All right, Ephesians chapter number two, and we're gonna be covering verses one to 10 this morning, in this beautiful, beautiful letter of Paul, preserved, inspired by the Holy Spirit, handed down from generation to generation, from the original recipients at Ephesus to those that came after them. all the way down through church history to us, that we might read of this glorious truth, this glorious intervention of the Lord. Ephesians chapter number two. But before we read, had you filled that in there? Before we read, I want to introduce you to somebody. I want you to introduce you to Jeremy Bentham. Does anybody know who Jeremy Bentham is? No? Jeremy Bentham. is known as the father of utilitarianism, which is this principle, that it's about the great happiness principle, that everything in life should be about making people happier in themselves. He was a philosopher in the 19th century, and a little bit quirky, to say the least. But upon his death, he left a will with specific instructions on the will, on the treatment of his corpse after he was dead. And then he decreed that his skeleton and his mummified head would be assembled, clad in a black suit, put in clothes, and set up and preserved, sitting on a wooden chair with the little label below it, auto icon. So this is known as the auto icon of Jeremy Bentham. And since 1850, he's been sitting in the corridors of the University College in London. So let me introduce you. There he is. That's Jeremy Bentham. That's his auto icon. And so he said in his will that this is what he wanted to happen. He wanted to preserve his body in this way. That's his head with wax over the top of it. And one of the little anecdotes that said about this auto icon of Jeremy Bentham is that he was put in the meetings of the college council. And he was wheeled out. This was one of the things that he put in his will, that he wanted to be present at the meetings. So what they would do is they would wheel him out and put him out and sit him there at the college meetings, like he sat around the table. And the minutes of the college meetings would always record Jeremy Bentham present, but not voting. And I was thinking about this. and this auto icon, as it were. And I was thinking about humanity. And I was thinking about humanity in relation to the things of God and fellowship with God, that we are in the world that God created, but outside of Christ and the new birth, we are present, but not voting. We have no skin in the game. We are not alive to spiritual things. So we're just like this auto icon of Jeremy Bentham, without Christ we're in a world, but really we're not connected to the God who created this world. We're present, but we're not voting. And as I look at this picture, I just think about those that do not know the Lord Jesus Christ, because they are effectively this. And this is what Ephesians is gonna tell us. The very first verse of chapter two says, you heath quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. We're gonna have a look at this. Without Christ, we have no access to the spiritual world. We cannot have a place in it. We cannot have a part in it. We cannot have a vote in it. You understand that this morning, church? That without Christ, you're present but you're not voting, you're just like this carcass of Jeremy Bantham. But God in his grace and his mercy performed a glorious intervention that could take those that are present but not voting and turn them into sons and daughters of the living God, to give them spiritual life. And in Ephesians chapter number two, Paul is going to unpack this for us and go through this and show us the tenses of who we were, what we are, what we will be, and ultimately what we are to do. So that's what we're going to do. We're going to read through Ephesians chapter two, verses one to 10, and we're going to take our time and we're going to look through it and look at the different states of the believer as Paul unpacks this. And you know, this is in light of all that he said in chapter number one, all these great truths that he's unpacked. And then he brings us to the great gospel truth that God has taken a corpse and made it alive. Beautiful. Beautiful. Ephesians chapter 2. Let's read it. This is what we were. Now, one of the beautiful things about the King James is that anything that's been added by the translators is in italics. So if you're reading from the King James this morning, you'll see that it says, and you hath he quickened, or in italics, the translators have added that in there. They've brought a little thought forward from what goes on in verse number five. But the actual great great enrage, and you 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, our manner of life, our conduct in times past, and 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. So here Paul unpacks what we were. And the first thing he tells us is he tells us that we were removed What do I mean by that? We were removed from the presence and fellowship of God. That's what dead and trespasses and sins means. Biblically, now I know you've been taught this, but I want to teach this again, this is so important. Biblically, death is not non-existence. Death is separation. Separation. Now, there are many that will teach At death, you're simply extinguished. Jehovah's Witnesses, for example. It's called annihilationism. That actually, when you die, there's nothing. You don't think, you're not conscious, there's no thought, it's simply non-existence. But the Bible paints a different picture of death. And the Bible tells us, and the Bible's God's word, so he knows better than us, that death is separation. Now, the good news for the believer The death means presence with the Lord. The separation that we face is to be absent with the body, present with the Lord. That's what Paul writes in 2 Corinthians chapter number 5, verse 8. He says, we are confident, I say, unwilling rather to be absent from the body, to be present from the Lord. Separation. For the unbeliever, the separation is not to be with the Lord, it's to be away from the Lord, but it's a conscious separation. It's eternal. Torment, you can't be tormented if you're not conscious. So these are the two paths. And biblically speaking, we are body, soul, spirit, we are a three-part being. Something happened to our spirit back in the Garden of Eden, that we were separated, that part of us was separated from And that's the bit that we can connect with God. We can communicate with God. Those that worship God must worship him in spirit and in truth. There needs to be spirit to be able to worship God. So for the majority of the world, unfortunately, they're walking about two parts out of three. Spirit is dead, but body and soul are alive. Let me try and communicate body and soul to you. Body is touch-aware. So we see plants that have bodies. Venus flytrap. Anybody have any Venus flytraps? No? Okay. Anybody seen a Venus flytrap? Hey, that's better. What do they respond to? Touch. Touch. Body. And then soul. What's soul? It's self-awareness. Spirit is God-awareness. But the spirit is dead, it's separated from God. Body and soul still function in every human being on this planet. But spirit is dead. And spirit is the bit that connects us with God, connects us to God. So here's where the rubber meets the road. This is the reality, biblically. That you have no connection with God unless your spirit is aligned. So those that are out there in the world, maybe even here this morning, that are dead in their spirits cannot say, oh, I talk to God all the time. I pray with God and I believe with God. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. The connection to God is broken. You've been separated. All you can do is cry to God for his mercy. And this all began in the garden, this separation, because when God created Adam, he was good. And when God created Adam, he was body, soul, and spirit, as God intended every human being to be. Because in the garden, man walked with God, and God walked with man. There was fellowship, but it went wrong. Let me take you back. Let's go back to Genesis, because I think these things are important, and you'll see why these things are important. Even though you say, well, this is familiar verses, pastor, we've been here before. I want us to understand what death really is, because this is so important in a lot of interpretation of these early accounts of scripture and also our sin nature and everything that it brings. I want you to look at Genesis chapter number two and verse number 16 with me this morning. Here we are in the garden. At this point, sin has not entered in. There's been no separation. The man is in fellowship with God, and God is in fellowship with man. Communication, the spirit's alive, the body's alive, the soul's alive. And Adam, as the representative, is put to a test. A simple test for every human being that follow. Are we going to trust and obey, or go our own way? That's the test, and it's still the test today. God said, the Lord God commanded the man, verse 16, saying, of the tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it, for in that day The diet is thereof, thou shalt surely die. Look at verse one of chapter three. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made, and he said unto the woman, Yea, if God said ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden, and the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said ye shall not eat of it, touch it, lest you die. And the serpent said unto the woman, you shall not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be open, you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise. She took the fruit thereof and did eat, gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat." Verse six there, we see lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Great enemies. But there's a failure there, isn't there? God has said, the enemy comes in, sows doubt, twists it a little, Eve falls and then Adam falls with her. Then look at verse 22, chapter three. So what we see there, is that God says if you eat of that, in that day you shall surely die. We get to the fall and then God intervenes and he says, you need to be separated from me now, you've broken our fellowship. A man was cast out from the tree of life but also the presence of God. But Adam and Eve didn't die that day physically. But there was a separation that took place. Now that's important to understand that physical death, separation from the body, spiritual death, separation from God, is that when God said, in that day you shall surely die, that's that spiritual separation, remember? Death is separation. Now Adam went on to live a long life, but he did die, physically. But his spiritual death took place when he was banished from the garden banished from the tree of life, and all in Adam fell. Genetically, you go back all the way to Adam, and the DNA for all of us was contained in him. He fell, we fell. Humanity's federal head as representative was separated, spiritual dead. Now that's important to understand, the spiritual separation. and what death means in terms of separation from the body, separation from God. Because if you don't get this, this will lead to all sorts of error. I've talked about the Jehovah's Witnesses and what they talk about death. I want you to listen to this clip. Now this is not all of this clip. The context of this clip is in relation to somebody that wants to promote abortion within Christendom. But off the back of this, is a faulty misunderstanding of death, of separation. And let's see where it goes. I love the story of Eve in the garden. My second child is named Eve. When we look at it with fresh eyes, it's quite a remarkable story. Have you ever noticed that God lied to Adam and Eve? While the serpent plays the role of the foil here, he's meant to set Eve up for her role as the bringer of wisdom and moral agency to the human community. The setup for this action that she takes is that God lied to her. God told the first couple, you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you will die. And the serpent reveals the truth. You won't die. See where it goes? Where does it go? They didn't die under the understanding that death is... But they died spiritually, separated. And see what that's being used as a platform now? To push on to really, which is humanism 101, which is what the devil sowed at the beginning, it's humanism. You can be as gods. You know better than God. And that's what happened. Death is separation, it's not non-existence. There is a point where we, if the Lord tarries, we will all face separation from our bodies. It's coming one day. But outside of Christ, we are born into this world separated from God, dead in trespasses and sins. You cannot get any further separated from God than we are when we're born into this world because of our sin nature, going all the way back to the garden that separated us from the presence of the one who created us, who holds everything in his hands. So what we were was removed from God. But then Paul in Ephesians 2 also says that we're rebellious. Look at what he says in verse 2. Where in times past you walked according to the course of this world. What is he saying? We followed the world. Separated from God, went into the world, and followed it, just like our first parents in the garden. 1 John chapter two, you don't need to turn there, verse 15 to 16 says, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him, For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of lives, not of the Father, but of the world. Take that verse, you transpose it into what's going on with Eve, you will see the very three same things. She looked at it, it was good to the eyes, pleasant, desires to make one wise. What's that? Lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, the pride of life. So because of our separation from God, we went into the world and we followed the world. Ultimately, we followed Satan. That's what Paul says, Ephesians 2.2. According to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air. Who is that? That's the God, lowercase g, of this world, Satan. Because that's what happened in the garden. We've just read about it. That man chose to follow Satan and his word instead of God and his word. Follow the world, we followed Satan. Look at the end of verse two. The spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. among whom we had all our conversation, manner of lives and times past, lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of our flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. Followed the world, followed Satan, followed our sinful desires. This is who we were, sinners reveling in sin, led by our lusts, directed by our desires, Our heart leading us wherever it wanted to take us. And we know that Jeremiah tells us the heart's deceitfully wicked. Who can know it? And God knows our hearts. And this is what God says about our hearts. This is what we were. Dead. Separated from God. Disobedient. And ultimately, doomed. Doomed. That's what we were, apart from the glorious intervention of God. Because here's the good news. Let's read verse four. Ephesians 2, two words that change the game. Remember who we were, dead, disobedient, doomed. But God. But God. Without those two words, we'd all be stuck at what we were. Verse four, but God who is rich in mercy, for his great love where he has loved us, even when we were dead, separated in our sins, out of fellowship with him, no connection with him, no communication with him, he's quickened us, made us alive together with Christ. By grace are ye saved. But God, but God, If we know Him, this is what we are. Number one, we're rich. It says here that God is rich in His mercy, and He is. But because God is rich in His mercy towards us, that means we are rich. And you may wake up this morning, if you're here as a believer, and you may check the bank balance. You may have done it this morning, online banking. You can go on there and you can look. And probably it's the same as it was the night before or maybe worse. You may think I am broke. Broke, broke, brokedy broke. When's payday? But for the believer, we are rich beyond rich beyond rich. There's no fluctuation in the value of the currency that we're rich in. Because it's spiritual and it's from above. Stocks and shares, up and down. Cryptocurrency, up and down. The pound, up and down. All the currencies of the world, the riches of the world, up and down. Something that's worth something today will be worth nothing tomorrow. But these riches are eternal. The value is fixed. Never moves, never changes. Eternal riches. Why? But God. But God. He's taken us from a place where we are spiritually bankrupt. I want you to get that. Spiritually bankrupt. There's nothing happening there. There's not a little of the Spirit. There's nothing of the Spirit when you're dead and trespassing sins. It's not happening. And he takes that and he gives us spiritual life in Christ. He takes us from bankruptcy to overabundance. But God, but God. Martin Lloyd-Jones says about those two words, these two words in and of themselves in a sense contain the whole of the gospel of Christ and I agree with him. But God, so we're rich because God and his love and his mercy Why were we yet sinners? Christ died for us. And the God who is rich in his mercy is rich in his mercy to us and his grace to us. So we're rich and we are regenerated. Look at verse five. Even when we were dead in sins, this is the glorious intervention that you could not make your way to God. There was no way to get to God by yourself. Dead, separated, the bridge is broken. And God intervened. And Christ came. We call Christ the last Adam. Because the first Adam failed. The last Adam didn't fail. He was the victor. Jesus begins his ministry. He's baptized, first thing. Who does he face? The great enemy. who comes in with the very same tactic he did all those years in the garden, hath God said, Adam failed. Christ was victorious. And because of his victorious life, his victorious death, his victorious ascension, we can be made alive in him. Regenerate it. This brings the truth of John 14, 6 home to me all the time. I am the way, the truth, and the life. Nobody comes to God but by me. Let me paraphrase that a little. Nobody has their spirit made alive but by me. Because your spirit is what connects you to God. And because God has intervened, because God has stepped in, given his life for ours, that our spirits are alive, quickened, Brought alive in Christ. Now we're three parts. If you're here this morning, you're a believer. You're three parts and you're three part functioning. You now have a communication channel with God. The spirit is alive and you can connect with God, because God is a spirit. That's who you are. Saved by grace, the connection is now possible. Now you can talk to God. Now you can fellowship with God, because you're no longer an enemy of God. You're no longer a child of wrath, no longer a child of disobedience. You're now a child of God, saved, rich beyond rich, regenerated, brought alive in Him. That's who you are. If you know Him, this morning. That's the gospel, but God. God doesn't leave it there. Look at verse 6, Ephesians 2. We want to see what we will be. Verse 6 says, And hath raised us up together, 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 towards us through Christ Jesus. Here we have the already and not yet for the believer. And Paul's already talked about this, if you remember, as we talked about the adoption, the son placing, that time where we fully placed in Christ, we'll be like him, sin will have no more dominion over us, no hold, it'll be gone forever. We'll be with the Lord forever. So not only does God step in, give us new life and save us, but he gives us all of this position and privilege that he didn't have to give us. It would have been enough if he'd simply just forgiven our sins. Reminds me of the Jewish song, Dayanu, which repeats the line, it would have been enough. It's beautiful, you should listen to the words. And it talks about how God delivers him out of Egypt. And it basically says, God, if you'd revealed your word to us, it would have been enough. God, if you'd have just taken us out of Egypt, it would have been enough. God, if you'd have just dwelt with us in the tabernacle, it would have been enough. For us this morning, we say, God, save me from my sins. That would have been enough. But God does so much more. And this is grace, unmerited favor, getting something you don't deserve. Paul says that we'll be raised, verse six, he hath raised us up together to meet us set in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And so there's an already and there's a not yet in this. The already is that we are in Christ, we are raised with him, Seated in heavenly places means the authority that comes from Christ, not the position, seated position. But it does point to a time where we will be seated with him. The word there, raised together, compound word in the Greek, we get the word sink from it. If you're into your computers, if you work on computers and you do a lot in the cloud, you have to wait for your computer to sink. Does that mean it gets the data from the other computer and it matches them, puts them together? That's the same word here. It literally means we are synced with Christ. What he has, we have. Beautiful. It's beautiful. Synced with Christ, seeded with Christ. We don't have to succumb to the world that we follow. That's not what we were. raised, verse seven says we're rewarded, sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus that in the ages to come, verse seven, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace, his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus. This is the amazing truth of the gospel that I think we miss. Not only does God not give us the punishment we deserve, but he gives us so much more than what we actually deserve. Grace upon grace upon grace. And what we will be ultimately is in a place with him where we will have eternal pleasure forevermore. Psalm 16 verse 11, King David writes, they will show me the path of life in thy presence is fullness of joy at thy right hand Our pleasures forevermore. What we will be is one day seated at the right hand of the King. Pleasures forevermore. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians chapter two, but as it is written, I have not seen nor heard, neither entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. There's a coming, a day. We will be like him. That's what John says, 1 John. Beloved, now we are the sons of God. This is the already. And it does not appear what we shall be, the not yet. But we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. This is the adoption, some placement. That's what we will be. I mean, how amazing is that? that God in his grace looks at what we were, wretched sinner, hearts full of wickedness, deceitful, disobedient, dead, no relationship with God, at enmity, at war with God. God steps in, says, I'm gonna forgive all of your sins. I'm not gonna punish you. That would have been enough. Thank God says, but this is what I'm going to do. I'm just going to let you go free. I'm going to make you a son and a daughter. And one day you will inherit everything that I have. It's what we were, what we are, and what we will be. But finally, I want to look at what we're to do. Look at verse number eight. Here, Paul goes back and kinda repeats, for by grace you're saved through faith, not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus onto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them. This is what we're to do. First of all, we're to remember. That's why Paul says what he said again, so that we remember this. What do we remember? That our salvation is all of God. It's His glorious intervention in our lives. We were separated from Him with no way back. We'd blown it. But God, but God, it's His grace, it's His mercy. And the God who's above all and beyond all, I mean, this is the God that created everything. Who are we? compared to him, but yet, yet, God reaches down the hand of grace, and the sinner in his sin just needs to reach up the hand of faith, and God takes the sinner and pulls him out of the married clays, what the Bible says, sets him upon a rock, cleans him up, and says, this is my son or my daughter. And one day I'm gonna give them everything. We're to remember that. That we're raised and seated with him. And remember that, that helps us. And it should fill our lives and fuel our lives. That's what grace should do. To wake up in the morning and remember what you were. Remember who you are, and remember who you will be. So that's important. But then secondly, we're not just to remember and leave it there, we are to respond. So Paul tells us, verses eight and nine, about the glorious intervention of God, our saving grace that brings us alive in Christ. None of us, it's not of works this, we should get proud. And then he says in verse 10, we are his workmanship. That word workmanship literally means masterpiece. It's used of art and statues and sculptors and all that sort of stuff. We're his masterpiece. Created in Christ Jesus. This is the new life. Which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. This is our purpose. We're to remember that we are the recipients of God's grace, but we are to respond to that grace. Not leave it lying, but respond and walk in the life that God has ordained for you, the good works. So this is the truth that James says, faith without works is dead. Works, I mean the things that we do. Works aren't the root of our salvation, but they should be the fruit of our salvation. Works aren't the root of our salvation, but they should be the fruit of our salvation. Jesus says, John 14, 21, he that hath my commandments, keep it then, he it is that loveth me. And he that loveth me shall be loved in my Father, and I will love him and will manifest myself to him. Let me ask you a question this morning, church. Do you love him? Do you love him? Then walk in the works, the good works that he has ordained for you. This is a universal first for the believer this morning. Oh, I don't know what God has for me. He has something. I know that. It's part of what we're to do. We belong to God and God is working on us and in us so that he might work through us. But we have to respond to the grace that's been given to us. So let's go through these again, just wrap it up. What we were, removed, separated from God, dead in trespasses and sins, rebellious, gone after our fallen nature, our deceitful heart, the sin that lies within us. But God, in his glorious intervention, brings us to what we are. If you're a believer here this morning, you're rich beyond measure. You're regenerated, you're alive in him. You're no longer dead to God. You're alive in God. And the important truth that I want to just add to that is that we couldn't do anything to make our spirit alive in God And it's just as we couldn't do anything to make our spirit alive in God, we cannot do anything to kill and make our spirit in God dead once again. It's God that chooses the separation, not us. And God has said in his word, Mike wrote it in his card, who shall separate us from the love of God? We were separated, we're now regenerated in him, spirit alive. But God doesn't leave it there, what we will be. Raised ultimately to be at his right hand, to rule and reign with him. Romans 8, co-heirs with Christ. Raised and rewarded. But what are we to do with that? Because it's a travesty if we do not do anything with the grace that we've been given. It's a travesty. What are we to do? Remember and respond. So let me just close with two thoughts of application, and I'll let you go. Two thoughts of application from all of this. Number one, when we reject God's intervention, we are lost forever. Number one. See, this is all of God. It's his glorious intervention. But if we reject it, and that is our choice, We're lost forever, separated forever. Number two, when we accept God's intervention, we are loved forever. What makes the difference between point one and point two? But God, but God. I wanna challenge you this morning, where are you? Number one or number two? Because there is no middle ground. No middle ground this morning, no matter where you are. You're number one or you're number two. But God has given you a way to get from number one to number two. That's the glorious intervention of God. What we were, removed rebellious. What we are, rich regenerated. What we will be, raised and rewarded. What we will do, what we're to do, remember and respond. John Newton, who wrote to him Amazing Grace, said these words and then we'll go to prayer. John Newton said, I'm not what I ought to be, I am perfect and efficient. I'm not what I wish to be. I abhor what is evil, and I would cleave to what is good. I'm not what I hope to be. Soon, soon shall I put off mortality, and with mortality all sin and imperfection. Yet though I am not what I ought to be, nor what I wish to be, nor what I hope to be, I can truly say I am not what I once was, a slave to sin and Satan, and can heartily join with the apostle and acknowledge by the grace of God I am what I am. I don't know about you this morning, church, but I am eternally thankful for the glorious intervention of God.