1 00:00:01,955 --> 00:00:07,713 Do you ever just stop and think 2 00:00:07,713 --> 00:00:12,744 about what we do? 3 00:00:12,744 --> 00:00:14,549 A bunch of people come together 4 00:00:14,549 --> 00:00:15,656 on the Lord's Day, 5 00:00:15,656 --> 00:00:18,527 and they all gather inside this place, 6 00:00:18,527 --> 00:00:24,777 and they sing together. 7 00:00:24,777 --> 00:00:26,489 I mean, you get words up here, 8 00:00:26,489 --> 00:00:32,325 and we all try to vocalize 9 00:00:32,325 --> 00:00:33,831 the words that we see 10 00:00:33,831 --> 00:00:36,338 and we all try to do it in harmony 11 00:00:36,338 --> 00:00:39,894 simultaneously. 12 00:00:39,894 --> 00:00:43,223 We proclaim. 13 00:00:43,223 --> 00:00:46,152 We sing and we proclaim. 14 00:00:46,152 --> 00:00:47,784 We teach. 15 00:00:47,784 --> 00:00:51,860 We proclaim truth. 16 00:00:51,860 --> 00:00:54,114 We talk to each other. 17 00:00:54,114 --> 00:00:55,270 Do you ever think about 18 00:00:55,270 --> 00:00:57,184 what happens in these songs? 19 00:00:57,184 --> 00:00:58,865 I know years ago, 20 00:00:58,865 --> 00:01:01,610 we thought about all the different ways 21 00:01:01,610 --> 00:01:03,997 that sometimes in the song, 22 00:01:03,997 --> 00:01:05,955 we actually are talking to God. 23 00:01:05,955 --> 00:01:07,572 Sometimes in the song, 24 00:01:07,572 --> 00:01:09,611 God is talking to us. 25 00:01:09,611 --> 00:01:10,841 Sometimes in the song, 26 00:01:10,841 --> 00:01:13,207 we are talking to each other. 27 00:01:13,207 --> 00:01:15,177 Do you ever notice that? 28 00:01:15,177 --> 00:01:17,128 Can anybody think of a song that we sing 29 00:01:17,128 --> 00:01:19,558 where God is talking to us? 30 00:01:19,558 --> 00:01:20,369 (from the room) 31 00:01:20,369 --> 00:01:21,909 I will strengthen you, help you, 32 00:01:21,909 --> 00:01:23,097 and cause you to stand. 33 00:01:23,097 --> 00:01:25,131 I was thinking of the same song. 34 00:01:25,131 --> 00:01:26,661 Anybody think of one where we 35 00:01:26,661 --> 00:01:28,427 talk to each other? 36 00:01:28,427 --> 00:01:29,440 (unintelligible) 37 00:01:29,440 --> 00:01:32,803 The classic. 38 00:01:32,803 --> 00:01:38,238 How about where we're speaking to the Lord? 39 00:01:38,238 --> 00:01:40,574 (unintelligible) 40 00:01:40,574 --> 00:01:44,328 It's endless. 41 00:01:44,328 --> 00:01:47,628 That fly... 42 00:01:47,628 --> 00:01:51,183 (Incomplete thought) 43 00:01:51,183 --> 00:01:52,978 Someone just recently was telling me 44 00:01:52,978 --> 00:01:55,113 that Conrad Murrell had a fly 45 00:01:55,113 --> 00:01:56,309 flying around his head 46 00:01:56,309 --> 00:01:58,110 when he was preaching one time, 47 00:01:58,110 --> 00:02:00,375 and he really believed it was demonic too. 48 00:02:00,375 --> 00:02:02,591 I think I've mentioned that before. 49 00:02:02,591 --> 00:02:05,543 Beelzebub is lord of the flies. 50 00:02:05,543 --> 00:02:07,330 And he commanded that fly 51 00:02:07,330 --> 00:02:08,637 in the name of Christ, 52 00:02:08,637 --> 00:02:12,229 and it immediately went up to the ceiling. 53 00:02:12,229 --> 00:02:15,607 True story. 54 00:02:15,607 --> 00:02:18,068 But think of the other thing that we do 55 00:02:18,068 --> 00:02:19,500 when we gather together. 56 00:02:19,500 --> 00:02:20,796 You actually sit there 57 00:02:20,796 --> 00:02:23,198 and you listen to a man who comes up front 58 00:02:23,198 --> 00:02:25,390 and he talks to you. 59 00:02:25,390 --> 00:02:28,552 If you really think about what we do 60 00:02:28,552 --> 00:02:30,802 and what is it all meant to do? 61 00:02:30,802 --> 00:02:33,316 It's all meant to strengthen our faith. 62 00:02:33,316 --> 00:02:35,660 It's all meant to portray God. 63 00:02:35,660 --> 00:02:39,218 It's a way in which we refresh 64 00:02:39,218 --> 00:02:41,180 and we remind ourselves 65 00:02:41,180 --> 00:02:43,185 about who God is 66 00:02:43,185 --> 00:02:44,990 and what God requires. 67 00:02:44,990 --> 00:02:49,457 It's a way that we see God afresh. 68 00:02:49,457 --> 00:02:50,740 We see His glories. 69 00:02:50,740 --> 00:02:52,001 We see His truth. 70 00:02:52,001 --> 00:02:53,678 It's a way that the Word of God 71 00:02:53,678 --> 00:02:56,727 is brought again and again and again 72 00:02:56,727 --> 00:02:58,430 to the people of God 73 00:02:58,430 --> 00:03:05,955 so that we might be built up. 74 00:03:05,955 --> 00:03:12,804 So that we might continue in the race. 75 00:03:12,804 --> 00:03:17,401 We put our eyes back upon the Lord Jesus. 76 00:03:17,401 --> 00:03:18,853 It's a time when we use 77 00:03:18,853 --> 00:03:22,684 our spiritual gifts 78 00:03:22,684 --> 00:03:24,568 to help one another. 79 00:03:24,568 --> 00:03:26,609 We gather together to stir up one another 80 00:03:26,609 --> 00:03:31,862 to love and good works. 81 00:03:31,862 --> 00:03:36,776 Brethren, we find ourselves 82 00:03:36,776 --> 00:03:40,471 in the epistle written by the Apostle Paul 83 00:03:40,471 --> 00:03:43,244 to the Ephesians. 84 00:03:43,244 --> 00:03:55,223 You can turn in your Bibles there. 85 00:03:55,223 --> 00:03:57,757 We'll read the passage this morning 86 00:03:57,757 --> 00:04:02,822 and then we'll go to the Lord in prayer. 87 00:04:02,822 --> 00:04:05,957 Ephesians 2, and I'm going to read to you 88 00:04:05,957 --> 00:04:12,116 the first 7 verses. 89 00:04:12,116 --> 00:04:14,234 "And you were dead in the trespasses 90 00:04:14,234 --> 00:04:16,346 and sins in which you once walked, 91 00:04:16,346 --> 00:04:18,206 following the course of this world, 92 00:04:18,206 --> 00:04:21,692 following the prince of the power of the air, 93 00:04:21,692 --> 00:04:23,389 the spirit that is now at work 94 00:04:23,389 --> 00:04:27,055 in the sons of disobedience, 95 00:04:27,055 --> 00:04:29,162 among whom we all once lived, 96 00:04:29,162 --> 00:04:31,859 in the passions of our flesh, 97 00:04:31,859 --> 00:04:33,757 carrying out the desires of the body 98 00:04:33,757 --> 00:04:35,342 and the mind and were by nature 99 00:04:35,342 --> 00:04:37,114 children of wrath, 100 00:04:37,114 --> 00:04:40,582 like the rest of mankind. 101 00:04:40,582 --> 00:04:43,868 But God, being rich in mercy, 102 00:04:43,868 --> 00:04:45,698 because of the great love 103 00:04:45,698 --> 00:04:48,657 with which He loved us, 104 00:04:48,657 --> 00:04:51,064 even when we were dead 105 00:04:51,064 --> 00:04:53,529 in our trespasses, 106 00:04:53,529 --> 00:04:55,756 made us alive together with Christ. 107 00:04:55,756 --> 00:04:58,893 By grace you have been saved, 108 00:04:58,893 --> 00:05:01,086 and raised us up with Him 109 00:05:01,086 --> 00:05:03,447 and seated us with Him 110 00:05:03,447 --> 00:05:05,749 in the heavenly places, 111 00:05:05,749 --> 00:05:11,726 in Christ Jesus, 112 00:05:11,726 --> 00:05:21,101 so that in the coming ages..." 113 00:05:21,101 --> 00:05:23,401 When the Christian is discouraged 114 00:05:23,401 --> 00:05:27,072 and wants to throw in the towel, 115 00:05:27,072 --> 00:05:30,093 God sends verses like this at us: 116 00:05:30,093 --> 00:05:31,720 "So that in the coming ages, 117 00:05:31,720 --> 00:05:33,855 He might show the immeasurable 118 00:05:33,855 --> 00:05:35,301 (or the exceeding) 119 00:05:35,301 --> 00:05:42,032 riches of His grace in kindness." 120 00:05:42,032 --> 00:05:46,417 The coming ages... 121 00:05:46,417 --> 00:05:52,272 Think about an age. 122 00:05:52,272 --> 00:05:56,311 We think of the Bronze Age. 123 00:05:56,311 --> 00:06:01,378 Ages are segments of time 124 00:06:01,378 --> 00:06:04,295 that we break up and we divide 125 00:06:04,295 --> 00:06:06,528 by certain realities; 126 00:06:06,528 --> 00:06:08,765 certain characteristics or attributes 127 00:06:08,765 --> 00:06:12,075 that can be ascribed to that age. 128 00:06:12,075 --> 00:06:15,138 Ages. 129 00:06:15,138 --> 00:06:17,213 The coming ages. 130 00:06:17,213 --> 00:06:18,782 There's no end to that. 131 00:06:18,782 --> 00:06:21,235 Just imagine, 132 00:06:21,235 --> 00:06:23,753 Christian, this is what you have 133 00:06:23,753 --> 00:06:25,507 to look forward to. 134 00:06:25,507 --> 00:06:32,904 Age after age after age... 135 00:06:32,904 --> 00:06:39,359 of a God Who does not lack for power 136 00:06:39,359 --> 00:06:41,776 or for wisdom. 137 00:06:41,776 --> 00:06:45,432 Who is going to be intent 138 00:06:45,432 --> 00:06:48,834 on showing you the unlimited, 139 00:06:48,834 --> 00:06:52,041 boundless, 140 00:06:52,041 --> 00:06:53,721 immeasurable, 141 00:06:53,721 --> 00:06:57,300 exceeding riches of His grace 142 00:06:57,300 --> 00:07:01,798 in kindness 143 00:07:01,798 --> 00:07:05,154 toward us. 144 00:07:05,154 --> 00:07:10,899 All this grace is directional. 145 00:07:10,899 --> 00:07:15,618 It's coming at you. 146 00:07:15,618 --> 00:07:18,111 Let's pray. 147 00:07:18,111 --> 00:07:22,707 Father, this is Your Word. 148 00:07:22,707 --> 00:07:28,177 This has been divinely breathed. 149 00:07:28,177 --> 00:07:29,313 This is a message 150 00:07:29,313 --> 00:07:31,177 from outside this world. 151 00:07:31,177 --> 00:07:35,490 This is not simply 152 00:07:35,490 --> 00:07:40,817 the intellect of a man at work. 153 00:07:40,817 --> 00:07:44,667 This is an alien message - 154 00:07:44,667 --> 00:07:48,125 foreign, outside. 155 00:07:48,125 --> 00:07:51,046 These are words that are sent 156 00:07:51,046 --> 00:07:55,042 from glory, from Heaven. 157 00:07:55,042 --> 00:08:01,583 Divinely breathed. 158 00:08:01,583 --> 00:08:05,810 Thy Word is truth. 159 00:08:05,810 --> 00:08:10,032 Lord, confront us with the truth of Your Word. 160 00:08:10,032 --> 00:08:11,355 There is so much here. 161 00:08:11,355 --> 00:08:13,698 Help us just to fathom 162 00:08:13,698 --> 00:08:16,343 something of the depths of these things. 163 00:08:16,343 --> 00:08:18,004 Father, please help us today. 164 00:08:18,004 --> 00:08:20,261 I pray in Christ's name, 165 00:08:20,261 --> 00:08:22,595 Amen. 166 00:08:22,595 --> 00:08:27,321 So, in the next several weeks, 167 00:08:27,321 --> 00:08:32,647 I want to deal with v. 4-7. 168 00:08:32,647 --> 00:08:34,815 Many of you know, you remember, 169 00:08:34,815 --> 00:08:37,755 I hope you do if you were here, 170 00:08:37,755 --> 00:08:40,196 first three verses. 171 00:08:40,196 --> 00:08:45,033 I did five messages specifically 172 00:08:45,033 --> 00:08:46,657 on, "How Dead is Dead? 173 00:08:46,657 --> 00:08:50,515 the Five-Fold Fallenness of Man." 174 00:08:50,515 --> 00:08:56,661 Now, I want to contrast that, 175 00:08:56,661 --> 00:08:58,935 because there's a "but" here. 176 00:08:58,935 --> 00:09:03,844 The "but" is a "but" of contrast. 177 00:09:03,844 --> 00:09:06,763 So, what I want to do now 178 00:09:06,763 --> 00:09:08,940 is start another sermon series 179 00:09:08,940 --> 00:09:11,254 dealing with these four verses. 180 00:09:11,254 --> 00:09:12,400 And I've called it, 181 00:09:12,400 --> 00:09:17,797 "How Alive is Alive? 182 00:09:17,797 --> 00:09:22,514 The Four-fold Risenness 183 00:09:22,514 --> 00:09:25,232 of the Christian." 184 00:09:25,232 --> 00:09:33,910 God helping us, today is part 1. 185 00:09:33,910 --> 00:09:36,137 So you see, 186 00:09:36,137 --> 00:09:39,955 verse 4, 187 00:09:39,955 --> 00:09:41,624 transition. 188 00:09:41,624 --> 00:09:44,080 We've come to the transition point. 189 00:09:44,080 --> 00:09:45,676 Before this, 190 00:09:45,676 --> 00:09:47,497 in this chapter - before this, 191 00:09:47,497 --> 00:09:51,194 nothing but gloom and despair 192 00:09:51,194 --> 00:09:55,698 and hopelessness and wrath. 193 00:09:55,698 --> 00:10:01,848 You were, Christian. You were that. 194 00:10:01,848 --> 00:10:06,004 But, with v. 4, we find out 195 00:10:06,004 --> 00:10:11,752 what happens when God goes to work. 196 00:10:11,752 --> 00:10:13,989 Notice. 197 00:10:13,989 --> 00:10:18,334 I want you to notice a word here. 198 00:10:18,334 --> 00:10:21,873 Go to v. 5. 199 00:10:21,873 --> 00:10:28,148 And look at the word "made." 200 00:10:28,148 --> 00:10:29,860 Now the subject that you attach 201 00:10:29,860 --> 00:10:35,161 to that verb is God from the previous verse. 202 00:10:35,161 --> 00:10:43,349 But, God made us alive. 203 00:10:43,349 --> 00:10:46,310 I know the old King James says quickened. 204 00:10:46,310 --> 00:10:49,847 That's the archaic word for making alive. 205 00:10:49,847 --> 00:10:50,623 Quickened. 206 00:10:50,623 --> 00:10:51,761 Don't you like that? 207 00:10:51,761 --> 00:10:53,737 Quick. 208 00:10:53,737 --> 00:10:56,358 Quickened. 209 00:10:56,358 --> 00:11:00,525 God makes something happen. 210 00:11:00,525 --> 00:11:05,519 God makes us into something. 211 00:11:05,519 --> 00:11:06,689 Just grasp that. 212 00:11:06,689 --> 00:11:08,482 That's what we're dealing with here. 213 00:11:08,482 --> 00:11:09,906 When we come to these verses, 214 00:11:09,906 --> 00:11:12,043 this is about what God has done. 215 00:11:12,043 --> 00:11:15,384 That's what we have in these verses: 216 00:11:15,384 --> 00:11:17,645 The making of a Christian. 217 00:11:17,645 --> 00:11:19,141 And we want to notice this. 218 00:11:19,141 --> 00:11:20,014 Why? 219 00:11:20,014 --> 00:11:24,373 Because, brethren, you tell me 220 00:11:24,373 --> 00:11:27,389 what is more important than being a Christian? 221 00:11:27,389 --> 00:11:30,036 Tell me. 222 00:11:30,036 --> 00:11:33,372 Because there's nothing you can put in its place. 223 00:11:33,372 --> 00:11:35,681 There's nothing that rivals this. 224 00:11:35,681 --> 00:11:37,140 There is nothing above this. 225 00:11:37,140 --> 00:11:38,627 There is nothing beyond this. 226 00:11:38,627 --> 00:11:40,504 Why? Brethren, because there's nothing 227 00:11:40,504 --> 00:11:42,992 beyond verse 7. 228 00:11:42,992 --> 00:11:45,720 And you don't get to verse 7, 229 00:11:45,720 --> 00:11:48,086 unless 4, 5, and 6 are a reality 230 00:11:48,086 --> 00:11:50,136 in your life. 231 00:11:50,136 --> 00:11:52,813 Four, five, and six are past tense. 232 00:11:52,813 --> 00:11:53,943 If you're a Christian, 233 00:11:53,943 --> 00:11:55,585 they've already happened to you. 234 00:11:55,585 --> 00:11:58,159 This is God making the Christian. 235 00:11:58,159 --> 00:11:59,599 The only thing future 236 00:11:59,599 --> 00:12:04,140 in these four verses is v. 7. 237 00:12:04,140 --> 00:12:06,037 There's nothing beyond that. 238 00:12:06,037 --> 00:12:08,389 There is nothing. 239 00:12:08,389 --> 00:12:12,651 Look, what can be beyond 240 00:12:12,651 --> 00:12:14,505 a God of all power and all wisdom 241 00:12:14,505 --> 00:12:16,296 saying, you know what? 242 00:12:16,296 --> 00:12:19,913 I am going to, from the depths of My power, 243 00:12:19,913 --> 00:12:21,544 the depths of My wisdom, 244 00:12:21,544 --> 00:12:23,380 the depths of My grace, 245 00:12:23,380 --> 00:12:25,277 the riches of My mercy, 246 00:12:25,277 --> 00:12:26,778 I am going to reach in; 247 00:12:26,778 --> 00:12:27,894 I'm going to reach in 248 00:12:27,894 --> 00:12:29,586 to the depths of My being; 249 00:12:29,586 --> 00:12:31,636 the depths of My innovation, 250 00:12:31,636 --> 00:12:35,403 and I am going to create ways 251 00:12:35,403 --> 00:12:37,246 through all these coming ages, 252 00:12:37,246 --> 00:12:40,430 to show My kindness. 253 00:12:40,430 --> 00:12:42,365 And make no mistake about it, 254 00:12:42,365 --> 00:12:45,232 God means to put Himself on display 255 00:12:45,232 --> 00:12:48,390 in the so doing of this. 256 00:12:48,390 --> 00:12:50,196 To be an object. 257 00:12:50,196 --> 00:12:53,413 To be a vessel of mercy. 258 00:12:53,413 --> 00:12:55,322 You understand, God's mercies 259 00:12:55,322 --> 00:12:57,109 are not just like bestowed one time 260 00:12:57,109 --> 00:12:59,964 and then that's it. 261 00:12:59,964 --> 00:13:01,484 To be a vessel of mercy means 262 00:13:01,484 --> 00:13:03,343 God is going to seek to fill you 263 00:13:03,343 --> 00:13:05,390 to overflowing with His mercy, 264 00:13:05,390 --> 00:13:08,663 again and again and again 265 00:13:08,663 --> 00:13:10,390 and again and again 266 00:13:10,390 --> 00:13:11,916 through all of the coming ages. 267 00:13:11,916 --> 00:13:13,328 There's nothing beyond that. 268 00:13:13,328 --> 00:13:15,239 There's nothing higher than this. 269 00:13:15,239 --> 00:13:16,853 This is what we're dealing with. 270 00:13:16,853 --> 00:13:19,282 And we're dealing with what God does 271 00:13:19,282 --> 00:13:21,862 to make a person who actually 272 00:13:21,862 --> 00:13:24,135 becomes one who is going to 273 00:13:24,135 --> 00:13:25,654 enjoy all of this. 274 00:13:25,654 --> 00:13:30,557 This is God making some people 275 00:13:30,557 --> 00:13:36,512 into something that they were not before. 276 00:13:36,512 --> 00:13:38,872 That's what we have. 277 00:13:38,872 --> 00:13:41,022 That's what's before us. 278 00:13:41,022 --> 00:13:43,820 This is the making of a Christian. 279 00:13:43,820 --> 00:13:45,089 Do you recognize that? 280 00:13:45,089 --> 00:13:49,518 To make alive is to make a Christian. 281 00:13:49,518 --> 00:13:50,914 What we have before us 282 00:13:50,914 --> 00:13:53,357 is God's Christianity. 283 00:13:53,357 --> 00:13:54,828 And I want to emphasize that 284 00:13:54,828 --> 00:13:56,508 because there's a lot 285 00:13:56,508 --> 00:14:02,283 that purports to be Christianity. 286 00:14:02,283 --> 00:14:10,225 A lot of name only out here. 287 00:14:10,225 --> 00:14:13,496 But what we have here is the real deal. 288 00:14:13,496 --> 00:14:17,112 This is what you've got to have 289 00:14:17,112 --> 00:14:20,018 if you're going to be a Christian. 290 00:14:20,018 --> 00:14:25,379 There's a lot of decisional stuff. 291 00:14:25,379 --> 00:14:26,910 I just had somebody ask me, 292 00:14:26,910 --> 00:14:30,220 "what do you think of altar calls?" 293 00:14:30,220 --> 00:14:32,407 There's lots of people 294 00:14:32,407 --> 00:14:33,989 making lots of decisions. 295 00:14:33,989 --> 00:14:37,814 Listen, there is a place for that. 296 00:14:37,814 --> 00:14:39,521 People decide for Christ, 297 00:14:39,521 --> 00:14:42,258 but people decide all sorts of things. 298 00:14:42,258 --> 00:14:44,195 People decide I'm going to go to church. 299 00:14:44,195 --> 00:14:46,020 People decide to not do this 300 00:14:46,020 --> 00:14:51,020 and to do another thing. 301 00:14:51,020 --> 00:14:57,032 You know probably, most of you, 302 00:14:57,032 --> 00:15:06,826 "decisional regeneration." 303 00:15:06,826 --> 00:15:08,797 We're not talking about something 304 00:15:08,797 --> 00:15:10,972 that men start. 305 00:15:10,972 --> 00:15:18,697 Listen, no one goes down this process; 306 00:15:18,697 --> 00:15:20,823 nobody goes through this process - 307 00:15:20,823 --> 00:15:23,038 I shouldn't say "down" through this process. 308 00:15:23,038 --> 00:15:25,202 I mean "down" in the way you read the text 309 00:15:25,202 --> 00:15:26,810 but it's actually up. 310 00:15:26,810 --> 00:15:28,465 There's a being raised up. 311 00:15:28,465 --> 00:15:30,254 This is an upward movement here. 312 00:15:30,254 --> 00:15:31,791 Maybe down in the page, 313 00:15:31,791 --> 00:15:35,268 but up in the spiritual reality. 314 00:15:35,268 --> 00:15:37,004 And it doesn't happen unless 315 00:15:37,004 --> 00:15:40,846 it happens this way. 316 00:15:40,846 --> 00:15:44,618 This is so important. 317 00:15:44,618 --> 00:15:48,102 This is so essential. 318 00:15:48,102 --> 00:15:49,847 This is it. 319 00:15:49,847 --> 00:15:51,148 Some of you know, 320 00:15:51,148 --> 00:15:54,306 we recently had a man, 321 00:15:54,306 --> 00:15:56,165 like right over here, 322 00:15:56,165 --> 00:15:57,059 you may remember, 323 00:15:57,059 --> 00:15:58,247 he was here on a Sunday. 324 00:15:58,247 --> 00:15:59,545 He stood up afterwards 325 00:15:59,545 --> 00:16:03,226 and he just wept and he wept and he wept. 326 00:16:03,226 --> 00:16:07,495 And he showed up at our conference. 327 00:16:07,495 --> 00:16:11,128 Man who is right now 328 00:16:11,128 --> 00:16:14,478 striving, seeking to pastor a church 329 00:16:14,478 --> 00:16:16,909 out there in West Texas. 330 00:16:16,909 --> 00:16:20,094 And he's striving to lay foundations. 331 00:16:20,094 --> 00:16:23,388 And I talked to him on the phone this week. 332 00:16:23,388 --> 00:16:25,380 Brethren, wherever you are, 333 00:16:25,380 --> 00:16:27,402 whether you're out in Valentine, TX 334 00:16:27,402 --> 00:16:29,101 or you're here in San Antonio, TX. 335 00:16:29,101 --> 00:16:30,315 Whether you live today 336 00:16:30,315 --> 00:16:32,249 or whether you lived 2,000 years ago 337 00:16:32,249 --> 00:16:36,381 like these Ephesians... 338 00:16:36,381 --> 00:16:38,995 There is no more important question than this: 339 00:16:38,995 --> 00:16:42,836 What is true Christianity? 340 00:16:42,836 --> 00:16:45,606 What is it? 341 00:16:45,606 --> 00:16:48,090 Because I'll tell you this: 342 00:16:48,090 --> 00:16:55,461 Satan means to deceive this race. 343 00:16:55,461 --> 00:17:02,317 Most men at least have some concept 344 00:17:02,317 --> 00:17:04,662 that we need to do something 345 00:17:04,662 --> 00:17:07,786 about our sin. 346 00:17:07,786 --> 00:17:10,008 And one of the most prevalent lies 347 00:17:10,008 --> 00:17:14,645 that Satan loves to blanket this world with, 348 00:17:14,645 --> 00:17:18,103 is that there is a way other than this 349 00:17:18,103 --> 00:17:20,136 to, in the end, 350 00:17:20,136 --> 00:17:25,074 miss punishment for our sin. 351 00:17:25,074 --> 00:17:28,576 Listen. 352 00:17:28,576 --> 00:17:33,120 Christianity is the only hope this world has. 353 00:17:33,120 --> 00:17:36,037 There is no other. 354 00:17:36,037 --> 00:17:38,972 Being a Christian is the only hope 355 00:17:38,972 --> 00:17:42,789 in this world. 356 00:17:42,789 --> 00:17:45,696 You know, I know we know that truth, 357 00:17:45,696 --> 00:17:47,543 but sometimes we just need to really 358 00:17:47,543 --> 00:17:48,969 be gripped with it. 359 00:17:48,969 --> 00:17:51,051 Unless the people up and down our streets, 360 00:17:51,051 --> 00:17:52,888 unless our children, unless our family, 361 00:17:52,888 --> 00:17:54,362 unless this happens to them, 362 00:17:54,362 --> 00:17:55,907 there is no other hope. 363 00:17:55,907 --> 00:17:56,829 This is the hope. 364 00:17:56,829 --> 00:17:58,189 There is none other. 365 00:17:58,189 --> 00:18:00,201 There is nothing else. 366 00:18:00,201 --> 00:18:01,897 We theoretically know this. 367 00:18:01,897 --> 00:18:03,451 Brethren, we need to just stop 368 00:18:03,451 --> 00:18:04,350 for a moment 369 00:18:04,350 --> 00:18:06,630 and really let it sink in. 370 00:18:06,630 --> 00:18:10,410 There is absolutely no other hope but one. 371 00:18:10,410 --> 00:18:11,680 There are not five hopes. 372 00:18:11,680 --> 00:18:12,669 There are not three. 373 00:18:12,669 --> 00:18:13,566 There are not two. 374 00:18:13,566 --> 00:18:15,497 This is it. 375 00:18:15,497 --> 00:18:19,415 Period. 376 00:18:19,415 --> 00:18:21,427 Or we might put the question this way: 377 00:18:21,427 --> 00:18:27,815 Why am I a Christian? 378 00:18:27,815 --> 00:18:32,059 Why is anybody if they are one? 379 00:18:32,059 --> 00:18:33,068 Why? 380 00:18:33,068 --> 00:18:33,993 What has happened? 381 00:18:33,993 --> 00:18:36,172 And there's only one answer to that question. 382 00:18:36,172 --> 00:18:38,463 That man, that woman, or that child 383 00:18:38,463 --> 00:18:40,073 is a Christian 384 00:18:40,073 --> 00:18:44,069 solely based on this one fact: 385 00:18:44,069 --> 00:18:46,960 God made them one. 386 00:18:46,960 --> 00:18:49,595 God makes. 387 00:18:49,595 --> 00:18:54,081 God makes. 388 00:18:54,081 --> 00:18:58,979 This goes way beyond decisions. 389 00:18:58,979 --> 00:19:01,071 People make decisions. 390 00:19:01,071 --> 00:19:04,670 People make the right decision 391 00:19:04,670 --> 00:19:08,480 only as a consequence of God 392 00:19:08,480 --> 00:19:11,778 making something happen. 393 00:19:11,778 --> 00:19:16,362 God makes. 394 00:19:16,362 --> 00:19:18,847 Look at the text. 395 00:19:18,847 --> 00:19:23,609 Brethren, you know, I'm looking at this 396 00:19:23,609 --> 00:19:24,950 as I'm studying, 397 00:19:24,950 --> 00:19:27,787 and there's a lot going on here. 398 00:19:27,787 --> 00:19:30,746 There's a lot of places we could focus. 399 00:19:30,746 --> 00:19:36,088 But, what I want to do today 400 00:19:36,088 --> 00:19:39,205 right now at this moment, 401 00:19:39,205 --> 00:19:42,504 I want us to try to peel - 402 00:19:42,504 --> 00:19:47,855 not unimportant aspects of these verses, 403 00:19:47,855 --> 00:19:53,617 but I want to peel back the adornments. 404 00:19:53,617 --> 00:19:56,580 Paul loves to decorate his sentences. 405 00:19:56,580 --> 00:19:57,945 You ever recognize that? 406 00:19:57,945 --> 00:20:01,699 Oh, he loves all these expressions. 407 00:20:01,699 --> 00:20:03,898 He loves all sorts of modifiers 408 00:20:03,898 --> 00:20:06,091 and adjectives and qualifiers 409 00:20:06,091 --> 00:20:08,548 and explanatory phrases. 410 00:20:08,548 --> 00:20:10,424 But I want us to look past them. 411 00:20:10,424 --> 00:20:14,319 I want us to peel them away for a second. 412 00:20:14,319 --> 00:20:16,454 To where we have this: 413 00:20:16,454 --> 00:20:18,900 the main subject 414 00:20:18,900 --> 00:20:21,015 and the main verb. 415 00:20:21,015 --> 00:20:23,121 Now actually, in this sentence 416 00:20:23,121 --> 00:20:28,070 there are three main verbs 417 00:20:28,070 --> 00:20:29,907 or predicates. 418 00:20:29,907 --> 00:20:35,118 There's one subject, three verbs. 419 00:20:35,118 --> 00:20:38,950 Look here. 420 00:20:38,950 --> 00:20:42,091 Verse 4 421 00:20:42,091 --> 00:20:46,095 "But God..." 422 00:20:46,095 --> 00:20:51,476 OK, there is our subject. 423 00:20:51,476 --> 00:20:59,731 What is the main subject of a sentence? 424 00:20:59,731 --> 00:21:06,973 It is the "who" or the "what" 425 00:21:06,973 --> 00:21:11,909 that is doing the action of the verb. 426 00:21:11,909 --> 00:21:13,124 That's the idea. 427 00:21:13,124 --> 00:21:14,989 The main subject is the one word 428 00:21:14,989 --> 00:21:16,447 that tells us who or what 429 00:21:16,447 --> 00:21:18,179 the sentence is all about. 430 00:21:18,179 --> 00:21:20,894 And that's God. 431 00:21:20,894 --> 00:21:24,249 But now, brethren, what's next? 432 00:21:24,249 --> 00:21:26,648 Being rich in mercy. 433 00:21:26,648 --> 00:21:30,257 Well, that's an adornment here. 434 00:21:30,257 --> 00:21:34,102 Paul wants us to know 435 00:21:34,102 --> 00:21:36,534 where this comes from - 436 00:21:36,534 --> 00:21:39,619 the action that God is going to do. 437 00:21:39,619 --> 00:21:42,029 It comes from God's mercy. 438 00:21:42,029 --> 00:21:43,206 And he goes on to say, 439 00:21:43,206 --> 00:21:44,489 "because of the great love 440 00:21:44,489 --> 00:21:45,869 with which He loved us." 441 00:21:45,869 --> 00:21:48,107 Where does the mercy come from? 442 00:21:48,107 --> 00:21:49,612 You see, what he's doing is 443 00:21:49,612 --> 00:21:51,592 he's wanting to look at here, 444 00:21:51,592 --> 00:21:54,969 momentarily, at the very character of God, 445 00:21:54,969 --> 00:21:57,016 at the attributes of God 446 00:21:57,016 --> 00:22:01,554 that cause God to do what He does. 447 00:22:01,554 --> 00:22:03,191 It's not what He does, 448 00:22:03,191 --> 00:22:04,810 but it's the cause of why He does 449 00:22:04,810 --> 00:22:07,096 what He does. 450 00:22:07,096 --> 00:22:10,756 Now, look at v. 5. 451 00:22:10,756 --> 00:22:12,606 Let's peel this away. 452 00:22:12,606 --> 00:22:19,347 This has to do with when this takes place. 453 00:22:19,347 --> 00:22:21,509 This is important to Paul. 454 00:22:21,509 --> 00:22:23,190 Because again, it communicates much 455 00:22:23,190 --> 00:22:26,160 about God's mercy and love. 456 00:22:26,160 --> 00:22:28,721 It happened when we were dead in trespasses. 457 00:22:28,721 --> 00:22:32,878 Not when we did good things. 458 00:22:32,878 --> 00:22:36,981 OK, now here we are. 459 00:22:36,981 --> 00:22:41,306 "...made us alive together with Christ." 460 00:22:41,306 --> 00:22:42,953 Now you have a parenthesis. 461 00:22:42,953 --> 00:22:44,946 "By grace you have been saved." 462 00:22:44,946 --> 00:22:48,387 Let's peel that off for a second. 463 00:22:48,387 --> 00:22:49,692 Now, here we are back to 464 00:22:49,692 --> 00:22:52,926 the second main verb. 465 00:22:52,926 --> 00:22:57,227 "...and raised us up." 466 00:22:57,227 --> 00:23:03,013 KJV and the New KJV say "together." 467 00:23:03,013 --> 00:23:06,171 It's implied - together with Christ. 468 00:23:06,171 --> 00:23:09,725 The ESV puts "with Him" in there. 469 00:23:09,725 --> 00:23:12,271 It's implied from v. 5. 470 00:23:12,271 --> 00:23:15,782 He made us alive together with Christ. 471 00:23:15,782 --> 00:23:17,935 Raised us up together, 472 00:23:17,935 --> 00:23:22,465 and seated us together 473 00:23:22,465 --> 00:23:24,167 with Christ is implied, 474 00:23:24,167 --> 00:23:28,882 in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. 475 00:23:28,882 --> 00:23:30,945 Just stop right there. 476 00:23:30,945 --> 00:23:35,181 Here's what we're left with. 477 00:23:35,181 --> 00:23:39,117 But God made us alive together with Christ 478 00:23:39,117 --> 00:23:40,883 and raised us up with Him 479 00:23:40,883 --> 00:23:41,933 and seated us with Him 480 00:23:41,933 --> 00:23:43,384 in the heavenly places 481 00:23:43,384 --> 00:23:47,785 in Christ Jesus. 482 00:23:47,785 --> 00:23:48,888 You see that? 483 00:23:48,888 --> 00:23:49,835 He did it. 484 00:23:49,835 --> 00:23:52,730 He made alive. 485 00:23:52,730 --> 00:23:55,951 The making alive is where we were - 486 00:23:55,951 --> 00:23:57,734 we were dead - He made us alive. 487 00:23:57,734 --> 00:23:59,081 And then there's movement. 488 00:23:59,081 --> 00:24:01,234 He raised us up. 489 00:24:01,234 --> 00:24:05,500 And then there's where He takes us to. 490 00:24:05,500 --> 00:24:07,517 He seated us with Christ 491 00:24:07,517 --> 00:24:09,330 in the heavenly places. 492 00:24:09,330 --> 00:24:11,544 This is the action 493 00:24:11,544 --> 00:24:13,862 that God performs. 494 00:24:13,862 --> 00:24:15,737 Let it sink in. 495 00:24:15,737 --> 00:24:17,040 You cannot be a Christian 496 00:24:17,040 --> 00:24:18,909 apart from the truth that's contained 497 00:24:18,909 --> 00:24:20,043 in these verses. 498 00:24:20,043 --> 00:24:22,441 V. 7 is the only thing that's future 499 00:24:22,441 --> 00:24:24,022 for the Christian. 500 00:24:24,022 --> 00:24:25,306 Now get this, 501 00:24:25,306 --> 00:24:26,971 let this sink in. 502 00:24:26,971 --> 00:24:32,858 Christian, you are alive. 503 00:24:32,858 --> 00:24:34,638 That's not something future. 504 00:24:34,638 --> 00:24:36,408 That's not something that happens 505 00:24:36,408 --> 00:24:37,527 when you die, 506 00:24:37,527 --> 00:24:39,676 and then you go off into eternity 507 00:24:39,676 --> 00:24:41,309 and God makes you alive. 508 00:24:41,309 --> 00:24:44,282 You are alive now. 509 00:24:44,282 --> 00:24:47,379 You are raised up now. 510 00:24:47,379 --> 00:24:49,539 How high are you raised up? 511 00:24:49,539 --> 00:24:52,954 You are raised up so that you are seated 512 00:24:52,954 --> 00:24:55,267 with Christ in the heavenly places. 513 00:24:55,267 --> 00:25:02,111 Every one of these verbs - 514 00:25:02,111 --> 00:25:06,029 indicative aorist. 515 00:25:06,029 --> 00:25:08,141 What is that? 516 00:25:08,141 --> 00:25:10,816 Past tense. 517 00:25:10,816 --> 00:25:12,698 Simply put. 518 00:25:12,698 --> 00:25:15,780 You convey that over into the English, 519 00:25:15,780 --> 00:25:18,858 it's a simple past tense verb. 520 00:25:18,858 --> 00:25:22,567 These things have already happened to you. 521 00:25:22,567 --> 00:25:26,711 Now, you need to recognize that. 522 00:25:26,711 --> 00:25:30,868 You are alive. 523 00:25:30,868 --> 00:25:32,972 You are raised up. 524 00:25:32,972 --> 00:25:36,792 And you are raised up so high 525 00:25:36,792 --> 00:25:39,759 that you are seated with Christ 526 00:25:39,759 --> 00:25:43,295 in the heavenly places. 527 00:25:43,295 --> 00:25:45,518 Only v. 7 is future. 528 00:25:45,518 --> 00:25:50,370 And look, I'm sure those Ephesians 529 00:25:50,370 --> 00:25:52,393 sitting there 2,000 years ago 530 00:25:52,393 --> 00:25:56,262 when they first heard this read - 531 00:25:56,262 --> 00:25:59,689 the actual handwritten - maybe by his hand 532 00:25:59,689 --> 00:26:04,654 or by his secretary. 533 00:26:04,654 --> 00:26:06,601 You know it was actually read 534 00:26:06,601 --> 00:26:09,171 for the first time publicly in the church 535 00:26:09,171 --> 00:26:10,871 at Ephesus. 536 00:26:10,871 --> 00:26:12,383 Or if it was a circular letter, 537 00:26:12,383 --> 00:26:17,296 whatever churches it was showing up in. 538 00:26:17,296 --> 00:26:20,158 I can guarantee you this. 539 00:26:20,158 --> 00:26:21,979 They didn't all hear, 540 00:26:21,979 --> 00:26:24,995 you have already past tense 541 00:26:24,995 --> 00:26:27,008 been seated with Christ 542 00:26:27,008 --> 00:26:29,713 in the heavenly places, 543 00:26:29,713 --> 00:26:31,471 and they didn't just think, 544 00:26:31,471 --> 00:26:34,123 oh yeah, that's totally plain to us. 545 00:26:34,123 --> 00:26:35,805 We have all of that figured out. 546 00:26:35,805 --> 00:26:38,337 We see exactly how that is. 547 00:26:38,337 --> 00:26:42,532 The same way that you say 548 00:26:42,532 --> 00:26:46,169 what? 549 00:26:46,169 --> 00:26:48,426 No, no, no... No, Paul. 550 00:26:48,426 --> 00:26:51,975 That's future. 551 00:26:51,975 --> 00:26:53,339 And he says no, 552 00:26:53,339 --> 00:26:57,253 I'm under the inspiration of God here. 553 00:26:57,253 --> 00:26:58,543 I know what I'm saying. 554 00:26:58,543 --> 00:27:00,390 Or maybe Paul could even say, 555 00:27:00,390 --> 00:27:02,236 I don't know what I'm saying. 556 00:27:02,236 --> 00:27:05,361 But this is what the Spirit is leading me to say. 557 00:27:05,361 --> 00:27:10,414 However, this is what God says. 558 00:27:10,414 --> 00:27:15,101 This is what God has already done. 559 00:27:15,101 --> 00:27:17,833 God seated us - 560 00:27:17,833 --> 00:27:20,295 seated - the verb here 561 00:27:20,295 --> 00:27:26,259 is caused us to sit down together. 562 00:27:26,259 --> 00:27:28,167 Already. 563 00:27:28,167 --> 00:27:29,913 Here's the thing. 564 00:27:29,913 --> 00:27:33,134 As Christians, don't doubt it. 565 00:27:33,134 --> 00:27:38,133 Let's all together just seek to comprehend it, 566 00:27:38,133 --> 00:27:39,403 in the weeks ahead. 567 00:27:39,403 --> 00:27:44,283 I'm not going to deal with that so much today. 568 00:27:44,283 --> 00:27:46,177 Let's seek to comprehend these things. 569 00:27:46,177 --> 00:27:48,778 Let's seek to comprehend what's being said here. 570 00:27:48,778 --> 00:27:51,881 It's obvious that Paul is concerned 571 00:27:51,881 --> 00:27:54,104 that we be very clear in our thinking 572 00:27:54,104 --> 00:27:56,769 as to the great thing that God has done for us. 573 00:27:56,769 --> 00:27:59,665 This is tremendous, folks. 574 00:27:59,665 --> 00:28:01,252 This is tremendous. 575 00:28:01,252 --> 00:28:03,089 And what we need to do - 576 00:28:03,089 --> 00:28:04,473 here's what I want us to do. 577 00:28:04,473 --> 00:28:06,381 Here's what I really feel constrained, 578 00:28:06,381 --> 00:28:09,778 in these four messages to try to get at, 579 00:28:09,778 --> 00:28:14,337 is brethren, this is not simply 580 00:28:14,337 --> 00:28:19,773 some theoretical or hypothetical thought here. 581 00:28:19,773 --> 00:28:21,793 There's reality to this. 582 00:28:21,793 --> 00:28:24,508 These texts mean something. 583 00:28:24,508 --> 00:28:26,807 They are experiential. 584 00:28:26,807 --> 00:28:30,686 This has to do with our lives. 585 00:28:30,686 --> 00:28:32,819 You don't go from dead to living 586 00:28:32,819 --> 00:28:37,142 and have this just be some theory. 587 00:28:37,142 --> 00:28:39,594 This is experience. 588 00:28:39,594 --> 00:28:40,806 This is real. 589 00:28:40,806 --> 00:28:42,433 This is transforming. 590 00:28:42,433 --> 00:28:43,745 This has to do with things 591 00:28:43,745 --> 00:28:47,036 that are observable in our lives. 592 00:28:47,036 --> 00:28:48,566 And what I want us to try to do 593 00:28:48,566 --> 00:28:54,020 is get our hands around this 594 00:28:54,020 --> 00:28:57,679 in these weeks ahead. 595 00:28:57,679 --> 00:28:59,066 So, let's dive in. 596 00:28:59,066 --> 00:29:01,712 At least make some effort to explore 597 00:29:01,712 --> 00:29:04,850 some of the riches here. 598 00:29:04,850 --> 00:29:07,912 Let me just say this or ask this: 599 00:29:07,912 --> 00:29:10,795 You want to know another name 600 00:29:10,795 --> 00:29:14,040 for what God's doing here? 601 00:29:14,040 --> 00:29:16,314 OK, one of those things we peeled off, 602 00:29:16,314 --> 00:29:19,600 let's bring it back in. 603 00:29:19,600 --> 00:29:21,560 Let's just read this. 604 00:29:21,560 --> 00:29:22,477 V. 4 605 00:29:22,477 --> 00:29:24,903 "God being rich in mercy 606 00:29:24,903 --> 00:29:26,246 because of the great love 607 00:29:26,246 --> 00:29:27,679 with which He loved us 608 00:29:27,679 --> 00:29:30,868 even when we were dead in our trespasses, 609 00:29:30,868 --> 00:29:35,090 made us alive together with Christ." 610 00:29:35,090 --> 00:29:38,413 What's another name for all that? 611 00:29:38,413 --> 00:29:39,959 Adoption would be one. 612 00:29:39,959 --> 00:29:41,191 You go back to chapter 1, 613 00:29:41,191 --> 00:29:42,651 you definitely see it there. 614 00:29:42,651 --> 00:29:47,669 But immediately in Paul's mind, 615 00:29:47,669 --> 00:29:51,444 notice what he says in the parenthesis here. 616 00:29:51,444 --> 00:29:56,759 "By grace you have been saved." 617 00:29:56,759 --> 00:30:00,174 I like that. 618 00:30:00,174 --> 00:30:03,929 You know what he's saying here? 619 00:30:03,929 --> 00:30:08,018 Brethren, let's grasp this. 620 00:30:08,018 --> 00:30:10,050 What he's saying here 621 00:30:10,050 --> 00:30:13,058 is that to be made alive 622 00:30:13,058 --> 00:30:16,305 together with Christ 623 00:30:16,305 --> 00:30:19,768 is to be saved. 624 00:30:19,768 --> 00:30:24,247 You say, well, of course. 625 00:30:24,247 --> 00:30:27,649 But let's think. 626 00:30:27,649 --> 00:30:29,096 You know what I find? 627 00:30:29,096 --> 00:30:32,465 Very often, being saved 628 00:30:32,465 --> 00:30:35,913 is connected with being forgiven. 629 00:30:35,913 --> 00:30:37,803 Now that's true. 630 00:30:37,803 --> 00:30:40,989 Or being saved is being connected 631 00:30:40,989 --> 00:30:43,593 with justification, 632 00:30:43,593 --> 00:30:45,811 which goes right along with being forgiven. 633 00:30:45,811 --> 00:30:48,162 It's being declared righteous. 634 00:30:48,162 --> 00:30:50,317 No longer are your sins 635 00:30:50,317 --> 00:30:52,060 imputed to you. 636 00:30:52,060 --> 00:30:53,402 They're imputed to Christ, 637 00:30:53,402 --> 00:30:56,874 and paid for in His Person. 638 00:30:56,874 --> 00:30:58,889 But here's what I find interesting, 639 00:30:58,889 --> 00:31:01,421 and I want to emphasize this. 640 00:31:01,421 --> 00:31:02,755 Because what I found 641 00:31:02,755 --> 00:31:05,015 when Brother Charles came out with his book, 642 00:31:05,015 --> 00:31:07,718 "Justification and Regeneration," 643 00:31:07,718 --> 00:31:12,018 is I have found that in the reformed movement, 644 00:31:12,018 --> 00:31:14,168 there is a great love and appreciation 645 00:31:14,168 --> 00:31:16,161 for the doctrine of justification, 646 00:31:16,161 --> 00:31:17,798 but I want you to see right here, 647 00:31:17,798 --> 00:31:21,537 Paul bypasses forgiveness and justification - 648 00:31:21,537 --> 00:31:23,269 now he doesn't always do that, 649 00:31:23,269 --> 00:31:24,821 I'm well aware of that. 650 00:31:24,821 --> 00:31:26,481 And in other places in this letter 651 00:31:26,481 --> 00:31:30,011 he definitely deals with those things. 652 00:31:30,011 --> 00:31:31,862 But right here, 653 00:31:31,862 --> 00:31:33,937 when he wants to size up 654 00:31:33,937 --> 00:31:37,206 what it means to be saved, 655 00:31:37,206 --> 00:31:42,212 he's not so interested in the legal aspects 656 00:31:42,212 --> 00:31:47,190 as much as he is in the experiential 657 00:31:47,190 --> 00:31:50,216 transformation that takes place 658 00:31:50,216 --> 00:31:52,871 by way of regeneration, 659 00:31:52,871 --> 00:31:54,441 being made a new creation, 660 00:31:54,441 --> 00:31:56,532 that's what it is to be born again, 661 00:31:56,532 --> 00:31:59,041 to be made alive. 662 00:31:59,041 --> 00:32:00,199 Whereas you were dead, 663 00:32:00,199 --> 00:32:01,901 you are alive. 664 00:32:01,901 --> 00:32:04,036 This is what it is to be saved. 665 00:32:04,036 --> 00:32:05,128 Why emphasize that? 666 00:32:05,128 --> 00:32:07,005 Because, look, to be saved 667 00:32:07,005 --> 00:32:08,630 isn't merely walking through life 668 00:32:08,630 --> 00:32:10,466 with this mental notion 669 00:32:10,466 --> 00:32:13,422 that oh, my sins are forgiven. 670 00:32:13,422 --> 00:32:15,831 Listen, time and again 671 00:32:15,831 --> 00:32:20,675 in Scripture, the authors come back to this: 672 00:32:20,675 --> 00:32:23,544 that there's no legal reality unless 673 00:32:23,544 --> 00:32:26,536 there is this kind of transformation 674 00:32:26,536 --> 00:32:29,886 in your life. 675 00:32:29,886 --> 00:32:33,561 You must be alive. 676 00:32:33,561 --> 00:32:35,957 There must be life 677 00:32:35,957 --> 00:32:39,926 pulsing through you. 678 00:32:39,926 --> 00:32:42,142 This is Christianity. 679 00:32:42,142 --> 00:32:45,296 Christians are not just people 680 00:32:45,296 --> 00:32:50,784 who say, oh, wretched man that I am, 681 00:32:50,784 --> 00:32:53,881 but my sins are forgiven. 682 00:32:53,881 --> 00:32:58,620 Yeah, I know there's nothing good in me, 683 00:32:58,620 --> 00:33:04,725 but I'm forgiven. 684 00:33:04,725 --> 00:33:07,898 I believe. 685 00:33:07,898 --> 00:33:13,474 Listen, there better be something good in you. 686 00:33:13,474 --> 00:33:18,312 There better be the seeds of life in you, 687 00:33:18,312 --> 00:33:21,752 or you're not saved. 688 00:33:21,752 --> 00:33:27,861 There better be the fruit of life. 689 00:33:27,861 --> 00:33:32,641 That's salvation here in this verse. 690 00:33:32,641 --> 00:33:36,292 Here's something else. 691 00:33:36,292 --> 00:33:42,976 Don't miss Christ in these verses. 692 00:33:42,976 --> 00:33:48,176 It's together - notice that reality. 693 00:33:48,176 --> 00:33:52,057 Our being made alive, 694 00:33:52,057 --> 00:33:54,777 it's not separate from Christ. 695 00:33:54,777 --> 00:33:57,681 It's integrally tied with Him. 696 00:33:57,681 --> 00:33:59,207 Being joined with Him. 697 00:33:59,207 --> 00:34:01,710 Being in union with Him. 698 00:34:01,710 --> 00:34:04,938 Being together - together. 699 00:34:04,938 --> 00:34:09,275 We are made alive together. 700 00:34:09,275 --> 00:34:10,837 Not separate. 701 00:34:10,837 --> 00:34:12,550 Together. 702 00:34:12,550 --> 00:34:14,918 This is essential. 703 00:34:14,918 --> 00:34:17,320 This is unique. 704 00:34:17,320 --> 00:34:19,623 No other religion has this. 705 00:34:19,623 --> 00:34:21,672 No other religion has this essential 706 00:34:21,672 --> 00:34:25,553 togetherness with Christ. 707 00:34:25,553 --> 00:34:26,688 Nothing else. 708 00:34:26,688 --> 00:34:31,133 Christianity is solely unique at this point. 709 00:34:31,133 --> 00:34:33,022 Together. 710 00:34:33,022 --> 00:34:34,519 This is what makes Christianity 711 00:34:34,519 --> 00:34:37,115 and God's salvation entirely different 712 00:34:37,115 --> 00:34:39,644 and apart from everything else. 713 00:34:39,644 --> 00:34:42,495 Look, this is not man's effort 714 00:34:42,495 --> 00:34:44,782 to rise up to God 715 00:34:44,782 --> 00:34:46,373 and to get to God 716 00:34:46,373 --> 00:34:48,205 and to seek God. 717 00:34:48,205 --> 00:34:51,047 This is God making people 718 00:34:51,047 --> 00:34:55,242 what He makes them: Christians. 719 00:34:55,242 --> 00:34:59,424 In union, connected with Christ. 720 00:34:59,424 --> 00:35:01,574 Never apart from Christ. 721 00:35:01,574 --> 00:35:05,332 If God saves, if God makes alive, 722 00:35:05,332 --> 00:35:08,713 it is always in this fashion. 723 00:35:08,713 --> 00:35:10,879 Biblical salvation is all about 724 00:35:10,879 --> 00:35:13,027 what God has done 725 00:35:13,027 --> 00:35:15,164 through His only begotten Son. 726 00:35:15,164 --> 00:35:18,972 Just think 727 00:35:18,972 --> 00:35:20,563 about what Paul is saying here. 728 00:35:20,563 --> 00:35:21,938 Again, I'm not asking you 729 00:35:21,938 --> 00:35:23,998 to comprehend all this. 730 00:35:23,998 --> 00:35:25,516 I hope in the weeks ahead, 731 00:35:25,516 --> 00:35:27,159 we're going to reach down 732 00:35:27,159 --> 00:35:30,193 deeper and deeper and deeper. 733 00:35:30,193 --> 00:35:34,106 I'm not asking for full comprehension here. 734 00:35:34,106 --> 00:35:36,693 But just try to absorb this truth 735 00:35:36,693 --> 00:35:40,256 into your brains to some degree. 736 00:35:40,256 --> 00:35:45,175 The Christian is together 737 00:35:45,175 --> 00:35:52,706 with Christ. 738 00:35:52,706 --> 00:35:54,764 Connected. 739 00:35:54,764 --> 00:35:57,582 Even tighter than this. 740 00:35:57,582 --> 00:36:01,360 Like the branch and the vine. 741 00:36:01,360 --> 00:36:07,210 There's an organic union. 742 00:36:07,210 --> 00:36:09,587 Integrally one with Him. 743 00:36:09,587 --> 00:36:13,800 The thing is, it's everywhere assumed, 744 00:36:13,800 --> 00:36:15,663 that in this connection, 745 00:36:15,663 --> 00:36:17,501 that what's true of Christ 746 00:36:17,501 --> 00:36:20,608 is likewise true of the Christian. 747 00:36:20,608 --> 00:36:22,816 Now, we thought about that when we were 748 00:36:22,816 --> 00:36:26,632 just a few moments ago baptizing. 749 00:36:26,632 --> 00:36:29,785 Think of these truths. 750 00:36:29,785 --> 00:36:31,941 Not asking you to fully comprehend them, 751 00:36:31,941 --> 00:36:35,020 but think about them. 752 00:36:35,020 --> 00:36:37,043 The Apostle Paul, his language, 753 00:36:37,043 --> 00:36:39,255 especially in these four letters: 754 00:36:39,255 --> 00:36:44,573 Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians. 755 00:36:44,573 --> 00:36:49,026 He loves to use this language. 756 00:36:49,026 --> 00:36:51,094 Galatians 2:20 757 00:36:51,094 --> 00:36:52,728 You don't have to turn there. 758 00:36:52,728 --> 00:36:54,258 Stay here in Ephesians. 759 00:36:54,258 --> 00:36:55,634 But listen to this: 760 00:36:55,634 --> 00:37:07,472 "I have been crucified with Christ." 761 00:37:07,472 --> 00:37:08,997 Do we think like that? 762 00:37:08,997 --> 00:37:10,792 Do we know that reality? 763 00:37:10,792 --> 00:37:12,499 See, brethren, the thing is, 764 00:37:12,499 --> 00:37:13,692 what Paul is doing here, 765 00:37:13,692 --> 00:37:15,438 I'm made alive together with Christ; 766 00:37:15,438 --> 00:37:17,433 I've been raised up together with Christ; 767 00:37:17,433 --> 00:37:19,321 I'm seated together with Christ. 768 00:37:19,321 --> 00:37:21,444 He talked this way. 769 00:37:21,444 --> 00:37:29,017 I am crucified with Christ. 770 00:37:29,017 --> 00:37:32,586 Or this, Romans 6:8 says, 771 00:37:32,586 --> 00:37:38,210 "We have died with Christ." 772 00:37:38,210 --> 00:37:41,410 So I'm crucified with Christ. 773 00:37:41,410 --> 00:37:44,734 I have died with Christ. 774 00:37:44,734 --> 00:37:47,204 Colossians 2:12 and Romans 6 775 00:37:47,204 --> 00:37:53,189 say that we are buried with Christ 776 00:37:53,189 --> 00:37:59,339 in baptism. 777 00:37:59,339 --> 00:38:01,119 Colossians 3:3 778 00:38:01,119 --> 00:38:03,409 "For you have died, 779 00:38:03,409 --> 00:38:06,401 and your life is hidden..." 780 00:38:06,401 --> 00:38:08,559 Listen, your life - 781 00:38:08,559 --> 00:38:11,159 all that you areas a Christian, 782 00:38:11,159 --> 00:38:21,407 is hidden with Christ in God. 783 00:38:21,407 --> 00:38:22,593 Just take this in. 784 00:38:22,593 --> 00:38:24,747 There's a mystery here. 785 00:38:24,747 --> 00:38:27,298 I know it. 786 00:38:27,298 --> 00:38:28,877 But what ought to be clear 787 00:38:28,877 --> 00:38:31,547 is that Paul is teaching us 788 00:38:31,547 --> 00:38:35,946 that what God does to us 789 00:38:35,946 --> 00:38:39,075 spiritually, 790 00:38:39,075 --> 00:38:45,382 has a parallel in Christ physically. 791 00:38:45,382 --> 00:38:46,941 Because think with me here. 792 00:38:46,941 --> 00:38:49,114 Think. 793 00:38:49,114 --> 00:38:50,634 It's not a direct parallel. 794 00:38:50,634 --> 00:38:53,993 It's not a one for one physical reality 795 00:38:53,993 --> 00:38:58,594 where there's a parallel physical reality in us. 796 00:38:58,594 --> 00:39:01,281 It's not a spiritual reality in Christ 797 00:39:01,281 --> 00:39:03,958 that has a spiritual reality in us. 798 00:39:03,958 --> 00:39:06,638 It's a physical reality in Christ... 799 00:39:06,638 --> 00:39:11,212 (Incomplete thought) 800 00:39:11,212 --> 00:39:15,652 It's amazing how God has designed 801 00:39:15,652 --> 00:39:18,598 all that Christ would do 802 00:39:18,598 --> 00:39:20,714 so that there are these 803 00:39:20,714 --> 00:39:24,172 spiritual parallels in now what He does 804 00:39:24,172 --> 00:39:25,666 in the life of a Christian. 805 00:39:25,666 --> 00:39:27,000 Think with me. 806 00:39:27,000 --> 00:39:34,708 Paul says I have been crucified with Christ. 807 00:39:34,708 --> 00:39:38,132 Christ was physically crucified. 808 00:39:38,132 --> 00:39:39,765 When Paul wrote that, 809 00:39:39,765 --> 00:39:43,675 he had not been physically crucified. 810 00:39:43,675 --> 00:39:51,196 But he had been spiritually crucified. 811 00:39:51,196 --> 00:39:53,938 Or think with me here: 812 00:39:53,938 --> 00:39:56,524 We are seated together with Christ 813 00:39:56,524 --> 00:39:59,199 in the heavenly places. 814 00:39:59,199 --> 00:40:04,622 Now Christ is physically there. 815 00:40:04,622 --> 00:40:06,708 You and I are not physically there. 816 00:40:06,708 --> 00:40:10,182 We are physically here. 817 00:40:10,182 --> 00:40:14,140 But, that doesn't take away the reality 818 00:40:14,140 --> 00:40:16,676 that there is a spiritual crucifixion, 819 00:40:16,676 --> 00:40:19,046 there is a spiritual death, 820 00:40:19,046 --> 00:40:22,772 there is a spiritual being made alive, 821 00:40:22,772 --> 00:40:24,162 a spiritual rising up, 822 00:40:24,162 --> 00:40:28,482 a spiritually being seated with Christ 823 00:40:28,482 --> 00:40:30,602 in the heavenly places. 824 00:40:30,602 --> 00:40:32,398 And these are the realities 825 00:40:32,398 --> 00:40:35,967 that I want us to try to draw on 826 00:40:35,967 --> 00:40:38,403 and try to get to the root of 827 00:40:38,403 --> 00:40:41,971 and try to pull some of the reality. 828 00:40:41,971 --> 00:40:46,664 Brethren, what does it mean? 829 00:40:46,664 --> 00:40:49,353 Look, Paul's not mincing words here. 830 00:40:49,353 --> 00:40:53,628 He's not wasting these people's time. 831 00:40:53,628 --> 00:40:56,351 He recognized the people he was talking to, 832 00:40:56,351 --> 00:40:59,057 struggling with the same kind of trials 833 00:40:59,057 --> 00:41:01,213 our brother Mark is. 834 00:41:01,213 --> 00:41:03,275 Being put in the fire. 835 00:41:03,275 --> 00:41:05,868 Facing persecution. 836 00:41:05,868 --> 00:41:10,188 Oftentimes ready to throw in the towel. 837 00:41:10,188 --> 00:41:12,866 What do you say to 1st century Christians 838 00:41:12,866 --> 00:41:17,475 who are facing a Greek-Roman society 839 00:41:17,475 --> 00:41:19,213 that hates Christianity, 840 00:41:19,213 --> 00:41:20,977 feeds them to the lions, 841 00:41:20,977 --> 00:41:22,447 have their own set of gods, 842 00:41:22,447 --> 00:41:24,650 calls the Christians atheists, 843 00:41:24,650 --> 00:41:26,462 persecutes them, 844 00:41:26,462 --> 00:41:28,751 in certain seasons murders 845 00:41:28,751 --> 00:41:30,077 multitudes of them. 846 00:41:30,077 --> 00:41:33,420 What do you say? 847 00:41:33,420 --> 00:41:36,072 He says to these people, 848 00:41:36,072 --> 00:41:38,880 you are already seated together with Christ 849 00:41:38,880 --> 00:41:40,296 in the heavenly places. 850 00:41:40,296 --> 00:41:41,837 Now look, if that doesn't have 851 00:41:41,837 --> 00:41:44,932 some kind of real bearing on the life of people, 852 00:41:44,932 --> 00:41:47,441 what good is it? 853 00:41:47,441 --> 00:41:49,206 What good is it? 854 00:41:49,206 --> 00:41:50,236 You know what? 855 00:41:50,236 --> 00:41:51,448 If it means nothing, 856 00:41:51,448 --> 00:41:53,689 it's like telling somebody that has cancer 857 00:41:53,689 --> 00:41:55,177 and they're dying, 858 00:41:55,177 --> 00:41:59,472 Oh, but you know, 859 00:41:59,472 --> 00:42:04,017 you have the remedy within you. 860 00:42:04,017 --> 00:42:05,420 It's like telling somebody, 861 00:42:05,420 --> 00:42:08,427 Oh, it will all work out OK. 862 00:42:08,427 --> 00:42:13,463 When the truth is it's not working out OK. 863 00:42:13,463 --> 00:42:14,774 But if you tell somebody, 864 00:42:14,774 --> 00:42:17,148 oh no, the remedy is at work inside you 865 00:42:17,148 --> 00:42:19,518 and you're going to feel pretty rotten at first, 866 00:42:19,518 --> 00:42:22,963 but shortly to follow, 867 00:42:22,963 --> 00:42:25,439 the healing will start. 868 00:42:25,439 --> 00:42:27,299 Paul's telling these people something 869 00:42:27,299 --> 00:42:29,977 to get them through, 870 00:42:29,977 --> 00:42:34,493 your husband leaving you for another woman, 871 00:42:34,493 --> 00:42:39,510 your wife leaving you, 872 00:42:39,510 --> 00:42:44,865 your child not being converted, 873 00:42:44,865 --> 00:42:47,724 death close to you, 874 00:42:47,724 --> 00:42:51,689 persecution, 875 00:42:51,689 --> 00:42:54,617 when God's providences don't seem 876 00:42:54,617 --> 00:42:57,582 to smile on you, 877 00:42:57,582 --> 00:43:02,271 when it's hard. 878 00:43:02,271 --> 00:43:03,755 If you haven't experienced 879 00:43:03,755 --> 00:43:05,055 what Mark has experienced, 880 00:43:05,055 --> 00:43:10,861 you haven't lived the Christian life very long. 881 00:43:10,861 --> 00:43:13,250 I've had those seasons too. 882 00:43:13,250 --> 00:43:14,999 And you know the seasons are not 883 00:43:14,999 --> 00:43:20,461 where I wanted to go back to my old life. 884 00:43:20,461 --> 00:43:22,882 For me, the throwing in the towel 885 00:43:22,882 --> 00:43:24,078 was not that. 886 00:43:24,078 --> 00:43:26,722 It's not like, oh, I'm just going to 887 00:43:26,722 --> 00:43:27,858 go back to the old way. 888 00:43:27,858 --> 00:43:28,742 I don't want that. 889 00:43:28,742 --> 00:43:33,296 I don't desire that. 890 00:43:33,296 --> 00:43:36,133 The throwing in the towel 891 00:43:36,133 --> 00:43:40,327 is just pack the car 892 00:43:40,327 --> 00:43:42,951 and let's go to Frisco, Colorado 893 00:43:42,951 --> 00:43:44,846 for good. 894 00:43:44,846 --> 00:43:46,655 And I'm going to hide away in a cabin 895 00:43:46,655 --> 00:43:50,523 and don't anybody come looking for me. 896 00:43:50,523 --> 00:43:52,497 That, for me, is throwing in the towel. 897 00:43:52,497 --> 00:43:54,919 But that's not what God's called us to. 898 00:43:54,919 --> 00:43:56,857 And you can imagine that these people 899 00:43:56,857 --> 00:43:58,758 in Ephesus 2,000 years ago, 900 00:43:58,758 --> 00:44:01,431 many of them - they wish they had wings, 901 00:44:01,431 --> 00:44:02,697 just like David wished, 902 00:44:02,697 --> 00:44:04,570 that they could fly away 903 00:44:04,570 --> 00:44:07,943 and be at peace. 904 00:44:07,943 --> 00:44:10,195 But we've not been promised peace, 905 00:44:10,195 --> 00:44:14,695 not even in the confines of our own family. 906 00:44:14,695 --> 00:44:15,936 No promise of peace. 907 00:44:15,936 --> 00:44:20,352 In fact a promise of a sword. 908 00:44:20,352 --> 00:44:23,216 So, somebody has a sword 909 00:44:23,216 --> 00:44:26,700 piercing their own heart in their family. 910 00:44:26,700 --> 00:44:28,482 And seriously, Paul, you're going to 911 00:44:28,482 --> 00:44:29,788 come along and tell me, 912 00:44:29,788 --> 00:44:35,129 I'm seated with Christ in the heavenly places? 913 00:44:35,129 --> 00:44:37,448 Try again. 914 00:44:37,448 --> 00:44:40,594 Get me something better than that. 915 00:44:40,594 --> 00:44:42,486 And Paul would say, 916 00:44:42,486 --> 00:44:45,247 Oh no, my friend, 917 00:44:45,247 --> 00:44:47,421 there is nothing better than that. 918 00:44:47,421 --> 00:44:49,773 You just need to grasp 919 00:44:49,773 --> 00:44:52,964 something of the reality of it. 920 00:44:52,964 --> 00:44:56,037 Because if you do, 921 00:44:56,037 --> 00:44:58,504 you will have foretastes of glory. 922 00:44:58,504 --> 00:45:00,144 It will change your whole mindset. 923 00:45:00,144 --> 00:45:04,471 It will change your thinking. 924 00:45:04,471 --> 00:45:08,152 Brethren, think with me here. 925 00:45:08,152 --> 00:45:10,084 We're not dealing with being seated. 926 00:45:10,084 --> 00:45:12,834 We're dealing with being made alive in Christ. 927 00:45:12,834 --> 00:45:14,175 Let's try to reach down 928 00:45:14,175 --> 00:45:16,576 into some of the realities. 929 00:45:16,576 --> 00:45:18,168 Look. 930 00:45:18,168 --> 00:45:22,378 Here's some of the reality, 931 00:45:22,378 --> 00:45:24,639 "but" at the beginning of v. 4, 932 00:45:24,639 --> 00:45:26,499 that's the contrast. 933 00:45:26,499 --> 00:45:27,680 But - what? 934 00:45:27,680 --> 00:45:28,885 You're alive. 935 00:45:28,885 --> 00:45:30,335 And you were dead. 936 00:45:30,335 --> 00:45:31,648 You're no longer dead. 937 00:45:31,648 --> 00:45:32,900 Now you're alive. 938 00:45:32,900 --> 00:45:34,248 That's the contrast. 939 00:45:34,248 --> 00:45:36,324 You are no longer what you use to be. 940 00:45:36,324 --> 00:45:38,250 You've put off the old man 941 00:45:38,250 --> 00:45:43,016 who belongs to your former manner of life. 942 00:45:43,016 --> 00:45:44,083 Right? Former. 943 00:45:44,083 --> 00:45:45,472 You were formerly something. 944 00:45:45,472 --> 00:45:47,235 You're not that anymore. 945 00:45:47,235 --> 00:45:49,466 That is the opposite. 946 00:45:49,466 --> 00:45:51,065 That's the contrast. 947 00:45:51,065 --> 00:45:54,430 Brethren, we've got to let that grip us. 948 00:45:54,430 --> 00:45:58,881 The truth is our life in Christ 949 00:45:58,881 --> 00:46:01,807 puts an end to our death. 950 00:46:01,807 --> 00:46:03,381 You're not dead any longer. 951 00:46:03,381 --> 00:46:04,527 The Christian has come 952 00:46:04,527 --> 00:46:09,439 to the end of the days as a dead man. 953 00:46:09,439 --> 00:46:10,444 The word "but." 954 00:46:10,444 --> 00:46:12,379 That's that stark contrast. 955 00:46:12,379 --> 00:46:17,801 We are truly alive together with Christ. 956 00:46:17,801 --> 00:46:19,432 Don't you see what this is saying? 957 00:46:19,432 --> 00:46:20,816 Look at the contrast. 958 00:46:20,816 --> 00:46:22,296 Brethren, you are alive. 959 00:46:22,296 --> 00:46:23,546 You are not like you were. 960 00:46:23,546 --> 00:46:25,752 You are no longer dead in sin. 961 00:46:25,752 --> 00:46:28,130 That's no longer true. 962 00:46:28,130 --> 00:46:30,457 You no longer follow the course of this world. 963 00:46:30,457 --> 00:46:32,165 Listen! Listen, Christian! 964 00:46:32,165 --> 00:46:36,947 You no longer follow the course of the world. 965 00:46:36,947 --> 00:46:39,030 You are alive! 966 00:46:39,030 --> 00:46:40,887 Put off the rags of death. 967 00:46:40,887 --> 00:46:42,649 Put off the grave clothes. 968 00:46:42,649 --> 00:46:44,855 Put them off! 969 00:46:44,855 --> 00:46:46,566 Enough! 970 00:46:46,566 --> 00:46:48,404 You're not of the world. 971 00:46:48,404 --> 00:46:49,748 You're no longer following 972 00:46:49,748 --> 00:46:51,675 the prince of the power of the world. 973 00:46:51,675 --> 00:46:52,968 You're no longer among 974 00:46:52,968 --> 00:46:54,669 the sons of disobedience. 975 00:46:54,669 --> 00:46:56,824 You're no longer lusting 976 00:46:56,824 --> 00:46:59,117 after all the things in the body, 977 00:46:59,117 --> 00:47:00,334 in the mind. 978 00:47:00,334 --> 00:47:01,998 You're no longer children of wrath. 979 00:47:01,998 --> 00:47:04,248 You're no longer under the displeasure of God. 980 00:47:04,248 --> 00:47:05,723 You live in His smile. 981 00:47:05,723 --> 00:47:06,882 Be done with that. 982 00:47:06,882 --> 00:47:08,392 It's no longer. 983 00:47:08,392 --> 00:47:11,559 You're alive. 984 00:47:11,559 --> 00:47:19,022 Brethren, alive together with Christ. 985 00:47:19,022 --> 00:47:21,026 I'm amazed. 986 00:47:21,026 --> 00:47:23,977 I'll be real direct. 987 00:47:23,977 --> 00:47:26,698 My children showed me a thread - 988 00:47:26,698 --> 00:47:28,400 something we just dealt with 989 00:47:28,400 --> 00:47:29,781 in our elder's meeting - 990 00:47:29,781 --> 00:47:32,004 my children showed me a thread 991 00:47:32,004 --> 00:47:33,328 off of Facebook, 992 00:47:33,328 --> 00:47:37,229 where Christians, some in this place, 993 00:47:37,229 --> 00:47:40,584 are arguing for why it is appropriate 994 00:47:40,584 --> 00:47:42,669 for a Christian to be entertained 995 00:47:42,669 --> 00:47:49,585 by movies with filthy, foul language. 996 00:47:49,585 --> 00:47:53,129 What in the world are you thinking? 997 00:47:53,129 --> 00:47:56,620 Are you alive together with Christ? 998 00:47:56,620 --> 00:47:59,718 Or are you following the course of this world? 999 00:47:59,718 --> 00:48:01,733 There is a contrast here. 1000 00:48:01,733 --> 00:48:03,486 And if you can find no contrast 1001 00:48:03,486 --> 00:48:05,623 between your life and the world? 1002 00:48:05,623 --> 00:48:10,106 Fill in the blank. 1003 00:48:10,106 --> 00:48:12,629 Amen? 1004 00:48:12,629 --> 00:48:15,612 We're alive! 1005 00:48:15,612 --> 00:48:17,652 You know what? 1006 00:48:17,652 --> 00:48:20,217 I'm not in the course of the world, 1007 00:48:20,217 --> 00:48:22,156 because my desires are changed. 1008 00:48:22,156 --> 00:48:23,972 I love new things. 1009 00:48:23,972 --> 00:48:25,735 I've been made alive to God. 1010 00:48:25,735 --> 00:48:26,733 I desire God. 1011 00:48:26,733 --> 00:48:28,173 I desire to please God. 1012 00:48:28,173 --> 00:48:30,074 I desire to have the things in my life 1013 00:48:30,074 --> 00:48:32,456 that He loves, not the things that He hates. 1014 00:48:32,456 --> 00:48:34,074 Not the things that He forbids. 1015 00:48:34,074 --> 00:48:35,984 Not the things that I find in Scripture 1016 00:48:35,984 --> 00:48:37,053 that He despises. 1017 00:48:37,053 --> 00:48:39,025 Why in the world would you fill your life 1018 00:48:39,025 --> 00:48:40,914 with movies full of garbage? 1019 00:48:40,914 --> 00:48:43,885 Worldly garbage. 1020 00:48:43,885 --> 00:48:46,508 Unless that's what you love. 1021 00:48:46,508 --> 00:48:49,127 Unless that's what you pant after. 1022 00:48:49,127 --> 00:48:54,754 Brethren, we're the living ones. 1023 00:48:54,754 --> 00:48:57,135 There is an end to our death. 1024 00:48:57,135 --> 00:48:59,371 We no longer live like the dead. 1025 00:48:59,371 --> 00:49:00,593 We are the living ones. 1026 00:49:00,593 --> 00:49:03,301 We're alive. 1027 00:49:03,301 --> 00:49:05,393 This is not theoretical. 1028 00:49:05,393 --> 00:49:07,471 This is what God-wrought Christianity is, 1029 00:49:07,471 --> 00:49:09,603 and we need to be gripped by the contrast. 1030 00:49:09,603 --> 00:49:14,155 That the Christian is a total contrast 1031 00:49:14,155 --> 00:49:15,461 to what he once was. 1032 00:49:15,461 --> 00:49:17,635 Brethren, you get to the end of this letter - 1033 00:49:17,635 --> 00:49:20,285 we no longer follow the course of the prince of the power of the air. 1034 00:49:20,285 --> 00:49:21,442 You know what we do now? 1035 00:49:21,442 --> 00:49:23,413 We wrestle not against flesh and blood, 1036 00:49:23,413 --> 00:49:24,859 but who do we wrestle against? 1037 00:49:24,859 --> 00:49:25,745 We wrestle. 1038 00:49:25,745 --> 00:49:26,471 Why? 1039 00:49:26,471 --> 00:49:27,919 That's what living people do. 1040 00:49:27,919 --> 00:49:29,485 They wrestle. 1041 00:49:29,485 --> 00:49:31,484 They put off the former manner of life 1042 00:49:31,484 --> 00:49:32,937 or they put off the old man 1043 00:49:32,937 --> 00:49:35,035 which belongs to the former manner of life 1044 00:49:35,035 --> 00:49:36,098 and guess what? 1045 00:49:36,098 --> 00:49:38,246 Deceitful desires. 1046 00:49:38,246 --> 00:49:39,673 That's a deceitful desire 1047 00:49:39,673 --> 00:49:41,235 to want to go desire movies 1048 00:49:41,235 --> 00:49:43,236 that are full of filth. 1049 00:49:43,236 --> 00:49:45,008 Filthy, foul language. 1050 00:49:45,008 --> 00:49:45,871 What is that? 1051 00:49:45,871 --> 00:49:46,888 That's worldly. 1052 00:49:46,888 --> 00:49:49,444 That's ungodly. 1053 00:49:49,444 --> 00:49:51,938 That's filling your life full of companionships 1054 00:49:51,938 --> 00:49:54,236 that corrupt good manners. 1055 00:49:54,236 --> 00:49:56,539 Why in the world? 1056 00:49:56,539 --> 00:49:57,281 Look. 1057 00:49:57,281 --> 00:49:58,553 Walk worthy of the calling 1058 00:49:58,553 --> 00:49:59,967 to which you've been called. 1059 00:49:59,967 --> 00:50:01,407 What have you been called to? 1060 00:50:01,407 --> 00:50:02,721 You've been called to life 1061 00:50:02,721 --> 00:50:04,065 together with Christ. 1062 00:50:04,065 --> 00:50:10,920 Your life is hidden with Christ in God. 1063 00:50:10,920 --> 00:50:14,414 That speaks of children of light. 1064 00:50:14,414 --> 00:50:15,605 Not children of wrath. 1065 00:50:15,605 --> 00:50:16,824 Not sons of disobedience. 1066 00:50:16,824 --> 00:50:18,230 Children of light. 1067 00:50:18,230 --> 00:50:20,958 So let all that is true of light 1068 00:50:20,958 --> 00:50:24,170 burst forth from your life. 1069 00:50:24,170 --> 00:50:26,839 Put all filthy communication away. 1070 00:50:26,839 --> 00:50:29,665 Not only out of your mouth, 1071 00:50:29,665 --> 00:50:30,972 put it away. 1072 00:50:30,972 --> 00:50:32,335 It shouldn't even be named. 1073 00:50:32,335 --> 00:50:34,714 That's in this letter. 1074 00:50:34,714 --> 00:50:39,945 That's what living people do. 1075 00:50:39,945 --> 00:50:40,768 Look. 1076 00:50:40,768 --> 00:50:43,904 Don't let worldly professing Christians 1077 00:50:43,904 --> 00:50:47,373 be surprised when they wake up in hell. 1078 00:50:47,373 --> 00:50:48,414 Why? 1079 00:50:48,414 --> 00:50:52,306 Because this is true Christianity. 1080 00:50:52,306 --> 00:50:56,884 Being made alive together with Christ. 1081 00:50:56,884 --> 00:50:59,344 It's not theory. 1082 00:50:59,344 --> 00:51:02,633 You see, our whole position as Christians 1083 00:51:02,633 --> 00:51:05,528 has changed. 1084 00:51:05,528 --> 00:51:07,077 Position. 1085 00:51:07,077 --> 00:51:09,721 That's the where we are. 1086 00:51:09,721 --> 00:51:10,990 Where are we? 1087 00:51:10,990 --> 00:51:14,255 Well, we used to be dead in... 1088 00:51:14,255 --> 00:51:17,638 you notice the prepositions of Scripture sometimes. 1089 00:51:17,638 --> 00:51:19,214 Where were we? 1090 00:51:19,214 --> 00:51:22,891 Dead in... there's your preposition. 1091 00:51:22,891 --> 00:51:26,245 In trespasses and sins. 1092 00:51:26,245 --> 00:51:27,659 That's where we were. 1093 00:51:27,659 --> 00:51:29,081 Where are we now? 1094 00:51:29,081 --> 00:51:33,022 In Christ. 1095 00:51:33,022 --> 00:51:34,843 Where were we before? 1096 00:51:34,843 --> 00:51:38,870 In the place where we followed the world. 1097 00:51:38,870 --> 00:51:42,936 In the place where we followed the devil. 1098 00:51:42,936 --> 00:51:44,750 Where are we now? 1099 00:51:44,750 --> 00:51:47,970 Raised up! 1100 00:51:47,970 --> 00:51:50,036 Up! 1101 00:51:50,036 --> 00:51:52,026 There's position there. 1102 00:51:52,026 --> 00:51:55,179 We're not down there. 1103 00:51:55,179 --> 00:51:57,314 We're not in the darkness. 1104 00:51:57,314 --> 00:52:01,268 We've been raised up. 1105 00:52:01,268 --> 00:52:05,235 We used to be among 1106 00:52:05,235 --> 00:52:07,539 the sons of disobedience. 1107 00:52:07,539 --> 00:52:08,779 Among. 1108 00:52:08,779 --> 00:52:13,155 That's where we were. 1109 00:52:13,155 --> 00:52:15,925 Lust. 1110 00:52:15,925 --> 00:52:19,188 The lusts of the mind. 1111 00:52:19,188 --> 00:52:22,779 Wanting what's foul. 1112 00:52:22,779 --> 00:52:25,244 But that's not where we are anymore. 1113 00:52:25,244 --> 00:52:27,009 Where are we now? 1114 00:52:27,009 --> 00:52:31,993 You know how far up we are? 1115 00:52:31,993 --> 00:52:35,252 We're up there where He's seated. 1116 00:52:35,252 --> 00:52:37,397 That's where we are now. 1117 00:52:37,397 --> 00:52:40,086 There's a change of position here. 1118 00:52:40,086 --> 00:52:43,096 And there's a change of state. 1119 00:52:43,096 --> 00:52:44,508 I mean, that is the greatest 1120 00:52:44,508 --> 00:52:45,773 and most obvious reality 1121 00:52:45,773 --> 00:52:48,694 Paul's bringing out in v. 5. 1122 00:52:48,694 --> 00:52:53,085 This transition from death to life. 1123 00:52:53,085 --> 00:52:54,247 It's done. 1124 00:52:54,247 --> 00:52:56,694 For Christians, it all lies in the past. 1125 00:52:56,694 --> 00:52:58,419 The Christian above all other things 1126 00:52:58,419 --> 00:52:59,604 can shout it out: 1127 00:52:59,604 --> 00:53:03,993 "I am no longer dead!" 1128 00:53:03,993 --> 00:53:05,411 "I am alive!" 1129 00:53:05,411 --> 00:53:09,650 The days of my death are past. 1130 00:53:09,650 --> 00:53:10,645 They're gone. 1131 00:53:10,645 --> 00:53:12,800 There's absolutely nothing, 1132 00:53:12,800 --> 00:53:16,724 brethren, but life before us. 1133 00:53:16,724 --> 00:53:18,532 Physically. 1134 00:53:18,532 --> 00:53:20,678 What is that? 1135 00:53:20,678 --> 00:53:22,303 Death is so harmless now 1136 00:53:22,303 --> 00:53:25,734 that Scripture calls it sleep. 1137 00:53:25,734 --> 00:53:28,851 Rest. 1138 00:53:28,851 --> 00:53:31,683 To be absent with the body... 1139 00:53:31,683 --> 00:53:34,681 Christ said to that - 1140 00:53:34,681 --> 00:53:39,748 he wasn't a doomed criminal. 1141 00:53:39,748 --> 00:53:41,992 It's not doom to say, 1142 00:53:41,992 --> 00:53:47,490 "This day you will be with Me in Paradise." 1143 00:53:47,490 --> 00:53:49,394 What do I have to look forward to? 1144 00:53:49,394 --> 00:53:51,366 Christ never forsaking me. 1145 00:53:51,366 --> 00:53:53,340 Never leaving me. 1146 00:53:53,340 --> 00:53:56,656 Putting me in trials, yes. 1147 00:53:56,656 --> 00:54:01,708 But there aren't only trials here. 1148 00:54:01,708 --> 00:54:04,461 My son just got saved. 1149 00:54:04,461 --> 00:54:07,091 There's not only trials here. 1150 00:54:07,091 --> 00:54:09,366 And He promises that His grace 1151 00:54:09,366 --> 00:54:12,559 will be sufficient. 1152 00:54:12,559 --> 00:54:17,263 And He brings seasons of great joy here. 1153 00:54:17,263 --> 00:54:20,496 The suffering is but for a moment. 1154 00:54:20,496 --> 00:54:22,885 The sun will break forth 1155 00:54:22,885 --> 00:54:24,280 even in our darkened seasons. 1156 00:54:24,280 --> 00:54:26,402 There is a light at the end of the tunnel, 1157 00:54:26,402 --> 00:54:31,780 even when we can't see it. 1158 00:54:31,780 --> 00:54:34,331 This fullness of day. 1159 00:54:34,331 --> 00:54:37,195 Greater likeness of Christ. 1160 00:54:37,195 --> 00:54:41,269 Purifying, being made more and more 1161 00:54:41,269 --> 00:54:43,460 and more sinless. 1162 00:54:43,460 --> 00:54:46,555 More and more and more like Christ. 1163 00:54:46,555 --> 00:54:47,890 And then bang! 1164 00:54:47,890 --> 00:54:49,729 It's just going to grab us. 1165 00:54:49,729 --> 00:54:53,127 We are going to be hauled off into eternity 1166 00:54:53,127 --> 00:54:55,932 and gaze on His face 1167 00:54:55,932 --> 00:54:58,911 and be made like Him. 1168 00:54:58,911 --> 00:55:02,239 There's no more death. 1169 00:55:02,239 --> 00:55:06,207 You don't get eternal life when you die. 1170 00:55:06,207 --> 00:55:09,783 You don't get it at the day of judgment. 1171 00:55:09,783 --> 00:55:10,912 You have it. 1172 00:55:10,912 --> 00:55:12,814 It's past tense. 1173 00:55:12,814 --> 00:55:15,965 You've been made alive. 1174 00:55:15,965 --> 00:55:19,139 The Christian is done with death. 1175 00:55:19,139 --> 00:55:22,006 We are done with dying. 1176 00:55:22,006 --> 00:55:23,409 Don't you get it? 1177 00:55:23,409 --> 00:55:26,500 We are together with Christ. 1178 00:55:26,500 --> 00:55:27,893 You go to Scripture 1179 00:55:27,893 --> 00:55:29,312 and it says, 1180 00:55:29,312 --> 00:55:34,065 "In Him was life." 1181 00:55:34,065 --> 00:55:35,833 That's Who we're together with. 1182 00:55:35,833 --> 00:55:39,224 The Father has granted the Son 1183 00:55:39,224 --> 00:55:41,590 to have life in Himself. 1184 00:55:41,590 --> 00:55:45,674 We are together with Him Who is life; 1185 00:55:45,674 --> 00:55:47,870 Who has been granted to have life 1186 00:55:47,870 --> 00:55:49,915 within Him. 1187 00:55:49,915 --> 00:55:53,025 The last Adam is what? 1188 00:55:53,025 --> 00:55:59,679 He has become a life-giving spirit. 1189 00:55:59,679 --> 00:56:02,499 When Christ, Who is your life... 1190 00:56:02,499 --> 00:56:03,933 That's how Scripture speaks. 1191 00:56:03,933 --> 00:56:08,446 Christ. You're together with life. 1192 00:56:08,446 --> 00:56:10,465 Listen, Christ has come, 1193 00:56:10,465 --> 00:56:12,271 and He's put His arms around us 1194 00:56:12,271 --> 00:56:13,435 and embraced us. 1195 00:56:13,435 --> 00:56:16,081 But see, it's closer, it's more organic than that. 1196 00:56:16,081 --> 00:56:18,033 There's actually a connection now. 1197 00:56:18,033 --> 00:56:20,309 We have become one with Him. 1198 00:56:20,309 --> 00:56:22,760 We're one with life. 1199 00:56:22,760 --> 00:56:24,778 There's no more death. 1200 00:56:24,778 --> 00:56:26,753 You're one with He Who is life. 1201 00:56:26,753 --> 00:56:28,473 You're one with the One Who is 1202 00:56:28,473 --> 00:56:29,562 the last Adam, 1203 00:56:29,562 --> 00:56:31,284 who is a life-giving spirit. 1204 00:56:31,284 --> 00:56:37,546 He breathes nothing but life into you. 1205 00:56:37,546 --> 00:56:38,894 And we can suffer 1206 00:56:38,894 --> 00:56:40,624 and we can be in dark seasons, 1207 00:56:40,624 --> 00:56:43,133 but that life is very real. 1208 00:56:43,133 --> 00:56:46,039 Because even in the darkness, 1209 00:56:46,039 --> 00:56:49,040 even in that darkness, 1210 00:56:49,040 --> 00:56:52,405 our faith in Christ presses us through. 1211 00:56:52,405 --> 00:56:55,248 Even in that darkness, 1212 00:56:55,248 --> 00:56:57,229 that faith is upheld 1213 00:56:57,229 --> 00:56:59,725 by the mighty hand of God. 1214 00:56:59,725 --> 00:57:02,666 Even when we waver and we teeter all over, 1215 00:57:02,666 --> 00:57:04,316 when we feel like we're going to 1216 00:57:04,316 --> 00:57:05,411 throw in the towel, 1217 00:57:05,411 --> 00:57:08,169 and we're going to fail... 1218 00:57:08,169 --> 00:57:10,909 there is an unmovable hand 1219 00:57:10,909 --> 00:57:12,535 beneath us 1220 00:57:12,535 --> 00:57:14,952 that carries us through. 1221 00:57:14,952 --> 00:57:17,654 Some through the water, brethren. 1222 00:57:17,654 --> 00:57:22,652 Some through the flood. 1223 00:57:22,652 --> 00:57:23,928 It's true. 1224 00:57:23,928 --> 00:57:29,881 There's floods and there's fires. 1225 00:57:29,881 --> 00:57:31,577 But He is going to finish that work 1226 00:57:31,577 --> 00:57:32,590 which He started. 1227 00:57:32,590 --> 00:57:35,988 Have you ever heard Paul exclaim, 1228 00:57:35,988 --> 00:57:39,995 it is no longer I who live, 1229 00:57:39,995 --> 00:57:42,896 but Christ Who lives in me. 1230 00:57:42,896 --> 00:57:44,113 Do you know this? 1231 00:57:44,113 --> 00:57:47,283 He Who is life lives in me. 1232 00:57:47,283 --> 00:57:48,620 I cannot die. 1233 00:57:48,620 --> 00:57:50,093 Because Christ cannot die. 1234 00:57:50,093 --> 00:57:51,745 Because Christ is one with me. 1235 00:57:51,745 --> 00:57:53,856 And because in that union, 1236 00:57:53,856 --> 00:57:56,037 His life is my life. 1237 00:57:56,037 --> 00:57:59,582 My life is bound to His life. 1238 00:57:59,582 --> 00:58:00,990 And He can't die. 1239 00:58:00,990 --> 00:58:02,149 I can't die. 1240 00:58:02,149 --> 00:58:04,590 I'm one. I'm bound with Him. 1241 00:58:04,590 --> 00:58:06,301 Have you experienced this? 1242 00:58:06,301 --> 00:58:09,531 This is what it is to be a Christian. 1243 00:58:09,531 --> 00:58:11,196 This isn't what it is simply 1244 00:58:11,196 --> 00:58:13,153 to be a great apostle like Paul. 1245 00:58:13,153 --> 00:58:15,963 This is what it is to be the least Christian. 1246 00:58:15,963 --> 00:58:20,281 You have been made alive, 1247 00:58:20,281 --> 00:58:22,720 because God has made you alive 1248 00:58:22,720 --> 00:58:24,472 if you are a Christian. 1249 00:58:24,472 --> 00:58:26,072 This is a reality. 1250 00:58:26,072 --> 00:58:27,270 What does it mean? 1251 00:58:27,270 --> 00:58:28,011 We're alive. 1252 00:58:28,011 --> 00:58:29,929 We're no longer alienanted from God. 1253 00:58:29,929 --> 00:58:31,566 Have you ever read in Scripture, 1254 00:58:31,566 --> 00:58:32,844 alive to God - 1255 00:58:32,844 --> 00:58:34,025 no longer alienated. 1256 00:58:34,025 --> 00:58:35,967 What does it mean to be alive to God? 1257 00:58:35,967 --> 00:58:37,989 Suddenly, we recognize Him. 1258 00:58:37,989 --> 00:58:39,517 We see Him! We feel Him! 1259 00:58:39,517 --> 00:58:41,029 We experience Him! 1260 00:58:41,029 --> 00:58:43,597 There's reality to the living God. 1261 00:58:43,597 --> 00:58:45,269 We hunger for Him. 1262 00:58:45,269 --> 00:58:47,933 We hear His voice in His Word. 1263 00:58:47,933 --> 00:58:50,568 We long after, we desire after... 1264 00:58:50,568 --> 00:58:52,549 Desiring God. 1265 00:58:52,549 --> 00:58:54,183 Hungering for Christ. 1266 00:58:54,183 --> 00:58:56,976 Feasting on His blood. 1267 00:58:56,976 --> 00:59:00,209 Brethren, this is the reality. 1268 00:59:00,209 --> 00:59:02,011 This is life. 1269 00:59:02,011 --> 00:59:04,404 Life. Life. 1270 00:59:04,404 --> 00:59:07,517 Why would God do this? 1271 00:59:07,517 --> 00:59:09,492 Well, you see it there. 1272 00:59:09,492 --> 00:59:13,053 You see it there at the beginning of v. 4. 1273 00:59:13,053 --> 00:59:14,349 If we would find an answer, 1274 00:59:14,349 --> 00:59:18,423 it's in the character of God Himself. 1275 00:59:18,423 --> 00:59:20,603 Just think. 1276 00:59:20,603 --> 00:59:22,043 Paul's amazed by this. 1277 00:59:22,043 --> 00:59:25,817 Even when we were dead 1278 00:59:25,817 --> 00:59:27,306 in our trespasses... 1279 00:59:27,306 --> 00:59:30,220 that's the thing that just blows him away. 1280 00:59:30,220 --> 00:59:35,837 God did this when I was the way I was? 1281 00:59:35,837 --> 00:59:39,034 Even then? Even then? 1282 00:59:39,034 --> 00:59:41,188 Such riches of mercy. 1283 00:59:41,188 --> 00:59:43,956 Brethren, you look at the way 1284 00:59:43,956 --> 00:59:50,735 that this word has been translated. 1285 00:59:50,735 --> 00:59:56,925 Sometimes, it's tender mercies 1286 00:59:56,925 --> 01:00:00,685 or tender compassion 1287 01:00:00,685 --> 01:00:03,568 or lovingkindness. 1288 01:00:03,568 --> 01:00:07,658 Think about those words. 1289 01:00:07,658 --> 01:00:11,475 Those are like words... 1290 01:00:11,475 --> 01:00:15,425 tender compassion. 1291 01:00:15,425 --> 01:00:16,879 They're the kind of words 1292 01:00:16,879 --> 01:00:18,711 that humanly speaking we would expect, 1293 01:00:18,711 --> 01:00:23,268 like a wife to feel towards her husband 1294 01:00:23,268 --> 01:00:25,830 or a husband towards his wife. 1295 01:00:25,830 --> 01:00:28,682 Two people who love each other. 1296 01:00:28,682 --> 01:00:30,757 Attracted to each other. 1297 01:00:30,757 --> 01:00:32,217 Find much in the other 1298 01:00:32,217 --> 01:00:35,337 that is very desirable. 1299 01:00:35,337 --> 01:00:38,306 God comes along and finds us 1300 01:00:38,306 --> 01:00:43,273 absolutely an abhorrence. 1301 01:00:43,273 --> 01:00:45,106 This is what rocks Paul 1302 01:00:45,106 --> 01:00:46,945 to the core of his being. 1303 01:00:46,945 --> 01:00:49,681 Even when I was a blasphemer, 1304 01:00:49,681 --> 01:00:52,651 and even when I was an insolent opponent, 1305 01:00:52,651 --> 01:00:57,953 even then - even after the things that I've done, 1306 01:00:57,953 --> 01:01:02,164 rich, rich mercy 1307 01:01:02,164 --> 01:01:04,127 extended towards me. 1308 01:01:04,127 --> 01:01:15,995 Brethren, I fear that man seems to 1309 01:01:15,995 --> 01:01:20,791 find it almost impossible to harmonize 1310 01:01:20,791 --> 01:01:24,516 the God Who is sovereign; 1311 01:01:24,516 --> 01:01:27,319 the God Who makes alive 1312 01:01:27,319 --> 01:01:31,284 and chooses which ones to make alive 1313 01:01:31,284 --> 01:01:34,773 and which ones not to make alive; 1314 01:01:34,773 --> 01:01:37,116 the God of election, 1315 01:01:37,116 --> 01:01:41,817 the God of predestination. 1316 01:01:41,817 --> 01:01:45,396 Many find it very difficult to harmonize 1317 01:01:45,396 --> 01:01:51,651 rich mercies. 1318 01:01:51,651 --> 01:01:53,467 There is this idea that 1319 01:01:53,467 --> 01:01:57,917 the "God of Calvinism" - 1320 01:01:57,917 --> 01:02:03,150 He's cruel. He's distant. 1321 01:02:03,150 --> 01:02:04,814 He's out there. 1322 01:02:04,814 --> 01:02:07,301 He's cold. He's stoic. 1323 01:02:07,301 --> 01:02:08,436 He's unfeeling. 1324 01:02:08,436 --> 01:02:12,329 He's harsh. 1325 01:02:12,329 --> 01:02:19,314 Brethren, that's Allah. 1326 01:02:19,314 --> 01:02:24,416 That's not the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1327 01:02:24,416 --> 01:02:28,671 His mercies are tender. 1328 01:02:28,671 --> 01:02:31,265 Tender. 1329 01:02:31,265 --> 01:02:33,960 Riches of mercy. 1330 01:02:33,960 --> 01:02:44,260 And they flow out of a great love. 1331 01:02:44,260 --> 01:02:45,688 I hope you can see it. 1332 01:02:45,688 --> 01:02:48,437 Look, should we fear such a God? 1333 01:02:48,437 --> 01:02:49,392 Yes. 1334 01:02:49,392 --> 01:02:51,358 Oh yeah. 1335 01:02:51,358 --> 01:02:56,267 He is kind. He is full of tender mercies. 1336 01:02:56,267 --> 01:02:58,182 Brethren, we don't want to misread 1337 01:02:58,182 --> 01:03:00,180 those mercies. 1338 01:03:00,180 --> 01:03:04,458 If you go on rejecting His Son, 1339 01:03:04,458 --> 01:03:06,865 Oh, He is greatly to be feared. 1340 01:03:06,865 --> 01:03:08,705 Be sure of that. 1341 01:03:08,705 --> 01:03:10,281 These mercies don't mean that 1342 01:03:10,281 --> 01:03:16,224 this God is a pushover. 1343 01:03:16,224 --> 01:03:19,596 Listen. 1344 01:03:19,596 --> 01:03:23,738 What God presents Himself as in Scripture, 1345 01:03:23,738 --> 01:03:26,288 He's holding out His arm. 1346 01:03:26,288 --> 01:03:29,800 All day long even. 1347 01:03:29,800 --> 01:03:31,490 What's there? 1348 01:03:31,490 --> 01:03:34,843 He's offering these mercies. 1349 01:03:34,843 --> 01:03:36,963 Come take them. 1350 01:03:36,963 --> 01:03:39,656 Come take them. 1351 01:03:39,656 --> 01:03:42,168 This is how He portrays Himself. 1352 01:03:42,168 --> 01:03:46,322 Come take them. 1353 01:03:46,322 --> 01:03:47,928 Jesus can look to His Father 1354 01:03:47,928 --> 01:03:49,606 and say, "Father, I thank You that 1355 01:03:49,606 --> 01:03:51,550 You have not revealed these to the wise 1356 01:03:51,550 --> 01:03:54,240 and the prudent, 1357 01:03:54,240 --> 01:03:56,755 but to babes." 1358 01:03:56,755 --> 01:03:59,084 What's God's answer 1359 01:03:59,084 --> 01:04:00,565 to the fact that nobody comes 1360 01:04:00,565 --> 01:04:04,489 and takes these mercies from His hand? 1361 01:04:04,489 --> 01:04:08,048 Election. 1362 01:04:08,048 --> 01:04:12,066 Be made alive. 1363 01:04:12,066 --> 01:04:13,114 No man can come to Me 1364 01:04:13,114 --> 01:04:16,159 unless My Father Who sent Me draws him. 1365 01:04:16,159 --> 01:04:17,403 See, be made alive. 1366 01:04:17,403 --> 01:04:19,462 And suddenly, we look at those mercies 1367 01:04:19,462 --> 01:04:22,761 in His hands, 1368 01:04:22,761 --> 01:04:25,248 I want those. 1369 01:04:25,248 --> 01:04:29,766 I'm a sinner. I need those. 1370 01:04:29,766 --> 01:04:33,658 The Spirit convicts us of sin. 1371 01:04:33,658 --> 01:04:38,135 And there's the remedy. 1372 01:04:38,135 --> 01:04:42,243 Be made alive. 1373 01:04:42,243 --> 01:04:44,322 That's God's work. 1374 01:04:44,322 --> 01:04:48,198 God makes Christians. 1375 01:04:48,198 --> 01:04:50,082 That's the reality. 1376 01:04:50,082 --> 01:04:53,446 Have you tasted God's rich mercies? 1377 01:04:53,446 --> 01:04:54,815 Are you alive? 1378 01:04:54,815 --> 01:04:56,333 Do you have life? 1379 01:04:56,333 --> 01:04:58,581 Are you aware of such a reality 1380 01:04:58,581 --> 01:05:00,026 that has grabbed you? 1381 01:05:00,026 --> 01:05:01,297 Has embraced you? 1382 01:05:01,297 --> 01:05:02,661 Has changed you? 1383 01:05:02,661 --> 01:05:04,691 Has made you something you weren't before? 1384 01:05:04,691 --> 01:05:05,796 Do you see it? 1385 01:05:05,796 --> 01:05:07,969 I desire what I didn't desire before. 1386 01:05:07,969 --> 01:05:12,547 I don't desire what I did desire before. 1387 01:05:12,547 --> 01:05:14,841 That group of friends... 1388 01:05:14,841 --> 01:05:17,118 I can't fit with them anymore. 1389 01:05:17,118 --> 01:05:17,962 Why? 1390 01:05:17,962 --> 01:05:19,637 Because I'm alive and they're dead. 1391 01:05:19,637 --> 01:05:20,652 When I was dead, 1392 01:05:20,652 --> 01:05:21,913 well that was comfortable. 1393 01:05:21,913 --> 01:05:22,989 But I'm not dead. 1394 01:05:22,989 --> 01:05:24,418 Something has changed. 1395 01:05:24,418 --> 01:05:25,597 Do you know this? 1396 01:05:25,597 --> 01:05:27,042 A power in your life, 1397 01:05:27,042 --> 01:05:28,711 influencing you? 1398 01:05:28,711 --> 01:05:29,894 Moving you? 1399 01:05:29,894 --> 01:05:30,723 Directing you? 1400 01:05:30,723 --> 01:05:32,135 I'm talking about something 1401 01:05:32,135 --> 01:05:33,356 outside of yourself. 1402 01:05:33,356 --> 01:05:35,140 Not some ingenuity with yourself. 1403 01:05:35,140 --> 01:05:36,693 Not some decision you made. 1404 01:05:36,693 --> 01:05:37,663 Do you feel this? 1405 01:05:37,663 --> 01:05:38,865 Do you know this reality 1406 01:05:38,865 --> 01:05:41,451 of God Who is working on you 1407 01:05:41,451 --> 01:05:43,151 from outside? 1408 01:05:43,151 --> 01:05:44,640 Are you aware of this reality 1409 01:05:44,640 --> 01:05:45,980 like the songwriter was? 1410 01:05:45,980 --> 01:05:49,237 I was blind, but now I see! 1411 01:05:49,237 --> 01:05:50,150 I see! 1412 01:05:50,150 --> 01:05:52,115 Why? God has made me alive. 1413 01:05:52,115 --> 01:05:54,248 My eyes are open. 1414 01:05:54,248 --> 01:05:57,569 Sin: I'm no longer impotent. 1415 01:05:57,569 --> 01:06:00,111 I'm no longer in it as a slave 1416 01:06:00,111 --> 01:06:01,647 and dead. 1417 01:06:01,647 --> 01:06:04,342 And now, it no longer has dominion over me. 1418 01:06:04,342 --> 01:06:05,111 I may fall, 1419 01:06:05,111 --> 01:06:06,297 but I'll tell you this, 1420 01:06:06,297 --> 01:06:07,644 it doesn't have dominion. 1421 01:06:07,644 --> 01:06:09,589 Because it's not like I just jump up 1422 01:06:09,589 --> 01:06:11,237 and run back after it again. 1423 01:06:11,237 --> 01:06:12,517 I confess those sins. 1424 01:06:12,517 --> 01:06:15,164 He is faithful and just to forgive those sins. 1425 01:06:15,164 --> 01:06:16,173 There is a fight. 1426 01:06:16,173 --> 01:06:17,919 I don't follow the devil anymore. 1427 01:06:17,919 --> 01:06:19,359 I wrestle with him. 1428 01:06:19,359 --> 01:06:21,172 Oh, there's battles. 1429 01:06:21,172 --> 01:06:22,515 Yes, there's battles. 1430 01:06:22,515 --> 01:06:24,444 But see, there was no battle before, 1431 01:06:24,444 --> 01:06:25,793 because I was dead in sin. 1432 01:06:25,793 --> 01:06:27,924 I followed the flow. 1433 01:06:27,924 --> 01:06:29,909 Now, I'm seeking to move against it. 1434 01:06:29,909 --> 01:06:31,353 I'm walking the other way. 1435 01:06:31,353 --> 01:06:32,394 And I feel it. 1436 01:06:32,394 --> 01:06:33,880 And there's a power within me 1437 01:06:33,880 --> 01:06:36,068 that keeps my legs moving. 1438 01:06:36,068 --> 01:06:37,572 Step after step, 1439 01:06:37,572 --> 01:06:39,606 even though the flow is strong 1440 01:06:39,606 --> 01:06:40,806 to go back the other way. 1441 01:06:40,806 --> 01:06:42,518 I keep going in that direction. 1442 01:06:42,518 --> 01:06:45,354 Why? There's a power at work within me 1443 01:06:45,354 --> 01:06:47,245 that is not of this world. 1444 01:06:47,245 --> 01:06:48,599 It's supernatural. 1445 01:06:48,599 --> 01:06:49,469 It's divine. 1446 01:06:49,469 --> 01:06:51,358 Are you aware of this? 1447 01:06:51,358 --> 01:06:53,509 Brethren, are you aware of being made alive 1448 01:06:53,509 --> 01:06:54,910 together with Christ? 1449 01:06:54,910 --> 01:06:57,811 What a tremendous thing, is it not! 1450 01:06:57,811 --> 01:07:01,456 Brethren, to God... God makes Christians. 1451 01:07:01,456 --> 01:07:03,393 it's to God be the glory. 1452 01:07:03,393 --> 01:07:04,754 To God be the praise 1453 01:07:04,754 --> 01:07:06,583 as we heard it in the first hour. 1454 01:07:06,583 --> 01:07:14,589 Salvation belongs to the Lord. 1455 01:07:14,589 --> 01:07:18,077 Father, 1456 01:07:18,077 --> 01:07:21,090 We just bow our heads before You. 1457 01:07:21,090 --> 01:07:23,184 You are God and we are not, 1458 01:07:23,184 --> 01:07:26,641 and You are full of the most tender mercies 1459 01:07:26,641 --> 01:07:30,720 towards those who deserve them not in the least. 1460 01:07:30,720 --> 01:07:32,013 And we thank You. 1461 01:07:32,013 --> 01:07:34,183 Thank You. Thank You that Your love 1462 01:07:34,183 --> 01:07:39,736 was so great, so deep, 1463 01:07:39,736 --> 01:07:46,822 that You even offered up Your own Son. 1464 01:07:46,822 --> 01:07:51,461 He became sin. 1465 01:07:51,461 --> 01:07:58,296 All that punishment came upon His head. 1466 01:07:58,296 --> 01:08:01,381 That we might be made alive. 1467 01:08:01,381 --> 01:08:02,852 And that we might experience 1468 01:08:02,852 --> 01:08:05,061 the exceeding, the immeasurable riches 1469 01:08:05,061 --> 01:08:06,613 of your grace in kindness 1470 01:08:06,613 --> 01:08:08,263 through all these coming ages. 1471 01:08:08,263 --> 01:08:10,487 Lord, what have You done for sinners. 1472 01:08:10,487 --> 01:08:13,845 What an amazing thing this is. 1473 01:08:13,845 --> 01:08:14,752 We thank You, 1474 01:08:14,752 --> 01:08:16,652 in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 1475 01:08:16,652 --> 01:08:17,884 Amen.