Our text is found in Ephesians chapter two. Ephesians chapter two. Our topic this morning is the quickening power of God. The quickening power of God. I've titled the message Hath Quickened. That's what it says in our text, the very first line, and you hath he quickened. Hath quickened. Our text tells us that God quickened his people in the fullness of time according to his own purpose, according to his own will, and all for his glory. And it's a controversial subject with some because most believe that they are made alive by something that they do. That's not true.

So this morning I have three questions for us. Who did the quickening? Who was and will be quickened and why did he quicken? And I've already answered the question, but the word quickening means to reanimate conjointly, reanimate conjointly. That means we are made alive. and one with Christ. We're made alive and we're one with Christ co-jointly. Isn't that amazing? A mystery to be, he don't just make us alive and make us new creatures, but we are one with the Lord Jesus Christ. We're joined together with him.

The Lord's quickening is towards those who are dead is what it says here. And this is the amazing power of our Lord that brings light out of darkness, that brings life out of death. He brings good out of evil. We're evil. And yet he brings, he changes the heart, gives us a new heart. He gives us, we're completely darkness, but yet he calls us his light to shine forth. And we are utterly sinful, yet we are made to be the righteousness of God in him. This is the beauty of quickening. This is the beauty of quickening.

This quickening is evidence, that's important. This quickening is evidence of our justification. Just as the Lord Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, the same power is required to resurrect our dead soul whenever the Lord speaks, live. It's the same power as we found in Ephesians 1. We'll actually look at that a little bit later. But quickening literally means we have been made alive in Christ, joined together with him. And what a mystery, what a mystery.

Ephesians chapter two verse one says, you hath he quickened who were dead and trespasses in his sins, wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation in time past in the lust of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others, but God. I love the introduction of the gospel. That's what that is right there. But God, here you are, here I am. Then all of a sudden he says, but God, who is rich in mercy for his great love, wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace you are saved, and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

So I have three questions that can be answered with this passage. First is who did the quickening? The second is who was or will be quickened? And lastly, why did he quicken? Why did he quicken?

So first is who did the quickening? Now some believe, as I've already said, that the reason that God quickened them was a decision that they made. But I would remind us that he just said when we were dead in trespasses and in sin. And so oftentimes men misconstrue that word dead. It doesn't mean partially dead. I'm going to say something might sound funny, but this was the best example I could come up with. They act like that. They're undead, like they're zombies or something that they can still make a choice. They're not quite alive, but they're not quite dead. Brethren, we were dead, dead, dead. Um, We were the valley of dry bones that Ezekiel saw, very dry, very dry. And unless the Lord quickens us, makes us alive, and unites us with Christ, or really that we're united with Christ, we won't become alive by anything we do, anything we do. How could a dead man choose something? How could a dead man pray? How could a dead man perform a work? When we say salvation's of the Lord, it's every aspect of salvation. It's from start to finish. He is the alpha and omega. He is the author and the finisher. He's not just a part of salvation. He is salvation.

The lie that's so spoken of by so-called Christians, which Christian, by the way, means a follower of Christ. And that word's been thrown around so loosely that we, I use the term believer, and that's becoming used quite a bit, so you can use the term elect, and very few people use that one. But they're all one and the same, truly, but people use those names as they have different meanings, because a follower of Christ is one that looks to Christ as all their wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. God's the one that did that. So most so-called Christians are not Christians. They believe that they did something in order to be quickened. They believe that they did something in order to make the blood of Christ effective. Like they activated it by a work that they did or a prayer that they prayed. And the sad part about that is, is these that do this are committing iniquity, they're committing trespass. And it's just, but it's the lie. It's the lie that started out in the garden. It's the lie from the very beginning that we have the power to choose, that we have the power to make what God did work for us. And it's just not true. It dethrones God. It's foolish because it dethrones God. It says that my will and my power is stronger than the will of God and the power of God. That's how scary and foolish that that kind of preaching is.

It's the Lord God who does the quickening. And he does it all by himself. Without my consent, without my permission, without my opinion, without me asking for it, he does it all by himself. And he didn't do that. I would never come to him. I would never believe on him. I would never be alive. He must be the one that says live.

When the Lord came to Lazarus's tomb, Lazarus was dead dead as well. He waited four days on purpose because the Jews were superstitious and they believed that in three days that somehow the soul could still reunite back with the body and could be reanimated again. And I don't know where they got that from. I didn't look into it that much. I just know that that was the case. Well, they waited four days on, he waited four days on purpose. And I love that because the Lord's the only one that can be four days late and right on time. I mean, me and you, four days late, we're in trouble, right? Not him. He can be four days late and he's right on time.

Martha meets him and says, Lord, if you'd have been here, our brother wouldn't have died. And he said, your brother will live again. She said, well, I know he'll live in the resurrection. Christ said, I am the resurrection, Martha. I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. They that believe on the Lord Jesus Christ have been given faith to believe. They have been reanimated already. He's already quickened them. If you find yourself believing, it's because you've been quickened. You've been given repentance and faith. And they all go hand in hand.

what happened? Did Lazarus make a decision? Did Lazarus take the first step and let Jesus take the rest like people say so foolishly? No, not at all. He said, Lazarus come forth. Well, why do you say Lazarus come forth? Because if he said, come forth, everybody in that graveyard would have popped up. I mean, that's the power of our God. Lazarus come forth and he came forth, and I find this interesting, bound both hand and and foot. Now, how did he come forth if he was bound? I have no idea, but I believe it because the Lord said it. Maybe he was hopping. I don't know, but I just know he came forth. Lord said, loose him and let him go.

He did this to prove that he is who he said he was. It wasn't just some, uh, one of their superstitions coming true, where he's being back alive, the Lord didn't have any power, he waited the four days on purpose. And the point of all of this that I'm saying, if the Lord doesn't say, live to me, if he doesn't say, Caleb, come forth, I'm gonna stay dead. Lazarus had no hope of becoming alive again, except for Jesus Christ saying, come forth. And that's the exact same spiritually speaking. And that's the whole point. That's the picture there. That's a spiritual picture of a physical, it's called an allegory. It's an allegory, and that's exactly how the Lord has to come to you and I, or we're never going to be made alive, ever.

So who does the quickening? God. All by himself, our God does the quickening, the Lord Jesus Christ in the fullness of time comes. And you ever notice in the scripture where it says, and it came to pass and it came to pass. And I've said this many times because I love it. I love that. Everything he's purpose, it just comes to pass. I love that. I can rest in our God because of that. But when it comes to pass, he says into the individual that he died for one of his elect live and he calls them by their name and they are alive. They find themselves alive in Jesus Christ at his appointed time, all according to his will, all according to his purpose, all based all because of his grace, his amazing grace.

John 1.12.13 says, but as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. I've heard people say, well, all you have to do is receive him. That's true, but what can a dead man receive? Nothing. I'm gonna have to be made alive first if I'm gonna receive anything, and receiving is not a choice. Receiving is passive. It's given freely of the Lord. We find ourself the recipient of it because it's given freely. Because he tells us next that they're born not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. That's the evidence there. God is sovereign and he will not share his glory with anyone or anything. He says that. He says, I am the Lord, that is my name. Therefore, I will not give my glory to anyone or unto idols. He won't. Especially with the likes of his creature that he made, he's not gonna give glory to his creature. That's what we are, is creatures. But men think themselves higher than they really are. We're just creatures of dust, brethren. And on top of that, we're sinful creatures of dust. So that we can't, there's no glory that we may glory in this flesh. It's all him that does the quickening. It's all him that makes us alive, all in his time according to his will. He's the infinite, omnipotent, only potentate, king of kings, lord of lords. He has the power. I don't have any power. He has all of it.

Notice, notice us. Look at verse one through three. Notice our depravity. And you hath he quickened who were dead and trespasses it in sins, wherein in times 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 conversation in time past in the lust of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others." We're born dead and trespasses and sins, spiritually speaking. But notice it says the filthy conversation there, the conversation that we had, fulfilling the desires of the flesh, we had our conversation time passed and the lust thereof. So that's filthy conversation. What does he mean by that? Is he talking about using wrong words? Is he talking about speaking vulgarly? What does he mean by that? How about these, what is the lust of the flesh? What does the flesh desire? The flesh desires power, popularity, and pleasure. He's saying here that we were liars on God. The way that we viewed God, we were wrong about completely. That we said God loves everybody. That we said God wants to do something, but he can't unless you let him. That is the filthy speech he's talking about here.

We don't talk like we used to talk, do we? If I was to ask you, What is your hope of eternal life? You would say that Christ died in my room instead and or I have no hope. Well, did you did you do something to make that effectual? No, he has to do that because he's God. You don't talk like we don't talk like we used to talk.

We've been taught of the Lord. And so here we are by nature, completely depraved. We're talking against God. We're thinking that he's something that he's not. We have a puppet God is what we have. That's not real, it's imaginary. And we're all idol factories from birth. We're really good at it. Most of the time we're our own idol. But when it comes to God, we make him like unto us. That way we can be the one that controls him. And that's not true. He's not like to us in any way, in any way.

We used to talk like everyone else talked about God and his salvation. We were just maniacs. That's what we were, maniacs. Just like the maniac of Gadara. We were dead. He was, the maniac wasn't dead, but he was out of his mind. That's exactly how we were. We weren't, didn't have the right mind, but how did they find the maniac after the Lord came to him?

Now this man had lived a long time in this condition and the Lord comes to him. And when they found him, they found him seated and clothed and in his right mind. Well, that's robed in the righteousness of Christ. The right mind is what we're talking about right now. It gives right speech. He was quickened. He was made alive. So our whole verbiage, our whole vocabulary changes about who God is and about his salvation.

He was seated because he was resting in the finished work of Christ alone. And that's what we do now. We rest, we don't work. That's the beauty of being Quicken. We no longer work as part of our salvation.

This is our only hope that our sovereign creator comes to one of his elect completely depraved sinner, don't even know they're in need of a savior. Did you know that you needed a savior before you Lord revealed himself to you? I mean, if we thought we needed to be saved, maybe I knew I was a sinner and I needed to be saved, but I didn't realize how bad it really was until the Lord gave repentance and faith. And once he gave that, I, I was just like, if you remember Isaiah, he was murmuring against the children of Israel. He's like, Lord, these people, their unclean lips, they do this and that, and they're speaking wrong, doing all these things. And he said, and then in the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high seated, high lifted up, and his train filled the temple. And he goes on down through there. And what Isaiah says is, behold, I am vile. I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell with the people of unclean lips. I didn't realize I was the problem, but because the Lord has made me alive unto him and revealed himself, I'm the problem. I'm not God. I don't have any power. I don't have any authority. He's God. That's what repentance gives. And faith causes us to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Verse four, 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, ye are saved. God does the quickening. At his appointed time, all because of grace. All because of grace.

Go back. I want you to look at his, if it's like mine, it's on the same page, but chapter one, verse 15. through 20. Just remember I said it takes the same power to resurrect. You and I, in our dead state, whenever he quickens us, that it did the Lord Jesus Christ when he was resurrected from the tomb, listen to this.

Verse 15, wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love and all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of him. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what is the riches of the glory of his inheritance of the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us who believe according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places.

That's it. He uses that same power to resurrect us. And that's where the quickening is right here. As of our understanding, being enlightened, that we may know what is the hope of his calling, the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us.

When the Lord quickens his people, that's exactly what he reveals. The hope of his call. What's the hope of his calling? That Christ Jesus died in my place. That Christ Jesus put away my sin. That's the hope of his calling. His appointed time by his own power and grace, and all according to his will, he quickens his people.

I look back over to Ephesians 2. He says, and you hath he quickened. So we've established who the he is, that's God. Who's the you? Well, we have to go back to the very first chapter. He talking to the church of Ephesus. So go to verse one and it says, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God to the saints, which are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. That's who he's talking to. That's who he's talking to.

And then he tells us they were, look at verse four. According as he had chosen us in him, in Christ, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. That is the who, that's the you. Every single elected child of God, the bride of Christ, the church, collectively the church, that's who's going to be quickened. That's who's going to be quickened.

Most inherently conclude that God loves everybody and that Jesus died for everybody. They inherently conclude that, because nobody knows how bad they are until the Lord gives them repentance. Once the Lord gives repentance, then it's totally different, because we see him as Isaiah saw him, high and lifted up. Most say that he's begging men to let him have his way. None of those are true. None of those are true.

Let me ask this question this morning. Why did Christ die? Why did Christ die? Well, somebody said to me one time, well, he made a way and all you have to do is accept the way. He made a door and all you have to do is go through it. I would remind us what our Lord said. He said, I am the door to the sheep fold. He said, I am the way, the truth and life. No man come to the father, but by me.

So why did Christ die? Why was his soul made an offering for sin? Why was his bloodshed? Why was the father satisfied if he didn't really accomplish something? Think about that. Because that's what they're saying when they say you have to do something in order for this salvation to be effectual for you.

I heard somebody say, make Jesus Lord of your life. You ever heard that one? He's already Lord of your life. He's already, well make Jesus Lord and Savior of your life. Well, he's the Savior of his people. Call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sin. This is a faithful saying worthy of all acceptation. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief.

So he saved his people. He is the Lord because he's God. So we don't make him anything by anything we do. He already is. We're just praying that he makes us alive. Lord, quicken me. Create in me a clean heart, oh God. Renew in me a right spirit, David said. That's the prayer.

If he died for everyone, brethren, everyone's gonna be quickened because the cross was a transaction. It was a transaction. I don't want to make it sound less than it is, but that's exactly what took place. It was a transaction where Christ was offered up as the substitute surety of his people, as the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world. He was offered up to the Father. His soul was made an offering for sin for a purpose. He did this on purpose.

The scripture says, and I quote this about every time I stand, I think, but it says, he, God hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. And the question to that is, is who is he talking about? He's talking to the same people, he's talking to the same people he was talking to Ephesus right here, the faithful in Christ Jesus. He made him to be sin who knew no sin that we might be made, we the church, we the elect, might be made the righteousness of God in him. This was where his purpose of dying, this is why he died. This is how we know who is going to be quickened, is because he died for his people.

I mentioned this one time and I got a letter about it because they were correcting me, but the Lord was talking in John chapter 17 and it says, Father, I pray not for the world, but for them with all that's given me. And I said that also applies to the elect. He wasn't praying for the world, even then. He was talking about his disciples there, and I knew that. But what I was saying was, as you read that entire chapter, there's exclusions in there. He's not praying for everybody. He's not praying for everyone, or everyone's going to be saved.

You know, the only reason Peter didn't utterly fall away is because the Lord prayed for Peter. Him and Judas did the exact same thing just without money. Peter didn't get no money out of it. He betrayed the Lord though. He denied him. Denial is a form of betrayal. So what kept Peter? Why wouldn't Judas kept? Well, Judas was born the son of perdition for the purpose of betraying the Lord. He was born that way. God birthed him for the glory of God and absolutely knew that he was going to be in eternity for hell for eternity. He knew that he's God. He purposes all things. He doesn't make mistakes.

Peter, on the other hand, he had predestinated him to be conformed to the image of Christ. He prays for him in the garden. He's not praying, uh, that Peter stands firm, he prays for his faith not to fail. And the only way our faith doesn't fail is if it's real faith given from God, not our faith, his faith bestowed. Once we're quickened and he gives that faith, that faith cannot fail because of who it comes from. We're the recipients and it comes from the Lord Jesus Christ, it's his faith bestowed.

Well, he told Peter, Peter said, I'll go with you all the way, I'll die with you. And he said, get behind me, Satan. For Satan hath desired as if thee as we, he called Peter, that's what he said to Peter. But he said, fear not, Peter, I have prayed for you that your faith fail not. And did Peter's faith fail? No. Did he have a moment of unbelief and fear? Absolutely. But you ask him right then who Jesus Christ was, he would have told you. He would've told you. He would've had to. Lord's not gonna let us deny him if we're his. Ain't that glorious? He keeps us by his power. He keeps us by his power.

Question I was asking is why did Christ die? Well, it was a transaction. God took our sin, laid the iniquity of everyone he was dying for and his precious son, and he put them away by the sacrifice of himself. They're gone. He said, I'm gonna cast them as far as east is from the west, never to remember them again.

Psalm 100 verse three says, know ye that the Lord he is God. And I love that it starts like that. Know ye that the Lord he is God. It is he that hath made us and not we ourselves. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. He's the one that does the quickening. His sheep, his people, his elect are the ones that he quickens at his appointed time according to his goodwill and pleasure. The ones that he died for, he makes them alive unto him by saying, live. He sends his spirit by the preaching of the gospel. And this is what the scripture tells us that Romans chapter one, verse 16, Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God and the salvation to everyone that believe it through the Jew first and also to the Greek.

So the gospel goes forth. The Lord is pleased to send his spirit and power and he blows upon a dead sinner and they become alive unto the Lord. Realizing they're in him and then realizing we've always been in him, we just didn't know it. Which brings us to our final question. Why does he quicken? Why does he quicken? Does he quicken because something I did or didn't do? Does he quicken because I'm better than you or you're better than me? No, because then he'd be a respecter of person.

When the Lord saw the sin of his people upon Jesus Christ, he said, awake, O sword. That sword was the sword of justice. Smite the shepherd. It's what the scripture says. If he spared not his own son, freely deliver him up for us all, the verse says, how shall he not also give us all things freely with him? But if he didn't spare his son, how is he going to spare you and I? And what could we do to get anything from him but wrath and judgment and eternal death? There's nothing we could do.

It's because he chooses to quicken for His own glory, for His own honor, for His own purpose, by His will, by His power, and all by His grace. Why does He do it? Why would He suffer and bleed and die? Why would He endure the full wrath of God, the fury? Why would He deserve the, why would He endure the, everything that the law demanded was poured out upon the Lord on the cross. Why would He endure the eternal wrath of God in the room instead of His elect?

Well, look at verse four. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace ye are saved, and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That fourth verse says, but God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us. Why does he quicken his people? Love. It's all because of grace. God loves his elect. God loves his bride. He loves every single person that Jesus Christ died for on the cross of Calvary.

Somebody said, well, I thought he loves everybody. No, he doesn't love everybody. He loves his elect. He loves his people. He loves those whom he chose to predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son. Somebody said, well, I don't really like that. Well, hath not the potter power over the clay to make one lump of honor and another dishonor? Who are we to say anything against the creator, the potter? He's the potter, we're the clay. And it's interesting because we really are creatures of dust. So it's amazing how that analogy is perfect.

Why does he quicken? Because of his great love, his great mercy, and his great grace. His great grace given to his people before the world ever began. Before the world ever began. But now is manifesting to us by his quickening power. This is all according to his own purpose. his own will, to his own power. Understand something. My purpose doesn't matter. My will doesn't matter because it's bound to my nature and my power can't help me. He has all those that can. And unless he does the quickening, I will not be made alive by anything that I can do.

Now, here's another good news. You can't stop him from quickening you. If you're his, he's going to do it. And so I can't mess that up. I can't do something. And then, well, now I can't be, now I'm not gonna be made alive because I did this and I did this. No, if you're in Christ, you've always been in Christ. And at the point in time, the Lord quickens his people. And I'm gonna say whether you like it or not, but the Lord's people love it. Those that don't know him yet might not like it, but as soon as they know him, they'll love it. It's just how it is.

Only the Lord can take a dead dog sinner that hates God and then turn them into a son who loves their father, loves their father, gives us his love, don't he? And to that, I would say to God be all the glory, both now and ever. Amen.

Let's pray. Father, we are thankful for your quickening power Bless us to our understanding for your glory and cause us to believe in Christ's name. Amen.

Let's take a break.