Let us open our Bibles tonight
to Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2. And this
evening I want us to look at the first seven verses in this
chapter. And you hath he quickened who
were dead in trespasses and 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 times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
the children of wrath, even as others. 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 it raised us up together
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That
in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of
his grace and his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. Last week, we looked at the Apostle
Paul's first prayer here in the letter of Ephesians. his prayer
for the Christians in the church at Ephesus. And we saw in that
prayer that he had three petitions, three requests that he made unto
God for them. And the last one, if you notice
back in chapter one in verse 19, the last request was that
they might know what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward
us who believe. We as believers should know,
we should know, we should desire to know, we should meditate upon
the truth of the great power that God put forth in bringing
any of us into life, any of us to believe in his son, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now tonight, I want us to say
that this operation, this operation of God exerting his great power
and bringing us unto the Lord Jesus Christ is the result of
his great love wherewith he hath loved us. We read that just now
in verse four, for his great love. So we've seen his great
power, and now we're thinking about his great love. which resulted
in Him exerting, putting forth His great power in bringing us
to His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to life. The same power, the
Apostle Paul says, the same power that raised up Christ from the
dead, the same power, almighty power, omnipotent power, God's
power, is put forth in saving a sinner. is the same power. And apart from His great power,
we would have remained dead in trespasses and sins. And apart
from His great love, there would be no believers. We love Him
tonight, those of us here who love Him. We do so because He
first loved us. John Gill's comments on this
chapter I wanted to mention to us, he said, and I quote, the
design of this second chapter is to magnify the riches of divine
grace in effectual calling and salvation of sinners by Christ
Jesus. The design of this second chapter
is to magnify the riches of divine grace and effectual calling and
salvation of sinners by Christ Jesus. Now, as we look at these
first seven verses, there are two truths that I want to bring
out. The first truth is the natural
man's condition by nature. The natural man's condition by
nature. And the second truth is the saved
man's condition by grace, the natural man's condition by nature,
and the saved man's condition by grace. So first, the natural
man's condition by grace, by nature. And what do I mean by
the natural man's condition by nature? I mean the condition
of every man as we come into this world. without any exceptions. The condition of every man who
is born into this world, without any exceptions. You know, when
you study a subject, and I think especially of English, in English,
they give you a rule and then they say, here's an exception. Here's an exception. And there
are many exceptions. And you just have to memorize
those. Well, this rule here, this truth here is one without
any exceptions. The natural man's condition by
nature. Every man who comes into this
world, this is the condition in which we are born. There are
four things that the apostle tells us about this condition,
four descriptions of his condition. First of all, he is dead. He is dead. Notice in verse one,
who were dead. And you have the quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sins. Now, Paul uses a word that we
are very familiar with to describe the condition of the natural
man dead. We're familiar with that word.
We know what it means. He's not saying that men were
physically dead, but spiritually dead. But we can understand the
significance of this word by considering physical death. What is physical death? Physical
death is the separation of the soul from the body. And so spiritual
death is a separation from God and the soul. Spiritual death. The spiritual death, a soul is
separated from God. That's the way we come into this
world, alienated, the word is used, alienated from the life
of God. And we are without Christ and
without hope in this world. All of us as we come into this
world, separated from God. separated from Christ, who is
the author and giver of spiritual life. Remember this confession
of Job. You maybe never have thought
of it in this light. But Job, when everything was
taken from him, he confessed, naked came I into this world. In other words, I didn't bring
anything with me when I came into this world. And he said,
that's the way I'm going to leave, the same way. That's what death
is. Naked came I out of my mother's
womb, and naked shall I return thither. Death strips a man,
strips a man naked of everything. So being dead in trespasses and
sins strips a man of his moral righteousness. That image in
which Adam was created, a moral image, the image of God was marred
by Adam's transgression. He's thus dead in law as well
as dead in sin. Now, several years ago, there
was a movie out. It was popular, I believe, at
the time, been several years back. I didn't see the movie,
but I heard a phrase from that movie. And it stuck with me. And the phrase was, dead man
walking. Some of you may have seen the
movie. I don't know anything about it. Dead man walking. But evidently, it described a
man in prison who was convicted of a crime and sentenced to death. And the day came of execution. And he comes out of his cell.
and he walks to the place of execution and in the prison,
men would say, dead man walking, dead man walking. In other words,
he was dead according to the law. He was convicted and he
was going to be executed. The apostle Paul wrote, In 1st
Timothy, a phrase that's very similar to that, he said that
while they live in pleasure, they're dead while they live
in pleasure. Dead man walking. And that's true of all men apart
from the Lord Jesus Christ and all of us as we come into this
world by nature dead. Yes, we can walk. Yes, we can
do things physically. but we're dead spiritually. A physical dead person has lost
his senses. This is one way to consider this
spiritual death. A dead man, the corpse, he cannot
hear. His ears may have been perfect,
perfect hearing. His eyesight, 20-20, perfect
vision. He could taste, he could smell,
he could touch. All of these senses were alive,
but when death comes, they're all gone. They're all gone. A spiritually dead soul has no
sense of sin. If we had a corpse that we could
bring here tonight and lay up on this table. We could start
stacking songbooks and songbooks and everything else. He wouldn't
feel a thing. Never would feel a thing, would
he? And that's the way a spiritually dead person is. They don't feel
the weight of sin. They're not troubled by it. In
fact, he loves it. He loves it. A physically dead person has
no ability to give himself life, has no ability to help himself
in any way. I've told you this before, but
John Bunyan, one author that I remember reading that used
the term undertaker for the surety, center surety, an undertaker. And I thought, what an apt, description
because that's what an undertaker does. He undertakes for a body
that cannot do for itself. And Christ is a surety. He undertook
for us who were dead in trespasses and sin. The second description
of this man, of all men by nature, he walks according to the course
of this world. A scripture that has come to
my mind very often in the last couple of weeks especially, when
I see all the turmoil and all the trouble that's going on,
and you can't help but see it if you watch the news. But this
scripture has come to my mind often, and that is the Apostle
Paul in Galatians 1 and verse 4. He said, our Lord Jesus Christ,
who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from
this present evil world according to the will of God and our Father. This present world is an evil
world with all the injustices, all the hatred, all the strife,
all the variance, all the wars, It's an evil world, and it's
an evil world, not the physical world itself, but it's an evil
world because it's inhabited by evil men. And evil men walk,
as the Apostle says here, according to the course of this world. Now, in Titus, the Apostle Paul
described the course of this world, those that the Lord had
saved, He had delivered them and He says that they were foolish
first of all. Foolish. Man by nature is foolish
because of sin. He takes that which will harm
him for good and refuses that which would help him and considers
that to be evil. He's foolish. And he's disobedient,
and he's deceived, and he's hateful, and hates one another. John Gill described this walk,
The Lost Man Walks, according to the course of this world.
He described it like this, a continual series of sinning. and obstinate
persisting in it, a progress in iniquity and pleasure therein. Lost men walk according to the
course of this world. I've illustrated this before
like this. A fish, a dead fish, whichever
way the current's going, that's the way the dead fish is going,
right? Have to have life. to swim against
the current. And this world, lost men in this
world will walk according to the current, the bent, the course
of the world because we're dead, dead in trespasses and sins.
And number three, he walks according to the prince of the power of
the air. Notice that. In verse 2, 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,
the evil spirit. Of course, we know this refers
to Satan, to the devil, who is the prince or who is the head
of all the fallen angels. So unbelievers have the devil
working in them. I want you to turn over here
just a few pages to 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse number 24. 2 Timothy
2 and verse 24. Speaking about the servant, the
man that God uses in preaching, the minister of the Lord, the
servant of the Lord must not strive. He must not strive. He may feel like it sometimes.
He may want to be like Samson sometime, take the jawbone of
an ass and slay a thousand people, if he could. But a servant of
the Lord, he must not strive. You must be like Christ, right?
Must be Christ-like. The Lord Jesus Christ, He didn't
strive, but be gentle unto all men. You must be apt to teach
patience in meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves.
See a man under the influence of Satan, walking according to
the prince of the power of the air, he opposes himself. He does things that hurt himself,
harms himself. The minister must be gentle in
meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves, if God peradventure
will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth,
and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil.
who are taken captive by him at his will. Now, I always, when
I speak about the devil, want to remind us he's God's devil.
He's on a chain, he can only go so far and only do what God
allows him to do. But lost men walk according to
the prince of the power of the air, according to the power of
Satan. Under the leadership and dominion
or control of Satan. A man will never recover himself.
He'll never recover himself out of this snare unless God grant
repentance. Now notice back in the text,
Ephesians chapter 2. So you see these things very
clearly, these four descriptions of of man by nature. First of
all, he's dead in sin. Second, he walks according to
the course of this world. Third, he walks according to
the prince of the power of the air. And fourth, among whom we
all had our conversation in times past and the lust of our flesh
fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were
by nature. Here's the fourth thing. By nature,
the children of wrath, even as others. Now I want you to notice
that little word, we, in verse three. The church at Ephesus
was basically a Gentile church. And here you have this Jew, the
apostle Paul, writing to them. And these things that he said
about all men, But you know how people take offense, don't they?
Men take offense at the truth many times. And especially if
they believe that you're singling them out. How many times has a lost man
attended a worship service and heard the preacher preaching
and leave mad believing that someone had told the preacher
all about him? All about him. Forgetting that
God, the Holy Spirit, is the one who does that work. But a
man writing to them, to Gentile believers, he wants to make sure
that they recognize it's not just the Gentiles, it's we, we
Jews as Gentiles. As I said a few minutes ago,
there's no exception, no exception, we all. We all, notice that,
we all had our conversation in times past in the lust of our
flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. Now, I want to say something
about that, even as others. I want you to look over a few
pages to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse
9. We believers, this is a point
I want to make, we who have been saved by the grace of God were
children of wrath even as others, but not one, listen, not one
of God's children was appointed to wrath. Not one. This is what Paul says here in
1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 9. For God hath not appointed us
to wrath, that is to believers. God hasn't appointed believers,
those chosen elect sinners that God saves, He has not appointed
us to wrath. but to obtain salvation by our
Lord Jesus Christ. But here's the truth. Though
God has not appointed us to wrath, we are just as deserving of the
wrath of God as everyone else. Because by nature, we're sinful,
evil, and only the Lord can rescue a sinner, can save a sinner from
his wrath. That's a good, well, all the
scriptures good, but salvation is by appointment, isn't it?
It's not by accident. Now, sometimes we may, a sinner
who's saved, at first they may think, well, that was such a
chance thing that I turned in there. I went, no, it was no
chance involved. I've told you this story before,
but I, I like it about those three young men who were playing,
probably soccer, I don't know, some game outside a church over
there in England this hundred years ago, over a hundred years
ago. Sunday afternoon and they were
out there playing, kicking the ball around. They didn't know
what time it was. And they said, wonder what time
it is. Go into that church. There's
a clock in that church. Go in there and look and see
what time it is. Well, no one wanted to go in. And finally,
they forced one man. He went in, but he didn't come
back out. And a second one went in, and
he stayed. And a third. You say, can God
work like that, that quickly, that instantaneously? Yes, He
can. And He asks. And I'll show you
that again in just a moment. It wasn't an accident. It wasn't
by chance they were out there playing before that church building
and went in to see what time it was. You know, that was arranged
before there was a star twinkling in the sky. That was all according
to God's sovereign will and purpose. Now, for just a few minutes,
the saved man's conditioned by grace. and save man's condition by grace. First of all, He's quickened. He's quickened. Verse 1. You
hath He quickened. You notice those words are in
italics, but they're borrowed from verse 5. Even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us. These are not in italics.
Those in verse 1 are. This is the work that we usually
call regeneration. The soul that was dead in a spiritual
sense is quickened and made alive. And again, it helps us to think
of the senses that a living person has. As I said a few minutes
ago, a dead person feels no weight. No matter how much weight is
piled on a corpse, it feels nothing. But when a sinner is given spiritual
life, a person begins to feel the weight of sin. his conscience begins to be troubled. Remember Pilgrim and Pilgrim's
Progress? That's one reason that book relates
to believers and has over the centuries now, because it speaks
to the experience of God's people. One thing about Pilgrim, when
he left the city of destruction, he had a weight on his back.
And we know that weight was conviction of sin, the weight of sin. Some
of those that started off with him, they didn't have a weight
and they turned back. But he had a weight and he continued
on the road. You know, I was speaking the
other day with one of the members of our church and we were talking
about that man who was crucified. Remember, our Lord, when he was
crucified, there were two thieves on each side of him. And in the
morning, both of those thieves, the scriptures indicate, both
thieves railed upon the Lord Jesus Christ. But then that one
man, he looked, no doubt, to Christ, And remember in Isaiah
it says his image was more marred than any man. He saw a man, what
was left of a man who had been beaten and hurt as much as they
possibly could and put him up there on that cross. This man
saw a mass of of hurting and suffering, and yet, by the grace
of God, he said, Lord, if anyone ever never looked like a Lord,
it was our Savior that day. And yet, this man, because he
was quickened, he was given life, right? He looked at Christ. and saw the Lord. Lord, remember
me when thou comest. He's going to have a kingdom? He's going to have a, yes. Lord,
remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And that day,
he was with the Lord in the kingdom, right? You hath he quickened. You know, quickening just is
quick, isn't it? That's the reason it's called
quickening. The Lord quickens a person. And conversion, now
that's something else. But regeneration, man is passive
in regeneration. It's something that God does.
And he does it immediately. A person passes from death unto
life, and all men are either dead or alive. There's no in
between. So that's the first thing, the
saved man's condition by grace, he's quickened, he's made alive.
The second thing, he's an object of God's great love. Again, in
verse four. But God, who is rich in mercy
for his great love. Now you can't help but notice
in that verse, But God who is rich in mercy for his great love,
wherewith he loved us. That's past tense, isn't it?
His great love, wherewith he loved us. God's love is free
and God's love is eternal. You say, I can't get my mind
around that. I can't either. But God is infinite,
my friends, and we're finite. And God's love, the scriptures
are very clear, God's love is eternal. He never started to
love us, He's always loved His people. And He will never stop
loving His people. And there's nothing His people
can ever do that would change Him, because He's immutable. He doesn't change, His love is
eternal. We sing the hymn sometimes, Our
Great Savior, I like the hymn, But on the course, it goes like
this. Hallelujah, what a Savior. Hallelujah,
what a friend. Saving, helping, keeping, loving. He is with me to the end. I always say, thank God there
is no end. There is no end. His love is
eternal. And the last thing in closing.
The saved man is a trophy of grace. Look at those last words
in verse five, by grace you are saved. Eternity, long, long,
long eternity will not be so long as ever to exhaust the riches
of his grace toward us through Christ Jesus. May the Lord bless
each of us tonight, cause us to be more grateful and more
thankful every day that God hasn't left us in our sins, dead in trespasses
and sins, that he has quickened us and made us alive in Christ.
Brother Bill, you come, if you will, and Sally, let's sing a
hymn.