But God...

Introduction: The Letter to Ephesus and its Structure

0:03 Will you turn in your Bibles, please, to Paul's letter to the church at Ephesus as we resume our studies in what we commonly call the Book of Ephesians, more properly, the letter to the Ephesian church. We must never forget that these epistles are just that, letters sent to real churches living in a real world with real sin, with a real Savior, and with very real needs to be instructed and exhorted and admonished in the truth of God's Word. And so they come with perennial freshness to real churches living in the real world with the objects of the real influences of the real God and who seek to bring praise to that God in their generation. Will you follow as I read Ephesians 2, verses 1 to 10? And you did he make alive when you were dead through your trespasses and sins, wherein ye once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the powers of the air, of the spirit that now worketh in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all also once lived in the lust of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

1:32 But God, being rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, by grace have ye been saved, and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace, grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace have ye been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, that no man should glory. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared, that we should walk in them.

2:29 Convinced, of the truth of our Lord, who said man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God, it is our concern to return to a careful verse by verse, phrase by phrase exposition, and application of this portion of the word, because it is by this means that the life imparted is developed, and it is by this means that those who have no life, will come to life in the sovereign power and will of God. We began a consideration of this second chapter of Ephesians back at the beginning of the summer, and then broke into it awaiting the fall, and so it is necessary this morning very briefly to give a broad overview of what we have in these first two chapters, and then proceed to our consideration of verse four. I would remind you that chapter one, is the chapter which has as its focus of concern, a hymn of praise to the triune God, verses three to fourteen, and a prayer for spiritual illumination, verse fifteen to the end. Two great divisions of thought, praise to God for his great salvation, prayer for the Spirit's work in illumination,

3:56 that the saints might understand more of their rich inheritance. And when you find that there is little praise upon your lips, there is little prayer in your heart, may I encourage you to take with you into the place of prayer and praise, Ephesians chapter one. Meditate upon the great truth set forth, and if this by the blessing of the Spirit will not warm your heart to praise and prayer, I doubt that anything will. As chapter one has two main divisions of thought, prayer, praise and prayer, so chapter two has two main divisions of thought.

4:38 If chapter one has as its concern prayer and praise, chapter two is the chapter of the great contrast. Here in chapter two, we have two great contrasts set before us. Contrast number one is found in the verses which I read in your hearing. In verses one to ten, the apostle contrasts, what, the Ephesians were as individuals before and after the grace of God came to them.

5:09 The verse, the word upon which the whole thought of this paragraph hinges is verse four, verse one, the first word of verse four. But, and from the but onward to the end of verse ten, is the contrast, what they were, verses one to three, what they became, verses four, to ten. And then the remainder of the chapter, verse eleven through verse twenty-two, is a contrast between what they were as a collective body before and after the grace of God came to them. Verses eleven and twelve tell what they were as Gentiles, and then the key word, verse thirteen, but now. And then there is this wonderful contrast as he speaks of them incorporated into the body of Christ. And in both cases, the apostle ranges beyond a mere description of the Ephesians and he includes himself and all men who have come under the power of God's grace and within the orbit of his saving influence in this chapter of great contrast. Now why is the apostle giving these contrasts?

The Purpose of the Contrasts: Stirring to Godliness

6:28 Is he simply theologizing? Is he simply, is he concerned with giving theological statement? Of course not. He's a missionary.

6:37 He's a church planter. He has the heart of a pastor. And the great concerns of his pastoral heart break forth, beginning with chapter four and verse one to the end of the chapter where he touches on every facet of human experience and interpersonal relationships. And he longs to do so within a thoroughly Christian perspective.

6:59 But the apostle knows, that the method of God in stirring up his people to godliness is first of all to bring them to an appreciation of what they have in grace. And our zeal for godliness will be in direct proportion to our appreciation of grace. If there is something lacking in our zeal for godliness, it is because there is something waning in our appreciation of grace. And the way we are stirred up afresh, to new pursuits of godliness, is to discover new dimensions of grace.

7:38 And so the apostle who is concerned that the Ephesians be stirred up to godliness begins by, as it were, fanning the fires of appreciation for the grace of God. And few things are more calculated to increase our appreciation of grace than to set in vivid contrast what we were by nature what we now are by the grace of God. Now then, addressing ourselves more particularly then to that first paragraph, we have studied together verses 1 to 3, the before picture. Some of you have seen advertisements for a certain diet program and they show this big, fat, blubbery woman in the before picture and this very svelte, trim, attractive, prim madam in the second picture. And over the one, will be written before and over the one will be written the after. Well, the apostle is giving us a before and an after contrast. The before, verses 1 to 3, he laid out their true condition.

The 'Before' Picture: Humanity's Desperate Condition (Ephesians 2:1-3)

8:46 They were dead. Nothing less than the concept of spiritual death will describe the desperate nature of man's plight as a sinner. He's sick, he's blind, he's deaf, yes, but he's alive. But he's dead.

9:01 But he's alive. But he's alive. But he's alive. But he's alive.

9:01 But he is dead. And so the apostle describes the true condition as one of death. Then secondly, he describes the activity of men who are in that condition. He speaks of their walking, of their doing, of their fulfilling.

9:19 And he describes the sphere of their activity. It's the realm of trespasses and sins. He describes the standard for that activity, the world, the spiritual power behind it, the world, the prince of the powers of the air, the devil himself. He describes their conscious motive, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind.

9:40 That's the activity of the spiritually dead. And then he closes that before picture by describing their true position before God. They are children of wrath. Their condition, they are dead.

The Pivotal Shift: 'But God...' (Ephesians 2:4)

9:55 Their activity, they walk according to the world, the flesh and the devil. Their position, before God, they are under wrath. Now then, we move from this succinct, this compacted, yet comprehensive statement of man by nature to this amazing description beginning with verse 4 of what man is once the grace of God has come to him. If the apostle had concluded the letter at the end of verse 3, he would have said, he had nothing that was not true nor just.

10:35 This is an accurate description of man dead, bound, guilty, and marked for judgment. And if anything is to follow, we will have to move into a totally new orbit of perspective. Up till now, we've been dealing with the facts of what man has brought upon himself because of sin. We are dealing with man's condition, as he is by nature.

11:03 We are dealing with his relationship to God on the basis of justice. He is a child of wrath. Therefore, if anything is to usher in a contrast, we will have to move out of the orbit of nature, out of the realm of justice, and into a totally new sphere. And you will notice when you begin reading in verse 4, the contrast is so vivid, so marked that only a fool can miss it.

11:34 We are now in the orbit of love, of mercy, of grace, of divine workmanship, and the mighty work of God in redeeming sinners. And everything hinges upon that little word, but. That's the door that opens up a totally new perspective before our spiritual vision. But God, being, being rich in mercy for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.

12:13 The thing that strikes one as there is meditation upon this verse, that this is not a case in which you have the darkest night before the beginning of the dawn, but you move from that darkest night into noonday. There is this bleak, black, dark, foreboding picture. Man in his sin, dead, bound by his lust. The closing note was that of the wrath of God.

12:45 And immediately, we're ushered into richness of mercy, greatness of love, the power of grace, the exceeding richness of grace and of grace. Kindness. From the darkest night, with no ray of hope, nothing but gloom and the foreboding clouds of divine judgment, suddenly, it's high noon without a cloud in the sky, and the child of God is pictured as basking in the warm sunlight of divine favor. Spread before Him are the trees which grace has planted, loaded with the luscious fruits of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. And the great question that should come to us is, what makes the difference? How do we move from verses 1 to 3 into the glory of verses 4 to 10? And so the first thing the apostle is concerned to do is to show us who is the author of this great transformation.

The Author, Reason, Method, and Goal of Transformation

13:57 And he does so in the words, but God. In the second place, he is concerned to show us the reason for such action on the part of God. And he says, rich in mercy, that is, what He is in Himself, and then what He acted toward us, for His great love, wherewith He loved us. The author of the change is God.

14:19 The reason for that change lies not in man, but in God, what He is, and what He exercised toward us. And then he tells us the method of effecting this. How does this change? How does it come about?

14:32 And he says it comes about by quickening us with Christ, by raising us up with Christ, by seating us in the heavenlies with Christ. The change comes about by some strange, yet wonderful relationship established between the dead sinner and the living Christ. Then in the fourth place, he gives us the reason for this great change. Verse 7, that in the ages to come he might show us the exceeding riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

15:06 That's the heart of his argument, telling us first of all the author of the transformation, the reason for his action, the method by which he brought about the change, the reason for the change. And then in verses 8 to 10, in case you've missed the message, he gives a summary and a recapitulation of the whole. For, this is what I'm teaching you, he says, by grace have ye been saved through faith in that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God before ordained that we should walk in them. Well, in short, that's the teaching of the after.

15:49 We've looked at the before, man's condition, dead. His activity, that five-fold activity that we studied in detail, his position, he's under wraps, now in the after, we have the author of the change, we have the reasons for the change, we have the method by which the change was brought about, the goal for which it was brought about, and then a wonderful summary of the whole. I trust you'll retain the general structure of his argument in your mind. Now then, this morning, we shall only have time to deal with the first of those concerns, the author of this great transformation.

God Alone: The Exclusive Author of Salvation

16:28 And will you look carefully at your Bibles and engage in a little exercise in English grammar with me? Because the apostle is concerned that we should understand at the outset, if we miss everything else, that the author of this change is God himself. It is God alone. Notice how he does it.

16:51 But God, and then immediately he tells us something about God, not about us. Being rich in mercy, something that God did, he loved us for his great love, wherewith he loved us. God, who took full recognition of what we were, even when we were dead, there is nothing we could contribute to the activity, we were dead, made us alive together with Christ, raised us up with him, made us to sit with him. Then verse 10, we are his workmanship.

17:27 If you'll omit some of those qualities, some of those modifying clauses, you would have your basic sentence this way. But God, leaving out the being rich in mercy, his great love, wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead, and where is your main verb? Made us alive. So the apostle is bringing into the sharpest of focus possible.

17:52 It is God who took dead sinners and made them alive. It is God who, took those who were walking according to the course of the world, and brought them into a new course. It is God who took those who were the slaves of the devil and liberated them. It is God who has entered into the picture and wrought the great transaction.

18:17 It is God because of the richness of his mercy. It is God because of the greatness of his love. It is God because of the exceeding riches of his grace, who has wrought, this great transformation. And so the pervasive emphasis of this entire section, verses 4 to 10, is upon the mighty, the gracious, the powerful, but the exclusive activity of the mighty God in working this work of grace.

18:52 Now why is the apostle so concerned at the outset, in the very first strokes of his penance, as he would draw the picture of the after? We've looked at the before, we look at the after. Why is he so concerned that the Ephesians and we understand that the author of this transformation is God himself and God alone? You'll notice in verses 4 to 7, he omits any reference to the means God uses.

19:22 There's nothing about the gospel. No one ever is transformed without the gospel, but he doesn't mention the gospel in verses 4 to 7. He doesn't mention the human instrument, the preacher. He doesn't mention the instrumental means, faith.

19:36 He doesn't mention anything of man in verses 4 to 7. It's all of God. You won't find man mentioned there in terms of man's activity. But God, rich in mercy, because of his love, this God has quickened us.

19:52 This God has raised us up. This God has seated us. And if you've missed the message, he says, I'll use a passive verb, by grace ye have been saved. Something has been done to you.

20:03 Now why is the apostle so concerned? Is it again that he's simply being tacky about theological matters? No. The apostle knows that there are few truths more calculated to produce genuine godliness than is this truth of the aloneness of God in our salvation.

20:29 Well, you see, as the apostle gives this emphasis upon God's activity, he introduces the word grace. He's teaching us that synonymous terms are these, all of God, all of grace, all of grace, all of God. And those two concepts stand or fall together. The moment you understand grace as involving something that resides in man, it's no longer grace.

Fruit of God's Aloneness in Salvation: Praise

21:03 And when you think of salvation, all of God, you're thinking all of grace, all of grace, all of God. Now the apostle, I say, is concerned about this at the outset by the introduction of these two words, but God, and the rest of the passage is simply a detailed explanation of what he means, but God. His concern is practical, and I wish to be practical this morning. Let me suggest in the first place that there are no people, there is no people so full of praise as those who understand that salvation is all of grace and all of God.

21:46 There is no people so full of praise as that people, those people, who understand that salvation is all of grace and all of God. Look at the Pharisee. He knows nothing of praise to God. He stands according to our Lord in Luke 18, 11, and says thus to himself, I thank thee, God, I am not as other men, I fast, I tithe, etc.

22:13 He's not giving thanks to God. He's really saying, I thank me. The scripture says, he said, I thank thee. But in reality, he's saying, I thank me.

22:23 And if I'm speaking to someone this morning whose whole understanding of Christianity is bound up in a list of things, a list of externals, you don't do this, you do that, you perform the other thing, and you've never seen yourself as one fitting the description of verses 1 to 3. Dead, a slave of the world and of the devil, bound by your sin, by nature a child of wrath. My friend, you didn't praise God for a second this morning. If you have the heart of a Pharisee, you have a heart devoid of praise, devoid of true praise.

23:01 In the second place, if you have the heart of one who is a poorly instructed Christian, who thinks that you contributed something to the transformation, then your praise is crippled. Some who are true Christians, who in their hearts acknowledge Christ is all, have some kinks in their head, and they think that their faith was a contribution to their salvation. They do not recognize that their faith was a grace given. They think that their repentance was a contribution to their salvation.

23:39 It's a problem in their heads. They have the root of the matter in their hearts, but they've got some kinks in their head. Well, you see, praise involves not only the activity of the heart, but of the head. When you praise God, your mind frames, your tongue frames words that your mind dictates.

23:57 And therefore, if a man's mind is kept, telling him, I can praise God for the gift of His Son, I can praise God for sending the Gospel to me, but I cannot really praise Him, that it was God's activity that quickened a dead sinner. It was God that gave me life that I might believe. You see, his praise is hampered to the extent that his head has got kinks in it with reference to his salvation being all of God. But the person who has come to understand, I was dead, I was a slave, I was under wrath, but now it is no longer true of me.

24:35 And he asks the question, why, how come? And he comes to Ephesians 2, 4, but God! And he is content to say, in those two words lies the whole of the answer. I was dead, but God gave me life.

24:55 I was walking according to the course of this world, but God brought me back to life. He brought me into the kingdom of His own dear Son. I was by nature a child of wrath, but God has brought me under the canopy of His grace and His forgiveness. You see the well-instructed Christian, when he tries to ask the question, why am I no longer in the state described in verses 1 to 3?

25:24 Why am I a child of God? He finds all the logic of his answer, in God! All the logic of the answer resides in God. But God, it is because of who He is and what He has done that I am no longer in that terrible condition described in verses 1 to 3.

25:46 He is able to sing without tongue in cheek the song we sang this morning, Praise my soul the King of heaven, to His feet thy tribute bring. What tribute? The tribute of praise, of worship, adoration, of abandonment, ransom, healed, restored, forgiven. Who like me His praise should sing?

26:09 Praise Him! Praise Him! Praise Him! Praise Him!

26:13 The God, the King of everlasting grace. Do you see the folly then of trying to pump up praise from God's people by the gestures and the pressures of the personality of the song? Do you see how utterly stupid it is, let alone to say irreligious? Can you imagine coming into the Ephesian assembly after an elder had read this epistle and the saints of God in all probability said, Elder So-and-so, read that part over again!

26:46 Read that over again! And he reads carefully the description, you being dead, walking according to the course of His word, under the power of sin, children of wrath by name, children of wrath by nature, but God! Can you imagine someone having to stand up and say at the end of the reading, an explanation of that, Now everybody, let's really let it rip! And then when the people sang half-heartedly, say, Oh come on, let's really!

27:18 Do you see the profanation of what true praise is? How in God's name did that foolishness ever enter the sanctuary of God? I'll tell you when it enters. When men began to lose an understanding, of salvation with all of grace.

27:35 When these Ephesian Christians heard and understood by the illumination of the Spirit, that it was God and God alone that had wrought the change, they could not help but cry out in the words of the hymn we sung this morning, Praise my soul, the King of heaven! Oh, the tragedy of seeing people trying to manipulate the mood of a meeting in order to somehow pump up praise from God's people. True praise is the result of the great truth of salvation by grace alone. Salvation by God alone being brought home to the mind with light by the power of the Spirit. And then being brought home to the heart in the power of that same Spirit. And that truth then will loosen the tongue, will fill the lungs with air, and will force that air over the vocal cords to sing praise. Amen.

28:35 Praise to the God of grace. And oh, dear people, as we face this coming year of ministry and life together as a congregation, generally thinking of the fall as the beginning of a new church year, what does God want from His gathered people in this place Sunday by Sunday? You've heard it so many times, maybe you've begun to grow nauseous at the hearing of it again, but it bears repetition. We are building together, Peter says, to be an habitation of God through the Spirit.

29:08 To do what? To offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable unto God. The church is not merely a gathering to hear the exposition of the Word. It is a gathering of God's people in whose midst God dwells in order to receive praise from His people.

29:29 And our praise will be full of life and vigor and God-honoring content. Only so far as there is kept pulsing within our breasts the awareness that salvation is all of grace and all of God. We might do well to read Ephesians 2, 1-3 every Lord's Day morning, or at least periodically, and say, that's what I was, and yet here am I going up to a place of worship today. Why?

Fruit of God's Aloneness in Salvation: Humility

29:59 Because of verse 4, but God, but God has done something. But in the second place, this recognition will not only find its blessed fruit in making us a praising people, there are none so graced with true humility as those who understand the truth of salvation by grace in their hearts. Someone is called humility the queen of all the other graces. In our Lord's teaching in the Beatitude, it's the first pearl in the necklace of those graces, called the Beatitudes.

30:40 Blessed are the poor in spirit. And what is humility? Is it not basically the conscious awareness coupled with all the fruits that that awareness will bring in my walk before God and men, the conscious awareness that I am a creature utterly dependent upon God for everything. I am a sinner utterly unworthy of all that has come to me in the way of grace.

31:13 Isn't that humility? It doesn't mean a man goes around like this. It means that he acknowledges I am creature, not creator. I am not a little dog.

31:24 I am a creature. In him I live and move and have my being. The very breath I draw, I draw according to his own sovereign good pleasure. He giveth to all life and breath and all things.

31:37 And then I realize in addition to being a creature, I am a sinner. And if I am no longer under a canopy of wrath under which I was by nature, if I am no longer walking according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the powers of the air, the spirit that works in the sons of disobedience, if I am no longer living simply to gratify the things willed of the flesh and of the mind, there is one reason, but God! God has intervened. Not have I gotten but what I received.

32:08 Grace has bestowed it and I have believed. Boasting excluded, pride I abase. I am only a sinner saved by grace. And isn't it interesting that the apostle never lost sight of that practical implication.

32:25 Look at chapter 4 and verse 1. When he comes to specific exhortation of a practical nature, notice where he begins. I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthily of the calling wherewith you were called. And what's the first grace that he underscores as indicative of a worthy walk?

32:48 With all lowliness. The first grace he underscores is the grace of humility. And nothing, I say, is more calculated to produce the grace of humility than an understanding wrought of the sin. And nothing, I say, is more calculated to produce the grace of humility than an understanding wrought of the sin.

33:05 And nothing, I say, is more calculated to produce the grace of humility than an understanding wrought of the sin. Not a mere intellectual perception and confession. But a present awareness. I could sit here this morning justly under a canopy of wrath And have no claim upon God.

33:20 If I sit here under a canopy of mercy If I sit here under a canopy of mercy It's because of grace and grace alone. It's because of grace and grace alone. I say dear people that awareness I say dear people that awareness Close the spirit with a Christ in our heart. with a Christ-like humility.

33:38 And oh, how necessary that is. For again, the Pharisee, he knows nothing of humility. He doesn't know his place as a man or as a sinner. He thinks because he had Jewish blood in his veins, he was inherently better as a man.

33:53 And because he has no Gentile blood, he thinks he stands above all others. He is no defiled sinner. If I'm speaking to someone this morning who in this place is utterly devoid of the knowledge of your own corruption and sin, you know nothing of humility. I don't care how diffident you may appear in your outward demeanor.

34:13 You're a proud rebel against Almighty God.

34:18 And again, the poorly instructed Christian, he fails to grasp that salvation is all of grace and therefore he cannot help but in some measure think, oh, I'm so glad that I decided. I'm so glad that I took Christ. Failing to recognize that his deciding and his taking was but the fruit of God's mighty quickening within. It's that person who understands and is taught of God that all is of grace, that realizes how can I strut, how can I take any other posture before the God of heaven but that of a creature, looking to Him for all things, rendering to Him praise for all things.

35:03 How can I take any other posture, any other posture than that of a sinner, constantly aware and carrying with me to the end of my days that inward pain at the knowledge that I have sinned against the God of heaven. And even though I'm forgiven, there's never a total eradication of the pain of the awareness of what I am by nature.

35:30 And then in our interaction with one another, you see that's the practical element Paul has in chapter 4. He says, oh, that you walk worthy with lowliness. Why? That there be no disruption in the unity of the Spirit.

35:45 A church that confesses its faith in the doctrines of free and sovereign grace and yet is marked by dissension is a blatant contradiction.

35:58 Because the scripture says, only by pride cometh contention. And when does contention and friction come in a congregation? When someone regards himself better than another. My opinion is worth more than yours.

36:16 My particular inclination in this issue is worth more than yours.

36:23 Only by pride cometh contention, the writer to the Proverbs tells us. And as God has been pleased to give us so many years of blessed unity and peace and harmony as a congregation, beloved, that peace and harmony will continue only so long as the grace of God and the grace of humility pervades our hearts. And what better note on which to start this new year of ministry and life together than the recognition of God. What is it that levels us all so that you cannot assert yourself above me nor I above you?

37:00 It's the recognition that we all stood together in verses 1 to 3. And by the grace of God and the grace of God alone we stand together in verses 4 to 10. And if God has been pleased to call us and save us, if he has freely accepted us in Christ, who are we to reject one another? Who are we to set ourselves up one above or against the other?

Fruit of God's Aloneness in Salvation: Prayerfulness

37:30 Know the awareness that salvation is all of God and all of grace is not only calculated to produce the grace of praise, but the grace of humility. And thirdly, none will be so prayerful as those who understand this truth in their hearts. These Ephesians were in the midst of a world still full of people described in verses 1 to 3. Everywhere they turned in that pagan city of Ephesus they saw men whose activity was a monumental testimony to the fact they were dead in their sins.

38:08 Men who could see no further than this world's standards, this world's goods, this world's praise. Men whose depraved desires and appetites were a constant monument of the power of the devil.

38:27 As they think of living amongst them, of being light and salt, what is their hope? Their hope is in verse 4. But God, why are you no longer walking amongst them? Only because God was pleased to move forward in sovereign and almighty grace to rescue you.

38:47 And if he was pleased to do this and seek you when you did not seek him, may he not be pleased to do it to others? You see, that's the logic of an understanding of the doctrines of grace. They bring us to that position where we cry mightily to God because we know that it's God that makes the difference.

39:12 We refuse merely to sprinkle on dead men the perfume of a decision and an external religiosity. We refuse to be content with taking dead sinners and merely tossing them up with the strings of puppet-like control to make them say the right words in the right place at the right time while they still are strangers to God.

39:39 We'll be content with nothing less than that same work that God did in the vision with Ezekiel. But when he preached, life came into dead people. Flesh covered them until the dead stood and marched and walked as a mighty army. Oh, dear ones, as we begin a new year of ministry and witness, as we pray for God's blessing upon the preaching ministry here in this place, as we plead for his blessing upon those of you who go out house to house in witness and in evangelism, what is our hope? We're going to men who fit the description of the verses 1 to 3 and any other views less than biblical realism. They're dead! They're dead! They're in bondage to the devil!

40:29 They're enslaved to their own lust! What's our hope? But God! But God!

Fruit of God's Aloneness in Salvation: Unshakable Confidence

40:37 And if that's our hope, the proof that we believe it is to be found in the impression made upon the rug where we pray, by our knees frequenting that place, crying to God that he who alone can give life to the dead would quicken sinners by his grace. And then last of all, we understand something of this great truth introduced in verse 4, that God alone is the author of this transformation. It will not only grace us with praise, humility and prayerfulness, but none are so full of makeable confidence in the triumphs of grace as those who understand this truth. You see, the note in Ephesians 2, 4 to 10 is the note not of the mere offers of grace. There is a biblical truth involved in the concept of the overtures of grace, the appeal that comes to sinners in the gospel. But verses 4 to 10 are a description of the triumphs of grace. But God!

41:51 Quickened! Raised up! Seated! Saved! You see, those are words of triumphant accomplishment. And so as the Ephesians face the responsibility they have to their own generation, the apostle lays out those responsibilities further on in the epistle. They are to be a people marked by unshakable confidence that God's hands are not tied by what man will do with God. You see, if the person really believes what some unthinkingly say, God has done all he can do for the salvation of men, and now it's up to them. My friend, what kind of confidence can you have if your confidence has to be in a creature described in verses 1 to 3?

42:39 If the whole issue of the triumphs or non-triumphs of grace depend upon man, look at the creature upon which they depend! He's dead! You're going to get a lot of accomplishment from dead men.

42:56 In bondage to the devil! A slave to his own lust! Ah, but you see, when the person comes to an understanding that it's God who is the author of the change, he can afford the wonderful luxury of facing men who are dead, bound, and condemned in the unshakable conviction that God will give life to some. But God!

43:25 But God! When he deems wise to intervene, shall the deadness of the sinner tie his hands?

43:36 Shall the bondage of the sinner drive God away in fear that the case is too great for him? No. He's the God who saves the vilest and saves the most unlikely. He's the God who has great surprises of grace. And isn't it amazing? That this doctrine that men say is paralyzing. If you believe God does it all, that'll paralyze you. My friend, listen.

44:06 Just do a little reading of history, will you? The most energetic advancements in the kingdom of Jesus Christ, by and large, almost without exception, have come from individuals and movements that have believed and loved and preached what I'm preaching this morning. What brought men to the bleak shores of Indian land? And I'll call it United States of America.

44:36 Not knowing what they would find it was people who believed in the sense of destiny because they believed in the God who did as he willed the armies of heaven and earth and who held the hearts of all men in his hands.

44:56 Historically, it can be demonstrated that the greatest advancements, the most permanent contributions to the history and life of the Christian church have come from those who are absolutely convinced that the difference is in those two words but God. My friends, we are not indifferent to the terrible plight of our nation morally, to some of the foreboding clouds economically, to the great problems of our society. We are not indifferent. God doesn't call us to be stoics, to be some kind of monkish creature that withdraws from the real world.

45:36 But oh, my friend, our confidence for the advancement of the gospel in our generation rests not upon an affluent American economy, rests not upon any social conditions. I hope they don't in your mind.

45:51 Everyone says we will have the great bust. Some of us were born in the midst of the last great bust and were alive to talk about it. And some of us thank God for those years of penny-pinching and scraping for what it did in our characters. Things that our affluence had never done. My friend, the thing you should fear is not a great economic bust. The thing you should fear is that God would not be pleased to put forth His honor. The thing you should fear is shrinking unbelief that cowers and shivers before every hobgoblin that comes before us. What a denial of God. Oh, what a confident people we should be. Not confident in ourselves, but confident in the God who's laid hold of us. A God who has the latter part of this very paragraph. He has works which He before ordained that we should walk in them and all hell cannot keep us from walking in them.

46:51 Who knows what those works may be for the coming year. Maybe this will be the year when God will rend the heavens and come down. And you think we have problems now? Maybe God will just bust them so loose that we'll have to have six services a day to accommodate the people.

47:07 You say you're a dreamer. Oh, God could do that. Couldn't He? Couldn't He?

47:14 Oh, what a people we should be marked by holy confidence. Not in ourselves. You see, if anything depends upon me, the foundation for confidence is shattered. But when it all depends upon the arm of the Almighty, oh what a ground for confidence.

47:33 May God find us in these coming days. A people who understand what we should be looking at in great detail in the coming weeks. This contrast, but God. Who is the author of that change? God alone. God alone. And as we come to a fuller understanding of it and a more sensitive appropriation of it to our hearts and minds, let us plead that it may in turn produce in us those graces of thanksgiving, of praise, of humility, of prayerfulness, and of unshakable confidence in the purposes of our God. We have visitors amongst us and we're so glad to have you. Some of you students and others. And I'm fully aware that many of you have had your minds prejudiced against certain aspects of God's truth. But I hope they've been served up in such a way today that you've said, why in the world would anybody fight such teaching? Salvation, all of grace that produces such holy graces. Oh, may

48:39 God help us all to bow before the authority of this blessed book and to walk in the light of his own precious truth. Let us pray.