If you turn back to Ephesians
chapter 2, verse 1, and you, and you'll notice Hathe Quickened
once again is in italics. That means when this was originally
written, That was not there. The translators were putting
it there to try to make it easier to understand. And you hath he
quickened is in verse five. That doesn't really do any damage
to the meaning, but let's take it without that. And you who were dead in trespasses
and sins. You were dead. The good news is that if God
has saved you, if Christ has done something for you, you're
not dead anymore, but you were dead. He didn't say you were
sick. He didn't say you need help or
needed assistance. He said, you were dead. He didn't say that you had committed
great sins. He said, you were dead in trespasses
and in sins. Now, what does Paul mean by that? You were dead. There's no understanding of the
gospel. There's no spiritual quickening apart from some understanding
of what Paul is saying when he said, you were dead in trespasses
and in sins. Now, what is death? Well, when
we think of physical death, we've all looked at people who have
died in the coffin, and we see that there is a complete absence
of life. That's what death is. It's an
absence of life. A dead man cannot perform the
functions of physical life. He can't breathe. There's no
blood. pumping in his veins. His heart
is not pumping. He can't exercise the senses
of what we would call life if he's dead. Show a dead man a
beautiful portrait. Does it mean anything to him? Play the most beautiful music
to him. He can't hear it. Yell in his
ear. There's no response. He's dead. Give him the sweetest fragrance
imaginable. And it means nothing to him. Caress him softly. Hit him as
hard as you can. It does nothing. He's dead. He cannot respond. Give him what
is better to eat than anything else. Put it in his mouth. He
doesn't taste. He is dead. There is an absence of desire. He's dead. There is an absence
of the power to do. He's dead. Now, I imagine all
of us have experienced the death of a loved one. We have no power
to bring them back, do we? They are dead. Now, when Paul says to the Ephesians,
and you who were dead, obviously he's not talking about physical
death. They were not dead physically. Turn with me for a moment to
Romans chapter five. I want you to see this passage
of scripture. Now, what I'm talking about is
essential to the preaching of the gospel. It's essential to
believing the gospel. There is no understanding of
the gospel apart from an understanding of this, a heart understanding.
What it says in Romans chapter five, verse 12. Wherefore, as
by one man, speaking of Adam, sin entered into the world and
death by sin. So death passed upon all men
for that all have sinned. Now, when Adam sinned, you and
I sinned. Well, how could that be? We were
in Adam. He was our representative. And
when he sinned, when he personally sinned, you and I personally
sinned. But I wasn't born. But you're
in Adam. Adam is the representative man
that God placed upon this planet. And in Adam, all have sinned,
and the reason behind death is sin. The only reason I'm gonna
die is because of sin. The only reason you're gonna
die is because of sin. And when Adam sinned, You and
I did too. Now, somebody says that's a hard
thing to swallow. Well, it may be, but it's what
the Bible teaches. And I have thought, well, how could I be
held responsible for a sin that I didn't personally commit? The
fact of the matter is you did personally commit this sin. You
did. When Adam sinned, you sinned. And let's forget Adam for just
a moment. Just wipe him out of the picture for just a moment.
Would it help you if you weren't an Adam? You've sinned just as
grievously, haven't you? You've sinned just as bad. What
if you didn't have any connection with Adam's sin? It wouldn't
help you any. But in Adam, you sinned. And death by sin. Now, turn with me to Genesis
chapter two. This is the first time death
is mentioned. Genesis chapter two, just the second chapter
in the Bible. Now remember, God had created Adam and placed him in the garden.
Verse 15, Genesis 2. And the Lord God took the man,
Adam, and put him in the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep
it. And the Lord God commanded the
man saying, of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely
eat. I mean, there were a lot of trees,
there was a lot of good food, a lot of good fruit, and he said,
it's all yours. But, verse 17, of the tree, of
the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, for
in the day, that very day, that very minute, that you eat thereof,
thou shalt surely die. Notice he didn't say, if you
eat of this tree. He didn't say that at all, did
he? He said in the day you do, you shall surely die. Now, could God have prevented
Adam from eating of that fruit? Well, of course he could. He's
God, if that was his will to do it. But it was not his will
to do it. This was all a part of God's
purpose, for Adam to eat of that fruit and die. You see, somebody
says, how can you say that? Well, Christ is called the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. If Adam didn't eat
that fruit, there would be no sin. If there was no sin, there
would be no work of Christ on Calvary's tree. And everything
God does is for the work of his son, the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. God purposed Adam to eat of that
fruit. Now, I realize some people object
to that. I can't help it. It's still so.
In the day, that's the language. In the day, you eat thereof,
you shall surely die. Now look in verse 25 of this
same chapter. This is before they ate of the
fruit. And they, Adam and Eve, were
both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. It was
not an issue. They didn't have any sinful thoughts.
They didn't have any desire, sinful desires. They had no shame. They were not ashamed. Now let's
read of when they did eat of the fruit. Verse one, chapter
three, verse one. Now the serpent was more subtle. been any beast of the field which
the Lord God had made. Now Satan comes in the body of
a serpent for this temptation. Now, did he, what did this serpent
look like? I don't know. It seems to me
that he didn't start crawling on the ground. As a matter of
fact, it doesn't seem to me. I know it is because the Lord said,
you're going to eat dust the rest of your life because of
this. On your belly, you're going to be. So evidently, he was some
other kind of creature that wasn't what we would think of as a snake
just yet. As a matter of fact, I'd say he's some kind of beautiful,
enticing animal. What kind, I don't know. But
the serpent was more subtle. than any beast of the field,
which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, yea,
hath God said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden. Now, he begins this temptation
by adding to what God said. God didn't say you're not to
eat of any of these trees. He said, there's only one tree.
that you can't eat of. That's the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil. Adam was given this one rule. One rule. You can have everything,
but this one piece of fruit. Now, I guarantee you, If I said
to you, you can have anything but this, what is it you're going
to want? You know it, you know it. And Adam didn't have a fallen
nature at this time. But yet you think God placed
him in the garden, only one command. And you would have done the same
thing he did. You would. You can't say, well,
I didn't do it. Yeah, you did. When he did it,
you did it, but let's go on reading. Yea, hath God said you shall
not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto
the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden.
No, God never said that. He only gave us one tree we couldn't
eat of. We may eat of all these different
trees of the garden, but verse three, of the fruit of the tree,
which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, you shall
not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. Now, God did say, don't eat it. But did you read anywhere where
he said, don't touch it? Now she was, adding to what God
said. You know, the fall has already
begun. She was adding to what God said. And I have no doubt
that this is where touch not, taste not, handle not religion
comes from. It's manmade, it's Satan inspired.
Don't touch, you'll be okay if you don't touch. Verse four. And the serpent said
unto the woman, you shall not surely die, God wasn't telling you the truth.
For God doth know that in the day you eat thereof, then your
eyes shall be opened and you shall be as God's. You'll be
like him. You'll be on the same footing
as him, knowing good and evil. God is seeking to prevent you
from being like him. Now that's what Satan is saying.
God is seeking to prevent you from being like him. He's holding
out on you. He knows that if you eat, your eyes will be opened
and you'll know good and evil. Now, what does he mean by that?
Your eyes will be opened and you'll know good and evil. Well, here's what he's saying
to Eve. Right now, all you know is good. You don't know good and evil.
All you know is good. God made you this way. He made
you with an innocent nature. You're a good person and all
you know is good, but really there's no moral virtue in you
being good because you're not making a choice to be good. You're
only obeying your nature. You're no more than a robot.
God made you good. and that's why you're being good.
You're not making a choice, but if you eat of this fruit, you'll
know good and evil, and you'll be able to choose the good over
the evil, and that's what'll make you like God. You'll have
a free will. and you'll exercise that will,
and you'll choose the good over the evil, and that'll make you
a better person. Right now, you're a robot. This'll make you free,
and you'll be choosing the good, and that is what will make you
like God. Sounded good. You know, it does
seem like it would be better to choose good over evil than
to just be good because that's your nature. It seems that made
sense to her. Verse six, and when the woman
saw that the tree was good for food, the lust of the flesh,
and it was pleasant to the eyes, the lust of the eyes, being concerned
about what men see, and a tree to be desired to make one wise,
the pride of life, thinking that she could be as wise as God,
thinking that she could be a peer of God. She took of the fruit
thereof and did eat. Did anything happen? Did anything happen? No. You see, when God said in the
day you eat thereof, Eve was not around yet. It was only Adam
in the day you eat thereof. The command was to Adam. When Eve ate the fruit, nothing
happened. Well, I thought I was supposed
to die when I ate that fruit. Not a thing has happened and
I'm sure she came to Adam, Adam, I didn't die, did I? I ate the
fruit, it's good, I didn't die. You eat the fruit. What this
is gonna do is make us just like God. We're gonna know good and
evil. We're going to choose the good
over the evil and thus become just like God. Adam ate and their eyes were open
just like Satan said. Verse six, and when the woman
saw that the truth was good for food, and that it was pleasant
to the eyes, and true to be desired to make one wise, she took of
the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband
with her, and he did eat, and when he ate, and the eyes of
them both were opened. They now knew good and evil. And what the scripture points
out is that they knew that they were naked. Now, were they naked
before they ate of the fruit? Yes. But it wasn't an issue to
them. You know why? They didn't have
sinful natures. But once they ate of the fruit,
they now have sinful natures. Now, knowing that they're both
were naked, what the point of that is, is it has something
to do with it. You think of sex being a beautiful
gift of God in the covenant of marriage. And they had sex before
the fall. And it was holy. It was a gift
of God. demonstrated the relationship
between Christ and his church. Beautiful. But look what man
does after his fallen nature with sex. He perverts it. He debauches it. The reason we
have these sinful sexual desires and perverted desires is because
of a fallen nature. They knew they were naked. Now, what does spiritual death
look like? Let's go on reading in verse
seven. And the eyes of them both were
opened and they knew they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves
together and made themselves aprons, things to cover their
shame. And they heard the voice of the
Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And I
love to think of the voice of God walking. That's the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is the word. And here he is
walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And Adam and his wife hid themselves
from the presence of the Lord amongst the trees of the garden.
And the Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him, where
art thou? Now he knew where he was, didn't
he? He's the Lord. He knows everything. He knew exactly where they were.
But he says, Adam, where are you? And he said, Adam said,
I heard thy voice in the garden. And I was afraid because I was
naked, and I hid myself. And he said, who told thee that
thou was naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree whereof
I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat it? And the man said,
the woman whom thou gavest to be with me. I'm a victim in this. If you wouldn't have given me
this woman, this would have never happened. I really should not
be held responsible. This is your fault. The woman
that you gave me, whereas if you wouldn't have given her to
me, this would have never happened. You could have prevented all
this, but the woman you gave me. She gave me of the fruit,
and I did eat. Now, let me point out several
things, and we can find out what spiritual death is, because remember,
God said in the day you eat thereof, that very day, you're gonna die. Now, obviously they didn't die
physically, but here's what spiritual death looks like. When you're
spiritually dead, remember, you can't perform the functions of
spiritual life. Now, you'll notice They wanted
to be away from God. They hid from his presence. There
was a time when they relished being in his presence. And now
they no longer want to be in his presence. They hide from
him. They no longer loved him. They
hid from him and they became spiritually stupid. He's omniscient. He knows everything. He's omnipresent. You can't go anywhere where He's
not. But they think they can hide from Him. And they thought
they could provide themselves a covering that would make Him
not see their shame. This represents salvation by
works, this fig leaf apron that they tried to make to cover themselves. They showed what a low view they
had of God by thinking that what they could do could please this
holy God. And you know something else you'll
notice? He never asked for mercy. He
never asked for forgiveness. That never even came into his
mind. And as a matter of fact, he blamed God. He would not take
responsibility for his sin. He would not take accountability
for his sin. It's God's fault, I'm a victim
in this. That's what spiritual death looks like. No love for
God, no relish of his presence, thinking that you can be saved
by your works, thinking that you can present something that
will keep God from seeing your sinfulness. Not understanding
his character and not taking personal accountability for your
sin. You're a victim. You've been
done wrong. It's not your fault. That is
what spiritual death looks like. Now, spiritual death includes
these two things. And you listen real carefully.
This is so important that you and I understand this. He said,
and you, talking to every believer, describing every man, but he's
speaking to every believer, you were dead in trespasses and sins. There's two things that are involved
in this thing of spiritual death. Number one, total depravity. And number two, total inability. Now, what is meant by total depravity? Does it mean that everybody is
out raping and murdering and robbing banks and killing people
and committing mass murders? Doesn't mean that at all. Now,
you certainly could do all those things. No question about it. There's no sin that you and I
would not commit unless restrained by the grace of God. You believe
that? It's so. It's so. But that's not really what total
depravity means. Total depravity means every aspect of your nature
is depraved. You may be a real good person.
You may be a real moral person. But the Bible still says there
is none righteous, no, not one. There's none that understands.
There's none that seeketh after God. They have all gone out of
the way. They have together become unprofitable. There's none that doeth good,
no, not one. What total depravity means is
that me and you are totally depraved. Totally sinful, there's not one
part of us that is not under the dominion of sin. That's why
the very notion of free will is so ridiculous. Your will is
controlled by your sinful nature. That's what total depravity means.
It means me and you are totally depraved. You may have certain
restraints that keep you from being what you would be, but
you and I are totally depraved. Now, it's one thing to see that
the Bible teaches this, and it does. I just quoted Romans 3,
verses 10 through 12. The carnal mind is enmity against
God, Romans 8, 7. It's not subject to the law of
God. That's what we are by nature. It's one thing to believe the
Bible teaches this. Yeah, I see it teaches it, and
it's an altogether other thing for you to believe in your heart
that you yourself are totally depraved. Do you believe that
about yourself? You know, I've been asking myself
that question. Do I really believe that about myself? Well, I believe
it as much as I can. I know it's what the word of
God teaches. I know that I'm bound to put me in a situation
where I can justify myself. I realize I'll do it, but I still
know the scripture teaches regarding this sinner that I myself am
totally depraved. There isn't one good thing about
me in God's sight, in God's sight. Nothing but sin. Total depravity
and secondly, total inability. You know what that means? That means I'm unable to perform
any aspect of spiritual life. I'm unable to. The Lord said
in John chapter six, verse 44, no man can come to me except
the Father which has sent me draw him. I lack the ability
to come to Christ. I lack the ability to believe. I lack the ability to repent. I lack the ability to see my
own need of Christ and to see my sinfulness and to see the
beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ. I can't see. No matter how clearly
the gospels preach to me, I can't see unless God gives me eyes
to see, and if he gives me light. I can't hear the gospel as gospel. Now, I can hear it and understand
what the fellow's saying. I realize that. I can hear it,
and I've got about as high as IQ's average as anybody else
has, and I can grasp some of the things, but I can't hear.
I can't hear the gospel as gospel. I can't hear the gospel as good
news. It's just doctrine. It's just
one man's opinion. I can't feel my need of Christ.
I can't feel my sin. I can't feel my deadness. I'm dead. I can't feel. I can't
smell. the sweet savior of Christ. I
can't taste that he is gracious. I am spiritually dead. I'm totally
depraved and totally unable. Now that's what this spiritual
death means. The natural man has no desire
for Christ, he's dead. He has no power to call upon
God, he's dead. He can have no fellowship with
the living, he's dead. Dead in trespasses and sins,
and you were dead. Now, if you don't believe this about
yourself, of course you're dead. You're just dead. And you won't believe it until
God gives you life. You're dead in trespasses and
sins. Now, I love the way Paul says
to them, you were dead. You were dead. The implication
is you're not now. you've been given life. Now, life has not began without
some apprehension of death. Let me show you this in the scripture.
Turn with me to Romans chapter seven. Romans chapter seven, beginning in verse five. For when we were in the flesh,
The motions, the passions of sin, which were by the law that
the law exposed did work in our members to bring forth fruit
unto death. Now, all I gotta do is give you
a law and you're gonna wanna break it. Somebody says, I'm
a law keeper. No, you're not. No, you're not.
If you're given a law, all it's going to do is excite your passions
to do it. Don't think about that. What
are you gonna think about? That is the law. The law stirs
up our sinful passions. Tell me I can't have something,
that's what I want. Tell me I can't do something,
that's what I wanna do. That's the strength of sin is
the law and it works up these passions. Don't covet that. What
are you gonna do? You're gonna covet it. You can't
stop it, that's exactly what you will do. Verse six, but now
we are delivered from the law that being dead wherein we were
held when we were under the law, all it did was condemn us, that
we should serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness
of the letter, the letter of the law. Thou shalt, thou shalt
not. What shall we say then? Is the
law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known
sin, but by the law, for I had not known lust, except the law
had said, thou shalt not covet. But sin, taking occasion by the
commandment, using the commandment as its base of operations, wrought
in me all manner of concupiscence, lust, sinful desire. For without
the law, sin was dead. For I was alive without the law
once. I thought I was a pretty good
person. But when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. to all hopes of ever being saved
by anything that I could do. And the commandment which was
ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking
occasion by the commandment, hiding in the law, deceived me,
and by it slew me. Wherefore the law is holy, the
commandment holy and just and good. Was then that which is
good made death unto me? Is the law the cause of my death,
God's commandments? God forbid, no. but sin that
it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is
good, that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. Now, if I ever understand what
God's law is actually saying, I'm gonna have to come up with
this conclusion. I am exceeding sinful. dead in trespasses and sins. There's no move I can make toward
God. I'm guilty, condemned and dead. Turn to John chapter five, verse 21. For as the father raises
up the dead, that's what he's talking about being quickened.
As the father raises up the dead and quickens them, gives them
life, even so the son quickens whom he will. For the father
judgeth no man, men have committed all judgment unto the son, that
all men should honor the son, even as they honor the father.
He that honoreth not the son honoreth not the father which
has sent him. Verily I say unto you, he that heareth my word,
and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life. He's
being given life. He shall not come into condemnation,
but he's passed from death to life. Verily, verily I say unto
you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear
the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. You were dead. And let me close
with these three points. You were dead. That's what the Bible teaches,
isn't it? You were dead. And if you have spiritual life,
you know it's so. You were dead. You didn't have any idea as to
what it meant to believe the gospel, to repent of your sins.
All you could see was law. All you could see was rules and
regulations that you couldn't keep. You were dead. But you were dead. And you're
not dead anymore. God has given you life. Now,
what does it take for a sinner to have life, a dead sinner,
spiritually dead. And you know, how much power
does a physically dead person have to give himself life? None. How much power does a spiritually
dead person have to give themselves spiritual life? None. None. You were dead. Now, what does
it take for a dead sinner to have life? Number one, it takes
the will of God. God has to will you to have life. It's not up to your free will. How ridiculous would it be for
me to look at a dead corpse and say, it's up to you. If you will,
you can have life. If you can take that first step,
God will take the rest. Well, yeah, if you could take
the first step, but you can't, you're dead. You're dead. It takes the will of God. God has to will you to live. It's gotta be His will. If anything's gonna be done about
your sins, it's according to the will of God. He's got to
will Christ to be your representative. If you're gonna have life from
the dead, He's got to say, live by invincible, irresistible grace. It takes the will of God. Now
here's the point I wanna make. What is the ultimate will of
God? Election. If you're elect, election is
God choosing who would be saved before time began. If you're
elect, it's because God willed your salvation before you were
ever born. He purposed your salvation. It takes the will of God. Now God doesn't will everybody's
salvation. If he willed everybody's salvation, everybody'd be saved.
If he willed everybody's salvation, he's a failure because there's
many people who he willed to be saved who are not saved. but
God willed the salvation of every one of his people in eternal
election. So first of all, to have eternal
life, God has to will you to have eternal life. Now, you know
what the implication of that is? You don't have any control on
this. It's up to God. It's not up to
you. It's up to God. as to whether or not you're gonna
have eternal life. Now, does that prevent somebody
from saying, Lord, have mercy on me? No, ask God to give you
life. But know this, you have no control
in this thing. Whether you have life, it's up
to Him. And here's the second thing that
is required, that is necessary. For me to have life, spiritual
life before God, Something has to be done about the cause of
my death. Something has to be done about
my sin. The wages of sin is death. For me to have life, Christ,
Jesus the Lord, is going to have to do something about my sin. There's nothing I can do about
it. There's nothing I can do to put it away. There's nothing
I can do to make it disappear. I can't sweep it under the carpet.
Christ Jesus himself must do something about what caused my
death, my sin. Now listen to this scripture.
He by himself. And do you hear those words?
Hebrews 1.3, he by himself. What that means is you didn't
have any hand in this. You didn't have anything to do
with it. He by himself purged our sins. He put them away. And now there is no reason for
my death. The only reason for death is
sin. And if I have no sin, there's no reason for my death. Now for
me to live, first God's going to have to will it. And then
Christ is going to have to do something about my sin. And that's
exactly what he did on Calvary's tree. When he said, it is finished,
my sin was put away. And the third thing that I'm
going to need to have this spiritual life, till I was dead, now alive,
is God the Holy Spirit is going to have to give me spiritual
life. It's called being born again. It's called being born from above. It's God the Holy Spirit actually
creating in me spiritual life. And when you have spiritual life,
listen to this, when you have spiritual life, I now can believe. I do believe. I'm in a continual
state of repentance. I'm always changing my mind and
taking sides with God against myself all the time. That's what
the confession of sin is. It's taking sides with God against
yourself. I now see my desperate need of
Christ. How I need him to elect me. How
I need Christ to die for me. How I need God the Holy Spirit
to give me this life. How I need to be preserved. I
see my need. And I can hear the gospel now.
It comes as good news to me. It comes as good news from a
far country to hear that salvation's not by my works. Salvation is
utterly and completely in the Lord Jesus Christ. God saves
for Christ's sake. Good news. It's good news that
Christ came into the world to save sinners. That comes as good...
I hear. I hear the gospel as gospel. Not just something I
agree with, but good news. You know, I feel where I don't feel my
need of Him the way I ought to feel it. I feel that. I feel
my need of Him. I feel my need of His great mercy.
I feel my need to being found in Christ so where all God sees
is Christ. I can smell the sweet savor of
the gospel. It smells good. It doesn't smell
like death. It smells like life. Life unto
life. all my spiritual senses I have
when I have life. And that comes from God, the
Holy Spirit, actually giving you life from the dead. Now, what's it take for a dead
sinner to have life? You were dead in trespasses,
it seems. Well, it takes the will of God.
It takes something being done about my sin, which is exactly
what the Lord Jesus Christ did. It takes God, the Holy Spirit,
giving me birthing me into the kingdom of heaven and giving
me spiritual life. You were dead, but you're not anymore. God's done something for you.
Now, if he hadn't done anything for you, you're still dead. Dead
in trespasses and sins. And What are you going to leave
me with? Ask the Lord to give you life. You know, everything He gives
you, you're going to ask Him for. He'll move you to ask Him
for it. Ask Him to give you life. My
heart's dead. Ask Him for a new heart. I don't have faith. Give me faith. I don't have repentance. Give me repentance. I don't have
Christ. Give me Christ. Have mercy on me. You shouldn't tell a dead man
to do something like that. Yeah, you should. Yeah, you should. The hour is coming and now is
when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they
that hear shall live. Now, as we're preparing to observe
the Lord's table, we are saying that we are sinners deserving
of death. And our only hope and a sufficient
hope is that Christ Jesus died. He was broken under the wrath
of God as a sin-bearing substitute, and his precious blood made it
to where every believer is without sin before God. And truly, we're
doing this in remembrance of him. Let's pass out the bread
and wine.