Okay, you turn in your Bible
again to Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2. The title
of the message today is taken from verse 4. The title I've
given to this message is, God who is rich in mercy. That's what it says in verse
4. But God, but God who is rich, He's rich in mercy. How rich is He? Beyond description. Unsearchable. Unsearchable. Oh, the unsearchable riches of
Christ. Freely. How freely they flow.
But God who is rich in mercy for His great love wherewith
He loved us. God is rich in mercy. God is
rich in love to His covenant people. Now as we look at these
first verses in Ephesians chapter 2, two things will be most evident
as we look at the portion, this portion of God's Word. The first
thing we're going to see that's most clearly taught here and
all through the Word of God, our sin, the exceeding sinfulness
of our own sin, the depravity of our own nature, what we are
in Adam, what we are by birth, dead in sin. We're going to see
that in a most graphic way, in a most graphic way. And then
the second thing we're going to see is this, the good news
of the gospel, the good news of the gospel. Aren't you glad
that the Lord doesn't leave us just there? in the description
of how awful we are, but He gives us the bright side of it. He
gives us His side of it. But God who is rich in mercy
for His great love wherewith He loved us even, even when we
were dead in sins, He loved us even when we were dead in sin. Now, let's look at verse 1. And
you who were dead in trespasses and sins. Dead in sin. Here's a vivid description of
our state by nature. What we were before we met God
in saving mercy. Dead in our sins. Dead in our
sins. Physically alive. Mentally alive,
physically alive in the flesh, but spiritually dead. Spiritually dead. Dead in Adam. Having no life. No spiritual
life whatsoever. Dead in Adam. We read it a moment
ago in Romans 5, 12. And Adam all died. And Adam all died. What does
that mean? It means separation from God. He is life. He is life. But when we died in Adam, when
Adam sinned against God as the representative man, what he did,
I did. When God put him out of the garden
and separated him because of sin, we were separated from him. We call that representation. It's the truth of God's Word.
In Isaiah 59 too, he said, but your iniquities have separated
you between you and your God. Sin separates. Dead in sin. And that's what he says here,
dead in trespasses and in sin. Dead without God. Dead without
spiritual life in Christ. Notice Ephesians 2 verse 12,
that at that time you were without Christ. He reminds them in verse
11, he said you were Gentiles in the past, dogs, dead dogs. That at that time you were without
Christ, you were aliens. Aliens. from any grace or mercy
at all, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the
covenants of promise, having no hope without God in the world,
dead in sin, dead and rotten, graveyard dead, dead and smelly
dead, that's dead, in God's sight, In God's sight, we don't smell
pleasant. It's stink. It says that in Isaiah. All of our goodnesses, all of
our righteousnesses stink in His sight. All we can do is stink
in God's sight. We're not a pleasant odor. We're
a foul odor in God's presence. Dead in sin, therefore guilty
before God. The law of God declares, let
every mouth be stopped and all the world become guilty. before God, completely unable
to produce anything good. And the only thing we can produce
in ourselves is sin. Sin. There is none righteous,
no, not one. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. Dead. Dead in sin. Way back in Genesis 6, Our God
declares this, God saw that the wickedness of man was great in
the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart
was only evil continually. Did you hear that? Every imagination
of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. That's what we are by nature.
You say, well, man's much better by now. He's improved by now
from the time of Noah and those people. No, we haven't. We haven't progressed one bit.
It's just all been downhill, dead in sin. This reason of spiritual
deadness in sin is a result of Adam's fall. When he sinned,
we fell. We sinned in him. And Adam all
died. We're sinners by We're sinners
by representation. We're also sinners not only by
what the old theologians called original sin that was charged
to us, imputed to us, but we're also sinners by our actual sins
against God. Original sin charged to us. Say,
well, I don't like that arrangement. Well, how have you done on your
own? We still all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God. This corrupt state of sin and guilt and spiritual deadness
is passed on from one generation to another. Dogs produce dogs. Cows produce cows. And sinners produce sinners. The Lord blessed us with three
children. Every one of those three children
have the same vile, rotten nature that their mom and that their
dad have. Sinners. Sinners. Born in sin. Shapen in iniquity. Born with
a totally depraved heart. Dead in sin. That's what he's
saying here. Dead in sin. And you who were dead in sin. Now, a lot of people talk about
depravity, but few people talk about total depravity. Now, what
do I mean by total depravity? Let me see if I can help us.
Our understanding is darkened. It says that in chapter 4 of
Ephesians. Turn over there, chapter 4, verse
18. Our understanding is darkened. Having the understanding darkened,
being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance
that is in them because of the blindness of their hearts. Our
understanding is darkened. We don't understand spiritual
things. The carnal mind receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God. Our understanding is darkened because we're blind. We're deaf. We're dead in sin. Not only that, our will is perverted. Our will is perverted. Our will
is in rebellion against God. Our will is in bondage to our
nature. Now, when anybody starts talking
to me about man's will and how free it is and all those things,
I quickly remind them the real issue is not man's will. The
issue is man's nature. Man's will is in bondage to his
nature. Our will is perverted and in
rebellion against God. All we like sheep have gone astray,
we've turned everyone to his own way. Our will is perverted. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. So our understanding is darkened.
Our will is perverted. Our affection, our affection
is void, totally void of true love for spiritual things. We
love dark things. Our Lord said in John chapter
3 that light is coming to this world and men love darkness rather
than the light because their deeds are evil. Light came into
this world and because we're so dead in sin that darkness
comprehended not light. Our affection is void of true
love. Not only that, our Our understanding,
our will, our affection, our mind, that is our thinking, is
corrupted. God said, you thought I was altogether
such a one as you. No, He's much higher than that. You see, our thinking is corrupted. All of our thoughts, all of our
thoughts left to ourselves, our thoughts about ourself, or too
high. Our thoughts about God are way
too low. We think high thoughts of self
and low thoughts of God. Why do we think that way? Well,
our mind is corrupted. Our thinking is corrupted. There's
that corruption of thought, corruption of heart, corruption of will. Now, if you deny this, and this
is what we call total depravity, total depravity, If you deny
this, you deny the truth of God. If you say you have no sin nature,
now turn to 1 John, 1 John chapter 1. Have you ever noticed this
in 1 John chapter 1? If you deny this, the truth's
not in you. If you deny that we are sinners,
we are sinners, and before salvation we were totally dead in sin.
If you deny we have no sin, 1 John 1, verse 8, if we say that we
have no sin, you see that? It's not plural, is it? It's
singular. If we say we have no sin nature,
no sin principle, no inherent depravity, no inherent sin, if
we say we have no original sin, we deceive ourselves and the
truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, now that's
a fruit of what we do. That's a fruit of what we are,
rather. If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned,
we make Him a liar and His words not in us. We have that inherent,
total, depraved nature. And if you deny this, You don't
know the truth. You don't know the true God.
And you certainly don't have the true understanding of your
own wicked heart. And the heart is deceitful above
all things. Desperately wicked. Who can know it? If you do believe
this, it's because God has taught you what you are. What you are
in Adam. Fallen, dead in sin. Now look at verse 2. That being
so, He said, now wherein, he's talking about what we were before
we met God in saving mercy, before we were quickened and made alive,
maybe that's why they inserted those three words, and you have,
he quickened in verse one, but he's talking about before this
quickening, wherein, it says this twice in verse two and verse
three, in time past. In time past, you walked according
to the course of this world, you walked according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit, the spirit that now,
the spirit of evil, the spirit of wickedness, the spirit that
now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also
we all had a conversation, our conduct in times past, in the
lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and
of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as others."
Now, let's look at verse 2 and verse 3 for just a moment. Here's
more description what we were and how we lived before we met
the true and living God and in the gospel. Notice it says, in
times past, wherein in time past, you walked." Now this walking
here denotes a continuous practice or tenor of life. It's a continuous
practice of sin and evil. It's a direction in which all
unbelievers walk. This is a path that is dark and
broad. It's a broad road which leads
to destruction and there are many that are on that way. Yet
this is the path that unbelievers choose. This is a path that they
approve of. This is a path they delight in.
Sin was our daily employment, delight, and pleasure, and occupation
before God quickened us together with Christ Jesus. Now, turn
over here to Titus. Titus chapter 2, wherein in time
past we walked. We walked this way. Titus chapter
2, and Paul includes himself in that in verse 3, and we also
And he does here in Titus chapter 3, verse 3. We, for we ourselves
also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving
divers lusts, different lusts, pleasures, living in malice,
envy, hateful, hating one another. This is old Saul of Tarsus, the
so goody-goody religious man, and here He describes himself
before he met the true and living God. He was most religious, but
he was foolish, disobedient, and deceived. And deceived. This is our course by nature. We walked according to this course. Now, three things we see in verse
2. The course or path of this ungodly and this unbelieving
world. Notice what it says, where in
time past you walked according to the course of this world. This ungodly and unbelieving
world. And it's a course and a path
away from God. Away from God. Left to ourselves,
we'll never seek the true and living God. It's away from God. Turn, if you will, to 1 John
chapter 2. 1 John chapter 2. I John chapter 2, verse 15. Notice what it says here. Love
not the world. I John 2, verse 15. Love not
the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any
man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
Now, what is this world he's talking about here? Look at verse
16. I think he tells us here. For all that is in the world
is the lust of the flesh. The lust of the flesh. The lust
of the eyes. Now isn't this what got Adam
and Eve in trouble? The lust of the flesh, the lust
of the eyes, and the pride of life. You'll be like God, the
deceiver said. The pride of life. It's not of
the Father, but it's of the world. And the world passes away, and
the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abides
forever. What is that? To believe Christ?
To believe the gospel? Well, there's our course, and
time passed. Back to the text. He walked.
He walked according to the course of this world. It's a course
and a path away from God. And that's the way this ungodly,
unbelieving world walks. And it may be very religious,
but it's still ungodly. The second thing he mentions
here in verse 2, according to the prince, the power of the
air. Now, who's he talking about here?
He's talking about a person. He's talking about the prince
of darkness. He's talking about Satan. He's
talking about the adversary. Now, Satan has no power over
the elements of the weather or storms, and that's not what he's
talking about here. But he's talking about the prince
of darkness. He does have an airy host of
demons that conduct his business. He does have power to blind men's
understandings and to fill their heart with evil and to lead them
into great sin, even great religious sins. Now turn, if you will,
to 2 Corinthians 11. 2 Corinthians 11. 2 Corinthians 11. My pastor always used to say
this, Satan doesn't do business in the honky-tonks and dives.
He operates on a higher plane. He does his business in pulpits,
in religion, and in churches, deceiving men's hearts with lies. Notice he says here in 2 Corinthians
11, verse 13, For such are false apostles, deceitful workers,
transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no
marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of
light. Therefore it is no great thing
if his ministers also be transformed as ministers of righteousness,
whose end shall be according to their works." Those who preach
up and boast up and who prop up Salvation
by creature merit and salvation and righteousness by your hand.
Mark it down. They are ministers of the Prince
of the power of the air. That's right. Unbelievers walk
after Him in rebellion and religious pride and they seek to do His
will. He reigns in the heart of unbelievers. Now, you remember
what the Lord said to those Pharisees? In John chapter 8, they bragged and said, Abraham
was our father. You remember what the Lord said?
You are of your father the devil. You are of your father the devil.
These were the most religious, respected people in their day.
Our Lord plainly said they were inspired by Satan, not by the truth. Now look at
verse, well in verse 2, the last part, verse 2, here's the third
thing. The Spirit, the Spirit, the Spirit
of Antichrist. It's the Spirit that now worketh
in the children of disobedience. It's the Spirit that now worketh
in those who are rebels against God. Right now, in rebellion against
God. Now turn back again to 2 Corinthians
2 Corinthians chapter 4 this time. Turn back over there. 2
Corinthians this time, chapter 4. Notice what it says in verse
3. He says, But if our gospel be hid, it's hid to them that
are lost, and whom the God of this world, notice it's a small
g, the God of this world hath blinded the mind of them which
believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel, who is the
image of Christ, should shine unto them." And we preach, not
ourselves, but Christ Jesus our Lord, and ourselves your servant
for His sake. I tell you, if God doesn't command
the light to shine, we'll stay right there in that dark blindness,
being blinded by sin, and being blinded by self-righteousness,
and being blinded by Satan himself. Where if God He has to command
the light to shine out of darkness. And thank God He has shined in
our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the person of Christ, in the person of our blessed
Savior. Now back to the text. In Ephesians
chapter 2, verse 3 now, "...among whom also we all." We all. We all. Well, some of us did.
No, we all. Well, I was very religious. I
grew up in a very religious home. I was raised according to the
tradition of my father. That's what Saul of Tarsus said.
We all, among whom also we all had our conduct in time past. How? Look what he mentioned.
In the lust of our flesh. Fulfilling the desires of the
flesh. Notice that word there, desires,
is also rendered wills. The will of the flesh and of
the mind, and we're by nature, we're by nature the children
of wrath, even as others. By nature deserving of God's
judgment, just as those who are reprobates. Deserving of it,
deserving of it. Now, we all had our conduct,
our way of life. this way before conversion, before
we met God, before we knew the truth. This is the condition
of walk and life before we believe the gospel. And notice Paul includes
himself in this. And we know his story. He called
himself a blasphemer, a persecutor, an injurious person. And that's
all of us. That's all of us. And we may
not have acted out that way outwardly. But within, you see, God looks
on the heart. We look on the outside, but God
looks on the heart. Notice he mentions three things
here, in the lust of the flesh, in the lust of the flesh, following
the wicked impulses of our depraved nature. That's what we were before
we met God. Following those wicked impulses
and seeking after those things of our depraved nature. These
are the inward motions of that inherent, totally depraved nature
that one time dwelled in us, unrestrained. Now, we still have
that wicked nature, but thank God, by His grace, it has been
restrained. And then the second thing he
mentions here, we fulfill the desires of the flesh and the
mind, and we're fulfilling the wicked desires of our sinful
nature. 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. Now, this is taking us way down,
isn't it? I mean, this is just stripping
it, like the old country boy said, this is shucking right
down to the cob. This is what we are in Adam,
and this is what we were before God made us a trophy of His love
and of His grace. You see, in Christ now, He's
made us new creatures. Oh yeah, we still have that old
rotten nature. But thank God it's subdued. It's subdued and
held in check by His grace. Thirdly, he mentions here, by
nature, by birth and by practice and choice, deserving of God's
holy wrath. Notice what it says there. And
we're by nature. We were by nature children of
wrath. That is, he's saying we are deserving
of God's just wrath, just as the reprobate. Just as deserving
as the reprobate. But thank God to the elect of
God, He's not appointed us to wrath, but He's appointed us
to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't that
what He said here in verse 3 and 4 and 5 in chapter 1? I want
you to turn and mark this in your Bible. Turn to 1 Thessalonians
chapter 5. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. Yes, we were deserving as anybody
else. If any other sinner has deserving
of God's wrath and justice, and had he not done a work of grace
in our heart, certainly we would have perished justly under our
sin. Notice in I Thessalonians chapter
5, verse 9, For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our
Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep,
we should live together with him. Wherefore, comfort yourself
together, and edify one another, even as also you do. God hath not appointed us to
wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
stay right here in 1 Thessalonians and turn to chapter 1. Chapter
1, look at verse 9. For they themselves show of us
what manner of entering in we had unto you, how you turned
to God from your idols to serve the living and true God, and
that by His grace. The word came not in, the gospel
came not in word only, but also in power. And that caused you
by His grace to turn, to turn from your idols, to turn to the
true and living God from your idol and to wait for His Son
from heaven. whom He raised from the dead,
even Jesus, who hath delivered us, He hath delivered us from
the wrath to come. Oh, the wrath to come, the wrath
to come. We read in Romans 5, verse 9,
much more than being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved
from wrath through Him, through Christ. You see the Lord Jesus
Christ, now you think about this, all my sins, All the sins of
God the elect were charged and reckoned to the Lord Jesus Christ,
and he suffered the wrath of God on account of my sin, and
satisfied the holy justice of God, that God would be merciful
to me in Christ Jesus, because he paid my sin debt. Christ came
to deliver us. Now, look at verse 4. But God. I don't think there
is two more glorious words in all of Scripture. He takes us down just into the
depths of depravity, into the depths of despair, and then he
declares, God has made us to differ. It's God. Who made you
to differ from another? What do you have that you didn't
receive but God? But God, who is, look what it
says, rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved
us, even when we were dead in sin, hath quickened us together
with Christ Jesus. God is rich in mercy. Now here's
the good news of the Gospel. Ruined in Adam, that's true. By one man's disobedience many
were made sinners. What's the rest of that? By another
man's obedience shall many be made righteous. And Adam all
died, yes, in Christ shall all be made alive. You see the blessedness
of this truth of representation? God's going to deal with all
mankind in those two men, in Adam and in Christ Jesus. That's right. But God who is
rich in mercy, God's glorious intervention, The only reason
for salvation is the Lord's purpose and grace. The only reason for
salvation is His rich mercy. God delights to show mercy. Of
His fullness have we all received grace because of grace. And the only reason for grace
is grace. I can't merit grace. I can't
earn grace or mercy, either one. God is rich in mercy. You see that? Two things here,
rich in mercy and rich in love. He is merciful. God is merciful. He delights to show mercy to
who? Those who need mercy. Mercy is
for the miserable. Grace is for the guilty. In that
verse we read just a moment ago in Titus 3 verse 4, the next
verse says, but God who is rich in mercy, God who is rich in
mercy, it's not by works of righteousness which we have done, But according
to His mercy, He saved us. He's rich in mercy. Rich in mercy. Listen to this scripture in Romans
9, 16. For He said to Moses, 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
will it, nor of him that run it, but it's God that shows mercy. You cannot exhaust the storehouse
of His mercy. He is Plenteous in mercy his
mercy is free his mercy is infinite and his mercy like his love and
grace In Christ Jesus in Christ Jesus. I like that scripture
over in Lamentation chapter 3 it is of the Lord's mercies that
we are not Consumed and we can say with Jacob Oh Lord, I'm not
worthy of the least of your mercies and of your truth and of your
grace But God have mercy on me the sinner I can cry out for
mercy. The Lord Jesus Christ is rich
in mercy. He's rich in all the aspects
of His person and in the fruit of His glorious redeeming work.
He is rich in mercy. In chapter 1, Ephesians chapter
1, verse 7, remember this verse, "...in whom we have redemption
through His blood, the forgiveness of sin, according to the riches
of His grace." He's rich in mercy. And he is rich in grace. Now,
turn back to 2 Corinthians one more time and find chapter 8,
verse 9. If my memory serves me correct,
the first time I was given an assignment to bring a gospel
message at 13th Street Baptist Church back in about 1983 or
84, along in there somewhere, the Lord led me to this text
here, 2 Corinthians 8, 9. For ye know the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, oh, rich, rich beyond
description, yet for your sakes, yet for your sakes he became
poor. He impoverished himself with
our humanity, with our sin, that you through his poverty might
be rich, rich, rich in Christ. 2 Corinthians 8 and 9. You got
it there? He's rich unto all them that call upon Him. I'm
going to call upon Him. Sinners can appeal to the Lord's
mercy. As David said in Psalm 51, Have
mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness, according
to Thy tender mercies. Lord, blot out my iniquity. Blot
out my sin. God is rich in mercy, and He's great in love. Great
in love. Great in love. Notice, if you will, over here
in chapter 3 of Ephesians. He's great in love. How great
is His love? Beyond description. Ephesians
chapter 3, look at verse 18. Verse 17 says, "...that Christ
may dwell in your hearts by faith, that you, being rooted and grounded
in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the
breath the length, the depth, the height of His love. And to know the love of Christ,
which passeth knowledge, that you might be filled with all
the fullness of God. And Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and in Christ you are complete. God
is rich in mercy. God is great in love. God commended
His love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us. We read a moment ago in Romans
chapter 5. God is great in love. He's rich in mercy. He's rich
in love. Wherewith He, now notice this,
wherewith He loved us. Now we love Him only because
He first loved us. Here in His love, John said this,
here in His love, not that we love God, but that He loved us
and He sent His Son to be the propitiation, the satisfaction
for our sin. His great love wherewith He loved
us when we were lovable. Now, I don't say that. Even when
we were dead in sins. Oh, I tell you, that's great
love. That's great love. That's great love. His great
love, let me give you this about His great love. His great love
is an everlasting love. It says in Jeremiah 31, He loved
us with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness
does He draw us to Himself. His great love is an electing
love. Notice again in chapter 1 of
Ephesians, His great love is an electing love. According as
He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world,
verse 4. that we should be holy without blame before Him in love,
having predestinated us under the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will.
His great love is an everlasting love. His great love is an electing
love. His great love is a sacrificial
love. Having loved His own, He loved
them to the end. It says in Isaiah 50, he set
his face like a flint as he went towards Jerusalem. And no one
could turn him from his purpose. No one could turn him from his
mission. Even Peter one time tried to
stop the Lord. When the Lord said, I must go.
I must suffer. I must be rejected. I must die.
And Peter said, Oh no! No, don't go. Remember what the
Lord said? Get out of my way. You are an
adversary. Get out of my way, Satan. Get
behind me. Get out of my way. You savour
us, not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. You see, he had to die for our
sin. That was my text this morning,
by the way. His great love is a sacrificial love. His great
love is a saving love. It's a saving love. It's a saving
love. It's a sovereign love. Hail,
sovereign love that first began a scheme to rescue fallen men. Hail, matchless, free, eternal
grace that gave my soul a hiding place. His great love is a saving
love. It's a saving love. This love
of God that we talk about, the sovereign, saving love of God,
is a love of God that cannot fail. Cannot fail in His purpose. That's why the song of glory
is this, it's unto him who loved us and washed us from our sin
in his own blood, to him be all the honor and glory both now
and forever. His great love isn't not only
a saving love, it's a sovereign love. Jacob have I loved, Esau
I loved less. No, it doesn't say that, does
it? Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. Sovereign love. Sovereign love. Well, how could
God hate Esau? That's an easy one. The mystery
and glory of the gospel is how God could love Jacob. Jacob wasn't
one whit better than his brother Esau. He was a cheat and a scoundrel,
yet he was God's elect. God's son. Sovereign love. Saving love. His great love is
an unconditional love. It's an unconditional love. He
doesn't require that we meet some condition. God commended
His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, dead in
sin, yet He loved us. And He came and died for us.
Now this is the kind of love I like to talk about. This religious
world talks about, well, God loves everybody. Well, if that's
so, and some of those that If you take that universal love
of God and say that God loves everybody and yet some perish
in hell, what kind of love is that? That's no love at all,
is it? No. But if you talk about the
truth of God's love, that He loves His own and those for whom
He loves and those for whom He died, they cannot perish. They will not perish. It says
in John 6 that all that the Father hath given me, they'll come to
me and I will not lose one of them. I'll raise them up the
last day. And his great love is a never-ending
love in which the believer can never be separated. It says that
in Romans 8, we're more than conquerors through him that loved
us. And you read that list, what he talks about there, the things
that cannot separate us from the love of God, death, nakedness,
all these different things that he mentioned. And then he goes
on and says that nothing can separate us from the love of
God, which is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's turn over and read
that. in Romans chapter 8. And we'll
end with this reading here. Let's back all the way up to
Romans 8.32. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all. Romans 8.32. How shall ye not
with him also freely give us all things? Who shall anything
to the charge of God delect? It is God that justifieth. Who
is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died. Yea,
rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of
God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us
from the love of Christ? Huh? Who can separate us from
this love of Christ? Shall tribulation? Shall distress? How about persecution? How about
famine? How about nakedness? How about peril? How about sword?
I never forget this. About ten years ago or so, there
was a young girl. that attended our service, about
the age of Amber, maybe a little bit younger. And her neighbor
was trying to promote self-righteousness and religious pride and all these
things. And this neighbor, this young
lady, this young girl that came to our service one time, tried to convince this young
girl if she wore short-sleeved blouse or if she wore cutoffs
or all these things that God wouldn't save her. Well, God
wouldn't have mercy if she wore cutoffs. And she came to the
service one time. I didn't know anything about
it. And I read this verse here. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Shall tribulation, distress,
persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, or sword? And she caught
me by the arm after the service. She said, I'm glad you read that
verse. She said, cut off, ain't got nothing to do with salvation,
does it? And I said, nope. Nope, then Christ. As it is written,
for thy sake we're killed all the day long. We're counted as
sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all things we're more
than conquerors through him that loved us. But I'm persuaded. What persuasion are you? I'm
persuaded that all that God has promised, He's able to perform.
For I'm persuaded that neither death nor life, angels, principalities
or powers, things present or things to come, nor height nor
depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in our Lord Jesus Christ. Now
that's an exhaustive list, is it not? Nothing. You see, when he talks about,
over here in the text, But God, who is rich in mercy for his
great love, wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in
sins, he's quickened us together with Christ, together with Christ. By grace, you're saved. That's the gospel. By grace,
you're saved.