BUT GOD... (Eph 2:4-5)

Well come on in here let's find some seats. And while you're finding a seat before we start our service I just wanted to say thank you to those of you that that have been so helpful to our family this weekend.

And we're so grateful for a church family that comes alongside us and cares for us and provides for us. We've had food. We had many of you many of you ladies that helped out with the reception yesterday which was a tremendous blessing.

And so much food and good food and it was. It was extremely helpful for our family. We've had we've had some of you members that showed up with lawnmowers and mowed all of our grass cleaned up our yard.

We have been blessed. We are truly a blessed people. That's what being family is right. So I just want to say thank you. We're grateful for you. And again before we start our service every week we try and pray for a local church.

Don't we. Because we want to be reminded that we're not alone in this that there are other saints all over this community that are gathering together today to worship to pray to sing to hear the word proclaimed.

And today we just want to pray for Finch Baptist Church. I don't know if you're familiar with where that is. I if you go down 351 and it comes to a dead end I think it's 358 and go left you'll see the big graveyard over there and the church there.

Marty easel is the pastor there. I've met with him a few times we have become friends and I just want for us as a people to lift them up in prayer Finch Baptist Church and pray that God would work in their midst this morning as they gather.

So pray with me dear Heavenly Father we come to you this morning. We're so overwhelmed by your your grace that you have poured out on us your people through the the common means of grace. Lord you've told us not to neglect the gathering of the Saints and and Lord you have done so not as a strict rule but as a great benefit to us your children.

Because this is what you use in our lives to mold us. This is what you use in our lives to to be encouraged to look to the cross to be encouraged to to fight sin in our own hearts and our own minds. This is what you use as a body as we spoke about a moment ago.

And so God we just want to lift up our brothers and sisters at Finch Baptist. Father I pray for them as they gather today. I pray that you prepare their hearts to worship you together God. I pray for their pastor Marty.

I pray that you would give him boldness to proclaim the full counsel of God. I pray that he would speak truth from your word. I pray that in his study this week he has just been immersed in your good grace and the beauty of the the truth that comes only from your word and and now he just is bursting with it and that he proclaims it with clarity and boldness.

Lord prepare the the ears and the minds of of their people. Lord. I pray that you bring about awakening and revival in their hearts or that you use them mightily as they minister to to that community that part of this area.

Lord. I pray that that many would come to know you Lord that that many would come to know you and then that church would be able to turn around and then disciple those those people. We thank you for them in Christ's name.

Amen. All right. Well let's stand let's start our worship this morning. Our our call to worship comes from first Peter 2 and and it's a portions of verses 2 through 10 and a read in response where Peter writes like newborn infants long for the pure spiritual milk that by it we may grow up into salvation as you come to him a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious we are to be holy priest a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ that we may proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light once we had not received mercy and all of God's people said father.

Lord we we come to you this morning we humble ourselves before you. Lord we are so blessed to be able to come and gather here or didn't sing praises and worship in your name. Lord I pray that you would bless this worship or this worship belongs to you.

Or thank you for all of your goodness thank you for your kindness thank you for your son. Or thank you for my salvation. Or do we praise you we love you thank you for loving us. We ask all these things in your heavenly name in Jesus name and all of God's people said.

Lift up your voices and lift up your praise join with the heavens sing up and lift. Your Savior has risen. Kings of the armies they flee they flee. The women at home divide the spoil.

Though you men lie among the sheepfolds and the wings of the dove covered with silver its pinions with shimmering gold when the Almighty scatters kings there let snow fall on Zalma. Oh mountain of God mountain of Bashan.

Oh many peaked mountain mountain of Bashan. Why do you look with hatred. Oh many peaked mountain at the mount that God desired for his abode. Yes where the Lord will dwell forever. The chariots of God are twice ten thousands thousands upon thousands.

The Lord is among them. Sinai is now the sanctuary. You ascended on high leading a host of captives in your train and receiving gifts among men even among the rebellious that the Lord God may dwell there.

Blessed be the Lord who daily bears us up. God is our salvation. Our God is a God of salvation and to God the Lord belongs deliverance from death. But God will strike the heads of his enemies. The hairy crown of him who walks in his guilty ways.

The Lord said I will bring them back from Bashan and I will bring them back from the depths of the sea. That you may strike your feet in their blood and their tongues of your dogs may have their portion from the phone.

Your procession is seen. Oh God the procession of my God my king into the sanctuary. The singers in front the musicians last between them. Virgins playing tambourines. Bless God in the great congregation.

The Lord. Oh you who are of Israel's fountain. There is Benjamin the least of them in the lead in the princes of Judah in their throng. And the princes of Zebulun and the princes of naphtali summon your power.

Oh God the power. Oh God by which you have worked for us because of your temple at Jerusalem. Kings shall bear gifts to you. Rebuke the beasts that dwell among the reeds and the herd of bulls with calves of the people trample under feet.

Those who lust after tribute scatter the people who delight in war. Noble shall come from Egypt. Cush shall hasten to stretch out her hands to God. Oh kingdoms of the earth. Sing to God. Sing praises to the Lord.

To him who rides in the heavens. The ancient heavens behold he sends out his voice his mighty voice of scribe. Power to God whose majesty is over Israel and whose power is in the skies. Awesome is God from his sanctuary.

The God of Israel. He is the one who gives power and strength to his people. Blessed be God. Let's pray this heavenly father. We want to thank you so much for all that you have blessed us with God. We take this time to give worship through our giving.

And so God please help us to not do this with a begrudging heart. God please help us to do this out of love and thanksgiving for what you have first given to us. Lord we love you. We pray that we would remove all distraction this morning and that we'd focus on your truth.

And it would.

Sanctify our hearts. We pray these things in your name Jesus. You're ready to jump.

Into God's Word. I'm ready. I've been ready. Well go ahead and open your copy of God's Word to Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2. Last week we jumped right in to verse 1 but today our primary text is going to be verses 4 and 5.

But I want us to start reading there in one so we can be reminded of where Paul's train of thought is headed here in this section of scripture. So there in Ephesians chapter 2 starting in verse 1 the Apostle Paul says.

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked following the course of this world following the prince of the power of the air the spirit that is now at work and the sons of disobedience among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh carrying out the desires of the body and the mind.

And we're by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. But God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved.

What a beautiful truth that we come to today in scripture all of its beautiful in it. But sometimes we get a glimpse at one like this that is reminds us of where we've been and where we're. What position we have now.

Right. So let's pray that God would illuminate our hearts and minds to this truth before we dive in. Dear heavenly Father God will we thank you for your word father thank you for allowing us to worship you in spirit and truth this morning.

And the only reason we get to do that is because of the righteousness of your son that is imputed onto us. We get to come to your throne room with boldness that we get to read your word. And since we now have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit within us we can actually comprehend these great truths not in full not completely.

And sometimes we misunderstand them. So father we ask that you would illuminate our hearts and minds to this truth. Regarding my speech from error I'm a fallible man that can misinterpret things father.

But I pray you guard me. I pray that you guard the ears of the hearers that they would judge every word that comes out of my mouth according to your scripture. Because that is the only standard we thank you for it in Christ's name.

Amen. Well as I said a moment ago last week we looked at verses 1 through 3 of this great text where we saw really let's be honest a kind of a bleak picture of the state of mankind. Right. A one that leaves no room for hope.

A picture of who we were and who all of mankind is. That leaves no room for pride. That leaves no room for celebration in and of ourselves. Just a stark reminder that every human being is spiritually dead.

And we've seen throughout the whole of scripture that they are spiritually dead from the very moment of conception. Right. That we were all born into as we talked about last week the sphere of trespasses and sins not that we were born sinning.

We were born within the realm of sin because we were dead in our trespasses and sins which then lead us to sin. And that is the reason that we followed the course of this world as Paul said that we followed blindly and obeyed completely the prince of the power of the air Satan himself.

We carried out the passions of our own body and our own mind because that's what we desired. That's what every man left to himself desires is to follow the world follow their desires which their desires lead them to sin.

Because as we said if you remember we sinned against God because we were already sinners by default. And that's what we saw in verses 1 through 3. And as a result what did Paul say. We were children of children of wrath.

We like every other person were guilty and fully deserving of God's righteous holy wrath. That's who we were. And why did Paul give us such a grim picture of the state of mankind. It's because at the end of chapter 1 Paul had prayed.

Didn't he. He had prayed for us those the readers. He prayed for the Saints in Ephesus. He prayed for us believers. And what did he pray. He prayed that we would comprehend the immeasurable greatness of God's power towards us.

That's what he desired for us to grow in the knowledge of the great power that the triune God had used to save us. And so as soon as he wraps up that prayer there at the end of chapter 1 he begins here in chapter 2 to tell us what we need to know in order to grow in that knowledge.

So that's what builds us here. Therefore he must remind us of where we were. He must remind us of who we were. He must remind us of why we were in that state in order for us to better understand or to have a greater comprehension of to have a greater appreciation of the unmeasurable power of God.

And thankfully Paul does not leave and lead us to this point this cold walk down memory lane of our evil God hating past very long. He walks us through it. But he doesn't walk us through it long those severe.

That reminder was brisk. And hopefully if you were here last week you know why it was necessary. But it led us to the greatest pairing of two words in all of scripture. These two words together change everything change everything.

But God. Paul walks us down that that path of hey let me show you your past. You need to be reminded where and who you are so that now you can see this beauty of. But God because of Adam sin in the garden you and I and all of mankind were subjected to death.

Weren't we subjected to both spiritual death and physical death. And because of the spiritual death we were as Paul said children of wrath. But God Christian don't be numb to that. I want you to think about this for a second.

But God that was the position that you and I were once in and the rest of mankind is in in this moment. And there are other brothers and sisters out there that are currently dead walking in the trespasses and sins living in the sphere of that and are by children and our children of wrath.

Oh but God will save them all of this is true about us. But God this was the worst-case scenario for all of mankind. But God you and I were as far from God as it gets. And let me tell you something. Not only as far as from God as it gets we sought to go even further.

We sought to hide from the great God of the universe because of our great hatred for him. We ran from him. But God you and I were blind right. But God you and I were lame. But God we were deaf. But God and you and I were dead.

But God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead and our trespasses and made us alive together with Christ our Savior. And then we declare oh by grace we have been saved because of God.

You see what Paul just did there in verse 4 as I said he showed us that he had shown us the depth of our pitiful state. To then turn around a point is to the glorious state that we are now in one that we couldn't earn one that we didn't deserve.

Did we. Because we had run from God. We hated God. We know it had nothing to do with God. Oh but his grace is so great. One of my favorite songs that we sing here is a sobering and glorious declaration.

All I have is Christ. We don't sing it often enough around here when you sing it more. But I was reminded of this verse the second verse of the song as I was reading through this text. And because by the time we get to this verse as we sing I can barely hold back my tears because it reminds me of this glorious truth the song says.

But as I ran my hell-bound race indifferent to the cost. You looked upon my helpless state and led me to the cross. And I beheld God's love displayed. You suffered in my place. You bore the wrath reserved for me.

Oh now all I know is grace. What a beautiful truth. You know it's good to be reminded of who and where we were. But here's the thing Christian we don't live there anymore. That's not our that's not the state of our life any longer.

That's not the sphere in which we reside. Paul tells us why. He tells us why we've been made new creatures. Here look at verse 4 again says. But God being rich in mercy what is mercy. Mercy is not getting what we deserve.

Isn't it. God has shown great mercy upon us. It's not getting what we deserved. In this word rich that that Paul uses here this word it actually refers to an abundance. It refers to a surplus of something.

And I've heard I've heard people say you know you just you just don't know how wicked I am. You don't. You don't know the things that I've done. You can't even comprehend it because I am just so too far gone.

I am too far gone for the mercy of God. That just shows that you do not understand the riches the surplus of this great mercy the depths the endlessness of this great mercy of God. There is no debt expensive enough to even put a dent into this surplus of mercy.

You know sometimes as Christians I I don't know about you. But I I struggle with doubt. I struggle with my own conscience. And I see my own sin. Because let's be honest we sin. Right. I sin. I've sinned already today.

I was telling somebody earlier I'm we're all sinning. Every one of us has. We're all constantly sinning. And so I internally start looking at myself. And I start going. Oh man you know I know God's shown me mercy.

I know he has. But I've got to have been testing that mercy. You know you'd never really say that. But you start thinking that. And you start feeling like oh man God can't possibly have any more mercy for me.

He can't possibly have that. And but here Paul says that the riches the abundance that the surplus of his mercy. And why does God have such mercy. Why does God show so much mercy to us creatures. Who defied him who ran from him who hated him who murdered his son when he showed up.

Why does he have such mercy for us. Well number one. It's because of his nature. God is a merciful God. We only know mercy because it is an attribute of God. Mercy comes from God. That is who God is. God is a merciful God.

He is a long-suffering God. But this is who God is. It's in his. It's in his nature. He is a merciful God. And for those of us who are recipients of this great mercy we see why he's so rich and generous with it.

Look at the verse. But God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us. Paul had already told us of this great love back in chapter 1 hadn't he look back there at verses 4 and 5 with me.

I want you to see it. I want you to be reminded even if you've been with us in this study. Look back at chapter 1 verses 4 and 5. Paul he says. Even as he God the Father chose us in him Christ the Son before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him in love.

He predestined us to himself as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will. Remember this. This wasn't arbitrary. This choosing this great love that he had loved us with in order to adopt us and bring us in as sons and heirs in his kingdom.

It wasn't arbitrary. God did not go eeny meeny miny. I choose you. That's not the purpose. That's not how God chose. He chose because of his great love for you. He chose you because he loved you. But remember not because you were lovable.

That's the mercy of God. You and I weren't lovable. We were enemies. We hated him. Oh but his love for us was so great. And he sought after us. He found us. He brought us to himself. He chose you. And he has a never-ending storehouse of this mercy reserved for you because of his great love for you.

You see it. Now we we need to be reminded of who we were although we don't stay there. I've mentioned it before. We like to call it worm theology. Oh I'm a worm. Oh how low am I. But that's not what God's called us to.

God's essentially said oh yeah you were a worm. Oh but I made you a son. That's your identity. Now your identity is in Christ. It's no longer Nathan Hargrave the the sinner. Oh it's. It's the beautiful majestic Savior.

So when God looks down that's why we get to sing today. Right. When we're worshiping today when we're singing praise to the great God. And we're singing these these beautiful truths. And our hands go up and our eyes are closed.

And we pray. And we go to the father. We can come into that throne room without fear without reservation without hesitation. Now when I say fear without an unhealthy fear. But we all have the fear of God.

Just like you have a fear of your father. Right. A healthy fear an honoring fear. But we come into that throne room it because he is our father. Because I know that when my father looks at me he doesn't see me sees his son.

And that perfection. Right. No that's mercy. What mercy is this. It's endless. It's a storehouse of it. Now yet again you may say yeah. I could I could see that being true for people who have it all together.

Of course God loves the two shoes. Of course God loves those that that seem to have everything put together. They've got the nice clothes for church and they show up. They never say a bad word. They don't like dirty jokes right.

They don't smoke they don't drink and they don't dance. Right. God. God of course loves those people. Oh but Paul crushes that excuse. Doesn't he he cried. Look at verse 5. He says even when right he loved you.

Even when we were right. Remember past tense. That's a past tense. That's were. It's something that we were we were dead in our trespasses. In that sphere of trespasses and sins every single one of us.

I don't care if you look at somebody that's outside of Christ. And they seem like the best person you've ever known in your life. They are honest in their dealings. They're kind and they're gracious. They do everything seemingly right on the outside.

Let me tell you something. Paul says that to God. That's that's filthy rags. They're in the sphere of trespasses and sins. There's no one no one is worthy of his mercy. No one is worthy of that grace.

But not only that. Not only is no one worthy of it. Even the worst among us are recipients of this mercy as God chooses. And God loves the people that God has poured his mercy out on to. We're not children of disappointment and we're not children of disobedience.

They weren't even children his children at all. But just as he said back in verse 3 of this chapter we were children of wrath. Not everyone is a child of God. Are they only those that he's shown his mercy on those that he loves.

But we were once children of wrath as Paul says. And Paul telling Timothy in 1st Timothy 115 he said that Christ Jesus came into the world to save the decent people. That's not what he said. Is it said God came into the world.

Christ came into the world to save sinners. And what does Paul say about that. He says. Of whom I am the foremost it. You see if God's mercy was sufficient for a murderous Christian persecution persecuting religious zealot like Saul who says he was the foremost center.

It's efficient for you. And I isn't it. This is what allows us to see the depths of God's mercy and love. This is how we see God for who he is who he truly is. No one person is too far gone. Okay. Don't you hear me out.

No one person is too far gone for the mercy and love of God because we were all too far gone. Catch that not one person is too far gone. We were all too far gone. We were too far gone. That's why it took an eternal holy perfect merciful gracious loving long-suffering just and righteous dry you and God to redeem us from that hopeless pit.

This is this is a beauty of of God the beauty of a triune God who the father who loved us and set his love upon us before the creation before he had ever breathed breathed anything into existence. The son who purchased us the son who redeemed us with the blood ransom and the Holy Spirit who seals us for that day of glorious redemption.

There's a triune God a work that only he could do. That's why we have to see this. But we were in a hopeless pit. Oh but his mercy and love go even deeper than that pit. You see he didn't just reach down into that pit of hopeless despair to bring us into light and warn us.

Hey. Hey Nathan you know what. Watch out for that pit. Don't fall into it again. You know it's right there. I've brought you up into the light. You're free. Just watch out for that pit. No no God he said in verse 5.

Look at it. Even when you were dead in your trespasses and sins made us alive together with Christ. We were dead. And now we're alive. We were blind. And now we see we were lame. But now we walk in the spiritual truth of God's mercy.

And Paul doesn't. Paul doesn't mean here Lazarus alive. You see he means Jesus Christ alive. Okay. What do I mean by that. Some of you're like I don't know where you're going with this pastor. Okay. Bear with me.

You remember the story of Lazarus. Don't you. We've talked about it quite a bit here. Jesus comes to the tomb. Lazarus has been dead for days. Now he's he's already buried. And Jesus has the stone rolled away from the tomb.

And and Jesus says Lazarus come forth. And he he just speaks life. Right back into Lazarus. And Lazarus comes out of the tomb alive after being after being dead for days. What an amazing miracle. Right.

What a great resurrection story. But here's the thing that wasn't true resurrection to life. You're like whoa what do you mean. Here's what I mean. Lazarus eventually died again. Lazarus died again. Didn't he Lazarus sitting roaming around here today.

Right. He died. However the resurrection of Jesus was categorically different. That's what made the resurrection of Christ so glorious for Jesus rose eternally. So when I say that our spiritual death to life is not like a Lazarus resurrection but like a Christ resurrection I'm referring to the fact that our newfound spiritual life by the mercy of God is rooted in and founded on our Savior Jesus Christ.

As Paul says here in the text Paul says that we are made alive together with Christ. Paul said in 2nd Corinthians 517. Therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation. The old has passed away. What's the old death.

Death has died. Death is gone. The old is no more. It cannot be resurrected. Death doesn't have a Savior. Oh but we do to life. Behold the new has come. This is a true. We no longer have to wallow in or fret about our previous state of death.

We don't have to look back at it in fear that old man is gone. Death is no more for you. God no longer sees it because we've been brought into true life in Christ. Now we get to look back and see where our great God and Savior has brought us from and rest in where he has brought us to.

And where has he brought us to life in Christ union with the triune God by the righteousness of the Savior and the mercy of God sharing in that righteousness. So lastly notice how Paul interjects this this well-known and and loved declaration.

It's like he just has to throw it in here right in the midst you can see it's got these. I don't know what they're called but the little dashes right before and after. Right. It's almost like you know what.

I'm just gonna throw this in there real quick. He says by grace you have been saved by grace. You see the other side of God's endless mercy is as glorious grace. Isn't it like the two sides of one coin.

You got mercy and you have grace together. And if mercy is not getting what we deserve then what is grace. Takes it even further. Doesn't it. It's getting what we didn't deserve. Not only does he not give us what we deserve he then turns around and gives us what we don't deserve.

We were children of wrath. And and not only did God not pour his wrath out upon us but upon his own son at the cross showing us tremendous mercy. He then lavished upon us his glorious grace by giving us what we don't deserve.

And what did he give us. Sonship inheritance that righteousness. It's not by mercy you have been saved. Notice. That's part of it. But Paul says it's by grace that you've been saved. Grace. Grace. God's grace.

Grace that is greater than all our sin. By it we have been redeemed. We've been brought from death to life. Life everlasting real life. Not this counterfeit. This is an area for us to sojourn in until God redeems it fully brings it out the new heavens and new earth and says oh no.

This is life. And this is life eternal. What I create is good. What I create has no death in it any longer. What I make has no more sin. You're not gonna fall back into that pit. There is no fear of falling back into that pit.

There is only glory because of the great mercy and grace of our heavenly Father who is a merciful and gracious God. And when we realize this truth of but God we get a greater glimpse into that that power.

Don't we. For how would we understand the mercy and grace of God. Have we not been reminded of where he had brought us from. So church I want us in light of this great truth this text. I want us to be a people who rest in it.

I want to be a person who rest in it pray for me. I don't rest in it as I should. It's so secure. And I still don't rest in it as I should. I want us to be a people who who rest. Let us today truly rest in Christ.

Let us realize that great mercy. Let us see that glorious grace. Let us know. Let us experience that that security that comes with this. Because there is therefore no no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus.

Why do we live like there is. Because we're not. We're not gazing upon the power of God. We're not looking to the glorious grace and mercy of this great God. So now let's prepare as we do every week to to see this great truth in the ordinance of the Lord's Supper.

And in this I want this to be an outward expression of our rest. Right. We're being served these these elements the wine and the bread but these are these are free gracious gifts to us that we partake in as we remember the sacrifice of our Savior.

And as we go back to our seats and we we take of these elements. I want you to be reminded of that that sacrifice and as you take of them knowing that I share in union with this glorious Savior because of what he has done he alone not me.

Such mercy such grace such beauty such rest. Let us rest. Let's pray dear Heavenly Father Lord help us never to forget where you have where you came down into the pit to the depths of our depravity and our enmity with you and pulled us out made us alive gave us gave us hearts of flesh and made us new creatures made us sons and heirs with with Christ.

Father we we don't need to forget this glorious truth. Because we often do and we begin to be internal we get stuck in our past. We get stuck in thinking about where you brought us from. But we then don't take that next step in and reminded of where we've been brought to.

Father help us to be a people that rest in it gotta pray that you'd be honored in this time of us partaking of these elements or search our hearts. Lord I pray if there be unrepentant sin and in my heart and any of our hearts that we would lay that before you if if if we have something against a brother or sister here help us to get that right so that we can come to this table in union together as a church body.

Father we are so grateful for this this ordinance of the Lord's Supper be honored in our worship in Christ's name amen.