Ephesians chapter 2 and verse
1. And you hath he quickened who
were dead in trespasses and in sins. And you hath he quickened. You hath he given life that were
formerly dead in trespasses and sins. Now, I feel that I must
remind you of what you and I have been studying on in chapter 1.
I don't mean to be boring. I don't mean to be tedious to
you. But I want to repeat myself by
saying this concerning chapter 1. I don't know of any greater
blessings that you and I could read off than the blessings that
we have been studying in chapter 1 of the Ephesians. And I don't
know of any greater joy that you and I could have than by learning these things
and by living by faith upon these blessings that we have been studying
about. And that's what Paul prayed,
that God would give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation that
we may know Him better, may know the Lord Jesus better, may know
even the faith that we come to believe the gospel with was a
faith that He wrought in our hearts by His mighty power. And
then to look back in eternity as we stand here in time And
to know that these blessings that we're enjoying now, we're
enjoying these blessings because the eternal God chose us to them. That He chose us in the Lord
Jesus. He wrote our names down in the
Lamb's Book of Life. He even predestinated us to the
adoption of children. He sent the spirit of adoption
into our hearts, crying, Father, Father. He chose us to that end. He sent His Son to redeem us
through His precious blood, and then He tells us that in the
end of it all, that God Himself has prepared this eternal inheritance
for us who believe Him. I don't know of anything, brothers
and sisters, that will more establish us, wean us from this world and
its cares and its pleasures, will turn our minds towards heaven,
like the blessings that's mentioned here in chapter 1. And I encourage
you to go back and pray about them and live in the light of
them. Live there. It's not these things,
chapter 1, We read them and we learn more about them and the
glory of them. But one thing you and I need
to remember, and let me say this, the Bible wasn't written for
smart men. The Bible wasn't written for
educated men, brilliant men. I would imagine that when Paul
sent this epistle to the church, the overwhelming majority of
the members of this church may well have been slaves. Men who
were owned and worked by other men that were converted. And the apostle writes to men
who could hardly read a sentence. And he writes to them with this
expectation that they could understand what he was saying. And how could
they possibly do so if they were slaves? Well, Paul said, I pray
for you that God would give you the spirit of wisdom It's not
the mighty men of this world, brothers and sisters. It's not
those who are learned in Greek and Hebrew, who have the ability
to naturally come here and understand these things. It's those who
have the Spirit of Christ. I will give you another Comforter,
and He'll guide you. He'll lead you. He'll open your
heart to these truths. He's all we need. Sit down with
your Bible in hand and ask the Spirit of the Lord to bless His
Word to you, that you may see yourselves in Christ and see
all that the eternal God has in store for you. And I tell
you, you may be amazed by it and what He will show you. Things
that you and I have read over all our Christian life, He begins
to show them to us. And what a blessing they are
to our souls. That's what we've been studying
about in chapter 1. And we come here now in chapter
2, and the Apostle Paul begins to take a close look at us, at our condition, what we are
by nature. You see, before he'd been talking
about what God was, and who God was, and what God had been doing.
He began that way, didn't he? What's God doing? Well, what's
He purposed to do back in eternity? God has a purpose. And it's not
dependent upon me. It's not dependent upon you.
It's not even dependent upon our response. God is doing these
wonderful things. And He's doing it to us. But
now He comes to us. Now He wants us to know our condition,
even by nature. And he tells us here in verse
1 of Ephesians chapter 2, And you hath he quickened who were
dead in trespasses and in sin. You see, the Apostle Paul has
this purpose in his mind. He had been telling us about
all these blessings that the Lord had bestowed upon us, we
who believe His gospel. And now he is going to drive
home this point that it is grace indeed. That it is God's work
indeed. That it is the grace of God,
the goodness of God that has brought these blessings to us.
And the way He's going to drive this point home is by reminding
us what we are by nature. Paul said, I'm writing to you
about all these blessings, but don't a one of you begin to think
that you deserve them. Don't a one of you begin to think
that you have merited these things or earned these heavenly blessings?
Because here is where God found you. Where did He find you at? Dead in trespasses and in sins. So let's learn this then. What
does this mean? The Lord will have us to know
this. He'll have us to look at ourselves and humble ourselves
before Him. and appreciate His blessings.
So He's going to tell us here what we were by nature. What
does it mean to be dead in trespasses and sins? What does it mean to
be dead? I have often myself used the
analogy that spiritual death is like a person who is physically
dead. That if you have a casket laying
here and we're at a funeral, and you come up to view someone
in that casket, He has no impressions that you're there. He has no
thought as to what's going on around him. He doesn't participate
in what's going on around him. His brain is actually dead. They've declared him dead. The
doctors have declared him dead. They've hooked up a machine to
him and said, he has no brain waves. He's dead. He's unconscious.
He's gone. His breath, his soul has left
his body. And you and I liken spiritual
death sometime to that. To be spiritually dead is the
same way as to be physically dead. But when we say that, we
leave a lot of questions unanswered, don't we? A man who is physically dead,
he has no impressions of what's going on around him. But does
a man who is spiritually dead have any impressions? And this
is where we've got to make a distinction, and it ain't. Does a man who
is dead in trespasses and sins have any thought at all of God? Well, we know when we begin to
read the Scriptures, he does. He does indeed. God does sometimes
indeed make impressions upon the hearts, upon the conscience
of a man. You remember Romans chapter 1?
Here's what Paul said to those heathens that he was writing
to, writing concerning. He says this, that which may be known of God
is manifest in them. It's manifest in their conscience,
to their conscience. For God has showed it unto them. How has God showed something
to the conscience? For the invisible things of Him
from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood
by the things which are made, even His eternal power and Godhead,
so that they are without excuse. For when they knew God, Now, that doesn't mean they knew
God as their Father. That doesn't mean they knew God
as their Savior. But they knew there was a God
who created this universe. You know, this universe speaks,
doesn't it? This creation has a story to tell. It speaks in
all languages of the world. And this is what it says, I have
a Creator. He's mighty and He's wise. And that speaks to every conscience
of men. God in His grace and justice
has left man a conscience. And he often makes impressions
upon that conscience that he is holy indeed, that he is mighty
indeed. But here is man's problem. He
looks at that and what does he do? He perverts those impressions. Instead of falling down and worshiping
God and seeking Him, what does he do? He begins to make little
idols. He begins to corrupt what he
knew about God. So he carves out little idols
of men, and creeping things, and beasts, and he falls them
before him. And he says, You're my God. You're
my God. But he has these impressions.
And who makes those impressions upon his conscience? God does. God does. You remember when Felix
was preached to by the Apostle Paul? And Paul preached to him
concerning the judgment that's to come. Felix, there'll come
a time even though your body dies, it's going to be raised
from the dead and you will go up before God and you'll stand
there and give account of your deeds. All your lying, all your
bribing of men, all your covetousness, all your sin, someday soon you'll
stand before God and given an account of what you've done."
What was his reaction to that? He trembled. Why did he tremble? How could a man who was dead
in trespasses and sins tremble? See, here's why we can't stop
when we say a man is as dead spiritually as a man is dead
physically. It leaves too many questions,
doesn't it? A man who is dead in trespasses and sins still
has this consciousness of God. He hides it. He corrupts it. But he has this consciousness
of God. You let a man be warned to the
point that they tremble in their conscience. But if the Spirit
of life don't enter into them, they will stifle those convictions. Why? Because they're powerless
to improve them by nature. They'll be judged for it. They'll
be condemned for it. But they cannot and will not
improve their convictions. Why? They're powerless to. They're
helpless to. Why? Because they're dead. They're
dead. Whatever impressions are made
upon the conscience of a lost person, it's God that makes those
impressions. And he may come to a person and
make those impressions and convict those consciences, but if he
leaves without giving life, then they stifle those convictions
and they stay in their sins. You say, Bruce, why won't they
improve them? Why won't they come to him and bow before him?
Because they're dead. They're dead. I remember when I was lost. I had impressions made upon my
conscience, and I bet some of you can testify to this too.
When I was dead in my sins, I look back now and see where the Lord
different times came to me and convicted my conscience of sin
and made me afraid that I was going to die and come to the
judgment. That was God doing that. But
you know what I did? I did what Adam did. I ran and hid myself from the
Lord. I was afraid of His voice. What
do you mean afraid of His voice? It was my conscience. The conscience
of a man is the voice of the Lord. And when it begins to scream,
that's the voice of the Lord speaking to him. But what does
man do when his conscience begins to scream? He stifles it. And why does he do that? He's
dead. Let's look at this word dead
this way. Let's go into it just a little
bit deeper for just a minute. Instead of saying that he's just
like a man who is dead physically, let's look at it a little bit
closer and let's look at it this way. See if you can understand
this. You hath he quickened who were
dead. That's the position. that they
had found themselves in. They were dead. What does it
mean to be dead in sin? We can understand it if we look
at it like this. What is the opposite of death? Life. Life. What is it to be dead in sins? It means we have no life. What
is life? The Lord Jesus said, this is
life. This is eternal life, that they
might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you
have sent. What is it to be dead in sin? It means we don't know God. It
means we don't know the Lord Jesus Christ. God has given to
us eternal life. This life is in His Son. To be
dead in sins means we do not know God nor His Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ. All shall know Me, from the least
to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their
unrighteousness and their sins, and iniquities will I remember
no more. Everyone who is a child of God
knows God. And they live. They have life. And those who don't know Him
are dead in trespasses and sinning. To know God, to know the Lord
Jesus Christ means, therefore, that we are alive. We're saved. We're forgiven. We're delivered
from the wrath to come. We have eternal life. And Paul
called this an excellent knowledge, didn't he? Oh, the excellent knowledge of
Christ Jesus, my Lord. Why did He call knowing Christ
an excellent knowledge? Because it's life. To know Him
is life. Peter links these two things
together in that wonderful statement that Brother Glenn read to us
this morning. Knowing Christ and life. Remember what he said?
When the Lord Jesus turned to those disciples and He said,
Will you go away? And Peter said, Lord, to whom
shall we go? You have the words of eternal
life. You have life. And I know and
believe. No, I believe and know. I'm assured,
he said, that You're the Christ, the Son of the living God. There's
those two things. I know You. You've been revealed
to my heart. And he said, I have life. What is it to be dead in sins?
It means we don't know God. We don't know the Lord Jesus
Christ. To be dead in sins means we don't know the Holy Spirit,
who is one with God, who is one with Christ. Listen to what the
Master said. I'll pray the Father, and He'll
give you another Comforter that He may abide with you forever,
even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because
it sees him not, neither knows him. But you know him. You know the Holy Spirit. He
dwells with you and he shall be in you. I won't leave you
comfortless. I'll come to you." If a man doesn't
know the Holy Spirit, then he don't know God. He don't know
Christ. He don't know the truth. And
he's dead in trespasses and sins. I was down at the nursing home
the other night. And this one old lady, she's always at our
worship service. I think she's been there at every
worship service we've had. And I was standing there talking
to her. She's in a wheelchair. And I
got right down on her level. I got down on my knees in front
of her. And I looked at her right in the eye. And there we were staring at
each other. And I said, Do you know the Lord? Do you know the Lord? That's
the questioning. That's the question. Because
it determines everything. It's a matter of life and death.
Not what church you belong to. Not if you were ever baptized. Do you know the Lord? This is the only place that you can
determine whether you are dead or alive. Do you know the Lord? And she looked at me without
a moment's hesitation and without a blink of eye, and she said,
Yes, I know the Lord. I know Him. I hope she does.
If she does, she has life eternal. If she doesn't, then she is dead.
She's dead. This sort of puts us all on the
same level, doesn't it? It's not who I am or how much
I know. It's not all the education that
I have or my degrees or what I put in front of my name. Who do I know? Do I know the
Lord? All shall know me. And if you
do, brothers and sisters, you have life eternal. You have life
eternal. And if you don't, here's your
position, as I've talked to you this morning, you're dead. Whatever impressions, whatever
fears you may have, whatever you may have done in the religious
realm as reading and praying and giving of your tithes, you're
yet dead in trust, patience and faith. But let's go just a little
bit further. First of all then, what is it
to be dead? It means the opposite of life. And what is life to know God,
the triune God? But there's more. To be dead
means we don't know Him. To be dead means we don't know
His ways. We don't know the way of God. We don't know the way of God
in redeeming grace. We don't know the way of salvation
and the way of peace. One thing you'll notice about
a dead man is he can't see. I remember when I was a kid,
they still had to put some weights on their eyes. I don't know how
they keep their eyes closed now. You could ask your doctor. They
cut things. I don't know. Remember when you
used to put weights on their eyes? The coins? Did you ever look into a dead
person's eyes? I've been to bedside when people
died. Close their eyes. But you look
into their eyes after their soul has departed. There's no light
there. You can tell this darkness. They
can't see. There's no sense opening their
eyes. They can't see. The sight is gone. So close their
eyes. What did the Lord Jesus say?
about being in the kingdom of God. He said, except a man be
born again, he cannot see. He cannot see the kingdom of
God. He cannot see the things of God's
kingdom. Why? Because he's blind. Except a man be born again, except
a man be given life, he cannot see and understand the things
pertaining to the Kingdom of God. There is one familiar verse.
We use it so often in 1 Corinthians 2.14. The natural man receiveth
not the fangs of the Spirit of God, the foolishness unto him,
neither can he know them. He can't see them. Why? He's dead. He's dead. There are none that understandeth. And here's the most horrible
indictment against a lost person. Here's where he is. Listen to
this verse. The way of peace they have not
known. The way of peace? How does God
make peace? How has peace been made between
the fallen man and the Holy God? And the world is going searching
for peace. The world wants peace. They want
the wars to be stopped. The world is seeking after peace,
but it doesn't understand how to find peace with God. I want
peace in my conscience. I want peace with myself. I want
peace in my family. Look at our families. Oh, for
peace. But the world is not asking this.
How can I have peace with God? And they're not asking the essential
question of that because they don't understand. When you go
to the book of Isaiah, chapter 53, and you read verse 6, all
we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his
own way. Do you understand that? Do you say, I see that. I see
that in myself. I have gone my own way. It's
my way, not God's way. And you judge yourself accordingly.
You see that in yourself. And then the very next word,
God hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. And then the very
next word where he went on to say that God saw of the travail
of his soul. That he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
Do you look at that and you say, now I see. I see that. I didn't see it before, but now
I see Him. There's God's way of peace. God
put on him my iniquity. God punished him for my sins. Now I see it. Thank God I see
it. Is that what you say when you
read that chapter? Are you like that man who read
that chapter and said, I can't see this. I don't know who he's
talking about. Is he speaking about himself
or somebody else? Why can't the world understand
that Jesus Christ has made peace through the blood of His cross?
Why does the world keep seeking peace and don't know the way
of it? There's an answer, brothers and
sisters. The world is dead in trespasses and sins. The world
does not know God. The world does not know the way
of God and the ways of God. Why doesn't the world understand
the things concerning the Kingdom of God? Why is the church, for
all of these centuries, in every generation, preaching the gospel
of peace to this world? You would think by now the world
would know it. Wouldn't you? It's been almost
2,000 years. And we're still complaining with
a prophet. Lord, who's believed our report? The world don't understand
it. The church faces the world with
it every day and preaches the gospel of the grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And yet the world says, we don't
know. We're still seeking. Who knows? Who knows? What's
the world's problem, brothers and sisters? What's the problem
of this world? Well, we've got ourselves in
a financial mess. No, that's not our problem. Well,
we've got these wars that's been going on now for the last eight
years. That's our problem. No, that's not our problem. What's
the essential problem? What's the root of this world's
problem? Here it is. Here it is. The world is dead in trespasses
and sin. Now, that's it, isn't it? That's
it. You may get some psychiatrist in. You may get some good governors
and senators and a president that straightens some of these
things out that we're facing today. But when you straighten
those things out, we've still got this essential problem. And
here's what it is. We're dead in trespasses and
sin. By nature, that's where we're
at. And that's our problem. The Lord looked down from heaven
upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand
and seek God. They have all gone aside. They
have all together become filthy. There is none that doeth good.
And then he asked this question, Have all the workers of iniquity
no knowledge? Is there not a man that knows
God? And the ways of God know not
one. Turn over here with me just to
your right a couple of pages in Ephesians chapter 4. Look
at this. I think the apostle finally drives
this home of why men do not understand, why men do not know God and His
ways of peace and the ways of His gospel and the ways of His
grace. Look what he says in Ephesians
chapter 4 and verse 18. Look at these three things he
puts together. Having the understanding darkened. Being alienated from the life
of God. Look at this. Through the ignorance
that is in them because of the blindness of their heart. Now
look at that. A darkened understanding. than an ignorant mind. That's almost insulting. Go to
this world and say, here's your problem. You're dumb. You're
stupid. You don't have any sense. Your heart is hard. Well, what's the cause of it
all? Why is a man Stupid. Why don't he have any spiritual
sense? Why is his heart cold and hard? Alienated from the
life of God. He's dead. If he knew God, he
would understand God's way of peace. If he knew God, he'd understand
the things of God. But his heart's hard. His mind
is ignorant. His understanding is darkened. He's in this kingdom of darkness
and death. Thirdly, you and I have been
talking about some negative things. He doesn't know God. He doesn't
know the things of God, the ways of God, the gospel of God. These
are negative things. What he doesn't know? But here's something, and it's
a positive thing. What does it mean to be dead
in trespasses and sins? It means that there is hatred,
there is enmity, there is ill will in the heart of that individual
towards God. He has these impressions towards
God. But they're hostile. He has these
thoughts sometimes against God, in which he accuses God, and
he blames God. He don't like God. He don't like
the ways of God. I had a man come to my, a young
man, when my daughter was a senior in high school. He'd come to
my house to pick my daughter up for a date, and I never had
met him, so he came in. And he and I sat and talked for
a few minutes. And he professed to know the
Lord. He professed to be a Christian.
And after talking with him a few minutes, I had my doubts. So
I thought, well, I'll talk with him a little bit more in depth.
So I began to talk with him about what he knew about himself. Has
God taught you anything about yourself? Your sinful self? And he began to profess that
he had been a believer. Loved God. Almost all of his
life. Couldn't remember when he didn't
love God. I said, you've never had a time, either now or in
your past, in which you hated God. There was enmity in your
heart towards the living God. He said, no, no, no. He said, I've never felt that,
never had that thought. And I said, what if I could take
the Scriptures and convince you that you do actually hate God? And he said, that would scare
me to death. It would scare me to death to think that I had
the capacity, that I had it in my heart to actually hate God. But you know something, brothers
and sisters? That's what it means to be dead in sin. The carnal
mind is enmity against God. Men have this opinion of themselves
that they love God, and they always have. Or they have other things, and
they'll acknowledge it. I know that I have some things
that I love better. I know that I have some people
I love better than I do him, but I still love him. Oh, I don't
love him like I should, I know that, and I'm not perfect, nobody
is, but I still love him. And that's this high opinion
they have of themselves. But do they really love God? Listen to what the Lord Jesus
said. He said this is man's whole problem, that light is coming
to the world, and men love darkness rather than light because their
deeds are evil. And then he made this statement.
For everyone that doeth evil, he hates the light and he won't
come to the light lest his deeds should be reproved. If light comes, if he's told
about the light, he won't come to it. Because he begins to recognize,
if I do, what about my sin? It's going to be exposed. I'm
going to be convicted for it. Then what am I going to do? I'm
either going to have to acknowledge it and cast myself upon the Lord
to be saved from it, or I'm going to have to willingly turn and
go on in my sin. No, I hate the lie. I'm not coming
to it. I won't face it. The Lord Jesus said, The world
cannot hate you, but me it hates, because I testify of it, that
the works thereof are evil. Brothers and sisters, just press
it. Just press it. Press this issue. If this is
the judgment that God has pronounced upon men, that they are indeed
dead in sins and therefore His enemies, then press that issue. Ask the man this tomorrow when
you see him. Ask your neighbor this. Do you know that God has
passed judgment upon you? And he may say very flippantly,
has he really? Let me hear his opinion. Because
you see, the world thinks that God judges us to be good people.
Oh, sure, we're weak. Sure, we're sinners. But oh,
in God's eyes, we're such good sinners. Oh, we're such good
people. Just ask God. And we go wondering why such
bad things happen to us good people. But ask your neighbor
if he realizes God has pronounced judgment upon him. And when he
says, tell me about it. Then you tell him this, your heart is deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked. So wicked you can't even know
it. Your mind is enmity against God. It's hostile against God. There's
God's judgment of you. There's God's opinion of you.
And press that issue until That rebellion shows itself or he bows and owns it and says,
God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Save me from myself. Save me
from my enmity. Men try to hide their enmity
and their ill will towards God and their distaste for His ways. by pretending it's just a slight
indifference. Oh, I may not love God as I should,
but I like Him, and I love Him a little bit. And I know I don't
follow Him as I should, but He understands that. The Lord sent
out His servants after He had made this great supper, Deuteronomy
chapter 14, This certain man, this king,
had made a great supper. And at suppertime, he sent his
servants out to say, Come! Come now! I've killed my oxen
and my fatlings. I've set my table. Everything
is ready. Come to the supper! Remember
what they said? One of them said, Well, I would. But I bought a track of land. I bought a track of land and
I can't come." And he said, I pray you have me excused. Tell him that I really appreciate
what he's doing. And tell him that I'll take a
rain check. Tell him to please excuse me.
I can't thank him enough for what he's doing. Thank Him for
the invitation for me. I pray you have me excused. I've
just got this land I've got to go look at. He'll understand
that. He'll understand that. It has nothing to do with my
feelings towards Him. I appreciate what He's did. But
I've just got this pressing business. All right. All right. I'll tell
Him that and see if He understands. Sounds good to me, you know.
You've got pressing business. So you can't come to the supper.
That's all right. In my eyes, he may think differently. I'll tell him what you said.
He's more able to judge about these matters than I am. I'll
tell my Lord what you said. Then he goes and finds another.
The table is prepared. Come, for all things are ready.
Well, I would. I really would. And I thank you
for the invitation. And tell the Lord. I said, really
appreciate Him. But I just can't come. Oh, you
can't come either? No, I can't. Well, what's the
problem? I bought these yoke boxes. And I've got to go see
how they work. Well, I'll tell him what you
said. Be sure and tell him, though. Nothing personal. I really like
him. I've heard about him. And I bet
you the supper is something else. Okay, I'll tell him what you
said. Then he goes on and finds another one. He says, will you
come to the supper? Well, I would, but I can't. Oh, you can't? You can't come? Are you sick? Are you dying? Maybe he can come
down here if you can't come up there. Maybe he'll come down
here. If your case is that bad, you can lock up. Why can't you
come? I've married a wife. And she
has this appointment over there in the next town. And I tell
you what, we've got a reservation that we've already paid $100
on. And if I don't go over there, I'm going to lose it. So I can
lock up. I just can't come. And they thought
this was legitimate excuses. And they went back and told the
Lord that had made this great supper. And you know what he did? He
is angry. He is angry. He said, I tell
you this, not a one of them will ever taste of my supper. And
he said in another place, you bring them here because they
are my enemies. Ain't that what he said about
them? They're my enemies. But Lord, they had excuses. Yes,
but what was the root cause for their not coming? They were my enemies. They told
you and they fooled you because you're just the preacher, you
see. You don't have much sense. But I'm the Lord of glory. I'm
wise. I can discern. I know the hearts
of men. I know why they won't come. When they think of me sitting
at the table, they don't want to eat my food. They despise
my food. They don't have a taste for my
food. Do you know why men won't come
to Christ? I preached the message far back. They don't need Him.
But I'll go further than that. They won't come to Christ because
they hate Him. Now that's hard, isn't it? That's hard. But that's
man's position. He don't know God, he don't know
the ways of God, and he hates God. There's no spark of divinity
in man that just needs to be fanned. There's no root of goodness within
him that just needs to be watered. There's no shallow breath or
faint heartbeat from which he will recover. No, he's dead. There's no life in the root.
There's no breath in the lungs. There's no beat in the heart.
He's dead. He's lifeless. The grave has
already been dug for him, and the pit is waiting to swallow
up his soul. He's dead. and the only remedy, and he can't even affect it himself.
His only remedy is found outside himself. His only remedy for
his situation that he's found in, is in God. Man must have life, and it must be the life of God. Eternal life. You hath He quickened
who were dead in trespasses and sins. So much of the confusion
that you and I find around us today in religious circles is
due to this very thing. What is man's condition by nature? What is the only remedy for his
condition? And who is it that can affect
this remedy? The answer is God. The answer
is God. Martin Lloyd-Jones made this
statement. Listen to this. We must contemplate men in sin
until we are horrified, until we are alarmed, until we are
desperate about them. And out of this desperation we
pray for them until having realized the marvel of our own deliverance
from this terrible state, we are lost in a sense of wonder
and love and praise. What's wrong with the church
today? We look around us and we say something is wrong with
the church. The church has lost the urgency
of this message. The church has lost her burden
for the souls of men. The church does not spend secret
hours in prayer, pouring out their souls to God to be merciful
to the lost. We have lost this vision of what
men are and the state that they're in. That's our problem, brothers
and sisters. Oh, that we could come and contemplate
again this thought of man's condition, his horrible state, that he's
dead and trespasses unseen. Why aren't we rejoicing ourselves? Why don't we live our life rejoicing
in the Lord, caught up in praise and wonder, as Brother Jones
says, about all of this? Why is it? We've lost the sight
of it, haven't we? We walk among the dead, and we're almost dead ourselves. Paul wrote here to this little
band of believers, and he tells them this is what
they were. This was your condition. I want you to stop and think
of it, he says. I don't want you to read over this and go
on about your way. I want you to remember where
you were. Remember the dreadful condition
you were in. You were dead. And at that very
instant, when you were dead, laying there in spiritual death,
God came to you And He gave you life eternal. And you look back there in that
spiritual grave where you were, and now you look ahead and see
the blessings that He has in store for you and live in the
wonder of it all. Live in the wonder of it all.
Me? Me? that lay dead in the kingdom
of darkness, God's enemy? How well, Brother Fortner says
it. My God, your ways of grace to me have overwhelmed my heart. When I was full of enmity, all
grace was in your heart. Don't ever get over that, brothers
and sisters. And live in the glory and the praise of it. And
if you're here this morning and this is your condition, dead
in trespasses and sin. All I know for you to do is what
that poor man did there in the temple. Go right to Him that
can give you life and say, be merciful to me, O Savior. Plead
before Him. Become a beggar before Him. Only
He can remedy your condition. Then go to Him. Don't come to
me. Don't come to any other preacher,
or a priest, or a mourner's bench. Go right to Him. And plead your
case before Him. Let us pray.