WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:03.600 We began a new sermon series last Sunday. 00:00:03.919 --> 00:00:07.440 Arise, a life of stewardship. 00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:15.039 We are in a new season at Alexander Presbyterian Church. 00:00:15.279 --> 00:00:20.399 We are embarking on a new church building, which is quite the challenge. 00:00:20.640 --> 00:00:36.640 After all these years, we have been leasing and renting, and God, lo and behold, four years ago gave us a property at a great discount, a great blessing, a great gift, one mile from here. 00:00:36.880 --> 00:00:42.000 And Lord willing, three years from now, we'll be moving in there and we'll be worshiping there. 00:00:42.640 --> 00:01:01.119 And we are asking God to stir the hearts of each and every person in this church to arise, to get up in a new way spiritually, that we might offer ourselves wholly to the Lord in this adventure. 00:01:01.759 --> 00:01:06.480 And we're looking at the concept of spiritual life. 00:01:07.439 --> 00:01:14.159 Last week we looked at a risen Savior because without a risen Savior, there are no risen people. 00:01:14.799 --> 00:01:20.719 Without a risen Savior, as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15, we're still in our sins. 00:01:21.040 --> 00:01:22.719 Our faith is futile. 00:01:23.599 --> 00:01:26.319 We're wasting our time here, if that were true. 00:01:26.640 --> 00:01:35.200 But because Jesus is alive, as we saw last week, what did he say in his parting words to the disciples as he gave them the great commission? 00:01:35.840 --> 00:01:39.359 Lo, I am with you always. 00:01:39.840 --> 00:01:44.239 Wherever you go, as you go in Christ, you go with his presence. 00:01:44.480 --> 00:01:50.560 And we considered last week what that looks like, what that means, that he goes with us, his presence. 00:01:50.799 --> 00:01:56.079 And because he offers us his presence, we we take off our ornaments. 00:01:56.879 --> 00:02:01.359 I've had so many good conversations with so many of you this past week. 00:02:04.239 --> 00:02:06.719 What does it mean to take off my ornaments? 00:02:07.359 --> 00:02:18.639 Well, whatever's weighing us down, whatever's blocking and obscuring our communion with God, blocking our understanding of his presence. 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:23.439 But because there's a risen Savior, we can do this. 00:02:23.840 --> 00:02:27.280 And because there's a risen Savior, there are risen people. 00:02:27.840 --> 00:02:32.240 And there are many risen people in this sanctuary this morning. 00:02:32.719 --> 00:02:40.159 Because Jesus Christ was raised to life, he offers spiritual life to spiritually dead people. 00:02:40.400 --> 00:02:44.800 That's what this sermon is about this morning from the book of Ephesians. 00:02:44.960 --> 00:02:48.000 It's a great text that many of you are familiar with. 00:02:48.240 --> 00:02:51.280 It's my privilege to read this text again. 00:02:51.599 --> 00:02:54.319 This one just never gets old, does it? 00:02:54.560 --> 00:02:56.639 What does it mean to be in Christ? 00:02:57.520 --> 00:02:59.120 Hear the word of God. 00:03:01.599 --> 00:03:30.560 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 00:03:31.680 --> 00:03:44.719 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. 00:03:45.120 --> 00:04:05.680 By grace you have been saved and raised up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 00:04:06.240 --> 00:04:10.319 For by grace you have been saved through faith. 00:04:10.639 --> 00:04:13.120 And this is not your own doing. 00:04:13.439 --> 00:04:20.079 It is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 00:04:20.639 --> 00:04:31.759 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. 00:04:32.480 --> 00:04:37.120 This is the reading of God's majestic and authoritative word. 00:04:37.600 --> 00:04:39.360 Let's pray to him. 00:04:41.519 --> 00:04:46.240 Father, we thank you for the light that we have in Christ. 00:04:47.199 --> 00:04:56.079 Because your spirit has worked in us, we are spiritually alive this morning. 00:04:56.480 --> 00:04:59.279 And we rejoice in the gift of life. 00:04:59.519 --> 00:05:07.279 And Father, we pray for a new and growing understanding of the fullness of the life that we have in Jesus. 00:05:07.519 --> 00:05:10.639 So teach us, Spirit of God, even now we pray. 00:05:10.959 --> 00:05:11.600 Amen. 00:05:15.279 --> 00:05:21.360 This morning we're going to look that only the power of God can raise dead people. 00:05:22.160 --> 00:05:26.879 Secondly, only the love of God desires to raise dead people. 00:05:27.120 --> 00:05:32.800 And thirdly, only the grace of God can change the life of people that were once dead. 00:05:33.360 --> 00:05:38.079 Only the power of God raises dead people. 00:05:38.959 --> 00:05:39.920 Dead people? 00:05:40.160 --> 00:05:41.680 Well, Paul said it. 00:05:42.079 --> 00:05:50.560 Writing to the church at Ephesus, and you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked. 00:05:51.040 --> 00:05:59.360 Walking in the Bible was a metaphor for a way of life, a journey, where you are in your journey. 00:05:59.759 --> 00:06:11.040 And what Paul says, the Bible teaches that every single man, woman, child that's ever been born into this world was born spiritually dead. 00:06:11.920 --> 00:06:23.839 Following the course of this world, he says, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. 00:06:24.240 --> 00:06:31.360 That Greek word, work, is the same word that Paul uses in the first chapter of Ephesians. 00:06:31.439 --> 00:06:39.279 That's a word that we're familiar with where he talks about the power of God and how the work and the power of God raises from the dead. 00:06:39.439 --> 00:06:43.040 That same power is that at work in you that raised Jesus from the dead. 00:06:43.199 --> 00:06:46.639 That's the same Greek word that Paul uses in chapter two here. 00:06:47.600 --> 00:06:49.439 And you say, well, so what? 00:06:50.079 --> 00:06:51.759 Well, here's the so what? 00:06:52.560 --> 00:07:00.160 The same, this power, not God's power, don't mishear me. 00:07:00.800 --> 00:07:06.800 It's not God's power, but Satan has great power also. 00:07:08.959 --> 00:07:14.720 Not as much as God's power, but Paul uses that word, energy. 00:07:15.519 --> 00:07:16.639 It's a verb. 00:07:16.959 --> 00:07:17.920 The energy. 00:07:19.839 --> 00:07:26.399 In other words, you're not dead simply by yourself, spiritually, when you're born into this world. 00:07:26.720 --> 00:07:28.160 Did we fall in Adam? 00:07:28.319 --> 00:07:29.920 The Bible says yes, we did. 00:07:30.160 --> 00:07:32.959 The Bible teaches the doctrine of original sin. 00:07:33.120 --> 00:07:41.839 But there is a power from the prince of this world, the devil, that was also actively engaged in the work of our deadness. 00:07:43.519 --> 00:07:45.439 Frankly, that's a little scary. 00:07:46.240 --> 00:07:47.279 Sometimes. 00:07:47.600 --> 00:07:49.360 We shouldn't be frightened by it. 00:07:49.600 --> 00:07:55.279 No, we shouldn't live in fear, but we ought to be aware that the power, that the devil has power. 00:07:56.959 --> 00:07:58.959 Don't take him lightly. 00:08:01.759 --> 00:08:04.959 You were dead in trespasses and sins. 00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:13.040 That word trespass means to slip, to fall, to stumble, to go in the wrong direction. 00:08:13.360 --> 00:08:16.959 That word sin, to miss the mark, to miss the target. 00:08:17.199 --> 00:08:32.000 Having been born spiritually dead, we have greatly missed the target and the mark of what God has called us to be and how God has called us to live until such time as Jesus saves us. 00:08:33.039 --> 00:08:36.320 The word dead, is that an overstatement? 00:08:39.360 --> 00:08:56.000 You probably like me know a lot of people who don't consider themselves Christians who are breathing today, just as much as we are, who are good thinkers, who do a lot of good deeds. 00:08:58.000 --> 00:08:59.600 I'm just gonna be candid. 00:08:59.759 --> 00:09:03.440 I know some non-Christians that I think live better than some Christians. 00:09:04.000 --> 00:09:05.759 It's hard to tell. 00:09:06.559 --> 00:09:12.720 Some non-Christians in this world, they just seem to be more generous, they just seem to be more kind, they seem to be more patient. 00:09:14.399 --> 00:09:19.840 Don't just roll right past that with this very erroneous assumption. 00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:23.840 Well, because we're Christians, we've got it all together. 00:09:25.039 --> 00:09:27.120 Non-Christians don't really have anything to offer. 00:09:27.279 --> 00:09:28.639 That's not true. 00:09:31.679 --> 00:09:33.679 I pray for my non-Christian friends. 00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:34.639 I do. 00:09:35.519 --> 00:09:40.799 But I recognize, so in what sense is Paul saying that they are dead? 00:09:41.679 --> 00:09:45.679 And it's possible that you're hearing me this morning and you're dead spiritually. 00:09:45.840 --> 00:09:47.360 It's very possible. 00:09:48.720 --> 00:10:01.360 Dead, as the Bible defines it, is dead to the power of God in us, dead to the power of God to bring about spiritual life in us. 00:10:03.519 --> 00:10:10.399 Theologians define a good work of God as doing the right thing for the right reason unto the right end. 00:10:11.200 --> 00:10:13.120 We need God to do that. 00:10:13.600 --> 00:10:22.320 To do the right thing for the right reason to please God, unto the right end to bring God glory. 00:10:22.559 --> 00:10:26.799 Well, obviously, you can't do that if you're not a Christian. 00:10:29.279 --> 00:10:31.200 Dead to the power of God. 00:10:31.360 --> 00:10:36.000 And then Paul says, Among whom we all once lived. 00:10:36.240 --> 00:10:39.200 There's nobody outside of that we all. 00:10:40.399 --> 00:10:43.919 That we all covers all of us. 00:10:44.399 --> 00:10:48.480 We all once lived in the passions of our flesh. 00:10:49.919 --> 00:10:54.320 That Greek word passion is a compound word, epi thumia. 00:10:54.720 --> 00:10:56.559 Thumos is desires. 00:10:56.799 --> 00:11:01.679 That little prefix epi, that preposition, over. 00:11:02.320 --> 00:11:04.960 Think about it like this: over the top. 00:11:05.840 --> 00:11:07.600 Sin, this is one way to look at sin. 00:11:07.759 --> 00:11:27.279 Sin is taking a good desire that God gave us work, sex, eating, all these good desires that God created us with, these worldly passions are when we turbocharge them. 00:11:28.000 --> 00:11:33.200 When we're trying to find a way, we're trying to make a life outside of God. 00:11:34.480 --> 00:11:41.440 To take good desires and things and ratchet them up, trying to make a life outside of God. 00:11:42.159 --> 00:11:44.799 That's really what that word means. 00:11:46.240 --> 00:11:56.000 To take the good and turn it into evil, and the reason it's turning it into evil is because we're trying to get something that God, we're trying to get something other than from God. 00:11:59.120 --> 00:12:01.120 Think of it as stolen goods. 00:12:01.360 --> 00:12:03.519 God created us in his image. 00:12:04.159 --> 00:12:13.519 These worldly passions are when we take the good things that God has given us and we use them to live without him. 00:12:15.440 --> 00:12:17.360 That's what Paul's saying here. 00:12:17.919 --> 00:12:26.240 If we were created by God, for God, yet we're trying to make a life apart from God, that's a problem. 00:12:27.039 --> 00:12:31.679 That's why we sang earlier in this worship service the word rebels. 00:12:32.480 --> 00:12:35.519 All of us were born into this world as rebels. 00:12:35.840 --> 00:12:39.200 And when you come to Christ, you lay down your arms. 00:12:41.120 --> 00:12:42.000 Rebels. 00:12:43.600 --> 00:12:50.159 Are you working very hard trying to find peace in this world, trying to find meaning for your existence? 00:12:50.399 --> 00:12:54.000 Are you looking for some kind of forgiveness outside of Christ? 00:12:54.480 --> 00:12:59.679 The Bible says that we cannot work up spiritual life from within us. 00:13:00.159 --> 00:13:04.240 If we find it, we must look outside of ourselves. 00:13:04.559 --> 00:13:08.639 Spiritual life can't come from that which is dead. 00:13:09.759 --> 00:13:13.759 That's what Paul is saying very clearly in this text. 00:13:14.000 --> 00:13:20.399 And yet there are many people in this world that fundamentally disagree with everything I've just said. 00:13:20.960 --> 00:13:22.240 You know that. 00:13:22.879 --> 00:13:29.039 There are many people in our city that would say, no, that's not accurate. 00:13:31.120 --> 00:13:35.200 Read a story about a woman's Bible study. 00:13:35.279 --> 00:13:48.559 I don't know where it happened, but after the Bible study, looking at this passage, one of the women said, Well, I don't think I've ever been dead to sin, but I have on occasion kind of felt faint once in a while. 00:13:51.039 --> 00:13:53.679 That's the thinking of the world. 00:13:54.480 --> 00:14:00.720 Well, sometimes I have a bad day, or sometimes I have a bad thought, and I need a little moral inspiration. 00:14:01.120 --> 00:14:03.840 That's not what the Bible teaches. 00:14:04.159 --> 00:14:12.480 The great Saint Augustine said, My sin was all the more incurable because I did not think of myself as a sinner. 00:14:15.840 --> 00:14:18.000 The teaching of the Bible is so clear. 00:14:18.240 --> 00:14:26.799 Spiritually dead people cannot do anything in and of themselves to find spiritual life. 00:14:27.360 --> 00:14:37.919 The great preacher George Whitfield used an illustration that from my reading, every Bible commentator has borrowed from. 00:14:39.840 --> 00:14:43.200 It's the illustration that Whitfield used about Lazarus. 00:14:43.519 --> 00:14:52.639 For those of you that haven't heard the story, one day Jesus went to the tomb of his very good friend Lazarus, who had been dead for four days. 00:14:53.360 --> 00:14:57.120 And he stood outside Lazarus' tomb, surrounded by a lot of people. 00:14:57.279 --> 00:14:59.360 There was certainly a public witness there. 00:15:00.159 --> 00:15:04.799 And Jesus cried out, Lazarus, come out. 00:15:06.879 --> 00:15:08.320 And you know what happened? 00:15:08.559 --> 00:15:15.759 A man who had been dead, physically dead for four days, rose up and came out. 00:15:18.320 --> 00:15:19.759 It really happened. 00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:21.840 There were many witnesses. 00:15:22.320 --> 00:15:31.279 Whitfield said, no one would have approached Lazarus when he was dead, saying, Lazarus, you need to get up because Jesus is here to help you. 00:15:31.759 --> 00:15:33.279 He's a great Savior. 00:15:33.679 --> 00:15:38.240 All you need to do, Lazarus, is to reach out to him and he will save you. 00:15:39.360 --> 00:15:44.399 Lazarus, please just get up, take the first step, and Jesus will do the rest. 00:15:45.919 --> 00:15:47.600 That never happened, right? 00:15:48.080 --> 00:15:48.720 Why? 00:15:49.519 --> 00:15:52.159 Dead people don't do anything. 00:15:54.720 --> 00:16:00.240 The preaching of the Bible is that unless Jesus raises you from the dead, you will not rise up. 00:16:01.360 --> 00:16:03.919 You never take the first step. 00:16:05.200 --> 00:16:09.440 Nobody in heaven is going to say, Well, I'm so glad I took the first step. 00:16:09.840 --> 00:16:14.559 I'm so glad that when I was dead, I was able to rise up myself. 00:16:15.120 --> 00:16:16.720 Nobody will say that. 00:16:18.559 --> 00:16:20.240 You know what we will all say? 00:16:23.759 --> 00:16:26.799 Jesus, I was dead in my sin. 00:16:28.320 --> 00:16:46.960 And because you were rich in mercy, I didn't get up by myself because you came down and you came in, and you breathed new life into me, and you gave me the gift of faith to believe. 00:16:47.679 --> 00:16:50.559 And Jesus, all glory goes to you. 00:16:52.000 --> 00:16:55.039 No, dead people don't reach out for anything. 00:16:55.200 --> 00:16:59.519 Spiritual life requires when somebody else reaches down from heaven. 00:16:59.840 --> 00:17:03.120 Lazarus came alive because Jesus gave him spiritual life. 00:17:03.279 --> 00:17:04.960 Verse 4, look at verse 4. 00:17:05.119 --> 00:17:06.480 Those two words. 00:17:07.039 --> 00:17:12.319 I've heard more than one preacher, commentator say these may be the two most important words of the Bible. 00:17:12.640 --> 00:17:20.640 But God, while we were dead, God took action. 00:17:22.319 --> 00:17:25.279 But God being rich in mercy. 00:17:28.880 --> 00:17:39.119 Because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, all of the action is his. 00:17:40.079 --> 00:17:41.920 None of it is ours. 00:17:42.799 --> 00:17:46.559 He made us alive together with Christ. 00:17:46.960 --> 00:17:48.799 By grace you have been saved. 00:17:49.039 --> 00:17:50.319 He raised us up with him. 00:17:50.559 --> 00:17:55.039 He seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. 00:17:57.279 --> 00:18:00.480 There's this beautiful phrase in this text. 00:18:01.680 --> 00:18:03.680 Together with Christ. 00:18:04.480 --> 00:18:09.519 Again, it's a compound word, the prefix with. 00:18:16.880 --> 00:18:23.440 When the Bible talks about how you came alive in Christ, we talk about that as union with Christ. 00:18:23.599 --> 00:18:25.279 That's the doctrine. 00:18:25.680 --> 00:18:39.119 And what that doctrine means, as we read in Romans and really read here again, is that when you become a Christian, at the moment you believe, and Paul says in Ephesians chapter 2, do you have to believe? 00:18:39.680 --> 00:18:40.319 Yes. 00:18:41.920 --> 00:18:44.000 You're not merely a puppet. 00:18:46.000 --> 00:18:47.599 You must respond. 00:18:47.839 --> 00:18:49.039 You must believe. 00:18:49.200 --> 00:18:53.759 But what he says here is even the faith with which you believe is what? 00:18:54.559 --> 00:18:56.160 A gift from God. 00:19:03.119 --> 00:19:04.720 Yes, yes, yes. 00:19:08.240 --> 00:19:25.119 That moment that you believe this gospel, the moment you believe with the faith that God gave you, immediately, positionally, God says, okay, you were crucified with Christ when he was on that cross. 00:19:26.400 --> 00:19:27.920 And you say, Well, I don't remember that. 00:19:28.240 --> 00:19:30.319 That's because physically you weren't there. 00:19:30.640 --> 00:19:33.279 But in your union with Christ, you were there. 00:19:34.240 --> 00:19:37.759 When he was raised from the dead, you were raised from the dead. 00:19:38.160 --> 00:19:39.119 With him. 00:19:40.240 --> 00:19:45.599 When he was seated in the heavenlies at the right hand of God, did you catch what he said? 00:19:47.279 --> 00:19:51.200 He raised us up, that's past tense, verse six. 00:19:51.440 --> 00:20:02.400 He raised us up with him and seated us, past tense, with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. 00:20:05.119 --> 00:20:07.519 Where is Tom Holliday right now? 00:20:10.720 --> 00:20:12.559 Well, he's behind his pulpit. 00:20:13.680 --> 00:20:14.160 Right? 00:20:14.480 --> 00:20:15.759 In my body. 00:20:16.640 --> 00:20:19.759 But where is Tom Holiday in his spirit right now? 00:20:20.720 --> 00:20:21.920 In heaven. 00:20:25.519 --> 00:20:27.440 And so are you, Christian. 00:20:28.799 --> 00:20:30.960 This is amazing truth. 00:20:33.119 --> 00:20:35.839 Let it sink in by the work of God. 00:20:36.160 --> 00:20:36.319 R. 00:20:36.480 --> 00:20:36.640 C. 00:20:36.799 --> 00:20:44.720 Sproul said, when it comes to this work of regeneration, regeneration is the word that just means to come alive, to be recreated. 00:20:45.200 --> 00:20:51.680 God created us the first time when we were born, but there's a second birth that he wants you to experience. 00:20:52.720 --> 00:21:03.119 Sproul said, in order for someone who is dead to the things of God to come alive to God, something must be done to him and something must be done for him. 00:21:03.680 --> 00:21:08.160 Again, dead people do not come alive themselves. 00:21:08.480 --> 00:21:08.880 Dr. 00:21:09.039 --> 00:21:17.200 Martin Lloyd Jones said those two words, but God, those words in and of themselves contain the whole of the gospel. 00:21:18.240 --> 00:21:18.880 Really? 00:21:20.160 --> 00:21:21.119 But God? 00:21:22.480 --> 00:21:23.759 I think he's right. 00:21:25.200 --> 00:21:28.160 God made us alive together with Christ. 00:21:28.319 --> 00:21:34.640 By grace you have been saved and raised up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places. 00:21:35.119 --> 00:21:39.759 You know, when we preached through Ephesians just a couple of years ago, some of you remember this. 00:21:39.920 --> 00:21:44.799 How many times in the book of Ephesians does God tell us that we've been seated in the heavenly places? 00:21:45.119 --> 00:21:46.400 Five times. 00:21:46.799 --> 00:21:49.279 Paul really wants us to get this in our heads. 00:21:49.440 --> 00:21:52.240 He wants us to get this in his in our hearts. 00:21:52.960 --> 00:21:59.599 You are not somebody who's really on earth looking up, wondering if somebody's there. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:02.400 If you're a Christian, you are there. 00:22:02.559 --> 00:22:11.440 Your spirit is there with Christ, seated in the heavenly places, and you're looking down where your body and I yeah, is it mystical? 00:22:11.599 --> 00:22:12.480 Yeah, it is. 00:22:12.880 --> 00:22:14.240 But it's true. 00:22:14.799 --> 00:22:28.319 And as we said a couple years ago through the series of Ephesians, you can live your Christian life believing that you're really on earth in your spirit, and you're not really seated with Christ in the heavenlies, and many Christians do. 00:22:29.680 --> 00:22:36.000 Or you can believe what the Bible says and see yourself seated in the heavenlies with Christ by faith. 00:22:36.319 --> 00:22:42.960 And when you look down on earth and when you live your life day by day, that will make all the difference in the world if you believe that. 00:22:46.240 --> 00:22:47.920 It's changed my life. 00:22:49.839 --> 00:23:02.160 When you come to Christ by faith, God raises you up spiritually by the same power he raised up his own son, crucified with Jesus, resurrected with Jesus, positionally, yes. 00:23:02.480 --> 00:23:06.079 But positionally means something. 00:23:08.720 --> 00:23:15.440 And so Paul takes these three verbs and attaches these the prefix with, together with. 00:23:16.559 --> 00:23:18.160 So where did God's wrath go? 00:23:18.319 --> 00:23:20.640 Did it just vanish into thin air? 00:23:21.119 --> 00:23:21.440 No. 00:23:23.759 --> 00:23:24.960 Jesus took it. 00:23:26.400 --> 00:23:28.640 I like the way Charles Purgeon said it. 00:23:28.880 --> 00:23:32.319 You stand before God as if you were Christ. 00:23:33.200 --> 00:23:36.480 Because Christ stood before God as if he were you. 00:23:38.480 --> 00:23:39.680 Think about that. 00:23:40.799 --> 00:23:47.759 You stand before God as if you were Christ, clothed with all of his perfection and all of his righteousness. 00:23:48.160 --> 00:23:53.200 Because Christ stood before God as if he were you. 00:23:53.519 --> 00:24:06.799 When Christ stood before God as if he were Tom Holliday, all God saw was Tom Holiday's sin that just covered his son Jesus. 00:24:10.559 --> 00:24:16.640 And God poured out all the wrath he had for Tom Holliday because of Tom Holiday's sin. 00:24:17.119 --> 00:24:19.200 Because Tom Holliday was a rebel. 00:24:19.759 --> 00:24:25.680 He poured out all of his wrath, not on me, but on Jesus. 00:24:27.519 --> 00:24:29.839 Did you know he will do that for you? 00:24:34.000 --> 00:24:36.319 And that's why we call it the good news. 00:24:37.440 --> 00:24:39.359 He will do that for you. 00:24:40.400 --> 00:24:54.000 If you come to him and you confess your sin, you confess that you're a rebel, lay down your arms and look to what Christ has done for his people. 00:24:58.319 --> 00:25:06.799 Only the power of God can raise dead people, but secondly, only the love of God desires to raise dead people. 00:25:07.039 --> 00:25:13.440 Verse 4, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead. 00:25:14.000 --> 00:25:20.079 God's power is unleashed in us as his people because of his great love for us. 00:25:20.640 --> 00:25:25.119 Isn't that what the first chapter of Ephesians is all about before the foundations of the world? 00:25:25.359 --> 00:25:36.079 Because before there was one blade of grass on this ground, before there was one cloud in the sky, before God created this world, before he created you, long before he created you, he thought about you. 00:25:36.640 --> 00:25:37.440 Christian. 00:25:50.319 --> 00:25:53.599 I like the way Sinclair Ferguson, the theologian, puts it. 00:25:53.839 --> 00:25:57.759 But there was no inner Trinitarian blackmail going on here. 00:25:59.599 --> 00:26:00.880 Some people think that. 00:26:05.519 --> 00:26:07.200 He knew what a mess you were. 00:26:08.640 --> 00:26:13.759 Jesus said, Father, you really have to love them because look at what I did on the cross for them. 00:26:14.000 --> 00:26:15.039 That's not true. 00:26:15.200 --> 00:26:16.880 That's what Ferguson means. 00:26:16.960 --> 00:26:20.400 There was no inner Trinitarian blackmail coming on in heaven. 00:26:21.839 --> 00:26:24.880 Nobody had to make the Father love you. 00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:32.480 The Father has always loved you in Christ. 00:26:39.039 --> 00:26:46.160 Was his love grounded in the work of Christ? 00:26:46.319 --> 00:26:46.960 Yeah. 00:26:47.680 --> 00:26:49.519 But he has always loved you. 00:26:50.559 --> 00:26:53.920 Jesus didn't have to persuade the Father to love us. 00:26:54.079 --> 00:26:57.839 While we were enemies, Jesus, the Father loved us. 00:27:03.039 --> 00:27:05.279 How long have you been living with? 00:27:05.519 --> 00:27:08.480 How long have you been living for somebody else's love? 00:27:11.039 --> 00:27:14.480 I would say most of us would probably say something like this. 00:27:15.920 --> 00:27:26.559 If you've got one person in this life who really loves you deeply, who loves you at your worst. 00:27:27.839 --> 00:27:39.519 Not that they ever, ever see you at your worst, but when they see you what seems like at your worst, do you have somebody like that in your life? 00:27:40.559 --> 00:27:44.400 You're very, very fortunate if you have a handful of people like that. 00:27:45.519 --> 00:27:48.480 But nobody who knows you who loves you. 00:27:49.039 --> 00:27:52.240 Nobody loves you like your father. 00:27:55.680 --> 00:27:58.160 And that's why we call it good news. 00:28:00.240 --> 00:28:03.759 Lastly, only the grace of God can change your life. 00:28:04.079 --> 00:28:08.640 Three times in this text the word grace is used, undeserved favor. 00:28:09.519 --> 00:28:13.039 By grace you have been saved through faith. 00:28:13.279 --> 00:28:15.920 Faith is not the ground of your salvation. 00:28:16.240 --> 00:28:19.680 Faith is not the cause of your salvation. 00:28:20.319 --> 00:28:23.599 Grace is but the instrument. 00:28:24.160 --> 00:28:26.559 It's the instrument that God used. 00:28:27.200 --> 00:28:29.279 By grace, you've been saved. 00:28:30.319 --> 00:28:33.759 Salvation, even faith is God's gift to us. 00:28:33.920 --> 00:28:35.599 It's not our gift to God. 00:28:35.759 --> 00:28:37.519 It's not our work for God. 00:28:38.400 --> 00:28:39.839 We are not saved. 00:28:40.079 --> 00:28:44.319 Someone once said, we are not saved by our right actions, and that is very true. 00:28:44.480 --> 00:28:57.519 But I fear that a lot of people in the Reformed theology, hyper-Calvinists or whatever you want to call them, I fear that a lot of those folks don't understand that you're not only saved, not you're not saved by your right actions, but you're not also saved by your right thinking. 00:28:58.480 --> 00:29:00.880 You're not saved by your right theology. 00:29:05.200 --> 00:29:06.720 You're saved by grace. 00:29:11.200 --> 00:29:18.960 We were too dead to be the source of our salvation, and we are too weak to maintain our salvation. 00:29:20.720 --> 00:29:24.720 That's why we have the Holy Spirit working in us. 00:29:25.759 --> 00:29:32.160 You know, as we close, it's interesting to me that it starts out, this passage ends with really the same metaphor that Paul used to begin. 00:29:32.480 --> 00:29:38.160 As for you, you used to walk in your sin. 00:29:38.720 --> 00:29:41.279 Did you see how he closes this text? 00:29:42.079 --> 00:29:43.440 As he says, what? 00:29:46.319 --> 00:29:50.319 For we are his workmanship, and you know, we I preach on this text a lot. 00:29:50.559 --> 00:29:51.599 Some of you know what that means. 00:29:51.759 --> 00:29:53.519 We are his masterpiece. 00:29:54.079 --> 00:29:55.920 We are his work of art. 00:29:57.759 --> 00:30:03.200 Created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand. 00:30:04.160 --> 00:30:04.559 What? 00:30:04.720 --> 00:30:05.440 Look at it. 00:30:05.599 --> 00:30:06.799 That we should what? 00:30:07.440 --> 00:30:10.400 Walk in those good works. 00:30:11.119 --> 00:30:14.240 I don't think that's a coincidence here in Paul. 00:30:15.759 --> 00:30:20.480 Christian, only the grace of God can change your life. 00:30:21.599 --> 00:30:27.119 But the grace of God absolutely can change your life. 00:30:37.039 --> 00:30:38.720 Let's get on with it. 00:30:39.759 --> 00:30:41.680 Let's stop wasting our time. 00:30:45.839 --> 00:30:47.519 Living for ourselves. 00:30:49.039 --> 00:30:54.400 Let's stop wasting our days and our gifts. 00:30:55.839 --> 00:30:57.279 Focus on us. 00:30:58.160 --> 00:31:16.160 God made you, God saved you, and God is working in you every day to set you free, to set me free in new ways, so that I and you will live a life that demonstrates the power of God. 00:31:16.400 --> 00:31:17.359 It's available. 00:31:17.599 --> 00:31:19.119 He's offering it to you. 00:31:19.519 --> 00:31:21.279 He's offering it to me. 00:31:21.839 --> 00:31:31.440 Seated us with him in the heavenly places, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness toward us. 00:31:32.880 --> 00:31:33.839 That word, right? 00:31:34.079 --> 00:31:35.200 Immeasurable. 00:31:38.559 --> 00:31:44.000 I'm never going to get over it when God calls me to glory, and neither are you, Christian. 00:31:45.279 --> 00:31:51.680 There will never be the time in eternity where we will have tapped it all out. 00:31:52.880 --> 00:31:54.240 Immeasurable. 00:31:56.400 --> 00:32:05.839 There's always more of the heart and the love and the wisdom and the power of God to be experienced. 00:32:07.039 --> 00:32:09.519 Don't ever get over your salvation. 00:32:11.440 --> 00:32:18.559 So I love my Wednesday mornings, I love my Friday mornings and my Friday afternoons when I get them, and I love my Saturdays. 00:32:18.720 --> 00:32:19.519 You know why? 00:32:19.759 --> 00:32:22.000 I'm studying and preparing. 00:32:24.400 --> 00:32:26.559 Some of my favorite times of the week. 00:32:28.160 --> 00:32:31.200 I'm studying this text Wednesday morning. 00:32:33.039 --> 00:32:35.759 And honest to God, I just started tearing up. 00:32:37.359 --> 00:32:42.079 And I the Holy Spirit just convinced me. 00:32:42.480 --> 00:32:45.200 Tom, you cannot have a bad day today. 00:32:46.079 --> 00:32:50.559 If this is true, you cannot have a bad day today. 00:32:53.759 --> 00:32:55.279 You have bad days? 00:32:55.759 --> 00:32:57.279 You have hard days? 00:32:58.400 --> 00:33:00.160 Come back to this text. 00:33:02.559 --> 00:33:03.440 Oh my. 00:33:04.559 --> 00:33:07.759 We are rich in Christ. 00:33:08.640 --> 00:33:11.599 We are a risen people because of Christ. 00:33:12.559 --> 00:33:18.000 And I I have to close by, I this is my duty as a preacher of the gospel. 00:33:20.240 --> 00:33:22.640 Are you still dead spiritually? 00:33:25.680 --> 00:33:28.400 Are you still dead spiritually? 00:33:29.839 --> 00:33:33.119 I am not asking you how much you've been to church. 00:33:34.960 --> 00:33:35.920 Do you know? 00:33:36.319 --> 00:33:37.839 What we've talked about this morning. 00:33:38.000 --> 00:33:40.319 Have you experienced in your life? 00:33:42.319 --> 00:33:45.039 Have you confessed your sins to God? 00:33:46.720 --> 00:33:49.039 Can you admit that you are a rebel? 00:33:51.119 --> 00:33:53.519 Or does that just seem to be beneath you? 00:33:56.880 --> 00:34:01.680 Brad, don't you dare leave here without making peace with God. 00:34:02.960 --> 00:34:09.119 You look at the promises of what God is offering you, and you recognize that you are dead in your sin. 00:34:09.760 --> 00:34:14.079 But you invite the one who can reach down and give you new life. 00:34:14.320 --> 00:34:16.239 And you ask him to give you new life. 00:34:16.400 --> 00:34:18.880 And you ask him to give you the faith to believe this. 00:34:22.400 --> 00:34:24.320 And he'll change your life. 00:34:26.239 --> 00:34:27.760 He will change your life. 00:34:33.440 --> 00:34:36.800 Father, we we do thank you this morning. 00:34:38.000 --> 00:34:44.480 Oh, we thank you that you have done for us everything that we could not do for ourselves. 00:34:44.880 --> 00:34:46.320 Thank you, Jesus. 00:34:46.559 --> 00:34:48.159 Thank you, Jesus. 00:34:48.559 --> 00:34:50.000 Thank you, Jesus. 00:34:52.960 --> 00:35:00.159 Thank you, Father, for loving us from before you created this world. 00:35:00.559 --> 00:35:16.000 And thank you, Holy Spirit, for bringing that spiritual dynamite into our lives and blowing up everything that needs to be blown up so that we can have eyes to see and ears to hear the good news. 00:35:16.639 --> 00:35:23.599 So, Father, this day I thank you for all the people who have risen in Christ who are worshiping you. 00:35:23.760 --> 00:35:28.639 And this day I thank you for the people who are going to come to life this day. 00:35:29.039 --> 00:35:33.760 Because they're going to believe for the first time that these promises are not too good to be true. 00:35:34.159 --> 00:35:40.079 And they're going to, by faith, receive what your spirit can do. 00:35:41.119 --> 00:35:43.519 Father, we pray this in Jesus' name. 00:35:43.920 --> 00:35:44.559 Amen. 00:35:47.679 --> 00:35:52.400 Also, today I want to talk just a bit more about the Arise campaign. 00:35:52.480 --> 00:35:54.239 I hope you all received a packet. 00:35:54.480 --> 00:35:56.400 If you were here last Sunday on your way out. 00:35:56.480 --> 00:35:59.280 If not, there are some ushers in the back with packets. 00:35:59.440 --> 00:36:08.239 If you have not received one, please take one and take it home and read it and think about it and pray over it. 00:36:08.480 --> 00:36:11.760 We're going to have Commitment Sunday, April the 7th. 00:36:12.159 --> 00:36:20.880 April the 7th, we're going to all bring our commitment, our pledge of what God enabling us we will give to the building fund for the next three years. 00:36:21.119 --> 00:36:25.440 You can read about that again in your packet of information. 00:36:25.679 --> 00:36:28.719 If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me. 00:36:28.880 --> 00:36:32.239 Also, April the 28th will be First Fruit Sunday. 00:36:32.320 --> 00:36:35.760 We're going to ask our folks to bring what they can of their three-year commitment. 00:36:35.920 --> 00:36:37.039 Bring what you can. 00:36:37.519 --> 00:36:39.519 That Sunday in particular. 00:36:40.239 --> 00:36:48.719 But I'm going to share briefly how Sharon and I have approached this with a lot of fear. 00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:51.199