It's good to have Brother Jim
and Sister Linda with us. It's so good to have you with
us. Let me read these three verses
to you this morning. Ephesians chapter 2. Let's just
begin in verse 1 through verse 4. And you hath He quickened,
given life to, raised you from the dead, who were dead in trespasses
and sin, wherein, in time past, ye 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 manner of living, our conversation,
in time 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. But God, who
is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even
when we were dead in sin, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace are you saved." It was
so needful for the Apostle Paul to take a great amount of time
and explain to these Ephesian Christians, these believers, of what their former walk was
like and the condition that they were in. When he wrote this to
them and they began to read it, no doubt they said that indeed
was my experience. But they didn't understand it
until they read it. So it was so necessary because
the Apostle Paul had been writing here under the inspiration of
the Holy Spirit concerning all of these blessings that you and
I have studied in chapter 1. Tremendous blessings, spiritual
blessings, heavenly blessings, eternal blessings. But unless
there was any of these believers or these professed believers
in this church that began to think that they were worthy of
any of these blessings, or that they could earn these blessings,
or that they merited these wonderful blessings, Paul stops here and
he reminds them of what their walk was in time past. And he says, in time past you
walked according to the course of this world. You know, when
you and I are born into this world, we have a course to walk. Everybody is walking a course.
When the Lord saves a man or a woman, He puts them on a course.
He has a course to walk. The Scriptures tell us that the
believer's walk is just that. It's a walk of faith. We walk
by faith, not by sight. And a believer's walk is in the
Spirit. If we live in the Spirit, let
us also walk in the Spirit. A believer's walk is a walk of
love. walk in love as Christ has loved
us and gave Himself for us. A believer walks in the light. You were sometimes darkness,
but now you are light in the Lord. Walk ye as children of
light. A believer walks in Christ. As
you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him. Walk circumspectly, the Apostle
tells us. Walk with purpose. Walk accurately. Not as fools, but as wise. Understanding what the will of
the Lord is. And as ye have received of us
how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would increase more
and more. We have a walk. Believers walk. Every child of God's prayer is
this, Lord, lead me in the paths of righteousness, for your name's
sake. That's where we want to walk.
That's our prayer. Hold up my steps in your paths
that my footsteps slip not. And every believer's confidence
can be this, yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow
of death, I don't have to fear any evil, for the Lord is with
me. The Lord never puts a man on
this highway to heaven without walking with him. He leads us,
and He guides us, and He goes with us. Ask ye for the old paths
wherein is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find
rest for your soul. A believer has a walk. But Paul
comes here to remind them now of their time past. No matter where you're at in
your Christian life, you know that you had a time past. In
time past, you walked. And that road in time past is
much different than the road that you're on now. The paths
in time past was a path of darkness. It was a crooked path. It was
a broad path. It's one that you chose. It's
one that you loved. And it's one that you willingly
walked upon. They have made themselves crooked
paths. That's us. That's us in time
past. We were born and we were put
on that road, but we loved it. And we made, as it were, ourselves
crooked paths. We went in our own way. You walked,
the Apostle said, and this was your walk in time past, according
to the course of this world." Now, there's a lot of things
this morning that you and I could say about the course of this
world. But I want to limit this to just
a few words this morning so we can look at it and go on in our
studies. Let's look at three or four things.
First of all, concerning the course of this world. What is
the course of this world? Well, in general, it's this.
The course of this world is this. This world has an influence over
humanity. Everybody that is in this world,
they live in such a way because they are influenced to live that
way. Have you ever noticed how trends
change? We do what other people do. We
don't much do what we choose to do. We are so influenced by
what the world is doing. What kind of clothes we wear,
what kind of food we eat, where we go, What kind of houses we
live in, how we build or decorate those houses, the phrases we
use, how we think, just about everything that we do in this
world, we do it because we are influenced to do it. Trends. I remember, and this shows you
how old I am, I remember the first TV that came into our community
when I was a little child. The first time I ever saw a man
kiss a woman, I was probably six or seven years old. We had
heard that somebody got in what they call a television set. And
I was just a young kid and some of my siblings took me with them,
and we went to this neighborhood, into the neighborhood there,
to this old couple that had got them a television set. And I
remember this man and woman kissing each other on the TV set. And
that made such an impact. I never saw my dad kiss my mother.
Not like that anyway. But I thought, I thought, this
is a wonderful thing. This is amazing. A man kissing
a woman. And I was that young and I remember
that. But it wasn't long until I remembered
the little church that I was going to. They rose up in the
air. Oh, they were outraged. And some
woman, had appeared on the TV screen, and she had a sleeveless
dress on. And I remember they were outraged
about it, and one person made this statement. He said, it's
not so much that she's wearing a sleeveless dress, but where
is it going to end? Well, we know now, Dolly. We
know now. But they said, what will happen
if all of these other things begin to be shown on TV, and
the world follows that? The world is influenced by that. That's how the world lives. It
doesn't amaze me that a trend will start somewhere, and before
it's finished, even the church is following that trend. I used
to listen to a particular radio station, it was a country music
station. I can't listen to country music anymore. But I remember that just ever
so often you would get a country music singer, an entertainer,
and they'd taped his voice from down at Nashville, and he'd come
on and say, this is George Jones, and you're listening to this
radio station, and oh, certain so-and-so is the DJ, and we're
just glad you're listening to this station. That's the way
they had of promoting that statement, that station, and country music.
I was coming to church this morning listening to a radio station
that was playing religious music. And lo and behold, here come
a religious, popular singer, and they had him taped. And he
said, I'm glad that you're listening to this particular radio station
with old so-and-so as the DJ. And I thought, well, that's what
I heard years ago when they was listening to country music. See
how trends come in? And the world, even the church,
begins to follow these trends. You know so much of the worship,
so much of what takes place now in so many so-called churches. They do it and they practice
it and they even teach it because they've been influenced to do
so by the world. What they believe, what they
say, what they teach, that's the course of this world. It's
one of influence. And you only have to look in
your own life to see what a powerful influence this world has upon
us. That's the general way of thinking
about it. But the second thing, the course
of this world is this. The course of this world is a
course of sinning. It's a course of sinning. Here
in verse 3, The Apostle says this, in time past, he said,
here was your manner of life. You lived according to the lust
of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the
mind. Now it's evident, and I know
and you know, that sin comes in all different shapes and sizes
and colors and degrees. But all of this world, all this
world does, and this world does nothing else but sin. It sins. There's the open and
profane sins. That's what usually the prisons
are full of men who have just turned loose the reins of their
lust. And they've gone out and committed criminal acts, open
and profane sins. But there's other people. They're
good neighbors. They're moral people. They don't
harm anybody. But what do they do? Sin. There
are people who are somewhat religious and they go to church sometimes.
They like that atmosphere. It's a social atmosphere. They
prefer that over everything else. But what do they do? Sin. Then you have your people who
are very, very strict in their religion. They're so strict that
they separate themselves from society. They don't want to be
contaminated with what goes on in the world. They eat particular
foods and drink particular drinks. They don't go out in society.
And what do they do? They sin. They see it? The course of this world is this. It's fulfilling the desires of
the flesh and of the mind. That's all this world does. It
don't do anything it doesn't want to do. Everything it does,
it does because it desires to do it. There are different degrees
of sin. There are different degrees and
kinds of lust. Some turn loose the reins of
their lust, and others keep their lust in check. Thank God for
that. Thank God for that. Aren't you
glad that the Lord just doesn't let everybody turn loose the
reins of their lust and live a violent, lustful, sinful life? This world would be a dangerous
place to live if He did that. He puts it in check. He keeps
it in check. He causes the conscience to be
afflicted. He gives us rule in our government
to make men afraid. I'm thankful for that, brothers
and sisters. There's no government perfect.
There's no authority in this world that is perfectly just. But aren't you glad for law?
Aren't you glad for the law enforcement? And aren't you glad for those
who have a degree of fear within them that they're afraid to just
turn loose the reins of their lust and do what sometimes they
think to do? Thank God for that. Thank God
for that. But there is that sin, there
is that lust, and there is that desire which nobody can escape
from. There are people that may subdue
it. That is the sin and lust of the flesh. But here's a sin,
and here's desires, and here's a lust that nobody can avoid. And Paul said this, it's the
desires of the mind. Well, we may not murder anybody
with our hands. Have we ever thought about doing
it in our hearts? We may never commit adultery physically with
a woman, but have we ever thought about it in our hearts? We may not steal what belongs
to somebody else, but have we ever coveted that in our hearts?
Where does sin begin? It begins in the heart. It begins
in the mind. That's our whole problem is the
mind within. Out of the heart, the Lord Jesus
said, proceed evil thoughts and adulteries and fornications and
false witnesses and blasphemies. All of these things come from
the heart and they defile a man. They may never get through the
mouth. A man may never perform them with his hands, but he's
defiled because sin is in his heart. It's in his mind. And notice the apostle Paul said
this about this. We all had our conversations
in time past. And this is an amazing thing,
and the world don't understand this. Paul said, I was as guilty
as anybody. And the world looks at Paul when
he was a Pharisee, and he was dressed in all of this religious
garb. And you watched him and you never
heard an evil word come out of his mouth. He never drank to get drunk. He never went to the nightclubs.
He prayed three times a day. He fasted twice a week. He paid
tithes of all that he possessed. And yet he said, my mind was
full of lust. I wonder what he was lusting
for. I wonder if it wasn't for this,
that he lusted for people to pat him on the back and say,
you're such a fine man. He desired to work his way into
God's presence. His sin was the sin of self-righteousness,
and that is as much the lust of the flesh as anything else. When the Pope goes over there
and he sits down on his little stool somewhere, And He lets
people come around and bow down and kiss His ring. What is that? The lust of the flesh. That's
what He desires. He lives to that. Nobody is exempt
from that, the Apostle Paul said. We all had our conversations
in time past, fulfilling the lust of the flesh and of the
mind. That's all this world is doing,
brothers and sisters. It's doing nothing else but sinning.
The sins of omission, the sins of commission, ignorant sins,
known sins, secret sins, open sins. What's the world doing?
It's sinning. It's sinning. Fulfilling the
desires of the flesh and of the mind. What did John say about
this? He says the very same thing the
Apostle Paul said about this. All that is in the world. There's
nothing in this world. You and I know everything that's
going on in this world. There's no surprises to us. What's
in this world? John said, I can tell you everything
that's in this world. All of it is summed up in this,
the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of
life. That's what motivates this world. Lust and pride. That's it. You ask me what they're doing
out in San Diego, California this morning? You ask me what
they're doing in Ripley, West Virginia this morning? In Crossville,
Tennessee this morning? In Newcastle, Indiana? You know
what everybody's doing? They're sinning! They're sinning
against God, doing what they want to do. That's it. Fulfilling
the desires. Oh, I would do this, but... No,
you do just what you want to do. That's it. Let's be honest about it. Let's
be honest about it. What's the course of this world?
Fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. And you'll not find the world
doing anything else but that. Brothers and sisters, I don't
care where you go, outside the realm of God's kingdom, when
you get outside that kingdom, you won't find one man, or one
woman, or one boy, or one girl, or one infant that is doing anything
that's pleasing to God. And that's acceptable to God.
Every last thing they're doing is the desire of their flesh
and their mind. And that's sin. The third thing
about the course of this world is this. And the Apostle Paul
sums it up here in verse 12. Look at this. Here's what he
tells them. At that time you were without
Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers
from the covenants of promise. having no hope, and without God
in the world. What's the course of this world?
It's this. Without God. Without Christ. Without hope. That's the course
of this world. Without God. Without Christ. And without hope. This poor,
miserable world, in all of its wisdom, in all of its technology,
in all of its temporal advantages, Yet above everything else, this
is its condition. It's without God. It's without
Christ and without hope. And where does that leave this
world? In utter misery. Let it make its advancements.
Let it have its technologies. Let it advance and go to the
moon and to the stars and search the outer space. And let it reach
a time where it says to itself, we've got peace and we've got
safety. But this world is in misery because
it's walking a course in which it is without God and without
Christ the Savior and without hope. That's the course of this
world. Paul said, look at yourselves.
Look at yourselves. Remember where you were when
the Lord crossed your path. you will walk in according to
the course of this world. If a man should gain the whole
world, and if he is without Christ the
Savior, and God the Father, and the Holy Spirit the Teacher and
Revealer of the things of God, then he is hopeless. He is hopeless. The course of this world is without
God. Without Christ and without hope. Just like all courses, this course
has an end. All courses has an end. You get
on a course, you've got an end. You run in a race, you've got
a finish line. Paul says, I've fought a good fight. I have finished
my course. I have kept the faith. When a
child of God finishes his course, he enters into eternal life,
eternal bliss, eternal happiness. There is laid up for me a crown
of righteousness, which the Lord shall give me when I finish my
course. I have a desire to finish my
course and be with Christ, which is far better. Everybody finishes
their course. But the course of this world
doesn't end in eternal bliss. This course has an end. You walked
according to the course of this world, and the Apostle James
tells us of this course's end. And here's how he says it. Every
man is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. And when lust
is conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin when it is finished."
There's the end of this course. What's this course do? It's just
sinning. What's this course end in? Death. Death. Sin when it's finished
bringeth forth death. There's a way which seems right
unto a man, but the end thereof is the ways of death. Wide is
the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction. That's
the end of this course. This world promises prayer, pleasure,
and some obtain it for a while, but it's only for a season while
they're still walking this course. The end of this course is eternal
misery. Wouldn't it be wonderful if a
person could just get off of this course? You know, you live on it 30 or
40 or 50 years, and things aren't going so well, and you begin
to see the end, and you think, man, I'm going to get off of
this course. But that's one thing about this
course. There's no exits from it. You've got to finish it. You've got to finish it. It ends. Everybody crosses the finish
line. The finish line has already been determined. Everybody has
to cross it. That's one thing about humanity
that it's so unique. We're not animals. Once we're
born into this world, we're given physical life, and we're given
life within us. That's mortal life. And it'll
never cease to be. It'd be wonderful if you got
about 50 years old and said, well, I'm sick. I've contracted
this disease. I don't want to face death, and
I know something about what's coming. I think I'll just check
out. But you can't. You can't. That's what's unique
about humanity. You must finish this course,
and when you have, there's something beyond. There's death and beyond. The course of this world. We
can't escape it, can we? We can't escape its end. Here in verse 2 and 3, we find
out two more things right quickly about this. The time past of
every believer's life. And see, I'm not just talking
this morning to the unbelievers. Paul said, you who know the Lord,
you who have life now, this was your time past. This is where
you were in time past. But there's two more things he
tells us here in verse 2 and verse 3 that you may have noticed.
the time past have ever believed is life. It's just not what they
were doing that is fulfilling the lust of the flesh and the
mind. But they were being influenced to do it by a power that was
much greater than their own. And they probably didn't even
realize they were being influenced to do it. See what he says here
in verse 2? 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." Who is that? That's the devil. Paul says,
sure, you did what you wanted to do. But he said there was
an influence behind that that you didn't even realize. And
it was the devil working in you. The devil. Some people don't
believe in the devil anymore, do they? But they don't believe God's
Word if they don't. Because God's Word declared that there is a
devil, Lucifer, that was this great angel, the sun of the morning. And he sinned. And the Lord Jesus
said, I saw him as lightning fall from heaven. He's the devil. Peter said, the devil as a roaring
lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour. And I tell you,
he hates God, he hates Christ, he hates humanity. He is seeking
to do all the destruction that he can before his time is up. And the Apostle Paul tells us
three things about him here in verse 2. First of all, look what
he says. He says he is a prince. He's
a prince. He's the first in rank. He rules. He's a ruler. We're told that
He's the ruler of the darkness of this world. He rules over
all the fallen angels. He's called the God of this world.
He's called a dragon. He's called a serpent. He's called
a lion. God is the only one that's over
Him. This is an amazing thing to me.
that our Lord Jesus Christ and His humanity is over the devil. We found that out there in chapter
1 and verse 20 and verse 21. That all these principalities,
these evil powers, have been put under the feet of the Son
of God in His humanity. Christ reigns over the devil. But He Himself tells us that
this devil is a god. Don't. Don't. He tells us that.
And that he's a mighty angel and that he is in people. He
is in people. And he says, this is my house. He enters a heart and says, this
is mine. And he said, I'm going to keep it if I can. And the only one that can drag
him from that heart is the Son of God. He's a prince. He's a God of this world. And
the second thing the Apostle Paul tells us about him here
is this. And I imagine this is one of the reasons that so many
have ceased to believe in the devil. Because Paul said that
he's a spirit. The spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience. You can't see him. He's a spirit. And you can't build some sort
of a wall to keep him out. I don't know, Jim, if you guys
have these round barns in West Virginia. But in Indiana, they
built a bunch of round barns back in the 40s and 50s. And
they said the reason they built the round barns was to keep the
devil from hiding in the corner. Well, he's not affected by things
like that, you see. He's a spirit. I saw a documentary
the other night. This preacher said he was casting
out devils, and he was using the Bible, just the book, just
the physical book. And he'd take it and he'd close
it and he'd stick it against their head and they'd roll their
eyes back and scream. This book doesn't bother the
devil. This is a physical book. The words bother him. But the
physical book doesn't bother him. He's not hindered by physical
things. He's not bound by physical things. He's a spirit. And I think this
is the most dangerous aspect of him, because since he's a
spirit, he can go to the mind. He gets in your thought, you
see. And he starts suggesting all of these things, these wicked
things. And here's how he influences
men. He's not concerned. He's not
concerned about mansions. He's not concerned about nice
houses. He's not concerned about good jobs and the paycheck and
all of that. You know what his chief aim is?
To make men prejudiced against the Lord Jesus. To make men hate the Lord Jesus. He stirs up the mind, the carnal
mind, against the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is what the
Lord Jesus Himself told the apostles and told those he was talking
to there in John 8. Do you remember what he said to them? He said,
you do the works of your father, the devil. I do the works that
I've seen my father do, and you do the works that you've seen
your father do. He was a murderer from the beginning. And now you seek to murder me. You hate me. Why did they do
that? Well, they were bad enough. God
knows in themselves they were bad enough. But what influenced
them and caused such hatred in their hearts towards the Lord
that they tried to kill Him? The Lord said, the devil. The
devil. This is the works of the devil.
He got in you. Our Lord Jesus said the same
thing about Judas. When he was eating with his apostles
that night, they were eating before he went out to be betrayed.
And the Scripture says that the devil put it in Judah's heart
to betray the Son of God. I wonder if he would have did
that if the devil had not put it in his heart. Well, he was
capable of doing it. Who isn't capable of doing it?
But would he have ever thought to do it? But Satan put it in
his heart to betray the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord Jesus
said, what you do, do quickly. And Satan entered into that man,
and he went out and betrayed the Son of God. What does Satan
do? What does he do? Well, he influences
men. He influences men. Listen to what the Apostle tells
us in 2 Corinthians chapter 4. He says, If our gospel be hid,
this is absolutely amazing. If our gospel be hid, it is hid
to those who are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded
the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious
gospel of God of Jesus Christ to His image of God should shine
through them. Would you believe that the devil
has that kind of power? If God permits him, he does. Remember the Lord was talking
about the preachers going out and sowing the Word of God in
men's hearts. They went out and just preached. Some of the words fell on different
kinds of ground. Some of the words fell on by
the wayside. And the disciples come to him.
They said, Lord, what does that mean? And he said, this is what
it means. And he explained it to them like
this. And he said, well, here's what this means. When people
go preaching the gospel, sometimes the gospel falls into a heart
that don't understand it and don't believe it. And the devil
comes and he snatches the Word away. He just snatches it like
quickly. lest they should hear it and
believe it and be saved. See what the devil is all about.
He is a spirit and he works in men's hearts. And he does that
to stir up prejudice and to keep men from coming to Christ. Oh, this world brags and boasts
about the power of its free will when all along the prince of
this world is working in their minds to blind them. Ain't that
amazing? Ain't that amazing? And Paul
says this about it. He says this about it. He's a prince. He's a spirit. And look at this. He worketh.
He worketh. That's a very powerful word.
It means to do effectually. To work mightily. It's the same
word that Paul used in Philippians 2.13 when he said, It's God which
worketh in you. God works in the children who
obey Him. He works effectually in them.
And Satan works effectually in the children of disobedience.
The believer has a God that he worships and serves and follows,
and lo and behold, the lost have a God that works in them. Would
you have ever thought of that? And Paul said, I would that you
remember this. Remember this. There you were. And it's not enough that you
were doing what you wanted to do, that you were sinning. But
here behind the scenes, there was this God, this Prince, this
fallen Spirit that was stirring up your mind with prejudice and
hatred towards God and His Christ. Blind in your mind. Brothers
and sisters, there's absolutely no use for us to get aggravated
at unbelievers when they won't hear the gospel. There's something else that comes
into play, and it's the God of this world. I was talking with two men while
I was down in Georgia this week. I just bluntly confronted both
of them with eternity. I just brought up eternity. Both
of you fellows are headed towards eternity. Both of you are getting
rather old now. And both of you are going towards
eternity. And immediately, immediately
they changed the subject. I just brought them right back.
Wait a minute here. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. No, you're not
going to get away that quick. Do you think about this? No,
I don't want to think about it. It scares me to death, they said.
Let's go on to something else. But you know what happens? You
know who I was confronting? I just wasn't confronting their
carnal mind. Who was telling them, get on
about it, get away from this subject? Who was influencing
them to think that way? That was the devil. You might
as well get used to it. There is no sense in being so
timid. If you are not going to be so timid and backward about
it, we are not going to confront people. When they look at us
strangely, we are going to back off. Paul said, we're not fighting
against flesh and blood, against principalities and powers. The
devil is in men's hearts, and he's the one that's going to
resist the gospel. So you might as well have said
on it, brothers and sisters. If you're going to talk to your
neighbor, you're going to have to get through that barrier. There's
no sense in being shy about it. If you're going to try to reach
a person's soul, then you're going to have to take on the
God of this world. Because He's there. He's there. Well, I've got to hurry. I'm
sorry, I've got to hurry. I'm taking too long. Here's something else Paul says,
and look at this. These two things. See, he'd been
talking about man and what man was doing, fulfilling the lust
of his flesh and so on. Then he comes and he gets deeper.
He goes into the spiritual world. The prince of this world has
started working in them. But now he says something else
in the last portion of verse 3. And you were, he says, by nature
the children of wrath, even as others. Now, what does that mean?
You were the children of wrath. Most commentaries, they either
take one of these two opinions, and some take both of these interpretations,
rather. One of the interpretations of
this, children of wrath, as others, is this. Paul is saying, in time
past, you were under the wrath of God. Before you heard the
gospel and believed it, you were under the wrath of God. Now,
that's taught in other places in the scripture. John chapter
3, verse 36. He that believeth in the Son of God has everlasting
life. But he that believes not in the
Son of God shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth
on him. Let's start another place in
the Scripture. Moses said it like this. The Lord said, If
I whip my glittering sword, and my hand take hold on judgment,
I will render vengeance to my enemies, and I will repay them
to their face that hate me. To me belongeth vengeance, saith
the Lord. Their feet shall slide in due
time, for their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall
come upon them make haste." A man outside of Christ has to face
this, and I think of all things. It's the most devastating, it's
the most serious, most dire thing. And that is this. He is under
the wrath of the Eternal God. I know of nothing no more serious
than that. If I could come here this morning and say I'm just
going to bring out one point of this and leave it with you
to think about this week, it would have to be this. Those
who are outside Jesus Christ have no saving interest in Him.
They are at this present time under the wrath of the Eternal
God. I know of nothing. No more dreadful
than that. You say, Bruce, why in the world
do you just keep... This is the bad news. This is
the bad news. But see, our generation, they
want good news. But you cannot have the good
news until we first contemplate the bad news. And here's the
bad news. Here is what we are by our natures. Here's what we are if God doesn't
intervene for Christ's sake and save us. That's bad, ain't it? And we've got to stop and contemplate
men, Brother Jones said, in their sins until we're horrified by
it. Until we're broken by it. Until
we take men and women before the throne of grace and plead
for their souls before the Lord. And it's only when we see what
we were that we'll live in His praises, in His honor, and give
Him all the glory for giving us life. Well, the elect of God,
even before they come to faith in Christ, were under the wrath
of God. The second interpretation of
this verse, this portion of the verse, children of wrath by nature,
is this. It's not speaking of God's wrath
upon them, but of their natural wrath towards God. That seems
to be the true interpretation of this portion of this verse,
because it fits the context, doesn't it? Paul had been talking
about what they were doing, what they were within themselves.
And now he sums it up and says this is the worst part of all.
It wasn't just that you were doing these things. This was
your nature to do it. You couldn't a bit more change
your nature than the Ethiopian can change his color or leopard
his spots. You were born this way. You're
children of wrath because you were born that way. Your nature,
your mind is enmity against God. That seems to be the context.
And I think that's the true interpretation of this. For a second reason,
he adds here, you were children of wrath by nature, even as others. If they were under the wrath
of God when they were lost, they weren't under the wrath of God
even as everybody else. The elect of God before they
come to faith in Christ, they're under the wrath of God. But it's
temporal wrath. It's not eternal wrath. For a
small moment, he said, Isaiah 57, I have forsaken you in a
little wrath. But it's only for a moment. With
everlasting kindness will I gather you, saith the Lord. The elect
of God, before they're called, they're under wrath. But it's
temporal wrath. But what about the non-elect?
They're under eternal wrath. They're born under wrath. They
live under wrath. They die under wrath. So the
elect of God aren't under wrath, even as others are. Paul says, now remember this,
there you were, and of yourselves, this is what you were, a sinful,
deplorable, Perishing people just like the world around you. And your course was as sure to
end in eternal misery and death as everybody else's. He not only
said, I want you to know this, he said, I want you to remember
this. Verse 11 and 12. Remember this. What happened? What changed everything? Well, verse 4 tells us, doesn't
it? But God. But God. It wasn't what changed
everything, it was who changed everything. But God. Ain't that our message to the
world? But God. Who is rich in mercy. God didn't come and offer you
something, Paul said. No! God intervened in your course
of sin and misery and certain destruction. What is salvation? It's God crossing our pathway. It's God straddling our course,
as it were, and says, you've come this far, but you'll go
no farther. You're fighting with all your
heart to get to hell, but I've determined, I've purposed that
you'll never go there. Let alone to you. I've already
chosen you to salvation, and now I'm going to save you. I've
chosen you to life, and now I'm going to give you life. Ain't
that what He does? Ain't that what the Gospel is?
The Gospel is not what we do. We've been told what we do. The
gospel is this, but God. But God. You were dead in your sins, but
God. You were polluted in your sins,
but God washed you. You were bound by the devil,
the Lord cast him out. You were in your prison house
of despair, but He set you free. Brothers and sisters, have you
contemplated this this morning? And have you contemplated it
to the point that you've reached the undeniable conclusion, not
only by your experience but by the Word of Truth, that not one
hair's breadth of your salvation is dependent upon you? Have you contemplated this? Have
you thought about it? That's what Paul is writing to
us. He wants us to think about this. He wants us to be serious
about it. You ascribe all the glory, all
the power, all the praise to God in Jesus Christ, your Lord
and Savior, for saving you. Don't you tremble this morning
when you remember what He owed you? Don't you tremble this morning
to realize that He was not obligated to visit you? Don't you realize and tremble
to know that He could have easily left you in your rebellion to
perish for all eternity and been just in doing so? Do we contemplate
these things? Do we think about this? Why did he do it? Why did he
do it? Paul only says this. He's rich
in mercy. He's rich in mercy. God has this
great heart. This big heart. The universe
dwells in it. It's so big. And it's full of
mercy. He has this great love wherewith
He loved us when we were dead in sin. What other reason could
there be? What was in us that appealed
to Him? There was nothing. Aren't you
horrified? Isn't that thought disgusting
to you that God looked down through time and saw something in you
that appealed to Him? I love them because I foresee
they'll love me. No, no, no. What a blasphemous
thought. Why did He do it? Why did He
stop you? Why did He give you life and
deliver you from such an awful perishing condition? The cause
is found in Him. That's why. The cause is found
in Him. This is the only way you and
I can have any assurance. Salvation is of the Lord. This
is the grounds that we can pray for the most deplorable straying
sinner. You've got children like mine
that are going astray, that have no need for the Lord Jesus, for
His gospel. You can't see anything in them
that encourages you to think someday the Lord may save them. We'll go to Him on this ground.
He doesn't save people because of anything He sees in them. It's His mercy and His love in
Christ. That's why He does it. Go find
the most deplorable man and woman you can find anywhere. And you
can take them to the throne of grace and say, Lord, if You will,
You can. With God, all things are possible.
Well, we'll pick up there in verse 4. Lord's Will next week. Let's pray.