Remember Arlene and Loretta,
they're still recovering from their surgeries, which not only
involve cataract surgery, but also surgeries involving glaucoma,
so it's taking a little longer for them to recover, so remember them
in your prayers. The others who've been added
to the prayer list, remember them in your prayers. Also, I found out this morning
that a dear friend of ours and her former husband, who died
years ago, used to attend a conference always, Eleanor Boring was her
name, beautiful lady. She got married again to a fellow
named Joe Popp, who's a wonderful believer, and Joe died this week,
so she's twice been a widow, and remember her and her family,
the Boring family, the Boring girls used to sing for us at
the conference, what voices they had. But remember them in your
prayers also. Larry Brown has had a tracheostomy,
and he's, Slowly recovering, it's going
to be a long recovery, probably going to be a pretty good time
in rehabilitation. He did have two heart attacks
while on the table and a stroke, but he seems to have ridden out
the stroke with a lot of abilities which you don't normally have
at stroke. He's got movements in hands and so forth. He's able
to nod and answer questions with his hands. We can't speak because
of the tracheostomy. But he's doing better, so continue
to remember him in your prayers. He's a wonderful fellow and a
dear friend. Seek the Lord's help for him.
Also added to the prayer list was Veronica Toynita and Bobbie
Dean Driver and Cynthia Ledford and Jimmy Tramper, Sam Crow and
Pablo Hernandez. So remember these folks in your
prayer, those ones been added. Let's begin our worship service
this morning with hymn number 15, Brethren, We Have Meant to
Worship. Brethren, we have meant to worship
and adore the Lord our God. pray with all your power while
we try to preach the word. All is vain unless a spirit of will be showered all around. Brethren, see poor sinners round
you slumbering on the brink of woe. Death is coming, hell is
moving, and you better let them brothers and our mothers and
our children singing now, brethren, pray and holy manna with thee
shall work all around. Sisters, will you join and help
us? Moses' sister aided him. Will you help the trembling mourners
who are struggling? Tell them all about the Savior. Tell them that He will be found. Christians pray in holy manner. We'll be showered all around. God supremely. Let us love each other too. Let us love and pray for sinners
till our God makes all things new. ? Then he'll call us home
to heaven ? At his table we'll sit down ? Christ will gird himself
and serve us ? With sweet manna all around After scripture reading
and worship we'll sing hymn number one. You have your Bibles, turn
with me to the Epistle to the Ephesian Church, Ephesians chapter
2. Ephesians 2, and you had the
quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. wherein in times 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 lusts 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 trespasses and sins, has quickened us together with
Christ. By grace, we are saved. Let us
pray. Our Father, we are so thankful
that we can read such words as these. and that you have given
us faith and awakened us spiritually to believe them. We are thankful
that your word tells the truth about what we are by nature and tells the truth about your
grace and when you sent it and when
we received it. We thank you, Father, for the
shed blood of Jesus Christ, our great and perfect sacrifice offered
to you on our behalf to pay our sin debt to satisfy law and justice
for us. And we who were dead in trespasses
and sins when all this happened, you quickened us together with
Jesus Christ. We marvel at the intricacy of
your purpose and plan. Most of it we are not even privy
to. What you have revealed to us
is so astounding that a child of God never gets old. Father,
we pray for those who are sick, those who have lost loved ones,
those who have been added to the prayer list. Pray for sisters
Loretta and Arlene as they recover from these glaucoma operations. Pray for Eleanor. She's lost
this loved one and the Boren family as they minister to her
and those in Crossville support her. Pray for ourselves this morning,
fathers, we gather here that you might be pleased to open
your book up to us. open our minds and hearts to
receive the truth. There is a part of us, our flesh,
that always resists the truth. We pray you'd subdue that by
your spirit as he takes the things of Christ and reveals them unto
us. Bless us this hour to believe and to trust. We pray in Christ's
name. Amen. Hymn number one, Oh, Worship
the King. Oh, worship the king. Oh, glorious above. Holy, holy
king. his father and his love. Our shield and defender, the
ancient of days, pavilion in splendor and garden with praise. O tell of his might, O sing of
his grace, His chariots of wrath, the deep
thunderclaps o'er, and argues his path on the wings of the
storm. Thy bountiful care, what tongue
can resist? ? It shines in the light ? It streams
from the hills ? It descends to the plain ? And sweetly distills
in the dew and the rain ? Bring children of dust and peace Do we trust, nor find thee to
fail? Thy mercies, how tender, how
firm to the end. Our baker, defender, redeemer,
and friend. That's Stephen Stand or C.L.
this morning, please. Let us pray. Father, again, we
approach in the name of Jesus Christ, our merciful, gracious
Savior, who gave his life for us freely and voluntarily for
the joy set before him. He endured the cross disregarding
the shame and is now seated at the right hand of the Father
and the Majesty on high. We thank you, Father, for we
know that what we have, we have because of your abundant mercy.
And as we return to that which you've given us, let us do so
with the full knowledge it belongs to you. As we belong to you,
we are bought with a price. Let us give hilariously and freely
and joyfully, we pray in Christ's name. Yeah. You. You. I invite your attention back
to Ephesians Chapter 2. These words are written to believers
and are written to those described in the first chapter of this
book, which clearly sets forth in no uncertain terms that the
salvation of the elects belongs to the Lord, that He alone is
the author of it and the finisher of it. That great treatise begins with
election from the foundation of the world, predestination
to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ unto himself, ends with being accepted in the
beloved, and then the things that Christ wrought in us, forgiveness
of sin, giving us all wisdom and prudence and understanding
of things, God does all things after the
counsel of his own will. He governs all things by his
predestination. That we believed after we heard
the word of truth, and that belief was the same power that raised
God, the Lord Jesus Christ, from the grave. It works in us in
faith. And that chapter ends with the
most glorious representation and picture of the particular
redemption that Christ wrought on Calvary's tree, those for
whom He died or saved, all of them, where in the last verse
of that first chapter, it speaks of Christ and talks about the
church. He's the head of the church.
It says, which is His body, which is His body, the fullness of Him, he fills all things and the church
those for whom he died are his fullness and he's not
missing an appendage or an organ or anything he's the fullness
of the Godhead bodily and it goes on to describe those whom
he saved. They're not described in the
first chapter. Paul prays for their understanding
and their enlightenment after they've received the word
of truth. But they're not described as to character and person. But verse chapter 2 begins with
the word and which connects it to all that's been said in chapter
1. And you now he describes he begins to describe those that
were not described except what God had done for them in chapter
1 and you hath he quickened that means made alive or resurrected
he ties it to the resurrection of Christ down on further in
these verses when he says we were quickened together with
Christ that's a phenomenal thing when you think about it because
Christ he's talking about Christ being raised from the dead and
made to sit in heavenly places in Christ and in heavenly places
in glory and ruling all power and principality and it seems
to suggest that when Christ was raised from the dead his people
were also raised from the dead they just didn't know about it
yet and weren't made aware until the Holy Spirit quickened them
in this life You hath he quickened, and they are described as those
who were dead. Those who were dead. We walked
around for a lot of years dead before we were quickened by God
Almighty. This dead is not talking specifically
of spiritual death. It's talking about judicial death. We were dead, how? In trespasses. and sins. You see, the law killeth. It is the letter that killeth
the spirit, that which makes it alive. We were dead before
the law of God. For the law of God said, Thou
shalt not have any other gods before me. Thou shalt not worship
great anemones. Thou shalt keep the Sabbath. All these laws said that. And
the spirit of the law simply said this. The soul that sinneth,
it shall die. That's what the law says to you
and me. That's what Paul said in Romans chapter 3, when he
says, Whatsoever the law saith, it saith to them that are under
the law, that every mouth might be stopped, and the whole world
become guilty before God. The whole world become guilty.
Now, if you're guilty, you have to die. If you're guilty of the
capital crime of sinning against God, you who were dead in trespasses
and sins. This is a marvel. These are ones
who are described having been given all this in Jesus Christ
in chapter one before the world began. It's already theirs. They
may have not heard their word of truth yet, which was the good
news that God had saved them, the good news of their salvation,
as it says in chapter one. But God is described as having
given all of these people an eternity. He chose them in Jesus
Christ before the world began. He predestinated them through
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ unto Himself through good
proof. And all for the praise of the glory of one thing, His
grace. His grace. And these words that
we're reading here in this passage of Scripture sets forth His grace
in no uncertain terms in a wondrous and plain way. When did grace
come? Religion would let you believe grace comes when you
repent. No, it doesn't. These people haven't repented.
There's no language of repentance here. Is there? You who are dead
in trespasses and sins, wherein you walked in times past, according
to the course of this world, according to the principle power
of the air, now worketh in the children of obedience. And by
nature, you were like the children of obedience. Show me some repentance
here. Show me some, oh, it said you
must have conviction of sin. I was raised into that. You know,
you gotta feel this. You gotta feel it. You gotta
be like Jonathan Warburton, feeling like the devil's at the foot
of his bed and getting ready to jerk him into hell. You gotta feel
these things. You gotta feel these convictions.
I'll tell you what makes you feel these convictions if you
feel them. If you really feel them, the
grace of God makes you feel them. You don't feel them until grace
comes. Now you may be guilty of a lot
of things. I was guilty all my life of some sort of things.
I was a very mischievous, rebellious, felonious child. You could ask
my mother if she were still alive, she'd tell you that I gave her
many sleepless nights. And I was guilty because I was
also raised in church and they laid guilt on me and I felt guilty
about it so every time we'd have revival I'd go down front. I'd
weep and I'd cry and I'd act better for 24 to 48 hours and
then it was all back to where I was again. But I was guilty. I had conviction of my own guilt
but I had no sense of sin before God and neither did you when
grace came. It's grace that caused my heart
to fear. And grace, my fear is released.
Grace did that. You who were dead in trespasses
and sin, legally, judicially convicted on death row, in the
electric chair, and the guys ready to throw the switch. Dead. What Donnie Bell called graveyard
dead. what the Bible says, twice dead
and plucked up by the roots. What does that mean? You had
no ability and no interest and no inclination to know anything
about God whatsoever. When man sinned in the Garden
of Eden, he was a spiritual being, not spiritual in the sense that
he knew God in the Spirit. He had man's spirit in innocence. But he was a sinner. How do I
know? Because he sinned. He sinned. He was innocent until
that which was against God was presented to him. And it was
just too good to resist. So he was a spiritual man. You're
a spiritual man. You're born in this world a spiritual
person, not spiritual in the sense that you're saved by the
spirit, you're raised by the spirit, you're quickened by the
spirit, but you have a spirit. You're made in the likeness of
God. God is spirit. 1 Corinthians chapter 2 speaks
of the spirit that is in man. Now, to be spiritually dead,
or what we call spiritually dead, it simply means that your spirit,
because of the fall, the natural spirit of man, because of the
fall, is dark. There's no light in him. It's
a dark spirit. Whereas the spirit of God in
a man makes him cling to God, the spirit of man, fallen in
man, makes him cling to himself. and to the betterment of himself
and to the exaltation and even the deification of himself. To be dead in sin here is judicial,
but we are dark in our spirit. And that's proven by our actions.
If you don't find any conviction here, you don't find any repentance,
well, you gotta have faith. You don't have no faith. Show
me. What did you have here? How are you described? Now, all
these things have been done for you by God before the world began,
but you don't know anything about them. Well, where are you? What are you? What am I by nature? Where in times past you walked
according to the course of this world. The course of this world,
the world has a course. The world has a course, and the
course that the world has is to lead men away from God. To
say things that have nothing to do with God, to teach men
things that have nothing to do with God. The course of this
world is downward. It's a downward course. You know,
people talk about saving this and uplifting this. Nothing's
gonna get better. Nothing's getting better. It
was as best as it could be in the Garden of Eden. And it's
been on a downhill run ever since. Our Lord said the love of many
shall wax cold. It's going to get worse and worse
and worse. And you ain't gonna save it.
You ain't gonna save it spiritually. You ain't gonna save it politically.
You ain't gonna save it in any way. Governmentally, you ain't
gonna save it with rights. You ain't gonna save it with
free speech. You're not gonna save it with anything. It's gonna
go worse and worse and worse. Why? Because it's the course
of the world. This is the course of the world.
And we walk in that. That's where we were when grace
found us. We walked according to the prince
of the power of the air. That's Satan. You say, oh, I
ain't no Satan. You were born a Satan worshiper. And everything that's not belief
in Jesus Christ is satanic by nature. We talk about these people
worshiping Satan. That's Satan's losers. That's
Satan's failures. That's who that is. Satan's winners
are behind these desks and in those pews with a Bible in their
hand singing just as I am and going to hell from that pew believing
that they have merited a personal righteousness before God that
God himself will accept. Listen to me. You can produce
nothing that is and of itself acceptable to God. It must be washed in the blood
of Jesus Christ. It must be seen in Jesus Christ,
or it's hell-bound, blasphemous, and an abomination to God. You
walked according to the prince of the power of the air. Unbelief
is his bailiwick, and he's good at it. Now, unbelief doesn't
mean you don't believe something. I spent years in unbelief, believing
that Jesus Christ was God. The Bible was true. I was raised
on that. I'm a Southern boy. I was a Southern
Baptist. I was raised in a Southern Baptist
church. I was raised on that. Nobody convinced me that Jesus
Christ wasn't God's son or wasn't God. Nobody could convince me
that this Bible wasn't true. I could never not believe that
because I believed it, but I didn't know God. And in truth, I was walking according
to the course of the world, according to the prince of the power of
the air. Because I had been convinced that if I would do something,
if I would make a decision, if I would straighten up and fly
right, if I would repent, if I would confess my sin, If I
would have conviction of sin, if I'd feel bad about what I
was, if I'd come down front to the church and shake the preacher's
hand, if I'd do that, then God'd do something. Let me tell you,
every one of those things is a lie. If you have to do something in
order for God to do something, that's walking according to the
prints of the power of the air. because he told me if you do
so that's what he told her and the same line goes on and on
and on and on if you'll just do this god will let you you
you build a bridge halfway god will build the other half listen
if you build a bridge halfway you ain't getting across the
river god either picks you up and carries
you across or you ain't going at all according to the prince
of the power of the air and that spirit that dark spirit that's in you
which is the spirit of the devil it now works in the children
of disobedience those who are disobedient to god those who
are dead according to trespasses and sins according in trespasses
and sins simple among whom we had a conversation in times past this was a natural
religion we talk about people being born into religion there
are those religions that you are born into If you're a Jew,
you're a Jew because you were born a Jew. If you're a Muslim,
you're a Muslim because you were born a Muslim. There are conversions,
but generally, if you were born into a Muslim family, that makes
you a Muslim. If you're born into a Jewish family, that makes
you a Jewish. Sad that a lot of that is carried
over into so-called Christianity. I was born in a Baptist house,
and I thought that meant I was a Baptist. I wasn't too sure about them
Methodists and them Catholics. I wasn't too sure about them.
Old Charlie Cranford was a pastor of a Methodist church up there,
and I loved Charlie, but I was worried about him because he
wasn't a Baptist. Being born into anything doesn't
matter because what you're really born into is that which is the conversation
of the world. the religion of the world. What
Adam did in the Garden of Eden and sinned against God, what
he did to remedy it was a religious activity. He covered himself. He tried to atone for his sin
with fig leaf aprons. And then he tried to hide from
God. And then he tried to blame his
wife for his problems. And she blamed the snake for
her problems. That's religion. That's religion. It's in a box, or a bottle, or
a TV, or an internet, or somewhere, but it ain't in you. It's in
you. Sin. The lust of our flesh. When we
think of lust, we always think of sensuality and sex, but lust
is anything that you want and desire that's other than Jesus
Christ. the lusts of our flesh. What
does the flesh do? The flesh is always against the
spirit. Our nature, our old sinful nature,
our old man, as it's called in scripture, is against God. As
I stand before you and preach the gospel this morning to you,
there is a part of me, my old flesh, my old man, that hates
what I'm saying and resists what I'm doing. and resist anything
that has to do with God. It's always that way. The flesh
is always contrary to the Spirit, it says in Scripture, so that
we can't do what we would. I'm gonna live for Jesus. Give
it your best shot. You ain't. You'll try. With your
mind, you'll serve the law of God, but with your flesh, you'll
serve the law of sin and death. I'm gonna be a better Christian.
Go ahead. Go ahead. You won't. The lust of our flesh,
always contrary to the truth, always contrary to the spirit.
And we did it to fulfill the desires of our flesh and of our
minds. See, those who are without Christ's
mind, the things of the flesh, that means they pay attention
to, they seek after. It is their goal and aim in life
to gain those things. what a corrupt thing what a vile thing I'm ashamed
of my mind I'm embarrassed by what goes on in my head the things
I think but you know until grace came
that's all I saw after the lusts and desires of my mind and that hasn't changed in my
flesh but thank god he's giving me his spirit and it says we were by nature the children of wrath even as
others we were by nature the same as everybody else I
know a lot of us were raised in good homes Raised by good
people. Raised by Christian people. Really didn't rub off. We were by nature just like everybody
else. And that's hard to do because
I get mad at people. I get mad at people for so many
things. This perverse world. I grew up, I was born in 1946.
I grew up in the 50s. I was a 50s boy. We got on our
bicycles in a safe neighborhood and rode for 10 miles to the
fishing hole or the swimming hole. Had a wonderful life. Played outside all the time.
Didn't get TV until I was eight or nine years old. Used to watch
radio. We did, we'd sit right in front
of the radio. Watch radio. home was a place you slept in
and ate in, but the rest of the time you was outside doing something,
whether it be chores or playing. And the world we live in today
is shocking to me. It's amazing. It shocks me. And I get so mad. And occasionally God will give
me a cogent thought, rub two things together, and I'll look
at one of these weird ones and say, there's no difference between
them and me, except by the grace of God. It's
absolutely noted by nature. We deserve hell, even as others. This is what we are by nature. By nature, you see. As we're
born into this world with the equipment, the minds, the will,
the emotions, and the conscience we're born with, in this world,
this is what we are. Find me conviction. Find me desire
for God. Find it. Find me repentance. Find me faith in all that description
of what we are. It's not there. So when in the
world did God show us grace? When we were this. God, in His mercy and in His
grace, His wondrous, blessed grace, when we were walking according
to this world, when we were walking according to the Prince of the
Power of the Air, when we were following the lusts and desires
of our mind and our flesh, when there was no difference
between us and the vilest criminal upon the earth. God showed us grace. God was
gracious. What does that mean? That means
he favored us. We had no merit. He favored us. He SAVED us! He GAVE us FAITH! He GRANTED us REPENTANCE! He
GAVE us the CONVICTION of the SOUL of the HOLY SPIRIT when
He came and convinced men of SIN and RIGHTEOUSNESS and JUDGEMENT
of SIN because we don't BELIEVE, of RIGHTEOUSNESS because Christ
has gone to the FATHER, and JUDGEMENT because He's JUST the PRINCE
of this WORLD! That's what we're convinced of! When? When God
shows us GRACE! Not until then! we had no interest
in these things and we didn't even know he was interested in
us because the next word in verse
four is but that means whatever went before what's coming is
opposite of what went before but God who is rich in mercy for his
great love were with, he loved us, who? Read verses one through
three, that's who. Who did he love? Who is he rich
in mercy toward? Them, not good people, not righteous
folk, not fine upstanding citizens, but the offscouring of the universe,
the scraping of the bottom of the barrel. The snakes and vile
vipers that writhe and wriggle upon the face of the earth. Those
who, maggots who live on a duck hill. He loved us with a great love. And he was so rich in mercy.
Even, lest you think otherwise. Even when we were dead in sins, even then, He quickened us. What does that mean? Made us
alive, spiritually alive. He sent His Spirit through the
preaching of the Word of God and made us alive. like that
young girl over in Ezekiel 16 that was cast aside because she
had been too much burdened. Girls were too much burdened
for the long trip. And while she was still connected to the
placenta, they didn't swaddle her. They didn't wash her. They
didn't cleanse her. The mother gave birth to her
on the trail and just cast her into a ditch. She was too much
trouble. And the Lord said, I came by
and saw you in your blood, still connected to your nativity. You were dead. And I said, live. When God says live, someone's
gotta live. I said, live. When I saw you in your blood,
it was the time of love. I gave you life and adorned you
as a bride. I took you to myself and married
you and loved you. I even made you beautiful because
you were connected to me. Even when we were dead in sins, hath he quickened us together
with Christ by grace you are saved without you being anything other than a wretched sinner and that young man was asking
about his salvation. He said, I did my part and God
did his part. And the preacher said, wait a
minute, that don't sound right. He said, wait a minute. He says, my part was
I was the sinner. His part was he was the Savior. He was the Savior. Think about
it. Rehearse it in your mind. Never
graduate from being a sinner. Take up headquarters in the dust.
find yourself there all when you see what's going on you get
all upset like you were there reach down and took you out mirey clay and
set your feet to the praise of the glory of
His grace. God bless you.