
And if you had enough faith, you could be healed from that.
If you had enough faith, you could have this thing. If you
had enough faith, you could have another thing. But that's looking
at your faith. And that's what I'm telling you,
God brings faith to you and takes that faith and takes it off of
you and puts it right back on where it's worked up from. Do
you understand that? Oh, bless His holy name. Oh,
if you ever take your eyes, your faith off of Christ, you know
what you'll have? Despair. If you ever look to yourself
for anything, To bring to God, you'll despair, you'll get depressed,
you'll get discouraged. So don't take your eyes off of
the Lord. Don't take your faith off of Him. Just don't do it.
That's what He said, for by grace are you saved through faith in
that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God. Now look
down at verse 10 in all very light. Verse 10. Look what else happens. Our soul
says we're saved. Saved by grace. Saved through
faith. God gives it to us. Ourselves
has nothing to do with it. Look what it says. Verse 10,
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, which God hath before ordained that we should work
on Him. Now, here's the thing about it. We are His workmanship.
And I've told you all this before. That word workmanship means poema. It's like somebody writing a
poem. And we're God's poem. You know, the heavens declare
the glory of God, their firmament shows His handiwork. We're God's
handiwork. See, salvation is by grace and
not of works, and it's the work of God because it says we are
His workmanship. He made us. Now, look what it
says here. It says, not only have we His workmanship, we've
been created in Christ Jesus. See, salvation is a creation.
In saving a sinner, God brings into existence a new creature. He brings into existence a new
creature. As He commanded the light to
shine out of darkness, He has commanded the light to shine
in our hearts, to give the light the understanding of God's blessed
grace. And I'll tell you something,
beloved, in the original creation, nothing resisted. God said and
it was done in the original creation, but when God saved us, He was
saving sinners, he was saving rebels, he was saving people
that had inventory hearts against him, and he was saving folks
that resisted him with every ounce of life they had in them.
So when he saved us, he overcome everything in us to save us. He had to make us willing to
be saved. How did he do that? By his power. We were dead! He gave us light. We were in darkness, He gave
us light. And it says His workmanship.
And I'm going to tell you something, beloved. He makes the choice
of who He creates. Look over there at Psalm 103
where they were singing. Look at Psalm 100 and verse 3.
They sung that this morning. You know, it's God who hath begun
a good work in you, and He shall perform it unto the day of Jesus
Christ. And I tell you what, since it's
His workmanship, He chooses whom He creates. Look what it says
there in verse 3. Know ye that the Lord, He is
God. That's what we saw. God. He's
God. This is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves. Now
when He's talking about making us here, He's not talking about
creating us in the original creation. us coming from our mother's,
what he's talking about here, us making us his people. I am
choosing us, electing us, saving us. It's he that has made us
and not we ourselves. We did not save ourselves, did
not make ourselves, and we know that's what it says. We are his
people. I'll be their God, they shall be my people. And watch
this, and the sheep of his pasture. I know my sheep, and I'll call
them, and they know me. He made us to be His people.
He made us to be His. That's what He's talking about
right there. We are His. We are His. And I'll tell you,
beloved, every sinner that's saved is an exhibition of His
blessed grace. An exhibition of His blessed
grace. And then He told us we're created in Christ Jesus unto
good works. Let me say something about this
good works. Now, good works is the fruit
of salvation. It's proof of a man being saved. When the scriptures tell Owen
James that Abraham, our father, was justified by works when he
offered up his son Isaac. When Paul says, you know, he
was justified by faith. Now, what does this mean? That
means works justify our faith before the world, before one
another. When they see Abraham take his
son and pray on that mountain and say, I and my son will come
back after we go up there and worship. They said, that fellow
right there really believes God. You see what he just did? He
trusted God to save his son. He trusted God to bring that
boy back off that mountain. And so they looked at what he
did. And that's what we're doing.
You come believe the gospel. You come rejoice in the gospel.
You trust in Christ. And God ordained that we should
walk in Him. Now, I don't preach good works
and tell you what good works are. I don't do that. I don't do that. I'm not going
to tell you what's a good work and what ain't. But I do know
this, that God's people walk in them. Why do I know that? Because God ordained it to be.
And this is a mystery of grace. I'm going to close with this
right here. Now, listen to me. This is a mystery of grace. That
a believer claims nothing good in himself. yet they're the finest, best
people on the face of the earth. And not a one of them would stand
up and tell you they've done anything. You know. Ain't that right? Oh, blessed, blessed Savior.
Oh, blessed Master. Oh, what a joy it was to be here,
to be able to preach the gospel, to be able to be with the saints
of God and worship You. And I pray that You would make
this message effectual, make it real, make it alive, cause
it to bring forth fruit in the hands of the Holy Spirit. Keep
us today and bring us back safe to worship You this evening.
And you people that are traveling, see them safe home. We ask these
things in Christ's name. Amen. Amen.