And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past 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 ye 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 in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye 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 were called the uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands, that at that time you 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 afar 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 petition between us, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace. and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby. He came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh, for through him we both have access by one 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 an habitation of God through the Spirit. So reads God's precious word. Now two months ago, just before I went away, we looked at the first seven verses, was it, of this particular chapter, perhaps the first four verses, and we were reminding ourselves of what we were before we became believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, before our conversion, and how that Paul here lays it out so starkly for us. We can have no pride at all, can we, in what we were before we were saved. Paul tells us that we were dead, we were depraved, we were deluded, we were disobedient, we were defiled, darkened and doomed. A terrible condemnation fallen mankind and he says if you feel at all at any time that you are better than others he said in verse 3 even as others he says we were all tarred with the same brush and it's an absolute statement it's not just merely in danger of death but in a state of real present death Paul says you were dead in sins Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. How can that be, we asked ourselves, for we are alive, very obviously alive. But the area that matters most, our never-dying soul, has no life except it be regenerated by God through the auspices of the Holy Spirit and faith in Christ Jesus in his death on the cross at Calvary for us. Harsh words then from Paul but absolutely true of each and every one of us. And so he went on to explain how that we were dead in trespasses and sins, dead in the flesh. Those who were without Christ, dominated by the world from without, the flesh from within, and the devil from beyond. These three things were the dominating things in our life before Christ. And we could not be raised, we cannot raise the dead to life, Once life is completely gone, finished, is it after four minutes? Something like that, isn't it? If they haven't revived us by then, we are naturally dead. We cannot raise the dead. As human beings we're either well, or we're sick, or we're dead. If we're well, we might accomplish that by our diet, by our exercising and by the various vitamins and things that we might take. If we're sick, we go to the doctor in an effort to be made well. If we're dead, physically dead, we're beyond help. beyond help and we said how that it reminded us that here we were in death valley in the valley of death death of the soul and a man's help can avail nothing whatsoever so that's what we were that's what how we were we were dead in trespasses and sins we were in death valley if you like And now we come to an uplifting section tonight. Verses four down to seven. For we're going to visit here the very heights of life. Resurrection life. This is what we are in and through the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ and through the electing grace of God. We're going to be raised to the heights of, from being absolutely, as it were, totally dead in our sins, we're going to be raised into resurrection life. the heights of life this resurrection journey then from death's valley to the spiritual heights of life accomplished only by resurrection man is radically dead and he can be saved only by the radicalized by the radicalness of resurrection that's what it takes for us to be made alive in christ As born again believers, we've experienced that resurrection power in our life. We've been blessed by that power being shed abroad in our hearts in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. chapter 1 we read in verses 19 and that he and what is the exceeding greatness of his power god's power to usward who believe according to the working of his mighty power That's what it took to raise us from being spiritually dead to be those who are in the very heights of resurrection life. It took the power of God, the working of his mighty power, the same power, exactly the same power which he worked when he raised Christ from the dead. That's the resurrection power that we need if we are to be those who are going to inherit eternal life. Self-help can never save those who are dead in their sins. No one can escape from death. save they be made alive together with Christ and this is the gospel that we preach surely we cannot shun our way from it we have to be perfectly clear that apart from that resurrection life imparted to us on conversion that indwelling of the Holy Spirit within us. We cannot hope to see God. There's nothing that we can do. Self-help is absolutely without help to us whatsoever. Even as Colin explained to us recently, the very faith that we have, we rely on the power of God placing within us through the auspice of the Holy Spirit. so no one can escape eternal death save they be made alive together with christ and that comes about by the tremendous power that paul explains to us here in chapter one was working through christ when he raised him from the dead the same power is operating in us as we are made alive verses two and three told us what we were and that we were getting worse And we thought of the word deprovement. I don't know whether it's a real word or not, but it makes sense, doesn't it? You know, if we live our lives without Christ, without that resurrection life within us, without the Holy Spirit within us, without that hope that we have, we've been singing about in that lovely hymn. If we don't have that within us, then we are just going to be deproving ourselves all the time. We're going to be sinning more. We're adding up more sins into our life. We're completely, utterly headed downward. in a downward direction. But now, with this resurrection life, we are no longer going to be, or we should be, no longer being deproved. We should be improving. That's the thought that Paul is trying to impress upon us here. That because, because of this resurrection life that we enjoy, because of the salvation that's been meted out to us then he says you should be going to improve all the time until eventually that day will come and we've been singing of it when we shall meet the Savior in the air go into his lovely presence to be with him forever then we shall be completely improved there won't be any improvement of us in heaven praise God we'll be absolutely perfect what a lovely situation that will be what a day to look forward to. But you know with this spiritual resurrection that we've been thinking about comes to a spiritual ascension. Verse six says, and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Notice it doesn't say, it doesn't read and will raise us up together and will make us sit together in heavenly place. It says has made us sit together in heavenly places. And in just the same way that the Lord Jesus Christ was raised from the dead and eventually ascended into heaven itself, so you and I in salvation have been raised from the dead. and have ascended into the very presence of God. I know I've said it before, and I say it often, and I say it again. You know, it's a wonderful fact, isn't it? That God sees you, sees me today, as though we were already in heaven. He doesn't see any improvement to be made at all. He sees us complete in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He sees us in heaven itself. Let's just take a moment to, I'll read the verses to you in Romans and chapter eight. He says, and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. You and I have been called. and he then goes on to say for whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate and predestination means that we've been set a goal we've been a place has been named that we're heading for heaven itself that eternity to be spent with the lord jesus christ predestinated to be conformed to the image of his son. That's the goal we're heading towards, that's what we're aiming at. That he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified, and whom he justified, listen to it, them he also glorified. you and I have been called, we've been justified and God says you've been glorified as well. You carry that glory now. And a few months ago I think we were looking at the Lord's Prayer, weren't we, in John chapter 17 and reminding ourselves there that the Lord Jesus Christ was praying that his glory might shine forth out of our lives that the only opportunity that many people out there in the world will have of seeing anything of the glory of God is in you and in me. That's a challenge, isn't it? How much of the glory of God have we shown, and I speak to myself, have we shown today as we've moved amongst fallen mankind? Did they see something of the Lord Jesus in the way we behaved, the way we spoke, the way we acted, the way we reacted? so often I fear in my life they see nothing of Christ and I long that they might see more of him but this is what Paul is saying here he says you've ascended into the very heavenlies as it were today God sees you as though you were already in heaven itself made alive then ascended into heaven seen as though we were in heaven then he goes on and he tells us this even more he says there are riches added to you verse 7 that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through christ jesus the riches of his grace story was once told of a lady who was asked by a gentleman where are your jewels then Where are your jewels? Where is your ornaments? There they are, she said, my two sons. They're my jewels, they're my ornaments. That's what God says, you see, that's what the Lord Jesus says of you and of me. We are his jewels. And so he says, so is the church to Christ. It's his bride, it's his jewel. And because of that, he is going to shower his resurrected children, he says in this verse, with inexhaustible riches. He will show his love and kindness to each and every born again believer. Before his return, at his return and even after his return. Paul says it's going to be in all ages. And so today we can rest safe sure in the fact that God will bestow his riches upon each and every one of us. It's up to us to recognize it. It's up to us to appropriate it and appreciate it. That we are being blessed in a way that no one else in this world ever can be blessed because we are children of God. Show his love and kindness to each and every one of us. uh before his return in this very day at his return what a wonderful day that will be when we will see the savior face to face and then after his return through all ages he will shower us with loving kindness so we were in death's valley of the soul. We were lost, we were helpless, we were hopeless. But we've been raised to the highest heavens. We are fully alive. Alive as no one else is in this world. Verses 8 to 10. The journey has been made. We've been taken from hell to heaven itself. We've been released from bondage and set free. We've travelled from darkness into light, despair to hope, wrath to glory, death to life itself. How is that? Well Paul goes on to tell us that it's all of grace and it certainly isn't of works. We can claim no right. We can claim no right at all to having done anything in our lives that would appease a holy righteous God. It is absolutely impossible. And verse eight is a wonderful verse, isn't it? For by grace are ye saved, through faith, that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. It's the gospel, the gospel in those few words. It tells us all about salvation. It tells us about the source of salvation. It tells us about the certainty of salvation. It tells us about the object of salvation, the purpose of it, and the way of it. The source, it says, those first words say, by grace. by grace. That's the source of salvation. Grace, as you know, is that undeserved favour that is placed upon us. We didn't deserve the grace of God. We didn't deserve to be saved. We deserve to be lost for all eternity. We think of love in the world in which we live. We think of somebody who is dear to us, who is close to us, who we are very affectionate towards. That's horizontal love. Love for each other. But then there's upwards love because into our lives perhaps comes somebody, a partner that we marry or our parents or whatever. Somebody who we love in a very much deeper way. And that I like to think of as upward love. It's adoration. It's different from the love we have perhaps for each other on a natural basis. But here we have adoration because this person is so special to us, so real to us. But God, you know, looked downwards in love. And that was grace. Love that looked down and loved us. Not the sin, but loved the sinner. That is grace. Grace, one has said, is love, which after fulfilling the obligations imposed by the law, has an inexhaustible wealth of kindness. That's what grace is. Undeserved favour of God. in our lives. A note particularly, verse 9, not of works, lest any man should boast. Have you ever thought of writing the plan of salvation and handing it to God? If he'd asked you or me to write the plan, how can people be saved? I say it reverently. It'd be a lot of doing in it, wouldn't there? You know, it's like many of the so-called religions of the world. There's a lot to be done. But with salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ, it's not what we're doing. It's not what we're not doing, because it's all been done by the Lord Jesus Christ at Calvary's cross. And I guess that if you and I wrote the plan of salvation, we would have a lot of things to be done. It would be physically demanding to get ourselves saved. And then he goes on to tell us the certainty of salvation. He says, for by grace you might be saved. He doesn't. He says, for by grace are ye saved. Salvation is an immediate and present possession. Remember the dying thief on the cross? Today thou shalt be with me in paradise. You know, he didn't have to wait, did he? He didn't have any time to wait. He was on death's door, as it were. But the Lord Jesus Christ saved him on that day. And so it is with you and with me. When we are saved, we are saved. We can never lose that salvation. Not in any way, shape or form can we lose it. For that surely would place God in the position of having got it wrong. And how could that be? When God saved you and he saved me, he saved us for all eternity. No matter what we do, no matter how we live our lives beyond that, we'll see something of that in just a moment, but by grace are you saved. And the object of that salvation is the word you. That's the object, isn't it? It's personal. Verses one to three showed us what we were individually. And here salvation is offered to the individual. Even me. Amazing, isn't it? Salvation, the object of it, is you and me. The purpose of it, for by grace are ye saved. That's the purpose of it. We're saved. We're not going to elaborate these points tonight. We're saved from sin's penalty. We're saved from that eternal loss because of our faith in Christ. We're saved from the penalty. We're saved from the very power of sin. So often you and I, I guess, feel so ineffective in dealing with sin in our lives and the sin that is around us all the time. Surely you cry out like I do sometimes. What can I do to free myself from this sin? God says, you've got the Holy Spirit living within you, that divine person is living within you, and rely upon him. Fill your lives with the things of the Bible, with the things of God, and you'll have victory over the power of sin. eventually of course the glory is that we'll be saved from the very presence of sin there'll be no sin in heaven we'll be freed from these sinful bodies the old nature will be gone and we shall be in heaven forever in that perfect sphere and we shall too be perfect in that day through grace i.e saved by grace i.e saved that's the source it's certain It's personal. You are the object. And the purpose is that you might be saved, that you might be in heaven with the Lord Jesus through all eternity. And the way of that? By grace, i.e. saved through faith. That's the way of salvation. That belief in action. that belief that you can be saved that Christ died for you and that faith being released in your soul to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your own and personal saviour. Through faith we are saved. Faith not reasoning is the basis of doing the seemingly impossible. It would seem impossible that we can find ourselves in a day to come in heaven itself of our own volition of our own works and we can do but we can do the impossible by putting faith in the Lord Jesus Christ believing that he died on the cross for us faith not reasoning then is the basis of doing the seemingly impossible and the object of faith of course is the Lord Jesus Christ that's the objects Then verse 9 tells us that salvation is bestowed by grace, received by faith. Paul says to the Romans on one occasion, all boasting is completely excluded. To the Corinthians he said, if we must glory, then let's glory in the Lord, not ourselves, nothing that we have done, nothing that we can do. Let's glory in the Lord. So there we have it. In verse eight, in a nutshell, salvation, the source of it, the certainty of it, the object of it, the purpose of it, and the way, just in those seven words. Verse 10, but. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. We've already decided, I hope, and we're firm on the belief that works will never save us. Good works can never save us, however good we are. But if that is true, then we are most assuredly saved for good works. not saved by them, but saved for them. We are a new creation in Christ Jesus. Therefore, we must live a life as nearly as possible to the life that he lived. Works are not the ground of salvation, but the fruit of it. James will tell you that faith without works is dead. That's what demonstrates that we have faith. The works that we do on behalf of the Lord Jesus Christ, on the behalf of God, in accordance with God's word. Those are the things that demonstrate that we have faith. You know, if we're not showing good works of spiritual nature, if we're not doing those good works, then it has to be questioned whether we actually have exercised faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith without works, James says, is death. Profession is dead. Profession is not sufficient to demonstrate true faith. It has to be ongoing. Paul is going to elaborate on these particular thoughts in considerable detail in the rest of this epistle, which in the will of the Lord we shall come to on future occasions. But here in these first 10 verses we have what we were, what we are, and what we need to be doing into the future. Amen.