Ephesians chapter 2. We'll read the first 10 verses. Ephesians
chapter 2 verses 1-10. 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, according to the Prince of the power of the air,
the Spirit that now works in the children of disobedience.
Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in
the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and
the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as
others. But God, who is rich in His mercy
for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace
are you 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 in His kindness towards 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." Now I understand that we all
here probably have either know these verses or have them in
memory. But as Bruce made a comment in
Bible class, we have a tendency, if we're familiar with something,
is to take it for granted and to kind of shut down sometimes.
I want us just to listen to the words of truth in Ephesians 2,
because we have a tendency to shut our ears down if we already
know something, in my case, We're more ready to wait to talk rather
than to listen to what God's Word says. This Scripture is
Christianity 101. This is basic. The title of the
message is Fundamental Truth. Fundamental Truth. This is essential
doctrine. No one enters into heaven without
a head knowledge, soul understanding of what's here. Now we can find
this all over the Scriptures, but this says it pretty plainly. No one is admitted aside from
a true heart knowledge of this basic Gospel truth. Look at Ephesians
2, verse 8 and 9. For by grace, You are saved through faith,
and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. That faith. Grace is obviously not of us.
When I first started reading the Bible, somebody said, well,
he's talking about faith there. That's the context. And this
grace and this salvation, be saved, is not of works. No way, no wise, lest any man
should boast." We're just going to stop right there. We all know from this Scripture,
even the children, they read this, that they just read it,
and you're going to read it in a different version. It says
the same thing. We all know that salvation, and
this word saved in verse 8 means to be delivered or to heal, to be saved, to be right with
God, to have acceptance with God or to be pardoned by God,
that's what we're talking about, is all of grace. Then why are so many religious
folks in different churches, scattered, any denomination,
why are so many religious folks trying to accomplish salvation
by their own power? Why then are so many people doing
or not doing in order to heal themselves? Do this or don't
do that. Why are so many people seeking
refuge in a man, whether it's the pope, whether it's an elder,
whether it's a deacon, whether it's a pastor? Why are so many
seeking salvation or refuge in a man in the church, in orthodoxy? His mom used to do it. Her mom
used to do it. So I'm going to do it. I'm not
saying that doesn't have any benefits. It may keep you off
of straights, it may keep you out of drugs, it may do those
things, but that's not what we're talking about. We're talking
about your soul's need, my soul's need. Why are so many people seeking
refuge in themselves? The people asking questions.
If you want to look at social media, you don't even need to
look at social media. The news, you don't even need
to look at the news. You just work. You just go to work, or
if you don't work, if you're retired, you just go to a shopping
mall. You just go get groceries. And
you're in the checkout line, and you hear people talk. Or
you hear people talk. Or they've got shirts on. Religious
stuff. People seeking answers everywhere,
but where are the answers found? For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that's not of yourself, it is a gift of God, it's almost
as always redundant, that's the positive, and it's almost like
you take the negative approach, not of works, lest any man should
boast. Well, the answer is found in
Ephesians, verses 1, 2, and 3. Why do so many people do this? Because we're dead in trespasses
and sins. We're dead in trespassing, and
people may call it racism, sexism, any kind of ism they want to.
The problem is, man and woman, Adam and Eve, fell in the garden,
and spiritually, are dead in trespasses and sins. It's right here. It's right here. Sometimes I read the Scriptures
and I'm just like, well, how could anybody get anything else
out of that? Well, because it's by divine
revelation. It's not by whether I went to
college or not. I encourage all these kids to
get as much education as you can. But if it doesn't happen,
Your salvation is not going to depend on that. Your salvation
is going to depend on, by grace, you're saved through faith. And
all of that is not of yourself. It's the gift of God. So, who
has salvation? God. Like we saw last week. Go to Him. Go to Him. We're dead. Well, pastor, what does that
mean? Well, if you're dead, you're
not alive. This is fundamental, essential
truth. If you're dead, you are not alive. Spiritually, we're all born in
sin. Dead. We are from birth dead
to God already. Turn to Romans chapter 3. And
see, this is not being preached. The depravity of man is not being
preached. If any legislator were ever to
think about this, there's a lot of things in this world that
are not that complicated to solve, they just don't want to solve
them. They can't see, because they're blind. And the blind
are leading more blind, and they're both in a ditch. Verse 10 of Romans 3, as it is
written, There is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that
understands. There is none that seek after
God." Now, these are not big words. The children here can
understand these words. They can understand what it is
to seek. You have a dog, you're going
to go home and you're going to seek that dog. You're going to seek
companionship. There's none. What's that mean? Nobody. It
means none. There's none righteous. And according to... We'll get there later. I'll jump ahead
of myself. There's none righteous. No, not
one. They, all inclusive, are all gone out of the way. What
way? What are you talking about? God's
way. There's one way unto salvation. Christ is the way, the truth,
and the life. They're all gone out of that
way. We, maybe we're supposed to put it this way, I'm not talking
to anybody but us here, we are together become unprofitable.
Well, what's that mean? Well, whatever you do, you're
going backwards. You're taking two steps forward,
three steps backwards. It's not profitable. There's
none that does good, and that's pretty basic. One man told me
years ago before we had our daughter, and he had two daughters, he
said, no is the first word they hear and the last word they learn. And I thought, I understand that. And he says, there's none that
does good, no, not one. Throat is an open sepulcher,
it's an open grave, Their tongues they have used to deceit, lie,
poison of snakes. Asp is under their..." And it
goes on. It's not that complicated. Why do religious folks try to
accomplish salvation? By their own power. And the first
three questions I asked in the introduction, the answer is verse
2. Wherein in time past we walked
according to the course of this world. What's the course of this
world? Get everything you can, save everything you can, and
spend everything you can. It's exactly the opposite of
what Henry Mahan said. And I know Henry Mahan meant
well, and he said that, but I really wonder how we even do that. Get
all you can, and give all you can. We don't give. We make sure
we're taking care of ourselves first. According to the course of this
world. What's the course of this world? That word walk is meant lived.
That's what it means, lived. We live like your neighbor lives. He's got one car, you got one
car. He gets another car, you get another car. He's got a trampoline,
gotta have a trampoline. Put in a pool, eh, we'll get
a hot tub. We don't need a pool. That's the way, that's how we
walk. That's the danger of the believer walking in this world.
We're of the world, but we're not, we're in the world, but
we're not of the world. That's the danger, because your
neighbors, and believe me, I know what it's like. Everything seems
to be going up faster, bigger, better. Gotta have it, gotta
have it. No, the believer doesn't really
have to have it. We're just passing through. And he also says, not only are
we walking according to the course of this world, but according
to the prince of the power of the air. Now who's that? That's Satan.
That's Satan. Who works down the children of
disobedience. Verse 3, among whom we all had
our conversation, that is the way of our life, the deportment
of our life, and how did we have that? Lust of the flesh. Mommy, I see this. Mommy, Billy's
got this. Mommy, I need it. Or, worse,
is when adults look at that, lust of the flesh, and the Scripture
says lust of the flesh is never full. It's never full. The desires
of the flesh and of the mind, and by nature the children of
wrath, even as others. Lust, longing for that which
is forbidden. Desires, that simply means the
determination or purpose. You wake up in the morning, we've
got some things on our mind that we want to do, we want to get.
And as my wife can tell you, I don't know about guys, but
like she says about me, and I think you're kind of like me, a guy,
when we get our eyes on something, we can justify anything to get
it. But the women, I'm sure, are
that way too. That's how we are. That's how we function. The only way to get to heaven
is found in verse 4, forward, but God. That blessed intervention,
that blessed divine enlightenment, that blessed divine revelation,
It's like the prodigal son. Give me that inheritance that's
mine. Why? Because I got the lust of the
flesh, the lust of the eyes, pride of life. I'm going to live. When I was growing up, you used
to hear, which I don't know if you still hear or not, but usually
the preacher's children were the worst. Because they were
lost. Don't do this, boom, boom, boom.
And then when they could get out, they got out. I want my money now. I'm alive
now. You're alive now. Give me my
money." So he gets his money. To fulfill these things, he goes
to a different country. He's not happy with where he's
at. Godliness with contentment is
great gain. He's not happy with that. He
goes to a different country, spends everything, and he finds
himself in with the pigs, hungry, destitute, And then all of a
sudden he just turned on his free will and said, I don't need
to be here. No, that's Holy Spirit conviction. It says he came to himself. Why
would he wait so long before? It doesn't make sense. Free will
doesn't make sense. It never makes any sense in Scripture. That's that but God. He arrested
his conscience, his heart, and he said, you know what? I'm not
worthy to be called a son. That's what we think. We're not
worthy to be called God's sons and daughters. I just want to
be a servant. Because we know even the servants
feed of the crumbs of the master's table. And that's good enough
for us. But God, Holy Spirit conviction,
Christ revelations, and mercy. Mercy. Unasked for pardon. Undeserved
favor. Unworked for compassion. But
look at it. But God, who is rich in mercy. Whose mercy? Again, you just
read the text. Who's He talking about, Mom?
Who's He talking about, Dad? Who's He talking about? Husband,
wife? But God, who is rich in mercy? It's God's mercy. And this is
why I'm not trying to preach down to you, I don't even think
that way. I'm just saying, this is fundamental, essential truth. And often times when we hear
it, oh, that's that again. I pray that we would never tire
of this place, of this people, and of this message. Because
I'm not smart enough to play the games that they're being
played in most churches. I'm not smart enough to try to do
things to keep you coming. We don't have enough money to
make sure there's anything under the seat for you. So I'm not
going to do those things. But I'm going to do what I'm
called to do. And tell you how God saves unworthy sinners. Not of works. Not of works. God's mercy. And it's His to
give or His to withhold. It's His to give and His to withhold. It's administered by the person
of the Holy Ghost. I'm sorry, the Holy Ghost, but
it's administered by the person, a holy, harmless, pure Lord Jesus
Christ. He makes the things of God real
to us. The Holy Spirit quickens us together with Him. Mercy given
on the account of, in the room of, and in the place of sinners
by Christ who can do nothing for our salvation. Verse 5, even
when we were dead in sins, have quickened us together. He breathed
new life in our dead body, as it were, our dead soul, our dead
state. He suffered, bled, and died for
our vile, corrupt souls, verse 6, and raised us up together
all by Himself with no assistance from any. The work of salvation
is solely the work of the triune God. Verses 8 and 9, therefore, it,
salvation, is by grace. We are saved, delivered, rescued
through God-given faith, not of ourselves. It is a gift by
divine revelation, by Holy Spirit and illumination, not of works. That is, any act from self trying
to gain access to heaven, if we do such, it will be futile,
worthless, and damning. We are His workmanship. It's
good that, you know, He said in Galatians, that if we began
in the Spirit, you know, He says, do you think you're going to
be made perfect by the flesh? And you think about this, and I was
reading this in Spurgeon, and I didn't even have it, but I
thought, this is really good. He said, when the blood was applied,
in the Old Testament there in Egypt, it was applied to the
doorposts, it was outside. When the tabernacle started moving,
and that's the way it is, the blood was applied to the tent,
it was applied to all the elements inside the Holy of Holies, it
was applied to the ark, it was applied to the mercy seat. Because
even our best works, if they're not covered by blood, they're
not worth anything. And you think about it. They
just sat out there. That's the picture of salvation.
They didn't do anything. But after salvation, well now
I can No, we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto
good works. How do you read that? How do
you read that? You read that like Galatians,
the fruit, not plural, fruit of the Spirit is love, joy. If you're a believer, No matter
how small that spark you have love you have these fruits fruit
of the Spirit because you're Christ's now When we the problem
is we start comparing ourselves to others and then we're like
well I don't have anything because this person is so giving this
person is so loving this birth That's our problem get our eyes
off of Christ get your eyes back on the Christ and They may be
lacking Not completely lacking, because it's the Holy Spirit
who gives these things. We are His workmanship. And His
workmanship, whatever He does is going to be accomplished.
I like that somebody said, you know, it's like we used to go
to Silver Dollar City, and the first part of the day you'd walk
in and people would greet you, and there's an old guy sitting
there whittling. He's just got a stick. It's like,
well, what's that? Well, six hours later, you come back out. He's got something not completed,
But you can see what he's working on. That's us. That's us. That's us. And I remember telling someone about old David Hall. And they didn't understand. Well,
he, you know, this, this, and that, and everything. And I said, well, they didn't
understand. But I said, you know, the man's 70-something years
old. And he's just recently come, the Lord just recently delivered
him. I said, he has 70 something years of flesh and hatred and
meanness and just a, humanly speaking, just a short portion
of grace. But you could see grace reigning
in that person. But the other person, they just
bring up stuff that's all negative. And I said, But he's still Christ's workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus unto good works. And if that doesn't
convince you, which God hath before ordained, that is prepared,
that we will walk in them. That's why I don't, as Tim James
would say, that's why I don't do whips or biscuits. And sometimes
it's difficult, because we get discouraged with one of those
things we see. But, it's like God, He'll take care of us. I
don't have to reward you, and I don't have to whip you, and
keep reminding you. If I just read the Word, and
be true to the Word, true to my calling, and preach essential,
fundamental truth, He'll take His Word, and He will be successful. And if He's not successful, then
there's nothing I can do. And I don't like just plain religion.
You know, there's nothing I can do. Like Spurgeon, I know I've
told you the story, Spurgeon was walking down town London,
he was going to the orphanage, whatever, and he came across
a drunk. And the drunk said, hey, you're
Charles Spurgeon. He said, yes I am. He goes, I'm one of your
converts. He says, you look like one of mine, but you're not one
of the Lord's. Yeah, I'll just, we don't want, no. Or as Henry
would say, be yourself, but don't violate the gospel. So we are
His workmanship. Vile as we are, going back to verse 9, why does
God set it up this way? Well, there's many answers, but
one obvious, lest any man should boast, there we are again. That's
what we'll do. If all I have to do is walk an
aisle, all I have to do is sign a baptismal card, if all I have
to do is be something that I can do, when somebody asks me, I
will come up in conversation. It's not, Lord, remember me,
when you enter into paradise. Lord, remember me. It won't be,
I'm a dead dog, but you found me. in the squalor. It won't be that. You found me
in the lion's den. It'll be heat but, but I had
this, if I hadn't attended that day, if I hadn't helped that
person, if I hadn't done, we will boast. We will surely boast,
we will surely glory, that word means to vaunt, This is just
who we are. It's all we are. We're proud,
arrogant, boasters before God. Yet God, He will get all the
glory in His free act of grace and mercy unto His chosen people. And we will honor God in our
life because that's what verse 10 is saying. We are His workmanship,
that is product. Workmanship is His product. We
are ordained to eternal life. to walk in this eternal life.
Look at Philippians chapter 1. Philippians chapter 1 and verse 6. Will I make it to the
end? And I ask myself that sometimes. Philippians 1 verse 6, being
confident of this very thing. He that which hath begun a good
work in you will perform it unto the day of Christ Jesus. It's life. We're either alive
or we're dead. Close. Turn to 1 Corinthians
1. 1 Corinthians 1. Verse 27 through
the end of the chapter. 1 Corinthians 1. Verse 27-31, But God hath chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen
the weak things of the world to confound the things which
are mighty, and base things of the world and things which are
despised hath God chosen, yea, things which are not to bring
to naught the things that are, that no flesh should glory in
His presence. What is required to gain access
into heaven? Verse 30, the middle part, wisdom. Wisdom to understand what we
are in and of ourselves. The wisdom to see God for who
He is. We've got to have righteousness. Without righteousness, no man
shall see the Lord. Sanctification, He's got to set
us apart. Redemption, He's got to deliver
us. Well, let's read the whole verse.
But of Him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto
us. He is made unto us all we need. And the last verse, it didn't
stop at verse 30, that according as it is written, He that glorieth,
let him glory in the Lord. This is what we need. And this
is what He provides in His dear Son. And I can sleep right there. I can go to sleep tonight. I
can wake up tomorrow. This country is overrun. It's
going to be tough. But I can still wake up tomorrow
knowing He has everything under control who ordained that we should walk
in. to God be the glory. Bruce, would
you close us?