 Let's begin reading here in Ephesians chapter 2 at verse 1. I'll read verses 1 through 3 and then we'll pick that up go through Then I'm gonna develop with develop it with you because the things that we're looking at are Things that are what you would call meat, you know There is milk and then there is meat these things consist of that which is called meat And so you'll see that as we go through this so beginning at verse 1 reading to verse 3 Ephesians chapter 2 Paul writes you he made alive Who were dead in trespasses and sins in which you once walked according to the course of this world According to the prince of the power of the air the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience among whom also We all once conducted ourselves in the lust of our flesh Fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and we're by nature children of wrath just as the others Again, I'm gonna spend time making sure that I go through my notes Carefully, I'll be reading them to you because I don't want to miss something I want to give to you as much as I can and to be as accurate as is possible So as we look at this passage he begins by saying you he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins Now as we've been going through Ephesians in chapter 1 Paul gave us insights into the blessings that we Presently have in Jesus Christ in verse 3 He had made it clear that every spiritual blessing has been given to us Now since we have these blessings Paul prayed that we would comprehend what we have in Christ And so we went through his prayer and he had prayed in this way He said may you be made completely and entirely aware of heavenly things May you be aware that you are adopted as God's children through Jesus May you know for certain that this has been God's pleasure to do May you cherish and live in the freedom from bondage that God has granted to you in redemption May you come to deeply comprehend the costly grace of God that made all of this possible may you eagerly await the obtaining of your inheritance in heaven and May this understanding provoke you to live to the praise of his glory That's what we saw in his prayer for us Those are the things that he was praying for the believer now this possession of every spiritual blessing is made possible Only if you're saved Paul had made that clear in chapter 1 verse 13 notice and you can read this notice how he said in him You also trusted after you heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation in whom also Having believed you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise So these things that he's praying for are only possible to those who are born again These are things that we have in Christ because we received the gospel believed in what it had it committed to us It transmitted to us we've been saved and so these blessings that God has for us these things He's praying for are all obtained through faith in Jesus Christ And so he's speaking concerning this and and Paul now continues to to write of how God had given the Ephesians spiritual life notice again in verse 1. He said you he made alive Who were dead in trespasses and sins? So to get to the great news We first have to look at what would be called the bad news Because he begins in verse 1 by saying he made you he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins before God Saved you he's saying you had no spiritual life. There was no spiritual life within you at all We have physical biological life But spiritually he's saying we had no life When you speak of that which is physically dead that refers to the soul when it separates from the body But when you speak of that which is spiritually dead that speaks of the soul being separated from God So to be spiritually dead speaks of an absence of fellowship with the God who created you And so he's telling them as well as us that they were dead They had no spiritual life at all and that's because all human beings have received what is called the Adamic nature Adam's nature All the way back in the first book of the Bible in Genesis God created man and God had given a command to man He commanded him to multiply and replenish the earth. That's the only command man is willingly obeyed by the way to multiply After the after the fall Adam kept the command that he had been given but he passed on his fallen nature to his offspring Paul spoke of this in Romans 5 12 when he said therefore just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin in this way death came to all men why because all men sinned all Men sinned in Adam Adam gave to us his nature that phrase in him all men say Sinned is there's a term in theology. It's called seminal theology You receive from Adam his nature the nature of Adam the fallen nature is called the Adamic nature and so There are certain things that are distinguishing traits of those who have this fallen nature Again before we are safe notice We are spiritually dead in trespasses and sins when he says we are spiritually dead interest passes It speaks of the sphere of existence we sin because that is the sphere of existence that we live in by nature We are sinners. We don't become sinners when we sin we sin because we are sinners See sometimes there's a theology I could give to you the organization that teaches it It says that you are born without sin and then the moment you sin you become a sinner But that's not where the Bible teaches the Bible doesn't teach that I become a sinner when I sin the Bible teaches that I sin Because I by nature am a sinner that is what is natural for me Romans 5 19 the first portion of that verses Through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners And so you have received the Adamic nature you have received a sin nature And that means according to verse 1 that we're dead spiritually in trespasses and sins We're dead in trespasses and sins. You remember the occasion that Jesus had called a man to follow him He has simply said that to the man. He said to the man come follow me But when Jesus said that when he told him come follow me the man responded you'll remember what the man said He said well allow me first to go and bury my father Well, Jesus speaks to him It's found in Luke chapter 9 verse 60 and Jesus said to him this he said let the dead bury their own dead But you go and preach the kingdom of God. Let the dead bury their own dead. What are you saying Jesus? I'm saying that you are spiritually your father that you're claiming you want to go and and Bury and all that he is spiritually dead You see the thing is when you look at this and you understand the culture of Israel at that time This man's father wasn't yet dead What happened is the man wanted to wait so he could receive an inheritance from the father and So his concern wasn't really for the father His concern was for material things that he desired to receive from his father But Jesus made it clear let the spiritually dead bury the physically dead you come and you follow me well Paul makes it clear in verse 1 we were dead. We're dead in notice trespasses and sins Now the word trespass it means to turn from the right path It means to fail instead of resisting the word trespasses used some 21 times in the New Testament The word sins means to miss the mark It's used generally for sin in the New Testament somewhere around 250 times It means to miss the mark Romans 3 23 all have sinned and fall short of the glory about we've missed the mark You're aiming at a target. It has a bull's-eye. You missed the bull's-eye. That's what the word means Every human being due to their sin nature are sinners and we practice sin Humans by nature are rebels and are constantly at war with and hostile to God Not just that war, but we are hostily opposed to him Romans 8 7 says the sinful nature is always hostile to God Never did obey God's laws. It never will So before we were saved Life was lived in willful trespasses and sin This was due again to our unredeemed sinful nature So I'm 51 verse 5 says it like this I was brought forth in iniquity and sin my mother conceived me But the wonderful thing is though we were antagonistic to him He showed us grace on those of us who were so unworthy and so imperfect God has taken pity Romans 5 8 God demonstrates his own love toward us and that while we were still sinners Christ died for us and Paul makes it clear that that was our ordinary way of life So he says again in verse 1 you he made alive who were spiritually dead who were dead in Trespasses and sins verse 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world According to the Prince of the power of the air the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience in Which you once walked according to the course of this world the word walked and I'm giving you a little bit more information than I normally do The word walked is a is a word that can be also translated meandered aimlessly wandering without any stability without any direction without any satisfaction He's saying you walked in sins you walked in trespasses you meandered through life Without any goals any stability and the reason you did so Let's speak into us as you were spiritually blind The reason you did so is you didn't know what your purpose was You were spiritually dead Which means you were also spiritually blind and you wandered aimlessly Notice according verse 2 according to the course of this world. Now the course of this world Is speaking about sensuality The world system is sensuous it rejects God it's a system that is ruled by Satan the course of this world in Second Corinthians 4 3 and 4 Paul said even if our gospel is veiled it is veiled to those who are perishing The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers So that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of christ who's the image of god You may be someone who practices the sharing of your faith You you have a co-worker a neighbor perhaps somebody that you go to school with a friend whatever relative And you you see that as an opportunity when you're with them to share with them And you do and you'll give them scripture and you'll talk to them But the light never seems to go on they never it never dawns on them what you're saying They just look at you and maybe put up with you tolerate you But they don't understand what you're saying. Well, why is that it's because they are spiritually blind You can you can memorize as much as you'd like you can follow the four spiritual laws or the roman road or whatever methodology you might have to be able to communicate scripture and present gospel to people But until the holy spirit brings conviction on these people they are dead in trespasses and sins Then they're not able to receive those things the god of this age has blinded their minds And so it takes the work of the spirit of god to bring conviction through the word of god for somebody to awaken To the reality of them being lost Because we're aware of this system. We were part of this system And being aware of the system we are to reject it and to have nothing to do with it We're not to love this age. We're not to love this world first. John 2 15 through 17 Do not love the world or anything in the world If anyone loves the world love for the father's not in them For everything in the world the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes the pride of life Comes not from the father but from the world the world and its desires pass away But whoever does a will of god lives forever and so loving this world Is to I've said this before is to kiss the tip of the spear that was plunged into the side of christ And the believer is not to love the world to have nothing to do with the system that crucified jesus christ We're to reject this system But people who are unsafe that is the only system they know We're called to reject the system that killed our messiah In romans 12 verse 2 it says do not conform to the pattern of this world But be transformed how by the renewing of your mind Then you'll be able to test and approve what god's will is his good pleasing and perfect will And so he says we we walked in verse 2 according to the course of this world Satan's design is not only for us to do evil things But to think and believe evil things I want to say that again His design is not for us just to do evil things, but to think and believe evil things. That's his design sinful man creates a shared agreement of basic morality and in doing so develops what is called common culture So this means that what is considered moral and right May not and very often does not line up with what scripture says And that's what we have today in isaac 5 verses 20 and 21 It says what sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil That dark is light and light is dark that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter What sorrow for those who are wise in their own eyes and think themselves so clever And that's what we have today. Don't we that's what we have in our system in this world system Light is dark and darkest light sweetest sour and sour is sweet Evil is good and good is evil. That's what we have. That's our shared culture That's what we're living in right now and that's darkness And so this comes through the influence of the enemy notice. He says in verse 2 He says in which you once walked according to the course of this world According to the prince of the power of the air the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience According to the prince of the power of the air Satan is temporarily ruling Until he is forever cast out In John 14 verse 30 Jesus said it like this. He said I will not speak much more with you For the ruler of the world is coming. He has nothing in me Jesus referred to him in that way the ruler of the world the prince of this world the prince of this age Paul spoke of him as the god of this age the influencer of all these evil things who created a world system That is a hundred percent in opposition to god that calls us or Encourages us encourages everybody to reject Jesus christ in the plan of salvation And so that's this ruler who is he is running the show if you will It speaks concerning the prince of the power of the air the air is pictured a As that which separates heaven from earth In other words satan doesn't control things of heaven His influence is earthly And he is the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience. This is a way of speaking of the natural man in contrast to the born again person Sons of disobedience speaks of the natural direction of an unsaved person Satan's influence is revealed In the behavior of his willing followers the things that satan likes are the things that his children like And so his influence is Seeing in the system that's developed in the way people live And so he's speaking about that and i'll read verses one and two again and then go to verse three So he says this you he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins In which you once walked according to the course of this world According to the prince of the power of the air the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience Which are all the things we were Among whom verse three Among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lust of our flesh Fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and we're by nature children of wrath Just as the others We once conducted ourselves That's where we used to be I've shared this before but not recently. It's been a few years When I was in college I was taking a particular class at Cal Poly Pomona And I was a sociology class and I came early and this this guy was there in the class He was seated, you know, to my right. We were the only two people in the class at that time And he's they're talking to me We're just kind of visiting waiting for the other students to arrive and everything I still remember the conversation We were having just talking about various things and as we did so He said to me that he was part of alcoholics anonymous And I said really? And he goes, yeah, I said, you know, I was a drunk Because we used to use the word drunk, you know Maybe that's not a proper word word to use anymore. We were a social drinker. I don't know what you call it How about a boozer? I was I was a drunk. I said, you know, I was a drunk I didn't drink because I enjoyed the taste. I drank because I enjoyed enjoyed the effect I said, I was a drunk and I'd been a drunk since I was a middle teenager until I was saved at the age of 20 He says, oh, and I said, yeah, I was a drunk. I said, but I got saved And he looks at me. He says, oh Because we're in a college class a sociology class and all so he wants to use his college language to me And he says, oh, you had a conversion experience And I said, well I said, yeah, I was converted. Yeah, I gave my heart to Jesus Christ. I don't call it a conversion experience I call it being born again. He says, he says, well, you were an alcoholic. So you always will be one And I said, no, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creation old things are passed away All things become new I said, no, I I am a new creation Christ Jesus. See, here's the key guys. Don't identify with what you were That's what you were I once was lost. I once was blind. I once was dead in trespasses and sins But I have been made alive in Jesus Christ. I'm a new creation in Christ Jesus All things are passed away. Behold, all things have become new because I am new in him I've been born again. You need to learn. This is what Paul's teaching us You need to learn learn who you are You need to learn learn who you are You're a child of the king That's who you are. You know this movement I was sharing with my wife today this movement that's real big today It started a number of years ago and discovering our ancestry many of you have looked into your ancestral roots and you find out You shouldn't have done that You know because you're curious And all of that it's a big thing and so you can trace your your ancestry and I find it interesting And I've shared some of the information that I've gained on my own and and I find it interesting very much so But you know my ancestry goes beyond the the the ones that are coming up on this particular You know Website and all my ancestry goes back to Adam and I through Adam received his nature And so I am a sinner and it doesn't matter whether I have a a variety of cultural Identifications or ethnic that's what I am a sinner by nature whether you're brown white red yellow black doesn't matter You're a sinner by nature And so what what happened with me is I went back to the one who saved me and now I can say no I am no longer that yes adam is the the father of the human race in that sense But I've been born again. I have the blood of christ That's washed me and cleansed me of all my sin and so what I've done and I've been doing this for many years I encourage you to do the same is to remember that you once were this but not anymore Now you're brand new And jesus identified with the finished work of christ and paul is laying this out theologically for us to understand So notice again, he said in verse three among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lust of the flesh We all once conducted ourselves habitually in this way When he speaks of lust of the flesh it speaks of doing what feels good deliberately choosing to sin We were more concerned about What we would eat what we would drink what we would put on How much money we would have Before we were saved Our strongest inclination was to satisfy lust and desire Lust speaks of our sinful inclination Desire speaks of our willingness to indulge in them And we would fulfill he says the desires of the flesh. He said and of the mind Again that desire speaks of our willingness to seek something diligently by nature. In other words Sinful man craves to satisfy their inclination. They do what they choose to do And that's something we have to actually come to understand again in our day Is that I do things because I choose to do those things I heard many years ago. It influenced my thinking perhaps it's wrong, but I I think it's right I heard somebody say that one of the things that we have really Done as a nation that has really hurt this nation is we have become This was the quote now explain what i'm trying to say in a moment. We have become Freudian Psychologists all of us. He says you can go to um You can go into a prison. You can speak to a man who killed his mother And he will give you 16 different reasons why he did that But he never takes any responsibility for doing it Well, I had poverty my mother was mean to me. I lived in a bad neighborhood. I didn't get an education My father abandoned me we can explain all the things that contributed But when you get to the point where you're able to say but I made choices and I did this By choice That's when you can be saved When you actually take responsibility For what you did If my if my daughter ono here were here with you she she'd say amen to what i'm about to say When she was in high school and you know sometimes high school there's no more than their parents and all And when she was in high school there were times that she did things that I didn't approve of I got upset about and the way I handled it with anna is I simply would I'd be in the room and she'd come into my room It would usually be at night when I was reading or or whatever And I'd be laying in my bed and she'd come walking in I'd say sit down And she knew oh no Dad's gonna lecture me and I did I would talk to her And she'd tell you that I would talk to her and would talk to her I would talk to her sometimes it would be an hour straight And and finally she'd say here to dad and I'd say look you're not going anywhere You're not going anywhere. I'm comfortable. I'm in bed You're not going anywhere Until you admit What you did was wrong. I'm not letting you get away with this And she'd finally she'd tear up and she'd say I'm sorry dad. I am wrong It went for her boy. She has a will of iron But she eventually would get to that point. She said I can't take this anymore And it wasn't that long ago when she told me dad because I never spanked her. She said dad She says there were times I wish that you would have spanked me Just just to get it over with she said I had to put up with two hours of lectures I said well, you shouldn't have done the things you did Because we we she I wanted her to see and that this is the way it is with all of us really is that I make choices I make choices to do certain things I chose to drink. I chose to smoke dope. I chose to steal. I chose to do those things There was nobody who was putting a gun to my head saying you need to do those things I did it by volition. It was part of my nature. I wanted those things I wanted what they offered me so by nature. I was a children of wrath. I was lost and wandering in a sinful world And that means that I was worthy as we all were of receiving just punishment. That's why we're children of wrath We can receive just punishment for sin Not only are we sinful, but we deserve God's judgment In psalm 7 verse 11 God judges the righteous and God is angry with the wicked every day Under these conditions, we were hopeless and we were helpless to save ourselves Before we received Christ. We were satisfying our basic needs like animals do But now in Christ We have power to resist We have power to change We have the power to please him. How did that take place verse 4? but God But God who is rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us Even when we were dead in trespasses made us alive with Christ by grace You've been saved and raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus but God These two words carry encouragement and they they carry grace but God I was thinking about that phrase and I looked at a few scriptures that use the term but God And I see that when God judged the world with the flood Genesis 8 verse 1 says but God but God remembered Noah And all the wild animals and livestock that were with him in the ark and he sent a wind over the earth And the waters receded when God judged it. He remembered Noah, but God remembered Noah When joseph in the old testament was sold by his brothers into slavery The bible tells us he spent 13 years in servitude At least two of those years were spent in prison based on a false accusation In the end as you look at the story of joseph and all he was able to speak to his brothers And this is what he said in genesis 50 verse 20. He said as for you you meant evil against me But God meant it for good to bring it about that many people should be kept alive as they are today When the psalmist saw that the wealthy were often arrogant He said their beauty is fleeting and in psalm 49 15. He said but God will redeem me from the realm of the dead He will surely take me to himself When we were in bondage to sin God revealed his love for us romans 5 8 But God shows his love for us and that while we were still sinners christ died for us And so this is what paul is encouraging the ephesians to understand Out of his mercy love and grace god did something but God But god who is rich in mercy Because of his great love with which he loved us We were dead in sins. We were meandering aimlessly Children of wrath worthy of judgment In spite of this Moved by mercy and love God came to the rescue He says in verse 4 notice god is rich in mercy When he says god is rich that word rich is a greek word. That means unlimited Abounding that which is without measure Mercy is compassion. It's a disposition to be kind a disposition to forgive god's compassion is without measure God's love is not theoretical God's love is not an ivory tower intellectual kind of love His love is active His love is demonstrated We've been saved from sin By god's love for us And he made a way to rescue us Notice in verse 5 how he says Even when we were dead in trespasses. He made us alive together with christ by grace. You've been saved Grace and mercy and love Prompted god's action toward us We who could not help ourselves because we were dead By jesus are now made alive You see as dead people we needed to be made alive And god made us alive through jesus christ He says in verse 5 we were dead in trespasses, but he made us alive together with christ So god accomplished three things on our behalf One he made us alive together with jesus. We who were spiritually dead have been made alive In john 5 24 jesus said it like this. He said most assuredly i say to you He who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has everlasting life Shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life We who were dead are now alive In galatians 220 i've been crucified with christ. It is no longer i who live But christ lives in me the life which i now live in the flesh i live by faith and the son of god Who loved me And gave himself for me A second thing in verse 6 we were raised up together with him We're no longer part of this present evil age We're rescued and we have life in him This is still something future But it is looked at in scripture as an accomplished act And it's made possible because god has sealed us by his spirit Again in romans 6 verses 4 4 and 5 when we do Baptisms i will use this scripture We are buried with him by baptism into death That like as christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the father Even so we also should walk in newness of life For if we've been united together in the likeness of his death certainly we shall be In the likeness of his resurrection So we see ourselves as those who are once dead But are now alive And then third in verse 6 we were made to sit together in the heavenly places in christ jesus This is a Powerful thing and jesus we are considered to already be seated in heavenly places notice verse 6 the wording We were made to sit together We are considered already seated with him. It's a past action that has present tense fulfillment In philippians 3 20 our citizenship is in heaven From which we also eagerly wait for the savior the lord jesus christ In revelation 3 21 to him who overcomes i will grant to sit with me on my throne We have been made to sit together in heavenly places in christ jesus. I can't comprehend that I have no way of understanding what that means, but one day i will when i'm with him And all of this is made possible Because of god's grace and love for us notice in verse 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us in christ jesus Salvation has a purpose of manifesting god's incredible grace to us forever It openly demonstrates the matchless grace of god For eternity I don't know what that means eternity My daughter anna did because she had to sit with me for those two hours It felt like eternity I've often tried to to to consider what would be A way to be able To give us something tangible that our minds can kind of rest on That would help us to understand What eternity is and the only thing i've ever come up with is a very simple one It's like if you and i if we were at a beach And you're counting every single grain of sand on that beach Then you go to every beach on the face of the earth counting by one two three every single grain of sand Until every single grain of sand has been counted on every beach and in every desert Then you start over again And then you start over again I can't comprehend it. I honestly can't It is such knowledge is too great for me But I know this I have eternal life in jesus christ I know that whatever that means ultimately. I know it's a quality of life. It's an age-abiding life I I know that it's it's going to be a life beyond every anything I could imagine And it never stops It never ends It only continues You can have a life in christ that continues forever In the presence of god In the presence of those who loved him In the presence of those whom you love to new jesus I mean in In eternity And I I don't even like to let my mind wander into that. It's too wonderful for me, but I think of Every every wonderful blessed moment every joy that I've ever had has always had a very transient existence I may be joyful about something right now or happy about something right now or pleased with something right now And then it wears away, but but not in eternity In in his at his right hand are pleasures forever more There there there is never a moment where you're going to get bored people say, oh man Heaven sounds kind of boring and I'd rather go to hell and party with my friends What an idiotic thing to think Heaven isn't boring The idea Again, you know, I shouldn't even I'm just wandering in my own mind in front of you right now. I I I can't fathom that I can't fathom the joy. I can't fathom The blessing I can't it's too much But it's ours But it's ours It's ours We'll we'll see Jesus Christ. We'll We'll be with our loved ones. We'll never cry again. We'll never be Sad again. We'll never lose anything again. We'll never forget anything again Some of you know what I mean by that will At his right hand are pleasures forever more How did this happen? It'll take eternity for God's grace to be Completely revealed to us. How did this happen verse 8? For by grace you've been saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It's a gift of God not of works Unless anyone should boast you're saved by grace through the channel of faith because you Because I because we could never save ourselves it couldn't In 2nd Timothy 1 verse 9 he saved us called us to a holy life Not because of anything we've done But because of his own purpose in grace This grace was given to us in christ before the beginning of time In Romans 5 verse 1 having been justified by faith We have peace with god through our lord jesus christ peace joy Love and it all came through gods Granting to us his unmerited Favor through the channel of our faith. We heard the message of the gospel Received it. We believed it and we've been transformed by it We are believers. How did this happen? We who had been dead in trespasses and sins He we who were walking according to the course of this world We who conducted ourselves in the lust of our flesh We who were by nature children of wrath How did this happen? God who is rich in mercy Because of his great love with which he loved us By grace he saved us that's the antidote to religion and Legalistic do's and don'ts that we think if we if we do that somehow we can Earn our way to heaven When we get to the point where we think when people begin to believe That they could somehow do something great enough For god to owe them heaven. They don't understand what grace is because every single fiber of my being before christ Is sinful. I am by nature a child of wrath. I deserve what i'm going to get But god But god In his great mercy, but god because of his compassion, but god in his love for us. It's amazing. I don't understand it But I receive it. I don't understand it But I welcome it And no, you cannot you cannot earn yours earn your your way into heaven I have a someone I was speaking to on one occasion who believed that you work your way into heaven And as we were speaking He felt that people we were speaking about Things that take place in religion and all and he was speaking to me He was he brought up the the men as I recall the people who will Crawl on their knees and whip themselves And he thinks that that's very noble and he told me he said I think that that's a great act of faith I said what that they that they crawl Up the up the steps and up to the altar and they hit themselves with a whip you think that that's a a mark of Of faith in god. He goes yes that that's great faith. They said really And I said does your father love you? All I knew his father did and he goes of course. I said do you love your father? He says of course, I know he did. I knew he loved his daddy I said let me ask you a question If you went out into the front yard at your dad's house and took a whip and started beating yourself And started screaming to the house daddy. I love you. Would your dad be pleased with that? He goes no, I said why not? Well I said, then why do you think god is pleased with that? So you have a we have a mistaken understanding of what god is god is love god is mercy god is compassion god is grace field God did what you can't do God sent his senate took upon himself that which you should have taken upon yourself He died for you and there's not a single thing you can do to ever deserve the love of god He just gives it to you because that's the god that we worship That's that's that's how you got to see that but god Who is rich in mercy and so by grace we have been saved through faith that not of ourselves It is a gift of god not by works. Let's say any man should boast And then he goes on in verse 10 and he says for we are his workmanship. We are his poema. We are his poem His work of art Created in christ jesus for good works, which god prepared beforehand that we should walk in them Walking in good works. It's not saving you. It's an evidence that you've been saved It's a demonstration of salvation and and and our life is to be Revealing our faith by the way. We live our words Our service to god our prayer life are are giving those things all the demonstrations that we've been saved And god planned for us to do good works Why they reveal his character and his actions In titus 2 verse 14 jesus gave himself for us That he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself his own special people Zalas for good works Bible tells us in psalm 37 23 that the steps of a good man are ordered by the lord. He delights in his way Again, we don't work to be saved. We work because we are saved And good works are the result of being connected to god and they flow from us being obedient children being honest workers Being faithful husbands being a faithful wife Helping others in need being generous Helping to clean up after spending time at someone's house. These are all things that are called good works When I got saved I was sharing with my parents and before they got saved and I was in The their their kitchen and they had a bay window and you could look from the from the kitchen out to the street And and this is the time before they were making Plastic bottles that they carried water in and and a truck came driving In our direction and took a left turn right in front of and I could see That a big old glass bottle fell out of the truck and hit the ground and smashed against the curb and without thinking I I went and got a A broom and I got a dustpan and I got a bag and and it went out And I swept it all up and put it in The the bag and rolled it up took it dropped it in the trash can Came back into the house and I was talking to my mom And my mom was looking at me with a real puzzled look Because I was a jerk before I got saved. I was a real jerk, you know that that would I said what she goes I know you're saved I looked at I go why She says david you would have never done something like that if you didn't know god And she was yeah, I'm guilty. You're right. I would never have done something like that You don't even know the little things that you do help people notice them You don't know Your own family may be watching you my brother watched me for over a year actually longer than that more like to Watched me He thought that I was on some kind of fat. He watched me Because your family knows you my sister becky watched me for many years In your life changes We have been created by god and to good works And you do these works because they bring glory to god You do good works because god does good works And you're his child And those are the things that the lord would have for us to know It's really not that complicated. We're different And this reveals that in first peter 250 and this is the will of god That by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men God's grace and let me close with one last thought about this going back for just a moment You were saved by grace I was talking to Someone who at one time was in our church. He no longer is with us. He he moved to another state But he was sharing it with me and he said this to me and I thought of it today and I'll share it with you He said, you know, he was a police officer He and one of his friends Both believers He said I had I have to tell you something pastor. I said what he goes he goes I was Transporting a prisoner. We were going to a particular local place to deposit him And he said He says We were driving. I I guess it was a it was one of the cars or that it actually has a radio He says and we were playing the radio And he said we put I was on this particular stage and he said we put the station on because we knew that you were Han and Turned it on loud enough for the prisoner in the back seat to hear the whole bible study He said we actually drove around and took the long routes so we could go around until he heard the whole thing He said and so we pulled up to the particular jail. He said in this jail has two gates He said the first gate opens and you go into that into a section between it The gate closes behind you then the second gate is open and then you make your way through He said so we played the whole thing and we stopped in between and I turned and I asked the prisoner Well, you heard what he had to say and the guy goes. Yeah, he goes You think you need to get saved? And he said yeah, he says I need Jesus Christ He said pastor in between one gate and into the second this man entered in the gate Went through the gate as a sinner and went into the second gate as someone who got saved by Jesus Christ again I was thinking of that today because The one of the officers invited me to come and speak at his church In a few months and I was thinking about that because the officer who was with my friend Actually went on to plant a church at Calvary Chapel ministry and he contacted me a couple days ago and said Could you come and speak at our church in this and that that came to mind as I was sharing why well because by the grace of god We at one time were lost. We at one time were enemies. We at one time were hostile We at one time were children of wrath. We at one time were dead and trespasses and sins But god has saved us Identify with the new work You are brand new in jesus christ and when the enemy when the enemy makes an accusation against you Which he does probably every day in one form or another What you need to do is say I once was lost But in christ i'm found I once was a drunk But I am now no longer i'm sober. I once was into dope. I am no longer. I once was immoral I am no longer. I'm faithful. I am a new creation in christ jesus Never forget that because the enemy wants to draw you back The system of the world is to bring you back But jesus christ whom the sun sets free is free indeed. Don't forget that The freeing christ And father we ask that even as we go