All right, this morning we're
turning to the New Testament, the book of Ephesians chapter
two. Ephesians chapter two. I guess we just take for granted
sometimes that a lot of things in the New Testament,
but for those who may not understand the first four books of the New
Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are called the four
gospels, meaning four accounts of the birth, life, ministry,
death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Call them
four gospel accounts. And then that's followed by the
book of Acts, which is a transitional book from the life and ministry of
Christ to that of the apostles. And then the apostles being those
whom the Lord chose and sent out. And then the remainder of
the new Testament being epistles or letters that were written
by these apostles, either to local assemblies, to churches.
or to individuals, several were written to individuals, two to
Timothy, Titus, Philemon, but the majority of them were written
to, and some to believers in general, but several of them
to specific churches. And what this book of Ephesians
means is that is written by the apostle Paul to the believers
at Ephesus, the church at Ephesus. So it's called Ephesians. And here in chapter two, I want
us to read a few verses to begin with. 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 worketh 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 of the mind, and were by nature
the children of wrath, even as others." Now what does that mean,
by nature the children of wrath? That is, what we were by nature,
the wrath of God would have to be upon us. God could not approve
what we were and even what we are in this sinful flesh. 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 are you saved. So God's
acceptance of us is in Christ. not in ourselves, 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 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. That's reading the first 10 verses. And our thought this morning
for a little bit is spiritual resurrection. And this is what
Paul means in verse one, writing to these here at Ephesus, he's
not writing this to the unbelieving world, he's writing this to believers.
And you hath he quickened. Quickened means made alive. All you hath he made alive who
were dead, not physically dead, but spiritually dead, in trespasses
and sins. Now the question, how long had
we been dead spiritually? We've been dead spiritually since
the garden of Eden. When Adam, our representative
head, sinned, sold us out. Turn back with me to the book
of Romans chapter five for just a moment. This is so important
to have this clear understanding. of what Paul is saying, what
the truth is of the gospel, what the doctrine is here. Romans
5. Now in verse 12, writing to the
believers at Rome, he says, wherefore, as by one man sin entered into
the world, Adam was that one man. As by
one man, sin entered into the world. That was Adam when he
sinned. And death by sin. You understand that death was
unheard of before Adam sinned. No such thing. All that was in existence before
then was God himself and he couldn't die. and the angels, and they
don't die. But when man sinned, death entered. Wherefore, as by one man sin
entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon
all men. Right then, when Adam sinned,
death passed upon all men. There wasn't but one man in existence
at that time, bodily, but death passed upon all men. How could
that be? Well, representatively in Adam. That's how it is. All that would
ever come out of the loins of Adam would be just like him. Sinful, selfish, spiritually
dead because of sin. So we read here that when there
wasn't but one man in the world, and he sinned, then death passed
upon all men, for that all have sinned. Well, how could we have
sinned when we weren't even born? Representatively in Adam. Because as certain as we were
born of him, Had His blood running down our
veins. We have the same sinful nature
that He had. Now, most people object to this.
Most religious people object to this. They say, well now,
God shouldn't hold me accountable of what Adam did. Oh yes, you
were in Him, by the way. Adam's going to hear his name
a lot. This is Adam back here. We're going to hear his name
this morning. But it's a different Adam, by the way. But really,
when we look at this text in the sense I'm talking about this,
all of us are named Adam. Male and female. Every one of
us are named Adam. And people say, well, that was
Adam back yonder that did that. I don't believe I would have
done that. Oh yeah, you did do that in Adam. You're just what
he was. And he's what you are. If it had been you back there
and him up here with the rest of us, it would have been the
same. But people object to this. We were in Adam. We died right
there in the Garden of Eden. When Adam died spiritually, we
all died spiritually. Death passed upon all men. Now, spiritual death was immediate. right then. And physical death
took hold that day and went to work that day. Even though Adam
lived a long time after that day, death did come physically. But spiritually, Adam and all
the human race, death passed upon us that day when Adam sinned. And the Holy Spirit inspired
Paul to write about this and to expand on this right here
in Romans 5 and the 14th verse. He says, death reigned from Adam
to Moses, this is when the law was given, even over them that
had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's Transgression, what
does that mean? That word similitude means likeness. Even people who had not sinned
consciously, deliberately transgressed, specifically an emphasis on infants
here, that have not consciously, deliberately transgressed God's
law and committed any sin the way older children do and the
way adults do. But this verse says, nevertheless,
death reigned even in them. Babies still died. If babies weren't born sinners,
then babies couldn't die because death is the wages of sin. But
babies can die and some do. You hear preachers talking about
the age of accountability in a child. Accountability goes
all the way back to the Garden of Eden. All the way. So all Adam's race,
including you and I, all that have ever been born or will be
born, were born spiritually dead. dead
to the life of God without any ability to desire a life that
we don't even know exists. And we're all born at the mercy
of God. And we live at the mercy of God.
And unless and until He quickens us, which we read about in verse
1 of Ephesians 2. Unless or until He quickens us,
that is, makes us alive spiritually, we live and die in the same mess
we were born in. That's the story. What does this
do? It takes salvation out of man's
hands and puts it in God's hands where it's always been. So Paul
says to these Ephesians, and I say to us, here's how it happened. You had be quickened who were
dead in trespasses and sins. It's about what He did, not what
you did. So we see here in verse 1 the
need for spiritual resurrection. We were dead in trespasses and
sins. In verse 4 we see the author
of it, but God. Not but us. Not but I, but we,
but me. No, it's but God. And further in verse four, we
see the cause of it. For His great love wherewith
He loved us. That's all the reason there is.
God never seemed to choose any better than anybody else. But it's His great love wherewith
He loved us. In verse 8, we see the means
that he used, for by grace are you saved through faith. And
that even not of yourselves, it's the gift of God. And then
in verse 10, we see the abiding effects of this spiritual resurrection. For we are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works. which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. Now, the good works we walk in
are not really ours in the sense that we originated them. No, but rather they're the abiding
effects of Christ dwelling in us, dwelling in our hearts richly,
as Paul said. Anything good in us anything
good about us anything good coming from us Is not really us It is
simply the issue of the love of God Shed abroad in our hearts
by the Holy Ghost which is given us So we begin with this need
in verse 1 We were dead in trespasses and sins And we grasp the spiritual side
of this by looking at the physical side. In the gospel of John, you, some
of you remember this story when Lazarus, the brother of Mary
and Martha died, they had sent for Jesus before he died. And
when the Lord Jesus arrived, he deliberately delayed his coming
until Lazarus died. Some people read that story and
think, well, boy, couldn't he have made it before he died?
He could have, but he didn't. He deliberately delayed his coming
till Lazarus died. And so then they went to the
tomb. And Jesus said, take ye away the stone, uncover the grave. And one of the sisters, Martha,
spoke up and said, Oh no, Lord, you wouldn't want to do that.
He's been dead four days already. And by this time his body is
already decaying. And what she actually said was
by this time, he's stinking. It's a little late for you to
want to see him now. She didn't understand that Christ
was not there to view a corpse. He was there to quicken a corpse.
He was there to give life. What did Lazarus need at that
point? Did he need a doctor? No, he
wasn't sick. Did he need a good nutritious
meal? No. He had no appetite. Did he need a good cold glass
of water? No. He wasn't thirsty. He didn't need any of these things.
He was dead. What he needed was life. Was he able to ask the Lord to
quicken his dead body? Was he able to respond to an
invitation? Or did the Lord just do it? The
Lord just did it. Why? For His great love. were with Elundis. Was Lazarus able to open his
eyes and look up while God looked down? No. Sixty years ago, the old chuckwagon
gang sang, when I looked up and he looked down. No, dead people
don't look up. It was a lie then, it's a lie
now. Dead people don't look, period. Was Lazarus able to give the
Lord most of the credit? Could he say, well, I did poke
a hole in that casket lid and stuck my arm through and reached
up. And I wrote that song, His Hand
Reached Further Down, that I could reach up. He did most of it.
No, a corpse don't reach up, period. Dead is dead. Dead is graveyard dead. Lazarus didn't need better vision
to be able to see farther. He didn't need longer arms to
be able to reach farther. He needed life. He was dead, helpless, and hopeless. in himself physically. And so it is with all the race spiritually. We were alive physically, maybe
even educated, maybe even wealthy, maybe even religious, maybe even
successful by men's standards. but spiritually dead in trespasses
and sins. We look around us today at intelligent
people and think, oh my, why can't they see? They're just,
they're just too ignorant to see their need of God. But see,
it's not just ignorance. They're dead. They're dead, totally
alienated from the life of God. And the beautiful thing for the
Lord's people is this, at whatever point in your life you sensed
the need to know God and the desire to know God and felt a
hunger for God, that was life. A corpse don't feel any of that.
None. When that desire worked in your
heart, God was already working in your heart. He had already
found you, or you would have no desire to look for Him. That's
how this works. That's how this works. Here people
give their testimony, well, you know, I did this, I did that,
I did the other, I did this, I did that, and I finally got
through to God and got him to stamp approved. Uh-uh. No, dead
people don't do anything. That's what salvation by grace
is. God comes and raises the dead. That's spiritual resurrection. Somebody asked, well, how do
I know if I'm really seeking after God? Well, here's the answer.
Anybody truly seeking God is seeking to be in fellowship with
Him, is seeking to be right with Him. You'll want rid of anything
that's not of God. You'll want to be clean before
God. You'll want to be right with
God in every area of life. And your attitude will be, Lord,
whatever it takes. Let this be the end of me. Of
all I am, of all I have, of all I can do, just make yourself
real to my heart. That's life. Crying out for more
abundant life. Christ said, I am come that you
might have life. And not just life, not just a
ticket to heaven, but and have it more abundantly. Abundantly. It's life crying out for more
abundant life. Dead people don't cry. Period. Now, why would Paul describe
the state of the unregenerate person like this dead? I'll tell you why. Because he
knew. He knew. His own story when he walked
that road toward Damascus that day as Saul of Tarsus on his way
to persecute Christians. He wasn't praying to be saved. He thought he was God's child. He wasn't planning on turning
over a new leaf. He wasn't worried about going
to hell. He was doing exactly what he
wanted to be doing and thought he was doing it for
God. He was going the exact direction he wanted to be going and he
had no plans otherwise. Well, what happened? Verse four
tells us what happened, but God, but God, Paul told his story in Galatians
1 and he said, I was doing my own thing and I was good at it. But when it pleased God to reveal his son in me, Galatians
1.15, when he pleased God, I experienced this resurrection. I thought
I was pleasing God. And he told me that day I was
persecuting him. Sure did. Why do you persecute
me, Saul? But everything changed that day
in his heart and life. Why did God do it? For his great
love wherewith he loved us. Blessed, blessed thing. You see,
the Lord never started loving Paul that day on the Damascus
Road. He loved him from eternity past. He loved him through all of his
spiritual deadness. The whole time he walked around
in his flesh and was educated at the feet of Gamaliel. And
he was educated in the Jews' religion. And he became a Pharisee.
And he became very successful in the eyes of men. God loved
him through all that. But he said, you're persecuting
me, boy. But there came a time when the Lord said no more. And
He gave him a new heart. and a new life. Everything changed
that day for Paul. By the way, he never started
loving you the day you decided you'd start loving him. If God
loves you at all, he's loved you forever. And if God loves you at all,
you're not going to hell. Because whom God loves, He loves
in His Son. He don't love anybody outside
of His Son. Nobody loved in His Son can perish. What good news
that is. That is good news. Somebody says,
well, that's scary. I'd like to know that He loves
me. Well, let me tell you something.
If He don't, you'll never get too disturbed about it. The world's
not very disturbed about it this morning. They're not disturbed
at all. Because all the religion they
ever heard is somebody telling them that God loves them and
is doing His very best to do something for them. No. No. No. Whom God loves, He meets
them somewhere along the way like He did Paul on that Damascus
road. And unless he does that, here's
what every man, woman, boy and girl does in this life. Jump
around like a grasshopper, looking for entertainment here and there,
cuss every preacher that ever touches a nerve, and finally
drop off into hell one day. That's all. End of story. But
the other side of it is blessed. Blessed. If you're ever brought
to fear, it's grace that brings the heart to fear. That's what
we sung a while ago. It's God already working. Before you know Him, He knows
you. And He works this grace in us
through faith. We read in verse 8, For by grace
are you saved through faith. Faith is one of the most spoken
words in the religious world, and yet it's one of the least
understood words. What is faith? Faith is not mustered
up confidence of human origin. Oh, no. Faith is the very life
of God deposited in you by means of a heart transplant. Have you had a heart transplant?
I have. He gives you a new heart. It's
a heart both from God and for God. The only heart that has a desire
for God is a new heart from God. And be not deceived this morning,
if you don't have a heart for God, You don't have a heart from
God. This faith, this life of God
in the heart, he goes on to say, is not of yourselves. You didn't
concoct this. It is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. Not of works, lest any man should
pat himself on the back. And there's a lot of them doing
it today. We can take no credit. Why? For
we are His workmanship. Verse 10. We're not our own creator. We're His workmanship. And we read here of His workmanship
created in Christ Jesus. And of course with that word
created, Our mind flashes back to Genesis 1, the original creation
of the earth and all that's in it. We see that God's workmanship
is not something that He created and then left to itself to finish
it. God never created everything
and said, there's a sun over there. In the east, down there,
you can't see it. But if you'll do the right thing,
if you'll pull with all your strength, you can get that sun
to come up in the morning. And then keep pulling it and
move it on over, get to set in the west. Pull it up. No, he
didn't do that. God did it all. It does it. He didn't create it and then
leave it alone. Some people, even some that will confess creation,
says that God created everything and He just kind of wound it
up like a clock then and He let it go until it runs down and
that's going to be the end of time. Uh-uh. No, no, no. His
hand is on the clock all the time. He is the winding stem. He runs everything. And the same
is true in the spiritual creation. God's workmanship in Christ Jesus. He hasn't saved anybody and left
them to do the best they can on their own. No! The old songwriter said, He walks
with me, and He talks with me, and He tells me that I am His
own. We're in this together. My Lord
and I. I want to tell you, there's times,
and if you hadn't been here, you will. There's times when
I wonder if I have a friend in the world. But he walks with me, talks with
me, and he tells me I'm his own. He don't care what people think.
That's just the problem I have. It's what people think. He don't care what people say.
That's just a problem I have is what people say. He don't struggle to be rich
and famous. That's just a problem we have. He's content to walk with me
and talk with me. And oh, how I need to be content
to walk with Him and talk with Him. Well, I'm not going to keep
you all day. I want us to get this one true. Verse 1, And you hath He quickened
who were dead in trespasses and sins. Praise be unto God that
brother Jonah had it right in the fish's belly. When he said,
salvation is of the Lord. Not this from the Lord. It's
of the Lord. Jonah was saying, if there's
any hope for the likes of me, it's going to be God because
I sure can't do nothing. Salvation is of the Lord. Oh, Dr. B.B. Caldwell, who lived
right down here in Greenville. Tremendous man of God. He'd been
gone since the late seventies. Heard him preaching one time
about Jonah. And he said, some of this religious
mess hollered down there and said, Jonah, would you please
make a decision? And Jonah said, I did. That's
why I'm here. All the man's decided and so-called
religious professions. It's not worth a dime unless
it's in response to what God has already done. And you have
to be quickened, quickened. Babies don't cry to be born.
Babies cry after they're born. And so it is with God's children.
I believe in His Word. I worship in Him. I'm trying
to live. To honor Him is evidence that
something's happened in here. Bless His holy name. We've been
talking about persecution in our Bible class. I promise you,
when things get rough enough, there ain't nothing but the genuine
gonna live. There ain't nothing but the gold gonna stand the
fire. That's a fact. And we're coming
down to that in our country right now. There's nobody... There is no minority. There is
no group that's thought of and mistreated. Right now, like the
true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. And as you say, I'm not a prophet
of gloom. I'm not going to tell you how
much worse it's going to get, but it is going to get worse.
And I'm not going to tell you that we ought to be shaking our
hands and trembling and all that. I'm going to tell you that we
have a God who was set out from before the
foundation of the world to redeem His people. And He sent His Son
to die for our sin. And blessed be His holy name.
There will not be one for whom Christ shed His blood that God
will ever let go. You'll let go. You'll let go.
You'll say, oh, I just can't do it. I just can't be a Christian.
I'm just not going back. I might as well just forget it.
It's good for some people, but it's not for me. I've been told
all that kind of stuff. I'll tell you something. If God
ever lays his hand on you, you'll never get away. You'll never
get away. He preached this doctrine. He
preached it strong. And these guys all around this
county that didn't believe it and would cuss him behind his
back. They'd just shout and holler amen when he'd say this. But
they didn't know what he was saying. And here's what he would
say. If the Holy Ghost ever slings out the lasso, he's not coming
back without you. He don't miss. He don't miss. Bless his holy name. This is
our God we're talking about today. Amen. Let's stand together.