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[0:00] In the Epistle to the Ephesians, chapter 2, verses 8, 9, and 10.

[0:14] The Epistle to the Ephesians, the second chapter, verses 8, 9, and 10. For by grace are ye saved through faith.

[0:31] And that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.

[0:43] For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

[0:59] In our meditation upon the truth this morning, we in a very small measure considered the greatness of the little word for in our text.

[1:17] For by grace are ye saved through faith. It is the word wherein the Apostle is continuing his argument relative to the exceeding riches of the grace which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

[1:41] And he is not only arguing on the basis of that which he has already spoken, but he is speaking of the experience of it, proved within the souls of individuals, that they are all brought eventually to testify unto the same fact, that it is by grace that they are saved.

[2:14] Paul had to wait a long time, you know, before he learnt that truth for himself. But eventually he was brought to it, and he declared, by the grace of God I am what I am.

[2:33] Paul was a model unto himself. He couldn't explain, he couldn't conceive the wonder of that work which had been so operated within him, that he should have been changed from the former position in which he stood, and brought into this blessed relationship in Christ unto the Father.

[2:57] He fought beforehand that he had stood in a relationship unto God. Who more zealous than he? We read his testimony in the third chapter, in the epistle to the Philippians.

[3:14] He tells us what he was. And then he tells us what the grace of God did for him. That he had to cast away all that which related unto his former trust and confidence.

[3:29] Everything had to go because, he said, it was so utterly vile unto us. All his former profession, everything that he had done wherein he fought, he had been serving God.

[3:48] Everything that arose even in that which related to the keeping of the law. Everything that had its origin and its basis in his own flesh and in his own mind.

[4:02] It all had to go. And sinner, if you are saved by grace, everything else in your life has got to go but Christ. And he is the alone one.

[4:15] He who has purchased you with his blood. He who has done everything for you, demands and claims thee for his own.

[4:26] And to that end he will work in thee that which is well-pleasing in his sight. For by grace are ye saved through faith.

[4:39] And we noticed in our meditation likewise the wonder of that word saintship. The fact of belonging unto him in holiness.

[4:55] The separation unto God. The cutting off, as it were. The complete severance from that in which we are by nature.

[5:08] That we may be brought by this grace into a relationship unto God. That we may be found as his children, as his sons, and as his daughters.

[5:20] And that is what grace does for you. It takes you as an enemy and a rebel by your wicked works and it turns you from them. And it turns you in love and affection unto that which you had previously hated.

[5:33] And now becomes the sole lover for your soul. For he it is that endears himself to you. As the all in all. By grace.

[5:45] Ye are saved. You didn't do it. I didn't do it. We should have remained in the same dead position spiritually in which we had always been.

[5:56] But for this great thing that came unto us. So that which changed the whole of our lives. Gave us a new prospect.

[6:09] A new outlook. That brought us to the word of God. And we read it as we had never read it before. And it spake to us. It entered into our hearts.

[6:20] It was applied and sealed by the Holy Spirit. Yea. And in its recordings within our hearts we were conformed and we were shaped and we were molded unto the image of his dear son Jesus Christ.

[6:34] We became followers of God. As dear children. All the wonders that grace has done.

[6:45] Yes before I go further let me come and ask you this question. Do you constantly as it were look to the pit?

[6:59] Do you look to the hole from whence you have been dug and hewn? Just now look back unto that place wherein the grace of God found you.

[7:12] Vile and hateful. Where it found you as an enemy of God by wicked works. Where it came to you and it took away your mask.

[7:25] And it showed you yourself as you truly were. And when you saw what you were. Then he poured out his love upon you through the precious shed blood of the dear Redeemer.

[7:42] Forgiving all your sins and hugging you unto his breast of eternal love. Yes enabling you to say my beloved is mine.

[7:53] And I am his. Have you been there? You can never extol. You can never exhort. You can never exaggerate.

[8:03] That which relates unto the wonderful love of God in Christ to us in this. Save as thou art given to see the tremendous depths.

[8:16] In which you originally were by nature. There is not one of us you know that is born into this life a Christian. There is not one of us that is born into this life holy and blameless before God.

[8:32] Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? In sin I was shaken in iniquity. And in sin did my mother conceive me. That was my nature.

[8:43] And I lived in sin and I loved sin. Until that wonderful word had its fulfillment in your life.

[8:54] But God who is rich in mercy. For his great love wherewith he loved us. Even when we were dead in sins.

[9:06] Hath hockened us together with Christ. By grace you are saved. You now have a life which exists and lives in Christ.

[9:18] Your life is hid with Christ in God. Is that why you are here tonight? Not simply to hear a preacher. Not simply to hear the word of God read.

[9:31] But because you have come with the hunger and the thirst in your soul. To receive deep down into your own heart. The blessed and joyful news of your own personal salvation in this matter.

[9:45] To know the love of God toward you. Yes. That is what Paul was praying for. All through this discourse of his.

[9:57] That they might know the love of Christ. In all its heights, its depths, its breadth and its lengths. The love that passeth knowledge. Aye.

[10:09] And has it ever struck you in connection with those words at the end of the third chapter of this epistle. How that when he is talking about the love of Christ.

[10:21] And how he longs that they should know it. He says unto him be glory in the church through Christ Jesus throughout all ages.

[10:33] But why will the church render that praise unto him? Because of that wherein he so testifies the glorious fact. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.

[10:49] According to the power that worketh in us. Ah, in the power of that life of Christ within my heart.

[11:00] I can go to him. I can have communion with him. I can have fellowship with him. I know his reality. I know that he is near me. I know that he is my peace and my rest.

[11:11] That I can take to him everything. And I can leave everything in his dear hands. And I know that he has worked it all out. And he has do that which in his eternal love to my soul.

[11:25] Will always be for my profit and to my eternal glory. That's what God does for poor sinners you know. He takes them like brands out of the fire.

[11:37] And to this end let us observe one or two things that he says in connection with it. For he says by grace. And we go back to that wonderful fact.

[11:50] Of how that when he was speaking unto the saints of Ephesus. And to the faithful in Christ Jesus. He says. Grace be to you. Is that faith exercised?

[12:02] Grace. The Father is the source of grace. Faith in exercise brings us to the Lord Jesus. Grace be to you.

[12:16] And peace. From God our Father. And from the Lord Jesus Christ. And he goes on to speak of the blessings of God.

[12:29] That he is essential blessedness. That nothing is at work can be added to it or taken from it. He is blessed forevermore.

[12:42] And yet the same blessed God and Father. Of our Lord Jesus Christ. And remember this. That when our Lord and you have been singing somewhat today.

[12:54] Concerning the ascension. Remember how that our Lord when he came to Mary. He said to her. Go and tell my brethren. You know he hadn't called them brethren much before that.

[13:09] I only know of one case. But after his resurrection. He called them brethren. He was their older brother.

[13:21] They were his brethren. The blessings which were sure to be given to him. By reason of his death and his burial and his resurrection. Was likewise theirs.

[13:35] Therefore go to my brethren and tell them. I ascend unto my God and your God. To my Father. And your Father.

[13:46] That is what grace does for a poor sinner. Gives him an interest in a precious Christ. Yea that he may possess over that fullness in Jesus Christ.

[14:00] All sufficiency for all his need. There is nothing that is not unsupplied. Therefore blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[14:12] Who hath blessed us. With all temporal blessings. O God blessed even the wicked with them. Who have blessed us with all providential blessings.

[14:27] God even blesses men who have no interest in him. And hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings.

[14:43] In heavenly places in Christ. You can have temporal blessings and providential blessings. And they are going to leave you where you are. Dead in sin.

[14:54] But if you have the spiritual blessings. Then you have the possession of life. It is that life. Which is in Christ Jesus the Lord.

[15:06] In him now you live. He hath blessed us. With all spiritual blessings. In heavenly places in Christ.

[15:18] No we can never fathom the wonder of that statement. It includes the forgiveness of sin. It includes everything that a poor sinner can need. And remember it is always in relationship.

[15:30] Unto the work that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. According to the will of his father. Has so accomplished. For us poor ruined sinners.

[15:41] But it is according. Oh I love this epistle. I've been reading it through and through and through and through and through and through.

[15:54] And you know there's always something to discover in the word of God. And you know there's one word here that has come to me over and over again.

[16:04] With such peculiar power. And I hope it may come to you likewise. Blessed us with our spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.

[16:15] According. According. If God has done this for me. Then it will be according to it. According to his will. According to his purpose.

[16:27] According to his love. And nothing in hell or in this world shall ever separate me from the love of God. Which is in Christ Jesus my Lord. Neither my sins. Nor Satan.

[16:38] Nor anything that I may be conscious of in myself. That shall never separate me from him. Why? Because everything that related unto my salvation.

[16:49] Was settled and established. In the glorious council between the eternal free. Wherein we were chosen in him. Before the foundation of the world.

[17:02] Before we had done good or evil. Before we had ever had a been in this time. God had taken us. And he had put us into his son Jesus Christ.

[17:13] And that'll make you sing sometimes. Preserved in Jesus. When my feet made fast to hell. And there I should have been. But thou dost do things well.

[17:25] According. According. As he hath chosen us in him. Before the foundation of the world. Before. Before. Before.

[17:35] Before. That we should be saved. That we should be forgiven. That we should be sanctified. Yes. But much more than that.

[17:48] You'll never get as it were to the length. You'll never find out the measurements of the divine love. Even as it is revealed unto us in Christ Jesus Lord.

[17:59] It is that we should be holy. And without blame. Before him in love. Now doesn't that prove to you.

[18:12] That it must be by grace. That you alone are saved. It is in that wherein. In that eternal purpose.

[18:24] He so gave us that position in Christ. Before the world began. Because he foreknew. And he foresaw everything. That was going to come to pass. And he gave them a safe.

[18:37] And a secure sanctuary. As you have sung about. He enclosed you in a precious Christ. Yes. Because he knew.

[18:48] That in time to come. Your state. And your condition. Would require that sublime. And that supreme act of divine love. In the giving of his only begotten son.

[19:01] That you might be saved. And delivered. From this present evil world. He knew the essentialness of it. And therefore he put us in Christ.

[19:15] And for this purpose. That he would answer for us. That he would stand for us.

[19:27] That we should be accepted in the beloved. That we should be holy. And without blame before him in love. But how can I be holy.

[19:37] And how can I be blameless. In Christ Jesus. In what he hath done. In what the father sent him to do. And in that which he has accomplished it.

[19:49] And in that wherein he hath sealed it. With and it is finished. And with a shout. Has gone to glory. Yes. Yes. He has finished the work.

[20:00] Which his father gave him to do. And we are holy. And without blame. And eventually we shall know the glorious meaning of it all.

[20:15] When we stand. When we stand. In his presence. And we go on. Not only are we told about that fact.

[20:27] But we are told. But we are told that before the foundation of the world. God adopted us. God gave us sonship. God. God.

[20:38] He looked upon us. As his sons and his daughters. Predestinated us. Predestinated us. And to the adoption of children. By Jesus Christ to himself.

[20:51] According. To the good pleasure of his will. And if I was in him then. And if I was a son and daughter of the Lord God Almighty.

[21:02] Then he will make me to know it. He will bring the message into my heart. Through the gospel of the grace of God. God. He will cause my heart to learn to burn with blood toward him.

[21:14] And to adore him. For that wherein he has taken my standing. Out of this mire and this mud. And that he has made me to know. That he has set me as a son.

[21:26] And as a daughter. In his son. Even as he sits at the right hand of the father in heaven. My friend.

[21:37] When he looks upon these poor sinners. He looks upon them. As those who are not only blameless and holy. But as those. Who have a relationship unto him.

[21:49] What a wonderful thing. To be related unto God. That God who have called us into the fellowship of his dear son.

[22:04] And I am glad that word was recorded concerning that same fact. For he is faithful. Said the writer. That I promised. Haven't you proved his faithfulness?

[22:15] What have you done to deserve it? What have you done to merit it? Away with all your works. Away with all that wherein you have depended upon your goodness.

[22:28] Upon that wherein you may have attended a place of worship all your life. Away with all that wherein you have fought. With pride. That wherein you have done some good thing in the flesh.

[22:40] Concerning your fellow men. Away with all this alone is your standing. This alone is that wherein the greatness of a sinner is found. In that wherein the glory shineeth for.

[22:53] It is in Jesus Christ. By grace. Ye are saved. Yes it is according to that. And then again listen to it.

[23:06] It is according to the good pleasure of his will. To the praise of the glory of his grace. Yes. Wherein. He hath made us accepted in the beloved.

[23:23] Oh you say I do love him. I would indeed fall at his feet and adore him and worship him. I would kiss him like that poor woman who came into his presence.

[23:35] Yes she loved much. She had had so much forgiven. That is the praise of the glory of his grace.

[23:47] Wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom. We have redemption through his blood.

[23:59] The forgiveness of sins. According. To the riches of his grace. The grace. The grace. But I mustn't as if were follow on that line of thought.

[24:11] Though we cannot exhaust it as it is so brought out in this wonderful chapter. But. We see where it all leads to. This wondrous mystery is proclaimed unto this people.

[24:28] They receive the message into their heart. The message that has revealed to them what they are by nature. Even according to what we find in this same second chapter.

[24:43] Wherein in time past he walked. That is because he was spiritually dead. He knew nothing about it. Trespasses and sins was the circumference and the substance of your life living.

[24:59] Wherein in time past he walked according to the cross of this world. The world held the dominion in that day. According to the prince of the power of the air. Satan ruled the world.

[25:13] Did you say I made a mistake there? You say God rules the world? My friend. The prince of the power of the air.

[25:27] He airs that wherein there are those hidden unseen influences. That are continually at work. In that wherein they take men captive.

[25:43] That is where man is today you know. He is taken captive. By the prince of the power of the air. And therefore his whole manner of living is according to the fashion of this world.

[25:55] He adopts his habits. He can't help it. He feels constantly the urge. Because like it is so described in the next verse. He walks according to the lusts of his own flesh.

[26:07] And the lusts of his mind. They are all watching. Yes. Let's go back for a moment. And remind ourselves of this truth.

[26:18] The works of the flesh are manifest. Which are these? Adultery. Fornication.

[26:29] Uncleanness. Lassidiousness. Idolatry. Witchcraft. Hatred. Variance. Emulations. Wrath. Strife. Seditions. Heresies.

[26:40] Endings. Murderous. Drunkenness. Revelings. And such like. But did I hear you say? Yes. I see that all going on around me.

[26:51] My dear hearer. Don't forget you are one of the crowd. Don't forget that by nature. You were found. In that very state and condition.

[27:04] I should like to have referred you to another portion of the Colossians. Which are in this fact. You can read it for yourselves in Colossians 3. But there is one other fact too that is brought before us relative to this great truth.

[27:19] You know. Paul reminded the Romans when he was writing to them that he was not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Because it is the power of God unto salvation.

[27:33] And then he speaks about what they are in themselves. Before they have realized that power. Before they have known it. They did not like to retain God in their knowledge.

[27:49] God gave them over to a reprobate mind. That is a mind void of judgment. To do those things which are not convenient. Being filled with all unrighteousness.

[28:03] Fornication. Wickedness. Covetousness. Maliciousness. Full of envy. Murders. Debate. Deceit. Malignity. Whisperers. Backbiters. Haters of God.

[28:14] Despiteful. Proud. Boasters. Inventors of evil things. Disobedient to parents. Without understanding. Covenant breakers. Without natural affection.

[28:26] Implecable. Unmerciful. Who knowing the judgment of God. That they which commit such things are worthy of death. Not only do the same.

[28:39] But have pleasure in them that do them. Therefore. Thou art inexcusable. O man. Whosoever thou art the judgest.

[28:51] For wherein thou judgest another thou condemnest thyself. For thou that judgest. Doest the same things.

[29:05] And that's where you and I were. And that's what you and I were. And that is what our constant life. Apart from grace.

[29:18] Consists of. Without God. And without Christ. In the world. And that's the trouble with the world today. You know. When we read those words.

[29:30] Of how. That God gave them over to a reprobate mind. It has through the whole history of the scriptures. It has been repeated again and again.

[29:40] There have been times when God as it were. Has taken the restraining hand off the works of men. And he's let them have their fling as we call it. I believe God is doing that in the day in which we live.

[29:55] And he's doing it that we may see sin. And all this foulness. And all this vileness. And all this horror. In its true nature. That we may see what our own nature brings us to.

[30:09] What it works. And that the wages of sin. Is death. But.

[30:20] God who is rich in mercy. By grace. He is saved. Can you look back tonight.

[30:33] Can you say. Yes. It's all true. I have to bow in the conviction of the truth of it. Before this God who judges righteously. I have to own and I have to confess my sins at his feet.

[30:51] No. I do not come as it were and confess them. Simply because I am afraid of the punishment that may come upon me. But I come and confess them as a poor nothing.

[31:04] A poor sinner. Because what grieves me. What brings me to repentance. What gives me this godly sorrow that needeth not to be repentant of.

[31:17] Is simply this. I realize what a sinner I am. In that I have sinned against such love. And such grace. Yes.

[31:28] The god should have borne with me. And not cut me off. What has he done? Yeah. Saved by grace.

[31:42] Yes. We can't pursue the subject any further. But oh I hope. That with the writer. You may realize the solidity.

[31:53] And the certainty. Of your position in Christ. That even as this grace has come unto you. Has opened the eyes of your understanding.

[32:06] To behold the blessings. Of the Savior. To bring you to him. To know what it is.

[32:17] For him to cast all your sins behind his back. And that's a wonderful thing. Because when Adam was in the garden of Eden. He had the Lord of God.

[32:30] He had the word of God. And he delighted in it. And joyed in it for a season. Until that evil king came into that garden.

[32:40] And he wasn't simply the fact. Of them taking the forbidden fruit. It was that which was involved in the act.

[32:52] No longer any relationship with God. Separation entailed. Yea. What has he done? He's turned his back upon God. And that is what man by nature ever doeth.

[33:06] And by nature we are all the children of wrath. And as sure as we are not found bending at the feet of divine mercy. My friend.

[33:19] We shall taste. Of the fact. That the God with whom we have to deal. Whom we never think about.

[33:30] Who. We're never as though he had no existence in our life. That he is the God who will deal out justly. And righteously.

[33:44] That wherein his wrath. Will come upon us. Truly this world is doomed. It's doomed. It's doomed. It's doomed. It's doomed. It's doomed. It's doomed.

[33:54] It's doomed. It's doomed. For a mercy. If you know his mighty power towards you. That came and plucked you. Out of the horrible pit.

[34:06] And has put your feet upon a rock. And has put a song of praise. Within your mouth. Under God. The essence of it.

[34:18] Being this. Amazing grace. Ah. Amazing. How that word seems to fall so far short.

[34:30] Of all that we feel and know. As them. Who have a part. In Jesus Christ. But amazing grace.

[34:41] How sweet the sound. That saved a wretch like me. I once. Was lost.

[34:53] But now I'm found. Was blind. But now. I see. By grace.

[35:05]  You are saved. Through faith. Amen.