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. Welcome 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 2. Beginning at verse 1, Ephesians chapter 2.

And the title of the message is Truly Amazing Grace. Truly Amazing Grace. A lot of people are familiar with the famous tune, Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. Even unbelievers like it and sing it. Some of them change the words, but it's a beautiful hymn written by John Newton years and years and years ago. And most people who claim to be Christian openly claim to have been saved by grace. And they'll say salvation is by grace and not by works.

But I know as my own personal experience and a lot of people that I know, growing up in a church, quote, church, unquote, and I say that hesitantly because the church that I grew up in did not preach and follow the biblical true gospel of salvation by grace. And I didn't learn that until later on when I heard the true gospel and God revealed it to me by the spirit under the preaching of that truth. Salvation by grace. Now we talk about grace and mercy and love from God. The Bible teaches that there is no grace, there is no mercy, there is no love from God, except through the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, grace and mercy and love are not just some ideas out there that make us feel warm and fuzzy. They are real. And they find their reality and their effectiveness in salvation by grace through the Lord Jesus Christ.

And one of my favorite verses, in fact, as you know, this is a program that is sponsored by Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. And that's the church that I pastor. And then I'm overseer of our media ministry, which we entitled Reign of Grace. Reign, not R-A-I-N, but R-E-I-G-N, meaning sovereign, ruling grace. Reign of Grace Media Ministries.

And I got that title from Romans chapter five in verse 21. which says, as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. And you know, a lot of people say, well, why do you preach on righteousness so much? Because that's the theme of the Bible. Christ is the righteousness of his people. But let me give you an example of what I'm talking about.

The Bible teaches that salvation, in the Gospel now, that salvation and all of its blessings, all of its benefits, was and is conditioned on the person and the works of the Lord Jesus Christ for His people. The Bible does not teach salvation by grace to be salvation conditioned on you or me. Conditioned on our works? No. Conditioned on our choices? No. Somebody says, well, Christ did everything he can do to save you. Now the choice is yours. I saw that on a sign here in town a few days ago. He says, God made the promise, the choice is yours.

Well, here's what the Bible teaches, and this is what I wanna go into Ephesians 2 to start off with in these first three verses. The Bible teaches what we call the total depravity of men and women by nature. Have you ever heard of the doctrine of total depravity? Well, the term total depravity is not in the Bible verbatim, quote, total depravity, unquote. But the truth and the idea, the doctrine of total depravity is all through the Bible. And it begins illustrating that doctrine from Genesis three, when man fell. Now, total depravity is the biblical truth of sin. Man is a sinner. We've all sinned and come short of the glory of God. We'll all quote that verse. The wages of sin is death. Now the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. But the wages of sin is death.

And what that teaches us is that by nature, and y'all use that term quite a bit in this program. By nature, the natural man, man as we are born, men and women as we are born, originally in our original natural state physical birth so man by nature is born spiritually dead now he's physically alive he has a body he has a soul he has the spark of physical life but he has no spiritual life no spiritual capacity no spiritual desires.

He has no understanding of spiritual things, especially when it comes to the nature of God and his own sinful nature and the way of salvation through Christ. Man by nature is spiritually dead, spiritually ignorant, dead in trespasses and sins. And that's why he must be born again from above by the Spirit in order to receive Christ, to believe in Him, and to follow Him in the way of salvation. So the Bible teaches the total depravity of man by nature. I quote the verse 1 Corinthians 2 14 all the time here. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them.

They're spiritually discerned, So he has no spiritual mind and heart. In the new birth, Christ said, you must be born again. You're given spiritual life, a new heart, new mind, new life, new understanding. See, all that is a gift from God. It's not what we have naturally. And when people teach that we can have that capacity naturally, they're lying to you.

The Bible doesn't teach that. So if you want to read the doctrine of total depravity, read passages like Romans 3, beginning at verse 10. There's none righteous, no, not one. There's none that seeketh after God. There's none that doeth good. By deeds of law shall no flesh be justified, forgiven, and declared righteous. That's the total depravity of man.

And God has to come in a miraculous way through the preaching of the gospel by the power of the Spirit to give life to the dead, born again. And here in this passage, Ephesians 2, the first three verses, we have a description of the doctrine of total depravity.

Listen to what it says. Paul writes, and you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. Now, if you've got a King James Version, You might notice that the words hath he quickened is in italics. And that means that it was supplied by the translators. But the translators didn't, it's not false, because if you're a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, and if you follow Christ, you have been quickened by the Spirit. And that quickening means to be given life, be made alive.

You were born spiritually dead, fallen in Adam. That's what we receive from our father Adam, spiritual death, spiritual depravity. So we fell in Adam into a state of spiritual death and depravity so that we have no capacity, no desire to seek the things of the Lord and to believe them and to follow him. But if you have that desire given to you by the Spirit in the new birth, you've been quickened, quickened by the Spirit.

But look at what it says, And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins, Wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world, the world of, and I've preached on this before, I mentioned it last week, that this world here refers to all the world, even the religious world. The world's religion is evil because it denies the glory of God and it denies the person and work of Christ. And according to the prince of the power of the air, The spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, that's unbelievers.

And then it says, among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lust of our flesh. And that can be a religious lust too, not just a sexual lust. A desire, for example, a desire for a person to go to heaven based on their works, that's a lust of the flesh. And you need to understand that. He says, 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, wherewith he loved us. Now, he's gonna be talking about the death of Christ as the death of a substitute. And I brought this out last week. The word together, together with Christ. It says in verse five, God rich in mercy, verse 4, for His great love wherewith He loved us even when we were dead in sins. In other words, there's nothing in us that's lovely or worth loving but He sovereignly loved His people and hath quickened us together with Christ. This is what I brought out, together with Christ.

That's when all believers were redeemed by the blood of Christ. When he died, we died. When he was buried, we were buried. And he emphasizes that by this parenthesis, by grace you're saved. In other words, you didn't do anything to earn this or deserve it. And then he goes on in verse six, and hath raised us up together. When Christ arose from the dead, we arose. He's as our representative, our federal head, our substitute, our surety. 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 in His kindness toward us through Jesus Christ.

And here's the kicker. Here's the truly amazing grace. For by grace are you saved through faith, that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. And somebody says, well, why do you repeat these things all the time? Why do you preach on this all the time? Because the world is ignorant of these things and the world is on its way to eternal damnation, thinking that they believe salvation by grace when they don't. And that's what he says here, for by grace are you saved through faith, that not of yourselves, even faith is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. not of works, lest any man should boast. And then he sums it up in this phrase, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, not because of, which God hath before ordained, foreordained, prepared, that we should walk in them.

Now, if I've repeated all of that, that's okay, because you need to hear it more than once. But go on in this passage. Wherefore, for this reason, remember that you being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, talking about the Ephesian believers. Now there were Jewish believers in there too, but the majority were Gentiles, who are called uncircumcision. That's the way the Jews referred to the Gentiles, the uncircumcised, talking about fleshly circumcision. And you were called the uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands, that's the Jews. So you see, you had this division and prejudice, bias, the circumcised Jews against the uncircumcised Gentiles and the uncircumcised Gentiles against the circumcised Jews. But the thing about it is, the physical rite of circumcision was a physical sign that was meant for a period of time to identify the physical seed of Abraham for the purpose of bringing the Messiah through that nation.

But it never had any value spiritually to save anybody. cleanse anybody. The Bible teaches and well as Paul wrote in Galatians 6 14, he said, God forbid that I should glory, that I should boast, boast of being saved. except in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ the person and work of Christ by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision but a new creation and that new creation is the quickened sinner brought to life by the Spirit to believe in Christ So he says, remember this. Now he's telling these Ephesians believers, recall that when you were Gentiles in the flesh in the past, who were called uncircumcision by the circumcision, verse 12, that at that time you were without Christ.

Now, understand that the Bible teaches that if we're believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, If we've been chosen by God before the foundation of the world, if we've been redeemed by His blood and justified by His righteousness imputed, and if we've been quickened by the Spirit and we believe in Him, there is a sense that we've never been without Christ.

And that is eternally and legally, judiciously, Christ has always been my representative, even when I was dead in trespasses and sins, even when I was walking according to the Prince of the Power of the Air, the Spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, even when I was lost in my sins, and even when I was an enemy of God. in my mind. Christ has always been my surety, my sins imputed to Him. He's always been my representative, substitute, redeemer on the cross before I was born. But as to my state in this world, having been born dead in trespasses and sins, having a walking according to the course of this world, according to the Prince of the power of the air, without knowledge, without spiritual life in myself, I was without Christ.

I was without Him and had no claim upon Him, all of that. that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, the Gentiles had no words from God as far as salvation is concerned, and strangers from the covenants of promise, think about that, the covenants that was given to Abraham, given to Noah, the covenants of promise, even the covenants given to Moses, which had pictures and types of Christ, having no hope and without God in the world. Now, once we're born again by the Spirit and come to Christ, we find out from the word of God that God has been with us all along, even when we denied him, but we didn't know it. And that's what he's talking about here, without God in the world.

But look at verse 13, he says, but now in Christ Jesus, you who were sometime afar off are made nigh. Now, how are we made nigh? Look at it, by the blood of Christ. That's how we're made nigh, near to God. Without Christ, we're far off. But in Christ, we're near to God, we can draw near. God brings us near and it's all due to the perfect obedience unto death of Christ, His blood to wash away our sins, His righteousness to justify us, all of that to where now our minds and our hearts and our wills, our motives, our desires, our goals are changed. and it's by the power of God. We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in. Now, we're not perfect in ourselves.

We are perfect in Christ. Based upon Christ's blood and righteousness, His blood to wash away our sins, His righteousness imputed to justify us, We can say by one offering, the offering of Himself, His obedience unto death as our surety, our substitute, our redeemer. By that one offering, He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. And who are those who are sanctified?

Those who were chosen by God and given to Him, whose names were written in the Lamb's Book of Life before the world began. The Lamb's Book of Life, look at it. So we're made nigh by the blood of Christ. Now that blood was shed 2000 years ago, but that blood was in the mind and purpose of God before the world began. God said, when I see the blood, I'll pass over you the blood of Christ. It was shed for all his people together when he died on the cross. And the benefits come to us in time by the power of the Spirit when we're quickened, born again by the Spirit. And we learn this, look at verse 14 of Ephesians 2.

For He is our peace, who hath made both one and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us. Now, what is this both he's talking about here? Made both one and have broken down the middle wall of partition. Who is that? He's talking about God's elect, both Jew and Gentile.

Whereas before, and think about it under the old covenant, Whereas before, there was a division between Jew and Gentile, between circumcised and uncircumcised. And for a Gentile to enter into union with the Jews under that old covenant, the Gentile male had to be physically circumcised. But it didn't mean anything as far as eternal life and glory and salvation. It was a type, a picture that identified them with the people of God under that covenant, which is now over.

But in Christ, there is no division. There is no middle wall partition. That's a reference to the temple in the day of Christ, because when Herod rebuilt that temple and added on to the third temple that had been built, They built a wall between the court of the Jews and the court of the Gentiles. The Jews could go in further. The Gentiles had to stay outside like they were second-class citizens. But that's gone. How?

In Christ who is our peace by His blood. Listen to Galatians chapter three and verse 26. Speaking of this same thing, He says, for you are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. How is one revealed to be a child of God? It's not by physical circumcision. It's not by being a physical descendant of Abraham. nor even by being a Gentile. It's by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you believe in Christ? Do you rest in Him? Do you plead His blood and righteousness alone?

Now that's a child of God who does that. And it doesn't matter whether you're Jew, Gentile, black, white, male, female, look at what he says. Verse 27, for as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Now the baptism there is not water baptism. It's being immersed into Christ. It's being united to Christ, placed into him.

Well, when were his children placed into him? Well, Ephesians chapter one said they were adopted by God into his family before the world began. Chosen, elected. And they were put in Christ legally and eternally. But look here, he says, when you're baptized into Christ, you put him on. That's talking about faith in Christ. And he says, in there, there's neither Jew nor Greek, there's neither bond nor free, there's neither male nor female, for you're all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then are you Abraham's seed, spiritual seed, and heirs according to the promise. That middle wall partition is broken. See, that's true salvation by grace.

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 Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, Write us at 1-1-0-2 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia 3-1-7-0-7. 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.