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Oftentimes we've taken up the 1St chapter and the 4th, sometimes the 5th.
I'd like to suggest the 2nd chapter.
Thought that is very seldom what I heard. Conference seems to be very nice.
Ephesians chapter 2.
And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time passed. Ye 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 sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace you are saved, and hath 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. For by grace ye are saved through faith.
And that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them.
Wherefore remember that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh.
Who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hand.
That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.
But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
For He is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for to make in himself of twain. 1 Newman, so making peace.
And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body, by the cross having slain the enmity thereby.
And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.
For through Him we both have access by 1 Spirit unto the Father.
Now, therefore, ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the Saints and of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom all the building fitly framed together, groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord, in whom ye also are builded together for inhabitation of God through the Spirit.
The setting of this chapter. We need to see it in connection with the 1St chapter.
And the first chapter really brings before us the councils of God with regard to Christ. And the church in the first chapter is divided in two parts. The first part we see the apostle blessing God for his incredibly wise plan to bless it, to glorify rather his Son in two spheres in heaven and an earth in the world to come through a specially formed vessel for that purpose, the church.
And then the latter half of the first chapter we have the apostle praying to God that the Saints would be found in a spiritual state of soul to enter into and to apprehend, shall we say, their part in this, and then accord their lives in relation to it. And so the first chapters I say it's got two parts to it. We find the apostle blessing God in the first half.
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Of the chapter of down to about verse 14 and then from verse 15 on we have the apostle praying to God.
About these councils that they would be made good in the hearts of God's people but in the second chapter we see God's work in time. If the 1St chapter we see the counsels of God in eternity. In the second chapter we see God's work in time to form this vessel of testimony. And it's very interesting to me and I like to see some exposition on this particularly in this chapter because.
We see here in this chapter 3 great obstacles that stand in the way to God fulfilling His purpose.
Three, shall we say insurmountable barriers, things that are humanly impossible to overcome. God has purposed that there would be Jews and Gentiles that would be believers, that would compose this, this vessel of testimony to the Church.
And yet we find in this second chapter first of all a condition of death, and God rises above that and imparts life to those subjects of His purpose, that they may be fashioned into and brought into the church. And then we find also in the middle of the chapter, another insurmountable.
Barrier or obstacle, and that is the fact that.
These ones are found at a moral and spiritual distance from God, but they're overcome too.
Not to overcome as well by being brought nigh by the blood of Christ.
And then a third difficulty we meet with in the latter part of the chapter, and that is?
That that which God has purposed, that is, those believers from among the Jews and the Gentiles to be formed together in one body, naturally have a dislike from one another. There's been a history of of prejudice and ill feeling among the Jews towards the Gentiles and vice versa. And this is a seemingly impossible thing that stands in the way to God fulfilling his purpose and bringing them together. But we find he overcomes that too by.
Breaking down the middle wall of partition and forming of the twain, 1 Newman, making peace. And so we find here in this chapter God carrying out his his and in his ways.
To fashion that vessel the church, and by the end of the chapter we find the completed thing, a holy temple in the Lord.
I think that's a little bit of an outline just to give us a little direction as to where we're going.
What we have in the chapter, if I could just summarize now, that is the formation of that new and heavenly vessel of testimony, the Church, which is His body.
There is so much in these first two chapters of Ephesians, and I appreciate very much what our brother Bruce has said. That's excellent. I have enjoyed another dimension on it too, that in bringing out the blessings in the first chapter, it's perhaps more individual in emphasis and.
Perhaps more individual privilege. But then as he comes to the end of the first chapter, it brings out the church. And in the second chapter, as our brother has mentioned, it's God working in time to bring believers into collective privilege as well as individual privilege. And that's a wonderful thing. And as we've already heard, not only does he bring individuals into collective privilege.
But he brings together those that naturally couldn't get along with one another, and we well know that that not being able to get along with one another isn't limited just to Jews against Gentiles.
God puts individuals from every nation, every tongue, every part of the world into the church and brings them into that marvelous blessing in Christ and brings them out of the most utter ruin where there's nothing but death. So it's, it's a wonderful work of God and it's beautiful to see how the Lord through these scriptures and by the pen of the Apostle Paul, brings you and me into the full realization of all that blessing that he has for us in Christ.
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It summarized these three conditions that we've pointed out in the chapter as being death, distance, and dissension, all beginning with the letter D. And as they say, humanly speaking, they're impossible. But yet we find the power of God and the wisdom of God and the grace of God working to overcome each of these obstacles that there might be that which God has purposed, brought into.
Reality.
In the formation of this new vessel. And so the chapter divides in three parts. The 1St 10 verses really bring before us the work of God. The emphasis is God's work. In the 1St 10 verses we see Him quickening and creating us in Christ Jesus.
And then in verses 11 Through, well perhaps 17 or so, we have the work of Christ redeeming and reconciling us.
And then in the latter part of the chapter, perhaps from verse 18 to 22, we have the work of the Spirit giving us access and building us together for habitation. So we see all three persons of the Godhead here at work in the fashioning and the forming of this vessel of testimony of which we have been privileged to be part of.
And so at the beginning of this chapter he takes us back to, what shall I say, the raw material, what He had to begin with in the chapter before has been mentioned. We have what we are in Christ, and positionally where we are as seated in heavenly places in Christ.
And we read this and when we it ends with the fact that the church is the fullness of him that filleth All in all tremendous truth to get ahold of in our souls as to, as I say, what we've been brought into the vast panorama blessings and what we are and where we are positionally and so on. And then it's almost as if there's a jar to it you almost like he brings you back to reality, if I can put it that way. And he says.
Having said all that, this is what I had to start with, you who were dead in trespasses and sins. And brethren, if that doesn't touch our hearts at the beginning of meetings like this, I don't know what goes on within our hearts. To realize what we are is tremendous, but we never want to forget, as it says in the Old Testament, the pit from whence we were digged. And so the psalmist in the 40th Psalm, he said, he brought me up also out of an horrible pit, set my feet upon a rock and established my going.
He's brought us as beggars from the dunghill, we who were lifeless, dead in offenses and sins, not one step toward God, not one breath or thought toward God. And now He's going to show that it's all the work of His grace that has imparted divine life to us and brought us into this tremendous position. If I can just illustrate it this way, not long ago my wife and youngest daughter and I were invited by.
A artist, a young sister who's an artist in a pottery shop, they manufacture and sell pottery. We were invited to tour that facility and when you go through the door, you're first taken into the showroom and there you have all that beautiful pottery painted and fired and on display there it was a beautiful array of pottery and some of it was for sale at great cost. We simply looked and admired and and passed on. That's Ephesians one. We're given that display first of all.
But then we were taken behind the scenes and there were some pretty ugly looking lumps of clay lying on some benches and some Potters wheels. And you say, can this actually be what became some of that beautiful pottery that we first saw in the showroom? Well, you stand there a while and you watch the experts, the artists, the Potters. They take that clay and they begin to form it. And as the wheel spins, their hands move just right. They have little.
Tools that they use to make different designs and so on. I was absolutely fascinated by the Craftsman ship they took this ugly Gray lump of clay.
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They formed it into a vessel. Then the artists took up their brushes and they painted, and still it didn't look very beautiful because paint on clay doesn't really show color or anything like that, any beauty. Then it was taken and fired, and when it came out, there was that beautiful vessel all in its completion, ready to be displayed for the for the enjoyment of others.
And really, as a tribute to the Craftsman and the artist that had formed it, well, that's really what Ephesians 2 take. Ephesians 2, if I can put it this way, it takes us back into the Potter's shop. This is what I have to begin with, and this is what I'm going to do with it. And you've read in the first chapter what the end result is. But God always gives us the end of the thing first, doesn't He?
For you, do you fit into these first three verses? Oh, absolutely.
I was dead. I was dead in trespasses and sins. Were you?
Certainly was, and I think that's important for us to understand because we tend to look at those verses and say, well, I don't really fit there. I was brought up in a Christian home. I was brought up in the meeting. I don't really know that I relate to that. But I think in time rather than if we're going to appreciate God's purposes of blessing, we have to come to that in our souls. That's a picture.
Painted about.
Us. Yes, we do. Naturally speaking, we can thank God for Christian homes.
Thank God for an upbringing where we are taught the word of God. But naturally speaking, this is talking about the raw material. Like you said, that is us.
Dead in trespasses and sins, walking 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. We need to understand that. Then we will appreciate.
What God has brought us into, and thankfully many of us have been spared getting into the awful consequences of what these first three verses speak about. But naturally speaking, this is a picture of us.
Apostle Paul verse three also, I believe he says we among whom also we all have a conversation. So you really.
And singling the Ephesians as being those. But the Ephesians, the pagans, the Jews, all were dead in trespasses and sins. Some had the privilege of being part of the Jewish nation, but that didn't avail anything good for them because they couldn't deserve the blessings of God. But in Christ they're all going to be made good. I was thinking of the first chapter and the ninth verse.
What has already been said?
Seasons one and nine, having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in himself, that.
In the dispensation of the fullness of times, He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth even in him. So here's God's counsel and purposes that He hasn't himself to gather all things together in one in Christ. And it's going to be unfolded to us as we have in the second chapter here, those that were dead and trespassed in sin, associated individually with the Lord Jesus.
And then associated collectively with the Lord Jesus and with one another and associated with the Lord Jesus individually, collectively with Jew and Gentile in the Lord Jesus. When the Lord Jesus reigns on the earth, when he establishes and king his Kingdom, he's going to be head over all things to the whole world.
And it's going to be that unity that we read of Indiana Ephesians chapter one.
I think it's important to distinguish those pronouns that you brought out brother. In the in the chapter you notice it uses the expression you and ye when it's speaking oftentimes to the Gentiles, to the appeals you Athenians. So in the 1St 2 verses, you who were dead in trespasses and sins were in time past ye. You Gentiles walked according to the course of this world, according to the Prince of the power of the air.
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The spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, but now he switches and he says among whom also we we Jews all had our conversation in time past into the lust of the flesh. And as you go through the chapter, you can see him using the apostle, using the second person pronoun to speak to the Gentiles, but then bring in the weed being Jews. So I think that's helpful what you pointed out for other Fayette to see that distinction.
When he says you or ye is often speaking to the Gentiles and when he says we speaking to the Jew, Is that right those Bruce?
Scene of death.
Before us in this chapter, and we find that there are these 3 Shelby State controlling or opposing forces that lay on the scene of the material on which God is going to use to compose the church. And these three opposing forces are the world, the flesh, and the devil. It's all brought together in two verses there versus two and three. We have the course of this world, the Prince of the power of the air, that's the devil.
And then it says in verse 3, the lust of our flesh. So you have the world, the flesh and the devil. 3 opposing forces dominating and controlling the scene of death. You say it's impossible that God could bring something out of that, that anybody could bring something out of that. But all things are possible with God. And so we find in the.
4th and 5th verse that we have three divine motives.
Of mercy, love and grace acting to bring something out of this scene of death. It says in verse four the rich in mercy and great in love, and then in verse five His grace. And so God works on this scene and we find that out of it He brings 3 tremendous results. That's brought down in verse, brought out in verses 6 and seven. And there you have been quickened together with Christ.
Being raised up together with Christ and being made to sit together with Christ.
And so God overcomes this incredible obstacle that stands in the way of him fulfilling his purposes by his power and by his grace. And there is a people that are for himself seated with Christ in that very place where Christ is now and high on high in the glory.
Before you get away from the 1St 3 verses, Bruce, I'd like to ask a question. I noticed in Christian circles quite often the matter of free will is addressed and how does that matter fit in these first three verses.
Jew.
Well, most Christian.
Teaching will tell us that man has a free will.
And.
I would say that before the fall, man had a free will and he exercised that free will and became a Sinner. And since then he is no longer a free moral agent. He is captive to his sins and under the domination of the devil in the course of the world. And that we're Speaking of in relation to spiritual things. We're not saying that a man cannot choose to sit on this chair or that chair or to go to the store today or to go to the store tomorrow.
But in relation to things toward God, he is captive to his sins, and he will never.
Choose the things of God He is. He does not have a free will in relation to divine things.
And so he is completely shut up to the grace of God and the mercy of God and the quickening power of God to give him the capacity to hear the voice of the Son of God and to respond and to believe and to be saved.
Would you add something to that bill?
Really, I think that's a very good and I think we need to be on guard because there are books being written and individuals who we won't name them, but who you and I perhaps would recognize as being fairly sound people in the Christian world who in seeking to combat, for example, the error of Calvinism, which takes God's sovereignty to an extreme, they have practically.
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Denied the sovereignty of God and emphasized man, as you say, as a free agent.
And I have seen the very verses in this chapter twisted and distorted to try and support that point of view. But the fact remains, as you say, that man is not a free agent. Man is either a victim of the devil and his lusts, or he has been brought into freedom and liberty under the name of Christ. And there cannot be any middle ground, can there? It's either the one or the other. Pretty well really. Means that a person is free from outside influence to make the right choice. Doesn't.
And it's not that way. It is not that way. There are things that it speaks of here in these first two, first three verses, the Prince of the power of the air, the course of the world and the lusts of our flesh and of our mind. These are very real things. There is a course that this world is taking, and there is one who is working in the course of this world to bring souls into destruction.
And they think they're free. They think they can dictate which way they want to go.
But they can't, because they're under the slavery of sin and of Satan.
Sin enslaves and I often give the illustration and especially in verse three when it speaks of the lusts of our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. So often souls have a little packed sin.
That they like to just protect and practice. And Satan knows how to get ahold of that in the human breast and guide the person to destruction, even those who take the place of believers. And we have a vivid illustration of it in the Scriptures in Judas Iscariot. What was it that he nurtured in his heart?
It was the love of money, and the time came when he had an opportunity to sell the Lord, and perhaps he thought that the Lord would walk out of that trap just like he had walked out of so many other times they had come to take him.
And it didn't happen. And the devil took that man.
To a lost eternity, even though he was a disciple of the Lord Jesus, perhaps had preached the word, done miracles.
Solemn thing to think about. Oh how important it is to realize that that's what Satan uses in the soul.
And brethren, we need to judge ourselves constantly. Do I have those lest of the flesh in me? Yes, I do. But I need to be constantly willing to judge those tendencies in myself because that's what Satan uses. And I say the illustration I sometimes use is a horse and a rider that gets on the horse. Before the rider gets on the horse, he puts.
A bit in the mouth of that horse and that horse is looking forward. He's not looking at the rider.
And that horse thinks he's going where he wants to go, but the rider has something in his mouth.
And he pulls on the reins and he guides that horse where he wants it to go.
Not where the horse wants it wants to go. And that's the way Satan works in this world. It's an awful picture that we have in these first three verses. Satan, the Prince of the power of the air, is using his means and he uses those lusts that lie in the human breast to guide a person to destruction. If it were not for those first 2 words of verse four, brethren.
It would be all over for us. But God, God in the sovereignty of His grace, steps in to interrupt the process. Thank God for that. I think we can say too, about Judas Bob. I've been enjoying this recently. But it was of course, with him, wasn't it? He was covetous, the Scripture tells us that. And then he kept the purse, didn't he? I suppose he probably volunteered, although Scripture doesn't tell us exactly, does it?
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But apparently he was what we called the treasurer for the disciples. And then it tells us he was a thief. So I suspect he was covetous first, and then over the course of years, I suspect he was stealing from that purse because it tells us he was a thief. And then the time came where he thought he could make some big money.
But it wasn't an overnight thing, was it? It was, of course, and he was quietly and and.
He was quietly bound by the cords of his iniquity, wasn't he? And then Satan himself entered into him when he left. He could have not been Judas that night when the Lord warned him that night of the Last Supper, the Lord gave him distinctly that one would betray him, and it was the one he gave the sock to. And the other disciples didn't understand what the Lord was saying, but Judas did.
He could have at that point turned, couldn't he? But he didn't. He left, Satan entered into him, and it was all over them now. What did he get for it?
He got despair, didn't he? He committed suicide and he went to a lost eternity. What a sad thing that is. But it's so true what you say about our lust being, of course, and that's what the Lord will deliver us from. And I just wanted to make a comment too. We speak about the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man. We have to understand there's a balance there, isn't there? Because people have gone to the extremes on both sides, as we've mentioned.
Calvinism on the one side, Arminianism on the other side.
And we have to understand that one is God's side and the other is man's side. Now the book of Romans takes up men and his responsibility, doesn't it? And as it's often been mentioned, those who understand the original language tell us that Romans is really a court scene. Many of the words used in the early chapters of the books of Romans are actually legal terms. And they're the type of terms that would be used as, as a criminal was brought before the the the bar of justice.
And so that's what we have in the book of Romans. Man is seen in his responsibility, not dead is here, but he's seen in his responsibility before God. And we want to emphasize that too, don't we? Man is responsible because some would say on the Calvinistic side, well, if God is sovereign and if I can't make, I don't have the ability to make the right choice as such, then I'm not guilty. I'm not responsible. But the Scripture plainly teaches.
That man is responsible. And so that's the teaching of the book of Romans. When we get to Ephesians and we might say it's often been said that Romans is the book of justification, the great epistle of justification, how a man could be brought into a new condition before God, how man is guilty and lost before God and God has A2 fold remedy in the in the the as concerning man's sins and is concerning the root sin.
But in the book of Ephesians, and maybe somebody can expand on this a little bit, the word justification is never mentioned, is it? Man is not seen as responsible here so much. He is responsible, of course, but it's a new creation, isn't it? Man is seen as dead and is having no right thoughts towards God. I remember our brother Gordon Hayo used an illustration that was such a help to me. I'll repeat it because perhaps not everybody's heard it, he said.
Suppose that.
I love oranges and hate apples. And I know some have heard this before, but many perhaps have not. And he says, somebody comes to me and, and says here's an apple and an orange, which one would you like? Well, if I love apple, if I love oranges and hate apples, there's not really any decision in my mind, is there? I'm not going to take the apple because I hate apples, but I love oranges. And that's really man's condition as we have it here. Is it man is responsible. That's true. That's that's man's side.
But what we have here is really man seen as dead. And it's God's sovereignty that picked us up. And so some have often said it's a it's like a door, isn't it? And outside that door it says, whosoever will may come. And God holds me responsible to respond to that. But once I'm inside that door, I find out that I was chosen from before the foundations of the world. So this is teaching to Christians, isn't it?
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And he's telling us what we really were. In Romans we have man being dead.
In rely live in his sins, he's alive in his sins, but in Ephesians and Colossians he's dead in sins. Just looking at it from two different stance points as brother Eric has been saying, and it's very interesting to see that in Romans men being alive in his sins, what he needs is death.
And so identification with Christ and his death is brought in, and deliverance from his sins is given there. But in Ephesians and in Colossians, where a man is looked at as being dead in his sins, what he needs is life, not death, life. And so there is deliverance as a result of the quickening power of God, and there is life. Getting back to Bob's question about free will.
If man is not a free moral agent and cannot choose in the things of God, how is it that the gospel preacher entreats his audience to choose Christ?
Is it not the elected or those who would respond?
Is that the answer?
But you don't know who the elect are, do you? No, we don't. And at the same time, when the command was given to take the gospel, it was to be preached to every creature. God gives the opportunity to all. No one will be able to say I didn't have a chance, No one. And that's the point, because God never judges without giving a warning and without making a way of escape. And so there'll be nobody in a lost eternity who will be able to blame God.
Everyone who enters a lost eternity will realize that beyond a shadow of a doubt, they had an opportunity, may not have been the grace of God or a clear message like many in this room and in this land have heard, but they will realize that they had some testimony. And so everybody will.
In a lost eternity will have only themselves to blame. So tonight there's a gospel meeting scheduled.
And the brother who stands up to present the glad tidings presents it to whosoever will may come and take of the water of life freely. The Lord Jesus stood on that last day, that great day of the feast, and said, Whosoever will come unto me and drink, and so on. The appeal was to all. It's only as we, as Father said, the elect that are going to respond. But we don't know that. And our responsibility is to sow the good seed in whatever sphere and opportunities God gives us.
And to leave the rest with him. I'd just like to say, too, it's illustrated with the children of Israel. When they were in Egypt, we spoke of the ******* of sin. And the children of Israel, when they were slaves in Egypt, they were not free agents. They were slaves. And they groaned because of the ******* of Pharaoh. A very graphic picture of Satan. And they were under the slavery and ******* of Pharaoh and the Egyptians. And there was nothing that they could do to deliver themselves.
If they were going to be delivered, it had to be in a way that made them realize two things, their guilt and God's provision for them. And brethren, if we've been brought by grace into the wonderful position that we've been Speaking of, we must never forget that it's all the work of another. We had no ability to take one step or breath toward God. A dead person lying on the floor doesn't respond. You can get down and bellow in his ear for an hour and he's not going to respond.
And that was our condition without Christ and born into this world, we were dead in trespasses and sins and sin is lawlessness, talks about disobedience. Disobedience is doing our own well in independence of God. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to His own way. That was our natural condition. And none of us ever would have sought God. None of that if the choice had been left to us.
None of us ever would have come. I think the more we realize that in our soul, the more we are going to have an appreciation.
Of the grace of God and the work of God for us and in us. We can't, as someone alluded to earlier, really have an appreciation of that until we realize our own inability to take one step toward God as to responding to the gospel. And brethren, our inability to take one step in the path of faith without the grace of God and the work of God in US. And when you and I stand at the judgment seat of Christ and our life is reviewed.
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We're going to realize whether it was coming to the Lord Jesus for salvation or whether it was any response in our hearts as a believer in following in the path of faith and service. It was God that worked in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure. We sit in these seats.
At a Bible meeting this morning with the Word of God in our hands. Why are we here? Because of anything good in US.
Thank God we responded, but when we get to the judgment seat of Christ, we're going to realize that it was by the grace of God that we responded and had any desire to sit under the sound of the Word of God. This day. You gave out a gospel tract to the gas attendant or somebody you met on the way to conference. Why did you do that? You're going to realize in the coming day it was the grace of God that provided the opportunity. Put the desire in your heart to do it. And so this is what He's going to go on to take up where his workmanship, It's His grace.
That not only worked in us to bring us to himself, but works in us afterwards to give us any desire and any response.
We don't preach the gospel so much from this, do we? I know occasionally it's heard, but.
It's really a family secret, isn't it? And I, and I think that's important because again, that's what's led to the confusion and Calvinism, hasn't it? Person says, well, if I can't be saved by myself, if I have no free will, then I just wait around and wait for God to save me. But no man is responsible. That's the teaching of Romans. I think this is illustrated in the Old Testament in the Tabernacle. They have to push their way into the tent of the Tabernacle.
And they're the first piece of furniture they found was that great brazen altar. And that's really what we have in the book of Romans, isn't it? The work of Christ and my response to that work of Christ. And then the priest could go beyond that and they had to wash their hands and their feet. And that's really a picture in my mind, at least, I've seen it as a picture of what happens, particularly in the wilderness as we're learning our needs and the and the grace of God that meets our needs as we walk through this world and all its trials and difficulties.
But then only the priests and only the priests that were clean could go into the tent of Tabernacle itself. And there they learned that family secrets, didn't they? There was the golden Candlestick, there was the table of showbread with the 12 loaves there in perfect water. And there was the the golden altar of worship and of praise and prayer. And I feel that in a sense, if I understand it right, that in Ephesians that's really what we have.
Is those family secrets? And so there's no question of discouraging a soul who's undecided as to Christ, is there? These are family secrets. Once we get in, we'll learn this, and God wants us to learn them. But you weren't allowed to go into that tent of Tabernacle, the proper 10, until you are a priest, until your hands and feet were clean.
Lord Jesus said.
He will not come unto me.
There will you will, the Lord Jesus says, Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
If there was not the working of the Spirit of God by the Word of God in our souls, nothing would ever happen. I don't believe. It's a question of of doctrine. It's a question of God in love reaching out to you and me. And when you set your will aside and you let the Word of God reach you, you can be drawn by God to the Lord Jesus. Somebody goes out in the field. He has seed there. He doesn't look at his and say, man, maybe this one's going to grow and I'll put that one on the ground. He just sews that everywhere.
And you look at that, the countryside this time of year, it's green everywhere with corn and everything. It's just prospering because there's a power in that seed. God has given us the seed of his word, and we preach Jesus Christ and him crucified. We're responsible for the sowing. God gives the increase. He visits the soul. He quickens the souls as we have in his verse, you know, and I think this is a challenge to our souls as we consider this, do we really participate?
In the yearnings of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ for lost souls, is this the energy in your soul and mind as we think of these things? Perhaps I've enjoyed this very much. If you have been chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, it's not that I was chosen before the foundation of the world. I was chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. So it's all association with the Lord Jesus. So today men are dead in trespasses and sins, and God quickens them by His word when they hear about the Lord Jesus Christ.
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And this is our responsibility. If I go in the field and I put that little seed in there and I watch it, do I really know what happened? And then it started growing. This is God's work. It's a wonder why we're sitting here thinking about the Lord Jesus and speaking about Him. This has been God's work in your life and mine. And He's willing for all men to be saved at the cometh along with the truth is that the energy in our hearts when we meet men that are not saved because God's will is that they would be saved and come to the laws of the truth.
We should, brethren, and leave the rest up to the Lord.
That's why it's important that we preach the word of Paul told Timothy to bring the word of God out and to use the word of God because the spirit of God will take the word of God and impart life and their soul has capacity to to receive the Lord Jesus as savior you get that in John chapter 3 when it says except a man be born of the water and of the spirit.
Yeah, and so on. That's John three, I think verse five. Those are the two agents that the Spirit of God is using to communicate life, the word of God.
And the Spirit of God, the Spirit of God takes the Word of God and applies it to the soul, and there imparts life. And the word is used in John 35 under the figure of of water, because it goes beyond just the communication of divine life, but to speak about the cleansing action that takes place in the soul whereby a person is clean.
Peter confirms that when he says we're born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible.
By the word of God, that liveth and abideth forever. And that's why, as you say, when we preach the gospel, we need to use the Word of God. We need to use the good seed. It's true that there is always room for preaching and exposition. You get that in the book of the Acts. They preached and they expounded and so on.
Room for illustrations. The Lord himself used story, liberal illustrations, a certain man, and so on. But my telling a story about somebody that almost drowned in the gospel isn't going to save anybody. It might try, it might help to make a point, but bring in the Word of God, because it's the Word of God applied in the power of the Spirit that God is going to use to impart divine life to a soul. But I just want to say this too to the hearer when a person hears the word.
They're really not in a sense a free agent either. What are they to do? They're to obey the Word. He commandeth all men everywhere to repent in that He has appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, and so on. And so. And it talks about obeying the gospel of our salvation. And so when we preach the gospel, we want to impress upon souls their need as far as their responsibility.
To preach the gospel. I want to say this about this third verse before we go on to in a little different context. We read this verse and we realize that in its context here, it refers to what we were by nature. But brethren, we need to realize it's been mentioned about Judas, but we need to realize that after we're saved, the flesh in a believer is no different than the flesh and an unbeliever.
And I was thinking of Brother Eric was bringing before us the illustration of Judas, that there's another story that runs parallel with Judas, and that's Peter. And the flesh in Peter was no different than the flesh in Judas. The difference was that Peter was really one of the Lord's own. He was wheat. Satan had desired to have him, that he might sift him as wheat, while all the disciples that were real, really, but Peter left himself open as a special target.
Because of a course of things as well. And just very quickly that course of things that led to Peter denying his Lord was to some degree this. First of all, he didn't know his own heart, and he that trusteth in his own heart is a fool. And brethren, the flesh in you and me is just as bad in the flesh, as bad as the flesh in our ungodly neighbors. It hasn't changed. In the third chapter of John, it says that which is born of the flesh is flesh.
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And the Old Testament proves that it couldn't be improved upon. Nicodemus needed a new life, not just good teaching, not just a patchwork of the flesh. And at the cross he condemned sin in the flesh. But Peter trusted his own heart. Then he followed afar off. He followed the Lord, but he followed afar off. In one of the Gospels, he stood and warmed himself with those who had no love for his Lord. In another gospel, he sat down with those.
At that fire, and it led to the flesh raising its ugly head. The work of Satan on the flesh and Peter caused him to deny his Lord. When Israel was delivered from the ******* of Satan, that we were saying later, they still had an enemy in the wilderness. Amalek.
An Amalek is a picture of Satan's working on the flesh. Amalek was a grandson of Esau, who sold his birthright for momentary gratification of picture of Satan's end at work on the flesh. And were they free of that in the wilderness? No, they were no longer under the authority of Pharaoh and the ******* of the Egyptians. They were redeemed and delivered from that completely. But there was an enemy that was working. And brethren, you and I, if we're not careful, we have that enemy working.
I know it's a little part, but I think it's helpful because we read these verses and we apply them to others. But brethren, let's realize as Bob said, these verses apply to you and me too. By nature. By nature, yes, right. In verse two, it speaks at the end the children of disobedience. Interesting because those along with what you're saying, Brother Michelle, that.
The natural.
Heart of man is against the will of God. Ye will not come to me that you might have liked the will is said. It's not so much a matter that they don't understand. It's the will has been set against God. I think that is important to see. And then at the end of verse three, you have the children of wrath, because that's the end of the course of disobedience.
Israel, there's a course, and if you pursue that course, if there's somebody here who is still not a believer.
You are cherishing some little favorite sin, and you don't come.
To surrender to the Lord Jesus because you want to nurture that little sin in your life. It's a question of your will has been set against what God says about it. You need to judge that. You need to let the Word of God penetrate your heart and conscience. Oh, how important it is to let the Word of God in, in its simplicity. Sometimes you know when you're preaching the gospel.
You notice how people are listening around the room, and it's interesting to me to see sometimes people are sitting there very respectfully, maybe even listening, but you can tell that there is a barrier up there. There's something that's hindering the word getting in. I just want to say to anybody like that here in this room today, if you are that way.
Let down that barrier, let the Word of God penetrate your heart and conscience because it's going to be tremendous blessing for you. And I agree with what has been said about the quickening power of the Word of God. To me it is most wonderful simply to use the Word of God. And I have been impressed, brethren, with the.
Verses that God uses sometimes to impart life, perhaps not the verses, the normal verses, gospel verses that we've learned which are so clear, but it's sometimes another verse because God is sovereign and He uses any part of His word. I like those verses. In that verse in John 5 verse 25, the Lord Jesus says the hour is coming and now is.
When the dead shall hear the voice.
Of the Son of God, and they that hear.
Shall live. Are you hearing or is there some barrier?
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And that's the dead and sins in that verse, isn't it? And so they hear the voice of the Son of God. And Bob, my great comfort has been that when we preach the gospel, it's the blessing doesn't depend on our ability to present the gospel. Now it's true we need to all be exercised to so speak. They so spake that a great multitude believed and we need to speak 5 words that with our understanding we might instruct others also. We don't want to speak into the air as Paul said in the 14th of First Corinthians.
But in the final analysis, it's not our ability to present the truth that is going to bear fruit. It's the seed in all its living power. And that's why we stress that we need to use the Word of God. Whether it's a setting like this evening, whether it's speaking to your neighbor, whether it's interaction with fellow students at school as you have opportunity, always use the Word of God.
If blessing depended on our ability to present things, that's a burden we couldn't carry around.
We need to be exercised about it. But in the final analysis, the blessing depends on the Word and its living power and God in his mercy and grace. And isn't it beautiful that this next verse says, but God?
We've had before us a powerful enemy, the Prince of the power of the air, and every time the gospel is presented, Satan is right there to seek to hinder. I believe Pharaoh is a picture to us of Satan seeking to hinder souls from coming under the good of redemption and deliverance. Pharaoh didn't want the people to go, he wanted to keep them as slaves. And every time a verse of Scripture is quoted.
The devil's right there, the enemy's right there to seek to hinder souls from coming under the good and blessing that God has for them. But God, aren't we thankful there's a greater power at work and one who desires the blessing of souls far, far more than we do? Maybe we're burdened for souls. Some of our family ones we've worked with were burdened for souls that sit in this room. And that's why there's a gospel schedule this evening. But brethren.
We can take heart and be thankful that there's God and He is rich in mercy for His great love wherewith He loves that loved us. And His desire is that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. He's long-suffering to us. We're not willing that any should perish. And I think this gives us confidence and boldness to just simply present the Word as God gives us opportunity and ability and then leave the results with the One who desires the blessing of souls and the one who has the power to impart divine life.
I'd like to add one more thing in connection with.
That I think is good to remember in Second Corinthians chapter 4 it mentions something here in verse 2, the apostle Paul.
He says we have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, and not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but this part, but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. Somebody has said that when the Word goes home to the heart properly, it passes through the conscience.
And I think it is helpful to when we give the gospel not merely to speak to the mind of people as to their conscience. And you see the Lord Jesus in his earthly pathway here when he addressed souls, that's what happened. Remember when they brought the man or the woman taken in adultery in the very act, and they said to the Lord.
Moses commanded us to stone her. What do you say? The Lord didn't answer. He stooped down and wrote in the earth. They kept on asking, and finally he stood up and he said, He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone at her.
That wasn't an answer to their question, it was an answer to their conscience. And it went through and they all started leaving and until there was no one else there but the woman and the Lord Jesus. And I think that is a helpful thing because man's conscience is what he got at the Garden of Eden when he ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
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And man's conscience will tell him that what you say, if you are giving him the word of God, is the truth.
So aim at the conscience, I think that is important for you. Diverse Bob is Act 2.
Telling us as to the conduct of the preacher in second Corinthians for the manifestation of the truth, if I'm.
Known for being one who lies and cheats or beats my wife or whatever. And I preach the gospel. Well, I'm not commending myself to every man's conscience. I'm not really an obstacle to the gospel And you know, even if.
You're living a life for the Lord, the enemy, and those that listen to the gospel, they'll try and find fault with you and everything you do. You're a Christian, not supposed to talk like that. You're not. How come you know they're like that all the time? Imagine if you're giving material to the enemy, then we're being an obstacle to the gospel.
So, verses four and five, we see God bursting in on the scene of this impossible scene of death.
And with these three divine motives of mercy, love, and grace, we find Him working to carry out.
What he has counseled and purposed in eternity. And so we find that there are souls that are saved by his grace and were quickened together with Christ. You see the word quickening in verse. Quickened in verse one is an italics and I understand that it's not in the original text there. It really should come in in verse 5 where it speaks about being quickened together with Christ. You know, the believer has two quickenings. Every believer has two quickenings.
What we have in this chapter is the quickening of the soul, and we've spoken of it as being the being brought to life and having a new divine life communicated to the soul. But the other quickening is in Romans chapter 8. And just turn you to that in Romans chapter 8 and verse 11.
This is our second quickening.
And if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. Now that's a quickening we haven't yet received. We're looking forward to that. When the Lord comes, He's going to quicken our mortal bodies in the sense of, of glorifying our bodies so that we be suited to enter the courts of glory. We'll have the fallen nature eradicated and we'll be.
All the effects of what sin has wrought in our old bodies will be gone. And so there's two quickenings. This chapter is talking about the quickening of the soul. Romans 8 talks about the quickening of the body.
And it's all because of the mercy and the love and the grace of God.
It's playing like clicking Yes brother.
Being brought to life, it's really the communicating of a life, a divine life to the soul.
It's an old English word, isn't it? That is used to mean life, quick and the dead, the living and the dead.
And it's a sovereign work of God, isn't it? No one can else can, can give life. And we don't know when that life is imparted either. The fact that someone responds to the gospel shows that they've been quickened. They wouldn't, as we said earlier, the man who's dead on the floor here, you can shout in his ear forever and he'll never hear. But if someone could impart life to him now, he now he hears what you're saying.
And so a person responds because they're given life. And it says the wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou canst not tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth. So is everyone that is born of the Spirit. You've never seen the wind, and I've never seen the wind. But we see the results of the wind. And so we see the results of the imparting of divine life. A person responds. And so you drive down the highway and you know it's windy because the trees are responding. They're bending down their leaves, their branches, their leaves are blowing.
That's you don't see the wind, but you see the result of the wind. And we look for that in souls, don't we? I rarely ask someone if they're saved. I look to see some result in their life. And if I see some response in their life, then I'm pretty sure that that person has life.
01:05:04
Now we sing #200.
#200.
Once we studied.
Condemnation.
Right here.
What salvation?
For God.
Praise him from.
You.
Rangers, thank you all, we will.
See.
Our souls from.
Happy I sleep freely.
Glory.
To them all of us live.
All day live.
So.
Every.
The.