Now, for this morning's message,
we'll bring a message today. The title is going to be found
in verse 4. God is rich in mercy. Now, just think about that for
a moment. He's rich in all things. Rich in holiness. Rich in love.
He's rich in salvation. He's rich in mercy. When Moses asked the Lord, Lord,
show me your glory. This is after all the plagues. This is after the parting of
the Red Sea. And Moses asked the Lord to show
him his glory. And the Lord didn't say, well
Moses, what have you seen? Do you know what he said? This is what the Lord said. He
said, I will have mercy. on whom I will have mercy." Lord,
show me your glory, I will have mercy. My greatest need, mercy,
is His great glory. No wonder He is rich, He is rich
in mercy. Do you need mercy? That is God
not giving you what you do deserve? I don't want what's coming to
me. The wages of sin is death. But I tell you what, by His grace,
I'm going to take my place before His sovereign throne as a mercy
beggar. How about you? You a beggar? You too big for that? I tell you what, you too big
for that, you too big for salvation. If you too big to be a beggar,
You have no need of Christ. For He saves beggars. He lifts
the beggars from the dunghill. And you know what He makes them?
He makes them princes. Unto God's glory. God who is
rich in mercy for His great love wherewith He loved us even when
we were most ugly. Dead. That's a pretty powerful
word, isn't it? Dead. Dead. He loved us when we were dead
in sins. Dead. Dead and smelly. Dead and rotten. Dead and, this
is graveyard dead. Spiritually speaking. That's
all of us by nature. Dead. in sins, dead in sin. Now that nursery is available,
Chris, if you want to take her to the nursery. We've got it
set up so you can take your little one and you can hear the sermon
there in the nursery. And we're thankful the Lord's
provided this for us. Glad to have the young mothers
with us. We want to make them welcome in every way. And our
children, And I pray the Lord will fill that nursery, maybe
so much so that we have to build another nursery. One for infants
and one for two and three year olds. And may God be pleased
to bless our young people. I'm so thankful the Lord is continuing
to show mercy to these young ones that are here today. Now
as you read Ephesians chapter 2, two things will be most evident
as we look at this portion of God's Word. Two things will be
most evident. And you who are familiar with
the Word of God, as we read this passage, two things were most
evident unto you. One, who we are. Two, who God is. Who we are, dead in sin. Who He is, rich in mercy. God, who is God. what He has
done for us, quickened us. You know what that word quicken
means? It's kind of an old English word. You remember in Hebrews
4 verse 12, talking about the Word of God, it said the Word
of God is quick and powerful. Well, it's the same word here,
quick. It means living. Living. You hath He made alive
who were dead in sin, dead in sin. So two things will be most
evident as we look at this portion of God's Word this morning. And
I pray the Lord will bless us together. We'll see the exceeding
sinfulness of our sin, and then we'll see the exceeding richness
of His mercy, exceeding richness of His grace. Now look at verse
1. Here's a vivid description of
our state by nature. This is all of us by nature,
this includes you, this includes your family, your children, your
small children, your newborns, all children, all people, all
races, all ages, dead in sin. Dead in sin. Dead in sin. That's us. Dead in sin. Notice the phrase, you hath he
quickened, is repeated over in verse 5. But here is our state
by nature, dead in sin. Dead in sin. This is what we
were before God, by His sovereign intervention, made us alive. Dead in sin. Physically alive,
oh yes. Physically alive in the flesh,
but that which is born of the flesh, that's all it is, is flesh.
But spiritually dead in our sins. That is, in Adam, the scripture
teaches in Adam, Romans 5, 12, in Adam all died. Dead and separated
from God. Alienated from God, says in Isaiah
59. That your iniquities have separated
between you and your God. That's what happened when Adam,
as a representative man, when he lived, we lived in him. When
he sinned against God, we sinned against God. that was passed
down to all following generations. The old timers called that original
sin. Has been imputed and reckoned
unto all Adam's race. Therefore, when we're born naturally
into this world, we have no spiritual life. That is, we're dead and
without God. Dead and without spiritual life.
Dead and without God. Dead and without Christ. Look
at verse 12. That at that time, he said, you are without Christ.
Being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the
covenants of promise, having no hope without God in this world. Now that's us by nature. Dead. Dead and rotten. Dead and smelly. Dead in sin, therefore guilty
before God. Guilty before God. Having sin
reckoned unto us, having sin rightfully charged unto us, imputed
and reckoned unto us, being born in sin in Adam, all stand guilty
before God. Guilty as charged. Dead and guilty. Completely unable
to produce anything good. The only thing that a sinner
can produce, what can he produce? Sin. That's all he can produce. Sin. For all of our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. There is none righteous, no,
not one. There is none that doeth good. No, not one. in my flesh dwelleth no good
thing." The only thing sin produces, and this sinful flesh, this sinful
nature, is one thing. Sin. Sin. After the fall, God
said concerning the fallen, guilty human race, God saw that the
wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination
of his heart was only evil Continually. All the time. This is the reason
of the spiritual deadness in sin and Adam's fall. When he
sinned, we fell in him. We sinned. We're sinners by representation. We're sinners by imputation.
We're all sinners. Not only by original sin, but
let me ask you this. Say, well, I don't like that
business of representation. I don't like that business of
Adam's sin being charged to me. Well, let me ask you this. How have you done on your own? Now, let's fess up. We've all
sinned. We have all sinned against God,
and we've come short of the glory of God. We've sinned. This corrupt
state of sin and guilt And moral perverseness, spiritual deadness
is passed on from one generation to another. We're born in sin.
We have a depraved heart. We have a totally depraved heart. Jeremiah describes the heart
as deceitful above all things. Desperately wicked. And I mean by that the heart,
I mean the understanding, I mean the will, I mean the affection
and the mind. All these are involved in the
heart. The heart is deceitful. Desperately wicked. Our understanding
is darkened by Ephesians chapter 4. Our understanding is darkened. Until God turns the light switch
on, God must command the light to shine in our heart. Look at
verse 18, Ephesians 4, having the understanding darkened, being
alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is
in them because of the blindness of the heart. Understanding darkened. The natural man, the carnal mind,
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, they are foolishest
unto him. So our understanding by nature,
when we talk about being dead in sin, what does it mean? It
means the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked, which
involves the understanding being darkened. Secondly, our will
is perverted in rebellion against God. It says in Romans 8, 7,
the carnal mind is enmity against God. Now, the word enmity means,
I guess it means God's our enemy. Deep-seated hatred. That's what
the word means. So our will is perverted in rebellion
against God. Our understanding is darkened.
See, this is what it means when he says we're dead in sin. Our
mind, that is our thinking, is corrupt. You know why our mind
thinks left to ourselves? We think low thoughts of God,
and we think high thoughts of self. We all think too much of
ourselves. And by nature left to ourselves,
we've whittled down a puny God. As Pastor Mahan used to say,
a peanut God. A God who wants to and can. A
God who's frustrated by the sinner. You see, our mind is corrupted. Corrupted. Our understanding, our will,
our affection, our mind. Total depravity. Now, some people
deny this. Some very moral, strict religious
people even deny this fact. Plainly taught in the Scripture.
When he says we're dead in sin, what does that mean? Does that
mean partially dead? That means we're going to be
dead? It don't mean we're dead. Have
no spiritual senses to smell, to taste, to look, to feel dead. Now, if you deny this truth, you've called God a liar. That's
what you've done. You're sitting there today saying,
well, he's talking about some other guy. He's not talking about
me. No, I'm talking about you. To deny this truth is to call
God Almighty a liar. If you believe that it's so,
if you can identify with what God says in His Word when He
describes the fallen, guilty flesh that we inhabit, it's only
because God has been pleased to teach you the truth of what
we are by nature. We say with the Apostle Paul,
O wretched man that I am, if you believe that you're a sinner,
Let's shuck right down to the cause now. If you really believe
you're a sinner, I'm not talking about the watermelon you stole.
I'm not talking about the taxes you cheated on. I'm not talking
about the tests you cheated on. I'm talking about what you are,
not what you do, what you are before God. If you believe this,
it's because He has taught you what you are, not what you do,
not what you've done. What you are before God, S-I-N. Dead in sin, dead in trespasses. What does that mean? That means
you violated the law of God. That means you're a trespasser.
You men who go hunting, come on a piece of property, and there's
a sign there that says, no trespassing. You go on to that property, you're
guilty. You've violated that sign. My
friend, God holds the standard of righteousness as absolute. Love God with all your heart,
mind, soul, and strength. We've trespassed that law of
God. Dead-end sin. Trespasses. We're guilty. Guilty. Guilty. I'm going to pull us way down
here. But I'm not going to preach this as low as we are. I can't
do it. Language. Language. I don't have
that kind of language. But he describes us in verse
2, wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this
dead nature. Away from God. Ungodly. Where in time past you walked.
That was the course of our life. According to the course of this
world. This ungodly, unbelieving, God-hating world. We walked that
way. One time. According to the prince
of the power of the air. The spirit that now worketh,
worketh, worketh, worketh in the children of disobedience. In time past. description of
what we were and how we lived before we met the true and living
God in the gospel, in time's path. Notice this says here,
walking, wherein you walked. Walking denotes the continuous
practice or tenor of life. Sin and evil are the path and
direction in which all unbelievers walk. This path is a dark path. It's a broad road that leads
to destruction. Yet this is a path every unbeliever
chooses and approves of and delights in. Sin was our daily employment
and delight, pleasure and occupation. You remember what the Apostle
Paul said back here? Don't turn, let me just read
it to you. Titus chapter 3, we ourselves also were sometimes
foolish, Disobedient, deceived, serving lust, pleasure, living
in malice, envy, hateful, hating one another. What a gruesome
description. And yet he's talking about us.
He's talking about himself. We walked according to the course,
it says, verse 2, according to the course or path of this ungodly,
unbelieving world. All we like sheep have gone astray. The lust of the flesh, the lust
of the eyes, and a pride of life, John describes this old, rotten
nature. You see what he says there? Where
in time past he walked according to the course of this world,
this ungodly, unbelieving world. And then he says, according to
the prince of the power of the air. Paul says in Galatians,
or rather, 2 Corinthians, he calls Satan the god of this world.
Not that he has any power or control, but he is the God of
this unbelieving world. He is the Prince of Darkness.
He does have a host of demons that conduct his business, but
they do so under the sovereign power of God. He does have power
to blind men's understanding, to fill their hearts with evil,
and does inspire them to great religious sin. Remember our Lord said of those
most self-righteous Pharisees, you are of your father, the devil. It is the Spirit that works right
now in the children of disobedience. See the last line in verse 2? Rebellion against God. Children
of disobedience. Now notice verse 3, among whom
we all, We all had our conversation. That word there, conversation,
means conduct. In time past, our conduct was
nothing but rebellion against God, unbelief. This is a condition
in walk and life before we knew the gospel, before we believed
the gospel. And notice, Paul includes himself.
We know his story, don't we? Saul of Tarsus. Saul of Tarsus. He said in his own testimony
recorded in 1 Timothy chapter 1, a blasphemer, a persecutor,
one who caused injury and brought and hastened death. He hated
God. Hated the gospel until he met
the Lord who broke him, who made him a new creature, who turned
on the light. Notice it says in verse 3, in the lust of the
flesh, Following the wicked impulses are depraved nature. These are
the inward motions of inherent total depravity. Depraved nature
that dwells unrestrained, the lust of the flesh. And then it
says, we fulfill the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
or fulfilling wicked desires for our sinful nature. Lust of
the flesh, desires of the flesh and of the mind. Desire here
is the will and thought of our evil mind. We sin because we
will to sin. We walk in darkness because we
love darkness, not light. This is graphic, isn't it? What
we are, what we were, and what God has made us by His grace.
Notice, read on, verse 3, "...and were by nature." were by nature
the children of wrath, even as others, by nature, by birth,
by practice, deserving God's holy wrath, just as deserving
as a reprobate. The wages of sin is death. That's what we deserve. But to
the elect of God, He has not appointed us to wrath. but to
obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, for he has
delivered us from the wrath to come. Let's see if we can find
that. Find over here 1 Thessalonians,
1 Thessalonians, chapter 5. By nature, we're deserving of
wrath even as others, but God has made us to differ. We're
deserving of wrath. We're deserving of judgment.
1 Thessalonians 5 verse 9, for God hath not appointed us to
wrath, now here he's talking about the elect, the believer,
but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. We're deserving
of wrath, for He delivered us from the
wrath to come. He has delivered us from the
wrath to come. The apostle writes this in Romans
5, much more than being now justified, By His blood we shall be saved
from wrath through Him." You see, He came to deliver us from
the wrath to come. Find Galatians chapter 1. He
delivered us from the wrath to come. Galatians It says here in Galatians 1 verse
4, "...who gave Himself for our sin, that He might deliver us
from this present evil world, according to the will of God
our Father, to whom be glory forever and ever." Amen. Amen. Christ came to deliver
us. It says in Galatians 3 verse
13, "...He redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made
a curse for us." We were by nature. Children of
wrath, even as others. But who made us to differ? Who
made us to differ? Look at verse 4 now. And here's
the good news. Now, if you've never heard the
bad news, and don't understand the bad news, the way you just
see it is death. But the gift of God is eternal
life through Jesus Christ our Lord. If you understand nothing
of sin, you'll have no great appreciation for salvation. If you understand nothing of
ruin, you'll have no need to seek righteousness in Christ
Jesus. But if God has taught you that
first, that primary lesson, what we are, sin, what we're deserving,
the wrath of God. If He's taught you that, He will
also teach you this, salvation in Christ Jesus. All who have
heard and learned of the Father, they come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice verse 4, 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,
and it is all by grace that you are saved. Justified. Glorious intervention of God.
The only reason for grace. Can you think of a reason for
grace? You say, well, you know, I'm not quite as bad as that
other guy. Oh, that's a sorry reason. That's no reason at all. The only reason for grace is
grace. The only reason for mercy is
because God is pleased to show mercy. Of His fullness have we
all received grace for grace. Hear God's glorious intervention. But God, but God, who made you
a lover of the Lord Jesus Christ? Say, well, I figured it out.
No, you didn't. He's hid these things from the wise and prudent
and revealed Himself unto His babes. It takes God to reveal
God. You just figure it out. If you're
a lover of the Gospels because God taught you the truth by the
Spirit of God through the preaching of the Gospel, here's a glorious
intervention. And if God does not intervene
on our behalf and stop us on our mad rush to hell, we'll die
in our rebellion. But God! who is rich in mercy. Had He not stopped me on my mad
rush to hell, I would have no interest in the Lord Jesus Christ
and His gospel. Glorious intervention. The only
reason for salvation is the Lord's purpose and grace and His rich
mercy in Christ Jesus. For it's God who saved us and
called us with a holy calling, not according to our work, but
according to God's own purpose and grace that was given us in
Christ Jesus before the world began. But God. But God. I am what I am by the grace of
God. All that I have, He taught me.
All that I have, He gave me. All that I ever will be is by
His sovereign grace. But God. Who made you to differ
from another? Paul asked that question. Who
made you to differ from another? What do you have that you didn't
receive as the free gift of God? God is rich in mercy. God is
rich in mercy. He is merciful. He delights to
show mercy to sinners. Not by works of righteousness,
which we have done, we read a moment ago, but according to His mercy,
He saved us. He's rich in mercy. His mercy
is sovereign mercy. For He said in Romans 9, I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then it's not of Him that
willeth, nor of Him that runneth, but it's God that shows mercy.
You reckon His mercy will ever run out? You reckon the storehouse
of mercy will ever, the shelves of the storehouse of mercy will
ever be barren and empty? Oh no! His storehouse remains
full. He has shown mercy to thousands
and thousands of guilty sinners. Yet His mercy and His storehouse
of mercy remains full. You can't exhaust the mercy of
God. His mercy is plenteous. His mercy
is free and infinite in Christ Jesus. Lamentation, it says in
the book of Lamentations, Jeremiah weeps over the ruin of Jerusalem. He said, it is of the Lord's
mercies that we are not consumed. The Lord Jesus is rich in all
aspects of His person, and in the fruit of His glorious redeeming
work, He is rich unto all that call upon Him. Turn back to Romans
10 a minute. He's rich in mercy. Now let me
ask you this. Let me just give you this homely
illustration. If you were very impoverished, speaking naturally,
and were in debt so much so that you were ready to declare bankruptcy,
and you had a very rich, generous uncle, Father, Grandfather, and
you were in need of great mercy, and you found out that He delights
to give money to His family? What would you do? What would
you do? I just don't think I'll call
Uncle John. Oh, if you were in need, you
would. He's rich. Call Him! My friend, the Lord
Jesus Christ is rich in mercy. Call on Him. Look what it says
in Romans 10. Verse 11, for the Scripture says,
Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed, for there is
no difference between Jew and Greek, for all sinners. For the
same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him. He's
rich. Why don't you call? For whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Well, I'm
going to call. He's a light to show mercy. He's
rich in mercy. I'm impoverished as a spiritual
beggar. I'm going to call on Him. God
have mercy on me, the sinner. You remember the publican? You
remember the Pharisee? The Pharisee bragged on himself
and was condemned. The publican condemned himself.
And God said he went down to his house justified. Do you know
what he cried out? Lord have mercy on me, the sinner. He's rich in mercy. He's rich
unto all that call upon Him. My friend, why don't you call?
Call upon Him! Have you ever asked God to save
you by His grace? Have you ever asked God to, Lord,
for Christ's sake, have pity on this poor sinner? Call upon
Him! Sinners can truly appeal to the
Lord's mercy. And didn't David do that in Psalm
51? Have mercy upon me, O God, according
to your lovingkindness, according to the multitude of thy tender
mercy. Have pity on me. God is rich in mercy. Now look
at the second part of verse 4. For His great love we're with.
He loved us. Oh, He loved us. He loved us. Look back at Romans
again. The fifth chapter. He loved us when we were dead. When we were
dead. Romans 5. For when, verse 6,
we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for
the ungodly. For whom did He die? for the ungodly. Can you take
your place there? Can you identify with that word
ungodly? For scarcely for a righteous
man will one die, yet for a good man some might even dare to die.
But God, look at Romans 5 verse 8, but God who is rich in mercy,
but God commendeth His love toward us in that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than being now justified
by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. He commends His love towards
His own. God is rich in mercy. God is
rich in love. His love is an everlasting love.
It's an electing love, a sacrificial love, a saving love, a sovereign
love, a never-ending love. I like this love of God. Nothing can separate us from
the love of God in Christ Jesus. Ephesians chapter 2, look at
verse 5. Even when we were dead in sin, we were dead in sin. Now, I've tried to describe that
as best I can. God will have to teach it to
you. God will have to reveal it to you. But look what He says
here. And here's... You know who He
quickens? Who needs life? Well, who needs
life? If you're alive, you don't need
life. You know who needs life? You know who needs salvation?
dead sinners. That's what he says. Even when
we were dead in sin, He quickened us together with Christ." That
word, quicken, made alive, made alive. His sovereign love reached
down to us when we were in a vilest condition. Our sin and our total
depravity were no hindrance to His grace, no hindrance to His
love, no hindrance to His mercy, for He came to save. Who did
He come to save? Sinners. Sinners. Those who are
well don't need a doctor, but those who are sick. Some of you
may have listened to the radio message this morning about the
wise physician. The doctor who has never lost
a patient. He didn't come to call the righteous,
but sinners. Sinners to repentance. The Lord by His mighty power
has raised these sinners. from the grave of spiritual death
and made us one with Christ Jesus. That's what happens when God
saves us, when He regenerates us, when He makes us a new creature
in Christ. He gives us life in Christ. Now,
how do I... let me ask you this question.
Well, preacher, you say, raised from the dead, made alive in
Christ Jesus, now we have spiritual life. How do I know that? How
can I know that? Is it some gooey feeling? Some
emotional thing? Love. Do you love Him? Do you love Him? By nature, we
love darkness. If you love the Lord Jesus Christ,
and I'm talking about the Lord Jesus Christ, if you love Him,
it's because God has given you life in Christ Jesus. It's just that simple. Quickened together with Christ. Now, one time you had no interest
in the Lord Jesus Christ. You had no interest in His person.
No need of His redeeming work. Now you see Him as altogether
lovely. Now He's all of your life. What
happened? Quickened. Quickened. Who were dead. Dead. This is
something God does by His sovereign Holy Spirit. Not something the
church pronounces. It's not something you receive
in the waters of baptism. This is the work of God in the
heart of a sinner. Making us new creatures in Christ
Jesus. And it's all, notice the word
there, you have be quickened together with Christ Jesus. We're
one with Him. Parentheses, an explanation,
grace. Grace are you saved. Grace alone,
the unmerited, sovereign favor of God. Grace alone. Christ alone. Faith alone. It's by the grace
of God that we love Him. It's by the grace of God that
we call upon Him. It's by the grace of God that
we are quickened together with Him. By grace are you saved. Notice verse 8, through faith
and that not of yourself, It's the gift of God. Faith is the
gift of God. Faith is the fruit of life. Faith is the evidence of loving. Faith is the evidence of life. Those who are born of God believe
the gospel and they love the Lord Jesus Christ. Whosoever
believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God quickened together
with Him. Notice, read on, verse 6, "...and
has raised us up together." Now notice these words, together.
We've quickened together with Christ, raised up together with
Christ, made to sit together with Christ. You see, everything
God has for any sinner, anything and everything God has for any
sinner is in Christ. in Christ, quickened together
with Christ, raised up together with Christ, made to sit together
in the heavenly in Christ Jesus. Verse 7, in closing, that in
the ages to come, in the eternal ages to come, He might show the
exceeding riches of His grace and His kindness toward us. through Christ Jesus. In eternal
glory, the Lord Jesus Christ will hold forth His bride as
the trophy of His love, as the trophy of His grace, as the trophy
of His mercy. That in the ages to come, He
might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness
toward us. And notice this, it's always
through Christ Jesus. through Christ Jesus. You don't
want anything to do with God apart from the Mediator, Advocate
and Intercessor, the Lord Jesus Christ. For He says Himself,
I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life. No man can come
to the Father, but by Me I am the door. I am the door. By Me if any man enter in, he
shall be saved. I am the door, He said. Well, I pray the Lord will bless
that to your heart.