Ephesians

[0:00] Now let the people all reach strong, and make them hold down their song.

[0:30] The shame is spread for everything, and thus the far-fled old child's hand, make them hold down their feet. Now let the people all reach strong, and make them hold down their song.

[1:18] The shame is spread for everything, and thus the far-fled old child's hand, make them hold down their feet.

[1:30] The shame is spread for everything, and thus the far-fled old child's hand, make them hold down their feet.

[1:42] The shame is spread for everything, and thus the far-fled old child's hand, make them hold down their feet.

[1:54] The shame is spread for everything, and thus the far-fled old child's hand, make them hold down their feet.

[2:06] The shame is spread for everything, and thus the far-fled old child's hand, make them hold down their feet.

[2:18] The shame is spread for everything, and thus the far-fled old child's hand, make them hold down their feet.

[2:30] The shame is spread for everything, and thus the far-fled old child's hand, make them hold down their feet.

[2:42] The shame is spread for everything, and thus the far-fled old child's hand, make them hold down their feet.

[2:54] The shame is spread for everything, and thus the far-fled old child's hand, make them hold down their feet.

[3:06] The shame is spread for everything, and thus the far-fled old child's hand, make them hold down their feet.

[3:18] The shame is spread for everything, and thus the far-fled old child's hand, make them hold down their feet.

[3:32] The shame is spread for everything, and thus the far-fled old child's hand, make them hold down their feet. The shame is spread for everything, and thus the far-fled old child's hand, make them hold down their feet.

[3:56] The shame is spread for everything, and thus the far-fled old child's hand, make them hold down their feet. The shame is spread for everything, and thus the far-fled old child's hand, make them hold down their feet.

[4:10] The shame is spread for everything, and thus the far-fled old child's hand, make them hold down their feet. In the Epistle to the Ephesians, the second chapter and the first verse.

[4:28] Ephesians 2, verse 1. And you hath he forcunded, who were dead in trespasses and sins.

[4:48] And you hath he forcunded, who were dead in trespasses and sins.

[4:59] And you hath he forcunded, who were dead in trespasses and sins. And you hath he forcunded, who were dead in trespasses and sins. And you hath he forcunded, who were dead in trespasses and sins. Yet they may well call up the question within their own souls as to whether we are amongst those who are termed you in the text.

[5:18] Have we the evidence of it? Do we bear the testimony of it? And it is this, that Paul would so aim in this epistle, so to bring before the people at Ephesus, that they might know the things that have been done for them, and the things which were yet to be done for them.

[5:47] The magnitude of the salvation which God hath indeed wrought for his people.

[5:59] Salvation is of the Lord. It was in him before the words were made. Before a time ever had a being.

[6:16] He so designed in all eternity, that wherein in his divine purpose and will, he would so have a people to be with him to all eternity.

[6:30] A people who would indeed be conformed unto the image of his dear Son, Jesus Christ.

[6:45] I do not doubt but what, when Paul is writing this epistle, he has this constantly in mind. Because of the many times, and even if you read it for yourselves, you will find it continually reiterated, that wherein God hath so purposed in his Son, Christ Jesus, to bring unto his people the knowledge of himself in the greatness of the salvation which he hath wrought out for his own.

[7:26] Therefore, he is reminding us again and again, that this knowledge and this realization of God, can only be entered into as we behold the Father manifesting himself, declaring himself in his Son, Jesus Christ.

[7:53] We can only attain unto the knowledge of God as we are brought to know the exceeding wonder of that gift of his love, wherein he sent forth his Son, for what purpose?

[8:13] To redeem his people. Yes, he would have you to know the greatness. Shall I use the word?

[8:26] Yes. The inconceivableness of that salvation which he hath wrought out for you.

[8:37] Before all time, he has settled it. He had made known his purpose and his plan in Christ Jesus.

[8:54] Christ Jesus was to be the performer and the executor of that designed will concerning the covenant in him.

[9:07] And he designed that that which was so wrought out by his Son, should indeed be made known unto everyone for whom he died, in that wherein their souls should be hockened by the Holy Ghost.

[9:28] Whatever we may say about salvation, whatever we may say about the love of God, whatever we may glibly give expression to concerning the work of Christ, my dear hero, none of us know anything about it, apart from that divine enlightenment and teaching of the Holy Spirit.

[9:57] And if we have not in our possession that work of the Holy Spirit, then we have no part nor lot in that which pertaineth unto this great salvation.

[10:12] It is to this end, then, that in the three verses of this chapter, he reminds us of the awful state and condition in which we are by nature.

[10:30] That we are no different unto that wherein we may look upon our fellow men, that by nature we are all utterly corrupt.

[10:43] We cannot boast ourselves one against another. We are all dead in trespasses and sins by nature.

[10:56] Yes, we cannot, as it were, then afford, with a prejudiced mind. So to pass judgment upon others, when we need to pass the judgment upon ourselves.

[11:16] For who are we reading about? Are we reading simply of a world that life is the wicked one? Then I am reading of that wherein I was.

[11:31] That place wherein God in his saving grace found me. You notice in the fourth verse how there is, as it were, almost an ejaculation by the apostle unto that end.

[11:48] He tells us what we are by nature. And then he says, but God. But God. God is the author and the finisher of all that relates unto the work of salvation.

[12:09] It is God who moves toward his people. And apart from that movement of God toward us, there is no movement in our hearts toward him.

[12:24] Because we are dead. Spiritual death reigns in all the family of Adam, who were in his loins when he fell in the Garden of Eden.

[12:43] We have all received of that poison which Satan so infused into him and into Eve, that we are indeed brought into a place of alienation from God.

[13:03] And let us remember that Adam at one time in the Garden of Eden was made upright and so forth.

[13:15] He was capable of holding communion and fellowship with God. He was capable of holding communion and so forth. And he said, yes, yes, but when he fell, we see the difference.

[13:29] The desire to get away from God. The hiding of the individual amongst the trees. The terror relative unto the voice that so spake within that garden.

[13:49] Oh, it is that wherein there is the sense of separation from God. And where there is spiritual death, there is absolute separation from God.

[14:10] Oh, let us remember these things because we are so apt, as it were, to rely upon our chapel going and attending unto the various things which relate unto the traditions of our fathers, to hang on to them and so forth.

[14:26] Let us remember that that which is conveyed in salvation hath not of these things included in them.

[14:37] Those very things can only have a damning effect in our experience in time to come. It is only in that wherein we are only made to know the extent of the fall in which we are involved.

[14:56] You can never, as it were, realize the glory of that salvation, save as you are brought to look down into the depths and to see the awful depths from which God in his mercy hath delivered you.

[15:17] Yes, we might well say, but it at once breaks into my own mind, as I would so speak. What a wonder if I do know that.

[15:28] If he's opened my eyes to behold the exceeding sinfulness of sin. If he's brought me to see the awful condition in which I am by nature.

[15:41] For there are many who are not concerned about it. They have no knowledge of it. And then in that wherein we are brought into conviction of sin and to the great need of a savior.

[16:00] We have to ask ourselves, why me? We are no more deserving or meriting than anybody in the world. We are all in the same state and condition.

[16:13] And it is only in that where God in his infinite love so moves towards us in his mercy that we are brought to know the greatness of that salvation which he hath wrought out.

[16:31] Yes, it is entirely of him. Nothing in me can ever bring me into a salvable state.

[16:43] There is nothing in me by nature which can ever merit any esteem from God. It is solely by reason of the favor that God beareth toward his people.

[16:57] And what is that favor? It is that which is declared to be his grace. His favor toward the most undeserving and the most unmeriting.

[17:14] Oh yes, we use the language. But do we feel it? Are we sensible of it? That we do not deserve a single grain of love or of mercy from him because we have been active in disobedience wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world.

[17:42] Yes, you follow the passions of the world. What others did, you would do. Oh yes, everything that appertained unto man as it were became the rule of your life.

[17:58] If they did this, then I must do it. And so it went on. And we are actively engaged in rebellion against God.

[18:11] We were rebels. We would not at any time seek unto God for that which was relative to true wisdom and guidance.

[18:24] In other words, we didn't want it. God was not in all our thoughts. We see the multitudes outside the sanctuaries this day.

[18:36] Why are they there? Because they are unconscious of the reality of God. They may use the name, but they do not know that which is so evidenced in his holiness, in his justice, and in his wrath against sin.

[18:58] They are without God, and without Christ. And are you going to look at them and say, Oh yes, we were different to them.

[19:15] We may have been brought up, and to godly influences and so forth. We have never gone to the same extent as the drunkard and the adulterer and so forth.

[19:28] Go to the teaching of Christ on the mountain in Matthew 5.

[19:40] Can you use such language in the face of that which he speaketh? Are you not condemned by it? Do you not behold how short you have come?

[19:54] Of the glory of God. Yes, you know that you have been the children of disobedience. You may have known these things, but you have rebelled against them.

[20:08] You hated them. You wouldn't have them. All you wanted to do was to walk according to the course of this world, and to do what you wanted to do, and to do what your own mind was bent upon.

[20:22] Even as he goes on to declare, that you, who are the children of disobedience, are wholly held in the grip of the evil one.

[20:38] That same one who came to Arameneath, he still goeth up and down throughout the earth. He still seeketh whom he may destroy.

[20:54] He is ever active in his restlessness. He is this God in that wherein he has created this world, and pronounced it to be very good, and he designed to spoil it, and to mar it, and if possible, to destroy it.

[21:15] Yes, that is the one that is walking up and down through this earth, and governing and controlling the minds and the thoughts of men.

[21:26] One has oftentimes thought to that which relates to history. Do we want further proof of the truth of this?

[21:38] You go through the ages. You go even from the time of that wherein the setting up of the Christian church was so made known after Christ's ascension upon high.

[21:52] You see the activity of Christ on every hand. The activity of Satan on every hand. Dividing. Splitting.

[22:05] Bring constant, as it were, warfare. As I thought of these things, my mind went back to the year 1920.

[22:20] And I remember then how there was great joy, as it were, in the fact that the formation of the League of Nations, it was designed that there would be no more war, that the nations should so be gathered together in peace.

[22:39] That is the mind of man. That is that wherein he contrives. For that wherein he seeketh after peace.

[22:51] How surprised he was when that Second World War broke out. He never thought it would be possible.

[23:04] After all that which had been so entered into by the nations. But what does the Lord say about the fallen people? He said they're hate. They're hateful. And he said they're hating one another.

[23:19] My friend, the truth of what is put down in these three verses is manifest throughout the whole world. And when our Lord was here upon us, he declared, there shall be wars and rumors of wars.

[23:34] This world is never going to be any different. We look at the world today and we see the chaos that existed. We see the evident marks of the fall. We see that wherein Satan is so manipulating and contriving that which is relative to the thoughts and minds of men and to that wherein destruction is in view.

[23:58] Yes, we look around at these things and we view them. And we know that there is a mighty power. Yes, with all his own agents who is constantly at work in this world to defy God.

[24:15] Yes, and to bring to north that which was relative unto the work of God.

[24:27] And he would destroy it if he could. But if you think upon that, remember that you are one of the subjects. You were one who were under his control.

[24:43] You know what it is to have hatred and raise it in your heart and envy and maliciousness and all sorts of things. Oh, don't say that you've never had it.

[24:54] You know it to be so of a truth. It is in your heart and it's in your mind by nature. Truly the marks of that awful fall that wherein we were dead in trespasses and in sins.

[25:12] These are the people who have a darkened understanding. They are ignorant. They are blind. Yes, they cannot see.

[25:25] Their ear is stopped. Even as you may read of it in the Old Testament and in the New for that matter. You see it all.

[25:39] And then you see this. That as they are, they are the children of wrath. God's anger burns against them.

[25:51] He will make it known in that day of justice. When he will indeed judge the world by that man whom he have ordained in righteousness and in truth.

[26:05] Yes, this word is going to be judged. We must all appear at the judgment seat of Christ. What is your answer going to be?

[26:20] Are you going to plead any goodness in yourself? And that you've done this and that and the other? Or is it that you are indeed coming to the consciousness that you are utterly undone?

[26:34] And without God and without Christ and without hope in the world? Then how wonderful is the language of my text.

[26:49] Here they are, utterly hopeless, utterly helpless, the subjects of the wrath of God, that wherein they constantly pursue after the lust of their own flesh and of their own mind.

[27:05] In other words, the will and the heart of man is intent to do evil and evil continually. As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the day when the Son of Man cometh.

[27:21] But here is a wonderful note. The clarion call of the gospel. That would so bring us to the knowledge of that one who alone can save us.

[27:41] The one who alone can redeem us. And why did he die? Why, said one of the apostles, to deliver us from this present evil world?

[27:56] What a mercy if you are numbered amongst them who are terminated you in the text. And you, hath he weakened.

[28:07] It needed a mighty power to raise the dead. We have been reminded of it in those few verses preceding this chapter.

[28:25] He says, He says, What is the exceeding greatness of his power to us who believe? According to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places.

[28:51] The working of his mighty power. And as I am raised from that spiritual death, it is according to the working of his mighty power.

[29:07] The mighty power that he so exhibited and expressed, in that wherein he raised his son. Yes, it is the glorious resurrection unto eternal life.

[29:25] And you, hath he recovered. In other words, you have been made alive from the dead.

[29:36] A corpse cannot make any movement at all. It has no sense. It has no power.

[29:50] Utterly unable to do out of itself. It is dead. And here is the mighty power of God. That comes to the sinner as he is dead in trespasses and in sins.

[30:07] And works in him through the sacrifice of his dear son Jesus Christ. That whereby he will raise him with him, being quickened together with Christ from the dead.

[30:26] Raised from the dead. Alive unto God. Are there any movements within your soul toward God?

[30:40] Movements. Yes, the activities inwardly of the mind, which has been brought into life.

[30:54] No longer to be blinded unto the glory of the gospel in Christ Jesus, but made to realize the necessity of that, which is so set forth in the gospel, that that one finds that there is a power that worketh in him, that worketh in spite of himself, and that so worketh that his mind is exercised, and only exercised by reason of an imparted life.

[31:34] He is made alive unto God. What does that mean? It means that he is spiritually enlightened.

[31:46] From whence comes the light. It is from him who declared, I am the light of the world. He that followeth after me shall not walk in darkness, nor mocketh, but shall have the light of life.

[32:07] A spiritual enlightenment. No longer blind. No longer dead. Inanimate. But alive.

[32:19] But alive. Unto the realization of those things which are set before him in the gospel. How did he come, as it were, to read the Bible as he never read it before?

[32:33] Oh yes. He takes up the Bible now. Oh yes. He takes up the Bible now. And as he reads it, he reads it with a new understanding. There is a light that shineth into his very being.

[32:49] It is the light of the glorious knowledge of God in Christ Jesus. Do you realize that you could never have any understanding in the word of God?

[33:02] And never will. Unless that blessed light is so imparted to your soul that you are made to hunger and to thirst after these things.

[33:14] And to seek to know the reality of them. Therefore, he is not only spiritually enlightened, but he is spiritually enlivened. Oh yes, this life begins, as it were, to animate his whole being.

[33:31] We go back again to that word. It is according to the mighty power of God that worketh in us, that believe. That belief. It took the mighty power of God.

[33:45] Sinner to do this for you. Otherwise you would never have known God. You would never have sought after Christ. You would never have had an appetite.

[33:55] For the things of God. You would never have had your soul's interest in you. You would never have as it were. Looked into eternity. With fear and trembling.

[34:07] No. But God hath done this and enlivened your soul. And in doing this. He hath blessed you.

[34:22] In what hath he blessed us. We go to the beginning of the first chapter. Blessed be the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[34:33] Who hath blessed us. With all spiritual blessings. In Christ Jesus. Enlightened to know the value of them.

[34:47] Enlightened to pursue after them. Enlightened. That you may possess it. That these blessings. May be yours.

[34:58] And you. Have he forcunded. And all this is the workmanship. Of God and of God alone. We have read that in the same chapter.

[35:13] He says. For we are his workmanship. Created in Christ Jesus. Mark you created a new creation. That is what we are.

[35:24] His workmanship. A new creation. Created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Which God hath before ordained.

[35:36] That we should walk in them. Before time began. He ordained those works. And that we should walk in them. You hath he forcunded.

[35:50] Why? Because I am the workmanship of God. It is he that hath done it. It is he that hath magnified.

[36:02] His mercy and his grace. Toward my poor soul. In that wherein he hath quickened us. Into life. That these things should no longer be hidden from us.

[36:16] But that they should be unfolded to us. That mystery. Which is in God the Father. And in his Son. In Jesus Christ. So.

[36:27] We come to a step further. And we ask ourselves then. What are we? What are we? If we are forcunded.

[36:40] What are we? Well if we are forcunded by God the Holy Spirit. It is that you may be the possessors of eternal life.

[36:53] That death has been overcome. That spiritual death. The life of God in Christ Jesus. Communicated by the Holy Spirit.

[37:08] Unto your soul. You are alive. In him. Because. Because. You have been hookened together.

[37:20] With Christ. Oh yes. Surely we all know what that means. Here is he. The blessed eternal son of God.

[37:34] And here is he who has come to this earth. He is the God man. We see him pass through this earth.

[37:47] And we see him come to that spot. Where the Father laid upon him. The iniquity of us all. It is laid upon him.

[38:02] He bore it in his own body unto the tree. The wrath of God was made evident. In the justice. That there dealt with him.

[38:15] That made him give then to that cry of dereliction. My God. My God. Why hast thou forsaken me? It is in order.

[38:26] That he may put away the sins of this people. That he may save them from their sins. That he may bring them to God.

[38:41] He rose again. According to the mighty power of God. And the same mighty power that rolls him from the dead.

[38:55] Is the same mighty power. That is so communicated through him unto us. That we may know that he is our life.

[39:08] That our life is hid with Christ. In God. Arisen again. What is the effect of it? You say.

[39:20] Oh yes. I feel I know a little of this. Do you know the glory of it? That is what Paul wants you to know. The glory of that salvation.

[39:33] For in it. There is the pardon of all your sins. He would never have come and visited your poor soul. And raised it to life.

[39:44] Unless that atorine work of the dear Redeemer had availed to you. Your name was then recorded in the Lamb's book of life.

[39:55] He would so communicate the witness and the testimony of it. Until your soul. And your lost and ruined condition. And your lost and ruined condition. Hath quickened us together with Christ.

[40:06] Even when we were dead he sent. But God. Oh yes. By reason of the great love wherewith he loved us.

[40:18] Hath quickened us together with him. Did we have an interest in that atoning work. Then here breathe into my soul.

[40:30] Eternal life. That which shall never see death. That which abides. In the glorious person.

[40:41] Of my Savior. Jesus Christ. And not only pardoned. But all accepted.

[40:55] Yes when he raised him again. He raised him for our justification. And that poor sinner is justified.

[41:07] Through the redemption. Which is in Christ Jesus. God will never hear a word spoken against you.

[41:20] God will indeed denounce Satan as a liar. Because. Thou hast found in his son Jesus Christ.

[41:34] That wherein. Thou art perfect. And blameless. And spotless. Before him. Yes.

[41:47] Being justified by faith. We have peace with God. Through. Our Lord Jesus Christ.

[41:58] Through. Our Lord Jesus Christ. It's no good me looking anywhere else. It's no good me looking at myself. It's no good listening to the accusations of Satan.

[42:12] No it is that wherein. We are brought to look. Unto Jesus. The author and finisher of our faith. Who for the joy.

[42:23] Who for the joy that was set before him. Yes. The joy concerning your poor soul. For he shall see his seed.

[42:36] Yes. Who for the joy that was set before him. Endured the cross. Despising the shame. Despising the shame. And is set down at the right hand of the majesty on high.

[42:50] Did you notice. In our reading. How that word together is constantly mentioned.

[43:02] You have to look. You have to look. You have to look. You have to look. Because you are in him. And he is in you. Together he says.

[43:13] He's raised us up together. And made us sit together in heavenly places. He has to look. And thus together. With Christ.

[43:24] That is why he has shaken. Your poor soul. Because of that eternal salvation. Which he had so purposed and planned.

[43:36] Concerning you. That he would assuredly bring you home. Unto himself. Yes.

[43:48] So we might go on and say. Well where's the application of all this. The application of it is simply found in this fact. You look back and you remember.

[44:01] As he. As the writer here so directed us. We remember what we once were. And we are brought to see.

[44:11] Where inner change has been ordered with us. One time we loved the world. We had our companions in the world. We wanted to pursue after their pleasures. And so forth.

[44:21] Now there's no taste in our heart for those things. We don't want the worldly. We don't want the things that are in the world. We have an insatiable appetite.

[44:35] For the things that are his. To know. The riches. Of his grace towards us. In Christ Jesus.

[44:46] You are brought out of the world. Do you wonder then. That you are persecuted and despised. If you are together with Christ.

[44:59] You are going to experience this. You are going to pass through a painful pathway. But you will not be alone. You will have one who will be with you.

[45:11] In all your afflictions. And all your distresses. And all your temptations. Why? Because he himself. In that life. Which he has imparted to your soul.

[45:24] Drells. In you. Listen. In whom. Ye also. Are builded together. For an habitation of God.

[45:38] Through the spirit. Can you ever thank him enough? Can you ever realize. The wonder of that salvation. How inconceivable it all seems.

[45:52] And yet. Have you not the witness. And the testimony. Of the Holy Spirit. Within your own soul. That you have been born of God. Yes.

[46:04] Made nigh. Through the precious blood. Of Christ. And you. And can you go away this morning.

[46:16] And say. Yet. That means this. And I. As he whickened. For were dead.

[46:26] In trespasses. And in sins. Amen. And I will have.

[46:51] stand in heaven. and will make my sense, that I will be shown in the room. I will be found in the lens.

[47:24] Thank you.

[47:54] Thank you.

[48:24] Thank you.

[48:54] Thank you.

[49:24] Thank you.

[49:54] May the grace, the love, and the communion of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost be with us each.

[50:31] Amen.