Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. I'd like to welcome you to our
program today. I'm glad you could join us. If you'd like to follow
along in your Bibles, I'm going to be preaching from the book
of Ephesians chapter two in the New Testament, Paul's, the Apostle
Paul's epistle or letter that the Holy Spirit inspired him
to write to the church at Ephesus. And I'm gonna be talking about
God's mercy to sinners. God's mercy to sinners. And this chapter two begins by
what I could say is sort of like every true believer's autobiography
up to the time that the Lord has brought them to faith in
Christ. Up to the time of the new birth,
you might say. And it starts out in verse one.
The apostle writes, and you hath he quickened who were dead in
trespasses and sins. Now that quickening is a life-giving
spirit who gives spiritual life to spiritually dead sinners.
And one of the problems with modern day religion, even modern
day Christianity that denies the doctrine of Christ, is that
it fails to recognize the state of man by nature, the state of
all people, all men and all women by nature as we are naturally
born into this world. You see, false religion gives
you the impression that you have some spark of goodness and some
freedom of will which would cause you to desire, in some instances,
the things that glorify and honor God, especially the things in
salvation. But the Bible does not teach
that. The Bible teaches otherwise. The thing about false religion,
and I say this all the time on this program, when you come to
the true gospel, the true gospel has to do with salvation from
sin. the salvation of sinners who
are by nature spiritually dead. Now they're physically alive,
they have a mind, they have a will, they have a desire, they have
a conscience, they have a moral compass, but the problem with
it is all of their faculties, all of their mind, their affections,
their will, even their moral compass is fallen and corrupted with
sin and ignorance, darkness, self-righteousness, self-love.
And what the Bible says is that we all fell in Adam into the
state of sin and death. And as a result, we are born
spiritually dead, that is with no capacity to see and to understand
and to know and to believe and love the things of God. So when
false religion comes along and denies the true gospel, which
teaches salvation, conditioned on Christ and on Him alone, but
it teaches, false religion teaches that salvation is conditioned
on you and me, on sinners. It's denying the truth that God
reveals in the Word of God of the natural state of men and
women by nature, as we are naturally born. And so this is what he's
saying at the opening of this chapter. You hath he quickened
who were dead in trespasses and sins. You hath he made alive. You who have been born again
by the Spirit. You remember Christ told Nicodemus,
you must be born again, born from above, And that's not the
physical birth. That's not your physical birth.
You were not born naturally having this spirit, spiritual sight,
spiritual desires. You had sight, physical. You
had desires, but they were not towards God. Not the true and
living God now. By nature, men and women concoct
a God of their own imagination, even those who are false Christians. They talk about the God of the
Bible, but they deny what the Bible says about Him. And so,
you hath He quickened, you must be born again, or you cannot
see or enter the kingdom of God. And the kingdom of God is Christ
and His church, His kingdom of salvation. Well, this new birth,
this quickening is the fruit and the result or the product
of the work of Christ as the surety, the substitute, and the
redeemer of his people, as he died on the cross for their sins,
paying their debt to God's law and justice, establishing righteousness. You see, sin demands death, the
wages of sin is death, but righteousness demands life, and we don't have
righteousness. The Bible says in Romans 3 and
verse 10, there is none righteous, no, not one. Now that doesn't
mean there are none moral or religious. A natural man, the
natural woman, can be moral and religious in the eyes of men. They can be good people as fallen
humanity judges goodness. But in God's eyes, there's none
good, no not one. Because God's standard of goodness
is the perfection of the law, the perfection of righteousness
that can only be found in the Lord Jesus Christ by His death
on the cross. And so Christ died, He was buried,
He arose again the third day, meaning that He brought forth
life. And He gives that life to all
for whom He died, God's elect. because God has imputed, charged,
accounted righteousness to them, they will be quickened, they'll
be made alive. But before that quickening, what
is their biography, their autobiography? Well, look at this, and you,
verse one, and you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and
sins, spiritually dead, no eyes to see, no ears to hear, no desire
toward God, What that tells us that if left to our own wills,
people talk about free will today. Our will is free only in this
sense. We're free to do what we desire. The problem is, is that by nature,
the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God,
he can't even know them. They're foolishness to him. They're spiritually discerned
and he can't discern them. He doesn't know the value of
them. He doesn't believe God. You see, faith is the gift of
God which comes in this quickening. And you won't believe God. Now,
you may think you do, but test your faith with the Scriptures.
Who is God? Who are you? Who is Jesus Christ? Who is God manifest in the flesh?
That's Christ. What did He accomplish on the
cross, you see? So people say, well, God's trying
to save everybody, Christ died for everybody, and it's offered
to everybody, now if you'll just cooperate. The Bible teaches
that by nature man will not cooperate. You must be born again, or you
cannot even see the kingdom of God, let alone enter it. Bible
says that those who are willing to come God's way through Christ
are those who are made willing in the day of His power. God
gives them a new heart. He gives them a new mind, a new
sight. They see things that they didn't
see before. I can remember when I first heard
the true gospel, how it was so offensive to me. But then God,
in His power and in His good providence, He gave me eyes to
see what I didn't see before, ears to hear what I didn't hear
before. I saw it in a different way, I heard it in a different
way, and I believed it because God gave me faith. And that's
what Ephesians says on down here. Faith is the gift of God. So
when he says, you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and
sin, he's talking about the new birth. You were spiritually dead.
Now here's how that spiritual death evidences itself. Look at verse two. He says, wherein
in time past you walked according to the course of this world. Worldly. Now understand this
now. This is very important or you
will not understand the scriptures. You will not understand the Bible.
When you read passages like this, let me just read it all and I'm
gonna go back. He says in verse two, wherein
in time past you walked according to the course of this world,
you were a worldling. That's what I was before God
saved me. According to the prince of the power of the air, And
that's talking about Satan and the realm that he works in, the
power of the air, means that Satan works in a spiritual way,
but not the spirit of life, it's the spirit of death. He says,
the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. That's what man is by nature,
a child of disobedience. You know what a child of disobedience
is? An unbeliever. And it says in verse three, among
whom also we all had our conversation. That's our walk, our way of life,
our way of living in time past in the lust of our flesh. The desires of our flesh, that's
sin. Fulfilling the desires of the
flesh and of the mind. In other words, sin was not just
in what we did, it's in what we thought. and were by nature,
as we were naturally born, the children of wrath, deserving
of wrath, even as others. Now that's how he describes man
by nature, even God's people before they're quickened. And so what do they need? They
need God's mercy. Verse four, but God, who is rich
in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us, God's mercy, for
sinners, to sinners. What is mercy? Well, that's God
not giving me what I deserve. That's what is love and grace,
God giving me what I don't deserve and earn. What have I deserved?
What do I deserve and what have I earned? The wrath of God, the
judgment of God, eternal damnation and death. But if I'm one of
God's chosen people for whom Christ died and was buried and
arose again, what does God give me? He gives me His mercy, His
love, and His grace. Not because I've earned it, not
because I deserve it, and not because I made a decision. It's
all based upon what Christ did. But let's go back now. Verse
two, wherein in time past you walked according to the course
of this world. What is the course of this world? When you think
about worldliness, what do you think of? Do you think of open
immorality, perversions, such as homosexuality, drug addiction,
alcohol addiction, prostitution? gambling, whatever, what do you
think of? Do you think of the immoral,
perverted segment of society? Well, if your thinking goes no
further than that, you've missed what the scripture says. Because
the course of this world includes the world's false religion. Listen, any religion that teaches
salvation conditioned on sinners and not on the Lord Jesus Christ
alone, the true Christ of the Bible, any religion that teaches
any other way but the way of God's grace based upon the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ freely imputed and received by faith
is a worldly way of walking, a worldly religion, a false religion. You take a person who's trying
to be the best they can be the most moral they can be, responsible,
leaders of society. If they don't know Christ, if
they're not submitted to Him as the Lord their righteousness,
if they've not admitted before God and men that based on their
best works, they deserve death and hell, my friend, they are
worldlings. And that's what I was. That's
what any of God's people were before they were quickened and
brought to Christ, convicted of sin, to know that at my best
state, I cannot say that I've earned or deserve salvation or
any of its blessings. According to the prince of the
power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children
of disobedience. That's satanic unbelief. Just like when Christ looked
at the Pharisees and he said, you're of your father, the devil.
They were trying to keep the law. They were reading the Old
Testament, memorizing it, writing commentaries on it. People today
who call themselves Christian, but who believe that their works
in some way attain or maintain salvation for them, my friend,
They're walking according to the prince of the power of the
air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.
A child of disobedience in the Bible is an unbeliever. One who
does not believe the true gospel. One who is ignorant of or not
submitted to the righteousness of God. which is the perfection
of righteousness that can only be found in the death, burial,
and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, the death,
burial, and resurrection of Christ is not just a historical fact.
It is historical fact. But it's the establishment, the
fulfillment of righteousness for God's people. And it's the
only righteousness we have. I want to be a good person. I
want to be a moral person. I want to be responsible. But
that's not my righteousness by which God judges me saved. The righteousness which God judges
me saved is the imputed righteousness of Christ. His righteousness
charged to my account, just as my sins were charged to His.
And He put them away by His death, washed in the blood of Christ.
clothed in His righteousness. Have you ever sang, if you go
to church, have you ever sang a hymn called The Solid Rock? Which says, My hope is built
on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not
trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On
Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.
Do you understand what that hymn's saying? That's a good hymn. It
goes on in one verse, it says, this is all my hope and peace. All this, there's another hymn
that I'm quoting there, is what can wash away my sin? Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. And it goes on to say, this is
all my hope and peace, this is all my righteousness. Do you
understand what that means? That means you don't deserve
and you haven't earned the least of God's blessings, no matter
what you do. And so in verse three, he says,
among whom also we had our conversation in times past in the lust of
our flesh. Lust is a desire, okay? Most of the time, it's an unlawful
desire. When we think of lust, we think
about sexual lust and that kind of thing. But the lust of the
flesh would include any unlawful desire inspired by the flesh. For example, go back to Genesis
chapter four and think about Cain and Abel and how they approach
God seeking salvation, seeking blessings from God, seeking communion
with God. Now Abel, Cain, on the basis
of what? The blood of a lamb. And that
was typical, that typified, symbolized the blood of Christ. And so Abel
was received because why? Because Abel was a good person?
No. Because Abel was sincere? No. He was received because he
brought the blood of the Lamb, which typified Christ. Now Cain,
he came a different way, didn't he? You say, well, Cain wasn't
sincere. How do you know that? The Bible
doesn't say that Cain was an insincere person. Cain brought
the works of his hands. He desired salvation, blessings
from God, communion with God, based on what? His works. Now that is a desire or a lust,
an unlawful desire of the flesh. So false religion would be categorized
as lust of the flesh. fulfilling the desires of the
flesh and of the mind, it says. And we're by nature, that is,
as we are naturally born, the children of wrath, even as others.
Who are the children of wrath? It's those who die in sin, continue
in unbelief all through their lives, and die in unbelief, and
they experience the wrath of God. Condemnation. They're not in Christ. They never
come to faith in Christ. They've never been born again.
But God chose a people before the foundation of the world who
though they fell in Adam and are born in sin and death, spiritually
dead, He sends His Spirit through Christ based upon the blood and
righteousness of Christ to give them life. But by nature, as
they are naturally born, they're no different than the children
of wrath. They're no more deserving of God's grace God's salvation,
God's blessing. They have no more earned God's
blessings and salvation than those who perish in eternity.
In other words, it's a matter of God's mercy to sinners. Look at verse four. But God,
who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved
us. This is the love of God. Friend, there's no love of God
outside of Christ. There's only hatred and wrath.
Somebody told me one time, said, God doesn't hate anybody. Well,
you better change the Bible you're reading then because the Bible
says God hates all workers of iniquity. The Bible says that
God hated Esau. Who does God hate? And what is
God's hate? God's hatred is not sinful. It's
not unreasonable and it's not unjust. Ours is because our hatred
comes from our own selfishness. That's why we're told to love
our neighbors ourselves. But God's hatred abides on any
sinner to whom sin, iniquity, is imputed, charged. In other
words, outside of Christ. In Christ, my sins have been
charged to him, and he paid for them on the cross. In Christ,
I have a righteousness that answers the demands of God's justice.
The love of God is that which provides Christ for His chosen
people. 1 John 4, 10, here in His love,
not that we love God, but that He loved us, that's His people,
believers, and sent His Son to be the propitiation, sin-bearing
sacrifice who brought satisfaction, propitiation for our sins. The blood of Christ cleanses
from all sin. That's the love of God. and his
great love. Look at verse five, he says,
even when we were dead in sins. In other words, there was no
time that we could say, well, now we finally earned it, we
finally deserve it. Listen, God's mercy and love
towards his elect, his church, his people, Christ's sheep, the
redeemed ones, the quickened ones, that was active in their
lives, even though they didn't know it, even when we were dead
in sins. God didn't look down and say,
now, if you will just do this, I'll do that. He didn't say,
if you'll just do your part. I've done my best, I'm trying
to save everybody, but they just won't let, no, no, no, that is
not scriptural. God chose a people before the
foundation of the world and gave them to Christ, made Christ to
be their surety. And as their surety, He came,
that means their sin debt was charged to His account. And He
became responsible to pay their debt. He willingly took that
office on. And then He came to this world
and united His deity with a sinless human nature, and walked on this
earth as God-man, as the substitute of His people, when under the
death of the cross, to pay the penalty of sin, for them, for
his sheep. The good shepherd gives his life
for the sheep. And as he shed his blood unto
death, he finished the work, he paid the debt, he redeemed
us from our sins. So that he is the, as Romans
10, four says, he is the end of the law for righteousness. He is the finishing, the fulfillment,
the perfection, the completion of the law and its justice for
righteousness, for satisfaction to law and justice, for righteousness
to everyone who believes. Everyone who is quickened, you
hath he quickened. So this thing of the gospel,
this thing of salvation, this thing of acceptance with God,
This thing of blessings from God and communion with God, this
thing of heaven and eternal life is a matter of God's mercy to
sinners. It's not a matter of God giving
to those who meet certain conditions the blessings of salvation. It's
not a matter of salvation conditioned on sinners, and if they'll meet
certain conditions and do certain things and make certain decisions,
then God will bless them. It's a matter of God's mercy
to sinners. Sometimes the word mercy refers
to that term that I used earlier, quoting from 1 John 4 10, propitiation. For example, in the book of Luke
chapter 18, you had a parable there that the Lord spoke, whereby
he illustrated how God justifies sinners. You had a Pharisee who
stood before the temple, lifted up his eyes, and said, I thank
God that I'm not like other men. I'm not an extortioner, I do
this. And then he said, thank God that
I do give twice a week tithes, twice a week. I do this, I do
that. And that man expected God to
bless him based upon, now listen to this, what he believed God
enabled him to do. You know, many people are like
that. I've heard people say, well, when I stand before God,
then my works will be shot up on a screen, but that's all God's
work. No, let me tell you something. If that's your righteousness
before God, you're in trouble. Just like that Pharisee. All
the things that he bragged about. But the publican, he said, Lord,
have mercy on me, the sinner. And that mercy was a propitiation,
a sin-bearing sacrifice that brought satisfaction. That's
what salvation is. It's a matter of God's mercy
to sinners. God's grace, God's love. And so when we talk about mercy
here in verse 4 of Ephesians 2, that's talking about God's
mercy, not propitiation, but that's where it comes from in
Christ. I hope you'll join us next week for another message
from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
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at 1-1-0-2-1. Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia
31707. Contact us by phone at 229-432-6969
or email us through our website at www.theletterrofgrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.