If you'll stay right there in Ephesians chapter two, the title of the message is By Grace We Are Saved. Now you know as well as I do that most everybody that we know claims to be saved by grace. Often we sing the same hymns people that do not really understand grace but you know Amazing Grace is one of the most popular songs even among unbelievers. They love to hear it and it's a great song. Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I did read in one religious organization who had changed the wording of that because they didn't like to call themselves a wretch. Amazing grace, what amazing grace it is. But they don't want to say we're wretches. You know what a wretch is, don't you? Well, we're going to find out here in the first three verses of Ephesians chapter two. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a sinner or a person like me. That's what they said. But these verses, these first 10 verses especially, along with what has been taught and revealed in chapter one, show us the reality of what real grace is like. And it's easy to go around saying, well, you know, grace is a free gift. You know, somebody says, we believe in free grace. Well, there's no other kind because if it's grace, you know this, you cannot earn whatever it is and you cannot deserve it. See, that's what grace is. It's God giving something, blessings, benefits, salvation to people who don't deserve that salvation and who have not earned it. In fact, they deserve and earn the opposite, damnation. And that's what this thing of grace is all about. Sometimes we like to use these, what they call acrostics, I think. And you take the word grace, G-R-A-C-E, and people will put different spins on it. Some of them are good, though, like this one, God's riches at Christ's expense. God's righteousness at Christ's expense. It's okay, if you understand that. But here's what grace really is. It is salvation with all of its blessings, all of its benefits, all of its qualities conditioned on one person. And that person is the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not conditioned on you and not conditioned on me. If it were, It would fail. It would fail. And you may be sitting there and you say, well, not me. Oh, well, yes, you. Somebody said, well, I'm trying to be a good person. Well, that's OK. Try to be a good person. But you're still not going to be good enough to earn or deserve grace, salvation. And that's what, I probably quote this Ephesians 2, 8, and 9 just about every time I preach on television. Because it says it all, by grace are you saved, through faith, that's not of yourself. Even your faith. And I'm one who believes that this faith thing here, ultimately and primarily, refers to the faith of Christ. His faithfulness to do the work. But it does include our believing. But our believing is a gift from God, he says. It's not of works. It's not of your will. You don't just decide on any given day that you're going to be saved. That's not the way it works. Read your Bible. And to show that, look at this, the first three verses. Here's point number one. of God's grace in and by Christ. Now these first three verses, what they do is they describe the state of all people by nature. And when I say by nature, what I mean is as we are naturally born. You see, the Bible teaches that we fell into a state of sin and death in our forefather Adam. That's the fall of man. That's the doctrine of the fall. And brought us into a state of spiritual death, spiritual death now. We're alive physically, we have souls, but spiritually, naturally, we're dead, the scripture says. Now that's why Christ told a man like Nicodemus, you must be born again, spiritually, from above. But because of our fallen Adam, we fell into a state of spiritual death and depravity. Now that's the doctrine of total depravity. Now what do you think of when you think of a person being totally depraved? You think of the maniacs in the prisons or something? They are. But that's all of us by nature. Look at it. He says, and you hath he quickened, Now Mark read that, it says made alive. That's what that means. He made you alive. You who God made alive. Now that's the new birth. To be quickened is to be made alive. Born again by the Spirit through the Word of God. You who have been made alive before that, in other words, your present state is you're spiritually alive by the grace of God, by the power of God, by the will of God, not your own will. You didn't will yourself into this new state of grace. We're born in the state of death and depravity, but when we're born again by God from above, we enter a new state, a new reality of existence, being born again a believer, a sinner saved by grace. And so, and you who he hath made alive, Here's what you were before he made you alive. That's what he's saying in these verses. You were dead in trespasses and sins. Now, let me describe something about spiritual death here. It's like you, and we're sitting here, and you hear what I say, and you may even understand to a point what I say, but in reality, it doesn't mean a thing to you. That's spiritual death. You understand that? You walk away unaffected. You don't really believe it. It's not life and death. Now why does a person do that? Why would you do that when you know that the only way of salvation and eternal life is in the gospel of God's grace? Why would a person turn that down? I'll tell you why. It's because we're all spiritually dead. Now why would a person believe it? Because God has made them by grace and his power spiritually alive. Hold your finger there and turn over to 1 Corinthians chapter one. Let me show you another verse that describes this state of spiritual death and depravity. It's 1 Corinthians chapter one and verse 18. It says, for the preaching of the cross. Now the preaching of the cross is a way of stating the preaching of the gospel that is wrapped up in the glorious person and the finished work of Christ. Who is Jesus Christ? Why he came to this earth, what he accomplished, why he did it, where is he now? We read it, there is a fountain filled with blood, that's the blood of Christ, his death to satisfy God's justice in order to be merciful to his people. It's the forgiveness of sins on a just ground. So the preaching of the cross, he says, for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish, or literally who are perishing in a state of perishing, it's foolishness. Now, it's foolishness because they don't believe it. But unto us which are saved or are being saved, it's the power of God. That's the difference. Look back at Ephesians 2. You were dead in trespasses and sins. Born that way. Everybody. And here's the way you gotta look at it if you're gonna read the Bible properly. If you're gonna understand what it means. This verse, when he talks about those who were dead in trespasses and sins, that is the natural state of all people from the best people to the worst people and everybody in between. You take the best person that ever lived on earth who lived and died in unbelief. You know, there are people who are unbelievers who are moral, dedicated, and loyal in the sight of people, but they don't believe in the gospel. They don't believe in Christ. Well, this describes them. Look at verse two, he says, where in time past you walk. Now this is how they walk. This is the conduct of their lives, the course of their lives, according to the course of this world, this unbelieving, sin-cursed world, tied to the world, a citizen of the world, worldliness. And that's not just immorality, that's the world's religion too. Understand that. It's that religion that conditions salvation on sinners and measures righteousness and holiness on that sliding scale, comparing each other with each other and feeling good about how you come out of that measurement. That's what it is. And so They walked according to the course of the world. That doesn't refer only to the bank robbers and the drug pushers. They are in that state. But it refers to the best of the best that man by nature can do. And he says, according to the prince of the power of the air, that's Satan, the devil. A lot of people today believe he doesn't exist. Well, He's won the battle there, hasn't he? That's the best thing he can do, get victories, is to have you deny him. Do you know that false religion is satanic? It is. Do you know that? I mean, you know, they talk about Satan worshipers, and they make movies about Satan worshipers, and they all got, you know, they wear black robes and kill cats and sit around a cauldron and all. That's myth. The best place that Satan wants to find people is sitting in a religious organization listening to a false gospel of salvation by works. He's deceptive. The high school that I went to back up in Kentucky was called Russell, and our mascot was the Russell Red Devils. We used to chant R-U-S-S-E-L, Russell, Russell, give them. That was our chant. And in the gym, there was a big wooden cutout of a devil, red with a forked tongue and a pitchfork and a tail. That's the devil. No, 2 Corinthians chapter 11 tells us that Satan and his ministers appear as angels of light. It's deceptive. Satan is a religious devil. Don't ever forget it. And then he says, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. Now in the Bible, a child of disobedience is an unbeliever. I understand that. Any unbeliever, I don't care who they are or what they're trying to do, they may have the Ten Commandments hung around their neck. If they don't believe in Christ, they're a child of disobedience. And he says in verse three, among whom also we all had our conversation in times past. This is true of all of us, even those who are now quickened. This is what you were. In the lust of our flesh, Now what is lust? Now we always always think of lust as sexual, unlawful sexual desire, but it's more than that. It's any unlawful desire. The desire for salvation based upon our works is an unlawful desire. Did you know that? Now why is it unlawful? Because God commands us to seek salvation not by our works, but in Christ, by his grace. Do you understand that? He says, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. That's the natural mind. And look at this, and we're by nature, that is as we are naturally born, the children of wrath even as others. What that's saying, a child of wrath is a person who goes through this life in unbelief and dies in that state. I made mention in the funeral message yesterday, Mike, and you remember this. There are only two ways to die. Did you know that? Oh, we can talk about cancer and heart disease and all of these things and accidents as we see them. We can talk about all, but in reality, when it comes down to the nut of the matter, there's only two ways to die. You either die in your sins and perish, or you die in Christ and live forever. And that's it. I want to die in Christ. I want to stand before God washed in his blood and clothed in his righteousness. And you know why I desire that? Because God gave me that desire. I didn't desire that naturally. And what he's saying here is that those who were quickened, made alive by the Spirit to know Christ, that by nature, as we were naturally born, we were no different than the children of wrath. We're no more deserving of God's grace than those who live and die in unbelief without Christ. You see what, this is grace. Now, beginning in verse four, he shows us secondly, the exceeding fullness of God's grace in and by Christ. How far does God's grace go? How deep is it? How high is it? What's the width and the length and the breadth of it? Well, look at verse four, he says, but God, who is rich in mercy, God loves to show mercy. He's a merciful God, but not at the expense of His justice. There's mercy from God. There's grace and love, but only in Christ. Based upon His blood, His satisfying justice. And it says, for His great love wherewith He loved us. That's undeserved love. And my friend, I'm sorry. I'm not sorry, it's just true. It is not given to everybody without exception. It's given to his children, his chosen people. And it's in Christ. You say, well, where's there any hope for me? Look to Christ. That's where your hope is. And all who do can enter into this great love wherewith he loved us. That's what he says. No greater love. God who sent his Son into the world, how shall he not freely with him give us all things? And he says in verse five, listen to this now, this great love wherewith he loved us, this richness of mercy, even when we were dead in sins. Now what does that tell you about his love? What does that tell you about his mercy? What does that tell you about his grace? Even when we were dead in sins, that means we didn't earn it, we didn't deserve it. We didn't make a decision to get it. You see what I'm saying? We didn't walk an aisle and get baptized and give our hearts to Jesus in order to get God to do all this. Or to make Christ's work effectual. That's not how it happens. Even when we were dead in sin, and what did He do? Hath quickened us together with Christ. Now, the quickened, being made alive here, has to do with our identity and unity with Christ. This is not talking about the new birth. Now there is the new birth, and that's what verse one, you hath he quickened, made alive. That's the new birth. That comes later in the preaching of the gospel when God appointed a time for his people to come to know him and to bring them into the kingdom. But this quickening happened when Christ died. When Christ was buried. When Christ arose again. Now how do you know that? Three times you see this word here, together. Now there are people here this morning who have been born again by the Spirit. I believe I'm one of them. I'm not gonna go around and point each one out and say who is and who's not today. But here's the point. We were not born again by the Spirit together. It happened to me sometime back in the late 70s. It happened to some of you later on. That wasn't something we experienced together. Paul said it this way, at God's appointed time, he said, when it pleased the Lord to reveal His Son in me. So there's an appointed time for each one of Christ's sheep that God's going to send the Spirit, bring them under the preaching of the gospel, and they're going to be born again by the Spirit. That didn't happen to all of us at the same time. But what he's talking about here is being made alive judicially, representatively in Christ. Quickened us together with Christ, And it's put in parenthesis here, I don't believe the parenthesis was in the original language, but what he's saying here, by grace you are saved, by grace we're saved. If this happened together, even before we were born, is there any doubt that it's by grace? You say, well now God looked down through a telescope. I hear preachers say this all the time, it makes me sick. They say, God looked down through a telescope of time and he foresaw what you would do. Now my question is this, is that the God of the Bible? The answer is no. What we read over in Ephesians chapter one, the God who determined and works all things after the counsel of his own will, that's the God of the Bible. And look on, look at verse six. He says, and hath raised us up together. Now, when did he raise us up together? Judicially, representatively, when Christ arose. When Christ, what the Bible teaches about the elect of God, God's people, who will in time be born again, that when Christ died, they all died, he was their representative. He was our surety. Our sins had been imputed to him. And he came as our surety, our substitute, and our redeemer. You know, back in the Old Testament, when the high priest of Israel was getting ready to go into the holiest of all with the blood of a lamb, representing the people, he had to put on garments, and on breastplate he had 12 names, six on each side, and it was the names of the children of Israel, the tribes of Israel. And that's who he went into the holiest of all for. Well, the Bible says that before the foundation of the world, God chose a people and wrote their names in the Lamb's book of life. And that's the Lamb that was slain. So when Christ went on that cross, he went there having the names of his people, his sheep, he said, the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep, having the names of his sheep written on his heart. Written on his shoulder, he bore their sins. It is all conditioned on him. And he fulfilled the conditions for them. And look on, he says here, verse 6, and hath raised us up together with Christ and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. If you're a believer, do you know you're right now sitting in heavenly places in Christ Jesus? Well, how? You're sitting here in the pew. How? As Christ is your surety, your substitute, your redeemer, your representative, your life giver, your sustainer, your intercessor, He represents you. Our sins were imputed to Him, charged to Him, and His righteousness is imputed to His people, charged to His people. We are in Christ, you see. And all of this, look at verse seven. That in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace. You see, none of this can be conditioned on us. And that's the exceeding riches of his grace. The Bible says that Christ died for us even when we were yet enemies of God. That's the kind of folks God saves. that he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Jesus Christ. Outside of Christ, there's nothing but wrath from God. But when we stand before God, washed in his blood, what can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood. That's what this wine in the cup that we have, symbolizes the blood of Jesus Christ. There is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Emmanuel, that's God with us, that's Christ, his veins. And sinners plunge beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stain. He died for my sins. And I stand before God in his righteousness charged to me. And so this last part, shows us the summation of God's grace in Christ. You see, we had our need in the first three verses, our need of God's grace in Christ. In verses four through seven, the exceeding fullness of God's grace in Christ. Now here's the summation. Look at it, verse eight, for by grace are you saved through faith. The Bible represents God-given faith. as that which first applies to the Lord Jesus Christ himself in his faithfulness to fulfill all conditions that would ensure the salvation of his people. It's through his faithfulness that we're saved. And then it also includes the fact that God in the new birth when the Holy Spirit gives us life, quickens us, makes us alive, how the Holy Spirit gives us the gift of faith to lay hold of Christ, to grab hold and hold on for dear life, to believe in Him. Now, the new birth is the work of God, not our work. So how are we to approach this truth? and deal with it. Are we to sit there and say, well, then it doesn't matter what I do, if I believe it'll be God. No, we're to believe in Christ. That's our command. That's the command that God gives us rather. Seek the Lord. And he says, for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. Some commentators say, well, that just refers back to salvation and not faith. It refers to all of it. Yes, all of our salvation is not of ourselves. Faith, repentance, perseverance, it's all of grace. And he says, not of ourselves, it is the gift of God. Do you know what a gift is? A true gift in the Bible is one given to a person who doesn't deserve it and cannot earn it. A true gift. And he says in verse nine, not of works, lest any man should boast. But what are we gonna boast in? What are we gonna brag about? Galatians 6, 14, Paul wrote, God forbid that I should glory, that is boast, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians 3.3 says, for you are the circumcision, which means spiritually circumcision of the heart, quickening. We are the ones who are born again, which worship God in spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus. That's the same word as glory or boast. We boast in Christ and have no confidence in the flesh what we can do. And verse 10 sums it up, for we are his workmanship. We're not self-made people. God made us, His church collectively, and each member in it. We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus. That's the basis, that's the foundation. Christ is the glory of His person, the power of His finished work, unto, not because of, or for good works. Good works are the result, the fruit, the product, Not the cause, not the ground. We don't earn anything by good works. We don't deserve anything by good works. All good works do is testify of what God has already made us in Christ. And he says, which God hath before ordained, prepared, foreordained. that we should walk in them. And what is it to walk in good work? It's to walk in faith in Christ, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. And yes, it requires a warfare between the flesh and the spirit, seeking to be good people. Not because we have the ability to make ourselves so, but that which is through Christ and Him alone. All right, we're going to take the Lord's Supper and then we're going to sing a closing hymn.