If you'd like to follow along,
I'm gonna be in the book of Ephesians. Ephesians chapter two. I'm gonna read the first seven
verses. And you, Hathi Quicken, who were
dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past ye walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience. Among whom also we all, we all,
had our conversations in time past in the lust of our flesh,
fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were
by nature the children of wrath, even as others. Here comes those
two great words. But God, but God, who is rich
in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 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 Jesus Christ, Christ Jesus. I'm gonna stop
right there. Now I understand that's a weird
place for a Baptist to stop. But at the end of the sermon
I'll read, you know, Ephesians two and eight, but we'll get
there. But I wanna point out a few things. My title for this,
Paul, is A Five-Fold View of God. A Five-Fold View of God. But the first thing I want to
say is things change in you, to you,
and for you because of being born from above. You change. I change. All of God's people change. Because
here it is. You live where you were dead. No longer dead in trespasses
and sins. You are given faith, and because
of being given faith, you believe in Christ Jesus. And you trust
Christ Jesus. I'm gonna tell you something,
folks. That is foreign to probably 98% of this world, if not more,
I don't know. All I know is few there be that
find it. And many are on the broad road.
But that changes in you, and there's a reason for these changes
in you and to you, and the reason is this one simple statement.
God is for us. And if God is for us, Who can
be against us? Oh, I'm gonna tell you something. But now let me just say it right
here for the benefit of the television and the internet. Who is the
us? Well, Paul tells us in Ephesians
chapter one verse one. He's writing this letter, an
apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God to the saints which
are at Ephesus. But he doesn't stop there. He
says this. and to the faithful in Christ
Jesus. Now, I'm gonna tell you something,
that includes us. Right here, right now. The faithful
in Christ Jesus. Both of those are very particular
statements. The saints in Ephesus is very
particular, and the faithful in Christ Jesus is also very
particular. Deb and I were watching a video
the other day. I asked her what it was about,
because I couldn't remember, and she couldn't remember either. That's how much it stuck with
me, OK? She said, you're going to tell them about this at church,
aren't you? And I said, yes, I am. Yes, I am. Well, I can't
remember exactly what it was about, but they did have one
commentator they brought on. And he was a retired. professor
of religion. So I knew he was in trouble when
they put that up on the screen, okay? Well, he was very, he was
very specific and very vague at the same time. It was really
kind of funny. They were talking about the scripture,
talking about the Bible, talking about the books of the Bible,
all right? And let me see, I wrote this
down because I don't trust my memory. But he was very clear
about this one point. You couldn't understand the writings
of Paul unless you knew the historical context and who he was writing
to and what the situation was at the time. And I'm thinking, Deb and I kind
of looked at each other, you know, because basically what
he was inferring is this. These scriptures are not necessarily
valid for you, the people today. He was writing to the people
at Ephesus. No, well he also said he was writing to the faithful
in Christ Jesus. I'm gonna tell you something,
folks. The faithful in Christ Jesus are the same in every age. Believers are believers. There's
only, we have one common faith, it's called. There is only one
faith, one Lord and one baptism. But this is the thing, you know.
This man was right and wrong at the same time. He was right
in the fact that you need to know who Paul is writing to,
but he was wrong in not knowing the fact of who Paul was writing
to. Because here, I'm just gonna
begin in verse four. From verse four to verse seven.
That's four verses, and that's one sentence from Paul the Apostle. And I'm gonna tell you something,
Paul wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He was moved
by God to write this down. I mean that. But in this one
sentence, Paul put forth a wonderful view of God in the words of the
Holy Spirit given to him, and these words are for every believer
in Christ Jesus. and they're worthy to be preached. It doesn't matter when it's preached. I find it wonderful sometimes
that you can read a sermon from a preacher 200, 300, sometimes
400 years ago, and he's preaching the same gospel that we preach
today, the same gospel. I wish I could go down the street
from where I live and hear that same gospel, but it doesn't work
that way, not now. But in these four verses, in
this one sentence, Paul gives us what I call a five-fold view
of God. Oh my. In the first three verses
of this chapter, Paul talks about what we were. Then he starts talking about
what God has done. Doesn't necessarily go into what
we are now, although we are, because it goes from what we
were to what God does. Oh, I like that, I do, I do.
Verse four. Oh, I'll go ahead and give them
to you. In these four verses, in this one sentence, He tells
us about God's mercy, God's love, God's grace, God's power, and
God's kindness. But God, who is rich in mercy
for his great love, wherewith he loved us. Now, according to
verse one of this same chapter, Paul is writing to those who
were dead. Were dead. He's not writing about
those who are dead. He's writing about those who
were dead, in trespasses and in sins. I mean, this is not
complicated. God is merciful to his people. God cares for his people. He
is full of mercy, he is full of compassion, and I have to
say it this way, for some, for some. And the great thing about
those three verses before this, you were dead in trespasses and
sins, and you had your conversation in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
the children of wrath, even as, and I'm not saying we were the
children of wrath, because we were not. but we were just like
them. By nature, we were just like
them. But God, I like that word. There's two
words, but God, I love the word nevertheless. I can put that
in, nevertheless God, who is rich in mercy, rich in mercy. He cares for his people. His
thoughts toward his people are peace. and love and grace. Oh my. In spite of what we do,
God has had mercy on us. And that's in spite of what we've
done and that's in spite of what we do. God has mercy on us. God has mercy. Oh, he's rich
in mercy. You understand? God's got more
mercy than we can use. God's got more mercy than we
can know about. We don't understand how merciful God is to us. Because
we really, really deep down don't understand how bad we really
are. We didn't understand how bad
we were, and we don't understand how bad we are. But God's rich
in mercy, rich in mercy. He's got plenty of mercy. And
he cares for his people. Oh my. In spite of what we still
are, God is reaching mercy toward us. Oh my. And that mercy and that compassion
is upon all these who at one time were dead, were dead. Oh, I like that, I do. But here
also, Paul tells us the source of God's mercy toward his people.
And here's a hint, it's not you, it's not me. What'd he say? But God who is rich in mercy,
for his great love, wherewith he loved us. You understand,
God is merciful because of his love. For his great love, wherewith
he loved us. And this is still the same us.
those who were dead. It's his people. You understand? I mean, it's... And the word here used is agape. This is real love. This is the
love we don't really know anything about, any more than we know
about the depth of his true mercy, the riches of his mercy. You
understand? The great love. wherewith he
loved us. We were dead, and we weren't
just dead, dead. We were dead in trespasses and
in sins. We were doing stuff that we shouldn't
have been doing. We were thinking things we shouldn't
have been thinking. We were saying things we shouldn't
have been saying. And we were talking and rebelling against
God while we were dead. Trespasses and sins. Yet God
is rich in mercy. For with his great love, wherewith
he, he loved us. When we were unlovable in and
of ourselves, when we were dead, trespassing, sinning, full of
iniquity, what was it, from the bottom of your feet to the top
of your head? Wounds and bruises and, not sores,
putrefying sores. infected sores, spreading sores. But God's rich in mercy for the
great love wherewith he loved us. Oh my. Pure love, untainted
love. Because I'm gonna tell you something,
folks. God's love is as perfect as God. God's mercy is as perfect as
God. Oh, my. But let's be clear, let's
not get carried away, because we didn't deserve it. We were
dead in trespasses and in sin. God's love, God's love for us
is in His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul's already said it.
In Ephesians one, verses three and four, blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has, what? Blessed
us. Who's that? Those are the ones
that were dead. Blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places, but not by yourself, in Christ. According as he has
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that that we should
be holy and without blame before him, how? In love. In love, what? His great love,
wherewith he loved us, with his great love. Oh, I like that,
I do. Oh my, we've been blessed, and
with all spiritual blessings, in heavenly places, but only
in Christ Jesus, any son. You understand, we wouldn't have these blessings
without Christ Jesus. Without Christ Jesus, you don't
have these blessings. It's his sacrifice, his substitution. Understand, God, and I hate sometimes, but
I like saying it this way, God doesn't just forgive sin. I heard Earl say it, I've heard
Henry say it, I've heard Walter say it, I've said it. Paul may
have said it. And I'll say it again, God doesn't
just forgive sins. Salvation is free to us, but
salvation was not free. Jesus Christ gave his very life
for it. He was our substitute. You know we were dead in trespasses
and sins? Our trespasses and sins were
laid on him. He took them in his own body
on the tree and carried them away. And what? We are blessed
with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. In Christ, oh my. Mm, to the
praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted
in the beloved, in Christ, in Christ, the one who offered himself
up as a perfect sacrifice, an offering to God the Father, but
for us. Yeah. He was made an offering
for sin, and let's be clear, folks, once, once, that's it,
period, there is no more sacrifice for sin. He is the substitute,
he is the sacrifice and the offering, and he offered himself to God,
and God has chosen us in him, in him, oh, thereby, God can
be to us rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he hath
loved us in his son, in his son. Oh, I like that. God has made
us accepted in the beloved, in Christ Jesus. Understand, it's
his great love for the son that we're included in. It's not because
of us. It's because of Jesus Christ.
Oh, and thank God for it. Thank God for it. Oh, oh my. Because his great love for his
son includes every one of his people. Every one of his people. Wherewith he loved us. Because this, is who we are,
now we are in Christ Jesus. Believers are the sons and daughters
of God right now, right now. Oh, with a great love, wherewith
he loved us. Oh, I like that, I do. Because think about this. You
can praise God for this. Thank God for this. Rejoice in
this. When we were dead in trespasses
and sin, God loved us. And God had mercy on us. When
we walked according to the prince and the power of the air, which
we did, God loved us and had mercy on us. when we were just
like the children of wrath. God loved us and had mercy on
us. Oh, I like that. Then we go on
to the next verse, what happened? We've got the mercy, we got the
love. Oh, even when we were dead, we're
back to that again. When we were dead in sins, hath
quickened us together and this is very close, with Christ. With
Christ. And Paul, I love what Earl said
about he couldn't hold it no longer. By grace are ye saved. By grace ye are saved. You understand,
Paul repeats part of verse one. When we were dead. We were dead. In sin, and we
were sinning. Because we were okay being in
sin at one time. You understand? We're just like
the children of wrath, okay? What's that mean? Well, it means
at one time, we hated the light and we loved the darkness. That's not a good combination,
folks. But that's us, that's us. We were dead in sins, we
were okay with sins. It's a statement of fact. But
here's the key word in this statement, and in verse one, the key word
is this, were. Were, we were dead in sins, were. That's a good word. The believer, all the saints
at Ephesus, and all the faithful in Christ Jesus, We're dead at
one time. We're dead at one time. Dead
in trespasses and in sins. Dead in inequities and rebellion
against God. That's where we were. But now,
we were dead. He hath quickened us together
with Christ. Now that word quickened us together.
It's three words in English. It's one word in the Greek. I
like that. One word in the Greek. It means
reanimated conjointly. You like that? What's that mean? Joined together and made alive
together. Our life is in Christ. It's hid
in Christ with God. We were reanimated conjointly
when we didn't even know it. Oh, I'm telling you, there comes
a time. Here comes a time. You're born,
you're here, you were dead. Now you're not. Now you're not. You are reanimated conjointly
with Christ. Quickened together, made alive. Oh, I like that. Because here's
the thing, we were dead, now we are not dead in trespasses
and in sins. That's mercy. For his great love's
sake, wherewith he loved us, he hath quickened us together
with Christ, by grace are you saved. By grace are you saved.
You understand the first three verses of this chapter, are all
about us. The next four verses in a row
are all about God. The hole we were in is where
we belong. But it's him that's gotta dig
you out of it. Amen, that's right. Mm, I like
that. He pulled my feet out of the
miry clay, dug me out of the pit I was in, but not only that,
He sets your feet upon the rock. Oh my. He sets your feet on the
rock and you, what did he say? He orders your steps. I need that, folks. I need that. Oh my. Oh. What goes with mercy
and love? By grace are you saved. By grace
you are saved. Exodus 33 and 19 said this, and
he said, this is God speaking, I will make all my goodness pass
before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee.
All my goodness. What's the goodness of God? And
will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. And will show mercy on whom I
will show mercy. Oh my, that's grace. And you know whose will that
grace is performed by? It's by the will of God. It's not by the will of man.
It's not by the will of flesh. It's not by the will of the blood. Got nothing to do with us. But
God is where this verse starts, this sentence starts. But God,
because here's the thing, folks, there is no separation of grace
and mercy. And they're both because of the
love of God for his son. Oh my, for his great love, wherewith
he loved us. We have grace and we have mercy. What happens by his mercy and
love and grace? We were quickened, made alive,
reanimated. Because here's the thing, folks. Without Jesus Christ, there is
no life. There's none. There is no life.
He is life. Because what did he say? Jesus
Christ said it himself. I am the way, the truth, and
what? The life. The life. Oh my. Oh my, he's the beloved. And we are in the beloved. Oh, I like that. Those God loves
are given life by him and in him. I am the way, the truth,
and the life, what's it say? No man, no man cometh unto the
Father but by the Father. Oh my, mm, that's grace, folks. That's grace. The one who died
for us and rose for us and ascended unto heaven and now seated at
the right hand of the Father is giving life to us. Ah, why? For his great love wherewith
he loved us. You understand? It's by grace
you are saved. Because no man comes to the Father
but by Jesus Christ. Oh, verse six, it says, and hath
raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus. He has raised us up together
to sit together. What's that, reanimated? Conjointly,
quickened us together. And he has raised us up together. Oh my, you understand? And you understand what our part
is in this? Well, we get raised. You didn't do it, you didn't
cause it, you didn't start it, you didn't finish it, you're
not even in particular, you're just there. He's raised us up
and he set us down. Oh, I like that. It's like he
raised us up out of the pit and set us on the stone, set us on
the rock, and ordered our steps. Understand, folks, this is God's
work all the way around. All the way around. Because I'm
gonna tell you something, it takes the power of God, what? To quicken together in Christ
Jesus those who were dead And it takes the power of God to
raise us up together and sit together with Christ Jesus. We don't do any of this. You
know why? Because we have absolutely no
power. None, none. He has it all. He has all power. And you understand,
if he's got all power, that means you got no power. Now, a lot
of people like to think they got power, but they don't. A lot of people like to imagine
they have the power, but they don't. God's got it all. He gives
it as he sees fit. Oh, but right here, he is seen
fit by his power, what? To quicken us together with Christ.
By grace, you are saved. and hath raised us up together
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, all of
this by his own hand. What is, my arm is not short
that it cannot say, you know? And nobody's plucking anybody
out of God's hand. Why? Because he's got the power
to keep, to make alive, to raise up. to sit down and to keep you
in his hand. Oh my. I like that. It takes the power of God. You
know what that raise up together means in the Greek? It's to rouse
up in company. I like that. That's good company. That's good company. To rouse
up. To not only raise up, but to awaken up. You understand? God's not making zombies. I hear this from people, you
know? You're making us like robots.
No, no, we're much too rebellious to be good robots. No, he rouses us up. He puts it in you both to will
and to do of his good pleasure. And that's the only way you can
will and do is his good pleasure if he gives it to you. And thank
God he does. Thank God he does. But it's by
his power of life giving and raising up. Oh my. Now verse seven. that in the
ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace,
here folks, in his kindness, in his kindness, toward us, where
else? Through Jesus Christ, through
Christ Jesus. God shows his grace in his kindness
toward us. You understand? We don't deserve
kindness any more than we deserve mercy. We don't deserve grace,
we don't deserve His power, we don't deserve anything except
death. The wages of sin. That's what
we deserve. But thank God, the Lord Jesus
Christ put away our sins. He took upon Himself our sins. Oh my. And God, shows his grace
and his kindness to us, to us, who don't deserve it, who don't
deserve any of it. You understand, God is so kind
to those who were dead and trespassed and sinned, he gave us to his
son. And even more, he gave his son
to us, to us. Oh, I like that. And we believers
who were dead are in his son right now. We live in him, we
believe in him, we trust him, and by God's grace, we love him. We love him. How is this possible? Jeremiah 31, verse three, put
it this way. The Lord hath appeared of old
unto me saying, yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore, why? For his great
love, wherewith he loved us. Therefore, with loving kindness,
have I drawn thee. Oh, I like that. I remember when
Earl first read that. That blessed my soul and still
does now, you understand? We live and we move and we have
our very being in Christ Jesus. It's his grace in kindness. With loving kindness, he drew
us, what? Together with himself, with himself,
oh. Psalms 80 in verse 18 and 19. says this, so will not we go
back from thee. How's that possible? Quicken
us, quicken us, and we will call upon thy name. I'm gonna tell
you something, folks. If he don't quicken ya, you're
not gonna call upon his name. Not in any way that will matter.
Not in any way that'll matter. Turn us again, O Lord God of
hosts. Cause thy face to shine and we
shall be saved. Folks, that's grace. That's good
news. Oh my, because you got God in
love, God in mercy, God in grace, God in power, and God in kindness. And all that shows us the God
of salvation. He's the God of our salvation. Mercy, love, grace, power, and
kindness are five perfections of God in one sentence here by
the Apostle Paul. And people wonder where we get
to preach about a sovereign God. Come on now. It's clear in the
scriptures. This is the work of God. That's
the way the sentence starts, but God, and that's the way it
ends. in his kindness, in his kindness. Oh, I like that. Oh my, there
are more perfections, but Paul just wrote these five here in
these four verses, this one sentence. Because then, I told you I was
gonna read it. Paul sums it all up in what, Ephesians 2, eight
and nine. For by grace are you saved through
faith. What? And that not of yourselves.
when you were dead, when you were dead, in trespasses and
in sins, when you were following the prince and the power of the
air, when you were just like the children of Athesus and others,
for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast,
for we are what? His workmanship. I love that
part because that's what I wanna be. We are his workmanship created
in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. You want me to add that part?
If he didn't ordain you to walk in them, you wouldn't. He's gonna
put in you both the will and to do of his good pleasure. But
he has ordained for you to walk in good works. Oh, for by grace
you are saved. and by grace are you saved. I like that, I like that because
his salvation, our salvation is by his love and mercy and
grace and power and kindness in Christ Jesus. Oh my. His salvation is his gift to
his people. We were chosen before the foundation
of the world, Ephesians 1 and 4 says that. But then in time, he is bringing
in many sons to glory. The other sheep I have that are
not of this fold, not now, them I must bring. And he's bringing
us in. He's bringing us in. And here's
the thing, we as believers have been granted the grace to see
his salvation. His salvation. Ephesians 1 and
18 put it this way. The eyes of your understanding
being enlightened that ye may know what is the hope of his
calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance. In the saints, in the saints,
oh my. and what is the exceeding greatness
of his power to usward who believe according, this is how we believe,
according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought
in Christ. He wrought in Christ when he
raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand
and in the heavenly places, far above everything. Everything,
oh my. William Gadsby wrote this, there's
a verse, a song here. Excuse me. Truth and mercy meet
together. Righteousness and peace embrace. Each perfection of Jehovah meets
and shines in Jesus' face. Hear the Father, can be just and saved by grace. I like that. He is a just God
and a savior. Sin has been punished in Christ. And we are chosen in Christ. And we are saved by Christ. in Christ and to be with Christ. I like that. I want that. And here it is, folks. By the mercy of God, by the love
of God, by the grace of God, by the power of God, by the kindness
of God, in Jesus Christ. You who were dead, now you are
saved. Thank God. Thank God. Our Heavenly Father, we are thankful
again for this time and this place. Most of all, for all you've
done for us in your Son. He is our Lord Jesus Christ.
Help us to know him, to praise him, and to thank him Thank you
as we ought. Lord, we are so sorry, we don't even
know how to pray. Be with Paul and Walter as they
come to preach your word. Help us to preach your gospel
and to hear your gospel and to love it. The words of our Savior,
our Lord, Jesus Christ, whose name we ask, amen.