So, turn with me then please
to Ephesians chapter 2 and the first 10 verses. Ephesians chapter
2 and the first 10 verses. Now, I know that these verses
are very familiar to most of us. I don't know how many dozens
of times I must have read them down the years. I've completely
lost count. They are so familiar. more often
than not if anybody reads a passage from Ephesians it's about the
armor of God at the end or it's these ten verses from chapter
two they're very very familiar and all scripture reveals God's
will all scripture reveals God's will but not all equally concentrated
in doctrine is it there are great tracks where yes the truth of
God lies there illustrating it but in places that it's like
mining. In some places you have to go
and dig hard and you have to risk lives and go far underground
in difficult conditions to get the gems out of the ground. And
in other places you just wander along. There's parts of the northeast
of England where it used to be the case where you could just
get a wheelbarrow and walk along the beach and pick up pieces
of coal and put it in the barrow and wheel it home and keep yourself
warm. This is one of those passages. The gems of truth are lying on
the surface. And it talks about this. How
does a sinner come into the blessings of salvation? We've all sinned,
all sinned and come short of the glory of God, but how does
a sinner come into the blessings of salvation? Now, critics might
say, oh, what an academic subject. This is just an academic subject,
isn't it? Well, no, it isn't. Not at all.
What you think about these things, what's in your mind about these
things affects your practice in evangelism, how you go about
giving other people the message of the gospel. It affects the
validity of your salvation currency. If you were here for the study
you'll have heard me talking about salvation currency and
the validity of it. It's all well and good turning
up at a shop with a pocket full of currency, but if it isn't
the currency that works in that place, it's worthless paper to
you. It's not worth the paper it's written on to you in that
place. You must have a salvation currency that will stand the
test In that day when we all must stand before the judgment
seat of Christ, will your salvation currency stand the test? I'm
not talking about your works. They're worthless. You know,
there are those who hear of the judgment seat of Christ and they
think, have my works been good enough to enable me to stand?
We must all give an account in that. Your works, if you're in
Christ, are Christ's works. Have confidence. Your currency
works in that day. You're saved from your sins in
that day because your currency is gospel currency, the truth
of scripture. You see, what you think in your
mind, it affects eternal outcomes. It affects your motivation for
living. It affects how you view things
that happen. It affects your confidence for
eternity. So that when you come to that
day, when you know you're going to pass from this life, we all
know we're going to die, but we put it off, we put it off. But
when it comes to that time when you know that there is not long
for you, not long in this life, it affects your confidence for
eternity. What did Job say? One of the first things written,
recorded in scripture, probably written before the book of Genesis,
I know, the worms destroy this body, I know that my Redeemer
liveth. His confidence for eternity,
whatever was happening to him was in what he knew. I know my
Redeemer liveth, and that I shall stand, he shall stand at the
latter day upon this earth, and I'll stand in him. And the worms
destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God. You see,
sound doctrine is not academic, it's very Very, very practical. People try to get together. Ecumenical
get-together on the basis of the lowest common denominator.
Let's boil it all. Let's not talk about things about
which we disagree. Too many things. Let's not talk
about whether we believe in particular redemption or not. Does it really
matter? We believe that Jesus died for sinners, don't we? Yes,
right. Let's all get together. Let's not talk about particular
redemption. Nasty subject. Let's sweep it off the agenda.
Let's not do that. No, it's very practical. These
doctrines are very practical. You read Proverbs 23, 7, it says
this, as a man thinks in his heart, you know, in the core
of his being, so he is. So he is. As a man thinks, so
he is. And so this chapter and the doctrines
in it need to be our basis of our confidence in salvation.
Chapter 2 and verse 1, and you Hath he quickened? And you? Who's
he talking to? And you? You know, we had this
three or four weeks ago. Who's the us of chapter one?
Who's the us that Paul keeps talking about? Everybody that
ever lived? No! No! Those he calls the saints
and the faithful. The saints which are at Ephesus
and the faithful in Christ Jesus. It means all those in all places
and at all times who are the saints, the set apart ones. Set
apart in whom? In Christ Jesus. Set apart by
whom? By God in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Put in him before the foundation of the world. And how do we know?
They're faithful in Christ Jesus now. They have faith. That's
the only way you know. That's the only reason you know.
you who are faithful in the Lord Jesus Christ look in chapter
1 at the end of it talking about Christ and the position that
he's in and he's above everything we read in Colossians that in
all things he might have the pre-evidence and in verse 22
he says he has put all things under his Christ's feet and given
him to be head over all things to the church which is his body
the fullness of him that fills all in all You know, the church
is the body of Christ, the arms, the fingers, the toes, the members
of the body, all working together in union, and all subject to
the head, which is Christ. And he says, and you, meaning
you saints and faithful, are members of that church. And you,
you're in that church, you're members of that body, of which
Christ is the head. Well, here's the question. How
did you get to be counted among that number? Do you remember
that old song, when the saints go marching in, when the saints
go, I want to be in that number when the saints go marching in.
How do you get to be in that number when the saints go marching
on? This is the story of the transition
of a child of God from a state of death spiritual death to a
state of life a state of death to life and that's the message
from death to life that's what I've called this message this
morning it tells us what we are naturally as we are born as flesh
and blood and a bag of bones it tells us what we are naturally
It tells us who and when the change was initiated, that death
to life change. It tells us what accomplished
the transformation. And it tells us to what earthly
and heavenly purposes. These are the things I want to
look at in these verses with you this morning. First of all,
the believer's natural condition. Are you a believer in the Lord
Jesus Christ this morning? I trust some of you are. I believe
some of you are. Are you a believer? Well, have
you always been a believer? I don't think so. I don't think
so. As you were born in your natural
condition, look what it says in verse 1. You see, you'll notice
in verse 1, hath he quickened is in italics. In other words,
it's not really there in the original. The translators have
put it there for us to help the sense. You have to go down to
verse 5 to see where they got it from, because he's talking
about you who were in times past, and then in verse 5 he says,
All of you hath quickened us together with Christ and so the
translators to help us in English have borrowed that and put it
right at the start of verse one. You hath he quickened who were
dead in trespasses and sins. You were dead. Oh I was alive,
I was breathing, I was feeling, I was touching, I was speaking,
I was hearing, I was doing all those things of sense. and of
living but the scripture says you 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 we also had our conversation in times past in the lusts of
our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind
and were by nature children of wrath even as others in trespasses
and sins, spiritually dead. God said to Adam in Eden, When
he was the only created man, he was the only one that was
there, God told him about all that was his to have of the gracious
benefits of God. Of every tree in the garden you
may eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you
shall not eat. For in the day that you eat thereof, you shall
surely die. Genesis 2, 17. In the day you
eat thereof, you shall surely die. And we know what happened.
God gave Adam a wife, Eve. woman, taken out of man, says
he took a rib and you could even say well looking at the chromosomes
perhaps it was that he took a chromosome because men have got a load of
X chromosomes, I forget my biology, but X and they've got one Y,
they've got one with a bit missing whereas the ladies have got all
X's and so you know you could say that that's what is implied
by that passage in Genesis about God making man out of, making
woman out of man and he gave this wife to Adam whom he loved. Adam loved Eve with a love that
we cannot understand and you know when the serpent deceived
Eve and she took of the fruit and you say oh naughty naughty
what yes of course she was culpable entirely culpable entirely culpable
but you know Adam Adam was not deceived Adam sinned knowing
exactly what he was doing. I believe that Adam sinned out
of love for that woman. He said, you know like so many
do now, if she's going to hell under the condemnation of God,
I'm going there too. And he sinned out of love for
that woman. He knew what he was doing. Adam
was not deceived. But in the day that he sinned,
he surely died spiritually. Oh, he lived to 900 and odd years
old, the Bible tells us. But spiritually, in terms of
communion with God, he died. His innocence, his nakedness
before God, was taken away. He tried to sew works of his
own hands, fig leaves, to make clothes for themselves, but God
said, no, I'll clothe you. To make you acceptable with me,
I'll clothe you. And an animal, whom God had created,
was killed and its blood was shed, that they might be clothed
with the skins of animals. God did this, symbolizing the
gospel. God did this. But Adam, in that
moment, lost that intimate spiritual communion with God. And what
is it to be dead now? What is it to be in the condition
that we're born? It's to have no sense of spiritual
communion with God. Is that not everybody that we
see all around us? No sense of spiritual communion
with God. It's like You know, blindness
is a terrible affliction and I have the greatest respect and
regard for those who are blind who have learned to live with
it. I just think, I doubt whether I, I feel I just couldn't cope
with that. I really feel that that would
be the most dreadful affliction to have, but people do cope with
it. Blindness is used as an illustration
in scripture of this fact. It's as if we're living in a
society of blind people, spiritually. It's as if you can see. You know,
I could take you to places in my beloved Lake District where
I could say, now just stand and look at that. And, oh, your heart
would be thrilled, you'd tingle just looking at the beauty of
it. And there'd be a lot of blind people with you who'd say, well,
we'll take your word for it, but it does nothing for us because
we can't see it. We can smell the air, we can
hear the sound, but we can't see it. We can't see. And the
generation in which we live cannot see the things of the Spirit
of God. Because as 1 Corinthians 2.14
says, the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God, for they're foolishness to him. Neither can he know.
Why? Because they're spiritually discerned. And you're spiritually
dead by nature. We're born. You, hath he quickened,
who were dead in trespasses and sins. That's your natural condition,
that's as you are born. Oh lovely innocent, no, born
in sins, born with that taint of sin, with that tendency to
sin that is the tendency in every human heart. And you know, you
say, well, that's not fair. God is unjust. No, God is absolutely
just because what? We all commit sins every day. What is it that God said about
the generation of Noah and those around about? Every thought and
imagination of his heart was evil continually. That's the
condemnation. That's the judgment of God upon
this condition of dead. in trespasses and sins. It's
a state of original sin. It's the state in which we're
born, the mind, the will and the affections, contrary to the
being and the law of God. And yet, God says, fully responsible
and accountable for those sins. The soul that sins, it shall
die, it must die. God is holy of purer eyes than
to behold iniquity. He cannot excuse the guilty. He cannot let the guilty off
scot-free. Everybody is responsible. We
all must stand before that judgment seat of Christ. There is a judgment
coming. Our God is a consuming fire.
It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living
God and yet we're responsible for our sins and the divine sentence
of death hangs over every one of us. as all flesh in our natural
state, we shall die, and we shall face God's righteous judgment. And look what it results in.
You know, this condition in which we're born results in behavior,
in a manner of life, where in time past you walked. You walked. Scripture often uses walk as
a picture of the life that we live. You know, life is a journey
through different experiences and different places in different
times. we walk according to the course
of this world just turn back to Romans chapter 8 for a moment
Romans chapter 8 where we have A wonderful picture of salvation
in verse 1, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus, and it contrasts what we've just been reading
in Ephesians, who walk not after the flesh, they don't live their
lives after that deadness in trespasses and sins, but they
walk after the Spirit, according to the Spirit of God. For the
law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free
from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do,
in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own Son
in likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the
flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh,
but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For
to be carnally minded, fleshly minded is death, but to be spiritually
minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind, the
fleshly mind, the dead spiritual mind is enmity against God. It isn't subject to the law of
God. Neither can it be. So then those that are in the
flesh in that natural condition of dead in trespasses and sins
cannot please God. They cannot please God. That's
the natural condition. in which all people are born,
even those who become believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. All
of them. All of us. Even you. Nothing in your flesh
to incline or recommend you to God. Deserving of wrath is the
condition. So you say, but what about these
other doctrines that you've taught us? What about election? What
about it being settled in the mind of God from before the beginning
of time? Absolutely true, Ephesians 1
verse 4, according as he has chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be, remember I put in italics,
made holy and without blame before him in love. That we should be
made acceptable to God in him. What about that? What about the
doctrine of justification from eternity? Is that not true? Yes
it is, I absolutely Determinedly stand here and say the elect
of God were justified in Christ before the foundation of the
world from eternity. The lamb was slain from before
the foundation of the world, Revelation 13 verse 8. Of that
I have no doubt. It's one of the touch points
where you'll discern error. You'll discern those who don't
believe this, who say that that is opening the door to antinomianism,
to living licentiously. Absolutely not. I utterly refute
that. The people of God were justified in Christ from before
the foundation of the world when they were placed in Him in eternity,
outside of time. What about, you would say, what
about then, didn't, I believe in particular redemption, didn't
Christ die on the cross 2,000 years ago, almost, to pay for
the sins of his people? Yes, he did. Didn't he earn righteousness
when he walked this earth for 33 years as a man, made for a
little while lower than the angels? Didn't he establish the righteousness
of his people? Yes he did, of course he did.
So how then can they be children of wrath, even as others? Because
in time, in time, for each individual one, they're born in sin, they're
born in the flesh, they're dead in trespasses and sins, and until
the Spirit of God comes, and opens the eyes of the understanding,
and shines the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ, they're children of wrath, exactly as the others. All of those doctrines are absolutely,
immutably, unchangeably true. But until faith comes, until
faith comes, do you have faith in Christ? Until you have faith
in Christ, nobody has any right or warrant to rest in any of
those doctrines, and to take any comfort from any of those
doctrines. My friend, if you are outside of Christ, if you're
not believing in Him, then I tell you, I must tell you, It sends
a chill down my spine to tell you that you rest under the wrath
and judgment of God. Turn to Him. Come to Him. Trust
in Him. He's a full Saviour. He will
in no wise turn anybody away who comes to Him. He invites
all who are burdened and heavy laden to come to Him and find
rest. He invites all to come and buy
without money, milk and wine, the milk and wine of salvation
without money and without price. Come to Him. But until faith,
nobody has any right or warrant to regard any of those doctrines
of eternal justification. And the work of Christ on the
cross is belonging to them. It's only in Him that you know,
I know that Savior is mine. Mine, mine, mine. I know that
Christ is mine. And a light comes on. Just like
Isaiah says in chapter 9 and verse 2, the chapter in which
he talks about God giving us a son and his name shall be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father. But
at the start of that chapter, in chapter 9 and verse 2, he
talks about the people who walked in darkness. These are people
who are going to see a great light. The people that walked
in darkness have seen a great light. And so it is, you know,
I often quote these little choruses that people say, oh, we doubt
the doctrinal basis of them because we've heard them sung in all
sorts of doctrinally compromised situations. But nevertheless,
I like the bits that I think are good. There was one we used
to sing, I was once in darkness, now my eyes can see. I was lost,
but Jesus sought and found me. Oh, what joy, I can't remember
the rest of it, but you know, I was once in darkness, now my
eyes can see. I was, in dead in trespasses
and sins. I was walking according to the
course of this world. I was walking in those things.
Whatever I am now, I was a child of wrath, like everyone else.
And left to myself, I would have justly deserved eternal separation
from God. That's what I would have deserved.
And that's hell. Eternal separation from God.
You know, I don't know what hell is. I don't know what hell is. I really don't. I don't think
any of us do. We hear what Christ said about hell in the scriptures.
We hear the whole message of the judgment of God in the scriptures.
There are things in those words that are terrifying. and they're
true. I don't know what they amount
to in practice. None of us know what it will
be. The flame of unquenching fire that is spoken about. The
weeping and gnashing of teeth that is spoken about. I don't
know actually what it amounts to, but I do know this. It's
a state of separation from everything that is good, from everything
that is the goodness of God. And how will it be hell? I don't
know. I don't know what it will amount
to, those fires and that torment and all of those things. But
I'm sure there'll be this. I'm sure that in an instant of
time there will be an eternity of bitter, bitter regret and
sorrow. for that gracious gospel which
was rejected. I'm sure there will be. So that's
the believer's natural condition. And we walk in this state, you
know, this is what we're naturally like. You know, there's no thought
of God. Everything is self-centered and
everything is self-motivated. But who initiated the change? And when was it initiated? Look
at verse 4. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for his great love wherewith he loved us. Why is God merciful? Why is God merciful? For his
great love wherewith he loved us. This is the cause of the
gospel, the love of God. Before the beginning of time,
God loved a people in Christ. He loved them with an everlasting
love. His great love wherewith he loved us. And because of that,
he had to find a way. This is the language of man,
I know. In the mind of God, he didn't have to find a way. He
had a way. He had a way of being merciful
to those who deserved his justice and condemnation, but whom he
loved in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that way was for the Lord
Jesus Christ to be their substitute. To come in their place. To perfectly
satisfy the law in every respect. In every last respect. To earn
the righteousness for what? For them. For them. For those
people. For the ones he loved. He earned
righteousness for them. He credited to their account.
He clothed them with the robe of righteousness for the judgment.
He covered all of their sins. He washed it away in His blood,
so that that red blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, the precious
blood, would lead to the whiteness, the whiteness of those who stand
before that judgment seat of Christ, with their sins washed
away. Though your sins be as scarlet, yet shall they be white
as snow. Absolutely, purely white, glistening
white, a purest white in Him. He did all of those things. He
did all of those things. He is merciful. It tells us,
what, just the New Testament God. Don't tell me about the
Old Testament God. Somebody once, an old colleague of mine once
wrote to me and said he'd started reading the scriptures. I used
to talk to him at work when I was teaching. When he retired, he
started reading the scriptures and he wrote to me one time and
said, what a dreadful, dreadful book the Old Testament is and
what a horrible God the God of the Old Testament is. But the
New Testament, I quite like the God of the New Testament, he's
pretty good. So stick to the New Testament and tear the Old
Testament out of your Bible. It's a horrible, that was his
judgment on it. He obviously didn't read Numbers 14 verse
18. The Lord is suffering, long-suffering,
and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and
by no means clearing the guilty. You see, He's a just God and
a Savior. He's merciful. I've given you
this definition before, but it won't hurt again. And I know
it's very simple, but it's very easy to remember. Do you know
what mercy is? Do you know what grace is? Do you know what the
difference between them is? Mercy is when I don't get what I do
deserve. I do deserve punishment. But
if God is merciful to me, he doesn't punish me. I don't get
what I do deserve. And you know what grace is? Grace
is when God gives me what I don't deserve. God gives me that which
I haven't earned, which I don't deserve. In grace he gives me
those things. And verse 5, when did it happen? When was God rich in mercy towards
his people? When was he motivated by his
great love toward us. Verse 5, even when we were dead
in sins, even then. He didn't wait for us to show
signs of being good. He didn't look in his crystal
ball and say, out of all humanity, that's not a bad one. Look, he's
got a natural tendency towards me, so therefore I'll have him.
He didn't do that. It was when we were dead dead
in trespasses and sins. It was then that he quickened,
made alive, together with Christ. You see, it's by Christ's grace
that we are saved. That, in brackets there in verse
five, could say, by whose grace? By the grace of Christ we are
saved. Then it was, then it was, that
God showed us this love. It was then, not for any good
in us, not for any foresight about us, he quickened us, made
us alive in Christ. And when did he do that? Look,
verse six, he has raised us up together and made us sit together
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Now, this is an important
point to get hold of. When did he do this? When Christ
rose from the dead. When Christ died, Paul says,
I died in him. When Christ rose, I rose in him. I, who lived the first few years
of my life as a child of wrath, even as the others, dead in trespasses
and sins, Yet in the reckoning of God I was in Christ when he
lived and walked this earth. And I'm judged as in Christ and
when he died and my sins were laden on him and he bore my sins
in his own body on the tree and was made sin for us that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. I was there in him
in the reckoning of God. And when He rose from the dead,
is that not what this verse says? He's raised us up together with
Him. Where are you now? You're seated.
Oh no, I'm sat in this room. No, in the reckoning of God you're
seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Is there anything
left to chance for this judgment of God? Is there anything left
to chance concerning death and eternity? No, I'm seated together
with Christ in heavenly places in Him. That's where I am. That's where I am now. Seated
there. Verse 7, that in ages to come he might show the exceeding
riches of his grace. You see, it was when we were
sinners, while we were still children of wrath and enemies
of God, whilst we had no thought for God, all of this was done
for his people in the Lord Jesus Christ. All of it was. Read Romans
5, 6 and 8, there again it says exactly the same thing. God commends
his love to us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. You're always inclined to do
something good for somebody who's kind to you, but for somebody
who's an enemy and a vicious, rebellious opposer of you, you're
very disinclined, but God commends his love to you, in that while
we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly, for his people.
And it's God's gift. Look at verse 8, for by grace,
for by grace are you saved. What accomplished the change?
It was the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that accomplished
the change. Verse 8, for by grace are you
saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the
gift of God. Grace, I'll remind you, is when
I do get what I don't deserve. I don't deserve the blessings
of God. There's nothing in me to warrant
those blessings of God. But I do get them because he
is a God of grace. And if it's of grace, then it's
not of works. It cannot be. You cannot mix
works and grace. You cannot say, oh, God's been
good to me, therefore I'll add a little bit to it. You cannot
say, Oh, God has clothed me with the righteous robe of the righteousness
of Christ. So, for my own sanctification,
I'm going to sew on some patches of filthy rags, because, you
know, that's what my own righteousnesses are. Isaiah 64 is it, verse 6,
all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags in his sight. Horrible rags that you want to
get rid of and you've got this seamless robe of the righteousness
of Christ. What are we going to do? People
tell you for your sanctification you must do works of righteousness.
You're going to stitch those filthy rags on that seamless,
perfect, glorious robe. You know, what does that hymn
say? I'm going to forget the words of it now, but you know,
that in these arrayed, with joy shall I lift up my head, the
robe of Christ is ever new. You know, that glorious robe.
We don't stitch our own works of righteousness on. No, it's
of grace, not of works. Romans 4 verse 4, Now to him
that worketh is the reward, not reckoned of grace, but of debt.
When my salary from my employer arrives in my bank account every
month, I don't say, oh, isn't Logica so gracious to me? No,
I deserve those wages, I've fulfilled my part of the contract, they're
paying me for what I've signed up to do. That's not grace, that's
works. I worked for that money, and
they pay me for it. But grace, Grace is not of works. It's not of works. You see, my
wages are a debt that is owed to me for the work I've done.
But not grace. Grace is not of works. It's God's
gift. Not of our law works. Not of
our attempting to keep the law. Either for justification or for
sanctification. Christ is the believer's justification. Christ is made unto us wisdom
from God and righteousness and sanctification. Yes, and sanctification
and redemption. Boy, that got me into trouble
one day in a church a long time ago. for telling, they were quite
happy when I said Christ is my justification, but when I said
what the scripture says, funnily enough, that Christ is my sanctification,
wow, did they, ooh, that made them mad. They didn't like that
one little bit because they wanted to add their works to the grace
of Christ to get a bigger reward in heaven. That was basically
at the foundation of all of their motivation. You see, flesh only
boasts. This is what it says, not of
works, lest anyone should boast. Verse 9, quite clear. If there's
any works added to it, what's the flesh going to do? What's
that dead in trespasses and sins flesh going to do? It's going
to boast about it. It's going to brag about it.
It's going to strut around heaven saying, what a good job it did
of doing the works of righteousness, the works of the law, isn't it?
There's a warning here. You know, I like to be positive.
I like to preach the gospel of grace, but I think it's an important
responsibility to warn about error. We must do that. The scriptures
are clear that we must warn about error. And there's an error of
whether a lot of people know it this way, but I call it the
error of fullerism. that's in our day. Fuller, Andrew
Fuller, was a man who lived and preached and wrote, well, about
200 years ago, between late 1700s, early 1800s. And he was a great
enemy of people like William Huntingdon, who was a pastor
of grace. He was a preacher of just free
sovereign grace. And Fuller was an ardent enemy
of him. And Fuller's doctrine sounds
like reformed Calvinistic doctrine. And do you know something? You
say, why am I talking about something 200 years old? Is it not swept
out of the way? No. It's the basis of the doctrine
of the majority of what call themselves mainstream reformed
Baptist churches in this country in these days. I know there may
be people who will listen to this. I don't care. I think this
is so important. We're to test the spirit, says
John. He says, test the spirits whether
they be of God. What's the test? To the law and
to the testimony. Isaiah 8.20. If they speak not
according to this word, there is no light in them. Let me tell
you very briefly. It sounds like Calvinistic doctrine. It says this. Christ's atonement
was sufficient for the salvation of everyone that's ever lived.
They say that. You say, well, I don't know about
that. No, hold on. No. Particular redemption. Christ
died to pay the sin debt of his people. There was none of it
left to go to waste. He died for the sin debt of his
people. The righteousness he earned was
the righteousness needed for his people alone. Not with loads
left to go to waste. It was specific, particular redemption. The scriptures are clear. This
error says that election concerns the extent of the application
of the atonement. You know, it says that the atonement
was for everybody, potentially, but election just concerns the
application of it to a certain number. And then it says that
everyone by nature, man as he is, has an innate ability and
duty to believe the gospel. That's what it says. And so therefore,
fourthly, you preach to appeal to that ability and point out
man's duty to believe the gospel. Now you say, are we not splitting
hairs just on an academic point? Not at all. That is not the teaching
of this passage of scripture, but it's rampant today. And as
I said at the start, it affects our approach to evangelism, it
affects the way we, our motivation for living, our confidence for
eternity, and the validity of the currency of salvation that
we rely on. That's what it affects. It's rampant today, but this
is what this passage teaches, taking those four points in turn.
It says, first of all, that Christ's elect alone were in him when
he accomplished the atonement. And you, you, faithful saints,
you, you has he raised up with him. You, verse 7. sorry, verse
6, you hath he raised up together with Christ and made us to sit
together. That's the extent of it, the
people of God, the elect of God, that's the extent of the atonement,
that's the truth of scripture, and secondly, Nothing to do with
works. It's either by grace or works,
but it cannot be by a combination. It cannot be by the fact that
you've done the work of believing. It can't be by the fact that
you were good enough to go and respond to God. It cannot be
by that. It's either by works or by grace,
but not a combination. In terms of the innate ability
to respond and the duty to respond, have you ever tried... I know
this is potentially... This is a serious thing to say
because I know some of you have got recent experience of bereavement
and the wounds are still raw and sore and it hurts. But can
you imagine speaking to that dead person and expecting a response?
You know when they're dead. You know when the medics have
given up all hope. You know when the medics have
shut the case off and walked away. And you know then you can
shout and scream and cajole and encourage all you like. There
is nothing that dead body can do. And so what they're saying
is preach to dead men because they've got an ability and a
duty to respond to it. They're no more able to respond
than a dead person's able to respond. Because that's what
this says. They're dead. And fourthly, it's
not their duty to believe, it's the gift of God. Faith. It says,
By grace you are saved. How do you know? Through faith.
It's faith that you have that tells you you're saved. And that's
not of yourselves. Nothing to do with innate ability.
It is the gift of God. You see, what does it lead to? It leads to Arminian evangelism.
It leads to many carrying around counterfeit salvation currency
with them which Paul says in Galatians 5 and verse 2 adding
all of these things to the works of Christ he says this Christ
will profit you nothing nothing Christ will profit Think, you
know, Lord, Lord, haven't we done all of these things in your
name? Depart from me. I never knew you. Christ will
profit you nothing. Beware of this error. Let's seek
to be faithful. Let's not, I'm not saying that
we should always be on a soapbox hammering away, firing accusations
at other people, but we need to be clear what the truth of
the scripture is and to be true to the truth of the grace of
God in scripture and that alone. We preach Christ to all who will
hear. And we implore all who will hear
to believe the gospel, but we know this, that it's God alone
that makes his sheep alive and gives them hearing to hear and
to respond. You look at those of your relatives
who you're in most despair about, and you think, what's ever going
to happen? I tell you this, you can persuade all you like, but
if they're dead in trespasses and sins, you're talking to a
dead man. But if the spirit of God comes by his grace, and gives
life, and gives ears to hear, and eyes to see, they will respond. I don't care how hard they are,
I don't care how opposed they are, they will, but it's all
according to the grace and justice and mercy of God. And then finally,
very briefly, to what purpose, to what purpose is this journey
of those who are the sheep of Christ justified from eternity,
justified in time at the cross of Christ by all that he did,
And yet living as children of wrath until the Holy Spirit comes
and opens their eyes to see and grants faith that gift of God
with which to see, to what purpose is all of this? what we saw already
in chapter 1 and verse 12, that we should be to the praise of
his glory. It's to the praise of the glory
of the grace of Christ, that there should be people in this
world who should be trophies of the grace of Christ, to show
that there are people who were dead in trespasses and sins,
but have been made alive just as really as Lazarus was dead
in that tomb and his body was decaying and smelling of death
and he came alive out of that tomb so there are those who are
dead to the things of God in this world who are made alive
to the things of Christ it's for that purpose but also verse
10 look at verse 10 we are his workmanship we are his workmanship
created in Christ Jesus you see the fact of the matter is that
it isn't even the work of believing that you do. You know, they asked
Jesus in John 6, around verse 29, they said, what must we do
that we do the works of God? And Jesus said unto them, this
is the work of God. that you believe on him whom
he sent and so we think oh that's the work I must do the work I
do is to believe and that work you know like Abraham's faith
is all piled up and and tips the scales in my favor and gives
me enough righteousness no whose work did it say it was this is
the work God that you should believe. It's God's work that
you should believe, by faith, and that not of yourselves. It
is the gift of God. But it's for a purpose. We are
his workmanship, verse 10, created in Christ Jesus. All passive,
isn't it? But for a purpose. unto good
works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them this
is the purpose of God created for good works to bear the fruit
of the spirit for true faith True faith works. Works are in
no way required. Works in no way alter the relationship
of a child of God with his savior. They add nothing to his righteousness. They add nothing to his sanctification.
Not in any way at all. But true faith shows it's true
faith because it works. And it does these good works
which God has prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
foreordained to bear the fruit of God's Spirit in this fallen
sinful world. It's a people called out to honor
God in works. Now what are the works? Well,
And none of these works have pat you on the back opportunities. So don't think that for one minute,
but these are the works of God. You say, oh, doing all these
good things to the poor. And well, yes, yes. But look,
don't forget this, that in this world, which has no thought for
God, there should be a people who meet on a Sunday morning
to praise him together. Praise is a work of God. Worship
is a work of God and service and service reflecting the mind
of Christ. and the compassion of Christ
in all things, selfless, selfless. That's what it's for. Okay. I
hope that's a blessing to us.